Watching Mary Lazich's Receptionist Rig His Own Game is Kinda Sad

Kevin Fischer, always willing to put in the hard work to hear the sound of his own voice prove a point, is out to try and prove that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is a bastion of leftist propaganda. Fair enough, if Fischer operated under the precepts of the scientific method, this would be called the hypothesis ... now let's move on to the experiment!

The problem is that the experiment Fischer has set up is so laughably rigged to essentially prove whatever nonsense he feels like spouting at any given moment. Instead of going over the MJS with a fine-toothed comb on a regular basis, Fischer decides to arbitrarily pluck a sample from the paper's editorial content for scrutiny. Here are the ground rules he establishes for his little exercise:

*** He will only examine the Sunday "Crossroads" section of the MJS. Quoth the Fischer: "What about Monday through Saturday? Sorry. I’m going to concentrate on the Sunday pages. If others want to take on the task of monitoring the other days, God bless them."

This seems less than thorough to me. Could it be that the 'balance' of the MJS is spread out over the week? If it is, Fischer would presumably never know because he's only looking at one day of the week. In fact, if Monday through Saturday the MJS printed nothing but right wing vitriol, while reserving the Sunday edition for effete leftists, the paper would still be considered "liberal" by Fischer's estimation.

So there appears to be a massive coverage gap in the sample Fischer has selected ... but Fisher seems to think that his sample size is still too big! So he cuts it further:

*** Secondly, Fischer "will not count pieces by Journal Sentinel columnists or Journal Sentinel editorial writers, short Quick Hits or Advisory Hits."

This is interesting because it presumably exempts conservative columnists like Patrick McIlheran, Nike Nichols or the guy he calls his "top guest blogger," J. Gravelle (How convenient!).

Fischer isn't studying if the MJS is biased, he's looking to see if a particular section of the paper that appears on only one day of the week skews one way or the other and basing his entire judgment on the result of that analysis.

Why isn't he looking deeper into the paper? "I have a life," he says. Fair enough, but if Fischer isn't going to put in the work to make a genuine good faith assessment of the paper, then no one should accept his results as anything other than the shoddy workmanship of someone who is contorting the rules of the game to clearly manipulate the results in his favor.

This is called cherry-picking.

Now "Kevin Fischer the blogger" is welcome to engage in as many logical fallacies as he sees fit to embarrass himself with; unfortunately, Fischer is also "Kevin Fischer the State Senate Staffer" and therein lies what transforms this episode from simply embarrassing to troubling. If this is the kind of tortured reasoning a public official is relying on to make decisions than how can anyone be confident that said public official is receiving good counsel?

One can't.

Maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way. Perhap Lazich's office is actually breaking new ground in the field of government transparency by demonstrating just how incompitent her staffers are? If that's the case, then I say "Bravo!" But what's more likely is that Fischer is only interested in arguing with evidence that supports his original claim, no matter how dubious the source of that evidence may be. It's like watching a kid change the rules in the middle of the game to ensure that he wins -- it's just pathetic that the kid in this case is a middle-aged man.

Freebird!!!

"In this plodding, lethargic remake of the Guess Who hit, Lenny Kravitz sucks all the bounce and air out of Randy Bachman’s classic riff like a vampire performing cunnilingus on a blow-up doll."

The 100 Worst Guitar Solos

It's Taken a Generation, But Scientists Have Finally Conquered "The Price is Right"

First this kid Taylor pitches the game show equivalent to a perfect game:



Then this dude breaks the bank during the Showcase Showdown:



Both within like six weeks of each other.

Now if only someone can figure out how to rig Plinko ...

The First Thing I've Read About Israel/Hamas that Actually Makes Some Degree of Sense

Here.

Spoiler Alert

[via the Wooster Collective]

I Believe Andrew Sullivan Uses the Word "Hathos" to Explain Such Things ...

Oh, dear ... "Mamma Mia," really?

Correlation Does Not Always Imply Causation

Will someone please remind Messrs. Fischer and Game to attend an elementary course on statistics?

Many thanks.

Ahhh, Sweet, Sweet Clarification ...

From RVW:

Why couldn't the media have shown just a small bit of journalistic integrity and come to the same conclusions that Laura Bush and Condoleezza Rice have reached?

So that's what journalistic integrity is!

Aerial Awesomeness

I missed the New Year's Eve thing ESPN did from Vegas, but I certainly do hope it heralds a new era of dare devilry where women and glory are won for a few moments of fleeting terror at the prospect of a certain death. Enjoy:



I'm always amazed at how much of stunts like this one are about geography. If Maddison decided to jump the, say the tallest building in Oshkosh, it just wouldn't have the same zing to.

