On the 'highlight' side, Cartoon Network starts showing new Dragonball Z episodes this afternoon, which will be recorded thanks to the wonderful technological device known as the VCR. I know, I know, I'm easily satisfied. I also watched _Wrath of the Ninja_, which was so painfully bad I was only able to get about 30 minutes in. Out of all the stuff available, why is it that so much of the animation we import from Japan is such utter tripe? And why is the voice acting ("Actor! Someone who ACTS!") done by the Random Collection Of People Unable To Convey Any Emotional Nuance Whatsoever? And... Oh, I just can't go on.
In the 'wacky hijinks in the news' department, we have the following nugget from Kosovo.
Apparently, during the whole "Russian troops swarm up out of nowhere and seize a key airfield" event, the overall commander for NATO's forces (who was an American) gave several orders to the commander of that particular region (who was a Brit) about getting control of the thing. Apparently the first one was to send in helicopters to take control before the Russians got there, which the Brits sat on, and later ones involved telling them to muscle armored vehicles in and sit them on the runways to prevent the Russians flying in more troops and supplies, to which the Brits said "Uh, no."
Heaven forbid that anyone should try and avoid starting a shootout between NATO and the Russians over a completely irrelevant piece of land (well, irrelevant in the broader strategic sense). Now, one can argue that not sending in the choppers to get the thing first was bad, after all, finders keepers, and the Russians aren't any more jazzed about starting shooting, either. But by the same token, once they'd got it, no sense in starting up a hissy fit about it. They're the Russians, for crying out loud. If it assuages their national pride to squat on a chunk of real estate in the middle of the Balkans, then by crikey, let them do it, I say.
The upshot of all this is that it's likely that we Merkins will insist on having our own officers at key points in the chain of command, instead of letting our various lackies do it. So future NATO/UN missions will be free to do inane things without the hindrance of a clue at any point in the process. Doesn't that make you feel so much better about the whole thing?
And while we're on the subject of wacky hijinks, there's East Timor. Now, is it too much to ask for a little consistency in government, here? First we're against ethnic atrocities. Then we're not overly concerned about them. Then... Bunches of Timorese are getting whacked for wanting to be independant from Indonesia, a complaint that seems ever more valid as the Indonesian military cheerfully goes along with the pillaging, and we go back to the old "Oooh, stop that, you! Stop or, um, we'll invoke sanctions. We really mean it! We'll stop sending you hundreds of millions of dollars, we really will! At least until our media gets pictures of your country completely collapsing. Then we'll probably just bomb you a bit. Or maybe we won't."
Frankly, if we're going to kick the asses of little petty schmucks like Milosevich, we ought to kick the asses of petty little schmucks like whoever the hell is in charge of Indonesia. I want a goverment willing to kick some ass, dammit. And not be hypocritical about whose ass is getting kicked. I want a leader who'll say "Hey, you. Yeah, you, asshole. Cut that out, dammit, or we'll introduce your command centers to the wonderful magic of cruise missiles. But, you know, thing is, these cruise missiles are pretty old technology. They sometimes go a bit off course. We'd just HATE for one to have an 'accident' and land in your Presidential Hot Tub, wouldn't we. Especially if you were in it at the time."
Of course, it could be pointed out that such actions would be somewhat unpopular. I doubt that very much. It could also be pointed out that such actions would lead to increased military spending and more surl towards the United States. But, dammit, if we have to deal with the buddings of totalitarianism in monitoring, twisting the Constitution, "soft laws" and other such fun, then we should get the FUN parts like over-militarization and constant kicking the crap out of those darn furriners, too. It's no fair to stick us with the down sides and not give us the upshots.
And then one day we can annex the Sudentenland. Most likely for another 'Disney' theme park.
'cuz, you know, it IS a small world, after all.
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