Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Mindless List for 2012

Once again some place called Beloit College has released a new Mindless List for the class of 2012. According to the hype the Beloit College Mindless people put out, the list "provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college." Hmm, we'll see about that. They also say that the "List is shared with faculty and with thousands who request it each year as the school year begins." Thousands of people request this? I find that hard to believe. More likely Beloit College thrusts this on everyone. But let's focus on the claim that this list has anything to do with the cultural touchstones of incoming college students.

"For these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been dead."

If they've always been dead, then are they really cultural touchstones? Does this even make sense? And is Freddy Krueger really dead? He seems to live on in a cable wasteland.

2. Since they were in diapers, karaoke machines have been annoying people at parties.

How is this a touchstone for them? Were they in their diapers singing karaoke?

6. Shampoo and conditioner have always been available in the same bottle.

This seems to be the sort of thing a generation will bond over, a true "touchstone."

8. Their parents may have dropped them in shock when they heard George Bush announce “tax revenue increases.”

Yeah, that seems pretty likely, because their parents no doubt believe every politician's promise and are just shocked when one is broken.

9. Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option.

And certainly a touchstone of these kid's lives, because no doubt they've been electronically filing all along.

15. Martha Stewart Living has always been setting the style.

The style for whom? These incoming students? Does that seem likely?

22. Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.

And they care about this? Or is it just their leftist professors who care about this?

24. We have always known that “All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”

But have any of them read this book, or even heard of it?

26. Wayne Newton has never had a mustache.

Which is an item of central concern for 18-year-olds, who are notorious Wayne Newton fans.

29. Roseanne Barr has never been invited to sing the National Anthem again.

Roseanne who?

31. They have never been able to color a tree using a raw umber Crayola.

And this is a touchstone for them how exactly?

35. They never tasted Benefit Cereal with psyllium.

This can hardly be a touchstone for them, then. Plus, I don't even know what the hell this is.

38. Lenin’s name has never been on a major city in Russia.

Again, if it's never been on a major city, then how exactly do they touch this stone?

39. Employers have always been able to do credit checks on employees.

And I'm sure all these students have had their credit checked many times.

40. Balsamic vinegar has always been available in the U.S.

And these kids have been buying it in droves.

42. Their parents may have watched The American Gladiators on TV the day they were born.

Shouldn't they have been in the hospital giving birth? I guess people who watched American Gladiators didn't think about that sort of thing. Even if their parents were watching this, were the children watching it as well?

43. Personal privacy has always been threatened.

Because no one's personal privacy was ever threatened before 1990.

47. They never heard an attendant ask “Want me to check under the hood?”

I hate to break it to the oldsters compiling this mindless list, but I've never heard that either. Well, maybe in an old movie.

50. They have never known life without Seinfeld references from a show about “nothing.”

Seinfeld started before they were born and ended when they were young. Do Seinfeld references abound among 18-year-olds?

51. Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.

Yep, and they all have vivid memories of this.

52. Muscovites have always been able to buy Big Macs.

Even if they ever knew this, they didn't care.

53. The Royal New Zealand Navy has never been permitted a daily ration of rum.

WTF? The Beloit people are really reaching with this one.

54. The Hubble Space Telescope has always been eavesdropping on the heavens.

"Eavesdropping on the heavens"? Who writes this stuff? I can just imagine all these incoming college students, standing on the quad, gazing into the night sky, saying in unison, "Ahh, the Hubble Space Telescope is still eavesdropping on the heavens. What a comforting thought!"

55. 98.6 F or otherwise has always been confirmed in the ear.

Not in my house.

56. Michael Milken has always been a philanthropist promoting prostate cancer research.

Is that what he's up to these days? Does it seem likely that 18-year-olds, even those with prostates, care enough about this to know who Michael Milkin is?

I guess the question is, what constitutes a cultural touchstone. I would argue a cultural touchstone for a generation, if such even makes sense, would be something that most people in the generation would remember that generations on either side of them probably wouldn't, except in the case of boomer culture which they manage to thrust on the rest of us for 40 years, as if that "classic rock" from the 1960s had anything other than nostalgiac appeal. But I digress.

Music seems to be a good cultural touchstone. Most pop music of any decade sucks, but teenagers rememeber it while the rest of us typically avoid it. Television's good as well, because some shows appeal to children only in a certain era. The question is, how can something be a cultural touchstone for a generation if most people in that generation aren't even aware of it? The Royal New Zealand Navy? A television show popular on the day they were born? A book none of them have read? A crayon none of them have used? This doesn't even make sense.

Every year the Beloit College Mindless people flounder around to find something that tells us about these incoming college students. Once again they've failed. All this list does for me is point out what gibberish supposedly educated people can put out on the Internet. It also tells me that if I ever have kids, I wouldn't send them to Beloit College. But, as the Beloit Mindless people would no doubt say, there's no such thing as bad publicity.

195 comments:

Anonymous said...

It sounds to me that the staff of Beloit College has been permitted a daily ration of rum. And that ration is considerable.

waltc said...

Demonstration that the Beloit nonsense has cultural significance:

1. AL takes the time to fisk the damn thing.

I gave up a year or two ago; there really wasn't any point, even in pointing out the manifest errors, much less the nonsensical nature of it all.

As for all those requests--the market for dumb humor is essentially limitless.

Anonymous said...

I think these opposites [they have never been able to color trees with a raw umber crayola] are to highlight things generations before them Did have but this generation Does Not have.

But I am right with you; these things not even my generation or perhaps even your generation had! My dad does still bemoan the death of the Baby Blue Crayola and the substitutedly inferior Sky Blue in its place, but that happened eons ago. It's clear the old people are out of touch.

To be short, the class of 2012 is another tweener generation - they certainly didn't all have cell phones in 1990, but ever since 2000 this generation has been digitialized to the fullest extent. This is the class that hacked the iPhone using common devices, if I recall right.

Anyways...does any one know what the mainstream music is right now?? I'm way out of it.

Eva said...

Amen. That list made zero sense, and didn't have the common decency to be funny to make up for it.

Anonymous said...

Indeed, that has to be the most lame list to date. Looks like someone was drinking rum and searching Wikipedia the night before deadline. Hearing about the list makes me think back to several conferences where some "so-called" expert administrator calling upon this wonderful list as a some kind of panacea for getting in touch with who students your students are. I have my doubts if many of those people have actually even talked with a student in ten or fifteen years as much as they have read reports and survey results. They do love the the list though

libwitch said...

I remember (dear gods, this makes me feel old) when the list was useful, bc it actually helped you get an idea of where you are vs your students.

But now it just serves to tell you about the things your students NEVER KNEW ABOUT, therefore only allowing some professors to embarrass themselves a bit less in class by bringing them up.

It seems like that the creators of the list lost the purpose of the list!

Anonymous said...

Is that Freedom Rock?

Well, turn it up, man!

Anonymous said...

The list says far more about the arrogance of some Boomers than about the supposed naivety of their intended subjects, making the rest of us Boomers seem as self-absorbed as ever.

RCN
SF Bay Area

Anonymous said...

I bet this rotten kids have never even seen a card catalog.

Physical or electronic.

Nick Baker said...

How about doing a list that's more relevant, to put their short lives in some sort of perspective for those of us who actually remember the early 90s:

Students in the class of 2012:

Are younger than the Simpsons and reality television

Were in diapers during the first Gulf War

Were in pre-school when Kurt Cobain killed himself and Nancy Kerrigan was attacked by Tonya Harding's ex-husband.

Were in 1st grade when Deep Blue defeated Gary Kasparov at chess

Were in 3rd grade when Will and Grace premiered on NBC

Were in 4th grade for the Millenium Bug scare

Were in 5th grade during the disputed 2000 election

Were in 6th grade when the iPod was introduced


Things they don't remember:

The Challenger disaster

The first George Bush in the White House

The A-Team on prime time

The Soviet Union

Britney Spears not screwed up

Brent said...

Thank god I don't listen to morning radio shows, or I'd have to hear them read from this list.

jmomls said...

*some place called Beloit College*

Beloit, Wisconsin is a post-industrial town with nothing much going for it besides a yearly riverside concert which always features REO Speedwagon and a liberal arts college which apparently goes to Wikipedia and looks up the year 1984 to find establishments and disestablishments from that year.

Andrew the Grey said...

Why not have a Beloit freshman create a list? They might have a better grip on cultural touchstones, whatever they are.

I'm betting that REO Speedwagon Concert packs in the students.

Anonymous said...

Amen! I hate the Beloit list. It has always seemed quite mindless to me, but of course my boss sent it around to all of us. Yawn.

webbygrl said...

Talking to a 28 year old college grad, I completely lost him when I referenced Robot from Lost in Space. He said he'd heard the phrase, "Danger Wil Robinson" but never really knew what it was all about. I instantly felt incrediby old.

