As reuniões dos vizinhos do Terrazza Marina está à todo vapor. No último dia 31, comemoramos o niver da Tha com um belo churrasco. Tudo com direito a bolinho de run, brigadeiros e uma super vela quase acrobática. (risos) Veja fotos aqui.

Mas não são só essas as novidades… o condomínio que tanto esperando está subindo, subindo, subindo e muito provavelmente até janeiroa estrutura das três torres será finalizada. Aêêêêê! Segundo notícias fresquinhas do Daniel Morato, da comunidade do Terrazza no Orkut, a situação é a seguinte:

- Torre 1: 15º andar concluído;
- Torre 2: 16º andar concluído;
- Torre 3: 16º andar no início.

A Paula Verona, também da comunidade, enviou as fotos abaixo da Torre 2… Dá só uma olhada!!!

A Goldfarb também divulgou uma foto atualizada do condomínio…

Condomínio. Foto: Goldfarb

Essa é para quem comprou uma unidade no Terrazza e ainda não conseguiu visualizar como será a sua nova “casa” – ou porque não havia um decorado de dois dormitórios, ou porque o decorado estava na posição oposta. O empreendimento Alphaview, em Barueri, possui as mesmas plantas só que com algumas diferenças de metragem…

De qualquer maneira, é possível ter uma idéia de como é possível decorar cada espacinho do novo apartamento. Abaixo algumas opções…

OBRAS EM DIA

Para quem estava preocupada(o) com o atraso da entrega das chaves, uma boa notícia… O Terrazza está com suas obras em dia e o prazo de entrega continua dezembro de 2010. Aqui está o relatório que a Goldfarb divulgou em sua revista mensal:

Serviços executados
Projetos – 100%
Serviços Preliminares – 100%
Fundação – 80%
Estrutura – 50%
Alvenaria – 25%
Instalações – 10%
Revestimento Interno – 0%
Revestimento Externo – 0%
Pintura – 0%

O Alphaview fica na Rua Marte, 100, em Barueri, próximo a Alphaville.

Hoje liguei na Goldfarb para tirar a dúvida de muitas pessoas: “Afinal, essa chuva vai atrasar nossa nova casa?” Pelo que a atendente me disse, não! “As obras começaram em meados de junho e está totalmente dentro do prazo. Pelo que tenho no sistema a entrega está programada para dezembro de 2010”.

E só para dar um gostinho. Vejam a última foto que a empresa tirou do empreendimento…

Olha só. Nosso “novo” vizinho Ricardo Boessio dos Santos nos enviou essas fotos tiradas  dia 23 de agosto. Ai fica claro que nosso condomínio está subindo com força total. Fico até emocionada ao vê-lo da Marginal – sim, já dá para ver os prédios de lá.

Espero que eles entreguem no prazo. Me disseram que o que demora mesmo é o acabamento, mas considerando que eles terão um ano inteiro para isso, acho que não precisamos nos preocupar não é?!

Confira…

É isso aí. Mais um encontro, novos amigos, pizza boa e muitas risadas.. E bota risada nisso…

A reunião no Pateo da Luz foi incrível. Não fomos viajar, mas conseguimos nos divertir bastante. Rê e Fernando sejam bem vindos. É muito bom receber novos amigos e ainda mais se eles são muito legais e de bem com a vida. rs

Otávio foi o “salvador da pátria” cantando os gols do jogo que passava no seu celular – “mini-TV”. E nem pense em falar sobre futebol com o Rafa… Descobrimos que ele fica realmente alterado com o assunto. rs. (brincadeira Rafa… mas que é engraçado, é)

Confira as novas fotos.

Vi essa dicas na revista Casa e Jardim, de agosto, e achei que seria bem bacana compartilhar com vocês, já que nosso espaço é reduzido… Seguir algumas dessas dicas pode garantir um lar arrojado, funcional e muito aconchegante.

Incrível como todo decorado é lindo, não?! Sempre com muitos espelhos e móveis impecáveis, eles apaixonam qualquer pessoa que adentra sua porta.. O Terrazza não foi diferente! Pelo menos comigo.

A metragem é pequena – 61 e 65m² – mas a distrubuição é ótimo é será um lar perfeito para uma vida nova…

por Ricardo Marques Trevisan

O ranking de 2008 divulgado pela Embraesp mostra que a Even já é a maior incorporadora da Região Metropolitana de São Paulo, com 5% do mercado. Passou a Cyrela, que detinha a primeira colocação há vários anos. Outro destaque é a mineira MRV que aparece agora entre as cinco primeiras.

