Thank God Pravda’s out there to keep us in the know:

Ask yourself one thing: ‘If two five-hundred-pound bombs were in fact used to kill Zarqawi, where did they get such nice photos of his intact, undamaged, supposedly-dead face?’ Photos of the ‘dead’ Al Zarqawi were all over the television every 20 minutes for days.

Because a thousand pounds of explosives would make a deep crater, blowing everything to smithereens, Zarqawi would have been tomato paste and not distinguishable as even human. Yet the media just happened to receive cameo morgue photos to convince us suckers that Zarqawi et. al. were dead instead of evacuated.

So, why doesn’t the head of Al-Zarqawi look like a pizza? Because, perhaps, he’s no deader than the at least seven so-called 9-11 hijackers that are still living in the Middle East.

Cause, you know, the planes just flew themselves. Man, this is almost as good as the Weekly World News, but at least the WWN is ALL TRUE! Says so on the cover.

…you sue it for $30 million. Since MySpace is supposed to be a parent now can I ask it for an allowance?

Lauren Gelman, associate director of the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School, said she does not think MySpace is legally responsible for what happens away from its site.

“If you interact on MySpace, you are safe, but if a 13-year-old or 14-year-old goes out in person and meets someone she doesn’t know, that is always an unsafe endeavor,” Gelman said. “We need to teach our kids to be wary of strangers.”

Yep.

National Journal has polled insiders about their thoughts on the impact of blogs on the upcoming midterm elections. Republicans by and large believe they will have no impact (70%) with the rest evenly split on whether it will help Republicans or Democrats more. Democrats, on the other hand, swing the opposite way, with 69% thinking blogs will help Democrats and the rest saying no impact. Some interesting quotes as well.

I think what you’re seeing is the “echo chamber’s” impact with the insiders. Blogs are majority Liberal, perhaps with as large as a 2:1 split. So Democrats view it as their territory and their territory alone, they will drown out any attempts by the GOP to enter the fray. Insiders see these netroots efforts and think in dollar signs but what they fail to realize is that a good portion of these Liberal sites are not only caught up in the “echo chamber” of other sites but are not all as effective as the Dean campaign made them out to be two years ago, especially given the large number of bloggers hiding behind pseudonyms.

Republicans, on the other hand, look at the “success” of the Dean campaign’s netroots efforts and laugh. If they do think it’ll have an impact, they either fear that Dems have gotten their act together in the last two years or believe Republicans can make gains in a predominantly Liberal medium. Overall, blogs are meaningless in their eyes.

My thoughts? Blogs can potentially be a boon for both parties, but only in as much as how much the MSM pays attention to what is being said. For example, the “anti-Semetic” cartoon in the Webb/Miller primary. Blogs started that conversation and eventually the MSM caught onto it. Perhaps with a helpful push from the Miller camp, but the blogs formed the foundation of the story.

Nationally, Dems have a definate headstart. But localities may see it differently. Virginia has its very own netroots Conservative network ready to work for Allen and counter the Dem efforts.

Here or there, though, Blogs alone will not sway voters, but they may sway the MSM and that is where its greatest impact will be felt.

Folgers scares me.

…or is this a conflict of interest?

- The Dr. Pepper Rip-Off Page

- “Building a video game around a premise based on very realistic, cold-blooded assassinations of innocent bystanders and police” is “more akin to hate speech, not free speech.”

- Drats. Missed the list once again.

- The rewards of being shy.

- Even bears love hammocks.

- Five Hardest Nintendo Games EVER. And they’re right. As great a game “Ninja Gaiden” is there’s just no getting through it without breaking something. And “Back To The Future” is frustrating as hell but you can’t help but keep going back…

…but when you park your car under a sign that pretty much said “parking for shopping center customers only, all others towed at owner’s expense”, don’t be too shocked an hour later when you find the car gone after coming back from your kid’s gradation across the street.

Is it just me or did this Primary show a split within the Democratic Party not only between “liberals” and so-called “progressives” but between blue collar and white collar workers as well? Could this lead to further Republican in-roads among blue collar workers and their unions? Or do the Dems just expect them to fall in line and vote Dem, even if they’re ignored by their own party?

Via Virginia Virtucon, Comic Book Resources’ Lying In The Gutters has some interesting information on the Webb flyer:

Jim Webb’s Virginia campaign ad for the US Senate

“How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way” by John Buscema.

I think drawing “The Marvel Way” isn’t supposed to be tracing copyrighted work but to each their own. Isn’t tracing akin to outsourcing the actual work of doing the drawing? Hmmm…

I noticed a couple weeks ago that Marie’s Books and Things in Fredericksburg has closed up and something else is in its place. Marie’s was a comic shop that also carried other sorts of junk and was always way too cluttered but for the longest time was the only game in town for comic books. I frequented the place enough that I even got into a fight there. But, alas, it’s now gone. Not sure when it exactly closed up shop, but, honestly, I’m surprised it lasted as long as it did.

As McIntosh points out, men also tend to be unaware of their own privileges as men. In the spirit of McIntosh’s essay, I thought I’d compile a list similar to McIntosh’s, focusing on the invisible privileges benefiting men.

…what’s Dan Barlett thinking?

If you see a slightly used iPod for sale out of Santa Clara, California, steer clear.