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.
Showing posts with label Bam Bam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bam Bam. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

J. Matt Barber, Concerned Woman


J. Matt is not only a columnist for RenewAmerica, not only “an attorney concentrating in constitutional law,” (which usually means filling up the break room at work with empty pizza boxes and discarded Slurpee cups as he brainstorms strict constructionist and/or original textualist interpretations that prove the Commerce Clause totally outlaws abortion), but he’s also the “Policy Director for Cultural Issues” at Concerned Woman for America.  And as a woman concerned with America and culture and Issues, J. Matt has naturally gone all twitter-pated about Mary Cheney’s bouncing baby abomination.
Mary Cheney, unwed lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, has given birth to a son, Samuel David Cheney. This beautiful child of God is undoubtedly a wonderful blessing to Ms. Cheney and to his two doting grandparents. This precious new life should be celebrated. But the conditions under which Ms. Cheney has chosen to bring this child into the world are to be condemned.Although circumstances don’t always allow child rearing to occur within God’s natural design for the family (which includes both a mother and a father), Ms. Cheney has very sadly and selfishly made the conscious choice to deny her child a natural family environment. She has intentionally deprived him of his other parent — his father.
More commonly known as “that guy who masturbated into a cup at the sperm bank for fifty bucks.” 
Ms. Cheney apparently intends to have a woman by the name of Heather Poe, whom she has identified as her lesbian “partner,” assist in the rearing of her son; but unfortunately, Ms. Poe can never replace little Samuel David’s other parent — his dad.
Has this “Ms. Poe” person ever taken a Juggs magazine into a toilet stall and whacked off for a cup of juice and a small honorarium?  No!  All she’s gonna do is hang around for the next 18 years, changing diapers, bandaging skinned knees, helping with homework and saving for college.  Sure, hop on the bandwagon now, bitch!  The hard work’s all done. 
One wonders if Ms. Cheney has ever contemplated what her childhood may have been like if she had been denied her own father.
Self-righteous jackholes like you wouldn’t be writing about her personal life?
The Fox News Channel, which in the past has at least made an effort to avoid liberal bias and political correctness in its reporting…
We will now take a break, while those who spewed their drinks pause to swab the monitor, and those who aspirated their beverages stagger around the house looking for someone to Heimlich them.
Okay, we’re back:
…has covered the story with the PC caption: Dick Cheney’s Daughter & Lesbian Partner Give Birth to Boy. This begs the question: How is it that Ms. Cheney’s lesbian partner has “[given] birth to a boy”?
Well, she’s got a better shot at it than Dick Cheney’s son-in-law, Phillip Perry.  On the other hand, given Phil’s tireless efforts to defend chemical plants from EPA regulation, he might have started to grow his own set of bacon and Playdoh, allowing he and wife Elizabeth Cheney to trade off the childbearing chores.
It is a biological impossibility for a homosexual “couple” to conceive a child without the assistance of a third party who is a member of the opposite sex. Yes, due to infertility natural male-female couples sometimes have to employ similar assistance, but there is no comparison.
Oh wait, I just made one.  Crap!

