Speaking Of Collective Struggle

If you aren't reading Hampden Heritage, this latest post is a reason why you should.

Orwell He Most Certainly Ain't

This one's the clincher, and it signals Hitch's journey from Trotskyland to Neo-Con-dom(I hyphenate because without the second hyphen it reads as a description of a product that randomly malfunctions with seriously unfortunate consequences) is complete. See, the "old left" believed in collective struggle - that a threat to all of us must be met by all of us who are able. Orwell saw the enemy in Spain, shouldered a rifle and fought it head on - took a bullet for it too. Orwell wasn't the only one either - think of the Lincoln Brigade. These were leftists who believed that the struggle against facism was worth more than their clever verbiage. Cries of "Let the proles do it!", something Hitch now joins Sullivan in demanding, would have been a direct betrayal of everything they believed in.

I'm not saying I would exchange Homage To Catalonia for Orwell dying on principle; nor am I suggesting that Hitch's best place is on any kind of battlefield (he's too old and slow, among other things). I too have my disagreements with "Operation Yellow Elephant" - it's in poor taste, it denigrates those who are serving, and never mind the guilt(moral, not emotional) one would face if one convinced some poor sap like Jonah Goldberg to go and he actually did get his head blown off (we lefty humanists love you all, even if you are the capitalist pig oppressors - you know not what you do). What I am saying is Hitch has no business at all invoking Orwell when he attacks anyone - especially on the left - and he should step right the eff off as the self-proclaimed modern interpreter of and intellectual heir to Orwell. He's given up that privilege.

Update: The good folks at SullyWatch have a much less elliptical disagreement.

Silly Confluence

After we got linked by skippy yesterday our status in the TTLB ecosystem went from rodent to marsupial. No, it's not the increase of hits from a popular blog that's silly, it's the fact that a kangaroo turned us marsupial. I wonder if our linking to people causes them to drink more.

And Regarding That Speech

The often infuriating, occaisionally right on, and always worth a read Moose has it just about right.

Update: Democracy Arsenal has a report card with which I agree. Points 5 through 8 are of special note, although I don't think you can really accuse the President of not having a plan to win. He does: Keep doing whatever it is we're doing and not tell anyone what it actually is(did this remind anyone else of Nixon?). I think the argument, in all seriousness, is "is 'keep doing what we're doing' really the plan to win?" Leave aside that the administration and its cheerleaders like Hitch and Sullivan - I pick them because they seem to have the most certainty about what the "Iraq Project" actually means to Iraqis and the world, as opposed to Coulter or Limbaugh who really only care about how this makes Republicans look - can only manage to define "winning" as "not failing"(to do what exactly?). It's difficult to ignore the failure of the current plan to lead to more politics and less bloodshed.

Totally Not About The Speech

...but this has been bugging me for over a month. Can someone please explain to me why Freakonomics is considered so earth-shattering and why Levitt is considered a "rogue"? What others seem to think is "freaky" about his methodolgy is his eschewing of "the unifying theme" and instead turning to the data to draw his conclusions and design his algorithms. If economics has any claim on being any kind of science then that ought to be the way it's done. Or have I just lived my entire life in ignorance of how economists work? If it's suprising to people that analysis of data leads to unintuitive conclusions then science education in this country really is as bad as I hear.

The Rest Of Maryland

This survey of Bush's approval/disapproval numbers is funny. The first reason is that it has recognizes two regions of Maryland:"Baltimore" and "Rest Of". The second reason is the distribution of disapproval/approval ratings in Baltimore vs "The Rest Of" Maryland. Do I read this right, that 53% of Baltimoreans disapprove of the job the President is doing, while the 62% of the "Rest Of" Maryland disapproves? The locations of these percentages seem backward, though I guess Montgomery County resides somewhere in "The Rest Of" Maryland. I find it weird, though, because I keep hearing how, outside of Baltimore, Maryland is "turning Red!". Maybe they mean Marxist after all.

What Did You Do During The Press Conference?

Son, I downloaded this to listen to instead.

