October 21, 2010
I am a Bad Bad Man
...because I laughed at this.
Hey, wait...don't look at me like that.
I also cried...
....'cause it brought back memories.
Like con-food poisoning.
...oh..and back boobs.
I worked on several cons in the 80's and 90's and boy howdy, how things have not changed.
H/T: Ace
Hey, wait...don't look at me like that.
I also cried...
....'cause it brought back memories.
Like con-food poisoning.
I worked on several cons in the 80's and 90's and boy howdy, how things have not changed.
H/T: Ace
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October 18, 2010
Why I am Not As Optimistic As Some
Those who have visited this blog since those long ago days when it was updated regularly know that I lean a bit to the "right" on the political spectrum, and so one might think that I'd be absolutely giddy about the current political winds. However, I am actually rather concerned about the long game.
This upcoming election is looking good, but is not in the bag to the extent that some seem to think. For one thing our ground game sucks. This is partly because of the rights more individualist nature and the fact that our GOTV efforts are mostly voluntary, but also because rural and suburban areas pose much more challenging problems to any block captains than the urban areas that are the lefts places of power.
More thoughts along these lines can be found here.
Still, the signs bode generally well for November second. My big concern remains what comes after.
The challenges the nation faces are daunting.
The choices available to us are all unpleasant. Some things will have to be cut and most of those things are very near and dear to the people who have allowed themselves to become dependent on them.
The new congress will spend two years trying to set the nations fiscal policy on a sustainable path. That will involve cutting or eliminating a lot of programs, most of which are very popular and have strident and motivated constituencies.
Doing the correct thing fiscally will also involve reducing taxes to the edge of the Laffer Curve in an attempt to boost the economy....this will not punish the rich who invest and create the wealth and jobs, it will support them in these endeavors. Petty or desperate people who resent anyone who has more than them will be enraged by this.
...and the president will veto it all.
He will set himself up as the guardian of your entitlements...whoever you may be. He will be aided in putting forth this narrative by most of the press.
Nothing will get fixed. The nation will go farther into ruinous debt and the new congress will be blamed by the base who elected them for not doing what they promisied....which they will be unable to do if they can't override a veto.
It gets worse.
There is actual spending that needs desperately to be done. Thousands of dams built as public works projects during the depression are now past their design lives and menace untold Americans. Bridges and other infrastructure need to be repaired and replaced.
This was nearly all ignored in the first stimulus in favor of kickbacks, bike paths, blatant corruption and "shovel ready projects". Now the president is talking about a second stimulus to actually deal with these real problems.
Dealing with these issues is part of the legitimate and necessary function of government, so there is a very real possibility that the only thing the congress will get past Obamas veto will be infrastructure projects...that will be very necessary but will just add to the debt even more.
This could cause the Tea Partiers to either become unhinged and form a third party, or sit on their hands out of disgust in 2012, turning the whole thing over to the Dems again, who will then be basically unstopable before the nation turns into a really big version of Greece...but with no one to bail us out.... and then collapses utterly into a huge Hobbsian version of the Balkans after selling all of our mineral rights to the Chinese.
That would be bad....most can agree on this, but avoiding it will require that the tea party folks and the newly chastened Republican establishment work together and keep their eye on the ball.
This upcoming election is looking good, but is not in the bag to the extent that some seem to think. For one thing our ground game sucks. This is partly because of the rights more individualist nature and the fact that our GOTV efforts are mostly voluntary, but also because rural and suburban areas pose much more challenging problems to any block captains than the urban areas that are the lefts places of power.
More thoughts along these lines can be found here.
Still, the signs bode generally well for November second. My big concern remains what comes after.
The challenges the nation faces are daunting.
The choices available to us are all unpleasant. Some things will have to be cut and most of those things are very near and dear to the people who have allowed themselves to become dependent on them.
The new congress will spend two years trying to set the nations fiscal policy on a sustainable path. That will involve cutting or eliminating a lot of programs, most of which are very popular and have strident and motivated constituencies.
Doing the correct thing fiscally will also involve reducing taxes to the edge of the Laffer Curve in an attempt to boost the economy....this will not punish the rich who invest and create the wealth and jobs, it will support them in these endeavors. Petty or desperate people who resent anyone who has more than them will be enraged by this.
...and the president will veto it all.
He will set himself up as the guardian of your entitlements...whoever you may be. He will be aided in putting forth this narrative by most of the press.
Nothing will get fixed. The nation will go farther into ruinous debt and the new congress will be blamed by the base who elected them for not doing what they promisied....which they will be unable to do if they can't override a veto.
It gets worse.
There is actual spending that needs desperately to be done. Thousands of dams built as public works projects during the depression are now past their design lives and menace untold Americans. Bridges and other infrastructure need to be repaired and replaced.
