Trying To Be Thoughtful

Wain Wednesday 36

2011-02-09T06:29:00.005-05:00

"Thirteen Kittens"

Louis Wain

Cold Enough For You?

2011-02-06T18:55:00.001-05:00

Yeah, me too.

This!

2010-05-21T05:43:00.003-04:00

This, this, this, this, THIS...

ought to be on the lips of every conservative in the country. (Should be on the lips of every American, but fat chance).

Bully! Rep. McClintock.

While Sitting Here Minding My Own Business ...

2010-03-10T21:37:00.014-05:00

someone is always emailing me, or writing something that causes me to dash off to dusty corners of the interwebs and look stuff up. Sometimes it's Stoaty Weasel, who is always "making" me buy books - like when she writes about stuff like The Great Boston Molasses Flood (excellent book on that here). And sometimes it's one of my siblings, who are nearly as weird as me.

In this case, a simple discussion between little sis & me about whether (1) we should catch a show by guitarist Laurence Juber and (2) at which venue (he'll be at 2 fairly local spots this coming May). Now, I'm the family no-talent, but with 3 sibs that are musical, we talk about this stuff a lot. To enlighten me, she sends me this video of Paul McCartney & Wings, with Juber as a side man (he's the one that's neither McCartney nor Denny Laine, if that's any help. I have no more-technical description to give - I are dense). I find the video exceedingly cute - especially Macca (as the British tabloids call him), who's just as handsome as his early Beatle years, 15+ years prior.

So, after I've survived the excruciatingly slow "download over dialup" and played it 1 or 2 (or 8 or 10) times (complete with samba-ing around the joint in my jammies), it occurs to me that McCartney (actually, the whole crew) looks just like the illustrations of Jazz Age illustrator John Held, Jr. Whose work I've always loved, but it occurs to me that I've never searched him out in the ether. So ... she's off! (but you knew that)

Some Held pix:

More Held info here and here.

That second link is where I found the map woodcut (which I'd never seen before) - the author of the article calls it a "denunciation of notable places and things. 'Americana', for example, is a denunciation of all of the stereotypical symbols of American culture."

I dunno. For somebody who (in this case) is allegedly depicting a distaste for "rum runners" and "bootleggers," he certainly made a tidy profit off the alcohol-fueled antics of the Jazz Age American sheiks and flappers - and made their behavior look darned attractive, overall. I hate it when I find something in my internet sifting that queers my liking of someone/something I previously held in good regard. I think I shall just take the words embedded in the western states at face value:

"If You Don't Like This Country Go Back Where You Came From"

Or, if you started out here, pick some spot you find more beguiling. Cuba, anyone? Iran?

So there.

Wain Wednesday 35

2010-03-10T21:24:00.002-05:00

Annual 1908
by
Louis Wain

Wain Wednesday 34

2010-03-03T00:01:00.000-05:00

"Kittens Watching A Mousetrap"
by
Louis Wain

What He Said

2010-02-22T01:17:00.003-05:00

It's amazing, thirty years gone and we're right back in the same spot (actually, a worse spot - things are even more grave than they were under Carter, IMHO).

When will we learn?

Wain Wednesday 33

2010-01-13T00:01:00.003-05:00

"Every Dog Has His Day And Every Cat Her Two Afternoons"
by
Louis Wain

I Love This Guy

2010-01-08T23:12:00.007-05:00

Thad McCotter, MI Congressman (R-11th District) - I hope he's on someone's short list as a VP candidate. Hell, I could take him in the top spot quite nicely.

On terrorism:

On Cap & Tax:

On health care and America's innovation revolution:

On Gitmo, Health Care and Posting Bills Online:

To get the House Republican Policy Committee's Pamphlet, We the People: Wide Awake for Our Newest Birth of Freedom, go here and fill out the form (link at the top of the right margin).

Bwahahahaha

2010-01-07T06:58:00.004-05:00

Frozen Gore returns!

Be sure to check the videos - LOL.

Stoaty Weasel on gorebal worming in Jolly Olde.

Fight Global Warming!

2009-12-27T22:28:00.003-05:00

Make your own snowflakes!

A pretty fun timewaster, actually (click pic for link).

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T22:56:00.007-05:00

"Some Mistletoe For You"
by
Louis Wain

The following is, of course, not really a Christmas song, but the sentiment is perfect for the season - particularly after the year we've had. While visions of sugarplums dance in your heads, may your dreams bring you peace and renewal.

WRAP YOUR TROUBLES IN DREAMS
Ted Koehler, Billy Moll, Harry Barris
1931

What price happiness,
What price happiness?
Who can truthfully say?
But for every share, with tears we pay.

Love is happiness -
I've had happiness,
But it ended one day.
Now I look at life a different way.

When skies are cloudy and grey
They're only grey for a day -
So wrap your troubles in dreams
And dream your troubles away.

Until that sunshine peeps through
There's only one thing to do:
Just wrap your troubles in dreams
And dream all your troubles away.

Your castles may tumble, that's fate after all
Life's really funny that way.
No use to grumble, just smile as they fall -
Weren't you king for a day?

Just remember that sunshine
Always follows the rain.
So wrap your troubles in dreams
And dream your troubles away.

Video from a very silly Mack Sennett short, but the only one I could find with Bing. He recorded this song 4 times in his career, so he must have enjoyed singing it as much as I enjoy hearing him.

The Favorite Christmas Song ...

2009-12-20T06:15:00.006-05:00

of the Obama Administration:

Merry Christmas, comrades!

********

Randolf's Party

It was Chrisbus time but Randolph was alone. Where were all his good pals. Bernie, Dave, Nicky, Alice, Beddy, Freba, Viggy, Nigel, Alfred, Clive, Stan, Frenk, Tom, Harry, George, Harold? Where were they on this day? Randolf looged saggly at his only Chrispbut cart from his dad who did not live there.

'I can't understan this being so alonely on the one day of the year when one would surely spect a pal or two?' thought Rangolf. Hanyway he carrie don putting ub the desicrations and muzzle toe. All of a surgeon there was amerry timble on the door. Who but who could be a knockingon my door? He opend it and there standing there who? but only his pals. Bernie, Dave, Nicky, Alice, Beddy, Freba, Viggy, Nigel, Alfred, Clive, Stan, Frenk, Tom, Harry, George, Harolb weren't they?

Come on in old pals buddys and mates. With a big griff on his face Randoff welcombed them. In they came jorking and labbing shoubing 'Haddy Grimmble, Randoob.' and other hearty, and then they all jumbed on him and did smite him with mighty blows about his head crying, 'We never liked you all the years we've known you. You were never really one of us you know, soft head.'

They killed him you know, at least he didn't die alone did he? Mery Chrustchove, Randolf old pal buddy.

- John Lennon, from In His Own Write, 1964

Wain Wednesday 32

2009-11-25T01:31:00.001-05:00

"A Love Story"
by
Louis Wain

Looks like kitteh is not feeling the love.

SCOTUS And Kelo

2009-11-11T13:47:00.012-05:00

LauraW (at Ace of Spades), on the aftermath of Kelo:

SCOTUS' Chickens Come Home To Roost In New London

This cannot be emphasized enough.

The people who run your city, the politicians who are full of bright ideas for improving your life by infringing on others' rights, and the black-robed genius who is tasked with interpreting our founding documents; NONE of these people are smarter than you.

NONE of these people are gifted with superior insight on how better to run your life or use our native resources. But they believe that they are. So without the brake of morality or explicit law, these geniuses and pols and town busybodies will extend professional courtesy to each other as they go about dismantling your life for some dubious utopian idea.

Think hard about those words, particularly in the context of the current healthscare debate.

From the comments of that post:

I have kept saying this since the campaign. Obama is sooooo smart. Why? Well, uh, he got accepted to Harvard Law School (finishing is not a problem, the day you are accepted, they print your diploma). He wrote that super-awesome book about himself.

First, none of this is a serious intellectual task. There ain't no math. It's not about solving problems, it's about empty rhetoric at best. Just because pretentious people, who like to think they are smart (David Brooks) can understand nothing more complicated than prose in their mother tongue, doesn't mean someone who does it well is intelligent. Just the opposite, in my experience.

Second, this is why I rag on lawyers. If lawyers were like accountants -- experienced, professional specialists who (Doug Hoffman aside) don't try to parlay their education into some sort of divine right to rule -- then I'd have no problem. But there ain't nothin' special about lawyers. They're idiots by my scale. They usually have trouble with math. Send a native-English speaking PhD mathematician -- one of the two of them left -- to Harvard Law and see him laugh at the trivialities involved.

Law school is where you go when math is too hard for you.

So not only are these self-styled philosopher kings not smarter, they're dumber. But even if you do get a true genius, he doesn't know anything. Look at the brilliant economists who said that the unemployment rate wouldn't get above 8%. Has one of them apologized? Committed hara-kiri?

One thing math tells you is that everything, in the real world or theory, is waaaaay too complicated for even the most brilliant person to understand. It is one of the reasons American democracy has worked so far. We have resisted the siren's song -- more or less -- of the ubermensch and we are better for it.

Posted by: AmishDude at November 11, 2009 10:56 AM

What he said.

More & more excellent comments at the link.

LATER: Related only in the style over substance sense, Snapped Shot on President Pose & Prose.

h/t Carin, at Is This Blog On?

EVEN LATER: Uncle Jay Explains The News.

Après Halloween LOL

2009-11-01T08:55:00.008-05:00

I confess, the whole way through this I heard my mother's voice wailing, "WHY didn't they take the laundry basket out of the background!??" She was a darned good photographer (my dad was, too) and had a sharp eye for the background of a picture.

UPDATE: Click here to go to the Sweet Juniper blog and see what surely must be the most fantastic (homemade!) children's Halloween costumes ever! They made my day - I was all moody and depressed, since I had no trick-or-treaters last night. While you're there, check out the writing on and photos of Detroit.

Got Candy?

2009-10-30T22:00:00.002-04:00

Dry Bones - The Delta Rhythm Boys

This Post

2009-10-12T04:08:00.005-04:00

is for my sister ... and only she knows why!!!

Hot Jazz Band - Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus
Andy Razaf, Leon Berry 1936

Mister Christopher Columbus
Sailed the sea without a compass.
When his men began a rumpus
Up spoke Christopher Columbus:

"There is land somewhere
Until we get there,
We will not go wrong,
If we sing a swing song.

Since the world is round,
We'll be safe and sound,
Til our goal is found,
We'll just keep rhythm bound."

Soon the crew was makin' merry
Then came a yell, "Let's drink to Isabelle,
Hum, bring the rum, Ho Hum."

No more mu-tin-y,
What a time at sea,
With di-plo-macy
Christy made his-to-ry.

Mister Christopher Columbus
He used rhythm as a compass.
Music ended all the rumpus,
Wise old Christopher Columbus.

Happy Columbus Day!

OMG

2009-10-02T11:16:00.004-04:00

The competition's getting really fierce at the Iowahawk Endowment for the Arts $33.18 Steel Cage Art Death Match. Some great new entries: I'm partial to The Battle Hymn of the Obamatons - First verse & chorus:

Barack Hussein Obama is the coming of the Lord!
He has taken o’er the banks where all the cap’t’list wealth is stored,
He runs all the auto comp’nies save those bastards out at Ford!
His lies keep rolling on!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Barack Obama is our ruler!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His lies keep rolling on!

