POWIP Piece of Work In Progress

Adventures in Detailing

The other day we were finishing up a wash; mom was doing the last of the drying and I had started working on dressing the tires and shining the wheels. The Constellations "Felicia" came on the iPod.

Mom: I love this song.

Me: Me too. But then again, I like pervy songs.

Mom: What's pervy about it? The "so sexy when you're working on your knees" part?

Me: Well, yeah. Unless she lays tile for a living.

Mom: Or does tires & wheels.

*witchy cackling*

I'm telling you people...detailing is where it's at. You don't know what you're missing.

Falahime

Falahime Blah blah blah, Wyoming, blah blah, massage therapist, details cars, used to sell beer, blah blah, hunts big game. That’s about all there is to me; I’m pretty simple.

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Obama and Advisers Discuss Failure of Capitalism

Maybe Michelle didn't say living in the WH was hell (though the mind is its own place), but still . . . .

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Air Power

The United States Air Force turns 63 years old today.

Adam Wells

Living life at 84 mph and 7000 feet. All I ask is that you don't block traffic, act like a professional, and don't act all surprised when your actions have consequences. Oh, and don't complain about the refs; trust me, they don't care if your team wins or not.

Masturblog

In response to Kill Truck's post about how some Tea Party people and establishment Republicans have to be a little thicker skinned, we get a visit from a Tea Partier who determines that because some nitwit left a vulgar message for Freedom Works, everything ever posted at this site amounts to masturbation. Cripes, even Kirsten Powers regards that as juvenile.

Letting that go for what it's worth (precisely nothing), here's Jerry Wilson on the faith lives of candidates, and particularly of Christine O'Donnell.

Remember when the Tea Party was smeared for a couple of LaRouchies with posters of Obama sporting a Hitler-style moustache? Turns out an Organizing for America operative and public services staffer for Pelosi has been stooping to the same level of banality. To me, it smells like desperation. Deval Patrick sees hate.

It's fascinating, of course, that George Soros bankrolls so much of the progressive agenda, such as Media Matters and TeaPartyTracker.org, when he was himself a willing (and unrepentant) collaborator with the Nazis. The same people who rail against Benedict's forced military service seem conveniently to forget this fact, and the same people who argue that religions are all perversions of understanding that cause terrible crimes to be visited on the human race are upset when it's pointed out that atheists have committed extraordinary atrocities, the latest revelation being a new estimate that Anita Dunn's other idol (apart from Mother Theresa), Chairman Mao, averaged about 11 million liquidations per year during the four-year stretch of the Great Leap Forward.

Yes, the Soviets fought the evil of Nazi fascism, but Stalin wasn't exactly guiltless of pogroms, gulags, and genocides in the service of . . . progress. And really, somebody on the left ought to look into the violent rhetoric of those jihadis.

All dialectical tit for tat aside, there are atheists who are scrupulously fair.

We do applaud the Tea Party's desire to return to foundational principles, and really, any nation should revisit them from time to time:

This was indeed a day of unthinkable events. Many Protestants will have been disturbed to see Pope Benedict XVI in Westminster Hall praising St Thomas More (who incidentally died to defend what he saw as the sovereignty of God). I don’t agree, however, that rebellion against the Pope was the “foundational act of English power”. Brown is a Left-wing agnostic whom one would expect to be suspicious of a national myth; but here we go again – we’re told that England discovered its identity as a result of the Reformation. Actually, English industry and culture flourished under the spiritual patronage of Rome; if the country had remained Catholic, they would have continued to do so. (In Germany, cities that remained Catholic were as prosperous as those that become Protestant.)

It is worth noting that Humanism (in the technical sense) arose out of Catholic Christianity. If you can discover an equivalent intellectual movement founded on the basis of a non-Judeo-Christian religion, do let me know, because I am all ears.

While I'm on the subject of thin skins, I might as well plump regarding the Levin-Mirengoff-Riehl-Patterico debate (or slagfest, or however you want to characterize it) that Enoch addressed earlier. Regarding this dust-up, the only thing that matters, IMO, is whether or not Levin accurately represented Mirengoff's positions to begin with. If he didn't, then he owes apologies. Period, end of story. You can click on the Mirengoff link and then go to Levin from there, and decide for yourself. And it's not about real conservatives vs. establishment Republicans: it's about accuracy and honesty.

