The Clam Rampant

admin November 15th, 2006

Now THESE folks I do feel sorry for

Curtsy to DJ for linking to this in the combox.

Apparently Kazakhs and drunken frat boys are not the only ones who are angry at the Borat folks. The opening scenes were not shot in Kazakhstan, but in a remote Romanian village. The residents are furious, saying they were misled by Sacha Baron Cohen and induced to humiliate themselves for a pittance.

I do feel sorry for them. I don’t know if litigation is going to be effective – or is a good idea – but I feel a lot sorrier for poverty-stricken Romanians, who apparently had no way to know who Cohen was or what his tactics are, than I do for a couple of frat boys who got schnockered with a production crew and said a bunch of things that they regret. Some of the things Cohen got these people to do are really appalling. But – I have to confess, a little bit of me is reminded of an old story about, I think, Samuel Johnson. No – I’ve just checked – George Bernard Shaw. He was at a dinner party, and he asked the woman next to him if she would have sex with him for a million dollars. As the story goes, she looked at him appraisingly and said something to the effect of “I suppose so.” He then asked “Would you do it for ten dollars?” to which the lady, much offended, demanded “What do you think I am?!” Mr. Shaw replied “We’ve already established what you are, madam; all we are doing now is negotiating a price.” The people who did the things in question did them for around $3. Is it really so much better to have them degrade themselves for $1,000? $1,000,000?

I wonder how many more people who were involved with the movie will come forward and complain about or sue Cohen?

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admin November 14th, 2006

Darn it, they pegged me!

I’m working on some other posts, but saw this on Fr. Martin Fox’s blog and felt compelled to take it. (Curtsy to Fr. Fox.) They nailed me – inland north, though neither Wisconsin nor Chicago. Actually, at my last job our office was adjacent to an office run by a linguistics professor. He actually pulled me aside one day and had me pronounce words for a test he was giving, because he thought I had the quintessential local (southeastern Michigan) accent. He couldn’t do it himself, because he was from Nigeria.

Take it and see how you do! And yes, I call carbonated beverages “pop” – doesn’t everyone? (Just kidding…)

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admin November 13th, 2006

How very sad…

Rosie O’Donnell has just shown me how impoverished her spiritual life must have been. She has also, IMHO, stuck her foot so far into her mouth that it must be tickling her spine. I commented with part of this post over on Gerald’s blog, but felt there was more to be said.

Gerald at The Cafeteria is Closed had posted this link. Ms. O’Donnell told her co-host, Elisabeth Hasselbeck (about whom I have no opinion thus far), that we have two options: to trust in the basic goodness of the world, or to live in fear of anyone different than us. She also, in an earlier episode, said that “[r]adical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have separation of church and state.”

Just a moment. Is she suggesting that if American Christians were to more closely emulate, say, Mother Teresa, that the country would be worse off?! Sure sounds like it to me…

It’s sad. It really saddens me that Ms. O’Donnell seems to be so hostile to religion. I saw a showcase over in the art building on campus that was lit with black lights that illuminated every negative message you could imagine. “Why are you so difficult?” “Change your major.” “I’ll never fit in.” “It’s all my fault no one loves me.” The apparent intent of the display was to show the underlying fears and hurts of the artist, that don’t show on the surface but affect him or her every day. It actually reminded me of Rosie O’Donnell.

From what I saw, she seems to equate religion with fear. A lot of people do; they say the only reason to be religious is out of fear of punishment (presumably by God, but maybe by society as well). I disagree.

Fear doesn’t make me get up every Sunday morning when I could be having a much-needed lie-in. Fear doesn’t make me be sure to be in town on Sundays, even though it means less time with the Canuck. Fear doesn’t make me drive 1/2 hour each way to St. Anastasia. Fear doesn’t make me stay there for 3 – 4 hours for Mass, Scripture reflection, and RCIA.

Fear doesn’t do any of that. Love does. I don’t know what brought Ms. O’Donnell to church, but it isn’t what brings me.

How very sad for her, that she has chosen to ignore the boundless love and mercy of God.

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admin November 10th, 2006

News Flash: Alcohol Makes You Do Dumb Things That You Will Live to Regret

What a scream. Apparently two frat boys are suing to keep themselves out of an already-released movie, on the grounds that they were misled. Here’s the story.

Now, if indeed they signed a release when drunk, I suppose that would mitigate the force of the release. But that’s darned hard to prove. And you know…this is reason number 6,211,847.2 why you should only get stone drunk with people you trust, or else not at all.

