Now that's funny

Islamofascist vaudeville!

UPDATE: 'parently crashed. I'll try to find a backup.

UPDATE: Here it is.

Media watch

Attention grabbing headline: Army Tests Soldiers in Alaskan Extremes

Doesn't that sound like the Army is subjecting human soldiers to extreme cold weather training? It did to me too.

In actuality, the substance of the story is about testing experimental equipment, like headlights not soldiers, in Alaska's cold weather.

Here's the letter I sent to the AP which I expect to be ignored just like the others I've sent over the years:

Dear Rachel D'oro,

Thank you for writing a quite interesting piece on the Army's Cold Regions Test Center.

However the headline "Army Tests Soldiers in Alaskan Extremes" doesn't capsulize the substance of your article, which is about equipment testing. Could you be a darling and ask your editors why? Feel free to get back to me at your leisure. (Read: an actual response would shock me to the core.)

Kadnine

While Kadnine rests...

Ace blasted out more than twenty posts yesterday.

Covered topics:

Top Gun, Al Gore, Whale Vomit, Judge Cashman, Fake Braces In Thailand, Google, failed comedians, Librarians, Denzel, The Panda Sutra, Kissing, Filibuster, Saddam's WMD, Whoa!, Fire Ants, Breathing?... Iran's "Perilously Honest Man," p'rong farr, Roadmap, Racist, "Cyber-Disinhibition," Drunken, Gunshot Deaths, Truly Spectacular Hiney?, unconstitutional joke, Army, 59%, 51%, 8%, and The Guardian ♥ Hamas.

I'm in awe. Something's got into that boy. He must've either lost his job, or at least quit the Valu-Rite Discount Vodka. All I accomplished yesterday was a little laundry and porno... um, I mean literary reading. Yeah. And a little more laundry...

This must be what it was like for the Clinton supporters back in 1998

I'm deeply tired. Not even sweet-n-sour sauce atop jambalaya (quite possibly the greatest dish ever served in the history of Western Civilization, in my opinion, and which I just had for lunch) could raise my political spirits.

I'm beat.

Being fairly new to politics, I have a question... Is this normal? Or am I slipping back into a depressive episode?

The world's greatest car commercial

now faces stiff competition.

Champion vs. challenger.

(Via Boing-Boing)

From the latest johnkerry.com email... Ha!

Nothing. Nothing about this email suggests a viable alternative course for America.

We'll defeat candidates who refuse to challenge the Bush/Cheney administration's illegal, warrantless spying ... We'll replace Republicans who have refused to lift a finger to end the Bush administration's mind-numbing incompetence... We'll end the careers of Republican politicians who have cozied up to unethical lobbyists and sold out the American people.

And, we'll be there, each and every day, to make sure no Democrat stands alone in the face of the Republicans' desperate, underhanded election tactics and facts-be-damned campaign ads.

And they'll continue to be there, each and every day, just as long as you send them some money!

There are two wars being waged right now. Half of America is fighting a war against a bunch of head-choppin' butchers.... the other half is fighting against George W. Bush.

Um... you guys do realize Bush's days are limited... right? 22nd Amendment and all... If your party is elected to presidential office after Bush.... whatta ya got?

There's something evil gnawing away at the vulnerable underbelly of America...

... and it must be nipped in the bud!

Then again... I was nipped in the bud once. After that, I was in bed for two weeks.

(Yep... sleeping)

Baby mammals rule!

Has anyone ever described reptiles or insects as "cute"?



(This blog is still sleeping.)

Am I the only one?

Am I the only conservative, pro-war guy who doesn't care for 24?

Jack Bauer's cool and all, but I spent seven months living in Iraq at the heightened tension level described in every episode. Kinda don't wanna go back to that feeling.

I did watch season three all the way through. I was hooked by the opener but gradually came to think of getting to the finale as... chore-like. Maybe this would help. Thoughts?

(If you think this post is about me feeling guilty for not posting much this past week... you'd be correct.)

Quitting smoking...

