|  |
The Ridiculous Escapes of G.I. Joe
Did this article need to be written? Perhaps not. But I used to think the same thing as a kid.
Also, how did I never notice before that Shipwreck talks like Jack Nicholson? Maybe the creators were inspired by The Last Detail.
Update: Oh, apparently I was right.
I have now officially spent way too much time on this.
4 Opinions | Add Your Opinion | Remember | Tell a Friend | Permalink
This fellow is deeply disturbed, but the uh, essay still cracks me up. And I have to admit, R2-D2 is the most connected, knowledgeable character in the whole trilogy.
5 Opinions | Add Your Opinion | Remember | Tell a Friend | Permalink
Not trying to be ghoulish about this, really. It's almost pathological, I have to predict.
In the Wake of Khatamei's My Way or the Highway sermon, and the increasingly stupid, buttinski comments by certain senators in this country, I think I need to revise my odds:
60%: The Revolutionary Guards kill lots and lots of protesters, the seeds of civil war are sown.
25%: The Army and/or Revolutionary Guard split over the crackdown - bloody civil war erupts not in a few years, but now.
5%: The Army and Revolutionary Guard refuse to enforce the crackdown, Khatamei and Ahmadinejad go down as their supporters abandon them.
10%: Ham-handed "support" by American elected officials allows the government to portray the opposition as American stooges, sapping their support and ultimately breaking the back of the movement.
Translation:
Tomorrow is Saturday. Tomorrow is a day of destiny.
Tonight, the cries of Allah-o Akbar are heard louder and louder than the nights before.
Where is this place? Where is this place where every door is closed? Where is this place where people are simply calling God? Where is this place where the sound of Allah-o Akbar gets louder and louder? I wait every night to see if the sounds will get louder and whether the number increases. It shakes me. I wonder if God is shaken. Where is this place that where so many innocent people are entrapped? Where is this place where no one comes to our aid? Where is this place that only with our silence we are sending our voices to the world? Where is this place that the young shed blood and then people go and pray -- standing on that same blood and pray. Where is this place where the citizens are called vagrants? Where is this place? You want me to tell you? This place is Iran. The homeland of you and me.
This place is Iran. I fear for the Iranian people.
3 Opinions | Add Your Opinion | Remember | Tell a Friend | Permalink
 |
|
Years of disappointment with Middle East politics has taught me to be suspicious of hope, even when it takes the form of hundreds of thousands marching in the streets. They don't have any real power, I tell myself. The military won't cross the mullahs, I say to myself. No revolution succeeds without the backing of some societal institutions, I remind myself.
Well, maybe - just maybe - things might be moving to the next stage. Because statements like this are unheard of in Iran.
Of course, this also might mean that the Revolutionary Guards will be turned loose tonight, and will go on a killing spree. I can't totally ignore my cynical side.
-----------------------
Update: Word is that Ayatollah Rafsanjani -a rival of Khamenei - has called a meeting of the Assembly of Experts, the guys who select the Supreme Leader in Iran. Revised odds:
40%: The Revolutionary Guards kill lots and lots of protesters, the seeds of civil war are sown.
25%: Khamenei throws Ahmadinejad under the bus, claiming he was behind the whole thing, and managed to save his own skin, but his power is diminished. A little bit of reform results.
20%: Rafsanjani convinces the Assembly of Experts to oust Khamenei as Supreme Leader, and announces new elections will be held, Mousavi promises reform of the system. Protests subside, the movement pushes the government toward more substantial reform.
10%: As above, but Khamenei and/or Ahmadinejad don't accept it. Civil war ensues.
5%: Something causes the protests to break; for instance, some jackass Republican Senator decides to grandstand and go to the Middle East to support the protestors, thereby making them look like American stooges.
3 Opinions | Add Your Opinion | Remember | Tell a Friend | Permalink
This guy makes a pretty good case that it was.
