The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Crazy Dopehead Criminal Goes on a Shooting Spree in Gainesville, Fla.

Posted on | October 5, 2010 | 2 Comments

And then kills himself:

A 24-year-old man with a history of mental illness went on a shooting spree in southeast Gainesville on Monday afternoon, killing his father and wounding five others before turning his gun on himself, police and relatives said. . . .
At about 4 p.m., Clifford Lewis Miller Jr. was driving around his neighborhood in a red Chevrolet pickup and began shooting people who, it appeared, were specifically targeted. . . .
Miller’s police record dates back to 2005, with convictions for drug possession, simple battery, burglary, larceny, theft and burglary with assault or battery. . . .

Unlike the case of crazy dopehead Patrick Bedell, there was no evident “political” motive for Miller’s fatal last crime, so nobody is trying to force him to fit any category as a symbolic scapegoat. Yet the same question applies: “Whatever happened to crazy?”

Category: Crime

Have I Mentioned That I’m Polish On My Mother’s Side?

Posted on | October 5, 2010 | 17 Comments

by Smitty

After a day or two under the new posting regime, the time has come to celebrate Stacy McCain’s aggressive approach to new technology integration with a reader poll. The first and third choices will combine to form the NO crowd, the second and fourth the YES.


DisqUS: Old and Tired; or, the New Hotness?
We fear change: revert, pervert!
It renews my faith in humanity.
Yet Another Godforsaken Login. Make the pain stop!
Ace:: This poll makes me want to get some vanilla ice cream, a lot of strawberries, some whipped cream and then call up Marco Rubio.
Marco Rubio:: For God’s sake, man! You’re not Ace, this is not one of his creepy titles, and the poll isn’t even political!
Smitty: Why do you hate sundaes?
pollcode.com free polls

Hopefully, the third try at migrating the old comments proves successful. Fragile process. And I have a query in to DisqUS about the comment counts on the posts, but this could be a theme issue, i.e. more on us to sort out.
On the whole, I think the system is a net win, but will lay by my dish if our survey suggests otherwise.
Aside: everybody, request you disagree agreeably. There has been some recent animus about rude replies to comments. Treat these other commenters, whom you mostly haven’t met, with a default level of courtesy. There are ways to express that another person’s ideas are utterly daft in a positive way, that doesn’t detract from the blog’s overall dialog level.
If you want to call me everything but an American citizen, get your own blog and flex that First Amendment. My postings strive for a general decorum. Stacy lets fly a bit more than I care to; that’s his prerogative. He is The Talent.
But I Frankly, Unsurprisingly, Can’t Know Immeasurable Nirvana, Given hate (of) babysitting, and will show a commensurate lack of humor to those dragging me into such.

Category: Ace of Spades, Blogging, Marco Rubio

LIVE AT FIVE10.5.10

Posted on | October 5, 2010 | 3 Comments

TOP NEWS

Sweden, Japan Latest To Issue Terror Warnings For Travelers to EU
Alerts sow travel confusion

Emanuel kicks off campaign for mayor
Greeted by hostile pedestrians & protesters

As Brit Wins Nobel For IVF, Indian Scientists Ponder Lost Opportunity
A tale of science, bureaucracy, and suicide

Gallup Poll Shows GOP In Good Shape With Likely Voters

POLITICS
Gloves Come Off Right Away In CT Senate Debate
McMahon hits Blumenthal with everything but the folding chair

Justice Kagan Steps In And Then Bows Out
Former Solicitor General has recused herself from 25 cases she handled at Justice before being appointed to the Supreme Court

Tea Party Express To Spend “Six Figures” To Finish Off Murkowski

MSNBC Launches Ad Campaign Stressing Its Political Bias

Federal Judge Busted; Bought Drugs From & With Stripper

Former VP Mondale: Obama’s “Idiot Boards” Cutting Him Off From The People

THE ECONOMY, STUPID
MasterCard, VISA Settle; AmEx Sued By Feds

Dow Declines As Earnings Season Approaches, Unemployment Report Due

Oil Trades Near Eight-Week High

With Market Share Trailing Kia, VW  To Change Approach, Start Building Cars That Appeal To Americans
So crazy, it just might work!

SPORTS
Brewers & Pirates Join Mets In Giving Managers The Boot

Former Mets GM Omar Minaya

Minaya spent too much for a four-year stretch out of the playoffs; Macha, Manuel and Russell also contemplating new careers

Twins Head To Playoffs Without Justin Morneau – Again
Hasn’t played since July 7; Twins won anyway

Michael Vick Week-to-Week With Damaged Rib Cartilage

Kobe Bryant Says Knee “About 60%”

Titans’ Defensive Coordinator Shot Refs The Finger, Fined $40K

FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS

Ralphie May Busted By Drug Dogs In Guam

Zack Snyder Tapped For Next Superman Movie

Spears Conservatorship To End Within Three Months

Ricky Gervais No Longer Big Fat Deal
Drops 40 pounds with girlfriend

Lohan To Do Rehab Photo Shoot To Raise Cash?





FOREIGNERS

CIA Drones Snuff Eight German Militants In Pakistan

Wilders, Freedom Party Join Dutch Government Coalition
Meanwhile, Wilders challenges biased judges in  appeals court trial

Bosnian Election Results Indicate Deep Ethnic Divisions

Buried Chilean Miners Could Be Home Next Week

In Communist Vietnam’s Facebookski , State Friends You!

BLOGS & STUFF

Jim Treacher –  10:10? Nein! Nein!

