Moe Lane

…err, not that I would know anything about that sort of thing, of course.

Anyway, this ‘literary’ dec0nstruction of that Rebecca Black video that’s making the rounds is probably not a parody as one would normally define the term, because I’ve never really believed that any of my fellow English-majors really bought into that literary deconstruction bullshit to begin with.  Everyone who ever said that he or she did sang a completely different tune after their third vodka-and-lemonade*; they’d break down and admit that it was all about getting the As in the independent study.  Those of you still in college, try it sometime.

Well, yes, the drink too.

Moe Lane

PS: NO SHAME! NO SHAME!

*Vodka was cheap; lemonade you could buy in the cafeteria in carton form and smuggle out of the dining hall.  Duh.

The topic was on Obamacare: specifically, its repeal.  Senator Johnson had an article in the Wall Street Journal today on his personal issue with health care rationing; we discussed that, the ongoing judicial struggles over Obamacare, and what activists can do to help resolve this problem.

Senator Johnson’s decision to run for office in the first place can be ‘credited’ with the passage of Obamacare, which is news that will no doubt delight supporters of former Senator Russ Feingold.  Also, some further details of the future economic effects of the health care legislation can be found here, via the American Action Forum.  Check it out.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Megan McArdle, on reviewing a pig farmer’s apparent realization that the locavore historical narrative is, well, a myth about local production that pretends that there was never such a thing as Chicago, and its associated, literally epic meat-packing industry:

I actually had no idea that such obviously ahistorical views were common in the local food movement–indeed, I suspect that he exaggerates.

Ha.

Ha-hah!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Oh, Megan.  Never underestimate the need for humanity to tell itself stories.  Particularly religious stories.  And doubly particularly when the religion that the story is supporting is less sophisticated and intellectually rigorous than, say, Evangelical Christianity*.

Moe Lane

*Call me in five hundred years and we’ll see what faiths are still around.

Not that MMfA is cool enough to be associated with Fight Club.

Executive summary of this Washington Post article: Media Matters for America (MMfA) has come up with its latest ACME-approved method for beating the Road Runner Fox News: a secret training camp in which they teach selected liberal acolytes secret Barking Moonbat Pundit Kung Fu techniques that will let them infiltrate and dominate an unsuspecting “right-wing media!”  Well… at least those elements of the aforementioned right-wing media that don’t read the papers, because, again the entire exercise got written up in the Washington Post by Jason Horowitz.

The entire thing is, in fact, almost sad.  Even if you concede the central premise that it’s a good idea to be prepared for television appearances – which it is; and it’s one reason why I don’t even try to do TV – it is still always bemusing to see people refuse to give up a cherished, yet quite wrong, notion.  As someone privately pointed out to me – and I agree – MMfA still thinks that it’s their messaging that’s the problem for progressives, not the message itself  (despite decades of empirical evidence to the contrary).  It’s also interesting that the article itself admits that the trainees themselves were more comfortable with arguing the conservative points of view than the liberal ones; sure, they try to explain it away by saying that “it’s more fun to be the bad guy” – but they haven’t really thought that thought through.  It’s fun to play the bad guy when the bad guy is over-the-top – but if conservatives were as over-the-top as progressives think that they are, then conservatives wouldn’t be winning the debate.  And MMfA is starting out by admitting that conservatives are winning the debate.

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I did fairly well yesterday – about 20% or so of what I was hoping to acquire, actually.  And, remember how I was telling you that there are “people out there who find my posts obnoxious, my style grating, and my cheerful inability to perceive their greatness intolerable“?  Here, meet one of them.  From the mailbag, regarding my NPR post*:

Remember: this person does not want me to have an iPad2.  If I end up with an iPad2 and this person doesn’t have one, that will gnaw at his/her entrails until the end of time itself.  And if I end up with an iPad2 and this person does have one, it will be as ashes in his or her mouth to know that one of them has the same Holy Object and is using it to help with electing more… Republicans.  And conservatives.

Ewwwwwwww.

