File It Under: Syrious Repercussions

The Lebanese government abruptly resigned Monday during a stormy parliamentary debate, prompting a tremendous roar from tens of thousands of anti-government protesters in central Beirut.

This is a sure fire sign of the end. Since when have they done anything peacefully in that part of the world? Especially when it deals with power and politics? How about never.

So now we will have "Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling. Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes... The dead rising from the grave. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria."

Who would have thunk it?

(On a side note, I have officially off'ed the "Will think for food" blog. I have drank the koolaid and consider myself part of this cultish group of malcontents. I do have another blog that I cranked up today, but I'm going to try to get my wife talking about family stuff on that one in the futile efforts of getting her involved in my hobbies. It's either that or I have to start scrapbooking.... Ugh, it gives me the willies just thinking about it.)

File it under: TX Update

Satori lives!

There's an update post on the Terrorxchange blog. Pending 2.0's release, the question o' debate:

To reset or not to reset?

Count me as a wipe the slate clean vote.

File It Under: "...And the Wiener is..."

The Oscars were a total sham.

We got ripped off. Best supporting actor shold have gone to Howard Dean. With that scream/yell/yodel thing that he did!!! Come on, that was gold!!

Kerry's wife should have gotten the best special effects nod. Micheal Moore deserved to win the new "best propaganda film" award.

The most disappointing thing of the whole evening was that I accidentally saw a few seconds of this show while I was switching games in the PS2. Luckily that thing boots pretty fast.

File It Under: How to Get Your Hospital Sued

Heart Attack Victim Moved for Michael Jackson

That's right... an "I'm sick and I don't want to go to court" Jacko went to the hospital and guess what - they screwed up. I don't blame Jacko. We know he's not ill. He just sees that those jail days are coming and he's trying to prolong the inevitable.

The hospital screwed the pooch when they moved the lady and to make space and the family saw Jacko coming in. She was on 30% of heart function, she wasn't going to get better. It may even have been their rules to move terminal patients out of ICU or other equipment bearing areas to assist in helping patients that aren't terminal. I don't know. What I do know is that falling the way it did, this is ambulance-chaser heaven.

File it Under: Old School Subterfuge

Syria knows that they don't have to pull thier military out, because there are armed radicals in the streets. Sure, they are Syria's radicals, but what to do? As they are prone to do, they'll cut lose the supporters with some guns, let a few killings happen and then they will say to the international community "We can't leave, they would kill themselves in civil war." The U.N. will go : "OK, you can stay, but quit interfering in the peace process" because the U.N. knows that no european country would commit troops to help there. Syria will give them a nod and then back to business as usual.

Arab leaders aren't stupid or blind to human nature. They know how to control and manipulate the masses. This is an old game guys, and they still play it old school.

File it under: "I am Jose"

****FILE IT UNDER EXCLUSIVE! [Must credit FIU]****

Insider source:

Seven More Truths That Will Be Revealed... via Pay per View

1. "Mark McGwire? Not a natural red-head..."
2. "40/40 club... [lauging] Let me tell ya... That's a ratio of women I had in a 48 hour period and the number of said women that left satisfied by me, Jose Canseco."
3. "Give Greenwell the '88 MVP. I'll take my memories of playing musical holes with Madonna and file an IPO. I am Jose Canseco, y'know."
4. "Steroids make it smaller... heh. What's 80% of 12? The ladies know the answer."
5. "Pssshh... Domestic violence. Well maybe a little steroids woulda balanced the equation. But NOOOOO. Let's all demonize Jose. Jose Canseco."
6. "Sure steroids improved my play. But before, I once hit a baseball 632 feet with a broom handle."
7. "George W. Bush? Not only did he probably know, but I hear he's a pretty good name to drop... along with Jose Canseco."
   

File it under: Holy Heart Attack, Batman

I now cast my spell Morbid Obesity level 4!

No word on when gaming companies will allow treadmill interfaces when running from point A to point B.

*****

Related: $130 plus $17.99 per game?!?! Do they know how many pizza's that would buy?

File it under: Q&A

Frank asks, I answer.

1. Hoodlumman - Like Kryptonite to Web Traffic[TM].

2. I have a bachelors degree from a major four-year university. I make substantially more than journalists, and a shitload more than unemployed journalists.

3. None, yet I have the research skills of lazy highschooler, which immediately places me in the top 94% of journalists.

4. Only free ones. And still reluctantly. If forced to. As in a doctor's waiting room. Or an airplane. Or staring at the bottom of a birdcage.

