Dog bites man

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I know it ain't exactly breaking news to y'all, but I find the biggest elitists are usually of the liberal persuasion. I was trolling around the local IntarW3bs for coverage of Sarah Palin, and started perusing the comments on the LA Times blog.
It seems that, to the LA liberals, she's unqualified because:
a) she was a beauty queen
b) she didn't go to an Ivy League school
c) she is not an urban apartment-dweller

The flame wars are pretty hilarious, too, with lots of intra-white status signaling. This election is gonna be a real hoot to watch!

And FWIW, just because I love the theatre of democracy doesn't change a letter of what I wrote earlier about voting.

More Miranda

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Via Tam, Miranda Lambert talks about concealed carry, huntin', and loving the rednecks in this Garden & Gun magazine interview:

What did you think when you heard you were going to be on the cover of a magazine called Garden & Gun?
I was excited. I think that fits my personality.

You’re a gardener, right?
Yeah, I live on a farm and I was just talking to my boyfriend last night about what we’re going to plant. Plus I’m a “gun-toting chick”—I have my concealed handgun license—so it all sounded perfect!

I think we need to post another video:


UPDATE: OK, here's another one:

Wow, what a pick!

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I have to tip my hat to McCain for getting Sarah Palin on board. After seeing her interview a few times on TV last month, I didn't think she was interested, and I'd wager that she'll provide a real boost -- not that it'll matter (I think Obama's a lock). A Palin in 2012 ticket would be a real hoot!

Long Ride Home

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Went to the Patty Griffin concert last night, which I've been meaning to do for years now (thx, buddy!). Anyway, here's a pic (sorry about the quality, it was from my phone) and then the video of the song she was playing.

Read Fred

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Because he's a curmudgeonly old Baby-Boomer, Fred's Web site design is stuck in the 20th Century so his posts don't come through into my blog links as an automatic feed. But despite his inability to program the VCR while listening to the 8-track, he's got lots of words that are worth reading.

overpoliticized

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Mr. Nordlinger put it well in the Corner last night:
7. This insistence on the centrality of politics is distressing — and not very democratic. You know, everything hinges on this election, everything hinges on politics: our future, our children, our destiny, our health, our every breath. Nonsense. It’s not supposed to be like that in a liberal democracy. We are governed by a constitution — by laws, not men. And mature people know that most of the important things in life are private, not public.

He's clearly right, and it ain't just Democrats. The problem is actually very democratic.

On being militantly apathetic

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As a recovering political addict, I'm doing my best to not become one of those intolerant scolds, like an ex-smoker harassing the junkies huddling around building entrances. But some people really need to get over it. I don't mean to pick on Sebastian again, but he just keeps Energizer bunnying all over teh Intarw3bs with his hyperpoliticized world view. This post is a good example:
Either politics is still a worthwhile endeavor, or we’re hopelessly off the rails and it’s time to start a revolution.

Why is this an either/or? Aren't there other things to do with our time and energy, like work, raise kids, read and think, and generally live our lives without turning the whole thing into a public activity? In my view, 'politics' as Sebastian defines it is a big waste of time. Elections and party politics are one way to enter a social network and engage in status signaling, much like joining a fraternity. If that's your thing, then by all means have at it! Just don't pretend that it's accomplishing anything bigger than your enjoyment.

Other bloggers demand we gunnies suck it up and vote for McCain, simply because the alternative is so much worse. Well I call bullshit on that. In the first place, an individual vote is less valuable than a MegaMillions ticket. So the only reason to vote is to engage in various forms of signaling, and participate in a misguided Kantian magic ritual. In the second place, you can carry water for Political Unit A all you want on your blogs, man the phone banks, or whatever, and your value to the campaign is nothing compared to the big donor guys. The bottom line is that all of your grass-roots efforts matter far less in an election than a last-minute MSM report of an ancient drunk-driving arrest. And even if Political Unit A gets elected, and even if he's Mr. Principle, the system is far too big for any one person or group of persons to change it from the inside.

maybe iPhone is finally worth buying

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For my friends who already have been assimilated into the collective, the fact that you can now play LCD football on the iPhone will only buttress their fanaticism for all things Apple. But despite the fact that I'd have to suffer through more time as an AT+T customer, I'm seriously considering buying one now that the cost is more reasonable. And LCD football! The greatest game ever for hanging out with non-nuclear family over Thanksgiving.

