Tammy Bruce: Cultural Commentary Archives

Cultural Commentary Archives

Is This a Joke??

(From Iran, where "Barf" ("برف") means "Snow")

Maynard wonders

An April Fools' item? This G4 press release looks to be legit.

G4 ANNOUNCES UNIQUE NEW SERIES THAT COMBINES EATING COMPETITIONS WITH GUT-WRENCHING PHYSICAL CHALLENGES

New Original Series Entitled “Hurl!” Debuts Summer 2008 on G4

LOS ANGELES, April 29, 2008 — G4 is taking competitive eating competitions to the next level with a new series that combines speed-eating with intense physical challenges. In each episode, five brave contestants attempt to consume the largest quantity of food in a short amount of time and are then immediately subjected to a series of challenges designed to shake them up. The one to hold his or her food down the longest claims victory and walks away with a cash prize, the Iron Stomach Award, and more importantly, serious bragging rights. The half-hour series, "Hurl!" premieres summer 2008 on G4.

The competition is made up of multiple stages, beginning with an intense eating contest. Contestants are challenged to consume a massive portion of some popular All-American favorite, as quickly as they can, with items ranging from chicken pot pies to New England chowder, fish sticks, hot dogs, blueberry pie, and more. Those who devour the largest quantity and keep everything down move on to the second stage where they must face nausea-inducing physical challenges, designed to shake them up – from carnival rides to belly flops off a high dive, to mechanical bull-riding. Each episode features two different cuisines and a new outrageous challenge...

I am at a loss for words.

Posted by Maynard · May 1, 2008 07:03 PM · Permalink · Comments (2)
Cultural Commentary | Food/Drink | Hollywood/Films | Maynard Post | Television

"DC Madam" Kills Herself

DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey apparently has killed herself while staying at her mother's home.

DC Madam commits suicide in Tarpon Springs

TARPON SPRINGS - Police were called to the home of DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey's mother on Thursday to investigate her apparent suicide.

Police have confirmed that the dead person is Palfrey who was 52.

Palfrey was dubbed "The DC Madam" by the national media after her arrest for allegedly running an upscale call girl ring in the nation's capitol.

She was convicted on Tuesday of money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes and racketeering, but she had not yet been sentenced.

UPDATE:

WaPo: Police: 'D.C. Madam' Palfrey Hanged Self in Fla.

Posted by Tammy · May 1, 2008 10:44 AM · Permalink · Comments (5)
Crime | Cultural Commentary

Noise Audible Only to Teens Used Against Loiterers

Besides loving this new invention I just have one question: Can they make a noise like this heard throughout the country audible only to leftists? The YouTube video of everyone fleeing to Canada would be fun to watch.

Conflict follows device that drives away teen loiterers

A wall-mounted gadget designed to drive away loiterers with a shrill, piercing noise audible only to teens and young adults is infuriating civil liberties groups and tormenting young people after being introduced into the United States...

The high-frequency sound has been likened to fingernails dragged across a chalkboard or a pesky mosquito buzzing in your ear. It can be heard by most people in their teens and early 20s who still have sensitive hair cells in their inner ears...

"It's horrible, loud and irritating," said Eddie Holder, 15, who sprinted from his apartment for school one morning covering one ear with his hand to block out the noise. The device was installed outside the building to drive away loiterers. "I have to hurry out of the building because it's so annoying. It's this screeching sound that you have to get away from or it will drive you crazy." [...]

"We'd have crowds gather in parking lots, and there'd be the usual trash talk, then you'd have fights," said Rick McGee, the school district's emergency services manager. "Now, there's no confrontation at all; they just get aggravated and leave within a few minutes."

Sweet.

Posted by Tammy · April 23, 2008 04:23 PM · Permalink · Comments (8)
Cultural Commentary

Happy Conservatives, Miserable Liberals

This week's "Lexington" in "The Economist" was inspired by a new book entitled "Gross National Happiness".

Mr Brooks [the author] proposes that whatever their respective merits, the conservative world view is more conducive to happiness than the liberal one (in the American sense of both words). American conservatives tend to believe that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can succeed. This makes them more optimistic than liberals, more likely to feel in control of their lives and therefore happier. American liberals, at their most pessimistic, stress the injustice of the economic system, the crushing impersonal forces that keep the little guy down...the American left is now a coalition of groups that define themselves as the victims of social and economic forces, and its leaders encourage people to feel helpless and aggrieved.

These are important points. Without their misery, the Left loses its (pardon my French) raison d’être. Tammy has told us how, back in the days when she was a Leftist insider, her mentor explained the necessity of rubbing salt into the collective psychic wounds in order to keep the movement alive. Tammy had been of the naïve opinion that they were working to solve problems rather than to lock people down and create a perpetual power structure.

Thus conservatives have greater potential to achieve happiness. But it would be an oversimplification to say that becoming conservative is enough in itself to make one happy.

I'll offer a few more thoughts on happiness for you hardcore philosophers...

Posted by Maynard · April 1, 2008 10:48 PM · Permalink · Comments (3)
Cultural Commentary | Leftists | Maynard Post | Social Commentary

Obama and His Racist, America-Hating "Pastor"

The very cozy Obama and Wright.

**Television programming note**: Gateway Pundit is noting that Major Garrett will have Barack Obama tonight on Hannity & Colmes/Fox News to discuss the Wright situation. They also have the full collection of Wright video spew. Perhaps now we know the real reason the Obama campaign has been desperate to paint Hillary and her supporters as 'racist'--to distract from their own ugly, racist underbelly.