This was nearly all ignored in the first stimulus in favor of kickbacks, bike paths, blatant corruption and "shovel ready projects". Now the president is talking about a second stimulus to actually deal with these real problems.
Dealing with these issues is part of the legitimate and necessary function of government, so there is a very real possibility that the only thing the congress will get past Obamas veto will be infrastructure projects...that will be very necessary but will just add to the debt even more.
This could cause the Tea Partiers to either become unhinged and form a third party, or sit on their hands out of disgust in 2012, turning the whole thing over to the Dems again, who will then be basically unstopable before the nation turns into a really big version of Greece...but with no one to bail us out.... and then collapses utterly into a huge Hobbsian version of the Balkans after selling all of our mineral rights to the Chinese.
That would be bad....most can agree on this, but avoiding it will require that the tea party folks and the newly chastened Republican establishment work together and keep their eye on the ball.
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October 04, 2010
Hopefully a Pheidippides...and not a Cassandra
The
Other McCain links to this speech by Daniel Hannan which Hannan
gave to the Cato Institute recently.
Just watch it. Especially if you don't "get" the tea parties...this Brit articulates the whole idea rather well.
Just watch it. Especially if you don't "get" the tea parties...this Brit articulates the whole idea rather well.
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October 03, 2010
The Mask Slips for A Moment.
Watermelons are not to be trusted.
More thoughts here, here, and here.
Final thoughts from Iowahawk....who does get to the heart of the matter.
This keeps getting taken down so there is an Eyeblast link (which I'm not set up to imbed yet) here where Ed Morrisey is shocked that the creators have removed themselves so fully from the main stream of human thought.
I'm not surprised. The green movement is at a convergence of several worrisome characteristics, big government coersion, cultish, and supremely assured of their virtue. Historically any two of these have tended towards very dark places.
Cdr Salamander has thoughts on how he environmental movement got here.
I'm not surprised. The green movement is at a convergence of several worrisome characteristics, big government coersion, cultish, and supremely assured of their virtue. Historically any two of these have tended towards very dark places.
Cdr Salamander has thoughts on how he environmental movement got here.
More thoughts here, here, and here.
Final thoughts from Iowahawk....who does get to the heart of the matter.
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September 29, 2010
Thoughts On the Doom and End Times Copyright Bill
A few days ago this post appeared at Instapundit concerning the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act.
From the two relevant links, this seems to be a pretty dire piece of legislation indeed. Now the links are from Newsmax and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, so there might be a bit of unwarranted breathlessness. Still, with Leahy involved and this administrations attitude towards the press, it is easy to see where this could be a pretty bad thing, especially when a Google search of the title of the bill turns of a whole page of denunciations of the bill as thinly veiled censorship.
Of course it's not possible for any of us to read the damned thing and it's probably thousands of pages lon.....oh wait.
Colleen Doran has helpfully provided the full text of the bill here.
Read the whole thing.
It is short and to the point.
Before posting, I contacted an acquaintance who runs a hosting service for his thoughts. I had not gotten permission to use his name or quote him by the time I posted but the gist of his reaction is that this has some important caveats not found in other scarier legislation that's been proposed. For one thing punitive action is reserved for the specific SITE not the hosting service as is implied (and was the case in some other bills) . That is, one sketchy site setting up on mee.nu or Typepad doesn't risk shutting down the whole domain. That would suck.
Of course if one runs a torrent site or download blog, then one is not liking this bill.
Piracy has devastated the R1 anime market and scantillations are eating the manga market alive. With E-books, i-Tunes and the video equivalents being the future of entertainment something needs to be done.
There is a lot of hand-wringing over this this, however....
One of the few legitimate roles of government is punishing theft.
The internet, is by its nature interstate commerce.
Theft is not the same thing as free speech.
Punishing theft is not censorship.
This bill, like any other, could be abused, and twisted to be used in ways not intended. That sort of thing happens when the idiot notion of the law being a 'living document' is given respect rather than the contempt it deserves. However THAT problem is beyond the scope of any bill and beyond the ability of any bill to deal with.
This appears to be, as written, a pretty decent solution to a very real problem.
So...thoughts?
(asbestos boxers GET!)
From the two relevant links, this seems to be a pretty dire piece of legislation indeed. Now the links are from Newsmax and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, so there might be a bit of unwarranted breathlessness. Still, with Leahy involved and this administrations attitude towards the press, it is easy to see where this could be a pretty bad thing, especially when a Google search of the title of the bill turns of a whole page of denunciations of the bill as thinly veiled censorship.
Of course it's not possible for any of us to read the damned thing and it's probably thousands of pages lon.....oh wait.
Colleen Doran has helpfully provided the full text of the bill here.
Read the whole thing.
It is short and to the point.
