Good morning everyone! I'd like to interrupt the Hostiliday proceedings for some late-breaking snark.
The moderators at Free Republic have an interesting job - trying to keep a lid on the bigotry, racism, and overall batshit craziness, without alienating all the bigoted, racist, and batshit -crazy people who make the site what it is.
They pulled this one, for instance, but "we be fast, and they be slow!".
Google Apologizes for Offensive Image of First Lady
Washington Post ^ | November 25, 2009 | Garance Franke-Ruta
Posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 5:03:48 AM by lbryce
Ruta Search engine behemoth Google is apologizing for image-search results delivered for first lady Michelle Obama that show the No. 1 image of her online to be a racist caricature.
"We apologize if you've had an upsetting experience using Google. We hope you understand our position regarding offensive results," says a house ad from "the Google team" served up in conjunction with image results for queries on the first lady's name.
"Search results are a reflection of the content on the web. Our search results simply reflect what's out there," Google spokesman Scott Rubin explained. "According to the way our algorithm works, when we try to deliver the most relevant search results based on other pages that link to it and so on, this is what is returned."
He said it was possible that the image ranked so high because people were linking to it to condemn it, but noted that there was no way for the company to know for sure. Page rank is the result of "more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms," according to Google.
"Because the image is offensive to many, we felt it was important to explain to our users why an image like that would appear," Rubin said.
The racist image was previously removed by Google in response to a complaint by Search Engine Roundtable, which objected that "If you conduct a search in Google Images for [Michelle Obama] you will see a racist image in the number one result."
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
TOPICS: Breaking News
KEYWORDS: firstlady; michelleobamaThis is the image of the First Lady as posted throughout the internet.
Personally, I don't understand at all what the brouhaha is all about.
I think the First Lady should consider it a compliment as it is a most
definite improvement.To: lbryce
the No. 1 image of her online
To me, this says it all.
2 posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 5:07:52 AM by P8riot (I carry a gun because I can't carry a cop.)
To: lbryceWhy the hell is it racist? WaPo states it as a fact. It's simply an age-advancing software image which never makes you look better.
Even me.9 posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 5:11:49 AM by Thrownatbirth (.....Iraq Invasion fan since '91.)
And now - the punch line:
To: lbryceLet’s not cheapen this site with trash.
4 posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 5:09:25 AM by Always Right
To: AllI apologize to all who find the posting of this story not up to the standards of Free Republic and agree that for some this post deserves to be removed.17 posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 5:19:43 AM by lbryce (Obama Notwithstanding, America's Best Days Are Yet To Be .)
To: lbryceThe article was ok, but we didn’t need the picture or the comments. Even though it was done routinely with Bush which was childish, there is just a history of portraying blacks as monkeys that just screams racism.19 posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 5:22:05 AM by Always Right
They really, really don't get it, do they? Somewhere, in what passes for their minds, white people have routinely been insulted racially as "monkeys".
To: lbryceif they don’t like it, they can clickout same as they clicked in
See?
To: lbryceIt may not be to everyone taste, but it’s definitely newsworthy IMHO.No, not when you say:
"I think the First Lady should consider it a compliment as it is a most definite improvement. "
Then you make it about US at FR distorting and smearing Michelle Obama. THAT makes it beneath us.
15 posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 5:18:54 AM by Yossarian
To: YossarianMy comment was conveyed in a sense of utter sarcasm and regret it was lost on some of you.21 posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 5:23:08 AM by lbryce (Obama Notwithstanding, America's Best Days Are Yet To Be .)To: lbryceMy comment was conveyed in a sense of utter sarcasm and regret it was lost on some of you. Horsecrap. It was slime, and you know it. It's obvious with every post here you make. (e.g. "For some, this thread should be pulled.")
I guess they just weren't listening when "Big Jim" Thompson posted this (and the fact that he felt like he needed to says volumes):
(edited for clarity and space)
Message to all liberals and leftists from 'Jim Thompson,' owner of FreeRepublic.com
Vanity | July 15, 2009 | Jim Thompson
Posted on Wednesday, July 15, 2009 3:43:56 PM by Jim Robinson
I'll tell you what. The dozen or so insults made by about a half-dozen anonymous members of the general public on an Internet forum were disgraceful. So we pulled them.
We pulled them because they are racist, but let me now try to weasel-word my way out of it.
But they're really a disgrace to insults in general and to the professional race-baiters of our main stream media that hurl them on a daily basis.
