Comments or suggestions: Gerard Van der Leun
The Costume That Shall Haunt My Dreams for All Eternity

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... no, I do not mean the kid on the bike, wise guy.



Posted by Vanderleun Oct 31, 2008 1:01 PM | Comments (10)  | QuickLink: Permalink

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ReadRight: Essential Links to the Right Side are on the right side of this page. Yes. That's right. Just over there on the right.



Posted by Vanderleun Oct 31, 2008 12:57 PM | QuickLink: Permalink
Prediction: The most terrifying thing about this Seattle Halloween will be...

... the gigantic teeming horde of men dressed as Sarah Palin. Many will have beards.

Palin the champion at Seattle costume store "It's more about hair spray. Get a wig and fluff it up."
And then... there's THIS. My eyes! Arggggh, my eyes!



Posted by Vanderleun Oct 31, 2008 11:53 AM | Comments (1)  | QuickLink: Permalink
"The Man in the Lavender Automobile" Greatest O-Rant Yet

Read all, and print out for your permanent scrapbook -Velociworld: The Man in the Lavender Automobile

Continued...

Posted by Vanderleun Oct 30, 2008 11:50 PM | Comments (3)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Slick House: The Home Obama Bought and the Lot That Rezko Sold Him

GOP Mom has the details and the documents: From Tony to Barack, Part I

Documented evidence proves that Senator Obama and Tony Rezko coordinated their purchases as well as the relative values of the house and the lot. Significant economic value was transferred between the properties after the execution of the purchase agreements and prior to the closings on June 15, 2005. Furthermore, this transfer fully explains Senator Obama’s reason for buying the extra strip of land. In sum, Senator Obama would not have been able to purchase the house at such a large discount if Rezko had not purchased the adjacent lot.



Posted by Vanderleun Oct 30, 2008 11:38 PM | QuickLink: Permalink
The State of the Creation in the Constellation of Cetus

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How small we arein our petty arguments (See below. See always below.), and yet how wonderfully made. Perhaps our only real purpose is to create the instruments that reveal to our eyes and souls the unfathomable wonder that is the Creation. Perhaps we are here only to be the witnesses.

An image taken by Hubble Space telescope showed a pair of gravitationally interacting galaxies called Arp 147, photographed on October 27-28, 2008. Arp 147 lies in the constellation of Cetus, more than 400 million light-years away from Earth. - Photo Journal : Pictures of the Day



Posted by Vanderleun Oct 30, 2008 7:00 PM | Comments (6)  | QuickLink: Permalink
This Just In: Whores Lag Behind Media in Obama Support

  • Can't have a prostitution gap."Based on the prostitutes' voter registration cards, they're destined to become Obama girls in November. That's because 78 percent of them registered as Democrats" - Majority of Allegheny prostitutes are on the Democratic side



    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 30, 2008 5:39 PM | QuickLink: Permalink
  • More Mush from the Wimps: This Just In from T. Coddington Van Voorhees VII

    That stalwart conservative and relentless social bouder, T. Coddington Van Voorhees VII (known as T-Bag to his twinks) has just chimed in with a ripping rant:

    "How can I say this, you ask? One look at this Obama chap is all the answer you need. Suave, tanned, unflappable, Harvard connections; it's obvious that here is a man to the conservative manor born. One imagines him at the helm of the Ship of State, basked in the sunlight diffusing through the seaspray over the bow, like some beautiful rugged Othello from a rapturous Ralph Lauren catalog, calmly issuing instructions to the deck crew in that magnificent mellifluous baritone of his. It's that easy-going, almost effortless grace that has all the A-list conservatives like David Frum and Kathleen Parker whispering Reaganesque in hushed tones. Even Peggy Noonan -- the Grand Dame of Gipperism -- has succumbed to Obama's undeniable conservative charms. Just last month I listened to her wax poetic about the Adonis of Chicago between chukkers at the Newport Club polo tournament final. "Why Peggy, you old dowager," I quipped, "I believe you just had an orgasm." - iowahawk: As a Conservative, I Must Say I Do Quite Like the Cut of this Obama Fellow's Jib
    Jolly good, what?



