Thief's Den

Ahhh....to be young again.

My inner child is ten years old!

The adult world is pretty irrelevant to me. Whether
I'm off on my bicycle (or pony) exploring, lost
in a good book, or giggling with my best
friend, I live in a world apart, one full of
adventure and wonder and other stuff adults
don't understand.


How Old is Your Inner Child?
brought to you by Quizilla

Oh wait, I am young!

To celebrate, this weekend I'll break out the Nintendo (well, the NES emulator), just for the heck of it. And I'll stay up past my bedtime, too. 'Cuz you're only as old as you feel. ;)

Rising Poll

Coincidence? Apparently the folks at Captain's Quarters think so. Thanks!

Oh, and John...I think it's starting to wear off...

I Am Jack's Smirking Radio Update

This week: I am Jack's Inflamed Bile Duct.

Because between trying to shoehorn spreadsheet data into a relational database (think shoving 20 gallons of shit into a 10 gallon hat), and dealing with a boss who is incapable of taking "I'm working on it" for an answer, I'm starting to feel a lot like Jack.

But then again, I am not my job.

Right?

UPDATE:
Sagittarius: (Nov. 22—Dec. 21)
Sports metaphors are among the most trite, but it's hard to deny that your life is a lot like buzkashi, a violent Afghan form of polo played with goat corpses.

Sounds about right.

Star Power

Hmmm...

If I were a celebrity, apparently I would be Jim Carrey.

[butt]DO YOU HAVE A MINT? SOME...BINACA, MAYBE?[/butt]

Via The Queen.

Very Handy.

Now this is too funny.

TD Radio: Sleeping Time

This week's TD Radio: Songs of Sleep.

Because that what I need right now.

Night-night!

Link Dump of the Brain-Dead

Links to keep you awake. Well, not really you. Me, specifically. Otherwise I'm just going to collapse right here at work.

With that said, get the truck, we're going to the dump.

Ernie the Attorney reports on a good idea in the Louisiana Legislature (as opposed to the now-DOA ban on low-riding pants for women). Then again, I think direct democracy is a very Good Thing.

A plea from Iran:

We need congressional hearings and testimonies given by young Iranians describing the hopelessness of existence under theocracy; the complete lack of normalcy and dignity; the day-by-day attrition of life. We need a tiny fraction of the West's financial support channeled to the families of Iranian political prisoners and jailed journalists with international monitoring. We need your soft power, and all of it. We need it in a barrage of heavy-media artillery, think-tank platforms, and the solidarity of Western NGOs. We need U.S. and EU campus events with young Iranians "yearning for freedom" standing hand in hand with Western students. We need Western artists lending their music and their voices to the Joyless Generation."

Guys, I hate to break it to you, but all of these people seem more intent on getting Bush out of office because a couple of Iraqis had to wear women's underwear on their head, and apparently this now counts as "torture." I truly wish I were kidding.

Meanwhile, back at the UN (y'know, that organization who devotes itself to the peace of all humankind, unlike us greedy little imperialist bastards), Blue-Helmet peacekeepers make Congolese refugees perform sex acts for food. Charming.

Transterrestrial Musings gives me one piece of good news, and his commenters pile on with more. Hell, us conservatives can dream...

Mr. TM also gets one on the rebound, for something that should go down in the dictionary as an example of "irony."

Finally, my answers to Kim Du Toit's Blogger's Quiz.

Do you have the guts to take the honest bloggers-only quiz? Meh. Beats working.

1. which political party do you typically agree with? Republican

2. which political party do you typically vote for? Republican

3. list the last five presidents that you voted for? Bush in 2000. (I'm not old enough to have voted for any others).

4. which party do you think is smarter about the economy? Tie: Republican/Libertarian

5. which party do you think is smarter about domestic affairs? Republican

6. do you think we should keep our troops in Iraq or pull them out? Keep 'em in until the Iraqis can handle security and/or they ask us to stay.

7. who, or what country, do you think is most responsible for 9/11? Most Responsible: Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. Accessories: Wahhabism, the Taliban.

8. do you think we will find weapons of mass destruction in iraq? For the 1,000th freakin' time, WE JUST DID.

9. yes or no, should the u.s. legalize marijuana? No. (However, I would not say no to making posession/cultivation a misdemeanor punishable by fines and/or community service instead of jail)

10. do you think the republicans stole the last presidental election? Hell no. According to the rules of the game, Bush won fair and square in 2000.

11. do you think bill clinton should have been impeached because of what he did with monica lewinski? He wasn't. He was impeached for perjury, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power.

12. do you think Hillary Clinton would make a good president? Nope. She's too extremist on too many issues. Odds are she couldn't get elected in the first place.

13. name a current democrat who would make a great president: Great president? The last great Dem presidents were FDR and Truman, and the post-Vietnam Democratic party couldn't muster anyone who comes even close to "great". (In fairness, I think Joe Lieberman, Evan Bayh, or Sam Nunn could do passably well and not completely screw things up, but nowhere near "great.")

