According to CNN, the business world is preparing for a strike/boycott/walkout by all illegal immigrants in the US and their supporters. Everyone and their brother has made their points about the immigration question, and my beliefs are not different enough to be a big deal. Suffice it to say that I support immigration, but demand that it be done legally.
Another op-ed piece from the Boston Globe caught my eye recently. Unlike the article bashing a librarian for standing up to the Feds and their illegal, warrant-less search attempts, this article is one with which I (mostly) agree. It deals with the recent editorial cartoons featuring several different images of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad.
Recently, a bomb threat directed (via email) at Bradeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts caused the school to evacuate a bunch of buildings. The FBI were called in, of course, and they tracked the source of the email to a local public library in the town of Newton, Massachusetts. Perhaps taking a queue from the chimp-in-chief, the FBI attempted to seize the 30 computers in the Newton Free Library. Library Directory, Kathy Glick-Weil, intervened and refused to allow the FBI to take the comupters without first producing a warrant. After standing up to the FBI and demanding that they follow due process, they went off in search of a warrant. In the meantime, she assisted FBI Forensic Analysts to narrow down the terminals from which the email may have been sent, eventually knocking the number down from all 3o to 3. 10 hours later, the FBI got their warrant and they left with the 3 computers in their possession.
I think it’s safe to say that when a show outrages Al Sharpton, that show should receive more attention. Not because Al Sharpton is incensed, but because whatever the show did to induce his indignation is probably important, intelligent and worth seeing. The show in question is “The Boondocks”, based on the Aaron McGruder comic strip of the same name. The thing that is different about The Boondocks, when compared to most other comic strips and animated shows, is that the creator and the majority of the characters are black.
I know it’s petty but if I see that ad for the “New Season of 24 on Fox” one more time, I’m going to start shooting televisions. I’m not worked up because I think 24 is a bad show, but because the ad is horrible. Let me be specific; it’s not the ad’s production value, or the graphics, or the voiceover that qualifies the ad as horrible. In fact, all of the preceding simply puts it squarely in the land of bland. What drives me nuts is the analogy that one reviewer makes about the show and which gets the professional voiceover treatment: the new season of 24 “Hits the ground like a bullet train”. Huh? What? Hits the ground? Train? Hitting the ground? I don’t know about you, but I don’t recall a lot of bullet trains hitting the ground. Some might consider bullet trains hitting the ground a significant design flaw, so exactly how is that a good analogy? Short answer: it’s not. How does a professional critic/writer (NY Daily News’ David Bianculli) make a horrible analogy like that and not catch it before press time? How does a broadcaster ignore such a horrible bit of writing an get it on the air in heavy rotation? Bianculli obviously likes the show, but does that excuse him from writing such a ridiculous analogy? I assume Bianculli meant something more like, “Hits the ground running faster than a bullet train”. Isn’t it amazing how leaving out just a couple of words makes something sound moronic? Next time I hear that ad, I’m going to hit the roof like a bullet train…faster than a bullet train, I mean.
It’s a new year, but nothing changes all that much. I never understood the fascination people have with dates. Mainstream holidays are meaningless and rarely have any significance beyond the revenue brought in my retailers. What’s the big story around Thanksgiving and Christmas? How much are consumers going to spend and will it be enough to put retailers in the black for the year.
Michigan-based company, Weyco, has decided to ban employees from smoking…even at home. That’s right, what you do in your private time is once again decided by your bosses. If you should decide to smoke, or if you currently smoke and refuse to quit, or if you refuse to take a company-administered test to determine if you’re a smoker, you’ll be fired. The boss’ reasoning? It’s going to help workers cut down on their health-care costs, as well as the company’s costs associated with health care.
In yet another example of why I keep hitting my head against hard surfaces every time I read the so-called “news”, CNN has decided that a speculative story about the Head Chimp’s daughter wearing a ring is cause for exhaustive coverage. Of course, this just goes to prove my theory that CNN is dying a slow death, because almost no other news outlet has decided it’s worth covering, except for a blurb on ABC News. I think the question everyone needs to ask themselves as they consume the news is, “Why the fuck should I give a shit?” and go forward from there. It encourages critical thinking skills.
Yeah, I know it’s a tired subject, but when I start hearing Christmas songs, catching Christmas TV ads and seeing yards adorned with cheesy wire-mesh animatronic deer, all before Thanksgiving has arrived, I tend to lose my shit a bit. I’m not even going to start about the depths to which people will sink when decorating their houses. And don’t even get me going about those retarded inflatable decorations that are now available for every damn holiday imaginable (I won’t even link to the fuckers). I went out to the store tonight and saw a bunch of houses garishly decorated on the way. In the store, they were playing Christmas music over the speakers. And me? I’m still getting the tryptophan out of my system. (more…)
For many years now, Interstate 95 was considered the primary route for illegal handgun trafficking into Massachusetts. Someone would buy a bunch of guns from a dealer in Virginia, drive them up 95, and sell them to criminals in states like MA and cities like NYC. Now, however, Boston is looking to the North in an effort to blame the rise in gun crime on anyone but themselves. See, Massachusetts has the same reaction to the problem of gun crime that the federal government has about the war on drugs: when told that their war is unwinnable, they close their eyes, cover their ears with their hands, shake their heads and yell, “NANANANANANANANA I CAN’T HEAR YOU NANANANANANANANA”.
