“We need to change the way government does almost everything.”

That’s a bit of the fictitious blather from the lips of this newly re-envisioned change-agent.

Seriously, his RNC speech sounded like an Obama zealot in heat: “Change is coming! Change is coming! Change is coming!” The hell it is.

What further bootlegging do McCain’s people want him to perform next - a long string of equally pathetic, “Hope is coming! Hope is Coming!” exultations?

John McCain isn’t a member of the opposition party and he isn’t a “change agent” either. His only real moment of change - let's be honest here - was upgrading to hot wife #2 in 1980.

Also, a lot has been made of what McCain "learned" during his time in Vietnam, but I don’t give a crap and neither should you.

McCain wasn’t a Senator until 1986. He was an Arizona representative to the House from ’82-’86. During his time in the House, McCain co-sponsored a resolution to delay regulations designed to curb risky investments by thrifts such as Lincoln Saving and Loan. Then in 1987 and 1988 after he won a Senate seat, McCain voted against federal legislation reforming the campaign finance system.

It was only after the Lincoln S&L humiliation, that McCain started talking about reform. And talking about is as far as it goes.

Does everybody remember the Lincoln Savings and Loan thing?

Lincoln S&L was the most expensive failure out of the 747 failed savings and loan associations that went down the toilet in the 1980s. You think the Enron and Worldcom fiascos were bad? Ha! Lincoln S&L’s failure and federal bailout cost American taxpayers more than $3.4 billion, and more than 21,000 individual investors, yes many of them elderly, lost their life savings.

If you were a young’un back in the wild 1980’s, you may remember having seen your parents; your teachers and other older people that you knew from the block go from being happy home-owners to being appreciative just to have an RV to camp out in. If you’re like me, you may have gotten the speech from your father that began with, “About that college fund …"

I was 15 years old in 1985. That’s the year that auditors began making inquiries into Arizona developer and financiopath Charles Keating's banking practices. Keating was fearful that the government would seize his Lincoln S&L because his little business enterprise showed explosive growth that the numbers on the ledger didn’t justify. Keating figured he’d have to get his S&L some more money to make things look better.

So what did he do?

First he hired then private economic consultant Alan Greenspan to write to the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco supporting Keating’s application for an exemption on a bank board rule forbidding substantial amounts of risky real estate investments.

Even though Keating had already sent $800 million in Lincoln's assets to high-risk investments that weren’t paying off yet, Greenspan told the bank – this is true – things were doing just dandy at Lincoln S&L.

But the Greenspan-plan didn’t work (duh!), and Keating kept flushing the money away. In 1987 there was another investigation into Lincoln S&L. This time Keating sought to stave off a federal crackdown on his troubled thrift by lavishing money on influential politicians.

The only Republican he beseeched was - you guessed it - John McCain! The other four were Democrats: Alan Cranston of California; Dennis DeConcini of Arizona; Donald W. Riegle Jr. of Michigan and John Glenn of Ohio. After Keating gave these guys – a.k.a. “The Keating Five” a total of $1.3 million in contributions, bank regulators wound up NOT seizing Lincoln Savings and Loan until two years after their initial audit which had described Lincoln as a “thrift reeling out of control.”

Senator John “Change” McCain got at least $112,000 from Keating that year.

In the language spoken by the predatory rich, that $112,000 translates into: “Thanks John for making the bank examiners go away for a while. Say hello to your hot wife for me.”

In this connection one must always remember Charles Keating's reply to the question of whether he thought his money had persuaded the “Keating Five” to intervene with federal regulators on his behalf. Keating declared, "I certainly hope so."

Apparently Keating's money did have sway, because during the House Banking Committee hearings, Edwin Gray, Chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, said that he had been approached by influential senators to suspend the investigation of the Lincoln S&L.

Yup – and now one of those “influential senators” is running for president.

Charles Keating was convicted of 73 counts of wire and bankruptcy fraud. One of those counts was the siphoning of S&L deposits to his family and into political campaigns - *Ahem* – McCain’s political campaign - the same McCain that is promising real change in exchange for your vote.

