I rarely go there, but on two occasions now, I've gone to TNR.com following a story link, and an attempted AntiVirus 2008 infection begins. Lucky me that I use a Mac this time of day.

National Review doesn't have this problem.

... has really impressed me of late.

In the recent story McCain releases technology platform, one poster stood out in his responses against the usual left-libertarian grain here. He's ScentCone, and he consistently posts forcefully argued, well reasoned ripostes. Despite the left-libertarian slant here, he's usually modded pretty well because, frankly, he makes very good arguments. He's apparently a productive poster as well. I'm a little wary of adding friends here, but after his "performance", so to speak, in that story, I had to add him. Simply an outstanding guy, and a great read.

Safari (on OS X Tiger, all the latest updates) seems to be dying way too much when I'm on Slashdot. It's gotten bad enough that when I report it to Apple, I put "Slashdot hates you" in the what-were-you-doing part of the crash dialogue box. I wonder if Slashdot has some funky scripts that Safari chokes on?

...and I just don't know who I'm going to vote for in the GOP primaries now. I'm down to a few very bad choices. This will very much be a lesser of the evils election for me.

I have to choose between John McCain, a man who seemingly has more fondness for Democrats than for his own party on the big issues of the day (save for the war), and Mitt Romney, a man who ran and governed as a liberal in Massachusetts, and now claims to be the heir to Reagan....which means either he's had the mother of all mind changes, or that he just tells the crowd whatever it wants to hear to win the next office. Nice choice,eh?

And don't even mention Huckabee, a man more like Jimmy Carter than a Republican nominee for President.

Just out of morbid curiousity, I've returned to Slashdot after almost a year and a half. To my utter surprise (not), Slashdot is still the land of the Idiot and the home of the Troll. And the "America Sucks" people are more prominent than ever.

Oh well...I'm in a mood to give the virtual finger, so bring 'em on.

I have to say one thing...I'm surprised I don't see more Ron Paul supporters here. I figured Slashdot would be a breeding ground for them. Most here are just generally apathetic assholes that complain a lot.

Well, that's a start.

In the Nasa-cuts-budgets story, there were lots of chimpymcbushhitler comments, but all were modded down either troll or flamebait or offtopic. Which is a refreshing change from the norm. I think our complaining (by our, meaning the many right of center folks here) has gotten some attention, and perhaps an attempt is being made at some balance across the board. Or maybe the moon is just at low ebb...I don't know.

It was a nice change, in any case.

Guys...it's painfully obvious that Slashdot has went from a geek site to full blown moonbat site. I was posted today that because of my subservience to Bush, when the troops came and put America behind barbed wires, I'd be safe.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's as close to clinical paranoia as you can find...and it's now the norm here.

Like Moses leaving Egypt, we need to find the Promised Land, and stat, because this site is now moonbat central. When conspiracy theories are the accepted norm, it's time to get out of Dodge, guys. Rather than just sit here and bask in the insanity (no other word describes a mindset that thinks America is truly a north korea style barbed wire dictatorship), we need to blow town and let the madmen have SlashKos to themselves.

As long as the editors keep encouraging flamebait troll political hit pieces, disguised at stories, then I'm going to keep responding to this tinfoil hat insanity, and thus burn through my Karma, as judging from the responses, insanity is now the norm at Slashdot, where 9/11 was a CIA-Mossad conspiracy, and Emporer Pat Robertson orders his NSA to identify all porn torrents in order to send sinners to Gitmo.

Slashdot...land of absolute madness.

The Financial Times is reporting that Bill Clinton has been working behind the scenes to help the UAE ports deal, even while Hillary has been posturing in the Senate to kill it.

Way to triangulate there, Clintons.

Tonight, as I was relaxing after work, I turned on the TV. Showtime was on, and a new Zombie flick was coming on, from Showtime's Masters Of Horror series. I thought, cool.

One hour later, I'm disgusted.

