Homocon

The English language is often used as a design element in many Japanese products and advertising slogans to give them a "modern" look and feel. Japanese graphic designers say that the use of English in Japanese product design is widespread because of the difficulty of creating original and stylish product names and slogans in the limited Japanese writing script -- there are only so many ways to display their language, and only so many different types of fonts to use.

That said, check out this hilarious tribute to the use of the English Language in Japanese advertising.

As the author of the site states, new products are brought to the marketplace in Japan more than anywhere else in the world, so Japanese words and slogans are quickly used up. And there is often no attempt at checking for proper usage of the English words and phrases which are employed, as they're simply being incorporated for their "hip" graphical element.

Funny.

Posted by at 8:31 PM | Permalink

In the WTF Department, the Front Page Daily News reports that the 46 year-old NYC gay man who was discovered to have contracted a "Super-HIV" strain of the virus is "fighting for his life" and "responding to treatment but remains seriously ill".

*yawn*

John Q. Doe, in his mid-40's and with access to the best information in the modern world regarding HIV transmission, has contracted a highly aggressive and drug-resistant strain of the HIV virus after engaging "in unsafe sex with many partners while he was using crystal meth-amphetamine . . . the patient told investigators that he had sex with more than a hundred people over several months and could not remember many of their names."

Oh-kay.

Here we have a serious, lethal virus which is spread through sexual transmission, and yet apparently RETARDED faggots are voraciously and anonymously fucking their way through densely populated metropolitan areas, high out of their limited minds and with obviously no safety precautions taken. As a result, society is now dealing with a mutated virus that's maddeningly resistant to nearly every single pharmaceutical that's been painstakingly developed over the years to keep people who've become infected with the formerly less-aggressive HIV virus alive.

Wow. Three cheers for the modern, sexually liberated gay man.

But I have just the solution to America's mutating HIV virus problem. I've developed a simple, 3-point questionnaire to help society identify stupid gay men who are likely to engage in moronic, socially destructive and imbecilic virus-mutating behavior. Once identified, these Frickin' A**hole Gays (F.A.G.s) can then be tagged and relocated for the general health and well-being of the population as a whole:

Questionnaire:

1.) Are you gay? If the answer is "yes", please proceed to question #2.
2.) Are your present and/or future contributions to society worth spending valuable research time and taxpayer dollars to save (should the need arise), or do you just like snorting blow and making it like a bunny? If your answer is "I just like snorting blow and making it like a bunny", please proceed to question #3.
3.) If we were to quarantine you for the rest of your life on an island with other F.A.G.s who just like to snort blow and make it like bunnies, while promising to provide weekly drop-flights of canned food, bottled water, designer hair products and cheap blow (natch), would this be acceptable to you?
addendum: If your answer to #3 is "no", please turn yourself in to the nearest State Mental Health Facility for an intensive psychiatric examination followed by prolonged care, including an overdue introduction into socially responsible behavior.

Posted by at 8:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is very cool (be patient if it takes a bit to load) -- you get a clear picture (literally!) of what happened on March 26th when hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese marched on their capital to protest Beijing's new law sanctioning the use of force if Taipei moves toward formal independence.

The aim of the protest was to bring greater international pressure on China to negotiate peacefully with Taiwan, rather than forcefully.

"China is a violent country. We want nothing to do with it," said protester Wu Chao-hsiung, a carpenter from Taipei. "We have to insist on the freedom to determine our own fate."

Organizers billed the protest as a "peace carnival." A woman dressed as the Statue of Liberty waved her torch at the crowds, while a five-story-high white balloon representing peace was established at the protest site. An equally tall model of a red sea urchin -- its needles said to symbolize the missiles China is pointing at Taiwan -- was deflated at the end of the rally. Protesters climbed over it and tried to tear it apart.

Another ripple in the international pro-democracy movement . . .

Posted by at 3:07 AM | Permalink

Booksellers in Turkey are reporting soaring sales figures for "Mein Kampf," or "Kavgam" in Turkish. Hitler's political manifesto has been a top 10 bestseller in the past two months, to the dismay of the country's Jewish community, as well as the German embassy in Ankara, and at least two new Turkish language versions of "Mein Kampf" are now out in paperback.

