Idiocy of the Day: 8th Edition - Randi Rhodes on Tom DeLay

I was simply listening to talk radio over Internet, and got the initial 2 1/2 minutes of the Randi Rhodes show. Why simply the initial 2 1/2 minutes? Since that was everything I could stand.

The principal moment was a parodied news report of Tom Delay running from police in a white Ford Bronco (and it was really entertaining.) That left Randi 1/2 minutes to drive me off. Also that was all that anyone could need.

In a simple 90 seconds, she inquired as to whether Delay could legitimately vote in Florida (um, he's not been declared guilty anything, has he?), said he's much the same as Saddam, and afterward contrasted him with muggers, attackers, and so on. At that point she said she's not attempting to convict him before a trial (which is really blockhead considering what she had recently said.) I couldn't take any more. I wish she would've recently contrasted him with Hitler. At that point, as opposed to letting alone for loathing at her distorted, out of line, visually impaired predisposition, I could conjure Godwin's Law.

Idiocy of the Day: 7th Edition

Also the champ is Judge Santiago Pedraz of Spain for this stupidity.

Note to writers: If you are blanket a war, in a battle region, then you could very well get shot or exploded. Duh!

Irony

Irony The one form of humor that everyone thinks they understand, when actually no one really does. Truly, it is the cleverest joke ever played on mankind." The intended meaning is an inversion of the plain meaning. Pretty simple, really, but somehow a difficult concept for some to grasp.

Let's describe what irony is not, since that is where the confusion mainly comes from (and it's misused a lot).It is not a lie.It is not a joke.It is not a coincidence.It is not merely anything unexpected.It is not the same as sarcasm.It is not something Alanis Morissette understands. Or maybe she does?

Irony can overlap with those (with the possible exception of the last one), but just by themselves, they are not irony. This is where the confusion of the meaning of the word usually starts. People try to apply it where it doesn't belong.It enjoyed a renaissance in the '90s thanks to Postmodernism, which is a slightly different concept of irony.There are seven main situations where Irony belongs: Socratic, Verbal, Dramatic, Tragic, Situational, Cosmic, and Historical. If something does not fit in any of these, it is not irony.

Irony

Irony (from the Ancient Greek εἰρωνεία eirōneía, meaning dissimulation or feigned ignorance) is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions. There is presently no accepted method for textually indicating irony, though an irony (punctuation) mark has been proposed. In the 1580's Henry Denham introduced a rhetorical question mark or percontation point which looks like a reversed question mark. This mark was also proposed by the French poet Marcel Bernhardt at the end of the 19th century to indicate irony or sarcasm.

Ironic statements (verbal irony) are statements that imply a meaning in opposition to their literal meaning. A situation is often said to be ironic (situational irony) if there is an "incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result." The discordance of verbal irony may be deliberately created as a means of communication (as in art or rhetoric). Descriptions or depictions of situational irony, whether in fiction or in non-fiction, serves the communicative function of sharpening or highlighting certain discordant features of reality. Verbal and situational irony are often used for emphasis in the assertion of a truth. The ironic form of simile, used in sarcasm, and some forms of litotes emphasize one's meaning by the deliberate use of language which states the opposite of the truth — or drastically and obviously understates a factual connection.

In dramatic irony, the author causes a character to speak or act erroneously, out of ignorance of some portion of the truth of which the audience is aware. In other words, the audience knows the character is making a mistake, even as the character is making it. This technique highlights the importance of a particular truth by portraying a person who is strikingly unaware of it.

Idiocy of the Day: 6th Edition -or- Thank Goodness we have the AP!

Idiocy of the Day: 6th Edition -or- Thank Goodness we have the AP!
In breaking news, Darlene Superville (if that's her REAL name) of the AP has achieved unprecedented investigatory infiltration in this story [breitbart.com], where she travels to the heart of wickedness - KARL ROVE'S GARAGE!

From Darlene's story:

The inventory, seen from outside:
_Some cardboard file boxes stacked one on top of the other, labeled "Box 6," "Box 4" and what appears to be "Box 7." No sign of boxes 1, 2, 3 and 5.
What evil secrets must boxes 1, 2, 3 and 5 hold that their content has been spirited away?


_What appear to be paint cans stacked alongside a folded, folding chair.
They "appear" to be paint cans. But then, why would they be stacked beside a folding chair? And why was the chair not UNfolded?


_A rather large wood crate marked "FRAGILE" and painted with arrows indicating which way is up. On top of the crate, two coolers.
As the AP so insightfully informed us many years ago, without assistance the Bush administration cannot ascertain the direction "up."


_A tall aluminum ladder.
A tall ladder! What possible use would an administration official have for a TALL ladder?!


_A snow shovel leaned in front of another cardboard box.
Further evidence that the MSM was correct when they informed us that Rove was shovelling it.


_Wicker baskets inside of wicker baskets on top of a shelf running the length of the rear wall. Transparent plastic storage bins crammed with indiscernible stuff. Another cardboard box.
The need for TOTAL transparency is absolute. Why, if the administration is being transparent, is this "stuff" indiscernible?! And a cardboard box WITHOUT A NUMBER! Oh, what evil must lurk within!


_In one corner, the rear wheel of a bicycle sticks out, along with what appears to be a helmet.
Where, pray tell, has the bicycle's rider vanished to? And it what condition is the apparent head that once occupied the apparent helmet?
_Another ladder, this one green, leaning sideways.
What evil conspiracies must be afoot to require two ladders, of different color and composition, stored in different positions!

It boggles the mind to consider the cunning devilry that must've amassed such a collection. In these times when our attention is oft diverted by trivialities such as terrorism, earthquakes and tsunamis, thank goodness we have the angelic self-sacrifice of Darlene Superville and the AP to brave the black heart of the enemy and bring us KARL ROVE'S GARAGE!

UPDATE: Oops! I misspelled CARL KARL. Sorry about that Carl Karl.

Staged?

Now that the main stream old biased media has stopped hyperventilating over President Bush' "staged" interview with troops, why not read the account of a first-hand witness? Read this.

Hat tip: Michelle Malkin

How many posts has it been since I mentioned my mistrust of the media?

Idiocy of the Day: 5th Edition

Idiocy of the Day: 5th Edition
...and the winner is Dana Milbank of the Washington Post for this piece of... um... er... journalism?

Thankfully, we don't have to worry about 9/11, Osama bin Laden, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Katrina, Rita, Pakistan or SCOTUS as yardsticks of Presidential progress. Why not? Because we can now judge our President's performance simply by counting the number of times he blinks.

Yes, you read it correctly. Dana Milbank is judging the President by counting his blinks. In the article he mentions 'blink' or 'blinks' no less than eight times. To wit:

Bush blinks twice. He touches his tongue to his lips. He blinks twice more. He starts to answer, but he stops himself.
...
The president was a blur of blinks, taps, jiggles, pivots and shifts.
...
Bush blinked 24 times in his answer. When asked why Gulf Coast residents would have to pay back funds but Iraqis would not, Bush blinked 23 times and hitched his trousers up by the belt.
When the questioning turned to Miers, Bush blinked 37 times in a single answer -- along with a lick of the lips, three weight shifts and some serious foot jiggling.
...
Through the entire passage, he blinked only 12 times.
With so little going on in the world, it must be difficult to produce serious journalistic compositions with a level of contemplation approaching that of, oh , say a 10-year-old.

Grow up, Dana.