"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
Tabitha Hale likes to ride the big hogs. And also enjoys motorcycles.
Ace of Spades, Lori “Snark and Boobs” Ziganto, Dave “Iowahawk” Burge and Caleb “Don’t Have a Nickname” Howe on the afternoon “Humor in Blogging” panel discussion, which was a lot funnier than this photo might suggest.
Matt Kibbe explains Friedrich Hayek’s Austrian theory of sideburns.
Smitty likes pudding. And also enjoys a tasty snack.
by Smitty
Thanks, Tabitha!
Tom blogs at VA Right, and Tabitha is mostly too busy for such.
Last night’s reception at the Crystal City Sheraton answered the question: if bloggers were Trekkies, would Scott Ott be Spock, Stephen Green be McCoy, and Bill Whittle be Kirk?
No: nobody was weird enough to ask that question.
BlogCon what it must be like to show up at the MTV Music awards if you’re a musician; getting to meet people whom you admire and discovering that, wow, folks like your stuff.
While he declined to have a picture taken, meeting the Iowahawk was a treat. I’d say it’s fair to characterize him as of the Charles Martin Smith mold. Unabashedly gushing, I allowed that The Idiossey had inspired me to write OediPOTUS Wrecks. Not to tout my own trash, mind you, but reality seems to be tending toward the deus ex machina at the climax.
The other rock star blogger that I’m pleased to have met was Ace of Spades, who is as non-descript Iowahawk, but writes some hilarious, if a trifle edgy, headlines, of which here are two related examples:
| Ace: This New Rasmussen Poll Makes Me Want to Dress Up Like Jame Gumb And Put Marco Rubio In My Victim-Hole Marco Rubio: I’m Calling The Police Ace: There You Go With Those Mixed Signals Again |
Ace: This New Poll Makes Me Want To Devour Marco Rubio’s Life Essence So That I Can Transform Into Him Marco Rubio: Please Stop Being Creepy Ace: Then Please Stop Sending Me Psychic Phone Calls Through My Grandmother’s Skull |
Today’s agenda seems full of useful stuff, so check back during the day, as the little netbook gets put through its paces.
Apropos nothing, check out tokarski21 on YouTube, who serves up interesting historical tidbits in a brief, entertaining fashion.
. . . but despite her efforts to exclude me from Blog Con, I managed to find a way down here with Chris Renner. Here are a few photos of Thursday evening’s reception:
Important blogger Stephen Kruiser and Amy Miller of Red State.
All the BlogCon ladies love Steve Eggleston of No Runny Eggs. BTW, the blonde on the left is Oregon’s Kristina Ribaldi.
Mary Katharine Ham with Stephen Green, who insists that he’s still Vodkapundit, mainly because BudLightPundit “just doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.”
Lisa De Pasquale was heard to explain to Cynthia Yockey: “No, trust me — Joe Logue is available.”
Da Tech Guy to North Carolina congressional candidate Renee Ellmers: “So, this testa dura, this Etheridge fellow, he disrespects you?”
I’m not sure Michael Chamberlain is actually a blogger. He may have just been hanging around trying to meet Amy Miller.
The following “man on the street” video interview is rated NSFW:
Hey, when Dan Riehl says to hit the tip jar . . .
I had called the Interactive Media Coordinator for FreedomWorks to explain why I wouldn’t be able to attend BlogCon — Where All the Important Bloggers Will Be — and, although I wasn’t taking notes, the conversation went something like this:
TABITHA: Hi, Stacy! I’m sitting here having lunch with some friends of yours. We’re laughing behind your back.
ME: Of course you are.
TABITHA: Because you’re not here. Hahaha!
ME: Yeah, I kinda wanted to talk about that.
TABITHA: OK, talk to me, loser.
ME: Well, I’m looking at the Blog Con schedule here, and I see you’ve got Stephen Kruiser hosting your opening session . . .
TABITHA: Yeah, Stephen is so much fun! Everybody likes him.
ME: Uh, yeah. And then your speakers there Saturday morning are Mary Katharine Ham, Melissa Clouthier, John Hawkins and Jim Hoft . . .
TABITHA: Isn’t that a great lineup? All the really good bloggers, the ones who have talent and stuff like that.
ME: Right. And then there is this panel on how to use Twitter, with Melissa Clouthier and Stephen Kruiser . . .
TABITHA: Because they’re the best!
ME: No argument there, I guess. So you’ve got this 10:45 a.m. panel tomorrow on “Investigative Blogging” with Will Lutz and Philip Klein . . .