Before posting, I contacted an acquaintance who runs a hosting service for his thoughts. I had not gotten permission to use his name or quote him by the time I posted but the gist of his reaction is that this has some important caveats not found in other scarier legislation that's been proposed. For one thing punitive action is reserved for the specific SITE not the hosting service as is implied (and was the case in some other bills) . That is, one sketchy site setting up on mee.nu or Typepad doesn't risk shutting down the whole domain. That would suck.
Of course if one runs a torrent site or download blog, then one is not liking this bill.
Piracy has devastated the R1 anime market and scantillations are eating the manga market alive. With E-books, i-Tunes and the video equivalents being the future of entertainment something needs to be done.
There is a lot of hand-wringing over this this, however....
One of the few legitimate roles of government is punishing theft.
The internet, is by its nature interstate commerce.
Theft is not the same thing as free speech.
Punishing theft is not censorship.
This bill, like any other, could be abused, and twisted to be used in ways not intended. That sort of thing happens when the idiot notion of the law being a 'living document' is given respect rather than the contempt it deserves. However THAT problem is beyond the scope of any bill and beyond the ability of any bill to deal with.
This appears to be, as written, a pretty decent solution to a very real problem.
So...thoughts?
(asbestos boxers GET!)
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August 06, 2010
Still No Pictures
I'm taking it easy today and tomorrow, mostly studying Japanese, and trying not to exacerbate my sunburn, which, as it peels on my bald head looks like mutant dandruff...or something and seems to be scaring people. The intertubes went out at the guest house so I'm again at the sublime geek heaven that is N-Cafe in Akihabara, where I took care of some online stuff for the university (and I took a few moments to kill some Zombjas) I note that in seven days, I've been to Akihabara twice and haven' gone to any of the anime, CD or manga stores....hmmm.
My Blackberry is still stubbornly refusing to give up its pictures, even on my laptop, which has the Blackberry ap. I suspect the USB connector I bought here the other day is slightly 'off'. I may have a work around...in the form of having my camera and blackberry cables mailed to me.
Assuming I can get my ATM card to work I hope to be in Nagasaki on the 9th and possibly wait in the hell line at Comiket sometime during the weekend of the 12th. If I can't then I'll be down to one meal a day and be limited to day trips, ( no hotels) though the Shinkansen and rail pass still mean I can journey pretty far afield. I'm going to try and purchase a used bike in the next few days.
Finally, Reeces cups notwithstanding, sometimes good things do not go together. Case in point:
Hamburger curry.
Hamburger curry is unfair...it is unfair to the hamburger, unfair to the curry and unfair to me.
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June 22, 2010
He's got to go
In my undergraduate, inactive enlisted puke opinion General McChrystal is largely right. However that can be said with the benefit of hindsight of McArthur as well and he (quite rightly) got sacked.
I can empathize with McChrystals frustration, but we frequently elect presidents who do not have a great deal of military experience, and ALL presidents face a steep learning curve when they assume the office as NO ONE is versed in everything and the bipolar levels of extreme delegation and hands on engagement necessary is startling to even the most experienced executives ( a group Obama is not a member of). It is the duty of the Military to serve the elected executive.
I am no fan of the current President but he IS the President. He is the CinC, and a one of this nations soldiers does not air this sort of laundry unless one first resigns, or retires.
A friend once asked if I thought it would have been better to let McArthur slide given that the 6-10 million who might die in a war with china would be dwarfed by the 60-80 million who died in the late 50s and early 60s and the real possibility of ending the Cold War early.
Of course not.
To allow that sort of insubordination is to open the way for a Caesar, something the founders greatly (and rightly) feared. We are fortunate to have an officer corps that is overwhelmingly professional, whose allegiance is to the nation and its Constitution, and who consider it a point of honor that they are guardians and not threats to our republic. This sort of talk can erode that quickly as happened in Rome and all to many times in our sister republics to the south. Occasionally this occurred for patriotic and principled reasons, but those good intentions almost always paved a short road to Hell.
Obama needs to fire McChrystal. It gives me no pleasure to say this but this situation is bigger than either of these men.
UPDATE: More here. Jerry Pournelle has some thoughts here and here CDR Salamander points out the short term ramifications of NOT firing McChrystal.
Read the whole thing. Seriously, do it now.
Note that as a bonus, if he fires McChrystal, Obama actually gets to be genuinely decisive.
I can empathize with McChrystals frustration, but we frequently elect presidents who do not have a great deal of military experience, and ALL presidents face a steep learning curve when they assume the office as NO ONE is versed in everything and the bipolar levels of extreme delegation and hands on engagement necessary is startling to even the most experienced executives ( a group Obama is not a member of). It is the duty of the Military to serve the elected executive.
I am no fan of the current President but he IS the President. He is the CinC, and a one of this nations soldiers does not air this sort of laundry unless one first resigns, or retires.
