Archive for August, 2011
Great Merciful Zeus! Biden sent to outer Mongolia. For real.
Joe Biden is currently in outer Mongolia.
Democrats sent him there.
There are apparently pictures of him screwing around with camels and horses and other livestock, while grinning stupidly, surrounded by people who have no idea why he’s there, bothering them.
Whenever someone is so inept and disliked in an office, the joke becomes having that person transferred to “outer Mongolia”.
You know, where Biden’s at now.
Hope!
Change!
Hilarity!
When was the last time you could afford to have roast beef or lobster for dinner?
The Obamas are off on their latest vacation adventure, burning through hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars eating every exotic avian, ungulate, or crustacean imaginable (while they still can, before they’re both booted from the White House in 2013).
Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass recently wrote about Jimmy Carter’s encounter with a swamp rabbit (another critter the Obamas would no doubt devour, if marinated in Perigord black truffles jus and served with however much champagne the two of them could get their hands on) and warned Obama of the danger of having a “Carter meets killer bunny” episode while on his own vacation.
I’ve long said that Michelle Antoinette is Obama’s biggest danger, because her clueless spending and determined extravagance has only been indulged by a media that seeks desperately to make this woman appear “fashionable”, when she’s a First Lady who needs to be a lady first, and a responsible role model in a time of great austerity for many.
Democrats flat-out admit Jon Huntsman is a Democrat-backed spoiler in Republican nominating contest
Democrats flat-out admit they adore Jon Huntsman.
And by “adore”, I mean “are pushing Huntsman as a spoiler in the Republican nomination race, because they know he not only would lose to Obama, but would probably only run a Washington Generals-style campaign”.
Since I was a Democrat until 2008 when the party left me (on its swerve to the far Left), I still have trouble sometimes understanding how conservatives think on practical levels.
It’s so obvious to me when I see the DNC up to mischief, like what it’s doing here with Huntsman, who is clearly a Democrat tool in play, and I’m surprised many Republicans are oblivious to this.
The Left and its media mouthpiece obviously want Mittens “Mood Ring” Romney to be the GOP nominee. Huntsman is some sort of bizarre fail-safe strategy, just in case the Left needs someone with a lot of money and zero sense to be an independent candidate spoiler when Mittens is not the nominee.
Sometimes, this stuff is like watching a kindergarten production of a play I’d already seen on Broadway years ago. I can see what’s really happening, and what’s obviously coming in Act II, but I’m startled by how few conservatives seem aware of what’s going on when it seems really obvious from where I’m sitting.
Do you see Huntsman for who and what he is?
I’d love some honest answers on that.
An Open Letter to Art Johnston Owner of Sidetrack the Video Bar Asking Why Hatred Towards Special Needs Children is Allowed to Play on His Screens
Art Johnston, Owner
Sidetrack the Video Bar
3349 North Halsted
Chicago, IL 60657
info@SidetrackChicago.com
CC: Chuck@SidetrackChicago.com
Dear Mr. Johnston,
On Tuesday August 16th at 730pm, Sidetrack screened the pilot episode of a talk show named “Only@Brunch”, which is produced by Jared Hall’s DowntownCupid Productions and features Jared Hall, Jesse Budlong, Bradley Thomas Balof, Terrence Chappell, Craig Rathwell, and Brian Felder as hosts. At the 1:37 mark of the original broadcast of this program, Budlong made a tasteless, unjustifiable, and cruel attack on Trig Palin, the son of Governor Sarah Palin and her husband Todd. As you well know, Trig Palin is a 3 year-old toddler with Down Syndrome who was mocked on “Only@Brunch” for his physical appearance and because of the condition of his birth.
As you also know, Bradley Thomas Balof is a longtime employee of yours, working as a Sidetrack bartender and the M.C. for both your Thursday “Laugh Track” comedy nights and your various special events. The “Only@Brunch” premiere was a Sidetrack-sponsored event, with Sidetrack’s logo emblazoned on the advertisements for the talk show (see image below) and Sidetrack providing FREE mimosas to entice members of the Chicago LGBTQ community to come to Sidetrack to view “Only@Brunch”. The pilot episode for this show was prominently endorsed by Sidetrack by being projected on the giant screen in your Main Bar, the largest screen on which Sidetrack could have possibly shown “Only@Brunch” (see below photos from the event). It is rare for any group to be afforded these privileges at Sidetrack, as this treatment is reserved strictly for causes and projects you personally endorse.
