I walk out this morning to get the first venti latte of the day and I can't cuz there's a movie set in the way. I had to go around. I did and stopped and watched, a guy, the director I think, saw me naviaging around and shrugged and smiled as if to say "Sorry for the hassle."

It didn't bother me any, actually I thought that it was pretty cool, lots of people running around, it was very much how I'd imagined these things.

"Is this like a big Hollywood north thing or for the CBC or something?" I asked the assumed director.

"No, it's Hollywood, it's for the Lifetime network." he said with pride.

My Canadianess prevented me from sniggering* but I lost all interest in watching them shoot and went and got my coffee.

*Great, now I'm going to hit by the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

and I come across this paragraph:

In Seoul, there was never much money, never enough time. The Cho family occupied a shabby two-room basement apartment, living frugally on the slender proceeds of a used-book shop. According to relatives, the father, Seung-Tae Cho, had worked in oil fields and on construction sites in Saudi Arabia. In an arranged marriage, he wed Kim Hwang-Im, the daughter of a farming family that had fled North Korea during the Korean War.

And I'm about to go on to the next one when I stop and think... no... they wouldn't.. they're stupid I know but... bet you five bucks. You're on! A quick check with the usual retards proved me right, I now owe myself five bucks:

UPDATE: Gateway Pundit reveals an extraordinary detail here;

I was also sent an email today that Cho's father worked in Saudi Arabia but it looks like that was back in the 1980's when Cho was a very young boy.

The article says they came to America in '92 .......... that makes Ismail Cho 7 years old when he came here. What was it the bible said about the first seven years?

I don't know, what does the Bible say about crazy ass racist harpies grasping at straws in a deeply pathetic and ugly attempt to justify their bizarre and obsessive hatred of a whole people and culture for the actions of a minority?

If Atlas knew anything about Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, poverty, global economy etc. etc.:

Foreign workers have been a key element in Saudi Arabia's economy since the earliest days of the state's 71-year existence.

she'd know that there is in fact nothing "extraordinary" about this news. That it is trivial and meaningless within the context of motive for the massacre.

Doris Moore was shocked when her new couch was delivered to her Toronto home with a label that used a racial slur to describe the dark brown shade of the upholstery.

The situation was even more alarming for Moore because it was her 7-year-old daughter who pointed out "nigger brown" on the tag.

snip

The mother complained to the furniture store, which blamed the supplier, who pointed to a computer problem as the source of the derogatory label

Kingsoft Corp., a Chinese software company, acknowledged its translation program was at fault and said it was a regrettable error.

"I know this is a very bad word," Huang Luoyi, a product manager for the Beijing-based company's translation software, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

snip

Moore, who is black, said Kingsoft's acknowledgment of a mistake does not make her feel better.

Can ya guess what would make her feel better?

Moore is consulting with a lawyer and wants compensation. Last week, she filed a report with the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Yes, that's what the OHRC is all about, helping people cash in on mistakes made in China by peope who don't even speak the language. Yeah, that's where I want my tax dollars to go. Don't look at is as an attempt to right wrongs and bring a measure of justice and protection to minorities, no, no, it's a lottery all you have to do is get lucky and you can ching! ching! cash in on your "hurt" feelings.

Moore, 30, has three young children, and said the issue has taken a toll on her family.

Yes, they've gone from The Waltons to Oedipus Rex because of a single word on a tag on a couch.

"Something more has to be done. We don't just need a personal apology, but someone needs to own up to where these labels were made, and someone needs to apologize to all people of color," Moore said. "I had friends over from St. Lucia yesterday and they wouldn't sit on the couch."

Wait a sec, wait a sec... the couch, the evil couch of hate and doom, this couch that has destroyed your daughter's innocence, that has ripped your family assunder, that has done so much damage that you'll need thousands and thousands of dollars to recover from is... still... in... THE HOUSE?!?!

Oh fuck.

Right.

Off.

You parasite you.

You get dime one from the government and I will freak.

US President George W Bush has said early indications suggest a security operation begun in Iraq more than two months ago was "meeting expectations".

Mr Bush said that, while there were still horrific attacks such as Wednesday's bombings, the direction of the fight was "beginning to shift".

So. The worst day of bombing of Baghdad (since the American one at least) was expected?

Begining to shift? What the hell does that mean?

But they have a plan:

Also in Baghdad, US troops have started building a five-kilometre (three-mile) wall around a Sunni enclave as part of a strategy of "breaking the cycle of sectarian violence", a US spokeman said.

Enclave... sectarian violence... I seem to remember a similar plan in Eastern Europe? Didn't work out all that well? So this is how they're going to unify Iraq? Divide it up into ghettos and then assign guards at each gate?

I can't even begining to imagine what could go wrong here.

President Bush said that the potential for the security plan's success could not be judged until later in the year, but the first indications were beginning to emerge.

And when those indications don't emerge there will be Surge II: This Time We Really Really Mean it and then there will be ooops, it's election time, we don't want to politicize the war, can't make any major policy changes so we'll be staying the course! And then Bush runs away to Crawford, Cheney's location becomes even more undisclosed and the whole mess is dumped on to some sucker's lap.

Then we'll have Powerline and the rest of the gibbering baboons blame the new guy for the Chimp's disaster; if only Bush were given four more years, Iraq would be the flower parade capital of the world!

And here's Bush in some more in the same vain staying the course action:

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino disclosed that Bush had spoken with Gonzales after Thursday's hearing and added, "The attorney general continues to have the president's full confidence."

Yeah, I can see why:

How can this guy be a lawyer and such a shitty liar?

UPDATE:

Bush's Progress:

It's truly staggering how many lives are in Bush's hands.

Tiny Tim ridding Barbaro*:

And it gets hellalamer. I'm a comic book geek and even I'm cringing so hard here that teeth are snapping.

Dear Buddha, Allah, Jesus, Mohammad and Bill HIcks, tell me that isn't something from the Democrats themselves.

