This cartoon is clearly dated. There's room in that landspeeder for at least 2 or 3 more droids for the storm troopers to ignore.

Good morning morons and moronettes and welcome to the the award-winning AoSHQ's Sunday Morning Book Thread.

The AoSHQ Amazon Store - Part Dieueueaueaoiux

OK, so I pulled out a few books by moron authors that I've pimped mentioned on earlier threads and converted the Amazon links to AoSHQ™ format.

Let's start out with some books by the always perky and vivacious Sabrina Chase. First, her new one:

The Scent of Metal

And this one:

The Last Mage Guardian

And her Sequoyah series:

The Long Way Home
Raven's Children
Queen of Chaos

I hope I got the order right.

Next up, the 'Zombie Books of Survival' of George Milonas:

My Last Testament
Off The Grid

Here is Pat Chiles' sci-fi novel Perigee

Steve Poling's anthology of time travel stories Finding Time wherein everybody isn't doomed and the future doesn't suck.

I don't think this one is by a moron author, but it was recommended a bunch of times on earlier threads: They Tell Me I'm The Bad Guy by R.D. Harless. The main character is "funny, vulgar, lazy and a blackout alcoholic." In other words, he's a Moron.

Moron author Ray Fiore's military sci-fi adventure Riley's Rogues. He also wrote the WWII novel Wings Over the Pacific.

Moron commenter John the Baptist wrote the moron-friendly Speaking Ill of the Dead: Jerks in Georgia History, which I discovered is just one of a series commemorating dead jerks in various parts of the country. Others in the series include Montana, Colorado, and Chicago.

Finally, Frank Fleming, who runs the hilarious IMAO blog, is kind of a moron himself. Well, be's more of a smartass, but that works, too. He's also the guy who wrote How to Fix Everything in America Forever: The Plan to Keep America Awesome. Fleming's legendary self-control and restraint are also on display in his other book Obama: The Greatest President in the History of Everything. I got it for free, but you schlubs will have to pay $1.99 for it. Note: this book is satire. It is not an anthology of quotes from MSNBC news programs.

more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:59 AM | Comments (138)
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A bunch of Toronto Maple Leafs fans videotaped themselves watching Game 7 of the Leafs vs. Bruins game on Monday.

It turned out to be a brutal cock-puncher of a game. Pretty funny. Don't feel bad laughing at them. They're probably all Canadian. more...

Posted by: JohnE. at 01:32 PM | Comments (592)
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War News Updates is a very good news aggregator for all topics military but they do cover other areas at times. Here's their take on the IRS coverup that is ongoing:

I am not an American .... just a Russian national who is now a Canadian citizen looking from the outside in .... and I am just shaking my head. There is something terribly wrong in the U.S. right now .... when the IRS has been politicized to go after a specific political group, it does not take a 'political scientist and historian' to know that you are entering a very dark place .... and being one who grew up in such a place (the former Soviet Union) .... trust me on this one .... it is a place that you do not want to find yourself living in.

Posted by: CDR M at 05:58 PM | Comments (777)
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Nice.

When Gundlach saw Casey, he put his head in his hands and cried. She licked his face, wagging her tail furiously.
"It was a total surprise," he said. "I owe her. I'll just try to give her the best life I can."

Casey and Sgt. Ross Gundlach served on over 150 missions together. They are together again.

Very sweet.

via the Man of Substance more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 09:32 AM | Comments (141)
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I was replying to someone's question on some forum and couldn't get the freaking captcha shit to work and couldn't post it, so rather than wasting all this typing I did on a perfectly good answer, I'm making it a home improvement post.

The dude in question got red tagged on an inspection and wanted to know why. He had a 12-2 Romex and 14-3 Romex in the same box, and a couple of switches feeding lights. His description of his issue was horrible and didn't actually describe the precise situation, but here we go....

"Regarding new construction wiring and running 12/2 and 14/3 wire in the same box."

Are there two branch circuits here or one?

If one circuit. i.e. lights, If the #14 is going to lights and the #12 is the same circuit from the panel powering the lights (power inbound from panel, power outbound to lights), then you'd be REQUIRED to use a 15A breaker on that circuit.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:10 AM | Comments (97)
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I would totally fly on this airline, you betcha.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 12:19 PM | Comments (133)
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One of my great frustrations with amnesty supporters who claim once we pass amnesty Hispanic-Americans will give Republicans/conservatives a chance to win their vote is they never explain how this will work. On average Hispanics have shown in word and deed, that they are liberals, more liberal in fact than the population on the whole (see here and here).

