Tweets for week ending 2010-02-07
Posted by Ishmael N. Daro | Filed under tweets
The 2010 Simpsons "laugh-a-day" calendar has more days than laughs in it. http://twitpic.com/10r3y9 #
Prayed to God but no response. Maybe He is getting ready for the Grammys tonight, where he is sure to get credit for every winning album. #
Some shirts need to come with a warning: "The shirt you are about to enjoy will chafe the shit out of your nipples." #
Out of respect to black people, will they stop airing The Cleaveland Show during Black History Month? #
YouTube needs to fix its related videos box. No way this Norwegian techno band is related to "Jeff Dunham – Achmed the Dead Terrorist." #
This folk, country, and blues radio show may as well becalled "Mumbling in the Morning." #
Let's make this the best Black History Month ever! This year, 20% more history!
#postracial #
Radio host just said that band was from "Cali-phone-ya." Awesome. Should've added, "Oregon you glad I didn't say Kentucky?" #
Guy at the karaoke bar just threatened to punch the next guy to grab his nipples. If only we all had such problems. #
It really grills my cheese when men in their 30s date 20-year-olds. Or does that scramble my eggs? I can't really gauge my outrage today. #
Just saw another "body image and the media" presentation, presented by four good-looking girls. At this point, I think they're bragging. #
Bad news is best delivered with a jazz backing.
"Your father was mauled by a bear, now dig this trumpet solo." #
Inspector Gadget must've had a bunch of "adult" gadgets they never showed on the cartoon. Maybe Claw hated him because he was a sex pervert. #
Just went over 500 tweets. Suddenly I have 20% more health and unlimited ammo. #
Watched 12 parts of R.Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" in the office the other day. Now I know why some people throw up after a binge. #
Oh jeez, I'm at a karaoke bar twice in one week. Shirley this is a problem. #
If you didn't want me to masturbate, why did you write that it was a self-service gas station? No, I don't have a gas points reward card. #
http://twitpic.com/11lnho – Hey there sexy. Wanna party with a gal whose legs are cut off at the ankles? #
Bill O'Reilly: "That whole Iraq thing did not go well."
I think that's as close to a mea culpa as we will ever hear. http://bit.ly/bXZC4P #
Tags: Twitter
Obama the great compromiser
Posted by Ishmael N. Daro | Filed under article, musings, sheaf
ISHMAEL N. DARO
Opinions Writer
After a year in office, U.S. President Barack Obama has shown that even the greatest orators must eventually face the difficulties of governing.
Swept into power by an American public hungry for inspiration and a change from the disastrous policies of the Bush administration, Obama was doomed to disappoint his followers sooner or later. Indeed, those disappointments started coming fast and frequently.
The decision to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba was made on Obama’s first day in the Oval Office but a full year later, almost 200 prisoners are still detained there. Even worse, the Obama Justice Department has said about 50 of those detainees will be held indefinitely, without trial. This comes after two years on the campaign trail during which Obama repeatedly condemned the detention facility and the practice of indefinite detention for tarnishing America’s image.
Guantanamo Bay is not the only area in which Obama has embraced Bush-Cheney tactics. Obama has also endorsed military commissions rather than court trials for detainees, and has adopted sweeping secrecy privileges for his administration, which was highlighted by his refusal to release reports about the torture or abuse of prisoners at secret CIA prisons.
The United States has maintained its military presence in Iraq, has escalated the war in Afghanistan, has increased strikes within Pakistan and has carried out strikes in Yemen. This has all come at the hands of a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Obama’s approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has also been more of the same. Although initially he leaned on his Israeli allies to stop building settlements on Palestinian lands — a major obstacle to any peace process — he soon softened his stance, allowing the hard right in Israel to continue undermining any hope for peace.
In all these examples, Obama’s policies have been marked by an eager willingness to abandon his positions and reach compromise.
Rather than taking the hard road, closing Guantanamo Bay and truly rebranding America as a beacon of human rights, the Obama administration found it expedient to continue the same policies of the previous eight years.
Rather than abandoning decades of one-sided support for Israel and encouraging a fair peace process, the administration found it too easy to throw their hands up — “We tried, after all.” — and allow ongoing encroachment into Palestinian territory, which is sure to breed distrust and violence on both sides of the conflict.
Even in his attempts to restructure American health care, Obama compromised until there was little left to give away. Instead of pushing for universal coverage under a single-payer system like Canada’s, he instead pushed for the nebulous “public option.” When Democrats faced continued opposition to health care reform, they soon dropped that too. If Americans are to have any health care reform, it will be a far cry from what candidate Obama promised to deliver back in 2008.
On the environment, Obama is a far cry from his predecessor. But when the young president travelled to Copenhagen in December, the best deal he managed to get was a non-binding agreement to one day in the future deal with climate change. The efficacy of international agreements like the Kyoto Protocol is questionable, but Obama invested very little effort in reaching a stronger deal in Copenhagen.
Ultimately, whether or not Obama succeeds as a president will depend on pocketbook issues. “It’s the economy, stupid,” was the Clinton campaign’s unofficial slogan in 1992, yet its simple message still holds true to today. Obama could easily enjoy a second term if he shows he can improve the day-to-day lives of his fellow citizens.
