I think I’m getting off da boat. Y’all have the proper medical equipment ready.

I’m staying in teh boat.

Although teh p-shop is making me think seriously about navigating away from this page.

Tee hee!!!!!!!

“Ever since I attended college I have been convinced that “studies” either confirm what common sense suggests or they are mistaken.”

So far it’s really funny.

This latest study cited by David Brooks confirms what conservatives have known for a generation: Moral standards have been replaced by feelings.

Indeed! When homosexual sexiness is felt to be icky, why then it must be a moral wrong. QED.

I’ll take the canoe and paddle near shore.
~

Look at the shiny new argument. Why, I’m sure I’ve never heard this one before!

I’m gonna slap a shopworn label on this bitch right from the get-go. What the fuck is a get-go? That’s dumb.

Is this the guy who makes that crummy jarred spaghetti sauce too? Or the fat guy from NYPD Blue?

So far it’s really funny.

Nice try. Imma stay in teh boats. I nevar wanted to be a saucier anyhow.

Now whoms are teh floundering abouts in Prager infested stupidity jungles? Not I. Nuh-uh that’s for frickin sure.

Forty years ago, I began writing and lecturing about this problem. It was then that I began asking students if they would save their dog or a stranger first if both were drowning. The majority always voted against the stranger — because, they explained, they loved their dog and they didn’t love the stranger.

Heh. Dennis was a cranky old man complaining about kids these days and slippery slopes FORTY YEARS AGO.

Once an unenlightened dumbass, always an enlightened dumbass. QED.

The majority always voted against the stranger — because, they explained, they loved their dog and they didn’t love the stranger.

Also, YOU’RE A FUCKING LIAR.

There’s candy and puppies and MOMS over there, DK-W!

Last week, David Brooks of the New York Times wrote a column

this is never the start of anything good…

Ahhhh crap. You know I would do anything for moms. brb.

Mr. Praeger needs to do a little Bible study of his own before he goes imposing religionoisty on them impressionable youngins. There is that whole, “Judge not, lest ye be judged,” “Speck in thy neighbor’s eye/beam in thine own eye,” and “Pray not loudly in public, but lock yourself in the closet (with which he is clearly very familiar) and pray) stuff that he seems totally unfamiliar with, along with Matthew 25:31-46 and 19:16-23.

Wheeee. Aside from teh first line, which makes we want to shoot myself, there’s this early WINNAH:

Ever since I attended college I have been convinced that “studies” either confirm what common sense suggests or they are mistaken.

Taht’s teh conservative approach to epistemology right there. If’n it don’t confirm what views I already gots, it’s just plain wrnog PART OF A LEFTSIST CONSPIRACY!

Pray not loudly in public, but lock yourself in the closet and pray

Closet was full.

Dirty liberal relativist morality: All people should be treated equally by the law regardless of race, colour, creed, sexuality or gender identity.

Upstanding, conservative, rock-ribbed, principled morality: It’s okay to torture a dirty Arab if there’s even a 1% chance he’s planning to kill an American, but any Arab who tortures an American is a barbarian who is lower than a jackal.

All kidding aside, I once took a course in ethics. Most ethicists will agree that it is a difficult problem to deduce a foundation for a universal ethics once you take God away. That statement is not equivalent to “if it feels good, do it”. This has been another episode of Conservatives Don’t Do Nuance.

Because I am a mom and do very fond of DK-W, I will not AHEM him. IPU instrecrs me not to.

I always wonder if these religious nutfucks really think no one thought murder or stealing could possibly be wrong or even NOT AWESOME until Moses and the Ten Commandments “happened?”

Really, Dennis. Really other dysfunctional people?

So, Prager would swim out and save Mohammed Atta, and let Snuffles drown?
.

Or something.

vs, you can AHEM me anytime you want. EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE NO MOMS IN THAT PRAGER THING. OMG, I CAN’T BELIEVE I READ TEH WHOLE THING! U R A MONSTAR.

Mwahahaha!

When asked to describe a moral dilemma they had faced, two-thirds of the young people either couldn’t answer the question or described problems that are not moral at all.

Since the author writes for the National Review, I have a funny feeling his view of morality’s the one where IRA bombers go to heaven because JESUS! and Gandhi went to hell because SATAN! And where Bill Clinton’s an unalloyed monster for having lied about his consensual sex life, but George Bush was a hero for lying us into the deaths of over a million people.

So I’m not sure he’s at all qualified to describe what problems are and aren’t “moral at all,” but what the hell, I’m out of the boat. Let’s keep reading.

The default position, which most of them came back to again and again, is that moral choices are just a matter of individual taste.

Sweet Jesus… it’s almost like Protestantism or something. You know, the whole “this shit is between you and your God, don’t let some Eyetalian in a funny hat tell you what to think, because you’re just as qualified to read the Bible as he is.”

One key reason is what secularism does to moral standards. If moral standards are not rooted in God, they do not objectively exist. Good and evil are no more real than “yummy” and “yucky.”

I have a cousin in seminary who’s fond of that last one as an explanation for why atheists don’t have a basis for their morality. Of course, the religious view of morality is as much about individual tastes as the secular kind, they just have the additional virtue of writing a book about how they got all those morals from a supernatural being… and we should believe in the supernatural being, and specifically their supernatural being, and specifically their interpretation of their supernatural being’s beliefs, because what? Oh, because they say so. That’s an good starting block for “objective.”

If religion had anything to do with “objective moral standards,” American religious sects wouldn’t splinter every fifty years based on whatever hot-button topic is dominating the landscape. But they do. Denominations have split over slavery, over temperance, over abortion, over virtually everything. The American religious landscape is and always has been a place where anyone can go shopping for the religion or church that fits his fancy, and then up his opinions as “well, GOD agrees with me, so THERE asshole!” Moral standards have always been a matter of individual tastes, and religion’s done absolutely nothing to stop it.

(Unless you want to go back to the old European Middle Ages model, in which instead of everyone picking and choosing their morality, only one pope and a small group of people got to so pick and choose, and everyone else just had to go along with them. But, I believe that’d be unconstitutional. Curse you, American Exceptionalism! Curse you for getting in the way of our Objective Perfect Moral Standards!)

Besides, most dogs are excellent swimmers.

And wtf is Atta doing out in the lake with Snuffles, anyway?
.

One key reason is what secularism does to moral standards. If moral standards are not rooted in God, they do not objectively exist. Good and evil are no more real than “yummy” and “yucky.” They are simply a matter of personal preference. One of the foremost liberal philosophers, Richard Rorty, an atheist, acknowledged that for the secular liberal, “There is no answer to the question, ‘Why not be cruel?’”

Oh, so, if I answer that question with “because it’s not the way I would want someone else to treat me,” then that’s not a valid answer?

Well, I tell you what, Dennis – you’d better hope the fuck it is, because it’s about the only thing that keeps me and other “secular liberals” like me from reaching into the back of your throat and pulling your spine, such as it is, out through your mouth.

Is there an answer to the question, “why not just kill the fucktards and put them out of our misery,” for the secular liberal? According to you, Dennis, there isn’t.

Roll your sleeves up, folks, there’s work to be done!!!!

The problem with moral standards is getting the sign-offs from all of the corporations providing financing to the non-profit foundations. You know Microsoft is going to screw up with something like “Moral Standards Special for Windows” and Apple will claim to be following the standard while having wild monkey sex with incompatible IP stacks.

Forty years ago, I began writing and lecturing about this problem. It was then that I began asking students if they would save their dog or a stranger first if both were drowning. The majority always voted against the stranger — because, they explained, they loved their dog and they didn’t love the stranger.

Without God and Judeo-Christian religions, what else is there?

why does god hate dogs?

The majority always voted against the stranger

Possibly they knew their Twain.

hey canadians! do you know this twain?

Oh, so, if I answer that question with “because it’s not the way I would want someone else to treat me,” then that’s not a valid answer?

You could also answer “because I’m not following the teachings of a deranged lunatic whose laws commanded the marriage of rapists with their victims* but who never bothered to outlaw slavery.”

* Deuteronomy 22:28-29. It’s always blown my mind how one of their chief objections to Mohammed’s life was that he married an underage child and was therefore a child molestor. Even if I take them at their word, then the absolute worst thing I can say about Mohammed is that he was operating on the same moral guidebook as the Bible. Granted, that’s not so good a thing, but I suspect that’s not the point these guys are trying to make…

hey canadians! do you know this twain?

Do you mean, like, biblically?

With the death of Judeo-Christian God-based standards shame, rich people have simply substituted feelings greed for those standards.

Funny how the substitution of just a few words makes everything Prager says make sense.

There has indeed been an appalling decline in public morality, though it’s not particularly centered on “young people,” socialite sex tapes aside. No doubt the public square has grown coarser in its mores. But to hear Prager tell it, it’s all those damn kids who are gettin’ on his lawn that’s the root of it, and not the bankers and the traders and the financiers who have indulged in a veritable orgy of theft. I’m quite sure that it was the bankers corrupted by the sexy-sexy in the morality-free youth culture that caused that to happen rather than the other way around, with the kids watching their social “betters” loot the store, and reacting to that display of utter amorality with rather mild by comparison socialite sex tapes.

If moral standards are not rooted in God, they do not objectively exist.
Are we supposed to deduce that if moral standards are rooted in God, they do objectively exist? HA HA HA. They are an objective reality, contingent on you remaining religious.

I have been convinced that “studies” either confirm what common sense suggests or they are mistaken.”
There is little to be gained from arguing with someone who announces right at the start that he intends to ignore any empirical evidence that is counter to his expectations.

I’M BLIND!!!!!!!!!!!

God, how immoral of Prager to dress like that!

I asked Joan of Arc what she thought of Prager’s thesis.

She coughed and blew some ashes at me.

Moral standards have been replaced by feelings.

He’s right, you know! I hate that crappy song by Albert Morris and would much rather listen to Kate Smith sing “That’s Why The Darkies Were Born”.

Now THAT was a standard back in the day, when we all wore onions off our belts!

their chief objections to Mohammed’s life was that he married an underage child and was therefore a child molestor

Westerners never married women under 18. There were no arranged marriages either.

Westerners never married women under 18.

Bitch set me up!

closet

We’ve switched Dennis Prager’s Altoids with veterinary suppositories. Let’s see if he can spot the difference!

Prager looks like the poor man’s Peter Allen.

And I’m talking “Ethiopian on the verge of starvation from famine” poor man.

We’ve switched Dennis Prager’s Altoids with veterinary suppositories. Let’s see if he can spot the difference!

nnnnnnnnNa-ah-ah-ah-ah!

D-KW? Did you get a continuance on your trial?

A Winnar from the comments: I’m sure you’re conversant in the Gospels, so you must realize that Christ is far less concerned with statistics, which so easily is the devil’s math, than with the individual.

If nothing else, I am now looking forward for a chance to use “the Devil’s Math” in conversation. So glad I got out of the boat here. I couldn’t bring myself to check the second page of comments though.

Jesus, Actor, where do you find this stuff? Are you in Texas? Why?

Did you get a continuance on your trial?

Laugh it up all you want, but remember that Texas is Rick Perry’s execute-a-looza state. If you are being sought by Texas police then humping dogs and chickens as a basis for an insanity plea sounds a whole lot moar reasonable, don’t it?

Also, the comments on Actor’s nugget:

“Don’t worry, this is a Texas country jury – the DA’s gonna fry the n***er!”

(Not actually knowing anything about the case, I certainly wouldn’t take a position on guilt – maybe he’s guilty as hell. But shit, a black dude acting crazy in rural fucking Texas? Lucky he hasn’t been shot entering the courtroom.)

Or, D-K’s point.

Jesus, Actor, where do you find this stuff? Are you in Texas? Why?

I’m not in Texas. I…I….*sob*….I know people there…*cringe*

I just thought choking the chicken while choking the chicken was up D-KW’s alley*

*VBSR

Well, since you put it that way….

BAAAAAARRRRRFFFF!!!!!1!

SorREEETTCCCHHHy.

Scuze me.

Drowning the dog.

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again:

TX…making other states look good since 1845*

*offer not valid in mississippi…

TX…making other states look good since 1845*

*offer not valid in mississippi…

Hello? FLORIDA?!?!?!?!?!!?

TX…making other states look good since 1845*

Texas: We loved slavery so much, we fought TWO rebellions over it!

re: Christian Smith (OMG, rilly? Your name is Christian Smith? You’re teh go-to guy about teh sociology of religion?)

So anyway, I did some moar reading, unliek Prager. Christian Smith is associated with this oldskool religion offa mah lawn movement based on denouncing kids these days as “Almost Christians” and followers of teh cult of (and I swear I am not making this up) Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. SRSLY, they are denigrating teh religion of youth because it’s too much unliek that old-timey fire and brimstone shit they grew up with.

Anywho, there’s some interesting conversation about MTD and teh future of religiosity &c. It’s an important discussion that teh faithful should be having. Whither teh bibble? What of teh Ten Commandments in teh Age of teh Intarboobs? Are Multi-Faith proceedings worse than Satan or much worse than Satan?

Going forward, teh fact that society expects all of its members to exhibit tolerance of others and respect for basic human dignity regardless of colour or creed – thems be hurdles that some religious sects are going to have to figure out. And I appreciate that religion is uniquely unsuited to dealing with changing times, but teh times – they are a changin’.

I propose we take a large handsaw and cut everything south of the Ohio river out to sea. I also propose we keep Miami, New Orleans, Austin, and Chapel Hill and glue them onto Long Island. Is this acceptable?

The crazy bullshit in Actor’s roman-a-clef in Texas? At least it makes a newspaper there. In Florida, that’s called “Tuesday”.

We need Miami. Hard to get good coke in New Brighton.

We can ship New Orleans up the Mississippi to here – I’ve always wanted to go to Mardi Gras!

Ever since I attended college I have been convinced that “studies” either confirm what common sense suggests or they are mistaken.

Gee, why did someone with all that common sense bother to go to college in the first place?

Also re: dog or stranger?

Prager had better not ask this guy.

Gee, why did someone with all that common sense bother to go to college in the first place?

i bet he was the profs’ best loved student…

Gee, why did someone with all that common sense bother to go to college in the first place?

Prager went to Brooklyn College, so I’m going to guess sex with hipsters.

Laugh it up all you want, but remember that Texas is Rick Perry’s execute-a-looza state. If you are being sought by Texas police then humping dogs and chickens as a basis for an insanity plea sounds a whole lot moar reasonable, don’t it?

Georgia is making a run at ’em.

Charleston SC and Fayetteville AR Must stay.

Prager went to Brooklyn College, so I’m going to guess sex with hipsters.

When Prager went to college, “hip” was so far off the radar, it was down around the feet.

Lucky he hasn’t been shot entering the courtroom

Or dragged to court tied to the bumper of a fucking truck.

FU Texas. GTFO

Fayetteville? Only if I get to hit Bentonville with some large rocks.

“The default position, which most of them came back to again and again, is that moral choices are just a matter of individual taste.”

In spite of our borked political system most people have pretty good lives more or less and certainly compared to previous generations. Also, most people are socially conscious. Unlike conservatives it matters to many how other people feel and they try to put most of those in their immediate social network at ease. People try to get along with other people

They’re socialists.

Only if I get to hit Bentonville with some large rocks.

Save a pebble or two for Springdale (home of Tyson chicken).

I propose we take a large handsaw and cut everything south of the Ohio river out to sea. I also propose we keep Miami, New Orleans, Austin, and Chapel Hill and glue them onto Long Island. Is this acceptable?

I vote we keep Mobile, AL, too. And whoever is responsible for making Abita and Lazy Magnolia beer.

If moral standards are not rooted in God, they do not objectively exist.

Is this the same God who sometimes demands genocide and sometimes says “thou shalt not kill?”

“If moral standards are not rooted in God, they do not objectively exist.”

Actually I agree with this. Morality is just people agreeing that certain behaviors are not ok. The universe just does not care what a bunch of dirty apes on some rock are doing to each other. It’s like money, this paper with ink on it is only money because we say it’s money. The hard question is what moral codes work best for the most people. I think that’s a pragmatic question and there is no objective answer to it.