19 Responses to “J. Matt Barber, Concerned Woman”
Has this “Ms. Poe” person ever taken a Juggs magazine into a toilet stall and whacked off a cup of juice for a small honorarium?
[spit take]
Wot th’‽‽‽ Damn, I better read that again!
Has this “Ms. Poe” person ever taken a Juggs magazine into a toilet stall and whacked off for a cup of juice and a small honorarium?
Oh! Heh-I musta misread that sentence. I thought you were talking about some bizarre, mutant offspring of Peter North and Matt Ramsey… [in joke alert]… and, if you know where I can find such a man, TELL ME NOW!!!!
[licks chops at the thought]
Scott, maybe you could start including those helpful intermissions in all of your posts? I’d be grateful.
And would anyone like to explain to me how, if male/female married couples are so ideal, Mary ended up lesbo in the first place? Don’t they usually blame that on abusive fathers?
But the conditions under which Ms. Cheney has chosen to bring this child into the world are to be condemned.
Yes, it’s bad, but there is worse news… many parents bring children into the world under conditions even more condemnable [is that a word?]. Hard to imagine, but some of them can’t even afford hired help!
and those who aspirated their beverages stagger around the house looking for someone to Heimlich them.
actually, that’s more of an 911 call and trip to the hospital, since you can’t block an airway with liquids, but can get pneumonia
I’ll be happy to give the matter serious consideration just as soon as these guys offer anything which sounds like a solution. Make it a crime for unmarried women to get pregnant. Require both mothers and fathers to be home at least fourteen hours a day. Outlaw assisted fertilization, or require all properly heterosexual couples availing themselves of such assistance to adopt one unwanted child for each one they artificially conceive. When the Right’s as eager to feed, clothe, shelter, and provide health care and decent public education for poor children as it is to create tax-exempt sinecures for the likes of Mr. Barber, I’ll begin to believe they’re serious.
One wonders if Ms. Cheney has ever contemplated what her childhood may have been like if she had been denied her own father.
Every time I read that, and contemplate Daddy Cheney [eeeww] I think she probably did contemplate exactly that. Daddy being run over by a truck was probably her favorite childhood dream.
Mary Cheney, unwed lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, has given birth to a son, Samuel David Cheney.
Sounds Jewish.
Of course she’s unmarried, you dopes, she isn’t allowed to marry her partner!
As inane as this goober’s excuse for reasoning is, I can’t get past the fact he monikers himself “J. Matt”. I could do that, ya know. “Matt” is my middle name, and my first name (which is only used when I have to give someone a lot of money for anything other than, well, weed) starts with a “J”. So I could call myself “J. Matt”, but I’m not gonna, ’cause it looks stupid.
“Matt” is just fine, dude, there’s no need to give yourself false gravitas by adding your first initial. Makes you look like a dork. There’s a rhythm to the whole thing, donchasee. Like “J. Edgar” or “J. Alfred”, and I don’t know if that’s really something you wanna emulate.
Hey, I didn’t have Dick Cheney for a dad, and I think I turned out O.K.
As usual with homobigots like J’matt, the fact that Heather isn’t just some random woman Mary srt up house with, but someone she’s been with for SIXTEEN FREAKIN’ YEARS just flies over his head.
Oh, and thanks for adding Teh GAYZ! as a category. June is Gay Pride Month, so we can expect idiots like this to be popping up like weeds, but not as useful.
More commonly known as “that guy who masturbated into a cup at the sperm bank for fifty bucks.”
Ironically, J. Matt is almost certainly ideologically similar to, if not a member of, the group of Mens’ Rights types who are decrying the apparent wave of cases in which sperm donors are being gone after for child support.
John Grisham had a bit about that in one of his books, the Street Lawyer, I think, although I won’t swear to it. All these snotty law school graduates were named along the lines of J. Michael Nesbitt, or R. Bruce Bisbee, or T. Morris Talbot. Apparently it’s supposed to be very upper-class-aristocrat-Harvard Law or something. Grisham’s take on it was quite amusing.
More commonly known as “that guy who masturbated into a cup at the sperm bank for fifty bucks.”
You mean they don’t have a cool kinda milking-machine thing like in “A Boy And His Dog“?
Damn, I’m cancelling my appointment.
*sigh* I was going to announce that I thought I could speak on behalf of my fellow Teh GAYZ in thanking you for the new category, but I see Bill has already adopted the spokesqueer position. (Also, I think Marq prefers “Teh Gheyz”.)
On the other hand, I see I’ve been blogrolled, so take that, the rest of you people, you know, without blogs!
“The Fox News Channel, which in the past has at least made an effort to avoid liberal bias and political correctness in its reporting…”
To be fair, this is accurate. The FNC has avoided liberal bias and political correctness through the means of conservative bias and avoiding correctness of any sort.
I agree with other lefty commentators on the Mary Cheney case, she’s no heroine to liberals or the GLBT community. Problem is that her “frame” or talking point is that “My family is my business” as opposed to “It’s my human right to have a baby.” What this means is essentially that she’s gotten into the treehouse and pulled up the rope after her. All the other kids are still on the ground, thinking “Gee, I wish I could get up there, too!”
Marq:
These days Peter “It’s ‘Matt Ramsey’ when I’m flamin’, baby” North can squeeze more Brylcreem from his hair than sperm from his peter.
Have you heard the ridiculous urban legend that his huge milky-white loads are a product of his consuming large quantities of Elmer’s Glue?
Well, still, a lovechild with his alter-ego (and, aren’t they both “stage” names?) would, so to speak, have teh stuff. As far as the urban legend goes, no, I had not heard that-but I rarely pay any attention to such lore, as it is often amazingly ill-informed. Elmer’s is, technically, “non-toxic,” but consuming unspecified “large quantities” of it would likely do something bad to you… other than producing prodigious loads o’ spooge.
Wait…large amounts of spooge is a BAD thing?
I guess that depends on which side of it you’re standing.

Friday, January 21, 2011

March 1, 2006 by s.z.


No RIP For Her


We've previously admired the prose of columnist and radio hose Kevin Fobbs, but in his latest piece (which has the honor of being today's Renew America feature article), he has come up with an idea that is worthy of his rhetoric. 

Here's a sample:
It began in Michigan, and it swept across the nation like a mask of death — a plague that would soon engulf America — that far too many Americans began to legitimize and even to become unyielding advocates for this culture of death.  It was Dr. Jack Korvorkian and his infamous Dr. Death moniker that has come to symbolize the devaluation of human life.
And when the culture of death started by "Dr. Korvorkian" swept across the nation like a mask-of-death plague, it took out Terri Schiavo.  And so Kevin proposes that a million of us sign petitions asking that March 31st be officially named as "Terri's Day"
If you believe in creating an official "Terri's Day," then pass on the Resolution of Support to your state legislature and governor. [...] 
Just as we remember where we were on such fateful days as the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963; and the terrorist attack on America on September 11, 2001 — the nation needs a date that we can commemorate as well, and that is March 31st, the anniversary of Terri's passing.
I just checked my calendar, and it doesn't list Nov.22 as "JFK's day."  But then, Terri did more for her country than the former president did, in that she was mindless, and therefore pure.  (Or, as Kevin put it, her "innocence and faith touched the hearts and spirits of millions of Americans.")

But back to why we need this holiday: (mainly, in order to show that bitch Susan Sarandon that by being against capital punishment she's actually part of the culture of death).
Why now? We need it now, because too often the fight for preservation of life is typically played out in the nation's headlines only in order to preserve the life of murderers and perpetrators of the most heinous crimes against humanity. These are the ones whom receive the hundreds of thousands of dollars and even millions of signatures gathered by Hollywood Celebs.

Americans get involved in those causes because some entertainers — these Hollywood liberal icons — hold concerts or host mammoth fundraisers all to preserve a death row inmate his 14th Amendment Due Process protection, because after all it's hip, it's chic, and it's hot to support death.

It has become too easy to be an advocate for the guilty. It is far more difficult mentally to deal with the haunting images of the innocent victims. The cry for justice that Terri Schiavo's family has asked for all these years has been ignored, because it has not fit into a neat, dramatic, Hollywood-like ideological package.

