Billingham

You know someone named Arsenio Billingham? No.

RT @alyankovic:  Colonoscopy today!  Jealous?

 My childhood heroes are getting old and having colonoscopies.  And yes, Weird Al should be anyone’s childhood hero.

Maine’s distinguished representatives.

Click this link.

You may have to click on the image to get the timer going.  This is really cool (and it’s not one of those screaming-animated-gif pranks)

And Maine becomes the 31st state to have its voters explicitly deny basic human rights to gays and lesbians.  Congratulations.  The victory for Yes on One was backed in no small part by the Mormon Church, which has decided pretty affirmatively that the best response to facing a century of bigotry is to lay it on so thick that mainstream America can’t be bigoted against it anymore.  I suppose if you really establish yourself as one of the Haters, you can’t be one of the Hated. 

The campaign also spent most of its time hinting that allowing gay marriage would require public schools to teach that being gay is OK.   In other words, they’re playing on people’s fears that their children will turn into homosexuals.  Or perhaps, their children will be molested because gay teachers will know there’s nothing to stop them?  I’m amazed these kinds of lingering, hateful appeals still have any currency in the United States.  Losing this vote 51-49 is unacceptable.  But winning it 51-49 is really unacceptable as well.  Winning it 75-25 is unacceptable.  America:  Grow the fuck up.

From the Times, today:

“What the left wants to do is to have a single-payer national health care plan,” Mr. Boehner said. “While the government option isn’t exactly that today, all the infrastructure that is being built into the government under this bill is intended to get ready for that.”

 Would that it were, Mr. Minority Leader.  Would that it were.  The current public option gets 2% of the country out of the disastrous private health care system, but makes up for it by sending roughly $600 billion their way in the form of subsidies to offset a mandate to purchase health insurance.  Seriously, if the Democratic party were willing to take on 10% of the policy programs the Republicans try to accuse them of, this country would be in far, far better shape.  I’m reminded of an old Jewish joke, explained here by Christopher Hitchens:

A sour old joke from prewar Germany has two elderly Jews sitting in a Berlin park, with one of them reading a Yiddish paper and the other one scanning the pages of Der Stürmer. The latter Jew is laughing. This proves too much for the former Jew, who says: “It’s not enough you read that Nazi rag, but you find it funny?” “Look,” replies the other. “If I read your paper, what do I see? Jews deported, Jews assaulted, Jews insulted, Jewish property confiscated. But I read Der Stürmer, and there’s finally some good news. It seems that we Jews own and control the whole world!”

I’m only watching Glen Beck from now on:  apparently, we’re socializing health care, redistributing money, attacking white dominance in the United States, and yes, we control Hollywood and Wall Street.  I’m pretty sure Beck insinuates both "Jews" and "Liberals" on that last one.

Will this be the return of Billingham?

Sometimes, you get linked around and end up with something interesting.  About the nature of comics, which seems to draw some major objections from this teacher’s students.  I buy it.

Joss Whedon to direct an episode of Glee.

He informs us:

Whom will I kill? When will that go away? Is death really the only thing I’m known for? I’d hope not. You know how many people in the world actually die? ALL OF THEM. You know how many I’ve killed? Statistically, somewhat fewer. Can’t we focus on another element of my work? Having said that, probably Principal Figgins. (No! I kid! God.)

It’s that the 3-4 defense, with a strong zone blitz, is the best way to win championships.  Look at the Steelers!  They’ve beaten top-notch offenses with that kind of flexibility, and it put James Harrison in position to pick Kurt Warner in the Super BOwl and take it to the house.

 Not a good sign:

When you go into Katz’s and it’s packed on a Saturday night on the Lower East Side, it’s not old Jews and Eastern Europeans who are in there,” says Sax. “It’s drunk and coked-out hipsters. They’re eating that food.”

I like old-timey Jewish food, but when Katz’s charges $24/pound for pastrami, it’s awfully hard to justify its existence as anything other than a tourist trap.  That’s significantly more than sushi-grade tuna, and comparable to  some very fine steaks. 

Link.