Sunday Non-Book Thread
— Gabriel Malor

Alright, a space for non-book-related discussion.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:06 AM | Comments (98)
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Sunday Book Thread
— Gabriel Malor

Was doing lawyer stuff this week, so I had less time than usual for reading. I did pick up a nice little book, Classical English Rhetoric. It breaks down several rhetorical schemes and their uses and demonstrates them with quotes from notable speakers and writers like Dickens, Webster, Shakespeare, Churchill. You know how Ace sometimes unleashes a particularly effective turn of phrase? Rhetoric.

So what've ya'll been reading?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:03 AM | Comments (79)
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Overnight Open Thread-Saturday Night Fevah Edition [CDR M]
— Open Blogger

Ah yeah! Saturday night is here and it's time for another ONT. I got a ton of stuff so let's just get it on!

First up, this squirrel seems to have caught the disco fevah. A few decades too late but hey, you never know when it'll come back.

Mr. Weiner just tweeted he's jealous. more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:00 PM | Comments (499)
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Rumor: Hugo Chavez Dead?
— Ace

Supposedly, the rumor goes, he went to Cuba for surgery, and died there.

I hear this from a source too, but he only hears it from his sources, and they're not always right (he tells me).

Can I just put out a general warning? Not about this necessarily. But generally.

I know for a fact there is an effort to punk the media. Maybe the blogosphere too.

Be on the lookout for tantalizing tips. Do not take the first level of verification as authoritative, because they're putting enough thought into this at least pass the first level.

Like, if you get an email from an FBI agent, and his phone number is included, ignore the phone number he gives you and call up the FBI HQ he works at and get connected that way. Spanish Prisoner style.

In this case I already know the guy tipping me, he tells me it's only got fair confidence, and besides, as the link shows, the rumor is spreading so why hide it?

It's a rumor. Honestly I don't believe it but what the hell. It's content.

Posted by: Ace at 04:33 PM | Comments (234)
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Kia Motors: Our New Cars Are As Hot As Sex With Very Young Children!
— Ace

Award-winning ad.

Posted by: Ace at 01:11 PM | Comments (203)
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Corps of Engineers Mobilize to Protect Random Critters and Bogs: American Men, Women and Children Hardest Hit
— Dave in Texas

Missouri River environmentalism takes supremacy over human lives, property rights.

This story bubbled up a few days ago, but is worth a post I think (someone may have written about it already, I only read the comments, same as Andrew Breitbart.)

But after about thirty years of operation, as the environmentalist movement gained strength throughout the seventies and eighties, the Corps received a great deal of pressure to include some specific environmental concerns into their MWCM (Master Water Control Manual, the "bible" for the operation of the dam system). Preservation of habitat for at-risk bird and fish populations soon became a hot issue among the burgeoning environmental lobby. The pressure to satisfy the demands of these groups grew exponentially as politicians eagerly traded their common sense for "green" political support.

Things turned absurd from there.

Things are so absurd now, cities and thousands of acres of farmland are being purposefully flooded, in favor of bird and fish populations.

Minot, North Dakota.

South Dakota (Huffpo link)

Sioux City, Iowa. River expected to crest 5 to 7 feet above flood stage.

A system of dams was constructed decades ago to manage these torrential flood seasons, and for decades was successful in controlling the downflow of winter runoff. It produced hydro-electric power. It protected lives, and property. The longest river in the United States was tamed via a massive construction project that exceeded successful expectations.

Until the "policy" of "snail darters before human beings" took hold within the system.

Ten million acres of productive land, thrown aside for bugs and birds.

On purpose.

We successfully prevented this catastrophe for over 60 years, provided irrigation for farmland, we provided electric power for growth, watersheds for people. And yet somehow this amazing accomplishment has been thrown aside for fucking snail darters.

At the expense of human lives and livelihood.

Shameful.

UPDATE: Remember when Bush was skewered over Katrina and the NO levees?

Please tell me what's different here. "He blew up levees on purpose!", that was the claim, damage inflicted by a hurricane and decades of local mismanagement. But the Army Corps of Engineers is purposefully acting here. Destruction is now policy. more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 11:07 AM | Comments (143)
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Stray Thoughts on Gay Marriage
— Ace

1. Gay marriage has been achieved in some states (and coming soon, to all states) through a series of tactical arguments, and by tactical arguments, I mean dishonest ones.

Scalia objected to Anthony Kennedy's claim that the Constitution forbade any distinction whatsoever in heterosexual and homosexual conduct, stating that this ruling would in short order be used as a basis for arguing a positive Constitutional right to gay marriage.

Pish-posh, the gay lobby said; it will do no such thing. It is simply the deletion of an odious and unjustifiable remnant of the law.

