Small Town Democracy in action. Here is a collection of youtube videos of the Cranston, RI school board meeting, discussing the possible appeal regarding the banner case.
To whet your appetite (watch it and love it):
Cuttlecap tip to Caution Church Ahead
If the living undead
Have your thoughts filled with dread
And you’re seeking a morsel of heaven
Well, the people who make
All that spongy, filled cake
Have just filed for chapter eleven!
Yes, for some, dreadful news
And they’re singing the blues,
But some info is poorly construed
See, this cream-filling log,
On the NPR blog,
Has been categorized under “food”!
Yes, NPR is reporting that Hostess Brands Inc. is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Now, I haven’t eaten any of their products in years–perhaps decades–but think of them fondly, in the same way I think of avocado-colored kitchen appliances, greasy-spoon diners and curling linoleum, as icons of my early memories.
Michael Pollan would, of course, not call Twinkies a food at all, but a food-like substance. One could wish that the decline of Hostess might be blamed on a new health-conscious attitude; that is one of the company’s claims. But I don’t think whole-wheat twinkies will sell. If they are to survive, how will they be re-framed? Collector’s items? Zombie insurance?
I think the GOP candidates need to put out the word that Twinkies are patriotic. Eat them at every photo op, sign them for supporters, use them as props to evoke that nostalgia for a better, more simpler time. Plus, it could come in handy to explain some of their behavior.
Do you have any idea how difficult it is to put me–ME–at a loss for words?
After the jump, their follow-up smash… [Read more…]
I see that I shall never think
In lovely shades of girlish pink.
A pink whose colour’s oft expressed
In how sweet baby girls are dressed;
A pink that advertisers say
Should mark the things with which they play;
A pink that tints the young girls’ toys
And segregates them from the boys’
The experts say I’ll just make do
With boring bits of boyish blue
A fool like me can hope we’ll find
A future that is color-blind
With sincere apologies to Joyce Kilmer.
Appropriate video, after the jump: [Read more…]
God bless the GOP.
I hope you know me well enough to read that with the appropriate ironic tone. The GOP have allowed me my first chance to repeat a post written originally by me, not on the old blog but on this one! The “Gilding Our Past” party, faced with the effects of G.W. Bush’s energy-efficiency law, have decided that before they do anything about …well, anything… they are gonna save the 100-watt incandescent light bulb. For freedom. (more, after the jump:) [Read more…]
Come back with me, babe, to my villa in France
It’s romantic as hell, and I might get the chance
To get in your—wait! What I mean is, to dance
With my lovely American girl
There’s a pool on the roof; I’ve got flowers, and wine,
And the view from the bedroom is frankly divine
There’s a slight little problem; it’s not really mine,
But I think we should give it a whirl
There’s a poster I’ve hung, that’s of Winnie the Pooh,
To imply I’m a teddy bear, crazy for you,
And to show I’m a rogue, there’s a pirate flag, too
Cos I’ve never known bad boys to fail
My American girl, such a beautiful date
But you didn’t show up, until three hours late
Then refused to come home, cos I didn’t quite rate…
Could you visit me, sometime, in jail?
True story of an insane seduction attempt gone predictably wrong, after the jump: [Read more…]
What a pointless waste of money!
What a frightful waste of time!
This is lame, disgusting drivel
And it isn’t worth a dime!
What a waste of a reporter
When this clearly isn’t news!
Your priorities are foolish—
Give us something we can use!
This misguided bit of effort,
Lacking substance, style, or taste,
And my time it took to read it
Are an utter, total waste!
That’s ten minutes of my lifetime
That I’ll never, now, get back,
Spent deciphering the writing
Of a clueless, brainless hack!
All this focusing on nothing
When there’s suffering and pain—
What’s the point in what you’ve written?
How does anybody gain?
You should give your unearned paycheck
To a charity, this week,
So someone else can benefit
From something, when you speak.
Editorial discretion
Means the choice was yours to make
But your choices are deplorable
This time, for goodness’ sake!
You must have though it worthy—
I, of course, must disagree
And even brain-dead idiots
Would surely side with me!
My time is very valuable;
You’ve wasted it, you know.
Without a trace of irony
I write to tell you so.
(more, after the jump–) [Read more…]
It’s Christmas! It’s war! We are under attack!
Though the media try to deny it—
Those liberal bastards are all high on crack
If they think they are worthy to try it!
The War Against Christmas, of course, is quite real—
It’s the fault of the liberal news—
When exposed, it’s a fact that they’d rather conceal,
But that battle is one they will lose!
They’re waging a war on the war against Christmas,
To keep it from gaining attention—
If any war must be remembered, then this must;
For reasons too many to mention!
Where Christians had always controlled the town square
There are atheists trying to change it!
Now all sorts of heathens—it’s too much to bear—
Think it’s equally theirs to arrange it!
The nativity scene by the courthouse was fine
In a land where majority rules
And the chorus could sing of a savior divine
In a pageant, in all public schools
But our place at the courthouse—our place at the top
Was attacked by the atheist horde
And when activist judges said Christians must stop
It was like they were slapping the Lord
They tell us it isn’t attack, but defense—
They’re defending our dear constitution!
The must think we’re really incredibly dense
To believe hating God’s a solution.
We’ll accept nothing less than complete recognition
That Christ is what Christmas is for!
Till then, I’m declaring, this season’s great mission:
The war on the war on the war!
Context, after the jump: [Read more…]
Won’t somebody think of the rich and the powerful,
Struggling, and doing their best?
Oh, why must we always be focused on helping
The meek, or the poor, or oppressed?
It’s time to revisit our social supports
With a view toward adjusting priorities
We’ve largely neglected some long-suffering groups
So it’s time to protect our majorities
Our culture is sexist; that’s patently true,
And examples pop up, now and then;
But the biggest of victims is largely ignored—
It’s the most oppressed group: that is, men
See, men are expected to work and be strong,
While women just have to be pretty;
Sure, men make more money, but that’s not enough;
What they need, and deserve, is your pity
Whatever the circumstance, men are the victims
Through bias, or willful neglect,
But that’s not the story you’ll see on the news,
That’s politically oh-so-correct.
And of course, there are Christians, throughout our great land,
Who are constantly thrown for a loss;
Their second-class status is thrown in their faces
Each time they erect a new cross!
They ought to be able to show their belief,
Placing icons on public display—
But removing these things from our federal land
Is against the American Way!
When privileged majorities can’t have their way—
When they’re treated the same as the rest—
When they’re no longer special, just one among many…
It shows that they’re being oppressed.
(I was going to link to a particular instance of Men’s Rights Advocacy in a news story comment section today–it’s what inspired this verse, although it is not any of the examples in it–but frankly, we’re in a target-rich environment, and I don’t think I really have to use an example.)
Gulnaz was raped. There are none who deny;
The attacker was wed to her cousin.
The rape left her pregnant. That’s partially why
She’s been sentenced to jail, for a dozen.
An adulterous woman—or so say the courts—
Has few options by which to escape.
The best and the worst, by all recent reports,
Is to marry, to wipe out the rape.
The marriage, of course, would be to her attacker
Which Gulnaz is willing to do
What’s worse—though his family is willing to back her
Her own has a different view
Her rape has cast shame on the family name
And that cannot be changed, it is said
Yes, Gulnaz was raped; but she is to blame,
So her family, for shame, wants her dead.
The culture’s entrenched; it’s a matter of pride;
Protests will be to no avail
The damnedest thing—with her family outside,
Gulnaz may be safer in jail
Follow the link in the first line. I have no more to say. I want to, I just can’t.