July 2, 2009
Disney Accused of Promoting Heteronormativity
Disney is in for it now. It's been accused by academics of failing to promote sexual perversion in its movies for children:
Researchers at the University of Michigan have concluded that the love stories told in classic Disney and other G-rated children's films — such as the Little Mermaid — are partially to blame for the pervasiveness of what they label "heteronormativity."
"Despite the assumption that children's media are free of sexual content, our analyses suggest that these media depict a rich and pervasive heterosexual landscape," wrote researchers Emily Kazyak and Karin Martin, in a report published in the latest issue of the Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS) publication Gender & Society.
Kazyak and Martin said they studied the role of heterosexual relationships in several of the highest-grossing G-rated films between 1990-2005.
The results, say the researchers, illustrate two ways that the children's films "construct heterosexuality": through "depictions of hetero-romantic love as exceptional, powerful, transformative, and magical," and "depictions of interactions between gendered bodies in which the sexiness of feminine characters is subjected to the gaze of masculine characters."
"Characters in love are surrounded by music, flowers, candles, magic, fire, balloons, fancy dresses, dim lights, dancing and elaborate dinners," the researchers observed. "Fireflies, butterflies, sunsets, wind and the beauty and power of nature often provide the setting for — and a link to the naturalness of — hetero-romantic love."
Conclude the scholars:
These films provide powerful portraits of a multifaceted and pervasive heterosexuality that likely facilitates the reproduction of heteronormativity.
Just when you thought that Hopey Change put any sort of normativity behind us forever. Apparently the solution is to ply children with homoerotic propaganda.
By the way, University of Michigan is a state-funded school. Taxpayers are forced to finance the corrosive depravity that passes for research.
On a tip from BURNING HOT.
Posted by Van Helsing at 9:07 AM | Comments (38)
Go Galt: Call in Conservative
Tea Party Nation is calling on conservatives to go Galt on July 30:
On July 30th, Conservatives are "Going Galt". On that date, we are asking Conservatives all across the nation to "Call in Conservative". On July 30th, Conservatives will not work, we will not buy. Instead, we will spend time with our families and friends. We will show President Obama and Congress who REALLY drives this economy. For more information on "A Day Without Conservatives , contact Judson Phillips at judson@teapartynation.com.
Anthony Martin loves the idea:
This is major news … a protest with teeth. Unlike the Tea Parties, which I supported and continue to support, this particular protest goes a step further. Conservatives will show the nation what it would be like if we simply did not work or spend our money. …
But government has pushed the citizens to this point. For now, this is a peaceful but firm protest to show Washington and 'progressives' that they can no longer expect us to simply roll over and play dead as they ram a socialist agenda down our throats. There are more of us than there are of them. We can shut this country down if we so choose.
… the burning issue at hand is taking the country back from Chicago thugs, charlatans, crooks, liars, and a Congress that is run by incompetent boobs who are just as corrupt as the gang at the White House.
We are now presented with a major opportunity to make a difference and force Washington to sit up and take notice of our deep discontent.
Whether people will participate remains to be seen. Expecting conservatives not to work is like expecting birds to stay in their nests all day and not fly around. Work is what conservatives do, just like expropriate the wealth created by that work is what liberals do. But desperate times do call for new measures.
On a tip from Oiao.
Posted by Van Helsing at 8:35 AM | Comments (16)
Mark Kirk's New Hat
Rep. Mark Kirk of Illinois — one of the Despicable Eight who despite being nominally Republican voted to destroy what's left of our economy with Obama/Pelosi's insane Tax and Charade bill — has himself a new hat:
It suits him well, although a beanie with a propeller might also be appropriate.
Compliments of John S.
Posted by Van Helsing at 8:14 AM | Comments (7)
The Paracité
It's hard to believe the Paracité wasn't designed by Government Motors. The name of it even sounds like "parasite" — and what could be more parasitical than GM, now that it exists not to build cars but to funnel taxpayer money into the UAW's coffers?
