OK, That Was Kidding

Sarah Hoyt gets a tip from Eugene Volokh:

FROM EUGENE VOLOKH: The linked-to article is at New Study Reveals 89% Of Nation’s Food Stamps Squandered On Junk Food and a bunch of things don’t quite check out — the Malbeck Data Institute doesn’t seem to have a Web page, the author’s supposed books don’t show up on Amazon, and the quotes in the story have that made-up feel to them, if you know what I mean.  In any case, I wanted to flag this just in case. — It’s quite possible I’ve been taken.  It agreed with my internal prejudices and the fact that ebooks you give away for free always get terrible reviews!

Hmm. Here is how the author is described at American Thinker:

Jane Agni, who writes satirical pieces for the National Report...

Well, yes. Here is a list of her recent articles, whose titles include:

Kate Bush Tour Sells Out In 15 Minutes Inciting Riots Worldwide

Oregon Town Using Fetal Tissue To Power Small Community

Animal Rights Activists Fume – Midwestern Man Insulates Barn With Hundreds Of Dead Wolves

Portland, Oregon Deemed “Most Racist” City In The United States

I haven't been to Portland but I've been to Boston. The Portland story cites the nearly web-invisible "Oklahoma Symposium of Racial Studies". The story does get a mention here as originating from "a satirical site".

Wikipedia says this:

National Report (nationalreport.net) is a satirical website devoted to often subtle parodies of real news which convince the unwary. It is published by Allen Montgomery.^[1]

Bazinga.

Comments

[DrJ]

Obscure:

Herseth >> Adelstein.

[Beasts of England]

Interesting, Frau! Had never heard of that before - I'll look into it!

[daddy]

Quiz Time: Why is my dog Fry better than Elvis's Hound dog?

On the morning walk with Momma, Fry caught and killed a rabbit.

She said he chased after the thing and caught it in his teeth and shook it, then came up to her sorta' proud like wondering what to do with it.

She was disgusted, and she said little Scout was disgusted too, so that Fry set it down and then laid on top of it and then rolled all over it as if trying to bury the evidence.

Here were the tweets as it happened:

Momma: Wow Fry caught a rabbit
Me: Did he eat it?
Momma: No he killed it then felt bad.
Momma: Just rolled over it and squashed it to death.
Momma: Even Scout was disgusted.
Me: Bad Dog!

Answer: 'Cause Elvis's dog never caught a rabbit!

Good dog:)

[Beasts of England]

lol, daddy!

[daddy]

Dot,

If I understood your "Uh Oh" correctly, does that mean the power to make immigrants US citizens now resides in Attorney General Erik Holder?

[daddy]

.

You ain't never caught a rabbit
and you ain't no friend of mine.

[narciso]

Ruh Roh, daddy, so they found a star that might as well be the Sun's twin, only 110 light years away,

[DrJ]

Adolf Herseth? Does anyone have any idea who this is?

But you know Big Bang, of course.

[jimmyk]

Back from the Met "I Puritani," which was great. Very beautiful soprano lead (who sang well too, incidentally), Olga Peretyatko:

Here she is, singing an aria from the famous mad scene:

http://bcove.me/u7rffxz9

Wunderlich ist wunderbar. He died much too soon.

Yes, I think he was 36, fell off some stairs (allegedly after a few brewskis). Real tragedy. Great video, beasts.

[Captain Hate]

should be Mt. St. Helen's

Speaking of which, my youngest Hatette, when she was at Clodumbia, did some research there when there were still hot boulders rolling around at how quickly the repropagation was occuring. Answer was: faster than anticipated. Must've been global warming, err climate change, err climate disruption, err this space available.

Btw, Rupert's Gazette had a feature on a watering hole, among others, I stopped at tonight, the Wine Spot, almost within crawling distance.

[daddy]

Lemme' see.

Opera on the one hand, and kill the Rabbit on the other.

Ring any bells?

[Captain Hate]

Olga Peretyatko

Is she available to read "War and Peace" to me in the original Russian?

[daddy]

Ruh Roh, daddy, so they found a star that might as well be the Sun's twin, only 110 light years away,

Narciso,

I'm thinking we were secretly transported from that star to this one about 10 years back by Aliens having a good joke at our expense.

[jimmyk]

Too late, Cap'n, I already have dibs.

[Dave (in MA)]

Obscure:

Herseth >> Adelstein

cat Adelstein
Herseth

[Captain Hate]

Anna Karenina?
Death of Ivan Ilych?
Dead Souls?
A Chekhov short story?

