Thursday, 16 April 2009
Go tell ’em
Over at Harry’s Place,[1] regular contributor Gene has put up a (rather unfortunately-titled) post Tea Party Day/Glenn Beck is scary, which asks:
Unfortunately, regular HP readers are about as likely to have been anywhere near a Tea Party protest as an Iranian Mullah. The amount of misinformation/misunderstanding in the replying comments (so far) by and large reflects this.
O.G. readers should be able to help: If you attended a Tea Party (whether “heavily promoted by Fox News†or not), why not drop by and (politely, please) give him a report?
Related:
Over at Harry’s Place,[1] regular contributor Gene has put up a (rather unfortunately-titled) post Tea Party Day/Glenn Beck is scary, which asks:
Did any of our American readers go to one of today’s “tea parties†heavily promoted by Fox News and conservative talk-radio hosts?It’s important to understand that Gene is in the U.K., and thus gets his information via the British press, the BBC, the New York Times, and the like. IMO his misunderstandings (especially his fascination with Glenn Beck[2]) are honestly come by. I also believe (based on past experience) that his question is honestly posed.
...
As far as I can tell, the focus of the protests isn’t so much anti-tax as anti-Obama-the-socialist-oops-fascist, a formulation propounded by Fox News’s crazed host Glenn Beck. (I’ve read lots of scary stuff about Beck, but this is the first time I’ve seen him for more than 10 consecutive seconds. He really is that horrifying...)
Unfortunately, regular HP readers are about as likely to have been anywhere near a Tea Party protest as an Iranian Mullah. The amount of misinformation/misunderstanding in the replying comments (so far) by and large reflects this.
O.G. readers should be able to help: If you attended a Tea Party (whether “heavily promoted by Fox News†or not), why not drop by and (politely, please) give him a report?
Related:
Tea Parties, Bedwetters, Protesters Generally
Charlottesville, Virginia Tea Party
San Francisco
Atlanta, Georgia
-----The local protest [Indianapolis - o.g.] was a good-sized crowd and very much the same sort of group as elsewhere reported: largely middle-class, with a smattering of students and retired folks but mostly ordinary workin’ Joes and Janes who had taken the afternoon off to remind our elected nitwits that a slim majority is not a mandate -- and that every misspent tax dollar, every kited check, every tax increase or expansion of Federal, State or local authority, weighs that much heavier on the electorate. It’s not a group much given to sign-waving; it takes a bit more to wake them up.
Charlottesville, Virginia Tea Party
Very little professional signage. Check it out. Real people spent real time making those signs.
It was a very regular crowd of people gathered in the island of blue that is Charlottesville. University town; very liberal all the way around. The Pavilion is a stone’s throw from City Hall, and folks were coming out of that building with worried looks on their faces to check us out.
No cops. Not a single one did I observe. I found that very interesting as well.
The only disturbance consisted of a group of 3 or 4 yahoos that screamed, “Obama!†3 or 4 times before running away. This provided some humorous ammunition to the MC. We just laughed at them.
Very nonpartisan, even though our local Repulican state delegate was there, as was the head of the Jefferson Area Libertarians. They all just gave some barnburning speeches without reference to their own parties. I think this was wise. (link)
San Francisco
I ran into a local photojournalist there, who told me that he’d offered pics to the local press, but was turned down cold, even though he sells them a lot of stuff otherwise. He said he’d probably end up posting them on Freep, since nobody in the MSM would pay him anything for them. (link)
...
Nobody I interviewed was willing to give their name, and few wanted to let me take a closeup. The fear is there - in SF, being marked a “conservative†(read “fascist, racist, enemy of the peopleâ€) is a good way to have job problems, car problems, vandalism problems, and assorted social problems.
The groupthink out here is frightening.
Which makes the turnout all the more praiseworthy.(link)
Atlanta, Georgia
...it was not a pro-Republican event even though we had some local Republican speakers. Some of the loudest cheers came when one of the organizers talked about how the RNC called her to “coordinate the message†and she, in so many words, told them to stick it. I can also report I only saw 3 signs that didn’t fit: one confederate flag, one “bow to the Muslim king†and one abortion sign. I did not see a single sign discussing immigration outside of one instance of snark about the DHS report (something like Terrorist = Wanting to enforce Immigration law). Lots of signs in reference to the DHS report.
[1] a site that I would characterize as one outpost of the Sensible British Left.
[2] who makes a lot of noise but, AFAICS, is of minimal importance, except as a megaphone, to the Tea Party movement in general.
[2] who makes a lot of noise but, AFAICS, is of minimal importance, except as a megaphone, to the Tea Party movement in general.
Posted by: Old Grouch in
Linkage
at
15:05:45 GMT
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 757 words, total size 7 kb.
Monday, 13 April 2009
Happy anniversary, Turk
Posted by: Old Grouch in
Linkage
at
21:01:39 GMT
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 10 words, total size 1 kb.
Saturday, 11 April 2009
Hairy situation
(Found via... well, I started here.)
(LATER: Aha: This post explains how a linked to b, and why c could be interested in projects that a might be up to.)
This is just wrong!
(Found via... well, I started here.)
(LATER: Aha: This post explains how a linked to b, and why c could be interested in projects that a might be up to.)
Posted by: Old Grouch in
Linkage
at
15:54:48 GMT
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 36 words, total size 2 kb.
Calling all cars! Be on the lookout for “Anonymousâ€!
After all, who knows what he might do?
Now I admit that I’ve not bothered to download and read the whole thing, but if this is typical of its contents, I wonder how much Virginia paid for it.
Needless to say, the Slashdot commenters have offered a whole host of additional suspects:
Oh yes... “Anonymous†also communicates through “Unaccredited Grassroots Web Sites.â€
Elsewhere:
After all, who knows what he might do?