After working feverishly to ignore the extraordinary racist, hate-filled comments by Barack Hussein Obama's "pastor", Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., they finally have been forced to admit he exist. Initially, Obama refused to outright condemn comments that ranged from urging black Americans to sing "God damn America," to proposing the theory that America engineered the AIDS virus to genocide people of color and deliberately distributes drugs to me of color, and that America is a terrorist nation. When you hear these remarkably paranoid assertions Michelle Obama's paranoid and America-hating rants make a lot more sense. After all, this is the man who has been Obama's mentor for 20 years, married the Obamas, and baptized their daughters (which means those two bright little girls are exposed to this racist, hate-based insanity.

Ron Kessler, who is associated with the McCain campaign, provided an opinion piece in today's WSJ, the first national newspaper to address this remarkable relationship between the leading Democrat candidate and a hate-monger:

Obama and the Minister

In a sermon delivered at Howard University, Barack Obama's longtime minister, friend and adviser blamed America for starting the AIDS virus, training professional killers, importing drugs and creating a racist society that would never elect a black candidate president.

The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., pastor of Mr. Obama's Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, gave the sermon at the school's Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel in Washington on Jan. 15, 2006...Mr. Wright thundered on: "America is still the No. 1 killer in the world. . . . We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns, and the training of professional killers . . . We bombed Cambodia, Iraq and Nicaragua, killing women and children while trying to get public opinion turned against Castro and Ghadhafi . . . We put [Nelson] Mandela in prison and supported apartheid the whole 27 years he was there. We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God." [...]

As for Mr. Wright's repeated comments blaming America for the 9/11 attacks because of what Mr. Wright calls its racist and violent policies, Mr. Obama has said it sounds as if the minister was trying to be "provocative."

Hearing Mr. Wright's venomous and paranoid denunciations of this country, the vast majority of Americans would walk out. Instead, Mr. Obama and his wife Michelle have presumably sat through numerous similar sermons by Mr. Wright.

Indeed, Mr. Obama has described Mr. Wright as his "sounding board" during the two decades he has known him. Mr. Obama has said he found religion through the minister in the 1980s. He joined the church in 1991 and walked down the aisle in a formal commitment of faith.

The title of Mr. Obama's bestseller "The Audacity of Hope" comes from one of Wright's sermons. Mr. Wright is one of the first people Mr. Obama thanked after his election to the Senate in 2004. Mr. Obama consulted Mr. Wright before deciding to run for president. He prayed privately with Mr. Wright before announcing his candidacy last year.

Mr. Obama obviously would not choose to belong to Mr. Wright's church and seek his advice unless he agreed with at least some of his views. In light of Mr. Wright's perspective, Michelle Obama's comment that she feels proud of America for the first time in her adult life makes perfect sense.

The WSJ piece follows ABC News and their coverage of Wright stating we were to blame for 9/11 and that blacks should condemn the United States. Finally, of Obama and his racist mentor. Finally, Obama responds with a little fluff piece, on the lefty hate blog Huffington Post of all places, which once again waxes on about how great the 'pastor' is but Obama rejects his comments. He skips over the intense relationship they have, including the fact that it was Wright with whom Obama consulted when he was deciding whether or not to run for president, and then "prayed" with him as he decided to do so. Obama also thanked Wright prominently when he first won his senate seat. Yet Obama claims, absurdly, that Wright was never a mentor, and that he never, ever heard this man say anything at all ever close to what has been revealed in the past few weeks.
Yeah, sure.

This last week has been rather priceless--here we have Obama and his minions still pushing the absurdity of the entire Hillary campaign as racist, including the smear against Geraldine Ferraro. Ferraro leaves the Clinton campaign, and HiIllary apologizes to every black person on Earth for everything that ever happened. Yet the stench of racism and hate emanates from only one place--the Barack Obama campaign, his closest friend and adviser, and arguably from Obama himself and his wife. Yet no one has apologized. In fact, big news has been made of the fact thatWright stepped down from one Obama campaign position he held yet the Obama campaign insists he will stay on as a "spirtual adviser." I guess that would be the Racist, Hate America First fort of spirituality.

The next question needs to be, does Hillary and Co. have what it takes to demand an apology from Obama and his minions for the racism and hate they've been spewing? Will she demand Obama apologize for Wright, and that Wright be banished from his campaign entirely? If she doesn't have the cajones to face down a bunch of political thugs and a depraved, paranoid, how can we expect her to deal with the world's tyrants?

This is a test for Hillary. I noted weeks ago, that with all we detest about th Clintons, it's safe to say they do not hate this country. Now we know the Obamas truly do.

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A Father's Instinct

I declare this man Father of the Year.

Sheriff: Man killed motorcyclist who followed daughters

A man is facing a murder charge after authorities say he shot and killed a motorcyclist who followed his daughters home from a department store.

Richard Harold Gear, 45, claimed he was acting in self-defense when he shot Bryan Joseph Mough around 6:45 p.m. Monday as Mough drove his motorcycle past Gear's house, Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry said.

The daughters, ages 17 and 19, had called their father on a cell phone to tell him they were being followed, Berry said. As they arrived home, Gear was waiting at the end of his driveway with a pistol, Berry said.

