Preach it Brother George!

Murder in Moondust

The Second Life drama continues to unfold with a coerced confession, an academic digression and the interrogation of  RevPaperboy Boozehound. Come and read all about it at the Murder in Moondust blog.

Bring me the head of Martin Biron
Just watched the first two periods of the Canadiens-Flyers game before running off to work. The Habs were down 3-0 on some soft screened shots that wunderkind Carey Price should have stopped. Biron continues to stand on his head for the Flyers and I am much vexed, so here is some inspirational music.


SeeqPod - Playable Search

Addendum--It's two hours later and I finally found out what happened in the third period. Apparently Darien Hatcher is continuing to prove that he and the Flyers are the class of the league, though I suppose we should be grateful he hasn't bitten anyone yet. Though what can you expect from a team whose fans boo "O Canada"? And speaking of class:

Flyers bad boy Steve Downie got the crowd going again near the end of the first period, tripping Price behind the net and attracting several Canadiens as a melee ensued. The crowd once again showed its IQ level when it shouted "U-S-A, U-S-A," during the fight. Their hero, Downie, is from Newmarket, Ont.

Nice to see that we didn't let Biron off with a shutout at least, and Koivu continues to impress with both his talent and he drive, but we need more goals and we need more toughness on the forechecking. And Downie should get thumped everytime he steps on the ice next game.

Price was clearly rattled by the first goal and Carbo did the right thing to pull him in the third, although since the Flyers only had two shots on net in the period thanks to the extended powerplay, Halak wasn't really tested. Price will come back and shut out the Flyers on Thursday -- he hates to lose. Just ask Boston about game seven.

I guess hippies don't sue

Sorry to have stiffed you on the weekend entertainment videos this week, but I've been getting up early to watch hockey via dodgy internet streams (and yes, I feel Tom Kostopoulos was an excellent choice for Spiritual Leader of the Moment. Three goals all season and now three goals in the playoffs, including the overtime winner in the opening game against the Flyers. 'Nuff said!) but while catching the latest in North American commercials I was aghast to see the ad for this product:

At first I thought it was an update on the old Sy Sperling ads. The TV commercial features clean cut corporate types of a certain age with facelifts, capped teeth and a hint of salt and pepper at the temples cavorting with hip twentysomethings - surfing, hiking, playing electric guitar with a hot young blonde hanging off one shoulder.

It is hair dye for aging boomers "It's for the generation that swore it would never get old. And didn't." That rumbling sound you hear is Jerry Garcia rolling over in his extra wide grave.

Now, I know it is just me being closed minded and judgemental, so feel free to harsh on me in the comments, but I'm always a bit suspicious of men who dye their hair. It just seems vain and dishonest in men in a way that it doesn't for women. Maybe it goes back to Ronald Reagan, maybe it goes back to the subverting of one of my childhood heroes:

thus, it all returns to hockey.

'Funny,' but not 'funny - haha'

I'm hardly the first one to blog about Tony Zirkle's recent speaking gig in front of a group of Nazis to celebrate Adolf Hitler's birthday, but you have to see this bit from the man's own website to really get a handle on just how far up the delta of the Crazy River this guy has swum.

I'm considering discussing divorce aids and my plans for a "Derrenger's (sic) for Dildos" policy to put guns in American women's hands instead of divorce aids. Presently, when a criminal is arrested for a weapons crime, the prosecutors seek orders to destroy those weapons. What a waste! Put our criminal prisoners to work modifying those guns to be smart-guns that can only be fired when the female owner is holding it so that children don't hurt themselves and so that criminals can't use them (unless they use the woman's hand). When a women turns in her stash of divorce aids, then give her a free gun to defend America when the jihadists follow us home....

(brief amount of crazy snipped)

...I may also call attention to the fact that one of the biggest commercial frauds is that divorce aids market themselves as being for "novelty purposes only" so that they can avoid all consumer safety inspections; yet ,they then go to court and claim they have a 1st Amendment so called right to privacy to abuse their bodies. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19333870/page/2/ Who knows what toxic chemicals these women are inserting into the most intimate areas of their bodies and how many men chase children because they can not find comfort from an adult women.