Not from the Zombies in the horror flick. Nope, the special effects were cheap and badly done. Nope, I'm disgusted because Joe Dante, the director (of Gremlins fame) used a Zombie movie as a front for the dumbest, most offensive, and blatently awful anti-war statement ever put to film.

And what's worse, Dante is about as subtle as a rock over the head. He makes it obvious that the villains are Bush, Ann Coulter, Karl Rove, and anyone that votes for Republicans. He openly states as facts that the last two elections were stolen, and that Bush "has a gift for making stupid people feel as smart as him". Only the names are changed. But Dante makes it obvious EXACTLY who he's talking about. The cover of the Blonde pundit's book is a carbon copy of the cover Time magazine did of Ann Coulter. The only thing missing here, and I mean the ONLY twisted leftist caricature is the "ann coulter is a man" thing. Everything else, from a Cindy Sheehan Clone, to stupid middle America voters, to a Jerry Falwell stand-in is there.

If you don't know the premise of the movie, dead soldiers from Iraq come back to life....what do they want?

To vote Bush out of office. Then they can rest in peace.

No, I'm not kidding you. Really. I told you sublety wasn't Dante's strong suit.

There's an incredibly offensive scene where flag draped coffins arive at Dover, and dead zombie soldiers start bursting from their coffins, covered in the American Flag. They march in the streets, speaking at Democratic political rallies, one going on tv to tell the Kerry-stand-in that "they've come back to vote for anyone that will end this evil war".

It's like someone hired Michael Moore to direct a Zombie movie. It was that bad....no, maybe even worse.

I really, really hope this gets to the troops in Iraq, that they get to see it. People like Dante seem convinced that they're on his side. I want him to find out for sure.

What is it with this harpy, anyway? She makes a career of being a feminist blade, and is first shocked when she can't land a man, and now is apparently very bitter about it.

Well, what the hell did you expect, Dowd?

Feminism has prided itself on it's attitude towards men for 40 years now, an attitude that says "I can take you or leave you, and you'd better be grateful if I deem you worthy of my time, male".

And she (and her broom-riding sisterhood) seem shocked that men, as a whole, went "fuck you...I'm going for a beer with the boys, and then I'm going to hook up with a gal that actually appreciates men, instead of an ice-beast like you". Drudge is running a contest to caption the latest PR photo Dowd has released for her book Are Men Necessary. Among the most hilarious entries, this is my favorite:

"If You Want To Keep The Beer Cold, Put It Next To My Heart."

Dowd is panicky. She's in her 50's, and headed for that dreaded 60, with no man in sight. No one will marry her. And I laugh like hell. Couldn't have happpened to a nicer frost-maiden.

The increasing chorus to NOT rebuild New Orleans is growing, and a prominent geophysicist lays out why not here. The article basically reiterates what I've been saying all along...New Orleans' geography and physical makeup render it unsuitable as a base for a city in the long run.

But should we rebuild New Orleans, 10 feet below sea level, just so it can be wiped out again? Some say we can raise and strengthen the levees to fully protect the city. Here is some unpleasant truth: The higher the defenses, the deeper the floods that will inevitably follow.

It's about damn time. Lots of people want to save NO for sentimental reasons, but folks, that city is GONE. Even if they rebuilt in its present location, so much of the city has to be bulldozed, it'll almost be brand new, except for the French Quarter.

It is time to face up to some geological realities and start a carefully planned deconstruction of New Orleans, assessing what can or needs to be preserved, or vertically raised and, if affordable, by how much. Some of New Orleans could be transformed into a "floating city" using platforms not unlike the oil platforms offshore, or, over the short term, into a city of boathouses, to allow floods to fill in the 'bowl' with fresh sediment.

.

Get 'em out, bust open the levees, and start over....elsewhere.

Anne Rice is placing the blame for the New Orleans disaster....on all other Americans:

But to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs.

Read the rest of her charming rant here.