Whole song here. The downsized auto worker in me couldn't resist that one, but go see them all - you'll laugh & laugh.

One Of My Favorites

2009-10-02T10:36:00.004-04:00

Two favorites, actually - the video and Mr. Whittle:

I rewatch this to calm down when the news of the day makes me want to bite someone.

Oh, and check this comparison of Palin's pre-order book sales vs. those of David Frum (one of those GOP "elitists" that Whittle speaks of) at Doug Ross:

Memo to David Frum, re: Sarah Palin

Heh. Keep going rogue, Sarah.

Talk Talk

2009-10-01T14:50:00.005-04:00

DrewM. has a post up at AoS: Success At Nuclear Talks! Iran Agrees To....MORE TALKS!

Wow, more talks! That's so awesome. This is so much different than all the talking and inspecting of Iranian facilities we've been doing until now. No, this is nothing like the almost 10 years that came before. It's different because this time it's S-M-A-R-T.

See? You don't, do you? Because you're a wingnut.

*snip*

EXCLUSIVE: Must Credit Ace Of Spades HQ---Obama plan to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons uncovered!

Step 1-Talk to Iran
Step 2- ???
Step 3- Victory!

*le sigh*

Speaking of wingnuttery, there's confessional talk in the comments of this Stoaty Weasel post of conversion to same and how it came to be for some folk.

All this talk ~~makes me weary~~ made me think of this:

Prolly my favorite "garage" number - Music Machine MySpace.

Talk Talk
Music Machine (1966)

I got me a complication
And it's an only child
Concernin' my reputation
As something more than wild
I know it serves me right
But I can't sleep at night
Have to hide my face
Or go some other place

I won't cry out for justice
Admit that I was wrong
I'll stay in hibernation
'Til the talk subsides to gone
My social life's a dud
My name is really mud
I'm up to here in lies
Guess I'm down to size
To size

Can't seem to talk about
The things that bother me
Seems to be
What everybody has
Against me
Oh, oh, all right

Here's the situation
And how it really stands
I'm out of circulation
I've all but washed my hands
My social life's a dud
My name is really mud
I'm up to here in lies
Guess I'm down to size
To size

Talk talk Talk talk Talk talk Talk talk

Yeah, I know, I have strange musical tastes - from Gilbert & Sullivan to garage punk/psychedelia in 2 posts! :-D

I Can Die Happy

2009-09-30T12:25:00.007-04:00

I'm on iowahawk! Hey, I'm unemployed & don't have much to live for.

My submission letter:

Having endless respect (okay, slavish worship) for the talent that is Burge, as well as life-long love of all things Gilbert & Sullivan (particularly The Mikado), I imagine the noble iowhawk as the humane Mikado himself. Who else in the the blogosphere could be described thus?

A more humane Mikado never
Did in Japan exist,
To nobody second,
I'm certainly reckoned
A true philanthropist.
It is my very humane endeavour
To make, to some extent,
Each evil liver
A running river
Of harmless merriment.

My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time —
To let the punishment fit the crime —
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!

(more here and here)

No one, that's who. And he's saving Teh Arts - A true philanthropist! Bow! Bow! to iowahawk!

Your humble servant,
iamfelix

********

Check out how the program started here and here.

From the 1982 Stratford Festival, The Humane Mikado:

Chapter Eleventy

2009-09-17T21:43:00.003-04:00

in this outpost's mad love for the marvel that is iowahawk, who not only brings the funny, but pens insightful serious stuff with the best of them - He writes an excellent tribute to American agronomist and hero Norman Borlaug, who died on Sept. 12.

My favorite part:

The last season of Norman Borlaug's life was spent on the faculty of Texas A&M University where continued working to promote humanitarian projects and food yields around the world. Despite the many accolades he earned he remained modest, almost to a fault. According to one story a security cop refused him entry into his campus office parking lot one Saturday morning, due to an Aggie football game. He cheerfully complied and walked an extra mile from another lot, instead of pointing out to the cop that the building was actually named after him.

Unlike contemporary self-styled members of the environmental-scientific community -- many of whom seem to view the human race as malignancy -- Norman Borlaug was unapologetic in his view that science should be harnessed for the good of mankind. For him, starvation was a pressing human problem to be eradicated, not the inevitable self-inflicted consequence of human folly; and he went about solving it in a systematic, methodical way. Not through armchair theorizing or manifestos, but through hard work and dirt-under-the-fingernails empiricism. He didn't seek utopia, just better crop yields.

Borlaug Wiki.

LOL

2009-08-25T22:18:00.006-04:00

Wake Up, Mrs. Petrowski

Good morning! Did you have a restful sleep? Yes, I know it's 3 AM, I just thought... well, the whole orderly staff thought a little early morning air would do you some good after all that commotion yesterday. I have to say you're a pretty feisty old gal for 86!

How's that?

You're 78?

Still, you should really take better care of yourself. Just look at those bags under your eyes! You're no spring chicken and all that protesting just causes stress. Here, why don't we wheel you over to the balcony so you can get some of that fresh healthful air.

Yes, I know it's cold. But look at the spectacular 14th story view! A clear night sky full of stars, and if you lean over the railing you can see all the way down to the empty parking lot. Just like the Ferris Wheel at the 1892 World's Fair, back when you were a little girl.

Now if I can just unlatch this... stupid... mmmp... sliding... mmph... door. Crap.

*********************

Read the rest at Iowahawk.

Scary evil monkey shills for ObamaCare at IMAO:

free helth cair for dum stoopids

So Sue Me

2009-08-19T09:00:00.003-04:00

From Sarah Palin's Facebook site, copied in its entirety CUZ IT'S IMPORTANT:

YOUR TAX DOLLARS HARD AT WORK: FIRST CARS, NOW FOREIGN OIL
Today at 12:10am

Today's Wall Street Journal contains some puzzling news for all Americans who are impacted by high energy prices and who share the goal of moving us toward energy independence.

For years, states rich with an abundance of oil and natural gas have been begging Washington, DC politicians for the right to develop their own natural resources on federal lands and off shore. Such development would mean good paying jobs here in the United States (with health benefits) and the resulting royalties and taxes would provide money for federal coffers that would potentially off-set the need for higher income taxes, reduce the federal debt and deficits, or even help fund a trillion dollar health care plan if one were so inclined to support such a plan.

So why is it that during these tough times, when we have great needs at home, the Obama White House is prepared to send more than two billion of your hard-earned tax dollars to Brazil so that the nation's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, can drill off shore and create jobs developing its own resources? That's all Americans want; but such rational energy development has been continually thwarted by rabid environmentalists, faceless bureaucrats and a seemingly endless parade of lawsuits aimed at shutting down new energy projects.

I'll speak for the talent I have personally witnessed on the oil fields in Alaska when I say no other country in the world has a stronger workforce than America, no other country in the world has better safety standards than America, and no other country in the world has stricter environmental standards than America. Come to Alaska to witness how oil and gas can be developed simultaneously with the preservation of our eco-system. America has the resources. We deserve the opportunity to develop our resources no less than the Brazilians. Millions of Americans know it is true: "Drill, baby, drill." Alaska is proof you can drill and develop, and preserve nature, with its magnificent caribou herds passing by the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), completely unaffected. One has to wonder if Obama is playing politics and perhaps refusing a "win" for some states just to play to the left with our money.

The new Gulf of Mexico lease sales tomorrow sound promising and perhaps will move some states in the right direction, but we all know that the extreme environmentalists who serve to block progress elsewhere, including in Alaska, continue to block opportunities. These environmentalists are putting our nation in peril and forcing us to rely on unstable and hostile foreign countries. Mr. Obama can stop the extreme tactics and exert proper government authority to encourage resource development and create jobs and health benefits in the U.S.; instead, he chooses to use American dollars in Brazil that will help to pay the salaries and benefits for Brazilians to drill for resources when the need and desire is great in America.

Buy American is a wonderful slogan, but you can't say in one breath that you want to strengthen our economy and stimulate it, and then in another ship our much-needed dollars to a nation desperate to drill while depriving us of the same opportunity.

- Sarah Palin

And this interesting nugget, from an Ace of Spades commenter:

83 OT but,
This happened last August.. Soros hedge fund invests $811m to buy Petrobras stake.

LINK

he's lost money since.
I wonder why the one has invested money in Petrobras?

Posted by: paul at August 19, 2009 08:46 AM (uSt2Q)

Yeah, I wonder, too.

Paul Krugman ...

2009-08-19T08:28:00.003-04:00

of the NYT, is this, without the charm of Claude Rains:

See why, here.

Who Knew?

2009-08-13T06:59:00.005-04:00

Certainly not I. Whole Foods founder John Mackey has health care reform ideas that I could embrace (via a commenter at AoSHQ, from Sweetness & Light, from The Wall Street Journal):

The Whole Foods Alternative to Obama Care

It's a perfectly sensible list of capitalist-friendly reform items (including tort reform! health savings accounts! increased competition among insurers!) that would bring about immediate savings for those who currently are un- or under-insured, without throwing the baby out with the bath water. I repeat, who knew? I haven't been in a Whole Foods store in over a decade, but I may make the half-hour trek to Ann Arbor, on the strength of this article alone.

From the Sweetness & Light remarks:

Mr. Mackey admits he used to be a "democratic socialist" in college. But when he began a business and barely made money while being accused by workers of not paying them enough and customers of charging too high prices, he began to take a more capitalistic worldview.

He discovered the works of Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek and Friedman. Mr. Mackey is also an avowed admirer of author Ayn Rand.

As the CEO of Whole Foods, John has been attacked in leftwing and union publications for his supposed anti-union views. Mr. Mackey wrote about unions on his blog:

Unions as they evolved in the United States became very adversarial, untrusting, and opposed to the success and prosperity of the business. This is my major objection to unions today — they harm the flourishing of the business for all the stakeholders. Instead of cooperation between stakeholders, they focus on competition between management and labor. Instead of embracing the notion of the ‘expanding pie’ vision of capitalism — more for everyone, or win-win — they frequently embrace the zero-sum philosophy of win-lose."

Despite such backward views, Whole Foods Market somehow managed to be one of only two Fortune 500 companies listed among the 25 Best Companies to Work For in 2005.

And now here he is, a former uber hippy, who ran a health food store – quoting Margaret Thatcher and opposing Mr. Obama’s takeover of our healthcare system.

John Mackey proves there is hope for all of us.

I'm ... dazzled! Mr. Mackey, this non-vegetarian salutes you.

A Society Of Children

2009-08-12T08:15:00.007-04:00

This is "old" (June 13), but I just found it -- Mark Steyn: Retreat into Apathy - A society of children cannot survive

When President Obama tells you he’s “reforming” health care to “control costs,” the point to remember is that the only way to “control costs” in health care is to have less of it. In a government system, the doctor, the nurse, the janitor, and the Assistant Deputy Associate Director of Cost-Control System Management all have to be paid every Friday, so the sole means of “controlling costs” is to restrict the patient’s access to treatment. In the Province of Quebec, patients with severe incontinence — i.e., they’re in the bathroom twelve times a night — wait three years for a simple 30-minute procedure. True, Quebeckers have a year or two on Americans in the life-expectancy hit parade, but, if you’re making twelve trips a night to the john 365 times a year for three years, in terms of life-spent-outside-the-bathroom expectancy, an uninsured Vermonter may actually come out ahead.