Market share incorporadoras de São Paulo (Região Metropolitana)

Market share incorporadoras Região Metropolitana de São Paulo

Neocon enemies, using diplomacy, reach deal for Shalit’s release

by Glenn Greenwald

Last night, I noted the sudden and obviously hypocritical concern about detainee abuse emerging from The Weekly Standard’s Michael Goldfarb now that the transfer of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by the Palestinians to Egypt appears imminent and it’s time to exploit his detention.  In service of that same mission, Goldfarbalso tries to attribute this deal for Shalit’s release to the heroism of Benjamin Netanyahu, excitedly claiming that, if it happens, it will cause the Israeli Prime Minister’s “approval numbers [to] skyrocket, further undermining Obama’s leverage over him” (i.e., Israel will be able to continue to expand settlements on land that isn’t theirs).

But as Omooex points out in comments, the Haaretz article which Goldfarb himself cited makes clear that it was not Netanyahu, but numerous other parties — Jimmy Carter, Egypt, Syria and the Obama administration — who engineered the agreement to transfer Shalit from Gaza to Egypt (followed eventually by his release to Israel, pending the release by Israel of Palestinian prisoners):

The move is part of a new United States initiative that includes Egyptian and Syrian pressure on Hamas . . . The idea to transfer Shalit to Egypt in exchange for the release of Palestinian women, teens, cabinet ministers and parliamentarians being held in Israeli prisons was raised about a year ago during a visit by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter to Damascus, Jerusalem and Gaza. . . . Carter raised it again on his visit earlier this month, during which he met Noam Shalit, Gilad’s father. . . . The European source said Shalit’s transfer to Egypt was the first stage of the Egyptian-brokered agreement hammered out between Fatah, Hamas and other Palestinian factions, in coordination with the U.S. and with Syria’s support.

In other words, the deal for Shalit’s release was secured by some of the neocon’s most despised enemies (Jimmy Carter and Syria), with the help of a President they insist hates Israel (Barack Obama), relying on tactics they have long scorned (diplomacy, negotiating with Terrorists, including Hamas).  Of course, Jimmy Carter — who neocons endlessly smear as being Israel-hating and even anti-Semitic — did more to advance the interests of Israeli security than every neoconservative keyboard-tough-guy combined (indeed, more than virtually any single individual on the planet) when he engineered the 1979 Camp David peace accord between Israel and Egypt, which — even 30 years later — continues to pay dividends for Israel in the form of this apparent agreement for Shalit’s release.  Identically, the Shalit deal is possible only because, as Haaretz notes, Hamas knows that there is now an American administration willing to negotiate with hostile parties, rather than trying to feel “tough” by ignoring and/or threatening them:

Hamas, which controls Gaza, has increasingly tried to reach out to the Obama administration in recent weeks.

This is but one of the numerous inanities of neoconservatives:  as destructive for the U.S. as their obsession with Israel and mindless belligerence are, those fixations also do nothing for Isarel but jeopardize it further.  Years of neocon rule and moronic chest-beating in Washington did nothing to help Shalit.  But a deal is struck for his release — long a top priority of Israelis — only months into a new administration committed to engagement with Syria and other ostensible Enemies, as well as an emphatic rejection of neoconservative ideology at least when it comes to dealing with some Muslim states.  But even those clear and obvious facts — whereby this apparent success is possible only with them out of power, their ideology repudiated and their Enemies engaged — won’t stop them from claiming that this somehow vindicates their tawdry mindset.

[Along those same lines, Omooex also highlights what will be an overlooked part of the story:  namely, that Israel is imprisoning "Palestinian women, teens, cabinet ministers and parliamentarians" (including, until his release this week, "Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Sheikh Aziz Dweik after three years in prison" who is "a leader of Hamas in the West Bank [and] espouses a moderate line in the organization”).  If this Shalit deal ends up being consummated (and that still remains to be seen), the American media narrative will undoubtedly dramatize the detention of Shalit, an actual Israel solider, even while Israel imprisons scores of “Palestinian women, teens, cabinet ministers and parliamentarians.”]

