Tag: stupid is as stupid does

Posted on

A Reason to Run?

Finally, someone has given Vice President Dick Cheney a potentially compelling reason to run for president.

“The day Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I’ll kill myself,” [Helen Thomas] told the HILL. “All we need is one more liar.”

Thomas made the remarks to the newspaper Thursday, July 28, 2005, according to Drudge.

Of course, the statement by Thomas will only become falsifiable (testable) if Cheney were to announce he were running. But then, he could always announce and then withdraw if Thomas became that rare mass media personality to actually say what they mean and mean what they say…

At least then we might be able to test what kind of liar Helen Thomas might (or might not) be.

heh

(Crossposted from a Friday post at Balanced News Blog–yeh, I’m that far behind here… )

Posted on

Short Shrift Day

Light—very light—posting today. In fact, until later this may be all there is…

In fact, try checking out my sidebar and blogroll for reading material today. Anywhere But Here, Cathouse Chat, Cao’s Blog, Keep the Coffee Coming, BTW—oh, darn it, they’re all worth reading or I wouldn’t have blogrolled ’em. I souldn’t even have started a list; should just have inserted my bloogroll here and said, “Read these today, ‘K?”

🙂

L8R…

Posted on

Does this bother anyone else?

Find English usage errors (in writing and speech) a pain in the keister? Have fun with Common Errors in English

Rant: ON

Chapter II of an ongoing gripe…

Yeh, I know, I know. Communication sometimes happens even with usage errors in common speech. But mass media (including print media) is so darned full of the subliterate that I sometimes get a tad steamed.

No, subliterate writing and speech isn’t all the fault of Mass Media Podpeople (and their brethren in advertising and entertainment and “the (mostly phony) arts”. No, a lot of the fault can be traced to bad, really bad public schooling. Oh, and lazy people who just don’t give a flip about learning their own language well or who just don’t care to read much. (And even there, I find myself correcting grammar, usage and spelling in books I own—print and ebook—in narrative or descriptive passages. I pretty much leave dialog alone. What the heck do editors and proofreaders get paid for?)

And yeh, I know I use colloquialisms loosely on this blog, and I even have numerous typos and the occassional misspelling (like “occassional” which should be “occasional” See? Sometimes I catch myself and make corrections. :-).

But really, ought we not to be a tad more literate as a society than we are? Or mabe just a wee tad less subliterate? Especially those who make a living with the printed and parrotted-from-a-teleprompter word?

Just read the list of errors at Common Errors in English. I’ve seen or heard darned near all of them—some of them frequently—from mass media (print, audio and video/tv/etc.) since I last ranted about this topic.

And people listen to these subliterate morons!

Oh, and one other thing: If I hear one more person say, “To err is human; to forgive, divine” and mispronounce “err” as “air” I swear I’ll scream bloody murder! It’s “ûr” or “er” (as in dumbER than rocks). Learn the language!

*grumble, grumble, gripe, complain*

OK, OK, I know most darned near all of the folks who read this blog do NOT fall into the subliterate category, in general. And here, note: I once again do NOT classify myself as being “literate” in to the same order of literacy as my grandparents, for example. I’d need a much better grasp of history, for one thing, to meet that standard.

Still, wouldn’t it be lovely *heh* if more folks actually knew how to speak and write English—especially in Mass Media?

Rant: OFF.

There. I feel muuuuuch better, now…

Posted on

UN-run internet?

This week’s PGHA asks the question, What would the internet be like if it were run by the UN?
Normally, I’d not stoop to answer a question with such obvious answers, but seeing as how it was asked by one of the Great Minds of the blogosphere (and derived from a comment by another such Great Mind), I’ll go ahead and give the obvious answers, even though they are all common knowledge.
What would the internet be like if it were run by the UN?
1.) Bloggers would no longer be allowed to wear pajamas. Female bloggers would be required to wear hijabs; male bloggers would be required to wear sheets on their heads, like so many of the sheetheads at the UN like to do.
2.) All blogposts would be submitted to the UN for redaction and censorship. Bloggers would be required to submit posts six months in advance of posting date to assure enough time for UN blogocrats to have them translated into pidgin barbarian speak, read (and explained) to them before being trashed.
3.) All sites critical of the UN will be assigned high-priority 404 status, so that they will load muuuuuch faster. Owners of such sites will be turned over to UN Peacekeeping forces, raped and flayed. All such high-priority 404 status sites will return the same message: “You have attempted to access material that is deleterious to Kofi’s malfeasance in office. The UN Internet Police have been dispatched to your location and will be there as soon as they have stopped to rape a few children. Resistance is futile.”
4.) All site owners praising the UN and calling for world government by the UN will recieve stipends of $50,000 per anum and up, awarded Land Rover SUVs, sent on all-expense-paid trips to “disaster” sites to sip tea and go to cocktail parties with UN “observers”. Additional benefits will be based on content, traffic and payment of excessive dues by the U.S. to the UN slush fund.