A friend once asked if I thought it would have been better to let McArthur slide given that the 6-10 million who might die in a war with china would be dwarfed by the 60-80 million who died in the late 50s and early 60s and the real possibility of ending the Cold War early.
Of course not.
To allow that sort of insubordination is to open the way for a Caesar, something the founders greatly (and rightly) feared. We are fortunate to have an officer corps that is overwhelmingly professional, whose allegiance is to the nation and its Constitution, and who consider it a point of honor that they are guardians and not threats to our republic. This sort of talk can erode that quickly as happened in Rome and all to many times in our sister republics to the south. Occasionally this occurred for patriotic and principled reasons, but those good intentions almost always paved a short road to Hell.
Obama needs to fire McChrystal. It gives me no pleasure to say this but this situation is bigger than either of these men.
UPDATE: More here. Jerry Pournelle has some thoughts here and here CDR Salamander points out the short term ramifications of NOT firing McChrystal.
Both the CINC and McChrystal will have lost face in a public manner and will be looked at as weaker; McChrystal will have more enemies in the Administration’s National Security Structure; McChrystal has shown support for your only significant Democrat rival, SECSTATE Clinton. Worst part again is the CINC will also lose face to much of the world - especially with our enemies. In most of their cultures, a General Officer saying such things would be shot or have an unfortunate helicopter accident. They will not view keeping McChrystal on as a signal that President Obama is a firm leader..
Read the whole thing. Seriously, do it now.
Note that as a bonus, if he fires McChrystal, Obama actually gets to be genuinely decisive.
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A Wee Bit of Good News
Well, on the political front anyway.
Nikki Haley has won the Republican nomination for Governor of South Carolina. She won by an impressive margin too.
UPDATE: It looks like Tim Scott has won too!
Nikki Haley has won the Republican nomination for Governor of South Carolina. She won by an impressive margin too.
A Palin operative observes the election results.
The whirlwind of racism, libel and slander that was thrown at Haley may well have been the death rattle of the putrid Palmetto State machine.....but only if she wins the general election.UPDATE: It looks like Tim Scott has won too!
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June 17, 2010
School Days
No..not that one....no nice boat here. This is worse.
It seems that educrats have decided that friendship is at cross purposes to the education process.
Read the whole thing.
Good lord...
I am becoming increasingly convinced that a Masters in Education should be a disqualifier for teaching children and we should return to requiring a real masters degree, complemented with a certificate or associates in teaching. This would make it much easier to recruit people who have had careers outside the education establishment into the teaching profession.The ED Masters degree certainly doesn't seem to be doing much to discourage utter detachment from humanity and its associated asshattery.
Remember that the myopic souless apparatchiks that came up with this God awful paean to teh stupid and teh evil are likely not only equipped with lots of credentials from various schools of education, they are also most likely very difficult to fire due to the NEA and its minions.
Coincidentally, my new best friend is Harrison Bergeron.
It seems that educrats have decided that friendship is at cross purposes to the education process.
......But increasingly, some educators and other professionals who work with children are asking a question that might surprise their parents: Should a child really have a best friend? .......
........But the classic best-friend bond — the two special pals who share secrets and exploits, who gravitate to each other on the playground and who head out the door together every day after school — signals potential trouble for school officials intent on discouraging anything that hints of exclusivity
emphasis mine
Read the whole thing.
Good lord...
I am becoming increasingly convinced that a Masters in Education should be a disqualifier for teaching children and we should return to requiring a real masters degree, complemented with a certificate or associates in teaching. This would make it much easier to recruit people who have had careers outside the education establishment into the teaching profession.The ED Masters degree certainly doesn't seem to be doing much to discourage utter detachment from humanity and its associated asshattery.
Remember that the myopic souless apparatchiks that came up with this God awful paean to teh stupid and teh evil are likely not only equipped with lots of credentials from various schools of education, they are also most likely very difficult to fire due to the NEA and its minions.
Coincidentally, my new best friend is Harrison Bergeron.
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June 10, 2010
I'll Just Leave This Here
Hat tip: Neo
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June 08, 2010
Helen Thomas
She is gone.
Almost a shame. After all, It's rare indeed to see someone whose face so closely matches their inner beauty.
Almost a shame. After all, It's rare indeed to see someone whose face so closely matches their inner beauty.
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March 29, 2010
Making Life Easier for the Bears
The wrong kind of bears though.
more...
more...
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March 09, 2010
Ethnic Identity Politics That I Can Support
Via Ace comes this elegant response to question #9 on the census form.
It also puts a harmless, but pointed rhetorical thumb in the eye of those who still seek to divide us over trivialities we have no control over anyway.
[W]e should answer Question 9 by checking the last option — "Some other race" — and writing in "American." It's a truthful answer but at the same time is a way for ordinary citizens to express their rejection of unconstitutional racial classification schemes.
It also puts a harmless, but pointed rhetorical thumb in the eye of those who still seek to divide us over trivialities we have no control over anyway.
