Offsite Comments

Here y'go, A&J fans. I did a Google images search as Jerry suggested.

I clicked on the first link that showed up, at blippitt.com. Says there, the discoverer thinks, "It could be a power station or it could be a biological containment or it could be a glorified garage — hope it’s not a weapon."

A few paragraphs down in the article you'll find application of Occam's Razor: "NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab is now looking into the wild claim, but they’re guessing that Bio Station Alpha is just a glitch in the digital imaging program, or possibly an ice formation."

The allegedly viral video was linked at the Herald Sun, but when I tried to view it, it was "removed by user." Hmmm.

I then searched YouTube for "cylindrical object on mars".

That did not turn up the cylindrical object video, but here are some other videos of allegedly unusual Martian objects that showed up, if you like that kind of thing.

Mars Evidence of Life September 2010

Unusual Object on Mars

Mars Unusual & Similar Looking Objects

These have scientifically-persuasive "spooky" music.

I have a pretty good imagination, I think, but the only object that looks to me like anything but rock and shadow and other tricks of light and digital imaging is in that last link. There's an object at 0:26 which looks very much like the famous photo of Bigfoot.

Here's another link about as exciting: Pareidolia at Wikipedia. Far more entertaining are a Kit-Kat bar with the face of Jerry Garcia Jesus, Albert Einstein Marilyn Monroe Illusion, and for those of guy-like tastes, there's this optical illusion.

A most unfortunate gaffe by Bachmann as she confuses John Wayne the actor with JW Gacy the Killer Clown. (Here's something about the Killer from the same site.)

I'm not a Bachmann fan, but it's sad to see her deliver this ugly gift to the Democrats right after the little Wallace gotcha question about being a "flake"; and they'll never this one die. She was supposed to be on Mark Levin tonight. I will try to see what he can salvage from this. Caught a bit of the start of his show, and he was going on about the "flake" remark, but didn't seem to have caught up to the John Wayne bumble yet.

I smell toast. Or, as a relative cleverly said, "And doesn't she look tired?" (You have to be a Dr. Who fan.)

Amy wrote, "Not as big a gaffe as you think...." I agree, Amy, thanks. I've written a a follow-up comment of self-correction and apology which I will post on the Wednesday Open Thread.

I'm trying to figure how to build the fence for an ostrich farm. One egg can serve a lot of the refugees when they come flooding in from the cities and we put them to work in the fields.

Naawww, you’re all wrong. Clearly, the problem is that the vehicle’s owner forgot to order her Obama Bumper Sticker Removal Kit!

Hm. I thought it was Mark Twain who said it, but in a quick search all I can find is this article about the three ways to lie, the last of which is to tell the truth, but to tell it so unconvincingly no one will believe you.

Which is what I thought of when I read this:

In an interview, Bradley said: “You can try to spin those facts and try to make it sound like I ran up to him and threw my neck into his hands, but that’s only spin.

–Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal

Prosser acknowledged in March that he called Abrahamson a "bitch" and threatened to "destroy" her during a closed-door meeting.

At the time, Prosser told the Journal Sentinel that the outburst to Abrahamson came after the chief justice took steps to undermine him politically and to embarrass him and other court conservatives.

"In the context of this, I said, 'You are a total bitch,'" Prosser said. "I probably overreacted, but I think it was entirely warranted. They (Abrahamson and Bradley) are masters at deliberately goading people into perhaps incautious statements. This is bullying and abuse of very, very long standing."

--Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal with my emphasis

When I read the above this morning, I was intrigued. I have had dealings with a few folks perversely skilled in emotional agitation. Once the other party loses self-control, the provacateur, previously wildly emotional, goes stone-cold, like they were always being cool: 'See? It's you who is losing it!' (I have to say, all my experience with this has been with women, although I don't suppose the behavior is exclusively female.) I've discovered, it's not truly conscious behavior. That is, they're not trying to be provocative and manipulative and duplicious. They really believe they're right. I am not a pedigreed psychoanalyst or anything, just a guy trying to handle life, but it seems to me to be a form of self-justifying, self-deceiving, aberrant psychosis. I have had some success getting a couple of hysterics to do honest self-re-assessment, although it's extremely difficult cognitive therapy, requiring some degree of sincere willingness to admit to error and to change.

