Tuesday, September 13, 2005

March of the Morons According to the NY Times science section, "March of the Penguins" is the biggest hit movie with conservatives since "The Passion of the Christ."  For them, it's The Passion of the Penguins. "March of the Penguins," the conservative film critic and radio host Michael Medved said in an interview, is "the motion picture this summer that most passionately affirms traditional norms like monogamy, sacrifice and child rearing." Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review, told the young conservatives' gathering last month: "You have to check out 'March of the Penguins.' It is an amazing movie. And I have to say, penguins are the really ideal example of monogamy."  Well, not exactly ideal, Rich.  Seems like you missed that little bit of narration in the movie that tells us the penguins' fidelity lasts for just a year.  The following year they find another mate.  Rather than monogamy, what the penguins practice is serial polygamy. Among the "Hollywood liberal elite" so detested by conservatives, not even Elizabeth Taylor changes partners as often as the typical emperor penguin. 5:03:24 PM    comment []

Charity begins at home A spokesman for the Charity Navigator web site appeared on CNN this morning.  The site evaluates the financial health of America's largest charities and offers some guidelines for protecting yourself from Hurricane Katrina on-line charity scams.  According to the FBI, there are about 4000 web sites offering hurricane charity relief services, and about 60 percent of them are overseas -- a telltale sign, especially if a site is in Nigeria or Russia, both notorious for identity theft and other scams. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said the Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force would be working on preventing and cracking down on disaster-related schemes including charity fraud and insurance fraud. Gonzales said, "To anyone who is contemplating any kind of fraudulent scheme that takes advantage of Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath, let me be very clear: Federal, state and local law enforcement officials are watching carefully, and we will have zero tolerance for these kinds of crimes." No doubt the Bush regime will stop hurricane-related fraud with the same ineptitude it has displayed in helping the hurricane victims themselves.  Of course, the costliest hurricane relief scam won't be in cyberspace or overseas.  It will be right here in the good ol' USA, with massive overbilling on no-bid rebuilding contracts by companies like -- you guessed it, Bush's favorite charity, Halliburton.  What else do you think Dick Cheney was doing touring the Gulf last week?  In the movie business, it's called location scouting. 10:59:06 AM    comment []