Nick Coleman Loses

Nick Coleman, columnist for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, is having a feud with Power Line. His latest column includes these quotes:

These guys pretend to be family watchdogs but they are Rottweilers in sheep's clothing. They attack the Mainstream Media for not being fair while pursuing a right-wing agenda cooked up in conservative think tanks funded by millionaire power brokers.

They should call themselves "Powertool." They don't speak truth to power. They just speak for power.

The lads behind Powerline are a bank vice president named Scott Johnson and a lawyer named John Hinderaker. If you read Powerline, you know them better by their fantasy names, Big Trunk (that's Johnson) and Hind Rocket (Hinderaker). I will leave it to the appropriate professionals to determine what they are compensating for, but they have received enormous attention from the despised Mainstream Media and deserve more.

. . .

Time magazine's "Blog of the Year" is not run by Boy Scouts. It is the spear of a campaign aimed at making Minnesota into a state most of us won't recognize. Unless you came from Alabama with a keyboard on your knee.

. . .

But Extreme bloggers don't tell truths. They tell talking points. Powerline is the biggest link in a daisy chain of right-wing blogs that is assaulting the Mainstream Media while they toot their horns in the service of ... what? The downtrodden? No, that was yesterday's idea of the purpose of journalism. Extreme bloggers are so hip and cool they can make fun of the poor and the disadvantaged while working out of paneled bank offices.

Reactions/fisks from Power Line here and here, from Evan Coyne Maloney here, from LGF here. Instapundit has a really good roundup with analysis.

Nick Coleman, you lose.

Sikh Radicals, Great Britain Both Lose

Full Story here, hat tip Christdot.

Gurprett Bhatti is a Sikh playwright whose play titled Dishonor was scheduled to be performed at the Repertory Theatre in Birmingham, England. Dishonor contains scenes of murder and rape in a Sikh temple, which has offended a group of radical Sikhs. Maybe they should have been offended; I don't know whether the play's portrayal of the events in a Sikh temple was really an offensible act, but that's not essential to my point. The Sikhs definitely have a right to get together and protest the play, whether or not the protest is justified. What they don't have a right to do is this:

In Birmingham on Dec. 18, a mob of some 400 radical Sikhs stormed the Birmingham's Repertory Theatre prior to a performance of Gurprett Bhatti's play Dishonor. During the subsequent melee, 800 theatergoers had to be rushed from the theater, while the mob smashed doors, shattered windows, battered security guards, and destroyed equipment. Five police officers were injured in the brawl.

The Sikh protestors lose. Violent protests in order to infringe on the free speech of another? Great way to advocate your belief system.

But the story doesn't end there. Even though arrests were made (but only three out of four hundred protestors, BTW), British officials took the side of the Sikh protestors:

In the meantime the playwright has received the usual round of death threats, and local police have advised Ms. Bhatti -- herself a Sikh -- to keep her mouth shut. She is currently in hiding somewhere in Britain. As for her play, it was immediately shut down after local officials said they could not guarantee the safety of the audience and actors. . .

Thanks to draconian British hate speech laws -- Section 18 (1) of the Public Order Act outlaws speech that stirs up racial hatred -- Ms. Bhatti could theoretically end up paying heavy fines for instigating the riot or even serving hard time long after the violent protesters are set free.

That's right. The play was shut down because the protestors were creating an unsafe environment, and furthermore the playwright could be held liable for the protestors' actions.

The moral of the story? If you're ever in Britain and things aren't going your way, start throwing some punches. Officials will be only to happy to reward your temper tantrum and punish whoever your 'instigators' may be.

Great Britain, you lose.

PS: A few more quotes from the story:

We congratulate the theatre for making its decision after we exercised our democratic rights to protest. There are no winners and no losers. The end result is that commonsense has prevailed. --protestor spokeswoman Kim Kirpaljit Kaur Brom

Although today is a very sad day for freedom of speech, I think the Rep has done the right thing. --British Arts Minister Estelle Morris

Matt Cale Loses

I don't know who this Matt Cale is, but he loses. This is an old article, but it was recently posted onto a message board I've read -- presumably as proof that NASCAR dads are evil -- so I thought it would be appropriate to place here.

Here's the quote that was reproduced. And sorry for the profanity. I'm conflicted about whether to leave it in or *** it out, but, well, the point of this blog is to highlight the hateful things that people are saying in the name of politics. Are there any strong feelings out there one way or the other regarding this issue?