As Louis XV is said to have predicted, “Après moi, le deluge” — which seems as incisive an observation as any on a world in which freeborn citizens of the wealthiest societies in human history are content to rise from their beds every half-hour every night and traipse to the toilet for yet another flush simply because a government bureaucracy orders them to do so. “Health” is potentially a big-ticket item, but so’s a house and a car, and most folks manage to handle those without a Government Accommodation Plan or a Government Motor Vehicles System — or, at any rate, they did in pre-bailout America.

Read it all at the link (NRO).

UPDATE: Heh ... Now go watch Treacher be funny. :-)

Pants. On. Fire.

2009-08-11T17:43:00.011-04:00

From BreitbartTV, via comments at AoSHQ. Y'all watchin' them health care debates on C-SPAN? Why not?!?

The always to-the-point Nice Deb blogs (with the supporting video I've been meaning to post all week, plus quotes from the world's other biggest liar -- Michael Moore -- on his admiration for Obama's rope-a-dope health care strategy):

Surreal: Obama Says He Has “Not Said That He Is A Single Payer Supporter”

She also attended one of Claire McCaskill's Town Hall meetings (at which, oddly enough [rolls eyes], McCaskill was no-show, but the event still proved interesting):

Claire McCaskill Town Hall, Blue Springs MO

And, as if all that was not enough, she posts another video I meant to do:

Hopey Changey Uniter Contradicts Himself…In Same Speech!

She has many other good posts on the debate, so scroll away. Thanks, Nice Deb, for doing what I and my failing laptop did not do. *bows*

UPDATE: Ace, more on health care:

Fishism Watch: Everything That Guy Just Said Was a Lie, Including the "Uhhh's" and "Ummm's"

Even the NYT disputes Obama's claim that you'd be able to "keep your current insurance."

Here's the NYT on these assurances, which they politely call "aspirational" only. As in, a lie.

These assurances reflect an aspiration, but may not be literally true or enforceable.

The legislation does not require insurers or employers to continue offering the health benefits they now provide. The House bill sets detailed standards for “acceptable health care coverage,” which would define “essential benefits” and permissible co-payments. Employers that already offer insurance would have five years to bring their plans into compliance with the new federal standards.

The Senate health committee bill goes somewhat further by offering an “option to retain current insurance coverage.”

The legislation could have significant implications for individuals who have bought coverage on their own. Their policies might be exempted from the new standards, but the coverage might not be viable for long because insurers could not add benefits or enroll additional people in noncompliant policies.

Dallas L. Salisbury, president of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a private nonpartisan group, said: “The president and Democrats in Congress are saying what they would like. Their promises may not be literally true because your health plan may change, and your doctor may no longer accept your insurance.”

You won't keep your coverage.

By design.

The Castaways, 1965:

One note: I will not be unhappy if the voting public lets Teh Won, and large segment of Congress, go in 2010/2012.

A Belated Happy Birthday To Teh Won

2009-08-05T08:41:00.002-04:00

Antigua gave him a mountain, but somehow I like Glen Beck's gift better:

H/T Weasel Zippers

Oooooooooooooo

2009-07-25T03:38:00.004-04:00

You Stay Here While I Swim and Get Us Some Universal Health Care

Special Guest Commentary
by Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA)

The statistics are sobering: the cost of American health care is rising almost as fast as the cold, briny water bubbling up from our floorboards. So far we have already lost the 8-track player and several Vic Damone tapes, and if allowed to continue these trends threaten to engulf all of us within the Oldsmobile. We must quickly wake up and face the facts: inaction is no longer an option. That is why it is critical for the future of all the occupants that one of us swim off and get us some kind of free health care program. I nominate me.

Why me, you ask? As I explained to you back at the party, I am passionate about many things. Politics, sailing, the art of Leroy Niemann, Dewar's, my etchings. And let's not forget that sweet tight body of yours, which I must say looks stunning in the watery glow of the dashboard lights. But did I also mention my passion for universal heath care? Hey Baby, ol' Teddy Bear is all about that. As the Conscience of the Senate, I have led the fight to win comprehensive national medical benefits for you and other vulnerable Boiler Room Girls who have been denied coverage by their heartless employers. I fervently believe we're all on this boat together. Okay, Oldsmobile. Now, if you'll just let go of my arm, I'll make a break for it and continue the fight for your health care rights back at my lawyer's office.

Iowahawk! (Who else could it be?) READ THE REST!!!

UPDATE: The incomparable Milton Friedman on socialized medicine.

Thanks to the also incomparable baldilocks.

What's With These Chicks?

2009-07-22T03:24:00.002-04:00

And I say that as a chick myself.

Two terrific takedowns of female MSM journos this week, one the unabashedly liberal Maureen Dowd of the NYT, the other the allegedly conservative Peggy Noonan of Reagan speech-writer fame.

Jeffrey Lord, of the American Spectator, on MoDo -- The Unbearable Whiteness of Being Maureen Dowd:

So how does the Times stable of Op-Ed columnists stack up against the standards "White Mo" Dowd sets for the rest of us? You know, one's race being critical in order "to bring a fresh perspective" and avoid the "disgrace" of being "stocked with white men."

Of the eleven columnists the Times advertises as its team of Op-Ed page writers, nine are whites. Of those nine, seven are -- ouch! -- the disgracefully whitest of white men! Which is another way of saying 81% of the Times Op-Ed columnists are white (White Mo included) and 77% of the columnist team is, to use White Mo's phrase about the Supreme Court, "stocked with white men" -- guys like Frankly White Rich who are as white as sheets. If one is obsessed with viewing everyone and everything in America through the prism of race, then the 88% white New York Times editorial board and the white paper's stable of 81% white columnists clearly don't read their own editorials. No wonder Black Bob Herbert is so cranky all the time. One of the two black tokens on the Op-Ed page, Black Bob is forced to work with more white guys than David Duke. Black Bob would actually see more black faces if his white bosses let him take the company limo and its black driver over to New Haven to catch the next five-alarm. As for a wise Latina or Latino on the page? Nada.

That Times Editorial Board 15-2 ratio, however, is precisely the kind of thing that supposedly drives White Mo crazy. Or at least when it involves the Supreme Court or New Haven firemen and not her own turf. She somehow must hope the rest of us have forgotten that neither White Mo nor the whiteys writing those Times editorials with White Rosie wanted the only black man now sitting on the US Supreme Court to be there at all. Justice Clarence Thomas's very nomination, the Times foamed at the time in language worthy of The Birth of a Nation, was designed to "incite." Got that? You don't wanna put any black man on the Court who upsets the white massa's of the Times by going the uppity route.

Stuart Schwartz, at American Thinker, on Noonan -- Peggy Noonan, Sarah Palin Jealous:

You're Peggy Noonan and you're jealous. But it's not the normal kind of jealous, the kind reserved for girlfriends who can squeeze into size 2 jeans. No, it's the kind of jealous that hurts, that grabs your gut and twists, that has you howling with rage into your pillow in the middle of the night, screaming "It's not fair" like a two-year-old denied another piece of cake. It is Sarah Palin jealous...and it is consuming you.

You're Peggy Noonan and you're jealous. You are a card-carrying member of the intellectual conservative elite, a PBS-anointed expert on family values who worked for both Ronald Reagan and Dan Rather, a talented speechwriter and wordsmith. And you are fuming: Sarah Palin refuses to be yesterday's news. You just can't get her out of your mind.

And, what's worse, everyone continues to talk about her. You've tried everything, using your mainstream media platforms, your Wall Street Journal columns, and powerful friends -- so many of them -- to savage her, to give her a rhetorical beating so fierce that it would bring a smile to the face of Vince McMahon -- if you knew who he is, and if you had ever watched a WWE wrestling match, which he heads. "She is a complete elite confection. She might as well have been a bonbon," you wrote, your $300 manicured fingers shaking on the keyboard.

Read 'em both -- they're worth it.

Play Dead

2009-07-20T22:19:00.001-04:00

Stoaty Weasel has started a Dead Pool, with a fabulous prize, donated by the esteemed country gentleman, Uncle B. Dive in!

Good boy.

Well, Well, Well, You're Feeling Fine

2009-07-20T22:18:00.016-04:00

Seniors and about-to-be-seniors-Boomers (of which I am one), wake the hell up. If you don't think your ass is going to be out on an ice floe if this thing passes, you're crazy. The only way this abomination can work is with extreme rationing of care ... you know, that horrible thing that eeeevil "Big Business HMOs" started doing when that total coverage model for every hangnail, burp and damaged hair follicle was found to be unsustainable. C'mon ... you were screaming about it constantly!!!ELEVENTY!!!!

1. If it was in any way beneficial, wouldn't the hogs at the trough in Congress be taking it for themselves first, instead of staying outside of it?

2. Who is expendable? Not young, working taxpayers. Or "the children." Can you say Booooomers? Sure you can. And the largest generation in the history of ever is on the cusp of becoming the largest, health-challenged demographic in the history of ever.

Found at American Digest, via Aardvarks and Asshats.

UPDATE: This, from Carin at Is This Blog On? on healthcare in France.

UPDATE II: The NY Post, Perils of Obamacare: The Three Big Lies.

UPDATE: Another video, as the first is inop:

This Is The Moonwalk I'm Interested In

2009-07-20T21:25:00.008-04:00

Video and commentary at AoSHQ, and all over teh innernets.

It's unbelievable to me that it's been 40 years. I remember watching it with my dad, whose main comment when it was over was, "If I could do that tomorrow, I'd die happy the next day." It was enthralling.

For the "Moon Truthers," there's this from genghis (AoSHQ again, complete with video of Buzz Aldrin giving a Troofer a knuckle sandwich), and this (LOL) from the comments.

Then, there's this, from The Onion (hilariously obscene content warning).

UPDATE: Iowahawk, One Giant Leap: Come on America, Let's Put a Congress on the Moon.

UPDATE II: Frank J. @IMAO, Space Mocks Us - And With Good Reason.

Official Endorsement

2009-07-15T08:10:00.002-04:00

Be sure to watch the "new plan to revive Chrysler" video here.

Sarahcuda

2009-07-05T14:29:00.010-04:00

Victor Davis Hanson -- at NRO.

Russ from Winterset -- at AoSHQ.

Andrea Harris (two different links) -- at Spleenville HQ.

The Anchoress -- at First Things.

Mark Levin -- at marklevinshow.com (show of 07/03/09).

Tim Blair -- at The Daily Telegraph.

Doctor Zero -- at HotAir's Greenroom.

Jay Valentine -- at American Thinker.

MataHarley -- at Flopping Aces.

What they said.

UPDATE 07/07/09: Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark.

David Kahane -- at NRO.

John F'n Kerry:

2009-06-25T10:29:00.004-04:00

Still stupid, and just as funny as Letterman.

Also: Favorite new right-wing haterz name for Teh Won -- "Lord of the Flyswatters."

Heh.