Have you noticed that most of the songs out there are remakes or a variation thereof? For instance, Kid Rock's "All Summer Long" is a spin of Leonard Skynard's "Sweet Home Alabama". I think I've spoke of this before, but there is so little creativity in the world. Those kids who are the class of 2012, never had to think for themselves since as someone mentioned, they have been digitized since birth. Since the iPod, if there is something in your ears, that seems to leave very little room for something between your ears - as is so painfully obvious by the writer of this list. Totally agree with the deadline/wiki theory.

I gotta go DL that Kid Rock song. It's awesome!

soren faust said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
webbygrl said...

You are correct. And to think the class of 2012 probably wouldn't have noticed at all.

Anonymous said...

Perl Jam? Boy, they are way off on that one. Perl Jam is firmly a GenX band. The youngsters aren't interested.

Anonymous said...

I bet this is the first and only time mention of the Royal New Zealand Navy (or any of New Zealand's armed forces) make it into a library blog. I also bet I am the only person who cares.

(OK, AL readers, let your snarky responses begin....)

waltc said...

Bets are tricky things. Particularly when libloggers are reading comments.

Besides, Te taua moana is a much classier name than most. (I'll choose the outfit's own website over Wikipedia's Ne taua moana, thank you.)

Anonymous said...

REO Speedwagon? Jesus. Not even the most nostalgia-blinded boomers would listen to that crap.

If I had to live in Beloit WI or attend that college, my daily ration of rum would be in gallons.

Anonymous said...

Just call this one mindless AL drivel and be done with it.

jmomls said...

*REO Speedwagon? Jesus. Not even the most nostalgia-blinded boomers would listen to that crap.

If I had to live in Beloit WI or attend that college, my daily ration of rum would be in gallons.*

It's actually a week long riverside festival and I think REO has been there like, six years in a row. Other equally legendary acts like Molly Hatchet, et al, usually round out the bill.

And if you lived in Beloit, you'd not drink rum. You'd drink brandy and beer and eat fish fry until your arteries clogged shut, because dat's da Sconnie way.

Anonymous said...

Nope - I think that the staff at Beloit had a huge sesh down the pub (after all they do work in academia)and thought that list was bloody brilliant.

I rather prefer Nick Baker's list instead...

Anonymous said...

If you listened to REO Speedwagon the first time around, you are officially uncool.

Sorry.

Alisa said...

It seems to me that the entire point of this list is to make the readers feel old. What 18 year old would actually relate to this list?

Anonymous said...

If you listened to REO Speedwagon the first time around, you are officially uncool.

But not if you listened to a local band in FL that was around in the 90's named REO Speeddealer!

Anonymous said...

I'm uncool. I liked/like REO. An uncool librarian. Who would have thunk it?

soren faust said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

You call yourself a librarian and don't know that St. Petersburg, Russia was called Leningrad from 1924-1991? Whatever.

soren faust said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

REO Speedwagon = Wuss Rock = Librarian Rock

Kristen said...

The part I've never understood about the list is that it seems to be reinforcing to the faculty all the ways that they cannot relate to their students. Which seems counter-productive. Unless it's to stop them dating them.

Anonymous said...

Well, ok, the info about the list does say its primary audience is the faculty. And most info ostensibly produced by colleges for (or in this case about) incoming freshman has their parents as its real audience. So is it actually surprising that this list only exists to make old people feel older?

Anonymous said...

This list has been of very little interest to me in past years, and even less now. One thing I found out, though -- from the swipe taken at baby boomers, AL is obviously a GenXer.

Cultural reference that will probably be on next year's Beloit list:

"People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the older people and the kids?...It’s just not right. It’s not right. It’s not, it’s not going to change anything. We’ll, we’ll get our justice....Please, we can get along here. We all can get along. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. Let’s try to work it out. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to work it out." --Rodney King, 1991 (Quoted in Wikipedia-- so, flame on!)

fpaynter said...

REO Speedreader = Librarian Rock

... and "anonymous" at 6:12 PM referenced "Perl Jam." OMGLOLBBQ, how geeky! I suppose that next we hear about "Python Jam" and "PHP Jam."

For all the geeks and nerds, let me simply say that the grunge band which was referenced is more properly spelt: "Pearl Jam."

Andrew the Grey said...

Actually, I saw Perl Jam with Nirjava & ASP in Chains at Nerdapalooza in the 90's. Cool show, but I kept slipping on pocket protectors in the mosh pit.

Anonymous said...

And I can't fight this feeling anymore; I've forgotten what I started fighting for...

jmomls said...

*Please, we can get along here. We all can get along. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. Let’s try to work it out. *

It takes a village to raise a child that won't grow up to drive through residential neighborhoods at 100 mph whilst tripping on PCP.

Anonymous said...

I liked the one about dropping the kids the day Bush announced about the taxes. The fact kids were dropped might explain why a good lot of them are not quite the sharpest tools in the shed.

And Anon. @1205p, our President here at Backwater Rural Branch (BRB) U actually used parts of this list during our convocation. To say it was embarrassing is to put it mildly.

I think maybe the Beloit people need to lay off the rum ration and actually get some educating done.

soren faust said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

O.K., so if someone has always been dead did they ever exist in the first place? I mean even Angel and Spike were alive at some point. Oh, I'm sorry, was I referencing something no one knows about anymore?

Actually, I just finished watching Angel on DVD with my daughters and they loved it. Maybe DVDs and cable will save our culture! (Just kidding)

Hey, BTW this blog is way old, it tells me DVD is not a word.

Anonymous said...

I am also surprised they didn't have a category about that other popular Gen X band, ERM. Don't they have a new comeback album?

Anonymous said...

They don't remember when Stix's music video for Mr. Robot.

fpaynter said...

"Styx," not "Stix," dammit.

You did that just to be annoying, right?

domo arigato mr. anonymo

The problem's plain to see: too much technology
Machines to save our lives. machines dehumanize.

Anonymous said...

Styx

REO Speedwagon

Talk about lack of creativity.

Anonymous said...

The best band name, hands down, is the Wax Pistols.

Anonymous said...

Don't know how you guys missed it, but their #1 is also completely wrong... unless they're discounting the Harry Potter books totally which is just dumb.

Harry Potter is 28. He was born in 1980*. The professors at Beloit should read more.

*July, if I'm remembering the book right... You must know these things when you're a Teen Librarian. ;)

webbygrl said...

Hey, I paid good babysitting money to see Styx, REO, Foghat, Heart, BOC (Blue Oyster Clut for you teen librarians), Van Halen, Scorpions, Rush, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers vs. just Tom Petty, Cheap Trick, Journey, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest(x3), and ZZ Top(x5), and many breakout bands I can't remember. I was a very nerdy, head-banging, dope smoking, rebel librarian in training. ROCK N ROLL!! When my son was 15, he said, "You're the only one of my friend's moms that listens to Bush". And if you think he meant the president, you're a dork.

Ah, those were the days...
Now I'm afraid of mosh pits. I might hurt something.

Anonymous said...

Football season is here, so now I don't have to depend on AL for my entertainment.

Whew. Didn't think I'd make it.

At least AL readers can get band names right. I wish I could sit with you cool kids on the bus.

Anonymous said...

AL readers know how to use the internets to finds stuff n junk like band names.

It is worth the price of the MLS degree.

Anonymous said...

I think the fairness doctine issue is hilarious - #58 on the original list is Radio stations have never been required to present both sides of public issues. Since this "both sides" requirement has NOT been in place am radio has been revived and turned into a massive and competitive industry. Isn't a free market of competition for ideas the point? Is the writer saying that we should have a government entity ensure that all sides win equally? Doesn't really seem to be the point of the first amendment or of capatilism.

soren faust said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

This list gets lamer by the year. It's time to retire it and do something else, Beloitsters.

Anonymous said...

The part I've never understood about the list is that it seems to be reinforcing to the faculty all the ways that they cannot relate to their students... Unless it's to stop them dating them.

Like that's EVER going to happen...

Anonymous said...

Such typical crap. If anyone asks for this list, it's out of some pathetic attempt to "connect" with undergrads and seem "hip".

Nearly every day at work, there's a point in my day when some 19 year old looks at me like I'm the coolest person in the world--it's when I take the time to explain what a call number is, or how to use the advanced search in the online catalog, or patiently help them find books on the shelves that are right in front of their faces--all without a hint of impatience or condescension! There are many of us hep cats out here. Librarians/library workers doing the job of librarians/library workers. Contrary to popular belief (among ALA drones at least), it's not always such glamorous work!

Repeat after me--helping a student to master the art of two sided copies on the Xerox is NOT beneath you. And they will enjoy actually being able to get on with their assigned task much more than they will reading this inane, unfunny list.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Soren --

immanent

imminent

Anonymous said...

I can't wait for this list seven years from now, Number 1, students weren't alive when this tradition started. They have never had the disappointment in the fall to reading a lame, useless list.

soren faust said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Rapture?

Wasn't that a hit by Blondie?

C'mon folks,you are all hip and happening rockers, aren't you?

Anonymous said...

Blondie??

That's like, the 1980s, right??

These kids were BORN in 1990!!!

