Category: Da Tech Guy

A Few Words About Moderation And The Banhammer

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— Wombat-socho

I’m going to keep this short, because there really isn’t much to be said, but it does need saying, especially after the messes some people made in the comments yesterday. First of all, much like Anonymous or /b/, I am not your private army. Don’t expect me to blacklist someone just on your say-so. There is exactly one person who gets to tell me who to whack and when, one R. Stacy McCain, owner and proprietor of this here blog. Secondly, I am not going to ban people for disagreeing with a post. We tolerate all sorts here, whether they are social conservatives, libertarians, godless Commies, pinko fellow travellers & “useful fools”, or just confused. Heck, even Stacy’s Crazy Cousin John is welcome to comment here. However, keep in mind that this blog is like Stacy’s living room, and it’s not okay to come in and take a dump on the carpet.

It’s also not okay to use foul language. I realize that some of the trolls are horrible people, who can barely string two words together without using obscenities, but this is no reason for you to descend to their level. If you’re that angry, maybe you need to get up from the keyboard, go have a beer (or six), and calm down. Because if you go over the line, I may extend you the courtesy of a warning – or not. Longevity in the commentariat is no defense. We used to have a guy named Knapp who would drop by and dispense pearls of libertarian wisdom before us religiously inclined swine, and one day I guess he got up on the wrong side of the bed and said some things he shouldn’t have in the comments. Now we don’t have Thomas Knapp to kick around any more. Would you like to be the next Thomas Knapp? I’m certainly willing to accommodate you, regardless of your political and religious inclinations. Are you listening, Mr. Finrod?

We do get people in here that don’t agree with Stacy, or me, or you. Sometimes they’re just trolls. Sometimes, like Amber, they seem to be sincere people that really don’t understand where we’re coming from. Be patient. Engage these people. Who knows, you might just talk one around to seeing the light. You’re sure not going to accomplish that by calling them a**holes and dykes. Rather, emulate Da Tech Guy, a true Christian, who reached out to andria_xx and offered some advice in the hope of redeeming that poor lost soul. Be like Pete.

 

 

ADDENDUM (by RSM): Ace of Spades did a long explanation about his own reasons for banning a certain “Billy Bob,” which boils down to this: Don’t disrespect your host’s hospitality. I had not been aware that Thomas Knapp got himself banned and, as I was offline Sunday attending my wife’s family reunion, I don’t know exactly why Wombat is brandishing the banhammer in the direction of Finrod.

My advice is, everybody should just chill the hell out.

 

‘Oh, My God. They Were Everywhere’

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Young stars circa 1987: Corey Haim (left) and Corey Feldman

Apropos of recent controversies, Pete Da Tech Guy quotes a 2011 interview with former child actor Corey Feldman:

“I can tell you that the No. 1 problem in Hollywood was and is and always will be pedophilia. That’s the biggest problem for children in this industry. … It’s the big secret,” Feldman said. . . .
“I was surrounded by [pedophiles] when I was 14 years old. . . . Didn’t even know it. It wasn’t until I was old enough to realize what they were and what they wanted . . . till I went, Oh, my God. They were everywhere,” Feldman, 40, said.

In that interview, Feldman was talking about his former Lost Boys co-star: “There’s one person to blame in the death of Corey Haim. And that person happens to be a Hollywood mogul. And that person needs to be exposed, but, unfortunately, I can’t be the one to do it.” I reacted to Pete’s post with my habitual sarcasm:

But then I realized: Corey Haim can be reached for comment, via the “Corey Haim’s Notes on the Afterlife” series at Protein Wisdom. The dearly departed even offered his perspective on “Free Kate”:

I don’t usually weigh in on terrestrial politics, but the truth is, if  I’d been arrested every time I got a hand job from some underage kid who wanted me to sign his Lost Boys t-shirt, there would be no Dream a Little Dream, much less its (in my opinion) criminally underrated sequel.
Sometimes the law is just stupid — especially when it threatens to get in the way of art. . . .
American society really needs to get over its sexual hangups.

