And I really don't want to.
If you were wondering what sort of demographic was actually impressed by the Bush address:
Apart from that, though, everything seemed fine. I heard a rumor that the Commie networks (Commie Broadcasting System; Nothing But Commies; and All Bloody Commies) did not deign to carry the President's speech live. Was this true?If so, there must have been something more important on -- like a baseball playoff game [yawn] or Al Gore [who?] giving a speech to a critical Democrat constituency like the Gay Crippled Latinos Society [snore].
Kim du Toit seems to have favored it. So that's the all-important Deranged White Male demo, right there.
The (current) Mrs. has a blog now, too. Nothing about the Prez, but a few days ago she did say:
The Mister and I got on the subject of Iraq and the U.N. last night. We dug out Jesse Helm's January 2000 speech to the U.N. It was and is a great speech.
It's quite good. I mean, in only three sentences, she's managed to convince me that I don't want to be anywhere near their happy little family, and should offer prayers to any gods which might be paying attention that it never, ever grow.
Unfortunately, there's a bit on homeschooling further down the page, indicating my prayers would come too late. Well, there's always school shootings or something. Are there homeschool shootings? You'd think so, in that house. Or at least hope so.
As for the Helms speech (you're not meant to put a possessive apostrophe inside a proper name like that, right?), for those of us who didn't have a copy handy, the senior Senator from Harkonnen-controlled Arrakis said:
When the distinguished Secretary General, Kofi Annan, was elected, some of us in the Senate decided to try to establish a working relationship. The result is the Helms-Biden law, which President Clinton finally signed into law this past November. The product of three years of arduous negotiations and hard-fought compromises, it was approved by the U.S. Senate by an overwhelming 98 -1 margin. You should read that vote as a virtually unanimous mandate for a new relationship with a reformed United Nations.
You might remember Kofi Annan's predecessor, Boutros Boutrous Ghali:
In the final months prior to the end of Ghali's first term in office it was evident that the United States, the most influential member-state in the UN, did not want him to return to his position. The obscure and dour Egyptian Coptic Christian had become even a domestic political liability to the United States government.The Republican opposition to then President Clinton routinely cited Ghali as the reason why the American government should not pay its backlog of dues to the United Nations, a development that threatened to cripple the activities of the organization. The money would be wasted anyway, Ghali's critics argued, because they alleged he had failed to rein in the UN's bloated bureaucracy, among other "sins". The American government listened to its domestic critics. At the time Ghali's term came up for renewal, it became well known that the US' attitude was "Anybody But Boutrous".
Or not. That was way back in the previous millennium, and we're meant to be shaking off the dead hand of history teachers. Or something.
Anyway, the U.S. sort'a engineered Ghali's departure and kind'a hand-picked Annan as a replacement, at least in part because he's also from Africa. Some people accept the Afrocentrists' absurd notions about Egypt being part of the continent it's attached to, you see, which is why Ghali taking the spot was seen as something of a victory back in the day.
That's even further back in the mists of time, though. We should look to the future instead of the past.
Doubt there's going to be as much of it, so it'll be easier.
There will be just as much future as past, by definition, since time is most likely a closed loop. However, I agree with you that the odds of there being as much recorded human history in our future as in our past, at this point in the timeline, look dim.
It's always a constant amazement to me that there are such stupid, bigoted, provincial people in the modern world (who own and operate computers!) as the du Toits, too, but then, I'm charmingly naive and always trying to assume my fellow man is actually rational. It gets me into trouble reasonably often, though.
And hell, I like Israel more than I like Palestine, so I guess I'm a right bastard too, eh?
Political stuff is depressing; I like talking about ANGEL and John Ford's books and roleplaying more.
And yes it is SO all about me.
D.
hahahaha. First of all, I love the idea of homeschool shootings. I'm going to have to forward that to the more fundie homeschoolers I loosely associate with. Does anyone know how to start an urban legend?
Second, Darren you must understand that I am exactly the opposite. I do not know from buffy. I just recently discovered that I am an evil vampire, which may or may not suit me. So I'm much much happier when we're not talking about television.
