Now if it isn't annoying enough that a certain religious life-view gets enforced on the rest of us, without our consent, we now have the right-wing peanut gallery Fox News jumping on the bandwagon to promote their own primitive worldview.

But the government of South Africa doesn't think it's funny. According to iafrica.com, South Africa's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that a GloMobile ringtone commercial featuring Dunham and his puppet was offensive to Muslims.

The government of South Africa?? Excuse me, but did the reporter, Joshua Rhett Miller, do his homework before writing this patently sloppy and sensationalist piece of shit?

The ASA is an independent body of nannies and are not part of the South African government. Our government can be accused of a lot of things, but close-minded supporters of a particular religion is as far from the truth as Fox News catering to an intelligent part of the population.

Their logic (or rather lack of) probably went something along the lines of: "O Islam story, yeah, lets put the knife in! O and it happened in South Africa"

I wonder what the requirements are for working at Fox? Being able to say "America, Fuck Yeah", stringing a sentence together that reflects that sentiment, and blind faith in baby jesus and country seem to be the only requirements...

...o and a bit of inbreeding probably couldn't harm your chances either, just in case the average IQ at Fox gets raised to unacceptable levels.

Technorati Tags: Jeff Dunham, Achmed the Dead Terrorist, Mocking Islam, Fox News catering to inbreds, South Africa Advertising Standards Authority, Joshua Rhett Miller, Moegamat Khan, America Fuck Yeah!, GloMobile, Propoganda, Right Wing Media

Below is an email he sent out to his fan club.  (What?  You're not on Jeff's fan club email list?  Get with it!  Sign up here.)

This is so cool.  I have so much to learn about self-promotion.

A television commercial for an "Ahmed the dead terrorist" ringtone mocks Islam and must be withdrawn, the Advertising Standards Authority has ruled.

Yes, the ring tone based on a funny show by Jeff Dunham "Achmed the dead terrorist" now mocks Islam according to the ill-informed folks at ASA. It doesn't (and so what if it does) and takes the fearful topic of suicide bombers, showing how ridiculous it is by using humour.

Here is the video on which the ring tone is based.... mocking Islam?

The ASA said Khan had complained that this was offensive to the Islamic religion, and created the impression that all Muslims were terrorists who would kill to get people to be quiet.

Did his religious belief make him completely stupid, making him see things that are just not there (mocking of Islam), unless you really employ your rich imagination??

Does the deluded Mr Khan expect the rest of the population to stoop down to his level logic in order to come to the stunning conclusion that all Muslims will be viewed as terrorists because of this advert? And how is this offensive to an inanimate concept such as Islamic religion, or is he the spokesperson for this religion?

We also know for a fact some of the adherents of Islam do use violence and the threats of violence to keep criticism of Islam down to minimum levels (very effectively I might add), just go look at reality in some Islamic countries and what happens to those who choose to leave Islam or criticise it.

Mr Khan himself is demonstrating this lack of tolerance for criticism against Islam (using the interpretation he attached to this) by taking these actions...

....would have been nice to see him organising public protests against those who kill in the name of Islam, or attempting to change the perception about Islam without trying to enforce the perception as he is doing now.

The ASA said it appeared to be common cause that the puppet was meant to represent a terrorist who was a suicide bomber.

Glad they noticed the obvious. It is also obvious that the only suicide bombers we currently know off are religious suicide bombers, more specifically muslim suicide bombers.

While it was debatable whether the puppet was wearing any particular head gear, or a bandage as GloMobile claimed, the name Ahmed appeared to be of Arab origin and was one of the names of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

How many names does Muhammad have? So if a real suicide bomber is called Achmed (I don't know why they spell it Ahmed) then we will not be allowed to report on it just in case it offends? Can we now call ourselves Muhammad and behave like idiots, not having to fear mockery or criticism because it would offend?

And I say again, if Allah actually exists and if it offended him that his, now dead and decomposed, prophet is being mocked, then it should be an absolute breeze to smite those who are doing the offending. It is once again the deluded believers who have to step up to the plate for their non-existent god.

"To associate this divine inspiration to a terrorist is offensive to the people who believe in him [Muhammad]," the ASA said.

How the hell did they take this leap of logic? So they now call insanity, divine inspiration, which should be respected?

Just because you believe something gives no credibility to that belief, never mind that the belief should be respected. If my belief or religion states that the color pink is offensive to whatever imaginary deity I happen to belief in, will I now have the right to have the color banned because I find it offensive?

Being offended is your own problem, you choose to be offended and Mr Khan has made his "being offended" everyone elses problem now.... once again trying to gain respect by demanding it instead of earning it.

And then Muslims act all hurt and offended when they do not get respect they believe they deserve...

...O well, just proves once again the damage that can be done if an insane individual convinces people that they are a spokesperson for an imaginary god.

Now if someone could just get "divine inspiration" to teach everyone the basics of critical thinking ;-)

Technorati Tags: Achmed the Dead Terrorist, Jeff Dunham, Muslim, Moegamat Khan, Advertising Standards Authority, GloMobile, Ring Tones, Suicide Bombers, Muhammad, Divine Inspiration

Jeff is such a gracious guy.  This big star, and he still makes time for people he's run across along the way.  I'm just some guy he's met a bunch of times at the Venthaven convention.  OK, so I'm one of the official photographers there, and we've exchanged random emails for years, but still.  It's not like I have his cell phone number or anything like that.