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January 27, 2010
SOTUS 2010
Random, real time stream of consciousness thoughts on the State of the Union speech. Now mercifully hidden below the fold.
Other reactions here, here, here and Wonderduck has one of the healthiest and well grounded SOTUS night posts right here.
more...
Random, real time stream of consciousness thoughts on the State of the Union speech. Now mercifully hidden below the fold.
Other reactions here, here, here and Wonderduck has one of the healthiest and well grounded SOTUS night posts right here.
more...
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January 05, 2010
Economic Indicators
In the comments to an earlier post Steven Den Beste asks how the Christmas rush went at UPS last month.
Specific numbers are, of course, proprietary. However, volume was down a bit overall. It seemed that we had a little more volume going to the stores than last year. It also seemed that residential deliveries were down a bit from last year. Both of these observations are subjective and as I was completely uninvolved in any deliveries this year (for the first time in 16 years) I was in a poor position to gauge, but that was certainly the way things seemed to be rolling. I suppose this makes sense last year the retailers were a bit panicked by the crash and consumers hadn't groked the gravity of the situation, whereas this year consumers are looking at the job market with fear and retailers desperately need to clear inventory for tax purposes.
Even to the extent these observations are accurate they may not be typical. Southeastern Virginia got quite a kick in the teeth with the closing down of the meat packing plants, paper mill and sawmill in Isle of Wight County as well as several businesses (trucking companies for instance) dependent on their operations. This happened right before Thanksgiving.
It's also hard to get a good feel for the overall picture because volume was deperessed for several days due to weather delays.
Interestingly, despite the lower overall volume, we had what was, I believe, our heaviest day ever in our building. This was due to the backlog of stuff that had been delayed by the big snowstorm arriving all at once, on what would have already been the heaviest day of the year.
Cardboard tsunami.
All in all not terribly encouraging, but not quite the disaster some had feared. As an aside, the last two days have been exceedingly hectic, due again to dealing with the backlog of weather delays
Specific numbers are, of course, proprietary. However, volume was down a bit overall. It seemed that we had a little more volume going to the stores than last year. It also seemed that residential deliveries were down a bit from last year. Both of these observations are subjective and as I was completely uninvolved in any deliveries this year (for the first time in 16 years) I was in a poor position to gauge, but that was certainly the way things seemed to be rolling. I suppose this makes sense last year the retailers were a bit panicked by the crash and consumers hadn't groked the gravity of the situation, whereas this year consumers are looking at the job market with fear and retailers desperately need to clear inventory for tax purposes.
Even to the extent these observations are accurate they may not be typical. Southeastern Virginia got quite a kick in the teeth with the closing down of the meat packing plants, paper mill and sawmill in Isle of Wight County as well as several businesses (trucking companies for instance) dependent on their operations. This happened right before Thanksgiving.
It's also hard to get a good feel for the overall picture because volume was deperessed for several days due to weather delays.
Interestingly, despite the lower overall volume, we had what was, I believe, our heaviest day ever in our building. This was due to the backlog of stuff that had been delayed by the big snowstorm arriving all at once, on what would have already been the heaviest day of the year.
Cardboard tsunami.
All in all not terribly encouraging, but not quite the disaster some had feared. As an aside, the last two days have been exceedingly hectic, due again to dealing with the backlog of weather delays
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November 21, 2009
My Hat is in the Ring
With the wave of citizen activism sweeping the country in this time of crisis I can no longer sit idle.
I hereby announce my candidacy for the seat in the United States House of Representatives that will represent the unassigned congressional district of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Among my qualifications:
As I am currently homeless, I am able to meet the strict residency requirements for a congressional district that has not existed since 1935.
My legislative experience is, likewise, nonexistent.
I have no degree at this time.
*I will also work to protect "you" (my constituents) from the existential threat of the Dero who even now conspire against our democracy.
*I oppose listing the Mothman as an endangered species due to the principle that PEOPLES SAFETY MUST TAKE PRIORITY!
*I oppose deportation for the Bat Child as he is a natural born citizen.
*I support composting toilets.
* I support the teaching of the number eleventy in our schools.
THEREFORE
I hereby announce my candidacy for the seat in the United States House of Representatives that will represent the unassigned congressional district of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Among my qualifications:As I am currently homeless, I am able to meet the strict residency requirements for a congressional district that has not existed since 1935.
My legislative experience is, likewise, nonexistent.
I have no degree at this time.
ON THE ISSUES
*As
your Representative...whoever "YOU" are....I pledge to work tirelessly
to reduce the deficit through budget policies that are flexible...yet
firm....bendable yet straight...and FAIR TO EVERY AMERICAN! *I will also work to protect "you" (my constituents) from the existential threat of the Dero who even now conspire against our democracy.
*I oppose listing the Mothman as an endangered species due to the principle that PEOPLES SAFETY MUST TAKE PRIORITY!
*I oppose deportation for the Bat Child as he is a natural born citizen.
*I support composting toilets.
* I support the teaching of the number eleventy in our schools.
NO ONE IS MORE OBJECTIVELY QUALIFIED TO LEAD NOTHING THAN THE BRICKMUPPET!!
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October 22, 2009
Dialup SUCKS! But there are far more hideous things to have to deal with.
Via Cdr Salamander, some powerful perspective from Penn Gillette.
Do watch the whole thing.
Do watch the whole thing.
In the last few years, I've lost friends over similar conversations that had many of the same elements. Patronizing condescension, backhanded compliments and finally....the ultimatum. I know what he's going through...and it is very very hurtful.
I should note that Beck, while certainly bit of a loon, is very civil with his guests and lets them talk even if he disagrees with them. This utter departure from current opinion journalism procedures ought to be encouraged rather than boycotted.
UPDATE: Related item here. Though, thankfully, not as related as I previously thought.
I should note that Beck, while certainly bit of a loon, is very civil with his guests and lets them talk even if he disagrees with them. This utter departure from current opinion journalism procedures ought to be encouraged rather than boycotted.
UPDATE: Related item here. Though, thankfully, not as related as I previously thought.
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September 27, 2009
Something That Has Bugged Me for 5 Months
Normally, unless it's just a couple of quick links with little commentary, I put Politics type posts under the fold.
Not today.
I've fitfully tried to write this post since back in May when It began as a collection of capsule reviews of various films and TV episodes I'd seen at a friends house in Northern Virginia. However a brief conversation we had that afternoon is far more important..and frankly has been difficult to blog about.
Now my friend and I have a lot of shared interests and we tend to agree on a lot considering the considerable differences in our world view. He doesn't believe in the second amendment, nor the tenth amendment, and is for all sorts of restrictive zoning regulations....yet he calls himself a libertarian. Despite this intellectual incoherence he is a good man and I have developed a great deal of respect for him over the years. His views on matters of govt were likely formed from his upbringing in the urban Northeast, specifically New York City, where life is so interconnected and dependent upon public services that the notions of individualism, and self sufficiency range from being understandably alien to simply not being understood in quite the same way these concepts are in the rest of the country. I really think that the culture in that part of the U.S. is rather more different from the rest than is generally appreciated. My worldview, formed in the coastal southeast, is likely just as weird to him.
However, such differences in perspective as his and mine (and there are at least half a dozen distinct examples of this sort of regional outlook not to mention the myriad of ethnic perspectives) are one of the things that have given the US such a robust ability to deal with issues...but perhaps not for much longer.
You see, at some point during the evening the conversation turned to my experiences in school and I related that for the second time my being allowed into an upper level course was being questioned...that is for the second time in a couple of years I had a fellow student in one of my classes ask how a person with my beliefs was ALLOWED to attend an upper level class.
No really....
The specific example of college idiocy discussed is not really relevant and so is hidden behind this spoiler tag
My friend was quite appropriately appalled and we marveled at the ability of the myrmidons to miss the point of college. I joked that I had obviously missed my political correctness codebook...
....and at that point everything changed....
My friends mood changed, he gave me a stern look and told me that amongst his progressive friends, anyone who used the phrase "Politically Correct" was considered to be a bigot because they want to be able to say such things as 'ni**er' and 'fa##ot'. He went on to say that he agreed and anyone who used the phrase...he thought less of.
Now I should have said that on the rare occasions that I find anyone spouting such passive agressive Orwellian fucktardery I think much less of them.
But I didn't....I've known this guy too long and known him to be too good a person for that.
So, I defended my position but he cut me off and flatly said that he was not going to debate this....it is a sign of bigotry, and racism.... the end.
I almost walked out...
Being called a racist comes under fighting words.
If it had been nearly anyone else it would have ended right there, but I've known him for over a decade. He is a genuinely good guy.
His "advice" however, is not just wrong, it is destructive.
Here is why....
Courtesy is a very desirable impulse...but when it is enforced by government it is not genuine courtesy....it becomes Political correctness and that is just about the greatest threat to the nations discourse there is. While not quite as bad as it was a few years ago college is like walking on eggshells and its getting worse again. A viewpoint, an opinion, a word is declared intolerant..to protect someones feelings of course...the list expands because "feelings" are fragile things, especially if one loses an argument. Racial slurs are beyond the pale of polite conversation but now we have people looking for "code words" This is a power play...to control the floor and shut down debate. It is a testament to how far we have come that Americans, by and large are disgusted by racists, so much so that calling someone a racist is the equivalent of slaping them with a glove....but without the opportunity of a duel to clear their name...racists are quite properly pariahs in polite society. This gives the truly vile a tool in Political Correctness the number of "code words" and taboo viewpoints expands until finally....talking about POLITICAL CORRECTNESS defines one as a racist homophobe.