Please excuse “Corey’s” attitude. Sometimes dark sarcasm is the only sane alternative to screaming rage. As to this oft-heard argument — that “hangups” about sex are our real problem — it was in a 1999 interview that A Return to Modesty author Wendy Shalit offered the best rejoinder: “I don’t have hangups. You’re just a pervert.”

 

 


CPAC: Turned Out Pete Ingemi Hadn’t Heard Of A ’10 Questions’ Interview

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by Smitty

Nobody interviews people like Pete, Da Tech Guy: nobody. So, if you can’t compete, enjoy a little revenge, as they say amidst the rubble in the Eastern Mediterranean.

This is done in the style of The Chaser’s War on Everything, especially their 10 Questions.
Here is my interview:

  1. Can the GOP capture the left-handed, undocumented, transsexual plumber with Restless Leg Syndrome vote in 2014?
  2. Rachel Maddow, or Tokyo Rose?
  3. Is Kim Kardashian pregnant with Mojo Nixon’s two-headed love child?
  4. Should the new Pope weaponize Campus Crusade for Christ with Bop Guns, conquer China, and score some takeout?
  5. What is the capitol of Bulungi?
  6. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
  7. Cutting a jack on the turn-up in cribbage: is that ‘his nibs’ or ‘his nobs’?
  8. What can be done to fix Saturday Night Live?
  9. Ashley Judd? [tilt head, puff cheeks]
  10. Have you felt oppressed here at CPAC, based upon your status as a Cherokee female?

Pete is such a champ that I am very close to feeling some remorse for abusing him this way.

Bonus Chaser: Vote for the Greens!

Just Hit Da Tech Guy’s Tip Jar

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Gratitude requires generosity and vice-versa. Having fallen drastically behind on my thank-you notes to tip-jar hitters, I am nevertheless grateful for the continued support, and when Pete Da Tech Guy rattled his tip jar, I immediately hit it. Given the circumstances of our friendship and his many acts of generosity toward me, Pete’s explanation of his circumstances is entirely unnecessary. All I needed was to know he was in need. January is usually one of those hard months in Bloglandia. People go overboard on Christmas and, when the New Year arrives, they look at their bank balances and say, “Uh-oh.” So it’s scarcely surprising if there is a need to rattle the tip-jar a bit extra as February arrives.

I can’t stop thinking about the $53 million that Sheldon Adelson pissed away on Republican “super PACs” in the 2012 election cycle. It makes me angry, but I can’t do anything about that.

Pete has done a rather elaborate calculus of how much he would require annually, but (a) I’ve never been one to worry that far in the future, and so (b) let’s just deal with the immediate need. Let’s hope everyone else feels the same: Go hit Pete’s tip jar, please.

 

Debating Gay Marriage With Cynthia Yockey On Da Tech Guy’s Radio Show

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by Smitty

I’ve been invited to debate my dear friend Cynthia Yockey of A Conservative Lesbian on Da Tech Guy’s show tomorrow afternoon, on 26 January 2013, from 2-3 PM EST, if the technical gremlins are smiling.

My arguments will consist of pure, heated denunciation, in the style of that 18th century fire breather Jonathan Edwards using that immortal chestnut Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God as an outline. Why make the rubble bounce, when you can pulverize it into a brimstone-scented incense? I ask you.

Of course I’ll be doing none of that. Cynthia and Pete Da Tech Guy have been friends for years, and this is an opportunity both to showcase his new, syndicated format, to encourage Cynthia on a project that I understand is in progress, and to exchange ideas where we vary substantially in the kind of rational way you used to think possible with the Left. One does not intend to offer religious arguments, at least as a going in position.

