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Moving

Moving the worksite to a new building. Might be a couple of days (or could be later today!) before I unleash my insightful views on the world.

Go get some coffee, I'll be right back.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:36

G5 Girls!

Lileks has a great pic of his daughter on a G5 box today:



Not to be outdone, Corsair has a similar pic:



and another:



Let's hope we start a trend!

UPDATE: It seems Brian also has someone to play on his G5 box... Is it a girl?

UPDATE II: But wait, here is more G5 Girl Goodness
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 17:35

Seperated At Birth?

Damn! This guy is scary looking:


And he looks kinda like Saruman!


He is evil, so maybe he is the same guy?! (I know I have never seen them in the same room together!)
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:30

Money, Meet Mouth

OK people (or person or whoever reads this). Time for you to let your mouth have a vacation and stick some of your moolah up there where your pie hole normally sits. I was trolling around the Chief Wiggles site this morning and came upon the following:

Okay! We are finally ready for this to start!

First, some ground rules. These toys are for Iraqi children, so let's keep that in mind when shopping.

Some no no toys:

Any guns of any kind
No violent action hereos
No violent toys
No barbie dolls or dolls skantily dressed
No toys that shoot something, no projectiles
No water guns
Lets just keep it simple, simple toys, just the basics, these kids have
nothing.

Please put any suggestions for toys in the comment area.

Some other items that are nice are pencils, pens, paper to draw and color on.

Toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, brushes, combs, etc.

Nice stuffed animals, other items.

Just use your good judgement, and if you are unsure, contact a local muslim group for help.

Here is the mailing address to send items to:

Chief Wiggles
CPA-C2, Debriefer
APO AE 09335


As the Chief has said, ALL toys will be distributed to the children, unless they are inappropriate.

Please folks, spread this around. Let's get as many toys as possible over there. If the Chief can't do it alone, there are many others serving with him that are more than willing to help.

So now I want you to do the American thing and dig deep and send these poor kids some shit to play with. The Corsair clan currently has three up and coming Junior Pirates with more swag than they know what to do with. Imagine being an Iraqi kid and having to play with holes in the ground and spent shell casings. Let me spell it out, It would suck. Children should have the time and opportunity to be kids and you can help!

I also read in the comments section about a place call the Oriental Trading Company (cheap toys and games you can buy by the dozen). I have therefore ordered the following to be sent to the Chief:

RAINBOW TWIST JUMP ROPE (1DZN)
MINI WILD & CRAZY BUBBLE BOTTLES (2DZ)
COLORING BOOKS (6DZ)
PLUSH ANIMAL HAND PUPPET ASSORTMENT (1DZN)
ZOO ANIMAL ASSORTMENT (1DZN)
LASER METALLIC PINWHEELS (1DZN)
JUMBO SIDEWALK CHALK (3PC/BX, 1DZN)

If you do make an order over $60 (c'mon you cheapskates, $60 ain't shit to you and it will make a world of difference for the children of Iraq) you can get free shipping by typing in WC42396 in the Key Code box when you make your order.

I do not urge you to do this, I order you to! The sooner we can get the next generation of Iraq thinking nice thoughts about the US, the sooner our boys and girls can come home.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:40

Soylent Green is People ('s umbilical cords)!!!

OK, This is Just... Ewwwww. What the hell is wrong with these people:

�Hospitals traded over 37,000 umbilical cords on the black market to pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies last year, reports stated yesterday.

According to the National Health Insurance Corporation and the Korea Food and Drug Administration, the umbilical cords of 78.6 percent of all deliveries last year were sold by hospitals to two pharmaceutical companies, identified only by their initials, H and D.

These two companies in turn sold the umbilical cords via illicit markets for use in making drugs, herbal medicines and cosmetics, reports said.

Herbal medicine?! Drugs?!?!

I am now afraid to eat or drink anything anymore.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 11:35

Get Ready for Prison Stripes, Baby!

