October 30, 2004
Spam
Damn it.
My comments are getting hit by the spambots. I need to find a way to prevent this from happening.
Posted by Matt at 1:52 PM
I'm seeing a pattern here
A couple of weeks ago, I noted that the forces in Fallujah were discussing a proposal to disarm. In my mind, this meant they were actually surrendering. It occurred to me last night that the Bin Laden video struck a similar chord.
Bin Laden appears in a videotape and says, if you don't attack us, we won't attack you. Well, think about this... For the last seven years or so, his message has been: Attack Americans wherever they may be found. Why the sudden change in tune? Is this all bluster from a guy who merely wants to influence our elections? Because it sounds a lot like he might be saying, "Hey now... Um, let's call this whole war thing off. We will grant you security if you agree to our terms."
I'm sure they still have some capability to strike us -- whether they're capable of the same kind of "spectacular" attacks they've attempted on us in the past, I don't know. But if OBL was so sure of his capability, why not just strike? Why not just do the deed and then show up on video saying, folks, if you want to avoid another one of these, keep that in mind when you vote!
My guess is that he needs the US to stop its activity in Iraq. He needs the US to stop its activity in Afghanistan. I hate to use the hackneyed phrase, but it's appropriate: he is on the run. I imagine he lies awake at night thinking, "If these damn US soldiers would just stop freaking buggin me for two days, I could maybe do something!!" He's frustrated. He needs the US to stop. He's either asking for surrender, or pulling the classic fake-cease-fire so he can buy more time to prepare for his next plans.
The Belmont Club had thoughts along similar lines.
Posted by Matt at 1:48 PM
October 16, 2004
Proof!
Posted by Matt at 11:38 AM
October 15, 2004
How out of touch is this guy?
The Washington Post's Hank Stuever has seen Trey Parker and Matt Stone's new film Team America, and completely missed the point:
...I am almost moved to salute Parker and Stone for their nuanced and careful takedown of American jingoism and the seemingly disastrous foreign policy that Team America stands for.There's an inside joke going on, all right, but Hank Stuever is the one missing out.Only that isn't quite how it played to an audience on Tuesday night... The biggest laughs came when "Team America" assaulted any and all concepts of ethnicity, or when the joke was on gays, Michael Moore or a vast left-wing idiocy.
The movie feels like an elaborate inside joke on the very Americans laughing hardest at its easiest gags, oblivious to the sly, allegorical digs at a USA brand of bravado. What I took as a lampoon of Bushworld seemed to be received, in the seats around me, as a triumph of Bushworld.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone are Republicans. How could this guy miss this?
Posted by Matt at 6:37 PM
October 12, 2004
This year's Nobel Prizes
Nice when a Nobel laureate actually agrees with you: Nobel laureate calls for steeper tax cuts in US.
Unlike when they say your country is responsible for trying to exterminate the black population of Africa. (Okay, she said some country in the West, which I guess could mean Luxembourg, but I don't think that's what she was driving at.)
So you've got populace-empowering tax-relief advocates on one hand, conspiracy-sniffing tree planters on the other. Strange little salad the Nobel Committee has served up with this year's selections.
Posted by Matt at 6:26 PM
Strange sightings
Seen in Austin, Texas, within the last 24 hours:
1. A middle-aged couple walking through the aisles of Fry's Electronics, speaking French.
2. A group of English businessmen crossing the street and talking about their current project.
3. A bicycle cop pulling over a car and writing the driver a ticket.
File the first two in the Austin Is Becoming More International And The World We Live In Is Becoming More Close Knit All The Time file. File the third one in the Obviously Not Impossible Or Unprecedented But You Just Never See That file.
Posted by Matt at 2:13 PM
October 11, 2004
Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoooooooo!
During yesterday's broadcast, one of ESPN's announcers said, "If you were an Astros fan growing up, and you're over 25, you know how meaningful this playoff series is." After 42 years of never winning a postseason series, the Houston Astros -- the team I grew up on through the heartbreaking 80s and hung with through the roller-coaster late 90s -- finally won one.
