(This is more or less what a memory palace is. See also The Art of Memory, which I think my wife owns. Alas, I can’t quite remember.)

But if I had a memory palace, this would be in it:

Of course, Kung Fu Hustle (Axe-Kickin’ Edition) is the color of the sky in my world, so that might explain things.

Via @MelissaTweets

Hey, remember when people like him were too scared of people like us to try to play games like this?

Britain under pressure amid Lockerbie release

LONDON – Britain’s leaders faced strong pressure Saturday to account for any role they might have had in the release of the Lockerbie bomber after Moammar Gadhafi credited senior British officials and members of the royal family for influencing the decision.

[snip]

Libyan television showed pictures of Gadhafi singling out British Prime Minister Gordon Brown by name, as well as “the Queen of Britain, Elizabeth, and Prince Andrew, who all contributed to encouraging the Scottish government to take this historic and courageous decision, despite the obstacles.”

Mind you, this is the guy who couldn’t make nice fast enough, once we yanked Saddam Hussein out of his spider-hole.  So what happened?

Oh.

Right.

Never mind…

Moe Lane

“Where have you gone, Franklin Delano?  A nation starts this Ponzi scheme to rue*…”

[UPDATE]: Welcome, Instapundit readers. My reaction (and attempt to cash in somehow) on the Crowder Victory Dance here.

49% want the chance to opt out, 37% don’t.  This was the sentence that jumped out at me:

A majority of voters under 50 say workers should be allowed to opt out. A plurality of those over 50 disagree.

Speaking as a voter under 50, let me say that both the under-50 and the over-50 positions make perfect sense.  I’ve been putting money into Social Security for a quarter-century – and I don’t expect to see a penny of it, a quarter-century from now.  Somebody retiring fifteen years from now? …maybe.  Enough to roll the bones, at least.  For myself, I’m tired of tossing good money after bad. (more…)

Well… he wasn’t the only one, of course. But Frank Guinta‘s announcement that he’d be throwing a town hall because Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D, NH-01) was too leery to was undoubtedly a primary factor in the way that she buckled yesterday.  The strong plurality of New Hampshire voters who don’t approve of her hiding from them probably helped, of course.  And the hostile editorials (including this one, from what I assume is a Democratic-leaning paper*).  Or maybe… no, that’s an unkind thought.

Anyway, Frank Guinta made a statement:

“While I am very pleased that Congresswoman Shea-Porter has finally given in to the wishes of the people and will conduct a town hall on health care, I find it very unfortunate it took a media and public backlash in order to do it.  Carol Shea-Porter, as we’ve been reminded over the past week, made a name for herself by attending and speaking out at town halls conducted by her predecessor.  She refused to offer the same opportunity when she got into office—what a difference a few years in DC made. Our representatives in Washington should make decisions based on what is in the public’s best interest, not simply cave under unexpected and intense scrutiny.

“That being said, I look forward to attending the town hall of my Congresswoman on August 29th and invite her to attend mine, on August 31st.  Let’s make sure we give all citizens the opportunity to voice their opinions, express their concerns and most importantly let’s hope our elected leaders listen to us.”

(more…)

Follow the Drinking Gourd, Richie Havens

Not the absolutely best version that I’ve ever heard; but it’ll do, it’ll do.

I swear, this was my first reaction to the news that the Terminator franchise might end (via the Rhetorician)- and not due to Terminator Salvation:

The Terminator franchise is in jeopardy. The question is, do we care?

The recent Halcyon bankruptcy announcement has raised some eyebrows, because it seems bizarre for the producers of the $370 million worldwide grosser Terminator Salvation to be running on empty.

I mean, didn’t it suck?

I wonder if it’ll hit the same ones that I would have; particularly, how every major problem in the Star Trek universe can be solved by a modified tachyon burst emitted through the main deflector grid.

Anyway, via Instapundit comes “John Scalzi’s Guide to the Most Epic FAILs in Star Wars Design.” I like this one the best, because it’s one that I didn’t think of ahead of time, but was bloody obvious once it was pointed out to me:

Lightsabers
Yes, I know, I want one too. But I tell you what: I want one with a hand guard. Otherwise every lightsaber battle would consist of sabers clashing and then their owners sliding as quickly as possible down the shaft to lop off their opponent’s fingers. You say: Lightsabers can slice through anything but another lightsaber, so what are you going to make a hand guard out of? I say: Dude, if you have the technology to make a lightsaber, you have the technology to make a light hand guard.

