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May 30th, 2009
09:00 pm - Michael Scheuer, or nothing is easy
Michael Scheuer is ex-CIA. He worked as an analyst for 22 years and headed up "Alec Station," the unit that was tracking Osama bin Laden, from 1996-99. He first gained public notice when he was outed as the author of Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror, published anonymously in 2004.
Scheuer is a nationalist. He is anti-interventionist in the Ron Paul mold. He is critical of what he calls "appeasement," what you or I might call peacemaking, or foreign policy transformations without military hegemony. Moreover, he is one of the authors of our program of extraordinary rendition, which dates, I am sure you know, from the Clinton era.
All the same, watch.
This video is of a speech he delivered to the World Affairs Council of Northern California in 2/28/05, deep within the jungle of W's second term. It's over an hour long. It's worth watching carefully. You may not agree with or even like this man, whose personal meekness and professional opinions form an intersection which I sometimes find terrifying. But he articulates al-Qaeda's platform with crystal clarity, at the same time managing to compare bin Laden, whom he nevertheless strongly advocates we kill if we can, with Stonewall Jackson.
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May 26th, 2009
10:35 pm - l believe this
Actually, considering the amount of "self-criticism" my sensei requires, this works.
Your result for The Despot / Small Woodland Creature Test...
Mao Zedong the Beaver45% Brutality, 30% Wackiness, 39% Playfulness, 52% Strength, 50% Kindness, 21% Agility and 64% Intelligence! 
Mao Zedong led the Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory against the Kuomintang (KMT) in the Chinese Civil War, and was the leader of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. Mao remains a controversial figure to this day, with a contentious and ever evolving legacy. Critics blame many of Mao's socio-political programs, such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, for causing severe damage to the culture, society, economy, and foreign relations of China, as well as a possible death toll in the tens of millions. As a beaver, Mao's reign was surprising, being that he ruled over human beings, not fellow beavers. Yet, the beaver's dependability, hard-working nature, strength and no-nonsense attitude were boons to Mao....as they surely are to you.
Take The Despot / Small Woodland Creature Test at HelloQuizzy
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/sad.gif) exhausted
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May 23rd, 2009
11:21 pm - New Junon, Chapter 2: woven bone
This follows up something I originally posted as "New Junon." See link on cut page for reference.
This is Final Fantasy VII fiction, and in fanfic parlance, it is for mature readers, contains Reno/Tseng, and is full of bad language.
( The Cure, Hojo used to say, is definitely worse than the disease. )
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May 18th, 2009
09:36 pm - bliss
I caught a jo in the mouth this evening. My bad; I lead too much with my head in all that I do, sword cuts no exception. So I cut shomenuchi and Sensei...now, how did it happen?
"The tolerances are very small," he said afterward.
Yes. The tolerances are very small, and I have a fat lip to prove it.
This is why I train.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/smile.gif) jubilant
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May 16th, 2009
06:21 pm - ganked from Calalillith
A - Age: 39
B - Bed size: Queen. Ish.
C - Chore you hate: Birdcage.
D - Dogs' names: Dogless. Bird's name is Taiko.
E - Essential start your day item: Major Dickason's, unless I am sick.
F - Favorite color: Red.
G - Gold or Silver: Used to be silver, now trending gold.
H - Height: 5'4".
I - Instruments you play: Piano, harp, pitiful guitar.
J - Job title: Registrar.
K - Kid: None.
L - Living arrangements: Currently tenuous. Am seeking local shed for bivouac.
M - Mum's name: Leslie.
N - Nicknames: greenjudy (online), Jules, Yulia, GeeJay. Little brother used to call me "OO-ee."
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Not that I remember.
P - Pet Peeve: People who don't use their turn signals; people writing FFVII Turks fanfic referring to some generic quantity called "paperwork." Actually, virtually all Turks!fanfic.
Q - Quote from a movie: "SWAN!"
R - Right or left handed: Left.
S - Siblings: Younger brother; two even younger half-siblings (one brother, one sister).
T - Time you wake up: Being good: 6 AM. Not being good: 7 AM. Being sick: 8 AM.
U - Underwear: Fucshia cotton bikini. Black sports bra. Just don't ask my bra size.
V - Vegetable you dislike: Okra.
W - Ways you run late: Let me count the ways.
X - X-rays you've had: Knees, toes of left foot, CAT scan.
Y - Yummy food you make: Martha Stewart's mac and cheese, with gruyere; Scharffenberger chocolate cake.
Z - Zoo favorite: Tropical birdie land.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/tired.gif) tired
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April 26th, 2009
April 25th, 2009
07:20 pm - K is for Kiyakotari
...whose birthday it is today.
More anon; I are ded from driving to every large town in my vicinity, spot-picking the color blue and lolling about for hours in a printer's driveway while freshly-produced, finally-right ten-foot banners got their ink-lays destroyed by random gusts of wind.
Will update tomorrow. K, watch this space.