Ha ha! Stupid, whiny bitch gets sent to the poke!

HONOLULU �— A California woman who pleaded guilty to planting notes threatening to kill Americans aboard a Hawaii-bound cruise ship, forcing the vessel to be diverted, was sentenced Monday to two years in federal prison.

Kelley Marie Ferguson (search), of Laguna Hills, was given the maximum sentence allowable under federal guidelines, which is determined based on criminal history and other factors. The charges were punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 under the USA Patriot Act.

Ferguson, 20, will begin her sentence Nov. 4 for penning notes threatening that Americans would die if the Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas (search) stopped at a U.S. port.

And what sort of trials and tribulations was she going through that forced her to take this (stupid and) drastic step:

Ferguson, who hid that she was pregnant at the time, told authorities she carried out the hoax in hopes of diverting the ship and cutting short a family vacation to return home to her boyfriend.

Wonder what sort of winner that guy is?

But it is all ok since:

In asking the judge for leniency in sentencing, public defender Loretta Faymonville said Ferguson's threat was not driven by political or financial reasons. Faymonville said her client was "very, very sorry."

"It was done without malice or intended to hurt anyone," Faymonville said. "She was pregnant. She was scared. She wanted to go home."

She was on a frigging cruise, fergoshsakes! What was she scared of!?!? If she didn't want to go she should have made that plain before she got on the boat!

Enjoy your new accommodations for the next two years, punk!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 11:33

You Know What? I Really Don't Care

More whining about the poor starving North Koreans (you know, the same North Koreans who are threatening to rain destruction down upon us blah blah blah):

NEW YORK - The director of the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that Wash- ington's possible suspension of aid to North Korea could have a terrible impact on the country's hungriest people.

The United States, which accounts for half the organisation's assistance to the communist nation, said this week it was reconsidering sending 66,000 tonnes of cereal and rice if the North Korean leadership did not allow the WFP to properly monitor food shipments.

WFP officials said the supplies could run out as early as next month, which would exacerbate the impact of the country's 'lean season' between planting and harvesting.

If it isn't the "lean season" it is the winter when they have no food. If it isn't winter it is spring when everything has run out. If it isn't spring then it is fall because their shitty farm management practices wasted whatever they were able to grow. And if it isn't typhoons then it is rain, mudslides, snow, wind, or alien invasion.

These people are perennially in need of food and the world has started to grow tired of feeding them:

South Korea has already delivered more than 100,000 tonnes of food aid to the North, meeting its pledge for the year.

But next-largest donor Japan - where North Korea has become an unpopular cause in recent years after Pyongyang admitted kidnapping Japanese citizens - has cut off its 100,000 tonnes of annual assistance.

Good for the Japanese. North Korea should go to all those puny countries who send bouquets and messages of solidarity and ask them for some food instead.

Or ask their benefactors the Chinese to cough up some rice (ewww, bad visual).
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:02

Look on My Computers and Despair

Super secret pictures of the Corsair Cave's Network Operations Center have surfaced on the net. In order to dispell any rumors of wimpiness I have decided to release my own.

Look and be envious, propeller-head wanna bes!


That would be the new G5 on the left, the slightly older G4 in the middle and of course the Sun Sparc 10 on the right with its associated D1000 disk array beneath it.

Men went to the moon with less power in their hands. Wonder what Corsair can accomplish?!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 19:45

Now THIS Takes Balls!

Give these guys a trophy or something. They got guts:

A small-time bank robbery does not make headline news in many parts of the world.

But when three armed robbers held up a bank in secretive North Korea last month, the incident was said to be unprecedented in the country's history.

The full force of North Korean officialdom appears to have united in search of the culprits.

These guys are headed straight for the electric cattle prod room if they ever get caught.