GRRRRrrrrr.... grrrrr... *cough*.... Grrr *cough*

That is all.... I'm miserable. *sniff*

Missing something

This is an excellent article disecting the historical reasons why english speaking countries lead the rest of the world during times of war. One quibble, though:

Anglo primacy will probably persist precisely because its roots lie in good government, which is deeply path dependent. It is hard for any country to become well governed that has not always been so. Somehow, the British formed an effective regime early, and it went from strength to strength. Each advance generated the confidence and the trust needed for the next. The British passed on that legacy to their Anglo heirs, and these countries, too, have had beneficent histories. In terms of political gifts, the richest countries have been English-speaking. Their wealth and power ultimately derive from this great fact.

[Emphasis mine]

The author never once refers to religion let alone the Judeo-Christian values that were spread alongside the english language. It was a package deal. I think that may well be the "somehow" that he neatly sidesteps. Not that I blame him, mind you. Had he included religious values into his essay, it'd be at least ten times as long! But I feel that means religion is important, ya know?

The successful spread of capitalism didn't inherrently carry with it "freedom of religion" but there's an argument to made that religous men with Judeo-Christian values codified and expanded both.

(Via: The Corner)

UPDATE: Related - "Must-Read Pieces From Steyn & Lileks"

Murtha's gone too far

I've refrained from writing about congressman John Murtha's outrageous remarks for several weeks now, but this is the last straw.

"Would you join (the military) today?," he was asked in an interview taped on Friday.

"No," replied Murtha of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees defense spending and one of his party's leading spokesmen on military issues.

"And I think you're saying the average guy out there who's considering recruitment is justified in saying 'I don't want to serve'," the interviewer continued.

"Exactly right," said Murtha...

There's been the opportunity to say "I don't want to serve" since the draft ended in 1973, so no one who volunteers is an "average" guy. Murtha himself served an incredible thirty-seven years with the US Marines. But now he's suggesting that volunary service is no longer honorable?

Whether it's hubris, senility, or just Bush Derangement Syndrome that's driving him to suggest this, I don't know or care. But I will no longer remain quiet in honor of his service after he's crapped all over mine.

I'm awful angry right now. How dare you get all choked up while suggesting that my service wasn't worth the same value as your service, congressman? We may never agree over Iraq, and that's fine. But you've crossed a line in dismissing the honor of your fellow Marines. You couldn't wait another three years for Bush to leave office? Were you so distressed you felt the need to cry tears of lamentation over the character of today's military? We're made of the same stuff as you, sir. We joined to serve our country the same as you, sir. And we don't take kindly to the notion of a former Marine saying this country is no longer worthy of service.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. We can disagree over the righteousness of our efforts in Iraq and engage in good faith debate. But to suggest that our efforts are illegal, is to call me a war criminal too evil or too stupid to refuse illegal orders. This line of bad faith, non-argument will never win me over.

Pointless Quiz time!

Apparently this one's weighted towards sloth. But wudda ya gonna do? This is America, dammit!

Greed:	Very Low
Gluttony:	Medium
Wrath:	Low
Sloth:	High
Envy:	Very Low
Lust:	Medium
Pride:	Low

Take the Seven Deadly Sins Quiz

(Via: Jason)

Happy Hangover!

Here's some of my favorites, hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them:

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I'm dorkin' it out all over the place... sorry I got some on ya... my bad.

I can't wait to see this movie.

D A R K O N Preview (quicktime.)

I'm an admitted documentary freak. (I own this, this, this, this, this, this, this and this on DVD.) These truly are my friends, my sub-society. I own a kilt. I have worn wode. I am a dork. I directly attribute my joining of the Marines to the fact that I had only a foggy, disjointed picture of what the SCA was. (I once had a roommate who tried to explain it to me. (Props to you, Wookie.) I was too drunk at the time to understand the genius of it. Six years and one real-life shooting war later, here I am... still a dork, though a deadly one.

2006 UPDATE: Mrs. Kadnine gave this to me for Christmas. Wow!

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Continuing in that same vein...

The shocking-but-false story of the Negro Space Progam

I don't seem to be able to stop laughing. Seriously. I need to pee.

"It was a different time... 1957... or 58. America's love affair with racism was in full swing. NASA was no exception."

2006 UPDATE: This remains the funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life.

Inconceivable!

I cannot believe the vast amount of booze left over after last night's party. Then again, I was pretty wasted, so my judgement might be compromised.

Happy New Year, dear readers. Stay tuned for a repost, as that's all my head can take today.