Emptybottle.org

Not funny. Not even remotely amusing.
I must note in passing, though, that I like this guy’s attitude.

It’s like potato chips : once you start, it’s hard to stop.
Item the First : Lying is harder when the medium has a memory.
How about this one, kids?
Cached version at archive.org. Interesting that the live version is no longer available. [via ntk.net] (Followup : a call for his resignation is here.)
Item the Second : Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of clue!
Dvorak has a go at the Cluetrainers, and a very caustic go it is, indeed. “This means nothing …. Get over yourselves.” Found it via this Metatalk thread, which is hopefully going to be interesting. Regardless, I suspect this is going to be all over the place over the next couple of days…it will be interesting to see what Messrs Locke, Weinberger, Searls have to say in their defense. It’s always good to see a little pushback against accepted wisdom, but Mr Dvorak is certainly cranky about something…

So I sez to da guy… comments.

Bush Seeks To Restrict Probes Of Sept. 11
Time for another distraction, deflect some attention, get the fist-in-the-air brigade worked up again…Anyone want to give me odds on how soon the bombs starting falling somewhere new? He promised they weren’t going to invade North Korea. That’s good enough for me, damn it!
Interlude :
I try to steer my way clear of politics. I try to, and for the last dozen years or so, I’ve claimed to be ‘apolitical’. Just wanted out of it. I remember now why I deliberately chose to be so. It’s exhausting, when you start to dig, start to work up that red-orange glow of indignation, start to think carefully about the manipulative pap that we’re fed by our leaders (elected or otherwise) and their lapdogs. Indignation turns to fury, and you slowly begin to turn into one of those people that sit at Metafilter, obsessively hitting Refresh on any political thread, keen to tear down anyone who disagrees with them, while their marriage falls apart and the pizza box in the corner sprouts new life forms not previously found in any taxonomy or textbook. Not to name any names, of course.
Disclaimer : My relationships are just fine, thank you, and I rarely get to have pizza these days.
Not only is it exhausting to be in a state of near-perpetual anger, but it’s unhealthy, and it annoys other people. There are old friends of mine that I no longer speak to, in part because of their one-note perpetual politicizing of Every Damn Thing. All The Time. It’s grating, and unnecessary, and reduces your life to a constant protest, usually against things over which you have no influence whatsoever. I’d rather have my life be a celebration, a paean.
This excerpt from the Tao Te Ching (recently quoted by Richard at Notes From A Life In Progress) is perhaps appropriate here :

But there comes a point, when it feels necessary to speak out, even if no one hears your voice. At least your conscience will be clear, and if someone does hear you, and agrees, perhaps you’ve done some good. Some days, lately, I feel like I am somehow failing myself if I don’t point out the latest falsehood, the latest manipulative rewrite of the facts, the most recent evil perpetrated on the world by the Evil Empire. Other days, I just feel like pointing to Ethel. I’m funny like that, and I make no excuses.
Everyone loves to quote this one, too, but that’s not gonna stop me : “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
Interlude Ends.
Back to the Bombing The Innocent Sweepstakes : well-timed little gems like this would seem to make their intentions pretty clear, to me at least…
Edit : This is good. Laugh, cry, rinse, repeat.

Odds? comments.

I promised myself I wasn’t going to talk about the visit of a certain lying, half-wit sack of dung to Korea recently, as my temper might get the best of me, and I might accidentally let slip pejoratives like ‘lying‘ and ‘half-wit‘ and ‘sack of dung‘.
But I was just listening to Radio Canada International, and even they are toeing the line of bullsh-t that the American propaganda machine is spewing out. I just heard “President Bonobo (bit of static there, I think that’s what they said) will ask Jiang Ze Min to speak to Kim Jong Il about returning to the negotiating table.” What egregious, infuriating nonsense. The Americans were the ones who walked away, they are the ones playing games of brinkmanship and provoking the North Koreans, they are the ones who are most responsible for the ‘proliferation of weapons of mass destruction’.
The last time I talked about this, I linked to these two articles from the local English-language media, both of which made it quite clear that the North, weeks ago, were indicating their willingness to sit down and talk. But acknowledging that fact would get in the way of Pretzelboy’s scripted bluster about the ‘axis of evil’, now, wouldn’t it? History is being rewritten at the very moment it happens, these days.
f–k. I know he’s just reading a script – I know. I shouldn’t get upset about it. But what do they think – that no one’s watching? Are they so certain that they can just go about their merry way and no one will catch them in the lies? Has this game degenerated to such an extent that there’s no longer anything any of us can actually do, other than piss and moan, while these bastards flush us all down the toilet?
Update : This is classic. Laughing, crying, it’s all the same sometimes. Watch this (Warning : Realvideo file), and tell me this Resident knows what he’s doing. He says, to the Japanese Diet – “My trip to Asia begins here in Japan for an important reason. It begins here because for a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times. From that alliance has come an era of peace in the Pacific.”

Comments? comments.

This is old news, by the way. Just on my mind.
Ah, President Chimp. Always willing to take time out from Defending the Free World, snorting cocaine off the bellies of teenage hookers (Note : this is an unsubstantiated statement. I have no proof. Honest. None.) and passing out after swilling too much beer choking on pretzels to wave a finger and lay waste to nearly five years of slow, careful diplomacy. A Korea Herald Op/Ed piece today lays it out in some detail :

I was living in Australia when President Kim Dae Jung visited North Korea. I watched on TV as he shook hands with Kim Jong-il, and sentimental bastard that I am, I misted up. The dangerous halfwit that is ostensibly at the American helm has perpetrated all manner of outrage on the world since his inauguration, and no doubt will continue to do so, and perhaps this particular arrogance is low on the scale of importance. And I will grant that it is true that the regime in North Korea cannot be trusted, and occasionally appear, if not completely whacked out, at least to have a very tenous grasp on reality.
But, while the Americans continue to play their games, another million children might die of starvation in the North when the next famine hits. Sure, it’s the fault of Kim Il Sung and his cartoonish son and the government they created. But if there were an opportunity to hasten its demise, or at least soften its hardline, and prevent those deaths, and it were so clearly within their power, don’t you think the Americans could at least give it a shot? No, of course not. Foolish of me to think that, dreamer that I am.
A brief summary : with the blessings of the previous US Administration, Kim Dae Jung (who I repeat, for the benefit of those who have started following all this recently, has been referred to as the “Asian Nelson Mandela” and has received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for his ‘sunshine policy’ in attempting to end the 50-year war between North and South Korea) embarked on a mission over the first 4 years of his presidency to open a dialogue with North Korea. Almost immediately after Bush was sworn in, he made it clear that, Peace Prize or no Peace Prize, there was no way that he’d support further efforts toward ending hostilities on the peninsula.
It is, of course, no coincidence that there are 44,000 US troops here, and peace, let alone reunification, would leave them without much to do.
Several months after Bush’s initial meeting with Kim Dae Jung, the American administration offered to meet with North Korea unconditionally out of one side of its mouth, while proclaiming out of the other that they pose a threat to U.S. security as a “rogue state”. This virtually guarantees that North Korea, historically hypersensitive to hyperbole like this, will not participate in any talks, let alone propose them. A fait accompli.
Quiz : The corner that the Bush regime now has South Korea, their ally, backed into, is a minor miracle of :
a) Diplomatic sleight-of-hand
b) realpolitik
c) clear thinking
d) cheese, glorious cheese
Vote now, vote often!
Update : Sorry, when I posted this last night, I forgot to add option (e) Pure, unmitigated evil. Thanks for playing.
Comments?

It’s got nothing to do with Korea. Watch this video anyway.