Don't believe me...believe them.

So with the background in mind, here's Arthur Brooks the head of the American Enterprise Institute 3 step plan for how conservatives can appeal to Hispanics.

Step 1: Tell them how much Republicans support the welfare system

First, make it clear that the safety net for the indigent and needy is not the source of our fiscal problems. It is the safety net for everyone else—the able-bodied, the middle class, and corporate cronies—that is driving our country to insolvency. . . .

Yeah.

This will mean the GOP giving up any rhetoric about shrinking government. Even accepting that there will be a safety-net, you can't talk about how government is too big, too incompetent and too destructive of personal initiative. It means giving up saying in order to re-balance incentives the amount and scope of the "safety net" will have to be cut.

Not only is Brooks admitting Hispanics don't want to hear the GOP's message on welfare, he's expecting the GOP to able to suddenly have a sophisticated messaging plan that can communicate that we want to cut government, just not the government you like.

Once you accept that current welfare spending is fine, you commit to a bidding war with the Democrats who will always agitate to increase that spending.

Well, let's see the rest of the plan. It can't get worse, right?

Step 2: Less government

put education reform in poor communities front and center. Today, students from low-income families are five times as likely to drop out of school as students from high-income families, according to data from the Department of Education. It is a civil-rights scandal that we effectively accept this opportunity-denying status quo. Conservatives must be the warriors for pro-child, pro-parent, pro-innovation and pro-choice education reforms.

The wording here is vague. He doesn't explicitly call for promoting charter schools, vouchers and the rest of the conservative education reform agenda to Hispanics.

So let's take a look at the two options:

1- These "pro-child, pro-parent, pro-innovation and pro-choice education reforms" are aimed at working within the current pubic education, teacher union based system.

That's not what conservative educator reformers have been working on for years. Now we're supposed to "fix" education without the incentives of traditional conservative reform proposals?

Or

2. What Brooks is talking about is selling Hispanics on things like vouchers and charter schools.

That seems like a no brainer for conservatives but we ignore in Step 1 we tell Hispanics we aren't looking to cut back on government programs. And now we're telling them we want to cut back on public school funding by moving the money to alternative educational programs.

This is getting crazy.

Oh and the problem with telling Hispanics we don't think the government is any good at running education? See the chart above...on the whole Hispanics trust the government and want it to do more than most other groups. How is telling them, "We're taking something very important to you away from the institution you trust" going to win votes?

Ok, maybe the 3rd point will save the day for Team Amnesty.

Step 3: Hmmmm.

Third, . . . [conservatives] should fight every day to get the government out of the way of a healthy culture for vulnerable American families.

Hispanics: You know, we like government. A lot. In fact, we want more of it!

GOP Team Amnesty: "We understand and to win you over we're going to "get the government out of the way". You're welcome!"

I appreciate that Brooks is honest enough to layout a vision for how Republicans can win over Hispanics but if this is the best they can do, they should keep quiet. This plan to win over Hispanics requires a combination of abandoning conservative principles and ignoring the reality of the Hispanic community in America.

Of course as an opponent of amnesty, I hope they keep talking like this. It makes our job easier.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:32 AM | Comments (258)
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A desperate fight on a rock in the Pacific against a determined enemy.

The Sixth Marine Division was given the task of taking the mound called Sugar Loaf, and it would prove costly. By the time the area was considered secure, 1,656 Marines would be dead and another 7,429 wounded. Regiments were reduced to com­pany strength, and companies to platoon size. Platoons and squads simply ceased to exist in some cases. It took 11 tries during a 12-day period and ate up most of three regiments before the hill was taken. Why this was so, and how the hill was eventually taken, is the subject of James Hallas’ World War II book, “Kill­ing Ground on Okinawa: The Battle for Sugar Loaf Hill.”

There is an elderly gentleman I know here in my town in central Texas. I've known him and we've been friends for 22 years. He was in this fight when he was 19 years old.

Every time I shake his hand I appreciate his service. But we don't say anything about it. Unspoken respect. more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 05:28 AM | Comments (84)
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Hope you all have a great weekend.

Posted by: andy at 03:34 AM | Comments (243)
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Pentagon furious w/Russia over new arms shipments to Syria. State Dept: We don't know anything about it. Russia: We've made no secret of it.

— Brit Hume (@brithume) May 17, 2013

This is beyond. This is beyond.

More accountable government highlights from this week below. more...

Posted by: JohnE. at 03:01 PM | Comments (536)
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