The Journal of Integrity

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It seems that we here at the JOI may have a fan at Prospect Magazine. Take a look at the latest cover of their magazine and then take a look at a mock up Shane did back in may. Even look at the filename “the-monster-that-ate-the-economy.jpg”. Now look at their title. What say the internets?

But it feels so good.
Greasy. Warm. Familiar. Actionable.

With Friends like these….

Hillary; before the fall.

It is universally acknowledged by those of us who would have people reject the inherent irrationality of religion, that mere dogmatic atheism would provide an entirely unacceptable alternative. It is a simple point to note that people can and do hold beliefs without having sufficient evidence for those beliefs, and that these beliefs are by no means confined to those which would be rejected upon careful examination and the application of critical thinking. The child who believes, for example, that slavery is wrong for the sole reason that his father tells him so is as justified in his belief as the child who believes the opposite for the same reason. It is only when critical thinking is applied, that we can hope to distinguish between these two judgments.

There are a myriad of circumstances we can imagine under which someone might come to hold an unjustified belief of any sort. It would seem to be a question of luck whether such people happen to acquire beliefs which are (upon examination of the evidence) actually justified.

While those who fall on the other side of the fence are more easily identifiable for obvious reasons, we cannot afford to neglect to encourage critical thinking amongst those we might consider safely ensconced within our own ideological camps. While such people will at the very least be more likely to vote for the better candidate, or endorse the better policies, they will be ill-equipped to engage in persuasive argument with those who oppose them, and, as will be seen from what follows, can go so far as to warrant embarrassment if not outright hostility from their more enlightened peers. If this language strikes you as elitist, consider that the fundamental point of this post is to call for nothing more than honest and open engagement of all issues, without resorting to blind dogmatism and downright wilful ignorance.

I present for your consideration, the denizens of http://www.hillaryclintonforum.net/ . A quick glance through the depressingly large volume of topics on the forum will reveal a coterie of sycophantic disciples whose bitterness is exceeded only by their astounding capacity for denial.

“I have made it very clear that I am supporting Senator Obama and we’re working cooperatively on a lot of different matters, but I think that delegates can decide to do this on their own. They don’t need permission. They can decide under the rules of the DNC, and so I think it would be better if we had a plan that actually we put in place and everybody knew what it was and then we executed it because I just think that would go more smoothly,”

Let’s begin with a relatively objective account of the situation. Both Senators Obama and Clinton were campaigning to win the nomination of the same political party. During the primary season under extensive media scrutiny and after more than twenty debates, the consensus was that both candidates shared extremely similar policy positions, with few exceptions. Obama, having wrapped up the Democratic nomination long before his achievement was acknowledged by Clinton (an achievement which still is not acknowledged by a majority on www.hillaryclintonforum.net but more on this later) now faces the Republican Party’s John McCain, a man who unsurprisingly advocates many policies which are anathema to the majority of Democratic voters. These are the facts.

If we gaze through the distorted lens of a small but statistically significant proportion of Hillary Clinton supporters as exemplified by those on the above forum, we arrive at a very different account of reality. A reality where it is acceptable for a woman to vote for Hillary for her sex, but not for a black person to vote for Obama because of his race. A reality where a commentator’s use of the phrase “tit for tat” equates to sexist language (seriously) and where racist anti-Obama graffiti is attributed to Obama supporters attempting to tarnish Clinton’s image, to cite but a few examples. A reality where Hillary’s “suspending her campaign” (language used by all of the contenders for nomination, including John Edwards) is taken as code for some sort of uprising at the Democratic Convention at the end of this month. Clinton herself has recently stoked these absurd notions by refusing to rule out having her name included on a ballot at the convention. Somehow, such a publicly divisive gesture is to help “party unity”, the current mantra of DNC bigwigs. The problem, however, is that the targets of such attempts at unity now proudly proclaim the acronym PUMA, or “Party Unity My Ass”, a fitting epitaph for their self-destructive mentality…

This is the logical conclusion of illogical practises. This faction of Clinton loyalists (which we must bear in mind are not by all accounts a fringe minority) intend either not to vote, or in many cases to support McCain in the general election. We might call this the ultimate act of taking one’s ball and going home, as it were. Despite the fact that, for example, McCain is a strong opponent of abortion rights (in contrast to the vast majority of Clinton supporters), these men and women are willing to endure a minimum of four years of policies they by and large oppose, for the simple fact that they feel (“feel” being the operative word here) that their candidate has been unfairly treated by the media and by her Democratic opponent.

