Despite the abject left-bias of the game’s creator. Check out d’Bacons and see what anarcho-capitalist policies get you!

In the light of another exercise in Bush-bashing by a comedian (this time called the academy awards with Chris Rock), I have come up with a new reality show idea. You have 12 comedians do 30 minutes of comedy and not make any jokes about the President. Make them perform the gigs in the middle of Bush country in front of audience of typical Bush voters. Of course, they will not know where they are performing until too late.

Michele has a few ideas for new catagories.

when i’m calling you-oo-oo
oo-oo-oo!
you will answer too-oo-oo
oo-oo-oo!

hammerstein/harbach/friml

In the days before GPS, this was all-too-tragically common:

Other Photoshopped romance-novel covers here. (Some might be mildly unsafe for work.)

the blog québécois

It wasnt long after I was selected as Sage of Wales that I was asked to investigate a small town on the North West coast of Wales. The town was the source of rumours for many a moon, and much loathed by the people of the area. The Welsh are a hearty lot and rather used to the odd noise and light in the sky, being descended from hardy Celtic stock. Marshbier, on the other hand, spooked the normally placid coastal Welshman, not enough so after a few pints it was impossible to hear about it, but nonetheless a place to be avoided.

Marshbier was a recent town for the coast of Wales, having only existed for 150 years or so, growing up around a manor house that was built on the inlet in the early 19th century. The house commanded the heights of the area and could clearly be seen both from the air and when one was out at sea. It was made of stone and of some considerable size, the rest of the houses in the town were smaller and more typical of the Welsh coast. The town kept to itself and was as self-sufficient as possible, not even bothering to hook itself up to the Welsh power grid. There was a weekly bus and mail service into the area, but that was hardly used. Observers commented that most of the transport out and into the town came via the sea and not overland. There was a road to the town, but it was a one car road with high hedge rows that was not well maintained and look as it hadnt been paved in decades. The hills around the town were fairly barren and contained none of the normal farms you would expect for the area, farmers reported that their sheep would refuse to even mount the back side of these hills; horses and dogs shunned the area as well.

It was into this environ that I took my first official act as Sage of Wales. It was only official in the fact that I was asked to investigate by the First Minister of Wales, himself, in a hand written note to me. The note informed me that I was to be careful and not take any undue risk. Whatever that was suppose to mean. I decided that it would be wise for me to ask for aid in this matter, as I was rather unfamiliar with this particular area of the west coast of Wales. It would be time for me to call in an acquaintance of mine who was as Welsh as they came and in fact a Druid. Rupert, a large man from an old demon hunting family, attended my instalment and expressed his wish to help me in any way he could. This was an offer I was unable to refuse.

Here, as if anyone cared, are my predictions for the Oscars:

Best Picture: Damned if I know.

Best Director: See above.

Best Actor: I would put money on it being some guy.

Best Actress: Isn’t it sexist to call them actresses? I’m just askin’.

Best Song: Um, there were songs?

As you might have guessed, I’m not too terribly enthusiastic about the Oscars. In fact, I haven’t seen any of the films nominated. That doesn’t mean, though, that I don’t care deeply about the filmic arts.

For example, I found especially moving the blooper outtakes from The Passion Of The Christ.

(Note: I think you’ll detect fairly quickly that it’s a parody—there’s nothing risque about it, though some people might be offended. There’s no direct link, so scroll down to the bottom of the page and you’ll find it in the centre.)

the blog québécois

Jonny Vegas (pointing to an empty seat in the audience)

“Ken Livingstone is still hiding from the Jews”

everyone loves the king of the sea
ever so kind and gentle is he
tricks he will do when children appear
and how they laugh when he’s near!

vars/dunham

Yahoo/AP:

Prime Minister Paul Martin said Thursday that Canada would not join the contentious U.S. missile defense program, a decision that will further strain brittle relations between the neighbors but please Canadians who fear it could lead to an international arms race.

Mainly the moronic Liberal Women’s Caucus and whining Quebecers who aren’t going to vote for him no matter how much he plays the anti-American card.

The Bush administration has tried to make a public show of understanding that Martin heads up a minority government that could fall over such a contentious debate. But after the announcement, U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci told reporters he was perplexed over Canada’s decision, which he said effectively allows Washington to decide what to do if a missile was headed toward Canada.

“We simply cannot understand why Canada would in effect give up its sovereignty its seat at the table to decide what to do about a missile that might be coming towards Canada,” said the outgoing ambassador, who had vigorously urged Canada to sign on the plan.