Bumper Sticker

2009-04-30T19:48:00.010-04:00

From the comments at AoSHQ, in this post: Obama Just Plain Makes up "150,000 Jobs" He's "Saved or Created" So Far; No One in Press Seems Curious of Provenance of This Fictional Figure

Commenter David in PHX for now: O < W

Yeah, no kiddin'. I wish he'd gotten around to saving my job. However, as of last Wednesday, I and 4 others (from an 8-person department) have been terminated. Not to mention the scores of others, from other departments and buildings, that were still being "escorted" to the parking lot as I was leaving and after I was long gone. 28 years, will get less than half of what I would have gotten for retirement if I'd stuck it out for 5 more years, well too young for Social Security. Have done nothing for a week but desperately look for some -- any -- job to tide me over for a bit, and ... nothing. The first place I looked was Kelly Services, searched all 4 major metro areas around where I'm at (Detroit, Ann Arbor, Flint, Lansing): Put every category in the search that might have something I could/would qualify for, came up with ...

Zero. Not just nothing interesting. Not just nothing decently-compensated. Not just nothing poorly-compensated.

Just. Nothing. And that's what I've gotten from every inquiry after that, as well.

I Love This Guy

2009-04-21T22:32:00.004-04:00

Zo, from Big Hollywood:

Janeane Garafolo says the tea parties were a gathering of racists.

Strange, that these racists would welcome a black man to speak at their racist gathering at the state capital.

I wasn’t expecting to speak, I just went up to get some footage for PJTV, but the organizer of the Tea Party found out I was there, and requested I come up and say a few words. How racist!!!

If you’re a right winger and are tired of the media painting you as racist, spread this vid and watch the left downplay it and expose themselves even more as the true racists!

God bless, ya!

Go get 'em, Zo!

UPDATE: The Black Sphere on Racist Garofalo to the Rescue.

Want

2009-04-09T01:35:00.009-04:00

2010 Chevrolet Camaro

Video, filmed at my place of work - Yay! (Not me driving, unfortunately)

Oh yeah, and Iowahawk! for Car Czar.

LATER: Zo on bootstraps, with a shout at the end to the Camaro. :-)

A Peek Into The (Your) Future

2009-03-27T19:44:00.009-04:00

From Yahoo News:

Spokane Residents Smuggle Suds Over Green Brands

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, Associated Press Writer

SPOKANE, Wash. – The quest for squeaky-clean dishes has turned some law-abiding people in Spokane into dishwater-detergent smugglers. They are bringing Cascade or Electrasol in from out of state because the eco-friendly varieties required under Washington state law don't work as well. Spokane County became the launch pad last July for the nation's strictest ban on dishwasher detergent made with phosphates, a measure aimed at reducing water pollution. The ban will be expanded statewide in July 2010, the same time similar laws take effect in several other states.

But it's not easy to get sparkling dishes when you go green.

Many people were shocked to find that products like Seventh Generation, Ecover and Trader Joe's left their dishes encrusted with food, smeared with grease and too gross to use without rewashing them by hand. The culprit was hard water, which is mineral-rich and resistant to soap.

(Ed. - Shocked! Shocked!! I tell you ....)

As a result, there has been a quiet rush of Spokane-area shoppers heading east on Interstate 90 into Idaho in search of old-school suds.

*snip*

Phosphates — the main cleaning agent in many detergents and household cleaners — break down grease and remove stains. However, the chemicals are difficult to remove in wastewater treatment plants and often wind up in rivers and lakes, where they promote the growth of algae. And algae gobble up oxygen in the water that fish need to survive.

While traditional detergents are up to 9 percent phosphate, those sold in Spokane County can contain no more than 0.5 percent.

*snip*

Among other states that have banned or are banning phosphates in dishwasher detergent are Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan, Vermont, Minnesota, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York. A bill on Capitol Hill would impose a nationwide ban.

The Soap and Detergent Association, which represents manufacturers, initially fought the bans. But as the movement gained strength across the country, the association asked legislatures to delay bans until July 2010 to allow for a uniform rollout of products.

The industry has been working to develop better low-phosphate detergents, said Dennis Griesing, vice president of the manufacturers group.

"This is an irrevocable, nationwide commitment on the industry's part," he said.

For his part, Beck has taken to washing his dishes on his machine's pots-and-pans cycle, which takes longer and uses five gallons more water. Beck wonders if that isn't as tough on the environment as phosphates.

"How much is this really costing us?" Beck said. "Aren't we transferring the environmental consequences to something else?"

Ahhh, coming to Michigan ... I can hardly wait. "A bill on Capitol Hill would impose a nationwide ban." -- There's one o' them now for pretty much everything I can think of, isn't there? I went through 20+ years, 3 kids worth of hand dish-washing: Couldn't have a dishwasher, as there was no place big enough to put it. Moved and finally got one 2 years ago .... Arrrrgggh.

P.S. A certain Badger questions Brit environmental chimney rules (see comments).

UPDATE: Ace -- Spain's Experience Proves That Obama's "Green Jobs" Are In Fact Lost Jobs

This is a simple enough matter: If you make the cost of energy more dependent on manpower -- "more jobs" -- it inflates the cost of energy. This is not rocket science, here. If a shirt costs $4 to make when I have one guy making it, sure, I can have three guys making it in a less efficient manner, and sure, I'll have created two jobs. Trouble is -- the shirt now costs $10 to make and I can sell less of them.

The same thing happens with energy. These "green jobs" simply represent additions to the most serious cost of producing anything, namely, human labor. Yes, I can "add" green jobs by forcing energy producers to produce energy less efficiently and more expensively. Taking it to an extreme, I can simply pay ten million people to jog inside giant hamster-wheels 24 hours per day, producing electricity in that manner.

So sure, I'll have "created" ten million jobs.

Trouble is, now I am selling a kilowatt of energy for a thousand bucks, thus destroying all industry that relies on energy, which is to say, all of them.

Let's Just Make This Post A Leetle Bit Longer, 'K?: From (aptly-monikered) commenter George Orwell, at the Ace post link above:

23 I have seen the future. And it doesn't work.

This won't be a tyranny of jackboots and bayonets, it will be more like having every human interaction resemble a visit to the DMV. I sympathize with the common posts here, talking about buying ammo and guns, stocking up on gold and canned food. But it will never come to that. Modern industrial society will not take up arms in any sort of civil war when virtually everyone is guaranteed three squares, cable TV, and a few hundred square feet to call home. Taking up arms would be useless at any rate, in the modern West. The new soft tyranny will not consist of Khmer Rouge retreads herding people like cattle. It won't consist of bans, conscription and book-burnings. It will instead tax and regulate everything so extensively that you won't be able to flush the toilet without considering the extra penalty you will incur on your water/energy/air bill. They won't prohibit you from flushing. You will just have to pay an extra dollar or two when you exceed your water quota. Mulitply that by thirty days and you start to see your bills mount. Like smoking, your activities won't be proscribed. Just restricted to the nth degree. You can smoke, it's not illegal. Just not in a bar. Or in a public park. Or in your backyard. Or within 300 yards of a school or hospital. Or in your car if you have windows down. Or up, as the smoke has to leave the car eventually. Or if you get any medical care paid in any fraction by government managed bureaucracies like Medicare. They won't prohibit sale of tobacco, just raise the price of a pack to $35 dollars with taxes. See? No tyranny. Just intelligent management of public risks.

Why go on about smoking? Because the very tactics the anti-smoking fascists used on tobacco have been applied elsewhere and will apply to the future, whether we are talking about energy or cigars. Wanna see a glimpse of the Nation Below Canada in twenty years? Imagine every business treated like tobacco companies. Enjoy.

Posted by: George Orwell at March 27, 2009 05:03 PM

Oh Hell, Longer Still: Two more extremely worthy links.

Kevin Jackson/The Black Sphere: Obama Jobs Plan Calls For More Tea

White Lily At Home: “Joe the Dentist:” A Case Study in Marginal Wealth Taxation

What is this place, and why am I in this handbasket?

We Need An Army Of This Guy

2009-03-25T23:46:00.002-04:00

No, not Phil Donahue (brrrrrrr) -- Milton Friedman.

H/T John Romano at Big Hollywood.

President Karaoke

2009-03-20T15:06:00.008-04:00

H/T AoSHQ commenter Damiano, who says "Krauthammer is on fire."

It is time for the president to state the obvious: This recession is not caused by excessive executive compensation in government-controlled companies. The economy has been sinking because of a lack of credit, stemming from a general lack of confidence, stemming from the lack of a plan to detoxify the major lending institutions, mainly the banks, which, to paraphrase Willie Sutton, is where the money used to be.

Obama has been strangely passive about this single greatest threat to the country. In his address to Congress and his budget, he's been far more interested in his grand program for reshaping the American social contract in health care, energy and education.

Read the rest here.

UPDATE: Damiano again, Britains's Daily Telegraph with "Top 10 Gaffes by Barack Obama & Joe Biden."

UDATE: Stoaty Weasel and Rachel Lucas have similar thoughts on Prez Karaoke.

Then there's Iowahawk, with "Let's Hear It For The Tards." Lemur King expounds and illustrates.

Reagan/Obama mashup video - Uncanny how every one of Reagan's words can be applied to today.

Spendulus!

2009-02-20T17:55:00.005-05:00

Heh. Found here.

Blog Nap

2009-02-16T12:29:00.006-05:00

1. My laptop broke.

2. The Spendulus Bill has me so gobsmacked that I have nothing to say.

I ran out of gas. I ... I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts. IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD.

zzzzZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzZzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz

Posted from an undisclosed location.

I SO Love This

2009-01-31T23:53:00.009-05:00

My guitar-playing sis sent this to me, and it's wonderful. Frank Vignola and others playing a medley of Hoagy Carmichael's beautiful Stardust with the Tommy Dorsey band's signature tune, I'm Getting Sentimental Over You. It's the most unsentimental version of that number I've ever heard, and it swings like crazy.

More on music: Mark Steyn on the Jerome Kern /Dorothy Fields number Pick Yourself Up, which was recalled to him by a line from (of all places) Obama's Inauguration speech. (Mark's complete take on that here with The Audacity of Dull). It's from the Astaire/Rogers gem Swing Time, and Mr. Steyn says:

On screen, it’s one of their best numbers together. Astaire’s delightful in his game efforts to dance badly, landing on the floor just in time to be admonished by Rogers to pick himself up, dust himself off, start all over again. Then, after she says disgustedly, “I can’t teach you anything”, Astaire goes into a machine-gun rat-a-tat-tat and sweeps her up and across the floor. This is one of Ginger’s best numbers: watch the way she’s initially bewildered and tentative over Fred’s sudden display of virtuoso terpsichore and then surrenders to the pure joy of the moment.

Here's the clip from Swing Time:

*sigh* I just bought the DVD of that flick - Now I must go watch it.

UPDATE: (Next day) Yep, I watched it, and now I have to include this - A Fine Romance, "a sarcastic love song."

A FINE ROMANCE (1936)
Dorothy Fields & Jerome Kern

A fine romance, with no kisses;
A fine romance, my friend, this is.
We should be like a couple of hot tomatoes -
But you're cold as
Yesterday's mashed potatoes.

