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Shamelessly stolen from The Skeptician
Kofi Annan is worried about the "humanitarian casualties in this conflict".
Umm, Kofi. What about the 80,000 Shites shelled to death by Saddam in 1991 or the direct horizontal artillery fire by Saddam's troops yesterday.
Just wondeirng Kofi, take your time....
Damn good blog entry on what is really going on in Afghanistan. Just remember, while Al Jazeera is ranting and raving about how evil the US is, our soldiers are dying to help their people.
As we're getting ready to roadtrip down to Florida in the next few weeks, I decide that our old camcorder is on it's last legs (or at least, it's old and the resolution sucks). I've been trying to figure out what exactly I want, and after much debate I picked up a Samsung miniDV unit this weekend.
Let me be the first to say Firewire rocks.
Controlled the whole damn thing from my machine. And exportred my test video to VCD in under 15 minutes. That included the software install.
The camcorder is almost the size of my digital camera and is half the size of my previous camcorder. Twice the resoltion and the sound is awesome.
Oh yeah, I think I'm going to be busy editing when I get back.
Apparently some of the human shields are coming back from Iraq. And they have videotape.
This was too damn funny not to post...
Nope. No connection to terrorism at all. None whatsoever.
Or does the whole Middle East thing remind you of the Month Python movie "Life of Brian".
BRIAN: Are you the Judean People's Front?
REG: Fuck off!
BRIAN: What?
REG: Judean People's Front. We're the People's Front of Judea!
What the world would like the President to say
by Dennis Prager
My fellow Americans:
After consulting with our loyal allies in Europe, speaking with United Nations officials, reading major American newspapers, listening to National Public Radio, consulting with Hollywood movie stars, and meeting with professors from our universities, I have changed my mind.
They are right.
I now realize that the most important goal America and its president can pursue is to be liked, hopefully loved, by mankind, and especially by France, Germany, China, and the Arab world.
I now realize that we Americans who think in terms of good and evil are simpletons. We should think, as the professors do, in multicultural terms and, therefore, render no moral judgment over Iraq or any other nation except Israel. Who am I to declare any regimes an "axis of evil"?
I now realize that it was arrogance to make such a judgment on three regimes governed by men whom I should have tried better to understand. Now that I realize America's primary goal is to be liked, I will never again call any regime evil. In fact, in consultation with the presidents and deans of our major universities, I have decided to rename the governments of Iraq, Iran and North Korea an "Axis of Diversity."
I now realize that the only reason I ever considered putting thousands of young American lives in jeopardy was because of oil. I was deluded in thinking that Saddam Hussein might use his weapons of destruction against vast numbers of innocents, or to think because Saddam erased a sovereign nation from the map in 1991, he would contemplate doing such a thing again. The French have taught me that the way to deal with people whom I used to believe were evil is by giving them business contracts.
Yes, all these people knew better than I that I considered attacking Iraq only in order to obtain cheap gas for American SUVs. Even though it would have cost us far more money to topple Saddam Hussein than we would make from Iraqi oil. Even though I could simply have done what the French and Russians have done -- make deals with Saddam to buy all the oil we want. And even though we publicly promised that after Saddam, Iraqi oil will belong to the Iraqi people.
Despite all that, the left somehow recognized that a war against Iraq was really only a way to enrich my oil buddies. The left, whom I used to foolishly identify with appeasing and defending evil, have opened my eyes. They are right that nothing America does is out of a sense of mission to lead humanity in confronting evil. That was all a cover up for our true motivation -- more wealth. That is why we alone stand by Israel -- for all that oil in the Negev. That is why we protect Taiwan -- for Taiwan's bounteous natural resources. From now on, our moral model must be the Europeans who shape their Middle Eastern policies so as to be loved by 200 million Arabs rather than by a few million Israelis.
I now realize that America must be guided by Germany with its 100-year record of moral leadership; by France with nearly as long a record of standing up to evil; by our university professors, who almost alone in America understand that America and Israel are the world's villains; by the United Nations, which was so prescient in doing nothing during the Rwanda genocide and today provides more moral light with Syria on its Security Council and Libya heading its Human Rights Commission; by The New York Times and other newspapers that so insightfully attacked President Ronald Reagan for labeling the Soviet Union an evil empire; and by China, which I used to identify with cultural genocide in Tibet, but thanks to my new desire to be loved, I will now regard only as a huge potential source of love and cheap imports.
My fellow Americans, I will no longer be calling you "my fellow Americans," but rather, "my fellow earthlings" or "my fellow citizens of the world." Nor will I conclude this or any future address by asking that God bless America. That annoys secular Europe, and if we aim to be loved,we can no longer speak in religious terms.
