Moe Lane – Page 21 – Obsidian Wings archive

Dean and Religion (boring title, no?)

September 20, 2025December 23, 2003 by Moe Lane

Thanks (big thanks) to two Matts (Stinson and Yglesias) I was finally able to read this TNR article about Dean and religion. You should, too. It seems to be the CW that Dean’s religious impulses are, shall we say, somewhat less overt than, well, just about everybody else running for President these days. Now, here’s … Read more

Ach, well.

September 20, 2025December 23, 2003 by Moe Lane

At least the days get longer from here on out. I’m tapped out here, people.

Oh, NOW I remember…

September 20, 2025December 22, 2003 by Moe Lane

Folks, I’m aware that most of you probably think that they’re schmucks, too – but trust me on this one, you don’t want to be standing next to a PETA activist when he or she hands out this to some kid. Unless you happen to enjoy the sight of an enraged soccer mom beating a … Read more

Huh.

September 20, 2025December 22, 2003 by Moe Lane

I was pretty sure I had cobloggers: guess that they’re in the middle of prepping for Christmas, or something. (pause) Slow day today, huh? There was that earthquake in California, but other than that it was a pretty quiet Monday. I like quiet days, tell you the truth: they seem rarer than they used to … Read more

Gee, thanks.

September 20, 2025December 21, 2003 by Moe Lane

Because of Amygdala*, I now have to deal with the internal vision of the Head Heeb and his Monopoly fanfic. Well, if we’re going to play, Gary, then all I have to say in response is: Stratego Slashfic. “She was the bomb. No, I meant it.” UPDATE: Moe Lane can’t spell, and one of his … Read more

More Catharsis, At Least For Democrats.

September 20, 2025December 21, 2003 by Moe Lane

Nader wants to know how you feel about him running again. He even gives a text box for your comments. Why not explain your views to him? (Via Instapundit: see, he isn’t always so bad.)

Holiday Horror Story Thread

September 20, 2025December 21, 2003 by Moe Lane

It’s been a quiet day here – which would make sense, given that it’s the Sunday before Christmas and the middle of Hanukkah. Thankfully my Christmas shopping is essentially done and my travels don’t start for a couple of days – but somehow I get the feeling that I’m fairly unique in that regard. So, … Read more

Biscuit?

September 20, 2025December 21, 2003 by Moe Lane

I see that John Cole has commented on Kevin Drum’s noticing of a particular line in a Robert Novak article. Kind of cool, huh? – and pretty symbolic of our mutual hobby in general, yes?

Anyway, the sentence:

A footnote: Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, once thought to be in line for the top job at either State or Defense in the second term, is reported to have lost favor at the White House.

has caused Kevin to speculate about why Wolfowitz would be on the outs, his commenters to chime in – and John to snort derisively over how the rumor that Wolfowitz is being passed over for this job is being spun. Tell you truthful, I’m pretty much with John – for a different reason.

What The Net Is Good For…

September 20, 2025December 21, 2003 by Moe Lane

…Yes, besides porn. Anyhoo, via the getting-attacked-from-both-sides-at-once Marxists over at SIAW, we are given a link to the Museum of Hoaxes, which is an “almost daily weblog about hoaxes, pranks, and practical jokes”. The ones I’ve seen so far have been pretty good, especially the Man Will Never Fly Society, a group of largely ex-military … Read more

The Latest Crack for Gamers?

September 20, 2025December 20, 2003 by Moe Lane

Slate’s got an article up asking a burning question: why is there no video game version of the election process? (Via Hellblazer)

All of which leads to a question: The U.S. presidential campaign may be the first true election of the digital age, but it’s still missing one key ingredient. Where is the video-game version of Campaign 2004? Political simulations are practically ubiquitous in the gaming world, but you’re more likely to find a game that will let you stage a Spartacus-style slave revolt than one that will let you win the Iowa caucuses.

From the “No, Really?” Department…

September 20, 2025December 20, 2003 by Moe Lane

… comes this amusing headline: Dean Seeks Halt to Attack Politics.

Now, note that I do not comment one way or the other about how deserved/undeserved these attacks would be; I merely note that as news goes it’s… well, not really news at all, is it? We already knew that Dean was being the subject of political attacks by fellow Democratic nominees: the fact that he objects to this sort of thing is only slightly more surprising than the revelation that most men quite loathe being kicked in the testicles. If he had said, “Bring it on, kiddies: I eat this stuff up! Without ketchup! It makes me grow chest hair and sweat pure sex-appeal!” – well, that would have been news.

Yes, yes, it’s a slow election news weekend. I grok. Still…

Moe

A Question.

