Seems Old Dan has finally gotten the boot at CBS....

CBS executives have decided there is no future role at the network for Dan Rather, making it certain that the man who sat in the anchor chair for 24 years will depart by this fall.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:17 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 na na na na na na na na hey hey hey goodbye

Posted by: Jane at June 15, 2006 11:25 AM (wZLWV)

2 I sense KKKarl Rove's fine Italian hand in this...

Posted by: Cassandra at June 15, 2006 12:05 PM (eKdAq)

3 Good.

Posted by: Richmond at June 15, 2006 01:41 PM (e8QFP)

4 Oh that is fantastic. Woo hoo!

Posted by: annika at June 15, 2006 09:17 PM (fxTDF)

5 What's the frequency, Kenneth??!

Posted by: Paul Burgess at June 16, 2006 04:18 AM (7EVyU)

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Two headlines, same story:

1) "Bush May Meet Vow To Halve The Deficit Three Years Early" --Investors Business Daily

2) "Bush Deficit Reduction Plan Falls Off-Schedule." -- Guess who (acc. to Insty, but I can't find the headline anywhere on their site anymore)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 02:57 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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According to news reports, Zarqawi lived 52 minutes after the bombing.

So I'm wondering, what were the commercials like?  And what took him so long to croak?

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The ABC News' blog The Blotter has a very interesting piece on the man who turned in Zarqawi... And they're getting slammed by the readers for it. 280 comments and counting.

This is EXACTLY why your ratings are going down, you opportunistic slugs.

h/t LGF

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:37 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The Pig F*cker is in fact actually dead. You heard it here first.
Now that the MSM is on the story full-blast, here are some of the more interesting articles:

FoxNews: Terminated
CNN: Hunted Down
BBC: Iraq Allies Hail Zarqawi Killing
Aljazeera: Al-Zarqawi Killed in Airstrike

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:03 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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According to ABC news, who is the ONLY one on the story right now....

Zarqawi is TOAST.

Special Report interrupted Nightline, not even on the web page yet

Update: Acc. to Technorati, I am indeed the first to report this. I even beat Kos by 10 minutes! Holy Crap!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:46 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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Possible chemical weapons raid by British police

Ricin and Pipe Bombs found in suburban Tennessee home

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So says this piece of what George Moneo has so rightly termed "Bovine Excrement".  It's worth the 2 minutes out of your life to laugh and shake your head at the self-important idiocy that passes for education around here.  Keep in mind that this POS had to get a charter from the county, so somebody actually bought into this.....

Quick!  The Smug cloud is descending over Los Angeles!  Oh no!

On a related note, Cobb has some interesting thoughts on immigration and the Latino community....

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...between and Brown Noser and a Sh*thead?

Depth Perception

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Cook and Brew-meister extraordinaire Steve-O displays another talent: Brilliant criticism.

He links this fabulous Ann Coulter column, then synthesizes it into something beautiful of his own. Especially with regard to the oft heard cry of "hypocrisy!":

"Ann is right about hypocrisy, too. We live in a country where mouth-breathers and slackjaws accuse people of hypocrisy whenever they criticize any action they themselves have taken in the past. It's sad that the average person has a tiny brain, and that such stupidity passes for logic. Ann tears that argument apart pretty well this week.

An accusation of hypocrisy is a tool a sub-par mind uses to excuse bad or stupid behavior. If I jumped off the Empire State Building, does that mean I lose the right to tell other people not to jump? Of course not. It may seem otherwise to you, if you move your lips when you read and you find butterfly ballots confusing, but to an intelligent person, it's obvious that it's ALWAYS okay for ANYONE to advise you to avoid stupid behavior.
...
True hypocrisy involves an element of dishonesty. Falling short of perfection does not make you a hypocrite.

If you want to do something stupid or immoral, don't be a whiny little boy and say, "You're not perfect, either." Be a man and say, "I know I shouldn't do this, but I'm doing it anyway, because I don't care if it's right." Or "because I'm weak." Or "because I'm an addict." Don't hide behind a child's favorite lame argument."

Posted by: caltechgirl at 07:52 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Excellent post. Tell it like it is.

Posted by: Dash at April 22, 2006 07:22 AM (zJsUT)

2 I'm sorry, but I just can't put the words "fabulous" and "Ann Coulter column" in the same senense. The woman is just vile. Call me a hypocrite, ya know

Posted by: Ben at April 23, 2006 12:42 PM (6O5DM)

3 Did you read the column? Methinks you would have much praise for it if there was a different name on the byline....

Posted by: caltechgirl at April 24, 2006 12:49 PM (/vgMZ)

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Go here quick before they take it down!

You know the whole flap about Michelle Malkin? Well, these assholes tried to do the same thing with some prominent Righty Bloggers and supposed-Righty Bloggers.