You see, in order for a Hollywood-type like Susan Sarandon or Sean Penn to get involved in a cause, there has to be some real drama.
So, that's why people like Sean Hannity tried to make the Schiavo case into a sort of combination of BluebeardThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and Gas Light: so it would be dramatic enough to get the Hollywood-types involved! 
"What is called for is a general mobilization of consciences and a united ethical effort to activate a great campaign in support of life. All together, we must build a new Culture of Life," advocated Paul John Paul II.
Terri would be honored, and I'm sure proud that the words former Pope John Paul II spoke ten years ago will have shown we are indeed on the road to becoming a life-renewed and affirming, blessed nation
.
Or, Terri would be appalled and horrified. (Whether or not you believe that she didn't want have her body preserved long after her mind had died, I think you'd agree that it's highly unlikely that she wanted to be the patron saint of persistent vegetative states.)

5:07:45 AM    


Where Are They Now?


Remember Christian martyr Matt "Bam-Bam" Barber?  You know, the guy who said he was fired by Allstate Insurance simply for standing up for traditional marriage (by denouncing gays as disease-ridden perverts who die young because of their icky sexual practices, and so sued the company for violating his freedom of religion. 

Well, it seems that he and Allstate reached some kind of settlement.  Neither side can discuss the terms, but Matt did tell WorldNetDaily that because of the settlement, he and his wife can "now move forward" with their lives -- which says to me that Matt didn't get total vindication (nor a really large cash amount).  In any case, the deal didn't involve Allstate hiring Matt back, which is what the wingnuts were demanding that the company do.  And since I can't find any indication that the AFA, which mounted a campaign against Allstate based on Matt's claims, has said anything about the resolution of the case (let alone trumpeted how their efforts led to the Allstate's total defeat, which is what they do in almost every case they champion), I'm suspecting that this wasn't the glorious victory that they were hoping for.

Oh, and the press accounts seem to indicate that Matt stuck to his story that MensNewsDaily added a bio mentioning his Allstate employment to his column without his permission -- a claim I still find rather hard to believe, since the same bio had been used for his WND columns for the previous several weeks, and Matt apparently didn't complain.  If I were MND, I'd sue Matt.)

But back to the WND article about Matt's settlement: I found this part especially interesting:
"I think Allstate saw the writing on the wall," Peter LaBarbera, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute, told the Chicago Tribune. "I think they would have lost a lot of business over this."

Barber now is working for Republican candidate for governor in Illinois, 
Jim Oberweis. "I'm trying to do my part to get him elected March 21 in the Republican primary," Barber said. "He's the pro-life, pro-family candidate here in Illinois."

Oberweis faces fellow Republican Judy Baar Topinka, whom Barber describes as a "liberal," along with two other candidates. The winner will attempt to unseat incumbent Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Yes, Matt now has a job which involves helping to run the political campaign of a far-right religious conservative.  Who would have ever expected that?

(Okay, I did.  See, at a ANOTER site where Matt mentioned his Allstate employment in his bio, he also said that his "term goal is to run for Senate or Congress."  So, working on Oberweis's campaign seems like a perfect way for him to get his feet wet, especially since Oberweis is a "pro-marriage, pro-life," anti-gay candidate.)

Anyway, Matt has a new column up at Renew America -- you'll never guess what it's about?  

Okay, maybe you will.  It's about how a group of concerned Republican citizens has started this informative website to let the world know that the Republican candidate running against candidate Oberweis is a gay-loving liberal.  Here are a couple of paragraphs from it:
StopTopinka.com provides must-see video of Judy Baar Topinka's annual participation in the Chicago "gay-pride" parade. By virtue of her active participation in the parade, one can only conclude that Topinka endorses its cause and message. This parade features nudity and lewd public displays — even though young children march in the parade and attend as observers. Additionally, it provides facts relative to Topinka's pro-homosexual activism, and her diversion as state treasurer, of $10 million in state taxpayer dollars to build a "gay" community center in Chicago.
StopTopinka.com spokesman Peter LaBarbera said he and other concerned citizens created the website "to get the truth about Judy Topinka's radical pro-'gay' activism out to the voters of Illinois. We know that most Republican voters in Illinois are still unaware of Topinka's liberal agenda, which includes helping hardened homosexual activists achieve their goal of using government power to force others to accept their lifestyle.
So, Matt is once again bashing gays as a way to show his "pro-family" creds.  And, interestingly enough, the guy who heads the Illinois group which defended Matt against big, bad Allstate is also the spokesman for another group, one that is smearing Matt's candidate's Republican rival. 

Coincidence?  YOU be the judge!

But here's more of the Bam-Bam story, from a Nov. 2005 Chicago Herald story:
A year ago, Barber was enjoying life in the business world’s fast lane.

He spent five years with Allstate, mostly with the corporate security department, and was paid a six-figure salary.
His wife, Sarah, was about to give birth to the couple’s third child in four years. And they had just invested tens of thousands of dollars into restoring and renovating their house near downtown Villa Park.
And then, in  he got fired, which was especially unfair, in that Allstate should have known that it would be an undue hardship on Matt not to continue to receive a six-figure salary.  In fact, it was practically a hate crime (as Matt tells us later).
Being well-known hasn’t prevented Barber from falling into financial straits.

He hasn’t been able to keep up with his $3,000-a-month mortgage and is behind on his property tax payments.

“Barring some miracle, we’re going to lose our home to foreclosure,” he said, noting that he and his wife have been unable to sell their house, despite having it on the market for months.

The couple has had to rely on the generosity of strangers to help pay the bills.
Um, shouldn't a guy who was paid a six-figure salary for five years managed to have put away some savings?

And wouldn't it have helped Matt's finances if he had gotten a job?  I mean, sure, it took him almost a year to land his dream job (working for a wingnut political candidate), but shouldn't he have been working at McDonalds or WalMart in the meantime?  At least, that's what conservatives always advise poor people who are complaining about not being able to feed their families.

See, I guess it's okay for guys living in c. $300,000 houses to shake down strangers to help pay their mortgages, but it's not acceptable for the unworthy poor to panhandle for food money.  That's how conservatism works.