Odd that they would steal a pile of money in a country where there is nothing to buy. Maybe they are just nuts.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:18

My Gasted Has Been Flabbered!

flabbergasted

adj : as if struck dumb with astonishment and surprise; "a circle of policemen stood dumbfounded by her denial of having seem the accident"; "the flabbergasted aldermen were speechless"; "was thunderstruck by the news of his promotion" [syn: dumbfounded, dumfounded, stupefied, thunderstruck]

So I read a story over there on lucianne.com (which is usually populated by grunting religoids) and do believe I agree with their sentiment on this story:

A Latino man caught with 2 pounds of cocaine in the trunk of his car may go free today, after a judge found that the State Police troopers who arrested him had routinely searched more cars driven by minority motorists than whites.

Worcester Superior Court Judge John S. McCann threw out the evidence of the cocaine and the man's admission he planned to sell it. Legal observers called it extremely rare for a judge to exclude evidence in a criminal case solely because of a statistical pattern suggesting racial bias.

You have evidence and admission of guilt. What more do you need? Ohhhh! He was a minority gentleman and it turns out that the trooper tends to stop more hardworking, family-centric minority folks than he does oppressor white Nazi Klan people. Therefore the poor oppressed cocaine tafficer gets to go free.

What the FUCK is going on? If he had been a terrorist planning an attack would he have been set free? If he had just killed someone and was fleeing arrest would he have been set free? Did he get his cocaine, which the oppressive white boot-on-neck police force illegally stole from him, back? Will he be reimbursed for the cost of being incarcerated?

Neither of the men in the car spoke much English, but the driver, who is not named in the court record, volunteered to Shugrue that his license was suspended, and that the passenger, Lora, owned the car. The trooper testified that he took the driver to his patrol car, intending to let the men leave with Lora driving. Then he saw Lora, still in the Pontiac, talking on a cellphone, and then opening the car door, as though he might be planning to get out of the car. The trooper approached the car again, and Lora closed the door.

The trooper shined his flashlight into the car and saw a sealed plastic bag on the driver-side floor, containing what he thought was cocaine. He called for backup, and when Trooper William Pinkes arrived, they searched the trunk, finding a larger package wrapped in cellophane, next to the spare tire. It contained about 1,000 grams, or 2.2 pounds, of cocaine.

Lora, 53, who is a Dominican immigrant, was arrested and taken to the State Police barracks. The officers said he admitted that he had bought the cocaine in the Bronx for $26,000, and intended to sell it in Worcester for $30,000.

The poor man is now out $26,000 (if the police do not return his illegally seized property)!! Will he get some victims compensation money?

Lawyer talk coming up:

John Reinstein, legal director for the ACLU of Massachusetts, praised the decision: "We applaud Judge McCann for his willingness to enforce the constitutional guarantee of equal protection."

Erlich, the defense attorney, acknowleged that the decision might be hard for some people to stomach. His client did have 1,000 grams of cocaine in his trunk.

"But the Equal Protection Clause does not focus on what was found, or how much was found, but on the process in which it was found," Erlich said.

Fuck the process! Dude is guilty and I hope the cops follow his ass around 24/7 for the next year and bust him every time he crosses the street illegally! Although I am sure this brush with oppression will set him on the straight and narrow and he will immediately run out and get his college degree and volunteer to feed orphaned kittens.

Stupid ass people. I hate them!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:51

And the Wind (Almost) Blew

Remember that Big Wind I was talking about in the post below? Seems we have imported it here into Northern Virginia. And in so doing it appears that everyone is now cowering in their basements. The winds have kicked up to upwards os 15 miles per hour and I actually saw some drips on my windshield when I drove in (on the nicely empty freeway) this morning. We may, in fact get some cloud cover at some point today. Luckily the US Government, the Metro, and all the schools are closed down so that no one's hair will get mussed by the breeze.

These are the same people who's ancestors spent weeks or months in leaky boats crossing the Atlantic or spent months on the trail moving to California. Now they are scared of getting wet.

Silly people.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:13

I thought It Was Just a Big Wind?

