CBC Apologizes for Heather Mallick's Lunacy

National Post: CBC News apologizes for web column attacking Palin by Melissa Leong,

CBC News apologized Sunday for publishing a column about Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, conceding that it was "viciously personal."

More than 300 people complained to the CBC ombudsman about a column that ran on Sept. 5 on CBCNews.ca by award-winning freelance writer Heather Mallick.

The article, "A mighty wind blows through Republican convention," reportedly said Ms. Palin was chosen to appease the party's "rural," "unlettered" "white trash" base and said that the vice-presidential nominee looked like a "porn actress."

CBC News publisher John Cruickshank said in a letter that the public broadcaster erred in judgment.

Vince Carlin, the CBC Ombudsman, did not fault Ms. Mallick for "the caustic nature of her tone or the polarizing nature of her opinion."

"But he objects that many of her most savage assertions lack a basis in fact," Mr. Cruickshank wrote.

"Mallick's column is a classic piece of political invective. It is viciously personal, grossly hyperbolic and intensely partisan. And because it is all those things, this column should not have appeared on the CBCNews.ca site."

Can we expect an apology from Heather Mallick? I doubt she is capable of such decency.


~ Sisyphus, tsfiles.wordpress.com

Denver's Homeless Are Fashionably Homeless

It looks like the homeless in Denver will be given a make-over prior to the Democrat convention later this week:

When Sylvester and Ghandia Johnson saw news reports about homeless people being given vouchers to the zoo and the movies during the DNC, they didn't feel it was right.

"We just kind of felt like in news reports lately it was like, 'What are we going to do with them,' trying to sweep them under the rug," said Ghandia Johnson.

The couple owns Sly's Salon at Grant Street and 16th Avenue, in downtown Denver. They decided to use their business to create a so-called cut-a-thon specifically for the homeless.

"We thought we could help some of Denver's homeless residents by giving them a fresh look, giving them real good self esteem and helping them feel part of the DNC, so they look their best," said Ghandia Johnson.

This whole story reminds me of a certain ugly Chinese girl that wasn't allowed to sing at the Olympics. This time though, the ugly Chinese girl has been replaced by ugly homeless people, who will be replaced by well groomed homeless people.

When the convention is over and everyone goes back to their home state, the homeless in Denver can reclaim their spot, as unkempt, uncared for, and blights on society. For now though, well, they look fabulous!

Homeless is where the heart is

Moqtada al-Sadr Is Finished

I'm sure most of you that follow the msm will have already heard this by now: America's greatest adversary in Iraq, Moqtada al-Sadr, will announce tomorrow that he is disbanding his army and giving up the fight. What? You haven't heard about this yet? That's odd, the msm are usually so eager to tell us about great news coming out of Iraq:

Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr plans to announce Friday that he will disarm his Mahdi Army, which was raining mortars on Baghdad's Green Zone as recently as April. Coupled with the near-total defeat of al Qaeda in Iraq, this means the U.S. no longer faces any significant organized military foe in the country. It also marks a major setback for Iran, which had used the Mahdi Army as one of its primary vehicles for extending its influence in Iraq.

The story, broken yesterday by the Journal's Gina Chon, marks the latest of serial defeats for Mr. Sadr, beginning in February 2007 when he was forced underground (reportedly to Iran) in anticipation of the surge of U.S. troops. More recently, the Mahdi Army was defeated and evicted from Basra and other southern strongholds by an Iraqi-led military offensive. The Mahdi Army capitulated without a fight from its Baghdad enclave of Sadr City. Now the young cleric will focus his group's efforts on politics and social work, perhaps while he pursues theological studies in Iran.

If the young cleric is going to focus his efforts on politics, may I suggest that he apply as a spokesman for the messianic Barack Obama's (pbuh) campaign. After all, they have much in common--both believe the surge has been a disaster (for different reasons, mind you), and both believe America needs change (for the same reasons). VP perhaps?

Will the last Marine in Iraq please turn off the lights, please...

The Irrelevance of Modern Art and Aliza Shvarts

The world of art has long been so irrelevant that it regularly resorts to shock theater. Sadly, legitimate and talented artists toil in obscurity while juvenile hacks are elevated to national attention.

A famous example of such faux-art is "Piss Christ" by Catholic and photographer Andres Serrano. Serrano, who was the recipient of a grant by the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities (also known as "the American taxpayer"), depicted a small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of his urine. As planned, the "Piss Christ" image stirred much controversy.



Piss Christ

Serrano's work confirmed one of the most reliable rules in the art world: if you lack talent and are desperate for immediate publicity, insult Catholicism.

Another artist utilizing shock sans substance is Karen Finley. The "performance artist" has "smeared herself with chocolate, painted with her own breast milk, [and] put Winnie the Pooh in S&M gear..."

(Which must have thrilled the suits at Disney.)



Karen Finley

In contrast to Serrano's success at the public trough, Finley's application for the National Endowment for the Arts was rejected. As is common among liberals who feel entitled to government funds, Finley threw a hissy fit and sued the government. Due to the free speech/1st Amendment ramifications involved, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley, in 1998. By a razor-thin margin, Finley lost 8-1. Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, in a concurring opinion, interpreted the relevant law plainly by declaring that "decency and respect are to be taken into account in evaluating applications."

Little surprise that Finley sued considering that liberals accept no objective standard for decency (except that there is no objective standard).

Which brings us to the latest court jester in the art world: Aliza Shvarts. A Yale art student, Ms. Shvarts, whose last name could only have led to years of therapy, has stirred controversy with her most recent work.

A Yale University student's senior art project, which she said documented her bleeding during repeated self-induced abortions, sparked a protest on campus, an outcry on the Internet and debates over morality, medicine, art and academia.

And — it was all faked. Senior Aliza Shvarts told Yale officials Thursday that she didn't get pregnant and didn't have abortions. [...]

Shvarts told classmates that she had herself artificially inseminated as often as possible for much of this past year, then took legal, herbal abortifacient drugs and filmed herself in her bathtub cramping and bleeding from the miscarriages. She said her work will include video, a sculpture incorporating her blood mixed with Vaseline wrapped in plastic, and a spoken piece describing what she had done.

[She] told the Yale Daily News that she wanted to provoke debate about the relationship between art and the human body but that the intention of the piece was not to scandalize anyone.

Indeed, who could possibly be scandalized by filming do-it-yourself abortions?



Aliza Shvarts

"Provoking debate" is the convenient shibboleth of those who are caught committing acts of gross idiocy. Apparently as long as society is forced to jabber about something, the underlying controversy, filming your faked abortions and expecting people to believe that it's art, is somehow justified.

Shvarts's art ("Shv_art"?) has created an outcry (and rightly so), but the project shouldn't surprise anyone. Faked or not, Shvarts's hideous brain child is the logical and natural result of decades of policies and laws which debase abortion to a common surgery with little or no moral ramification. In such an environment, a faked abortion is a mundane enough act to be worthy of filming and exposition. If you are offended, well, Shvarts merely intended to provoke debate.

As one of the premier and selective universities on the planet (charging around $45,000 USD a year), it would be reasonable to expect the art from any Yale student should reflect some maturity and talent. Apart from the her shameless dishonesty, Shvarts lacked taste, talent and judgment.

So she'd certainly fit in the art world.

~ Sisyphus, cross-posted at The Sisyphus Files.