Bloggy Housekeeping

• I’ve added a trick to the category listing that’s been in the right sidebar since day one; The system now gives you a count of how many postings are in each category. I’m not really sure how much it helps, but I figured what the heck, the database gets queried for the information anyway, why not make use of it? Anyway, it’s a kind of a cool hack.
• By the way, you only get the category listings on the homepage, these days.  Mostly, that’s because the category list is so bloody long, and thereby runs well longer than most single posts.
• I’ve removed the system cache than I had running the other day, after I was advised by a reader that the cache system was vulnerable to PHP injection.  I was getting a little added performance of it, particularly on heavier days, but frankly it isn’t worth the risk.
• Those of you who have been dropping feedback, yes I’ve seen your note, and I will eventually get back to as many as I can.  Suffice it to say Uncle Bit has been a little busy around here, lately.
• We are still taking applications for membership in the Swamp Stompers Blog Ring.  The drop some feedback, and we’ll get you set up.
• We’re also looking for an additional writer to add to the stable.  Obviously, some examples of stuff you’ve written previously would be helpful.  Drop some feedback, and we’ll talk about it.
• One more thing; With all the changes recently, to the right sidebar about a week ago, I neglected to replace the TTLB script code. My bad. I’ve taken care of it. It’ll be interesting to see if our status recovers. But you know, TTLB still hasn’t gotten the message that we’ve not turned in a single day of less than 200 hits in over two months…they still have us pegged at 123 HPD. A little annoying.

Found at Donklephant:

Frum:

“Just noticed that Andrew Sullivan opines that I am “rattled” by Paul’s haul. Personally, I think it is Andrew who has been “rattled” by being caught in yet another of his careless or reckless errors and inaccuracies. But for the record, he’s [SIC] my view on the Paul candidacy… It would be interesting to know how many of today’s Paul donors were Nader donors then… Of course I am saddened to discover that many thousands of Americans have rallied to a candidate campaigning on a Michael Moore view of the world… Ron Paul is Nader, not Perot.”

Frum’s post is one of the odder things I’ve read in a while. In a short post he manages to compare Ron Paul to Ralph Nader, Michael Moore, and Howard Dean, but draws a distinction between Paul and Ross Perot. Well, I guess I have to be happy with the last. I always thought Perot was a few bricks short of a full load.

Well, that’s OK… most pretty much figure Paul is, too, along with the rest of those Frum mentions.  The nation would be well served by relegating the lot of them to the rubber wallpaper brigade.

Frum apparently thinks that anyone who is against the Iraq war, regardless of their views on other issues like constitutional protections, fiscal responsibility, and individual freedom, is a Nader/Moore liberal Democrat. It is an absurd assertion.

I keep hearing this, from a lot of different sources that are supposedly Ron Paul supporters, but for some reason they can never bring their arguments around quite far enough to explain why so many…. the vast majority, in fact… of Ron Paul’s current supporters, are, in fact, liberal democrats.  Cindy Sheehan , as an example.

These people also seem to ignore his overt support of the PLO, his calls for rollbacks in defense, and his claims that US troops are murderers? These are all a part of the Ron Paul record, folks. These are all easily identified to most of us as whacko left positions.

All that aside from his flirtation with the Nazis and Alex Jones, and the tinfoil hat crowd.

All of this bottom lines at this ;

The man is either full goose bozo leftist or is suffering from a schizophrenia that beats anything on record in the R wing of any hospital in the country.  (He may be good people, but….) Either way, he belongs nowhere near the White House.  We should start seriously considering removing him from his current position as well.

Now; as to his supporters…… well, you figure it out.Since we’re talking about somebody was obviously a spaceman, perhaps this will suit; Obi-Wan Kenobe, as I recall had a line which seems to fit well; Who is the bigger fool?  The fool, or the fool who follows him? 

Poor Paul Krugman...

So there’s a campaign on to exonerate Ronald Reagan from the charge that he deliberately made use of Nixon’s Southern strategy. When he went to Philadelphia, Mississippi, in 1980, the town where the civil rights workers had been murdered, and declared that “I believe in states’ rights,” he didn’t mean to signal support for white racists. It was all just an innocent mistake.

