The Inquiring Photographer asks:
"Who is responsible for the current Wall Street financial crisis?"
"The money changers at the Temple of Greed. I have overturned their tables."
Barack Obama, Illinois
"The Russians. I can see them through my telescope from Alaska, and the deed was plotted in that room right next to what's obviously Putin's bedroom, if you catch my drift."
Sarah Palin, Alaska
"Franklin Raines, who ran Fannie Mae into the ground, and a bunch of other Big Scary Black Dudes."
John McCain, Arizona
"Too busy campaigning for Obama to give you much detail, but I agree it was the BSBDs."
Hillary Clinton, New York
"It wasn't the Russians, but she can check out my bedroom any time."
Bill Clinton, Arkansas
"I have no idea at all. I'm going home."
Harry Reid, Nevada
"It was a lot of paper money, the Federal Reserve, and the Jewish bankers."
Ron Paul, Alpha Centauri
"Pat Buchanan. Buchanan is responsible for all evil in the world, except when he endorses Obama's policy toward Israel."
Robert Wexler, Florida (Not)
"I'm cool with 'the Jewish bankers.' When the man's right, he's right."
Jeremiah Wright, Flying Spittle
Previous:
The Inquiring Photographer: Where will you invade?
The Inquiring Photographer: How did you propose?
The Inquiring Photographer: What form of torture?
The Inquiring Photographer: Leaving your place of worship?
The Inquiring Photographer: Is Obama's nomination significant?
Showing posts with label politics-general. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics-general. Show all posts
September 21, 2008
The Inquiring Photographer: Who's responsible for the economic crisis?
August 14, 2008
Law and humor at Harvard Law School
You may have heard of the Law and Economics school. I gather there's now a Law and Humor school, too.
A lawyer in my office recently sent around this link to a speech given by Harvard Law School professor Daryl Levinson upon being presented with an award for teaching. The speech was given in June, so don't start complaining to me that "it's old" or whatever. I know. It's old.
Professor Levinson, who teaches constitutional law, speaks about the ten ideas that "explain virtually all of law." If you went to law school at a name-brand institution, where it's a sin of the first order to teach anything practical, you may well recognize some or all of these ideas.
When I was in law school, the professors we enjoyed were generally the performers. Levinson has a little of the performer in him, but he actually seems fairly shy. The drawback to that is that while he has a few amusing lines, he sometimes trips over himself in the delivery -- probably what I would do myself if I were trying to give the same speech.
You can click on the link at the bottom of this page to listen or try this direct link (Real Player required). I'd skip the first few minutes, with the student introduction and Levinson's thank yous, which go well beyond gratitude and modesty into full-blown barfitation.
If you don't feel like listening to the whole talk, consider the following highlight, found at about 11:40 in the video:
Idea number 6: legal institutions and what they're good for. We learn over and over again that legislatures are good at democracy; courts are good at impartial application of the rule of law; and agencies are good at technocratic expertise. As the Harvard legal process tradition teaches us, once we know what each institution is good for, our job is simply to match up the right institutional decisionmaker to the relevant decisionmaking task, which we can do using neutral and objective reasoning. In practice, this means: First we figure out which one of the possible decisionmaking institutions is run by the Democrats. [Laughter.] That's the one we want. [Laughter and applause.] Or don't want. I want to keep it as fair and balanced as your classes here no doubt were.I suppose you could read this as a subtle dig at the political monolith at Harvard, but more likely, it's just an acknowledgment of shared group values. That seems to be the interpretation favored by the audience, in any event, judging from the applause. Either way, it's amusing, and I choose to apply the former interpretation.
April 06, 2008
You magnificent bastard
I'm sure you're familiar with the fake-lottery spam, right? You receive an email that says you're being notified that your email address won some European state lottery, as if lottery entries were made by email, and as if you could win without entering. People who are greedy are dumb, and there must be a few who fall for it.
Well, from the lottery email I received today I now know who's behind this phony lottery scheme. It's the magnificent bastard himself:
Contact our accredited claims agent Mr. Karl Rove, for immediate processing of your winning with the information below;I always knew there was more to this than appeared on the surface. Undoubtedly, this is a scheme to dupe the Obama campaign into revealing sensitive campaign strategy. Be forewarned.
Name: Karl Rove
E-mail: uknational_officerove@yahoo.co.uk
March 24, 2008
The Inquiring Photographer: Leaving your place of worship?
The Inquiring Photographer asks:
"Have you ever thought about leaving your place of worship because of something your clergyman said?"
