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February 28, 2013

Kate seems to have been selected for her role of princess because she was irreproachable

Diana was capable of transforming herself from galumphing schoolgirl to ice queen, from wraith to Amazon. Kate seems capable of going from perfect bride to perfect mother, with no messy deviation. -- Hilary Mantel -Royal Bodies

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:59 PM | Your Say (8)

Low-Info at Birth: Maxine Waters: 'Over 170 Million Jobs Could Be Lost' Due To Sequestration

Maxine ['I'm drooling as fast as I can'] Waters is top Democrat on the House Financial Service Committee. -- The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire - Small Dead Animals

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:05 PM | Your Say (15)

"Some sort of machine wheezes and sighs....

Every voice is a murmur like a pew near a confessional. The son wonders if there's any noise of life in this place. No tinkle of a fork on a plate. No hammering of seconds on a clock. Music has never entered the building, and never will." Sippican Cottage: Winter Dreams The Same Dream Every Time

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:22 PM | Your Say (2)

Life In the Fast Lane: It's Good to Be a Party Animal

Driving in North Korea and Speed Limit Regulations In North Korea, each lane has a different speed limit, regardless of what section of road you are on. The first lane is reserved for senior officials, so they can drive at whatever speed they want.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:58 AM | Your Say (1)

"There is no necessary correlation"

between the economic conditions of Mediterranean Europe and their diet of olive oil, nuts and figs. Still, one does wonder whether the economic performance of these countries has something to do with their avoiding of red meat." -- Had Enough Therapy?

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:05 AM | Your Say (3)

On t-shirts

There is no such thing as ironic clothing. There are only people displaying tiresome jokes on their chests and backs.

It is like walking about with a portable laugh-track machine. “Here, citizen, at this point, is where you are expected to be delighted.” T-shirts are meant to be worn under actual shirts. -- Curses Foiled Again | William M. Briggs

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:29 AM | Your Say (1)

" Liberals cannot forgive America."

They can not forgive themselves for being born American.

Liberals are unable to have empathy, tolerance, and compassion for America and Americans--this is self-deception. Liberals screamed about how we need a more compassionate, empathetic, and tolerant culture--until they became in charge. Now, hatred is the answer. Centralized authoritarian totalitarian government is the answer now. It used to be peace, love, and happiness. It used to be personal freedom and self-expression. Now, it is domination and control of the human race--starting with Americans. --The Liberal Bubble of Self-Deceit

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:05 AM | Your Say (7)

Thursday's Stack's from the Back of a Cadillac

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:08 AM | Your Say (2)

February 27, 2013

North Korea As Seen Through Instagram

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Associated Press chief photographer for Asia David Guttenfelder and Associated Press Korea bureau chief Jean H Lee are posting the first Instagram pictures of the country. - - DesignTAXI.com

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:16 PM | Your Say (0)

"I think it's time for you to seriously consider salad, you fat fuck." [BUMPED]

Chris Christie's RINO-licious day: He took his lovefest with the Obamas to a whole new level by snagging the coveted seat at the right hand of Queen Michelle during Sunday's Governor's Ball. Right after that he changed his tune on Obamacare, singing its praises.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:32 PM | Your Say (19)

Obama to Boner: The Video

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:10 PM | Your Say (0)

"Taking their bullets first, one at a time."

Americans who support the Second Amendment will never be disarmed quietly by government edict

prior to meekly boarding a train to a socialist “reeducation” camp. They will not be taken at government gunpoint on a one-way forced march into a desert or a Zyklon-B “delousing shower,” simply because they foolishly agreed to be disarmed by their future oppressors in the dubious name of “public safety.” If American “progressives” truly intend to disarm the American people, they will have to do it the hard way, by taking their bullets first, one at a time. -- Bracken: Democide

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:55 AM | Your Say (1)

Emergency Rice in Can Shunmai Shinkan Set

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Be sure you have food even after an earthquake or major natural catastrophe.
The Emergency Rice in Can Shunmai Shinkan can be kept for up to five years, meaning you can always enjoy the taste of fresh delicious Japanese rice whatever your predicament. Price? About ten bucks a can. -- Japan Trend Shop

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:54 AM | Your Say (2)

Facing Mass Layoffs, Taliban Protest US Sequester

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Mullah Omar took to the media to offer harsh bipartisan criticism.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:45 AM | Your Say (1)

There is no denying the fact

that much of the country is only too willing to turn away from the bleak prospect of a seemingly unwinnable war against a huge number of ruthless enemies and instead begin lecturing their neighbors on how to raise their children and cook their meals. There is a measure of pettiness in all of us and now that pettiness has been elevated to a national security agenda. -- Sultan Knish: War on Everything but Islamic Terror

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:42 AM | Your Say (1)

It's Captain Queeg. Hide the Strawberries!

BOB WOODWARD: Obama Is Showing 'A Kind Of Madness I Haven't Seen In A Long Time'

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:27 AM | Your Say (4)

Wednesday's Stack is Out of Whack

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Rutherford Chang – We Buy White Albums : He only collects the Beatles first pressing of The White Album.

New Jersey ‘Pastafarian’ denied right to wear spaghetti strainer on his head for drivers’ license photo

Girly Euro Men Add Wearing a Blanket to Habit of Carrying Man-Purses

9 Houses Built Just for Spite

Ikea’s horse meatballs get pulled from shelves across Europe

Police: Missing corn dog led to man killing roommate "It appears that somebody pilfered a corn dog from him," Putz said.

Florida v. Harris: What the Dog Knows : Dogs do not know probable cause, but they do know smells.

Man Leaves Scathing Trip Advisor Review After Hotel Stay Ruined By Furry Convention "I am not sure if you folks know what a Furry Rave is. "

Black Cat Bones, Crocodile Dung, and Coca-Cola: 9 Fascinating Historic Methods of Contraception

FYI: How Do You Ship A Dinosaur Halfway Around The World?

Giant Crumpled Paper Drops From The Sky, Lands On Hill In New Zealand

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:53 AM | Your Say (5)

February 26, 2013

Translation: "As a bullshitter, I know how challenging it can be to think of new bullshit...."

Michelle Obama Initiates Recipe Sharing Program “As a mom, I know how challenging it can be to think of new meal ideas that your kids will like and that will be good for them,” said First Lady Michelle Obama. [I am actually starting to feel sorry for those that eat this merde with a spoon.]

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:29 PM | Your Say (1)

Comment of the Month

Losing a republic doesn't just put the people back where they were before they had one. -- Larsen in The Leopard - Maggie's Farm

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:17 PM | Your Say (1)

If Pelosi doesn’t take home a lot of government money you might think she hasn’t earned it

Asked if she would take a pay cut due to the budget crisis she said: "I don'€™t think we should do it; I think we should respect the work we do. I think it'€™s necessary for us to have the dignity of the job that we have rewarded."€ -- Belmont Club » R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 3:42 PM | Your Say (5)

CNN and NBC News: Is journalistic integrity dead?

