It's where I talk to myself. Gaming, politics, and links I don't want to forget about.
Promise to self: one non-war related post per day, minimum. I am not defined by my stance on this war.
Atlas Games just released Ars Magica as a free PDF. Daring move, but it comes from one of the most savvy businessmen in the RPG business. I’m guessing it’ll work out pretty well and serve as a driver for sales of the supplements.
Last night, Bush said “Tomorrow is the day we determine whether or not diplomacy can work.” Today, the US, the UK, and Spain withdrew the British resolution. Dude, it’s not even noon yet. That was a pretty short day.
I mean, OK, leaving aside the issue of whether you’re pro or anti — isn’t it a little weird that Bush can’t even stick with a diplomatic plan for 24 hours? Couldn’t he have just said, “If we don’t see a diplomatic solution by tomorrow morning, time’s up,” perhaps? You’re President of the most powerful nation on Earth. Gotta stop sending these mixed messages.
Anyhow, he’s going to address the nation at 8 PM EST. I will, no sarcasm here, be glued to my set.
So, how are those wacky Bush-hating Dixie Chicks weathering the storm of controversy surrounding their recent comments about our fine President? Sales plummeting? Losing money?
Well. Actually, no, not in any sense. Their newest album is still #1 on the March 22 Billboard Country charts. That album, Home, is #3 on the Amazon popular music sales chart — and rising, up 11% from yesterday according to JungleScan. Wide Open Spaces is #39 on the Amazon charts, and Fly is #49.
I added Wide Open Spaces and Fly to JungleScan, just for the fun of keeping track.
Edit: Bah, Atrios scooped me. Props to the mad liberal.
Despite it all, I took some time this weekend to have a nice quiet breakfast and so forth, and since I broke away from my Neighborhood Diner obsession I thought I’d take note of it. Also, I wanted to write about something peaceful.
I went down to the Rosebud Diner in Davis Square, since I needed to pick up comics anyhow. I hadn’t been so impressed by it last time I went there, but this time I got the steak omelette and man that was the right choice. Fairly tender steak and lots of cheese, and I’m sure it says something about me that meat and cheese together make up most of my ideal meals. The coffee, well… the great thing about the Rosebud is that you don’t so much have to worry about the coffee, cause when you’re done with the meal you can saunter on down to the Someday and veg out for hours on comfy chairs drinking quality black manna. Very nice.
I also read a solid chunk of Deadhouse Gates, the second novel in the Malazan Empire sequence, whilst at the Someday. Sequence? Cycle, epic, something like that. I must admit that while writing my previous entry on the Malazan Empire books I caught myself being pleased about the prospect of reading thousands of pages of comforting sameness. Sometimes I get lazy; what can I say? However, Deadhouse Gates leaves the vast majority of characters from Gardens of the Moon behind and sets out on completely new territory. Also, Erikson’s dropped a lot of the Glen Cookisms and found more of his own voice. (Sorry, Kruppe, but once one’s read the Mocker it’s hard to miss the echos.)
Thus, I’m feeling better about my frothing fanboy nature. I have confidence, and I have a novel set on a whole new continent to read. It made for a nice morning.
Hey, looks like I called it! Chirac’s interested in the Chile proposal. I didn’t think that was actually likely, but I did note it would be a clever diplomatic move. Via Den Beste, who thinks it’s another chance to mock Chirac and rather misses the problems it might cause Tony Blair.
Over the course of the last couple of months, David Neiwert has been writing a series of articles entitled “Rush, Newspeak and facism” on the potential for fascism in the United States. He’s a journalist who has extensive experience in this field; his articles are well worth your time. I don’t really have anything to say about these, which makes me a bad blogger, but sometimes you just have to pass along the important links.
3/24/2003 Addendum: I have added a link to the postscript, and will continue to update this post if the series is further updated. I very much urge anyone who finds Neiwert’s work interesting to buy his book and to buy the pamphlet he’s producing from the series in whatever form he makes it available. I feel a little guilty that people have linked to me, rather than to him — I just reformatted his links a little. Buy his stuff, and make me feel better.
7/6/2003 Addendum: He’s released a PDF version of the essays, substantially rewritten and edited. Five buck donation requested. Go, read.
Time for another quick Iraq rundown.
Bush’s promise to unveil a Middle East peace plan (despite what some in his administration think of it) may have been another favor to Tony Blair, as it seems that promise is helping Tony Blair keep Claire Short from resigning. On the flip side, a poll of Labor backbenchers showed 95 out of 129 MPs refusing to support military action without a second resolution.
Still, any talk of peace is simply avoiding reality. US bombers took out Iraqi radar systems last night — specifically, those systems which would give warning of a US attack. The Azores meeting is not a diplomatic summit, it’s a planning session for the attack.
Not so long ago, Bush said there’d be a Security Council vote “no matter what.” Apparently he lied. Chile circulated a compromise proposal that adopted Britain’s five steps — five things Saddam must do or face war — but gave him 30 days to get it done. Bush said no. I don’t think Bush can allow that resolution to get to the floor, because it would get the nine yes votes Blair needs to head off any revolt. Unfortunately for Blair, ignoring a resolution with nine yes votes is far worse than skipping another resolution altogether, so Blair and Bush have to get the war in gear before anything happens. See what trying to reach a compromise gets you?
Along those lines, if France really wanted to embarass the hell out of the US, it’d pick up the Chilean proposal and champion it. Imagine the fun if Bush found himself forced to veto a resolution that included a trigger for war? I don’t really think that’ll happen, but man it’d be interesting.
Anyhow, I’m still predicting March 21st, this coming Friday. (Doh. Was off by three.) Launching the war mid-week would pummel the markets; better to give Wall Street a couple of days to watch before they can panic. If the Security Council winds up bringing other resolutions to the floor, that might speed things up.
I bought some Dixie Chicks CDs today. If the best argument one can think of is “I don’t agree with you so I’ll punish you economically,” one doesn’t really have much of a case, does one? Come to think of it, one would — in that hypothetical case — mostly be pouting. The only thing which could make it complete is calling one’s antagonist names.
The last Mr. Sterling of the season and probably for good aired last night, and you know what I did? I watched it. You bet.
Most of the hour was spent on the deeply gripping and action-packed story of the Senator’s filibuster, most of which was delivered to an empty Senate. There was a tense little subplot about whether or not he’d be able to go to the bathroom. I think the message of the episode was that if you don’t care whether or not you get reelected, and you can talk for 24 hours straight, you may be able to screw up the budget and cause the United States to default on loans. But the cost will be your hot actor girlfriend.
In retrospect, I should have been recapping the show like this from the start.
Charlie Daniels continues to be a sad, sorry little son of a bitch. He sent that “open letter” out to a bunch of people. Tamara Saviano (who works in the music industry) got the letter, apparently directly from Daniels. She responded, from her home, on her own time.
She got fired. After Daniels’ publicist complained.
So not only is Daniels revealing himself as the worst kind of idiot, but if you dare to disagree with him, he’ll see if he can get you fired.
(Via Textism, via Electrolite.)