Ghost of a flea

Ordinary working people

Why We Fight Week @ The Flea... Episode Deux:

The Battlestar Galactica reboot is filmed in Vancouver and many of its stars are Canadian including Grace Park ("Boomer"/"Athena"), Tricia Helfer (Six), Michael Hogan (Colonel Saul Tigh), Aaron Douglas (Galen Tyrol), Alessandro Juliani (Lieutenant Felix Gaeta), and Tahmoh Penikett (Karl "Helo" Agathon) (thanks Wikipedia). The show has been a dramatic success and a testament to what we can do in this country with the right story and the right production. Battlestar is not an anomaly. The X-Files and Stargate (in its many television incarnations) were also long term success stories competitive with anything in the genre produced anywhere in the world.

Also Canadian, demanding the government force people with real jobs to pay for your "art" when your "art" could not fill a coffee house on open mic night.

From the in box of the Flea.

The Department of Culture, you may be relieved to learn, is not actually part of the Canadian federal government. Though given they believe Stephen Harper hates minorities ("Let the coalitioning commence."), link a conversation between Barack Obama and The West Wing’s President Jed Bartlett as an example of polished art and a "partisan call to action" and are proudly run by a Central Committee, I expect the difference is much of a muchness.

Men died at Normandy and this is how they are repaid by a generation of ingrates.

David Bowie: Sorrow

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

I have seen the future and it sucks

Jason Cherniak -- big on complaining when his blog is not linked, not terribly au fait with reciprocal linking himself -- admits the Liberal party is going to lose the forthcoming federal election. Who is to blame?

Canadians, naturally.

No, Jason, we don't vote against people because French is their first language. We vote for people because they are not the ones trying to sell a crippling, moronic "green" tax, an unworkable solution to an imaginary problem (the "green shift" was plagiarised from the Green party, btw... whereas I am tipping my hat to Kathy Shaidle for the latter phrase). If a leader emerges with the right vision for Canada, conservatives will support him or her whether he speaks French, English or Swahili. It is socialists -- not conservatives -- who vote for or against someone based on racial or ethnic identity and it is Liberals who pretend to do so when it suits their purposes.

This is a strange election. We are likely to have a Conservative majority in this country for the first time in a generation yet I do not know a single conservative who is thrilled at the prospect. Hopefully Mr. Harper will prove us all wrong by closing CBC News his first week in office. But I suspect Cherniak picked the wrong party to advance his political career. He could have stood as a Conservative in Toronto-Centre this time round.

Guilt by participation

American Thinker details Barack Obama's links to the radical left, introduces the names of Columbia University professors Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, and details a decades long strategy of deliberate failure.

This may be the most important post I will read this year (via Ace); it should ring an alarm bell with Canadians. We too have seen our country changed beyond recognition in the service of the same ideology and by variations on the same policy of deliberate failure and the will to decline.

Citing David Horowitz, American Thinker defines the Cloward-Piven strategy:

Continuing:

Deliberate, crippling immigration policy, systemic fraudulent voter registration (such that eight of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers were registered to vote), multi-generational welfare dependency and the culture of entitlement it both stems from and creates and, of course, using the taxpayer to guarantee home purchasing for people who could not afford to purchase houses and here we are today.

We are on the verge of the election to the presidency of the man Americans should hold most accountable for instigating the next Great Depression but who unaccountably Americans may have decided is the man to save them from it. Forward this American Thinker piece to everybody.

You can't blame gravity for falling in love

Why We Fight Week @ The Flea... Episode I:

The scene is New York and the designer Italian* but the legs were made in England** (hat tip to Agent Bedhead).

Rear view here.

* Well... half-Italian. And Antonio Berardi studied at St. Martin's. Not a bad place to work come to think of it.
** As opposed to Nicole Richie, lately of the Land of the Lost.

Alizée: Mademoiselle Juliette

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Any tool is a weapon if you hold it right

What is the deadliest weapon in science fiction? The answer is, in my opinion, completely wrong. Not even close.

The deadliest weapon in all of science fiction is clearly... the Liberator. Most of the linked suggestions are insufficiently crap to qualify as deadly in this context. Also, Philip Glenister as Blake, please.

