Please, sir, I want some more!

Yes, ladies and gents. Looks like we have a run on rice in America.

They say it isn't that big a deal, but I also just heard truckers on the news saying they're close to refusing certain long-haul jobs due to the cost of diesel, which apparently is high enough that many trips would actually cost them to undertake.

On the other hand, we're in the midst of earnings season, and we've had many surprises to the upside, including "crappy" old Ford today (which made me some ca-ching for a change). The only thing worrying me? Much of this news is from companies making their money overseas. Ford did it by cutting 46,300 jobs stateside and increasing its presence abroad:

Ford's pretax loss in its North America region narrowed to $45 million from $613 million a year earlier. Pretax profit rose to $257 million in South America from $113 million. It increased to $739 million for Ford of Europe from $219 million. The company's operations in Asia Pacific and Africa posted a pretax profit of $1 million after a $26 million deficit a year earlier.

``The international results really helped,'' Mikelic said.

So, just to be safe, start stockpiling that Charmin. It's gonna be worth a mint!

Tossing cookies

David O. Russell. (Not to be confused with David O. Selznick.)

They can't figure out how to choke on a cookie, but these people have the answer to health care.

Son of Rambow

Technically I just make the cut as a child of the 80s. And even if the British setting takes away slightly from the experience, this still looks like all kinds of funderful.

Ease up in Afghanistan??

We're not in Kansas anymore...and that ain't wheat

Had I encountered this article any way other than a recommended link from Michael Yon, I would have dismissed it out of hand.

Yon vouchsafes:

"I’ve mentioned Mr. Holloway in my 2006 dispatches on Afghanistan, after having met him on a remote airfield in Afghanistan. He’s a very smart man with an eye for truth about the war: good, bad and the ugly. In Afghanistan it’s mostly the bad and ugly."

Michael Yon is no appeaser, coward or liberal scribbler. If he says this guy knows what he's talking about, he pretty much knows what he's talking about. And what he's talking about is emphasizing the "speak softly" part of T.R.'s "big stick" model of diplomacy. (With the big stick yet an integral part of the equation.)

But the other reason this rings true? Read Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell's 'Lone Survivor' and you'll get the same sense of the situation along the non-existent border between Pashtun Afghanistan and Pakistan -- an intransigent cultural situation to make Iraq's tribal realities look positively new-millennium by comparison.

Though for the record, my blood still simmers to a rolling boil at the "cash up front" attitude of these tribal folk.

Finally, slightly off topic, check out these shots of Prince Harry in Afghanistan. Most of those in the press at the time seemed selected to make him look like a rich-kid wannabe, but these are a little different. Note the American flag on his hat in the first one.

Ollie Johnston: 1912 - 2008

Ollie Johnston, the last of the Nine Old Men of Disney legend, is no longer with us.

Roy Disney:

"Ollie was part of an amazing generation of artists, one of the real pioneers of our art, one of the major participants in the blossoming of animation into the art form we know today. One of Ollie's strongest beliefs was that his characters should think first, then act ... and they all did. He brought warmth and wit and sly humor and a wonderful gentleness to every character he animated. He brought all those same qualities to his life, and to all of our lives who knew him. We will miss him greatly, but we were all enormously enriched by him."

Brad Bird, the genius behind Pixar's The Incredibles and Ratatouille, has a nice tribute up here, which includes an anecdote about inheriting Johnston's desk (and hallowed pencil shavings) at Disney the week Johnston retired.

Johnston became a mentor who appeared in animated cameo in two of Bird's pictures, which says a lot about both Bird and Ollie Johnston. It's comforting to know that in Disney/Pixar animation today, they do make them like they used to, thanks to this kind of respect for tradition and continuity.

Rest in peace, Ollie.

McConaughey P.I.

How did I miss this?

Garth Frankin doesn't sound too keen on the idea of Matthew McConaughey stepping into Selleck's white deck shoes, tight pants and tucked-in Hawaiian shirt...

"The character, a former Navy Seal turned reluctant detective, was previously played by Tom Selleck who was quite different (both physically and in performance style) than the "Fool's Gold" star.

Magnum isn't Magnum without the mustache, chest hair and every guy charm - the later two things McConaughey doesn't have and can't really develop."

...but I actually think it's a great idea if they're taking this thing seriously in the first place.