No, really, he actually calls it "Derringers for Dildos." I mean...uh...he's...wow...just, wow.

Truly, this is not the kind of crazy we should run from. This is the kind of crazy we should avoid direct eye contact with as we back slowly and carefully through the nearest exit and bolt it shut behind us before calling in an immediate airstrike on the place.

The Indiana Republican party are doing their best to shove this guy out on an ice floe and deny he is even a party member. Zirkle, on the other hand, claims to have won 30% of the vote in the 2006 Republican congressional primary. A quick look around with the google shows him as a primary candidate in 2004, and Wikipedia lists him as having lost to Republican Congressman Chris "Count" Chocola 70% to 30% in the 2006 primary, so he must have been a party member at some point. And while huge numbers of registered party supporters don't always vote in primaries, 30% is still significant number. I'd guess having a nutbar like Zirkle around made whatever extreme right-wing positions Bushista Chocola and the rest of his party enspouse seem reasonable by comparison. Small wonder the district went democrat in the last election.

The scary part is that Tony Zirkle looks good on paper - he has a fairly impressive resume: Naval Academy and Georgetown grad, former prosecuter and seminarian. He was even a political science professor for a short stretch. Clearly he has either only slipped off the rails in the last few years or he has a history of fooling people into believing he's sane.

And then there were eight

There are no easy, sure bets in the second round of this year's NHL playoffs, though I feel a lot more confident about picking winners in the East than I do in the West. And based on my success in the first round, in which I called only one series in the right number of games (though I did pick six of eight winning teams) any bets you lay based on my advice better be money you can get along without.

Detroit vs Colorado
Goaltending may tell the tale here - If either side gets an exceptional performance between the pipes, it could be the defining factor. I'd give Detroit the edge on the strength of their blueline corps, but then again they did give up two games to the Predators. Detroit has some younger legs on offense and more depth, despite the Av's gang of stars from days gone by who can still do the job like Sakic and Forsberg. This will be a good, hard fought series: I'd say Detroit in six close games, but probably the most likely series to see an upset.

San Jose vs Dallas
Two teams I've never liked, so I don't care who wins. The Sharks look good on paper, but should have taken Calgary apart and didn't. They needed to get oldtimer Jeremy Roenick - a healthy scratch earlier - dressed to show them how to do it. Joe Thornton is not to be underated either, though his previous playoff record is not overly impressive this could be his year. Add to that a young, inexperienced Dallas defence missing Sergei Zubov and the Sharks look good, on paper. But Dallas just finished off last year's cup winner in six games and look hungry and Brad Richards seems to gotten back on track. This could be another close one, but I'll go with the Sharks in seven.

Pittsburgh vs New York
This is going to be an entertaining series. New York has the offense it needs to beat the Penguins and a solid goalie who, if he gets hot, could stone the twin snipers that are Crosby and Malkin. With the aforementioned two, the Penns have the offensive edge. The series could turn on special teams and which team's less than great defensemen have better series, but my money is on Sid the Kid being able to beat Lundqvist. Barring an injury to one of Pittsbergh's big guns, it will be the Penguins in six

Montreal vs Philadelphia
Obviously you know where my sympathies lie, but the this is the series I feel the most confident picking a winner for a number of reasons. The Flyers' offense is overly reliant on Briere, who won't be able to hear himself think in Montreal for the booing everytime he steps on the ice. Add to that the Habs' tough forechecking and of course Carey Price being unbeatable when he is having an "on" night. And I pity the goon who tries to run the goalie in this series, something the Flyers like to do and have done in each of the four games they have lost to the Habs this season. Koivu is back to lead the team and after the close-call with Boston they are unlikely to be overconfident or lax. Add to that the history of the two teams all the way back to the mid-70s finesse-versus-fisticuffs matchups and the pregame benchclearers of the 80s when Gainey and Carboneau were still on the ice -- the Flyers are team the Habs like to beat. Montreal has a faster team with more depth on the scoring chart and more finesse, while the Flyers have Briere, Prospal and a bunch of thugs like Downie and Cote. It could well be a chippy couple of games to start the series and if that's case, I like the Canadiens' chances even more, because we can and will outmuscle them as well as skate rings around them. Shades of '76 indeed!
Allowing for Price to have a couple more off nights, the Habs will ground the Flyers in six

Equality vs convenience

Shorter John McCain: Justice and equality are important, but not if it means a bunch of lawsuits and stuff.