I shot Jeff an email several months back when I heard he'd be in Columbus.  All I asked was whether he'd have time to say hello after the show.  He didn't stop there.  He arranged for 4 seats on the floor and back stage passes.  How cool is that?

The point of this post is not to brag.  I am still quite humbled by the whole experience.  The point is to encourage you to reach out to people who inspire you.  Don't be shy.  Be respectful, but put yourself out there.  I have come in contact with a number of big name performers over the years.  With very few exceptions they have been terrific to talk to.

Among the big names I've met are (in no particular order) Jeff Dunham (duh!), Terry Fator, Jimmy Nelson, Jay Johnson, Ronn Lucas, Willie Tyler (and Lester), The Amazing Kreskin, Grover Washington Jr, Noel Paul Stookey and many others.  All of these were gracious, kind, and overall just normal people once you get up close and talk with them.  There are many others who I've left off.  And I won't bother mentioning the very few snots I've run across.

At a certain level, I can appreciate where they're coming from.  After one of the bigger shows I was a part of recently (Miracles & Magic), we went out to the lobby afterward to be among the crowd.  A number of kids were going around asking for our autographs in the program.  That was pretty cool.  To them, I was some big star from the stage.  In my mind, I'm still just li'l ol' me.  I like it when people come talk to me after the show.  The audience is why I'm in this business.

Every performer is different.  Some prefer to talk to people before the show (apparently Jeff is like that, based on last night).  Some (like me) prefer to talk to people after the show.  Be respectful, give them their space, but don't be afraid to approach people just because they're a big name (which I'm not.)

Who inspires you?  Who would you like to meet in person?  Take advantage of the next opportunity when they'll be in your area to reach out to them and make contact.  You just might be surprised.

BTW, this applies within a company structure as well.  Don't be afraid to reach out several levels above your pay grade to talk with leaders of the company where you work.  Authentic leaders welcome this kind of interaction.  The snots who don't?  They don't deserve your time or attention.

Allvarligt vad är det som är roligt med denna?
De ju diskriminering ju de samma om nån skulle göra en samma sak  med jesus då skulle de krista folken inte bli glada.
Eller kanske ditt namn the dead terrorist??? skulle inte kännas hur  diskriminerad som helst.
Hade varit bättre om om de va Hitler the dead terrorist ahh fattar inte på sånt humor ens.
Nä Lägg ner!

Silence, i kill you!

Contributed by MC Leal.

here is Walter from the suitcase!

here is Peanut:

here is Bubba J

SILENCE! I KILL YOU!

Genau so mag ich meinen Humor: schwarz und ohne Zucker! Natürlich wird hier ein heikles Thema berührt, aber man darf eben nicht immer alles bierernst sehen und Humor ist bekanntlich, wenn man trotzdem lacht!

Fast 60 Mio Views bei YouTube sind wohl auch ein Indikator dafür, dass das noch mehr Leute so sehen ...

PS: Gibt's übrigens auch mit deutschen Untertiteln für die, die nicht alles verstanden haben ...

keb net 2 uur bio gehad gehad en me dood verveelt.
straks nog engels en dan vrij ma geen sin in..
kirsten wilde niet heengaan ma dat is echt dom.

magoe, ook nog wel leuke dinge gebeurt.
Danny heeft zon irritinte ringtone van Achmed.. en
ze foon ging in de klas af. Vissie (bioleraar) keek heel
boos en heeft em de klas uitgestuurd.. ma iedereen wil em nou
ook op ze foon en vin ut vet cool enso.. ma ik vinnut ma dom
om je foon in de klas aan te laten.

nja ick moe nu ff ete of ick kom te laat bij engels..

laterz..

xxx

LiL nAnCy

Carlos Oscar

The above video is a bit of hilarity from the very talented ventriliquist Jeff Dunham. The next bit is a collection of responses to the video posted by MobLogic.

"Most of the people who watch these videos are racist." What?! My message to anyone who finds racism in this video, or any joking of this nature: you are the ones giving legitimacy to any ideas of real difference, and thereby promoting racism - not the rest of us who are just having fun.

One of the great concepts of slander is that in order for something to be truly slanderous, it must be considered believable by a normal person. If someone posts a video joking that Libertarian Ramblings can't even write a complete sentence, it can be easily left as simply a joke because it's so obviously untrue. If I fight back on behalf of my blog and cry foul, it can only be from the perspective that it's possibly true, and thus hurtful. Thus, it's not the joke that brings bad light on LR, but the cry of foul play that suddenly brings people's attention to the thought that maybe LR really does suck.

Additionally, embracing difference is generally considered to be a part of anti-racism, anti-sexism, etc. Embracing difference means we don't avoid ever making mention of differences or potential differences - we don't ignore them. Embracing difference means acknowledging that it's ok to have differences, and so differences becomes a thing of smiling and laughter, not a thing of hate, as some pretend they must be. These people push what I call "tolerance by ignorance" - make everyone appear to be exactly the same and ignore all differences. If we can't actually handle differences, then what the hell is the point?

The fact is, if we're a free people, we can be free to embrace our idiosyncratic differences - even those that are associated with identifiable groups of people. More than that, we can be free to have fun with those differences; to make jokes and to laugh. What is freedom worth without laughter anyway?