The Chicago Sun-Times announces Costco is now selling caskets.
The Arab News has an interesting piece on the Bush/Rumsfeld plan to bring the 1st Armored and 1st Infantry home from Germany. For the Arab News, it was surprisingly balanced (ie no nefarious references to Paul Wolfowitz and Ariel Sharon).
The key quote came at the end:
It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out in the election. From a force projection perspective, it seems to make sense but then again I'm not a professional in that field so I really don't know. My hunch is that it helps counter the "overstretch" argument, by freeing up our deployment basis away from precedent and inertia towards what's really necessary. In many ways it's not so radical, really the logical corollary to the base closing rounds domestically a decade ago. In many ways it's long overdue.
But I think the political effect of this is real at home and abroad: at home, it's a not so gentle reminder that American democratization abroad can and does work, as Germany, Japan, and South Korea can attest to. It also underscores the idiocy of the "There isn't a fully functioning civil society in Iraq yet? Then it's all a failure!" point of view. Sure there are serious questions about sustaining a democracy with the deep religious issues that Iraq has, but there were also probably greater concerns over whether Japan's religious culture after WW2 could handle democracy. I think the "Arabs can't handle democracy" argument put forward by the left is a thinly veiled racism, to be perfectly honest.
But the greatest political effect it will have is on the wacky left at home, gearing up for their mass demonstrations in NYC at the end of the month. Bring the troops home, eh? Be careful what you wish for.
Abroad, the be careful what you wish for effect is multiplied. I'd have paid serious euros to see the look on Herr Fischer's face when this news was delivered to them. It's time for Europe--and by that, I mean France, Germany, and Belgium--to start carrying their own bags.
Sure, it's only been three days, but I think it's time to open nominations for the official "Llamabutchers Gold Medal Olympic Punk."
The categories are male athlete, female athlete, promoter/agent, and sportswriter/broadcaster.
We'll have medals for the first and second week, and then a special bonus round for the OVERALL Olympic punks.
By punks, of course, I mean a special combination of surliness, boorishness, and bad behavior. DQ'ed as anything that's the result of really charged up people doing something in the heat of the moment: this is the Olympics, folks, and only world class punk-ness counts for a medal. Remember, you don't win silver in the Olympic Punk Contest---you lose gold!
So without further ado, here's my nominations so far: feel free to leave your nominations in the comments section, or by proxy on your blog (be sure to send me the link). Results will be announced Sunday, with suitable Llama-style snarkiness.
Steve's nominees:
Male Olympic Punk:
Allen Iverson, for giving standard NBA blase "where be my bitches?" excuses for getting their asses handed to them by Puerto Rico, which isn't even a separate country.
Gary Hall Jr., for all-around lifetime achievement as a punk, and for pulling an Achilles and sulking in his tent because he didn't get on the relay team.
Ian Thorpe, for claiming the mantel of best swimmer in the world while only swimming the freestyle. Dolphin kick this, you Aussie pantload.
Female Olympic Punk:
So far, this one is open---suggestions?
Agent/Coach Punk:
Whomever is responsible for the all-Phelps, all the time madness. Just stop it. Not his fault--he's holding up well. But jeez-louise, no!
Broadcaster/Journalist Olympic Punk:
The Washington Post sportswriter (I'll have to dig up the piece later) who tried to link America losing the 4X100 swim relay to Abu Grahib. Dick.
Special Achievement Olympic Punk medal will go to the Athens organizers who bitched and moaned eight years ago about how dreadfully tacky and crowded the Atlanta Games were (guilty on both counts), and proceeded to develop and put on an elegantly unfinished and empty set of games. Way to go, guys!
I know I speak for many Americans when I say my heart is hanging out there for the real dream team: go Iraqi Soccer!!!!
The Crack Young Staff at the HMQ want to know, "what's the worst pop lyric of all time?"
I mean, the absolute worst of all time?
Somehow, I've got a feeling either Air Supply or John Cougar Mellencamp are coming home with the bacon on this one...
Thanks for the font size and link color feedback--I think we're going to go with this combo for right now.
The biggest issue seems to be the the right margin. A little later I'm going to go through the MT syntax stuff to figure out how to fix it, but if anyone is open to suggestions or quick fixes, please let me know.
The new logo is also open to debate. Rob's not back yet, and I'm sure he'll have something to add. Basically, we're NOT going for a slasher-flick look: if anything, we're trying to go for the butcher's shop/deli look (hence the whole menu schtick), which feeds in to our age old quandry/mystery---are we serving up llama meat, or are we crazed llamas weilding cleavers? I've always favored the latter, but that's just me, Mr. Vegas).
Anyhoo, far from being slasher-esque, the cleaver jpegs I lifted from the Williams-Sonoma website (although, if you think about it, a much better setting for Alien v. Predator v. Jason v. Freddy would be a giant Bed, Bath & Beyond/Williams Sonoma/Pottery Barn outlet, no? I mean, just for the look of shock on the Alien queen's face as the Predator hurls her bony butt into a giant display of Calphalon cookware comes crashing down on her giant head, one frying pan at a time, all the while Jason and Freddy shred their way through the bedding and fancy linens section. Think of the anarchy as all the yuppie khaki wearing fancy boys and girls running away, screaming, dropping their $6.57 Smoothie King pineapple pleasure smoothies on the floor! It brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it...but I digress) So the new logo is trying to project a smoother, more antiseptic look. But I also did one where I inserted the wise-ass llama head (the one with the Risky Business shades and the cigarette) into a Dog's Playing Poker motif (as well as one where I inserted the Llama head onto the body of Aristotle in the School of Athens picture, but that one was too scatalogical even for me....)
Anyhoo, the point is let us know what you'd like to see. Hopefully, over the next week or so we'll settle back into a new groove, what with learning how to tweak CSS templates and all, plus Rob starting a new job, me finishing up a big conference paper, the semester starting back up next week, new car shopping done with, and all the attendent fun of Llama Version 4.0 on the way....
UPDATE: How's that for the right margin--better? Does it need to come in more?
UPDATE DEUX: I'm cribbing my CSS codes from this site, which is generally excellent in these things.