To the "sour grapes" crowd within the Hillary camp: Are you still sure you want to vote for McCain if your favorite doesn't get the nomination?

One wonders whether McCain would have voted against striking down the Jim Crow laws on the basis that getting rid of the laws that allowed segregation would have just lead to more lawsuits against bus companies and lunch counter owners.

The Price is Right

While he had me worried with a couple of bad nights late last week, what can you say about a goalie who racks up two shutouts in the first round? Or about a guy like our Spiritual Leader of the Moment who, after scoring three goals all season, racks up two goals in his first playoff series? And how about Mark Streit scoring a sweet, sweet goal while playing with a sore hip or the nails-wish-they-were-this-tough Captain K returning to his playmaking ways while skating on a broken foot? And the brothers Kostitsyn? And Steve "he's here, he's there, he's everywhere" Begin? What can you say but Vive les Habitants!

 A note to my fellow fans in Montreal: I know it was a tense series, but this was only the opening round. Calm down, or the finals are going to have to be played under martial law.

(graphic shamelessly stolen from Eyes on the Prize, the source for all things Habs)

Almost as good as Tapeheads
Shorter, much less sarcastic address by Tim Robbins to the National Association of Broadcasters:
"You've repeatedly shit the bed over last few years and I'm going to rub your noses in it. Then I'll explain how to get the stains out."

Almost as sarcastic as this:

Some more rockin' weekend entertainment

The music of my youth - all Canadian edition

Ah the days of yore, when we could sit around on a Friday night in someone's basement, smoking Players Extra Lights, drinking Ex, planning bush parties and wondering what Erica Ehm looked like naked...

"Like actors who play Jesus in a movie of the week"

Mullet fever!!

"can't write songs about girls anymore, I have to write songs about women"

SeeqPod - Playable Search

Club owner slain!
Police baffled in search for suspects



(Yeah, I mess around in Second Life, hanging out with the General and his crew among other places - this is the latest dramatic turn of events.)

(Assorted Press) Thurssday April 17 -- Early this morning the body of club owner freereed Freenote was found dead in Birdland, in the Moondust sim. Although there were no signs of a struggle first responders on the scene said the cause of Ms. Freenote’s death is being ruled “foul play.”

Second Life Police questioned a despondent Wellington Bahram, last to see Ms. Freenote alive. “I don’t understand it,” said Mr. Bahram, a photographer with Metaverse Messenger. “She was fine when I last saw her. She said she had had a long day and was very tired. She lay down to sleep and I sat up with her. I thought she looked fine.” According to his statement Mr. Bahram left the sleeping Freenote around nine o’clock SL time.

Medical Examiner Thomas Noguchi said it appears Ms. Freenote died from asphyxia somewhere between the hours of 10PM and 2AM SL time. “It appears,” said Dr. Noguchi, “that Ms. Freenote was suffocated in her sleep. She was in good health before the time of her slaying and death by overdose of prescription drugs has been ruled out”. Police were also quick to add that Mr. Bahram is not being considered a suspect. At the time of discovery, Mr. Bahram would not leave the body of his dead friend.

Police have interviewed dj Speelo Snook, musician Tone Uriza, and artist Filthy Fluno all of whom had extensive conversations with Ms. Freenote on her last day of Second Life. Mr. Snook said, “I can’t begin to say what a loss this is to the music community of Second Life. Free loved music more than anything, especially jazz music. She built Birdland a as tribute to the jazz musicians she loved the most: Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie. It just won’t be the same without her. I can tell you one thing though, Free said to me last week that if anything ever happened to her she wanted a Dixieland funeral, and we aim to see that she gets one.”

Musician Tone Uriza said, “On the day she died we were arranging for a gig at Moondust Lounge, just across the street from Birdland. I know she would never have skipped out on a deal like this. She lived for music.”

Artist Filthy Fluno said, “Free is also the owner of the Newggenheim Museum. We were over an hour in conversation on Wednesday making arrangements for my one man retrospective show over there. I can repeat what Speelo and others have said, when Free was behind you, she was there 100%. She would move mountains to help and promote the artist, regardless of personal cost. I cannot imagine what kind of sick bastard did this.. she hadn’t an enemy in the world.”

Revpaperboy Boozehound, a partner with Ms. Freenote in the Moondust clubs, said that he was in conference with the other residents and musicians of Moondust and will release a statement to the press later this week. As to his plans to keep the clubs open he said, “We are all in shock right now. We can’t understand who would do this.. She lived for the music and it is our aim to keep music alive here at Moondust.”

Police have interviewed more than 50 people who saw Ms. Freenote on Tuesday. According to witnesses she had expressed great frustration with the U.S. health care insurance system, her unbridled rage at the cost of the war on Iraq, and a longing to return to Ireland where she had been living the last. fifteen years. Anyone who has any information leading to the capture and arrest of Ms. Freenote’s killer or killers please report to Officer RobboDobbo Kawashima with the Second Life Police.

What this space in the coming days for more information.

A very Canadian genocide
Take a look at this horrific story on StageLeft about mass graves being found on the sites of residential schools and ask yourself why this isn't on the front page of every newspaper in the country right now. Ask yourself why the story of this tragedy isn't taught in every classroom in the country. Ask yourself why there isn't a national day of shame, ask yourself why a massively disproportionate number of First Nations People continue to live in abject poverty and squalor? I hope the answer you come up with isn't as depressing as the one I get.

Where's Turd Blossom?





coming soon to a campaign stop near you!



With apologies to H.P. Lovecraft and Gary Larson and a grateful tip of the hat to the Raincoaster, from whom I swiped these.

Openness and accountability
for thee, but not for me

From Canadian Press via the Mop & Pail:

Prisoner probe to continue despite government efforts to stop it
MURRAY BREWSTER
THE CANADIAN PRESS
April 14, 2008 at 6:40 PM EDT
OTTAWA — The head of the Military Police Complaints Commission vowed Monday to continue looking into Canada's handling of prisoners in Afghanistan, despite a legal effort by the government to kill the investigation.
Chairman Peter Tinsley said he's “surprised and disappointed” the federal Conservative government has decided to go to court seeking a judicial review.
Justice Department lawyers filed an application with Federal Court on Friday, arguing the independent commission doesn't have the jurisdiction to either investigate or hold a hearing into the handling of prisoners.
“It's especially surprising given the fact that the government did not challenge our jurisdiction a year ago when we first launched our investigation,” Mr. Tinsley said.

Read the whole thing. Just what is it the government is so afraid will come out?
Alison has a more comprehensive post on Afghanistan up over at the Beaver

Legal, schmegal -- he's the deciderer

Being a bit behind in my podcast listening, I just heard about this story from last year on the March 28 episode of This American Life (episode 353), which dealt with the lawyerly style of the Bush administration - and when I say "lawyerly" I mean it in the sense of the Ambrose Bierce definition of a lawyer as "one skilled in circumventing the law."

Apparently, the libertarian bible-college law school dimwits in the Justice Department have decided that a century of precedents and the actual language of the Constitution and an international treaty aren't going to stop them from doing whatever they want, especially when it comes to anyone trying to challenge the will of the White House. More on case here.

The short version of events is as follows:

The International Boundary Commission was established nearly 100 years ago by a treaty between Canada and the United States as an international independent body to resolve border disputes between the two countries and to establish exactly where the border is. The U.S. Constitution says that treaties ratified by the Senate are the supreme law of the land. The IBC notified a couple in Washington State that the concrete wall they put up along the back of their yard encroached on the ten-foot border buffer where no construction is allowed and that the IBC could tear down the wall and send them the bill if they didn't remove it forthwith. The couple sued the IBC which, not having much of a budget, approached the U.S. Justice Department for advice. Justice told them they could not help them as they were an international body, not part of the U.S. government.


Then things get interesting. The Pacific Legal Foundation takes up the couple's case and suddenly the Justice Department is all over it. They insist that the IBC hand the whole thing over to them, that the IBC is not an independent international body, but an arm of the U.S. government. When the U.S. commissioner refuses to play ball, he is fired, despite the fact that International Treaty Commissioners like Supreme Court Justices, International Trade Commissioners or the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, can be appointed by the President to fill vacancies, but cannot be fired. The idea is to take politics out of the position to the extent possible. By putting such appointees beyond the reach of those that appointed them, they are thought to be immune to political pressure and further patronage and therefore able to act with greater impartiality to do the job they were appointed to do.

How did it work out? Well apparently some judges also think the president can do whatever he wants (see also this story). Canada has said nothing about the dispute, at least nothing public.


"So what?" you ask. "What's the big deal?"


Well, the big deal is that this is a classic example of the White House's power grab. In the past, it has taken the form of things like signing statements, unilateral reinterpretation of treaties (like the quaint Geneva Conventions) and withdrawal from treaties (like the ABM treaty) by presidential whim.


Remember when and where Dick Cheney comes from. He still doesn't think Nixon did anything wrong and was just sandbagged by a couple of smart-ass liberal journalists. He is all about centralizing power in the executive branch. And once that power becomes centralized, it isn't going to be decentralized anytime soon. Conservatives and Republicans and assorted Bush fans may think this is a wonderful thing that their president can do whatever he wants, but how would the same people feel about President Hilary Clinton or President Ted Kennedy or President Chelsea Clinton have the sort of monarchical powers that Dubya is claiming. What if President Obama suddenly declares by executive prerogative that he is replacing the members of the electoral commission or by his order black helicopters full of UN troops will be landing across the country to confiscate all privately owned handguns -- how do you like the doctrine of Unitary Executive now?

Big in Japan

You only think you know how weird it is to be a non-Japanese living in Japan. In fact, you have no idea. I'd nearly forgotten that last weekend was the big celebration of the American Vice President in Kawasaki. I went to this festival about ten years ago, as many new ex-pats do. Weird doesn't begin to describe it.

H/T to the Eternal Gaijin

Tom Kostopoulos (No.6) is congratulated by his teammates after scoring his first-ever playoff goal in the Canadiens' win over the Boston Bruins on Thursday.

Real Hockey and a new Spiritual leader of the Moment!

Forget the nonsense about him getting into a scrap with the cops down in Florida at the Habs rookie dinner while defending a team mate in a misunderstanding with the cops. Tom the Bomb Nonstopoulos is our new Spiritual Leader of the Moment because of this story.

Prior to yesterday's first round win against the Boston Bruins (One down, 15 to go), in which No. 6 scored his first playoff goal and got his first playoff point with a assist on the Canadiens right winger and all around grinder got invited to a different kind of warm up for the opening game of this year's playoffs. Some kids rang his doorbell Monday and invited him out play some street hockey. Now this is guy making a pile of money to play a sport and who obviously has to take his game seriously. He got his sneakers and stick and got out the door as fast as he could and spent the day playing with a crowd of 30-40 kids in Nuns Island where he lives.

Kostopoulos is not a star,  he's a fourth line grinder who in 68 games this season, only managed 13 points.  Last night he had a goal, an assist, five hits and was generally a menace to the Bruins all night long. That's why the Canadiens are going all the way this year, guys like him. He is basically the team's muscle along the boards - lead the team in hits in March and tops the list in penalty minutes- but he lead the offense last night. His first goal with the Canadiens back in November was a shorthanded goal against Philly.  He had two other short handed goals in a season where he only scored seven times on 98 shots. The last time the Habs played Boston he got a Gordie Howe hat-trick (A goal, an assist, and a fight) This is a guy who steps up when he's needed. He's got heart. 

