Misha Defonseca wrote a biography, Misha: A Memoir of the Holocaust Years, laying out a story where her parents were captured and later killed by the Nazis when she was very young, that she wandered for four years between villages and the wilderness trying to find them, that she had to kill a German soldier in defense, and was even taken in by a pack of wolves. After critics and skeptics pressed her and her publishers, she finally came out with a statement, stating that the story is mostly a fabrication. 

She is not even Jewish, as it turns out.  She says her real name is Monique Da Wael, and while her parents were killed by the Nazis, it was because they were Belgian resistance fighters.  She says her grandfather and uncle took her in, but were apparently more sympathetic to the Nazis, and treated her poorly as a result.

The problem I'm having with this story is, do you feel bad for this woman, or do you view her with scorn?  What she did is certainly an insult to those who did die, lose loved ones or survived the Holocaust, she cashed in pretty big, the book was published in 18 languages, and there was even a movie made in France based on her book. 

If the story she gives as her real life is true, that her parents were killed as resistance fighters, and the rest of her family were Nazi sympathizers, it doesn't condone what she did, but it at least makes her something of a sympathetic figure.  Problem is, its probably impossible to know if even this story is true.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 08:36 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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Heh.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 07:45 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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Two new names to the roll today, both are AoS Morons.  First Sockless Joe at Alabama in Between, named after the famous James Carville line about the state of PA.  Carville once stated that PA was Philly and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between, just before unhinging his jaw and eating a frozen nutria whole for lunch.  I'm a central PA guy too, so we share that perspective.

The second is Stashiu's Space, some of you may remember Stashiu3 from Teh Squeaky Wheel, his work at Gitmo or have seen him in HA or AoS's comments.  Stashiu3 is just starting out, and I think he'll have some great and unique insight when War on Terror issues come up, particularly involving detainee policy and Gitmo itself.

And just because, Links From Around the Moronosphere!!!!

Cuffy notes that Playboy is coming out with a cologne for men.  My guess is that it is gonna smell like a colostomy bag, musk and failure, but mostly failure. 

Nice Deb pretty much tacks down why the Hillary campaign collapsed in one phrase.

The Hostages post enormous burgers, which I'm guessing would cost in the billions in Zimbabwe (possibly trillions by the time this gets posted.)

Slublog goofs on terrorist/authoritarian fellating crank and attention whore George Galloway. 

S. Weasel makes a good point about the fraternal nature of the Senate in the whole OMG BILL CUNNINGHAM SED WHUT AT THE MCCAIN RALLY? freakout this week.

bmac notes a Rockumentary about tribute bands.  Its different because we always see these things about the actual bands, but this is kind of interesting, and not something I would have necessarily been on the lookout for.  Apparently, the movie has had some legal issues or something, because info for it is scarce, but it apparently still plays on Sundance Channel sometimes.

When it comes to goofing on St Andrew, no one does it better than Ace, but the guys at Protein Wisdom aren't gonna let the Moron-in-Chief have that title without a fight.

Oh...weak, Snapped Shot has been put on hiatus due to legal threats from the AP.  I'm gonna have to do a full post later, this needs to go out to the dextrosphere in a big way.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 04:10 PM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
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Some of you may remember, Mike Huckabee actually went out of his way to court this hate filled, Bible-thumping tub of goo.  Now the Hucktard is whining that Hagee has abandoned him and is supporting McCain, citing his solidly pro-life record as the reason Hagee should stick with Camp Huck. 

Achuta McCain, doy dar gula uska, Huckabee, hoo hoo hoo!

“He just thought that the political rationale was he wanted to get on Sen. McCain’s team, and he thought he was gonna win the nomination,” Huckabee said. “I don’t think that’s a foregone conclusion, and even if I did, I would stand on principle more than I would politics.”