Now, here's where I should add my take on the actual content of that post, but my mama time is up. I have to start making lunch.
hahahahahaha
While I have a temporary reprieve...
First of all, isn't that just mister dutoit in a wig?
Secondly, I don't get where "anti-war" and "socialist" are insults. Is there something wrong with either of those?
Third...please don't ever send me there again. I always forget about the smug face that appears in the upper right, and it freaks me out. I have made this request before, and I get ignored.
Fourth, If I EVER refer to my husband as "the mister" in my blog, someone. anyone. please...shoot me (some of you would be pleased to do the honors, I'm sure)
And, seriously...digging out Jesse Helm's (sic) speech. Is that some sort of right wing kinky foreplay?
OK, I'm just distracting myself with these complaints because I'm worried that your last line...the one about the limited future...might be altogether too true.
OK, now I really must go hug the children.
Dru, somehow it never crossed my mind that you didn't know who your namesake was until you mentioned it. Um. She's really quite cool, other than, you know, being an evil, insane vampire. . .
Actually, Jason suggested that nickname.
And on preview, that line about the wig is Mean, Wrong, Totally Uncalled For and hilarious. I'll try to avoid linking the happy couple again. Like I said, they scare me.
Darren, you wacky optimist. Spend some quality time with the good people at Little Green Footballs, and tell me about rational fellow men. And it is mostly men, which probably explains a lot.
Nothing wrong with evil vampires, at least, in the BUFFY-verse. The incompetent ones get staked right away, but the really evil ones seem to have great sex lives. Often with the title character. Hey, I'd buy that for a dollar.
Don't sweat the lack of future history thing. Chances are, we'll all go at once, so we won't have to miss anyone, and I doubt the universe will miss any of us all that much.
Plus, in the next life, there's gonna be a damned big conga line beating hell out of Dubya, which should certainly perk up our eternity.
aha! i'm not the only one here to request you never link that horrible, horrible place again. why, why, why? what good can come of reading a man who only blogs when he's not out shooting things?
it's madness.
signed, proud commie socialist anti-war liberal subversive
Hey, I forgot. Every time I get on the 'rich people should not be able to leave all their wealth to their rotten kids' rant, I get called a Commie too. I thought I came up with the whole idea of capping rich brat inheritances and the State confiscating the rest of the (always) ill gotten boodle of the dead robber baron(ess, sometimes)my damn self, but it turns out it's classic Marxism. So I'm a goddam hippie anti war commie too. Yay!
"the meesa and I were..."
National Ammo day?
Do I want to know?
Hahaha. Don't you worry about it, Aaron. I'm the one who chose my own spooooooky nickname anyway. I just like watching you backpedal. Yr so CUTE when you backpedal.
(yes, that was evil. Insert diabolical laughter here.)
And upon reading the wig line a second time, I too find it totally unacceptable of me. I mean, I'm sure she's a very nice woman and all...and I didn't really mean to imply that she is. Well...gosh. Wow. See what happens when you cast someone as an evil vampire? It's all your fault.
Or Jason's. Let's blame Jason.
Turns out I really didn't want to know
I thought cars were supposed to be penis extensions? Ah well, if he has fun pumping his rifle...
Dru, I do not backpedal, spin or pass the buck. So yes, let's blame Jason.
Martin, I'm sure he has the Mrs. pump his rifle for him, while he reads aloud from old Jesse Helms speeches.
That one was Dru's fault.
No one is going to make jokes about the size of the barrel, right?
Please?
Oh Aaron...
okay...I had forgotten how good the 'du toit' jokes were the first time we did this.
I'll take the blame. I usually blame Aaron for everything so he can send a little my way. Besides Dru is second on my favorite character list, Lanie.
Right behind Faith.
Although, I'm pretty sure Lena Olin on Alias could kick both their asses and smile the whole time at this point.
Back on-topic - I am really disturbed by any household that discusses ammunition over their grits. And a national day built around the purchase of something? How very consumer of ya.
*gasp* Who is this Lanie person you speak of, Mr. Jason?
