Have you ever noticed how different kinds of grasshoppers have different kinds of feet? Some of them just have two little hooks for a foot, others have a little sticky pad with two backwards-pointing hooks, one on each side.
But they all seem to spit that same brown junk.
5.
wvng
How about stupid and venal journalists like ABC’s Ross? Can we talk about him?
I hear that some people say he and Mickey Kauss have a thing for goats. Like a threesome.
6.
Bey
Crockpot inspirations?
Cat Blogging? My youngest cat likes to bring his toys to bed with him. He also likes to open the cabinet where I keep the kitchen wastebasket and dig around in it.
This morning I woke up sleeping on top of a cat food can lid…..
That would have been a fun trip to the emergency room.
7.
Krista
Anything but the election:
-Leonard Cohen tickets go on sale tomorrow for his Moncton, N.B, show. Wish me luck, lads!
-My hometown is getting another 30cm of snow tonight. That’ll make over 850cm of snowfall so far this winter. To all of you who live in a warm climate: bite me.
-Easter: ham, turkey, or something else? We go with ham.
– To my fellow Canucks: if you get a chance to try Rickard’s White Ale, do so. It’s lovely, especially with a little squeeze of orange.
Kevin K., it’s part of a vicious plot to hand our tax relief moneys over to dentists.
14.
Dennis - SGMM
That’ll make over 850cm of snowfall so far this winter. To all of you who live in a warm climate: bite me.
I live in Southern California, in the lap of the San Gabriel Mountains. It was seventy this afternoon. In the early morning the famous San Gabriel Mountain haze was infused with sunlight which lighted my little town like a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. Where would you prefer to be bitten?
-Leonard Cohen tickets go on sale tomorrow for his Moncton, N.B, show. Wish me luck, lads!
Hallelujah!
And just for grins–Dick Cheney still thinks we don’t fucking matter:
RADDATZ: Let me go back to the Americans. Two-thirds of Americans say it’s not worth fighting, and they’re looking at the value gain versus the cost in American lives, certainly, and Iraqi lives. THE VICE PRESIDENT: So?
RADDATZ: So — you don’t care what the American people think?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls. Think about what would have happened if Abraham Lincoln had paid attention to polls, if they had had polls during the Civil War. He never would have succeeded if he hadn’t had a clear objective, a vision for where he wanted to go, and he was willing to withstand the slings and arrows of the political wars in order to get there. And this President has been very courageous, very consistent, very determined to continue down the course we were on and to achieve our objective. And that’s victory in Iraq, that’s the establishment of a democracy where there’s never been a democracy, it’s the establishment of a regime that respects the rights and liberties of their people, as an ally for the United States in the war against terror, and as a positive force for change in the Middle East. That’s a huge accomplishment.
Jesus Sweating Christ! This war criminal VP doesn’t give a fuck about the people he’s supposed to serve and conflates this administration with Abraham Lincoln. I know this GMA interview wasn’t exactly a newsflash, but it does serve as a reminder that McCain is basically offering us four more years of this shit.
22.
wvng
John asked what did Ross do? This:
Hillary Was in White House on “Stained Blue Dress” Day
Schedules Reviewed by ABC Show Hillary May Have Been in the White House When the Fateful Act Was Committed
Hillary Clinton spent the night in the White House on the day her husband had oral sex with Monica Lewinsky, and may have actually been in the White House when it happened, according to records of her schedule released today by the National Archives. . . .
You picked up on the story earlier, but may not have known it was a Brian Ross story. And this wasn’t a political post, it was a wretched journamalism post.
23.
Dennis - SGMM
Speed Racer. It it going to be awesome or what?
Saw a preview today, while attending “10,000 B.C.” (Fun, but a definite rental) of “Forbidden City” starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Looks like the swan song for both of them. I’ll probably only pay to see it three or four times – no matter how poorly plotted or badly scripted. Course, I watched an old Zatoichi flick shown on a bed sheet by a noisy projector powered by car batteries in a place several thousand miles from here so my judgment may be suspect.
24.
p.lukasiak
The weather in Philadelphia sucks. I wish I was in Arizona, even if it did mean sharing Senators with TZ.
The girl points out that The Count could make lighting fall from the sky by a mere recitation of numbers in consecutive order. Could Chocula do that?!?
Working its way through multimillion-dollar proposals for naming rights on campus buildings in exchange for donations, the University of Colorado decided in January to accept the offer of venture capitalist Brad Feld, who made a $25,000 donation to the school in exchange for having a second-floor men’s room named for him in a campus technology building. [Boulder Daily Camera, 1-25-08]
-My hometown is getting another 30cm of snow tonight. That’ll make over 850cm of snowfall so far this winter. To all of you who live in a warm climate: bite me.
I’ve asked you to share, but noooo. The selfish Canny sits there and brags. Dear me, Krista says. Whatever shall I do with all this snow and health care and beer?
PffffffT!
It it going to be awesome or what?
What x 10^24^. And the day they try to fuck with Kimba or Marine Boy is the day I start burning down movie theaters.
30.
Ed Drone
Zatoichi flick
I once thought I’d look up those DVDs and get some, but found that there were a shitload of ’em, and I couldn’t afford them all, so stopped trying.
I do watch ’em on a cable channel every Saturday morning, though. I love ’em. If only I could afford ’em.
Ed
31.
SammyB
Sorry Krista,
Im a fellow Canuck. Richard’s white is disgusting.
32.
p.lukasiak
-My hometown is getting another 30cm of snow tonight. That’ll make over 850cm of snowfall so far this winter. To all of you who live in a warm climate: bite me.
Sully has posted a Link to this interesting YouTube.
amd me, expecting that people would respect our hosts prohibition on election issues, actually clicked on the link thinking it would be about barebacking and power glutes….
35.
Laertes
Cheney’s view is correct. A President can’t let his strategy be driven by public opinion polls.
While the juxtaposition of this president with Lincoln doesn’t pass the horse-laugh test, it’s an excellent example to reach for.
Lincoln looks pretty smart in hindsight–his strategy worked out well. I don’t know what opinion polls of the day would have shown us had they been taken, but whatever they reveal, it wouldn’t change the fact that there were important decisions to be made, it was Lincoln’s right and responsibility to make them, and he chose wisely.
He was right because he was right, not because his decisions were popular (if, in fact,they were.)
Cheney is wrong about continuing this war, but he’s wrong because he’s wrong, not because the public is against it.
And Bush was wrong to start the war, even though the public was for it.
36.
Dennis - SGMM
Who the fuck measures snow in “cm”s?
P.luk has a point. It’s either ankle deep, knee deep. butt deep or “Screw it, I’m staying home.” Lived in Spokane, Washington, for a couple of years. Taught me to prefer my snow on distant mountains.
Krista is a terrist loving Canuck, paul. (OK, so a terrist loving Canuuck, with the extra u they use everywhere.) Thye measure everything in cm’s because it make them seem bigger. They use gm as a measure of mass because it makes them seem weightier. And they use ml as a measure of volume because they’d other wise be short of males.
The real Gary Ruppert would have phrased it as “The truth is, here in the Heartland everyone knows that Japanese imports are un-American, and beloved only by effete, latte-sipping, LIE-beral traitors in their decadent coastal enclaves.”
Well, okay – I’m not sure he knows words as difficult as ‘decadent’ or ‘enclaves,’ and and I’m sure using a word of such obviously French origin as ‘effete’ would cause him to erupt into hives, and there would have been more typos – but I think that only strengthens my point…
39.
Laertes
Hitler’s invasion of Russia seems like an obvious blunder with the benefit of hindsight, but given the situation as Hitler then saw it, it was a reasonable decision. He had good reason to believe that the Russian army was far smaller than it turned out to be, and he knew that it would be at least two years before the United States and Britain would be ready to invade Europe.
Time was on Stalin’s side. The longer Hitler waited, the more likely a two-front war became. He had every reason to think that he might crush Russia before the other Allies could intervene, then turn to face them with a secure Eastern border.
It was a high-stakes gamble, but Hitler’s career to that point had been built on a remarkable string of high-stakes gambles that all broke his way.
40.
Dennis - SGMM
While the juxtaposition of this president with Lincoln doesn’t pass the horse-laugh test, it’s an excellent example to reach for.
Lincoln also instituted conscription in 1863. If Bushco really believed that this war is an existential struggle then it would do the same. And the war would be over on the next day.
Was there a fire at Sadly, No! or did the guy with the hook finally drag Gary Rupert off the stage?
42.
Ninerdave
Brian Ross is a fucking retard. ABC has really shit the bed since Jennings died and Koppel was fired.
Nightline which used to be a religion to me is unwatchable anymore.
43.
rob!
Incredible Hulk, IronMan, Indiana Jones IV, The Dark Knight…i’m going have to jog extra to burn off all the pretzel bites with cheddar cheese i’m gonna ingest this summer!
44.
Z
Not about the election? Hmm. Could I talk about busses? No. Uh.. ponies? No. Magic? No. Baby boomer women? No. MLK? No. Pie? Yes! That’s it! Pie!
45.
horatius
Who the fuck measures snow in “cm”s?
Every person in the world with at least half a brain.
My hometown is getting another 30cm of snow tonight. That’ll make over 850cm of snowfall so far this winter. To all of you who live in a warm climate: bite me.
Tampa, FL. It had to be 80 or so today. Hot. I’m not sure what that is in celsius, Krista. You probably use that one too, huh?
If ever there were a comic movie that wasn’t screaming for a sequel, it was that one. Seriously, that movie was Daredevil bad, and that’s saying something, given that Daredevil had to overcome Ben Affleck in a leading role.
49.
Mary
Rickard’s White? Hmm. I’ll try it, although everything but the original Rickard’s Red has been a disappointment so far.
re: Hulk–they’re pretty much ignoring the first film and starting over, with a new cast and director–GOOD IDEA. “Ang Lee’s Hulk” stunk on green ice.
51.
Dennis - SGMM
Every person in the world with at least half a brain.
So, you ignore the the rod, the league, the quintal and every other silly unit of measurement generated by the nations of Europe before they settled, from sheer exhaustion, on the Metric System? Fie upon your hectares and deciliters!
52.
LiberalTarian
April 4, the last Battlestar Galactica season starts!!!
BSG BSG BSG!!!
Damn I love that show. Been on a marathon with my roommate and son for the last two weeks. Lol. I LOVE IT.
Why? Because it isn’t fucking real. Reality lately is too freaking crazy.
