Nontroversy of the Weekend: A Quote on a Rug

Wingnuts • Views: 3,835

The right wing nontroversy of the Labor Day weekend springs from an article at the Washington Post about the new presidential rug for the Oval Office: Oval Office rug gets history wrong.

Writer Jamie Stiehm says these words on the rug are wrongly attributed to Martin Luther King Jr.:

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Stiehm says the quote should instead be credited to abolitionist Unitarian minister Theodore Parker, who said in 1853:

“I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one… . But from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.”

This has produced the usual round of grade school mockery from wingnut sites (a typical headline: “Smartest President in History Botches Oval Office Rug Quote!”).

Except that, as Dave Weigel points out, the words embroidered on the presidential rug were used, verbatim, by Martin Luther King Jr. on many occasions. Here’s one:

Youtube Video

The lineage of these kinds of quotes is an interesting subject, but it’s clear that although Dr. King was inspired by Theodore Parker’s earlier words, he rephrased the thought in a more concise way and made it his own. It’s perfectly appropriate to attribute those exact words to King; he said them, Parker didn’t, and they became a powerful signature phrase for King. As Weigel notes:

Really? People, step away from the laptops and grill something.

Also see

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121 comments
1 Varek Raith  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:18:21pm
Really? People, step away from the laptops and grill something.


QFT.

2 Cineaste  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:21:44pm

Would they have been happier if the rug had read:

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice"
- Martin Luther King*

*though, he was paraphrasing someone else...

3 jamesfirecat  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:22:08pm

My fellow Americans, seventeen score and four years ago France & Bavaria sign military assistance treaty.... just thought you might want to know....

4 Gus  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:22:31pm

Step away from the lap top! If not, next time do this first.

5 elizajane  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:23:05pm

That ridiculous op-ed piece in the Washington Post managed to garner a remarkable array of pissy "Obama-is-an-idiot" comments.

I wonder what has happened to that newspaper. I used to consider it sort of middle-to-right, but its readers seem to have jumped off the cliff, like lemmings following about a third of its regular columnists.

6 Varek Raith  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:24:12pm

Yeah, how about this little gem that some on the right ALWAYS misattributed to Churchill???

"Show me a young Conservative and I'll show you someone with no heart. Show me an old Liberal and I'll show you someone with no brains."

HE NEVER SAID THAT!!!
/Rant mode

7 Jeff In Ohio  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:24:29pm

And Glenn Back handled George Washington's farewell address... 'cause he said so.

The Stupid™

8 jamesfirecat  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:24:52pm

re: #3 jamesfirecat

My fellow Americans, seventeen score and four years ago France & Bavaria sign military assistance treaty... just thought you might want to know...

No wait my bad, that was just seventeen score ago, seventeen score and four years ago... Princess Maria of Orange-Nassau marries Mauritius earl of Simmeren

9 researchok  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:26:06pm

re: #4 Gus 802

Step away from the lap top! If not, next time do this first.

Great. Thank you for introducing me to yet another time waster.

/

10 Varek Raith  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:27:02pm

re: #9 researchok

Great. Thank you for introducing me to yet another time waster.

/

My security settings seem to block that site..
So, no time a wasted for me.
:(

11 Gus  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:27:10pm

re: #9 researchok

Great. Thank you for introducing me to yet another time waster.

/

Yeah. It's fun to use when people refuse to Google something.

[Link: lmgtfy.com...]

12 sagehen  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:28:21pm

The rug doesn't attribute the quote at all. It just has the quote (and some other quotes from other people). No names.

Was the attribution in some press release describing the rug?

13 Gus  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:30:27pm

Here's an earlier use and attribution:

History tells us that the truth eventually wins out. As Martin Luther King once said, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." We've seen that to be the case in America. Taking the long view, we also can see it in the world.

CIA Director's Address at Duquesne University Commencement
Address by Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Gen. Michael V. Hayden - 2007

14 Gus  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:35:07pm

And another:

The Division not only deals with the injustices of the present; it also does not forget the injustices of the past. For example, last year, it secured the conviction of James Seale, a former Ku Klux Klan member, for two brutal killings in 1964. Such cases vividly illustrate Dr. King’s observation that, as he eloquently put it, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

REMARKS AS DELIVERED BY ATTORNEY GENERAL MICHAEL B. MUKASEY AT THE MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY PRAYER BREAKFAST - 2008

Michael Bernard Mukasey (born July 28, 1941) is a lawyer and former judge who served as the 81st Attorney General of the United States. Mukasey, an American lawyer, was appointed following the resignation of Alberto Gonzales.

15 Ghazicide  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:35:11pm

It's not the Right Wing anymore: it's the Rage Wing.

