"WTC Go Bye Bye"

As Rich Johnston reminds us (somewhere in the middle), Marvel Comics abandoned their failed first attempt at a "fake manga" imprint in 2004. And now they're probably glad they did. If they had been publishing comics under this imprint today, it would most likely have seemed in very poor taste.

As Johnston says,
It would have been like having an imprint called World Trade Center Go Bye Bye three years ago.

Incidentally, why not donate today?

Site of the Day

Hi, fans. Just wanted to say that Iraq is a quagmire and that Bush is a horrible president. Here are one thousand reasons why (actually 1597 as of this writing).

But really I wanted to hand out Superblog!!'s first Site of the Day award. Aaand the winner is:

http://www.ffoff.com

Quite unexpected, huh?

Stupid is as stupid does

Looking into the wisdom of Google-answers reveals the following

Forrest's version of the saying means that stupidity is not just a
surface thing derived from a person's appearance. Stupidity is a
matter of deeds, not looks. Like the other versions, it comes down to
this: judge people by what they do, not by how they appear.

I readily admit that Dubya looks stupid from time to time. Most of us would do so occationally with a camera stuck up our face nearly 24/7. Let's have a look at his deeds and see what can be learned..

In Iraq 26 millions has been liberated from the dude who really can aspire for the nutjob title and Iraq seems to be the major example for the liberal left to shout about. In the words of Ralph Peters:
And it’s about power. Had Bill Clinton invaded Iraq and deposed Saddam, the Left would have cheered their throats raw, praising him as one of history’s greatest liberators. The rhetoric about Iraq isn’t about justice, or the Iraqi people, or even about the horrors of war.

Sure you can find ugly news about what's happening in Iraq and if you try a little harder it's also possible to find the better news. Chrenkoff is the man who makes it easy.

Iraqi refugees in Iran chooses to repatriate. It seems to me that many prefer Iraq "under Bush" compared to Iraq under Saddam...

Since last year, more than half of all Iraqi refugees in Iran – an estimated 107,000 people – have returned to their homeland. Most of them have gone back of their own accord, some 12,500 with UNHCR assistance. The rate of departure has been even higher among refugees staying in camps, with more than 80 percent of them choosing to repatriate.

How does the Iraqi people view the future? Like leftwing liberals? Not so...

More than 71 percent of those polled said they "strongly intend" to vote, and 67 percent said they believe Iraq will be ready to hold elections by the end of January, compared with 24 percent who said the country won't be ready.

Just a few words about another of Dubyas deeds (ok, he didn't do it alone), Afghanistan. Talibans are going down, education, rebuilding, economy and education are on its way up. Read more about it by visiting Mr Chrenkoff again. Yep, he covers Afghanistan too.

The slogan of http://www.afghan-web.com/ which i assume was born after the liberation:

"Afghanistan: The Friendliest Country in the World, Possibly the Universe."

Newsflash! Some Bloggers Support the Worst US President Ever!

Okay, so maybe that's not news.

Here's some random thoughts on blogs, media bias, Michael Moore, and GWB. This was originally supposed to be published as a series of articles in the New York Times, but they tried to censor me, so I thought, "Why not run it in Superblog!! instead?"

I consider extremely partisan sites and blogs, like some of the ones my co-blogger recommends, to be fairly useless as news sources. Personally, I prefer to get my news from sites that at least strive for objectivity, instead of taking a blinkered view of reality on purpose. Even then, though, I don't automatically trust everything they report. Because the media ("mainstream media" as well as "the blogosphere") shouldn't be trusted. Everyone has an agenda.

But that doesn't mean that there isn't a vast difference between, say, CNN and FOX News. Some media outlets can be trusted more than others. Conservatives like to answer the frequent criticism that FOX News is extremely right-wing with the charge that "CNN is left-wing". It's not, though. It's very far from left-wing. Regardless of its missteps, CNN at least tries to achieve some kind of balance (and they have erred on the right-wing side just as often as on the left-wing). Only an idiot would say that CNN is comparable to FOX News. One reports news, the other is pretty much propaganda. Both have a very pro-American perspective - naturally. If you can't see that, you leave me no choice but to mentally place you in the same category I reserve for Creationists and other Muppets.

And let's talk Michael Moore. While I disagree with Moore on a lot of things, if I have to choose between Moore himself and the legions of frothing Moore-haters, Mike's my guy any day of the week (I don't mean that in a homosexual sense... OR DO I? Just kidding). Thankfully, I don't have to make that choice, as it's quite easy to avoid both pro- and anti-Moore sites.

Moderate Conservatives tend to equate Moore-haters with Bush-bashers. While the groups' tactics can be very similar, there's a crucial difference between Michael Moore and George W Bush. Michael Moore is not the President of the United States. Although Moore is very famous (especially for a documentary filmmaker) and admired (especially outside the US), he is not in any way on an equal footing with Bush II. Michael Moore does not run a nation of 300 million people, of which a sizable number are fundamentalist nutjobs. (To be fair, a sizable number are of course not.)