Personally, I'd prefer a send-up staring Jack Black in all Magnum's acid-washed, mustachioed glory. Just picture him peeling out Nacho Libra-style in that red Ferrari during the opening credits. Pure box office gold.

James Cameron on the future of 3D

Oooo... Ahhh...

Don't let that whole "tomb of Jesus" thing throw you. When he sticks to things he actually understands -- in this case, movie technology -- James Cameron is worth listening to. Check out this post on John August's blog about the future of the big screen experience. Very spiffy indeed.

Yes, the future is now, people...or maybe tomorrow. Definitely next week. It's really close, is my point. Oh, just go and read it already.

(Thanks to our pal Mike Rinaldi for the heads-up.)

Was WW II the 'Good War' or not?

Belgian refugees circa 1940

I'm not sure what Pat Buchanan's motive is in writing this piece (apart from promoting a similarly themed book of his own), but he makes some good points.

"...There are things worth fighting for: God and country, family and freedom. Martyrs have ever inspired men. And to some evils pacifism is no answer. Resistance, even unto death, may be required of a man.

But when one declares a war that produced Hiroshima and the Holocaust a "Good War," it raises a question: good for whom?"

I'm not sure I buy Red China as a consequence of WWII, but Buchanan's litany of tragedy for the rest of world (the U.S. notwithstanding, which clearly benefited) is hard to deny.

"And how good a war was it for the British?

They went to war for Poland, but Winston Churchill abandoned Poland to Stalin. Defeated in Norway, France, Greece, Crete and the western desert, they endured until America came in and joined in the liberation of Western Europe.

Yet, at war's end in 1945, Britain was bled and bankrupt, and the great cause of Churchill's life, preserving his beloved empire, was lost. Because of the "Good War" Britain would never be great again."

That's true. Britain became a nanny state as a direct consequence of the shattering it endured during the war. The government was left to pick of the pieces. It did in a big way and never let go.

Of course Buchanan, like a milder version of Ron Paul, has always been for avoiding foreign wars. It's a position clearly in line with the sentiment of the Founders, and one I've gone back and forth on in my own mind over the years.

What we're fighting for in Iraq is noble, but is it worth the billions we're spending? We can't leave now, but in the end, I just don't know the larger answer.

Personally, I still maintain we should have destroyed Saddam and pulled out again, with the promise that we would return to annihilate whatever arose in his place should it pose a similar threat. (In other words, I'm OK with war, but it strikes me that to "rebuild" is to make the case for socialism, which particularly sucks when our money is being spent by the C-130 load on people who may or may not appreciate it in the end.)

Then again, Buchanan doesn't offer a better alternative after Pearl Harbor was attacked -- and by extension 9/11 in 2001. At least not in this piece. No doubt that will be in his book, which I'll approach with an open mind for now at least.

Giants stink up homecoming

I couldn't improve on the headline in the Chronicle, so I left it as is.

"These are not things that should happen on a major league field," Manager Bruce Bochy said.

This time, the shoddy play resulted in a 7-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners, a game that drew periodic boos from a far-less-than-capacity crowd at AT&T Park.

Oi... Looks like a long season ahead.

By the late innings, seagulls swarmed the vacant bleachers, Hitchcock style, and sent the few remaining fans scurrying for cover.

The gulls usually wait until the end of the game to descend on AT&T. Hey, at least it wasn't vultures.

Granted, the Giants have had sucky pre-seasons before. Maybe they'll surprise us once it's for real, but you can't help wondering if the ghost of Barry might not be running around in left field. That freedom they've been celebrating can also make for very big shoes to fill.

Still kicking

You've gotta love a heartwarming story like this.

The boy said, "Old man, give me your wallet or I'll cut you," Bair said. The man told the boy he was a former Marine who fought in three wars and had been threatened with knives and bayonets, Bair said.

The man then put his bags on the ground and told the boy that if he stepped closer he would be sorry. When the boy stepped closer, the man kicked him in the groin, knocking him to the sidewalk, Bair said. The ex-Marine picked up his grocery bags and walked home, leaving the boy doubled over, Bair said.

The man reported the attempted robbery to police 45 minutes later.

Sniff... Brings a tear to my eye.