Current Mood: tired
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April 24th, 2009
07:33 am - AUNTIE K
GREETZ TO AUNTIE K
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) saintsavin CAN HAS A BIRTHDAY
(Thank you, Homerun Ken.)
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April 14th, 2009
07:41 am - Zagzagael
Thinking of you, dear friend.
Update us when you can.
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April 7th, 2009
06:51 am - can't go home again, with crocodile chaser
A few weeks ago I had a little party at my house, with the help of some very dear friends.
At that point I thought I might be staying for the long haul, maybe get some renters in to help out, grow some rosemary and tomatoes, get some honeybees back in behind the apple and pear trees. But it's looking increasingly like I will be moving out, due to certain family plans for the house.
I feel like one of those melancholy Chinese feudal dudes being booted off my ancestral land to live...god knows where. I shall never see this peony bloom again, poor brave flower, that sort of thing. I'll know a lot more in a few weeks. Still in shock at the moment.
I'm so glad I was able to have that get-together, while I still had the venue.
Here's the opener for The Anasazi Hotel, my novel-in-progress. It might be too slow and cryptic for what I need; I can't decide. Let me know what you think of this.
( Priorities were always an issue, even then: I get it. I understand. )
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March 26th, 2009
09:36 pm - Haymaker
A short piece, kind of Mamet meets badfic. Players are Reno and Tseng, Turks, from Final Fantasy VII. Not, perhaps, for the squeamish.
Note: edited per useful comments from kiyakotari, whom I should have asked to beta this in the first place.
( After the first couple of bouts Reno got wise and slipped quarter rolls into his Protect gloves. )
Current Location: the moveable feast
Current Mood: perplexed
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January 29th, 2009
08:24 pm - Fleur Medved Emberley
Would you believe it, she goes by Medved.
( A few more beyond, lighting equally bad. )
Current Mood: refreshed
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December 31st, 2008
08:33 am - out, out of the hut
I've been hard to discern lately, for a combo of reasons, but the short form is I wrote a decent-ish novel in November, and then nearly lost my job in December. I have missed my friends through this process. I'm sorry to be so scarce. Starting to crawl back into contact, though.
Good balance has never been one of my strong suits. But my plan is to *cough* keep my job, and finish The Anasazi Hotel by April Fool's. I may not be much in evidence online, but I'm out there, and I love you guys.
On a lighter note, doll things. Follow the cut if you like doll things.
( A strange fiscal windfall has left me thinking about dolls and doll bodies. )
Wishing all my friends a Happy New Year. Let's see what 2009 holds.
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November 30th, 2008
06:50 pm - 50,112
Rigg, I think, you poor motherfucker. You’re another one of my dead bodies now.
“Please do not distress yourself, Mister Findzeit,” Huang says, putting his hand on my shoulder. “We almost never demand the death penalty for this sort of offense. Also, it is entirely possible that Martin Rigg will be an extraordinary assistance in our quest to bring your company to justice. An extraordinary assistance.”
“It is still freaking me out when you do that,” I tell him.
Huang smiles, brilliantly.
He shakes our hands, one by one.
The helicopter blades are rotating faster and faster.
“We’ll meet again,” he says, tying the belt on his trench coat.
Then he salutes Eric Rehm.
“Keep up the fight,” he says. Eric doesn’t say anything, but inclines his head slightly, as if puzzled, or as if, perhaps, in acknowledgement.
Huang, flanked by gigantic and beautifully dressed men – Eckbo’s soulmates, I think—recedes across the tarmac, folds unobtrusively into the helicopter, and is gone.
Current Mood: finished
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01:53 pm - The Three Cs
Raw, uncorrected, and likely incoherent: Findzeit does rather well in a firefight.
( Do guys actually say 'pee?' )
Current Mood: frantic
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November 29th, 2008
November 27th, 2008
November 25th, 2008
07:50 pm - Cathay Slingshot
No, it's not a drink.
( It's an Anasazi Hotel excerpt. )
Current Mood: groggy
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November 24th, 2008
02:24 pm - The Inventory
Coke Zeros: 2
Starbucks Double Shots: 2
Haagen-Dazs Rocky Road Ice Cream: 1 pint
Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Jeeves & Wooster, videos, YouTube: 39
New Knitting Books: 1
Decompress Your Brain Knitting Projects: 1
Dorothy Sayers Audiobooks: 1
Newly Acquired Madame Alexander Cissy dolls: 1
Additional, Eyeballed, Potentially Newly Acquired Madame Alexander Cissy dolls: 2
Word Count: 36,684
Synopsis:
It's not easy being a bad guy. Fresh off a job that went south, Nathan Findzeit finds himself at the heart of a conspiracy to remake the corporation he works for as a clandestine Operator--a corporation whose stellar reputation is just beginning to be compromised in the eyes of the world. An internal audit, run by the embittered, too-honest-to-survive Eric Rehm, is just the beginning of the story, which involves secret meetings at a spectacular "archeological resort," illegal energy drinks, far too many hot baths, and a sprawling, systematic, company-wide policy of global plunder.
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November 18th, 2008
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