Another "professional educator" bites the dust

Out in Denver, Teacher caught in Bush "rant":

An Overland High School teacher who criticized President Bush, capitalism and U.S. foreign policy during his geography class was placed on administrative leave Wednesday afternoon after a student who recorded the session went public with the tape.

In the 20-minute recording, made on an MP3 player, teacher Jay Bennish described capitalism as a system "at odds with human rights." He also said there were "eerie similarities" between what Bush said during his Jan. 28 State of the Union address and "things that Adolf Hitler used to say."

The United States was "probably the single most violent nation on planet Earth," Bennish also said on the tape.

There's a fetching snap of Mr. Kumbaya in the article as well as the audio.

Superintendent Monte Moses, who received a copy of the recording on Monday from 850 KOA-AM radio show host Mike Rosen, said it
appears "a breach of district policy" occurred.

"Our policy calls for both sides to be present ... in the interest of intellectual discourse," Moses said. Bennish's presentation appeared to be unbalanced, he said.

There's unbalanced as in unfair and unbalanced as in Looney Tunes. Standby while Herr Bennish says, "That's all folks!"

Brokeback abused sheep!

It's not what you think:

The makers of the gay cowboy flick "Brokeback Mountain" were too rough on sheep, an animal-rights group charged yesterday.

Ruh Oh!

In a letter to director Ang Lee, The Humane Society also complained about the way the horses and elk were treated.

What, no goats?

Today's Hoot!

Media Whore Gets Schooled:

A READER sends me a tip that Cindy Sheehan is speaking at a local law school, so I head down there with my camera and audio recorder.

The room is packed to capacity with students, professors, and media. Cindy launches into her usual stump speech. War is bad; Bush is a terrorist; bring the troops home now; blah, blah, blah.

Then, foolishly, she takes questions.

And the baloney met the meat grinder.

Y'all hear about the big turkey shoot?

Yep, it's March 15 in Washington DC. I see that Rodger is ready and so am I:

Blogging officially jumps the shark with the arrival of Blogger phones

Sony Ericsson Unwraps Blogging Phones:

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications announced several new phones on Tuesday, including two that carry Sony's Cyber-shot brand and come with 3.2-megapixel cameras that are integrated with Google's Blogger application.

Users of the new K800 and K790 phones who don't already have a blog can set one up over the phone. They'll be able to take photos with the camera and then easily add them to their blogs, according to Sony Ericsson.

Since the phones seem to lack a keyboard, I'd say that the posts will be a little light on text.

"Lesson learned: Always be careful when hitting the ‘send’ button"

Accidental e-mail congratulates 7,000 on admission to UC Berkeley law school:

Edward Tom, director of admissions at the University of California, Berkeley, law school, was training a new office worker last week when it happened.

Tom was demonstrating the e-mail software used by the school and was highlighting several features, including how the user can filter mail and set it to send messages to one recipient or many at the same time.

That’s when he chose what happened to be a standard congratulatory message on being admitted to the university’s prestigious law school and accidentally sent it to all 7,000 students who have applied for admission to the law school. The problem, which the school quickly admitted, is that all of the applicants won’t be admitted. In fact, there’s only room for 800 to 850 of them.

Ruh Oh! Tom is the big cheese and not the one who normally demonstrates the software to new workers which accounts for most of the problem. However, he immediately (and apparently successfully) sent out an apology to everyone.

Tom said that about 10 applicants who received the errant e-mail informed him that were very distraught after learning that it was a mistake. About 90 others sent notes to him offering their understanding and accepting his apology.

Seeing as they are budding lawyers, when do you think the first lawsuit will be filed?

White House reporter syndrome? Aw, poor babies!

Who knew that the talking hairdos in the White House press corps were all stressed out?

Many reporters said they are mindful they are up against a White House that holds them in low regard. They point to a revealing article in The New Yorker from Jan. 19, 2004, in which Karl Rove, the president's closest adviser, told Ken Auletta, the author, that Mr. Bush saw the press as "elitist."

I think of them more as the east ends of horses heading west, myself.

Mr. Auletta concluded that "perhaps for the first time," the White House had come to view reporters as special pleaders, as if they were just another interest group and one that was "not nearly as powerful as it once was."

Ya think?

But here's the good stuff:

Renana Brooks, a clinical psychologist practicing in Washington who said she had counseled several White House correspondents, said the last few years had given rise to "White House reporter syndrome," in which competitive high achievers feel restricted and controlled and become emotionally isolated from others who are not steeped in the same experience.

She said the syndrome was evident in the Cheney case, which she described as an inconsequential event that produced an outsize feeding frenzy. She said some reporters used the occasion to compensate for not having pressed harder before the Iraq war.

"It's like any post-traumatic stress," she said, "like when someone dies and you think you could have saved them."

Gosh! I thought they were just in love with the sound of their own voices as they beat their chests for their favorite leftoid causes. Turns out they are really frustated "high achievers!" I would have classified them as excessively verbal low achievers, but I digress.

The best part is when they occasionally catch a passing clue:

White House reporters say they know the public hates them because they regularly receive abusive e-mail messages and read blogs that tell them so.
...
While the eruption from the White House press finally forced the vice president to discuss his accident on national television, he deftly portrayed the hubbub as a result of jealousy that a small paper in Texas was given the news first; reporters said they were upset because their questions were not being answered.

The message many perceived in Mr. Cheney's response was that the national media were no longer relevant, a point made and reinforced almost daily in certain blogs.

I think I'm going to need three hankies for this one. Those nasty bloggers are picking on the highly paid pressitutes again! Which reminds me - anyone seen Dan Rather lately?

More by following the link, but it's the NY Times so bring your salt shaker.

Geeks Gone Wild!

Pulse are pounding in Geekdom due to the wallpaper being offered at Femfox in an unofficial advertising campaign supporting the Firefox browser. The one I have posted above is the Most Safe for Work (MSFW) - your mileage may vary. Backstory:

This project has been initiated by a 31 years-old woman who is the model of this campaign (see the "About us" section). Her primary wish was to create a novel and unusual promotional campaign for Firefox.

The plan to use glamorous content quickly stood up because this kind of promotion is very unusual (and even unrealistic) in software or technological product marketing activities. Indeed, an important part of the communication made around Firefox is only focused on technical features and benefits of using this software. Even if these points are clearly and simply explained to the audience, this can not attract a number of people.

This leads us to imagine a "human" campaign in which the technological aspects will be deliberately concealed for the benefit of the picture. This campaign should show scenes of life focused on human feelings and emotions in the aim to demonstrate that the software, before being a technological product, could be a part of everyone's everyday life.

"Everyday life" is apparently running about with very few clothes on. That would seem to me to either be drafty or make Firefox superfluous, but whatever - there's more text and pictures by following the links.

Today's Web Review

Head on over to Rodger's place and check out this week's episode of You Are A F***ing Moron by ZipperFish. I like the part where it is suggested that the NY Times fit out all their female employees with burqas. Maureen Dowd first, please! The language makes it Not Safe for Work, but I give it 5 Mohammeds. Roger Ebert, eat your heart out.

Is it time for reruns already?

Must be a slow day at the AP:

Osama bin Laden vowed never to be captured alive...

OK by me, gobshite.

...and said the U.S. military had become as "barbaric" as Saddam Hussein in an audiotape reposted on a militant Islamic Web site after first being broadcast last month.

Sheesh, it's another rerun.

Speaking of reruns, Drudge reports that the mainstream media is planning another week of Cheney shooting coverage. That's OK by me too as long as the VP promises to wing a few reporters next season.