Greta Van Susteren Has a Fit of Stupid

Not surprised?  Neither is much of her audience.  Read this and giggle.

I must add that every once in a while, I get to wondering exactly who is watching Fox News.  Yes, we all know the Teabaggers do, but I’m talking about the majority of people who watch this network.

Reason for the musing about Fox News is a newspaper, the Chicago Sun-Times, which has recently been trying to court the Teabaggers for whatever reason.  To the Sun-Times, all of a sudden the Teabaggers’ rallies are “people getting involved” and “concerned taxpayers”, and “a good thing” rather than what they really are: spoiled brats getting together for a nice noisy nasal whine about nothing in particular that they understand.  ‘Cuz they don’t understand anything.

The Sun-Times hasn’t been much of a newspaper for many years, and its descent to the status of Teabagger Rag hasn’t helped its circulation one bit.  (For one thing, they probably should have checked to see if the Teabaggers could read.)  One wonders why they continue to pursue this.  For instance, recently when the Wasilla Windbag made an appearance in Chicago, the Sun-Times put her on page 1.  Yours truly bought it simply because I couldn’t believe it.  I mentioned this to a store clerk.

What I got was a big smile: “I think she’s funny,” the clerk said.  As in, the clerk couldn’t see how anyone could take Sarah Palin seriously.

Now I’m wondering if there aren’t a lot of people like that watching Fox News.  May we use Van Susteren’s poll to prove it?  And if the Sun-Times pursues the crown of Teabagger Rag long enough, will the same people read it just to laugh?

Anyway…of course, the Stupid of the Day Award goes to Greta Van Susteren.  Take a bow, Blondie.

So much stupid your head hurts

Read in a little article yesterday that Ms. Palin — the big one, not the little wanna-be — is sucking in hundreds of thousands of dollars from suckers all across the U.S…well you knew that.  But maybe you didn’t know that she’s doing it by speaking to groups such as some realtor’s association as well as a bowling-alley owners’ group.  And is she tailoring her canned babble for these groups?  From reports, at the realtor’s convention she just barely did so.  (Yah know, she coulda talked about her Alaska real-estate taxes, but noooo…..)

As for me, I can’t even figure out what her canned babble is supposed to be about — except that it always appears to be the direct opposite of the truth.

I still want to know how she’s landed in this position as a desired speaker, and how long she can keep fooling people into forking over the bucks.  One would think reality would catch up to her, and I have thought that many times.  But it never seems to happen.

Sometimes I wish to still be around in 50 or 60 years just so I can know how history views this creature.  Will she become the new Will Rogers or just another addition to the Whatever Happened To list?  The answer will provide the answer to my other burning question: how far has U.S. civilization fallen?

Christian bitches have a funny relationship with the truth.  For instance, there’s a woman I know who is a pathological liar.  I can’t give specifics here, but to listen to her you would think she’s been a world-class athlete, a famous beauty, and one of Picasso’s main competitors in the contemporary art world.  In reality she’s been an alcoholic loser most of her adult life.

But she hides behind the Jesus thing, and it seems that because of that she has some sort of license to continue being a condescending bitch and stupid to boot.  Although things go wrong for her, they never seem to go massively wrong, and she can always count on the support of fellow Christian bitches (who show very little or no compassion for the rest of us).  And so she is enabled.  She just continues on her merry blinkered way.

Just like Ms. Palin.

Do we have a new industry here?  An industry where we blindly support stupidity as long as it has a Christian label on it?  I’ll be looking into this further, but next time at the Republican candidate for Illinois governor, Bill Brady.  Stay tuned.

As storm chasing gets more popular, dangers and conflicts increase

As storm chasing gets more popular, dangers and conflicts increase

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I posted this because it illuminates a bit about why there is a need for government intervention: to protect ourselves from ourselves.

Yes I know, such intervention is mentioned nowhere in the article.  But it is apparently under consideration in at least two states (possibly four) in the prime chasing area.  It’s said that they’re now wanting to license storm chasers.

A bit of history: storm chasing as a hobby and a profession has been around for possibly up to 40 years.  It experienced an uptick in popularity after the tremendously popular movie “Twister” was released in the mid-1990’s, and now it has exploded mostly because of a Discovery Channel program called “Storm Chasers.”  Nowadays isolated areas are seeing traffic jams comprised almost entirely of chasers.  It’s unprecedented…and in many places, unwelcome.

I heard one estimate that about half the storm chasers on any given storm are brand-new, and a lot of those have no idea what they are doing.  Ironically, however, the worst safety threats don’t seem to be coming from them (they are usually only a threat to themselves) but from the people who have been in the business a long time.

Again, why is this article in this blog?  Just consider the history of storm chasing and then consider the history of other things…health care and banking, for instance.  It isn’t too far of a stretch, honestly.  Folks, this is how it happens.  People just seem to invite the government intervention that they so claim to hate.

Watch and learn.

Money for Nothing

Bristol Palin is charging what for what?

I just read that this little creep is going to charge $30,000 or so for speaking engagements.  What she wants to talk about: abstinence, her “outlook on life,” parenting…in other words, stuff she clearly doesn’t know much about.

Okay, that’s it.  I want speaking engagements and I want at least $60,000 because I’m sure I can do at least twice as well as Little Miss Palin.  And I won’t even tell you what I’ll talk about because judging by Little Miss Palin’s subjects, it clearly doesn’t matter.  Fair enough?

Of Media and Reality

For a complete update of this article, please see Re-Post: Of Media and Reality, November 27, 2010 (click on November 2010 archive at the left of this page)

The other day I came across a striking dichotomy in the storm-chasing world: the Discovery Channel TV series Storm Chasers, and a web-cast called The Debris Show which was created by actual storm chasers.  I felt it was pretty indicative of what is going on generally in the media — particularly in the “reality” arena — so I thought I’d muse about it a bit on this blog.

Storm Chasers is an admittedly gripping reality show that follows the exploits of people who chase storms — usually aiming for tornadoes — for a living or at least a very expensive hobby.  Partially because of this show, and not a little bit because of the 1996 fantasy movie Twister, kids all over the U.S. and Canada, and people of all ages from all over the world now dream of being glamorous storm chasers…the new cowboys, astronauts, or rock stars, if you will.  You read stuff all the time in chat rooms and on video comments such as “I can’t wait to storm chase when I grow up!” or “I need a car and then I can storm chase!”  There are also more than just a few would-be storm chasers in the U.K. and Europe, both of which seem to be taken by tornado-envy at present even though it appears they’re having an increasing number of their own tornadoes to contend with.

Of course it’s a dangerous fantasy that will no doubt lead to some dumb bunny getting killed, but in the meantime, we have Storm Chasers providing all the fuel you’d ever want.  (Note: Discovery Channel is now apparently considering showing a “nature series” produced by Sarah Palin, which may give you some idea about DC’s grip on reality.)

Of course, TV being TV, things are probably not the way they are hinted to be on this show.  For instance:

(1) The show makes it look like the majority of chases end with delicious tornadoes.  (Apparently in the real world, only a fraction of chases find tornado-producing storms.)

(2) The show puts the chasers themselves into neat Hollywood categories, such as The Scientist (Josh Wurman, who is no longer on the show), The Artist (Sean Casey, the IMAX film-maker), The Heart-Throb (Reed Timmer), The Good Guy (Tim Samaras), The Sidekicks (Joel Taylor, et al).  They’re all good-looking and it’s all very neat and very glamorous.  (Please note that I am not belittling the abilities of any of these chasers.)

(3) Of course there have been some manufactured controversies: Joel and Reed had a fight; Sean and Josh and Reed all had fights; Sean disrespected Reed and Josh disrespected everybody.  I did some research: in reality, Joel is back with Reed and Sean is broadcasting streams from Reed’s website.  Josh is nowhere in sight.  Clearly something got lost in translation on Storm Chasers.  But then again, yet another chase team called The Twister Sisters is now filming a reality show as well; they were earlier this year looking for a couple to ride with them — but only if the couple had serious relationship issues.  Now folks, take that and apply it to storm chasing.  You can’t?  I’m not surprised.  That’s TV.

The other night I was wandering around the Web and found the other side of the coin: a web-cast produced by storm chasers themselves.  It was an hour chat show where they — chasers with no makeup — sat around and swore, farted, belched, drank, and generally told the long grinding truth about the lives of storm chasers — most of whom seem to do this as a hobby, not as a full-time business, because the competition is overwhelming; tornado videos are nothing if not plentiful these days and there’s barely a (daytime) funnel cloud that goes unfilmed.

During this chat I realized why a storm chaser in a chat room recently sniped “tell me where Vortex 2 (Wurman’s team) will be today so I can be at least 50 miles away” (implied: “…where the tornado is”).  It’s all street smarts, guts and instinct with this bunch, and long weary miles on the road.  Only the toughest survive.  Bookworms need not apply.

So why am I writing this?  Because I’m still trying to figure out why the media take the Wasilla Windbag so seriously.  Honest.  I’d started to think we were dealing with an alternate reality here — a media reality — and now, I know I’m right.

P.S. If you found this blog article while doing a search about the show Storm Chasers (and I know you probably have), here are some answers to the Google questions I’ve seen on my stat page:

(1) Josh Wurman no longer appears much on Storm Chasers, nor can he help Sean Casey, because Josh is now a government employee on a government-funded study.  No, I do not know the details; all I know is what I heard on the show. OKAY?

(2) Yes, Reed and Joel are back together.  Most of their problems seem to stem from Reed’s behavior.  This has been discussed frequently on the show.

(3) Yes, Reed and Chip are back together.  Most of their problems seem to stem from Reed’s behavior.  This has been discussed frequently on the show.

(4) No, Ginger is no longer in the picture.  She was probably there because the producers thought she was pretty and that’s about it.  Yes, she is a real meteorologist, as of this writing working for an NBC affiliate in Chicago.  End of story.

(5) Sadly, Matt Hughes died suddenly in May of 2010 from a non-storm-related injury.  Any speculation made by fans is purely that and nothing more.  His family wants privacy and this should be respected.

(6) As of this edit (11/25/10), a lot of Storm Chasers fans have their knickers in knots over something Josh, in a rare appearance on the show, said to Sean…something to the effect that Josh holds the purse strings of the TIV and due to a reckless driving incident, Josh was making Sean take the TIV off the road.  Please note that this is apparently TV drama only; Josh never said that to Sean although he did berate Sean for allowing the TIV driver to be an idiot (this is according to a Facebook post by Wurman’s daughter). What you saw on TV was just the unfortunate result of editing — you know, kinda like when they have the tornado on one side of the road in one shot, then on the other, then suddenly back where it was originally but gosh doesn’t the landscape look completely different.  Okay?

(7) Are you getting the message?  The show you are asking about is part truth and mostly manufactured, and if you intend to enjoy it, you accept that and listen to what the hell they’re saying and stop asking stupid questions. If you want gossip, I’m sure some of the players on the show will turn up in the pages of the National Enquirer sooner or later.  Or consider this: according to other chasers, Storm Chasers is using tornado footage not obtained by themselves or the chasers on the show, and they are neither paying for nor crediting said footage.  Plus, at least once they have credited Reed with being at a tornado where he was not, and also hinted that he and his buddies were the only chasers at a tornado (Yazoo City), when in fact there were at least a half-dozen others.  Now folks, that’s reality.

(8) No you cannot do a storm tour in the TIV, the Dominator, or with TWISTEX, but some of the chasers you see on the show just may friend you on Facebook, not that they will ever read anything you write there because they all have 40,000 other friends on Facebook.  If you want a tour, just Google “storm tour.”  There are a lot of chasers who would be all too happy to take you along at a cost of about $2500.00 for a week of major physical discomforts (no matter how much you complain — and some of the less-polished chasers will cuss you right out of the car if you do).  And don’t forget, there’s no guarantee you’ll see anything approaching a tornado.