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Because this attack on a special needs child was made at your establishment Sidetrack, the most prominent gay venue in Chicago, and was apparently so enthusiastically endorsed by you and your staff, the gay community may think mocking children with Down Syndrome is acceptable behavior. You clearly gave your personal seal of approval to “Only@Brunch” and its content, which includes the bullying of special needs Americans and vicious attacks on conservative and Christian women. What are young gay men supposed to think when you promote yourself as their community leader and a show like this airs in your bar?
Sidetrack chose to promote and air the “Only@Brunch” pilot, complete with the attack on Trig Palin, despite it containing cruel bullying on the part of the show’s hosts, including Sidetrack employee Balof, who sat there on screen saying nothing to Budlong after he attacked a toddler with Down Syndrome. None of the co-hosts, in fact, said on camera that this sort of bullying is wrong.
Jared Hall and Downtown Cupid productions could have easily edited out the attack on Trig Palin before the show aired; in fact, they’ve subsequently edited this part out of the current YouTube video they have posted (live since 8/21/11) as “Only@Brunch” has received great national criticism for encouraging gay men to bully children (just because they don’t agree with their mothers’ politics).
Jared Hall and Downtown Cupid productions should have cut tape and reshot that original opening segment before finalizing the episode for broadcast. Since this attack on Trig Palin happened just 1:37 into the show, that would not have been difficult for them to do. Instead, they chose to let Budlong’s bullying stand.
Sidetrack then chose to screen this bullying before a live audience drawn to the event by Sidetrack’s encouragement of free alcohol.
Mr. Johnston, Sidetrack has a longstanding habit of airing videos that bully and degrade conservatives and Christians, especially females on the Republican side of the political spectrum. I have personally written to you on previous occasions and have spoken directly to your partner, Jose Pepin “Pepe” Pena, about the shamefully sexist and misogynistic attacks Sidetrack screens on conservative and Christian women such as columnist Ann Coulter, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Governor Jan Brewer, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, and most especially, Governor Sarah Palin. I have been told on several occasions, in person, that you and your partner think these videos are funny and that you will continue to play “whatever you want, whenever you want” because it is your bar.
Your partner Pena was manning the VJ booth on Thursday January 12th, 2011 (just four days after the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona) and played an almost 12-minute long assault on Governor Palin that included videos depicting Kate Gosselin and her family picking up automatic rifles and executing the Governor, her husband Todd, and her children in the wilderness like they were the Romanovs. The video was gory, and was followed by a series of clips from famous horror movies depicting people being chopped up and bloodily abused, with a graphic Sidetrack inserted at the end to the effect of “Wouldn’t you want to see this happen to Sarah Palin?”. Up in the video booth, I saw Pena laughing, so proud of himself for getting this violent and hateful message against Governor Palin out there.
Until the “Only@Brunch” attack on Trig Palin aired August 16th, that January 12th montage Pena played in your bar was the most disgusting and reprehensible video I’ve ever seen endorsed by those who claim to be part of “The Tolerant Left” and actively engage in accusing conservatives and Christians of bullying gays.
No, Mr. Johnston, you have this dead wrong. YOU and your establishment, Sidetrack, are the ones that are spreading hatred in the community and encouraging bullying and violence towards those who do not agree with you politically. While you may claim to be “Chicago’s Harvey Milk”, as I have personally heard you refer to yourself in public at events Sidetrack has held, you default any status as a “leader for equal rights” by allowing your business to be such a broadcaster of hatred against others.
You, Art Johnston, and your partner Pepe Pena, are the kings of all gay bullies — and you have proven it yet again with this “Only@Brunch” endorsement.
There are no other bars in Boystown that devote time on their video screens to savaging Governor Palin, Congresswoman Bachmann, and other conservative and Christian women the way Sidetrack does.