Martin, ending nearly two years of debate over whether Canada should participate in the development or operation of the multibillion-dollar program, insisted his decision had not relinquished Canada’s sovereignty over its airspace and that Ottawa would expect to be consulted what to do about any missile passing over Canada.

“We are certainly intending to defend our sovereignty and our air space and if anything develops in our air space, we expect, as a sovereign state, to be notified and have influence on any decisions,” he said. “Canada’s a sovereign nation and we would expect and insist on being consulted on any intrusion into our air space.”

Listen up, Flipper. I’ll speak slowly. Clap your fins together and make occasional oik-oik chitchit! noises. Now, where’s Timmy and what have you done with him?

If a missile enters Canadian airspace it’ll be travelling a polar route. I haven’t worked out the distances, but a North Korean missile shot at the western US would likely be on a flatter trans-Pacific trajectory. (And given the likely accuracy of it, I wouldn’t feel too comfortable in Vancouver or Victoria if they aimed it at Seattle, or San Francisco, for that matter.) If the Norks do come across the pole, that missile will be at terminal velocity about 100km over Canada as it enters its ballistic phase.

At that point it is about 2 to 3 minutes from target. If you think the Americans are going to be phoning around the world trying to figure out which dictator’s behind you’re smooching on your next “Soft Power” tour you are freaking kidding yourself. They will order the shootdown and if they are wringing their hands about not getting your permission, they might drop you a letter in the next diplomatic pouch apologizing for it.

What makes this exceptionally idiotic, even for you, is that we’ve already signed on to missile defence at least insofar in that we’ve agreed to forward all relevant targeting information from our assets in NORAD to NORTHCOM, charged with running the ABM program. See this exchange of letters in August, 2004 from Canadian ambassador Michael Kergin to then-US Sec. of State Colin Powell confiming the agreement.

That’s all the Americans were asking for. That’s what we gave them. And now you want to run around waving your hands and yelling about your new-found virginity, to placate some of the stupidest people in this country.

They must be shaking their heads in Washington. They thought they were dealing with adults and instead they found a pack of petulant, sulky teenagers on the other end of the line.

Robert Fulford, in a piece in the National Post some years ago, put it best:

Dean Acheson, the designer of American strategy in the Cold War, tried hard to give Canada the respect we yearned for, but he wrote an essay (“Canada: Stern Daughter of the Voice of God”) to let it be known that our role as broker made us no better than a footnote and our habit of scolding the Americans was annoying if occasionally amusing.

Except now we can no longer invoke the presumptive moral authority of God; and so must make do with the collective braintrust of the Liberal Party. Not a good exchange, all things considered.

the blog québécois

First up, Radley Balko has put a realistic spin on the power of blogging. I rather agree with him that our so-called power is rather over-trumped. Meanswhile, Mark over at Kathy’s place reports that those annoying in-built music streams on web-sites may be a launch platform for spyware. Of course, naturally, this only affects users of IE, yet another reason to drop that rubbish browser and use something like Firefox. Finally, following the pathetic report on blogs by the Daily Politics, the BBC has belatedly reported on the row between the MSM (in the US) and bloggers. It is, as you would expect from the BBC, as snide and dismissive as possible.

Speaking of Kathy, she seems to be getting on top of the spam problems on all the blogs she hosts. Kudos to her for fighting the good fight for all of us. Alas, this battle has kept her from being able to get up the GoDblog as of yet.

Medienkritik organised a pro-Bush rally while the President was in Germany and not only got a good turnout but got quite a bit of press, to boot. Well done, all!

CBSNews:

Military police are investigating a cruel hoax in which a man wearing an Army dress uniform falsely told the wife of a soldier that her husband had been killed in Iraq.
...
Fort Stewart officials would not identify the Army wife who reported to military police that a man posing as a casualty assistance officer came to her door Feb. 10.

“Right off the bat, she noticed some things were not right,” [ Fort Stewart spokesman Lt. Col. Robert] Whetstone said. “The individual’s uniform wasn’t correct – there were no markings or name tags. Plus, the person was alone, and she knew one person does not make (death) notifications.”
...
Military police described the suspected hoaxer as being 6-feet, 1-inch tall and about 180 pounds with black or brown hair and a pale complexion. He was reported to be driving a blue or green pickup truck with chrome wheels, oversized tires and a Georgia license plate.

Gee, that sounds like an authentic Chaplain Death Wagon to me. Wonder what gave him away?

