Crusades! part II

Crusades! Second of 2 !
Here we see the Knightly duo smug in their position as takers of other's property. The Syrians and Turks will just have to see about that! Bring it on Boys! Stout walls and boilin' oil await!





Antioch is filled with Saracen soldiers and the coastal towns are ready, manned to the max with the Turkish team.

Suddenly it all seems to soon nearly over as the chain clad clunkers smash their way through the defenders walls. Wait a minute! Weren't there supposed to be land battles? What the?!? There's barely been a siege and suddenly ...BOING!

Jerusalem's taken by treachery! D'oh! Not even a rock tossed down on the Christian crumbs! Didn't anyone bother to spit?!? Evidently not! One die roll and the whole dang thing is over. The Syrian fink flees with one measly army point and Jerusalem is now in Crusader hands along with the One True Cross! Well! There goes the game! Remember that pic of flames and siege towers and epic chaos and everything up above? Nope. Not in this scenario. Just a quick exit by Iscariot with his thirty pieces of silver and it's all over but the looting. Nice. At least things can't get much worse, right?

HA! Evidently that's a double laugher 'cause guess what? Here's the cross and chalice guys sittin' in Damascus! Not even ever an historical reality! Huh wha!!?!?!?!? Another simple die roll and the big town goes down. At least here there was the semblance of a fight. Some minor defense no matter how weak! I'll say this for the Syrians, they didn't just get up and clear out like the Turks did twice. Discretion was the better part of valor for them though as they needed every man they could get for their unsuccessful siege of Antioch!

Here's the winner taking a deep breath before his glorius Deus Vult wahoo! Nice going "E". Our heads were handed to us in style!

The big loser? Li'l ol' Blame Game! Here we see his half grinned puss swallowing defeat yet again! Crown of Jughead for you buster! That'll teach ya' tah invite Europeans over for a friendly contest!

And now ...the "Sophisticate's Analyasis"!

The "Sophisticate "sez:

Truly a flawed meeting! East had slim to none chance against the West especially given the formers inability to roll bupkiss on the random events table but plague and chaos! The invaders had it nearly all their way with ships aplenty to insure mobility that the lack luster wits of the Islamic duo could not counter. If only a fifth player had been present in the form of Egypt there surely might have been more fight in the Moslems. A pity! My recommendation? Try this one again! Laffs aplenty and with seven players and a referee (as was originally intended) this game would be tip top!

Heard in the Main Tap

From an article in the Star Tribune 2/22/11 – Pam Louwagie

Protests grip, divide Wisconsin

Across Wisconsin, the showdown at the Capitol is consuming normally polite conversation. Before it flared up a week ago, few had reason to question their neighbors' views on unions, government and taxes. Now, the topic is difficult to ignore. "It's such a heated subject," said 43-year-old Doug Newton, who, reflecting his politics, chose a stool in the middle of a long wooden bar at the Main Tap in Oregon, Wis., a town of about 9,000 in farm country 10 miles south of Madison. In small towns especially, taking a stand can mean lost friendships and business. "Everybody's being really careful what they say," Newton said.

Well, not everybody.

"I think it's ridiculous. I think [the protesters] should go home where they belong," said 86-year-old June Starr, who sat on one end of the bar with her husband, sipping on a glass of blush wine. "Ninety-nine percent of them are making too much damn money. All three of our children have been out of work" in the private sector, she said.

What can this wonderful text from Ms. Louwagie tell us, not just about the situation in Wisconsin, but about world and U.S. political economy? Contrary to the comic setup for the quote from the piece's heroine, June Starr, I'm inclined to accept that Mr. Newton's statement, "Everybody's being really careful what they say", applies to her as well.

There are many reasons for being careful about what you say on politics. Certainly a glass of blush wine can loosen the tongue but it seems like nothing can get the conversation flowing in contemporary America like facile agreement with reactionary commonplaces. Ms. Starr has recognized just such a situation and it has stirred her to point out the obvious absurdity. Objects and people out of place have always been a staple of comedy. At 86 our speaker has surely earned the right to voice her opinion while her husband stays silent and to patronize the Main Tap instead of tending their home. And she has the life experience to recognize just where it is that people belong in this day and age when they are being seen, in growing numbers, nearly everywhere that they have no business being.

Having set the comedy premise she now focuses on the root of the problem, people making too damn much money. Ninety-nine percent of them anyway. Because there is one percent of the country who needs to make as much money as physically possible or we are all damned. It's predestined. Of course I'm aware this is not what she meant. Likely she is just allowing for the possibility of some public worker, somewhere, who is worth her hire. In any case, there is wide agreement, both at the Main Tap and in the citadels of austerity that the ongoing economic catastrophe has nothing to do with inadequate demand. At a time when Keynesian stimuli are needed more than ever and yet less effective than ever the political alignment on display in Wisconsin is ensuring that the economy will consume itself down to the last dollar rather than take the one road out of the wilderness available to it.

June Starr and her family are aware of the gravity of the situation. My guess is that the children are approaching retirement age and that "out of work" is no laughing matter. Without more information on the family's situation and politics we can make few conclusions. Ms. Starr feels that hard times justify hard times and the squeeze on her children authorize both her position as a spokeswoman before this stranger from The Cities and the depth of her resentment of all those who have dared to venture out of doors.

Rosie's Main Tap, Oregon, WI

"This is a godsend for us," said Ken Clary, who owns a small gourmet popcorn shop near the Capitol. "We're up probably 300 to 400 percent."