Typhoon means literally "Big Wind" (Tae Poong in Korean). So a big wind rolled through Korea the other day. Big winds have rolled through there before and probably will again. Koreans should know this since, last I checked, one or more of them have been living in and around the Korean peninsula for the last 5,000 years or so (as they are always reminding us).

So Korea gets the latest in a long series of big winds come through and what happens? Their infrastructure falls down! At least in the ports. When they were building the big crane things didn't someone think to ask about the possibility of weather impacting the cranes ability to.. oh, I don't know... Stand up? Isn't that what cranes are all about? Standing up so that they can load big shipping containers full of Samsung cell phones, LGS washer and dryers and Kia shit-cars (ddong cha)?

Was engineering involved in any way in the construction of this cardboard-strengthed metal monstrosity? Instead of engineering did Koreans once again use economics instead to design and build these tinkertoys? "Well, it would cost a lot of won to build it correctly using scientific methods and proven engineering designs. So let's build it sloppily and pocket the unused won so I can give more money to the Room Salon girls! What are the odds of it falling down?"

Unfortunately that seems to be the prevailing thinking in Korea. Build it well enough so that the bribes paid to the building inspector don't have to be too high then live (or die) with the consequences (see Korean tunnels, buildings, subway systems, bridges, cranes).

And anyway I went to school with the local banker and government official so I can borrow the money from the bank, bribe the government official with it, and not one of us will go to jail.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:40

OK, This is What I am Imagining

I am not sure if this is a good idea or not:

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - If you're a female cashier or a corporate officer at Wal-Mart, age 18 and over, and you're not afraid to shed your inhibitions in front of the camera, Playboy wants you.

Playboy.com announced Monday it is searching for the sexiest women at Wal-Mart Stores (WMT: Research, Estimates), the world's biggest retailer.

"Wal-Mart employees have a reputation for being cheerful and now Playboy.com is giving them a chance to smile for the camera," Playboy said in a press release. "Playboy.com wants Wal-Mart's sexiest assets to roll back their clothes and pose nude."

Playboy ran a similar-themed 'Women of Enron' last year and 'Women of Starbucks' photospreads in the magazine earlier this year. The Wal-Mart theme is the first for Playboy.com.

The offer took Wal-Mart by surprise.

"I'm not aware that Playboy put out something like this (referring to the press release)," said Tom Williams, spokesman for Wal-Mart. "But this is not a ballpark that Wal-Mart wants to play in."

Ewwww. I have been to WalMart. it sure ain't Target!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 14:31

blogger is now giving away some of the things it used to charge for.

This post is just a test.

I passed!

wrong, i failed.

Anyone know what the "Title" and "URL" fields are for and how to make them work?
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 10:54

Take That, Backwards-Ass Bastards

What has Islam ever given the world of science and engineering? Nothing even remotely resembling the US Space Program and its many achievements. It is time to salute one of the best:

A spacecraft named Galileo, flying from Earth on a 14-year voyage that covered nearly 3 billion miles through the hostile environment of the planet Jupiter, is about to die -- crashing by design into the very planet whose secrets it has so stunningly revealed.

The plunge into Jupiter's atmosphere of dense gas was ordered long ago, for the body and instruments of the three-ton spacecraft carries varied microbes from Earth, and NASA scientists want Galileo destroyed to prevent any possible contamination of the Jovian moon Europa whose deep ocean might just possibly harbor life of its own.

This article also takes a little dig at the last big religion that tried to tell science what to think:

When the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei first trained his crude telescope on Jupiter in 1610 and saw four tiny moons orbiting the faint planet, he could not have foreseen that nearly 400 years later a spacecraft from Earth would fly into that same Jovian neighborhood and write a new chapter in the history of space exploration.

Galileo wrote his own imperishable record by confirming -- to the great displeasure of his church -- that Copernicus had it right all along, that the solar system was in fact a constellation of planets all racing around the same central sun. Earth, after Galileo, could no longer be vaunted as the center of the universe.

