It was just a matter of time until a post about People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (appropriately tagged as “wingnuts”, joining some fine company alongside articles regarding the Westboro Baptist Church) finally appeared on our quiet little blog. What took so long? While PETA has flirted with the entertainment industry before, this is their first incursion into videogame territory - in more ways than one.
It started with Samba de Amigo, one of the delightful little oddities which sprang-up during Sega’s Dreamcast era. Like a few other franchises from those days (Jet Set Radio still not one of them, much to continued annoyance), the anthropomorphic corpse of Samba has recently been exhumed and given new life on the otherwise safe and pedestrian Nintendo Wii.
Like many of the Sega’s experiments with the bizarre, no one really noticed aside from the old hardcore gamers… or folks like me, who still have Gunner’s Arsenal jerseys with Dreamcast sponsorship hanging in our closets. Oh, and PETA, who have somehow mistaken the title for some kind of virtual animal abuse. To the dismay of reasonable human beings everywhere, Sega caved to PETA’s demand to pull advertising. They received chocolates for their compliance. Vegan, of course. Probably carob.
As if the incident with Samba de Amigo wasn’t ridiculous enough, the upright citizens at PETA have now turned their eye towards Majesco’s Cooking Mama, which they have parodied in the form of a flash game. The goal is to convince Majesco to develop an entirely-vegetarian edition of their cutesy chef simulator - even offering to help promote it.
I have to wonder: if it weren’t for the virtual nature of the “offending” material, would PETA be taking such an outwardly-cordial approach in this case? Afterall, it’s exceedingly difficult to splash buckets of fake blood on a collection of pixels and polygons.
West: “How is Senator Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?”
Biden: “Are you joking? Is this a joke?”
West: “No.”
Biden: “Is that a real question?”
West: “That’s a real question.”
Biden: *laughs*
So who exactly is this Barbara West character? Well kids, when she’s not recycling the Hannity/O’Reilly/Limbaugh arsenal of neocon smears on WFTV-9 in Orlando (that storied bastion of political commentary), she’s busy playing wife to Mr. Wade West, a GOP Media Consultant. Shocking!
Despite it having been a scant four days since Palin was announced as McCain’s running mate, the woman is already up to her ass in slung shit. It’s understandable for left-wing pundits to be denouncing her lack of expertise, particularly since their own candidate is often on the recieving of such criticism, but why stop there? Honk your horn if you loooove drama!
First was insinuations that the recently-born Trig Palin was actually Sarah’s grandson rather than her own boy, based loosely on a couple of photos and a few things that seemed to be too odd to be coincidental. This, however, isn’t what’s important.
The important part is that for whatever reason, Palin decided the best way to negate these rumors was not with something like medical records, or even by showing photos that prove otherwise, but rather by saying that the four-month-old baby had to have been expelled by her womb because her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is five months pregnant. Saddle up for a wild ride, buckaroos.
You all remember Mr. James Dobson, right? He’s the head honcho of Focus on the Family, another one of those far-right looney bins I talk about on this blog from time to time. When they aren’t preaching the usual array of evangelical talking points, sometimes they “advise” President Bush on matters of social policy. Dobson is one of the guys known to whisper the most into George’s ear.
“Speaking as a private individual, I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances.”
This was back when the race for the Republican nomination was still in full swing and John McCain was, for whatever reason, often lambasted by the usual suspects on the right for being “too liberal”. The kind of bile that was being vomited his way at the time was quite extraordinary, actually, considering that McCain’s war record alone is normally more than enough for the right wing to declare someone untouchable (unless your name is John Kerry,) but in this case they were more than eager to throw the Vietnam vet under his own bus.
It was if there was a memo handed down from the GOP big wigs: “In a general election versus either of the Democratic frontrunners, this guy has no chance in hell of holding the White House for us, so let’s make sure he doesn’t get the chance.” The talking heads all fell in line and Dobson was no exception. Unfortunately for them, McCain won the nomination anyway, which leaves them all looking a little silly. Here’s what the Focus on the Family head had to say yesterday:
“I never thought I would hear myself saying this… while I am not endorsing Senator John McCain, the possibility is there that I might.”
“Barack Obama contradicts and threatens everything I believe about the institution of the family and what is best for the nation. His radical positions on life, marriage and national security force me to reevaluate the candidacy of our only other choice, John McCain.”
So what happened to your self-righteous declaration of abstention, James? Granted, it’s pretty hard to take much of anything that he says without a grain of salt. What’s your favourite Dobsonism, readers? Perhaps his claims that Spongebob Squarepants will turn you gay? Or maybe that fathers should shower with their sons to prevent the onset of homosexuality? What about his little spiel about how stem cell research is a “Naziesque” practice? Or how a good belting is called for when dealing with a vaguely disobedient puppy?
Everyone remembers the now-classic Bill O’Reilly meltdown from Inside Edition which made the YouTube rounds a while back. While this latest slice of outtake heaven doesn’t quite show us the enraged hissy fit side of ultra-right wing radio personality Laura Ingraham, it does provide a very rare look inside the laughable working conditions at Fox News.
One can’t help but feel a little bad for Ingraham considering the kind of scattered and ineffectual support staff she’s stuck with here… until memories of her usual vitriolic bile float back to the surface, at which point I can’t help but giggle with a bit of “serves ya’ right” glee. It doesn’t surprise me that her show didn’t last long; if only a few other wacky conservative talkers would go back to radio.
Something like this needs to happen to Glenn Beck. Oh please oh please oh please…
