The World O' Crap Archive

Welcome to the Collected World O' Crap, a comprehensive library of posts from the original Salon Blog, and our successor site, world-o-crap.com (2006 to 2010).

Current posts can be found here.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Yet Again, Who Said It?

Yes, it’s time for another exciting episode of “Who Said It?” the game show where you pretend to know who said or wrote something stupid, and I pretend to give you prizes.So, let’s get to work.1.  We haven’t paid much attention lately to our first Mystery Guest, but apparently she’s out of detox and is still alive and writing. Who would have guessed?
I note here what is to me a mystery. It is that people with lower IQs somehow tend, in our age, to have a greater apprehension of the meaning of things and the reality of life, than do our high-IQ professionals, who often seem, in areas outside their immediate field, startlingly dim. I don’t know why intellectuals–or cerebralists or eggheads or IQ hegemonists–seem to miss the most obvious things, floating on untethered by common sense. If you talk to a brilliant scholar at a fine university about social policy, chances are he will say with honest perplexity that he cannot understand–really cannot understand–why people would not want men to marry men, or women women. I wish there were a name for this, for the cluelessness of the more intellectually accomplished, the simpler but truer wisdom of those who are often less lettered and less accomplished.
To paraphrase: Retards with spades are smarter than intellectuals are, because the retards understand why gay marriage is so gosh-darned evil, while the smart people don’t.

2. Our next Mystery Guest is best known for his work as a phone-sex operator, but he is also a prominent wingnut whose column just got picked up by Townhall (which is a proud moment in any middle-aged billionaire’s life).
Here’s the first paragraph of this week’s piece:
While millions of Americans are enjoying the summer, taking nice trips and relaxing on the sand, the leaders of Hezbollah are also enjoying the season. From their sanctuary in Iran, the terrorists have announced that they are armed and ready for World War III. Taking a cue from President Bush, the killers are gleefully trotting out the taunt: “Bring it on!”
So, there you have it: Hezbollah takes its murderous cues from George Bush.

But that’s not what this column is really about. No, it’s actually about how during this time of war, we all need to agree that the Bush administration can do no wrong.  Because to do otherwise is to give cues to Hezbollah (and that’s George Bush’s job).
Instead of presenting a united front to the world, the USA is bickering over the “rights” of captured terror suspects, war strategy in Iraq, and whether it’s bad for newspapers to alert terrorists about top-secret investigations designed to stop them from murdering people.
[…]
The sad truth is that apathetic and misguided Americans are actually helping the fanatical Iranian leaders as well as the terror killers themselves. Every political division in this country is cheered on by our enemies.
So, unite behind the Republican leadership, or be jailed in perpetuity as a supporter of terrorism!

3.  Mystery Guest Number Three won a trip to the Middle East in a writing contest. But he survived, and is still writing. (Best laid plans, and all, you know.)
I don’t think the rest of Christendom is as much aware of the homosexual infiltration of the Mennonites as it is aware of the Episcopal diabolical, for example. However, it would be wise to take stock of the infiltration in many locales religious, including not only the Episcopal Church in America but also the United Church of Christ (Congregational), Presbyterian Church of America and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (the term “evangelical” no longer having its biblical meaning in the title of that denomination).
In short, the homosexual religious actors have continued their inroads in what appears to those concerned about End Times theology as a takeover of the Christian Church.
And I wasn’t even aware of the Episcopal diabolical, which shows you how weak my End Times homosexual-infiltration theology is!

4.  And those damned homosexual religious actors had better just stay away from our next Mystery Guest’s church, or Dirty Harry just might plug them full of lead (which isn’t as suggestive as it sounds).

Anyway, MG#4 is going to teach us about the sin of anger, which isn’t actually a sin in many cases, since God WANTS you to get pissed off when “something is evil, goofy, unjust, uncalled for and blatantly bogus.” (But if I got angry at everything that was goofy, bogus, and uncalled for, I’d never be able to read Townhall without my blood pressure going through the roof.  Do you think God will be okay with that?)

But back to MG#4: it’s also okay for his hot wife to get mad at him for going hunting with his manly buddies for months at a time.  But it’s not okay for her to shoot him — I think that’s the lesson we all learned from Brokeback Mountain.
    Heating up is not always evil and deadly.      For example: my wife’s Italian. She’s very passionate. She feels deeply about everything. If she sees a starving orphan from Africa on TV, she’s flying off to Namibia with a case of granola bars in tow to try to feed and then adopt the baby. On the other hand, when I repeatedly pee on the toilet seat, go hunting for 22 weeks out of the year, smoke a cigar in her closet, leave dead bait in her SUV, or say the wrong thing while she’s trying on a dress—God help me! I had better run for my life, because the same passion she shows in saving a kid will manifest in attempting to sever my head (You’ve gotta love Italian women!). The cool thing about my hot wife is that these deep feelings don’t bring on disasters. Her justifiable anger at my antics does not end in my destruction.
Well, at least not so far. But just wait until she completes that course in head severing at the Learning Annex!
5.  This Mystery Guest is somebody whom you just don’t hear much about anymore. But we want to help her raise her profile, so here’s part of a minor Woman’s Wear Daily item about her.
[After the NY Times received an envelope containing a suspicious powder,] Memo Pad went and asked her [if she felt at all responsible when lunatics try to kill the paper’s employees], sending an e-mail to her AOL account. And guess what? She not only responded, but claimed to be the sender of the mysterious powder.
“So glad to hear that The New York Times got my letter and that your friend at the Times thinks I’m funny,” she wrote back.
But remember, kids, that making terrorist threats, even in jest, is a crime. So if YOU do it, you could be in big trouble.

6.   And you know what we really need in this time of war? More chickenhawk bloggers! So, enjoy part of a really exciting press release entitled “Blogger Media at the Forefront of the Middle East Coverage War.”
[Mystery Blogger Consortium] has been offering round-the-clock battlefield reporting in tandem with the most thoughtful commentary from the global blogosphere and traditional sources. … A literal living chronology of the ongoing Israel-Hezbollah War has been created and made available on the [MBC] front page.
“This chronology’s intention is to give the public moment-to-moment access to the vicissitudes of the war and ultimately to provide historians with a record of the evolving struggle,” says [CEO Mystery Wingnut].
Sure, you might think you know the name of this blogger collective (unless changed it again, possibly to something even stupider, such as “Long Underwear Media.  But stop and think: Didn’t they go under several months ago?
But hey, you might be right about the identity of their self-important CEO. He is a well-known author and screenwriter, after all.

