I thought you all might enjoy some late-night hilarity. Joe the Plumber, in his new role as "war correspondent" in Israel, is claiming to bring a refreshing lack of bias to his work. In one of his first acts of unparalleled reportage, he accosted an Israeli reporter with these penetrating questions:

JOE: The story here is people are being killed and the media's slanting it and trying to make it Hamas is, uh, as far as, that Israel's being bad. Do you believe Israel is bad?

REPORTER: Do I believe it?

JOE: Yeah, do you?!

REPORTER: I'm Israeli, so...

JOE: So answer the question!

REPORTER: No, I don't think Israel is bad.

JOE: Do you think Israel has every right to protect itself?

REPORTER: Yeah.

[pause]

JOE: You do?!

REPORTER: Yeah.

JOE: Have you said that on air?

REPORTER: I'm just a reporter.

This is taken from an article at HuffPo. In the comments section, we have:

"I've got a great idea! Why doesn't Joe the Plumber go to Iran and poke Akmadinajad with a sharp stick?"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/12/joe-the-plumber-fights-wi_n_157239.html

Oh, man, oh, man. I have to laugh.

Well said, tangerine.

I will just add "motherfucking shameless fuckwit bastard hate-mongering shithead corporate-loving father-issue-pathology dickhead racist misogynist poverty-ignoring privileged fuck Dick Cheney-befriending asswipe son-of-a-real-bitch stupid peabrain tiny-brained wiper of other people's bottoms rightwing religious massaging circle jerking slug bile-inducing ugly pinch-faced stinkbomb hate-filled uncurious illiterate philistine pig-breath swaggering tiny-dicked shit-producing embarrassment inhuman unthinking crass fucking drunk eyes-too-close-together grossout shameless shameless shameless destroyer of basic human rights stinking cesspool murderer murderer murderer terrorist terrorist terrorist scourge of history monstrous fiend friend to haters engorged with grandiose self-delusion scumbag foe to education homophobic beast perpetual adolescent macho dreaming testosterone driven hack opposite of good hideously visaged freak of nature revolting spawn of robbers and killers unbearable horror free-market idiot."

I could go on but I have to work at my new job, which I was lucky to get after my whole group was laid off at my last job and for which I had to take a 40% cut in pay and now I am in deep shit, you know, thanks to that motherfucker in the white house....

has always characterized this show. Moore seems to think he is the savior of scifi, but scenes of heavy breathing and models catfighting is not what it takes to make the genre great. There are a number of other scifi shows that I find more emotionally engaging and more insightful in elucidating political and social issues. For example, if you want to see a great program that looks at how ideological differences drive people to organize their own postapocalyptic micro-communities, watch the BBC version of Day of the Triffids.

But I am going to save a few shoes for the next administration, who apparently are going to let these torturers and law-breaking bastards get away scot-free.

than any red-spined horny cylon.

After showing alternating clips of Obama's speech and Bush's past speeches, including Obama's "you cannot outlast us and we will defeat you" and "we will not apologize for our way of life," Jon got into a faux argument with on-the-spot "reporter" Jason Jones.

Jason: The cowboy days are over, Jon!!

Jon: But...it's the same rhetoric!

Jason: YOU'RE the same rhetoric!!....[whines] Why are you doing this?... Why is cheese delicious on Italian food but when you put it on Chinese food it's disgusting? ... When Obama says it, I don't think he means it!

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That sums up what is going on pretty well for me.

As an apatheist (someone who considers the question of the existence of gods as neither meaningful nor relevant to life or to human affairs) I found the religious underpinnings of the whole affair appalling. And the "we can feel good about ourselves again" stuff does nothing for me. Maybe I will feel that way after and if I see some real justice, including economic justice.

I am still miffed that The Big Lebowski wasn't properly recognized.