5. My TV is never on any channel besides ESPN HD.

6. Yes.

7. *SQUAWWWK* Not at all, not at all... *SQUAWWWK*

8. STFU

9. Hondas suck...

10. Yo tengo Mexico

11. Apparently shooting journalists is a felony.

12. You have friends?

13. That's none of your effing business.

14. Hoodlumman. And this is our blog.

*****

[Rob adds his $0.02. And pulls approximately 0.00 punches. -ed]

Let me record the answers of Rob, as I would answer them if asked in a bar after 6 beers.

1. F@*# off, I'm drinking.
2. I work for a oil company, killing the earth because you're too lazy to walk.
3. No, I had to learn to lie and tell slanted stories on my own.
4. No, I have a magic 8-ball and Mrs. Cleo on speed dial.
5. It would take time away from my reading of tea leaves for current events to watch TV.
6. I listen to Sports talk radio, does that count? Hmm, political media whore?
7. We don't fax, we email. Hello? It's called the internet and blogs are on it, remember?
8. Because everyone that disagrees with us comprises a vast amount of the people that don't work, don't have morals or don't have an education, ergo they are poor workers. Besides, hippies make bad exploitation engineers.
9. I can wager pretty safely that I have been to work in more middle eastern countries that most "reporters." [oh SNAP! - ed]
10. See above, you latte swilling ass clown.
11. I did sign up when I was 18. Did you? And if you're so against the war why aren't you standing in front of a tank with flowers in your pocket, or helping in relief efforts or aiding the enemy like Daniel Pearl?
12. I have, and I didn't have to go to war to do that. Death happens everywhere. More people died from accidents or homicide or suicide or cancer last year than have died in this war. I have one for you though: Have you ever wondered who defends your 'freedom of the press', and would you take up arms to defend that? Thought not.
13. Yeah, I read your stories and tried to find truth in them.
14. One of those people that call you a talking head with no substance driven by greed to provide sensationalism so that your company can sell dish soap in 30 second spots. I'm a blogger that calls you a media whore.

File it under: Hazardous Free Speech

Via Instapundit I read about this pro-US rally in Germany tomorrow. This sentence is a shame:

For your safety, we recommend that you do not bring any large signs or wear anything that might inflame Bush opponents or identify you as a participant in our rally while on your way to the event. We will have plenty of signs, flags and t-shirts for everyone at the demonstration.

As we've seen in Protest Warrior films, for example, sometimes opposite protesters will hurt you for not agreeing with their free speech.

File it under: Random Encounter

Maybe it's not so random but Gabe of thegreatsatan blog (a blog kept by a current/former user of the terrorxchange) is arguing against keeping Terri Schiavo alive. Needless to say, he's a minority dissenter.

I don't think the Schiavo situation is a left/right issue. I think it's a spiritual/family issue... and a major legal issue. I don't know know the right answer for the case, but I think if Terri was my kid and she was showing ANY sign of response to others, I'd disagree to starving her. And that's the other thing. They aren't injecting her with drugs that make her sleep and then pass on, they're pulling a feeding tube. That seems like a tough way to go. Don't brain-damaged humans still feel pain?

Your thoughts?

*****

File it under: VRWC

Seven top Conspiracy theories about to broken wide open by the MSM and lefty bloggers:

1. Oil for Food Scandal? Two words: Oliver North
2. Indian Ocean Tsumani - Where was Rush Limbaugh vacationing that week?!?
3. Eason Jordan? Guess who owns financial interests in both Honda and Industrial Light & Magic? That's right... Donald Rumsfeld.
4. CBS Memo implosion? All a Karl Rove plant. [DNC to dist. network, run with this one]
5. Ohio voter disenfranchisement... Why won't the MSM verify that Bob Taft, Ken Blackwell and Mike Oxley all voted 36,000 times each?!? Answer that, repubs!
6. Jeff Goldstein, snarky internet blogger is pandering for money. Reason? Coke habit.
7. Michael Jackson - probably a Republican!

*****

File it under: Lefty Math... Again

It appears the programming wizards at democrats.gov have a predetermined formula on their Social Security calculator: guarantee a loss.

The original calculator is filled with bad assumptions (bad salary assumptions and poor indexing) but after awptimus and a savvy reader pick it apart, they put a more accurate (read: not deceptive) version up here.

Result? Privatization will save SS for today's younger taxpayers.

*****

File It Under: A Final Hockey Note

The blame was split, but now it's all on Goodnow.