Slouching towards Bethlehem

Barack Obama struggled to remember the name of Sergeant Ryan David Jopek as he attempted to one up John McCain's reference to a bracelet bearing the name of Col. Matthew Stanley. Obama had to look down to remind himself as he fumbled for a debating point.

Something else Senator Obama forgot: Jopek's family asked Obama to stop wearing the bracelet. Months ago.

Barack Obama is a hero to the left. A comment at Rantburg.

Update: Now Sergeant Jopek's mother says she was ecstatic Senator Obama mentioned her son.

That would be because she asked Senator Obama not to mention her son in speeches or debates. In February.

Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind

A little known treasure is winging its way to Flea Towers. Frank Herbert's Without Me You're Nothing (1981) is his commentary on home computers and the philosophy of computing. Butlerians everywhere take note.

My copy cost me one dollar (plus S/H) though avid collectors might consider a somewhat pricier signed first edition.

Socialism for the rich

Spengler on the bail out.

By contrast with the grasshoppers of America; Dita Von Teese, an ant.

Good news

Bruce Boxleitner joins the cast of Heroes (many spoilers up to S03E02 at the link).

It is not exactly a slow news day. I have just decided to take a break from the lo-res reality I currently inhabit and move into an HD reality with great sound design and Kirsten Bell who can shoot lightning bolts. You know I'm not wrong.

Julian Lennon: Too Late For Goodbyes

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Chained to a bed with a velociraptor is no way to go through life

I could survive for 51 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

The Ground Rules

* Both you and the raptor are tethered to the bunk bed with 7 foot chains
* The chains are unbreakable and cannot be removed from the bunk bed
* The bunk bed is light enough that you can drag it a little
* You are free to run around the bed or get on the top bunk

How long could you survive chained to a bed with a velociraptor?

Fruits, nuts and flakes

Long time Flea-readers will know I am a long time resident of the Annex, Canada's Islington in miniature. Writers, journalists and college professors (cough cough) and the broad spectrum of Canada's one lock-step idea (what Kathy Shaidle and Pete Vere call "the tyranny of nice") are here to be found in abundance. The result is a rich diversity of socialist appropriate SUVs, indulgence for aggressive pan-handling and a kind of public selfishness that I have found difficult to describe to those who have never been exposed to it. Here I was, trying to articulate this phenomenon in light of the new Annex Sobey's (think Tesco Metro) when I find John Glionna has done an excellent job for me -- from an ethnographic perspective -- describing the same phenomenon at the Berkeley Bowl.

You may be shocked to learn progressives behave badly when out in public; pushy, finger-pointing behaviour is common, as is a habit of helping themselves to what other people have worked for. And, of course, righteous indignation a store-owner should ban them from the premises.

A formative moment of my undergraduate experience followed an annual dinner held by the religious studies faculty of an unnamed university (for which I owe my undergraduate minor in religion). I watched a senior member of faculty pocketing cheese on the way out the door. I mean literally taking raw chunks of cheese and stuffing them in his blazer. I still shudder to think of the de-linting process.

Some monstrous machine running without oil

Today's Two Minutes Hate is brought to you by Gwyneth Paltrow, an inspiration to us all (via Agent Bedhead).

It is narcissistic sociopaths like this who want you to vote for Barack Obama. That Antichrist thing? So not joking.

Tangerine Dream: Circulation Of Events

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Fight fire with fire

Say cultists had a sense of humour -- I don't particularly care if they are cultists of the CIC, CBC, CHRC or CPC variety -- then this whole blogosphere thing would be water off a duck's back. As it is, any challenge to a brittle sense of self-importance risks shattering their glass houses; hence the stones.

And hence the success of Anonymous against Scientology. If Scientologists had half the wit of the average Oprah fan, Anonymous would be in trouble. I have seen the face of sixth generation warfare and its name is 1StrongOprahDefender.

Beyond our own self interest

P.M. Jaworski interviews Chris Reid for The Western Standard. The party did not stand by Reid but Reid stands by what he wrote.

And for this, Reid was dumped by the Conservative party. Lest anyone south of the border make a mistaken assumption, Reid was not dumped for being gay. He was dumped for publicly opposing Canada's official group identities; the identities the party presumably assumed Reid would agree with because Reid is gay. Such is party conservatism in Canada.

