Target Centermass

Day: May 18, 2005

  • Five Things I Don’t Get

    Yikes! Hammertime of Team Hammer’s Musings has tagged me with a meme. In a way I’m honored. In another way, I’m annoyed, as I remember how difficult it was coming up with interview questions for him on a previous meme. He made the most of my poor questions, so I owe him. Memes can truly be as frustrating as fun; nevertheless, I’ll go with the flow and see how this one works.

    List five things that people in your circle of friends or peer group are wild about, but you can’t really understand the fuss over.

    1) Charmed — This is my girlfriend’s favorite television show … by a freakin’ mile. Many a time its scheduling has had to be taken into account during our social planning. I’ll admit she’s quite willing to record but I know she’d rather watch the broadcast. I’ve caught maybe ten minutes — nice eye candy but quite the silly, trite yawner. As the old saying goes, there’s no accounting for tastes. That, and she willingly puts up with me. Yup, she’s a keeper. Besides, sooner or later Charmed will go bye-bye.

    2) Reality TV — Survivor and its ilk have nothing to do with reality or entertainment. A fad that can’t fade fast enough.

    3) The designated hitter — This is probably the result of moving to an American League area after growing up in cities on the senior circuit landscape. Call me a purist, but I prefer the idea of all nine playing the same game at the plate and in the field. I prefer the strategy required with juggling the line-up for a pitching change. I despise the fact that the DH has now spread like a plague to practically every level of the game, be it minor league, college or high school.

    4) Atkins/ South Beach — First, the diet: nothing tragic, but how about eating reasonably and exercising? Second, the dieters: do y’all have to treat it like a new-found religion? The time-tested zealots can be particularly condescending and annoying.

    5) Starbucks — Bad coffee. Bad prices, pompous employees, pathetically elitist menu and, oh yeah, bad coffee. One should be able to order coffee by saying a size, preferably in English, and uttering the word coffee instead of some eight-syllable mumbo-jumbo. One should then receive a cup of joe that does not taste burned. One should then hand the employee of the establishment a buck or two. One should definately then receive change. That is all that Starbucks is not.

    I now get to tag five people to do this meme themselves. Participation should be viewed as purely voluntary. How about…

    Eric
    Phil
    JohnL
    Raven
    and any other volunteer.

  • More Blogging to Come

    But first, what do y’all think of the new banner? It’s just a little geek tribute to the opening of Star Wars RotS. Don’t worry, the targeted T-72 will return shortly.

  • Al-Zarqawi Tape Defends Deaths

    Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, terrorist leader and sub-human extraordinaire, is trying to convince followers of Islam that, hey, it’s cool with their god if he kills innocents among them.

    An Internet audiotape posted Wednesday, purportedly by al-Qaida-in-Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, justifies the deaths of fellow Muslims in attacks against U.S. troops and their Iraqi allies by saying that jihad – or holy war – dwarfs all other concerns.

    “God ordered us to attack the infidels by all means … even if armed infidels and unintended victims – women and children – are killed together,” the speaker said. “The priority is for jihad so anything that slows down jihad should be overcome.”

    Realize that bombers in marketplaces are not targeting infidels — they are specifically aiming at the murder of innocent Muslims.

    The defense of the deadly attacks could be aimed at bolstering the ranks of the insurgency with Sunni Arabs who may have initially shied away over concerns about innocent civilians being killed. The speaker claimed that top religious scholars have repeatedly sanctioned suicide bombings.

    The tape was the first said to be from the Jordanian-born militant since a new, Shiite-dominated government was put in place in early May. In the past weeks, al-Qaida in Iraq and other militant groups have stepped up their campaign of car bombings, suicide attacks, shootings and kidnappings [apparently ordered by Zarqawi].

    […]

    At the Pentagon, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said al-Zarqawi’s justifications for killing fellow Muslims showed he “has absolutely no moral foundation. It’s an outrage.”

    “What he says is it’s OK for Muslims to kill Muslims, and not just any Muslims but innocents, men, women and children,” Myers told a news conference. “And that’s what he’s been doing. If you look at the statistics over the last couple of weeks, a lot of Iraqi men, women and children have died because this violent extremist is trying to convince others to do it.”

    In the tape, the speaker denounced Shiites, accusing Shiite militias operated by parties that are now part of the government of assassinating Sunni Muslim figures, kidnapping Sunni women and seizing mosques since the U.S.-led invasion two years ago.

    “These hateful brigades … deported Sunni families from the south, killed hundreds of the Sunnis, took over the mosques, and turned them to bastions of apostasy,” he said.

    Shiites are “collaborating with the worshippers of the cross,” who invaded Iraq, corrupted the country and violated holy sites, the speaker said. “This is all taking place under of a state of apostasy among the rulers of this nation.”

    […]

    “He said he’s trying to provoke a civil war. He’s trying to keep freedom from happening in the Middle East,” Myers told reporters.

    Of course the terrorists are hoping to incite a civil war, as I’ve stated many times. The movement of these radical Islamist bastards is one that feeds on suffering, both as a weapon and as a recruiting tool. A successful democracy in Iraq would be a virus that would suck the life out of the likes of Zarqawi.

    Chad has more over at In the Bullpen.