February 13, 2008

Be very afraid

Who is the far left afraid of as Johnny Mac's Veep?

My favorite bit: how it makes it sound sinister to be a hard-core NFL fan.

Posted by: Steve-O at 08:32 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Maybe it's the cough syrup speaking but...

exactly how hard would it be to obtain a Kennedy DNA sample?

Just asking.

Posted by: Steve-O at 08:29 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Ouch!

Sooner or later, the crew manning the ER see it all. Via Fox.

Posted by: LMC at 07:54 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Somebody Page The Pevensee Children

The White Stag has been spotted in Scotland:

A mythical and ghostly creature has appeared in the wilds of the Scottish Highlands -- and has been caught on camera.

The rare white stag, from the red deer species, is believed to be among just a tiny handful living in Britain, according to a conservation group.

The John Muir Trust is now keeping the stag's location secret for fear of poachers.

"To see him amongst the other stags was truly thrilling because he does look like a ghost: you do a double-take," Trust Partnership Manager Fran Lockhart, who filmed the stag, told Reuters.

Neat. And if it means Aslan is on the move, so much the better.

Posted by: Robert at 11:29 AM | Comments (15) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gratuitous Pre-Holiday Crankiness Posting

RESOLVED: Valentine's Day as currently "celebrated" is nothing but an exercise in the cynical manipulation of mawkish sentimentality and consumer guilt orchestrated by the Hallmark-FTD-Zales cabal and its allies, and therefore should be pointedly ignored.

Discuss.

UPDATE: Your (manly) Maximum Leader has more to say on the subject.

Posted by: Robert at 10:55 AM | Comments (20) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

S.S. Hillary Death Spiral Watch

Our hopefully new daily feature, with "Nearer, My God, to thee" gooey goodness just for fun.

Best Quote OF. ALL. TIME. (insert proper Chris Berman voice for that).

It's nice to see Professor Chaos banging on the blog again.

Bryan at Hot Air is in rare agreement with the Associated Press: Hillary's excuses for not winning are running very, very thin. I would make an "Empress has no clothes joke," but I think I can speak for all the readers and say, "Please, let's have another debate about Apostolic Succession instead of having to visualize Hillary nekkid."

What happens when you get behind? Crap like this: Hillary yet to congratulate the Messiah on any of his post-Super Tuesday victories. Expect CNN to stay with this bone.

Posted by: Steve-O at 08:56 AM | Comments (16) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

February 12, 2008

Presented Without Comment

YIPS from Steve-O: Think about it for a second: Obama's close to winning Virginia by a margin of two hundred thousand votes. In Virginia, on Lincoln's Birthday. Stunning.

Yips! from Gary:
Hear me now and believe me later.

She ain't dead yet. The primary calendar going forward favors her. And the long knives have yet to be drawn.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Pre-Coffee, Weather-Delayed Yips! back from Robbo: Agreed that it ain't over, but here's the question: At what point does she become so vicious in her despair that she actually starts damaging herself? She's basically betting the farm on Texas and Ohio (a la Rudy in Florida). If Obamessiah's mojo is too strong, what does she do? Lawsuits? Threats and bullying of superdelegates? There are already hints of that sort of thing. And what effect does all this have on voters, especially all those people who seem to be going ga-ga over Obama? Does she really think they're all going to get back in line and vote for her in the general?

I'm beginning - beginning, mark you - to think that even if SWMNBN manages to come back and grab the nomination, she goes into the general with so much battle damage that Little Mac would be grinning from ear to ear as he loads up the twelve-gauge.

Which may be what the GOP is dreaming of, after all.

Which might explain the "We Luv Ya, Hill!" bumpersticker on Karl Rove's car.

Posted by: Robert at 08:20 PM | Comments (19) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Laugh in

Best line of the campaign. Best line of ANY campaign. EVER:

The senator was asked a question from a Politico.com reader in Santa Monica, Calif., who was seeking assurance that "no new business or personal scandal involving Bill Clinton" could erupt if she were in the White House and give fodder to Republicans.

"You know, I can assure this reader that that is not going to happen," she said. "You know, none of us can predict the future, no matter who we are and what we are running for, but I am very confident that that will not happen."

Posted by: Steve-O at 06:24 PM | Comments (18) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Today is Charles Darwin's Birthday

So naturally it's time for a good article about having sex with robots.

Glenn Reynolds and Allahpundit were unavailable for comment.

Posted by: Steve-O at 03:31 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

The worst political ad. EVER!

I showed this one to the intro American kids as well as Congress and the laughter was deafening.