Update: It is with disgust, but also with all due respect to the office, that I politely ask the president to stop using the military as symbols convinient to propping up sagging poll numbers and do something for the people who've served.

They Make Petitions

And then I sign them, and so should you.

Ok, What He Said

Seriously, we were going to get to this. But fellow Bmorean Snay does a marvelous job. So we say "what he said!".

Update:While we're at it, via Rox Populi we get the secrets of undermining speech as practiced by Snay, above (who I don't think is a liberal, but who is still practicing the black art anyway). Also, I'm glad that Rox's question isn't actually answered by the post linked, because the big all out assault on all things neo-con begins at RUFNKM in the coming weeks, and that's one of the questions we fully intend to answer.

Why is this not suprising?

We really ought to ask ARE YOU EFFIN' KIDDING ME? But somehow I never - even in my idealistic, altruistic heart of hearts - thought it would end up any other way.

Strange Times Indeed

You bet they are, when a self-professed neo-Randian first approvingly quotes Alexander Cockburn and then one post later says some almost nice things about Marx. There was a time when I thought that acolytes of Ayn Rand were really dangerous to the health of our nation. Now I realize I had them mixed up with acolytes of Strauss and Bloom.

Mr. O'Malley

I totally agree with Bmore Crime. I think we went on record saying something like that a while ago - we may even be one of the few blogs around who said the words "Governor Duncan"(yes the RUFNKM patron saint is St. Jude Thaddeus, we know already) But whatever. Unless Ehrlich really does have his own Rove we'll all have to get used to saying "Mayor Dixon".

Skrrr...

Two things. 1) I have now been awake for over twenty four hours because of deadline preasure. 2) Possibly due to 1, I find this a little spooky.

It's Official

Karl Rove hates liberals more than he hates the terrorists.

Update: I dig this post at Sisyphus Shrugged.

Update: This one's a multiple. One, guess who's the bigger man? Yeah, you know. Second, Rove is lying. Conservatives got on television and said America got what it deserved. Third, you know what else gets played on Al Jezerra? "Bring'em on." Fourth, what the eff is he talking about here? When asked about the Downing Street Memo he talks about post war planning. That makes effin' sense. Didn't they used to call this "spin"?

I will say this, though. The Democratic Party could sure learn a few things from these guys. Durbin has to tearfully apologize because members of his own party are too lame to stick by him, whereas Karl just gets to keep on spoutin' with a hearty "gung ho!" from his fellow travelers. Nice racket they got going.

Update: Also, read John(not Juan) Cole.

An Argument From Design

Allow me to report on a discussion at my worplace which just took place. Our junior programmer is attempting to get a certain piece of middleware, for which we do not have the source, to work and under certain conditions it exhibits erratic behavior.

Junior Engineer: "Now why the eff does it do that?"
Me: "Because some idiot at (company name deleted) wrote it that way."
Junior Engineer: "Thanks. I knew that and you're not helping."

You Can Do It W, Put Your Back Into It!

Maybe it's time for another round of jawbonin' with OPEC. Now if only Maryland would get its public transit system into shape...

Tick, Check, Etc...

Add this to the list of things Ann Coulter and Saddam Hussein have in common.

Sweet Dreams, Dopplegangers!

So much for Blogs being better than journalists. I can understand the excitement though. I once had a boss named - I am not effin' kidding you - Bob Smith. At the time I rushed around breathlessly excited thinking I had the the lead singer of The Cure as my boss. Then I realized that Bob Smith was short, thin, elvin featured, had short greyish hair and was certainly not British, whereas Robert Smith was fat, had lots of black stringy hair and talked with a funny accent. I imagine the LGF guys feel as disappointed now as I did then.