Cheers.

and oh, yes…P.P.S.: the 2010 season was the last season that Vortex 2 (Josh Wurman’s team) would clog up the roads with 40 or more vehicles traveling in a lengthy convoy, claim they have more right to be there than anyone else, heap scorn on non-scientific chasers, allegedly nearly run over a non-Vortex chaser or two, and generally be pains in the ass.  From now on, their work will focus on data analysis (that is, they will not be on the road).  This should relieve the increasingly-frequent “chaser convergence” outrages somewhat, although I’m sure NOTHING will ever stop certain idiots from threatening chasers’ lives because they got in Sean’s way, or in Reed’s.  If you’ve done that, kiddo, get a life, and by all means stop watching Storm Chasers because it seems that it’s too much for you.

Big Wind from Wasilla, Part II

Just a word on the local media coverage of Palin’s blabberings:

(1) I did not know until Keith Olbermann said it that the sponsor of this event was an Illinois firm that specializes in selling battery-powered back-up sump pumps.  So may we call Ms. Palin the Back-Up Sump-Pump Queen?  (To read more and find out what she was paid, plus more about an earlier fund-raiser she did for the IL Rup Party, read this.  Striking that the supporters who were interviewed could not give any specifics about why they admire her.)

(2) The local media did focus on the fact that about 4,000 people showed up and were wildly cheering.  All this tells me is that we have 4,000 teabaggers in the area who are stupid enough to cheer the Back-Up Sump-Pump Queen (BUSPQ).  Considering the population of the area, it’s not very impressive.  Of course, neither is the Illinois Republican Party.

(3) I suppose someone noticed…but I did not see it emphasized…that at least one key Republican candidate for an Illinois office avoided these events.  And no it was not the Rup candidate for governor, who is still struggling with the fact that the world is not flat and apparently has no idea that mass-gassing of shelter animals is extraordinarily cruel. Then again, extraordinary cruelty and Sarah Palin seem to go together, don’t they.

Again, it was very striking to me that her acolytes could only explain their admiration for her in the most general terms.  I’ve also noticed this on YouTube videos praising the BUSPQ; they seem to consist mostly of slideshows: photos of Palin dreamily drifting by while music plays in the background, with the occasional “explanation” of why “liberals” hate her — which of course never makes sense.  The brainwashing is complete, and I’d like to know how she accomplished it.

And now I feel it fair to ask: why are the media trying to force the BUSPQ down our throats?

I Admit I Found This on Another Blog

But it’s too good not to pass on.  It’s actually the Comedy Channel’s anyway:

Glenn Beck\’s Nazi Tourette\’s

Uh…DUH

Big Job Cuts Mean Short Term Gain

No shit, Sherlock.

Remember Old Hollywood?  What they used to do was pay their stars outlandish salaries and then encourage them to spend every cent on lavish homes and toys.  It was kind of like the old company store…everything on credit, to be taken out of a future paycheck.  In the end, when their contracts were canceled, they were broke because the studio owned everything they had.  It didn’t work with a few of them who planned ahead, but the majority of them didn’t.

That’s what happened to the U.S. since the 1980’s.  You know, back in the days when that nice man Ronald Reagan was in office.

Here are some other things that might surprise Wall Street:

There is no such thing as employee loyalty if the company doesn’t return the loyalty.

An economy based on temp workers ultimately does not work.

Homes that cost more than a few hundred thousand dollars are too expensive for the majority of people to buy.  Note: the majority of people in the U.S. earn less than $50,000.00 a year.

People can’t buy stuff at all if they don’t have jobs.  They can’t get jobs if you won’t hire them.  (And oh yes — if the jobs they can get pay less than a living wage, they still can’t buy stuff.)

There’s no sense bringing in more immigrants, especially not in this economy.  It’s a cruel joke.  (For an example of a “cruel joke,” look at Bill Clinton.  He has no idea, and doesn’t keep quiet about it, either.  And do I even have to mention Sarah Palin?)

