I like to do it Gangnam Style

I'm not exactly sure what the f*ck this is. But it may well be the best thing ever in the history of the universe.



Koreans.

Cat, Sompet Market, Chiang Mai, Thailand

More Awesome Asian Ads - Japan

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Obama's gay marriage, fake father and other wingnut fantasies

Ever seen those ads for Dos Equis beer which feature a character they call "The Most Interesting Man in the World"?
Well clearly they've got it wrong, because no one as lived a life as extraordinary as Barack Obama. Or at least that is if you believe right-wing conspiracy theorists.

So far we've seen Obama the Communist, Obama the Black Radical, Obama the Secret Muslim, Obama the Atheist, Obama the Kenyan, Obama the Indonesian, Obama the Black Radical, Obama the Guy Who Is Just Like Adolph Hitler, and even Obama the Antichrist.

Now in a flash of inspiration, someone has come up with a concept that neatly combines the right-wing's two favourite destroyers of the fabric of society (gay marriage and Islam) into one nice package: Obama was secretly married in college - to a man! And to a Pakistani man at that!

What makes Obama the most interesting man in the world is not just that he is able to simultaneously be all of these things - a gay Muslim who is really an atheist yet claims to be a Christian - but that no one who he ever met in all that time seems to be willing to verify any of these details. Which, if you really want to get into conspiratorial mode, is probably because he had everyone who knew his secrets killed execution-style by the Illuminati Hit Squad.

The genius behind this story is the Tea Party's professional conspiracy theorist in chief, Jerome Corsi. You may remember Corsi for his role in smearing 2004 Presidential hopeful John Kerry's decorated record as a soldier in Vietnam, and his role in the Birther movement. His logic states that Obama must have been married because he was photographed wearing a ring on his left hand where one normally wears a wedding ring. And Corsi decides it was probably a gay marriage because... well, in this photo he is seated almost touching another guy, his Pakistani college room-mate Sohale Siddiqui. And sitting close to another guy is, as we all know, a clear sign that one is hungry for cock.

These two are like, totally gay for each other.

These two are just good friends.

To be honest, if BO experimented in college, I personally don't give a shit. A lot of people do that sort of thing; that's what college is for. If he is indeed on the "down-low" as they say, he'll have something in common to chat about with half the congressmen in the Republican party. But anyway, BO looks like he might be the "top" in that relationship, and we all know it's not gay if you're the pitcher.

Speaking of pitching, Corsi is pitching a couple of other conspiracy theories at the moment over at WorldNetDaily.

Firstly, Corsi is touting "absolute proof" that Obama was both an Indonesian citizen and a Muslim, based on a document at the Indonesian school where he was enrolled as a young child. Whether or not the document is real is probably immaterial; anyone who knows Indonesia knows that it's standards of record-keeping are hardly rigorous in their accuracy. As conservatives are constantly telling us, bureaucracies are inefficient, and Indonesia's more than most. What seems likely is that it was assumed Obama was an Indonesian because that's what his stepfather Lolo Soetoro was. Religion-wise, it should be noted that it is effectively illegal to NOT have a religion in Indonesia. Belief in God is one of the tenets of Pancasila, the national ideology, and while no one cares if someone doesn't actually practice the religion, not claiming a religion would draw suspicions of Communism. Thus it makes sense that Soetoro would list his stepson's religion as Islam, since that made as much sense as any other alternative at the time.

An even more interesting theory being promoted by Corsi at WND is that Obama's real father was not Barack Obama Snr, but was instead their family friend Frank Marshall Davis, who was a mentor to the young Obama. This is delicious for the WND audience since Davis was a member of the Communist Party and thus must have been a bad person. Joel Gilbert, director of the "documentary" entertaining this theory, Dreams of My Real Father, wasted 2 years of his life studying photos to support this theory.

“I decided to investigate Frank Marshall Davis. His close physical resemblance to Obama was shocking, while Obama little resembled the Kenyan Obama,” Gilbert told WND. “How could this be?”

Here is a comparison of the President with his Kenyan father and the man Gilbert alleges is his real father. You can initially see where Gilbert might have got this idea from; there are some ways in which Obama looks more like Davis than Obama Snr.

But there's another obvious explanation. Can you guess the detail Gilbert has missed?

Genetically, Obama Jnr and Davis almost certainly do share something: European DNA. Virtually all African-Americans who are descended from slaves have some white European ancestry. On average, 20% of African-American DNA comes from white ancestors. You can be a black American, whose parents are both black, yet be more than 50% European genetically.
Frank Marshall Davis has some level of white DNA, probably in the average range for his ethnicity. Barack Obama II is 50% white. Barack Obama Snr is an ethnic Luo with no apparent white ancestry. Which is why, shockingly, he looks so much darker and more African than his son.
Obama doesn't look much like his mother either, come to think of it. He's sort of... blacker-looking. Maybe she's not his real mother either?

The article also shows pictures of Davis' children, Lynn and Mark, for comparison. He also married a white woman, so his children have that mixed appearance. They do vaguely resemble Obama, particularly if you think black people tend to look alike. But they also look considerably "whiter" than Obama, particularly when it comes to their hair, which appears far less sub-Saharan African in form than Obama's. This is as you would expect, since Davis is presumably "whiter" than Obama Snr.

As a person of mixed race myself, I also don't look all that similar to either of my parents, and it's not uncommon either.