September 20, 2025December 20, 2003 by Moe Lane

Does anyone have an opinion about when an update to a post should become its own post? Frex, I wanted to note (via Matt Stinson, who deserves whatever little extra traffic I can throw his way) that Chait’s anti-Dean blog (mentioned here) has spawned an anti-Chait blog in its turn. This is a two day … Read more

(Pointing) Cow.*

September 20, 2025December 20, 2003 by Moe Lane

I know that I said that I was going for coffee, but this article from Dave Barry stopped me cold. I shall merely quote the passage that my long-suffering girlfriend quoted when she sent this to me:

“WISCONSIN –Weary National Guard troops continued to battle a rampaging herd of bacteria-enhanced Australian kangaroo cows that have been bounding around this heartland state, soaring over fences with moos of derision and punching their way into grain silos. ‘The worst thing,’ said one Guardsman, ‘is when they get airborne, and suddenly you’re facing a hailstorm of incoming meadow muffins. Although I have to say they don’t smell as bad as the local cows.’ ”

Also in the article… SUVs with machine guns! Somebody’s actually making them! It’ll be just like Car Wars! No, wait, that’s bad.

Anyway, read the whole thing, as He Who Almost No-One Is Neutral About would say.

Novelty Value Saturday Blogs

September 20, 2025December 20, 2003 by Moe Lane

OK, in deference to the author (who apparently liked being a Flappy Bird in the Ecosystem), you can check out Letters of Marque via the Volokh entry that references it. The linked-to post is funny even to non-lawyers; the site likewise, especially the USB Menorah. I’d blogroll, but she’d probably hunt me down and throw … Read more

Continuing on my negotiable affection for blogroll links…

September 20, 2025December 19, 2003 by Moe Lane

Pratchett reference. Anyway, via Pejmanesque we see a just-happened report that our old friend and supervillian wannabe Gadhafi is giving up his WMD program, thanks to the efforts of Cowboy Bush and Poodle Blair: WASHINGTON – Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, after secret negotiations with the United States and Britain, agreed to halt his nation’s drive … Read more

Dept of Really, What Harm is There in Trying?

September 20, 2025December 19, 2003 by Moe Lane

From the blog Just One Minute we see this USA Today article about Hussein’s capture, which notes in passing that Tim Russert happened to have a dream about said capture the night before it happened (something shrugged off as a coincidence).

The author, who alas does not put his or her name on the site, asks a question:

OK, we all know enough not to take this seriously. But my question is, does Osama bin Laden know enough not to take this seriously?

VRWC Cognitive Dissonance

September 20, 2025December 18, 2003 by Moe Lane

I’m starting to get seriously annoyed at Socialism in an Age of Waiting: I keep waiting for them to start saying something, anything, that I can moderately disagree with. But no, it’s all either serious disagreement (for example, that a Marxist state is both unavoidable and desirable*) or no disagreement at all. They’re sound on the UN, sound on the antiwar movement, sound on Jim Treacher, fer crying out loud (needs to be on the blogroll, that one, if only for this post)… I can see why Michael Totten’s half-wondering whether these guys are part of the VRWC after all.

All of this was necessary to give some context to my guarded agreement that Ann Clwyd’s talents are wasted in her present position, although I am not convinced that Foreign Secretary is the natural next step for her. I don’t agree with all of her beliefs, either – but her and Indict’s work is going to be very useful in Saddam’s war crimes trial, and such largely unsung toil should be given its proper due.

Moe

Umm…

September 20, 2025December 18, 2003 by Moe Lane

OK. I’ve generally kept from making posts involving Howard Dean, as it feels to be somehow the ‘turf’ of the actual Dean supporter onsite and I have absolutely no desire to start a fight with Katherine over her candidate’s election prospects. It looks like we’ll find out the answer to that in November ’04.

With all that in mind, I have to ask myself: whatinhell is Jonathan Chait thinking?

Stuff about the ‘Stans…

September 20, 2025December 17, 2003 by Moe Lane

Winds of Change has done one of their excellent regional briefings on the Central Asia ‘stans. As some of you may remember, I blogged about Uzbekistan and Georgia last month, so this is of interest to me. The links to what is apparently being called Georgia’s Rose Revolution are well worth perusing, especially the interesting … Read more

MattK/D1 Memorial Sucking Up Thread

September 20, 2025December 17, 2003 by Moe Lane

We have the best readers in the whole wide blogosphere. We brag about all y’all all the time to the other new bloggers – the ones that envy us because we sped up the Ecosystem so fast from all you guys linking to us right away. Without your comments we’d be sitting around mordantly typing … Read more

9/11 Commission

September 20, 2025December 17, 2003 by Moe Lane

Loyal Reader rilkefan in comments below kindly points out to us a news article about Kean’s recent remarks concerning the preventability of 9/11. The chairman isn’t naming names – yet – but he’s certainly gearing up to start a world-class, Grade-A stink over the entire thing, especially with the public testimony scheduled for next year.

Good. Hammer ’em to the walls, Kean. I always liked you as Governor.

Also, I make several predictions: