Fun and pointless

I've seen this survey popping up on a few blogs. Thought I'd enter my picks. Try it for yourself, choose a song that...

1. reminds you of an ex-lover: "Brown-Eyed Girl" Van Morrison
2. reminds you of an ex-friend: "I Want Candy" Bow Wow Wow
3. makes you cry: "Another Day in Paradise" Phil Collins
4. makes you laugh: "One Week" Barenaked Ladies
5. makes you wanna dance: "Flashlight" Parliament
6. reminds you of the one you want: "Slave to Love" Brian Ferry
7. reminds you of the one you love: "Con te Partiro" Andrea Bocelli
8. you wish you wrote: "American Pie" Don Maclean
9. you never want to hear again: "Mambo No. 5" Lou Bega
10. you want to get married to: "The Lady in Red" Chris De Burgh
11. makes you want to mosh/bang your head: "Sabotage" Beastie Boys
12. sums up your teenage years: "Big City Nights" Scorpions
13. you like to wake up to: "Three Little Birds" Bob Marley
14. you like from your parents' collection: "Cat's in the Cradle" Harry Chapin
15. you love that a friend introduced to you: "Rally Round" Steel Pulse
16. you love the video even more: "Gimme All Your Lovin" ZZ Top.
17. reminds of your first crush: "Come on Eileen" Dexy's Midnight Runners
18. you love from a favorite movie: "Running on Empty" Jackson Browne
19. makes you think of the moon: "Mack the Knife" Louis Armstrong
20. makes you think of stars: "Ode to Joy" Beethoven
21. makes you think of the sun: "Where the Streets Have No Name" U2
22. makes you think of sex: "Love and Happiness" Al Green
23. makes you think of being alone: "Piano Man" Billy Joel
24. you love to hear at clubs: "Flashlight" is still tops!

"Deep Thoughts" by Albert Gore

Moderate Democrats must be wondering if Al Gore has lost his mind. Some(incl. author) would argue he's felt this way all along.

"I think the principle of 'first things first' does apply and has to be followed if we are to have any chance of success."

"I do think the situation our country faces now is fundamentally different than what we faced on the eve of the Gulf War."

"If the rest of the world does not see what it regards as a sufficient provocation to justify an invasion by the United States, then the diplomatic cost would be extremely high." - Al Gore

First things first, huh? Hell, why not just dust off the old "cart before the horse" while you're at it? The situation is fundamentally different? No shit, it's worse. Sufficient provocation? Please. The rest of the world doesn't see the justification? Well I guess if the rest of the world doesn't see it, it must not really exist. And finally...DIPLOMATIC COST? We've suffered fools long enough. World diplomats rank somewhere below used car salesman on intellectual honesty. Placating these chronic America-haters is no longer an option. Andrew Sullivan sums it up nicely with this...

Isn't it clear what the strategy of Gore and perhaps some other Democrats now is? You use the corporate scandals to bring down Bush's approval ratings and regain the Congress. You start making the case that a war against Iraq will be diplomatically inflammatory and militarily risky. You never actually have the balls to oppose the war outright, but you nitpick and cavil and undermine until you hope the president or the public blinks(Emphasis mine). If a hideous terrorist attack occurs, it's Bush's responsibility. If it doesn't, you can claim he's war-mongering unnecessarily. Win-win. Except for the security of the United States, in which it's lose-lose. I used to be pro-Gore. Then I thought he was narrowly the worse choice for president. Now I think I'd rather have almost any Democrat in office than him.

Smart Democrats would probably agree.

GALAGA METAPHOR CHALLENGE!

Who has the best Galaga metaphor? Post yours in comments or email me and I'll publish the best ones. No F-bombs, please.

Do you love Skee-Ball? The Illuminated Donkey sure does- he's dedicated a week of blogging to the subject. Has me contemplating a tribute to the greatest video game ever created, Galaga!