Many of us park our cars at the railway station and then catch the local train to work or wherever it is that we have to go. Building on this theory is the Paracité, a single person commuter car that plans on putting the car itself on the rail tracks. Generally there is a 5 miles free space between two trains on a regular railway track. This free space and time can be utilized by these commuter cars to get people going on to their destinations. Essentially just hop into Paracité and drive up to the station and skip the train and wait for your turn; use the tracks till your destination and then drive off in it for the remainder of the journey.
The Paracité comes with a retractable arm that lets it balance on the railroad tracks. Hopefully there is also an ejector seat to use if a train comes. I wonder if the guys who have to clean up the wreckage afterward qualify as having "green jobs."
On a tip from Air2air.
Posted by Van Helsing at 8:01 AM | Comments (24)
Moonbats Burn Marine's Flags
Our progressive friends have gotten off to an early start celebrating the Fourth of July. In normally civilized Far North Dallas:
When Ed Jordan hung two flags from his front porch, one for his country and one for the Marine Corps he once served in, he thought no one would take issue with his gesture to honor the troops during the Fourth of July.
He returned home from an errand Monday morning to find the flags burned, their cinders scattered amid his azaleas.
The 70-year-old veteran was shocked when police told him that a flag at another house in his quiet neighborhood just north of Valley View Mall was also incinerated. …
"When I was on active duty, the flag always meant something to me," he said. "I'd always take pride when I saw it flying in civilian areas."
How others could take offense at the same sight was beyond his understanding.
"When you damage something that so many have died for, the symbol it represents, that, to me, is intolerable," he said.
The word "intolerable" also describes the prevalence of the ideology that inspires these incidents.
You would think that putting a socialist punk in the White House – the ultimate desecration of everything patriots hold sacred — would leave moonbats satisfied. But a cancer isn't satisfied until the patient dies – unless a way is found to cure it.
On a tip from Viking04.
Posted by Van Helsing at 7:32 AM | Comments (16)
Open Thread
Posted by Van Helsing at 7:16 AM | Comments (16)
Jim Inhofe: Cap and Tax Is Dead, Despite Clown
Our current government is so historically awful that it's tempting to fantasize about tarring, feathering, and running each and every member of Congress out of the District of Criminals on a rail. But there are few who don't deserve it. A prime example is Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), who has been denouncing global warming as a hoax since the days when only a few had the guts to raise doubts in the face of the establishment's thuggish "consensus."
Here's what he has to say about the Tax and Charade suicide pact that the hard left got through the House — and about the obnoxious second-rate comedian who was allowed to ACORN his way into the Senate:
Inhofe said the much-anticipated conclusion of a Senate race in Minnesota that will give Democrats the 60 votes needed to overcome Republican filibusters would not be enough to save the climate change bill.
"I'll tell you what a lot of people are thinking, and that is it looks like things are going to be over and we are going to get the clown from Minnesota,'' he said.
"They are not going to get more than 35 votes.''
Asked if he was referring to Al Franken as the clown from Minnesota, Inhofe confirmed he was.
"I didn't mean to be disrespectful. I don't know the guy, but … for a living he is a clown,'' the senator said.
"That's what he does for a living.''
No doubt that's what he will continue to do for a living for the next six years, until Minnesotans have a chance to dislodge him from office.
How refreshing to hear a politician call a clown a clown. With enough countermoonbats like Inhofe, we could get this country back on track in no time.
On a tip from V the K.
Posted by Van Helsing at 7:06 AM | Comments (7)
Bureaucrats Plan to Track How Far We Drive
Bureaucratic micromanagers are now planning devices that will be coercively installed in our cars so they can keep track of how many miles we travel and tax us accordingly.
The idea of shifting to a by-the-mile tax has been discussed for years, but it now appears to be getting more serious attention. A federal commission, after a two-year study, concluded earlier this year that the road tax was the "best path forward" to keep revenues flowing to highway and transportation projects, and could be an important new tool to help manage traffic and relieve congestion.
By "relieve congestion" they mean make it so expensive to drive that people just stay home, where the government will be using special thermostats to keep track of whether we're overusing our AC.