A fine romance, you won't nestle;
A fine romance, you won't wrestle.
I've never mussed the crease in your blue serge pants -
I never have the chance,
This is a fine romance.

A fine romance, my good fellow,
You take romance, I'll take Jell-o.
You're calmer than the seals in the Arctic Ocean -
At least they flap their fins
To express emotion.

A fine romance, with no quarrels;
With no insults and all morals.
You're just as hard to land as the Ile de France -
I never get the chance,
This is a fine romance.

A fine romance, with no kisses;
A fine romance, my friend, this is.
True love should have the thrills that a healthy clime has;
We don't have half the thrills
That the March of Time has.

A fine romance, with no clinches;
A fine romance, with no pinches.
You never give the orchids I send a glance,
No, you like cactus plants!
This is a fine romance.

Again ... *sigh*.

Snort

2009-01-31T11:33:00.002-05:00

Jim Treacher is teh funny.

From the 4th link above, re: the "Hollywood Pledge" to serve our reborn nation:

Have you ever spent time around children? I did, before the court order. When a little kid doesn't get what he wants, the adult who has thwarted his will is, to borrow a phrase, the Worst Person in the World. But the second that kid gets what he wants, everything is suddenly wonderful. It's like for the last 8 years, Bush was the mean babysitter who didn't let Ashton Kutcher and Ashley Judd eat ice cream for dinner and stay up past their bedtime. But now they've got a new babysitter and he's so cool and he's promising all sorts of amazing things and oh isn't everything just totally super awesome?

Spot on.

Read It ...

2009-01-22T18:00:00.005-05:00

and weep (with laughter): Iowahawk does Homer (this one, not this one).

Book the Eighth: The Contest of November

"Who dares challenge me now?" asked Obamacles. "For I am Obamacles,
vanquisher of Hildusa, of whom all of Demos sing;
Make him the mightiest, so that I might find him worthy."

"Your foe will be the grizzled warrior Crustius," said the Doritos,
As Obamacles laughed in disbelief; for though brave Crustius
had once proved great valor in the tragic war of Namos,
He had grown old and addled sailing the Sea of Maverikus.
In years a full score he sailed, seeking the fabled Microphone of Media,
Only to crash on its shoals, lured to doom by the flattery of the Sirens.

"Be not hasty in thy hubris, Obamacles," warned the Doritos.
"Although he is old and stranded and beset by mutineers,
grizzled Crustius is far craftier than in your imaginings."

True to the prophesy of the Doritos, wily Crustius had a secret trick up his toga.
From his rock-strewn shipwreck he summoned Palina, huntress of Wasilla,
Whose fertile loins had many odd-named children bore,
Bristol and Trig, Dakota and Algebra, Calculus and Physed,
And yet she retained the visage and figure of a goddess.

Palina emerged from the sea, springing fully formed from a clamshell,
Brandishing the spear that had slain a thousand antlered beasts.
Once mutinous, the Crustonauts were instantly heartened,
For now they and sensed a chance at victory.

Although his pollsters warned of danger, Obamacles was stalwart
For he knew just how he got here. "Attack," he beckoned very calmly,
And from across the land of Soros, a thousand score of demons answered;
HuffPo nutjobs, New York Kronos, the shrieking hags of talk TV,
Couric, Fey, Oprah, Behar, the hermaphrodites of NBC.

Palina was undaunted by the minions and thus she battled gamely on.
But at last she was attacked by Crustius himself;
For so addled and contrary was the wizened sailor
That he had forgotten which side he was on.
Vanquished Palina returned to Wasilla to fight another day,
While Crustius sails again, forever seeking the elusive Sirens of Media.

Just Because They're Funny

2009-01-19T00:34:00.006-05:00

Monty Python's Flying Circus:

Mel Brooks, History of the World Part 1:

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

For Inauguration Day, These Are The Laws of My Administration - Groucho Marx & Margaret Dumont, Duck Soup (1933):

Groucho - Whatever It Is, I'm Against It - Horse Feathers (1932)

Just remember, there's still one place for all of us - The Brotherhood of Man! One of my favorite movie performances, Robert Morse as the manic, devilish-yet-still-endearing J. Pierpont Finch in 1967's How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying - Music and lyrics Frank Loesser.

Two New Things

2009-01-17T22:17:00.005-05:00

First thing: Breitbart's Big Hollywood, a conservative look at entertainment, media and politics. Started two weeks ago, it's a good read made only better by this week's addition of Iowahawk as one of their commenters, here with Mark Your Time, Hu-Mans! -- Subhead: Special Guest Commentary by Waxulon-6, Lord High Admiral of the Kremulakian Earth Invaders, The Being Formerly Known as Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), complete with the most hideous pic of Rep. Waxman I've yet seen (and that's saying something).

Second thing: I meant to write something about last week's 2008 Weblog Awards, but never found the time. There were some interesting contests, probably the most being the upset in the Best Conservative Blog category, where the self-proclaimed Grim Rodents of Canuckistan trumped the Death Card (fine and funny blogs, both). As usual, the act of voting brought to my attention some things I might not have found otherwise, at least not as soon. My favorite was The Black Sphere, in the Best New Blog category. I usually only vote for blogs I've already been reading through the year, but clicked on this one out of curiosity and read enough to be happy to give it my vote. Good writing and some spew-inducingly funny photoshops. Sphere did not win the category, but I have a feeling it will be a strong contender in the Best Conservative or another category the future. Go -- Read -- Make it so!

UPDATE: Christopher Taylor at Word Around the Net blog has a nice writeup on Big Hollywood.

I wanted to give a plug for this blog because it gives a little different perspective on Hollywood and says things that you won't generally get on celebrity and movie sites. For example I like the Movie Blog, but it is violently anti-Bush and far left. It also is preening and supportive of Hollywood to get contacts and keep their status up for scoops and attention - and the originator of the Move Blog is a budding director. It's like schmoozing, you act like you like people, avoid the things they don't like, and they might be nice to you. Big Hollywood doesn't do that. It isn't deliberately offensive or confrontational, it just doesn't avoid the things that the powers in Hollywood want avoided.

More Basie Worship

2009-01-08T00:35:00.007-05:00

I may just go on forever, posting all the songs I looooove.

The Count Basie Orchestra, In A Mellotone:

I'm sure Trombonology would agree that's some hot trombone-ing. For another great version of this tune, see this CD:

Stuff Smith - Dizzy Gillespie - Oscar Peterson (the whole CD is a keeper)

Now that I've mentioned Stuff, I need Stuff stuff:

The tune is Bugle Call Blues. He has a completely different style than Venuti (mentioned below), but I admire them both immensely.

Back to Basie - With Oscar Peterson, Slow Blues:

Piano heaven! One commenter at YouTube says, simply, "Elegant." And how.

One more Basie-Peterson, doing one of the Basie Band's signature numbers, Jumpin' At The Woodside.

Finally, from the 1955 movie Rhythm and Blues Review, the Basie Band and One O'clock Jump:

Basie Worship Part 1 here.

My Sister Is Funny

2009-01-03T00:42:00.004-05:00

I was emailing back-and-forth with my sis (mentioned in the post below), and I asked her if she'd seen the pic of the shirtless PE Obambi that was sending the press into such paroxysms of ecstasy -- see The Anchoress for a good roundup. She said she had, and that all she could think of was a Ren & Stimpy episode entitled Ren's Pecs, where, according to Nickelodeon:

After being tired of being pushed around on the beach one too many times. Ren's dream of having huge muscles comes true, after Stimpy makes a personal sacrifice (the fat in his butt!)

I had missed this gem, so I had to look around the Web for it. Apparently, after the operation, Ren goes off to Hollywood and Stimpy is lonely and sings this song:

I wonder if Obambi used butt-fat? If so, whose?

Totally unrelated, other than it came from the same conversation: A video of Joe Venuti, my favorite Jazz violinist, playing Sweet Georgia Brown (Italy, 1974). Joe was not only a consummate musician, but a tireless prankster, and the stories were legend. From the link:

Did Venuti really get a piano pushed out of a hotel window and make a bet on what pitch it would sound when it hit the ground? When a saxophone player’s tapping foot bugged him, did he really nail the guy’s shoe to the bandstand? While on a live TV show sponsored by a hair cream, did Venuti show his bald spot and remark that’s what the product had done for him? Did he actually send Wingy Manone, the one-armed trumpeter, a single cuff link as a Christmas present one year?

The great thing about scat-singing is that it does not require translation from the original Italian. Joe was quite a handsome devil in his youth:

Sort of youthful Ray Milland, pre-Lost Weekend. Hubba hubba!

Some Of My Favorite Songs Are

2009-01-02T04:39:00.016-05:00

...extremely old (in case you haven't noticed). I like the old versions, and am overjoyed when someone comes up with a nifty new one.

My sister - pictured above in her precocious youth - has bought 3 new guitars in, like, a month. If she wasn't so good, I'd think she was cwazy. (I have a brother who's also an excellent musician). Anyway, this has prompted a lot of guitar discussions. I normally lean toward pianists (from Fats Waller, Nat Cole & Count Basie to Leon Russell & Ray Charles), but I do love me some Chet Atkins.

Here's Atkins and Suzy Bogguss, with fiddle player Johnny Gimble, doing one of my old favorites, After You've Gone (1918, composer Turner Layton, lyrics by Henry Creamer):

Next, Atkins and Mark Knopfler, I'll See You In My Dreams (1924, composer Isham Jones, lyrics Gus Kahn):

"British Invasion" duo Chad & Jeremy, Willow, Weep For Me (1932, Ann Ronell):

Just for good measure, The Mamas and The Papas, Dream A Little Dream Of Me (1931, composers Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt, lyrics by Gus Kahn). It's not really a video, just a shot of the album cover, but the sound quality is good:

Eric Clapton, Nobody Knows You (When You're Down And Out) (1923, Jimmie Cox):

Piano & Big Band - Dr. John & Rickie Lee Jones, Makin' Whoopee (1928, composer Walter Donaldson, lyrics Gus Kahn):

One more piano! Diana Krall (another non-video video) doing If I Had You (1928, Ted Shapiro, Jimmy Campbell & Reginald Connelly):

A song I love so much, I bought this old sheet music - I even love the cover:

The Prince of Wales' favorite fox trot! That's the abdicated Edward, not upChuck - a king, dear, uncrowned.

I Love To Singa

2009-01-02T03:38:00.007-05:00

I've already mentioned my fondness for Cab Calloway - Here he is with Al Jolson, doing I Love To Singa, from the movie The Singing Kid, in 1936. My dad hated Jolson, but I find him sort of weirdly fascinating.

My most favorite version of that song is this one, though - "Owl Jolson" in a WB Merry Melodies cartoon, also 1936.

You hotcha!
You crooner!
You falsetto!
You ... Jazz singer!!!

The 12 Days Of Global Warming

2008-12-27T19:52:00.012-05:00

UPDATE: I Talk To The Trees (but they don't listen to me) Edition: Come on, somebody try to convince me that these people aren't stark raving mad....

It's not too late for a little Ho-Ho-Ho:

Put together by the blog Minnesotans For Global Warming, found via The Enlightened Redneck.

Tim Blair says, "Stop doing everything." I love the caption under the picture.