Definitely not the laughing with variety, either....

Probably the worst attempt to connect with the youth vote since Nixon's "Punch a Hippy" ad from 1968.

Posted by: Steve-O at 02:47 PM | Comments (19) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Speaking Troof to Llamas

We've had several reports that our spam-filter has suddenly got extra persnickity and is blocking out all comments. I dunno if this is some kind of Moo-Gnuvian system-wide thingy, or if it is specific to us Llamas. What is more, as is usually the case when confronted with a technical problem, I've gone into Luddite Brainfreeze mode. Therefore, I'm counting on Steve-O (ahem!) to do the things that need to be done in order to get things back to normal.

In the meantime, of course, if you're really dying to say something about our bloviations, there is always the Tasty Bits (TM) Mail Sack. As we say, go ahead - make our day!

Yip! Yip!

Posted by: Robert at 09:04 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Equal Opportunity Religious Asshattery

The other day I started a bit of a kerfluffle here when I linked to and commented on the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent auto-defenestrating statement that Sharia law was all but inevitable in Britain and that the Brits would just have to deal with it.

From the Protestant-Catholic battle lines that were immediately drawn up, it is evident that my suggestion that this was a symptom of a general cultural demise, not one specific to Reformation politics, was lost in the melee.

Well, just to reenforce that idea, I bring you (with horror) this item about Dutch Catholics swallowing the same koolaid:

Dutch Catholics have re-branded the Lent fast as the "Christian Ramadan" in an attempt to appeal to young people who are more likely to know about Islam than Christianity.

The Catholic charity Vastenaktie, which collects for the Third World across the Netherlands during the Lent period, is concerned that the Christian festival has become less important for the Dutch over the last generation.

"The image of the Catholic Lent must be polished. The fact that we use a Muslim term is related to the fact that Ramadan is a better-known concept among young people than Lent," said Vastenaktie Director, Martin Van der Kuil.

Three decades ago the Catholic Church was as strict as many Muslims are about Ramadan with a total ban on meat and alcohol during the 40-day Lenten period between Ash Wednesday and Easter.

Most Dutch Catholics now focus on charitable work after the Vatican loosened fasting strictures for all but the first and last days of Lent back in 1967.

Four million Dutch describe themselves as Roman Catholics and 400,000 people attend Mass every week but only a few tens of thousands still mark Lent by fasting, said Mr Van der Kuil

Vastenaktie organisers hope that by linking the festival to Ramadan they can remind Christians who may be less observant than Muslims of the "spirituality and sobriety" of Lent.

"The agreements are more striking than the differences. Both for Muslims and Catholic faithful the values of frugality and spirituality play a central role in this tradition," said Mr Van der Kuil.

This short article is so full of heresies, misstatements and relevatistic crapola that I don't even know where to begin. Granted, it appears that the idea was hatched by a charity, not by the Church itself, but still.

I say again: a culture that no longer believes in itself dies.

Yips! to Steyn in the Corner.

ECUMENICAL YIPS from Steve-O: I blame the strong influence of yoga. And creeping Walloonism (which, I realize is in southern Belgium and not the Netherlands, but I just like the sound of it. Say it with me: creeping Walloonism. Mint julipery. Ecumenical asshattery. That's the ticket!)

Posted by: Robert at 08:50 AM | Comments (16) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Potomac Primary Daze

Damn them all, says I. Instead, I'm starting a write-in campaign on behalf of Rufus T. Firefly:

Please consider joining me in this effort.

UPDATE: Okay, maybe that joke was a little bit lame. You want comedy? This is comedy:

Clinton, speaking on WJLA Channel 7 in Washington and Politico.com, also promised there would be no new scandals involving her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

The senator was asked a question from a Politico.com reader in Santa Monica, Calif., who was seeking assurance that "no new business or personal scandal involving Bill Clinton" could erupt if she were in the White House and give fodder to Republicans.

"You know, I can assure this reader that that is not going to happen," she said. "You know, none of us can predict the future, no matter who we are and what we are running for, but I am very confident that that will not happen."

MWAHAHAHAHROTFLMAOSOSPDQSYZYGYASAPSTETWWJDETAL!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE: What the heck, I'm operating outside the Taft Act Neutral Zone today, so let's have SWMNBN show us how it's really done:

Posted by: Robert at 07:49 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

February 11, 2008

Two solid days of nothing but politics and pop culture

And nothing in the comments section. So, here's my public service contribution:

POCZERNIN, Poland -- This wind-swept village is bracing for an invasion of demons, thanks to a priest who believes he can defeat Satan.