NASCAR Dads hate taxes and left-leaning social issues, which might make sense if these shower-averse imbeciles realized that the rich and powerful still despised them, even as they were being courted for votes. Most of the auto racing set continue to be the working poor, although middle class status is not entirely unheard of. But to distance themselves from a party or political philosophy that has historically benefited the lower classes makes little sense until we realize that NASCAR Dads, despite having 'pinions n' shit, are as woefully uninformed as the hood-wearing Klansmen of the past. And with the flood of corporate advertising involved in NASCAR (have you seen the billboards that pass for cars?), it makes even more sense that these bumpkins don't want no sass 'bout big bidness. Hell, auto racing survives only because the suits on Madison Avenue have taken notice, although the NASCAR Dads are convinced it's because 'the people' will it all forward. Of course, Bubba Gene, Fox runs these races out of the kindness of their hearts and is only reluctantly collecting the billions of dollars in advertising revenue. But that's the NASCAR Dad -- corporations are good and decent and 'bring jobs to folks like us' and are only corrupted when communists, socialists, and those who turn their backs on Jesus insist on regulations and standards.

Chevy Chase Loses

Story here. Chase was co-host for an awards event for People for the American Way, and I guess he got a little carried away or something:

He deployed the four-letter word that got Vice President Dick Cheney in hot water, using it as a noun. Chase called the prez a "dumb (expletive)." He also used it as an adjective, assuring the audience, "I'm no (expletive) clown either. ... This guy started a jihad."

Chase also said: "This guy in office is an uneducated, real lying schmuck ... and we still couldn't beat him with a bore like Kerry."

Chevy Chase, you lose. And you look more and more like Dick Cheney every day.

The Seattle Weekly and Tim Appelo Lose

The Seattle Weekly has an article by Tim Appelo titled "Is Bush the AntiChrist?" You'll have to read the whole thing to get a feel for its patronization and one-sided dismissal of eschatological Christians most importantly, but also conservatives, capitalists, and anyone who might ever talk to them. But here's what I consider the money quote:

In this sense, the Bush church is Antichristlike indeed. It is institutionalized deception, anti-American ugliness with a beguiling face, a neocon job. Only when necessary does it employ the perilous bald-faced lie, the outrageously transparent duplicity—the political equivalent of Robertson arguing that "Do unto others" indicates Christ's support of capitalist selfishness. More often, a smoothly dissembling surface is preferred. Rove notoriously emulates Machiavelli; the Christian right is a stealth movement, infiltrating school boards and mainstream churches and every institution of democracy like a thief in the night—in order to undermine, overthrow, and replace democracy with theocracy. Bush is the father of lies. The Union of Concerned Scientists proclaims Bush's lies about science "unprecedented." In With God on Their Side, Kaplan concludes, on mountainous evidence, "The goal is not to engage your opponents in the public square, but to kneecap them, or send them into exile."

"It is a conspiracy in the sense that they have not been public and accountable to their ideology," says Lang. "Follow the money! The same filthy-rich foundations that have funded the rise of neocons are funding the rise of the religious right." He suggests that you check out the exposé Web site www.yuricareport.com for the terrifying particulars.

Oh yeah, almost forgot the picture:


Seattle Weekly. Tim Appelo. YOU LOSE.

Anti-Israel Protestors Lose

The complete picture set can be found here. They were taken by zombie at the East Bay Annual AIPAC Membership Event in Oakland. Hat tip LGF.

Margaret Cho Loses

Pot Calling The Kettle Black For the Billionth Time:

Republicans know that they may not be able to sway anyone with their ideas on domestic and foreign policy, or their views on the economy, but they do know that hatred and bigotry are great motivators. They get the ear of the leaders of these so called 'family groups' and Christian media watchdogs and warn them of the impending storm of gay 'legitimization' and they get them all riled up by telling them that gays are going to get married and move into their neighborhoods. As if a newly married gay couple would ever choose to live in a trailer park. They pump up these Bible thumping, cousin humping genetic mistakes with hot air and propaganda which sends them into a mullet fantasia of pink triangles and rainbow flags, and convinces them that their tax dollars will be used to foot the bill for Elton John and George Michael's wedding.

Sounds like Notorious C.H.O. is warning the left about the impending storm of conservative 'legitimization' and getting them all riled up by telling them that conservatives are going to start breeding and move into their neighborhoods. And, umm, I can't stoop so low as to continue the analogy through the rest of the paragraph.

Canadian Protestors Lose

Check out these pictures from Ottawa. Taken by IDFDave, hosted on IDFIsrael, hat tip LGF. A couple of the most pertinent: