Category Archives: Etiquette

Bottoms Up,* Kate Middleton

Aesthetics, Britain, Celebrity, Ethics, Etiquette, Free Speech, Private Property

She’s a gorgeous girl. She’s also stabler than her late mother-in-law (which, I guess, is not saying much, considering that the dodo Diana was a manipulative neurotic, given to histrionics).

In any event, Kate Middleton, aka The Duchess of Cambridge, will get over the fact that images of her bare breasts and bum are already in circulation, snapped in order to feed the voyeuristic fetish of the average consumer.

Certainly demand-driven, unethical, ugly and maybe even immoral: Hounding this girl wherever she goes is all of the above. But surely only trespassing on private property renders the action of the offending photographer illicit in natural law?!

The topless images of Kate were snapped from “the side of the road between trees, around half a mile away from a chateau,” in the south of France.

Was the photographer trespassing on private property? No report seems to specify. “Invasion of privacy” laws seem to belong to a broadly defined area of law, one that has little to do with the always unmentionable rights of private property.

(Bottoms up* means “here’s to you.”)

Glenn Beck: Name ‘N Shame Your Airborne Abuser (On That Crap Carrier)

Business, Etiquette, Free Markets, Israel, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim

Glenn Beck has chronicled in detail the ghastly treatment he received, over the Labor Day weekend, while dining at a New-York establishment, and on board an American Airlines flight. There, an airborne pollutant in the form of a flighty waiter—who claimed to have served in the IDF—served Glenn worse than one would a stray dog in a pound.

Beck, as usual, reverted to sermon-style sanctimony where he called on Jesus for strength and grace.

Give me a break!

First, doesn’t Glenn fly first class? Any flight attendant who treats his first-class customers as Glenn was treated is a liability to the business, however poor its practices (and it is clear from this episode that American Airlines is a crap carrier. That’s been my experience with them).

Expose this IDF waiter, Glenn.

Show the runt responsible some Old-Testament justice, not New-Testament forgiveness. You’re not going to change a poorly raised retard. Teach him responsibility; teach him where his bread is buttered.

Glenn’s a wealthy, charitable, self-made man. He doesn’t have to take this.

Get Off Your Knees, Mitt Romney

Barack Obama, Democrats, Elections, Etiquette, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Media, Politics

First they accuse him of being too stiff and inhibited. Then, when he loosens up and does some impromptu stand-up, bloody liberals squeal that Mitt “Romney’s ‘birther’ line was no joke.”

Yes it was a joke. And a funny one at that. Romney kidded to a crowd in Michigan that, “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that I was born and raised.”

That’s funny. Now get off your knees Mitt Romeny and quit apologizing for joking, for doing a hard-day’s work, for making money, for exercising the prerogatives of private property and the fiduciary duty of a CEO managing private property and firing people, for investing wisely and utilizing tax havens (blessed places that they are), on and on.

Get off your weak knees, man!

For your edification, the story about Mitt’s “naughty” joke ran as a top news headline on all the liberal websites. Breaking News.

ABC:

Police Kill Gunman Outside Empire State Building
Romney Touches ‘Birther’ Issue He Avoided Before

CBS:

Multiple people shot near Empire State Building
Jury orders Samsung to pay $1B to Apple
Romney says “birther” joke wasn’t a swipe at Obama

UPDATED: Spoiled Sports, Tramp Stamps & Spectacular Speed

Aesthetics, America, Etiquette, Human Accomplishment, South-Africa, Sport

I spoke too soon about American sportsmanship.

McKayla Maroney didn’t look lost, as the Atlanta Journal described the sullen American gymnast. Rather, she looked sour, after botching her dismount “during the artistic gymnastics women’s vault final at the 2012 Summer Olympics on Sunday.” Romanian Sandra Izbasa, whose solid, but less dazzling, performance earned her the gold medal, approached Maroney and put her arms around her. The American stiffened, and looked daggers at Izbasa. The onus was on Maroney to congratulate the winner. Later on, when the time came to respond publicly, Maroney, predictably, suctioned herself to the camera and mouthed the right platitudes. “Supreme finesse” is how Salon’s correspondent characterized Maroney’s belated, phony show of manners.

But then Salon writers frequently create their own reality.

By contrast, Sanya Richards-Ross set the gold standard not only for speed in the women’s 400 meters, on Sunday, but in her gracious demeanor. Richards-Ross is flamboyant but fabulous, reminiscent of Flo Jo.

For a spontaneous, un-choreographed show of sportsmanship, look to Grenada’s Kirani James, not to McKayla Maroney. James, who took gold in the the men’s 400m final, run a qualifying race against “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius of South Africa, made his way to Pistorius, hugged the plucky double amputee and exchanged bibs with him.

As for the white leotard that practically dug-into and displayed the contours of Maroney’s crotch: Why?! The other girls wore dark colors that concealed their privates. Cringe-making too are the hugs and rubs the scantily clad gymnasts get from their male coaches. I’m not a complete prude, but that’s plain inappropriate and disgusting.

For ho couture, nothing beat the beach bims of volleyball. Misty May-Treanor, who is as rough as a man, displays a tart tat on her lower back. Real cheap. Here and here are images of the tramp stamps in progress.

Did you too predict the three medalist in the men’s 100-meter dash? It was a no- brainer: Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake of Jamaica, and our Justin Gatlin, spectacular sprinters all.

UPDATE, VIA FACEBOOK: AMM: Why, thanks. The only thing I know is track and field. I used to sprint as a youth, but, in those days, in Israel, it was hard to come by the funds to … buy spikes (the running shoes worn back when…). After racing bare-feet and breaking a toe, I sort of gave up on competing. Ah, regrets. I should have stuck it out. I still run 12 miles a week, but oh-so-slowly. If you have a teen girl; get her into running. You’ll have fewer ho problems (for which, face it, girls are notorious).