Jimli the ill-tempered dwarf
I haven't been checking in with Lileks lately, partly because I've been busy, partly because I'm giving the right-wing sites a wide berth so as not to deepen what I'm expecting to be a whale* of a case of seasonal depression, and partly because he's been pretty boring. Apparently, he relentlessly whored for, and subsequently won, some sort of a "blog of the year" award, which should answer y'all's questions about whether or not his stuff is actually read by anyone but me. (Hilariously, he claims that he wanted to win not for his own sake, but just to beat a blog sponsored by Time magazine. Way to stick it to the liberal media, James!)
Anyway, some lowlights from his week:
- Lileks links to a war of words in the right-wing nutosphere over whether or not the six imams who got kicked off a plane in Minneapolis were part of a Muslim conspiracy to pass a ban on racial profiling and thus tie the hands of law enforcement agents trying to prevent another 9/11. He dismisses without comment the widespread opinion among non-right-wing non-nuts that the six men, who still haven't been charged with anything, were simply innocent men not up to anything who got unjustly treated because of their race and religion.
- Speaking of the Deadly Imams, Lileks still -- still -- is complaining about how the paper won't follow up on his report that the conference they were at featured people praying too loudly, according to his anonymous source. He can't tell you how he knows the guy, but he does insist that Keith Ellison make a public statement about it.
- Lileks stops at McDonald's ("which I rarely do", probably because he's to busy stopping at Chuck E. Cheese and Taco Bell and KFC and Arby's and every other junk dispensery in the neighborhood). He mentions how cheap the food is. Then he complains about how bad it is. Last week it was the bad service at McDonalds. This week it was the bad food. Next week it will be the decor. Never will it be just not going to McDonald's. Jimmy being Jimmy.
- The Gnat throws a fit (hey, I thought she never did that! Lileks must be a BAD PARENT) because she has to eat breakfast at home instead of at school. Dad says it's important to have family meals together, which I respect, but then goes on to add: "The school breakfast is free. We don’t need it. Therefore we’re not going to take it." Uh...what? He adds: "This is hard to explain, but I’m trying." Yeah, I bet! Well, honey, our tax money/tuition pays for that food. But because of my deranged ultra-capitalist ideals, I think it's wrong to take anything from a government or institution, even if I actually paid for it. So, even though your not eating it will not result in it going to another, less privileged child, I believe we should let it go to waste and pay for breakfast twice in order to not disturb my market-driven conception of the universe. Have a good day at school!
- Lileks discusses the right-wing war on science. He is a sensible man; he believes in evolution, as long as schools are allowed to say that God made it happen. But he's no crazy crank: "I am also disinclined to catastrophic predictions about hugely complex systems, which is why I don’t believe global warming is the grandest threat to humanity, and don’t believe it is a moral issue that trumps all secondary concerns." This from the man who believes that a handful of crazy Muslims ARE the grandest threat to humanity, and ARE a moral issue that trumps all secondary concerns.
- Lileks watches a John Kricfalusi cartoon about how life sucks and it inspires him to prodigious wind about how the '40s were better and these modern kids are a bunch of trust fund nihilists and let's bring back Droopy Dog.
- Lileks attends a talk by his paper's middle east correspondent and is amazed how the guy manages to stay neutral on the issues even though it's only the Arabs who ever do bad things over there.
And there you have it! A week in the life. JEALOUS?
*: By the way, here is a question I meant to put in a poll but forgot. It's been bugging me for a while because it's used so inconsistently: when you describe someone giving someone else a beating, do you say "he really wailed on that guy", "he really waled on that guy", or "he really whaled on that guy"?
Anyway, some lowlights from his week:
- Lileks links to a war of words in the right-wing nutosphere over whether or not the six imams who got kicked off a plane in Minneapolis were part of a Muslim conspiracy to pass a ban on racial profiling and thus tie the hands of law enforcement agents trying to prevent another 9/11. He dismisses without comment the widespread opinion among non-right-wing non-nuts that the six men, who still haven't been charged with anything, were simply innocent men not up to anything who got unjustly treated because of their race and religion.
- Speaking of the Deadly Imams, Lileks still -- still -- is complaining about how the paper won't follow up on his report that the conference they were at featured people praying too loudly, according to his anonymous source. He can't tell you how he knows the guy, but he does insist that Keith Ellison make a public statement about it.
- Lileks stops at McDonald's ("which I rarely do", probably because he's to busy stopping at Chuck E. Cheese and Taco Bell and KFC and Arby's and every other junk dispensery in the neighborhood). He mentions how cheap the food is. Then he complains about how bad it is. Last week it was the bad service at McDonalds. This week it was the bad food. Next week it will be the decor. Never will it be just not going to McDonald's. Jimmy being Jimmy.
- The Gnat throws a fit (hey, I thought she never did that! Lileks must be a BAD PARENT) because she has to eat breakfast at home instead of at school. Dad says it's important to have family meals together, which I respect, but then goes on to add: "The school breakfast is free. We don’t need it. Therefore we’re not going to take it." Uh...what? He adds: "This is hard to explain, but I’m trying." Yeah, I bet! Well, honey, our tax money/tuition pays for that food. But because of my deranged ultra-capitalist ideals, I think it's wrong to take anything from a government or institution, even if I actually paid for it. So, even though your not eating it will not result in it going to another, less privileged child, I believe we should let it go to waste and pay for breakfast twice in order to not disturb my market-driven conception of the universe. Have a good day at school!
- Lileks discusses the right-wing war on science. He is a sensible man; he believes in evolution, as long as schools are allowed to say that God made it happen. But he's no crazy crank: "I am also disinclined to catastrophic predictions about hugely complex systems, which is why I don’t believe global warming is the grandest threat to humanity, and don’t believe it is a moral issue that trumps all secondary concerns." This from the man who believes that a handful of crazy Muslims ARE the grandest threat to humanity, and ARE a moral issue that trumps all secondary concerns.
- Lileks watches a John Kricfalusi cartoon about how life sucks and it inspires him to prodigious wind about how the '40s were better and these modern kids are a bunch of trust fund nihilists and let's bring back Droopy Dog.
- Lileks attends a talk by his paper's middle east correspondent and is amazed how the guy manages to stay neutral on the issues even though it's only the Arabs who ever do bad things over there.
And there you have it! A week in the life. JEALOUS?
*: By the way, here is a question I meant to put in a poll but forgot. It's been bugging me for a while because it's used so inconsistently: when you describe someone giving someone else a beating, do you say "he really wailed on that guy", "he really waled on that guy", or "he really whaled on that guy"?