I asked a friend of mine if he supported our troops. Without hesitation he nodded and responded with an assured "Yep".

 

Then I asked him if he supported the Iraqi soldiers.

 

...............

 

As expected, there was much hesitation on that one, followed by a less than confident "not really". He didn't quite understand the question, which would make an answer difficult. By saying yes, it sounds like you support Iraq and their cause. But by saying no, part of you realizes you essentially don't support our soldiers either.

You see, when we say "support our troops", I think most of us simply mean we wish to see them return safely. To say "support the war!" makes you sound like a war monger, and presumably saying "support our troops!" makes you sound humanist and peaceful. Nobody wants to be a blatant anti patriot and say "DON'T support our troops." (not unless they want a brick through their windshield.)

But think about what you really mean when you say "support the troops." If it's a simple wish for their safe return without support for the war, then you're not really supporting them, because you're opposing their efforts. If it's support for the war and them as people, then that still isn't really support, because you're endorsing the fact that they could get killed while carrying out the task you're supporting. If you support only the war without respect for the troops, well, at least you're honest, though probably need help (you crazy you).

What saddens us as a people is the notion that men and women will put themselves in harm's way, significantly increase the chance of being killed, and most likely leaving loved ones devastated back here in America. It's tragic, I don't argue that. But I think it's just a tad arrogant, and indeed elitist, if we think we're the only side that feels that way.

Iraqi soldiers no doubt have families, children, personal obligations that will be put on hold and most likely destroyed in this war. They are no less human than Americans and yet the idea of "supporting" Iraqi troops seems so foreign (no pun intended) and outlandish that few people would dare to do so in public. I don't wish to see Iraqi men and women killed, Iraqi families demolished and devastated any more than I wish to see American men and women killed and American families destroyed. I have a younger brother who just went into the army and could feasibly be sent over there sometime in the future. Now how many Iraqis watched their sons go off to fight, and knowing the prowess of our military, go off to die? With my brother, I have the luxury of knowing we have a superior military, and a smaller chance of him getting killed. Iraqi soldiers have two options in this war: surrender or die, neither one of which is very attractive.

"But Iraqi soldiers follow a madman and fight for a doctrine of oppression and atrocity," you might say.

Yes, this is true. But nevertheless it's a cause they believe in. However right we might be, what we have to realize is that to them, we're the bad guys. We're the enemy. Our democratic beliefs and way of life are the immoral, heathen regime and they believe that by fighting us, they're doing the right thing, just as we're convinced we're doing the right thing in our efforts. This is why war is fought in the first place. Neither side will admit they're "wrong". If the first casualty of war is truth, then the first weapon fired is propaganda. It's wrong, but essential. You can not fight a war without some effort to persuade the non fighting public that it's a noble effort, and bumper stickers and banners with the words "support our troops" are just that.

When Iraqi soldiers pick up their rifles, wave their flags and open fire on Americans, it's not out of personal disagreement, it's out of hate. But you know what? When we open fire on them, it's the same thing: hate. Hate is simply the total dehumanization of another person to the point where you don't consider the validity of their life. That's not to say our soldiers are block headed racist hate mongers. It's simply an essential when training a soldier. Any military or war machine functions on the principal that your enemy is not a human, they are a target. If that fundamental is not upheld, then the might of the military falters. Once soldiers start asking questions, once they hesitate, then the system breaks down. This is why our soldiers

(and theirs) are drilled to the point of brainwashed obedience. That's the essence of a soldier. And yet, as horrible as this may be, it does not mean they stop being human. They may be tools, but they're still people. They still have families, they still have friends, they still have the capacity to give and receive love. Now how many of you read that last part and thought of both Americans and Iraqis?

And yet, despite that, when out on the battlefield, a soldier will pull the trigger. They may be guilty and remorseful and regretful of the fact that they killed a fellow human (which, if they are human, is healthy), but nevertheless they pulled the trigger, which means they have done their job as a soldier. As a troop. And I'm sorry, but I can not support that.

We as a populous are just as guilty of this dehumanization if we can not honestly say we support soldiers on both sides. Both have just as much to lose. We use noble, strong words like "brave", "courageous", "selfless" and phrases like "Pay the ultimate price", "fight for our freedom" and "serve their country" to make it easier to justify what soldiers do, but you know what, the Iraqi people are hearing the same things about their soldiers from their leaders. The one difference may be that fewer Iraqis actually believe it. I hope.