One could simply acquiesce and call it what it is, an Orwellian mind game to declare opposing viewpoints double-plus-ungood...of course in a matter of months my friends progressive acquaintances would inform him that the words Orwellian and double plus ungood are...well...the language of racists and homophobes...
This has been going on on for decades and a whole generation of students and now voters has learned to keep their heads down on this. Noted racist Dave Barry has some no doubt deeply offensive observations.
This has larger implication for our civics....
Infamous homophobe Gay Patriot has some thoughts about how this fear mongering is used to stifle political debate.
One result is that people who are worried by charts like this
....this
and people who are give the Pyongyang creeps by this...
...this...
...or this...
..are racist.
Now people who have been concerned about ACORN, an organization with ties to vote fraud, the mortgage crisis and...child prostitution....well those people are racists.
So..what do we call the actual racists now?
I suggest acorns.
The price of this fear driven newspeak is to cheapen the real atrocities and stifle freedom of expression. It is so pernicious, so pervasive that my friend, who quite rightly laments the Hayes code and CCA in casual conversation, made this post possible.
We can't communicate with each other or learn from one another if we are forever walking on eggshells.
Political correctness is a plague, a pestilence and it is frankly un-American. I walk on eggshells enough of the time at school. I'll damn well say political correctness if I please.
Just not when I'm around my friend apparently.
UPDATE: Well, the fellow read the post and sent me a long and thoughtfull missive via E-mail that included thoughts along the lines of: "How could you have thought I mea...Oh wait I guess I DID say that!" He pointed out that he managed to express almost the opposite of what he meant to say due in part to sleep deprivation. He also had other thoughts on the use of political correctness as a means to dismiss an argument, and the fact that the whole tone of such conversations has become depressing. His E-mail was quite well thought out and thought provoking....but being an idiot I lost it while deleting birther spam. NEXT TIME USE THE COMMENTS.
On a lighter note: What we had watched is not germane to the post but can be seen here
more...
Not today.
I've fitfully tried to write this post since back in May when It began as a collection of capsule reviews of various films and TV episodes I'd seen at a friends house in Northern Virginia. However a brief conversation we had that afternoon is far more important..and frankly has been difficult to blog about.
Now my friend and I have a lot of shared interests and we tend to agree on a lot considering the considerable differences in our world view. He doesn't believe in the second amendment, nor the tenth amendment, and is for all sorts of restrictive zoning regulations....yet he calls himself a libertarian. Despite this intellectual incoherence he is a good man and I have developed a great deal of respect for him over the years. His views on matters of govt were likely formed from his upbringing in the urban Northeast, specifically New York City, where life is so interconnected and dependent upon public services that the notions of individualism, and self sufficiency range from being understandably alien to simply not being understood in quite the same way these concepts are in the rest of the country. I really think that the culture in that part of the U.S. is rather more different from the rest than is generally appreciated. My worldview, formed in the coastal southeast, is likely just as weird to him.
However, such differences in perspective as his and mine (and there are at least half a dozen distinct examples of this sort of regional outlook not to mention the myriad of ethnic perspectives) are one of the things that have given the US such a robust ability to deal with issues...but perhaps not for much longer.
You see, at some point during the evening the conversation turned to my experiences in school and I related that for the second time my being allowed into an upper level course was being questioned...that is for the second time in a couple of years I had a fellow student in one of my classes ask how a person with my beliefs was ALLOWED to attend an upper level class.
No really....
The specific example of college idiocy discussed is not really relevant and so is hidden behind this spoiler tag
My friend was quite appropriately appalled and we marveled at the ability of the myrmidons to miss the point of college. I joked that I had obviously missed my political correctness codebook...
....and at that point everything changed....
My friends mood changed, he gave me a stern look and told me that amongst his progressive friends, anyone who used the phrase "Politically Correct" was considered to be a bigot because they want to be able to say such things as 'ni**er' and 'fa##ot'. He went on to say that he agreed and anyone who used the phrase...he thought less of.
Now I should have said that on the rare occasions that I find anyone spouting such passive agressive Orwellian fucktardery I think much less of them.
But I didn't....I've known this guy too long and known him to be too good a person for that.
So, I defended my position but he cut me off and flatly said that he was not going to debate this....it is a sign of bigotry, and racism.... the end.
I almost walked out...
Being called a racist comes under fighting words.
If it had been nearly anyone else it would have ended right there, but I've known him for over a decade. He is a genuinely good guy.
His "advice" however, is not just wrong, it is destructive.
Here is why....
