The capture and dissimination of mental spewage.

Friday, August 18, 2006

AJ - You Blog YOU!

Looks like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has joined the blogging ranks. I feel this is almost akin to see your parents saying 'Rad' to signal the cool factor is completely gone.

It does leave one to wonder... What if GW started his own blog. Can he even type?

-v.

Box Store Stupidity.

Oh my. Andrew Young, hired by Walmart to improve it's racial sensativity PR and old friend of Martin Luther King Jr., just got fired. Why? Oh because he feels his words were taken 'out of context'. How badly? Well, you be the judge:

"Well, I think they should; they ran the `mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood," the paper quoted Young as saying. "But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores."


Out of context huh? Well he'll obviously get ahead of this one by saying something else in the media that will restore his image. Right? Well, he does. He later says,

"Things that are matter-of-fact in Atlanta, in the New York and Los Angeles environment, tend to be a lot more volatile,"


Apparently there was a blue light special on stupidity and he done bought up all the goods.

-v.

re-Landed

Sorry for the lag. Been out of town.

Not that there is much to add. The news cast worthy violence between Hezbollah and Israel seems to be concluded. Needless to say the low-grade conflict will continue for milennia to come. CNN has a bright future even if their news casting has become rather dim.

Lebanon has rolled up to defend it's borders. Which is an odd thing. Not that they had a choice prior but typically you have to control your own land to say you own that land.

That's all I really gotta say for now - a little burned out on communication. I did recently finish a rather good book however. When you get a chance, pick up Time Traveler's Wife. It's been out for a bit. But stellar. Extraodrindarily sad. Cathartic and needed.

Here is a review from the Washington Post. Enjoy.

For readers of this novel, then, suspending one's disbelief will be one thing. Because it falls into the category of Novels That Play Games or Present Puzzles, one can either abandon The Time Traveler's Wife straightaway (the device does not please you, all the figuring out of who appears as what to whom) or carry on (absurd as it is, it delights you).
But there is a third possibility, that time travel presents itself as an allegory for any kind of impossible or afflicted love or relationship marred by disease, irrevocable distance and finally death. In the end, Niffenegger's choice is not cute; it is serious, and her empathy is an instrument of tremendous grace and imagination. As Henry's own father remarks, wondering why Clare would marry him, "He isn't calibrated to bring peace to anyone's life." But that is an outside view -- another is that Henry is violent, unstable and destructive in his relationships based on temperament alone.
Which is to say that what The Time Traveler's Wife does best is to show the inner life of an enduring relationship as only its protagonists can know it. In fact, Henry's father is wrong; Clare knows peace or blessedness because she was lucky enough to meet Henry -- . Most novels of couples have a hard enough time depicting one half of a couple; usually one spouse is neglected for the other. Here, Niffenegger elevates both, with a slight advantage to Clare, who, by the rules of this book, knows Henry both earlier and longer.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

There is a god.

Wars are being fought over various Gods and books. Which gives me pause and requires me to reflect upon my own reasonings. They are as such (while always the understanding they will change as sure as the moon will set)...

God is the waterfall.
God is the majestic Mountain.
God is the summer breeze.
God is a clear sky.
God is nature.
God is the lyric.
God is the poem.
God is the cherished word.
God is the success of science.
God is our shelters.
God is our joy.
God is our laughter.
God is our love.
God is the human endeavor.
God is our passions.
God is peace.


Worship your hopes, your wishes and your dreams. They are yours. Exclusive and indisputable. There is no book to define your thoughts, beliefs and energies. Be reasoned, be intelligent, be rational, be loving, be kind, be wise.

Perhaps some day folks will strive to understand that God is not limited to a fictional ethereal but all around us. Give to us without morals, without a right or wrong, but with the ability to enable us all to find a true peace.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Sandmonkey Strikes Again!

Boy do I love me some Sandmonkey.

Recently went on a tear about Nazism and Zionism. It's sparked up a great debate within him comments. A worth while read if you have a few minutes to spare. You can read it here.

It's a mad mad world.

Update: Landis was double confirmed as a doping fiend. Or maybe he's such a man that it's all built up. His results have now been passed onto the US Anti-Doping Agency.

-v.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Overwhelming understanding.




A local tribesman employed as a curator at an ancient fort (originally built around the time of Alexander the Great, sacked by Ghengis Khan, and has lain in ruins ever since) at Qual-y-Bost, Lashkar Gar, Afghanistan.

The guy looks effective as hell. There is a ruthless understanding of the lay of the land that comes across as obvious when seeing the local militias at work in Afghanistan. They may not have missles and airplanes but they sure do make up for that.

Read more about the wild British base located in Helmand, Afghanistan in support of NATO Operations.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Sherman's War

I simply cannot get my head around anything this morning... however, I would like to leave you with this...

You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. - General W.T. Sherman

The debate that I cannot get into for the lack of capability is whether or not Total War is a reasoned approach. Horrific, terrible but perhaps if folks were busy rebuilding their homes, farms and villages they would have less time making War. Perhaps?