Yet another great review of "50 Rules" by Charlie Sykes!

This latest great review of lying Charlie Sykes' "5o Rules Kids Won't Learn in School" comes from a disgruntled reader at Amazon.com (Brawler's bold):

And I thought liberals were condescending?!, October 12, 2007
By Watujel

The reason you don't get this stuff in school is because any savvy teacher knows that trying to motivate 30 restless kids with Sykes' hoary platitudes and nagging tone will inevitably have the opposite effect. Everything's in here in its cliched condescension except for maybe "back in MY DAY..." Rule number one of imparting advice to anyone of any age - gain their trust first. If you blunder in, wagging your finger as Sykes does, you'll just get a backlash. It's actually worse than keeping your trap
shut.

Sykes should try his material on a classroom of average eighth-graders and see if he can get them to do anything close to what he intends.

Sykes expresses resentment toward teachers for getting tenure and suggests that this is not part of the "real world." I envy teachers' schedules (but not their jobs) as well, but just because you resent these perks doesn't mean you can simply write them out of the "real world" unless you're in serious denial. Without tenure, how many people would choose to become teachers what with so many other options available? That's the real world.

It's ironic that he claims to want to instill respect for authority but encourages his young readers to devalue what they're learning from those who are acting in loco parentis. Teachers don't create the curriculum. Changes in curricula are driven by administrators and education colleges. Blaming teachers for teaching too much self-esteem doesn't make any more sense than blaming cops for giving illegal immigrants a pass. In both cases, the priorities are set elsewhere.

In one rule, he complains that kids are too materialistic. Then in another one, he complains about their idealism. Frankly, the Millennial Generation works hard, serves its country, and in general is the most bright-eyed and bushy-tailed I've seen in quite a while. They've really done their best to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of a generation of broken homes left by Sykes' fellow Baby Boomers. But not many of them are going to respond to something this unfocused and mediocre.

Of course, the reviewer should have said the kids of today have "really done their best to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of a generation of broken homes left by Sykes and his fellow Baby Boomers." But that's really a minor quibble.

And, of course, eighth graders or college bound kids won't respond to this book -- and frankly, the Brawler doubts Charlie is even trying. They aren't the target of this book. It's conservative adults of a certain age who want their sense of the world reaffirmed and their own egos stroked. This book tells them how great they are. It doesn't tell their kids how to deal with reality. Seriously, what does Mr. Liz Woodhouse know about reality?

Speaking of Amazon: The Brawler periodically has checked out the book's ranking. Early on it was in the mid-to-high three digits. Lately it's been bouncing between in a range from 2,500 to 5,200 (roughly, if memory serves -- there's a significat plus/minus there). Last the Brawler checked, it clocked in at 5,729. While the algorithms of Amazon ratings are incredibly complex and their meaning opaque, The Brawler senses the slide has yet to begin...

There's Reality, Then There's McBride's World

McBride takes after U.S. Senator Russ Feingold for--gasp--meeting with his constituents. (If Feingold was conservative, do you think she'd be first or second in line to decrying her own post as anti-Semetic?)

McBride tries to extract a blurb from an article covering the meeting and spinning it into an attempt at the old martyr routine-"They wanna shut up the conservatives! Whaaaa!"

As commenter Jay Bullock points out:

Based on what Jessica has excerpted here, the audience was complaining about bias.

Feingold, though, was complaining about media consolidation, which ought to be a concern of everyone everywhere, whatever your political stripe. When only a handful of large media conglommerates control broadcast, print, and cable, it wouldn't take much to shut off the spigot for one point of view or another.

And, absent strong net neutrality regulation, even the internet could cease to be truly independent.

You all can mock Feingold if you want, be at least be sure to talk about what he really said, as opposed to what your imaginations thought he said. And be sure you have your facts together, too.

But one other thing caught my eye. At the end of her post, McBride writes:

Russ Feingold, meet the Internet.

Whallah is sure the Senator knows all about the Internet. However, the question is, is McBride aware that not everyone else has access to it, or knows how to use it, or are the elderly and the poor beneath her attention

Who Would Know Better

Not too long ago, PaddyMac tried to defend the use of waterboarding, scrambling to find ways to defend this indefensible position. Mike Mathias of Pundit Nation easily refuted his inane rationalizations.

