It would seriously help me a lot.

More posting from me when I get some of this end of the semester crap out of the way.

I saw that Borat movie last weekend and forgot to post my review here. So here it goes.

Definitely one of the funnier movies I've seen, but then I'm not usually overly impressed with what Hollywood considers to be comedy. Now, I've seen lots of rave reviews calling it one of, if not the, funniest movies ever, and I can understand how people could think so, but those reviews also somewhat detracted from it by raising expectations too high. I mean, when you get down to it the movie was more or less a particularly well done Jamie Kennedy Experiment, and if you're already familiar with that kind of making people uncomfortable on camera shtick it's more or less what you'd expect. Still, I laughed out loud quite a few times throughout the movie. I still find the scripted opening sequence that's supposed to portray Kazakhstan to be the most memorable part of the film, though other than that the scripted parts tended to be where it suffered. Of course, I should point out that ever since I discovered PointlessWasteOfTime.com, I've found it a lot harder to laugh at things that aren't PointlessWasteOfTime.com (probably the reason why I can't think up any ASfM ideas that I am satisfied with lately) so I am a bit jaded. I definitely still recommend seeing it to anyone, I'm sure most people would find it hilarious. As far as political content, there's not a lot, but the movie does seem to try to play into the leftist notion that most of the people in this country are racist homophobes. But still, I've seen tons of right-wing pundits, like Michael Medved, offer glowing praise for this film, and I think if you like sick, R-rated humor (and if you read this blog, you probably do) there's little chance of you not enjoying it. I must warn you, however, that there is a naked wrestling scene between Borat and his overweight producer that will horrify you no matter how mentally prepared you think you are going in. Also, once you see it you may want to check out this article to help you discern which parts were staged or scripted from which parts weren't (and it seems like most scenes were a little bit of both).

So, you're an Arab radical looking to affect political change in Iraq? Of course, your first sensible course of action is to drive up to an area full of impoverished day laborers with no power or influence whatsoever, tell them you've got work so they all gather around your van, then explode yourself killing 22 and injuring twice that. Why it's absolutely brilliant!

To put this in perspective, this is like protesting the United States government by going where a bunch of Mexican immigrant day laborers hang around looking for work, gathering them around with promise of a job, and blowing them up. You're killing people who are politically inconsequential, and struggling hard to provide a meager existence for their family, and accomplshing nothing except terrorizing people. You're deliberately targeting the weakest, most powerless members of society.

The Israeli government, when destroying weapon caches of Arab militants, will often give warning prior to striking. Militants will often take these warnings as an opportunity to gather human shields to help them protect the weapon's caches, knowing damn well they can trust the Israelis to refrain from attacking the target. These same miltants (or, in this case, their ideological brethren in other Muslim states) have no problem killing their fellow Muslims just to terrorize. But then they call Israelis terrorists, despite recognizing fully well they can count on the Israeli's to not indiscrimnately kill like they do, and use that as a weapon against them.

My li'l brudder has informed me that Elijah Wood is set to play Iggy Pop in an upcoming movie. Not the first guy who would've come to my mind for the role, but apparently he's already skinnying himself up for the role. If he really wants to look like Iggy though I think he's going to have to stick to a steady diet of nothing but grain and heroin.

Not unexpected at his age (he was 70 years older than me, to the day), but still very sad news.

The man was a Nobel economist and a great advocate of liberty. He was probably the most influential writer in the move away from Keynesianism, and return to laissez faire economics, in the 70's and 80's. A true friend of liberty on virtually every issue.

I was already laughing at the Castro-worshiping marxist manatee's open letter to conservatives for the following reason: It was a set of insults disguised as promises (I promise not to do a, meaning you do do a) wrapped in self-congratulation (we're far too high and lofty ever to do that evil deed, unlike you) flavored with Orwellian duckspeak and antifactual claims (we will make America safer by rendering its citizens helpless here at home through gun control and through undeploying all troops everywhere). I won't link to anything of his, because I hate him and I'm not fair, but you can find his ridiculous nonsense pretty much everywhere and confirm that pretty much it's as bad and worse as I claim, because human language can't really convey how truly physically, politically, and psychologically unhygenic that fat retarded America-hating millionaire socialist orangutan is.

But what makes this extra, extra special seems to be that, like the conspiracy theories he makes into movies, he's being accused of borrowing content without citing sources! Way to go, Mikey - that's redistribution-of-wealth I can live with, stealing from the evil plutocrat left-wing blogger to provide for the needs of the proletarian filmmaker who lives in Manhattan.

You go, Mikey. And by "go" I mean "to hell or the nearest worker's paradise." You are a laugh riot. If Popeye were a real person he'd spend all his time beating the hell out of you.

Because we celebrate all that is Good and Stupid:

150 Iaqis, both Shi'ite and Sunni, were kidnapped by about 80 armed gunmen dressed in police uniforms. That is pretty fucking scary. The only plus side I can see is that it certainly isn't going to endear the insurgency to the Iraqi people any, and may help in uniting Shi'ites and Sunnis against the threat. The fact that people could pull off a mass kidnapping like this, though, is just insane. Hopefully we'll see some righteous retaliation, preferably by the Iraqis, but by coalition troops if necessarry.