If they catch the creep, they should turn him over to the troops for a bit of friendly bayonet practice.

the blog québécois

A while back I had the opportunity to flick through Hunter S Thompsons effort during the 80s, a 100 page anti-Reagan rant that astonished me in its almost total miscalculation of events. Hes been much lauded by the Leftwing media this week, in messianic tones.

Not only were Thompsons damming predictions misguided, they were completely wrong. He launched a ferocious attack on Nancy Reagans Just Say No war on drugs, which has left America with drug use rates that fall annually, just as ours rise, year on year.

Therein lies the Lefts problem: Socialism fails, and fails completely.

After the 1917 revolution, Lenin and the new politburo implemented Socialism reforms across Russia, expecting the adulation and prosperity so confidently predicted by Marx. They failed, and were almost universally rejected by the people, forcing the exasperated new masters into repressive measures far worse than those employed by the usurped Tsar.

From this less than auspicious beginning Socialism has been struggling every since.

A great writer, no doubt, but his politics were those of envy, greed, blame and resentment. No wonder he’s had such a send-off this week from the Leftist press. For the Left, macho competition lies in the ability to indulge in public self-loathing. Bush is a non starter.

The great up-reported Tsunami story is of course the Islam’s response, or more accurately, lack thereof.

Of the top 10 donor nations, few surprises to see 9 Western/Christian, and Buddhist Japan. Fact is, Australia, with a population of barely 22 million, has donated more aid and assistance than 45 Islamic nations combined. Is this the great moral tradition I keep hearing about?

Where Muslims suffer, we provide. From Yugoslavia, to Somalia, to Afghanistan, to Dafur. Even in Palestinian areas, we provide the aid.

What culture is this which allows infidel Western enemies to care for their sick and dying, while its own pople look on passively. Within 72 hours, Israeli medical teams were operating in two countries, the Australian military was on the ground, and American warships moved in to help.

Meanwhile, oil-soaked Arab states have bravely scraped together a few scraps; a stunning $30m came from Saudi alone.

This is the great story that dare not speak its name. Networks, quick to castigate America, have dodged the obvious quesiton.

What kind of culture exists which allows 22 million Australians to contribute more than 1.4 billion Muslims?

This week fund raising of every imaginable colour will take place across the Western world for a region which, according to polls, gives OBL

Remember the great cultural heritage of Islam we’ve heard about. Well, Britain’s getting it in spades.

Last election an Islamic candidate bribed his opponent to drop out with 8000. He kept his job.

Here, a group of Moslems apparently engaged in election fraud. I know this type of thing is normal in the Middle East, well.. lets face it, in all Islamic countries, but here in decadent, immmoral, Zionist controlled, old Britain, it’s almost unheard of.

No prizes for guessing the level of coverage afforded this story by our ‘quality’ media. The BBC and all the other good outlets have neglected to mention what will probably be one of the worst cases of electoral fraud seen here for a very long time. Thankfully the Telegraph bucked the trend.

Could the ethnic makeup of the persons concerned have something to do with the virtual blanket ban on reporting this story? I can’t see 3 White, male, Tory councillors engaging in electoral fraud going under witness protection.

jowl by jowl translucent white skin
hair on the back
abe vigoda’s dead

parody

No he’s not. Abe Vigoda, whom you might recall as the character of Det. Fish on the 70’s sitcom Barney Miller is still alive and kicking.

And to prove it, a programmer with a bit too much time on his hands developed a plugin for the Firefox browser that will provide minute-by-minute confirmation of Mr. Vigoda’s corporeal integrity:

Part of my daily routine is to check on Abe Vigoda’s current status, helpfully provided by the good people at AbeVigoda.com. To help keep me informed on this subject, I decided to write this Firefox browser extension.

When Firefox starts up, this extension automatically fetches Abe Vigoda’s current status from AbeVigoda.com, and displays it in a small panel on the status bar. It periodically does so again every so often, so that you always have relatively recent information on Abe Vigoda’s status.

I know you’re dying—pun not intended—to check it, so click here.

That isn’t an official Abe Vigoda domain or page, just something put up specifically for this purpose. Poor Mr. Vigoda doesn’t seem to have a website, but I found the Abe Vigoda Shrine here.

(Also, the lyrics quoted above are from a remix of Bauhaus’ “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”.)

the blog québécois

While some head to the heart of darkness to a ball, others just grow old disgracefully.

If you are interested in a review of the gig, then head over to Blogcritics.

