Al Franken and Rush Limbaugh have at least two things in common: Both have radio talkshows and both spend their air time tearing down other people, respectively Republicans and Democrats. Okay. They’re entitled to their opinions. But the insults and barbs that they hurl are a reflection of a much larger problem, one that profoundly affects our political and social landscape. Simply put, we can’t talk to each other about important issues anymore unless we’re certain that the other guy is “on our side.” We live in the era of knee-jerk reactions. Sure, it makes for good entertainment, and the aforementioned broadcasters are in the entertainment business, but when it comes to serious problems like the state of health care in the United States, dealing with the elderly, and the war in Iraq, we can’t speak to each other civilly. Hell, we can’t even speak to other other at all because as soon as one gets the words out that he or she is against gay marriage, for example, the person with the opposing viewpoint closes up shop mentally. All that’s needed to know is that the other guy differs from you in opinion and the discussion is over. [Read more…]
Archives for March 2006
Totally Michelle
Sixteen year-old Hawaiian Michelle Wie is ranked second among the world’s female golfers. Given her six-foot stature and her amazing length off the tee, one easily forgets that she is just a junior in high school. Thus, I had a great big belly laugh when I read the following, excerpted from an April 3, 2006 TIME interview by Jeff Chu.
What’s your favorite subject at school? I really enjoy chemistry. When I first took the class, I didn’t think I knew how to study it. It just seemed like a lot of memorizing and equations and all that. But it’s really cool. You get to blow stuff up. Last class, we took a Styrofoam cup and put it next to a vacuum cleaner, and it sucked the air out of it, and it became like a midget Styrofoam cup. We also get to work with dangerous chemicals, so that class is pretty fun.
Michelle’s talking about having fun blowing stuff up and working with dangerous chemicals is hilarious, especially coming from the mouth of a multi-millionaire!
Charlie Sheen: Please Go Away
She doesn’t know it yet, but The Redhead and The Nittany Turkey have inaugurated our first annual Hollywood Celebrity Nutball Bashfest. Recently, The ‘Head gave Tom Cruise the heave-ho. This evening, I’ll “salute” the even more vacuous Charlie Sheen, who has joined the the ranks of some very strange people who think that the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were concocted and carried out by the Bush Administration. [Read more…]
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