Indeed, you do really have to feel sorry for Reagan. He just kept making those innocent mistakes.

When he went on about the welfare queen driving her Cadillac, and kept repeating the story years after it had been debunked, some people thought he was engaging in race-baiting. But it was all just an innocent mistake.

Here’s someone whose entire world view, myopic as it is, is totally dependent upon defeating his greatest philosophical enemy, Ronald Reagan, in absentia…. (Since nobody could defeat Reagan while he was alive.) Of course, to do that, you have to take the gippers arguments and twist them around to the point of non-recognition. Straw men are always easier to defeat…. which is perhaps why Krugman limits himself to these.

As an example, Paul;

It has been pointed out to me that Reagan opposed making Martin Luther King Day a national holiday, giving in only when Congress passed a law creating the holiday by a veto-proof majority. But he really didn’t mean to disrespect the civil rights movement – it was just an innocent mistake.

So, it’s impossible, say you, to respect MLK, and yet be against creating yet another day off for government and union workers?  I’m sure this little oversight of yours was just an innocent mistake.

More, Memeorandum

Addendum:

Matt Yglesias, With whom I’ve had a fair share of disagreement with over the years, points out that this whole thing from Paul Krugman is actually a part of a long running battle between Krugman and David Brooks:

More calumnies from the left, with wild-eyed nutjob Paul Krugman arguing that Ronald Reagan’s opposition to creating a federal holiday for Martin Luther King and his efforts to prevent Bob Jones University from losing its tax-exempt status for failure to desegregate might have had something to do with an effort to court the white supremacist vote.

Hilariously, for some reason Krugman and David Brooks need to carry out this argument without referring to each other by name or even acknowledging that the other one exists..

Interestingly enough, or as Yglesias puts himself, hilariously enough if that’s to be the center of the argument, Krugman had better be packing up and going home right now.  The argument of courting the “white supremacist ” vote is laughable on its face, due to the small numbers involved.  Even in the day, that wasn’t going to win anybody anything substantial other than serious problems from the remainder of the electorate.

I say it again; what this amounts to, is a rabid leftist arguing against his greatest nemesis, living or dead.  And losing.

And, no, I don’t mean David Brooks, Matt.

In looking at this offering from Little Green Footballs, as regards the Gathering Of Eagles stumbling across the Fred Phelps Nutballs, I’m reminded of something I thought of a couple of months ago, and for some reason didn’t write down at the time.  I want to capture the thought now…

A great deal of the arguments surrounding the political push of the evangelical movement in this country seems to be bent on neglecting the idea that the evangelicals themselves, and therefore the evangelical movement as a whole, is not as monolithic as some would make it out to be. Certainly, if there is a group that is running in the opposite direction from the commonly perceived position of the evangelical movement in America, it is Fred Phelps and company.

I note with some interest that the political left has, as a rule, said as little as possible about them. You would think, that has a rule, a group that is willing to jump into any kind of protracted argument, as regards homosexual rights, and so on, as the left has always been, would be all over Fred Phelps and his minions like a wet tee shirt.  Yet, they hold their silence.

On observing this, one could come to the first obvious conclusion which is that the left is figuring anything that is a thorn in the side of the right can’t be all bad.  Particularly, those involved with the actual prosecution of the Iraq war.

But, frankly, I think in the end that it comes down to more a case of abject fear of these people.  Not so much in terms of getting into an argument with the demonstrably demented ; but rather, fear of having their traditional liberal biases argued against in a manner that they cannot control.  (Hillary Clinton, has given us, twice in the last two days, indications that the left needs to control the conversation, or they won’t partake of it.  )

Certainly, you’re not under these conditions, going to see the left answer Phelps and company, the way the right did, this weekend:

That, in my view, is telling.

Michelle

Yes, my site’s been down most of the day because of a Rackspace server outage.

Yes, I’d wondered about that. There were a few others down, too. Glad to see you back online.

WASHINGTON – Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday that if elected he will push to increase the amount of income that is taxed to provide monthly Social Security benefits.

Obama and other Democratic presidential candidates previously have signaled support for this idea.

But during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Obama said subjecting more of a person’s income to the payroll tax is the option he would push for if elected president.

