My reply to Ian's Obama's Media Groupies

Notwithstanding my smarmy comments, my real problem in this case is specifically with the content of Olbermann's hyperbolic rant, not his general disposition toward Hillary or Obama. Olbermann is just one of the more egregious examples of media people who have declared a verdict and now want to proceed to the sentencing, but I won't get into that.

Simply put --I don't like his attitude. I have a real problem with Olbermann declaring from on high that certain things "cannot" be said. So now that his diktat has been promulgated, we should all move on? The media (our betters) are the arbiter of what speech is within the bounds of acceptability for politicians now?

If you have been reading any of my nonsense lately, you may be aware that we have a bit of a free speech issue in Canada at the moment (google human rights commission, macleans, and levant for more details). The idea that "certain things are not to be said" really gets under the skin. As far as I am concerned, Hillary can claim Obama is a crypto-muslim black radical who will lead the U.S. into WWIII and therefore she has to stay in the race, but it isn't up to Olbermann to anathemize her speech. Sure, he can denounce her for what she says (or even for what she "seems to be saying"), and let the good citizens of the U.S. do their duty by exercising their option to consign her to oblivion, but he should not get to tell her and the American people what is and is not acceptable rhetoric. That path leads nowhere good.

As far as the Clinton "gaffe" being the invention of Obama's "media groupies" and/or the Obama campaign itself... I'm no Hillary partisan, and therefore am not prone to lying or dissembling to stick up for her. For the record, I don't give a rats ass about her or what she meant. I'm mad on principle: My problem is with Olbermann adopting the imperative and saying she cannot say something (as opposed to saying "she should not have said it").

Now, if you were to argue that this was simply a rhetorical device of his own, or that he was playing a role --that of grand media inquisitor, perhaps?-- I would still be annoyed, because I've become a free-speech nut, I'm afraid, and I don't like media, government, church, whatever, telling me or anyone else (even Hillary) what we can or cannot say!

And if you were to say that, unlike the state, Olbermann cannot exercise coercive power and that therefore my point is irrelevant I would simply revert to sophomoric namecalling: Olbermann is a douchebag, and I don't like his pompous windbaggery and the idea that what he says might influence the way people think about speech: "Oh, we simply can't say that! What would Keith Olbermann say?"

As far as all the contextual stuff goes (i.e. first time in history there is a black candidate for president, Michelle Obama's fears), once again, not the point. There are plenty of well meaning people up here in Canada trying to shut down debate and free discussion of issues for all the right reasons: combatting "hate" and "anti-semitism" and "islamophobia", but that does not make what they are doing any more justified.

BTW, did somebody say free speech absolutist? In Canada, like in the U.S., we actually have rules that govern free-speech, and the fact is that incitement to violence is illegal. You worry that some nutcase might feel "empowered" by her remarks. I maintain that regardless of whether or not it was in good taste (and since when has good taste been a criterion for political discourse?), what Hillary said was not incitement, and therefore fair comment... "hurt feelings" or not. This is a point we could argue.

You and I both know that Clinton is done. Why the hell do people need to stiffle her now? At this point, one would think they should just stand back and let her bury herself with increasingly outrageous and "catastrophically inappropriate" comments as she grasps at straws. Like your fellow holding the sign there, who is doing such a brilliant job of persuading people not to vote for his candidate.

Frankly, reckless and innapropriate rhetoric is what makes American politics so damn interesting to me! Maybe I just have more faith in the wisdom of the American people (or the effectiveness of the Secret Service) than you do.

I think your Johnson/King point is bang-on...but I would not let Clinton off the hook by saying she is just doing what so many whites do with black rivals. The Clintons have a unique brand of parochialism and condescension all their own!

Oh incidentally, Michelle Obama is going to drag her huband down as this campaign wears on. Somebody get that woman some talking points! She is bad news.

By the way, you really must listen to a Rex Murphy monologue in the original Newfie dialect:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rex+murphy&search_type=

Peace out, buddy!

Chest Pain

So much ink spilled lately on Ms. Couillard's chestal region, and yet only Rondi Adamson made me snicker:

After all, Couillard can't help the size of her breasts. From the looks of them, they are real. The idea that she should keep them covered because they may, er, distract, is foolish and parochial. But she did choose her boyfriend and husband, one presumes. And she chose to date a politician. One thing lost in the salacious headlines is Bernier designated Couillard as "a spouse" for travel purposes. This means Canadians paid for her (and her breasts) to fly to goodness-knows where with Bernier on his budget. We should be grateful the price of airline tickets aren't decided by an individual's weight.

har har har!

****

Olbermann: the lickspittle, the pontificator:



Outrage much, Keith?
Uh, what? Hillary "cannot say this"? As history has shown, the Clintons can and will say anything, when they need to. Besides, this is the frigging nomination race, and in spite of the most fervent wishes of Obama's media groupies, Senator Clinton is not yet ready to concede that prize and prostrate herself before the annointed one. And so, she is being immolated for a simple statement of an inconvenient historic fact.