Is this the same God who sometimes demands genocide and sometimes says “thou shalt not kill?”

And wears pretty paper hats and holds imaginary cottilions and…

Oh wait. That’s me. Sorry.

“If moral standards are not rooted in God, they do not objectively exist.”

Even if they were rooted in God, they wouldn’t objectively exist.

But of course the great irony here is seeing a winger argue anything on the grounds of objectivity. When that’s a concept fully missing from the wingnut ethos.

. And whoever is responsible for making Abita and Lazy Magnolia beer.

AGREE!!!

Morality is just people agreeing that certain behaviors are not ok.

Well, one could make the case that some morals are based on a survivalist strategy, a continuation of the species thing. For example, it may be deemed moral to save a child, because that child can continue the family line, but not because objectively saving that child is moral.

The only “objective” standard for morality that means anything is, Treat others as you would want to be treated. This is pretty much the basis for every major moral belief system worthy of the name.

It’s an instinctual impulse based in elementary logic. Some writers and philosophers, like C.S. Lewis, have tried to bootstrap this into proof of God, as if mere mortals couldn’t think up such a concept on our own.

It’s an instinctual impulse based in elementary logic. Some writers and philosophers, like C.S. Lewis, have tried to bootstrap this into proof of God, as if mere mortals couldn’t think up such a concept on our own.

I have a dim view of C.S. Lewis, and I am prepared to believe he could not have come up with that concept on his own.

“Well, one could make the case that some morals are based on a survivalist strategy, a continuation of the species thing.”

Sure but I don’t think it matters to the universe whether or not we survive. The whole planet could get fried by a massive solar flare tomorrow and the universe would happily keep going on without shedding a tear. That’s what I think it means for something to be objectively true. That it makes some kind of real difference.

Sure but I don’t think it matters to the universe whether or not we survive.

True, but the universe isn’t the one creating the moral construct. The universe is distinctly amoral, even allowing for a Creator.

I mean, you open the hatch of your spaceship, the universe is bound by the laws of physics to suck it all out*. You can’t appeal to some universal court to ask mercy cuz yer an idiot

*VBJR

That’s what I think it means for something to be objectively true. That it makes some kind of real difference.

There was something about this statement that chewed at me, even tho I discounted it in replying.

So let me get it out and twist your noodle.

There’s a fairly large body of evidence, scientifically established and documented over hundred of trials, that consciousness can influence the universe.

That is, for example, we may (I stress may) possess a precognitive ability or better still, a telekinesis (after a fashion).

In other words, the very existence of our morals can change the course of events.

Now we have a situation were morals are objectively true.

If this research (and it’s readily available and has been replicated) turns out to be true, which current evidence indicates it is.

“True, but the universe isn’t the one creating the moral construct.”

That’s right, people do and if it’s just people saying that something is immoral it isn’t objective. People once thought that gay sex was wrong and slavery was just fine. Now most people believe the opposite. Things that are objectively true don’t suddenly become false just because people think they are.

If this research (and it’s readily available and has been replicated) turns out to be true, which current evidence indicates it is.

then we are all effed…

True, but the universe isn’t the one creating the moral construct. The universe is distinctly amoral, even allowing for a Creator.

If the universe isn’t creating the moral construct, than it isn’t objective. I think that’s his point.

Dennis is moaning about objective moral constructs, when the concept is clearly absurd, and he is so neck deep in the indoctrination of the religion of his choice that he doesn’t even realize it. Luckily for him, he will probably never be in a situation where his concept of morality is tested, but if he were to win the all expense paid ‘Lord of the Flies’ lifetime vacation he so richly deserves, he would probably be the first one to smear himself with pigs blood (from a pig someone else killed) and howl for the death of a scapegoat.

Things that are objectively true don’t suddenly become false just because people think they are.

nyah, nyah…yes they do! lalalalalalalalalalalalaalalal….i can’t hear you! lalalalalalalalalalala…

Dennis is moaning about objective moral constructs, when the concept is clearly absurd, and he is so neck deep in the indoctrination of the religion of his choice that he doesn’t even realize it.

Yea, at this level, morals are not objective. He wants them to be, but they aren’t.

Even allowing for a God (and I’m a person of faith, let me get that out) and even allowing for the Ten Commandments, the interpretation of those Commandments is still left up to human society.

Ergo, not objective.

“There’s a fairly large body of evidence, scientifically established and documented over hundred of trials, that consciousness can influence the universe.”

I am absolutely certain that conscious choices can influence the world. Watch me drink this glass of wine….. there! all gone.

“If this research (and it’s readily available and has been replicated) turns out to be true, which current evidence indicates it is.”

With all due respect actor, nawww, don’t think so.

http://www.skepdic.com/pear.html

With all due respect actor, nawww, don’t think so.

http://www.skepdic.com/pear.html

Wrong study. Nice try.

With the death of Judeo-Christian God-based standards, people have simply substituted feelings for those standards.

That fuckin’ Gandhi was such an emotional bastard, wasn’t he?

Even allowing for a God (and I’m a person of faith, let me get that out) and even allowing for the Ten Commandments, the interpretation of those Commandments is still left up to human society.

Ergo, not objective.

and as chris pointed out earlier…and as we all know from experience, religious morals are a dime a dozen and can be changed at the drop of a hat (sorry pope!)…what i don’t understand is why they don’t understand that just as we evolve, so do moral standards…which point of civilization’s moral compass are they longing for? i imagine that question alone would create a fapfest the likes of unheard before…

Wrong study. Nice try.

By all means point to the correct bullshit study.

>”Even allowing for a God (and I’m a person of faith, let me get that out)”

And I’m agnostic, not an atheist, but….. what counts as moral or is pretty hard to say. So I’m a pragmatist about it. Whatever works is what works and it seems me that being nice to people, co-operating, sharing, working together, all those things, work better than being a flaming asshole which seems to be what conservatism is all about.

The whole planet could get fried by a massive solar flare tomorrow and the universe would happily keep going on without shedding a tear. That’s what I think it means for something to be objectively true. That it makes some kind of real difference.

Well, it would matter to the people living here, I think. It seems like you’re using “real” as a synonym for “large-scale” or “significant on a cosmic level”.

I have a dim view of C.S. Lewis, and I am prepared to believe he could not have come up with that concept on his own.

So do I, and he didn’t. He stole it from Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.

“I think. It seems like you’re using “real” as a synonym for “large-scale” ”

By real I mean not subject to opinion, a fact. I love me some Brussels sprouts and will have some for diner later. But it isn’t a fact that they taste good, it’s just my opinion.

Also, no one’s pointed it out (maybe it’s too obvious?), but Prager’s Orthodox Jewish. Born and raised in NYC, went to Yeshiva schools all the way up to college. And he’s not that young either. Is he really just not cognizant of the fact that 50 years ago, he would have been one of the relativist heathens who are ruining America’s Christian values? That the word “Judeo-Christian” is a recent invention? That Jews were just as much an outgroup as Muslims and atheists earlier in his lifetime? Thing is, I don’t think he’s that stupid, so I think it really is a case of “I managed to climb the ladder, and now I’m going to pull it up behind me, ha ha.” Man, what a sick bastard.

By real I mean not subject to opinion, a fact.

Well, yes it’s a fact that the universe would keep on going, but it’s also a fact that Earth and the creatures living there would be destroyed-demonstrable fact. I don’t think those two conflict. Maybe I just don’t get what you’re trying to say.

so I think it really is a case of “I managed to climb the ladder, and now I’m going to pull it up behind me, ha ha.” Man, what a sick bastard.

just another example of ‘i got mine, now fuck you…’

There is a tribe in New Guinea that practices cannibalism. My guess is that they evolved this because they have a very protein poor diet. Rain forests are really pretty barren and you can only eat so many ants. So… their cannibalism evolved for their survival, survival is all that matters, so their practice of cannibalism is a moral good since it permits them to survive. Right?

So… their cannibalism evolved for their survival, survival is all that matters, so their practice of cannibalism is a moral good since it permits them to survive. Right?

okay, i’ll bite…what about the poor schmuck who gets eaten?

zxsljuih b nnd sx?ßx?

“Maybe I just don’t get what you’re trying to say.”

What the force of gravity should be is not my opinion. If I change it to some other value the earth flies apart or crushes into a black hole. So it’s not up to me to decide what the force of gravity is or that F = MA should really be F = 2M/A.

I’m willing to be wrong, I just don’t see how at the moment.

and you can only eat so many ants.

crunch crunch crunch…wait, what now?

zxsljuih b nnd sx?ßx?

You hear that a lot these days, but when Dudeskull says it, you know he means it.

http://www.skepdic.com/pear.html
Wrong study. Nice try.

Actor212 is referring to the Global Consciousness Project… which is explicitly an extrapolation of the P.E.A.R. research… so noen’s link (to scepticism about the P.E.A.R. research) is not irrelevant.

For statisticians unimpressed with the Global Consciousness Project, see here:
http://www.lfr.org/LFR/csl/library/Sep1101.pdf
http://noosphere.princeton.edu/papers/jseScargle.pdf

There is a tribe in New Guinea that practices cannibalism. My guess is that they evolved this because

People do kooky things that don’t necessarily have evolutionary advantages. Wikipedia indicates they may have adequate protein resources.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korowai

“what about the poor schmuck who gets eaten?”

It’s part of their war rituals against neighboring tribes so I would guess they didn’t exactly have his full cooperation.

I think I’d be more impressed with Christians’ superior morality if they weren’t more likely than the general population to favor torture, war, income inequality, and discrimination.

It’s part of their war rituals against neighboring tribes so I would guess they didn’t exactly have his full cooperation.

duuuuuuurrrrrrr…for some reason i was picturing them all by their lonesomes…

Also, no one’s pointed it out (maybe it’s too obvious?), but Prager’s Orthodox Jewish.

Ooh, maybe one of his evangelical BFFs will ask if Prager thinks Yeshua was the messiah. Objectively speaking, you know.

It’s part of their war rituals against neighboring tribes so I would guess they didn’t exactly have his full cooperation.

which again is a variation of ‘i got mine, so fuck you…’

What the force of gravity should be is not my opinion. If I change it to some other value the earth flies apart or crushes into a black hole. So it’s not up to me to decide what the force of gravity is or that F = MA should really be F = 2M/A.

I’m not disagreeing with any of that. And when you said the destruction of earth wouldn’t affect the universe, that’s also true. But it would affect the people on the earth, and isn’t that true?

On the scale of the entire universe, we’re pretty insignificant. But on a human scale, we’re very significant. And I don’t see why one scale is…I don’t know, more reliable or accurate for values of what’s “real” just because it’s bigger. In fact, it seems like you’re privileging the larger scale over the smaller scale sort of autmoatically, like it’s obviously more important. I don’t think one is more important than the other, just different. I’m not talking about what’s verifiable scientific fact and what isn’t.

As to why I’m bothering to say all this…I’m a liberal, because I think that humans can improve their lot in life through reasoning out and applying the best solutions. It just seems to me that “We could all die tomorrow and it wouldn’t make a difference” is a bad idea to get into the cultural subconscious of any society that has a hope of improving itself. Doesn’t lend itself to optimism, is what I’m saying, even if some people can reconcile the two, precisely by recognizing that it’s two different scales we’re talking about. There’s an element of this sort of nihilism to Tea Party politics, and libertarianism in general. “We can never fix the environment/raise taxes on the rich/fix our schools, so why bother trying? Just let the market sort it out.” Libertarianism has elevated this sort of apathy into a positive good, and any attempts to change things are a sin, according to them. Again, I think this sort of thought pattern is dangerous to get embedded in people’s heads, so I’m very wary of theories that lend themselves to nihilistic views of humanity.

The Korowai, also called the Kolufo, are a people of southeastern Papua (i.e., the southeastern part of the western part of New Guinea). They number about 3,000.[1] Until 1970, they were unaware of the existence of any people besides themselves.

…and after a close inspection of the clothing and entertainment habits of the era, they wished they’d stayed unaware.

Is this the same God who sometimes demands genocide and sometimes says “thou shalt not kill?”

Shhh, don’t confuse the boy. He thinks he’s making some kind of point.

OT: Muthafuckin Ipsum (NSFW if someone’s reading over your shoulder)

Thank FSM there are a couple new threads and that means I can take myself out of my self-imposed feeding-the-concern-troll banishment. It was a dark time, but thankfully I had beer to keep me entertained.

I’m starting a countdown to rightwing butthurt over this. Government regulations (specifically teh double-extra-ebil EPA regulations) and even (GASP) POSTAL INSPECTORS couldn’t possibly ever do any good, right?

“On the scale of the entire universe, we’re pretty insignificant.”

But… were not talking about large or small scales. If physical laws were different the whole universe would be different.

“I’m not talking about what’s verifiable scientific fact and what isn’t. ”

I am. I think there are facts and there are values and that you can’t get from a fact about what is the case over to a value about what *ought* to be the case. Like anyone I have a strong sense of what is right or wrong but I think I got that from my community.

“I’m a liberal, because I think that humans can improve their lot in life through reasoning out and applying the best solutions”

I totally agree. I’m liberal too and I have faith that in the long run things get better. In my lifetime we’ve gone from riots in Boston over school busing, women’s right, gay rights, rights for the disabled etc. We are having a tough time right now because of a conservative backlash but I believe that will diminish over time too.

Maybe I’m being too abstract but I do like this stuff.

I read SN almost everyday. It’s a welcome retreat from the insanity that can get heavy elsewhere at times. We have some real nutcases in the building where I live. So, you know, there’s that.

— start slipsum code —

Do you see any Teletubbies in here? Do you see a slender plastic tag clipped to my shirt with my name printed on it? Do you see a little Asian child with a blank expression on his face sitting outside on a mechanical helicopter that shakes when you put quarters in it? No? Well, that’s what you see at a toy store. And you must think you’re in a toy store, because you’re here shopping for an infant named Jeb.

— end slipsum code

heh.

bonus comment from the prager post:

<i."I mean, I guess what makes something right is how I feel about it."

– Some young person

"I have been convinced that “studies” either confirm what common sense suggests or they are mistaken."

– Dennis Prager, 3 inches lower in the article

If you're going to have massive contradictions in your writing, space them out a little more.

heh…also, too…is dennis the one whose photoshop used to looked like yeti had a love child with your lesbian middle aged aunt and wearing a parka? i miss that pic…

Government regulations (specifically teh double-extra-ebil EPA regulations) and even (GASP) POSTAL INSPECTORS couldn’t possibly ever do any good, right?

‘Course not. That’s why it gets ignored. Better yet, chemical terrorism gets redefined as something every American has a right to, and the ebil gubbamint is trying to ban it.

awesome…

is dennis the one whose photoshop used to looked like yeti had a love child with your lesbian middle aged aunt and wearing a parka? i miss that pic…

That was Hugh Hewitt, and I don’t think it was a photoshop.

hmmmm…i wonder how i can get the ipsum thingy to say, damn! check out the brain on brad! cuz that’s my favorite line…

That was Hugh Hewitt, and I don’t think it was a photoshop.

thanks…i’m glad someone knew who/what i was talking about and it wasn’t just a figment…

OT great new band name: The Cornholing Simpletons.

They’ve got a Hee Haw meets Butthole Surfers vibe.

Courtesy of the Nader v Hater thread over at TBogg’s.

There’s an element of this sort of nihilism to Tea Party politics, and libertarianism in general. “We can never fix the environment/raise taxes on the rich/fix our schools, so why bother trying? Just let the market sort it out.” Libertarianism has elevated this sort of apathy into a positive good, and any attempts to change things are a sin, according to them.

Either it’s nihilistic… or it doesn’t matter, because to quite a few of them, the only purpose of this life is to win brownie points to earn your way into the next one. So, what might happen to this world in the next hundred years doesn’t really matter.

Courtesy of the Nader v Hater thread over at TBogg’s.

DON’T SPEAK OF IT, YOU’LL BRING IT FORTH.

Spaghetti Lee – It lies dead but dreaming deep below the waves….

