Blasted Chinamen!

One nice thing about this modern world is the ability to read the British Press. Do they still feature scantily clad woman in their tabloids?

At any rate, I see that some enterprising computer people have developed an awsome new computo-mo-box weapon against the Chinaman. It's called an online computer game. According to the Guardian it drives Chinaman crazy. Apparently someone named Qiu Chengwei had a sword stolen from him, and so went and stabbed the person who stole it with a knife.

Actually that seems pretty reasonable. Allow me to reperuse this story.

Ah apparently it was only a pretend sword in this online computer game. So Mr. Qiu believed the sword to be real and then stabbed someone else when he couldn't find it.

Anyway I don't understand the fuss over a sword. Surely the Chinamen have Guns by now? Guns are much more efficient and modern than swords. If I were creating an online computer game it would have lots of guns.

Around the Horn and this Confounded Computo-mo-box

You can tell that these computors were designed by inferior non-American peoples. They are awful. If I were building one of these confounded machines . . . well I wouldn't. I'd hire a young unmarried woman as a secretary.

I am directed to do a review of some of the Liberal Coalition, who sound like a bunch of weak-kneed ninnies. Let's see what they have to say.

Kick the Leftist writes a note on how the new directer of the World Bank, Wolfowitz is replacing a gentleman named Wolfensohn. What odd names!

A gentleman by the name of Steve Gilliard proves himself no gentleman by using language unfit for a Turkish sailor. He passionately criticises a woman who runs one of these Computerized Web Logs for failing to dignify the position of running a Computerized Web Log. Apparently this woman, with the odd name of Wonkette, is not a lady either in that she discusses the libations she enjoys publically. It's very confusing, but I think Wonkette is a Estonian name which may clarify matters.

Rick's Cafe Americaine, which must be a computerized web log for a cafe, is reporting that the President has exonerated himself. I must say you futuristic people should be less trusting of your leaders! Although this President Bush sounds like a good pro-business leader, this report might not have been entirely forthcoming.

I guess one would expect T. Rex's Guide to Life to offer advice, and it does. Apparently Mr. Rex thinks that just because your candidate fails to garner a nomination or your views aren't wholly accepted in your party, you shouldn't leave the party. Pish Posh! Each person should see them as the center of the universe and demand that the universe mold themselves to them. Compromise? Pish Posh!

Take this person of Words on a Page. Let him be an example to you T. Rex. He refuses to compromise in the slightest, even if his head is scrambled and he is unable to speak or move. He still has determined to live the life he wishes, no matter who it inconveniences. Why, he is a man after my own heart? Except he seems to be a woman named Wanda. And while I find the sentiments entirely appropriate for a male, woman should not be this demanding.

Apparently you future people have some program called Social Security to help the elderly? Bah! Let the elderly take care of themselves. President Bush has presented a revision to the program that would do just that, but First Draft reports that Congressional Leader J. Dennis Hastert says that it is not possible. It is nice to see that the uselessness of Congress has remained consistent over the years.

The Yellow Doggeral has a beautiful ode to Republicans, that I advise you all to read with gusto!

It is hard getting used to this strange future world, and a post by archy makes it all the more clear that I don't completely understand you. You mean your teachers are not armed? When I was a lad our headmaster had a rifle he had acquired in the civil war which he regularly showed to us lads. Do not modern school teachers show their students how to use Guns Responsibly? What if a bear or a cossack enteres the class room?

At any rate I shall be back later to provide you the commentary required on the events of the day.

A Quick Note

Look, I'm sorry about this but I need to take the day off to head down South. Apparently there's this super great condo deal that I just can't afford to miss. But fear not. While I am gone, your posting needs will be met by none other than Irwin J. McIckleson, a fictional 1910s plutocrat. Enjoy!

The End of Civilization

According to the New York Times, Moby's new Album "Hotel" signals the end of civilization. Apparently the fact that Moby's "Play" achieved synergy by having it's songs licensed to commercials, and the fact that this reviewer didn't like it very much, makes some larger point about music as commodity which somehow signals the end of history.

Yeah, it's kind of confusing to me too.

But then I liked "Play." I liked "18" as well. Moby is not as good as, say, the Chemical Brothers or Underworld, and he is kind of on a high horse some of the time, but he's ok.

The Obvious

You know who they are, and they know who they are: Christian or conservative camera hogs beloved by media liberals pleased to broadcast the threatening image of right-wing would-be dictators.

The good news is that they care enough to show up at demonstrations. The bad news is that their belligerence alienates millions.

This is from Marvin Olasky's latest article. I do feel for his prediciment; certainly it's frusterating being held accountable for the fringe elements in one's party. Of course in my sympathetic mind I will not point out that his side has also mastered the technique of pointing to the fringe and claiming they are the center. Read an article or two by Ann Coulter and you will see this on full display. But, of course, it would be churlish to mention that while I'm offering symapthy.

