commonplacebook.com – Page 555 – The online journal, notebook and playground of HFM

What a brilliant idea: Bush / Saddam Duel

Post author:HFM
Post published:October 4, 2002
Post category:Politics

What a brilliant idea. I can’t see a downside to this. There’s just no way we could lose.

An Iraqi vice-president has proposed that Saddam Hussein and George W Bush should fight a duel to settle their differences.

“Bush wants to attack the whole [of] Iraq, the army and the infrastructure,” the Iraqi vice-president said.

“The American president should specify a group, and we will specify a group and choose neutral ground with Kofi Annan as referee and use one weapon with a president against a president, a vice-president against a vice-president, and a minister against a minister in a duel.”

Update: got a message from a fellow named Ron Pawlikowski in response: “If I recall my duelling rules, the one who is challenged gets to pick the weapons. So obviously, GWB should choose ICBM’s at about 20 million paces. Since Saddam doesn’t have any, we win!”

Of course, I replied to point out the error in his thinking: “If you recall all of the dueling rules, you’d realize that whoever chooses the weapons has to provide them to both parties on the morning of the duel, and then the other fellow, the challenger picks the time and place. So I don’t think the ICBM choice would be the best for GWB, although I can see him being brainless enough to make that choice.”

Americans For Victory Over Terrorism

Post author:HFM
Post published:October 2, 2002
Post category:Politics

There’s a brand-new group, headed by Bill Bennett, called [a href=”http://www.avot.org/”] American’s For Victory Over Terrorism (AVOT). They are targeting “threats” to America, both “external and internal.”

Who do they classify as threats? People who don’t support GW Bush’s intentions to invade Iraq. Now, where do I sign up to get on the list of people they consider threats? because I love this country, and I want to guard against terrorism, but I’m not going to blindly follow a fool as he jumps off a bridge.

2013 Update: Interestingly, the link to AVOT’s site is dead now. Guess we won over that terrorism, didn’t we?

yourself in an Onion article

Post author:HFM
Post published:September 25, 2002
Post category:Recently Read

It’s bad when you recognize yourself in an Onion article…

Missing Idgie, and visiting Spike

Post author:HFM
Post published:September 24, 2002
Post category:Journal

Whenever I’m home, I hear a noise, and think it’s Idgie. I start to look around, and then I remember. When I walk in the door after work, I open the door and say, “I’m home!” to the cat. I didn’t realize I did that every day until last night when I did it, and nobody came running. This is freaking me out.

I went over yesterday and played with Spike. He’s way too little to come home with me, but Jim, the guy who’s giving him to me, wants me to take him next Monday. That freaks me out worst than I’m already freaked out, because he’s too small to be away from his mom, and I don’t want to leave him alone all day. I want him, but I’m scared to death I’ll screw up and he’ll get sick or something. I think I’m going to try to take a week of vacation when I first bring him home so he can get used to me and the house.

Tim Goldman

Post author:HFM
Post published:September 24, 2002
Post category:Journal

Look, it’s Tim Goldman, a friend from college. At my job, we’ve been looking for an illustrator to do some work for us, and Rich was talking about this friend of a friend, a guy named Tim Goldman who lives in New York and does great artwork… and then it dawned on me it was the same guy I went to college with. So, howdy, Tim!

Goodby, Idgie

Post author:HFM
Post published:September 21, 2002
Post category:Journal

I had to put Idgie to sleep this morning. There was nothing they could do for her; her kidneys were already in failure and they couldn’t operate. I just lost my best friend.

My cat Idgie is very sick

Post author:HFM
Post published:September 20, 2002
Post category:Journal

My cat Idgie is very sick. It appears from x-rays that she had kidney stones. She’s staying at the vet’s tonight, and tomorrow we have to have another x-ray to make sure that’s what the problem is. If so, I may have to have her put to sleep.