Politics, Stupidity plain and simple

Welcome to the club, Iceland

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It’s happening more often. The stupidity of The Greatest Country In The World is being aptly demonstrated to all comers, even those from Iceland. Here’s the latest version:

During the last twenty-four hours I have probably experienced the greatest humiliation to which I have ever been subjected. During these last twenty-four hours I have been handcuffed and chained, denied the chance to sleep, been without food and drink and been confined to a place without anyone knowing my whereabouts, imprisoned. — Eva Ósk Arnardóttir, detained by Homeland Security at JFK

Link to story here.

Apparently, the woman had a previous visa infraction involving a three-week overstay in 1995, but she had been admitted uneventfully since then.

Eva Ósk Arnardóttir is handcuffed and chained at JFK for a minor visa infractionConsidering the vast number of illegals that are allowed to be in the country, and that are allowed to wander around freely, I find it surprising that someone on a holiday would be subject to such intense confinement. I would guess that an airport security check is an easy bust for Homeland Security, although I’m not certain that the ensuing publicity is doing much to cement relations with Iceland.

Perhaps her real crime was being too white.

Stupidity plain and simple

Four horsemen of the Apocalypse

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They always get their man.

This time, they killed him.

Robert Dziekanski was tasered and died when four RCMP officers were called in to the Vancouver International Airport arrivals area to subdue an unruly individual. He had spent 10 hours there after arriving on his flight, unable to speak English, and seemingly without any airport officials offering assistance of any kind. He was waiting for his mother to pick him up.

Once the officers arrived, Dziekanski put up his hands and turned around, and was tasered, pinned to the ground by four Mounties, and handcuffed. Unfortunately for the horsemen*, the man lost consciousness and died. It appears that they then stood around twiddling their thumbs and refusing him any medical attention whatsoever.

Also unfortunately for the four horsemen, the incident was video-taped by a bystander. It indicates that Dziekanski was never placed under arrest, as well as a host of other infractions perpetrated on him by the officers.

Then too, until the video came to light, the RCMP had a variety of stories prepared and published in the press to paint Mr. Dziekanski in a negative light – all for naught, as was demonstrated by the video.

Not to be outdone by all the bad publicity, Tom Smith of Taser International is interviewed, and comes up with, “Tasers don’t kill people. Tasered people just up and die of other causes.” I paraphrase, of course.

Most pathetic of all is the picture of four able-bodied, trained (they are trained, right?) members of the RCMP standing around with their fingers up their asses waiting for a medical team to arrive, while a man dies in front of them.

Are these guys dummies, clueless, or just plain stupid? It’s my opinion that they’re some of the stupidest sons of bitches to ever join the Mounties.

* Slang for members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

Politics

Talk of nickle and diming

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The Huffington Post and an article by Howard A. Rodman have a pretty good handle on the Writer’s Guild of America strike and what’s involved. Chances are, you won’t hear this from any of the major network news agencies – television, the newspapers or radio. I wonder why?

  • one-half of their membership receives no income in any year;
  • annual median income from screen and television writing work is $5,000;
  • one quarter earns less than $37,700 a year.

…news stories–on radio and television stations owned by the same conglomerates against whom we negotiate–are filled with stories of limo drivers, caterers, florists, waiters, even agents, who might be laid off if the strike is at all protracted. What they don’t talk about so much are the writers, thousands of them, who are putting their houses and cars and families and kids and futures in jeopardy to fight for what they believe is right. And what the conglomerate-owned media talk about even less: that no one on this food chain, from high to low, would be eating without the intellectual property writers create. — The Huffington Post, Howard. A. Rodman

Stupidity plain and simple

Grey Power fails English

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(updated below)

Has anyone seen the Grey Power automobile insurance commercials recently showing on Canadian television? A smarmy male introduces an incompetent screaming ninny (usually female, but more recently male) who is behind the wheel of a vehicle by saying, “You don’t drive like her (sic).”

What he means to say is this: “You don’t drive like she does.”

Well, all right, I admit that I don’t know what the announcer really means to say, since he can’t speak English. He appears to be babbling some form of grade-school fractured english, most notably spoken by those of us who cut a lot of classes and who thought we were the brainiacs.

I queried Grey Power on the use of “their” English, and here’s what I received in return (paraphrased for simplicity, of course):

English teachers are not in agreement on the subject.

English and its usage is constantly changing.

At least that was grammatically correct.

If appealing to the lowest common grammatical denominator is good for business, then I say more power to Grey Power! As for me, I’ll continue to amuse myself with a company and its advertiser who doesn’t know how to use English, and to question how their written agreements might be drawn up.

“If you drive like him/her does, and never aks us no questions, they’ll be shure to have no claims, EVAR! Shut up.”

After all, English is in a constant state of flux.

UPDATE: Complain about those insipid, vapid, and idiotic commercials by Grey Power and its mother company, Trafalgar, here:

Or better yet, write them a letter.

Trafalgar Insurance Company of Canada
700 University Avenue, Suite 1500
Toronto, Ontario M5G 0A1

Toll free: (866) 464-2424
Local: (416) 227-6740

Politics

Housecleaning

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Perhaps he could start with his own house…

President Bush implored the United Nations on Tuesday to recommit itself to restoring human decency by liberating oppressed people and ending famine and disease.

…as in, U.S. prisons in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and Afghanistan, where people have been imprisoned for years without access to due process or counsel; the rendering of individuals to foreign countries for torture and imprisonment by the CIA; and, by tying up the ever-continuing loose ends of the Katrina debacle, where, as we all remember, citizens were left to their own devices by a government that’s supposed to help them in times of such need.

Now that would be a good beginning.

Unfortunately, it will never happen.

Politics

All hat and no cattle*

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Why is this no surprise?

Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico, derided his political friend as a “windshield cowboy” – a cowboy who prefers to drive…

…Mr Fox offered Mr Bush a ride on a “big palomino” horse. Mr Fox recalled Mr Bush “backing away” from the animal. — from the telegraph.co.uk

I’d post a picture of the cat wearing the hat, but it’s too silly-looking. Besides, Dr. Seuss might take exception.

Link to article here.

*Actually, he owns five on his hat ranch.

Riding farther, seeing more