I do not support anybody who perpetuates the war machine, perpetuates this mass human culture of hostility in which bloodshed and carnage and hate have become the only effective solutions to our ills. War is an abomination for everybody, from civilians to soldiers on all sides. Entire populations are punished for the actions of corrupt, immoral governments and this sickens me. The only thing more nauseating is the fact that right now, it's the only effective method. I'm smart enough to realize that, but human enough to despise it. In war the mantra is kill or be killed, and we as a culture adopt that to stomach and justify our actions, however noble and righteous they may be. I think it's tragic and horrible that men and women will die and leave behind loved ones and I certainly never in a million years would wish that fate on any human being (well, Saddam and Hitler notwithstanding). But if I can't honestly say I support the Iraqi soldiers, then I'm sorry, but I can't honestly say I support ours.

I refuse to dehumanize people.

I support both.

And I do not.

Cas Fornalski

Gigantic, decapitated, effigy of President Bush for sale! Cheap!

So much war sentiment in the air and in the media right now i think ill sidestep. For now.


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Auto Modillista. A sim-er's torment. A arcader's nightmare. A racing fan's dream.

Ive read plenty of gib about this, Capcom's new cel-shaded racer and i think ive gotten enough. Ok, a little explanation of the features: It lets you customize just about every major internal part in your car from turbine kits to exhausts systems to tranny to suspension and more. It lets you customize just about everything EXTERNAL on your car from custom paint jobs to part-specific colors to adding decals or even making your own! Sega and Capcom got together to bring you SNaP [Sega Network Application Package] to allow for much better online connectivity and performance. You can play online. True only broadband users will have the luxury of experiencing online race-lovin but with a game like this i could see it on a 56k. Noted, ive yet to play it online, but i hear its the cat's meow. Whatever the fuck that means. This package alone will sell discs, but now with the gripes. Also noted this arent my own, but what others have poorly constructed on the basis of them having little to no skill. Control is something that is the most important in a game where you essentially only move left and right , forward and back while racing with others be them computer or human. Or computer human. What ive read alot of is this game i guess doenst satisfy the requirements to be either arcade-like (really loose controls, less physical constraints) or realistic (much like your car runs. You know, your NSX-R). Now, this is where these people falter, the lack of concrete sub-genre stackability makes it a bad game in their eyes. There are all sorts of retorts like "its too hard to turn" and "drifting is set too high" and "it takes too hard to learn". To this i offer one solution. Learn some moves or stop playing/bitching. Esoteric as that may seem, its what my thoughts on the subject are. True, Cap injected alot more sim to the US game and true the learning curve is steeper than most would like to take time to learn in a quasi-sim game but with all things that take time you need to ...well, take time with it.

 

After being treated to a horribly compressed intro movie you are at the main menu. The sometimes some-what cryptic menu system is clean and simple which belies the power behind them. If you are familiar with Capcom Versus SNK you will immediately recognize the announcer, another drawback. I really like the idea that nothing in the game "costs" anything other than play time and wins. So often do games award you with "money" to which you can "purchase"6 goods. Everything in the game is earned. 9 cars in all round out this slick street racer. Id recommend it if you like the idea of customizing cars in an RPG-savvy kinda way or have a network adaptor with socom wearing thin.

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Neo Ranga (disc 1)

Fan service, huge mecha monsters, things getting smashed. Good. So far im liking what i see, though the 15 minute episodes (of which there are 8) end at parts that might work on TV but little else but squelch tension while on disc. Still, interesting. Im waiting for the second disc to come.

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Dreamcatcher, where was my Stephen King cameo i paid my 10 bucks to see?


Yep, no cameo. And i can see why. Something tells me im going to like this movie alot more later on. There are so many things that interest me and so many thing that King does SO well. Things like ESP, Alien abductions, Childhood friendships, action, gore, humor, fate, crazy conspiracies and insane and superhuman people. And its all these things that bring the movie down. The running time was something like 2 hours or so. Just long enough to tackle 2 MAYBE 3 of the above. This flic should have been about 6-7 hours long. I can tell there was so much trying to be squeezed through as far as trying to explain everything but be entertaining. Ive never read Dreamcatcher but im sure i will i nthe next year or so. I felt the characters could have been developed into something really special each. But instead eh. Maybe ill pick this one up on DVD. Maybe Capcom will stop making Street Fighters.

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FLCL (disc 1 and 2)

Wha?! Who?! Why did she...?! Sweetness! But where?! TV for a head?! Can they do that?! Fight scenes cool! Bumps! Buy! Production IG and Gainax.

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Zelda is still sitting on my desk. It keeps winking at me every few seconds. It knows i want to play it. I know i want to play it. But so much else... I think its getting angry.

