The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 230,000 times in 2011. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 10 days for that many people to see it.
Dec 29
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As 2011 comes to an end we traditionally look back at the last year. And as a blog we pause here briefly to do the same. This has been an exciting year for us and brought with it many changes and developments. Over the last year we have solidified the core base of bloggers and [...]
Nov 22
For some time, a good many of us conservatives have been pretty frustrated with liberals’ abilities to counter without thinking. Never mind facts, create an echo chamber and create a new reality. That’s the modus operendi and quite frankly it really works. Well, it is time to fight fire with fire. Blogger LaborUnionReport of Red [...]
Oct 13
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I have sought throughout my life to spread the conservative message and ideology to as many people as I possibly could in a large variety of ways. I graduated from a conservative political training school, the Morton Blackwell Leadership Institute, while in college and since then have had a wide range of political experiences includes serving two [...]
Sep 26
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A brief update for our faithful members and readers as well as the constant stream of new visitors to the blog. There are now several ways to keep in constant contact with The Constitution Club blog so that you never miss a post. First of all, we provide that old standby – the email subscription [...]
Aug 8
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Despite its amazing resemblance to the Borg, its many obvious flaws, and recent obvious attempts to disrupt and hamstring the thousands of Tea Party and conservative oriented group who have used it effectively to organize, Facebook is still a medium the conservative blogger must utilize to be effective. Never before in the history of mankind [...]
In my daily perusal of various article digests, I came across an article from Yahoo!News titled Down but not Out: Voices of the Long-Term Unemployed. Having more than one family member who has not had an actual full time job in some time, and as I am about to join the ranks of the underemployed soon myself (the job still exists, but my hours are being slashed – and worse, the person “in charge” has no clue about some of my job functions that are being eliminated, the ones that will pull us out of the mess we’re in eventually), I started reading the article with some interest.
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Jun 7
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“Everyone I knew basically left because of so much childish, immature personal attacks. The propensity there to eat their own. And a lot of the people — most of the people — I knew that were on it left.” – Sean Hannity Social Psychologist Irving Janis described eight symptoms indicative of groupthink: 1. Illusions of invulnerability [...]
May 27
Want to be a better Debater? Learn Critical Reasoning!. – Hello, fellow bloggers. Sometimes our debates wallow in irrelevant details on a topic. May I share with you something that has been critical to me over my lifetime of being a pushy, opinionated person? (you are supposed to laugh at this point, you know, because [...]
May 10
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So you finally decided to take the big step, to wade into the debates of the day, and lend your ever-so-wise voice to the great political public square. You’ve decided to become a political blogger. Now what? And what can you learn and expect as you step forth to ideological battle and proclaim the truth [...]
For my friends, the posters on Con Club, and some of our new readers, I thought I’d direct you to some worthy reading:
The Corner @ National Review Online
* – You will find plenty of liberal gibberish here, but there is much worthy on this blog. Many articles which will force one to think about and wrestle with your belief system. It’s always good to keep your focus sharp, so I heartily recommend this site. It’s also not bad for you culture snobs.
Mar 1
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Today is a day worth both celebrating and commemorating. On March 10, 2007 a small band of bloggers started the wordpress hosted Constitution Club blog. The very first post was from yours truly and it read simply: “After nearly 32,000 posts and comments (authors note: at a different online location that no longer exists) at [...]
The facebook recruiting we did quite a while back provided us with such fine, notable bloggers as VOR, Rudy, Isaiah’s Cry and the former active bloggers Verite and Anthony. The FB wave was good even though not all those who showed initial interest panned out as well as might have been hoped. A successful effort to increase our blogging ranks has left us with a more active and interesting blog than we had before that particular recruiting effort and we are very glad for that.
In an attempt to duplicate that success, we will be bringing on a wave of new bloggers from the FreeRepublic ad over the next week or so with some starting almost immediately. This FR wave is designed to complement our earlier success at recruiting new bloggers, all with the overall intention of creating an active and exciting conservative-leaning blog that provides fresh daily content and a vigorous Conclub community of commenters.
So you’ll notice a few new faces over the next few days. I’ve cleaned the masthead out of inactive bloggers (though they retain posting privileges if they choose to return). I’ve given up on introducing each new blogger as they become active but instead have asked them to do that themselves. Please give them a warm welcome as they arrive. The final tally of those joining us has not been determined for sure, but it should be several.
The Constitution Club (www.Constitutionclub.org) is an established blog and is currently accepting applications for new authors who can provide interesting and fresh perspectives on the issues of the day. If you write from a conservative or right-wing, libertarian perspective you are encouraged to contact us at constitutionclub@gmail.com.
If you are new to blogging, a group blog like this is a good way to ease into blogging and get some good experience. We have a good group of bloggers to work with and a fun little blogging community of fellow conservatives. Some are experienced and some are not. A good mixture of both.
We are not an echo chamber and you are not expected to tow any particular line or view on specific subjects. The Conclub bloggers strive to maintain a professional and informative blog, but we do not take ourselves that seriously and enjoy our eccentricity and humor.
As we approach a million visitors, we plan to continue to provide intelligent, informative, and interesting posts, articles, and commentary on a daily basis both in ‘soundbite’ and ‘essay’ form to as many people as possible. We hope you accept this opportunity to share your thoughts on the issue of the day and for us collectively to carry the conservative message to the huddled masses through shared news, views, and commentary.
Please contact us if you are interested in this blogging opportunity and sharing your views with a wider audience.
My fellow Conclubbers…
The time has come for me to bow out for a while. I don’t know if this is temporary or permanent. At this point my name should be removed from the masthead until further notice. The Sage has my permission to share my email with others on the masthead, (but not with the general public). I appreciate your prayers and your patience.
In His Service,
Vérité
I’m a fan of tacky sci-fi thrillers especially those from the 1950s and 1960s, where trashy films where simply better done. Kimberly Lindbergs of Cinebeats, one of the hippest film blogs around, reminisces on The Satan Bug and mourns the passing of the utterly gorgeous (in a slightly creepy way) Anne Francis. RIP.
Cross-posted at Steinblóm.
As a true conservative I tend to be wary of change. But we have occasionally received a complaint or two that our old look was a little bit ‘blah’ and needed a little improvement. We’ve played a bit with this new template in the past and a majority of the bloggers seemed to like it so we’ll give it a shot and see how it works out. I hope you like it.
From the website of Flopping Aces comes an article that may be worth reading. ConClubbers, be careful where you get your links from. Boycott any of the sites listed here.
Can you believe our progressive friends were stupid enough to bring up “violent rhetoric” in politics? Do they think we haven’t been paying attention to their despicable actions over the last decade? Good grief, that’s pretty much all they know how to do and what they practiced virtually non stop for eight years against President Bush and now for about three against Sarah Palin.
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Be sure to stop by and ‘like’ our facebook page. If you are an avid fb user it is a great way to easily catch up on anything you may have missed on the blog. Every post made on the constitution club blog will also be posted there from here on out. Always trying to find ways to increase our reach and audience so we thought we’d give it a try.
I’ll be very honest. Conservatives have a low regard for liberals because of the types of comments as we have seen over the last 24 hours in regards to the tragedy in Arizona. This was a tragedy totally outside the realm of cheap political potshots. When the gutter-licking Left tries to turn tragedies like this into some sort of anti-Palin, anti-Fox News, anti-Limbaugh and Beck, or anti-Tea Party (or whatever) political statement we should all be extremely disgusted at such pathetic attempts to smear an opponent with the blood of real people and real victims. And frankly, shame on all those who are acting this way today. Disgusting, uncalled for, a devious and obvious lie, and very disrespectful for the victims that were injured or killed yesterday. I was saddened to see such references already floating around today. Shame on the Left for engaging in such behavior.
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The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.
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As I was coming here to post, I typed in constitutionclub with an erroneous .com, as my fingers are sometimes faster than my well-worn brain grooves. For my error, I was redirected to a particularly offensive website – NAMBLA’s.
Not that I recommend you repeat my error, LOL…
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I’d like to thank all those at constitutionclub.org for the opportunity to share a bit. My debut has been much delayed by illness, compounded by the usual busy-ness of my personal schedule.
The last couple of weeks of the year may well be a slow time for political and social commentary. We’ll all see how long it takes for me to become publicly… me. In the meantime, I’m finishing up a post or two as I get familiar with this new format.