7.  Our next Mystery Guest will enlighten us on the shocking truth of who is behind the push for embryonic stem cell research: yes, once again, the evil-doers are the pro-abortion crowd! (It makes perfect sense, since we get all our research embryos from abortions, don’t you know.)

He will also address the fraud which we call science.  (To paraphrase Homer Simpson, “Science, don’t you ever get tired of being wrong about everything?”)
I’m telling you, and I have from the get-go, who is behind this — is the — the militant pro-abortion crowd, because you need abortions to get these.
[…]
I think we need to re-examine this whole term “scientist.” You know, there are certain things in our culture that are never questioned. They have instant credibility. If a scientist says anything, [gasp] it’s gotta be true. . . .It is why global warming has become a scientific thing, because nobody can question science. Why, scientists, smarter than everybody else. And science is science. Science is not politics — well, it’s absolutely BS. Science is all about politics, and science has been so wrong about so many things.
And although, as everyone knows, the embryos used in stem cell research are actually the surplus products of fertility treatments, it’s science that’s wrong about so many things.

Now, everyone repeat with me, “Why, scientists, smarter than everybody else.”

8.  And speaking of pinpoint sized, 5-day-old blastocysts, our last Mystery Guest will claim that they are just as valuable as the Snowflake children. And vice versa.
Each of these human embryos is a unique human life with inherent dignity and matchless value. We see that value in the children who are with us today. Each of these children began his or her life as a frozen embryo that was created for in vitro fertilization, but remained unused after the fertility treatments were complete. Each of these children was adopted while still an embryo, and has been blessed with the chance to grow up in a loving family.
These boys and girls are not spare parts.
But they could be, if John Stossel has his way!

(Oh, and what do you make of the fact that Mystery Guest #7 doesn’t seem to pay any attention to the words of MG #8?)

Anyway, those are our Mystery Guests for today. So, open your test books and start guessing who they are . . .NOW!

34 Responses to “YET AGAIN, WHO SAID IT?”

Aw, man, I suck at this. And I don’t know if I’m in a bad mood, but this festering pile of idiocy just completely pissed me off. Let’s see how well I do:
1.Meghan Cox Gurdon. I guess, probably. I love how the example she picks is one where there legitimately IS no reason for lower class people to feel that way.
Other things that “salt of the earth” (Hey, there’s a name for ‘em. Forrest fucing Gump is another one) know are good that the autistic nitwits that make-up the so-called “intelligentsia” think are bad:
Klan Rallies, Alchoholism, Meth Labs, pig-fucking, and Ted Nugent.
When will the liberal elite listen to the real smarties?
2. Billionaire Jeff Ganon. The juries out on whether it was the intellectual or the bodily prostitution that got him the most benjamins. Or maybe it was when he stole the Triforce.
It’s impossible to say, really.
3. Christian Hartsock. Apparently while he was in the east he studied under the controversial Swami Swank, learning the man’s mystical language and arcane belief system.

Part of the training involves cutting yourself off from all outside influences. Not during fasting or anything; all the time.
4. Doug Giles. At least you gave us one softball. I’d wonder if Giles was a parody, but he’s not really that funny. He’s more like an escaped Saturday Night Live character. Martin Short IS the Metrosexual Outdoorsman!
5. Probably Not Ann Coulter. I mean, it sounds like her, but we’ve been hearing WAY too much about the professional Zorak impersonator lately. Could be one of the Debbies, or Malkin.
Just give me the point if it’s any of those, how’s that sound?
6. Dr. Victor Frankenstein. The tip-off was this:
“… A literal living chronology of the ongoing Israel-Hezbollah War has been created…”
That’s right, this chronicle is literally a lving being. Apparently Dr. Frankenstein is spending his spare time tatooing the monster with a pictoral history of the middle east.
This will only end in tears.
7.Some Piece of Shit With a Radio Show, which makes it either Savage, Hannity, or Limbaugh. Given that he has some relationship with No. 8, this makes him either Hannity or Limbaugh.
There’s no way Alan Colmes is forceful enough to make declarations like “These are not spare parts”, plus, we pretty much already know all there is to know about the relationship between Hannity and Colmes (At least until the sex tapes come to light).
Therefore, No. 8 is incompetant douchebag Rush Limbaugh. Is it too much to ask that one of the most popular and influential talk radio hosts in the country actually know a small amount about what he spouts off on?
It’s high time somebody fired his ass for gross incompetence.
8. David Limbaugh, the Bud Abbott to Rush’s Lou Costello.
Okay okay, the Shemp to Rush’s Joe Besser.
Well Christopher beat me to #5, which is Dougie “I act like a moronic slob to prove I’m a real man, to a degree that it seems like I’m overcompensating for something” Giles. Can’t get #3, #6, #7, and #8.
But #1 is Crazy Dolphin Lady, AKA Peggy Noonan, #2 is Creepy Old Man, AKA Bill O’Reilley, aND #5

