This guy's gonna turn into a major martyr figure for the far right. He'll be making money hand over fist on the speaking circuit before you know it, crying about fictitious losses of religious liberty. No one said he couldn't worship God, just that he couldn't park a 5000 pound religious sculpture on public property. How can a *judge* be guilty of such miserable logic?

Eradicating McJobs

My email to Merriam-Webster ecouraging them not to pull "McJob" from the new edition:

Please don't bow to corporate interests and pull "McJob" from the dictionary. McDonald's has no right to control the evolution of the English (or any other) language. If "McJob" has the negative connotation McDonald's fears it does, then perhaps they should take a good look at the reputation they've built over the past few decades and make an internal change before trying to manipulate the larger culture. (Though God knows they're good at that.) I'm guessing you had no plans to excise the new addition, but I'm sure you also appreciate the support.

You can email them, too.

Here, Jim Cantalupo, McDonald's Chairman and CEO submits a rather lengthy explanation of why he thinks the word should be pulled.

Mr. Cantalupo, no amount of explanation on your part should alter the reality that our society has latched onto the word, negative connotation and all, due to whatever influencing factors--valid or not (quite arguably valid)--and it'd be intellectually dishonest for Merriam-Webster to retract a new word they've identified. Dictionaries are supposed to reflect the reality of our spoken language, not ignore or alter it. That's why there are many words which may prove far more offensive to a far greater number of people included in any decent dictionary. They're reflective, not prescriptive.

Anti-War Veterans Shunned

Even veterans of past wars are being prevented from speaking out against the war in Iraq. These poor guys who actually served their country were yanked from a Veteran's Day parade in Tallahassee while high school marching bands and Hooters' girls were allowed to continue on. They were handing out leaflets and carried a banner which read ""Honor the Warrior, Not the War."

I thought Veteran's Day was about the men who served not the war being fought?

Starting out as a fairly amusing satire of the Matrix, The Meatrix quickly evolves into a fairly effective animated indictment of corporate farming.

Great satirical collection of modern propaganda posters. Simultaneously funny and frightening.

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
— Voltaire

Congrats to a College Buddy

Very talented guy I went to school with Matt Diffee is featured in a New Yorker interview along with slides of his work. Congratulations, Matt.

Good Point

Since Jessica Lynch has alerted us to the fact that the TV movie about her is inaccurate, when are FOX News and RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie going to demand that it be yanked?

Must've taken some guts for that young lady to stand up in in the middle of all this and cry foul. Woulda been real easy for her to just let it all wash over her. And who coulda blamed her?

She oughta run for President. More integrity in her lil' pinky than in the entire Bush cabinet.

No More Questions, Thanks!

Republican solution to dissent from the opposition? No more questions from Democrats. For real. Apparently, this is unprecedented. I should hope so. Questions for the White House will have to be funneled through GOP committee chairmen. So if they don't like a question, the White House never has to be bothered with it.

What a model of efficiency! And how convenient, too.

White House spokeswoman Ashley Snee did say, "It was not the intent to suggest minority members should not ask questions without the consent of the majority." (WP)

Coutler Clashes with Reality

More proof that Anne Coulter is certifiably insane. Or just profoundly intellectually dishonest.

In response to complaints about CBS yanking the Reagans miniseries, she retorted on MSNBC's Hardball that George C. Scott turned down his Oscar for Patton because Scott was a commie who didn't like that fact that Patton came out looking like a hero. She claimed the industry liberals intended for the film to undermine Patton's image but the flick backfired.

A simple search for "George C. Scott" and Oscar reveals the truth. (The first Google result I clicked on, in fact.) Scott simply thought the Oscars were "demeaning" and "a two-hour meat parade."

Thankfully, Chris Matthews called Coulter on this bold-faced fabrication.

"You are dead wrong," he said. He also had a good enough memory to refer to the "meat parade" quote above.

"Facts mean nothing to you, Ann," he continued.

Glad someone's calling Coulter on her constant stream of BS.

The Matrix & Messianic Madness

Bizarre. A whole sermon built around the concept of The Matrix. Kinda meanders. "Preached by Pastor Yingling at First Church of the Brethren."

But here's the most unusual thing: I then found practically the same sermon here. Henry G. Brinton delivered it at the Fairfax Presbyterian Church Sermon on May 18 of this year.

So who's plagiarizing who?

Looks like Yingling is ripping off Brinton, since he spoke on July 20, 2003 a full two months after Brinton delivered his message.

Naughty, naughty!

The following is excerpted from a speech by former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski at the recent "New American Strategies for Security and Peace" conference in Washington, DC:

"Since the tragedy of 9-11 which understandably shook and outraged everyone in this country, we have increasingly embraced at the highest official level what I think fairly can be called a paranoiac view of the world. Summarized in a phrase repeatedly used at the highest level, 'he who is not with us is against us.' I say repeatedly because actually some months ago I did a computer check to see how often it's been used at the very highest level in public statements.

The count then quite literally was ninety-nine. So it's a phrase which obviously reflects a deeply felt perception. I strongly suspect the person who uses that phrase doesn't know its historical or intellectual origins. It is a phrase popularized by Lenin when he attacked the social democrats on the grounds that they were anti-Bolshevik and therefore he who is not with us is against us and can be handled accordingly."

The full speech can be found on the Prospect's web site. (Found via Bartcop.)

Finally, an explanation for why you just can't get some songs outta your head.

"My philosophy is the United States should cooperate with others whenever we can … and act alone only if we have to. In the current government, the conservatives, at least, believe that we should act alone whenever we can and cooperate when we have to." - President Clinton quoted in the New Haven Register. Pity a third term wasn't a possibility, isn't it?

CBS Sinks Series

So now in America, the chairman of the RNC has sway over network TV programming - programming that's commercially, not federally funded. Yes, the Reagan miniseries got yanked--or, at least, it's getting shuttled over Showtime, so folks will hafta pay to see it.

In a prepared statement on CBS.com, the network said, “This decision is based solely on our reaction to seeing the final film, not the controversy that erupted around a draft of the script.” Rubbish. In order for that to be true, you’d have to believe the show would’ve been yanked after they reviewed it internally if the conservative outcry had never occurred. Anybody buy that?

Reagan's like some sort of god to these people! These are the same people who applauded a cheesy miniseries about Bush's fictitious heroics a few weeks ago - while the man's still President, setting a nice precedent for propaganda in this country. I could understand the argument that it's not gracious to Reagan in his current state, but that's not what's got most of the critics in a huff - it's just it portrays their idol with a few cracks in it.

Can you imagine a network ever canceling a miniseries that depicted a Democrat less than favorably? Thought not.

A story detailing the debacle on the CBS news site goes on to say that "Criticism of CBS took on an official tone last week, with a letter of complaint from Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie to CBS President Les Moonves." Official tone? So what! When the government *officially* tells the media not present something, don't we have a word for that? CENSORSHIP!

Apparently, CBS doesn't mind being censored.

Yes, they censor cussin', sex and violence (not much) all the time - and I'm not aware of all the details of how that works. But this wasn't the FCC pressuring CBS to censor a cuss word. It was the Chairman of the RNC pressuring them to scrap the whole thing because he wasn't satisfied with its political content. Has to be GOP-sanctioned propaganda we watch apparently.

Chilling.