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I have inside knowledge that our newest of the new bloggers is working on her first post even as we speak. I have taken the liberty of posting her profile here as her introduction to the Conclub blogger and commenter community.
Maeve Magdalen is a woman who describes her perspective on life as a “work in progress”.
Over the next couple of months a few new bloggers will be joining Conclub. The first to join of this ‘new wave’ is Dana G. She will be our youngest blogger and she thought this opportunity would be a great way to begin blogging and dipping her toes into the political realm. Eventually, she’d like to make a career of politics and we are glad that she has decided to join our staff of writers. Please give her a warm welcome and we look forward to hearing her thoughts on the issues of the day.
Conclub currently has four six applications for blogging membership and these will be reviewed and vetted over the next few days. We plan to continue to bring you thoughtful and impassioned views on the events of the day and we hope you continue to visit us daily for fresh insights that are sure to either inflame or enlighten you, and occasionally both. Be looking for new faces and viewpoints in about 7-10 days…
Below you will find the first post by my longest and oldest friend. Rob (blogging as Isaiah’s Cry) and I met first met and became friends when I was the ripe old age of five and he was seven. At that time we were known as Davy and Bobby. We were the best of friends for many years until my family moved from the area when I was twelve. Over the years our contact has waxed and waned on occasion but we have remained friends through thick and thin. Rob and I share a ‘no apologies’ approach to both Christianity and the conservative philosophy and I have admired his wisdom, insights, and intelligence in both arenas. He has been partaking in the many small wars I have started over on facebook and I finally decided to ask him to join us here to share his views and thoughts on the events of the day with a larger audience. Welcome to the world of Conclub blogging…
So what do you think the average person learned from the entire Sherry Sherrod, maybe-she’s-a-racist-maybe-she-is-not, whirlwind?
Despite those who tried to lecture down to us about another Obamanisque ‘teachable moment,’ if you guessed “nothing” you are probably correct. But a lot of people spent an amazing amount of time and effort to analyze, apply lessons to, castigate others about, and generally focus far too much attention on what was in fact an extremely minor event in a world of perpetual outrages, questionable events, and endless partisan potshots. The fact that this exploded onto the national stage with such vigor shows that as a nation we are still little more than infantile when it comes to race relations and that entire national organizations and otherwise educated and mature adults have no ability to discuss race properly. Reasonable people can have differing views on race, race relations, and racism and how it affects modern day society. But that can be, and should be, handled in calm, reasonable, and intelligent manner.
…is my friend and fellow patriot Ken. Over the last few weeks I have vetted and spoken with quite a few people who were interested in joining our blogging staff here at Constitution Club. Some have been accepted and some have not. Some were experienced bloggers and writers and some were “amateurs” wanting to have a their first shot at blogging and perhaps take advantage of the Blogging 101 opportunity that we provide here for those just beginning to explore the craft.
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Below you will find the first Conclub post by Scott, my friend and newest blogger of The Constitution Club blog. As you may or may not know, I have been an independent columnist for many years and Scott had been a reader of mine. Several years ago he contacted me in regards to a particular column I had written and as our discussions unfolded we discovered we had both spent many years in a particular Northern Colorado city. Scott at the time I believe was in S. Korea and I had moved back into the area after high school. Later, he and his family were returning to Northern Colorado for a brief time and we got together and had dinner.
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I like Cassy Fiano’s writing. Mil-Wives are a respectable lot, and they bear a grave cross that’s worth of the respect due a woman of her position. I also normally think well of Debbie Schlussel, but in this case she is beginning to look like a nut-burger. Why the lady is trying to sling hash against fellow conservatives boggles the mind a bit.
I don’t know if the dear lady is off her meds, but she seems like she’s having a blogger-ific public meltdown. It looks pretty silly for a Jewish woman to call a bunch of Jews like Mark Levin and Dennis Prager antisemetic based on nothing resembling serious evidence.
Watching this catfight between bloggers is just… sad. It’s one thing if I am bickering with a liberal or libertarian, as we’re supposed to argue points, but to see two people allegedly on the same side sniping… Sad. Although it would make good fodder for a WWE steel cage-Texas Death-dog collar two-out-of-three-falls shindig.
Cross-posted at RudyCarrera.com.
Like Angelina Jolie collects children Conclub has been collecting new bloggers. I’d like you all to welcome our newest of the newest members of The Constitution Club blog. Anthony Rogers is already an experienced blogger and brings a viewpoint and a bit of humor which I believe will mesh well with our little online community. Hailing from the red state of Kentucky he brings some balance to our geographical distribution and I look forward to learning more about his views on culture, politics, and life in general.
Welcome aboard Anthony, it’s good to have you with us.
No cross-post for this one, folks.
Scott Rosenberg of Idea Lab criticizes, rightly, journalists who are so thin-skinned as to not be able to handle a bit of criticism. Clark Hoyt of the New York Times was very critical of writers at the Grey Lady for now being able to deal with public criticism, but this is not a criticism one can place solely on the feet of the Left. TownHall columnists Hugh Hewitt and Dennis Prager, both of whose work I enjoy immensely, do not allow comments on their websites, and they have both introduced paid memberships to sites where people can comment freely without having to deal with trolls interfereing. Unfortunately, you end up with like minds and no criticism, something that doesn’t make for good journalism.
On the blog side, Jeff Bercovici is tired of bloggers being referred to as bums who wear pajamas. I agree. I took the time to shower and get dressed in order to post this.
As is becoming fairly obvious Conclub has decided to add some depth by bringing in an array of new talent, new blood, and new perspective into its blogging ranks. So far the results have been well-received and brought a bit of renewed energy, posting frequency, and focus to the blog as well as helping to re-energize the old timers.
As a member of the class of ’89 it has been at least ten years, and in some cases over twenty, since I have seen most of my old classmates. But through the modern miracle of social networking (specifically facebook) I have reconnected with a large number of old friends and classmates. One of those is a product of the University of Houston with a business background who many years ago was a fellow Summit Tiger with yours truly at Summit high school in Frisco, Co. I have enjoyed getting back in touch with Todd and talking politics and current events with him. And today I am pleased to announce that he has decided to give this whole blogging thing a shot with the fine folks here at Conclub. Welcome aboard, Todd.
Yes, that’s right gang. I now know and can share with you the release date for the new iPhone on Verizon. That date is exactly 30 days from the date of delivery of my new HTC Droid Incredible, which I ordered yesterday – scheduled to ship around June 30. So if Murphy’s law rings true, look for the new iPhone running on Verizon to be announced around August 31, 2010 or so…
I will be going out of town for a week or so. Traveling is not is easy for me, still I am looking forward to it. I still love you, Dave. I don’t want to fight. I think Mo is wonderful. Have a good week everyone.
How many of you keep hitting the “edit” button on a post because it is where the read more button and the comment button used to be on the old layout?
On another thread, Dave made a comment that struck me as both full of emotion and full of historical ignorance. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling Dave ignorant. In fact, I think he is fairly learned about most things historical. But if one is going to use history as a basis for the current political climate, he should understand what he talks about. Here is an excerpt:
You bet the peasants are pissed and storming the castles of the corrupt feudal lords who are holed up in their castle on the hill. Excuse me for not being polite to them or giving them the benefit of the doubt. Do you think I would have felt badly yesterday if every congressional office had been stormed by an angry mob? Probably not. Even Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple. Righteous anger and indignation is a fire that should be stoked, not extinguished. If all I can be and contribute is a keyboard crusader for the cause, then so be it. There is no shame in that but we all must do what we can to defeat the ideological barbarians in our midst.
Ah, the old “storming the castle of the feudal lords” bit. Something akin to Pat Buchanan’s “peasants with pitchforks.” Now this was a fun analogy to use when I was a twenty year old college student. But a funny thing happened on the way to adulthood: I actually learned that when those peasants had some success occupying the feudal castle, the nobles with horses and arms promptly cut them down, took off thier heads and made splendid examples of them at the gates. Hell, even Martin Luther condemned such nearsighted tactics!
As for “feeling bad if every congressional office were stormed by an angry mob” again, you make light of situations that could possibly lead to the death of many of your ideological bretheren. No one “storms” congressional offices at the Capitol or Hart buildings. And if they do in a Congressman’s district, they would be better off using their talents to vote the scoundrel out of office rather than sit in a jail cell.