The reaction is pretty schizophrenic - if they are reporting on it at all, the press are by and large downplaying the fraud allegations, while the public opinion seems to be divided between "Oh, I dunno, those Iranians love their crazy leaders," and "Well of course they were rigged!"
Most of the major news organizations have been ominously silent. I guess people fighting for their freedom doesn't make for good ratings.
Update: Well the coverage has gotten a little better on the cable networks - I guess CNN finally figured out this was more important than reruns of Larry King. Meanwhile, the protests continue - that fact alone tells me times have changed in Iran, from the days when the reformers melted away in fear after a loss. It's hard to judge such things from the outside, but it looks like the mullahs are getting nervous.
( Fairly significant )
2 Opinions | Add Your Opinion | Remember | Tell a Friend | Permalink
A few months ago, the Department of Homeland Security came out with a report alerting law enforcement to a possible rise in domestic terrorism, specifically warning of anti-government, anti-abortion, and white supremacist groups. Some people - including, sadly, my parents - decried it as an attack on conservatism with no basis in reality.
Then, the Tiller shooting. And now, the Holocaust museum shooting.
Funny how a couple of armed maniacs can put things into sharp relief so quickly.
1 Opinion | Add Your Opinion | Remember | Tell a Friend | Permalink
 |
|
Point 1: As you probably know, I've been keeping an eye peeled on the upcoming race for Pennsylvania Senate, partially because I think Specter is a fascinating - and often irritating - political survivalist, and partially because it may suggest the outlines of larger demographic trends in the 2010 races and beyond. Many Democrats are displeased with Specter's opportunism, and an alternate candidate, Joe Sestak, has already said that he will mount a primary challenge.
Point 2: Some of my co-workers, political junkies to lesser degrees, like to occasionally drop by my cube late in the day to talk politics.
Point 3: This past weekend, I had the Sci-Fi channel on in the background, while they ran an all-day Land of the Lost marathon.
Today, one of my co-workers asked what the latest news was on Specter (they, like many on both side of the aisle, despise him.) I explained the situation, but found my co-worker's expression growing increasingly confused. Finally he interjected, "Wait, who is Joe Sleestak?"
( (If you don't know Land of the Lost, this will make no sense to you.) )
4 Opinions | Add Your Opinion | Remember | Tell a Friend | Permalink
This man is doing the gods work.
Also, this was sent to me by four people yesterday, who know of my love of self-reliance and sustainable living. Although this particular design may be a wee bit hobbity, even for me.
And lastly, don't worry, Specialist Boyd. According to the DoD, they actually make you more badass.
1 Opinion | Add Your Opinion | Remember | Tell a Friend | Permalink
Went to visit the long lost ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kratkrat the other day, to meet his new dog, Cash. While there, we caught Star Trek (only the second time for me - I know. Stop looking at me like that! I'm at peace with my geekiness.) The dog was cool - very low-key, affectionate, and personable, exactly the right style for our friend the hermit crab.
As for the movie, I found it improved upon second viewing. Fun, emotionally engaging, and it restores a certain energy the franchise had long since lost. It won't win any awards for revolutionary sci-fi ideas, and the canonistas are going into apoplectic fits over the changes made to established Trek "history." But I'm not about to condemn Abrams and company for being unable to fit everything into their first effort. It's a good foundation, and I have every confidence they can build on it.
In other news, I seem to have been briefly afflicted with the fluish badness that has been going around, but I guess I had partial immunity, because it's fading now. Hoo-rah.
3 Opinions | Add Your Opinion | Remember | Tell a Friend | Permalink
It's almost like the guy is doing a sort of bizarre political science experiment: can he become equally reviled by both parties simultaneously?
Update: Yes, apparently, he can.
In other news, my little patio box garden is coming along nicely. The Green Man willing, I shall have a significant little crop of produce by mid-summer. I'm also finding it fairly relaxing. Who knew?