16 [deleted]  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:36:39pm
17 Killgore Trout  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:36:57pm

A sample comment from Hot Air....


God forgive me for thinking this, but Theodore Parker was a white man. Obama would rather the quote was from Martin Luther King, and he has demonstrated often enough that if you repeat a falsehood over and over, people will believe it.

RebeccaH on September 5, 2010 at 1:22 PM


Of course blogs like Hot Air and Instapundit have been pushing this bogus story and will never tell their witless readers that it's been debunked.

18 deranged cat  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:38:04pm

around 58 seconds, btw.
and i know this is stating the obvious, but he was a really inspiring speaker.

20 Walter L. Newton  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:42:26pm

I hate it when wingnuts write articles like this at the Psot and fucks up the history, and give ammunition to all their nutty compatriots.

21 Jeff In Ohio  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:43:07pm

re: #19 Gus 802

Google “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” site:*.edu

Well yeah, if your going to be relying on facts from educational institutions. Elitist!!111!

22 Gus  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:43:11pm

re: #20 Walter L. Newton

I hate it when wingnuts write articles like this at the Psot and fucks up the history, and give ammunition to all their nutty compatriots.

They should be happy. It was the Washington Post that fecked this up.

23 Charles Johnson  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:43:50pm

Daylife has some pictures of the rug -- it looks like the attribution to Martin Luther King isn't even embroidered on the rug. Just the quote.

[Link: www.daylife.com...]

24 SanFranciscoZionist  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:44:35pm

Is the real issue that it's a RUG?

Maybe a PRAYER RUG???

25 Varek Raith  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:45:15pm

re: #24 SanFranciscoZionist

Is the real issue that it's a RUG?

Maybe a PRAYER RUG???

Please.
They'd never be this subtle if it were.
:)

26 tradewind  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:46:04pm

I hadn't seen the controversy about the rug, but I have to agree with Mike Barnacle, which pains me: the redo reminds me of USAir's waiting area at EWR. It's just so damn beige, and the faux velvet sofas are the kicker.

27 Walter L. Newton  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:46:23pm

re: #22 Gus 802

They should be happy. It was the Washington Post that fecked this up.

So... it was liberal journalist Jamie Steihm who fucked up this information?

"Journalist Jamie Stiehm's scores of op-eds and essays on politics and culture have been widely published in 20 newspapers and magazines, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and The Nation. Her columns were distributed by the New York Times Syndicate. She is now at work on a biography of Quaker leader Lucretia Mott at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington."

[Link: www.huffingtonpost.com...]

Blind leading the blinder.

28 spikester  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:47:13pm

re: #24 SanFranciscoZionist

Is the real issue that it's a RUG?

Maybe a PRAYER RUG???

and one of the points on one of the start POINTS TO MECCA !

29 tradewind  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:50:21pm

' The Audacity of Taupe '
[Link: today.msnbc.msn.com...]

30 Batmanghazi  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:52:42pm

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." --Wayne Gretzky
--Michael Scott

31 Varek Raith  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:53:41pm

re: #29 tradewind

' The Audacity of Taupe '
[Link: today.msnbc.msn.com...]

Lol.
Honestly, who cares?
XD

32 bratwurst  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:56:45pm

"When it rains, it pours."

-- Morton Salt

33 SanFranciscoZionist  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:57:58pm

re: #31 Varek Raith

Lol.
Honestly, who cares?
XD

Eh, it's not what I would have done with it, but who asked me?

(Reminded of the West Wing episode where CJ has become chief of staff and is being hounded by the lady from the White House decorator's office, who wants to redo the furniture.)

34 Walter L. Newton  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:58:35pm

I must have missed this...

"Scepticisme en Espagne après l'annonce par l'ETA d'un cessez-le-feu"

ETA announced a cease fire...

[Link: www.lemonde.fr...]

35 SteveC  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 12:59:29pm
Really? People, step away from the laptops and grill something.

Perhaps a troll will stop by! *Hopeful*

/Docs have me on this low sodium diet. Pull my portion off to the side and season it with Benson's, if you don't mind.

36 Varek Raith  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:00:50pm

re: #33 SanFranciscoZionist

Eh, it's not what I would have done with it, but who asked me?

(Reminded of the West Wing episode where CJ has become chief of staff and is being hounded by the lady from the White House decorator's office, who wants to redo the furniture.)

I'd do something along these lines...
Image: -1357816984.jpg

37 Varek Raith  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:01:15pm

re: #35 SteveC

Perhaps a troll will stop by! *Hopeful*

/Docs have me on this low sodium diet. Pull my portion off to the side and season it with Benson's, if you don't mind.

Hey!
How ya doin?

38 Eclectic Infidel  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:03:06pm

re: #24 SanFranciscoZionist

Is the real issue that it's a RUG?

