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Thursday, Dec 23, 2004
The runner up quotations are:
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"Free people will never choose to live in tyranny."
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"You see, free societies do not export terror."
- "Look, we are a nation of laws and to the extent that people say, well, America is no longer a nation of laws -- that does hurt our reputation. But I think it's an unfair criticism."
Shorter Safire
Roth Plot II
Since I'm a failure in analyzing reality, I shall engage in improbable delusions on purpose.
Laura Ingraham Smack Down
Laura Ingraham, who was not in the cast of "Little House on the Prarie", does a rightard radio show on the west coast in the evening hours. She had a military author, Ralph Peters, in the studio. This writer is apparently a semi-regular guest, but only over the phone. This time Laura got some face time.
One of Laura's current rants is that the librul media is obsessing about Rummy the way they always have to find something to obsess about. "Tragedy TV" is what she calls it. She asked the writer to join in the rant.
Oops, Laura. He's not part of the hive mind. Peters proceeded to chew Rummy and his key assistants, Feith and Wolfowitz, new assholes. He had logic, conviction and specifics.
"You're asking the wrong guy, because I've been calling for Rumsfeld's resignation for two years. Rumsfeld talks about transformation, but the only thing he's done is transform the US military into a money machine for the defense industry. Name one major cold war weapons program that Rumsfeld has terminated. The transformation to a more agile military was begun under Shinseki, not Rumsfeld. He and his deputies, Feith and Wolfowitz, have disdain for the troops in uniform."
Oh snap. Laura was hoisted on her own petard. NIce. Very nice, indeed.
She could not defend Rumsfeld against this onslaught, so took an avoidance tactic and parried with "Who would you want, Secretary of Defense Biden?"
He responded by offering General McCaffrey and Senator McCain. Apparently these men aren't blood thirsty enough for Laura, who responded with disdain. "McCain is all about 2008" "I've heard some Marines who have a real problem with McCaffrey."
I surmise that Peter's supported McCaffery either because he called out Rummy for bad planning, or because McCaffery was good at killing foreigners.
Anyway, Mr. Peters got just the one segment on Laura's show tonight. Gosh, Laura wouldn't want to actually learn something.
However, the fun continued in the next segment when a caller pointed out to Laura that McCaffery was Army not Marines. Jeez, what a dolt.
Note to self
I want to go back and listen to the rest of this interview with Richard Viguerie, wingnut luminary. I enjoyed his admission that conservative talk radio (i.e. Rush and his clones) are about emotion, not cognition.
Aha, I finally caught the bastards with Google
I get phone calls from people trying to reach some sort of customer service hotline. I finally tracked them down.
Hi,
Sorry for the attention grabbing subject line. My phone number, as you see above is ABC-DEFG. You have a hotline at ABC-DEF-Gxxx. See the problem?
I get phone calls each and every day clogging up my answering machine from your customers with questions about passwords and email addresses and such.
Here's my suggestion: In this day and age, what with station-to-station long distance and all that, it's customary to give the *entire* phone number.
My business card is in the format +1 408 ......, because that's the proper format. The "+" indicates that the country code (the numeral "1" in Canada and the US) is the next thing that follows. Your listings would look like:
+1 408 xxx xxxx - Main Number
+1 408 xxx xxxx - Fax Number
+1 800 xxx xxxx - Toll-free Number
+1 ABC DEF Gxxx - Customer Service
But that might seem too European and "moderne" for your business. So how about something traditional:
1-408-xxx-xxxx - Main Number
1-408-xxx-xxxx - Fax Number
1-800-xxx-xxxx - Toll-free Number
1-ABC-DEF-Gxxx - Customer Service
Whatever you do, just tell your customers to dial "1". They'll be happy, you'll be happy, and I'll be happy too.
-Mark
Intelligent Design
I tried to talk to my brother, who probably hates the Church more than me, about the evils of Bushianite theocratic policies. He said "Doesn't matter."
Dude, two of your favorite hobbies are illegal in this state, and they'ed like to outlaw your very favorite hobby. Doesn't matter. To have Christians unclear on the concept of "free will" in control of morality enforcement, science, medicine and education doesn't matter? Okay, cool. Cause tell you what, I was gettin a bit unsettled by the whole concept..
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On another note, I'm working up to some sort of "ownership society"/"Ice floe" visual. I'm not sure I have the skills to create what I can visualize, but I should give it a try. Because it's a good way to frame the issue. I think the line drawing would be the right way to go. Traditional cartooning. Well, it would have to be composed of characters from Wizard of Id, because that's the extent of my 'tooning skills.
"Fighting to Send Old People Out to Sea on Ice Floes for Seventy Years" Was Too Wordy
Digby made me do it.
In flight reading
I pretty much hate air travel. There's entirely too much sharing of the meat space. Constantly bumping into, pressing against, sharing air with, eating next to, sharing the loo with, listening to and interacting with other people in a noisy, uncomfortable, poorly ventilated aluminum tube -- for hours on end.
So I read. Voraciously. Three newspapers. A paper and two magazines. Trade press, local papers, national/regional press, national/international news magazines. In-flight magazine. Sky Mall. Anything.
So here are some things I read.