The U.S. doesn’t have the highest standard of living in the world.  Far from it.  Life is not automatically better for people who come here.  Life pretty much sucks for people who live here.  You can pay Sarah Palin all you want to lie about it, but the fact is that Lincoln was right: you can’t fool all the people all of the time.  And what’s she doing trying to attract immigrants in the first place?  I thought she ran on a racist platform (whatever the term “racist” actually means these days).

Yes, our present healthcare system, which still hasn’t been reformed, is feeding into our economic woes and discouraging entrepreneurship.

You can’t plan long-term if no one else is.

What is Wall Street doing, carving up the U.S. melon?  I think so.  Again, it goes back to long-term planning.  Once upon a time, we were “carving up the Chinese melon.”  China withdrew and eventually turned the tables.  Look at them now.

Some of the people in the U.S. whose lives you are playing with are even less passive than the Chinese of old.  You won’t get to keep melon-carving for long.  My advice?  Stop trying.  Think ahead.

Big Wind from Wasilla

This just in: I read on The Immoral Minority that Sarah Palin will be speaking at a fundraiser for Illinois Republicans on May 12…and get this: many of the local candidates are running away from her!

In the case of one candidate for Senator, Mark Kirk, this amazes me because just last fall he appeared to be terrified of Palin and was trying to gain her favor and endorsement.  Kirk is, you see, a fairly moderate Republican and this was during the time that the Wasillabilly was openly threatening Repubs who weren’t, in her opinion, appropriately arch-conservative.

Now he’s avoiding her.  Interesting.

Illinois Republicans were once described by a local news commentator as “the party that could slip on its own banana peel.”  Well folks, you’re missing your chance because Sarah Palin is one hell of a banana peel.  I’m amazed.

And as for the Wasillabilly…I imagine she will draw quite a crowd.  We do have a fair number of teabaggers here, but the majority of us do not do stupid very well.  Crooked?  Obviously we’re hooked on it.  Insane…well yes; how else does one explain Blagojevich?  But stupid?  You don’t last long in Illinois if you’re doing stupid.

The best example of this I can give is a conversation I overheard years ago on ham radio.  There was a gubernatorial race going on at the time, and one candidate was a known crook and the other a known idiot.  “If I have a choice,” said the ham, “I’ll take the crook over the idiot.”

So I’m guessing that outside of the teabaggers, the rest who will show up at this fund-raiser will be well-heeled curiosity-seekers.  Among the questions they may mutter as she speaks:

What is it?

What language does it speak?

Is it delicious?

Is it chic?

Is it Princess Di?  Shall we invite it to a soiree?

No, wait, Princess Di died a long time ago…it must be…

NOBODY.

And golly gee, they’ll be right.

It does not work, part II

Now about that Facebook petition advocating putting a law in place that welfare recipients have to be drug-tested…

3-2-1…think

Okay, so this petition was probably dreamed up by a teabagger.  That means that thinking is not part of the equation here.  Great; that explains some of it.

First of all in the “does not work” category is the issue of the assumption that everyone on welfare is also on drugs, which is as false as the assumption that everyone who is not on welfare is not on drugs.

Second comes the issue of socialism. You know, teabagger, that thingie that is commie and socialist and Marxist and takes your freedom to own a gun away.

Third, if you don’t want to pay taxes, who is going to pay for this and how?

HOW is a big issue.  I mean HOW are you intending to carry this off?  Mass round-ups?

And WHAT will you do with those assholes who are on welfare and also are on drugs?  Submit them to reprogramming? Isn’t that…um…socialist?

(Oh you say Reverend So-And-So can cure the drug addicts if you give him millions in donations.  No.  All Reverend So-and-So is going to do is buy himself a tv show, get his hair done, wear fancy rings, say stupid stuff, and possibly misuse your money and abuse minors as well.  If Reverend So-and-So is associated with the Catholic Church, most of the above has already been done for him, so why bother?)

Why are you so FOR mandated drug testing and so AGAINST healthcare reform?  Yes, darling, the two are related.

All I can say is, this petition is stupid.  And so, to all who dreamed it up and all who have signed it, I have the prize: a Stupid of the Day award.  Take a bow, morons.