Mough, 21, drove past the house, turned around and made another pass. Gear fired his .40-caliber semiautomatic gun two or three times, hitting Mough once in the back, Berry said...Gear's daughters and Mough apparently left the parking lot of a Target in nearby Athens around the same time Monday evening, Berry said. Tempers flared as the drivers headed west toward Bogart.

Gear's daughters told investigators Mough cut them off, they made obscene gestures at him and Mough ran into their car at one point, Sheriff Berry said. "There is evidence of a collision between Mough's motorcycle and the vehicle operated by Gear's daughters," Berry said, adding authorities do not yet know who initiated contact.

UPDATE:

Ironically, this thread has generated a lot of comments from newbies who condemn me for supporting a man who in this initial story seems to be defending his daughters. These same people who decry my lack of sensitivity then threaten to kill me, wish someone would kill me, or at the very least, rape me. Impressive. Obviously all of those people are banned. This blog is a place for opinion, and the Comments section is the perfect place for people to challenge that opinion and post their own. Threatening to kill me does not constitute having an 'opinion.' It just makes you a shallow, reactionary hypocrite. You do lose just a tad of credibility when you issue threats of violence because I lauded a father apparently defending his daughters. If the story ends up being different, we'll have it here.

In the meantime, we have have the initial coverage above, and we have the following story in Comments from MobileData. I'm sure we'll hear more depending on what the sheriff does.

Sheriff: Man allegedly shot at teens in 2006

Oconee County investigators are taking a fresh look at 2-year-old allegations a Bogart man fired a gun at a group of teens, after he shot and killed a motorcyclist in front of his house this week.

Authorities didn't charge Richard "Ricky" Harold Gear at the time because they couldn't prove he fired a gun, and witnesses were "less than truthful" about what happened, Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry said Wednesday.

The sheriff's office will reinvestigate that shooting in light of Gear's claim that he acted in self-defense when he shot 21-year-old Bryan Joseph "B.J." Mough on Monday after Mough argued with Gear's daughters in traffic and followed them home...

"This case, like most cases, generates a lot of comments from the public," the sheriff said. "We're still working hard on it, and we're going to follow all leads to their logical conclusion."

Gear's daughters, 17 and 19, called their father Monday night to tell him that someone was following them; when they arrived home, Gear was waiting at the end of the driveway with a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol, Berry said.

Mough drove by the house, turned around, and Gear shot two or three times as the motorcycle made a second pass, according to Berry.

Posted by Tammy · February 27, 2008 07:16 PM · Permalink · Comments (11)
Children | Cultural Commentary | Good News | Hero

Very Sad: Suzanne Pleshette Has Died

Actor Suzanne Pleshette has died. While her career was expansive, she is best remembers, especially by my generation, as Emily Hartley, the wife to Bob Newhart's character on the first "Bob Newhart Show," which ran from 1972-1978 (taking me from 10 years old to 16). A beautiful, funny woman, she played one of the first "wife" characters who really demonstrated an independence within the context of a strong, equal marriage.

Time's Richard Corliss has this to say about her passing:

Actress Suzanne Pleshette Dies

Her face had ready-made drama: jet-black hair framing kabuki-white skin. Her gray-blue eyes could smolder on cue or, more readily, crease into a smile. The sultry voice and famously knowing laugh suggested a woman who had been places, had fun there and come back intact. Suzanne Pleshette was a perfect fit for the movies' golden age, in sophisticated romantic comedy (think of a brunette Carole Lombard, a springier Rosalind Russell) or the kind of elevated soap opera where she could lure a man to hell or sacrifice all in a tearful close-up. I see her swapping love banter with Cary Grant, taming Gary Cooper.

Unfortunately for her, Hollywood had stopped making the kinds of films that would have made Pleshette a star two decades before she got there. So she played Bob Newhart's wife Emily on his-six-year sitcom in the 1970s. That's how Pleshette is being remembered, on her death Saturday from respiratory failure. In 2006 she had undergone chemotherapy for lung cancer. But I prefer to think of her as one of those stars who got away — away from stardom, when the old dream factory forgot how to manufacture domestic glamour. She had all the goods, but at the wrong time...

As combination wife, den mother and sounding board — the norm by which all the kooks on the show were measured and found wanting (though funny) — Pleshette made sardonic seem cozy. Essentially the straight woman, she could assert herself in a scene just by being there; she was the footnote you want to read before getting to the main text. Her voice could coax, critique and forgive in one sentence; she was champion of the verbal raised eyebrow, but never in contempt, always in amusement. Though Emily and Bob were more or less post-sexual, they often ended an episode in bed, rehashing the day's events, he still complaining, she offering the vocal equivalent of warm pats and cold compresses...

"I don't sit around and wait for great parts," she once said. "I'm an actress, and I love being one, and I'll probably be doing it till I'm 72... " Not quite. She died 12 days before her 71st birthday. But on late shows and in reruns, Suzanne Pleshette will still be the soul of comic common sense, still sending out beams of a very reasonable radiance.

The cast of the Bob Newhart Show

My childhood was made decent by a few experiences--Ray Bradbury's books, and some really great television shows in the 70s. Considering the garbage on television today, take a look at the Saturday night lineup on CBS starting when I was 10: All in the Family, M.A.S.H., Mary Tyler Moore, The Bob Newhart Show and Carol Burnett. A little reminder about real creativity, originality and talent, which seems to be mostly lacking these days on the small, and big, screens.

