Cartoons, Denmark and related stupidity

I haven't had a lot to say about the current flap that has the "Islamic street" in an uproar, mainly because Mark Steyn and Cox and Forkum have pretty much said all that I think needs to be said. But just to make my position perfectly clear:

One more time in English:


I'll be going out to pick up some Legos and Danish cheese next payday, I think. Illegitimi non carborundum, my Danish brothers.

Banners courtesy of The Dissident Frogman.

EDIT: Banner source files moved and HTML edited so you could actually read what they said. Some things the LJ software doesn't do as well as a little editing in Notepad...

Cartoons, Denmark and related stupidity

I haven't had a lot to say about the current flap that has the "Islamic street" in an uproar, mainly because Mark Steyn and Cox and Forkum have pretty much said all that I think needs to be said. But just to make my position perfectly clear:

One more time in English:


I'll be going out to pick up some Legos and Danish cheese next payday, I think. Illegitimi non carborundum, my Danish brothers.

Banners courtesy of The Dissident Frogman.

EDIT: Banner source files moved and HTML edited so you could actually read what they said. Some things the LJ software doesn't do as well as a little editing in Notepad...

I guess it's for real

Hugh Hewitt links to a Washington Times article on James Webb's decision to try for the Democratic nomination in Virginia to challenge George Allen this fall. Hewitt, Jack Kelly and Mack Owens (to both of whom Hewitt has links) both seem to think that Webb will make short work of his primary opponent, lobbyist and former Congressional aide Harris Miller, and then give Allen a good tussle in the fall. Owens' piece is especially interesting for its look at why someone like Webb, who was Secretary of the Navy under Reagan, would change parties. It makes for interesting reading, and resonates with this essay on Mudcat Saunders that indicates how shallow the roots of Red State Republicanism might actually be. Polls right now show Allen handily defeating whoever wins the Democratic primary, but if he keeps traipsing off to New Hampshire people might start wondering if he's worth the vote.

In fact, if I were Webb, I'd be getting Saunders on the phone about ten minutes ago, because they're birds of a feather, not that I think Webb needs any help rallying populist Republicans and conservative Democrats to his side. Question is, can he also pull enough of the notoriously liberal Northern Virginia Democrats to win? Virginia has open primaries, so it's not like Webb has to suck up to the party bosses, but the whole dynamic of the primary is going to be very weird.

The big question, of course, is what Webb's going to do with himself if he does in fact defeat Allen. Webb's opposition to the Iraq War is for very different reasons than those trotted out by Kerry, Kennedy and Dean, and I daresay he's going to be about as well-liked among the Kossacks as Joe Lieberman or Zell Miller, since he's no kind of a socialist. He might well find himself in the same odd position as Lincoln Chafee and Olympia Snowe - someone who has litle in common with the rest of their caucus except for which side of the chamber they're sitting on.

I guess it's for real

Hugh Hewitt links to a Washington Times article on James Webb's decision to try for the Democratic nomination in Virginia to challenge George Allen this fall. Hewitt, Jack Kelly and Mack Owens (to both of whom Hewitt has links) both seem to think that Webb will make short work of his primary opponent, lobbyist and former Congressional aide Harris Miller, and then give Allen a good tussle in the fall. Owens' piece is especially interesting for its look at why someone like Webb, who was Secretary of the Navy under Reagan, would change parties. It makes for interesting reading, and resonates with this essay on Mudcat Saunders that indicates how shallow the roots of Red State Republicanism might actually be. Polls right now show Allen handily defeating whoever wins the Democratic primary, but if he keeps traipsing off to New Hampshire people might start wondering if he's worth the vote.

In fact, if I were Webb, I'd be getting Saunders on the phone about ten minutes ago, because they're birds of a feather, not that I think Webb needs any help rallying populist Republicans and conservative Democrats to his side. Question is, can he also pull enough of the notoriously liberal Northern Virginia Democrats to win? Virginia has open primaries, so it's not like Webb has to suck up to the party bosses, but the whole dynamic of the primary is going to be very weird.

The big question, of course, is what Webb's going to do with himself if he does in fact defeat Allen. Webb's opposition to the Iraq War is for very different reasons than those trotted out by Kerry, Kennedy and Dean, and I daresay he's going to be about as well-liked among the Kossacks as Joe Lieberman or Zell Miller, since he's no kind of a socialist. He might well find himself in the same odd position as Lincoln Chafee and Olympia Snowe - someone who has litle in common with the rest of their caucus except for which side of the chamber they're sitting on.

You want me to do what?

The other odd thing that happened Monday, which I forgot to mention until now, was that some guy at WF Financial Acceptance called me up and wanted to talk to me about refinancing my truck. I couldn't believe my ears. I just did that last summer after crunching the front right fender, but apparently redoing the loan could bring me lower payments and maybe even some cash out, in spite of my hideous credit score.

I rather badly need that cash at the moment, since the student loan got gummed up in the works at the guarantors and probably won't show up until next Friday, making this coming weekend a real interesting adventure in more ways than one. It's odd - a few years back when I was floundering in the wake of the separation, WF Financial came through for me and extended me some credit at a time when I badly needed it. I hope their auto loan side is about to do me another favor, otherwise I'll be brown-bagging it all weekend.

You want me to do what?

The other odd thing that happened Monday, which I forgot to mention until now, was that some guy at WF Financial Acceptance called me up and wanted to talk to me about refinancing my truck. I couldn't believe my ears. I just did that last summer after crunching the front right fender, but apparently redoing the loan could bring me lower payments and maybe even some cash out, in spite of my hideous credit score.

I rather badly need that cash at the moment, since the student loan got gummed up in the works at the guarantors and probably won't show up until next Friday, making this coming weekend a real interesting adventure in more ways than one. It's odd - a few years back when I was floundering in the wake of the separation, WF Financial came through for me and extended me some credit at a time when I badly needed it. I hope their auto loan side is about to do me another favor, otherwise I'll be brown-bagging it all weekend.

Free cultural association

I have a number of Asian blogs in my "Occasionals" subfolder of the blogosphere bookmarks, and this post by Muninn (via Far Outliers)reminded me of an amusing moment from the 2005 Anime Detour planning cycle.

During one of the meetings, one of the staff was going on about the need for cultural programming at the convention and made the mistake of saying "We need to make an effort to make more people aware of Asian culture."

At which point danae, who had been, like the rest of us, glazed like an old-fashioned doughnut up to that point, looked up, growled "Which Asian culture?" and brought down the house.

Yeah, that whole unified Asian culture thing got a bad name during the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere Era, and I think it's going to take a while to smooth that over no matter how popular anime, manga, and Japanese video games are.

Free cultural association

I have a number of Asian blogs in my "Occasionals" subfolder of the blogosphere bookmarks, and this post by Muninn (via Far Outliers)reminded me of an amusing moment from the 2005 Anime Detour planning cycle.

During one of the meetings, one of the staff was going on about the need for cultural programming at the convention and made the mistake of saying "We need to make an effort to make more people aware of Asian culture."

At which point danae, who had been, like the rest of us, glazed like an old-fashioned doughnut up to that point, looked up, growled "Which Asian culture?" and brought down the house.

Yeah, that whole unified Asian culture thing got a bad name during the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere Era, and I think it's going to take a while to smooth that over no matter how popular anime, manga, and Japanese video games are.