I normally don't just link to posts on other blogs here, but I'm going to make an exception for two fine little rants on politics.

The first is from John Cole's Balloon Juice, entitled Things That Keep Republicans Up At Night, and comes our way via Masson's Blog. Here's a sample:

We need to get rid of the authoritarians, we need to get rid of the big-spenders, the religionists and the gay-bashers, the liars, con-artists, crooks, and thieves, and we need to start over. I really look forward to the day where I have the high ground on tax related issues because my party is not spending us into bankruptcy. I look forward to the day when my party, when faced with difficult scientific questions, turns to the experts (rather than turning on them) instead of Sen. Inhofe and James Dobson and Randall Terry. I look forward to the day when my party once again has enough of a moral standing that we should even be allowed to discuss human rights and torture in foreign regimes. I look forward to the day when we can, with a straight face, argue that we are the party of small government- after, of course, we get rid of the religionists who are trying to dictate who we can love, who we can sleep with, who gets to determine what we watch on tv, and who gets to determine our end of life decisions. I look forward to the day when it is once again the Democrats who look crazy.

Read the whole thing - it's well worth it.

The second bit is straight from the blogroll, today's Letter from Hardscrabble Creek is entitled War Fatigue:

Iraq, in a sense, is not a nation. "Iraq" is not "Arabic for Vietnam," as some antiwar people suggested in 2003. It's more like "Arabic for Yugoslavia."

Thoughtful political comments from a normally decidely non-political space. And well worth thinking about.

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 19:29 /Politics | 0 writebacks | permanent link

Yes.

Having regular and enthusiastic sex confers a host of measurable physiological advantages, be you male or female.

(link) [Forbes]

via Wired and my own predilection for snappy answers to stupid questions...

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 19:12 /Humor | 0 writebacks | permanent link

When Lorrie left a comment on this post, she included a link to this New York Times piece on North Korea - which included the DoD photo shown at left. (And since it was taken using my tax dollars I can only assume that it's "fair use" for me to reproduce it here). It shows the Korean peninsula at night. Note the difference - then read the article .

The tragically backward, sometimes absurdist hallmarks of North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong-il, are well known. There is Mr. Kim’s Elton John eyeglasses and strangely whipped, cotton-candy hairdo. And there is the North Korean “No! Yeeesssss ... No! O.K. Fear the tiger!” school of diplomacy.

(link) [New York Times]

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 06:41 /Technology | 0 writebacks | permanent link