But back to the story:
The Aurora dairy magnate [Jim Oberweis] has hired Barber to coordinate his campaign in DuPage County.

“Anyone who has heard Matt’s story of standing up for traditional family values knows that we have a talented fighter on our team,” Oberweis said in a statement.
Anyone who has heard Matt's story knows that he's a moron.  Illinois residents, I don't want to tell you how to vote, but I think you should consider the possibility that candidate Oberweis is not the sharpest wingnut in your state.
The Human Rights Campaign’s Herrschaft declined to comment about others rallying around Barber.

“It concerns me when anyone is misrepresenting gay and lesbian families and demonizing them,” he said. “Because it is the kind of action that, ultimately, does lead to violence.”

As a Christian, Barber says he loves everyone. He insists there is nothing hateful about his beliefs.

“For me to voice my belief that there is sanctity in a marriage between one man and one woman, that’s not hate,” he said. “That’s just the cornerstone of society.
And saying that "the average life expectancy of a homosexual male is only about 45 years old – 30 years younger than that of a heterosexual male," and that gays are largely to blame "for this Country’s skyrocketing health care costs" is what a responsible insurance company executive should do (you know, to show that he loves everybody).
“But for them to snatch away my ability to provide for my young family, that is an act of hate.”
Gays kept Matt from stocking shelves at WalMart?  The bastards!

Anyway, we will add Oberweis to our list of wingnut candidates whose campaigns we will attempt to remember to follow in the coming months.  But I can tell you right now, 2006 is going to be an awfully stupid year.

3:33:21 AM    

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

July 2, 2005 by s.z.


The First Amendment


"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Via Agape Press, we learn what this REALLY means:

1.  To start with, here's some more information about our friend J. Matt Barber:
A former employee of Allstate has sued the insurance company, claiming he was fired because he wrote an article that was critical of homosexual "marriage."
[...]
The former insurance company employee contends that he was terminated shortly after his column appeared on several conservative Internet sites. Because of this, he feels Allstate has violated his constitutional right to free speech.
Barber says the company, in effect, "reached into my living room, put their foot down on my neck, and told me 'Hey, you can't think that way. You can't believe that. And if you do, Allstate disagrees with you, and we're going to destroy you.'" It is Barber's contention that he has now been "black-listed in the insurance industry," and his expectation is that "I'll certainly never work in my field again."
So, by "Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech," the founders really meant, "Congress shall make a law forbidding private companies from firing employees who write opinion pieces which might damage the employer's business, because we hate gays too."

2. Now, here's an Agape news brief about a woman who got an "F" on an English paper just because she mentioned God in it.
Bethany Hauf is a freshman at Victor Valley Community College near San Bernardino. According to a report from WorldNetDaily, Hauf recently wrote a paper titled "In God We Trust," which examined the role of religion in government. The paper mentioned the word "God" 41 times. Hauf, a 34-year-old mother of four, admits she did that after being told by her English instructor, Michael Shefchik, no to do so. She says Shefchik told her it would offend others in the class, and that she might as well be writing about the Easter bunny. Hauf is now demanding an apology from the school and a re-grading of her ten-page report. As she puts it, "I don't lose my First Amendment rights when I walk into that college."

From WorldNetDaily, we learn that the prof approved her topic (the role of religion in government), but told her, "I have one limiting factor – no mention of big 'G' gods, i.e., one, true god argumentation."  So, he apparently wanted her to write a scholarly or persuasive paper, and didn't think that one using the thesis "America was founded by the One True God of evangelical Christianity, and anyone who doesn't believe that is going to hell" would help Bethany learn the reasoning, research, persuasion, organization, and other writing skills that the class was meant to help her develop.  And since she expressly disobeyed the guidelines for the assignment, she didn't get a passing grade. 

Anyway, instead of using the school's procedure for challenging the grade, she went to the American Center for Law and Justice (the outfit headed by Jay Sekulow).  Do you get a sneaking suspicion that maybe the 34-year-old mother of four set up the English teacher?

But to get back to the First Amendment, not only did the framers of the Constitution mean that Congress should make a law requiring that Bethany to get a good grade on her freshman English paper even though it didn't meet the instructor's criteria for the assignment, they also meant that Congress should make a law abridging an instructor's right to fail somebody for using the "one true God" argument in lieu of original thought, because Bethany has the right to get whatever grade she thinks she deserves.

3.  Also from the Agape News Brief, here's another item about religious freedom:
North Carolina judges are refusing a request by several Muslim organizations that want changes in the courtroom process. The Muslims want to replace the Bible with the Koran when a member of the Islamic faith is sworn in to give testimony. Judges in the Tar Heel state have refused -- and North Carolina Republican Representative Walter Jones likes that response. "I think this [request] is absolutely unacceptable," Jones says, "and I will encourage my friends who are judges in North Carolina -- and I'm sure they'll do this without my encouragement -- to resist any effort to allow the Koran to replace the Bible. It is absolutely unacceptable." The Muslim groups are expected to persist in their effort to replace the Bible.
Hey, Congressman Jones is just obeying the First Amendment, which says,"Congress shall make laws respecting the establishment of some religions, because if you want to live here, you should be Christian ." You have to be a strict Constitutionalist to know these things.

6:35:28 AM    



Some Recommendations for Your Holiday Weekend


1.  Via Ivan of Thrilling Days of Yesteryear (which all lovers of old time radio and associated media should read regularly), via his friend Brent McKee, we learn of a website calledCelebMatch, which uses biorhythms or something to find your perfect celebrity matches.  Ivan's ideal matches are, um, interesting.

And here are mine:
Your best matches
Bradley Whitford99%
Roy Dupuis98%
Mark McGwire98%
John Stockwell97%
Eric McCormack97


Since the only one I've heard of is Mark McGwire (and I know him mainly from that ep of "The Simpsons" where he comes to Springfield to distract everyone from the Baseball Federation's spy satellite), I don't know whether to be excited or insulted by my matches.  But it is nice to know that there are five men in the world with whom I would be totally compatible, if we ever met and they weren't already married and/or gay and stuff.