Stupid, backwards-ass thinking idiots. Leave science to scientists, y'all can take care of the fairy tales.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 10:49

Buncha Panty Waisted, Nancy-Boy Whiners

The SF Chron has almost a whole page of nervous Nellie Whiner Types expressing their dismay for our actions post 9/11. I don't have the time to get to them right now but I thought you should see what the weak-kneed amongst us think:

SF Chron Letters

Hopefully I will get to some conterpoints soon.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:41

Ever Wonder What Happens When...

You mistype www.blogspot.com and make it www.blogstop.com? You end up at something called the Havana Journal which is trying to sell blogstop.com. Not really all that interesting a site so let's move on.

How's about when your sleepy fingers manage to mangle blogspot into blogpsot. Here the wackiness just gets really really out of hand. Remember in the infancy of the internet when a website was one page long with links to other sites and maybe some text. Except for the complete whackoes or conspiracy theorists who got wordy (and usually in a English grammar ignorant sort of wordy) and forced you to scroll 10 or 15 pages down through their site looking for anything interesting. Well, welcome to "Aarons Bible" (also known as Addle Brained Retard Bible):

One evening, my wife and I heard some documentation that these were the last days before Jesus Christ would actually return. Not wanting to hear it, I almost walked out. Something kept me there, and I listened but was not convinced; however, I decided to do some research to find out if the Bible was really true. Indeed, if I could find one contradiction or anything that was not true, then I could disregard it. I believed this would not take long. This led me into much research. I learned nearly one-third of the Bible is directly or indirectly related to prophecy which includes about 10,000 prophecies. One thing needed, was to determine when the Bible was actually written. Thus, a study of biblical history, various translations, and archaeology was necessary. The Dead Sea Scrolls, which were found in Israel, contained parts of the Old Testament including prophecies of the coming of Jesus. It has been proven that these were written before Christ came. Thousands of clay tablets and archaeological sites also confirm many accounts in the Bible.

10,000 prophecies and all of them true! How's about next week's lottery numbers?

Now how about some of those "prophecies"?

The Bible gives us over 50 descriptions about the people at the time of the end. These fit the people of today perfectly, but did not fit the people of fifty years ago. Here are some:

A. Some would depart from the faith and go into devil worship-1 Tim 4:1. This is perfect.

B. People would mock about the last days and not believe-2 Pe 3:3; Jude 18.

C. People would become lovers of themselves-2 Tim 3:1,2. Remember the TV commercials�"I do it for me"?

D. People would be disobeying their parents-2 Tim 3:1,2.

E. People would be grateful for nothing-2 Tim 3:1,2.

F. Homosexuality would increase-Lk 17:28,30; ref Gen 19:5; Ro 1:24,26,27.

G. People would be without self-control in sex-2 Tim 3:1,2,6; Rev 9:21, Lk 17:28,30; Jude 7. Is this not the great sex generation?

H. People would love pleasures more than God-2 Tim 3:1,2,4. This is true. Shall we go on a picnic, watch football, or sleep. Church?�we can go another time. Our American motto "In God we trust" has become a joke. Remember, these were all predicted centuries ago as part of the signs that we are at the time of the end.

I. People would be taking drugs-Rev 9:21. The Greek word for sorceries, in Rev 9:21, means pharmaceuticals or drugs. God�s Word is 100% right on every one. That�s 6 out of 6. How could you have any doubts at this point?

Note: Fifty years ago, many people seldom locked their doors at night. There was little or no profanity on television, radio, or in the movies. One of the biggest problems in public school was gum chewing. Those days are long gone.

OK, where to start? OK, I can't. This assclown has just described Western, Eastern, Northern and Southern civilization for the last 10,000 years. For example, D. People would be disobeying their parents. I know that this has never happened except in the last couple of years. Shaaaa! What planet does this moron live on? And how about I. People taking drugs? Does he think drugs were invented recently? And the fact that there was no profanity on TV in the 1950s meant that there was no profanity in the home? Wake up, jackass!

