Ogged, you already tried gaying up the blog to erase the feminine yesterday, remember? Try something else.
Have to admit the post title is genius, though.
Hasn't Putin actually killed people? I think he might have the advantage in hand-to-hand combat.
He might lose the "don't be a creepy authoritarian with little squinty eyes" contest.
Yeah, we had the judo conversation, right? More importantly, why am I still reading this goddamned blog instead of working out?
Obama has an impressive farmer's tan.
why am I still reading this goddamned blog instead of working out?
I've been wondering this all day long...
Are there any porn workout tapes? Not just "exercise session devolves into orgy", but "fuck your way to thinner thghs" kinds of things?
Dammit. I tried to post something about how Katherine's last comment on that Other Thread was worth saving for another day. Like next month. Shut down in favor of male torsos.
Thank you, ogged; now I can log off this damned blog and go do something constructive. Or at least throw something at the construction workers outside of my office window who are making a fucking racket.
White guys bleed more easily.
Assuming they have the time.
Is Putin working on his Hunter S Thompson impersonation in that picture?
It may be closed, but we'll always have 1000.
He might lose the "don't be a creepy authoritarian with little squinty eyes" contest.
It's about damn time. It's been neck and neck for years now.
Or at least throw something at the construction workers outside of my office window
But feminism would have you believe that the construction workers are the oppressors.
Obama would also lose the crucial kissing four-year-olds on the stomach contest. Shame -- can't win them all.
Single combat is a patriarchal institution.
Neither of them has visible body hair...shaving?
I don't get it.
Great, start 'em young.
Ogged, you should take a hiatus from failing to cite your sources.
Is Putin working on his Hunter S Thompson impersonation in that picture?
That was my first reaction: Is that Hunter S Thompson? What's he got to do with Obama?
All is clear now.
10 great complaint! i agree :)
though Putin is kin, he is a tatarin ircc
i personally prefer his rival Khodorkovski
though that would mean something like Russia in chaos may be
Come on. This would not even be close. Putin is a legitimate badass, and a scary man. The far tougher question: is there any other head of state who could plausibly give him a scare in a fair fight? Maybe someone who rose to power fresh out of the miltary, and still young enough to handle himself. I can't think of anyone offhand, even if you go back a ways in recent history.
Maybe the time will come for gigantic robots.
Also, he's none too impressed with Cthulhu.
Maybe someone who rose to power fresh out of the miltary, and still young enough to handle himself.
King Abdullah of Jordan?
Putin apparently speaks Tatar reasonably well.
Thanks to the shadows, Obama's head looks kind of odd, like it doesn't belong. I look forward to the Right-wing bloggers involved in the Dan Rather kerning scandal to tell us that it's Photoshopped.
The link in 25 should be the first example they use in journalism school the day they're teaching "the lede."
is there any other head of state who could plausibly give him a scare in a fair fight?
Hugo Chavez, maybe.
Here's the photo of King Abdullah that made me think of him. Hoo-ah!
25: The time for giant robots has already come.
Thanks to the shadows, Obama's head looks kind of odd, like it doesn't belong.
I don't know if you can blame that on the shadows. The guy's just got a weird head.
Abdullah and Putin are both pretty tiny guys.
re: western politicians and violence.
Previous generations were, of course, littered with guys who'd seen serious active service in wars.
More recently, iirc, Paddy Ashdown [ex SBS and Commando ] always refused to say whether he'd killed anyone.
Abdullah and Putin are both pretty tiny guys.
Ah, then Putin won't be able to get as much judo leverage against him. Even better.
30: Chavez was my first thought as well.
The look on Obama's face suggests he ate Putin.
Maybe Chavez circa 1992 or so. Now he's 53 and pudgy.
I don't know enough about Abdullah, but Wikipedia tells me he went to Deerfield. That has to count against him in the toughness category, unless he was a recruited hockey player...
Of the three suggestions, I'd have to pick Paddy Ashdown with the special forces background, but it still seems that an ex-KGB is not a bad bet.
Once we elect President Kimbo Slice, he'll show Putin what's what.
ex-KGB or not, Judo is bad-ass. Putin wins!
Maybe Idi Amin would have bitten his throat out, though.
Yes, of course Putin wins. But what about backup? I have to imagine that the Hulkster could kick some KGB ass.
Musharref was a commando; he seems to have had more talent for that than for being president of Pakistan.
I don't get it either. But at least my excuse is that I'm a girl.