I didn't agree, like or value the players union assertions that they were "100% opposed to anything that resembles a cap." I thought that hockey, more than any sport needed a cap due to it's novelty status among the other American sports. Still, I gave the Union a small measure of respect for making a point and sticking to their guns. Until... They caved in the 11th hour. WTF? If the cap is so unholy wrong then why cave now? If you can live with a cap, then why did you waste the last two years, this summer and the large part of a locked out season to agree to it now? Players can rip Bettman all they want, that's fine. He at least has the owners back in this whole thing. The rich teams will get richer and the poor teams get a chance to compete and a decent bottom line to make some money. What does Goodnow get his boys? A cap in a league that will make less money and a 24% rollback of salary as the best offer they can now get.

Sorry, but the player may be great on the ice, but i wouldn't let then run a 7-11 with business sense like that.

File it under: Basic Economics

From the DallasNews.com letters today,

"Prius kind of pricey"

Re: 'Conservatives Discover Prius,' Tuesday Letters.

I visited the Toyota dealer in Plano for a comparison of the Toyota Prius Hybrid and the standard gasoline-powered Toyota Corolla. Both were of similar size, weight and comfort. The Prius was priced at $29,000, including a $5,000 dealer availability charge. The Corolla cost $18,000.

The annual fuel cost for the Prius was $491, compared to $818 for the Corolla. The Prius, of course, pollutes far less, and that's good, but is it worth $11,000 to save $327 per year on gasoline?

By my calculations, it will take 34 years to break even with the Prius. You've got to be a staunch goody-two-shoes to opt for that, unless there is a great change in its price – and nobody's talking about the replacement cost of its expensive batteries.

Charlie Dennis, Richardson

Whoa, Chuck. You're using economics and logic, not emotion. You'd make a horrible liberal. I've always suspected that economics drove markets. Thanks for doing some legwork for me, Charlie.

*****

File it under: Big Oil, Big Fists

This story makes my day...

What happens when 30+ Greenpeace protesters attempt to halt trading at the International Petroleum Exchange?

IPE traders beat them back onto the street using fists and boots to the ass.

"We bit off more than we could chew. They were just Cockney barrow boy spivs. Total thugs," one protester said, rubbing his bruised skull. "I've never seen anyone less amenable to listening to our point of view."

Boo effing hoo. Apparently they've never seen a moderate attempt to post on the DU.

File it under: Who Said It?

Who said this:

"You think the Republican National Committee could get this many people of color in a single room? Only if they had the hotel staff in here."

1. Robert Byrd
2. Michael Moore
   
3. David Duke
4. Kwazi Mfume

The answer is HFS: Howard Dean. Any idea on how big this would be if it was the RNC chair making an overtly racist comment... in front of minorities, to boot.

Second and last question for the quiz: How many black Americans did Dean have on his staff in 12 years of Vermont governorship?

1. 0
2. 1
3. 3
4. 6

The answer is obvious - none. So another day goes by and the Democrats can continue to count on the mindless following of their party by minority groups for years to come.

No idea how that works...

*****

File It Under: Incentive to Ax Rafiq Hariri? [Updated]

DEBKAfile - The most interesting line in the story to me is: "For the first time in the annals of the Arab-Israeli dispute, Lebanon’s senior opposition politicians are pressing for the government in Beirut to recognize Israel and sign a separate peace treaty with the Jewish state - without reference to Damascus."

Now do you think that Syria finds that acceptable? An understanding of human nature says that you have to follow the power structure to figure out who has the most to gain or lose. According to the sources here "the assassination was staged by Syrian military intelligence headed by General Rostum Ghazala."

It seems that everyone thinks that the US is too engaged with Iraq to free up a plane or two to drop some munitions elsewhere. So Syria is playing a dangerous game that the whole Arab world seems to share which is making sure Israel stays alienated at the cost of your neighbors' stability. After all, if you hate the Jews, you don't have time to notice that I'm robbing you blind.

*****

Hood adds: The US has withdrawn our Syrian Ambassador. via Drudge

File It Under: Finger-Pointing Lawyers

Well it didn't take long, after the grieving had calmed down a bit, for the finger-pointing lawyers of the world to search for blame in Indian Ocean tsunami disaster.

A group of Austrian and German victims of the Asian tsunami disaster are to file a lawsuit demanding that Thailand, French hotel chain Accor and US forecasters prove they reacted adequately to the disaster, their lawyers said.