Asked to comment on the phenomenon, government spokesman Cemil Cicek said: "There is no racism in this country."

The current #1 bestseller in Turkey, ahead of "Mein Kampf," is "Metal Storm," which depicts a U.S. invasion of the country. The Turkish hero avenges his homeland by destroying Washington with a nuclear device.

One of Turkey's largest newspapers published a recent column that took one of Metal Storm's plot points - that members of Skull and Bones, the secret society that President Bush and John Kerry joined while students at Yale, has taken control of US foreign policy - and presented it as straight-faced fact, while also suggesting that the US military is developing technology that would allow it to trigger earthquakes, something that would eventually be used against Turkey.

Stated a US diplomat, who declined to be named: "Just like sex sells, anti-Americanism sells right now. Unfortunately, it's nothing to laugh at, because it's damaging to both American national interests and to Turkish national interests. We're really pulling our hair out trying to figure out how to deal with this."

Posted by at 5:59 PM | Permalink

I found this to be an excellent article discussing "homocons" and the gay left's vitriolic reaction to their existence.

Money quote: "The gay right is being attacked for the same reason that Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas, or Shelby Steele were so savagely attacked by many self-appointed black leaders. By exploding the expectation within a community that members share a prepackaged set of political beliefs, dissenters undermine the power base and policy ends of agenda setters whose political orientation has always come first."

Posted by at 8:17 PM | Permalink

What with all the recent uproar surrounding the illegal use of steroids in Professional Baseball, along with the banning of steroid use in the Olympics and other professional American sports organizations (and even the initiation of Congressional Hearings on the matter), I find it a bit odd that California Governor Arnold Schwarznegger has his name publicly associated with a contest that heaps awards and cash prizes on "athletes" who blatantly abuse steroids to the point of absurdity.

Check it out here.

I like Arnold Schwarznegger, and find his 'Poor Immigrant Turned International Movie Star and Governor of California' story inspiring, to say the least. But I think his continued involvement with the steroid abusing professional bodybuilding community sends an unfortunate message regarding the illegal use of steroids.

Here we have Congress, the President and the media on one hand, all decrying the abuse of steroids in professional sports and its destructive influence on young athletes, while on the other hand we have one of the most powerful political figures in the country lending his face and name, as well as continued public appearances, to an athletic competition whose top competitors are all obvious, and often openly admitted, abusers of illegal steroids.

Arnold needs to be called on what can only be considered a public display of approval (from an elected government official) for the use and abuse of illegal steroids. He should either 1. publicly and firmly disassociate himself from all further endorsement and involvement with any professional bodybuilding contest or organization, 2. publicly denounce all illegal steroid use in any sport and drug test every single competitor in the contest that bears his name while aggressively prosecuting any Arnold Classic competitor found in violation of steroid laws, or, should he be unwilling to do either #1 or #2, then 3. He should resign from public office (which is not what I'd like to see happen at all).

But really, how is anyone to take the President or Congress seriously on the issue of illegal steroids in professional sports when one of the most popular and visible governors in the United States, not to mention one of the keynote speakers at the last Republican National Convention, continues to endorse and reward flagrant steroid abuse with trophies and cash prizes in a contest that bears his name?

I'm just sayin' . . .

Posted by at 8:43 PM | Permalink

Headline in UK newspaper The Guardian regarding the decision of the McDonalds Corporation to add apple items to its menu -- In a strategic effort to change it's (sic) image McDonalds is now spreading its destructive grasps (sic) over other industries and other parts of the world.

Money quote: "The chain’s influence could alter for ever the method and scale of production, the varieties of apple produced, and the rights of the thousands of workers who pick them, and not necessarily for the better."

I'm sure if they were to actually interview people from the Washington State apple orchards, they'd hear whoops and hollers of glee. This is terrific news for the apple growers here in Washington State, not to mention the economy of Washington State as a whole, and all The Guardian can do is sniff about McDonalds' so-called "destructive" grasp.

The article goes on to whine that the demands of the McDonalds Corporation for "a uniform product" (or, consistency in production methods, standards and outcome) will somehow wipe out consumer choice in apple varieties . . . as if red delicious, golden delicious and granny smith varieties will somehow vanish from grocery store shelves once McDonalds casts its gloomy pall of corporate influence over the apple growing industry.

