Christmas Trees & Pie (South Park)

I can't hear O Holy Night without hearing Eric Cartman of South Park singing it. I just can't.

Back to Ohio: Day #1 of 6

Well, it's that time again. Back to Ohio for some early Christmas festivities with the family. I land around 5 pm, have to get the car and the luggage, then drive out to the family manse. As such, posting will be quite a bit lighter for the next few days. But I'll be sure to get a thing or two up every day, and with a little luck, my friend Stupid Monkey Planet will be around for some interesting posts. You'll like him, he's on the same page as I am, but on the back side. . .and in the margins. Meanwhile, I'm setting off a few blogger bombs that will post every day. Since I can't know what's going to be going on in the world here at the beginning of the week, I'm reposting some Holiday Cheer posts for previous Christmas seasons, to get me (and you) in the holiday mood. Here's the first:

Holiday Cheer: Eric Cartman Sings O Holy Night

I cannot hear O Holy Night by anybody anymore without thinking of Eric Cartman of South Park. Good thing? Bad thing? I don't know, but there you go. . .

"Teabaggers" Upset. . .And It's Still Funny. Still.

Earlier this year, I wrote a post about the feigned indignation of tea party members about being called "tea baggers."  One look at the breathtaking civility displayed on the always properly spelled and punctuated signs at one of their rallies will show you, that being disrespectful of the tea party is just so uncalled for, right?
Presently, I'm having a little brushfire in the comments section of the blog from one of these tea party supporters.  I had to go and look up this post, and was unsurprised to see that this guy fits the template I've laid out exactly.  The post is even more timely now, with the faux "grass roots" organization (which is really a rebranding of the GOP base) managing to secure primary victories for their candidates. We'll see how many of them win in a couple of weeks, and perhaps more interesting, we'll get to see how these wackados legislate.  In the meantime, here's my take on the whole "tea bagger" thing.

ORIGINAL POST: Sunday, January 17, 2010

Teabaggers get upset when you call them teabaggers. Even though they used the term first, with full knowledge of its use as a sexual term. Signs like "Teabag Obama!" and "Teabag Democrats in Congress before they teabag you!" make little sense unless they knew what it meant. Yet they still get bent out of shape when their movement is referred to as teabaggers. [By the way, I'm watching ABC's This Week on DVR, and The Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel used several tea bagger references! And uptight Tucker Carlson got pissy about it! Hee hee!].

Here's a little secret: if the "teabagger" double-meaning had stuck as a funny put-down of Democrats, the movement wouldn't mind at all. They'd use it with glee, and they'd use it with gusto. Instead, it got turned around on them. They're not used to that. Democrats rarely get to capitalize on this sort of thing. But they did. And the tea party movement keeps getting annoyed, and it keeps being funny.

The irony is, the more upset they get about it, the funnier it gets. And part of the funny comes from them acknowledging what it means, while trying to distance themselves from the gay. When they do try to address the gay, they do so by feigning how appalled they are, that anyone using the dirty meaning must be somehow deviant and immoral. And yet, they keep using the tea bag as their symbol, with countless offshoots, from Tea Party Patriots to Tea Party Express and beyond.

Pretend that there never was a sexual double meaning. Don't they realize that "tea party"--beyond being a political protest in the 1700s--sounds incredibly dainty? Like a little girl's imaginary social gathering? Here's what I think of (besides balls) when I think of these people. . . Eric Cartman's Tea Party

[Excerpt]

Top Teabagger is mad: Don't call us 'an offensive sexual slur'

The teabaggers don't like being called teabaggers. Yesterday, via email, I got a press release from one of the leaders of the teabagging movement, David Webb, the "Co-Founder Tea Party 365, Inc." Webb is steamed at Senator Chuck Schumer. . .

Read more at: AmericaBlog


EDITOR'S NOTE:  Aside from the nasty things tea baggers often say about the President, Democrats or anyone that disagrees with them, there's another thing.  I'd venture to say that most tea partiers (damn, that sounds girly) use the phrase Democrat Party, just like their favorites on FOX "News" and talk radio do. A cursory reading of some of their writings tends to verify this. The accurate name is the Democratic Party.  They do this because it tested well (or because they're ignorant, and parrot what they hear). "Democratic" sounds too much like other words the right has turned into slogans, like "liberty" and "freedom." Can't have that. Plus, they can pronounce it "DemocRAT!"  So, as long as Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Sean Hannity, Michele Bachmann, Michael Weiner Savage, Mark Levin and the rest stop using that incorrectly, I'll stop saying "tea bagger." Deal?

