Friends of mine keep posting pics from college. I keep thinking one thing….I should have worn more sunscreen. Baz Luhrman was right about that sh*t.

“Co-Parent”.  Disgusting word I happened upon the other day.

It’s an ugly word and anyone using it ought to be shamed. It sounds like a family is a freaking airplane and anyone who knows how could step in and fly it. Or like the roles of mother and father are interchangable. They aren’t, and if your family is having to do without one of them – for whatever reason – it’s a hardship.

A man is his children’s father, a woman their mother, and their marital status does not change this. In the screenplay of my kids’ life, I”m not Parent #1 or #2. I’m their Dad.

Then again, that’s just me. I could be wrong. Dex is an oldthinker who unbellyfeels newspeak.

All the books of  The Black Company by Glen Cook. Best fantasy fiction I’ve read in years. The first six novels are anthologized. I recommend highly if you like sword and sorcery stuff.

I read Stan Nicholls Orcs as well.  Meh. Don’t bother.

10 years ago this week, a member of my family was brutally murdered in a mass shooting. I can’t tell you how surreal it is to watch your family’s tragedy on CNN.
A lot of my family made mention of this on Facebook. I couldn’t bring myself to. I guess I have an aversion to bleeding in public. Hard to explain, but there it is.

I predict that the ultimate luxury will one day be ludditism.

All societies are meritocracies, to some extent. The difference between them is the behaviors, accomplishments and attributes that merit the kratia.

It may be true that you can’t fool all the people all the time, but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country.
Will Durant

Read lately:

• Daywatch – Sergei Lukyanenko
• Twilight Watch – Sergei Lukyanenko
• Last Watch – Sergei Lukyanenko
• Children of the Night – Dan Simmons
• Song of Kali – Dan Simmons
• Rise of Christianity – Rodney Stark
• Old Man’s War – John Scalzi
• Ghost Brigades – John Scalzi
• The Last Colony – John Scalzi
• Zoe’s Tale – John Scalzi
• Android’s Dream – John Scalzi
• Dead Until Dark – Charlaine Harris
• Backup – Jim Butcher
• Turn Coat – Jim Butcher
• Mean Streets – short story collection, featuring one by Jim Butcher.

I may write up reviews on these. Any you’re interested in hearing about?  The only one on the list that I wouldn’t HIGHLY recommend is Song of Kali, the author’s first novel, and that only because I found the denouement unsatisfying. Children of the Night, same author, was one of the smartest vampire novels I’ve read.

The whole NightWatch series by Lukyanenko is worth a read. It’s good urban fantasy. Capt. Tuttle refers to them as my Russian vampire novels, but there’s more to them than vampires.

John Scalzi’s sci-fi is probably the most fun I’ve had reading anything in years, and that includes Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden novels. Barely, but still. My wife asked me to read in the other room a few times because I was actually laughing out loud every page or three.

In progress:

• Bowling Alone – Robert Putnam
• Drood – Dan Simmons

Drood is a freakin’  TOME and is taking forever to finish. The fact that the author is imitating Wilkie Collins (a contemporary of Dickens) style of prose (more or less) is not helping.

Considering reading:

• The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins (found out I own a nice hardback, courtesy of my dad.)
• ?????

Any suggestions?

Little Cog has a great post about this…

I often think this is the best solution. Yeah, it would take a lot of work. Laws would need to be defined. Sure some feelings would be hurt, but in the end government shouldn’t recognize marriage.

A marriage is between my God, my bride, and myself. Everyone else doesn’t matter.

There are a couple of stories I’ve heard on this that have formed my opinion. One had to do with a solider that came back from war only to find out his wife divorced him and took on a partner. He was paying alimony (maybe still is) but since the state doesn’t recognize her partnership, he’s screwed.

The second one was an article I read about a homosexual couple a long while back. One of the partners had AIDS. The other stuck it out with him. The guy’s family had disowned him because of his sexual preference. When the guy died, his family suddenly appeared and took everything. Leaving his partner with nothing. That burned me.

