Don’t Lie Flat

261 thoughts on “Don’t Lie Flat”

1. I got so disgusted at the self-righteousness emanating from several Tor editors – via their blogs – and their crushing self-regard that I stopped buying Tor books a while back. Baen has a lot of great stuff, but there’s some great stuff from other publishers as well. That’s what used books via Amazon are for.

   1. Tor.com was where I first saw the New York echo-chamber in real effect. It’s almost like they are structural incapable of believing that anyone might hold a different opinion. I wish Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson wrote for another publisher, so I could stop supporting Tor entirely.

      1. Robert Jordan no longer works for anyone.

         Anyway — don’t forget the self-published e-books. They may not all be gems, but if you read like I do, you don’t need gems every time. Keep an eye on the other reviews; I’ve skipped a few thanks to warnings about their ham-handed politics.

         1. A recommendation center would help — if we could get one that wasn’t vulnerable to gaming.

            1. I’ve learned of a lot of good science fiction from the Prometheus Award list
               http://lfs.org/awards.shtml
               (including our host for 2011 – congrats again!)

               1. Thank you. It was THE award I wanted to win…

                  1. When I dream about publishing my science fiction, I never day dream about Hugos or Nebulas…I always think of the Prometheus!

                     …lot of work between here and there, though…

                     1. You can do it! Now go work.

                        1. > Now go work.

                           Was up a 4am, spent 4 hrs at it, got 2,500 words revised. ONWARD!

                           1. I’m trying to revise while feverish. Little voice at back of head says “bad idea” — what does little voice know?

2. Yes. Creativity is what will get us out of this. Vision and message matter in this. Starve the media behemoths and reward people that affirm basic human values. I’m skipping the movie theater tonight and preordering the new Darkship novel instead.

   1. THANK you. But this was not self-serving. There’s tons of other authors out there (and I link them whenever I can) who are doing good work and are either indie or not pushed enough because they don’t parrot the “correct” beliefs.

      1. Hey… not trying to suck up. Gotta start with what I know. The “if you like Heinlein and Hoyt, you’ll also like ____” posts will have to come later…!

         I’ve just had it with TV shows that push global warming and gay marriage and whatever else the issue-du-jour is into my face. These are the same people that are mortified at the very idea of a religious person proselytizing… while viciously attack anyone’s hypocrisy buy their own. But they can’t. stop. preaching. Not for a second.

         I’ve had it.

         1. Oh, gosh – me too! The worst example that I can recollect lately was Glee. OMFG, pounded in gayness with a 50 pound sledge. And we had started off rather liking the show because it was something different – not about cops-doctors-lawyers. As for global warming, there went just about all the shows about science and nature …

            1. I have gay characters. I have gay characters because it often gives an outside perspective on a society. Also because I get afflicted with them (what you thought I had perfect control?) OTOH they’re not political stereotypes. In fact… You’ll see…

               It’s the “poor little thing” attitude the lower barriers for gay/other characters that drives me nuts. People should be interesting for OTHER reasons. No, seriously, show of hands, how many of you give a good d*mn who your friends sleep with, unless it’s someone that’s PATENTLY bad for them? I mean, I don’t want to imagine friends of either gender/orientation in bed. No, not even the cute males. They’re my friends. There’s sort of an “incest protection” there. I don’t related to them THAT WAY.

               1. Hamilton’s “Oscar Monroe” was an excellent example of a very, very interesting and persistent (in the sense of his presence over the arc of five novels) character who’s gayness didn’t matter a whip to the rest of the story…at all. There were so many different human cultures by his time, though, that the same-sex taboo had been mostly eroded. Hamilton gives the impression that it’s still abnormal, in the sense that opposite sex pairings are normal and far more prevalent, but he doesn’t whack you over the head with it.

               2. I don’t object to characters that happen to be gay.

                  I object when almost every episode of Dr Who makes a point of having a gay character or else has everyone assuming (as a running gag) that the two non-gay guys are gay.

                  It’s when a character is introduced as being fired for wanting to get married during the Nixon years… but who at the end is revealed to have wanted to marry a same gender person of different race. Oh please.

                  1. Yeah, that one was beyond the bounds of reason. In the Nixon years, practically no one even considered same-sex marriage, let alone talked about it. They might set up long-term relationships, but marriage? No.

                     1. yes. This is how we’re retroactively changing things.

                        I might have quibbles with “choice” — I mean celibacy is always a choice, but how many of us are strong enough — considering people “choose” to get hanged for it under Islam. BUT setting up reverse-time victimhood is just nuts.
                        ALSO I’d like just once for these shows to recognize that in much of the world homosexuality is still subjected to the death penalty while WE argue same sex marriage. But THAT would destroy their narrative of the US being always the bad guy.

                     2. Marriage was oppressive, even for straight people. You were supposed to be a “swinger,” or divorce your spouse and live free, loving everyone, and never having kids! And gay guys not having long-term relationships was a sign of how cool they were! As I recall, the few times I saw books from the Seventies talking about long-term gay male relationships, they were portrayed by other gay guys as being either hopelessly square, one man enslaving another to do his will, or being like little old ladies with bodies buried in the backyard.

                        1. YES. I remember that too. And marriage was just a piece of paper. Europe is still trying to sell that one. It’s not going over very well anymore.

                     3. I think I met my first bi-racial couple in the mid-1960’s, and by 1985 it had quit meaning ANYTHING to me other than they make an odd couple (for other reasons), or they make a good couple. Of course, the military was FAR more liberal (in the original sense) about such things as the rest of society. With so many married to blacks/Asians/Europeans, the walls do kind of get blurred on a regular occasion. The military was also the first to integrate (1947), and would have dragged the rest of the nation that way with it eventually. I find many cultural differences far more disturbing than racial/gender ones.

                        1. I had some really good bosses in the military that happened to be black… on the other hand some of my worst bosses in the military were white– color, meh… doesn’t mean whether a person is good at his/her job or not. I am more interested in their credentials and abilities–

                  2. The other thing that gets me in Doctor Who is the prevalence of blacks in England. Common now is no problem but Shakespearean times? I thought “Moors” were as dark as most English saw back then.

                     1. Well, I think there were a few slaves trickling back, via Portugal if nothing else, but yes, it would be vanishingly rare.

