Last night i had a bowl of real strawberries, the likes of which i've never tasted my entire life. And i'm a big strawberry fan, too. But the store bought kind are like plastic compared to the kind you can get at a roadside stand out here in the Big Valley.

Sherry brought home four of those little green baskets full of the freshest, reddest, most perfect looking berries ever. Eating one was like drinking pure strawberry juice. Like being in heaven. Inside, they were the color of blood, and not a bit of white anywhere. I ate them like candy.

Later, we sliced them up and smothered them over bowls of vanilla ice cream, with chocolate sauce drizzled on top. That was dinner. Then, at night, i dreamed about more strawberries.

Posted by: annika at 08:58 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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i've been posting lightly lately, but i don't want to miss the chance to acknowledge the two amazing events that happened recently, neither of which, some critics say, have a snowball's chance in hell of lasting.

Iraq is a sovereign and independent nation . . .

. . . and . . .

. . . Brittany got engaged!

So congratulations to all 25,374,691 Iraqi citizens and to Brittany Spears. i wish all of you guys the best of luck. Who can say what the future holds for you? But i know, if you work hard, persevere and stay true to what is right, with a little bit of luck i'm sure that you all will create a lasting and successful modernized union that will become the envy of all countries throughout the troubled Middle East region, or of skanky homewrecking no-talent ho's, whichever the case may be.

Posted by: annika at 05:39 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Professor Hewitt's review of that Farenheit movie contains a few good quotable quotes. Such as:

Some on the left are proclaiming Moore to be their Limbaugh. He's not. Moore is the Democrats' David Duke, but they are putting their arm around him.

If you encounter anyone speaking in tones even remotely approaching respect for the movie, you have proof positive that the speaker is a fool, not to be trusted on any point, for he or she has given testimony as to their ignorance of basic facts and of an inability to detect even elephant-sized inconsistencies in argument and story line.

Michael Moore is the latest in a long line of entrepreneurs who have proven P.T. Barnum to have been on the money when it came to the number of suckers abroad in our land. Sure he's a Jabba-sized oaf, but give him his due. He knew how to play the left's paranoia like a fiddle, and he did.

Of course, if anyone hasn't read the oft-linked and oft-quoted Christopher Hitchens review yet, please do so now. Lots of money quotes in that one.

Posted by: annika at 05:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The latest poll, currently the subject of many giddy headlines in the mainstream press, can only be described as a Democratic push-poll. Look at the actual question, which most news stories will not quote verbatim:

In view of the developments since we first sent our troops to Iraq, do you think the United States made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq, or not?

i am not an undecided, and i don't think "the United States made a mistake"  . . . so there.

Still, the results of the poll are very discouraging to me because they show that the leftist media/adademia/entertainment alliance is beginning to sway public opinion towards weakness and capitulation. The effect of this wavering will be to encourage our enemies, increase the death toll among innocents and lengthen the war. Not only that, it will increase the likelihood of further terrorist attacks in our country and against our allies.

Only complete victory by one side or the other will end this conflict. History has shown that time and time again. Our violent islamic expansionist enemies understand this, why don't we?

Posted by: annika at 09:06 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 When media corporations swing their news coverage as well as their editorial coverage heavily in favor of particular parties and candidates, it seems to me that at some level they are making de facto in-kind political contributions. Corporations are supposed to be tightly limited by law as to how they can spend money in support of political candidates: an auto company (for example) could never get away with running TV ads in support of their preferred presidential candidate. But media companies are able to use their economic power to support their views, and are increasingly doing so. I don't think this differential power between industries was the true intent of the campaign finance laws.

Posted by: David Foster at June 25, 2004 09:44 AM (SpkYG)

2 Annika, Don't give in to discouragement. That is what the leftist media want. Most polls seemed to be cooked to give the opinion the media is looking for.

Posted by: Chuck at June 25, 2004 07:33 PM (s6c4t)

3 Annika, be careful talking about polls! I know firsthand how the minions can swoop in and drop 90 f-bombs in your comment section But, yeah, it's blatantly obvious to me that polls are biased. Remember Den Beste's words: the only poll that matters is the election.

Posted by: Sarah at June 27, 2004 12:40 PM (khJB1)

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Betcha no sportspage editor would have the guts to do it.

Posted by: annika at 04:19 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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In a Sacramento Bee story about two high school girls who wrote essays about the Newdow case, and their reactions to the Supreme Court's recent ruling that wasn't really a ruling, i found the best exposition of the typical liberal approach to law i have yet seen.

The chick who wrote the winning essay in support of Newdow's position (that "under God" should be declared unconstitutional) said the following:

[M]y opinion has strengthened a lot more with looking up the different laws and legal briefs. I really look at it from how others feel. It's not really about the laws; it's about how it makes people feel living in their country. [emphasis added]

Posted by: annika at 04:06 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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i swear, i can't wait until i can bring my computer up here. i'm borrowing my housemate Colleen's computer to write this, which is such a fucking hassle, it's not even worth it. For one thing i have to wait until she's out to use it. For another thing it's slower than my brother's old 386 with 12 megabytes. And Colleen's is a Pentium IV! i don't know what she's done to it to make it run so slow. Also she's on an ISP that sucks. Also she's fucking lefthanded, so i have to cross my arm over to use the mouse, which is giving me a sore shoulder. The mouse buttons are reversed too! GAAAAK! What an annoyance.

Posted by: annika at 07:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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We don't have cicadas out here in California. At least i've never seen one. But i'm sympathetic to all those people back east who have had to deal with the ugly critters this year.

If you're suffering through the infestation, you may look to the words of the great haiku poet Basho for encouragement.

In the cicada's cry
No sign can foretell
How soon it must die.

Update: Victor beat me to it (via Zenchick). He's also got some wild and grotesque pictures here, here and here.

Posted by: annika at 10:41 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Although i make a damn good California style with artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese on Boboli, when dining out i'm firmly on the side of New York style in this controversy.

Chicago-style pizza vs. New York-style. What's the difference? And what about other styles - Neapolitan, Sicilian, Californian?

Every pizza style has a devoted following. If you want to start a heated discussion, just tell a fan of New York-style that you prefer deep dish.

Posted by: annika at 10:17 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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Today we took a trip down J Street for lunch at one of those eateries in the hip district of Sacramento, where the tatooed college students hang out. i happened to see a stenciled picture of President Bush that had been spraypainted on the sidewalk, with the words "bad man" underneath. i said to my co-workers, "Why is it that you never see any conservative vandalism?" The consensus was that conservatives generally try to follow the law. i replied that it's not against the law to vandalize if the ACLU is always there to get you off scott free. But they'll only do so if your message is anti-American or anti-Republican.

When i got back to the office, i happened to check out a blog that i visit less often than i should: Jen Speaks. Coincidentally Jen linked to this story about a kid who fought the liberal stranglehold on free thought at his public high school using one of the left's favorite weapons: agitprop. It's hilarious. As you can probably guess, his communist sympathizing teachers and a few "useful idiot" classmates did not take too kindly to a student who questioned their monopoly on speech.

[J]ust when we posted about 200 of our 500 signs, we heard a rustling around the corner. Upon investigating the noise, we found a fellow student tearing the signs from the wall and ripping them into shreds. We made no attempt to stop her, but she quickly abandoned her pursuit when I removed my camera from my backpack. Apparently, her being conscious of her own hypocrisy was not enough to prevent her from forcibly suppressing our dissenting point-of-view. But facing the prospect that others might be made aware of her hypocrisy, and it's cut-and-run. Typical.

i was so energized by the kid's story, and his chutzpa, that i think i just may return to that hip college area of town with some agitprop of my own. His five tips at the end of the article are very similar to Gandhi's protest philosophy, satyagraha.

Posted by: annika at 04:27 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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i find it interesting that the L.A. Times neglected to mention the religion of the "Chechen insurgents" who killed 58* people yesterday. Isn't their religion important to the story? The L.A. Times doesn't think so. But to the "insurgents" themselves, their religion is very important. In fact, if you asked them, they would probably say that their religion justifies their mass murdering tactics. (That is, assuming they didn't just kill you instead of answering your question.)

The Times also neglected to mention a certain phrase that the "insurgents" shouted as they attacked Ingushetia on their murderous rampage, shooting at passing civilian vehicles and ambulances. It just happens to be the same phrase that Nick Berg's killers repeated over and over again as they sawed his head off with a knife. But i guess the Times didn't notice that connection.

i also love the Times' headline, which emphasizes the Russian response in a curiously negative way. What exactly, i ask, is wrong with Putin's vow to destroy the terrorists?

i say go for it, Vlad!

