Sauce for the goose.

Tim Robbins on Tuesday:

"Any instance of intimidation to free speech should be battled against. Any acquiescence to intimidation at this point will only lead to more intimidation."

[Link via Midwest Conservative Journal.]

Tim Robbins to a reporter at the Oscars:

"If you ever write about my family again, I will (expletive) find you and I will (expletive) hurt you."

Freedom of the Press is apparently secondary to Tim's Freedom to Run His Yap Without Consequence.

Jamie Kennedy

I'd rate him about a 95 on the Tom Green scale of Unfunny.

(Getting really tired of the trailers for Malibu's Most Wanted.)

Boycott of French goods is having an effect.

According to this article in the Washington Post, the French are starting to feel the sting of the American backlash against French goods, at least in certain areas, notably wine imports.

American importers of French wine are reporting sharp drops in sales in the past two months, and other French products also have been affected. The Federation of Wine Exporters has called a meeting Thursday to discuss how to respond.

The nation's principal business federation took the unusual step of publicly acknowledging the problem, conceding today that sales, recruitment and business contacts have been hurt. It appealed to consumers and businesses to keep political differences from affecting commerce.

"Certain French enterprises are suffering today from the differences that have arisen among states over the Iraqi question," the Movement of French Enterprises (Medef) said. "It is necessary to say to those who are unhappy with the positions of French diplomacy that they are free to criticize, but they must keep products and services of our enterprises outside their quarrel."

Maybe that's a bad translation, but it sounds suspiciously like Medef thinks the US public is in some way obligated to keep French business interests above the political fray. Sorry, boys, that's not the way things work over here. Skipping to the end:

The importers, angry and frustrated, said the government in Paris did not comprehend the effect of its war position on French businesses.

Touton [wine importer] has tried to fight the trend by pledging to give $1 for every case of wine he sells to the USO to help U.S. troops in Iraq. He has done it for two weeks but it hasn't helped much. He said he thinks that business will pick up only when Chirac stops making anti-U.S. statements.

"We want to send the message to the French side to please do something. Or, if you don't want to do anything, then please shut up," Touton said.

Sensible message. If only it had been delivered earlier.

[Link via Dean Esmay.]

Solely of interest to Mets fans.

An overview of the next few months of posting on alt.sports.baseball.ny-mets. It's funny, in that painful Metsochistic way.

Writing for the Weekly World News has to be one of the great jobs out there.

Because there's absolutely nothing they won't publish. Shocking expose: Saddam starred in gay porn films! Replete with excellent spokesman quotes and a nom de...er...cine that cries out to be as widely circulated as possible.

[Link via this comment on LGF.]

Ridiculous.

Comments have been down for two days, and the backBlog page is inaccessible--oh, but they've got the server with the icon up. I need a better comment system.

I love this story.

Mark Steyn profiles George Bush, and paraphrases a recent NYT snippet that, as he says, ought to be true if it isn't:

Last week, The New York Times reported on the President's reaction to Don Rumsfeld's daily press conference. As the Times tells it, a Bush aide stepped into the Oval Office to warn him that "the unpredictable Defence Secretary" had just threatened Syria. The President looked up from his desk. "Good," he said. Then he went back to work.

Bwahaha. The rest is Steyn making the case for Bush's IQ in typically entertaining fashion. Check it out.

Evil, evil Yankees.

Remember, cheaters never prosper. Unless Steinbrenner owns them.

[Thanks to CoffeeMuse for the link.]

Re the histrionics over the museum looting.

Sorry, I can't bring myself to get misty-eyed. Not one single tear, not one tremor to my lower lip over all the priceless antiquities. Sure, it sucks. Looting sucks, generally. But to blame the looting on the US is infantile and frankly weird. The people of Iraq are the ones who sacked their own cultural history, not the Americans and British; let them fucking worry about putting it back in the museums. And if you cry harder over a the loss of a vase or a bauble or a cuneiform text than you do over the degradation and loss of human life, fuck you. And may God have mercy on your shallow soul.

[Link via Michele at A Small Victory. Only she said it more eloquently than I do.]

Update (via the Command Post): US 'will repair' Iraqi heritage. Now can we let this go and find something new to bitch about? Please?

Russia still run by idiots.

"We do not think that America won," said Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the lower house of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told Rossia television.

The Iraqis are of a slightly different opinion, Baghdad Bob notwithstanding.

"Where are those chemical weapons?" he demanded. And Putin’s media aide, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, told Kommersant that Russia would not forgive the Iraqi debt. "(Washington) should not be so generous at other people’s expense," he said.

Look, you made deals with a regime you knew the US was going to try to topple. You bet against us, you lose. As my procedure prof. used to say, "Too bad, it is so sad, but you cannot collect for that."

[Link via the Corner.]

Newsflash: International relief agencies largely comprised of whiney bitches.

Relief agencies refuse to work with US

Aid agencies are refusing to work with the administration being set up by the Americans in southern Iraq and some are accusing the US of deliberately undermining the UN's role in post-war relief.

Tensions are growing between international aid groups and the Americans. Several are turning down their aid grants.

As British aid workers waited for security clearance to enter Iraq, there were concerns that looting and crime in towns held by the British and Americans would undermine their operation and endanger staff. The UN aid mission for Iraq said coalition forces had a duty under international law to maintain a safe environment for civilians and health workers. Widespread disorder could hamper their efforts in Baghdad and Basra, said a spokesman.

First, there's still pockets of "war" going on. Second, the UN is made up largely of pussies who wouldn't do jackshit to stop any violence toward aid workers. Third, seems to me if you were actually concerned with people's welfare, you'd worry more about logistics and materiel and a fuck of a lot less about who got the goddamned credit.

In the south the Americans say humanitarian assistance is high on the agenda of the interim administration, being set up in Umm Qasr under Jay Garner, the retired US General. The team will co-ordinate relief, rebuild infrastructure and start setting up a "democratic" government.

But some relief agencies suspect that while it is not safe for them to work in Iraq the US is stealthily carving its own role as administrator, overseer and grant provider.

The US is doing nothing stealthily. We've been pretty clear about taking the lead role in reconstruction from the outset; if you're surprised that we meant what we said, you haven't been paying attention.

Many are refusing to touch money offered by Gen Garner's Organisation for Humanitarian Aid and Reconstruction and several aid agencies walked out of an OHAR meeting this week.

Alistair Dutton, emergency officer for Cafod, the British agency, said the setting up of OHAR was an attempt to take control. "We fully expect to go to work in Iraq under the UN, but that is not the message coming from Jay Garner."

Tensions between the US and independent agencies could hinder the efficiency of an aid operation in Iraq. "There are going to be enormous problems about organisation with a US military-run country and aid agencies that don't want to work with the military," said a relief worker in Kuwait. Several groups hope to move into towns and cities within three days.

Good God. Look, you can't have it both ways; if the US has an obligation to maintain law and order, you have to work with the military. Better yet, just stay the fuck out of the way. The last thing the military needs to take on right now is the task of babysitting a bunch of socialist agitators.

[Link via Winds of Change, from an article about how well the rebuilding efforts are doing in Afghanistan.]