A Party Divided

Jonah Goldberg in his latest article takes on certain gloom and doom prophecies by libertarian Conservatives over the future of the Republican Party. Some, including popular bloggers Glenn Reynolds and Andrew Sullivan are apparently concerned that the party has lost its way. Goldberg, naturally, disagrees. He surmises that the current brouhaha over Terri Schiavo won't really sink the party. I agree with him there; the next elections are a long way away, and memory is short. That said it could derail some of President Bush's short term plans.

The rest of his article is weaker. More or less he comments on how the people have predicted doom for the party, but that doom has not come to past. So the people predicting doom this time around probably aren't right either.

He also references the New Deal coalition that FDR built, and points out the inherent inconsistencies there. He does not, point out, however, that the New Deal Coalition began crumbling shortly after FDRs death and is now barely a memory.

Personally I think we need to define what we mean by the party breaking up or having hard times or whatever. Do we mean that the party will cease to exist? We'll I'd agree that that is unlikely in the extreme. Do we mean that the party will lose the current power it has? I would think that would be inevitable. The American people aren't 100% Conservative or Liberal. On some issues they seem to agree with the Republican Party; on others they agree with the Democratic. So it seems like eventually the Democrats will come back on top.

The thing about being out of power is it makes you focused. And the thing about being in power is it makes you arrogant.

Those kids today

Tony Blankley's latest is about how the gossip industry is apparently being undercut by those rotten internet gossipers. Apparently it's harder than it used to be for the print gossipists. And Mr. Blankley places the blame on, well, guys without basements.

But today, inexperienced youthful readers are willing to consume cheaply produced rumors by unlicensed persons in their basements -- if they even have basements. Knowing the type, they probably only have lofts. Having a basement suggests a substantial building of multiple stories. But today's decadent youth don't care from where they get their rumors.

I should note at this point that recycling the title "Sometimes I Can't Tell the Difference between Parody and Reality" might have been a good idea. Mr. Blankley is either decrying teh internet destroying traditional media outlets or he is "praising with faint damns" those internet guys who are going to dstroy the traditional media outlets. Hard to tell which.

And what's with the bashing of people without basements?

Blogging Blues

I've been trying to get the post below posted for the last three hours. In the meant time I had another post idea. This one from reading Pat Sajak's blog in which he recounts a discussion with a fellow liberal.

Recently, for example, I was discussing the United Sates Supreme Court with on of my many Liberal friends out in Los Angeles when she said, without any discernible embarrassment, that Justice Anton Scalia was "worse than Hitler." Realizing she wasn't alive during World War II and perhaps she may have been absent on those days when her schoolmates were studying Nazism, I reminded her of some of Hitler's more egregious crimes against humanity, suggesting she may have overstated the case. She had not; Scalia was worse.

You'd think this experience (and others he references) might just prove that Mr. Sajak has poor taste in liberal friends, but he's going for a more general principle. Apparently arguing with liberals is a fruitless endeavor.

. . . it served to remind me of how difficult it is to have serious discussions about politics or social issues with committed members of the Left. They tend to do things like accusing members of the Right of sowing the seeds of hatred while, at the same time, comparing them to mass murderers.

Mr. Sajak's argument about the sorry state of liberalism hinges on us all believing that his experience is typical, that most liberals run around comparing their enemies to Hitler. Now, to be fair, some probably do. But is that the majority of them? And is that mainstream liberals?

An obvious counter to this might be to bring out quotes by Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and others. I can find quotes that talk about how liberals in general are just plain bad people. We are called stupid, mushy-headed, death-lovers, weak, spineless, hateful, and so on and so forth. And not just a few of our more objectionable leaders, but all of our leaders and all of us. When you compare that to an idiot friend of Pat Sajak's being mean to Justice Scalia, well, I'm not sure it measures up.

Your Weekly Rush: Salvaging something from the Wreckage

OK this is my third pass at writing this post. While Republicans attempts to politicize Terri Schiavo's situation have, in part, backfired, Rush Limbaugh is still trying to dissuade his listeners from leaving the party.

When this is all over, and it's going to be over someday, are we going to go back to being complacent and are we going to go back to refusing to support representatives and senators who have the guts to challenge some of this judicial supremacy? Are we going to encourage them to reign in these rogue courts? Are we going to stand by Tom DeLay and Santorum and support them, who are at the top of the liberal hit list? Are we going to engage the left when the president nominates a new chief justice as early as June or are we going to let the liberal Hollywood groups continue to run the confirmation show? And are we going to continue to let the Democrats in the Senate filibuster?

So obviousl Rush would like to channel the anger of the Christian right away from Republican Politicians who failed to save Ms. Schiavo and towards "Activist Judges." There's a good chance it will work.

Too Far Gone

President Bush and Governor Bush and their Republican allies are in shaky territory. By taking direct action in the Terri Schiavo case, they have annoyed much of the country, who do not feel that this action was warranted. On the other hand, by not actually saving her life, they risk angering the religious right.