If  bunch of kids knocked on Barry Bonds' door a couple of days before the World's Series looking for a game of sandlot sweep and scrub, do you think he would go along? Hockey is different and Kostopoulos is a hockey guy. Here's a song for him.

A little weekend entertainment

Most of this is not really safe for work, but what the hell are you doing working on the weekend and what the hell are you doing reading blogs at work?

Hick Hop by Wammo and the Asylum Street Spankers 

Wammo peformance poetry/rant: There is too much light in this bar.

More Asylum Street Spankers. Hard to believe their latest album is a fantastic kids album - or maybe not so hard to believe when you think about it.

I dunno where you work, but I wouldn't play this one in my office and we swear like longshoremen half the time. I'll also warn you that the song will stick in your head for weeks, causing you to giggle and hum during your commute, which can be a good way to get more room on those bench seats.

SeeqPod - Playable Search

How to breed terrorists

1. Attack and terrorize a country with overwhelming military force, destroy the quality of life for people living there and kill lots of civilians.

2. Occupy that country and keep killing civilians while trying to kill the people trying to make you leave. Do as little as you can to help the civilians and make sure your occupying troops are as isolated from the civilian population as possible.

3. Continue for as long as people back home can stand it. 

Well said Boris.

(This started out as a comment on Boris' excellent post over at the Beaver, and then just plain got to be too long to be a comment)

The nonsensical rah-rah bullshit about "fighting them over there, so we don't have to fight'em over here" is just that - nonsensical bullshit. The coalition isn't just fighting them over there, it is creating them over there.

I'm all for hunting down and shooting every card-carrying Taliban and Al-Qaida member, but they don't carry cards or wear sweaters with a big red "T" for terrorist on them. I sympathize with soldiers wanting to err on the side of not getting killed....................BUT YOU CAN'T JUST GO AROUND SHOOTING EVERYONE JUST TO MAKE SURE!!!!!

Nor can you "precision" bomb a house in a crowded neighborhood just because someone told you there was a bad guy there. Nor can you shoot people for carrying shovels or talking on cell phones or kick in innocent people's doors in the middle of the night and disappear them to the tender mercies of Abu Graib or turn a car full of people into scrap metal and bloody rags because they didn't slow down fast enough as they approached your checkpoint.

You can't do any of these things and expect the people to whom you are doing them to thank you, shower you with candy and flowers and give you their hearts and minds.

What you can expect is the kind of ripple effect that is going on in Iraq.

Most Iraqis hated Saddam Hussien, but they had running water and electricity and there were jobs and as bad as things were, you could feed your family, go to the mosque when and if you wanted, and have some idea of what to expect day to day. Sure, there was always the threat that your crazy neighbour might denounce you to the secret police or that you'd get strung up by the thumbs in Abu Ghraib because your cousin ran an anti-Saddam website, but there wasn't much you could do about it.

When the invasion came and Saddam was given the boot, people cheered. "Hurrah! No more secret police! No more Abu Ghraib! Democracy! Whisky! Sexy!"

Now five years later they have electricity about an hour a day, sometimes less, no running water in most of country, shit blowing up all over the place, foreign soldiers who don't speak your language in the streets willing to shoot you for looking at them the wrong way, checkpoints everywhere, the constant threat that your crazy neighbor will denounce you to the Americans who will hang up by your thumbs in Abu Ghraib, religious fanatics who will shoot you for going to the wrong mosque and who will beat and rape your daughter for not wearing a burqa. There are no jobs, you don't know where your next meal is coming from half the time and you never know when a firefight is going to break out. Those lousy bastards who go to the other mosque shot your son last week and your wife lost her legs three years ago when a bomb went off at the market. And the occupation forces killed six of your cousins, three of your uncles and your grandmother. And they keep calling you Haji.

