The Media is Blind...

And the Left is their guide dog.

These paragraphs actually follow one another in a story about violent counter protests to an anti-Islamization protest in Germany today. Guess who the violent ones were?

"Earlier, the leftist demonstrators blocked two Pro-Koeln leaders from entering the conference venue, pursuing them as they sought refuge on a boat."

Okay, so we have the Left preventing some speech they don't like. Nothing new there. How the next two paragraphs though?

"Police say they responded with batons after left-wing protesters set fire to barricades.
In a speech earlier on Saturday, Cologne Mayor Fritz Schramma labelled Pro-Koeln "arsonists and racists" hiding under the cloak of a "citizens' movement". "

Umm... who set the fires?

Amazing.

Dealing with Whiners 101

The post by Uber Pig on Blackfive is the perfect occasion to remember the delicate way we all dealt with whining ... Here are somethat come to mind...

Suck it up. (Simple, direct order. Nothing more implied)

You want cheese with that whine? (Lame, but will do in a pinch. The "wine drinker" association could imply softness)

Waah, f*ckin' wah. (Directly mocks, but like "suck it up, doesn't imply a lack of strength.)

Wah, my pussy hurts. (The best of all. Both mocks the complaint AND imparts femininity to the receiver. Unfortunately too vulgar to be used aloud in a mixed gender shop. Grunts, Submariners, and SEALS could use it.)

Here's a new one to try:
MTFU (The Man Up version of STFU. Thanks to commenter Wampyr in the blackfive thread for the idea...)

Additions?

Obama and the Tiny Hamlet

On Letterman tonight Obama said "Because when you travel, it doesn’t matter whether you’re here in New York City or a tiny hamlet somewhere in the Midwest, what you find is people are just having a tough time right now."

Tiny hamlet? Tiny hamlet? Frankly I didn't know that we had hamlets in the US. It sounded vaguely European. Who refers to small American towns as hamlets or even villages?

Granted, Wikipedia says that hamlets are actual planning or organizational units in New York or Oregon. Neither of those states is in the midwest.

Do you live in a hamlet in the Midwest? Do you know anyone who lives in a tiny hamlet in the Midwest or (more importantly) describes themselves as living in a tiny hamlet? (Google or Dogpile midwestern hamlet, and enjoy the Christmas pierced nipple story - fun but still a small sample.)

Hamlet, huh?
It just caught my ear.
The more I this guy sounds like an effete elite the more I wonder if he'd govern like one. Perish the thought.

Conventions, Podcasts, and Bloggers

The Republican convention took some hits for not being as organized with regards to accommodating bloggers. The close I took from the story was that the "It doesn't sound like the old school GOP has the same regard for new media." Hmm. Regard for the media, eh?

So this morning I want to download something to listen to during my walk. I go to the iTunes store and do a search on "mccain speech" or "palin speech" The first result I get is the link to the speeches from the Republican Convention 2008. Easy. Click subscribe, pick the two I want and we're good to go.

Now I try a search on "obama speech" The top of the list is his 2004 convention stuff, next up is a link to the New Yorker. I look through the links, but can only find some video casts (that I'm not interested in).

Next I try "biden speech" and here's the result:



The small type says "Your search had no results. Use Power Search to refine your search or Browse the entire iTunes store..." (You can click the image to see)

A Power Search with Biden as the artist gives me his speeches. The most recent is from June 25th.

I did find the Obama speech by going to the iTunes storefront and following the DNC 08 link there, but you still have to wonder why the technologically astute Dems could get the search terms wrong while the stodgy old Republicans get it right.

So while the Republicans may not have the same "regard" for the new media, at least they can manage the technology better. I think that has implications beyond iTunes.