If you're not aware of what's going on (it took me a long time and much awful experience to figure out), it's all too easy to become embroiled. So, with nothing more to go on than this, I could sympathize with Prosser's being provoked. I can also understand, if Bradley suffers this kind of problem, she might really believe she was the one attacked, even after first lunging at Prosser.

I read a few of the comments to the original J-S article (before the later revisions started emerging) and I was not surprised to see commenters deriding this as typical of Republican violence. Of course, we all know the other side would never threaten to strangle anyone. Well, maybe the Vice-President of the United States, last October but of course, "He quickly added: 'To the press, that's a figure of speech.'" Right, Joe, right.

Alternatively (to my verbose comment yesterday suggesting unintentional confusion of perception), it could just be simple psychopathy à la Ann Barnhardt’s post yesterday about Obama’s Medal of Honor flub. (Wish Barnhardt had article-specific links… and an archive!)

My 2¢ for the day on "gay marriage," worth every devalued penny.

Some time back, I heard Eddie Huff on KFAQ, Tulsa, talking about a Black friend of his who said, even if the Republicans were a bunch of racists, he'd vote for them because they're better on defending America. Something like that. I'm often the same way with my Christian Republican spiritual and political kin. I stand nearly indistinguishably with them when contrasted with the Obamanation, but not so close comparing with each other.

It's not easy to think it all through because of how one set of bad laws compounds another. Implementing true liberty gets complicated by socialist systems which even good right-wing folk support. What really makes it a problem to happily issue a work visa to anyone coming over the border is not the liberty to travel but laws like minimum wage and welfare. Prayer in public school is a bogus issue because the church-state conflict does not exist without public school in the first place. (Am I getting too Milton Friedman for you yet?)

So the problem here is the state permission or disallowance of the personal contracts which entail the legal issues of "marriage." The state cannot actually define "marriage" for me or my beliefs! It can enforce legal sanctions against homosexuals entering into civil unions, and worse force folks, landlords, say, to take in a gay couple even over the building owner's moral or religious objections. (Better watch out. I'm about to sound like Rand Paul.)

I'll spare this site my longer arguments and, with uncharacteristic chutzpah, just link to where I, with uncharacteristic temerity, challenged Ann Coulter's June 15 column on gay marriage (and, minorly, drug legalization).

Back upthread, david7134 asked, (much as Coulter complained), "shouldn’t we quit being concerned over minor social issues and start working to preserve our country, wealth, economy and the light bulb?" (Liked the "light" ending on that one, Dave!) As if any issue of human right was minor! While I think david7134 needs to think it through a bit better (the left and right are much further apart than he thinks -- see my first paragraph), he seems on the right track in recognizing the liberty of individuals to contract in a free society.

“The Institutional Republican Party would gladly win the presidency next year, so long as their candidate is a RINO. If it is a conservative, they would rather have Obama re-elected. If they get their RINO president, they would rather not get control of the Senate, so that they have an excuse not to upset their gravy train. They will work with the Democrats to achieve those ends.”

Owwww. Sad to say, that’s the best summary of the unfortunate reality I’ve read. I think that should be shouted from the rooftops until it sinks in.

Okay, now, wait a moment. I saw the DrudgeReport headline, "First Lady Admits: 'Fortunately, We Have Help From The Media'" and followed it to the Real Clear Politics page titled "Michelle Obama: 'Fortunately, We Have Help From The Media,'" and I have to say, this is taken out of context disingenuously. (Although, as a standalone statement, Pete, you're certainly right about the understatement!)

MO was asked about how the family is preparing for the (actually the interviewer said "vicious") campaign ahead, and FLotUS responded that the press has been nice to leave their girls alone. There's nothing wrong with that. Of course, as Palin wrote (hilariously) about media treatment of her small N Korea gaffe versus the knuckle-headed errors they've let slide with O'Bama and A'Bidin, it would be nice if the media treatment were even-handed in their treatment of political folks' kids. Or even Palin's!

