May 13, 2006
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May 02, 2006
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April 30, 2006
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April 26, 2006
For instance, this fascinating account of a secret planning conversation between Zarkawi and Zawahiri, as recalled by Zarkawi himself:
I grabbed a pile of my project folders and headed for the conference room, and the crapstorm commenced before my ass hit the carpet.Via Blogger Ale, who wants your beer opinion.“Abu, as you know, AQI is all about creating a scalable paradigm for enabling global caliphate,” he says. “But lately, I have been concerned that we’ve had some performance leakage in our Total Quality Jihad plan.”
Okay, maybe I donÂ’t have a fancy ass Master of Martyr Administration from Damascus Tech, but I saw where this shit was going.
“Well, Ayman, sure, we’ve had a couple of tough quarters, but if you look at these clippings from the infidel press and TV, you can see we are still in a net positive PR situation, and... “
“How many associates did we lose in Q1?”
Fuck. Since when does he start asking direct questions? I start fumbling around with my folders.
“I’ll tell you Abu. 1,256.” And then he’s off to the races, with a 45 minute firehose of PowerPoints and Excel pie charts detailing every mosque bombing screwup, every wipeout with Team Satan, every stupid Iraqi anti-Al Qaeda protest.
“At the end of the day, Abu, the AQ family needs to deploy our resources for maximum Return-on-Jihad,” he says. Then he drops the bomb: “It’s time we think about right-sizing the organization vis-à-vis the Baghdad Region.”
Oh, dandy. He says we can accomplish it through attrition, but now it looks like I’m going to have to start emailing pink slips AND condolence letters. I’m not even sure how safe my own damn job is. I was gonna call Fatima and my other babies’ mamas and tell ‘em to cancel the family Mecca trip, but that’d just buy me a week of nonstop nagging.
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April 17, 2006
Daily, mind you.
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April 04, 2006
Throughout my life, I believed I was an excellent hitter in tough situations. I believed my teams were lucky to have me at bat in those situations. I often believed, of everyone on the team, I had the best chance of succeeding against tough pitching in tough situations. I would often be really wanting to win, and I would think "Thank God I'm coming up - my coming to bat really gives us a good chance to win this game," or "My coming to bat is bad luck for those other guys - they are screwed," or "Those other guys have no idea how much trouble they are in with me coming to bat. I'm the last person they want up there - even if they don't know it." Was that true? It doesn't matter if it was true or not! The important thing is to believe it - to have confidence. My father used to say "If you think you cannot, you cannot." He was right about that.I wish I'd had a coach like him when I was nine. I might have done more than one embarrasing year in Little League.
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March 30, 2006
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March 29, 2006
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March 13, 2006
Via Beth.
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March 09, 2006
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March 08, 2006
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March 05, 2006
Were it not for Hollywood, these people would be serving your food, cleaning your homes and parking your cars, which is a main reason that we give thanks, every year, that someone has the intestinal fortitude to organize a meeting, serve them free booze and award them prizes for going three full months not wearing makeup, and working opposite Billy Bob Thornton.EM will be liveblogging the Academy Awards tonight at Wizbang Pop, so you might want to turn the sound down and read her while you watch.
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February 21, 2006
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February 11, 2006
The pragmatic approach, which seems to have gained adherents even in our own State Department, can be summarized thusly:
[F]or the 'pragmatist,' it is abundantly clear that certain Muslims are prone to overreaction. Knowing this as we do, we Westerners would be at fault for provoking such people, because provocation in the awareness of Muslim oversensitivity is malicious. You know the angry dog will bite you if you keep prodding it with your foot, so it's your fault if you get bitten. What's more, provocation is impractical: how can we expect to change Muslim hearts and minds when we adopt a confrontational stance?Kevin responds:
The West and its allies occasionally shoot themselves in the foot: Kim Jong-il, for example, relies on Seoul's and Washington's indecision to get what he wants, like a child adept at 'playing' his parents. North Korea, in the role of the spoiled brat, knows it can sit back and make demands of its far more powerful interlocutors. In the end, Seoul and Washington gain nothing while Pyongyang continues its illegal nuclear program, its counterfeiting, its drug trafficking, and its systematic oppression of the North Korean people-- all while spewing outrageously self-righteous rhetoric whose crazed tone I often wish we matched, just for fun's sake.The whole thing is here.. . .
The pragmatic appeasers want to cut Western action off at the root: they would prefer that we stop openly acting outraged about Muslim outrage. Some . . . seem to feel that we should feel outrage but then do nothing-- that we should, in fact, compromise with oppression by reducing our own range of movement to accommodate the violent Other. This is a comfortable, lazy position that allows us to pretend we have the moral high ground even as that ground is rapidly eroding beneath us.
Others feel that dialogue with the wild-eyed Muslims is the best answer. While I'm a staunch advocate of dialogue (interreligious, intercultural, diplomatic, etc.), I'm under no illusions that the people out there destroying embassies and threatening infidels with death are going to sit down calmly and listen to rational discussion. As far as I'm concerned, most of those people are already beyond redemption. Dialogue is reserved, then, for moderates (in the Western sense of the word, not the Muslim sense). What's more, we need to be focusing on the next generation of Muslims-- the children, the ones who are impressionable. If we don't move to communicate with them directly, they'll grow up just as indoctrinated as the current generation of willful idiots.
. . .
I proudly advocate the right to offend [If you've seen Kevin's blog, you know he ain't kidding], and demand that offended parties unpucker their sphincters and relax. If you want to protest, fine. If you're planning to get violent, don't be surprised if someone shoots your stupid ass.
