War Is Peace, Etc.

I think the president missed that article from Salon the other day. You know, this one. The one with the byline, "U.S. Military...can't muster many more combat troops for the war." So where exactly do you plan to find these troops you mean to send forth to battle terrorism, Mr. Bush?

You know, they say that in Hitler's last days, crouched in his bunker while the Russians took Berlin, the Führer was still giving orders for troops who weren't there to move against fronts that had already been overrun, too. You know, because Hitler was nuts.

Then again, I suppose that's why Bush hasn't offered any proposals as to how he plans to accomplish this new military buildup, just more empty (and increasingly weak) rhetoric.

I especially liked this little nonsensical tidbit: "It is an accurate reflection that this ideological war we're in is going to last for a while and that we're going to need a military that's capable of being able to sustain our efforts and to help us achieve peace." You read that correctly--"fighting for peace." Isn't that a little like fucking for virginity?

Okay, so it's not entirely nonsensical. Not if you're at all familiar with the ideology and aims of this administration. But at this point, who isn't?

Five Weeks To Seattle.

Five weeks, give or take. One day very soon I'm going to wake up in Seattle, and then I'm going to do so every day after that.

It's just one of those little realities that begins to sink in.

[/OCD]

I just finished YouTubing "The Maxx," so I can finally put that little obsession aside and get back to doing other, more important things. I didn't watch it all in one sitting, but over a couple of days. It was the same thing when I first got into Questionable Content, with the huge backlog of material to catch up on.

It's really a shame that this series, from MTV's Oddities block and based on the first story arc of Sam Keith's comic series, isn't on DVD. But it's been awesome reliving this psychological monstrosity (what a coup for someone at MTV to have actually gotten this series on the air on that channel!) in all its greatness.

Now. Back to packing.

Mad Respect For Sen. Obama.

You know, Barack Obama just continues to impress me. He impresses me as being a person of great integrity and a politician of great candor and forthrightness. Specifically, what I'm thinking of was the humor and honesty with which he spoke on Leno about his drug use.

Mr. Obama, did you inhale?

"[laughing] ...that was the point. I don't mean to make light of it, but I do think that one of the things that hopefully you try to do in public life is to acknowledge, 'look, I'm not perfect, and I've made mistakes,' and the question is, 'do you learn from your mistakes, do you grow from your mistakes?' and hopefully I have."

Quick Friday Blog.

A quick spin through the Times this afternoon--

Pelosi Picks Reyes to Head Panel on Intelligence: So Reyes is a Repblican. So what? I'm a whole hell of a lot less interested in a new Democrat-dominated hegemony to replace the former Republican one than I am in Democrats actively investigating and overseeing some of the Bush administration's criminal activities (i.e., domestic spying without due process). If Harman is going to kowtow to Shrub & Co., then axe her. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Why Doctors Don't Cry: I'm old-school when it comes to doctors. I really don't like doctors who are touchy-feely or who recommend TCM. I want my doctors cold, dispassionate, professional, blunt, and preferably godless. That way, I know I can trust them.

The Antikythera Mechanism: I just find it absolutely fascninating that the ancient Greeks developed a computer. As soon as this semester is up, I'll be upgrading my own Antikythera Mechanism with my new quarter-terabyte internal HD and Linux. I'm going to start with Fedora, but if I've got to tweak too many things about it, I'll probably try Kubuntu next. Freespire will be a fallback. (I'm trying to get away from proprietary shit, you know?)

What I'm YouTubing: Hagfish, "Happiness." Damn, these guys were great.

What I'm Reading: Karen's new blog. She's always been a really good writer, but I have to flat say that I'm proud of her for this piece. And I mean, come on: she got to see Cat Power! She told me about CP months ago, but I got to see her/them first. Even if Chan was feeling puke-y, it had to have been a great show.