Still the Wrong Generation!

The Other KAT!

Anonymous said...

This particular blogg is becoming more and more mindless. So what does this have to do with libraries or librarians? "Danger AL! Danger...!"

Anonymous said...

So what does this have to do with libraries or librarians?

God forbid that the AL posts off topic on this officially chartered blog for library professionals.

Anonymous said...

This is the only professional librarian blog out there. Let's keep on topic.

Where do you classify Blondie in your library? Punk rock or pop rock?

the.effing.librarian said...

when I saw that, "35. They never tasted Benefit Cereal with psyllium," I realized that there was nothing on that list that mattered. Sometimes I think about the listed item and try to see if it ever mattered to me or anyone I've ever met. And now I'm sure it's just an inside joke list for 55-75-yr-olds:
Do you remember Benefit Cereal with psyllium?
Oh, yes. It really made me fart.
Oh, that was you?
He he he.

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Anonymous said...

re: Accoutrements Deluxe Librarian Action Figure with Amazing Push-button Shushing Action

You do know this has been around since 2003, right?

Try to keep up. Otherwise, you just look lame. Why would AL whine about something CNN whined about five years ago. Feh.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

re:As McCain’s choice for vice president

Shameless spam. Take it somewhere else

Anonymous said...

Want me to check under the hood?

I've heard it used a few times, and it's always been a bad pickup line.

I've even tried it once myself

Anonymous said...

At least librarians will get mentioned because of Sarah Palin.

Already, The Daily Show has pointed out that she looks like the librarian in every late night Cinemax movie.

There is help for our profession and its image is looking up.

jmomls said...

*At least librarians will get mentioned because of Sarah Palin.*

You mean on top of all the "mentions" we got due to the fact that for the last 7 years the First Lady of these United States not only looks like a librarian but um, also is a librarian?

It's nice that the left--via their paid snarksperson John Stewart--has already sunken to the level of Cinemax-style fantasies about this politician. The only time that happens when a man is running is when Chris Matthews gets tingly legs.

Anonymous said...

Hot, sexy librarians will always get mentioned over mousy ones.

Just ask the AL and the soaring popularity here.

Anonymous said...

Palin and Censorship from the latest TIME Magazine.....

Tuesday, Sep. 02, 2008
Mayor Palin: A Rough Record
By Nathan Thornburgh / Wasilla, Alaska


.....Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

.........
"We like to call this the Bible Belt of Alaska," says Cheryl Metiva, head of the local chamber of commerce. Churches proliferate in Wasilla today, and among the largest and most influential is the Wasilla Bible Church, where the Palins worship.

Anonymous said...

More on attempted censorship and threat of firing, by a woman who served on the city council;
-----------------
While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day. Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop.....

Anonymous said...

Spam, spam and more spam. Take it somewhere else.

jmomls said...

*Palin and Censorship from the latest TIME Magazine.....*

Time itself should be censored--is that the journal which has had Obama on the cover six times this summer or is that Newsweak?

No agenda there [or at any other lamestream media outlet], nope!

Anonymous said...

Hello Library Staff and Library Lovers.

Please unite with me against Sarah Palin, Library Censor. She decides what you can read!

http://librariansagainstpalin.wordpress.com/

Anonymous said...

Thanks to Bush, the Republican Party is not strongly associated with intellectualism. But Sarah Palin has apparently taken the conservative derision for book-learnin' to a whole new level: Time reports that as mayor Palin asked the town librarian how to go about banning books from the local library. News reports from the time show that the librarian, who, strangely enough, was opposed to a tactic commonly employed by totalitarian regimes, had her job threatened for not giving her "full support" to the mayor.

The People for the American Way have issued a statement condemning Palin's actions and demanding an explanation from her:


People can disagree about a lot of things, but censorship is completely beyond the pale. Our democracy was founded on the belief that government shouldn't tell people what kinds of books to read or what kind of beliefs to hold. No one with that kind of history should be anywhere near the White House. Sarah Palin needs to clarify her stance on freedom of speech immediately, and John McCain needs to explain why he chose a running mate with so little regard for the Constitution.
So far the McCain campaign has been quiet about Palin's attempts to legislate what books people should be allowed to read.

Anonymous said...

There is a link to the "Librarians against Palin" site if you click on the header in the earlier post. The site has some links to newspaper accounts relating to the library case out of Alaska. I tried reaching the other link by cutting and pasting the URL to Google, but nothing came up. It looks like McCain didn't do
a very good job of vetting.

We do not know much more than the little that has surfaced, thus far, and that itself needs to get further light in order to flesh out the story. On the surface, though, it looks like a case of an attempted political "dump the librarian" move that was somehow twarted by local citizens. Librarians are supposed to be "Professionals", and censorship
is one of those practices that falls beyond the pale. I certainly hope this matter gets further attention and closer scrutiny by the press, which seems to be more obsessed with other aspects of the Palin family story.

jmomls said...

*Please unite with me against Sarah Palin, Library Censor. She decides what you can read!*

Librarians decide what you can read each and every single day. Even with robust budgets, librarians choose certain types of books over others on a consistent basis.

This has been well documented over and over again, so spare us the crusade.

jmomls said...

*Please unite with me against Sarah Palin, Library Censor. She decides what you can read!*

Librarians decide what you can read each and every single day. Even with robust budgets, librarians choose certain types of books over others on a consistent basis.

This has been well documented over and over again, so spare us the crusade.

Anonymous said...

"Time itself should be censored--is that the journal which has had Obama on the cover six times this summer or is that Newsweak?

No agenda there [or at any other lamestream media outlet], nope!"

Does the "J" in your handle stand for Jim Crow?

Anonymous said...

Librarians decide what you can read each and every single day. Even with robust budgets, librarians choose certain types of books over others on a consistent basis.


Palin isn't the librarian. Palin wanted to fire the librarian who was doing exactly that.

Not that too many librarians were likely to vote for McCain in any case...

Anonymous said...

If I had to live in Beloit WI or attend that college, my daily ration of rum would be in gallons.

I did, and it was.

Anonymous said...

...hell hath no fury like a leftist who encounters a female or African-American who doesn't need him. Thus, the high-tech lowbrow lynching of Clarence Thomas and the current unseemly attacks on Sarah Palin. How else to account for the shroud of discreet silence over the John Edwards affair vs. the airing of every possible rumor and smear about Palin and her children?

Anonymous said...

How else to account for the shroud of discreet silence over the John Edwards affair vs. the airing of every possible rumor and smear about Palin and her children?


John Edwards is a has-been. I was not aware of any "discreet silence." It has been splashed all over the news.

The difference is (if any) - Tah Dah -->

Palin is running for the second-highest political office in the country.

Next question?

webbygrl said...

...I'm a librarian and I'm voting for McCain...

Sarah could be a lesbian and the left would still hate her because she has conservative values - and they hate conservative values no matter what color (Thomas) or gender (Palin) you are. She's a major threat to the left and they are running scared. Here is an extremely successful (and beautiful I might add) woman and the feminists are up in arms. I mean, she has achieved everything my mother burned her bra for. So what's the deal? Where is Nancy Pelosi? Where is Hillary? They are strangely silent. This woman took on the good old boys network and won.

Now as for the firing of the state's top cop...her ex-BIL was threatening her sister, her father, and herself. This clown had a restraining order against him that he continually violated, and he drove around drunk in his patrol car threatening her family. She told the top cop to get rid of him and the "good old boys" stuck together. So bye-bye top cop with the bad judgement.

I think Sarah was a great choice and I'm loving this election season.

Anonymous said...

More rum ration comments on here, huh?

Well, good for you, AL readers.

If I were Beloit I'd be less concerned about when the Royal New Zealand Navy had a rum ration and more concerned about when they had something more than a couple frigates and assorted auxiliaries.

Call me Mahanian. Major surface units still mean something in my mind.

I wouldn't have posted this except for two things - others commented on the rum ration and (especially)that one dude did respond to the RNZN stuff on his blog.

Thank you drive through.

Anonymous said...

"Change"???? This woman is a Pentacostal, the folks who talk in "unknown tongues".....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080904/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_palin_iraq_war

The "Apocalypse" is in your hands in Nov.........

Anonymous said...

She's a major threat

Not really. She's an anti-pro-choice, censorshop-loving, creationist-proselytizing, drilling-apoligizing, right-wing-family-values promoting, junior-league hockey-loving soccer mom with a blue-collar husband who has a dui and can't seem to remember to buy a hunting and fishing license, and who barely slid through an undergraduate degree (journalism).

Totally harmless. I say, let her speak as much as she wants. Let as many people as possible know who she is, what she believes and what she stands for.

Vote, and get what you asked for.

Anonymous said...

The woman is pro-life, yet also pro-hunting. In addition, her idea of the thrill of man against beast appears to be the aerial gunning down of wolves in canned hunts.

Then there are her ties to BP, a company that employees her husband. These ties are currently being investigated.

The fact that some of the pork-barrel projects that McCain criticised were her own pork barrel projects in Alaska.