    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 30, 2008 1:33 PM | Comments (6)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    The American Rich Just Got $50,000 Poorer

    Remember last week? Last week in Obamaland you were rich and selfish if you made $250,000. This week, O's defined rich and selfish down to 200K.

    "Here's what I'll do. Cut taxes for every working family making less than $200,000 a year." -- Barrack Obama's prime-time infomercial.

    Want to bet that's the bottom? Want to bet your bank account, your mortgage payment?

    That's got to be the first infomercial where people discovered they were going to actually pay more by buying the product. No steak knives either.

    Obama's limit to "I won't tax you" is going down faster than Andrew Sullivan in an asparagus patch.



    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 29, 2008 9:55 PM | Comments (7)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    "I will vote always for best, always:" Conversations with Paul

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    The dyed-finger idea could go a long way to eliminating voter fraud in America.

    [Note: In the last week or so, I've heard -- here and elsewhere -- some defeatist carping about "not voting." Worse still is the plan of voting for someone you think is bad in order to make the country worse so that, at some moment in time, it learns from the experience. Both poses -- and poses they are -- strike me as malicious and childish. And I think of this conversation with Paul on Election Day in 2004. He knew what faction and party politics brought. He knew it from hard experience.... ]

    Once a week Paul and his sister come to my house to clean it. They're recent arrivals to America from Russia and work at cleaning houses in order to support themselves and take courses at night at Irvine's community college. They're part of a larger group of Russians that live, not in the astronomically expensive beach towns along Southern California's solid gold coast, but inland where life is considerably cheaper.

    Every Tuesday Paul and his sister arrive in a beat-up old Toyota, haul their vacuums and supplies in and set to work with a single-minded thoroughness at their job. They're in and out in an hour and off to another house. If they're ever feeling down, I've never seen it. They're pleased to be working and they work hard.

    Paul's sister has better English than he does. His is spotty to say the least, but it improves. We all try to spend a few minutes talking in English since they are keen to learn the vernacular. We once spent 45 minutes going over the inflections of "Too cool for school," "Whatever," and the inner meaning of "Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em." I like to think I'm giving them insights into English not available in the classroom.

    But this is Laguna Beach, a latter-day hippie stronghold of liberal socialists griping as they sit in homes with an average value of $1,300,000, and so Paul and I don't ever speak of politics. Until election day this week.

    Continued...

    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 29, 2008 7:20 PM | Comments (19)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    Takes Me Back to When the McCain Ads Were Amusing

    Mockery works, especially with "serious" issues. I wonder why the early success McCain ads had with parting the red sea weren't followed up on in the later days. Seems to me you always reinforce success.

    Gateway pointed me at it.



    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 29, 2008 3:18 PM | Comments (1)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    Gamechanging Question: Boxers, Briefs or Mantyhose?

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    Miranda Wilding @ the Britannica ponders Glamorous Excess: Men in Tights (as in "Mantyhose")

    Continued...

    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 29, 2008 9:51 AM | Comments (6)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    Who Are We to Judge?

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    by Michael Ramirez



    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 29, 2008 9:39 AM | Comments (1)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    Crittenden on the Fathomless Bogosity of Journalists

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    "Journalist" is a bogus word for people who are trying to make it sound like this wretched business is something exalted, something professional, something that requires arcane, secret knowledge hard come by. All things it never was, as amply demonstrated on a regular basis by some of the best in the business working at some of the finest publications in the nation. Yes, there are some skills, knacks and tricks of the trade. It helps to be familiar with stuff like - your subject matter, the English language , telephones and computers. Bloggers, untrained, in a couple of years have shown that millions upon millions of dollars have been wasted in this country on journalism degrees. - Jules Crittenden » Embarrassment


    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 28, 2008 8:15 PM | Comments (2)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    Why I Got My Mom Cable Years Ago
    Continued...

    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 28, 2008 2:07 PM | Comments (2)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    Zimbabwe: Hey, how's that wealth-spreading thing working out?