McDonalds has already cast that same "destructive" pall over the potato growing industry and the beef and poultry industries, yet I can still find at least six different types of potatoes on my grocer's shelves (purple, red, baby, baking, fingerling and yams) and the butcher's case displays beef and chicken of all different types, grades and nationalities, not to mention the inclusion of buffalo, lamb, duck, turkey, pheasant and more, none of which McDonalds presently offers here in the United States.

If this array of quality and choice in my local supermarket is the result of McDonalds "destructive grasps" across the food production chain, then I say, "McDonalds wants apples, and lots of them? Bring it on!"

Posted by at 4:33 PM | Permalink

Check out this article about the Democrat sponsored "Count Every Vote Act of 2005" -- a minority party wish-list that appears intended to weaken and undermine existing voting laws and requirements in this country, making it even easier for either party, any party, to scream Fraud! whenever the results aren't to their liking.

Haven't we had enough of that already?

Get a load of this: Take, for example, a provision requiring states to allow anyone to register to vote on Election Day itself, and then vote, and then "have that vote counted in the same manner as a vote cast by an eligible voter who properly registered during the regular registration period." That would give state officials virtually no time to determine whether an applicant was in fact eligible to vote.

Or how about this: Another feature liable to abuse is the provision requiring states to allow anyone to cast a provisional ballot anywhere in the state, regardless of where that person may — or may not — be registered to vote. That could allow someone who is not registered to cast provisional ballots at as many poll locations around the state as he could physically visit in a day...

Read it and weep, and then contact your representatives in the House and Senate.

Voting in this country isn't just a civil right, it's also a civic responsibility. Voting regulations should be strengthened and enforced according to the level of gravity with which we approach such a responsibility, rather than watered-down into a semblance of fast-food convenience -- easy and tasty, but ultimately bad for the body as a whole.

Posted by at 8:09 PM | Permalink

The Mainstream Media is presently (temporarily) consumed with the Terri Schiavo case -- a development I would otherwise greet with skepticism save that I'm ecstatic over the fact that something (dear god, anything!) has come along to whisk the attention away from the uber-creepy Michael Jackson trial.

Except that this brief shift in the attention of the Media Beast has led to its pitiless focus upon an even creepier Michael Schiavo and his quest to legally kill his wife . . .

*shudder*

But what appears on the surface to be a simple issue of life, death and the love of a family for their daughter/sibling is actually a minefield of custodial rights and guardianship issues, domestic dispute regulations and state vs. federal law. Mary Cheh, a law professor at George Washington University, stated today in an interview with the Washington Post, "If I were the judge who got assigned to this (case) by the computer, I'd flee the country."

With Terri Schiavo as both the plaintiff and the defendant, represented for the last fifteen years by her parents as plaintiff and by her husband as defendant, the situation is thorny, to say the least.

The issue is currently being debated before yet another Federal Judge, the seventeenth judge to hear this case, while all the while the Mainstream Press trumpets that the majority of Americans believe that Terri Schiavo should be allowed to die (really? -- a majority?) and the Republican representatives in Congress and the Senate are fighting to keep Terri alive, claiming that it's important to "err on the side of life" and criticizing their Democratic counterparts for falling too easily into what they believe to be a culture of death.

There have been 23 appeals in this case already, and yet they're still fighting it out, each side desperately appealing to public opinion through the miracle of 24 hour cable news coverage.

I think I'd flee the country, too.

ADDENDUM:
I find it odd that judges and attorneys, in some strange and archaic way of viewing death and dying, speak as if their rulings and arguments have no personal bearing upon the potential death of Terri Shiavo, when, genuinely, every word in this case is about personal bearing as the woman either lives or dies by the rulings of the legal system.

Any doctor who testifies that she's "better off dead," any attorney who argues that her husband has the legal right to order the removal of the feeding tube, and any judge who rules that the Federal Courts have no jurisdiction over the State Courts and that Terri Shiavo's family cannot take her home and personally care for her themselves . . . each one of them holds personal responsibility for the woman's death.

You cannot remove life support and then claim that a person died on her own. That's an impossible argument to make in a technological age.

I'm just sayin' . . .

Posted by at 5:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is one of the funniest damn things I've ever seen on the internet.