Gotta get some ink

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Screen test today for LA Ink. I'm going to get a diamondback rattlesnake around the scar for my port catheter, where the chemo was injected into my body. To be honest, I don't really care about being on TV one way or the other. But to get a tat from one of the best in the biz is just too cool for words.

optimism and disorder

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The people who think the world is a terrific, wonderful place are not the optimists. They see disorder and horror just over the horizon; the mass of humanity are just litterbugs in their perfect world.

If your desk is in perfect order, you are almost certainly a judgmental perfectionist. Lighten up! A little mess is what makes it all interesting. Optimists embrace the disorder.

Pet Peeve #1

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Dear Mr. Biden, if you really believe that Mr. Obama can "literally change the direction of the world," can you please have him stop it for a moment so I can get off?
When people say literally but mean figuratively, it makes my head literally explo...!

Tee hee

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Via Xavier, here's a funny one:

Name idea

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The question is: "If you had to come up with a tagline for Snowflakes in Hell, what would it be?" How about -- the world is a nail and politics is The HAMMER, baby!

No really, I read the blog all the time and appreciate the enthusiasm for gun rights. But really. I'm glad Sebastian has gotten away from the monitor for a few days to go shooting at Blackwater. How cool would that be?

Prague spring

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Wow. Since I used to live in Prague, the backdrop of these photos is pretty familiar. It's disconcerting to see that beautiful city in this context. It's funny how the human brain just loves to shout "This is not happening!"

Hillary Clinton's backdoor, er, womyn

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I was downing shots of whiskey at the local watering hole when, as if by magic, the conversation turned to women and politics. I was so taken aback at this strange turn of events that I was temporarily unprepared to provide evidence for my obvious point that Hillary Clinton is in fact a foaming-at-the-mouth bull-dyke lesbian (not that there's anything wrong with that!). Disagree? Tsk tsk - you country rubes have no Gaydar...I present to you a picture of Huma Abedin, Hillary's Chief of Staff:



I mean, DAMN. That woman is a nine with brains and poise. These are the kind of women who gravitate to the Alphas at the center of the universe, which describes Hillary to a T. That's why she lets Bill have the scraps from the intern pool. Cause he's her bitch.

Res ipsa loquitur.

Fortuna smiles

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My goddess smiles on this hand history from Robert:

2:38 AM. I raise in late position with ace queen. Get called by the blind. Flop is ace, jack, jack. I bet. He calls. I shut down. He has a jack. I'm relieved to say I only lost $25 on this hand.

It used to be real hard to get away from this kind of hand. Ace queen heads up on an ace, jack, jack flop. Especially when you only have 100 bucks in front of you and you've raised preflop.

At other points in my poker life I'd have made that call.

Just so I could complain about how unlucky I was.

These days I fold.

Because I've learned that complaining is free.

I Can Haz Internets muzik

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Some red-haired chick turned me on to pandora.com, which has been a terrific source of new music for me. It was kind of an amazing favor since God told me that the ginger types have no souls and should be burned at the stake. Anyway, despite its morally suspicious origins, I've been constructing the CounterClckWise internet radio station for your listening enjoyment. Remember, right-click and open the link in a new tab so that you can keep reading all of the blank spaces and empty days of non-writing on my b-log.

Today was the last round of my wrestling match with that !#$!#$ moving truck. Aside from burning through gallons of diesel looking for a fuel station that sells diesel at less than five bucks a gallon, it went fairly smoothly. But I think I'll skip truck-driving school as a possible career option.

B-log block

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Sorry no writey lately -- after the moving/travels I've been exhausted and suffering from one of my post-treatment "episodes" which has pushed the blog a bit down the list of things on my mind. But rest assured, there will be snark a-flowing in another day or so.

I've found myself totally sucked into the Olympics despite my desire to be apathetic about them. That volleyball is a pretty good spectator sport! I might even pay the occasional odd dollar to see it live sometime in the future.

I thought it was funny to watch the white guys getting smoked by the East Africans in the marathon today. I wonder how much of their regional dominance has to do with Founder Effect and how much with selective environmental pressures. Oops, sorry -- is that racist? Quick, look away! We'll talk about something less radical tomorrow, like the death of the Republic.

Dun

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Just arrived back to la casa Mexifornia at around four am after a little adventure with an unloaded car carrier I was towing behind the truck. For future reference, the thing bounces around a lot more when it's unloaded than when it's loaded. Don't hit any road kill while you're going 60 mph, even in a 75 mph zone.

Even after a couple of days in Denver and a couple more in Vegas, I can say I'm actually happy to be back in the Hippie State for a rest.

Yes, I'm happy that the Sox traded for Griffey.

I absolutely love the desert under a full moon.

More sleeping now. You go away you!

Driving today

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Denver to Vegas today, so no posts. Sorry! Read the shared stories and blogroll in the right-hand bar.

The Forward Strategy of Overreach

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I can't understand how so many 'conservatives' delude themselves that, in the teeth of an unpopular nation-building exercise in the Middle East, war tensions in the Caucusus will help McCain come November. McCain is an even more ardent supporter of Georgia's NATO application than Bush, and blusters even more at Russia than our current soulful prez. Expanding NATO into the Caucusus seems like complete imperial madness to me. Well, maybe it's just me and my redneck friends, but around here inciting war with Russia is not a real popular idea.

I wonder how many American soldiers/citizens South Ossetia is worth to those Washington types? I might sacrifice Bill Kristol for Georgian sovereignity, but that's about it. American influence in that backwater is not worth a single one of my National Guard buddies like Major Tom. How big does the empire need to be before the puppetmasters don't perceive a threat to America? I vaguely remember the days when Republicans didn't want to be the world's policeman...

Some dork even makes the argument that failing to back Georgia is appeasement a la Munich 1938, which is a reference so absurd that when I read it I snorted milk all over my keyboard. If you want to use a Hitler reference, the Sudetenland analogy falls far short of Operation Blau.

The warmongerers need to remember the immortal words of Vizzini: "Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia..."

Don't Make Me Come To Vegas

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I drove straight through from Cincinnati to Denver in the moving truck, passing through what amounts to an entire NFL division: Bengals, Colts, Rams, Chiefs and Broncos. I'm taking a day of rest, and then on to Vegas, baby!

The Vegas Year

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Again it seems I'm late to the blogosphere party. As soon as I discovered The Vegas Year blog (thanks to Ilkka), Robert's 19-month Vegas Year ends. I'm reading through his archives now -- lots of funny and insightful poker junk.

Here's a classic post for your enjoyment. You're welcome. Tips are not accepted in this establishment; we're too fuckin' classy.

Opening Ceremonies

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Damn but those totalitarian governments sure can do spectacles. That was pretty much teh awesome bar none.

Olympic fever

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Everyone and their mother is complaining about the vapid, myopic media coverage so I won't dogpile even though I would happily leverage my agreement to more than 110 percent. My niche bitch is about the rampant drug testing that the aw-Thor-itties impose on the athletes. I'd rather that there was no drug testing at all in any competitions. How can an athlete really say they gave it their all if they didn't sacrifice their gonads through repeated horse testosterone injections? Is 70 home runs really the best the human race can do? I'd wager that Barry could've hit 100 if he didn't have to sneak around to get his injections.
Let the world-class athletes make Achilles' choice: glory or long life. Would you die in debilitating pain at 50 for a $200 million contract at 25?

Birthday

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Happy Birthday to the Edge, one of the greats of our time. Without his influence over my musical tastes, my teenage years likely would have been just a rehash of the Led Zeppelin experience the older kids went through. And without U2, my budding pursuit of teh girlz would possibly have been polluted with way too much Depeche Mode.

Traders on the Decline and Fall

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Apropos of the recent discussions on our Republic's demise, here's a post over on Daily Speculations about the subject from a trader's perspective:
The wave of innovation (and source of huge profits) brought by the advent of the information age in the nineties was initiated and "owned" by US technology and US companies. Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, Cisco, Yahoo! and so forth are some examples. The last wave, still ongoing, but limited in its effects, is now represented by Google and Apple. This sector is getting mature and growth appears to be slower with time. In general, the stock market performance reflects a mature economy where growth can be sustained only at the cost of higher inflation. The US needs badly a new wave of innovation.

The comments are also very interesting.

Cultural driftwood

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It seems I'm sharin' the air with the jueditas in Indy...first Roberta and now Tam:
In talking with various smart people over the last few years, I have developed a pretty bleak view of the immediate future of our republic. I really don't think it's going to get better in my lifetime. I really think the system is irretrievably broken.

In my opinion, the Republic was truly killed off a couple of generations ago and it's only now that the corpse is starting to smell. The level of decline in America's social cohesion has been masked by the amazing growth in wealth and technology that we've experienced since WWII. But that growth is by no means guaranteed to continue, nor is it an inevitable product of our superior cultural organization as a lot of people seem to think.

Technology has given us a previously unimaginable level of autonomy, so don't read this as me shouting about being repressed. If you really want to opt out of the system, it's easier than ever to do so -- if you can decide to live your life without using a National ID card. But it's oh so seductive...just crouch a little and lick the hand, now...

In our lifetimes, I don't forecast a truly huge crisis that will galvanize people into action, either. There won't be any large-scale crossing of lines in the sand, no manning of the barricades. It's more likely that ...nothing will happen, and our culture will just drift along into greater and greater dependence and infantilism. No uprisings, no catalysts for action -- just a nation of lotus-eaters for as long as the system can avoid collapsing. As the Derb said, we're living in a Golden Age...enjoy it!

The world seems smaller

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Aleksander Isayevich, you opened my mind to a lot of things. Thanks, and R.I.P.

In which I offer a sort of apology

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Look, you might have gotten the wrong idea. The reason I indulge myself in name-calling and general grumpiness about Kudlow's market cheerleading is because a.)I'm on the same side, b.) I generally respect his work, and c.) I know he knows better.
Far be it for me to pee all over someone's sense of optimism; I think optimism a much more productive state of being than the alternative (although it can easily slip into denial, which is why Chicken Littles should never be ignored). Kudlow may or may not be right that the current market woes can be cured by a little more laissez faire and a little less regulation. I personally don't think the cure is that simple, and that our collective economic ass has a lot of piper to be paying. But regardless of that difference, I agree that his policy prescriptions are all to the good no matter how they affect the immediate economic situation.
What gets my goat is his abuse of minor data points in market fluctuations to support his political positions. It's flat-out incorrect, disingenuous, and to anyone paying attention it does more harm than good in advancing his cause.

Off to the races

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Flying out to Kentucky
doo da doo da
LA traffic I won't see
doo da doo da
for another week at least
doo da doo da
then I'm back to feed the beast.
doo da doo da

Conscription

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I know it's an old, old argument, but I stepped in it and I guess I oughta respond.

One thing exposed during the Bush years is how facile the small government philosophy is for a large percentage of conservatives. If the rest of the government suffers from massive waste, corruption, and mission creep, why would it be any different for the dot-mil? They’re not really complaining about the size of government at all, but simply in which direction the power should be abused.

Og, if we’re discussing the topic of reading comprehension skills, you might notice that I said central Africa, not South. You know, the places where trucks of hopped-up teenage conscripts off each other (and opposing villages) in service to the Big Man? That was more the image I was going for…

But hyperbole aside, as someone who has actually, ya’ know, worked in Switzerland, I think I grasp your point, even if I think it’s way off base. It’s funny how a certain sub-sect of gunnies trot out some nebulous "Swiss Model” when they get warm fuzzies about compulsory military service. Well, the system over there is a lot less compulsory than y’all imagine. In most cantons, it’s a lot less intrusive than the Selective Service is over here.

Don’t get me wrong – pacifist is the very last word you’d use to describe me. I shoot and train, and if Red Dawn ever happened I’d be shouting “Wolverines!” along with all the other gun-clingin’ hicks. That's my idea of militia service. But my life is not subject to somebody else’s idea of how useful I can be to “society” (whatever the hell that is). Sorry you regret not joining the Marines when you were younger, but that doesn’t mean that the rest of us need to do so to make up for it. I reject your goals of “unifying” citizens and “making them something else.” Actually, I’d much prefer a little less unifying and a lot less making into something elses.

UPDATE: Neanderpundit responds.
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Another thanks to Ilkka who consistently links the funny blogz. Read this post on The Vegas Year titled "Ace 10 is Whack." Cryin' quote:
I call because I have implied odds and by implied odds I mean a blog.

Ain't that the truth!

More company on the Dark Side

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What she said.
If the States each had their own citizen militia and had to pay 'em, we'd see a lot less casual use, especially by the Federal level.

I likey the big baadda booms on missles, though -- not sure how Roberta feels about thems.