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SNK v Capcom. So far the roster is, at least, Mai, Iori, Kyo, Ryu, Ken, Chunli, Hugo and Earthquake.


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Visitor Email of the Day:

"I lik your site the best becuz e it is hella funny man. I just want to see mor e of stuff."
-Jordasher2002
Well, Jordasher2002, that is if thats your REAL name, the stuff in which you speak is kept in a shed outside. Sometimes i allow you people to see it. Sometimes i keep it all to myself. If you really believe you will find that stuff has been with you all along. In your heart. Thanks for the email. A ham should be on the way...uh, to your email address i guess.

Ninja
"'death within ten paces' Good name!"

This is SO much better than Chicks in Lavender. Black is SO 2003. We shall beat them with our ...uh, lethargy and light talking!

War. What is it goooood for? Absolutely nothing. Nothing.
So this, the thing we call war is at hand. Id pray but i know we have been forsaken to the wrath of others to punish our misdeeds. Why build the flame that is our end. Everybody dies. When do we? Scene!


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It took me this damn long to pick up Audioslave's first record.

Just about everything this disc is something pleasing to the ears. Such a sonic trip. Chris Cornell never took the blues routes as think as are present here. There are only two tracks which havent grown on me yet. Everything else takes my speakers, spins them around about 8 times and slams me in the face with them. I dont know what that means precisely but thats what its like. Minus the hurt. And i thought the new Queens album was heavy. Tom Morello keeps on keepin on with his synth mocking guitar magics. Its good to hear something less rhythm, more melody coming outta his guitars. I really dont know what else to say about this album but buy it if you enjoy blues and r+b and heavy country and kick-yo-ass rock. Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine but more than that.


---


the Ice Storm


Still my favorite Ang Lee flic. What? He made a flic called Crouching Something Hidden Wawa? Despite the cover art which was made in the basement of the same guy who designs all of Troma's stuff, the true anamorphic picture is fairly decent. The bit rate is alittle low, but the compression is a minimum in artifacting and distortion. One thing i did notice was the transfer from stock to digital was a little... shakey. For starters the titles wobbled alittle. All in all, aside from the weebles that dont fall down, the picture has a nice retro feel to it. The performances are excellent here. I had seen this before on TV, Pan and scan-like, but this is the first time i really let it all soak in. The amount of star power alone shoulda boosted the salary of the box "artist" alone: Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Henry Czerny, Adam Hann Byrd, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Jamey Sheridan, Elijah Wood, more and more and more. Anyways, if ever there were a story of family distrust and misguided affection this would be the head of the pact. Suburbia in the 70s lends a real but almost subliminal ambiance that makes for that much more an interesting watch. Now, that ive bored the fuck outta most of you, there's alot of sex, drugs and underaged girls in compromising situations. Well, not a lot. And most for humorous intent.


---


I admit the new Tomb Raider appears to be a worthwhile purchase again. Now even more because the bonuses ala sweetness. If you preorder at EB you get a DVD with boobs-full (sorry, i had to) of bonus material like lots of FMVs from past games, interviews, character files and TV/film spots among other features. If you preorder from Gamespot you get <drumroll> a bobblehead doll. Uh, not as sweet but still...uh, did i mention it was free? Really? Did i mention you should preorder it at EB instead? No again? Sheesh, im blowin it tonight.


---


Gee golly, Nintendo released another FZero movie.


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Brotherhood of the Wolf, E fromage est vieux et moldy.

WAY better than i had read. Fightscenes, WAY worse than i read. Story was trivialized and choppy but entertaining. Mark Dacascos dies like a punk way too early into the film. Boo. Ss scénes du combat de ce film sont vieilles et moldy.


---


This is damn sexay, mate. This just in: im still single. Capcom, bad Capcom.


---


Giant Semi-lifesized Gundam Model of the Day:

Here. Here. There. Here.

Ninja
"Zombies. Awful zombies."

Ninja
:\

"word to your american muthas", Shino-chan's original sign was replaced by this one. Lets see if she notices.

All you people up there in City Hall, You're fuckin' it up for the people that's in the streets.

This is a song for the people in the streets, Not the people City Hall. All you motherfuckers in the streets it's time to rise up, Come along children and fuckin' rise!


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I think if we had more eBay items like this our economy wouldnt be in the shitter. Wait, what do you mean its not 'in the shitter'? Wait, whats economy?


---


Hero.


I... this... Ok ok. Let me come back when the initial impact has gone from my blood. SWORDS! ...sorry. The noted ramens reflects the current attitude to all things swords and flying with swords. I... this... i gotta go...