For his roll in all of this, John McCain received a mild rebuke from the Ethics Committee for exercising "poor judgment" in intervening with the federal regulators on behalf of Keating.

When he had a chance to do the right thing by the American people, John McCain chose to operate as a secret a patron of privilege. So don’t be fooled into thinking that marking your ballot for John McCain will bring about a change in government.

A McCain presidency guarantees a continued political subservience to the kind of loser friends and big dumb money that the current Republican administration has made internationally famous.

John McCain is an adulterous criminal - a trust-funder's best friend - a morally bankrupt, lying piece of shit.  Nothing more.

Fuck McCain. Fuck him.

"Im flyin in yer living roomz with my crotchez out"

contributed by // ryanyeah

First the stage is under construction!!! (click to inlarge)

I wonder what it will be?

                                                        Wig Catalog Secrets

Click the Blue Spikester for the Spikette!

                                             Clothing Catalog Secrets

Click the yellow puffle on the for the Red Viking Helmet! Close and open the Red Viking Helm four times for the Blue Viking Helmet!

Click the yellow penguin’s beak on the for the Mixed Bracelets!

Click the Acoustic Guitar for the Jade Necklace!

That's all for today!

waddle on

~8uhi~

The first series of Naruto lasted for nine seasons. Naruto: Shipuuden premiered on February 15, 2007. Here in the Philippines, it began its first on May 07, 2008 on Hero channel, and is still ongoing weekdays, every 10:00 am. Its manga version is still ongoing, created by Masashi Kinimoto. The anime adaptation is licensed by Aniplex (Blood+, Le Chevalier D’Eon, Jigoku Shoujo), Viz Media and Manga Entertainment and produced by Studio Pierrot. The anime was directed by Hayato Date.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="308" caption="Naruto Shippuuden!"][/caption]

Twelve years before, the fourth hokage sealed the demon fox on Naruto’s body when he was still newborn. The Fourth Hokage wanted the village to treat Naruto normally but it was the other way around: the whole ninja village of Konoha shunned him away. Thus, Naruto grew up as an orphan and without so many friends. He graduated from the Ninja Academy with his technique, the Shadow Clone Technique. With Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, as a three-person team, they were under the supervision of Kakashi Hatake-sensei. Among the villains are Zabuza Momochi, Haku, Orochimaru, Kabuto Yakushi, Itachi Uchiha, and many more.

But in the Naruto Shipuuden, Naruto came back after his two and a half year training with Jiraiya, reforming the team Kakashi with its members Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi himself. All of the other ninjas have improved as well. The main enemy is the Akatsuki, in their goal to dominate the world.

Naruto’s character was voiced Junko Takeuchi in Japanese version and Maile Flanagan in the English version. Sasuke’s character, known for his cool personality yet withdrawn character is voiced by Noriaki Sugiyama and his English voice actor was Yuri Lowenthal. Sakura Haruno, which we may consider as the heroine of the anime series, was voiced by Chie Nakamura in Japanese, and Kate Higgins in English adaptations.

The seventh volume of the manga won the Quill Award as a Best Graphic Novel, and in the third USTv Awards, it won the “Best Full-Length Animation Program Award” held in University of Santo Tomas, in Philippines.

The Naruto Shippuuden anime franchise was bought by ABS-CBN to be broadcast in the Philippines.

Well, i love this anime, that's all.

Ninja Frog

Daily Photo

Narr, for I am Ninja Frog and you cannot see me.

I was sitting at the dinner table having a conversation with son #1 when a fly kept doing irritating fly-bys. So I looked up, squinted at the fly and snatched it out of the air. "Where'd it go?" son #1 asked as he looked around for it. "Uh....." ..............Yeah. I opened my hand, and squished in my palm, was the fly. I jumped up and howled "EEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! Oh GOD!!! GET IT OFF!!!!! EW! EW! EW! EW!" I ran to the sink to wash it off of me. I had disgusting, squished fly in. my. hand. (shudder)

A few days later I'm about to start karate class and a fly goes by me. Instead of reaching up and grabbing it, I did like Angelina Jolie in that movie, Wanted, where she dodges the oncoming bus.