Wow, interesting metaphysics/ethics discussion breaking out. Unfortunately I’m on my way out the door and will be between computers for a couple hours, but my $0.02: If there were such a thing as absolute objective morality, why would big daddy in the sky have to enforce it with eternal rewards and punishments in heaven and hell? Atheists have a better argument for moral behavior, because if we do something good, it is because we feel it is the right thing to do, not to gain points for some bullshit afterlife carrot/stick game.

Steerpike, that’s why you’re going to Hell. And serves you right!

Completely and utterly OT: I recently figured out how to stream music from my laptop to my PS3. This worked swimmingly and there’s this kind-of-neat sort-of-psychedelic “visualizer” that the PS3 runs along with the music. I have found it amusing that it deals quite well with “visualizing” any standard rock-n-roll, and it even did quite well with Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew album. I am now playing Zappa’s Hot Rats album at it and it doesn’t really know what to do.

That amuses me, because I’m easily amused.

Atheists have a better argument for moral behavior, because if we do something good, it is because we feel it is the right thing to do, not to gain points for some bullshit afterlife carrot/stick game.

This.

Atheists have a better argument for moral behavior, because if we do something good, it is because we feel it is the right thing to do, not to gain points for some bullshit afterlife carrot/stick game.

Actually, that’s not an argument pro or con moral behavior. What it is, is an argument that atheists are inherently more moral, in that they aren’t relying on some external authority to tell them what is right or wrong.

Except even then it’s not a winning argument, because your internal compass is not necessarly right or wrong.

There is no objective “morality” other than, as someone else said upthread, the golden rule – doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. And even then, I’m not sure the word “objective” applies, though we can at least agree that if I think lying is wrong and don’t do it, and someone else lies to me, then I’m going to consider them less moral than I am, so there’s “objectivity” from that standpoint. But still you’re left with the problem of the liar, who may not consider lying to be immoral…so from his standpoint, he’s adhered to his internal compass and his moral conscience is clear…

your internal compass is not necessarly right or wrong.

My internal compass is correct — for me. And I don’t let a magic sky faerie’s groupies tell me it’s broken and that I’ll go to some “bad place” if I don’t fix it.

because your internal compass is not necessarly right or wrong.

Jennifer is out-of-date. I have an internal GPS unit.

Note that my internal compass does tell me it’s perfectly OK to say snide things about religious people. That’s not necessarily “nice” or “productive” — I tried calibrating that out but then I got lost in the woods and almost eaten by a cougar. So my apologies if that sounded nastier than I meant it.

The hypothetical exercise Prager misapplied to his students isn’t supposed to have a right and wrong answer that some prick like Prager can then use to judge the respondents (and then by extrapolation an entire demographic). It’s supposed to provoke thought and an exchange of ideas. It might make perfect sense to safely grab your dog by the scruff and swim for shore rather than let a drowning man grab on to you and pull you under too. I’ve actually saved people from drowning and the first thing you have to make sure before you even try is that you’re definitely not going down yourself.

I have an internal GPS unit.

My internal satellite killer lasers will render your internal GPS unit useless when the revolution comes.

…but perhaps I’ve said too much.

Re morals, required reading. Whether you’re one of those Sam harris haters or not, the book brings things onto a whole new playing field.

Alos too, no discussions or debate will be entertained if you aint familiar with evolutionary morality. actor got close above. We don’t kill our neighbors because it’s not good survival strategy to do so. And so on.

Oregon Beer Snob – my point still stands though.

Atheists may practice a “purer” morality since it’s not coerced by fear, but it’s not more “moral” in and of itself to do the right thing for this reason instead of another one.

I second your internal compass’ reading that it’s perfectly ok to say snide things about religious people. After all, it’s motivated by the same impulse that motivates their proselytizing – the attitude that “UR DOIN IT RONG!!!” Therefore, it’s impossible for it to be any more “wrong” than it is for them to try to convert everyone.

I have an internal GPS unit.

I have another, smaller me who wants to stop and ask for directions.

We don’t kill our neighbors because it’s not good survival strategy to do so.

Most of us don’t kill our neighbors, but damn those kids are making a lot of noise…

Atheists may practice a “purer” morality since it’s not coerced by fear, but it’s not more “moral” in and of itself to do the right thing for this reason instead of another one.

I dunno — my own personal morality says it’s better (i.e. “more moral”) to do the “right” thing simply because it’s right, rather than because you’re being bribed to do it. But maybe ethics doesn’t work that way — my morals say it’s better for me to go get a beer than to think about it much more.

Oh, and why in the world did I go read the tbogg comment-thread abomination that shall not be named? Guh.

But maybe ethics doesn’t work that way — my morals say it’s better for me to go get a beer than to think about it much more.

I think you’ve hit upon the objective truth there, because I looked at that last shit I posted and said to myself, “WTFF?” I have no goddamned idea what I was even trying to say. It took me until now to give up trying to figure out my own comment…it can’t be done.

Well, dammit.

The scooter shop which has provided me with a wildly-inconsistent (but sometimes enough to make rent) income the past three years is closing. Talks fell through with a partner/investor today, so… lucky ducky, yet again.
.

Note to Dennis Prager: Dogs can swim.

Oh, and why in the world did I go read the tbogg comment-thread abomination that shall not be named? Guh.

Me too. I saw the number 301 and I knew it had to be a troll or Naderites.

My internal satellite killer lasers will render your internal GPS unit useless when the revolution comes

Ha! The joke is on you. I’m old enough to have been trained to navigate by dead-reckoning.

I am now playing Zappa’s Hot Rats album at it and it doesn’t really know what to do.

I mostly ain’t much for the more eccentric kinds of music, but I could pick through my collection and give ‘er a triple helping of Terror Bird, Super Taranta, and The Power and the Glory. Might explode your PS3, though, and I couldn’t have that on my conscience.

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

I mostly ain’t much for the more eccentric kinds of music, but I could pick through my collection and give ‘er a triple helping of Terror Bird, Super Taranta, and The Power and the Glory. Might explode your PS3, though, and I couldn’t have that on my conscience.

I would risk it, but the only one I have is Super Taranta! (assuming you’re talking about the Gogol Bordello album and not something else). I’m playing that now and it’s handling it pretty well. It was Zappa’s Peaches En Regalia that gave it the most trouble. Not really sure why.

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

So, most conservatives are at level 4, think we should all worship those at level 2, yet feel fit to talk about level 6. In keeping with the universal ethical principle of not knowing shit-all about what you’re discussing.

There’s an element of this sort of nihilism to Tea Party politics, and libertarianism in general. “We can never fix the environment/raise taxes on the rich/fix our schools, so why bother trying? Just let the market sort it out.” Libertarianism has elevated this sort of apathy into a positive good, and any attempts to change things are a sin, according to them.

No–it’s just more right wing sandbagging. When their arguments (like calling billionaires job-creators as a some threat to protect them from paying taxes) become so fucking ridiculous that they risk being exposed as the collection office for the Oligarchs, Inc., they resort to that shit. “Man, it’s so fucked up that it can’t even be fixed. Let’s just let it ride and see what happens.”

Libertarians are maladapted conservatives. They’re too fucking dumb have a position, so being against everything and calling everybody a crooked politician makes them seem above everything and smarter than us partisan idiots.

Spaghetti Lee said,
…

So, most conservatives are at level 4 never make it past level one.

Fixxored.

I would think that a group of people who made the wetsuit and dildo famous are unable to be located on that morality scale.

Falling into social norms and having a deviant undercurrent that they actively hide with Jesus fishies on the car bumpers is a seriously depraved existence. It seems that the more “righteous” they outwardly appear, the harder they fall.

Normal people climb that morality scale. Conservatives are the best argument against its validity.

Y’all are so cranky. god’s gonna take care of everything.

Re: letting a stranger die vs. letting your dog die–please. Republicans are MASTERS of distancing themselves from other human beings and only granting rights/respect/moral status to members of the in-group, whether we’re talking about families or communities or political groups or nations. Forget Atta; if there was a caveat that the “stranger” was an illegal immigrant or was wearing an Obama shirt, they’d be a-okay with saving the dog.

Forget Atta; if there was a caveat that the “stranger” was an illegal immigrant or was wearing an Obama shirt, they’d be a-okay with saving the dog.

What if the stranger needed some health insurance and the dog needed the vet? Which one then?

Whoa–HEY T&U!

Y’all are so cranky

I FUCKING AM NOT!

I have another, smaller me who wants to stop and ask for directions.

My homunculus would never dream of asking for directions, and thinks that the inner, smaller tigris should learn to read maps.

I have a little mannikin who OUCH STOP BITIN

Oh fudge. Only I didn’t say fudge.

http://mjpcuervo.wordpress.com/2009/05/06/bloch-and-the-evil-twin/

I wouldn’t be my brother’s keeper/ if a stranger can’t get by/ I wouldn’t ever lift a finger/ I could let a stranger die. (Shoop-be-doop-doop-doop)

Stupid kids don’t understand Hayek: the dog is just barking, but the man is sending a pricing signal, and can be made to pay you plenty, so the Right answer is obvious.

Nobody ever thinks about the dog who needs insurance or the stranger who needs a vet

Parasitic twins get such a bad rap. Mine is a really snazzy dresser. As she somewhat resembles a small, hairy tumor, we cannot share clothes. *sigh*

From VS’s link,

They think the economy works because God wants it to work. It’s a new religious economic idealism

Oh, sweet freaking mother of Jesus! That’s like thinking you failed your algebra exam because God fated you to fail. No, you failed because you stayed up late watching porn, playing video games or surfing the Internet when you should’ve been studying, jackass.* And the economy’s failing because America’s full of idiots like you who think they don’t need to do a damn thing, just sit back and wish hard enough and maybe the magical Invisible Hand’ll do everything for us.

I’m not a theologian or much of a Christian anymore, but even I know God isn’t your mother, your nanny or your insurance agent. You want to fix the economy, or pass a math exam, sitting back and praying isn’t going to do it.

*Any resemblance between the hypothetical person I’m berating there and the person I was in high school or college is of course purely coincidental. Much less between that person and my present self.

My parasitic evil twin is, in fact, Dennis Prager, which accounts for my high post count in this thread-you see, poor Dennis isn’t mentioned as much as he’d like to be, so whenever people actually talk about him he kinda latches on.

You did seem more prolific than usual. You, you and Spear and T&U make me think the YOUTHS are all right. There’s hope! Then I watch any news-esque show, and the apocalypse is nigh again.

And Chris, she typed tipsily.

My homunculus would never dream of asking for directions, and thinks that the inner, smaller tigris should learn to read maps.

Great, now li’l t has the sulkies. Now I’ll NEVER find out where I am in the moral landscape, and it is a hard and joyless country.

The moral lanscape has no flowers. 🙁

you can only eat so many ants.

Any exotic food pr0n recipes or suggestions from the Emperor? I know there are some insect dishes in the world, though I’ve never eaten any.

zxsljuih b nnd sx?ßx?

Oh noes! Dudeskull is speaking infantile gibberish! He’s a tea partier! I’ll bet the Colbert Report makes no sense to him at all!

Oh wait. Dudeskull IS an infant. And a happy person too. Never mind.

—————

Best thread I’ve read in a month. Nature of the universe. Nature of morality. Fine commentary on fundemental questions.

I have a little mannikin who OUCH STOP BITIN

What hunch?

My moral landscape.

Hi! I’m back!

Re: Teh Golden Rule being the sound basis of morality. The problem is that it presupposes that the “other” in question shares your outlook and desires. If you’re a masochist who’s into ball-gags and clothespin fetishes, please don’t use the golden rule as your guide when you are doing unto me.

More to the the point, if you’re a repressed, uptight Republican fundamentalist who prefers to be told how to behave, what to believe and whom it is OK to fantasize doin’ the nasty with, please do me the favor of not doing anything unto me.

I prefer the Platinum Rule: “Do unto others as those others would have you do unto them.”

Neon: I’ve especially appreciated your commentary.

My moral landscape

My moral landscape (NSFW).
.

Only SQUARES are still at work.

WHY ARE YOU SO BEHOLDEN THE MAN?!

Jeffraham Prestonian said,
September 21, 2011 at 3:51

Lookin’ like a mighty fine crop this year!

My moral landscape has a wetsuit in the foreground.

Spaghetti Lee at 23:57. Outstanding, friend.

((Sadlies who may have skimmed the thread: Well worth scrolling up to read this one carefully.))

My Moral Landscape

My moral landscape.

“WHY ARE YOU SO BEHOLDEN THE MAN?!”

A “TO” would make this nicer.

Some of these moral landscapes make me think I’m not going with Steerpike’s platinum rule.

I’m starting to feel like there werent enough asses OR tentacles in my moral landscape, and I am worried this will have an influence on my position at the cool table.

zxsljuih b nnd sx?ßx?

Mamama…mama…mamamama…DIEDIEDIE!*

*Actual quote. Apparently “give” in Russian sounds like “die.”

WHY ARE YOU SO BEHOLDEN THE MAN?!

Just trying to keep the drones in Sector 7G from getting into inadvertent trouble.
.

and I am worried this will have an influence on my position at the cool table.

Don’t worry. You were the innovator, and there’s always a few bugs to work out in the first model. I’m the guy who tried to get all ironic with it but it went splat because the actual trend hadn’t subsided yet.

My moral landscape.

And Chris Said: I’m not a theologian or much of a Christian anymore, but even I know God isn’t your mother, your nanny or your insurance agent. You want to fix the economy, or pass a math exam, sitting back and praying isn’t going to do it.

God knows that too – “I sent you a tv ad, a man in a boat and a helicopter; what more do you want me to do!?”.

In the Conservative’s poor and objectively* immoral mind, Teh Invisible Hand is supposed to sweep down and 3. Profit!

*As in, we all get to see what you do on your time off now, fuckers. That “we must be safe from teh terrorists, so put cameras everywhere!!!” idea doesn’t seem so smart now, does it?

I can’t believe I clicked Subby’s moral landscape. And I can’t believe it wasn’t goatse.

All y’all probs know this already, but my moral landscape.

If you’re a masochist who’s into ball-gags and clothespin fetishes, please don’t use the golden rule as your guide when you are doing unto me.

i have been trying to figure out a way to say this all day…

FART.

For all our sakes, stop feeding her beans.

but even I know God isn’t your mother

Because who yells their own name when orgasming? Oh wait. Is your mom a conservative?

Ultra’s quite advanced sexually, no?

Whoa. That here is a fucking therapy inducing nymfail.

Ultra’s quite advanced sexually, no?

My general plan is to never know the answer to this question.

The Ultra Ninja is so sneaky that he can spy on himself doing your mom.

My general plan is to never know the answer to this question.

If she ends up with a boyfriend with a large spherical head and a Brooklyn accent…I KNOW NOTHING!

Moral landscape

The Ultra Ninja is so sneaky that he can spy on himself doing your mom.

Oh fuck. Therapy it is.

The Ultra Ninja is so sneaky that he can spy on himself doing your mom.

All those martial arts, imagine what Ninja sex must be like…

And Chris Said:

Oh, I like this. And on the first day, Chris Said, “Let there be light.” And on the second day, Chris said, “Be fruitful and multiply.” And on the third day, Chris watched the Star Wars blue ray edition, and He saw, and it was bad. And Chris commanded, “Abraham, my servant, bring Me George Lucas and the Wookiee. They will all suffer for this outrage.”

moral landscape…most days…

I’m glad I make you happy. It makes me giggle.

Well, since the owner wants to be with his mom during yet another radiation treatment for brain cancer tomorrow morning, I’m opening said scooter shop at 11 a.m. tomorrow, perhaps without benefit of pay. But they are good friends.

I will miss the shop.
.

(and sorry to be the doggie downer)
.

The Ultra Ninja is so sneaky that he can spy on himself doing your mom.

Luxury. When I was an Ultra Ninja, we were lucky to have eyes.

The Ultra Ninja is so sneaky that he can spy on himself doing your mom.

Luxury. When I was an Ultra Ninja, we were lucky to have eyes.