"Yeah, the damn preacher couldn't stop talking about the Ten Commandments and whatnot. I kinda felt he was lookin' at me when he talked about adultery. Or maybe he was just lookin' at that hot brunette sitting behind me."
Bill Clinton, Arkansas
"Haaaaaahahahaha!! I would have expected that kind of question from someone like you."
Hillary Clinton, New York
"In all the years at my church, I actually never listened to the pastor. But in any event, I can no more criticize my pastor than I can criticize Michelle. That is, if I want to live to tell about it."
Barack Obama, Illinois
"I don't know where we came up with that old imam, 'cause, man, he was, like, we're in America, and we don't have to do that jihad s--- against the kafir. He's not with the mosque any more, if you know what I mean."
Keith Ellison, Minnesota
"Oy, we had a real problem with this rabbi we used to have. He'd give us total meshugas. Like he'd say, if you're on an airplane and the line to the restroom is too long and you can't wash before motzi, it's OK if you use one of those towelettes. Which has no halachic basis whatsoever. What a putz!"
Joe Lieberman, Connecticut
"We actually had a schism in our church, because the minister used to give provocative sermons, like once, he said that the account of creation in the Bible is mysterious."
Mike Huckabee, Arkansas
"We had a gentleman who used to say that Christianity was a cult."
Mitt Romney, Massachusetts
Previous: The Inquiring Photographer: Where will you invade?, The Inquiring Photographer: How did you propose?, The Inquiring Photographer: What form of torture?
February 17, 2008
Soccer Dad: Still the (first) one
Posted by Soccer Dad
Don Surber observes that the Clinton and Obama campaigns are buying votes and concludes:
Funny how liberals screamed about money corrupting politics. Now they have the dough and nary a word is said by the good government people in protest.
He's not bothered by the fact that they are buying support but at the way the practice is accepted by those who would presume to be above such sort of "corruption."
Of course, vote buying is a time honored tradition of the American political system. And this President's day weekend, it's fitting to recall that the practice goes back to ... our very first President, George Washington.
As Pogue told Knight Ridder reporter Matt Stearns in a 2002 interview, Washington viewed the liquor business from both a business and political perspective. It made him money and got him votes, Pogue explained, since it was customary at the time for politicians to treat voters to liquor at Virginia’s polling places.Washington once lost a campaign when he failed to do so, Pogue said. “From then on, he always treated. And he always won.”
But then, I suspect that the Father of our Country's (other) views on alcohol wouldn't be so accepted nowadays.
Although it’s not known if Washington drank his own whiskey — he was a light drinker who favored rum and fortified wines — he was convinced of the salutary effects of alcohol on his troops as they were battling the British. As he wrote to a congressional leader in 1777, “The benefits from moderate use of liquor have been experienced in all armies and are not to be disputed.”Or, as he instructed the commissary general of purchases for the Continental Army in 1777, “There should always be a sufficient quantity of spirits with the army, to furnish moderate supplies to the troops … such as when they are marching in hot or cold weather, in camp in wet, on fatigue or in working parties, it is so essential that it is not to be dispensed with.”
I suspect that a soldier nowadays imbibing so much as a bit of extra Nyquil might find himself on the way out of the army very quickly, whether or not the beneficial effects of alcohol are disputed.
February 11, 2008
The non-lunch
I don't get much chance to meet other bloggers. Mostly it's my own choice, because I crave anonymity.
Actually, that's a lie. It's usually the other bloggers' choice, because they tend to ask, "Attila WHO?"
One blogger who doesn't ask, "Attila WHO?" is Little Miss Attila, my "cousin," with whom I've had lunch the previous two years while she was in town for CPAC.
LMA was in town this past week, but we didn't have lunch this year. I know it was nothing personal, because a lot was happening at CPAC, what with the McCain speech and all. (By the way, if you haven't seen my photo comic version of that speech, now's the time to read it.)
In fact, I urge you to go to Little Miss Attila right away to read her various reports, because there's a lot of excellent stuff there, not least of which are the photos of her with well known bloggers (John Hawkins) and columnists (Mark Steyn).
She's also got a description of Ace's speech when he presented with the Blogger of the Year award. The video of the speech is here.
Regarding Ace, Hawkins had a wonderful description, which I excerpt:
Ace runs a pretty wild blog, uses a lot of profanity, and so I'm thinking, "Hey, here's a great opportunity for a 'Coulter' moment. Ace could come out wearing a Motorhead 'Ace of Spades' t-shirt, spit beer into the crowd, drop a few F-bombs. This could be great!"There sure is some cognitive dissonance there....
