Tommy D. Unleashed

It ain't pretty: http://www.yankeepotroast.org/index.html.

Hahvud Exposed

A bunch of money grubbing, self serving elites;http://chronicle.com/article/Think-Tank-The-Veritas/48590/. Shocking.

Anyone who has read this blog (or looked at the pictures of under dressed females of the species) should know by now that I'm a half-assed provincial, fond of casting dispersions here and there in an often incoherent manner. There--not pretty but that's often the nature of truth. At least I'm a little honest about things. Can't say the same for Harvard, the New York Times, the 60 Minutes crew at CBS, or any number of established elitist institutions emanating from the East Coast. Smart, smart people yes. Intellectually dishonest often, also. Nothing new to see here--move along, move along. Just thankful that Charles Krauthammer exists to call a spade a spade now and then to make them squirm a little over their gimlets at the Russian Tea Room or their free trade coffee at the faculty lounge.

Women and Their Work

Here's a take: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/sexy_career_woman_to_take_hot_bath. Yeah, right.

BTW, the photo above has not an altogether complete tie in with this post. Sue me.

Football Polls

Howard Schellenberger submits his vote: http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2009/09/28/howard-schellenbergers-coaches-poll-ballot/#more-12389. Probably just as meaningful as any other.

Con Speak

An interesting look at criminal speak by a guy who has done a study on convicts: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/09/27/do_you_speak_criminal/?page=full. Cons dig "The Godfather." Imagine that.

When not running out Herr Olbermann and Herr Madow to expose the many sins of Republican knuckledraggers, MSNBC usually has on some prison documentary, often about violent criminals in San Quentin or somewhere similar. For some reason, I watch these. From doing so, I've become convinced that I never, ever want to go to prison. I'll be good. Promise.

Have a nice weekend...

...play some touch football, watch some tackle football, drink something, pass out. Enjoy.

Andrew Ferguson on Ted

Really, it's his take on the late senator's memoirs: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/016/981rcfkb.asp. Something you heard a lot of regarding Ted Kennedy was his supposed bipartisanship. He was praised endlessly for "going across the aisle" and the many courtesies he extended to Republican knuckledraggers. Okay. What I find depressing is that today's "journalists" and TV types cannot comprehend that Ted was doing what Ted needed to do to get his way. That's not unique or damnable--effective pols from both sides of the aisle act nice to each other and will get along with the bad guys on the other side to get things done. There's nothing out of the ordinary or praiseworthy with that--it's the business of politics. But, Kennedy is seen differently because, I guess he was related to Jack and is above that sort of things. I'm rambling but you get the drift. It was both laughable and pathetic to observe Kennedy's domination over the hapless Orin Hatch--Hatch loved Ted. Ted had endless laughs over drinks after another session of boning Orin. Poor Hatch--he never got that promised game of touch football at the Kennedy Compound. Ted always kept it just out of his reach. Now, Orin will have to make due with playing touch with himself.

Hump Day

Try to stay awake.

On Clinton

Excerpts from a forthcoming book on Clinton: http://ei.motherjones.com/20090922_clinton_07.html. It's from Mother Jones so consider the source. Nice smack from Clinton on Maureen Dowd, though.

Arts Beat

The Met had their season opener, with "Tosca":http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/the-night-at-the-opera-white-tie-and-jewels-and-giant-screens-for-the-masses/. Apparently, lots of people didn't like it. I don't know--I've never made it through an opera fully alert at what's transpiring. This weekend, I'm attending a gala type thing put on by the Women's Symphony League. Apparently, we've been members of the league for some time now, though I've never been to a league game or even know which division of the league we're in. Are there two leagues? Is there some type of final match up between the leagues--a World Series of Symphony Leagues? Don't know. Having attended these events on numerous occasions, the chief advantage of the galas is the delicious open bar along with the always wondrous display of female decoupage--augmentation is alive and well here in my fair city.

Back to opera: Mrs. Bulba had an uncle who sang opera for the Met, along with operas across Europe. I only knew him for a few years before he died, but he was a fairly interesting fellow. He had a wife who was a German model who used to terrify my with those Euro air kisses--that shit really creeps me out. Anyway, her uncle enjoyed hunting with us down at the ranch. He'd spend hours whipping up various Euro specialties for us purely American knuckledraggers, cold and hungry from hours outside. He'd go on and on about the origin and ingredients of some dish before someone would interrupt by stating, "Tio--shut the fuck up--let's eat." Artists are so unappreciated.