Fox News is being branded by the left as a network of “right wing extremists.” Since when does daring to question the policies and motivations of government define extremism? It used to define journalism. -- Washington Timess

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:46 PM | Your Say (0)

Hollywood is Dead

The dirty little secret is that Hollywood hardly exists anymore.

The industry is bigger than ever, but its bread and butter consists of 200 and 300 million dollar special effects festivals filmed in front of green screens and created in Photoshop and three-dimensional graphics programs. They star obscure or mildly famous actors and they do two-thirds of their business abroad. -- Sultan Knish:

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:40 PM | Your Say (0)

"Why is it that Marxists, and Marxists alone, are protected against having their politics noted?"

If you note that Marxists are indeed Marxists it's supposedly a sort of Hate Crime up with which we must not put. -- Ace of Spades HQ

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:00 AM | Your Say (0)

Mediterranean Diet Cuts Heart Disease Risk, Study Finds

"Is it the wine or the olive oil? My theory, it's the garlic! My approach is to only believe "studies show" when I like what they say." -- - Maggie's Farm

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:49 AM | Your Say (1)

Stack Tuesday Between Monday and Wednesday

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:51 AM | Your Say (1)

February 25, 2013

Infantile Conservatism

Jennifer Rubin declared that America’s “greatest national security threat is Iran.” Do conservatives really believe this?

Does Iran, a Shia island in a Sunni sea, a Persian-dominated land where half the population is non-Persian, a country whose major exports, once we get past fossil fuels, are pistachio nuts, carpets and caviar, really pose the greatest national security threat to the world’s greatest nation? - - Patrick J. Buchanan

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:43 PM | Your Say (9)

The United States has lost the War in Afghanistan,

a minor matter that no news outlet can find the time to report on because they're too busy covering a breaking story about a Republican Senator taking a sip of a water.

Maybe a War on Water can be next. Was there a Styrofoam cup involved? It's time for one of those hard-hitting investigations that reminds us what a tragedy it will be when the last newspaper is strangled with the entrails of the last news network and the media's commitment to serious journalism is finally replaced by pictures of cats, wardrobe malfunctions and mutual accusations of racism. (And we won't even notice when it finally happens.) -- Sultan Knish: War on Everything but Islamic Terror

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:51 PM | Your Say (1)

"If you’re the president, if you’re a member of Congress, if you are a TSA agent,

the only reason why somebody should listen to what you say, instead of horsewhipping you out of town for your impertinence, is because you exercise power via the Constitution.
If the Constitution doesn't count, you don't have any legitimate power. You're a thief, a brigand, an officious busybody, somebody who should be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail for trying to exercise power you don't possess." -- Full Podcast: Glenn Reynolds on Politics, the Constitution, and Technology

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:44 PM | Your Say (0)

"You can't leave well enough alone, can you?"

You get one of those cameras full of pixels and brimstone, and point it at yourself,

and upload that badboy to the Intertunnel. Pretty soon you get to poking around on the Interwebs after you watch your own video on YouTube. In no time at all, you're picking Lady Gaga's merkin hair out of the Intertunnel's intellectual shower drain.... -- Sippican Cottage: I've Located The Last Page Of The Intertunnel

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:24 PM | Your Say (0)

A real leader leads by example....

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HT: T. Hunt

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 3:25 PM | Your Say (1)

Michelle Gives Oscar a Happy Ending

And the Oscar Goes to "Cross-Country Hand Job"

The Academy actually drafts First Lady Michelle Obama to help presentBest Picture from presumably the White House? So unnecessary and inappropriate to inject politics into the Oscars yet again. Hollywood will get pilloried by conservative pundits tomorrow for demanding this payoff for all the campaign donations it gave the President's reelection campaign. -- Oscars 2013 Live Commentary -- Nikki Finke's Live Snark
A happy ending to all from the First Beard.

Update: After suffering through the 10-hour (well, it seemed like it) show, there was the first lady. In a ball gown. With military service personnel in dress uniform behind her....

It is not enough that President Obama pops up at every sporting event in the nation. Now the first lady feels entitled, with military personnel as props, to intrude on other forms of entertaining (this time for the benefit of the Hollywood glitterati who so lavishly paid for her husband’s election). Why was Michelle Obama at the Oscars?

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:04 PM | Your Say (4)

Every year I'm amazed at how it is that entertainment professionals

can't seem to find a way to put on a show that isn't reminiscent of the aversion therapy scene in A Clockwork Orange. With all the writing and directing talent on tap, not to mention the sheer star power packed into that room, you'd figure that something interesting would be going on. -- Big Lizards “Oscar the Grouch”

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:56 AM | Your Say (2)

The Finish Line

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Fauja Singh, 101, finishes last race HONG KONG -- The world's oldest marathon runner ran his last race on Sunday at the age of 101. Fauja Singh finished the Hong Kong marathon's 10-kilometer (6.25-mile) race in 1 hour, 32 minutes, 28 seconds.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:58 AM | Your Say (2)

Writers are lousy predictors of the future

because accurate prediction is not, despite what an occasional Jules Verne yarn or Analog story might predict, the point of telling a scientific romance. The point is to tell a myth using the setting and theme and moral concerns inherent in the scientific worldview. -- Future War | John C. Wright's Journal

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:18 AM | Your Say (1)

"If fighting things that don't exist gets applause,

put your hands together for the War on Global Warming, which has recently been scaled down to Climate Change,

which means that any time the weather changes, it's probably due to people using the wrong kinds of light bulbs, driving the wrong kinds of cars and not paying enough attention to Al Gore's latest plan to fill up the pockets of his cheap oversized suit and those of his Wall Street buddies who care almost as much about the environment as they do about feminism, racism and wiping out entire economies. -- Sultan Knish: War on Everything but Islamic Terror

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:40 AM | Your Say (1)

Monday's Stack Smackdown

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:38 AM | Your Say (1)

February 24, 2013

Bed Bath & Beyond's Stack of Towels is a DAMNED LIE!

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-- - Alex Santoso, Neatorama

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 6:49 PM | Your Say (3)

"Government came like a dust storm"

of fine choking powder, making its way into everything. You could no longer build a shed without a half-dozen permits and inspections. You couldn’t swim without a lifeguard, couldn’t use your canoe without Coast-Guard approved flotation devices and a card saying that you had taken an approved course in how to canoe. Cops proliferated with speed traps. The government began spying on email, requiring licenses and permits for everything, and deciding what could and could not be taught to one’s children, who one had to associate with, and what one could think about what or, more usually, whom. -- Fred On Everything

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:53 PM | Your Say (3)

Postal Service starts a fashion line — Rain Heat & Snow

The Postal Service is just messing with us now, I think.

They know they’re running out of money, and they are taking the You Only Live Once approach to things, crossing out as many bucket-list items as possible. “I’ve always wanted to go to France,” Carl says. “Let’s sponsor a cycling team.” “Yeah,” the meeting says. “Hey, you know what’s on my bucket list? Fashion Week.” -- Washington PO

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:44 AM | Your Say (0)

Sunday Stack Rack

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:45 AM | Your Say (2)

February 23, 2013

$200K to Hear the Whore of Babble On

Hillary Clinton to charge ‘$200,000 a speech’… which is more than her whole YEAR’S salary as Secretary of State | Aftermath News

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:54 PM | Your Say (6)

Humans differ little from dogs.