So, when I finally see Ace I am completely and utterly shocked because he sort of looks like Mark Steyn. But, I figure, "Hey, maybe the guy is just dressed up for the convention, you know like a thug who gets dressed up for court."
But, then Ace starts to talk and -- dude, he sounds like a political science professor. He talks about the differences between European and American political parties and I am wondering if somebody conked Ace on the head and replaced him with a local college professor.
And as for my "cousin" Little Miss Attila, next year isn't an election year, so please pencil me in for lunch when you're here. If you remember what a pencil is.
January 16, 2008
Wednesday linkfest
Some of this is old news, but I've been kind of busy and haven't had a chance to do anything with it. Hence, a linkfest.
1. I know that some people go into public service because they think they do some good. Others go into public service so they can be sued by their alma mater when they leave the government. Some are "fortunate" enough to do both. (via Instapundit)
John Yoo can be forgiven if he's having second thoughts about his career choice. A Yale Law School graduate, the Berkeley professor of law went on to serve his country at the Justice Department. Yet last week he was sued by convicted terrorist Jose Padilla and his mother, who are represented by none other than lawyers at Yale. Perhaps if Mr. Yoo had decided to pursue a life of terrorism, he too could be represented by his alma mater.Another reason for you alumni to donate a dollar to Yale so you can tell them you'll never contribute another dollar after this.
2. You're angry with your boyfriend. Do you (a) have a "talk" with him; (b) make him sleep in the living room; (c) set his car on fire? The correct answer is (c). And then you return to your boyfriend, "telling him that he 'might want to get some marshmallows.'" (via Fark)
3. John McCain goes to a funeral home and makes the oldest joke in the book. But he says his mother is older. (via HotAir)
4. If they tried to keep away from the guy, why are they complaining? "Lawsuit says protesters kept away from Bush during N.M. visit"
5. Fill in your own joke; the commenters at HotAir certainly did: "Kokomo police say a man accidentally shot himself in the groin as he was robbing a convenience store. * * * A short time later, police found 25-year-old Derrick Kosch at a home with a gunshot wound to his right testicle and lower left leg. He was expected to have surgery at a hospital."
January 06, 2008
Journals
"This is a bad, vain, dull, repulsive book. Don't read it. I didn't."
I'm not usually a major fan of P.J. O'Rourke, but I did like his review of Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s Journals 1952-2000 in the Weekly Standard.
"In 1945, Schlesinger went back in time to retro-behind-kiss Andrew Jackson. He wrote The Age of Jackson, glorifying the ignorant backwoods thug who perpetrated genocide upon the Indians, created the spoils system in Washington, and fathered that bastard political party of rum, rebellion, and Hillary Rodham."
OK, you get the idea. Do read it. The review, that is, not the book.
December 18, 2007
Summit meeting
Tony and Uncle Junior negotiate Machiavelli with Wolfowitz and Bill Kristol
"Straussian Summit Meeting of Sopranos"
Headline, New York Times, Dec. 18, 2007
October 31, 2007
Labash on Roger Stone
This article in the Weekly Standard by Matt Labash -- "Roger Stone, Political Animal" -- is as good as they get. It's worth some of your time.
July 24, 2007
Can you top this?
In my rush to write about the Swedish tax apes before running out to hear Eicha, I forgot to note that in the print edition of yesterday's Washington Post (July 23), the following two headlines framed the front page:
Aid May Grow for Laid-Off Workers
and
Deceased Farmers Got USDA Payments
Tomorrow's headline: "Aid May Grow for Deceased Farmers." There's no constituency beyond the reaches of Congress.
July 22, 2007
Visitor of the day -- 7/22
The answer is yes, you may call the President an idiot in a public place without violating the penal law. You may even call him an idiot while he's using the presidential restroom. What a country!
June 28, 2007
Harry Reid handles a question
Original video here (courtesy of HotAir)
June 11, 2007
And loving it
Tomorrow being the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Loving v. Virginia, which struck down a state ban on interracial marriage, Jeff Goldstein decided to have a conversation with Senator Robert Byrd’s (D-WV) Grand Kleagle hood.
I highly recommend it. And stay with it to the very end.
May 30, 2007
Memorial Day without Google
Google spices up its logos on nearly every imaginable holiday. But not Memorial Day.
Zombietime explains and invites reader submissions.