The suit, naming Accor and the US-run tsunami early warning system in the Pacific as well as Thai authorities, will be filed in a New York district court this week, the lawyers said in Vienna.

'We found that serious lapses were committed,' said Herwig Hasslacher, one of the three lawyers for the group.

They said the suit was not, at present, designed to demand compensation but to uncover evidence that would prove negligence.

These opportunists can't understand the concept of "natural" disaster, to them- fault must always be assigned to someone with a fat wallet. So, they run point fingers at the hotels the victims were lodging in and the US PACIFIC early warning system, in an attempt to fix blame at someone who they can later sue for financial rewards.

Typical.

File it under: DMN

Two sides of the coin in today's Dallas Morning News letters section:

Now Bush is frugal?

The Bush/Cheney team is a little late in tightening the budget, after spending like crazy the last four years. I read where George Bush still plans to give tax cuts to the wealthy, as he has every year he's been in office.

If wealthy taxpayers would waive their Social Security checks, that would take care of things for a long time. Mr. Bush needs to let the next president handle Social Security, as it is not a crisis on his watch.

Dorothy Harrison, Carrollton

Tax cuts to everyone, Dorothy... but I fear I'm yelling at a deaf person on this one. I like the Social Security angle - don't do anything unless SS goes belly up while you're in office. Heh... it's when they print letters like these that make me think that sometimes the DMN isn't as left of center as I think it is. But then I read articles like this.

Then, a ray of hope is printed:

... and it's all his fault

A couple of days ago, a bird flew into my picture window and fell dead. The impact rattled my double-pane storm window. I hate it when this kind of thing happens, as I think well of most birds, and this one was a mockingbird.

Listening to recent Democratic Party rhetoric, I am pretty sure that this death was George W. Bush's fault. I am disheartened that the local Democratic Party hasn't set up a news conference to officially blame him.

Phillip J. Hubbell, Carrollton

Well played, Phillip. Someone buy Phil a beer.

*****

File it under: Lefty Math

This may be a recurring theme.

Here's the left's formulas:

Rathergate = 0, where rathergate =" fake but accurate"

Easongate = 0, as "misspoke"--> tempest + teapot

Lo and behold the left gets their story! And it's this zinger! So let's see here...

gay[R] = [null set] --> Undefined, outed, ridiculed

gay[D] = [1] --> Brave, off limits, irrelevant

Moral of the story: You can be gay, but only gay and liberal.

*****

Update: Pennywit seems to be the voice of a reasonable Democrat. And this is often met with the fringe left (Oliver Willis et al) trying to eat their own (pun intended).

File It Under: Love is the Bomb or is it the Bomb is Love?

Hey hippies, the US military finally listened to your 'make love, not war' speeches. The bad news is that funding didn't work out. Personally, I would have loved to see video of Jihadists dry humping each other like a sandy version of woodstock. Can you see it now? "America you are jackals that will die in our deserts and as soon as me and my signifigant other finish playing 'hide the turban', Allah willing, he hides it good, we will drink your infidel blood." I bet we could scare the Arabs more with the threat of making them go gay than nukes. Of course, now that this story is out how may "alleged tests" do you think will get reported to the moraity police when someone get caught going shag nasty on the same sex in the middle east?

Queer eye for the straight Sunni coming to a cable channel near you.

File it Under: NHL Labor Mad Gabs

Anytime a NHL player says the word "unified" sub it with "greedy and stupid."

File It Under: One Suggested DPRK Response With Historical Goodness

Once upon a time, there was a president that allowed the North Koreans all the incentive they needed to make a few nukes.

Guess who it was? Quick! Now guess who get blamed for that?

I seem to remember that pattern with the economy as well. Hmmmm. Interesting.

I'm going on the record to say one thing : "The DPRK is China's little gimp and China will only let the disobedient child act up for so long before they rub the back of thier pimp hand and dole out a fresh one on Kim Jong Il's candy ass."

File it under: Sensible Laws

... Not to mention great for an anti-terror measure.

Republicans pushed the measure through on a 261-161 vote despite protests from governors and state motor vehicle departments that it would be too costly and would require them to take on the role of immigration officers.

Get over it.

Governors, state legislators and motor vehicle departments have all argued that requiring verification of background information such as Social Security (news - web sites) numbers and whether a person is in the United States legally would be burdensome.

Now that's the second point made in the article about this law requiring people to work. As someone that deals almost daily with employees at a state and local level, I can assure you that this is the entrenched mentality with these groups. Do as little work as possible. And that's exactly what they do. These are your local government employees (tax related, in my business) and they will almost go out of their way to avoid doing anything resembling legwork. There are exceptions but not many.

