March 13, 2007
As you all may have noticed, this blog has been inactive for a little while. We've got a couple projects in the works right now, trying out some new formats and templates, looking at taking the blog in a slightly different direction.
Unfortunately with work and life and all it's a slow process. But hopefully though this place will be back in some fashion before too long. Once we've decided on a format things should liven up again. We'll still be posting, of course, just not up to the minute headlines.
February 05, 2007
Could there be anything more retarded? We're really not sure who this is going to inspire, but it seems to be par for the course when it comes to the EU. From the article:
Tired of its staid image, the 106-strong group has spent £25,000 printing 40,000 copies of Operation Red Dragon, a cartoon storybook depicting the glamorous and daring life of "Elisa Correr", the personification of the "new breed" of "exciting" Liberal Euro-MP. While real parliamentarians fret about whether an amendment to the latest European Union directive might offend the committee chairman, the fictitious Miss Correr is ready to torpedo inter-continental trade deals or take on hit men for the sake of her principles.A politician dating a journalist. No conflicts of interest there! Oh wait...Cosy compromises are just not her style, especially when her boyfriend Tony, a British photo-journalist, is being held prisoner by a renegade oriental general.
In one sequence of the 38-page giveaway, a scantily-clad Elisa is taken aback to find her boyfriend hiding in the wardrobe of her hotel room during a trade mission to "Dong Fang", a country easily recognisable as China. "I had to see you, Elisa, but in private," he says, passing her photographs proving that an EU arms embargo is being flouted.That's right dammit. And it takes principles to use your power as a politician to take your own country's trade agreements and barter for the release of your boyfriend with a country that apparently has no problem detaining people or attempting murder. Oh, and we forgot, that country was also "flouting" an arms embargo too. But yet, principles allows the EU (in theory, of course) and it's fictional character, to somehow honor those trade agreements."Come back with me!" she pleads. "They won't let me leave," he replies, "I'll have to chance my luck." The two depart after a lingering kiss.
After threatening to scupper the trade deal - and fighting off an assassination attempt - she forces her boyfriend's release, winning the praise of a Dong Fang counterpart who marvels at her courage. "It's not courage, Mr Li. Just a few principles," she responds.
Yet, in real life, who is the real "villain" the EU is persuing?
The closest the Liberal group has to a real-life Elisa Correr is said to be Sophia in t'Veld, the glamorous 43-year-old Dutch Euro-MP known for her tenacious pursuit of a civil liberties agenda.The USA.But how do the 12 British members of the group match up to the new James Bond image? Group leader Graham Watson says that Baroness Ludford, "while not quite as young", is probably the most dynamic. The 55-year-old has been a key mover in the parliament's fight for the US to recognise its CIA "rendition" flights over Europe.
February 04, 2007
There were also many commercials paid for by companies that think spending two million dollars in thirty seconds will get you to laugh and buy things they sell, somewhere in the middle of all of that Prince sang - AndtheviolentcommercialswerealsoobviouslyapleaforstoppingBush'swarinIraq!!!Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!
In a nutshell, that was Super Bowl XLI. Right?
Ah, wait a second. The New York Times's "purple monkey dishwasher" somehow got onto the end there, pay it no mind.
January 28, 2007
Apparently there is going to be a spin-off to Alias, called Facebook.
No word yet on show times, or if this is really just some type of Alliance MySpace deception.
January 22, 2007
Some psychologists would like everyone to know that today is the most miserable day of the year.
TODAY is set to be the most miserable day of the year, a psychologist has claimed.It is also Monday, so they're obviously cheating a little bit.January 22 emerged as the worst date when common reasons for the blues were totted up.
Dr Cliff Arnalls’ formula takes into account things like Christmas debt, fading memories of holidays, failing New Year resolutions and lack of daylight.
And last night GPs’ spokesman Dr Alan Cohen agreed.
He said: “We see lots of people with depression and anxiety in winter but they do get better.”