Anyway, if you have nothing better to do, check out your own future celebrity spouses.  (And if you're a woman, do it quickly, because your eggs aren't getting any more fresh and appealing!)

2.  When not having cat wars with The Poor Man, our friends at Sadly, No! have been posting other stuff.  For instance, check out Brad's nominees to fill Sandra's spot on the Supreme Court.  (Pastor Swank does appear to be wearing a black robe in his glamour shot, so he could start work immediately.)

3.  David at JABBS has a new post that is very appropriate for the 4th of July.  It's about how the Traditional Values Coalition (and the Bush administration) apparently want visitors to the Lincoln Monument to believe that Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech was about his dream of a Bush presidency, gun control, and the Iraq war.

4.  For more on the above story, check out the always entertaining and informative (but in a GOOD way) Crooks and Liars.  They have the original video (which, per Rev. Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition, suggests that Lincoln would have been in favor of abortion, homosexuality, and probably killing Terri Schiavo), a newsclip, and more, including this:
God's Circus Clowns are at it again. There's nothing like a little Civil Rights to get them all hot and bothered. I thought these succubi had souls to save not videos to destroy? Oh how I wish it were Festivus again.

5.   The Angry Black Woman tells us about what might be the best movie of the summer: LifeTime's Cyber Seduction. 
Their new movie, Cyber Seduction, is being advertised thusly: Open on a young man, 15 or 16, in his room looking at some naked or nearly naked women on his computer. His mother opens the door and spots him. GASP! Her son is looking at porn! Cut to mom saying in a panicked voice, “He’s looking at naked women on the INTERNET!” to dad. Dad doesn’t seem concerned. Annoying female voice of Lifetime keeps interjecting with phrases like: “A tragedy that will tear a family apart.” Cut to another woman saying to mom, “Internet porn destroyed my marriage.” Cut to more pictures of nearly naked women. Cut to mom screaming at her son, “You’re ADDICTED! You can’t stop!” That’s pretty much it.
A 16 year old boy who can’t stop looking at naked women? OH GOD! Someone call the Guinness people, a teenage boy has become enamored of naked ladies and can’t stop!
It's the Ben Shapiro After-School Special that I always wanted to make!  As they say, read the whole thing.  And then scroll down to the post about John Stossel. 

(We may actually watch Cyber Seduction for a Sunday Cinema feature, because it sounds like our kind of thing: cheesy, overwrought, and moralistic.  More on this later.)

6.  Jorge at Media in Trouble directs a little ire at Gwen Ifil and at opinion-based news.
Believe? Believe? What do you mean we don't Believe in this. This is where the media is going wrong. So all that soul searching that they have or haven't been doing as of late comes down to this.

The News Is NOT A FAITH BASED INSTITUTION.

The News is a FACT BASED INSTITUTION. Or so it should be.

You don't report what people believe. You report what is.
Oh, if only Gwen and the rest took heed to his remarks.

7.  And Krup at Justsayin' has a bunch of good stuff, including a a timely pitch for Bring Them Home Now, a very interesting post about Paul Winchell (whom, we learn, was more than just the voice of Tigger), and a moving video Is it Worth It?  Check it out.    

5:44:08 AM    

June 27, 2005 by s.z.


A Whitman Sampler


While our first ammendment rights were being violated by technology (and you'd better believe that we intend to sue somebody for that), some of our favorite wingnuts slapped together columns.  Here's a brief survey of some of them.

John Stossel Whines About the FDA Again*

Did you know that there is a sunblock that protects you not only against the rays that cause cancer, but also against the ones that cause wrinkles?  Well, there is, but you can't have any, because the FDA hates you, and wants you to look old and ugly.
But is there no common sense here? All drugs have risks as well as benefits.
Sure, the FDA won't know what the risks are until it finishes its testing, but what is a possible second head compared with the benefit of being able to lie in the sun for years and not look like Robert Redford (as he does now, that is)?
Although buying or selling sunscreens with Mexoryl is illegal in the United States, that doesn't mean sunscreens with Mexoryl aren't bought and sold here. We found it at some pharmacies. It was expensive — $30 to $50.
"People really want this stuff. People go to pharmacies and they keep it under the counter, like it's a secret ingredient, like prohibition or something and people will still buy it," Rigel said.

I don't fault the pharmacies, they're serving their customers.
Hey, I'm sure that Stossel also wouldn't fault the speakeasies that sold bootleg liquor adulterated with wood alcohol -- after all, they were just serving their customers, even if some of those customers did go blind.
Everyone is always telling us, protect yourself from the sun, but then the government won't give us permission to have the best sunscreen?
Here's an idea, Stossel: try growing a mustache that will cover your entire face.  It can offer you protection from all types of solar radiation, the goverment can't prohibit it, and it will make life easier for the rest of us.

*This one is for D. Sidhe, who allegedly had to go to the ER after John Stossel tried to kill her with a pen for making fun of him -- and to add insult to injury, there is a new miracle drug that could have immediately cured D's injuries, but the FDA won't release it because of ambiguous test results.  (Obligatory Simpsons ref: "Pleasant taste.  Some monsterism."}

2.  Dr. Professor Mike Adams Reviews Ben Shapiro's "Porn for Teens" Book

Mikey likes it, because it has a whole chapter about slutty coeds. 

