Deep in the Heart of Darkness... er, Texas
And Ki-El is also coming to Fort Worthless for a comic book convention on Armistice Day. The L.A.W. and Ki-El are making work trips (he works for Wizard magazine); the Buckeye sisters are coming on a short holiday. Regardless, four more people I know are about to be afflicted by the ailment otherwise known as Texas. (Yes, the entire state is a disease, a corruption.) Still, I'm looking forward to seeing all of them.

The War for Civilization
There are those who argue that jihadist terrorism, while not a reasonable reaction, is at least an understandable reaction to American hegemony and villainy. How do we make that theory square with the horrific reality of the Bali bombing? Hyperlink. What do Aussie vacationers in a tropical paradise have to do with the Israeli-American alliance or any of the other "grievances" of bin Laden and his ideological ilk? Oh, wait, NOTHING! The Wahhabi perversion of Islam is evil and four years ago we saw that evil in evidence in Indonesia. May the Almighty bless those who lost their lives to madmen.

Also, a significant part of me wants to load every single Holocause denier onto a cattle car bound for one of their own death camps, andd I would love to load the deniers of the Armenian genocide onto the same train, but this really bothers me: Hyperlink Deux. Thank Bog I live in America, where freedom of speech is an inalienable right. Whatever happened to liberte?

Are We In India Yet?
And speaking of how great America is, happy Columbus Day, everyone! Postal holidays be damned, the future Admiral of the Oceon Sea landed in the New World on this day five hundred fourteen years ago. Woot! Vikings, schmikings, European involvement in the New World didn't get rolling until the voyage of the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. And five centuries later, we have ready access to both sliced bread and television. Thanks, Admiral!