I leaned way back and let the fly go over me. The girl next to me swatted at it. Then yells in horror "EWWWWWAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!! I got it! EW EW EWEWEWEW! I TOUCHED A FLY!!!!!!!" I looked at her sympathetically and said "Yeah. I did that the other day. I went with the Angelina Jolie dodge. The ninja skillz are a little bit icky." My ninja friend ran out the room to go wash her hands.

So I'm laying in bed the other night playing Zuma on my phone when a mosquito landed on the screen. "HA!" I yelled and promptly squished it on my screen. Which prompted more yelling "EWWWWWWWAHHHHHH!!!!! DAMMIT! I.... EW! EW! EW! IT'S ALL SQUISHED ON MY PHONE! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! EW EW EW!!!!!!!!!!"

Yesterday I said to a bug as it passed by "My ninja skillz are powerful, Oh Buzzy One. Do not anger me." I was talking tough, but on the inside I was jell-o at the thought of another squishing. Ninja Skillz are icky. You should consider wisely the acquisition of such skillz. ;D

OMG...HE HEARTHED!!! I WANT THOSE BOOTS!!!

Microsoft y From Software revelaron algunas imágenes de Ninja Blade, un juego de acción que anunciaron en una conferencia de prensa esta semana, en Tokyo.

Ninja Blade está ambientado precisamente en la capital japonesa  y durará aproximadamente 12 horas, en las cuales tendremos que proteger a la ciudad de criaturas mutantes.

Tokyo, un ninja y criaturas extrañas? Muy predecible pero igual suena bien, no?

Saldrá a la venta el próximo año y pueden ver todas las imágenes en Kotaku.

A new play will be at the Stage soon and therefor construction is needed. There are rumors about ninjas.
Construction should start September 5.

Events

• September 5: Clothing and Wig catalogs, scheduled construction at the Stage.
• September 12: New surprise play at the Stage, new Pin hidden.
• September 19: New Igloo Catalog.

Aqua Grabber
The updates are released for Aqua Grabber. Your air depletes slowly and you won't lose air if you bump into something. Also a sign shows up when you're close to an air bubble.

Sneak Peek
As BillyBob promised, here's a sneak peek for the Clothing Catalog of tomorrow. It looks like overalls, a shirt or a hat, jeans and a bandana. Tell me what you think!

-Jellyboard

Tomorrow the stage will be under HUGE construction! I wonder what it will turn out like?

Also look closely at the page about the aqua grabber. On the last page it says "A few divers have reported sightings of a giant squid!" So does this really happen yes it does! If you want to find it swim around clam waters to see it.

Lastly heres the events!

waddle on

~8uhi~

The most obvious conclusion I have had to derive from these particular statistics however, is that I have deeply, profoundly overestimated the combined intellect of the world's online community. You see, my goal for this site was, first and foremost, to write down and catalogue some of my intellectual endevours and general misanthropy; second, to have a handful of people with like minds reading this; and third, to maybe inspire one or two people to look at things in a different light once in a while. I guess schematically my expectations would look a bit like this:

Of course in reality, it is almost infinitely more like this:

I say this, because the top two search terms leading disyllabic, underdeveloped little retards worldwide to my site right up untill today are, always have been and probably always will be, "beer" and "ninja". Go figure.

Naturally, this is all my fault and not theirs, as they simply follow their inexplicable urge to scour hundreds of pages of google results for "beer" (I couldn't realistically estimate my blog to appear anywhere even near the first hundred results), whereas I could at least be expected to factor in some sort of knowledge of lowest common denominators and/or the law of averages when deciding on tags for my posts. I am so very ashamed.

