Moe Lane

In order:

• Over at Instapundit, noted brag.
• Over at Genreville, noted source of brag (in comments of post about book-blogging): sneering, non-cognitive slam by religious fanatic of Instapundit’s contribution to John Scalzi’s publishing success refuted by… John Scalzi.
• Over at Whatever (John Scalzi’s site), read short-short about intelligent yogurt taking over the world, admittedly to our benefit.  Laughed, because John Scalzi is a good writer.
• While still at Whatever, read damning-with-faint-praise review of Atlas Shrugged.  Laughed some more, because personal opinion is that it’s political pornography for the Right (like the way Nineteen Eighty-Four is political pornography for the Left).
• Over to Moe Lane, where will prepare for at least one comment informing the world that Atlas Shrugged is the Best Book EVAR.

Not that many people probably care.  Still, the yogurt story was pretty good.

Ed Morrissey and I will be very grateful if You could let this happen.  And it’s certainly true that the Democrats deserve this, after all:

Democratic insiders are taking the temperature of some top party donors about the possibility of naming White House press secretary Robert Gibbs as chairman of the Democratic National Committee heading into President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012, senior officials tell POLITICO.

Under the scenario being tested, Tim Kaine, the current DNC chairman and former governor of Virginia, would be named to a top administration post, perhaps in the Cabinet, the officials said.

Especially the part where Kaine comes in and does to the executive branch what he did to the DNC. Just don’t let them make Kaine Secretary of State: the last thing that we need is Hillary Clinton suddenly free from her entanglement with this administration…

Moe Lane

PS: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Two things to take away from this San Francisco Chronicle article (H/T: The Other McCain) on Jerry Brown’s Gloria Allred’s nonsensical attacks on Meg Whitman:

First, this sentence: “Lawyers said an employer’s obligation upon receiving a no-match letter from the Social Security Administration is to check their own records for typographical or other errors, inform the employee that the records do not match and tell the employee to correct them.”  Which is pretty much what the scrawl on the letter told Diaz to do (please see Greta van Susterin’s disembowelment of Gloria Allred for further details on said letter).  In fact, the action that Allred is apparently demanding would… wait for it, wait for it… have put Meg Whitman in danger of a discrimination lawsuit! Translation: Whitman followed the law.

Second, it’s kind of contemptible that Jerry Brown can’t fight his own battles, isn’t it? – Because let’s not pretend that this isn’t being done for Brown’s benefit.  I’d also make some commentary on whether Brown would try something this cheap against a male candidate, but for some reason it’s considered uncouth to point out that male Democratic politicians don’t consider any blow to be too low when it comes to dealing with their female opponents.  Still, I see no reason to let Brown get away with this: he’s Attorney General, so he knows the law.  And he knows that Whitman followed it, so he needs to come out and disavow it.

Which he won’t.  Because Jerry Brown is a coward.  And a sneak.

Moe Lane (Crosspost)

PS: Meg Whitman for Governor.

For those who don’t know – and come, I will conceal nothing from you; until five minutes ago, this included me* – Ms. Tucker was a drummer for the Velvet Underground, which for a certain segment of the population makes her instantly cooler than squeezable bacon. Well, in April of 2009 a ‘Maureen Tucker’ showed up at a Georgia Tea Party:

…and Instapundit, Reason, and I are all entertained to discover that this is freaking out people, now that that the story’s out (a year and a half later).  They are actually depressed and in denial at the thought that an older lady and mother who once played the drums for a band they liked might be upset that the economy’s in free fall; searching Google blogs for “moe tucker” should be good for at least a half hour of entertainment.   That is, if you’re the sort who would enjoy watching random people from the Other Side go through an episode of existential dread and mild terror at the thought that one of their icons is one of… one of… one of THEM.

No, it’s not exactly cognitive dissonance; this is more the activating event that causes cognitive dissonance.  I’m sure that the rationalizations will start pretty soon, though.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*I cannot know everything, and I have never been ‘cool.’  Massively awesome, sure: but never ‘cool.’