Notably, Goldfarb seems to think that Obama’s leverage over Israel is dependent upon the domestic approval ratings of Netanyahu.  Actually, that leverage is grounded in the tens of billions of American dollars in aid to Israel, the supplying of American weapons for Israel’s various wars, and the multiple forms of diplomatic protection the U.S. extends to Israel.  At least preliminarily and from all appearances, the Obama administration has been using that leverage for U.S. interests by demanding that Israeli actions that harm the U.S. cease.  Ironically, despite all the right-wing rage about that (in both Israel and the U.S.), the refusal to cater to neoconservatives when it comes to  U.S. policy towards Israel just so happens — as demonstrated by this Shalit episode — to be benefiting Israel as well.

UPDATE:  From a Haaretz Editorial last year, entitled “Our Debt to Jimmy Carter” (h/t thomas c):

The government of Israel is boycotting Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, during his visit here this week. Ehud Olmert, who has not managed to achieve any peace agreement during his public life, and who even tried to undermine negotiations in the past, “could not find the time” to meet the American president who is a signatory to the peace agreement with Egypt. . . . Carter, who himself said he set out to achieve peace between Israel and Egypt from the day he assumed office, worked incessantly toward that goal and two years after becoming president succeeded – was declared persona non grata by Israel. . . .

The boycott will not be remembered as a glorious moment in this government’s history. Jimmy Carter has dedicated his life to humanitarian missions, to peace, to promoting democratic elections, and to better understanding between enemies throughout the world. . . .

Whether Carter’s approach to conflict resolution is considered by the Israeli government as appropriate or defeatist, no one can take away from the former U.S. president his international standing, nor the fact that he brought Israel and Egypt to a signed peace that has since held. Carter’s method, which says that it is necessary to talk with every one, has still not proven to be any less successful than the method that calls for boycotts and air strikes. In terms of results, at the end of the day, Carter beats out any of those who ostracize him. For the peace agreement with Egypt, he deserves the respect reserved for royalty for the rest of his life.

That all speaks for itself, and speaks volumes about our current Middle East predicaments and what to do about them.

UPDATE II:  Speaking of using leverage, the original road map “quartet” — the U.S., the EU, the U.N. and Russia — have now jointly adopted the Obama administration’s position that Israel must ”freeze all settlement activity, including ‘natural growth’.”  Israel is long accustomed to ignoring worldwide consensus because the U.S. sides with them on those matters.  Where, as here, the U.S. is publicly and privately in favor of the consensus, Israel’s ability to defy it will depend upon how much leverage Obama is really willing to use.

UPDATE III:  Goldfarb replies here, with the full array of textbook neoconservative platitudes.  The only point worth noting is that he agrees with the observation I expressed last night that Goldfarb’s views (like those of most neonconservatives) ”ultimately come down to nothing more complicated than: what we do is Good and Right because we are superior and because they are inferior.”  Goldfarb admits he thinks torture is tolerable when we do it to Them but not when They do it to us because — as he puts it — “Of Course We Are Superior and They Are Inferior ” (that, of course, is the very definition of “moral relativism,” which Goldfarb and his allies like to pretend they oppose even as they exemplify its core premise).  And — other than a view that Muslims generally are inferior — what possible ground is there for claiming moral superiority over the numerous detainees at Guanatnamo and elsewhere who, even by the Bush administration’s reasoning, were guilty of nothing?  Independently, it’s bizarre to hear someone proclaim themselves morally superior when, just a few months ago, they were celebrating the benefits of the wholesale slaughter of an entire extended family — including small children — in Gaza.

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago:

The most predominant mentality in right-wing discourse finds expression in this form: “I am part of/was born into Group X, and Group X — my group — is better than all others yet treated so very unfairly” . . . . Here again we find the same adolescent self-absorption: the group into which I was born and was instructed from childhood to believe is the best [] is, objectively, superior. It is so much better than everyone and everything else that even to suggest that we have flaws comparable to others is to engage in “false moral equivalencies.” To do anything other than emphatically proclaim my group’s objective superiority is to treat my group unfairly.

Goldfarb’s reply is a pure expression of that warped and self-glorifying mentality.

See all photos from the exhibition on our Flickr page.

First, it seems a little premature to be declaring victory in a country where our troops are still stationed and with no clear definition of what victory was in the first place.

Second, the new conservative mantra, a la Goldfarb at the Weekly Standard, is that Barack Obama should kneel down and kiss George W. Bush’s boots for not completely ballsing up a war we should have never initiated in the first place.