Shorter Jim Thompson - "The racists this place allows to post aren't as bad as the ones that don't post"
Our guys don't hold a candle to the professionals that have spent the last ten years or so pummeling the Bush and Cheney families with thousands of insults
..all of them racial, of course. See? He's made the jump from racism to insults in a single paragraph. Next he'll link insults to brussels sprouts, and Big Jim hates brussels sprouts, and won't hesitate to have posts about them pulled.
every damned day in every newspaper, magazine and TV network broadcasting to the public. Even the movies. Even in the halls of congress, in school rooms, in our churches.
Damn those churches, anyway! And you know you can never turn of the viewscreen.
We are bombarded daily by a constant stream of insults hurled by liberals, socialists, Marxists and leftists of every stripe.
That would be because you're a simpleton with the moral compass of a Bundist.
Family members and children are not immune from the daily barrage of insults from professionals and amateur leftists alike. The Internet is chuck full of insulting comments, photo-shopped photos,
All of which end up here.
cartoons so bad that they should be ashamed to publish them in their daily papers, but publish them they do. And laugh. Freaking hypocrites!
They laugh about the insults hurled 24 hours a day against Sarah Palin and her husband and little girls. Even the tiny helpless little Downs Syndrome baby is not immune from their hateful insults.
Big Jim? News flash for ya, babe. When a "Marxist" (not that you'd recognize one if he walked up to you and sang Krasnoe znamia ) says that Palin is trotting Trig out as a prop, it's not an insult to Trig.
Racism? Monkey sounds? Right. Do a google search on "Bush Chimp" and see what pops up.
Like I said - you really really really don't get it, do you, idiot boy?
George Bush is just as much a human being as Michelle Obama. And just as American. The only difference is George Bush is proud to be an American and proud to defend his country while Michelle Obama was ashamed of America for her entire adult life. Defend America? Right. The Obamas wouldn't lift a finger to defend America. They'd rather destroy it and destroy all it stands for.
You're a nutcase.
Bush is a monkey. Bush is a chimp. Bush is a gorilla. Bush is a subhuman knuckle dragging mongrel. He sometimes makes funny monkey faces, even funny monkey sounds. We all have. I have. You have. Michelle Obama has. Monkey see, monkey do. Get used to it!
Get used to being a nutcase.
Poor white trash live in trailer parks. Poor white trash live in slums. Poor white trash also live in ghettos. Many people who aren't even poor white trash live in trailer parks, slums, barrios and ghettos.
Many who aren't poor, white, ghettos, or trailers live somewhere or other! Flagoom! Orner porner flapdoodle! Waugh!
"Dressed like someone from the ghetto" can't possibly be a "racist" insult unless you're assuming all black people and only black people come from ghettos. If you are making that assumption and are personally insulted by such comment, then look around. You may be a racist.
Why, it's all so simple when you explain it that way. It's not you and your flying monkeys that are racists, it's everybody else. Of course - how logical!
Ok, I think I have this figured out. It's absolutely ok for the left to trash any conservative, even children and babies, but it's absolutely against the rules to return fire. The left can hurl out the insults, but cry like banshees when it comes back on them.
Speaking of insults doing harm to sweet little girls, how much harm is done to a child when Obama authorizes so-called "reproductive health" professionals to reach up into a womb and literally rip a human baby limb from limb and remove its lifeless carcass bit by bit when if left alone, it would have been a bouncing little baby boy or girl just moments later.
And now posting pics at Free Republic of the POTUS and his wife as monkeys has magically turned into the subject of abortion. It's like he's free-associating everything he hates and has forgotten what his sick little screed was supposed to be about. It's turned into BLACKSLIBERALSABORTIONSTAKEMYGUNSMOVENEXTTOMEAAAGHAAAGHMARXISTSWANTMYMONEYHATE THEMALLKILLTHEMALLAAARRGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
That's the supreme insult. It's a gross insult to every human being on this planet living or dead. It's an insult to life itself. It's an insult to humanity, to human decency. It's a slap in the face to God the Creator of all life. We will all pay a price for the disgraceful American Holocaust. Fifty million innocent American lives slaughtered on the altar of liberalism and the count is growing daily. Butchers!
FReep you and the smug, arrogant, hypocritical high horse you rode in on!
My name is Big Jim Thompson and I approve this message.
No, Big Jim - fuck YOU. Thank Providence that you and your ugly sycophants are dying off.
Go directly to Hell, do not collect $200, and may the Saint who casts you down be black..
Well, now that I've spoiled everyone's breakfast, more old odds and ends after the jump.
Oh, look! Teabaggers teabag each other on conference call!