Add Your Opinion | Remember | Tell a Friend | Permalink
 |
|
Getting over my usual travel related cold, I am, as usual, coughing weeks after the pathogen has passed. This is obnoxious, but today had an added bonus, as I was surrounded on the ferry by people reading about the swine flu. Nobody moved away from me, but they thought about it.
As for the actual swine flu, I'm not worried, I'm watching closely. The fact that it seems to cause a hyperactive immune response in healthy adults (which is what actually kills) is cause for concern, but it isn't the 1918 outbreak yet. Some of the people I follow on the internets are freaking out, however (seanbonner, I'm looking at you), which is sort of disappointing to me. Freaking out won't do us any good. We don't even know why it's acting the way it seems to be acting.
Update: Then again, maybe I'm tempting fate:
In other news, been having quite a few recurring dreams on the same theme (I'm not calling them "nightmares." Nightmares are things involving werewolves or drowning or getting stuck in an elevator where Billy Ray Cyrus is playing on an endless loop.) No, it's not swine flu. The dreams are about driving various people around and taking a wrong turn, making us late to whatever we're doing. I'm guessing this is work related.
Update Deuce: No, it is not the End Times, but if you lived in Mexico, I would forgive you for thinking so.
3 Opinions | Add Your Opinion | Remember | Tell a Friend | Permalink
Earth, at 3.6 billion miles:
"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [...]
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
- Carl Sagan (stolen from Wil Wheaton, because it bears repeating.)
Add Your Opinion | Remember | Tell a Friend | Permalink
To see my brother before he moves to the Sunken City of New Orleans, and catch up with everyone I didn't get to see over the holidays.
Don't say I didn't warn you!
Add Your Opinion | Remember | Tell a Friend | Permalink
 |
|
So ratings numbers are up at good ol' Fox News, which is to be expected, I suppose. But based on personal experience, I don't really believe everyone watching is a core GOP conservative voter. In fact, I know many people who tune in just because they like to get another perspective on things. I heartily agree with this sentiment; hell, this is why I try to get my news from numerous sources, as well. I can also appreciate how the slightly snobby spin of CNN or the liberal cheering section on MSNBC gets a little tiresome. I get it, really I do. But once in a while, I see something on Fox - not their opinion stuff, but something on the daytime news broadcasts - that makes me wonder how many of us fact-check what we're watching. Like say, today, when the anchors and the news ticker claimed that "Obama's budget is 4 times bigger than Bush's costliest plan." To which I went, Hmmm, that can't be right.
Luckily, we have the internets... and I was not the only one who noticed.
Not to mention the fact that Bush's 2007 budget was - not including supplementary spending for Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina cleanup, etc. - $2.9 trillion. Or that his 2008 budget - still not including supplementary spending bills for Iraq or Afghanistan - was $3.1 trillion.
Obama's 2010 budget: 3.6 trillion. Bigger, yeah (That's what happens when you are honest with your numbers.) Four times as large, no. Unless you can't count. Or are counting on the fact that most of your viewers won't double check the numbers.
I don't besmirch Fox for having a right-of-center point of view. But that's not a point of view. It's a lie.
1 Opinion | Add Your Opinion | Remember | Tell a Friend | Permalink
My company is "going green." Translation: my company is saving money by no longer stocking the kitchen.
To be fair, they are also starting a composting program....
Wait, what? Are we growing corn on the roof?
1 Opinion | Add Your Opinion | Remember | Tell a Friend | Permalink
When the news is reporting your protest alongside the weather and traffic, you might as well not bother.
5 Opinions | Add Your Opinion | Remember | Tell a Friend | Permalink
You won't seem me posting much from work these days, as my company has seen fit to install a newer, even more draconian web filter. But I had to share this little tidbit:
Would-Be Dirty Bomb maker killed by wife.
2 Opinions | Add Your Opinion | Remember | Tell a Friend | Permalink
|
|
|
|
|