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Some guy went to a Texas Roadhouse for a steak, and after three bites realized...there was hair in it.  Lots of hair.  The article says it was facial hair, but the cook apparently told another cook "these are my pubes," as he stuffed another steak with hair.   He's being charged with a felony count of placing foreign objects in food.  The question is, did the dumbass cook get this idea on his own, or did he get it from this episode of South Park?

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 12:29 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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John Murtha's opponent Bill Russell screwed up big, and isn't going to be allowed to run on the ballot.  House candidates in PA have to get 1000 validated signatures from their own party members in the district to run in the party primaries. 

Two more years of this...great.

My understanding is that he had over a 1000 signatures, but that a bunch were thrown out because they were Independents or unregistered, and they had to be Republicans, but I have yet to find an article confirming that.  Russell ultimately ended up seven short in his tally.

So who pushed to have him thrown off the ticket?   Seems we have a few Republicans, alongside Murtha's sitters.  Typical, I wonder if they too feed from the vast trough Murtha has built for himself. Wouldn't surprise me, PA loves pork, and Murtha's the least kosher guy in DC. 

The challenge to Russell’s petitions came from two local Republicans and was backed by Murtha’s campaign.

Russell can still run as a write-in candidate if he collects 1000 signatures, and he's weighing that option, but I'm thinking its pretty much a done deal, the guy was struggling on his own with party support in a strongly Democrat district, and Murtha has that district bought, so it was gonna be a huge uphill battle anyway.  So, looks like were stuck being embarrassed by the jackass for another two years, at least.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 04:57 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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The Count pretty much hits it out of the park.  Admittedly, dismantling Geraldo's sniveling emotionally overwrought mantras is pretty easy, but I like The Count's response.  h/t The Hostages

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 04:13 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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Abdul Benbrika, also known as Abu Bakr, is on trial for his connections to terrorism in Australia and efforts to plot terrorist attacks in Australia.  His scuzzy lawyer is arguing that his client is being unfairly persecuted because of increased scrutiny on Muslims after 9/11, that he is a devout Muslim, but not affiliated with terrorists.  He also told the court not to forget that "America has done many evil things too."  He then stated the following,

...'to say all of this was orchestrated by Osama Bin Laden is a silly thing to do. He's never claimed responsibility for the attacks.'

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 12:53 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Georgia has been facing low rainfall and is in a state of drought.  The state is also growing in a big way, with poorly planned sprawl, and it is causing serious problems with water supply.  The legislature is so desperate they tried to argue that their border was drawn up incorrectly, and that it should be a mile higher, which would give it access to the Tennessee River.

So what is Tennessee's response?  Pretty much dismissal, however, the mayor of Chattanooga is declaring a "Give Our Georgia Friends a Drink Day" and is sending the city of Atlanta a truck loaded with donated bottled water.   One of his aides is going to drive the water into Atlanta wearing a coonskin cap.  Click the link to see the proclamation, its kinda funny. 

The water shortage problem in Georgia is certainly serious, but having the Georgia legislature try to claim a chunk of Tennessee to get access to Tennessee's water is pure laziness on their part, when improving conservation, reservoirs, water systems and better city planning is what is necessary. 

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 05:12 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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This one is great, a guy tried to rob a Circle K by pointing his finger like a gun at the cashier...no, the finger wasn't in a pocket or under his shirt. 

The cashier went around the counter to go after the would-be robber, who bolted, and was later caught by police.  I wish all criminals were this friggin' stupid.  That's gonna suck when he has to tell the guy in his cell why he's in, too funneh.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 12:54 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Of course, if it isn't Bush's fault, its Global Warming, which is of course caused by Bush's policies, so I guess poor truffle production is technically Bush's fault too. 

Obligatory.

The regions in France, Spain and Italy where truffles are grown is experiencing a drought.  In France, they experienced a period of drought in the 60s as well, but apparently not as bad as this current one.  European truffle producers are also facing competition now, as there are now truffle producers in China, New Zealand and Australia. 