For those of you too young to remember Pleshette, thank goodness for reruns and syndication. TVLand runs both Newhart series'. Do yourself a favor and make a point of checking them out; you'll finally see what great television and comedy are all about.

Posted by Tammy · January 20, 2008 10:57 AM · Permalink · Comments (15)
Cultural Commentary | Tammy Notes | Television

Congrats to SondraK-The Official (Again) Grandest Diva of All

Official Diva SondraK, with me on Some Beach.

I want to thank all the Tammy Peeps for getting me into the Top 4 of Gay Patriot's Grande Conservative Blogress Diva 2008 competition. The official winner is SondraK, who has won before. Once a Grande Diva, always a Grande Diva. I am also honored that SondraK very generously announced that I am her honorary co-Diva. Cool. I'll take it. I am more than pleased to be with her on her Some Beach.

Yes, it's pretty cool to be nominated and be able to hold my head high, considering the boys at Gay Patriot have a Top 4 instead of a Top 3. I think that is very sweet of them and only matters to me, of course, considering I was #4. I did consider surrendering to SondraK when she was a good 1000 votes ahead of everyone, but that would have been way too French, so I decided to stay to the end, no matter what. What did it get me? It got me on a chick's lap on a beach. Not too bad.

If you are unfamiliar with SondraK, now is your chance to visit her site and see what all the fuss is about. While I'm happy for her, I probably won't help her with that damn dress she wears every year she wins...you know, the one where you have to carry the rest of the dress because there's a mile of fabric that trails behind? Yeah, like Princess Diana's wedding dress. I've suggested the simple tuxedo, with tails if that turns her on, but at least with a tux no one has to carry your clothes behind you.

Bottom line, she won. But only for 2008. Remember SondraK, 2009 is another year, and just one year away during which all the rest of us can practice being Diva-ish.

Posted by Tammy · December 20, 2007 12:00 AM · Permalink · Comments (5)
Cultural Commentary | Gadgets/Toys | Good News | Inspiration | Internet/Communication

2007's Most Awkward Moments

According to Time Magazine. Interestingly, it seems Democrats didn't have any awkward moments, only Republicans. Funny, I thought "Staying Married to a Man Who Can't Keep His Pants On After He Cuckolded You in Front of the World" would be a Forever Awkward Moment. But no.

Rudy Giuliani on Awkward Moments list

Here's the list of Time's Top 10 Awkward Moments of 2007:

1.) Columbia University President Lee Bollinger invites the Iranian president to speak on campus.

2.) Paris Hilton cries for her mommy.

3.) Alec Baldwin rips his daughter a new one.

4.) David Hasselhoff drunk in the shower.

5.) Family values Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) admits his number is in the so-called D.C. Madam's little black book.

6.) Britney Spears' zombie dance at the MTV Video Music Awards.

7.) Rosie O'Donnell calls co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck a coward on "The View."

8.) Fox TV censors Sally Field at the Emmy Awards.

9.) Miss Teen South Carolina says Americans don't know about geography because they lack maps.

10.) Rudy Giuliani's kids won’t back him for president.

Posted by Tammy · December 14, 2007 12:26 PM · Permalink · Comments (5)
Cultural Commentary

Drug-Addict, Wife Beater Ike Turner Dies

Good riddance. Via the controversial New York Post headline, if a freak like Turner is going to 'beat' a woman to death, let it be like this.

'No comment' says Tina Turner as Ike dies

Ike Turner, the legendary American musician who was perhaps better known for his abusive relationship with his former wife, Tina Turner, than for his contribution to the history of rock’n’roll, died at his home in San Diego last night at the age of 76. It was not immediately known what caused his death.

Tina Turner declined to comment on her former husband’s death. “Tina is aware that Ike passed away earlier today. She has not had any contact with him in 35 years. No further comment will be made,” said her spokeswoman, Michele Schweitzer...

It was Turner’s relationship with a mixed-race Tennessee girl called Anna Mae Bullock, that came to define his public image — much to his later despair and frustration. [His despair?!] [...]

The relationship with Tina was doomed, with Turner allegedly cheating on his wife and becoming addicted to cocaine. The drug addiction culminated in his allegedly beating his wife before a concert in Dallas in 1976. Tina Turner later described how she fled with only 36 cents and a petrol station credit card and spent months in hiding...

His career recovered slightly in his twilight years but many found his denials of abuse towards his wife unconvincing. In his 2001 autobiography, Taking Back My Name, Turner wrote: “Sure, I've slapped Tina. There have been times when I punched her to the ground without thinking. But I never beat her.”

As I said, good effing riddance.

"American Girl" Dolls Made In China

American Girls. Not.

Oh for crying out loud.

American Girl Dolls Made In China

They're marketed as the all-American girls, each representing a different period in American history. But CBS 11 found the American Girl dolls that teach our heritage aren't really American.

Susan Mobley has purchased several American Girl dolls over the years for her daughter, Heather. But the Mobleys recently discovered these dolls are only American in name. If you look closely, you'll see a tag on the box that says "Made in China."

"To have an American Girl doll made in China sounds like a contradiction, does it not?" said Dr. Daniel Howard, professor of Marketing at the SMU Cox School of Business.

He says it's all about cost. It's more expensive to manufacture the dolls in the U.S., which means the price of the $87 dolls would be even higher.