One source that PaddyMac won't be using to bolster his wrongheaded arguments is an actual columnist and author, Joseph Galloway. Mr. Galloway is a military columnist and former senior military correspondent for Knight Ridder Newpapers. He wrote a column titled "Memo to Media: I Witnessed 'Waterboarding'-And Yes, It is Torture". Here is an excerpt from that column:

Waterboarding was torture when it was used during the Spanish Inquisition; it was torture when it was used on Filipino rebels during the 1890s; it was torture when the Japanese Army used it on prisoners in World War II; it was torture when it was used by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia; and it's torture when CIA officers or others use it on terrorists.

When George W. Bush was the governor of Texas, the state investigated, indicted, convicted and sentenced to prison for 10 years a county sheriff who, with his deputies, had waterboarded a criminal suspect. That sheriff got no pardon from Gov. Bush.

Waterboarding is torture in the eyes of all civilized peoples, no matter how desperately President George W. Bush tries to rewrite the English language, with which he has only a passing familiarity, anyway. No matter how desperately his entire administration tries to redefine the word "torture" to cover the fact that not only have they acquiesced in its use, but they also have ordered its use.

McBride and the Moratorium

OK, if I want to write about the Iraq Moratorium on Whallah, what's the connection to this blog's inspiration, Jessica McBride?

No problem. Glad you asked.

When I first wrote about the Moratorium, back on Sept. 11, McBride -- the one who says " I don't read liberal blogs" had a snide response , pretty much suggesting I was naive to think it could make any difference, and that it bordered on treasonous to say anything against the war on September 11. (That's apparently a new national holiday, War Day.)

Some of her thoughtful commentary:

On the anniversary of Sept. 11, on the day after our top general in Iraq states that Iraq is considered the central front in the war against Al-Qaida, and shortly after Osama bin Laden releases a video saying the same.... the man known as Xoff pushes an Iraq war "moratorium"....

Xoff's suggested moratorium, borrowed from another group, includes such gems as "closing schools" (whatever that's about... how is Xoff planning to close a school?)...

So ... as I walk down to the vending machine at UWM to get some cheap coffee, am I suddenly supposed to stop in my tracks and rant and rave about the war and the evil neocons who are in cahoots with Halliburton and the Saudis?

Well, Friday's Moratorium Day #3, and McBride will be surprised to learn it's gained a pretty solid foothold and continuing to grow, expand and escalate. There might even be a few schools closed.

What's going on? Well, for starters, from an article I did for BuzzFlash :

On Friday, Nov. 16, antiwar activists will take the "Anti-Torture Train" to San Jose, Calif., where more than 20 groups are sponsoring a march, picket, and news conference in front of a corporation that organizers say profits from illegal kidnappings and torture by handling the logistics for the CIA's so-called "extraordinary rendition" flights -- torture flights.

On the way, they will leaflet Caltrain passengers to educate them about U.S. torture policy, the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" of suspects to other countries for abusive interrogation, and efforts in Congress to end the practice.

In New York City, a morning rush hour action at Union Square will feature hand-painted Pietas and black-clad leafleters.

Protesters in a number of cities will bang pots and pans in front of Congressional offices, as part of the Raise Hell for Molly Ivins campaign, inspired by the late progressive columnist and activist.

In Minneapolis and St. Paul, a student walkout is planned at a number of schools and campuses at noon, with an all-day teach-in and workshops, reminiscent of the 1969 Vietnam War Moratorium, at Macalester College.

Students from 15 colleges and universities in the Boston area, dressed in black, will walk in a silent procession to call for an end to the war in Iraq.

In Conway, Ark., boots representing fallen Alabama service members will be displayed during a rally that includes an open microphone for people who want to speak, sing a song, or read a poem.

In hundreds of other communities across the country, groups will hold vigils or rallies, while tens of thousands of individuals take some personal action to call for an end to the war.

Will it stop the war?

The question is, will anything stop the war?

One thing I know: Doing something is infinitely more likely to stop the war than doing nothing.

That's the whole idea behind the Moratorium, which doesn't try to tell anyone what to do on Moratorium Day, the third Friday of every month. It merely asks that they do something to show that they want the war to end.

There are plenty of suggestions on the Moratorium website, as well as a listing of events and actions around the country, including several in Wisconsin.

Please do something, whatever you're comfortable with, on Friday, even if it's only wearing a button or emailing your representatives in Congress.

