Jihadi humor
Filed Under (Terror War, Whimsy) by Don C on 24-03-2008
From LiveLink, via NewsFlavor, via Rodge, Terrorist media message:
There are six similar clips at the NewsFlavor link, two funny, four real.
Do as we say, dammit, or you’re going to hell
Filed Under (Fearmongering, Whimsy) by Don C on 24-03-2008
My father-in-law told a story this weekend about an old country German who went to church and took the Holy Communion once a year, whether he needed it or not, I’d guess. Well, some ol’ holier-than-thous kept telling him that once a year isn’t enough. Enough of what I don’t know but maybe they felt he wasn’t going to make the final cut on once a year.
Anyway after they tried to make him do what they wanted one too many times the old man quit going to church altogether, which the church snobs probably didn’t mind since he was a bad influence on others; it absolutely would not do to have any more of the congregants thinking they could skate by on only one trip to church per year.
I wonder how the old church snobs would feel if they found out that Communion once a year was wholy sufficient, but just barely and that by driving the old German away from his annual pilgrimage to Church with their evil manipulations they cost him his eternal salvation?
Probably it doesn’t work that way and the old German was right when he figured he didn’t really even need to go once a year.
Methinks Sarah did the right thing
Filed Under (Media and Entertainment) by Don C on 24-03-2008
The softer side of me
Filed Under (etcetera) by Don C on 24-03-2008
I wouldn’t exactly say that I am a big fan of the ballad love song genre but I heard this song on Sunny 99.1 the other day and didn’t have a clue who sang it or what it was about. I tuned in right at about the time the performer was working over the lyric no-thing compares to you in diva like fashion. Reminiscent of the operatic performance of The Diva Dance by Inva Mula in the Fifth Element I was enthralled by the vocals.
On the way out of town for Easter on Good Friday I hummed a few bars for the Wife and Kidz and the Wife nailed it immediately — it was Sinead O’Conner performing Nothing Compared 2 U from circa 1990. I am all like, no way!
But yes, way, it is indeed Sinead O’Connor. Come to find out after returning home from Easter visitation and reconnecting to the Big Brain, Nothing Compared 2 U has been thoroughly done by various artists, including Prince who originally wrote the piece.
Crime and money: A thin blue line
Filed Under (Tyranny at home) by Don C on 24-03-2008
You wonder why people don’t care about the problems with over-zealous prosecutors and steadily increasing para military police forces and I agree the common ambivalence is baffling. Ironically, these same otherwise apathetic people — especially on the upper end of the socio-economic scale — once caught up in the cogs of justice at any level become very concerned about their heavy-handed treatment at the hands of the state and to their horror they find out no one cares except for the maybe the gossip rags if the alleged’s demise can sell a paper or TV commercial.
I think one reason for the lack of concern is because of the way police and crime are portrayed in the media. Cops and DA’s are the heroes of the show more often than not thus people tend to assume those accused of a crime are bad people guilty of whatever they’ve been charged. Even after being found not guilty there are many who are going to think the defendant was just able to beat the rap through technicalities or loopholes.
Another reason is that we seem to have a sick need to assess blame for all the world’s tragedies. Every poor bastard charged with DWI–whether a conviction is even a remote possibility or not–is the scapegoat for all the senseless deaths caused by drunk drivers; anyone accused of having “inappropriate” sex is the scapegoat for all the horrible sex crimes and/or child rape/homicide; anyone caught with a bag of weed is the scapegoat for all the crime and violence associated with the illegal drug trade.
Such is the basis for the powerful platitude “it’s for the children.”
Unfortunately, prosecutorial heavy-handedness is not always simply due to over zealous prosecutors. Some of the largest billy clubs used by the DA are codified in the statutes. The DWI and drug forfeiture laws are the best examples of this though the sex crimes are coming on strong.
For example, if someone is charged with DWI, even though the case is so weak it will never get a conviction–such as one where the field sobriety tests were performed adequately but the suspect refused to take the Breathalyzer–the alleged drunk driver is arrested, handcuffed, subjected to a humiliating experience in jail with some very unsavory people (the vast majority of whom are poor by the way,) denied the privilege to drive due to the confiscation of driver’s license on the spot, and relieved of a good portion of their savings account for attorney’s fees, SR22, occupational license, and other such money-grubbing malarkey.
A .08 blood alcohol content is not a lot of beers. Why would any thinking person supply the state with evidence that could lead to a slam dunk DWI conviction? I don’t care how it’s gussied up, or how many dead babies are strewn around the room by MADD while lobbying for the execution of first time DWI offenders, taking a person to jail and suspending their driving privilege because he or she refuses to give evidence that could convict them is a violation of the fifth amendment.
If someone can goose step a straight line repetitively while under the glare of a state trooper, kleg lights, and video recorder that person is sober enough to drive, in my opinion. However, the way the statutes are written, actually posing a threat to the public is not really the issue, it’s how much money can be sucked out of the public dupes.
This is just hearsay but it is first hand hearsay: There was this one DWI case with which I am familiar, the poor bastard passed the field sobriety but refused the breathylzer and was only about a half mile from his house and he asked the trooper to cut some slack since he did so good on the field tests and the trooper replied, paraphrased, “If I let you go now and something happens I’d be liable.”
So someone has to go to jail and be subjected to a year of administrative hell just so some lowly trooper isn’t liable for his actions. Makes perfect sense to me, I guess.