I can be flexible.

[Captain Hate]

Here's the previously mentioned article including the Wine Spot. The hardware store they took over for was very instrumental in work done on chez Hate:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304885404579547712514147246

[jimmyk]

Ring any bells?

Of course, daddy, "What's Opera, Doc." Wagner at its best.

Then, of course, there's "Rabbit of Seville," which seems to be no longer available on youtube.

[daddy]

Maryrose,

I do hope we can provide a decent volcanic explosion while you're visiting the northwest, but the USGS just said that they don't think the rapidly building Lava Dome at Mt St Helen's is ready to go "Kaboom".

Bummer:(

Perhaps MannyT can provide an Earthquake, like I did this morning?

[daddy]

Here's that young Opera singer from Dusseldorf I invited to sit at my table and drink beers with a few years back in Cologne. She was delightful. (and her buddies were OK) I remember posting about her, and how she recommended not to drink a harsh schnapps as it was bad for the pipes.

Maria Radner is her name. Have no idea if she ever made the big time, but here she is belting out some Mahler.

[daddy]

JimmyK,

I wonder if that is the one where there was a character called "Sir Osis of Liver."

Classic!

[Dave (in MA)]

Not sure if it'll fit on the page. Click on the pic to see the whole thing.

Caption:
"Yesterday afternoon I was walking and holding hands with my girlfriend.
I let go of her hand to get my phone and take this picture.
She immediately slapped me in the face and wouldn’t talk to me the rest of the day.
But let’s be honest…it’s not every day you you see a dog driving a car down the street."

[Gus]

Dave, I don't get it. Why would you be slapped?? You are not responsible for a DOG'S abilities.

[daddy]

Frau,

Very interesting about the Wandermusikanten.

It reminds me that William Herschel, the famous Brit Astronomer and son of a German Musician, was a wandering German Musician who wound up giving lessons and conducting in Bath, and was discovered one night by a Royal Society member, standing out in a field making astronomical observations with his hand built telescope. The rest is history of course, but interesting to find out that wandering German musicians were not uncommon in those days.

I suppose I need to figure out one of these days how Handel got over there.

[daddy]

Narciso,

Craig Medred makes the Washington Post: The distorted reality of Alaska reality shows

[Captain Hate]

dumbassdave's talking points: http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/who-s-crazy_791177.html?nopager=1

[Dublindave 2016]

"The same poll found that 61 percent of Americans believe the Obama administration is “trying to cover up” the real Benghazi story"

Because that's what 75 per cent of Fox news airtime is devoted to telling people. Jeese louise.

Remember when Darth Cheney stovepiped intelligence that Saddam was seeking to build a nuclear weapon, then cited the very intelligence that he invented? Same thing.

The problem you have now is to actually come up with proof that the administration lied about.....lied about......I don't even know what the fuck this whole thing is about...hang on a sec let me do a bit of googling............

O.k. That the administratiion lied about.....i'm still not sure.....lied about blaming the Benghazi attacks on a video that was already inciting civil protests all over the middle east....gee I wonder why they would do that?

This new committee has got to come up with something serious because it almost looks like you're using the deaths of 4 Americans for political gain. You're already fundraising off their deaths.....something that is extremely ghoulish and creepy to everyone in America except Republicans.

If you don't come up with something seriously news worthy this will harm your chances in a mid-term election you were already destined to clean up in.

And who says righties aren't smart when it comes to politics.

[narciso]

I remember reading the New Criterion, in high school, and seeing the hoofsteps of madness, from Cornel West, Houston Baker, et al

http://americanthinker.com/2014/05/time_to_mount_the_academic_ramparts_clean_house_and_free_the_serfs.html

[Dublindave 2016]

You know I secretly hope that the Obama administration did change the nature of the Benghazi attacks for political gain. It shows that their politically sharp enough to understand what it takes to win an election.

Kudos WH officials, kudos to you.

[Jack is Back!]

Happy Mother's Day.

Great "Pieces" as usual, Clarice. Oliver has a wonderful idea but the current GOP are gutless. Even Rand Paul is exhibiting squishy syndrome with his voter ID remarks.

[Jane]

Holy cow:

Confessions of a Public Defender

I can't even begin to absorb the confession of this liberal.

[narciso]

I can add Stanley Fish, Duke seemed to catch a preponderance of the madness, they have spent a quarter century building the 'cave', impervious to reality.

[narciso]

Those Mel Blanc strips were classics, and informative as well, as we note.

[Patriot4Freedom]

Happy Mother's Day, all.

Thanks for another great "Pieces" for our Sunday morning, Clarice.

[Miss Marple]

Good morning, all.

When my sister drove a Volkswagen Rabbit (a car that was so repair-prone that she said the EGR light stood for "explosion, get ready") she used to sing "Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit...".

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Wow, Jane, that will go viral.

[Miss Marple]

Clarice! A hearty thank you for this week's pieces!

I hope this idea gets traction, because I am continually outraged at the current situation, in which students are sold worthless degrees at highly inflated prices, paid for by loans in which the government makes a profit.

The universities scoop up tons of cash which they use to pay instructors and administrators at highly inflated prices. The kids are left in debt with no jobs, no way to borrow for a house, and discouraged from marriage.

This is why Elizabeth Warren was paid over $300,000 for teaching one course. It is why the tuition at Wake Forest has jumped from $7500 per year in the 90's to $40,000 per year (as quoted by Megan McDowell on Fox yesterday).

[Porchlight]

Watched The Rabbit of Seville and What's Opera, Doc? with the kids on Saturday night. Hard to find on YouTube but you can get them for a couple bucks each on Amazon instant video.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

from Jane's 8:30 link - "When a client is sentenced, I often beg for mercy on the grounds that the defendant did not have a father and never had a chance in life."

So what? Do we, as a society, care about that anymore? Isn't 'father' just some meaningless social construct?

It is getting tiresome to see the 2 parent family continuously torn down...& then be expected to feel sorry for someone that didn't have a 2 parent family.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

When my sister drove a Volkswagen Rabbit (a car that was so repair-prone that she said the EGR light stood for "explosion, get ready")

..and if you can believe it, I think I bought your sister's VW Rabbit second hand!
Who knew how important an alternator was!

[clarice]

Thanks.

I go to bed early and the tone of the place picks up--opera, wine. Did I land in the wrong blog?
Happy Mother's Day .

[Miss Marple]

Janet!

Ha! I am not fond of small cars since I owned a Datsun 510 back in the day.

I still remember that the driver's window was at the exact elevation of the exhaust pipes of the city buses.

I have bought SUV's since the early 80's, since as a short person I prefer having a higher seat.

[Miss Marple]

Regarding the article Janet linked, I thought of Barbara Tuchman's "The March of Folly," about Medieval Europe and the wars of that time.

Her point was that it was adolescent culture and governments (since all were monarchies mostly ruled by young kings and their pals), quick to take offence, demanding instant obedience, etc.

I think this is the problem in the inner-cities. Both cultures have roots in a broken family structure, one by the Black Death and the other by LBJ's welfare; the results are identical.

[Porchlight]

I think that in their own experience most liberals understand the importance of the nuclear family. But they will always give lip service to other arrangements because they believe it is the compassionate thing to do. They don't realize that the old stigmas against divorce and extramarital sex/out-of-wedlock births existed for very powerful reasons: to prevent as many people as possible from taking that route, which is harmful to society as well as to the individual. And as always, women and the poor are hardest hit.

Once upon a time I imagine one was free to express disapproval if your friend left her husband for a married man. You might even end your friendship over it. Now you are expected to congratulate that friend for getting out of a bad relationship and finally finding happiness.

Women are really unbelievably stupid sometimes and I do not exclude myself.

[Miss Marple]

Porchlight, Those of us who are older remember when Ingrid Bergman actually had to leave the country because of her affair with Roberto Rosselini, who was married.

And there was a huge scandal when Elizabeth Taylor first married Eddie Fisher (after he left Debbie Reynolds) and then dumped him to run off with Richard Burton.

These were scandals that really upset people, back when this sort of behavior was considered immoral rather than a "lifestyle choice."

Women are really too easily led down the garden path, and this includes me as well. A healthy dose of cynicism and self-interest would help them a lot.

[Miss Marple]

Oh, look! The Secret Service has apparently been transformed into a rent-a-cop business.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/secret-service-agents-pulled-off-white-house-patrol-to-help-protect-a-top-officials-friend/2014/05/10/8bd962bc-d453-11e3-aae8-c2d44bd79778_story.html?hpid=z1

[Jane]

Women are easily led down the garden path because there are no consequences to that frolic. No worries, the government has your back!

It is getting tiresome to see the 2 parent family continuously torn down...& then be expected to feel sorry for someone that didn't have a 2 parent family.

You are so correct Janet.

[Jack is Back!]

Jane's 8:30 link is the most depressing I've read in ages. No attribution to LBJ's Great Society, so I'll make. It's been turtles all the way down since then for the traditional black family.

[Miss Marple]

Jack,

If you read it carefully it is really a culture of adolescents. No empathy, no patience, no delayed gratification, always thinking people are out to get them, it's not fair, etc. etc.

[sbw]

Thank you, MM, for the insight. I read it so long ago I was probably too young to see that.

--

The Clar in Clarice stands for clarity.

[Porchlight]

A permanent and welcoming government safety net means parents no longer have to parent and kids no longer have to grow up. It used to be that if you didn't work and you didn't teach your kids to work, your family wouldn't survive.

[Porchlight]

Like literally wouldn't survive, not just "wouldn't survive intact."

[rse]

In looking at the tuition increases it is important to note that at some point in the last 30 years the standard higher ed year shifted from 30 weeks in session to 24. I calculated the difference in actual classtime when I went to college vs now and it came out to 2/3's of what I had over a four year degree.

So costs have gone up, class time is greatly diminished, and this Administration is using bo's own mentor, Harry Boyte, to further use colleges and universities to create a belief that society must be transformed.

The work of the Lumina Foundation in this area and Arne's turning over so much power to the accreditors with participation in the student loan program as their cudgel are also a huge part of the problem.

When I was speaking in St Louis and IL a few weeks ago and waiting at airport to come home, a mom at table next to me at a son getting a Masters in some sort of Res Life counseling. He had job offers lined up from higher ed because of this Mo ruling and the training administrators and students must now be put through. Very troubling as he had also be travelling all over the world pushing the social justice message.

Expectations about the nature of your adult life that cannot possible be met is what fuels revolutions and every radical knows that.

[pagar]

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Clarice. Great Pieces. A most timely subject.
IMO, it is going to be impossible to determine how many lives are going to be totally wasted over high student loan debt.

[jimmyk]

the standard higher ed year shifted from 30 weeks in session to 24.

I wasn't aware of that. We're always told that it's supposed to be 15 weeks/semester, including exams. It's usually expressed in terms of "contact hours," 45 per class per semester. I didn't think that had changed. Of course there are loopholes--classes don't literally meet for 3 hrs/week, and so on.

On student debt, I reiterate the idea that universities should have to co-sign on the loans. That Federalist guy's idea of wiping out existing debt in exchange for ending Federal dollars to higher ed seems a bit extreme. The Feds should definitely get out of the lending business (everywhere), but I don't see the gains from letting the students off the hook.

As for Fed dollars to higher ed, the strings attached are enormous. There is an argument for some support for pure (non-profitable) research, but the Feds invariably politicize it (big surprise), like all the sustainability nonsense. I'd rather they match private dollars and stay neutral on where it goes.

[jimmyk]

Meant to add: Compliments to Clarice on her latest "Pieces," and Happy Mothers Day!

[Man Tran back home]

From Jane's article:

They live in the here and the now and are unable to wait for anything.

That is the No. 1 criterion for psychopathy. Five years ago this August, just before we joined up for the 9/12 march, someone here (JMH?) posted a link that changed my life. It was to a shrink website that had a paper on psychopathy. It is a perfect overlay on this public defender's sad story.

Since LBJ started the ball rolling, the black, inner city community has taken an historical 1 percent of the general population and driven it, with "selective breeding," to essentially have the majority become psychopaths.

On a parallel note, does this also explain the high percentage of psychopaths in the Mohametan world? Lots of 1st cousins getting it on there. :(

[Man Tran back home]

Trick question for you Bible scholars:

did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because they all had the psychopath gene and the human race could not survive with it? Lot had the opportunity to find the few who were not 'infected.'

[suburban gal]

I. Am not sure where the college year is 24 weeks. Here in the Southeast the accrediting body still requires 15 hours per credit. In our state the calendar is set at the state level and often exceeds the minimum. To be fair to those f us who truly labor in the alls of ighr edu, the flakes in the news are not the norm, generally teach fewer students, are in areas with "soft" standards and have lots of time to pursue their personal psychic needs. The rest of us are busy

[suburban gal]

Apologies for all the missing "h's"--new tablet

[rse]

jimmy and suburban gal-every college kid I know of currently in school has 24 weeks of classes in session not counting summer school.

Every adult I know of remember 2 15 week semesters or 3 10 week terms or quarters.

I never thought of it until I went through school calendar and started talking to other parents about why kids are home so much more.