Weekend Recap

Outstanding tailgate at the suckfest that was Baylor's performance against Yukon. Hard to beat throwing some down with your old buds and being yourself for the bigger part of the day. Much too rare that we get to do that.

Speaking of recaps--young Gemma here is still waiting for a scoring report.

Football Hate

Dey playing dat game tomorrah wit Florida and dem Vols: http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2009/09/17/lane-piffin/. There may be some hitting in that contest.

President Jackass

Of course, referring to none other than former President Jimmy (see Gutfeld's take: http://dailygut.com/). I despise the smug, self righteous, arrogant ass that is the man from Plains and his latest mouth dump indicating that anyone who questions Obama is a racist is really just more run of the mill stuff from Carter, who typically saves his best for running down his country whenever it does something that is counter to what he thinks should be done. In other words, Carter has always felt that he knows what is best for you and if the country or it's current president felt differently, than it was his Christian duty to prevent that abomination from occurring. I can't stand the son of a bitch. So, if you like the current president, but disagree with him politically then that is because you are a racist, according to Carter. Nice thinking, shitbird. Do all liberals fixate on race like an infant on a mother's breast or is this just Carter? I'm rambling here but goddamn I wish the hell this old scowl would limit himself to hitting a nail every now and then.

Hump Day

Napping has been proven to be good for you.

Papers

We've all had to do them: term papers, reports, etc. Why, just last night, I was helping daughter #2 on some "1,200 word essay" she had due. My advice to her when faced with a case of writer's block was just to wade in and start writing. Sure, it may be crappy, but things tend to crystallize a little once you get going. At least, that will typically work when faced with a high school English teacher. Along those lines, you may enjoy this, from Wilson Quarterly: some priceless stuff: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=wq.essay&essay_id=454174.

New Bush Book

This looks to be possibly entertaining: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/09/15/2009-09-15_george_w_bush_slammed_other_politicians_during_presidency_exspeechwriter_latimer.html. Sounds like some fairly nice smack from Bush 43. Too bad it didn't get leaked while he was prez.

Another Reason to Dislike the NY Times

Tunku Varadarajan says they shouldn't be muzzled, but should step up and do the right thing when their reporter recklessly causes the death of those around him: http://www.forbes.com/2009/09/13/stephen-farrell-new-york-times-rescue-afghanistan-opinions-columnists-tunku-varadarajan.html. I feel similar toward those two female "reporters" under the employ of Al Gore who got themselves thrown in the slammer by the North Koreans. Lots of political capital had to be used to free them. Not defending the North Koreans nor saying that the press shouldn't report. I am saying, though, that it's important to recognize that there exists a "Dumbass Line" in life and you need to have enough sense to not step across it. Unfortunately, as has been proven time and time again, reporters at the New York Times have a lot of smarts upstairs but not the collective common sense to pour piss out of a boot.

The Veil

Great piece on muslim women, the veil, and islam, itself. Read it--it's brief: http://www.nationalpost.com/story-printer.html?id=1b262999-fa7a-4492-b685-3c081f6f16c6.

Vol Hate

No one does it better than EDSBS; http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2009/09/14/oh-its-hate-week/#more-12094. These fellows have it in for Tennessee, along with anything else they may wish to eviscerate on a given day. Required reading, especially this time of year.

Final Baseball Blurb

Here you go: http://www.spikesnstars.com/2009/09/14/houston-at-cincy-all-aboard-for-shitville/.

Anyway, I'm pretty much done with baseball and happy that football is underway. Going to try to enjoy it--it's over before you know it.

A final thought...

Vegas, baby. Vegas.

Have a nice weekend

Lay on the couch and watch some football. And, stuff.

Thugs on Film

Hitchens reviews a new, and shockingly, an accurate film depiction of the Baader Meinhof gang, one of the darlings of the loony left http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/08/hitchens-guerrillas200908?printable=true. Looks good.

Bret Stephens Calls Me Out

As also with George Will: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574398442481337048.html. Stephens says that along with Will, I'm a lisping ninny for saying Afghanistan is a reeking pile of shit unworthy of our efforts and that leaving would send a dangerous message to our friends and enemies alike. I like Stephens and usually agree with him. Hell, he may be right. Worth thinking about but I still think at the end of the day, the country we're bending over backwards to make less backward will revert to its mean of cruelty, sodomy, and the lash. Allah, akbar.

