It's where I talk to myself. Gaming, politics, and links I don't want to forget about.
“According to Square Enix, Bakusou Yankee Damashii will be the first online MMORPG that will let players enjoy the world of Japanese motorcycle delinquents.”
Via Dispatches From Revland, which has a link to the trailer. It seems to be 2D isometric and I want to play it very badly.
Eric Rudolph — you know, the guy who bombed the Atlanta Olympics, a gay bar, and a couple of abortion clinics — was captured over the weekend. About time. It appears that sympathetic locals may have helped him stay a fugitive.
The Washington Post goes for the gusto and labels him a Christian terrorist. Given the typical bent of the Christian Identity movement, I don’t see why we shouldn’t just go all the way and label him a Christianofascist.
Rudolph is a powerful reminder that there is a native terrorist movement in this country. Further, it’s one that’s supported by a significant number of people.
Rick Carlisle, coach of the Detroit Pistons told ESPN he was fired yesterday. The Pistons are denying it but there’s a press conference Monday so I’m kind of guessing it’s true. In my opinion, this is an incredibly foolish move. Carlisle won Coach of the Year last year and deserved it. The Pistons have the #2 draft pick this year, and Carlisle should have gotten a chance to work with whoever they pick. Sure, they got swept by the Nets in the playoffs this year and were somewhat embarassed by the Celtics last year, but the Celtics and the Nets are currently the scariest teams in the Eastern Conference. (Yes, I mean it; the Nets own the Celtics but it’d be silly to ignore what the Celtics have done to Indiana, Detroit, and Philly in the playoffs the last couple of years.)
The thing that really kills me, though, is that Jim O’Brien just signed a two year contract extension, so he’ll be coaching the Celtics through 2006. I think he’s a good coach, and he has the trust of his players, but his weakness is certainly offense — which is Carlisle’s strength. In fact, when Larry Bird was coaching Indiana, Carlisle was the offensive coach and Dick Harter was the defensive coach, a combination which came pretty close to a title. And hey! Dick Harter is currently the defensive coach of the Celtics.
What’s more, Carlisle was a teammate of Danny Ainge, the current Celtics GM. They got along; there’s a good chance that Ainge could have tempted Carlisle over to the Celtics. So speculation about what Carlisle might have done as Celtics coach is not as futile as (say) speculating on the chances that Jason Kidd might want to play for them for the veteran minimum.
Alas, they resigned O’Brien, which struck me as a good move at the time. How could anyone have known the Pistons would be stupid enough to fire Carlisle? Now he’ll probably wind up with Indiana as soon as the Pacers get around to sacking Isaiah.
I actually wasn’t gonna link to the long list of administration statements about Iraq’s WMD. But then I thought about it some more, and I came up with a thought experiment.
Let’s assume the best. Let’s assume Bush and the rest believed everything they said. Let’s assume Wolfowitz’s rationale for misinformation is justified.
Great. But now you know the government either a) bungles intelligence information, or b) is willing to stretch the truth a good long way to get your support. So when the next one comes around — when Bush starts talking about Iran’s Al Qaeda connections — how can you trust that? You gotta have more evidence than just his assertions, because they have been proven wrong before in similar situations, and that is true no matter who you blame or don’t blame for that inaccuracy.
Peanut butter isn’t naturally sweet. Not that I dislike sweet peanut butter, but there it is. That does have certain implications regarding peanut butter possibilities, however. I badly want to try, oh, at least seven or eight of those.
This story about getting Darth Vader’s autograph is the best autograph story ever. You have to admire an evil that has such excellent attention to detail. Luke was just darned lucky that Vader turned from the dark side; if he’d stayed true to his path the Rebels wouldn’t have had a chance.
A little while ago I wrote about the tax cut, noting that it would provide some relief for parents. I apologize for being too optimistic. They wound up removing the increased child credit for families making under $26,625. Ooops. (Via CalPundit.)
Showtime is filming a two hour movie based on Bush’s 9/11 actions. This might be a good time to refer back to the CCR timeline of his movements on that day. I’m suspecting that since the movie is put together by a White House supporter who describes himself as “a member of the administration,” it won’t really touch on the sense of uncertainty one gets from that chronology.
I’m pretty much gobsmacked, here. I’m not big on the “What liberal media?” call, because there are some aspects of our media which are very liberal — and some which are very conservative. However, I can’t believe Showtime is going to air a two hour campaign commercial. You can talk about the media loving Clinton if you like, but man, his movie was Primary Colors.
The Telegraph has partial confirmation of the earlier Gitmo capital punishment story. It seems fairly likely, at this point, that there are plans for a camp that include an execution chamber.
Talking about this is not being alarmist; it’s part of the system. Which is to say, it’s citizens expressing their opinions when (as may well be the case here) some military personnel let their enthusiasm get the better of them. The reason abuses like that don’t happen is because people speak up. It is not sufficient to simply say “Well, we’d never do that.” It’s our job to remind our government that we don’t do that.
The Economist has a very good report on the Congo (via Gary Farber, who would like as many bloggers as possible to raise awareness of the situation). 2.5 million have died in the Congo over the last four years; the death toll makes Saddam look like a piker. If humanitarian motivations suffice to justify the war on Iraq, then the Congo ought to be next in line. If they don’t — we still ought to do something about this.
Kofi Annan has asked for help. There are reports of cannibalism. It’s ugly.