Seems like that this proposition will grow wings and catch air…

In other news, conservatives are already trying to declare that Barack Obama isn’t actually President because Chief Justice John Roberts ballsed up the order of the words in the Oath of Office.

-Marc-

AntiWar.com – “Rationalizing Gaza: How They Do It” by Justin Raimondo – 05 Jan 09:

We all know the rationalization for Israel’s brutal invasion of the Gaza Strip. After all, it’s been reiterated endlessly over the airwaves by official and unofficial spokesmen for the Israeli government, on all channels, and with no rebuttal or skeptical perspective from Palestinians or, indeed, from anyone vaguely sympathetic to their plight. Their argument goes like this: if rockets were coming from Mexican territory and landing in San Diego, posing a threat to the life and safety of American citizens, we all know what would happen.

This is supposed to settle the question of the morality of the invasion, but it doesn’t. Because what we are seeing in this argument is a variation on the old cherry-picking technique of the neocons in the Bush administration, who utilized “talking points” that were very selective in their presentation of the facts to make the case for invading Iraq.

What the rationalizers leave out, of course, is the ongoing blockade of Gaza, imposed after Hamas took control in the wake of its overwhelming election victory – and an attempted (and partially successful) coup d’etat by the losers of that election, the Fatah organization of the late Yasser Arafat (now headed up by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas). The blockade itself was an act of war, by which the Israelis struck the first blow.… [read the full article]

Salon.com – “Orwell, Blinding Tribalism, Selective Terrorism, and Israel/Gaza” by Glenn Greenwald – 4 Jan 09:

Former McCain-Palin campaign spokesman and current Weekly Standard editor Michael Goldfarb notes that Israel, a couple of days ago, dropped a 2,000-pound bomb on a Gazan home which killed a top Hamas leader . . . in addition to 18 others, including his four wives and nine of his children. About the killing of those innocent civilians, Goldfarb writes (h/t John Cole via email):

“The fight against Islamic radicals always seems to come around to whether or not they can, in fact, be deterred, because it’s not clear that they are rational, at least not like us. But to wipe out a man’s entire family, it’s hard to imagine that doesn’t give his colleagues at least a moment’s pause. Perhaps it will make the leadership of Hamas rethink the wisdom of sparking an open confrontation with Israel under the current conditions.”

That, of course, is just a slightly less profane version of Marty Peretz’s chest-beating proclamation that the great value of the attack on Gaza is to teach those Arabs a lesson: “do not fuck with the Jews.”

There are few concepts more elastic and subject to exploitation than “Terrorism,” the all-purpose justifying and fear-mongering term. But if it means anything, it means exactly the mindset which Goldfarb is expressing: slaughtering innocent civilians in order to “send a message,” to “deter” political actors by making them fear that continuing on the same course will result in the deaths of civilians and — best of all, from the Terrorist’s perspective — even their own children and other family members.

To the Terrorist, by definition, that innocent civilians and even children are killed isn’t a regrettable cost of taking military action. It’s not a cost at all. It’s a benefit. It has strategic value. Goldfarb explicitly says this: “to wipe out a man’s entire family, it’s hard to imagine that doesn’t give his colleagues at least a moment’s pause.”

That, of course, is the very same logic that leads Hamas to send suicide bombers to slaughter Israeli teenagers in pizza parlors and on buses and to shoot rockets into their homes. It’s the logic that leads Al Qaeda to fly civilian-filled airplanes into civilian-filled office buildings. And it’s the logic that leads infinitely weak and deranged people like Goldfarb and Peretz to find value in the killing of innocent Palestinians, including — one might say, at least in Goldfarb’s case: especially — children.… [read the full article]

Now she/it is excited over a misleading poll of voters sending in absentee ballots from Israel.

What she failed to miss, either intentionally or not, is that the poll was taken of consvative Jews attending an electioin event organized by McCain supporters. Per Haaaretz.com,

One American voter who attended one of the gatherings at which the voting took place cast doubts on the accuracy of the poll.

“It’s not that all Americans in Israel are McCain supporters, just those that were at the event,” she said. “The party was organized by McCain supporters, who brought their families and friends. Most Obama voters I know already sent in their ballot by mail and weren’t at the party.”

Keep trying, “Goldfarb”.

A single person can’t be so wrong about so much; not without trying real hard, but see Prosecuter Who Let Ayres Get Away With Killing 3 Policmen is Outraged Re Obama .