#5 is Karen Black’s Understudy for the Stage Musical Version of “Airport ’75″, AKA Annie Jacobson.
Oh, and I’m going guess #3 is Pastor Swank, though it doesn’t sound quite “Swanky” enough, in that it’s not completely incoherent.
Sorry to post yet another comment (I feel like I’m hijacking this thread), but I just want to think Mystery Guest #1 for admitting what I was certain to be true: that intellegent people can’t find a reason to bar gays from marriage, but stupid people think it makes perfect sense.
#8 – Our Commander-in-Chimp, George W. Bush.
“thank”, not “think” in #5 above. Damn typos.
Okay. #1 is Our Lady of the Dolphins, wacky Peggy Noonan. We don’t see her around much because she’s too worried about global warming and whether a Protestant like Ronald Reagan could be canonized a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.
#2 is Bill O’Reilly, fun-loving sexual predator and, in his own opinion, one of the smartest men on the planet. I await his attack on Noonan for her glorification of stupidity.
#3 is Grant Swank, ever vigilant in his fight against religious homosexuals. He knows they’re godless, so why don’t they?
Doug Giles, the perennial favorite who checks in at #4, knows that sometimes when you heat up, it’s just because you’re so darned sexy. In a manly heterosexual way, of course, despite the purple silk shirt.
#5 is the self-proclaimed beauty and brilliant political analyst Ann Coulter, the woman for whom “cock-throppled” was undoubtedly coined.
#6 is Roger el Simon, but, frankly, who cares what Simon says?
#7 is the drug-addled Rush Limbaugh, who doesn’t realize that stem cell research may hold the key to curing Oxycontin addiction and providing new weapons in the great war on erectile dysfunction.
#8 is George W. Bush, Dick Cheney’s second-in-command.
#1 is Nooners. “Retards with spades” gave it away.
#7 is Rush, I think…
1. That guy in “Flowers for Algernon,” using the spade to bury his poor mouse after the operation to make him a genius wears off.
2. Dick Cheney, still pretending that people take cues from his ventriloquist dummy Dubya.
3. Peter LaBarbera, making plans to infiltrate those naughty homosexual churches in his leather chaps.
4. Homer Simpson. Marge (maiden name: Bouvierra) is still mad about his hunting trip, which was supposed to be for the weekend, but he got lost for 22 weeks until he stumbled into the trap she had Lisa set to catch him, but Bart had tampered with it and Homer just escaped being decapitated.
5. Rev. Sun Myung Moon, still miffed that his newspaper don’t get no respect.
6. The courageous Annie Jacobsen, now at Girdle Media. Or possibly JimmyJeff GannonGuckert, thrilling to the, uh, rocket’s red glare.
7. Pat Robertson, who has rendered several fields of science obsolete. Just look at his accomplishments in meteorology: “Hurricanes due to hit sodomites any second! Hey, what’s that headed my way?”
8. Thomas Sowell – he meant to say they are “now” spare parts.
I would think #6 is the famous mexican wrestler Rigoberto “El Simon” Simon, the screenwriter of that last Jack Black movie – possibly an autobiography.
Ahhh… #5 is the Mandible making yet another joke about killing people. Crème Brule anyone?
And #8 is that Senator Brokeback…uh I mean Brownback…

W.D.
This is such great practice for Ultimate Wingnut. Number 1 is the Bertha Rochester of the Right – Nooners. Number 2 is big Bad Bill – phone sex-operator . 3 could be any fundy nut job, but I’m going with the Swankster – while Bill S. is right and it at first appears that Swank has been taking a course in remedial writing this summer, the simple phrase ” homosexual infiltration of the Mennonites” is just so insane as to be, if not written directly by Swank, then Swank’s inspired word. Four is Doug Giles. Five has got to be Annie Get Your Gun Coulter. I have no idea about 6 and 7, but for 7 I’ve decided to go with Sam Brownback And His Talking Embryos. And 8 is Beloved Leader or Mrs. Beloved Leader, either of whom could just as easily have said 7 – or any of the others for that matter.
Damn you! I actually knew most of those! I don’t see why we always have to play Who Let It Dribble Out Their Ears on days when I actually sleep.
I can’t even decide who I think should get style points, because I loved them all.
I’m just going to quietly slip over to Doghouse’s place. He’s got a lower cover charge.
For the record, Doug? Should a guy who “repeatedly pees on the toilet seat” be trusted with guns? Someone needs to practice his aim before being handed live ammo.
(And why do I think Mr Giles assumes that being instructed to put the seat down is part of the oppressive feminist conspiracy? Despite the fact that he freely admits he leaves the toilet a gross-looking mess. Doug, put the damned lid down, too. We haven’t got time to go clean the fucking thing every time you use it.)
well, it looks like all my choices have already been named, so I’ll just see if I can get some style points since it’s my birthday and so maybe I’ll get a comdemnation prize of a pic of the coultergeist
1)Nooners- she better be careful or the dolphins will get her for her slights on intelligence
2)Falafel Bill- I hope ClownHall used tweezers when picking him up, no telling where he’s been.
3)Christian Hartsock- some friends of mine come up with innovative and confusing insults, like “Ass Can,” “Cunt Boat” and “Dick Shoes.” I’ll have to spring “Hart Sock” on them sometime
4)Pastor Doug of Our Lady of the 11 o’clock Checkout Time. smoke a cigar in her closet yeah, he’s gay (as if we needed any more clues)
5)Adam’sAppleAnnie- let’s hope she left fingerprints and the Times brings charges
6)themanwhocreatedmoseswhine- I think he’s got bugs crawling all over him from the overdose, hence the confusion of literal with figurative
7)Rush (fka BlowHard) Limbaugh- after realising he had been taken in by the Costa Rican “you gotta get the girl pregnant so we can the abort the fetus to provide you with stem cells to grow a new liver, kidneys etc” scammers
8)the Fratboy in Chief- he’s been listening to Moustache Boy Stossel and thinks he’ll just get Carlyle Group to buy him a new liver on the black market