Update last night I was also in the company of some talented ladies (as well as Jon Pearce) at this gig. Here is one of several:

JFM saw a post over at On The Third Hand that is most important to all bloggers.

MommaBear has put up the information on a world-wide campaign to gain freedom for two imprisoned Iranian bloggers. Any infringement on bloggers’ rights to exercise their right to freedom of expression is a threat to us all. Let’s support this campaign with posts today !!

Tim Worstall has started the Britblog Round-up, where you can find what British bloggers are up to. The BoMS is up for the week as well. The new blog showcase is up for the week and it features our fellow site Liberty Cadre. CoV is up over at PunditGuy. Homespun Bloggers Radio is up for the week, its all about Social Security. And there is a rather odd version of the Bonfire up, quite clever but odd nonetheless.

A friend sent me this site; for use in countering lefties.

If I had epilepsy, I wouldn’t be clicking on this. I’m just sayin’.

After that, you might want to relax with this, which is a Tetris-like game with one of those confusing dimensions removed. I think that with enough patience, you should be able to rack up some truly impressive scores.

the blog québécois

Aside from the personal reasons for having not been able to post (at all recently, but specifically) on the juicy Ken Livingstone drama, I would have waited anyway, as I really have enjoyed watching him suffer all this attention, and it would have been morally incorrect to let the issue die down.

However, what there is left to say is limited, and Barbara Amiel yesterday has filled in many of the gaps .

I am in two minds as to whether he shouls apologise officially. Seemingly-essential public apologies will always be worthless – just witness the impossibilty of Boris Johnson – as they will never be believed, no matter how sincere. Indeed, were Livingstone to do so, it would only result in accusations of string-pulling by the Jewish lobby. In this case however, I happen to agree with ole Boris. Whilst he is incorrect to suggest that it is a ‘non-story’, our Ken’s now infamous reason for not apologising, because he wouldn’t mean it, shows just what an odious individual he is. He doesn’t care, and doesn’t care about not caring. At least he is honest.

Also, he has suggested that his defiance on the matter, whilst the IOC were in town, rather than threatening, would strengthen London’s chances of winning the bid, as they would see how fortunate we Londoners are for having such a strong-headed Mayor, able to face up to criticism and a baying press etc. Given the record of the IOC, particularly in taking 32 years to hold a memorial service for the victims of the massacre at Munich in 1972, then maybe such an outburst will win us the bid after all.

Update: He refused to apologise and Melanie has unleashed her wrath on him.

Considering we are talking about Hunter S. Thompson it is hardly surprising that it is exactly what he did.

Not strictly speaking music news – but definitely of interest to the music world – American counterculture writer Hunter S Thompson has been found dead in his Colorado home – it seems the 67 year old shot himself.

Best known for ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’, of course, Thompson pioneered so called “gonzo journalism”, factual writing where the writer is an essential part of the story. His other books included ‘Hells Angels’ and
‘Generation of Swine’.

In a statement to the Aspen Daily News, Thompson’s son Juan said: “On February 20, Dr Hunter S Thompson took his life with a gunshot to the head at his fortified compound in Woody Creek, Colorado. Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family.”

Confirming the suicide reports a spokesman for the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office told reporters: “We do have confirmation that Hunter Thompson was found dead this evening of an apparent self-inflicted wound”.

Author Martin A Lee, who met and interviewed Thompson on a number of occasions, told Radio 4’s Today programme that Thompson’s suicide was “sad” but “not surprising”, adding that the writer “lived on the edge”. He added: ”[Thompson] did bequeath a very significant body of literature and journalism. It is wonderful and exuberant writing that opened a cultural
space for other writers to follow”.

From: CMU

evil hearted you
you will keep deceiving me
with your false smile
and your mermaid songs

the pixies

This is from an article comparing British and American smiling styles.

I see a bit of the full risorius in Tony Blair, but the American political elite cannot do it any more, which is a bit sad, he said. They have lost that dignity. In blind tests George Bushs smile emerged as cynical rather than pleasurable.

Oh, of course. It’s not like politics would ever corrupt the rigorous discipline of Psychology. That’s never been known to happen.

I find Bush’s smile to be genuine. But what do I know? I’m just a mere expert on detecting sincere smiles. Or at least I was when I took this test a few months ago. I think I got 18 or 19 right out of twenty. So there.

the blog québécois

Are they mad? All you ever wanted to know why we should not back the bid!

Well at least on the scale outlined in today’s Telegraph.