                     2. Didn’t you see Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves? They came in with Azeem; that is why they all sound like Morgan Freeman.

                     3. A lot of Moors were black. (Hence the term “blackamoor.” Hence Othello being consistently portrayed as a black African.)

                        There were a lot more 17th century English black people than 16th century, it’s true, mostly because you’d have to be stupid or desperate to move to oppressive Shakespearean England. In medieval times, you would see some black Africans in various port cities (and fairly commonly in Italy, because it was so close to Africa and had an immigrant population). There was also a fair amount of Magi portrayal throughout the Middle Ages, since the patristic notion of the Magi representing all the nations was popular with artists.

                        1. But the Portuguese did already have the African slave trade going in the 15th century, mostly because they latched onto the existing African slave trade among Africans and with Arab traders; and the Mediterranean Arab slave trade in Europeans. The Holy See did a lot of protesting, but was ignored. And yes, the English started buying black slaves pretty early on, but so did a lot of the rest of Europe that had forgotten the medievals fighting to stamp out the slave trade. (And Renaissance humanism didn’t help, because some of them wanted to have slaves just like the Greeks and Romans; and some of the Reformation types were sure that if it was in the Bible it was okay; and mostly, people just wanted slaves to do their work.

                           But I don’t know much about the European side of slave trading, that not having been the side of things which concerned my teachers.

                        2. The Catholic church has at least one saint, and not an obscure one at the time, who was depicted as black in religious art at least as far back as the 13th century. These depictions died out with the rise of the slave trade in Europe.

                           1. Bizarrely, the virgin Mary gets depicted as black. The church … how do I put this? The church with sovereignty over the lands of my ancestors (where we actually attended was something different) had a black virgin dating back to the 11th? or 12th century. Those whoo whoo books in the seventies of the “we all came from the stars” type said those black virgins marked points where you could cross between worlds. Another sign of this were dog heads carved into the outside.
                              Yeah, there are some. I could never figure out how to operate the stargate, though.

               3. Certainly, characters should be interesting for other reasons than their sexual orientation. It’s that that seemed to be all there was to them, and that aspect was pounded in, over and over, to the point of tedium.

                  Just for fun, in my last book, I had a character who (if you look at her very carefully) is a lesbian, but she (and everyone around her) are totally oblivious to it. Because this is the age of Victoria, and she is living a pretty limited life on the frontier, she just thinks she is a natural old maid type, and never, ever realizes that she dearly loves her best friend – who is also oblivious to that angle.

               4. A lesbian friend of mine says she looks forward to the day when there is a sympathetic and fascinating (or villainous and evil) character in a TV series who just happens to be gay.

                  1. I also look forward to openly Christian characters who are tolerant and respectful, military combat veterans who are well-adjusted and comfortable with what they have done on their country’s behalf. And happily married couples who support each other through the challenges and difficulties of modern life. And families who support and sacrifice for each other while still holding them accountable for their views and actions.

                     Oh, wait – I just described Blue Bloods.

                     1. My story in the DST universe about to go up on the Baen website has HEROIC Christian characters 😉

                        1. I didn’t realize you were going into the transgressive art business. Good on you.

                        2. I wrote a short story a few years ago in which the word “Christian” was so separated from now by time and disaster that it had completely changed. When someone in that story talked about “Christians” they were referring to a shadowy group of highly-trained, cultish mercenaries. Sort of the same weight “ninja” has in contemporary usage. Warrior monks of a sort.

                        3. Speaking of heroic Christian characters, have you read “Knox’s Irregulars” by J Wesley Bush? (Not one of my “Planet of the Baptists” stories, but mildly reminiscent in a Presbyterian sort of way.) My challenge of writing Heroic Christian Characters is to a) make them imperfect enuf to need Christ and b) avoid preaching.

                     2. > And happily married couples who support each other through the challenges and difficulties of modern life.

                        I really liked the Friday Night Lights TV show for exactly this reason.

                        (And that’s the only reason. Huge piles of utterly lithe and beautiful 22 year old actresses had nothing to do with it. Cross my heart.)

                     3. Or a couple of my own books …*smile* … although the Christian part comes about because they are all conventionally 19th century Americans, where some variety of Christian belief was a given!

                     4. Uh, Res, you just described my family. By itself, it’s not “exciting”, or not enough to hold someone’s attention for an hour. Let’s face it — what entertains us is not the ordinary (although “ordinary” is getting less and less common), but extraordinary, one way or another. The problem isn’t that you can’t weave such characters into your story line, but that most writers (television writers here, not SF) are far too lazy to actually BUILD something around that that WILL entertain. They’re also far too brainwashed to believe there’s anything GOOD about such characterization. All WASPs are Bad is a constant theme. It gets tiring.

                  2. Torchwood might qualify.

               5. Wouldn’t there be gay characters in stories because there are gay people? And why shouldn’t the gay characters be as varied as the gay populace? To say that all gay are ‘x,y,z‘ is stereo-typing (unless you say that all gays are gay). Whether your ‘x,y,z‘ is the 1950s’ noir flaming pathetic denizens of the under belly of the society or 2010s’ sit-com successful educated sharp dressing metropolitans it presents an incomplete image of the world.

                  But I know I am weird according to modern standards. With the exception of The Spouse, I am not particularly interested in other people’s private parts or where and how they like to engage them.

                  1. Well, yes, but I think I have them above statistical incidence. But then they’re way above statistical incidence among my friends. Of course almost all my gay friends are conservative, so I’m WAY above statistical incidence.

                     1. Unfortunately my gay friends have bought into the liberal views because of the marriage issue–

                        1. Rolls eyes. You should point out to them that in the communist paradises there is no gay marriage. Seriously — a society under stress pounds all outliers down.

                           Us and them alike. That outliers are always for dictatorships is one of the great puzzles of the world.

                           1. It makes me puzzled–

                           2. Sarah, it’s simple. The outliers *Imagine* that *they* would be in control. IMO it’s easy for people to imagine “how great things would be if other people had to obey them”. I’ve had thoughts like that *but* I’m smart enough to know my nasty side and how hard it would be to be in charge. Of course, I’m also smart enough to know that joining a group pushing for a dictatorship would not mean that I’d control the group “after we took power”. There’s also the moral aspect but many outliers don’t think about morality. They just want revenge.