14. name a current republican who would make a great president: Bush II could be great IF HE'D JUST GROW A SPINE AND TAKE ON THE PEOPLE WHO DON'T LIKE HIM.

15. do you think that women should have the right to have an abortion? No, and I think that even talking about it as a "right" is silly. (But I'm also definitely sure banning abortion outright won't do any good either.)

16. what religion are you? Christian. (Won't say what denomination for reasons of anonymity.)

17. have you read the Bible all the way through? Yep.

18. what's your favorite book? That's like asking a father to pick his favorite kid. I like a lot of books...they're all just different.

19. who is your favorite band? See #18.

20. who do you think you'll vote for president in the next election? Bush

21. what website did you see this on first? Kim Du Toit

Out of the Frying Pan...

Into the WHAT THE FRACKING HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!?!?!?!?

Thanks for nothing, Dean-o. Now I gotta go wash my brain out.

UPDATE: Right back at ya, Mr. Dean. ;) (BTW, Not Work Safe. Via Red Sugar.)

Ronald Reagan: President, Patriot, and Believer

Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-2004)
40th President of the United States (1981-1989)

Si monumentum requiris, circumspice.
(If you seek his monument, look around you.)
- Epitaph of Sir Christopher Wren, architect of St. Paul's Cathedral, London.

"The world is ten years old." So writes Milton Friedman, the world's best-known globalization advocate, quoting from a full-page ad by Merrill Lynch, published at the height of the Asian financial crisis.

"It was born when the Wall fell in 1989. It's no surprise that the world's youngest economy - the global economy - is still finding its bearings...Many world markets are only recently freed, governed for the first time by the emotions of the people rather than the fists of the state.. From where we sit, none of this diminishes the promise offered a decade ago by the demise of the walled-off world...The spread of free markets and democracy around the world is permitting more people everywhere to turn their aspirations into achievements. And technology, properly harnessed and liberally distributed, has the power to erase not just geographical borders but also human ones. It seems to us that, for a 10-year-old, the world continues to hold great promise. In the meantime, no one ever said growing up was easy."

Yet whatever this age grows up to be, Ronald Reagan took the first steps to create it. He went against the political grain both here and abroad, seeking to replace tired old ideologies based on state control with new visions that promised freedom, brought the coercive power of the state under the control of its people, and opened the way to the future. Czech President Vaclav Havel noted about the Communist system that Reagan despised: "Communism as a system went against life, against man's fundamental needs; against the need for freedom; the need to be enterprising, to associate freely; against the will of the nation. Something that goes against life may last a long time - but sooner or later, it will collapse." Similarly, at home in the US, people began to realize, in the words of Plutarch, that "The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations, and benefits;" more government intrusion and regulation does not create a better life. The fall of Communism created economic miracles in Eastern Europe, and America produced its own economic miracle through limiting government. And most importantly, Reagan sought to preserve the world for the future by ending the nuclear arms race that had brought the world to the brink of a nuclear apocalypse more than once, and then by rendering the ideology that gave rise to this conflict obsolete and irrelevant.

Sadly, it was only after his death that people began to appreciate Reagan for his legacy. Reagan, though he withdrew from public life after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1994, continues to be a controversial figure. He is an icon of the Conservative Right, and a demon of the Liberal Left, credited for economic expansion, blamed for deficits, praised for his tough stance against the Soviets, ridiculed for SDI, lauded for his legacy, criticized for it as well. And yet, when his body lay in state at the Reagan Library in California and the U.S. Capitol, nearly 400,000 people, from all walks of life, waited in long lines to see the man who, in just eight years, had changed the world forever, and for the better.

What lessons, then, can we draw from Ronald Reagan's life? First, never underestimate the power and the allure that freedom holds for all human beings, and the great things people can accomplish when they have it. For a people who have always known freedom, very few Americans can understand what a life without freedom truly means. But Russians, Ukrainians, Lithuanianians, Poles, Germans, Czechs, Hungarians, and Romanians know. So too, do Chinese, Vietnamese, Koreans, Cambodians, Laotians, and Cubans. Reagan brought people freedom from abroad, freedom from a country that they had been taught from birth to despise. What the world has done with this freedom in just 15 short years is incredible: The Internet, the global market, and the most promising technologies the world has ever seen. Give people freedom and they can do anything. Second, never fear for the future. This is the ultimate legacy of Ronald Reagan. After all he, this nation, and the world had endured, the years of mistrust, the proxy wars, the posturing, the lies, the doubt, and the fear, Reagan faced the future with optimism. In his farewell to the nation after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Reagan wrote, "When the Lord calls me home, whenever that may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future...I know that for America, there will always be a bright dawn ahead."

Farewell, Mr. President. As you believed in the American people, may your example continue to show us that we can believe in ourselves. And that with this belief, we can change the world for the better.

Thief's Den: Welcome to the Weekend of HELL.

TD Radio Update: First two songs are a tribute to the man who, in so many ways, rebuilt America when everyone thought we were in decline.

Rest are random songs from previous lists that didn't make the cut.

