Showing posts with label wikipedia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wikipedia. Show all posts
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
The reason for the Confederate flag in the words of its creator.
Thompson supported the Confederacy during the American Civil War. In 1863, as the editor of the Morning News he proposed a design that would ultimately become the Confederacy's second national flag, which would be come to known as the "Stainless Banner."
In a series of editorials, Thompson wrote:
"As a people, we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause… Such a flag…would soon take rank among the proudest ensigns of the nations, and be hailed by the civilized world as the white mans flag… As a national emblem, it is significant of our higher cause, the cause of a superior race, and a higher civilization contending against ignorance, infidelity, and barbarism."
And there you have it.
Any questions?
Friday, July 03, 2015
The Young Turks track the waning influence of Sarah Palin.
The Young Turks did a good job here, except that they failed to point out that the majority of Palin's Facebook likes are bought and paid for. Other than that this is quite well done.
Friday, December 12, 2014
Anonymous Wikipedia user with IP address that leads to US Senate really does not like the use of the word "torture" to describe what the CIA did to detainees. Keeps trying to change it.
An anonymous Wikipedia user from an IP address that is registered to United States Senate has tried, and failed, to remove a phrase with the word "torture" from the website's article on the Senate Intelligence Committee's blockbuster CIA torture report.
The unknown individual has attempted on at least two occasions — first on Dec. 9 and then on Dec. 10 — to remove a line describing the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques as "a euphemism for torture."
Gee it looks like somebody REALLY doesn't like it when we call torture done by the United States "torture."
Perhaps somebody should have thought of that before they, you know, tortured people.
Friday, April 18, 2014
New film, "God is not dead," attacks higher education, secularism, and logic, all in equal portions.
Yes that was the guy from Duck Dynasty that you just saw in that trailer. And that dude who played Hercules too.
I have been tempted to write something about this film a couple of times now. But to be honest I found the damn thing so irritating that I did not want to get my self all worked up over something so ridiculous.
However that was before I stumbled across this entry about the film on Wikipedia:
Josh Wheaton (Shane Harper), a devout Christian and freshman college student, enrolls in a philosophy class taught by a dogmatic and argumentative atheist. Professor Radisson (Kevin Sorbo) demands that all of his students must sign a declaration that "God is dead" in order to get a passing grade. Faced with a choice between passing the class and betraying his beliefs, Josh refuses. As Josh is the only student in the class to do so, the professor strikes a bargain: Josh must defend his position that "God's not dead" in a series of debates with him, with the class members ultimately deciding who wins. If Josh loses, he flunks. When Josh accepts the challenge, he gets more than he bargained for — jeopardizing his faith, his academic future, and even his relationships.
There are several struggles and personal beliefs going on as well in the film. Ayisha (Hadeel Sittu) must hide her Christianity from her devout Muslim family and father. Mina (Cory Oliver) must deal with her mother who is suffering from dementia, her rich executive brother Mark (Dean Cain) who refuses to see their mother, and her personal relationship with Radisson (which proves a struggle as Mina is a devout Christian and Radisson is an atheist, and Mina is frequently belittled in front of Radisson's colleagues). Amy (Trisha LaFache), a businesswoman and animal right's activist, is diagnosed with cancer and Mark (her boyfriend, Mina's brother) breaks up with her, seeming to care more about his business life than he did about Amy. Martin (Paul Kwo) is a foreign exchange student from China, whose struggles are similar to Josh's: his father does not want him screwing up his brother's scholarship (as Josh's girlfriend, Kara, did not want him standing up to Radisson as it might affect her scholarship).
Radisson has Josh spend 20 minutes at the end of every lecture to give his arguments on why God exists, but Radisson constantly has a counter argument against all of Josh's debates. Ultimately, it comes down to a debate between Radisson and Josh, who both make compelling points from both sides. Josh questions Radisson, asking why he hates God. After Radisson gives his response, confirming he hates God for his mother's death that left him alone despite his prayers, Josh asks Radisson how he can hate someone that doesn't exist. In the end, every member of Josh's class, including Martin, stand up and say "God's Not Dead", causing Radisson to leave the room in defeat.