Well, we had it tough. Every morning I had to get up at half two to work down ninja just to earn the sixpence it cost to buy that day’s eyeless, tongueless, earless Ultra Ninja head. It were made of treacle and bright purple, so I had to do all my ultra stealth covered in ants and birds and children. And when we got home, Chris’s mom would beat us to within an inch of our lives even if we caught ourselves in flagrante delicto.

I have no moral landscape.

tigris said,
Moral landscape
Is it about a bicycle?
I bought Amphigorey Also just a few days ago.

Also this thread needs moar Santorum jokes.

Moral landscape? Fuck that shit.

I want to see me some moral MANSCAPING.

Well, we had it tough.

“We”? You knew other people? Spoiled bitch.

I want to see me some moral MANSCAPING.

Turning on webcam…

Checking the wording of Buddhist moral manscapes (it’s for my tattoo) led me to the following valuable information.

There are two types of right view:

View with taints: this view is mundane. Having this type of view will bring merit and will support the favourable existence of the sentient being in the realm of samsara.

View without taints: this view is supramundane. It is a factor of the path and will lead the holder of this view toward self-awakening and liberation from the realm of samsara.

See, it’s that kind of kneejerk reactionary attitude towards the natural beauty of the taint that convinced me to convert to Baha’i in the first place.

Taints with view: see goatse.

On a surely unrelated note, what’s Elizabeth Hasselbeck up to these days, anyway?

Question re: Bhuddist tattoo

Is it a tramp stamp or is it that other place you put tattoos?

On a surely unrelated note, what’s Elizabeth Hasselbeck up to these days, anyway?

I’m sure being hotter and dumber than shit like always.

On a surely unrelated note, what’s Elizabeth Hasselbeck up to these days, anyway?

Servicing my hometeam quarterback?
.

Is it a tramp stamp or is it that other place you put tattoos?

Scrotum is covered with messages in Sanskrit already.
It got me through the exam so DON’T JUDGE ME.

Sanskrit Scrotum = band name.
.

Re: Morality

I always thought the saying “You can’t cheat an honest man.” summed it up pretty good…

0.02¢

Supertramp stamp. Not buddhist.

You, you and Spear and T&U make me think the YOUTHS are all right.

I am now 31, which I think maaaaay be skirting the outer edge of yoot territory, but I appreciate the compliment.

On a surely unrelated note, what’s Elizabeth Hasselbeck up to these days, anyway?

Making me want to give myself colon cancer.

Elizabeth Hasselbeck is always unrelated. To everything.

bbkf–ooooooooh, how I love that strip. Lulz!

“You can’t cheat an honest man.”

I call cherrypicking.

What The Master said, in full, is “You can’t cheat an honest man…………never give a sucker an even break, or smarten up a chump”.

I wonder if the dog-and-stranger question mitigated the fact that most dogs are much lighter than a human, and therefore much easier to rescue from drowning?

A boat could save one human or a half dozen dogs. I’d choose the human, ’cause, fuck, the dogs can swim.

I love your posts!

Sanskrit Scrotum

Sanscrote?

Sansserif, sanskrit, sanscrote, sans everything.

I wonder if the dog-and-stranger question mitigated the fact that most dogs are much lighter than a human, and therefore much easier to rescue from drowning?

Cats are smart enough to stay out of the water in the first place.

Sanskrit Sacerdotal Santorum Scrotum Synechdoche.

Helping bbkf

tigris said,

Moral landscape

Was there a fall?

Synechdoche.

My uncle’s definition: When the part represents the whole, as in when a man is a prick.

When the part represents the whole, as in when a man is a prick.

Or when a republican is a douchebag

I didn’t mention it before, but I have to say, that photoshop is awesome. Everytime I open this page it makes me laugh.

I am now 31, which I think maaaaay be skirting the outer edge of yoot territory

Well, you sure make parts of me feel yooty.

I didn’t mention it before, but I have to say, that photoshop is awesome. Everytime I open this page it makes me laugh.

Really? Cuz I have to close my eyes and hit “End” quickly.

Buddhist moral manscapes

What is the sound of one hand shaving?

“Ow! I cut myself, dammit!”

I’m turning 39 in a few days. *le sigh*

OT:

One of my facebook friends just posted an article (here, for those who speak French) according to which Sarkozy’s UMP had a proposal kicking around according to which all French citizens would have to go through a “pledge of allegiance to arms” upon the age of 18 (or upon acquisition of their citizenship) promising to serve the nation if called upon.

And apparently, nobody likes it, including the French military itself which hates the idea of going back to the draft. The Socialists hate it, calling it “the patriotism of fear” and accusing it of being yet another measure to appeal to the far right. Meanwhile the far right leader doesn’t like it either and commented “Another pledge? Sarkozy likes Americanization: soon, they’ll be pulling out the Bible!”

I’m turning 39 in a few days.

Turn ’em twice and do a 360.

Yuck. Jesus. Why do protein shakes have to taste so crappy?

One of my facebook friends just posted an article (here, for those who speak French) according to which Sarkozy’s UMP had a proposal kicking around according to which all French citizens would have to go through a “pledge of allegiance to arms” upon the age of 18 (or upon acquisition of their citizenship) promising to serve the nation if called upon.

One of the recurring themes here in America is the need for national service, mostly military, but certainly beyond the whole “Volunteer for the Peace Corps” thing.

I’m not sure it would be a bad thing, taking a little responsibility for the nation that’s given you so much and could give you so much more.

But pledging….no.

I turned 42 a week ago. **sniff**

I DONT LIKE IT

I’m not sure it would be a bad thing, taking a little responsibility for the nation that’s given you so much and could give you so much more.

I’ve always thought this should be part of your MANDATORY higher education. Service to your nation that doesn’t necessarily involve conscription in the armed services.

I don’t think our leaders can actually think past a mandatory 2 year stint in the military, however. That other stuff is socialism, right?

I’ve always thought this should be part of your MANDATORY higher education. Service to your nation that doesn’t necessarily involve conscription in the armed services.

I’m all for an automatic 1-year enlistment in AmeriCorps with an opt-out for 2 years in the military.

I turned 42 a week ago. **sniff**

I DONT LIKE IT

Happy Belated Birfday, tsam.

White guy not executed in Texas.

Black guy, not guilty under any modern evidence standard, to be executed.

I make no judgements as to the guilt or innocence of either of these guys, except to say that there is not nearly enough evidence to execute Davis.

Yeah, this is one of the reasons I changed my mind about the death penalty.

I realize that’s pretty thin evidence to support the claim that the death penalty is used in an egregiously inequitable manner, but the comparison bears mentioning, I believe.

Happy preemptive birfday, vacuumslaya…

Sanscrote?

Comic Sanscrote, Mr. Peabody?

I’ve always thought this should be part of your MANDATORY higher education.

Don’t get me started. I’ve been lobbying for twenty years for the US to add a Bill of Responsibilities to the Constitution.

You know, you must vote, you must serve your country for two years (it can be done part time over four or eight years) in some capacity, even if its reading to the blind or something, you can be fined for not picking up litter, that sort of thing.

I make no judgements as to the guilt or innocence of either of these guys, except to say that there is not nearly enough evidence to execute Davis.

I posted this morning on my blog that the case against Foster may be the flimsiest capital case I’ve ever seen, and certainly his lawyer was incompetent.

Comic Sanscrote, Mr. Peabody?

You’ve seen my ballsack, I see.

I’m all for an automatic 1-year enlistment in AmeriCorps with an opt-out for 2 years in the military.

Or a ten percent income tax surcharge.

Happy preemptive birfday, vacuumslaya…

Indeed. And may I say your writing has reached a new level of excellence since the Seventh Seal was broken the arrival of young Dudeskull..

@Lurking Canadian: Conservatives Don’t Do Nuance . . . unless it’s their argument they’re trying to buttress. Then they’re all pedantic and pompous about their pretzel logic.

Or a ten percent income tax surcharge

From your lips to Shakira’s ass’s ears.

(Hmmmm…that particular formulation has a bit of an anatomical problem…)

I turned 42 a week ago. **sniff**

As someone who just turned 55, may I kindly invite you to shut up?

Aww, thanks very much, LittlePig. I don’t think it has as much to do with Dudeskull as to just the fact that one has to raise to raise her game to keep up with the brilliant smartassery around here. Perhaps I just found my sea-legs. Hey, let me mix a few more metaphors into this post!

As someone who just turned 55, may I kindly invite you to shut up?

And here I thought I was the old fuck…you beat me, but not by much.

Helping bbkf

thank you! that was lulz!

From your lips to Shakira’s ass’s ears.

(Hmmmm…that particular formulation has a bit of an anatomical problem…)

She’s flexible.

Reeeeeeeeeeeeally flexible

just the fact that one has to raise to raise her game to keep up with the brilliant smartassery around here

We’ve upped our game, so up yours

We’ve upped our game, so up yours

Or your legs. We’re not above sexual bribery.

As someone who just turned 55, may I kindly invite you to shut up?

I’m on the sunset side of 50 myself – to quote one of our native sons, I fee-ul yore pain.

I’ve always thought this should be part of your MANDATORY higher education. Service to your nation that doesn’t necessarily involve conscription in the armed services.

I don’t think our leaders can actually think past a mandatory 2 year stint in the military, however. That other stuff is socialism, right?

isn’t there some sort of program that will pay part of your student loans off if you work in a non-profit field for x number of years?

Dennis was a cranky old man complaining about kids these days and slippery slopes FORTY YEARS AGO.

Heh. That means that some of his newest students may be the grandchildren of some of his earliest students, yes? So I imagine they are thinking “aha, so that’s where grandpa gets it.”

isn’t there some sort of program that will pay part of your student loans off if you work in a non-profit field for x number of years?

I think Peace Corps does that…?

isn’t there some sort of program that will pay part of your student loans off if you work in a non-profit field for x number of years?

It’s in the tax code

I turned 42 a week ago. **sniff**

I DONT LIKE IT

i will be turning 46 next thursday…i don’t like it either…plus i have to work at both my stupid jobs on my stupid birthday…that’s just dumb…

i guess i should say that my body will be 46 but my attitude and mindset will always hover around the age of 12 or so…

It’s in the tax code

sweeet! imma check into that cuz, i might qualify…!!!

I will be turning 12 in December, for the 4th time. I intend to keep doing it until I get it right.

God, we’re old farts!

Perhaps counterintuitively, old farts are preferable to fresh ones.

OMG…what is up with abc news today? so far the top of the hour breaks (on radio) have consisted of a telephone call wherein a young man tells his dad he’s gay, a gay teen who committed suicide due to bullying about being gay and this last one just featured something about schweddy balls…

Perhaps counterintuitively, old farts are preferable to fresh ones.

this is perhaps the best use of this word i have ever heard…

God, we’re old farts!

i myself feel rooty tooty fresh and frooty!

this last one just featured something about schweddy balls…

The AFA has a problem with Ben & Jerry’s new holiday flavor, Schweddy Balls.

The AFA is gay, apparently.

i will be turning 46 next thursday

I’m 49 you young whippersnappers.

I’m 49 you young whippersnappers.

Which makes you an adolescent on this site.

I myself feel rooty tooty fresh and frooty!

IHOPerrific, as it were.

I tried being grownup once – it wasn’t much fun and I wasn’t very good at it.

Schweddy Balls.

Whoa. I thought ya’ll was kidding about that. I’m impressed.

Guaranteed conservative apoplexy in each and every carton.

Schweddy Balls.

Whoa. I thought ya’ll was kidding about that. I’m impressed.

i would never kid about schweddy balls…it is one of our tv viewing traditions…why is alec baldwin such a funny actor but such a pos human being?

ha, ha…from an article:

They [afa and onemillionmoms] want their people to tell Ben & Jerry’s to “refrain from producing another batch with this name or any other offensive names or you will no longer be able to purchase their products.” Well, given their clientele, they would probably start offending people if they named an ice cream after AFA’s resident blithering hater Bryan Fischer. Might we recommend Fascist Fischer Flambe? Red Hots combined with cinnamon ice cream.

why is alec baldwin such a funny actor but such a pos human being?

A depressing number of talented actors, artists, writers, composers, etc. were/are complete shits as human beings. Discuss. (Or don’t.)

OT: Irishman caught with 72 cocaine capsules in Brazil

Kinda gives ‘Up The Irish’ a whole new meaning.

why is alec baldwin such a funny actor but such a pos human being?

He’s much nicer in person, to be honest. I met him at a book party two summers ago (his book).

He’s friends with a friend of mine, and I’d tell the whole story but it would be an invasion of privacy, both hers and his.

Let’s just say that he did something really nice for this woman’s mother– after doing something courageously charitable for my friend– and if it got out what he did, he’d have every frikkin’ charity banging down his door.

I’d lump him in with the Cubans, Buffetts and Gates of the world, in other words. He never forgot his roots.

A depressing number of talented actors, artists, writers, composers, etc. were/are complete shits as human beings.

*glaring*

I don’t know about “complete,” sirrrrrrrrrrrr….

Holy Hell. The boat is freaky.

So it’s a wrong moral choice for people to choose saving their dog or saving a human stranger.

But it’s a *right* moral choice to, say, choose having corporations pay no taxes, while letting old people freeze to death for lack of heating subsidies.

If there is a God, someone’s up for a rude awakening in the afterlife.

Shorter Paul Mirengoff “Long-time Power Line reader” *wink wink*:

I fucking hate Indian savages women. What a bunch of voodoo headscalpers whiny cunts.

A depressing number of talented actors, artists, writers, composers, etc. were/are complete shits as human beings.

But that’s only natural. One has to be a particular kind of egocentric to be creative – otherwise they wouldn’t bother. There’s also the fame/isolation aspect, too. So they are neither oriented towards the sharing nature of human interaction nor are they overly exposed to it.I’d rather applaud the ones that are and were actually pretty decent human beings.

I don’t think the asshole quotient is necessarily lower in the general public, it’s just that we see ALL the talented actors/writers/etc. population, whereas outside of COPS, folks don’t see the raging pockets of assholism amongst John Q. Public.

Although the Tea Party is doing yeoman’s work into getting the opinions of ordinary assholes exposed for all the world to see.

But it’s a *right* moral choice to, say, choose having corporations pay no taxes, while letting old people freeze to death for lack of heating subsidies.

Don’t worry. Many gas companies let you overpay your bill so they won’t shut off the gas on Grandma. This is corporate-structured charity, or, as it’s sometimes known, “extortion.”

Finally; some place on the Internet (that isn’t MTV or Disney) where I’m young…

I’d lump him in with the Cubans, Buffetts and Gates of the world, in other words. He never forgot his roots.

this is good to know…and actually, i only think he is a pos because of what i’ve heard with his custody battle, etc. etc…and of course, prolly have not heard the whole story…

this is good to know…and actually, i only think he is a pos because of what i’ve heard with his custody battle, etc. etc

Stuff like this doesn’t help.

comment from markf’s link:

Are you kidding? Obama’s making the whole COUNTRY a hostile environment for all freedom-loving Americans. Bye-bye you commie! 2012 can’t come soon enough! Oh, and take your amazon wife with her #$%^& little sweaters with you!

o rlly? like fox news and the right have nothing to do with…sheesh!

I’m rapidly approaching 53, mental age of I’d say 14. You damn’ kids get offa mah lawn! *shakes cane*

Bitter Scribe, maybe you and I could play a little checkers on the cracker barrel, eh?

No, seriously: eh? Did you say something?

Stuff like this doesn’t help.

damn…he can be such a dick! do you think he sometime’s forgets he’s not playing a character?

I said KING ME!!!!!!

Oh, and take your amazon wife with her #$%^& little sweaters with you!

What did the sweaters ever do to him?

And I’d really like to meet this mythical group of Americans who apparently don’t like freedom.

I said KING ME!!!!!!

No, no, I’m not that kinky, why do you ask?

I love how quickly and viscerally wingnuts come to hate the wives of Democratic politicians, pretty much no matter what they do. Also no matter what they look like. Michelle Obama is objectively wicked hot, and obviously fit. Why the wingers think she’s some kind of ugly hippo I’ll never get.

No, no, I’m not that kinky, why do you ask?

If you don’t know, there’s no point in telling you.

