Several readers, most recently Scott, sent me this very goofy, kinda gay martial-arts fight video. (Some graphic violence.)

Apparently stripping your shirt off in the middle of a fight helps you dodge punches or something.

Posted by: Ace at 10:54 AM | Comments (6)
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Idiot.

America, the only developed nation that shares a long -- 2,000-mile -- border with a Third World nation, could seal that border. East Germany showed how: walls, barbed wire, machine gun-toting border guards in towers, mine fields, large, irritable dogs. And we have modern technologies that East Germany never had: sophisticated sensors, unmanned surveillance drones, etc.

The difference is so obvious I won't insult you by noting it. (Captain's Quarters does, though, if you want to read it.)

Let me quote Robert Frost: Good fences make good neighbors.

And let me suggest some spin from the bad movie Speechless. A Republican there wanted to cut a ditch along the border; Michael Keaton's spin-doctor character began calling it "The Friendship Ditch," and it worked to change public opinion.

So let's not call it a wall at all. Let's just have a 2000 mile long "graffiti/mural installation," which will of course be painted by lots of avant-garde moron artists. We'll call it the Multicultural Street-Art Concrete Canvas Of Transnational Love.

There'll be watchtowers and barbed wire, but those are just there for the ironic statement they make. Or something.

George Will is certainly evolving as he ages, isn't he? The bowties and baseball-fetishism should have been a tipoff.

Posted by: Ace at 10:48 AM | Comments (41)
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Strangely enough, they still sell books offensive to Christians. But then, the rightwing theocratic fascist Christian movement just doesn't have the pull it used to.

Borders and Waldenbooks stores will not stock the April-May issue of Free Inquiry magazine because it contains cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that provoked deadly protests among Muslims in several countries.

"For us, the safety and security of our customers and employees is a top priority, and we believe that carrying this issue could challenge that priority," Borders Group Inc. spokeswoman Beth Bingham said Wednesday.

At least they're honest. They're not claiming they're making the decision due to "respect for different religious values," but because there's a decent chance adherents of The Religion of Perpetually Peevishness will come and bomb or burn bookstores.

Posted by: Ace at 10:29 AM | Comments (17)
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Yeah, I know, most of America wasn't watching this show last year, which was too bad, because it was really pretty good. It was like American Idol, sort of, except with rock songs instead of the thousandth rendition of The Carpenter's Superstar.

Afte various rumors of Queen or Van Halen using the show to find new singers, they've decided to just create a new band. But it's not just a bunch of session musicians or wannabes -- there's some genuine names in the group.

Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee, Metallica’s Jason Newsted, and Guns ‘n’ Roses’ Gilby Clarke will form the rest of the group, which will produce an album and tour in 2007. The show airs this summer, but it’s still casting, although time is running out. If you have what it takes to front a group with those four rockers, apply now.

Well, not huge names. Tommy Lee isn't primarily known for his drumming anymore, Jason Newsted got booted out of Metallica, and Gilby Clarke was as much of a crucial member of Guns 'n Roses as Jm. J. Bullock was.

But still.

The band is to be called "Supernova," which is just awful. They should have fans of the show send in their own recommendations and vote on the name, too. Can't be any worse than "Supernova."

Thanks to Chickpea.

Posted by: Ace at 10:24 AM | Comments (28)
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There will be a war.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on Thursday the "international community is united" in the dispute over its nuclear program, but a Tehran envoy defiantly rejected a U.N. call to reimpose a freeze on uranium enrichment.

Rice spoke after a meeting in Berlin among diplomats from the five veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany over ways to press Iran to stop enriching uranium, which can be used for weapons. Iran says its program is peaceful.

The meeting follows agreement Wednesday by the 15-member Security Council to ask the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to report back in 30 days on Iran's compliance with demands to stop enriching uranium.

In Vienna, Iran's chief representative to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told The Associated Press that "it is impossible to go back to suspension."

"This enrichment matter is not reversible," Soltanieh said.

Reversibility Update: 700 ton bomb to be tested in Nevada.

These words "not reversible" you keep using. I do not think they mean what you think they mean.