It's gotten so bad, that even some of the pundits are admitting the obvious. Matt Towery admits that the polls show this to be an unpopular proposition (previously Conservatives had suggested that such polls were slanted). He also noted the trouble that President Bush and his followers find themselves in.

The emergency congressional action two weekends ago that tried to save Schiavo's life could potentially have a boomerang political effect on the White House and the Republicans in Congress. My update is that the boomerang has come whizzing back even faster than expected.

. . . It had become painfully clear that much of the nation felt Congress had overreached in its actions.

Even more frustrating to Republicans was the verbal beating that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was taking from fanatical, save Schiavo activists. They urged him to have state law enforcement officers storm Schiavo's hospice and take her into custody. They even accused both President George W. Bush and Jeb Bush of not helping at all!

Cal Thomas, on the other hand, suggests that breaking the law to save Terri Schiavo's life is probably not a good idea.

The Miami Herald reported Saturday that agents of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement told police in Pinellas Park they were going to conduct such an operation. The newspaper said agents backed down rather than confront local police outside the hospice. Certain people seem to be arguing that only those laws and judicial rulings with which they agree are to be obeyed. That invites anarchy.

The problem with this argument (that preserving the rule of law takes precedence over saving Terri Schiavo's life) is that when Democrats pushed it last week we were promoting a culture of death. And when Republicans push it this week, they are not promoting a culture of death. I think you can see what the deciding factor is.

Sometimes I Can't Tell the Difference between Parody and Reality

I was reading the DAOU REPORT over at Salon. It's a run down of blogs on the left and the right, and it's worth checking out from time to time. Anyway it linked to a discussion of our relationship with China over at adamyoshida.com. The first part was correct enough, covering how the China are the closest we have to rivals right now, and how we should be somewhat concerned about their growing power. Then there was this interesting bit.

We cannot yield out standard of living to them. We have no reason to. China has always been an inferior nation and deserves to be. We ought not surrender, we ought not compromise. There is no rational reason for us to consider sharing with the Chinese so long as any other option remains open to us. I, for one, am not willing to surrender the least part of my standard of living to help a billion and a quarter Chinese get what they want.

It could be that this intended as a parody of what Conservatism is perceived to be. The the terminology is pretty clear.

Let's say that Mr. Yoshida's standard of living allows him to eat 5 Dove Bars a week. If we could preserve peace with China but it would take him down to 4 Dove bars a week, for Mr. Yoshida that is too high a price to pay. Which, I have to say, isn't probably the most solid foundation on which to build a future foreign policy on.

World of Warcraft

For those of you who are interested in World of Warcraft you can listen to Blizzard's chief storyteller here at NPR. Among other things he talks about how the medium of video games is still in its infancy and who knows what great works it might produce. Specifically he says that computer / video games have yet to produce their Moby Dick.

I don't know what to think about that, myself. I can certainly think of games that have stuck with me, and other games that haven't. Age of Empires II. Starcraft. Jedi Knight (Dark Forces II). Half Life. Grim Fandango. Some of those games had really interesting stories to tell (Grim Fandango and Starcraft). Some had interesting ways to tell a story (Half Life). Age of Empires II, on the other hand, had no story at all to speak of. And yet I played it a million times. It's game play was smooth and enjoyable (nothing like seeing your archers cut down the enemy before they got close).

The other problem is technological innovation and game play improvements. Anybody playing World of Warcraft and then going back and playing Everquest would notice, of course, the graphical difference. But there are also different design elements. People play each others games, and if one company comes up with an advance, most other games will eventually borrow it. Does that mean that, say, Diablo is no longer any fun to play?

I guess I'm just rambling at this point. How do we judge good art verses hack art? The standards are different in each genre. A great film works differently than a great painting. And reading a great book is a different experience than listening a great symphony. Mull it over and get back to me.

The Amazing Two Headed Country!

Just in case you missed the point to this whole Terri Shiavo story, here it is, coherently summarized by John Leo.

Think of the Terri Schiavo case as another red-versus-blue issue. Congress, Republican-dominated and therefore mostly red, asked the federal courts to take a fresh look. The federal judiciary, in its customary imperial blue, contemptuously told Congress to take a hike. It wouldn't delay the execution for even a few days. For that, you need to be a convicted cop killer.

Yep. Republicans want to save life, Democrats want to snuff it out. "One wants to love; one wants to kill," as the old two headed monster movie poster read.

And there it is. Or, at least, that is what our buddies in the Conservative Movement would like you to believe.

Pictures of Lupita

Here are some pictures of my new buddy.





The bottom is her crate. To me it looks a lot like a cage, but I think we like calling it a crate because we don't like thinking of putting our dogs in cages. On the other hand, she does seem really comfortable with it. Put some water in there and food and a blanket.

Anyway hope you had a nice weekend too.

New Format, New Quote!

Since I screwed up the blog last week, we will be returning to weekly changes for a number of weeks. Also finally updated the Quotes Page.

I have a new dog, which is why this weekend's posting has been sparse, but I will pick up again tomorrow, and will post pictures of Lupita later on tonight.