buzz twang

Not to beat a dead horse, but to beat a dead horse, I’m still not sure why so many dim bulbs got upset about Obama not actually flipping the finger but thinking he did.

Flipping the bird is as American as Mom, apple pie, Hell’s Angels, Fruit Loops and serial killers. My complaint is that if Obama really did hoist a digit at Hillary, it was friggin’ lame.

Here’s a sample of how to properly tell people to go fuck themselves without actually saying a word.

If you’re preznit, you have to give the bird whilst also distracting people from it, lest you look undignified, or are mistaken for a common person. Holding a cute lap dog is a good way.

Another good way of flipping the bird is to do it while walking away, like you are waving, but with that extra twist that says: “gent bent jag off!” I’m partial to the behind the back digit wave (it’s all in the wrist) but this works too:

The thing about being a cartoon character is that you can flip the bird, and no one cares. Cause no one expects a cartoon character to be important, or smart, or president of the most powerful nation on the planet.

And, it’s no easy task giving the finger when you have only one.

Think about that for awhile.

A documentary on how the web 2.0 “revolution” is kaput. Old news, but essential watching for those interested in the issue. Will blog on this later.

Running around the next day or so… Here’s a little nugget to keep the fires burning.

Was on Sirius Satellite Radio this week, as a guest on The Blog Bunker. Will write about that this weekend, as I’ve been rather busy, but I shall. Promise.

Methinks I smell the faint whiff of Bob Dole.

The Rude One tears McBush a new one, as only Monsignor Rude can do after the Repbulican presumptive nominee for preznit praises the Pastor John Hagee (yeah, the Hagee who sells his Armageddon fear mongering movie in an infomercial while standing in front of a casket) for his dedication to Israel. McBush manages this from one side of his mouth whilst from the other side managing to sidestep Hagee’s more atrocious rhetorical mumbo jumbo. A brief highlight from the Rude’s Rant:

Let’s put aside for a moment the Fantasyland in which reside his economic “policies.” Instead, check out what he said about the endorsement he begged for and got from John Hagee, the Armageddon-humping megachurch pastor who hates him some Catholics. When he was asked if hand-jobbing Hagee for an endorsement was a mistake, McCain, crazy maverick that he is, said, “Oh, probably, sure. But I admire and respect Dr. Hagee’s leadership of the — of his church. I admire and appreciate his advocacy for the state of Israel, the independence of the state of Israel. I condemn remarks that are made that has anything to do which is condemning of the Catholic Church.”

Let’s be clear here: Hagee only loves Israel because of that delicious mixture of delusion, faith, and violence known as “Christian Zionism.” Nutzoid fundamentalists of this stripe need them some Israel because it’s the battlefield for the coming war with the forces of Satan, which’ll make Jeeezus come back and bring about the Rapture. No, really. (For big fun, check out Matt Taibbi’s undercover infiltration of Hagee’s church in the latest Rolling Stone.) So, in other words, McCain praises Hagee’s support of Israel, which Hagee offers only out of hope that the world will end.

And McCain, being a dick, doesn’t give a fuck what you think about this. “I’m glad to have his endorsement,” he told Stephanopoulos. “I condemn remarks that are, in any way, viewed as anti-anything.” Then, just as a little extra “fuck-you,” he added, “But thanks for asking.” Yeah, that’ll teach Georgie-Porgie to ask McCain something that makes him twitch in a flashback to that bamboo cage.

Go read the entire thing, cause it’s full of naughty bits that are pretty much true.

Starre has an interesting post (and video) over at her site Eco-Chick on Hannah Kaminsky’s vegan dessert cook book My Sweet Vegan. As usual, Starre has me thinking about all good things inside and out, and her post reminded me of an interesting article in Saveur a few issues back on vegan cookbooks and flexitarians.

A flexitarian is someone who eats healthy, perhaps primarily fruits, veggies and grains, but also eats meat when they want to. Like me. From that article:

A neologism, flexitarian, has even been coined to describe the sort of eater who adheres to a largely vegetarian diet while still savoring the occasional serving of meat, fish, or poultry. In The Flexitarian Table (Houghton Mifflin, $30), Peter Berley, a former chef at the New York City vegetarian mecca Angelica Kitchen, who earned praise for an earlier book, The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen (HarperCollins, 2000), makes this way of eating look like a balanced and sensible way to live. Berley is especially convincing because he’s actually lived this way for years, creating meals to accommodate himself, his wife, and his young daughter, all of whom occasionally eat meat, as well as his older daughter, a strict vegetarian.