So these complaints come as no surprise to me. Here we have a good measure, aimed to protect US citizens, and it's "burdensome."

Boo. Effing. Hoo.

*****

File It Under: Your Disgruntled NHL Update

Make no mistake, this was funny. The NHL took the agreement that the players had given them eariler and told them "Ok, let's see if your plan would really stop the rising salaries." They followed that by setting payroll triggers stating if one of the conditions were met then the collective bargining agreement would revert to the salary cap that they proposed. It took the NHLPA a mere hour to say no. Why? Because the NHLPA plan had an inital savings to the owners but no mechanism to keep salaries from jumping back up to previous levels. So thier claim that it would fix the league's economics were shown as faulty when the NHL essentially said "OK, we'll do it your way first and then our way if your way doesn't work."

I'll tell you now that the players have zero empathy or sympathy from me. I find it ridiculous that they have a Union in the first place. Autoworkers who have to fight for heath care need unions, millionares who play a game for a living do not. Beside since when did a union say," Hey, while we're in labor agreements go ahead and take the jobs of other workers who may end up union members later, in a place where they are working under the system that we are fighting and we'll let you know when we're coming back."

I hope the NHL slaps a cap on an agreement, the NHLPA declines, it goes to a labor board ruling and the NHL is allowed to say "this is the new system, play under it or play elsewhere."

And Bill Guerin, Daniel Alfredson and Trevor Linden can complain all they want. I could care less if I see any of those transparant money whores ever play again.

File It Under: North Korea

According to news services throughout the world, the North Korean government now openly admits that it possesses nuclear weapons. Nuclearization of the Korean peninsula is complete, and it is only a matter of time before other countries in the region begin eyeing their own weapons programs.

This is a horrible blow to the concept of nuclear non-proliferation. Everyone has suspected this announcement to come for a while, but the CIA has been telling everyone since the summer of 2001, that the DPRK had already created a weapon during the Clinton Administration; as early as 1994.

The DPRK has nuclear weapons, has no natural resources, and a willingness to sell these weapons on the black market.

They've also violated or turned down every non-proliferation agreement we've ever offered them, have undermined international negotiation efforts, and have refused inspections. They've ignored their commitments, sometimes flagrantly, and have violated promises they've made. The current government of North Korea cannot be trusted to abide by any future agreement.

The United States must assume that the North Korean government will begin to sell its nuclear weapons on the black market. There is no other safe conclusion we can draw from the actions perpetrated by this rogue nation. Given the sad history in trying to resolve this issue through peaceful means, we cannot continue to falsely hope that these methods will keep us safe from the insane motivations of Kim Jong Il.

The Bush administration should consider taking unprecedented action to counter this threat.

I would propose that the United States reevaluate its commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation acts it has committed itself to in the past. Only by introducing a new threat to North Korea, that of a nuclear armed South Korea or Japan, can we hope to counter the threat posed by North Korean black-market nuclear weapons.

I would propose that the United States begin quietly talking with other nations in the region to measure reaction to a US pre-emptive strike against North Korean nuclear facilities and military installations.

I would propose that the United States begin increasing wages and salaries for US Military personnel, and ease immigration restrictions for foreign born forces wishing to enlist into the US Military. If a military show-down is inevitable, we need to start preparing now to increase the size of our volunteer forces- they're already stretched too thin, and we're having a hard time keeping the ranks swelled with poorly paid National Guardsmen.

As for Condoleeza Rice... May she show the wisdom to recognize that diplomacy is wasted on North Korea. Hopefully she'll put her skills to work building an international coalition to counter the DPRK.

File it under: Analogies Not On the SATs

The members of FIU reside in Dallas, Texas, Big Bear, California and Detroit, Michigan. None of us are unlucky enough to live in Baltimore, Maryland under the mayorial jurisdiction of this dumbass.

Here it is, as you won't see it on the SAT Exam:

911 : budget cuts :: al-Qaida : ______

1. Karl Rove
2. Haliburton
3. Republicans
4. George W. Bush
   

If you chose #4, you could be the next mayor of Baltimore!! Is there any wonder Howard Dean is gonna run the DNC?

*****

File it under: Educational

Ok. It's obvious that my picture is an armadillo. Tom is a Kuala bear.

What is Rob and WTF is Darius?

*****

Update: I propose this photo for Tom's picture.

