"A celebrity is one who is known to many persons he is glad he doesn't know." - H. L. Mencken

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www.badpaintingsofbarackobama.com

Arts and Letters: Freeing the Elephants - "By now, of course, a controversial literature is possible about anything, and yet to discover that there is a controversial literature about Babar is a little shocking—faut-il brûler Babar? (“Must we burn Babar?”), as one inquisitor puts it, in a famous French locution... Yet those who would burn “Babar” miss the true subject of the books. The de Brunhoffs’ saga is not an unconscious expression of the French colonial imagination; it is a self-conscious comedy about the French colonial imagination and its close relation to the French domestic imagination... One can forget, reading the critics, that the books are, first and last, meant to be funny, and that Babar is an elephant who talks and walks: the story is happening to creatures that children know do not ride elevators, wear suits, or build buildings. Part of the joke is in the way the obvious animalness of the protagonist makes evident the absurdity of the human behavior depicted... the rhinos and the elephants have been at war, but the point isn’t that the rhinos are evil. It is that war between nations is as absurd in reality as war between animals looks on the page. Becoming French, the elephants reveal the absurd and contrived elements of the French national character."
I like what Laurent De Brunhoff says about the "white men are evil" crowd: "se moque de ces détracteurs politiquement corrects qui semblent confondre l’art et la réalité... Les universitaires qui se torturent les méninges à propos des significations de Babar feraient bien de ne pas oublier une chose. quoiqu’ils disent et quoiqu’ils écrivent, les livres de Jean et Laurent De Brunhoff continueront de procurer du plaisir à des millions de gens"

Oils 'make male breasts develop' - "Using lavender and tea tree oil products can cause young boys to develop breast tissue, a study finds."

Cunning Linguist - "In a country that laments the dearth of people willing to speak up, surely the defensive stance is a sign of insecurity? Does the logic for every public policy need to be rammed down people’s throat at every opportunity? What happened to the university as a space for open questioning?... The truth is, the PAP government has never seen universities as sites of enquiry for enquiry’s sake or knowledge for knowledge’s sake... the government sees universities as a place to produce people with the right skills for the market. Absolutely nothing wrong with this. Problem is people designed for the market will always be owned by the market. Meanwhile the spirit of enquiry at local universities is as flaccid as an 80 year old man on a Viagra cold turkey. Again, absolutely nothing wrong. Except that we’re always being scolded by the government for not being creative or innovative. Problem is the minute we say something contrary to PAP mantra, we’re called ‘stupid’. Like I said, we’re destined to be a very mediocre people."

African immigrants pose nude for calendar in Spain - "Lopez said he tried to take elegant pictures to reflect the dignity of migrants. “Without clothes, we are all equal,” said 32-year Mady Fofana from Mali, one of the models."

Steroid doping tests ignore vital ethnic differences in hormone activity - "Current steroid (testosterone) doping tests should be scrapped for international sport, because they ignore vital ethnic differences in hormone activity, suggests research published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine."
Race is a social construct.

SMU students walk barefoot to highlight plight of third world country children - "Students had the chance to experience the lives of children from third world countries, who are often exposed to broken glass and infected syringes."
Do these journalists even read what they write?!

Singapore Ousts Editor of Asia Sentinel Again - "If you think the place is loosening up, think again... On the same day [I was deported], the Burmese Gen. Thein Sein also arrived and was greeted warmly and got an orchid named for him. Perhaps there was a mix-up... [The PAP government has] lost just one case — in 1984, when Senior District Judge Michael Khoo made the mistake of ruling that Lee Kuan Yew’s mortal enemy, the late opposition politician Joshua B. Jeyaretnam, was innocent of making a false declaration about the accounts of his Worker’s Party. Judge Khoo was promptly transferred out of his position as a senior judge and transferred to the attorney general’s chambers. No judge in the intervening 24 years has ever made the mistake of ruling against the Lee family, especially in cases involving the press. The government or members of the Lee family have filed defamation or contempt charges against virtually every major publication in Asia... The attorney general filed suit against Melanie Kirkpatrick, a senior editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal itself, 15,339 kilometers away, in kind of the legal equivalent of Kim Jong Il deciding to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile because the powers that be weren’t paying enough attention to him. In a way, it’s reassuring that the government could reach across 21 years to pick my name out of the mists of history. It probably means they are vigilant enough to continue to pursue Mas Selamat Kastari... He won’t get away, if the police force can take the time away from pursuing the press and the opposition to look him up."
Time for another lawsuit

Lesbian attacks wife with sperm - " According to a number of website reports on Wednesday, Stephanie Lighten, 26, allegedly threw her wife Jennifer Lighten, 33, on a couch in the couple's home. She then threatened to impregnate her with "a turkey baster" filled with semen from Stephanie's brother kept in a sealed container, reported letzgetreal.com."