I really should not have gone to the part of downtown where they had Veteran's Day parades. After the parade had ended, a number of the anti-veteran protesters were still around, and I tried to wait for a bus on a corner where some sick douchebag was wearing a homemade tee shirt that was a letter to soldiers beginning "Dear Nazi, fortunately stupidity isn't against the law..." I took off walking because I didn't want to breathe the air she or her cluster of like-mindless brainwashed college students were exhaling. Maybe there was nothing poisonous coming out of their lungs, but I didn't want to find out, and I walked a mile home, ignoring the bus routes. Fortunately en route a passing cluster of bikers - bearing the colors, a POW/MIA flag and a "We Support the Troops" banner balanced the scales and kept me from having a psychotic episode.

The disgusting display by a cell of experience-and-wisdom-deprived college students made me think a bit about what we do on Veteran's Day. Many of us just thank, in the abstract, our veterans for their service and sacrifices, perhaps abstractly connecting what they did and do with how soft and easy we have things here stateside. The connection can be largely indirect to the point that some folks can see it as hypothetical, abstract, or even nonexistent. But that's not the case for me. I owe a great deal to veterans who, when they came home again, spent way too much of their precious time, effort, and money watching my back.

For example:

• Jim Binford, Navy.
  Patriarch of a branch of my family, he used to straighten out the troubled teens of the family by working them in summer jobs. He also used to perform marriages for us as a certified officiant.


• Angus Owens, Navy.
  When my closest kin were out of the country, Angus provided (and would still happily provide) a refuge for the holidays.


• John Henry Binford IV, USMC (deceased 1992).
  John took care of my mother, my brother and I in various ways during the hard times between 1968 and 1973 when the unresolved details of a divorce made my mother unable to work (partly due to an antebellum Texas law of the era that required a wife to get a husband's written approval prior to taking a job). When she couldn't afford a car or clothes John made sure we had these things. John was a Viet Nam veteran and a diplomat to the Navajo Nation.


• Paul Lee Binford, Army (deceased 1983).
  Paul was the uncle that understood and accepted me uncritically. He came back from Viet Nam believing what goobers like John Kerry said about him, and this helped him shorten his life. He died younger than I am now.


• Alfred Allston, Army (deceased 200?).
  Alfred saved me from my own stupidity once when I got lost in a snowstorm looking for an escaped dog. Alfred was a WWII veteran who lived into his eighties and was a pillar of the family.


• Roger Boehm, Army (deceased 2002).
  Roger saved my mother and myself from a long downward spiral by marrying my mother. We went from eating rice and beans in the 1970s to eating steak occasionally (I don't remember having it between 1968 and 1980; it was an exotic and foreign food, in my thinking, akin to caviar). He dispensed the duties of a father without ever demanding the accompanying powers and perquisites. Roger was a WWII veteran whose various assignments between the 1940s and 1960s allowed him, at various times, to shoot at both nazis and commies. We still need him and his rifle today.


• John Leroy, Army.
  When Roger died, his life insurance found a loophole and got out of paying my mother one red dime. The tax man attempted to force payment on inheritance taxes before property was even released to my mother, and she nearly lost her house to the vile taxing authorities plus hospitals and undertakers. John found some military documents a career army man will know about that established her eligibility for a number of things (including military burials for WWII veterans, even those who have not purchased slots in Arlington from Bill Clinton) and she did not end up having to sell her house for taxes.

Seems to me that I owe most of the part of my life that does not end up lying dead in a gutter to veterans - and this isn't even counting what they had to do when they were away from the country. I know who I have or will shed tears over when it comes time to pass the folded flag(s) to the widow(s). I owe them too much to measure. It's not going to be foolish brainwashed college students who wallow in the moral luxury of selective pacifism and then, reeking of self-congratulation, feign an elevated moral posture while calling their betters "Dear Nazi." They don't watch backs, they stab them.

And every time a veteran dies I worry if we can hold on to even a little of the wealth - measured in safety, freedom, opportunity, and sense - he created to leave to us.

This is great! Some dumbass went to a polling place Tuesday and smashed an electronic voting machine with a paperweight, because he was so convinced the Republicans were going to steal the election.

Ugh, I think it's gonna be a rough, vomit-inducing two years.

Congratulations Democrats!

This reminds me of Harry Browne before his train left the tracks years ago - Murray Rothbard's essay "Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature." It desentimentalizes the notion of the state (or, better, "The State") by reminding us of its origins as a shakedown racket that went legit; and of production as being prior to redistribution (Churchill's horse that pulls the cart).

If you haven't read the great (and free) online novel John Dies at the End, I highly recommend you follow that link and read it. It's a superbly written comedy-horror story that's become sort of an underground, internet phenomenon, and if you're not sold yet, just do a quick Google search on the title and you'll find page after page of gushing praise, many reviewers placing it among their top favorite books of all time.

If you have read it, well there more good news. The first installment of the sequel is now available to read online, and there'll be several more installments over the next few weeks.

Seriously, if you have time piss away reading my crappy blog, you have time to read this book, and find out what you're missing out on.