For me it was 3 classes per day 5 days a week. Now kids do not have classes meeting every day. It's that combo that got me to the 2/3's. Start asking the college kids you know what their terms are and how many days they have classes. So far all those anecdotes support what I wrote.

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Hasn't the length of time that public elementary and high school students spend at school per class day decreased as well?

[AliceH]

Back when I was in college, we had (2) 16-weeks semesters, and summer classes were either 6 weeks or 12 weeks (supposedly same material and requirements but compressed/accelerated).

I worked hardest, read more, thought more, wrote more, and consequently got the most out of the 6 week classes I took. Next highest were the 12 weeks classes.

Guess I'm saying elapsed-time is not necessarily a good proxy measure for education volume or quality. At least, not for everyone. More weeks, in my experience, meant dragging things out and filling time with so much dreck the "good" stuff actual tended to dissipate into nothingness.

Happy Mothers' Day.

[clarice]

Not to be missed.http://speisa.com/modules/articles/index.php/item.221/congressman-trey-gowdy-silences-the-press.html#.U29u-oOcEGm.facebook

[Bori]

Happy Day everyone!

Clarice,
interesting pieces and a great idea but if the cries of racism about voter ID are loud now, just wait what and see what the outrage it would cause if someone suggests it. You know trying to keep the minorities dumb and uneducated, etc.

[clarice]

Our old friend Paul Pillar resurfaces from the fever swamp again:http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/05/09/source-for-newsweeks-dreyfus-affair-article-accusing-israel-of-spying-on-u-s-also-supported-anti-israel-asa-boycott/

[jimmyk]

rse, Following Alice's comment, are the 12-week classes 4 hours/week? That would still satisfy the requirements.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because they all had the psychopath gene and the human race could not survive with it?

The human heart apart from God is THE problem for all of us. We all have the sin nature. "I" trouble. Gen. 3:5
I was a resident of Sodom & Gomorrah until I accepted Christ.

None of us can eternally survive in our sinful state...that's why Jesus came. He bought me with the price of His own life. He took my punishment & He redeemed me. And now He changes me & does in me what I cannot do myself. He changes me from the inside out.
The people in Sodom & Gomorrah were no different than people nowadays. We just get to see what an entire society that is Godless becomes.

[Cecil Turner]

I'm just surprised at how many people bought it.

Heh. Outstanding. Gowdy's delivery is pitch perfect, and his approach (what the media doesn't know, and why) is spot on.

The only winge I have is with the forces available discussion. The DoD did in fact move a reaction force to Sigonella (they arrived far too late to do anything). The other assets (except for the fire team in Tripoli) were either unavailable or too far away.

I think excessive pursuit on that point will drive DoD folks to the President's defense, be relatively easily debunked, and detract from the main issues. I hope he leaves it alone. Other than that . . .

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

Reading that article & then knowing about Rev. Wright's sermons (& Rev. Jackson & Rev. Al) is interesting too. Many black churches have gotten so political & so far away from teaching the Bible that they are nothing more than secular institutions.
They might use religious language, but they aren't about the Bible at all.
It's the same with lots of churches.
'You should' lists.
'They should' lists.
Lists of grievances.
Lists of outside blame.

But very little focus on the problem being each individual's sinful nature. Very little focus on the answer to that one central problem. The answer is Jesus Christ.

The Times once sent out an inquiry to famous authors, asking the question, “What’s wrong with the world today?” and Chesterton responded simply,

“Dear Sir,

I am.

Yours, G.K. Chesterton.”

[Man Tran back home]

The people in Sodom & Gomorrah were no different than people nowadays.

That's what I would have always assumed, but if there is a psychopath gene, it may be beyond a free will/turn to God thing and more a defect like contracting rabies.

You can hospitalize a small fraction of a population, but not a large one.

[cathyf]

College here is still 2 15-week semesters. WonderBoy at Notre Dame, too, and he has never taken fewer than 16 credit hours. (That was because he was taking 19, and he dropped the theoretical astrophysics course with the wacky and highly disorganized instructor.) University of Chicago has 3 10-week quarters, but that is because the students are really good and the pace is brutal. One place to look is the physics curriculum -- the topics covered in physics I, II, and III are canonical. The college here had trimesters for a time until about 30 years ago. Instead of taking six 3-hour/week courses over a 15-week semester, students took four 5-hour/week courses over a 9-week trimester. That's basically a parallel vs sequential arrangement, and different students do better or worse in different circumstances.

The 12-week semesters were always just the few ivy-league schools where the faculty has only the most incidental responsibility to teach.