Also the fact that her views on abstinence-only sex ed may have indirectly contributed to her daughter's condition. Multiply Bristol by millions of kids taught abstinence-only because of Palin's interference in sex-ed. The Palins are wealthy and can afford to help Bristol. Many families lack their economic advantages. We could all be paying for Sarah's views for generations to come.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Sarah could be a lesbian and the left would still hate her because she has conservative values - and they hate conservative values no matter what color (Thomas) or gender (Palin) you are.

I do not hate Palin becasue she is conservative; I hate Palin because her personal values are rooted in Ignorance, Pure and Simple.

Anonymous said...

"I do not hate Palin becasue she is conservative; I hate Palin because her personal values are rooted in Ignorance, Pure and Simple."

I have no objections to her being Gov. of Alaska, or even a senator from same. What bothers me is having her next in line to the President, should anything happen.
I also wonder if McCain really did Vet her as thorough as he claims.

jmomls said...

*Does the "J" in your handle stand for Jim Crow?*

Ahh, didn't take long for someone to confuse a dislike of blatant in-the-tank media bias for racism.

You better tell my black wife and half-black child I'm all for segregation, you anonymous piece of excrement.

*The difference is (if any) - Tah Dah -->

Palin is running for the second-highest political office in the country. *

John Edwards was running for the HIGHEST office in the land while fucking around on his DYING wife--what a winner! That would automatically disqualify you for about 80% of the jobs in the military, but not for Democratic POTUS candidate. I guess he wanted to one up Clinton really badly.

*"Change"???? This woman is a Pentacostal, the folks who talk in "unknown tongues".....*

And for 20 years Obama was in a Kill Whitey church. It's all okay, though, if their own your side, right yet another anonymous nobody?

And just look at all the leftists here to try to knock down a woman who doesn't subscribe to their tiny-minded worldview which consists of nothing but abortion homosexuality and godlessness. Sad--these are the same people who screech tolerance and diversity but stray from the Leftist orthodoxy and that shit's all forgotten.

I had never heard her give a speech until tonight and I was very pleasantly surprised.

Can't wait until she goes up against Biden. Maybe she'll mention that it sure was nice of him to get sworn into the Senate at the hospital beside of his child who just survived the car wreck that killed his mother and sister. Would really put into perspective the whole "she can't do this VP gig--she's got a baby" crap.

For those of us who aren't 23 years old, this whole routine of the media labeling the Republican du jour as the next coming of Hitler gets old real fast. How well'd that work for y'all i/r/t/ Nixon, Reagan and Bush? What's the definition of insanity again?

Anonymous said...

"You better tell my black wife and half-black child I'm all for segregation, you anonymous piece of excrement."

So says the right wing troll.....if this actually be true.

Anonymous said...

Some of us "pieces of excrement" have problems with censorship. Sorry if that offends anyone.

Anonymous said...

All we need......
Yeah, let's have more good old fashioned American hate on both sides of the aisle, and to heck with the issues. Hold on to your seats, it's gonna be a wild ride....
------------
ENQURIER RESPONDS TO MCCAIN/PALIN
Wed Sep 03 2008 18:19:21 ET

"The National Enquirer's coverage of a vicious war within Sarah Palin's extended family includes several newsworthy revelations, including the resulting incredible charge of an affair plus details of family strife when the Governor's daughter revealed her pregnancy. Following our John Edwards' exclusives, our political reporting has obviously proven to be more detail-oriented than the McCain campaign's vetting process. Despite the McCain camp's attempts to control press coverage they find unfavorable, The Enquirer will continue to pursue news on both sides of the political spectrum."

soren faust said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

A post about a mindless list has turned into a mindless game of name calling.

No it hasn't, you ninny.

soren faust said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

"Call me Mahanian.'

You're Mahanian. And other mindless names.

Anonymous said...

Somehow I can't get Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker out of my mind here. They sold the public on their image too, and had it crash down later. Palin's spiel was written for her by one of Bush's speechwriters, and being a former TV sportscaster she delivered the canned goods with flair. A lot of questions still remain to be answered about the actual issues. It was a Karl Rove style attack.

I wonder if some of that "pork" slashing won't be in the way of cutting aid to librarys so some billionaire can buy a mansion in Dubai. Oh well......

jmomls said...

*So says the right wing troll.....if this actually be true.*

Troll? Okay, anonymous. You must be somehow connected to a library or librarian--have someone who is smarter than you help you figure out whether it is true or not.

*I wonder if some of that "pork" slashing won't be in the way of cutting aid to librarys so some billionaire can buy a mansion in Dubai. Oh well......*

Yet another anonymous dimwit who can neither spell nor understand from where funding for libraries comes.

And any mansions being bought lately are not in Dubai, they are brought here in America by billionaires from Dubai, get your talking points right.

Surmising that your library is poorly funded and subsequently, so are you; I'm diagnosing that your class envy can be easily explained by your apparent lack of education.

Anonymous said...

J,

You're being baited.

Anonymous said...

We might as well feed the trolls and j too. AL is abandoning us and letting the nuts run the asylum.

wubbitty wubbitty wubbbittttyyy

soren faust said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Coming in after 109 previous comments (which I'm not going to read ... sorry!), I just want to add that I've slways thought the idea with this Beloit list was to warn professors that they shouldn't be too certain that their freshmen "get" references they make make in their lectures.

Especially the pseudo-pop-culture references that they've wedged into their tired lectures in order to try to sound more relevant and "hip" (or is "hip" no longer hip?). Time passes differently for professors who always see a room of fresh 18-22 year old faces in front of them. These profs may refer blithely to "Dylan" meaning Dylan pere while kids more likely think Dylan fils (if HE is even still on their radars).

Anonymous said...

Hey 4:14, you can't comment on that, the thread went off that track days ago -- onto wuss rock, Republican politics, trolling...

Don't try to bring this back to topic.

You ninny.

Anonymous said...

The use of the word "ninny" automatically disqualifies you from membership to the human race.

It's almost as bad as using the term: "Dad Jim"

Anonymous said...

What do yoou expect when there's something like this library related [censorship charge] breaking story in the media and AL being "out to lunch", you ninny!

{I like ninny better that "Piece of excrement"}

Anonymous said...

The Annoyed Ninny SEZ;
This thread is headed towards the "bridge to nowhere", even though not built, with funds that were siphoned off elsewhere in Alaska for something else. [does that make sense??]

webbygrl said...

I hate Palin because her personal values are rooted in Ignorance

Well who the F*** are you? I think Obama's values are rooted in Marxism and I've got the 10 Points of the Communist Manafesto to prove it.

And for those of you idiots who think that an abstinence-only policy in schools is what caused Miss Palin's pregnancy, you are on crack. I'm sure in those states where contraception is taught, none of the 17 year old girls there get pregnant. Good thing we have SCHOOLS to do a parent's job. Now, did Sarah Palin discuss abstinence with her daughter? Maybe - maybe not. But, a teen may still go get contraception for free in Alaska. Kids will be kids - they make dumb choices and they get into trouble. It was NOT the policy in the schools that got Bristol in this situation. Good grief...morons....

webbygrl said...

And "moron" is better than "ninny" IMHO.

Anonymous said...

This name calling shit is getting really old. It's childish.

Anonymous said...

Palin believes that Intelligent Design is an acceptable Sceintific theory when it is blatantly Not. If you yourself believe that Intelligent Design is legitimate science, please, take your head out of your rear and go LEARN WHAT SCIENCE IS FIRST!

Palin Believes in Censorship, as discussed here already.

Her daughter being pregnant says nothing about how good a person she is; what it does show is that her parenting skills and theories are either backwards or they failed. As such, we can deduce she does not have a realistic strategy for raising kids so why should she have a realistic strategy for raising America? Then again, she was the same way when she was a teen as she was also a teenage mom herself.

She wishes to reverse Roe v. Wade, which does not say "You must have an abortion" as it seems many conservatives believe. It says "you may choose to deal with your body in a responsible manner as you so choose."

It seems she also has quite the history in porkbarrel projects and in using her arm to get her way - she replaced the leadership in Alaska with inexperienced people close to her to do her bidding.

She is in short a shielded, misguided wench from the heart of no were, a place rooted in Religious Reverence and Ignorance.

She may be a Wonderful person, but she is not the kind of person an intellectually inclined person would want anywhere near the presidency.

You unfortunately then take this to mean "oh, so then your an Obama Supporter."

You, maam, are an American Idiot.

Take this point to heart: the inadequecy of Both presidential candidates on the issues that mater most [it's the economy Stupid, we can't HAVE retirement or healthcare or even a minimum wage if there are NO JOBS TO MAKE THE REVENUE!!!] is a reflection of our society and how stupid we have become since we let our educational system go.

All you GOD people need to GO HOME!

[SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE! LEARN IT!]

Anonymous said...

"ST. PAUL, Minn. - John McCain, a POW turned political rebel, vowed Thursday night to vanquish the "constant partisan rancor" plaguing the nation as he launched his fall campaign for the White House."

