Arrogant Jerk

Al Sharpton makes the list this week as the guy who, only weeks ago, ran Don Imus up the flagpole for calling a the Rutgers University women’s basketball team ‘nappy headed hos’. To be sure, Sharpton is not an Arrogant Jerk for calling Imus on the carpet; rather he makes my list only these few weeks later for knocking presidential candidate Mitt Romney for being a Mormon.

More specifically for attempting to make Romney look like less of a believer by stating ‘As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don’t worry about that; that’s a temporary situation.’

‘…those who really believe in God’? Mitt doesn’t really believe? Is Sharpton somehow aware that Mitt has been faking it all this time? How can you tell? Perhaps Sharpton just wanted to point out that Mormons don’t really believe in God, you know, the way all those Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, Hare Krishna’s, Born Again’s, and Buddhists do. Is Sharpton saying that among the plethora of choices out there, that Mormonism is to be held up to the light as the single option unworthy of real belief? Oh my, that is Arrogant.

And by the way: Sharpton is the exemplary of believerdom? Lord help us if this be the case; I cannot recall a single incident where I left the room feeling that Sharpton was genuine in any way. This guy worships his reflection in the camera lense, and nothing more. His sound bytes are more rehearsed than a bible-slinging evangelist. —Say Hallelujah!

Sharpton was quick to jump on Imus’ blunder. Nothing wrong with that; Imus spoke some nasty words and people certainly have the right to call him on his bad behavior. But wouldn’t a real reverend know that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, the rest of us can stand back and watch Al Sharpton be the first to pick one up.

This is just another example of Al’s Arrogant Jerkiness in the form of a double standard: ‘don’t attack people for their personal stance, unless you are me.’

Get with the program you Arrogant Jerk, and show some respect for other cultures (even the white ones). Maybe that bandwagon shouldn’t have such an easy way to get on and off.

Don Imus was raked over the coals for another day today, and a recent announcement indicates that he has now been relieved of his radio career. Does he leave his post as an Arrogant Jerk? I must say: No.

Clearly the rules state that an Arrogant Jerk is someone who is unapologetic. Imus was actually quick to apologize, and even appeared to be reasonably humiliated while doing it. Unfortunately for him, this was the weak moment the wolves were looking for.

Don’t get me wrong here; I am not really an Imus fan. My Imus listening experience is a total accumulated 15-or-so minutes while channel surfing on the commute. Nevertheless; I was pretty shocked at the overwhelming response at his comment.

What he said was certainly offensive. No one can deny that. But let’s give the guy an ounce of credit for immediately facing the music and sincerely apologizing. He event walked into the lion’s den (Sharpton’s show) and took a beating without so much as a flinch.

I don’t mean, either, to paint this guy as an angel; certainly he has had his moments of Arrogance. But I think the punishment here is going well beyond expectation and the driving force is hard to nail down.

Is it because he is a conservative talk show host and is expected to stay above the name calling? Is it because the ‘left-wing’ media is pouncing on an injured meal? Could it be that this is a distraction orchestrated by Bush to veer our attention away from The Downward Spiral we used to call Iraq? I am sure someone thinks so.

Impressive, also, is the list of people pointing the finger. We can always count on Al Sharpton to jump in wherever he can. Never mind his record of verbal nonsense and race mongering. Jesse Jackson was so expected in this affair that people are hardly noticing him. He is such a fixture in racial disputes he has become like a wedding ring; you notice more when it is not there.

Does Imus deserve to loose his job and be burned at the stake for what he said? Sure, it was nasty, offensive, and terrible poor judgment. But it seems to be nothing worse than what I have heard from the likes of Snoop, Rosie, Tupac, Jesse, Bird, Maher (who was also tied to the stake, amazingly), Hendrie, Sharpton himself (he has offended white people, and either has no idea, or is an Arrogant Jerk—no need to guess out loud.), and Stern, who has caused even me to double take, and I am unoffendable.

This is a witch hunt perpetrated by a duplicitous croud of media hounds hell-bent on lighting the kindling without so much as a consideration. These guys have raised Imus’ awareness about three thousand fold. Imus has been fired for less than any rapper has sung on any random album, and will likely receive a record-breaking contract with satellite radio.

I am not wild about what he said, but then I don’t like a lot of what I hear on radio, TV, and print. That doesn’t mean we should call out the witch hunt, box in our rights just a little more, and throw stones from our own glass houses.

So I am sitting here late at night thinking that it has been a while since I wrote up an Arrogant Jerk. I was lamenting that there hasn’t been a really good Arrogant Jerk story in the news for a few weeks now. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could still be a candidate, but I am trying to noodle out how such an obvious political blunder could be perpetrated by a state that wants to be taken seriously.