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December 31, 2005
What a year it's been. i almost hate to see 2004 go. But it's time to celebrate an even more exciting year to come. Wow, 2005 already!The same message is appropriate today, except for the part about hating to see this year go. 2004 was a tough year to top, and 2005 didn't do it, blog-wise.Have a great NYE everybody! Be safe. You know the drill: designate a driver and don't forget to bundle up when you're out in the weather. Don't want to start the year off with a nasty cold.
Thanks for all your many kindnesses this past year, and for just stopping by to read my nonsense. i love you all and i'll see you next year!
i think 2006 will be a lot more exciting, both personally and for current events to write about. Good luck to all of you in the new year too! i look forward to continuing this electronic relationship we got going.
Until next year!
XOXO
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December 21, 2005
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December 15, 2005
What is Nose In The Air Media, you say? Perhaps you've noticed the new icon on my sidebar, under blogging affiliations. Go ahead and look. See it?
Nose In The Air Media is the brainchild of blogger annika, of annika's journal. That's me. i made the whole thing up. The editorial board consists of me. The graphics designer is me. i'm the CEO, CFO, COO, judge, jury and executioner. i do all the work and i get all the credit.
Here's what Nose In The Air Media is all about:
Nose In The Air Media is not a club.
You don't have to join Nose In The Air Media to be in Nose In The Air Media.
You don't have to be invited into Nose In The Air Media. Just like some other hoity-toity blogging cabals, you might find yourself waiting forever.
If you are reading this, and you want to be in, you're in.
And you'll want to be in. It's that cool.
You don't have to be a "big time" blogger to be in Nose In The Air Media.
You don't have to get linked by any "big time" bloggers to be in Nose In The Air Media.
You don't have to have been interviewed by Time Magazine to be in Nose In The Air Media.
You don't have to be remotely interesting to be in Nose In The Air Media.
You don't even have to have a blog to be in Nose In The Air Media.
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You don't have to be a conservative to be in Nose In The Air Media.
You don't have to be a liberal to be in Nose In The Air Media.
You don't have to be political to be in Nose In The Air Media.
You don't have to wear pajamas to be in Nose In The Air Media.
You don't have to wear anything.
Your front page can load in less than five minutes and you can still be in Nose In The Air Media.
You don't have to like annika's journal to be in Nose In The Air Media.
You don't have to link to annika's journal to be in Nose In The Air Media.
You don't even have to de-link annika's journal to be in Nose In The Air Media.
You don't have to have been mentioned in Hugh Hewitt's book to be in Nose In The Air Media.
You can have a crappy template and be in Nose In The Air Media.
You can say fuck on your blog and be in Nose In The Air Media.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fucking fuck.
You don't have to be hot to be in Nose In The Air Media.
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You don't even have to know what the Ecosystem is to be in Nose In The Air Media.
You don't have to care at all.
You can post about shit and still be in Nose In The Air Media.
No one is going to kick you out of Nose In The Air Media for hatin' on me.
You'll get no money for being in Nose In The Air Media.
In fact, there's absolutely no advantage to being in Nose In The Air Media.
We have no blogroll.
We have no bankroll.
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There aren't any other members anyway.
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You can post as much as you want, or as little as you want, if you join Nose In The Air Media.
You can join Nose In The Air Media, and then quit, and then join again, and then quit again, and then join again, and then quit again, as many times as you like.
There are no celebrities in Nose In The Air Media and being in Nose In The Air Media will not make you a celebrity.
In fact, you can be in Nose In The Air Media and still respond to e-mails from non-celebrities who read your blog. Your head won't even explode.
You don't have to have a clever name to be in Nose In The Air Media.
If you're in Nose In The Air Media, you won't be required to agree with everything that the famous big blogger of the week says.
On the other hand, the famous big blogger of the week won't ever link to you if you're in Nose In The Air Media, even though he or she reads you regularly. But then, they weren't linking to you anyway, so that's no big loss.
You don't have to be a member - of - a - discrete - interest - group - that's - usually - thought - of - as - left - leaning - whose - conservative - views - have - made - you - a - darling - of - the - big - bloggers, to be in Nose In The Air Media.
You don't have to be all overly serious and self-important to be in Nose In The Air Media.
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You don't have to be any kind of jerk to be in Nose In The Air Media.
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You can smoke pot and be in Nose In The Air Media.
You can even blog about sex and be in Nose In The Air Media.
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It's okay to correspond with your visitors when you're in Nose In The Air Media.
It's okay to be one of the little people when you're in Nose In The Air Media.
Even when your blog is ranked higher on the Ecosystem than many so-called "big time" don't-bother-me-I'm-so-serious blogs, not that you care about that shit anyway because it's all bullshit, and you're not competitive in that way, except for just a little bit.
It's okay to hit a paragraph break every once in a while when you're in Nose In The Air Media.
It's not necessary to have a blog ad with a grainy picture of a guy doing isometric push-ups on your sidebar if you want to be in Nose In The Air Media.
You can actually read and comment at other people's blogs when you are in Nose In The Air Media.
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In fact there's only one prerequisite for being in Nose In The Air Media.
You have to THINK you're better than everyone else.
And if you can do that, welcome. You're in.
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December 11, 2005
But i'll make an exception for Dawn, and i urge every reader of annika's journal to go forth now and vote for Clareified!
More: As of this writing, my blog is #135 on the Ecosystem, just two places behind disgusting fatbody Oliver Wills. And i've done shit on this blog for the last year and a half, which should tell you something about fat Ollie, or the Ecosystem, or whatever.
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December 02, 2005
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