My comment spam filter (Akismet) caught an interesting one today:

Attention All Site Owners: The following website openly promotes unfair tactics to gain high ranking in search engines! XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.TLD Their members use dark art scripts free of charge. Those people are ruining the web! AVOID them at all costs!

I love my spam filter.

Website address redacted by me.

Not posting much today because, with the news of Obama warning us about trillion-dollar deficits, I’m balanced between “and so who is going to borrow that much money from us,” “exactly how are we supposed to undo all of that damage without a currency default and its attendant nastiness,” and “holy s***, a polititian just told us the truth about something.”

I’m not the most optimistic person you could talk with; far from it, in fact. I don’t have very much that’s positive to say regarding the future because of one very human tendency - the urge to make that which will be like that which was. This is the compulsion that will hurt us.

The desire for continuity is not something new or surprising in the human race, bur the conditions we aspire to - an unsustainable production/consumption cycle that is centered around building and maintaining the largest concentration of destructive force on the planet - that leaves the developing world eternally on the verge of ascendance, and the Western world embracing the orgiastic excess of a civilization on the verge of decline* - is not a condition that can be sustained for longer without building up even more painful adjustments for later. Briefly, both of the states are transitory ones that do not allow for stably existing in them.

What worries me is that we’re just not learning. China is back to pegging the yuan to the dollar (and trying to bolster exports to anywhere again), the U.S. and Europe are playing hot-potato with the role of “importer of last resort,” idiots are talking about (essentially) trying to prevent the housing bubble from collapsing all the way**, and both the U.S. and Israel seem to be missing the point that if violence was going to settle the issue of the Occupied Territories, it would have by now. In a situation like this, telling the rest of the world to STFU and go away is both dishonorable and unproductive. Just look at how well it’s worked out in the many wars we had already.

And that goes for the assholes shooting unguided rockets into a heavily-armed hornet’s nest, as well.

* I do not think that either of these things will necessarily come to pass, since all things are never equal, and things never continue as they have been.
** This is similar to the idea of someone who wants to put out a house fire, but move back in without repairing anything.

Okay. We know that terrorist/resistance/insurgent/whatever movements across the world have gotten good at using the “new media” *spit* in their campaigns - mostly because it’s there, it’s free, and it works. Governments, up to now, have been working very hard at information control - another example of large organizations fighting the battle that they’re made to fight, rather than the one that they need to.

Combining a cue from the U.S. during the first Gulf War and the current success of jihad-r-us YouTube channels*, the IDF has created its own gun-cam-and-propaganda-extravaganza (found via Wired). I suspect this propaganda offensive has been a remarkable success among the Cheeto-stained-keyboard set.

And by the way - about Burris… I used to believe that the Senate had the ultimate authority regarding someone’s eligibility to be included as a member.

Burris doesn’t believe this (though why he isn’t running like hell from this appointment is beyond me - the last thing anyone wants in their political career is a friend like this, who doesn’t know when he’s done enough damage and needs to STFU).

Burris’ lawyer doesn’t believe this (not a surprise).

The Senate would beg to disagree, at least in part.

So the actual picture is fairly murky. The WSJ is spinning it like mad, perhaps in the hopes of the GOP passing the “Massive Corruption (or even just a state of affairs that simply looks bad)” torch on to the Democrats.

As someone who has never been a fan of Microsoft, please allow me to say “hee, hee!” and “damn, you lucked out on this one.”

May you get enough naughty in 2009 to have a nice little smile in 2010.

Just ran across this Op-Ed at boston.com: “Why not a civil union - for all?”

ONCE AGAIN the unnecessary furor over gay marriage has been reopened by President-elect Obama’s pick of Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation. Once again we hear the old mantra that gay marriage is “an attack on the sacred institution of marriage” (”There are many who don’t accept idea of gay marriage,” Letters, Dec. 23). So once again I have to ask, if marriage is a “sacred,” that is, religious institution, why in the name of the Constitution is the government in the marriage business at all? Why can’t the government, state or federal, simply legalize civil unions for all people, gay or straight, and let those who want “holy matrimony” attached to their union go to the church of their choice and have it done? There are enough liberal churches around to accommodate all. Then churches would keep their freedom from government intervention and we would all be equal in the eyes of the state. Why has this idea not been seriously considered?

