News that makes us laugh, cry, or both

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:27 pm

I don't understand the "invented the internet" smear campaign.

He never actually said that.
He actually did co-author the legislation that brought the internet over for civilian use.

But yeah, in America, Bil Clinton is a massive star, maybe the most massive star, for everyone to the left of John McCain. He's so popular that the right is so infuriated by him that they go on rants about how he slept around nd lied constantly with no provocation at all.

Drop a hat, and Teabaggers will froth about how awful Clinton is. Because people think he is that awesome. He's so popular that he was able to negotiate the release of some American journalists from a North Korean prison in exchange for him agreeing to have his picture taken with Kim Jong Il. Seriously. And the Teabaggers frothed about that too!

-Username17

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 12:28 am

Politico's (the most prestigious right-wing written news source, they actually source their articles and stuff) headline yesterday was that some author wrote a book and in it he claims to be absolutely certain that Monica Lewinsky sort of told him that Bill Clinton lied. Now that Politico printed it, it's on the AP wire, but...

WTF, man? Why does anyone care at this point?

-Crissa

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 12:54 am

God is a tough act to follow? Ad campaign to bring non-believers into church gains complains from churchgoers.

Personally, I'm just confused. I didn't even know it was controversial that Joseph and Mary would have sex after Jesus was born. The bible rather infers that's the order of operation.

Secondly, I don't see how this brings in non-believers to the church. We already think god is a stuck up asshole by their descriptions, why would this encourage belief?

-Crissa

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 1:09 am

Crissa wrote:God is a tough act to follow? Ad campaign to bring non-believers into church gains complains from churchgoers.

for the curious, the billboard in question:

Personally, I'm just confused. I didn't even know it was controversial that Joseph and Mary would have sex after Jesus was born. The bible rather infers that's the order of operation.

Which is funny because if I recall from my upbringing, it was said they never had sex, before or after. She was supposed to remain a virgin forever.

Secondly, I don't see how this brings in non-believers to the church. We already think god is a stuck up asshole by their descriptions, why would this encourage belief?

Well, I could see it getting some dumbass to live right just so he can go to heaven and punch god in the face for ruining his girlfriend...

ckafrica · Post by **ckafrica** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 2:21 am

Dude Jesus had four brothers listed in the bible so the fact that they would have been doing woopy is not an issue.

Ganbare Gincun · Post by **Ganbare Gincun** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:08 am

Religion Is Awesome!

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:11 am

ckafrica wrote:Dude Jesus had four brothers listed in the bible so the fact that they would have been doing woopy is not an issue.

Don't tell the catholics.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:26 am

Are you sure that's from Catholicism? My mom's family is Catholic, and I don't remember it being strange to think that once Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph became a normal couple.

It's hard for me to keep track, honestly. I just don't care.

-Crissa

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:34 am

Michael Moore has visited Akihabara (Warning: site is NSFW, barely safe for sanity, and not safe for sane sensibilities in anyway. 4chan's a good immune boost against it though...)

If the prick didn't see himself as some crusader for socialist justice, I would imagine the recovery would require something on the order of Jackee Harry's shopping list and Andre the Giant's bartab...

but no, choice quote from his visit:
“I’m not your master! Everybody’s equal.” (In response to “Okaerinasaimase, goshujin-sama!” at a maid cafe)

along with his observant summation “A lot of unnecessary things are being sold here.”

God Forbid people enjoy the fruits and safe fantasy provided by a bit of capitalism, eh? I want him to visit a BDSM scene next, the subservience there would really fuck his shit up, eh?

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:37 am

Crissa wrote:Are you sure that's from Catholicism? My mom's family is Catholic, and I don't remember it being strange to think that once Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph became a normal couple.

It's hard for me to keep track, honestly. I just don't care.

-Crissa

yeah, my parents are catholic and they're always outraged whenever someone suggests Jesus had siblings....

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:40 am

Sorry, I like a good BDSM play as much as the next lesbian, but I'm going to hafta side with Moore here.

-Crissa

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:45 am

Crissa wrote:Sorry, I like a good BDSM play as much as the next lesbian, but I'm going to hafta side with Moore here.

-Crissa

My point is that these "servants" have made the choice to take and play a subservient role, they're (by in large) not getting beaten or anything (save for the BDSM slaves who want it), he can chill the fuck out about the cafe, and maybe save the egalitarian outrage for people who're actually forced into subservience. Hell, I could go find five cases reported by that very site for him to be outraged about...

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:55 am

Not really.

In Japan, you either follow through with the play, or you don't work.

It's a false choice.

Much like the 'choice' that workers had to work in a smoke-filled workplace.

-Crissa

Cielingcat · Post by **Cielingcat** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 5:00 am

Crissa wrote:Sorry, I like a good BDSM play as much as the next lesbian, but I'm going to hafta side with Moore here.

