Thursday, August 31, 2006
Monday, August 28, 2006
Saddam forced to watch 'South Park'
Somehow this all makes sense...
Direct link here
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is being made to watch his appearance in cult cartoon South Park while he is behind bars.
The deposed leader on trial in Iraq was featured in the movie spin-off as the lover of the devil. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut featured Hussein and Satan attempting to take over the world together.
Speaking at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone said US Marines guarding the former dictator during his trial for genocide were making him watch the movie "repeatedly".
"I have it on pretty good information from the Marines on detail in Iraq that they showed him the movie last year. That's really adding insult to injury. I bet that made him really happy," Stone said.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Human Nature
"After all, take any group of nice people on a trip; if five bad things happen to them in a row, they will end up as cannibals."
--- EDWARD N. LUTTWAK - senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the author of many books, including Coup D'Etat: A Practical Handbook.
Overcoming Attachment
Overcoming attachment does not mean becoming cold and indifferent. On the contrary, it means learning to have relaxed control over our mind through understanding the real causes of happiness and fulfillment, and this enables us to enjoy life more and suffer less.-Kathleen McDonald, "How to Meditate"
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Our Government Screws Wounded Vets
Traumatic Brain Injury causes dizziness, vision, hearing and speech problems, memory loss, and even severe brain damage. Military experts say that one in ten new veterans, or more than one hundred thousand people, suffer from TBI. The 2007 Defense Appropriations bill, which totals close to $400 billion, gives TBI research and treatment only $7 million dollars -- half of what it received last year.
Congress should take immediate action to reinstate funding for this program. If the bill passes as it currently stands, we will have failed the thousands of wounded veterans who have sacrificed so much and served their country so honorably. Contact your congressman to support our troops by giving them what they need once they get home.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Rush is a Dick
Click here to hear the audio
Limbaugh handicapped races in new Survivor series, suggested "African-American tribe" worst swimmers, Hispanics "will do things other people won't do"
Summary:
On the August 23 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh suggested that the competition in a new season of CBS' reality TV program Survivor, in which contestants are reportedly divided into competing "tribes" by ethnicity, "is not going to be fair if there's a lot of water events." In support of this assertion, he cited a March 2 HealthDay article reporting that "young blacks -- especially males -- are much more likely to drown in pools than whites."
During the program, Limbaugh suggested that "people at CBS" are "scratch[ing] their heads" and asking whether "the swimming portion" of the new Survivor competition is "going to be fair." When pressed by an African-American caller to identify "[w]hich team ... would be the worst swimmers and why," Limbaugh stated that "the white tribe would be the best swimmers" based on the performance of white athletes at "the Olympics." After apparently disconnecting or cutting the volume level of the caller, Limbaugh said: "[Y]ou're saying I'm being racist because I'm saying blacks can't swim." He further protested: "I mentioned the swimming comment only because it's not going to be fair if there is a lot of water competition in this. It just isn't. It is not a racial or racist comment at all."
In support of his assertion that his comments were "not ... racist," Limbaugh cited a March 2 HealthDay article reporting that "young blacks -- especially males -- are much more likely to drown in pools than whites." But the study on which the HealthDay article was based did not address the swimming abilities of African-Americans in general. HealthDay reported that "[r]esearchers don't know why black kids are at higher risk of drowning," that "[m]ost of the black [drowning] victims ... drowned in public pools," and that "[t]he study didn't examine whether the victims had taken swimming lessons or whether the pools were supervised by lifeguards." Additionally, the article noted that according to the study, "people from poorer families were more likely to drown" -- "regardless of race," and that one author of the study suggested "[f]uture research" will be done to "examine whether swimming instruction reduces the risk of drowning."
Regarding the new Survivor series, Limbaugh also stated that there "are many characteristics ... that you would think would give [the African-American tribe] the lead, and the heads up in terms of skill and athleticism and so forth." He also stated that "our early money" is on "the Hispanic tribe" -- which he said could include "a Cuban," "a Nicaraguan," or "a Mexican or two" -- provided they don't "start fighting for supremacy amongst themselves." Limbaugh added that Hispanics have "probably shown the most survival tactics," that they "have shown a remarkable ability to cross borders" and that they can "do it without water for a long time, they don't get apprehended, and they will do things other people won't do."