The Rev. Andrzej Trojanowski, a soft-spoken Pole, plans to build a "spiritual oasis" that will serve as Europe's only center dedicated to performing exorcisms. With the blessing of the local Catholic archbishop and theological support from the Vatican, the center will aid a growing number of Poles possessed by evil forces or the devil himself, he said.

"This is my task, this is my purpose -- I want to help these people," said Trojanowski, who has worked as an exorcist for four years. "There is a group of people who cannot get relief through any other practices and who need peace."

Exorcism -- the church rite of expelling evil spirits from tortured souls -- is making a comeback in Catholic regions of Europe. Last July, more than 300 practitioners gathered in the Polish city of Czestochowa for the fourth International Congress of Exorcists.

About 70 priests serve as trained exorcists in Poland, about double the number of five years ago. An estimated 300 exorcists are active in Italy. Foremost among them: the Rev. Gabriele Amorth, 82, who performs exorcisms daily in Rome and is dean of Europe's corps of demon-battling priests.

"People don't pray anymore, they don't go to church, they don't go to confession. The devil has an easy time of it," Amorth said in an interview. "There's a lot more devil worship, people interested in satanic things and seances, and less in Jesus."

Amorth and other priests said the resurgence in exorcisms has been encouraged by the Vatican, which in 1999 formally revised and upheld the rite for the first time in almost 400 years.

Although a Vatican official denied reports in December of a campaign to train more exorcists, supporters said informal efforts began under Pope John Paul II -- himself an occasional demon chaser -- and have accelerated under Pope Benedict XVI. A Catholic university in Rome began offering courses in exorcism in 2005 and has drawn students from around the globe.

One of the recruits is the Rev. Wieslaw Jankowski, a priest with the Institute for Studies on the Family, a counseling center outside Warsaw. He said priests at the institute realized they needed an exorcist on staff after encountering an increase in people plagued by evil.

Typical cases, he said, include people who turn away from the church and embrace New Age therapies, alternative religions or the occult. Internet addicts and yoga devotees are also at risk, he said.

Yoga? WTF? What's Benedict got against limberness, pony tails, and little rolled up mats?

And yes, I realize the "demon-battling priests" line just made me salivate over the prospect of Georgetown and Duke meeting in the Final Four.

Anyhoo, back to our regularly scheduled Clinton Campaign Death Watch: Nearer, My God, To Thee comes to the New York Times.

Posted by: Steve-O at 09:45 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

What The Huck Does He Want?

I admit, the longer Mike Huckabee continues his campaign the more silly-assed post titles I can generate. And for that, I'm thankful.

But seriously, why does Gov. Huckabee linger when it's clear that it's almost mathematically impossible for him to win? I mean, after Potomac Tuesday tomorrow McCain will probably have just about all he needs with wins in OH and TX. So what's the point?

Mike Huckabee is trying to get past 289. That's the number of delegates that Mitt Romney's "suspended" campaign currently has. I don't think the Huckster is pushing for VP because let's be honest, McCain will choose his running mate based on personal loyalty not accumulated delegates. I think he's gunning for the mantle of "conservative leader" against Romney for 2012 and beyond.

So as Huck's Army marches on, they keep McCain in the news. Right now, it's tough to break through the Hil-Bama story. But as long as Huckabee keeps hanging in there the newsies in the MSM will still pay attention to the Republicans. My guess is that McCain will take the free media coverage. He'll need it. Because the quest to paint him as an unstable right-wing nutcase will get underway soon enough.

Brace yourself, John. It's a comin'. Considering how well you did against Charlie for almost five years I give you better than 50/50 against these hounds. Party on!

Posted by: Gary at 09:39 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Oh, Heck, Let's Give 'Em Another Kick While They're Down....

Heh:

Some Patriots played in a Pro Bowl sauna yesterday at Aloha Stadium, but their reception from the sellout crowd of 50,044 was ice cold. The six Patriots who played in the all-star game in 80-degree temperatures and on artificial turf that was hot to the touch were greeted with a surprisingly emphatic chorus of boos during introductions yesterday. Cornerback Asante Samuel, linebacker Mike Vrabel, nose tackle Vince Wilfork, center Dan Koppen, tackle Matt Light, and guard Logan Mankins followed a standard-bearer of the Patriots logo onto the field amid fireworks as the crowd erupted with the only negative greeting it accorded any of the game's participants.

Neener! Neener! Ack!! Sppplltthhhhh!!!!!!

