What I’m Drinking Tonight

How could I resist a wine named “Ball Buster”? Especially when it’s from the Barossa Valley, is 60% Shiraz, 19% Merlot and 21% Cabernet Sauvignon? I couldn’t. And neither should you. For the modest outlay of $15 you get a full bodied, spicy smooth cedary fruity wine that is just yum yum yum. Plus, it’s Australian. What’s not to love? I’m eating a big plate full of chicken anduille sausages right now with some rice and black beans, and this wine is shouting out “laissez roulez les bon temps” which I think translates as “Damn I’m thirsty! Lemme’ fill up that glass again!”

Give It A Rest?

I was sitting watching Nickelodeon with my 11 year old daughter the other day, Friday, I think it was, and a particularly sloth-like day at that, and every half hour there’d be one of those “Kids Today!” or “Kids Can Make A Difference!” or “Buy Transformers Cereal You Little Bastards!” or some such named little vignette that would appear. You know the type: a ‘special’ 2 minute long or so “Kidumentary” between the end of one show and the start of another which the networks point to when the FCC comes sniffing around and say “Look! We’re doing edumacational public interest stuff! Really!”
I do feel sorry for today’s youth, however. We got Conjunction Junction; they get stuck with Linda Ellerbee.

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The Lebanese Government Has Resigned

The Bush Freedom Train just keeps a rollin’ along. As a world famous Muslim once sang, in a most satisfying and ironic fashion:
I been happy lately, thinkin’ about the good things to come…
However, MSM, in their own peculiar fashion, are celebrating in a more subdued manner. Witness this MSNBCdotCOM front page.
Michaelloveslittleboys Jackson?
Front and ugly-disintegrating-mug center, along with a story about insurgents blowing up some more Iraqis and Chris Rock at the Oscars.
Momentous events in Lebanon?
Tucked under the “Also in the News” banner.
How refreshing would it be to see people power trumpeted across the top of the page? Kinda like it was when the Ukraine put the people pedal to the metal. Remember that? I guess the difference was it couldn’t be connected in any way to W’s Middle East policies, whereas today’s little gem has his fingerprints all over it. The Bush Freedom Train can become the Peace Train. Freedom and self determination bring that kinda good stuff with it.
*Update: They’ve moved it up into the “More Top Stories” section. God, that had to hurt!
*Update to the Update: It’s finally the headline. Ye gods and little fishes, it’s taken what? Ten hours or so? I’ve killed the link. They don’t deserve the traffic.

The Real Ward Churchill Scandal

So now there are reports the CU is going to buy-out Ward Churchill’s contract in hopes that he’ll just go away. Typical. Spend several million dollars of taxpayer money to get out of the mess that the faculty at CU created instead of addressing the real problem here. No, it’s not what he said about September 11th that’s the problem. No, it’s not that it seems he may have lied about his Vietnam experience, evidently claiming to have been a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne when he may have in fact been a truck driver…and what the hell is it with all these guys of his generation who feel this need to claim they were John Wayne? Geesh. (And I’ll ignore the fact that several other tenured faculty members of late who have embellished their war-time resumes have resigned) No, it’s not even that he may very well have lied about his ethnicity (though if this fraud is true than it should be enough to get him fired).
No, the real scandal for CU, and for Academe in general, is that he was rushed through the tenure process, a guy who doesn’t even have a Phd for God’s sake, solely because of his claimed ethnicity, with little to no peer review of his scholarship or teaching. Some committee at CU said “Oh, we need a Native American” as opposed to “We need a teacher and/or scholar”. Every tenure-track position that opens up at any college or university is flooded with hundreds of cvs from people with Phds and years of teaching experience; hell, even any instructorship at these schools attracts a boat load of Phds because the jobs simply are not there for the thousands of Phds that get churned out every year. And CU saw fit to rush this guy with only a MA from some whacko ‘alternative’ university (“Sangamon”, whose name he misspells as “Sangaman” on his own CU faculty page, for crying out loud) through because he fit a racial category that they wanted.
CU’s reputation is in tatters, as it should be (and I’m not even considering the problems in their Athletic Department). The question is how will they respond.
And how many other Ward Churchills are out there at other universities?
*update: I see VodkaPundit had a post up on this yesterday. That’ll teach me to spend the day using the scanner and not surfing…

Swill Stuff

If you’d like to order your very own Sod Off Swampy T Shirt, here’s your chance to. $20 each and the shipping’s included.(as long as you live in CONUS-foreign rates negotiable {8^P)
Are we sports or what??!
Gotta Order Me One!!

They’re quite generously sized, soft as a baby’s butt and what every well dressed swiller will be wearing this spring. I have beaten Bingley senseless, so all four sizes ~ small, medium, large & extra large ~ are available.

Ebola was kind enough to don one for this photo, until he can hook up one of his babe friends for a properly cheesy shot. He doesn’t work cheap either ~ that’s my last Old Peculier in his mitt.

