Moe Lane

Monster Hunter International is the first book in Larry Correia’s urban fantasy Monster Hunter series, which has a pretty straightforward premise: monsters exist.  People hunt them.  The basic concept is sound enough for a fantasy series; now add an awe-inspiring knowledge of gun porn and a cheerful willingness to show no mercy towards standard fantasy tropes (particularly when they would run smack dab into modern life*) and you have perfect Kindle-fodder.  Lots of fun.

So was Cthulhu 101, of course, but all things must end.

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(Via Instapundit)  The article itself is patent nonsense, mind you – the author seems to think that there’s something unusual about conservatives supporting civil rights, probably because he’s an academic and they can get some weird thoughts in their heads, sometimes – and not nearly as interesting as the real question: did the Atlantic mean for the picture associated with it to be ironic, or not?

Seriously, look at the flag: it’s one of those offensive sneers at the supposed corporate control over America that the Activist Left absolutely loves to indulge in.  If the Atlantic noticed that about the picture and used it for that reason, then it’s a brilliant, subtle reinforcement of the story (possibly too subtle; nobody in the article’s comment section has noticed it, as of 5:35 EST).  If the Atlantic didn’t notice it, then, well, it tells you everything that you need to know about the Left’s intrinsic inability to give the right answer on American patriotism even when they know the right answer on American patriotism.

I am almost relieved by this:

The Obama administration urged officers of the struggling solar company Solyndra to postpone announcing planned layoffs until after the November 2010 midterm elections, newly released e-mails show.

More accurately, I am relieved that I can still get angry about this.  You never know when you’re going to get suddenly numb about the latest batch of incompetent corruption that this Keystone Krooks of an administration seems to almost delight in.

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So, Governor Rick Perry made a speech today where he proposed the following:

• Ending the practice of giving lifetime appointments to federal judges (current judges would not be affected);
• Cutting Congressional pay in half;
• Cutting Congressional pay in half again if they don’t balance the budget by 2020;
• Cutting Congressional office budgets in half;
• Cutting the Congressional calendar by half;
• Criminalizing insider trading by Congressmen (no, actually, it’s not currently illegal for them to do that);
• Reducing spending to 18% of GDP;
• Privatizing Fannie & Freddie;
• Ending the funding of Planned Parenthood;
• Eliminating the Commerce, Education, and Energy Departments;
• Getting the EPA under control;
• Getting the TSA under control;
• Audit the government, including the Department of Defense;
• Freeze incoming federal regulations, and audit all of them for the last five years;
• Federal salary freeze for all non-military and non-law enforcement officials until the budget is balanced;
• And cutting the Presidential salary in half until the budget is balanced

This is not red meat.  This is raw meat, still steaming from the cow.

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This is what Letting Small Problems Turn Into Big Ones looks like.

• Volley (via Jammie Wearing Fools): The cops went into Zuccotti Park in an early-morning sweep-and-clear this morning to clean out the fetid, squalid, crime-ridden, and generally disgusting eyesore that has been fermenting there for the last month under the guise of a ‘protest movement’ (Frank Miller’s comment on what sort of movement the Occupiers actually represent is appeals to me, by the way).  There were arrests; many, many arrests.  And then came the disinfectant.
• Counter-volley (via Hot Air): The Occupiers found a reliable judge to issue a temporary restraining order.  Shockingly, she’s a hardcore ACLU type.
• Counter-counter-volley: The City of New York will need a, ah, clarification on the TRO before they can act on it.  Which I think establishes that Occupy Wall Street has outstayed its welcome on City soil.
• Occupy Wall Street rushes onto the tennis court, drops its pants, and defecates all over it: Occupiers break into Trinity Church, cops converge and make more arrests.

…and they can get on with it, at this point.

At least, not for the front page: it’s a long range video of a DC [Seattle*] Occupier literally defecating on a sidewalk as the cars whiz by.  Note when you watch it that the Occupier uses a garbage can to give himself(?) some privacy from the other Occupiers, while clearly being indifferent to the reaction of the folks in the cars: I’m no psychologist, but I suspect that this probably gives you an idea of just who said Occupier truly recognizes as being important.

Anyway, the question that eventually comes to mind here is Was this faked?  After all, the idea that the Occupiers have degenerated to the point where they’re defecating on public sidewalks is kind of alarming.  Alas, the idea that it’d might have been faked is really just false comfort; it only means that the Occupiers have degenerated to the point where they’re indifferent to defecation on public sidewalks.

Which is some pretty hardcore degeneration, right there.

Moe Lane

PS: Can’t remember where I saw this first, sorry.  Drudge?

[*The Blaze reported that this video is actually from Seattle.  My bad.]

Mary Hamilton, Joan Baez

Nothing like an iPod upgrade to make you remember all the albums that you had previously forgotten.

…and xkcd has me pegged.  Doubly, in fact: I also like the Robinson map.

And if you to were wondering what the big deal is about the Gall-Peters map projection, check it out.  I already knew that cartographers were very, ah, enthusiastic about their craft; but I’m legitimately shocked that this controversy didn’t end with knives in the sewers.

Moe Lane

That would be the district currently Occupied by Debbie Wasserman Schultz; at least, it is when DWS has time to spare from being Barack Obama’s trained seal at the DNC.  As you might imagine, there’s little love lost between me and the Congresswoman, so when The Shark Tank‘s Javier Manjarres offered to get me an interview with potential challenger Karen Harrington at Blogcon 11 I was happy to agree.  Karen and I talked a bit on the convention, and the Florida race:

Karen’s site is here: bear in mind that the Florida redistricting process is by no means complete, and will undoubtedly end with (metaphorical) blood on the sand, thanks to the need to create two new Congressional Districts.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

I want to address this comment by Ed Morrissey about Gingrich’s recent rise in the polls as the latest iteration of the anti-Romney… actually, let me stop and note something: if Team Romney is not yet worried about the fact that NOTHING seems to get their candidate above the mid-twenties, then they need to start worrying.  At least a little.

Anyway, Ed wrote this, on why it may not be a smart idea for Teams Not-Newt to unload on the former Speaker:

…Gingrich has played very graciously with everyone else in this race, and going negative on Newt might have a high risk of backfire.

Hoo, yeah.  To put it mildly.

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Even funnier than these three reactions to the latest Jen Rubin Ricochet podcast (sorry, this is kind of inside-blogball, but Ace sums it rather accurately, and horribly, here).

But I digress: check it out at the link (which is to long-time reader BigGator5′s personal site).  It’s a good antidote for political nonsense.

A guy I know refers to the recent restoration of state and local authority in St Louis*, Oakland, Portland (that’s the one with the mortars), and Atlanta (that’s the one with the tuberculosis)  – I’ll add Denver and, at this rate, Philadelphia to the list – as ‘Liberations.’

‘Liberations.’

(pause)

I like it.  Good, solid, American word.  Liberation is what my country does in response to the specter of occupiers.  Or ‘Occupiers,’ I guess.  Hey, you can’t throw a rock into a crowd of Occupiers… well, you can’t throw a rock into a crowd of Occupiers because they’re already grabbed all the loose ones handy.  But if you could, it’d probably hit a Commie.  If only because the trust fund kids would be on the ground, protecting their precious Cult of Jobs artifacts**.

Moe Lane

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