I’m not condoning the tactics of the guy who made the movie; from what I’ve seen so far I think the whole thing is crass and revolting. But – and this is a big but – ultimately, we are (or should be) where the buck stops on our own actions. My parents may have screwed me up when I was a munchkin, but I’m still responsible for being a productive member of society. They may have been drinking, but they chose to drink – it’s not like someone slipped them a mickey. Seriously, guys, how litigious do we need to get? You did something dumb. Grow up and learn a lesson from it. Maybe you can cite this experience in your first job interview to show how you’ve learned better judgment.

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admin November 10th, 2006

Someone call Bono!

one bank on Vimeo

All he has to do is sue the pants off of Bank of America, and hey presto! Oodles of money to help starving Africans!

I tried looking for a U2 e-mail address, but no dice. So Bono, I’m doing my bit here. It’s up to you to do a vanity search in Google now. This video is all over the Internet; you’d have to be a Luddite to not find it.

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admin November 8th, 2006

Sigh…

This was not a good election for life in Michigan. The one thing I will explicitly say about my ballot was that I did oppose instating a hunting season for mourning doves, and the majority of my fellow Michiganders agreed with me. But it’s a sad day when we value mourning doves above human beings.

More later – I’ve got work to do this morning.

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admin November 7th, 2006

So if I’m 40% Republican and 36% Democrat, what’s the other 24%?

I love how both tests told me that if I’m still voting for the other party, I should probably reconsider. Dude – I’m less than 50% of each!

However, the Democrat test in particular seems skewed. For example, one of the statements (with which I agreed) was that the MSM stifles important stories. YES!…but not just left-wing ones!!!

How Republican Are You?

How Democrat Are You?

Faux-hat tip to Gerald at The Cafeteria is Closed (who is a LOT less Democrat than I am!).

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admin November 7th, 2006

…but I’m still 36% Democrat…

You Are 36% Democrat

You’re a bit Democrat, and probably more liberal than you realize. If you’re still voting Republican, maybe it’s time that you stop.

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admin November 7th, 2006

40% Republican…

You Are 40% Republican

You’re a bit Republican, and probably more conservative than you realize. If you’re still voting Democrat, maybe it’s time that you stop.

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admin November 6th, 2006

Last-minute election post

Right to Life of Michigan has a really nifty tool on its site. You can fill in your name, the name of your street, and your ZIP code, and hey presto! you get a ‘ballot’ with all of the RTL-endorsed candidates right on it. Very cool!

Only problem is that they aren’t endorsing anyone for my U.S. House seat. I’m in Sander Levin’s district (MI-12), which pretty much means that no matter who I vote for, Sander Levin is likely to remain my Congressman; he’s been a Congressman for 24 years. But get this: I went to Project Vote Smart to try to figure out who was the least-worst candidate, and found this text:

REPRESENTATIVE SANDER M. LEVIN REPEATEDLY REFUSED TO PROVIDE ANY RESPONSES TO CITIZENS ON ISSUES THROUGH THE 2006 NATIONAL POLITICAL AWARENESS TEST WHEN ASKED TO DO SO BY

2002 Congressional National Political Awareness Test

His Republican opponent, Randell Shafer, supports abortion for rape, incest, and life of the mother, and supports continuing existing stem cell research (presumably including embryonic). My guess is those are the reasons RTL isn’t endorsing him.

So here’s my hierarchy. I know Sandy Levin is going to be ragingly pro-abortion and probably ragingly pro-ESCR (though I don’t know for sure because he didn’t respond to the questionnaire). And voting against him is pretty much a protest vote – ten bucks says he wins by a landslide – no matter which of his challengers I vote for.

The Republican candidate supports abortion for rape, incest, and life of the mother, and supports continuing existing lines of stem cell research (presumably including ESCR). The Libertarian candidate is the same, but also checked “abortion should be legal during the first trimester” – I don’t know if he means “those exceptions should be limited to the first trimester” or “abortion on demand should be legal during the first trimester.” The U.S. Taxpayers Party candidate said all abortions should be illegal, period; but I am not prepared to outlaw it in cases where it’s necessary to save the life of the mother. The other two candidates, from the Green and Socialist Equality parties (ahem), both think abortion should always be legal. Bzzt – wrong answer!

If anyone’s got a prayer of beating Levin, it’s the Republican. I can either vote for him, or I can write in American Papist.

*weighs hands* Decisions, decisions…

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