Scalpels, not hammers

Glenn Gayer from Occam's Toothbrush has something to say about the most recent case of Islamic "spin"...

Apparently the Islamofascists of Gaza were just about to drop all their murderous activities and transform the Intifada into a Ghandi-like campaign of civil disobedience. Hamas was to concentrate their fight with letters to the editors of various Israeli newspapers with a special emphasis on Synagogue bulletins and Islamic Jihad was to stage sit-ins at delis throughout Jewish Israel with a focus on booths for 10 or more people. But then, the evil Ariel Sharon destroyed peace in our time with his American made airplane in Gaza city. Now Hamas, with a heavy heart, must go back to killing Jewish civilians. We were so close. Not.

He's right, of course. It still doesn't change the fact that Israel blundered on the bombing. Shehadeh is culpable for having endangered that Palestinian neighborhood with his presence. No one should dispute that. However, Israel abdicates moral authority when it ceases to consider the lives of innocents affected by their actions. The killing of Hamas' military leader may, in the end, save many more lives than were lost or injured in the bombing. This slippery slope, though, ought to be avoided short of imminent catastrophic danger(ie: nukes, chemical, or biological weapons). Israel possesses the means to carry out surgical strikes on enemy targets. This would have been a good time to use them.

California has escaped from "Gray-Out" Davis' ill-advised Oracle contract. Next up: escape from Davis.

Debka is reporting this interesting piece of military news...

a spanking new American underground air base is nearing completion south of the Shiite city of Herat in western Afghanistan. To be the largest facility of its kind in that part of the world, it is scheduled to go operational in September as the new home of US aerial forces scattered around the Persian Gulf, Central Asia and other locations in Afghanistan.

Not good news for the ayatollahs.

More than "heavy-handed"

Sharon has called the bombing of Hamas' military leader, Salah Shehadeh, one of Israel's "biggest successes." In a purely military sense, perhaps. In every other sense, it was a dumb thing to do. Collateral damage was a virtual certainty with this method of attack; dropping a one-ton bomb in a crowded neighborhood sends the message that Israel no longer cares.

England needs help with poop, not "scoop"

"We need more plumbers not media students", say bosses at England's Institute of Directors. Perhaps the disappointed can exorcise their demons through blogging, as this paean to plumbing does.

Posse Comitatus revision

Glenn Reynolds is right in theory when he says that "soldiers make lousy police" but wrong where the actual proposed changes are concerned. Even Senator Joe Biden understands the distinction here...

It is "not very realistic'' to deny the military the ability, for example, to shoot at suspected terrorists trying to deploy chemical, biological or nuclear weapons on a passenger train, Biden said. "Right now, when you call in the military, the military would not be allowed to shoot-to-kill, if in fact they were approaching the weapon," Biden said. ``But we're not talking about general police power, changing the idea that you could have your local National Guard, you know, with arrest power like your local policemen,'' he said.

I suspect that most local and state governments are more than willing to abdicate responsibility for these types of engagements. Permitting our most capable men and women to deal with these instances is both appropriate and necessary if we expect to succeed at thwarting them.

WaPo reports that Gray Davis will sign the Calif. auto emissions reduction bill. May turn out to be the proverbial nail in his coffin.

"California motorists are going to be extremely angry when they find they are going to lose access to SUVs, trucks and minivans," said Shosteck, the spokesman for the automakers alliance. Shosteck said there are already 50 models that get more than 30 miles per gallon, and "consumers don't want them. . . . High mileage cars sit on dealer lots and don't sell."

Messing with a Californian's car is not a wise political move.

If given the choice...

UN report: Most Arab youth want to emigrate to Europe, U.S. Does this surprise anybody?

If you didn't catch Robin Williams' latest stand-up show on HBO, you missed a truly great comic performance. I couldn't agree less with RW's politics, but the man had me in stitches on more than a few occasions. His bit about the Scot who invented golf will bring you to tears.