"I believe that there are many American consumers who would pay it simply for the knowledge, simply for the comfort of knowing that this doll was made in the good ol' U.S. of A," Dr. Howard said...

If that's not enough, check out the patronizing response the reporter got after contacting American Girl about the absurdity of their product being made in China:

"Like the majority of the world's toys, American Girl products are manufactured in China, in addition to 18 other countries. All the design and conception work is done at the company's headquarters in Wisconsin."

Yeah, 18 countries other than the United States. So hey, what's the problem? All the Arty-type work is done in Wisconsin. It's just the boring blue-collar manufacturing jobs we ship out to a communist pit that's at war with us.

We shouldn't be surprised by this. "American Girl" is made by Mattel, which has had the largest recall of toys in the world, with 9.5 million units recalled because of dangerous or shoddy work done in China.

And never, never, forget that it was Mattel that apologized to China after the massive recalls.

I trust this information is helpful to you as you continue your Christmas shopping.

Posted by Tammy · December 11, 2007 05:53 PM · Permalink · Comments (4)
Children | Corruption | Cultural Commentary | Just Wrong

'Bisexual' Celebutante Outed As...Heterosexual

Celebutante Tila Tequila. Blech. Uh, yes, I would slam the window down in her fingers. I would then disinfect the window sill.

You know gay rights have come a long way when you see 'news' like this.

I just hope it never gets out that I'm really a natural blond married to a cop named Gary. Now that would really ruin my rep.

Report: 'Bisexual' MTV Star Tila Tequila Is Straight

Self-proclaimed bisexual MTV star Tila Tequila may actually be stick-straight.

Tequila, who stars in "A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila," a show about her search for the perfect mate, male or female, is not bisexual and it's "all a sham," a source close to the show told the New York Post's Page Six gossip column.

"Tila has and has had a boyfriend for over a year, and she's not really bi. She's made out with some girls in her past, as all girls have, but she is not bi at all," the source said.

Me too! Oh, wait, nevermind.

Damn it.

Posted by Tammy · November 30, 2007 01:52 PM · Permalink · Comments (11)
Celebrity | Cultural Commentary | Just Plain Stupid

Rodney King's Been Shot

The man whose beating by the LAPD became an excuse for Los Angeles gang members to riot, has been shot. He was also drunk and the shooting appears to be related to a "domestic" situation.

I guess we can all get along, except for Rodney King and the people who know him.

Rodney King Shot

Southern California police said 1991 police beating victim Rodney King has been shot, but the wounds are not life-threatening.

Rialto police Sgt. Don Lewis told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that King was hit in the face and arm by shotgun pellets on a San Bernardino street corner Wednesday night. He bicycled to his home in Rialto to call police and was taken to a hospital.

Police said when they arrived at the home, King and others there appeared drunk and few were cooperative in providing information.

Surprise!

Posted by Tammy · November 29, 2007 05:16 PM · Permalink · Comments (9)
Crime | Cultural Commentary

"Gringo" Is to Paperwork As "Wetback" Is To Hygiene

Retailer denies sign is a slur

A Casa Furniture and Bedding store in Alexandria has been advertising easy credit with a twist: “no gringo papers” necessary.

A sign outside the store at the intersection of North Beauregard and King streets reads, “Credito sin papeles de gringo.” In English, that could be translated to say “Credit without gringo papers.”

Blanca Granados, the store's assistant manager, translated the message to mean “just 'without white papers,' like Social Security or like that.”

Sure. And the term 'Wetback' is really a compliment for people who shower a lot because they're so committed to good hygiene. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Posted by Tammy · November 16, 2007 06:42 PM · Permalink · Comments (12)
Cultural Commentary | Immigration | Multiculturalism | Politics

Ellen DeGeneres: Slayer of Puppies!

A note by Maynard

The Ellen DeGeneres story has pretty much been beaten to death, but Tammy offered some insights on her show that bear repeating. The tension between Ellen and the puppy rescuer exemplifies a greater struggle in our culture (or, for that matter, in any culture): The individual versus the busybody.

I'm going to paraphrase the essence of Tammy's comments (and I hope she'll correct me if I misrepresent her), and carry on with my own editorializing:

A puppy rescuer must be an obsessed person. It's not a task to be picked up lightly. You've got to go to the shelters again and again, and you're going to see a lot of doomed dogs who you'll have to abandon to their fates. If you don't love dogs, you wouldn't do it. If you do love dogs, you'll be tearing your hair out and crying yourself to sleep.

So the people who embark upon these charitable missions are going to be a bit unusual. They're driven to do something that the rest of us wouldn't or couldn't do. And if we want to work with them, we need to start by understanding their needs. This is the tolerance thing that we hear so much of these days.

And then there are the Ellens of the world.

Ellen thinks she's being reasonable. Sure, she contracted with a puppy rescuer who insisted on placing dogs into families without young kids. But Ellen thought that was a silly stipulation, just a piece of paper she signed, so she didn't consider herself bound by it. Ellen thinks the puppy rescuer acted wrongfully in enforcing that provision. Ellen acknowledges the rash of death threats are "not okay", but she understands the passions that prompted those threats.

If the puppy rescuer were to throw up her hands and quit the business, Ellen would just shrug and figure the job will be picked up by somebody else. Somebody more reasonable.

What Ellen can't fathom is that a reasonable person would never take up the job in the first place. Only a special person would do this. So Ellen, who considers herself a reasonable person, uses her media power to neutralize the vital energy that saves puppies.

