If only this were a parody about the Redskins.

From the Washington Post today:

Terrorism Suspect Planned Peroxide Bombs, Officials Say

Saddam Hussein was given a new necktie by the people of Iraq as a token of their appreciation.

What, too soon? 

In honor of Halloween, allow me to suggest a baker’s dozen of semi-obscure horror films for you to rent:

1. Haxan: Witchcraft Throughout The Ages (1922) — This early Danish silent film is supposedly a documentary about necromancy. Or is it a how-to manual? Either way the recreations of medieval witchcraft practices and Satanic rituals are so elaborate and, ahem, enthusiastic you’ll wonder what exactly director Benjamin Christensen (who also plays the Devil, BTW) was up to. Be prepared to see some things you’d never thought you’d glimpse in an old-time movie. (more…)
   
    

The blogging forecast will once again be “light to nonexistent” for the next two weeks. That’s because I’ll be hitting the road to cover the annual conventions for the Democratic Party (Aug. 25-8), Modern Drunkard Magazine (Aug. 29-31) and the Republican Party (Sept. 1-4). Try to guess which one I am looking forward to the most.

In what may or may not be a response to the gauntlet Jeremylott.net threw down the other day, Ron Bailey has responded to critics of transhumanism … in his own unique way. He’s the only person I know who can use the phrase “subhuman slaves” in conversation without being ironic or facetious:

Fukuyama’s concerns about subhuman slaves cannot be dismissed. Uplift advocate Dvorsky agrees: “Animals may also be engineered to have specialized physical or cognitive characteristics while lacking certain neurological faculties. Theoretically, such creatures could be designed for specific tasks, such as manual labour, dangerous work, or as sex trade workers–and at the same time be oblivious to the demeaning or hazardous nature of their work. For all intents and purposes these would be happy slaves.”

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Over in the American Spectator on Friday, one Joe Carter took Reason’s Ron Bailey to task for his belief in “transhumanism,” the belief/scientific drive to genetically modify humans to make them better, stronger and faster — all without the aide of $6 million in bionics.

Carter, author of “How to Argue Like Jesus: Learning Persuasion From History’s Greatest Communicator” says:

Ronald Bailey, science correspondent for Reason magazine, is a sharp and sometimes eloquent advocate of this radical vision for humanity. He argues sweepingly that “there are no ethical reasons for forbidding people in the future to use safe biotech enhancements to alter their personalities, abolish sleep, increase their physical strength, boost their intelligence and memories, change their sex, live much longer healthier lives, and even change the number of their chromosomes.”

Bailey argues that it would also generally be “ethical for parents to use safe biotech to enhance their children in these ways as well.” He believes “[t]ranshumanism epitomizes our most daring, courageous, imaginative, and idealistic aspirations,” and it would be a shame for Jr. to miss out on that.

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He’s already conquered the worlds of print, online journalism, and blogging. Now he looms like a giant in the world of publishing thanks to his latest book The Warm Bucket Brigade. What battlefields are there left for Jeremy Lott to conquer? Why television, of course, and now he can add that — or at least live streaming video — to his trophy case as well.

Behold the awesomeness that is Jeremy Lott on Bloggingheads TV.

UPDATE: At the 8:48 mark, diavlog co-host Will Wilkinson says, “Anything with Angela Lansbury just gets me smoking hot.” He also appears to have a thing for Aaron Burr’s daughter. Just thought I’d mention this.

Overheard at a downtown bar:

“Okay, what is your darkest, bitterest beer?”

“Remember, son, many a good story has been ruined by over-verification.”
– James Gordon Bennett: (1795-1872) Scottish-US editor.