I’m looking forward to BSG as well, though there’s a part of me that wants the season to begin with Tigh waking up and discovering that the whole “All Along the Watchtower” bit was a bad dream.
54.
rob!
huh! the BSG crew was just on Letterman doing the top 10 list, and they were played off to All Along the Watchtower. i wondered why that song was chosen, since i’ve never seen the show!
(but i did do an illustration of Katie Sackhoff for a magazine once, which some BSG stole off my site and used for their devotional blog to her. i realized then those BSG fans were DEVOTED!)
55.
Splitting Image
Sid Meier has the most consistent track record of any video game designer in history. Shigeru Miyamoto is second.
Most people think Sid’s best game is Civilization but I actually think the original Pirates! is better.
56.
b. hussein canuckistani
Krista- Rickards Red is just your average mass-market beer with some dye dumped in. Check the label – it’s a Molson’s product. I don’t expect more from Rickard’s White. While it may be a thousand times better than Bud or Coors, we can do better up here. Do you get anything by Upper Canada down at that end of the country?
We’re pretty close to an all-time record snow year here in the Centre of the World, so there will be no biting going on here.
57.
ImJohnGalt
The original Railroad Tycoon pwned every other Sid Meier videogame ever created.
That is all.
58.
Jon H
Medecins Sans Frontieres has a program set up in Amman, Jordan, to perform surgery on Iraqi kids who have facial disfigurements and other problems. For example:
The car bomb sheered off nearly half of eight-year-old Ahmed’s face, stealing his left eye and amputating his left foot. Ahmed was so disfigured by the bombing last October that his father and uncle spent half an hour in the same Baghdad hospital room without recognizing him. The boy, in shock from the blast, was left speechless.
Donations to help them out can be made, in $US, UK pounds, or Euros, here.
59.
AnneLaurie
And the day they try to fuck with Kimba or Marine Boy is the day I start burning down movie theaters.
Kimba, at least, is safe — any attempt to ‘reimagine’ the White Lion would run into the MouseCorp’s army of zombie piranha copyright lawyers protecting their Valuable Franchise Product. The fact that the ‘Lion King’ movie was a transparent and blatant rip-off of Kimba in the first place would, as the morons say, be central to their point.
Marine Boy, on the other hand, was always so borderline-hentai (adolescent boy in spandex hanging out with white dolphin, nekkid mermaids, sailors) that a live version would probably end up with the chain-theatre-unfriendly ‘R’ rating no matter how innocent the producers’ intentions… assuming you could find any innocent producers in the first place.
60.
Dave Latchaw
I’ve been seeing this commercial for some prescription anti-acid thing called “Aciphex”. Thing is, when you say it out loud it sounds like “ass effects”. So you’ve got the announcer and all these actors talking about ass effects, ass effects, ass effects. This has to be deliberate, right?
Most people think Sid’s best game is Civilization but I actually think the original Pirates! is better.
Both belong on any list of all-time greats. Civ, though, is one of the towering achievements of Human Civilization, up there with Indian food, the Apollo project, and Asian lesbian porn.
The video of Charley is great. I picked up one of mine at the pound. He was found after suffering some sort of blunt force trauma, probably either being hit by a car, or someone whacking him with a baseball bat. He’s got a large, bald scar behind his left ear, which is crushed flat against his head. His left eye weeps, he has a broken fang, and his jaw doesn’t fit together quite properly.
I’d feel sorry for him, but he doesn’t let any of it bother him. So, other than the grinding sound when he closes his mouth, I don’t let it bother me, either.
Eddie, or Special Ed, is dumb. Even by cat standards, he’s heroically stupid. The great thing is that, unlike the other dumb cats I know, he deals with it by simply discarding all of those neurotic hangups that all cats have. Eddie doesn’t have time to be jealous. He doesn’t have time to play hierarchy games. He doesn’t understand that the top cat in the household is trying to intimidate him into leaving wherever he is. He does think that the top cat is bat shit insane, and sometimes leaves wherever he is because it’s not smart to hang around near insane, dangerous people.
Eddie only has the brain power for very simple things. The question, “What Would Eddie Do,” has four answers: take a nap; grab a bite to eat; sit there with a dumb expression on his face hoping to be petted; ask Ringling for the answer to anything more complicated.
I originally bought Eddie as a birthday gift for my now ex-wife. She left; I kept Eddie. It’s a trade that’s worked out so far.
63.
Pb
Ultima, Legacy of the Ancients, Populous, Star Control, Master of Magic, Baldur’s Gate. And one day, I hope, Spore.
64.
Jon H
BTW, I gave $150 to the MSF Amman program. Anyone else?
Master of Magic was hugely overrated. I enjoyed the hell out of the game for several days. Then I realized that it was very nearly un-loseable.
It takes about two hours to reach a position from which your win is inevitable. And then several more hours to mop up your helpless and doomed computer opponents. The MoM AIs never gave the kind of savage cornered-rat death struggle that their counterparts in Civ or Master of Orion routinely performed.
The game was popular because winning feels good, and the inevitability of your win was easy to overlook if you were of a mind to.
Lot of great mechanics there, cool spells, fun times. But ultimately the game rates no better than a B- because it was such an empty exercise.
66.
Pb
Laertes,
MoM did have different levels of difficulty; even if the AI wasn’t great, they certainly knew how to stack the deck against you in the beginning. My biggest complaint, however, was technical; dern buggy DOS game memory management crashing etc. Oh well, at least it saved.
67.
LiberalTarian
Ah, let us combine beer and BSG. What a beautiful notion.
I am drinking Red Seal, by North Coast Brewing Company. On the label it says, “Water, malted barley, hops, yeast and that’s all.” Sour, just the way I like it.
68.
DougL
I’m actually dreading the release of Speed Racer. Recent live-action adaptations have meant the ruination of otherwise happy childhood memories. “Thunderbirds Are Go!” and “Underdog” are two examples of shows I loved as a kid and whose recent live-action versions I cringed at.
On the other hand, I’m looking forward to the release of Iron Man. Come to think of, Marvel seems to have done a decent job of their live-action adaptations.
69.
Ninerdave
Catching up on my MSNBC shows.
1) Tweety can dance? WTF! He looked pretty smooth out there.
2) Opinion’s on Gregory’s new show?
Me I’m mixed. I like Gregory, but not sure about it’s format. Maybe a little too “fast”.
70.
TenguPhule
You can discuss anything bu the election. Anything.
Gas will soon be more expensive then milk.
The next energy revolution: Lactose Engines.
Bring out the boobs.
71.
TenguPhule
Come to think of, Marvel seems to have done a decent job of their live-action adaptations.
Hulk, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Ghostrider.
I rest my case.
72.
LiberalTarian
Bring out the boobs.
Dude, I thought that was the Bush administration??
73.
TenguPhule
Dude, I thought that was the Bush administration??
No, that’s ‘Cover the boobs up. They’re old and wrinkled.’
74.
TenguPhule
Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr. Pepper? Seriously, WTF?
Taste tested in Guantanamo.
75.
LiberalTarian
No, that’s ‘Cover the boobs up. They’re old and wrinkled.
Heh. I think they have wrung those dry tits for all the milk they could muster. :D
76.
Jon H
“Hulk, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Ghostrider.
I rest my case.”
Strictly speaking those were produced by companies other than Marvel.
Iron Man is the first of a series of Marvel-produced films. I think they’re producing the new Hulk, and a Captain America film is in the pipeline, among others.
Iron Man looks promising, at least.
77.
Studly Pantload
Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr. Pepper? Seriously, WTF?
Hey, now. This stuff reminds me of Canfield’s diet chocolate soda from the ’80s, which I rather liked, thankewverramuch.
But for a real soda controversy, one need go back to good ol’ Chelsea Soda (no relation to the younger Clinton) in the late ’70s. Put out by Anheuser Busch, and possessing an unusual, complex, under-sweet flavor, it was immediately decried by parents as the gateway soda to — BEER!!
Quickly it was withdrawn, and my underaged ass could no longer sip it while contemplating future days of beer bongs.
And here I am, a confirmed, committed connysewer of the imbibable liquids, anyway. Guess the recall didn’t serve its intended purpose.
78.
Fraud Guy
How’s the ear?
79.
Perry Como
Crockpot inspirations?
I have to skip the rest, and I may have said this before, but a recipe for the ages:
Pork Shoulder/Butt/Whatever
1 pakage annatto paste
1/2 cup sour orange juice/or 1/4 cup orange juice + 1/4 cup lime huice
1/2 cup lime juice
Banana leaves
Lay two banana leaves out, one crossing the other (we’re wrapping things here). Break up your annatto paste with some juice (wear gloves), and rub it into the pork. Put the pork on the banana leaves and wrap it up. Put the pork package in the crock pot and set it to “whatever.” Pour the juices around the banana leaf package. Wait a while and enjoy love.
You’re welcome.
80.
OriGuy
Anyone know where I can get some Glayva liqueur? My Scottish Country Dance teacher brought some to class tonight, because we were doing a dance by the same name. She got it in Winnipeg, though. I haven’t been able to find it in the SF area or online.
If you live in the Bay Area, there are a ton of specialty booze stores, I suggest asking around.
82.
Ninerdave
On the booze related tip, did you know that Absinthe is now legal? Just learned that today.
83.
Zuzu
Jon H, thanks for the MSF link. A worthy cause.
Wondering if anyone else has seen the NY Times’ scathing response to GWB’s ignorant and arrogant Iraq speech:
It has been five years since the United States invaded Iraq and the world watched in horror as what seemed like a swift victory by modern soldiers and 21st-century weapons became a nightmare of spiraling violence, sectarian warfare, insurgency, roadside bombings and ghastly executions. Iraq’s economy was destroyed, and America’s reputation was shredded in the torture rooms of Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret prisons.
These were hard and very costly lessons for a country that had emerged from the cold war as the world’s sole remaining superpower. Shockingly, President Bush seems to have learned none of them.
[. . .]
It was clear long ago that Mr. Bush had no plan for victory, only a plan for handing this mess to his successor. Americans need to choose a president with the vision to end this war as cleanly as possible.
So Eliot Spitzer says to Alexandre Dupre, “I said lick my erection, not wreck my election!” Hey-oooooooo
85.
bernarda
Maybe Americans are not stupid, but they sure are ignorant, even college grads. 4 years of expensive college education and they sometimes know less than when they started.
