Archive for Popular Culture
Fight Girl Battle World
Posted by: | CommentsCan’t wait to see this – Fight Girl Battle World at NC Stage.
You Know It’s Time For Another Occupy Thread
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An ordinance was advanced at Tuesday’s City Council meeting that would regulate camping and storage on public-owned property. I moved that the ordinance be referred to Asheville’s Public Safety Committee for some review, vetting, consideration, etc. That motion passed 5-2 with Councilman Davis and Mayor Bellamy opposed.
Also on Tuesday I became a member of the Public Safety Committee, along with Jan Davis. Cecil Bothwell is a continuing member and he accepted the role of Chair when asked by Mayor Bellamy to serve.
I want to ask for your thoughts as we think this through – How can we best protect the free speech and civil liberties of the people, ensure our public spaces are welcoming to all, maintain the priorities set by our precedent-setting 10 Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, and create just, enduring policy?
The Public Safety Committee will consider these issues at a special public meeting on January 3rd at 3:30. Thanks for any thoughts you can offer.
Catch the Spirirt
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Lt. John Pike pepper sprays his way through art history.
(image above courtesy of a friend)
Success Is Not An Option
Posted by: | CommentsIn case you missed it this week, Tea Party Nation included this pledge in an email to its membership. Colbert gives it a tip of his hat…
Right Wing Watch reports today that Tea Party Nation president Judson Phillips responded to the uproar caused by the post, saying “Liberalism is about the control of speech and thought and the suppression of any belief that does not agree with the liberal orthodoxy.” Which is, of course, exactly why lefty bloggers spread the Tea Party Nation email so far and wide this week, why it is featured here, and why Colbert gave it a coast-to-coast tip of his hat.
Not that Judson Phillips would grasp the irony.
The Right Rounds Up the Usual Suspects
Posted by: | CommentsRichard Eskow deconstructs polling of Occupy Wall Street done by Fox News’ professional centrist, Douglas Schoen. Discussing his data in the Wall Street Journal, Schoen characterizes the movement as favoring “radical left-wing policies” reflecting “values that are dangerously out of touch with the broad mass of the American people,” including “radical redistribution of wealth.” Those conclusions are “not supported by his own survey,” Nate Sliver tweets. In fact, radical redistribution of wealth draws 4% support in Schoen’s poll.
Eskow summarizes Schoen’s results and compares them to recent national polls. Surprise: Occupy Wall Street responses are in line with most of America. So why the spin?
Whenever America’s right wing feel threatened or that the world has slipped beyond its control, very predictably — and with much less style than Captain Renault — conservatives round up the usual suspects: commies and hippies. And dirty hippies (DFHs). It’s an old tradition, Mandrake, like getting rid of fluoridation in our water. Familiar enemies are a comforting point of reference in an unsettling present and scarier future.
Harvest Time
Posted by: | CommentsHarvested just for your Labor Day weekend enjoyment.
Tim Curry from Saturday Night Live, 1981. Poor video/audio. Great Performance.
Chad Nesbitt Calls For Support
Posted by: | Comments“Former Buncombe County Republican Party chair Chad Nesbitt announced today on WWNC radio’s “The Matt Mittan Show” that he’s planning an Aug. 28 rally in downtown Asheville to protest the Aug. 21 GoTopless rally. He said the rally will be held at 2 p.m. in Pack Square Park and invited the public to attend.”
UPDATE:
You are not going to believe this.
Mumpower and Nesbitt have a website for their Sunday event. The website and event are titled, “Sanity in the Public Square”. The website is adorned with an image of Uncle Sam being shot in the face by liberalism and Islam. To the left of this picture is the telling turn of phrase, “aberrant exhibitionist ideology”.
Colbert Super PAC: Exposing How It’s Done
Posted by: | CommentsWhen comedian Stephen Colbert petitioned the Federal Election Commission for permission to form Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow (a.k.a., the Colbert Super PAC), people laughed to see Colbert use the campaign finance system to lampoon that very system. “This is 100 percent legal and at least 10 percent ethical,” he said upon receiving FEC approval.
The Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court now allows “independent-expenditure only committees” like Colbert’s to spend unlimited amounts of money to support or attack candidates. But with the debut of Colbert’s first television ads ahead of Iowa’s Ames straw poll, it is clear that Colbert’s target list is broader than candidates and campaign finance.
Why you should be on the Twitter
Posted by: | CommentsMany people come to me and they say, “Hey, but why should I be on the Twitter?”
Well I tell you. It’s not because I can make love up to one time a night; it’s because that’s where a lot of the local political action is these days.
Nearly all of this year’s City Council candidates have Twitter accounts: even a certain sitting City Councilman or three.
Included in that list are Mark Cates, Saul Chase, Lael Gray, Marc Hunt, Tim Peck, Bill Russell and TJ Thomasson. It’s fun to keep up with them and read what they’re all up to (especially after they’ve had a few beers). It’s fast, it’s furious, and it’s mostly raw and uncensored.
Our own ThunderPig, a prolific Tweeter himself, points us to this interesting infographic which tells the story by the numbers. If that won’t convince you curmudgeonly hold-outs (and you know who you are, Barry) I don’t know what will.
Politics is all about information. And as political animals, we can never have enough of that, right? Nope.
Find Scrutiny Hooligans on Twitter @scru_hoo