Unbelievably, “Nancy Goldfarb”, whoever or whatever she really is,  put out a post screaming how William C. Ibershof , the attorney charged with William Ayers prosecution, was outraged with Obama.

But then she quotes Ibeshof saying that his outrage is with people trying to link Obama with Ayers, peopl just like Goldfarb:

I am amazed and outraged that Senator Barack Obama is being linked to William Ayers terrorist activities 40 years ago when Mr. Obama was just a child. Although I dearly wanted to obtain convictions against all the Weathermen, including Bill Ayers, I am very pleased to learn that he has become a responsible citizen.

Then Goldfarb calls Ibesof a liar for saying what he feels.

Wanna bet that Goldfarb isn’t a woman, a mother, or a Jew.  Methinks it is more likely to be a sexually challenged skinhead sitting in a state penitentiary with access to a computer?

Regardless, Goldfarb isn’t the real dummy.  The really pathetic ones are the lemmings sucking her swill up.

One last thing, Nancy Goldfarb invented herself on September 9, 2008, just a few days after the announcement of Sarah Palin as McCain’s number 2 stirred up the Republican neo-con base.

On October 28, Michael Goldfarb, McCain’s deputy communications director, appeared on CNN to discuss, among other things, Barack Obama’s anti-Semitic connections. Said Goldfarb, “The point here is Barack Obama has a long track record of being around Anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, and anti-American rhetoric.”

Douchebag of the year, Rick Sanchez, immediately interjected: “Can you name one other person, other than Khalidi, who Barack Obama hangs around with that is Anti-Semitic?”

Goldfarb, obviously taken aback, responded the way a stubborn 3rd grader would if asked a difficult question. Take a look:

Seriously, Senator McCain, is this the best guy you could put on television? The way to successfully evade a question is not to sit back, smirk, and remain silent.

Rick: Can you name one other person, other than Khalidi, who he hangs around with, who is anti-Semitic?
Goldfarb: Yeah, yeah, he pals around with, with William Ayers, who is an unre—
Rick: No, no the question I asked you was could you name another person who Barack Obama hangs around with who is anti-Semitic, because that’s what you said …
Goldfarb: Look, we all know there are people who Barack Obama has been in hot water with–
Rick (suddenly angry for some reason): Michael, I asked you to name one person!

Goldfarb pauses, smirks

Rick: One! .. Okay, look, we have Khalidi on the table, who is number two that we quote “all know about?”
Goldfarb: Rick, we all know who number two is…

(pause)

Rick: Who?

(Goldfarb smiles, puts his hands together, and leans back as if he has just proven a significant point)

Rick: Would you tell us?
Goldfarb: No, Rick, I think we all know who we’re talking about here.

Come on, Michael, just say it. Come on, say it …JEREMIAH WRIGHT!
Let me explain what happened: McCain made it clear months ago that he would not allow attacks on Jeremiah Wright. This is reason we have not seen any mentions of his name from the campaign since Jeremiah’s abrupt surge onto the scene this summer. Thus, Goldfarb was trapped when attempting to answer this question.

Rev. Wright has authored several anti-Israel papers and articles, as well as delivering numerous anti-Semitic sermons. To check a quick one out, look here.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s church newsletter said he “likens Israels treatment of Palestinians to South Africas treatment of blacks during the apartheid era.” It also included articles written by the Hamas leader, Mousa Abu Marzook, which asked: “Why should any Palestinian recognize the monstrous crimes carried out by Israel’s founders and continued by its deformed modern apartheid state?”

In the 2007 issue of Trumpet Magazine, which was founded in 1982 by Obamas church and has Wrights daughters serving as publisher and executive editor, says that “when Minister Louis Farrakhan speaks, America listens. For his commitment to truth, education and leadership, we honor Minister Louis Farrakhan with the Rev. Jeremiah W. Wright Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award.”

“Islam and Christianity are a whole lot closer than you may realize,” he has written. “Islam comes out of Christianity.”

Many of Wright’s condemnations of America are echoed in his denunciations of Israel and Zionism, which he has blamed for imposing “injustice and racism” on the Palestinians. According to Wright, Zionism contains an element of “white racism.” Likening Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to South Africa’s treatment of blacks during the apartheid era, Wright advocates divestment campaigns targeting companies that conduct business in, or with, Israel.