Nick Gillespie – Whose Was Bigger?

PowerLine – Get The Feds Out Of My Shower!

Don Surber – Daily Scoreboard

Mitch Berg – Cravaack Within Three Of Oberstar In MN-8?!?!

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Category: Live at Five

What Did I Tell You About Her?

Posted on | October 4, 2010 | 32 Comments

Christine O’Donnell’s first TV ad of the general election campaign:

The American Spectator, July 27:

“[C]onservatives in Delaware have the benefit of backing an indisputably telegenic candidate. O’Donnell . . . has the kind of 100-watt smile that lights up a room.”

With a smile like that, she’s awfully hard to hate. The Castle campaign tried to demonize her and it backfired. Maybe Baldy the Tax-Hiking Wanker will have better luck. I doubt it.

She may not be a witch, but you can’t deny she’s got magic.

Photoshop by Carol at No Sheeples Here.

UPDATE: My filmmaker friend Ladd Ehlinger Jr. hates the ad — absolutely hates it. But he’s looking at it from a filmmaker’s point of view, whereas Ace of Spades sees the human side:

She has a useful amount of sadness in her, of whippedness, that pushes the right emotional button. She was beaten up — hard not feel sympathetic for someone beaten up.

Exactly. My point, however, is that TV is about images.

Forget the words. Just turn off the sound and look at it. The moment she flashes that first smile, the average person likes her. They can’t help it. It’s an autonomic response.

Whether “I like her” translates into “I want her to be Senator,” I can’t say. But we’ve recently elected a president whose chief politic assets are a resonant baritone voice and a vague resemblance to the Allstate man, so I think it unwise to underestimate the superficiality of voters in the Age of Image.

UPDATE II: Three Tweets:



As with everything else about O’Donnell, this simple ad seems destined to be controversial. If she wins on Nov. 2, all the criticism of her and her campaign will be forgotten. Victory has that effect in politics.

Category: Christine O'Donnell, Delaware, Election, Senate, Video

Bloggers: What Not to Do

Posted on | October 4, 2010 | 8 Comments

There’s some stuff you shouldn’t do if you want to be a blogger, like make an ass out of yourself the way Tommy Christopher did in writing a “column” about the One Nation Rally.

The scare-quotes around “column” are required because Tommy Christopher is such a lousy writer. Once upon a time, when columnists required the investment of ink and paper to get published, you had to be a good writer to become a columnist. Read more

Category: Blogging, R.S. McCain School of Journalism

Franken for Wankin’

Posted on | October 4, 2010 | 5 Comments

Christine O’Donnell’s anti-masturbation message is clearly a threat to Al Franken’s lifestyle choice:

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) will campaign this week for Delaware Democratic Senate nominee Chris Coons.
Franken . . . will stump Thursday for Coons, according to the Delaware Democratic Party.

Hey, hit the tip jar if you want me to go cover that. Meanwhile, a Wilmington News Journal columnist writes:

Coons should seriously consider resigning as New Castle County executive so he can put all his daily efforts into this campaign. . . . Coons is not running the county while he’s campaigning (some, of course, will say he hasn’t been running the county for months).

O’Donnell replied with a press release:

“Coons has been AWOL for months while cashing in his inflated, taxpayer-funded paycheck,” O’Donnell said. “He has continuously raised taxes on the people of New Castle County, while he offers them nothing back but an empty desk.” . . ..
“If Coons fails to show up for work every day in New Castle County, why should we expect him to show up for work in Washington while accepting money from taxpayers,” O’Donnell continued. “Many people in Delaware are struggling to find one job and going without a paycheck in the meantime, while their county executive is cashing his constituent-funded paychecks for one job, while campaigning for the next job.”

Kinda funny that Franken is campaigning in Delaware while Democrat Jim Oberstar is in trouble Minnesota.

CHRISTINE O’DONNELL for U.S. SENATE

Category: Christine O'Donnell, Delaware, Election, Senate

Crazed Ewok Endorses Hard-to-Spell GOP Candidate in Minnesota 8th District; Cravaack Considers Restraining Order

Posted on | October 4, 2010 | 5 Comments

Chip Cravaack isn’t a name that rolls easily from the tongue, but after Ed Morrissey highlighted a poll showing the Navy-pilot Republican challenger surprisingly close to Democrat Rep. Jim Oberstar, Ace of Spades jumped aboard in his inimitable way. Check this guy out:

What Ace is doing — what I’ve been doing, and what we all should be doing now — is scouting around for good Republican candidates who might have a shot at winning if (a) the Big Red Wave comes in on Nov. 2, and (b) we can get these candidates some online contributions in a hurry. Read more

Category: Ace of Spades, Congress, Election, Minnesota

How Rich Republican Insiders Help Destroy the Party’s Grassroots Enthusiasm

Posted on | October 4, 2010 | 9 Comments

Anyone who’s ever had much dealing with the Republican Party establishment nods in recognition when Rush Limbaugh talks about “bluebloods” and “country clubbers” as the bane of the GOP.

Limbaugh himself is, of course, a wealthy man. However, Rush’s wealth is self-made, whereas the “bluebloods” to whom he refers are those who inherited (or married) money, and the “country clubbers” are the snobby know-it-all GOP insiders who look down on the party’s conservative rank-and-file.

This class divide within the Republican Party is a serious problem for the GOP because the tight-knit relationship between big-money donors and their well-connected establishment friends sends a message to the grassroots that their participation isn’t welcome. Read more

Category: Conservatism 101, Delaware, Tea Party
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