_www.FantasyLibrary.com [Visit Who Is Joseph Teller?] Synthesis & Synchronicity 043

Synthesis & Synchronicity #43

Ok, I hope I didn't bore all the non-roleplayers who might read this regularly with my last journal entry. I've got lots of little bits and pieces to plop into this one, with not exactly a whole lot of rhyme or reason, but in the time since when I started the last column and when I finally 'put it to bed' much has happened in the world.

Weapons Of Mass Distraction : Ok, so Saddam Hussein is now under lock and key in a 'non-disclosed locale'.... perhaps trading war stories with Dick Cheney, the master occupant of such non-disclosed locales for the past few years. Or maybe its just a subtle form of psychological torture, putting the former dictator in a room with nothing to listen to but the constant beep beep of Cheney's heart monitor?

Ok, anyway, they found him in a hidey hole under a small house with a stockpile of those weapons of mass destruction.... 2 AK-47s and some pistols, and a large bundle of good old American Dollars. It took Billions of Dollars, hundreds of lives, tons of machinery, months of effort and what we have to show for it is one confused, disheveled and exhausted dictator. No nifty chemical weapons, no frightening nuclear weapons, no secret army of fanatical supporters ready to lay down their lives. He's been in charge of nothing for a very long time.... and there's no sign of who's really pulling the strings behind all the attacks in Iraq (unless you believe the claims that Bin Laden has smuggled a small army of terrorists there just for the easy opportunity to blow folks up).

Meanwhile the press, and pretty much the administration, has ignored the assasination attempt on the President of Pakistan that also occured over the weekend by Bin Laden's operatives in that country (or at least friends of theirs). And the fact that the American Forces in Afghanistan have decided that the civilian casualties don't matter when it comes to getting their man. They've done air strikes on locales where a suspected terrorist used to be weeks before, killing lots of children that live nearby, rather then sending in a squad or two to capture a SINGLE MAN. Funny I always though the concept of air strikes was to hit buildings and tanks, not one guy who might be in a house. I guess its a matter of the hammer principle - when all you have is a hammer every problem looks like you need to hit it with a hammer. They've got airplanes and bombs, and so they'll drop a bomb whenever they hear a terrorist might be lurking somewhere, even if the information is long out of date, as there's always some chance they'll get their guy. A few dead Afghanistani kids are a small price to pay to get that 1% chance of stopping a terrorist.

When did I wake up in crazyworld? Oh, yeah... the day Bush stole the Presidency.

Irregulars Are We Well the gaming group is dealing with its annual problem time, as our schedule conflicts are dragging us down to a level of about one game session a month. I'm hoping that things stabilize come the spring, but I'm not betting on it. We also had one of the members give forth the announcement that he and his wife are expecting later in 2004, which will mean he'll be taking a sabatical as that time comes close and for quite some time afterwards. Being one of our GMs, and the one with the single game that has been running the longest, this will definitely put a cramp in our group when it occurs. Sigh.

Attack Of The Emoticons! As you can tell, I've decided to start sprucing up the journal pages a bit with some graphics. I got a nice set of these online somewhere and thought it was about time I put them to use. If they get too excessive please let me know. I'll be using them in the sidebar to give quick postive, negative, neutral reviews of things I read, listen to etc.

Nasty Little Men Of Dark Renoun : Yes, I'm referring to Democratic Presidential hopefuls Kerry, Leiberman and Gephardt who have in recent days all decided to hype their own weak flagging political campaigns by a series of attacks on Howard Dean. This set of wishy washy professional politicians have all decided that the capture of Sadam Hussein, the result of the actions of the Bush administration, is proof that their pro-war votes were justiufied (although both Kerry and Gephardt were claiming until a few weeks ago that they regretted their votes because they were lied to in order to get them). They take this as a sign that Dean, who opposed the war and the way it was waged (without a major international coalition or real approval of the UN or proof that the reasons it was fought for were real), is somehow unelectable.

These are the mainstream professional pols showing their true colors - they hate the concept that Dean, a relative outsider, has managed to be as far ahead as he is. They also ignore the fact that his campaign is NOT a one-issue candidacy. And, in the case of Kerry and Gephardt, they are again showing that they will do anything to win a few votes, get some press coverage or imrpove their chances for power, including supporting their rival in the White House. Shame upon them for their wishy washy ways.

Leiberman, of course, is slightly different, since he has shown no regret for his vote and has supported Bush since day 1 on his war efforts. But, of course, Leiberman is more conservative than than the majority of the Democratic party (and even more than a good chunk of the Republican party). He may have been Gore's running mate, but I suspect that is something the party more or less forced on Gore to ensure certain voting blocks than any agreement of the agenda that was represented.

I'm hoping this nonsense will backfire on these petty men, and that Dean remembers who said what when it comes to pick his running mate (presuming the dirty tricks divisions of their campaigns don't find a way to stop him from reaching the convention along the way with their attack ads etc.).

We Get Feedback !

Greg of The Rantmaster, sent along a list of his suggestions for books in the 100 books for my game project. His suggestions follow:

Farenheight 451
1984
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Worst Case Scenario's Survivalist's Handbook.
Any Darwin Awards Book.
Brain Droppings, by George Carlin
The Handmaiden's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Jurassic Park or Sphere by Michael Chricton
Soylent Green
War of the Worlds (or any HG Wells)
A Clockwork Orange
Animal Farm
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Catch-22
Sir Apropros of Nothing
Ender's Game
The Mists of Avalon
The Once and Future King
The Dark is Rising series, by Susan Cooper
Complete Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Athur Conan Doyle
The Chronicles of Narnia
A Wrinkle In Time, by Madeline l'Engle
Any book by William Sleator (Interstellar Pig, House of Stairs, Strange Attractors,  The Boy Who Reversed Himself, The Green Futures of Tycho)
Alice in Wonderland and/or Through the Looking Glass
The Postman by David Brin
I Am The Cheese by Robert Cormier (or possibly, any Cormier book)
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
The Stand or Needful Things by Stephen King
Moby Dick or Billy Budd by Herman Melville
Wizard of Oz
Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe
A Tale of Two Cities or Any Dickens Book.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

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