Maybe a PRAYER RUG???

OMG!?! Sekrit Muzlim rug to deceive America!!!1111

39 tradewind  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:05:00pm

re: #31 Varek Raith
I don't. But to answer your question, ' who cares ', ...... there's a thread, and there must be some people who are interested, since there are about a gazillion hits on the subject from widely disparate sources.
If you meant is the new Oval decor as important as the economy or the situation in the Middle East, or solving world hunger? Probably not.

40 SanFranciscoZionist  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:05:52pm

re: #39 tradewind

I don't. But to answer your question, ' who cares ', ... there's a thread, and there must be some people who are interested, since there are about a gazillion hits on the subject from widely disparate sources.
If you meant is the new Oval decor as important as the economy or the situation in the Middle East, or solving world hunger? Probably not.

Now, if someone did a website or something where you could design your own Oval Office, that would be totally cool.

41 Varek Raith  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:06:28pm

re: #39 tradewind

I don't. But to answer your question, ' who cares ', ... there's a thread, and there must be some people who are interested, since there are about a gazillion hits on the subject from widely disparate sources.
If you meant is the new Oval decor as important as the economy or the situation in the Middle East, or solving world hunger? Probably not.

I meant the people getting worked up over it.
It's silly.
It's not like Obama has to stop what he's doing to redecorate.
He's got minions for that!

42 tradewind  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:06:45pm

re: #33 SanFranciscoZionist
Still waiting for another series about politics that even approaches the quality of ( most of) the West Wing.

43 Varek Raith  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:07:03pm

re: #40 SanFranciscoZionist

Now, if someone did a website or something where you could design your own Oval Office, that would be totally cool.

MORE SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!
/I'll stop.
:)

44 researchok  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:09:35pm

I heard they vacuum the rugs in the direction of Mecca.

//

45 tradewind  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:11:54pm

re: #41 Varek Raith
I doubt that any POTUS has much input /gives much thought to the decor other than to say okay or ugh at the final sketch. At least, that's my hope.
This new office looks like a collaborative effort of Desiree Rogers and Michaele Salahi.
/snark off/

46 Varek Raith  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:12:10pm

re: #44 researchok

I heard they vacuum the rugs in the direction of Mecca.

//

Bugger.
I don't have a compass.
/

47 RadicalModerate  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:12:34pm

This may be the university recruiting ad campaign fail of the year.

Great moments in collegiate marketing: Drake University’s ‘D+’ campaign

48 Gus  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:14:07pm

Back later.

49 tradewind  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:14:38pm

Nothin' says subtle like a dog bringing you his own leash...
Outie.

50 researchok  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:14:46pm

re: #47 RadicalModerate

This may be the university recruiting ad campaign fail of the year.

Great moments in collegiate marketing: Drake University’s ‘D+’ campaign

Drake is where they teach the Gulf of Mexico is in Mexico. Or a chain of gas stations.

Explains the D+.

51 researchok  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:15:22pm

re: #48 Gus 802

Back later.

You're filling out that Drake application, right?

//

52 SteveC  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:16:20pm

re: #37 Varek Raith

Hey!
How ya doin?

Pretty good! See the bone doc this week, hoping he'll tell me I can get rid of the splint.

I'm willing to sing "Dem Bones" if it will influence him in my favor...!

53 SteveC  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:19:23pm

re: #42 tradewind

Still waiting for another series about politics that even approaches the quality of ( most of) the West Wing.

"What are you thinking about, Jed?"

"Tomorrow."

-- Last lines

54 Varek Raith  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:22:07pm

re: #52 SteveC

Pretty good! See the bone doc this week, hoping he'll tell me I can get rid of the splint.

I'm willing to sing "Dem Bones" if it will influence him in my favor...!

Heh.

I immediately thought of Them Bones by Alice in Chains.

55 SteveC  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:24:54pm

re: #47 RadicalModerate

This may be the university recruiting ad campaign fail of the year.

Great moments in collegiate marketing: Drake University’s ‘D+’ campaign

This must be the same PR firm that the Texas Rangers paid a small fortune to find the perfect name for their new stadium. The name that was chosen was... The Ballpark at Arlington.

56 Varek Raith  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:25:54pm

re: #55 SteveC

This must be the same PR firm that the Texas Rangers paid a small fortune to find the perfect name for their new stadium. The name that was chosen was... The Ballpark at Arlington.

Lol.

57 webevintage  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:30:39pm

re: #26 tradewind

I hadn't seen the controversy about the rug, but I have to agree with Mike Barnacle, which pains me: the redo reminds me of USAir's waiting area at EWR. It's just so damn beige, and the faux velvet sofas are the kicker.

It is boring and frugal looking....
But I hated Bush's rug and wallpaper so I'm all of a "whatever" vote.

