Bubbrubb

Woo woo!

Demetri Martin

Demetri Martin kept a diary of sorts. It's pretty neat. I think my favorite part is: You can't punch someone in the balls over the phone. If I were a really persuasive guy, I guess I could call him and convince him to punch himself in the balls. But I'm not at that level yet.

Actually, it may be an improvement

Revenge of the Sith, aka Backstroke of the West, is translated into Chinese then subtitled in English. Hilarity ensues (via Yglesias).

I've had that seat

29E writes a complaint.

F*&$

China abandons currency stability. Boo.

Quotes

Thomas Sowell's favorite quotes (via Newmark). He's pretty much my favorite animal, er, columnist. Anyway, here's a good one from C.S. Lewis:
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive....robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep...but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

Good idea

Put ICE before whom to contact in your cellphone In Case of Emergency (via MR)

The connection

Do you see? Do you see? (probably 1% of you will get that, but it amuses me)

It's not the destination

It's the journey. Or, as Sanchez says,"we may take as least as much satisfaction in the feeling of responsibility for our choices, in knowing that we have shaped a life that is ours even when we have chosen badly."

Be Charismatic...

In a 23 easy steps.

Nice

Going truly offshore (via P&S). It might not work, it might bring down the wrath of Congress, but I bet it works.

Wilson, Plame, Novak

Read Novak's column where he supposedly outed Valerie Plame as an undercover agent. In fact, here's the sentence: "Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction." This is treason? Look, I'm anti-Bush and anti-Rove and all, but this is a tempest in a teapot, at least vis-a-vis Novak.

More

Pat/Pape: "'The history of the last 20 years' shows that once the troops of the occupying democracies 'withdraw from the homeland of the terrorists, they often stop – and stop on a dime.'"

Yes, I realize people like this exist. They're disgusting, but I don't think there are enough of them to change the calculus of my previous post.

Appeasement?

As I see it, the argument against pulling our troops out of the Middle East is it will demonstrate to the terrorists that terrorism works, and they will therefore use it more in the future. Also, that staying we kill current terrorists. The problem of giving incentive to our enemies is a real one, and I recognize it.
The argument for pulling out is that our mere presence angers people, then you add in all the killing and destruction and they really get pissed off. Pissed off people who would have otherwise supported the US and worked against terrorists, don't; people who would have been basically indifferent now somewhat support terrorism; people who were already anti-US become far more likely to actively oppose us. These active opposers choose the method of the 'poor and powerless', namely terrorism. Pulling out will stop the pissing off from getting worse, thus fewer terrorists.
Which of these effects dominates? I don't know. What I do know is that as long as our troops stay over there, non-terrorist Arabs die by the thousand, and, more importantly, our troops die by the day (or more often). If they wanted us to stop defending our borders or to not allow women to vote or to pay them billions of dollars in 'aid', I'd say fuck 'em, but what they (or most of them) want is for us to leave them alone. This is a legitimate desire and is in our best interests. If there is a way to do that mitigates the problem of incentives, then I'm all ears, but we need to get out of Iraq ASAP. This isn't appeasement, this is called obeying the first rule of finding yourself in a hole: you stop digging deeper.

Quote of the Day

"I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok." - Shaquille O'Neal (from The Kirk Report)

Take the test

Try this 'test' (via Balko). Turns out I'm either weird or almost normal, depending on how you look at it? What I got in comments, if you care.

Play

Card on strengthening your most important 'muscle'.

Got a question? Got a UK cell phone? Text 63336 and you will have an answer shortly. Not so useful for me in the US, and a bit pricey at 1 pound, but still, kind of cool (via MR).

Classy

Please read Bartlett's longish piece on Class Struggle in America.

An effective comic device

Christopher Hitchens and Ron Reagan have a back-and-forth (watch video here). The BlogFather thinks CH makes RR look stupid. I think he just argues in non-essentials and non sequiturs, which I personally don't find to be effective debating methods. Abu Nidal worked for the Iraqi state after his crimes, therefore Iraq was a center of terrorism? Right.

Dept of People can be Dumb

Insanity at 20,000 feet.

London

No commentary necessary (or wanted I'm sure), so just the facts: F'ing asshats.

Stop

Apropos the recent "enormous, ego-massaging, feel-good, group masturbation session", a Kenyan tells us how we can best help Africa.