November 13, 2009
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Random Crap 11/13/09
reading this article this morning about the lack of business opportunities in Iraq for american companies, i was caught off guard by exactly how pissed off it got me. the iraqi economy is growing and there are lots of contracts for service and construction being doled out, but the american share of the pie is losing to other countries like Turkey and Russia.
i think this quote says it all.
Even Iraqi Kurds, many of whom are politically at odds with Turkey, seem to get along with the Turks when it comes to business.“Turkish companies are not afraid to do business in Iraq,” said Eren Balamir, who was in charge of Turkey’s pavilion at the fair.
The high cost of security — a cost that most regional businesses don’t have — has dissuaded many American businesses from coming; some contracts spent as much as 25 percent of their budgets on security.
this bears repeating. american businesses are specifically targeted for violence simply for being American.
america has a lot to atone for in Iraq. our sins there are many. without absolving us of guilt or future accountability, a few things should never be forgotten in the narrative that will follow. 1. once the pieces broke apart, america rightfully assumed responsibility and tried — and is still trying — with heroic effort to pull it all back together. 2. once the pieces broke apart, our essential partners, the iraqi people, whether through active participation, tacit approval or impotence, fought against our help.
Prior to last month’s deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq’s cities, al-Maliki trumpeted the occasion as a “victory” for Iraq over the American “occupiers.” from USA Today 7/23/09
that’s our friend and partner the iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. with friends like that…
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if you’ve been curious at all about Dan Brown’s latest novel The Lost Symbol, it sucks it hard. it’s not nearly as entertaining as The DaVinci Code probably because it relies much less on the “forbidden” revelatory aspect of his books and more on the craptastically, made-for-tv-movie cheesy narrative that he writes with. here’s one trap Dan Brown sets for himself when choosing to write about the stuff he does. he describes his characters as uber-intelligent, super-people that own the knowledge of the world, but he himself is not blessed with this ability. an average man can’t correctly predict the thoughts and actions of people more intelligent than him. these characters he writes suffers as a result of this contradiction. they often come off as simple and mundane, despite his attempts to dress them up.
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here’s an interesting article on the actual school and people Fast Times at Ridgemont High was based on. yes, the phoebe cates dating older men, giving blowjob lessons in school, hot as shit, sex-vixen character was based on a real person. she saw the film with her high schooler kid who thought it was weird to see his mom like that. fucking nuts.
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and here’s something that looks a little (yay!) creative from our wonderful world of movies. KICK-ASS. this movie looks… kick ass. directed by Matthew Vaughn who also made Layer Cake and Stardust.
Kick-Ass
Trailer Park | MySpace Video
****as cool as that looks, this looks quite a bit more awesome in every possible way. Fantastic Mr. Fox.