After the last lecture, Martin excitedly tells Josh that his lectures have changed his heart and he has become a Christian. Josh invites him to come to the Newsboys concert with him because he had an extra ticket (due to Kara breaking up with him). Radisson ultimately has a change of heart upon reading a letter from his late mother, and leaves to find his ex-girlfriend Mina, who is shown to be attending the same Newsboys concert. He is struck by a car while crossing the street and his ribs are crushed, leaving him slowly dying of internal hemorrhaging. Pastor Dave (David A.R. White) finds him, and helps save Radisson, who becomes a born-again Christian moments before his death. Mark is shown taunting his mother, stating that he as a non-believer has a great life while she, a faithful person, is riddled with a disease. A suddenly lucid Mom makes a point about how the devil helps some evil people to succeed so that they won't turn to God, but that the person's life is like that of a prisoner whose barred door will ultimately slam at life's end. The cancer-ridden Amy is shown confronting the Newsboys in their dressing room moments before their show, presumably to ambush their faith, but ultimately revealing that she wants to know God. In the closing moments, the Newsboys show a video of Willie Robertson congratulating the "young man" who took up the argument against his professor that God was alive. The Newsboys close the movie with their song "God's Not Dead", dedicating it unknown to themselves, to Josh, saying they support and commend him for taking up the gauntlet against Radisson.
Holy crap is that a bunch of hooey.
First off I am sure that those of us who attended college know full well that professors do not make statements like that in their classrooms.
I took philosophy in college, and a class on comparative religious studies, and I cannot even tell you for sure if either of those instructors were, or were not, atheists. In fact I don't think I ever knew, or cared, WHAT religion my instructors identified with.
However THIS is how these fundamentalist types view higher education in this country. As an aggressive assault against their faith.
And I cannot tell you how ironic I find it that Kevin Sorbo is playing this educator.
As you may or may not know, he played one of the worst versions of Hercules every imagined. Hercules of course was mythological person who was said to be half god, and half man.
Sound familiar?
It is actually not surprising that the plot for this movie is so hyperbolic and over the top, since it appears that it is at least partially based on one of the most laugh out loud funny Chick Tract ever produced.
Perhaps you've seen it.
If you click the link at the top you will see that the movie mimics the comic almost frame by frame.
Look I understand that when your belief system relies on keeping people as uneducated as possible, that your fear of college must be almost overwhelming. But this kind of transparent propaganda cannot really be helping.
After all if what you believe has real value, wouldn't people be flocking to your church, and not have to be tricked and lied to in order to be convinced to show up?
I have been tempted to write something about this film a couple of times now. But to be honest I found the damn thing so irritating that I did not want to get my self all worked up over something so ridiculous.
However that was before I stumbled across this entry about the film on Wikipedia:
Josh Wheaton (Shane Harper), a devout Christian and freshman college student, enrolls in a philosophy class taught by a dogmatic and argumentative atheist. Professor Radisson (Kevin Sorbo) demands that all of his students must sign a declaration that "God is dead" in order to get a passing grade. Faced with a choice between passing the class and betraying his beliefs, Josh refuses. As Josh is the only student in the class to do so, the professor strikes a bargain: Josh must defend his position that "God's not dead" in a series of debates with him, with the class members ultimately deciding who wins. If Josh loses, he flunks. When Josh accepts the challenge, he gets more than he bargained for — jeopardizing his faith, his academic future, and even his relationships.
There are several struggles and personal beliefs going on as well in the film. Ayisha (Hadeel Sittu) must hide her Christianity from her devout Muslim family and father. Mina (Cory Oliver) must deal with her mother who is suffering from dementia, her rich executive brother Mark (Dean Cain) who refuses to see their mother, and her personal relationship with Radisson (which proves a struggle as Mina is a devout Christian and Radisson is an atheist, and Mina is frequently belittled in front of Radisson's colleagues). Amy (Trisha LaFache), a businesswoman and animal right's activist, is diagnosed with cancer and Mark (her boyfriend, Mina's brother) breaks up with her, seeming to care more about his business life than he did about Amy. Martin (Paul Kwo) is a foreign exchange student from China, whose struggles are similar to Josh's: his father does not want him screwing up his brother's scholarship (as Josh's girlfriend, Kara, did not want him standing up to Radisson as it might affect her scholarship).
Radisson has Josh spend 20 minutes at the end of every lecture to give his arguments on why God exists, but Radisson constantly has a counter argument against all of Josh's debates. Ultimately, it comes down to a debate between Radisson and Josh, who both make compelling points from both sides. Josh questions Radisson, asking why he hates God. After Radisson gives his response, confirming he hates God for his mother's death that left him alone despite his prayers, Josh asks Radisson how he can hate someone that doesn't exist. In the end, every member of Josh's class, including Martin, stand up and say "God's Not Dead", causing Radisson to leave the room in defeat.
