Chile Earthquake Moved City Ten Feet

From CNN:

The magnitude-8.8 earthquake that rocked the west coast of Chile last month was violent enough to move the city of Concepcion at least 10 feet to the west and the capital, Santiago, about 11 inches to the west-southwest, researchers said.

Holy fuckballs!

Victory Itch in Afghanistan

Vagabond Scholar links to Fafblog's post Victory Science as one view of the conundrum that is Afghanistan:

Let us never forget just what's at stake in the war in Afghanistan: nothing less than the success of the war in Afghanistan. This war may be a mistake, a blood-soaked blunder, an unholy charnel house mindlessly consuming the bodies and souls of untold thousands, an open sore on the pockmarked face of history and an abomination before the sight of God and men, but it is first and foremost a war, and wars must be won. If the United States doesn't win this war, then will it not lose it? And if the United States loses this war, then won't the Unites States have lost it? And if the United States has lost this war, will that not then make the United States a kind of thing that loses wars? And then where would we be?

And just as America can't afford to abandon this war, surely it can't afford to abandon the Afghan people, who without the American military would be left to the savage whims of their hated enemy, the Afghan people...

China Covers Tiger Woods

What can you do if you're part of the Chinese media and there's a woeful lack of actual material with which to report the Tiger Woods story?

Make it up!



Please don't tell Fox News that someone else is making things up better, faster, and cheaper.

ht Crazy Days and Nights

Obama to Opponents: Go Fuck Yourselves

Andy Borowitz knows how to capture popular sentiment and apply it to current events in his satirical style:

"The President has been patient and tried to listen to people's concerns," one aide said today.

"But if they think this whole debate is going to end up with some kind of happy-horseshit beer summit, they can totally go fuck themselves."

"The Dude" Gets a Key to the Universe

I didn't even know there was a real dude behind the character portrayed by Jeff Bridges in the 1998 film The Big Lebowski. But there is.

His name is Jeff "The Dude" Dowd, and he just received the Key to the Universe at the Lebowski Fest.

Click here if you want more info, if you're not into the whole brevity thing, man.

Image by Sleeper Cell via flickr

Unfortunately Named Firm

What could possibly go wrong with a joint venture between Russian energy giant Gazprom and Nigeria's state operated NNPC?

Naming it Nigaz, for one thing.

Wasn't there anyone in room willing to raise their hand on this one?

Gazprom seals $2.5bn Nigeria deal , via BBC News

Iran: It's Go Time

Andrew Sullivan has been doing a tremendous job collecting and collating reports from a variety of sources through his blog on the Atlantic website, including putting up links to some photos and videos that are, frankly, difficult to watch. Perhaps having the ability to witness brutality and suffering will frame it properly for the world audience and pull off the clean, white sheet of the mainstream media that's been masking the consequence of war and protest and oppressive governments for far too long.

Roger Cohen of the New York Times has an excellent piece from Tehran where he demonstrates some of those old-school reporting chops, describing vividly the events that are unfolding while painting a clear picture of both the stakes and the costs.

In this country, a wise and patient president shows courage and restraint in his comments about the Iranian situation. How refreshing to have such a person in charge, one that understands that this is a problem within Iran that will only be solved by Iranians, and the last thing they need is the 800-pound bear that is America somehow asserting itself on their behalf.

Republican leaders wail and cry that the administration is failing to announce, to Iran and to the world, that we support the goals of those who seek freedom and that America frowns upon a government that steals elections, squashes protest and dissent, curtails communication, then maims and kills its populace when they won't shut up and go home.

Do Republicans think that everyone doesn't already know that?

Finally, here's what President Obama had to say this afternoon:

The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.

As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.

Martin Luther King once said - "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples' belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.

Killing Abortion Doctors

If you accept as genuine one of the central arguments of the right-to-life folks, that abortion stops a beating heart, doesn't assassinating a doctor do the very same thing?

More Jesse Ventura on Torture

Is Elizabeth Hasselbeck capable of doing anything but regurgitating GOP talking points? Good lord!

Jesse Ventura on Torture

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I actually agree with Jesse Ventura.

"You give me a waterboard, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders."

Keep Your Eye on the Ball

From Where It Stands