Of course, if you want to steal McBride's idea and "rant and rave about the war and the evil neocons who are in cahoots with Halliburton ..." that's OK, too.

Time For Some More Satire

In the ongoing saga of the Illusory Tenant, Other Side, Patrick McIlheran, Jessica McBride and Texas Hold 'Em, there has been some new developments.

Patrick and Jessica have both finally come to the conclusion that the racial slur that was used in a comment section of the Texas Hold 'Em site was inappropriate and condemned the use of the term. Patrick states though, that he will not sever the link to this website, which is his right, although it does say a lot about him as a person. Jessica states that the blogger in question was "going through a really tough time when he wrote the comment, so I'm going to consider it an aberration from a man with a very fine mind and a very prolific blog who didn't need to go there or say things like that". It should also be noted that the blogger in question never apologized for the comment he made.

But they couldn't stop while they were on the high ground.

Patrick writes:

He's a good writer who can come up with sharp, on-target commentary without using out-of-bounds insults. It's a shame he used one, giving his foes a lever. May he go on being interesting.

Jessica follows with this:

That being said, who are the liberal blogs to pressure Pat McIlheran to stop linking to people? Where were they when a liberal blogger called me the "C" word? Have they all delinked Illusory Tenant? Have they delinked the stalker blog on me? Who are they to try to get McIlheran fired? They really need to chill out and return their focus to their own blogs. Make the best case they can on the issues. Everyone needs to lay off the namecalling.

That is the kind of stuff that Whallah! was made for.

As for the racial comments being an aberration, and that the blogger in question doesn't use out-of-bound comments, I was able to attain two archived comments from that same blogger, which he posted in comment threads at the now-closed Illusory Tenant's site. Keep in mind that the original racial slur was used in January of 2007.

WARNING: Adult and offensive language to follow.



From June 30th: FUCK YOU YOU COCKSUCKER. I WILL MEET YOU ANY TIME ANYWHERE .... YOU CAN'T MATCH UP WITH ANYONE, YOU SHIT FOR BRAINS PIECE OF SHIT. COME ON ... PLEASE ... FUCK YOU

And from September 11th: FUCK YOU AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON ... YOU GODDAMN LEFTIST PIECE OF SHIT TROLL. FUCK OFF ... I'D HUNT YOU DOWN AND BREAK BOTH YOUR LEGS IF I THOUGHT IT WAS WORTH THE TIME ... MAYBE YOU ARE

Now that seems to be a bit beyond out-of-bounds and covers a nine month period, which would rule out aberration.

And as for Illusory Tenant's comment, Jessica, that was addressed on this site as well as many other liberal sites. And IT did apologize, both on his site and in many comment threads, which is more than their friend did. Jessica even accepted the apology. Since then IT has closed his site. And if they think that giving people an opportunity to disagree with them, to use satire on them, and to point out their fallacies, fabrications and foibles is stalking or abuse, well, that is their problem, not ours.

But when you have McBride, who got Kevin Barrett fired for expressing his opinion, challenging anyone for asking for McIlheran's firing, or defending someone who regularly uses racial, sexist and threatening words, while forcing another person underground for the use of one word-well, that is the height of hypocrisy.

UPDATE: The mighty Brawler does his own grappling with this issue in this must read post.

Words Of A Veteran

Today is the official observation of Veteran's Day. What better day than this to share the words of a veteran as he shares his views of the Iraq War.

They elected a new Democratic Congress last year, with a clear mandate to end the war. But the new Congress is as chicken-hearted as the president is bull-headed.

The author is Bill Christofferson, aka xoff, and you can read the rest here. I would give the words of a veteran more credence than those who have not, like most, if not all, of our local right-wing media.

And thank you, Bill, for your service. And thank you to all others who have served.

h/t Pundit Nation

No, Jessica, THIS Is Satire

Sometimes McBride can really get on a roll, and manages to get absolutely nothing right. This post is a classic example. Let's look at it, shall we?

First, we have this paragraph:

Some liberal is apparently demanding that Patrick McIlheran remove Texas Hold Em blog from his blogroll because of a piece of strongly worded satire Peter posted. They are apparently implying Patrick shouldn't get to keep his job if he links to Peter.