Hey Anne...did it ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe, the primary responsibility for things going to shit down their was....yours? I mean, you of New Orleans and Louisiana? And yes Anne, just what does America OWE to New Orleans that it doesn't owe to other cities? Eh? One of the things that has most pissed me off is the snotty sense of entitlement that the mayor, newspaper, and various people have expressed about saving NO..."But you HAVE to rebuild...we're NO...you OWE it to us".

And don't get me started on NO newspapers whining about "they say we're guilty of the crime of choosing to live here".

Well put. You are.

You chose to live there. You chose to live in a bowl below sea level surrounded by a massive lake, our largest river, and the gulf of mexico.

Oh yeah, and your city is sinking. And there's no way to stop that. Nothing the Army Corps of Engineers could do would make a difference. NO is only going to drop further below SL over time.

So Anne....should the rest of the country be responsible if you choose to live in such a situation? How much sympathy would you get if you, oh, say built your new hacienda on the side of a very active volcano?

Not much, I'd say.

Rebuild NO 100 miles up the Peninsula. Call it Newer Orleans, I don't care. But don't dare tell me that I've failed you, or anyone else for that matter. Your peeps were told to get out, and even the poorest had cars. Even they had family out of the area. Even they had access to red cross and church shelters. If you want to commend them for staying behind because they loved the uniqueness of NO, then fine, but don't blame anyone else when those people suffer because of their decision.

Update: Holy Shit, does Jim Geraghty (of National Review fame) rip Anne a new one over this, especially about NO's corrupt culture. Great read over at National Review Online: We Failed You? Try Again.

We're seeing a lot of talk about rebuilding New Orleans in a few months, about spending $26 billion, and probably more, to restore it.

Are people out of their damn minds?

New Orleans was a disaster waiting to happen. It's a city 12 feet below sea level, surrounded by 3 massive bodies of water. During normal times, it takes massive engineering to keep New Orleans dry. And scientists, professors, and engineers have been warning us for years, nay, decades that a direct hit from a large hurricane would likely destroy the city in Biblical proportions.

Take a look at New Orleans now; they were right.

80 percent of the city is under water, and that water level is rising, folks. The Army Corps of Engineers can't stop the flooding, Lake Ponchetrain continues to pour in, the Mississippi River is rising, and it's probable that more rain is on the way. And hurricane season isn't even over.

There should be no rebuilding of New Orleans. Spend as much money and manpower as neccessary to get the survivors out, but then place navigation hazard bouys around the city, and let nature take it's course. In a few years, what's left of New Orleans will literally be washed into the Gulf of Mexico, with no trace of the city left, no proof it ever existed visible on the surface of the water. That's not an exageration. That's literally what would happen at this point. The very shallow water table in New Orleans (as shallow as 6 feet deep in some parts) is being swollen with water too; the surface topsoil and everything on it will slide right off into the Gulf given time. The irony here is that, in the effort to preserve New Orleans, the levees and damns have prevented the accumulation of silts that made New Orleans in the first place; NO is nothing but a pile of river mud built up on the Mississippi Delta over the centuries. That accumulation of dirt would have eventually put NO above sea level, as well as absorbed some of the moisture from extra water. But you can't build a city in a standing swamp, so they kept the river out. And it's sealed the city's fate.

Rebuilding NO at the current lat/long would be a criminal misuse of resources, and stupidity at that. It's tantamount to building houses on the side of an active volcano. Sooner or later, you're going to die. NO dodged the odds for too long, and now her number is up. Wanna rebuild? Do it somewhere else and call it New Orleans. But not where the city presently is. Let it die, and nature will erase all visible traces of it. It'll exist only in memory, a place where Mardi Gras and Anne Rice once called home.

When I visited Hong Kong and Korea years ago, it was very apparent to me that they don't always get the real meaning of English expressions. Nothing makes that more apparent than these shots of Stars Wars Episode III, with subtitles that have been re-translated back to English from their Chinese text. Who knew R2D2 had such a potty mouth?