-Crissa

Yeah, I have to agree with Crissa. On all points.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 5:01 am

Crissa wrote:Not really.

In Japan, you either follow through with the play, or you don't work.

It's a false choice.

Much like the 'choice' that workers had to work in a smoke-filled workplace.

-Crissa

I guess Japan's job market's not really good enough for there to be any real choice, eh?

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 5:12 am

No. They've been in doldrums for fifteen years. They did not recover from the early-90s recession.

-Crissa

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 6:00 am

huh, didn't know that.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 7:14 am

It's irrelevant to the topic, though. Even if conditions were better, you'd need to have more jobs than people to have a relevant choice for workers.

However, Capitalism crashes if that happens. Just like it crashes when there isn't a healthy middle class to consume its creations.

-Crissa

Orion · Post by **Orion** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 9:27 am

And it's not like those girls get off work and become equal to everybody else (read:men).

Japan has the highest ratio of fucked-up misogyny to per-capita income of anywhere I've ever been.

Ganbare Gincun · Post by **Ganbare Gincun** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:21 pm

Anyone have a link to the actual video of Michael Moore in Akihabara as opposed to a bunch of bitching and rumormonging on some retarded otaku website?

I love this quote in their comments section:

He believes that everyone must be equal no matter the cost.

I'll pose this question to him:
If you had to chose between death and subservient or servant status, what would you chose?

Michael Moore would expect everyone to chose death. That expectation is extreme because it holds everyone at the cost of individual wants. That's not very 'American' isn't it?

I guess this dipshit didn't learn about Patrick Henry or the Founding Fathers in school. Par for the course for the American educational system, I suppose.

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 5:18 pm

The Pittsburgh area summarized in a newsoid*

A dying steeltown, a healthcare monopoly flexing its muscle, tenuous links to a local has-been celebrity, and most importantly zombies:

linked story wrote: Zombies Rally To Save UPMC Braddock

Posted: 3:18 pm EST December 18, 2009Updated: 7:25 pm EST December 18, 2009
PITTSBURGH -- The fight to save UPMC Braddock continued Friday in Pittsburgh.

Supporters of the hospital conducted an information picket outside the downtown headquarters of UPMC.

Protestors were also joined by street theater performers dressed as zombies.

"Anything to try to keep the hospital open, but zombies like the whole metaphor. Zombies have always been in existence of a social issue that comes up like in Romero's film, 'Dawn of the Dead,' which dealt with consumerism. Here we're dealing with healthcare," said Tony Buba of Save Our Community Hospitals.

UPMC Braddock is set to close in phases, with the last day for new patients set for Jan. 15.

TavishArtair · Post by **TavishArtair** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 5:45 pm

I really, really can't give a damn about whether Michael Moore was called "Master." I will grant that the culture is misogynistic, however, Exceeding Ridiculous Politeness To The Point Of Subservience to customers is pretty much par for the course in Japan. "Honorable person" is a pretty typical thing to call a customer, though it is admittedly not ご主人さま.

Mostly, knowing what I do of the language, I realize that the situation is far more surreal than Michael Moore even glimpses. Not that I'm saying that it's an excuse, but it strikes me as a bit like complaining about the pansies in your garden looking a bit withered while your house is on fire.

Ganbare Gincun · Post by **Ganbare Gincun** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 8:39 pm

A prominent Democratic member of The Family seeks to torpedo the HCR compromise by betraying his party to the Republicans. But hey, after your organization makes a concerted effort to round homosexuals up into camps and execute them, I guess this kind of bullshit is small potatoes, eh?

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 5:47 am

Isn't he the only Democratic member of The Family?

It's not like Republicans have people elected of anything other than prosperity evangelical at federal level, tho.

Tavish: Those places are entirely about doing everything short of prostituting their wait staff to the customers. Heck, up to the sex part, that's legal in Japan. It's not in the US.

Yeah, it'd be a ridiculous situation. Complaining about something like that after going into the tea house. But the point stands on its own: There's no reason for such a disparity in modern culture.

-Crissa

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 7:47 am

FrankTrollman wrote: I don't understand the "invented the internet" smear campaign.

You don't have to. I mean, I say that Andy Collins is a rat bastard all of the time but there is no proof anywhere that he was in fact sire by rats nor was he illegitimate (in the marriage sense, YMMV as far as worth goes) offspring.

But anyway, here's all you need to know about the whole shabeel:

As Newt Gingrich said during a CSPAN broadcast of an American Political Science Association colloquium on September 1, 2000

In all fairness, it's something Gore had worked on a long time. Gore is not the Father of the Internet, but in all fairness Gore is the person who, in the Congress, most systematically worked to make sure that we got to an Internet.

ARPANet was Gore and Gingrich's baby way back in the 70's. Though what with the whole Contract with America thing I'm not very surprised that Gingrich left his name off the whole affair.