The question is why does Mike Barnacle care?

58 SanFranciscoZionist  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:31:48pm

re: #57 webevintage

It is boring and frugal looking...
But I hated Bush's rug and wallpaper so I'm all of a "whatever" vote.

The question is why does Mike Barnacle care?

I think, also, this is maybe not the time to do a lavish remake of the Oval. Save it for a second term, if the economy perks up. Taupe is OK for hard times.

59 Killgore Trout  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:32:19pm

The Passions (And Perils) Of Pamela Geller

the right-wing blogger, whose vehement opposition to the planned Islamic community center near Ground Zero (a “mega-mosque” in her parlance) has earned Geller national headlines, rose from her seat at a Midtown diner last week and, fed up with the line of questioning, stormed out of a Jewish Week interview.

“Shame on you,” she shouted, “shame on you. Stop slamming the good guys.”

A journalist’s offense? Asking questions about her accuracy and her red-meat rhetoric.
....
In person, though, the 51-year-old blogger comes across as charming, demure and even subdued, as long as she isn’t questioned or challenged too vigorously.
....
While not discussing Geller specifically, Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, a neoconservative think tank, said the tenor of the conversation regarding Islam in recent months has distressed him. The “good part” is that Americans are now pushing back against Islamacists, or radical Muslims, but the “bad part” is that many are now doing so “in a crude way,” calling Mohammed a pedophile and referring to all Muslims as terrorists.

Many of today’s bloggers, Pipes said, “came of age on 9/11” and haven’t done the serious study of Islam that he and others have. As a result, he added, much of what they write is based on ignorance.


Pam retorts.....


The Jewish Week (not) did a hit piece on moi earlier this week. I will not link to the never-was (let alone has-been) journalist who trafficked in out-and-out lies. Dhimmi shill journalist Doug Chandler claimed I "stormed out of a Jewish Week interview" in the lede paragraph.

Chandler is a bold faced liar.

I did not walk out. I spent over an hour and forty-five minutes with that JINO from the Jewish Week, on a day on which I had six other interviews. He got, far and away, the largest chunk of my time of those six. At the close of the interview, he started reading from a printout of Media Matters libelous Geller talking points. He began asking me to respond to distortions, half-truths, and outright lies posted by Media Matters and I did. Quite a number of them. But then it got stupid. Soon I saw that it was pointless to respond, since the Media Matters material is so deeply tendentious and biased, and since I had another interview, I told the interviewer that it was nonsense and that I had to go. I did not storm out, but since I had another interview scheduled at that time, I did have to leave. And we had covered everything.

The reporter is a drama queen looking to hook bottom feeders by trafficking in smears and fabrication.

The Jewish Week interview demonstrates his dishonesty and shows that he fabricates material when he claims that Robert Spencer and I shouted down speakers at the May 25 community board meeting. We shouted no one down, and have the video of the entire event (here and here) to prove it. That a Jew would accuse me of being a brown shirt in defending America is clearly the act of a modern day kapo.

Heh.
Interesting statement from Pipes. He should be less worried about the crude rhetoric and start noticing the Eurofascists and their growing influence here in America.

60 Walter L. Newton  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:33:42pm

re: #57 webevintage

It is boring and frugal looking...
But I hated Bush's rug and wallpaper so I'm all of a "whatever" vote.

The question is why does Mike Barnacle care?

The same reason anyone cares about a fucking bunch of slime hanging out at the Jersey Shore. The funny thing, when I was growing up, and I spent two summers working at an amusement park in the same neighborhood that this show covers, those kind of people were considered thugs and troublemakers and their lifestyle was nothing to copy.

61 RadicalModerate  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:35:15pm

re: #55 SteveC

This must be the same PR firm that the Texas Rangers paid a small fortune to find the perfect name for their new stadium. The name that was chosen was... The Ballpark at Arlington.

Which is something that we *can* blame on George W. Bush, as he was the majority owner and managing general partner of the Rangers at the time (1994) and had final say-so on the naming process.

62 Ghazicide  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:44:02pm

re: #59 Killgore Trout

Heh, baby steps. I've not read Pipes in a while but used to like him. I'm askerd to look though.

I'm not surprised he's calling out Pam on her rhetoric. I hope he's not the last, and he also notices her Nazi friends.

63 SteveC  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:50:59pm

re: #61 RadicalModerate

Which is something that we *can* blame on George W. Bush, as he was the majority owner and managing general partner of the Rangers at the time (1994) and had final say-so on the naming process.

I got a call last week from President Obama. Came as a complete surprise, especially when he asked how my wrist was doing. (Better!) He asked how I hurt it. I told him I was in Houston, had just arrived - hadn't even been there 20 minutes - when I fell in Baggage Claim.

