MetaFilter

"Porn films are not about sex. Sex is airbrushed and digitally washed out of the films There is no acting because none of the women are permitted to have what amounts to a personality.The one emotion they are allowed to display is an unquenchable desire to satisfy men, especially if that desire involves the women’s physical and emotional degradation." In his most recent book, Chris Hedges navigates our culture of narcissim, from porn (in the linked segment), to the WWE, to Ivy League graduation ceremonies and reality tv — exposing, according to his publisher "an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion". Hedges is a former foreign correspondent for the New York times, has previously gone to war with Christian Fundamentalists, The New Atheists, War itself and his own employer, resigning from his job rather than submit to the Times's reprimand over his outspoken opposition to the Iraq War and the press "cheerleading" that preceded it.
comment posted at 11:05 AM on Oct-16-09
comment posted at 6:02 AM on Oct-17-09

Barack Obama wins Nobel Prize for Peace 2009. Isn't this kind of... soon?
comment posted at 5:39 AM on Oct-9-09

The Conservative Bible Project. Rod Dreher of Belief.net offers further analysis of a budding new Wiki project to rewrite the Holy Bible to eliminate what some young conservatives apparently now view as liberal bias in the scriptures (via Harpers).
comment posted at 8:15 AM on Oct-6-09

US News reports that in a new tell-all book, Tom Ridge admits manipulating terror threat levels for political motives. In the forthcoming book, Ridge reportedly acknowledges for the first time that he was pushed to raise the security alert on the eve of President Bush's re-election, something he "saw as politically motivated and worth resigning over." But as The Atlantic points out, Ridge apparently gave in to the White House demands anyway, resigning only after the election. Huffington Post also provides additional discussion on this developing story.
comment posted at 7:24 PM on Aug-20-09
comment posted at 7:50 PM on Aug-20-09

Persuasion: Why men in ads are dumb, goofy or completely inept. Several YT commercials and a thoughtful essay.
comment posted at 9:53 AM on Aug-7-09

Story and video about violence at a townhall in Florida. Looks like the Tea Bag crowd are getting violent. Video of the scuffling. Is this the beginning of American fascism and the end of civil discourse?
comment posted at 2:41 AM on Aug-7-09

But have they become tools of the Left? Seventy-five years on, the murderous pair is still provoking comment. This time, from neocons.
comment posted at 10:25 AM on Aug-6-09

When whales die: Yesterday, a 20-30 foot whale washed up a shore in New Jersey. Officials are going to deal with it by cutting it up into small parts and burying it. In previous incidents, officials tried to explode it into bits that were meant to fall in the ocean and get eaten by seagulls, but that didn't work out [YT] so well, especially for nearby spectators. Even if you want to let it decompose naturally, you have to be careful for spontaneous explosions due to gassy buildup. Especially when transporting it in busy city streets. Oops. When whales die in the ocean, on the other hand, their bodies eventually fall to the sea floor and can start mini ecosystems, where female pink glowstick-like sea worms that harbor the male pink glowstick sea worms inside their bodies live, eat whale bones, and propagate. (Previously on Metafilter: Taiwan explosion)
comment posted at 5:07 PM on Jul-28-09

Want a new guitar, but don't want a boring ole Fender or Gibson? Then Johnson Guitars U.S.A may be the guitar maker for you. Keep your audiences wondering if you're here to rock out or gun them all down, sacrifice them to Apophis, feed them to a shark (or dragon), or simply take off into the stratosphere fueled by the power of your rock.
comment posted at 11:17 AM on Jul-17-09

Sarah Palin will resign from her position as Alaska Governor. ;-)
comment posted at 3:50 PM on Jul-4-09
comment posted at 6:21 PM on Jul-4-09

Dear Mr. President: ... I realized that although I and other LGBT leaders have introduced ourselves to you as policy makers, we clearly have not been heard, and seen, as what we also are: human beings whose lives, loves, and families are equal to yours. I know this because this brief would not have seen the light of day if someone in your administration who truly recognized our humanity and equality had weighed in with you.
comment posted at 7:19 AM on Jun-16-09

Is Oprah helping you live your best life? A six page article from Newsweek reports on some of the more controversial pieces of advice featured in Oprah's "Live your Best Life" series. Most recently, Oprah has attracted attention for yielding the stage to Suzanne Somers, who advocates for experimental synthetic hormone replacement therapy for women in order to prevent aging, as well as other potentially dangerous medical treatments. Somers responds to the criticism.
comment posted at 1:14 PM on Jun-1-09

Distinguished Professor of Law and the director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary’s University School of Law, Jeffrey Addicott, tells The Jurist: "Even the worst of the CIA techniques that were authorized – waterboarding - would not constitute torture."
comment posted at 10:38 AM on May-28-09

10cc's I'm Not In Love and the story behind it.
comment posted at 6:31 AM on May-13-09

The Meatrix: parts I, II: Revolting, and II 1/2.
comment posted at 10:59 AM on Apr-29-09

The Dark Side of Dubai. "Do-buy" was meant to be a Middle-Eastern Shangri-La, a glittering monument to Arab enterprise and western capitalism. But as hard times arrive in the city state that rose from the desert sands, an uglier story is emerging.
comment posted at 3:24 AM on Apr-8-09

Last month's food court occupation at NYU's Kimmel Center cafeteria, live-blogged here, has produced what is possibly the most embarassing protest video ever.
comment posted at 5:53 AM on Apr-1-09