Yips! from Gary:
All this celebrating upon the ashes of Darth Belichick strikes me as reminiscent of the light-hearted chorus of "Nyub, nyub" from the Ewoks on the Moon of Endor. Beware NFL fans, he'll be back next year. He's only mostly dead.

Posted by: Robert at 05:54 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

He who laughs last truly laughs hardest

Ted Olson, who argued Bush v. Palm Beach and Bush v. Gore for the forces of good and light, on the prospect of a Clinton lawsuit over Florida primary delegates:

As the convention nears, with Sen. Clinton trailing slightly in the delegate count, the next step might well be a suit in the Florida courts challenging her party's refusal to seat Florida's delegation at the convention. And the Florida courts, as they did twice in 2000, might find some ostensible legal basis for overturning the pre-election rules and order the party to recognize the Clinton Florida delegates. That might tip the balance to Sen. Clinton.

We all know full well what could happen next. The array of battle-tested Democratic lawyers who fought for recounts, changes in ballot counting procedures, and even re-votes in Florida courts and the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000 would separate into two camps. Half of them would be relying on the suddenly-respectable Supreme Court Bush v. Gore decision that overturned the Florida courts' post-hoc election rules changes. The other half would be preaching a new-found respect for "federalism" and demanding that the high court leave the Florida court decisions alone.

Would the U.S. Supreme Court even take the case after having been excoriated for years by liberals for daring to restore order in the Florida vote-counting in 2000? And, would Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, the dissenters in Bush v. Gore, feel as strongly about not intervening if Sen. Obama was fighting against an effort to change a presidential election by changing the rules after the fact? Will there be a brief filed by Floridians who didn't vote in their state's primary because the party had decided, and the candidates had agreed, that the results wouldn't count?

In short, the way things are going so far, Sens. Obama and Clinton will probably be so close to one another in delegate count by the time of the convention that all those primary votes may be tabulated, but will turn out to be irrelevant to the outcome. Those 796 superdelegate politicians will decide who the candidate will be. Maybe no cigar or cigarette smoke this time, but back-room politics all the same. All those primary voters and millions in campaign expenses locked out of the room.

This may be one of those déjà vu fantasies that won't happen. But it did happen before. And Florida has a quirky habit of popping up again and again in close presidential elections, having been a factor not only in 2000, but also the epic presidential election controversy of 1876. And Democratic lawyers have undoubtedly kept copies of the legal briefs they filed for Al Gore in 2000 into which their computers can easily substitute the name Clinton for Gore.

If it does happen, I'd be more than happy to loan Sen. Obama the winning briefs that helped secure the election of the legitimate winner of the 2000 election, George W. Bush.

I'm at a loss of which youtube clip to use to illustrate this point: exactly what clip of monmaniacal laughter should I use?

I mean, there is THAT, but I'm thinking something of the evil villain genius variety. Suggestions?

Posted by: Steve-O at 12:16 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Never EVER count the Clintons out. Yet....

When you see headlines like "Clinton Badly Needs Win in Virginia" I can't help but hear this song:

And yes, a meme is born.

Yips! from Robbo: Ya know, you have to admire the courage of those politico types who have declared for Obamessiah. After all, if SWMNBN does manage to come through in the clutch (by whatever means), you can bet the day after the convention she'll have the guillotine set up in the square outside DNC HQ. And the gutters, as they say, will run red.

Posted by: Steve-O at 11:19 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gratuitous Domestic Posting (TM) - Book At Bedtime Division

The good news: I've got the eldest Llama-ette hooked into The Hobbit. We finished the first chapter last evening and it looks. like. we. might. go. all. the. way!

The bad news: That's thirteen different dwarves, a hobbit and a wizard to try and voice, not to mention the various ancillary characters that come and go. What a challenge! (The trolls will be easy enough - straight cockney - and Gollum is a gimme, but how the blazes does one keep Bifur, Bofur and Bombur straight? The bit where they and their friends all show up at Bilbo's door in batches is brutal.)

For Bilbo, I'm doing a kind of Roddy McDowall riff, while my Gandalf keeps edging (for some odd reason) toward Leo McKern. Unfortunately, my Thorin keeps mutating into Grumpy from Snow White, which, of course, is all wrong.

Posted by: Robert at 10:05 AM | Comments (15) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Roy Scheider, RIP

Via Drudge. Although best known for his role in Jaws, I think his greatest performance was Officer Frank Murphy in Blue Thunder, a police helicopter pilot who checked his sanity with a stopwatch.

Posted by: LMC at 08:05 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

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