Knowing much better than we do how we should live our lives and spend our money, there is nothing Big Government won't regulate and tax.
On a tip from mega.
Posted by Van Helsing at 6:47 AM | Comments (10)
July 1, 2009
Gangster Government
The highly esteemed Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) explains how to keep your car dealership alive in the sort of country where bureaucrats run the auto industry:
It looks like we spent all that money on nuclear missiles to keep the Soviet Union at bay for nothing.
On a tip from Randy.
Posted by Van Helsing at 8:54 PM | Comments (54)
The Louisiana Legislature Is in Session
Hopey Change means having different expectations of government. A peek into the Louisiana House Chamber:
Thick in tha hips every nig want her call her Halle Berry, Halle Berry.
These immortal words capture the zeitgeist of a generation.
But so long as it doesn't seat Al Franken, Louisiana's legislature is still more dignified than the US Senate.
On a tip from JC.
Posted by Van Helsing at 8:47 PM | Comments (27)
Even Liberal Press Getting Sick of Obama's Prepackaged Phoniness
Even the liberal establishment media is getting a little fed up with the contrived farce that is the Obamination presidency. Watch Chip Reid of CBS News and even the shrill moonbat Helen Thomas lay into Obama's smarmy press secretary over the phoniness of the Anointed One's staged town hall meeting:
They'd better get Reid back on the reservation, or there will be no bailouts for CBS.
On tips from nancz, Jo, and Chuck. Hat tip: Stop the ACLU.
Posted by Van Helsing at 8:30 PM | Comments (23)
Lost at Sea
The only problem with coastline is that some foul flotsam can wash up from the sea.
The Israeli navy took control of a boat that violated an Israeli blockade and crossed into Gazan waters Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said, while a Gaza group said the ship was carrying humanitarian aid, a former U.S. congresswoman and a Nobel laureate.
The boat's crew included former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, according to the Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group that sent the boat it calls "Spirit of Humanity" from Cyprus.
Along with McKinney, who served six terms in the House of Representatives from Georgia and was the Green Party's presidential nominee in 2008, Israeli authorities took 20 people into custody, the group said.
Also aboard, the group said, was Mairead Maguire, who co-founded a group that worked for peace in Northern Ireland. Maguire and co-founder Betty Williams received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 for their work.
Betty Williams is a peace activist known for repeatedly shrieking about her desire to kill President Bush.
IDF said the Israeli navy contacted the boat, which it called the Arion, while it was still at sea and warned the crew they would not be allowed to enter Gazan waters "because of security risks in the area and the existing naval blockade."
Disregarding all warnings, the boat entered Gazan coastal waters, IDF said. An Israeli navy force intercepted, boarded and took control of the boat, directing it toward Ashdod, Israel, IDF said.
The boat's crew, the military said, would "be handed over to the proper authorities."
The proper authorities have donned their white coats, taken up their butterfly nets, and set off from Bellevue to collect their new wards.
On a tip from mega.
Posted by Van Helsing at 9:23 AM | Comments (36)
Following California Over the Edge
Healthcare isn't the only area where progressive California offers us a preview of our Obamunist future. The Land of Fruits and Nuts also shows us where his energy policies will lead:
While promoting his new cap-and-trade energy tax bill, which passed the U.S. House last week, President Obama revealed in a White House address on Monday his model for the nation's economy — California. "In the late 1970s, the state of California enacted tougher energy-efficiency policies," Obama said, noting that the state and its residents use less energy today per capita than the national average. "Think about that," he said, "California producing jobs, their economy keeping pace with the rest of the country and yet they've been able to maintain their energy usage in a much lower level than the rest of the country."
