You need to seriously crank it up for this one

I Am Iron Man

Crank it the you-know-what-UP, brer.

The debut of Pajamas TV

Back in September 2004, the big blog brou-ha-ha was Dan Rather and the phony Texas Air National Guard memos being debunked with lightning speed, thanks to the Internet. The likes of the three Powerline guys, Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs and others brought the fraud to the light of day with a sledgehammer blow.

I think we can safely say that is when blogs came into their own as a major engine of social information-sharing, and the beginning of the bell tolling for Old Media.

Right around that very time, Jonathan Klein, president of CNN-US, contemptuously dismissed bloggers as "guys sitting around in their pajamas" daring to intrude into the sacred realm of News. The metaphor caught fire in a big way. Today's bloggers might include some pajama-clad posters, but people like Glenn Reynolds, John Hinderaker, Scott Johnson, Paul Mirengoff and Charles Johnson hardly spend much time in THEIR jammies, being law professors, lawyers, Web designers, Hollywood screenwriters and other disciplines not usually seen in the kind of basement-dwellers Klein so arrogantly derided.

So a bunch of these bloggers took on the pajama mantle cheerfully. So much so, it became the germ of an idea -- Pajamas Media, a consortium of bloggers who wanted to take news and politics blogging to the next level.

That is -- challenge the MSM on their own turf. They've evolved to the point that they've received accreditation to cover the Republican National Convention along with the traditional bigs.

Not bad, for a bunch of knuckle-walkers in nightclothes ;)

So -- with all of that said, check out Pajamas TV. It's brand-new, still in the Alpha stage (with Beta not far behind). They do charge, alas ... can't produce something like actual TV in a vacuum. And I can't even afford the $15 monthly fee for basic feeds. (For now -- maybe later.)

But it's a totally cool idea, and these are thinkers you can trust to deliver the straight dope. Give 'em a look.

Libs meaner than cons?

Gay Patriot's performing an informal test.

(via Instapundit)

Palin for VP -- brilliant

Image credit: nicedeb.wordpress.com)
Instapundit has an excellent roundup of reactions.

I think it's an excellent choice.

Aside from the obvious political points -- slap in the face to Obama for not picking Hillary, her inexperience neutralized by Obama's own -- she's anti-establishment, smart, a family woman and a leader who gets things done.

I've gone from dreading this election to relishing it.

'Quantum Mechanics Made Easy By RAW'

Via Karmasurfer:



Karmasurfer's title pretty much says it all in a nutshell. But I have to say I loved the part at the end where Wilson describes perception as different reality tunnels ... and, as such, we all have different ones, and this understanding makes him less angry at people.

It's this kind of ability to put such a mind-bending theory into bite-sized pieces that are a mark of his genius.

He was an absolute visionary. The world is diminished by his passing.

New threat to Harry's Place blog

Many thanks to Neoconstant for alerting me to this one:

"Harry’s Place may be removed (or rather have it’s DNS disabled) after a ‘complaint’ to the company that our domain name is registered with.

"We assume after threats were made on the weekend that this ‘complaint’ originates from Jenna Delich or her supporters. Though we have not yet seen the complaint submitted, we assume it runs along the lines that pointing out that Ms Delich linked to the website of a known neo-Nazi figure and former Ku Klux Klan leader is defamatory."

You may recall the previous blogburst organized on Harry's Place's behalf by Neoconstant. Well, he's organizing another one for this latest outrage.

Please consider rejoining the fight. As I said before: We must NOT let this insanity go unchallenged.

Dan Rather redux

Tick someone off for democracy today!

Via Blazing Cat Fur:

"Have you ever wanted to violate Section 13.1 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, but been unsure where to start?"

***************

This isn't just Canada, peeps.

Fox attacked ... for being Fox

E.D. Kain at Neoconstant:

"The idiots of the Far Left strike again, this time in an effort to quell free speech and attack members of the Press. Truly, this is an example of the sort of “discourse” that protestors have stooped to; and note the little girl in the crowd as they shout “Fuck Fox News!” over and again. What an intelligent bunch…"



Hmm. Let's see. Fox News consistently rates higher than any other cable outlet.

Put your thinking caps on, kids -- this means the network resonates with MORE PEOPLE than any other.