(Via Oliver Willis who calls it "one of the best things I have ever seen." which leads me to suggest that Oliver hasn't seen anywhere enough things.

*What? Too soon?

Reason 4,268:

The Roman Catholic Church has effectively buried the concept of limbo, the place where centuries of tradition and teaching held that babies who die without baptism went.

In a long-awaited document, the Church's International Theological Commission said limbo reflected an "unduly restrictive view of salvation," according to the U.S.-based Catholic News Service, which obtained a copy on Friday.

The thumbs-down verdict on limbo had been expected for years and the document, called "The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptised," was seen as most likely to be final since limbo was never formally part of Church doctrine.

Hey, just a theory here but do ya think maybe they just sort of make this crap up as they go along? Write it down, declare it holy writ via the sky god until they can't make ti work anymore? Sort of how the writers of the X-Files did it?

But it's a good thing Alan got out before it disapered in a puff of Popery.

Thirty-six percent (36%) of American adults Approve of the way that George W. Bush is performing his duties as President. That’s the lowest rating for the President in 2007 and just one point above the lowest level ever measured by Rasmussen Reports.

But check it out, Bush's low numbers? It's thanks the Democrats!

Democrats boost Bush's approval ratings

Yeah, I'll get to that through the looking glass of a headline in a bit, this is the funniest bit:

But don't take my word for it. According to pollingreport.com, a nonpartisan compendium of polls, Bush's average approval rating for April 2007 is 34.6. And what was his approval exactly a year ago, for all of April 2006? It was 35.6. Neither number is impressive, but what's clear is that Bush is hanging in there, approval-wise - no "epic collapse."

White Star press release from Tuesday April 16, 1912 if it was written by that chump-head:

As of 2:20 the White Star liner Titanic, the largest ship ever launched, has stopped sinking and is now resting comfortably on the ocean floor. While it's sad that the ship has sunk so low we are confident that it should sink no lower.

But how is it the Democrats that are making Bush look good?

So here's the bottom line: In politics, popularity is relative. The parties are judged not by themselves but in relation to each other. The president doesn't look so good. But if the Congress doesn't look so good either - then the president isn't in such bad shape.

You know? How if you want to look slimmer hang out with Debbie Schlussel and Jonah Goldberg.. OH YOUR GAWD THAT'S MY HELL!!! ahem... sorry... need a second to recover there... shudder.... anyway let's say for a second that's true?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) both maintained strong approval ratings as they passed the 100-day mark as leaders of their chambers, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll.

While a growing share of the public views her poorly, Pelosi still had a job approval rating of 53 percent , according to a survey of 1,141 adults nationwide, a slight up tick from the 50 percent of adults who approved of her performance at the end of February. Thirty-five percent disapproved of her job performance. The poll has a three-point margin for error.

Reid, who had not been tested in previous Post-ABC News polls, came away with a 46-33 approval rating.

So how does this affect Chump's be thin by hanging with fatties theory of politics?

And it wouldn't be a true dribble of wignuttia without this:

it's already apparent, early in 2007, that the Democrats not only inadvertently have helped Bush but, in addition, have given the Republicans good arguments for their holding on to the White House in 2008.

Awesome.

Is there no bad news for the GOP that is really good news?

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday the war in Iraq is "lost," triggering an angry backlash by Republicans, who said the top Democrat had turned his back on the troops. The bleak assessment - the most pointed yet from Reid - came as the House voted 215-199 to uphold legislation ordering troops out of Iraq next year.

It is. That's the reality, Bush and his administraion have made such a pig's breakfast out of Iraq that even with the ever shifting victory conditions (democracy, stability, a bastion of a pro-Western government in the Middle East, cheap oil etc.) a win is all but impossible. This is hardly surprising considering the odds of pulling off this crazy scheme were pretty slim to begin with.

Naturally the wingnuts with slaver and rage, Reid will be called all manner of traitor but as usual all they have is rhetoric that simply cannot stand up to the reality; the terrorists can still hit wherever and whenever they like. "Surge" in one spot? They melt away and blow up another. Leave the Iraqis in charge? The terrorists will chew them up and spit out the bones. Coalition forces pull out? A massacre, Coalition forces stay? Well we don't need to suppose there, we've been seeing for the last five years.

Solution?

It's a quagmire, there is none, shouldn't have invaded in the first place, should've listen to the people who said so. Right now it's damned if they do, damned if they don't. But none of this changes the reality that Iraq is America's responsibility and it's starting to get on my nerves that Reid and others are not acknowledging it.

Pull out then what? Iraq becomes the new Afghanistan and twenty years later another 911 or worse and sooner is the most likely scenario.

What's needed is good leadership. This is what we have instead:

Strange things sometimes come out of President Bush's mouth. "Polls just go poof." "Remember the rug?"

When Bush went to Ohio on Thursday to talk about terrorism, he ended up musing about marriage and chicken-plucking plants, the agony of death and his Oval Office rug, which resembles a sunburst.

snip

Some highlights:

_"Politics comes and goes, but your principles don't. And everybody wants to be loved — not everybody. ... You never heard anybody say, `I want to be despised, I'm running for office.'"

_"The best thing about my family is my wife. She is a great first lady. I know that sounds not very objective, but that's how I feel. And she's also patient. Putting up with me requires a lot of patience."

_"There are jobs Americans aren't doing. ... If you've got a chicken factory, a chicken-plucking factory, or whatever you call them, you know what I'm talking about."

_"There are some similarities, of course" between
Iraq and Vietnam. "Death is terrible."

_"I've been in politics long enough to know that polls just go poof at times."

And if that isn't stomach clenching enough, here's the video clip, maybe it's just me but the demented stumbling child king's body language seemed to suggest a man in complete and barely conceled panic.

We've seen the kind of decisions he makes when he's confident, I shudder to think what he'll do from a position of insecurity.

My accountant asked me why I don't put more into my RRSP and other long term investments, the above is the reason. I give us a 50/50 chance of having a future with that in charge for the next two years.