Finally, when you claim that “righteous indignation is a fire that should be stoked, not extinguished” keep in mind that the workers of industrial Russia, the bourgeousie of revolutionary France, and peasants of 1524 Germany were all full of “righteous indignation.” In each case, tens if not hundreds of thousands lost their lives at the hands of their own countrymen.
UPDATE: If legislation cannot be enacted without a fringe minority always threatening violence then the republic is in trouble. House Democrats Face Violent Threats After Health Care Vote.
In one case, a gas line was cut outside the Virginia home of Rep. Tom Perriello’s brother after a conservative activist posted the address online, mistakenly thinking it was the congressman’s house. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating.
Our very own E the Wise pointed out the other day that any visit to the blog Little Green Footballs has become a repulsive exercise and should be avoided at all costs. As an inquisitive glutton for online punishment I failed to heed his warning and came away feeling slightly dirty and almost ashamed of myself. I felt like I had broken a taboo or peeked into something that was designed to be hidden from the public view. It was embarrassing. LGF is a sad shell of what it once was. A shadow of its former self. The once vaunted and often linked to LGF has imploded, its reputation shattered, while its author Charles Johnson has apparently become unhinged or sold out to the peddlers of discredited ideologies. In an inappropriately named piece titled Right-Wing Flame War! The New York Times turns its erratic and not always correct journalistic spotlight on the events surrounding Charles Johnson’s and LGF’s “break with the right.” Despite the sometimes obvious flaws it is an interesting journey into the meltdown at LGF and some of the fallout that accompanied it.
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CNN must have really blundered in hiring this guy. He’s saying what the public ACTUALLY thinks instead of what CNN wants them to think. What gives?
Ouch.
What an incredible display of a media feeding frenzy. From the second there was blood in the water, there was no stopping the onslaught of media sharks, tabloid bottom feeders, and general all-purpose clean up crews around this guy. But the hardest hitting media IMHO comes from the advertisements that came before the fall.
Relevant advertisement titles sound quite different in light of the latest events – some make the ads seem more applicable, some make common golf expressions sound scandalous.
As always, I try to include a musical rendition that encapsulates the evening. This song was the first song we heard that night on the jukebox. It was popular when we were in college and the group happens to be from Fort Collins. So hit play, sit back, and envision three guys sitting at some hole in the wall American Legion bar.
Fox News Makes the Best Pie Chart. Ever. | FlowingData.
Actually, the poll itself is not flawed, but the local affiliate who aired this segment may need a little help. This screen capture has been going viral on many lefty sites today, including prominent blogs such as that of J. Bradford Delong. … who titled his post “Yes, Fox News Really Is This Bad!”.
Of course, this is an deliberate attempt by Fox News to skew the data. Or perhaps is shows the outright stupidity of the network? LOL Isn’t it obvious from the anchor’s strong delivery and the quality of the graphics (Opinions Dynamic?).
There may have been a better way to display the data (hint: bar chart instead of pie chart), and perhaps a better explanation of just what the numbers represent-
Palin has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2012, along with a host of other Republicans. Among self-identified Republicans in the survey, Palin gets the highest favorable ratings (70 percent) amid a group of other possible contenders for the GOP nomination, including Mike Huckabee (63 percent), Mitt Romney (60 percent) and Newt Gingrich (58 percent).
Speaking of national news networks, has anyone noticed the quality of ESPN broadcasts recently?
We survived the night. And a slight change of venues. E has dome job-related commitments today but I hope the minutes will be posted later on this afternoon or evening. Overall, a good night. These guys haven’t seen Dave so uncharacteristically fired up with righteous indignation since college. Rarely do I stand up for myself with such passion. You do what you’ve got to do sometimes I guess. I am usually so mellow and contemplative. I have become overwhelmingly good natured in my old age even while my tolerance for b.s. of any sort has dwindled dramatically. Perhaps a paradox. Good stuff. I appreciate them coming up. Got to relive some fond memories of our time in the ideological trenches together and the battles and occasional victories that were ours. To a certain extent I see Conclub as having evolved as a continuation of those early struggles. It is a continuation of those early days for me. I’ve never stopped fighting the ideological and cultural wars and this blog is just a partial element and weapon in that struggle for me. A tool as well as a testing ground for ideas and concepts that I then proceed to use elsewhere. A laboratory (or cauldron if you prefer) for ideas, arguments and viewpoints.
Back to the Duke of Windsor Wednesday evening at 6:30. The Grand Triune will be in attendance. Guru, you in town?
Due to an absolute deadline that is fast looming, I must excuse myself and concentrate fully on some other tasks. Facebook, Conclub and a few other time consuming activities will basically be suspended for the next two weeks. I now am taking orders for Christmas on a manuscript that is not yet fully completed. Yesterday, one lady ordered eight copies of a “product” that doesn’t really exist yet for Christmas presents. I’m in “hurry up” mode and will be spending every spare moment for the next two weeks “elsewhere” other than here I am afraid. I spent several hours on my “special project” today alone and was happy with the progress that was achieved. I could probably use the break anyway. I’ve been a bit beat up and tired emotionally lately due to the unforeseen events that unfolded here recently and I could probably use the break time to rejuvenate and refocus my energies on what I believe to be truly important instead of allowing myself to get sidetracked. When I return I will begin running a series of philosophical essays on the ideological struggles of the day. Despite what you may have heard, I am far more of an ideological and sociological philosopher than many may believe. Activism and politics is secondary to understanding the agendas, goals and mindsets of those involved in the great struggles of the day. One can’t fight effectively what you don’t understand, and you can’t achieve true victory unless you truly understand what you are fighting for.
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, “Peace! Peace!” — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!
Great and powerful words. If being a patriot is extreme, the I gladly accept the label. Only thing is, it is not 1775 and I am not Patrick Henry. I also love the following quote.
Okay so it’s not really ‘to: PG from: E.’ It’s more like this song is to PG from E. No, no, no. . . It’s not from E in the real sense, it’s more of an ethereal thing. . . I mean, I’m not really giving you a Kasey Kasem long distance dedication, I’m just throwing this song out there to you because it’s not ZZ Top. So PG, here’s your song.
But it isn’t really from me. Even though it sort of is.
The “balloon boy” case that sparked international media news attention Thursday was a hoax that will result in criminal charges against the boy’s parents, Larimer County, Colo., Sheriff Jim Alderden said Sunday.
I freely admit that the recently arrested terror suspect, who has not been waterboarded (yet), Najibullah Zazi lives in mt neighborhood. I am not related to him though, well not to my knowledge. I need to know if any of you Northern Colorado Clubbers are related to the Balloon Family.
There is no truth to the rumor that the father, a meteorologist, is a leading spokesperson for the UN on climate thingy theory.
The Constitution Club is pleased to announce the newest member of our humble little blog. The all-powerful and all-knowing Grand Triune offered posting privileges to our frequent contributor “Sting the Away” and he has been kind enough to accept the offer. We have enjoyed his witty and humorous contributions and observations on the events of the day as a visitor and look forward to his wit and wisdom as a full-fledged member of Conclub.
Welcome aboard. You’re officially a blogger.
The Loonie is on par with the dollar. The Beast can use his Loonies in the slots on the reservations now I bet.
The dollar is at the same lows against the Euro as it was last year when Andre made an issue out of it. How is it working for you now ‘Dre?
E and Beast I get both of your posts and the reasons for them. I was just wondering if either of you had heard of the “page-break” concept?
I know you have all your money hoarded in gold Jeff, but I have a great tip for you. The company is Tenet Healthcare Corporation. The stock has gone up 375% YTD. It is a can’t miss for you. Check out the symbol.
Biden on 2010: If GOP Succeeds, It’s ‘The End of the Road for What Barack and I Are Trying to Do’
Oh the hubris!
Vice President Joe Biden said today that if Democrats were to lose 35 House seats they currently hold in traditionally Republican districts, it would mean doomsday for President Obama’s agenda.
Biden said Republicans are pinning their political strategy on flipping these seats.
I have been a little under the weather this past little while. Since my absence started it seems the posts and comments from all have dramatically increased. You sure know how to make a guy feel good! Ditch PG and lets pitch-a-bitch.
I have to declare to all that:
OK! OK! OK! I am going to be witty here!
By being mistaken Michelle’s husband Barry proves he is a know nothing fool.
At the town hall in Portsmouth, N.H., Obama said, “We have the AARP onboard because they know this is a good deal for our seniors.” He added, “AARP would not be endorsing a bill if it was undermining Medicare.”