To be clear, I certainly wasn’t on Pete’s case! And, Integrity, so true “it is such an obvious, obnoxious fact of life we have to endure daily”! Just saying Drudge and Real Clear were playing loose, and it behooves us to stay true and not play the other side’s twisted gotcha games. My main point was, it’s fine if the media is nice to the Obama babies. The real hypocrisy in the story is not the out-of-context gotcha quote (which is, after all, funny, in case I forgot to LOL) but that the courtesy toward family MO spoke of is (along with all the other LaughingStock Media biases) not even-handed. If one of the Obama girls stuck her tongue out like one of the Bush girls once did, would we ever see the pic?

Thanks for the welcome, Dee, and Integrity, and Chrissy on that other thread. Nice place. Mrs W was just complimenting the decor. Glad to bee here.

This year, we seem to have more rabbits than I've ever noticed before. Despite nine cats, they're just hopping around out in the open.

Mrs. Webworker got to rescue a baby bun from a cat this month. Daisy the housecat seemed to be protecting it from feral regular visitor Max, although she may have just beem protecting her lunch. As per Professor Google's advice, we just let the critter go out away from the house, and it hopped away encouragingly. Learned, however, that just a bite from a cat's bacteria-laden teeth can kill a bun in a couple of days, and while we couldn't find a wound, there was one drop of blood from the bun. Oh, well, we did our save-the-baby-bunny part, in any case. At least saved ourselves cleaning up the remains off the front porch (this time).

>...anyone else questioning recent history, before the internet...?

A most excellent point, and I've been pondering much the same thing lately. I have never been pro-Left, but I know now we weren't getting the Right info in the past, if we were only getting the news from the LaughingStock Media. Nowadays, talking with folks who still get their news only from Time and NBCBABCNNS, it's difficult to correct the dis- and mis-information propaganda. They may have an inkling the messmedia is left-leaning, but have no idea how they're leaning so far they're horizontally in bed with.

Now, we have to guard against the unimaginable but entirely possible domination of this medium, as well.

In addition to worrying about Congress waking up to the Libyan scam, the global elite is also concerned about a diverse liberty movement that has grown exponentially with the help of an open and free internet.

In response, the pocketed pawns in Congress have introduced a raft of bills over the last few months designed to take down the internet and blunt its impact as a medium for alternative news and information.

--Kurt Nimmo (InfoWars): Bilderberg Agenda Leaked

Presuming this is a correct statement of the relationship, thanks for the tip, Timmie! Now, let's work to cut taxes on small business.

Greetings. Recently found this site. This is my first time posting here, so forgive me if I’m not doing something right. So to speak.

Just wanted to offer my own quickly-hacked little graphic re-mix Ol’ Loose Lips, which I thought you might enjoy.

Inspired by D.R. Weeks: The Obama Enemy Appeasement Speech

Got welcomes from various folks and posted the following June 25, 2011 at 2:52 pm:

Why, thanks for the friendly welcome, Bob & Frankly. Good to be here. So far. :)

0. Always fun to see a strip here that I remember enjoying when new, like the cat dancing on the hot roof a couple of days ago, and this one.

1. You betcha my trusty Swiss Army knife has a corkscrew, for which I've often been grateful.

2. Unwind a wire coat hanger (like you would for popping old-fashioned car locks -- am i showing my age?), and use the pigtail end as a corkscrew. Did this more than once.

3. One of the best wine experts I know suggested, if you have nothing else, just (slowly, carefully) push the cork in. Huh -- duh. No straining required.

4. Alas, I seem to have developed an allergy, or aversion, or distaste, or something for wine approaching my sixth decade (now I'm showing my age), after so many years of enjoyment of fine vintages. Maybe I finally grew up? Or old? Or poor?

5. You can get brewer's yeast mixed with garlic to sprinkle onto pet food to deter fleas and ticks at the pet food. Oh, wait, that was an old thread. Sorry.

