September 19, 2007 archive

Do you know this?

Keith doesn’t support the Iraq war — “Never did,” he says — and he favors setting a time limit on the occupation. He says he suspects civil war in Iraq is inevitable and predicts the Kurds will be the victors: “I promise you, they’ll end up with it all.”

I did not. Neither did Michael Ledeen:

It’s great to get out of the Washington culture of narcissism and spend some time with the rednecks, a.k.a. real Americans. And it’s simply great, as the encores end, and a downpour of red, white and blue confetti covers the crowd, to see Toby say “don’t ever apologize for your patriotism,” and then lift the middle finger of his right hand to the skies and say, “F*** ‘Em!”

Which, after a week of disgusting anti-Americanism in Washington [there was a big anti-war protest, and I guess, uhm, Congress performed its duties], nicely summed up our feelings.

Live and learn.

(This is to support Valtin’s action calls)

Professor McCoy Exposes the History of CIA Interrogation

My grandfather is an Iwa Jima war veteran, and one afternoon early last fall I recorded his story at the veteran’s reunion in Texas. He rarely talked about it, although I had seen the Japanese sword he removed from a soldier. “They told us not to do that; there could’ve been (wire) triggers,” he once said. I had always wanted to ask him about why he thought he fought the war, imaging him heroically fighting to end the Holocaust. I had made a childish, yet understandable assumption.

Today is “Talk Like a Pirate Day”…which would explain why everyone’s staring at my booty….. 😉  Consider your timbers shivered, and enjoy pillaging the following, collected from the vast reaches of the seven seas internet…..

Pirate Terror Warning System from this link

Most people don’t know this, but when all this terrorism nonsense became all the rage, Cap’n Slappy assigned his good friend, “Ol Chumbucket” to the task of developing the Department of Pirateland Security. He examined all of the intelligence reports and came up with this color coded scheme to keep all pirates everywhere anxious and awaiting certain doom. The code is as follows:

  * Code Off-White (parchment): There are terrorists everywhere. You can’t see ’em but they are everywhere and they are planning to terrorize you with their terror. But before they can terrorize you, we are going to build up your terror by telling you to buy Duct Tape and Bottled Water. Do you feel the terror? Because you SHOULD!
  * Code Dingy Yellow: Yep. That be a terrorist alright. Time to start running around screaming and wetting yerself! Now that you are moist and stinky, yer best defense is to play dead. Ah! YOU BREATHED! That Means we move to…
  * Code Orangish Yellowish Brown: Alright. The terrorist has seen you move and is attacking you personally. Didn’t I tell you NOT to breathe? How many rolls of Duct Tape did you buy? That’s not NEARLY enough! Oh, yer in for it now, me buck-o!
  * Code Brown with Corn Clusters: Ye went and soiled yerself, didn’t ye? Well, who’s going to care? Yer already mortally wounded what with yer guts hanging out and being down to yer last drops of blood. If ye had taken it more seriously when we were at code Off-White…well…so, it all would have happened anyway, but ye would have had more Duct Tape! Then, perhaps we could have duct-taped yer guts in! But, NO! Ye had to make the jokes, didn’t ye?
  * Code Black: Yer already dead! What were you thinking? Yer as dead as John Paul Jones! What’s the point of having a color coded system if yer going to be all DEAD? Can we use yer left-over Duct Tape?

Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. iv. 43

There are some things that will always be constant. Things infinite in the sense that it is beyond imagining a time ahead in which such things do not occur or exist. The tide is one of these things.

City Dog Catcher of Reno, NV Endorses Mike Gravel

Reno, NV – Local Dog Catcher Joe Karren has announced he will be endorsing Democratic Nominee hopeful Mike Gravel. He even called the campaign headquarters himself to let them know he was firmly in their camp and planned on a press conference at the local diner, Angie’s Spot, to formally announce.

“I was shocked Mr. Gravel picked up the phone,” said Karren, whose support is supposed to bring in at least 2 votes for the Gravel ticket. “Even more shocking was when he said he would actually show up to my presser. I was just joking, I was really just going for a cup of coffee. But now he is coming, I feel like I gotta get a banner or something.”

“It’s about meeting the people,” said Mike Gravel, who once led a filibuster that led to the end of the Vietnam War, and who was shat upon at last summer’s Yearly  Kos. “About meeting one voter at a time.”

If Gravel completes his quest to meet every voter in America, he will be prime to win the nomination in 3012.