Except the contact info is pretty much all wrong. Poor Jonah Goldberg of Forest Park, GA....

And Rusty Shackelford? Umm, that's a pseudonym you morons.

h/t Rachel, who found it here

Posted by: caltechgirl at 03:33 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I used to like Keith Olbermann.  I thought he was really funny, and some of the stunts that he pulled with his SportsCenter colleagues (especially Dan Patrick) are classics in TV history.

Then he decided to be a serious journalist.  Or something like that.  And got his own show on msnbc (the conflicted network).

Now he votes Michelle Malkin as "The Worst Person in the World".  I'll admit she's often over the top and takes positions that even her fellow Conservatives sometimes scratch their heads at, but NONE of this qualifies her as the "worst person in the world".

Michelle and I don't always agree, but there's no doubt she is a loving and devoted Mom and Wife, a thoughtful intellect, and above all a law-abiding tax-payer.  Sure, she broadcast some phone numbers, THAT WERE ON A PRESS RELEASE.  It's not like she used some clandestine cabal to obtain them.  They were published and publicly available.  Who did she rape or murder?  When did she plot a terrorist attack?

This Guy, now, he might merit "world's worst", or This Guy  or This Guy.

Yet another example of the "Unhinged" left, throwing words around like they don't mean anything.  Or maybe Olbermann is simply too ashamed to admit that he doesn't ever look outside his own backyard.

Expose the Left has the video.  Flap has the press release in question.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:56 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I'm gonna freakin' puke next time I hear one of these news-chickens refer to dook as "an Ivy League school".

Last time I checked, dook competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference (a.k.a. the ACC).  Same as they have for the last 40+ years.  Ivy League Schools are so-called ONLY because they compete in the ACTUAL Ivy League.

Yes, the name is synonymous with excellence in education, but that doesn't mean that a school with a reputation for fine academics and located on the East Coast is AUTOMATICALLY an Ivy League School.

Sheesh.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:18 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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Michael Yon is in the UAE preparing to return to Iraq.  And he has some interesting things to say.

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Rusty (as usual) has the latest!

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Senor Fariñas has rejected food and water for 57 days to protest the lack of freely available, uncensored internet access to the people of Cuba.

57 days.  The latest updates indicate that he will die soon.

Join the Blogburst.  Spread the word.  Read More.  Speak Out.  Sign the Petition.

You can.  You're reading this now, after all.

(technorati tag Guillermo Fariñas, Internet, )

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:34 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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But somehow this post from Christina reminded me of it.

This may possibly be the truest thing published in USA Today in YEARS.  I couldn't pick and choose, so here is the majority of the article:

Last month, as I averaged the second-quarter grades for my senior English classes at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va., the same familiar pattern leapt out at me.

Kids who had emigrated from foreign countries — such as Shewit Giovanni from Ethiopia, Farah Ali from Guyana and Edgar Awumey from Ghana — often aced every test, while many of their U.S.-born classmates from upper-class homes with highly educated parents had a string of C's and D's.

As one would expect, the middle-class American kids usually had higher SAT verbal scores than did their immigrant classmates, many of whom had only been speaking English for a few years.

What many of the American kids I taught did not have was the motivation, self-discipline or work ethic of the foreign-born kids.

Politicians and education bureaucrats can talk all they want about reform, but until the work ethic of U.S. students changes, until they are willing to put in the time and effort to master their subjects, little will change.

A study released in December by University of Pennsylvania researchers Angela Duckworth and Martin Seligman suggests that the reason so many U.S. students are "falling short of their intellectual potential" is not "inadequate teachers, boring textbooks and large class sizes" and the rest of the usual litany cited by the so-called reformers — but "their failure to exercise self-discipline."

The sad fact is that in the USA, hard work on the part of students is no longer seen as a key factor in academic success.
...

When asked to identify the most important factors in their performance in math, the percentage of Japanese and Taiwanese students who answered "studying hard" was twice that of American students.

American students named native intelligence, and some said the home environment. But a clear majority of U.S. students put the responsibility on their teachers. A good teacher, they said, was the determining factor in how well they did in math.

"Kids have convinced parents that it is the teacher or the system that is the problem, not their own lack of effort," says Dave Roscher, a chemistry teacher at T.C. Williams in this Washington suburb. "In my day, parents didn't listen when kids complained about teachers. We are supposed to miraculously make kids learn even though they are not working."

As my colleague Ed Cannon puts it: "Today, the teacher is supposed to be responsible for motivating the kid. If they don't learn it is supposed to be our problem, not theirs."

And, of course, busy parents guilt-ridden over the little time they spend with their kids are big subscribers to this theory.

...