This is the sort of intrusiveness that brings us down. It manifests in, for example, the war against the Boy Scouts, which has been picked up by the ACLU and many municipal governments and the Clintons, among others. Oh, if only the Boy Scouts would be reasonable, and promote the approved attitude about God or homosexuality or whatever. If only firemen would be reasonable and stop pulling pranks on each other. If only the businesses would be reasonable and build transgender restrooms and janitors' closets big enough for wheelchairs. If only rich people would be reasonable and pay more taxes. If only everybody would be reasonable and do things my way!

I don't want to oversimplify the boundaries of this ongoing struggle. I'm not advocating anarchy, and I understand the need for taxes and regulations, when applied in moderation. Yes, we need some reasonable external restraints. But we sense that our modern cultural expectations are shifting the burden in the wrong direction. We bash our benefactors while enabling our miscreants.

The clearest example of institutionalized moral inversion is always provided by our favorite whipping boys and girls at the ACLU, who spearhead legal attacks against Boy Scouts, while at the same time working to thwart restrictions imposed upon criminal gangs or NAMBLA.

But the ACLU doesn't operate in a vacuum. Bill Clinton's Supreme Court appointee, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, was an ACLU in-house counsel before her canonization.

So our problem isn't a few kooks. There have always been kooks. The problem is the kooks have gone mainstream. Kookery has become respectable. The inmates have taken over the asylum.

Wow, I seem to have connected Ellen's mad rant to the decline of Western civilization. Do you think that's a bit of a stretch, perhaps? Well, I stand upon my assertion that Ellen, for all her self-proclaimed good intent, is a puppykiller. And I wish the confused busybodies of the world would start thinking about the practical effects of their misguided crusades.

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Contemplating Racial IQ

A post by Maynard

**UPDATE: A Note from Tammy at the end of the post**

Wow, it seems that James Watson, the Nobel-Prize winning discoverer of DNA, really put his foot in it when he theorized that human intellectual capacity varies with race. His lectures were halted and there was even a suggestion that he be prosecuted:

Anti-racism campaigners called for Dr Watson's remarks to be looked at in the context of racial hatred laws. A spokesman for the 1990 Trust, a black human rights group, said: "It is astonishing that a man of such distinction should make comments that seem to perpetuate racism in this way. It amounts to fuelling bigotry and we would like it to be looked at for grounds of legal complaint."

Watson is now in full apology mode.

I'm going to mostly skip over the controversial topic itself and touch on our reactions. This flap says a lot about the state of the Western world and the political correctness that drives us.

From a Darwinist standpoint, Watson's comments are perfectly logical:

"There is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically," he writes. "Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so."

The concept of all men being created equal is fundamentally religious. It's not a notion we apply to the animal kingdom. We are not shunned for observing that tortoise-shell cats are willful, or suggesting a boy cat will make a better pet than a girl cat. If humans are just another animal, then why should we be any different?

It's obvious that the instantaneous crusade against Watson is dogmatic rather than reasoned. And it's ironic that the dogma of political correctness is often promoted by the same ideologues that mock the dogma of religion.

As far as intelligence itself goes...well, I'm not quite sure exactly what it is. Am I (Maynard) smart? I know I can be pretty smart in some ways and unbelievably stupid in others (trust me on this). There are many flavors of intelligence, and they only become meaningful in a greater context. A lot of my personal efforts go to putting myself in a place where my strengths are valuable and my weaknesses are irrelevant. I think we've all got a niche where we can be useful...if only we're willing to seek it.

The point is that intellect is not valuable in itself. "Smart" people can be ineffective or even evil. Adolf Hitler was a genius, and we know how he applied his intellect.

So raw intellect is just another tool, one of many, to be applied or mis-applied or discarded. To the extent that it's inherited (and that's the old "nature versus nurture" argument)...well, maybe inherited intellect is something like inherited wealth. Is it good to be born to wealth? You would think so, but we find no shortage of counterexamples. The pathetic antics of the rich and famous make it clear enough that wealth isn't all it's cracked up to be.

The backlash against Watson merely illuminates our modern cultural obsession with race. Am I supposed to be pleased with Watson's ideas because I'm a person of paleness, and thus presumed to be intellectually advantaged? Why can't I just think of myself as an individual? And I know there are individuals of all races who are a lot smarter than I am. I'm grateful to live in a world where smart people have figured out a lot of stuff, and their discoveries have been passed along, and now I benefit from them. I'm lucky! We're all lucky! Does the skin pigmentation of the people who have given me so much really matter? Do I get points based on the number of explorers and inventors who are "my people"?

Back in the bad old days, Galileo offended the dogma of the Church when he advanced his theory of heliocentrism. He was forced to recant this heresy, and spent his latter years under house arrest on orders of the Inquisition. We tell ourselves we've passed beyond the era of dogma into an enlightened age. But this isn't entirely so.

To be fair, it's important to remember that the idea Watson expressed could be picked up by old-style racists. This is a very legitimate concern. But are we doomed to be caught between the today's racial obsessions and yesterday's racial obsessions? Does this crazy ideological battle justify silencing valid inquiry?

An analogous question was addressed a few years ago in the movie Gattaca. This postulated a future society in which the "clean gene" people were at the top of the heap. It tells the tale of an ordinary man who aspired to join the ranks of the genetically pure. It promotes the notion that the spirit can rise above the flesh. Maybe it's Hollywood silliness, but I applaud the concept. If we're going to get dogmatic, then this is the dogma I prefer.

