Bent Corner

I was driving home from work today and decided to listen to Sean Hannity. I was listening to XM Radio and CNN was on yet another commercial break. I noticed immediately at Hannity was quite upset about something. The tone of his voice was even more shrill then normal. It seems there is a new weekly TV show on Fox News entitled “Hannity’s America”. Alessandra Stanley from the New York Times watched the show and then wrote about it.

Sean Hannity didn’t like the article. Go figure.

When I got home, I read the article. I thought Sean Hannity’s reaction to the article was funny. The actual article was hilarious.

Underneath the flag-waving swagger, Mr. Hannity’s show is riddled with leftist subliminal suggestion and degrading, un-American images of violence and pornography. Last Sunday Mr. Hannity toured the Bunny Ranch brothel in Nevada and stood over two prostitutes lolling on a bed in skimpy lingerie, their hands placed between their legs, and asked them if they believed in God.

The Bunny Ranch? You have to hand it to him for finding a way of incorporating prostitutes into his show. Who knew that Hannity’s America included prostitutes.

But it’s the sex and violence that suggest that Mr. Hannity harbors a secret plan to undermine American moral fiber. Despite President Bush’s assertion that the execution of Saddam Hussein was botched and disgraceful, Mr. Hannity repeatedly flashes some of the more gruesome video images of the hanging, pictures so ghoulish and unsettling that they could well be the fare for a snuff film.

First Hannity shows prostitutes rolling around a bed, then he shows the Saddam Hussein snuff film. I think to many Republicans, the crappy cell phone video of Saddam getting killed is a form of pornography. That strikes me as being quite off. Most Republicans worship Ronald Reagan and Reagan was really quite fond of old Saddam Hussein. May he not rest in peace.

Sean Hannity is a tool. He wraps himself in the American flag and dishes out disparaging comments about the patriotism of Americans that hold views different then his own. Americans like me. He does this not because it is what he really believes. No, he does it to make a buck.

Hannity’s fake patriotism has made him millions of dollars. He loves to chastise people like Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, and the Dixie Chicks because of their political views. The thing that separates these people (and others like them) from Sean Hannity is that they have never made a buck off their political views. Like he does. In fact the complete opposite is true. They often lose money because of their political opinions.

Just ask the Dixie Chicks.

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Democrat John Edwards talks a lot about his humble beginnings. He likes to talk about there being two Americas. One that’s rich and one that is not. The above is a aerial photo of John Edward’s home. Guess which America he is in?

His recreation building contains a basketball court, a squash court, two stages, a bedroom, kitchen, bathrooms, swimming pool, a four-story tower, and a room called “John’s Lounge.” Maybe instead of announcing his candidacy for President from the ninth ward in New Orleans, he should have made it from John’s Lounge. That at least would have been honest.

The guy is a fake. He’s a hypocrite. It’s not even as though he actually built his wealth with the sweat of his own brow. It’s not like he invented something innovative or spectacular. He didn’t build anything. He didn’t create anything. He didn’t even amass his wealth the old fashioned way by being born into it. No, he made his millions being a personal injury trial attorney. Two things had to happen for Edwards to make money. A doctor had to make a mistake and a patient had to suffer because of it.

The Edwards empire was built on the misfortune and misery of others.

Now he wants to use the economic misfortune of others to propel his presidential aspirations. Not that this is new. He used this same tactic the last time he tried to be President.

I don’t think some guy with his own personal squash court has any business lecturing anyone that there are two Americas.

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What a coincidence. I already decided I wouldn’t be voting for him in 2008. Once is one time too many as far as I’m concerned. I voted for him in 2006. It’s not something I am proud of.

What choice did I have? Picking between George W. Bush or John Kerry was a lot like picking between drinking a gallon of spoiled milk or drinking something else nasty and foul. Something just as bad as spoiled rotten milk. Maybe a domestic beer or something else that tastes really bad.

