Malkin Hates Scarves; Stays Mum on Gerry Adams-Style Beards

Right wing screeching lunatic whose ability to have perspective was surgically removed commentator Michelle Malkin has become convinced that celebrity cook Rachel Ray is shilling not just for Dunkin Donuts but also for terrorists.

Setting aside the conflation of secular Arab nationalist/partner with Rabin/winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Yasir 'Arafat with Islamist jihadists who have only flourished in the occupied territories as a consequence of the US and Israel's refusal to support and compromise with moderate Palestinian leaders (and for good measure, confusing them with Al Qadea acolytes in Iraq), the sole reasoning behind the idea that Ms. Ray is somehow Osama bin Laden's personal chef is that a stylist draped her with a scarf resembling a keffiyeh (or shemagh)- traditional Arab head gear.

To be crystal clear then; Ms. Malikn and her pals believe that wearing a keffiyeh allies one with terrorists.

Someone had better tell that to the US Navy Seals and Britain's elite Special Air Service, both units being currently engaged in anti-terrorism operations around the globe:



God knows what Malkin and her pals would have made of the command patch for Eisenhower and the allied troops that stormed Normandy on D-Day. Flaming phallic sword? Rainbow? "Promoting the homosexual agenda" or something equally moronic, one supposes.

Hello, Dalai

Image by Beau Bo D'Or

Thank God for Beaker and Sooty

No child that ever lived, is walking the earth, or has yet to be born would ever consider this a comforting puppet experience

I was reading the BBC Norfolk page the other day when I saw that the Norwich Puppet Theatre- recently on the chopping block- was spared by an infusion of funding from a local charity.

I have mixed feelings about this.

On the one hand I strongly support public funding for the arts and feel that children should be exposed to as many different media and forms of story telling as possible because the imagination is the greatest result of evolution humanity has ever known.

On the other hand, I was taken to the Norwich Puppet Theatre as a seven year old to see a production of Pinocchio and it scared the crap out of me. To this day, I love puppets of all stripes with the exception of unpainted wooden marionnettes manipulated by black-turtlenecked arts hippies. These creations horrify me, thanks entirely to my exposure to them at the Norwich Puppet Theatre. My memory blocks most of the details so I may stay sane, but I have a vague recollection of a show resembling a wooden puppet version of Hostel.

So in conclusion- public arts funding, good; Norwich Puppet Theatre, get those things away from me you sadistic child-terrifiers.

Thank you.

What? Their Horse Drawn Hearse Was Broken?

Even Garth went Goth once
From the lovely BBC:

Dog-lead goths 'hounded off bus'
A goth who leads his girlfriend around with a dog lead and collar was stopped from getting on a bus amid fears for passenger safety, a bus firm confirmed.

Dani Graves, 25, and his fiancee Tasha Maltby, 19, of Dewsbury, West Yorks, claim they have been discriminated against by bus firm Arriva Yorkshire. The black-clad couple said they had been told to leave one bus and prevented from boarding another. The bus firm said safety came first, but it was investigating the complaint.

Mr Graves told BBC Look North: "We're used to strange looks, we're used to comments.

"But we didn't expect it from someone like that. They're providing a public service. We had our bus passes, we did everything that you are supposed to do to get on a bus."

Miss Maltby said she came up with the idea to wear a dog lead, and said previous boyfriends had called her a "weirdo" when she suggested it. The couple said they "loved each other to pieces" and the use of the lead was a "sign of trust".

Mr Graves said: "She's very animal like, she's kind of like a pet, as well as a partner."

He said he "does everything" for his girlfriend, including laying out clothes for her, feeding her and cleaning their house. He said: "You wouldn't expect your cat or dog to do the washing up or cleaning round the house."

Bus operator Arriva claimed other passengers could be put at risk if the bus braked sharply. Operations director for Arriva Yorkshire, Paul Adcock, said: "Arriva takes any allegation of discrimination very seriously and have interviewed the driver regarding Mr Graves' claims. Our primary concern is passenger safety and while the couple are very welcome to travel on our buses, we are asking that Miss Maltby remove her dog lead before boarding the bus.

"It could be dangerous for the couple and other passengers if a driver had to brake sharply while Miss Maltby was wearing the lead."

The company said it was writing to Mr Graves "to apologise for any distress caused by the way this matter was handled".

It is not for me to comment on the lifestyle of Miss Maltby and the wonderfully Goth-y named Mr. Graves. However, one does wonder if the whole effect of a life lived in the Neil Gaiman inspired shadows is lessened by the phrase "We had our bus passes".

To quote a once-notable bard, "Hey now, hey na na now, sing this corrosion to me." Good sleep, cat-like underlings.

Hail Columbia

To the idiots of the right and the idiots of the left who have been raising such a stink (both before and after) about Mahmud Ahmadinejad speaking at Columbia University in New York yesterday, may I offer up my favorite quote of the year originally directed at said Iranian president by Columbia President Lee Bollinger:

"You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated.”

The New York Times has extensive coverage of the brouhaha here, but suffice it to say I'm with those who believe that free speech was served yesterday not least because Ahmadinejad proved himself to be a first class buffoon.

Ahmadinejad suggested at Columbia that Iran doesn't have homosexuals. To prove it, here's the Revolutionary Guard looking very butch and not at all poofy

Wanted: Men Who Like Worshiping a Half Naked Man and Wearing Rainbow Stoles

A gay priest yesterday
How mad is it that seven years into the 21st century churches presume to dictate policy for a mostly secular country?

Churches unite over adoption row
The Church of England has backed the Catholic Church in its bid to be exempt from laws on adoption by gay couples. Catholic leaders in England and Wales say its teachings prevent its agencies placing children with homosexuals and they will close if bound by the rules....

I see. So your religious faith, a concious choice you made, trumps the rights of people whose biological destny is as immutable as skin colour to provide good homes for abandoned and orphaned children? And your fabled compassion enters into the equation where?

Larry the Lamb has Two Dams

As I have mentioned here before, I am a huge fan of the website/blog of Bad Science, authored by Guardian columnist Ben Goldacre.

In his latest entry Goldacre dissects some ludicrous reporting in Britain's Sunday Times (a once decent newspaper knobbed about with by Rupert Murdoch) and in the process reiterates a point often overlooked in debates about nature vs. nurture and the controversial practice of "curing" homosexuality as advocated by some of the more batshit Christian denominations:

"For those of you at the Sunday Times with some catching up to do, here's a news flash: we cleared up the question of Lamarckian inheritance of acquired traits over 100 years ago. If it helps, you could think about whether boob jobs will make future generations have larger breasts. And even if you could intervene to make a gay human straight- which only the Sunday Times and their friends are claiming here, not the researchers- then in any case, you might reasonably expect this to make any inherited tendency towards homosexuality more prevalent, rather than less." (The rest)

Brilliant! To recap Goldacre's point; as homosexuality is a genetic quality, not a conscious decision, and therefore people trying to turn gay people straight, and thus encouraging them to marry and procreate, are actually doing sterling work in ensuring that the next generation will include a larger percentage of gay people. This is either further proof that fundamentalists of all stripes are so self-deluding they should probably be hospitalized for their own (and others) safety, or evidence of a fiendish scheme to ensure a ready supply of future clients for these bogus sexuality adjustment shenanigans.