The President said that he thought there were two airports in Houston, which one was I at? I answered "Bush International."

"I knew it!" He said. "It was Bush's fault!"

//

64 SanFranciscoZionist  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:52:04pm

re: #62 BigPapa

Heh, baby steps. I've not read Pipes in a while but used to like him. I'm askerd to look though.

I'm not surprised he's calling out Pam on her rhetoric. I hope he's not the last, and he also notices her Nazi friends.

Pipes is a bit shrill at times, and I disagree with some of his heavy-handed lay-it-on about Islam, but I think he's still basically in reality as the rest of us know it, and enough of a real scholar to see that the Gellerites are bad news.

I was shocked that he joined the bitching about Rima Fakih's beauty crown win. A middle-aged man whining that Arab girls get special treatment looks both racist and bizarre.

Oddly, Pam was the only one of the usual suspects who didn't join in the wailing about Rima. I can't say I respect her for it, but it did show some internal consistency.

65 Ghazicide  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:55:48pm

re: #64 SanFranciscoZionist

Wow, she's stunning, I don't know what the controversy is... do I need to know or is it more of the usual?

66 SteveC  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:57:15pm

The Democrats are willing to sacrifice a few...

In the next two weeks, Democratic leaders will review new polls and other data that show whether vulnerable incumbents have a path to victory. If not, the party is poised to redirect money to concentrate on trying to protect up to two dozen lawmakers who appear to be in the strongest position to fend off their challengers.

67 SanFranciscoZionist  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 1:58:41pm

re: #65 BigPapa

Wow, she's stunning, I don't know what the controversy is... do I need to know or is it more of the usual?

Rima? Just that the family is Shiite. Debbie Schlussel had a panic attack about how she was the 'Hezbollah candidate', and hinted darkly at a conspiracy. (How it would benefit Hezbollah to control Miss USA was never clarified.) Then Pipes jumped in with a stupid piece about how Muslim girls were 'mysteriously' winning all these beauty pageants in Europe and the States, suggesting that it was some kind of politically correct thing.

Geller, however, was psyched. She likes the idea of Muslim girls in bikinis.

68 Ghazicide  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:03:11pm

re: #67 SanFranciscoZionist

Then Pipes jumped in with a stupid piece about how Muslim girls were 'mysteriously' winning all these beauty pageants in Europe and the States, suggesting that it was some kind of politically correct thing.

Maybe there's PC, maybe not. I used to get a little more worked up about it but now don't think PC'ism is as evil as it's made out to be. So what, does this mean we're going commy?

Maybe Muslim girls are beatiful and we're just starting to deal....?

69 SteveC  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:03:45pm

re: #67 SanFranciscoZionist

Geller, however, was psyched. She likes the idea of Muslim girls in bikinis.

I like the idea of an attractive woman in a bikini, regardless of religious or political affiliation!

70 SanFranciscoZionist  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:08:10pm

re: #68 BigPapa

Maybe there's PC, maybe not. I used to get a little more worked up about it but now don't think PC'ism is as evil as it's made out to be. So what, does this mean we're going commy?

Maybe Muslim girls are beatiful and we're just starting to deal...?

Also, as more Muslim immigrant families assimilate in Europe and the US, we're going to see more of their daughters entering these events. And yeah, Lebanese girls are famously stunning!

71 Charles Johnson  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:11:10pm

Some serious stalking action going on today. After I posted a comment about the link to LGF at Reddit, an anonymous coward went there, registered, and posted this:

39 Charles
Sun, Sep 5, 2010 11:16:07am 2 down up report

The Todd Palin-RS McCain post is featured at Reddit.com and it's driving thousands of hits to LGF:

[Link: reddit.com...]

(If anyone would like to comment in that thread, it's pretty easy to register there.) Charlie told me to come here and post. We do just what he says to keep our account. If it wasn't for his lies we'd never have any hits.Seems every time you turn around Charlie is begging us for money again. Did I mention he is a liar?

How pathetic is your life when you spend it doing stuff like this?

72 Crimsonfisted  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:24:57pm

re: #6 Varek Raith

Yeah, how about this little gem that some on the right ALWAYS misattributed to Churchill???

HE NEVER SAID THAT!!!
/Rant mode

If I could upding a thousand times I would.

My other favorite misquote:

"Money is the root of all evil" It is actually:
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows

73 Crimsonfisted  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:27:59pm

re: #67 SanFranciscoZionist

Geller, however, was psyched. She likes the idea of Muslim girls in bikinis.


uh, that is kind of creepy. You just SERIOUSLY creeped me out.