The above information was provided by DhimmiTube666. Thanks

So in reality, Goldfarb wasn’t so much stumped as he was trapped. However, he could have evaded answering the question much more professionally than simply folding his arms and making a fool of himself.
Then again, to be fair, Goldfarb has done a lot for the campaign. Just don’t put him on television anymore; the issue here isn’t so much that the McCain campaign looks juvenile, as it is that Ricky Sanchez goes home that night with an undeserved sense of accomplishment.

I play Dungeons and Dragons and have for many years now. It has since become a weekly ritual that I gather with friends to enjoy the hobby that is D&D. I am well aware and have written several articles and essays in college and graduate school about D&D’s ill-deserved dark reputation in the past and how it still persists today although significantly diminished. I am also aware that D&D has since garnered a positive reputation as a teaching tool, a social hobby, and much-needed relief from the stresses of hazardous occupations–such as being in the military. I learned D&D from a Vietnam veteran who developed a love for the game because it was “something to do that worked the imagination and you could carry it into the jungle without alerting the enemy.” Not a true direct quote, but he often commented how D&D helped him work out some things while in Vietnam.

Honestly, I was not aware of Michael Goldfarb or his comments against D&D and its players. I had assumed most people moved on. To be blunt, the allegations against D&D and its players were ludicrous back when it was hip to blame D&D for everything wrong with the world (that stigma now belongs to video games, again), but to continue the rhetoric into the modern era is pathetic.

Wizards of the Coast posted a response to Michael Goldfarb’s comments (Goldfarb’s jabs were published in the New York Times and John McCain’s website: in public) on their website which I felt defended D&D in a diplomatic fashion while pointing out the absurdity of a supposedly pro-military campaign slandering a company, game, and community that actually supports the military men and women deployed around the world.

John Goldfarb’s article: Smears the Left Can Fight For [Warning: this link leads to McCain/Palin campaign website ~ed.]

Letter in response from Wizards of the Coast: A Letter to Mr. Goldfarb

If you’re still smarting from those disparaging remarks about D&D by the John McCain campaign, take heart: the folks at Hasbro have stepped forward to champion the cause. Take a look at this letter from a Hasbro exec to the McCain staffer who wrote the infamous press release:

Dear Mr. Goldfarb,

I was disappointed to read the disparaging intent of your comments regarding Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fans, both in your response to New York Times editors, and on the John McCain campaign website.

Dungeons & Dragons is a global game with millions of consumers in the U.S. and abroad. The brand is owned by Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc.

For fans, the game is essentially about heroism and therefore it is not surprising to us that thousands of military personnel play and enjoy the game. Hasbro, in turn, supports the U.S. Armed Forces by sending multiple crates of game products, including Dungeons & Dragons, to our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Recently a soldier who saw your comments online said, “Wizards of the Coast (the makers of D&D) has sent care packages to the troops on many occasions, providing free gaming supplies in support of our men and women serving the country overseas to help them decompress after hours. McCain’s people should really check their facts before they spout off. Does John McCain have no idea how many GIs play D&D?”

We would very much appreciate you not making any more condescending comments about D&D — as it is a great game enjoyed by millions of people around the world. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Wayne Charness
Senior Vice President
Hasbro, Inc.

Weirdly, this is apparently not the first time that D&D has been used as a political pejorative by Goldfarb; earlier in August he issued a clever apology for his first such offense [note: looking at this apology, I'm unsure if it actually happened or is just a joke that's circulating around the web. If you can confirm one or the other possibility, please comment below!]:

If my comments caused any harm or hurt to the hard working Americans who play Dungeons & Dragons, I apologize. This campaign is committed to increasing the strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma scores of every American.

OK, that’s pretty amusing, and lends credence to my suspicions that Goldfarb is a D&Der (or a bitter ex-D&Der). I mean, he even listed the stats out in their correct order.

And lastly, faithful reader (yes, I seem to have one or two of them) Raymond points out a very nice photoshop job of McCain reaching out to the gamers his words have so deeply wounded:

(If McCain thinks the Iraq War debate has been brutal, he’d be well advised to steer clear of the D&D edition wars.)

So at any rate, this is all just a lot of silliness, although I’ve seen more than a few gamers online taking the D&D jab a little too seriously. McCain, let us put this regrettable incident behind us. And yes, I admit that I am probably shallow enough to vote for whichever candidate first poses with a D&D Player’s Handbook.