If there were no buyers, there would be no sellers and no victims. I’m told that the demand for young girls is increasing, and the buyer is an average American man. This is evil. I’m know I’m being vague, but hard to talk about sex trafficking in any context.

It was what I think of as a successful weekend—one in which I get several things done.

(That reads as if I were a Type A, obsessive, can’t-sit-down-because-civilization-as-we-know-it-depends-on-my-output Achiever. This is not the case. Pretty much any weekend of mine will include large stretches of lying on the couch with a book. That’s why accomplishing a few things matters to me. It means I haven’t succeeded in frittering the whole talent away.) Continue reading That zincing feeling →

How is that celebrities, even relatively sane ones (there are a few) who don’t usually air their politics in public, so frequently come out with praise for Fidel Castro and his totalitarian Cuban government?

Newsbusters passes on a report from the Canada Free Press, which provides a simple answer. They were blackmailed.

“When the celebrity visitors arrived at the hotels Nacional, Melia Habana and Melia Cohiba,” says Fernandez, “we already had their rooms completely bugged with sophisticated taping equipment. But not just the rooms, we’d also follow the visitors around. Sometimes we covered them 24 hours a day. They had no idea we were tailing them.”

Say what you like about old Fidel, but he always knew how to speak a language they understand in Hollywood.

Tip: Conservative Grapevine.

In connection with the film clip Phil posted below (compiled from footage of Vikings at the Tivoli Fest, Elk Horn, Iowa three years ago), I have finally got my plans nailed down to go to Tivoli again this year, my third time. The dates are May 23 & 24. It’s a long drive, causing one to seriously ponder the eternal question of whether we’d all save a lot of gas if federal highways had been laid out diagonally, instead of east-west, north-south. But you can get there from here, and I’ve proved it before. (There’s always the thrill of bypassing John Wayne’s home town [Winterset, Iowa] as you go.)



Tonight, for no particular reason, I’d like to list three common word mispronunciations that irritate me and make life not worth living.



First, “Prostate.” There is only one “r” in prostate, when you’re talking about the embarrassing male organ. “Prostrate” is commonly substituted for it, but prostrate is how you’re left after the surgery.



Second, “Realty.” In my experience, about 90% of Americans pronounce it “ree-la-tee,” instead of “ree-ahl-tee.” (I’m sure you know this; I’m explaining it for that other guy over there.) I once corrected a female acquaintance on this point, and she said, “I used to work for a ree-la-tor.”



Third, “Calvary.” Lots and lots of people believe that Christ was crucified on some sort of battlefield where mounted warriors had once clashed. Note the placement of the “l” and the “v.” “Cal-vary” is where Christ was executed. “Cav-alry” is the Charge of the Light Brigade and Custer’s Last Stand and “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,” which brings us back to John Wayne, and so neatly wraps up this post.

Have a nice weekend.