On second thought, #4 might be Dick Cheney. His hunting trips are probably rather upsetting to Lynn (among others).
When you consider that she thought Reagan’s organic brain dysfunction was a sign of zenlike deeper wisdom, 1 would pretty much have to be our girl Peg.
Five, of course, is everyone’s favorite blindined bogmummy Ann, who (clearly realizing that she has no skin left to pull up so she’s pretty much committed to her sell-by date at this point) is hoping that her fifteen minutes have a little more give left.
It always slays me how these little blastocysts are so full of potential, but it’s “collateral damage” if Iraqi babies get blown to smithereens, not to mention our own soldiers. I didn’t get the memo on what age we pass “full of potential” and hit “expendable.”
I’m just going to quietly slip over to Doghouse’s place. He’s got a lower cover charge.
Yeah, but D., our buffalo wingnuts are meatier and greasier, and our topless dancers aren’t Ann Coulter, so we’re actually the better value.
Actually, Doghouse has Peggy Noonan doing table dances this week. I don’t know if that’s a draw or not, really.
Happy Birthday, Preznit Giv Me Turkee. If that is your real name.
it is. and I have the pixelwork to prove it
So I got…maybe two out of 8 right. Hmmm. I didn’t read Mystery Guest #5 closely enough before I posted my answer, which is why it’s such a dumb guess. In fact, I now have no idea how I arrived at it. Especially since the correct answer was so obvious.
1.) is Peggy “Dances With Dolphins” Noonan, whose latest detox just *didn’t* take. When Peggy passes on, she won’t receive a fancy state funeral like her idol, Ronnie Raygun did. No, she’ll be unceremoniously dumped by the side of the highway, where, due to budget cuts, her corpse will spend months being gnawed on by coyotes before it’s scraped up.
2.) Bill O’Falaffel Reilly, who seems to think that if all America unites to hate those rotten Ay-rabs that it lead to cheap gas because of, um something or other. Good thinkin’, Billy-boy!
3.) J. Grant Swank, Jr., master of the mystic arts. His long sabbatical (to the Westboro Baptist Church) has finally paid off, and he knows who’s *really* behind everything bad–Doug Giles!
4.) And speaking of the “manly” Pastor Giles… Excuse me, smoking cigars in his wife’s closet?!? Somebody must be pleased when her lace teddy smells like an ashtray, but I bet it osn’t *her*. Maybe it makes Dougie feel more comfortable when he slips it on, who knows?
5.) mAnn-hands Coulter, patiently awaiting the arrival of the cops to arrest her for that fake NY Times “mAnnthrax” letter like Karen Black at the end of Trilogy Of Terror…*chock* *chock* *chock*.
6.) The Leader of “Mission Unpossible” hisself, Roger “L.” Simon. For those of you viewing at home, he’s the one with the cowboy hat, boots, and mustache played by Gerald McRaney, not the other one played by Chas Johnson Jameson Parker.
7.) Since I don’t really have a clue, I’m gonna guess what the smart people say and go with Rush Limbaugh, though if Nooners is right, this is a foolish course to pursue. If I am, in fact, incorrect, I blame the proprietress of this blog for not making the clue blindingly obvious enough. If I’m right, hooray for cheating!
8.) Chimpy McHitlerburton? Commander Coo-Coo Bananas? Dumbya? Incurious George? El Gringo Loco? The Littlest Preznit? Jeebus v2.0? Drunky McDrunkington? Shrubby Arbusto? Teh Cheerleader In Chief? Condi’s Husband? Spendy “It’s Only Credit” McDefecitington? I Spy (with my little NSA) Something Beginning With Dubya? Worst. Preznit. Evah? oh, yeah–It’s George W. Bush. Bleah!

My son’s IQ is close to 200.
He votes Green Party. How smart is he?

If Marq doesn’t get major style points for this one, I will declare the whole thing rigged and demand Jimmy Carter observe the next round of Who Said It.
[...] For example, S.Z. at World O’Crap recently shared a column from Pastor Grant, dated July 19, about the recent plot by the homosexuals to infiltrate the Mennonites (presumably because of the Mennonite flair for fashion). Grant’s jeremiad about Gaynnonites, starts like this: When visiting Mennonite friends in central Pennsylvania, they informed us of their grave concern. Because they are born again Christians, life-long Mennonites, they are alarmed at the enemy taking over the Mennonite congregations. [...]
is as much aware of the homosexual infiltration of the Mennonites
hell, I really woudn’t call it “infiltration.”
didn’t they have ads all over TV and even a Seinfeld episode where they keep going “Bi-Mennon?”

When are we getting the answers? I’m hoping my really stupid guess at least got style points (tho, as D. Sidhe noted, Marq’s answers were more deserving of those.)
I wish there were a name for this, for the cluelessness of the more intellectually accomplished, the simpler but truer wisdom of those who are often less lettered and less accomplished.
Anti-intellectualism. Or: Catonism
When are we getting the answers?
See #8.
(For proof, just Google a phrase from each excerpt. That’s cheating, though!)
Wait, other people have heard of google?
I didn’t get the memo on what age we pass “full of potential” and hit “expendable.”
It’s at birth.

...And Kam Fong as Chin Ho


Apologies for my spotty contributions lof late.  I’ve been having computer problems for the past week or so, leaving the bulk of the blogging burden to s.z., and forcing her to balance her witty bon mots about contemporary politics with a frequent deployment of Handiwipes to cope with the unending slurry of kitten and dog ejecta that is rapidly turning her stately manor into a Superfund site.

The good news is, I’ll probably be around even less next week, since I’m taking a brief, long overdue, and completely undeserved vacation to Hawaii (although I may reappear at any moment and challenge Americablog to an orchid-blogging deathmatch).
Be there.  Aloha.

4 Responses to “…And Kam Fong as Chin Ho”

…And Kam Fong as Chin Ho.
A few years ago when I first got tivo, I began recording and watching all episodes of hawaii-five-0, and that part right there just cracks me up for some reason.

They have no choice but to mention both his real name and the name of his character – but for some reason it is hilarious. Can you explain it please?
What, no love for Zulu as Kono? Or was it Kono as Zulu?
What, no love for Zulu as Kono? Or was it Kono as Zulu?
Call me sentimental, but to me Zulu will always be “Zulu” from the failed 1977 Quinn Martin pilot Code Name Diamond Head, which also starred Roy Thinnes as “Johnny Paul,” swinging Waikiki-based counterintelligence agent and heir to the frozen fishstick fortune.
I’m getting one of those totally undeserved Hawaii vacations in November, apparently. My partner’s cousin is getting married, and apparently this time I’m expected to meet the family. With any luck they won’t all hate me. But even if they do, my partner’s father is paying for the trip, and I might get to see an actual gray or humpback whale or something.

Meredith Lisa Stossel and John Bubba Stossel


Meredith Lisa Stossel, the daughter of Bridget and Harold Stossel of Dogpatch, New Jersey was married Saturday, July 15, 2006 to John Bubba Stossel, the son of Sharon and Phillip Stossel of West Dogpatch, New Jersey.  Pastor A. Rand officiated at Our Lady of Perpetual Chromosonal Damage in East Dogpatch, New Jersey.

The hillbilly-themed wedding and reception took place at the Hoot-n-Holler Garden of Love in South Dogpatch.  The Best Man was the groom’s brother and son, the Maid of Honor was the bride’s mother, aunt, and second cousin twice removed.  The flower girls and ringbearer were human-animal hybrids.
 