Man Bites Dog

The Bastard! I wish the dog had led him into the intersection and left him…

Hemingway ~ Garden of Eden

As far as the Hunter Thompson/Hemingway brouhaha (ala Andrea), I’ve only read this one of his books and it was a doozey. (I won’t claim to be an academic of Bingley’s ilk and am not even worthy to consider wiping the shoes of the family scholar nj sue.) In Papa’s defence, I offer…

Garden of Eden

“A sensational bestseller when it appeared in 1986, The Garden of Eden is the last uncompleted novel of Ernest Hemingway, which he worked on intermittently from 1946 until his death in 1961. Set on the Côte d’Azur in the 1920s, it is the story of a young American writer, David Bourne, his glamorous wife, Catherine, and the dangerous, erotic game they play when they fall in love with the same woman*. “A lean, sensuous narrative…taut, chic, and strangely contemporary…”(*emphasis mine, for Ken’s sake.)

I will admit to actually rereading…ahem..once…or twice. But purely for the descriptions of life on the Mediterranean. Not for any of the other…stuff.
Yow…gotta go take a cold shower..

Today’s ‘Here’s Yer Sign’ Story

Dateline:Late Saturday Night, Local Hotspot, Pensacola, FL
An employee was taking out the trash when he noticed a fellow moving swiftly away from the dumpsters area. Once there, he was horrified to discover a badly beaten 22 year old woman, lying unconscious in pools of blood. 911 called, EMT’s/Pensacola’s finest arrived, description of assailant issued, standard ‘catch the rat bastard’ stuff.
Our nod to Bill Engvald ?
In this day and age of narcissistic, technologically saavy twentysomethings and camera phones,
never EVER pose for a picture.
Especially when you’re sitting at a table with the very same girl you will shortly be causing egregious and most heinous harm to.
If this all works out as it should, he will be rapidly identified. Pensacola’s finest can then proceed to TAZER the dogshit out of him (as they are wont to do and their fascist tendencies forgiven in this instance), hopefully with the leads attached to his cajones.

Here’s yer sign.

T-Shirt Update

The first batch of the Sod Off Swampy t-shirts are getting printed this week. They will be only available in Large and Extra-Large*, as none of us are emaciated vegans. They will be printed using the finest carcinogenic inks on genetically-modified cotton (I wanted to use a swank Rayon/Polyester Blend, but THS put her foot down) grown in devastated wetlands; I’m sure you’ll love them. The price is $20 US which includes domestic postage to US addresses; overseas stuff we’ll figure something out. To pre-order please send me an email with quantity, size and your address and I’ll get back to you with payment details, etc: mr_bingley AT mac.com
*THS adds: Bingley’s a thoughtless bastard.All we need is a head’s up before we order them (we’re supporting a local business in town as opposed to Cafe Press ~ every $ kept here after Ivan is a good thing) and we’ll have you small and medium sized folks covered.
Greetings Tim Blair and Tech Central readers!
*Update*A quick explanation of the artwork, done for fun and protest:

Coffee leaves, symbolizing the ‘green’ aspect’, sprouted by Bingley, nurtured to 10 foot trees by THS
~ KYOTO; well, duh ~
Handslashed red ‘no’ symbol with Solidarnosk/everyman protest typefont, sans punctuation.
You Can Get Your Very Own Right Here!

Ward Churchill: “I’m No Indian”

Gosh, I wonder what his Tenure Committee thinks? Seems like he represented himself in a fraudulent manner to them.
*Update: Now the paper is saying they misquoted him.
Stay tuned…

Never NEVER Be TedI’mNothinButtaAsshole Rall…

…and say something mean about Captain Ed. He will hurt you.
I love the smell of napalm in the morning.

The Stench From New Jersey Has Nothing To Do With The Refineries

Once again New Jersey politicians show how corrupt they are. Passing cash in little brown paper bags outside diners. Codenames like “munchkins.” Just disgusting. And the rot is evenly spread amongst Democrats and Republicans. New Jersey desperately needs an independant Governor who is free from the county party machine politics that corrode the state, someone who will clean house. And John Corzine, that ain’t you.

I Propose a Writing Exercise

The ninehundredpound brains at Powerline have linked to a hilarious scholarly piece by Thomas Lipscomb in Oregon Magazine. A sample:

Drowning in Cambodia
By Thomas Lipscomb
It has been a rough ten days for Senator John Kerry. First Democratic Party moneybags George Soros said Kerry’s name on the Presidential ballot was a dead loser. Then Teresa Heinz Kerry decided to borrow a dead winner’s
rather than a live loser’s last name, reverting to “Teresa Heinz” for public appearances. But the worst day Kerry had was a Sunday answering Tim Russert’s questions on Meet the Press on — (what else?) —-Vietnam.
Asked about his Christmas Eve in Cambodia “seared, seared” in Kerry’s memory, according to one of his Senate speech transcripts, Kerry tried a half-baked variation on the theme: “Was it on that night? No, it was not on that night. But we were right on the Cambodian border that night. We were ambushed there, as a matter of fact. And that is a matter of record, and we went into the rec– you know, it’s part of the Navy records.”
To ambush or not to ambush.