But Tom Nelson, AARP’s chief operating officer, said, “Indications that we have endorsed any of the major health care reform bills currently under consideration in Congress are inaccurate.”
This proves his position is just plain wrong. Hey – Do you think this guffaw causing ooops statement might lead to anal and scat jokes about the man on Sadly, No! ?
As my friend Andre said…
Lenny Dykstra filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy today.
A little more than a year ago Dykstra was being profiled in the New Yorker, sharing his stock-picking wizardry with Jim Cramer’s acolytes and generally being regarded as a financial whiz whose business acumen was hidden behind a tobacco-chewing exterior. But just as our economic system wasn’t as healthy as it appeared in the best of times, Dykstra’s finances weren’t quite as good as they appeared on the outside.
For Con Club readers, it has actually been 2 years since I first discussed Mr. Dykstra’s burgeoning “empire”. Of course, what sounds to good to be true, probably is.
The 46-year-old Dykstra, a former World Series champ with the Mets and spark plug with the Phillies, faces upward of 20 suits from creditors coast to coast, most related to The Players Club, a problem-plagued magazine he launched last year.
Among those claiming they were stiffed by the player known as “Nails” are a pair of private jet rental companies, his brother, aLas Vegasprinting business, a former lawyer and several former employees.
Dykstra’s wife is also suing him for divorce, and his $18 million California mansion is in foreclosure.
Lenny is known for his risk taking both on and off the field. Although all the financial details have not been released, some have speculated that his penchant for “deep in the money” calls may have helped lead him to this point.
Lenny made it look easy when things were going up. I don’t necessarily disagree with his strategy, it has a time and place for some people, but he touted it as nearly fool proof. He twisted the risk into “only the amount you paid for the call” which is 100% accurate. However, the amount you pay for a DITM option is quite a lot. True, it is less than the stock itself, but it’s highly unlikely that you’re going to lose 100% of your money in a stock. It is far more likely that you’d lose 100% of your capital in a DITM option.
Who knows? Maybe he is just following in Donald Trump’s footsteps.
In Lenny’s own words, to those who question where the world according to Lenny is going next, “Fuck them. We will see who is laughing, yeah, when you want a loan.”
Lenny, you may want to rethink that statement.
Last night at our bi-annual conclub conclave, I was hoping to give my fellow bloggers a glimpse into the real-time access to information that is available in today’s world. Most of you did not grasp the power of the stream of information available at your fingertips and laughed it off as “I don’t want people to know if I am in the shower, or eating lunch, or driving down the highway”. With those points I would certainly agree. But the power of the medium is on display today, right now, in real time.
While CNN and most of the MSM have been slow to recognize the events transpiring in Iran today, the real-time flow of information sources like twitter and friendfeed have been ripe with the pictures and the stories of the uprising and unrest following the “official” announcement of today’s election results. There are numerous photo streams and blog postings detailing the action. Real time discussions of the events are taking place on friendfeed and twitter as well as many other lifestream sites.
This is the true power of the real time web. And perhaps it helps to put another nail into “corporate controlled” MSM.
As a comment on friendfeed noted “An amazing showcase of how new forms of communication make it much harder for dictatorships to control people!”
“No leader in American history has gone to greater lengths than Barack Obama to make amends for his own country. From condemnation of American “arrogance” in a speech in Strasbourg to acknowledging U.S. “mistakes” before millions of Muslims on Arab television, Obama has rarely missed an opportunity to apologise for the actions of the American people.
President Obama has elevated the art of national self-loathing to new heights, and seems to delight in prostrating the most powerful nation on the face of the earth before its critics and rivals, especially on foreign soil.”
Man where is this guy’s proof? The nerve of this dude…
“Obama’s supine approach has become a humiliating spectacle for a country that, together with Great Britain, has done more to advance the cause of liberty and freedom across the world than any nation in the world. Every groveling apology by the president undermines America’s confidence, standing and power, and strengthens the hand of those who seek her destruction.
It is time for President Obama to recognise that his new strategy is weakening his country and making the United States more vulnerable to attack. The dream of America haters who revel in the vision of the humbling of a superpower, is being realised by an administration that has so far fundamentally rejected the idea of American exceptionalism.”
CHEERS 
Last week, PG stated unequivocally that the release of the so called “torture memos” have “damaged the country.” There is no question that Obama will be walking a tight rope with no net on this issue. PG correctly pointed out that Obama has backpedaled on his commitment to not prosecute over the matter, demoralized the intelligence community, polarized the country, and emboldened our enemies.
Not to be outdone, resident naysayer and thorn-in-the-side of conservatives, Phoenecian (Phooey), challenged PG to come up with evidence that supported PG’s assertion that the intelligence community was “demoralized.” The exchange proceeded as such:
Phooey: Cite your sources, please. (Hint hint: anecdotes are not data)
PG: dude, should I just give a bad link like you do, with demonstrably misleading information, or should I provide real support? Here is one Phooey… *PG then went on to post two more
Phooey: Hint hint: anecdotes are not data. Also hint hint – the directors do not always speak for the workers.
PG: What part of its “my observation of the available comments” do you not understand son. I gave you some of those comments. If you fail grasp that I can not help you. If you disagree with that then that’s fine with me Phooey. If you can find comments contrary to my position then more the better. If you find my argument unsupported that is all cake to me.
Well, unfortunately for the United States, it appears that PG actually knows what he is talking about. Global Intelligence think tank Stratfor writers Fred Burton and Scott Stewart had this to say about the topic:
Politics and moral arguments aside, the end effect of the memos’ release is that people who have put their lives on the line in U.S. counterterrorism efforts are now uncertain of whether they should be making that sacrifice. Many of these people are now questioning whether the administration that happens to be in power at any given time will recognize the fact that they were carrying out lawful orders under a previous administration. It is hard to retain officers and attract quality recruits in this kind of environment. It has become safer to work in programs other than counterterrorism.
The memos’ release will not have a catastrophic effect on U.S. counterterrorism efforts. Indeed, most of the information in the memos was leaked to the press years ago and has long been public knowledge. However, when the release of the memos is examined in a wider context, and combined with a few other dynamics, it appears that the U.S. counterterrorism community is quietly slipping back into an atmosphere of risk-aversion and malaise — an atmosphere not dissimilar to that described by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9/11 Commission) as a contributing factor to the intelligence failures that led to the 9/11 attacks.
If you care about our counterterrorism efforts, you must read the entire link. It is a fascinating, non-partisan look at how legal and political considerations may be trumping our ability to effectively fight terror abroad.
Speaking of promoting bloggers/essayists, here is the latest entry by Bill Whittle. It’s not as long as some of his previous essays (which are always worth grabbing a cup of coffee or favorite beverage, and reading over a lunch hour) but is brilliant, as usual.
I’m quoting probably around half of it (almost exclusively the latter half) but read the whole thing, for full exposition.
The Washington Post ran a column a few days ago, in which a Mr. Joel Berg applauds the Obama Administration for reducing the amount of charitable deduction that The Rich are allowed to take when they write a check to charity…
Our friend and fellow blogger eric at Tygrrrr Express has now released his new book Ideological Bigotry. In the interest of promoting a fine fellow blogger I am reprinting the following from his website. If this book is as good as his blog and his essays we definitely have a winner.
I have probably belabored this point already, but I am attempting to write a book on the conservative ideology and that has prompted me to read through four and a half years of posts from a variety of different blogs I have been a part of during that time. I am also currently going through nearly six hundred pages of Conclub comments and it has been an amazing trip through time. There is some brilliant, fun, coarse, angry, insulting, snarky and occasionally incredibly wise “stuff” sitting in the Constitution Club archives. Perhaps one of my favorite comments I have found so far was this one from an apparently exasperated Wes which I have taken the liberty of reposting here. It was in response to the post DePalma’s “Redacted” Newest B.O. Flop.
It had Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. Of COURSE it was given a giant budget. You’d have a better case if there had been even ONE real ad for Redacted or if there were a wide release in the works. I certainly didn’t see anything promising in that guy’s articles. Don’t know who he writes for. And the movie he mentioned, 300, is an example of a conservative movie that actually worked. Funny that it was an adaptation and not an original script.