(at this point someone is saying "you've never been there, you don't know -- go do your homework." Yeah, well, your right I've never been there, but I have heard some stories from the people that have. I suggest listening to the As it Happens Podcast from March 19th in which they play a pair of interviews with an Iraqi who works for the Ministry of Electricity. The first interview is from the end of the first year of the occupation, the second is from this past March, the fifth anniversary. If you don't do podcasting, you can listen to the interviews  here)

Imagine you were born in Baghdad in  the late 1980s to early 1990s. Your childhood was bit messed up what with the aftermath of the eight year war with Iran and the pounding your country took from the Americans  in the Gulf War and the subsequent years of sactions that left your formerly reasonably wealthy developed country poor and scraping for material goods. But you've never know it to be any different, you're just a kid. The grown ups might talk of a time before the country went downhill, but you spend your time playing soccer with your friends, going to school and doing what kids all over the world do - hanging out with your friends and family, scheming to score some candy and having fun. As you get older you start to realize that people in other countries don't have it as tough as you do because their countries don't have economic sanction against them that prevent them from importing stuff. You get a bit ticked off with rest of the world for being mean to Iraq, but maybe they have a point, your president is a pretty scary guy after all and nobody much likes him. 

Then, when you're between 15 and 11 the shit really hits the fan. The sky opens one night in March and the every power station, water works, military base blows up. The sky seems dark with planes and the bombs just keep on exploding everywhere. The earth shakes. You think you will go deaf from the constant onslaught of explosions. The house up the street is just...gone. When the bombing stops the soldiers come and there is some shooting for a few days. The whole city goes crazy for a while - Saddam is gone! People are looting government buildings! Once things start to calm down a little bit, you realize that the foreign soldiers are settling in. Bombs keep going off in your neighbourhood, the soldiers come in the night and take away your neighbours, the electricity doesn't work, the school has been turned into a command post for the police, everyone is scared all the time and everyone you know has lost a brother or a sister or a cousin or a friend or a mother or a father to bombs from one side or the other. You had hoped to go to college one day and be an engineer like your dad, but the college keeps blowing up and you its too dangerous to go to the high school. 

Five years of this go by and now you're 16 to 20 and you HATE the Americans. They have fucked up your life and killed your friends and your family. Just last week, one of their convoys came past and they ran over your cousin like a dog in the street. Your dad got shot by the Militia because he worked for the electricity ministry and was working with the Americans trying to get the power back on in Baghdad. Your cousin lost a leg in a car bombing near the Green Zone. That girl you thought was pretty in your third grade math class way back when, she died in the shock and awe bombings. No one has seen your older brother in two years -- he could be dead, he could be with the insurgents, he could be in Abu Ghraib. Your mother cries every night and your little sister is scared to leave the house.

  You ask yourself "What in the name of the prophet did we do to deserve this? Why don't the infidels go home and leave us alone?" Then, one day after the Americans smashed the front of your neighbours house in with a tank at 3 am and hauled him away, a man comes to you and your friends while you are sitting in the dirt in front of your neighbours house talking about what happened and how angry you all are. "You hate the Americans?" he says. "So do I, what are you willing to do about it?"  He says he knows how you can teach them a lesson, how you can make them leave Iraq, how you can get revenge. You smile and shake his hand and say "Tell me more"

Now, those of you with a conservative bent may think this is unrealistic, but go back and substitute Dallas for Baghdad in these descriptions and tell me it could never happen. Go watch the favorite film of the neo-con cool kids and tell me that if Russia or France or the Pan-Arab Islamofacist League or whoever invaded and occupied the United States that vast swathes of young men would not take to the hills and back alleys and fight to the death to drive them out.

Remember the surge in enlistment in the U.S. armed forces after 9/11? People in middle America who hated arrogant, cosmopolitan New York, who thought it was full of nothing but Jewish pornographers and black gangbangers and rich liberal yuppies, who previously would not have pissed on New York City if it had been one fire, suddenly got all indignant and patriotic and ready to kick some ass somewhere, anywhere to get even. Imagine a smaller version of  9/11 happening in your neighborhood on a frequent basis. What would you want to do to the people responsible? Greet them with flowers and candy?

Why would we expect anything less from the young men of Iraq? Or Afghanistan?

Fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here? The longer we stay over there, the more likely they are to come over here to make us stop and the more of them there will be.

Playoffs start tonight

taken from the damned fine Habs site Eyes on the Prize