After the last lecture, Martin excitedly tells Josh that his lectures have changed his heart and he has become a Christian. Josh invites him to come to the Newsboys concert with him because he had an extra ticket (due to Kara breaking up with him). Radisson ultimately has a change of heart upon reading a letter from his late mother, and leaves to find his ex-girlfriend Mina, who is shown to be attending the same Newsboys concert. He is struck by a car while crossing the street and his ribs are crushed, leaving him slowly dying of internal hemorrhaging. Pastor Dave (David A.R. White) finds him, and helps save Radisson, who becomes a born-again Christian moments before his death. Mark is shown taunting his mother, stating that he as a non-believer has a great life while she, a faithful person, is riddled with a disease. A suddenly lucid Mom makes a point about how the devil helps some evil people to succeed so that they won't turn to God, but that the person's life is like that of a prisoner whose barred door will ultimately slam at life's end. The cancer-ridden Amy is shown confronting the Newsboys in their dressing room moments before their show, presumably to ambush their faith, but ultimately revealing that she wants to know God. In the closing moments, the Newsboys show a video of Willie Robertson congratulating the "young man" who took up the argument against his professor that God was alive. The Newsboys close the movie with their song "God's Not Dead", dedicating it unknown to themselves, to Josh, saying they support and commend him for taking up the gauntlet against Radisson.
Holy crap is that a bunch of hooey.
First off I am sure that those of us who attended college know full well that professors do not make statements like that in their classrooms.
I took philosophy in college, and a class on comparative religious studies, and I cannot even tell you for sure if either of those instructors were, or were not, atheists. In fact I don't think I ever knew, or cared, WHAT religion my instructors identified with.
However THIS is how these fundamentalist types view higher education in this country. As an aggressive assault against their faith.
And I cannot tell you how ironic I find it that Kevin Sorbo is playing this educator.
As you may or may not know, he played one of the worst versions of Hercules every imagined. Hercules of course was mythological person who was said to be half god, and half man.
Sound familiar?
It is actually not surprising that the plot for this movie is so hyperbolic and over the top, since it appears that it is at least partially based on one of the most laugh out loud funny Chick Tract ever produced.
Perhaps you've seen it.
Look I understand that when your belief system relies on keeping people as uneducated as possible, that your fear of college must be almost overwhelming. But this kind of transparent propaganda cannot really be helping.
After all if what you believe has real value, wouldn't people be flocking to your church, and not have to be tricked and lied to in order to be convinced to show up?
Thursday, March 06, 2014
Oh I am going to be spending a lot of time here.
Media Matters for America is releasing a sort of Wikipedia for conservative misinformation.
The site, Mythopedia, which was shared with TPM ahead of its release, is meant to be an online compendium of truths and lies peddled by conservatives. The website's unveiling comes a day before the Conservative Political Action Conference.
"The week of CPAC seemed like the most appropriate time to launch a fact-checking tool, like Mythopedia, as I’m sure we’re going to be confronted with both old and new right-wing lies during the conference," Media Matters president Bradley Beychok said in a statement.
Here's how the site works. The front page is bar where users type in a claim. Searching that claim then pulls up "lies" or "truths" with research backing up whether it's a truth or a lie. For instance a search of the Obama administration on Benghazi directs to a page with the the lie "The Obama administration covered up the Benghazi attack by pointing to an anti-Islam video" and the truth "A bipartisan Senate report connects the Benghazi attack to an anti-Islam video" as well as evidence backing up the truth.
The site is starting with 400 entries and will be updated regularly. The updated fact checks will be done in real time by Media Matters staff. Media Matters will start soliciting tips and feedback from audiences and could possibly start moving highly involved users of the site into a more involved role.
As a political blogger who sometimes does not have a great deal of time for research, this is going to be a invaluable.
Monday, November 04, 2013
Rand Paul's plagiarism-a-palooza also included huge sections of his book. Gonna be awful busy fighting duels if this keeps up.
 |
| "Okay that's it! My hair is challenging all of ya'll to a duel. Dandruff specks and fifty paces!" |
An entire section of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s 2013 book Government Bullies was copied wholesale from a 2003 case study by the Heritage Foundation, BuzzFeed has learned. The copied section, 1,318 words, is by far the most significant instance reported so far of Paul borrowing language from other published material.