         2. They’re not against religious proselytizing, as long as it’s their OWN religion (-by-any-other-name) 😉

         3. Oh dear oh dear. Pushed one of my buttons you did. Sorry about this, I will keep it short. Before I go to the button, allow me to say that I completely agree with you that the fact that TV and much mainstream fiction very seldom shows anyone who is religious, or who has religion in their daily life and the idea that a religious might proselytize is anathema, but still, let me go to the button.

            [Rant]
            Gay people exist. They have ALWAYS existed. I do not understand why, in a nation with separation of church and state, one groups religious values should control the states treatment of some citizens who do not share those religious values. What business is it of the state that there are people who do NOT believe as you do who want to do things your religion forbids?

            (NP: I am -very- monogamous heterosexual married to the same woman for 36 years.)

            I have gay friends. I am convinced by a huge pile of modern research and by my reading of historical documents and diaries, that their preferences about who to fall in love with are not choices. The total failure of various therapeutic regimens including religious ones to cure gays is perhaps the stand-out example. Who my friends — and people I don’t know — sleep with is non-of-my-business. However, when a couple down the street have been in a committed relationship for over thirty years, own a home together, are each other’s heirs, and are in every way I can think of excellent citizens, it saddens me horribly that they lack some of the benefits of marriage. Call it civil union. Call it registered partner, call it whatever you want, but why can’t that couple file a joint tax return? Why can’t they get each other’s social security survivor’s benefits? Why can’t they “gift” each other without invoking gift taxes? Why should the survivor not get the same break on inheritance tax as the survivor of any heterosexual couple together for 30 years?

            Because of my participation in the science fiction community, I also know some poly-amorous people. In particular I know of members of one line marriage (not unlike the one Heinlein described in “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”) which has been successful for over fifty years and survived the death of the founding couple. Why is that (or other forms of polyamory) illegal? Why should your (or anyone elses) religious beliefs shape the laws of the state?

            Of course, the fact that I am a member of a very persecuted religious minority probably shapes my thoughts on this.

            In my ideal world, if I were emperor, the state would merely register couples at their request. That is, have whatever marriage ceremony you like (or none at all), go to the courthouse, the members sign the paperwork, the clerk of the court witnesses it, makes a copy for you, you pay a fee, and walk out.
            [/RANT]

            Sorry about that, massively off topic, and I probably shouldn’t post it, but I’m going to…

            -_ Rick

            1. It is an error to ascribe a lack of choice in these matters to people that engage in… shall we say… unconventional life styles.

               Legal and theological issues aside, every one has impulses to do all manner of things. Every one has a choice in whether or not they act on them… and society requires everyone to exercise some degree of self control. To give current political sacred cow type groups a pass on any kind of moral agency just because they were “born that way” is kind of silly if you think about it.

            2. “In my ideal world, if I were emperor, the state would merely register couples at their request. That is, have whatever marriage ceremony you like (or none at all), go to the courthouse, the members sign the paperwork, the clerk of the court witnesses it, makes a copy for you, you pay a fee, and walk out.”

               Your ideal world, of which you are Emperor, is *revolutionary France*? 🙂

               (“How is a loony bin like a baby?” “Both have Nappy changes every five minutes.” >;) )

               1. I wonder about the legal consequences of redefining marriage. Looking at the ability of some Arab polygamous households in Britain and elsewhere to haul in the AFDC (equivalent) stipends, considering the implications for inheritance and the possible tax consequences of multiple-member families (what the heck, the code isn’t all that complex as is, right?) I suspect that the primary societal benefit of one-man/one-woman is simplicity.

                  1. There’s also the little matter that that union can produce children, which is the real reason we are interested in it. Of course, to really enforce that we would need to bring back some things.

                  2. TWO ADULTS no more.

                     1. I have waffled between yea/nay with gay marriage until my nephew married his significant other. I have to go with family because his partner has really stabilized my nephew. They have been together for over six years now. My niece (this nephew’s sister) has been married twice and divorced twice in the same amount of time. So I am for my nephew’s marriage. His husband is a great person as well–

               2. Actually it is that way in Portugal. After a near civil war relating to burial laws, the church and the state made a pact to stay out of each other’s business. AGAIN this is one of the very few things I think the Portuguese do better. You go to the courthouse and register, about two weeks before your church ceremony, then the church processes the paperwork.

                  This does not leave the door open for loonies to sue for the church to marry them when it’s against court order.

                  So, in that, I’m with Rick. A civil wedding is a contract. Should be possible for any two adults (NOTE ADULTS) who are mentally competent as for other contracts. Further restrictions on incest might apply since it’s in the interest of the state for the next generation not to have three eyes and one arm, but that’s about it.

            3. Millennia of traditions are involved here. It is a mistake to say that a religion or religions is/are solely to blame for the lack of gay marriage or civil unions. For example they are illegal in The People’s Republic of China, and there has been no discussion of changing this. While ‘symbolic’ marriages have been performed, they have not been legally recognized and the people who participate have been subject to negative pressure. The Republic of China (Taiwan), on the other hand, has been discussing the legalization of either gay marriage or civil unions.

               1. ALL communist countries are strongly against any manifestations of homosexuality. They rely on a myth of social cohesion and therefore anything that sticks out shall be pounded into conformity.

            4. Actually, our idea of male homosexuality (ie, consenting adult males interested exclusively in consenting adult males) appears to be largely a construct of the 20th and 21st century. Classical scholars have some interesting books out about this topic, particularly since Greeks really couldn’t picture an adult male even being vaguely interested in another adult male.

               Boys being interested in other boys (particularly when isolated from girls), or adult males being interested in boys and boys ready to do anything for attention from adult males (particularly when isolated from women, or when love for women is seen as making you soppy and unmanly) — these do seem to be universal through time. Nasty and yukky and oppressive, but universal. Female homosexuality is a great deal more shadowy, but it also seems to be largely a youth-centered phenomenon. There are some indications that homosexual adult women through history have been prone to partner up more often; but women are pretty much programmed to look for helping hands in all sorts of ways.