Finally, given my new belief that America's task in the world is not to lead but to be loved, I have decided to step down from the presidency as soon as Congress and the states pass a constitutional amendment allowing Al Gore to be president. He, my predecessor President Clinton, and the whole Democratic Party have long believed that America's purpose is to be loved. They should be governing.
My fellow world citizens, peace and love.
©2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
I'm done. I've had it tonight. Maybe next week, I might be interested in debating this again.
But I doubt it.
My opinions have changed over the past ten years. When I first got our of college, I was a dyed-in-the-wool Chicago liberal who thought the corporations were screwing the little guy and conservatives were just a bunch of rich, white, whiny bastards.
Well, then I moved to Fort Wayne. And I became a dad three times over in the past four years. My ideas changed. No, I didn't become a bible-banging Christian, or a psychotic tax fiend screaming "IT'S MY MONEY!!! IT'S MY MONEY!!!".
Nope, I became your stereotypical "trying-to-raise-a-family, working-my-ass-off, gotta-get-the-kids-to-school, shit-its-time-for-the-kids-gymnastics-class" dad. One who thinks about how the hell this little town in Indiana is going to be over the next ten years as my kids get older.
Last year, I spent a hell of a time going to school board meetings trying to get the district to build three new schools. The schools were going to cost $30 million dollars and required a restruicturing of the current property tax system. Well, as you can guess all hell broke loose. There were people screaming at the meetings, saying the school board was forcing them out of their homes. And I spoke up and said "This needs to be done, we have to invest in the future."
(btw Dan, which logical fallicy did I use there? Just checking...)
And of course, I was just a "stupid idiot that didn't pay taxes". Yes, the moron who didn't know how good our 60 year old, asbestos lined, impossible to fix boiler driven schools were. Oh, and it was costing the school three million a year just to keep them in working order. But that was nothing...again, I was the idiot.
So this little skermish in the gulf comes up. Again, people jump out to impeach Bush, get-out-of-the-middle-east-and-stop-helping-Isreal, and don't do anything without the blessing of the UN.
You know, up until four weeks ago, I thought the UN was useful. I really did. I would see the signs screaming "Get US out of the UN" and think "Man, those guys are idiots". You know what, they were right.
The wonderful UN who debated over the wording of a resolution condemning the genocide of 800,000 Rwandans. The wonderful UN who conveinently forgets the eighteen resolutions it already passed about Iraq calling for them to disarm. The wonderful UN who really told Pol Pot that he should really stop killing 2,000,000 of his own people right now, darnit.
I'm going to say it now. Fuck the UN. Fuck the bloated, stupid, head-so-far-up-its-ass-it-needs-a-sigmoidiscope-to-take-its-drivers-license-picture UN. France wouldn't give a fuck if three billion planes crashed into every house in America just as long as we sent Jerry Lewis over before the whole fucking thing started. Germany wouldn't give a fuck, except now they would really have to move EVERYTHING out of Detroit and back to Stuttgart as opposed to just taking over the fucking Chrysler building.
The intellectuals of the world are of course quite convinced that us dumb fucks out here in flyover country are only worried about porn and if the fucking game is on.
Guess what you egotistical pricks. We actually do care what is going on. We don't like Dan Rather kissing Saddams ass. We actually can and do read, and know that our neighbors, our parents are going off to some fucking unpronoucable land to possibly get killed in 69 unusual ways. And we know that when our commander in chief says it's time for action, we have to go.
So when you're sipping you fucking triple-mocha, half-french-vanilla latte while surfing the Internet at Starbucks, just remember it was those soldiers in France and those geeks at BBN who fucking worked and died just so that you could download the latest fucking pictures of Jennifer Lopez with Nipple Clamps to your fucking phone.
Oh, and get me a double-cocoa espresso when you get a chance.
Stolen from Wil Wheaton Dot Net
The link has been Wil/.'d, so I've copied the original text listed.
Guys, you know the drill. Every 14th of February you get the chance to display your fondness for a significant other by showering her with gifts, flowers, dinner, shows and any other baubles that women find romantic.
Every Valentines day you rack your brains for that one special, unique gift that will show your wife or girlfriend that you really do love them more than any other.
Now ladies, I'll let you in on a little secret; guys really don't enjoy this that much. Sure seeing that smile on your face when we get it right is priceless, but that smile is the result of weeks of blood, sweat and consideration. Another secret; guys feel left out.
That's right, there's no special holiday for the ladies to show their appreciation for the men in their life. Men as a whole are either too proud or too embarrassed to admit it.
Which is why a new holiday has been created. "March 14th" is now officially Steak and Blowjob Day.
Simple, effective and self explanatory, this holiday has been created so you ladies finally have a day to show your man how much you love him. No cards, no flowers, no special nights on the town; the name of the holiday explains it all, just a steak and a BJ.