Remember: In Canada, if you judge someone by their race you are a progressive. If you judge someone by their character and accomplishments you are a racist. We call it multiculturalism. The technical term is apartheid.

(Both links via Five Feet of Fury.)

Save the Whales, Save the World!

Hayden Panettiere is selling her couch -- and a variety of odds and ends -- at auction. I am quite certain it is for a good cause.

This news via Agent Bedhead. Also, Agent Bedhead on the subject of Oprah's inadvertent introduction to the gremlins at 4chan: "Oprah. Retract that statement. Now."

Melissa Auf Der Maur & Karen Elson: Devil's Plaything

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Over pastry and champagne

About that standing for the Australian Parliament idea: Don't think of it as the government of Australia. Think of it as a focus group for an imminent Obama administration.

I am reasonably certain the maniacs running Iran "seriously consider" the post-Howard government of Australia to be a joke. At least Stephen Smith can console himself he does not risk diminishing international goodwill -- the kind that was oh so helpful to America after 9/11 -- or, more importantly, the goodwill of his latte set friends by making this gesture toward an empty gesture.

Not that Canadians can talk. We allow our journalists to be kidnapped, tortured, raped and murdered by the mullahs then send along our former Prime Minister to do business. Repeat after to me: For Canada, it is all about oil.

Real news from Down Under: Australian scientists have discovered an ancient reef that may push back the evolution of the earliest animals by 80 million years. Enjoy this "science" lark while you can; soon it will be flat earth and jinn until the Renaissance.

Tragedy 1 : Farce 1

Some might imagine Chris Reid's suggestion the people of Canada owe it to each other to act in each others' defense -- let alone we consider manning-up in the face of reality -- a bit harsh, even unrealistic considering the danger posed by an armed psycho to a busload of Canadians disarmed by their government and their own rose-coloured glasses. After all, we can always call the police if anything like this ever happens again.

Unless, of course, it was the police who put the armed psycho on the bus in the first place.

"There's got to be some security measures put in place," Daher added.

And that, my friends, speaks for itself. As to the victim of the first notorious cannibal killing, his family are suing Greyhound and the government; the victim's fellow passengers presumably sleep well in the knowledge some institution is to blame.

There ought to be a law.

Solitary Experiments: Watching Over You

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

There is no "we"

News the now ex-anonymous David Kernell has been served with a warrant and his house searched by the FBI reaches 4chan /b/.

The Big Lie

SNL lies about John McCain (with Al Franken lending an assist); no surprise there. One surprise though: NBC's skit writers now admit George Bush did win the 2000 election.

A few useful reminders: Obama did vote for sex ed for kindergarten students, he is an associate of domestic terrorists and his father did register the young Obama as a Muslim. Not that there is anything wrong with that factoid even if Obama and the MSM believe there is.

There is any reason whatsoever to distort or exaggerate Obama's positions. They speak for themselves.

Over 9000

Having interjected themselves into the presidential campaign via Sarah Palin's email, the gremlins at /b/ show themselves to be an equal opportunity pain in the neck via the comments at Oprah Winfrey's website.

She fell for it (warning: humour in extreme poor taste).

WWTDD? offers a handy tip for Oprah and the rest of the MSM: When you see “we do not forgive, we do not forget”, it's Anonymous, and when you read “over 9000”, it's /b/. The blogosphere: Doing the fact checking Oprah's fact checkers are incompetent to do.

Fedde le Grande: Put your hands up for Detroit

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Summon a demon

An interactive gallery by Axel Torvenius.

You know you are in trouble

When you make Bill Maher look reasonable in comparison. Andrew Sullivan continues his public descent into personal farce. No need to expose the man; he has done quite enough of that for himself.

Could have told you that

Anonymous was not responsible for hacking Governor Palin's email account. I cannot say I am surprised. The anti-Scientology Anonymous the press has been pointing to is very careful to stay on message and very careful to avoid breaking the law. This crime has done more to harm Anonymous than any incident since their campaign began. Expect Scientology to use it to smear their opponents as anarchists, criminals and self-righteous twats amused by their own cruelty.

