The Maudlin Press

Not entirely SFW. Be forewarned. Just a song for the ladies, by Jon Lajoie

I realize this might be slightly controversial, but what the hell.

A spate of recent stories lead me to as what the F@#$% is wrong with the English. Honestly, as Nice as the British Isles are, I don’t think I could ever live there.

Perfect example would be this

Miss Maxwell’s local council has decided that the pool - which is only 2ft deep - needs a lifeguard. The 47-year-old divorced mother of three has also been told she must have insurance before she can inflate the toy outside her house in Portsmouth.

And This:

A football fan says police ordered him to remove an England flag from his car – because it could be deemed racist.

Aaaaannnd this:

For 150 years, it has stood in splendid serenity on the village green, harming no one and pleasing many. Over the decades, the monkey puzzle tree at West Cross, near Swansea, became a much-loved local landmark. But now it is facing the chop … because, in modern Britain, the needle-like points of its leaves are deemed a danger to health and safety.

Some people may not be aware of the TV tax as well:

In the United Kingdom, citizens must pay a licence if they own a television set. That’s right, a TV tax. For Americans, the whole idea of an annual tax to own a television borders on the absurd….

And how can they tell if you have an unlicensed TV? well..

Part of the work is done in special “detector vans.” The TVLA website explains that “every TV contains a component called the ‘local oscillator’, which emits a signal when the television is switched on. It’s this signal that the equipment on our vans picks up. But, what if you live in a block of flats or a house without road access? Well if this is the case our enquiry officer can simply use one of our hand-held scanners. Measuring both direction and strength of signal, they make it easy for us to locate television sets in hard to reach places.”

Apparently the British authorities are determined to remove anything remotely offensive or dangerous from their society, usually at the expense of free speech, personal liberty and property rights. We often complain about the laws and limits placed on us by our government, but life in Brittan is quickly approaching the totalitarian society depicted in “V for Vendetta”.

I’ll be the first to admit that America has its problems as well, with our war-hawk government attempting to be the world police, poor fiscal policy, drug use  and so on.. But any attempt to enact the level of control the English take for granted would result in a rebellion.

USA to Briton: Your a laughingstock to the free world. Get your head out of your colective asses and do something about it.

Well, interesting series of events today. On my post about the upcoming Ben stein movie, I got a comment from someone over at TheScroogeReport. It is basically nothing more than a link to their post about the movie taking a pro-Ben pro-ID stance.

Now, as I am all about free speech, I approved the comment. I also posted a comment linking back to this site. Lets see if they return the favor. From their post:

The opposition to the Intelligent Design school of thought is so strong that not only have jobs been placed in jeapordy, but censorship reigns free.

The movie’s exposition of censorship in the educational system should no longer be a stretch in anyone’s mind. Those of you that peruse the internet, blogging and chatting, should already know about the ID hate that is out there.

Fair enough. Everyone can have their opinion. Calling the pursuit of legitimate science over mythology “censorship” may be stretching the facts a bit.

I believe the word “Censorship” generates an immediate visceral reaction from most people. We have been trained to perceive it as an especially evil activity, and to fight tooth and nail against it. The use of “Censorship” in regards to ID therefore is purely inflammatory, and not a proper use of the term.

Creationism and intelligent design are not legitimate, provable scientific theories. They have no factual basis beyond the unshakable belief of their proponents. There are no supporting facts and no provable experiments or mathematical formula to support the idea. All evidence provided up to now has proven to be overly broad, vague or highly discredited.

For this reason, its not science. It does not belong in a science class. I support the teaching of ID in mythology, philosophy or any of the other format where the story is not perceived to be delivered as fact.

Not teaching ID in science class isn’t censorship anymore than not teaching it during drivers ed would be. its placing the relevant information into proper context. You can believe what you want, but do not present your unsupported beliefs as science. The fight is not against the idea of ID, its against presenting that idea as something its not.

Adam has a new movie comming out entitled “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan”

Frequent reader will know of my enduring love and celebration of Adams priceless catalog of films. His works stand in stark contrast to those narrow minded humorless twits who would seek to silence his greatness. He is a shining beacon in the dark fog of politically correct repression. Fight on my brother.