And of course the professor shit is all the fault of liberals. How silly of me to think that there was anything ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever wrong with conservative philosophy. Just like pgwarner, you are 100% incapable of considering any alternate thought from your own. I wonder why liberals wouldn’t want you guys on campus? You’re like a virus. A virus that slowly but surely stifles all dissent, all ambiguity, all doubt. All things that are fundamental to an education.
It has come to my attention that Guru Steve will once again be joining our ragtag team of bloggers. Welcome back Steve.
Whenever I log into the wordpress site, I sometimes scan the ‘Hawt Posts’ section just to see other blogs. When I went to check ConClub today, I was drawn to the site Proud Atheists in that section with the title: “Only in America.”
Now normally I don’t get upset enough to even comment on sites I disagree with. But the point of his post was to show how bad the combination of America and religion have been. He uses such stellar facts as America ranks #33 in acceptance of evolution, some kids wear shirts with the message “God Hates Fags,” and the fact that we only have 5% of the worlds population but 25% of the worlds incarcerated population.
I was so incenced by this enlightened soul that I fired off this reply:
So does being atheist mean that you are required to create the most obvious straw man arguments known to man? Frankly, I am disappointed in the intellectual level of your discourse. You take the lowest common denominators in society and equate them with religious teachings and doctrines. For example:
America claims to be religious yet they have lots of prisoners, and, some very vile people wear ‘God hates fags’ shirts”
Despite my Christian leanings, I haven’t the slightest desire to debate your dogmatic atheism. But could you at least read something by Christopher Hitchens and learn how to articulate a common sense atheist argument before you embarass yourself with your vacuous arguments? Thanks so much.
I don’t really care much if you don’t believe in God or are a leftist or hate America or think Bush should die a terrible death. None of that really gets to me. But please, please make a rational argument if you are going to put your shit out there. This is why I love the bloggers from both the left and right on this site. They at least bring it.
BTW, that comment is awaiting moderation. We know how well our past comments have been treated on sites we oppose. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: I just checked the status of my comment and it apparently didn’t make the cut. The author left a quick statement that said “EtheWise, I will admit my writing could use improvement, but I am not a fan of Hitchens. He is a war supporter.” And just as quickly as I saw that reply, he pulled it. I guess you now know why I rarely comment on sites of those with which I disagree. They pull most comments, even respectful ones, of their ideological foes.
UPDATE: After two more attempts of wondering aloud why the dude wouldn’t even display my comment, it is clear that he didn’t like his arguments called into question. He responded but quickly pulled the response (see above). I suppose we can chalk this clown and his site up as another leftist echo chamber where those that proffer polite yet scathing observations will be scrubbed from the dialogue.
BTW, WordPress is a joke for “randomly” prominently displaying retards that can’t make coherent arguments.
I am doing some research on a possible project/book on my writing experiences and on the conservative ideology in general and in doing so I revisiting some of the old blogs that I have been involved with. We haven’t really spoken about it here but three of the Conclub bloggers – DFV, E and myself (along with a fourth person) first tried our hand at public blogging as The Faithful Few. As I searched through the pages I found it very interesting how we viewed the Iraq war and the second election of Bush at the time. The blog was more extensive and long lived than I remember and it was certainly a nostalgic journey down memory lane. After that, I blogged alone for some time as The Infidel Sage and it was at that time that I connected with The Hairy Beast who had his own blog by the same name and is now also an occasional contributor to this blog. Ah, the memories. I am glad they are still up. They are a treasure trove of information that is coming in extremely handy at the moment.
In recent months I have embarked on a bit of self promotion and put up a wikipedia and facebook page. If one takes the time and effort to write, and write reasonably well, it would make sense that you would seek as wide an audience as possible while seeking to be a voice (though admittedly a very small one) in the great debates of the day.
I had been published online in 2003 by initially just one website (ConservativeTruth.org, which I don’t write for anymore) and then I was increasingly asked to write for other publications on the web as well. After the first half dozen or so sites and journals were publishing my “work” I began to bill myself as a “freelance columnist” and actively seek out online publishers.
Being willing to be published by nearly everyone from the rabble rouser, partisan and even borderline conspiratorial sites to more “respectable” sites like Americanthinker.com and IntellectualConservative.com (both now have exclusive writing staffs) has helped me to gain a measure of notoriety and exposure. Because of that I have also then had a variety of appearances and interviews on radio shows and in various online and traditional media outlets. I have also been asked and have written five (working on six at the moment) book reviews for various authors including controversial immigration activist Frosty Wooldridge. Ultimately, my various columns have appeared on multitudes of different blogs, journals, newszines, and news sites at one time or another.
My fellow Conclub blogger Damien (DFV) and I were both editorial column writers for our college newspaper (aka liberal rag) The Rocky Mountain Collegian. Before that I was the co-editor for my high school newspaper (Tiger Tracks) my senior year so it would appear that opinion writing has been in my blood for some time.
Though I am currently being published by some great sites including (but not limited to) WesternFrontAmerica.com, MensNewsDaily.com, WebCommentary.com, MichNews.com, RenewAmerica.com, TheRealityCheck.org, ChronWatch.com, TheLandoftheFree.com and RadioFreeWestHartford.com, I still have had some trouble breaking into the bigger, top tier publications. There is a tremendous amount of talented authors, bloggers, writers and columnists out there you have to compete with and one can quickly become lost in the competition and connections. So I have been lucky this year to become a writer for BackboneAmerica.net and now I have accomplished probably my best coup to date. My self syndicated columns are now being carried by GlobalPolitician.com. It kind of makes up for being so unceremoniously “showed the door” at Watchblog.com last year for being such an outstpoken and unapologetic conservative. Very little of this would have ever occurred without the interaction, collaboration, criticism, links and ideas from my participation in this blog, The Constitution Club.
Global Politician is an independent online international political news magazine providing objective, in-depth straightforward analysis of events in the world today. They have published two of my columns already this year and I have received an e-mail box full of responses already. It is a well respected, more international and “high-brow” publication that I am proud to be associated with. To become a writer, you must: (and I quote)
Be a published author or journalist; or
Have an advanced degree (Master’s, Ph.D. or J.D.) in a related field.
Be a recognized expert who has been interviewed in the media or otherwise recognized for his expertise.
I’m not sure what category I would fall under but I can definitely not be included in the second one. (:
From the website:
“Global Politician is an independent journal of politics and world affairs.
Global Politician has grown rapidly in recent months, and now gets over 100,000 unique visitors a month. The magazine provides a service seldom found any place else. One the one hand, we have exclusive interviews with leading figures and reporting from remote parts of the world that is usually available only in mainstream press. On the other, the Global Politician has straight forward and sometimes politically-incorrect analysis usually seen only in high-level blogs and alternative media.”
My goals for this year include finishing my children’s story book that I have been working on sporadically for some time titled Tell Me A Story: Ten wonderful stories your child will cherish and to continue to put out as many columns as possible. With the demands of family, work and life in general it is hard to find the time to do what I’d like but if I can get out ten to twelve decent columns this year I’ll be very pleased. I’d also like to try and get a copy of the old, archived Constitution Club blog. I’m considering perhaps eventually self-publishing a book on the conservative ideology, but that would require DFV’s help (hint, hint) in that area.
I’d love to get listed as a columnist or partner with Townhall.com or become a writer for PajamasMedia.com or WorldNetDaily.com but those day have not yet arrived but I am still pleased at what I have managed to accomplish and look forward to what the new year may yet have to offer.
For those who insist that Bush is some sort of heartless demon gleefully sacrificing American lives for Haliburton please be sure to read Bush Spent Hundreds of Hours Comforting Families of Fallen Soldiers.
If appears that Barack Obama is suddenly concerned about what evangelical type Christians think about him after his disastrous embracing of radical black liberation theology for the last twenty years and having a proclaimed spiritual mentor prone to frenzies of anti-American and racist rantings from the pulpit. His pick of the Rev. Rick Warren of Saddleback forum fame to deliver the inaugural invocation has caused yet another hissy fit from the militant homosexual movement who continue to insist on a complete capitulation by society to their radical agenda. It is interesting to see Obama dissing Wright for Warren. Rick Warren is a “socially conscious” evangelical and basically is a moderate who also happens to oppose abortion on demand and gay marriage. Oh, the horror. But the good news is that a gay marching band will march in the inaugural procession so maybe it’s all a wash in the end.
Now we can be Barack Obama’s myspace friend. YES WE CAN! Even here he goes out of his way to mention the word “Christian” twice on the page while at the same time trying to make it sound like all the feedback from the couch potatoes, rally cheerleaders and fainting welfare moms will be seriously considered in his crusade to save America from itself. If I was an Obama supporter I would honestly be offended by the dumbed down and pandering feel to the entire page. The attempt here is that “we”, meaning Barack Obama and you working hand in hand are going to save America and that working together we can hammer some solutions out on myspace to save the world. Gag. One can only speculate if this constant need for reaffirmation is directly related to Histrionic Personality Disorder.
We’ve pointed it out on Conclub before, it’s a simple but effective tool in a mob reliant ideology (in this case Obamanism) to use the zealotry of the common crowd to indoctrinate the youth, enforce the ideology, stifle dissent, and otherwise attempt to turn the Republic into a de facto one party state. This is standard fare in totalitarian societies and is currently used in a variety of countries around the globe and was a favorite tactic in National Socialist Germany, Communist Russia and the cultural revolution of Mao’s China to name a few. The tactics of ultimate control are simple: the Messiah like leadership figure, intimidation of the opposition, indoctrination of the youth, the encouragement of groupthink, the mobilization of the citizenry to enforce compliance of ideological aims, the manipulation of the masses so that they are convinced that they are an intricate part of the “Revolution”, and the domination of the majority of information outlets and focuses of power or influence (Internet, radio, media, Hollywood, academia, schools , all branches of government etc.).
As the year wraps up Ann Coulter has blessed us with her insights into Sarah Palin being HUMAN EVENTS’ 2008 Conservative of the Year, McCain has all but defected to the Obama camp, the inauguration of The One is right around the corner, gas prices are still low but probably won’t stay there for long, there is a surprising horse race for Chairman of the RNC, Fred Thompson will be getting his own radio show, California will almost assuredly find a way to strip away it’s own constitutional provisions and insist on forcing its twisted view on the rest of us that marriage between two members of the same gender is some sort of inalienable, inherent, and basic civil right, China is preparing to use your made in China dollars to build an aircraft carrier, the soon to be Commander in Chief showed off his waxed chest while on vacation, the physical war on Christmas continues, the Iraqi ‘shoe thrower” of recent fame turns out to be (despite early reports) an Iran loving follower of America hating Sadr, and anyone remotely qualified to fight the war on terror as the CIA chief in an Obama administration is being “vetoed” by liberal bloggers. Why don’t we just surrender now and get it over with?
As the sun sets on the American empire, be sure to remember to be extra nice to illegal immigrants. The Democrats want their votes and the Republicans want their labor. Both of them will be after you if you bruise one. The border patrol is scared to do its job, the once vaunted “Fence” is riddled with holes, at least one eighth of the entire population has fled the failed state of Mexico and immigrated to the United States, and millions of native born white Americans are out of work or underemployed. The echoes of the fall of the Roman Empire ring out from the dim halls of history for those who care to listen and I’m pretty sure that common sense lies buried somewhere in a shallow, unmarked grave.
Well folks, that just about covers it. Remember, the truth is often stranger than fiction and we are now preparing to enter a four year journey into the land of fantasy, fiction and the beloved liberal nanny state. Hail Barack Obama (may peace be upon him) he is indeed, The One.
I am now being published by a site hosted by Backbone America Citizens Alliance whose chairman is the former President of the Colorado State Senate John Andrews. After an invitation and a couple of e-mail exchanges Mr. Andrews formalized my membership as a writer for the site today and I am honored to be a part of his “Backbone America”.
From the site’s “who we are” section:
“This site is hosted by Backbone America Citizens Alliance, John Andrews, Chairman. The alliance stands for America without apologies, America with steel in her spine, America as it was meant to be according to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. John is a fellow of the Claremont Institute, former Colorado Senate President, appointee of four US Presidents, US Navy veteran, Presbyterian elder, father and grandfather — as well as mayor-for-life of Backbone, Colorado, his imaginary hometown of the heart.
Backbone America is a nonprofit, nonpartisan voice that champions the principles of the American founding. Our vision foresees the 21st-century conservative movement reborn in the spirit of 1776. Our work applies the truths of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution to contemporary issues in the states. Our name evokes the high Rockies as a summons to individual honor and constitutional rigor in these times.”
As always, the task of recording the all-important discussions of the Conclub triune falls on me. I suppose I am the James Madison of Conclub. For those unaware, Constitution Club officially meets on the 1st Friday in June and the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
4:45 - Eric drives to DFV’s house. Knocks on doors and calls. No answers. E knocks louder and continues to call. No answer. Then, using some deductive reasoning, Eric goes into DFV’s unlocked car, pushes the garage door open, goes downstairs, bangs on the bathroom door, and wakes DFV up. In case you didn’t know, DFV can fall asleep at a moments notice. He is a bit of a narcoleptic. He must have fallen asleep on the can!! E affords DFV all of the dignity he possibly can but, really, who falls asleep on the can?
6:00 – Traffic sucks on the way up to Ft. Collins.
6:45 – Eric and Damien arrive at the Cork. At about the same time, Scott arrives. All exchange pleasantries. Scott has a Coors light, DFV has a Bud light, E has a 7 & 7. E’s brother also brings some Jaeger bombs and they toast to Thanksgiving. Conversation immediately goes to our jobs, families, and original Conclub founder Jamie. There is no band playing and no music blasting at all. The bar is quiet and dead. Only a few patrons scatter the joint.
7:15 - Dave arrives late as usual. Once again, pleasantries are exchanged and beers are ordered. Dave joins the Coors Light crowd and E orders up a Bud Light. Since the bar was extremely slow, E was able to just pour the beers himself. He then went downstairs to cook up a pizza and some wings (its good to be related to the owner). Only Scott and Eric eat. Dave usually arrives with some form of coin for the people but this time he must have forgot. It goes unnoticed by all but the secretary.
7:43 - While eating, conversation turns to the recent election. Scott tells stories of how he went to both a Sarah Palin appearance and a Barack Obama appearance. It turns out that the Palin rally was good but totally disorganized. The Obama rally was packed and ran fairly smoothly. All concluded that this is very indicative of the overall organization of the campaigns. Discussion moves to the Obama reactions and how it is important to support the P.O.T.U.S. Dave doubts the sincerity of the tears of many when Obama is elected, E and Scott beg to differ. (update by Dave, I was more disgusted by than doubting of said tears)
8:05 – More beer. Side discussion and smokes.
8:30 - More beer. Discussion turns to West wing and other assorted topics like China, college, Congressional idiots, smart people in political office, Lets get retarded music video, West wing again (isn’t there a statute of limitations?)
9:05 - Scott throws out the idea of a political reality show that traces a candidate through running for office to getting into office.
9:15 - Conversation takes a serious dive as E exposes DFV’s narcoleptic tendencies to the gathering (and now the world). DFV says that the problem with a reality show on politics is that people won’t let themselves and their seedier motivations and strategies be exposed.
9:35 - More beers and drinks. By now, DFV is drinking his 3rd scotch and water, E is on 7 & 7, and Scott and Dave continue to power Coors Light.
9:45 - DFV and Dave smoke, Scott and E play some hunting video game.
10:10 - the foursome look at some platforms for ideas for the new and improved site. They get diverted to some Youtube video. Among them is ‘show them to me.’
10:25 - Discussion turns to the site name. Most agree that THEconstitutionclub.com is fine. E doesn’t really like “The,” but it isn’t really a big deal. Quickly the discussion morphs into college drunken stories and adventures involving seizing flags.
11:20 - Scotty departs. The trio begins serious discussion about the blog look. The discussion quickly morphs into how sensitive Dave was to PG’s criticisms. DFV and E get all over Dave for chasing PG away.
11:55 - The remaining three cash out and leave early with their senses in tact and their dignity in place (unless you count DFV who slept his dignity away). For the most part, the social gathering accomplished little in the way of business but as always, it is always good to get together with the guys. The song of the night and the tone of the evening was told in this whimsical diddy. Enjoy!
As always, I must inform the public of the impending semi-annual Conclub Conclave. The Thanksgiving meetings always take place on the Wednesday night prior to Thanksgiving. We will be in Ft. Collins around 6:00 at the Cork.
