Moe Lane

“The Hula Hula Boys,” Warren Zevon

Still don’t know if the live version is better, but it’s what we got.

…on the Kindle. Temporary Duty was written by frequent commenter here Ric Locke: it’s a first novel, and I enjoyed reading it.  Sort of US Navy Meets Doc EE Smith, with a bit of modern military SF exasperation with current political-cultural trends mixed in.  Pros: interesting character, good use of space opera tropes.  Cons: the ending could have used a little more work and a bit more foreshadowing.  Still, at three bucks for the Kindle* it’s a steal: I read the whole thing more or less in one sitting.

Check it out.

Moe Lane

*I am still surprised at how easy it is to read from a Kindle. If I can ever figure out how to blog from one I’ll be a happy guy…

…to a home movie of my eldest being instructed in the Great Heroes and Villains of the Old Lore.

It’s never too early.

…watch this one.

That soundtrack was either written for the occasion, or else it’s serendipity to the Nth power.

Mark Steyn, who is about as approving of Energy Secretary Chu’s arrogance as I was yesterday:

Nevertheless, having nothing to show for blowing a trillion dollars of other people’s money does at least make the point in a fairly spectacular way: the distinguishing feature of the west at twilight from Sacramento to Albany to Brussells to Athens is the failure of the Chu class – the People Who Know What’s Best For Us.

True, but consider this: remember when you could read the phrase “blowing a trillion dollars of other people’s money” and roll your eyes at the hyperbole?  Now it’s probably a low-ball number.

Alternative title: Victor Davis Hanson puts the boot in.

(H/T: Instapundit) There’s a plethora of schadenfreude-rich goodness in this piece about what VDH calls the Great Madness, but this particular piece referring to the curious amnesia of the antiwar Left over how its own ostensible champions had embraced the liberation of Afghanistan/Iraq is probably most the… symptomatic.

I remember remarking to a former CSU colleague in those dark hours that the Congress had approved Iraq, with stirring speeches in support by Kerry, Reid, Clinton, and other liberal giants, that the public voiced a 75% approval when the 3-week war ended, and that Andrew Sullivan, as a tiny example, had mentioned Bush as Nobel laureate material and the need to use nukes against Saddam if he were behind the anthrax scare. Funny days, those, when Fareed Zakaria and Francis Fukuyama were writing serious, sober, and judicious briefs for preventative regime change in Iraq. The professor said to me, “That’s a lie. They all always opposed his amoral war and the Bush criminality.”

This is stupidity on the professor’s part, to be sure; it is also willful stupidity.  But most of all it’s a starkly necessary stupidity, at least for the originator of it; because the alternative is to accept the terrible reality that when it comes to foreign policy President Obama is just like Bush… only without Bush’s competency*, and without a basic empathy for the plight of the innocent people caught in the crossfire from President Obama’s ongoing military escapades.  Nobody likes admitting to themselves that they aren’t as good as they could be; so imagine how hard it must be for the antiwar Left to even contemplate the notion that they’re vile.  Actually, you don’t have to.  The antiwar Left demonstrates that frantic blindness every single day… and will do so for the rest of their lives, probably.

I’d say “To Hell with them,” except that I suspect that it’d be largely unnecessary.

Moe Lane

[*An alert reader in comments noted the orphan footnote, but I'm blessed if I remember what point I wanted to highlight here: that was one Texas Toast roast beef sandwich and a glass of excellent Belgian White beer ago, I'm debating the virtues of a summer Sunday nap, and it must not have been very important anyway.]

Alternate title: Wisconsin Gutter War expands.

There is a gutter war going on right now in Wisconsin, by the way.  It’s not one that the Republicans there started, but darned if they’re not grimly intent on finishing it – and for anybody who might be upset at that notion, let me remind you of something: oddly enough, when you threaten a man or woman’s family, it’s rare that he or she will… just shrug that off later.  The more typical response usually involves the phrase ‘put down like mad dogs.’

Of course that statement, while true, is perhaps a little melodramatic for this situation: Wisconsin state legislators have merely put out the likely new redistricting maps.  Normally, it’s the federal one that would get the most ink or pixels, but the state legislative one will probably get touched upon in the media, too (for reasons that will be made clear)… (more…)

The Safety Dance, Men Without Hats

Because this is America:  and in America a man can put The Safety Dance video up on his blog whenever he damn well feels like it.

Freedom.  Live it.  Love it.

So, is this old?

It’s probably old.

Moe Lane

PS: Yeah, I know: the scansion is kind of messed up.

…on his two rules of social media (via Instapundit) you can in fact be a jerk.  I am quite often a jerk, for example – and by most reasonable standards I’ve done quite well out of the political blogosphere*.  What I’ve done is merely ensure that my jerkiness is directed towards my political enemies, which I have picked out with some care and attention**.  Outside of that circle, I am downright easygoing.

So I guess I think that the second rule should be “Don’t be an unreliable jerk;” the first rule (“Be useful”) I have no problem with.

Moe Lane (more…)

Wait.  What?

It’s official: TNT is bringing back Dallas, and with original series stars Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray.

The 1980s hit will get a modern makeover on the cable network, which just gave its new version of Dallas a 10-episode series order (full official description below). But you don’t have to wait until next summer, when the series debuts, to get a look at the show: TNT will give viewers a preview of the pilot on Monday night during the season premieres of The Closer and Rizzoli & Isles.

(Via Drudge)

If you’re wondering why I’m reporting on this, it’s because when I was in college I’d get together with a bunch of people every week to watch this show; somebody would cook a dinner, we’d all get half-plastered, then we’d watch the episode while calling out what we thought were witticisms at the time.  And yeah, we knew the show was crappy.  That’s why we were watching it; it was fun crappy. Still, I can’t quite in good conscience tell you to click through the link below and buy the show…

This would be sad…

At Thursday’s White House meeting between President Obama and congressional leaders, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner laid out in stark terms the awful economic repercussions of allowing the debt ceiling to lapse. Everyone in the room agreed that defaulting on U.S. debt would be disastrous and that something must be done. At that point, Nancy Pelosi asked: Why couldn’t the debt ceiling be decoupled from deficit reduction?

Her query, after so many weeks of reports and talks centered on deficit reduction tied to a debt ceiling deal, visibly surprised some leaders in the room, several Republican and Democratic sources say. Obama politely informed the House Minority Leader, those same sources say, that that train had left the station weeks ago.

…if it had happened to anybody else except the House Minority Leader.  As it is, it’s a glaring (or entertaining) reminder of why former Speakers of the House typically, you know, leave after they’ve been repudiated.  The woman has less power now than she did as House Minority Leader in 2005, when both Congress and the White House were held by Republicans; when a politician slips down from the pinnacle of power to his/her old position, that politician has by definition demonstrated an essential weakness.  Expecting other politicians not to note that, and act accordingly, is… foolish.

(more…)