So I guess we can add truffles to the big ol' list of victims of Global Warming.  Thankfully, the level of hysteria from fervent acolytes of Al Gore are so belligerent, and such panicked hyperventilating goofs that people are either starting to think Global Warming is a joke, or are so sick of the hysteria they don't care anymore.  Its called the climate Pierre, it changes.

Update:  Veeshir in comments sent the article to the guy who compiles the big ol' list of victims of Global Warming, and he added it!  Funneh.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 11:15 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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The first computers I ever used were Apple II's, our first computer at home was an Apple II, and we used Apple IIe's in elementary school. 

The guy opened the box, and says he plans on playing lots of Oregon Trail and using it for fun.  He of course bought it at Ebay.

Perhaps even more interesting is that there are some Apple II fans who have pushed the system to its limit, making it internet capable, with a web browser and email.

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Someone finally said no to these people.  For those unfamiliar, EA basically goes around and buys up every developer it can get its hands on.  Take Two has been a little shaky lately, but they've been reorganizing and I think they're hoping that Grand Theft Auto IV will give them a huge boost, which is why EA is trying to buy them out now.  GTA IV is probably going to be a huge infusion of cash, and will likely help Take Two, and of course, if they bought Take Two, that money would be EA's money.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 01:56 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Its probaby a bluff, most experts think its just meant to fire up the already pissed off Serbians in order to escalate the situation.  You can read the article to see the typical milquetoast stock responses from the State Department, I don't think there was anything particularly noteworthy.  What is interesting is how many countries are nervous or refusing to recognize Kosovo because of their own separatist movements.

Thus far NATO troops seem to have it under control, but this could Kosovo situation could become a real pain in the ass given our commitments in other regions.  Britain, France and Germany have also recognized Kosovo's independence, hopefully they'll be willing to do what's needed in the Balkans if it does get nasty there.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 10:26 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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Hillary Clinton's campaign staff actually opened up a hotline for people to call in to suggest ways of beating Barack Obama in the primary.  I'm thinking its pretty safe to say...its ovah!  I never thought I'd see this, I so thought Hill was gonna be the nominee, and we were gonna have a brutal slugfest with her until election day for so long.  Who could have predicted this?  I had heard of Barack Obama before his election run, a political science professor had said he was a politician to watch for, and sure enough, here he is, taking out Hillary. 

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 12:25 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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If you've been to the Socialista bar in NYC, you may wanna schedule an appointment, pronto.  Though I'm guessing all twelve of my readers wouldn't be caught dead in a bar called Socialista.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 12:18 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Well worth checking out.  I hadn't even considered what a decent real deal test this was for the much maligned (by the left) missile defense systems, I was only thinking about keeping sensitive technology and intelligence out of foreign hands.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 06:18 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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Lou Barletta's site is up, conservatives who can't bring themselves to vote for McCain need to help out guys like Barletta in their local races.  Barletta is facing a pretty well entrenched Democrat.  He'll need national grassroots support to stand a chance.  Barletta would be a great way to send a message to Amnesty supporters.  He gained national attention for creating one of the toughest local enforcement policies for illegals in the country. Those of you who live in the Gulf Coast also have reason to give Barletta's opponent a black eye. 

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 02:12 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Most of our alcohol is distributed through state stores, and it is one of those things where everyone knows that state control sucks ass, its inefficient, limits choices, particularly in wine, craft beer and spirits and and makes for a weaker industry, but the bureaucracies and state workers have the legislature by the balls, so its unlikely we'll see the state system be overturned soon.  But here's hoping!

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 03:02 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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They've made three thus far, one for their home, one for a Ripley's Believe it or Not! museum for $500, and they are donating the latest one to the kid's high school.  The father had a habit of keeping all his pennies, and this is what they decided to do with them.  The portraits take about 2400 pennies to do, and they say they have enough for at least ten more portraits.  Well, I guess if they sold them all to different Ripley's museums they could make a pretty penny...

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 02:05 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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