Tea Party Topples Top Teabagger

This whole tea party thing is getting confusing. Sunday morning on Face the Nation, there was a black guy, David Webb, speaking for the movement. . .when did that happen? He was speaking for the Tea Party Federation. How that ties to the Tea Party Express, the Tea Party Patriots, Tea Party Nation, the Tea Party Party, (and I'm sure I'm leaving some out) I have no idea. But since the movement's message is so diffuse and vague, I guess it makes a sort of sense.

There seems to be a genuine effort afoot to start some sort of race war though, with FOX "News" and right-wing talk radio leading the charge.  All of the squawking about "the New Black Panther Party"--by all accounts a minuscule movement--that occurred two years ago is part of it. The extreme overreaction to a rather tepid pronouncement by the NAACP about tacit acceptance of racism in the tea parties is another.  It's going to get worse--and stupider--before it gets better.

[Excerpt]

Tea Party Federation Expels Mark Williams Over 'Offensive' Response To NAACP's Racism Charge

The National Tea Party Federation has expelled conservative commentator and Tea Party Express spokesman Mark Williams over a fictional letter Williams wrote on his blog last week from "Colored People" to Abraham Lincoln.


"We, in the last 24 hours, have expelled Tea Party Express and Mark Williams from the National Tea Party Federation because of the letter that he wrote," federation spokesman David Webb said Sunday on CBS's "Face The Nation. . ."

Read more at: Huffington Post

South Park to Feature Eric Cartman in Blackwater

Thanks to Stupid Monkey Planet for pointing out this inevitible story.

[Excerpt]

‘South Park’ to Show Eric Cartman Signing, Blackwater-like, for 500 AK-47s




On Feb. 23, I broke a story about how the Senate Armed Services Committee determined that Blackwater employees in Afghanistan signed for hundreds of AK-47s and pistols using the name “Eric Cartman,” evidently a reference to the popular “South Park” character. . .

Read more at: The Independent

South Park Creators Respond to Blackwater Story

Image from source, Huffington Post

I've been a big fan of South Park almost since the beginning. I say "almost" because the first episode--while funny--didn't really grab me at first. For one thing, I had a hard time understanding what the kids were saying. But it's kind of like watching a British sitcom like Absolutely Fabulous. Once you get what the show is, and recognize the speech patterns of the characters, it all comes together.

Part of the fun of South Park is that they go after everybody. If it's ridiculous and it's in the news or in pop culture, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone will skewer it. Every once in a while, they'll cut a little close to the bone and tick me off. But there isn't a viewer of the program who hasn't had that happen to them as well. Much like Family Guy (which Parker & Stone famously lampooned), the whole point is that somebody is going to have their sacred cow gored. Every once in a while it will be yours.

[Excerpt]

Matt Stone & Trey Parker Are Not Your Political Allies (No Matter What You Believe)

News broke this week that a Blackwater subsidiary was arming violent drug users in Afghanistan. They took hundreds of weapons intended for the Afghan National Police and at least one of them (probably more) signed for the shipments with the name "Eric Cartman."

When I asked "South Parks"'s creators what they thought of these men co-opting their character they were completely unfazed. "It makes perfect sense. It's the name I would use," Trey Parker said. "Our first reaction to any story is 'How do we put this into the show?' and the second reaction is 'Did Cartman do that?' because he's so real to us it's like 'I bet Cartman did that. . .'"

Read more at: Huffington Post

Holiday Cheer: Eric Cartman Sings O Holy Night

I cannot hear O Holy Night by anybody anymore without thinking of Eric Cartman of South Park. Good thing? Bad thing? I don't know, but there you go. . .

GOP Tea Party Caught On Video!

Heh. Heh. Heh!

South Park: Faith +1

[Part two of a few quickie posts]

CNN aired a few religiously-themed specials this week that were among the highest-rated cable news programs of the week. They were quite enlightening, and also very disturbing. On that note, in an outstanding parody of religious music, Eric Cartman sings the songs of "Faith +1"!

Eric Cartman: Kyle's Mom's a B*tch!

OK, I held out for as long as I could. But today, I stumbled upon what has to be my favorite movie moment of the last ten years. This clip alone was worth the price of admission and the loan I had to take out to get popcorn and soda. Yes, it is now eight years old, but it never lost its funny.

NOTE TO THE EASILY OFFENDED OR UNDERAGE: This clip contains foul language sung by a naughty eight-year old cartoon character. If you don't like the f-word or the b-word just skip this one, 'k? Now, onto the fun!