The new cut-and-paste job follows reports by BuzzFeed, Politico, and MSNBC that Paul had plagiarized speeches either from Wikipedia or news reports. The book was published in August 2013 by Center Street, a division of Hachette Book Group.
In this case, Paul included a link to the Heritage case study in the book’s footnotes, though he made no effort to indicate that not just the source, but the words themselves, had been taken from Heritage.
A Paul aide defended the senator, saying he makes clear in the book’s “notes and sources” that he didn’t individually research each case.
“In the book Government Bullies all the information… was sourced by end notes. In the two cases described, the end notes clearly define the sourcing for the book. In no case has the Senator used information without attribution,” said Doug Stafford, an advisor to Sen. Paul who co-wrote the book. “There were 150 endnotes and cites including The Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute. This is a witch hunt and grasping at straws.”
Yes pointing out that a nationally known politician with aspirations fro the White House has engaged in cutting and pasting huge portions of text from an online site or has taken entire blocks of information, verbatim, from a case study without making it perfectly clear that they have done so is NOT grasping at straws. It is a little thing called reporting the the facts.
Very, very troubling facts.
I have it on good authority that Paul's hair is not original to him as well, and may in fact have been manufactured elsewhere and then passed off as his own. Truly there is nothing about the man that can be believed.
Is anybody else looking forward to watching Rachel tonight as much as I am ?
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Rachel Maddow reports on fact that Rand Paul blatantly plagiarizes Wikipedia for his speeches. No, I mean word for word.
Currently Rand Paul consistently polls in the top two potential candidates for the GOP nomination in 2016, so the fact that he is this incredibly lazy. and disrespectful of intellectual property, is big news.
Is it wrong that I can hardly wait for 2016 to arrive?
Because I have a feeling that if you thought the GOP lineup in 2012 was ridiculous that you haven't seen ANYTHING yet.
Is it wrong that I can hardly wait for 2016 to arrive?
Because I have a feeling that if you thought the GOP lineup in 2012 was ridiculous that you haven't seen ANYTHING yet.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
The reason that conservatives never have their facts right.
Some of you may remember that the website was started by Andrew Schlafly, son of Phyllis Schlafly, after he determined that Wikipedia was too liberal. In other words it offered actual facts with citations to back them up.
So ever since2006 Schlafly has been offering up HIS version of truth.
What we in the reality based world call "lies."
By the way here is how Conservapedia defines the Bible:
The Bible is a collection of the most logical books and letters ever written. It includes the most beautiful book ever written, the Gospel of Luke, and the most profound book ever written, the Gospel of John.
Yep nothing slanted or nonfactual about that!
Thursday, August 02, 2012
Oh I think we can all figure out who the "Political Diva" is, don't you?
Apparently a recent blind gossip item popped up. Let's see if You can figure out who they are taking about:
Which political diva was overheard bitching about her famous reality-star daughter at a Bevery Hills event? The controversial brunette told a celebrity father-to-be that she’s glad he’s having a boy because “girls are a nightmare – from toddler to teen and beyond!”
Wow! That is a tricky one! Or is it?
At the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills July 24, the TV host's husband, Nick Lachey, 38, gave Us Weekly an update on how they're prepping for the arrival of their first son.
"We're just trying to enjoy our last couple of months of freedom here: getting the nursery ready, making sure we've got all our hospital plans together," Lachey explained. "All that stuff."
In the meantime, Lachey is gearing up for the August 13 premiere of Stars Earn Stripes, a new NBC reality series that challenges eight celebrities to execute complicated missions inspired by real military exercises.
"I was most intrigued about meeting Todd Palin, because he's such a mysterious figure to me. I thought, 'Am I going to have anything in common with this guy?' And as it turned out, the guy is awesome. I love him," Lachey raved of Sarah Palin's husband. "We had a great time and I enjoyed getting to meet everybody."
Somehow I don't think that most of you would have even needed to have Nick Lachey identified in order to figure out who the "political diva" bitching about her "reality show daughter" was. I mean seriously, who else could it have been?
