Sadly, the Washington Times obviously is
It can’t be easy being an idiot, and writing an entire column based on an urban legend. Then again, if you’re the world’s foremost authority on Target, some things come pretty easily. Several days after a bunch of people (including us, damnum absque injuria and snopes) debunked the German unemployed to the brothel story, here is James Lileks in the Washington Times:
The German welfare system may be generous, but it’s not run by idiots. Turn down a good job, and you get your benefits cut. But here’s the rub, literally: The Germans decriminalized prostitution, which means brothels are now legitimate businesses. According to the British newspaper the Telegraph, at least one job seeker has been forced to choose: Work in a brothel or lose your goodies.
Having found a fictional account to justify a column of nothings, Lileks hits cruising speed all too quickly:
There you have the two extremes of the Muslim world and the West: the burqa or the thong. Take off your clothes, you’re stoned. Keep them on, and you forfeit your pension contributions.
It’s a facile comparison, of course, but not entirely useless. [Oh yes it is!] It does seem Europe often goes backward in the name of the brave new future. Two nations, on the other hand, have shown the world that Muslim-dominated states can head in the right direction after all ? if they’re given a little help. And by “help” we mean invasion and occupation, alas.
Bummer about the bombing to smithereens, old chap!
Still, it beats the alternative. In the past, “help” meant credits to the various butchers, autocrats, sheiks and nicely suited Nazis who ran the region. If you gave the president enough loans, he would buy French missiles and Chinese artillery, hold conferences at splendid hotels built by German firms, and distribute the kickbacks with a fair and just hand. [Emphasis added.]
Well, good thing only the Europeans and Chinese play footsies with tyrants.
Ask Howard Dean, who remarked at a recent New York City fund-raiser that he “hated the Republicans and everything they stand for.” Hmm. Like elections in Afghanistan and Iraq?
The Republican Party stands for elections in Afghanistan and Iraq? If only. Truth is: Sadly, No! You want to know the kinds of things Howard might have in mind? Why not read the official platform of the Republican Party of Texas?
Elsewhere: Reports from North Korea suggest the regime is in trouble, as some factions realize a country is ill-served by a leader who blows the national light-bulb budget on gilt-edged toilet paper.
North Korea? In trouble? Did you know that Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead?
Thanks to World O’Crap for the link.
PS: In unrelated news: We’ve added Crooks and Liars to the blogroll. Say hello and don’t piss on the carpet.
In unrelated, unrelated news, we have 50 [WTF?!?] gmail invites. Leave a comment if you want one.
Et Tu, Lileks!
It pains me to add James Lileks, whom I generally respect, to the long list of right wing bloggers who were all too eager to believe the phony story about unemployed German women being coerced into prostitution. I have little choice but to give Lileks…
Lileks has woven his very own cocoon of smarminess, thinking it’s a badge of badassedness. It’s really a Blue Light Special inviting slaps on his prodigious forehead.
Ohh, me, me! I want an invite!
BTW, I’ve seen that thing about the Howard Dean quote in a couple of places. Is there a source for that>
*requests a gmail invite, for it would be quite nice*
Heck, I’ll take a gmail invite, too. Thank you.
And it’s pretty amazing that JL still isn’t skeptical about the story at this point.
I was fooled, too.
The UK Telegraph is a respectable newspaper.
It seemed like a valid article, which perhaps couldn’t use names of the women nvolved because they found the situation embarassing.
Will the gmail invite give me any news of what’s going on with Mary Cheney? I hear she might have a book deal coming up.
Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead…
God I love this website.
(And I’d love a g-mail invite if there are any still floating around)
Well Seb, If you couold hook a borther up that’d be sweet! Oh, and Lileks is a Jackass, I mean really does Gnat even take him seriously?