So I finally came to the conclusion: Marriage is a sacred pack between a man and a women made before God. It’s in every “sermon” / homily I’ve heard. Government needs to butt out.

First, I told you so.

Second, what really chaps my hide is that I did what I said I wouldn’t. I voted for the old bastard. I wasn’t going to, but decided at the last minute. I needn’t have bothered.

Conger believes that Bush was the reason McCain failed. I disagree. McCain is the reason McCain failed. 25 years in the Senate and the best he’s got is “Barack is too liberal” and “I supported the surge.”  Cracker, please. If in 25 years, that’s the leadership you can show, stay in the Senate. 

There will be a lot of speculation that Palin hurt his chances. I’m afraid that she got Quayled. She gave them the opportunity to paint her as stupid and unqualified and that stuck. If she wants to continue, she’ll have to overcome that in the mainstream media. And to be honest, if she can’t handle Charlie and Katie, even I don’t want her trying to handle Ahmedinijad or Putin or whoever. Yes, she rolled out too late and poorly. Maybe that was her and maybe that was her handlers, but if she wants to go on, she’s going to have to do better and often.

It’s time for the Republicans and the right side of the blogosphere to do the “Wednesday Morning Quarterbacking” as Conger put it. It’s time for the knives to come out.  Our current “compassionate conservative” president is leaving office with 2 out 3 Americans thinking he did a lousy job and our former candidate just got whooped by a noob with decidedly marxist tendencies. Running to the middle doesn’t work. We need to discuss what will and cut loose who and what won’t.

America was ready for a change, but I don’t think it really wanted to go left. I think a candidate running to the right of George W. Bush would have actually done a lot better than McCain did. This country is much more conservative than tonight’s vote would lead you to believe. Too bad a conservative wasn’t running. Oh, there were some in the primaries, but they didn’t have the fire (Fred) or the charisma (Romney, Hunter, Tancredo), the strategy (Guiliani) or the bona fides (Huckabee). Or the judgement (P@ul). So we got stuck with the Old Fart Whose Turn It Was. A guy who voted against tax cuts that worked. A guy who wanted to punish the “greedy”, whoever they are. A guy who wanted to run on his reputation as a “maverick who gets things done”, but who came across as a crusty old-timer who wanted to tell you again and again about his time in the war and hoped that you wouldn’t notice that all he’d done since is cut deals to get himself ahead.

There will be plenty of time for constructive criticism later. For now, I’m just gonna rant a little below the fold.

I’m not sorry he lost. I’m sorry he lost to Obama. But I figure, hell, if we’re on the road to serfdom anyway, why take baby-steps? Bush-Bush-Clinton-Clinton-Bush-Bush-McCain. Baby steps. Let’s take big-ass long strides down that path. Let’s hurry up and get there before my son is old enough to remember what it was like when men were free. Let’s get there before he knows what it is we pissed away by continuing to accept that we had to choose the lesser evil.

Fuck that. I’m not voting against a Democrat again. The GOP can put up someone worth voting for or they can’t have my vote. And fuck all you bootlickers in SC, FL and AL who think that a medal on someone’s chest qualifies them for office. Yeah, I fucking said it. Shows character, sure. So does what he did in a 25 year interregnum.

And fuck all the pundits and authors who went over to Obama when you saw which way the wind was blowing, who say the republicans need to get with the times and move left. And fuck everyone who tells me to chill out. This is the marketplace of ideas. Offer me someone who’s got what I want or don’t waste my time.  

John McCain lost tonight and the Republicans lost tonight, not because the country has moved left but because they deserved to.  Do better, GOP. Start now. Let every stitch of freedom that they try to take from you over the next few years fuel your intensity. If you don’t, another party will rise up and take your place. I’d remind you that Lincoln was a Whig at one time. Things change and parties that address the wants and desires, the NEEDS of the voters win.

In my voting, I had never lost an election – well that changed tonight.

