Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Daybreak

I wonder how many dead bodies are dumped in the sound? Hmm. I used to hate looking at it from my residence, since I worked there. But now that I'm on leave, I guess it's not so bad. Beats a bunch of Iraq-style T-walls.

Iraq News (19 June)

The Good: Iraqi Security Forces launch major operations in Amara, which generally had a small government/coalition footprint and has been suspected of harboring smuggled Iranian weaponry and proxy fighters. This comes after some members of the militia surrendered in the southern Maysan province along with their weapons before the operation started. Iraq's Foreign Minister praises U.S. flexibility on the Status of Forces Agreement which would allow U.S. military forces to operate past 2008. Major Western oil corporations are in the final stages of negotiations with the Iraqi Oil Ministry on modernizing oil fields and infrastructure. A leader in the Islamic State of Iraq in Mosul (terrorist group affiliated with Al-Qaeda) has been detained.

The Bad: Baghdad and Mosul university attacks are under attack by Iraqi policemen according to the Iraqi newspaper, Azzaman. Militia thugs often masquerade or moonlight as Iraqi Security Forces in certain parts of the country and engage in violence, usually for money or strange religious beliefs. A Mahdi Army leader was behind the bombing in Baghdad that killed scores of civilians yesterday. This is not the first time that the militia has resorted to terrorism to justify its existence, as a crowded pet market in the Rusafa district of Baghdad was targeted last November that left over a dozen killed. Reuters has the round up of the deadliest atrocities in Iraq in the past year.

The Ugly: David Ignatius of WaPo says that Obama and McCain's plan for Iraq are both "unrealistic". I agree with Mr. Ignatius; unfortunately, a well-thought out plan for America's foreign policy in Iraq doesn't fit into a twenty-second soundbite. An IRR call-up, Matthis Chiroux, is openly resisting in DC. Sure, there have been a lot of IRR callups and many I served with weren't too happy about it, but when life hands you a bag of dicks you've gotta sort it out. I don't see how stirring up the pot with IVAW in DC is helping matters.

Cache Seizure By Iraqi Security Forces Near Sadr City (from AFP)

The Decline of the American Protest

This is a picture of the legendary Dr. King leading an effective protest in Washington in the early 60s. A clear, compassionate, and simple message against the unjustifiable institution of segregation and disenfranchisement. He urged non-violence, equality, and was dressed in a respectable manner for the occasion, which conveyed the seriousness with which he took the cause. A class act all the way. History books should attach a footnote to his name as the last rational protester, because it pretty much goes downhill from here. Protesting in contemporary America has become a hodge-podge mix of people that thought 9/11 was an inside job, belief that a convicted cop-killer should become a free man, and even the occasional character who thinks he should be the emperor of the millennium.

While these street people and their foolish causes have provided a tremendous source for humor in the blogosphere on such sites as Zombietime and My Own Side, the ramifications of Americans acting like buffoons in such a public fashion are catastrophic. To the right are Code Pink protesters speaking out against torture (courtesy of Dirty Harry's Place)...I think. The irony of their "indecent" message is apparent as I watch my heterosexuality being thrown up in a pool of vomit. While their misguided and confusing message may reach the unfortunate soul who happens to be driving by the streets of Berkeley at the time, it only serves as a constant reminder of how idiotic and childish we act as human beings.

Some may be upset that this critique of culture is strictly limited to denizens of the Bay area, who can certainly be an eccentric bunch, but behold the Westboro Baptist Church. They are from the great expansive heartland of our fair nation and they hate fags, dead soldiers, dead fag soldiers, and also the Pope. Assuming their signs are gospel, God hates all these people too. I'm not a religious man, but I imagine that an omnipotent entity wouldn't need his subjects milling around with multi-colored signs to espouse hate-ridden views while snarling up traffic. There is nowhere in our nation that is spared from this offensive display of misconstrued, irrational ideas coupled with jingoistic songs about this person or that corporation having to "go". The really "good" protests will get celebrity-backing from some has-been who hasn't put out a decent movie since the Carter administration, but their ideas for change remain as far-fetched and unrealistic as the homeless gentleman who once accused me of being a dragon. Gateway Pundit has the story on the Denver police ordering more guns for the trouble ahead with the DNC protests scheduled for August. While first amendment rights are essential in any free society, violence must be squashed by proper law and order.

You Know Who Else Doesn't Like Smoking? Al Qaeda

Yeah for democracy! The health nuts at the AMA have been so generous to allow us loyal servants of the state to continue smoking menthols according to Politico. Apparently, the decision to not turn everyday citizens into criminals came down to the realization that menthols are primarily smoked by African-Americans (not sure what the color of someone's skin has to do with a personal decision, but that's what the article said). Of course Ed Morrisey at Hot Air discusses a new study that indicates smoking bans at bars causes an increase in drunk driving due to smokers driving longer distances to establishments that still allow customers to puff away. Expect all smokers to have their drivers licenses taken away in the near future...for the children.

