Books, movies, politics, and whatever I want

Archive for August, 2012

Quote of the Day

Tuesday, August 28th, 2012

“The thing we adore about these dog-whistle kerfuffles is that the people who react to the whistle always assume it’s intended for somebody else. The whole point of the metaphor is that if you can hear the whistle, you’re the dog.”

James Taranto

Monday Book Pick: The Martian Emperor

Monday, August 27th, 2012

The Martian Emperor (A Chronological Man Adventure) by Andrew Mayne

Second in the series. The first was my pick back in early June. In this book, our hero and heroine pick up a number of months later. They travel to New York City by way of Smith’s private, and off the books, train, in order to face a new menance. The “Emperor of Mars” is blackmailing the Earth. They run into his old friend Theodore Roosevelt, and have a series of adventures. During the course of said adventures, we learn some more about Smith and his background. A ripping good yarn and well worth the $0.99.

Monday Book Pick Archive

Waiting on Doomsday

Sunday, August 26th, 2012

Wired has a great article called Apocalypse Not: Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Worry About End Times

Give it a read, it’s filled with great quotes of harbingers of doom, like the worst President of the latter half the 20th Century, James Earl Carter III telling us back in 1977: “We could use up all the proven reserves of oil in the entire world by the of end of the next decade.”

For more of this prattle, check out the “predictions” from the first Lenin’s Birthday celebration, also known as “Earth Day.”

As I put it quite some time ago, “Between Global Thermonuclear War with the Soviet Union, Global Cooling, the Population Bomb, DDT, AIDS, the Elbola virus, a half dozen other doomsday issues, and now Global Warming, it’s like living in one long 1970’s disaster film.”

 

Ann Althouse’s great alternate history of Presidents if JFK lived

Saturday, August 25th, 2012

The original is here.  Great stuff.

In 1964, JFK is reelected, with LBJ as VP. The GOP does not yet do its big shift to conservatism, and its defeated candidate is Nelson Rockefeller (whose VP choice is William Scranton). Barry Goldwater rises up in 1968, and he is successful, defeating LBJ (who has Hubert Humphrey as his VP). Goldwater’s VP is William Miller (as it was, in actual history, in 1964), and Goldwater is an immensely successful President, winning the war in Vietnam, leaving civil rights issues to the states (and in the process preserving federalism values, to be used to excellent effect in succeeding years), and foreseeing and avoiding the problems of dependency on imported oil. Goldwater is reelected in 1972, defeating Hubert Humphrey (who has Scoop Jackson as his VP).

In 1976, Bobby Kennedy is the Democratic nominee (with Walter Mondale as VP), and he wins, defeating William Miller (who has Bob Dole as his VP). Bobby gets health-care reform, called “Bobbycare.” But Bobbycare goes too far, and RFK goes down in 1980, crushed by Ronald Reagan (whose VP is George H.W. Bush). Reagan is reelected in 1984, defeating Walter Mondale (who has Geraldine Ferraro as his VP).

In 1988, it’s Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen against George H.W. Bush and Jack Kemp, and — no big surprise — Bush and Kemp win. But they’re in for only one term. Blamed for the economy — stupid! — they lose, in 1992, to Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Clinton and Gore are reelected in 1992 (facing Jack Kemp and his VP choice Tommy Thompson).

In 2000, it’s Gore (with Lieberman) against George W. Bush (with Cheney), and Bush wins. In 2004, John Kerry (with John Edwards) lose to Bush and Cheney. In 2008, it’s John Edwards against Mitt Romney, and Mitt Romney wins. (We won’t worry about their VPs right now.) Challenged by Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney is reelected in 2012. And we don’t get our first woman President. But the Romney terms come to a close. Now it’s 2012, and Hillary goes for it again, only to be defeated in the primaries by another “first,” the possible first black President, this fascinating upstart with the funny name Barack Hussein Obama. (But America, having avoided dependence on foreign oil, thanks to Barry Goldwater, never got dragged into crazy interactions with those Middle East countries, and there was never a 9/11 terrorist attack or an Iraq war, or any of those things that would make “Hussein” seem truly odd.)

Speaking of firsts, there’s a first coming up on the GOP side, a woman! It’s the hyper-competent and stunningly beautiful Sarah Palin. With 8 years as Governor of Alaska, her executive experience and record of accomplishment wow America. (She was term-limited in 2014, and spent the next 2 years running for President.) And so in 2016, we have our big first, the first woman President: Sarah Palin!

Quote of the Day

Friday, August 24th, 2012

This is a point I tried to make over and over again in Liberal Fascism. Poisons are determined by the dose. A little nationalism is healthy, a lot of nationalism is dangerous. A little social solidarity is moral, too much is immoral. When a conservative tempers his social conservatism with libertarianism or when a Libertarian tempers his utopian tendencies with an appreciation of tradition, it’s not called hypocrisy, it’s called wisdom.

— Jonah Goldberg

Friday B-Movie Pick: This is Spinal Tap

Friday, August 24th, 2012

This Is Spinal Tap

Set the Wayback Machine to 1984 for this classic Rock mockumenary. Rob “Meathead” Reiner was the actual directory as the fictional director in this film about the back stage antics of the Heavy Metal Hair band, Spinal Tap. A cult comedy classic complete with a string of drummers that die of various means, including re-accuring spontainous combustion. My favorite was the one who choked to death on vomit, but not his own. Who produced the vomit remains shrouded in mystery.

The fellow who played Spinal Tap will appear again, and again, in other mockumenaries, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind, for example.

Friday B-Movie Pick Archive

Political Photo of the Day

Thursday, August 23rd, 2012

Our Dear Leader’s Dan Quayle moment

Here we see our Dear Leader visiting the key swing state of Ohio, and not being able to correctly spell ‘Ohio.’

Before the moonbats go nuts with their conspiracy theories, zoom in on the photo and you can see the lettering on the red shirt behind him.
Not reversed, not Photoshopped, just Barack Hussein Obama being himself, unscripted and flying without a teleprompter.

Liberal Logic

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012

“I’m not going to vote for Gov. Romney because he has the same views on same sex marriage that Barack Hussein Obama did when I voted for him.

Quote of the Day

Tuesday, August 21st, 2012

“So called “compassionate” liberals who are more concerned about Gov. Romney’s tax returns than the 300 dead Mexicans killed by Obama’s Fast and Furious program are neither compassionate or liberal in the classical sense.”

Monday Book Pick: Eye of the Hammer

Monday, August 20th, 2012

Eyes of the Hammer (The Green Beret Series) by Bob Mayer

Fast paced military fiction set the 1980s with that late 80s Golden Age of Tom Clancy Techno Thrillers feel. In this case it’s Columbian drug lords being targeted by Green Berets and the rest of the Special Operations Command. The Drug Lords have their moments, but they don’t fair well against in the long run against the U.S. Military. A good read with Good Guys and Bad Guys, and most of the Bad Guys get what is coming to them. There are the standard themes running through that you can pick up in other Military Fiction, typically written by former enlisted or NCOs, including the concept that the only good officers are mavericks.

Monday Book Pick Archive