Robert Finch
Wellfleet

Yes, please.

In a “what the HELL” moment, I saw this headline in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Georgian gets GOP’s attention

strike really, really dark comment about what it takes to get the GOP’s attention

Macon — In the coming debate over what a reformed and revived Republican Party should look like, one of the most influential voices from Georgia won’t belong to a governor, a congressman or a U.S. senator.

It will come from a 33-year-old former attorney, hunched over a keyboard in his Macon home, or tapping out his essays from the confines of a local coffeehouse on the edge of Mercer University.

Erick Erickson is editor-in-chief and the only paid employee of the 4-year-old conservative Web site RedState.com. He remains a near-stranger to Republicans who make up the grassroots, grits-and-eggs gatherings in Georgia.

But via the Internet, Erickson and his band of 20 volunteer contributors from across the country have become an essential, beyond-the-Beltway sounding board for a GOP that, nationally, has suffered a generational defeat at the hands of President-elect Barack Obama and his tech-savvy, Democratic army.

Oh it’s HIM!!! I hate to tell you, if that’s one of the most influential voices in Georgia with the GOP, Georgia might as well hang it up.

I’m surprised they didn’t say “ragtag band of rebels.”

So, how they doin’?

RedState.com was originally created as a Republican version of the Daily Kos, the liberal blog and political forum created by Markos Moulitsas. But the national gap between liberal and conservative on the Internet remains vast.

Both Daily Kos and RedState hit monthly high marks in October as the presidential campaign reached a fever pitch. According to Sitemeter.com, which keeps track of visitors to Web sites, Daily Kos had nearly 80 million page views. RedState.com had 2.8 million.

Please let me clarify “liberal” - Daily Kos is not liberal, it’s Democratic (large D). Period.

Please let me clarify “remains” here - there should be an “as it has been since its inception.”

Now all snark aside, 2.8 million page views a day is great!! Go him!! That’s fantastic, but it’s not dKos. I suspect the problem is that in trying to occasionally be sane, and because you have contributors offering so many points of view (compared to the norm for the GOP). The comparative lack of crazy and message discipline drives off the blog’s target audience to greener pastures. But while he seems to be able to give good advice recite truisms with a straight face about looking for good technology people (note to my fellow IT geeks: you may not want this gig), and he’s batting .100 when it comes to getting responses from the candidates for the GOP party leadership.

Extra crazy like this might help, though:

Because Erickson works out of small-town America, and, as a “hobby,” serves as a Macon city council member, it should come as no surprise that he remains an admirer of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Erickson came to the defeated vice presidential nominee’s rescue when, after the election, stories emerged of her lack of readiness for her job.

Erickson launched what he called “Operation Leper,” promising to identify the suspected leakers on the staff of Republican nominee John McCain — and make them outcasts.

We’ll see what happens.

Update: If the post about Kennedy is true, well, that would be depressing but about par for the course for people in general. Never mind things like oh, Vitter, whom I thought had proved that heterosexual consenting relationships outside of marriage were OK now. Not so much if you’re a woman, or if it’s not a paid transaction, I guess.

HOWEVER.

Anything I could say about that fixation pales in comparison to the thermonuclear bundle of stupid that is: “The Impending Free-Market Vindication.” If you bother to click through the links, which he only cites as “see here, here, here, here and here for evidence against the claim that deregulation was responsible for the economic downturn. And see this for a good reason to be scared of the creeping approach of economic statism.” The bold is mine, that’s where he links to documents that link to what he’s trying to convey (I’d try and hide “supporting evidence” that miserable, too). No, I’m not going to do the linking for you, why should I sully such a magnificent literary presentation?

It’s Festivus, and since one thing I like to do is complain about stuff, I think I can get into this holiday tradition.

The American cable and telco companies: who established their near-monopoly on Internet connectivity, and made it absolutely unnecessary for them to actually perform a widespread deployment of broadband Internet, let alone invest in the infrastructure upgrades they’d need to support it.

The Republican Party of the United States: When you screw up and get chased out of power, do you have to keep throwing hand grenades behind you to make sure that nothing gets done except cleaning up the rubble while you’re away?