The Economist, a right of center, fiscally conservative news magazine mentioned evolutionary facts in matter of fact tone in three different news articles about science and technology. For example: The line of flies, mosquitos, etc., and the line of moths split 310 million years ago. Another example: Recently excavated hominid remains found in southeast Asia possibly represent another advanced hominid species that coexisted with modern humans tens of thousands of years ago. This information is presented without fanfare and without illogical muttering about the value of teaching diety-based cosmology. Why is it that British conservatives aren't insane? Did they send all their crazies to the colonies?
An article, perhaps in the Dallas Morning News, spoke of the Army placing value on first-person shooter war-fantasy games as training for military action. The Army, just like X-Box, only your jaw is crushed, your eyes are gouged out with searing hot shrapnel and your arms are turned into bloody, charred stumps of lacerated meat and shattered bones. Sign up today!
The Dallas Morning News devoted about 20% of their editorial, op ed and letters pages to advocacy of diety-based cosmology. Apparently, some prominent athiest dude came out in favor of deism, because, you know, quarks and rhibosomes are like really complicated n stuff (which by extrapolation justifies government sponsored evangelical fundamentalism). Okay, the last part was silent.
The evidence for a Social Security Crisis is as solid as the evidence for WMDs in Iraq.
Even Kristol is a Rumsfeld basher, but that's just to try to maintain some "not entirely insane" cred.
The military hasn't tested its fabulous anti-missle technology in two years. (Last time, they needed a homing beacon in the target.) They had a test all planned, but couldn't do it because the weather was bad. Say, what? The weather was bad?! Wouldn't that be a good time to see if this thing is real or utter bullshit against a ballistic missile? Anyway, the weather cleared up, and the anti-missile-missile failed to fire. They can't even get the rocket motor to work, and that's not the tricky part.
Hyping Terror for Fun and Profit
Fill in the blanks ...
Read the whole thing. Answers below.
The Soviet Union, 1976
God On Our Side
There's an anti-war song thread running on D Kos. One of my favorites is Masters of War. Someone posted the lyrics of God On Our Side, which I haven't heard in a long time. Now that I've given away all my vinyl to KFJC, I wonder, do I have this on CD?
The country I come from is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there, the laws to abide
And that the land that I live in has God on its side.
Oh, the history books tell it, they tell it so well
The cavalries charged, the Indians fell
The cavalries charged, the Indians died
Oh, the country was young with God on its side.
The Spanish American war had its day
And the Civil War too was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes i's made to memorize
With guns in their hands and God on their side.
The First World War, boys, it came an it went
The reason for fightin' I never did get
But I learned to accept it, accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead when God's on your side.
The Second World War boys, came to an end
We forgave the Germans and then we were friends
Though they murdered six million, in the ovens they fried
The Germans now too have God on their side.
I've learned to hate Russians all through my whole life
If another war comes it's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them, to run and to hide
And accept it all bravely with God on my side.
But now we got weapons of chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to, then fire them we must
One push of the button an' shot the world wide
An' you never ask questions when God's on your side
Through a many dark hour i've been thinkin' 'bout this
That Jesus Christ was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you, you'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot had God on his side.
So now as I'm leavin', i'm weary as hell
The confusion I'm feelin' ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head and fall to the floor
That if God's on our side, he'll stop the next war.
I've Been Dilberted
video compression explained
It's Fragging Time
The secretary of defense is in Kuwait, telling soldiers preparing for deployment to Iraq they should ignore criticism of the war.
In a question-and-answer session afterward, Army Specialist Thomas Wilson asked Rumsfeld why some soldiers have to "dig through local landfills" to supply themselves with vehicle armor. Other soldiers cheered loudly.
After a hesitation and asking Wilson to repeat the question, Rumsfeld replied that "You go to war with the Army you have," not the one you might want. He also said, all the armor in the world won't prevent a tank from being blown up.
Another soldier asked Rumsfeld if the Army will continue its policy of preventing some eligible soldiers from leaving the service. The defense chief said it's a "sound principle" but promised it will be used as little as possible.
AP
Thursday, Dec 02, 2004
Wake Up Call
A very nice grandmother, who probably shouldn't be driving, smacked my parked car while I was sleeping. For a while I wasn't sure if I would have to track her down. The school crossing guards were kind enough to write down the license number, but extracting payment can be diffucult. The grandma came back, and gave me all her info, so the likelihood of getting a check went up quite a bit.
I've been thinking about finally fixing the racoon damage to the airdam from the trip across the U.S., and now have an excuse to go to the body shop.
Besides bending the rear wheel, and messing up a bit of sheet metal, the car was pushed about 4 feet. Given the amount of force applied to that wheel, my first stop will be to the mechanic to give the suspension a thorough going over.
Hmmm....
http://www.turnyourbackonbush.org/
Proof Positive that Invasion Can Lead to Democracy
Speaking to the United States-Indonesia Society in Washington, Wolfowitz praised Indonesia's religious and ethnic tolerance, which he said is allowing democracy to take root in the world's fourth-most-populated country and the largest in the Muslim world.
Wednesday, Dec 01, 2004
Captioner's Block
For nigh on four weeks, I haven't been in the state of mind to make a bumper sticker. I was having withdrawals, but didn't know what to do. Sometimes to write, just sitting down to write is the best thing.
This will do for now.
P.S. Happy Rosa Parks Day.
Happy Furry Puppy Story Time
Tuesday, Nov 30, 2004
To Coup or Not to Coup
A post about Chavez on D Kos.