Why the wingers think she’s some kind of ugly hippo I’ll never get.

Let’s just say they’ll never be in the forefront of the “black is beautiful” movement.

Oh, and take your amazon wife with her #$%^& little sweaters with you!

Translation: she gives me a big ol’ boner.

I was out running errands with Dudeskull when I saw a woman standing in the median with one of those signs. I didn’t look, but I’m sure she was asking for money or food. I had neither on me. I started crying. I had to pull myself together before I grabbed my lunch.

Why do I have the feeling I’ll be seeing more such people?

Translation: she gives me a big ol’ boner.

Alternate translation: a beautiful, smart, black woman scares me so much I pee a little in my pants every time I see her.

As someone who just turned 55, may I kindly invite you to shut up?

As someone who’s currently on Medicare and staring down the barrel of birfday #66 in a few months allow me to invite all you kids to get offa my lawn. Being an old fart is NOT for the faint of heart. (Great discussion here today, by the way.)

Why do I have the feeling I’ll be seeing more such people?

Here in my town they’re at nearly every traffic light on every arterial entering or leaving downtown. Sometimes they even timeshare the same corner.

Clearly they’re leeches, stealing our hard-earned money. The fact that their numbers have more than doubled since oh say 2008 is entirely coincidental.

Stuff like this doesn’t help.

But hold on a minute there…it’s quite possible that the barista did have an attitude problem.

Who amongst us has never borne the brunt of unwarranted attitude/hostility from a service worker? I gave a kid at Kroger a mighty tongue-lashing a few years back, because he just out of the blue made some rude ass comments about me having a big “ego” because of the fucking brand of cigarettes I was buying. And I’m someone who is uniformly polite to everyone who waits on me no matter where I am. I can’t remember exactly what all I said to this kid, but it included an allusion to the fact that I realized that part of his shitty attitude was no doubt the result of his shitty job…and that said shitty attitude was a good way to guarantee he’d never have a better one. I noticed he wasn’t around anymore a couple of months later, so I’m guessing he practiced that attitude on others as well, who instead of just ripping him a new one, asked the manager to do it for them.

Ahem.

Anyway, Alec Baldwin – yes, he seems to have behaved like an asshole during his divorce. Besides that, I’m not aware of any ongoing assholery from him. And let’s face it – he’s the funniest SNL host ever. They should just have him host every show; it would significantly reduce their suckage quotient.

OMG…what is up with abc news today? so far the top of the hour breaks (on radio) have consisted of a telephone call wherein a young man tells his dad he’s gay, a gay teen who committed suicide due to bullying about being gay and this last one just featured something about schweddy balls…

To be fair, the call was in the context of DADT’s demise, I’m betting, and this topical. I do love the juxtaposition of kids offing themselves and the SLPC-certified hate group AFA having their biggest concern ice cream innuendo. Yeah, you guys are really pro-life, aint ya.

Clearly they’re leeches, stealing our hard-earned money. The fact that their numbers have more than doubled since oh say 2008 is entirely coincidental.

*sigh* No, of course not. But, listen, they probably deserve to be poor because god doesn’t love them. If they were meant to have money, god would provide

they probably deserve to be poor because god doesn’t love them.

Well of course! That practically goes without saying!

And going off on a tangent for a moment, lately when I hear people say something like “God never gives you a burden you can’t handle” I think of the Somalis traveling miles on foot to find a camp where they can get a little food and water, many dying on the way.

And I think, “O RLY?”

They’re not leeches. They’re props in Rick Perry’s campaign, because he’s going to create jobs for them all, doncha know.

“God never gives you a burden you can’t handle”

Sometimes I want to punch people like that in the face and say, “God wants you to handle that.”

But hold on a minute there…it’s quite possible that the barista did have an attitude problem.

Maybe he did, but calling him a queen was totally out of line.

“God never gives you a burden you can’t handle”

That’s why he killed himself that one time.

Sometimes I want to punch people like that in the face and say, “God wants you to handle that.”

Well of course those Somalis don’t shop at the right sort of church so probably it’s another group bog doesn’t love and really wants to see die horribly. So really it’s the exception that proves the rule.

I’m sorry, I just made myself gag a little.

Stuff like this doesn’t help.

damn…he can be such a dick! do you think he sometime’s forgets he’s not playing a character?

Uhhhhhhhhhh….they investigated and no one had ever heard of the barista in question. Could it be Baldwin was pulling Twitter’s collective leg?

Clearly they’re leeches, stealing our hard-earned money.

And polishing our windshields only out of the goodness of their hearts

Pulling the leg

Wow. I just made a discovery: walnuts make a really good dental floss. Even better than pubic hairs!

I’m so going out to buy Tony Bennett’s new album now.

In fearmongering today,

Moreover, it seems only right and just that their denunciation of the gay lifestyle and their opposition to gay marriage should be criminalized. In fact, it should be criminalized in the name of liberty. That is why gay marriage is the lie that will create the next Gulag.

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/right-wing-columnist-claims-marriage-equality-will-lead-gulags

That is why gay marriage is the lie that will create the next Gulag Glug.

Fixed that for closeted projection

Moreover, it seems only right and just that their denunciation of the gay lifestyle and their opposition to gay marriage should be criminalized. In fact, it should be criminalized in the name of liberty. That is why gay marriage is the lie that will create the next Gulag.

Ever wished these guys would actually spend a week, just a week, in an actual gulag in North Korea or China or someplace? How many minutes do you think it would take before they started begging to be taken back to the land of gay marriage?

Moreover, it seems only right and just that their denunciation of the gay lifestyle and their opposition to gay marriage should be criminalized. In fact, it should be criminalized in the name of liberty.

Yeah, publicly calling out bigoted assholes is just the same as criminalization. Damn, they’re emo.

That is why gay marriage is the lie that will create the next Gulag.

Gaylag! Heh, putting the “jack” in jack-booted thugs.

That is why gay marriage is the lie that will create the next Gulag [Insert Extreme Apocalyptic Vision Here]

Pretty much every argument they make can end in: “That is why [Issue I Don’t Agree With] is the lie that will create the next [Insert Extreme Apocalyptic Vision Here]”

Also, claiming something is criminal isn’t exactly a validation of an argument, but whatever.

Moreover, it seems only right and just that their denunciation of the gay lifestyle and their opposition to gay marriage should be criminalized.

Astro-glide apparently works on slopes, too!

“God never gives you a burden you can’t handle”

Rick Warren explains.

The pessimistic part of me thinks the only way the US is going to fix its crumbling infrastructure (built with higher taxes in the fifties sixties and seventies) is with gulag laborers. I also think the people in those gulags aren’t going to be the people who object to gay marriage either.

Ron Paul news:

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/ron-paul-says-aide-who-died-with-400k-medical-bill-didnt-need-government-help.php?ref=fpblg

Ron Paul told TPM on Wednesday that even if there’s a “case or two” that makes Americans uncomfortable, the government should stay out of the health care business. Even if one of the cases in question is his former campaign manager, Kent Snyder, who died with $400,000 in unpaid medical bills after being unable to secure health insurance due to a pre-existing condition.

Jackboots are fabulous!

Even if one of the cases in question is his former campaign manager, Kent Snyder, who died with $400,000 in unpaid medical bills after being unable to secure health insurance due to a pre-existing condition.

That moocher! Using death as a way to escape his debts.

gulag laborers

How did you guess the name of my next steam punk band????

Ron Paul told TPM on Wednesday that even if there’s a “case or two” 48 million that makes Americans uncomfortable

Fixed

Jackboots are fabulous!

Yeah, I always figured the reason the gays all wanted to go into the military was because they loved wearing uniforms.

</stereotype>

BTW, to all our gay friends who post here, congratulations on gaining another human right with the end of DADT.

Know what I hate about Schweddy Balls?

When SNL skits that aren’t really very funny get so fucking stuck in culture that it’s almost demanded that you howl with laughter every time it’s brought up.

Schweddy Balls: NOT funny
Cheeburger/Pepsi: NOT funny
Jane, you ignorant slut: Marginally funny

Dick In a Box: FUNNY.

Cheeburger/Pepsi: NOT funny

It helps if you grew up surrounded by Greek relatives in the restaurant business.

I will concede that there is exactly one admirable thing about Ron Paul. Motherfucker is NOT lying about his intentions, or pandering or anything else.

He may be an incoherent, bumbling ass, but he is being straight with the electorate (like the crazy ones tend to do).

Schweddy Balls: NOT funny

*removing glove*

SLAP! SLAP!

Sir! I demand satisfaction!

It helps if you grew up surrounded by Greek relatives in the restaurant business.

Or ate the same Village diner the cast did.

http://www.billygoattavern.com/home.html

This place is in the Village?

I will concede that there is exactly one admirable thing about Ron Paul. Motherfucker is NOT lying about his intentions, or pandering or anything else.

He may be an incoherent, bumbling ass, but he is being straight with the electorate (like the crazy ones tend to do).

For one thing, he can afford to, since he’s a kook who’ll never get close to president, speaker or head of the party and since his party’s already disavowed him for what they call his “blame America first” politics. For another, he’s hardly the only one at this point – plenty of them have come out and in effect said that they want the welfare state gone (Perry with the “Ponzi scheme” thing and whatnot).

plenty of them have come out and in effect said that they want the welfare state gone (Perry with the “Ponzi scheme” thing and whatnot).

Yeah, but Perry keeps saying those who are “next in line” for SS don’t have to worry. Meaning what, exactly? When would he start cutting people off?

To be fair, the call was in the context of DADT’s demise, I’m betting

undoubtedly…and i wasn’t picking on them…i was amazed, actually…

Sometimes I want to punch people like that in the face and say, “God wants you to handle that.”

zomg! i think i did just pee myself a little…would that be considered a piss-take? anyhoo, i am SO saying this to the next person who says this in reference to my handicapable daughter…

This place is in the Village?

The story goes it was this diner

It’s not Sianis wouldn’t crib credit unduely… 😉

Uhhhhhhhhhh….they investigated and no one had ever heard of the barista in question. Could it be Baldwin was pulling Twitter’s collective leg?

apparently ab is going to remain an enigma to me…but i do ADORE him on screen…and if you’re nice to me, you would let me find out that i ADORE him in person, too*…

*notsoveiledhint…

Jane, you ignorant slut: Marginally funny

It was hysterical the first time.

plenty of them have come out and in effect said that they want the welfare state gone (Perry with the “Ponzi scheme” thing and whatnot).

Once a nominee is selected, that’s the last you’ll hear of that shit.

I dunno. I thought Schweddy balls was pretty funny. Perhaps when I grow up I’ll find it less so.

I’m not grown up. All of these things were pretty funny the first time you sit and watch them. But fucking 20 or 30 years later? Seriously. It’s not like there hasn’t been decent comedy since then.

No, a lot of the old SNL sketches make say “meh.” But Schweddy balls isn’t that old.

and if you’re nice to me, you would let me find out that i ADORE him in person, too*…

And by “nice,” I presume you mean “introduce you to him”….

It’s not like there hasn’t been decent comedy since then.

Name five bits on SNL as funny as Schweddy Balls in the past twenty years.

I’ll spot you Dick In A Box. So gimme four more.

And make it hurt.

Schweddy Balls: NOT funny

BLASPHEMER!!!

Got off the boat:

Ever since I attended college I have been convinced that “studies” either confirm what common sense suggests or they are mistaken.

Evidently Dennis Prager believes quantum mechanics is mistaken because it doesn’t confirm what common sense suggests.

Meanwhile, Dennis Prager is upset because public morality is no longer based on traditional religion but rather secularism? I guess Dennis Prager could move to a country with Sharia as the system of law — maybe he’d be happy there?

I thought that Dennis Prager was one of my tribe, though. I guess if he wants to live in the days of yore when religiously-based morality was dominant in America, let him do that … personally, I don’t care for being beaten up and being called a Christ-killer, but if Dennis Prager has fantasies of being beaten to a pulp while being called “Christ killer”, I guess whatever gets you off is alright (but Prager wouldn’t like that, now would he, as that would be too modern of a moral viewpoint). I just wish conservatives would stop shoving their bizarre S&M fantasies down my throat, if you’ll pardon the expression.

I thought the Mango with Garth Brooks was hilarious.
More Cowbell is right up there.

Um…some of the Will Ferrell stuff was pretty damn close.

I’m not just talking about SNL, btw. The Hangover, Something About Mary…lots of good comedy movies.

And by “nice,” I presume you mean “introduce you to him”….

ummmm, what? oh?!? introduce me to him?!?! oh my gosh…i never thought of that! well, how nice of you! of course i would love for you to introduce me to him!!! you’re SO NICE!

I thought Schweddy balls was funny but suffered from the same problem as a lot of their sketches: they don’t know when to quit. I think that’s both fairly minor and very common as far as failings go, especially in live stuff.

Um…some of the Will Ferrell stuff was pretty damn close.

talladega nights, old school and anchorman will always make me laff…

PROTIP: when purchasing a talladega nights dvd for a senior citizen, always, always, always check to make sure you do not pick out the UNCUT version…

Meanwhile, Dennis Prager is upset because public morality is no longer based on traditional religion but rather secularism? I guess Dennis Prager could move to a country with Sharia as the system of law — maybe he’d be happy there?

You must’ve missed this juicy mango:

The intellectual class and the Left still believe that secularism is an unalloyed blessing. They are wrong. Secularism is good for government. But it is terrible for society (though still preferable to bad religion) and for the individual.

In case the dog-whistle wasn’t loud enough, “bad religion” means Islam. Or any other darkie religion those furriners are busy believing in (occasionally including Christianity, as any “liberation theology” follower in Latin America can tell you).

In Prager’s world, Judeo-Christianity grinding everyone underfoot > no one getting ground underfoot > other religions getting to grind people underfoot.

Um…some of the Will Ferrell stuff was pretty damn close.

OK, right there, you lose all credibility.

I thought that Dennis Prager was one of my tribe, though. I guess if he wants to live in the days of yore when religiously-based morality was dominant in America, let him do that … personally, I don’t care for being beaten up and being called a Christ-killer, but if Dennis Prager has fantasies of being beaten to a pulp while being called “Christ killer”, I guess whatever gets you off is alright (but Prager wouldn’t like that, now would he, as that would be too modern of a moral viewpoint). I just wish conservatives would stop shoving their bizarre S&M fantasies down my throat, if you’ll pardon the expression.

Notice that everything he said reference Judeo-Christian morality. He’s making sure he doesn’t get left out. I suspect that’s also why he said “secularism is good for government” before mentioning that it’s bad for everything else – he knows that theocratic government would lead to exactly what you describe.

I’m not just talking about SNL, btw. The Hangover,

What was that?

Something About Mary…

Who?

Something About Mary…

Who?

‘how’d you get the beans above the frank?!?!?’

I thought Schweddy balls was funny but suffered from the same problem as a lot of their sketches: they don’t know when to quit.

Here’s what I’ll bet happened there: they rehearsed the thing a couple of times, and the pacing was slower than when they got in front of a live camera and live audience and realized “Holy fuck, this is embarassing stuff!”

‘how’d you get the beans above the frank?!?!?’

?

😐

gulag mango:

Why should this be? First, it is necessary to note that the word “gay” refers not to those with homosexual inclinations but to those who champion behavior based on these inclinations as good. In fact, homosexuals who are not gay are a sign of contradiction to the gay world. They are scorned accordingly, in ways that even straights are not. The key to understanding the whole matter is that to be gay or to support the gay lifestyle is to approve and promote sterile sex.

would someone care to explain this to me?

Wow. I just made a discovery: walnuts make a really good dental floss. Even better than pubic hairs!

What the hell are they doing with walnuts down there?

I’ve laughed at much of the crap the kid singer does. He was in Dick in a Box, I think. Can’t come up with his name.
.

Key phrase:

In fact, homosexuals who are not gay are a sign of contradiction to the gay world.

Allow me to translate

I’m too terrified to come out of my closet, therefore all the homosexuals must not be very gay

Timberwolf. Jason Timberwolf.
.

He was in Dick in a Box

Justin Timberlake

What the hell are they doing with walnuts down there?