Rex Murphy, as usual, said it best in this weekend's Globe and Mail:

There are nights when watching Keith Olbermann of MSNBC - who is to Obama as Igor was to Dr. Frankenstein, a slavish servant and a groupie - pound away at Hillary Clinton, when I've been tempted to call The Hague. Specifically the war crimes tribunal headquartered there.

Death Spiral

Appeasement!
Appeasement!
Appeasement!
Appeasement!
Say it enough times and understanding what the word actually means won't really matter, right?




Kevin James should be ashamed of himself. He makes Dana Perino look like a Rhodes scholar. I think it was Jon Kay that said that this type of "pundit" gives conservatism a bad name. Amen to that!

Is this what the Republicans have been reduced to? God help them if that's the case.

*****
Zohan: Zionist Propaganda or feel-good movie of the summer?

Adam Sandler's latest flick, opening June 6th, is called You Don't Mess With the Zohan. The official site provides the following synopsis:

In You Don't Mess With the Zohan, a comedy from screenwriters Adam Sandler, Robert Smigel (Triumph the Insult Comic Dog), and Judd Apatow (Knocked Up), Sandler stars as Zohan, an Israeli commando who fakes his own death in order to pursue his dream: becoming a hairstylist in New York. Dennis Dugan directs.

What they don't tell you: The Zohan's love interest is, gasp, a Palestinian!!!

Will Sandler forgo his usual insipid nonsense in favour of a nuanced comedic portrait of a Romeo and Juliet-style romance against the backdrop of modern cultural and religious conflict? A thoughtful and sensitive commentary that will inspire a desire for peace among two troubled peoples, and succeed in bridging the most intractable geo-political divide of the past sixty years?

Nah, probably not, but it might be good for a couple of laughs (maybe...)

FAIR WARNING: Mariah Carey will appear in it. Rob Schneider too, obviously

Things I am Pretty Sure About

Hillary Clinton does not know how to lose . Whenzitover?

When they drag her twitching bloodied carcass across the convention floor of the Pepsi Centre in Denver and pry the crown from her stiffening fingers.



She's not going away! Mwah hah hah hah haaaah!

***

If the hallmark of a compelling TV show is that it makes you want to learn more about its central character, then HBO's John Adams was great TV.

What a history dork like me can particularly appreciate is that such great attention was paid to historical detail throughout the production without sacrificing the narrative. While being "true to history" is important in these types of dramatizations, you can't be slavishly devoted to replicating history in every detail, for one because nobody can say with 100% certainty how things really occured, and also because it would make for tedious viewing -a point made very convincingly in this article.

What also struck me is that the producers also refused to pander to the lowest common denominator by "modernizing" the dialogue or the interactions of characters. It really is striking to hear eighteenth century Americans speaking to each other in the elegant vernacular of the period. The manners are strikingly not our own. Gentlemen, even the closest of friends, seem to address each other formally, while managing to convey their emotions and humanity. When men speak publicly, their words are deliberately and carefully chosen to convey true meaning (and not to baffle and confound like the politicians of our day).

The characters in this miniseries also communicate in an English that sounds somewhat alien to the 21st century ear, and even a bit "British", although it is unmistakeably not the King's English that people are speaking, even at this early point in the evolution of America.

I already knew that Paul Giamatti was a fine actor, but this role proved that he really can carry a serious big-budget project. I thought the the cast was superb as well, with standout performances by Laura Linney as Abigail Adams, Tom Wilkinson as Ben Franklin, and an almost unrecognizable David Morse as George Washington.



Oh yeah... and the opening theme is pretty rousing too...The kind of music that promises you are about to witness something monumental.



The show more than lives up to the promise.

And incidentally, who would have thought that Tom Hanks would become one of the pre-eminent producers of quality history miniseries?

I already own The Band of Brothers boxed set, also co-produced by Playtone, and I plan on buying John Adams as well as the upcoming miniseries The Pacific, which will tell the story of Marines in the Pacific Theatre during the Second World War, and which I can only assume will be of the same high quality as Band of Brothers.

You Do Him No Credit

Is it just me, or is Mark Steyn also a bit irritated by the closed mindedness and dismissiveness of some of his fans?

I mean, don't get me wrong... I think Steyn is bang-on 90% of the time, but I have noticed that any time someone does not appear to bow down and unquestioningly accept the Gospel of Mark, some Steynies feel that that is their cue to immediately begin leaping to conclusions, bashing and/or tossing around the labels dismissively, e.g.:Well, this person is obviously a liberal/ leftist/ trudeaupian/ hippy scumbag… so therefore I despise them and dismiss them summarily.

I know that is just the nature of the blogosphere, the greatest echo chamber yet devised, but one needs to remember that Steyn is a journalist and political commentator as well as a conservative hero (to some), and that broader debate and discussion of the kind we have seen recently in the “mainstream media” (i.e. outside the right-wing echo chamber) is Steyn’s bread and butter. He ain't always preaching to the converted.