No child [tased in the] left behind

Yeahhhh, I think I'm going to have to go ahead and not send my kids to public school when they're old enough. Though I must say the teacher with the taser needs to win some kind of community service award. Unusually ballsy. This girl's parents, for their parenting however...? Not so much.

I believe the photo above clearly vindicates the teacher. This girl was huge!

Dems in bed with Saddam

Yes, master...

Did you see the news today? Democrat congressmen jetting to Iraq during the prelude to war...on Saddam's dime.

"...Oklahoma Sen. Don Nickles, the second-ranking Senate Republican at the time, said the Democrats 'sound somewhat like spokespersons for the Iraqi government.' "

I know what you're thinking...biggest surprise since Jody Foster came out, right? Still, imagine this happening with Hitler instead of Saddam. You know what we'd call these guys, back when the nation had a single, unified backbone? Traitors.

Go! America! Go!

Tintin update

What's not to love about this project? Spielberg and Peter Jackson are both directing installments... Andy Serkis is doing the motion capture for Captain Haddock... Even the stories now being theorized as the target films sound perfect:

This would mean Spielberg will adapt "The Secret of the Unicorn" and "Red Rackham's Treasure" stories. The first book follows the pair racing to find three parchments, hidden inside the masts of three ship model replicas, which lead to a buried treasure of Haddock's ancestor Red Rackham. The second sees the voyage to find the treasure somewhere in the Caribbean.

I devoured these "graphic novels" (come on, they're comics, people) as a kid growing up in Montana. My brother and I used to check them out at the library every chance we had. They still epitomize the notion of pure adventure in my mind, which is why I'm getting goosebumps over all this.

This also gives me a chance to link a great article I read a year or so back: "All I Know About Travel I Learned From Tintin." And with headings like "chloroform is an effective sleeping aid" you can see why this appealed to the boy I was then and the boy, truth be told, I remain today.

Garfield minus Garfield

We're too busy moving into new digs for me to blog much lately, but enjoy this little bit of strange to pass the time. Thanks to Mike R for the heads up.

Army marches on

Well what do you know. Turns out the Army isn't 'broken' after all.

"In fact, what we've seen over the last year is that the Army retention rates are pretty high, that re-enlistments, for instance, particularly re-enlistments in Iraq and Afghanistan, remain very high," Scales said. He noted that re-enlistments were high even among troops who have served multiple tours.

And the list of all things military for Hillbama to complain about grows shorter and shorter.

Dog pile on Obama!

Goodnight, and God damn America

I was planning a post on Obama's church later on in the campaign, but since this report is all over the Web and talk radio today anyway, I can't resist piling on with a link right now.

Video here, background on the church itself here.

Are we seriously gonna let this guy be president? Seriously??

Two sides of the Iraq debate

For...

Two sides of the Iraq debate were in the news today.

First up, we have those literally praying the U.S. will stay in Iraq and that last holdouts like Mosul will experience the peace and religious freedom being enjoyed elsewhere there. These are the true martyrs in a part of the world that usually reserves the term for murderers, drug dealers and child rapists.




Against...

And now, for a look at the jaded, limo-riding, TMZ-fodder, club-hopping set that likes to "talk about the war" at expensive restaurants while tipping the little people with lottery tickets. The article doesn't confirm they were against the war, but given the fact Fox News is the only outlet mentioning the "Iraq and politics" part -- and given pretty much everything else about the pair -- it's a fairly safe bet they weren't tooling around with a "W in '04" bumper sticker on the back of that limo.

I'm not drawing any across-the-board conclusions here. But these last two often passed themselves off as Hollywood types, and it's easy to see why they got away with it. In either case, I'm just wondering who has a better handle on the reality of the situation in Iraq.

Ouch, Elliot!

Annnnnd that's what she said

Obviously I'm not posting this as news you may have missed. Sometimes, you just have to gloat.

While this is the worst problem Spitzer has faced, his 14 months in office have been marred by problems, including an unpopular plan to grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and a plot by his aides to smear Spitzer's main Republican nemesis.

Yep, couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Except for maybe Ted Kennedy, but that guy would have to kill someone -- like, actually drive-off-a-bridge-while-intoxicated-and-flee-the-scene kill someone -- to lose his job.

The Marine and the Taxi Driver

Wanna know if you're a conservative or liberal? If this makes you laugh you're the former.