So yesterday I leave the Internets thinking that with Spam for Brains featuring one of my emails, complete with my own address (coded for easy use by even her dimest of readers) I'd come home to a mail box bursting with material.

What'd I get?

One email and not even a nasty one.

Guess the Hamster doesn't have much blog-swarm power, ke-rist, does that woman have any use?

Huh, now I have to and think up stuff for a post.

Damn.

We're having our first real warm spring day today with sun and everything so I'm going to spend the rest of the day outside. Clients be damned I need to get some of my white to an off-paste at least. So in the meantime here are some pictures I took with my cell phone camera with my OJ like stabs at humorous captions; that is bloody not funny.

Guess what that means?

Iraq's ambassador to the United States, Samir Shakir Al-Sumaydi, described the attacks as desperate acts.

---

Mrs Beckett said the day of "carnage" showed how desperate insurgents were to undermine the fledgeling democracy.

---

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told VOA's Kurdish Service that the carnage in Baghdad shows the desperation of the terrorists to stop the security plan. He pleaded for patience so the plan can work.

See when the terrorists attack and kill even more people? That just means they're even more desperate .

Makes perfect sense.

I'm bursting with pride over here.

Atlas Mugs and Broken Head turn this:

CHO ON TAPE: KILL THE RICH

Into:

KILL THE RICH... ANTI-SEMITIC STEREOTYPE OF JEWS...HE WAS TRYING TO KILL JEWS! MUSLIM! MUSLIM! WE CALL MUSLIM! HE WAS SO A MUSLIM!

CAN WE LOCK THEM UP NOW?!?!?

UPDATE:

Sometimes I write letters (wish I had spell checked it first)

And check out how Muslim Cho was:

'I die like Jesus Christ,' killer says on homemade video

Shooter sent his manifesto to NBC during rampage

Now, please try to imagine what Fran Drescher's Even Uglier Sister, Schlussel for Brains and the rest would be posting if Cho had said "I die like Mohammad".

But I think we sane brained people can put to rest the idea that Cho was motivated by any religious or political cause. I'm sure the wingnuts will continue to squint and mutter under their breath "He was too Muslim."

The reality is he was a creepy crazy freak who couldn't get laid who took his rage out on the people around him. You can't predict these things any more than you can legislate them away; they're like strikes of lightning in a clear blue sky.

At least 127 157 164 171 people killed on Wednesday in series of blasts in Baghdad

Good thing Saddam is dead otherwise Iraq would be a really fucked up place.

UPDATE:

An avalanche of car bomb attacks on Shiite districts of Baghdad slaughtered 160 people on Wednesday and delivered a savage blow to the credibility of two-month-old US security plan.

No, the savage blow to the credibility of any US plan, security or otherwise is this:

He is a stupid chimp who has gotten NOTHING right about Iraq and the only bigger chimps are the ones that keep on listening to him.

trying to validate your mythology with science, you do it no favors:

You know, people often ask how all the different races of men could have descended from Adam and Eve. But, in principle this is no different than asking how children with different color hair can come from the same parents. Just as some couples today carry genes to produce children with different color hair, so too Adam and Eve, our very first parents, ultimately carried the genes to produce descendants with different color skin and physical features. Of course, you and I today don't possess the genes for producing all the varieties of humans as Adam and Eve did. Just as you can get a pure bred from a mutt but not a mutt from a pure bred, so too all varieties of humans were able to come from Adam and Eve our first parents.

Um it doesn't actually work like that... where the hell did you go to school?

The author, Babu G. Ranganathan, is an experienced Christian writer. Mr. Ranganathan has his B.A. with academic concentrations in Bible and Biology from Bob Jones University.

Ah. Bob Jones U. I would have loved to go there, any question that I didn't know the answer to? The Baby Jesus! I could have finally passed some science and math classes.

He has a GeoCites website with other gems:

The Natural Limits of Evolution - Scientific evidence showing there are natural limits to biological change and variation in nature permitting only limited evolution to occur among plant and animal kinds. Various evidences from science are examined showing support for intelligent design in nature and for the existence of a Creator. Genetic and biological similarities between species are explained due to a common Designer rather than common biological ancestry.

Take that Richard Dawkins!

not to make any sort of difference:

In a sign that Shiite death squads are on the move again after more than two months of inactivity, 25 bodies were found dumped in Baghdad on Tuesday. The three-day total, after weeks of smaller tolls, was 67.

But here's some good news:

Iraq plans to take security control of the whole country from foreign forces by the end of the year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Wednesday after British forces handed over control of a southern province.

So in a F.U. and a bit there will be no need for Coalition forces in Iraq? They can go home or to Afghanistan (y'know, where the terrorists actually were)?

Why don't I believe that?

"Random" Washington Post Online Cover Photo from VTech

Hmmm . . . I'm sure of all the thousands of students at the memorial mourning the dead at Virginia Tech's convocation, today, the Washington Post took this and chose this particular one at random for its cover shot at its website, WashingtonPost.com. Just a random photo, right? I mean, I'm sure this objective mainstream media outlet would nevah evah have an agenda . . . .

Damn, she's rumbled the WaPo-Qeada's little scheme:

PHASE 1: Activate Sleeper Agent Ismail AX

PHASE 2: Show sad teenage Muslims on website

PHASE 3: World domination!

Get ready to kneel to Mecca five times a day America!

And check out this slice of Debbie Schlussel trivia from Atrios:

So far this year, Ms. Schlussel has appeared on more than 600 radio shows and 35 TV programs, she says. But while Ms. Coulter, America's most-famous blonde pundit, earns millions, the also-blonde Ms. Schlussel has earned well under $10,000 this year from her punditry, she says. Still, Ms. Schlussel feels momentum: Her online fan clubs have grown to 5,496 members.

Boggling.

Sady, No! has more.

Can't the mass murderer be a little bit Muslim? Pleeeeeeaaaaasssse?

