"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
by Smitty
Insty links Megan using old, tired terms like “seignorage.” The new hotness, quantitative easing, readily obviates the difficulties by doubling the word and syllable count.
Also, an opaque and unaccountable Federal Reserve is a handy source of shenanigans to keep that stock market bubble inflated. Let our economy be a triumph of style over substance.
“‘Nando, don’t be a schnook. It’s not how you feel, it’s how you look”:
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 . . .
The Federal Reserve’s “beige book” . . . offers a portrait of an uncertain economic moment in which growth has slowed in much of the United States.
“Economic growth at a modest pace was the most common characterization of overall conditions,” said the report, released Wednesday afternoon . . .
Consumer credit declined by $3.6 billion in July, the Fed said, compared with the $4.7 billion decline analysts had forecast. . . .
Overall economic activity, as measured by gross domestic product, rose at a 1.6 percent annual rate in the April-through-June quarter, too slow to push down the unemployment rate. Forecasts for the third quarter, which ends this month, are not much better . . .
The economic impact of the deer that wiped out a 2004 KIA Optima last weekend was not included in the Federal Reserve’s estimates . . .
Amazingly thorough reporting there . . .
(Hat-tip: Memeorandum.)
Now that Joe Miller has won the Alaska GOP Senate primary, the Republican establishment is his friend:
National Republican Senatorial Committee senior adviser and veteran GOP strategist Terry Nelson flew to Alaska Wednesday night to assist Republican Senate nominee Joe Miller’s campaign . . .
Nelson is going up to meet Miller and his campaign team and make clear that the committee wants to be helpful with fundraising, field operations and overall strategy as the insurgent begins his general election bid.
Nelson’s trip is also aimed at sending a signal to Sen. Lisa Murkowski that the national party is fully committed to Miller.
Yes, the establishment does know how to wield power:
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) will likely be forced out of her party leadership position should she decide to launch a write-in or third-party candidacy, a Senate Republican said Wednesday.
Kind of funny how getting 51% of the primary vote changes things. And if 50,000 pro-life voters in Delaware show up next Tuesday to vote for Christine O’Donnell, things will change even more.
by Smitty
Aleister at American Glob wants to know where the liberals whining about Christianity in public are on the invitation to imams to pray at city council meetings.
I can follow the point that the ACLU is truly annoying about prayers mentioning Jesus Christ, but, having served as a Protestant Lay Reader at one point, a certain amount of equal time for all is a defensible argument. Maybe Hartford will have some Buddhists and Hindus invited as well. Solid, positive, courageous faith does not need sharia walls keeping out foreign ideas.
Now, if you’re gutless and in an entertainment position, that’s one thing. The real problem is cowardice in office. There is nothing intrinsically evil concerning cowardice. I’ve known some smart chickens. The management question is keeping them away from stress, as they fold in a stiff breeze like so much cheap aluminum lawn furniture.
One surmises that these media cowards are compensating heavily when, from the first link, they talk about “. . .recent anti-Islam events throughout the country.” One prays for peace, and hopes that actual, talented leadership, graced by Heaven with words of real peace, can emerge that will ratchet the situation down a notch or five. Until then, PTLAPTA.
I’ve got no idea where Moonbattery found this video — in Arabic, from a German-language TV show, with English subtitles — but its subject is too horrific to describe:
I’m guessing the two guys on this TV show are dissident Iranian exiles. They certainly don’t look like Islamophobic neocons . . .
FreedomWorks made sure that only the very best bloggers were invited to speak at this weekend’s conference:
You wouldn’t want to miss that, would you?
As much as I’d like to absorb valuable knowledge from professionals who actually know how to do good blogging — to study at the feet of the masters, as it were — there is the problem of transportation. (I’m pretty sure it was Erik Telford who sent that deer to attack my car.)
Mrs. Other McCain says I’d have to rent a car for the weekend and I certainly don’t know enough about blogging to figure out how to pay for a rental car, do I?
by Smitty
Also, DaTechGuy loses some fresh cannoli. Coincidence? Abso-tively not!