Snarling pitbulls who emerge every couple of weeks from the basement to bite and tear at his critics and drones who mindlessly absorb and regurgitate every notion and sometimes parrot Steyn ad nauseum are not much use to him or anyone else in the larger marketplace of ideas. In fact, I suspect they may be a hindrance: Oh no, not another one of those Steyn wingnuts!

I don’t think Mark Steyn has much use for unthinking, reflex denouncers and “hyperpartisan halfwits”, to use his own term… and apparently he does not approve of those who would automatically and unfairly blast people like Heather Reisman and Strombo, who were quite reasonable with him, in a misguided effort to support their hero. Ezra Levant chides some of these more zealous folks on his site, albeit in an elegant and gentle fashion.

I wrote the following to my sister in exasperation the other day:

Frankly, sometimes I find it hard to hold conservative opinions when I see the collection of close-minded reactionaries and bigots that share my political views.

Unthinking and slavish obedience to the Gospel of Mark should be anathema to a true believer in enlightenment and modernity. Hey if you agree with him all the time, good for you!... but leave the enforcement of orthodoxy to the ayatollahs, will ya?

My Head Hurts

Ezra Levant writes on his blog that Mohamed Elmasry, the Canadian Islam Congress Grand Vizier who dispatched the Sock Puppet Three to take on Macleans and Mark Steyn, once faced him in a debate…

Now the pugnacious Mr. Levant wants to debate Warren Kinsella, but the usually scrappy Kinsella doesn’t want to debate Levant ...he wants to debate Steyn, and Macleans and Steyn want to debate...you guessed it: Mohamed Elmasry!

Can’t we just get all four of these cats into the ring and let them go at it WWE tag-team style? Steyn/Levant vs. Kinsella/Elmasri. Now, THAT would be a battle worth witnessing! A real "slobberknocker", as good ol' J.R. would say.

Catch that TVO debate cooked up on the fly between Steyn and Elmasry's kids? Steyn basically goaded and taunted them on live TV to come out and start the debate they claimed they had been looking for all along. Although initially reticent, to their credit, they eventually agreed. Here is part 1 of 5, featuring Khurrum and company:



You gotta love it when instead of suing each other and taking each other to human rights commissions people actually, you know, discuss and debate issues they cannot and likely will not ever agree on. Ain't free speech grand? Beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!

***

Update:
Levant must be very pleased with the success of his campaign to delegitimize the entire Human Rights Commission apparatus in this country. I mean, would anyone have imagined they would ever read anything like this account of an editorial board meeting with the Canadian Jewish Congress in the National Post? This kind of rough handling of reps of the entrenched Jewish establishment puts paid to the idea that the "islamophobes" are simply using attacks on the HRC as a way to persecute Muslims. Clearly, true free speech believers are being consistent, and what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, as the aggrieved and embattled CJC are now finding out, much to their chagrin.

***
Updatier:
I have been informed that my association of the "SP3" (as I have now taken to referring to The "sockpuppet three" and which makes them sound like a cool 90s rap group, no?) to the lawiscool blog is completely haram, verboten, and totally not kosher, since there is apparently no link between SP3 and law is cool since Daniel Simard recused himself from the proceedings. Furthermore, I am told that I am a total douche for using the nickname "sockpuppet three" (I'm paraphrasing), hence my rechristening of the law students as "SP3", pending the creation of a new, more righteous and totally awesome nickname.

Various Amusing items:

The 110 Best Books
How many have you read? (Sadly, I only read comic books)

***

Dorktastic!
The 10 best Internet Fads. I can has cheezburger?

***

The Moxargon Group

Xran the Fleshrender does some particularly hard-hitting pieces, but my favourite will always be Remulak Moxargon himself, mostly because he has displayed such baffling magnanimity as Overlord of the Ultra-Galactic Empire in consistently declining to disintegrate the earth.

***

Your old picture of the day
Some are over 150 years old. Definitely worth a look, if only to behold the improbable facial hair of 19th century dandies.

***

Wikipedia reveals the disgrace that is Kwame Kilpatrick. Yeah, well it does look pretty bad when you lay all those scandals out, end-to-end all the way down the page!

***
Youtube Gold: Ayaan Hirsi Ali blows Jazeera-bound Lewis' mind



"They shoot abortion doctors in the United States!" sputters Avi, reeling from the brain-melting pro-American juju that this crazy lady is laying on him.

"Your faith in American democracy is just delightful" he smirks. But Ali just smiles and keeps putting out the good vibe. Avi is so upset he loses his cards.

Ali's closer: "You grew up in freedom, so you can spit on freedom, because you don't what it is not to have freedom"

You said it, sister

***
Also found, a quote by P.J. O'Rourke: "Very little is known of the Canadian country since it is rarely visited by anyone but the Queen and illiterate sport fishermen."

Linda Crosses the Line, And more same-old, same-old

There’s stupid

There’s real stupid

There's offensively stupid

Then there is Linda McQuaig:

Did these men somehow feel their military affiliation entitled them to behave like thugs?

