Dumb and Dumber...

...or maybe we should call it Sunday Morning Stupidity? 'Cause there seems to be quite a bit of it running about today:

New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin has suggested that the slow recovery and rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina -- which has prevented many black former residents from returning -- is part of a plan to change the racial makeup and political leadership of his and other cities.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what happened in New Orleans could happen anywhere," Nagin said at a dinner sponsored by the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a trade group for newspapers that target black readers. "They are studying this model of natural disasters, dispersing the community and changing the electoral process in that community."

Well, Nagin tried his best to keep New Orleans a "chocolate city" - as Katrina raged, he let hundreds of buses that could have been used to evacuate folks sit idle instead...maybe now he's learning that killing black people in order to keep a city black is not the best way to go about it....?

Now that even lefty newspapers such as the New York Times are coming out to question some of the dire threats made by global warming "experts"; these experts have responded by...making even more dire threats:

At the leading edge of climate pessimism, the prognoses were frankly apocalyptic. "Before this century is over, billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic," predicted James Lovelock, a renowned environmental scientist.

In his book The Weather Makers, Tim Flannery puts aside his essential optimism for long enough to write: "If humans pursue a business-as-usual course for the first half of this century, I believe the collapse of civilisation due to climate change becomes inevitable."

Note to readers: "Breeding Pairs" is a fantasy term used by geeky science-types whom have never stood within three feet of a girl; their dream is to be the one of the last men on Earth, forced into a situation where all remaining women survivors (beautiful ones, naturally) would be forced to copulate with them in order to propogate the species. Trust me, our "renowned enviornmental scientist" James Lovelock has already run this through his head more than once; methinks he already has his LoveShack set up near the pole....

And who's dumber than movie critics?

Box office data this year suggests that filmgoers seem to be having a great time at the multiplexes. The critics, by contrast, may be shopping around for a new line of work.

In reviewing "300" last week, for example, A.O. (Tony) Scott of the New York Times, said the movie was "as violent as 'Apocalypto' and twice as stupid."

The situation underscores yet again the disconnect between the cinematic appetites of critics vs. those of the popcorn crowd....Scott, the Times critic, for example, predicted that the movie would become "an object of camp derision," ....
Kenneth Turan"s review in the Los Angeles Times, basically a prolonged wince, also noted that "300" was "Apocalypto" violent," adding, "There is a limit to how often you can see soldiers speared and hacked to death and still stay involved."
Perhaps, but the first week"s "involvement" totaled some $70 million at the box office.

So several questions present themselves: If the established media want to stay relevant, should their critics make a passing attempt to tune in to pop culture? In short, should at least someone on the reviewing staff try to be relevant...

NO and NO! It is the responsiblity of the proletariat to listen to their cultural betters in the mainstream media! Obviously, Mr. Scott in the New York Times has not been derisive enough in his criticism!

But guest columnist Neal Stephenson in today's Times points out three (liberal) social issues within "300" that most critics we unable to stomach:

• “300” is not sufficiently ironic. It takes its themes (duty, loyalty, sacrifice, the preservation of Western civilization against enormous odds) too seriously to, well, be taken seriously.
• “300” is campy — meaning that many things about it can be read as sexual double entendres — yet the filmmakers don’t show sufficient awareness of this.
• All of the good guys are white people and many of the bad guys are brown. (How this could have been avoided in a film about Spartans versus Persians is never explained; the distinctly non-Greek viewers at my showing seemed to have no trouble placing themselves in the sandals of ancient Spartans.)

So film critics are no longer really reviewers of the celluiod realm, but instead are social commentators trying to point out non-politically correct entertainment that must be avoided at all costs. Er, sorry folks, it seems as if nobody in the "real world" seems to give a sh*t what you guys think about...anything.

And what's Sunday Stupidity without mentioning at least one politician? Regarding Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick , simply file this one under "When you elect a Democrat, you get what you voted for":

When Patrick, 50, entered office, he decided to lease a 2007 Cadillac DTS as his official state car, replacing the Ford Crown Victoria his predecessor used; it cost the state an additional $543 each month....
.... a list that includes the purchase of $12,000 drapes as part of a $27,000 renovation of the governor's office at taxpayer expense, the hiring of a chief of staff for his wife, and attempts to help a controversial mortgage company that has been accused of predatory lending.

"I do have to tell you, parking is a problem. It's hard to find room for both the helicopter and the Cadillac," referring to criticism about his use of state helicopters earlier in his term, which Patrick has defended.

Ah yes, the double-standard of the not-so-bright limousine liberals...
Al Gore, destroyer of the enviornment ( "Tenn. mine enriched Gore, scarred land") - are your ears burning?