Moe Lane

*Must have been the ‘trash behavior’ bit.  Some of these people absolutely hate having it pointed out when they’re being low-rent.

Mostly because it’s apparently single-sourced, and single-sourced from a site that also wants to tell you that the Coca-Cola recipe has booze and anti-Islamic messages in it.

Umm.  No.

(Via Ace of Spades HQ Headlines)

Moe Lane

PS: No, I’m not quite on-board with shooting pirates on the spot.  Catch ‘em in the act, gather the evidence, determine if there’s evidence of a capital crime, try them on the spot, shoot the ones found guilty.  Keep records of everything, in case somebody asks later.

I think that’s reasonable.   After all, it’s piracy.

Drunken Lullabies, Flogging Molly

Figure that it’s safe to play the Irish music again – now that the damned holiday’s over.

This is…

Well, this is Star Trek: Phase 2 – new episodes based on ST: TOS, featuring new actors in the old roles.    This is what happens when a bunch of obsessive-compulsive Star Trek nerds and geeks discover that advances in computer animation and general video technology have advanced to a level where you can recreate the technical production values of a 1960s major television studio.  So all you need are the costumes, the actors, the scripts, the attitude, and the uncritical willingness to take the source material seriously.  In case you’re wondering, it’s all volunteer: copyright issues means that these folks can’t generate revenue from doing this, but they’re doing it anyway.

Here’s the first episode that these gloriously mad bastard nerds and geeks did, some years ago.   Feel free to wince and groan as much as I did – but speaking as an old(er) Trekkie… by God it is fun to live in a world where such things may be.

Moe Lane

…doth protest too much.  Background here (NSFW): short version, Bill Maher was channeling his inner tough-guy-misogynist again and used a fairly crude sexual crudity in the process of lying about THAT WOMAN’s response to the disaster in Japan (because, well, Bill Maher).  After that happened, people started asking why it is that groups like NOW didn’t immediately start pounding the tables and shouting about the way that a male chauvinist pig had publicly tried to reduce a woman to her sexual organs – well, that’s not true: we all know that the reason is that the leadership of NOW doesn’t really like to admit that conservative women are, well, human beings.  We’re just obliged to politely ignore that minor little detail as part of the entire “conflict resolution that doesn’t involve automatic weapons fire” thing that is the hallmark of civilized society.

Anyway, eventually NOW got sufficiently embarrassed to live up to its own standards and issue a condemnation.  Very, very ungraciously: (more…)

This morning, the US Census bureau released the demographic data that the Massachusetts legislature will need to redraw its Congressional Districts. The actual data is only up on the Census website in limited form, but the Boston Globe summarized the information: Boston and Springfield lost population, while Lawrence, Plymouth, Revere, Shrewsbury, & Worcester gained some. This should give at least a rough approximation of where the lines are going to be drawn.  I’ve broken down the current cities by CD and Representative:

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That is, McCaskill said that she did, back in 2006 (via Hot Air Headlines):

For those who don’t remember the initial controversy mentioned in the ad, McCaskill’s husband was linked to some extraordinarily poorly-operated Missouri nursing homes at the same time that McCaskill herself had oversight over Missouri nursing homes as Missouri State Auditor.  As you can see, back in 2006 McCaskill vehemently denied any wrongdoing, just before she declared that she paid her taxes.

Which she actually did not do in 2006; and has continued to not do since then.  Iknow that this is just repeating Bill S. ‘s excellent post from yesterday, which is why I would like to point out an old Tom Daschle campaign ad below. You may remember it: it’s the one where he bragged about driving his own car to work.

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…think I’ll go eat worms*.

Nah, not really, but the first day of the Guerrilla Video pledge drive didn’t go well.  Either PayPal isn’t taking donations, or else nobody made any.  I’m guessing the latter; which is no doubt pleasing mightily a couple of people out there who find my posts obnoxious, my style grating, and my cheerful inability to perceive their greatness intolerable.  Those people are now smiling, and are as close as they ever get to being happy, and are now waiting patiently for tomorrow’s pledge drive update.

Just saying.

Moe Lane

*No, it’s a song.