Putting the focus beside myself for a minute, what about the other party in this abysmal communication error? What about those poor, unsuspecting simpletons looking for beer and ninja (that's actually the correct plural for ninja, in case you were wondering), only to find a blog full of long, unintelligible words used for the most part to describe, ridicule and alienate those very same poor, unsuspecting simpletons?  I imagine this would feel a bit like drinking a big gulp of fresh apple juice with your breakfast, only to discover that your roommate has been experimenting with the intrinsic characteristics of cat pee again and decided that the best place to store his latest sample was in a pitcher in the fridge. I also imagine that these two situations would drive about the same percentage of grown men to tears (about one in three).

To soften the blow a bit, and to reassure people that deep down I'm actually a really nice guy, I have a special surprise for all of you who came here looking for either beer or ninja, laboriously working your way through numerous google result pages. I hope you like it, you guys deserve a break.

E se por acaso você cometeu algum, aproveita que a hora é essa! Marque xizes e se liberte! Sem mais rodeios, com vocês, a segunda parte da série que vai libertar a galere:

(ATENÇÃO: Os prints que você verá abaixo são absolutamente autênticos. A Ficha Libertação pode ser encontrada para download na Internet)

Clique no link miserável para ver: Atividades Místicas e Tratamentos que já fez ou com que se envolveu

Admito (não sem o remorso mais pungente) que, da lista de heresias apresentadas, já fiz "relaxamento mental (com músicas que levam à passividade)", e não me orgulho disso. =(

Também já recorri muito a "garrafadas" (mas nunca com garrafa pet!) e fui um praticante inveterado de "levitação" (só no rasante bobo, sem maiores pretensões).

Aconselho a galere a confessar todas as atividades místicas e tratamentos com que se envolveu sem nem pestanejar porque atrocidades como "fitoterapia" e "Silva Mind" nem dão direito a apelação de Maria, hein!

Mais abaixo, temos:

Clique no link miserável para ver: Possui (ou possuiu) amuletos, patuas, talismãs, feitiches (sic)

Da sortida lista de amuletos e talismãs, cito apenas os três que sempre me foram mais caros ao coração: "Guinomos" (sic), "Tartaruga Ninja" (sic!!!) e a minha boa e velha "palmilha magnética".

Tenho certeza que numa lista tão bizarra abrangente como essa, você, leitor do Lan House do Purgatório, marcará muitos xizes miseráveis também!

Seguindo em frente:

Clique no link miserável para ver: Você  é admirador, fez algum pedido ou teve contato com...

Pô, quem é que já não teve contato, já não admirou litruz, já não fez algum pedido a uma boa ninfa? Um bom gnomo? Um belo silfo? Um verde, esquelético e cabeçudo extra-terrestre? Claro, eu também.

Na seqüência:

Clique no link miserável para ver: Banhos que tomou

Agradeço à discrição da Ficha, que não pergunta *com quem* já tomei banho. Folgo em dizer que esse item pra mim foi fácil de preencher: já tomei banho de "7 legumes", de "7 verduras" e de "ondas". Sim, de ondas! A ficha pergunta "quantas?", mas eu não me lembro, só sei que foram vááááárias ondas e eu tava *muito* lóki do meu cu.

Neste item também marquei um xiszinho em "Foi médium, cavalo, ou aparelho de (espíritos incorporados)", porque volta e meia eu dou passagem a Xuquinha, a Moninha Camarada, uma trava penada que me acompanha (ela e a Mona Penada de Luddie são colhegas no astral) e que me faz escrever coisas que não quero e usar emoticons miseráveis no msn. Sim! Psicografo emoticons! Ainda te exorcizo Xuquinha, sua trava peralta!

A seguir temos:

Clique no link miserável para ver: Arriou ou ajudou a fazer trabalhos nos seguintes lugares

Arriar, nunca arriei, mas já fiz litruz de trabalhos nos seguintes lugares: no "lodo", na "sarjeta" e "fora do país"; mais especificamente, na Birmânia, mas essa é uma outra história.

A Ficha também pergunta se fiz algum tipo de pacto com satanás ou com seus demônios. Bem, pacto, paaaacto mesmo, não. Mas já fizemos negócios sem compromisso, e eu ainda dei calote! hihihi

Ainda bem que a Ficha taí pra me salvar, credo!