Um, Jessica, the "some liberal" is Other Side. And he wasn't objecting to Tex's Hitlery post about Hillary Clinton (although he could have). The objection was to a post in which Tex called a group of Spanish-speaking people "chattering chihuahuas", a blatantly racist comment. If McBride were to actually read a liberal's post, she might have picked up on that. But then again, she might be afraid of being exposed to reality.

Then, McBride comes out with this:

Worry about your own blogrolls, liberals. Stop trying to destroy other people's careers by drumming up supposedly job-killing offense and faux outrage; focus on your own jobs.

Hmm, I wonder what Kevin Barrett would think of that advice coming from her? But McBride's not done yet:

Save your outrage for the people who use racial and sexual slurs, like Dog Chapman or Illusory Tenant.

As mentioned above, that is what Other Side was doing. Jessica, please stop doing your selective outrage. And learn to let go of things, would you?

But McBride's coup de grace (or in McBridean French: coop de grease) is this:

Otherwise, get over yourselves. It was SATIRE. It's not meant to be taken literally.

Satire is defined as: Irony, sarcasm, or caustic wit used to attack or expose folly, vice, or stupidity, per the American Heritage Dictionary. That would also be the perfect description of Whallah!'s approach to McBride and the rest of the right-wing local media. Instead, she labels us as an "abuse/hate blog". Go figure.

One would think that a person who is receiving tax dollars to allegedly teach college students journalism, would at least know the definitions of words, and how to use those words appropriately.

Veteran's Day

Thank you to all who have served.

You’ve been moderated

moderated

adjective

1. having elements or qualities mixed in proper or suitable proportions; especially, made less severe. Contrasted with harsh

2. in blogging, the usually temporary state between leaving a comment at McBride's Media Matters and when the comment is approved by the site-owner. I’m still being moderated. (Depending on the comment, moderated can be a permanent state. The comment never showed up; I was moderated.) Also, see Sykes.

Doddering McBride

Over at my other site, a commenter points out that McBride totally misrepresents a statement made by Christopher Dodd. But why post as a comment when I can cannibalize it as a post?

Gotta love user generated content.

Here it is:

Something interesting on McBride's web site today. She writes this headline: "Dodd says 9/11 mastermind has "moral high ground" Over us."

Of course, that's NOT what Dodd said. Here are his actual words:

"Compare that case to the case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who organized the attacks of 9/11. He was held in a secret prison, where he claims he was tortured severely. Whether he is lying or not, by our actions WE HAVE ALLOWED KHALID MOHAMMED TO CLAIM THE MORAL HIGH GROUND. Khalid Mohammed plays martyr to a world that is inclined to believe it.
Torture does not work."

Over at McBride's site the intrepid Mikal Matthias (something like that), makes the same point.
Jessica's defense:

Mathias, you are being way too kind to Dodd. Read it again. I admit I summed up the inference, but it's there. He's inferring pretty heavily that he agrees with KSM. It's obvious.

To Jessica's journalism students: Summing up inferences in the way Jessica does here is likely to get a call from the person you slandered, a lecture -- at a minimum -- from an editor and the undiluted joy of penning a big fat correction.

Journalists are not mindreaders. Least of all Jessica -- whose inability to understand "the noun, verb, 9/11" joke raises serious questions about her reading and listening comprehension, period.

UPDATE: Just an obvious point to Jessica's journalism students: saying and inferring -- even "inferring pretty heavily" -- are two different things.

UPDATE 2: A question for Jessica's students: Read the entire essay by Dodd (which the Brawler bets Jessica did not do) -- or this extended quote below -- and explain why it's clear that Dodd agrees with KSM:

President Bush believes he needs all this to keep us secure. I couldn't disagree more. Our courts have conducted more than one hundred terrorism trials since 9/11. They have done this without compromising the intelligence sources that keep us safe.

Consider the trial of Zaccarias Moussaoui. Lt. Cmdr. Swift is especially convincing on this point. President Bush's enablers, he writes, have "cited the prosecution of Zaccarias Moussaoui as an example of why the federal justice system does not work."

Lt. Cmdr. Swift writes, "I completely disagree. In fact, Moussaoui is the perfect victory. Our system is shown to be fair. The court...struck a balance that protects both our values and our security. We didn't lose anything. Moussaoui ultimately showed himself to be a fool--deranged, a joke, hardly someone that we'd think of as a great Middle East martyr. Ultimately he's imprisoned in a place where his name will be forgotten forever. How is that not a great victory?"

