Just like the Sports Guy’s Intern, here are some links that have caught my attention over the past week:
When Evangelical Christians promote divisive bigotry and rightfully enraged gay-friendly people act like belligerent assholes about it, nobody wins. Except the Rockies, that is.
If you haven’t heard about Benjamin Vanderford’s little fake beheading video (and why would you if you read this blog for your news?), here’s Ben and his co-producers’ feelings on the whole situation. The scary thing about this story isn’t just that some guy faked a beheading video to further his bid for political office (perhaps he was trying to win while dead, a la Mel Carnahan?), but that national media picked up and distributed the story without even checking it. The video doesn’t even bother me so much, as there are a lot of freaks in San Francisco. But when a beheading video includes the address of the alleged victim, someone should really find out whether it’s legit before reporting it as actual news.
Steve Silver and some of his friends are raising money for charity with their Length of Manhattan Walk tomorrow. It might be too late to join, but you can still pledge money to their chosen cause (which I suggested), Mark Cuban’s Fallen Patriot Fund.
I’m all for saving the environment. That’s why I’m completely confused by this environmental group that protested overfishing by piling 11,000 fish of their own outside Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. And lest you think they at least bought fish that were already dead, here’s a quote from one of them: “We caught the fish in the North Sea on board the Greenpeace ship Esperanza using a standard 10 meter commercial fishing net. The net has a huge pipe attached that sucks up fish indiscriminately like a giant vacuum cleaner.” For their next protest, the group plans to club baby seals and coat them in crude oil.
General Motors was found not guilty in Derrick Thomas’ wrongful death trial. When you’re speeding on icy roads and not wearing your seat belt, there’s really nobody to blame but yourself. While this story isn’t funny, I dare you not to smirk when you read the fourth paragraph. Perhaps Thomas was attempting to have a baby’s mama to go with every sack he had in that 1990 game against Seattle.
Charter schools are struggling. And the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (“No Child Left Behind,” my ass) is asinine.
The Iraqi men’s soccer team is the most heartwarming story of this Olympiad. Too bad Bush has already usurped it for political gain, much to the team’s chagrin. Like many on the left, the team hated that they were living under Saddam’s regime, yet holds little respect for Bush. That whole “with us or against us thing” is going to be pretty damn hard to reconcile in this case.
In other Olympic news, one of the greatest gymnastic comebacks in history (wow, I’ll never use that phrase again) turns out to have been a mistake. Paul Hamm’s opponent, Yang Tae-young, was incorrectly docked an extra tenth of a point that would have vaulted him (no pun intended) into first place, leaving Hamm with a silver. Right now, it looks like Tae-young will also receive a gold, but Hamm gets to keep his, as well. Everybody wins! Except the judges, who were suspended.
Keith Olbermann refutes Michelle Malkin’s outlandish claims (scroll down to 8/20′s 4:30pm entry) with simple, widely available facts. Best line? “She�s an author or a journalist or something, and she misquoted the insult to herself.” (italics his) With thinly-veiled suggestions that John Kerry intentionally injured himself in Vietnam and a book that claims American World War II internment camps are a good idea, Malkin has quickly become the Asian Ann Coulter.
Know what bugs me the most about this? The whole “accusing Kerry of things without really accusing him” method. Malkin keeps saying the book suggests that Kerry’s purple hearts were from intentional, self-inflicted wounds. “Some people” say that he was looking for a way out that would let him run for President 30 years later. Hell, I can do that, too. “Some people” say George Bush is a Nazi. “Certain websites” suggest his IQ to be lower than 75. The only difference between my crazy claims and Malkin’s are that she gets to repeat hers to a national audience.