LATER: Gabe Malor has a post at AoSHQ, 2008 Was the Beginning of the End for the Global Warming Hoax. He writes:

Back in July, I wrote "I suspect that we’ll look back on this year as the tipping point when the theory of anthropogenic global warming begins to go the way of the dodo." Now that the year is almost over, it's nice to see I'm not alone in that assessment.

Check the links, as they tell the full story (a prior post by Malor, the UK Telegraph and Powerline blog). The comments are also good -- My favorite:

Having no life, one rainy day I actually read the IPCC report summary, itself a hefty document. Guess what? There never was scientific consensus, only political consensus. The written conventions of the document explain as much. Whenever there is a statement to be made about warming, they use phrases like, "likely to cause", "probably caused", "is unlikely" and the phrase used is the result of a) a review of the literature and b) the various parties to the report then wrangling over the proper phrase to use. So, the science is reviewed and a bunch of bureaucrats then wrestle over the most acceptable way to phrase a statement and when they reach agreement, consensus is achieved. The underlying science hasn't changed and if 49 studies say we're not warming and 51 say we do and the bureaucrats finally agree to say that we are "possibly" boiling fish where they swim in the Arctic, then that is what the rat-bastard, panic-inducing, crisis-of-the-moment media report as being scientific consensus. I hope a polar bear eats their asses.

Posted by: DaveyNC at December 28, 2008 10:00 AM

I hope they're right, but I don't see the warmies giving up on it easily. It's religion for people who feel a need for something, but don't like God. It has penances, indulgences, dispensation, a structured belief-system and Apocalypse! It orders their disordered lives.

Merry Christmas, One And All!

2008-12-25T00:13:00.004-05:00

I'll Be Home For Christmas -- Bing Crosby (1943)

The Christmas Song -- Nat 'King' Cole (1953)

White Christmas -- Jo Stafford (1946)

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas -- Judy Garland (1944)

I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm -- Billie Holiday (1937)

Jingle Bells -- Benny Goodman and His Orchestra (1935)

Christmas Blues

2008-12-23T01:43:00.012-05:00

It's old (as they say at AoSHQ), but it's one of the first things that made me LOL via email, and it still cracks me up.

How To Sing The Blues

1. Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning."

2. "I got a good woman," is a bad way to begin the Blues, 'less you stick something nasty in the next line: "I got a good woman -with the meanest face in town."

3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes ... sort of: "Got a good woman - with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher - and she weigh 500 pound."

4 The Blues are not about choice. You stuck in a ditch: You stuck in a ditch, ain't no way out.

5. Blues cars: Chevys and Cadillacs and broken down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or SUV's. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft and state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.

6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.

7. Blues can take place in New York City, but not in Hawaii or any place in Canada. Hard times in St. Paul or Tucson is just depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City are still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the Blues in any place that don't get rain.

8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the Blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg 'cuz you skiing is not the Blues. Breaking your leg 'cuz an alligator be chomping on it is.

9. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.

10. Good places for the Blues:
a. highway
b. jailhouse
c. empty bed
d. bottom of a whiskey glass

Bad places:
a. Ashrams
b. gallery openings
c. Ivy League institutions
d. golf courses

11. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be an old man, and you slept in it.

12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues?

Yes, if:
a. you're older than dirt
b. you're blind
c. you shot a man in Memphis
d. you can't be satisfied

No, if:
a. you have all your teeth
b. you were once blind but now can see
c. the man in Memphis lived
d. you have a retirement plan or trust fund

13. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the Blues. Gary Coleman could. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the Blues.

14. If you ask for water and Baby give you gasoline, it's the Blues.

Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
a. wine
b. whiskey or bourbon
c. muddy water
d. black coffee

The following are NOT Blues beverages:
a. mixed drinks
b. kosher wine
c. Snapple
d. sparkling water

15. If it occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So is the electric chair, substance abuse, and dying lonely in a broken down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or getting liposuction.

16. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie
b. Big Mama
c. Bessie
d. Fat River Dumpling

17. Some Blues names for men:
a. Joe
b. Willie
c. Little Willie
d. Big Willie

18. Persons with names like Sierra, Sequoia, and Rainbow can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.

19. Make yer own Blues name (starter kit):

a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.)
b. first name (see above) plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Kiwi, etc.)
c. last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.)

For example, Blind Lime Jefferson or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc.

20. I don't care how tragic your life; you own a computer, you cannot sing the Blues. You best destroy it. Use fire, a spilled bottle of Mad Dog, or shotgun. Maybe your big woman just done sit on it. I don't care.

Apparently there are no prohibitions against being a cookie:

The real deal: Merry Christmas, Baby -- Charles Brown.

LATER: Here's a guy I've always liked -- Leon Russell -- It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry (1971)

Well

2008-12-20T12:21:00.008-05:00

That's certainly ... different. I changed my template, because whilst posting videos lately, I discovered that most of the stuff at YouTube is going to wide aspect-ratio format, and the videos kept overlapping my bloglinks and pix when they were on the right side of the page. This way they don't do that, but they hit the margin and look ... messy. Also blew out some of my spacing within posts, also messy. Oddly enough, I can stand a messy house, a messy desk, but not a messy blog! So I'll be driving myself crazy trying to add spaces. Too bad I'm too dumb to make my own template. Meh.

Suffer, Excess Baggage, Suffer!

2008-12-20T12:20:00.006-05:00

This number is also from the movie "Stormy Weather" (see below).

For the video-deprived, here's a link to a RealPlayer audio of the same number:

Fats Waller & Ada Brown -- "That Ain't Right" (1943)

One never knows, do one?

Q: What's Better Than This?

2008-12-20T10:56:00.007-05:00

A: Nothin'.

Cab Calloway & the wonderful Nicholas Brothers, in a clip from the 1943 movie "Stormy Weather."

I should have said the eternally-youthful Cab Calloway. Nearly 40 years later (73 years of age), he was still tearing 'em up with his most famous number in 1980's "The Blues Brothers."

Hi-de-ho, indeed.

Wain Wednesday 31

2008-12-17T12:49:00.009-05:00

"A Cat's Christmas"

Louis Wain

Heh

2008-12-17T12:48:00.004-05:00

From Cheezburger. :-)

I Need Some Christmas Cheer

2008-12-17T12:04:00.017-05:00

As Strange Ranger reminds us, "the best presents drink from the tree water."

slurp slup gulp

And Nice Deb does great tree.

Plus, the single biggest hit-generator I ever posted, the animated Drifters "White Christmas," by Joshua Held.

I Laughed, I Cried,

2008-12-10T14:23:00.006-05:00

I damn near choked on my Earl Grey. You have to ask why? Iowahawk, of course. I have to stop reading this at work ... my office mates think I'm having fits.

First, the outrage! over Joe the Plumber having the effrontery to attempt to write ... a ... BOOK!!1!!!11! (that link to Tim Blair, with ample linky goodness to explain the controversy to those who have missed it):

Silly Plumber, Lit Is For Crits

Then (once again with Blair explanatory linkage), that little Illinois Governor flap:

BREAKING: Feds Seize Blagojevich eBay Account

I bow to thee, Iowahawk (and Blair, too).

BONUS! Play a rousing game of "Naaaame That Party!" with AoSHQ. For the lightning round, name who's the next one under the President-Elect bus (with another excellent Slu-shop).

And Carin, at Is This Blog On? muses:

At best, Obama is a dupe who couldn't recognize corruption while he was lying next to it. At worst, he knew and just attempted to make sure he wasn't smeared by it. Not very changy, if you don't care about corruption within your own party. That seems remarkably not-changy.

That's ... samey.

And Now For Something Completely Different or: A Major Link-O-Rama

2008-12-09T18:08:00.017-05:00

Someone else I love (probably because I am a blockhead), Ian Dury! (More here)

Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick

And the flip-side of the original single:

There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards

An 80s song I still love (it's one you either love or despise):

Puttin' On The Ritz - Taco

I wonder what Irving Berlin would have thought of that version of his creation. (Let alone this one). From "Irving Berlin in Hollywood," by Ian Whitcombe:

It was all very well for Broadway and Hollywood to call for the fashionable integrated song but the fact is that we remember the Berlin numbers and not the plots of these shows. Perhaps he knew this all along because after a follow-up movie, "Follow The Fleet" and other commissions for which he delivered the required work, he was happy to let Twentieth Century Fox in "Alexander's Ragtime Band" celebrate his hit-making life through a cavalcade of songs ranging from the ragtime years up to the current craze for Swing. Ethel Merman did her usual fine job of enunciating "Heat Wave" as if she possessed a built-in bullhorn. Berlin thoroughly approved of her way with his work (just as he did Jolson's and Astaire's) because she respected both words and music-something the Swing Musicians neglected, even ignored. After hearing Benny Goodman's interpretation of "Blue Skies", in which the tune got buried, he told the King of Swing: "That was the most incredible playing I've ever heard - Never do it again!"

Blue Skies -- Benny Goodman & His Orchestra (1935)

Just because, one of my favorite versions of that number by Maxine Sullivan, on whom I bestowed the highest honor that's in my power to give -- named one of my cats after her.

Blue Skies -- Maxine Sullivan & Her Orchestra (1937)

More great Maxine (the singer, not the cat):

Stop! You're Breakin' My Heart -- Claude Thornhill Orchestra with Maxine Sullivan (1937)

To prove I have the strangest musical tastes in the galaxy, here's a link to a really fine blog piece on someone else who fascinates me, Bert Williams. The whole blog is swell, nice writing with a huge range of music types. Just my thing.

Hit me! Hit me!

LATER: Unlike Allan Sherman, I still love the Beatles:

Sigh Again With The Cars

2008-12-09T17:43:00.004-05:00

I heard Robert Lutz (Vice Chairman of Global Product Development at GM) interviewed on the radio this morning, and was reminded what endeared him to me when he first assumed his post in 2001 -- This is the guy who said GM had too many vehicles that looked "like a whole family of angry kitchen appliances: demented toasters, furious bread machines and vengeful trash compactors.'' And sho' nuff, since his arrival the vehicles that exhibited that dubious style are either gone or nicely refined. Another fave is when he famously spoke of the idea of man-made global warming as "a crock of shit."

One of the vehicles that incurred his wrath was the (now kaput) Pontiac Aztek.

Yeah, I know. Our garage technicians lovingly referred to it as the Ass-Crack when it was still in production. It was actually a nice ride -- handled well; roomy, for a small vehicle; ran/accelerated nicely -- but what good is that when you had to sneak up on it in the driveway and drive with a bag over your head? Lutz once said, "We’d fire the guy who greenlighted the Aztek if we could find anyone willing to admit it.”

Anyway, Bob doesn't mince words. He's a former Marine Corps fighter pilot, and loves to fly his personal jets over the GM Proving Ground (and he flies like a crazy person). I guess I love me some cranky bastards.

"Vrroooom At The Top" -- 2002 Time mag article on Lutz.

