Unqualified Offerings

US troop strength in Iraq hits 150,000 again. I went looking for the archived entry where I said something like We had about 140,000 troops in Iraq at the end of 2003, 2004 and 2005, and we’ll have about 140,000 troops at the end of 2006 no matter what they tell you they’re hoping, but […]

A mother siezes the teachable moment with her son.
“Do you know what that word means?”
“No.”
“It means to force someone to have sex with you. Do you think that’s an appropriate word to use with your sister?”
“No.”
“Do you think that’s an appropriate word to use with anybody?”
“No.”
“Okay then. Good.”
(Pause. To sister:) “I WILL DESTROY YOU!”
“Much better.”

Phasing: underpriced in almost every superhero game.
Q: Shouldn’t the precog have a painting of the hot chick showing up at his door?
I missed last week’s episode, even the Friday night scifi channel repeat.

In comments, a spoiler-y explanation of how I blew guessing the big reveal at the end of The Prestige, which I enjoyed and was worth the money.

Wow. Season’s over already?
Both my teams at 2-5. I think I’ll try to find/form a roleplaying game group that meets on Sundays to distract me.
Only saw the last 45 seconds of the Steelers-Raiders game, so I don’t have any analysis. As to the season, the team lost a little talent and a lot of focus, […]

Maryland Senate candidates Ben Cardin and Michael Steele are on Meet the Press. Russert is pressing Steele on where he stands on Iraq.
Steele says we need to put pressure on the Iraqi government to meet our benchmarks and to “democratically” something. Russert could ask, “So what if the Iraqi government democratically tells us to shove […]

Rebecca Borgstrom:
Though I wonder, has anyone in danger of being extraordinarily rendited to a torture camp considered the benefits of being on the no-fly list? They totally can’t fly you off to suffer at the whim of the executive if the TSA won’t allow you onto a plane!

Ancestry.com’s current radio pitch runs, “What could be more exciting than meeting your favorite movie or television star? How about finding out you’re related to them?”
Don’t most people want to fuck their favorite movie or television star? Finding out you’re related to them would just be icky.

So, did I suggest that they would explain the Who’s Got the Presidency thing? I believe I did. Prediction: The T&R Commission will play a major role in future episodes. Saul Tigh will have a rough time of it.

“The conservative movement is sick, and I don’t think there’s anyone around willing to try to heal it.”
Atrios, on the Michael J. Fox “controversy.”
Update: See Radley Balko too, on the latest from the loathsome George Allen:
This isn’t just a political attack. It’s an attack on art. On writing. On expression. Hell, it’s an attack on […]

Much less Shiite militia-related activity (in or out of Iraqi Army uniform) is driven by Baby Sadr than the media would lead you to believe. Quite a bit of it stems from Badr or smaller groups. The emphasis on Sadr reflects the American habit of personalizing every foreign policy problem, and the fact that Sadr […]