However, even on this front Obama has shown a willingness to accept too little and give up too much. The enormous Wall Street bailout that he oversaw successfully rescued most financial firms from bankruptcy but high unemployment and tight credit still exist for everyday people. The banks seemingly got everything they asked for but Obama and the Democrats are hard-pressed to pass any sort of financial reform that will prevent future financial meltdowns. Some form of financial reform bill may eventually pass, but whether or not it will add any meaningful protection to the financial system is uncertain.
The first year of a four-year presidency is not always a good gauge of a leader. However, President Obama’s supporters are sure to be disappointed by his thin record of achievement so far. With most major policies, the 44th president has shown that he would rather accept a compromise — any compromise — rather than fight a prolonged battle for a more favourable outcome. The day-to-day troubles of governing have reduced Obama’s inspiring, idealistic positions on the campaign trail to the chastened, compromising policies we see today.
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A version of this article ran in the Sheaf on January 27, 2010.
image via Flickr
Tags: Obama, politics, US politics
Power to the web
Posted by Ishmael N. Daro | Filed under random
There is something strangely inspiring about these Google videos — although ads would be a better description. The reason they don’t seem like ads is that most people already use Google search, YouTube, Gmail, Blogger, or any other combination of Google services so frequently that an advertisement for those services makes no sense. No one advertises for oxygen, after all. That’s how all-encompassing some web services have become, and I would include Facebook in that list.
In any case, these Google “ads” are strangely inspirational, empowering even. Weird, I know.
The National
Potholes
Paris Love Affair
There are more videos like these on YouTube but these three were my personal favourites.
Tags: Google, video, web finds, YouTube
Anal bleaching, anal bleaching, anal bleaching!
Posted by Ishmael N. Daro | Filed under sheaf
The Sheaf is the University of Saskatchewan student newspaper. I happen to work there.
Since I’m the administrator of the Sheaf’s website, I am privy to some of the best spam the Internet has to offer. Here are a few of the funnier/more outlandish spam comments that won’t get published on thesheaf.com but still deserve their time in the sun. (Also, I know that the vast majority of spam is done by bots, but someone must write the spam to begin with, right?)
The Upset Boyfriend
So I just got a text from my girl friend that she has been having sex with another guy!!! So like any upset boy friend I have selected to share every hot video I have of her to the internet. I have downloaded the pics here: http://www.GF4Free.com/
Just search for sexyerica344, enjoy!
I have seen these spam comments before, and they are thoroughly unconvincing. It’s the old “OMG my slut grlfriend cheated on me now i gonna show you her nakid pics!!!” gambit. And to embarrass his girlfriend, he’s going to leave comments on a college newspaper’s website? Actually, the college demographic might be most likely to suspend disbelief if there’s a possibility of seeing breasts.
At Least It’s In English
Unable Requirement,appeal signal tonight variety see judge background edge before memory little part today lot side justice regulation meaning none key design tour cold terrible onto species considerable interesting magazine note male agency examination suggestion age definition distance noise explanation present tall adopt variation chairman immediate same scientific completely fill village food part existence active politics mile commercial noise afterwards myself increasingly gun beyond duty off skill guest miss past extremely derive size huge look belief they grant remove statement twice credit gas clothes engine land attack key birth doubt failure procedure
Even among professional spammers, this must count as completely asinine. It seems this person’s only strategy is to throw random words into a comment field in the hopes of someone clicking on their link (which I have not included). Maybe within this jumble of words, there’s a DaVinci Code that makes sense. “increasingly… huge… gun…”
iPhone Spam
I understand that GSM and CDMA are two different communication languages. Can the software in the iphone be altered so that it can speak CDMA language? Does it require a hardware change? Has anyone accomplished the conversion?
________________
unlock iphone
There would appear, at first, nothing out of place here, except it’s clearly just a ploy to get people to click the “unlock iphone” link at the bottom. It’s even more suspicious because the comment was left on an article with this headline: “Skateboarders demand indoor skate park in Saskatoon”
Anal Bleaching
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This bizarre spam comment seems to be describing a sexual encounter between a woman and a man prone to yelling “Anal bleaching” every so often. The English skills of the spammer are also suspect.
The best lines are “Our lips melted together into Jazzer size and weight” and “Mom didn think your daughter crotch and through her blouse.” What is actually happening in the romantic story and why jazzercise gets involved is anyone’s guess.
Another great headline
Posted by Ishmael N. Daro | Filed under news, random
Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, is proving to be a gold mine for great headlines.
Here’s a story about the Philippine government negotiating with a Muslim separatist movement, whose name just so happens to form the acronym MILF.
Based on the headline, one can’t help but imagine government officials trying to negotiate with an attractive mother whose good looks have unleashed a religious uprising. Something tells me an American or Canadian editor might have caught the MILF thing and taken it out.
Here is another recent Xinhua headline that missed the mark somehow.
Tags: web finds
Cigarettes just don’t seem as cool as they used to
Posted by Ishmael N. Daro | Filed under musings
I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something about this poster for Player’s cigarettes is off.
I mean, I should by all means be foaming at the mouth for a cigarette. After all, “Taste Matters.” But thanks to Canada’s tough rules on tobacco ads, a third of the poster is covered by the mandatory warning about the addictiveness of cigarettes.
Even more humilating, for the tobacco company, is that even the cigarette package depicted has a warning on it. In this case, it says “Where’s there’s smoke, there’s hydrogen cyanide!”
Mmm, taste that hydrogen cyanide. It’s a surprise anyone takes up smoking in Canada anymore.
Tags: advertising