I had assumed the email account crime was committed by a lone dolt who had not get the memo from 4chan HQ and was -- in all likelihood -- a supporter of Barack Obama and therefore amongst the righteous, free from sin and entitled to do whatever he pleased regardless of the law, the privacy of the Palin family and the suffering of whoever else might get hurt in the process. My assumption was not far wrong.

It turns out there is a difference between Anonymous at it/they agitate against Scientology and a broader constituency of Anonymous /b/tards.

And, in fairness, it was another /b/tard who contacted a friend of the Palin's alerting them to the compromised email account.

Hacking into Sarah Palin's email was not funny and it was not clever; it was a federal crime. But do not expect the miscreant to face charges. All sins committed in the name of Obama are a wash. Because, you know, your heart is in the right place.

Update: "If you want to know why people think Scientology is a cult that uses harassment and intimidation to scare people, its because Scientology is a cult that uses harassment and intimidation to scare people." Note the cultists are already using the hacking of Sarah Palin's email account as propaganda material. Well done, lying, incompetent MSM. My best bit is at the very end when the Anons starting chanting -- with genuine enthusiasm -- "Cops are cool!"

Superbus: Lola

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Fuck you, lawyers!

Kathy Shaidle: The real voice of the working class.

Exactly. And the first thing they learn is how to say "on the one hand, on the other hand" in French. The second is to enforce laws making it a crime to state the obvious. I am looking at you, Stephen Harper.

Enthralling

Living in the socialist paradise of downtown Toronto, I struggle to related to Canada's forthcoming federal election; the re-election of our local Taliban apologist/climate change fantacist is pre-ordained. Here are some pictures of Eliza Dushku in the Malibu Triathlon by way of making of for this gap in my editorial interests.*

True fact: My medium term plan is to move to Malibu.

Also featured at WWTDD?, a sampled of the new Jack White title music for Quantum of Solace which I expect you already know is the forthcoming Bond film. By an enthralling coincidence, I have been having fun with the James Bond Theme myself.

* Though I do think it is hilarious the Green Shift productivity/success tax crippling the Liberal's electoral chances was cribbed from the Green party's "green tax shift". Great losers think alike. There is something about being sat next to a smirking troll spouting Liberal four-legs-good platform talking points that leaves one immensely satisfied to see their plagiarism rewarded by epic fail.

Zazie: Danse avec les loops

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

His brother's keeper

Senator John McCain served with honour, was brutally tortured, held on and returned home to continue his service. Now decades later he is thanked with insults by a man who has never served and never sacrificed. Such is the reward of "white privilege" according to Obama's associates.

Such is a community organizer's burden. Such is the entitlement claimed by those whose only burden is a fantasy of grievance. An ignoble opponent, the man is a worse friend: Obama's tens of millions are being spent at such a rate, he has refused to help Congressional Democrats this fall. Then there is the small matter of his brother in Kenya living on a dollar a month. But, you know, priorities.

Obama made a bad mistake this week by airing ads calling McCain a liar and accusing him of running a dishonourable campaign. What a man like Obama cannot comprehend is that a man like McCain really was prepared to take him on in a fair fight. Now Obama is likely to learn what it really means to take the gloves off.

(The above Goa'uld Obama courtesy of Five Feet of Fury.)

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf

"Too bad the people who need these men the most respect them the least."

Never a truer word was spoken. It is much the same for "pacifists" and "anti-war" activists whether it is the armed forces or the police or their ongoing grievance against any strong paternal figure or against any woman who has decided to arm and defend herself. As a wise man observed: To a sheep, a sheep dog can look much like a wolf. It is perhaps unfair to blame sheep for being sheep but I find it in my heart to feel contempt for them nonetheless. But then I believe people have the capacity to become more than weak and stupid. Where there is freedom and a public library there is no excuse for being ignorant and ungrateful.

As to the kind of men who would use parents' loss and grief toward venal political ends... the only answer to that is unprintable.

Sofia Essaidi: Cléopatre

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Heroics

No Heroics looks like fun. No word on when the show might (officially) cross the Atlantic.

Gamil Gharbi

I had not heard of Gamil Gharbi. At least, not by that name. I knew of him as Marc Lepine (via Blazing Cat Fur; I am quoting the first comment to the linked piece). Progressives want you to know Lepine was a man and to consider his behaviour typical and -- by association -- shaming of men. What progressives do not want you to know is, upon reflection, no surprise whatsoever.