Mine was fairly obvious, I guess. The first submitter had a similar idea and was better with the technique. Which made me glad I didn't submit this. But for the record, anyway, here it is.
May 29, 2007
Republican fist fight?
I don't know all that much about Turkish politics, except for incidents involving live turkeys.
But I'm rather partial to fistfights on the floor of the legislature. Because I've always wondered what would happen if they called a session of the legislature and a hockey game broke out.
So I was fascinated by this tale from Turkey: "Turkish MPs fight during election reform debate."
Turkish lawmakers traded blows Monday during a stormy parliamentary debate on constitutional changes that would see the president elected by popular vote in a bid to resolve recent political turmoil.I'm pleased to report that the Associated Press has photos of this epic battle.
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer last week rejected one attempt to introduce the amendments pushed by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Trouble started in the assembly after independent deputy Ummet Kandogan accused Sezer of harbouring "hatred" against Erdogan as he brandished a newspaper photo of the two sitting next to each other at military games last week, reportedly without exchanging a word.
The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) protested that the president was insulted and the row soon grew into an exchange of punches and kicks between several CHP and AKP deputies, prompting a break in the debate.
The kicker is where I got these photos. Yahoo has a page of "politics photos and slideshows" and since this fight involved the Turkish Republican People's Party, naturally Yahoo grouped these photos under the heading "Republican Debate" along with photos of, well, check it out:
In case you think I'm making this up, here's a screencap:
I think Yahoo may have to recycle these photos in about six months. Right around Thanksgiving.
May 22, 2007
Code Pink wacks out -- again -- at the Justice Department
Another set of photos of a Code Pink protest at the Justice Department came in over the transom today from the same anonymous reader who supplied the first set.
I can't figure out whether this is a real protest or not. Look how sparsely it's attended -- by the protesters. Is this a splinter group? Does Code Pink not really take this seriously?
Why do they want Alberto Gonzales to re-sign for another term? Oh, you mean "resign"?
If impeachment is off the table, is this fellow off his rocker?
My reader says that things were surprisingly quiet on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Orange Jump Suit Lady wasn't there, but the Gonzales mask was. And I was wrong when I guessed it said "Pure Liar." It says "Fire Liar."
No protest would be complete without a couple of his-and-hers aging hippies riding a pink cart. The pony tail on him is a nice touch.
Like, groovy, man!
UPDATE (6/12): I forgot to note that the Post recently did a real puff piece on Code Pink in the Style section. A real lips-to-the-tuchis kind of piece. Mmmwwahhhh!!
May 20, 2007
Code Pink wacks out at the Justice Department
A reader wrote to tell me that on Friday he was walking by the Justice Department in Washington and was lucky to be carrying his digital camera, because Code Pink was holding an anti-Alberto Gonzales rally out in front of the building. Credit for all of the photos below goes to that reader. (He declined my offer to identify him in order to give him credit -- people in Washington are so touchy about being revealed -- and that's really too bad.)
My reader tells me that while one woman had a bullhorn and was making a racket, the rally was actually very small, and there was no press at all.
His first photo gets the general idea pretty well.
Here we have a couple of Code Pinkos.
In this next photo, Lady Justice is doing yoga or something.
But here, she's preening for the camera.
Orange Jump Suit Lady puzzles me. She appears to have a camera and to be wearing a mask on the back of her head. Yes, that's it! It's a mask of Alberto Gonzales, and it says (as far as I can tell from blowing up the photo) "Pure Liar."
Uh huh. That's a camera.
Now, Orange Jump Suit Lady is joined by a woman with a sign. My reader didn't send me any photos where the sign could be seen, but it appears to have had something to do with "Hear No Evil, See No Evil, etc."
Lady Justice, now truly camera-smitten, poses for my reader in front of a sign showing her location.
Here's another Code Pinko with a scale of justice but without the costume. She's pretty happy to have her photo taken by some guy with a camera. After all, it's the best she can do with no press around anywhere. Her shirt has Arabic and Hebrew writing on it. The Hebrew says something like, "We won't shut up." Which, I must say, is hard to disagree with.
Finally, Orange Jump Suit Lady returns, and now we can see that she has not only a camera but also handcuffs. This is all getting a little too kinky for this blog, so I'm going to have to quit.
Thanks again to my publicity-shy reader for the photos.
UPDATE (5/21): My reader emailed me that an even smaller group was back in front of the Justice Department today, including one man with a bullhorn. No more photos, unfortunately.
UPDATE (5/22): This time, my reader sent photos.
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