8. The Gospel must be published in all the world-Mk 13:10. This seemingly impossible prophecy was written when there was no printing press, but today it is true. That's 8 out of 8.

How many nations were there in the world that these ignorant sheepherders knew about? And didn't they have papyrus or sheepskin or something that they could write with and send along to all six countries they they though constituted the world? Jesus was also reported to have said "Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done." Seems he was a little off, timewise wasn't he?

10. There would be a nation to the far east of Israel, to the end of the earth. This nation would have an army of 200 million. This is astounding. How could the Bible have told the location of a nation and given such a huge figure regarding the size of its army nearly 2000 years ago? China has boasted that they could field an army of this exact figure. That�s 10 out of 10.

Excuse me? 200 million in the Chinese army? One out of every six people in the military? Are you insane? You actually believe this shit?

I can't go on. It is like reading the ravings of a retarded 6-year-old high on ritalin. It makes no sense and it has not made sense for the hundreds of years that people have been trying to make it make sense. Hasn't happened yet and will not happen any time soon, fuckwit.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 15:26

What Took You So Damn Long?

Japan, admitedly is not the US. It is, however one of the most free countries in the world. I know there are all kinds of cultural restrictions on the Japanese as a whole, but you can pretty much do whatever you want in Japan without having to worry about being arrested or beat up for it. Want pink hair? Go ahead. Want surgery to make you look more western? Fine. Want to call the Emprorer a Royal Pain In The Ass (RPITA)? Just don't do it around Granny, she might croak. I have, therefore never understood the willingness of some who live in Japan to support North Korea. I understand the history between the two and see that it must be some kind of poke in the eye to the Japanese if I support Korea and do not try too hard to assimilate into your evil, colonizing culture. But, come one, if you have to support a Korea why not support the South? What has the North ever done for you?

Hopefully more and more people are coming around to that point of view:

For 50 years, the group sponsoring this event, the General Association of Korean residents of Japan, has loyally supported North Korea, providing millions of dollars in aid and sending representatives to serve in the Supreme People's Assembly. But in the last year, the group has split along generational and ideological lines as Japan's mood has turned strongly � and sometimes violently � against the group.

In the past, power brokers from the governing Liberal Democratic Party would sweep into founding-day banquets. But tonight, not even congressional representatives from the Communist Party of Japan dared be seen at a North Korean event.

Anger over North Korea's nuclear bomb program, its missile program and its past practice of kidnapping Japanese, has set Japanese public opinion sharply against North Korea and its supporters here. On the government level, Japan plans to spend $1.2 billion next year to start building a missile defense system against North Korea.

Why the hell would government people want to be seen at an event celebrating the creation of the worst communist state the world has ever seen? You pick up votes that way? Try as I might, I still can't and will never be able to completely understand them inscrutable Orientals!

"We are having a tougher and tougher time getting students," U Ze Song, principal of a pro-North Korean school, said tonight over a plate of sushi. Noting that portraits of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung were taken down at his school a year ago, he added, "We are emphasizing politics less, and emphasizing Korean ethnicity and language more."

Damn! Must be serious! Taking down the portraits in North Korea would be a hanging offense! For you, your family, everyone in the block that did not turn you in and most of your pets (if you haven't eaten them yet). And this bastard knows this. Yet he has still been willing to support it all these years (until the bills came due and no one wanted to attend his little Kim Il Sung school... Capitalist lackey!)

Speaking of the pressure to assimilate, Lee Hyon Suk, a recent graduate of the Korean school system here, said, "Parents now think, if you want to get ahead in Japanese society, you may as well go to a Japanese school and to a Japanese university, in order to get a job in a Japanese company."

Now there is a thought! Instead of banging your head against the wall that is Japanese society by clining to the failed state in North Korea, why don't we integrate into Japan and start getting ahead in life! Stupid idiots took 55 years to figure that out?