“America’s colleges and universities fail to increase knowledge about America’s history and institutions. There is a trivial difference between college seniors and their freshmen counterparts regarding knowledge of America’s heritage. Seniors scored just 1.5 percent higher on average than freshmen, and at many schools, seniors know less than freshmen about America’s history, government, foreign affairs, and economy. Overall, college seniors failed the civic literacy exam, with an average score of 53.2 percent, or F, on a traditional grading scale.”
– So in response to Dumbya’s “is our children learning”, apparently not. In fact they seem to be dumbing down.
– High schools seem to be cooking the books to make NCLB look good.
“Like Mississippi, many states use an inflated graduation rate for federal reporting requirements under the No Child Left Behind law and a different one at home. As a result, researchers say, federal figures obscure a dropout epidemic so severe that only about 70 percent of the one million American students who start ninth grade each year graduate four years later.
California, for example, sends to Washington an official graduation rate of 83 percent but reports an estimated 67 percent on a state Web site. Delaware reported 84 percent to the federal government but publicized four lower rates at home.”
“Jay P. Greene, a researcher at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative research organization, compared eighth-grade enrollments with the number of diplomas bestowed five years later to estimate that the nation’s graduation rate was 71 percent. Federal statistics had put the figure 15 points higher.”
86.
grandpajohn
Who the fuck measures snow in “cm”s?
Well most of the rest of the world except renegades such as the USA
87.
grandpajohn
It was a high-stakes gamble, but Hitler’s career to that point had been built on a remarkable string of high-stakes gambles that all broke his way.
And it well might have payed off if Mother Nature had not intervened just as she did against Napoleon
88.
Krista
Speed Racer. It it going to be awesome or what?
Meh. Now IronMan on the other hand — holy crap, that looks like it’s going to be seriously kickass. I watched the trailer 5 times the other day on YouTube, just ’cause it pleased me.
And I’m with the other BSG lovers in here. On one hand I cannot wait to see this season, on the other hand, I don’t want it to be over, dammit!
Pirates! is a damn cool game, although I get annoyed when I have to go over to the arse end of Spanish territory, only to find out that that bastard Baron Raymondo is now up in St. Lucia or something.
And yes, I know Molson makes Rickard’s. It’s the only decent thing to ever come out of Molson, besides corporate sponsorships. And I enjoy the Rickard’s White — it reminds me a bit of Hoegaarden.
And the snow, to use the measurement suggested, is not ankle-high, knee-high, or butt-high. The regular snow fall is up to your freaking neck, and the drifts are well over your head. People can’t even go ski-dooing on it, ’cause they’ve actually lost their ski-doo right into the snow.
89.
Conservatively Liberal
Dennis – SGMM Says:
… Lived in Spokane, Washington, for a couple of years.
…
What part of town did you live in? I grew up and lived in Spokane until ’92, when I moved to Oregon. I lived over by the courthouse/jail, up on the south hill, on the northside by Joe Albi Stadium, north of Fairwood, out in the valley by Millwood/Veradale and just about everywhere else. I went to North Central High School and later to Spokane Falls Community College. Nice town, but I would not want to live there again. My wife was born and raised there, and our daughter was born there.
Winter sucked there, and I am glad to be rid of snow. It rains here, but you don’t have to shovel rain and I can wear shorts year round. Much of our families still live in Spokane, and we go up a couple of times a year to visit them and our friends up there.
90.
RSA
I was pointed to this video the other day; I thought it was hilarious. I don’t know if it’s shown up already here on BJ, though.
91.
Cassius Chaerea
So, do those Smokehouse Bacon Burgers _really_ have the thickest strips of bacon you’ve ever seen?
92.
John S.
And I enjoy the Rickard’s White—it reminds me a bit of Hoegaarden.
I knew there was a reason I liked you, Krista.
I have been looking for Rickard’s White since you last recommended it on a beer thread, but I can’t find it anywhere in my neck of the woods of South Florida.
Brian (Incertus), if you see it anywhere let me know.
I guess I’ll have to stick with Hoegaarden for now (sigh).
Maybe Americans are not stupid, but they sure are ignorant, even college grads. 4 years of expensive college education and they sometimes know less than when they started.
I hate to be the one to break this to you, but college is not about teaching everyone your favorite subject. I was a science major, and I took zero American history, civics, economics, etc. I would have shown little improvement over my senior year in high school in those subjects, as well. If the survey had concentrated on political science and history majors, they would have had a point.
101.
Krista
I guess I’ll have to stick with Hoegaarden for now (sigh).
There are worse fates, you know.
102.
Jen
I have been looking for Rickard’s White since you last recommended it on a beer thread, but I can’t find it anywhere in my neck of the woods of South Florida.
There’s probably not 830cm or whatever of snow in S. Florida. Possibly you could arrange a beer-for-plane-tickets-and-a-couch trade.
One historia pointed out that the Germans lost WWII in September 1941, three full months before Pearl Harbor.
That was when the first snows fell in Russia, and the Germans had not won. That’s been the traditional Russian defense – retreat and wait for winter.
The Germans lost WWII in July and August of 1941, when they didn’t advance fast enough, and took too many casualties doing it. When they had to divert the panzers south to clear out the Ukraine, and contra German generals’ memoirs, it was a case of “had to,” it ended any chance to finish the Soviet Union in one campaign. The Germans didn’t make the logistical preparations necessary to make it a two year war.
The Germans lost a lot more men than most people realize during the first three months of Barbarossa. Not as many as the Soviets, obviously, but more than they could replace. Without the tanks around, the Red Army mauled the German infantry around Yelnya through much of August.
The winter helped to finish them off, of course, but the Wehrmacht was already worn out. They couldn’t have taken Moscow; had they gotten close, the Siberian troops used to spearhead the counterattack could have been thrown in early.
As they always do, the German generals tried to do too much. Their grasp pf logistics and intelligence has always been weak.
104.
Punchy
Anything?
Leavin for Vegas today. If I win, maybe I’ll send Johnny some $$ for putting up with my crap. If history is any guide, however, Cole better plan on a bake sale instead.
105.
Dennis - SGMM
What part of town did you live in?
I lived there back in the Fifties, don’t even remember the name of the street any more. My dad was attending some Navy school nearby. At the time, we had a Willys Overland with a snowplow attachment on the front bumper. The starting and warming up of the Willys on a snowy Winter morning was an elaborate ritual – with much input from the neighbors regarding the use of starting fluid and the setting of the choke. It was a topic because the neighbors had to wait for Dad to plow the street before they could drive to work. I imagine town’s changed a bit since then.
106.
The Other Steve
One historia pointed out that the Germans lost WWII in September 1941, three full months before Pearl Harbor.
That was when the first snows fell in Russia, and the Germans had not won. That’s been the traditional Russian defense – retreat and wait for winter.
I spent three winters in Germany and it was FUCKING COLD!
How bad are the Russian winters if the Germans couldn’t take them?
I was in Germany in February of 2003, and I don’t recall it being that cold. Maybe 40 degrees out.
Moscow in February would be around -25.
My girlfriend is from Siberia. Both of her grandfathers died defending Russia from the Nazis as part of that Siberian contingent.
And BTW, we fought the Nazis in WWII, not the Germans.
107.
myiq2xu
The Germans lost a lot more men than most people realize during the first three months of Barbarossa. Not as many as the Soviets, obviously, but more than they could replace. Without the tanks around, the Red Army mauled the German infantry around Yelnya through much of August.
When you consider the hard fought battles and the number of casualties we took fighting the Germans in WWII, imagine if the Germans hadn’t been fighting the Russians before we got involved.
The vast majority of the German casualties occurred on the Eastern front. The Soviets lost nearly 9 million soldiers, 27 million people total. We lost 318,000 troops in both theaters, and almost no civilians except merchant marines.
108.
Jen
The tournament’s about to start and you guys are talking about WWII. This is a weird blog.
109.
myiq2xu
And BTW, we fought the Nazis in WWII, not the Germans.
Can you point to Nazi on a map? The Nazi party controlled Germany, but not all Germans were Nazis.
The GOP military isn’t fighting in Iraq either.
110.
KSmiami
Question to people around here since there is a more balanced view ironically here than anywhere else… I used to be a Reagan conservative, voted to Bush I and then educated myself more and switched to the Dems since they were imperfect, but trying. I guess my question is in the last 50 years have the conservative Republicans been right about anything? I mean, from the New Deal to Vietnam to Iraq to the Civil Rights Act… I am asking this cause I really want to know and I feel lately that the Right is so angry and hate filled that they are truly scary and the voice they have in America is pretty destructive… Anyone???
111.
The Other Steve
“America’s colleges and universities fail to increase knowledge about America’s history and institutions. There is a trivial difference between college seniors and their freshmen counterparts regarding knowledge of America’s heritage. Seniors scored just 1.5 percent higher on average than freshmen, and at many schools, seniors know less than freshmen about America’s history, government, foreign affairs, and economy. Overall, college seniors failed the civic literacy exam, with an average score of 53.2 percent, or F, on a traditional grading scale.”
I don’t recall taking any American history in College.
I did take the History of Technology and Architecture I & II, which mostly dealt with the technology from 500 BC to 1500 AD. So lot’s of discussion about iron age, stirrups, plows, gunpowder, etc.
I’m not sure that college should teach that. College should focus more on preparations for your career, not on shit that makes liberals feel good.
112.
The Other Steve
Can you point to Nazi on a map? The Nazi party controlled Germany, but not all Germans were Nazis.
This is how WWII is referenced in Europe. At least England.
The battle was with the Nazis, not with the Germans. This terminology disassociates WWII with modern Germany.
To Krista: We people are supposed to bite you because you’re up to your neck in snow? Would we have to defrost you first? Here in California we keep the snow in our mountains where it is useful for skiing. If we want to see it we go there. Later on it melts and we fill our swimming pools and ice cube trays in the summer.
+++
Good luck on the Cohen tix.
114.
The Other Steve
When you consider the hard fought battles and the number of casualties we took fighting the Germans in WWII, imagine if the Germans hadn’t been fighting the Russians before we got involved.
If it wasn’t for the Russians, we’d all be speaking German.
115.
myiq2xu
I’m not sure that college should teach that. College should focus more on preparations for your career, not on shit that makes liberals feel good.
The idea “breadth” courses to to provide a foundation for understanding the world, it’s not supposed to make you an expert on everyting.
They don’t teach you algebra because you’ll need it (most people will never use it) but it’s intended to teach you logical reasoning and problem solving.
Conservatives want to get rid of “liberal arts” not because they are “liberal” but because it’s harder to lead educated people around like sheep.
116.
Jay C
The tournament’s about to start and you guys are talking about WWII. This is a weird blog.
Yeah, Jen: you just noticed that even the slightest reference to WWII in a blogthread brings the closet Clausewitzes of the Intertubes Staff College out in droves to hash over the detail of some campaign or other?
Sheesh: May is coming up: just wait til the Battle of France (1940) anniversary is upon us – the armchair Xenophons will be all over it like white on rice….
PS: And yes, Stalingrad, despite the CW, wasn’t so much the “turning point” of the Eastern Front as merely the climax of Act II: Kursk (8/43) was, IMO, the real pivot: but I agree that Barbarossa would have had to succeeded right away in 1941 for the Germans to “win”. YMMV
117.
The Other Steve
I guess my question is in the last 50 years have the conservative Republicans been right about anything? I mean, from the New Deal to Vietnam to Iraq to the Civil Rights Act… I am asking this cause I really want to know and I feel lately that the Right is so angry and hate filled that they are truly scary and the voice they have in America is pretty destructive… Anyone???
Occasionally they have had valid criticism.
But in general, no. They seem to have no ability to think about long term consequences of their actions. All they’re focused on is winning elections.
118.
Jen
Jay C, I’d say I understood about 35% of that post.
Wait, I think Barbarossa was Geoffrey Rush’s character in Pirates of the Caribbean. 37%
119.
myiq2xu
This is how WWII is referenced in Europe. At least England.
According to the English, they defeated the Germans with a little bit of help from the US and USSR.
According to the Soviets, they defeated the Germans in the “Great Patriotic War” with a little help from England and the US.
I grew up thinking John Wayne defeated the Nazis and the Japs pretty much by himself.
I think the Soviets are closest to the truth.
BTW – I was in college before I found out we lost the War of 1812. When the other country burns your capitol city to the ground and you basically accomplish none of your original objectives, that’s not a “win.”
120.
myiq2xu
Sheesh: May is coming up: just wait til the Battle of France (1940) anniversary is upon us – the armchair Xenophons will be all over it like white on rice….
Drive through the Ardennes, hang a left, roll up the cheese-eating surrender monkeys.
Barbarossa – Fail to learn from Napoleon.
121.
The Other Steve
They don’t teach you algebra because you’ll need it (most people will never use it) but it’s intended to teach you logical reasoning and problem solving.
Conservatives want to get rid of “liberal arts” not because they are “liberal” but because it’s harder to lead educated people around like sheep.
Algebra is quite useful.
I took a lot of wasted courses in college. The reason I resent it, is because I had to pay for them.
122.
The Other Steve
BTW – I was in college before I found out we lost the War of 1812. When the other country burns your capitol city to the ground and you basically accomplish none of your original objectives, that’s not a “win.”
I believe our original objectives was for England to respect our authority. In that sense, we did accomplish our objectives.
But it certainly didn’t come cheap.
123.
myiq2xu
I took a lot of wasted courses in college.
Most of mine weren’t wasted, although occasionally I was.
“Underwater Basketweaving 101” hasn’t been much use.
124.
John S.
I grew up thinking John Wayne defeated the Nazis and the Japs pretty much by himself.
Really?!
I always thought he avoided the war like the plague, and all that tough-guy stuff was pure movie magic. Then again, my father never liked the Duke.
If you want a real hero, check out Smilin’ Jack.
125.
KSmiami
Thanks other Steve. It suddenly just struck me in the car that why / how can we take directions from people who are wrong and REALLY wrong almost 100% of the time… Why should anyone even listen to these people? Puzzling, no? And I am not a big government person or anything…
The Shi’ah problem is probably the most formidable in this country. We were discussing it last night at an extremely interesting dinner party in my house… ‘Abdul Majid said “What are you going to do if the chief mujtahid, whose voice is the voice of God, issues a fatwah that no Shi’ah is to sit in the Legislative Assembly … or when a law is being debated, suppose the mujtahid cuts in with a fatwah that it’s against canon law and must be rejected, irrespective of other considerations?” Imagine the Pope excercising real temporal authority in Italy and obstructing the Govt at every turn, and you have the position.
The remedy is, over time, that which has been found in Italy. Pope and mujtahid end by being regarded merely as silly old men; but we haven’t reached that stage here yet. But if you’re going to have anything like really representative institutions—always remember that the Turks hadn’t; there wasn’t a single Shi’ah deputy—you would have a majority of Shi’ahs. For that reason as ‘Abdul Majid wisely said, you can never have 3 completely autonomous provinces. Sunni Mosul must be retained as a part of the Mesopotamian state in order to adjust the balance. But to my mind it’s one of the main arguments for giving Mesopotamia responsible govt. We as outsiders can’t differentiate between Sunni and Shi’ah, but leave it to them and they’ll get over the difficulty by some kind of hanky panky, just as the Turks did, and for the present it’s the only way of getting over it.
I don’t for a moment doubt that the final authority must be in the hands of the Sunnis, in spite of their numerical inferiority; otherwise you will have a mujtahid-run, theocratic state, which is the very devil.
–Gertrude Bell, letter to her father, Oct. 3, 1920.
127.
b. hussein canuckistani
The battle was with the Nazis, not with the Germans. This terminology disassociates WWII with modern Germany.
This also plays into the standard German post-war defense – it was those Nazis who did the bad things, I was only following orders.
If all the armed forces in the field had been the SS, I would buy the Nazi argument, but no, they were Germans, Nazis and not.
As they always do, the German generals tried to do too much. Their grasp pf logistics and intelligence has always been weak.
They were lulled into a sense of self-confidence by the easy victories in the West, where Blitzkrieg was a surprise. But no on seemed to remember that the theories were worked out in concert with the Russians in the 1920’s, when the Germans did their military research away from the prying eyes of the West.
128.
Xenos
Leonard Cohen never brought my groceries in.
129.
Krista
To Krista: We people are supposed to bite you because you’re up to your neck in snow?
Well, I’M not up to my neck in snow. My hometown is. My poor mother has been driven to profanity, which is both amusing and disturbing.
BTW – I was in college before I found out we lost the War of 1812. When the other country burns your capitol city to the ground and you basically accomplish none of your original objectives, that’s not a “win.”
Well, if you ever forget, I’ll be delighted to remind you.
The Leonard Cohen tickets sold out in 8 minutes. No, I didn’t manage to get through in time. Shitty.
130.
wvng
Continuing on the journamalism theme, via Think Progress this morning:
Today, MSNBC brought on former White House political director Sara Taylor to talk about how right-wing groups plan to attack Sen. Barak Obama (D-IL) over his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Taylor was a top aide to Karl Rove and intimately involved in both the U.S. Attorney scandal and the politicization of federal agencies.
Fascinating cite there from Gertrude Bell: it’s a real pity the Bush Administration didn’t have her on staff to advise them! Then again, it’s probably too much to expect that that gang of criminal incompetents would have listened to old Gert anyway: most likely just dismissed her as another “defeatist”….
Anyway, looking through some references, I found this other interesting letter from Miss Bell:
March 14, 1920: It’s a problem here how to get into touch with the Shiahs, not the tribal people in the country; we’re on intimate terms with all of them, but the grimly devout citizens of the holy towns and more especially the leaders of religious opinion, the Mujtahids, who can loose and bind with a word by authority which rests on an intimate acquaintance with accumulated knowledge entirely irrelevant to human affairs and worthless in any branch of human activity. There they sit in an atmosphere which reeks of antiquity and is so thick with the dust of ages that you can’t see through it — nor can they. And for the most part they are very hostile to us, a feeling we can’t alter…There’s a group of these worthies in Kadhimain, the holy city, 8 miles from Baghdad, bitterly pan-Islamic, anti-British…Chief among them are a family called Sadr, possibly more distinguished for religious learning than any other family in the whole Shiah world…
Right: things really don’t change much in that part of the world….
132.
Dennis - SGMM
Then again, it’s probably too much to expect that that gang of criminal incompetents would have listened to old Gert anyway: most likely just dismissed her as another “defeatist”….
If I recall correctly, the administration looked with suspicion on anyone who spoke Arabic and/or had any actual knowledge of the history, politics or religions of Iraq. They instead staffed Bremer’s Coalition Provisional Authority with people whose only qualifications were that they were “loyal Bushies”.
Remember Bush’s surprise at finding out that there were two branches of Islam in Iraq? This was after we’d invaded.
133.
LiberalTarian
Right: things really don’t change much in that part of the world….
Things don’t change much anywhere in the world. We think thing change rapidly elsewhere, but it is an illusion. If you read the news (which is almost exclusively about change), you have the the sense that everything is changing constantly and rapidly. But, the news is focused on a tiny subsection of events.
134.
libarbarian
even the slightest reference to WWII in a blogthread brings the closet Clausewitzes of the Intertubes Staff College out in droves to hash over the detail of some campaign or other?
If Hitler’s schlong had hung to the right instead of the left, Germany would have won WWII.
Wait, I think Barbarossa was Geoffrey Rush’s character in Pirates of the Caribbean. 37%
No, I think he plays for the Pheonix Suns.
139.
myiq2xu
Scooter Libby was disbarred today.
140.
myiq2xu
And to think that some people say home-decor websites are dull…
The rooster says “cockadoodledoo”
Ashley Alexandra Dupree says “Any cock’ll do”
141.
LiberalTarian
The rooster says “cockadoodledoo”
Ashley Alexandra Dupree says “Any cock’ll do”
Sigh. I wish this was funny, instead of … well, whatever it is. You usually make me laugh. When you talk about women and sex? Eh, not at all.
142.
The Other Steve
This is why we study History:
you forget the Bushies transcend History.
143.
Xenos
Ashley Alexandra Dupree says “Any cock’ll do”
Simply not true.
You, for one, can not afford her.
144.
TenguPhule
I did take the History of Technology and Architecture I & II, which mostly dealt with the technology from 500 BC to 1500 AD. So lot’s of discussion about iron age, stirrups, plows, gunpowder, etc.
I’m not sure that college should teach that. College should focus more on preparations for your career, not on shit that makes liberals feel good.
Actually that was career prep. For post-Republican America after they’ve completely fucked everything up.
Never say Liberals didn’t try to prepare you for real life.
145.