               1. You’re entering that “shadowy” territory with adult male-adult male homosexuality. It existed, I think — and there’s reason to believe in various biographies — but where it wasn’t outright cause for the death penalty, it entailed a HUGE loss of status, as women were lower in status and you were assumed to be “womanly”. Even if you were exclusively gay, you might have a beard and do what you could. This is the world I grew up in. There were exclusively gay males, but they pretended as hard as they could. Some of it comes across. If you think Edward II wasn’t really only interested in males, well… But it was not something anyone was going to chronicle. (Actually ancients, living closer to the bone — recorded a lot less about their sex lives, except the classicals who had their own myths.)
                  I don’t know if partenering was more common for deeply closet historical gay males, though I’d suspect it simply because it would reduce the risk. Then again this being men, risk might add spice to it. I’m sure though the idea of permanent relationships similar to marriage was REALLY foreign. It would be, being so distant from their world. You have to remember Romeo and Juliet was TRULY transgressive, because people belonged to their families and the idea of their picking a marriage on no more than “love” was mind bloggling even in Shakespeare’s time.
                  So — your body belonging to the family and your future children, in the sense that this was what marriage was FOR at least for the class that had any property and therefore about whom we have records — the idea of “marrying” someone of the same gender in what would per force be a childless marriage would offend to such an extent it would literally not enter minds.
                  But the idea of adult male homosexuality being a 20th century invention is silly. There are things that weren’t practiced, but the inclination was there all along. We’re now a wealthy enough society it comes through.
                  What boggles my mind is the the idea that by going back to scarcity and conformity (any of the communist/hard socialist regimes) this freedom born of wealth would remain. THAT I can’t understand why anyone would think.

                  1. (fiction) The Norwegian uncles– Wilma Carter (?) Anyway the two males farmed together and were not interested in the scarcity of females. Then there were some famous pairings of females– in the early twentieth century– (non-fiction)… I can’t remember the names sorry– but they were considered companions–

                     Then stories from Greek families I knew in South Africa where the males of the family had a wife (for children and property) and a lover (sometimes male) on the side for the other stuff. So the world was not straight forward about certain things– there are stories of princes who had children even though they were on the other side in their inclinations– and so forth.

                     So I agree it is NOT a 20th century invention–

                     1. No. Saying it is over-intelectualizing — kind of like saying Shakespeare invented modern humans. The 20th century made it “all right” — but I REALLY wish leftist gays would understand it will all go away the minute scarcity and an authoritarian regime comes in. One of my gay friends keeps telling everyone this, but no one is listening.

                        1. Absolutely you are right– It is scary– anyone different or anyone loud will get the hammer–

3. It’s tangential, but this post at Marginal Revolution on the future of the publishing industry is worth reading:

   http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/11/what-does-equilibrium-look-like-for-the-book-business.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+marginalrevolution%2Ffeed+%28Marginal+Revolution%29

4. Another great post. Thank you. Yes, the whisper campaign is great. Make a list of the most egregious ‘lefties’ in your community (you know, the ones that had prominent Obama / Democratic Party posters and flyers) and ignore their existence. Patronize, to the extent possible, the ones that had Romney / Republican posters and flyers.

   In addition to pancakes, oatmeal is very filling. Omelets are great – my hubby just served me part of one in bed 🙂

5. Thank you.

   Get well soon. Meanwhile, I’m sending out thoughts of homemade chicken soup for you.

   1. Thank you. I think I need to make some. Robert would normally, but this is the day he has class till 7:30 pm

      1. I think an essential part of mini-Galt (love that term) is a crockpot. Dump ingredients in, set cook time, go to work/go to sleep/whatever and there is food! (or soup. I do beef stock with soup bones, chicken stock with leftover chicken bones.) I am not the world’s greatest cook but I can crockpot-wrangle quite well. Just a thought.

         1. Correct. I should bring mine up from the basement. And yep, we’re going to revert to the tactics of when we were VERY broke, too — as in $5 extra expense made it hard to eat for two meals — the turkey bones from thanksgiving got made into stock, which got frozen to be used at will, etc.

            BTW if you’re low carb, mashed cauliflower makes GREAT thickener for soup, in lieu of potatoes. And if you find it on sale and want to amp the protein, so does ground tofu — just remember for tofu you need to put in three times as much spice/seasoning because tofu mutes everything.

            1. Cabbage is a good thickener too– plus people who have kidney problems actually need the nutrients in cabbage– Don’t mind the gas though– it is good gas 😉

               1. Also– can’t use tofu in this house by pain of divorce– there is a story there but if I tell you I’ll have to shoot you. 😉

                  1. ROFL. Well, tofu is crazy expensive anyway. I only buy it on clearance.

                     1. I LOVE tofu – but I’m with you on that one. Only if it’s on sale.

                        As for the chicken soup – no. What you need is GARLIC soup – with chicken and maybe pasta. A few veggies wouldn’t hurt. But LOTS of garlic. (Believe me, I caught a NASTY cold in China and a chef on the boat I was on made me some chicken soup to the specs above). I felt almost human the next day. And was fine the day after that. I think that soup was about 50% garlic. But it did the trick.

                        P.S. If you like kafkaesque, feel free to write/edit/revise while feverish – I suspect he did. (And, no that’s not an insult – his stuff is WEIRD, but good.)

                        1. I put tons of garlic and ginger in my chicken soup.

                        2. Ramen, with lots of garlic, ginger and hot pepper. Once cooked remove the ramen and set it aside. Whip an egg into the broth. Serve and eat.

                           Garlic and ginger are good for blood and digestion, hot peppers are anti-viral agent.

                           Oh, yes – forget about the ramen. It is all carb and scant nutrition.

                           1. Eggs have a lot of Vit B — really good for you too–

   2. Speaking of oatmeal, I’ve noticed that a box of oatmeal has gone from $1.99 to $2.99 in the last year or so. I’ve also seen stealth shrinkage in the portion size (8 packets instead of 10 to a box)

      1. buy non-packet non-instant oatmeal. It takes a grand total of 2 minutes longer and costs one tenth as much.

         1. you can also add a banana or other fruit (possibly jam) and it will cost less as well

         2. TWO MINUTES!!!! Are you crazy? I could starve in that time!!!!!

            Or read a few pages. Always keep reading matter at hand.

            1. This is why the Kindle Fire rocks. Not only is it right there at hand and allows you to pick what you want to read at that moment, but it’s plastic construction doesn’t absorb, er, odors, the way porous printed material might.