Update: Mohammad ElBaradei, the UN's chief official in charge of allowing radical Islamic countries to acquire WMD's, sees no reason for sanctions, as there is yet no "imminent threat."

Here's a funny thing about "imminent threat." Coincidentally enough, I'm sure, when threats become imminent, there's usually not enough time left to check them.

Posted by: Ace at 09:56 AM | Comments (21)
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From the National Enquirer originally, so it may not be 100% on the level. The information comes from Bobby Brown's sister, who says she did crack with Whitney a lot, so she probably needs money, and the Enquirer isn't above paying for juicy stories.

But... who are we kidding here? She's a crackhead.

Songbird Whitney Houston has become a half-toothless crack addict who hangs out in dangerous drug dens and sees "demons" in fits of dope-induced paranoia, a new report claims.

...

"The truth needs to come out. She won't stay off the drugs. It's every single day. It's so ugly. Everyone is so scared she is going to OD," Tina Brown, 42, told the tabloid.

...

Lurid photos supplied by Brown, and reportedly taken in January at Houston's Georgia home, show a filthy bathroom littered with drug paraphernalia, including powder-coated spoons, garbage and debris.

...

The once-gorgeous, velvet-voiced crooner who wooed Kevin Costner in "The Bodyguard" now "spends her days locked in her bedroom amid piles of garbage, smoking crack, using sex toys to satisfy herself and ignoring personal hygiene," the tabloid says.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. There's no need to get all judgemental about that kind of thing. I've heard some people find pleasuring themselves while smoking crack in a pile of rotting garbage and not bathing for months at a time a harmless and relaxing pasttime.

Again, so I've heard.

Thanks to Craig.

It Gets Worse: She's broke and being evicted from her home.

Rich people can almost get away with being degenerate drug addicts.

Not rich people? Not so much.

Posted by: Ace at 08:44 AM | Comments (38)
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Regardless of the specific conflict, it is ever as Ronaldus Magnus declared: "Weakness is provocative."

Posted by: LauraW. at 08:43 AM | Comments (27)
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Not the best slogan with which to win a Democratic primary.

"Our congressman is the smartest person in the district, and we might be the only place in the country that can say that," Rinck said. "But he falls somewhat short on the charisma meter. And it might take a somewhat less intelligent -- although much noisier -- person to get some things done for this district."

They're the only district that has a Congressman who's the smartest in the district? Is he saying this guy is that smart, or his constituents are that dumb?

I don't think that's going to fly. Democrats tend to have Lake Woebegone syndrome, where they all imagine they're smarter than average.

Via Fark.

Posted by: Ace at 08:31 AM | Comments (9)
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I thought Cheney's opening 'Bridge to Nowhere' crack was pretty funny.

UPDATE: Here's a link for video of Cheney's bit.

Thanks, sugar britches.

Posted by: LauraW. at 06:17 PM | Comments (29)
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The Eurotrash never cease to amaze me. They have become permanently blinded by the fact that America has a bigger penis that they do. They created Airbus because they couldn't stand buying from Boeing anymore. Well, trillions of dollars of subsidies later they have garnered an equal footing in sales. But they still don't quite understand how to make planes that their customers actually want.

The first example was the Concorde. It wasn't exactly answering a market need, but it did fly faster than anything Boeing had. Of course, it was eventually retired after they realized flying empty planes was really a stupid idea.

Now, they have gone back to the well for a second drink of Kool Aid. This time they are making a plane to compete in the crucial mid-sized market. However, once again, its not what the market wants. Don't just take my word for it:

Two of the world's most powerful airplane buyers yesterday said Airbus should completely rethink the plane it has proposed to compete against Boeing's strong-selling new 787.

Steven Udvar-Hazy, probably the most respected figure in the global business of buying and selling airplanes, predicted the current version of Airbus' A350 would sell poorly and leave Boeing to dominate the lucrative market for midsized wide-bodies.

I'm sorry I couldn't post this one sooner. I was just laughing to hard!

I have another great article on the dual between Airbus and Boeing here.

Posted by: Tanker at 01:50 PM | Comments (133)
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