Food Fight!

Yeah, Baby!

“I get he’s upset and/or jealous of RedState and thinks, I suppose, that we should be in the tank for Palin or should not have let Perry announce at the RedState Gathering or whatever the reason du jour is,” Erickson wrote of Riehl in an update to his post.

Less than 20 minutes after the original Politico story was published, Erickson also posted an item in which he pointed to recent polling to suggest that Palin’s potential entry into the GOP field “would not shake up the race terribly at this point.”

“All of the above suggests, if Palin got in, it would not be hers for the taking as many of her supporters might think,” Erickson wrote. “Instead, she’d struggle for third place and not be guaranteed, even in Iowa, of a strong finish.”

Eighteen minutes after Erickson’s post went up, Riehl published his own blog item, which he titled “Perry Versus Palin,” and observed “how various voices and forces seem to be aligning themselves as relates to their support for Rick Perry or Sarah Palin.”

Oooh, Bay-bee... bring it ON.  I can't wait to hear the Palinistas explain how their darling's incomplete one-term performance as governor of a smallish state... speaking in terms of population and gross domestic product... compares to Perry's 11 years as governor of Texas.  I will admit that La Palin has much higher teevee ratings, better legs, and the hair is a wash.  Other than that?  No contest.  It seems like most Tea Partiers prefer Perry over Palin, but that might change if Palin formally enters the race.

Good times are comin'...

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack...

... which is more like a review of a book review.  So... there I was... reading a review of a new Ambrose Bierce anthology, a late 19th/early 20th century author and columnist previously unknown to me, when I came upon this (subscription may be required):

Bierce's definitions are a joy to quote—even if they are more wicked than accurate. An abstainer "abstains from everything but abstention, and especially from inactivity in the affairs of others." A bigot is "obstinately and zealously attached to an opinion that you do not entertain." A cannibal is a "gastronome of the old school"; longevity is the "uncommon extension of the fear of death." Once is "enough." Twice is "once too often." He who is alone is "in bad company." And a year is "a period of three hundred and sixty-five disappointments."

Bierce is acerbic on the matter of friendship, which is "a ship big enough to carry two in fair weather, but only one in foul." The back is "that part of your friend which it is your privilege to contemplate in your adversity." The faith of his fathers he shreds: A Christian is "one who follows the teachings of Christ in so far as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin." A saint is "a dead sinner revised and edited." He even rewrites the Decalogue: "Kiss not thy neighbor's wife, unless / Thine own thy neighbor doth caress." 

Bierce's politics amount to an aristocratic libertarianism. "In a republic," he writes, the rabble are "those who exercise a supreme authority tempered by fraudulent elections." The "dominant and controlling" tribe in human affairs is that of the "idiot." A revolution is "an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment." 

Oooh.  How freakin' exquisite are those?  I think I've found my next read; a casual perusal of Amazon's inventory shows the book will be available on September 1, but NOT in a Kindle edition.  Bierce appeals to my inner cynic and that inner cynic will NOT be denied.  Ergo, we shall order the book post-haste, Kindle edition or no.

Speaking of cynicism... more Greg Brown, which is what this post is supposed to be about... by that I mean music... right?

We used to say I don't care if I never grow old
I'm gonna flame, gonna burn, take one quick turn and be gone like James Dean
Now we don't say that. It's too late to die young
So we sit at the table long after supper and a good wine
Here's what we sing, we go, hey hey, hey hey, who woulda thunk it
Hey hey, hey hey, who woulda thunk it

Yeah, really: who'd a thunk it?  So, it turns out that Mr. Brown has been around for quite a long time.  I remain amazed at all the good stuff I missed in the way-back and am kinda-sorta determined to fix that.  Beginning with Mr. Brown's oeuvre.  I really like this guy.

Apropos to the Post Below

I've been listenin' to Pandora on my phone of late and just now became aware of their new PC-interface (which we use when indoors or when the WX allows us to open up the windows and listen to the indoor device when outdoors):

MUCH better than the old version, IMHO  Click for larger, if'n you have a mind to.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

J.J. and Ol' Slowhand...