               1. My ancient (well, 3 years old) sony ereader works well in greasy/damp settings such as the breakfast table. Its screen is small, but it has buttons rather than a touch screen. That way it can fit into a sealable baggie and follow you anywhere.

      2. Go to the bulk food section in the grocery story, oatmeal has gone up in price there too, but is much cheaper than the stuff you get in packets or canisters. Plus there is a better selection of types, personnally I have found that I really like Scottish oatmeal, although it takes a little more care when making it to not come out gluey.

         Cyn, I regularly add jam when eat oatmeal, it adds great flavor. 😉

         1. Scottish oatmeal is great, especially the single malt.

            1. See, I can have it in that format. Not as oatmeal. Sigh. I MISS oatmeal.

               1. The sacrifices of a low-carb diet, you are stuck having plain ol’ steak and eggs for breakfast 😉

                  1. in my case it’s not just weight loss, my carb metabolism for some reason kicks up my eczema and makes life not worth living.

                     1. I was using diet in the sense of ‘what you eat’.

                        1. Oh Thank G-D!!!! I was getting terribly confused about what the Japanese parliament had to do with carbs and such.

                           1. Not nearly as much since the advent of EFI.

6. Apologies for a momentary commercial. Would those of you interested in a copy of the dinosaurs vs. senators story please drop me an e-mail at AlmaTCBoykin at AOL dot com? I’ll send copies out tomorrow.

   Thank you, and I return you to your regularly scheduled comment thread.

7. I understand the idea of starving the beast. However, there’s another issue. To the extent that you have money, its value is diminishing, and will continue to diminish under the deliberate malpractice of Obama and Bernanke. to the extent that you can, spend it now on things that will still be useful after the money is worthless. I’ve been saying for years: invest in semi-precious metals — lead and brass. However, valuable as those are, you can’t eat them. Invest in food that will keep (and don’t forget your pets). Invest in supplies (toilet paper, soap, etc.) that you’ll use anyway. Figure some way to get heat for cooking and for keeping warm, and make sure you have it. Get several gasoline cans and keep them full. Don’t try for long-term storage of gasoline. Rotate it like you do other supplies. When you need to gas up, pour the oldest can into your car, and refill it. Anyway, plan ahead.

   Incidentally, Sarah, I’m a Prometheus Award judge. I have pictures from the awards ceremony in 2011. If you want copies, I’ll be glad to send them. Just give me an address.

   1. Before the election I had already started forming two different plans based on the outcome. By Tuesday night I knew the money from my tax returns would not be going into my savings account. Plan #2 is currently underway and pretty much consists of me spending the money I earn on useful items that will have real worth if things go sideways (or not; useful is useful). I fully admit I’m a pessimist; always have been. So I’m planning for the worst and will happily eat my words if I’m wrong.

      Sadly, there is some prep I can’t do as I live in an apartment and don’t have a garage (can’t store extra gas, alas), but I’ve been turning my second bedroom into an emergency prep room. I pick up shelving when what I have outgrows my shelf space and I’m trying to keep everything organized so I can quickly grab what I need if I need to leave in a hurry. It’s sad to think life in a country I love so dearly has been reduced to planning for the worst, but it’s better to plan for the worst and be somewhat comfortable in mild chaos than to end up subject to the incompetence that is FEMA in a disaster. You couldn’t pay me to live at a FEMA camp. Apparently the FEMA workers feel the same way 😛

      1. MAC– I have a three day kit (this has to do with my hubby being involved with Emergency Management) plus my medicines are in another bag so that I can do a run and go– We do have a lot of earthquakes.

         Secondly I keep the car gassed up… I am careful what I buy. I have too much junk already. —

         I do know FEMA people and they are they nicest people you have ever met. A lot of the problems with FEMA is that they have to deal with the regulations of each State– Most of them are prior military btw. The FEMA on the ground are considered temporary and part-time workers. FEMA management is a whole different ballgame.

         1. I have no doubt the on-the-ground workers are nice and do what they can within a bureaucratic nightmare. I’m military myself so I’m well versed with bureaucratic bloat and stupidity. That being said, I don’t ever want to be in a position to rely on them. Especially in the event of a major disaster. Weird as it may sound, I don’t trust government agencies.

            1. Government agencies AT THEIR BEST are the equivalent of performing brain surgery on your kitchen counter using a wooden spoon.

               1. That puts a really horrible image in my head, lol. But it’s true. I read a story yesterday about police refusing an order to arrest people who were sticking around to help after they were told to leave somewhere in NY. I guess when the government gets shown up by private citizens they feel they need to drag everyone down to their level of incompetence. Particularly when they have to justify the existence of an organization that was never supposed to exist in the first place. Good on the police for refusing to help. They should have gone further, however, by letting those people stay in view of cameras. Let people see people helping each other just because they’re people, not because the government said to.

                  A friend of mine on Facebook mentioned spending a Saturday with LDS Helping Hands clearing sand out of a man’s basement. They didn’t need some government flunky to tell them where to go or what to do. And back even before Katrina hit the LDS church had trucks enroute to staging points in the south to quickly distribute aid. By the time reporters made their way to the warehouse in SLC the trucks had been gone for more than an hour. No government involvement was needed and it probably wouldn’t have been welcomed.

                  I feel for the people who got a job working for FEMA thinking they’d get to help people only to end up having to follow a bunch of stifling rules made by people more interested in graft, CYA, and LOOKING like they were doing something than actually doing something. I’ve worked with people like that and there are few people more worthless in a crisis. Which is why I like this crowd (from what I’ve seen); you guys seem less inclined to cry “Wo is me!” than to dig in and clear out the muck. I can’t stand people who can but won’t help themselves.

                  1. You need to understand we cannot have just anybody handing out any old food, we cannot be sure that the food they provide is properly nutritious, with low fat and salt levels. We should be thankful the great Mayor B is looking after our best interests, even if we will not.

                     1. The above statement should be considered snark.

                        1. Hey it sounded like snark to me 😉

                        2. Got that. Again, terrified of what is built into Obamacare that can stick its nose in stuff like that. Look, you and I have completely different nutritional requirements. Switch either of us to the other’s and well…

               2. That instantly reminded me of Jeff Foxworthy talking about the southern accent not being the most intellegent sounding accent.

