Overnight Open Thread (3-4-2012)

Common False Knowledge

"It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so."

-- Ronald Reagan

And it's not just liberals - a lot of what we were taught, what we read, and things that we know aren't true either. Anything "too good to check" is exactly the thing you should go verify.

Here Christoper Taylor has collected some interesting commonly known 'facts' that  aren't.

• Kennedy didn't win the race based on his performance at the televised debate with Nixon, he only got a 2% bump in the polls, which is within the margin of error.


• Johnson probably never said "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost America;" he wasn't even watching the news when Walter Cronkite treacherously declared the Vietnam war (despite all evidence to the contrary) to have been lost. Johnson continued to be upbeat about the war and condemned people who called for withdrawal.


• For that matter, the Tet Offensive was a disastrous, ghastly defeat for the North Vietnamese Army Viet Cong, which in effect ceased to exist after it because the US military totally obliterated them, reversing their temporary gains in a matter of days.


• Following the Watergate scandal, there was supposedly a doubling of journalism students, making reporters hot for the first time in history... except that never happened. There was a very slight gain, but the doubling had already taken place.


• Michael Moore's entire movie Roger And Me was based on his not being able to get into talk to the president of GM... but he did, but just didn't bother showing that in the film, since it would ruin his entire thesis.


• 30% of women's visits to emergency rooms do not come from domestic abuse


• There is no rise in domestic violence on Superbowl Sunday.


• Sacco and Vanzetti were guilty.


• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were guilty.


• Alger Hiss was guilty.

Do The GOP Candidates All Suck?

Well compared to all the 'better' candidates who sat out this election it seems that way, but often that's only because non-candidates have yet to be looked at closely.

For one thing, the non-presidential politicians look good in large part because they're not in the presidential arena. If they were, they would be reduced in stature, mocked, and ridiculed just like Romney, Santorum, Gingrich and Paul. Their past words and votes and life stories come back to haunt them. Any Republican who becomes a serious contender for the presidency is going to face withering scrutiny not simply from opponents but from the press. And there's no guarantee any of the names on Black's list - several of whom I wanted to enter the race - would be doing well at all.

It's all fine and good for commentators and politicians past and present to critique the current combatants, to say how negative, foolish, unprincipled and tone deaf they are. But the truth is that all of us, including politicians of considerable accomplishment and skills - faced with the daily scrutiny and relentless pressure presidential candidates endure on a daily basis - would come off pretty poorly at times. It's a lot easier to analyze candidates from behind a keyboard, microphone, television studio, and at a resort conference or cruise than it is to actually run day after day, speaking at event after event, taking question after question.

The one positive thing they all have going for them is that they really want the job and are willing to work very, very hard to get it. And that's not nothing.

Oh Noes: Anonymous Declares War on the United States

To the Citizens of the United States and the United States Government.
We are Anonymous.

...Therefore, Anonymous has decided to openly declare war on the United States government. This is a call to arms. We call upon the Citizens of the United States to stand beside us in overthrowing this corrupted body and call upon a new era. Our allegiance is to the American people, because they are us, and we are them.

Operation V, engaged.

We are Anonymous.
We are Americans.
We never Forgive.
We never Forget.
To the United States government, it's too late to expect us.

Well Anonymous may discover that having the US at war with it is not nearly as glamorous and fun as taking down a few web sites via trojaned computers from mom's basement.

Don't Look If You Like Guns

Here Mexico destroys 3,091 rifles, 3,697 guns, 21 grenades and 456,308 bullets seized from drug traffickers at a military base near Ciudad Juarez February 16, 2012.

How To Improve Your Life in 60 Seconds

A lot of joy in life comes from the accumulation of small things. And if you've got a minute, here a lot of small things to start with.

Mongo

Mongo only pawn in game of life but he will eff you up anyway.

WTF Japan?

No one does WTF like the Japanese

Miss Hannah Minx - Sparkle JWOW!

Here she explains the ins and outs of pika-pika.

Weekly AoSHQ Commenter Standings

Top 10 commenters:
1 [416 comments] 'Vic' [58.36 posts/day]
2 [336 comments] 'logprof'
3 [329 comments] 'CoolCzech'
4 [328 comments] 'Robert'
5 [321 comments] 'steevy'
6 [302 comments] 'Y-not'
7 [300 comments] 'AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) SMOD 2012'
8 [292 comments] 'Jane D'oh'
9 [285 comments] 'willow'
10 [279 comments] 'yankeefifth'
Honorable Mention: 19 [205 comments] 'ace'

Top 10 sockpuppeteers:
1 [51 names] 'Billy Bob, pseudo-intellectual' [7.16 unique names/day]
2 [46 names] 'logprof'
3 [29 names] 'andycanuck'
4 [25 names] 'Doctor Fish'
5 [25 names] 'AnonymousDrivel'
6 [24 names] 't-bird'
7 [23 names] 'Schrodinger's cat'
8 [22 names] 'kbdabear'
9 [21 names] 'NC Ref'
10 [21 names] '18-1'

The group. Yeah.

Where it's at - the Twitter

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posted by Maetenloch at 09:51 PM

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