Of course, if you pay attention you may notice that all these conspiracy theories contradict each other. I mean, Obama can't be both a foreign Kenyan AND have a father who is an American communist. And he's probably not both an atheist AND a secret Islamic jihadist. But as any good mudslinger knows, if you fling enough mud, eventually some of it will stick. And given that around a quarter of all Americans think Obama IS a Muslim and a foreigner, Corsi and friends have a sizable audience to pitch their wingnut wet dreams to.


See also:
If Obama is a Muslim, maybe I am too...
Obama's birth certificate, and the racist impulses behind Birtherism
The Muslim-ness of Obama's family, and what it has to do with his presidency

Warorot Market, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Rudimental - "Feel the Love"

There are a number of reasons this is my favourite song at the moment.

Firstly, despite being extremely accessible, it has a number of features that make it completely unlike everything else in the charts right now. I mean it's a drum 'n' bass type groove with electronic synth stabs that also features churchy organ, a trumpet solo and a horn section. Up and coming singer John Newman does his best white boy Otis Redding impersonation.
It actually sounds like it has real live people playing instruments on it. Which sounds unremarkable in itself, except that everyone else that is a hit at the moment seems like it is purposefully avoiding sounding remotely organic.

The video is cool, too. The images of inner-city black kids riding horses might seem fanciful, but in fact it depicts the very real Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club, in North Philadelphia. There's a really interesting article about it from a few years ago, here.

Mostly, I just like that a song that feels unique, and real, is somehow a big hit around the world (number 1 in the UK, number 3 in Australia). I first heard this at my gym, which plays Channel V all day and all night, and this song was sandwiched in between an ocean of music that was either mediocre (Maroon 5, Katy Perry, Rihanna) or really f*cking horrible (Flo Rida, Chris Brown, Pitbull, more Flo Rida). Not since Gnarls Barkley's Crazy has something this different and awesome been so high in the charts that I can recall.

Inside the mind of Mitt Romney

Here's a trick question for you: Is Mitt Romney kinda ignorant, or is he just a right-winger?

I know the Republicans don't like what they see as Obama pandering to the Muslim world. But I'm not sure they really wanted Mitt Romney to offer the Muslim world a big F U either.

JERUSALEM -- Mitt Romney told Jewish donors Monday that their culture is part of what has allowed them to be more economically successful than the Palestinians, outraging Palestinian leaders who suggested his comments were racist and out of touch with the realities of the Middle East. Romney's campaign later said his remarks were mischaracterized.
"As you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000, and compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality," the Republican presidential candidate told about 40 wealthy donors who ate breakfast at the luxurious King David Hotel.
Romney said some economic histories have theorized that "culture makes all the difference."
"And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things," Romney said, citing an innovative business climate, the Jewish history of thriving in difficult circumstances and the "hand of providence." He said similar disparity exists between neighboring countries, like Mexico and the United States.
...
While speaking to U.S. audiences, Romney often highlights culture as a key to economic success and emphasizes the power of the American entrepreneurial spirit compared to the values of other countries. But his decision to highlight cultural differences in a region where such differences have helped fuel violence for generations raises new questions about the former businessman's diplomacy skills.
As he has at home, Romney in Jerusalem cited a book titled, "Guns, Germs and Steel," that suggests the physical characteristics of the land account for the differences in the success of the people that live there.
"And you look at Israel and you say you have a hard time suggesting that all of the natural resources on the land could account for all the accomplishment of the people here," Romney said, before citing another book, "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations," by former Harvard professor David Landes. This book, Romney said in Jerusalem, concludes that "if you could learn anything from the economic history of the world it's this: Culture makes all the difference. Culture makes all the difference."
The economic disparity between the Israelis and the Palestinians is actually much greater than Romney stated. Israel had a per capita gross domestic product of about $31,000 in 2011, while the West Bank and Gaza had a per capita GDP of just over $1,500, according to the World Bank.
 [Source]

Got that? The reason the Palestinians are poorer than the Israeli Jews is that their culture is just not as good. It has nothing to do with the fact that the Jews took over their land and forced them to live in  what is basically a refugee camp.

Someone needs to tell Mitt that it is possible to pay someone a compliment without having to piss on someone else.

Is Mitt's idea about some cultures being very geared to certain kinds of success completely wrong? Actually, no. Jewish culture places a high value on success through education, and that is a significant factor in why Israel is an extremely successful nation, and why a significant proportion of the world's pre-eminent scientists and thinkers have been Jewish. You can say the same about Chinese culture, illustrated by the economic dominance of the ethnic Chinese throughout South East Asia.

Is the culture of Israeli Jews better disposed to economic vitality and an innovative business climate than that of the Palestinians? Perhaps. But it is completely absurd to even talk about that without mentioning the primary factor that holds Palestinians back, which is that they live under Israeli occupation.

But that shouldn't be news to anybody. It can't have escaped Mitt's notice that the Palestinian situation is kind of a big thing. Anyone who even occasionally watches the news would know that the conditions Palestinians are forced to live under are not exactly optimal for a thriving business climate.

But perhaps it is not too surprising that Mitt thinks this way, as it is merely a logical extension of his particular brand of right-wing thinking. Mitt is an insanely wealthy individual, and in his own little universe, he got that way because of his sheer awesomeness. If someone is not wealthy, it's clearly because they just aren't smart enough, or haven't tried hard enough.

People don't dislike Mitt Romney because he is rich; anyone who is in a position to run for President of the United States is going to be very rich by the standards of the average person. People dislike him because he is a virtual caricature of a wealthy elitist, who has no idea what everyday life looks like for the average person who was not born into privilege.

In the mind of Mitt Romney, Palestinians feel aggrieved towards Israelis not because they are an oppressed and dispossessed people; rather, it's because the Palestinians are just playa-haters.