                  “I mean, who wants to here their brain surgeon say, ‘Wahl, what we’s gonna do is, saw the top a your head off, root around in thahr with a stick, and see if we can’t find that dad-burned tumor.'”

            2. Not weird– I agree whole-heartedly– most of the time 3 days will get you out of the area, but if you stay in a disaster area– two weeks or more stuff should be in your kit– I wouldn’t stay– I have been around too many people who saw what happened in Katrina– and what is happening in Long Island now.

   2. Adding to the “and don’t forget your pets” bit, having a couple extra bags of dry dog food around is nice because you know the dog’s going to get through it eventually, and if things go pear-shaped there’s some reasonable nutrition in the dry food. (And it’s not an obvious “steal me” item, either.)

      1. We have four cats and a not my cat. We try to keep two vast bags in the basement at all times.

      2. Something to remember: After any major disaster, the item required most often is knowledge — how to do stuff. I’d say 90% of the people you know couldn’t do one-third of what has to be done to survive. If YOU do, you’re literally worth your weight in gold. Books — written knowledge — are also keys to being included in a group, especially if they’re such books as “How Things Work” and the Foxfire books, but even school books can be valuable. NO society wants to go all the way back to stone age, not at one fell swoop. The death rate to reach survivable stone-age culture would be in the 95-98% range, with no guarantee you’d be in the 2-5% surviving population.

         1. Almost forgot: priests and shaman are always needed, unless you can be directly blamed for some of the problem. The key is to combine that ability with survival knowledge. Those who can give aid and comfort to the majority will always be in demand, whether that’s material aid or emotional aid.

8. Oatmeal for breakfast, pancakes for dinner, veggies or soup for lunch. Sounds like how we live up here when it get’s tough anyhow. But the points are well made. Not sure I can relate to the political aspects, but the truth is that in Canada we’re just buggered three ways from Sunday more often than not anyhow. Our hands are tied by so much Governmental oversight and caring that most have forgotten that they are individuals who are responsible for their own life. Hell between universal healthcare (not a bad thing mostly, but troublesome in some aspects, don’t get me started) and the catch all safety nets that the government’s empower seem to make matters even worse. (social assistance, long term Employment Insurance Benefits programs rather than stop-gap support for short term help, and of course Worker’s Compensation for the truly masochistic).

   On another note, thanks for a great post Sarah, and get well soon. I’d send a canister of Grandma’s leek and chicken soup, but truthfully, by the time it traveled three thousand miles, well, yeah. So, how about the thought that counts.

   1. Canadian here too. What I find astounding is that EVERY Canadian knows someone who “almost died” in the Canadian health care system, yet still vigourously defend it at every turn. The cognitive dissonance never quite seems to resolve.

      1. Granted. The dissonance never does seem quite abated. It’s often gotten to the point where a person would rather go hungry and homeless than suffer the charity of the social programs and/or healthcare system.

9. Yes Ma’am.

10. Pingback: Instapundit » Blog Archive » SARAH HOYT: Stop Yer Whinin’ And Get To Work. “We are a week past the election. They won by less …

11. “Starve the beast”- one thing missing from the discussions in the wake of the election is that the US is about to see a huge growth in the underground economy. Therein lies another method of starving the beast. pay cash under the table whenever you can. As for the artists of the left, as far as I’m concerned, their copyrights all expired on the eve of Nov 6th 2012.

    1. I’m convinced we’ll see the emergence of a black market medical system here run completely on cash by “retired” doctors who make house calls. I do hope I’m wrong. Doubt I am, but I do hope.

       1. Oddly enough, I hope you are right. Because it may be the only way some will get medical care.

       2. And very possibly by veterinarians for trauma care and antibiotics. By the way one of the things that should be in your ‘go to h*ll bag’ is antibiotics, check out the pet supply places. Many of your common antibiotics can now be bought without a prescription labeled for fish (don’t ask me how you give a fish capsules, I haven’t figured that one out myself) these are the same antibiotics given to you by your doctor, or your dog/cat by the veterinarian, but because they are labelled for fish they can be sold without a prescription.

          1. A digression for the curious: You disolve the contents of the capsule in a gallon of water. Catch the fish and stick it in there for about ten minutes, then back into it’s regular aquarium.

             1. I’m sorry. After you wrote “catch the fish” I saw you pressing on the side of the fish’s mouth till it opened, popping the capsule in there, then stroking its throat to make sure it swallows.

                Head>desk.

                1. YOU are definitely a cat person! I’m not sure that kind of attention would work for a pet piranha, though… 9^)

                   1. Perhaps it was a cat fish????

                      1. No, the proper next step after catching a cat fish is filetting it.

                         For further digression (we’ve already digressed so far I forget what the original topic was) not sure if it works for cats, but on dogs if you blow in their nose while holding their mouth closed (I usually stroke their throat at the same time) it causes them to swallow.

                         1. with cats, it causes you to loose a chunk of your face. Blowing/hissing is aggression to them.

12. Regarding doomsayers and “Lying flat”, that’s very true. A considerable amount of what passes for “Principle” among libertarian and conservative purists is simple laziness. Getting in the trenches for a candidate is hard work against an active and often nasty opposition. So much simpler to decide that you’re too pure to support the bad-as-opposed-to-worse candidate, or even bestir yourself to go vote for him. As an added benefit, after the election you get to Rise Above and condescend to everyone.

    1. I was always told that if you bestir yourself, you could go blind.

       1. I don’t think he means THAT WAY.

          1. No, no, no, that would be Bloviation, although properly done it requires both hands and a notice in the newspaper.

             1. I dunno, RG, I think we have an awfully lot of unused gold mines in this state that we need to put to good use… Either that or cement shoes in a deep, deep reservoir. Blue Mesa comes to mind.

13. Hmm. The problem with going mini-Galt is, that’s the way my wife and I live anyway. We *do* have comcast basic TV channels, and we do Netflix online. That’s kind of our luxury which makes life more interesting. The only other luxuries we indulge in, are eating out, maybe once per two weeks, and an occasional bottle of cheap wine.

14. I’ve been thinking about all this – frankly, the whole self-publishing movement is about a lot of this, so we’ve all had this in our heads all year. The election just energized it.