Obama might want to rethink his choice of a model state because it is easy to understand how California has curbed its energy use. Between 2000 and 2007, before the current recession, the state shed nearly 21 percent of its manufacturing jobs, driving down its industrial electrical consumption by 21 percent. California's industrial users pay electric rates twice as high as their Midwestern counterparts — which helps explain why so much heavy industry has fled the state. In addition to alienating its industry, California has also curbed energy use through exorbitant residential electric rates (50 percent higher than the national average) and massive net out-migration. Between 2005 and 2007, 2.14 million Californians moved to other states, while only 1.44 million people from elsewhere moved to the Golden State, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Don't be surprised when the 2010 Census finds even more people leaving to escape California's 11.5 percent unemployment. And, as jobs and residents fled California, its tax revenues have declined, while its politicians went on a spending binge, creating a severe budget crisis.
If Cap and Tax makes it through the Senate, Comrade Obama will sign it triumphantly, imposing California-style eco-insanity on the entire nation.
It will work a little differently on the national level. Instead of jobs leaving the state, they will leave the country. The Heritage Foundation forecasts 1.15 million jobs lost per year if the Dems push it through.
On the positive side, there will be more jobs in China, India, and Mexico. Since these countries can't afford the luxury of making environmentalism a priority, the result will be more pollution than if the jobs had stayed here — defeating the supposed purpose of the entire bill. But if the real purpose is to put millions of Americans out of work, increasing their dependence on Big Government, Cap and Tax ought to succeed spectacularly.
On a tip from Gregory of Yardale.
Posted by Van Helsing at 8:48 AM | Comments (16)
Open Thread
Posted by Van Helsing at 8:32 AM | Comments (29)
Census Cheating Already Underway in Detroit
Why should the Left wait until 2010 to start fudging numbers on the Census to help advance their agenda? In America's most liberal city, they're at it already:
Eight of 10 Michigan communities experiencing the largest population drops between 2007 and 2008 census estimates are in Wayne County, and the fall may be due in part to a push to bolster numbers for Detroit, officials say.
The Census Bureau estimated Detroit's population at 912,062 for the year ending July 2008, a drop of only 0.5% since July 2007. But the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments estimates Detroit's population at about 831,000 as of April 2009 — about 81,000 fewer people.
Detroit officials protested the city's census estimate in 2006 and got a population boost as a result. At the same time, remaining communities apparently had to account for a larger proportion of Wayne County's drop.
"It's not directly at the expense of those other communities, although it does sort of work out that way," said Greg Harper, U.S. Census Bureau demographer.
Wayne County's July 2008 population was 2,061,162, down 31,725 from 2007. Every Wayne community has lost population in the census since Detroit's correction, something those familiar with population trends doubt.
Why pretend these people live in a largely empty city, instead of the suburbs?
State and federal money to communities, most notably federal Community Development Block Grant funds, are based on population.
So is Congressional representation. This is why Comrade Obama yanked control of the Census away from the Commerce Department, and handed it over to one of the guys who program his teleprompter.
We now live in a country where no one can believe official figures from the government.
Hat tip: The Blogprof.
Posted by Van Helsing at 8:13 AM | Comments (14)
California Offers ObamaCare Preview
California continues to blaze a trail into our glorious socialist future:
A Superior Court judge in Sacramento County has rejected arguments that pending budget cuts to eliminate adult Medi-Cal dental benefits offered by low-income community and rural clinics violated federal law.
Judge Timothy Frawley, in a ruling made public Wednesday, said the Legislature was within its rights when it voted in February to save the state money by cutting adult Denti-Cal benefits, along with other benefits including podiatry and optometry, effective July 1.
Interested-Participant comments:
Apparently, health care decision-makers blew right past any thoughts of rationing the benefits and opted to make them simply disappear completely.
After Obama nationalizes healthcare, think how much money the government will save by leaving us to pull out our own teeth with pliers, like they do in Britain. If that doesn't fill up the multi-$trillion budget gap, bureauweenies can deny medical care to anyone over 70. Then anyone over 65. Then anyone over 60…
Hat tip: The Jawa Report, on a tip from BURNING HOT.
Posted by Van Helsing at 7:54 AM | Comments (5)
Moonbat Messiah Malocchio
The ultimate endorsement for a world leader is to have earned the Evil Eye from Chairman Zero. As reported by Drudge, he bestows it upon those who "are not aligned with his progressive view." More than a few countermoonbats have weathered his withering glare.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel:
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu:
Italians, Germans, and Israelis can count themselves as extremely fortunate to have leadership that has earned this honor.
