Lessons from the Fanatical Archives
Found this while surfing the Mint, as I regularly do (where else do you stand an equal chance of nudity or some well written political commentary?). Anyways, I came across Billy's post about When Democracy Failed: The Warnings of History by Thom Hartmann which draws a striking similarity between what's happening now and what happened 70 years ago in Germany. Its not bleeding heart liberalism or hard edged intellectualism at all, its reasoned, its paced, its very, very well written and goes a long way to shining a light down the path America may be headed (note that I say may be headed, the world today is totally different from 1933).

A quick war joke and we're on to the next topic. From EB comes this "humor" that is almost too real to be funny. But its still worth a grin. Hold your mouse over the question for the answer
How does the American govt know that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction?. The link is to another forward regarding the war from Adnan, take a peek for a laugh. Or cry because its so obviously true (maybe).

March Madness? Thanks I'd Rather Watch Paint Peel
This next bit is far less pertinent in the face of the article and post above but oh well, its written and on to the blog it shall have to go.
Yeah, yeah, I know the whole universe is poised to go crazy for March Madness, the NCAA's hoopity par excellence, whatever. And it only serves to highlight the ever more present fact that I really dislike basketball. College, pro, women's, paralympics, whatever the form. Basketball bores me to tears. I don't mind shooting hoops or something because that's me taking part but watching basketball is less enthralling than watching houseflies hump on a window sill and less educational.

Why do I dislike basketball? Could it be because I'm not six feet tall plus? Could it be because I grew up out in the country where we had wilderness to play in and not the concrete jungle of urbania? The reasons are many and varied. One, its boring to watch genetic freaks run (lope is a better term for most of them) back and forth on a wood court inside. Two, its a sport that exemplifies much of what I find distasteful about American society (the showing off, the showing up, the thuggishness of the sport, the it's-okay-to-cheat-if-you-don't-get-caught mentality). Three, if its such a physical game then let them hit, let them body check, let them fight and get it over with and stop the stupid drama. Four, they wear the gayest uniforms (not in the sexual sense but in the damn-those-things-look-stupid sense) in all of sport and yes, that does include Cricket (I kind of dig on the batsman's pads but that's another story) but doesn't include men's figure skating (come on now, I know the skaters are athletes but figure skating's not a sport and maybe I should devote a post or two to that disparity as well).

I know lots of people like basketball and more power to them but please, when I say I don't like the sport, SHUT UP about it. I'm sick to death of people wanting to debate why I should like the stupid sport. I don't. Get over it. And get out of the way, spring training baseball's on TV.

A Curious Dual Edged Word
I've been thinking over the last couple of days how strange a word "resign" is. It means both the act of re-signing a contract and it also means quitting. How? Seems fraught with stupidity doesn't it?