Laugh Your Head Off At Christianity

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by Smitty

Get a copy of the King James Translation of the Bible, and a friend.

Turn to John 3. Read the dialog with Nicodemus aloud, as if the Carpenter and Nicodemus are from New York City. Loudly, accurately, with lots of body language. It’s an entirely new dimension.

Here’s this bit about Islam, courtesy of Saberpoint:

Back over in the New Testament, you can have nearly as much fun with the Parable of the Talents. Read aloud, but give the servant with the 1 talent the voice of a Socialist deadbeat who, in another setting, blamed Bush, capitalism, Rush Limbaugh, a the vast right-wing conspiracy for his non-approach to success.

Free Movies You’ll Probably Skip

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Without comment:

Thursdays this summer at the Atlas Performing Arts Center [in Washington, D.C.] will be Gay 101 – a series of films one must see to be a card-carrying gay man. While most are not gay-themed, all are embraced by the gay and lesbian community. Classics such as All About Eve, and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? will share the screen with campier choices including Mommie Dearest and Valley of the Dolls.

The films will be screened in the Sprenger Theatre, the Atlas’ largest black box space. . . . “We want the Atlas to be a fun destination for the Capitol Hill and H Street Northeast community this summer. We like to think of it as an indoor version of an outdoor movie festival.” said Scott Kenison, Chief Operating Officer of the Atlas. “Only our festival will have air conditioning and best of all, no mosquitoes!”

Schedule:

July 1   Breakfast at Tiffany’s
July 8   Auntie Mame
July 9   Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
July 15   La Cage Aux Folles
July 22   Valley of the Dolls
July 29   Where the Boys Are
Aug 5   All About Eve
Aug 12   Suddenly, Last Summer
Aug 19   Cabaret
Aug 26   Mommie Dearest
Sept 2   Steel Magnolias

Shirley Sherrod’s Lawsuit Threat Against Andrew Breitbart Is Still Just a Threat

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It’s the easiest thing in the world to say, “I’ll sue you for defamation!” Actually filing such a lawsuit is another and far more drastic step. A government official successfully pursuing a defamation suit against a private citizen is quite nearly impossible.

Any responsible lawyer would provide three words of helpful advice to Shirley Sherrod: “Discovery’s a bitch.”

White Hipster Beaten by Black Teen: ‘Shouldn’t Be Listening to Rap Music’

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Cultural criticism in Broward County, Florida:

Declaring that white people “shouldn’t be listening to rap music,” a 14-year-old Florida boy allegedly assaulted a man Monday night in what police say was a racially-motivated attack. The teenager was arrested after he allegedly struck the 22-year-old victim, who is white, in the face. According to a Palm Bay Police Department report . . . the victim was on a sidewalk listening to rap music when he was confronted by the boy and other teenagers. The suspect told the man to turn off his music, adding that he was “white and he shouldn’t be listening to rap music.” When the victim replied that he “could listen to whatever he wants,” the suspect “repeatedly” punched him in the face.

“That cracker had it coming, your honor.”

‘When I Was Younger, So Much Younger Than Today . . .’

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On this date in 1965, the second Beatles movie, Help! premiered in London:

Of course, I found out about this on Twitter.  Something else I saw on Twitter was this article by my young friend Chris Moody:

With the turn of a phrase, Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann seemed to sum up last weekend’s RightOnline conference, an annual gathering of conservative activists.
“The sleeping giant is awake,” she declared, drawing a thunder of applause and cheering that could be heard across the fifth floor of the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, where the two-day event was held.
For years, the progressive Netroots Nation conference had monopolized the discussion about online activism. Republicans held the White House and Congress until November 2006, a reality that sparked a fury on the left and motivated them to dominate the online world.
The election of Barack Obama, however, turned much of that on its head.
For the first time ever, conservative blogs hold the top two slots in Technorati.com’s politicsl blog ranking, pushing The Huffington Post, the long-reigning champion, to the fifth slot. Conservative blogs also make up half of the top ten political blogs on the Web, while the distinctly liberal blogs only claim two spaces.

I had written a long post connecting these two thoughts, but the computer ate it. I blame Erik Telford.

The Progressive Inverted Tongue (PIT)

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by Smitty

Gene Lyons offers a fine outing in this English look-alike, over at Salon.

Media fooled by right-wing propaganda — again
This time, the right-wing media juggernaut went too far too fast. Sleazy tactics similar to those employed by online provocateur Andrew Breitbart against former USDA official Shirley Sherrod have been driving the national political conversation and intimidating the so-called mainstream media for the better part of a generation now.

The assault on Sherrod, however, was so mean-spirited, crass and dishonest — not to mention so astonishingly stupid — that even Fox News provocateurs like Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck (after initially falling for the hoax) were pretty much forced to apologize. I expect O’Reilly actually meant it.

By inadvertently giving us a simple, compelling drama with an admirable protagonist unfairly maligned, it’s even possible that Brietbart has awakened sleepwalking Washington journalists to their responsibilities to something besides their own careers. But don’t hold your breath.

The ‘again’ in the title refers to how right-wing propaganda has been distorting everything since Whitewater.

Governor Dean, Keep On Pluckin’ That Chicken

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by Smitty

Newsbusters:

Bret Baier took on former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean for accusing Chris Wallace of lying about Fox News’s coverage of the Shirley Sherrod affair.


I’m interpreting this buffoonery to mean that, after the November election, when BHO resigns in a novel-length tantrum, and Plagiarist Joe is POTUS, that the Guv wants the VP appointment. Other theories?

Orwellian Crock, Or: We Took Control Of Health Care Away From Americans, In Order To Put Americans In Control Of Their Health Care

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by Smitty (h/t The Lonely Conservative)

In defense of President Obama, he’s only half as lame as some other political figures appearing in infomercials. I can do better than that: if giving good website meant giving good health care, we’d be liking life with this effort.

Other than the realities that these ideas are un-Constitutional, have already failed in Europe, and we can’t afford them, I really don’t see any problems here.

Maybe he truly thinks he has to destroy American health care in order to save it.