File it Under: Thanks

I'd like to give a big thanks to J.D., Rob and Tom. Thanks Guys, for letting me be a part of this blog. I was out of the scene for a while, and frankly- I'd much rather start new here than go back to STFU. I might recreate that site in the future, but for now I'd like to focus my creative energies here.

If you guys were in Detroit, I'd buy you a paczki- which is a Detroit Tradition on Fat Tuesday (aka Mardi Gras). What is a paczki? Imagine an extra-large frosted jelly donut, with more calories than you can shake a Krispy Kreme at.

*****

File It Under: Farm Subsidy Pigs

According to the Environmental Working Group- a "public interest watchdog," the top 10% recipients of US Farm Subsidy (corporate welfare) handouts were paid a whopping 72% of the total subsidy dollars. That equates to $94 Billion of the total $131 Billion dollars in (this one type of) agro-corporate welfare granted between 1995 and 2003.

What does this tell me?

Farm subsidy programs initially conceived by well-wishing socialists of the past have been perverted and exist now to feed the gaping maw of monolithic agribusiness. These hand-outs, initially conceived to save Ma and Pa Kettle's farm, now keep corporate giants afloat. As stated in Sundays New York Times...

Mr. Collins, the Agriculture Department economist, said, "When the government subsidizes every bushel and every acre, it encourages large farm operations to grow larger."

...And often the Agri-business Barons grow larger at the expense of their smaller competitors- who aren't able to exploit the governments generosity as effectively.

In the past week, President Bush has announced that he would cut the total overall hand-outs by 5%, a decrease of about $60 Million from the annual $1.2 Billion given in subsidies each year.

It's not that great, but it's a start...

On a side note, we're seeing that the Bush Administration is staying true to his commitements on budget reform. As you can see by following--> this link <--, the states taking most of the biggest hits are his own Red states. This shows that he's willing to make some sacrifices to make cuts he feels are needed.

I can only hope that he'll start sacrificing some more sacred cows... (God knows there's plenty of crap our government throws money at in ill-conceived attempts to work for the "common good.")

*****

File it under: Yes, Virginia. There is a Fine.

Maybe it's because I'm single and/or don't have any daughters... but I happen to like low cut pants.

The state of Virgina is considering a law that will result in a $50 fine if your dainty underthings can be seen with low cut pants on. Sounds draconian to me... I hope this waste of taxpayer dollars avoids Texas.

In the meantime, my solution to avoid those pestering fines? Commando.

I could be too smart for my own good.

via Drudge

*****

File It Under: The Condi Factor

Can sending Rice to France make a difference? I think it will.

I had a lot of psycho-babble classes in college that I was forced to endure. One of the things I did take from them was the fundamental difference between how men and women act in a new situation. Men enter a new situation and establish dominance and the pecking order. We try to bend the situation to our will. Women enter a new situation and look to see how they fit so they can get along. Taking that into account, when you cut lose a former US General in a room of diplomats, like we did with Powell, the result was foreseeable. He went in and said "this is what were doing, join up or get the hell out of the way." I think that was the right thing for the job and I don't take issue with him, but you don't get many friends among the other countries when they all want to be treated as equals and you say "this isn't Burger King, you don't get it your way."

Condi seems to be able to talk about inclusion in such a way that you don't get the feeling that she was ordered to. In her press conference, for a moment, I forgot that she was a politician and thought she believed it when she said that "America has everything to gain from having a stronger Europe as a partner in building a safer and a better world. So let each of us bring to the table ideas, experience and resources, and let us discuss and decide -- together -- how best to employ them for democratic change."

Face it folks, we don't want other people deciding how to do stuff over there, we want to decide. It's kinda the reason that were there in the first place. We just want the other nations to pay their part before they jump in the oil buffet line and start demanding things of the new Iraqi government. Either way, we need to repair our relations with the European nations to a working level if only to ensure equal footing in trade. They aren't going to really risk pissing us off, they just won't support things that we do. So it is in our best interests to get them to quit diplomatically ignoring us and withdrawing support from us for the simple reason that we want to sell them stuff and buy stuff from them. Condi, I think, will do a good job of opening the door to the European nations to be involved enough that average Joe over there will forget their anti-American sentiment to some degree and say "Well I guess if we are in there with them I should be behind this thing as well."

Only time will tell. Either way, Sen. Boxer can sit on it and twirl.

*****

File it under: Texas Governor's Race

Kinky Friedman is running for Texas Governor.

