From Reuters: A plan by a German zoo to test the sexual appetites of a group of suspected homosexual penguins has sparked outrage among gay and lesbian groups, who fear zookeepers might force them to turn straight. “All sorts of gay and lesbian associations have been e-mailing and calling in to protest,” said a spokesman for the zoo in the northwestern city of Bremerhaven on Friday. He said the zoo
February 11, 2005
Ward’s beaver exposed?
In a revealing article today, The Denver Post takes a closer look at Ward Churchill’s scholarship: University of Colorado officials reviewing Ward Churchill’s writings and qualifications will find questions about his scholarship and accuracy dating back at least eight years. “If he is going to get fired, it is going to be for making up data, and that’s one thing you can’t get away with in the academic community,” said
February 10, 2005
Virginia is for Lovers. And nanny-state prudes.
From the Washington Post: Attention, parents: The state of Virginia understands that you lead busy lives, but lawmakers are confident that you will be only too happy to tack just one more task onto your morning routine—a quick pants check as the kids head out the door. The House of Delegates voted 60 to 34 Tuesday to impose a $50 fine on anyone found wearing pants low enough that a
February 10, 2005
9 OTHER chest-thumping announcements North Korea is set to make this week*
From this day forward, “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-Il will only answer to “Dear Leader Uncle Really Big Boom Boom” The United States: perfected the seven-layer dip; The Republic of North Korean: perfected the trillion-layer dip! Soon to be released documents will prove that it was North Korea—not, as was previously believed, the US—who helped beat back the Nazis at Normandy The first working printing press was invented by Dear Leader
February 10, 2005
Entreaty
If you haven’t yet voted in the JIB awards (you’re only allowed one vote), please consider doing so now. Because having been sniped at by a few of the chosen people, I’m no longer satisfied with a win; instead, I want to beat my competitors so badly that their mothers begin bragging about me come Mahjong night. That’s right. How you like me now, Yosef? **** update: Who’s your daddy,
February 10, 2005
red pills found behind the sofa cushions, analepsis 5
Having used a one-time pad to decode a message he insists was spread over several Circuit City ads in Tuesday’s Rocky Mountain News, the dolphin in the peacoat spent the next 16 hours stocking the garage with canned food and reinforcing the walls and ceiling of the living room with rebar and heavy wooden planks. Which, of course, freaked me out a bit—but not near so much as when he
February 10, 2005
The “Oliver Willis by proxy” post (first in a series)
“ARROGANT WARMONGERING PERSIAN-HATING COWBOY CHIMP!”* There. Piece of cake. **** update: catchy!
February 10, 2005
University of Colorado Ethnic Studies professor and anti-American firebrand Ward Churchill and 70s Kung-fu expert and counterculture icon Billy Jack engage in a bit of faux-Native American chest puffery
“You hear about that chick who scalped a teenager last month? Well, I like to think my work in raising the profile of oppressed Native Americans had something to do with that little bit of authentic American justice.’”* “Sometimes—just for fun—I refer to corn as ‘maize.’ And there’s not a damn thing the Man can do about it.” **** More here and here.
Peter Fonda comments on the supposed democratic “reforms” now underway in Saudi Arabia
Fonda: “From what I understand, the Saudis are still denying women the franchise, right? Which, that would delegitimize the whole enterprise, I think, because women are the soul of any culture, y’know?—its conscience, its warm, pink yang. “On the other hand, those white robes Arab dudes wear? Unbelievably comfortable. And roomy enough to accomodate a kneeling Tony Basil and Karen Black—with room leftover in the rear for Verna Bloom to