Attention Pod People

Please take the two Christopher Hitchens Replicants you've produced and return the real one. This is not the work of the same guy who's been on the high-minded radio-chat-show circuit pimping a pretty decent accounting of Thomas Jefferson. After an introduction to the gruesome propoganda Hitch feels is a-ok for the Iraq regime to use(freedom on the march, evidently), he lays out his usual case against the jihadist enemy, throws in the pro-forma dig at a Democrat - Gore this time, but the sentence would read just the same if Kerry were substituted - and then offers "at least some sympathy" to the administration in its attempts to deal with a "new kind of enemy"(that's been in existence since at least 1979). Finally, we get the by now all too standard admonition to "the left" about how serious this business of Islamofacism really is, how wonderful the administration is for taking it seriously and how hypocritical "the left" - this time Amnesty - is for insisting the United States ought to behave a little better, followed at last by the stock in trade "covert sympathy for the enemy" libel. All in all it's the Pod II Hitch By Numbers, and one begins to wonder if someone hasn't written one of those rhetoric generators in Hitch style who's current events lexicon is kept fresh via a Reuters RSS feed.

But then there's the new wrinkle. Fresh from erecting "the right's" usual strawman - that those who object to, say, torturing detainees are also suggesting that they be set free (well, maybe Alexander Cockburn has, I don't know, I don't read Counterpunch, but Durbin certainly hasn't) he whips out his "gotcha" lighter and touches it to the straw. The people we've got detained are definately not nice people and intend to do us harm, and as such certain harsh techniques are not-uncalled for. Ok, I'm sure you're wondering when we're going to ask, so how about now? ARE YOU EFFIN' KIDDING ME????

First off, this is not the product of the self satisfied Dangerous Mind. If Pod II Hitch thinks he's being either original or provocative, he's sadly mistaken. Rush Limbaugh, Jonah Goldberg and others have him beat by over a year. Second no sensible person is suggesting we ought to let these people run around free. What we are suggesting is that the United States should not behave in this manner. No one is trying to elicit sympathy for our enemies, we're suggesting it's a bad thing if we become like them. Finally, we know that these techniques have nothing to do with information extraction and everything to do with venting some post-9-11 angst out. I could go on, but it's been put very very well elsewhere:

Nobody has yet even suggested that the disgusting saturnalia in Abu Ghraib produced any "intelligence" worth the name or switched off any "ticking bomb." How could it? It was trashily recreational...

...Skill, in these matters, depends on taking pains and not on inflicting them. You make the chap go through his story several times, preferably on video, and then you ask his friends a huge number of tedious questions, and then you go through it all again to check for discrepancies, and then you watch the first (very boring and sexless) video all over once more, and then you make him answer all the same questions and perhaps a couple of new and clever ones. If you have got the wrong guy—and it does happen—you let him go and offer him a ride home and an apology. And you know what? It often works. Only a lazy and incompetent dirtbag looks for brutal shortcuts so that he can get off his shift early. And sometimes, gunmen and bombers even have changes of heart, as well as mind...

...But you must not bring in that pig or that electrode. That way lies madness and corruption and the extraction of junk confessions.

Read the whole thing. It's a very sensible, humane peice that seems to have been written by a sensible human being.

This Can't Be Right

As a former San Francisco resident it is my duty - part of the "exit contract" they make us all sign - to stand up for it on this particular instance, and ask ARE YOU EFFIN' KIDDING ME?

The Local

Our own Dave G. announces that it is archaeology season - in Hampden!

Let's Talk Reprehensible

Yes, let's. This is not about the troops. Scotty is a reprehensible coward. Someone criticizes administration policy, but instead of answering that, Scottie tries to make it about support for the troops. ARE YOU EFFIN' KIDDING ME? Of course not. This is totally typical of people who have no interest in the truth or the troops. I am getting sick and effin' tired of it. Scottie, this is the policy your boss authorized. You want to "support the troops"? Stop using American's support of them as political cover for your administration's mistakes.

Update:DemVet noticed this too.

Almost...

Some days ago, on this very blog, someone wrote:

For myself I'm glad I'll never have more than blogospheric access to, say, Wes Clark, because when he does finally say something idiotic I'll feel totally free to say so.

