Christopher Hitchens is Dead :(

"R.I.P." Christopher Hitchens :(

December 16th, 2011: The day the world lost one of its most prolific social, cultural and political analysts, and a voice of reason that, if the tides of time are fair and true, shall echo down throughout the ages and resonate with all who hear it.

Sarah Palin: 100K for Q/A, Still Needs Crib Notes

So Sarah Palin uses crib notes for a Q&A session, during which she was asked general queestions about concepts and things she supports. She is unable to even recall her own stances on policy?


Here's the question for which she needed to consult her hand:

What are the top three priorities once there's a conservative president and congress?


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Can someone please, please, help me out here. Explain to me how someone so incredibly useless can get paid 100K for a speaking engagement, and possibly run for president, after all of the stupid, stupid things she has said?  And even now after this, people will continue to take her seriously.

What must one do to lose credibility anymore? It used to be that people had integrity, and were qualified for the positions they were running for (and even if they didn't, and weren't, they knew how to hide it).

Now......ya, I don't understand it. You can be a war criminal and still get paid huge money for speaking engagements, rather than be placed in jail like you should be (Bush), you can be a complete and utter dolt, still get paid for speaking engagements, get hired to work for a news channel (if you can call it that) and possibly run for US presidencey (Palin).

What the **** is going on down there?

How did we get this far? We have free speech on trial in Amsterdam, we have this woman who:

1) Doesn't know her own policies

2) Still fails prescreened questions

3) Tried to ban books

4) Thinks foreign policy consists of proximity and visibility

etc etc etc

And somehow, rather than be made a laughing stock, she:

1) Has a million plus selling book

2) Gets paid 100 thousand dollars to speak to disenfranchised people about greed

3) Was a presidential running mate

4) May be running for US presidency in 2 years

etc etc etc.

It hurts. It honestly hurts. I'm only 28, and I can honestly say I sometimes feel like I might as well give up, it's over. This is one of those times.

Am I the only one who gets nostalgic for time periods in which he did not even live? I see images and video of the early 20th century, and I wish I was there....but, yes, I am aware of the rose tinted glasses thing. I know the folly of the ''sinking ship'' view of the current generation.

It's just so hard sometimes......

Geert Wilders: on trial for telling the truth

Two Years in Jail for "Offending People?"

This blog, by Douglas Murra, a bestselling author and award-winning journalist based in London, describes an ongoing trial in Amsterdam, which consists of a popular politican being put on trial for.......are you ready for this?

Offending Muslims.

Yes, freedom of speech is on trial in Amsertdam.

A small excerpt:

The Dutch courts charge that Wilders ‘on multiple occasions, at least once, (each time) in public, orally, in writing or through images, intentionally offended a group of people, i.e. Muslims, based on their religion’.


I’m sorry? Whoa there, just a minute. The man’s on trial because he ‘offended a group of people’? I get offended by all sorts of people. I get offended by very fat people. I get offended by very thick people. I get offended by very sensitive people. I get offended by the crazy car-crash of vowels in Dutch verbs. But I don’t try to press charges.

Yet, crazily, this is exactly what is going on now in a Dutch courtroom. If found guilty of this Alice-in-Wonderland accusation of ‘offending a group of people’, Wilders faces up to two years in prison.


If anyone doubts the surreal nature of the proceedings now going on they should simply look through the summons which is available in an English translation here. It shows that Wilders is on trial for his film Fitna. And for various things he has said in articles and interviews in the Dutch press.

This video talks about the issue:

Interviews with Sarah Palin Supporters (Yes, she has some)

Now obviously they edited this for maximum effect, so I am sure that there were some less incriminating comments from people that were edited out............well, then again, we are talking about people who are purchasing Sarah Palin's book, and want her to run for US President......so perhaps not after all. I mean, come on, if you honestly think this woman should be running a country, you probably couldn't put togther a coherent and non facepalm inducing sentence if your life depended on it.

Anyways, here's the video: