SCENE: Two friends, DICK CHENEY and HENRY WHITTINGTON, share a tent in a marsh. A fire burns as they eat pork and beans out of cans.

DICK: Well, that was a good meal.

HENRY: That's the most words you've said since we've been out here.

DICK: I don't talk much. (tosses bean can aside) Well, guess I better get back to the quail-blind. Want to wake up early to get the early bird.

HENRY: Don't go tonight. It's going to storm. Spend the night in the tent.

DICK: The tent?

HENRY: Sure. It sleeps two.

DICK looks conflicted.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 08:32 AM | Comments (59)
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For the record, the only Poles I trust are in Warsaw and Chicago. But, if you do believe in these polls, I find this pretty interesting.

The Gallup poll also measured whether people viewed other countries favorably or unfavorably.

Seventy-nine percent of the poll respondents saw Germany in a favorable light, with only 15 percent unfavorable. Only half viewed Germany favorably in 2003.

France has rebounded nicely with a 54 percent favorable rating compared with only 34 percent having a favorable view just before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, which France strongly opposed. Forty percent of Americans now have an unfavorable view of France.

I wonder if it has more to do with a greater number of German Americans or that everybody hates a cheese eating surrender monkey.

Posted by: Tanker at 08:31 AM | Comments (8)
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They even caption Hughes as calling Bush "eine wunderbaren Fuehrer."

You, um, see where they're trying to go with that translation, don't you?

The German press is giving the BBC a run for its money as "most slanted leftist bullshit media organization."

Posted by: Ace at 08:18 AM | Comments (11)
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Don't read this. more...

Posted by: Ace at 08:02 AM | Comments (11)
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A small debate is going on about this film, prompted by a major DVD release of the movie and a Slate article in which a liberal who enjoys the film admits yes, it's pretty darned conservative.

I haven't seen it yet -- heard and read about it for years, but haven't seen it, largely because I don't think there was a DVD available of it until now -- but I have seen Barcelona a bunch of times. And I don't think there's any doubt where that movie comes down politically.

When the villains are a bunch of idiotic leftist Europeans who arrogantly spout off ridiculously false facts about America (the biggest labor union in America is apparently the "NFL-CIA," some sort of clandestine-service/sports league), and the hero is a businessman with a passion for marketing and a jingoistic junior Naval officer, well, that's a damned conservative movie, isn't it?

As one of the two Americans tries to explain American foreign policy, he notices red ants and black ants fighting, and notes that America is just trying to keep the ants from killing each other. The European douchebag objects, stupidly, that that's how Americans "see the world," with everyone as ants. The Naval officer just asks -- "Which of these are the foreign ants?" -- and then takes a brick and smashes them.

Later, his friend counsels him against doing things like that. "You just confirmed their worst assumptions."

The Naval officer just says, "I am their worst assumption."

That's just funny, no matter what your politics are.

Bonus: When a Spanish girl claims that America is very violent, because of all the shooting deaths, the Naval officer explains, "That doesn't mean we're more violent. It just means we're better shots."

Very conservative. Frankly, I'm surprised there's really much of a debate over this. Again, I haven't seen Metropolitan, but it would seem that his later film pretty much resolves the intent behind the former one.

Posted by: Ace at 07:53 AM | Comments (17)
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The tempo of mayhem seems to be in an upswing.

Suicide bombers in explosives-laden cars attempted to attack an oil processing facility that handles about two-thirds of Saudi Arabia's petroleum output on Friday, but were stopped when guards opened fire on them, causing the cars to explode, officials said.

The Saudi oil minister said the blast "did not affect operations" at the Abqayq facility, denying an earlier report on Al-Arabiya television that the flow of oil was halted briefly.

The jihadis' new Tet Offensive?

We seem to be at a climax in this war, with the spiraling lawlessness and violence in Iraq and Iran continuing to build nukes. The light at the end of the tunnel is further away now.

For the first time in a while I'm beginning to doubt we can win this thing, at least according to our current, humane tactics. A line of Steven den Beste's keeps running through my mind (paraphrased): "Of course we can fight a two-front war. In fact, we can fight a ten-front war. It's just that eight of those fronts would be fought with nuclear weapons."

Usual caveats -- I hope it doesn't come to that, etc. -- but I begin to wonder if any other response will be effective.

Posted by: Ace at 07:38 AM | Comments (116)
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Interesting nugget at Something Old, Something New.

The voters tend to punish whichever party controls the House of Representatives and vote that party less seats.

So why did Republicans gain seats in 2002?

Well, polls show the public incorrectly believed the Democrats controlled the House.

And this correlation -- public erroneously thinks one party controls the House, votes the less seats -- has occurred several times before.

Which is all just further evidence for my theory: People are friggin' idiots.

Thanks to Dr. Reo Symes.

Posted by: Ace at 09:44 PM | Comments (33)
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Which is why I'm linking it. Because, umm, there's chatter about it. Big questions of current social and sexual mores.

And, um, Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johanson naked.

The controversy is that the girls or naked but the dude has his clothes on. Well, not his clothes, I hope. I hope it's just wardrobe. I hope he doesn't actually dress like Ichabod Crane at a debutante ball.

Then again, he's a fashion designer, I'm reliably informed, so maybe he does.

What was the point of this post again?

Oh yeah. Double standards. Sexual inequality. Societal taboos.

And Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johanson starkers. Did anyone else notice that, or was it just me?

Andrew Sullivan speculates that the disparity -- women naked, man, clothed -- is due to the fact that women are attracted to men's "souls." He does, however, allow that women are "opaque" to him.

Thanks to Allah.

Posted by: Ace at 03:07 PM | Comments (75)
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Now that there's a massively-multiplayer on-line Dungeons & Dragons game, I figure my time here is just about done. At least until I get up to 44th level and get my hands on the Wand of Orcus.

Why don't these jackasses advertise on this site? I give them enough free publicity. I obviously have a lot of readers interested in playing fairies, or whatever it is they do in D&D. Geeze, I almost make this dorkwad crap seem cool. (Well, not really, but I do say "pooter," thus lowering the nerdiness factor.)

If I don't see some cash-money respect from Wizards of the Coast or Turbine.com, I'm going to start referencing GURPS, Rifts, and Rolemaster exclusively.

Thanks to Christopher.

Posted by: Ace at 02:15 PM | Comments (37)
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Most of you who cook are going to giggle at the obviousness of this recipe, so I guess this is really intended for single guys who don't cook. And are retarded. If you're in that category, though, you might end up eating this son of a bitch three times a week... and loving it.

Updated to answer questions like, "How much seasoning do I actually add?," "Why can't I just use Ortega taco mix?," and "What the hell is cumin?" more...

Posted by: Ace at 01:08 PM | Comments (74)
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