Not only did I vote for John Kerry, I even affixed a John Kerry bumper sticker on the rear bumper of my Hyundai Accent. It remained there for three whole days until somebody removed it while I was shopping at Kmart.

That’s what I get for shopping at Kmart.
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Dick Cheney’s non-lesbian daughter wrote an op-ed in today’s Washington Post that spoke of continuing the war in Iraq.

We are at war. America faces an existential threat. This is not, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi has claimed, a “situation to be solved.” It would be nice if we could wake up tomorrow and say, as Sen. Barack Obama suggested at a Jan. 11 hearing, “Enough is enough.” Wishing doesn’t make it so. We will have to fight these terrorists to the death somewhere, sometime. We can’t negotiate with them or “solve” their jihad. If we quit in Iraq now, we must get ready for a harder, longer, more deadly struggle later.

Iraq didn’t have any terrorists until the United States invaded Iraq and sacked the government. Bush invaded Iraq not because of a jihad, but because Iraq supposedly had weapons of mass destruction and had the will to use them against the United States. Something that has turned out to be completely false.

Liz Cheney doesn’t want the war in Iraq to end. I find that more then a little ironic since as a baby, Liz Cheney helped her father dodge Vietnam. Dick Cheney received one of his many military deferments because of baby Liz. The Selective Service reclassified Dick Cheney from 1-A to 3-A because military service would have caused hardship on his family.

The war needs to come to an end. Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction. Saddam is dead. There have been democratic elections. Iraqis got purple fingers. The mission has been accomplished.

Over 3,000 American troops have been killed in Iraq. It’s time to bring them home. Continued occupation of Iraq will only help to increase terrorism, not decrease it.

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Democratic California assemblywoman Sally Lieber wants to make it illegal to spank a child three years old or younger. I’ve got to admit that I didn’t even know it was actually legal to spank such a young child.

I’ve never really understood the fascination some parents have with the practice of spanking their kids. It seems barbaric. It seems to me to enforce the idea into a child’s head that it’s ok to use physical violence against people when they make you mad.

The child does something wrong. The parent gets mad at the child for doing something wrong and takes their anger out on said child by whacking their ass with the palm of their hand or device such as a paddle or a belt. Some might see this as a parent teaching their child discipline.

I see it as a parent hitting their child when they make them mad.

I guess I would think differently about it if we lived in a society where it was ok to hit people when they make you mad. When they do something they aren’t supposed to do. To be honest, nothing would make me happier then being able to legally throttle someone when they piss me off. The thing is, I don’t have that particular privilege. Nobody does. The only person you are allowed to hit when they make you mad is your own child. That’s simply wrong.

I guess my opinion on spanking might be a little different if we as a country didn’t have such a rampant problem with child abuse. Far too Americans physically abuse their children. Do all parents that spank their kids also abuse them? No, of course not. I’m not saying that. I do think there is a definite connection between spanking and child abuse.

Conservatives in California are up in arms with assemblywoman Sally Lieber’s anti-toddler spanking bill. Of course they are.

Not all conservatives are against the idea though. Republican California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he may be receptive to just such a law. Schwarzenegger has said that he and wife Maria Shriver do not believe in spanking. Instead of spanking their four children, they have found it much more effective to threaten to take away their children’s play time instead of whacking them.

Imagine that.

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A FedEx MD-10 cargo jet equipped with a Northrop Grumman “Guardian” anti-missile system took off from Los Angeles International Airport on a commercial flight Tuesday. This marks the first time a civilian aircraft has been equipped with anti-missile technology.

I found this extremely interesting. I worked on this type of equipment in the Air Force. The B-52 is equipped with a system that is very similar to this one. It was the AN/ALQ-153 Tail Warning System and it was made by Westinghouse which is now owned by Northrop Grumman. It was an automated pulse Doppler radar system that would constantly scan the environment looking for fast moving objects approaching from below and behind. Just where a shoulder launched infrared missile would be approaching the aircraft.

