Month: August 2010

by Chris Bodenner

Adele M. Stan highlights the hypocrisy of the Fox News host:

In the days leading up to [the rally], Beck began to assume the mantle of a near-messiah — promising "a miracle" on the Mall, and telling reporters that he wasn't going to write out his speech in case God chose to speak through him. Yet it was Beck himself who originally accused Obama of assuming a messianic posture, mocking the candidate on his radio show with "The Obama Soviet Anthem," which opens with the line, "All hail the messiah, Obama, Obama." When Obama nominated the diabetic Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, Beck tweeted, "Does the nominee still have Diabetes? Could the Messiah heal her, or does she just not want to ask? What is protocal [sic] on miracle healings?"

Alexander Zaitchik also tackles Beck for making the rally about one thing: him.

by Chris Bodenner

Alexis Madrigal discusses the lessons he has learned co-producing Longshot, an open-source magazine made in 48 hours and made possible by print-on-demand technology like MagCloud:

At a time when there is so much doom and gloom about the industry, I see Longshot as a kind of backstop for us. If the economics of our industry continue to fall apart and we all end up working in advertising, we could still do Longshot as often as we all wanted to. It doesn't cost anything but some blood and sweat. And it does something good for that part of us that got into media because we wanted to engage people with the truths of the world.

Once Andrew gets back next week and we have everyone going at full steam, the Dish will be cranking out its own print-on-demand products. Stay tuned.

by Chris Bodenner

Another can getting kicked down the road:

Almost a year after announcing five Sept. 11 plotters would be tried in lower Manhattan for killing 2,973 people, the White House is no closer to bringing them to justice. Team Obama hasn't found a single community in America willing to host the trial of the most notorious terrorists in history, the Daily News has learned. Republicans in Congress have also stymied the administration's attempt to buy an unused prison in Thomson, Ill., to relocate the 180 remaining detainees in Guantanamo Bay.

Last year I reported on a similar situation in Standish, Michigan, a dying prison town that failed in its bid for detainees because of GOP fear mongering led by Congressman Pete Hoekstra. But back to the Daily News item, I love this bit:

"It's obvious they're waiting until after the elections," said Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.), top Republican on the Homeland Security Committee. By delaying it, "they're politicizing it," King said.

The above clip, featuring Congressman King last December, is a dime a dozen of course.

by Chris Bodenner

Hitchens analyzes the cultural insecurity of Beck and Palin followers:

In a rather curious and confused way, some white people are starting almost to think like a minority, even like a persecuted one. What does it take to believe that Christianity is an endangered religion in America or that the name of Jesus is insufficiently spoken or appreciated? Who wakes up believing that there is no appreciation for our veterans and our armed forces and that without a noisy speech from Sarah Palin, their sacrifice would be scorned? It's not unfair to say that such grievances are purely and simply imaginary, which in turn leads one to ask what the real ones can be. The clue, surely, is furnished by the remainder of the speeches, which deny racial feeling so monotonously and vehemently as to draw attention.

Saletan, on the other hand, feels that Beck critics are protesting too much:

Relax. Nobody's going to mistake the Tea Party for the civil rights movement. And there's nothing unseemly about the right's embrace of King. This is America at its best: A man once disowned as a partisan and a rebel now belongs to all of us.

by Chris Bodenner

Tracy Clark-Flory reads a new report on the relationship between the two:

Preliminary findings from Teela Sanders and Kate Hardy of the University of Leeds show that nearly 90 percent of women who perform lap dances (a much raunchier affair than in the states) had completed at least one higher education course and 25 percent had undergrad degrees. Putting some weight behind the stereotype, they found that 14 percent were stripping to help pay their way through school. The Sun reports that "most said flexibility was the main attraction of the job" (ha).

The most controversial finding is that they feel empowered by their work. Sanders, whose research often focuses on sex work, says: "These young women do not buy the line that they are being exploited, because they are the ones making the money out of a three-minute dance and a bit of a chat."

by Chris Bodenner

And 12 other ways to get high that you probably haven't heard of.

by Chris Bodenner

Artist Sally Davies discovers that a McDonald's Happy Meal basically looks the same after 137 days. (All it needs is some hydrochloric acid.)