Words Fail Me category archive

Dick Polman:

A respected survey firm, Public Policy Polling, has unearthed a statistic that gives us yet another dimension on the ignorance that pervades our nation. The pollsters have been probing the “birther” phenomenon, the refusal of so many Americans to believe that Barack Obama was born on American soil. They solved part of the mystery the other day. Get ready for this one:

Ten percent of Americans don’t know that Hawaii is a state.

Just the part about not taking care of the sick and the helpless.

But it was (Congressperson Michelle–ed.) Bachmann’s (R-Loonybin–ed.) fervent call to utilize prayer and fasting to beat back health-care reform efforts that was the true highlight of the call.

“That’s really where this battle will be won — on our knees in prayer and fasting,” she told the listeners. “Remember: faith without works is dead. So we’re asking you to do all of it: pray, fast, believe, trust the Lord, but also act.”

Somebody better tell the rest of the country.

In his latest, Todd recounts flying back to Hawaii, where he settled after retiring from the Navy, and being asked by a fellow American visiting Hawaii for the first time,

By the way, what kind of money do they use there in Hawaii?

Read more »

From ThinkProgress, quoting poll results:

One poll question indicative of how difficult it is to gain public understanding on a complicated issue asked if respondents thought the government should ‘stay out of Medicare,’ something inherently impossible. 39% said yes.

What Mencken said.

Now excuse me while I run screaming into the night.

Via Susie.

The end of the personal life.

I’m not the only one who thinks the new K-Mart “Rock Stare” commercial plumbs new depths of bad taste.

I felt icky watching it. And I have a very high ick threshold.

I can’t say it will keep me away from Kmart. Kmart has kept me away from Kmart for a long time already.

Video below the fold. I didn’t feel comfortable having it on the front page

On the other side of the Big Pond:

The Labour party has appointed a “Twitter tsar” with the responsibility of encouraging MPs to use new media.

Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East, has been made the party’s new media campaigns spokeswoman ahead of an election next year that she says will be the first “new media election”. A recent study for a newspaper voted McCarthy the most “influential MP” on Twitter – with more than 1,600 followers.

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Civilized discourse:

My co-worker, Mike Ditto, went to Congressman Ed Perlmutter’s Town Hall meeting on Saturday to listen to him talk to constituents about health insurance reform. While he was there, his car was badly vandalized.

The side mirrors were smashed off. Big dent on his hood. And scratches and dents on every door and nearly every other panel of his car. All because he had an SEIU Healthcare Rally flier in his car.

The family goes back to well before the Revolutionary War; the original landgrant for the family farm, which her father drank away after the Civil War, was signed by one of the Kings George.

She lived through some really tough times and lots of changes in her 98 years.

She is fortunately not around to see her state become a sideshow:

These people are nuts.

And so are the people who buy their snake oil.

Frankly, I think that’s a good thing. It reveals wingnuttery for the bigotted, hate-filled fantastickal thinking that it is.

One more time, if Mr. Obama were pink like me, this wouldn’t be happening.

Via John Cole.

I really don’t know what to say about this.

I know that my pastor would say that medical science is a gift from God. I guess I would add that those who deny science and learning also deny gifts from God.

The stupid gets tiresome.

And the stupid kills.

A central Wisconsin man accused of killing his 11-year-old daughter by praying instead of seeking medical care was found guilty Saturday of second-degree reckless homicide.

Dale Neumann, 47, was convicted in the March 23, 2008, death of his daughter, Madeline, from undiagnosed diabetes. Prosecutors contended he should have rushed the girl to a hospital because she couldn’t walk, talk, eat or drink. Instead, Madeline died on the floor of the family’s rural Weston home as people surrounded her and prayed. Someone called 911 when she stopped breathing.

And there are persons who call themselves religious who encourage this stuff.

Furrfu.

Oh, my goodness.

The combined stupidity and bigotry leave me speechless.

Via Huffington Post.

As the comments point out, it’s not even made in America:

Mark Muller, the president of Max Motors in Missouri, is offering a gift certificate for a Kalashnikov AK-47 rifle to anyone who purchases a pick-up truck. Muller, whose business slogan is “God, Guns, Guts, and American Pick-Up Trucks,” said the response to the offer has been very strong. “There is a lot of worry about crime, we have a methamphetamine problem around here and people just want to protect themselves,” said Muller.

Here (Warning: Adult Content).

But someone does.

Honestly, who could have thought to make this up?

My freshman comp professor, who was a conceited arrogant jerk with the morals of a tomcat (sorry, Fluffy), but otherwise an excellent teacher, kept returning throughout the year to the theme that art was “bringing order out of chaos.”

Back in the 60’s, there was a modern “artist” who would lay a large canvas in his driveway, drive through various colors of paint (oil-based–Latex hadn’t come along yet), then drive his car randomly over the canvas.

I’m not making this up; I saw him on the black-and-white telly vision in between the test patterns. No one could make that up.

His working definition of art was, I reckon, “bringing money out of chaos.”

People paid real money for his vehicular meanderings. Lots of it. I guess it had “investment value.” Sort of like Care Bears.

Then came “performance art”–sort of like the car thing, but without a permanent record.

Now comes “Twitter art.”

There’s no other explanation for it.

Oh, my goodness.

I could not watch this all the way through.

Can you?

Via Atrios.