FREEPER CALL TO ACTION: The "Telephone Tea-Party" Starts Wednesday. Stay Tuned
Telephone Tea Party ^ | 10-03-09 | joinedafterattack
Posted on Tuesday, November 03, 2009 12:46:24 PM by joinedafterattack
Freepers, get ready for THE first national "Telephone Tea Party." Massive exposure is planned and every freeper will be called upon to join this "telephone tea-party." Patriots, get your dialing fingers ready!!! Details will be announced Wednesday morning.
(Excerpt) Read more at freerepublic.com ...
Freepers, get ready for THE first national "Telephone Tea Party." Massive exposure is planned and every freeper will be called upon to join this "telephone tea-party." Patriots, get your dialing fingers ready!!! Details will be announced Wednesday morning.
1 posted on Tuesday, November 03, 2009 12:46:25 PM by joinedafterattack
ready
That's one.
To: DoogleYou got it. Ready to catch those dirty rats.
3 posted on Tuesday, November 03, 2009 12:52:32 PM by joinedafterattack
That's two.
To: joinedafterattackIf you cannot get to Wash DC on Thursday, visit your Congressman’s local office!
4 posted on Tuesday, November 03, 2009 1:06:39 PM by Jumpmaster (Defund the Left!)
That's two-and-a-half.
And that's the whole thread. All of it.
No word on whether they could get anybody but them to join the call or pay the last bit of attention.
I guess the next step down after this is "Join the teabagger email thread".
Uh oh - mind messed up marxists are playing with his head!
Nidal Malik Hassan Is A Palestinian Islamic Terrorist.
Posted on Friday, November 06, 2009 12:16:59 PM by Armaggedon
Hassan called his god great in front of witnesses and victims, then Hassan murdered our men and women in cold blood. He is an assassin and traitor.
There I said it. Am I a rascist(sic)? It is time we wake up and speak our truth. We have been backed into a corner by the radical college crowd.
...with their clove cigarettes and fancy "grammar and "spelling" tests.
These mind messed up Marxists are trying to play with our heads. They run most of our media. They are destroying our schhols(sic)
Well, apparently they did destroy your English classroom.
. Obama and his crowd are wolves in sheeps clothing.
How did a jihad terrorist who called for Muslims to attack our troops get to stay in the army as a Major? The free nations of this world are fighting for their lives against wickedness in high places. Time we leveled the playing field. Time to clean house.
God bless Ammerica(sic). America bless God.
And bless America God !
1 posted on Friday, November 06, 2009 12:17:02 PM by Armaggedon
Arm a'geddin sick of this tripe. (sorry)
To: ArmaggedonHow can this be? Right after it happened, the FBI said it was not a terrorist act.
5 posted on Friday, November 06, 2009 12:21:21 PM by anoldafvet (Proud Member of the Un-American Domestic Terrorist Movement)
Let me explain it to you. He isn't a terrorist any more than Charles Whitman was a terrorist.
Nidal Malik Hassan is a mass murderer. Mass murderers don't care about inducing terror, other than in their victims. They don't delude themselves into thinking that their mass murder is going to change any countries' policies. Even Tim McVeigh wasn't that batshit crazy. They snap, and just want to get back at people around them, even if they're not the exact same people. They are there, and they'll do.
Next - How dare REAL soldiers not boo Obama like us chickenhawks!
Hooting and Hollering at Fort Hood Memorial for Obama, DISGUSTING!
Today | Myself
Posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 1:57:32 PM by dila813
FoxNews Now
This is disgusting, this is a Memorial not a Campaign Event.Obama didn't even tell these people to shut up, he was struggling not to smile and wave.
1 posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 1:57:32 PM by dila813
To: dila813Obama is lower than pond scum.
2 posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 1:58:21 PM by ninergold3 ("Has it ever occurred to you that nothing occurs to God?" -Mark Lowry)
To: dila813To: dila813
Yeah! Who let all those blacks and Jews and such into the military, anyway?
To: dila813To: dila813Please tell me it wasn’t soldiers doing the hooting and hollering...
8 posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 1:59:45 PM by NMEwithinTo: dila813Are you saying the military folks are doing this? I am appalled.
9 posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 1:59:48 PM by Recovering_Democrat
Let this sink in for a moment.
This jerkoff is appalled, because the soldiers he professes to care so much about are cheering their Commander In Chief. I suppose he'd like it better if they threw watermelon slices at him.
To: dila813Members of our military are acting disgusting?
15 posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 2:00:30 PM by kukaniloko
To: dila813No, the Military is too disciplined for that, it is the crowd.Who's in the crowd, if not military?
The couch potato commandos are not pleased. That's just too damned bad.
Lastly, we have - Say it ain't so, Joe!!!