Anyway, last year this same dude jumped across a football field:



I'm impressed. Here's Danny Way in Vegas:



... and in China:



There are dozens bail clips available on YouTube.

"If you could pile any three people into a naked pyramid, who would you choose?"

... And other classy moments of introspection here.


Special thanks to Kathy Carpenter, who apparently thinks this sort of shit is a real hoot.

Let me just get this out of the way now so I can say "I told you so" later:

As long as the Republican Party is dominated by any faction that finds shit like this "quiz" anything other than repugnant they will continue it's political death spiral. There are so many things wrong with this question it's tough to even know where to begin -- and anyone who celebrates this bullshit by encouraging others to share the "levity" or even condones it should be rebuked immediately.

Headlines of the Damned

Today's edition of Headines of the Damned has been brought to you by the Times of London:


This has been another edition of Headlines of the Damned.

[via Deadspin]

And You Thought 2008 Was Bad ...

Call me a pessimist, but I think celebrating the end to a rough year is a bit premature. 2009 is probably going to suck even more than 2008 did and, let's face it, 2008 sucked pretty hard. So without further ado, here are some predictions:

*** Growth in total U.S. GDP will be less than 1% for the entire year.

*** There will be at least two stories that come out of Wall Street that make Bernie Madoff look like Robin Hood. One will be of another individual money manager who swindled investors, the other will be of some brand name investment house gone crooked (think Enronesque).

*** Gas does not get above $4.00 a gallon -- at least here in Wisconsin. The demand just won't be there (or here, as the case may be).

*** The credit crunch begins to trickle down to things smaller than houses, like cars student loans and credit cards.

*** There will be only two auto makers in Detroit by the end of the year.

*** By the end of the year a lot of major cities in America will start to experience a perceptible increase in crime rates.

*** Blagojevich stays in office through June. The Illinois assembly will eventually call for a special election to fill the empty seat.

*** There will be at least three incidents like the Chip Saltsman thing currently going on where conservative demonstrate they are out of touch when it comes to minorities. These will be silly, unforced errors that will be compounded by a stubborn insistance that what was done was not offensive/racist/insensative/whatever, when a simple apology would have made the issue go away.

*** Pakistan. I don't know what, but they're will be some kind of huge story to come out of Pakistan this year whether it be a coup, some kind of terrorist incident in another country that is traced back to Islamabad, an incursion by the U.S. into Pakistan territory. Something ...

*** Piracy will continue off the coast of Somalia, but the U.S. won't get involved in policing the area (other countries will do the job).

*** Peace talks will finally resume in a serious manner between Israel and Palestine, but they will proceed slowly.

*** Statewide Smoking Ban gets voted on in the Assembly, but stalls in the Senate.

*** Watchmen will be awesome. G.I. Joe ... not so much.

*** Neither the Packers nor the Brewers make it to the playoffs. Badgers get bounced in the second round of the NCAA tournament in March. Marquette loses in the 3rd round.

*** Brittany Spears will try to make another comeback. It will suck just as much as the last one.

So there you go. Don't expect much from 2009 except pain, misery and existential dread. On the bright side, I'm sure there will be a number of unanticipated inctances of mirth to pass the time. And, since I don't want to go out on such a sour note, here's some good news to expect:

*** Chicago will be named the host of the 2016 Olympics in October.

Joy Division, "Love Will Tear Us Apart Again"

Perhaps Some Good Shall Come from this Vampire Trend After All

I'm sure I'll get around to seeing Twilight sometime in the future, but I can't imagine it being any better than this flick:

Wherein Peter "the Hitman" DiGaudio Helps Explain the World to Us All

Sometimes I read things that make no sense to me without the aide of some secondary context. For example, this little diddy:

The controversy surrounding a comedy CD distributed by Republican National Committee chairman candidate Chip Saltsman has not torpedoed his bid and might have inadvertently helped it.

[...]

The day after the story was first reported by The Hill, RNC Chairman Mike Duncan issued a statement expressing disgust over the song.

[...]

Duncan was joined by Michigan GOP Chair Saul Anuzis, another RNC chairmanship aspirant who chided Saltsman for sending out the CD.

[...]

Not everyone is so sure, with some RNC members contending that Anuzis and Duncan may have actually hurt their candidacies with their responses.

[...]

former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who would be the party’s first black chairman, has drawn notice for his vigorous defense of Saltsman.

[...]

As a result of his position, a source close to the race said that at least 12 uncommitted committee members have contacted Blackwell to thank him for his support for Saltsman and have expressed anger toward Duncan and Anuzis “for throwing a good Republican under the bus.”

