Dead at age 82. Very well-written op-ed.
Archives for January 2015
Weird Dreams
Since there is not much going on other than football and feasting, this being New Year’s Day, let me share some really weird dreams I have. Dinner is pork and sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, brussell sprouts, and baked apples. I’m pissed at Shawn because I went out to check on everything and he told me “I already ate” and all he ate was pork and sauerkraut which wasn’t really ready and he ate none ofthe sides I could and had ginger snaps for dessert. I wanted to punch him in the neck, the fucker. At least the fraternity boys will eat the whole meal when they get here in a little bit.
One set of them always involves the military. Today’s iteration was I was PCSing, but had been out in the field, came back to clean up and catch my flight, and someone had been moved into my room and all of my left boots were missing. I only had my right boot out of each set and the muddy beat down set I was wearing. Also, I couldn’t blouse my BDU’s because all of them were gone except for the cheapo braided ones with hooks that cut off your circulation. And then, every time I got one done and started to work on the other came undone, all while everyone was yelling that the 1SG was waiting on me.
Another military one I have all the damned time is that I go back to the military and am stationed at Fulda again, but it is current day, and everyone I was there with is there, but I am out of shape and everything is the same but has changed and I don’t remember any of the skill sets I had, and it always seems like I am holding everyone back, and I can’t get my A and B bags packed because I am missing all sorts of gear and have to keep going to supply. I also only have summer BDU bottoms and winter tops. Meanwhile, they are yelling at me to get to the motor pool so we can get to railhead.
Another dream I have all the time is it is about three weeks before I am supposed to graduate from grad school, and the registrar’s office calls me and say they can not let me march because they did a records check, and it turns out I never graduated from high school, so they will hold my degree for a year but I have to go back to HS to get my diploma. So I have to go to high school every day for a year at my old high school and I am 40+ years old but all my friends from high school are the same age they were back then.
Another frequently recurring dream involves me driving the car, and I go to brake, but the brakes slow me down but don’t really stop me. I can feel myself pushing on the brake, but it just goes soft all the way to the floor, so I am involved in slow motion accidents and near misses. The latest one the other day had me driving a UPS truck, and I was sliding down a hill and tried to brake and couldn’t, so I tried to downshift and ended up hitting reverse and shooting the transmission out the ass of the truck.
All of them leave me waking up frustrated and feeling all weird in the head. I’m not even going to get into the nightmares. Oh, and I dream in color, and I know I also have good dreams, because I have been told I giggle in my sleep, but I never remember those dreams.
Any of you have the same kind of dreams?
The GOP Mainstream (Is A Shallow Sewage Trickle)
NYT got in some first-class 2014 trolling in under the wire. http://t.co/EHvMRxFHsZ
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) January 1, 2015
Kudos to reporter Jeremy Alford, actually:
… In his 1991 campaign for governor against Edwin W. Edwards, Mr. Duke largely avoided explicitly racial campaigning, appealed to the frustrations and resentments of white voters and won more than 60 percent of the white vote while losing in a runoff election. Two decades later, much of his campaign has merged with the political mainstream here, and rather than a bad memory from the past, Mr. Duke remains a window into some of the murkier currents in the state’s politics where Republicans have sought and eventually won Mr. Duke’s voters, while turning their back on him…
During the 1991 race for governor, Mr. Duke attempted to build a bridge between the Klansman he was and the polished politician he wanted to be. He told voters he regretted being “too intolerant” in his youth and said he would not disown his daughters if they brought home an African-American or Jewish boyfriend.
Instead, he focused on anti-big government and anti-tax mantras that preceded the Tea Party movement. His decision to run to the right of the field is now a common maneuver in Louisiana’s open primary system.
Mr. Duke supported forcing welfare recipients to take birth control. Now there are near-perennial attempts by members of the Louisiana Legislature to give welfare recipients drug tests.
After being elected to the state House of Representatives in 1989, Mr. Duke filed nine bills, including measures implementing stricter guidelines for residents of public housing, repealing affirmative action programs and eliminating minority set-asides…
But if Mr. Duke became a third rail for Louisiana Republicans, some Republicans have seen value in courting Mr. Duke’s voters. When he successfully ran for Louisiana governor in 1995, Mr. Foster paid $150,000 for a list of Mr. Duke’s supporters and received his endorsement during the campaign. Mr. Foster said he never used the list, but it did result in a grand jury investigation and an ethics fine for the former governor after the expenditure was not properly reported….
Remember, though, it’s the Democrats who are the real racists Socialists:
@daveweigel I'm waiting on the article showing that @SenSanders and Lenin share some of the same ideas. I won't hold my breath.
— NewYorkLibertarian (@NYLibertariann) January 1, 2015
The GOP Mainstream (Is A Shallow Sewage Trickle)Post + Comments (27)
College Football Playoffs Open Thread
Go Ducks and Roll Tide!
This year I will blog more, or less
To celebrate the new year, a nice round-numbered anniversary and the world’s most adorable daughter (fairly confident we can prove that with science) Dr. Mrs. Dr. F. and I made a nice meal and ate in.
Plus we opened the damn bottle*.
Happy new year and may your every cat video go viral.
(*) We did not pay retail for that; I’m not even sure that was ever an option. We owe someone a pretty big fist-bump some day.
I Have Only One Burning Desire
We had a NYE party at our house last night. When we were in the other room, our mutt decided that she needed to be on a table with burning candles. Here’s the result of her near-miss with immolation. This is after the black parts have been removed. Luckily, it didn’t burn down to the skin so the only other evidence of her little mishap is a lingering stink of singed hair. Open thread.
New Year’s Day College Football Bowl Games
On paper at least, it looks like we’ve got some great match-ups on tap for the first day of 2015. The bowl schedule and my picks are below with ir-rationales following the image:
First things first — this year, the mighty SEC lost a step. Exhibit A: both Mississippis got torched yesterday. That said, I believe the SEC is still the strongest conference in the nation. My picks represent some SEC homerism, but my uninformed analysis plays a role too.
For example, I don’t think Wisconsin comes back from the ass-kicking delivered by Ohio State. Some teams might be motivated by such a debacle. I think Wisconsin was broken by it, and therefore the Tigers of Auburn will prevail.
I’m going with Mizzou over Minnesota mainly because Mizzou got better as the season went on whereas Minnesota started out strong but faltered. Still, I think it’ll be a good game.
Alabama – Ohio State worries me a bit because the pregame hype reminds me of the Florida – Ohio State matchup back in aught-seven when everyone was saying the Gators didn’t even belong in the championship game, and then they went on to dismantle the Buckeyes. Only this time Ohio State is the underdog. But I don’t think the mostly stalwart Ohio State D has seen anything like ‘Bama’s Sims-Cooper combo this year, so the Tide will roll.
Exactly 15 years ago today, my hungover little brother and I attended the Citrus Bowl hoping to watch our Gators beat Michigan State. But Michigan State embarrassed the Gators that year. The Spartans may do the same to Baylor, but I have a feeling the Bears, still smarting from being left out of the playoffs, will take it out on Michigan State.
And finally, Oregon vs Florida State. I hate the goddamn ‘Noles, and several times this year, egged on by texts from fellow ‘Nole-haters, I’ve been suckered by would-be schaudenfreude into watching them come from behind to win against mediocre ACC opponents. I hope the Ducks expose FSU today. I’m even wearing a green shirt in solidarity with Oregon. I don’t just want an Oregon win; I want a humiliating beat-down of the ‘Noles. But I suspect it’ll be an exciting game that Oregon wins in a squeaker.
What say you, football fans?
New Year’s Day College Football Bowl GamesPost + Comments (140)