This raises the disturbing possibility that these young reservists considered the Rambo-like posture of Canada's top general, Rick Hillier, gave them a licence to behave aggressively.

Certainly Hillier – who announced his retirement last week to much fawning in the media – set a very different tone for the Canadian Forces, referring to the enemy in Afghanistan as "detestable murderers and scumbags" and suggesting the role of the Canadian military is to "be able to kill people."

Damn you Hillier! Damn you and your fascist kill-bots!

***

Tarek Fatah is pissed!

And he doesn't pull his punches in this NP piece:

Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, however, said that for the Commission "to refer to Maclean's magazine and journalists as contributing to racism is bullshit, if you can use that word."

He said the Commission has unfairly taken sides against freedom of speech in a dispute within the Canadian Muslim community between moderates and fundamentalists.

"There are within the staff [of the Ontario Human Rights Commission], and among the commissioners, hardline Islamic supporters of Islamic extremism, and this [handling of the Maclean's case] reflects their presence over there," Mr. Fatah said, identifying two people by name.

"In the eyes of the Ontario human rights commission, the only good Muslim is an Islamist Muslim," he said. "As long as we hate Canada, we will be cared for. As soon as we say Canada is our home and we have to defend her traditions, freedoms and secular democracy, we will be considered as the outside."

Melanie Philips wrote about just this kind of thing, in the context of the British Government's acquiescence to islamist assertiveness in the public forum, in the conclusion to her book Londonistan:

The key issue is the inability to grasp that just because a problem has a religious character, this does not mean that all members of that religion suffer from that problem. There is a distinction to be drawn between Muslims and Islamists. Islamism is the politicized interpretation of the religion that aims to Islamize societies. Many Muslims in Britain and elsewhere would not subscribe to this ideology(....) the most bitter criticism of the government's subsequent appeasement of the Brotherhood has come from liberal British Muslims, who understandably feel betrayed as the ground is cut from under their feet.

As in the UK, in Canada, the well-meaning, the self-righteous and the stupid reinforce all the old victimhood pathologies with bunk about "racism" and "islamophobia". In doing so, they are making common cause with fundamentally illiberal islamists, and making life difficult for those muslims who rather than showing up with a list of demands, would work to bridge whatever supposed gap exists between the muslim worldview and that of Western democracies. The Phillips book is definitely worth a read, by the way.


***

Theo Caldwell on why Obama will never be president.

God help us if they don't elect the guy! It seems that many people think America somehow owes the world Obama. It's quite certain that his supporters think that America owes itself Obama, but what is also becoming increasingly clear, if it wasn't already evident in the mentality exhibited by certain "advisors" and "mentors", is that racism will be among the many bugbears that will be dragooned into service to explain to angry people why America rejected Obama if McCain wins in November. It could get ugly, folks.

***

Zawahiri: People! Listen, it was us... no foolin'! SHEESH Just what the hell does a jihadi gotta do to get credit for sticking it to the Great Satan?

Related:


9/11 Conspiracy Theories 'Ridiculous,' Al Qaeda Says

Brought to you by The Onion

***

AQI: Endorsed by OBL

This post reminded me of the egregious Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) omission in the film No End In Sight. Just as one had to question the reasons behind the film's conspicuous exclusion of AQI -- after all they were active in Iraq since at least 2003-- one also has to ask why some journalists, when they are not attempting to deny its existence altogether, continue to represent AQI as an Iraqi-led movement. This is demonstrably not the case. AQI's leadership has come from outside the country: Zarqawi was a Jordanian, al-Masri, an Egyptian.

I think the problem with AQI is that its existence goes against the grain of the now-dominant narrative that “the insurgency” was and remains a spontaneous uprising by disaffected Baathists and Iraqi nationalists caused by ham-handed mismanagement by L. Paul Bremer and his cronies, a narrative that was so excellently laid out in NEOS.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq, it is posited, is basically an opportunistic "islamist cloak" worn by one of the multitude of militant groups which really just want to see the Americans leave Iraq so that Iraqis can get on with re-building their country.

But AQI continues to refuse to play its part in this neat little story, no doubt exasperating the media and experts with its apocalyptic ravings on jihad, its mosque bombings, its videotaped executions, its continued allegiance to OBL, and its gleeful, indescriminate butchery of innocent Iraqis, Sunni and Shi'a alike--the people they are ostensibly trying to "liberate" from the Yankee agressors.

Seriously, though... when you can't even keep the Sunni tribes onside for some good old fashioned Shi'a persecutin' --historically, a very popular pastime-- and its gotten to the point where the Sheikhs in Anbar are so fed up with your atrocities that they are actually teaming up with the Zionist Crusaders to kick your ass out of Iraq, it may just be time to revise your strategy!

***
Some amusing stuff:

From across the millenia the Neanderthals speak. Spooky!

Company! To the foetus... Pre-sent ARMS!