Something else to consider. Every time a spree killing maniac has changed his name from something like Marc Lepine to something like Gamil Gharbi the media insists on using something like the former. Would not want the readership to get the wrong idea about anyone's most devoutly held religious beliefs.

Axelle Red: Naive

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance (with shades of Sound and Vision).

Above the law

Is Scientology Above the Law? is a France 2 documentary dating from May 9, 1999 , later dubbed into English by an Australian television network is worth the investment in time. This is how the adversary works.*

* No, not the French in this case.

Alizée: J.B.G.

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Sometimes a shotgun is just a shotgun

Jacques-Alain Miller does his best to embarrass those of us interested in Lacanian psychoanalysis by offering a few words on Sarah Palin.

In the real world, we call this sort of analysis "cream of nothing". It is a favourite of the Left.

This via The Pinocchio Theory who thinks Palin's image is that of a "corporate warrior"; this despite her having been a small business owner and an anti-big oil crusader. But given the progressive choice for VP cannot tell the difference between a brigade and a battalion and yet is considered an expert on military affairs, we are not dealing with the brightest collection of bulbs in the box. These are, after all, the same people who sneered at a Yale graduate these last eight years because he has a Texan accent.* The notion Sarah Palin may have worked hard and earned her every accomplishment is quite literally incomprehensible to them, let alone the idea a successful, independent women might be a source of inspiration rather than a cause for envy.

* Whereas I am happy to mock Yale graduates, regardless of their regional origins.

The Atlantic Monthly: Neither honour nor courage.

Yet more sleazy propaganda from the once reputable Atlantic Monthly as it manipulates a cover image of Senator John McCain.

The first link above leads to an introduction at Ace of Spades HQ, the second to the full horror explained by American Digest (from whence the quote). Read the whole story. Blood-pressure warning in effect.

An excellent point: Quoted at Instapundit.

Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton address the nation

Tina Fey is brilliant.

Clinton: I believe diplomacy should be the cornerstone of any foreign policy.
Palin: And I can see Russia from my house.

In SNL land the second answer is meant to sound stupid. In the real world, the second answer is the better one. As to their respective roads to the White House, Palin is Governor of Alaska; Clinton was married to the Governor of Arkansas. Rudimentary feminism suggests which is the more impressive and which the better qualification. The former road was traveled by Margaret Thatcher, the latter by Eva Perón.

A YouTube comment offers useful insight for progressive viewers.

One caveat: Let's make that the next twelve or sixteen years.

Related: "I am a liberal, but I'm blown away by Sarah Palin."

Death once had a near Sarah Palin experience

Chuck Norris endorses Sarah Palin. For reals.

Kate Ryan: Ella Elle L'a

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Low Budgment Day

Terminator 2 Sweded.

That’s what you get for your hatred of the working class

Greg Gutfield considers Palin Derangement Syndrome.

Related: Choked up.

Also related: A hero's welcome for a retail politician.

Trio: Da Da Da

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

A sword against Gog

The Bush administration is doing nobody any favours -- least of all the downtrodden peoples of Iran -- by refusing Israel bunker buster weapons and an air corridor to Persia. To do so emboldens the mullahs, encourages their recalcitrance and that of their French (and Russian and Pakistani and red Chinese) allies and does nothing to further American interests in the region, most particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.

More importantly, this refusal backs Israel even further into a corner. Reminder to anyone who is not paying attention: Israel does not require bunker busters or an air corridor to permanently terminate Iran's ambitions for nuclear weapons. Israel is described by Iran's maniac rulers as a "one bomb state". They need to be reminded Israel is in fact a 400 bomb state.

Iran is developing nuclear weapons and their attendant delivery systems. Its rulers and their not inconsiderable constituency at home and abroad fully intend to use them to create a second Holocaust. The only question remaining is whether the real suicide cult of our age -- the West's will-to-decline -- means Israel will produce a leader who would rather sacrifice his own people than take the necessary steps to prevent it.

Equations for a falling body

Directly, existentially related: If you are blessed with a vote in the United States of America, for the love of God vote for John McCain.

Update: To be specific.

Update: The other September 11.

NIN: A Warm Place

Today's musical interlude.

