Meanwhile, back at the Ranch...

The scenery was indeed lovely, especially in the u...

2012-05-24T14:08:44.472-04:00

The scenery was indeed lovely, especially in the upper level cars like the dining car. Our line tracked the Mississippi River for long stretches, and otherwise we saw lots of trees, farmland, and cities. Of course, the overnight nature of the trip meant that often there was nothing but darkness to see out the windows, but in general the scenery is a big plus over planes in my book.

What was the scenery like? I always imagine nicer...

2012-05-22T23:31:55.008-04:00

What was the scenery like? I always imagine nicer scenery on trains than on planes.

Spouse of Grimsaburger

As a retired Catholic I was most upset with the an...

2012-02-17T06:01:30.918-05:00

As a retired Catholic I was most upset with the anti-Obama letters written by bishops and read at Catholic masses. I don't get it either. The leaders of an anti-gay, anti-women, pro-criminal (sexual offense is a crime) organization don't have a real moral leg to stand on, dude. (Last sentence ended with "dude" because I didn't want to end it with a preposition). It is sad that a Church associated with helping the poor and fighting for Civil Rights is more concerned with the obedience of its parishioners. Anyways, obedience to bishops is stupid. Those bozos can only move in a diagonal direction.

Christly Yours,
Spouse of Grimsaburger

Check this article out. Thank God no one reads these articles! I guess what the RNC wants, the RNC gets.

I saw Santorum on "Meet the Press?" or "Face the Nation?" The one with Dick Gregory's son, David. Well, I think you're right about his lack of stamina. He had hard time answering the most basic questions like, "Why don't any of the people who worked with you want to support you?" and, "You use to like Romney. What did he do to you in the last four years?" It is sad to see the other side not have a real choice. I know I am still pissed about Howard Dean not getting a chance to debate W. Imagine how some of the Teabaggers will be feeling in the upcoming months?

Spouse of Grimsaburger

I remember Eliot Spitzer eschewed the usual suspec...

2011-12-10T14:35:44.421-05:00

I remember Eliot Spitzer eschewed the usual suspects in favor of a commercial agency from Madison Ave. His ads were remarkable.

I think you can kind of tell that it's always the same people from the fact that the ads never really change. I didn't realize they were partisan, though. It's amazing to me that a political party would think it's a good idea to always go to the same people for a creative project like that.

From inside experience I can tell you that a D wou...

2011-12-10T11:02:41.692-05:00

From inside experience I can tell you that a D would never hire an R ad guy and an R ad guy would never work for a D candidate (career suicide)

with a few exceptions, the Washington ad crowd is as inside baseball and side-taking as the congress itself.

As in the margin of most of the stuff seems well s...

2011-12-08T22:34:44.298-05:00

As in the margin of most of the stuff seems well short of the right margin of the sidebar? I noticed that, too, but I'm not sure I have it in me to look at the code.

Might try a different template instead.

picture's nice, but that sidebar seems pretty ...

2011-12-08T20:38:43.828-05:00

picture's nice, but that sidebar seems pretty long and a little junky up top. Just my .02

Hi, Apologies for the off-topic comment, but I co...

2011-11-28T09:48:17.550-05:00

Hi,

Apologies for the off-topic comment, but I couldn't find a contact email for you.

I recently put out an ebook of my writing, called The New Death and others. It's a collection of short pieces, mostly dark fantasy.

I was wondering if you'd be interested in doing a review on your blog.

If so, please email me: news@apolitical.info. Let me know what file format is easiest for you, and I'll send you a free copy.

You can download a sample from the ebook's page on Smashwords:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/92126

I'm also happy to do interviews, guest posts, or giveaways. Just let me know what you'd prefer.

Yours,
James.

I called and thanked my dad for his time in the Ar...

2011-11-14T13:20:22.230-05:00

I called and thanked my dad for his time in the Army in Vietnam. He sounded kind of puzzled. I told him it was Veteran's Day and I wanted to call him and thank him. He said it was nice; but to him, the people to thank were the veteran's that had lost something or the families left behind. He came through without ever having to fire a shot outside of the target ranges, repairing radio equipment. I am grateful for that and also for the insight he gave me that day.

My fellow American, it’s about the paradigm. Issue...

2011-10-17T12:10:08.635-04:00

My fellow American, it’s about the paradigm. Issues (Afghanistan War, deficit, economy, health care, etc.), personalities (Obama, Palin, etc.), and political parties stem from, embody, and perpetuate constructs.