Joe Wilson: Don't Censure Graham (Joe Wilson defends Lindsey Graham)
Politico ^ | 2009-11-13
Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 3:36:42 AM by rabscuttle385
With local Republicans trying to censure Lindsey Graham over his apostasy on, in particular, energy and climate issues, the state's highest-profile conservative is standing by him.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
1 posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 3:36:42 AM by rabscuttle385
To: upchuck; SC Swamp FoxBarf.2 posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 3:37:00 AM by rabscuttle385 (Purge the RINOs! * http://restoretheconstitution.ning.com/)
Did he just tell someone named "upchuck" to barf? Sounds kinda redundant to me....
To: rabscuttle385Lindsey Graham has been a great leader for our state and party. I appreciate everything he has done for me and his tireless work in helping Republicans at all levels of government. He’s a team player. Ronald Reagan always said that people who agree with you 80 percent of the time should be considered a good friend. Reagan was a wise man and if we want to build a strong, vibrant Republican Party we should follow his advice.
Hey Joe, get stuffed! Ronald Reagan would NEVER have countenanced what you are trying to sell here.
4 posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 3:50:02 AM by Don W (I will praise Him.)
...or propose an amnesty program for illegals, or grow the Federal budget and defecit, yeah, yeah, I know the routine.
St. Ronnie has become some kind of tabula rasa for these whack-jobs. They project their fantasies and prejudices onto the blank slate of Reagan and gurgle with joy.
To: rabscuttle385I guess Wilson had his fifteen minutes of relevance....just wonder if he will ever yell “You Lie” to Grahamnesty?5 posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 3:50:08 AM by UCFRoadWarrior (The Return of America)
From what I read above, I'm thinking "no".
To: rabscuttle385“Lindsey Graham has been a great leader for our state and party.”
You lie.8 posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 4:44:14 AM by dixiedarlindownsouth (Coming soon to a bookstore near you, Barack Obama's "How to win friends as you screw your country")
To: rabscuttle385Hey, Joe Wilson. I want my money back!
You were stupid enough to give him money???
We have to wait another 5 years or so to get Lindsey, but you can leave next year if you like. I for one am damned sick and tired of RINO’s and politicians who enable them.
This is my party, dammit, and I refuse to leave it or to compromise even one of my principles. If you abandon principle, what you are left with is pragmatism, mother of every scourge foisted upon western civilization since the French Revolution.The Republican party is THE Conservative party. If a third party is necessary as so many here and elsewhere are now advocating, let the RINO’s form it, or conform to our conservative principles.
The RNC will be along in a moment to tell you to fuck off.
I don’t have to get along with anybody. I’m too old, frankly, to care for one second whether or not I am liked by somebody or other, or whether I might just offend some hyphenated group or another’s delicate sensibilities by insisting that my government limit itself to the constraints placed upon it by our Constitution.
I don't think I've ever heard anyone use so many words to say "You kids get off my lawn!" before.
If the good Senator from South Carolina isn’t happy representing conservatives in the Republican Party he needs to get the hell out. If he is still there in 2014, we will throw him out on his ass.
In your fever dreams, grandpaw.
Personally, and I know this will send some flak my way, I would be more comfortable with Graham switching and voting as a Democrat, which he already does, than I am right now with him misrepresenting MY party as anything other than a conservative party, which it isn’t.
That’s my 2 cents worth which given the current value of the USD, isn’t worth much.
You got that right. Not even worth the electrons it cost to view it. You just be sure and keep demanding that the RNC just quit and put you in charge some more, now. I'm sure it'll work as well as anything else in your life has.
Well, back to the bad Holiday Video wars!
Ms. Tommy T and i are heading to Playa Del Carmen next Saturday for a well-deserved vacation week, so there may or may not be a post next Monday. Play nice in the sandbox, all.
One of the first blog-based books, the anthology Special Plans examines Feith's role in misleading America into war. Buy from 
Oooh, I'll bet Big Jim has issued a fatwa against the Guardian's Steve Bell for all those cartoons of Bush....
Posted by: montag | November 30, 2009 at 07:38
"Amateur leftists?"
I prefer "hobbyist"
Posted by: virgotex | November 30, 2009 at 10:48
". . .insisting that my government limit itself to the constraints placed upon it by our Constitution."
Conservatives really DO believe that it's just a "goddamn piece of paper", don't they?
Posted by: anonymouse69 | November 30, 2009 at 11:50
“Thrownatbirth” That might explain a lot.
But at least they can go to sleep at night knowing they’re better than that colored guy with his law degree, Presidency and Nobel Prize. ‘Cause they’re white, you know.
--Kibitzer
Posted by: Kibitzer 2006 | December 01, 2009 at 02:37