Thomas Friedman's House

No, the Times doesn't pay him that much. He made his money the old-fashioned way - he married into one of the wealthiest families in the country. Quite a carbon footprint. I'm sure he buys carbon offsets to assauge his guilt.

Some more from his column today:

With a few notable exceptions, the Republican Party is standing, arms folded and saying “no.” Many of them just want President Obama to fail. Such a waste. Mr. Obama is not a socialist; he’s a centrist. But if he’s forced to depend entirely on his own party to pass legislation, he will be whipsawed by its different factions.

Pretty much what you'd expect from a liberal like Friedman. From "The Corner":


Thomas Friedman is a Liberal Fascist [Jonah Goldberg]

Mark beat me to it, but I must put in my two cents. Thomas Friedman writes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/opinion/09friedman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Watching both the health care and climate/energy debates in Congress, it is hard not to draw the following conclusion: There is only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, and that is one-party democracy, which is what we have in America today. One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century.

It is not an accident that China is committed to overtaking us in electric cars, solar power, energy efficiency, batteries, nuclear power and wind power. China’s leaders understand that in a world of exploding populations and rising emerging-market middle classes, demand for clean power and energy efficiency is going to soar. Beijing wants to make sure that it owns that industry and is ordering the policies to do that, including boosting gasoline prices, from the top down. Our one-party democracy is worse....

So there you have it. If only America could drop its inefficient and antiquated system, designed in the age before globalization and modernity and, most damning of all, before the lantern of Thomas Friedman's intellect illuminated the land. If only enlightened experts could do the hard and necessary things that the new age requires, if only we could rely on these planners to set the ship of state right.

Now, of course, there are "drawbacks" to such a system: crushing of dissidents with tanks, state control of reproduction, government control of the press and the internet. Omlettes and broken eggs, as they say. More to the point, Friedman insists, these "drawbacks" pale in comparison to the system we have today here in America.

I cannot begin to tell you how this is exactly the argument that was made by American fans of Mussolini in the 1920s. It is exactly the argument that was made in defense of Stalin and Lenin before him (it's the argument that idiotic, dictator-envying leftists make in defense of Castro and Chavez today). It was the argument made by George Bernard Shaw who yearend for a strong progressive autocracy under a Mussolini, a Hitler or a Stalin (he wasn't picky in this regard). This is the argument for an "economic dictatorship" pushed by Stuart Chase and the New Dealers. It's the dream of Herbert Croly and a great many of the Progressives.

I have no idea why I still have the capacity to be shocked by such things. A few years ago, during the worst part of the Iraq war, I wrote a column saying that Iraq needed a Pinochet type to bring order to Iraq and help develop democratic and liberal institutions. To this day, I get vicious hate mail from liberal and leftist readers for my "pro-dictator" stance.

Meanwhile, Thomas Friedman, golden boy of the NYT op-ed page, is writing love-letters to dictatorships because they have the foresight to invest in electric batteries and waterless toilets or something. It looks like there's reason to hope I was wrong about Iraq (I certainly hope I was). But at least I favored a dictatorship of sorts — for another country! — because I thought it would lead to a liberal democracy. Here, Friedman lives in a liberal democracy but has his nose pressed up against the candy store window of a cruel, undemocratic, regime and all he can do is drool over the prospect of having the same power here. It's disgusting.

Was he or wasn't he?

That is, was Jefferson a white devil slave monger/father of Sally's children? Here's maybe the best answer: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203706604574373063217937576.html. Bottom line; possible but probably not. The DNA markers indicate that the dad was one of many Jeffersons wandering the area. Most likely, it was his brother, Randolph. I think they called him, "Randy." Not sure if there was another brother named, Mortimer or "Mor-tay."

It's Here!

Entering the best time of year: cooler weather hopefully within sixty days or so, college football here, dove season begun. Did the latter yesterday and will take in the UT slaughter of Little Sisters of Mercy AKA University of Lousiana at Monroe tomorrow. This time of year makes me want to eat barbecue, drink beer, and misbehave more than usual. Boolah-boolah.

R. Crumb Takes On Genesis

This has got to be good: http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/016_03/4342. I just hope he has the Tabor and Onid story included. Though Crumb is known for his weird fixations, it appears he has more than just a passing or prurient interest in the wild, wild stories contained in Genesis. I'd love to see him and Amy Jill Levine, the great biblical scholar out of Vanderbilt together to mull things over.