Some people might think the occaision has arisen. Although I don't share Brilliant At Breakfast's opinion - that in some way this is an act of treason - the news is a little worrisome. It's worrisome because Fox expects one (or a combination) of two things from Democrats. Either Democrats are supposed to be milquetoasts like Colmes, or they're supposed to answer for, or justify, other Democrats - preferably critically. The game on Fox is just rigged that way. I hope would Our General is smart enough and tough enough not to fall into either trap. A major problem for Wes is that his views on Iraq are sensible, but nuanced, and there isn't room for that on Fox. Take heart, though. Viewers of "Outfoxed" ought to know; when it comes to military affairs Fox will fire anyone who is insufficiently gung-ho about Bush policy. So it's quite possible Clark will get fired in six weeks anyway. I'll just say I wish him luck and hope he can "get the message out" with his new, uh, bullhorn.

In any case, before you write him off I think maybe some of these people might be worth some of your attention.

Update: And since we're being all self-referential, we should note that another perspective is provided as RJ's Harley pulls up at Skippy.

Jealous Green

Who do I have to pay to learn to write like this?

Surround the White House

Thursday June 16:

Anybody wanna carpool?

Update from Jay: This is staying up top today.

Relativism

I guess it just depends on what meaning you fix to "fix".

Wow...

Congress does something sensible? ARE YOU EFFIN' KIDDING ME? See, you can use it in a positive sense too....

A Waking Nightmare

Ok, so I know the panel on UN Reform was bipartisan, but seriously, did NPR have to wake me up to the gulping of Gingrinch to tell me about it? More liberal bias, I suppose.

Double What They Said

Although I appreciate Snay's terseness I'll go with Pharyngula for sentiment.

Update: I had an update, since abandoned, the point of which was to say "the true believers won't believe the medical examination represents real evidence, but the political hacks like Noonan and Frist won't say anything because it's no longer politically convenient." Well, I don't know about the second part, but the first part is totally correct. I wish I could say we are living in strange paranoid times, but I think it's always been more or less like this. It's just that, pre-internets, I didn't know so many of these people existed.

Update II:For obsessive hair splitters there's this.

Totally At A Loss

This kind of thing used to piss me off. But it's not so suprising. Corporate Governance has a totally different meaning to the Bush Administration than it does to me. And just in case I haven't gotten it already, the cosmic uncounciousness insisted I watch the original "Rollerball" last night.

There Are No Little Surfer Girls In Outer Space

Consider this post a form of carbon dating...

A few good things about seeing the Pixies at Merriweather pavilion:

• Better than sitting at home with the CD's on shuffle.


• Satisfying to know I still know all the words to "Monkey Gone To Heaven"


• Surprised to know I still know all the words to "Bone Machine".


• Played "UK Surf Mix" of "Wave Of Mutilation", which is far superior to "Doolittle" album version.


• Gold record stunt seemed off the cuff and special even if it's being done on every other stop on the tour.


• Kim Deal still sounds cute and menacing in the same breath.


• Joey Santiago still plays a mean toggle switch.


• Remembered live review from 1991 in some Brit music rag: "I'm sorry, but 'arrahhg rahg arrhhg!' says nothing to me about my life." Feel satisfied being reminded that reviewer was not an American adolescent in the late 1980's.
  

A few odd things about seeing the Pixies at Merriweather pavilion:

• Who the eff are all these people under 25? It was over 10 years ago that Cobain said he ripped off everything from the Pixies and Husker Du, and almost 15 years ago that the Pixies broke up. There's no way these people came on the strength of Frank Black's solo career.


• Realizing that, much to my suprise, this band has a timeless quality.


• Ok, so I am one of these over 30 burnouts re-living his misspent youth.


• I still don't know what the hell that song in Spanish means.


• Despite surrealist pretentions the best moments are still the ones that go "arrahhg rahg arrhhg!".

A few disappointing things about seeing the Pixies at Merriweather pavilion:

• Not all that much different than sitting at home with the CD's on shuffle.


• Kim Deal "Chain Smoking Bass Playing Badass" show is minor footnote to one song.


• Joey Santiago is effin' bald and is clearly getting arthritis.


• Wait all night through the encore for "Here Comes Your Man" and get let down when the band gets tired and decides to be punk enough not to play their one pop hit, despite it being one of the most gorgeous pop songs ever.