Brachiator
The Other Steve Says:
BTW – I was in college before I found out we lost the War of 1812. When the other country burns your capitol city to the ground and you basically accomplish none of your original objectives, that’s not a “win.”
I believe our original objectives was for England to respect our authority. In that sense, we did accomplish our objectives.
Actually, we were lucky to get out of the War of 1812 with our nation intact. One of the original objectives of the war was to “liberate” Canada from the British (shades of the liberation of Iraq and a great reminder that all that old history stuff can be amazingly relevant). Here’s old Tom Jefferson in early 1812, doing a little early neo-con tap dance:
“… the acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us the experience for the attack on Halifax, the next and final expulsion of England from the American continent.”
Of course, all that the attempt to invade Canada accomplished was to ignite a deeper sense of nationalism among Canadians. Go figure.
It’s also breathtaking to note how myopic the view of the War of 1812 was and continues to be. To Americans, it was a huge deal, and Andrew Jackson’s victory at the Battle of New Orleans, which ironically took place after a peace treaty had been signed between the US and the British, still leads people to believe that the war was a US victory.
But up until 1814, the British were deeply involved in a global war against Napoleon, and only sent a fraction of its forces to fight a defensive war against the US, and still ended up burning Washington to the ground. With the defeat of Napoleon, the British no longer had a reason to blockade American ports, to impress sailors, or to otherwise involve itself with an unimportant little backwater country.
On the other hand, had US leaders not been smart enough to pursue a treaty, the entire naval and army of the UK, no longer needed to fight Napoleon, would have been available to kick the living crap out of the US.
The US DID build up a relatively small, but extremely capable navy, which had the unexpected consequence of loosening the distrust among the states’ right crowd of a permanent national military. Another unexpected consequence was that Native American tribes were caught in the middle of US-UK military actions (and later US expansionism).
That the US came out of this fiasco with a sense of self-respect, while largely true, is one of the ironies of history. We did get “The Star Spangled Banner” out of the war, although I am not sure whether this was a victory or a defeat.
On this, the 5 year anniversary of our grand misadventure in Iraq, I wonder what combination of myopia and mythology will come into play in the future to re-work Dubya’s Folly into some sort of grand US adventure in which we taught the world a lesson in how to fight global terrorism.
146.
Xenos
March 19th will become a new holiday: “Stupid Bastard Day”.
College should focus more on preparations for your career, not on shit that makes liberals feel good.
That’s Vo-Tech school.
“I don’t know where I heard it first, but a liberal education is supposed to teach you something about everything and everything about something.”–Donald Knuth
149.
Brachiator
Xenos Says:
March 19th will become a new holiday: “Stupid Bastard Day”.
Otherwise known as Every Day in the Bush White House.
myiq2xu Says:
They don’t teach you algebra because you’ll need it (most people will never use it) but it’s intended to teach you logical reasoning and problem solving.
I use algebra all the time, for example, when grocery shopping. But once I wanted to throw my hand up in frustration when I tried to point out to a fellow shopper that a 96 oz jumbo carton of orange juice “on sale” for $1.69 was actually a worse value than 2 64 oz cartons at .89 each, if you drink a lot of OJ.
Some things I know about moderating conversations in virtual space:
1. There can be no ongoing discourse without some degree of moderation, if only to kill off the hardcore trolls. It takes rather more moderation than that to create a complex, nuanced, civil discourse. If you want that to happen, you have to give of yourself. Providing the space but not tending the conversation is like expecting that your front yard will automatically turn itself into a garden.
2. Once you have a well-established online conversation space, with enough regulars to explain the local mores to newcomers, they’ll do a lot of the policing themselves.
3. You own the space. You host the conversation. You don’t own the community. Respect their needs. For instance, if you’re going away for a while, don’t shut down your comment area. Give them an open thread to play with, so they’ll still be there when you get back.
4. Message persistence rewards people who write good comments.
5. Over-specific rules are an invitation to people who get off on gaming the system.
6. Civil speech and impassioned speech are not opposed and mutually exclusive sets. Being interesting trumps any amount of conventional politeness.
7. Things to cherish: Your regulars. A sense of community. Real expertise. Genuine engagement with the subject under discussion. Outstanding performances. Helping others. Cooperation in maintenance of a good conversation. Taking the time to teach newbies the ropes.
All these things should be rewarded with your attention and praise. And if you get a particularly good comment, consider adding it to the original post.
8. Grant more lenience to participants who are only part-time jerks, as long as they’re valuable the rest of the time.
9. If you judge that a post is offensive, upsetting, or just plain unpleasant, it’s important to get rid of it, or at least make it hard to read. Do it as quickly as possible. There’s no more useless advice than to tell people to just ignore such things. We can’t. We automatically read what falls under our eyes.
10. Another important rule: You can let one jeering, unpleasant jerk hang around for a while, but the minute you get two or more of them egging each other on, they both have to go, and all their recent messages with them. There are others like them prowling the net, looking for just that kind of situation. More of them will turn up, and they’ll encourage each other to behave more and more outrageously. Kill them quickly and have no regrets.
11. You can’t automate intelligence. In theory, systems like Slashdot’s ought to work better than they do. Maintaining a conversation is a task for human beings.
12. Disemvowelling works. Consider it.
13. If someone you’ve disemvowelled comes back and behaves, forgive and forget their earlier gaffes. You’re acting in the service of civility, not abstract justice.
151.
Digital Amish
And to think that some people say home-decor websites are dull…
Krista, you don’t expect us to believe you were googling ‘home decor’ when you found that site, do you?
152.
Krista
Krista, you don’t expect us to believe you were googling ‘home decor’ when you found that site, do you?
Ha! No, the Manolo is a daily read for me.
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Buck
oh, jeez… uh… hmmmm…
I got nuthin’
A Different Matt
So….
Who’s winnin’ the tourney? What mid-major will go the furthest? My money’s on Syracuse. They still got that Carmello Anthony guy, right? He’s good.
Pb
RIP, Arthur C. Clarke.
SamFromUtah
Have you ever noticed how different kinds of grasshoppers have different kinds of feet? Some of them just have two little hooks for a foot, others have a little sticky pad with two backwards-pointing hooks, one on each side.
But they all seem to spit that same brown junk.
wvng
How about stupid and venal journalists like ABC’s Ross? Can we talk about him?
I hear that some people say he and Mickey Kauss have a thing for goats. Like a threesome.
Bey
Crockpot inspirations?
Cat Blogging? My youngest cat likes to bring his toys to bed with him. He also likes to open the cabinet where I keep the kitchen wastebasket and dig around in it.
This morning I woke up sleeping on top of a cat food can lid…..
That would have been a fun trip to the emergency room.
Krista
Anything but the election:
-Leonard Cohen tickets go on sale tomorrow for his Moncton, N.B, show. Wish me luck, lads!
-My hometown is getting another 30cm of snow tonight. That’ll make over 850cm of snowfall so far this winter. To all of you who live in a warm climate: bite me.
-Easter: ham, turkey, or something else? We go with ham.
– To my fellow Canucks: if you get a chance to try Rickard’s White Ale, do so. It’s lovely, especially with a little squeeze of orange.
Kevin K.
Okay, I’ll bite…
I’m a little late hearing about this (just saw a TV ad tonight), but Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr. Pepper? Seriously, WTF?
SamFromUtah
Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr. Pepper
Bleargh! Clearly there are some product designers or marketers with way more time on their hands than sense.
Tim
Who’s the weaker vampire
Count Chocula or Count von Count from Sesame Street?
John Cole
What did Ross do?
Otto Man
My reaction exactly. How many different flavors can we cram into one drink before the universe collapses upon itself?
This is the drink equivalent of that stomach-churning everything-in-a-bowl monstrosity that KFC has out.
Hmmm. I need to go listen to the Patton Oswalt routine on that now….
Buck
Kevin K., it’s part of a vicious plot to hand our tax relief moneys over to dentists.
Dennis - SGMM
I live in Southern California, in the lap of the San Gabriel Mountains. It was seventy this afternoon. In the early morning the famous San Gabriel Mountain haze was infused with sunlight which lighted my little town like a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. Where would you prefer to be bitten?
Sasha
Speed Racer. It it going to be awesome or what?
Godzilla's best friend, Herny Stalwart the 3rd
I found you through Crazy Drum Guy.
You’re hilarious.
Have a cookie.
Gary Ruppert
No.
It will not.
Pb
Chocula. Because The Count is a pimp.
Dug Jay
Sully has posted a Link to this interesting YouTube.
Aaron
Chocula. He’s delicious and inspires victims to try and bite back.
The Grand Panjandrum
Hallelujah!
And just for grins–Dick Cheney still thinks we don’t fucking matter:
Jesus Sweating Christ! This war criminal VP doesn’t give a fuck about the people he’s supposed to serve and conflates this administration with Abraham Lincoln. I know this GMA interview wasn’t exactly a newsflash, but it does serve as a reminder that McCain is basically offering us four more years of this shit.
wvng
John asked what did Ross do? This:
You picked up on the story earlier, but may not have known it was a Brian Ross story. And this wasn’t a political post, it was a wretched journamalism post.
Dennis - SGMM
Saw a preview today, while attending “10,000 B.C.” (Fun, but a definite rental) of “Forbidden City” starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Looks like the swan song for both of them. I’ll probably only pay to see it three or four times – no matter how poorly plotted or badly scripted. Course, I watched an old Zatoichi flick shown on a bed sheet by a noisy projector powered by car batteries in a place several thousand miles from here so my judgment may be suspect.
p.lukasiak
The weather in Philadelphia sucks. I wish I was in Arizona, even if it did mean sharing Senators with TZ.
;-)
The Grand Panjandrum
Link to the Cheney interview.
bend
oh wise and noble John,
Lawyers, Guns and Money has an ESPN March Madness pool set-up, may we good and gentle Balloon Juice folks have one as well?
The Grand Panjandrum
He authored the Blue Dress investigative report for ABC News.
zzyzx
The girl points out that The Count could make lighting fall from the sky by a mere recitation of numbers in consecutive order. Could Chocula do that?!?
jake
[Insert Larry Craig/Bob Allen Joke Here]
link
I’ve asked you to share, but noooo. The selfish Canny sits there and brags. Dear me, Krista says. Whatever shall I do with all this snow and health care and beer?
PffffffT!
What x 10^24^. And the day they try to fuck with Kimba or Marine Boy is the day I start burning down movie theaters.