If you can’t make it, don’t fret. The Grand Triune of Conclub will be in attendance and will certainly take care of the beverage consumption. On the docket will be a discussion of a domain name redirect and getting a web person that DFV knows who can remake our site. I need DFV (the head of the web functions committee) to call the wife of his friend prior to this meeting to give us specifics and costs.
Also, if there are other concerns to be addressed, your comments are always valuable.
I admit I have always loved a good wordsmith and have worked over the last couple of years to study and practice the craft. This blog has been a tremendous aid in that journey and a great arena in which to joust with both my friends and adversaries while sharpening my skills. Though I still have a long way to go I have also traveled a long way in using the tool of the written word to humor, inform and enlighten in an entertaining and interesting manner. I have also had the privilege of interacting with and reading the work of many able, talented and crafty wordsmiths throughout the blogosphere as well as on Constitution Club itself.
The main reason I befriended and then later invited our own (and now apparently absent) THB to blog on Conclub was because I liked and admired his skill with the written word and the way he made a point. And one of the many reasons I was proud to call myself a friend of DFV was because I admired his rhetorical, debating and argumentative skills which on occasion project themselves into blog posts here as well. I may not agree or disagree with your premise, but how you present your argument and weave a web of words is often just as important as what you have to say. There are many great wordsmiths out there and those of us who fancy ourselves as columnists or bloggers should seek to learn and refine our craft at every opportunity.
The author of Opportunities of an Obama Presidency does as fine a job as any I’ve seen in presenting his viewpoints with the proper mixture of ingredients that makes a great article. Whether you agree or disagree with his conclusions, I know that you will agree with me on mine.
538.com’s final prediction of the popular vote:
52.3% Obama
46.2% McCain
The popular vote margin as of right now?
52.4% Obama
46.3% McCain
Rasmussen had 52-46, too, but it’s unsure what those decimals were.
538 also got every state right except one. The only one wrong (assuming the provisional votes in NC lean towards Obama) was Indiana, which they predicted would eventually go to McCain. Their Senate scorecard was less successful, but they also had fewer polls to go by. I predict that in 2010, they’ll have refined their Congressional prediction system.
UPDATE: I have been reminded that our own DFV predicted the margin of the electoral vote over two weeks ago and got all the states right except MO on his predicted electoral map last week. And technically speaking, I have heard that he’s been predicting a 2008 Democratic win since 2000. So congrats (and condolences) to him as well!
It would appear that our friend Dana from Common Sense Political Thought is moving up in the world and almost becoming respectable. His blog is number 10 on the list of Conservatism Today’s 24 Best Conservative Blogs. And by the look of the others on the list he’s in pretty good company.
Our friend Eric over at Tigyrrrr Express sent me an email that ended with this. I don’t think he would mind me sharing this part with all of you.
…We live in a dangerous and sobering time, and my blog does cover the seriousness of life
from the financial markets to the Presidential Debates.However, I included some of my more nonsensical columns solely to entertain.
http://www.tygrrrrexpress.com/2008/07/my-performance-at-the-laugh-factory/
http://www.tygrrrrexpress.com/2008/02/fear-of-the-follically-challenged/
http://www.tygrrrrexpress.com/2007/07/c3po-fraggle-rock-and-the-log-cabin-republicans/
http://www.tygrrrrexpress.com/2007/06/i-apologize-forwhat-am-i-supposed-to-be-sorry-for-ag
ain/http://www.tygrrrrexpress.com/2007/06/help-me-rabbi-i-am-desiring-mary-katharine-ham/
http://www.tygrrrrexpress.com/2007/06/burn-gaza-burndisco-inferno/
May God bless you all, and whether left or right, may your lives be filled with peace,
love, harmony, and of course…laughter.
I think we could all use a bit of levity and a little laughter. Not to mention peace, love, and harmony. He is a talented blogger and my greatest example that conservatives have a good sense of humor and outlook on life as well. He was always my second favorite blogger behind The Hairy Beast, but apparently THB is too busy fishing and spending time with his kids to entertain me at the moment. There is no doubt that his numero uno position is definitely in jeopardy.
They went to a new site design relatively recently and I think they forgot that I was on the ‘naughty list’. We’ll see how long that lasts. For someone they drummed out with such pomp and ceremony, not to mention with howling and gnashing of teeth, you’d think they’d make sure they kept me on my side of the fence. I’m kinda insulted.
We’ll see how long that lasts…
We would like to announce the newest addition to The Constitution Club blog. Mo K has her own blog Six Degrees of Blondness and has been a fairly frequent commentor on our humble little group blog for some time. At the last Conclub Conclave it was decided to extend to her an offer to join our ranks and Mo K has been kind enough to accept our invitation. We have long enjoyed her sense of humor and various insights and look forward to providing her an additional platform with which to share her thoughts and views with the rest of us.
Reminds of those weird things you see performed in North Korea to convince visitors and journalists that ‘all is well’ in that sad land. The original of this video has been buried by Youtube but they are now playing ‘whack a mole” as it keeps getting re-posted. I guess it backfired on the Obama folks but those fine patriots on the Right won’t let it die. I must say it is unusual to use one parties propaganda against itself, but that is what is happening here.
What did people do before the Internet? Anybody know? I played a lot of Axis and Allies, spent time with my girlfriends, hung out in pool halls and arcades… I guess nothing until that wise man Al Gore came up with this great idea that has infatuated the nation ever since.
If Obama manages to win this election with one half of the country, I guarantee he is going to be endlessly smeared as a pinko, Marxist bastard by the other half for the next four years. Maybe that is what the Internet is really for? I don’t know. You tell me.
Whether you call them Liberals, Progressives or Moonbats they do a great job. Recently there have been some comments about Wes and Andre on here that hinted that the job they do is at a rather low level. I for one wanted to say I appreciate their input a great deal.
Anyone who can put up with me for so long has to be a saint. (My wife agrees) Wes especially puts up with not just me but a number of us piling on him. Yet he keeps posting.
Thanks guys.
My post Meet Fred Thompson’s wife, Jeri Kehn was an unexpected huge hit and I never did make it into a youtube video but I should have. There is now tremendous interest in McCain’s pick for veep and I thought I would try to make an easy to make youtube video about her to see how it turned out. Let me know what you think.
Meet Sarah Palin: The Next Vice President of the United States
On the Sarah Palin thread, a fine chap named TZ reminded me that this story should never go untold. As Joe Lieberman prepares to take the stage in St. Paul he will most assuredly be assailed as “a wolf in sheeps clothing” by those he once stood shoulder to shoulder with. The reality is that Joe Lieberman’s party left him, not the opposite.
Politics can be really fun at times. This is one of those times. The “Right” has been so concerned about McCain yet have faithfully, if reluctantly, backed his “Nobama” candidacy. They have been scared to death of Obama and his vision of an apparent womb to the tomb socialist, Utopian state complete with hamster wheel powered vehicles and torch and pitchfork pogroms against all those who are white, bitter, Bible believing, gun owners who hesitated to hire illegals to clean their plastic wading pools.
The howling mob you now hear is millions of conservatives rushing to man the barricades against the Oprah hordes with the new Joan of Arc leading them into battle. In less than twelve hours the past sins of RHINO McCain have been forgiven and Sarah “barracuda” Palin has become some sort of amalgamated mascot, poster child, and hero of many conservatives. The pundits will ponder the question as to whether Palin brought over the women to the McCain camp, but the truth is she brought over every male that is old enough to spout some hair on his chest, have his testicles descend or hasn’t been emasculated somewhere along the way by angry FemiNazis.
The post Unavoidable: Cool Facts About Sarah Palin over at Ace of Spades is funny not so much for the post itself but the wealth of comments it has spawned. Take the time to read it if you aren’t really that busy watching reruns of That’s So Raven on the Disney Channel.
Just a few here:
“Hey Willy, when I saw Palin man-handling that weapon, I told my husband that millions of rock-ribbed conservative men just simultaneously ejaculated.”
“Sarah Palin made the entire free world forget about Barry’s speech last night….she is more powerful than Chuck Norris.”
“Sarah Palin once glanced northward. The glaciers have been receding ever since.”
“Sarah Palin is so hot if she went to San Francisco the gay bars would all go out of business.”
“Sarah Palin can not only catch a bullet in her teeth, she can tie it in a knot with her tongue.”
“Sarah Palin wants to drill in ANWR. With the heel of her stiletto.”
Good stuff, silly but fun. It all starts for real Sat. morning.