The Stossel/Stossel Wedding Party.  From L to R on groom’s side:  Groom John Stossel.  Cousin Clem Stossel.  Cousin Lum Stossel.  Brother/Father Cletus Stossel.  Second cousin Abner Stossel.  Third Cousin Jebediah Stossel and his conjoined twin, Chang Stossel.  Brother and possible uncle Rip Stossel.  From L to R on Bride’s side:  Second Cousin Rose of Sharon Stossel, first Cousin and probable half-sister Rebecca Stossel, some transvestite from a local barber shop quartet, aunt Jane Darwell Stossel-McCoy, sister/sister-in-law Cissy Stossel-Stossel, Lorna Hayduke, who isn’t related to the rest of the family, but she’s her own mother, and the Bride.

Oh god. You had me at “Chang.”
D. Sidhe is gonna be so very disappointed that someone else got the mustache o’ doom first, and all that that implies. Or, you know, not.
I finally learned – through bitter experience – not to even click on the link to this site without having a roll of paper towels in hand with which to wipe clean the keyboard, screen, cat, and whatever else is in immediate range of nose/mouth spray…..Sweet jesus this one is funny – the picture alone nearly did me in!
Absolutely. Think of the fun we could have had together, me, Johnny, a pair of tweezers…
In lieu of flowers, the guests were asked to leave organs behind.
Well, D. Sidhe, it depends on what hair you’ll be yanking out with the tweezers. And how HARD you pull on it. (More detail than that might cause you dear readers to cringe in horror. Until you imagine the shreiks of pain John would be emitting. Then the laughter begins.)
Who caught the bouquet? Who sang, for the bride and groom’s first dance, “I’m My Own Granpaw”?

Sunday, January 30, 2011

First Sunscreen, Now Cousin Marriage -- Damn That Nannystat


While it’s been eclipsed by Ann Coulter’s latest screed, contrarian crank John Stossel also has a book out. And so, like Ann, John is deliberating being provocative and annoying (and wearing black cocktail dresses to interviews) in order to help sell the thing.
Just note the topics of his columns from the past couple of months:
Many Politicians Are Big Hypocrites (We note that this represents a bold stance on Stossel’s part.)
And so on.
Thus, with a diminishing supply of stuff to be contrarian about, it’s no surprise that John’s latest effort is “Incest? It’s No Big Deal.” (Or, as John titled it, “Think your cousin’s cute? Relax.”
It’s short, but here’s a shorter version:
I used to believe in the myth that marrying your cousin would result in retarded mutant offspring, with gills and webbed toes. But then I became a Libertarian, and now believe that the government has no business telling you whom you should marry (except in those instances when your choice of a partner would be totally depraved and icky).
But John tells some parts of the story better than I do.  So, here’s Johnny!
Half the states in America have banned cousin marriage, but there’s no good reason for it. You can marry your cousin and have perfectly intelligent kids.
Take Albert Einstein — was he intelligent enough for you? His parents were cousins, and he married his cousin. So did Charles Darwin and Queen Victoria. Worldwide, 20 percent of all married couples are cousins.
And that little problem with hemophilia that afflicted so many of Queen Victoria’s offspring, due to the interbreeding among the crowned heads of Europe?  Don’t give it a second thought!  (John didn’t)
As with so many of our laws, there is little reason for the ban. The laws date back hundreds of years to a time when the Catholic Church campaigned against cousin marriages, because in the Bible, in Leviticus, it says, “None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin.”
But a cousin isn’t terribly “near.” Just ask Brian and Caren Wagner. Brian’s dad and Caren’s mom are brother and sister, so Brian and Caren spent a lot of time together at family functions. Eventually, they fell in love and decided to marry.
So, you can see that their relationship wasn’t terribly near, just like John said.  They were just two strangers who happened to meet regularly at family functions.
So, let’s skip John’s summary of one study that shows that having kids with your cousin only doubles their chance of having a serious problem like spina bifida or cystic fibrosis, and skip to the moral we should derive from it.
There are risks and challenges in any marriage, but it should not be for politicians to decide such intimate matters as whether you get to marry the person you love. Love, marriage and procreation are personal choices better not left to “experts” who are often repeating myths.
Very interesting column, John. And I even agree with a lot of it, including your premise that it shouldn’t be illegal to marry your cousin.
But what did John’s Townhall readers think of it?
Well, along with noting the obvious (that John’s columns are becoming progressively more stupid week by week), some readers noted that once again, John’s science seems faulty, as he has presented one study as the definitive answer to all questions involving the genetics of interbreeding among cousins.
Many readers also wanted to know what sparked this interest in the issue of cousin-marriage rights, since one might think that John could find more important things to whine about (such as a follow-up to the columns about banned sunscreen).  As one commenter put it:
I can’t help but wonder if you ran out of things to write about. Do you have eyes for a cousin perhaps?
Perhaps. But perhaps John is just part of the One-World media elite that is trying to force us to accept immigrants and to marry our cousins!
He’s not talking about siblings marrying…at least, not yet. That will be next, and why shouldn’t it be, using his logic? Introducing this practice and getting the American people to soften up to it and accept it has been in the works for years by our so-called elites, because they recognize that it is accepted throughout much of the (mostly) Third World, and our immigration policy does not allow for any discrimination as to who we let in this country and who we keep out. Middle Eastern Arabs have been marrying cousins for centuries. Might this not explain their apparent inability to form functional societies and have rational discussions without wild conspiracy theories driving everything? There are also very high incidences of otherwise rare genetic disorders in the Arab Muslim world that are kept hush-hush by the MSM but that are directly attributable to cousins marrying for too many generations.
Why must our traditions constantly be under attack? Why can’t the people who come here adapt to our accepted practices and social norms?
Why indeed?  And if John wants to marry his attractive cousin, why can’t he just move to Shelbyville?
[Obglitatory Simpsons Quote}
Jebediah Springfield: "People, our search is over. On this site we shall build a new town, where we can worship freely, govern justly, and grow vast fields of hemp for making rope and blankets."
Shelbyville Manhattan: "Yes, and marry our cousins."
Jebediah: "What are you talking about Shelbyville? Why would we want to marry our cousins?"
Shelbyville: "Cause they're so attractive. I thought that was the whole point of this journey."
Jebediah: "Absolutely not."
Shelbyville: "I tell you I won't live in a town that robs men of the right to marry their cousins."
Jebediah: "Well then, we'll form our own town. Who will come and live a life devoted to chastity, abstinence, and a flavorless mush I call rootmarm?"
Now, back to the commenter's interesting theory that inbreeding causes a belief in conspiracy theories:  I find it to be worthy of investigation, and hope that some intrepid genetic counselors will conduct a survey among the Freepers, Lucianne-ites, and LittleGreenWhatevers.
Anyway, other readers came up with a more sinister explanation for John’s column: it’s really a coded message of support for gay marriage!
But other’s disagreed:
John Stossel is right on the money with this article. It will be as difficult to refute as the arguments presented by the global warming scare-mongerers. [Note: I think the poster didn’t mean this ironically.]
I’m not sure what this has to do with gay marriage either. These are separate and distinct issues. … A relationship between consenting adults (i.e., a man and a woman) is not a problem, except in the eyes of religious nuts and the woefully misinformed/ignorant. This is not deviant or aberrant behavior except in the eyes of those perpetuating ancient societal taboos passed from generation to generation. I believe this is the same crowd still thinking they will go blind if they pleasure themselves.
Yes, this issue is indeed completely different from gay marriage, in that it involves a relationship between consenting adults who are of DIFFERENT SEXES!  While you’d have to be one of those idiots who perpetuate ancient societal taboos from generation to generation to think that there’s something wrong with marrying one’s cousin, it’s self-evident that same-same marriage is deviant and aberrant.
Another reader also addressed the allegation that Stossel favors gay marriage:
I don’t think his article is as ridiculous as some are suggesting here. …As for any connection to the gay “marriage” issue, I think they’re completely separate and distinct. … It’s a far cry from challenging the fundamental historical definition of marriage as one man and one woman.
See, the historical definition of marriage is based on the teachings of the Bible (as is the condemnation of homosexuality), while the laws against marrying one’s cousin are based on a teaching from of the Bible that can be interpreted various ways. Understand now?
In any case, we wish John well in whatever romantic plans he may have, whether they involve marrying a comely Stossel cousin and raising up a passel of mustached children, or whether he actually plans to legalize his relationship with Gene Shalit.
Posted by s.z. on Thursday, July 20th, 2006 at 7:17 pm.