8. I've got to figure out how to get the RSS feed to come up earlier in the day. Always feel like I'm late to the party and everybody's leaving as I come in. Or is it my breath?

@Stan: Well! I’ve always known it as a put-down, but I wasn’t aware schmuck = putz, though. (Right?) I’m not Jewish, but I’ve always appreciated the Yiddish contributions to the vocabulary! :)

Wikipedia says that “In Jewish homes, the word was ‘regarded as so vulgar as to be taboo’[3] and Lenny Bruce wrote that saying it on stage got him arrested on the West Coast ‘by a Yiddish undercover agent who had been placed in the club several nights running to determine if my use of Yiddish terms was a cover for profanity.’”

I note that Urban dictionary definition #1 says it’s “[t]hat portion of one’s penis which is cut off during circumcision.” But that’s just U.D. Def#3 = penis.

Altogether, maybe we should just stick to weiner. Intentional misspelling. [Apologies to all good people with that name.] :D

I was on the road during the speech, turned on the radio, and listened as long as I could stand. Which wasn't long, but probably longer than I've listened to him before. Could any thinking person miss the timing vis-à-vis the US election? As Ron Fournier put it, "the president’s eye is set on numbers that have little to do with battlefield strategy and everything to do with his reelection hopes."

My immediate thought was, we're pulling out, the Taliban will take over again, anything gained will be lost, and where does that leave us? About where we were ten years ago. Boy, we sure showed them, didn't we! :-O

I'm not ecstatic about having our precious, dedicated, volunteer American troops trying to build a modern state in a historically war-dominated backwater, where their leader practically calls us "occupiers," and especially when "the average monthly casualty rate for U.S. military forces serving in Afghanistan has increased 5-fold" under Obama, but I can't help but think there's got to be a lot of folks in Afghanistan who appreciated what we were doing there who are as freaked out right now as the Israelis, Czechs, and every other nation Obama has betrayed. Remember, Obama (who is not a Muslim) is overruling the advice of his generals in this matter. Aw, what do they know about war compared to this brilliant Communist Community Organizer?

Rick Perry, Sarah Palin

Just read through A Case for Rick Perry at Legal Insurrection, including all the comments so far. Especially in the comments, there's lots of good examination of the pros and cons. Worth slogging through. (Also, LI seems to have the same kind of control over trolls & flamers that we enjoy here at HillBuzz, which is nice. There's a couple sniping at each other, but it's water pistols compared to the flamethrowers elsewhere.)

Like Palin, Perry's getting a lot of coverage and looking like a candidate without having declared. He doesn't look great on some of the hard-right's top issues like immigration, public education, the Trans-Texas corridor. He's a Bilderberger FWIW. Ex-Democrat. A commenter noted, an ex-TEXAS Dem -- it's the party that moved away from him, but Perry also worked for the rascal Algore. Some say he's not reliable on keeping promises. On less hard-right issues, his economic record & claims are called into question. There was some criticism in later comments of the InfoWars article, 14 Reasons Why Rick Perry Would Be A Really, Really Bad President. Just giving highlights from what I read, so best check it out for yourself. Also, I think I heard on Glenn Beck the other day that Perry is 2nd only to LBJ as a lifer politician. Maybe that was just in Texas? (Wish Beck had transcripts online I could search through.)

An interesting exchange of comments for Palin fans:
AHLondon: The rumor is that if Perry gets in, Palin will stay out.
john.frank: target="_blank" The rumor... was started by Bachmann’s people in Iowa and South Carolina.
AHLondon: Actually, I got the info from RedState.
So, I checked the RedState article: "if Rick Perry winds up getting into the race... it guarantees that Sarah Palin will not run for President. I have it from sources close to both Governors that Palin will not run if Perry runs."
I don't know how "close" those "sources" might be, but I expect Sarah is still keeping her cards close to her chest, and any such source is long on speculation and short on facts.