I return to an oft cited refrain: What the hell is wrong with these people?
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:13

Oh, And Eff Off Ya Rice Eating Commie Bastards!

If it weren't for the Chinese we wouldn't be able to get cheap toys in our Happy Meals from McDonalds. I am not sure what else they produce that we so direly need but I am guessing that if we were to turn off the spigot of cheap Chinese crap washing up on our shores for a couple of months the US economy would not, in fact run screaming to the shitter.

Why should we take so drastic a step as to deny our the fruit of our loins the 15 minutes of unbridled happiness that comes from smashing a crappy plastic movie character from a movie they most likely did not watch since said movie was undoubtedly putrescent to begin with? I think the reason of �hubris� comes to mind.

The Chinese do not have laws. They have suggestions. The Commie party in China may or may not follow these suggestions depending on which way the wind is blowing (literally and figuratively). So when they feel the need to do some nasty thing to someone they just go ahead and do it. They are trying to run the same tactic with the good ole US of A.

LHASA, Tibet (CNN) -- The spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, the Dalai Lama, has begun a three-week trip to the United States amid strong protests from China.

The visit kicks off in San Francisco Thursday, before he heads east and, more contentiously, to Washington.

Not only does Beijing object to the Dalai Lama's scheduled meetings with senior U.S. administration officials -- possibly including George W. Bush -- it has sought assurances the religious leader not be allowed to address political issues.

See, in China if the gubmint doesn�t want someone to say something that might displease them (see those Faolin Gong weirdoes) then the gubmint drops the poor son of a bitch down a deep hole and throws away the hole. Things are different �round these parts, Mr. Charlie Commie Chan! We got something here call the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. If that bed sheet wearing bald guy wants to come to our great country and stand on the street corner bellowing at the top of his lungs what a complete bunch of fuckwit, slope-headed bastards y�all are there is nothing the US government can do to stop him. It is called freedom, assbite. But you wouldn�t know anything about that, what with the oppressing and invading and threatening y�all are so busy doing all the time.

Chief among those issues is the secession of Tibet from Beijing's control.

"The Dalai Lama is not purely a religious figure. He has long been engaged in splittist activities," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan told CNN.

"The U.S. has stated it will not allow him to engage in splittist activities there and we urge the US to honor its commitments."

A meeting with the U.S. President is also a sore point.

"We know very well what the Dalai Lama is up to. We are strongly opposed to President Bush seeing the Dalai Lama under any guise or in any capacity," the Governor of Tibet Autonomous Region Jampa Phatsok said.

If the U.S. government has said anything slightly resembling what the Red Chinese claim then they are a bunch of fuckwits too! As soon as his bed sheetedness enters the country he should have the same right to say whatever the hell he wants to that everyone else in the U.S. has.

And as for Tibet, if you Chinese rat bastards hadn�t invaded it in the first place you wouldn�t be feeling guilty and trying to assuage your guilt now by shutting up your critics.

Free Tibet, damnit! (You gonna shut me up too!?!)
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 16:58

Bwahahahahahahah! "You'll Be Sterilized With Fear!"

I grew up watching horror flicks on Saturday afternoon. Space alien movies, giant ant movies, prehistoric things movies. I now stumble across the following:



and all my memories returned (click to see the preview).

Titanic battle for world supremacy, indeed!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 15:08

You Have To Feel Sorry for Him... But He is Still a Moron

Dude loses his wife and kids in a freak flash flood. One of the kids was recently adopted from China. Seems like the family is doing all the right things then BAM!

The water, which was coming from the south, hit the Rogers' northbound minivan and pinned it against a 20-foot-long concrete barricade that weighed 10,000 to 12,000 pounds.

"We thought we were safe," he said, but the water inside the vehicle quickly rose to the height of the steering wheel.

"Then the barrier just gave way," Rogers said. "Our children were screaming, terrified."

He and his wife, Melissa, quickly decided their only chance was to get out of the driver's side window, which "was opened a little bit."