If such people should provide the so-called “Nader-factor” of the 2008 election, in drawing enough votes away from Obama to cost him the election, a successful Clinton campaign for the oval Office in 2012 is by no means guaranteed, but there is at least one thing we can say for certain: Come the fifth of November 2008 those at www.hillaryclintonforum.net will have elected exactly the president they deserve.

Clinton prepares for a Pagan sex romp by donning ritualistic clothes she will wear while aborting foetuses in their second trimester.

A panellist on The View once said of a particulary dreadful book he had read, ‘it was the worst book I’ve ever read or tried to read. I hate her and I hate her book’. However he was paid money to read it. I on the other hand had to pay to see the Happening, the most appalling piece of tripe I have ever witnessed.

It is difficult to convey the enormity this movie’s fail. Epic, needless to say, but Epic in the same way that the universe is big or Cian is rich. Not epic like a poem. perhaps stupendous. Let’s try it on for size; The Happening: Stupendous Fail.

What was M Night Shyamalan thinking? (I’m not going to bother checking if that was spelt right because I loathe the man now). What, for that matter, was anyone who got involved in this film in the slightest way from the producer to the caterer thinking. Certainly if I had been a producer watching this turdid, boom-mike-filled abortion in the dailys room I would have withdrawn my money and used it to finance a smear campaign against it. If I had been the caterer I would have poisoned the cast.

To address the salient points of the film, the script, acting, direction and so forth, is too close to admitting that it is a film rather than an unpleasant collection of sound and images designed (I believe) to make people who watch it angry and nauseous. Suffice to say, everything about it from Shamalalan’s smug script to Wahlberg’s confused protagonist reeked of lazy, self-satisfying, unimaginitive crap.

Usually at this point in scathing reviews the reviewer says something good about the work. Trust me. There was nothing good about the work. Do not go see it. It was the plants. There. I’ve ruined the movie for you. Don’t waste your money. When it is released on DvD, steal (do not buy) it and throw it off a cliff.

I have witnessed a promising director commit wilfull career suicide and my two main regrets were

A that it was career suicide and

B that he made this film first.

This pretty much sums up my opinions right here. Nod nod, tinfoil hat time.
Good find from Liam
I’m still voting no even though arguments like this really weaken the No vote and my reasoning is threefold.
1) I’m a smart guy but am still confused by it all so it’s not very good for us all to be uninformed despite effort.
2) It doesn’t strengthen Ireland and yes I’m pro Ireland more then pro Europe and so we all should be.
3) It’s not anti-Europe to vote no, if anything it shows that we’re not ones to kowtow and will rather curry favor and respect.

I expect you all to come in with various arguments to which I shall rebuttal right now with “lalalalalala I’m right and you’re wrong” because, honestly, debate never changes anyones mind it just makes people dig in harder.

Dillusion.
Warning: It messes up firefox for me because it has so many terrible glitzy applications.
Basically it’s some girl that thinks she’s brilliant and good looking when in fact she has a face like chewed toffee.
Poor woman, probably the worst way to sell yourself as a decent person.

I just want to thank the members of the JOI that were out tonight, was great fun. We learned many things. Mainly that I am indeed able to down a double naggin of jack daniels in next to no time. Also my capacity for birthday cake is huge. Oh and met Gavin and John Mortel tonight they’re very good folk and I envisage a drunken night out again with them.

Aside: I owe gavin a drink and Eoin 10 euro.

Aside Aside: They’ll never get it from me, muhahahaha!

“Yes Mr. President, your idea is genius. It’ll solve everything.”
Why tackle the cause when making new notes is cool? Putting something cool and manly on a note is always awesome it’s gotta be something that represents the country’s pride, it’s history, it’s future.
Any suggestions for images that best represent Zimbabwe? I’m thinking something Zeppelin-esque

If anyone here is on the all exchange users email list for college (chances are you are) then you might have seen the recent debate about Palestine where three doctors and a professor (including the head of my department) all chip in to a lively debate that makes every seem like morons all because someone said “can we leave this sort of thing off all exchange”. Meaning “I get enough spam in my mailbox already please don’t add to it with over passionate diatribes kthxbye”. Of course the other intellects pick this up as meaning “do not want. I r pro Israel, anti-free speech and hate open debate”.

I think it’s resolved now but it they have effectively made themselves all look stupid in front of all the staff and students of UCC. If I were any good at trolling I could stoke the fires even more with another email saying how debate is the cancer that is killing academia. In short, UCC staff, I am very disappointed in you all.