74 sattv4u2  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:28:58pm

re: #71 Charles

Charles

I disagree with you on many issues, but I must say, those people really need to get a hobby.
A) nobody (you) needs/ deserves that type of grief in their lives
B) it doesn't help their "cause" any by acting that way

75 SanFranciscoZionist  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:31:58pm

re: #73 Crimsonfisted

uh, that is kind of creepy. You just SERIOUSLY creeped me out.

It's creepy, but at least it's supportive of the young woman. All of these people are creepy. If I have to choose, I'll go with 'Go, Shiite girl, be Miss USA', as opposed to 'She's HEZBOLLAH'S candidate for Miss USA!"

76 Crimsonfisted  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:33:05pm

re: #75 SanFranciscoZionist

I was going in a WHOLE different direction with that!

77 sattv4u2  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:39:15pm

re: #76 Crimsonfisted

I was going in a WHOLE different direction with that!

And then there are those that should never EVER wear a bikini!

CAUTION ,, YOUR EYES WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!!

[Link: www.google.com...]

78 Benghazzy Ben Ross  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:40:56pm

re: #77 sattv4u2

A lot of those pics really aren't that bad. Just sayin'.

79 sattv4u2  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:41:15pm

re: #77 sattv4u2

And then there are those that should never EVER wear a bikini!

CAUTION ,, YOUR EYES WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!!

[Link: www.google.com...]

Should be titled The Good, The Bad, and The WTF were you thinking!!

80 sattv4u2  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:41:26pm

re: #78 JasonA

A lot of those pics really aren't that bad. Just sayin'.

see 79

81 sattv4u2  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:43:30pm

CHARLES ,, please get rid of #77 and #79 if you need too

Didn't know there was nudiditity below the scroll

82 Crimsonfisted  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:43:31pm

And to think I have been surfing the web looking for portable toilets that flush and turn the waste to ash!

Better to be looking at the Weird Women in What?!?! bikinis.

(I don't feel so fat anymore now.)

83 Varek Raith  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:44:13pm

re: #81 sattv4u2

CHARLES ,, please get rid of #77 and #79 if you need too

Didn't know there was nudiditity below the scroll

I think we're all grownups....
ZOMG BOOBS!!!!

84 sattv4u2  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:44:58pm

re: #83 Varek Raith

I think we're all grownups...
ZOMG BOOBS!!!

Charles ,, DON'T get rid of 77 and 79 till Varek has had a 'moment"!

85 Benghazzy Ben Ross  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:45:10pm

re: #81 sattv4u2

CHARLES ,, please get rid of #77 and #79 if you need too

Didn't know there was nudiditity below the scroll

That should depend on the reader's setting for safe search.

86 Varek Raith  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:45:19pm

re: #84 sattv4u2

Charles ,, DON'T get rid of 77 and 79 till Varek has had a 'moment"!

LOLHAHAHAHAHA!

87 Varek Raith  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:47:12pm

Mmm.
Roasted asparagus.
Yum.

88 sattv4u2  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:47:45pm

re: #87 Varek Raith

Mmm.
Roasted asparagus.
Yum.

is that what you kids are calling it nowadays!!

89 Varek Raith  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:48:22pm

re: #88 sattv4u2

is that what you kids are calling it nowadays!!

Heh, you're dirty old man!
/

90 Benghazzy Ben Ross  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:48:38pm

So why all the hubbub about whether or not taxpayer money will be used to stabilize the Afghan bank? I mean, isn't stabilizing that country pretty damn important to us?

91 sattv4u2  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:50:27pm

re: #89 Varek Raith

Heh, you're 1 dirty 2 old 3 man!
/

1Yes, 2 yes and 3 yes!

Any other questions!?!?!

92 sattv4u2  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 2:52:57pm

re: #90 JasonA

So why all the hubbub about whether or not taxpayer money will be used to stabilize the Afghan bank? I mean, isn't stabilizing that country pretty damn important to us?

Not too up to speed on the ins and outs of that issue, but I would think with so many small US banks going belly up, I would like to see the International Monetary Fund or The World Bank step in instead of the US taxpayers

93 Ojoe  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:02:12pm

I think it would have been better if the rug said

The Buck Stops Here.

94 Jeff In Ohio  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:03:58pm

re: #92 sattv4u2
re: #90 JasonA

[Link: www.nytimes.com...]