Because of course, in the reckoning of the Democrats, we Americans are not taxed enough.

More, Memeorandum

In travels today, I note a really great Veteran’s Day (Etc) post by Sister Toldjah.

She captures a link between several events, and ties them together.

News flash:
Apparently, Rosie O’Donnel can’t stand Bill Clinton.

No, seriously.

PageSix at the NY Post ran the story:

“He disgusts me,” O’Donnell recalled saying at the casino show. “And I know I’m not supposed to say this because I’m a good Democrat, but I didn’t want to [talk] to him because he lied to me when he said, ‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman,’ and then put the scarlet-letter [bleep]-job on her for the rest of her life . . . I still hate you!”

When the corpulent comic called the phone number Clinton included with his note, Bubba himself picked up, she said.

“My knees got weak. I was like, ‘Can I [bleep] you?’ No, I didn’t say it, but I felt it – I was like, ‘Whoa! Whoa!’ And he said, ‘I was at your show the other night, and I was sorry that you didn’t come over and say hello to me. And I know that you’re still harboring some hard feelings,’ ” O’Donnell related.

“And I said, ‘You know, listen, here’s the deal, dude. I’ve been disappointed by men my whole life. I loved JFK, my mother loved JFK, and you were the JFK to me. And you let me down, man. You killed me and that hurt me a lot, and when you hurt me, I don’t know, I didn’t expect that out of you and I thought you could do better for your wife, for the country and just in general.”

Actually, we now have a pretty good indication of what’s been going on in her life, I think, and what drove her choices.  The woman has some serious issues, which are unresolved. Clinton himself apparently picked up on it and instinctively went for it:

“I’m sorry for all the men who hurt you!”

(Ahem) Here’s someone who has had some practice, I suspect.

John Hawkins says there’s lessons to be learned here:

O’Donnell, like many liberals, was disgusted by Clinton’s behavior and his dishonesty when he was in office. But, in public, when it was actually happening, almost all of them wholeheartedly supported him and attacked the people who went after him.

Lesson 1: Liberals habitually lie about what they think and put politics ahead of everything else.

Next up, O’Donnell hilariously compares Clinton to JFK. Why is it hilarious? Because O’Donnell is a lesbian and just about the only thing that Kennedy and Clinton had in common was that they were both charismatic and good looking. So, am I saying that a lesbian loved Bill Clinton in large part because he was a good looking man? Yes.

Lesson 2: Liberals are shallow.

Then Bill, being a smooth operator, tells Rosie that he’s sorry he hurt her. Does he mean it? C’mon, this is the most insincere guy in the world. Remember his faking tears at Ron Brown’s funeral when the cameras were on him? But, what did Rosie do after Bill’s phony spiel? She cried hysterically. What does that tell us?

Lesson 3: Liberals are really, really shallow and overly emotional — Oh, and Rosie is a complete bubblehead who is probably almost as big a mess as Roseanne Barr behind the scenes.

He’s right, of course.  But there’s another point here that he’s missing;

O’Donnell’s reaction can only be described as that of someone who is feeling inadequate to the problems around them, and so, was depending on someone else to solve all the problems for them.  She, like many liberals, latched onto Bill Clinton as such a person….  Silly girl.  Such people are invariably disappointed and angry , often stridently so.  Remind you of anybody else we spoke of this morning?

Such people are also usually quite fickle, in the sense of a drowning man flailing around looking for anything that floats, liberals will invariably flail around looking for something that floats their world view.  They are invariably disappointed, because it’s not the people that they put their dependence on that are the problem, (Problematic as these can be , ala Bill Clinton) the problem is their world view.  Nobody can make that garbage float.

We’ve seen an awful lot over the last few years that calls the judgment of liberals and a serious question; this is merely one more addition to that list.

Why anyone would think a talk show based on that kind of personality would create any interest, except in people with similar feelings of inadequacy, I have no idea.

Has Ron Paul pulled a Murtha, unjustifiably calling our troups murderers?

Yes, and yes.