COMMENTS:



I, for one, welcome our new cousin-marrying cultural overlords.

WTF is Stossel up to? I can’t shake the feeling he’s laying the ground for some argument. Either that or the nanny state didn’t manage to protect him from BSA-infected burgers.

Left by D. Sidhe on July 20th, 2006


Well, D. Sidhe, my own theory is that Stossel is simply a fuckin’ moron. I know, as theories go, that might be a little “out there”, but it’s just my gut feeling.

Left by Bill S on July 20th, 2006


I hate to say it, but Stossel is mostly right, technically–the increased genetic load from first cousins marrying is slight. (Hemophilia is X-linked, inherited from the mother; it ran through European royalty not because of inbreeding but because the genetic pool of females was artificially small.)

But that brings up two points related to “why’d you bring this up?” Marrying your first cousin is legal in nearly half the states already, as he notes, so what’s the problem? And how is it he writes about this–essentially an “It is illegal to give a penguin a bath in Waterloo, Iowa” column–without ever mentioning gay marriage?

But then Stossel’s “Libertarianism” is the same breed as the employee I had many years ago who regularly “misread” the schedule and came in at noon when he was supposed to show up at 8 AM. ‘Long about the third time I asked him how it was he never showed up at 8 when he could still be home in bed? Stossel’s “out of ideas” at a time when the Congress of the United States is wasting money–YOUR money, we could hear him saying–trying to force kids to pledge allegience to God, and interfering with what could be life-saving technologies in the name of Bronze Age moralisms, Republican nannyisms about which he says nothing.

Left by Doghouse Riley on July 21st, 2006


Rudy Giulliani married his cousin. It sounds crazy, but so does Stossel, but maybe this is just a long term project to make cousin marriage just a normal thing, and not something that’s sick or weird?

Or maybe he’s just a big fan of Jerry Lee Lewis.

Left by Prudence Goodwife on July 21st, 2006


“Inbreeding causes people to believe in crazy conspriacy theories. The Media is covering up the genetic defects of Arabs!”

Who else found this ironic?

Left by Hysterical Woman on July 21st, 2006


You know, it’s absolutely true that gay sexual relations can never be characterized as being between “consenting adults.” You have to choose between having relations with willing, horny minors, or rape. Personally, I don’t find kids attractive, so it’s rape, rape, rape. It’s hard work–the stalking, the extreme violence with which I subdue my victim(s). And, technically, it’s against the law. But, laws are for little people, yes? Ah, well–at least it’s cheaper than traditional dating.

Left by Marq on July 21st, 2006


Didn’t Cyrano de Bergerac fall in love with his cousin?

And then there was Alfonse Van Worden, who married two of his cousins, who were themselves sisters.

And let’s not get into the clan incest taboos of this coubntry, which often rendered affairs between people unrelated by blood incestuous while still allowing cousins to marry.

Let’s face it, people like to marry their cousins!

Although I can’t imagine what prmpted Stossel to write this, especially without mentioning gay marriage. I think he’s just gone completely round the bend.

Left by Christopher on July 21st, 2006


There’s some point he’s setting up here. I mean, this is not the first study that says inbreeding is not in itself especially dangerous.

You really need a *lot* of recessive genes and a *lot* of people with them before it becomes an issue. A few people in one family marrying cousins over the course of a hundred generations won’t give you webbed toes. It takes concerted effort to get you, for example, a breed of incredibly neurotic dalmations. And most people don’t like their family that much.

And Doghouse is right, this is very much one of those people-whining-about-obscure- unenforced-regional-laws- almost-nobody-wants-to- break-anyway columns.

The funny thing is, one of the very few areas with which I agree with Stossel is that he’s actually not an anti-gay asshole. His skepticism (and bad journalism) extends to the ex-gay movement, for example. The man’s a dick and an idiot and a short-sighted libertarian and kneejerk contrarian, but he’s never really shown any signs of bigotry towards people, as long as they’re not poor.

So I have no idea why he, clearly deliberately, left gay marriage out of this. I have to wonder if he’s not working his way around to it.

It’s either that, or he’s genuinely gone nuts.

Left by D. Sidhe on July 21st, 2006


Now, hang on, gang….we ought to be applauding, you know in our typical bleeding heart liberal way, Stossel’s efforts at pumping up the self-esteem of the Bubba element in this country.

