Moe Lane

Our own Aaron Gardner was on hand to record the Governor’s remarks after the debate last night. I’ll be putting up the video in two parts: this part consists of the formal remarks that Governor Perry made, and the second will be from the question-and-answer period.

Not to be, ah, pawkish about this or anything: but as you can see, the difference between Perry’s performance at debates, and his ability to interact with a room, is palpable.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

This video (via the PJ Tatler, to pick somebody for the honor) from the Occupy LA… whatever it is… has been making the rounds:

For those without video access: it shows a Commie* haranguing the crowd about how socialism is great, and how nonviolent revolutions pale in comparison to the bloody ones. I am almost impressed, to be truthful; even among the American Left it takes skill to find a crowd that will enthusiastically applaud somebody trash-talking Gandhi, but this guy apparently managed the trick. Truly, we live in an age of marvels.
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The Devil Went Down To Georgia, The Charlie Daniels Band

Cain: hurt by TARP.  Will not breakout further.  But will not slip, either.

Romney: hurt by TARP.  Will be crowned winner of debate by the reporting class.  Will not get a boost in popularity.

Perry: he did better in debate than a lot of people expected, and how a lot of people are reporting – or are going to report.  But that’s because he has such a low bar for debate expectations at this point.

Gingrich: NOM NOM NOM MODERATOR LIVER (OK, so I reused that line).

Everybody else: Thanks for stopping by.  Go home.

…Bloomberg TV should be livestreaming it here.  Debate at 8 PM: the debaters will be sitting for a change.

Tonight… it’s Cain, Perry, & Romney, and never mind anybody else.  All three have a vested interest in winning this debate: Cain needs to show that he’s not the latest anti-Romney flavor; Perry needs to show that he’s not crashing and burning; and Romney needs to show that he’s, you know, worth voting for.

Oh, boy!  Should be a blast!

I would buy this.  Seriously. Call it a ‘parody’ and everything’s jake… no, wait, the text is probably still under copyright.  Still, straighten it all out and I’ll buy it.

Via io9, via AoSHQ.

In a socially-acceptable way, of course: ie, via another hike in the tax on tobacco.  The “Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative” – a name whose hint of subtle menace should make small-government types involuntarily shiver – looking to raise it by a buck a pack, because… well, pretty much because they want people to quit smoking, and taxing it through the ceiling is supposed to accomplish that.  And it might… except for one minor little detail.  You see, Maryland’s state sales tax on tobacco is currently two dollars; over in Virginia it’s thirty cents.

You do the math.
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Excellent news, if true: former governor Lingle was popular for most of her two terms in office (term limits prevented her from running for a third term in 2010).  Some heavily partisan Democrats trumpeted some heavily partisan Democratic polling earlier in the year in an apparent attempt to keep her out of next year’s race; it’s apparently backfired.

This does not necessarily translate to ‘Lingle is a shoo-in.’  The state is reliably Blue these days; it’s one of the few places where the Republican party did unambiguously worse in the 2010 elections (loss of the governorship, a House seat*, and losses in both houses of the state legislature).  How bad is it, in fact?  Well, let me put it this way: meet Sam Slom, otherwise known as the Hawaiian Republican Senate caucus.  The retirement of Sen. Akaka is likewise going to attract a lot of Democratic hopefuls; Hawaii has an institutional tendency to keep re-electing incumbents once they’re in office, which means that anybody getting that Senate seat can reasonably expect it to hold it for a while – even by US Senate standards.

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I don’t care how much the practice makes people feel taken out of themselves and brought into the comforting embrace of the Collective Struggle Community – or whatever the buzzwords are – we have something called the ‘Internet’ now, and things that seem perfectly reasonable at the moment can give a completely different impression when captured by the uncaring eye of the camera.

Original video here: via Legal Insurrection and the Conservatory.  It would be a very, very cruel thing if people started infiltrating these goofballs with the goal of seeing how much of a Burma-Shave commercial they’d recite before a critical mass of the crowd caught on.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Weren’t you people all supposed to have jumped on downloading the Dragon Age 2: Mark of the Assassin DLC ahead of time?  …Guess that there’s honest people in the world who don’t take advantage of the mistakes of others, after all*.

Dammit.

Moe Lane

*Don’t even think that I wouldn’t have bought the DLC early if I had been told about it in time.  I don’t steal stuff, but if the vendor accidentally makes it available ahead of time, well, that’s not my screw-up, is it?

Over The Hills And Far Away, Led Zeppelin

Relaxing.

There’s a webcomic out there whose artist is pretty good, and who definitely needs money. And every so often I feel guilty about reading said webcomic, and not giving the artist any money… but every single time that I start feeling really guilty, the artist engages in political hate speech! Right out of nowhere! Completely egregious!

And then I don’t feel guilty anymore.

Moe Lane

PS: Taunting the artist with this by name is more or less immoral; not because it’s wrong to teach people the practical consequences of hate speech, but because I would enjoy it just a shade too much, and not in the right way.