If I had a podium as brilliant as Levin's, I wouldn't waste my time trying to demonize bloggers with whom I disagree as symptoms of political decadence, when there are so many other, more alarming and less obscure ones. I will admit, though, that sometimes synecdoche just plain works.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Oh yes she did

(Obviously, my opinions are my own and not necessarily those of Dan Collins, the POWIP family, the A&E network or Major League Baseball)

I have some things to say, a hodge podge of what's been bugging me for the last 6 months or so.  In the beginning, blogging worked for me because it let me release the frustrations that just gerbil-wheeled through my brain before.  These days it seems there's a chance I'm not a "true conservative", not what that means this week at least.  Rather than take the following as mere observations or constructive criticism, I'm pretty sure the targets of what I'm about to say will accuse me of taking my bat and ball and going home.  Of not being tough enough or having the backbone or stamina required for online politics, especially by the types of people who leave comments before they get through the first paragraph.  I'm at peace with that because I'm not so sure I consider that a character flaw.  This is honestly where I stand, and if people I've considered friends can't understand then that's the way it will have to be.

Like I said, these things have been on my mind for a while, and the aftermath of the Delaware senate primary was the last straw.

#DESEN: (That's how the crazy kids on the twitter refer to the aforementioned primary.)  From my view, (which is limited because I am not an expert on Delaware politics, mainly because it's f***ing Delaware), the voters there had no real options.  Coons is a commie or something, and I'm honestly not sure who, if anyone, ran against him.  Castle is indeed a RINO, in the clinical sense, we'll get to that later.  And Christine O'Donnell seems like a very nice lady with some issues I've been told not to address.  Obviously, as a member of the GOP establishment (TM) that will compromise the few principles I have left to win, I want right-leaning Delawareans to unite behind her.  One thing I haven't been biting my tongue on is that the objective of 11/2 should be to turn as many blue seats red as possible.  So let me be clear, I want Christine O'Donnell to win.   

GOP ESTABLISHMENT:  You're a hot mess but not a lost cause.  I'll give you some money when you get your expense accounts under control.  This is the deal, right or wrong you're gonna have to kiss the Teaparty's ass.  You know, things like giving "their candidates" money and not dismissing them out of hand.  Even if they're dressed like Paul Revere and giving you the finger.  Hate the game, old man, hate the game. 

THE TEAPARTY: (tm) Yes, our government is broken.  Yes, you deserve to have your voice heard.  Yes, I acknowledge the personal sacrifices many of you have made to take a stand for liberty.  It's why you got pissed off at me when I wondered aloud if Freedom Works reaction to that GEICO buffoon's stunt was short-sighted.  I remember the concerns of people with day jobs first dipping their toes into Conservative activism around the time of the first Teaparties.  If we used political pressure to get DC Douglas fired, then I don't see how we could complain if the same tactic is someday used against a conservative, and for far less offensive reasons.  That was my position then, and it's still my position today.  I also realize the type of big tent that leads to excessive compromise isn't what we want.  Yet I'm confused.  If Obama is a socialist and the country is truly in the state of emergency you say it is then we need to get Obama and company out of power.   Yesterday.  I fail to see how we have time to willingly lose elections.

As for what happened Tuesday night, the GOP establishment should have immediately united behind O'Donnell.  That's how this RINO's beloved 2 party system works.  But when a teenage girl belittles her father all week because she knows everything and who needs him anyway should she really be surprised when he's not so anxious to give her the keys to the Cadillac on friday night?  I don't think so, but children aren't rational.  Daddy's not perfect.  He's kind of out of touch.  He may have traded his ideals for the status quo.  But he still has resources and wisdom you can benefit from. 

I swear some of you just want to vote for anyone you've never heard of before.  Vote the bums out.  Well the last bum I reelected votes the way I'd like 99% of the time.  It's almost as if he'srepresentingmy wishes. I've also seen, over and over, Teaparty activists gloat that they weren't involved in politics before 11/5/08.  Not taking an interest in your country before the hell trickles down to you is not something to be proud of.  I'm glad you're involved, but you don't know everything.  You don't have to be the GOP establishment's bitch, but you could at least listen to what they have to say with an open mind.  Oh what am I saying?  The ones that do that quit reading this a long time ago.

RINOS:  OK, I know it stands for Republican in Name Only.  Who fits that description?  Arlen Specter did.  Graham, Lincoln, Snow, Crist all do.  Karl Rove, Charles Krauthammer and Laura Ingraham sure as hell don't (yes, I don't know what Laura Ingraham said on O'Reilly last night, but I saw multiple people call her a RINO).  There's another thing I'm confused about.  A year ago the popular thing to say on the right was, "I'm not a Republican, I'm a conservative".  Do you guys wanna be Republicans or not?  I don't care, but you do need to pick one.  It seems that any Republican that isn't in lockstep with the Teaparty is now a RINO and thus, irrelevant.  Despite the fact that among the original reasons for the Teaparty were to give some power to those that didn't want to walk in lockstep with any political establishment.   Fine.  Screw you.  Maybe we already have a third-party.  Congrats, you're Ross Perot.  As far as actual leaders, perhaps an effective litmus test in determining RINOS would be if their voting records lines up more with the Republican caucus than the Democrat one. 