Anyway; my Tivo clicks off ‘pause’ and switches to live TV, where Kevin Trudeau is pitching his latest book called The Weight Loss Cure ‘They’ Don’t Want You To Know About. Wow. I have read a lot about this guy, but now that I have seen him in action I am convinced he is a Conniving Arrogant Jerk.

Kevin Trudeau, as you may know, is the top-selling author of Natural Cures ‘They’ Don’t Want You To Know About. ‘Natural Cures’ which was banned from various locals as a dangerous tome of hyperbole and general bad advice (‘hey diabetics; stop taking that insulin!’) continues to fly off the shelves. Don’t people have the Internet?

Most interesting about ‘Natural Cures’ is that there is a blatant theme of ‘don’t trust those doctors’ because ‘they don’t want you to know about these natural cures’, after all; ‘they’re just in it for the money’. Yeah; I’ll tell you who’s in it for the money, and I have only been watching this guy’s infomercial for about two minutes.

I almost laughed outloud (I am alone) when he said in mock humility that he ‘didn’t invent this cure’, but rather he ‘found it’. He went on to say that what he has ‘found’ is a ‘cure’ for obesity (and here is the kicker…) ‘according to the doctors‘. He affirms that this ‘cure’ was developed by a British doctor, and that doctors all over the world are using it. For good measure he throws in that Hollywood stars have been using this, and later mentions that he has been interviewed by the likes of Matt Lauer over the find. Shiver me timbers.

Hey Kevin: Do you mean those doctors we are not supposed to trust?

I could go on all night, but to summarize; this infomercial is so chock full of deceit I wonder if a letter to the broadcasting company that is allowing this on the air would raise any eyebrows. It is literally a study in vague marketing tactics and red herring deception designed to fool the elderly and gullible among us (I am not suggesting that elderly equals gullible).

A moment ago he went so far as to reveal that McDonald’s puts sugar on their fries. Um; no. I worked at McDonald’s as a fry cook and never put sugar on the fries. And if you ever hear Trudeau claim that sugar is in the fries before it gets to the hot oil, guess again; I have seen first hand the potato-to-fry supply chain that McDonald’s uses and there is not a grain of sugar in the process.

Scare the people, sell a book.

He never quite gets to the point in his well crafted faux interview. All the while never actually dropping the names of countless stars and doctors that he assures us are behind his amazing cure. Apparently there really are millions of people out there who will buy anything because ‘someone said that someone else said that it worked.’ Again; wow.

Dear Kevin Trudeau, it only took me two minutes of your infomercial to convince me that you are a Conniving Arrogant Jerk. You will make lots of money preying on people who feel they are fat and ugly, and think that you are here to save them. You, sir, will have deposited their $30 long before they discover you are only trying to make a buck.

PS: If you feel you are fat and ugly, and want to loose weight, try my proven formula for getting back that girlish figure: Eat smart and get off the couch at least once a day. Works every time, but doesn’t sell any books.

As with Arrogant cohort Zaccarias Moussaoui, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed recently announced that he was responsible for nearly every major terrorist act in the last decade. Including 9/11 and the beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl.

I was enraged. Not necessarily because of the atrocious acts themselves, but rather because this Arrogant Jerk thought it would be neat to publicly accept credit for them as if they were medals of honor. It is all I can do to keep my language clean in this post.

A personal slap in the face to every American, and a casual taunt to all freedom loving countries on the planet, Khalid is as brazen as they come, and deserves to receive punishment more severe than death. To mock the deaths of those killed on 9/11, and to claim that you personally cut the head off an innocent man requires a level of Arrogance I am not sure I am qualified to judge.

By the way; he probably was the one with the knife.

Nevertheless, reporters are already doubting that Khalid could have done all of the things he is taking credit for, and in Arrogant Jerk fassion, is no doubt exaggerating his role in almost everything he has admitted to.

Revel in your Arrogance, Khalid. You will soon be an example of Exaggerated Arrogance to the world.

I was personally appalled by the comments made recently by singer Harry Belafonte regarding Condoleezza Rice and her ethnicity. And I cannot believe that black people everywhere are not denouncing him as a Self Repressing Arrogant Jerk.

As I listened to the interview, I was reminded of an experience I had as a young boy in Florida. As I watched over a five-gallon bucket of crabs fighting each other to get out, I became worried that they might escape. I was assured that they wouldn’t by our friend and neighbor, Buzz Hendrickson, an experienced crabber.

Buzz explained that the crabs would keep each other in the bucket because as one would approach the top, the others would grab ahold and pull it back in before an escape could be made.

Mr. Belafonte seems bent on doing this to his fellow blacks, in a most Arrogant way.