More? Of course there’s more. But I’ll leave the rest as an exercise for the students…

Posted on

“By their fruits you shall know them.”–Matthew 7:20

Thanks, R’Cat, for reminding me to get this up

Was so drained when I finally sat down at the comp last night I didn’t even comment on THE news of the day. Well, here’s my comment: American Muslims missed the “civilized response” boat five years ago and have refused to book passage since. What’s changed, now?

Reuters (of course) puts a positive spin on it:

“Top U.S. Muslim scholars issued a “fatwa,” or religious edict, against terrorism on Thursday and called on Muslims to help authorities fight the scourge of militant violence.
“The fatwa was part of efforts by U.S. Muslims to counter perceived links between Islam and terrorism and avert any negative backlash after this month’s bombings by suspected Islamic extremists in London and Egypt.”

Of course Reuters (almost “al Jazeera West”) presents this as a genuine proclaimation, but since it’s taken four years of bloody, brutal, vicious attacks by their co-religionists since 2001 (let alone the previous 20 years! ) I hope you’ll pardon me for casting a jaundiced eye at this as being too little, too late. It’s as though Georgy Malenkov were to step up and say, “I never really agreed with Stalin’s policies of killing millions of our countrymen while I was his Deputy Secretary. I was just along for the ride,” and expect folks to believe him.

No, these Muslims have aided and abetted in the brutal attacks for all this time by being silent when they could have spoken. Speaking out now seems disingenuous. Worse, it echoes the Koran’s encouragement of Muslims to lie to unbelievers whenever they feel it would advance the purposes of Islam. (See also here and here.)

“Let not the believers take the disbelievers for friends rather than believers. And whoever does this has no connection with Allah unless it is done to guard (Takeyya) yourselves against them, guarding carefully. And Allah cautions you against His retribution. And to Allah is the eventual coming.” (Koran 3:27)

The principle of Al Takeyya is precisely what makes negotiations with Islamic statesmen such a frustrating endeavor for the naïve diplomats of Christianized nations. It is imperative that diplomatic envoys learn that when dealing with Muslims, what Muslim statesmen say is not the issue. The real issue is, what do they mean and actually intend to do in their hearts._*_

I’d rather let them be tested by scriptures other than their own:

“By their fruits you shall know them.”–Matthew 7:20

If this fatwa results in Muslims informing on jihadist terrorists (thus twarting plans to attack noncombatant men, women and children); if this fatwa results in sutting off the flow of money and matériel serving jihadist terrorism; if this fatwa results in Muslims who actively oppose their co-religionist jihadist terrorists in genuinely substantive ways, then this proclaimation will be believable.

Until then, I’ll view it with great distrust. Words are easy. How about some moral, civilized action, sheetheads?

Update:
Looks like lgf was on top of this all along. Could saved my fingers some typin’ had I checked them out earlier, but was just too pooped last night to click on over there. Over 600 comments… *sheesh* Some-a those folks oughta get their own blogs… heh

Posted on

ACLU CAIR package

Build your own ACLU-CAIR package.

Established fact: CAIR has known ties to jihadist terrorism. And LOTS of support from the ACLU. Just a few links to make up your own ACLU CAIR package…

Jihad Watch: CAIR, ACLU Sue Gov’t over Border Scrutiny

FL bus company employees sued by CAIR/ ACLU

CAIR, ACLU To Announce Action Against DHS Over NY Detentions

ACLU and CAIR demand apology

ACLU, CAIR decry anti-terror efforts

Oh, why go on. CAIR fronts for terrorists; the ACLU is in aliance with them and defends terrorists. Both should be sent on a long walk off a short pier carrying the weight of their sins with them to the bottom of the deep blue sea.