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The This Is Funny Cause Im a Gaming Nerd Site of the Day:

Seperated at birth. Video Game Characters/Actors/Other Video Game Characters.

Ninja
"whats the name of the song? EXPLOSIVO!"

200 dollars for a fishing game/mech sim?! IM THERE!
'There' meaning: going to go buy a shirt.

Aside from Jean Reno in Onimusha3 and the world exploding, nothing interesting has been happening lately.


---


Here is simple note to people whom play EO mode in Capcom Vs SNK 2 and talk on and on about how much they kick. Ass. I recently came across one such fellow on a message board telling of his amazing fighting tactics with Zangief and his "Russian Suplex". Here is my response:
Son, i can see where you are greatly mistaken here. What you call the "Russian Suplex" (The Aerial Russian Slam) is in actuality something id like to call "The One-Button-Butter-sauce Technique A". You see, whereas it takes great dexterity and much skill from a well-off player to spin the joystick 360 degrees, twice, all while either buffering or standing still, the One-Button-Butter-sauce Technique A requires only the flick of one thumb from only one hand, perhaps while one hand is busy fixing a sandwich, or slipping boyishly through a magazine. Now, the effect may seem similar, your lack of skill and overall efforts are fruitless as the ladies immediately pick up on your limp, flaccid playing prowess.

In summary:

One-Button-Butter-sauce Technique A = Weak, boring skills.

Spinning joystick 360s x2 + timing = Great Skills with ladies.

---


Tears of the Sun.

Ive not seen Training Day but i hear its a worth while checkout. I have seen Tears of the Sun and i must say i want my 10 bucks back. Let me see, ten bucks can get me about 9 items from the value meal at Jack in the Box. Without tax i can buy either Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio OR PSO for Dreamcast. I could take TEN trips around my town on a bus if i wanted to. I purchased Samurai Spirits/Shodown for 10 smackers offa ebay. I could buy the next Love Hina, Cowboy Bebop, Evangelion, Urusei Yatsura or GTO manga at Amazon.com. I could have done alot of things. But no, i saw Tears of the Godamn Sun. Overall a movie that was action but tried so hard in making us care about the world and it's complications and regrets. Eventually things blew up which was ok. The dialogue made me want to take a dump right there in my seat and start throwing brown surprises at the screen. Wait, i think i did do that. Through the direction Willis was a character i didnt really want to care about even though we were an inch from his face the whole time. Monica Bellucci on the other hand was a little predictable and boring. Wait, did i say 'on the other hand'? Oops, i meant to say 'god i hope she's better in the next matrix'. I will give it to Antoine Fuqua, what he did do to the writing was make it about 8 and a half times better than what was really there. If he had a capable script im sure this would have been much more enjoyable on my part. But as it stands right now, it was worth throwing poo at. 1 and a half ramens.


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Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven

A whole lotta fun playing ninja all over again. The Co-op was surprisingly better than i thought and surprisingly shorter than i thought. Instead of going through the missions (all three characters have their own set of missions) as two peoples there are a set of special missions for your Co-op enjoyment. I did have to turn off the stealth kill animations, though, after i had seen them all. Thank god for the Japanese language selection, too. Id recommend picking this one up if you are all about the sneaking and less about the swashbuckling. Though it has it's share in there too.


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The Bourne Identity.


Why didnt anyone tell me this was a great movie? The DTS tracks were acting all mad weird on my speakers, i dont know if it was the spirits within or the fact my sub preamp is next to the actual sub. There's alot of bass in this flic. I dont want to spoil too much fo' yaz but the fight choreography and the chase scene are AMAZING. A-MAZING! They were done in a fresh way that made it seem like i wasnt watching the same old spy movie ive been since i was a kid. Realistic and stylized in a way that really is missed off mark these days in these type o films. See it. Noted: this isnt a thinking man's movie. It's dumb to the core, but a HELLAVA fun watch. Matt Damon gets a little upstaged by fellow co-stars Clive Owen, Chris Cooper and Franka Potente but i guess its supposed to be that way eh?


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Fanciest Flash Site that is Art Absurd of the day:

I could spend HOURS, DAYS, FOREVER just messing around at this place.
Its called Modern Living.

Ninja
"but jojo, rayray says the cacaste is poopoo!"

Ninja
"it is at will about all"

Ninja
"I must be honest here, I love driving it. I highly recommend picking one up. [It's so choice]"

Ninja
Mr Plow thats the name! That name again is Mister Plow!

Ninja
Mr Plow thats the name! That name again is Mister Plow!