*I’ve bumped this back up to the top since we keep getting entries*

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Gosh, Europeans Are So Civilized

It seems those charming Belgians have got a new fad: peeing on Bush’ face. And it seems the stickers were created at the Foreign Ministry. Nice.
This is the “Euro-Style” of diplomacy, eh?
*Correction: they were created in the Prime Minister’s office. My bad.

When Online Poker Attacks

Turds. Got hit a little bit over night, so I banned a bunch of ip addresses and closed all the comments on posts over 2 weeks old.
And thank goodness I was smart enough not to give Paris my number.

60 Years Ago Today

Iwo Jima
Uncommon valor was a common virtue.
Admiral Chester Nimitz

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T-Shirts Coming Soon

Tree Hugging Sister* has done it again!
~ KYOTO; well, duh ~
You Can Get Your Very Own Right Here!

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Does the company own you off the clock?

Interesting post/comments on the idea. I have mixed feelings, as I see the Companies rights, but also see the potential problems. I do wonder if this is just not another attempt to demonize smokers, as they seem to be the butt (sorry, couldn’t resist) of most of these things the last decade or so. Being a type 1 diabetic, I could be in trouble if these things expand, but the lover of liberty in me is not easy with more government intervention. I just wish common sense would make a comeback, but I am not holding my breath….
As I state in my last comment on QandO, if these folks took the job knowing this was coming, they are SOL, as they knew the rules going in. But if it was after the fact, then it seems a bit extreme.
Also part of my question is would the public stand for this if it was other groups that were being affected. Would the public be screaming bloody murder then? I bet they would, if this affected gays, overweight people, etc. and other groups with higher costs (for the company) associated with them.

While I like Senator Santorum…

I had to ask myself WTF was he thinking in backing Specter? Strategy, I suppose, but he must have known that Specter is anything but loved on the conservative side of the Republican Party.Is it coming home to roost? I would hate to see Santorum booted out, but at what point are the R’s going to stop taking the conservatives for granted? We need moderates in the Party, no doubt, but I don’t see Specter as a worthy cause for a conservative R to stake his seat on.

Self Esteem Chickens Come Home to Roost

A very worthy post by those scalpel-wielding Clemson graduates at MUSC Tiger on just how infantile the cult of self-esteem has made today’s generation of youth. Quite a bunch of milque-toasts we’ve raised. Go read it. I see this all the time in parents rushing to protect their little dears from every boo-boo life has to offer.

Attention Safari Users

For some reason Gorezilla and the Blogroll (which is a bitchin’ name for a band) is not showing up in Safari. It does show up in Firefox under OS10. I’ll try to figure out the problem, and any html hints will be most happily received!

More Jimmy Carter

The folks at Powerline have got a blistering post up on Jimmy Carter that raises some very serious allegations. I’d like to see some of the source material and read the book before commenting further, because frankly I give very little credence to anything involving Armand Hammer and his masters in the Kremlin.
But would I be shocked? Saddened, hell yes, but shocked? No, not really, because the Left (with exceptions, of course) have never seen the fight against global communism as anything other than part of the chess game of domestic politics; they never believed in the peril we and the world faced, to them it was just superstitious nonsense.
Some things just don’t change.

Oh, beloved fairness….

how we love thee…..

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“Sod Off, Swampy”

Tim has a wonderful post up about some Greenpeace morons who invaded the oil trading ring in London and tried to shut it down…only to get the bejeebus beat out of them by the traders. God, it’s wonderful.
Listen to this one poor dear:
Lest there be any confusion on the issue, here’s the reasonable and rational manner in which the Greenpeace Civilized Debating Union presented their “point of view:”
Heh. The best part is they made their foray onto the floor after lunch, and the London boys always have a few pints with lunch so they were ready to rumble.
God, I wish they’d come to New York and try this on the Coffee Floor…

Conservative Blogs Foster Climate of Terror

Well, okay…at least fear then. I offer as proof this illuminating reality check from the oppressed masses. Come see the violence inherent in the system! (and all emphasis is mine):

CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan discovered this the hard way when he was reprimanded — and ultimately privately pressured to resign — for comments made Jan. 27 in Switzerland regarding the alarming number of journalists killed in Iraq and his purported implication that American troops had purposely targeted them. The 23-year CNN veteran was roasted on conservative blogs and finally abruptly stepped down Friday.

Chris Rock knows how Jordan feels. He has been having fun taking shots at the Academy Awards and its status as an untouchable pillar of entertainment culture. But he should know that this is no time to speak freely. Those days are history. Sticks and stones no longer are required to inflict pain everywhere you turn.

Blogs, therefore, are the masters of pain and suffering, slings and arrows, sticks and stones.

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