America can’t abandon 27 million Iraqis to 10,000 terrorists

From the WSJ’s OpinionJournal today:
Our Troops Must Stay

“…Here is an ironic finding I brought back from Iraq. While U.S. public opinion polls show serious declines in support for the war and increasing pessimism about how it will end, polls conducted by Iraqis for Iraqi universities show increasing optimism. Two-thirds say they are better off than they were under Saddam, and a resounding 82% are confident their lives in Iraq will be better a year from now than they are today. What a colossal mistake it would be for America’s bipartisan political leadership to choose this moment in history to lose its will and, in the famous phrase, to seize defeat from the jaws of the coming victory.…”

As colossal a mistake as the one the former President Bush made when he cut short the action the first time around in Iraq?

Interesting Collection of Nominees

From E! Online today:
Sabbath, Sex Pistols on Rock’s Rolls:

“After repeatedly being dissed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Ozzy Osbourne famously demanded that Black Sabbath be removed from consideration for the ‘totally irrelevant’ institution.

“Good thing no one was paying attention. The seminal metal mavens, on their seventh ballot, finally got the nod Monday and will be one of five acts saying ‘Hello, Cleveland!’ in 2006.

“Joining Sabbath in the Class of 2006 are the Sex Pistols, Blondie, Lynyrd Skynyrd and jazz great Miles Davis.…”

Yeah, right, Ozzie…


Rolling Stone’s take:
Sabbath Enter Rock Hall

“The Sex Pistols, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blondie also tapped

“After years of eligibility, Black Sabbath, the Sex Pistols and Lynyrd Skynyrd will finally be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Also slated for induction at the institution’s 21st annual ceremony on March 13th at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel are jazz legend Miles Davis and New York New Wavers Blondie.…”

Rolling Stone’s Sabbath bio page

A.Word.A.Day -- dendrochronology

A.Word.A.Day -- dendrochronology: “This week’s theme: words from the plant kingdom.

dendrochronology (den-dro-kruh-NOL-uh-jee) noun

Tree-ring dating.…”

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Patric Schmid

From The Guardian today:
Impresario dedicated to the revival of bel canto operas:

“In April 1801, Giovanni Simone Mayr’s opera Ginevra di Scozia was premiered at the newly opened Teatro Nuovo in Trieste. Exactly 200 years later, Opera Rara performed it there again. That special anniversary was one of the typically imaginative projects organised by Patric Schmid, who has died of a heart attack, aged 61. Schmid was the co-founder of Opera Rara in 1970, and for 35 years oversaw the rediscovery of dozens of neglected or forgotten works by the masters of bel canto.…”

French Terror Alert Redux

AP and UPI reported today that the French government announced that it has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender”. The raise was precipitated by a recent fire which destroyed France's white flag factory, thereby disabling its military.

President Bush May Send Up To 5 Marines For French Assistance

President Bush has authorized the Joint Chiefs to begin drawing up a battle plan to pull France’s ass out of the fire again. Facing an apparent overwhelming force of up to 400 pissed off teenagers, Mr. Bush doubts France’s ability to hold off the little pissants. “Hell, if the last two world wars are any indication, I would expect France to surrender any day now”, said Bush.

Joint Chiefs head, Gen. Peter Pace, warned the President that it might be necessary to send up to 5 Marines to get things under control. The general admitted that 5 Marines may be overkill, but he wanted to get this thing under control within 24 hours of arriving on scene. He stated he was having a hard time finding even one Marine to help those ungrateful bastards out for a third time but thought that he could persuade a few female marines to do the job before they went on pregnancy leave.

In an unrelated matter, President Bush told reporters that he was considering a “Flu for Oil” Program to ease our country’s energy problem and prevent the upcoming pandemic. Nobody had a clue as to what the hell he was talking about.

(Cap’t. Thom striks again!)

Freedom Isn’t Free!

I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers’ tears?

How many pilots’ planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers’ graves?
No, freedom isn’t free.

I heard the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That taps had meant “Amen,”

When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother, sister or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn’t free.

Author Unknown

God Bless America

Turkey Poem

When I was a young turkey, new to the coop
My big brother, Tom, took me out on the stoop
Then he sat me down, and he spoke real slow
And he told me there was something that I just had to know.

His look and his tone I will always remember
When he told me of the horrors of, well… Black November!
“Come about August, now listen to me
Each day you’ll get six meals instead of your three.
And soon you’ll be thick, where once you were thin
and you’ll grow a big rubbery thing under your chin.

“And then one morning, when you’re warm in your bed
In comes the farmer’s wife, to hack off your head
Then she’ll pluck out all your feathers until you’re bald ’n’ pink
And scoop out your insides and leave you in the sink
And then comes the worst part,” he said, not bluffing
“She’ll spread your hindquarters and pack your bottom with stuffing!”

Well, the rest of his words were too grim to repeat
I sat on the stoop like a winged piece of meat
And decided on the spot that to avoid being cooked
I’d have to lay low to remain overlooked.
I began a new diet of nuts and granola
High-roughage salads, juice and diet cola
And as they ate pastries, chocolates, and crepes
I stayed in my room doing Jane Fonda tapes.

I maintained my weight of two pounds and a half,
And tried not to notice when the bigger birds laughed
But it was I who was laughing, under my breath
As they chomped and they chewed, ever closer to death.
And sure enough when Black November rolled around
I was the last turkey left in the Turkey compound.

So now I’m a pet in the farmer’s wife’s lap
I haven’t a worry, so I eat and I nap.
She held me today, while sewing and humming
And smiled at me and said “Christmas is coming.”

(Spotted on the walking_cane-9s list.)

Sony Needs to Be Hit by More than Lawsuits…

…(a REALLY big stick comes immediately to mind…)

From el Reg today:
Sony hit by lawsuits over root kit | The Register:

…“Any copies of the CD kept on a laptop or other device must be deleted if the original CD is stolen or lost. They cannot be stored on your work computer only a ‘personal home computer system owned by you’. If you move countries you must delete all songs covered by the license. If you file for bankrupcy you must delete all relevant files.

“Any consumer who fails to keep up-to-date with the hidden software is in breach of the agreement.”…

Super, er, Croc!!

From TheState.com (in South Carolina) today:Prehistoric ‘Godzilla’ discovered in Argentina:

…“‘The recent film monster Godzilla frightened the people of New York City, but our Godzilla terrorized creatures in the Pacific Ocean,’ said the leader of the discovery team, Argentine paleontologist Zulma Gasparini, of the National University of La Plata.

“‘We are calling him the chico malo - the `bad boy' of the ocean.’”…

Too Cute, Indeed!!

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Photo Gallery (Finnegan the Squirrel)