If yr going to OUT my secret identity, you need to learn to spell it right, sir.
You. Are. In. So. Much. Trouble!
Oh, PLEEZ. Faith would SO whip up on Sidney's mom's punk ass. I mean, please. KGB Bitch vs. Slayer with attitude? There eez no contest.
I hate to say it, because Lanie seems pretty neat, but the BUFFY Drusilla has always annoyed me unduly. Darla is a major hottie, but Drusilla is just frickin' aggravating with all that dollie horseshit. Long overdue for a staking in my book.
Hey, Buffy and Willow can see each other again. About frickin' time.
*stare*
At least Drusilla's not the hooker with a heart of gold turned evil vampire. Eep. How many bad vamp story cliches can be crammed into one character?
Darla is the kind of vampire I expect to see 16 year old girls playing at a con when they're not playing FishMalks. Soooo evil and sooooooo sexy and soooooo dark.
Drusilla's creeeeepy.
Darla never had a heart of gold, Spider Girl. That's what I like about her. Other than her brief moment of weakness towards the end of her brief mortal resurrection, and that amazing suicide/childbirth scene where she was being affected by her unborn baby's soul, she's completely bitched out pedal to the metal evil, and I LIKE it.
Drusilla is, indeed, creepy, and as a constant guilt trip for Angel she's very effective, but as a villain in her own right, I just don't find her scary. Mostly, I find the character has been most effective when she's been around to cast some sort of shadow on other characters. As Spike's weak, dependent girlfriend she was fun, too. And I enjoyed the way everything came full circle (or nearly so) when Dru re-sired Darla back into vamp-hood... that was some amazing plotting. Yet, still... I find Darla hot and nasty and utterly ferociously evil, and Dru to just be annoying, most of the time.
Plus, I admit, while everyone says Juliette Landau is a sweetie, my personal hottie meter ticks over much further for Julie Benz. I'm a guy. Looks matter. ;)
Pfeh. She still reminds me of one too many bad LARP characters, it's an association I'll never be able to shake. It probably has something to do with that Catholic Schoolgirl look she had going on the first time she was killed.
I don't much go in for blondes. Spike is my exception. Juliet Landau's not your typical CA blonde. Plus, well, she and Spike together are simply...
... there's a reason I had Season Two on DVD the day it came out, and it had nothing to do with any of the protagonists.
I didn't see the early BUFFY's until long after I started watching the show at the start of the fourth season. My first exposure to Darla was when she was resurrected in ANGEL, and the whole following storyline. I admit, the Catholic schoolgirl outfit did seem to cheapen the image I had of her. But the whole first season of BUFFY is really a little aimless... the Master is by far the worst of any of the big villains, right up until last season.
Second season was wonderful, and Spike and Dru and especially Angel gone bad were the best parts of it. I think third season, with Faith and the Mayor, actually outdid it, but I suspect if I'd watched the show in order, I'd agree with you more about Drusilla.
As it is, though, it hardly matters. Laters.
Jason is so right. Spy Mommy could completely kick both their asses. Lena Olin is amazing.
Lena Olin IS amazing and I thought so even in the godawful HAVANA, which was an utter waste of her AND Robert Redford. But still, c'mon, this is a comics geek thing having to do with simple power level. Faith has super-powers. Spy Mommy simply sneers well. No contest.
Okay, fine, I admit it, Spy Mommy also has a GUN, but I still think Faith could take her. I'm mortally certain Faith could take Sidney, and Sidney will, eventually, triumph over Spy Mommy, so, therefore... something ergo demonstratum, like Will Patton said in... um... NO WAY OUT, that's it. Yeah.
*Trying to bring us kicking and screaming back on topic*
Is it any wonder why most small nations fear and can't stand the US? We don't like the leader of this global organization that we are a member of so we engineer his removal. We don't like a leader of another nation so we attempt to engineer his removal. It's a good thing we're not so good at that second one.
Ozzy (as the world): I..i..i...I just don't know why you do these things...
Jack (as the U.S.): Cuz I'm an ass-kickin' fat kid.
Ozzy: What?
Jack: Nothing.