Compare that case to the case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who organized the attacks of 9/11. He was held in a secret prison, where he claims he was tortured severely. Whether he is lying or not, by our actions we have allowed Khalid Mohammed to claim the moral high ground. Khalid Mohammed plays martyr to a world that is inclined to believe it.

Torture does not work.

Listen to the concerns of Lt. Gen. John Kimmons, the Army's Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, said: "No good intelligence is going to come from abusive practices."

This is not some newly discovered conclusion - we have known this for years. What happened in 2002? That was the year a man named Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi, an al-Qaeda paramilitary trainer, was tortured at our behest in Egypt. He confessed that Saddam Hussein trained al-Qaeda members in the use of weapons of mass destruction.

That so-called confession found its way into a speech that President Bush gave in October 2002, as part of his case to invade Iraq.

Remember the President's words: "Iraq has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb making and poisons and gases." In Colin Powell's speech to the Security Council justifying war, al-Libi's claim was the centerpiece.

It was also totally false.

Both the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency have found that it was a false confession elicited by torture.

The bolded sentence is 100% correct, by the way. Like it or not, the world's view of the U.S. is dimmer than it's been in many a decade, if ever. And we can thank George W. Bush for that.

Who's This Merton Woman To Decide Which Websites Are Undesirable

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

McBride criticizes an Sheboygan alderwoman who calls the Sheboygan One's blogsite as "a not-so-desirable Web site".

This is the same McBride who has repeatedly called Whallah! "a typical liberal abuse/hate blog". This is also the same McBride who has about 90% of her posts being critical of others. The remaining 10%, which is positive, is usually positive about negative people.

The truly sad, and mystifying, part of it all, is that she probably really doesn't see the irony and hypocrisy in her postings.

Charlie And His Bookmobile

Boots and Kittens is a hilarious spoof of Owen Robinson's Boots and Sabers blogsite. However, it is not Owen, or his wife, Wendy, that this post is about.

Instead, the author of the post, John Foust, does a direct hit on Charlie with a perfect rendition that is probably closer to reality than parody. The post is titled It’s Time for a Few Thousand Automated Phone Calls and the particular passage reads:

I figured that since Dr. Herdrich really seemed to want the message to get out because she sent her message to the media in West Bend, perhaps she would want a larger audience. I'm so clever, don't you think? So I sent the above to Charlie Sykes, who had spent some time covering the story yesterday. He didn't have anything else to talk about. He thought it was worthy of your time, so he talked about it this morning.

Charlie is so nice and kind, just like he is on the radio! He dropped off an autographed copy of his book the other day. He said the publisher decided to make an extra-special print run of extra copies of the book just for Charlie. And he was right, just like always! His truck was chock-full of cases and cases of perfectly new books! And Charlie, sweet Charlie, was driving around town giving them away to his friends.

To Be Bigoted Or Not To Be Bigoted, That Is The Question

As was noted a couple of days ago, Mike Mathias of Pundit Nation and PaddyMac of Outer Space, were having a wee bit of a difference of opinions. Today, Other Side posted a conversation he had with old Patrick. The conversation is regarding Paddy's feigned umbrage at a contrived slight that only he perceived, and Paddy's hypocrisy regarding those that use bigoted and inappropriate terminology. It really is a must read.

And as Other Side mentions, it is really rather amazing that MSJ would allow someone to continue this kind of attitude, even if he doesn't do a clucking chicken noise.

Let The Games Begin

Charlie, Jeff and the Hipster are now allowing comments to be posted on their blog sites. But, a la McBride, they are being moderated, so don't expect them to let many rational posting dispelling their foolishness and fabrications to be posted. But never fear, Whallah! will continue to allow you the venue to expose their inanity. Feel free to comment, or email us at the address on the right side of your screen.

Also be warned, the comments go in reverse order, with the newest postings on top. This is appropriate, however, as it reflects the backward thinking of the people writing these blogs.

Close enough for Internet work?

What do you suppose McBride means when she writes:

If Hillary manages to lose the primary...

Which primary would that be? There are 50 of them, plus the Iowa caucuses.

What she means, of course, is, "If Hillary manages to lose the nomination . .."

Close enough for Internet journalism, I guess. It wouldn't get past the copy desk at a newspaper.