Laughing Baby: Laughing for us sinners

Failure Pile In A Sadness Bowl

Patton Oswalt's riff on the most popular item at KFC:



"Yes, we can pile that in a bowl, but we can also arrange it on a plate like you're an adult with self respect and dignity"

Related: The AV Club does a taste-test

Punching in the Name of the Lord

Greek, Armenian Christians clash at Jesus' tomb on Orthodox Palm Sunday

Each denomination jealously guards its share of the basilica, and fights over rights at the church have intensified in recent years, particularly between the Armenians and Greeks.

Father Pakrad, an Armenian priest, said the presence of the Greek priest during the Armenian observances violated the status quo. "Our priests entered the tomb. They kicked the Greek monk out of the Edicule," he said, referring to the tomb area.

Pakrad accused the Greek Orthodox Christians of trying to step on the Armenians' rights. "We are the weak ones, persecuted by them for many centuries."

The Greek Orthodox Patriarch in the Holy Land, Theofilos III, told The Associated Press that the Armenians are pushing to change the rules, challenging what he said was the dominance of the Greek church in the Holy Land.

"This behaviour is criminal and unacceptable by all means," he said. "They wanted to trespass on the status quo concerning the order that regulates the services between the various communities."

***

Bartian: We believe that God's last prophet, Bart Simpson preached a message of tolerance, and love.
Bartmanian: We believe the holy Bartman preached a message of understanding and peace, before he was betrayed by his follower, Milhouse! And pulled apart by snow-mobiles, until he died.
Bartians: Eat my shorts!!!
Bartmanians: Cowabunga!!!
(Both sides wage war)

from The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star

Sens Lose

Bah, Life goes on. Emery goes this summer, so does Redden, maybe Spezza, and next year is a fresh start.

I still say that the lame Spartan from the Game three jinxed the team...

***

Tough old bastards rule

Canada's Chuck Norris?

Kim Robinson, the man who caught triple child-slaying suspect Allan Schoenborn, is a hunter and dog breeder from BC. The Ontario-born Robinson, 51, lived 30 years in Merritt, working at logging and as a hunting guide. He owns two traplines in the area, and keeps a dozen hounds for hunting big game.

I watched him interviewed on TV… what a character. He’s a hard-bitten throwback… not so much Chuck Norris, but more like a Canadian Lee Marvin or John Wayne, with a hint of Don Cherry for good measure.Here's some of what he had to say about his encounter with the half-starved Schoenborn:

"I got a lot of friends out there. Some think I'm a good guy, some think I'm an outlaw"

"It wasn't a matter really of wanting to take it on. Right now I'm not doing anything. I have the wherewithal. I got a four-wheel-drive truck. I got dogs I'm used to listening to,"

"I'm not working right now. I had time on my hands. I wasn't worried about bumping into the guy or getting lost in the woods."

"He didn't 'survive.' He looked like anyone else who had gone for 10 days with no food and was too stupid to drink."

"He said, 'Are you going to kill me?' I said, 'No, but I will if I have to.'

"I'm 240 pounds and I've done hard shit all my life."

"I did thump his dog once when he was trying to bite me, but I did not hurt him. I was just trying to let him know that I was not the right guy to try and bite,"

"I thought he was some kind of drug addict. I even asked him that, 'What kind of dope are you on that has peeled all your meat off you?'"

"I'm glad it's over. It was a shitty mess. Not a positive thing about it."

A fiercely individualistic, self-sufficent, coarse, eminently quotable mountain n(of a) man is Mr. Robinson!

This Ain't Sparta

Seriously, Game 3 opening... WTF?

One can imagine the scenario: Two PR douches present their pitch for a pre-game show to Ottawa Senators executives:

PR Douch #1: So Senators, right? We need to leverage some excitement from the fan base through a theme

PR Douche #2: so here’s what we are thinking… forget Spartan Cat,… that does not play.

PR Douche#1: What the kids like now, what’s big this year is those half-naked guys from that movie 300

PR Douche #2: What are they called?

PR Douche#1: Greek dudes

PR Douche #2: Yeah, so we rent a costume, and we get some miked-up greek dude to come out to inspire people to cheer

PR Douche#1: Full fanfare!

PR Douche #2: He’s got the greek helmet, and greek cape, and a shield.

PR Douche#1: Now that says Senators!

PR Douche #2: And we get him to walk down the ranks of the Sens

PR Douche#1: With the greek-ish music and everything.

PR Douche #2: And he’ll do some lines from the movie and get people to cheer.

PR Douche#1: you know, motivate the team and the fans.

PR Douche #2: It will be something uniquely Ottawa Senators

Was it really as bad as I make it sound?




Yup.

In a pre-game opening that was supposed to symbolize Captain Daniel Alfredsson’s return, a buffed wannabe Spartan warrior took to the ice and spewed clichés from the movie 300. Unfortunately, hampered by a microphone malfunction and a teetering helmet, the effect was lost on most. Somewhere in the world, Gerard Butler was having a good laugh while King Leonidis must’ve been turning in his grave.

Homoerotic? Really? I would not go that far.