"'No American taxpayer funds will be used to support Kabul Bank,' said Jenni LeCompte, a Treasury Department spokeswoman." An earlier version incorrectly reported that American funds would be used to fund the bailout.
95 sattv4u2  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:05:41pm

re: #94 Jeff In Ohio

Thanks

Good news, imho

96 simoom  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:06:35pm

CNN appears to have regurgitated the WaPo article with the addition of running a Wikipedia search and demanding answers from the White House on this issue of national import:

CNN - Oval Office rug wrongly attributes quote to MLK

photo caption - A quote on the perimeter of the new presidential rug in the Oval Office is wrongly attributed to Martin Luther King, Jr. (PHOTO CREDIT: Shawna Shepherd/POOL)
...
While the origins of Parker’s proclamation are rarely cited in today’s public discourse, a search on even the most basic of research tools, Wikipedia, reveals Parker as the voice behind the words.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton on Saturday stood by the quote on the rug, noting that Martin Luther King Jr. did utter precisely the same words on September 2, 1957. Burton said that Theodore Parker's quote is slightly different.

97 simoom  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:08:29pm

re: #96 simoom

They should take that CNN quote as their new motto :P... Wikipedia, "the most basic of research tools." :P

98 Jeff In Ohio  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:10:47pm

re: #96 simoom

That's pretty sad when your a large news organization and you cite Wikipedia as your main source for the facts of a story.

The Stupid™ is contagious.

99 Ghazicide  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:11:04pm

re: #96 simoom

This is officially OMFG Status now.

Another WTF story:
Original owners of proposed mosque site sold it for $4.8 million after turned down $18 million offer

100 sattv4u2  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:13:25pm

re: #98 Jeff In Ohio

That's pretty sad when your a large news organization and you cite Wikipedia as your main source for the facts of a story.

The Stupid™ Lazy is contagious.

ftfy

actually, it's more likely they rely on sites like Wiki rather than pay multiple staffers to hunt down "facts"

101 Ojoe  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:14:31pm

If I am elected president I will sell the rug, pay the receipt into the treasury, and just go with a bare floor.

102 Killgore Trout  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:16:08pm

re: #99 BigPapa

This is officially OMFG Status now.

Another WTF story:
Original owners of proposed mosque site sold it for $4.8 million after turned down $18 million offer

An exclusive from a Murdoch outlet based on the accusations of a bitter developer. Probably A) not true B) a distortion C) a conspiracy based on half truths D) all of the above.

103 Jeff In Ohio  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:18:27pm

re: #100 sattv4u2

ftfy

actually, it's more likely they rely on sites like Wiki rather than pay multiple staffers to hunt down "facts"

What is most likely is they have a very expensive account with Lexus Nexus and could have done the same search there in the same amount of time with more accurate results.

So, I'm sticking with The Stupid™

104 Randall Gross  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:19:18pm

re: #99 BigPapa

This is officially OMFG Status now.

Another WTF story:
Original owners of proposed mosque site sold it for $4.8 million after turned down $18 million offer

Careful on that one - Examiner.com sites will let pretty much anyone off the street write for them, and there's like zero fact checking. Wait til a real news service confirms before you believe it...

105 Ghazicide  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:21:32pm

GAH

09/05/2010 2:17 PM

I just bid on a bank-owned property in Las Vegas. Lots of people bid higher than I, but in the end they couldn't show the money... the so-called "bids" were phoney.

Did Glodek really have the cash? The reporter didn't check that. Why did his deal with ConEd fall through, too? Is $100/sq.ft. really that low for a building that needs to be gutted and rebuilt? Where are the comps?

This is some of the worst reporting I've ever seen... a lot of hearsay, and no real facts.
#
Report Abuse

The Conservative New Yorker

09/05/2010 1:50 PM

This demands an investigation:

Originally offered $18 million for the property, but deal "disappears". Then the property is sold for only $4.8 million because Ms. Kukiko Mitani was in debt and desperate to sell after her husbands death.

No one sells a property for 4.8 million after being offered 18 million for it. NO ONE.

Yes, you take the deal of $4.8m if the $18m deal is due upon a loan and other complexities but the 4.8 is real cash and ready to go ahead. I'm not saying this happened but that it's a very real potential. Which is essentially the same thing that this reporter is doing, except he's getting paid to do what I'm doing sitting around in my underwear drinking cheap beer on a Sunday afternoon.

It's as if the potential for news is what makes news nowadays, as opposed to real news.

106 sattv4u2  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:22:05pm

re: #103 Jeff In Ohio

What is most likely is they have a very expensive account with Lexus Nexus and could have done the same search there in the same amount of time with more accurate results.

So, I'm sticking with The Stupid™

again ,,,, bottom line

Lexus Nexus ,,, $$$$$$$

Wikipidia,,,,,,,, not so much!

((btw ,, I'll ask. I deal with people at CNN almost daily
I will have to wait till Tuesday however, as most I deal with have the holiday off)

107 SanFranciscoZionist  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:24:55pm

re: #104 Thanos

Careful on that one - Examiner.com sites will let pretty much anyone off the street write for them, and there's like zero fact checking. Wait til a real news service confirms before you believe it...