    Do you fear "inflation?" Do you even know what it looks like? Here's a little photo-essay that brings the real meaning of government by printing press home. What the real crisis is like!

    On the plus side, the use of this technique can mean that America can have just about as many billionaires as it has citizens.

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    Spreading the wealth!

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    What the spread wealth buys.

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    Paying for dinner. The tip is in there, somewhere.

    Moral: Those who do not remember the present are condemned to pay for it.



    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 28, 2008 12:59 PM | Comments (5)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    Geekerlude: "Proficiency in Excel Required"

    Okay, it's deep-geek, but it impresses.



    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 28, 2008 11:41 AM | QuickLink: Permalink
    Who Will Be Named Obama's First Lewinski?

    As the countdown to the Obama rapture accelerates, the press corps battles its performance anxiety. - By Jack Shafer - Slate Magazine

    The windows of this mind-set are provided by Slate's Jacob Weisberg, for whom the Obama election is a national referendum on racism; the New York Times' Nicholas D. Kristof, for whom an Obama presidency is an opportunity to "rebrand" our nation and "find a path to restore America's global influence"; E.J. Dionne, who sees an Obama presidency as representing a chance to "rekindle the sense of possibility and transformation" in American life; and a swooning Andrew Sullivan, who almost a year ago speculated that Obama might be "that bridge to the 21st century that Bill Clinton told us about." For Chris Matthews, of course, the Obama candidacy is a "thrill" going up his leg, one that will arc over his torso and detonate his head in the event of a victory.
    The leading Obama cheerleader among the commentariat is Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, whose "erection of the heart" for the candidate has no match. Alter sees the presidential election as a world referendum on the United States and "the common sense and decency of the American people." Obama symbolizes hope over fear, and his election would produce an "Obama Dividend" that would "blow the minds of people in the Middle East and other regions, and help restore American prestige."



    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 28, 2008 11:39 AM | QuickLink: Permalink

    November 28, 2004 Soros Buys Kiev Holiday Inn for Inbound Contingent of Blue State Human Shields @ AMERICAN DIGEST

    "Then it came to me. The Human Shields have been out of work and gathering rust and dust in the remainder bins of history for well over a year. The millions of depressed Democrats who have been considering relocation to a Bush-Free Zone have run out of gas long before the petroleum exporting countries ruled by Halliburton. Kerry isn't giving the $16 million back, and I don't know what to think about the rumors that Teresa is out buying a house and new suits for Obama.

    January 22, 2005 Of Snow Flurries, Ted Kennedy, Teased Unders and the Final Four @ AMERICAN DIGEST

    First Ted Kennedy. Since this guy couldn't pronounce "Barack Obama" - somebody has to stick a microphone in his face and ask him to pronounce "Ben Roethlisberger" or "Troy Polamalu."

    February 21, 2006 The Beclowning Begins @ AMERICAN DIGEST

    From the Obama side of the equation, the beclownment was limited. Essentially the campaign stated that, well, no they're not going to give the money back, David (Billionaire) Geffen would continue as finance director, and that Hillary can -- in effect -- pound sand.

    At this juncture, that would seem to be the state of play in what continues to be our long national electoral nightmare that only has, what?, 18 months more to run.




    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 28, 2008 10:32 AM | QuickLink: Permalink
    TheDemocrats Have Been "Waiting for Bartlet" for 8 Years

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    Have The Got the Right Man?

    From Season 4 "The Red Mass"

    JOSH: What does this remind you of?
    "I believe in hope, not fear."
    "I'm a leader, not a politician."
    "It's time for an American leader."
    "America's earned a change."
    "I before 'E' except after 'C'!"

    Continued...

    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 27, 2008 5:59 PM | Comments (2)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    Dean Barnett, 1967-2008

    Of cystic fibrosis, age 41

    "At the innermost point of the circle are the things that really matter: family, faith, love. These things stay with you until the day you die. At the very end, because the circle has shrunk down to its center, they’re all you have left. But as we approach that end, we finally realize that all along, they were what mattered most. As a consequence, life often remains beautiful and worthwhile right up until the end." Dean Barnett in "The Plucky Smart Kid with the Fatal Disease: A Life with Cystic Fibrosis"
    "Not fare well,
    But fare forward, voyager."



