Tag: politics

MESSING WITH THE COPY EDITOR CONSIDERED HARMFUL

A letter to the editor in this week’s Orange County Weekly, with a response not from the reporter but from the editorial staff, makes me all warm and happy inside.

IN WHICH WE’RE WISHED A NICE DAY, BUT IRONICALLY
Your rag and alleged journalists are certainly entitled to what I consider immoral, ultra-leftist opinions. Freedom of the press is, in fact, essential to a democracy. However, when a writer (Jim Washburn) has a column entitled, “Immigration? We’ve Got Bigger Problems” with a subtitle, “Why Our Noncitizens Are Our Best Citizens”, I would hope that the article would contain concrete examples of these declarations. Unfortunately, the writer chose to ramble on various issues, never addressing his topic points, before offering an example of a missed opportunity to the solution of illegal immigration by stating, “Back in the 1980s, Jesse Jackson proposed helping Mexico and other neighbors to (sic) overcome corruption and cronyism to (sic) raise (sic) job prospects and standards of living so people wouldn’t feel compelled to come here”. Mr. Washburns reasoning, like his writing, is muddled. Hey Jim, why don’t you and Jesse co-author a letter to President Fox? What a joke!!

Washburn’s final paragraph starts, “Immigrant-rights organizers are next planning a May 1 “Day Without an Immigrant,” (sic – comma should have been after the parenthetical close) in which they’re asking that people not work or shop on that day”. Great writing, Jim. I particularly enjoyed you’re convoluted word structuring in this sentence. Finally, Washburn, assumingly toungue in cheek, illogically states that blackened calamari tostada is as American as apple pie. Not that clever, Jimbo.

I applaud celebrating a “Day Without an Immigrant”. If illegal immigrants don’t work, don’t shop, don’t drive without a license or insurance, don’t commit any crimes, don’t send their children to school, don’t use any free governmental or health service benefits, etc. on that day, I would propose “A Year Without an Immigrant” so we can actually ascertain the true cost of illegal immigration.

Have a nice day,
David S. Gray
Via e-mail

The copy editor responds: Your letter, while dull, illustrates two important points: that you are frighteningly stupid, and that you really shouldn’t mess with a copy editor. In American English, we keep our punctuation inside our quotation marks unless the punctuation in question would change the meaning of that which is being quoted—for instance, if I were to say, “It sure is amazing how far David S. Gray’s ‘toungue’ is up his own ass,” and then someone else asked another person if he had heard me say that thing about you and your “toungue,” he would say it thusly: “Did you hear the copy editor say of David S. Gray, ‘It sure is amazing how far David S. Gray’s “toungue” is up his own ass’?” Am I confusing you now with all the switching back and forth between the apostrophes and the quotation marks—incidentally, what you do when there’s a quote within a quote? I’m sorry. Sorry you’re so pathetically dumb! By the way, you seem to have a bit of a problem with your possessives and you don’t know your yours from your you’res. By the way also? You’re a dick.

Don’t mess with Texas, you pussy little bitch.

America’s Mom Speaks

George Dubbya Bush you come here this instant. I am talking to you. Now. Do I have to count to ten?

Now look at me when I’m talking to you. Not over there, here. Look at me.

You are out of chances. The day is over. Pack away your toys and we are leaving this White House right now like I promised before. Remember? Remember when we had that agreement? Don’t you lie to me. Look at me. Now put those toys in the bag and come out of that White House and don’t give me any more of that attitude and sass.

I said look at me when I’m talking to you.

You have lied, and cheated, and invaded, and stolen, and given my things to your friends without my permission, and written notes for yourself at school with my name on them, and there is to be no more of that. You are going to go to your room for a good long time and think about what you’ve done, and we’re not bringing you back to this White House again. You hear me?

You. Are. Grounded. And I don’t want to hear any more of that crying or I’m going to have to give you something to cry about.

O tempura! O morays!

  1. Old school artpunk/noise/guitar band Mission of Burma has a site for their next album, The Obliterati that includes a wiki, a song-by-song revelation of the new record, and links to Matador’s subscription setup. Snazzy!
  2. Surprise! If the drug company funds the story, they get the result they want a lot of the time. Meanwhile the more effective medication is out of patent and not used. Oops.
  3. When a person becomes a millionaire, some things just have to change. The shoes. The house. The car. The spouse. And, of course, the email service. I wonder how much they’ll charge for the list of 10,000 people who paid $400 a month for webmail? Talk about an ultimate sucker list.
  4. Watch Hugo Chavez bitch out Dubbya in broken English (.wmv video). Streaming quicktime mirror on my site as well.
  5. As jwz said, if you are a compulsive knot untier, this game will eat you. You’re welcome!

Old Ladies Kick Ass.

Country stolen by criminals with intent to devastate
4/4/2006

Dear Editor,

I am 92 years of age and I have followed politics in this country for nearly as many years. There were tough times. I became an RN during the Great Depression and have known times of very little; never, however, have I feared more for this country than now.

Our country has been stolen by criminals who I fully believe intend to devastate all of the poor and working classes to benefit this small group of extremely greedy people, the same people who planned to steal our government and managed to pull it off.

I call radio shows and I send letters to members of Congress and to the newspaper. My hope is to make all aware that our government is in the worst of hands largely because of crooked trick voting machines. I have observed that even in very small voting places one machine can deliver several thousand more votes for the neo-con candidates. That is several thousand more then they have registered to vote. Many call for recounts where this kind of things happens only to learn that recounts are not possible. These machines were deliberately designed with no permanent records so there is nothing that can be recounted. That is exactly what has delivered to us the quality of leaders who are presently devastating our country.

I am calling upon all who care, as I do, to do all that we can to bring back honest elections. To make good members of Congress aware of how bad this problem is. We need to try as hard as we can to save this country from devastation. Be assured that the greedy cons have no plans for giving up any of what they have stolen and they are the type that will cheat in all ways they can and probably as much as they need to hang on to it all. I believe our country is truly at stake and we must do what we can to save it.

Alyce Fretland
Eureka

From today’s Eureka (CA) Reporter: ( http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=9771 )