Saving The General

2008-12-08T09:39:00.007-05:00

2008 Buick Enclave

From an email I just received (in-house at GM):

CNBC will air an updated version of their special -- Saving GM: Inside the Crisis -- Monday evening, December 8, at 10 pm eastern time. The special includes video and interviews shot over the past week pertaining to the current situation, the GM plan put forth to Congress and an extensive interview with Fritz Henderson regarding the development of the plan and its implications for GM and the industry. The program will also include a segment shot out at the Fairfax plant and a look at what the plant is doing to save cost and improve quality. The hour long program will also include video of Rick Wagoner and Bob Lutz from the earlier special which ran during the summer. I expect the program will be a fair and positive look at what's going on now and what GM is doing to conserve cash and gain support in Washington for a bridge loan. The program will also air several other times in the upcoming weeks, but a full schedule is not available at this time.

2008 Chevrolet Malibu

'Tis The Season

2008-12-07T23:40:00.008-05:00

Picture from Cheezburger.

'Zat You, Santa Claus? -- Louis Armstrong & The Commanders (1953)

LATER: It's not really a Christmas story ... and yet, each time I see their names (Maddie & Ivy), my brain wants to sing the Christmas song "The Holly and the Ivy," so maybe it is ... hmmmm ... anyway, the latest tale of these 2 cats is up at StrangeRanger. Their "conversations" always crack me up.

This Is Still Funny

2008-12-07T18:39:00.001-05:00

...and I'm going to miss W.

American Soldiers

2008-12-03T20:25:00.005-05:00

This is how I think of them. I'm tickled to death to hear a member of the French OMLT (Operational Mentoring Liaison Teams) thinking that way, too.

Found at Innocent Bystanders.

I Love Tim Blair

2008-11-26T11:14:00.010-05:00

Found this here:

More Blair goodness. We're still having some ~~global warmening~~ snow here in MI.

UPDATE: Meant to mention this, didn't want to make a whole new post: Gabe Malor prompts morons to post Thanksgiving recipes ??? at AoSHQ, and they sound excellent! (well, except the hobo stuff).

And one other highly important thing: The Weasel has landed! (See comments) The USA is down one weasel ... and one kitteh, who almost loused up the whole transfer. Best wishes for both of them (and Uncle B) in this new adventure.

AND ONE MORE THING: Heard on WJR this morning: A "virtual caravan" to support the actual caravan to Washington of the Big 3 movers and shakers. This website is to be up and running on Monday, 1 December, for interested parties.

The General

2008-11-21T13:34:00.011-05:00

Chevy HHR

From GM: "In addition to "letters to the editor" and TV interviews, GM is placing ads in major markets to tell our story."

*click to embiggen*

As one of those salaried employees who got no raise in pay (but some hefty raises in benefit costs), I say "Word."

Rick Wagoner, from the WSJ - Online:

On the cost-cutting side, we have been streamlining our U.S. operations while simultaneously improving quality and productivity. Since 2000, we have reduced our U.S. hourly workforce by 52%, from 133,000 to 64,000, through buyouts and other programs. During the same period, we have cut our U.S. salaried employment from 44,000 to fewer than 30,000, and reduced our U.S. executive ranks by 45%.

However, we know we cannot just slash our way to prosperity. We have closed the quality and productivity gaps with the imports, as confirmed by J.D. Power and Associates (the consumer ratings firm) and the Harbour Report (which benchmarks North American plant-floor performance). New GM product programs launched earlier this decade have produced award-winning cars and crossovers like the Saturn Aura, Cadillac CTS and Buick Enclave. And that is just the beginning.

Some things I learned on teh innernets this week:

1. All GM employees are either clueless, private-jet-flyin', overcompensated executives or clueless, job-bank-idlin', overcompensated UAW workers. (No and No -- there's a whole flock of overworked and frequently undercompensated salaried and contract stiffs who are coming in every day and working hard to make stuff better, and who will have no job-bank to enter if they get axed). (And even a majority in those first 2 categories mentioned are not nearly as bad as portrayed).

2. Some people bought GM (or Ford or Chrysler) vehicles in the past and they were ... baaaad. Ergo, all vehicles made by those companies are -- forever and always -- baaaad. (No -- see J.D. Power).

3. All GM vehicles are monstrous-huge gas-guzzlers (No -- see Malibu info in the Wagoner article and elsewhere on the web -- and that's not the only one).

4. Frankly, all Big Three employees should be just taken out behind the plant and shot. (Nooooooooooooooooo).

Here's A Surprise

2008-11-21T09:19:00.016-05:00

AP Photo

I heard this on WJR 760 AM this morning. Paul W. Smith, the morning host, found it surprising -- me, too.

"The Treatment Of Bush Has Been A Disgrace"

Excerpt:

The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

Well said. Recommend the article to any "52" friends.

The most surprising part: Mr. Shapiro (author Jeffrey Scott Shapiro) is an investigative reporter and lawyer who previously interned with John F. Kerry's legal team during the presidential election in 2004.

Paul W. Smith also had an interesting conversation on the auto industry with former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, which may appear later here on the podcast list for his show.

UPDATE: Archer interview is up:

Former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer tells Paul W. Smith he is not running for Governor

Yikes!

2008-11-19T08:21:00.006-05:00

Found this test via StrangeRanger (who is in less danger than I am).

Michigan 2008 By-County Election Results

2008-11-17T13:44:00.001-05:00

That lonely red county in the sea of blue is mine. At least we did our part. Meh.

FDR & The Great Depression

2008-11-17T01:44:00.009-05:00

From this past August, but I just saw it:

FDR's policies prolonged Depression by 7 years, UCLA economists calculate

By
Meg Sullivan
08/10/2004 12:23:12 PM
Two UCLA economists say they have figured out why the Great Depression dragged on for almost 15 years, and they blame a suspect previously thought to be beyond reproach: President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
After scrutinizing Roosevelt's record for four years, Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian conclude in a new study that New Deal policies signed into law 71 years ago thwarted economic recovery for seven long years.
"Why the Great Depression lasted so long has always been a great mystery, and because we never really knew the reason, we have always worried whether we would have another 10- to 15-year economic slump," said Ohanian, vice chair of UCLA's Department of Economics. "We found that a relapse isn't likely unless lawmakers gum up a recovery with ill-conceived stimulus policies."

Read the rest here.

Pretty Much

2008-11-13T13:59:00.002-05:00

...the scariest picture I've ever seen.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Happy Veteran's Day

2008-11-11T07:56:00.003-05:00

The MSM

2008-11-10T10:41:00.029-05:00

Meant to mention this from Michael S. Malone last week, but got too busy. It's old, as they say at AoSHQ, but totally worth it and now has a thoughtful followup.

Also, on the same subject, Treacher (in its entirety):

November 08, 2008

JUST TO PUT THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE

It has been 21 months since Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States.

It has been four weeks since Joe Wurzelbacher asked Barack Obama about his tax plan.

Which man do you know more about?

The Charlie Rose-Jon Meacham-Evan Thomas WTF? interview.

Funny, they're amazingly aware, now that it's over.

Also, from the fabulous Nice Deb, The Most Clueless Headline of 2008.

One guy with a clue, from Peter Hitchens/UK Daily Mail online: The night we waved goodbye to America ... our last best hope on Earth.

Bleaarrrggghhh.

(image from I Can Has Cheezburger)

UPDATE: This WTF moment brought to you by protein wisdom.

ONE MORE: Found this at Doubleplusundead, "You Stay Classy, NYT" -- and it's already changed!

First: Obama Will Visit Bush, Watching Out for
Tacks on Chairs in Oval Office

Now: A Visit Both Historic and Perhaps Awkward

ANOTHER!: From Nice Deb -- "Poor Bill Ayers. He was quite taken aback by the fact that people were appalled by his past words and actions."

AND YET ANOTHER: From Treacher (first link from AoSHQ, for background): From The 52 IQs To The 49th State -- Sorry, Sarah Palin! (Artwork by Batton Lash).

ANOTHER: (Stop posting, people, I can't keep up) IMAO -- United States?

LAST ONE: Snark Patrol says "Time To Hibernate."

W... T... F...

No Unicorns For This Girl

2008-11-06T19:55:00.007-05:00

(image swiped from SWeasel)

I should just give up all attempts at blogging and just auto-post every day -- "Go read Stoaty. Go read Iowahawk."

Stoaty:

Absolutely no analysis you read or hear in the immediate aftermath of this election will be accurate. Except this one, of course. Duh.

Iowahawk:

It's also heartening to realize that as president Mr. Obama will soon be working hand-in-hand with a former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard like Senator Robert Byrd to craft the incoherent and destructive programs that will plunge the American economy into a nightmare of full-blown sustained depression. As Vice President-Elect Joe Biden has repeatedly warned, there will be difficult times ahead and the programs will not always be popular, or even sane. But as we look out over the wreckage of bankrupt coal companies, nationalized banks, and hyperinflation, we can always look back with sustained pride on the great National Reconciliation of 2008. Call me an optimist, but I like to think when America's breadlines erupt into riots it will be because of our shared starvation, not the differences in our color.

While you're at it, read Lemur King & Treacher. Or look at some swell pictures at lizard brain. And don't get me started on the whole Palin-trashing thing.

VOTE!!!

2008-11-04T01:14:00.006-05:00

Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

Sir Winston Churchill, Speech, 1941, Harrow School

LATER: Found this at Rightwingsparkle. Ha!

How Does He Do This???

2008-10-30T16:15:00.006-04:00

Iowahawk -- Frakkin' hilarious, as usual.

As a Conservative, I Must Say I Do Quite Like the Cut of this Obama Fellow's Jib
By T. Coddington Van Voorhees VII
Columnist, The National TopsiderMembership Chairman, The Newport Club

When my late father T. Coddington Van Voorhees VI founded the iconoclastic conservative journal National Topsider in 1948, he famously declared that "Now is the time for all good conservative helmsmen to hoist the mizzen, pour the cocktails, and steer this damned schooner hard starboard." In the 60 years since he first uttered it after one-too-many Cosmopolitans at one of Pamela Harriman's notorious foreign policy black tie balls, father's pithy bon mot has served as a rallying cry for conservatives from Greenwich to Chevy Chase. Today, I say it's time for we conservatives to once again grab the rigging and set sail with the flotilla of the true conservative in this race: Barack Obama.

Trust me, I haven't taken this tack lightly. No Van Voorhees has supported an avowed socialist since great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandpapa Cragmont Van Voorhees lent Peter Minuet $24 and a sack of wampum to swing a subprime mortgage on Manhattan Island. Old dad himself often recounted how, as a lad, he would command the family chauffeur Carleton to drive the Duesenberg down to the Times Square Trans-Lux so he could hiss Roosevelt. But I've taken a good measure of this Obama fellow, and I must say I like the cut of the man's jib.

Happy Columbus Day

2008-10-13T09:44:00.004-04:00

by Sebastiano del Piombo (1485-1547)

One more reason to like Mark Steyn.

One more reason to like Stoaty Weasel (as if we needed one). :-)

No Time For The Old In-Out, Luv, I've Just Come To Read The Meter

2008-09-19T23:12:00.003-04:00

Iowahawk: Clockwork O-Rage.

Yar, Matey!

2008-09-19T00:01:00.016-04:00

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day! Link to The Pirate FAQ.

Pictures courtesy of I Can Has Cheezburger.

Some Stuff I Liked Today

2008-09-05T13:27:00.018-04:00

The above from Mike Ramirez.