Oh, crap. That’d just give the EPA an excuse to get involved…

*sigh*

This has been a (day late) post for the Stop the ACLU Blogburst

21st Century
Paladin
A Lady’s Ruminations
A Tic In The Mind’s Eye
American Dinosaur
American Warmonger
An American Housewife
And Rightly So
Angry Republican Mom
Birth of a Neo-Con
Blog Talker
California Conservatives 4 Truth
Cao’s Blog
Christmas Ghost
Common Sense Runs Wild
Conservative Angst
Conservative Dialysis
Conservative Rant
Craig’s Reflections
Crosses aCross America
Daily Inklings
Def Conservative
**Euphoric Reality
Evil Conservative Blog
Freedom Of Thought
Freedom-Of
Fundamentally Right
GM’s Corner
Gribbit’s Word
Is It Just Me?
Is This Life?
It Is What It Is
JackLewis.net
Jo’s Cafe
Kender’s Musings
KiddSafe Blog
Kill Righty
Lady
Madonna- Headlines
Life Trek
Mad tech
Making Tomorrow’s Military
Today
**Mean Ol’ Meany
Meeyotch’s so called
“life”
Merri Musings
Miss Patriot
More Sense Than Money
**Mr Minority
Musing Minds
My Political Soapbox
**MyView
**NIF
**Obiter Dictum Blog
**Ogre’s View
Parrot Check
Patriots For Bush
PBS Watch
**Pirate’s Cove
RAGE
Rancher Blog
Ravings of John C. A. Bambenek
Red State Rant
Regular Ron
Respublica
Right On! A Conservative Opinion
Smithereen’s Files
**Steve’s Blog
Stop The ACLU
Stop The ACLU AZ
**Stop The ACLU Illinois
Stop The ACLU Kansas
Stop The ACLU Nevada
Stop The ACLU Ohio
Stop The ACLU Oklahoma
Stuff You Should Know
**Swap Blog
Sweet Spirits of Ammonia
The American Patriots
**The Conservative
UAW Guy
The Kevin Show
The Lesser of Two Evils
The Life And Times
The Nose On Your Face
The Uncooperative Blogger
The View From Firehouse
**The Wide Awakes
third world county
This Space For Rent
Thoughts from the Right
Time Hath Found Us
TMH’s Bacon Bits
Undiscovered
Country
Vista On Current Events
What Attitude Problem?
White Lightning Axiom:
Redux
Xtreme Right Wing
Zipcard2’s Blog

Posted on

Chill out with Chicken Chili

Well, in honor of the cool wave that just swept through, tonight’s menu is

“White” Chicken Chili

This is another sorta, kinda, not quite a recipe recipe. (Cos I refuse to measure amounts of spices.)

  • 1Lb boneless chicken breasts, cut in either 1/2′ strips or in chunks
  • 1 can (or a coupla cups freshly cooked) navy beans
  • 1 can hominy
  • about a cup (more or less to your taste) of green chiles: the canned diced ones are just fine.
  • 1 cup chicken stock (your own or canned)
  • up to one tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • a couple of fresh, ripe (none of those sorta red cueballs sold at the grocery) tomatoes, diced. Or a (15oz?) can of diced tomatoes.
  • one medium onion, chopped
  • a coupla cloves of garlic, minced
  • ground red pepper (I’d use at least a teaspoonful—actually, I would use more 🙂
  • ground cumin—minimum one tablespoonful. Best if ground fresh.

Heat a cast iron skillet to medium heat. When hot, add about a TBS of oil to coat the pan and then add the chicken strips/cubes. Cook until white, then add the onion, garlic, cumin and red pepper powder and continue cooking until the chicken is golden. Meanwhile, combine the chicken broth and corn starch, dice tomatoes, etc.

When the chicken’s a golden brown, add the tomatoes, hominy, beans, green chiles and mixture of chicken stock and cornstarch. Bring to a boil for about 5 minutes, stirring every now and then, then simmer for at least 30 minutes. I prefer an hour or more, adding more chicken stock or water as needed.

Serve in bowls or on corn chips and topped with salsa or whatever works for you.

UPDATE: Lovely Daughter suggested mushrooms and bell peppers as an addition to this, and I don’t see any reason why they would not work… it’d just taste different than I’d expect any kinda chili to taste. Maybe better than this “white” chili does. Gonna try that next time. If you try it that way before I do, drop me a line and let me know how ya liked it.

While you’re at it, may I recommend this post from Blog and Mablog? For an upcoming Christ Church cookbook, Doug Wilson makes “…the culinary argument for God’s existence, which Thomas Acquinas somehow overlooked.”

“Think for a moment what God could have done with food. He could have designed a universe in which some sort of fuel was necessary, but where the (entirely superfluous) function of taste was missing. He could have provided us with abundant sources of nutrition, but which had the ethos of cold, shapeless oatmeal. No taste anywhere. Bleh.

“He could have given us food that had slight variations or degrees of refinement, like gasoline. We could have had super premium oatmeal, which was more gruel-like, and then premium, like cream of wheat, and then regular, which would be like oatmeal, with the texture and everything. But still, nothing that had taste. No brown sugar.

“What kind of God created taste? Not just the function of taste—because He could have done that and only provided one or two tastes—but the riot of tastes, the pandemonium of tastes, the bedlam of tastes that we actually have.”

Interesting stuff. But then, folks who are familiar with Doug’s work in Credenda Agenda won’t be surprised… (Check out the latest Credenda issue: The Art of Pettiness for a taste..)