Normally I wouldn’t post this, although it’s quite good:

…because normally I wouldn’t have anything to add to this. However, when I tracked down the creators of it I was shocked to discover that I actually comprehended large sections of the text, even thought it was in French. This astounds me: I have always considered myself to be awful at foreign languages, to the point where I seriously wondered whether there might be actual burned-out circuits in my head, or something. Apparently, three years of Latin and one semester of Spanish had more effect than I thought.

Still can’t speak any foreign language to any extent worth a tinker’s dam, of course.

Moe Lane

First, watch this to fortify yourself.

I Love Rock N’ Roll, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

OK.  You ready for the Deep Hurting?

(more…)

LALALALALALALALALA I can’t hear you

Sid Meier’s Civilization V

LALALALALALALALALA…

…even if he had been winning the Republican primary:

My reply to this is one word and eight letters long: the first four are ‘bull.’

Moe Lane

PS: RUBIO.

Cute bit of political theater, here.  The short version is, House Minority Leader John Boehner brought the GOP caucus together and shook ‘em until three million dollars fell out; coupled with the million that he’s donating from his own campaign funds, that’s four million that’s going to the NRCC, just in time for the fall election cycle.  That should fund a bunch of races.

I’m noting this for a few reasons.

• First: it amuses me.
• Second: it’s interesting that they were able to get to three million in about thirty-five minutes; that was obviously set up ahead of time, but it’s still nice to see.
• Third: contrast to the DCCC’s recent curious worries in getting outstanding dues out of its own members.
• Fourth: admittedly, the reason for the difference between the second and the third points is that more than one-third of the House Democratic caucus have competitive races this year, while barely one-tenth of the House Republican caucus does.  And that those numbers are getting worse for the Democrats for the last two years.
• Fifth: did I mention that I find this amusing?

It’s odd to think of the Democrats being short of cash at this point in the game, but they are, aren’t they?  They don’t have enough to protect everybody, and if they guess wrong, they waste what they have.  Heck of a thing to have to worry about, no?

Moe Lane (crosspost)

“Good God.  It’s like running ads for the Holocaust.”

That was one of my colleagues’ reaction when he saw this “No Pressure” video put out by British environmentalists, which is… hideous. As in, ‘they started by blowing up two children in a crowded classroom for not wanting to bike to school’ hideous. As in, ‘they splattered the other children with blood and viscera’ hideous. As in, ‘the Greenies themselves are reportedly hunting down and erasing all examples of this video on Youtube’ hideous.

None of the above is figurative, by the way. Put another way: DO NOT WATCH THIS ACTUAL, REAL, NON-SATIRICAL COMMERCIAL AT WORK.

H/T: Hot Air Headlines, but I don’t know if they want the credit for that. This was some pretty vile… stuff.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

I’m putting up the finger-quotes because, well, he’s eligible.  I know that this Burt Odelson fellow – who I don’t know anything about, pro or con – is stating that Rahm Emanuel is ineligible on residency requirements (H/T: Hot Air Headlines).  More details here: the short version is that Emanuel’s house has been rented out, the renters don’t want to leave, so even though Emanuel’s registered to vote and has his car registered to that address he apparently doesn’t meet the residency rules.

How do I put this gently?  The odds of this being used to successfully challenge Rahm Emanuel’s candidacy are not somewhere between “slim” and “none.”   It would be more like somewhere between “none” and “you should be smacked in the face with a halibut for wasting people’s time by suggesting this*.”  It’s fodder for the primary, which he’ll almost certainly win; and it’ll be fodder for the general election.  But I can’t imagine Chicago voters getting too upset about it.

Moe Lane

*Admittedly, a mouthful, even if you don’t swallow any of the halibut.

Having just watched the DC area freak out yet again over a heavy rainstorm, I am forced to comment: yes, yes, it was important to have the capital city be built from scratch, and in roughly the center of what was then the settled portion of the USA.

But did it have to be in the middle of a freaking swamp?