Stoaty Weasel, on Hoboma, "Community organizing his own ass right into a forked stick"

LemurKing, on "The Cult of Palin-tology"

Nice Deb, on "PUMAS for Palin"

Thomas Sowell, on "Foreign-Policy 'Experience' "

Ace (who is on FIAH!), "Barracuda Bite: Mass Cancellations of Subscriptions to Obama Celebrity Magazine Us Weekly"

Iowahawk, "America Speaks Out: 'Juno' in Juneau?"

"When America's Communities Need Organizing, America's Community Organizers Will Be There to Organize Them"

Michael Reagan, "Welcome Back, Dad"

Small Dead Animals, "Palin More Popular Than Obama"

Jules Crittenden, "Fight With Me"

Dear Media

2008-09-03T16:20:00.005-04:00

Laurence Simon has a message to the electronic media:

Dear Television and Radio Stations,

Unless you're running for office yourselves, please point your cameras and microphones at the stage, sit down, and shut the fuck up.

Read the rest here. Ha!

w00t!!!!!

2008-08-29T15:47:00.024-04:00

I was stunned by this. I turned on the radio (Rush) as I was dashing about the house, getting ready for work. I heard a woman's voice talking about "my running mate" and was all ... "Huh???!? ... " I hadn't heard much of Palin's voice, but I was sure it was her. And, indeed, it was.

Frankly, I didn't think the old bastard had it in him to make this choice. Bully!

Also this - terrific - pic found at From the Maas:

And, as Stoaty Weasel puts it, "Okay, I'm in .... "

UPDATES: Nice Deb, with one of her great link-roundups.

Ace, on double standards of the MSM and experience & pork.

Rachel Lucas: "Sarah Palin's got your hope-n-change right here, bucko."

Tim Blair: "McCain Chooses."

Doubleplusundead: "It's Palin."

UK Daily Mail: Some great pics.

Brief Palin bio: At the Anchorage Daily News.

Sweetness & Light: WaPo: ‘Palin Pick Leaves Bruised Feelings’

Thomas Sowell: "Changes in Politics."

How Wonderful For Us

2008-08-25T21:30:00.002-04:00

BUMPED: Ann Coulter -- Spot On

2008-08-08T17:52:00.008-04:00

AND MORE NEW: JUST TO PILE ON the Silky Pony, this from doubleplusundead.

MORE NEW! Post (AoSHQ) from Ace:

I really can't fucking believe the media is now deciding whether to report big stories of national scope based on whether someone they like might be distressed by their reportage.

Of course I can believe it; I have to believe it. It's what they're doing, obviously.

I guess the New York Times didn't like Cindy McCain all that much when it reported on McCain's non-affair with his non-paramour.

Should media organizations be required to disclose which people they "like" and wish to "protect," and which people they "don't like" and "don't wish to protect," so that we might know beforehand where their biases may lie?

Seems like a bona fide conflict of interest, more so than many others. If the media is in the tank for Elizabeth Edwards, we need to know that, in order to properly evaluate their coverage of her husband.

As Ann Coulter said in the column (see below) that started this post, if this had been Mitt Romney, the media would have been camped on his front lawn since the first mention, chasing his wife through the supermarket and accosting his grandkids at their elementary schools to "get the TRUTH!" And it would have mattered not-at-all that he was no longer in the running for the nomination or was not currently in some political/public service position.

*sigh*

FATS WALLER & HIS RHYTHM (1936) -- "It's A Sin To Tell A Lie"

NEW! 08-08-08: AoSHQ by DrewM "Edwards Admits Affair, *NUANCE* But Denies Child"

John Edwards repeatedly lied during his Presidential campaign about an extramarital affair with a novice filmmaker, the former Senator admitted to ABC News today.In an interview for broadcast tonight on Nightline, Edwards told ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff he did have an affair with 44-year old Rielle Hunter, but said that he did not love her.

As one of the commenters puts it: "Well, that puts the whole 'love child' thing to rest."

********

Ann Coulter on the non-coverage of the John Edwards (alleged) love-child scandal (which is just a microcosm of the problems of most of today's media coverage).

A Washington Post reporter defended the total blackout on the National Enquirer's John Edwards' love child story, telling the Times of London: "Edwards is no longer an elected official and he is not running for office now. Don't expect wall-to-wall coverage." This was the perfect guy to talk to because if there's one thing they're careful about in London, it's tabloid excess.

Isn't there some level of coverage between "wall-to-wall" and "double-secret probation, delta-force level total news blackout" when it comes to a sex scandal involving a current Democratic vice presidential and Cabinet prospect?

Hey, what sort of "elected official" was Ted Haggard again? He was the Christian minister no one outside of his own parish had ever heard of until he was caught in a gay sex scandal last year. Then he suddenly became the Pope of the Protestants. And yet, despite the fact that Haggard was not an "elected official," the Post gave that story wall-to-wall coverage. And what sort of "elected officials" were Mel Gibson, Rush Limbaugh and Bill Bennett?

*snip*

I assume it would be jejune to point out that the MSM would be taking the wall-to-wall approach, rather than the total blackout approach, to the love child story if it were a story about Mitt Romney's love child or, indeed, Larry Craig's love child. They'd bring Ted Koppel out of retirement to cover that. Katie Couric, Brian Williams and Charles Gibson would be anchoring the evening news from Romney's front yard. They might even get Dan Rather to produce some forged documents for the occasion.
So true, especially the fourth paragraph. Read the rest here.

UPDATE: Heh - Tim Blair: Unknown Story Referenced.

Cake Wrecks

2008-08-08T17:25:00.004-04:00

Naked Mohawk-Baby Carrot Jockeys

Found via Tim Blair, "Cake Wrecks," a blog: When Professional Cakes Go Horribly, Hilariously Wrong. Priceless!

View From A Broad

2008-08-05T22:39:00.006-04:00

Gwyneth Paltrow, political strategist extraordinaire, encourages ex-pat Americans to vote (for Obama, naturally). Maybe someone should start a vote for McCain movement around the theme Vote McCain, or Gwyneth, George Clooney, and Johnny Depp will come back here.

UPDATE: See?

SHORPY

2008-08-05T17:40:00.005-04:00

Just discovered this, thanks to a link from my brother. It's way excellent. From the blog:

Shorpy.com is the 100-year-old photography blog that brings our ancestors back, at least to the desktop. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a boy who worked in an Alabama coal mine near the turn of the century.

And:

Shorpy is a blog about old photos and what life a hundred years ago was like: How people looked and what they did for a living, back when not having a job usually meant not eating.

Fascinating, mostly very high-quality pictures. Go look now!

Global Warming

2008-07-18T18:31:00.012-04:00

YR

SUV

IS WRECKING

THE ENVIRONMENT ...

So,

cut it out.

More here.

Also, The Goracle is a fathead.

CRAP! from Tim Blair. He also says get over yourselves, warmies.

Dust My Broom (via SDA) warns of bipolar bears.

Finally, LemurKing warns of yet *another* GW danger!

Free Mark Steyn!

2008-07-10T18:48:00.003-04:00

No, really! He will be hosting for Rush tomorrow (Fri. 11 July) from noon to three EST.

Just Plain Funny

2008-06-27T02:04:00.002-04:00

This, at IMAO.

LOL!

Ethanol

2008-06-26T17:15:00.014-04:00

Cartoon by Michael Ramirez

I heard David Ridenour interviewed on "On The Edge" (local radio show) on the 24th, and waited to post until the audio clips of the show went up on the website. Ridenour gave a very focused & articulate discussion of why ethanol cannot be the solution to our energy woes. He's from the National Center for Public Policy Research, and you can read a couple of his pieces here ("Ethanol: A Burden on the Poor") and here ("Ethanol: The Fuel to Nowhere").

Also, from the National Center blog, "America: Only Oil-Producing Nation That Severely Limits Its Production."

RELATED: Tim Blair on the profits of GW hysteria.

NOT RELATED: But I'm too time-challenged to make another post: LemurKing's Folly on "Guns and Selected Communist Humor."

GW RELATED: AoSHQ -- "Arctic Ice Receeding Because of Massive Lava-Flow From Undersea Volanoes? "

RELATED: More Tim Blair -- "Vegetation on the March."

RELATED: And excellent -- Jonah Goldberg, "Livin' in a Frosty Paradise?"

A few years back, Jimmy Carter wrote of proposed drilling in ANWR in the New York Times: “The roar alone — of road-building, trucks, drilling and generators — would pollute the wild music of the Arctic and be as out of place there as it would be in the heart of Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon.”

*snip*

Even in summer, people who actually live on the north coast of Alaska, like the residents of Kaktovik (just three miles north of the coastal plain where drilling might take place) overwhelmingly think good jobs in their backyard is music to their ears.

Meanwhile, is the “music” of the Grand Canyon really so pristine? Babies crying, kids chasing lizards, campers laughing, donkeys braying, cars honking: Why does this not trouble the consciences of Carter and McCain?

Perhaps it’s because the analogy between ANWR and the Grand Canyon is spurious on its face. “Pristine,” after all, is not synonymous with beautiful (there are ugly virgins), and “well-trafficked” is not the same as ugly (millions of people have seen the Sistine Chapel).

Teh Innernets

2008-06-26T17:13:00.003-04:00

Interesting post by Christopher Taylor at Word Around The Net on the size & scope of the "One Machine" -- the "biggest device on Earth" -- teh innernets !

Trying To Be Thoughtful

Wain Wednesday 36

Cold Enough For You?

This!

While Sitting Here Minding My Own Business ...

Wain Wednesday 35

Wain Wednesday 34

What He Said

Wain Wednesday 33

I Love This Guy

Bwahahahaha

Fight Global Warming!

Merry Christmas

The Favorite Christmas Song ...

Wain Wednesday 32

SCOTUS And Kelo

Après Halloween LOL

Got Candy?

This Post

OMG

One Of My Favorites

Talk Talk

I Can Die Happy

Chapter Eleventy

LOL

So Sue Me

Paul Krugman ...

Who Knew?

A Society Of Children

Pants. On. Fire.

A Belated Happy Birthday To Teh Won

Oooooooooooooo

What's With These Chicks?

Play Dead

Well, Well, Well, You're Feeling Fine

This Is The Moonwalk I'm Interested In

Official Endorsement

Sarahcuda

John F'n Kerry:

Bumper Sticker

I Love This Guy

Want

A Peek Into The (Your) Future

We Need An Army Of This Guy

President Karaoke

Spendulus!

Blog Nap

I *SO* Love This

Snort

Read It ...

Just Because They're Funny

Two New Things

More Basie Worship

More Video

My Sister Is Funny

Some Of My Favorite Songs Are

I Love To Singa

The 12 Days Of Global Warming

Merry Christmas, One And All!

Christmas Blues

Well

Suffer, Excess Baggage, Suffer!

Q: What's Better Than This?

Wain Wednesday 31

Heh

I Need Some Christmas Cheer

I Laughed, I Cried,

And Now For Something Completely Different or: A Major Link-O-Rama

*Sigh* Again With The Cars

Saving The General

'Tis The Season

This Is Still Funny

American Soldiers

I Love Tim Blair

The General

Here's A Surprise

Yikes!

Michigan 2008 By-County Election Results

FDR & The Great Depression

Pretty Much

I SO Love This

Sigh Again With The Cars