Don't stay in bed, unless you can make money in bed. - George Burns

Monday, January 31, 2005

Want to know what happens when you combine a permissively liberal government with an all encompassing nanny state mentality?  This.

A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing “sexual services’’ at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year.

Prostitution was legalised in Germany just over two years ago and brothel owners – who must pay tax and employee health insurance – were granted access to official databases of jobseekers.

The waitress, an unemployed information technology professional, had said that she was willing to work in a bar at night and had worked in a cafe.

She received a letter from the job centre telling her that an employer was interested in her “profile’’ and that she should ring them. Only on doing so did the woman, who has not been identified for legal reasons, realise that she was calling a brothel.

Under Germany’s welfare reforms, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job – including in the sex industry – or lose her unemployment benefit. Last month German unemployment rose for the 11th consecutive month to 4.5 million, taking the number out of work to its highest since reunification in 1990.

The government had considered making brothels an exception on moral grounds, but decided that it would be too difficult to distinguish them from bars. As a result, job centres must treat employers looking for a prostitute in the same way as those looking for a dental nurse.

Brought to you by the same moralists who opposed the Iraq war.

Today’s brilliant observation comes from reader Demosthenes.

I found bitter irony in the Iraq elections.  People who voted there had a good chance of dying.  The fucking losers in America running around with “Vote or Die” shirts probably did neither.

Yeah, but it made P-Diddy look so super cool.

Once again the UN demonstrates some of that moral authority that the lefties keep telling us about.

Sudan’s foreign minister said Monday a U.N. report concluded that no genocide was committed in his country’s Darfur region, where tens of thousands of civilians have died in a nearly two-year crisis.

At U.N. headquarters in New York, diplomats confirmed that the report did not find that Sudan had committed genocide, but they said it was very critical of Sudanese government actions. The report was expected to be circulated in New York on Tuesday.

The United States has accused Sudan’s government of directing militia who attack civilians in what Washington has called a genocidal campaign in the western region.

“We have a copy of that report and they didn’t say that there is a genocide,” Sudan Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said on the sidelines of an African Union summit in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

Last year, the United Nations said the Darfur conflict created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Sunday a report on the situation would be forwarded to Security Council members “very shortly.”

Let us not forget, gentle reader, that the United States went on the record months ago calling what was going on in Darfur “genocide.” The UN, however, has refused to make that designation, because if it did so then it would be required to actually do something about it.  And if there’s one thing the UN is known for, it’s talking a lot about doing something but then never actually doing it.

Once again, I introduce you to Michael Moore’s beloved Minutemen and Revolutionaries.

The official, Falah al-Naqib, said a handicapped child was used to carry out one of more than three dozen suicide attacks on election day.

“A handicapped child was used to carry out a suicide attack on a polling site,” al-Naqib said. “This is an indication of what horrific actions they are carrying out.”

Police at the scene of a Baghdad blast say the bomber appeared to have Down’s Syndrome.

It was one of 38 attacks Sunday at polling stations, which left more than 40 dead.

Remember, as the left keeps telling us, all they want is to be free from US fascist oppression.

I had to call the IRS this morning about a matter.  Their office opens at 8:00am, and I wanted to make sure I could finish this call before I left for work.  So I called, literally, at 8:00am.  It’s now almost 8:45, and I am still on hold, without having spoken to anyone.

Your government at work.

This is an interesting point.

The Washington Times has reported that Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has urged PBS to refund taxpayer dollars used toward production and circulation of a cartoon program featuring lesbian parents. The particular episode of “Postcards from Buster” was scheduled to air on February 2 in classrooms across the country.

This report comes just a day after Accuracy in Media (AIM) called for an end to taxpayer dollars subsidizing public radio and television broadcasts. AIM Editor Cliff Kincaid says that it has become clear since Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post reported that Maggie Gallagher accepted compensation for a story that the liberal media are only against taxpayer subsidies for journalists when conservative.

“The liberal media has found another conservative scalp, that of syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher, to hang on their wall, along with that of Armstrong Williams. But the money involved in these two cases is peanuts compared to the $400 million being taken from U.S. taxpayers every year to finance the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,” charged Kincaid. “Yet we don’t hear any cries from the press about liberals on NPR or PBS getting government hand-outs.”

“It’s wrong to take this money and wrong not to disclose it,” said Kincaid. “But it’s also wrong to force the taxpayers to pay for public television and radio. The federal government should get out of the business of paying for journalism, whether it’s on the right or the left.”

Absolutely, I couldn’t agree more.  But look at the reverence that the left holds PBS, like it’s some kind of bulwark against biased media, when it’s arguably the most biased media outlet in the country.

They shoulda seen this one coming.

A U.S. judge ruled on Monday that the Guantanamo military tribunals for terrorism suspects are unconstitutional.

In a setback for the Bush administration, U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens Green also ruled the prisoners at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have constitutional protections under the law.

“The court concludes that the petitioners have stated valid claims under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and that the procedures implemented by the government to confirm that the petitioners are ‘enemy combatants’ subject to indefinite detention violate the petitioners’ rights to due process of law,” Green wrote.

I’ve mentioned this a number of times in the past.  You simply cannot set up a system which imprisons people indefinitely without a trial.  If the Bush administration had afforded these prisoners some kind of representation or given them a hearing of some type then this ruling might have gone in their favor.  But if I was this judge I would have made the same decision.  Let us not forget that a presumption of innocence is the bedrock of our legal system, and these men are ebtitled to it as well.  Let me put it this way, if a serial killer was found in a pool of blood, holding a blood-soaked knife, surrounded by the corpses of children he just mutiliated, he would still be granted the presumption of innocence, and a case would have to be made against him.  This is a right that is absolutely inviolable. 