    I am uncomfortable stifling anyone’s voice (and you are, too), but, as you say, they’ve been stifling ours. But it’s the publishers who are the problem, not the authors, so not buying a book for political reasons isn’t a slam at the author, but the censoring system they work in. There are authors I would still read, and if they self-pub, I can buy things that way. Otherwise, yeah, used books.

    That being said, there are authors I won’t support if they express views that I find hateful, or slip things I find annoying into their books (I have a Guy Gavriel Kay on my kindle right now, but that’s getting removed, because I’m overly sensitive to that kind of thinking, too.) I’m more and more of a curmudgeon, the older I get, and I just can’t stand fluff-headed irrational thinking.

    (And yes, this election was not a failure for Romney. This was an incumbent who, with control of the government pursestrings and using it flagrantly to buy votes, with a huge boost at the last minute from a hurricane and the OBS distorting the unemployment figures, and the press acting as an auxiliary campaign staff playing up a campaign of hate, and he still only barely won by the skin of his teeth. The field is ours, folks. Now, who to look at to run? Rand Paul is being mentioned.)

    1. Censorship is normally an act of government. The leftists are entitled to their opinion. So are we. We have the right to choose how we spend our money by whatever criteria we want. If they offend us, we have every right to refuse to buy their products. It isn’t censorship if we refuse to buy their products because they insult our values.

       Have you ever heard of the Montgomery Bus Boycott? Early in the civil right era, blacks rightly got tired of being mistreated and decided to take action. In Montgomery, Alabama, they decided to boycott the bus system that made them ride in the back. The boycott lasted for over a year. Black churches organized car pools and did other things to provide transportation. In the end, the bus company’s policies were overturned in court. Should those civil rights protestors have continued to ride the buses because boycotting would’ve been censorship to the bus company’s policies? Hardly. We should follow their example.

       And never, never forget that segregation, the KKK, Jim Crow and the internment of the Japanese-Americans in WWII were all created by Democrats.

       1. I’d say censorship is imposed by an authority – be it government, a publisher, a newpaper, a library, an internet service. I agree, it’s not censorship if people refuse a service.

          And never, never forget that segregation, the KKK, Jim Crow and the internment of the Japanese-Americans in WWII were all created by Democrats.

          Yes. And the Civil Rights movement, and Martin Luther King, were Republican. (We need some cool comedian type to put out Real History quickie videos on youtube.)

          1. An inconvenient truth that has already been disposed of. It seems that immediately after the Civil Rights era, the Republican and Democratic parties effectively exchanged names, when all the Dixiecrats became Republicans and the GOP defected as a bloc to the Democrats. This Narrative has already been accepted as truth. Modern Dems remain the eternal party of virtue.

             1. Take at look at http://xkcd.com/1127/

                I see more continuity than not.

                I think those who left the Democrats for the Republicans at that time are probably more closely matched to those who left the Ba’ath and Nazi parties for other parties after they lost single party state status. In other words, apathetic supporters of the party who were forced or intimidated into joining. Given that one of the major legitimating narratives focused on the ‘evils’ of the Radical Republicans, one would expect the hard core to have stayed with the Party anyway.

                I define political technicians as the mover and shakers who get things done, long term party loyalists who are regularly involved with organizing and winning elections. They may or may not hold office on their own, but they make up the middle managers and the institutional memory of the party. For the Democratic Party, they were also some of the people who would have had blood on their hands from causing the implementation of the bloodier aspects of Jim Crow.

                A more difficult but perhaps more informative test is to mine local oral history for records of political technicians, and then to check their history of political affiliation compared to the civil rights movement. (Assuming you even live in the right place to begin with.)

                I’m inclined to consider the revisionist Party history an objectively pro white supremacist act. Of course, by now, it is quite possible for people to be unaware that they are doing so.

             2. This is especially so if, like the Modern Dems you define “virtue” as being, first and foremost, a Democrat. And sin, of course, begins with being a Republican.

          2. “(We need some cool comedian type to put out Real History quickie videos on youtube.)”

             “Cool” meaning “famous” — I don’t think there are any on this side, except Dennis Miller (and he’s usually too smart for the room).

             “Cool” meaning “does not remove the toothpick from his mouth before telling the Lefticle to go fuck himself” — not to be immodest, but: [*COUGH*] >:)

       2. Dammit, no no no no no! the bus companies were not putting black people in the back, the local governments were.

          1. Bus companies could not arrest people for sitting in front if it was just their private policy.

             1. Sorry, but blaming the people and private companies for these policies is the main method of taking the blame away from where it belongs, the Southern Democrats.

                1. Agreed.

                2. Note that the Northern Democrats appear to have been pretty happy to work with the Southern Democrats, when it got them votes. Take a look at some of the electoral votes for the president. Certain Northern Democrat Presidents look like they gained the office with the help of the poll taxes, night rides, and other paraphernalia of Democratic Party fraud in the south.

                   1. Everybody’s heard about JFK’s “The Pope Doesn’t Tell Me What To Do” speech but what they don’t know is that he was making the speech to Southern Democrats who were worry about the Pope’s position on Segregation. It seems that the Catholic Church had taken a hard stand *against* Segregation. [Evil Grin]

                   2. Look at FDR’s first Veep for an example of what the Dems would climb into bed with.

                      Thing is, the Southern Dems were staying in the party ONLY because of segregation (Republicans already opposed it.) When they lost that reason they looked around at the rest of their party’s platform and decided they couldn’t stand it. Apparently voting for unions and against natinal defense didn’t sit well with them and only by holding their nose and taking the segregation olive branch could they stay in the party.

                      1. I dunno. Revanchism for Lincoln, ‘The War of Northern Aggression’, Sherman, Reconstruction, and so forth are still reasons, even if ones of less relevance today.

                         Immediately after the war, those reasons were why they were able to lose the war and win the peace, for a time. (Some of what gets filed under Wild West includes preparation for the next round of the Civil War by Democrat veterans. A lot didn’t seem to get used, perhaps because they won the peace.)

                         I tend to figure a certain amount of ‘Hey, this isn’t going to work so well anymore’, and ‘Hey, the Nazis are ripping us off. If we hate them, maybe we should rethink what we are doing.’