* The New York Times, who also neglected to mention the terrorists' religion, reported 75 dead from the attacks.

Posted by: annika at 12:38 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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We right wing Christians have our Nicene Creed. The left wing, contrary to popular belief, are not completely without faith. They have what i would call their "No-Seeing Creed." They refuse to see or accept what should be obvious truths. They adhere to these non-truths with a quasi-religious fervor, as Robert Alt points out in a humorous editorial. An excerpt:

We believe that there were no WMDs.

We believe that finding sarin gas is 14th page news;

We believe that if the sarin gas is old, then it really isnÂ’t a WMD we were looking for;

We believe that it wasnÂ’t really sarin gas;

We believe that sarin gas isnÂ’t necessarily a WMD.

We believe that there was no terrorist connection to, or threat from, Iraq.

We believe that members of Abu Nidal in Iraq would not have committed terrorist acts if we had not invaded;

We believe that al Qaeda operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would not have committed terrorist acts if we had not invaded;

We believe that Saddam’s terrorist training camp at Salman Pak—complete with a Boeing 707 plane used for hijacking drills—did not exist or posed no real threat;

We believe that it was merely a coincidence that the pharmaceutical factory bombed by President Clinton in Sudan was using al Qaeda funds and a uniquely Iraqi formula to produce VX gas;

We believe that we are responsible for bringing terror on ourselves.

Posted by: annika at 09:05 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Dang, this is a long day.

Posted by: annika at 04:33 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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i finally got up the nerve to look at the Paul Johnson pictures today, which i found at Drink This. i don't need to reiterate the disgust and hatred that i feel towards those animals who murdered Mr. Johnson.

After i posted about Nick Berg's murder, i got a stupid troll comment, which seemed to posit the theory that he wasn't really murdered. That the video was somehow faked. i'm not quite sure why it's important for some people to believe that the terrorists didn't really behead someone, but apparently it is.

The key to that ridiculous theory was that there wasn't enough blood in the Nick Berg video. Now, after looking at the gruesome Paul Johnson photos - much worse than the Berg photos, by the way - i wonder where those tin foil hat idiots are. 'Cause there sure looked like a lot of blood in those Johnson photos.

i wonder what new theory the far-left wackos will come up with in their ever evolving effort to defend vicious brutality and murder.

Posted by: annika at 10:35 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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To all the fathers out there among my visitors. Have a great day!

Posted by: annika at 02:59 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Good stuff: "If D-Day Had Been Reported On Today."

Link thanks to Shelly.

See also: Photon Courier's "BISMARCK SUNK, BRITAIN DOOMED."

Posted by: annika at 02:57 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Says Madona: "I did spend at least a decade taking my clothes off and being photographed, saying bad words on TV and that sort of thing. … I don't regret it, but it's just, you know — I mean everybody takes their clothes off now. And then what? You know? And then what?"

Dumshit's looking for a new hobby.

Posted by: annika at 02:06 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Try watching HGTV and guzzling one every time someone uses the phrase: "focal point."

Posted by: annika at 01:39 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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i thought about how Paul Johnson worked on the AH-64 helicopter. i thought about how i'd like to see a hundred Apaches descend on those filthy terrorist animals, and a hundred chain guns spitting flame and vengeance.

i thought about how much the Apache resembles a locust. And then i thought of this passage:

The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.

Oh no. She's quoting Revelations. Does that mean she thinks the war on terror is a religious battle? Does she think this is like the Crusades? How ugly! How un-PC! How unenlightened! Doesn't she know Islam is a peaceful religion. Doesn't she know it's just a few bad apples, whom we should arrest and put on trial? Shame on her!

Posted by: annika at 12:32 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Daniel Pearl, Nick Berg, Paul Johnson. Is it becoming clearer now?

Not that i want to see any video of this one, because i don't, but there are apparently some stills out there. Will we respond in kind to this barbarity, or will we just get used to it?

Half of us want to kick ass until these vermin are extinguished. The other half want to hold hands, sing cumbaya and let it go on. What will it take to wake up those fools?

Posted by: annika at 12:01 PM | Comments (17) | Add Comment
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