Anonymous said...

Equal time for Polar Bears! No legal abortions but open season on the Polar Bear?

Anonymous said...

"You're Mahanian. And other mindless names."

Mahanian is a reference to Mahan (Alfred Thayer, that is, not the other one.) The reference makes sense if you read the comment, assuming you care of course.

Mahan was wrong but not mindless.
I guess the name could be mindless though. "Ninny" is too, so who cares. Yay for us - we call each other mindless names. And we apparently no longer care about Beloit's doofus list.

I can't keep up with you peoples' witticisms and snittiness. I guess I just don't have what it takes to succeed in the fashionable world of sniping library blog commentators. Woe is me. Have a nice day.

Hopefully AL will say some more persnickity stuff about some library matter soon.

webbygrl said...

Do you remember that I said that "she is what my mother burned her bra for?" I am the daughter of a feminist from the 70's. Believe it or not, I am pro-choice and I believe that women should earn the same wages as men for the same job. And I hate a glass ceiling. Oh, and did I mention? I'm a conservative. I firmly believe that Roe-v-Wade is a good thing. Women should have the choice to choose what to do with their own bodies. I'm all for it. However, that doesn't mean that hospitals get to fire doctors or withohold federal funding because they won't prescribe the pill. That's insane. Who is the government to come in and prescribe morality to healthcare providers? (Reference recent Hillary blog email regarding new HHS referendum). That would be like the government coming into our libraries and telling us which books to put on the shelves or not (see reference to Communist Manifesto above). It also doesn't mean that schools (government) should teach our children on moral issues (someone said separation of church and state?). That is an inherent parental right.

You can bet your snowboots that SP has been preaching anti-abortion her entire life to her daughter. But guess what, that has been done for centuries and teenage girls have been getting pregnant out of wedlock for centuries. Just ask Obama's mom. It happens. But who are you to look down on the parent? It's not your place. While I am pro-choice, I taught my own son not to get anyone pregnant and how to prevent it...that said, I also told him to use his head. But again, kids will be kids. And they get into trouble. And to think that you can hold a mother accountable for a willful 17 year old girl (and her boyfriend) who are essentially "hormones with feet", is silly. (Is that a better name? Silly? It's kindler/gentler and should appease those who hate name calling).

Get this fellow librarians...I'm a librarian, I'm pro-choice, I'm a lifetime member of the NRA, I have a concealed-carry license (and yes, I carry a 38 special (Pink Lady from Charter Arms...it's adorable!)), I hate censorship, I'm an equal-rights advocate, and I hate left-wing liberals. Oh...and my step-daugher is a lesbian. Who am I to judge her lifestyle?

And it's OK. You leftists need to learn that conservatives are not some "right-wing", Bible toting, group of tongue-speaking crazies. We believe in smaller government, less taxes, individual freedoms, and defending ourselves and our country from harm. The left has this so wrong and it will come back to bite them.

Anonymous said...

I'd vote for you, webbygrl, for president. Except you too seem to see Teenagers as Hormones with Feet. And that is very diconcerting. Becasue they are not hormones with feet. They are active thinking human beings. The fact that they make mistakes is human. The fact that some make far more mistakes then others is a reflection of parenting. Good parenting rears a teenager who can think for itelf and NOT make mistakes. How's that for a thought? Teenagers CAN go wthrough life WITHOUT making mistakes - it happens Every day.

You're not right wing either though...you're pro-choice.

I'd vote for you, see?

And I'm not left winger either. Nor Independent. I'm Non-Affiliated.

Anonymous said...

AL, Please, comment on the political process in this country and the political contenders NOW because this is where librarins will be talking about it and you Might as well hold the Online Librarian National Convention because the ALA does a rather PISS POOR job of it!

soren faust said...
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soren faust said...
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Anonymous said...

According to Mayan legend 2012 is supposedly the end. Remember, he's 72 and she's only a heartbeat away.

Anonymous said...

Palin will also be the first Pentecostal [as were Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker, and Jimmy Swaggart] to get high govt. office. Let's hear it for diversity! Just think, you'll be able to catch the adventures ahead as you go through your grocery line. Send your Love Offering to McCain/Palin and have a blessed day!

Anonymous said...

In the interest of diversity;

The Rev. Ed Kalnins had no way of knowing he'd be a controversial figure in the 2008 presidential race when he became pastor of a small Pentecostal church in Alaska nine years ago.
But Kalnins has begun to gain attention after The Huffington Post political website reported Tuesday that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee, may have drawn her religious convictions from Kalnins' Pentecostal church. [USA TODAY's Cathy Lynn Grossman also started a discussion about Kalnins in her blog].


IDEA CLUB: Will Palin's ex-pastor get the 'Wright' treatment?
EVANGELICALS, CATHOLICS: Pregnancy won't derail Palin support

Kalnins has preached that critics of President Bush will be banished to hell; questioned whether people who voted for Sen. John Kerry in 2004 would be accepted into heaven; and preached that the Sept. 11 attacks and the war in Iraq were part of a world war over Christianity, The Huffington Post reported after reviewing recorded sermons by Kalnins.

A statement on the website of Kalnins' church, the Wasilla Assembly of God, indicates that Palin attended that church from the time she was a teenager, but adds that she and her family haven't been members of the congregation since 2002.

Anonymous said...

"Palin will also be the first Pentecostal [as were Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker, and Jimmy Swaggart] to get high govt. office."

Wrong, John Ashcroft was one, but he was Atty. Gen., not the VP.

Anonymous said...

"At the Pentecostal church where Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin worshipped for more than two decades, congregants speak in tongues and are part of a faith that believes humanity is in its "end times" -- the days preceding a world-ending cataclysm bringing Christian redemption and the second coming of Jesus."

jmomls said...

*Palin Believes in Censorship, as discussed here already.*

You base this on one quote from a librarian whom the press never even followed up with. As usual, keyboard warriors take rumors and slander and turn them into facts. Well done!

*Palin believes that Intelligent Design is an acceptable Sceintific theory when it is blatantly Not.*

I must have missed where "science" definitely and with finality explained how and why life arose on this planet. And so did every one on this planet that practices organized religion.

*
Her daughter being pregnant says nothing about how good a person she is; what it does show is that her parenting skills and theories are either backwards or they failed.*

So everyone whose children become pregnant have failed as parents. You do realize that even if she put the kid on birth control herself--birth control sometimes fails.

*She wishes to reverse Roe v. Wade, which does not say "You must have an abortion" as it seems many conservatives believe. It says "you may choose to deal with your body in a responsible manner as you so choose."*

If the Supreme Court legalized murder of humans aged +1 days or more--do you think everyone would accept that ruling?

*All you GOD people need to GO HOME!

[SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE! LEARN IT!]*

You really need to study up on what the founders believed.
--------------

*You leftists need to learn that conservatives are not some "right-wing", Bible toting, group of tongue-speaking crazies. We believe in smaller government, less taxes, individual freedoms, and defending ourselves and our country from harm. The left has this so wrong and it will come back to bite them.*

And the hard crazy left can't figure out why their boys can't break the 50% mark in national elections.

*Palin will also be the first Pentecostal [as were Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker, and Jimmy Swaggart] to get high govt. office*

Yep, I'm sure there are no comparatively normal Pentecostals out there--just freaks like the Bakkers. Just like all Muslims are like Bin Laden and all Jews are like Meir Kahane.

But hey, if you'd rather have a 20 year member of the Kill Whitey Church--with special guest appearances by Kill Jew Mosque leader Calypso Louie--and his "devout" Catholic buddy Joe "The Pope can't tell me Catholics don't believe in abortion" Biden, well, you're the one who is seriously warped.

Anonymous said...

The Paranoid Style in American Politics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Paranoid Style in American Politics is an essay by the American historian Richard J. Hofstadter, first published in Harper's magazine in November 1964. Written at a time when Senator Barry Goldwater had won the Republican Presidential nomination over the more moderate Nelson A. Rockefeller, Hofstadter's article explores the influence of conspiracy theory and "movements of suspicious discontent" throughout American history.

Contents
1 Themes
1.1 The paranoid style as a recurring theme in American political history
1.2 The paranoid style defined
1.3 The Enemy Reified
1.4 Emulating the enemy
2 See also



Themes
The paranoid style as a recurring theme in American political history
Hofstadter begins by noting that:

American politics has often been an arena for angry minds. In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated in the Goldwater movement how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority. But behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wing. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind.

Hofstadter goes on to detail historical paranoia directed against Illuminism, Freemasonry, and the Jesuits, and follows this strain in American politics through what he considered its modern incarnations in McCarthyism and the activities of the John Birch Society.

Anonymous said...

The ANONYMOUS NINNY sez;
There is a full text version of the above article and commentary on it if you do a Google search under the title.

soren faust said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

"Mahanian is a reference to Mahan"

First of all, I know who Mahan is. Second of all, you told me to call you Mahanian. Third, It was a joke, you Mahanian Ninny.

Anonymous said...

Getting back to music, I love Mahanian Steamroller. Especially their Christmas (that's Xmas to all you non-Christian ninnies) album.

Anonymous said...

OK, you made an informed joke. Yay. Really.

I like Mahanian jokes and I am a proud Mahanian ninny. Recommission one of the Iowas. Right now. Let's go. What's the problem?

Surface units with big main batteries are more important than a rum ration, or library blog comments, or both.

Who's the ninny now (aside from me)?

Anonymous said...

I'm a ninnny.

You're a ninny.

She's a ninny.

He's a ninny.

Wouldn't you want to be a ninny too?

Anonymous said...

FELLOW NINNYS;

The dawn of a New Age is at hand with Sarah to lead the charge against ALA's Washington D.C. office. Freeze 'em out Sarah. No more "business as usual". No more "earmarks" for library programs. Loyalty oaths for ALL librarians! You don't get with the program, out you go! Hellfire and DAMNATION await you!

Anonymous said...

Isn't it "ninnies"???

---

Anonymous said...

Isn't it "ninnies"???

Yes it is.

And by the way, it would take a librarian ninny to point that out.

LibraryJim said...

Just a comment on polar bears and wolves:

Honestly, have you never seen a Nat'l Geo special on Alaska or Churchill, Manitoba, Canada?

Polar Bears are certainly NOT an endangered species! There are more of them around today than there were 25 years ago.

Same with Northern Wolves. So much so that both are a danger to humans and animal populations in those regions.

THAT'S why she fought the US gov't on having them listed on the 'endangered species' list. I bet no one who made up that list even visited the area to find out how many there were, or even consulted anyone from the area. "Oh, they are so cute, we have to protect them from the melting ice!" (Which, by the way, is also returning as the waters in Alaska are cooler than they have been in years!)

"The Director"

PS, having known many Pentecostals and Charismatics, I can say they are some of the nicest people you'd want to know.

Anonymous said...

I don't know but as a biology librarian I am excited about this cartoon and search site. Here is the cartoon for us: http://www.vadlo.com/Cartoons/Life_in_Research_Cartoon_1149.html

Anonymous said...

Subject: Carol McCain (Former Mrs. John Mcain) A MUST READ

More about John McCain. I doubt you’ll hear this on CNN or any other station.

I thought you might find this interesting. On the show we saw last week,
McCain mentioned that his greatest failure in life was the ending of his first
marriage. No kidding? I guess he had to admit some remorse because his ex-wife was going public with the story. How shallow can one man be?

Carol McCain
McCain likes to illustrate his moral fiber by referring to his five years as
a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam. And to demonstrate his commitment to family
values, the 71-year- old former US Navy pilot pays warm tribute to his
beautiful blonde wife, Cindy, with whom he has four children. But there is another
Mrs. McCain who casts a ghostly shadow over the Senator’s presidential
campaign. She is seldom seen and rarely written about, despite being mother to
McCain’s three eldest children.

She was the woman McCain dreamed of during his long incarceration and
torture in Vietnam’s infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton’ prison and the woman who faithfully
stayed at home looking after the children and waiting anxiously for news. But
when McCain returned to America in 1973 to a fanfare of publicity and a
handshake from Richard Nixon, he discovered his wife had been disfigured in a
terrible car crash three years earlier. Her car had skidded on icy roads into a
teleg raph pole on Christmas Eve, 1969.

Her pelvis and one arm were shattered by the impact and she suffered massive
internal injuries.

When Carol was discharged from hospital after six months of life-saving
surgery, the prognosis was bleak. In order to save her legs, surgeons had been
forced to cut away huge sections of shattered bone, taking with it her tall,
willowy figure. She was confined to a wheelchair and was forced to use a
catheter. Today, she stands at just 5′ 4′ in and still walks awkwardly, with a
pronounced limp. Her body is held together by screws and metal plates and, at 70,
her face is worn by wrinkles that speak of decades of silent suffering.

For nearly 30 years, Carol has maintained a dignified silence about the
accident, McCain and their divorce. But last week at the bungalow where she now
lives at Virginia Beach, a faded seaside resort 200 miles south of Washington, she told The Mail on Sunday how McCain divorced her in 1980 and married Cindy, 18 years his junior and the heir to an Arizona brewing fortune, just one month later.

My marriage ended because John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be
25. You know that happens…it just does.’

In 1979 - while still married to Carol - he met Cindy at a cocktail party in
Hawaii. Over the next six months he pursued her, flying around the country
to see her. Then he began to push to end his marriage. Some of McCain’s
acquaintances are less forgiving, however. They portray the politician as a
self-centered womanizer who effectively abandoned his crippled wife to ‘play the
field’. They accuse him of finally settling on Cindy, a former rodeo beauty
queen, for financial reasons.

Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a
leading campaigner for veterans’ rights,
said: ‘I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I
know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you
what it is -dece it.’

When he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he
started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it.
Eventually he met Cindy and she was young and beautiful and very wealthy. At
that point McCain just dumped Carol for something he thought was better.’

McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and
glory,’ he said. After he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her
over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona . And the rest is history.’

Ross Perot, a billionaire Texas businessman, and a former presidential
candidate, who paid her medical bills all those years ago, now believes that both
Carol McCain and the American people have been taken in by a man who is
unusually slick and cruel - even by the standards of modern politics.

Renard, on September 5th, 2008 at 10:51 am Said:
This man may become President. This news has to get to the people. He will have his hand on the button one day.

nunya, on September 5th, 2008 at 3:40 pm Said:
Ah yes, because PTSD McMoldy and the Beauty Queen were soooooooo eager to discuss the issues in their RNC speeches right?

bwwwaaaahhhh ha hahahahahaha

jmomls said...

*1964. Written at a time when Senator Barry Goldwater had won the Republican Presidential *

Hey, funny thing about that election. All the liberals ran around screaming about how if Goldwater were elected, all our boys would be sent to some foreign land to die in a war and there'd be riots in the streets. So the American people elected LBJ--and our boys went off to die in a foreign war and there were riots in the streets.

*Subject: Carol McCain (Former Mrs. John Mcain) A MUST READ *

You know, plenty of marriages break up without the benefit of a long stretch in a Hanoi hellhole and a major car accident. I guess that means 50% of America is unsuitable for most jobs.

Do you always break copyright by posting entire articles verbatim without permission from the source, by the way? Perhaps AL should ban anonymous posting, since anonymous posters like to break the law.

The Rt Hon Soren Faust says:

*J,

You're a voice of reason in this vast wasteland of idiots....In fact, the entire population, each and every one of us, would be lost without your guiding light and principle to lead us through the Valley of Shadows.*

In real life, do you just stand by while people blather on spouting inanities and lies? Do you sit still while people make idiotic leaps of logic? Would you allow someone to call you a racist? I guess you'd replay with a heaping of moronic snark--as you do here. And that's all you do here, as far as I can tell. You're a shining stereotype of your generation. Well done, sir.

*I knew J stood for something, you can't fool me you ole dog, you. J is Jesus!*

Har har har. Do I look hispanic, vato?

* The second coming has occurred right here, right now on this blog.*

Ohhhh, that Jesus.

See, isn't snark great?

Anonymous said...

It looks like this blog could use a good exorcism with all the snarky, mean spirited, postings. AL, have ye abandoned us???

soren faust said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
webbygrl said...

This has been fun. Where is AL to redirect our energies?

Anonymous said...

AL is the biggest ninny of them all.

Anonymous said...

Which candidate supports cruisers and carriers for small Commonwealth countries?

I think Australia and Canada had a carrier back some time ago, before the jet age really got going. Not sure though - would have to look it up if I cared enough.

Quick, all ye reference librarians, run for your old Jane's.

Calibre takes priority over rum rations. How many times do I have to say it?

Non-sequiters deserve priority over snark.

Puh-lease. It should be obvious.

Anonymous said...

Palin Derangement Syndrome strikes again. This time it’s hysterical librarians and their readers on the Internet disseminating a bogus list of books Gov. Sarah Palin supposedly banned in 1996. Looks like some of these library people failed reading comprehension. Take a look at the list below and you’ll find books Gov. Palin supposedly tried to ban…that hadn’t even been published yet. Example: The Harry Potter books, the first of which wasn’t published until 1998.

The smear merchants who continue to circulate the list also failed to do a simple Google search, which would have showed them that the bogus Sarah Palin Banned Book List is almost an exact copy-and-paste reproduction of a generic list of “Books Banned at One Time or Another in the United States” that has been floating around the Internet for years. STACLU notes that the official Obama campaign website is also perpetuating the fraud. And it’s spread to craigslist, where some unhinged user is posting images likening Palin to Hitler. Here it is again.

The person who first spread the Palin smear is identified as “Andrew Aucoin,” a commenter on the blog of librarian Jessamyn West. West has done the right thing in keeping the bogus comment up and pointing out in her main post that “there appears to be no truth to the claim made by the commenter, and no further documentation or support for this has turned up.”

It’s a fake. Not true. Total B.S. A lie.

If it gets sent to you by a moonbat friend or family member, set ‘em all straight. Fight the smears. They’ve only just begun.

The bogus Sarah Palin Banned Books List:

This is the list of books Palin tried to have banned. As many of you will notice it is a hit parade for book burners.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Blubber by Judy Blume
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
Carrie by Stephen King
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Christine by Stephen King
Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Cujo by Stephen King
Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Decameron by Boccaccio
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Fallen Angels by Walter Myers
Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John Cleland
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Forever by Judy Blume
Grendel by John Champlin Gardner
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Have to Go by Robert Munsch
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Impressions edited by Jack Booth
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
It’s Okay if You Don’t Love Me by Norma Klein
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Little Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Love is One of the Choices by Norma Klein
Lysistrata by Aristophanes
More Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
My House by Nikki Giovanni
My Friend Flicka by Mary O’Hara
Night Chills by Dean Koontz
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women’s Health Collective



Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz
Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
Separate Peace by John Knowles
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Bastard by John Jakes
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Devil’s Alternative by Frederick Forsyth
The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Snyder
The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks
The Living Bible by William C. Bower
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
The Seduction of Peter S. by Lawrence Sanders
The Shining by Stephen King
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Snyder
Then Again, Maybe I Won’t by Judy Blume
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster Editorial Staff
Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween Symbols by Edna Barth

From the Anchorage Daily News story that inflamed P.D.S.:

Back in 1996, when she first became mayor, Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books should she be asked to do so.

According to news coverage at the time, the librarian said she would definitely not be all right with it. A few months later, the librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, got a letter from Palin telling her she was going to be fired. The censorship issue was not mentioned as a reason for the firing. The letter just said the new mayor felt Emmons didn’t fully support her and had to go.

Emmons had been city librarian for seven years and was well liked. After a wave of public support for her, Palin relented and let Emmons keep her job.

It all happened 12 years ago and the controversy long ago disappeared into musty files. Until this week. Under intense national scrutiny, the issue has returned to dog her. It has been mentioned in news stories in Time Magazine and The New York Times and is spreading like a virus through the blogosphere.

The stories are all suggestive, but facts are hard to come by. Did Palin actually ban books at the Wasilla Public Library?

…Were any books censored banned? June Pinell-Stephens, chairwoman of the Alaska Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee since 1984, checked her files Wednesday and came up empty-handed.

Pinell-Stephens also had no record of any phone conversations with Emmons about the issue back then. Emmons was president of the Alaska Library Association at the time.

LibraryJim said...

quote:
According to news coverage at the time, the librarian said she would definitely not be all right with it. A few months later, the librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, got a letter from Palin telling her she was going to be fired. The censorship issue was not mentioned as a reason for the firing. The letter just said the new mayor felt Emmons didn’t fully support her and had to go.

End quote.

The county Coordinator is calling me into his office at least once a week saying:

"Commissioner so-and-so got another complaint about you, and wants me to tell you that if you don't shape up over there at the library, you'll be gone. so shape up over there! Now get back to work."

So it's not unusual for a mayor to act on public complaints or even personality disputes. We directors serve at the will of our supervisors, who are usually elected officials, unfortunately.

"The Director"

Anonymous said...

Bogus Son-In-law blog, too. There was one cited in several articles
that was made up by a fellow who, I think, was an AZ car dealer [need to double check].

Got to hand it to the hoaxers, they really pulled some folks in here.

jmomls said...

*And, J, I do think it was unfair of someone to call you a racist. However, your political rants are just as equally inane as anyone else's are on this blog.*

I'm all for freedom of speech, just not the freedom to lie uncontrolled.

The internet has generally put a stop to such nonsense, otherwise Dan Rather would've fake-TANG-memoed GW Bush out of his re-election.

Anonymous said...

To avoid all the negative publicity and curiosity seekers, Levi Johnston should have kept his jeans zipped. He would have saved a lot of trouble for his future in-laws.



We don’t always get to have the best and the brightest in-law join the family, but we can count ourselves lucky if we don't have to deal with imposters.



Look at Sarah Palin. If it isn't bad ennough to find out your seventeen-year old daughter is pregnant, you have to contend with fake bloggers pretending to be your future S-I-L.



The pretender daddy-to-be of Bristol Palin’s baby, reportedly a developer who lives in Arizona, is a blogging, potty-mouthed, “I-don’t-want-kids” kind of "dude." The August 29 entry in his fake Levi Johnston blog is entitled “Abort, Abort, Abort!”

Anonymous said...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/05/AR2008090502666.html

Bloooog said...

Annoyed Librarian, will you marry me? Or at the very least can we be drinking buddies.

Anonymous said...

This blog is going straight to Hell.

Anonymous said...

This blog is going straight to Hell.

There you go again, always bringing negative spirit to the table. Don't you have anything nice to say, for once?

Anonymous said...

"This blog is going straight to Hell."

You must be from FOX News. It sounds like something they'd say.

Anonymous said...

The AL has lost control and this blog is spiraling down into a name calling troll dive.

Way to go you bunch of ninnies.

Anonymous said...

The AL has lost control and this blog is spiraling down into a name calling troll dive.

Way to go you bunch of ninnies.


You're just like the Republicans, always contradicting yourself.

Anonymous said...

The AL has lost control and this blog is spiraling down into a name calling troll dive.

Way to go you bunch of ninnies.

You're just like the Republicans, always contradicting yourself.


Actually it is the Democrats who contradict themselves, but what would I expect from a ninny who posts on meaningless dead blogs.

Anonymous said...

but what would I expect from a ninny who posts on meaningless dead blogs.

Stupid posts by those who post on meaningless dead blogs condemning others who post on meaningless dead blogs.

See your contradicting yourself once again! Wait, weren't you one of the speakers at the RNC?

Anonymous said...

This is fun, we have people on the left doing a witch hunt, people on the right screaming foul language and lost people screaming that the blog is dead.

Starting with the lost people. I wouldnt write another blog topic until this blows over because people will just hike jack that conversation. Second why do you need the AL to save you, get your own soul together. Remember freedom to think isnt just freedom to think like the AL. If you don't like what's going on make your own blog.

On the right, well lets face it foul language and snarky attacks really do not help your cause. It only reinforces the image that the right is a bunch of uneducated fanatics. So even if you are right just calm down before you post. Of course picking an Alaskan female governor with ties to the the far right might have sounded good at the time. But it plays right into the left's hand McCain=Bush argument. Good luck with that.

For the left your attacks really come quick, snarky and inaccurate. It just shows why I am not voting either way. This campaign is all about revenge and the only policy the democrats can agree on is to get rid of republicans/right anyway they can.

So enjoy your political rants and am glade we have place to voice them no matter what side we are on. The library world may become important again after the elections. Cheer up thats only 8 more weeks and we can have fun talking about the ALA presidents silly decisions instead of the nation's.

Anonymous said...

Oh dear, oh dear! If this is covered by ABC news, it MUST be good stuff, eh? (Link to frightful videocast below.)

For a reality check on the brains behind this: (1) Mute the volume for the unavoidable pre-video commercial message; (2) cue to 01:01 and pause if you dare!

(Thanks, AL!)

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5619898

Anonymous said...

Some ninnies are so stupid, they don't know how to post a link so it can be read without a bunch of hand waving.

Ninny Link

Plus their link is dead.

The Ninny Librarian strikes again.

Anonymous said...

The stupidity of Beloit's list, and AL's rant on it, is still more interesting than the political tirades.

Anonymous said...

This thread really IS going to Havanna. It certainly doesn't look like we're in Kansas......

Anonymous said...

For one thing, it ain't Beloit.

Anonymous said...

The Real Ninny Link

Anonymous said...

[Republicans] believe in smaller government, less taxes, individual freedoms, and defending ourselves and our country from harm.

Are you sure this isn't another item from Beloit's list? Talk about out of date!

Anonymous said...

ARE the ninnys really running the asylum here????

Anonymous said...

Bush, Cheney give Palin thumbs-up


ROME (AP) — There's nothing stopping Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin from serving well in the White House, according to the men who now hold the nation's highest offices.

"She's had executive experience, and that's what it takes to be a capable person in here in Washington, D.C., in the executive branch," President Bush said in an interview to be shown Tuesday on Fox News Channel's "Fox and Friends."

"John McCain made an inspired pick," Bush added. The former two-term Texas governor came to Washington without experience in national office — the path Palin is trying to follow.

Vice President Dick Cheney told reporters in Rome on Monday that he "loved" Palin's speech to the Republican National Convention. Cheney laughed when he recounted her line about the difference between hockey moms and pit bulls being a coat of lipstick.

"I thought her appearance at the convention was superb," Cheney said. He was asked whether he thought Palin could handle the No. 2 job under a president John McCain.

"Everybody brings a different set of experiences to the office and also a different kind of understanding with whoever the president is," Cheney said during remarks at the residence of U.S. Ambassador to Italy Ronald P. Spogli.