On this planet only immutable realities work over time. Only immutable realities serve the citizenry and the country. The only way out of today’s madness is to replace constructs with immutable realities. For Americans to take care of personal interests and the interests of their country, Americans have to know and get on immutable realities.

Adults understand through observing and living. The immutable realities of governance are explained through fact situations that confront Americans and Americans can readily understand at www.frankcorey.com. The vehicle is real estate zoning in a suburb outside of Chicago.

Normal people are in sync with immutable realities, so there is always a consensus for immutable realities. The solution to today’s madness is eminently doable.

Hoping for success in the field.

2011-10-16T16:19:42.212-04:00

Hoping for success in the field.

Sir, I think you're going down a slippery slop...

2011-10-11T20:57:27.255-04:00

Sir,
I think you're going down a slippery slope that will lead you to a tournament system. The rankings help us understand who will eventually be in our beloved bowl games. These bowl games are designed to protect our brave young student athletes from a grueling playoff system and are part of the tradition of college football! Have some humanity sir!

Yours in tradition,
Col. Esq.

With the Libertarian party being the 3rd most popu...

2011-08-24T21:48:58.807-04:00

With the Libertarian party being the 3rd most popular, he's trying to cash in on what he can. His ego won't let him accept that he isn't popular enough with Conservatives to run in their party.

The good people of Dallas might be surprised to be...

2011-08-17T15:43:56.141-04:00

The good people of Dallas might be surprised to be informed that the Texas State Fair is in rural America.

Many of the employees are actually volunteers, sho...

2011-06-28T22:23:15.426-04:00

Many of the employees are actually volunteers, showing even less money going to these locations.

I agree. When Libertarians say they want "le...

2011-06-08T07:33:20.152-04:00

I agree. When Libertarians say they want "less government" what they mean is they want an environment where capital is free to expand and exploit without the state imposing "big government" regulation like, environmental protection and basic labor laws.

For a Libertarian, anything that might hold capital accountable for it's actions is "big government". History teaches us that capital cannot be trusted to be even handed when profits are at stake.

History also teaches us that the nature of capitalism tends to concentrate wealth into fewer and fewer hands. With increasing control and private ownership of the means of production comes increased power and influence.

Capitalism tends toward monopoly and with it monopolistic tendencies which include economic coersion to block credit, form cartels and control vast amounts of material and resources.

Libertarians extol the virtues of individualism and "freedom" while ignoring the economic coersive power that capital has. We see this already in a regulated economy!

2011-06-06T04:54:14.315-04:00

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Hey man, no long no, eh, read! Hope things are goi...

2011-05-27T17:13:50.292-04:00

Hey man, no long no, eh, read! Hope things are going well with you.

Very insightful. My experience mirrored yours - r...

2011-05-26T21:13:35.690-04:00

Very insightful. My experience mirrored yours - right down to the improvement in grammar after taking Latin. Also, too (just kidding), the way you describe picking up tips from the "masters" is a hard thing to model in the classroom, but remains an effective method. The classics really are classics for a reason. I teach social studies, but all of the points you and the article's author make seem dead on for my colleagues in the English department.

Yeah, it demonstrates the nature of political argu...

2011-05-26T08:25:58.916-04:00

Yeah, it demonstrates the nature of political argument: politics is an emotional exercise masquerading as a rational exercise. Rational arguments are employed in the service of politics, but only for the moment. As soon as they are no longer needed or the issue at hand is settled, the arguments are cast aside and all necessary points are conceded to justify the next argument.

Hence Republicans can claim the MA Senate race is absolutely emblematic of nationwide public support in order to push the narrative of resurgent Republicans, but as soon as the bellwether idea becomes inconvenient, they can just concede that the senate race never was any such thing. It doesn't matter now.

that pete sessions quote still makes no sense as a...

2011-05-26T00:55:52.761-04:00

that pete sessions quote still makes no sense as a partisan republican response IMO.

According to his logic, Scott Brown was a bellweather. If that's true and NY26 was a bellweather as well, then the R's are in for trouble.

Strange argument from him.

Finally. I've had to defend being the slightes...

2011-05-03T09:49:15.975-04:00

Finally. I've had to defend being the slightest bit excited about this a few times on the innarwebs. I guess civilians can't understand the vindication of spending part of your life in the wrong country being shot at to get rid of this guy and having him take a dirt nap anyway. (Ocean nap?)

I prefer "assclown."

2011-04-28T10:20:02.178-04:00

I prefer "assclown."

That was my thought exactly.

2011-04-13T14:24:00.592-04:00

That was my thought exactly.