Grade This! - June 1, 2006
The latest news wrap-up: lousy lies about gifts for Harry Reid, awful truths about searches for Tara Reid.
Thursday June 1, 2006
AP: Harry Reid is a Bad, Bad Man.
It seems like the AP’s John Solomon has it in for Minority Leader Harry Reid. As the fine folks at Talking Points Memo report, Solomon has written an article criticizing Reid for accepting free credentials to attend a boxing match – a completely legal move – from the Nevada Gaming Commission, which had lobbied him on boxing regulation, and failing to reimburse them. John McCain, another credential recipient, also took tickets but reimbursed the Commission. Unfortunately, it is illegal to exchange those credentials for money, so the Commission just donated McCain’s money to charity. And what about those boxing regulations? Well, Reid voted against the Commission’s position. We still don’t like the appearance of Senators comped ringside; we’d prefer that politicians find their entertainment without taking presents. But as another politician once said, "If you can’t drink a lobbyist’s whiskey, take his money, sleep with his women and still vote against him in the morning, you don’t belong in politics." Assuming that Reid is faithful to his wife, and as a Mormon, a teetotaler, I suppose the money will have to do.
Harry Reid: B+
John Solomon’s journalism: D
Whiskey, money, sex (for those of age): A
Submitted by Tim Fernholz, Georgetown University
The Cowardly Little Taylor
The families of the passengers of United flight 93 that crashed in western Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, are having a rough time funding their $58 million dollar memorial despite last month’s release of the film “United 93” by Universal Pictures. Charles H. Taylor, Chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on Interior and the Environment tried to block the federal government’s donation of the $5 million of land for memorial. Does the Representative remember that the plane could have been headed for the Capitol? Remind me not to take a bullet for him.
Pretty memorials: A
The bravery of the passengers of United 93: A+++++^∞
Ungrateful Congressmen: F
Submitted by Julie Brinn Siegel, University of Pennsylvania
Patrick Henry President Lectures Terry Gross on Po-Mo Truth and “Hate Speech”
Hardball with Terry Gross? Last week, the host of NPR’s Fresh Air, known for her warm, gentle intellectualism, interviewed Michael Farris, the President of Patrick Henry College. Founded by Farris in 2000, Patrick Henry’s mission is to train home-schooled Christians to lead the nation as politicians and, well, curb the Homosexualization of America . Forget those haughty US News rankings; in March, Young America’s Foundation named Patrick Henry one of the Top Ten Conservative Colleges. In the Fresh Air interview, Farris grew increasingly irritated as Gross questioned him, routinely interrupting her to bark, “That’s not true” and “you’re wrong.”
Farris complained that, at elite colleges, if a student says, “I think homosexuality is a sin and should be punishable by law,” he’d be charged with “hate speech.” These last two words were said with indignation and disgust, implying that “tolerance” is liberal gobbledygook. In addition to declaring that colleges are “enemies of free speech,” Ferris insists that they are also “enemies of truth.” He oh-so-insightfully remarks, “It is passé in our post-modern world to believe in truth.” Thanks, Nietzsche. For Ferris, the greatest, and only, source of truth is the Bible. That’s why Patrick Henry teaches creationism – it’s truth. Obviously.
Homosexualization of America (AKA liberty and justice for all): A+
Post-Modern Truth: B-
Patrick Henry College as cesspool of intolerance: F
Submitted by Alex Halperen Levy, Wesleyan University
Paul Hackett No Longer a Politician, Still Spinning.
Embittered Ohio Senate also-ran Paul Hackett seems to have found a new job—legally representing an officer, Capt. James Kimber, who was relieved of command after some of his troops mouthed off about Iraqi security troops to Britain’s Sky News TV. But Kimber’s name has come up in a much less flattering context: his name has been mentioned in the burgeoning investigation into the Haditha massacre. Hackett denies that Kimber—and the other two officers mentioned, who Hackett doesn’t represent—are targets of the investigation. It seems that Kimber didn’t command the unit involved in the alleged war crime, but he commanded another company in the same brigade. He may have been in a position to cover-up the massacre as an officer in that unit.. So here’s the new Paul Hackett: Not OH-02, Not OH-Senate, but Oh No—I’m not representing a war criminal!
Hackett: B-
Mouthing off about the ISF: B-
War crimes: F
Submitted by Tim Fernholz, Georgetown University
Interesting Factoids For the 35% of You Who Found This Page Accidentally While Searching For Porn
Google – America’s most bitchin’ world-wide evil corporation—launched a website last week that provides fascinating data about big chunks of its users. It tracks, among other things, the main geographic and linguistic origins of search strings entered on their site, such that you can—in a somewhat imprecise way—figure out what region of the world is most obsessed with “Katie Holmes nude” or “marijuana” or any of an infinity of healthy and unhealthy inquiries. The International Herald Tribune noted that “Even though homosexuality is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia , the kingdom ranks No. 2 for searches for "gay sex," behind the Philippines [an overwhelmingly catholic country].” Likewise, “Mandarin ranks second only to English as the language used to look up ‘democracy.’” The trend here, it seems, is that people and places are desperate for information on the things they don’t have or can’t seem to get. Some very rude hypotheses, then: French will be the main language in which searches for “courage” are conducted; “Money” will be the subject of Russian fascination; and the search-string “HELP!!!” will be dominated by the entire continent of Africa.
Google: A
Wasting a work-day on demographic curiosities: C
Fun at the expense or people who don’t swim in American plenty: A+
Submitted by Brian Beutler
Illinois Pharmacists’ New Trick to Protect Personal Moral Ethics: Lying Asses Off
In light of recent attempts by morally priggish pharmacists to sidestep the rule in Illinois requiring them to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has taken the next step in securing the women’s rights. The rule requires pharmacies that sell contraceptives to prescribe emergency contraception, regardless of their personal beliefs. If the pharmacy does not have the requested contraception in stock, they are required to suggest a similar contraceptive or find a pharmacy that does carry it. Some Illinois pharmacists have refused service based on personal beliefs and have blatantly overruled the decisions these women have made with their doctors. Lying to the customer about not having the requested contraceptive in stock is a trick some pharmacists have used to avoid filling prescriptions. Blagojevich’s new proposal requires pharmacies to post a sign displaying the rights of women to receive contraceptives without hassle, including a website and phone number to contact the IDFPR with any complaints. The sign should probably also read: if this person tells you something is not in stock, hop over the counter and check for yourself, cause he (it’s almost certainly a he) is probably lying. This is one of many steps Blagojevich has taken in the past two years to improve the rights of women regarding healthcare, rendering him a beacon for women’s rights groups. Unplanned pregnancies are not awesome. Neither are lawsuits, except when you win one.
Pharmacists who won’t fill legal prescriptions: F
Scaring off those pharmacists with signs: A
Laws to prevent pharmacists and other store clerks from reciting loudly everything you’re buying so as to embarrass you (think condoms, remedies for embarrassing ailments): B+
Submitted by Jill Hawkins, University of Wisconsin
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Comments
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Very interesting. I didn’t know alot of this stuff. If the guy who wrote about Patrick Henry College had said Patrick Henry College showing great tolerance=F, I would have liked it better. Don’t take this sentence seriously I loved the information and knew exactly what you were talking about. My Mother was my editor on writing when I was in school. She was a stickler about that stuff, and she made me a stickler about that stuff too. Even though I make mistakes myself, when I see it in my work or anybody else’s, I get a little silly.
This is a great blog. I read it every week. Keep up the good work!
— Gail Lelyveld - Jun 2, 08:33 AM - #