"I kicked out the window and was instantly sucked into the raging water," he said.

"The three youngest children were still buckled into their car seats."

Killed in Saturday night's flash flood were Makenah Rogers, 8, Zachery Rogers, 5, Nicholas Rogers, 3, and Alenah Rogers, 1.

Awful, horrible, heart rending thing. The father's reaction is a bit of a stretch, however:

In Emporia, Robert Rogers, whose parents, in-laws and pastor attended the news conference with him, said he was "absolutely shattered" by the experience.

"The biggest question we have right now is 'Why?' " he said. "And we don't have an answer. We have faith and trust in the sovereignty of God.

"We will get through this. We will rise above. With God's grace, good will somehow come of this."

"Good will somehow come of this"? What the fuck is that supposed to mean? What good could possible come of this? Will a sign be erected near the site of the tragedy to warn others about not driving in a flood? Will this guy go on to marry again and have more children that would not otherwise have existed? What kind of brainwashing has this guy been through?

His wife and children were horribly drowned while crying in terror! Their last minutes I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy (ok, that is stretching it a bit) yet his little children had just gone through such a terrible thing. And now he wants to know "why". This is a good start. Always question authority (real or imaginary). What is not good is the whole "God must have a plan and that is why he killed my children (or, through his inaction allowed them to be killed)" nonsense. The church has never been able to answer "why". So they make up the whole "unknowable god" thing with his "unknowable plan" and his "unknowable reasons". Sounds like a crock of shit to me.

Wake up! If your god was so powerful and loving you wouldn't be sitting here talking about your loss. You would be at home celebrating your children's lives! Those kids did nothing to deserve to die (don't feed me that "original sin" bullshit). One of them just made the trip all the way over from China, you dimwit! Would a loving god put the little kid through all that just to watch her die so that "good will come of it"? Seems like a pretty heartless bastard to me.

What did happen was a tragedy. A random act of nature that just happened. There was no plan. There was no meaning. This poor shmoe got fucked for absolutely no reason. I know that must be hard to deal with, but throwing yourself on your powerless (or malicious) god doesn't do you any good either. The wackoes over on lucianne.com are praying for god to help this guy cope and give him peace. What, is god now a therapist? What happened to all the miracles he used to be able to perform (I read about them in his book)? He getting old? He can't lift up one little minivan now or divert some water to help out his "children"?

Grieve for the young lost lives and move on as best you can. That is all you can do. The only good that can come of it is if you wake up and stop using the church as a crutch to help you get through life.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 12:07

Ahhhhhhhhh!

What to make of these people?

Pubic hair transplants are big business in South Korea

Transplanted pubic hair is the latest trend in South Korea, where it is regarded as a sign of fertility.

Surgeon Afschin Fatemi, from Unna in Germany, said: "In the West, women try to reduce their genital hair as much as possible, but in Korea the trend is for forestation."

This can't be right, can it?
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 11:35

Whew! We're Not So Bad After All!

American kids are the spawn of the devil. So says many an ignorant social commentator ( I won't bother listing my long string of citations since I really don't have any and I am pulling this and any other authoritative quote on this site out of my butt). They lie, cheat, steal, kill, embezzle, commit voter fraud, and have bad hair (OK, those last ones were mainly their parents).

But at least they are not British! Woo hoo! Take that, you limey bastards! So much for tea with the Queen! Y'all's offspring can't even do tea with the cat!

ROTTEN parenting is creating a generation of ignorant kids who act like they are in the Stone Age, it was claimed yesterday.

Thousands of five-year-olds will start school this month unable to speak, eat or behave properly, said chief schools inspector David Bell.

They will not be able to fasten buttons, tie shoelaces or use a knife and fork.

And it is all because parents leave their children stuck in front of the telly instead of reading to them and playing learning games.

Head teachers fear this year�s intake will be the WORST generation in decades.

Bwahahaha!Couple of more generations and they will remember what Stonehenge is for and start using it again.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 11:33