Seguindo adiante, nos deparamos com:

Clique no link miserável para ver: Praticou matança humana em sacrifício? Para qual entidade?

Matança humana já, é claro, mas "para qual entidade", pô, aí é pedir demais. Impossível lembrar de todas. Mais embaixo, devo confessar que já fiz "Nucanda Cangongo (cerimônia com duração de um ano, das quais participam crianças de 8 a 18 anos,  onde fazem circuncisão nos garotos e permitem possuir mulher que quiserem)". Me permitiram possuir mulher que eu quiserem, foi zeniau. Quando se tem apenas 8 anos, isso faz diferença. Finalizando esta parte da ficha, minha honestidade não me permite deixar de mencionar que também já fiz a "Cerimônia dos inhames novos", um troço muito louco e que nem dá muito certo (os inhames são novos demais), mas, enfim... c'est la vie.

Concluindo este post absolutamente instrutivo e libertador, chegamos ao sensacional:

Clique no link miserável para ver: Entidades diversas com que se envolveu

Por ser um dos itens mais longos e paranóicos instrutivos da Ficha Libertação, limitar-me-ei a assinalar apenas algumas das dezenas de entidades com quem já bebi Pitu e fumei zuntinhos, eu e a entidade (citarei apenas aquelas com quem tive o papo mais agradável, com quem dei as risadas mais gostosas, com quem, enfim, rolou aquela amizade especial):

Dentre as pombajiras: era bacana litruz com a "7 maridos" e a "Mariazinha (mirim)" - um encanto.

Dentre os exus: companheiraços o galhofeiro ever "Queima-pemba", o debochado ever "Exu Lagosta" e o zombeteiro ever "Arranca-toco".

Dentre os caboclos/índios: happy-hours memoráveis com a "Iara", a "Jupira" e o "Saci". Ríamos tanto, gemza! Só no chope e tira-gosto.

Bem, galere. Por hoje é só. Confessaram tudo? Marcaram xizes? Olia a libertação!

Em nosso próximo post da série ainda falaremos de diversos vícios gosmentos, sentimentos pegajosos, perdições nozentas, maldições hereditárias (ééé!), enfim, misérias sem ter fim. Pra libertar, hein! Não perdam.

Aleléx

It looks like overalls with paint ,a detective hat , jeans ,and a bandana!

Also club penguin will upgrade the aqua grabber! (Maby with some new levels!)

waddle on

~8uhi~

This is how you start off on the right foot, so to speak.

More Phelps coverage here.

/thanks to my bro for the forward.

First up is some good news, direct from al-Anbar province in Iraq.

RAMADI, Iraq, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Iraq on Monday took over security control of the western province of Anbar from U.S. troops, a provincial security source said.

In a ceremony held in the provincial government building in the provincial capital city Ramadi under tough security measures, the U.S. military transferred the security file of the Sunni province to Iraqi security forces.

Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, Iraq's National Security Advisor announced the security transfer, saying "the Anbar province which once was one of the hottest areas in Iraq is celebrating today the transfer of security file."

Ma'moun al-Alwani, the governor of Anbar and the commander of the U.S. troops in the province signed the agreement of the handover during the televised ceremony.

--

Anbar would be the 11th of Iraq's 18 provinces to return to the control of Iraqi security forces. It would also be the first Sunni-dominated province to be handed over by the coalition forces.

Anbar, the country's largest province, expanding from Baghdad all the way west to the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, has been relatively calm since more than a year and a half ago after Sunni tribes and anti-U.S. insurgent groups turn up against al-Qaida in Iraq network, cooperating with the U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces.

[full story]

This is good news. We are giving them back their country. That is the only kind of victory we can fully achieve here. I say we go for it. Now is the time to make the decision about who is going to lead us in the "right" direction here.

Let me show you two links, both attached to the above story that illustrate the current divide.

