Washington Post Censors Opus the Comic Strip

The Washington Post decided to censor a comic strip last Friday. You may ask, 'What could possibly have been the reason?' Well, look at the picture below...and if it isn't obvious to you, well, you just aren't "sensitive" enough.

A popular comic strip that poked fun at the Rev. Jerry Falwell without incident one week ago was deemed too controversial to run over the weekend because this time it took a humorous swipe at Muslim fundamentalists.

The Washington Post and several other newspapers around the country did not run Sunday’s installment of Berkeley Breathed’s “Opus,” in which the spiritual fad-seeking character Lola Granola appears in a headscarf and explains to her boyfriend, Steve, why she wants to become a radical Islamist.
...

The Washington Post Writers Group syndicates “Opus,” and the Post is the cartoon’s home newspaper. The syndicate sent out an alert about the two strips in question, according to Writers Group comics editor Amy Lago.

Sources told FOXNews.com that the strips were shown to Muslim staffers at The Washington Post to gauge their reaction, and they responded “emotionally” to the depiction of a woman dressed in traditional Muslim garb and espousing conservative Islamic views.

There was also considerable alarm over the strip at the highest echelons of The Washington Post Co., according to the sources.

Lago said she flagged some of the syndicate’s newspaper clients for two reasons: because of the possibility that the jokes about Islam would be misconstrued and because of the sexual innuendo in the punchline.

“The strip came in and I knew we would have to send out an alert to all the newspapers,” Lago said. “I do that fairly regularly with materials that might pose issues for local areas. ... We knew that because it was a sex joke, it could raise issues. And there is another client that has issues with any
Muslim depiction whatsoever.”

Of course, this has nothing at all to do with "sensitivity" and everything to do with the press on being cowed into submission by threats of violence. But notice, just as with the Mohammed cartoon "controversy", that nobody in the mainstream press has the intellectual fortitude to admit as much. Quite disgusting really.

Right-of-Center Bloggers in San Francisco? Say it ain't so?

I had the opportunity to join some bloggers in San Francisco this past weekend for "Blog Fest West", a social gathering of right-of-center bloggers. In attendance were quite a few successful and substantive bloggers, including Roger Simon, Mickey Kaus, and Ed Driscoll.

That's me in the back talking with (from right) Jerhad! Jeremy, SanFransanity "Realist", and "reads blogs all day" John Atkinson. Photo courtesy of Jeremayakovka

A British Fairy Tale

You don't have to like reality shows to appreciate this moment.

Outrage of the day

DOCTORS and health workers have been banned from eating lunch at their desks - in case it offends their Muslim colleagues:

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/16309

A perfectly ironic comment by a Scotsman can be found below this article:

IT'S A GOOD START
After the homegrown violence this year we should be asking ourselves what we can do to better integrate our Muslim citizens. It is not as if British civilisation is going to collapse from a few accommodations to make Muslims less self conscious about their unique status.

Unfortunately this latest move did not help enough. It created new problems. Now that meal carts and working lunch is banned Muslims will be left alone in the office while their coworkers go out to eat together. Muslim health care workers will be missing out on important social networking opportunities that their non-Muslim coworkers receive. We need a solution for that. We should instead encourage non-Muslims to try sharing their Muslim coworkers' experience of fasting. It might be difficult the first year or two but eventually it will become familiar.

Amazing Safari Video

This could very well be the most incredible safari footage ever caught on video:

A Brawl In The Safari - Watch more free videos

Bushwacking Down a Dead Man's Trail

In desperate search for adventure during my last day in the Adirondacks, I bought a trail map of the region. Scanning this map, I discovered a particular trail with the warning "Caution" at its end (click on the pic below to see the trail). Given my incessant attraction to risk, this seemed like the perfect opportunity. As I searched the web, I quickly realized that this trail had been closed for several years due to numerous deaths at its destination, T-Lake Falls. Turns out the Falls are the biggest in the Adirondacks and have a greater vertical drop than Niagara. "Cool!" I thought, "just the kind of trail to hike by myself!" To make this adventure a more calculated risk, I did some research on the web, bought a compass and signed in at the Ranger Station. Off we go!

Old school orienteering here. Since this was a bushwhacking adventure and I could pretty much assume I'd get lost, I set the compass up along the trail map so that the arrow would always lead me to the waterfalls.

Video: Bushwhacking. Every once and awhile I could see the remains of the old abanded trail. For the most part, so long as I followed the creek on my right, I was likely to find the Falls.

Video: Tranquility. Alone with nature. I don't think I could achieve more of a high than this.

Getting close to the Falls now!

More pics from T-Lake Falls

Someone was courteous enough to post old newspaper articles on folks that died here.

A memorial for another of the fallen.

Three steps closer to death. The Falls were running particularly dry this July so I was able to walk to some points which would normally be too slippery. Anyway, click on the picture above to see how the Falls literally lures people to their demise. To get a money view, your natural inclination is to keep getting closer to the edge to see the bottom and the valley below. Only one problem. There is no edge! The Falls, literally travel over a dome which gradually curves downwards. As you can see in the photo series above, I have moved closer and closer to the point of no return...but notice that the the perceivable flat area above seems to remain constant. Looks can be deceiving as the decline increases ever so gradually.