Hello? Glory hole????

Aw, crap…R.E.M.?

D.O.A.

The intellectual class and the Left still believe that secularism is an unalloyed blessing.

Wouldn’t that make them moral absolutists? What’s he bitching about, then?

‘how’d you get the beans above the frank?!?!?’

😐

it’s when ben stiller gets his wanger stuck in his zipper…

Justin Timberlake

should host every other snl (in rotation w/alec baldwin) to reduce their suckitude even further…

Aw, crap…R.E.M.?

D.O.A.

why such a h8ter?

it’s when ben stiller gets his wanger stuck in his zipper…

and actually, it’s his schweddy balls that get caught in the zipper…

Timberwolf. Jason Timberwolf.

He should do a comedy remake of Red Dawn. I can picture a dance number for a song called WOLVERINES!!! and it’s hilarious.

But that’s only natural. One has to be a particular kind of egocentric to be creative – otherwise they wouldn’t bother. There’s also the fame/isolation aspect, too. So they are neither oriented towards the sharing nature of human interaction nor are they overly exposed to it.I’d rather applaud the ones that are and were actually pretty decent human beings.

I’ve actually puzzled over this issue, in regard to acting, specifically. In most art forms, you can be a misunderstood genius, toiling away in your dusty garret creating great works that the ignorant populace is too stupid to appreciate. Sometimes, it’s even true!

But if you are a performance artist, you need an audience, right? There doesn’t seem to be a way to follow your muse if nobody’s paying attention. I’m not sure if this would be likely to increase or decrease the incidence of assholedom among actors, but there’s got to be some kind of effect.

Since I fail at every art more complex than stick figures, I can make these kinds of lofty judgements with the objective eye of an anthropologist (another subject about which I know nothing).

I can picture a dance number for a song called WOLVERINES!!! and it’s hilarious.

b^4…have you watched ‘cannibal, the musical’? no wolverines, but hilarious nonetheless…

The key to understanding the whole matter is that to be gay or to support the gay lifestyle is to approve and promote sterile sex.

would someone care to explain this to me?

Sounds like SOMEbody has developed sexy-guilty feelings for the autoclave.

Sounds like SOMEbody has developed sexy-guilty feelings for the autoclave.

the burn means it’s working!

would someone care to explain this to me?

TRANSLATION: I’m totally cool with self-hating closet cases. It’s those other homos that bother me.

And something happened to the italics on my previous message. I’ll blame WordPress, because it has no credibility left anyway.

why such a h8ter?

What? I’m just reporting the latest news.

I always thought it was based on Murray’s days in chicago.

Olympia Diner SNL skit, that is.

it’s when ben stiller gets his wanger stuck in his zipper…

Jerry and Anne’s kid is an actor????

I’ve actually puzzled over this issue, in regard to acting, specifically.

I add this observation: part of why many actors I know, myself included, can be real dicks off stage (or camera) is that we have to get really vulnerable when we perform, if we perform true to the art.

That kind of vulnerability is enormously stressful (I can’t remember the last time I stepped in front of a camera or on stage without sucking down at least a couple of Pepto Bismol.) When I get off stage, all I want is to reconnect with myself, refocus on reality, and get the hell away from people.

What? I’m just reporting the latest news.

ooops, my bad…i was listening to the radio with half an ear and heard them say something about a new r.e.m. album and then your post came up and i was for some reason thinking thinking you were critiquing the album…

POOP?!?!

Jerry and Anne’s kid is an actor????

That’s stretching it a bit. He’s in movies, but I wouldn’t call him an “actor” — he’s completely and utterly unwatchable in the one role he seems to be able to “perform” over and over.

Schweddy Balls was funny, but pretty much any of the Lonely Planet videos are funnier.

Also, I think I may be the only person in the entire world who haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaates There’s Something About Mary.

he’s completely and utterly unwatchable in the one role he seems to be able to “perform” over and over

Ah, so my point wasn’t lost.

I think I may be the only person in the entire world who haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaates There’s Something About Mary.

Not alone.

And The Venture Bros is the most consistently funny show in made in the last ten years, IMHO. Of course, they benefit from the fact that there are much fewer episodes than any other show, but that shit is brilliant.

I don’t find Venture Bros funny at all. But ATHF and Sea Lab are ocassionally amusing. I’m a huge Home Movies fan myself.

“Schweddy Balls was funny, but pretty much any of the Lonely Planet videos are funnier.”

Lonely Island…totally agree.

I think I may be the only person in the entire world who haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaates There’s Something About Mary.

I’d probably hate it if I could get all the way through it. The one time I tried, I made it to the “Have you seen my wiener?” joke at the beginning and gave up. (And I looooves me some Cameron Diaz.)

Of course, they benefit from the fact that there are much fewer episodes than any other show, but that shit is brilliant.

One cool thing about British programming: a season may be 8 episodes at best. But no filler and for the most part, a sound story.

Once the Hollywood Boys start thinking, “Let’s Merchandise This Bitch” that’s when the rides usually over (another sign being older fans saying, “I liked them before they were cool”).

EVERYbody knows me

It’s not even necessarily about fame, altho the glad-handing after shows gets in my craw, I paste on a smile because you never know who might have shown up.

I’m thinking more about the psychic drain on resources. A good night’s sleep usually helps, tho.

Name five bits on SNL as funny as Schweddy Balls in the past twenty years.

I’ll spot you Dick In A Box. So gimme four more.

Astronaut Jones with Tracy Morgan, Garrett Morris and Brittany Murphy.

Will Ferrell as the devil trying to buy Garth Brooks’s soul with a hit song.

The Ambiguously Gay Duo.

Rachel Dratch as Debbie Downer with Lindsay Lohan as a table mate.

“What’s Up With That” with Keenan Thompson, Paul Rudd, Frank Rich and Zack Gallifinakis as an ambidextrous flute player.

I was just introduced to Lonely Island with Michael Bolton today. Link is the SFW version.

Sounds like SOMEbody has developed sexy-guilty feelings for the autoclave.

Insert obligatory “burns when I pee” joke here.

Debbie Downer always made me laugh mostly because no one could keep a straight face during the skit.

i was listening to the radio with half an ear and heard them say something about a new r.e.m. album and then your post came up and i was for some reason thinking thinking you were critiquing the album…

The best R.E.M. album of 2011 is by The Decemberists.

Schweddy Balls: NOT funny
Cheeburger/Pepsi: NOT funny
Jane, you ignorant slut: Marginally funny

What comedy writers, and especially commercial writers seem to not understand is that no joke is funny after it’s been repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over…

Very few jokes are funny more than once or twice. This applies to “Tagline” jokes, as well as long-form “situation” gags like “Chee’burger, chee’burger, chee’burger!” or for that matter entire movies based on one basic schtick (like Austin Powers, e.g).
The first time, sure, hilarious.
The second time, it’s referential: “Get it? We’re making the same joke again! It was funny then, and it’s doubly funny now, because you’re laughing now as well as remembering how funny it was the first time! Great, huh?”
Third time? Ha-ha, yeah, boy, that “Messin’ with Sasquatch” bit never stops bein’ funny, does it? ha ha. Yeah…”
Fourth, fifth, tenth, ten-thousandth time? Come on, think of something new, cancha? Do we really need another “Man Up!” add for Miller Lite or whatever the fuck? Newsflash: You’re creative people–be creative! Write a new joke, and see if anyone laughs at it, and if they do? Don’t tell the same joke again, write another new joke! That’s how it’s supposed to work!

mark f said,

September 21, 2011 at 22:22

DIAB is the only thing there that I’ve seen. I’ve been ignoring SNL for ages. Sigh.

As long as this is the “FUCK!!!! I’m getting old!!!” thread… My lawn? Yeah, off.

Yeah, it was one thing when Jimmy Fallon laughed since he never could keep it together in anything, but when everyone was pissing themselves–as Dratch was talking about dead kittens or whatever–it was great.

I never thought from watching SNL that I’d ever like Fallon, btw. He’s pretty entertaining.

Also, I was once told by Teh Laydeez on consecutive days that I remind them of (day 1) 1970s Robert DeNiro and (day 2) Jimmy Fallon.

And The Venture Bros is the most consistently funny show in made in the last ten years, IMHO. Of course, they benefit from the fact that there are much fewer episodes than any other show, but that shit is brilliant.

The guy who did The Dick does this, no? The send up of Johnny Quest is inspired… still not enough to get me to buy one of them telepicture machines.

Uh, meant The Tick.

What comedy writers, and especially commercial writers seem to not understand is that no joke is funny after it’s been repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over…

Gets shopworn.

I’d probably hate it if I could get all the way through it. The one time I tried, I made it to the “Have you seen my wiener?” joke at the beginning and gave up. (And I looooves me some Cameron Diaz.)

What? Do you mean the “Have you seen my baseball?” thing, or the franks and beans bit? I’m sure there are some people who couldn’t stand it. Shit, I hated the movie Pulp Fiction, a fact which has nearly ended friendships for some fucked up reason. But I thought that was one of the funniest movies since Caddyshack and Airplane, which I consider to be two of the funniest in history.

Those man up ads are the worst thing on tv, and not because they’re incredibly unfunny.

I hated the movie Pulp Fiction, a fact which has nearly ended friendships for some fucked up reason.

The Gimp put in a lot of work. You could’ve at least been supportive.

“What’s Up With That” with Keenan Thompson, Paul Rudd, Frank Rich and Zack Gallifinakis as an ambidextrous flute player.

That was pretty amazing. Galifianakis is an insane genius and saved The Hangover.

But I thought that was one of the funniest movies since Caddyshack and Airplane, which I consider to be two of the funniest in history.

Did not care for it, but coughed up vital organs watching Dodgeball.
.

Those man up ads are the worst thing on tv, and not because they’re incredibly unfunny.

What do they advertise, an erectile dysfunction clinic?

Uh, meant The Tick.

Heh. Yeah, the guy who played the Tick does the voice of Brock Samson, but the creators/writers are different dudes.

There used to be some episodes on the Cartoon Network website. And yeah, it’s this weird amalgamation of superhero cartoons, pop culture, and geek culture.

Astronaut Jones with Tracy Morgan, Garrett Morris and Brittany Murphy.

“What’s Up With That” with Keenan Thompson, Paul Rudd, Frank Rich and Zack Gallifinakis as an ambidextrous flute player.

I’ll spot the Debbie Downer one.

Apart from that…EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!

It’s not even necessarily about fame, altho the glad-handing after shows gets in my craw, I paste on a smile because you never know who might have shown up.

I’m thinking more about the psychic drain on resources. A good night’s sleep usually helps, tho.

I think I get this to a certain degree. Cover band. Drunk people. EVERYONE was in a band for years, everyone wants to hold my guitar and tell me what guitar they have. Everyone wants to hear Sweet Home Alabama. When I hear that request, it comes to me as “if I bat my eyes and stick out my tits, will you waterboard me for 2 hours?”.

And the fucking critics. “Hey man, your sound is awesome, except I’d back the gain down a little on the snare mic and boost the mids on the whole mix”. Oh, yeah, I loved it. I had the added aggravation of dealing with the drunks at closing time.

Having said all that, I will say that there were some benefits that made it almost worth it. (Not worth getting back into one of those fuckings, but almost).

Uh, meant The Tick.

Sure.

Uh, meant The Tick.

Surrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre….

DAMN YOU, GREX!

tsam, I really don’t like Tarantino like, at all. I like Inglorious Basterds, but that’s about it. Pretty much every movie of his is a huge fucking wankfest.

EVERYbody knows me

i didn’t mean this the way it sounded…that’s part of the psychic drain on resources for me because there is literally nowhere to go for me unless i leave town or just sit in my house…and that ain’t an option…

Pretty much every movie of his is a huge fucking wankfest.

But FUN! Four Rooms I could watch every weekend, but I don’t.
.

When I hear that request, it comes to me as “if I bat my eyes and stick out my tits, will you waterboard me for 2 hours?”.

Wow, that sentence really didn’t go where I was expecting. I’m not sure who’s getting waterboarded in this scenario and whose tits are sticking out, but just in case, I’m making a mental note never to stay at one of your shows until closing time.

Shit, I hated the movie Pulp Fiction, a fact which has nearly ended friendships for some fucked up reason. But I thought that was one of the funniest movies since Caddyshack and Airplane, which I consider to be two of the funniest in history.

I went to see PF in the Angelika, which is arguably the single most self-loving pretentious theatre in the world.

From nearly the opening bell, I couldn’t stop laughing.

It wasn’t just the film, which was hilarious in its own right, but eventually it became about how the rest of the audience was sitting there, almost reverent in their admiration of Tarantino, quietly meditating on the genius on display before them and really annoyed at the clown who was getting the jokes.

Having said all that, I will say that there were some benefits that made it almost worth it.

See, this is another thing about acting as opposed to music.

A) Your audience is rarely drunk enough to fuck you.

B) The women assume you’re gay anyway and

C) You never get to sing Sweet Home Alabama.

that’s part of the psychic drain on resources for me because there is literally nowhere to go for me unless i leave town or just sit in my house…

Oh, well, see, there’s always a bar….

Pretty much every movie of his is a huge fucking wankfest.

But he’s a filmmaker. I’d rather watch him fail than watch the usual hacks be competent.

Shit, I hated the movie Pulp Fiction, a fact which has nearly ended friendships for some fucked up reason.

I cannot STAND Tarantino. To me, he’s the worst of the Violence Nerds.

I’d rather watch him fail than watch the usual hacks be competent.

I dunno, he’s been veering towards hackdom lately. I think he’s taking himself too seriously.

And I say that having been enthralled by his homages to Sixties soft-core slashflicks.

I wonder if all folks who’ve played in bands have had similar experiences. Is it a universal thing or does it depend on the music?

Wow, that sentence really didn’t go where I was expecting. I’m not sure who’s getting waterboarded in this scenario and whose tits are sticking out, but just in case, I’m making a mental note never to stay at one of your shows until closing time.

WHY WHY WHY DO PEOPLE WANT TO EVER HEAR THAT SONG AGAIN?

It’s a terrible song, aside from being annoying and overplayed to death.

I wonder if all folks who’ve played in bands have had similar experiences

I know this guy, used to play the ocarina, who got all the poon he could handle

Love Tarantino. He seems to be a polarizing figure.

It’s a terrible song, aside from being annoying and overplayed to death

It reminds me of fried chicken.

I dunno, he’s been veering towards hackdom lately.

The last directed film being Inglourious Basterds, I’ll take a failure like that over a lot of stuff.

I think “Whose tits are sticking out?” is a fine song.

The last directed film being Inglourious Basterds, I’ll take a failure like that over a lot of stuff.

I didn’t say he crossed the line!

Oh, well, see, there’s always a bar…

where i’m either working or EVERYbody knows me…dude…there are only 5,000 people in my entire COUNTY…

WHY WHY WHY DO PEOPLE WANT TO EVER HEAR THAT SONG AGAIN?

I don’t know. But now it’s stuck in my head. Thanks.

I wonder if all folks who’ve played in bands have had similar experiences. Is it a universal thing or does it depend on the music?

Well, this was little bars in the Pacific Northwest. Imagine what the regionally or nationally famous people have to deal with. Geez, look at all the bullshit over Cobain. He was a punker who decided to start playing pop music. Terrible guitar player, mediocre singer, pretty damn good song writer, but certainly not worth all the psychotic fanboy craziness. He couldn’t go anywhere without hearing all about it.

I cannot STAND Tarantino. To me, he’s the worst of the Violence Nerds.

agreed…but i do love pulp fiction and inglorious…the rest of it…makes me nauseated, literally…i’m a bit squeamish…

I don’t know. But now it’s stuck in my head. Thanks.

Which, of course, answers my semi-rhetorical question. I call it terrible, and from a composer’s standpoint, there is nothing there. But it worked.

Well, this was little bars in the Pacific Northwest.

I’m in the same area and used to play bars, but I was playing loud/weird music, thus eliminating the uninterested there-for-the-brews crowds. It was swell, but you start to realize how dumb your audience is when they start talking about you and Coltrane in the same sentence.