That's it. Finally, this twin pair of Valentine's Day and Steak and Blowjob Day will usher in a new age of love as men everywhere try THAT much harder in February to ensure a memorable "March 14th".
Its like a perpetual love machine! The word is already beginning to spread, but as with any new idea, it needs a little push to start the ball rolling. So spread the word and help bring love and peace to this crazy world and, of course, Steak and BJs.
Apparently a German Girl who has been in a coma for the past six years started to come out of the coma when her parents took her to a Bryan Adams concert.
http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2003/03/1310.cfm
Imagine if it was a David Hasselhoff concert....
So, in an entirely selfish mood this morning (added with the fact that I can write & save on my site) I decided to put my response here instead of at Derek's Blog.
Anyhow, Derek put up a story on his site about how there is "No Moral Reason" to go to war with Iraq. Here was a quote:
"In other words, by every tenet of international law, the US actions are roughly equivalent to those of Germany or Japan in World War II. "
So I decided to dig further (and acutally read the article he posted from warblogging.com) which has an Index of Evil which includes such lovely people as Saddam, Bin Laden, and John Ashcroft??
Anyhow, that's besides the point. Derek was ranting on that since the UN looks like it's not going to pass another resolution with a deadline for Iraq, there was no justification for war (along with the usual screeching of "no imminent threat of violence against the US from Iraq". When did you put intelligence assets in Iraq to determine that threat? Or the threat to our allies?) that the US is just like Nazi Germany.
So using his logic, a mandate from the United Nations would make this war "legal". Currently on the Security Council, four countries have come out saying they would be opposed to war. They are France, Russia, China, and Syria. Of course these countries are acting on purely noble terms and really want peace in the region. Or are they?
In 2001, with the restructuring of the "Oil for Food" program, it turns out that Russia and Syria were given priority by Iraq. Acccording to Pravda, Russia exported $200 million dollars of materials to Iraq. While that doesn't sound like much, remember that the current Russian GNP is just below Belgium in scale. Syria on the other hand exported $250 million of goods in 1999 and have a free trade agreement in place.
This now brings us China with it's veto power. China of course imports 500 million barrels of oil each year from Iraq. While it doesn't count much toward their overall oil usage, it does account for a sizable amount of hard currency being shipped out of Bejing each year. And that number is increasing.
Finally we come to France. France who once again today said they "(do) not support the idea of an ultimatum". Of course, France has provided military parts to Iraq outside of the UN Sanctioned "Oil for Food" program, but is also Iraq's largest trading partner.
Could it possibly be the countries who are acting "under the own conscience" are really acting under their own economic policies? Does this behavior validate or invalidate the "UN Mandate" since these countries are being swayed by the almighty Euro/Ruble/Yuan/SAR Pound?
Ever since I was in fourth grade, I remember how much people have have (and I do mean hated) "insert presidents name here". So I have to ask the question, who (over the past 220 years) was a good president? Who embodied leadership? Or, even better, who would be a good president?
You just made the UN Irrelevant.
France Will Vote Against Iraq Resolution
Chirac said in a televised interview that France would vote against any resolution that contains an ultimatum leading to war "no matter what the circumstances."
Must be a former pets.com employee or something.
The only reason to have Showtime. Tonight's target - Feng Shui and Bottled Water.
Back to the "Celebrity SME" post from yesterday.
So within the next two months, I am going to be taking a trip across this fair land down to see my family in Florida. With all the new federal security guards with the rubbber gloves, we are going to be drving down. Nineteen hours. Each way. With three ADHD kids.
Good thing the laptop has a DVD player ;-)
Maybe it's the war, maybe it's just that I'm in a bad mood, but I'm really tired of listening to Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, et al claiming how they know more than our elected leaders. It's going to be a cold day in hell when I watch one of their damn shows ever again (and yes Derek, that does include "The West Wing").
Colin Powell is currently ripping the UN Security Council a new one for forgetting what Resolution 1441 is about. For those of you that think Colin is fighting the president on the invasion...think again.
Last time I checked if you are an American Citizen, HE IS YOUR PRESIDENT.
Jees, time to grow up people. You lost the election. Move on.
Canada today committed to help the US and Britain with the ousting of Saddam Hussein. Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien announced that he is committing 6,000 troops, 60 fighter aircraft, and 2 battleships.
Unfortunately with the current exchange rate, this amounts to a force of 2 mounties, a canoe, and flying squirrel named Rocky.
Thanks to my stepmom Marla for that tidbit of humor....
How ironic that 65 years ago the press was hailing this as a lasting step towards peace.
Someone woke up on the wrong side of the CIA this weekend...
