Smackdown!

Standard fair warning: This blog is my opinion, and sometimes things get political here. I respect your opinion if you don't agree.

I'll really want to get back to my Gen Con postings before my memory dims, really I do, but the pre-election b.s. is really flying and the constant warping of reality is beginning to bug me. I feel obligated to add my 2 bits, you know?

Dig Bill Clinton fighting back in a recent FOX news interview ... love it.

Here are some great, well-researched books about just how incredibly fucked up this war effort has been, from the initial selling of the war, to the bad planning (what there was), and the associated corruption:



Okay, enough politics! I'll try to be good and hold myself back next time.

The current score:

Spinning 9/11

Standard fair warning: This blog is my opinion, and sometimes things get political here. I respect your opinion if you don't agree.

Last night sadly marked yet another attempt of Bush to sell his failed Iraq policy. Despite the White House claims to the contrary, the "non-political" speech last night was just that, an 18-minute speech of which barely 2 minutes addressed the tragedy and heroes of 9/11 and the rest of which continued and summarized a series of recent speeches in which Bush has tried to bolster the sagging support for his war in Iraq.

I couldn't say it better than MSNBC, so I'll quote them here:

"The power of his rhetoric is in marked decline, and that's no reflection on the quality of what he says, which is still very high," said Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a neoconservative scholar who has been sympathetic to Bush's anti-terrorism policies. "There's a desire in the country for more deeds, not more words. . . . We are losing a war right now, and there is no way to get around that."

Three previous times in the past 18 months, as public opinion has slipped, White House officials have announced that Bush would embark on a renewed effort to explain and defend his Iraq and anti-terrorism policies. None produced a lasting positive effect on how Americans view either the president or his policies.

This Administration, worried sick about the upcoming November elections, is trying desperately to connect Iraq to the overall war on terrorism, the only strong point the Republicans have left (unless they drag out flag-burning again). Most of the public wisely isn't buying it. The Administration has demonstrated a stubborn adherence to a failed policy began under false pretenses and their failures are manifest even to the blind or hopelessly partisan at this point. They hope to shape the argument into, as one Republican strategist put it, “do you believe we’re at war?”—but the true question is, “do you approve?” Do you approve of an America in which you are branded unpatriotic for questioning the actions of your government? Do you approve of an America that condones torture, secret prisons, spying on its own people, and a complete lack of oversight? Do you approve of the current conduct of our leaders, the level of honestly versus obfuscation they have displayed, their promises kept, and their demonstrated competence?
Only you can decide that. It is your right, and I’ll not brand you “un-American” regardless of your opinion.

I urge my readers to listen to Keith Olbermann’s special comment in full.

Dick Cheney stated to Tim Russert this past Sunday on Meet the Press that, knowing what he knows now about Iraq, he would do it all again, the same exact way. If that doesn't frighten you, I don't know what will.

9/11 Five Years Later

Today all of America came to grips with the still-fresh memory of a national tragedy. The wound is still fresh, and the pain still great.

Tempted as I am to launch into a discussion about foreign policy and decisions made by our leaders, I don’t feel this is the proper time.

I can’t bring myself to speak about world unity either. My desire for peace and understanding is great, but I’m also realistic, and as the famous quote from former British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston goes, “Nations don’t have friends, nations have interests.” It’s sadly true, and don’t fool ever yourself into believing otherwise.

I don't claim to be impartial; I worked within sight of the Towers and I recall my horror from that day still. My brother, a fireman, was there the day after the event, breathing toxic fumes while unearthing grim artifacts. My then next-door neighbor, a loving father and all-around nice guy, parked and then stepped out for a bagel and just missed being crushed to death along with his car. He spent that night wandering in his backyard in shock, trying to make sense of it all.
I myself was lucky to not have been directly affected, indeed barely touched by the event, and I am eternally grateful for that.

Today I have but one wish: I wish peace to those that were hurt or lost someone in this event, and I hope such a thing never occurs again.

Gen Con Friday in Pictures

Friday was busy indeed.

We grabbed a quick free breakfast with the other chowhounds at the Embassy, and quickly headed over the Exhibition Hall.
Folks were flowing through the Hall easily and it was actually cool inside the massive space. I took this as a good omen. I spent the next few hours with A wandering up and down the rows, checking out the various booths. We paused for a quick demo of the latest Ticket to Ride boardgame at the Days of Wonder booth (they don't take unsolicited submissions anymore, damn them all to Hell!), perused the latest Osprey books at their booth, examined assorted minis, and marveled at all the varied Cthulhu merchandise.




