"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
by Smitty (h/t iOwnTheWorld)
Opposing the 9/11 Mosque is, in some ways, the modern equivalent of the Siege of Vienna.
Pamela mentions another gathering on Friday, 10 September, at the start of the clip. Make it bigger than the last protest. Weakness is an open invitation.
by Smitty
Hearing that Rahm is pondering greener pastures, Peter Orszag is apparently unwilling to hold down the fort solo.
Or is it more than just Rahm? Is budgeting just too ‘last administration’ for this one?
Seriously. Well past their April 15 deadline to pass a budget, congressional Democrats have yet to even introduce one. Nor do they intend to, since doing so would force them to go on record about the massive future deficits their policies would create. Instead, they plan to use what’s called a “deeming resolution” (where have we heard that phrase before?) to fund government programs while staying mum on the red ink.
Update: In a rare outburst of leadership within the Obama Administration, Orszag will apparently pull chocks next month. Two tears in a bucket, man.
Yeah, I might temporarily boost my traffic because every blogger on the list could be expected to link a post describing how cool they are. The downside:
I’m just sayin’ . . .
by Smitty
Even the Huffington Post is wandering off the reservation on the cleanup efforts:
BP PLC has turned away Gunnoe and other would-be volunteers because the oil giant is using only paid and trained workers to clean up the mess caused by its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Instead, the retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and nearly 70 other like-minded citizens are helping in a less direct way as visitor information volunteers at the Gulf Islands National Seashore. They are being stationed at various National Seashore areas to answer visitors’ questions, report sightings of tar balls, oil or oil-soaked wildlife and offer safety tips – the oil is classified as a hazardous material.
One hopes that the retention of the Jones Act means that the magnitude of the disaster is overblown. It would be a shame if the need to save face, and make sure that everyone privy to the details of the situation was politically reliable‘properly trained’ meant that excessive harm was done to the ecology.
Concerned citizens, apparently, should also consider going golfing or yachting.
Update: Instalanche!
Update II: A gracious bow to Aleister @ American Glob for including us in his Top 10.
by Smitty
However, with no fear of exceeding the realm of good taste, I would like to recommend that Kesha Rogers and Alvin Greene should do lunch.
Kesha can help Alvin get something more substantial than, you know, Wikipedia, going for the campaign. It’s going to be a tough slog, going after Ol’ Julep DeMint, and he really needs to get crackin’.
Should romance flower, the couple could enjoy a truly rockin’ Congress. I say this as a poor, bald soul with bad eyes, running to pear-shaped; a pitiful candidate for marriage, indeed. In other words, this post is not merely teasing for its own sake. We should be able to wish good fortune on all, even those with whom we disagree.
Slightly less charitable about the good Alvin Greene, while retaining good decorum, was Wesley Williams, J.D. The clip purports to be out-takes from the Kieth Olbermann interview.
Steve Bartin at NewsAlert highlights an article (NSFW) with this provocative title:
Fifty Mistakes Men Make
When Having Sex
My own contribution to the list is rather jocular, but let me ask you ladies to imagine this scenario:
You’re visiting Hollywood and, by chance, you encounter Brad Pitt. Say you’re in line at Starbucks together, and strike up a casual conversation. (“Wow, mocha double-skim latte — that’s what I always order!”)
Mirabile dictu, Brad is instantly and irresistibly attracted to you. He’s making the moves and when you start to ask “What about . . .?” he tells you that he has just broken up with Angelina Jolie. And now it is you — only you! — that he desires.
Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom, you hop into Brad’s Porsche and cruise up to his mansion in the Hollywood hills where you . . . err, “get physical.”
Granted, his technique is probably at least above-average, as he’s had ample opportunity for practice. Yet even if he were as clumsy in the bedroom as a high-school sophomore on his first date, Brad Pitt would still be Brad Pitt.
Whatever Brad did “wrong” would be tolerated gladly, or you might instruct him on how to do it better. Whereas no matter how much instruction you gave the average Joe Schlubb, you’re not going to teach Joe Schlubb to be Brad Pitt.
This illustrates a point I’ve often made when criticizing the sex-as-technique advice provided every month in women’s magazines like Cosmopolitan. Maybe you’ve never read Cosmo, but certainly you’ve stood in the grocery-store checkout line and gazed at the predictably lurid cover blurbs: “Five Secret Sex Tricks to Drive Your Man Crazy.”
There are many possible objections to the sex-as-technique mentality, but my fundamental criticism is based upon extensive research conducted when I was both a bachelor and a Democrat, and therefore had absolutely no moral scruples. Contemplating my experiences in retrospect, I discerned that there were only two important variables in the overall quality of sexual activity: Looks and enthusiasm.
If a chick was good-looking, that was at least 50% of the game. Beauty easily compensated for any deficiencies of mere technique. But if she was really into it — or rather, if she was really into me — then her enthusiasm rendered technique utterly irrelevant.
Guys will attest to this: If a chick is OMG-I-wanna-rip-your-clothes-off into it, she doesn’t have to do any fancy “tricks” to make it memorable.
All of which is to say that reading a list of “Fifty Mistakes Guys Make When Having Sex” is a complete waste of time.
Just ask yourself, which one of those mistakes could Brad Pitt possibly make that would be a deal-killer?
Of course, you’ll read the list anyway. Loser.
Perhaps Judge Bork will be willing to share his own perspective on that experience during the Americans United for Life press briefing Wednesday.
UPDATE: Dave Weigel reminds us of how liberals demonized Bork:
Associated Press: “Failed conservative Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork . . .”
Yeah. Associated Press circa 1945: “Failed diarist Anne Frank . . .”
This question wasn’t his research topic, but I think Cornell University psychology Professor David Dunning has found the answer:
“When people are incompetent in the strategies they adopt to achieve success and satisfaction, they suffer a dual burden: Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it. Instead . . . they are left with the erroneous impression they are doing just fine.”
Two words: Peggy Joseph.
UPDATE: Cassy Fiano links and Bob Owens chronicles the incendiary consequences.
UPDATE II: Obi’s Sister informs us that the Book of Ecclesiastes had already explained this phenomenon. In e-mailing me the link, Obi’s Sister — who lives in my hometown of Lithia Springs, Ga. — informed me that she recently had a long talk with my old buddy Scott Spencer. Scott lived on Creel Drive, across the woods from Deborah Lane. We thought we were pretty mischievous, but the real trouble began when a fellow named Brooks moved in on Janet Street. No need to recount those boyhood misadventures, now that Spencer’s the eminently respectable fire chief of Douglas County. That is, unless Spencer starts telling tales on me, of course.