Atlas Bugs is taken to calling him Ismail AX now and whines in a sound so high pitched that dogs in a 16 mile radius are chewing out their own throats and frogs are going sterile:

UPDATE 6:37pm: No one is talking about the "Ismail Ax" fact.. I mean no one. No TV, little print. I just watched the whole press conference and not one, not one, reporter asked about it. They asked about everything from soup to nuts (down to the class scheduling going forward) but not one query about Ismail AX. Am I nuts? The man had Ismail Ax written in red on his arm. Is that not deserving of some investigation or question?
They keep saying he talked to no one, that he was a loner and hung with no one but but but but he killed his girlfiend? But he was always alone.............
But back to Ismail? Is it not more than curious? And if it is why no questions?

These people are fucking sick, the bodies are still in the morgue and Pam and other broken-head cases are trying to use them as props to whip up more hatred for Muslims. They truly will not be happy until they've got a lynch mob to lead.

For more Pam is a stupid asshole observations please see D the P.

Atrios's wanker of the day is a real corker, read what he said here

Yeah I know, this is the email I sent him:

You'd shit yourself twice and collapse into a heap of sobbing and pleading you fucking idiot you.

Much to my surprise he responded. I've actually had a few sharp words with some of the squares at the Corner and it surprises me each time, don't these chumps have better things to do then swat at my brickbats? I sit at home all day, what's their excuse? Anyway here's what he said:

Possibly, but how could you know? You've never met me. JD

At that point my gast completely flabbered. I was so stunned that the cats thought I had finally died and started to chew on my flesh.

How could I know...? He pulls out a whole sopository of suppose fresh from his ass then says.... how could I know?

Am I in an experiment somewhere? Are there creepy aliens in black coats observing me? Is Kiefer Sutherland going to give me cryptic clues and then teach me to tune? Guys you're really pushing it here, I'm starting to see the cracks in the façade .

Anyway this is what I spat back:

Anyone who would post such absolute nonsense as you did could be nothing less than a "Talk the talk but run like hell away" kind of guy. You raised your fear flag with that post, you exposed yourself for the snivelling puddle of urine you are.

Plus you're a goddamn retard:

At the very least, count the shots?

What while people are screaming, running, bleeding and dying? I'm sure you could do it but we humans would have an issue.

I shoot mine all the time at the range, and I still can't hit squat.

So if you can't do it no one can? Fascinating the way you "think".

I doubt this guy was any better than I am.

And you base that doubt on what? What the hell do you do for a living again?

And even if hit, a .22 needs to find something important to do real damage; your chances aren't bad.

I've always suspected that you're as stupid as you look in your headshot (seriously man you look like the lovechild of Frankenstein's Monster and Pauly Shore*) and this confirms it.

Tell you what; I've never fired a shot in my life, never even held a real gun. You give me the same weapon the killer used fully loaded; I'll shoot it at you while you run at me from the same distance as the killer did. Make it and I'll concede your bravery, hell I'll even let you take a shot yourself at me.

Feeling lucky punk?

Of course we might have to do it someplace a tad lawless. Perhaps Iraq.

Yes, yes, I know it's easy to say these things: but didn't the heroes of Flight 93 teach us anything?

Christ. If you can't spot the glaring difference between the two situations then you just might be stupider than Johan Goldberg. Right now it's a coin toss.

I hope, however, that if I thought I was going to die anyway, I'd at least take a run at the guy.

What's this doubt I detect there Captain America? You just spent the first bit preaching "why didn't anyone rush the guy?" now you're saying "I hope". Huh, I wonder if the people lying on the slabs in the morgue "hoped".

Nah, they were sheep, you would have been a wolf right?

You're a tool.

The End.

Actually it doesn't end.

I've heard of usefull idiots, can we please get some of those for a change?

Speaking of emailing idiots, Instaputz has a request.

UPDATE:

For Derbyshire to suggest that those victims were not brave is in and of itself callous, stupid, offensive, and displays a worldview that appears to be shaped more by Rambo movies and 24 than actual life experiences. But even worse for Derbyshire is that he considers himself to be an educated and worldly man, yet he clearly has little to no understanding of human behavior and the human condition.

*Tell me I'm wrong.

+=

No matter how much I mock Debbie (Korea... Koran ISLAMOFACIST!) she tops me:

Virginia Tech Shooter Had "Ismail" Written on Arm

The Chicago Tribune reports that Virginia Tech University massacre perpetrator:

died with the words "Ismail Ax" in red ink on one of his arms.

Hmmm . . . Ismail--the Arabic name for Ishmael--considered the father of all Arabs and a very important figure in Islam.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence, right? Doesn't mean anything. Right.

No matter what the tragedy she'll find some way to twist it so she can justify her hate.

Yes Debbie, this proves that not only was the killer a Muslim terrorists but that all Muslims are terrorists and we need to round them up and throw them in the ovens ASAP before they kill us all.

Fox puts her on TV, the mind boggles.

And the people that voted for him without deep regret are stupid sacks of shit.

A bare majority of Americans for the first time believe the United States will lose the war in Iraq, and a new high — two-thirds — say the war was not worth fighting. Yet the public divides on setting a deadline for withdrawal.

That mix of sentiments — unhappy with the war, unclear what to do about it — is keeping George W. Bush in deep disfavor. Just 35 percent approve of his job performance overall, a scant two points above his career low. And just 29 percent like how he's dealing with the situation in Iraq.

Not worth it for America maybe but for al-Qeada? A goldmine:

The head of an al Qaeda-led group in Iraq said the country has become a "university of terrorism" producing highly qualified warriors since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

In an audio recording posted on the Internet on Tuesday, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, said his fighters were successfully confronting U.S. forces in Iraq and have begun producing a guided missile called al-Quds 1 or Jerusalem 1.

"The largest batch of soldiers for jihad ... in the history of Iraq are graduating and they have the highest level of competence in the world," Baghdadi said.

