We are doomed

Someone who

has used the words "camel jockey," "jihad monkey" and "tent merchant" to refer to Muslims, come out against a woman's right to vote ("It would be a much better country if women did not vote") and said Abu Ghraib proved women "shouldn't be in the military," called for the assassination of a Supreme Court Justice ("someone should put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' crème brûlée"), claimed "a baseball bat is the most effective way" to deal with liberals, called Democrats "gutless traitors," lamented that Timothy McVeigh "did not go to the New York Times building," revealed that she is "not a big fan of the First Amendment," said she hates Canada "because they speak French," said God gave us permission to "rape the planet," told disabled Vietnam vet Bobby Muller "No wonder you guys lost," called people who collect Social Security "greedy geezers," said Episcopalians "don't demand much in the way of actual religious belief," dubbed the Democratic Convention "the Spawn of Satan Convention," and called Pamela Harriman and Patricia Duff "whores."

is rich and famous, despite being offensive, dangerous and anti--science

This story actually made me scream in the car when I heard it on Le Show

Anxious that even the most gushing of descriptions may not market its wares hard enough, one property company has begun a trend that it thinks could catch on everywhere: hiring teams of actors to play "happy families" in its show homes.

Attractive film and stage actors are cast in the roles of cheerful-looking parents and their angelic children, recreating scenes of domestic bliss that they hope will impress prospective buyers.
...
Americans appear to have taken it entirely at face value. According to Digna Barbieto, 62, who lives in Santa Clarita, it felt neither stage-managed or artificial.

"When we came in, the family was preparing for the surprise and the kids were so excited," she said.

"They offered us cookies and some of the viewers chatted to them. It felt very real and made you want to own a house just like that. I'm encouraging my son and daughter-in-law to buy one."

Yes, that's right: it works. Then I screamed.

And two Iraqi stories, via the same source, chronicling the "Talibanization" of Iraq, a process that decapitation strikes probably won't affect much [via]: lethal attacks on street vendors and ice sellers for purveying products not found during the age of Mohammed (like ice; no, I'm not kidding) and those with a connection, however tenuous, to Israel (falafel, mayonnaise; no, I'm not kidding) or Jews (goatee beards, which went out with Freud). They've banned smoking, too, so you know the next attempt to impose new restrictions on smoking in this country are going to be met with charges of "Talibanization." But real Talibanization means obliterating women's rights and public presence (concern for women's rights in theocracies is not islamophobia, though it's been used to justify it) which has the additional bad effect of removing competent professionals from their jobs, making the reconstruction and revitalization of the Iraqi economy that much harder.

Maybe all is not lost, but I'm going to start screaming in the car more often. When I'm alone.