However if you want a REAL mystery to solve perhaps you can figure out who has been recently "helping" to edit Todd Palin's Wikipedia page and added the following:
In January of 2011, Todd Palin became an item of interest with tabloid newspapers, as being caught up in an affair with a woman named Shailey Tripp. This information was later verified by the Anchorage Police Department and Shailey Tripp's lawyer, Kristen Foster. A year later investigator, Ed Opperman, also verified this interesting public information of their scandalous affair. Miss Tripp has openly admitted to the relationship and has published a book March of 2012 titled, Boys Will be Boys: Media, Morality, and the Coverup of the Todd Palin Shailey Tripp Affair.
PRETTY sure that neither barely literate Todd nor his Wikipedia altering son Track (Sarah blamed him right after being tapped for VP of changing HER page) added that particular information.
So go ahead and admit it, have one of YOU been naughty recently?
Which political diva was overheard bitching about her famous reality-star daughter at a Bevery Hills event? The controversial brunette told a celebrity father-to-be that she’s glad he’s having a boy because “girls are a nightmare – from toddler to teen and beyond!”
 |
| "Why is everybody looking at me?" |
Wow! That is a tricky one! Or is it?
At the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills July 24, the TV host's husband, Nick Lachey, 38, gave Us Weekly an update on how they're prepping for the arrival of their first son.
"We're just trying to enjoy our last couple of months of freedom here: getting the nursery ready, making sure we've got all our hospital plans together," Lachey explained. "All that stuff."
In the meantime, Lachey is gearing up for the August 13 premiere of Stars Earn Stripes, a new NBC reality series that challenges eight celebrities to execute complicated missions inspired by real military exercises.
"I was most intrigued about meeting Todd Palin, because he's such a mysterious figure to me. I thought, 'Am I going to have anything in common with this guy?' And as it turned out, the guy is awesome. I love him," Lachey raved of Sarah Palin's husband. "We had a great time and I enjoyed getting to meet everybody."
Somehow I don't think that most of you would have even needed to have Nick Lachey identified in order to figure out who the "political diva" bitching about her "reality show daughter" was. I mean seriously, who else could it have been?
However if you want a REAL mystery to solve perhaps you can figure out who has been recently "helping" to edit Todd Palin's Wikipedia page and added the following:
In January of 2011, Todd Palin became an item of interest with tabloid newspapers, as being caught up in an affair with a woman named Shailey Tripp. This information was later verified by the Anchorage Police Department and Shailey Tripp's lawyer, Kristen Foster. A year later investigator, Ed Opperman, also verified this interesting public information of their scandalous affair. Miss Tripp has openly admitted to the relationship and has published a book March of 2012 titled, Boys Will be Boys: Media, Morality, and the Coverup of the Todd Palin Shailey Tripp Affair.
PRETTY sure that neither barely literate Todd nor his Wikipedia altering son Track (Sarah blamed him right after being tapped for VP of changing HER page) added that particular information.
So go ahead and admit it, have one of YOU been naughty recently?
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
Rachel Maddow revisits her contentious debate with Alex Castellanos on MTP over the disparity in wage earning between men and women. Spoiler alert: Rachel was right!
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
I feel a little vindicated that I was right about how Rachel was feeling about the fact that the two Republicans refused to accept the facts about the wage disparity.Somebody with her respect for facts, is simply STUNNED when somebody refuses to accept well researched data. I still think she did a brilliant job of standing up for herself, and for women everywhere, in the face of this purposeful obfuscation by the GOP.
I also have to say that I was pretty pleased that for at least a short time, my post was linked on Alex Castellano's Wikipedia page as you can see below.
I had nothing to do with the placement of this link but I was nonetheless pleased that for at least a little while my blog was helping to revel the truth about this Castellanos douchebag.
(BTW I also showed it to my daughter, since she was the inspiration for that part of my post, and she was pretty pleased with herself as well. Oh and she wants me to say that she believes Rachel Maddow should run for President in 2016. What can I say? My kid's a dreamer.)
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Even without a title Sarah Palin desperately wanted to make an impact. And now she has. Update!
From now on, when somebody looks up one of the most horrific accusations EVER aimed at the Jewish community, they will think of Sarah Palin.
Ms. Palin welcome to immortality.
(BTW that was actually the result of a hack done over on Wikipedia that has since been repaired. Somehow I don't think they can so easily repair the damage that Palin has done to her brand.)
Update: The criticisms over this horrible phrase have now gone mainstream.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Now remember THIS is the NBC Nightly News, NOT just MSNBC or some internet news sites. This is the most watched prime time news broadcast on television.
No way can Palin explain this away by talking about partisan politics, or the "Lamestream media." Like I said this is immortality.
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