Moe Lane

…about Native Americans, apparently:

It’s like naming our murder weapons after victims of our crimes: Apache, Tomahawk… It’s as if the Luftwaffe were to call its fighter planes “Jew” and “Gypsy.”

Not to mention the US Army, but we knew that already.  I can only assume that it’s due to his being steeped in the deeply parochial and insular culture that is Western academia: if he had more extensive life experience then he’d know that the Army honors Native American nations by naming its military helicopter classes after them, and makes it a point to have representatives of said nations participate in solemn rituals involving those helicopters.   The next example of same will take place in May of 2011, involving Lakota Light Utility Helicopters; as the link shows, representatives of the Oglala Sioux Nation…

- that’s a Native American nation associated with the Lakota, Chomsky; I only mention this elementary detail since you apparently don’t know anything about the original inhabitants of this continent -

…have been involved as respected participants in the acquisition of the helicopters from the beginning.  And why should they not be respected?  Their ancestors were brave men and women and renowned warriors, and their descendants have shown – REPEATEDLY – that they have not forgotten how to fight with valor and skill; it is no insult to honor their nations by naming our war machines after them.

(pause)

That made absolutely no sense to you at all, Chomsky?  Well, it was your choice to so thoroughly isolate yourself from your country, not mine.

Moe Lane

PS: What?  Oh, yes, the rest of the article was equally ignorant.

I’m blatantly stealing this clip from AoSHQ for two reasons.  First off, just look at it:

I’ve played video games like that.  No, literally, I have played video games where the characters moved liked that, only maybe a little more smoothly. (more…)

The basic system in the United Kingdom is what’s known as ‘first past the post:’ essentially, whoever has a plurality of votes wins.  Plurality wins are in fact somewhat typical results in parliamentary systems, given that parliamentary systems tend to spawn viable third and fourth parties like rotten meat was once believed to have spawned flies*; but it can be a problem when one side of the ideological spectrum is fragmented among several different parties, and the other is not.  This is the situation in England right now, in fact; which is why the Liberal Democrats (who are the junior partners in a coalition government with the Conservatives**) were pushing an alternative voting scheme where you could indicate second and third choices, until somebody hit the 50%+1 vote mark.

As the PJ Tatler noted, the goal here for the British Left was to keep their fragmentation while eliminating the bad effects from it: presumably, the ability to reassign votes in divided elections would give Leftist candidates a better chance of actually winning seats.  Alas, the vote went against the Liberal Democrats 2-1; partially because the Conservatives were naturally opposed to the notion… and partially because apparently the Labour party was not entirely in favor of it, either. (more…)

…but it looks like only the former knows it.  Compare Bush’s use of the first-person singular in his speech about the capture of Saddam Hussein with Obama’s in his speech about the death of Osama bin Laden; the latter comes across as a bit… defensive, doesn’t he?  It’s almost as if the President’s subconsciously aware of the fact that his supposedly ‘gutsy call‘ was neither gutsy, nor even possible without the patient and largely unheralded work of his despised predecessor… who was, by the way, not a complete narcissist who visibly wilts in the absence of constant praise*.

But surely that can’t be the case.

Moe Lane

*Note that I have not accused anyone of being such a person; merely noting that the 43rd President of the United States was someone who is demonstrably not.

I just watched Monsters on Netflix, and… it’s not half bad.  It’s an independent film that is ostensibly about, well, monsters rampaging through the Mexican countryside; it’s actually about immigration and/or relationships, depending how you turn your head and squint.  Noteworthy for a couple of things: first, if you want me to watch art films, or whatever the term is, stick some rampaging monsters in it*.  Second: this film had a $500K budget, which tells me that Hollywood is inflating its operating costs by a factor of ten or more. Anyway, it’s a pretty clever flick that worked well within the limitations of its budget and resources.

And so, adieu to O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Moe Lane

*Ninja work, too.

Under Pressure, Queen & David Bowie

Man, old-style music videos are weird.

…Shadows over Filmland and Stunning Eldritch Tales; they’re both for the Trail of Cthulhu roleplaying game… which, if I haven’t mentioned before, is a pretty good mystery-geared RPG (genre: pulp horror).  This is rarer – much rarer – than it looks; most RPGs are either combat-oriented or character-oriented.  Which means that most RPGs are better suited for either hitting the orc for 2d6+4 crushing damage, or else analyzing the subtle inner torments that come with being a member of a ‘monstrous’ race, and how they affect your ability to order a pizza*.  Finding out how the orc is involved with the murder of Professor Plotwagon is usually handled in an ad hoc manner; it’s nice to have a game system that’s designed for the mystery genre.

I mention this mostly because I am growing heartily sick of watching this administration muck up a message that is the political equivalent of FREE BEER; worse, I’m getting bored with it, too.  Depression-era cosmic horror pulp is a bit of a relief.

Moe Lane

*Yes.  Dragonlance, as seen through the lens of the World of Darkness, would be hysterical.  If you don’t get that joke, don’t worry: it’s just geeks being geeks.

Well, one secret:

1. Get Garage Band for the iPad2.
2. Hand it over to your wife the musician, with a happy “You want to play with this?”
3. Wait until she’s utterly engrossed before you mention that you put it on the card.

Hopefully, Garage Band will let me record Skype calls (even if it doesn’t, I can use the whole thing as an audio recorder.

I think that the Old Grey Lady may be a touch worried about the way that former governor Tim Pawlenty is handling his awkward past support of job-killing cap-and-trade schemes:

…Mr. Pawlenty looked right at the camera after the radio ad played, apologized to the American people, and said he had made a “mistake.”

“I’ve said I was wrong. It was a mistake, and I’m sorry,” Mr. Pawlenty told the Fox television audience, presumably filled with potential Republican primary voters. “You’re going to have a few clunkers in your record, and we all do, and that’s one of mine. I just admit it. I don’t try to duck it, bob it, weave it, try to explain it away. I’m just telling you, I made a mistake.”

…particularly since Pawlenty also didn’t take the opportunity to deflect the issue by slamming other Republicans, past and present*.  That’s not exactly what you’d call welcome news for some; which no doubt has nothing to do with the fact that the NYT attempted to compare this behavior with… wait for it, wait for it… John Edwards: (more…)

Well.

It might not suck.

Via @CalebHowe.

James Lileks, in the process of genially sneering at a Guardian writer’s not-genially sneering at an Alabaman Olive Garden (which was apparently a stand-in for America itself):

And if we seem arrogant when it comes to beating fascism, forgive us once more, for we have something you don’t.

Practice.

Not that this is entirely true: the British at the very least kept fascism from their throats long enough for us to get there after the French caved.  But James was justifiably annoyed at the time.

Moe Lane

Via Ed Driscoll, via The Sundries Shack.

“Lawrence, we can end this interview right now if you don’t want me to finish my point.”

I know this, because I just watched him crawl on the floor trying to retrieve them after he tried to push around former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This one’s going around. Newsbusters, @adambaldwin, the Daily Caller – take your pick. Particularly enjoyable was the part where she called O’Donnell a liar:
(more…)