Musharref was a commando
For that matter, so was Ehud Barak... coincidence? I think not!
47: So is the closet Islamofascist thing OK if Israel did it first?
Speaking of Israelis, Ariel Sharon was quite a badass in his prime, and to this day he can take a punch without flinching.
46: If you can't beat 'em, give up, I always say.
I'm sure there are world leaders who could take Putin, it's just that we don't know what most world leaders look like.
Speaking of presidential photoshopping controversy...
No one mentions Bush? He's reported to be extremely fit. I believe I've read that he can bench his body weight a dozen times or more, which is not bad for his age.
52: OMG, they AIRBRUSHED him?! How are real men supposed to live up to media portrayals of these impossible, artificial standards? I'm feeling oppressed.
Ariel Sharon was quite a badass in his prime, and to this day he can take a punch without flinching.
Is nobody else going to point it out? Okay, fine: of course he doesn't flinch at a punch these days, what with the irreversible coma and all.
55: Full story about Sarkozy. Feel the oppression, BL.
And I think 56 belongs on Standpipe's blog.
Let me agree with B. this once. Homeoerotic masochistic fantasies, etc. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
Yes of course you're right, Stanley. I don't know what I was thinking.
Too late, JM. You've been sent to Standpipe's for now.
31: King Abdullah wrestled for Deerfield.
The crazy thing is, since Vox makes a blog for you whether you want one or not, there is actually a blog called "Standpipe's Blog" now. Oops.
Naturally, the blog here known as "Standpipe's blog" goes by another title altogether.
Why would you sign up for Vox if you didn't want a blog?
Might you be using vox's privacy settings to exclude me, Standpipe Bridgeplate?
63.2 belongs on Standpipe's blog.
Why would you sign up for Vox if you didn't want a blog?
So I could leave a comment on someone else's Vox blog.
Might you be using vox's privacy settings to exclude me, Standpipe Bridgeplate?
Certainly not, young Ben. You see the same thing that I see. There simply aren't any posts. "Standpipe's Blog" isn't a real blog.
Ben, your question is answered on...... oh, never mind.
You see the same thing that I see.
But do we see it the same way? HMMMM.
Let's describe what we see in the language of sense data and compare results.
"Standpipe's Blog" isn't a real blog.
That explanation surely belongs on Standpipe's blog.
That explanation surely belongs on Standpipe's blog.
I really don't know what you're talking about.
I'll leave while you folks to sort out use and mention. Toodles!
What is this "Standpipe's Blog" anyway?
It's like ogged getting laid: never happens, but it's always right there.
[cross-posted to the blog in-question]
"while you folks to"
ZOMG PROOFREADING ERROR.
I knew the person commenting wasn't the *real* standpipe.
You're on crack. The real Standpipe proofreading errors all the time.
I'm sure there are world leaders who could take Putin, it's just that we don't know what most world leaders look like.
I'm not so sure. Nowadays all the world leaders are either young but nerdy (Rafael Correa, Daily Show correspondent John Oliver), or tough but old. Or, of course, both old and nerdy, in the traditional manner. GW Bush is probably in the top 5% for physical fitness, but he doesn't know any fighting techniques, unlike his father.
King Mswati of Swaziland might be a good choice. He looks pretty tough and is only 39. But his decadent lifestyle has probably made him a softy, and judging from photos he doesn't spend his free time working out.
My pick would be Paul Kagame, a longtime military tough guy who is younger than Putin (but still 50). He's awfully tall and skinny, though, which is not good against a judoka.
81: King Mswati of Swaziland might be a good choice
Well, he did have to beat out 66 half-brothers to become King, so he has that going for him.
Yahya Jammeh led a military coup at 29 and is now 42. Another possibility. Also, he is publicizing an antiparasitic herb mixture that also happens to cure AIDS.
Prime Minister Stephenson King of Saint Lucia looks very imposing, but there's hardly any information on him on the internet.
OK, no more of this.
76,80: You can't have your use and mention it to.
Ned,
he doesn't know any fighting techniques
Doesn't he, though?
86: That's almost as precious as this moment from last night's SOTU address:
Rep. Barney Frank was on his cell when President Bush passed by and joked, "Tell him I said hello." Later, the openly gay congressman told him it was his boyfriend on the line, reports Matthew Huisman of the Boston University-Washington News Service. "Oh, okay, I hope he appreciates how open-minded I am," Bush said.
