Scifi, cut it out!

So I'm back from the dentist after a one hour procedure turned into two. Yeah my teeth are incredibly screwed up and this was my not so welcome reminder. It's really nice to no longer have a sharp edge occasionally cutting into my tongue for the first time in ages.

Anyhoo I didn't have to get up quite so early today 'cause of the whole dental epic so I stayed up and watched the latest episode of Dresden Files and it was surprisingly, refreshingly good. Of course I knew precisely what was going to happen from start to finish which caused me to mutter at the tv throughout most of it, "God Harry stop being so damn stupid and open your goddamn eyes!" But aside from that I liked the story and I loved the little character stuff, particularly between Harry and Bob. I have to say the tv show and the changes they've made have actually made Harry a great deal more likeable than the book version.

The story behind the great family tragedy is shaping up nicely, the relationship between Bob and Harry is a delight. I love that the one person Harry's actually close to in this world is a ghost. And Rothbert of Bainbridge's backstory is getting more fascinating by the episode, indeed he's the reason I keep tuning in from week to week. I'm dying to know more about Winnifred, the powerful sorceress who kept him close to her in life and for whom he risked everything, including eternal damnation.

And...ok, so maybe I'm considering writing a HP/DF crossover wherein Voldemort attempts to make a deal with Justin Morningway and Bob was mixed up in the middle of it.

So, in summary I'm actually falling for a show whose book series I can't even finish reading and that probably won't even get renewed for next season. On the plus side my favorite character is already dead so he's safe enough.

Pre-emptive genocide

Whiz! Go The Goalposts

How much contact did there have to be between al Qaeda and Saddam for the U.S. to be legitimately concerned?

* Although we actually went to war with Iraq because of [mumble mumble], the fact that Saddam didn’t have a relationship with Al Qaeda only enabled the threat that he could have started one.

Qetesh the Abyssinian responds:

I thought your headline was a joke, but no, it’s the actual headline. I read the article, then read some of the comments.

Folks, these people scare the crap out of me. Maybe it’s because a relative of mine died a few days ago, so I’ve been thinking about life and death and things like that. Or maybe it’s because I’m a girly progressive. Or maybe it’s because I’m barking mad. Dunno.

But the fact that these people are seriously espousing what amounts to genocide, based on fear of some possible attack in the future, scares the absolute bejeezus out of me. It doesn’t matter to them whether or not Saddam had any contacts with al Qaeda at all. It doesn’t matter to them whether or not Saddam had any WMDs: hell, he coulda maybe got some, sooner or later, and that’s enough for these folks.

And the blind, stubborn, pig-headed insistence that what they believe will happen, will happen, or indeed is happening, just knocks the wind out of me. They believe firmly that killing a bunch of Iraqis will make the turr’rists sit up and pay attention, and lordy lordy, that’s what they see. They believe that the US has the right, nay, the duty, to go out killing furr’ners, in their own homes no less, and fail completely to entertain the thought that those same furr’ners might not like it.

To say nothing of the absolute, solid gold, all-singing all-dancing, Stupid involved in the idea that the US is threatened by anyone, anywhere. Jesus wept, people, don’t you have the slightest idea of the enormous weapons disparity between the US and the rest of the world? That’s like Mike Tyson being afraid of a 3-year-old.

And, of course, the long-running idiocy of claiming the War Against Teh West, when these idiots (a) have likely never been out of the US; (b) don’t know any furr’ners at all; (c) don’t speak the language and therefore have no idea of translation issues or local non-US news. All that ignorance in one sweaty, cheeto-stained package, yet they claim superior knowledge based on god knows what.

I’ve had it. I’ve had enough of being human (or at least pretending). From now on, I’m from a different species than these bozos. I want nothing to do with this homocidal idiocy.

And RandomObserver adds:

I have yet to team up with Darth Vader and Zombie Hitler, but that only leaves open the dreadful possibility that I might at some point in the future.

Toadies

Ok so I'm currently watching "The Worst Jobs in History" (the Stuarts) and just found out where the word "toady" came from. Apparently they were the sidekicks of quack medical practitioners peddling their cure alls. The "toady" would appear to swallow a poisonous toad and then be "cured" by the quack's medicine. Is it wrong to be so utterly delighted by etymology? Yeah, ok, I'm a word geek, I cop to that.