I wandered amid the booths in a near daze, surrounded by hordes of gamer geeks happily hip deep in their element. Some vendors had set up gaming areas, particularly for the board games (there's no better advertising than watching other folks obviously enjoying a game) and tables of gamers played away, seemingly oblivious to the throngs of customers streaming around them.


Afterward we worked our way over the Art Exhibit (Jeff Easley was there sketching away—how cool is that?), and soon fell in love with a morbid collage print by Rick Sardinha. It wasn't really for sale, but was basically hanging as an example of non-fantasy work, but after a bit of conversation we made arrangements to pick it up toward the end of the show, glass and all. (This is not to say I don't like Rick's fantasy work—especially his awesome blue dragons—and we had sympathy for a man that drove all the way to Indy from Rhode Island!)

A dead guy plays a few hands of Award Show (Twilight Creations):


A highpoint of the day was having a book signed by Ed Greenwood (author and creator of the popular Forgotten Realms setting). He wasn't hawking a thing, merely signing whatever folks brought up, and I was embarrassed to only have a book that he co-authored for him to sign. All the same, he was quite cool and rather funny. (The rather serious-minded fellow just before me dropped off a mysterious manilla folder with "Ed Greenwood" scrawled across the front and said, "My friend made me promise to deliver this to you, he wants you to read his thoughts on some matters." Ah, the price of fame.) Down the desk from Ed sat Eric L. Boyd and Steven Schend—all the great 'Realms minds in one place!


For dinner we struck the Rock Bottom again and were promptly recognized by our waitress from the day before. Alas, they were sold out of the ribs!

Surviving the Con

Well, it’s over. We survived Gen Con 2006, and it was great.
Rather than making a mondo-post, I’ll post a summary of each day separately.

Let’s start with Thursday night.

Our late-afternoon flight out of Newark Airport was a nightmare. I’ll spare the gentle reader most of the details, but the London business meant that the morning of our departure we suddenly had to leave behind all the travel-size cosmetics and such we had purposefully purchased ahead of time. No shampoo, toothpaste, hair gel, deodorant … you get the picture.

Fearing the long security lines at the airport, we left early, very early. We ended up zipping through security and having nearly 2 hours to kill in the airport. (We also spotted Lee Iacocca standing on the sidewalk a few feet away, thanks to A's sharp eyes, but that's another story.) We then boarded the plane and sat there on the tarmac for 2 and a half hours before the plane even took off—for a less than 2-hour flight! At one point, after an hour of taxiing around the runways, an exasperated passenger across from me asked the flight attendant for a status update. “Well, we’re number ten, and there’s a 7-minute space between flights. Do the math,” came the brusque reply.

Eventually we landed in Indianapolis and a quick taxi ride brought us to Embassy Suites. My expected arrival time of 5-o-clock was shot to hell; it was now 7:30 and we hadn’t eaten since grabbing fast food in the airport at 1-o-clock. So much for my industry party that began at 7:30! Down the street from our hotel was the Rock Bottom Brewery. There we grabbed dinner, including ribs to die for. We resolved to return.

Downtown Indy was nice; elevated walkways, plentiful microbrew restaurants (I made a private note of the location of The Ram, a place known for its Gen Con attendee -friendly atmosphere), and friendly folk. Everywhere milled many young people, many of them bearing backpacks, costumes, or other assorted gear that marked them as fellow gamer geeks in town for the Con.



We eventually arrived at the party at nine-thirty. The party was held at Jillian’s, an eclectic place that I described that night as “a Chuck E. Cheese’s for adults.” I embarrassed myself “shooting” pool and we chatted with our host and assorted folks including Andy Barlow (miniature sculptor for Magnificent Egos, etc.), Luke Johnson (Etherscope developer), Todd Rooks (tournament GM extraordinaire), and his friend Brett.

It was well after midnight when we headed back, but the halls of Embassy echoed with the cries of gamers. (My mind instantly harkened back to the "old days" when I used to spend a full weekend playing D&D with no thought of sleep...) Youngsters!