The joyless prole Fritz has issued a challenge to all the interwebs. He has taken issue with my description of Pam (via modified picture) in my post Yay! I’m a homophobe!. He seems to think that no one will Photoshop his picture for some obscure gender-related reason and manages to infer that placing an arrow next to Pam’s picture with the words “does not get it” equates to raping her. Well, all I can say is welcome to the internet. Expecting anything different shows a stunning naivete.

So friends, feel free. Here is the original (click for larger):

Here is a stunning first entry by Keith:

Feel free to send me the links. I’ll post as I get them

*EDIT: I noticed the exact same article has been posted at a blog called “On the Fritz“. Hmm..

*EDIT EDIT: The article at Pam’s site was actually written by the humorless Fritz (see comment below). I missed the byline on the first go-around. I was probably partially blinded by the incredible lack of anything resembling a sense of humor. I have also replaced the offending picture of Pam with a more appropriate  image. My apologies.

A delightful little blog called “Pam’s House Blend” linked my post called “Heres a song by a gay guy“. Unfourtunately, the article is titled “The Ugly Homophobic Truth About the Rickroll”.

Quote:

An Internet phenomenon Borne of Homophobia

As this Internet phenomenon gains public attention, the reason for its popularity will continue to be ignored by the media. To break it down to the most simple terms possible, the Rickroll is popular because immature young men like to laugh at males who they perceive to be gay.

For the record, Rick Astley is not gay. He was thin, pretty, and had an enormous voice. Unfortunately, he did not conform to the standard macho image that straight people demand of male performers (compare him to Clay Aiken today) and his brief success eventually faded.

She He then goes on to make a recommendation:

What Can We Do?

I would like to speed up the process of making the Rickroll a faded memory. The best way to do that is to create a new Internet fad that will supplant the Rickroll. This new Internet fad will not stem from homophobia. It will instead be a subtle protest against homophobia.

And what would this world altering solution be? (dear god…)

My goal is to have this clip of Bananarama’s I Heard a Rumour achieve over 25 million hits on YouTube. It will stand as a counterpoint to bigotry and homophobia.

Fail. First, lets settle one thing. I think Rick-rolling people is hilarious. There. I said it. Second, Until she he posted this article, I had no idea the Rick Astley video had anything to do with being gay, or making fun of gay people. I always assumed it was funny cause you get people to accidentally watch a really .. really.. bad 80’s video of a mediocre song. The backup singers don’t even know the dance steps for gods sake.

A short search on teh google finds a ton of information on Rick rolling, including an interview with Rick himself on the subject. Quote:

“Listen, I just think it’s bizarre and funny. My main consideration is that my daughter doesn’t get embarrassed about it.”

Yeah, he really seems torn up about the whole thing.

Rick Astley is not gay. I know this. I think most people know that. And to be honest, even if he was, Rick Rolling someone is not even remotely about being teh ghey. My personal impression from this one article is that Pam Fritz is a clueless busybody that jumps to conclusions. So to wrap this up, Fritz Pam, I leave you with a famous Billy Madison quote. :

Principal: Mr. Madison, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

But thanks for the traffic. Now please leave the internets to those of us with a sense of humor.

*EDIT: In response to Fritzes continuing humorless attack on the internets and myself: Your intolerance of humor is just as rabid and misplaced as your imaginary connection between Rick Rolling and homophobia. Pam is culpable as well for supporting this bile, but the hate is all yours my friend.

“What you’re about to hear is a portion of a jaw-dropping speech delivered by an Oklahoma State Representative at a gathering in her district. This is what they say when they think we’re not listening.” While I prefer to leave my personal sexual preferences a private fact, I will state that I have absolutely no problems with the gay community.

And I’m guessing here,  but I have a feeling that there may be some “Stepping down for personal reasons” soon. Ignorant bitch.

Nothing new there, but the folks over at Lets Get Tight have compiled a rather brilliant time line of his top 5 crazy moments. Lets not forget that it all started with Tom Cruise slamming Brook Shields on anti-depresents. What an ignorant jerk. No, not ignorant.. perhaps just brainwashed and misinformed. As a side note, this video is solely responsible for me not seeing “War of the Worlds”.

I’ll point out that the camera actually caught him going 78mph.. Yeah.. he had his licence taken away… Courtesy of the Daily Mail (UK)

On the freeway while riding a motorcycle.. of course.. Quote:”I do think it was dangerous,” he said yesterday.”

Full story courtesy of the HeraldSun