There are no other bars in Boystown that allow videos mocking and bullying children with special needs to air on their screens.
This is only happening at Sidetrack, and it needs to stop because you are encouraging a whole generation of young gay men, who don’t know any better, to revel in this hatred and accept sexism, misogyny, and the brutalization of the innocent as appropriate political discourse.
They see you do it. They see you encourage it. So it’s no surprise when they start doing it too.
I am anxiously awaiting an explanation from you as to why Sidetrack endorsed the “Only@Brunch” pilot and allowed its content to air so prominently on Sidetrack’s massive Main Bar screen, complete with Sidetrack-provided FREE mimosas to encourage a large crowd of viewers.
How can you on one hand keep insisting gay people are victims, when you and Sidetrack encourage young gay people to bully and victimize conservatives and Christians (and their families)?
Please explain yourself and the conduct of your business.
Sincerely,
Kevin DuJan
Concerned Citizen
My Love/Hate Relationship with The Glee Project: I Love Them, They Hate Me (and You)
Are you a conservative? Have a Slushee! (H/T LA Weekly)
I spent high school escaping from my reality as a pimply, socially awkward, genius IQ teacher’s pet by hanging out on the Island of Misfit Toys (a.k.a. Drama Club.) We didn’t have a Glee Club, so the talented nerds at my small high school in semi-rural Ohio were distributed between Drama Club and Marching Band. (I think I remember hearing rumors about a “Show Choir,” but they must have spent all their time on the road, because I don’t remember ever hearing them.)
Anyway. The point is that I completely “get” Glee, and its farm team, The Glee Project. Like the band kids and drama geeks, Gleeks feel a soul-level connection with other people who biologically need create art as much as they need to breathe. Glee also “gets” the plight of any high school student who was not one of the cool jocks, not one of the cheerleaders who dated the cool jocks, or a member of the Homecoming Court (redundancy alert!) “Glee,” and the feeling of camaraderie you get when you create art as part of a group, is the feeling we all wanted to escape to.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan is a BIG fat liar.
Arne "Dunce Cap" Duncan
There’s no other way to say it. Arne Duncan is a flat out liar. You can’t say that he “misspoke” or used “misleading” statements. He lied. He lied when he talked about the state of the public school systems in Texas while under the leadership of Governor Rick Perry. He spouted out all kinds of deceitful statistics all for political gain because….the White House is scared of Rick Perry. For example, Arne claims that schools in Texas have suffered “massive increases in class size” while Governor Perry has been in office. That’s a statistic that’s very easily verified….all you have to do is look on the Internet but Arne didn’t bother to check the facts. As it turns out, the class sizes in the Primary grades have remained the same while the class sizes in the secondary grades have actually gone down. Arne didn’t do his homework very well.
All these lies didn’t sit well with the Texas Commissioner of Education, Robert Scott. Mr Scott wrote a letter to Arne expressing his disappointment in him.
Mr. Secretary, I have read your recent comments criticizing Texas public education, and I am disappointed that you have never raised your concerns during any of our personal conversations. If you had, I may have been able to correct any misunderstanding you have about Texas public schools and the efforts of the 333,000 teachers and the 4.8 million students who have been striving to meet increasing standards and graduation requirements.
Your pity is misplaced and demeans the hard work that is taking place in schools across Texas. Texas students are doing very well and in many cases outperforming their national peers. Since you appear to be misinformed about the achievements of Texas educators and students I would ask that you consider the following information:
– In 2009, Texas ranked 7th in a 26 state comparison of the only states reporting four-year on-time graduation rates. That year Texas’ on-time graduation rate was 80.6%. The Texas on-time graduation rate for 2010 is now 84.3%, an amazing 3.7 percentage point increase in a single year on the dropout indicator that you are now requiring all states to report to the Department. – Texas is ranked 13th in Ed Week’s Quality Counts report. Quality Counts gave Texas an “A” in “Standards, Assessment and Accountability,” and an “A” in “Transitions and Alignment” of the Texas system with college and career readiness. This year’s graduating class is the first to graduate under Texas’ required 4×4 graduation requirements (four years of math, science, English language arts and social studies) and we are already seeing great things from the class of 2011.
– The Texas class of 2011 posted a record-high math score on the ACT college entrance exam. The Texas average math score was 21.5 and was higher than the national average of 21.1. ACT scores from 2007 to 2011 showed increases in all four subjects.
– The 2009 NAEP Science results were impressive, as well. Texas’ African American eighth-grade students earned the highest score in the nation and our Hispanic eighth-grade students were eighth. Only eighth-grade students attending the Department of Defense schools scored higher than Texas’ white students who were tied with white students in Massachusetts. On the fourth-grade test, Texas’ African American students out-performed their peers in every state accept Virginia and those students attending Department of Defense Schools. Texas’ fourth-grade white students were ranked third behind only Virginia and Massachusetts.
– We are also a leader in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education. Texas has established 59 STEM schools, 7 STEM professional development centers and is a leading state in creating a national STEM network of states that want to pursue STEM education reform. Texas’ STEM reform began in 2005, long before your administration decided to model this and other aspects of your reform agenda on the efforts that have been taking place in Texas for nearly a decade.
Finally, I’m not sure where you are getting your information regarding class sizes in Texas public schools. Texas is experiencing a four-year trend of class sizes getting smaller across the board in both elementary grades and in core subjects in high school. If you would like to see the actual data, I would be more than happy to provide it for you.
As you can see, Texas has a strong record, and I am proud of the accomplishments of Texas educators and students. It is clear that they have risen to the challenge of higher standards and expectations placed before them.
Rather than simply talking about education reform, Texas policy makers, educators and students have delivered. I look forward to seeing the student performance results of your efforts to centralize more control of public education in Washington, D.C.
Robert Scott
Commissioner of Education
It’s outrageous that someone with as much power as Arne Duncan uses his position to try to smear one of Obama’s rivals. I guess that no one should be surprised by this and I’m sure this won’t be the last time an Obama goon lies in order save their boss.
I believe Arne owes Governor Perry and Texas an apology.
Fat chance that will happen.
Excellent look at the media’s historic efforts to select the GOP candidate for Republicans
Redstate has an excellent look at the media’s past efforts to select the GOP’s candidate for Republicans.
The only caution I’d give is that Erik Erikson at Redstate has been working hard to make sure Republicans choose a male presidential candidate in 2012. At one time, Redestate was very pro-Mittens “Mood Ring” Romney, until even they saw his “It’s my turn!” argument for nomination was DOA this time around. Then, Redstate was all about Tim “Cure for Insomnia” Pawlenty. Now, it’s Rick Perry these guys are bromancing with, with the occasional flirtations with Chris Christie (who, I’ll note, is not only a big supporter of the Islamic Ground Zero Victory Mosque but also the Cult of Anthropogenic Global Warming…so not matter how great it is to see Christie clobber labor unions, he’s disqualified from national office because of the other two serious flaws).
I haven’t thought of John Anderson in years, which is why I’m recommending the Redstate article. I forgot the Left tried to use a Jon Huntsman character in the past — a super wealthy narcissist intended to be a spoiler in the nominating contest. Huntsman is the Left’s fallback, Plan C, if it can’t select either Mittens “Mood Ring” Romney or Rick Perry as the 2012 Republican nominee. In the Left’s worst case scenario, when Governor Sarah Palin becomes the GOP nominee and is on course to decimate Obama, Huntsman would be pushed to run as a third party, independent candidate to siphon votes away from Republicans (like Ross Perot did in 1992). Huntsman is rich and stupid enough to attempt this vainglory.
None of it’s going to work, though, because I have faith people will call Huntsman out on what he’s doing and will hopefully this year see through the media’s efforts to select the GOP presidential candidate for Republicans.
If conservative voters don’t wise up this time around, then I just don’t know what can get them to wake up and see how easily they are manipulated by the media…which wants Obama to win re-election…so clearly the media should not be listened to when determining whom Obama should face in November 2012.