Texas humorist Kinky Friedman, who wrote the song "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Any More," announced on Thursday his independent candidacy for the state's governorship.

...

The author of numerous books, columns and songs he performed with his bar band "The Texas Jewboys," Friedman, 60, stressed he'll use humor to frame a serious candidacy in the Republican-dominated state.

...

On the 169th anniversary of the arrival of Lt. Col. William B. Travis' arrival at the Alamo, which would eventually fall to Mexican troops, Friedman laid out his plan to begin the "de-wussification of Texas."

"I'm not anti-death penalty. I'm anti-the wrong guy getting executed," Friedman said. "Two-thousand years ago we executed an innocent man named Jesus Christ and we don't want to make another mistake like that."

His campaign will use humor to focus on a serious job, according to his campaign. That will be necessary. Texas is a big state with a lot of problems that need to be solved.

Like Minnesota's Jesse Ventura in 1998 and California's Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003, Friedman's nontraditional candidacy could garner serious support, said political analyst Larry Hufford of St. Mary's University in San Antonio.

I doubt this, though if he gets too popular he could do a great job of ciphering votes from either of the two main parties. But who knows, he might say all the right things. Speculation has Kay Bailey Hutchinson possibly edging out Perry for the Republican primary spot in 2006. Kay would be a tough candidate, as she is pretty popular amongst Texans.

For now, though, I'll do my best in tracking down Kinky quotes and getting a bearing on his political leanings.

Kinky's official site | Kinky's News (Blog)

• He favors legalized casino gambling to finance education (Neutral)
  

Tough sell in the Texas bible belt. Getting horse racing in Texas was rough. Plus legalizing gambling here might cause Louisiana to invade...

• Would push for life without parole as an alternative to the death penalty (Leans pretty left)
  

The death penalty is used liberally here (pun intended) and is popular even amongst democrats, though to a lesser extent. He will gain the ACLU vote which he'll need to keep secret.

• He's Jewish (Neutral)
  

I'd like to think that this doesn't matter... and largely, it probably doesn't. Texas's Hispanic voters are largely Catholic and our caucasian voters are largely Protestant. From the angle that conservatives support the existence of Israel, this could pull some votes his way. The bigoted vote could break any way (albeit small) and who gives a shit about those voters anyway?

• Anti cat declawing (Leans a little left)

Sounds a little PETA-ish to me, but I have a feeling Kinky loves steaks and hamburgers. This sounds like he's probably just a cat-lover and thinks it sucks. He'll need to counter this by campaigning in a full-size pickup truck with a couple U.S. flag bumper stickers.

• On religion: "I'd be a Buddhist if it weren't for Richard Gere." (Neutral)

But bad for anyone running for governor in Texas. See 'He's Jewish' entry.

• On outlawing gay marriage: "I'm for gay marriage. They have every right to be as miserable as the rest of us." (Leans funny)

But again, bad for anyone running in Texas, Rep or Dem.

Also, we'll watch the media's reaction. When it comes down to game day, we'll see how swooning and how much attention Kinky gets. If coverage is high, that'll definitely fall as 'Leans definitely left.'

*****

File It Under: The Joys of Mexico

After the guys wished wished me well, I went to the NAPE in Houston. Once again it was fun and fair times in the wide world of oil and gas. I worked our wonderful booth handing out our crappy freebies, listening to dumb stories about Alaska since our prospect is in Alaska and occasionally giving detailed presentations to oil execs not scared off by our 20 million dollars a well price tag. The result of this conglomeration of drinking, lying, ballyhooing and dealing was that our company now has 12 new legitimate leads, 15 questionable leads and epic adventure of a bar tab racked up by my President and I. What did I learn from this experience: "They aren't whores if someone else pays for them," seems to be the mantra of the modern oil exec. Me, I have a strict "no whores policy."

After all the fun, I came back dropped off the kids at the grandparents and took the wife and headed to Galveston for our cruise. As sucky as the tradeshow was the cruise more than made up for it. Summary: Lots of corona's, margaritas, quervo, snorkeling, gourmet meals, gambling, shopping and "personal attention" with the spouse. It was awesome. I watched Iraqi election coverage from a pool side bar in the Caribbean. Historic? It was for me.

Anyway, I'm back now.

So, I will get nice and jaded as fast as possible and be back on the war path soon as I catch up on news coverage and Israeli intelligence links.

As a final shot, I see that we got the motor city madman on board. That is awesome. I need someone else on here who knows Keith Premieux was a waste of a draft pick and is not a elite player regardless of what Philly thinks.