And I understand the temptation to say, “Hey, fuck those guys.  They were on the battlefield trying to kill Americans.” Believe me, I have the same feelings sometimes.  But if we set up a system by which we imprison people without trial, ostensibly forever, then we lower ourselves to the level of those we are fighting against.  We’re better than them, and one of the ways we demonstrate it is in the way we act.  And I think that too often in this conflict out government has not acted the way it should, and it will hurt us in the long run to some degree.

On the day of the Iraqi election, we here at Right-Thinking from the Left Coast have a special message for all the nay-saying lefties who said this could never happen.  To the Michael Moores and John Kerrys and Ted Kennedys of the world, who will view this momentous occasion through the bitter prism of their own partisan hatred.  It is in honor of those brave Iraqi citizens, and on their behalf, that I send this message out to everyone who would rather have Iraq living in slavery.

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Sorry for the lack of posting today.  I’ve worked three 70+ hour weeks in a row, and I’m absolutely exhausted.  So I’ve decided to take the day off blog-wise.  I realize there’s the Iraqi elections and everything going on, but as the Brits say, I’m knackered.  See you tomorrow.

Saturday, January 29, 2005

You know what’s hilarious?  When some soulless mega-corporation tries to capture the urban youth market by using street slang in their advertising, while having absolutely no idea what that slang actually means.  Case in point?  Check out the McDonald’s banner advertisement at the top of this page. 

For those of you who aren’t cool enough to be up on the lingo, “I’d hit it” means “I’d have sex with it.” It’s used when a guy sees a hot chick, after which he says, “Mmmm, I’d hit it.” In other words, according to McDonald’s this guy is looking to fuck his cheeseburger.

Update: For those who can’t see it for one reason or another, here’s a quick screen grab.

Major Wasabi has some thoughts on abortion based on some comments she read, of all places, here.

Okay, I frequent another blog, http://right-thinking.com because I can appreciate the conservative viewpoints expressed there, even if I disagree with some. But lately, it just keeps coming back to the topic of abortion. Its always, abortion’s wrong, its the fault of all those dumb selfish sluts out there who are too slutty to have the kids or not be sluts. Blah blah. Its always a bunch of men bitching about this. It kinda bugs me.

Enjoy the rant.

He’s a professional beautician who likes to dress like Elvis.  He’s got a Jewish first name and a Japanese last name.  So, what’s the last thing you would ever imagine this character doing?

Iraqi expatriate Benjamin Nissan, a beautician who said he likes to dress like Elvis Presley, casts his ballot Friday, Jan. 28 2005, in Skokie, Ill., as voting begins in Iraq’s first independent elections in more than 50 years. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

After taking part in his first ever Iraqi election, Benjamin Nissan went home, made hissef a mess uh fried peanut butter an’ ‘nana sandwiches, then suffered a massive heart attack while taking a dump.  Seriously, though, how cool must it be for these guys living here to take part in this process?  Good for them, and good for those voters in other countries as well.

Some numbnuts didn’t like my Sharon Stone post below.

Sharon Stone’s efforts will save human lives. Children who would otherwise die from maliaria will not, because they were given bed netting which their impoverished parents could not afford.  But you do not care about that.  Much too busy being a jerk. “Bed Netting” sounds so inane to the moronic, to the ill-informed.

You do not, will not, care about facts. 

Much easier to make moronic judgements about people doing whatever they can to relieve ANY suffering of which they become aware. And of course you have that cheering squad of registered comment suppliers.  Nary a disagreement among your bunch; like you, sophomoric, self important, self indulgent, judgemental, ungracious, uncaring, idiots. While you and your small minded, testosterone deficient buddies are busy masturbating over some barely post-pubescent would-be actress, Ms. Stone actually DOES SOMETHING TO RELIEVE SUFFERING. Actually makes herself useful. Actually participates in society. 

Since so many people have covered the DDT angle, I’ll just respond that Sharon Stone is a talentless skank.  The best thing she could ever do to relieve human suffering is stop making movies.

Friday, January 28, 2005

And who says celebrities are worthless idiots?  Usually me.

Actress Sharon Stone has raised $1 million (530,000 pounds) in five minutes from business tycoons at the Davos World Economic Forum to fund bed nets to protect African children from malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

If you’ve seen Sharon Stone lately, you’ll understand that this is the first thing that she’s raised in a long, long time.

The animal park’s tiger magic was no match for the Canadian’s dragon magic.

A stripper mauled by a tiger in an Ontario safari park has won C$800,000 (341, 560 pounds) in damages because her scars meant she could no longer work, Canadian media say.

Jennifer-Anne Cowles was driving through the park nearly nine years ago with her then boyfriend when a tiger jumped into their car and tried to drag them away. The two insisted their windows had been shut when the tiger charged, although the park had challenged that.

The judge accepted on Friday the couple’s testimony that the power windows had been inadvertently lowered when one of the big cats bumped against the car, frightening them.

In a ruling delivered on Thursday and reported in a number of Canadian newspapers, Justice Jean MacFarland said she could only imagine the “stark terror experienced by these young people during this horrendous event.”

She awarded Cowles over C$800,000 in damages, almost half of it to compensate for income she would have made as a stripper.

Her musician boyfriend, David Balac, won C$1.7 million, because his injuries left him unable to work as an accordion player.

This, of course, begs a couple of questions.  The first is, how the hell would anyone who was a professional accordion player ever, in their entire life, make $1.7 million?  And the second, did the court take into acount the stripper’s diminishing earning ability as she aged?  If you are calculating her lifetime earning ability as a stripper, the more thing start to sag and go soft the less she’ll be able to earn.  A 22 year old stripper makes a hell of a lot more money than one at 36.

And, on a side note, I apologize for the title to this post, which could possibly be the worst one I have ever come up with.