Consider a man working with an intelligence agency in Washington.

He may be a sterling fellow, good father, never kick the dog or molest the neighbor’s children, doesn’t shoplift, and in general is a good citizen. Tell him to do the satellite reconnaissance for the bombing of Baghdad and he will do it without a trace of conscience—even though he knows the bombing will kill thousands of innocent people. He may speak of duty, patriotism, and any of various sorts of routine high principle. No, it is just the psychology of the pack, us agin’ them. By nature we care about our fellow dogs, but not about other dogs. -- Fred On Everything

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 6:55 PM | Your Say (8)

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the next president of the United State!

Mayor Oscar Hernandez of Bell, California, was 'too stupid and uneducated' to know his $100k salary was illegal, his lawyer argues

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 6:40 PM | Your Say (4)

Who Says There's No Good News?

'WaPo' Woes: Advertising Plummets 12%, Circulation 8.6% Print advertising at The Washington Post slid 12 percent in the fourth quarter, to $67.5 million. Daily circulation at The Washington Post declined 8.6 percent, to an average of 471,800 for all of 2012, and Sunday circulation dropped 6.2 percent, to an average of 687,200.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:40 PM | Your Say (3)

The irony of trying to create a world without hate. It nurtures hatred.

“The real Indians get dirty, smell bad, use drugs, belch after they eat, covet and sometimes steal each other’s women, fornicate and make war.

They are normal human beings. This is reason enough for them to deserve care and attention.” Eakin then adds, “His critics, appalled by the first sentence, typically ignored the rest.” -- Anthropologists Gone Wild

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:29 AM | Your Say (3)

Saturday's Stack Smokes Crack for a Living

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"Participating in a gun buy back because you believe that the criminals have too many guns is like having yourself castrated because you believe that the neighbors have too many kids." -- Gunslinger

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:45 AM | Your Say (7)

February 22, 2013

[Spit] Republicans [Spit]

They are the party of "me too". Or more accurately, "me next".

The complete emptiness of what has come to be known as the "stupid party's" opportunism was described by Newt Gingrich in his denunciation of Karl Rove recently. Gingrich argued that Republican political strategy simply amounted to "€˜paying Rove do the lying while pretending to stand for anything" -- in other words, shut up and let Rove win it -- then  take your turn at the swill trough and be generous. -- Belmont Club » I am the Eggman

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:07 PM | Your Say (7)

Effort Shock

I think The Karate Kid ruined the modern world. Accomplishing worthwhile things isn't just a little harder than people think; it's 10 or 20 times harder.

Like losing weight. You make yourself miserable for six months and find yourself down a whopping four pounds. Let yourself go at a single all-you-can-eat buffet and you've gained it all back.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:55 AM | Your Say (3)

Norwegians Not Implicated After All: "Shocking to no one.... "

Wild Shoot Out On Vegas Strip Involved Aspiring Rapper - Blur Brain

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:45 AM | Your Say (2)

It is always cliffs, ceilings and looming catastrophes with Barack Obama.

It is always government by freakout.... Mr. Obama has finally hit on his own version of national unity: Everyone get scared together. -- Peggy Noonan

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:45 AM | Your Say (2)

Friday Stack Sack

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:41 AM | Your Say (1)

February 21, 2013

Why would clouds form a hexagon on Saturn?

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Nobody is sure. Originally discovered during the Voyager flybys of Saturn in the 1980s, nobody has ever seen anything like it anywhere else in the Solar System. The bizarre cloud pattern is shown by a recent image taken by the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft. This and similar images show the stability of the hexagon even 20+ years after Voyager. Movies of Saturn’s North Pole show the cloud structure maintaining its hexagonal structure while rotating. Unlike individual clouds appearing like a hexagon on Earth, the Saturn cloud pattern appears to have six well defined sides of nearly equal length. Four Earths could fit inside the hexagon. Imaged from the side, the dark shadow of the Jovian planet is seen eclipsing part of its grand system of rings, partly visible on the upper right. -- Astronomy Picture of the Day

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:56 AM | Your Say (13)

Why Indeed?

'You'd think there'd be a revolution in every single little town," Laurie Anderson says. "You can do what? You can arrest people for no reason? And put them away with no notification, and no trial? The best would be a military trial. Why did no one say a thing? Why didn't artists say anything?" -- Laurie Anderson: music for dogs and Obama | Music | The Guardian

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:44 AM | Your Say (9)

America Elected A Color Not A Leader

Not only does Obama not lead but neither does he inspire people (especially young blacks) to be better.

Under Obama people are not motivated to be better; they are motivated to follow the path of generational failure.... I’m tired of having a color as president. I want a leader. And I’m determined to continue doing everything in my power to combat the race mongering, racial partisanship, and the racial politics of the color pretending to be leader of America. -- - The Daily Rant Mychal Massie's

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:01 AM | Your Say (3)

"When leftist tree huggers and leftist bicycle riders collide."

Activists stand by sequoia tree to be cut down | Portland Activists stood beside a 12-story sequoia tree Thursday morning that the city of Portland planned to cut down to make way for a pedestrian and bicycle greenway.

“If I come here tomorrow morning and that tree isn't there, I’m going to cry," said Chris Fountain.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:38 AM | Your Say (5)

Coffee isn’t just black water.

7 Reasons Why Coffee Is Good For You | Popular Science

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:30 AM | Your Say (3)

Your Ad Here

Young Japanese Women Rent Out Their Bare Legs as Advertising Space

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:49 AM | Your Say (3)

The Walmart of weed opens in Seattle, retail sales coming next

"(It's) 5,200 square feet. It is very, very, very large and it's great. We can do things in that space that nobody else has really been able to do with medical marijuana in the city, or in the state,"

says Dante Jones, founder of Green Ambrosia.... "We have an energy drink, we have peanut butter and jelly, these cookies here are great for sleep they're great for pain as well," he says. "This blackberry crumble is for heavier dosage patients it's good for about eight hours of pain relief." -- - - MyNorthwest.com

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:09 AM | Your Say (4)

Thursday's Stack Shack

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:46 AM | Your Say (4)

February 20, 2013

Wednesday's Stack Smackdown

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Stalin's Impressive Armored Limousine from Dark Roasted Blend: Impressive Vintage Armoured Cars

"Perhaps historians of the far future will be divided over who bore the most responsibility for our sad era. The generation of elders who bequeathed a disaster to the young. Or the young for letting the old reprobates do it."

"No one is rooted anywhere, impermanence is universal, communication with many is by pidgin, if that, and the best that can be hoped for, but not necessarily expected, is mutual tolerance. " Zadie Smith's London by Theodore Dalrymple

National Museum of Dentistry | Atlas Obscura Who knew?

A Brief History of the Typewriter | Mental Floss

The Age of Bernanke -- Joel Kotkin

Perfectly Able to Kill - Taki's Magazine

Latest Japanese Fad, Schoolgirls Wearing Panties, On Their Head - Blur Brain

Rihanna’s debut collection for River Island “like fright night at KMart.”