My housemate: for only once making coffee after finishing the pot all year.

Barack Obama: for being a much poorer source of humor and outrage than his predecessor.

People who proselytize, whether in advocacy of a religion or otherwise: Just because reciting a particular spun-sugar fairy tale (or blood ‘n guts righteous destruction narrative) makes you feel good when you talk about it does not mean a damn thing about the underlying beliefs themselves. In fact, if it gets you all emotional and doesn’t require engaging your thoughts, it’s probably not something to base your (or anyone else’s) world view on; it’s probably just bad epic narrative.

Tom Delay: For not going back to the extermination business, and for being the kind of person one would rather have access to nerve toxins than what they’re presently doing.

You know, I’ve got fewer of these than I thought! I think I understand one of the reasons behind this tradition now.

*wanders off to enjoy his evening*

This set of reviews for Stephenie Meyers’ Twilight series is too good (and on target) to be missed. I mean really, it’s got snark, deliberately bad Photoshops that are so awful they’re good, social commentary, educational bits, and cheesy pop culture references - all while smacking down a socially-regressive piece of… well… read the reviews. They are a few months old now, but they are fantastic. Here is the introduction (though this has only a fraction of the visual impact of the original):

LDS Sparkledammerung IS HERE!
The Secrets of the Sparkle a.k.a. TWILIGHT: STONIFIED (Image heavy)

So here’s the thing. I was going to be all whipping out the smart essay, pointing out all the subconscious LDS meta that SMeyers jammed in these books, showing how I thought she didn’t even realize what she was borrowing (because honestly, I just don’t think she’s smart enough to lay it out there, you know?) But here’s the thing:

THE BOOKS ARE REALLY REALLY DUMB. Like, “Strategery” dumb. (That’s a Dubya quote.) So I’m giving back at the same reading-comprehension level if you will. And you will. There’s so much dumb, in fact, that it will take a few posts to get it all out there. So here’s the first book and change.

Hold on, hold on, I need to keep setting the tone:

“Is there anything more beautiful than a beautiful, beautiful flamingo, flying across in front of a beautiful, beautiful sunset? And he’s carrying a beautiful rose in his beak, and also he’s carrying a very beautiful painting with his feet. And also, you’re drunk.” ~Jack Handy.

There is heavy word abuse in the book, so I’m trying to spare you that. They are “beautiful,” “perfect,” “chagrin,” and the one I wanted to scream every time I read it, “UGH.” Because cop fathers would clearly say repeatedly, “Ugh.” On with the show!

Be careful if you’re drinking anything.

Review of Book One
Review of Book Two
Review of Book Three
Review of Book Four

Please also note that this is the first entry in the category “Stamp Out Crappy Writing.” I don’t mean grammatically poor writing, I don’t mean symbolically awkward writing, I don’t mean incomprehensible writing, I don’t mean socially injurious themes, and especially I don’t mean contrived, escapist plots. I mean a gestalt of all of these things and more, that combines to Form Blazing Thermo-nuclear Clusterfuck Of Stupid in ways that are beyond description without the poorly-veiled referencing of badly dubbed Japanese animation which has had its plot beaten about the head and shoulders with a toy marketing company.

I hope this clarifies things.

Say what you will, but Bush is creating jobs and they’re not even in the United States:

Their deployment as a makeshift missile robbed President George Bush of his dignity and landed their owner in jail. But the world’s most notorious pair of shoes have yielded an unexpected bonanza for a Turkish shoemaker.

Ramazan Baydan, owner of the Istanbul-based Baydan Shoe Company, has been swamped with orders from across the world, after insisting that his company produced the black leather shoes which the Iraqi journalist Muntazar al-Zaidi threw at Bush during a press conference in Baghdad last Sunday.

Baydan has recruited an extra 100 staff to meet orders for 300,000 pairs of Model 271 - more than four times the shoe’s normal annual sale - following an outpouring of support for Zaidi’s act, which was intended as a protest, but led to his arrest by Iraqi security forces.

Never mind that his part in all this was to duck a consequence of his actions.

I knew I left memeorandum open for a reason.