Category Archives: Media Criticism

Media Criticism, Political Commentary

The Convention Tonight

15 Comments

I watched Scarlett Johanssen and Eva Longoria, but turned down the sound, because they’re a lot easier on the eyes than the ears.

I listened to John Kerry until I heard the word “neocons,” at which point I muted, because this is a surefire sign that whoever is speaking is politically a moron, or attempting to appeal to same, if he uses the term in a non-ironic manner. It only took ten seconds or so…

[Update a while later]

I will confess that the best (only? yeah, probably) moment of the Dem convention that warmed my heart was Gabby Giffords staggering to the lectern with the help of her friend Debby Liarwoman Schultz, and leading the congregation in the Pledge of Allegiance, including the words “under God.”

But the cynic in me wonders if this was an afterthought, to try to dilute the venom of the previous day’s vocal repudiation of Him?

I guess, in theory, we could know by looking at a convention schedule from earlier in the week, but considering the people we’re dealing with, who’s to say what it is now is what it was then?

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Weird

The DNC Got All Biblical Yesterday

67 Comments

…and didn’t even know it.

That’s what happens when you substitute a political ideology for religion.

Ah, well. As the Anchoress says, Peter got in, so maybe there’s hope for them yet.

[Update a few minutes later]

God runs deep:

…it’s not a matter of one word more or less, one or more mentions of God. The real heart of the issue is that most of the people in that hall, in the Democratic convention, really don’t accept the understanding of rights contained in the Declaration of Independence: The Declaration appealed first to “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” as the very ground of our natural rights. The drafters declared that “self-evident” truth that “all men are created equal,” and then immediately: that “they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” George Bush was not embarrassed to insist that these are “God-given rights,” as opposed to rights that we had merely given to ourselves. For if we had given them to ourselves, we could as readily take them back or remove them. Newt Gingrich made this point during the primaries; it’s not as though the point were so esoteric as to seem mystical or somehow remote from the understanding of ordinary folks. And Paul Ryan touched on this understanding of natural rights during his own speech at the convention. He could surely respond even now by putting the question to Obama and the Democrats, and putting it in the terms of a dare and wager: If we took a survey on this matter, we bet that about 70–80 percent or more of the delegates at the Democratic convention would be too embarrassed to say that these rights were given to us by our Creator, the Author of those Laws of Nature. And we could bet that, in contrast, about 80 percent of the delegates at the Republican convention would assent to that proposition without a trace of hesitation. Why not put the question so that the heart of the matter does not fade?

I would say that I do believe in natural rights, but I don’t need to believe in God for that, any more than I need a god to provide gravity. But when people like Touré Neblett deny natural rights, they might want to consider this:

…his is not an isolated view; it is/was shared by a number of world figures: Lenin, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Amin — just to name a few. So take heart, Touré, you’re not alone.

Sadly true.

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

That “You Belong To The Government” Video

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…was no gaffe:

Later this summer, Obama notoriously argued that government created the environment for success through infrastructure spending. “If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that,” Obama told a crowd in Oakland. Obama later claimed he meant that businesses didn’t build the infrastructure that allowed them to be successful, and that government deserves the credit. But where did government get the capital to build the infrastructure in the first place? From the successful businesses that produced that capital, not from the Progressive Sunshine Forest.

The reference to churches in the video is another interesting point, although not one that Democrats want voters to notice. This administration imposed a mandate on employers to provide free birth control and sterilization to employees, even those employers whose religious values prohibit them from facilitating such access. Explicitly religious organizations such as schools, health care providers, and charities did not get an exemption, either. The message was very similar to what the video argued: you can join a church, but you belong to the government.

Yup.

Media Criticism, Social Commentary, Space

A Not-So-Green Space Program

28 Comments

When I first heard that Los Angeles had won the competition to house an orbiter at the science museum on Exposition Boulevard, I scratched my head, trying to imagine how they were going to get it there. At the Space Technology Expo, the museum had a booth, and I asked the young lady working there. “Oh, we’re still working it out.”

[shocked voice] “You didn’t have to submit a plan with the proposal?”

“No, not a detailed one.”

At the SpaceUp LA a couple weeks ago, we saw a description of the plan, using a very precision crawler, in which it was noted that a “few” trees might have to be removed.

Well, “a few” has turned into four hundred mature trees, and the locals, justifiably, aren’t happy about it. I wonder how much support the project would have gotten if they’d known this up front?

Anyway, one of the amusing things about the LA Times piece is the technical ignorance on display:

Several alternatives for the Oct. 12 move were considered but ultimately discarded.

Taking the massive shuttle apart would have damaged the delicate tiles that acted as heat sensors.

Ummmm…no.

The tiles are not “heat sensors.” They are heat protectors, insulating the vehicle from the hot plasma of entry. The heat must be shielded against, not just “sensed.”

Media Criticism, Political Commentary

We Belong To The Government

99 Comments

Wow. Talk about politically tone deaf.

This perfectly encapsulates the difference between the Left and the rest of us. They call themselves “progressive,” but the idea of the serfs being the property of the state is as old as the state itself. What’s new is the idea of limited government and individual rights.

[Update a few minutes later]

What was the biggest disaster for the Dems on Day 1? Probably rolling over the big sixteen tee on the debt. Debbie Liarwoman Schultz’s antics are just par for that course.

[Late-morning update]

The slaves embrace their chains. This one will have Bob-1 spun up like a top in comments.

[Bumped]