It was pretty terrible that they tried to pass off Frank Miller's stylized version of a Spartan Hoplite as a Roman Senator, though.

Oh yeah, Sens lost. They now face a sweep.

Here's a somewhat more accurate depiction of the appropriate roman armour, plus a pretty kickass battle scene:

400th Post

"There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human society, are created, strengthened and maintained”
Winston Curchill

I had no idea I was about to reach this milestone until I signed into my blogger account and looked at my dashboard... so I figured for my 400th post, I would just put up a picture of my family, from our last get together: Easter 2008 --we had just left mass and I snapped this photo in the parking lot.

It isn't quite a "complete" picture: Joe and Michelle could not make it down. I suppose as you get older and welcome spouses and offspring into your family, it gets harder to get everyone in one place at one time. That's why when it does happen, you cherish it.

Some members of the clan are heading to Spain for a cousin's wedding. We wish them a safe trip, and hope they make the best of their time over there.

***

The latest on the whole HRC farrago:
Paul Wells weighs in


If Paul be Against You, Who Can be With You?

Two Down

It was a valiant effort, but it wasn't enough. So the Sens go back to Ottawa down two games. It is gut check time

Go look up a picture of the Penguins' Tyler Kennedy. I won't put a picture up here, that would be wrong. But just do it.

Who does he remind you of?

The debate rages here

Some say he looks like Manbearpig,

Some say a bat,

Some say he's the spitting image of Paperboy


At one point, a compromise is suggested: Paperbatpig



Anyway, I say he’s the illegitimate son of Chief Clancy Wiggum! Nya!

Did You Drove or Did You Flew?

The Olympic flame was in San Francisco



Things did not go well



***

The playoffs have started.

Ottawa played their first game against the Penguins.

Again, things did not go well.

Ask Wade Redden, who played a bit of pokey-chest with Sid the Kid



Also Volchekov took a puck to the face, just as a bonus.

The good news is that Gerber came to play tonight.

The bad news is nobody else on the team did.

Harry Knowles

a.k.a. the big red dude
a.k.a. Headgeek

has diabetes.

the founder of AICN drops that tidbid on his loyal readers rather abruptly in this review of the new flick The Ruins. After his review, I think I just have to see this film… you see, I too was at Palenque, and I can recall that the jungle did indeed loom threateningly…

The big surprise is the outpouring of geek love and support in the talkbacks. In the past, some people have been absolutely vile with Harry, mocking his obesity along with his idiosyncratic writing style and his self-regard. This time, there is concern and good wishes.

He’s rather ludicrous -- by his own admission -- almost a cartoonish figure, is our Mr. Knowles, with his gigantic ginger head fringed with a chinstrap beard and long hair “like an irish setter” as he has described it. To me, he looks like a cross between late Jerry Garcia and Slimer from Ghostbusters, or rather, Slimer’s unseen red cousin.




Harry and Slimer: kindred spirits







And I loathe his ridiculous politics, as do many denizens of AICN, who regularly implore him to stick to movies, and not spew his leftwing nonsense in his reviews. Take for example, the poster who wrote the following nasty diatribe after Harry commented on the film Day Zero in his inimitable style: Imagine that John McCain wins the next election (this isn’t the premise – but merely how we could get to the premise in our reality) and decides to truly create a 100 year presence in Iraq.

Harry, you're a fucking moron slave
by expert_40
Feb 26th, 2008
07:35:22 AM

"Let's say if John McCain gets elected."

I despise ideologues, Harry. I despise them on both sides, because they truly don't know how stupid they sound when they let ridiculous statements like that escape their mouths. They don't understand how much of a slave they are, listening to others to know what to believe in. Sheep.

First of all, there's a reason why the military in this country is the best it's been since WWII. IT'S ALL VOLUNTARY. There's a saying we have in the Marine Corps: U Signed the Mother-fucking Contract.

The draft will never be reinstated, and for people to even insinuate it would be is ideological bullshit. Especially if they insinuate John McCain would do so. ESPECIALLY if they say "if he gets elected" like that gives him the power to do so without consent of Congress.

Harry, for the love of God, for someone who claims to love things like individuality and open-mindedness, you're a sheep who's only open-minded to his own beliefs.

Open your fucking eyes, stop inundating every word you write with your ideology and free your mind from slavery. Politics should be about voting your consciences, voting for the best person, no matter what party they are, or what color or gender they are. That's the way Jefferson wanted it. Man, I thank God I'm not a devoted slave like you or Rush Limbaugh or Al Franken or Ann Coulter.

"Imagine if John McCain got elected," well, Harry, I know that freezes your heart, but I can think of scarier things than 4 years of a moderate who doesn't walk in lockstep with his party, who gets along with the Democrats and doesn't mind working TOGETHER for real change, instead of you know, just talking about this abstract thing, "change," like one of the other candidates. That being said, I haven't yet made up my mind (isn't it great to actually be able to use your mind instead of it being enslaved to the left or the right? I think it is) yet, but when I do, my conscience, not ideology will guide me. No political party tells me what to believe in or who to vote for.