Congrats to the 44th President of the United States Barrack Obama and his supporters. They ran a hell of campaign and won. Kudos.

It doesn’t end here.

Some thoughts on this election:

Yeah, by and by, McCain was the best guy we could have run against President-Elect Obama. Seeing how it turned out, I don’t think Fred would’ve fared any better. We would be talking about a Goldwater-esque shellacking tonight. I don’t think the country was ready to move that far to the right.

In these last few days Senator McCain showed he had the stuff – alas, not enough to win over the American people, but still an honorable and energetic showing. At least in my estimate.  He was running in a tough year.

He tapped Sarah Palin.  There will be much gnashing of teeth as to weather she helped or hurt the campaign. I say she helped. I saw the crowds,  the excitement, the energy.

She captivated.

Was she mishandled? I’ll leave that to the pundits and their Wednesday morning quarterbacking. Still, I don’t know why her introduction to the American people wasn’t live with Charlie or Katie.

Yes, Palin/Jindal 2012.

So here’s my two cents for what its worth:

As much as I love the man: GW lost us the election tonight. Oh, this was the left’s final revenge on a man they so vilified  these last eight years. The “four more years of George Bush,” line resonated. The recent economic crises and his “sky is falling” mentality didn’t help his party. He signed a very unpopular bailout.  His unwillingness not to tout our winning in Iraq – which his part of his character I love – didn’t help either:

Yes, Senator Barrack we maybe spending Billions in a war, but at least we’re winning that war. And we haven’t been attacked in seven years. Alas.

In 2011, much of the world and most importantly our country will miss the leadership of George W. Bush, especially in light of what I assume will the leadership of our next President.

So good night America. Good job.

And sleep well.

And God Bless.

Raindrops…

Pace.

Found an allusion to this poem over at another website today and thought it bore repeating here, especially given our recent focus on the financial crisis. By way of explanation, a copybook was a notebook that students used to practice handwriting. At the top of each page was a moral or aphorism which the students would copy on each blank line of the page, endeavoring to print or write it perfectly. Kipling refers to these aphorisms, indicating things that are always true, regardless of what any advertiser or politician promises. Enjoy. Or, you know, weep:  

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “Stick to the Devil you know.”

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “The Wages of Sin is Death.”

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will bum,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return.

Rudyard Kipling, 1919

They never get old.

JMac suspends campaign…I voted on Michelle Malkin that this was a good idea. Country First. It keeps with his narrative. My only question is he going to try to save this bill, if he is, please keep beating the pavement for votes and getting ready for this Friday’s debate – the other guy is ahead.

John McCain has made several gambles in this campaign and thus far they’re paying off. Remember this guy wasn’t supposed to be here a year ago. So, I’ll defer to his judgement on this one.

Mr. President a you can put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. Sorry. 

On a Palin vs. Obama debate, that would be interesting. I don’t think it’ll happen. If it were…holy cow.

The good news: REPUBLICANS are fighting this…

Numerous Democrats have said privately in recent days they are wary of voting for the administration’s proposed legislation without significant Republican support. “

Wow. There’s still a beat, however faint, of fiscally conscious Republicans.

Who knew?

It’s about time Catholics started to debate this issue among themselves, thank you John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, & now Joe Biden. The usual retort among my Catholic/Democratic relatives was “I keep my politics and faith apart.” Drove me nuts.

I was intrigued by this Times article, happy to read about the disscusion going on in some parishes regarding the debate, until…

One parishioner ruled out voting for Mr. Obama explicitly because he is black. “Are they going to make it the Black House?” Ray McCormick asked, to embarrassed hushing from a half dozen others gathered around the rectory kitchen.”

Great. A bigot. Worse, a Catholic bigot.  What was Mr. McCormick thinking?

Q: If you were casting the movie about her, assuming for our purposes here that it would not be a liberal hatefest, who plays the lead?

A:

I’m sorry, the correct answer was: Rachel Weisz. Rachel Weisz. No points this round.

I don’t have it yet.