Ed Drone
I once thought I’d look up those DVDs and get some, but found that there were a shitload of ’em, and I couldn’t afford them all, so stopped trying.
I do watch ’em on a cable channel every Saturday morning, though. I love ’em. If only I could afford ’em.
Ed
SammyB
Sorry Krista,
Im a fellow Canuck. Richard’s white is disgusting.
p.lukasiak
Who the fuck measures snow in “cm”s?
Incertus
Can we talk about how Universal Studios is fucking up Mardi Gras?
p.lukasiak
amd me, expecting that people would respect our hosts prohibition on election issues, actually clicked on the link thinking it would be about barebacking and power glutes….
Laertes
Cheney’s view is correct. A President can’t let his strategy be driven by public opinion polls.
While the juxtaposition of this president with Lincoln doesn’t pass the horse-laugh test, it’s an excellent example to reach for.
Lincoln looks pretty smart in hindsight–his strategy worked out well. I don’t know what opinion polls of the day would have shown us had they been taken, but whatever they reveal, it wouldn’t change the fact that there were important decisions to be made, it was Lincoln’s right and responsibility to make them, and he chose wisely.
He was right because he was right, not because his decisions were popular (if, in fact,they were.)
Cheney is wrong about continuing this war, but he’s wrong because he’s wrong, not because the public is against it.
And Bush was wrong to start the war, even though the public was for it.
Dennis - SGMM
P.luk has a point. It’s either ankle deep, knee deep. butt deep or “Screw it, I’m staying home.” Lived in Spokane, Washington, for a couple of years. Taught me to prefer my snow on distant mountains.
demimondian
Krista is a terrist loving Canuck, paul. (OK, so a terrist loving Canuuck, with the extra u they use everywhere.) Thye measure everything in cm’s because it make them seem bigger. They use gm as a measure of mass because it makes them seem weightier. And they use ml as a measure of volume because they’d other wise be short of males.
protected static
I call shennanigans!
The real Gary Ruppert would have phrased it as “The truth is, here in the Heartland everyone knows that Japanese imports are un-American, and beloved only by effete, latte-sipping, LIE-beral traitors in their decadent coastal enclaves.”
Well, okay – I’m not sure he knows words as difficult as ‘decadent’ or ‘enclaves,’ and and I’m sure using a word of such obviously French origin as ‘effete’ would cause him to erupt into hives, and there would have been more typos – but I think that only strengthens my point…
Laertes
Hitler’s invasion of Russia seems like an obvious blunder with the benefit of hindsight, but given the situation as Hitler then saw it, it was a reasonable decision. He had good reason to believe that the Russian army was far smaller than it turned out to be, and he knew that it would be at least two years before the United States and Britain would be ready to invade Europe.
Time was on Stalin’s side. The longer Hitler waited, the more likely a two-front war became. He had every reason to think that he might crush Russia before the other Allies could intervene, then turn to face them with a secure Eastern border.
It was a high-stakes gamble, but Hitler’s career to that point had been built on a remarkable string of high-stakes gambles that all broke his way.
Dennis - SGMM
Lincoln also instituted conscription in 1863. If Bushco really believed that this war is an existential struggle then it would do the same. And the war would be over on the next day.
jake
Was there a fire at Sadly, No! or did the guy with the hook finally drag Gary Rupert off the stage?
Ninerdave
Brian Ross is a fucking retard. ABC has really shit the bed since Jennings died and Koppel was fired.
Nightline which used to be a religion to me is unwatchable anymore.
rob!
Incredible Hulk, IronMan, Indiana Jones IV, The Dark Knight…i’m going have to jog extra to burn off all the pretzel bites with cheddar cheese i’m gonna ingest this summer!
Z
Not about the election? Hmm. Could I talk about busses? No. Uh.. ponies? No. Magic? No. Baby boomer women? No. MLK? No. Pie? Yes! That’s it! Pie!
horatius
Every person in the world with at least half a brain.
Ninerdave
Stuff White People Like!
Neal
Tampa, FL. It had to be 80 or so today. Hot. I’m not sure what that is in celsius, Krista. You probably use that one too, huh?
Incertus
Incredible Hulk,
If ever there were a comic movie that wasn’t screaming for a sequel, it was that one. Seriously, that movie was Daredevil bad, and that’s saying something, given that Daredevil had to overcome Ben Affleck in a leading role.
Mary
Rickard’s White? Hmm. I’ll try it, although everything but the original Rickard’s Red has been a disappointment so far.
Oh, and meet Charley the cat. He has cerebellar hypoplasia.
rob!
re: Hulk–they’re pretty much ignoring the first film and starting over, with a new cast and director–GOOD IDEA. “Ang Lee’s Hulk” stunk on green ice.
Dennis - SGMM
So, you ignore the the rod, the league, the quintal and every other silly unit of measurement generated by the nations of Europe before they settled, from sheer exhaustion, on the Metric System? Fie upon your hectares and deciliters!
LiberalTarian
April 4, the last Battlestar Galactica season starts!!!
BSG BSG BSG!!!
Damn I love that show. Been on a marathon with my roommate and son for the last two weeks. Lol. I LOVE IT.
Why? Because it isn’t fucking real. Reality lately is too freaking crazy.
Incertus
I’m looking forward to BSG as well, though there’s a part of me that wants the season to begin with Tigh waking up and discovering that the whole “All Along the Watchtower” bit was a bad dream.
rob!
huh! the BSG crew was just on Letterman doing the top 10 list, and they were played off to All Along the Watchtower. i wondered why that song was chosen, since i’ve never seen the show!
(but i did do an illustration of Katie Sackhoff for a magazine once, which some BSG stole off my site and used for their devotional blog to her. i realized then those BSG fans were DEVOTED!)
Splitting Image
Sid Meier has the most consistent track record of any video game designer in history. Shigeru Miyamoto is second.
Most people think Sid’s best game is Civilization but I actually think the original Pirates! is better.
b. hussein canuckistani
Krista- Rickards Red is just your average mass-market beer with some dye dumped in. Check the label – it’s a Molson’s product. I don’t expect more from Rickard’s White. While it may be a thousand times better than Bud or Coors, we can do better up here. Do you get anything by Upper Canada down at that end of the country?
We’re pretty close to an all-time record snow year here in the Centre of the World, so there will be no biting going on here.
ImJohnGalt
The original Railroad Tycoon pwned every other Sid Meier videogame ever created.
That is all.
Jon H
Medecins Sans Frontieres has a program set up in Amman, Jordan, to perform surgery on Iraqi kids who have facial disfigurements and other problems. For example:
Donations to help them out can be made, in $US, UK pounds, or Euros, here.
AnneLaurie
Kimba, at least, is safe — any attempt to ‘reimagine’ the White Lion would run into the MouseCorp’s army of zombie piranha copyright lawyers protecting their Valuable Franchise Product. The fact that the ‘Lion King’ movie was a transparent and blatant rip-off of Kimba in the first place would, as the morons say, be central to their point.
Marine Boy, on the other hand, was always so borderline-hentai (adolescent boy in spandex hanging out with white dolphin, nekkid mermaids, sailors) that a live version would probably end up with the chain-theatre-unfriendly ‘R’ rating no matter how innocent the producers’ intentions… assuming you could find any innocent producers in the first place.
Dave Latchaw
I’ve been seeing this commercial for some prescription anti-acid thing called “Aciphex”. Thing is, when you say it out loud it sounds like “ass effects”. So you’ve got the announcer and all these actors talking about ass effects, ass effects, ass effects. This has to be deliberate, right?
Laertes
Both belong on any list of all-time greats. Civ, though, is one of the towering achievements of Human Civilization, up there with Indian food, the Apollo project, and Asian lesbian porn.
J. Michael Neal
The video of Charley is great. I picked up one of mine at the pound. He was found after suffering some sort of blunt force trauma, probably either being hit by a car, or someone whacking him with a baseball bat. He’s got a large, bald scar behind his left ear, which is crushed flat against his head. His left eye weeps, he has a broken fang, and his jaw doesn’t fit together quite properly.
I’d feel sorry for him, but he doesn’t let any of it bother him. So, other than the grinding sound when he closes his mouth, I don’t let it bother me, either.
Eddie, or Special Ed, is dumb. Even by cat standards, he’s heroically stupid. The great thing is that, unlike the other dumb cats I know, he deals with it by simply discarding all of those neurotic hangups that all cats have. Eddie doesn’t have time to be jealous. He doesn’t have time to play hierarchy games. He doesn’t understand that the top cat in the household is trying to intimidate him into leaving wherever he is. He does think that the top cat is bat shit insane, and sometimes leaves wherever he is because it’s not smart to hang around near insane, dangerous people.
Eddie only has the brain power for very simple things. The question, “What Would Eddie Do,” has four answers: take a nap; grab a bite to eat; sit there with a dumb expression on his face hoping to be petted; ask Ringling for the answer to anything more complicated.
I originally bought Eddie as a birthday gift for my now ex-wife. She left; I kept Eddie. It’s a trade that’s worked out so far.
Pb
Ultima, Legacy of the Ancients, Populous, Star Control, Master of Magic, Baldur’s Gate. And one day, I hope, Spore.
Jon H
BTW, I gave $150 to the MSF Amman program. Anyone else?
Laertes
Master of Magic was hugely overrated. I enjoyed the hell out of the game for several days. Then I realized that it was very nearly un-loseable.
It takes about two hours to reach a position from which your win is inevitable. And then several more hours to mop up your helpless and doomed computer opponents. The MoM AIs never gave the kind of savage cornered-rat death struggle that their counterparts in Civ or Master of Orion routinely performed.
The game was popular because winning feels good, and the inevitability of your win was easy to overlook if you were of a mind to.
Lot of great mechanics there, cool spells, fun times. But ultimately the game rates no better than a B- because it was such an empty exercise.
Pb
Laertes,
MoM did have different levels of difficulty; even if the AI wasn’t great, they certainly knew how to stack the deck against you in the beginning. My biggest complaint, however, was technical; dern buggy DOS game memory management crashing etc. Oh well, at least it saved.
LiberalTarian
Ah, let us combine beer and BSG. What a beautiful notion.
I am drinking Red Seal, by North Coast Brewing Company. On the label it says, “Water, malted barley, hops, yeast and that’s all.” Sour, just the way I like it.