    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 27, 2008 3:50 PM | Comments (1)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    Where Obama's Heading: "The Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth."

    Reparations by proxy are only the beginning. Obama: "To that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as its been interpreted and Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the Federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the Federal government or State government must do on your behalf.... I'm not optimistic about bring major redistributive change through the courts.... The courts start engaging in a process which is adminstrative." [Emphasis added.]

    HT: neoneocon



    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 27, 2008 6:46 AM | Comments (1)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    Your Lying Undecided Eyes

    "Undecided" voters find out early
    how to lie to pollsters with a smile.
    Say "I don't know" and you won't have to worry,
    You can cast your vote in private and in style.

    Lying non-disclosure sure gets lonely,
    I guess every form of bullshit has its price.
    But their Dem friends will love a voter only
    If they think they'll vote Obama, maybe twice.

    So they tell them they might vote for Messiah
    And comfort those Dem friends who'd put them down.
    But I know how they're voting on that Tuesday,
    They're heading for the Palin side of town.

    You can't hide your lyin' eyes
    and your smile is a thin disguise.
    I thought by now you'd realize
    there ain't no way to hide your lyin' eyes.

    Continued...

    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 26, 2008 12:55 PM | Comments (2)  | QuickLink: Permalink

  • The Sinking of the MSM Titanic -Best Day by Day Cartoon by Chris Muir ... Ever.

    Continued...

    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 26, 2008 11:53 AM | QuickLink: Permalink
  • Canada's American Elite Relocation Plan Announced

    HT: Tigerhawk



    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 25, 2008 6:59 AM | Comments (3)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    It Really Is Just This Simple #4

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    Man enough to be President of the United States of America.

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    Not man enough to be President of the United States of America.

    And that goes for their respective running mates as well.

    The question the O-campaign has to be asking themselves right now is, "Is it too late to send Joe Biden out for a new set of brain plugs?"



    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 24, 2008 1:59 PM | Comments (4)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    Tools for Fools: " We'll sell you a cure for a problem of our making in the first place."

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    Magnetic Paintbrush Holder - Lee Valley Tools

    We never learn that what you see is not always what you get. A few days ago Dinosaurs and Robots highlighted some "Handy Painting Tools from Lee Valley" as, "a pair of clever painting tools made an impression on me while perusing the Lee Valley Tools Catalog." The item made an impression on me too, so, thinking to be "helpful" I pushed it along to the master craftsman, in wood as well as words, at one of my favorite pages, Sippican Cottage.

    Continued...

    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 24, 2008 8:01 AM | Comments (1)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    Where Would Obama Get the Money to Suckle His Wards? From the Armed Forces.

    Obama: Not Man Enough to Be President

    Continued...

    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 20, 2008 4:56 PM | Comments (8)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    Politics: "Let me tell you about the blade."

    There's power and there are the tools of power. There's intelligent and there's smart.

    If you are entirely insulated from the consequences of your actions, it would be decent to recuse yourself from offering advice to others, no less so than a man who stands to profit from the outcome. When a man is facing a spinning blade, the cardinal sin is to distract him. Yelling: "Look out!" is akin to shoving him into the blade. The time to identify danger is before, not after. It is predictability and stability and a certain kind of respect that is helpful. Nothing else.
    Let me tell you about the blade. You think you can handle it because you fancy yourself intelligent. You're wrong. Because the danger it presents, the real danger, is hidden from you. - Sippican Cottage: Politics