"Nowadays, it's the kids who have the power. When they don't do the work and get lower grades, they scream and yell. Parents side with the kids who pressure teachers to lower standards," says Joel Kaplan, another chemistry teacher at T.C. Williams.

Every year, I have had parents come in to argue about the grades I have given in my AP English classes. To me, my grades are far too generous; to middle-class parents, they are often an affront to their sense of entitlement. If their kids do a modicum of work, many parents expect them to get at least a B. When I have given C's or D's to bright middle-class kids who have done poor or mediocre work, some parents have accused me of destroying their children's futures.

...

Colleges keep complaining that students are coming to them unprepared. Instead of raising admissions standards, however, they keep accepting mediocre students, lest cuts have to be made in faculty and administration.

As the wife of a teacher and a professor to recent High School grads I can attest to every word being said here.  What do you think?
h/t Weekend Pundit

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:03 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Maybe I should start listening to Hugh Hewitt.

The other H-dawg takes on the grand dame of the WH press corps, Helen Thomas, in a sometimes barely-coherent conversation on Dick Cheney, media bias, and why Hugh Hewitt is completely forgettable....   Hilarity ensues.  Here's a quick clip (FYI: this is at least halfway through the conversation, HH is Hugh, HT is Ms. Thomas):

HT: Who are you?

HH: I...

HT: Who am I talking to?

HH: Hugh Hewitt.

HT: Am I talking to a journalist?

HH: Yes. Yes, for a long time. I'm just curious about what's gone wrong...

HT: Tell me about your career. What have you really done?

HH: Well, it's not nearly as impressive as you.

HT: Where did...yes, it's...it's very important to me. Where did you work?

HH: PBS for ten years.

HT: PBS?

HH: Yes.

HT: Well, that's a good credential.

HH: There you have it. See? I'm...

HT: But then you decided to switch over?

HH: To switch over to what?

HT: God knows what you are.

Running away like all her ilk, I suppose.

Read the rest at Radio Blogger.  Or hear it here.

h/t Rusty and the Jawa band

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:51 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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In the National Review, Michael Ledeen sends:

"...according to Iranians I trust, Osama bin Laden finally departed this world in mid-December. The al Qaeda leader died of kidney failure and was buried in Iran, where he had spent most of his time since the destruction of al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The Iranians who reported this note that this year's message in conjunction with the Muslim Haj came from his number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, for the first time."

Veddy Interesting, but perhaps another instance of crying wolf? I won't believe it until I see the DNA results from his corpse.

h/t Greyhawk and Not Dale Gribble

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:20 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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So last night DH and were up late celebrating the last "non-school night" of vacation, and we were watching TV when Bowling for Columbine came on Bravo.  Neither of us had seen it, and as we're not directly paying that Fat Fcuk to see it, we decided to watch it.  Quite an interesting movie, and I had been unaware of the fact that the Fat Fcuk, the Nichols brothers, and Eric Harris (of the Columbine massacre) all lived in the same area of MI as kids.  Kinda creepy.  But still....

Here's my one word movie review:  Hypocrisy.

Here's my 8 word movie review:  Holy shit! What a difference a year makes.

One of the main subtexts of the film, as far as I could tell is that it's hypocritical to tell out kids not to shoot each other while we bomb the hell out of innocent countries....  That is, we cannot simultaneously demand peace and peddle war, even on different scales.

Who does Señor Fat Fcuk (and any number of others in the film) blame for this?  Why President Bill Clinton, of course.  Funny how just 2 years later Clinton is the benevolent savior of the universe and George W Bush is the only bastard that ever peddled war to the rest of the world.  How conveniently the righteous indignation over the bombing of Bosnia was forgotten as soon as we went to war in the Middle East.

The other thing that got to me was this statement "[during the Clinton administration] 500,000 Iraqi children were killed by bombing raids and sanctions", displayed while a picture of a US bomber dropping bombs was also shown.  Clearly implying that US bombs did most of the killing, when the reality of the matter is that the vast majority of those Iraqi children died because Saddam and friends wouldn't cooperate with the sanctions AND pocketed the Oil for Food money.

At least the shithead was blaming it on the Clinton administration for a change, evidently he hadn't gotten BDS yet.....

The saddest thing is, I used to love the Fat Fcuk.  Ben can vouch for this.  We both were HUGE fans of TV Nation, especially after he stood up for Sean Boyd, a weatherman from Fresno who was fired from his job after refusing to lie (scroll down to "Story #3") about the weather forecast during a station-sponsored event.
It was also interesting to see Matt Stone (of South Park) agreeing with the Fat Fcuk, as in subsequent years he and Trey have literally skewered the Fat Fcuk on South Park and in Team America.

Funny how things change.  Hypocritical Fcuk.

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