Obsidian Wings

Pledge #1

(I don't normally say this, but the circumstances for once dictate it: this post is strictly for the conservative / Republican readers of Obsidian Wings. I value the comments made by my liberal, Leftist and Democratic readers, but not for this specific post. This is VRWC business - so, please, respect our personal space on this one.)

(And I sincerely regret having to say that none of the above is a request.)

Opening night jitters . . . .

UPDATE -- INSTA-REACTION: Who woulda thunk they'd send Clinton, not Gore, on offense. Not I. But it's smart, I think. ... Yes, yes -- I think it's smart.

There's a bunch of open threads for the convention, but not this one: Here's your opportunity to snark.

I caught parts of Al's opening speech; honestly, not bad. But George Mitchell (on Larry King*) had the most incisive remark yet. Not unexpectedly, he said it unintentionally. From memory:

"[Gore's] gotten pretty good at self-deprecating humor."

Indeed: He's had quite a bit of practice.

Keep it snarky, folks -- against the dems or the repubs or whomevever wears the bullseye for ya.

von

*I know, I know. But King has The Dole, and he also has The Rocca (Mo). WhatamIgonnado?

Of course it's petty...that's why it makes me smile

Via the incomparable Harley on Tacitus
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Drudge is running a story re Ann Coulter's column for USA Today. Seems they spiked it for being 'unusable' and 'not funny.' This should not come as a surprise. Drudge does offer a nice photo, tho'. Contemplative, martyred, almost, dare I say it? Human.

But you gotta give her credit. Even in the face of an embarassment like this, she's still got her sense of humor:

"Apparently no one at USA TODAY had ever read Ann Coulter before!" Coulter, who has sold nearly a million copies of her various works and his written a syndicated column for five years, said from Boston.

Anti-Americanism Petri Dish

Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo rules the relatively tiny African nation of Equatorial Guinea like any other dictator. He denies freedom of expression. He has had announcers on the state-run radio station declare that he is a "God." He does allow elections (in which he gets 97% to 99% of the vote), but he regularly jails his opponents and plasters his own face on nearly every surface in the country (including clothing worn by his nation's poverty-stricken citizens).

Yes, most of Equatorial Guinea's population lives in squalor:

Meatloaf Recipe Slam!

The Glittering Eye had earlier made a request for a meatloaf recipe slam; frankly, I could use the input myself. The Meatloaf Maven of the house is at an engineering conference: all I know how to do is to mix an egg, onions, breadcrumbs and meat together, add ketchup (yes, Heinz) and bake. Extra input would be useful (stuff on vegetarian meatloafs, even).

So, ladies and gentlemen, start your cookbooks.

Moe

PS: Creamed corn is an abomination unto the Lord, or at least an abomination unto my plate.

PPS: We probably need a cooking category.

Get Ready to Get Your Democratic Convention Freak On...

...well, no, but the title amuses.

A day before the convention, and the last bits are coming into place. Last minute negotiations have seemed to have cleared away the possibility of a union picket line (which is very good news for Sen. Kerry*). There's also a rumor that USA Today, in a move that is stunningly, cruelly beautiful in its sheer evil-mindedness, has contracted for Ann Coulter to cover the Democratic Convention and Michael Moore to do the same for the Republican Convention (Command Post). And, finally, if you were worried that Boston's existing prostitute supply would be unable to handle the influx of delegates, worry no more: they're flying in reinforcements even as we speak (Command Post). Normally, I wouldn't post such a salacious bit of news - we're oh-so-respectable, here at Obsidian Wings - but I keep hearing a voice in my head (sounding not unlike one of my relatives) saying "Bahb, more hookers just got delivered! Bahb! BAHB! You deaf, or something? We got another crate of hookers here. Whereya want me to stash 'em?" in a Allston accent, and I just lose it. Besides, it's not like they aren't going to turn around and make a beeline for NYC afterwards.

Sounds like it's going to be... well, no, political conventions aren't really exciting any more, huh? But at least they're going down swinging... er, right.

Moe

Hmm.

What an interesting little site BugMeNot is (FAQ here).

UPDATE: (Whoops! Thanks to The American Digest)

Gee, you think?

(Crossposted to Redstate)

Front Runner for today's And Water is Wet: This is News? award: Democrats bar Nader from convention

BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader was rejected Friday in his bid to try to attend next week's Democratic National Convention.

"Given that Nader is running on the Pat Buchanan Reform Party ticket and is openly accepting both financial and organizational help from Republicans and their allies, the answer is no," Democratic National Committee spokesman Jano Cabrera said. (Nader accepting GOP signatures in Michigan)

(Via Command Post)

I must admit that I can no longer ascertain Nader's motives for remaining in this race; granted, I'm one of those evil Republicans whose party is Merrily Prankstering away in Michigan, but surely he must realize by now that he's doing nothing but increasing his isolation from any actual sources of political power. The Right will have nothing to do with him*; we find his policies lacking - and deem his current association with the party of the Exile Buchanan to be darkly humorous. The Left was in the past prepared to at listen respectfully, but Nader's continued insistence that the Democratic and Republican parties are essentially one and the same has been seemingly melting that goodwill like ice on a hot sidewalk.

So, what remains for him? What is he seeing in all of this that makes him think that he's benefiting his causes?

*[UPDATE] OK, OK, I concede that we're currently using him as a vote sponge. But it's not like we're going to call the next day, or anything.

You know, I could have sworn...

...that somebody had already noted here that Dave Weiner's new aggregator for all the Democratic convention bloggers was up and running. But if they did, I couldn't find it. So it goes.

(Via Command Post)

The O'Irony Factor

If we're graphing things out, my political views are probably as close to Bill O'Reilly's as they are to any telepundit. This political accordance, however, should not be confused with actually liking, trusting, or respecting the man. Lawrence Lessig provides the latest support for my view:

On February 4, 2003, Jeremy Glick was your guest on THE FACTOR. Glick had lost his father in the attack of 9/11. He had also signed an ad criticizing the war in Iraq. You were “surprised” that one who had lost his father could oppose that war. And so you had him on your show, presumably to ask him why. (Here’s a clip from Outfoxed putting this story together.)

You might not remember precisely what you said on that interview, or more importantly, what Jeremy Glick said. So here’s a copy that you can watch. Nor may you remember precisely what the ad that Jeremy Glick signed said. Here’s a copy that you can read. And when you’ve watched what was actually said, and read what was actually written, I’m sure you will see that the statements you continue to make about Jeremy Glick are just plain false. Not Bill Clinton “depends upon what is is” false, but false the way most Americans learned growing up: just not true.

(Via Michael Froomkin.)

For a man who urges the filing of frivolous trademark infringement suits and screams "slander!" quicker than you can say "Michael Moore", this is some kind of delicious irony. If Mr. Lessig's report is right, O'Reilly may very well have slandered Jeremy Glick -- and the potential claim against O'Reilly and Fox seems light-years better that any "claim" O'Reilly has dreamed up of late. We're talking parsecs better, baby.

(Glick's not the only former 'Factor guest with a potential libel or slander claim, by the bye.)