Psychologists have attempted to come up with a way of measuring exacctly how evil someone is, based on actions and, importantly, motivation.
Examples here.

Interestingly, only Florida, of all the US states has a legal code which refers specifically to certain acts as evil rather than some more politically correct term.

The “great hunting ban” has started off with a huge and pathetic whimper, not the politically successful bang that nu-labour had hoped for. Those “dyed-in-the-wool Labour” MP’s yelled ‘down with animal cruelty’ but admitted not so privately it was ALL about ‘getting the toffs’, and the public will have found out it was not just the toffs who had the courage to do what they’ve always done but also the many more who have also been an integral part of the Hunt and whose livelihood depends in great measure on that Hunt – and can hardly be classed as toffs!

In this case, class warfare hit the ‘class’ who are anything but toffs harder than anyone else.

peek in, sneak about
i’m gonna snoop and call you out
i’ve caught you, your hands are red

no doubt

I’ve never really watched the CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) show or its numerous spinoffs, but this looks interesting, though I didn’t have a lot of time to play with it.

However, I’m pleased to let you know that I quickly cracked the case.

The case of beer, of course. What case were you thinking of?

the blog québécois

One of the enduring truths to come out of the recent U.S. presidential election is that John Kerry’s handlers should have tried very hard to keep their candidate at least three football fields away from any type of sporting equipment.

Someone put up this entertaining page contrasting Bush and Kerry in similar situations, and it’s worth a few chuckles.

Many of the pictures I’d seen before, but not this one; and it does seem a fitting farewell. I laughed out loud.

the blog québécois

It seems Mitch Benn (musical comedy genius & guitarist for G.o.D.) was on to something with his song ‘MacBeth (My name is)’ (which is sung in the style of Eminem), considering this story in London Eye.

Two years ago Nobel prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney lavished praise on Eminem, saying the hip-hop star had “sent a voltage around a generation”.

But he is not alone in his admiration for the noble art of rap: veteran actor Corin Redgrave even compares it to Shakespeare. “I raised an idea with my son that, since Shakespeare’s plays use a vocabulary of 20,000 words – three times that of any other playwright – perhaps not all of his accredited plays are by him,” he says.

“My son was outraged, suggesting it was more likely that Shakespeare had searched for language and acquired a means to express himself. I think he’s right.

“Look at rap stars: when they take to the mike and compete with each other, they are like medieval poets.”

NB: Listening to Mitch Benn while driving is a dangerous endeavor. I was recently in a car with Wolfie, and he almost whacked a headgerow because of intense laughter. Wolfie is a rather good driver and this was the only time I was at all worried about becoming part of the scenery. Mitch’s latest CD, called ‘Too Late to Cancel’ is rather good as well.

The Globalization Institute is all over Kyoto and points out that it will cost drivers more. Anti-EU types will be pleased that the Bruges Group has gotten on to the blogging bandwagon and started one of its own.

Meanwhile CPAC has set up a blogger centre for those who wish to follow a blogger’s view of the conference.

History is chock full of sure-thing elections which weren’t.

Time and again we’ve seen confident predictions dashed by an uncooperative public. The MSM confidently assured the country the Queen’s 50th aniversary would be a wash out, only to find overwhelming national support for the old girl. Time and time again we’ve been assured ‘Old George’ (as he likes to call himself) was about to fall, only to find him striding cheerfully on.

As Labour becomes more dictatorial, passing unpopular laws, pushing immigration, attacking the basics of British life, I wonder if it is not, like a doddering old dictator, sowing the seeds of its own demise.

Socialism is the politics of blame, envy, and greed. It may have been possible to ersecute fox hunters, but will it fire up the home guard. After all, modern elections are often won by a small but determined minority fired up enough to care.

History is chock full of victorious, powerful, seeminly unstopable goverments that went just a little too far, only to be given the people’s boot. British politics is peculiar in that many districts are won on a few hundred votes.

Mr Howard may not be a particularly likeable leader, but

Theory.

Practice.

Penance.

the blog québécois

cool rain on hot summer stone
the odor fills my presence
of freshly dug grave and death and night

type o negative

These are interesting: Pictures that change as you walk by them. Very effective for Halloween parties and such, I would think, if a bit pricey—$75 for an 11×14” print, $19 for a 5×7”.

How do they work? Well it’s not a closely guarded trade secret. The effect is created by a lenticular lens mounted to a computer interlaced print. As the viewer changes perspective he sees a different part of the interlaced image, causing the image to shift. The entire effect is completely self contained and requires no power source.