Posted by at 5:48 AM | Permalink

FILIBUSTER : 1. To use obstructionist tactics in a legislative body.  2. a tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches. The term comes from the early 19th century Spanish and Portuguese pirates, "filibusteros", who held ships hostage for ransom.

When 87 year old West Virginia Democratic Senator and former KKK Chieftain Robert Byrd took the stage at the latest MoveOn Rally, and the standing ovation died down, he brandished a copy of the US Constitution. He rattled off a list of "Republican actions" that he disagrees with, including privatization of Social Security and spending "a billion dollars a week" in Iraq (no sources were quoted). "Are we going to be bullied by a majority that wants to silence us on all of these issues? There must be no gag rule in the Senate!"

WTF?

Despite the shrill screams of hysteria emanating from the radical fringe (and Senator KKK Byrd's and Senator Boxer's curious change of tune on the issue of the filibuster -- seems they were both for eliminating the filibuster when democrats controlled the Senate), eliminating the filibuster simply makes it possible for the Senate to vote on the legislation before it. Filibusters are stall tactics by a minority who oppose legislation that they cannot stop from proceeding through legitimate debate, so they hold the entire Senate "hostage" -- effectively grinding the business of legislation to a halt to get what they want.

The Senate is a place of debate, and Senators are elected to bring that debate to its conclusion, voting on legislation which represents the will of the people. If the majority of the Senators are conservatives, then that means that the majority of the electorate is interested in conservative representation and conservative legislation. A filibuster is designed to prolong the debate indefinitely, withholding a conclusion and, thereby, killing the vote.

It's past the point of reason for a liberal minority in the Senate to effectively call a strike against all legislative business and then scream "dictatorship" and "banana republic" when the majority attempts to find its way around their pirate tactics.

And it boggles my mind that a former KKK Democratic Senator has the audacity to brandish the US Constitution while throwing a public temper tantrum about being "bullied" by a majority . . . as if the US Constitution ever meant a d*mn thing to Robert Byrd while he was wearing his white hood and setting crosses aflame throughout West Virginia.

ADDENDUM:
Republican leaders put the ANWR provision in a Budget resolution because Budget Bills can't be filibustered, and only need a simple majority to pass, rather than the 60 vote minimum.

Posted by at 6:53 PM | Permalink

Academy Award Winning Actress Hillary Swank found herself under a different kind of spotlight when she was busted at the Auckland International Airport for undeclared produce in her luggage. Swank has reportedly instructed her lawyers to contest the $150 dollar fine for neglecting to declare the apple and orange she had secreted away in her bags.

I've always disliked Ms. Swank after she once rudely shoved her way past me as I was stepping out through the doorway of the Magnolia Bakery in NYC's West Village. "B**ch," I thought to myself as the friend I was with said, "Oh my god, did you see who that was?" What? Who? You mean that incredibly rude bulimic elbowing her way towards the cupcakes she'll only vomit down the toilet later . . . ?

NEXT!:
"What, is it a crime to own a porno, now?"

Posted by at 11:03 PM | Permalink

Who needs the IRS when this can clean up 18% of tax default problems within one week?

And speaking of messes that need to be cleaned up, Marlene Jennings, Canada's Parliamentary Secretary for Canada-U.S. relations, tore off on a rant on Thursday, accusing the United States of refusing to adhere to trade treaties it had signed with Canada. One way to strike back, she suggested, was to publicly humiliate the U.S. in front of international audiences.

"Let's embarrass the hell out of the Americans in front of other countries that they are attempting to negotiate with on new binational trade agreements ... let's just do it on the public scene," she stated to a parliamentary committee.

"The Liberals have once again shown their anti-American bias ... This strategy is like poking someone in the eye and then asking them for a favor," Conservative legislator Diane Finley told Parliament, referring to Canada's delicate negotiations with Washington regarding the current U.S. ban on live Canadian cattle due to concerns over mad-cow disease.

Last November, MP Carolyn Parrish was booted out of the Liberal caucus after she stomped on a George Bush doll on a satirical TV show.

Our friendly, northern neighbors . . .

Posted by at 6:06 PM | Permalink

It started with the Grim Reaper in tennis shoes, bouncing into classrooms before "the accident" and choosing random students to act as corpses, killed by a drunk driver.

