Author: Adam (Page 92 of 224)

“What has allowed so many psychopathic personalities to rise so high in corporations, and now in government, is that they are so decisive. Unlike normal people, they are never filled with doubts, for the simple reason that they cannot care what happens next. Simply can?t. Do this! Do that! Mobilize the reserves! Privatize the public schools! Attack Iraq! Cut health care! Tap everybody?s telephone! Cut taxes on the rich! Build a trillion-dollar missile shield!”

-Kurt Vonnegut, interviewed by In These Times

As a criminally indecisive person, I understand the havoc that the pathologically certain can have on people like me. It’s so much easier to just give in, and give up. Let’s not give up.

“Preemptive strike? There isn’t any strike to preempt. This is like going up to a stranger in a bar and clocking them, because they might someday hit you. ‘He had hands! He could have done it!'”

–Sparky, on the new U.S. foreign policy

Seven posts yesterday. Whew. I’m tuckered out.

Pronunciation guide

Was anyone else who watched the State of the Union completely distracted by GWB’s pronunciation? Mr. President:

-it’s PEN-IN-SOO-LA, not PEN-IN-SHOO-LA
-it’s TERROR, not TERRA
-and for the sake of all that’s good and holy, for the last time, it’s NOO-CLEE-UR, not NOO-KYU-LUR

“If war is forced upon us…”

If the new criteria is we need to invade countries who may or may not have chemical and/or biological weapons that they may or may not give to terrorists they may or may not be associated with, since they can’t get them to us directly, we’re going to have to do a lot of invading.

“It is up to Iraq to show exactly where it is hiding its banned weapons…”

I’m sorry, but that’s funny. It’s the 2003 equivalent of “Senator, when did you stop beating your wife?”

More Questions for the President

1. What exactly is this proof you have that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction? If you’re not going to show it to the American people, those U.N. inspectors would love to see it.

2. I hate to say this again, but why now? If we’ve managed to contain him for the last 10 years, why can’t we continue to do that? What exactly has pushed Saddam’s evil quotient through the roof?

3. If preemptive strike is the new U.S. foreign policy, who’s next? Just so we can mark our calendars. And why not bomb countries whose citizens have already attacked us, like Saudi Arabia?

4. Old business: How’s that Osama bin Laden search coming along?

5. What exactly, specifically, is your post-war plan for Iraq? If you’ve been planning what to do with all those oil fields, as in the link below, I’m sure you have other plans too. Let’s hear them.

Held in trust. Yep.

Fully loaded with a 1GHz PowerPC G4, 1MB of L3 cache, AirPort Card, Mega-wide display, Radeon graphics and a slot-loading SuperDrive, the 15-inch Titanium PowerBook G4 boasts jaw-dropping features ? including it?s price: all this is now just $2799.

-Apple web site

I know an apostrophe is a small thing. Small, but important. (And another reason why I love Arianna Huffington.)

Shock and Awe. Booyah!

“I would like to go to some third-world country and wash their children…But that’s just me. I’m a mercenary sort of person at heart.”

-ultraperky materialist Melissa, when asked what she would do with Joe Millionaire’s fake $50 million

Is it no wonder I love this show? The best part is that Joe/Evan obviously didn’t catch her mercenary/missionary malapropism. So they were both in the dark, making for a classic pop culture trash moment. On top of that, he picked her to stay over the earnest but pushy and clingy Mojo, even though Melissa is clearly a spoiled, shallow brat.

Amazingly, my favorite, Zora, is still in it. She’s the only one of the four (now three) remaining who doesn’t have that brittle Lancome-counter-chemical-peel-collagen look. She also appears to be a sweetheart, and understandably unimpressed with the flashy trappings of Evan’s pretend wealth.

She’s too good for him, if you ask me.