See, this is another thing about acting as opposed to music.

C) You never get to sing Sweet Home Alabama.

These are the top 3 reasons I chose music as my expression medium.

Actually, # 1 is: I couldn’t act my way out of spanking from my mom, let alone convince a Broadway audience that I’m anything other than the insecure and uncultured nobody from Spokane that I am. Wow, that was an awkward sentence. Deal with it.

I think “Whose tits are sticking out?” is a fine song.

Ah, the B side of Dick In A Box.

I saw Inglorious for no other reason than that the movie we wanted was sold out that night, and we didn’t want to wait. We should have.

I don’t care what Tarantino does with chop-sockey flicks or grindhouse flicks or any other variety of stupid movie, but World War II was not a movie. It was an important slice of history that should not be fucked around with by some nihilist who doesn’t give a shit about anything except his version of cinematic homage.

Wow, that was an awkward sentence

Operative word: AWKwarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd!

It was an important slice of history that should not be fucked around with by some nihilist who doesn’t give a shit about anything except his version of cinematic homage.

Are you suggesting people shouldn’t make war comedies about WW2?

Cuz the producers of Hogan’s Heroes might take umbrage.

Name five bits on SNL as funny as Schweddy Balls in the past twenty years.

I haven’t watched SNL in 10 years, but in the 10 before that:

The real Janet Reno showing up and busting through a wall for an episode of Janet Reno’s Dance Party.
Alec Baldwin’s video Christmas Card.
Alec Baldwin as an actor playing a soap opera doctor, who can’t properly pronounce body parts (rhymes “anal” with “canal” and “esophagus” becomes “EEE SO FAGUS”)
Molly Shannon as 50-year-old woman (“note the ‘camel TOE'”)
Norm McDonald presenting Michale Bolton’s Christmas album on Weekend Update, with “Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus…hope you like crap.”

And there’s more. But Baldwin figures in a lot of it, too.

along with dick in a box and schweddy balls, i have to nominate the bee gees talk show and the chick with the little arms/hands skits…

and eff you all…now i have ‘sweet home alabama’ and ‘what up with that’ playing in my head simultaneously…

Cuz the producers of Hogan’s Heroes might take umbrage.

TV Guide called Hogan’s Heroes the worst show in the history of American television. I’d say they have a very good case.

Alec Baldwin as an actor playing a soap opera doctor, who can’t properly pronounce body parts (rhymes “anal” with “canal” and “esophagus” becomes “EEE SO FAGUS”)

oh, jesusgod, yes! mal-ig-nAnt!

Name five bits on SNL as funny as Schweddy Balls in the past twenty years.

Can’t name five, ’cause I don’t watch the show frequently enough, but I’m surprised no love has been shown for The Continental.

As for Tarantino, Pulp Fiction was great fun but he started to disappear up his own ass pretty quickly after that.

TV Guide called Hogan’s Heroes the worst show in the history of American television. I’d say they have a very good case.

well, it certainly didn’t keep bob crane off the porn, did it?

Alec Baldwin as an actor playing a soap opera doctor, who can’t properly pronounce body parts (rhymes “anal” with “canal” and “esophagus” becomes “EEE SO FAGUS”)

Done better on the Honeymooners.

“Poloponies”

I can’t believe no one has mentioned Jackie Brown.

That was a really really good movie, without all the usual Tarantino gore. (Don’t get me wrong; I generally like Tarantino.)

I can’t believe no one has mentioned Jackie Brown.

Or Kill Bill, but that’s been alluded to.

I can’t believe no one has mentioned Jackie Brown.

Or Kill Bill, but that’s been alluded to.

i did like jackie brown…kill bill is when i decided i really didn’t care for all things tarantino…although resevoir dogs was a good start…

well, it certainly didn’t keep bob crane off the porn, did it?

Unless you count helping him get laid, which is one way to get off porn.

Fun fact: Otto Klemperer (“Colonel Klink”) was Jewish ,and his family had to flee Austria to escape Hitler. (His father was a famous orchestra conductor.)

Fun fact #2: Robery Clary (the Frenchman–I forget his character’s name) was also Jewish and in fact, as a teenager, had been locked up in a concentration camp. He recounted his experience at a high-school assembly and one of the kids asked him, How could you act on a show that depicted Nazis as harmless clowns? His reply was, Eh, it was a job.

I cannot STAND Tarantino. To me, he’s the worst of the Violence Nerds.

So, you didn’t think Reservoir Dogs was a great date movie?

Going on the wayback machine to the original article.

This mango was amazing in its cognitive dissonance:

Ever since I attended college I have been convinced that “studies” either confirm what common sense suggests or they are mistaken.

But what makes it better is what immediately followed:

I realized this when I was presented study after study showing that boys and girls were not inherently different from one another, and they acted differently only because of sexist upbringings.

Yes, that’s right, he knew that reality was wrong if it ever contradicted his “moral” religious upbringing because it dared notice that women were people rather than personal sex slaves that thrived on creating baked goods and sucking dicks.

I’m not making this up.

I’m in the same area and used to play bars, but I was playing loud/weird music, thus eliminating the uninterested there-for-the-brews crowds. It was swell, but you start to realize how dumb your audience is when they start talking about you and Coltrane in the same sentence.

Heh. Cover bands get the women who want to dance, (usually married or attached) and then the creepers that are hitting on them. As you can imagine, this group mixed with a bunch of alcohol makes for some memorable nights–despite your best efforts to repress them.

Oops. I meant Werner Klemperer just now. Otto was the father.

I don’t care what Tarantino does with chop-sockey flicks or grindhouse flicks or any other variety of stupid movie, but World War II was not a movie. It was an important slice of history that should not be fucked around with by some nihilist who doesn’t give a shit about anything except his version of cinematic homage.

He killed the Nazi leadership in his movie with movies. That is cool.

Not fucking with WWII would put things like Slaughterhouse 5 out of reach.

Fun fact #2: Robery Clary (the Frenchman–I forget his character’s name) was also Jewish and in fact, as a teenager, had been locked up in a concentration camp.

So was John Banner aka Schulz

By the way, Hogan’s was nominated for an Emmy three times.

Sort of throws water on TV Guide’s fire. They probably had a problem with Nazis being mocked.

OK, I had to put the babby down to explain why I like Tarantino. It’s because when I watch his films, I get the idea they’re made with passion and joy. I can see where people might find them cloying and cutesy and precious, what with the TARANTINO shine he puts on them, but that’s part of their charm IMO. When I watch a Tarantino film, I’m like, “WTF?” but it’s a good “WTF?” Plus, I think a lot of his stuff is just straight-up clever, stylistically. It’s definitely for me, but I can understand why it wouldn’t be for everyone.

I loved the Grindhouse movies, the trailers.

It was swell, but you start to realize how dumb your audience is when they start talking about you and Coltrane in the same sentence.

So no one asked you to play “Sweet Home Alabama?” For some reason the idea of your playing “Sweet Home Alabama” is really funny to me.

Ya know one reason I would probably never approach a band after a show is because I’d be afraid that they’d think what you and tsam apparently thought of some of your audience.

Not fucking with WWII would put things like Slaughterhouse 5 out of reach.

Catch 22!!!!

Not fucking with WWII would put things like Slaughterhouse 5 out of reach.

Not even Vonnegut at his most fanciful would have Hitler dying in a cinema fire in Paris.

Actually, I think the one and only time I approached someone from a band, it was some guy from a band called “Retarded Elf.” I said something very matter-of-fact complimentary in a totally not-flirty way. He acted like he was above it, just too fucking cool for school. I was like, “Dude. You’re in a band called ‘Retarded Elf. Slow your roll, player.'”

Ya know one reason I would probably never approach a band after a show is because I’d be afraid that they’d think what you and tsam apparently thought of some of your audience.

The thing is, I am one of those guys. I want to see what they’re using, STEAL THEIR IDEAS, compliment what I thought was worth complimenting, STEAL THEIR IDEAS, and thank them.

Not fucking with WWII would put things like Slaughterhouse 5 out of reach.

Catch 22!!!!

Kelly’s Heroes.

McHale’s Navy

Well, maybe he has a point, after all….

Yeah, I find the idea that WWII being verboten really disturbing. I loved that Tarantino messed around with it, even though I didn’t care for “Basterds” that much.

I want to see what they’re using, STEAL THEIR IDEAS, compliment what I thought was worth complimenting, STEAL THEIR IDEAS, and thank them.

And tell them they sound like Coltrane?

Or Kill Bill, but that’s been alluded to.

I thought individual vignettes in Kill Bill worked, but the whole was not equal to the sum of its parts (the “Charlie Brown” kimono was funny, but Tarantino ruined the joke by having other characters refer to it).

I never did have the patience to sit through the second part… it was too pretentious and talky for the cartoonish subject matter.

So, you didn’t think Reservoir Dogs was a great date movie?

If you’re dating Eileen Wuornos, sure.

I think of Tarantino films like I think of Apple products. Great stuff, but their fanboys need to seriously STFU.

OK, I had to put the babby down to explain why I like Tarantino. It’s because when I watch his films, I get the idea they’re made with passion and joy. I can see where people might find them cloying and cutesy and precious, what with the TARANTINO shine he puts on them, but that’s part of their charm IMO. When I watch a Tarantino film, I’m like, “WTF?” but it’s a good “WTF?” Plus, I think a lot of his stuff is just straight-up clever, stylistically. It’s definitely for me, but I can understand why it wouldn’t be for everyone.

This I understand and fully respect. What pisses me off is being told I don’t “get it” when I don’t think something Pulp Fiction was a very good movie. I do get it. It’s just not for me. I do enjoy the musical selections for the most part, however.

it was too pretentious and talky for the cartoonish subject matter.

Yeah, I didn’t understand how I could be so *bored* by something that was so violent.

STEAL THEIR IDEAS

Tee hee. I’m afraid there weren’t many ideas to steal from Retarded Elf.

Not fucking with WWII would put things like Slaughterhouse 5 out of reach.

Catch 22!!!!

to be or not to be

I’m afraid there weren’t many ideas to steal from Retarded Elf.

I’m so naming my thrash metal band “Retarded Elf”.

I never did have the patience to sit through the second part… it was too pretentious and talky for the cartoonish subject matter.

I’m one of the few people out there who prefer the first part to the second. Dont know if that would hold up today. Maybe I’d think differently now.

tsam, Pulp Fiction is not one of my favorites. I really can’t get past the Gimp scenes, which I found profoundly disturbing.

Not fucking with WWII would put things like Slaughterhouse 5 out of reach.

to be or not to be

The Producers!

I’m so naming my thrash metal band “Retarded Elf”.

i will pay you $50 not to…

I’m afraid there weren’t many ideas to steal from Retarded Elf.

I find this very difficult to believe.
.

I think it’s pretty clear reading the comments here that Tarantino is a producer/director who does what he damned well pleases, and sometimes he transcends sheer genius and other times, meh. Not so much.

Good call, actor. I don’t want to live in a world without “The Producers.” Except the remake…in which Mathew Broderick made me want to make a federal law stating that no one may replace Gene Wilder in roles.

in which Mathew Broderick made me want to make a federal law stating that no one may replace Gene Wilder in roles.

didn’t we discuss this along with the johnny depp/willie wonka debacle?

I’m afraid there weren’t many ideas to steal from Retarded Elf.

Elves to steal ideas from:

Bad Elf, Very Bad Elf, Seriously Bad Elf, Insanely Bad Elf and Criminally Bad Elf

It’s because when I watch his films, I get the idea they’re made with passion and joy.

Yes. It’s a guy stretching out and seeing what he can get done. Sometimes it sucks, like the second Kill Bill, and sometimes it’s great. But he’s trying to take flight.

Like this guy.

I think it’s pretty clear reading the comments here that Tarantino is a producer/director who does what he damned well pleases, and sometimes he transcends sheer genius and other times, meh. Not so much.

Reprising yesterday’s Johny Depp discussion, when he’s being a director/producer who does as he damn well pleases he’s often brilliant but when he’s being Quentin fucking Tarantino it’s a meh fest.

<a href = "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyN8VN4BSzM"<Tarantino's finest.

I went to see Cracker a few years back, and did the “great show man, thank you” dealio afterwards to one of the dudes who seemed to be very pleased with a straightforward thanks. So I guess the message there is: dude from Cracker is much cooler than dude from Retarded Elf.

Also, too, and as already noted: new band name: The Cornholing Simpletons.

I picture it as Hee Haw crossed with The Butthole Surfers.

I really can’t get past the Gimp scenes, which I found profoundly disturbing.

Really? I thought these were OH NO I’VE SAID TOO MUCH

Today in PENIS.

Both Accidental Dong-worthy, Pup.

Though I’m not sure the first one was accidental. I think some dirty-minded designer did that on purpose. Kids playing the ejaculate! WELL I NEVER!!!

I went to see Cracker a few years back, and did the “great show man, thank you” dealio afterwards to one of the dudes who seemed to be very pleased with a straightforward thanks. So I guess the message there is: dude from Cracker is much cooler than dude from Retarded Elf.

This was ALWAYS appreciated.

There was a lady at one show who was drunk when we started playing–around 9:30. By the second set, she was a complete wreck. She wanted to come and talk to me. So while we’re in the middle of a song, she comes and stands in front of me and starts talking to me. Of course over the monitors and drums, I can’t hear a word she’s saying. So I shake my head to say “can’t hear you”, and she suddenly feels like it would be a good idea to lean in and speak in my ear. She trips over the giant wedge monitor in front of me, knocks my microphone stand into my fucking face, and then falls on me. Me, my guitar, my mic stand and her all go crashing into the drum riser with the sharp corners. My head BASHES the hi-hat stand, which feels AWESOME.

Stop the song. Microphone is SCREAMING over the PA. I’m petrified that I might find a snapped neck on my Gibson SG (not a cheap guitar)…oh what a horrid night.

These are the people I didn’t like much.

Let us see…….. yep, it’s an installation by an Estonian sculptor http://www.karmin.ee/index_e.php

Today in PENIS.

Right on a baby carriage. Nice.

Like this guy.

that’s gotta be Spike Jonze!

that’s gotta be Spike Jonze!

Oh dear.

Seek this out.

Oh god, tsam, that experience sounds beyond horrible. What a dumb shit that lady was. Otoh, I know how a man playing guitar can make a person not think clearly.

I think it’s pretty clear reading the comments here that Tarantino is a producer/director who does what he damned well pleases, and sometimes he transcends sheer genius and other times, meh. Not so much.

You do have to respect for not making YET ANOTHER GODDAMNED SUPERHERO FUCKING MOVIE HOLY SHIT.

Yeah, sometimes he misses, like any movie maker does. Hell, Spielberg has done some shit I can’t sit through. This is the guy who made Schindler’s List, which I consider to be one of the best movies ever made, despite stamping out the very last of my faith in humanity.

Well, I’m 0 for 2. Gah.

Otoh, I know how a man playing guitar can make a person not think clearly.

This was totally unintended, of course.

“Seek this out”

Otay.

Well, I’m 0 for 2. Gah.

Guh?

“tsam said,
September 22, 2011 at 0:27

Otoh, I know how a man playing guitar can make a person not think clearly.

This was totally unintended, of course.”

Can you know the mighty ocean? Can you lasso a star from the sky? Can you say to a rainbow… ‘Hey, stop being a rainbow for a second’? No! Such is tsam!

“tsam said,
September 22, 2011 at 0:28

Well, I’m 0 for 2. Gah.

Guh?”

I keep attributing things to the wrong directors.

I keep attributing things to the wrong directors.

i continually confuse c.s. lewis and lewis carroll if that makes you feel any better…

Can you know the mighty ocean? Can you lasso a star from the sky? Can you say to a rainbow… ‘Hey, stop being a rainbow for a second’?

HA! That’s hilarious. Can you stop being a rainbow for a second? Why, no. No, I can’t.

I know. That always makes me giggle.

Further late ripping on the article…

I’ll also note that the actual sociology, by actual sociologists and not deranged theologians whining about why the kids these days don’t stop fucking and go to his church to hear him rant for hours about how kids are evil for fucking, have noted that it is actually religion that can have a rather negative impact on morality.