He says in the interview that ‘Someone needs to remind her [Condoleezza Rice] that she is black’. Wow. And I thought all this time we were trying to forget about ‘color’ (though I personally feel that color should be celebrated). Mrs. Rice assures us that she certainly does not need to be reminded that she is black, and that she herself has felt plenty of resistance in her remarkable climb to the position of Secretary of State. She is no ‘house slave’, that is for sure. Though Harry would have you think so.

Harry also thinks Joint Chief of Staff Colin Powell is a house slave, and offers a somewhat confusing assessment of how some slaves were able to take advantage of their position ‘in the master’s house’. His point remains unclear to me, however I am left certain that Harry Belafonte is a Self Repressing Arrogant Jerk.

Perhaps being the ‘King of Calypso’ provides the authority to suppress other great black achievers.

If you are interested in listening to the interview, click here.

I can’t believe it. I was at the same gas station that I was at in my earlier blog about smokers and it happened again. A smoker who was standing just outside the front doors of the convenience store took the last draw on his cigarette and casually flicked it toward the gas pumps.

Yes, you heard me right: He flicked it, still lit, toward the gas pumps. He then proceeded to get in his car and started up.

Incensed, I decided to conduct my own little experiment into the mind of a Littering Arrogant Jerk and approached his vehicle as he backed away. Catching his attention, I gave him the international sign language for “Roll your window down you Arrogant Jerk”. Amazingly, he obliged without the slightest clue as to why I might be interested in speaking with him. What followed made me all giggly inside to know that there are people on this planet that are far, far less intelligent than I.

Guessing I was not up against a mental Hercules, I decided to start with an obvious question: “Did you just throw that lit cigarette on the ground?”

“Yeah” came his reply.

Note to reader; this guy was a full-fledged adult, not the teenager you may have been suspecting to this point. Continuing…

“Do you think that was a good idea?” I asked.

“Everyone has their vices.” came his reply.

At this point It occurred to me that he was thinking that I was troubling him because he was smoking. Unless he thinks that littering is actually a ‘vice’, in which case he needs to get out a little. Again, and based on his actions and responses, I am certain this guy is not winning any spelling bees.

“Its not so much a matter of your vices, but an issue of littering and safety.” was my next and admittedly arrogant line. Followed by “We are at a gas station, and you just threw a lit cigarette toward a sign that says ‘No Smoking’. That’s littering and its unsafe.”

“Tell it to someone who cares.” was his final reply. To which I thought “Now there’s a guy on his way somewhere!”

In arrogant disgust, I turned and walked away as he drove off. I hope I got him thinking, at least a little bit. There just isn’t a good reason to be throwing trash around without regard for the space around us. I think this guy was a Dumb Littering Arrogant Jerk with Complete Disregard for Safety. Yes, that will do.

I am not sure that I have ever encountered a district attorney who wasn’t an Arrogant Jerk, but at least for this month, District Attorney Mike Nifong will take the honors. Nice work Mike; you are an Arrogant Jerk.

Let’s start at the beginning: Rewind to March 13, 2006 when the Duke University Lacrosse team had a party and hired two women to dance for their entertainment. Although left extremely unclear in the news, it appears that the women left the party somewhat upset, although over what has been in dispute.

Of the two women, one appears to have accused members of the team of rape. The other woman has never supported the story. It is likely that she couldn’t even if she wanted to: the accuser’s story has changed so many times even local press hounds cannot keep track.

Coming to light recently, the case has apparently been in the toilet from the beginning. DNA reports produced early in the case indicated that the accuser did in fact have semen from two or more men on her, however that it did not match ANY of the Duke lacrosse players.

Other problems have come to light, as well. For instance, against normal procedure, the ONLY men presented to the accuser in a line up were Duke players. This means that she could have randomly selected anyone from the lineup and not missed someone who was at the party. Normal procedure calls for the inclusion of known decoys to ensure that the accuser is selecting accurately.

Word has it that she selected one player, and then later changed her mind. No red flags here Mr. District Attorney?

The accused players all have reasonable alibis, including bank statements, ATM camera recordings, and a complete lack of a DNA link. Interestingly, it appears that Mike Nifong knew all of this very early. So why continue with the case?

It looks like Mike chose to maintain this sensational case to keep himself in the limelight as he was running for re-election. Standing on the backs of the bruised is a hallmark of Arrogant Jerks, and Mike takes the cake. Using innocent students at freedom’s expense to continue your own political aspirations takes a serious helping of Arrogance. Way to go, Mike, you are an Arrogant Jerk.

Today, headlines are shouting about how Nifong has been removed from the case. He has orchestrated this move himself, probably using time over the past several months to plot and plan a ‘best-case’ exit strategy.