Limbaugh also asserted that "the Asian-American tribe" -- whom he called "the brainiacs of the bunch" -- "probably will outsmart everybody," but while "intelligence is one thing ... raw, native understanding of the land -- this is probably why the Native Americans were excluded, because they were at one with the land and they would probably have an unfair advantage."
He added that "the white tribe," "if it behaves as it historically has," will "bring along vials of diseases" and "will wind up oppressing" the other tribes by "deny[ing] them benefits" and "property," but will later "try to put [the other tribes] on some kind of benefit program." He further asserted that if CBS "allows ... cheating" and "oppression," "then of course the white tribe is going to win."
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Racial Survivor
New Survivor to Divide Teams by Race
People Magazine Online - WEDNESDAY AUGUST 23, 2006 09:00AM EST
By Alexis Chiu
When it premieres Sept. 14, Survivor: Cook Islands will feature 20 castaways divided into four tribes: black, white, Asian and Latino.
"We're going to take some heat for it," says creator and executive producer Mark Burnett of the twist, which was announced Wednesday morning. "But it's a great cast."
For a show entering its 13th season with steady ratings but ebbing buzz, the decision could be a shot in the arm if it once again generates Survivor water-cooler chatter.
"Some people will think this is controversial. Others will think, 'What's the big deal?' " host Jeff Probst tells PEOPLE. "Either way, it's going to be very interesting."
Along with the usual real-estate agents and struggling actors, the cast of characters competing for the $1 million purse includes a heavy-metal guitarist, a female police officer who has been shot in the line of duty, a Vietnam War refugee who manages a nail salon and a gay fashion director for a denim company.
The segregated Survivor grew from an effort to diversify a show that has featured primarily white contestants (and winners – only two of the 12 winners have been minorities). "We've taken a lot of flack," says Burnett.
But Probst says the main reason for the Emmy-winning show's largely white complexion was a dearth of minority applicants. "Most of the people who apply are white," he says. "That's just a fact."
In response, the Survivor casting team scouted for a more diverse group of players everywhere from the Internet to audition tapes for another CBS show, The Amazing Race.
Until the tribes merge later in the season, the four teams will battle each other and, perhaps, racial stereotypes. "There are going to be people looking for stereotypes: Will this tribe be smarter than this tribe, or will this tribe be faster than this tribe?" says Probst. "That's why I think it's fun. But five people on a tribe do not represent an entire ethnic group."
Set in New Zealand's Cook Islands, the location of the famous mutiny on the HMS Bounty, this season features a pirate theme, including Tribal Councils held on an elaborate shipwreck set built into the rocky coastline of a local island.
Whether one ethnicity ends up plundering – or walking the plank – "This is a game that starts very even," says Probst. "Everybody starts the same way with the same materials and the same chance: a 1-in-20 shot at a million bucks."
Monday, August 14, 2006
Friday, August 11, 2006
Not a sermon, just a thought
Sakka asked the Buddha: "Do different religious teachers head for the same goal or practice the same disciplines or aspire to the same thing?"
"No, Sakka, they do not. And why? This world is made up of myriad different states of being, and people adhere to one or another of these states and become tenaciously possessive of them, saying, 'This alone is true, everything else is false.' It is like a territory that they believe is theirs. So all religious teachers do not teach the same goal or the same discipline, nor do they aspire to the same thing.
"But if you find truth in any religion or philosophy, then accept that truth without prejudice."
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Friday, August 04, 2006
When the Rapture comes, can I have your car?
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Hey! Gov. Schwarzenegger said something intelligent
Schwarzenegger warns that we are entering "a dangerous area." He thinks we shouldn't blame those who want to come to America but rather the federal government, which is "not securing our borders." In an interview with the editorial board of the San Diego Union-Tribune before the town hall meetings, he called illegal immigration "a self-inflicted wound." Along with 70 percent of California voters in a recent Field Poll, he supports comprehensive reform that includes secure borders, guest workers and legalization of undocumented immigrants.Not bad Arnold. Good job!Schwarzenegger told the newspaper that he believes in redemption and thinks the American people do as well. Above all, the governor wants to elevate the tenor of what has become a nasty public debate and see it conducted "in a civil way without prejudice and without hatred."
Later, after meeting with angry constituents who yelled slogans such as "stop the invasion," Schwarzenegger told reporters the encounter was "pretty much the first time I had seen the intensity of prejudice."
It was the word "prejudice" that set off the critics. How dare the governor use such loaded language to describe the good people who are opposed to illegal immigration, they roared.