A Note from Tammy:

Maynard is right about one thing this controversy has indeed brought to our attention: how political correctness keeps us from addressing, and therefore vanquishing, questions centered around complexion and intellect. It very well could be argued that it is the racism of the Western World (and the need for certain Victimologists of Color) who are invested in the 'question' never being excised. We can only do that by seriously contemplating, as an example, Watson's assertion.

We then have these issues to address: Are people with a pale complexion actually 'better and smarter' than those with darker ones, or did the empire building of ancient Greece and Rome, and their subsequent consuming of the Middle East and Africa, begin a pattern of events that kept certain people from reaching their full potential? Are Jews smarter than everyone else (as their contributions to society seem to indicate) or is it their millennia-old commitment to eduction the reason such a small minority of people have accomplished so much?

Does Africa indeed still struggle, not only because of ancient ravages, but the world's colonizing and oppression of its people for the past several hundred years? Educating the "natives" certainly was not part of the English or Spanish or Dutch Master Plan. And while under the boot of 'conquerers' indigenous people are going to be a bit more focused on survival than on an education in the arts and science, whatever its cultural foundation.

The same could be argued for the Middle East, where its own commitment to broader, more expansive education was overwhelmed by religious fervor, which allowed Muslim nations to compete militarily with the Western, Christian, world. A population (especially women) seriously educated always poses a threat to the existing power structure, undermining tyranny and despotism. Today's existing tyrants in the Middle East and Africa, while their complexions mostly match those oppressed, are also deeply invested in the maintaining the ignorant status quo which served European colonizers so well.

We are, though, not allowed to have this discussion because it is too politically incorrect. Why? because we must start with the premise that there are undeniable differences in the world.

And one last point--I find it fascinating the world seems just fine with embracing Holocaust-denying Jew-hater Ahmadinejad, with even American institutions of the mind that his 'ideas', which contradict known fact, are worth debating. Yet, when a world-renowned scientist simply brings up the obvious disparity on accomplishments via continents and the issue of race, it causes a worldwide uproar of shock and unqualified rejection. One more bit of evidence of how ignorance and the investment in the status quo by the the world's Elite (Jew-hating and maintaining the 'question' of African/black potential) still menacingly prevails.

« Close It

Posted by Maynard · October 19, 2007 12:25 AM · Permalink · Comments (15)
Cultural Commentary | Maynard Post | New Thought Police | Political Correctness | Race Relations

God=1, Pelosi=0

After the congressional "Acting Architect" removed the word "God" from a flag certificate for an Eagle Scout, we all got mad and the situation is magically reversed. I have a feeling God will always prevail, but it sure can get irritating sometimes.

Capitol Architect Lets 'God' Fly On U.S. Flag Certificates

The Architect of the Capitol, responding to a public outcry, ruled Thursday that, from now on, the word "God" may be inscribed on certificates accompanying flags that have flown over the U.S. Capitol.

Acting Architect Stephen T Ayers said in a statement that the policy of disallowing political and religious statements on flag certificates has been inconsistently applied and does not fulfill the objectives of the office.

"It is inappropriate and beyond the scope of this agency’s responsibilities to censor messages from members," Ayers said.

"The Architect’s role is to certify that flags are appropriately flown over the U.S. Capitol, and any messages on the flag certificates are personal and between a Member of Congress and his or her constituents,” Ayers said.

Well, that's nice, but it sure isn't what he was saying a few days ago. It's amazing how much sense angry Americans can instill in the cowards in Washington.

Somebody Stole Somebody's Girlfriend

Funny, in the regular world, this sort of fight happens just about six months after the U-Haul has come and gone. The fact that it took 40-some years is amazing.

Italian archbishop closes convent after nuns come to blows

A convent in southern Italy is being shut down after a quarrel among its last three remaining nuns ended in blows, press reports said Sunday.

Sisters Annamaria and Gianbattista, reportedly upset about their mother superior's authoritarian ways, scratched her in the face and threw her to the ground at Santa Clara convent near Bari in an incident in July that was kept quiet until now.

Archbishop Giovanni Battista Pichierri tried to reconcile the nuns but finally decided in late August that they had "clearly lost their religious vocation" and asked the Vatican for permission to close the convent.

Was it the Curve Magazine or the DVD of "Desert Hearts" that gave it away?

Sisters Annamaria and Gianbattista moved to another convent, but Sister Liliana barricaded herself inside, refusing to leave, the reports said, adding that she suspected Battista Pichierri of planning to cede the convent to another community...

What are the chances it's West Hollywood?

Oh, and while we're at it, let's cast the movie! I say Charlotte Rampling and Jacqueline Bisset for Annamaria and Gianbattista and Sophia Loren for Liliana. Other ideas?

Posted by Tammy · October 1, 2007 11:29 AM · Permalink · Comments (5)
Cultural Commentary | Faith/The Divine | Humor

Newsflash: Stalking T-Shirt Not Funny

T-shirt isn't funny to stalking victims

It's just a little T-shirt. Gray with white and fuchsia writing. But its message was a slap in the face to the woman who called me Thursday after seeing it in her local Wal-Mart.

"Some say it's stalking, I call it love."