He also thinks that Ben has joined the pantheon of great public scolds and whiners, along with Michelle Malkin and David Limbaugh 
With the publication of Porn Generation, Ben is now, in my opinion, among the three most notable writers in America in terms of his willingness and effectiveness in combating the dangerous effects of moral relativism upon our nation’s youth. Like those other two writers -David Limbaugh and Michelle Malkin - he writes both with skill and courageous compassion. That is why he is being so viciously attacked for his efforts. There is no better indication that he - like Limbaugh and Malkin - is doing God’s work in an increasingly godless society.
Yes, the fact that people attack Ben's book must mean that he is doing God's work, just as the fact that historians attacked Malkin's book about Japanese internment is the surest sign that she was doing God's work too.  Nobody seems to be attacking David Limbaugh, because he's basically a nobody, but if they did attack him, it would mean that he's also working for God.  Making disparaging comparisons to his brother would just confirm it.
To those who read my column, it will come as no surprise that my favorite chapter in Porn Generation is the third chapter, entitled “Campus Carnality.”
No, that doesn't surprise us a bit.  I imagine it includes a scene where dirty, hairy lesbian harlots say "vagina, vagina" at male instructors, giving them ED -- thus proving that this book is a masterpiece.
As I read this chapter, I was reminded of an exercise I once used in my “Introduction to Criminal Justice” class. The exercise involved having students give a brief description of the most serious crime or deviant act they had ever committed. I would then read some of the accounts (which were all typed and turned in anonymously) and give the students some break downs afterwards-such as the percentage of felons in the class, and so on.

I noticed that in between the time I began using this exercise (in 1993) and the time I stopped (in 2003) there was a marked increase in reports of bizarre sexual conduct. For example, students began to write occasionally about group sex. Others wrote about posing nude for internet sites. One of my students even dropped out of school to become a Playboy Centerfold in 1996. Another wrote about how she ran out of money on Spring Break and slept with another college student for $40 just so she could have money to stay and get drunk on the last night of her vacation.
Dear Dr. Adam's Forum,

I never believed that I would end up having the best sex of my life while on Spring Break in Florida, but I did -- and I make some drinking money from it too!  It all started after I dropped out of school to become a Playboy Centerfold, and wound up having group sex with a senator, three other Playmates, and David Limbaugh ...
The book’s longest chapter “Porn and Popcorn,” provides an interesting historical overview of the Hays Code, which was a content standard the motion picture industry imposed upon itself in the 1930s. The discussion of how economic forces made that choice possible may provide some insight into how a similar standard can be invoked in the future.
Wow, if we just threaten to have Alberto Gonzales censor all the films being exhibited in the country, then maybe we can intimidate the four or five Jewish moguls who run Hollywood into letting a Catholic moralist do it for us.  And then we will never again have to hear "hell" or "damn" in the movies, or see films which suggest that the courts of the land may be unjust, which show surgical operations, which use ministers of religion as comic characters or  villains, or which feature "sex relationships between the white and black races."
With all the book’s great quotes, it is probably fitting to conclude this review with my favorite: “Paris Hilton is famous for one reason, and one reason only: She’s a fabulously rich slut.” By contrast, Ben Shapiro is becoming famous for one reason, and one reason only: He’s a fabulously talented writer.
And a fabulous young slut for the religious right (in that he prostitutes his time and talents).

3.   Pastor Doug Giles Orders the World to Stop Harshing His Buzz
In the fourth or fifth article in his copyrighted series: "Be a Wanker the Doug Giles Way," Doug says "Be a Wet Blanket."  By which he apparently means, "Stop telling me that I can't make a living as a big game hunter/ professional camper / best friend of Dirty Harry." 
I guarantee that if you want your relationships, career, finances and soul to reek worse than a sardine’s dirty gym shorts, then you, my friend, have stumbled onto gold.  Yes, if you adhere to these copy written, trademarked, patented and heavily-guarded-by-angry-midgets principles in my Developing the Disaster Master Mind© series you will be propelled to . . . well . . . uh . . . nowhere.
Therefore, it is imperative that you be the drunken donkey that whizzes on the wannabe’s dreams. Think about it. . .
No thanks.  I don't want to waste my beautiful mind that way.

4.  Concerned Woman for America Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D. Has a Mop Epiphany
After 20 years of mopping floors with a foam mop, she realizes that her husband stifled her dreams of mopping with a string mop.  This causes a mini-meltdown directed at the mop, but it all ends happily when her husband makes a romantic gesture.
I opened the door and there stood a delivery boy from the local florist –– holding a brand new string mop with a dozen beautiful red roses artistically arranged up and down the handle!

I stepped back, stunned! Then, I burst into laughter, reached for the bouquet and read the card.

A warm glow welled up inside of me. Gil, Sr. had not dismissed my "insight" as irrelevant after all!

How much did he understand?

The card in his handwriting stated simply, "I don't care what mop you use, as long as it is our floor you're mopping! Love, Gil."
Now wasn't that nice?  He lets her use any kind of mop she wants, as long as she mops their floor, instead of, say, letting it stay dirty until he takes his turn at it.
With tears streaming down my face, I saw clearly in that gesture Gil's love and unconditional acceptance of me.
Well, his acceptance of her mopping.
Along with his appreciation of the significance of my great insight, Gil discovered that the price of one string mop and a dozen roses was one of the best investments he ever made!
Yes, he got lucky that night -- on the freshly mopped floor!
So, men, I hope you have learned a valuable lesson from this: let your woman make her own mop choices, and she will happily mop her little heart out for you!

4:32:10 AM    



Allstate Persecutes Christian


[Note: This is an entry I prepared Saturday morning, but RadioUser broke, and I couldn't post it until today.  But it's still current, in that conservatives are now calling for a boycott of Allstate.   I expect the martyr, J.Matt Barber, to be interviewed by O'Reilly or Hannity this week.]