    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 18, 2008 9:55 AM | QuickLink: Permalink
    The 9 Plagues of Western Snivilization
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    In annotated outline:
    • 1960s: The Population Bomb. Too many people yields global famines and cannibalism. [Long pig -- the other white meat -- still not on any local restaurant's menu, except for that movie joint serving Fried Green Tomatoes.]
    • 1970s: No oil by 2000. [Still pumping and there's more wherever we look.]
    • 1970s: The new Ice Age. Just when the oil wells ran dry, the glaciers would begin.... [Good thing the polar bears will thrive. We'll need the fur coats.]
    • 1980s: AIDS. You're all going to die, YES YOU.... [Who me? Even if I don't share needles and body slam 15 guys a night at the bath houses which will never ever close? YES YOU-- and give us a lot of money too.]
    • 1990s: BSE. Eat beef? You're going to end up a drooling victim of Mad Cow Disease. [Better that than a member of Daily Kos. Saner and healthier as well. Bring on the rib-eye and let's get this over with.]
    • 1990s-present: Global Warming. Well, the Ice Age didn't emerge. [Good thing the polar bears are still thriving. We can feed the Eco-Nazi's to them.]
    • 2000s: Terrorism. We're facing a 9/11 every week from bombers who plan to destroy planes with weapons hidden in shampoo bottles. [Not if we adopt the secret TSA master plan and all fly naked with a box of sanitary wipes for the seats.]
    • 2000s: Bird Flu. [If the Chicken Blood Drinking Decathlon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics didn't spread this around the world nothing will.]
    • 2008: The credit crunch. Recession, depression or financial apocalypse? [I'm going long on canned goods and ammo. Especially Dinty Moore Polar Bear Stew. Hey, you gotta cut somewhere.]

    Outline expanded @ Seconds To Doomsday



    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 12, 2008 10:28 AM | Comments (13)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    "Suffer Little Children, and Forbid Them Not, to Come Unto Me"

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    Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. -- MATTHEW 14

    A disturbing element of the Obama campaign is the shameless use of children by his supporters and the campaign itself. (See this coming weekend's Grassroots "Kids for Obama Parade" in Seattle for the latest of these "pet parades.")

    Deploying children in campaigns is not an unusual element in political contests. Supporters are always convinced they are supporting their candidate "for the children." At the same time, it can't be overstated that the Obama campaign and its supporters/parents are more than usually enthusiastic about getting the kids to convince everyone in the nation that Obama really is in it "for the children."

    Continued...

    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 9, 2008 4:11 PM | Comments (17)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    Let's Face It, the Only Candidate This Year Who Has What It Takes to be President Is...

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    Because she's the only one who is young enough and idealistic enough and man enough for the job.



    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 7, 2008 7:41 PM | Comments (63)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    The Factchecking Facts

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    Writer (left) & Editor (right)

    [Note: James Taranto declares @ Best of the Web Today - WSJ.com

    2008 is the year in which "fact checking" of political ads and statements became a full-blown journalistic fad. May it soon go the way of streaking and Mexican jumping beans. The "fact check" is opinion journalism or criticism, masquerading as straight news. The object is not merely to report facts but to pass a judgment.
    He's right. People have too much faith in THE FACTS when it comes to politics, or anything else in the media sphere these days. Here's a little something I wrote about the reality of fact -checking inside media back in May of 2007. It is still true today, only more so. And that's THE FACTS, JACK.]

    "Fact-checking in publishing." It's such a quaint notion. It thrives on the belief that if publishers checked the facts, the truth would out. But on many levels, most publishers -- especially book publishers -- don't want to check the facts and, truth be told, seldom do. Book publishers are not interested in truth, they are interested in stories; stories that sell.

    Having worked for more than 30 years in book and magazine publishing, I had many chances to view the "fact-checking" element at work in both fields and, although it was rigorous in magazines, it was close to non-existent in books. Even the much-vaunted "fact checking at the New Yorker" is pretty much a myth at this point; the kind of myth that lets the current phase of The New Yorker slide on by as a "dependable" source. But it really is about 50% BS now. And for book publishers it always was 95% BS.

    Continued...

    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 7, 2008 3:50 PM | Comments (5)  | QuickLink: Permalink
    Like Topsy It Just Growed

    Must see TV: Bill Whittle takes you through the attack of the Incredible Inflating Bailout Bill Suffer through the TV settings questions and take in this terse and alarming summary.



    Posted by Vanderleun Oct 3, 2008 4:26 PM | QuickLink: Permalink
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