Final thoughts: The RevCo reunion - if it hasn't already happened - can't be too far away!

Sigh...

This is why, however hopeless it may be, I still hold a flame for Katrina Vanden Heuvel.

Our Kind Of Republican

Whoops! I misread the title!. But this one is just so, well, RUFNKM.

The same Sensenbrenner who was so desperate to obstruct the 9/11 Commission intel legislation that he actually rejected language that he himself had submitted.

It takes a special kind of person to object to their own language, and that person ought to be writing for RUFNKM.

More Bull From The Moose

Look, RUFNKM is totally pro-bolo tie. In fact, I'll offer a list of accessories of which we stand united - yes, even with the Moose, perhaps - in favor:

• Sneakers - every red blooded American should embrace their god given right to comfortable shoes.


• Dr. Martens - Good for heavy work, good for face stomping, when well polished can substitute for dress shoes.


• Wrist Watches - They look neat and tell the time too!


• Eye glasses - Duh!


• Scarves - Here in Merlin the winters are sometimes cold. We assume it snows in Red States too.


• Rings - Especially if you're married.


• Beer Cosies - My preferred model is the "Ravens Logo Fit For a Bottle", but we're no elitists - a plain ol' Budwiser logo is fine too.

The list could go on. But we reach a moment where the absurditiy gets a little much, even for us. Yes, thanks for the advice about embracing "American Values". But this line is JUST EFFIN' BIZARRE:

More bolo ties and less Ben and Jerry's.

I'm tempted to scream something like "what the eff' are you talking about? How do you get from Bolo-ties, advice for Howard Dean, and 'American Values' to effin' Ben&Jerry's?", but I think I get it. Somehow we're supposed to accept that Ben & Jerry's ice cream - something sold in EVERY GROCERY STORE IN AMERICA (including Wal-Mart, I'll bet) - is a signifier of effete elitism to ol' fashioned Red Staters, whereas bolo ties are not.

ARE YOU EFFIN' KIDDING ME? If Red State America has so much damn time to spend pondering and assigning the meanings of cultural signifiers, then Red State America needs to get itself a collective job. But that really isn't the case. The people who spend the time doing the pondering and assigning are political hacks like the Moose who, during the Gingrich Revolution, went out of their way to sew just this kind of bizarre culture-via-brand conciousness in favor of a good healthy dose of class conciousness. So thanks Moose. You talk about uniting America, but you are as full of Bull as is possible to get. If you were interested in uniting you'd quit with the bogus culture baiting and talk about what Americans really DO have in common. By the by, it's time you got yourself a job, so when you talk about "working people" you'll actually be a working person.

More jobs for Americans and less political hackery.

It's Not Really That Funny, Is It?

Last night, while taking in a beer and burger with the recently returned from his undisclosed international location (and our very own) disappearingink, I caught the tail end of some cartoon called "American Dad" on the bar TV. Now forgive me if this is late news to everyone who actually gets TV reception, but it was a little terrifying. It was a satire on our current propensity for detainment facilities, and ended with a joke shot of the American Dad in one of the infamous Abu Gharib poses. I thought to myself "ARE YOU EFFIN' KIDDING ME?"

It's on an effin' cartoon being joked about, but somehow I can be all fat and drunk and happy laughing at it, while this terrifying anti-American crap is STILL GOING ON. I know, I'm a big fuddy-duddy liberal who just wants to be a downer, waive his finger like mean ol' grandma, and tell all the South Park Republicans when it's appropriate to laugh. (If that were really the case, you'd think I'd delete the post 2 down from this one, but I haven't, so maybe I'm not such a matronly old stick in the mud). Anyway, with that, I offer a link to Democracy Arsenal's 10 Reasons To Close Gitmo.

Yeah, What He Said...

David Corn's alarmingly titled post on the DSM gets right. Here is one in particular:

All the focus on the "fixed" issue might be a distraction. This memo is evidence--more evidence, I should say--that Bush was committed to war from the start and said whatever needed saying (truth be damned) to sway the citizenry.