Bit notes: Its veterans day.  Today is a day that we set aside to honor those who have served as true.  To honor those who have proudly worn the uniform and have helped keep this nation in pursuit of its ideals of freedom. Sometimes, this pursuit has cost them their lives.  Such is the nature of the pursuit of freedom.  There is much I want to say on this day, but unfortunately most of it I don’t have the words for.

So allow me, please, to attach a piece that I wrote into my Palm Pilot while waiting for a Trace Adkins concert to get underway, in a high school gym in Euclid, OH… an anniversary present, that year, to my wife.

Euclid, OH,110903141032-

Ignoble

We’re in Ohio this afternoon to catch a concert. We came down last night, and will be back in town on Monday. As this is being written we are waiting for Trace Adkins to take the stage, and as we wait, I am mulling over the news we got on the way here regarding the car bombing in Saudi-Arabia.

As of this writing, all I was able to get was that 5 people had died, more injured, and I got the impression more would die as a result of their injuries. (Editor’s note: 15 people as of 11/11)

This attack, and the results of it are very different from the rest, and it appears a new trend is starting to show itself.

What is so remarkable about this attack, what is different, this time, is that it appears Muslims were targeted. Else, at the least the attackers didn’t care how many Muslims they would kill and injure. I fully understand that judging what the attackers are after, based on what they attack, is problematic at best because there are a number of forces at work, here that are not all of a piece.

Yet logically, based on these attacks, one could ask now, as never before in recent times, if a religious fervor was *ever* at the heart of the reasoning behind ElQuieda and it’s actions. This question is far more central than some here in the US would make it, because it speaks to the question of other Arab nations supporting the remainder of the world in their war…..and war it is… with ElQuieda.

I suspect that as a result of this attack, we will see far more in the way of support from Arab nations, both direct and indirect. The notable exceptions of this would be Syria and possibly Iran.

It seems to me that by their reactions the battle lines will be drawn. I fully expect the Saudis to be very co-operative indeed with the west going forward.

And the cause for this bedrock change in conditions was the inevitable… the bloodthirsty idiots attacking the people still sitting on the fence… and pushing them over to our side of it. In the end, the only thing this will do is help us in our struggle.

Noble

I want to speak briefly about Veteran’s day which comes up this week. It’s always been a special day for me, more so the last 15 years because my Donna and I got married 11/11/89.

It’s always been a special day for me anyway, though, because honoring our vets has always held special meaning for me; it’s a lesson my parents instilled very well, indeed. It was brought home to me, as I was recently looking at pictures from a trip we made through the Gettysburg PA area some years ago.

It’s a particularly meaningful thing, when you’re standing on that field…. something that goes well beyond the cold facts and figures about who died from what company, how old they were, or even where they were from. It’s more a feeling you get…. you can sense it… not unlike being at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, or visiting Arlington National Cemetery. I’m told Omaha Beach, and Pearl Harbor and many other sites are the same way. I’ve been at the funerals of firemen and policemen who died in their line of duty, and that was also remarkably similar.

In each case, we’re dealing with places and concepts of death. But death alone doesn’t do it; doesn’t create that solemn atmosphere that is so unique to the above places. After all; there are lots of mass casualty accidents have happened over the centuries and their sites are well marked, and revered, or at least held apart, and yet, their impact doesn’t approach that of an Iwo Jima or a Pearl.

Even under the shelter of the relative safety of the time that has passed since the events, as you stand in each place, you can still feel it; Lives were lost there that were willingly (And in the case of the civilian deaths at the towers, unwillingly) sacrificed toward a higher ideal.

Our feelings and conclusions can be far different from what those lost experienced. Yet, their lives and their sacrifices still count for something. And the thing is, it doesn’t take much for us to out ourselves in their mindset.

Think of it this way; Every single man who died at Gettysburg, at Normandy, at Pearl and all he rest, has meaning for us because each of them, had their own lives, just as we have our own lives.

These people loved, they laughed, they cried. They had a favorite food, a favorite color, a particular bit of music, or of poetry stirred their souls, like none other, just like we, ourselves. Every bit as much as you and I love our lives, they loved theirs. Their lives were as precious to them, as yours is to you. Their loss was as keenly felt by their loved ones as yours would yours. And yet, they gave their lives up, for something bigger.