Flash forward just five or six years later and the removal of any distinction between gay and straight sex is used as the basis for arguing a positive Constitutional right to gay marriage.

Similarly we were told we had no need of a Constitutional Marriage Amendment, because DOMA would protect states from having gay marriage forced upon them by lawsuit. The lawsuit chain would be thus: gay marriage is granted in one state; the couple moves to a state where gay marriage does not exist; the couple sues the state on the theory that the Full Faith and Credit clause of the Constitution demands that one state respect the marriage contract of another.

Well, right now Obama is talking up repeal of that provision, which would in very short order impose gay marriage by lawsuit on all fifty states.

In addition, the claims that we do not need a Federal Marriage Amendment to preclude this possibility were always disingenuous. The gay marriage lobby always intended this one-state-leads-to-another plan and fought the Federal Marriage Amendment largely to leave this option on the table. The claims that DOMA would serve as protection against this were always dishonest. They knew DOMA could and would be changed on a whim, and if it couldn't be changed legislatively, it could be rubbished in the courts.

Without even bothering to look it up, I know that some people opposing gay marriage argued at some point that gay marriage in some states would create a chaotic patchwork of inconsistent marriage laws in the several states, and that gay marriage should be resisted on these grounds. Without looking it up, I know that gay marriage proponents cried hogwash to this concern, and claimed that the states should serve as laboratories of democracy (even court-imposed non-democracy) and certainly the idea of "uniformity" was a trivial and silly matter that should not be used as a basis of argumentation.

However, I know this: Now that a small but nontrivial minority of states have implemented gay marriage, the gay marriage lobby will begin to argue that "uniformity of marriage laws" is a paramount consideration, and that we surely cannot tolerate a chaotic patchwork of differing marriage laws in the several states, and of course that means we must have nationwide all-50-states gay marriage.

Of course it will be ignored that just five years ago the states' marriage laws were quite uniform on this single point, and that the lack of uniformity was created by the gay marriage lobby, which will now seek to use that lack of uniformity to create a new uniformity.

That has been the game all along. It is a cunning game, designed, as it is, to boil the frog slowly so that he never jumps out of the pot.

But like most cunning strategems, it is entirely dishonest, and always has been so.

Do the ends justify the means? For those convinced this is a sacred right unfairly denied to gays, I suppose it must seem that the ends justify the means. Certainly the stratagem employed belies such a belief.

But dishonesty remains dishonesty, which I think most still consider a rather bad thing even in this rapidly-"evolving" world where apparently only One Single Thing Really Matters.

It becomes harder and harder to believe anything gay marriage proponents claim about their future agenda when every past claim about their next moves has been false (and false from the moment of utterance).

The claim is being made that "Of course we will not impose gay marriage on religious institutions."

Um, yeah. Because you've been so upfront and candid with me in the past.
more...

Posted by: Ace at 07:55 AM | Comments (585)
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Content-Free Thread
— rdbrewer

Update: This is turning into a DIY thread:

more...

Posted by: rdbrewer at 06:50 AM | Comments (136)
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Overnight Thread-TGIF Edition [CDR M]
— Open Blogger

Evening Moron Nation! Another crappy week put to bed. I'm still in a funk from the Afghanistan announcement. Some interesting stuff has come out though. For example, take this article from The Atlantic, Gates Beats Out Petraeus In Fight Over Afghanistan Withdrawal.

The initial set of Afghan discussions had been marred by a series of leaks that infuriated Obama and led the president to accuse his military advisers of trying to box him in politically. Earlier this year, as the administration began to gear up for the withdrawal debate, Gates and National Security Adviser Tom Donilon sent out word informally that any leaks would be interpreted by the president as insubordination and as an attempt to improperly influence public opinion.

My, my. Nice to see the President taking leaks seriously. Well, at least when it's in HIS best interest. Never mind all the other leaks coming out about everything else (like the Bin Laden raid) that have actually had a negative impact on National Security. Those are OK 'cuz you know we gotta tell everyone that you know who was teh man, teh one to take down Bin Laden. I don't recall ever hearing President Bush do something like this, you know, sending out word that talking out of school will be seen as insubordinate. Don't get me wrong, it is and shouldn't be done, but if we are gonna have some standards, then let's apply it equally across the board. Of course, if he did that, Joe Biden would be out of a job. more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:56 PM | Comments (590)
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Chris Christie Releases Campaign Commercial For Job He Already Has
— Ace

Interesting, but I think it's just because his approval ratings are declining lately.

To keep the whip-hand he needs a certain amount of public support. If it starts to fall, he needs to goose it back up. Talking up "I'm against partisan nonsense and for real change and real results" always goes down well.

Posted by: Ace at 06:35 PM | Comments (38)
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