Think about it: you know how they’re always on us about, you know, ending every T ball game in a tie and all that?

Well, I’m sure the marriage of Aunt Beru to Nephew Phil probably has some of them on edge and nervous that, you know, some Federal judge is going to crack down on them…that whole “marriage must be between a man and a woman” sort of loses its meaning when you inbreed that much.

So all Stossel is saying is that…well, cousins are good enough, smart enough and dammit, people LIKE them!

Left by actor212 on July 21st, 2006


Charles Darwin did indeed marry Emma Wedgewood, his first cousin. Let the Wikipedia take up the tale from there:

“Several of their children suffered illness or weaknesses, and Charles Darwin’s fear that this might be due to the closeness of his and Emma’s lineage was expressed in his writings on the ill effects of inbreeding and advantages of crossing.”

Left by jpj on July 21st, 2006


Half the states in America have banned cousin marriage, but there’s no good reason for it. You can marry your cousin and have perfectly intelligent kids.

I… just… there are no words…

Left by Brad R on July 22nd, 2006


An interesting statistic I came across is that 80% of all marriages in human history were between people who were at least 2nd cousins or closer.

“What could be more natural than to love a cousin?”

Beginning of a short story in Harpers’ Monthly, 1858.

Left by The Dark Avenger on July 23rd, 2006

...And Mom Made Me Take Out the Trash, and Then Jonah Ate My Cheetos



Preview Image
The Corner’s John Podhoretz informs the world that the
Kos Kids Show True Colors:


According to a much-circulated Daily Kos post from Sunday, Israel is to blame for the provocations that began the war with Iraq: “They are not a country that, in my opinion, represents our values but rather one we generally oppose,” says the blogger Naufragus. If I were Joe Lieberman, I would get this circulated around Connecticut so the Jewish community there would get a sense of just who will be celebrating a Lamont victory.
And if I were Joe Lieberman, I’d have to be pretty stupid to take advice from J-Pod (but I would be Joe Lieberman, so I guess that goes with the territory).But anyway, a few minutes later, John explains why it’s not his fault that he’s wrong about everything.
I’m getting angry e-mail from people telling me I’m being unfair to the Daily Kos because anybody can post anything there and get promoted from subentry to diary if it gets 10 votes or something and blah blah blah and surely I know all this and therefore I am being unjust, besides which a lot of people on the site are criticizing the original anti-Israel posting. First of all, I am not familiar with the posting rules and systems on Daily Kos, because I have better things to do than know them. Second of all, I received five e-mails from various leftie lists linking specifically to that diary, which suggests it made a dent and is being widely circulated, as I said. And finally, is there anybody who will seriously offer a claim that left-wing activists in the United States tilt toward Israel and not toward the Palestinians? Anybody been to a college campus in the past 20 years?  [Posted at 2:58 PM]
To summarize JPod’s position: 
1.  Although the Kos kids didn’t really show their true colors, in that the item John posted was just a comment by one person that got turned into a diary entry, and many other Kossack disagreed with it, blah, blah, blah, John is much too important to worry his pretty little head with knowing what he’s talking about
2.  Since John was emailed  the post by five “lefties lists” (all of whom endorsed the comments completely, and presumably sent them to John in the belief that they could convert him to their way of thinking), John was indeed correct in his claim that Lamont supporters believe that Israel is an enemy of the United States.
(BTW, John, those guys who say that they’re the former Nigerian finance minister and they have $50 trillion that they want to share with you if you’ll just send them your bank account number, could be misrepresenting themselves.  Ditto the person who says she’s a hot cheerleader who heard that you’re a fun guy and so she wants to take her clothes off for you if you’ll just give her your Master Card number.)
3.  Besides, John met a liberal activist when he attended college, and that guy was sympathetic towards the Palestinians, thus proving John’s original claim that the non-Lieberman Democrats hate Israel.
Gentle readers, if you are ever caught making a misstatement, I think you’ll find that if you follow John’s ”I’m sorry that you’re such a doofus as to believe that I was wrong” approach, you’ll emerge with your credibility actually enhanced by the event.
Allow me to offer you a little example:  One day you happen to claim on your well-read blog that the neocons have shown their true colors, as it is widely reported in wingnut circles that John Podhoretz isn’t really Norman’s son, but actually the fruit of a union that Midge Decter had with Charles Manson (hey, it was the ’60′s, and Midge was doing a lot of acid back then).  You add that if you were Markos, you would widely circulate this fact, in order to let the voters know just whom prominent Republicans like Ronald Reagan and William Bennett had hired to work for them.  
But then you get some angry emails telling you that DNA testing, conducted at Norm’s request after John book was such a failure (as was John, who turned out to be quite a putz) confirmed that Norm was indeed John’s biological father.
Instead of apologizing or admitting any culpability, claim that you have better thing to do than familiarize yourself with all the men whom Midge slept with.  Add that five neocon newslists emailed you the rumor, so it was widely circulated, proving that there are doubts about the reliability of the DNA evidence.  And conclude by asking your critics if there is anyone who will seriously claim that John doesn’t look like he could be a serial killer, or at least the son of one.  (Hey, has anybody watched “C.S.I.” in the past 20 years?)
I think this approach will work just as well for you as it does for JPod.
 Oh, and that photo of John is from the Frontpage’s Summer Reading list, a feature wherein various conservative personalities reveal what they’re reading this summer, plan to be reading, would like you to believe that they’re reading, and would like you to believe that they actually can read.  In it, John reveals that “My major summer reading is I’m A Big Sister.”  (Hey, check it out of you don’t believe me!)
COMMENTS:







Manson had better taste.

Left by Gus on July 17th, 2006


Or, you know, you could be a “pro-life” blogger who breathlessly reveals that the pro-choice crowd (particularly those slutty feminist women) have shown their true colors by writing an editorial in a national leftist paper that says they think abortions are way fun. And then when half the English-speaking world points out that you’re a moron for not getting that the newspaper in question, what with its barrage of stories about our long national nightmare of prosperity and peace being over and how the DHS is stupid to tell people to shoot zombies in the torso when everybody *knows* you should aim for the head, is some kind of joke, you can explain that that’s just more liberal bias on display. Then, when they point out that yes, it really is a joke, and not just, you know, erroneous reporting of the sort FOX has trained you to accept as fact, you can say, “Okay, maybe that wasn’t real, but some person I talked to once said things that seemed sort of similar, so this really is their agenda!” And, hey, if that doesn’t work, you can always pretend your comments were a joke in the first place that no one else got because they, not you, are the stupid ones.

