FlaSoxxJim

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ May 31, 2006 -> 05:48 PM) Lol, if you seriously believe that a periphronastic cistern does not have the ameliorative ability to regulate funicular vegetation, then you really are a bimbo. And a semihydrogenous one, at that. I stand. . . er. . . , corrected?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ May 31, 2006 -> 04:31 PM) So, if I don't want a wall, would the proper thing be to mail them one of those Acme portable holes? Maybe you should mail Mexico an Acme Catapult Kit?

QUOTE(kapkomet @ May 31, 2006 -> 03:06 PM) If there were something that should have stopped it, it would have stopped. Like the lack of any justification for war that would actually hold up under scrutiny, for instance? The administration and the PNAC cabal they kowtow to decided they needed this war (and did so many years in advance), and so it happened. They were not going to let France, the UN, the international inspectors, the facts, or their lack of any sort of strategy get in their way.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ May 31, 2006 -> 02:17 PM) And yes, Flaxx, you are right that the overwhelming majority of people are NOT like this, however, when you see images like this, it does incite people to think that our "terrorist causes" are more just. And, we can't have that now, can we? As far as I'm concerned, why can't we? I've never been against a real, honest-to-goodness war on terror, Kap. It's just been a real long time since we've actually had one. Fighting the good and just fight in Afghanistan, against the 9-11 perpetrators and those that would give them aid and comfort, for the few months that we did that, was a cause the entire country and most of the world supported. And if we didn't have to get down to business in Iraq we might have actually succeeded in our mission to bring an evil terrorist entity to justice. . . The smoke-and-mirrors conflation of our invasion of Iran with the justifiable war on terror, repeating the mantra that Saddam=Osama until it takes root in the psyche of the ham-n-eggers, Hearing our president say things like he's really "not that concerned" with capturing the man who actually DID attack us – those are the sorts of things that have exposed the current version of the GWoT as the crock of s*** it truly is.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ May 31, 2006 -> 02:05 PM) Wow. So how do you seal it back off, now that modern air has gotten through, etc.? And - how did it stay intact? I mean, the air had to come from somewhere? Good questions. The short news story obviously is sketchy on a lot of details. And unfortunately there is no reference to a more complete communication in a refereed scientific journal. But the story's claim that the cave was completely isolated from the outside system is most certainly an overstatement. There is no indication that this is an chemotrophic system, so there have to be connections linking the cave system to external primary production. If the mysterious scorpion-like animals are similar in habit to most scorpions, they are ambush predators that are feeding on a prey base that is in turn grazing on something else. It's not a closed system from a trophic standpoint. There also seem to be some so-far flimsy arguments suggesting [at least teh way the news story presents it] that the animals found are there as a result of prolonged reproductive isolation and resulting allopatric speciation events within the cave. The likelihood that that is actually the case is vanishingly small. Much, much, much more likely, the cave system represents a suite of relict populations whose members were all much more widespread in the geologic past but apparently only survived to the present in this isolated and ecologically accomodating cave system.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ May 31, 2006 -> 02:00 PM) These images support our cause of going after nutjobs like this. That's why it wasn't news here. Far more substantive, the accompanying quotes from London's majority mainstream Muslim community condemning the protests and the ideals of the protesters in no uncertain terms should have gotten broad national coverage, along with all of those images. Together, the story and the images reinforce what we know to be true – that there is a radicalized and very scary faction of Islamists that would still do the Western world harm given the chance, but also that they are a very small % of Muslim society who become increasingly isolated from the Muslim mainstream through their own radical acts. QUOTE(Texsox @ May 31, 2006 -> 02:10 PM) How does the media decide this? Is there some super secret meeting. . . ? You mean you didn't get the invitations?

Wow. Pretty amazing find. Now the real trick will be preserving the system now that it is no longer completely isolated.

QUOTE(Steff @ May 31, 2006 -> 11:11 AM) His aunt was 81, and my grama was 76 so those I can deal with. But this stuff with the babies... good grief. A very large dark cloud over Jim's kids... The horror and seeming senselessness of human suffering is magnified so much when it affects children. You and Jim and your family will be in my thoughts.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ May 31, 2006 -> 01:21 PM) In other words, Reid's ethics violation here was refusing to break the law. Wonderful. Well, it does make the crooked congressmen look bad by comparison. I can understand why the wouldn't want that.

many happy returns of the day, you old Camus basher, you! Hope you have a good one wherever you are.

In the last couple of days I've learned a couple of things about Goldman Sachs and Paulsen I didn't know The corporate culture at Goldman Sachs really does encourage the giving-back-through-public-service role after a decade or so with the company. They are also much more team-oriented than the top-down corporate structure of many of their peers. It's really pretty refreshing. And another hat tip to Mr. Paulsen, who at least thus far seems to walk it like he talks it:

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ May 31, 2006 -> 08:12 AM) So I guess everyone owes Anthony Scalia an apology then, right? What if we mumble something incoherent and make a rude hand gesture and call it an apology?

Bah, Pacific storms. . . who cares? You did catch my attention though. Still need to do my hurricane season shopping!

One thing about living in Santa Carla, er. . . Queensgate, I never could stomach. All the damn vampires!

Good job on the hat tip from Americablog, Dan.

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ May 30, 2006 -> 06:21 PM) Wasn't that just a nice way of the President saying that Secretary Snow got the s*** can? I would say so. Mr. Snow hasn't said anything about leaving, which doesn't mean we haven't decided he's already gone.

QUOTE(Soxy @ May 29, 2006 -> 10:21 AM) It's an imperfect world. . . Don't be a goof, Carl RIP Principal Vernon

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ May 30, 2006 -> 12:47 PM) And he supposedly said he wasn't interested. You are correct.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ May 30, 2006 -> 12:40 PM) They did do their homework, and I think this is for a (big) reason. Elaborate on that line of reasoning, if possible. I'm sure this nomination has lots of GOPers and industry people ticked off. Is tthat by design?

I have always taken it on face as a song about some enlightened alien race coming and taking the song's protagonist away from the ills of the world for a better life. Kind of like Styx Come Sail Away, but without the suck turned up to 11.

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ May 30, 2006 -> 02:36 AM) Don't they wanna make him commissioner of the NFL? I've heard clarification on that, and it was basically still at the informal level, the NFL seeing if he was interested in the position but not a formal offer of the position.

QUOTE(Texsox @ May 30, 2006 -> 09:32 AM) Nice pick. Absolutely. Paulson has long been an avid Kyoto supporter, and has made cogent arguments as to why our non-participation has hurt us economically. He serves on the board of TNC, so his green-ness is more than superficial. As diametrically opposed as his views are to those usually laid out by BushCo, I would never have believed they'd have allowed Paulson as a nominee. Here's to somebody not doing their homework!

Condolances and warm thoughts go out to you and your family. 94 years is a darn good run. I bet she was a great woman with a couple of lifetimes worth of things to pass on.

QUOTE(juddling @ May 29, 2006 -> 12:11 AM) Of course, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman will always be around. Generally, the same. gee...next thing you know, someone will imply that something was going on between Batman and Robin...lol That was a knowing wink and nod to Frederic Wertham and Geoffrey Wagner, right? If, so, then

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ May 27, 2006 -> 09:53 AM) Last night there was a story on this on CNN, and they mentioned that there are over 200 bodies on Mt Everest. I wonder how many of them are openly visible? Seems pretty creepy to me. I know Hillary was involved in organizing a big clean-up where they picked up several hundred empty oxygen bottles and other such debris. I think they may treat the bodies like those on the Titanic, and consider the mountain a grave site as well.