Yes. This is the point. This war, whatever you may or may not think of it, was decided upon before the public had any say. Then a PR campaign was launched to convince us. If you think that is any way for a democratic republic to behave, you'll love what Mr. Orwell has in store for you.

Update: Not like Atrios needs a link from us, but effin' right on, man!

Doggydoo Bush

doggydoo bush
Originally uploaded by Klipper.

My new favorite picture!

Also, my new favorite idea.

I'm thinking Scalia, Santorum, Delay, Frist...little flags popping up in dogparks across the country. A symbol of the bold, new America they are trying to lay claim to.

A Merry Prank

You could be forgiven for thinking that someplace in Sillicon Valley would be where the first "spam by proxy" prosecution took place. Nope. Ah dear ol' Baltimore County. As Bmore Crime notes, the story is getting some national traction. However, it's quite clear that what that darn "liberal media"(feh, WBAL!) is reporting is not exactly the truth. Go figure. I only wish I'd been clever enough to come up with this prank last year.

Update: eebmore's statement in comments is totally correct.

Peggy Has Her Fantasy, I Have Mine

Enough alread. It's time we just get this over with.


Peggy,

Hey honey, it's Ron. I've got Paul Wellstone and Terry Schiavo with me. The Big Man asked us to have a talk with you, and when we sat down and jawed about who should deliver the message, darn it if Paul and Terry didn't ask me to do it. See, Paul is still a little tee'd at you for distorting the message he gave you, and we all know no matter how many crocodile tears you cried for Terry you wouldn't really give her the time of day never mind letting her into your head. Well, considering all that, they both figured you'd listen to me best.

Peg, the Big Man sees it all. All of it. Not just what the simpy pinko hate America firsters are doing, but our side too. I don't know if I can explain how it feels to meet him and have him know, and have to account for all of it, but it's tough, darn tough. And when he gets you on bearing false witness, like he did me on fighting in WWII, well, it doesn't feel too good.

You don't get what I'm trying to say? Well, let me put it this way. I didn't build this party on being nice, and you should stop pretending we ever did. If you're going to bear false witness, kiddo, you've at least gotta bear one that isn't so obviously false. The Big Man doesn't like it, and neither do I. What I'm trying to say, honey, is that you need to get a grip. You wrote me some good speeches, but you're making us, and me especially, out to be a bunch of wussy rich kid whiners. That's something me and Barry spent 30 years trying to get rid of.

Well, I guess that's all for now. I can't tell you anything else; the Big Man's plans are his and his alone to know. Though I don't think I'll be giving too much away if I say "I'll be seeing you."

--The Gipper

PS. Tell Ron Jr. I loved that line about me crapping bigger ones than GW. I never did like the Bush kids.

Outrageous Outrage Outage

Priceless. This is why, come the revolution, the streets will run red with the blood of political pundits.

Outside of Inside The Wagon Circle

You've heard the saying that it's the Democrat style to circle the wagons and then start firing inwards? Yay for the unstoppable wagon circling technique reaching the blogosphere! I have a few disconnected opinions.

First, as a regular reader of both blogs, it was obvious that RJ was never a good fit for BoP. His style is far too direct for the Cali-wool-and-egg-head abstractions that make up BoP's stock in trade. Even if the majority of the posters at BoP aren't from Cali, I always get the feeling their posts blow in on a warm ocean breeze and attempt to caress your temples(and only someone who's spent a great deal of time in California could take that "new politics" thing seriously). RJ's posts roar up on a Harley, give you the finger, then tell you to take it outside. This incongruity wasn't going to last and the only suprise is how long it did.

Second, this points up why, if you want to maintain some level of personal integrity and you're interested in both political candidates and political commentary, you should deny yourself personal access to the people you're supposed to be covering. As Our Man Somerby constantly points out, one of the reasons our Washington Press Corps is so vacuous is that its members go to the same fancy cocktail parties as the politicians. Being nice to your friends in print - and leaving the public out to dry - is called "civility". The BoP guys are clearly junior insiders, so of course they're going to insist on "civility". RJ is better off without that constraint. For myself I'm glad I'll never have more than blogospheric access to, say, Wes Clark, because when he does finally say something idiotic I'll feel totally free to say so. Blogs are supposed to be cool because bloggers are supposed to be unfettered by the civility requirement. That BoP is so fettered just shows why their "new politics" is really just more of the same ol'.