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:22 AM | Your Say (2)

February 19, 2013

"He and Michelle have an Arrangement." -- ahem

Because real, honest-to-goodness married folks that are in love with each other don't take "vacations" like that. Just doesn't happen.

What is it with these Democrats and their obvious "Arrangements"? Oh, I know, lust. Mostly the lust for power over others, but lust in all its sordid variety. Makes we wonder if Ann Barnhardt doesn't have it right, and God has withdrawn his Grace and gone all Old Testament on us, to teach us a lesson we won't soon forget. -- John A. Fleming in Side-Lines: "Apparently" There's Always Room for Reggie!
[Good thing the Secret Service is into "arrangements" for whores and sluts of all sorts, isn't it?]

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:57 PM | Your Say (3)

The Greatness of Lawrence Auster

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In case you haven't heard, Larry is dying. Say a prayer for him, or something.
Greatness? I don't know that anyone can really get away with the word in 2013. What can greatness mean in a fourth-rate world? In a fourth-rate world, the second-rate look great. Worse, they feel great. After all, they stand head and shoulders above their own age. So why grow further? Can we say that a Lawrence Auster saw farther, because he stood on the toes of dwarves? --Unqualified Reservations

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:07 PM | Your Say (0)

"Apparently" There's Always Room for Reggie!

AF1 wheels down Andrews at 7:45pm. POTUS came back to have a 10-minute off the record talk with pool at the end of the flight. Reggie Love departed AF1 soon after POTUS, apparently a guest for the weekend. -- Obama Talks Off Record With Press on Flight Home | The Weekly Standard

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:53 PM | Your Say (14)

Surprise! The ObamaCare Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan is Kaput

Citing financial concerns, the Obama administration has begun quietly winding down one of the earliest programs created by the president's health care overhaul, a plan that helps people with medical problems who can't get private insurance. -- News from The Associated Press [So just die already!]

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:26 PM | Your Say (1)

"No child left alive." Is Your Local Police Department Using Pictures of Pregnant Women and Children for Target Practice?

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What if I told you police in your town could desensitize themselves to the idea of shooting an (armed) child, pregnant woman, or young mother, for just a couple of bucks?
The "No More Hesitation" seriesfrom Law Enforcement Targets Inc. offers exactly that. For less than 99 cents per target, police can shoot at real-life images "designed to give officers the experience of dealing with deadly force shooting scenarios with subjects that are not the norm during training.". ... The company has landed $5.5 million worth of contracts with the federal government. -- --- Hit & Run : Reason.com

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:10 PM | Your Say (11)

"The tyrants are expressions of their condition, not repressions of their moral will."

Thinkers and politicians talk on of how to save 1 billion Muslims from themselves. Remove their tyrannies, some cry.
But what will they replace them with? More tyrannies. Governments reflect their peoples. If 1 billion Muslims really wanted to be free, they would be. The tyrants are expressions of their condition, not repressions of their moral will. The Muslim world does not differ on whether there should be tyranny, but on what manner of tyranny it should be. The Arab Spring has proven that. -- Sultan Knish: Saving 1 Billion People From Themselves
HT Primordial Slack

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:33 AM | Your Say (2)

Tuesday's Stack Is Back, Dressed in Black, Silver Buttons Up and Down Her Back

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:04 AM | Your Say (3)

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

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I'd like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.
I like to think
     (right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
     (it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

-- -- by Richard Brautigan

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:48 AM | Your Say (6)

Behold! The Venetian Poodle Moth!

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"Poodle Moth" is a perfect name for this creature! This is "a possible new species of moth discovered in 2009 in the Gran Sabana region of Venezuela" --Dark Roasted Blend

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:39 AM | Your Say (1)

(Sadly) This Is What 200 Calories Looks Like

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-- From Huckberry |

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:35 AM | Your Say (3)

"The president in his State of the Union damns the “billionaires with high-powered accountants,”

as a friendly Facebook pays no state or federal taxes, as a George Soros walks away with $1.2 billion in speculation profits (in three months, no less!) by betting against the Japanese yen,

and as a Jesse Jackson, Jr. gets caught stealing from a campaign fund to buy a $43,000 Rolex (was not a $1,000 one enough?).... A president who thunders to the nation that we must be on guard against the "€œwell-off and well-connected" heads south to Palm Beach to meet his $1,000-an-hour golf pro.... -- Works and Days » Brave New World

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:27 AM | Your Say (0)

Salvo

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Salvo - Clowning since 1968. His forty-first year at the Grimaldi Service in an unbroken sequence. John Claridge’s Clowns (Act Two) | Spitalfields Life

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:08 AM | Your Say (1)

February 18, 2013

You are advised to put the BBQ sauce in the fridge.

Why? Because the sauce seal has been broken, which is apparently something of such consequence it should be included in Revelations.

And the seal of the Authentic Kansas City Pit BBQ Sauce “Bold ‘n’ Mean” Slappin' Howg-Dawg Style shall be rent, and the malefactions shall beset it until there is a lamentation of the many, for the sauce has gone unto Evil.Never happens. People probably throw out BBQ Sauce for the same reason they dispose a bottle of taco sauce: Crusty Neck. -- LILEKS (James) The Bleat

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:09 AM | Your Say (1)

"We're not trying to take your guns away, just have reasonable limits. It's a compromise."

And some people want reasonable limits on abortion, like waiting periods, gestational time limits, ultrasound, etc.

It's a reasonable response to an activist court decision, and reasonable restrictions on a right, for public benefit. Don't come whining about your right to murder babies, and I won't come to you whining about my right to shoot school kids. And no one is saying you can't ride the bus. You just have to sit where people think is reasonable. No one is saying women can't work. They just have to get paid what is reasonable for the work they do, allowing for the fact they're going to leave the workplace and raise a family. It's a compromise. -- Sacred Cow Slaughterhouse | The Post in Which I Piss Off EVERYBODY.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:27 AM | Your Say (3)

Monday's Stack of Slack is Back

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:26 AM | Your Say (6)

February 17, 2013

A Special Moment

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 3:17 PM | Your Say (2)

Sunday Short Stack

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This gift did not nail Valentines Day

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:06 AM | Your Say (1)

February 16, 2013

Insect Life Monthly presents "Concubine to Your Alien Overlords" [Bumped]

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SARAH JESSICA PARKER. ON HARPERS BAZAAR CHINA. HM.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:41 AM | Your Say (11)

The Floating World

Carnival Cruise Ship Hit With First Lawsuit Over 'Floating Hell' "Plaintiff was forced to subsist for days in a floating toilet, a floating Petri dish, a floating hell."

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:50 AM | Your Say (5)

Mistaeks Wur Maid

But when the smoky haze -- caused by rapid fire of nearly 140 bullets in less than 30 seconds -- dissipated, it soon became clear that more than a dozen officers had been firing at one another across a middle school parking lot in East Cleveland. -- Cleveland police chase and shooting HT: Bill Jones

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:40 AM | Your Say (3)

February 15, 2013

Saturday's Stack Works Hard for a Living

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:19 PM | Your Say (1)

Hey there Lenin and Stalin dig the rich, rich, rich irony of it all!