[...]

In calls to committee members in recent days, both Saltsman and Blackwell have been reminding Republicans of how both Duncan and Anuzis reacted to the story.

Yglasias has the most succinct description of the environment in which this kind of behavior, both by Saltsman and the GOP committee, is par for the course:

One of the distinguishing characteristics of modern American conservatism is that it believes in a curious concept of “color blindness.” In this view, racism is bad. But absent truly egregious behavior, it’s not something you’d really get all that upset about nor is it something you should be really attuned do. But so-called “political correctness” — meaning something like anti-racism that’s gone too far — is a really serious problem. Any hint of political correctness is worth getting upset about. And the views of actual members of racial minorities as to what is and isn’t racist should be completely discounted. Rather than saying that the prudent and decent white person will steer a mile clear of racist activity — sending out “Barack the Magic Negro” CDs, for example — the best course of action is to deliberately drive straight at the line and then get really upset at anyone who says you’ve crossed it.

[empahsis added]

For a perfect example of this, look no further than the blogger who apparently can not refer to the President-elect by any other name than "Chocolate Jesus":

Current RNC chair Mike Duncan, architect of successive Republican congressional disasters, has voiced his objections to reports in the Drive By Media of Saltsman’s gift to the RNC members.

“The 2008 election was a wake-up call for Republicans to reach out and bring more people into our party,” Duncan said in a statement. “I am shocked and appalled that anyone would think this is appropriate as it clearly does not move us in the right direction.”

Spare me the faux outrage, Mr. Duncan. You’ve just got sand in your vagina. Nothing like the Rockefeller Bush wing of the GOP, those blueblood, countryclubber elitists who brought the party two successive landslide losses. Sounding like the perpetually outraged, offended PC Left isn’t going to rally your base.

Duncan is a loser with a capital “L” tattooed on his forehead. He needs to go away. Permanently.

Saltsman has been criticized in some circles simply for creating a diversion and wasting time and effort to defend his actions. Boo-freaking-hoo. There’s nothing wrong with what he did, or with Shanklin’s parody, and when unwarranted attacks are made, they need a response. When those attacks don’t generate a firm, decisive response, they tend to stick in the public eye.

I’m sick and tired of either the phony outrage from the likes of Duncan or the effeminate girlie man response from others, with the “We shouldn’t say that because someone might be offended,” or “We mustn’t do that because someone might be offended.” Both of these are part and parcel of the Democrat-lite wing of the Republican Party. These guys couldn’t win a one-man race for dog catcher. Losers, every last one of them. Losers in life, losers in politics.

[emphasis added]

What DiGaudio doesn't explain is how offending people -- then going and telling them they're pussies for taking offense -- wins votes.

I keep thinking that the GOP can't get any lower and then a few months later they do something to prove me wrong. By this point, I feel like I should make Bingo cards with different demographics and/or constituent groups to keep a running tally of who the GOP is alienating this week.

Here's the thing: the GOP is not losing any African Americans with this latest fiasco, but that's largely because they can't possibly lose any more. Instead, they'll lose moderate white Republicans who may be socially and fiscally conservative but can no longer look their black, Latino and gay friends, family and coworkers in the eye and say, "I'm a Republican." This incident won't be enough to start that exodus, but it's a good bet that it will hardly be the last of its kind. Eventually, that will start to erode the moderates.

When that happens, they'll just be a party of Peter DiGaudios without anyone to purge from the party because no one will want to belong to it any longer.

I Want a Picture that Says, Come to Wisconsin! ...

Where it's cold, gray and the winter lasts the rest of your life!

Wisconsin Bloggers Who Run for Office Bleg

Since a pair of bloggers have announced their intentions to run for local offices, I thought it would be a good time to quickly figure out what kind of record bloggers who decide to run for some kind of office in Wisconsin have -- anyone know?

Since that's kind of an amorphous construction, let's set up some requirements:

1.) The blogger has to have maintained a blog for at least 6 months before announcing his or her candidacy (minimum of 6 posts).

2.) Any office counts. Can be municipal, county, state, federal, dog catcher, coroner ... hell, if anyone knows of a blogger running for senior class student council president, let me know.

Here's a local example of who, so far as I know, would qualify under these conditions. Tony Palmeri has had a blog now for pretty much ever at this point. I'm pretty sure he had one long before he ran for state assembly in 2004 and he certainly had one when he won his seat on the city council. So Palmeri's 1-1.

I'm pretty sure Brian Bain, Mike Norton and Jef Hall all started their blogs after they were elected to their respective positions -- please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong -- so they don't count.

So folks like Jo Eglehoff count, while Mary Lazich and Mark Pocan don't.