Of the spheres

The 312 key Chromotone synthesizer is something to lust after. A snip at $1575 USD + shipping.

Though I confess my main aim in owning one would be to irritate people. The actual synthesizer I am after is the Arturia Origin, a hardware synth with swappable modules including my beloved CS-80. Though judging by their sample player, the manufacturers have yet to work out how to use it properly.

And I am still waiting for the EWQL Forbidden Planet sample-based soft synth.

Oh. Yes.

Related: Ladytron members give tips on using analog synthesizers. Mira Aroyo gives demonstration on her KORG MS 20.

Acceleration

The collapse of English civilization somehow exceeds terminal velocity (via AoSHQ).

Say what you like about sharia law. Not too far down the road the likes of this rabble will have their hands cut off or something else equally gruesome. And that is just to start with the jury.

Ask and it shall be given unto you

The Greatest American Hero creator, Stephen J. Cannell, announces a forthcoming feature film based on the 1980s cult classic. Watching the intro again for the first time in years, I am now wondering why an average '80s theme tune took up half the shows' airtime.

An organized fraud

Judge Jean-Christophe Hullin has ruled that the Scientologists' Celebrity Center, bookstore and seven Church leaders should be tried for fraud and "illegally practicing as pharmacists".

Via Agent Bedhead who has more regarding organized fraud. Specifically, Will Smith’s New Village Academy; supposedly not a school of Scientology.

Emilie Autumn: Swallow (Punto Omega Mix)

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

The continued role of sexism in American life

For example, regarding lipstick (via the Corner).

Totally unrelated, thank God: I had a brief moment of insanity this morning where it came to me I could reorganize my blogroll into categories by AD&D alignment. Fortunately, the idea hit a brick wall as I realized immediately I had no idea how to characterize the alignment of the Flea.

Linking theme: The AD&D Random Harlot Table. I had forgotten this lost treasure of popular culture; blame Ace.

First Dude

This is the first time I have heard Todd Palin speak. Are we sure this guy isn't Canadian?

Related: The bun stays.

Tangentially related: Tricia Helfer and Katee Sachoff at Harley Davidson's 105th anniversary in Milwaukee.

Dance or Die: Fire

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Solidarity

With a membership of more than sixty-thousand, Canada's Carpenters' Union has adopted a resolution denouncing other unions for their characterization of Israel as an "apartheid state" and calling for greater understanding of the plight of Israeli citizens.

Imitation, they say

Salim Mansur writing for the Edmonton Sun: "McCain throws Obama for a loop." An OODA loop, that is.

Paging Bill Whittle to the MSM phone. Readers of Eject! Eject! Eject! are encouraged to let me know if I am off base with this one. And then there is the more recent potential inspiration offered by The Astute Bloggers here, here, and here published the week before Mansur's piece appears in the Sun (via the comments at Ace).

I forwarded the Bill Whittle piece to the editor at the Edmonton Sun saying that if Mansur's piece had been handed in to me I would have forwarded it to the Dean. The following was offered in reply.

The dextrosphere: Doing the job MSM editors do not have the time to do. I never said a word about plagiarism. What I would like to see is citation, a practice I would hope is familiar to Canadian political science professors. In blog discourse we call references to sources "links". These are a common courtesy and an important practice if you or your writing wish to be taken seriously. But then if an editor at the Edmonton Sun either does not know or does not care where the material he is selling comes from, I expect it is too much to imagine the readers of his dead tree edition will know any better.

The sun is the same in the relative way, but you're older

The CW 90210 may be an "edgy, contemporary spin-off" of the original Beverly Hills, 90210 but for all its juiced up cars and houses the next generation pales in comparison with the lovely Jennie Garth, still at school after all these years. I know the feeling.

I could not agree more. But not everyone is happy with the next generation, Anna Chan dismiing the premier as "overexaggerated trash". Not a bug, Anna; a feature. Though Michael Idato is correct to point out once Jennie Garth, Shannon Doherty and Tori Spelling have had their walk-ons the new show will have to earn its audience on its own; some of us have to get up early. Besides, the real nostalgia lives at the Peach Pit.

So... when do I get my Fame reboot?

Addictiv: Tonight

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

How far can you coast on charm?

Pretty far.