As a public servant, I feel it is my duty to make sure all hot bloggers are present and accounted for. I therefore present to you Blonde Sagacity. ALa and her team are cutting edge and funny and do a good job of representing the right. I think she has visited our humble blog before since I have been to her site in the past.
Unfortunately for you single guys, she is married and pregnant (no I’m not a stalker, she posted something about amniotic fluid). But fortunately she is a teacher and she posted a portrait of herself on her front page. I suppose I should bite the bullet and post a picture of myself in order to drive traffic to our site.
Update: Of course you never get over your first love. The original conservative hot blogger and love of our lives is MoK at Six Degrees of Blondness. If we need to be aware of other conservative hotties that blog, do tell.
Recently Watchblog, a site I write for from time to time, had a catastrophic server meltdown. The former site editor decided to take the opportunity to escape from the reservation and start his own website while preserving the original watchblog style, format and concept. He invited yours truly to join his limited stable of writers on the new site named Poliwatch. Today my first post is up. It is a new and improved version of my Top Ten Reasons Barack Obama Should Not Be President. Be sure to check it out on the new site.
Updated: And I just got ‘fired” for making the mistake of letting the owner of Watchblog know about this and for a couple of other emails that were circulating among the watchblog forum writers in regards to this. Easy come, easy go. I’ve been “fired” before, but never with such hostility, name-calling and false assumptions. Good stuff. Politics and Punditry is not for puffballs and the thin skinned.
You too can write like a loony conspiracy theorist!
Welcome to the THB Moonbat Writing Tutorial, M1. In this first lesson we will go over the style and content guidelines for writing like a true left-wing Blogger. You only need to learn a few simple rules and you can be up and howling at the moon like all your buddies!
Please read each rule carefully and complete the Sample Assignments below.
The Moonbat Stylebook:
1. Rage Against the Dying of the Light.
Emotion is a perfectly acceptable alternative to reason. In fact, in most cases it’s preferable, because you don’t need to support emotion with facts. It does not matter if you make sense, since you probably won’t. Here is a list of acceptable emotions:
Anger.
Acrimony.
Choler.
Enmity.
Fury.
Hatred.
Indignation.
Outrage.
Petulance.
Pique.
Umbrage.
Vexation.
Example: “”You and the smarmy pundits in your pocket, who bathe in the moisture of your soiled and bloodstained underwear can take that noise and shove it!” – Sean Penn, Hollywood genius.
http://www.radicalleft.net/blog/_archives/2007/3/25/2832788.html
0
Sample Assignment: Fill in the appropriate words in the blanks provided: “Whenever I think of Chimpy McBushitler it makes me so __________ that I want to __________! I am__________ at the ___________ of this __________ who thinks he can get away with __________! I want to __________ his __________ing __________ until it __________!”
“___________!!!!!!!!!!!”
0
Sample Assignment: Complete the following sentence: “George Bush will never shave his head because underneath his hair he is hiding the __________ of the ___________!”
0
Sample Assignment: Complete the following topic sentence: “If I had to choose between eating dinner with George Bush or swimming five hundred laps in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Septic Tank, I would choose _____________!”
0
*Corrected from the original post which said “nineteen years ago” – (so much for the math skills of English Majors)
Sample Assignment: George Bush is to America what:
a. Malaria is to Africa
b. Godzilla is to Tokyo
c. Jaws is to Bathers
d. Rush is to Oxycontin
e. All of the above
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Sample Assignment: Essay Question: Think carefully about the statement and assignment below. Outline a response that develops and supports your own ideas. You have twenty-five minutes to write an essay on the given topic in the space provided on your answer sheet. If you write on any other topic, you will receive a score of zero and we will tell you to go f***k yourself.
This concludes THB Moonbat Writing Tutorial, M1. Please step away from your keyboard and go take your medications. Look for Module 2 in the near future. Thank you and good luck.
Can I just get a hat tip?
Meanwhile, the only person bringing up race outside of the media is Barack Obama. In a foreshadowing of just how low Obama will stoop, on Friday Obama stated that the scary Republicans will try to make voters afraid of him and scare up votes for John McCain. He cuts right to the age-old Democratic tactics of painting Republicans as racists who are trying to keep the black man down. . .
So now we know what the Democratic response will be should John McCain win the election this November. It will have nothing to do with Obama’s dearth of foreign policy experience. It will be totally unrelated to his desire to raise taxes on Americans. It will have nothing to do with the fact that he has been on the national scene for all of four years. And his inability to connect to working class white voters and some females will have nothing to do with it. It will have everything to do with the terrible Republican racists in the U.S. of KKK – A. Me, June 22, 2008
Of course, if Obama is right that voters reject “that old stuff,” then none of this should matter. You ought to be able to choose between Obama and McCain on their merits, irrespective of race. It is Obama himself who, by calling attention to his race in this way, is employing the “old stuff”: trying to take advantage of white guilt and black fear. James Taranto - June 23, 2008
More proof that the wisdom of Conclub is always ahead of the curve.
Barack Hussein Obama
A privileged African-American, who has not shared the black American experience
By birth, blood and training, a Muslim, who has been a member of a Black-African church for 20 years
A socialist whose politics are rooted in Marx and whose tactics were devised by Alinsky
A master at shaping his own mythology and completely unqualified to be Commander in Chief
More of that independent blogging/researching/campaigning/politicking that we’ve talked about and that the candidates and campaigns hate so much.
But at least he’s modest:
“I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.” – Barack Obama
But sometimes it is hard to decipher when he is being honest (then or now):
In July of 2004, the day after his speech at the Democratic convention catapulted him into the national spotlight, Barack Obama told a group of reporters in Boston that the United States had an “absolute obligation” to remain in Iraq long enough to make it a success.
“The failure of the Iraqi state would be a disaster,” he said at a lunch sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, according to an audiotape of the session. “It would dishonor the 900-plus men and women who have already died. . . . It would be a betrayal of the promise that we made to the Iraqi people, and it would be hugely destabilizing from a national security perspective.”
So I finally broke down and created a “Facebook” page. I’m in my mid-thirties and felt like a heel/wannabe/teenager/idiot for doing so, but I think I have a good excuse. The class of ’89 (yeah baby) is beginning to prepare and network for the upcoming twentieth high school reunion that will be taking place next summer. There has been some preliminary attempts at contacts on classmates.com but the reunion coordinator has asked us to all head on over to facebook to more easily interact with each other (and it’s is free to boot). Being a sport I cooperated and created my first “social networking” site. I’ve blogged for years and I have my own column archive site, but I’ve never participated in the whole myspace/facebook scene.
What I quickly discovered was:
a) I didn’t want mine to suck so I ended up spending several hours on multiple days making it presentable.
b) It is amazing how many people use facebook.
c) How many old friends, classmates and girlfriends keep in contact with each other. You can click on someone else’s friends and I have contacted a host of people, some of whom I haven’t spoken with in twenty years or more.
d) How many people have been looking for me. I was contacted by an old bar acquaintance within 48 hours (he is also a teacher) of signing up and found some old College Republicans as well. I also had an extensive conversation with an old 7th grade girlfriend etc. etc.
e) How desperately I need to break out my old yearbooks. I have people writing me and I don’t have a clue who they are. The names sound faintly (maybe) familiar and they are telling me all about the last fifteen years of their life, relationships and kids and I am stuck in the nod and smile phase. Dang it, what box are they in?
f) That no less than three other bloggers on this site are “clandestine” facebook whores.
By the way, did I mention that it is not as bad as I figured it could be? It has also turned out to be an easy way to keep in more steady contact with both family and friends which I guess is a good thing. My assistant manager has 167 friends on her myspace page and she thought it was pretty funny that I have a facebook page up and running. I’m at 17 friends but I’m just getting started. One of my “friends” has 222 “friends” on her page. I think she needs to get out more or something.
The Sage
Steve
E the Wise
DFV the Scribe
hairybeast
Mo K.
Sting the Away
Rudy
Voice of Reason
Anthony Rogers
Vérité
Isaiah's Cry
danagall
Hal Jordan
The Rat
Aquinas Shrugged
jackcurtis
a west texas view
pino
Cultural Limits
Regalo Di Spine
Tokyo Tengu
Short Little Rebel
AWOL Civilization
SeePamBlog
rogueoperator
provider4many
jimmullen1
thomaspaine2nd
badoracle
ljponders
weeicemon
Daniella Nicole
plainansimple