While I think they have as many guided missiles as I have horns the graduates of Jihad U is obviously right. Wonder where they're going to do their post-graduate work? Oh wait, Iraq is flypaper, they'll be magically held in place unable to make their way State-side.

Hey remember this little ditty:

Freedom in Afghanistan, say goodbye Taliban
Free elections in Iraq, Saddam Hussein locked up
Osama’s staying underground, Al Qaida now is finding out
America won’t turn and run once the fighting has begun

Don’t you know that all this means…
Bush was right! Bush was right!

from the Right Brothers?

Let's see, the Taliban has returned, the elections in Iraq have meant jack, Osama was always underground (yeah but now he's uhhh UNDER-UNDERGROUND!) and Al Qaida is delighted with the fight; in fact it's what they've always wanted.

Gee what does all that mean about Bush and being right?

Taking Bets: How Long Until Rosie O'Donnell . . .

. . . starts spouting off about how the VTU massacre, today, is cause for renewed efforts for gun control?

---

So, the perpetrator of the Virginia Tech massacre is a Chinese national here on a student visa. And, today, this alien did "the job that Americans just won't do."

snip

Questions:

* How did a Chinese national get two 9 MM guns and plenty of ammo to go with it?

Once again Debbie proves that there is such a thing as a stupid question.

UPDATE:

Seung Hui Cho, a permanent resident of the United States, a Korean national and a Virginia Tech student has been identified as the gunman in the shootings that left 33 people dead on the Virginia Tech campus Monday, ABC News has learned.

Chinese, Korean what's the diff... Korean sounds like Koran.. ISLAMOFACIST!!!!

UPDATE:

**** UPDATE, 04/17/07: The shooter has now been identified as a South Korean national. ****

In typical Schlussel fashion she has stripped away the Chinese flag and adjusted her post so it's not the paranoid ranting about China just some generic paranoid ranting.

These are thoughts that would have never occurred to me, thank you crazy ass wingnut fundies for broadening my horizons.

Now:

Sadr Takes His Marbles Home

Or maybe to Iran. This is good news, I think. "Iraqi Cleric's Allies Quit Cabinet":

Cabinet ministers loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resigned on Monday to protest the prime minister's refusal to set a timetable for an American withdrawal, raising the prospect that the Mahdi Army militia could return to the streets of Baghdad.

The AP claims that this departure "deals a significant blow to the U.S.-backed leader [Maliki]," but I think that's dead wrong. Neither Maliki nor anyone else has taken seriously the idea that Sadr and his "army" are supportive of Iraq's government. And the fact that Muqtada's minions have been serving in Iraq's government is constantly used as evidence that the government is hopelessly compromised, can't possibly go after the militias effectively, etc. So I think it's a good thing for those ministers to walk out. It may also help allay the fears of many Sunnis that the government, in which they will probably always be a minority, could be a creature of the Shia militias.

So it's good news that Sadr is no longer part of the political process? That no one took his attempts to join the political process "seriously"?

You so know where this is going don't you?

Powerline then (January 17, 2005):

Among the highlights: (1) the transformation of Sadr City from an insurgents' nest to a peaceful hotbed of political activity (and thus a place overlooked if not ignored by the MSM)

Powerline then (June 22, 2004):

The indispensable Arthur Chrenkoff weighs in with his fourth edition of Good News From Iraq. Here are just a few paragraphs, a tiny percentage of the whole:

The democratic bug is definitely spreading around Iraq, with the news that even the Shia upriser-in-chief, Muqtada al-Sadr, will be forming a political party to contest the elections next year.

So it was good news that al-Sadr was joining the political process but now that he isn't it's good news because... well I'm not sure if I can follow the bouncing crazy superball of logic here, not being a complete retard you understand but from what I can tell there is no other kind of news from Iraq in Powerlineland.

And check out this gem:

May 26, 2004
Sadr Out of Business?

We've been critical of the stand-down in Fallujah, but it is hard to fault the military's handling of Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia. Al-Sadr apparently agreed to vacate the town of Najaf today, which likely would mean the end of his insurrection:

Now:

The demonstrators arrived from all over the country in response to a call by Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shi'ite cleric, to demand an end to foreign occupation on the fourth anniversary of the end of Ba'athist rule in Baghdad.

Both the size of the demonstration and its composition were unprecedented. "There are people here from all different parties and sects," Hadhim al-Araji, Muqtada's representative in Baghdad's Kadhimiya district, told reporters. "We are all carrying the national flag, a symbol of unity. And we are all united in calling for the withdrawal of the Americans."

Time Magazine made Powerline their Blog of the Year, isn't that amazing?

Isn't it odd that Good news from Iraq stopped being updated in September 13, 2005? That's like two years of missed good news! Imagine how many hospitals have been painted, cell phones, DVDs and satellite dishes bought and used, how many toys given to Iraqi children! Stranger still that no one else has picked up the torch and carried on with telling the world what the MSM is too Islamafacist to do; that everything is darn good progess in Iraq.

My tax bill for this year; getting back $13.23.

Today I love my government.

Last few years not so much.

The Sunni Arab guerrillas in Iraq enjoy all the advantages of internal social and political mobilization-- sophisticated tactics, high-powered munitions, excellent networking and communications. They benefit from a vast Sunni Arab hinterland of support that includes the oil millionnaires of the Gulf (there are a lot of them and they hate to see fellow Sunnis mistreated) and the committed young professionals of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, the Sudan, and North Africa.

Against 6 million truly mobilized people, a mere 160,000 foreign troops is unlikely to prevail. The US lacks good intelligence on the guerrillas, and there is no prospect of it getting better intelligence soon. In fact, every year more Sunni Arabs hate us than the year before.

America is losing Iraq because the bad guys have all the tactical advantages and the luxury of time. This is not the fault of the MSM, Michael Moore or yours truly, this is the situation. Intelligent leadership could have compensated and adjusted tactics (y'know something a bit subtler than 'shock'n'awe') to achieve the goals in Iraq. Instead we got a 'Mission Accomplished' banner and blather about desperate dead enders and corner-turning and a general denial of the truth punctuated with the occasional shots of messengers being blamed.