Specifically, I’m thinking of the studies of Israeli schoolchildren wherein they gave less empathetic and moral answers when the person in peril or wrongdoer was identified as muslim as when it was left open to interpretation. I believe another study found the same affect in American Christian communities regarding those identified as “godless”.

Basically, that counter to Prager’s attempted point, that is religions that breed stronger tribal functions because duh, you have the added weight of being able to separate by “with God or against God” or having “enemies” be seen as even more antagonistic because their beliefs are a threat to one’s worldview, making it easier to demonize.

Of course, it’s not like we need these articles when religious conservatives like Prager were ranting about the evils of empathy with Sotomayer, call for the continued bombings of muslim countries because “muslims are evil”, call for the punishment and deaths of black people, gay people, and women who have sex for perceived sins, and of course, most damningly, have been ranting for a good while now about how the liberals need to shut up about the suffering of people around the globe while rich people are in danger of being taxed.

I mean, it’s hard to argue that it’s the young liberal agnostics and atheists who are the ones who’ve lost the ability to care about strangers when those are the ones trying to help all these communities, even ones they don’t belong to and the religious conservatives are pulling a Robin of Berkeley and just screaming for relief about hearing about anyone outside their tribe of murderous fuckwits.

Yeah, Prager, how about the right in this country actually give a flying fuck about a starving single mother trying to take care of her kids or the suffering of others and then we’ll talk about what side has a “selective and weak morality” because of their standing with God.

I confuse Machete with Must Love Dogs constantly. Does that mean I’m pop-culturally challenged?

This is the guy who made Schindler’s List, which I consider to be one of the best movies ever made, despite stamping out the very last of my faith in humanity.

You can erase those pesky vestiges by watching Shoah.

I’ll also note that the actual sociology, by actual sociologists and not deranged theologians whining about why the kids these days don’t stop fucking and go to his church to hear him rant for hours about how kids are evil for fucking, have noted that it is actually religion that can have a rather negative impact on morality.

Actual sociologists who are seeking an OBJECTIVE truth would never ask a question like the one posed at the end of this article. That is the single most flawed attempt at studying reasoning or morality I’ve really ever seen.

Issue 1: It’s nothing more than a trap. Any sociologist would know this.
Issue 2: Where is this study recorded? How was it conducted? Or did you just spring this on your classes randomly? Are you sure you really asked this question? Is it just the confirmation bias that is so blatant in your opening statement that made you “remember” that a majority of kids answered this question in a way you found to be morally repugnant?
Issue 3: Did you take a philosophy class at any time in your life, Dennis? Logic is clearly not your strong suit.
Issue 4: STFU you old crank.

I confuse Machete with Must Love Dogs constantly. Does that mean I’m pop-culturally challenged?

note to self: do not bring dogs to tsam for grooming…

I thought Must Love Dogs With Machete was pretty gruesome, especially for a Disney movie.

I confuse Machete with Must Love Dogs constantly. Does that mean I’m pop-culturally challenged?

Not necessarily, you could be a “mash-up” artist.

You can erase those pesky vestiges by watching Shoah.

I don’t think I could do it. I visited Dachau when I was a teenager, and just the experience of that still haunts me today. Despite the profound sadness it caused, and the general disdain for humans in any sort of group, dragging me to that place was one of the most important lessons my parents ever could have given me. That reminds me, I should thank them for that.

I thought Must Love Dogs With Machete was pretty gruesome, especially for a Disney movie.

HA!! NICE

I thought Must Love Dogs With Machete was pretty gruesome, especially for a Disney movie.

i wasn’t thrilled with lady has a cramp, either…too whiny for me…

Must Love Dogs Constantly. That’s not a nice title.

I love wingnuts with Machete constantly.

Good lord, somebody take this thread away from me.

i wasn’t thrilled with lady has a cramp, either…too whiny for me…

HA!
As a man, I’m never thrilled with this. Always means I’m in trouble.

Not necessarily, you could be a “mash-up” artist.

Nah. Pretty sure I’m just knothead.

I’m just knothead.

i have not heard this term in forever…

Erick Erickson caught in a lie on the Troy Davis case.

http://ceinquiry.us/2011-09-21-erick-erickson-troy-davis

Erick Erickson caught in a lie on the Troy Davis case.

can’t expect too much from somebody who went to the jonah goldberg school of research…

I saw a woman standing in the median with one of those signs. I didn’t look, but I’m sure she was asking for money or food. I had neither on me. I started crying.

Scene from a moral landscape.

Wake me if Erickson ever gets anything right.

Morel landscape.

Morel landscape.

not penile-looking enough….try this

Gaw-juh has put Troy Davis’s execution on hold waiting for SCOTUS to come to some decision, for those of you who aren’t watching the Internet.
======================================================
And here I thought I was the old fuck…you beat me, but not by much.

Hey punks: I would win if it weren’t for Marion. (Nobody likes a topper, dear.)

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/james-byrd-jr-murder-white-supremacist-set-die-14569195

DEATH PENALTY Y U SO COMPLICATED?

Overlimed my salsa. POOP.

Overtiming the salsa.

I overlemoned my sauce.

CITRUS IS HITLER.

Squeeze my lemon…
’til the juice runs down my leg…

“Last week, David Brooks of the New York Times wrote a column”

The devil himself could not pronouce words more hateful to mine ear…

I overheard my neighbors.

“Last week, David Brooks of the New York Times wrote a column”

Shorter this:

Abject stoopit, coming your way!

Rubbing your genitals.

No? Too obvious?

Rubbing your genitals.

No? Too obvious?

Nothing wrong with the literal approach.

Reality hits you hard, bro!

I am not a bro–I’m a manziere!

OT from facebook mini-feed: “Dear Governor Christie: PLEASE, RUN FOR PRESIDENT!!!”

And another one for the unfriend button. God bless that thing – we’re becoming fast friends.

Nobody likes a topper, dear.

Whoa now fella, speak for yourself.

I am not a bro–I’m a manziere!

I know. I just heard the super animated car crash description guy. I thought that was funny so I thought I’d share. You’re all girl.

See, this is another thing about acting as opposed to music.

C) You never get to sing Sweet Home Alabama.

As a veteran of the cover band scene for years, let me just say that this struck me as HILARIOUS!!

One time I got my band fired from a gig because when some drunk ass hollered (like they love to do) “FREEBIRD!” I yelled (on mic) as loud as I could “FU-U-U-UCK FREEBIRD!” Hecklers SUCK.

Whoa now fella, speak for yourself.

Topper, not the same as a top, OK?

Hierarchist!

Rubbing your genitals.

BWAH!!! I came perilously close to spraying a mouthful of red wine all over my computer and the sofa when reading that. Thanks.

I’ll get you next time, LC–and your little keyboard, too!

*cackle*

One time I got my band fired from a gig because when some drunk ass hollered (like they love to do) “FREEBIRD!” I yelled (on mic) as loud as I could “FU-U-U-UCK FREEBIRD!” Hecklers SUCK.

Most memorable heckler: ALICE IN CHAINS! PLAY IT NOW!

He didn’t look like the kind of guy you want to argue with.

Know what else was fun? Seemed like all of the people in the whole country who had a birthday that day were watching our show.

Also, ‘Can I sing? I’m a really good singer!”

Well, yeah, I’ve done some gigs, in a variety of genres. One could make a video “It gets better”. The folks I play with now are so friggin’ good that generally the audience is hanging on every note. The contrast with what it was like 20 years ago in the bars with the amps and the stomp boxes and the #$%ing bar owner is remarkable. Not that I wouldn’t encourage anyone who gets a chance to do that to go for it. There’s no way to imagine the things you’ll see if you play a lot of gigs.

There’s no way to imagine the things you’ll see if you play a lot of gigs.

Amen.

why do i feel the need to watch forgetting sarah marshall every time it’s on?

davis’ stay of execution has been denied…

why do i feel the need to watch forgetting sarah marshall every time it’s on?

Mila Kunis, DUH

Mila Kunis, DUH

true dat…there aren’t any good looking d00ds in it, that’s for sure…

From GA: Troy Davis has been killed., Not a good day for my state.

What the hell?

Funny. The ONLY people that seem to be crying about raising taxes for mill/billionaires are the millionaires in Congress and the idiot pundits.

Holy SHIT–that Real Steel movie is going to be AWESAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I can’t do it.

oly SHIT–that Real Steel movie is going to be AWESAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I can’t do it.

not even the lure of hugh jackman would get me anywhere near it…

From GA: Troy Davis has been killed., Not a good day for my state.

not a good day for any of us…

OMG. This will break new comedic ground

OK tsam, break out that whisky now?

OMG SCARREY MOOSLIMS ARE SCARREY!1111!!

Stupid United Airlines repainted the Continental planes from the merger and then the CEO bragged about it in the in-flight video. Problem is they sloppily painted over the rudder markings on the tail which then got caught in the pre-flight inspection causing planes to be grounded until corrected. 4 hour delay for me – thanks UA!

Did Prager consider that his undergraduates may have been thinking of HIM as the drowning man when he asked the question, and therefore having ANY of them volunteer to save the guy was incredibly fucking magnanimous on their part?

Hey punks: I would win if it weren’t for Marion.

Sadly, no. Fenwick turns 63 next March. I bow to no one, save Marion.

(And I would bow to Marion in any event, because it’s Savannah and I’m a gentleman.)

By the way, it’s okay if you kids play on my lawn.

————————

SNL: +1 Schweddy Balls.

Though no one has mentioned him, Phil Hartman was a comic genius, among the very best performers on SNL. Also on News Radio.

Troy Davis has been killed

Yeah. Sort of an indictment of all of us.

Speaking of playing out, I played my third gig ever in front of a full house (45 people!) last month and get to do it again Saturday. I’m sure you pros are all “pshyeah. Piker.” but it’s a pretty cool experience.

The good thing about playing jazz from the Real Books is nobody shouts out “Freebird!” at your shows. Sadly, no (see what I did there?) drunken wenches who wish to bed you either.

Ah well, guess I’ll just have to go with adrenaline.

Hmmph. No snark yet?

In Birmingham they love the guv’ner.

OMG. This will break new comedic ground

I think it would be even funnier if it was Celebrity Pharmacology Swap.

Actually…

I used to yell “Free Bird” now and again at hipster bands just to piss them off. I think I stopped after one of them actually played it.

Similarly, I used to ask for the time by inquiring “What’s Mickey say?” until someone whipped out an actual Mickey Mouse watch and made it disgorge the chorus to It’s A Small World After All, perhaps the most insipid and horrible earworm of all time.

Now Watergate does not bother me.

Too soon, Man. Too soon.

Work begins on constructing a functional Babbage analytical engine. Surely it is the beginning of the Steampunkalypse.

Does your conscience bother you?
Tell me true.

Anybody want to watch AssProf Sasquatch Isreal have a meltdown?

Except the remake…in which Mathew Broderick made me want to make a federal law stating that no one may replace Gene Wilder in roles.

Clearly you saw the film and not the Broadway show. Easily the best musical comedy I’ve ever seen and I include in that the Monty Python musical.

And I so rate for the Python*

*vpr

Haulin’ my creaky old bones ofta bed. Excellent thread!

PROTIP: when purchasing a talladega nights dvd for a senior citizen, always, always, always check to make sure you do not pick out the UNCUT version…

Veiled Foreskin Holocaust Reference.

Veiled Foreskin Holocaust Reference.

Shoah ’nuff!

What?

Does your conscience bother you?
Tell me true.

Don’t worry.

Be happy!

“not even the lure of hugh jackman would get me anywhere near it…”

Am I the only one who didn’t think Jackman was acting in his hilarious snarly X-MEN: FIRST CLASS cameo? He’s looking right…irate these days for some reason…

Prager’s Orthodox Jewish. Born and raised in NYC, went to Yeshiva schools all the way up to college. And he’s not that young either. Is he really just not cognizant of the fact that 50 years ago, he would have been one of the relativist heathens who are ruining America’s Christian values? – Spaghetti Lee

As a Jew living in NYC, although originally from Orange County, CA, I notice that there is a different in attitudes between Jews growing up in the NYC area (especially if they have Yeshivaish upbringing and have not fully rejected that strand of Judaism) and those of us from “more Christian” parts of the country.

Many of us, provided we do not absorb the mores and opinions of our neighbors, are indeed very leery of “evangelical” Christianity and Christian fundamentalism, because we see that even when they “support” Israel, they really don’t like us “liberal, Hollywood elite types” (and we know what those words are code for) around them. We have memories of teachers who would “accidentally” schedule exams (“no make-ups for this exam, no exceptions”) on Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur, of relatives who were fired for taking Jewish holidays off work, of anti-Semitic literature being left in lockers, of being constantly asked if we were “completed Jews”, etc.

However, I know people (even people my age) from the same sort of background as Dennis Prager. They really have never experienced any real anti-Semitism from Christians (in fact they probably never met a white evangelical Christian until they became involved with “pro-Israel” political activities) and really don’t even know what fundamentalist Christians actually believe (I remember talking to a “pro-life” Jew about abortion, and he couldn’t believe that some Christians feel that a woman suffering from pre-eclampsia should just let things progress to eclampsia rather than have an abortion). Their experience with anti-Semitism is limited to their grandparents’ memories of Eastern Europe, the occasional bully who used “you killed Jesus” as an excuse and Muslim anti-Semitism (condoned by too many people on the left).

So, pace myself (and my earlier comment about Prager), in my experience, people like Prager would never “have been one of the relativist heathens who are ruining America’s Christian values”. That wasn’t their experience of America or of “traditional” (Protestant) Christianity (as Larry King pointed out, the only Protestant he knew of growing up was the mayor). So, no … he’s really not cognizant of this fact as in NYC, growing up in what amounts to a Jewish ghetto, he would not have even been exposed to the kind of rhetoric he so blithely adopts as his own.

I believe another study found the same affect in American Christian communities regarding those identified as “godless”. – Cerebus

Yep. “Good Samaritan” is just a way to refer to any good person. Nope — that parable has nothing to do at all with counting someone with whom you have one of the deepest theological disputes as your neighbor.
( / snark )

Clearly you saw the film and not the Broadway show. Easily the best musical comedy I’ve ever seen and I include in that the Monty Python musical.

But it was still Matthew Broderick ,right? The problem with the movie was his performance. The rest of it, I rather enjoyed.

I saw Roger Bart play Wilder’s part in the “Young Frankenstein” musical. As weirdly understated as his performance was—also Roger Bart sets my gaydar on “THUPER-DUPER GAY!!!”–it was still better than Matthew’s. *shudder*

also Roger Bart sets my gaydar on “THUPER-DUPER GAY!!!”

I mention this only because Young Frankenstein is supposed to be straight, and rather obviously, hard-up-for-sexytime-with-the-ladies straight.

Work begins on constructing a functional Babbage analytical engine.

Let me know when they start working on the functional air loom.

Work begins on constructing a functional Babbage analytical engine.

Steampunk aficionados across the world jizz themselves to death.

Anybody want to watch AssProf Sasquatch Isreal have a meltdown?

Donald needs to be on some sort of anxiety medication I think.

I AM BLOG-WHORING! Come see vaginal-birth babies, babies born via butt, and Steelers fans you can’t beat up!!!! IT’S ALL THERE.

I AM BLOG-WHORING! Come see vaginal-birth babies, babies born via butt, and Steelers fans you can’t beat up!!!! IT’S ALL THERE.

Thou cannot restrain the Dudeskull.

(he’s a cute little feller, I must admit)

“Norm McDonald presenting Michale Bolton’s Christmas album on Weekend Update, with “Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus…hope you like crap.”

One of my all-time favorite jokes, ever. I love Norm MacDonald

OMG SCARREY MOOSLIMS ARE SCARREY!1111!!

Oh good grief. Goddamn pants-pissers see some soot on an engine cowling and flip out.

They probably see a lot of Jesus on toast, as well.

(“Eat, for this is my body, and you won’t believe it’s not butter!”

(he’s a cute little feller, I must admit)

Thanks bunches, LittlePig. 😀