U.S. proposes troops presence to 2015 in Iraq, Talabani

BAGHDAD, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said that the United States asked Iraq to keep its troops in the war-torn country until 2015, but negotiations set 2011 as a dead line, website of Talabani's party posted on Wednesday.

"It was an American proposal that its troops to stay in Iraq to2015 while the Iraqi one suggested 2010, then we agreed on the date 2011," Talabani said in an interview with the al-Hurra television from Washington late on Tuesday.

------

Iraq, U.S. eye troops withdrawal by end of 2011

BAGHDAD, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Iraq and the U.S. negotiators have reached a draft agreement on a proposed withdrawal timetable and other issues on the U.S. military presence in Iraq beyond 2008, CNN reported Friday.

Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Haj Hamoud, who is also Iraq's chief negotiator, told the channel that the U.S. troops would completely pull out by the end of 2011.

So the basic issue is that at the end of this year, there is no even-paper-thin, reason for the United States to continue having a military presence in Iraq. They are trying to hammer out such an agreement now. Iraq wants us gone anywhere from now to 2011. Bush wants us there to 2015. McCain wants at least 2013 and maybe 2113. Obama wants now to 2010 (maybe 2011).

I think that makes the choice easy. This war needs to be over. It's reaching a point where we can hand it back over to the Iraqis we put in power. I think that's about all we can ask for now. I seriously doubt we want to stay there until the Iraqi commit to fighting the "war on terror" (i.e. Iran and Syria) for us.

Now, this is all assuming (in one branch of future reality) that McCain wins and survives a full term. Say he wins and doesn't. Then one Sarah Palin takes over. You may have heard of her by now. You may have even seen her speaking to people before. What you probably haven't seen is her preaching before. Which brings us to Sarah Palin and Iraq. In this case, I'll let her speak for herself.

Part 1

Part 2

[source and more on Palin's church here...all part of the vetting process for the American people, it would seem]

The part that freaks me the fuck out, quite frankly, is where she is talking about sending her son off to war. She asks for only one thing (well, after asking them to pray for a $30,000,000,000 pipeline project)

Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right also for this country.

That our leaders, our national leaders, are sending them out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure we are praying for. That there is a plan, and that plan is God's plan.

Oh golly. Let me catch you up a bit here. I know it's hard to follow what's going on in the rest of the world while you are busy pumping oil and negotiating pipeline contracts (and raising 5 kids, and going to snowmobile races, and teaching abstinence classes...it's a full life I know).

The "Plan" you are talking about in regards to Iraq was actually put together by the last Vice-President. That's what he did. And no, he's not God. Nor is Bush. And quite frankly, after following the action overseas for the last 7 years quite closely, I'm not sure you want to bring "God's Plan" into it.

And frankly, Mrs. Palin, if something happens to McCain, it's going to be your plan. Do you have one? Have you even thought about it, a little bit?

Really though, this kind of stuff freaks me out. There's another quote out there about how she doesn't really follow what's going on. To have someone that doesn't know (like Bush) surrounded by people with a serious agenda (the Neocons, rallying to McCain) scares the every-living shit out of me.

Now, as to Afghanistan....

"Victory in Afghanistan Is Impossible"

Monday 21 July 2008

Writer, geo-strategist and "asymmetric war" specialist Gèrard Chaliand spends several months a year in Afghanistan, notably for the Center for Conflict and Peace Studies (CAPS), a research center he helped to establish in Kabul along with Afghan researchers.

--

Gèrard Chaliand: No. Victory is impossible in Afghanistan. With the heralded reinforcements, there will be about 80,000 NATO soldiers on the ground. That is insufficient to control the terrain. We're in a military impasse. In this country, one and a quarter times the size of France with an incomparably more difficult topography, we would have had to send more men and above all to have actively contributed to ameliorating economic conditions in the countryside. Today, we must also try to negotiate. There's no other way out. The Taliban cannot win the war against NATO, which is just as incapable of eradicating the Taliban.