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Russian Billionaire's Mega-Yacht Makes Waves in NYC Eclipse has a crew of more than 60 people and a battalion of security cameras and sensors. It has two helicopter pads, two pools and a submarine. At 533-feet, it remains the largest yacht in the world. But it may hold the title only for a few more months. A new yacht, called Azzam, is being built for a MIddle East billionaire that could be 590 feet.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:39 AM | Your Say (3)

Friday's Stack is loving and giving

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:17 AM | Your Say (1)

February 14, 2013

Vintage Space

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Voyager 1 ( Launched 1977) is more than 11 billion miles away, and it's run off 64K of computing power and an eight-track tape deck. -- Warren Ellis

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:40 AM | Your Say (4)

Thursday's Stack Has a Row to Hoe

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Curious Fact of the Week: Land Lobsters | Atlas Obscura In 2001, researchers on the remote volcanic spire of Ball's Pyramid made a discovery not for the faint of heart: a colony of rare, enormous insects thought to have been extinct.
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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 3:11 AM | Your Say (0)

February 13, 2013

“Pour encourager les autres” Burning Man in California. This time for real

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Making an example of Dorner in Big Bear -- Christopher Dorner Shootout - Cops say "Burn It Down" - YouTube "And remember, kids, don't try this at home."

"SLA 1974. MOVE 1985. Waco 1993. Dorner 2013. Next?" -- Lewis in comments

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:25 PM | Your Say (10)

Gun Sales Obiter Dicta [Bumped]

Every weapon of military utility designed within the past 100 years was gone. This isn’t a society stocking up on certain guns because they fear they may be banned. This is a society preparing for war. -- - Cobb

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:21 AM | Your Say (7)

"I’m now in the hospital for the second night.

It’s my first time staying in a hospital in my life—except for when I was born. It’s a pleasant, pleaceful place from which to embark on one’s last journey. I’ve been reciting Homer to my friend. -- -- Posted by Lawrence Auster at February 12, 2013 09:38 PM


Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:41 AM | Your Say (3)

Wednesday's Stack is a Sack o' Woe

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:28 AM | Your Say (1)

February 12, 2013

Full Medal Jackets [Bumped]

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North Korean generals (who haven't been in a hot war in decades). -- TYWKIWDBI ("Tai-Wiki-Widbee")
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Petraeus and Eisenhower

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:35 PM | Your Say (18)

Unlikely to surrender his rifle upon request

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Polite or otherwise.

Via the highly eclectic, KA-CHING!

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:41 AM | Your Say (1)

Little Black Dress – Chanel’s original

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It was a small print which appeared in the Vogue issue of that October in 1926. The exact description given by Vogue was as follows:
“Chanel’s Ford Dress” the frock that all the world will wear is model 817 of black crepe de chine. The bodice blouses slightly at the front and sides and has a tight bolero at the back. Especially chic is the arrangement of tiny tucks which cross in front. Imported by Saks.” --- - Retronaut

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:02 AM | Your Say (1)

Tuesday's Stack Needs Its Space

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 3:26 AM | Your Say (1)

February 11, 2013

Sustainable Notes from the Cradle of Civilization

The Sacred Antogo Fishing Ritual, or How to Catch All the Fish in a Lake in 15 Minutes

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:43 AM | Your Say (4)

Grinding at the Grammys: Off Duty with Ellen de Generate

Lacking any internal automatic speed governors Ellen de Generes checks out Katy Perry's Boob window.

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:24 AM | Your Say (10)

Monday's Stack is Fair of Typeface

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:22 AM | Your Say (0)

February 10, 2013

The Stack that is born on the Sabbath Day Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:02 PM | Your Say (3)

Amnesty Sì, Amnesty No

Whether conservatives like it or not, a great many people favor amnesty, and aren’t much concerned about immigration. These may, or may not, be deluded, foolish, or culturally suicidal. It doesn’t matter. --Fred On Everything

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:23 AM | Your Say (4)

"Everybody with half a brain is coming to California." -- Gov. Jerry Brown

And everyone with less than half a brain is staying in California.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:03 AM | Your Say (3)

February 9, 2013

A, A, B, B, A

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:47 PM | Your Say (6)

CNN Anchor Blames Asteroid on Global Warming

CNN anchor Deb Feyerick asked Saturday afternoon

“Talk about something else that’s falling from the sky and that is an asteroid. What’s coming our way? Is this an effect of, perhaps, of global warming or is this just some meteoric occasion?”

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:36 PM | Your Say (5)

Street Seen

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Seen on the back of Ludwig's Van which travels about offering Strauss Relief. Found at the Neat Neatorama

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:03 PM | Your Say (3)

Saturday's Stack Works Hard for a Living

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:35 PM | Your Say (1)

"Everywhere you turn there’s some dispenser

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"You see it on the bike trails, the way the bike trails are built, the amenities they have to offer.
Like, for example, doggy poop baggy dispensers. For me, this inspires the same question as the hand sanitizer dispensers. Why does everything have to be in a dispenser? Why not pack what you need? --House of Eratosthenes

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:25 PM | Your Say (1)

Stop Putting Out So Much, Ugly Sluts: Science Proves Undeniable Truth #24

Dr. McClintock’s research provides further scientific proof of a controversial hypothesis.

“Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women access to the mainstream of society.” – Rush Limbaugh, Undeniable Truth of Life #24 [ : The Other McCain]

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:56 AM | Your Say (3)

Nerdtopia Activity of the Day

Run Traceroute on 216.81.59.173.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:23 AM | Your Say (0)

The "Storm of the Century" As Usual

As few as ten years ago, a snowfall this size would occasion nothing more than a radio announcement, “Alternate side parking suspended tomorrow.”

Now we have salaried, pensioned, probably sober government officials running to the microphone before inclement weather telling us to “dress in layers.” Put on a sweater, I’m cold. Nanny-in-Chief Mike Bloomberg solemnly warned, “Do not go out. You might slip and fall in traffic.” I wish I were kidding. -- Historic Storm Nemo Etc. Crucial Photographic Updates | William M. Briggs

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:39 AM | Your Say (0)

Your Thousand-Word Image for the Day

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via Sense of Events:

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:40 AM | Your Say (0)

February 8, 2013

In the Nose

In spite of the macro close-up, his face barely seems to move.

He stands there, stone-still, filling the screen, a frozen giant, so massive you can see every pore in his nose. His eyes, though, are hidden in deep shadow. The camera lingers on this close-up as the disembodied words flow out, holding the shot for so long that for a while it becomes abstracted and you almost forget you’re looking at a face. -- We Never Have to Be Alone | Will Sheff

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:30 PM | Your Say (1)

Hide Your Groundhogs!