We know you're a fucking slave, Harry. So, for the love of God, stop reminding us with every post you write.

But nevertheless, there is no denying the man loves movies in a way few other people do... and I have to admit that his joy and wonder is infectious: He has gotten me pretty jazzed up about a movie through his sheer enthusiasm more than once.

His is a deep abiding love that has seen him through some major trials, including the death of his mother, his near paralysis, and 20 years of state and federal Bush regimes –Eagle Scout Knowles is a Texan, but he’s no red-state cowboy… he’s one of those exotic lefties from the Democrat enclave of Austin.

At any rate, diabetes is a disease that demands a serious commitment to healthy living, and Mr. Knowles has not been known for that type of thing during his decade-plus in the public eye… but I’m a believer in “second acts”, and as someone who has struggled to stay trim for almost his entire life –and who recently ran his first 10k run in nearly 2 years, I wish him well as he embarks upon this significant lifestyle change.

Bonne Chance, Headgeek.

Part 1 in a 37 Part Series: The Wit and Wisdom of Gisele Bundchen

Gisele on Acting:

“It was not like I was taking myself seriously and being like, OK, now I'm going to be an actress and I'm going to do a Shakespeare movie.”

“I think it's better when you're natural, when you just do whatever you want, instead of doing classes where I see all these other people holding back because they've been trained with certain skills or techniques. I'm like, whatever.”

“I'm not an actress, you know. I don't know what's going on. And I'm supposed to be the villain.”

“There always are these nightmare people around. Ugh. Anyway, they're always bugging. And they did get some pictures of me. They're so stupid.”

Gisele and Lebron Leibowitz cover sets back race relations 70 years; Obama yet to comment

***

I have to admit, Hillary made me laugh

Her husband, however, is starting to get scary: As we feared, Bill is going f-ing mental!

***

Go Sens Go

(At this point, what else can you do but cheer them on and hope for the best?)

Three Games To Midnight


Wayne Scanlan plays Cassandra :

Beware, Sens Army !


Three games to avoid infamy

Wayne Scanlan

The Ottawa Citizen
Tuesday, April 01, 2008

The shock is not that a bunch of teams are scrambling for a playoff berth in the final days of the NHL schedule.

That's just hockey business as usual.

The shock is to find, on April 1, the mighty Ottawa Senators among those teams.

Securing an 11th-hour playoff spot? That was always the patter from below, the noise of mice and their scurrying little feet trying to make a meal out of year-end table scraps.

Hockey's aristocracy -- and the Senators have been among them for the past four seasons -- were more concerned with the loftier business of resting their stars and aligning their talent for playoff detail.

Fine tuning a big machine for the bigger days head.

Let the middle class of the league fight to the death in the dying days of an 82-game schedule.

Well, welcome to the middle class, Ottawa. See how the other half lives.

It comes down to this for the Senators -- finish strong in the final three games, beginning with tonight's vital game against the physically battered Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Place -- or risk being associated with one of the biggest collapses in NHL history.

"It's not anything we're thinking about," says defenceman Chris Phillips, of the possibility of Ottawa missing the playoffs for the first time since 1996.

They would be thinking about it if it were to happen -- because no one would let them forget it.

The Senators would go down with baseball's 1964 Philadelphia Phillies and other infamous meltdowns late in the season.

For the first three months of the season, the Senators were the best team in the East, if not the best in the entire NHL.

When the Senators defeated the Detroit Red Wings in a January game, there were those who claimed the Senators were the class of the league.

By then, their mortality was already showing. Defensive mistakes were leading to big goals. The goaltending was an issue, whether Martin Gerber or Ray Emery was in net.

(They were both tardy -- Emery getting to practice; Gerber getting back into position after a save).

The captain, Daniel Alfredsson, got hurt, and he continues to play hurt. As the losses piled up, the team's confidence slipped away.

Ancient history, says Senators general manager and head coach Bryan Murray, using every ounce of his guile and experience to hold this thing together, to hold his own cool while the media pile on.

"This week," Murray says, "is all I can concern myself with."

It's concern enough for the entire team. For all of the so-called Sens Army that supports them in the stands and on the street.

It comes down to this: three games, all against divisional rivals (Montreal, Toronto, Boston). If Ottawa can win two of three, it has nothing to worry about until the first round of the playoffs begins. But if the Senators lose two of three games in regulation, they may have to worry about Washington or Carolina squeezing them out.

As Murray reminds us, this microscopic examination of a frightening scenario is hardly Ottawa's alone. Other teams currently just below, and even just above, Ottawa in the standings are also living dangerously.

Those teams, though, didn't start out with a 15-2 record to start the season. Those teams weren't 25-8-4 two days after Christmas.

Still, it's too early to fully dwell on how far the Senators have fallen because there remain three games to break the fall. Three games to get it right after so much went wrong.

After 79 games, the defending Stanley Cup finalists have given up an astounding 240 goals against -- more than any team in the East except Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Toronto. Not exactly the kind of company a team wants to keep.