What’s remarkable about Berley’s book, apart from its deft juxtapositions of fresh ingredients and complementary flavors from different world cuisines, is its utter accessibility. It has nowhere near the number of entries found in either Madison’s or Bittman’s book, and that comes as something of a relief. With color photographs throughout, a seasonally based structure, and helpful menu suggestions, this is a book I’ve found myself hungrily returning to again and again. Preparations like the shaved vegetable and apple salad, a bracing, earthy mix of fennel, apples, radishes, and sunchokes, all sliced paper thin, are unfussy and versatile enough to pair with meat—a boon for those who don’t inhabit the extremes of the carnivore–herbivore continuum.

The entire article is worth reading. As a devoted meat lover, I’ve found that good recipes for mainly vegetable and fruit dishes can make the transition to healthier eating much more enjoyable. And, of course, not eating meats all the time means they are much more enjoyable when you do.

Yes, even a good fiction writer couldn’t make this stuff up.

The New York Times has come out with a really good article with supporting video that looks at how the Pentagon manipulates news and information to their advantage, and did so during the revolt of several generals. This is a continuation of a a pretty important issue that I’ve written about in the past:

“The BBC has a report on the “Information Operations Roadmap” which…

…calls for a far-reaching overhaul of the military’s ability to conduct information operations and electronic warfare. And, in some detail, it makes recommendations for how the US armed forces should think about this new, virtual warfare.

Here’s a PDF of it. Read it for yourself. This is part of the Rumsfeld plan to control information, as David Miller put it:

The concept of ‘information dominance’ is the key to understanding US and UK propaganda strategy and a central component of the US aim of ‘total spectrum dominance’. It redefines our notions of spin and propaganda and the role of the media in capitalist society. To say that it is about total propaganda control is to force the English language into contortions that the term propaganda simply cannot handle. Information dominance is not about the success of propaganda in the conventional sense with which we are all familiar. It is not about all those phrases ‘winning hearts and minds’, about truth being ‘the first casualty’ about ‘media manipulation’ about ‘opinion control’ or about ‘information war’. Or, to be more exact – it is about these things but none of them can quite stretch to accommodate the integrated conception of media and communication encapsulated in the phrase information dominance. [...]

Traditional conceptions of propaganda involve crafting the message and distributing it via government media or independent news media. Current conceptions of information war go much further and incorporate the gathering, processing and deployment of information including via computers, intelligence and military information (command and control) systems. The key preoccupation for the military is ‘interoperability’ where information systems talk to and work with each other. Interoperability is a result of the computer revolution which has led to the ‘Revolution in Military Affairs’. Now propaganda and psychological operations are simply part of a larger information armoury.

Such is the state of affairs in a country run by the war business. Truth is the first casualty.

A few intrepid pundits out there in teh internets have postulated that if Obama is unable to control his itching, then he is unfit for president.

Personally, I think that it is important to have a president who knows when to scratch an itch and when not to scratch an itch. But, that’s just me. Being teh president means being decisive and committing to those decisions. Notice that Obama didn’t hesitate to scratch the itch. Not a bit.

Imagine that the itch is a terrorist group that plans to put poison in all the Blueberry Pop Tarts and a decision has to be made to not eat Blueberry Pop Tarts. No hesitation. Ban Blueberry Pop Tarts, but the Frosted Strawberry are okay to eat. (We aren’t savages after all.)

If you want to be the decider, the test is tough, but fair. An itch may one day be something bigger than an itch, and you have to be prepared to use the back scratcher. I’d say Obama passed the itch test.

Here’s some still photos from the ABC News footage that show that Obama not only itched well, but did also correctly.

Please note the use of the tip of the finger and limited use of the nails, which can be damaging to skin if done improperly. Also, note the use of two fingers to trap the itch from escaping. Well done.

Apparently, when Obama scratches his face it causes some people to break out in a rash. Being a nervous disorder, madness sets in quickly.

For his next trick, Obama will turn someone who didn’t serve his county in a time of war with duty in a combat zone into someone who did serve his country in a time of war with duty in a combat zone.

Presto change-o!

Uppity “kneegrows” with deep thoughts should just be quiet. It’s best for the nation.
True amurikans don’t talk about this stuff. They are too busy shooting their constitutionally allowed guns at inanimate objects.

Next week the media is going to be saying that Obama’s choice of ordering two tacos, a side salad and a large drink instead of the Big Bell Box Value Meal means he’s a tax and spend Liberal.