Pirates target Iraq

High-seas pirate attacks fell last year amid enhanced vigilance but Iraq emerged for the first time as a new piracy hotspot with the waters off Indonesia remaining the most dangerous in the world, an international watchdog reported.

Someone stole the security guard’s desk.

The cartoon mess drags on…

Armed militants angered by a cartoon drawing of the Prophet Muhammad published in European newspapers surrounded EU offices in Gaza on Thursday and threatened to kidnap foreigners as outrage over the caricatures spread across the Islamic world.More than 300 students demonstrated in Pakistan, chanting “Death to France!” and “Death to Denmark!” - two of the countries where newspapers published the drawings. Other protests were held in Syria and Lebanon.

Officials in Afghanistan, Iran and Indonesia condemned the publication. In Paris, the daily France Soir fired its managing editor after it ran the caricatures Wednesday.

A Jordanian newspaper took the bold step of running some of the drawings, saying it wanted to show its readers how offensive the cartoons were but also urging the world’s Muslims to “be reasonable.” Hours later, the owners of the weekly, Shihan, said they had fired its editor and withdrawn the issue from sale, and the government threatened legal action.

You know, I agree. How can ANY newspaper in this country present only one side of this story. From reading this you get the impression that the drawings are as offensive as stuff from Ted Rall. They’re not at all. I firmly believe that newspapers here in the US need to show what the furor is about. So that the people of this country can see what all the fuss is about.
And if they won’t, I will.
(more…)

WOMEN’S ENGLISH:
1. Yes = No
2. No  = Yes
3. Maybe = No
4. We need = I want
5. I am sorry = you’ll be sorry
6. We need to talk = You’re in trouble
7. Sure, go ahead  = You better not
8. Do what you want = You will pay for this later
9. I am not upset = Of course I am upset, you moron!
10. You’re certainly attentive tonight = Is sex all you ever think about?

MEN’S ENGLISH:
1. I am hungry = I am hungry
2. I am sleepy = I am sleepy
3. I am tired = I am tired
4. Nice dress = Nice cleavage!
5. I love you = Let’s have sex now
6. I am bored = Do you want to have sex?
7. May I have this dance? = I’d like to have sex with you
8. Can I call you sometime? = I’d like to have sex with you
9. Do you want to go to a movie? = I’d like to have sex with you
10. Can I take you out to dinner? = I’d like to have sex with you
11. I don’t think those shoes go with that outfit = I’m gay

Derb knows humankind

YEARNING TO BE FREE [John Derbyshire]
I’m going to side with Rich on this one. I have lived and worked among unfree human beings, on fairly intimate terms with many, and I must say, I did not notice much yearning for liberty among them. There was considerable yearning for prosperity (this was post-Mao communist China), but that is not the same thing, and in the case of China is now largely satisfied.Such yearning for liberty as I encountered was among a scattered few individuals, in whom the yearning really did seem to be instinctive. They chafed and groaned under the unfree system. They just couldn’t “fit” into it. I would estimate the overall proportion of such people as about one male in ten, the proportion among females being negligible. All those individuals now live abroad.

Most of my colleagues of that time, however, were happy, or at worst not seriously unhappy, in unfreedom. They went along with the system and didn’t see much wrong with it. If the desire for liberty is inborn in us, then it seems to me it is rather easily suppressed, except among an eccentric few. That few are, rightly, heros to us conservatives–I take Vladimir Bukovsky as their exemplar–but I’m afraid they are only a few.

The late Malcolm Muggeridge made it a habit to liberate hens from battery-farm conditions, and let them free range in his yard. He claimed that when first let loose, the hens, accustomed to spend all their time in a small wire cage, were baffled, confused, and unhappy…..

The saddest part of it all is that he is right.  As the sad quote goes, “People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it.”

I think Derb’s 90% mark is about right for Americans too.  Most are too worried about their own petty problems, or are too stupid to know any difference.

But that’s OK, cuz we like, need diversity, and stuff, because diversity is good, right?

DICTIONARY FOR WOMEN’S PERSONAL ADS:
40-ish…………………………49
Adventurous………………….Slept with everyone
Athletic………………………. Small Breasted
Average looking……………..Ugly
Beautiful……………………..Pathological liar
Contagious Smile……………Does a lot of pills
Emotionally Secure………….On medication
Feminist………………………Fat
Free spirit…………………….Junkie
Friendship first……………….Former slut
Fun……………………………Annoying
New-Age……………………..Body hair in the wrong places
Old-fashioned……………….A few cold showers for the guy
Open-minded…………………Desperate
Outgoing………………………Loud and Embarrassing
Passionate……………………Sloppy drunk
Professional…………………..Bitch
Voluptuous……………………Very Fat
Large frame…………………..Hugely Fat
Wants Soul mate…………….Stalker

Pirates and Sailors: Black History on the High Seas

Blackbeard, Samuel Bellamy, William Kidd the names of famous pirates remind people of parrots, treasure, and adventure on the high seas. But the fact that many pirates were African-American is often left out of U.S. Black History Month celebrations.

Hehheh… No, they weren’t African-American… they were from Africa, but most were not from America at all.  But never let something like that prevent a good politically correct story!