Two more years of surges, crackdowns and other ways of course staying is pretty much all we can expect and a body count that is going to get higher and higher.

Heckuva job Bushie and Bushie voters.

I know I say that a lot but I think it's important that the blame is laid on the proper doorstep.

Good thing too cuz Bush sure has given up on that Dead or Alive dude.

(Via NeoCon Command Post who seem rather worked up over a cartoon but not so much over reality)

Fat kids are the problem of stupid (and often fat themselves) parents.

Health Minister Tony Clement is launching a series of initiatives to help keep our kids in shape and one of the big steps appears to be dealing with the way advertisers target children under the age of 12.

Last time I checked most kids under twelve do not buy their packs of Frosted Sugar Bombs or the 24 of Coke or the giant jar of chocolate spread. Yes, they may cry for it because the talking cartoon Frog told them they want it but that's really not the government's problem is it? While I'll never be one from what I understand of parenting theory part of the gig is to stop the kids from doing stuff that's bad for them and make them do stuff that's good for them. I don't think I would trust such a responsibility to the government.

I honestly have no complaint about paying my taxes but it pisses me off to no end that they go towards explaining the bloody obvious to the bloody stupid (see tobacco for another example). While I see the logic in trying to head off the health care costs of the obese there's also the savings to be found in them keeling over from a heart attack at 40. I suspect that it balances out in the end without the government telling people what they can and cannot say about their products.

Parents, if you want the government to raise your children for you then wrap them up in a bundle and leave them on the steps of Parliament, otherwise do your job.

And keep your screaming running around nearly tripping me bundles of joy out of Starbucks', they're not Chuck E. fucking Cheeses. You may think it's cute but third degree burns and me screaming obscenities will probably leave them both physically and mentally scarred.

As I was thinking what would be the equivalent of a Black entertainer saying the equivalent of what Don Imus said, I remembered the ads that ran for two months on BET, last year, starring Damon Wayans.

Dear Debbie,

Wayans is a comedian who has said far worse in his movies on a network that is such a wasteland of cringe inducing stereotypes that I doubt anyone would notice if they had a show called "The Nappy Headed Hos Save Christmas".

Think harder.

Your pal,

sal

A Mobile woman recently realized something special about a chest of drawers in her home.

Letha Washington says it's the image of Jesus.

Letha told News 5 that it's something you don't see everyday and she wanted to share it with others. "All of a sudden, I'm looking at the dresser, my chest of drawers and I see an image and the image was so clear and vivid. You can see the eyes, you can see the bridge of the nose, you can see the mustache, you can see the beard, you can see the long flowing hair. It was an image of Jesus Christ. So, I called my son I called my husband and they all concurred that this is what we were seeing."

Also getting a call was Letha's Pastor, who will try to explain this seemingly unexplainable phenomenon

Yeah, it's a real mystery, here's another...

An image has appeared in the ground across the road from Ann Stromile's home. To her, it looks like an image of Jesus.

"I can just feel him," said the 75-year-old Stromile, who has been staring in awe at the image across the road from her house on Blankenship Road.

No wonder we don't have a second coming, Jesus is too busy playing hide and seek with his worshipers. You'd think a demi-god would have better things to do.

Iraq is lost, the VP has confirmed it:

DICK CHENEY: I do believe we can win in Iraq.

What has he been right about concerning Iraq again?

My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.

Nope.

We know he's been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons, and we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.

Not even close.

In Iraq, a ruthless dictator cultivated weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them.

Deliver them with what? A giant ACME slingshot? UPS?

He gave support to terrorists, had an established relationship with al Qaeda,

Yeah he had a relationship with al Qaeada like I have a relationship with Michelle Trachtenberg.

and his regime is no more.

And yes his regime is no more along with thousands of Iraqi civilians and Coalition soliders, Iraq's stability and infrastracuture, it's strategic value as a counter-weight against Iran, cheap oil etc. etc. so I'm really not sure there's all that much to cheer about. Saddam may be gone but Iraq is still a miserable and dangerous place.

I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!

No.

On that remark alone no one should ever, ever listen to a fucking thing Dick Cheney ever says about anything.

Baghdad bombings kill 28; UK copters crash, killing 2

At least 28 people were killed in Baghdad today when two car bombs exploded within minutes of each other and two small buses exploded in separate attacks, police said. Also today, two British military helicopters apparently collided and crashed north of the capital, killing two British soldiers and injuring five others, according to the Coalition Press Information Center.

But weird I was told so many times that it was working.

Here.

Here.

Here.

Here.

Here.

Here.

Here.

And many other places I'm sure.

I say to hese idiots; the "surge" is pretty much the exact opposite of an effective counterinsurgency strategy in general and complete madness is the specific case of Iraq because it's the exact same thing they've been doing for the last five years of "stay the course".

I expect when the above finally acknowledges that the situation in Iraq hasn't improved will see them fall back to "It's the media's fault the surge didn't work because they kept on reporting on it not working." or nonsense of equal retardation.

Edited cuz damn me write not goodly.

Blasts at Karbala market, Baghdad bridge kill dozens

A car bomb blast in a crowded shopping area in central Karbala, a holy Shiite city southwest of Baghdad, killed at least 43 people and wounded 55 on Saturday morning, a hospital official said. A short time later, a car bomb exploded on the Jadriya bridge spanning the Tigris River in Baghdad, killing at least 10 people, Iraqi police said.

Liberals conspired with liberals to fire a liberal.

But the fags are behind it.

I've BBQed smarter things than D.Dumddio El-Mooka.

From what I can tell no theatre in Ottawa is showing or even planning on showing the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie.

Fuck that noise hard and sideways, if I can't see it legally I will download it as soon as I see the Bit Torrent and know that I am committing no wrong.

