The Dire Consequences of Not Enacting an English-Only Law

Posted by Raznor

Great new toon by Mikhaela.

On a related note, via Ryan at Malkin(s)watch, Michelle Malkin posts this article saying only "Everyone take a deep breath."

Fake nails and women’s shoes were flying as a bloody claw fight erupted at a Dorchester salon after one primping patron allegedly screamed at a woman bantering in Spanish, “Speak English! This is America!”

Just minutes after the melee broke out at Kathy’s Nail Design at 261 Bowdoin St., it escalated to the point of a 911 call.

A cop who arrived to break the fracas up got angry red scratches on his neck and arm for his trouble. They were left by a woman who’d just spent $40 for French manicure nail tips, said the shop’s owner, David Win.

“Ten years in this country, I never seen anything like this. The lady says ‘Speak English, I don’t want to hear Spanish!’ and big fight happens,” Win told the Herald last night. “There was blood in here and everything. There were a lot of customers in here. It (was) crazy.”

As Ryan notes, it's funny how Malkin sees no connection between this sort of thing and her own, racist rhetoric.

Complete Raznor Overhaul

Posted by Raznor

As you can see, the template of this blog has been redone for the first time since I first started this blog more than three years ago. I'll add stuff like a blogroll next, and truly Raznor's Rants will have arrived.

Friday Random Ten

Posted by Raznor

You know the rules, and the so on. Jill's got her list, minus the random part, but I'm attempting to get back into the FRT groove, so I'll stay as random as iTunes permits me to be. So here's the list:

1) "Bewilderbeast" - Badly Drawn Boy (I grow to like BDB more and more as time goes on. Just enjoyable stuff)
2) "Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen" - Ren and Stimpy (probably my favorite moment from the entire Ren and Stimpy series)
3) "This is Not" - Blonde Redhead
4) "Red Rain" - White Stripes (I"t's a great song, but this is the second time this song came up in a FRT - just how random is iTunes random shuffle, I wonder?)
5) "It Takes All Kinds " - 8889 (This is from an excellent Elliott Smith tribute album that I would recommend to anyone reading this)
6) "Long as I Can See the LIght" - Credence Clearwater Revival
7) "Because It's Midnite" - Limozeen
8) "Nite Becomes Day" - Citizen Cope (hmm two "nite" songs in a row, interesting)
9) "The Big Battle" - Johnny Cash
10) "The Engine Driver" - The Decemberists

And there you go. Have fun.

Arbitrary But Fun Friday
Posted by Raznor

Over at Pandagon, Amanda Marcotte asks the following question:

If you could ban one movie cliche from movies forever, on the pain of the director’s execution or at least banishment from making any movies ever again, what would it be?

This is tough for me - Amanda Marcotte says the cliche of "I love you so please don't get on that plane," but that only reminds me of one of my favorite sequences from Clone High, so I'm reluctant to agree. Mostly I just want to ban Michael Bay and Chris Columbus from ever making movies again, but can't think of a golden cliche that would allow me to do away with both.

I think I'll just say thin male comedian in overweight woman suit. I mean, Big Momma's House II? No. Just no.

Vox Day realizes he's a fucking nutjob
Posted by Raznor

Yesterday I posted on Vox Day of World Net Daily praising the Nazis in relation to the immigration debate. Today, without word, the relevant paragraph in his article is:

It couldn't possibly take more than eight years to deport 12 million illegal aliens, many of whom don't speak English and are not integrated into American society. In fact, the hysterical response to the post-rally enforcement rumors tends to indicate that the mere announcement of a massive deportation program would probably cause a third of that 12 million to depart for points south within a week.

Compare that to

Not only will it work, but one can easily estimate how long it would take. If it took the Germans less than four years to rid themselves of 6 million Jews, many of whom spoke German and were fully integrated into German society, it couldn't possibly take more than eight years to deport 12 million illegal aliens, many of whom don't speak English and are not integrated into American society.

Note without the context of the Nazis, the 12 year figure is pulled straight out of his ass. And the bullshit reasoning is merely illogical and stupid, though I guess that's better than evil Nazi wannabe.

. . . and thanks to co-blogger Elyce for picking up on this.

But note there is no confirmation, just a quite delete and rewrite. No apology, no "what was I thinking" just a "it never happened" rewrite. Oh well, can't expect conservatives to accept responsibility for their actions.

As for the original, I can't find it archived anywhere, but here's a google search on commentary on the original.

I've been meaning to post this for a bit
Posted by Raznor

Over at Lawyers, Guns and Money, Scott Lemieux has an excellent post on pretending Bush v Gore is Constitutional Law, and how the most partisan Supreme Court decision ever may have the unforeseen effect of helping defend voting rights for millions:

The Supreme Court has announced that there is a fundamental right not to have one's vote diluted, a right clearly violated by Ohio's 2000 election procedures, as well as those of all states that allow some individuals to have their votes diluted by less reliable voting machines or arbitrary recount procedures. Whether or not this decision was right in the first instance, lower courts should apply the principle. There is no reason, conversely, to be bound by the B. v. G 5's lawless "minimalist" dictum that "[o]ur consideration is limited to the present circumstances, for the problem of equal protection in election processes generally presents many complexities"; it is the responsibility of lower courts to sort through these complexities, and faithfully apply the precedent to cases in which there is vote dilution inherent in state election procedures. The rule of law demands no less. To paraphrase Michael McConnell, is the bottom of the slippery slope so bad? Reforming the country's egregiously irrational electoral system would certainly be a good outcome.

Read the rest.

No, the immigration issue has nothing to do with racism
Posted by Raznor

Via Greg Saunders, here's a nice little bit of logical thinking from World Net Daily:

Not only will it work, but one can easily estimate how long it would take. If it took the Germans less than four years to rid themselves of 6 million Jews, many of whom spoke German and were fully integrated into German society, it couldn't possibly take more than eight years to deport 12 million illegal aliens, many of whom don't speak English and are not integrated into American society.

So quick question - is it Godwin's laws when someone actually compares themselves to the Nazis? And admirably? And how the hell do you write this down and not think "Hey, I just wrote a paragraph saying how we should be more like Nazis. That's the fucking craziest and most evil thing I could possibly write, best delete it and ensure it never sees the light of day."

In the meanwhile you have Bill O'Reilly saying liberals want to destroy our pure white race, and John Gibson informs whites we need more babies. And don't get me started on Michelle Malkin. You can get your fill on her insanity here if need be.

The Midnight Rambler:
Who cares about Barry Bonds and #714? Well, I do. Sort of.
Posted by Ross

I care. I think the whole thing is utterly fascinating. It's what makes baseball, well, baseball. This isn't to say I'll be watching, unless by accident. I don't really watch sports anymore. But, boy do I love the stats. And I love the stories.

Even when Barry Bonds was skinny Barry, he still got booed everywhere he went, even at the All-Star game. And now that he's actually a bad guy, if you believe in such things (which I only kind of do), San Francisco has become this haven from really rabid hostility everywhere Bonds goes. It's interesting, because San Francisco has always been known as a haven for tolerance. It's also, incidentally, a place where you can get "kind bud" from friendly folks on the street wearing stocking caps... which is to say, controversial narcotics that may be shunned by a large portion of the country are a little more accepted in Northern California (God bless that place). And I'm not saying this is why BALCO was essentially a Bay Area phenomenon. I'm merely noting that BALCO was essentially a Bay Area phenomenon.

And all this talk about "He's a disgrace." Fuck that. I mean, yeah, he is a disgrace in the way steroids are disgraceful and really, really bad for your body. But if we can just be libertarian about the whole thing for a second here, then maybe we can take a step back and say, what have we here? Why this is a very interesting chapter in the strange phenomenon we humans call professional sports. And no children got bombed. And no multi-chinned CEOs pilfered the American public.

Back in the day, drunken fans used to rush the field and beat the shit out of the umpire if they didn't like his calls. Hell, remember the 1899 Cleveland Spiders? The Spiders' owner won the St. Louis Browns at a sheriff's auction and decided that St. Louis would be a better place to turn a profit, so he moved all of the Spiders' best players (including Cy Young) to the Browns. The Spiders were 12-104 that season.

And need I even mention segregation, or the Black Sox, or John Rocker?

Right, wrong, who cares? It's part of the lore, baby. It's happening. Live it. Breathe it. And then write a book about it.

Wow, Kobe Bryant is a dick
Posted by Raznor

Bryant on being guarded by Raja Bell:

"It's funny because I really don't think about him defensively," Bryant said. "I really don't. It's not like when I go up against Bruce Bowen or (Ron) Artest or something like that where they make you think about what you're doing out there. It's not like that."

Yeah, that's right Kobe - try scoring more than 1 point in a half and then we'll talk.

Meanwhile Suns just scored a three at the end of the third quarter to take a 93-91 lead over the other LA team. Should be a fun series.

. . . And Suns win 130-123. Woot. Now back to my massive finals week related work.

Saturday Dog Blogging
Posted by Raznor

So today's dog blog pic was taken at the bark park. Always good to see the dogs runnin' about and playing. Here's the pic.


Runnin' Hermes.

INTRODUCING JOSIE
Posted by Elyce

Oh no - I'm dogblogging!

This is our new rescued pooch Josie (pronounced with proper Norwegian accent as "Yo-see"). She's a timid sweetie saved from the side of a road by a kind individual from whom we adopted her. She's between 2 and 4 yrs. old, about 20 lbs., and we're filling her full of love and attention (and de-worming medication).

She seems disinclined to torment the cats, and at least one of the three seems willing to put up with her without turning into an arched-back Halloween kitty.

We're happy to welcome her into our family!

A study tip
Posted by Raznor

Let's say your in a math class, and you're about to be tested on what the teacher has repeatedly told you is the most difficult subject covered in this class. The teacher informs you that there will be a particularly difficult question on the test, but informs you it will be exactly one of the three he went over during a lecture, so that although you don't know for certain what the question will be, you know the answer is in your notes, and exactly where it is. What do you do?

If you said "read my notes and be sure I know how to do the exact problem the teacher told me would be on my test," please talk to my students.

End rant. Grading is painful at times.

Colbert's Roast of President Bush
Posted by Ross

In case you haven't seen it, here's a link to what Jon Stewart called "a 20 minute address that I can only describe as ballsilicious."

Update (by Raznor): Link's not working for youtube, however the entire dinner is available here. Colbert comes in at about the 50 minute mark.