Double-plus second this. The night everyone was freeking on the RWR blogs because Los Zetas had taken Laredo, one of the chief sources was some woman from San Diego, writing for the Examiner, who was getting the details from some Minuteman who turned out to be quite mistaken.

Pity. The San Francisco Examiner was a perfectly respectable paper for many years.

108 Randall Gross  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:25:12pm

re: #104 Thanos

Careful on that one - Examiner.com sites will let pretty much anyone off the street write for them, and there's like zero fact checking. Wait til a real news service confirms before you believe it...

Matter of fact I never link those sites, no sense giving them SEO authority.

109 Ghazicide  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:25:43pm

re: #104 Thanos

Careful on that one - Examiner.com sites will let pretty much anyone off the street write for them, and there's like zero fact checking. Wait til a real news service confirms before you believe it...

No, I don't believe it... I want a job. I can make shit up sitting around the house living as a sloth drinking excessively like all the best writers. I'm not that good, but if it pays.. LOL.

110 Randall Gross  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:26:24pm

re: #109 BigPapa

I don't think it pays.

111 CDRealist  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:32:10pm

Not to put too fine a point on it, but King was a serial plagiarist. Some researchers at Stanford a few years ago were trying to trace the origins of his thoughts and discovered that he routinely took paragraphs and whole pages of text from other people and put them into his speeches and papers. His doctoral thesis and other grad school papers have big chunks plagiarized.

112 elbruce  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:38:08pm

re: #103 Jeff In Ohio

What is most likely is they have a very expensive account with Lexus Nexus and could have done the same search there in the same amount of time with more accurate results.

So, I'm sticking with The Stupid™

Or they could find the source that Wikipedia cited and cite that instead of Wikipedia itself. If that claim in the Wikipedia entry isn't sourced, then they shouldn't repeat it.

113 Ghazicide  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 3:47:47pm

re: #111 CDRealist

Not to put too fine a point on it, but King was a serial plagiarist. Some researchers at Stanford a few years ago were trying to trace the origins of his thoughts and discovered that he routinely took paragraphs and whole pages of text from other people and put them into his speeches and papers. His doctoral thesis and other grad school papers have big chunks plagiarized.

Do you have any information that would back up that claim?

114 Canucknghazi  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 4:24:42pm

As a kid I hoped I would never need a rug, but now that I do I just swallow my pride and wear an industrial-sized comb-over.

115 ihateronpaul  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 4:39:33pm

pretty sure the reason they are actually outraged is because it is quoting a man that spent his life fighting against inequality. inequality is AMERICAN, just ask john boner

116 Charles Johnson  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 5:35:54pm

re: #113 BigPapa

Do you have any information that would back up that claim?

King had plenty of sins in his past; I think the plagiarism claim is true. Boston University studied his speeches and found numerous sections that were lifted wholesale from other sources. And I think they found plagiarism in his doctoral dissertation too.

These claims are all true, but in a very real way they don't matter - because of everything else King achieved. He was a flawed, driven human being, not a cartoon character, but despite his flaws he was still one of the greatest Americans of the 20th century.

117 elbruce  Sun, Sep 5, 2010 6:28:21pm

Hey, he got a lot more done with those quotes than the people who originally coined them.

118 ihateronpaul  Mon, Sep 6, 2010 6:36:40am

re: #117 elbruce

Hey, he got a lot more done with those quotes than the people who originally coined them.


Well he's a plagirizing communist! Who cares what he said, I am outraged that our children are being indoctrinated with his hippy-dippy-free-love propoganda!!11

this isn't me projecting, barry goldwater (the father of modern conservatism) voted against the civil rights act of 1964. You know, the one inspired by martin luther king.

119 ihateronpaul  Mon, Sep 6, 2010 6:37:21am

re: #118 ihateronpaul

this comment was supposed to have tags that said < conservative logic > but it got scrubbed out

120 ClaudeMonet  Mon, Sep 6, 2010 11:07:35am

Note to all who take exception with the new decor in the Oval Office--

1. Every incoming President decorates the Oval Office as he (or eventually, she) sees fit.

2. It's his office, he can have whatever he wants in there. If you don't like it, redecorate the place when YOU become President.

3. That rug really ties the whole room together.

121 CDRealist  Mon, Sep 6, 2010 2:28:35pm

#113 big papa

Start with wikipedia
[Link: en.wikipedia.org...]

[Link: hnn.us...]
This is a summary of the plagiarism by one of the researchers. "his paper on "The Chief Characteristics and Doctrines of Mahayana Buddhism," however, is composed almost exclusively of paragraphs lifted from the best secondary sources available to him. Moreover, the further King went in his academic career, the more deeply ingrained the patterns of borrowing language without clear attribution became. Thus, the plagiarism in his dissertation seemed to be, by then, the product of his long established practice."


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