"Each administration is different," he said. "And there's no reason why Sarah Palin can't be a successful vice president in a McCain administration. Such a White House, he said, "won't look exactly like the Bush administration or the first Bush administration, the Ford administration. It'll be relatively unique to this president and this time that they're in office."

Cheney had spoken with Palin before and met her once at a governors conference, a representative of the vice president said. After McCain named her as his running mate, he called to congratulate her.

Anonymous said...

We folk who do not live in America obviously see American politics somewhat differently to you guys.
America, has for most of the last 150 years been seen as a friend to New Zealand and a close friend at that. Sadly since W arrived almost eveyone I speak to sees America very differently now. I would say a big majority of people outside the USA believe Bush made the World a much more dangerous place, and much of the trust built up over decades bewtween us has evaporated, and your politics are viewed with great suspicion and concern around the World. This is exaggerated by the fact that Bush seems utterly unconcerned and unrepentent about his actions and policies.
When a religious zealot such as Mrs Palin arrives on the scene, our concerns multiply and our faith in our old friend America is further damaged.
The USA has been viewed with great respect by much of the globe, including New Zealand. For the USA to loose that respect to any degree is a great shame, an unfair result for average Americans, and deeply concerning to many of us.
I travel the World often and meet with all kinds of folk, and I have to say most of these people just shake their headsin sadness and wonder when USA politics and political leaders enter the discussion.
I don't want to get personal about anyone. Bush might be a nice guy who honesty beleives he is doing the correct thing, same as Mrs Palin. Sadly from where I sit, and IMO they simply don't come close to having the right skill set to Manage your great country for the good of everyone, not even close.
My money is with Barack because he appears to represent real change, and I believe the World wants America to change, and once more become the most respected Nation on Earth, but ya sure got a ways to go!

Lastly I feel sorry for the average citizen in the USA, for the events of the last eight years must have been deeply frustrating for many folk, who now yearn for real and Worldy leadership, regardless of which party ends up in the white house. We miss you guys and look forward to better days ahead,

CHEERS

Anonymous said...

Dead Blogs

Dead Blogs

Whatcha going to do when dey cum for you?

Anonymous said...

We are all ninnies.

The AL has found the ultimate martini bar and will not be heard from for weeks.

LibraryJim said...

NewZealand Lurker,

I reguarly blog with others from Australia and New Zealand, and hear from 'net friends' "Down Under" and they seem to have an opposite view from yours.

Curious.

"The Director"

Anonymous said...

ninnies

That makes you saiuuiu.

Below the equator.

At the equator you are either
n
i
n
n
i
e
s

or
s
e
i
n
n
i
n

depending on which way you are traveling.

It is all part of the Coriolis effect and how it affects ninny librarians.

Anonymous said...

World wants Obama as president: poll
Posted 7 hours 30 minutes ago

US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may be struggling to nudge ahead of his Republican rival in polls at home, but people across the world want him in the White House, a BBC poll said.

All 22 countries covered in the poll would prefer to see Senator Obama elected US president ahead of Republican John McCain.

In 17 of the 22 nations, people expect relations between the US and the rest of the world to improve if Senator Obama wins.

More than 22,000 people were questioned by pollster GlobeScan in countries ranging from Australia to India and across Africa, Europe and South America.

The margin in favour of Senator Obama ranged from 9 per cent in India to 82 per cent in Kenya, while an average of 49 per cent across the 22 countries preferred Senator Obama compared with 12 per cent preferring Senator McCain. Some four in 10 did not take a view.

"Large numbers of people around the world clearly like what Barack Obama represents," GlobeScan chairman Doug Miller said.

"Given how negative America's international image is at present, it is quite striking that only one in five think a McCain presidency would improve on the Bush administration's relations with the world."

In the United States, three polls taken since the Republican party convention ended on Thursday (local time) show Senator McCain with a lead of 1 to 4 percentage points - within the margin of error - and two others show the two neck-and-neck.

The countries most optimistic that an Obama presidency would improve relations were America's NATO allies, including Australia (62 per cent).

A similar BBC/Globescan poll conducted ahead of the 2004 U.S presidential election found that, of 35 countries polled, 30 would have preferred to see Democratic nominee John Kerry, rather than the incumbent George Bush, who was elected.

A total of 23,531 people in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, Panama, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Turkey, the UAE, Britain and the United States were interviewed face-to-face or by telephone in July and August 2008 for the poll.

- Reuters

Anonymous said...

"Dead Blogs

Dead Blogs

Whatcha going to do when dey cum for you?"


-----
A 54-year-old man says his obsessive-compulsive disorder drove him to eat 23,000 Big Macs in 36 years. Fifty-four-year-old Don Gorske says he hit the milestone last month, continuing a pleasurable obsession that began May 17, 1972 when he got his first car.
Gorske has kept every burger receipt in a box. He says he was always fascinated with numbers, and watching McDonald's track its number of customers motivated him to track his own consumption.

The only day he skipped a Big Mac was the day his mother died, to respect her request.

The correctional-institution employee says he doesn't care when people call his Big Mac obsession crazy. He says he's in love with the burgers, which are the highlights of his days.

___

Information from: The Reporter, http://www.fdlreporter.com

Anonymous said...

4:24 poster

Let the ninnies come from far and wide to vote for the savior of the world.

They do have to become citizens and register to vote first.

They don't like our leader? Well, we can send the seventh fleet over and convince you we are right.

No country could stand the might of the USN

(That's the United States Ninnies, for all you illiterate ninnies out there in Yorba Linda.)

LibraryJim said...

If the world loves Obama so much, then I have a suggestion:

Obama for Secretary General of the United Nations!

Anonymous said...

No, he's a Git.....

Anonymous said...

I think it is time for elections in England.

I don't like Gordon Brown and think that we need to have someone more enlightened there.

That is just one American Git's Opinion.

Anonymous said...

It is time for Obama.

Time for a new world order.

Change is good.

Now we just have to mobilize the world vote so we can have him as president.

Anonymous said...

Waaaaayyyy up there someone mentioned Kid Rock ripping off Lynyrd Skynyrd. I'm 26, apparently far too young for Beloit College to believe I can appreciate anything I'm about to say, and even I know the real victims of the song "All Summer Long" are Warren Zevon, his song "Werewolves of London", and all who love it. Makes me think of Tom Cruise stabbing things with a pool cue in "The Color of Money" (a movie that was released when I was 5, but which I somehow manage to enjoy) while Paul Newman looks on interestedly. The opening hook is a blatant sampling of the superior "Werewolves" and it breaks my heart every time I hear the song begin only to hear, not Zevon, but Kid Rock begin to sing. Yes, Lynyrd Skynyrd is sampled as well during the chorus, but at least KR pays homage to them in the song by name. Zevon's hook is what makes the song as memorable and enjoyable as it is. Sorry to all you politicos out there, I know that this is off the topic of your off-topic rantings, but I had to defend my musical sensibilities, and now I have. Bye.

Anonymous said...

wow, I thought I was the only one who noticed he had ripped off "Werewolves in London," a fantastique song.

And webbygirl, I'm with you.

Anonymous said...

re: Beloit, I just started a library degree at an unnamed new york university, and two professors out of three distributed or read extensively from this list in class. from otherwise intelligent people, i'm not sure why the stunted humor.

Anonymous said...

Librarians of the world.......


Let us unite in harmony and force in order to bring the McRib back to the menu!

Anonymous said...

McRibs cause cancer in rats.

Don't be a ninny, eat only the fried rats you can get at most fast food places.

Look for clever names like "fish" and "chicken". Whatever they call it, it is still fried rat.

And it is good for you because the rat got the cancer so you don't have to.

Anonymous said...

Ironic that Beloit College was brought up in this commentary. I happen to be a sophomore there.

jmomls said...

*I'm 26, apparently far too young for Beloit College to believe I can appreciate anything I'm about to say, and even I know the real victims of the song "All Summer Long" are Warren Zevon*

That song is so derivative on so many counts it is not even funny.

Besides the rip-offs of Zevon and Skynyrd, the song is very similar thematically to fellow Michigander Bob Seger's "Night Moves", e.g., old dude sits there reminiscing about familial relations with long-gone young lass.

On top of that, it's simply just a very, very lame song. What's so exciting about 1980s-era tales of "smoking funny things" and rutting while warbling a song from the 70s? It's cliched. At this rate, every rapper on the planet could simply blather over someone else's hooks about how he and Suzy Q. went out back in the ice rink parking lot and smoked/snorted/injected [insert substance here] while [insert classic rock tune here] played on the jukebox/8-track/boombox/AM radio. Whee.

Anonymous said...

2012 The Evolution
The novel 2012 The Evolution ,
America in the year 2012I had a chance to review a New Book, I was told it will be released early 2009, I suggest you grab a copy.2012 The Evolution, Sinister events have been taking place in America for years, right under the very nose of the leadership. There are forces, both internal and external, that desire the demise of America in the year 2012.