December 23, 2003

I guess it's chicken now for everyone!
Mad Cows are Coming! Mad Cows are coming!Is there any way to blame this on the Bush Administration? I think there is. I just don't know how.

December 18, 2003

Kay to Step Down
Bush is going to have lots of up and down moments in the next year. This is going to be a big downer. Not Kay leaving but the final report. The money quote:

Another interim report is due in February. In October, Kay predicted the weapons hunt would be able to reach definitive conclusions within six to nine months — sometime in spring 2004.

So the final word on WMDs comes in the Spring of 2004. So Dean or Clark or whoever will lock up the Nod just in time for Bush to spend the summer exsplaining why there are no WMDs. Now if only a 9/11 report critical of Bush comes out in say, September of 2004 the Rep convention could get crushed under a wave of bad press. I've heard lots of pundits talking about an event driven election. This is what it could look like.

December 16, 2003

SimCampaign

This is the best idea that Slate has had this month. As a confirmed politicial and computer game junkie I think that anyone who can combine the two will be my personal hero. Not to mention that I will never leave the apartment again. Ok, here is my offer: I know how to play video games and I follow politics. Anyone out their who knows how to program lets get together and make this dream a reality!
Wes Clark testifies at Milosevic trial
This is intresting. Dems in general and Clark in particular should be talking about the differences between Kosovo and Iraq. Dems can just as good a job putting evil dictators in the clink. No better! The Kosovo campaign had no US combat deaths! Iraqi: 450 deaths and counting! We can do the job better then they can. I can see the bumber sticker now: Wes Clark: Evil Doers Done in for Less. or Democrates: Feel Good Foreign Policy But Without All the Widows

The Last Samurai

Went to see The Last Samurai over the weekend, some big epic stuff to keep me tied over till Return of the King. I got my dose of big epic battles, but there is a real problem with the movie: What the heck are the samurai fighting for? The movie is filled with talk of honor, courage and whatnot but the fighting really seems to be about the right to fight. The basic plot of the movie is that the Emperor of Japan is eliminating the samurai from Japanese society and the Samurai are fighting to stay. Oh ya, Tom Cruise switches sides halfway though the movie but thats not what I worry about. What I worry about is a bunch of jumped up warlords, lording over their peasants getting the Hollywood treatment. Samurai are worthless! They do nothing productive, they don't farm, fish or make anything. They just train all day. The only thing they are protecting "their" people from are Samurai from another provence. The imperial army isn't going to burn the village and kill the children Tom Cruise loves so much. All the army is going to do is cut off the Samurai's top knots and take away their swords so they can't hurt anybody. The Samurai are part of the feudal system just like European Knights are and to people living in Post-Modern America they can seem pretty romantic with their honor and chivary. But feudalism is just a protection racket. Thugs with swords promise to keep away other thugs with swords long as the peasants do all the real work. Trust me being a peasent in this system sucks. The Samurai take what they want and can kill you without consequence. So don't cheer for the Samurai. Cheer the peasants that shoot them down. They are not going to be peasents any more.

Well here we go.

Xmas vacation has left me with some time on my hands so lets try posting shall we.