The Senators haven't given up this many goals in a season since the post-expansion season of 1995-96, when a four-year-old Ottawa franchise surrendered 291 goals while finishing last overall in the NHL with 18 victories and 59 defeats.

"We're trying to stay positive," Phillips says.

Thanks for the reminder. Let's not dwell on how miserably things have gone when there are three precious games left to create a do-over in the postseason.

There is hope, and it comes draped in bleu, blanc et rouge.

The Canadiens, still trying to nail down first place in the Northeast Division, have had a hard time with the Senators this season. Already losers of five of the seven meetings, Montreal has been ravaged with injuries lately.

Captain Saku Koivu and top defenceman Michael Komisarek are out. So is defenceman Francis Bouillon.

Everything is there for the Senators to take a giant step toward a playoff spot, with a single win against a rival it owns on home ice.

"There's no sense getting in the playoffs if you can't win some games to get in the playoffs," Murray says.

"So, let's do it."

Last season at this time, the Senators had a "magic" about their play, says the coach.

Minus the magic, the Senators hope some old fashioned hard work might be the answer.

It's how the working classes deal with their problems.

Subscribers can read previous columns by Wayne Scanlan at ottawacitizen.com . He can be reached at wscanlan@thecitizen.canwest.com.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2008

Montreal Delenda Est !

All Out of Bubblegum

If you recognize that cryptic title as the tail end of a movie line, then like me, you probably had your mind blown by a John Carpenter 1980s classic.

I watched They Live again recently, and it is every bit as awesome as the A.V. Club would have us believe it is it is.

It features perhaps the craziest most balls-out street fight I've ever seen. Keith David and Hot Rod go at it like a couple of rabid dogs over their differing perspectives on eyewear:



If there was any justice in this world Roderick Toombs would be a genre superstar on par with Kurt Russell.

***

Other odds and Sods

I was on the fence over whether Obama deserved plaudits for "the speech"

Then I read Hitchens:

But is it "inflammatory" to say that AIDS and drugs are wrecking the black community because the white power structure wishes it? No. Nor is it "controversial." It is wicked and stupid and false to say such a thing. And it not unimportantly negates everything that Obama says he stands for by way of advocating dignity and responsibility over the sick cults of paranoia and victimhood.

As usual, he is right. Sorry, Barry. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

***

Guaranteed to give Cherniak an aneurism:

Lionel Chetwyn's History of the Trudeau Era

Yes, Virginia, There Are Commies

So says Zombie of San-Francisco-based Zombietime:

The communists are still here, and they're just as dangerous as they ever were, and have not relinquished their goal of overthrowing the United States and bringing an end to the capitalist system. And the reason I'm aware of this fact perhaps more than the typical person is that I often attend anti-war rallies, which is where communists really come out of the woodwork. In fact, not only are many of the people at these rallies up-front communists, but the rally organizers -- groups like ANSWER and World Can't Wait -- are themselves communist organizations. I'd even go so far as to venture that the entire anti-war protest movement has been completely taken over by communists.

Not pseudo-communists. Not people whom I'm insulting by casting an outdated epithet at them. Not people who in all innocence have some overlap with communist philosophy. Not mere left-wingers. Communists. And I'm tired of being afraid to lay it on the line and call it as I see it. I know history very well, and communism is a failed ideology that has only brought misery and oppression wherever it has triumphed. There. I've said it.

So, since when is it forbidden to mock one's ideological opponents? If the Rethuglicans can poke fun at the Demoncrats and vice-versa, why can't I taunt the communists by calling them by their least favorite word, commies? Who exactly could I be offending here -- except for the communists themselves? And if they're imaginary, then I'm not offending anyone, right?

What follows is a disturbing little photo essay, featuring the bottom-feeders from A.N.S.W.E.R and other assorted radical leftist malcontents, and at the end, Zombie concludes:

Now, to be frank, I don't think that these up-front kind of communist groups have any real chance of success at actually overthrowing the American system by force. They're almost buffoonish in their obviousness. But who I really do worry about are the "stealth communists," who introduce Marxist thought and collectivist philosophy into academia and mainstream entertainment without announcing what they're doing. These much more clever communist ideologues follow (knowingly or not) the writings of Antonio Gramsci, the Italian communist theorist who proposed infiltrating the schools and the media so as to subtly indoctrinate generations of youngsters, eventually paving the way for a "soft revolution" once a tipping point is reached in society. Already, Marxist thought patterns have become so standard in American mainstream cultural discourse that most people don't even know they're mimicking communist slogans.

But that's a different essay altogether.

There are legions of well-meaning principled anti-war protesters who believe in democracy, the rule of law, and the values that form the foundation of our society... I just think some of them should seriously consider whom they are making common cause with when they choose to participate in marches organized or sponsored by anti-democratic/revolutionary groups.

Something to ponder the next time you consider strapping on the ol' paper-mache head and joining the costumed capering performance artists prancing around an anti-war march.