On a tip from Bergbikr.
Posted by Van Helsing at 7:24 AM | Comments (26)
Obama Pledges That Gays Will Be More Equal Than Others
The President of the USA invited militant perverts into the White House Monday so he could pander for their fealty.
"I want you to know: You have our support," Obama told members of the core Democratic constituency as he and first lady Michelle Obama hosted a cocktail-and-appetizer reception in the East Room for gay pride month.
To demonstrate his reverence for their lifestyle, Comrade Obama has expanded federal benefits to homosexual "partners." He has asked Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, so that holy matrimony may be officially blasphemed on behalf of the gay agenda. He has called for allowing open homosexuality in the military, which in addition to opening the door to endless discrimination lawsuits, should do almost as much for morale as soldiers having to regard a community activist as Commander in Chief. He has announced his commitment to allowing more homosexuals with HIV into the country, so that they may spread their politically sacred disease among the population. Most alarmingly of all, he says he is working on "an employee nondiscrimination bill and a hate crimes bill" that will assure that unlike most of us gays cannot be fired and that they will be officially regarded as more equal than others before the law.
Too bad guys who are attracted to women don't form a political lobby. With our numbers, maybe we could make Chairman Zero pander to us too. The first demand: no more discriminating against normal people by granting special privileges to deviants.
On a tip from Logan.
Posted by Van Helsing at 7:06 AM | Comments (33)
June 30, 2009
EPA Buries Truth About Global Warming Hoax
Here's a taste of how science will fare as Obama & Co. consolidate total control of our society:
No wonder they're in such a hurry to ram through Cap and Tax. You can't hold down the truth forever.
On a tip from Michael S.
Posted by Van Helsing at 8:56 PM | Comments (29)
Dem State Senators Refuse to Stand for Pledge of Allegiance in New York
Remember when the Moonbat Messiah wouldn't put his hand on his heart for the National Anthem?
It looks like he's been an inspiration to the clowns serving as Democrats in the circus calling itself New York's Senate. Here they petulantly refuse to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance:
Yet these characters are elected to public office.
On a tip from J.
Posted by Van Helsing at 8:42 PM | Comments (25)
Rock Bottom
This is what it's come to:
A failed ultra-left talk show host and former second-rate professional clown, known for his extreme obnoxiousness, cheating on his taxes, and failing to take out worker's comp for his employees has been installed in the position of United States Senator. If Barack Hussein Obama can be President, why not?
Look at the bright side: from here our ruling class can only improve.
Posted by Van Helsing at 8:25 PM | Comments (42)
Open Thread
Posted by Van Helsing at 9:07 AM | Comments (49)
Waxman: Tax and Trade Opponents Are Traitors Against the World
Everything is upside-down and inside-out in Liberal Land, so it should come as no surprise that the bat-faced point man of the Cap and Tax monstrosity claims that those resisting the deliberate destruction of the American economy in the name of the global warming farce are unpatriotic:
They're rooting against the country and I think in this case, even rooting against the world because the world needs to get its act together to stop global warming.
Less than a year ago, dissent was patriotic. Now it's treasonous not just against America, but against the entire planet, since with the Ascension of the Moonbat Messiah, we became citizens of the world.
On a tip from Mandible Claw.
Posted by Van Helsing at 9:00 AM | Comments (89)
DUmmies Dream of Silencing Fox News
For bucking the media trend of lockstep leftism, Fox News continues to be rewarded with fabulous success, earning ratings equal to the next three cable news networks combined. Moonbats are not dealing well with this.
But with the help of Big Government, they may yet be able to impose the ideological conformity that characterizes most everything else on television. A commenter at Democratic Underground makes this chilling wish:
Fox News's days are numbered. When the Fairness Doctrine is back in force there will be a whole new playing field.
Killing fields are so 1970s. Now progressives have playing fields.
On a tip from V the K.
Posted by Van Helsing at 8:38 AM | Comments (33)