DougL
I’m actually dreading the release of Speed Racer. Recent live-action adaptations have meant the ruination of otherwise happy childhood memories. “Thunderbirds Are Go!” and “Underdog” are two examples of shows I loved as a kid and whose recent live-action versions I cringed at.
On the other hand, I’m looking forward to the release of Iron Man. Come to think of, Marvel seems to have done a decent job of their live-action adaptations.
Ninerdave
Catching up on my MSNBC shows.
1) Tweety can dance? WTF! He looked pretty smooth out there.
2) Opinion’s on Gregory’s new show?
Me I’m mixed. I like Gregory, but not sure about it’s format. Maybe a little too “fast”.
TenguPhule
Gas will soon be more expensive then milk.
The next energy revolution: Lactose Engines.
Bring out the boobs.
TenguPhule
Hulk, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Ghostrider.
I rest my case.
LiberalTarian
Dude, I thought that was the Bush administration??
TenguPhule
No, that’s ‘Cover the boobs up. They’re old and wrinkled.’
TenguPhule
Taste tested in Guantanamo.
LiberalTarian
Heh. I think they have wrung those dry tits for all the milk they could muster. :D
Jon H
“Hulk, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Ghostrider.
I rest my case.”
Strictly speaking those were produced by companies other than Marvel.
Iron Man is the first of a series of Marvel-produced films. I think they’re producing the new Hulk, and a Captain America film is in the pipeline, among others.
Iron Man looks promising, at least.
Studly Pantload
Hey, now. This stuff reminds me of Canfield’s diet chocolate soda from the ’80s, which I rather liked, thankewverramuch.
But for a real soda controversy, one need go back to good ol’ Chelsea Soda (no relation to the younger Clinton) in the late ’70s. Put out by Anheuser Busch, and possessing an unusual, complex, under-sweet flavor, it was immediately decried by parents as the gateway soda to — BEER!!
Quickly it was withdrawn, and my underaged ass could no longer sip it while contemplating future days of beer bongs.
And here I am, a confirmed, committed connysewer of the imbibable liquids, anyway. Guess the recall didn’t serve its intended purpose.
Fraud Guy
How’s the ear?
Perry Como
I have to skip the rest, and I may have said this before, but a recipe for the ages:
Pork Shoulder/Butt/Whatever
1 pakage annatto paste
1/2 cup sour orange juice/or 1/4 cup orange juice + 1/4 cup lime huice
1/2 cup lime juice
Banana leaves
Lay two banana leaves out, one crossing the other (we’re wrapping things here). Break up your annatto paste with some juice (wear gloves), and rub it into the pork. Put the pork on the banana leaves and wrap it up. Put the pork package in the crock pot and set it to “whatever.” Pour the juices around the banana leaf package. Wait a while and enjoy love.
You’re welcome.
OriGuy
Anyone know where I can get some Glayva liqueur? My Scottish Country Dance teacher brought some to class tonight, because we were doing a dance by the same name. She got it in Winnipeg, though. I haven’t been able to find it in the SF area or online.
Ninerdave
OriGuy….
Maybe The Whiskey Shop?
If you live in the Bay Area, there are a ton of specialty booze stores, I suggest asking around.
Ninerdave
On the booze related tip, did you know that Absinthe is now legal? Just learned that today.
Zuzu
Jon H, thanks for the MSF link. A worthy cause.
Wondering if anyone else has seen the NY Times’ scathing response to GWB’s ignorant and arrogant Iraq speech:
Keith
So Eliot Spitzer says to Alexandre Dupre, “I said lick my erection, not wreck my election!” Hey-oooooooo
bernarda
Maybe Americans are not stupid, but they sure are ignorant, even college grads. 4 years of expensive college education and they sometimes know less than when they started.
http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/report/old/2006/major_findings.html
“America’s colleges and universities fail to increase knowledge about America’s history and institutions. There is a trivial difference between college seniors and their freshmen counterparts regarding knowledge of America’s heritage. Seniors scored just 1.5 percent higher on average than freshmen, and at many schools, seniors know less than freshmen about America’s history, government, foreign affairs, and economy. Overall, college seniors failed the civic literacy exam, with an average score of 53.2 percent, or F, on a traditional grading scale.”
– So in response to Dumbya’s “is our children learning”, apparently not. In fact they seem to be dumbing down.
– High schools seem to be cooking the books to make NCLB look good.
http://tinyurl.com/2243s8
“Like Mississippi, many states use an inflated graduation rate for federal reporting requirements under the No Child Left Behind law and a different one at home. As a result, researchers say, federal figures obscure a dropout epidemic so severe that only about 70 percent of the one million American students who start ninth grade each year graduate four years later.
California, for example, sends to Washington an official graduation rate of 83 percent but reports an estimated 67 percent on a state Web site. Delaware reported 84 percent to the federal government but publicized four lower rates at home.”
“Jay P. Greene, a researcher at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative research organization, compared eighth-grade enrollments with the number of diplomas bestowed five years later to estimate that the nation’s graduation rate was 71 percent. Federal statistics had put the figure 15 points higher.”
grandpajohn
Well most of the rest of the world except renegades such as the USA
grandpajohn
And it well might have payed off if Mother Nature had not intervened just as she did against Napoleon
Krista
Meh. Now IronMan on the other hand — holy crap, that looks like it’s going to be seriously kickass. I watched the trailer 5 times the other day on YouTube, just ’cause it pleased me.
And I’m with the other BSG lovers in here. On one hand I cannot wait to see this season, on the other hand, I don’t want it to be over, dammit!
Pirates! is a damn cool game, although I get annoyed when I have to go over to the arse end of Spanish territory, only to find out that that bastard Baron Raymondo is now up in St. Lucia or something.
And yes, I know Molson makes Rickard’s. It’s the only decent thing to ever come out of Molson, besides corporate sponsorships. And I enjoy the Rickard’s White — it reminds me a bit of Hoegaarden.
And the snow, to use the measurement suggested, is not ankle-high, knee-high, or butt-high. The regular snow fall is up to your freaking neck, and the drifts are well over your head. People can’t even go ski-dooing on it, ’cause they’ve actually lost their ski-doo right into the snow.
Conservatively Liberal
What part of town did you live in? I grew up and lived in Spokane until ’92, when I moved to Oregon. I lived over by the courthouse/jail, up on the south hill, on the northside by Joe Albi Stadium, north of Fairwood, out in the valley by Millwood/Veradale and just about everywhere else. I went to North Central High School and later to Spokane Falls Community College. Nice town, but I would not want to live there again. My wife was born and raised there, and our daughter was born there.
Winter sucked there, and I am glad to be rid of snow. It rains here, but you don’t have to shovel rain and I can wear shorts year round. Much of our families still live in Spokane, and we go up a couple of times a year to visit them and our friends up there.
RSA
I was pointed to this video the other day; I thought it was hilarious. I don’t know if it’s shown up already here on BJ, though.
Cassius Chaerea
So, do those Smokehouse Bacon Burgers _really_ have the thickest strips of bacon you’ve ever seen?
John S.
I knew there was a reason I liked you, Krista.
I have been looking for Rickard’s White since you last recommended it on a beer thread, but I can’t find it anywhere in my neck of the woods of South Florida.
Brian (Incertus), if you see it anywhere let me know.
I guess I’ll have to stick with Hoegaarden for now (sigh).
cleek
the version of “Victim Of Changes” on Judas Priest’s’ Unleashed In The East album is their finest moment.
myiq2xu
One historia pointed out that the Germans lost WWII in September 1941, three full months before Pearl Harbor.
That was when the first snows fell in Russia, and the Germans had not won. That’s been the traditional Russian defense – retreat and wait for winter.
I spent three winters in Germany and it was FUCKING COLD!
How bad are the Russian winters if the Germans couldn’t take them?
4tehlulz
I don’t know, but I know this: It will look like a Kubrick film compared to the Dragonball movie.
myiq2xu
Where I live in Californmia we measure snow in minutes.
“It snowed today and it didn’t melt for almost 10 minutes.”
myiq2xu
FYI – that’s a small separatist part of “California”
Shygetz
Or what. SA2SQ. Nothing could top this remake.
Jen
Who flops more, Duke or fainting goats?
Shygetz
I hate to be the one to break this to you, but college is not about teaching everyone your favorite subject. I was a science major, and I took zero American history, civics, economics, etc. I would have shown little improvement over my senior year in high school in those subjects, as well. If the survey had concentrated on political science and history majors, they would have had a point.
Krista
There are worse fates, you know.
Jen
There’s probably not 830cm or whatever of snow in S. Florida. Possibly you could arrange a beer-for-plane-tickets-and-a-couch trade.
J. Michael Neal
The Germans lost WWII in July and August of 1941, when they didn’t advance fast enough, and took too many casualties doing it. When they had to divert the panzers south to clear out the Ukraine, and contra German generals’ memoirs, it was a case of “had to,” it ended any chance to finish the Soviet Union in one campaign. The Germans didn’t make the logistical preparations necessary to make it a two year war.
The Germans lost a lot more men than most people realize during the first three months of Barbarossa. Not as many as the Soviets, obviously, but more than they could replace. Without the tanks around, the Red Army mauled the German infantry around Yelnya through much of August.
The winter helped to finish them off, of course, but the Wehrmacht was already worn out. They couldn’t have taken Moscow; had they gotten close, the Siberian troops used to spearhead the counterattack could have been thrown in early.
As they always do, the German generals tried to do too much. Their grasp pf logistics and intelligence has always been weak.
Punchy
Anything?
Leavin for Vegas today. If I win, maybe I’ll send Johnny some $$ for putting up with my crap. If history is any guide, however, Cole better plan on a bake sale instead.
Dennis - SGMM
I lived there back in the Fifties, don’t even remember the name of the street any more. My dad was attending some Navy school nearby. At the time, we had a Willys Overland with a snowplow attachment on the front bumper. The starting and warming up of the Willys on a snowy Winter morning was an elaborate ritual – with much input from the neighbors regarding the use of starting fluid and the setting of the choke. It was a topic because the neighbors had to wait for Dad to plow the street before they could drive to work. I imagine town’s changed a bit since then.
The Other Steve
I was in Germany in February of 2003, and I don’t recall it being that cold. Maybe 40 degrees out.
Moscow in February would be around -25.
My girlfriend is from Siberia. Both of her grandfathers died defending Russia from the Nazis as part of that Siberian contingent.
And BTW, we fought the Nazis in WWII, not the Germans.
myiq2xu
When you consider the hard fought battles and the number of casualties we took fighting the Germans in WWII, imagine if the Germans hadn’t been fighting the Russians before we got involved.