Outside of Kabul and several big cities, it's the Taliban who control the local governments, and not foreign soldiers, most usually barricaded inside their little forts. In the south and east of the country, the Taliban - with the support of a large part of the local population - have succeeded in establishing a political infrastructure, parallel hierarchies that are the real power. Now experience shows that when it's the opponent who exercises that power, the war is lost.

How did we get to that point?

The Taliban filled the vacuum left between 2002 and 2004, when the 15,000 GIs who were there were mainly busy with tracking bin Laden, when the other international forces remained concentrated in Kabul and nothing was done for the peasant populations, especially in the south and east (the Pashtun regions) even though those regions are the keys to the country.

International development aid, directed for the most part towards Kabul, represents less than 10 percent of the donations paid out. The reconstruction teams in the provinces represent fewer than 10,000 men for a population of 20 million rural residents!

Contrary to preconceptions, the Taliban have a better understanding of what is strategically important. They have understood that the conflict's center of gravity is the sensitivity of Western public opinion - which they must impress by killing NATO - preferably American - soldiers. Our refusal to incur losses is notorious.

So we got that going for us. It turns out that when you stop one war half-way through to start another one that drags on for 10 times longer than you thought it would, that first, easy, half-way-through war comes back bigger and badder than ever. So much so that now we will have to re-fight it.

And most likely do so without the support of Pakistan. I know, I haven't been writing about that either, but Musharraf is gone. It looks like the assassination of Bhutto is going to lead to Bhutto getting elected (hey, it's Pakistani politics). Mostly there is disarray there, but a consistent lack of general support for U.S. goals in the region.

Afghanistan is also fucked for us because of stuff like this.

KABUL, Afghanistan — A United Nations human rights team has found “convincing evidence” that 90 civilians — among them 60 children — were killed in airstrikes on a village in western Afghanistan on Friday, according to the United Nations mission in Kabul.

If the assertion proves to be correct, this would almost certainly be the deadliest case of civilian casualties caused by any United States military operation in Afghanistan since 2001.

The United Nations statement adds pressure to the United States military, which maintains that 25 militants and 5 civilians were killed in the airstrikes, but has ordered an investigation after Afghan officials reported the higher civilian death toll.

The United Nations team visited the scene and interviewed survivors and local officials and elders, getting a name, age and gender of each person reported killed. The team reported that 15 people had been wounded in the airstrikes.

I saw some other news reports on this and it looks more like 9 or 10 people got killed. A whole family. Kids, parents, grandparents. The target they wanted wasn't there. This was a village in sight of the U.S. base in the area. The house had been searched the day before, then the 2,000 lb. bombs. came. And the family disintegrated.

They quoted some of the survivors as saying that the U.S. was worse than the Russians. Worse than the Russian, can you believe it? They quoted the recent burning of Georgia (Atlanta), which they had just heard about, as proof of the "Amrikaans" barbarity.

La fórmula parece ser la misma de la saga de Itagaki, Ninja Gaiden. En este juego nos pondremos en la piel de un Ninja especialista en Ninjutsu (arte marcial de los Ninja) que con sus armas y habilidades se abrirá paso entre decenas y decenas de monstruos o demonios. Por ahora solo les podemos ofrecer este pequeño trailer que para colmo no ofrece nada ingame, pero ya nos muestra por donde van los tiros en este juego.

Tidigt op

Jeg skulle i dag have to klasser. Først Principles of Marketing kl 9:30 og bagefter Digital Image Raster Program kl 14:00. Jeg havde selvfølgelig igen siddet oppe til halv to og set Heroes sammen med Kamil, og kunne kun lige slæbe mig ud af sengen da min DK-tlf. ringede kl. 7:00. Var så freaking træt i bussen, at jeg faldt i søvn og vågnede ved Safeway = FAIL! Så måtte lige tage runden én gang til! Endte så med at være ved skolen 10 min. før mine timer begyndte. 