He probably won’t be entirely off the hook. I know I would want to give him a dose of Jack Bauer if he pulled this kind of cheap shot at my kid, which is just what may be happening. Today a mother of one of the accused stated: “You’ve picked on the wrong family; you will pay every day for the rest of your life.”

I hope she is right. Mistakes can be made, but it looks like this guy did this on purpose.

Pat Robertson just has to get an Arrogant Mention. Real quick.

He said this week that a terrorist attack on the United States would result in “mass killing” late in 2007.

He further clarified; “I’m not necessarily saying it’s going to be nuclear,… The Lord didn’t say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that.”

Recall that in May, Robertson said God told him that storms and a tsunami were to crash into the U.S. coastline in 2006. We barely saw a drop of water last year. He explained that heavy rains and flooding in New England partly fulfilled the prediction. Hmmm, are New Englanders doing the same bad things that all those New Orleaners where doing? Why would God punish New England? Does this sound like a large truck load of cow pies? Yes, Absolutely.
I think we are dealing with a Manipulative Arrogant Jerk here. Watch out people.

Hugo Chavez, the current president of ailing Venezuala, has been in the news lately. I am hereby recognizing him into our Arrogant Jerk hall of fame. “Why?” you ask? Oh let me count the ways…

For starters, isn’t the “I hate Bush” bandwagon a little full these days? Let’s be realistic; this bandwagon is a political soap box that is used to get headlines because it spurs a good deal of press and attention from both sides. Otherwise, there really isn’t any better reason to hate Bush now than to hate whoever will get the baton next.

Hugo would do well to quit attacking our president, buck up, and try to act respectable in a community of elite leaders who at least share a level of respect for each other where otherwise none is offered (this blog is duly noted). His sword slamming at the pulpit is less than credible and aligns him well with fanatic oppressors of the recent past.

Today it is reported that Hugo will stop at nothing to bring his country to socialism. Because THAT works. He may as well commit to bringing back bloodletting as a cure for cancer, and burn some books for good measure. His country won’t need them any time soon if this is where they are headed.

As leader of Venezuela he has greased the skids of poverty, racing over 80 percent of his starving people to starvation. Venezuela is one of the most oil rich countries on the planet. They have so much money they can’t possible have enough to do with it. Oil-a-plenty Kuwait finds a little money in the coffers to provide public education through college (and good ones, too). Perhaps Hugo thinks Nigeria (killing thousands of its own people while pumping oil right past them) is a good example of humanitarianism, or perhaps he sees an opportunity to leverage oppression, starvation and state run slavery as civilized. Someone get this guy some Ayn Rand, and quick!

Today he also declared that Jesus was the greatest socialist of all time. Wow; that was a bold one. It takes some serious Arrogant Jerk balls-o-steel to pry at your nation with such a blatant attempt at name dropping. Jesus wanted a perfect world, and I think it is pretty clear that his philosophies would take a deity to pull off (honestly; we have been fighting over the idea since He left).

Hugo is hardly equipped to make it happen because he’s an Arrogant Jerk of The People and not the Son of God.

Today there is one fewer Arrogant Jerk on the planet.

Convicted of killing 148 Shiite men and boys, Saddam was literally rushed to the gallows where he was hanged almost faster than you can say ‘corrupt dictator’.

I am not one to celebrate death, reflecting on my own mortality in rare times such as this. However, Saddam was such an Arrogant Jerk that I dare say he deserved every painful struggle as he dangled from the rope, gasping for his last breath.

Saddam, in recent times, has appeared on TV and in newsprint as an aged man. Sad and distraught, he may have even worked to project an image of ‘why me?’.

I will tell you ‘why him’; although he was ‘only’ convicted of killing 148 people, estimates hold him responsible for killing thousands of individuals. Some by terrible chemical burns, some by suffocation, some by execution, and many others by methods only rumored to have occurred during the Holocaust.

I have personally seen disturbing film of men carrying out Saddam’s orders by duct-taping a man at his hands and feet, and then tossing him off a two story building. The fall not quite enough to kill him right away. Stories I have heard include terrible disfigurement and real torture (not that phony stuff our boys were doing at Abu Graib). These personal offenses are only outweighed by the global repression of his entire nation, save a select few who walked the line as Baathists.

Like our leading South American Arrogant Jerk, Hugo Chavez, Saddam held millions of dollars (American, by the way) in cash, stuffed away in secret hidden walls (found by the U.S. Army at his residence) while millions of people starved themselves through poverty-stricken lives.

Saddam is no longer with us, and the world is a better place for it. Shame he won’t hear my farewell:
Goodbye you Arrogant Jerk. Goodbye and good riddance. We do not need people like you on our planet.