The vast majority of the German casualties occurred on the Eastern front. The Soviets lost nearly 9 million soldiers, 27 million people total. We lost 318,000 troops in both theaters, and almost no civilians except merchant marines.
Jen
The tournament’s about to start and you guys are talking about WWII. This is a weird blog.
myiq2xu
Can you point to Nazi on a map? The Nazi party controlled Germany, but not all Germans were Nazis.
The GOP military isn’t fighting in Iraq either.
KSmiami
Question to people around here since there is a more balanced view ironically here than anywhere else… I used to be a Reagan conservative, voted to Bush I and then educated myself more and switched to the Dems since they were imperfect, but trying. I guess my question is in the last 50 years have the conservative Republicans been right about anything? I mean, from the New Deal to Vietnam to Iraq to the Civil Rights Act… I am asking this cause I really want to know and I feel lately that the Right is so angry and hate filled that they are truly scary and the voice they have in America is pretty destructive… Anyone???
The Other Steve
I don’t recall taking any American history in College.
I did take the History of Technology and Architecture I & II, which mostly dealt with the technology from 500 BC to 1500 AD. So lot’s of discussion about iron age, stirrups, plows, gunpowder, etc.
I’m not sure that college should teach that. College should focus more on preparations for your career, not on shit that makes liberals feel good.
The Other Steve
This is how WWII is referenced in Europe. At least England.
The battle was with the Nazis, not with the Germans. This terminology disassociates WWII with modern Germany.
Bob In Pacifica
To Krista: We people are supposed to bite you because you’re up to your neck in snow? Would we have to defrost you first? Here in California we keep the snow in our mountains where it is useful for skiing. If we want to see it we go there. Later on it melts and we fill our swimming pools and ice cube trays in the summer.
+++
Good luck on the Cohen tix.
The Other Steve
If it wasn’t for the Russians, we’d all be speaking German.
myiq2xu
The idea “breadth” courses to to provide a foundation for understanding the world, it’s not supposed to make you an expert on everyting.
They don’t teach you algebra because you’ll need it (most people will never use it) but it’s intended to teach you logical reasoning and problem solving.
Conservatives want to get rid of “liberal arts” not because they are “liberal” but because it’s harder to lead educated people around like sheep.
Jay C
Yeah, Jen: you just noticed that even the slightest reference to WWII in a blogthread brings the closet Clausewitzes of the Intertubes Staff College out in droves to hash over the detail of some campaign or other?
Sheesh: May is coming up: just wait til the Battle of France (1940) anniversary is upon us – the armchair Xenophons will be all over it like white on rice….
PS: And yes, Stalingrad, despite the CW, wasn’t so much the “turning point” of the Eastern Front as merely the climax of Act II: Kursk (8/43) was, IMO, the real pivot: but I agree that Barbarossa would have had to succeeded right away in 1941 for the Germans to “win”. YMMV
The Other Steve
Occasionally they have had valid criticism.
But in general, no. They seem to have no ability to think about long term consequences of their actions. All they’re focused on is winning elections.
Jen
Jay C, I’d say I understood about 35% of that post.
Wait, I think Barbarossa was Geoffrey Rush’s character in Pirates of the Caribbean. 37%
myiq2xu
According to the English, they defeated the Germans with a little bit of help from the US and USSR.
According to the Soviets, they defeated the Germans in the “Great Patriotic War” with a little help from England and the US.
I grew up thinking John Wayne defeated the Nazis and the Japs pretty much by himself.
I think the Soviets are closest to the truth.
BTW – I was in college before I found out we lost the War of 1812. When the other country burns your capitol city to the ground and you basically accomplish none of your original objectives, that’s not a “win.”
myiq2xu
Drive through the Ardennes, hang a left, roll up the cheese-eating surrender monkeys.
Barbarossa – Fail to learn from Napoleon.
The Other Steve
Algebra is quite useful.
I took a lot of wasted courses in college. The reason I resent it, is because I had to pay for them.
The Other Steve
I believe our original objectives was for England to respect our authority. In that sense, we did accomplish our objectives.
But it certainly didn’t come cheap.
myiq2xu
Most of mine weren’t wasted, although occasionally I was.
“Underwater Basketweaving 101” hasn’t been much use.
John S.
Really?!
I always thought he avoided the war like the plague, and all that tough-guy stuff was pure movie magic. Then again, my father never liked the Duke.
If you want a real hero, check out Smilin’ Jack.
KSmiami
Thanks other Steve. It suddenly just struck me in the car that why / how can we take directions from people who are wrong and REALLY wrong almost 100% of the time… Why should anyone even listen to these people? Puzzling, no? And I am not a big government person or anything…
myiq2xu
This is why we study History:
b. hussein canuckistani
This also plays into the standard German post-war defense – it was those Nazis who did the bad things, I was only following orders.
If all the armed forces in the field had been the SS, I would buy the Nazi argument, but no, they were Germans, Nazis and not.
They were lulled into a sense of self-confidence by the easy victories in the West, where Blitzkrieg was a surprise. But no on seemed to remember that the theories were worked out in concert with the Russians in the 1920’s, when the Germans did their military research away from the prying eyes of the West.
Xenos
Leonard Cohen never brought my groceries in.
Krista
Well, I’M not up to my neck in snow. My hometown is. My poor mother has been driven to profanity, which is both amusing and disturbing.
Well, if you ever forget, I’ll be delighted to remind you.
The Leonard Cohen tickets sold out in 8 minutes. No, I didn’t manage to get through in time. Shitty.
wvng
Continuing on the journamalism theme, via Think Progress this morning:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/20/former-rove-aide-sara-taylor-becomes-msnbc-pundit/
Jay C
myiq:
Fascinating cite there from Gertrude Bell: it’s a real pity the Bush Administration didn’t have her on staff to advise them! Then again, it’s probably too much to expect that that gang of criminal incompetents would have listened to old Gert anyway: most likely just dismissed her as another “defeatist”….
Anyway, looking through some references, I found this other interesting letter from Miss Bell:
Right: things really don’t change much in that part of the world….
Dennis - SGMM
If I recall correctly, the administration looked with suspicion on anyone who spoke Arabic and/or had any actual knowledge of the history, politics or religions of Iraq. They instead staffed Bremer’s Coalition Provisional Authority with people whose only qualifications were that they were “loyal Bushies”.
Remember Bush’s surprise at finding out that there were two branches of Islam in Iraq? This was after we’d invaded.
LiberalTarian
Things don’t change much anywhere in the world. We think thing change rapidly elsewhere, but it is an illusion. If you read the news (which is almost exclusively about change), you have the the sense that everything is changing constantly and rapidly. But, the news is focused on a tiny subsection of events.
libarbarian
If Hitler’s schlong had hung to the right instead of the left, Germany would have won WWII.
Punchy
/jabs finger at Berkely, CA
myiq2xu
/waves white flag while rofl
Krista
And to think that some people say home-decor websites are dull…
Dork
No, I think he plays for the Pheonix Suns.
myiq2xu
Scooter Libby was disbarred today.
myiq2xu
The rooster says “cockadoodledoo”
Ashley Alexandra Dupree says “Any cock’ll do”
LiberalTarian
Sigh. I wish this was funny, instead of … well, whatever it is. You usually make me laugh. When you talk about women and sex? Eh, not at all.
The Other Steve
you forget the Bushies transcend History.
Xenos
Simply not true.
You, for one, can not afford her.
TenguPhule
Actually that was career prep. For post-Republican America after they’ve completely fucked everything up.
Never say Liberals didn’t try to prepare you for real life.
Brachiator
Actually, we were lucky to get out of the War of 1812 with our nation intact. One of the original objectives of the war was to “liberate” Canada from the British (shades of the liberation of Iraq and a great reminder that all that old history stuff can be amazingly relevant). Here’s old Tom Jefferson in early 1812, doing a little early neo-con tap dance:
Of course, all that the attempt to invade Canada accomplished was to ignite a deeper sense of nationalism among Canadians. Go figure.
It’s also breathtaking to note how myopic the view of the War of 1812 was and continues to be. To Americans, it was a huge deal, and Andrew Jackson’s victory at the Battle of New Orleans, which ironically took place after a peace treaty had been signed between the US and the British, still leads people to believe that the war was a US victory.
But up until 1814, the British were deeply involved in a global war against Napoleon, and only sent a fraction of its forces to fight a defensive war against the US, and still ended up burning Washington to the ground. With the defeat of Napoleon, the British no longer had a reason to blockade American ports, to impress sailors, or to otherwise involve itself with an unimportant little backwater country.
On the other hand, had US leaders not been smart enough to pursue a treaty, the entire naval and army of the UK, no longer needed to fight Napoleon, would have been available to kick the living crap out of the US.
The US DID build up a relatively small, but extremely capable navy, which had the unexpected consequence of loosening the distrust among the states’ right crowd of a permanent national military. Another unexpected consequence was that Native American tribes were caught in the middle of US-UK military actions (and later US expansionism).
That the US came out of this fiasco with a sense of self-respect, while largely true, is one of the ironies of history. We did get “The Star Spangled Banner” out of the war, although I am not sure whether this was a victory or a defeat.
On this, the 5 year anniversary of our grand misadventure in Iraq, I wonder what combination of myopia and mythology will come into play in the future to re-work Dubya’s Folly into some sort of grand US adventure in which we taught the world a lesson in how to fight global terrorism.
Xenos
March 19th will become a new holiday: “Stupid Bastard Day”.
DougJ
Have you guys seen the Stuff White People Like blog? It’s the funniest thing on any of the internets.
Shygetz
That’s Vo-Tech school.
“I don’t know where I heard it first, but a liberal education is supposed to teach you something about everything and everything about something.”–Donald Knuth
Brachiator
Otherwise known as Every Day in the Bush White House.
I use algebra all the time, for example, when grocery shopping. But once I wanted to throw my hand up in frustration when I tried to point out to a fellow shopper that a 96 oz jumbo carton of orange juice “on sale” for $1.69 was actually a worse value than 2 64 oz cartons at .89 each, if you drink a lot of OJ.
Laertes
Here’s Teresa Nielsen Hayden on how to grow and maintain a good online community:
Digital Amish
Krista, you don’t expect us to believe you were googling ‘home decor’ when you found that site, do you?
Krista
Ha! No, the Manolo is a daily read for me.