Local Man Says That After He Shovels The Driveway Tomorrow, He’s Going To Drive To Punxsutawney And Beat That Lying Rat To Death With The Shovel | The Rumford Meteor

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:57 PM | Your Say (1)

Stack O' Lee

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:39 PM | Your Say (1)

Why Liberals Love Trains

Generations hence, when the river of time has worn this presidency’s importance to a small, smooth pebble in the stream of history, people will still marvel that its defining trait was a mania for high-speed rail projects. This disorder illuminates the progressive mind.... So why is America’s “win the future” administration so fixated on railroads, a technology that was the future two centuries ago? Because progressivism’s aim is the modification of (other people’s) behavior. -- George Will @ The Daily Beast

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:20 PM | Your Say (9)

The Thirty Years War Redux [Bumped]

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DHS Purchases 21.6 Million More Rounds of Ammunition An approximation of how many rounds of ammunition the DHS has now secured over the last 10 months stands at around 1.625 billion.

To put that in perspective, during the height of active battle operations in Iraq, US soldiers used 5.5 million rounds of ammunition a month. Extrapolating the figures, the DHS has purchased enough bullets over the last 10 months to wage a full scale war for almost 30 years.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:10 PM | Your Say (14)

And so say we all...

Is there anything worse than white or yellow subtitles against a white background?  Or black against black?   If the United Nations wants to do something useful, it ought mandate that all subtitles be   yellow with black borders!  -- Curmudgeonly & Skeptical

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:00 PM | Your Say (2)

Why are you afraid of the Constitution? [Bumped]

The answer, of course, is that the political class doesn't want citizens. It wants subjects. -- Crowd packs heat; Oak Harbor backs down.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:43 AM | Your Say (16)

"Subjection in minor affairs breaks out every day"

and is felt by the whole community indiscriminately. It does not drive men to resistance,

but it crosses them at every turn, till they are led to surrender the exercise of their own will. Thus their spirit is gradually broken and their character enervated; whereas that obedience which is exacted on a few important but rare occasions only exhibits servitude at certain intervals and throws the burden of it upon a small number of men. It is in vain to summon a people who have been rendered so dependent on the central power to choose from time to time the representatives of that power; this rare and brief exercise of their free choice, however important it may be, will not prevent them from gradually losing the faculties of thinking, feeling, and acting for themselves, and thus gradually falling below the level of humanity. -- de Tocqueville: Democracy in America

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:13 AM | Your Say (2)

Can We Have A Moment Of Silence For Those Poor Souls That Lost Their Job In The Circus Due To The Bad Economy?

One day, my clown consort and I are happily teasing bears in a tent

while riding around on bicycle parts and wearing more makeup than a Mary Kay Vice President. Next thing you know, Angela Merkel's giving some Greek outfit all our cultural fund money to prop up their souvlaki and molotov bottles industries, and we're out on our keister. -- -- The Borderline Sociopathic Blog For Boys

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:29 AM | Your Say (0)

February 7, 2013

Schools Clampdown On Dangerous Minds

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A Creative Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Embrace.
Stamping out children’s imaginations… for the children.
7-year-old playing an imaginary game at school gets suspended for real

-- iMaksim

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:57 PM | Your Say (1)

Muslim MENSA Poster Boy

Egyptian prime minister says women's unclean breasts cause diarrhoea

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:08 PM | Your Say (4)

Problemo Sol-ved

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This is the iPad Pedestal Stand, a holder for not only a roll of toilet paper, but your iPad too.

Quite the combo! I’d even go as far as to say this combo could be described as a DOUBLE WHAMMY. --A… Toilet Paper Holder iPad Stand? | Incredible Things

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:47 PM | Your Say (1)

The Doom That Came to Skowhegan

Impending Defcon Seven Blizzard Killstorm Of Deadly Doom Has Massachusetts Residents Considering Cannibalism Already, While One Skowhegan Man Is Considering Wearing A Long-Sleeve Shirt | The Rumford Meteor

Then, close to the hour of midnight, all the bronze gates of Skowhegan burst open and emptied forth a frenzied throng

that blackened the plain, so that all the visiting princes and travelers fled away in fright. For on the faces of this throng was writ a madness born of horror unendurable, and on their tongues were words so terrible that no hearer paused for proof. -- The Doom That Came to Skowhegan by H. P. Lovecraft

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:45 PM | Your Say (1)

Two Words.

Who wouldn't want to live in Washington? It's a wonderful world, a place where every problem of life can be reduced to just two words.

Gun control. Immigration reform. Climate control. The deficit, which of course can be solved in two words: a "balanced approach." Things so hard haven't been so simple since Tinker Bell taught children to fly in "Peter Pan," also with two words—pixie dust. --Henninger: Obama's Colossal Politics - WSJ.com

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:53 AM | Your Say (3)

Thursday's Split Stack

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:47 AM | Your Say (4)

February 6, 2013

The United States consists of a great many substantial and hostile groups

Wall Street happily rapes the middle class and below with its subprime swindle,

enjoying federal acquiescence and perhaps participation. Washington reduces the schools to custodial centers to keep blacks happy, businessmen move jobs to China, and the arms industry impoverishes the nation for its private benefit. Other businessmen encourage illegal immigration to make a buck without the slightest thought for the public interest. -- Fred On Everything

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 6:41 PM | Your Say (0)

Barney by Bush

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"Laura and I are sad to announce that our Scottish Terrier, Barney, has passed away," Bush said.

"The little fellow had been suffering from lymphoma and after twelve and a half years of life, his body could not fight off the illness." -- The former president traded his pen for a paintbrush when he left the Oval Office. Bush released an oil painting he made of Barney on Friday. -- Barney, First Dog in White House of George W. Bush, dies of lymphoma - NY Daily News HT: Neo-Neo

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:55 AM | Your Say (1)

RIGHT LEFT

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Right Left by WRDBNR

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:17 AM | Your Say (0)

The Rubio Con

If you read closely, you learn that illegal immigrants will actually be legalized immediately -- €“given "€œprobationary legal status,"€

allowing them to "live and work legally in the United States"€ (according to Politico). The only thing that'€™s delayed, pending "€œstricter border enforcement,"€ is the opening of a "€œpath to citizenship." € As if, once legalized, the 11 million are going to be unlegalized if  enforcement measures are implemented with less than 100% efficacy. --| The Daily Caller

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:36 AM | Your Say (3)

Patriotism, Jeep Sales Skyrocket After Super Bowl Ad

Oprah Winfrey declared victory in Afghanistan during an incredibly popular Super Bowl advertisement aired on Sunday.

Tearjerking scenes about missed events, sorrowful loved ones, and people in camouflage uniforms reminded the nation that apparently we're at war somewhere or something. --| The Duffel Blog

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:16 AM | Your Say (0)

Apple Rot

There hasn't been one Apple blockbuster since Steve died. Dare we consider the possibility that there never will be another? It's more than conceivable. -- Doc Searls Weblog

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:14 AM | Your Say (2)

"While Rove and Reince fight for the wheel of the hearse, forgive me if I point out that it’s still full of dead ideas."

Having no power vested in me to do so except the witness of the witless GOP, I absolve every Conservative who sat it out this past November.