Involving fire engines, the Jaws of Life, police units and a bevy of makeup artists to apply fake blood and realistic looking wounds, Palm Desert High School's Every 15 Minutes program drained the tax coffers with its "Reality TV Meets Public Service Announcement" Nanny State theatrics.

In the latest effort to scare teenagers straight (no offense to gays! -- none taken), teachers staged a mock traffic accident, complete with wrecked cars, students playing victim (an important lesson in the Nanny State playbook), and police, fire fighters, paramedics, parents, and teachers all taking part.

The program backed up the morning's traffic for hours, and parents were asked to write obituaries for their own children! The program, like all Mommy Knows Best state funded tax-dollar sinkholes, is designed to somehow teach students about "real life experiences" without putting them in real life danger, which is akin to teaching CIA undercover agents how to face life and death situations by dragging them to a James Bond movie.

"Oh, yeah -- *whew* . . . I know what it's like to stare down the barrel of a loaded gun. I just saw Octopussy!"

Let's hope this time blowing, tax-dollar spending, government and community resource wasting idea doesn't get picked up by Nanny State City Councils across the country.

Oops! -- too late.

WTF #4,567,093:
Barbara Boxer introduces an ammendment into the Senate urging Saudi Arabia to allow women to vote and run for office.

I'm sure the Saudis will get right on that, now that Ms. Boxer has voiced her personal concern. Better yet, maybe someone can convince Senator Boxer to clamber aboard the next Saudi Arabian Airline flight out of D.C. and agitate for the downtrodden women of Saudi Arabia from the streets of Riyadh . . .

Posted by at 4:19 PM | Permalink

TiVo happened to record Hal Hartley's Amateur for me, which was a nostalgic surprise as I surfed through the menu last night searching for something more intellectually calming to fall asleep to than the latest explosions in Baghdad.

I'd almost forgotten how much I like this movie -- the deliberate pace, the quirky dialogue, the intentionally stylized movements of the actors and the studied framing of each shot. To me, 'Amateur' is Hal Hartley's best work, the atmospheric point to which all his past movies were straining to reach and from which all his films since have been influenced and informed (yet have not matched).

The soundtrack is a mix of terrific alt-rock performances from such 90's standouts as Bettie Serveert, My Bloody Valentine, Pavement and Yo La Tengo, as well as a number of lovely ambient keyboard-vocal tracks that glide ethereally behind the complicated emotional identities steadily unraveling on-screen.

There isn't a false note to any of the performances, and Hal Hartley's mannered camera work only underscores the cautious nature of each character's approach to the cliff-edge of trust.

"Yes, I know this man."

Posted by at 4:47 PM | Permalink

1. Al-Jazeera columnist Scott Ritter claims that January's historic election in Iraq, which set off a wave of democratic reform throughout the Middle East, was fixed to prevent the Shia's from attaining a majority of seats in the Iraqi Parliament.

Ritter explained that the Bush Administration "cooked" the election results in some Super-Secret, Cloak-and-Dagger, Machine-Gun-Guarded, Spy-Novel recount so that there wouldn't be a democratically elected theocracy in Iraq.

I hear Oliver Stone is already planning to make a movie about it.

2. Another nationwide strike in France. Mon dieu!

3. The communists are weighing in with their predictable distaste for the Bush Administration's plan for Privatized Social Security (which pretty much guarantees that it's an economically sound plan with a decent potential for real-world success).

Posted by at 10:47 PM | Permalink

Jim Murphy is a "counter-recruiter," one of a small group of opponents of the Iraq war who say they want "to compete with military recruiters for the hearts and minds of young people."

"I don't tell kids not to join the military," says Murphy, 59, a member of "Veterans for Peace". "I tell them: 'Have a plan for your future. Because if you don't, the military has a plan for you.'" And then he tells them, "It's gonna change you forever, and not necessarily positively. Think of all the civilians killed in Fallujah. You're gonna see something like that for the rest of your life."

But he doesn't tell kids "not to join the military" -- (nudge nudge wink wink).

This school year, Jim Murphy says he'll brainwash counsel about 20 students. He says that four years ago, he got six students to change their minds about joining the Marines.

The American Friends Service Committee, one of several peace groups opposed to what it calls "militarization of youth," has prepared a brochure titled Do You Know Enough to Enlist?