One last post coming up, then blogging will be suspended until Tuesday as I study for the LSAT's and LOSE MY FREAKING MIND.

And you do not want to see that.

TD Radio: Salute to D-Day

Blackfive is hosting a salute to D-Day and its veterans this week, with a roundup of fine posts about the battle that saved Europe.

In honor of these fine soldiers, and all who fought in the last great war, Thief's Den offers a selection of the music from that era, from the comedic to the hopeful, as well as a final, modern-day tribute to that great endeavor from an unlikely source...

(Go to the main page and click "pop-up" on the Radio screen to allow the playlist to play as you check out each of the D-Day posts...)

It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something."

"What are we holding on to, Sam?"

"That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for."

Thanks to men like these, there always will be good in the world.

TD Radio Update - Blogging Themes

I changed the playlist a while ago. This week: Blogger Themes. Each song is my "theme" for some of the best blogs out there.

Allah's Got The Blues.
He takes a lot of guff, but Charles Johnson Won't Back Down.
Blackfive Can't, Won't and Don't Stop fighting to get the good news heard.
Misha I: Telling the world to F__k Off, 24/7.
All Hands -- Captain on Deck!
TEST YOUR MIGHT... at the Iron Blog.
Steven Den Beste: Logic in a Highly Illogical world.
If your need for news is Urgent...check the Command Post.
Frank J. is the Walrus. Coo Coo Ca Choob.
Uh-oh! Der Commissar's in Town!
Baldilocks says: THINK!
RantingProfs doesn't think the media's Candy is good for everyone.

And finally:

Instapundit Seeks out the news. And then he says "Heh."

Enjoy.

Do you know the Muffin Man?

Found the following on Amazon.com. Apparently, they've set up a place where people can donate money to Presidential candiatates.

But would somebody mind explaining this?

John F. Kerry
Party Affiliation: Democrat
Date of Birth: 12/11/1943
Education: BA, Yale (1966); JD, Boston College (1976)
Military Service: U.S. Navy
Birthplace: Denver, CO
Hometown: Boston, MA
Family: Married, 2 daughters, 3 stepsons
Current Job: U.S. Senator
Prior Job(s): Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts; First Assistant District Attorney of Middlesex County; attorney in private practice; cookie-muffin shop owner; Swift Boat commander, U.S. Navy

Muffin shop owner? I suppose it works. After all, Kerry's policy statements are like muffins...they look really good and filling on the outside, but inside they're mostly fluff and hot air.

Not Quite Clear On The Concept

Cathy Seipp on Lefty Bloggers' reaction to a panel discussion on blogging, where she picked the panelists by (gasp!) their links!:

The blogging panel, though...what a hornet's nest of outraged opinion this one stirred up. Some people seemed to think the blogosphere should be like academia, where outreach programs to find the perfect lesbian woman of color sociology professor are taken very seriously indeed...The panel was basically evenly divided, and in the strictest sense probably tilted left. But there was a storm of protest that, to use some of the more polite terms I came across, the bloggers represented were all warmongering, Arab-bashing, Republican turds.

OK, let me spell this out, for those who are not quite clear on the concept:

So you think the blogosphere is infested with a conspiracy to keep you down? Great. WE. DON'T. CARE.

If all you do is parrot the Kerry (or Bush) campaign's talking points, or do nothing but start flame wars, or bitch about how smart you are and why is it that nobody reads you, then NOBODY'S GOING TO READ YOU OR LINK TO YOU.

And don't think that you get a special dispensation just because you have a master's degree or are a minority. Those don't count. Everyone in the 'sphere has two or three areas they know pretty damn well, whether or not they have a degree to show for it. And every blogger is a "minority" -- a minority of one. In other words, an individual.

Blogs are the ultimate free-market medium. ("Talk is cheap. Supply always exceeds demand.") You put out good product, people read you, you get links. Blogs do not rise above the fray because of some vast conspiracy to find bloggers with this or that agenda. Blogs rise because they offer the people what they want, whether it's insight or laughter or simply trash.

I'm not a big blogger. (Instalanche count holding steady at one.) I could be a lot bigger, if I just could make the time to post more. But you know what? THAT'S MY OWN GODDAMN FAULT. NO ONE ELSE'S. No one's conspiring to keep me down among the reptiles, and no one's conspiring to keep this guy down in the swamps either. The only way to succeed in blogging is to write often and write well. (Either that or engage in a LOT of link-whoring. But even if you do, unless you write often and well, you will be known as a link whore and nothing else.)

Come to think of it, that's the way the real world works, too. Success is earned, not given. Of course, such thoughts are not PC. But they are true.

Tenet's Out.

WaPo is reporting.

Having (briefly) met the man, I can say this. He may have made his fair share of mistakes, but he was a damn sight better than the doofuses appointed by Clinton and Carter.

I just hope that whoever replaces him keeps up the push for reform that Tenet started after 9/11 (especially revitalizing the Clandestine Service and clearing out the bureaucratic status quo in terms of analysts and administrators.)

More thoughts later.