If a missile was ever detected, the AN/ALQ-153 would sound an alarm and alert the aircrew as to which side of the aircraft the missile was approaching. It would also automatically dispense chaff and/or flares if that option was enabled by the EWO (Electronic Warfare Officier).

Unlike the military system, this civilian version will not dispense chaff or flares. It will emit a laser that is designed to disrupt the missile’s seeker head.

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Maybe he’s just a big fan of terminating a pregnancy via abortion and doesn’t want to support the oh so powerful birth control industry. Perhaps he is just an idiot and he has no business being a pharmacist. I’m guessing the truth lies somewhere in between.

Brent Beams, the pharmacist, told The Dispatch that he denied the couple’s request for the contraceptive pills because “I do not believe in ending life, and life begins at conception.”

It doesn’t matter what he believes. The woman who asked for the medication has a legal right to the morning-after pill. She has a right to practice birth control. The pharmacist does not have the right to withhold medication from the woman. The pharmacist needs to do his job or he needs to not be a pharmacist anymore.

Maybe he needs to be “promoted” out of the pharmacy and into the Tire and Lube center. Then again, maybe he doesn’t believe in tires needing tread. He might refuse to replace worn out tires for “ethical” reasons.

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One of my favorite online columns to read is over at Comic Book Resources.  It's called  One Fan's Opinion and it's written by comic book creator and Image Comics publisher Erik Larsen.  For a guy known more for his drawing a big green guy with a fin on his head, Erik Larsen writes a good column.  He's also not afraid to share his opinion. 

This week's column is about original comic book art.  In it he mentions something rather interesting:

I got into a fairly heated debate recently with some folks because a somewhat-celebrated writer had let it be known that he's purchased a couple of "Incredible Hulk" pages that Ditko had drawn back in the early '60s at an auction.

I had informed said-writer that the pages had, in all-likelihood, been stolen and he retorted by saying that, "This wasn't obtained at a convention from a dealer named Shifty who had it stashed under his table. It was part of a major art auction that was held at Sotheby's (or Christie's; one of those big auction houses.) I couldn't have bought it under more public circumstances."

To which I replied that, "So…you're saying it's perfectly legal and ethical to knowingly buy stolen goods as long as there are enough people witnessing the transaction?"

I'm pretty sure that's not how the law works.

From the phrase "somewhat-celebrated writer", I inferred that Erik was referring to comic book writer Peter David.  Twenty seconds on Google proved that I was correct.  The exchange that Erik referred to in his column can be read here.

What's interesting is that Peter seems to think that since he bought the art at either a Sotheby's or Christie's (strangely he cannot remember which), the art has got to be legit. Someone then posted a news story about how stolen art had in fact been sold at Sotheby's before. 

Just because art is purchased for auction at Sotheby's or Christie's doesn't make it anymore legit then if you were to buy it on eBay.

Or at a convention from a dealer named Shifty who had it stashed under his table.

China will have 30 million more men than women by the year 2020, making it difficult for them to find wives, according to a national report. The reason? China’s one-child policy. Couples want to have a son to ensure that someone will be around to take care of them in their old age. The abortion of female fetuses is widespread in China.

The problem isn’t going to simply go away.

I’m sure Chinese couples eventually will catch on and realize that a female baby would be preferable to a male baby. Since there would be a lot more men then women, their daughter would be able to pick and choose among prospective mates. She would be in a position to choose a husband with the economic ability to care for her parents when they grow too old to work.

The rich guy always gets the chicks.

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This is just too funny:

Wal-Mart has placed banner ads on the Pirate Bay, one of the largest sites indexing pirated music and movies via BitTorrent technology and leading tormentor of the Motion Picture Assn. of America.

I guess it makes sense. Sort of. Go to Pirate Bay and search for BitTorrent of The Simpsons or The Sopranos and you might just see a banner ad for either one of these TV shows on DVD at Wal-Mart.

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