The Stout Republican

Visit my buddy’s site and buy his stuff.

Josh Kemble

Not that he’s a huge capitalist, but he could use the business.

Art

Hang on for the big payoff with Anderson Cooper…now that guy has a sense of humor
Update: The Coulter comment is a hoot too

Exit thought: How did Triumph get to and from the airport? Minnesota Muslim taxi drivers are not doggie friendly… PETA PETA where for art thou PETA?

GoingThere

Art, Humor

So a month back I threw a little bit of money at my Fender Telecaster to get it painted by Emerging Artist Aaron Kraten. I already own a few of his paintings, and saw that he had painted a guitar in the past. So, a few weeks and several layers of semi gloss then sanding, semi gloss then sanding, I have the finished product.

Needless to say, I’m very pleased with the results.

Art

It’s been a while since I’ve bestowed my “Douche of the Week” honor upon anyone…it’s time I do so, with Zazz.

My roommate is a huge fan of the artist Derek Hess (myspace page here, clothing line here). He’s bought several of his prints online, and they adorn our living room…framed.

His art is incredible…very stylized gesture drawing.

On one of his recent blogs, he posting this in a fit of artistic wisdom.

north pole oil

have you all been following this? it’s incredible, as you know the north pole ice is melting and the polar bears will be extinct within’ our lifetime. the ice is melting as a direct result of global warming. global warming is a direct result of the burning of fossil fuel. underneath the sea floor of the north pole is a vast reserve of oil. 5 countries are claiming it because as the ice melts, the oil will be accessible. so…..do to the destruction of are planet from the burning of oil, there’s now a rush to drill up more to burn. am i the only one that sees the madness in this?

here’s a recent article, although there’s more up to date stuff happening every day

Observer Link

I always love articles that the set up is “as you know…” especially when it frames the argument around something that is factually wrong.

To continue with the story. My roommate, who is as I said a huge fan (and I should mention non-political), saw this blog post…and as any intelligent thinking man would do, questioned the polar bear premise. We watch a lot of discovery channel over here. So he found an article by the National Center For Policy Analysis, and responded to Derek Hess by posting this article in his comment section, I’ll just quote the good parts.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) while arguing that polar bears are at risk from global warming presented data which actually undermine their fear.

According to the WWF there are approximately 22,000 polar bears in about 20 distinct populations worldwide. Only two bear populations – accounting for about 16.4 percent of the total number of bears – are decreasing, and they are in areas where air temperatures have actually fallen, such as the Baffin Bay region. By contrast, another two populations – about 13.6 percent of the total number – are growing, and they live in areas were air temperatures have risen, near the Bering Strait and the Chukchi Sea. As for the rest, ten populations – comprising about 45.4 percent of the total number of bears – are stable, and the status of the remaining six populations is unknown.

For now the government will be taking public comments on the proposal – let’s hope some science: facts, accuracy and truthfulness make an appearance before this goes too far. The polar bear is not threatened or endangered and should not be listed as such as a backdoor way to restrict energy use in the United States.

So this was posted in response to Derek Hess’ assertion that “as you know” polar bears are dying. Hess’ MySpace account requires that he approve a blog response before it is listed (unlike this site). His response? The comment was not only not approved, but my roommate was kicked off of Hess’ friend list, which is the myspace equivalent of being banned from a blog. This is of course for posting a dissenting view point. I’m assuming that as an artist he would be open to other peoples ideas and or beliefs, but as with many artists, the flow of information is one way, unchecked by fact or dissent…usually rolling around in a mudhole of self congratulation and ego.

Now, the meat of the problem isn’t that Derek Hess is wrong. For all I know, he might be able to provide the real empirical evidence to support his claim, which might have been an appropriate response ([sarcasm] at which point I would delete that evidence, and ban him from my website [/sarcasm]). My contention is only that he is an asshole. When faced with an opposing view, he not only disregards it, but takes effort to cut that person off from what might have been a debate, but was in fact only a dissortation. I’m sure his cocktail parties are just a plethora of assorted ideas, interesting chats, lively debate, and not one minded lock steppers. Now I support anyone’s decision to be a douchebag, and as douchebaggy as ignoring views that don’t conform to ones religious blind faith in the declining environment is…I also support my ability, with my government given freedom of speech rights, to say that Derek Hess, while talented as an artist, is not very talented at being a nice guy. I might go so far as to say that he might be the human version of a penis…while able to create beautiful things when applied properly, most of the time it just runs around indiscriminately Fucking people who might just want to be friends.

Art, Douche of the Week, Environment