DaTechGuy syndicated run begins at a temporary time on the Money Matters Radio network from 1-3 PM EST bringing you Matt O’Brien talking about a new initiative to stop Obamacare in its tracks in our the first hour and in our second hour the great debate. Chris Smitty Smith of The Other McCain on one side and Cynthia Yockey from A Conservative Lesbian on the other with the topic, Gay Marriage!

The call in number is 888-205-2263 the live stream for the Money Matters Network is here and or you can listen live via TuneIn.

Woo hoo!

The Country’s Going Straight to Hell, But at Least We’ve Got a ‘Likeable’ President

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Random adults:

[M]ore than seven in 10 are dissatisfied with the current state of the economy, and just more than a third are either “very” or “fairly” confident in Obama’s ability to promote a strong and growing economy.
And 60 percent believe the coming year will be a time to hold back and save because of harder times ahead . . .
As for views on Obama’s qualities as president, he gets the best marks for being easygoing and likeable (61 percent give him high marks here)

Pete Da Tech Guy’s non-random response:

So let’s get this straight, Over seventy percent of the public are dissatisfied with the economy, just over a third of the people are confident in the president’s ability to fix it, and 60% of the folks are battening down the hatches for rough weather.
Yet this man just two months ago won 300+ electoral votes?

Exactly: When the media deliberately mislead the public, we can expect widespread confusion to prevail. Welcome to Low-Information Nation.

FROM OHIO: POLLS, POLLS, POLLS

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CINCINNATI, Ohio
Pete Da Tech guy disassembles a Quinnipiac Poll that has samples of D+7 in Florida and D+8 in both Florida and Ohio, so that while Mitt Romney handily wins independent voters in both states, he nonetheless trails Obama by 1 point in Florida, 2 points in Virginia and 5 points in Ohio. These numbers are a sort of statistical hallucination. Pete quotes Ed Morrissey at Hot Air:

In each of these three states, the CBS/NYT/Q-poll shows Republicans at a lower percentage level of turnout than in the 2008 election.  If one makes that assumption, it’s not too difficult to be guess that Obama might be ahead.  However, that’s exactly the opposite of what all other polls rating enthusiasm are telling us what the electorate will look like on Tuesday.  In fact, it’s not even what this poll shows, with Republican enthusiasm +16 over Democrats in Florida, +14 in Ohio, and +7 in Virginia.

You might think some reporter at the New York Times, which co-sponsored this poll, would think it worth his while to interview the people at Quinnipiac and ask where they’re getting these weird over-samples of Democrats. What is causing this? How is it that Republicans report greater voting enthusiasm by such large margins, and yet are underrepresented in the poll’s sample? It makes no sense.

Meanwhile, there is an actual campaign to cover here in Ohio. I’m going to see Ann Romney’s 11:30 a.m. event in Hamilton.

‘Media Credibility Day Is Coming’

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When the Associated Press finally took notice of “surging” crowds at Romney-Ryan rallies, Da Tech Guy laughed — like me, he’s covered multiple Romney campaign events and had seen big, enthusiastic crowds all along. Now Sam Youngman of Reuters takes notice:

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is recovering ground in the critical swing state of Ohio as he rises in the polls and crowd numbers swell after his strong debate performance last week against President Barack Obama.
Despite pundits and pollsters dismissing Romney’s chances in the state in late September, the Republican is now either tied or just barely trailing Obama in Ohio ahead of the next presidential debate on Tuesday night.
At an event with thousands of Ohioans on Friday night, Romney boasted of “a growing crescendo of enthusiasm.” He has spoken to several large audiences in Ohio this week.
“(Obama’s) campaign is about smaller and smaller things, and our campaign is about bigger and bigger crowds fighting for a bright future,” he said on Saturday.

Polls are lagging indicators, and it is the trend that matters. The RCP average for Ohio has Obama leading 1.7 points, whereas the lead was 5.5 points on Oct. 3. The latest poll from the Democrat firm PPP has Obama still leading Ohio by 5 points, which goes to show you: Don’t let polls freak you out.