Kerry on guitar…

Get ready with the barf bag! Wonder why they didn’t cover a Nugent song? Check out the rent-a-mob in this shot; could they have any less rythmn?

Sweden says NO!

Sweden has voted no on the referendum on the Euro!

Exit polls:

Against euro: 57%
In favour: 41%

Congratulations to the winning side. It is good to see that the Swedish people have not bought into the Euro-bullshit.

The DT has a good piece on the vote.

What they said!

Why do we give foreign aid? We give aid for humanitarian reasons: that is, we wish to relieve human suffering because of famines or natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, etc.; we give aid for economic development. The crisis in Iraq has again raised the issue of how much aid and in what forms are appropriate for the U.S. and other countries to provide. Humanitarian aid at reasonable levels has a strong political constituency in the U.S. and is not going to be abolished. Development aid, on the other hand, has never been popular, and for good reason.(09/14/03)

From: Rational Review

A dip into the backlog

Today I posted two DVD reviews: one of the new Maiden video retrospective, Visions of the Beast, and Animatrix.

The CDs in today’s batch are Firebird’s latest, a covers album from Bonnie Tyler, a compilation from Bad Taste Records, and, last but not least, a Motorhead box set!

Jocks being manly again

It’s referred to as hazing by some, but, in fact, it’s just rape and abuse. Funny that the jocks who responded to my piece on sports callled me a poof. Does the expression “repressed” not ring a bell?

This sort of thing frequently happens in sports-based frats at US universities as well. Laughably, when I challenged a pissed frat-member (at Colby) on this particular activity, he claimed it was not “gay” but “bonding". Um, yeah, ok, and I suppose the showering together is just to save water.

Via: Michele, who also has a link to Hell’s musicians. Nominations are open now!

“Prominent” is not the word

The Telegraph has published an idiotic report on a Eurosceptic who welcomed the murder of Ms Lindh in Sweden. The man is neither prominent nor mainstream. I am willing to bet that most Eurosceptics haven’t even heard of Greg Lance-Watkin’s crap site. The arsehat, Daniel Foggo, who wrote the DT piece, should be sacked forthwith for incompetence. Clearly, even a cursory reading of the site in question would make it obvious those running it are on the fringe of politics and a bit nuts.

It is rather curious that Mr Foggo didn’t bother to talk to anyone from the mainsteam Eurosceptic movement. Do I detect a prejudice against a certain side in this argument from Mr Foggo?

Needless to say, I abhor Lance-Watkin’s comments and am absolutely positve that 99% of British Eurosceptics hold the same view.

Farewell

I was unsettled, as were a lot of people, by the deaths of Johnny Cash and John Ritter yesterday.

Cash’s death is something I’ve occasionally thought of for the last couple of years. I’d known he was in poor health and I think the loss of his wife a few months ago was a blow from which he never recovered.

I’d already mentally written his obituary ("Johnny Cash, one of the icons of American music, and one of America’s yaddayaddayadda . . .")

Which would all of it have been true. Surely there was no more seminal moment in popular music than that early Sun Sessions confluence of Elvis, Johnny, and Carl Perkins.

The death of John Ritter was, frankly, shocking. I won’t pretend I was a fan — I think I saw Three’s Company about twice, and I was probably more mesmerised by Suzanne Somers’ boobs — but I’ll give him his due as a very good comic actor, and I’ll infer from his long career that he was a professional who showed up on time, knew his lines; and didn’t lock the door in his trailer every Thursday and throw a screaming hissyfit.

That qualifies as gentlemanly behaviour in Hollywood (and more importantly, with its insurers), and he seemed an unaffected, likable guy.

Godspeed you both.

Pollard on Hamas

Quite simply he states there is no negotiation with Hamas. He states that it is entirely within Israel’s rights to kill Hamas’ leadership. He also slams Guardinista-type moral relativity that likens the “troubles” in Northern Ireland with Israel’s fight for survival.

I am sure he is bracing himself for the onslaught of hate mail.

Boycott France - REDUX

I posted the following in March, but it needs to be put up again in light of that dreadful cartoon I linked to below. The French deserve no mercy.

Don’t spend your money here!

Here is a list of all the companies the Frogs have their appeasing mitts in. One exception to my anti-French stance is Jean Paul Gaultier. His passionate fisking of PETA and their idiocies is something to support. (And yes, JPG does things for men.) List provided by Metrospy.

Air France, Air Liquide, Airbus, Alcatel - Based in Paris France; Allegra (Allergy Medication) - Produced by Aventis Pharmaceuticals based in Strasbourg, France; Aqualung (Including: Spirotechnique, Technisub, US Divers, and SeaQuest); AXA Advisors, Bank of the West - Owned by BNP Paribas Beneteau (boats); BF Goodrich - Owned by Michelin; …..

see the extended entry for the complete listing, in case you want to copy it for your own personal use …..
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A birthday celebrated

Happy Birthday Pater

The French being true to form.

Paul links this obnoxious cartoon from Le Monde on 9/11. As if you needed another reason to boycott the vile French.