WorldNetDaily brings us the story of America's latest Christian martyr in the article "Allstate terminates manager over homosexuality column: On own time, man posted anti-'gay' article insurance giant says didn't reflect its values."  
A former manager with Allstate has sued the insurance giant, alleging the company, which financially supports homosexual advocacy groups, fired him solely because he wrote a column posted on several websites that was critical of same-sex marriage and espoused his Christian beliefs.  
Well, if you read further down, our martyr, J. Matt Barber, says that it wasn't solely because he wrote that column.  He adds that Allstate was actually looking for an excuse to get rid of him because he tattled on his boss's boss for public displays of affection with a female doctor at a conference in Lisbon. 
"He was a married man," Barber explained. "It made me very uncomfortable, especially because we investigate sexual harassment."
And since it made Matt uncomfortable, he filed a sexual harassment complaint against the manager.  (Gee, I wonder what Dr. Mike would say about that?)

Matt should have known he was on shaky ground with Allstate at that point -- therefore, a smart guy wouldn't have used his real name when writing wingnutty columns such as The Democratic Party: Modern Day Slave Master, and  Liberal Democrats:Tools of the Terrorist for MensNewsDailyThe Conservative Voice, and their ilk.  But we have to admit that Matt (who took up professional boxing as a sideline to his Allstate career) doesn't seem all that bright.

But it wasn't his columns about slave-holding, terrorist Democrats that got him fired.  No, it was this one: The Gay Agenda vs. Family Values.  Here's an excerpt from it:
As a result of the concerted effort by liberals to mask the devastating effects of the gay lifestyle, many people are shocked to learn that the average life expectancy of a homosexual male is only about 45 years old – 30 years younger than that of a heterosexual male.

One study determined that homosexual males have from between 20 to 106 sexual partners per year.  It’s no wonder that homosexual men account for over 50% of all hepatitis cases, and still account for over 50% of all AIDS cases despite the fact that they only make up 1-3% of the population.  Homosexual men and women share a markedly increased risk of contracting nearly all forms of STD.  The men frequently suffer from other sodomy related injuries, and are far more likely to be murdered (likely by another homosexual) than their heterosexual counterparts; this, due to the typically raucous and oft anonymous nature of the gay lifestyle.

All of these things considered, and given that the cost to treat an AIDS patient averages nearly $350,000, the homosexual lifestyle shares responsibility, by no small measure, for this Country’s skyrocketing health care costs. 
Yes, Matt works for an insurance company, and yet he's claiming that the average gay man's life expectancy is 45 (a stat that he didn't get from the Allstate actuary department, but apparently from Paul Cameron, except that Matt screwed up even that data, since Cameron said that it was lesbians who live to 45, gay men living only to age 39.)  And then Matt stated that  the homosexual lifestyle is largely responsible for America's rising health care costs.  So, you can see why people might have complained to Allstate about him. Especially when he basically dared them to in the last part of his column:
However, when militant homosexual activists attempt to quell all criticism of their behavior, force society to accept that behavior, and further attempt to alter the fabric of society by changing it to correspond with their own morally relative, androgynous notion of marriage, then those same activists shouldn’t be at all surprised to discover that they’ve angered those who value the sanctity of marriage – they shouldn’t be taken aback to find that they have one hell of fight on their hands – to expect anything less would be queer indeed. 
Yes, and if Matt were smart, he should have expected to have one hell of a fight on HIS hands -- but apparently it took him completely by surprise.  HIs column came out in December, and everything was hunky dory until the end of January, when he was called into a meeting with HR, confronted with a copy of the piece, and suspended with pay.  Three days later he was fired. 

But why?


Let's go back to WorldNetDaily for the answer:
According to an investigation by the state of Illinois' Department of Employment Security related to Barber's claim for unemployment benefits, an organization – likely a "gay"-rights group – complained to Allstate about the column. But how did the group connect Barber to the insurance company? 
Well, he didn't make it too difficult for them.  Here's his MensNewsDaily bio:
J. Matt Barber is a non-practicing attorney, an undefeated heavyweight professional boxer (Matt "Bam Bam" Barber), and a professional jazz drummer in the Chicago Land (IL) area. In addition to his Law Degree, Barber holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy. Matt Works for Allstate Insurance Company as a Territorial Senior Manager in Allstate's Law and Regulation Corporate Security (Internal Fraud Investigations) Department.
So, it seems pretty obvious that Allstate had cause to fire Matt: for stupidity, if nothing else.
But Matt told WND says that MensNewsDaily added the employment info on their own, and he never tried to link his employer into his wingnutty views. 
It turns out one site that posted the column, MensNewsDaily.com, added to the bio line on the article the fact that Barber worked for Allstate.
Barber says he did not include that fact in the original column submission but that the site "disclosed that without my knowledge or consent." According to Barber, he is somewhat well-known in the boxing field in Chicago, and Allstate would sometimes tout the fact that he worked for the company.
So, Matt's story is that Allstate and MensNewsDaily got together, and, totally without Matt's knowledge, added that line to his bio???

Um, right.  Anyway, the jurors might find it interesting that the above bio was used for all of Matt's MND columns between Oct 16, 2004 and Dec 23, 2004 (the line about Allstate was only removed from Matt's columns after the Gay Agenda one appeared, oddly enough).   So, if MND added stuff to Matt's bio that he didn't approve of, you'd think he might have made them take it out after his first column appeared.  Or his second.  Or his third.

Oh, and Matt's page at Newsbull (Newsbull: J. Matt Barber Blog) includes some of his columns, and also references his Allstate employment:
A licensed attorney, Barber works for Allstate Insurance at their suburban Chicago headquarters. 
[...]
Barber is a staunch Republican whose long term goal is to run for Senate or Congress.
So, it's rather hard to believe that on their own, MensNewsDaily just included all that info about Matt's job.  (But I can believe that he thought that writing wingnutty columns about Democrats being terrorists and homosexuals being disgusting perverts would help him run for Congress.)