In all fairness, this should be addressed to a small, yet loud, sector of the boots on the ground.  The leaders at the top of the Teaparty (and there is most definitely a top) seem to be pretty sensible.   

THE RIGHTOSPHERE AND MY PLACE IN IT:  If I've learned anything from political blogging it's that I never want my livelihood to require immersion in daily politics.  The blogosphere is largely like high school with a partisan agenda.  It's too bad.  The beauty of the blog is that anyone with the internet has a platform to express themselves, but if you want anyone to hear you there is networking to be done.  I cherish the friendships I've made with other bloggers.  For personal reasons it's not currently feasible for me to attend things like Blogcon or CPAC.  I'd love to meet other bloggers in person, and I'd love to learn how to blog effectively, but the last couple of days I've been wondering if I would even have a right to be there.  I don't consider myself an activist or a journalist.  I'm a writer.  Perhaps my fate isn't writing about politics at all.  I don't want to stop being politically active online, but I may be making some big changes as to how I go about it.  My current situation just doesn't feel right to me.

OTHER RACES:  That RINO Bill Kristol cites my state, Washington, Wisconsin, Connecticut, West Virginia all as races where Republicans have very good chances at winning.  Dino Rossi may not be a Teaparty sweetheart, but he would beat the hell out of Patty Murray and he very well could if he could get some of that #desen type of coverage.  That just doesn't happened here.  And as far as GOP establishment types being spoiled sports, Rossi's primary opponent and "true conservative", Clint Didier didn't react to his loss any better than Castle did.  We need to have the same standards for everyone.  That's what makes us better than the other guys.  It also just makes sense to put money on the surest thing first.  Within reason.

LEGITIMATE CRITICISM:  You know how whenever a conservative questions President Obama's policies he's deemed a racist?  I think RINO may be our racist.  I also think the Teaparty, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin have been so horrificly treated that their staunchest supporters have become so defensive that no criticism of them is welcome.  If we don't examine our own before we send them into a general election we are doing them a disservice.  Note that I'm not suggesting Palin, Beck or the Teaparty are wrong in general, but blind devotion is dangerous.

THE BOTTOM LINE:  If we truly care about the America we're leaving our children then we should agree that objective one is getting the left out of power.  That requires winning elections.  If we need to run a Scott Brown to prevent a Martha Coakley then that's what we've gotta do.  It is my opinion that winning elections right now requires new grassroots and the dreaded GOP establishment working together with egos checked.

OK, I think that's it.

UPDATE: Mary Katherine Hamm nails the RINO, sexism BS.

Kill Truck

KillTruck is a wife, mother, blogger and native midwesterner now living in Eastern Washington state. She writes about politics, pop culture, parenting, wifing and a few other subjects she has no authority to write about. She has macabre fascinations with prostitution and/or cannibalism. In her free time she enjoys eating and/or drinking her feelings, liveblogging Lifetime movies, thinking about Scott Brown and mocking things she doesn’t understand.

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5 Algerians Arrested for Alleged Plot To Assassinate Pope

The Papal visit to the UK was already surrounded by shrieking from atheists, gay rights advocates and people outraged by pedophilia cover-ups in the Church (the last of which outraged us, too, but with the reservation that statistics show sexual abuse in the Church to be less prevalent (pdf study available at linked source) than in secular institutions). This morning, anti-terrorist police in London knocked on the door of a business establishment and detained for questioning 5 men who are variously described as Algerian or of different nationalities.

Why Algerians (or gentlemen of other nationalities) would wish to murder the Pope is an open question. Maybe something about Byzantium. Hard to say. If there was a plot afoot, it's certainly interesting that they should have decided to try to kill Papa Ratzi when he was in the UK. That might mean that it was a matter of opportunity for 5 like-minded Algerians (or Muslims of whatever national affilitation) who happened to be living in London at the time of the Pope's visit. On the other hand, it may possibly be that they wished to send the message that the UK is a Muslim country now, but will continue burning Guy Fawkes in effigy on general principles.

Many Brits have bemoaned the expenditure on security that the Pope's visit has brought, believing that the Vatican ought to have footed the bill. What the costs are to surveille and counter the Islamists they harbor in their midst seems to be a completely separate matter, to their minds. And after all, welcoming a non-Muslim cleric from abroad is simply inviting trouble, isn't it?

Just a reminder that we mustn't generalize regarding atheists, because they are far too rational to do so to us.

UPDATE: I'm sure that given the Vatican's denunciation of plans to burn Korans, Muslim clerics will climb out of the woodwork to denounce any such plots.

UPDATE x2: Alleged wannabe terrorists were street cleaners.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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