First of all, one thing that has stuck in my craw all night long is, of course, our president George Dumbass Bush. What kind of man can stand in front of an audience of veterans and dare speak to them about Vietnam when his chicken-hawk, neocon war-mongering cronies dodged the draft?
Sure, Bush was occasionally patrolling the skies over Houston when he wasn't drunk during the Vietnam war, but how dare he say, "One unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 're-education camps' and 'killing fields.'" U.S. News and World Report has a good roundup of reactions to Bush's speech.
The families of the 58,249 dead U.S. military service members probably don't think the legacy of the Vietnam war is that we didn't stay in Vietnam long enough "to win." The Vietnamese people have a different perspective about the cessation of U.S. military operations in their country. What kind of fucktard neocon historical revisionist is writing Bush's speeches now? Oh, I forgot -- the popular right-wing nutbag theory is that it was actually the liberal U.S. media that "lost" the Vietnam war.
Look, if Bush wants to compare Iraq to Vietnam, we can do that, too.
Incredibly mis-informed foreign policy disasters.
Texas governors prolong the war for domestic political purposes and ego.
A fucktard idea has no good resolution.
If the U.S. stays in Iraq, people will die. If the U.S. withdraws from Iraq, people will die. Bush broke Iraq and the U.S. military only has about as much influence in Iraq as any other regional militia. In the north, you have the Kurdish Peshmerga (400,000). In the south, you have Sadr's and SIIC's militias (500,000). In the middle, you have the U.S. military (150,000) trying to protect assets in the Green Zone.
Scattered throughout the country, you have tiny pockets of Saudi Wahabbists and Iranian Qods who have the oil money funding and the motivation to make Iraq a never-ending battleground for their own Muslim sects and for control of the resources within Iraq. And then there are the soldiers of fortune, Blackwater. They certainly don't have any motivation to end their own extremely lucrative contracts in Iraq.
For those of you who are offended by my use of the word fucktard, I totally understand, but I can't apologize for it. I'm angry and it's just the most accurate word I could possibly think to use to describe president Bush. You'll agree with me when the Bush administration repeats another historical mistake and eventually widens the war to include Iran, as happened with Laos and Cambodia. Except this time around, you'll be paying $10 for a gallon of gasoline. Oh, wait. That was the plan all along, wasn't it?
For those of you who think I don't use enough profanity in my writing, I give you:
Now, just so I can calm down ... I found a new candidate for my Digi-Chix list who you might also find entertaining. Megan McArdle writes for the Atlantlic Monthly magazine. I love smart women — but if they also self-describe themselves politically as being libertarian — that is just really hawt.
Her IQ doesn't seem to hinder her sense of humor ... in a geeky way.
Another libertarian quote I recently heard, "Pfft. Yes, marijuana is a gateway drug ... for Dorritos."
Because I'm such a C-Span geek, I watched a Q&A show Monday morning before Washington Journal airs at 7:00am. Brian Lamb interviewed Janks Morton about the making of his documentary film "What Black Men Think."
The story behind the making of this documentary film is as intriguing to me as the film itself. While I was amazed with the video clips shown during the Q&A show, Lamb asked many questions about Morton's background, motivation and how he was able to make the documentary film itself.
It's very inspiring. From what I could tell from the interview, Janks Morton was simply angry enough about the popular misconceptions and myths about black men that he felt compelled to make this film. He's not a film maker. He made it for under $10,000 with a camera, some video editing software, and his own tenacity.
Janks Morton's motivation to make the film seems to have come from a simple question. Are there more black men in jail or in college? Sadly, the popular misconception even within the African American community provides the false answer -- jail. It's just not true. The actual facts make that stereotype of the American black man not just a little wrong, but more than 100% wrong. What is going on here?
Market for Niggas by Taalam Acey
What are some of the stereotypes for the American black man that immediately pop into your own mind -- Gangster, Funny man, Crackhead, Athlete, Baby Daddy?
Janks Morton has made "What Black Men Think" with the idea of starting a conversation within the black community about its own self-image, but I feel it's a topic that all Americans should be discussing. Sure, it's about traditional black/white race relations, but it's also about how the popular corporate media shapes our perceptions.
In my opinion, an additional example of that media manipulation of which Taalam Acey speaks would be the more recent stereotyping and demonizing of Latin American immigrants, especially Mexicans. It is my contention and even admonishment that we all need to get a firmer grip on our tribal emotions and simply check the facts. Otherwise, we Americans are all easily misled, once again.
I would characterize the documentary film "What Black Men Think" as an example of boots-on-the-ground truth, in comparison to some top-down, think-tank or advocacy group message from popular social leaders designed to maintain the status quo thinking for some of their own national organizations' fundraising purposes.
NASA has made the call to bring space shuttle Endeavor home because of the looming danger to the Johnson Space Center (JSC) and the mission control personnel in Houston, Texas, from Hurricane Dean. Yesterday, the STS-118 crew finished up their final tasks and undocked from the International Space Station (ISS).
Hurricane Dean is a very destructive category 4 hurricane predicted to eventually hit the northern states of Mexico and the southern Texas region. I'm continually finding new things at the NASA web sites. Today, I found NASA has a hurricane page.
On Friday, two astronauts were outside on an EVA (space walk) working when the ISS orbitted over Hurricane Dean. Now, I've been watching EVA live streams for some time, so I'm fairly used to hearing people talk over each other and also hearing the strange noises that accompany a live video feed from space.
Here are links to the short video of that event (WMP) (RM). Listen to the comments of the two astronauts who are extremely focussed on their EVA tasks, but then take a moment as they look down at the Earth and hurricane Dean churning below.
According to the National Hurricane Center, hurricane Dean will continue to strengthen before hitting the northern coast of Belize and Mexico's Yucatan peninsula in the next 24 hours.
A few months ago, I installed a handy little program called "JLC's Internet TV" and I've been checking out various channels from around the world. For obvious reasons, the channels I watch most frequently have content in English, but not exclusively. Some of the coolest channels I've discovered show classic movies. One channel I placed in my favorites is White Springs TV.
The other night on WSTV, I watched a great Boris Karloff movie called "British Intelligence" (1940). This movie was based upon a theatrical play performed in 1918. The backdrop is World War I with a focus on British and German spy activities.
Compared to more modern movies, this film is short with a running time of only 61 minutes. However, this actually works out really well because the plot moves very fast and it has some good twists and turns. If you like British war movies, this is a good one.
There is another very cool aspect to "British Intelligence" for the Boris Karloff fan. Except for the bayonet scar on Valdar's left cheek, Karloff is not in any monster make-up in this film. I don't want to describe the scene in which Karloff breaks from his Valdar the butler character, but I have to say it did make my eyes widen in surprise.
Another coincidental bit of trivia about "British Intelligence," a.k.a. "Enemy Agent" for the U. K. release, has a weird parallel with Boris Karloff's real life. Karloff was born in England and changed his given name to Boris Karloff in part because he wanted to distance himself from some of his siblings who held political office in England. He didn't want to bring any embarassment to his family.
In this film, he plays an English lord's lowly butler. However, after Karloff played Frankenstein and became an international film star in the 1930's, his initial anxiety concerning bringing shame to his family seemed to vanish. Karloff went on to act in over 200 films during his lifetime, most notable in the horror film genre. Boris Karloff truly is a legend of the silverscreen (now on DVD).
While I'd certainly appreciate if any hardcore Boris Karloff fan purchased this film on DVD from one of my Amazon affiliate links, I'm also the guy who likes to show you how to get free stuff when and where you can. I recently watched this film for free streaming on WSTV, but I've subsequently found that you can also download and watch "British Intelligence" in several digital video file formats on archive.org.
The image above shows the Mattel Barbie and Tanner playset that has been recalled because the magnet has been falling off the scooper. Swallowed magnets are a very serious hazard for children. I have not touched this image with photoshop. Just to prove this, this image is hotlinked directly from the U.S. federal government's Consumer Product Safety Commission website (cpsc.gov).
Now just take a closer look at this frellin' image. The little brown things are supposed to be Tanner's food pellets and they even come with a little dog food box (shown here). You can see the kibble in his bowl and in his mouth, right?
However, look behind Tanner's butt on the lawn! There's another little pile of brown things. If that pile of brown things isn't dog poop, then why is Barbie using a scooper to throw one of them in the trash? Like I've always said, "You can't make this shit up."
But seriously, folks ...
You may have heard about the Fischer-Price toy recall because of the lead paint hazard. The Chinese owner of the toy manufacturing company was found hung in his warehouse in the wake of that recall.
Yesterday, the U.S. CPSC announced additonal Mattel toy recalls. If you have kids, follow the links below to see images of these toys and the recall information. The primary purpose of a recall is to get the defective or hazardous toys away from kids as soon as possible. There are toll-free phone numbers and links to more information on the individual recall pages listed below.