Da jeg endelig fik fundet mit lokale var timen nærmest igang. Vi blev delt ud i grupper, fordi vi skal arbejde på et projekt, der kommer til at gælde som en del af vores Final Exam. Jeg kom så i gruppe med to fuldtids arbejdere/studerende og en der ikke laver noget konstruktivt. De to af dem arbejder bogstaveligt talt fuldtid ved siden af. Den ene af dem går fra arbejde i sin frokostpause for at tage timer, den anden arbejder til ud på natten for at studere om dagen! Den tredje arbejder vist også, men hun sagde ikke så meget og brugte det meste af timen på Facebook, så regner ikke med der foregår så meget i knoppen på hende.

Derefter havde jeg nogle timer fri og skulle så have Photoshop-amok med ninja-læreren Yifei Gan (og ja, det hedder han faktisk!) Han snakker mega dårligt engelsk, hvis det da er det overhovedet, og han opfører sig i perioder som en tysklærer fra 50'erne. Han bruger ordene "punishment" og "you have trouble" meget, men er ikke sikker på om han er ond, eller han simpelthen bare ikke har lært mildere udtryk på engelsk. Han virker meget flink overfor mig fx. Brugte timerne i dag fra 14:00 til 18:00 på at decode kinesisk engelsk, gennemgå ting i Photoshop jeg allerede kan og lave små simple billeder. Som Bjørn og jeg er blevet enige om: Hvis man slukker lyset og tænder det igen er Mr. Gan sporløst forsvundet i sin ninjadragt! 

The Mall

På vej hjem fra skole skulle jeg lige ind til the Mall for at få fremkaldt nogle af mine billeder fra det engangskamera jeg købte i DK. Bl.a. er der en flot samling af Morten i meget lidt tøj og fra alle vinkler med en tandbørste i munden. Og nogle virkelig underlige billeder af Kamil og Bjørn der barberer hinanden med Bjørns barbermaskine. (Det mest skumle var så, at hverken Bjørn eller jeg kan huske at vi tog billeder af det!? Skal lige have spurgt Kamil når han kommer hjem fra timer i aften.)

Mens jeg ventede på at Rizz Camera i the Mall skulle frenkalde vidunderne, kom jeg forbi en butik der reklamerede med gratis piercinger. Så slog det mig lige at jeg da egentlig trængte til sådan et par stykker, så jeg gik derind, og fik knaldet endnu et par huller i mine ører. Det gjorde overraskende lidt ondt. Mente at det var ret smertefuldt de sidste to gange, men nu føltes det bare som om, der var en der nev mig lidt i øret. Når jeg får taget nogle billeder af det uploader jeg dem lige.

I morgen er det så min plan at jeg vil tage mine fine billeder med i skole og hænge dem op på indersiden af mit locker, ligesom man ser i amerikanske teenage-film :D Kunne også være lidt hyggeligt at se på folk, hver gang man henter bøger osv.

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The female characters will become inexplicably less than dressed every couple of episodes.

I am really enjoying this total shonen (boy) series.  It's got melodrama  -- goofy humor --- comradery -- sweet romance.  And lots of battles.

Kagehoshi (the mysterious crazy woman) offers the rejected Fuko (the busty fighter) a madogu (magic weapon) of wind power.  Fuko quickly gets the knack of using the weapon and challenges Recca again.  This particular madogu turns its user into a seductress. Fuko gets purple-eyed and sends forth gale winds and double entendres.  Domon (the muscles) indirectly declares his love for Fuko; Yanagi (the princess) faints a couple of times.

One of the things I love best about the series is how it undermines the characters' dignity.  For instance, Yanagi starts crying and snots all over Recca's jacket.  Recca takes on postures and expressions that would wow the Azumanga Daioh girls.

Recca accidentally sees a girl naked and has a nose bleed bad enough to smack his head against the pavement.  The girl in question punches him, her boyfriend punches him, and then Yanagi yells at him.  A disheveled Recca says, "You too, princess??!!!"  Yanagi doesn't punch him.

Yanagi is abducted by villains and Recca's new team sets out to save her.  Each character battles an opponent on a each floor of the stronghold.  It feels like a platformer though I don't point it out as a flaw.