By contrast: Dear Mr. Obama.

Related: Ace.

The point of no return

David Horovitz introduces Ronen Bergman's The Secret War with Iran. The story does not reflect as well as one might hope on the success of Israel's intelligence services.

Here's to President Bush's "religious and ideological motives".

Related: A firefight with the Taliban in Pakistan. Someone forgot to send a memo to Pakistan's border guards about who they are supposed to be shooting at. And the rather more important memo about what happens when you shoots at Americans with the USAF overhead.

Isaac Clarke

While its status in Germany has yet to be determined, EA Game's new flagship sf survival horror FPS Dead Space has reportedly been banned in Japan and China. I gather the necromorph dismemberment may need to be toned down in non-pirated/downloaded versions in those markets. An E3 2008 game play demo allows Flea-readers to judge for themselves.

I am impressed by the zero gravity action and, better yet, the decision to do away with menu screens in favour of a health indicator built into the character's suit and a heads up display visible to the character himself; both obvious innovations after the fact. Best of all is said character's environment suit. Isaac Clarke is an engineer -- not a combat monster -- and the design team decided to reflect the fact in his outfit.

That helmet is already iconic. Now seeking someone with mad cosplay skills to build me one.

Much more including high definition trailers at the Dead Space website.

Update: Not quite what I had in mind.

David Bowie: It's No Game (Part 1)

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

At my first opportunity

Must have New Edison-style Cup Phonograph Kit. Just the ticket for issuing threats to Martian war machines.

Just can't get enough

Six and a half minutes of Sarah Palin from today’s stop in Cedarburg introducing Senator John McCain. According to McCain, Palin made a profit on that eBay listing.

Update: McCain: "We're going to stop sending 700 billion dollars a year to countries that don't like us very much."

Yes.

An honest living

Number of countries served by Monster.com employment site: 35.

Number of job applications filed through Monster.com in 2007: 107 million.

Number of current posted positions for "Community Organizer": 2 (two).*

* In fairness, one posting is actually for a Volunteer Coordinator. But the Community Organizer gig pays $10.40/hr... plus great benefits! Should be more than enough to get a nice place to live.

Related: What if he was just some guy at your office?

The Left

Where if you support Israel you are called anti-Semitic, where promoting sharia law means you support cultural diversity, where you attack a successful working mother and a pregnant teenage mother and you call yourself a feminist and where you degrade an infant with special needs and are convinced this means you care.

Related: Do you know Eubie Blake’s recipe for life? “Be grateful for luck. Pay the thunder no mind — listen to the birds. And don’t hate nobody.” That is a tall order in a week where I read so much from the people-who-care that is so vile as to be unrepeatable. But I will try my best.

And lest I abandon my pre-9/11 views entirely, a word from a last redoubt of the authentic left vs the professional "progressives" baffled at the rapturous welcome of Sarah Palin.

Blue Oyster Cult: Don't Fear the Reaper

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Britons will be slaves, apparently

The government is planning further big cuts to the Royal Navy after deciding that terrorism is the only serious threat to Britain (excepting, of course, the British government).

This is criminally insane. The problem with a choice between tea and cake or death is the bewildering constituency that cheerfully chooses death. I would feel some consolation from a wealth of historical examples of British governmental incompetence somehow survived by the British people. Alas, I am not convinced any such people remains.

A caller on Dennis Miller just now

"I think the Dems woke up with a moose-head in their bed."

Republican National Convention

Live streaming from St. Paul.

Update: Even as Senator McCain reaches out to Senator Obama as a fellow American, Obama's supporters show themselves for what they are as they attempt to disrupt John McCain's acceptance speech. McCain: "My friends. Please don't be diverted by the ground noise and the static."

Quite right. But considering the times we live in -- and reports anarchists have assaulted delegates and were plotting a kidnapping attempt on the same -- the fact some of their brethren have made their way by convention security is a serious, serious problem.

Update: Coming to the conclusion now. I think Senator McCain has done what he needed to do. He has won over his own party.

Update: And the music cuts over to Heart... Barracuda. Go balloons!

The difference

This is what a man of honour does (image via Hugh Hewitt).

Fred speaks. You may disagree with John McCains politics; all free people owe it him to hear his story.

