Miss me?

Well I've been out for the last 10 days, at least not much happened...

In no particular order, here are my quick thoughts on the news I managed to see over the last week and a half. Going to try to go fast without a lot of links. You were there, you can remember.

Mel...Kiss My Grits!
So Mel went on a drunken anti-Semtic, sexist rant. Wow, who saw that coming? Well I mean besides some controversial film that supposedly had anti-semitic undertones. While I can't speak to this (never saw the movie. I prefer my gore to be dished out by the son of a husbandless woman who uses a chainsaw to cast out sexed up teens and who can't be killed, sort of the same, but not really) but I'm imagining all those who dismissed the case that the movie might be somewhat anti-semetic feel a little...I don't know...silly for so ardently defending a man they never met who's father is a holocaust denier? Personally I think this speaks volumes about people. Folks like to defend or attack people they don't know, like they've know them for years. JLo's a real gem, JLo's a whore. Kerry's a hero, Kerry's a coward. Terrel Owens is a great team mate, Terrel Owens is a cancer. And people get really tied to these points. Some of the most heated arguements I've ever been in involve the "true" personalities of people I've never met. Really silly when you get down to it. The reality is that we don't even know the tips of famous people. For all I really know Arnold Swhatrzernagger is a total wimp, but man can he deliver a stare. As for Mel...I don't know. .13 or whatever hardly counts as drunken stupor, but mix in fear of getting busted, shame, etc, and oh yeah we've all said things and thought, "Wow, where did that come from?" I'd care more if I was a jewish friend of his, but then I'd probably have more to go on too right? Have to say this, one of the great apologies of all time. Not one of those, "To the extent my words may have inadvertantly offended anyone, I apologize" types of weenie apologies. But then he is an award winning actor, writer, director. Quick note, I thought it was interesting that it's been something like three years since Mel said he'd do a film on the holocaust and nothing, nada, zips been done. It's not like he can't greenlight a project...

Leibs Loses.
This was the expected outcome as soon as he made the motions way back when to run as an independent. As soon as he stepped into that second canoe his fate was sealed. This way not voting for Leibs could be protest vote and not one voter had to really decide what they wanted. They could all yell at Leibs for being too cozy with W, and still vote for him in November. I would have been shocked if he lost as a Dem, and will still be somewhat surprised if he loses in Novemember. I do think he's exposed now, and the anti-Leib forces now have the mo'. US voters tend to punish those who try to have it both ways or get cute. Personally, I think he should have put the voters to the test, burned the boats and ran as a Dem. If he wins, he puts all this noise behind him, if he loses, at least he has his dignity. Real quick, I don't get this stuff about "fringe" CT voters punishing him for his war stance. Last poll I saw, most American's now think the war was a mistake, and want the troops home yesterday. Polls move with the wind, and maybe Leibs got caught in a gale, but right now, the majority opinion moved him out.

London Calling.
Interesting thing 'bout the London terror catch, it happened the old fashioned way, good cops doing good investigations. And that's great. As far as it's reported so far, no one was tortured and no nation's were invaded. Imagine that. I'm betting I could buy a lot of good cops for $1 trillion. I'm also betting $1 trillion could buy a lot of machines that could catch bomb making material, both carry-on and checked. I may even several hundred billion left over to do something about the ports. I'm not sure how Iraq will pan out, but I do know that I'd feel a whole heck of a lot safer if that $1 trillion was spent in the above manner. Throw in something to get us off foreign oil and I'd be postively giddy.

Random crazy thought for the day.
Hezbollah's showing how to fight a stronger enemy. Win the hearts of the people. Use Iranian oil money to build hospitals, pay for funerals, give loans, etc. This bears watching. One way to get to America would be to do the same with our disenfranchised. Funnel money either from drugs or oil into a real campaign to separate them from the rest of the nation by giving them what they want for free, and making them feel like someone cares about them. In fact, this is just begging to happen in England and France where the schizm is already larger and angrier. I'm not saying it will, but if it's successful in Lebanon, it will happen again, its a good plan. A long-burn plan for sure, but one that has a real chance of working. You can't beat the US from without, someone will try to do it from within.