[source (scroll down)]
tous les hommes naissent libres et egaux MAIS...
Hey, are we counting guns? 'Cause there's that South African dude Zuma that keeps singing about his machine gun.
#39: Once we elect President Kimbo Slice, he'll show Putin what's what.
Sure, Kimbo has done well in backyard political debates on YouTube, but he will get destroyed as soon as he goes up against leading professional politicians in televised panel discussions.
Kimbo Slice will run this, where this is America.
||
Why didn't anybody tell me Jackass 2 was so fucking funny?
|>
Ned's mention of Stephenson reminded me that John Compton was a witness in a case. The most impressive person I've ever met, going away.
He might not have been able to do judo when I met him -- he was already in his mid-70s -- but was every bit as deadly just raising his eyebrows.
Why is Mr. Bean president of France?
Why is Mr. Bean president of France?
Why is a semi-domesticated chimpanzee president of the United States? This sort of shit happens, hadn't you noticed?
I gave up on America's ability to keep apes out of the Oval Office a while ago.
Why is a semi-domesticated chimpanzee president of the United States?
It's a representative democracy.
Why is Mr. Bean president of France?
Because Segolene Royal is too sexy for France, and also comes from a terrorist family.
Trivia: Segolene was born in Dakar.
Weird trivia: Royal sued her father because he refused to divorce her mother and pay alimony and child support to finance the children's education. She won the case after many years in court, shortly before Jacques Royal died of lung cancer in 1981. Six of the eight children had refused to see him again, Ségolène included.[3]
Website searches for nude pictures of Segolene
I feel your lack-of-sexy-world-leaders pain, Emerson.
"He can be so touchy". Marginally SFW.
95:Racist
Guest post by Jeffrey Tulis at Balkinization
92" interesting!
Note the name of the third person pictured on this Saint Lucia government website. I couldn't really say what career that name best suits him for.
I see a future in modeling for Putin--if Soldier of Forturne magazine buys out L.L. Bean.
Soldier of Bean?
According to stras @93, the French army
So, if Obama wins in November, will he be the first US president to have distributed topless photographs of himself?
(THE VOICE IN MY HEAD: No! William Howard Taft OH GOD NO I THINK I'M GOING BLIND)
And this bad boy. (It's his sculling outfit.)
96 is funny, but it does not with the internets. 111, however, might possibly be a finalist in the "win the internets" contest.
Royal sued her father because he refused to divorce her mother and pay alimony and child support to finance the children's education.
That's really fucking cool. Good for her.
This Kleiman post lays out the non-scary explanation for Obama's appeal to conservatives really nicely.
/pimping Barry O
114:Weber on Authority esp read charismatic authority
Ya know, we sometimes talk as if the differences between leaders, inspirational figures, authorities, etc are perfectly clear, and as if authoritarianism is always and everywhere bad.
Leadership's Relation with Management
Facile list of distinctions, but this is MBA "science". Clinton vs Obama?
"The second type of authority is Rational-legal authority. It is that form of authority which depends for its legitimacy on formal rules and established laws of the state, which are usually written down, and are often very complex. The power of the rational legal authority is mentioned in the constitution. Modern societies depend on legal-rational authority. Government officials are the best example of this form of authority which is prevalent all over the world.
The third form of authority is Charismatic authority. Here, the charisma of the individual or the leader plays an important role." ...from the Wiki link at 115
I haven't yet figured out why process liberals who have such a great investment in "rational-legal authority" would be attracted to a charismatic figure. Working on it, read Hannah Arendt last night on the differences between movements and parties.
I met someone last summer who had worked for Teodoro Obiang. He had some fucked up stories to tell. It doesn't sound like he would win in any hand-to-hand combat (schizophrenic meth heads can be unreliable in that way), but dude has minions.
Interesting! I was hoping that Eve would become the Grace Kelly to Equatorial Guinea's Monaco soon, but it looks like their relationship is over.
Oudemia-
I tried, but my VCR gets crappy reception on PBS; would it be possible for you to send along the Parthenon show from NOVA?
I have no vaguely-discreet way to express my email, but will do so if nec.
Sure thing. It is sitting happily on my Tivo. Is their an email link on your blog link there? Otherwise you can email me at gmail.
122: Sweet Jesus. "Is their"? Seriously? I'm going to go drink Nyquil.
You can watch the whole thing online, dinosaurs.
Resolved: Obama and Putin are either naturally hairless or wax their chests.