For the past two years, this woman has been stalked until she feels like a prisoner in her own life. She has been spied upon, bullied and threatened with her life..."It's reprehensible," said the woman, whose story is well documented but who asked not to be identified for fear that her stalker might retaliate.

"People don't realize how serious stalking is," she said. "You constantly live in fear, look over your shoulder and suffer from psychological and physical symptoms due to the stress of the stalker."

She wondered aloud: What's next? "Some say it's rape, I call it hot sex"? Or: "Some call it domestic violence, I say I'm just teaching her a lesson"?

And this in 2007. In Wal-Mart. Sheesh.

Posted by Tammy · September 26, 2007 09:55 AM · Permalink · Comments (13)
Authentic Feminism | Crime | Cultural Commentary

Dueling Extremes: Burqinis vs. Floozies, and a plea for Self-Imposed Propriety

A post by Maynard

I was checking out this "Opus" comic (take a look, if it's still there), and I was curious about the reference to a "burqini". What might this be? The strip names a website, www.ahiida.com. Yes, there it is, the burqini collection! Finally, a line of swimwear for Muslim women! And from Australia, no less.

A little web research traced the lineage of this apparel back to the 2005 Cronulla Beach (Australia) riots, in which racial tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims turned violent. I'm vague on the details, but the flashpoint seems to have involved a lifeguard whose swimsuit was regarded as immodest.

This incident inspired an Australian woman to invent the "burqini".

Mrs Zanetti, 38, said it had taken her a year to persuade Muslim women in Sydney that swimming "is not a sin". Now sales of the "burqini", which retails for about £65, have soared, largely through word of mouth.

Meanwhile, back in America, I noticed Susan Estrich's FoxNews editorial, "Little Girls in a Sick Society":

When my daughter was younger, I used to despair every time we went clothes shopping. The outfits in the “girls department” weren’t for girls, they were for little women, cut for little women’s bodies, designed to reveal what was not yet there, or not appropriate for showing, even if it was.

Slut-wear is the only word for it; bad enough for women, horrendous for little girls. Now, when I go to the mall, I notice whole stores devoted to selling nothing but that, aimed at the pre-teen set.

So at one extreme we have a culture so structured that it's regarded as sinful for women to swim. And at the other end, young girls are rushed into sexualized roles.

These are not ideologies that can coexist in close proximity. Clearly we're doomed to ongoing culture clashes if our "multicultural" aspirations are to mainstream and normalize both extremes.

But that's the practical aspect. It seems to me the underlying, and troubling, philosophical question is whether mankind is worthy of the freedoms we enjoy in the West. Must we be enslaved or subservient in order to be good? Without a suffocating social structure, are we doomed to descend into hedonism?

The human creature cannot survive in a state of anarchy. Either we are restrained from within (i.e., by personal conscience and moderate social conventions), or from without (i.e., by church and/or state in positions of coercive authority). I'd prefer to live in a world of the former rather than the latter. But sometimes I wonder if my dream is unrealistic.

Mime Legend Marcel Marceau Has Died

Marcel Marceau

The man was remarkable.

Mime Legend Marcel Marceau Dies at 84

Marcel Marceau, the master of mime who transformed silence into poetry with lithe gestures and pliant facial expressions that spoke to generations of young and old, has died. He was 84...Wearing white face paint, soft shoes and a battered hat topped with a red flower, Marceau breathed new life into an art that dates to ancient Greece. He played out the human comedy through his alter-ego Bip without ever uttering a word.

Offstage, he was famously chatty. "Never get a mime talking. He won't stop," he once said.

A French Jew, Marceau escaped deportation to a Nazi death camp during World War II, unlike his father who died in Auschwitz. Marceau worked with the French Resistance to protect Jewish children, and later used the memories of his own life to feed his art.

Let us not be silent about the impact of someone like this, saving children's lives during a time of war, and entertaining children in the aftermath. All of us can look to Marceau as an example of how to lead a worthy life.

Heaven just got a bit more interesting.

For those of you who do not know Marcel Marceau, here's a 5-minute tribute well worth watching. It is a reminder of the day when being an "entertainer" was more nuanced and complicated than getting out of a car without panties on, or being arrested for DUI, or getting caught in Vegas committing another crime.

Posted by Tammy · September 23, 2007 07:31 PM · Permalink · Comments (5)
Celebrity | Cultural Commentary | Tammy Notes

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Is This a Joke??

"DC Madam" Kills Herself

Noise Audible Only to Teens Used Against Loiterers

Happy Conservatives, Miserable Liberals

Obama and His Racist, America-Hating "Pastor"

A Father's Instinct

Very Sad: Suzanne Pleshette Has Died

Congrats to SondraK-The Official (Again) Grandest Diva of All

2007's Most Awkward Moments

Drug-Addict, Wife Beater Ike Turner Dies

"American Girl" Dolls Made In China

'Bisexual' Celebutante Outed As...Heterosexual

Rodney King's Been Shot

"Gringo" Is to Paperwork As "Wetback" Is To Hygiene

Ellen DeGeneres: Slayer of Puppies!

Contemplating Racial IQ

God=1, Pelosi=0

Somebody Stole Somebody's Girlfriend

Newsflash: Stalking T-Shirt Not Funny

Dueling Extremes: Burqinis vs. Floozies, and a plea for Self-Imposed Propriety

Mime Legend Marcel Marceau Has Died

The Smearing of Kate McCann