Better yet: Sarah Barracuda speaks.

Styx: Too Much Time On My Hands

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

One word answer

No.

Tigh/Roslin '08

The Russians may want to consider their latest imperial adventure. Dick Cheney is on his way to Georgia and Ukraine and given what comes next they might look back fondly upon the current Vice President. They had better pray for an Obama presidency; they do not want Colonel Tigh or President Roslin with their finger on the trigger. So say we all.

Curiouser and curiouser Update: The Democrats have an all Cylon ticket.

Directly related: Tigh/Roslin '08!

Rush: Closer To The Heart

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Gangs of London

Funny I do not see Islington on the list. I believe these days they are called "New Labour". Bit of a misnomer now I think about it.

Mr. Poutine

Le Point offers a remarkably sensible summary of Russian foreign policy since the collapse of the Soviet system;-brutal, self-serving in its hypocrisy regarding Kosovo and indifferent to international opinion (hat tip to Will). But it is the transliteration of Vladimir Putin's last name that struck me. Fortunately, William Safire had noticed the same thing and offers a handy guide to the diplomatic briar bush that is the pronunciation of foreign names.

As Safire goes on to observe, in Canada, poutine has a rather different connotation.

Critical Love Map update

A world record for the number of high-heeled sprinters in a race has been smashed by a group of women in Australia. Video at the link (hat tip to Will).

A strong friend of Israel. Bears, not so much.

Governor Sarah Palin is a strong conservative woman and a strong supporter of Israel and yet somehow some have the temerity to raise questions questioning her commitments.

Detecting a pattern here.

Not the bear but a pleasant surprise over her shoulder in the video linked through the words "supporter of Israel" above. Not to leave Flea-readers hanging; the bear skin rug fantasy is explained here.

Related: Jerry Pournelle on Robert Heinlein's opinion of Sarah Palin (via Instapundit).

Baberaham Lincoln Update: A note to Peter Robinson at the Corner argues we should prioritize mastery over experience.

Update: "Bristol Palin's decision may be one of the most fearless, selfless acts any seventeen year old young woman has ever made." And, of course, her decision to keep her baby. RTWT.

Supertramp: The Logical Song

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Tumbrel remarks

Christopher Hitchens considers tumbrel remarks and the banality of class warfare in the election cycle (via the Drink Soaked Trots).

Dear Atlantic Monthly customer service

Dear Atlantic Monthly,*

I write and publish Ghost of a flea (ghostofaflea.com) one of Canada's top 25 political blogs by links and traffic. I am writing to explain why I will not subscribe to your publication or link to your articles.

Andrew Sullivan's commentary on the Palin family** these last few days has been the most contemptible, revolting spectacle I have ever encountered in a mainstream media publication, certainly the worst I have ever seen in a publication with the history and stature of the Atlantic Monthly. I cannot endorse your publication in any way until Sullivan has been removed from your masthead.

Yours,

The Flea

* The link is to the Atlantic's customer service email address. That one may be specific to its Canadian subscribers but write all the same. Just so long as they get the message.
** Flea-readers who have not been exposed to the progressive fever swamp may refer here and especially here for background. For days before news was released of Governor Palin's daughter's pregnancy, Sullivan has been "raising questions" regarding the Governor's newest son, insinuating the Governor is not the mother. Even now, he is demanding the release of medical records to establish parentage. I will not say more than that for reasons that should be obvious. The subject is profoundly offensive, profoundly disrespectful of the privacy Sullivan claims for his own colourful private life and suggests a personality so twisted by hatred it will say or do anything to denigrate political opponents.

We see this sort of thing a lot from the left. So enamoured with "the people" in general, so contemptuous of the liberty and dignity of people as individuals.

Love Map

Australian researchers have created a "love map" as one step toward redressing a southern continental gender imbalance (hat tip to Agent Bedhead). There are quite literally tens of thousands of Kylie Minogues and Natalie Imbruglias going spare.

Second look at Bondi Beach emigration plan.

Pablo Cruise: Love Will Find a Way

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Pennywise Go Home

Flea-hero, Poppy Z. Brite, her husband and however many cats are currently resident have decided to ride out Gustav in New Orleans. Depending on the condition of my hypothetical New Orleans home, I suspect I would do the same. God bless.