Can you see for yourself how the media has been working overtime on behalf of Democrats since at least the early 1970s?
HillBuzz Open Thread: Monday August 22, 2011
Today in History:
2007 – The Storm botnet, a botnet created by the Storm Worm, sends out a record 57 million e-mails in one day. Have you ever wondered about the people who spend their time creating these internet viruses and other bugs? What sort of people are they, that they don’t use their talents for something productive? Do you know if there’s a lot of money in this or something…or do they do it just because they want to watch the world burn? What a waste.
2004 – A version of The Scream and Madonna, two paintings by Edvard Munch, are stolen at gunpoint from a museum in Oslo, Norway. All I can think of reading this are those art and tee shirt sidewalk sales that happen on college campuses freshman orientation week, where every other kid in line is buying a print of one of these paintings. I just pictured the thieves taking the actual, stolen paintings home, hanging them on the walls, and instead of looking like big-time art thieves, people would just think they were unoriginal, losers trying to relive college.
2003 – Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is suspended after refusing to comply with a federal court order to remove a rock inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the Alabama Supreme Court building. Every time the Left makes some fuss in its war against Christianity, I wonder why they have no problem with the Ground Zero Victory Mosque that Muslims are so stridently pushing for the site of buildings ruined on 9/11. Sick, sick, sick.
1996 – Bill Clinton signs welfare reform into law, representing major shift in US welfare policy. If you thought the Left and its entitlement dependents howled and wailed in 96, just wait until the next president takes office and HAS to make even DEEPER cuts because we just can’t afford to fund the Democrats’ wealth redistribution schemes anymore.
1966 – Labor movements NFWA and AWOC merge to become the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC), predecessor of the United Farm Workers. Do you remember in the cartoon Transformers, when the evil Decepticon gestalt teams would fly into the air and combine to form giant, city-crushing robots…like the Constructicons forming Devastator! or the Combaticons merging into Bruticus! — well, this is what I thought of when I read about two unions merging into one bigger, more Treasury-draining union. Unions, BOO! Transformers, YEAH!
1950 – Althea Gibson becomes the first black competitor in international tennis. This is totally a shoutout to our friend Althea, who doesn’t play tennis but is quite often mistaken for a Whitney Houston impersonator here in Boystown (despite being a woman, but because she sure rocks that silver dress and the Whitney-esque headbands!).
Fun poll to vote in: Sarah Palin for President
Here’s a fun poll to vote in, on the Tea Party of America site: Would you vote for Sarah Palin for president?
My answer: You betcha!
While it’s true these polls don’t really matter much for anything, they are still fun to click on.
It’s nice practice for voting for Palin in the upcoming primaries and then voting for her in the November election next year.
HillBuzz on Jewish Independent Talk Radio: Listen to the podcast
I really enjoyed doing this interview for Jewish Independent Radio. It aired today in Philadelphia from 5-6pm.
If you want to catch it, you can find the link for the podcast below (look for 8/21/11 podcast).
I’d love to do the show again. One of my favorite times on the air ever, almost as fun as doing The Andrea Shea King Show. We talked about the ongoing Democrat Civil War, the permanent damage Obama did to the Democrat Party, and about Governor Sarah Palin’s 2012 presidential campaign.
JEWISH independent TALK RADIO
SUNDAYS 5 to 6 PM and 8 to 9 PM
NewsTalk 990 am – WNTP Philadelphia
A Salem Radio affiliate
WNTP.com – Listen “Live” World-Wide
Or Download @ http://podcast.den.liquidcompass.net/mgt/podcast/podcast.php?encoder_id=129&event_id=464
Remember: I’m on the 8/21/11 broadcast:
WNTPAM : Jewish Independent Talk – Sundays – 5-6pm
Sunday, August 21, 2011 4:59 PM
Uploaded at 03:59 PM MDT on 08-21-2011
Media files
podcast.php (MP3 Format Sound, 41.3 MB)
They do some news first, and a story about a hiker who was captured as a spy, and then I’m on talking about all the things I love to talk about that make people on the Left super-mad.
My segment starts at the 30:00 mark of the podcast.