Well I got lots of children, an ex-wife or two
I never hear from them, 'till the bills are due
The money I gave 'em, they already spent
If I could just slip'em out, you've put me in that last will and testament

You know I'm going over sixty, I'm older than most
It won't be long now, I'll be nothing but a ghost
My intentions, it's my intent
To leave all of them people out of my last will and testament

Most of above applies to YrHmblScrb and I DO find it gratifying when my life is reflected in song.  Well, that sentiment about the kids isn't true at all (two of 'em call at regular intervals and are a great boon to me in my old age) nor is the expressed sentiment about inheritance valid, coz I intend to make all of my children hundredaires.  My ex-wives?  Don't ask... unless you want to hear concise statements about anatomically improbable sex acts.  Sorta, in that I know one of which has a most impressive toy box.  Or at least she used to (the other I kinda doubt).

And now it's back out under the awning to continue as we've begun. 

This Just In...

"This" bein' me... after a run over to The Big(ger) City™ for to make yet another car doctor's appointment for The Green Hornet, followed by a trip to the Cannon Airplane Patch Class VI store for the weekly single-malt run.

The latest car glitch involves one of the latches on TGH's top, which has been sprung for six years or so.  I useta could live with that when TGH still had her original top, which fit much better than her new hat... which apparently has yet to stretch out adequately.  But the new top is SO tight that a positive latch is required on both sides, otherwise there's about a quarter inch worth of air gap on the non-positive latching side.  This is NOT good for doin' stuff like goin' thru the car wash or drivin' in rain... the latter scenario bein' not much of a problem in these parts, of late.  Still and even...

So.  BOHICA, Car Parts Division... two hunnert Yankee Dollars worth.

Repeat after me:  "Cheaper than a new car, cheaper than a new car, cheaper than..."

―:☺:―

And then there's this, from My Buddy Ed In Florida:

Mother Superior called all the nuns together and said to them, 'I must tell you all something. We have a case of gonorrhea in the convent.'

'Thank God,' said an elderly nun at the back. 'I'm so tired of chardonnay.'

Badda-da-BOOMP. 

(I got the pic from a generic web search... here.)

I Hate It When This Sorta Thang Happens

This:

Three hours, 46 minutes, 15 seconds and 34 page views.  Comments?  None, as far as I can tell... but a comment from a new reader came in at 1345 hrs so I might could be wrong and that wouldn't be the first time.  But, Hey!  It's good to have readers in the AOR and that's where this person is, judging from his org/IP address (not published here) and the time zone.

An Endorsement

Kinky Friedman, left, listens to Texas Gov. Rick Perry during the 2006 Texas gubernatorial debate, Smiley N. Pool / AP-pool (photo snagged from The Daily Beast)

 

Kinky Friedman:

As a Jewish cowboy (or “Juusshh,” as we say in Texas), I know Rick Perry to be a true friend of Israel, like Bill Clinton and George W. before him. There exists a visceral John Wayne kinship between Israelis and Texans, and Rick Perry gets it. That’s why he’s visited Israel on many more occasions than Obama, who’s been there exactly zero times as president. If I were Obama I wouldn’t go either. His favorability rating in Israel once clocked in at 4 percent. Say what you will about the Israelis, but they are not slow out of the chute. They know who their friends are. On the topic of the Holy Land, there remains the little matter of God. God talks to televangelists, football coaches, and people in mental hospitals. Why shouldn’t he talk to Rick Perry? In the spirit of Joseph Heller, I have a covenant with God. I leave him alone and he leaves me alone. If, however, I have a big problem, I ask God for the answer. He tells Rick Perry. And Rick tells me.

So would I support Rick Perry for president? Hell, yes! As the last nail that hasn’t been hammered down in this country, I agree with Rick that there are already too damn many laws, taxes, regulations, panels, committees, and bureaucrats. While Obama is busy putting the hyphen between “anal” and “retentive” Rick will be rolling up his sleeves and getting to work.

Full disclosure:  I "threw away my vote" in the 2006 Texas gubernatorial race by voting for Mr. Friedman.  I could cloak myself in self-righteous virtue and tell ya I voted my conscience.  Which isn't a bad ideer, come to think on it, so, yeah:  I voted my conscience!  Kinky's platform appealed to me in every possible way...

Two things:  (1) read the whole endorsement; it's great in that Kinky way.  (2) We are edging ever closer to putting a "Perry 2012" widget in our sidebar.