Finally, the censorship question and the Stalinization of a "liberal blog". ARE YOU EFFIN' KIDDING ME? Yes, deleting all of RJ's posts was a totally lame move, and just shows where Newberry's priorities lie. But it is Newberry's blog, and he can do what he wants. Sure, it's lame, but it's not like he's going to get RJ banned from Typepad or or skippy. IMHO, skippy is a better (and funnier) blog anyway.

Oh yeah, on the germination of the dust-up: Dean is doing a fine job of riling up the base, and Edwards is doing a fine job of trying to be pragmatic and sensible. Neither one of them is going to be president. I'd prefer we'd be having arguments and purges over ideas, not tactics, but that's why I'm an anonymous software engineer Baltimore blogger and not a DC insider.

And Speaking Of Our Postmodern World

Ok, so it's like this. The term was invented to describe conditions of real life. That it turned out to have the usual effect big ideas have on little minds is not Derida's fault.

Update:Yeah, I corrected a typo.
Update II: Man, I love this administration. Just for the sheer cajones.

Similar Mindless Esoterica

It's seems like Dave G and talk about this every time we walk the dogs. (Link via the Poor Man.).

Joiners!

We've joined the Big Brass Alliance, because we're like that. We didn't join earlier because we thought it had something to do with sex and bookends and that just sounded dirty. But it's actually a community related to the Downing Street Memo business. We're glad that whenever someone tells us there was deliberation about the Iraq war we have proof enough to say "ARE YOU EFFIN' KIDDING ME?".

We Tried To Warn You

While the Malkins, Michael Savage and Daniel Pipes remain obsessed with people of a slightly brown skin tone, those self-appointed defenders of our borders fail to recognize the real threat to our safety. Yes, as every member of the RUFNKM staff knows by now, I'm talking about those effin' Canadians. I've been yelling from the rooftops about this since well before the South Park movie. Canada means us harm and the sooner we bomb them the better off we'll be.

On a serious note, let's be clear. The policies the race obsessed idiots would have us implement will have net zero effect against the events described above. "Excuse me sir, is that a blood caked chainsaw? Oh, wait, sorry. You're sufficiently Nordic. Go ahead to the fast line."

Fancy! New! Dig etc...

A new day beckons, a light at the end of a tunnel blinds you, and behold, a new Baltimore blog aggregator is up. It's called Blogtimre, Hon. There's a link to it under our "Baltimore Blogs" sidebar. Enjoy.

Pure Professional Terror

Middle managers take note. The 7 words guaranteed to evoke pure terror in a software engineer are "Now's our chance to get really creative."

Stainless Steel Providers

handyvac-RUFNKM
Originally uploaded by jayinbmore.

RUFNKM has a new mascot.

From this here site via RJ at Nightlight.


Update: And in case Russel is reading and appreciates the title, I will add that this robot will get you in the neck.

Death From Above

Pat Buchanan continues on in his quest to become the world's largest phoney. I can understand being pissed that Felt helped nail Buchanan's former boss. I can even sympathize with a little partisan loyalty in preference over the truth. But claiming that the people who brought Nixon down are responsible for the Khmer Rouge and the Killing Fields? ARE YOU EFFIN' KIDDING ME? It wasn't Deep Throat who bombed the hell out of the Cambodia. Nixon was president during the Khmer Rouge's ascent to power. He could have done something other than bomb the place. "But wait!" you say, "He was distracted by all this Watergate business!" (Boo hoo, being preznit is hard). Ok. By this same logic, Buchanan, Limbaugh and especially Coulter are responsible for Rowanda and 9/11. Will someone lock these traitors up? I'm serious.

Update: A Hah! I Spy A New Talking Point Edition: Via Altercation we learn that Loony Noony picks up the same theme. Some worker bee at Heritage should really be fired. This is the absolute best they could come up with?