In a tip of the hat to the opposition (emphasis mine), it's deliberately designed to look like a military recruiting brochure.

But don't forget -- they support the troops!

Posted by at 11:33 PM | Permalink

University of Colorado President Elizabeth Hoffman announced Monday that she is resigning amid a football recruiting scandal and a national controversy over the hiring of Ward Churchill, a radical-fringe professor who committed art fraud and called victims of the Sept. 11 attacks "little Eichmanns" in reference to infamous Nazi Adolf Eichmann, Head of Hitler's Gestapo and responsible for the murder of millions of German Jews.

"It has become clear to many in the CU family that our university — one of the most distinguished in the nation — has suffered greatly from a series of controversies that seem to be growing, not abating," stated CU Board of Regents Chairman Jerry Rutledge.

At least nine women have said they were assaulted by Colorado football players or recruits since 1997, two female trainers alleged they were sexually assaulted by an assistant coach and a "slush fund" was reportedly created with money from coach Gary Barnett's football camp.

The controversy over Ward Churchill erupted in January after he was invited to speak at Hamilton College in upstate New York. Hamilton officials discovered an essay and a follow-up book in which Chruchill wrote that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were a response to a history of American abuses abroad. Churchill has refused to apologize for his statements, and has most recently appeared on Bill Maher's 'Real Time with Bill Maher' to support his view that the thousands of people who were killed in the Twin Towers on September 11th were responsible for their own murders.

Posted by at 6:05 PM | Permalink

I found this to be very interesting.

Three anonymous donors have stepped forward to pledge $3 million dollars to fund the fifth season of Star Trek: Enterprise, just as it was about to be taken off the air. And why? Here's a snippet of the press statement: "The people responsible at Paramount think this is just a show and we want to tell them, it is not. We are in the commercial space flight industry and would like to testify that at least one out of two of all the actual entrepreneurs involved in this industry has been inspired by Star Trek . . . The people airing this kind of TV have a responsibility; inspiration."

I mean, really, it's true -- how many of our ideas of the future, and what we can possibly achieve, are shaped and formed by Science Fiction? How many generations have been radically influenced by the power of Science Fiction imagery?

Take that, Will & Grace.

Posted by at 10:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Over at Althouse, there's a link to a story about the new Hobo-chic sweeping across the fashionista radar in NYC. Some couture commentators deride the look as Bag-Lady Redux, while Ann says she approves, and calls it "adorable".

What I found most interesting about the article that Ann links to are comments like this:"The look flies in the face of the conventions of elegance that dominated fashion runways as little as a year ago. More important, it seems to address the discomfort of a younger generation with overt displays of wealth," and this: "The new look has acquired a name: Bobo style . . . used to describe a breed of well-heeled consumers who bash materialism while embracing all manner of luxury."

This is the catwalk version of the Limousine Liberal and the Gulfstream Environmentalist -- a fashion cue for the young and wealthy who love the comforts that money buys them yet feel vaguely discomfited about blatantly wearing all that wealth on their backs. If you read the article, you'll find that they're still splurging on loose-fitting cashmere sweaters and scarves, vintage designer jackets and boots, unhemmed and intentionally frayed Gucci and Prada -- it's now just cleverly camouflaged, disguised from casual view.

Ann makes the point that it could be a reaction not to overt displays of wealth, but rather, to the overt parade of sexuality that has been so prevalent in fashion for the last several years, and others believe that Bobo is a sign that "we want to begin withdrawing from luxury, but we are still addicted to it, searching for a way to hang on while we try to kick the habit."

Me? I like to see it as an attitude of Reluctant Capitalism on the rise within the leftist population's (artists, designers) psyche -- a reflection of our fluidly democratic (as opposed to the more Euro blood-line, class-based) structures, and a reaction to the unexpected successes of socially and politically conservative policies across the globe. Policies which are distinctly free-market and American in origin (natch).

Posted by at 8:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Two chimpanzees escaped from their cages and viciously attacked a visitor at the Animal Haven Ranch, an animal sanctuary 30 miles east of Bakersfield, California. The chimpanzees chewed off St. James Davis' nose and severely mauled his genitals and limbs before the son-in-law of the sanctuary's owner shot the animals to death, authorities said.