A few days back, I wondered on here what had happened to Sarah's tour. Here's the word straight from the Grizzley's keyboard. Her tour "hasn’t been cancelled... looking forward to hitting the open road again... called up for jury duty... I look forward to doing my part just like every other Alaskan... The next leg of the tour continues when the time comes...." I really like her!

"Dutch populist politician Geert Wilders was acquitted of inciting hatred of Muslims in a court ruling on Thursday..."

"'I am extremely pleased and happy,' Wilders told reporters after the ruling. 'This is not so much a win for myself, but a victory for freedom of speech. Fortunately you can criticize Islam and not be gagged in public debate.'" Reuters
(Linked from DrudgeReport, so I suppose everyone knows this by now :) but worth a mention here, I thought.)

"Farid Azarkan of the SMN association of Moroccans in the Netherlands said he feared the acquittal could further split Dutch society and encourage others to repeat Wilders' comments." [facepalm!]

We have to keep an eye on people who enter politics. Just running for office makes one suspect, alas, and power at any level can be so corrupting! We all know all too well the politicians who weasel and prevaricate, who do one thing and say another, who say I was for the bill before I was against it, or debate the meaning of "is," or blame others when they are caught betraying the public trust or with their hands in the cookie jar. West could be a dishonorable and dishonest wiener, voting one way to look good to racially-oriented constituents, then apologizing to look good to the right-wing fans. It's possible. (Only, I'd say it's about as possible as that Sarah Palin was so clever and conniving that she purposefully made herself look the same in tens of thousands of private emails as she does in her public words!) If this were just about anyone but West, I might automatically be sneering, yeah, sure! and writing him off as another typical two-faced lying politician. From what we know of West, his vote seemed worrisomely inconsistent with his principles, his apology, on the other hand, while maybe a bit weak, seems utterly in character. If there is a pattern of "do one thing say another," he is not the man we think he is. I certainly don't expect it. I'm just saying, we have to keep up the "neighborhood watch," citizens' own "due diligence."

In watching politics since I was a kid in the late 1950s, I cannot recall any politician so plain-spoken and self-effacing as to say, I made a mistake, and yes, I take full blame for not being more informed about it! (Wouldn't you like such integrity to be "the new normal"?) As well, this incident illustrates the renewed interest, and ability, of the people to communicate with our elected officials. People spoke. West listened, and did not weasel. We have seen the "viral" popular power before, but have we ever seen it generate such an honorable response?

With congresscritters like West, we could have government as it should be. With people involved in making sure we're represented, we could have the republic as it should be. I am mightily encouraged by this news.

(Another "read it first on HillBuzz" story, too!)

Read this after Brian originally posted it (where I thanked him -- heh) and have passed it around to everyone I know since then. Well worth the greater attention given to it here. I just looked at the Blaze post again, and made the mistake of reading the comments -- many very nice ones, many ugly trolls. Gave me respect once again for what the moderators here must go through. When I read it to Mrs. Webworker, she said, now people will say Sarah Palin thinks she's God!

We have a dear friend we got to watch grow up dealing with autism, his mom working hard, after Dad ran away, to get him all he needed, and his progress was great to watch. Another dear relative was born with all kinds of problems; "they" kept telling her she'd never be anything like normal, but her mom (again, Dad ran off) fought tooth and nail and the girl graduated with the mainstream class from high school and I enjoy talking with her every week. Another relative with severe brain problems really will never be an adult, barring divine intervention, but her parents and siblings sacrificed so much to raise her. Alas, at high school age, one of her very helpful meds got switched from brand-name to generic by the insurance company against doctor's orders and undid years of progress; she was made practically vegetative. (Prayers welcome -- for all these and their special ilk.)

There is a classic story -- wish I had a quick link handy -- of the IQ results of an "advanced" class and a "slow learner" class getting switched. The teachers scratched their heads, but began "teaching" accordingly. The smart class? Dumbed down. The dumb class? They suddenly began advancing, most remarkably. Expectations define how folks get treated, and the treatment determines the results. Love, attention, care, and highest expectations can't be beat.