There have been a lot of descriptions of our new president, but being in "full commanding denial" is a new and, sadly, insightful one. Clusterf*ck Nation's Jim Kunstler observes that the bailout "is predicated on the idea that the mechanisms of wealth production -- even of illusory wealth, such as the fortunes created by trading securitized unpayable debt -- can keep chugging along, spinning off limitless additional suburban villas, chain stores, car trips, and deep-fried snacks." For a different view, the folks over at the excellent Baseline Scenario have been doing some interesting thinking about The Cultural Costs of Bailout Nation. For an even bigger big picture view, Dmitry Orlov's original analysis of the USSR vs. USA collapse in Superpower Collapse Best Practices seems to be even more resonant in his recent appearances. Maybe it's time to give Full Commanding Denial another chance ....
comment posted at 11:13 AM on Mar-25-09
comment posted at 4:02 PM on Mar-26-09

Little Mr. Conservative. The interview concluded, Jonathan wistfully handed his mother her cellphone. His parents still won’t let him have one, even though he turned 14 last Sunday, right after he became an instant news media darling and the conservative movement’s underage graybeard at last weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
comment posted at 10:08 AM on Mar-8-09

So how's the economy doing? Everyone, even google's CEO, seems to acknowledge it's bleak. Of course, panic would not be good, but a glance at the headlines reveals that one in five mortgages are underwater--prompting yet more federal relief--while the FDIC's insurance fund is threatened by further bank insolvency, and the U.S. private sector hemorrhaged nearly 700,000 jobs in February. New revelations about the banking crisis show that as Merrill Lynch foundered, its top 10 earners made $209 million last year, and that some of the companies that caused the mortgage crisis are now benefitting from it. At a time when 87 million Americans can't afford health insurance, and prison spending outpaces all but Medicaid; when we still don't know where exactly $2.2 trillion in bank loans have gone, some analysts are nevertheless cautiously optimistic. One sign of progress is that Obama is taking on the kinds of costly and wasteful U.S. defense contracts that the previous administration let run amok. If he can take on that racket, and make a dent, there may be hope after all.
comment posted at 11:27 AM on Mar-4-09
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comment posted at 12:22 PM on Mar-4-09
comment posted at 1:37 PM on Mar-4-09

Democrat's efforts to paint Rush Limbaugh as GOP leader pay off. Since Rush Limbaugh famously stated that he wanted Obama to fail, Democrats, led by President Obama, have been trying to paint him as the intellectual and spiritual head of the GOP. Eyeing his low 25% approval rating amongst independents, they have hoped to equate the Republicans with Limbaugh.
comment posted at 10:39 AM on Mar-3-09
comment posted at 1:29 PM on Mar-3-09
comment posted at 2:34 PM on Mar-3-09
comment posted at 2:51 PM on Mar-3-09

Hate Group Numbers Up By 54% Since 2000 according to Southern Poverty Law Center. Glen Beck thoughtfully wonders about the coming civil unrest (that he'll be stoking from the sidelines) And Sean Hannity takes down a poll on his forum about "What kind of revolution appeals most to you?"
comment posted at 10:07 AM on Feb-28-09
comment posted at 3:16 AM on Mar-2-09

Obama's Justice Department has endorsed its predecessor's claims that the details of the extraordinary rendition program are "state secrets."
comment posted at 6:02 PM on Feb-9-09

Can you learn guitar in 10 minutes (pt. 1, pt. 2)?
comment posted at 1:30 PM on Feb-2-09

O.J. Simpson has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for armed robbery. Simpson will remain in custody if he appeals. He may be eligible for parole in six years. An L.A. Times timeline of Simpson's legal history.
comment posted at 3:07 PM on Dec-5-08

Get ready for the future. Palin for President 2012
comment posted at 10:05 AM on Nov-23-08

"Yeah, I did." On November 15, Scott McClellan, former white house press secretary to President George W. Bush revealed to an audience at the Miami Book Fair that President Bush had confided in him that he had personally authorized Scooter Libby to leak the classified information in the Plame affair.
comment posted at 12:20 PM on Nov-18-08

Just ignore it, and it'll go away. Newspapers in small towns inTexas and Oklahoma neglect to report Obama win.
comment posted at 4:57 AM on Nov-11-08

GOP 2.0 There's no doubt that the internet operation of President-Elect Obama was a key part of his success. While it appears that he is attempting to turn that success into an engine for keeping citizens and supporters engaged with the revolutionary Change.gov,(Previously), the other side also is looking to harness the wave of internet electioneering.
comment posted at 11:30 AM on Nov-10-08
comment posted at 11:53 AM on Nov-10-08
comment posted at 12:07 PM on Nov-10-08
comment posted at 5:26 AM on Nov-11-08

Now that we can dispense with trivia about the U.S. elections, it's time for everyone to get better acquainted with President-Elect Obama: 50 things you should know about Barack Obama vs. Barack Obama: The 50 facts you might not know. (via Buzzfeed)
comment posted at 2:49 AM on Nov-10-08
comment posted at 5:30 AM on Nov-11-08

Attention world: We're back baby! USA! USA! USA! USA!
comment posted at 6:07 AM on Nov-5-08
comment posted at 1:25 PM on Nov-5-08
comment posted at 2:14 PM on Nov-5-08

At 12:00am EST, in the Ballot Room of the Balsams Resort in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, the 2008 Presidential Election began.* The vote was 15-6 Obama -- the first time a Democrat has carried the village since 1968. Despite their "first in the nation" status, though, they have only picked the winner 50% of the time.
comment posted at 10:21 AM on Nov-4-08

Well, the Presidential election is only one day away...after which, the US begins the 11 week transition period to a new administration!
comment posted at 8:29 AM on Nov-3-08