I have a neighbor, whose father just recently needed a liver transplant. This neighbor willingly gave up part of his liver to be transplanted into his father. A noble action, certainly, commendable, and impressive. But with all respect to my neighbor, the choice to do that is comparatively easy to make. He knows and loves his father, and the sacrifice is fairly light by comparison.

How much more noble is a sacrifice of one’s life for people that one will never meet? Well, the people we honor today, those in uniform particularly, but some who were not, gave of themselves for the benefit of people they would never know…. you and I, and countless others from many nations. If not for their sacrifices, you’d not be reading this BIT, because I’d not have written it…. we’d be living in a very different world, possibly, one not nearly as good to us as it has been.

Look upon those actions, those sacrifices, and know what you’re seeing is strength, courage, and nobility in measures that should not… can not, be ignored. It must be honored by us all; it was made, after all for our benefit.

Think about that as we deal with the solemn proceedings for their day.

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) – The king of Spain told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to “shut up” Saturday during a heated exchange at a summit of leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal. Chavez, who called President Bush the “devil” on the floor of the United Nations last year, triggered the exchange by repeatedly referring to former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as a “fascist.”Aznar, a conservative who was an ally of Bush as prime minister, “is a fascist,” Chavez said in a speech at the Ibero-American summit in Santiago, Chile. “Fascists are not human. A snake is more human.”Spain’s current socialist prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, responded during his own allotted time by urging Chavez to be more diplomatic in his words and respect other leaders despite political differences.”Former President Aznar was democratically elected by the Spanish people and was a legitimate representative of the Spanish people,” he said, eliciting applause from the gathered heads of state.

Chavez repeatedly tried to interrupt, but his microphone was off.

Spanish King Juan Carlos, seated next to Zapatero, angrily turned to Chavez and said, “Why don’t you shut up?”

(Chuckle)

Of course his response was to get more shrill.

But it strikes me that there’s a major connection between the lefttards here in America and crazy Uncle Hugo. A brainlessness that makes up what both of them are.

There also seem to me a connection between the King, and the remainder of the sane world ; they’re both getting tired of the antics of the socialists.

Care to see the video? It’s here.

Van Der Galiën,  for his part, this morning, suprised me…

However, Chavez – being the uncivilized peasant he is – tried to interrupt Zapatero constantly. After a few attempts, Spain’s King Juan Carlos had enough, turned to Chavez and said: “Why don’t you shut up?!”

It’s great too see a head of state speak out against Chavez like that. This is exactly what he needs. He needs to be told to shut up once in a while. He’s used to getting all the attention, all the media coverage, etc., but other heads of state shouldn’t play that game.

Actually, I think he needs to be set in front of a firing squad, once in a while. Doing so on a daily basis would be better, but that’s me.  But Michael is quite correct that the heads of state of the rest of the world shouldn’t be playing his game.
BBCT: Memeorandum

The most arrogrant governor, Eliot Spitxer, New York, is hinting that his about to hang Mrs. Clinton out to dry.   The New York Times is reporting that Spitxer has backed-off his inconsidered plan to give New York State driver’s license to illegal aliens.

If Spitzer comes to his senses, and heeds the demands of his voting public,  Mrs. Clinton will be left alone  publically supporting a plan on which even the sponsor thought better.    Mrs. Clinton will either have to support an unpopular, and down right stupid, position, all by  herself, or beat a hasty retreat.   So what will the Smartest Woman in the World do?    Film at Eleven.

Hat Tip:  Memeorandum.

Is Ron Paul’s position on defense… Whacko Leftist?

Yes.   And, Yes.

Here’s a little-used graphic of currently understood domestic oil potential, that the Washington Post ran some months ago:

(Drill the pic for full size)

Now, before you comment on the limitations involved, be aware most of the limits are man made. Environmental laws and so forth… laws which are hindering our energy independence.

Further, please consider the post I ran just yesterday, about the major oil find in Brazil. Like them, we could and likely will, find more than we know about, currently.  The difference? They’re out there looking for it.

Ask your congresscritters… both Democrat and Republican…  why we’re holding back on drilling domestically, both in exploration and production.

Is Ron Paul Anti-Israel?

Yes.