Well, that’s why he’s John Scalzi, and I’m not.

Moe Lane

The article itself (via Hot Air) is reasonable enough, but the real fun is watching the screaming in the comments sections from various of TMV’s commenters – said screaming partially because there’s nothing shriller than an Online Left commenter having one of their treasured talking points demolished, but mostly because the Online Left commentariat hates conservatives, and wants us all to die in fires.

Oops, did I just type that out? Whoops! For some reason, we’re expected not to make that rather obvious observation.

Moe Lane

PS: Anybody who can comment here is generally considered an exception to that designation. My general rule of thumb is whether they can type out “Republican” without mutating it into a slur.

Crossposted to RedState.

(Via The Other McCain.)

I’m sure that the guy thinks that he’s trying to be helpful, but he flunks out by the subtitle.

You won’t win the healthcare debate by calling people stupid racists

Elite right-wing foes of healthcare reform are telling lies. The folks listening to them are mostly just scared

Dude. They’re not scared.

They’re pissed off.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Assuming that there’s any sort of on-message at this point. Via Hot Air, here’s the latest cloud of ink from a Democrat perhaps worried about the way things are going:

Hoyer (D-Md.) emphasized his support for a public option in a teleconference call with reporters, but also said he wants to ensure Congress sends a bill to the president.

“I’m for a public option, but I’m also for passing a bill,” he said. Democrats believe the public option is necessary, useful and important, he added, “be we’ll have to see.”

No doubt we’ll soon enough get a clarification of the explanation of the correction of the restatement of whatever the heck it is that the Democrats want to do this week. Although what are progressives going to do with Steny, anyway? Give money to Charles Lollar?

Well, they should. But that’s just the Marylander Republican talking.

Moe Lane

PS: In other words, it is not yet time for me to publicly join in the Crowder Victory Dance.  And I am sure that the world finds this delay much to its liking.

That being said, drop some money in the tip jar and I’ll think about doing it and taping the results.

Heck, drop some money in the tip jar with the message “Don’t. Please, Moe: DON’T!” and I’ll think about not. I’ll be happy to start a bidding war; it’s all going to go towards assemblingmy blogging wish list, anyway.

Crossposted to RedState.

Ha!  Got it right this time.  Anyway, this video from the VA GOP:

…is a nice supplement to this WaPo article (via Jim Newell, who seems a bit bitter):

Democratic gubernatorial candidate R. Creigh Deeds is running behind his Republican opponent in a recent Washington Post poll in large part because he has yet to win over voters in populous, Democratic-leaning Northern Virginia.

[snip]

In the Washington Post poll, Deeds had his best showing among suburban Washington voters, running about evenly with McDonnell, who is a native of Fairfax County.

Bolding mine, and let me translate what that means for the Deeds campaign if that’s not fixed:

DOOM.

Moe Lane

PS: McDonnell for Governor. Donate here.

Crossposted to RedState.

So stop wasting everybody’s time with pretending that you want Republicans for anything but cover and pass your cursed health care rationing bill.

Actually, that’s pretty much what he said:

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele on Thursday dared Democrats to try a one-party push to overhaul the nation’s health care system.

Steele told reporters that he thinks if Democratic senators think they have the votes, they should try a tactic that would allow them to get around a bill-killing filibuster without the 60 votes usually needed. Steele said he didn’t think Democrats would do it because of potential voter backlash.

“Get it to the floor. Up or down, baby,” Steele said at a news conference at the state GOP headquarters. “Put it on the table. And if you don’t think you’ve got enough votes to get to 60, you’ve got the nuclear option. You’ve got 51.”

(Via Hot Air Headlines)

Democrats who are surprised by this shouldn’t be: this is the natural and inevitable result of the Democratic House leadership deciding to freeze out House Republicans in writing bills this session. That particular bit of hubris then means that we feel that we’re under no obligation to give the Democrats political cover for a blessed thing now – and if the Democrats are feeling upset over that, well, good. They should direct that upset towards the people who actually caused it – which is to say, Pelosi, Hoyer, Murtha, Waxman, Frank, Obey, and every other House leader who let their sense of entitlement and need for petty revenge override their good sense. (more…)