Your homework assignment: Answer WHY this is so.

Bonus extra credit: Should any news agency be silenced? If so, why?

********************

'tards.

Drive-thru God

A Missourian at An Advocate of the Republic says:

"The Democrat National Convention opened up last night with. . . prayer! That's right, the godless secularists aren't actually godless at all; why, they're just like the typical Mid-Western voter."

It would be funny, if it weren't so pathetic. Since when did secularists ever care about God? Only in the foxhole -- or, in this case, when votes count.

Hey, tofu-eaters ... pay heed to the "whited sepulchre" metaphor Jesus alluded to. Try it on for size. If the shoe fits -- prepare for some blisters.

Oh, jeeze.

The title of the Colonel's latest: "Roseanne’s grossly obese Leftardism versus good looking Hollywood Limousine Liberals."

There is only one Colonel Neville. Truly.

"Hey, the contracting but mostly expanding Michelin woman and virtual parody of crude hysterical Left Liberalism, Roseanne, recently jabbered some classic by the numbers bunkum about the relatively harmless per se, Angie and Brad.

"While there are subtle differences between Brad and Angie, and Rosie, there are similarities too. No, really. Brad and Angie are a couple, and so is Rosie. Angie has a great mouth and Rosie has a great mouth. Brad is almost kinda beautiful for a man and so is Rosie."

I bow.

Rocky and Bullwinkle

Election weariness

From E.D. Kain at Neoconstant -- I hear you, brother --

"I have to admit, I’m growing weary of this Presidential campaign. I’m tired of hearing Obama’s middle name uttered like a condemnation; I’m tired of hearing McCain’s name altered to describe various mental states. I don’t want to hear about the former POW’s lack of courage, or his party days. Nor do I want to know about Obama’s association with various fringe political figures, pseudo-terrorists, or hear implications of his supposed lack of patriotism.

"I just don’t want to walk into 2009 befuddled by smears of our incoming President, haunted by rumors and allegations, forced to run to one side of a bitter fence or another."

***********************

We're going to have to actually work to support, or not, one of these two candidates.

Perhaps, in the process, we'll ask ourselves whether the process allows the best man/woman in. Me? No.

So -- back to the drawing board.

If you ask me, politics is ALWAYS about back to the drawing board. Every time.

Percussion, baby

The one and only Gene Krupa.

Don't go

I don't know what I'm doin'

Get your printer to work longer

Pay no attention to that "ink level low" indicator behind the curtain.

(via boingboing.net)

It IS a wonderful world

What a country!

'Atlas' Jaw Dropped'

A Missourian at An Advocate of the Republic alerted me to the fact that a movie is in the works on Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged".

Now, you've got to be an Ayn Rand fan to seriously appreciate the (potentially awful) possibilities here.

Number 1 -- this is HOLLYWOOD. Bulwark of the Left. (Antithesis of Randian laissez-faire.)

Number 2 -- see Number 1.

As I told AM, Peter Jackson managed to pull off "Lord of the Rings" superbly, against all expectations. So, perhaps, a proper treatment of "Atlas Shrugged" could happen.

But color me most definitely skeptical.

'Who turned on their brains?'

Blazing Cat Fur:

"United Nations human rights committee says UK laws block matters of public interest and encourage libel tourism."

"Who turned on their brains?"

Ha! A victory in the free-speech fight?

Zen of being

Dag of Covenant Zone and I have been discussing being. (See comment section here.)

The specific context is fly-fishing and golfing -- my take having been how Zen each are, and his having been the coming together of so many aspects of life into the concept of just being.

For some reason, I'm reminded of Michael Jordan in flight.


(image credit: Alas, an anonymous poster at PhotoBucket -- apologies to the photographer and/or publishing organization)

Going out on a limb

Disclosure:

My guy, karmasurfer, is, basically, liberal. Except when he's not. "Anomaly" doesn't describe him at all. (Or me, but another story.)

Anyway.

Both of us believe the events surrounding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are questionable.

Both of us acknowledge that simply by saying that, we open ourselves up to ridicule, etc.

Okay, fine.

But we are both left with doubts.

Now.

When you verbalize your doubts, you know exactly the reaction: the "C" word. You're a "conspiracy theorist."

(Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum. Nowadays, that doesn't matter. Certain keywords automatically brand you as a nut case. "Critical thinking?" What's that?)

We think the events surrounding 9/11 are suspect. Mostly, because the government version is alarmingly lame. That is: It doesn't answer science, vis-a-vis basic fundamentals of physics (why were the Twin Towers, and WTC 7, the first buildings ever to fall into their own footprints following a catastrophic fire?).

Me ... I think it's time we truly, critically, examine September 11. There is more than meets the eye. There are certainly too many unanswered questions.

As a conservative, I'm not willing to accept the "party line." I am a critical thinker. Let's answer these questions, and not "default" to a defined template.

Okay, this is just wrong

The Spanish Basketball Olympic Team posed for this picture:


(image credit: sports.yahoo.com)

Attention all kangaroos: THIS is racist. Free speech -- Ezra Levant's publishing of the Mohammed cartoons, for example -- is not.

Get the difference?

How to be a man

Oh. My. Dear. God.

"Fed up with his students' complete inability to spell common English correctly, a British academic has suggested it may be time to accept 'variant spellings' as legitimate. ...

"To kickstart his proposal, Smith suggested 10 common misspellings that should immediately be accepted into the pantheon of variants, including 'ignor,' 'occured,' 'thier,' 'truely,' 'speach' and 'twelth' (it should be 'twelfth').

"Then, of course, there are words like 'misspelt' (often spelled 'mispelt'), not to mention 'varient,' a commonly used variant of 'variant.'"

**********************

Okay.

Call the guys in the white suits. I am officially going nuts.

*OFFICIAL RANT ALERT*

Language is the medium of COMMUNICATION. It is SHARED. Therefore it must operate by RULES everyone can UNDERSTAND.

When you misspell something -- or use improper punctuation -- YOU REVEAL YOURSELF TO BE A COMPLETE AND TOTAL MORON. Correct yourself, in public, and you escape this label. Otherwise, YOU'RE A MORON.

The SECOND you dumb down the rules of speech, you dumb down all pursuit of excellence in ANYTHING IN LIFE.

!!!!!ANYONE WHO ADVOCATES THIS IS A MURDERER OF CULTURE.

//breathing heavily ... getting control of self ...

(many thanks to The Blog of Walker)

By the way -- if you haven't taken a look at Walker's blog, you're missing a lot.

(NOT!!!!! "alot" or "allot")

He has a quite wonderful take on current events -- able to see both sides, and give his opinion, without invective. Very rare, nowadays, and very refreshing.

Check him out.

Did Breck Girl's affair cost Hillary the nomination?

Former Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson told ABCNews.com:

"(T)he Clinton campaign was aware of the issue, but did not try to fan the flames.

"'Any of the campaigns that would have tried to push that would have been burned by it,'" said Wolfson.

"But he says he is mystified about the failure of the national media to pursue the story as it has allegations of other candidates' affairs.

"'I can't say I understand the rules of the media and I'm not sure they do either,' he said.

***********

That this last statement comes from a Democrat is a surprise, and a pleasant one.

(via The Drudge Report)

For @#$%'s sake, people ...

... what part of "free speech" don't you understand?

UPDATE:

Sheesh. Only realized today that I didn't put a link in -- now I forget what I was linking to! But the above link to Ezra will suffice nicely.

Why we fight

"We, by the Grace of Progress, the Referees of Democracy, the Linespersons of Constitutional Rights, the Arbitrators of the Limits of Free Speech, the Omnipotent State, Greetings: Know by this Present that Chief Human Rights Commissioner Jennifer Lynch, Q.C., being able to Smell Odium from Two Miles Upwind, has been Admitted to the Order of Big Nurses and is Qualified and Authorized to Draw A Line for Writers, Dead or Alive, Including but Without Being Limited to, Homer, Aristophanes, Mark Steyn, Stephen Leacock, Alexander Solzhenityn …

"Sorry. Got carried away there. Attribute it to age and experience.

"Mr. Bristow writes: “The CHRC is experiencing growing pains — the world is changing, and the commission has to change with it. Growth isn’t always easy. Sometimes it’s messy. But to cut the CHRC off at the knees as it goes through the growth process would be a grave mistake.”