The DNC is hiring young activists and paying them a living wage to do nothing more than evangelize the Gospel of Obama. Even the churches of the Right would rather build bigger barns than support "missionaries"€ with a living wage, so how can we expect the GOP to ever invest in the next generation? I'€™ve watched them ignore schools, neighborhoods, and local businesses for 40 years. But they sure have had their hand out for my money.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:56 AM | Your Say (4)

Russia Rapidly Overtaking Japan as Most Insane Nation on Earth

Everything I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindregarten, including "Vozvrast." Translation: "Just kill yourselves now, children."

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:31 AM | Your Say (1)

It is indeed difficult to conceive how men

who have entirely given up the habit of self-government

should succeed in making a proper choice of those by whom they are to be governed; and no one will ever believe that a liberal, wise, and energetic government can spring from the suffrages of a subservient people. -- "Democracy in America" De Tocqueville

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:20 AM | Your Say (2)

February 5, 2013

How To: Excabulate Your Pondrefact

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That's a pondrefact in the classic configuration. The pixels are routed by political affiliation.
All the blogposts accusing the current president of being a secret Moslem Kenyan smoker are emitted through the red pixelpipes, the Twitter streams of pictures of the last president with a Hitler mustache are blasted through the blue tubes. It's all about the tubes, people. --Sippican Cottage: Elderly Blogposts Currently Being Assaulted By Spammers: Tech Tock With Sippican Cottage

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:36 PM | Your Say (0)

Rack 'Em and Stack 'Em for Wednesday

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:23 PM | Your Say (2)

And the lotos rose, quietly, quietly,

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And the pool was filled with water out of sunlight, And the lotos rose, quietly, quietly, The surface glittered out of heart of light, And they were behind us, reflected in the pool. -- Eliot, Burnt Norton, Quartets

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:47 PM | Your Say (5)

More likely a spanner in the works.

A revolution in the works? Glenn Reynolds

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:27 PM | Your Say (0)

From the smelter

The world is not so much in need of new thoughts as that when thought grows old and worn with usage it should, like current coin, be called in, and, from the mint of genius, reissued fresh and new. -- Alexander Smith (poet 1830-1867)

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 3:58 PM | Your Say (0)

Okay , Okay, maybe gun control for 50% of the population after all.

HT: Rodger, Real Schwing of France

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:08 PM | Your Say (7)

I noticed he didn’t wear socks

– I guess he thought wearing socks would brand him as “bourgeois”.

I told him I thought the organization of an ant-heap was somewhat similar to his idea of a well-organized society. He answered me that “Yes, human beings should learn to behave like ants and bees”. I said, “But humans are not ants or bees”. He responded, “But that would be the best organization.” Plato would have loved him. -- .Thoughts on gold and humanity Hugo Salinas Price

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:34 PM | Your Say (0)

Future Bestseller from the Past

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nothingvia: | KA-CHING!

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:12 PM | Your Say (1)

The Harbingers of Tyranny

DHS buys 2 billion rounds of ammunition. Military drone flights within the US. FBI "checking" whether the president can assassinate Americans inside the US. Gunships over Miami. Police departments throughout the country are receiving tanks, humvees and drones. Details at Doug Ross @ Journal

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:07 AM | Your Say (3)

The Values Economy

The values economy is how a society maintains its culture, investing its energy, money and structure

into maintaining a healthy culture that projects its values and makes its achievements possible. Like any other investments, there are bad investments and good investments. A society can invest in Bach or it can invest in Andy Warhol. It can invest in engineers or Transgender Guatemalan Poets 101. --- Sultan Knish

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:46 AM | Your Say (0)

Funny, you don't look Jewish

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Nechemya Davis, Borough Park, 2012
After converting to Judaism, Nechemyah Davis contemplates his new life in the predominantly Jewish community of Borough Park,
Brooklyn, New York, July 2012. " Sometimes in Borough Park I'll be down the street and I'll see a guy with his son and the son will keep looking back at me. Eventually he'll ask his father, "Who is the guy behind us? Is he Jewish?" I always wonder what that parent says to his child. I tell my friends to try to educate their children so they know G-d created all kinds of people. One thing about the Jewish world, though - you might get stared at but once someone gets past you being different, you’re pretty much a part of the community." feature: The Black Orthodox // Wayne Lawrence - instituteartist.com

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:41 AM | Your Say (7)

February 4, 2013

Whoopies Ron Paul Hatred Is About To Reach Critical Level

Mine too: "Chris Kyle’s death seems to confirm that “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword.” Treating PTSD at a firing range doesn’t make sense" — Ron Paul (@RonPaul) February 4, 2013 ---- Blurbrain Ron Paul: Hey, if you can't be president be a bitter douchebag.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:07 PM | Your Say (1)

"The first fundamental change in the home-entertainment paradigm in decades."

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Why "House of Cards" Could Signal the Decline of Cable Television : The New Yorker
An Internet firm like Netflix producing first-rate content takes us across a psychological line. If Netflix succeeds as a producer, other companies will follow and start taking market share. Maybe Amazon will go beyond its tentative investments and throw a hundred million at a different A-list series, or maybe Hulu will expand its ambitions for original content, or maybe the next great show will come from someone with a YouTube channel.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:59 PM | Your Say (2)

Gaga BlaBla

EXCLUSIVE: Lady Gaga rants against former personal assistant in court records - NYPOST.com

“I expect there to be a certain level of, like, you know, knowledge and academia about, like, your job,” she said.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:14 PM | Your Say (0)

Sis for Prez: Janet Napolitano: A woman to watch for 2016

Dead Pol Blathering Dumb Washington Post Story Here I'd want her to run only so I could watch the entire country bury her political corpse in manure fifty feet deep. Hard as it may be to believe there's a limit to the shit even a confirmed Obamatron will eat.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:00 PM | Your Say (6)

What would be the best environment for a writer?

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"To become a landlord in a brothel. In my opinion it's the perfect milieu for an artist to work in.

It gives him perfect economic freedom; he's free of fear and hunger; he has a roof over his head and nothing whatever to do except keep a few simple accounts and to go once every month and pay off the local police. The place is quiet during the morning hours, which is the best time of the day to work. There's enough social life in the evening, if he wishes to participate, to keep him from being bored; it gives him a certain standing in his society; he has nothing to do because the madam keeps the books; all the inmates of the house are females and would defer to him and call him “sir.” All the bootleggers in the neighborhood would call him “sir.” And he could call the police by their first names. -- Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 12, William Faulkner

Bonus Link: Alex Grant: Dress Like a Literary Great: William Faulkner

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:55 AM | Your Say (4)

Rack 'Em and Stack 'Em for Monday

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:40 AM | Your Say (0)

Word

I am not going to waste my breath, time and energy trying to come up with a solution to today's rabbit hole politics.

