(no subject)

( Last night was a pain in the ass, though. )

from my friend Nick

From today's Washington Post:

Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Wednesday described the U.S. occupation of Iraq as "a fiasco" and suggested American voters should follow the example set by Spain and change their leadership by supporting Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts for president in November.

Nick writes: Does Zapatero not realize that he just added a quarter million votes for Bush in November? I bet if Chirac and Schroeder endorse Kerry, Bush will win with 78 percent of the vote.

My reply: Is there any chance that people who think France is just a bunch of "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" are not *already* voting for Bush?

Maybe if Democratic operatives set up Krispy Kreme vans outside the polls, all these voters can be distracted and led away murmuring "do....nu...ts" to themselves and drooling...

My friend K commented:

You missed the big endorsement Bush got. Al Qaida officially supports him because his policies have been so good at demonstrating that the US is evil and building their movement.

speaking of Homer Simpson

redactrice dropped Melissa off at the Metro and drove me to work because of the whole car fiasco (this on a day she's taken off work to get ready for a birthday party for me--is this devotion in a soon-to-be ex or what?)

We passed a lot that was being cleared of all its nasty, leafy, rooty trees so as to make way for some nice, clean, tidy condos. M remarked on her sadness at the trees being knocked down. I agreed. Chris said, "Yeah, I could never work for a tree-killing company or.. HEY! look at that cute little blue car!"

It was just such a classic Homer moment that M and I burst into hysterical laughter, in which C joined us after a minute or two of pro-forma pouting at being laughed at...

More praise and assistance for another of our undemocratic "allies"

The US Secretary of State Colin Powell says Washington will elevate its military ties with Pakistan, making it a major ally outside of Nato.

So we're rewarding a government that came to power in a military coup and a country that is one of the foremost proliferators of WMD technology in the world. A dictator who can't even control his own country and is running in fear from radical fundamentalist Islamic forces that want to turn one of the more advanced countries in south Asia back to medievalism. All so as to "make it easier for Islamabad to acquire the arms it needs to compete with India in conventional weapons"? But there's no way that Pakistan (pop. 153 million) can ever effectively compete with India (pop. 1 billion) in conventional terms; three successive wars have proven that.

Pakistan: another of our partners in peace. What's next? Myanmar? Sudan? Zimbabwe?

'High-value' al Qaeda target may be surrounded in Pakistan

Pakistani forces have surrounded what may be a "high-value" al Qaeda target in Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan, President Pervez Musharraf told CNN.

"We feel that there may be a high-value target," Musharraf told CNN. "I can't say who."

Two Pakistani government sources told CNN that intelligence indicates the surrounded figure is Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's number two leader.