Keeping it real after all these years

The Greatest Invention Since Sliced Bread - Robo-GFs

While war and strife seem to be the defining turning points of our civilization, great achievements in innovation should be given proper credence for forever affecting our society:

• Fire
• The Wheel
• Bronze
• Gunpowder
• Printing Press
• Steam Engine
• Antibiotics
• Transistors
• Plastic
• Satellites
• Robot Girl Friends For The Low Low Price of $175

MSNBC has the story of Sega mass marketing robot girlfriends to lonely Japanese guys that regular schmoes can actually afford. $175 may sound a bit high on the price scale, but considering that dinner, a movie, and an evening of clubbing to watch your date sneak off with the gel-haired prick in the Abercrombie getup 10 minutes before last call, which can run well over the $200 price range, I'd say this is a bargain. All hail our Japanese superiors, who are light years ahead of us in Robo-Human relations (h/t my buddy in Gitmo).

No Robo-Herpes Here!

Susan Faludi Says Presidential Race Between Two Dudes is About "Gender Roles" For Some Crazy Reason

Susan Faludi is a prominent Harvard-edumucated feminist that frequently comments on gender roles and their consequences in American society. Unless you want to jump on the third-party bus with me (no, it's not short), the general election has boiled down to Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain...both dudes. Perhaps it's the male in me that never got in touch with a feminine side, or maybe it was just that I was bit hungover and disheveled when I read this Op-Ed during breakfast, but I am completely baffled when she proclaims in a NY Times Op-Ed that "In choosing between Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain in the general election, Americans will pass a referendum on 200 years of bedrock gender mythology." Uh...what?

Despite the fact that John McCain rarely talks about his time as a POW, she likens the McCain camp to exploiting his military service to be fashioned as the heroic protector of America replete with cowboy hat and spurred boots. Faludi explains:

Senator McCain may fit the model better than anyone. After all, he actually starred in a real-life captivity narrative, having withstood five and a half years of imprisonment by non-white tormentors, declining special treatment and coming home a hero. “I have seen men’s hopes tested in hard and cruel ways that few will ever experience,” he declared from the hustings. A 12-minute video on his Web site dwells on how his faith in the “fathers” and his will “to fight to survive” got the young Navy pilot through Vietcong bayonetings, bone smashings and bondage. The story’s appeal is evident in the flood of news media adulation. The worshipful tone of the last Newsweek cover article on Mr. McCain is typical.

While Huckabee's comments about McCain being the football captain who might ask him to prom were weird, I can assure from personal experience that most Navy officers don't really conform to the macho male stereotype and her understanding of military culture is incredibly poor.

After establishing McCain as "the guy", she then proceeds to attribute feminine characteristics to Obama:

In the campaign ahead, expect a fierce Republican effort to reinstate the nation’s guardian myth — by demonstrating how the other party’s candidate fails to fit the formula. Had Mrs. Clinton been the candidate, she would no doubt have faced more attacks for being too mannishly abrasive or, conversely, too emotional to play the manly role. But Mr. Obama should expect similar damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t gender assaults. He will be cast either as the epicene metrosexual who can’t protect the country or else as the modern heathen with a suspicious middle name.

This whole rambling narrative represents an annoying trend by America's eggheaded zeitgeist to distract the great unwashed voting masses with trivial banter that means little to the future of the country. Now that the primaries are over you'd think it'd be time to take democracy seriously (at least from "respected" media outlets like the NY Times), because I'm half-expecting the Where's the Beef lady to be resurrected and continue the total mockery and embarrassment that is American politics.

Think Glen or Glenda when pulling the lever in November

Mr. Ed Hung From The Ceiling in Australia To Provoke "Commentary"

I recognize that I'm probably not qualified to be a modern art critic, since I consider Hentai the most fascinating artwork to come along in recent years. However, recent modern art masterpieces such as "Piss Christ", the Yale student's Bag O' Abortions piece, and now a stuffed horse suspended from the ceiling in Australia are apparent in their tastelessness to even the most non-intellectual observer. The Sydney Biennale seeks to provoke "comment and debate" as reported on the SBS website:

A sign overlooking Sydney's iconic Opera House and harbour questions: "This is freedom?". Two more signs plastered on the facade of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) read "end white supremacy" and "200 years of white lies" - the work of US artist Sam Durant. Inside the MCA a taxidermic horse hangs limply from the ceiling suspended by leather slings, while in another room a figure of Jesus is mounted on a descending US jet fighter plane.

Sure, everyone has something nasty to say about us loudmouth creeps in America, but hanging a poor stuffed horse from the ceiling is not a proper method of political discourse, but rather a grotesque symbol of abusing an animal. While I'm no vegan or animal-rights activists, we should strive to avoid acts of barbarism in our treatment of animals by condemning things like dog-fighting, ratting, and this crap. Here's a link to artwork showing a horse, in this case Secretariat, in a way that highlights the awesomeness of horses. Of course, that piece would probably be considered "corny" by the Biennale's standards unless he was taking a big steamy dump on an American flag or something.

Save Me, Wilbur!