A “loose coalition of Internet denizens,†Anonymous consists largely of users from multiple internet sites such as 4chan, 711chan, 420chan, Something Awful, Fark, Encyclopedia Dramatica, Slashdot, IRC channels, and YouTube. Other social networking sites are also utilized to mobilize physical protests. ... Anonymous is of interest not only because of the sentiments expressed by affiliates and their potential for physical protest, but because they have innovated the use of e-protests and mobilization. Given the lack of a unifying creed, this movement has the potential to inspire lone wolf behavior in the cyber realms.The quote, extracted by Slashdot, is from a 215-page “Terrorism Threat Assessment†prepared for the state of Virginia by a State Police subdivision called the Virginia Fusion center. (Ace of Spades, Little Green Footballs, Daily Pundit, Tim Blair, and Protein Wisdom will be disappointed.)
Now I admit that I’ve not bothered to download and read the whole thing, but if this is typical of its contents, I wonder how much Virginia paid for it.
Needless to say, the Slashdot commenters have offered a whole host of additional suspects:
Re:A.C. • (Score:5, Funny)
by apostrophesemicolon (816454) on Friday April 10, @10:54AM (#27531705)
in related news,
a coalition of persons of interest is growing at an exponential rate on the Internets. Members of the group, posting in various websites under the handle, Guest, often post provocative and sometimes unlawful comments. By using the handle name "Guest", they were afforded anonymity.
Several related groups are Anonymous, Anonymous Coward, Public, Guest, and Unregistered.
Re:A.C. • (Score:5, Funny)
by cayenne8 (626475) on Friday April 10, @01:23PM (#27533777)
Not only that...but, I hear there are people who actually register accounts with FALSE or misleading information as to their true identity. Pseudonyms and the like.
What the hell is this country coming to?
Re:A.C. • (Score:5, Insightful)
by Assmasher (456699) on Friday April 10, @10:30AM (#27531317)
Genius. How great would it be if Slashdot changed 'Anonymous Coward' to "Lone Wolf" for a few weeks?
Message to Virginia Fusion Center, from Anonymous • (Score:4, Funny)
by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 10, @09:23AM (#27530323)
All your base are belong to us.
Oh yes... “Anonymous†also communicates through “Unaccredited Grassroots Web Sites.â€
Elsewhere:
Posted by: Old Grouch in
In Passing
at
00:33:53 GMT
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 384 words, total size 6 kb.
Monday, 06 April 2009
You too can reside on Treacle Mine Road
The Register:
Elsewhere:
or would you prefer Peach Pie Street?
The Register:
Sir Terry Pratchett yesterday dropped in on a new Somerset housing estate where two roads have been named in honour of his Discworld novels.
Some 30 residents of the Kingwell Rise development in Wincanton will in future be able to boast they live on either Peach Pie Street or Treacle Mine Road - an agreeable result of the town's official twinning in 2002 with the fictional city of Ankh-Morpork.
Developer George Wimpey presented Wincanton residents with a list of 14 possible names chosen by Sir Terry, and over 1,000 voted online for their pair of faves.
Elsewhere:
The Independent: Welcome to Wincanton, twinned with the Discworld
press-agency based reporting from:
The Guardian
The BBC (with a picture, and a curiously truncated headline)
Metro.co.uk (with a different picture)
press-agency based reporting from:
The Guardian
The BBC (with a picture, and a curiously truncated headline)
Metro.co.uk (with a different picture)
Posted by: Old Grouch in
Linkage
at
23:29:45 GMT
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 143 words, total size 3 kb.
Saturday, 04 April 2009
Crimes of fashion?
Nilk in Melbournistan has some problems with Mrs.O’s sense of style.
Saturday Snark Dept.
Nilk in Melbournistan has some problems with Mrs.O’s sense of style.
I get around in daggy clothes most of the time, but I’ve got an excuse. I don’t have much of a social life, and I am not one of the pre-eminent women on the planet courtesy of being married to a handbag who happens to have lucked into the Presidency of the USA.The topic of shoe selection comes up, about which I’ll have to defer to Charles.
Posted by: Old Grouch in
Linkage
at
18:32:27 GMT
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 83 words, total size 1 kb.
Friday, 03 April 2009
Difference noted...
And sometimes parody is impossible:
Via: Physics Geek
And sometimes parody is impossible:
Cheering Fans, Thrilling NCAA Tournament Disgust BCS Officials
DETROIT— Claiming that determining an unquestioned national champion through a playoff system “went against the very idea of sporting competition,†and that the sheer exuberance of college basketball fans was “a shocking and nauseating display of everything wrong with collegiate athletics,†top BCS officials roundly condemned the NCAA Tournament Monday.
“I frankly cannot even believe what I'm seeing, and I can’t stomach the sight for long,†said a pale, trembling Jack Swarbrick, the Notre Dame athletic director who, along with the commissioners of the major conferences, manages the complicated system of polls and computer rankings that make up the Bowl Championship Series in college football. “The elegant logic of actually having teams play one another instead of having a council of their betters select which team is superior to which—that is not what sports is all about.â€
...
Via: Physics Geek
Posted by: Old Grouch in
Linkage
at
18:11:43 GMT
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 155 words, total size 2 kb.
Thursday, 02 April 2009
First anniversary noted...
Congrats Frank W. James!
Congrats Frank W. James!
Posted by: Old Grouch in
Linkage
at
19:00:58 GMT
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 17 words, total size 1 kb.
94kb generated in CPU 0.0272, elapsed 0.2234 seconds.
49 queries taking 0.2056 seconds, 191 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
49 queries taking 0.2056 seconds, 191 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