If the media shouldn't be automatically trusted, that goes double for the President. I think it's the duty of citizens to question their leaders, regardless of which party they happen to represent. Anyone who is in the White House should be given a hard time. (Certainly Bill Clinton was, even though his "crimes" pale in comparison to Dubya's.)

Having said that, this particular President is different from most. Not only does he have a horrible track record, he actually thinks he was told by God to run for President. That's insane. Don't you feel safe at night knowing that the person in charge of the most powerful country on Earth, let alone over 10,000 nuclear weapons, is in direct communication with the Lord?

I know I do.

Viva animals!

In the aftermath of the the tsunami it has been proved that:

Elephants are good.

Six jumbos, who featured in Oliver Stone's recent blockbuster "Alexander," were trucked in from an elephant camp in the ancient capital Ayuthaya, 500 miles north of shattered Phuket island, to help speed up the search operation.
"We use the elephants because a truck can't pass through the thick forest," said trainer Laitonglian Meepan as he yelled commands at the giant beasts to move through the thick mangrove.
"The elephant is like a four-wheel drive. They walk in the forest all their life."

Dogs are good too.

"That dog grabbed me by the collar of my shirt," the boy said from under some trees at Pondicherry University, where the family is waiting for relief. "He dragged me out."

Human beings are as always both good and bad.

Mindboggling blogs

I thought this might be a good time to mention a few of the blogs i visit on a semi-daily basis.

http://www.blogsforbush.com/
Not as fun anymore since Bush remained official winner and Kerry stayed official loser. Still a good read. Especially if you happened to like the Bush administration in the first place.

http://www.instapundit.com
Master of the linkspammingbusiness. I like the prof even more when he writes a few sentences of his own. I must admit that he does so more than me.

http://www.moorewatch.com
Jim K, Lee and Para over here are having a tough time. I suspect that it depends om Mr Moore himself. He is surprisingly hard to spot these days. Come on Michael Moore, give us some of your wisdom! Show yourself! Finish the sequel so we can have a laugh again.

Slide Away

A friend of mine called Johnny found this news story and sent it to the blog.

Thirty-six children were injured in a sledding accident during an all-night New Year's Eve party hosted by a religious organization.
[...]
Police Sgt. Winston Black said more than 100 children ages 12 to 19 attending a Youth for Christ event gathered at a high school around 4 a.m. to slide down a hill using sleds built out of cardboard boxes.

Probably most of the children were drunk and/or high when it happened, but I'm not taking any chances. As of this moment I am giving up:

* sledding
* celebrating New Year's Eve
* Christ

Conspiracy mongers

The Australian reports that USA is to blame as usual.

In the past three days I have been impressed by the originality of the latest critiques of the evil Americans. The earthquake and tsunami apparently had something to do with global warming, environmentalists say, caused of course by greedy American motorists. Then there was the rumour that the US military base at Diego Garcia was forewarned of the impending disaster and presumably because of some CIA-approved plot to undermine Islamic movements in Indonesia and Thailand did nothing about it.

How about it? Life must be exciting when you spend all your time believing that USA has this evil masterplan for all nonamericans. (Most likely nonrepublican Americans are included too.)

What Will 2005 Bring?

So here we are then. Another year over and a new one just begun. I don't really have anything to post, I just wanted to say thanks for joining us today, and I hope you'll stop by often in the coming weeks and months, because we have a lot of exciting stuff planned. Every year around Christmas, my co-blogger and I take a trip to Amsterdam, where we spend a week or so mapping out pretty much exactly what we think should happen with Superblog!! during the year.

This time, we felt that 2004 was a fairly good year for the blog, and we've decided to continue more or less in the same vein. For instance, I will continue to compare George W Cokehead* to Adolf Hitler whenever I can. It's not that I necessarily think an adequate comparison can be made, it's just so much fun to rile up Conservatives like Uncle Sammy. Meanwhile, Sammy will doubtless continue to drunkenly defend his yucky heroes, and make fun of Michael Moore.

Mostly, though, I guess we'll strive to educate and entertain, just like in the recent past. Because if we don't, who will? It's not like there's a lot of other blogs out there that provide this service. Superblog!! is the only game in town, and you know it.

Stay cool.

Keep on rocking.

Everything will be just fine.

(*Not that there's anything WRONG with being a cokehead, mind you.)

Righteous

That´s a good one down there.
My only wish is a try to balance the Reagan-stuff,

Farewell Address On January 11, 1989

Now, I sat there like the new kid in school and listened, and it was all Francois this and Helmut that. They dropped titles and spoke to one another on a first-name basis. Well, at one point I sort of leaned in and said, "My name's Ron."

I think it is wonderful. (And I am from the EU, We are the talkers among talkers.)

The fact is, what they called "radical" was really "right." What they called "dangerous" was just "desperately needed."

Deja vue all over again ??

Well, action is still needed. If we're to finish the job, Reagan's regiments will have to become the Bush brigades. Soon he'll be the chief, and he'll need you every bit .

O.K that was Bush-Sr, but anyhoo.. (a little bit Nostradamus, right?)

You can talk and argue all you want (it is cheap), what matters is the outcome. I, as a lot of people hopes for a better 2005. Again. Take your stand. Or talk about it.