"Permit me to disagree. As an alumnus of interrupted or unfinished revolutions, I suggest the mistake isn’t cutting off institutions such as the CHRC at the knees, but letting them stand. Cut them off, I say, preferably with a submachine gun, followed by a stake through the heart."

**************

A repeat:

"I suggest the mistake isn’t cutting off institutions such as the CHRC at the knees, but letting them stand."

'Oh, the humanity?'

Try "Oh, the hypocrisy."

Democrats struggle to position their icon, Barack Obama, in the best light. Trouble is, his best lieutenants have a small image problem.

In the form of one of their best lieutenants.

(via The Macho Response)

So Ezra's off the hook for now ...

... but it's a hollow, if not Pyhrric, victory, perhaps.

"Is this a victory? I suppose, in a narrow technical sense, it is. I’m off the hook now for both of the HRC complaints. That’s two legal battles done – though I’m still up to my eyeballs fighting defamation suits and other legal actions that the human rights industry piled on top of these complaints.

"But I’ve read the dismissal letter three times now, and each time it makes me more angry. Because I haven’t been given my freedom of the press. I’ve simply had the government censor approve what I said. That’s a completely different thing."

Read the whole thing.

The salient point Ezra makes is this:

"(I)t rather creeps me out that a whole squad of teat-sucking bureaucrats spent 900 days inspecting me and the Western Standard." ...

(And how much money? That could have been spent on fixing drains, or roads, etc.?)

Amazing.

Magnificent Montana

(image credit: neoconstant)

Envious, I am, of my friend Erik's recent vacation in Montana.

Words can't possibly describe such beauty.

What's your PQ?

Matthew Sheffield of The Washington Times:

"Are liberals more profane than conservatives? Online, the answer seems to be yes. Profanity, those taboo words banned from the broadcast airwaves, is a feature of many people's daily lives."

Sheffield goes on to measure the "profanity quotient" -- PQ -- of left- versus right-wing blogs. His math might be kind of wonky -- for instance, he doesn't make it clear whether profanity is measured in the posts or comments, or both. But I have to say, I'm not surprised.

Me, I don't think using profanity is right, no matter which end of the political spectrum one favors. I think it's ugly, and spiritually unclean (regardless of religion). Have I resorted to it? Sure. In the heat of a moment, and always regretted. Thus far, though, I've kept it rare.

"They're just words," it's been argued. Not so, thinks me. There's a reason why people decided certain words are taboo -- it's because as creative and intellectual beings, we strive to attain higher and higher levels of understanding and enlightenment. Words designed to drag one another back into the primordial soup are extremely negative and harmful, to say the least. Words evoke powerful reactions, and can thus become weapons.

George Carlin was (rightly) admired for finally exposing the hypocrisy surrounding the use of the "Seven Deadly Words." A great percentage of people were using them, and have used them throughout history, and it was silly to pretend they didn't exist in modern culture (films, TV shows, etc.).

However -- hypocrisy aside, they're still ugly. Speaking only for myself, I feel like I just wallowed in mud every time I say such words. And I'll always fight to rid them from my own DNA.

Take me home, Daddy!

Dreams take shape

Remember Paul Potts? The mobile-phone selling Welshman who went on "British Idol" as a contestant, singing "Nessun Dorma" from Giacomo Puccini's opera "Turandot," and wowed everyone?



Thanks to Covenant Zone, we discover he is, in fact, doing what he always longed to do.

There's no God? Yeah, right ... :o)

With friends like these ...

A Missourian at An Advocate of the Republic notes a new er, piece of music by rapper Ludacris eulogizing (I think) Barack Obama. A snippet from the lyrics:

"Said I handled his biz and I'm one of his favorite rappers
Well give Luda a special pardon if I'm ever in the slammer
Better yet put him in office, make me your vice president
Hillary hated on you, so that b^$&%* is irrelevant"

Ah. Yes. Climb higher, O children of the Enlightenment.

This is not good

"Children have lost touch with the natural world and are unable to identify common animals and plants, according to a survey. ...

"The study also found that playing in the countryside was children's least popular way of spending their spare time, and that they would rather see friends or play on their computer than go for a walk or play outdoors."

Disclosure: I'm an animal lover and closet tree-hugger. I believe humankind has moved dangerously far away from connections with nature -- and this only seems to prove it.

(via The Drudge Report)