I think that Dean quote was actually something I said, I don’t how this fucking retard got us mixed up.
merl.allen@gmail.com. Seb likes me best. HAHA but I have 4 invites if any of you stepchildren want one.
gmail…heck yeah! (BTW…not to needlessly pander, but you’re on my daily list of “must reads”)
Just found you via Crooks and Liars. You da man! I’m putting you on my roll, like buttah.
I could use one of those gmail invites. I’m guessing gmail won’t expire anytime soon. And while you’re at it, send along some SPUR-M – longevity without size is a recipe for disappointment.
A gmail invite! A gmail invite! I want one, too! (Thanks!)
What is it?
gmail invite? Thank ye kindly if you’ve still got one lying around!
I’d love a g-mail invite, if you have one laying around.
Does Joe Carter ever do retractions?
Just wondering. I mean, me, I’d think there’d be a moral responsibility to have a fidelity to the truth. But that’s just me. Some people, I guess, are moral relativists.
the popularity of lileks is such a mystery to me – even among ‘wingers his obtuseness must surely qualify him for some sort of wankerdom lifetime acheivement award…
anyway, if there are any g-mail invites left, i’d appreciate it if you could throw one my way. thanks.
I’d also like a gmail invite, if you’re still offering.
oh me, me, please!
I’ll say this for Lileks: Had his entire column not been bogus, his use of the word “literally” would have been correct. (What profits a man to use “literally” correctly if everything else is a lie?) Sadly, the distinction between “literally” and “figuratively” in American speech has been killed by the media, just as the distinction between “reality” and “fantasy” has been killed by the Bush Administration.
And this concludes today’s grammar lecture.
The Inter-webs must be broken, cause the linky think to Snopes ain’t working. And I know that Dr. Sadly, No! would never make a mistake in the HTML stuff…
And has anyone seen any good racks lately?
LET?S GO TO THE STONING
In the Muslim world people get stoned when they take their clothes off; in the West people take their clothes off when they get stoned.
I’d like a gmail invite please if you have any left.
In return, I volunteer to forcibly tattoo Lileks’ forehead with a slogan of your choice. Suggestion: “White Cliffs of Dumbass”.
I’d like a gmail invite, if there are any left.
snopes link to brothel story is 404.
This news just in: Lileks is still a fuckwit.
this is the correct URL for snopes:
http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/brothel.asp
you’re welcome 🙂
Seb, I went to http://isnoop.net/gmailomatic.php to get an invite instead, so any you might have sent my way eventually you may hand off to another. BTW, this site had 136,436 as of this posting. (Google is flooding current holders with new invites).
seb, for god’s sake, my eyes are 44 years old. Can’t you put up the little thingy that lets readers see black text on a white background again??? I can’t take it any more.
a frequent admirer with tired eyes.
Isn’t gmail completely over?
Can I get an invite? Please?
…white cliffs of dumbass…
that’s funny!
and no, don’t give me an invite, ’cause I’d only chew it up and bury it out back…
Hey, I’d like a gmail invite.
Please send to: thewaltersobchak@gmail.com.
“Well, good thing only the Europeans and Chinese play footsies with tyrants.”
To quote Dear Leader, “Fantastic!”
Gmail, huh?
By dear leader, I mean George and not Lionel Osborne.
In return, I volunteer to forcibly tattoo Lileks’ forehead with a slogan of your choice. Suggestion: “White Cliffs of Dumbass”.
I was gonna suggest “POOR IMPULSE CONTROL” …
I’d like a gmail invite too. Pretty please!
Thank you for fact checking these morons, so the rest of us don’t have to. A valuable public service, indeed.
Still giving out the gmail invites?
I’d take one.
Thanks
I particularly like the equal comparison of unemployment versus death by stoning. Well done, sir.
Lurker coming out of the shadows to accept a gmail invite, if they’re still kicking around. I’d appriciate it.
Can one be Puerto Rican and get a GMail invite? Sadly, I dunno!
I would like a gmail invite, and I promise, promise, to use it for good, not evil.
maybe a little evil.
a smidge of evil.
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