Greatest. Show. Ever.

Jesus Christ Supercop is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

Open letter

To: Brian Montopoli c/o CJR Daily

Re: John Cloud's response to my statement on Coulter Piece

Mr. Montopoli-

John Cloud's defense of Coulter's Tim McVeigh comment- "She said at the time that it was a joke-" is yet another contribution to his complete lack of any concern for fact-checking or objectivity in his ridiculous article.

Coulter had ample opportunity to acknowledge that her "joke" was tasteless, crude, and potentially endangering to the lives of several employees of the New York Times. Her response, instead, was made in an interview with the website Right Wing News, in which Coulter said, "Of course I regret it. I should have added, 'after everyone had left the building except the editors and reporters.'"

The interview, and quote, can be found at http://rightwingnews.com/interviews/anncoulter.php. For the record, my father is an editor at the New York Times.

Perhaps Cloud wishes to continue his assertion that I simply "can't take a joke." He may be right. It's obvious that Cloud himself is a joke, and I certainly can't take him or his article.

August J. Pollak
www.xoverboard.com

Update: P.S. - a brief refresher in some of Ann's best "jokes," courtesy of Media Matters and Campus Progress. Boy, this girl's "just kidding" a lot.

Second Update: And a little from Oliver, while I'm here.

Third Update: Edited for spelling.

Just checking

I've lost count. Is there an official tally anywhere of all current Republicans that right-wing conservatives claimed should be impeached and/or removed from office within the last six weeks? As per PowerLine and Free Republic, I've got Senators Chafee, Voinovich, Hagel, McCain, and Supreme Court Justice Kennedy.

Am I missing anyone? And I don't mean random rants of hyperbole here: I mean actual Republicans/conservatives that the Limbaugh crowd legitimately suggest impeaching. Forget all the Democrats they want gone- at the rate they're going, I expect Hindrocket to insist we nuke America from orbit as the only acceptable option.

On McVeigh and Coulter

Go read this.

That's really all that needs to be said.

And domestic

Shadowed by the clearly relevant news of the Pope still being dead is that today marks the tenth anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. There's a MetaFilter thread on it that, as of writing this, had nothing but relevant and important things to consider about the tragedy. (By the time you link to it, it'll probably be beyond those first 15 or so comments, but those are the ones I'm referring to.)

The politics of this event are unavoidable- as are the differences between 9/11 and Oklahoma City. As one user points out, it's also the anniversary of the Waco assault. You would think that this might be mentioned somewhere, what with it likely being the direct cause for the Oklahoma attacks in the first place. It isn't. You would think we could mention the successful investigation, capture, and conviction of the perpitrator, a result of the treatment of the case as a Federal, criminal matter and not a military action. No one does this. You would would also think people might mention that Tim McVeigh proved our most dangerous, and most accessible, terrorists are white and American. They don't.

No doubt, conservatives will accuse liberals throughout the day of using the Oklahoma tragedy- and the successes of its resolutions- as political grandstanding. It's a sad means on their own part of reflecting on the dead, however, to do exactly the same thing, using their method of sweeping it under the rug.

If you give a drowned rat a cookie

Seriously, did anyone actually expect the outcome of Time's Ann Coulter centerfold issue to be anything different from what it was? That Time could have done anything to prevent Coulter from finding a reason to accuse the publishers of "hate" or "bias," thus shielding herself from any sembelance of cooperation with the "liberal" magazine, is deep in the realm of fantasy.

What did people think she would do? Praise Time for have the courage to go against her perceptions of liberal bias and feature her? Was there really a possible outcome here that involved a dearth of conservative outrage against Time?

Of course not. Coulter had a list of reasons to condemn the journalistic cunnilingus piece on her before it even hit the press, and that's just the way she wanted it. If it wasn't the cover, she'd have attacked a word used to describe her in the article. Or whatever ad they ran on the opposite page. Or whatever coke-addled hate-trip that materialized three feet in front of her. The end result? Conservatives get another moral victory in their invented reason to hate a perceived-as-liberal rag. And Time gets equally lambasted on the left for doing an expose on how great the country is now that we cloned Goebbels and slapped a set of tits on him.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we should stop attacking Time, though. They deserve it. They played right into Coulter's hands and, odds are, had to pay her for it.

And before I get the standard fake-outrage from the Right about the mean nasty things I'm saying about poor defenseless little Ann, the standard reminder: I reserve the right to be slightly upset about Time glorifying a woman who once expressed dismay that one of my parents wasn't murdered in a terrorist bombing. So please, with no due respect, fuck the fuck off.

The times, they are a-changin'

World Wrestling Entertainment is having a contest to find their next "Diva," which is basically the word they use for "hot girl valet." Not that I mind hot girl valets on wrestling shows, but man, talk about inflating terms for on-air roles that for house shows used to be filled by local strippers. The WWE ladies are hot, but "divas?" Give me a break. Ru Paul is more of a "diva" that them.

Which brings me to an interesting tidbit, actually- here's the contest registration form for the WWE's "diva search." I'm still dealing with page 1, question 2, which is worded as follows:

I am (and was born) a female; my birth date is __________________ and I am __________ years of age.

"And was born" female? Okay, then.

Newest comic - "Pie throwing: a Nation in Crisis"

What, are they, like, outsourcing partisanship or something?

Joe Scarborough, pretending to know what the hell he's talking about:

Tonight, the sun will turn to darkness and the moon will turn to blood, for, in this hour, my judgment cometh, those the opening lines from an explosive new TV miniseries on the end of times. It‘s also the opening salvo in a new cultural war between blue state elites and red state Christians.

That's, you know, sort of a really bad opening salvo then, isn't it? The series stars Bill Pullman, who's from New York, and Natascha McElhone, who isn't even American. The series was written by a guy from Illinois, produced in an LA studio, and distributed by a Manhattan-based television network.

I suppose you can whine about the intent of the message as much as Joe clearly wants to, but really, in the most technical sense, "red states" have almost absolutely nothing to do with this movie, other than their marketing appeal.

Yes, Joe, a proud first strike against the evil armies of blue state evil- promoting their products.

(via WOC)