Some funny "conservative" observations

As I get older, I find myself getting more and more conservative. Definitely not loony religious right conservative but more a fiscal and economic conservative. I would most identify myself as libertarian. In my hunger for more conservative points of view I've started reading Human Events occasionally and tuning into some conservative talk radio shows like Sean Hannity. I still find that I disagree with a lot of what is being said on these outlets and often just laugh at the sheer ridiculousness. Some of the things that have stuck out in my mind the most lately have been:

• A caller to the Sean Hannity show a few weeks ago suggested George Allen as McCain's running mate. You may recall that Allen lost his Senate seat representing Virginia in 2006 in large part due to calling an Indian American a macaca, a racial slur meaning monkey. I am not saying Allen is not qualified but after the comments and the loss of his seat, he is forever tainted for an executive office.
• Conservapedia is the non liberal biased attempt at creating an online encyclopedia. Apparently Wikipedia has some problems with it's content like requiring a neutral point of view and not allowing original research. First, "liberal bias"... really? I can't say that I see much liberal bias in Wikipedia but I sure do see a lot of conservative bias in Conservapedia. I had high hopes for Conservapedia (great article there) at first, especially considering one of their goals is to provide a resource for home schooled students. It has become a humorous parody of itself much like Uncyclopedia or better yet Wikiality though.
  
• One of my favorites lines is "Fair and balanced". Putting on a pundit who is identified as liberal to counter a pundit who is identified as conservative does not make your content fair or balanced. Also, just because Fox News says it every break, it does not make it true. I think they hope the repetition will make the idea stick as true. Sadly I think it is working.
  
• Today I heard an interview with talk show host Bill Cunningham about his recent comments before a McCain rally where he referred to Barack Obama by his full name. It is obvious this was an attempt to draw attention to his foreign roots since Obama's middle name is Hussein. McCain called him out on the comments but Cunningham said he used his full name to show respect. Cunningham then name dropped other presidents such as Dwight D. Eisenhower and JFK as proof of his respect by using a full name. Yeah, those are middle initials that they use Bill. We all see through your BS. Ah yes, and the best part was he started using McCain's full name. That was the first time I learned McCain's middle name was Sidney and that he was a 3rd.
  
• Although not funny, Ann Coulter is nothing more than a witty hate monger. People like her don't help politics. She only divides and perpetuates the idea that every issue is black and white and you are either conservative or liberal.

That is it for tonight. I need to get some sleep because I've started going to Thursday morning Bible study and 6:30 am is EARLY!

The Simpsons Intro and What You Don’t See

Maud is still alive (at least in the introduction)!

If you've ever watched the Simpsons you have no doubt seen the famous intro scenes. It starts with Bart writing something new on the chalkboard and ends with the couch gag. There is one very brief scene between Marge and Maggie driving home from the grocery store and the shot of the Simpsons' driveway that pans so quickly you can't really process what is there. Thanks to DVDs, now you can see what goes on from screen grabs.

Check out this very interesting blog post The Simpsons Intro: What You Don’t See to see a picture of all the scene and a little rundown of who you see there. That scene goes by so quickly I never even think of it as being there.

Pink and Blue and Yellow and Girls and Boys and Who Knows

I was closing some of the many open Firefox tabs I always leave open today and I found a cute site I saw last week again. It was the Pink and Blue Project.


I'll let the photographer, Jeongmee Yoon, explain it.

“The Pink and Blue Project” was at first motivated by my daughter. At five years old, she loves pink so much that she wants to wear only pink clothes and use only pink toys or objects.

I found that she is not unusual and most other little girls in the U.S. and South Korea love pink clothing, accessories and toys. This phenomenon seems widespread among various ethnic groups regardless of their cultural background. It could be the result of an influence of customs or the power of pervasive commercial advertisements for merchandise such as Barbie and Hello Kitty.

While producing the “pink” images, I also became aware that many boys have a lot of blue possessions and started photographing them as well. Through advertising, consumers are directed to buy blue items, symbolizing strength and masculinity, for boys; and pink items, symbolizing sweetness and femininity, for girls.

More Pink and More Blue for you. But why is yellow "gender neutral"? Ah, and an interesting blog post on the history of the color/gender relationship.