A Jihad on Common Sense

It's Thursday. Brilliant. Tomorrow's Friday. Even more brilliant. And sometimes my ex-girlfriends make this whole "blogging" thing easy. Observe:

The Fly: So, how 'bout your girl and her whole "Bosnian snipers" slip?
LSG: *shrug* beats the race card
The Fly: I'll give you that.
The Fly: Kind of fascinating how American politics works.
LSG: retardedly you mean?
The Fly: I just think the whole thing's really interesting.
The Fly: Senator Obama is the golden boy on account of his portrayal of himself as a candidate who's somehow beyond race or party, even though his entire identity is as an ultra-liberal black politician from Chicago.
The Fly: Then it comes out that, oops, either he's been lying about one thing, or else he's been lying about another thing, and suddenly his response is to turn into the race candidate. And then his poll numbers collapse.
The Fly: Meanwhile, Senator Clinton claims that she was in danger in Bosnia, trying to brag up her supposed experience from being the first lady. Too bad it alienates the military/Secret Service by implying that they were too inept to safely transport her into the area. Oh, and by the way, there's CBS video that shows that it's all bullshit.
LSG: and then mccain sits back, collecting money so he can beat the shit out of whoever wins anyway
The Fly: Pretty much.
The Fly: Like the Democrats or hate 'em, we can all agree that they're in a pickle. The longer this thing gets drawn out, the worse both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama look. A race that should have been the Democrats' to win is turning into a near-certain collapse for their entire platform. It's a shame, really, because it would have been nice to have finally had an election that was somewhat civilized, simple, and above-board.
LSG: I actually called the Obama thing a few months back, in front of a colleague
The Fly: How so?
LSG: I was like "you watch, his church will undo him"
LSG: just visit their site
LSG: he came up to me earlier this week & was like
LSG: so yea, you predicted that one
LSG: ha
The Fly: Hahaha
LSG: well duh
LSG: his wife's thesis is on lockdown for crying out loud... clearly something is wrong!
The Fly: I think they released that, actually.
The Fly: Finally.
LSG: bout time
The Fly: Indeed.
LSG: just so much of this is a waste of money
LSG: if those millions were being pumped into the economy, we might be a little better off
The Fly: Well, I mean, they are.
LSG: oh yes, the radio & tv stations need all the profits from running the ads!
LSG: hehe
The Fly: Well it's not like they just sit on it when they get it. They invest that money into new equipment, and they pay people's salaries, who then spend it on consumer goods or homes or vehicles or porn.
The Fly: The longer Clinton and Obama beat the shit out of each other, the better off all of those young single mothers who are driven to either porn or stripping are going to be.
LSG: ...
The Fly: Please, think of the children.
LSG: you're an ass
The Fly: May I post this?

An ass, indeed! Today's satellite image is of Diego Garcia, the British territory in the Indian Ocean where the Brits are gracious enough to let us Yanks operate from. Today's video is "Major Tom" by Peter Schilling, set to scenes from 2001: A Space Odyssey (which I'm watching on DVD as I write this). I was introduced to this song recently by part of the inner circle here in Old Dominion, and it's my current musical addiction. There's also a version in the original German ("Völlig Losgelöst") available here.



In looking around for a schematic of the spaceship Discovery One from the film, I came across a site documenting the restoration of a space suit from the film, among other artifacts from the production.

There's actually some good news today, and it comes from an unlikely location: France. Confirming earlier speculation, President Sarkozy has confirmed that France will send additional troops to Afghanistan. This continues to be a big issue; as I believe I've mentioned previously, some of the Marines who are no longer needed in Iraq will be sent to Afghanistan. The Canadians have threatened to pull out by the end of 2009 if additional NATO troops weren't committed by the other member nations. Currently, combat forces are provided by only a handful of nations, while other nations with troops in theater have refused to deploy them into combat zones, due primarily to political and logistical concerns. President Sarkozy's willingness to make this commitment (along with his willingness to confront China about Tibet) speaks well of him, I think. Both of these decisions signal a major turning point in French foreign policy, and I think that's a great thing.

For now, though, my idea of a great thing is finishing this up. Have a great Thursday, folks!