I swear I got tears in my eyes as Biggio caught the final out.
Two game notes:
1) The announcers. Come on, Fox.
Would it be possible for you to get a couple of announcers who have enough familiarity with the teams to get the pronunciations of the players' names right? It's OHs-walt, not AHz-walt; it's CHA-vez, not she-VEZ.
You also want to get some announcers who have seen all the games in the series. For example, it might have been interesting to note that Carlos Beltran faced Juan Cruz in the eighth this game -- just like he did in Game One, but in that game, he got drilled in the ribs by a fastball high and inside. That injury caused him quite a bit of pain in Game Two. So when he steps up to the plate in the all-important Game Five, it might be beneficial to note that when Beltran drilled one right back up the mound at Cruz, singling to center and driving in the final two runs, it was a sweet kind of payback. Anyone who saw Game One caught this.
Lastly: Guys. Please. The Astros' drive to win 40 of the last 50 games and beat their longtime postseason nemesis the Atlanta Braves was dramatic enough a story to tell on its own merits. There was absolutely no need for any further mention of Ken Caminiti -- who never went to the playoffs with the Astros -- and how his death might have weighed heavy on the hearts of Bagwell and Biggio. I think they were pretty tough about it in the pregame press conference; the attempts by these greenies in the booth to play up the Grieving for a Fallen Teammate Angle -- short and fleeting though they were -- played as gratuitous and contrived.
And 2) Rafael Furcal, you punk-ass drunk-driving bitch, you're going to jail. Take the next 21 days to think about what you've done. The Cobb County judge who allowed Furcal to play out the season ought to be ashamed of himself and all the residents around the 285 Perimeter ought to be ashamed of the man occupying that bench.
Congratulations Astros! Beat the Cards!
Posted by Matt at 10:53 PM
October 9, 2004
Quote of the Day
"The thing about history is that it's in the past, for the most part."
Spoken by a catcher on my favorite baseball team. (Surprisingly, not Yogi Berra.) Go 'Stros!
Posted by Matt at 9:55 PM
Odd headlines
The headline for this article on CNN.com's main page reads: Al-Sadr's Baghdad militia offers to disarm.
Two thoughts: 1) Back in The Day, when one side of an armed conflict "offers to disarm", isn't that called surrender? And: 2) Yes, yes, I understand, nuance, and all that... but do we as a nation have any business entertaining any "offers to disarm" from groups who are in armed conflict with us, short of complete and total surrender?
I imagine that if I were writing the headlines for CNN, I might have a hard time calling it surrender too. Say what you want about how no issue is really black-and-white... but when it comes to armed thugs like this, there really is no room for any shade in between.
Posted by Matt at 3:52 PM
October 7, 2004
There are second-class citizens...
...and they're us! That is, unless you happen to be a star athlete. I'm not talking about OJ getting off for murder; I mean the little everyday stuff.
If you're Cedric Benson and you and three of your buds break into someone's apartment to "steal back" the TV that was stolen from you (allegedly), you don't get a day in jail. You get the judge telling you that the ordeal you've been put through is punishment enough.
And if you're Rafael Furcal of the Atlanta Braves, do you have to start serving your DWI sentence when it gets handed to you? Hell no! You get to finish out the season, because hey: winning sports championships serves the common good and all that crap.
And yes, I am just pissed because this convicted drunk-driver should be behind bars instead of hitting the game-winning home run against my Astros.
...grumble... grrr.... damnit.
Posted by Matt at 11:14 PM
October 2, 2004
Saturday
Workin' on a new design.
Gettin' the nuts and bolts down can be a time-consuming process, especially if you're trying to do stuff that isn't the norm. (And really, it's a good thing if you can find out how to do something in a new way!) So far this has been a fast process -- probably evidence that this stuff has now seeped into my skin and is now permeating my muscular tissue. I will update if it sinks into my bones.
Should have something up by the end of the weekend! Updates forthcoming!
Posted by Matt at 12:59 PM