We all know they are broken and I am out of the patching business. I am no longer working with duct tape, chicken wire, bubble gum and spit. Nor am I working with bulldozers, wrecking balls, dynamite and dump trucks. I'm not even on the board for urban renewal. I'm just building the next generation of buildings which will be immune to the kinds of failures I predict in the future for the unsustainable status quo. -- On The Proper Failure of America - Cobb

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:13 AM | Your Say (0)

Phrase That Pays: "the stubborn refusal of the planet to warm"

".... the decrease in estimated negative forcing (aerosols), combined with the stubborn refusal of the planet to warm as had been predicted over the last decade, all makes a high climate sensitivity increasingly untenable." -- Weaker Global Warming Seen in Study Promoted by Norway's Research Council - NYTimes.com [HT: SDA ]

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:52 AM | Your Say (2)

This is the nightmare world of Big Data,

where the moment-by-moment behavior of human beings — analog resources —

is tracked by sensors and engineered by central authorities to create optimal statistical outcomes. We might dismiss it as a warped science fiction fantasy if it weren’t also the utopian dream of the Max Levchins of the world. They have lots of money and they smell even more.... -- Max Levchin’s dream | ROUGH TYPE

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:33 AM | Your Say (0)

Billion Dollar Yogurt-American

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At Chobani, the Turkish King of Greek Yogurt: Five years ago Chobani had almost no revenue. This year, the company will sell more than $1 billion worth of yogurt, says Ulukaya, who’s the sole owner..... Ulukaya grew up milking sheep at his family’s dairy in eastern Turkey.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:21 AM | Your Say (4)

Rise of the Militias

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Mexico's Masked Vigilantes Defy Drug Gangs—And the Law - WSJ.com
"We brought order back to a place where there had been chaos. We were able to do in 15 days what the government was not able to do in years." PhotoEssay: Taking the Law Into Their Own Hands [HT GaGator]

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:08 AM | Your Say (2)

February 3, 2013

Apparently Beyonce's publicist wants the ugly pics of beyonce removed from the internet... so...

Twitter / ImHarrysiPhone: apparently beyonces publicist ... so anything that exposes the deep inner ugliness of overweening talentless celebrity is okay by me.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 3:00 PM | Your Say (0)

Beyond Pippi Longstocking

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If you had to be reborn anywhere in the world as a person with average talents and income, you would want to be a Viking. -- The Nordic countries: The next supermodel | The Economist

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:23 AM | Your Say (1)

Sunday Short Stack

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 3:46 AM | Your Say (0)

February 2, 2013

How Dumb is Chuck Hagel?

"It is very clear from the testimony that Sen. Hagel will not be bringing the potato salad to the next Mensa picnic." -- Hagel sinking

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 6:44 PM | Your Say (2)

The New Gospel

"If you don't think there is a growing standard secular gospel unfolding, and haven't noticed the increased price to be paid for heresy, you haven't been paying attention." El Greco's Inquisitor @ AMERICAN DIGEST

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:32 PM | Your Say (5)

Typos of the Liberal Mind

Rhodesia to Zimbabwe -- breadbasket of Africa to dustbowl: Zimbabwe Is Down to Its Last $217 - Global - The Atlantic Wire " The economy started to come apart at the seams in 2000, when President Robert Mugabe seized the land of over 4,000 white-owned farmers [sic]"

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:13 PM | Your Say (6)

Because I could not stop for Death by Emily Dickinson

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:49 PM | Your Say (0)

"Since it is Groundhog Day, here’s a replay from Phil, covering our first, second historic Inauguration of BHO:"

Michelle Obama's Mirror: Shadows of Groundhog Day

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:30 PM | Your Say (3)

It shouldn't happen to a hog

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Punxsutawney Phil Predicts About Four More Years Of Living In A Goddamn Hole In The Ground | The Rumford Meteor

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:04 PM | Your Say (2)

Saturday Short Stack

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:25 AM | Your Say (3)

Our beloved seniors.

"My mom told me that her new power strip wasn't working... Came to find this...."

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:50 AM | Your Say (6)

February 1, 2013

Stack of Stuff for Friday

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:06 PM | Your Say (0)

The New Yorker, Yes, The New Yorker: Filling Up with Shit at an Alarming Rate

"One of the guns used to murder children and adults in Newtown, Connecticut, was an AR-15,

a semiautomatic rifle that’s similar to a weapon used in war by American troops. A weapon of war was turned on innocents at home. -- How the Ancient Greeks Viewed Weapons in The New Yorker by sub-moron Melissa Lake.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 3:13 PM | Your Say (5)

Ethnic Cleansing in Los Angeles

Attack on family in Compton latest incident in wave of anti-black violence - latimes.com A Latino gang is intimidating blacks into leaving the city that was once an African American enclave.

It's part of a violent trend seen in other parts of the L.A. area. Compton, with a population of about 97,000, was predominantly black for many years. It is now 65% Latino and 33% black, according to the 2010 U.S. census. But it's not only historically black areas that have been targeted. Federal authorities have alleged in several indictments in the last decade that the Mexican Mafia prison gang has ordered street gangs under its control to attack African Americans.
It would seem that some Mexican-Americans are not exactly down with the concept of "diversity" after all. La Raza and all that, homes.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:47 PM | Your Say (5)

Plan Ahead

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:10 PM | Your Say (3)

Swiss Family Russkie: Most Fascinating Story of the Month [bumped]

[Bumped because it is so amazing and because it's gone viral in the last couple of days.]

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Last of the Old Believers

For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II

In 1978, Soviet geologists prospecting in the wilds of Siberia discovered a family of six, lost in the taiga. "What amazed him most of all," Peskov recorded, "was a transparent cellophane package. 'Lord, what have they thought up—it is glass, but it crumples!'"

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:04 PM | Your Say (1)

Hemlines Made Simple

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by Rosea Posey

[Bumped by reader request for further study and analysis.]

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:01 PM | Your Say (9)

Our Mystic Gave Us the Inside Scoop on 2013

Positive energy through February, but a strong possibility for war in March;

things get better through August, though there’s a chance of flooding; peace talks in September, but total economic breakdown in October; picking up the pieces in November only to be completely disappointed in December. -- | VICE

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:55 PM | Your Say (0)

The Murderer's Honor

When a woman has power and a man doesn't, then the man has been dishonored. When a Christian has power and a Muslim doesn't, then the Muslim has been dishonored. There is only one answer for dishonor, death. Kill the one who has dishonored you so that you can feel powerful again. -- Sultan Knish: The Murderer's Honor

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:40 PM | Your Say (2)

Obama's Jobs Council Shutting Down Thursday

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Obama met with the council only a handful of times.

During the last meeting, in February 2012, the president and the council highlighted an engineering education initiative alongside school deans. -- - US News and World Report Comic strip via Hope n' Change Cartoons: Shear Madness

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:08 AM | Your Say (0)

Active-Duty Drag Queens Find Home With Air Force Musical Ensemble

“A lot of us trying out this year have drag queen experience,” said Staff Sergeant Timothy Dreyer,

“and we are excited to finally bring this experience to the Air Force, the only place we can be so fabulously gay. Tops in Blue is so gay it makes Glee look like monster truck rally.” -- | The Duffel Blog

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:03 AM | Your Say (2)

"War is fundamental.

A man’s views on war tell you the basic axioms of his view on life. Because of this, a popular war story will tell you in an abbreviated form much about the storyteller’s most fundamental ideals and fears, and that of his audience." -- Future War | John C. Wright's Journal

Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:16 AM | Your Say (0)