I’m actually kind of sensing a trend among supporters of President Infallible. Weird, huh. If I spot, say, Ben Shapiro doing something like this (and it’s pretty much a given he’s tried it in the last year or so) can I borrow someone’s blog to do a long ranty article about how the righties have shown their true colors?

Left by D. Sidhe on July 17th, 2006


If I spot, say, Ben Shapiro doing something like this (and it’s pretty much a given he’s tried it in the last year or so) can I borrow someone’s blog to do a long ranty article about how the righties have shown their true colors?

Long and ranty? Sign us up, D!

Left by scott on July 17th, 2006


Have I said how much I love World O’Crap? I love you guys! – in a strictly non-Midge Dector/Charles Manson kind of way, of course.

Left by BeginningToWonder on July 18th, 2006


Jeez, just look at this. Instead of admitting he was wrong, which would have–what? Forced him to renounce a lifetime of making shit up?–the Pod Man invents five lefty newsletters which he apparently reads observantly, if not religiously, even though we’re supposed to believe he’s too busy to have heard of Marcos Moulitsas. This is the sort of thing that happens to you when the only exercise you get–mental or physical–is shooting fish in your privately stocked, extremely small barrel.

What, really, is to be done about the Cornerites? Apart from Derb and KLo–unless I’m forgetting somebody–they’re probably all something less than certifiable, but I’ll be goddamed if there’s a one of them who, were he my roommate, wouldn’t cause me to hide all the medicines and cutlery.

And D., you know you’re always welcome at my joint, assuming you want to rant without fear of anybody reading it.

Left by Doghouse Riley on July 18th, 2006


By the way, John’s picture?

All I can say is HOGANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

Left by actor212 on July 18th, 2006


“I am far to busy and important to do any research into the things I write about for a living”

Left by Kathy on July 18th, 2006


Can we hear more about that cheerleader. It was just getting interesting….

Left by tbogg on July 18th, 2006


Well, if JPod is reading “I’m a Big Sister,” it must mean that he and the missus are spawning again. As Casa Biscuitbarrel’s looooooooooong experience with Washington writers already has shown, JPod will embark on a series of Gurdonific Miracle of Life-type chats. If there’s a boy, there will be a religious brit milah (instead of an anonynmous, in-hospital circumcision). Then JPod will muse about Completing the Circle of Life, the experience of one day teaching the Podnik to pee standing up, and will discurse upon the quality and freshness of the whitefish at the breakfast following the brit milah, including whether any of the guests got queasy.

(At one A-List Washington Journalists’ Celebrity Brit Milah at which I was in attendance, there definitely were some queasy guests. I quipped to one greenish gent standing uncomfortably close to me, “Next we hand out the shrunken heads!” Alas, he believed me.)

If JPod gets a second daughter, he will try to take it like a man. Very likely, he will quote from Proverbs: “A woman of valor, who can find? For her value is more than rubies…” even though he’s already sick unto death of stepping on Barbie shoes. He will wonder if Mrs. and Mr. Liz Cheney Perry got discouraged by having three daughters before their son arrived. He will wonder if Mrs. Pod can be sweet-talked into “trying for a boy” even as her stitches still hurt. Only she gets the Percodet; both will sulk.

Left by Mrs. Tarquin Biscuitbarrel on July 18th, 2006


Tbogg,

I can introduce you. Call me at 1-900-SUCK-HER…she might even answer the call!

Left by actor212 on July 18th, 2006


I think Jonah might bethis man’s direct decendent.

Left by BeginningToWonder on July 18th, 2006


If John Podhoretz wants to give Lieberman advice he should just go post it on Joe’s blog:

http://liebermania.blogspot.com

Left by Henri on July 19th, 2006


yeah, yeah, yeah – I mean to say “John” not “Jonah”. But I think you knew that.

Left by BeginningToWonder on July 19th, 2006


BtW, it’s okay. It’s hard to tell them apart, what with the near-indistinguishable lack of personality and aura of martyred “self-chosen” virginhood.

Long and ranty? Sign us up, D!

And D., you know you’re always welcome at my joint, assuming you want to rant without fear of anybody reading it.

Hah! Considering my inclination to long and ranty in your comments anyway, I wouldn’t encourage that. I am insufferably flattered nonetheless. *curtsey*

Left by D. Sidhe on July 19th, 2006


Are we to conclude that he deliberately posed his hands like that for a publicity photo? Or was he caught unawares while saying “and I would have gotten away with it too, if not for you meddling kids!”

Left by melior on July 19th, 2006


JPod’s reason that “I am not familiar with the posting rules and systems on Daily Kos, because I have better things to do than know them.” is kind of the basic black of the right-wing. You can use it on any occasion.

For example, look at how useful it is to George Bush:

“I am not familiar with the United States Constitution, because I have better things to do than know it.”

“I am not familiar with modern science, because I have better things to do than know it.”

Oh, and I have to agree with Gus regarding Mr. Manson’s taste.

Left by tomg on July 20th, 2006


Still, though: who wouldn’t fuck J-Pod. Am I right? I mean, check out that gloriously shiny pate. Mmm, J-pod. Dude. Call me.

Honestly, I have no idea what I’m talking about. I just so want to tag that (for real).

Left by matt on July 20th, 2006


Ha ha, J-pod is a “Big Sister”! Ha ha, I… oooh.

Did I just pull a John Aravosis/”Big Girl” faux pas here? No offense intended, ladies! Please, put down the torches and pitchforks! Hey, what is that, tar and feathers?

[glub]

Yeeeeaarrrggghhh!!!1!!

Left by Marq on July 20th, 2006


Marq, you know we love you. In a gay way.

Left by D. Sidhe on July 20th, 2006


Pointing out that Israel made a mistake: “You hate the Jews!” Even if you are Jewish, they just call you “self-hating” then. Makes me wish there wasn’t a Jewish state (quote that, will you?).

Left by Hysterical Woman on July 21st, 2006