Don’t get me wrong. I like her a lot for the job. I think at this point she’s got a bright future no matter how this election goes. She makes me want to “pull the lever.” And I’m inclined to vote now too. But I haven’t got the fever.

Here’s why:

Simply put, she’s a socially conservative/libertarian leaning Republican’s wet dream of a politician. Never, under any circumstances, underestimate the power of the GOP to fuck up a wet dream. Especially with the baggage she has – namely one John McCain.

In 1996 we had an incumbent president that more than half the voters hadn’t put in office. He was widely seen as a corrupt politician and worse. He should have been easy to pick off. So who did the Republicans put up against him? Senator Dole who, with all due respect, was the old guy whose turn it was. He ran a ”campaign about nothing” and lost. This year, we have a candidate who’s running a campaign, not about nothing, but about himself. We shall see if the powerful narrative of his life is enough. Given that the Democratic nominee is doing the same, it’s possible.

When I say the GOP can fuck up a wet dream, consider this: There is an issue that rallys about 70% support right now and it’s growing. It is the notion that illegal immigration must be controlled. Look, people of goodwill can disagree on whether we need more or fewer immigrants allowed in. But that’s putting the cart before the proverbial horse. It makes no sense whatsoever that we should have no say in WHICH immigrants enter and which may not. But we cannot do that right now since we don’t have control over the border. Two out of three Americans, across party lines, agree with that. And we’ve selected the one candidate from the GOP field who cannot run on that issue without sounding disingenous because, frankly, he doesn’t believe it. This could have been a major selling point in this election and what did the Republicans do? Completely overlooked it and voted on whether timetables were a codeword for this or that. Fucking. Up. The. Wet. Dream.  

But it’s a long way to November from right now. Obama is still leading the Electoral votes. It’s still his race to lose. So given the intensity that McCain and Palin will have to display in the coming weeks, you can expect some hands to be overplayed and some critical errors to be made on the part of the candidates or the party itself. Already they are on the verge of overplaying the Lipstick On A Pig thing.   

The other concern is that of a catastrophic success. Say McCain wins in November and let’s just say the economy tanks. Let’s say he’s defeated in 2012. Where would that leave our girl? She’d be our Mondale/Ferraro all rolled up in one, that’s where. That would be the perception the media would quite ably be able to sell.

That said, I do think that Sarah Palin has a bright future in national politics. I think with either the vice-presidency or some more time as governor she that she’ll gain whatever further experience she would need to be an excellent Chief Executive. She may already be ready – certainly she’s as qualified as anyone running this year. Should McCain lose this November, I’d be sorely disappointed to see her fade away and never make a run for the top spot.

Some have intimated that she reminds them of Reagan. She needs to loosen up a bit in interviews – I just watched some of the Nightline clips – but on the whole I think she is a natural and genuinely believes in the things she says she stands for. She has certainly got the base excited. Reaganesque? I say give her some time before we call her Ronnie in a Dress.  

But that’s just me. I could be wrong.

I agree with Bill Quick. 

Daily Pundit » I Have Only One Thing To Say About Today

There will always be those who hate the U.S. They don’t need much excuse at all to do so. But we truly expose ourselves to attack, not because of our actions or our policies – the excuses they make to hate us -, but when we allow the perception that we are weak and cannot stay in a war longer than a few months.

This perception has changed somewhat in the middle east last seven years. But is it enough? We’ll see. If so, we’ll know by the continued absence of attack on our soil. If not, we’ll pay for our insufficient response.  And next time we say “Never forget, never forgive”, we’ll be talking about ourselves as well.

Ask me again how I feel about Abu Ghraib, Gitmo and waterboarding…

Gabriel Malor over at Ace’s seems to think so:

There’s something funny about this picture of the Ohio judge who on Tuesday threw out Ohio’s death penalty procedure. But I can’t quite put my finger on it…

 

I don’t see a problem here. Judge has two marxist on his wall, one who is against the death penalty and one who doled it out frequently and arbitrarily. Looks impartial to me.