The Bastidge is in Baghdad. What the Hell's he doing there, anyway?

Sometimes people say things that make you want to pop 'em right on the nose. For example, last night after baseball practice two guys are talking next to me, and the one guy says, "yeah, Fahrenheit 9/11 sure is a helluva movie, ain't it?" Wow, it'd been such a long time, I'd completely forgotten what a hair-trigger Michael Moore button I have till someone pushed it.

Do people around suspect that there's a libertarian in their midst? My secret shame...I wonder if I'm going to have to register myself on some webpage somewhere?

You know what Eric's really afraid of?

Can't say I blame him, though it would never occurred to me. You may think this makes Eric one sick puppy, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

Unless, of course, it's chilly out. Got a reputation to keep, here, not only for myself. For America. But if this comes true, oh buddy:

The Gebühreneinzugszentrale (the fee collecting central office or GEZ) is now even coming under direct fire from German industry and other groups for its ridiculous plans to introduce computer fees starting next January. You can listen to the radio and watch TV with your PC now, get it? Pretty much everybody here, the politicians, as well (for once), see this move to milk anybody who owns a PC connected to the Internet (are there PCs still out there that aren’t?) for over 5 euros a month as an idea that is, well, not a very good one. The politicians won’t budge quite yet, but that might just change any day now.

As Clarsonimus points out, it'll pretty much be a cold day in Hell before they shut down the milking machines, but still. The GEZ-verbrecher getting the tar-and-feathers treatment makes for a nice dream, doesn't it?

I have to admit, those are indeed some great-looking racks.

My favorite?

But are they real?