How about the terrorists?

When it comes to drug smuggling, the Canadian and Mexican borders have a lot in common, the man in charge of the U.S. war on drugs said Thursday. John Walters was in Seattle to campaign against a municipal proposal that would make marijuana possession the lowest priority for city police. People in Seattle will be voting on the proposal, known as Initiative 75, next Tuesday. Walters says Canadian leaders arefailing to control drug movement across the border.” (09/11/03)

Surely stopping terrorists getting in is just a tad more important than stopped ganga shipments? These anti-drug zealots just don’t get it do they? Doesn’t he remember that some of the 9/11 hijackers came in via Maine from Canada? I say take the manpower wasted harrassing stoners and get them searching for the likely source of the next attack on the US. Isn’t about time they did something that would really save lives?

Hanging chads redux anyone?

In a case reminiscent of the legal battle that clouded the 2000 presidential election, a federal appeals court panel questioned Thursday whether California’s recall election should go forward because six counties still use the flawed punch-card voting system. Lawyers … argued that a statistical study showed 40,000 poor and minority voters might have their ballots excluded …. In what
appears to be the last major legal challenge to the recall, the panel heard nearly two hours of arguments before taking the case under submission. The panel did not say when a ruling would be issued, but lawyers said outside court that they expect a decision early next week.” (09/11/03)

So we can expect Dems to claim Arnie “stole” the election then. Is it me, or are the Democrats in California looking and more desperate in their attempts to keep Davis in?

CDs getting pissed.

A Melbourne scientist says dipping CDs in beer gives them a different sound. Cameron Jones discovered that fungus growing on the beer residue gave a different pitch and acted as an ‘optical biocomputer.’(09/11/03)

Wonder if this would improve the new Metallica CD? Anyone have any other suggestions on CDs that might sound better after this treatment? Naturally, this research was done in Oz.

Jocks doing some useful

Virginia Tech is outfitting its football players with high-tech helmets with special sensors to gather data on the head blows the athletes suffer in normal games and practice sessions. The data are sent to a central computer in real time via a wireless link. “We’ll get a better handle on how head injuries should be managed from a clinical perspective,” says the school’s chief athletics physician, Gunnar Brolinson. The system is called the Simbex Head Impact Telemetry System, or “HIT System” for short. (USA Today) …Let’s just say that
wasn’t their first attempt at a clever acronym.

Via: This is true.

Dear EFF Supporter

This is astounding - in the first 24 hours, over 6,000 people have signed
our petition to stop the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA)
nationwide rampage against average Americans. Rather than working to
create a rational, legal means by which its customers can take advantage of
file-sharing technology and pay a fair price for the music they love, it
has chosen to sue people like Brianna LaHara, a 12 year-old girl living in
New York City public housing. Take a stand against the RIAA’s tactics by
signing our petition:

Ren Bucholz
EFF Activist

Uselessies

. . . a lazy nogoodnik no luck no truck no nothing Nanook & then one day Penelope I sat down & asked myself awright U terrible piece of trash how can U too nab nugget buckets chockablock fulla easy chopchop utilizing idiotproof DYNAMIC REAL ESTATE METHOD SYSTEM & meltaway unwanted pounds with UGLYFAT ZAPAWAY MACHINE & study the forbidden secrets of ANCIENT MOORISH VEGOCHOPPER, O just trust your nose & scent of rainbows as detailed in my subliminal cassette autobiography GOON? LOON? TYCOON! & so I marched right in there & that bank
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Mike on 9/11

It will be no shock to most of you that Mike has written an excellent post on 9/11. I would suggest that you would be well advised to read it. His advice on VDS’ piece is spot on too.

New grouping of anti-advancement loons

As the World Trade Organization summit kicked off Wednesday in Cancún, Mexico, 20,000 police officers kept ‘globophobes’ in the
streets away from government delegates. … But inside, some of these
traditional foes were warming to each other. … This week, the Group of 21 developing nations, which includes China, Brazil, and India, announced an alliance with Oxfam, an international humanitarian organization based in Oxford, England. The alliance was billed as a bid to unite antiglobalization opponents with developing nations.” (09/10/03)

Via: Rational Review

Does anyone understand this comment?

Name: Marty Egan
Email Address: mart46a@aol.com
URL:

President Herzog of Israel, IRA officer and modern arms supplier to Michael Collins used IRA techniques to defeat the British in Palistine. He founded Mousad. The IRA did not found Israel. If Germany had won world war II, there would be no drug problem, no jews, no african americans, little crime ect.. There would be a structured socialist society with safe streets and an upscale life style for everyone who did their part. Period. To the victor would have been the spoils. The question is WOULD “YOU” BE BETTER OFF TODAY IF GERMANY HAD WON? In this scene would you be willing to leave your 4 bedroom 3 bath standard home with pool, transportation, free health care, increased recreation and leisure to give it to the above mentioned groups? I believe there are many more no answers than yes ones. Human nature is human nature…