I've been meaning to post this but kept forgetting.

I have never read a Kurt Vonnegut book in my life.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Lindsey Graham on Thursday briefed President Bush on his nine-day trip to Iraq, telling Bush that his decision to send more troops there and to revamp the war strategy is paying early dividends.

snip

Though Graham said "it's still very tentative," he told Bush that the dispatch of 30,000 more troops to Iraq and aggressive steps to secure Baghdad are yielding results.

"It's not too little, too late," Graham said in a phone interview. "There are early signs of success that exceeded my expectations."

Funny thing, Graham the Cracker never actually, y'know, says what those success signs or dividends are.

But there were two devastating attacks yesterday, the Coalition Casualties are increasing, Turkey is talking about taking care of the Kurds in Northern Iraq, tours have been extended, South Korea is getting ready to join the Coalition of the Wilting and Bush is trying to pass the mess off on some sad sucker, in short everything in Iraq certainly looks worse than it was last year or even six months ago.

So what the fuck is Graham talking about?

And John Grindmucker noticed the Green Zone attack and warbbles this predicatable refrain:

It's hard to win a war when half your elected officials and most of your mass media are pulling for you to lose.

Johnny at the doctor's:

Dr: I'm sorry Mr Hindracker but you have terminal lung cancer.

JH: Why do you want me to die?!?!

Dr: Wha...?

JH: I can't believe this, you took an oath and here you are killing me!

Dr: Buh... I didn't give you the cancer! In fact I told you like 5 years ago to stop smoking, eating red meat and to get some exercise but you didn't listen...

JH: All you doctors want me to die! I wouldn't have it if you didn't tell me I had it would I?

Dr: Well at least you don't have to worry about it spreading to your brain.

No Johnny, it's not the media's fault that your Dear Leader is losing his war, do try to grow the fuck up someday.

Koala flavored Bush says:

Suspicion has to rest with al-Qaeda over the Iraqi parliament suicide bombing that killed up to eight people, Prime Minister John Howard says.

Mr Howard said the attack - inside Baghdad's most secure area - was no real surprise and showed the terrorists were desperate to derail the ongoing security surge.

Sure, a bombing in Iraq is certainly no surprise, those happen every day and yes they're always a sign that the terrorists are desperate but I think the fact that it was a bodyguard and deep inside the supposed to be most secure spot in Iraq is, if not shocking and a worrisome new development it is at least surprising.

And the fact that at the same time they were able to blow up a bridge guarded at both ends by Coalition forces suggests that the aren't too bothered by the ongoing security surge which by the way is a bit of an oxymoron if you think about it.

And here's the former Austraillian head of Foreign Affairs:

Al-Qa'ida in turn is attacking its former allies in an increasingly desperate way. Moqtada al-Sadr is on the skids, losing military supporters and political leverage within the Government.

That'd be the Al Qeada that hit the Green Zone? That'd be the al-Sadr who had 10s of thousands of protestors out on the street? With a call from Iran?

How much Fosters do you have to drink to be so out of touch with reality?

Tasted like chicken?

• Chickens are distant cousins of the T. rex, researchers say
• Scientists studied protein from 68 million-year-old bone
• 'First molecular proof' of bird-dinosaur link

Hmmm what to believe... this:

For his study, Asara used a highly sensitive technology called mass spectrometry to determine the chemical makeup of bone fragments provided by Schweitzer and her team.

He first had to purify the bone extract, which came in the form of a gritty brown powder that remained after minerals were extracted. Asara then broke it down into peptide fragments, little bits of proteins, isolated into the amino acid sequences that make them up.

"It was very tough to get anything," he said in a telephone interview. He wound up with seven separate strands of amino acid, five of which were a particular class of collagen, a fibrous protein found in bone.

Next, Asara had to interpret the sequences. He compared his results to collagen data from living animals. Most matched collagen from chickens, while others matched a newt and frog.

"Based on all of the genomic information we have available today, it appears these sequences are closer to birds or chickens than anything else," Asara said.

Ultimately, scientists had hoped to find genetic material that was unique to the T. rex. That was not possible with the tiny T. rex sample.

"We never found unique T. rex tags," he said.

In a similar study of mastodon bones supplied by Schweitzer, Asara had more luck.

He compared the samples to a database of existing amino acid sequences and against a theoretical set of mastodon sequences and found a total of 78 peptides, including four unique sequences.

Still, Asara said the T. rex protein sequence was useful in providing clues about the evolution of the species.

or this:

(Via Squeamish, it's a long haul but the punchline is so worth it)

I hope I'm just like John Cole.

Read everything he's posted today, it's all gold but this is my favorite:

How To Avoid Entanglement

I have an easy solution:

Cultural clashes involving Islam have recently made headlines in Minnesota. At the airport, some Muslim taxi drivers refuse to transport passengers carrying alcohol; at Target stores, some Muslim cashiers won’t scan pork products. Now there’s a new point of friction: Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

Its officials say the college, a public institution, has a strict policy of not promoting religion or favoring one religion over another. “The Constitution prevents us from doing this in any form,” says Dianna Cusick, director of legal affairs.

But that seems to depend on your religion.

Where Christianity is concerned, the college goes to great lengths to avoid any hint of what the courts call “entanglement” or support of the church. Yet the college is planning to install facilities for Muslims to use in preparing for daily prayers, an apparent first at a public institution in Minnesota.

Separation of church and state is clearest at the college during the Christmas season. A memo from Cusick and President Phil Davis, dated Nov. 28, 2006, exhorted supervisors to banish any public display of holiday cheer: “As we head into the holiday season … “all public offices and areas should refrain from displays that may represent to our students, employees or the public that the college is promoting any particular religion.” Departments considering sending out holiday cards, the memo added, should avoid cards “that appear to promote any particular religious holiday.”