Dr. Maureen Martin of Kern Medical Center told KGET-TV of Bakersfield that the monkeys chewed most of Davis' face off and that he would require extensive surgery in an attempt to reattach his nose. Chealander told The Bakersfield Californian that the chimps also tore off Davis' testicles and foot.

Nature is cruelty-free.

Posted by at 2:09 AM | Permalink

Homocon wishes to inform those who believe, in their youthful enthusiasms, they'll love their tattoos forever, that "forever" is a relative term, and when "forever" turns into "I want this dratted thing off my body . . . NOW!", said tattoo removal is a painful, time-consuming and expensive process.

Your humble blogger spent an hour today in the dermatologist's office, engaged in only the second of what may possibly be a 5 to 10 session process of laser tattoo removal. First, he was stuck repeatedly with cruel needles to deliver the local anesthetic, and then attacked with pulsing lasers as the dermatologist cracked jokes and her assistant kept leaving the room for coughing fits. When they were through assaulting yours truly, the Dr. bid me a cheery farewell, the assistant slapped a cold, slimy dressing on the burning patch of skin and presented the bill. Yikes!

Homocon is now back in his office, at his desk, typing about himself in the third person because he can't think properly for the relentless, stinging ache across his lower back.

You will not love your tattoos forever. Trust me. You won't. If you feel like you have to be all bohemian and sh*t, you know, like a real fringe player in the world of alternative lifestyles, just keep in mind that as you grow older, your politics, philosophies and attitudes will all change (hopefully, for the better).

I'm just sayin' . . .

This has been a public service announcement from Homocon.com.

UPDATE:
And here I got all excited . . .

UPDATE:
He-Larious!

Posted by at 12:07 AM | Permalink

Hazel Blears, a British Home Office Minister, has taken the rational, though unpopular, position that British Muslims should get used to the fact that people of "Islamic appearance" will be stopped and searched more often than, say, a gaggle of blue-haired grannies from Yorkshire.

"The threat is most likely to come from those people associated with an extreme form of Islam, or who are falsely hiding behind Islam," Blears stated to MPs on the Home Affairs Committee.

While this may strike some readers as mere common sense -- "Oh, right, we're in a pitched battle against Islamic Fundamentalists, so it would only follow that law enforcement would scrutinize Muslims applying for asylum or looking for Visa entry to the country" -- her comments have, of course, raised the hackles of the Terrorism Apologists Islamic Human Rights Commission, who are more than happy to describe her statements as "outrageous" and "irresponsible", but yet still can't be bothered to show anything but indifference to Muslim women being murdered in so called 'Honor Killings' and Muslim children being indoctrinated into racial hatred in British Muslim schools.

Massoud Shadjareh, the Chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission (an oxymoron, if I've ever heard one), accused Ms. Blears of "playing an Islamophobia card" rather than admit that the Muslim population in general has suffered severe damage to its reputation for refusing to distance themselves from their more violent and radical members.

I keep wondering when the Muslim Martin Luther will finally show up and nail a declaration of reformation to the Mosque doors. The clock is ticking . . .

Posted by at 9:53 PM | Permalink

In an unexpected reversal of opinion throughout the Middle East, Syria looks to be in the 'Bad Dog No Biscuit' Camp following its recent violent attempts to politically sabotage Lebanese society and the fragile cease-fire between Israel and Palestine.

Huge street demonstrations in Damascus, condemnations of the Tel Aviv suicide bombing in both Palestine and Israel, and Monday's surprise resignation of the pro-Syrian Lebanese government have shaken Mid-East pundits and offered some hope that perhaps America's intervention in Iraq may have finally juiced the lights in that dark corner of the world.

"The Syrians are out of step with where the region is going, and out of step with the aspirations of the people of the Middle East," Condoleeza Rice stated to reporters following an International Conference in London on Palestinian security and political reform. "The pressure of the international community is quite palpable on Syria," she further stated.

There is a journalistic stampede to compare what appears to be a shifting Mid-East attitude to the falling of the Berlin Wall, espousing a hope that this is a turning point in Mid-East politics, and that there may actually be a movement towards the dismantling of the region's monarchies, dictatorships and theocracies in favor of elected, representative governments.

Humanity offers itself a tiny glimmer of hope . . .

Posted by at 1:22 AM | Permalink