Courtesy is a very desirable impulse...but when it is enforced by government it is not genuine courtesy....it becomes Political correctness and that is just about the greatest threat to the nations discourse there is. While not quite as bad as it was a few years ago college is like walking on eggshells and its getting worse again. A viewpoint, an opinion, a word is declared intolerant..to protect someones feelings of course...the list expands because "feelings" are fragile things, especially if one loses an argument. Racial slurs are beyond the pale of polite conversation but now we have people looking for "code words" This is a power play...to control the floor and shut down debate. It is a testament to how far we have come that Americans, by and large are disgusted by racists, so much so that calling someone a racist is the equivalent of slaping them with a glove....but without the opportunity of a duel to clear their name...racists are quite properly pariahs in polite society. This gives the truly vile a tool in Political Correctness the number of "code words" and taboo viewpoints expands until finally....talking about POLITICAL CORRECTNESS defines one as a racist homophobe.
One could simply acquiesce and call it what it is, an Orwellian mind game to declare opposing viewpoints double-plus-ungood...of course in a matter of months my friends progressive acquaintances would inform him that the words Orwellian and double plus ungood are...well...the language of racists and homophobes...
This has been going on on for decades and a whole generation of students and now voters has learned to keep their heads down on this. Noted racist Dave Barry has some no doubt deeply offensive observations.
This has larger implication for our civics....
Infamous homophobe Gay Patriot has some thoughts about how this fear mongering is used to stifle political debate.
One result is that people who are worried by charts like this
....this
and people who are give the Pyongyang creeps by this...
..are racist.
Now people who have been concerned about ACORN, an organization with ties to vote fraud, the mortgage crisis and...child prostitution....well those people are racists.
So..what do we call the actual racists now?
I suggest acorns.
The price of this fear driven newspeak is to cheapen the real atrocities and stifle freedom of expression. It is so pernicious, so pervasive that my friend, who quite rightly laments the Hayes code and CCA in casual conversation, made this post possible.
We can't communicate with each other or learn from one another if we are forever walking on eggshells.
Political correctness is a plague, a pestilence and it is frankly un-American. I walk on eggshells enough of the time at school. I'll damn well say political correctness if I please.
Just not when I'm around my friend apparently.
UPDATE: Well, the fellow read the post and sent me a long and thoughtfull missive via E-mail that included thoughts along the lines of: "How could you have thought I mea...Oh wait I guess I DID say that!" He pointed out that he managed to express almost the opposite of what he meant to say due in part to sleep deprivation. He also had other thoughts on the use of political correctness as a means to dismiss an argument, and the fact that the whole tone of such conversations has become depressing. His E-mail was quite well thought out and thought provoking....but being an idiot I lost it while deleting birther spam. NEXT TIME USE THE COMMENTS.
On a lighter note: What we had watched is not germane to the post but can be seen here
Lucky Star
Secret Saturdays
K-ON
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1916)
Guin Saga
Yozakura
Kimeko DZ
Queens Blade (a show refreshingly devoid of any pretensions of respectability)
Asura Crying
Mazinger Z
Samurai Shinkenjur
Detroit Metal City
if you care. more...
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
12:00 AM
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August 26, 2009
Ted Kennedy 1932-2009
I just learned about the Senators passing. I started to write something but after a quick look around I scrapped my post when I realized that I could not improve in any way on this post by Steven Den Beste, which I will quote in full....
I don't think there's ever been an issue on which I agreed with Ted Kennedy. But I do believe he loved this country, and tried to serve it to the best of his ability, and tried to change it for the better.
I believe he was misguided, but I don't believe he was evil. I think he was a patriot.
We should all remember that we can deeply disagree with our fellow citizens without hating them.
Sincerest condolances to the family and friends of the Senator.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
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July 05, 2009
Oh Golly....Look at That
source unknown
source unknown
Oh boy....I'd missed this. Actually I'd heard about it but put it in the same bin with the insane rantings of the birth certificate truthers.Alas, I was wrong. There is a movement to repeal the 22nd Amendment. Now that Obamas's in office we don't need no steenking term limits.. In fact HJ Resolution 5 was one of the first bills brought before the current congress.
Too much can be read into this of course, there is no indication that its gone very far, but, as Neo points out, it puts the Governments position on Honduras in a rather different light.
It certainly doesn't do a damned thing to set peoples minds at ease. I think it's a bad idea all round but it seems particularly ill conceived regards timing. Why would they do that now?
Too much can be read into this of course, there is no indication that its gone very far, but, as Neo points out, it puts the Governments position on Honduras in a rather different light.
It certainly doesn't do a damned thing to set peoples minds at ease. I think it's a bad idea all round but it seems particularly ill conceived regards timing. Why would they do that now?
UPDATE: No seriously, It seems politically stupid and likely to give ammo to the opposition. WTF?
UPDATE2: Unrelated....but the above .gif is appropriate to this. Waugh...Waugh I say.
UPDATE2: Unrelated....but the above .gif is appropriate to this. Waugh...Waugh I say.
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