Category Archives: Media Criticism

Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Moonbats

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…mourn another red thug.

For some reason the sleazy Democrat pols around here have always had the hots for these Latin American Reds. Like his late boss Joe Moakley, Jim McGovern’s always had a crush on Fidel Castro. Maybe he’s jealous of all the hair. Joe K was always Chavez’s kept Kennedy, although Bill Delahunt gushed over him like a teenage girl infatuated with a mutant, pineapple-faced Justin Bieber.

The local solons are all going to have to find some new rear ends to kiss.

It was a sad day for the moonbat community.
The People’s Republics of Cambridge and Amherst rushed to lower their flags to half staff first. A spontaneous candlelight vigil erupted in Muddy River. Funeral dirges played endlessly on the NPR stations, like Radio Moscow when Uncle Joe passed. Someone dimmed the lights at the Globe, causing an immediate panic in the newsroom, where the fops 
assumed the newspaper was finally being shut down.

Yes, the media fell all over itself 
lionizing the Mussolini 

of South America. The AP hagiography was slightly longer than “War and Peace.” Talk about gushing:

“Fiery populist … 
socialist ideals … outsmarted his rivals … electrified … folksy … larger-than-life … master communicator and savvy political strategist … championing his country’s poor.”

The only thing the AP forgot to say about El Comandante was that he kept the drugs out of Southie.

Joe K.’s just going to miss the handouts.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary

“Not A Dictator”

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Obama’s declaration of ineffectuality:

By saying “I’m not a dictator,” then, Obama is admitting that he is ineffectual: that he lacks the political skill either to strike a compromise or to bend his opponents to his will. He concluded his press conference in an even more passive vein, hoping that “Congress comes to its senses a week from now, a month from now, three months from now.”

The Hill tries to put a brave face on all this, reporting that “the first months of President Obama’s second term are being built around a simple premise: No caving.” The legislative trade publication also reports that Democrats “argue that Obama is–finally–using the power of the bully pulpit to advance his agenda” and “becoming more adept at using public pressure to accomplish his political goals.”

As best we can tell, no evidence is adduced in support of this proposition. Another Hill piece, this one an op-ed by Republican consultant John Feehery, takes the opposite tack: “The tag team of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are currently mopping the floor with Barack Obama. The president convincingly won a second term in November, but since that time, the congressional Republican leadership has outfoxed, outmaneuvered and plain out-strategized him on just about every issue.”

Despite the supposed inspiration of his first campaign, hope is not a strategy.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

A Day To Celebrate

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Josef Stalin died sixty years ago.

But too many (any is too many) still mourn his passing.

As Andrew asks, what would be the reaction if people were so publicly lamenting the death of Hitler? The odious double standard, particularly on campus, remains.

[Late afternoon update]

How fitting, even poetic, that Hugo Chavez has assumed room temperature on this date. March 5th is now a double date to celebrate.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

The Immigration Solution

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This.

Let them live here, let them work here, let them have drivers’ licenses, but if they want citizenship, they have to go to the back of the line. And that means no welfare either.

Of course, the Dems hate it, because it doesn’t give them all the new welfare-state oriented voters they want and need.

[Update a while later]

What this comes down to is two fundamentally different views: citizenship as a right, versus a privilege to be earned. Heinlein had it right.

Education, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

Anti-Gun Hysteria

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Is it warping our kids?

It’s not necessary to plot progressive indoctrination with other true believers; they already know what to think and what to do, and from whom to take their cues. At the moment, that would be Mr. Obama and other members of his administration on the permanent campaign trail. This time, they are specifically campaigning against the Second Amendment.

As powerful as political motivation might be, the faddish nature of education is equally compelling. For some time, “zero tolerance” policies of one kind or another have enjoyed substantial popularity.

The zero tolerance policy most familiar to the public is the “gun free” school zone, which for some produces feelings of safety. Unfortunately, like all zero tolerance polices, this is a complete failure, actually encouraging attacks rather than enhancing safety. Those who need to “feel safe” cannot admit this obvious reality lest their belief system come crashing down, so they redouble their efforts, striking out at even imaginary threats and guns.

Understanding this sort of thinking, it is easy to realize that such people think nothing of applying a zero tolerance policy prohibiting actual firearms to not only toys bearing a slight resemblance to firearms, but to depictions of firearms and even imaginary weapons. Thus have elementary-aged children been punished for pointing fingers at each other and fighting imaginary heroic battles for mankind. Thus is childhood warped and wrenched from children.

Some of these bizarre incidents are the direct result of human confusion or incompetence. School systems have multiple levels of management that theoretically can avoid abuses in student discipline. Take the case of the five year-old girl who dared think of blowing bubbles on her friend and herself. Even if her teacher could not tell the difference between a Hello Kitty bubble gun — a toy the girl left at home — and a real weapon, and even if she could not tell the difference between five year olds playing and a threat of serious bodily harm or death, what’s the principal’s excuse? What’s the excuse of the assistant superintendent and the superintendent and the members of the school board?

They’re morons, who rely on feelings instead of thought?

More and more, it appears that sending your kid to a public school is malparenting, particularly if it’s a boy.

Also, as a commenter over there points out, these people can’t be said to be college educated. They’re merely college degreed.

[Update a couple minutes later]

Oh, good lord:

If your children express that they are troubled by today’s incident, please talk with them and help them share their feelings. Our school counselor is available to meet with any students who have the need to do so next week. In general, please remind them of the importance of making good choices.

These people shouldn’t be allowed within a hundred yards of a child.

[Update a few minutes later]

Jeeeez:

Officials said that even though it was not a real security situation, everybody in the school system did what they should in light of the reported threat, The Times reported.

Yes, apparently, if “doing what they should” means being moronic and hysterical.