That's all I got -- and by those number bloggers are 1-2 when running for office, a number which doesn't exactly look very thorough to me. Feel free to chime in.

The Chief's Top 10 "Top Ten 'Top 10' Lists" of 2008

*** Buzzfeed

*** Lifehacker

*** Social Citizens

*** Suitably Flip

*** Paper Cuts

*** Top Ten "Top Ten Words of 2008"

*** Chewing Pixels

*** Top 10 "Top 10 iPhone Flaws" lists

*** Swan Fungus

*** Gizmodo

We Have Taken the Twin Cities! (Watch the Hell Out, Dubuque!)

Apparently the State of Wisconsin has annexed Minneapolis.

Enjoy!

Probably the most simple, yet devious and good-natured prank I've seen in a while:



[via RB]

Bettie Page was Never Spanked that Badly

Yesterday's implosion by the Cowboys was the first sporting event I have ever seen televised from the City of Brotherly Love during which I did not hear the crowd boo once.

Thank you, Philly!

I've adopted the Baltimore Ravens for this year's play-offs. Ed Reed must be omnipresent or something because that guys is everywhere on D.

Display Fail

[via HT]

While Everyone's Slagging on Mary Lazich's Receptionist...

There are a few bloggers from Franklin who are taking a few well-deserved shots at political lackey, wannabe media mogul and epic dipshit Kevin Fischer today, so I thought I'd join in the fun.

I've never been to Franklin, WI. I've never had any reason to go. I don't know anyone who lives there. In fact, I've never met anyone from Franklin. In my mind, Franklin is just a really big chunk of real estate with a stately name.

Really, the only way I know much of anything about the city of Franklin is via Fischer's tedious wankfest, This Just In... and my impression of the city has suffered greatly as a conquence. One thing I've noticed that happens among local bloggers is that their discussions quickly become insular and how their conversations appear to outsiders rarely becomes a consideration. Since I'm an outsider to the Franklin blogosphere, I'm going to interject a small thought from a foreign perspective.

Fischer is quite probably the single worst municipal ambassador in the state of Wisconsin. I'm consistantly baffled at how such pompous and arrogant dick can be hired to participate in the making of laws, a process that by necessity requires a certain degree of comprimise which Fischer day in, day out, demonstrates he has no capacity for. This is why I can only assume that he serves as a receptionist in his boss's office. I just can't picture any one in another office -- Democratic or Republican -- wanting to work with a guy's who's every action seems to be the equivilant of leaping from one's chair and yelling, "Look at me, everybody! I'm retarded!"

He's an embaressment to his employer. He's an embaressment to his employer's office. He's an embaressment to Wisconsin. But above all, he's an embaressment to the city of Franklin. I'm sure the people of Franklin take him with the proverbial grain of salt, but for someone like me, who doesn't know any better, his showboating baffoonery reflects poorly on Franklin and drains from the city any sympathy I might otherwise have for it.

I wasn't aware of his appalling behaviour earlier this year, but it doesn't surprise me. In fact, I'm fully expecting future displays of douchebaggery from this asshat.

Hang Down Your Head, Fred Dooley...

Shorter RDW: Jerome Corsi is a totally credible source on all things Obama...

Quoth Jon Henke:

The continued tolerance and prominence of Jerome Corsi - his books, columns and appearances - is just embarrassing. It is embarrassing for the Right, embarrassing for Republicans, embarrassing for conservatives and libertarians, embarrassing for all of us.

[...]

Bad as his gross errors are, though, it's not just that. It's also about who Jerome Corsi is.

• Jerome Corsi is a smear artist (e.g., he has claimed that "Hillary Rodham Clinton is a lesbian and Muslims worship Satan").
• Jerome Corsi has advocated the hysterical, deceptive North American Union conspiracy theory.
• Jerome Corsi associates with white supremacists.
• Jerome Corsi is guilty of plagiarism.
• Jerome Corsi is a 9/11 Truther.

Please stop embarrassing yourself, Fred.

Shouldn't You Threaten to Walk Back to Detroit if You Lose?

Saw this on ESPN just now:

DETROIT (TICKER) —Travis Fisher is ready to walk.

The Detroit Lions cornerback said in a published report that he would walk from Green Bay, Wisconsin if his team notches its first win of the season on Sunday.

“If we win, man, I ain’t catching the plane back home,” Fisher told the Detroit Free Press. “I might walk. I’ll walk back. I’ll walk back to Detroit.”

What kind of incentive is that? Wouldn't you want to agree to walk back to Detroit is you lose?

Actually, might going back to Detroit by any means of transportation just be punishment enough for a loss?