TABITHA: Isn’t that awesome? I mean, wow, Phil writes for The American Spectator. He’s like an actual reporter, y’know. That was a big coup for us, to be able to get a real honest-to-goodness professional journalist for Blog Con, to tell people how to do that kind of important reporting stuff that Phil knows how to do.
ME: Obviously. And then you have that 2:45 p.m. “Humor in Blogging” panel.
TABITHA: Exactly! I mean, Ace of Spades, Caleb Howe, Lori Ziganto and IowaHawk, right? Those guys are hilarious! They just totally crack me up. ROTLMAO, IYKWIMAITYD.
ME: Uh . . . of course. Who am I to disagree? But, I mean, wasn’t there anything you felt like I might be able to talk about?
TABITHA: You?
ME: Yeah. Couldn’t you have found some excuse to put me on one of your panels?
TABITHA: You’re kidding me, right? Stacy, don’t you understand that this is a conference for important bloggers? We had to have panelists who were qualified — you know, good bloggers who actually do stuff that matters.
ME: But . . . I thought we were friends.
And then, without warning, she hung up. Well, Steve Eggleston and Da Tech Guy are at Blog Con, so I guess they’ll be blogging about all the awesome fun that everybody’s having, laughing at me behind my back . . .
by Smitty
Here is the evidence:
In light of GeicoGate and the recent accusations from the media regarding the violent rhetoric of the conservative movement, I’ve taken the liberty of editing together the voicemails and emails we’ve received as a result of DC Douglas’ call to contact FreedomWorks. Here’s the result.
I listened to about a minute of the stuff at the link. After 4.5 years at sea and 3 deployments in the Navy, I can pronounce these callers unimaginative. For all their voices are clearly those of adults, albeit sounding rather stoned, their taunts really don’t advance beyond the schoolyard.
Fight the good fight, Tabitha. Clearly Keith should give these twerps some vocabulary lessons. If they’re going to tie up an organization’s phone line with repetitive, whiny invective, the ranting should at least include a modicum of entertaining bombast. And Ms. Hale at least merits one of Olbermann’s trademark declensions into the nether fathomage of self-parody for her opprobrious behavior.
Yeah, and I’ve been bad, too.
Related, here is some sweet Olbermann hypocrisy on dissent.
by Smitty
The guests, the venue, and the food were splendid. Chris Cassone and I bonded instantly. At the next table, I overheard him sing “I wanna be a lifeguard. . .” and I yelled “Blotto!” and he was shocked “You’ve heard of Blotto?”
The little Dell Inspiron Mini is mostly a good gadget. The touchpad is marginal. One wonders if an upgrade from Windows 7 Starter Edition might improve the joy.
Stacy and I both offered remarks:
We had a couple of cameras going. I’ve barely got time to push these to YouTube, so I’m we’ll let the comments be the judge of which has better sound/lighting.
| City On A Hill | |
| Take It Back | |
| McCain Blues (16 Tons) |
Hopefully we can get our zampolit, Young 4 Eyes, to show up at the next installment.
Today, Jeff Weimer and I are down to the Mall for further adventures. Stacy will no doubt fold in there, and Da Tech Guy is inbound. Everyone go to a local protest, take pictures, and get them posted somewhere. This is not flaking off. This is saving the country.
NEW ORLEANS –It’s pretty neat to get to spend time with a cool guy like the governor of New Mexico, who reminds us that Republicans need to focus on fiscal discipline:
The governor’s also promoting the Our America Initiative, and you should check that out. People ask me, what’s the secret to getting to hang out at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference with cool people like Gary Johnson? Step One: Get to know Ali Akbar . . .
Tabitha Hale of FreedomWorks and New Media activist Lyndsey Fifield at the Blogger Bash that Ali put together through his consulting firm Republic Modern. And a few minutes later . . .
Dr. Melissa Clouthier and Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.) with Ali — a completely random meeting in the hallway of the Hilton.
A slightly less random meeting in Hilton hallway, as Newt Gingrich is introduced to Carl Cameron’s producer. Also not completely random . . .
Gov. Sarah Palin poses with a cardboard cutout of her favorite blogger.
by Smitty
Ace has the voting schedule for tomorrow, as relayed by CBS.
Summary: the excrement is scheduled to arrive in the vicinity of the air circulator at 1815. If it goes off as scheduled, we move on to the the next stage of tactical resistance. Too many people have paid too great a price for too long a time for us to meet them in the afterlife and say, ‘Well, we just got bored, see . . .’
Via email, Americans for Prosperity pegs the attendance today at 30k+. I think that’s relatively more accurate than one blog which was trying to push a six figure estimate. Here was my quick pan of the crowd, ~1230:
Continue reading Kill The Bill Protest: That Was Like 3 Days Of CPAC In 3 Hours →