Here is an easy solution- tell them all to piss up a rope and pray on their own damned time. I have looked over the course descriptions on the MCTC website, and I did not find any mythology courses, so students will just have to look to God, Buddha, Allah on their own damned time, and quit trying to fight these stupid damned religious proxy wars on public property and in the media.

And if your god can not forgive you for not praying to him at a specific time in a specific manner, you have two choices- find another school, or find another God. There are plenty of both out there.

And one last thing- I don’t care who you are or what your religious beliefs are, I am sick of hearing about your God. Period.

Amen.

If there were more bloggers like Cole PJ media wouldn't be tanking.

After her sharply criticized jaunt through the Syria and Saudi Arabia, All-Powerful Queen of America Nancy Pelosi has intimated that a trip to Iran would be a good idea!

snip

Wow. I wonder just how far Pelosi will go in cavorting with America's enemies to spite the other party?

Enemy cavorting! That's the worst sort of cavorting a cavorter could do!

Hey, question, does this qualify as cavorting?

NeoCon Command Center.

I'm not really sure what they command.

What's not to believe?

I went over to the biggest Bush boosters on the net and it's weird, they're not even talking about it.

This is their latest domestic political post:

In January, we reported on the efforts of Senate Democrats to water down the anti-earmark legislation passed by the House under the leadership of Speaker Pelosi. At that time, Majority Leader Reid and Majority Whip Durbin rejected Pelosi's approach and pushed for legislation that defined earmarks much more narrowly, thus undermining real reform. However when Senator DeMint and other Republicans blew the whistle on Reid and Durbin, a few Democratic Senators (including Barack Obama) forced the leadership to back down and accept serious reform.

Holysheet! Earmarks! Damn the Dems are in trouble now!

They do talk about the DA massacre a wee bit and with a rather novel point of view:

Whatever the reason for the firing of Iglesias, I'm becoming glad the administration got rid of him.

Who knows why Bush fired those DAs? It's not like it's been reported over and over again. And it's not like there's anything wrong with securing your power base by manipulating the civil service. Why that's how half the nations in Africa and Eastern Europe operate and look at how great they are! Their leaders stick around for like decades, always a good sign.

The real reason why they're not posting about it? Much to my surprise, it's not really a big deal. It could be because no one got a blow job.

Here's more huffing from the Washington Post as it opens up yet another front in the non-scandal over the Justice Department's handling of U.S. attorneys.

Non-scandal! An un scandal if you will but I'm confused... if it's so nothing then how cum:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has virtually wiped his public schedule clean to bone up for his long-awaited April 17 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee—a session widely seen as a crucial test as to whether he will survive the U.S. attorney mess.

Isn't it odd that AG AG himself seems to be taking this all rather seriously? He should read more Powerline, I'm sure that would relax him to know that the Powerliner boys aren't worried. And those guys are never wrong.

Benedict XVI, in his first extended reflections on evolution published as pope, says that Darwin's theory cannot be finally proven and that science has unnecessarily narrowed humanity's view of creation.

In a new book, Creation and Evolution, published Wednesday in German, the pope praised progress gained by science, but cautioned that evolution raises philosophical questions science alone cannot answer.

snip

He stopped short of endorsing intelligent design, but said scientific and philosophical reason must work together in a way that does not exclude faith.

He makes faith sound like the whiney little brother wanting to tag along to the Iron Maiden concert.

No, I think that science should continue to grind superstitions under its big geeky heel.

"Science has opened up large dimensions of reason ... and thus brought us new insights," the pope wrote. "But in the joy at the extent of its discoveries, it tends to take away from us dimensions of reason that we still need.

No, you still need. Science and the other fruits of the Enlightenment continue to drain you and other witch doctors of mojo. That's why you fight it tooth and nail (when did they finally admit the whole sun / Earth orbit thing?) because with each passing generation your mythology is revealed to be as silly as your hats.

And in other Vatican reality denying news:

The Vatican ambassador to the Holy Land said Thursday that he would not attend the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day state ceremony at Yad Vashem because of a caption at the Holocaust Museum that referred to Pope Pius XII's controversial role during World War Two.

Pope Pius XII role in the Holocaust is conveniently muddy but from what I've read the best you can say about him is he didn't help the Nazis all that much and equally he didn't hinder them. But the fact that the Nazis were evil and that the Vatican is supposed to be holy good suggests to me that it should be crystal clear; that the Pope should have unambiguously stood up to Hitler's machine, I'm pretty sure that's what Jesus would have done. He didn't so how anyone can think him a saint or even better than your average person is quite beyond me.

However a friend of mine was rescued from the Nazis in Holland by a pack of nuns who risked their wimples to save his Jewish butt and that was hardly an isolated case. Certainly braver women than their appointed by god boss.

The Perfesser notes:

DON SURBER: "Am I alone in being disturbed by Barack Obama’s call for firing a broadcaster over something he said? This off-with-his-head mentality is unpresidential."

Not too long ago:

MR. FLEISCHER: I'm aware of the press reports about what he said. I have not seen the actual transcript of the show itself. But assuming the press reports are right, it's a terrible thing to say, and it unfortunate. And that's why -- there was an earlier question about has the President said anything to people in his own party -- they're reminders to all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do. This is not a time for remarks like that; there never is.

And before that:

When asked at a news conference in May what he thought about the site, Bush let loose, saying it was produced by a "garbage man" and suggesting that "there ought to be limits to freedom"--a line Bush's online critics have vowed to never let the world forget.

I was challenged.

I answered and now someone has revealed themselves to be a big weepy vagina.

Now I bask.

Uh dude, you out-debated a knuckle dragging troglodyte with arguments cribbed (badly) from the works of Dawkins and Sagan. Bravo, get that on your CV PDQ. What's next? Down syndrome chess champ?

Oh shut up self-troll, it's been a tough few months, I'll take whatever wins I can get.

Asshole.

I get called far worse names than Imus called these women. But you don't see me demanding the total silencing of my attackers.

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Debbie Schlussel Threatens Me with a Lawsuit