*****

Introducing: Darius

December 1st, 2004:

FIU succumbs to blackmail extorted by Tom.

January 5th, 2005:

FIU completes hostile takeover of Will Think For Food and exclusive access rights to Rob. (Rumor was he was starving...)

And now, February 8th, 2005:

FIU gains Darius of STFU fame.

High-powered investigative journalism revealed that Darius had been on an unplanned hiatus participating in capitalist duties in blue-state Michigan.

It's an honor to have Darius and his reader base migrate to FIU. This also adds another (former?) TX user to the FIU rolls. If the TX ever returns to active-user status there will be no better place to turn to for TX commentary than FIU.

In the meantime, FIU has four politically interested and current-event attuned individuals to keep our three (possibly more now!) readers more than entertained.

And to add a mix to the viewpoints, unlike Republican voters Rob, Tom and myself, Darius is a Libertarian! How's that for diversity?

Welcome, Darius.

*****

File it under: FYI

If you're following Easongate, here's your rally point.

La Shawn is linkin' like the Dickens.

...No idea what that means.

*****

File it under: Sunday Summary

Commentary from yesterday:

• The Patriots won. No big deal except that I hate Philadelphia... so I'm satisfied with this outcome.
• The commercials were ok. Some were funny, lots were not. Budweiser had some good ones... which makes up for this.
  
• I tried a sip of that yesterday. It tastes like Red Bull with beer. It's not good and I hope it doesn't last.
• I've decided that a half-time show with an "accidental" boobie is more exciting that Paul McCartney. The half time show should have been...
• ...A 10-minute teaser for War of the Worlds which will probably be the best movie of 2005. Spielberg + Cruise = Blockbuster... especially of a great H.G. Wells book.
  

File it under: Damn

The Diplomad closes its doors.

They'll stay on the blogroll, though, until the link dies.

They plug the Daily Demarche and New Sisyphus so we'll give those a shot from here on out.

Damn.

Damn damn.

*****

File it under: Dang

We're all going to die.

Oh wait. We were anyway. But this time, we're taking the planet with us. I say we start the rioting sooner rather than later.

*****

File it under: Required Reading

The post may not be the funniest ever (it is quite humorous) but read the damn comment thread. Don't do this while drinking anything.

*****

File it under: New Feature

I've decided that from this point forward, I will occasionally dig through our local paper (which I will never subscribe to), the Dallas Morning News. It's a decent paper, but it's still MSM and that'll never fly with me. I started here and have realized that the paper and its readers will supply me with lots of moonbat ammo.

DallasNews.com | News for Dallas, Texas | Opinion: Letters:

Nomination is an insult

Jan. 27 marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a Nazi death camp in Poland where more than 1.5 million people, mostly Jewish, met brutal torture and horrific deaths.

It is befitting that this somber occasion should serve as the backdrop for the confirmation hearings for Attorney General-nominee Alberto Gonzales.

The German people's complicity in the Holocaust has long been debated. For whatever reason, most prefer to accept the claim from most Germans that there was simply nothing they could do.

Mr. Gonzales' role in drafting memos that legitimize torture techniques and his utter disregard for human rights were exhibited for the entire world.

His nomination is an insult to all Americans and to the millions of people throughout history who have suffered unspeakable torture or death at the hands of totalitarian regimes who regard power more highly than human life.

George Henson, Dallas

Thanks for writing, George. First off there was no backdrop of Auschwitz and Roberto Gonzales. You might have wished there was but there wasn't. The two are unrelated and bear no comparison, here on earth.

But you guys love to blow things out of context, so you've got that going for you. See, unlike Saddam and the Taliban and Kim Jong Il's N. Korea, we don't condone killing, rape, and torture for the fuck of it. Get that?

We can justify making terrorists lives uncomfortable if it will make the US and it's soldiers safer. And this usually means making them uncomfortable... standing for a long time... not getting much sleep... y'know... those types of human atrocities. However, in circumstances where time is of the essence, how could you not justify bullets in the kneecaps to save thousands or millions of human lives? How? But it's never come to that.

And we're seeing now from former Gitmo detainees, that it's in their "instruction booklet" to scream torture regardless. Because they know saps like George and the ACLU will get stiffies even thinking that they've got dirt on W and the administration.

So, in closing, I hope Alberto wins nomination and I hope that his policies will keep cockfaces like George Henson alive for their full natural lives so that they can continue to sound stupid.

*****