In any event, should you choose to partake in today's depression, they have provided everyone with an actual math formula that, in addition to explaining your behavior, may also be used to ward off concerned friends, employers, or any responsibilities for the rest of the day.
Should that formula not work, you might try using this as a last resort. But, you didn't get that from us.
January 19, 2007
"Drunk bulls disqualified from fight"
Bullfighters, and the bulls they were supposed to be fighting, have been banned from a bull-taming festival in India for being drunk.The animals and their human opponents were breath tested – as a safety precaution.
'Seven bulls and four men were disqualified during tests to detect consumption of alcohol or other banned substances,' said district collector T. Udayachandran.
We have never seen in our lifetime such a pityful display of opportunistic politics that reeks of cowardice and impotance. In the midst of an actual change in strategy for Iraq, a combined effort of the Iraqi government and our military to turn the tide of battle and restore security to Baghdad - in a plan that, while certainly risky, actually has sound military judgment behind it - here come the idiots in Congress bound and determined to not only screw things up, but to tar and feather the President while doing it.
"The president knows that because the troops are in harm's way, that we won't cut off the resources. That's why he's moving so quickly to put them in harm's way," Pelosi said on ABC's "Good Morning America."We really are beside ourselves. Congress, if they truly believed the President was derelict in his abilities, and if they had any balls, would vote to revoke the funding for the war. But no, they won't do that. And they're not going to add anything constructive either, such as draft any type of resolution outlining their plan for victory. No, they're going to bitch, and moan, and cry, and scream, and point at the President and say that he's doing it wrong. And Pelosi, having the sheer audacity to casually throw out there that the President is consciously pushing troops to their deaths so the Congress will shut up, is a complete disgrace.When asked whether she thought the president manipulated the deployments to avoid congressional action, Pelosi said she hoped he did not but thought "he could have told us about it sooner. ... We found out about it as the troops were going in."
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino retorted that lawmakers are involved in a "sound bite war" against Bush, counter to Democrats' promises of bipartisanship.
"Those particular comments were poisonous," Perino said. "I think questioning the president's motivations and suggesting that he, for some political reason, is rushing troops into harm's way, is not appropriate, it is not correct, and it is unfortunate because we do have troops in harm's way."
For whatever the military merits of the plan, it is a plan, which is a site more than any Democrat could put forward. And this sad display of "non-binding" resolutions, where they can make all the noise and take none of the responsibility (especially after each and every one of them who voted for the war suddenly decided to cry foul so they could save their political ass), is really quite a sickening display.
Apparently the new "crushing of dissent" being perpetrated by the Bush administration is that there's a new law in town - no jokes about the President or Iraq.
It seems the annual White House Correspondence Association dinner is about to roll around again, and the comedy entertainment (this time Rich Little) this year has been put on notice by the Association that they're drawing the line at Iraq and "knocking" the President.
Lots of bloggers on the left side of the sphere are going ballistic over this decision, as they're still peeing themselves watching Stephen Colbert's performance from last year. Yet the same man who chose Colbert last year made the choice for the entertainment this year.
Sound like a reactionary pick after Colbert's edginess? Sort of the Beltway version of booking ex-Beatle Paul McCartney to play the Super Bowl halftime show the year after Janet Jackson flashed the breast that inspired a thousand letter-writing campaigns?And on top of that, the charge that this is a sign that the press doesn't have the balls to challenge and offend the administration seems pretty ridiculous. No, it's the public the press doesn't have the balls to stand up to.Decidedly not, said Correspondents Association President Steve Scully, who booked both Colbert and Little.
"I thought Colbert was great. I loved him," Scully said, adding that he didn't field any complaints from the White House, Bush included, about Colbert's performance. "Those who didn't like him, didn't get his brand of humor because they don't see his show."
Scully's mantra for booking the annual event: "Somebody who singes, but doesn't burn. Somebody who is funny and will make fun of the White House, but won't cross the line."
Radio DJ Don Imus crossed the line 13 years ago when he mocked President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, said Scully, a senior executive producer at C-SPAN.
"You have 3,000 people in the room, and what my approach on this was, you want to have somebody who can cut across generational lines and who is funny," Scully said. "And Rich Little is funny."
Little said organizers of the event made it clear they don't want a repeat of last year's controversial appearance by Stephen Colbert, whose searing satire of President Bush and the White House press corps fell flat and apparently touched too many nerves.Letters. From who? George Bush? Rove? We seriously doubt it."They got a lot of letters," Little said Tuesday.
The left seems obsessed with making Bush pay for "his war" in Iraq, and as the Democrats in office have revealed that they're not going to throw their majority away for a chance at an impeachment hearing, it seems that this and every other public event is supposed to be some kind of opportunity to put the President on trial. The Association appears to have decided that this is not their objective for the evening.
Actual headline: "American weather forecasters do battle over mankind's role in global warming"
January 18, 2007
But this installment of "I can drive on ice, right?" is brought to you by Portland, Oregon.
We admit, we were intrigued, but skeptical of the President's assertion that the U.S. military was going to actively start rolling up the Iranian networks operating out of Iraq.
But so far we have to say we've been pleasantly surprised that they're following through so strongly. First was the raid just hours after the President's speech, and now this:
The U.S. military has launched a special operations task force to break up Iranian influence in Iraq, according to U.S. News sources. The special operations mission, known as Task Force 16, was created late last year to target Iranians trafficking arms and training Shiite militia forces. The operation is modeled on Task Force 15, a clandestine cadre of Navy SEALs, Army Delta Force soldiers, and CIA operatives with a mission to capture or kill al Qaeda operatives and Baathist insurgents in Iraq.Why the delay in doing this? We have no idea. But there is the issue of directly naming the Iranians as complicit in killing American soldiers that forces the issue to a military situation. And Iran was always careful to never directly implicate themselves. The situation now however appears to have changed.Task Force 15 killed al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab Zarqawi, last June.
The new classified directive is part of an escalation of military countermeasures against Iran, authorized by President Bush, to strike back at what military officials describe as a widespread web of Iranian influence in Iraq that includes providing weapons, training, and money to Shiite militias.
"It's present, and the issue is how do you deal with it," says a senior U.S. military official. "That's the question of the day. Those networks are something you've got to deal with. You've got to figure out, bottom line, who plans them, who finances them, who brings stuff across the borders."
U.S. military officials have been tracing the growth of Iranian influence through the increased use of Iranian-made explosively formed projectiles (or EFPs) as roadside bombs. When this particularly deadly and distinct variation on the improvised explosive device detonates, it melts and reshapes metal, turning it into what is essentially a deadly dart that punches through a humvee's armor plates.We're happy to see the military taking this more direct approach at taking out the Iranian influence. It'll never diminish completely, especially once the situation settles into a purely political war over the government and oil revenues. But Iraq will have to deal with Iran in it's own way politically once we get them on their feet."When the EFPs start popping up, we know, oh, that's Iran, that's Shia," says one U.S. special operations officer who served in Iraq. A senior American commander in Baghdad adds that the military has been able to trace numbers and manufacture dates back to Iran.
And the use of weapons like EFPs, say soldiers on the ground in Iraq, is spreading.
"They were initially used just down south, where Iran has a lot of influence," says the officer. Now they are moving into Baghdad and areas north of the city as well. "That is a change. If you follow the track of them, it also follows the track of Iranian influence."
In the restive province of Diyala, what has long been a transit point for goods and trafficked arms flowing across the border with Iran, U.S. military operatives have intercepted donkeys carrying Russian antitank mines and other weapons. Iran uses "a certain type of mortar," adds the special operations officer. "We can look at it and say, 'This comes from Iran.' "