Anyway, after Allstate fired Matt, he filed for unemployment benefits (asking the state for money, like any good conservative would).  Allstate claimed that he wasn't eligible, because he was terminated for misconduct.  The Illinos State unemployment board said that it wasn't actually misconduct, which they defined as a "deliberate and willful violation of a reasonable rule or policy of the employer," and ruled that he was entitled to the benefits. Which seems fair, because unless Allstate had a policy that prohibited employees from writing offensive columns which reference their Allstate employment, Matt didn't actually break the rules.

However, it also seems right that Allstate should be able to end their association with Matt, since he not only tarnished their good name and alienated their customers, but he also revealed himself to be an incredible idiot.  And, as John Stossel would undoubtedly say, the free market doesn't require employers to retain employees whom they think are idiots.

However, Matt now has an attorney from the Christian Law Association, and they are claiming that Matt was unfairly terminated merely because he expressed his Christian viewpoint, and so his civil rights were violated.

Back to WND: 
Now, with the help of the Christian Law Association and David Gibbs III, who represented Terri Schiavo's family in the final weeks of her life, Barber is challenging Allstate in federal court.
[...]
"To have Fortune 100 companies like Allstate firing people for expressing their sincerely held religious beliefs and even their personal viewpoints on their own time demonstrates just how out of kilter things have gotten," Gibbs told WND.
"Allstate aggressively pushes and promotes the homosexual agenda in the name of tolerance, but the minute someone speaks up with what would be considered the traditional moral-values viewpoint, the tolerance disappears and it results in a termination." [...]
Such discriminatory action violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Gibbs contends.
Said Gibbs: "The law was intended to make sure people of faith didn't have to leave their religion or viewpoints at the workplace stairs."
Gibbs compared the situation to that of racial discrimination.
"Just like Allstate can't go in and say, 'We've discovered your ethnicity and we're going to fire you,' I don't believe Allstate should be able to go in and say, 'We've discovered your anti-homosexuality viewpoint and we're going to fire you.'"
Well, I believe that Allstate can go in and say, "We've discovered that you're not only an ass and a moron, but that you're hurting our business -- so, we're firing you."  Of course, I'm not a lawyer or anything, but I'm pretty sure that I could prove to a jury that Matt did provide the info for that MensNewsDaily bio, and I could cite case law showing that other people have been fired for writing stuff on the internet that their employers claimed hurt the companies' reputations, and it was ruled that these individuals' civil rights weren't violated.  So, Allstate should consider retaining me for the defense.

Anyway, I thought that WorldNetDaily's piece about Matt was pretty one-sided, but I hadn't seen anything until I read Nathan Tabor's column for Renew America (and MensNewsDaily, and other wingnut sites) about the case.  
Here's part of it:
David Gibbs III, Terri Schiavo's former attorney, is preparing for a new foray into America's intense Culture War. This time the battle will take place on the "same-sex marriage" front, and his adversary will be Chicago based Allstate Insurance Company.
It's Bam-Bam Barber vs. Allstate Insurance, here today in the scenic same-sex marriage front arena, in a bout to decide the Heavy Weight Champion of America's Intense Culture War!
Gibbs has introduced to America his most recent client — J. Matt Barber.
I wonder what the scans of this client's brain will reveal?
To add insult to injury, just two weeks prior to being fired by Allstate, Matt's wife gave birth to their 3rd child in four years following a highly stressful at-risk pregnancy.
Matt's wife really shouldn't have added insult to injury that way.  You'd think a wife would be more supportive of her beleaguered husband.
She was still in recovery from her C-section surgery when Allstate, fully aware of the Barbers' situation, callously snatched away both their medical insurance and their means of providing for their young family. Additionally, the Barbers are losing their home, and may have to declare bankruptcy due to Allstate's illegal actions.
Um, didn't Matt have COBRA insurance?  And what about that unemployment compensation he was granted -- didn't he use that to provide for his young family?  And it's been five months -- shouldn't he have found another job by now?  I mean, if the only reason Matt was fired was because he expressed his Christian views on same-sex marriage, shouldn't conservative Christian firms that share Matt's views be lining up to hire him? ...  Unless Matt is just using the courts as part of a "get rich quick" scheme, and this is one of those frivolous lawsuits that hurt productivity and make Jesus cry, like President Bush warned us about.
Allstate forces all employees to undergo "diversity training" in promotion of the homosexual lifestyle. Within the work environment, they prohibit any vocalized opposition of either homosexuality, or "same-sex marriage."
Well, then Matt is even stupider than I thought.  Man, what kind of an idiot writes anti-homosexual screeds for the internet, uses his real name, AND includes his Allstate employement info, when he knows that his employer is against vocalized opposition to homosexuality?
Allstate will have a hard time wiggling their way out of this one. The State of Illinois (Department of Employment Security) has conducted a thorough investigation into Allstate's actions and has ruled, without equivocation, in favor of Mr. Barber.
Um, Nathan, honey, that was a unemployment compensation case -- it's different from a religious discrimination civil suit.
Armed with the findings of the State's investigation, and based upon his proven track record, there's little doubt that David Gibbs III will confront head-on, both Allstate and its radical pro-homosexual / anti-family policies with the same fervor displayed during the Terri Shiavo battle.
I'm sure Gibbs can confront with the best of them, but look what happened to his last client.
Perhaps the more important question for discussion, is whether a radically pro-homosexual company such as Allstate, has the right to discriminate against its employees, and to destroy them emotionally, professionally, and financially, simply because they happen to believe, and to share on their own time, what the Bible teaches about human sexuality and the sanctity of marriage.
I don't believe the Bible spreads any disinformation taken from Paul Cameron's bogus data.
In the former Soviet Union the answer to these questions was — Yes.
In America...I hope to God the answer is still no.

It is my sincerely held religious belief that that Nathan is a wanker, and Matt is a big baby and a professional victim.  (And since I got that belief from the Bible, no action can ever be taken against me.) 

1:08:16 AM