                         I also figure that Lyndon Johnson was able to sign off on that stuff was because the only way it could have ended as cleanly as it did was if a southern Democrat, a paid up part of the system, signed off on it as being a path of partisan benefit.

                         I figure that the motivations of political technicians can be very different from voters. Political technicians also have love of power, and loyalty to the system, which will reward that loyalty. I figure that part of the Southern Democrats would be pretty happy to stick with the Party and the organization, so long as it continued to provide those rewards. The Republicans would have had less of a competitive draw, due to being a younger and less settled organization in the South.

                         Especially if the Democratic Party made some cosmetic changes, and were able to seal the vote of a Demographic in the south that the Republicans had lost due to not paying attention around the time of the great depression.

                         (The Republicans could take that demographic for granted, because they wouldn’t vote for the white supremacist Democrats up until they did. Business, on the other hand, the other Republican voting base, provided the Republicans with enough feedback, attention, and threat of loss of votes that they couldn’t be taken for granted.)

                         I figure that the Soviets, if they had a choice, picked the Democrats to infiltrate because the Democrats knew how to do things in America that they wanted done. Terrorism, corruption of the political and justice systems, and so on and so forth. The Democrats had done all of these. Look at the historical Democrats at the time of the soviets, look at what the soviets, as we can see from their other foreign policy adventures, would have wanted to do in America, and look at current and recent historical Democratic activities. The boy is father to the man.

                         1. A note: I recall reading in a biography of General Sherman that he was the only northern general who truly tried to punish looters within his ranks. He was threatened for court-marshaled for that. By the time of The March through Georgia most of the structure of civilization in the deep south had collapsed. While the army was responsible for some the mayhem, a substantial amount of that destruction was caused by various groups of deserters, renegades, displaced persons and other camp followers taking advantage of the chaos. War is hell.

                         2. Another note: The Democrates reclaimed asendency in the south at the turn of the last century, not during the during Depression. Think Woodrow Wilson. Think the Wilmington (white) race riots of 1898. The Democrates started to gain the black vote under F.D.R.

                            1. I’d say it was at least of couple of decades earlier than the turn of the century. Steve Renfroe was earlier, the Posse Comitatus act was in, IIRC, 1881.

                               First Reconstruction, with the Radical Republicans using federal force in the south, and backing and being backed by the freed slave demographic. Then, deciding that it was done, that they’d gone too far, or just getting bored, the Federal forces were removed, and the confederate veterans drove out some of their political opponents, native (scalawags) and imported (carpetbaggers), and terrorized or murdered the rest. (Posse Comitatus was intended, by the Democrats, to prevent the Republicans from changing their mind and using federal force to stop the killing again. They didn’t plan on the expansion of extra military federal law enforcement capability in the twentieth century. Of course, the joke is on freedom, as I hear those Fed LEOs are heavily Democrat.)

                               Anyway, because of the stability of the Southern Democrat regime, they could regularly send the same people to the federal house. Where they did not have a majority, often they could have many effective senior house leaders. They owed this to Segregation, Jim Crow, and as such they tended to be loyal.

                               Conversely, I imagine that by 1900 or so, that fewer Republicans were winning elections on racial issues, and that the party was more focused on business. Plus, a captive base of voters will always be taken for granted. Because the Democrats were so heavily white supremacist, few freed slaves voted for them, and the demographic ended up being taken for granted by the Party. So by the ’20s and ’30s they were fairly ripe for being picked up by the other party, and FDR was less of a white supremacist than Woodrow Wilson. Maybe also less of one than Carter, Kennedy and maybe Obama, but that is arguable.

                      2. “Look at FDR’s first Veep for an example of what the Dems would climb into bed with.”

                         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Nance_Garner

                         I… don’t see a problem here. Garner was opposed to every one of FDR’s pogr^H^H^licies, esp. the most-Socialist ones.

                         1. Oops! Got caught in a brain fart; I meant, of course, his middlin’ veep, Henry A. Wallace [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_A._Wallace ].

                            Geeze, summbich occupied DC so long it gets almighty confuzzelating.

                            Still’n’all, the range of heirs apparent to Franklin suggest one reigning principle: take and hold office.

15. In a word, Yes. Structures are not built from the top down. You don’t start with an elaborate cathedral roof to admire and then try to prop it up as you build. You start by clearing the land, digging footings and putting in concrete forms. It takes time, energy and lots of hard work. It’s the sweat work, the boring little details that, when properly done, makes pouring the concrete easier and ensures you get a solid foundation upon which to raise your new home. I’ve seen sloppy and lazy builders skimp in the beginning. Anxious to get on with the magnificent structure they envision they lay poor foundations and create a shaky building that cannot weather the storm.

    You cannot build a lasting skyscraper on a shaky foundation. yes the work needs to be done but first it needs to be started. You cannot go from bare ground to finished product in a single day without missing the critical steps. That’s how we got where we are today.

16. Funds are limited, choices must be made. Do NOT buy-cott leftist writers and publishers, focus instead on consuming good and (mentally) healthy things.

    You can buy from two different publishers. One respects you and your intelligence, thinks you have every right to your opinions and promotes writers who openly hold strong while telling good stories. The other publisher thinks you are scum who need to be whipped into obedience, forced to abandon your racist/sexist beliefs and who promotes authors of grey goo. To which publisher are you gonna give your dollars?

    You can choose good healthy food or junk. Which will it be?

    Choose wisely.

17. It’s been a week. People haven’t gotten over it. I took Prof. Reynold’s advice leading up to it (Don’t get cocky) and prep’d for the worse.

    I got over the loss in 10 minutes. I’m planning for 2014. Time turn Virginia red.

    1. Yes time to REturn Virginia red! Disgusting that one of the birthplaces of liberty voted for that scum!

       1. I come from Philadelphia, and still have family there. Talk about an embarrassing mess.

18. BTW, I did get to work – the print edition of Book One of the Adelsverein Trilogy in German goes live tomorrow – the ebook edition is already available in Kindle.
    Print – http://www.amazon.com/Adelsverein-Book-1-Gathering-German/dp/0934955964/ref=la_B002BM1QHG_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1352915536&sr=1-9
    Kindle – http://www.amazon.com/Adelsverein-Die-Sammlung-German-ebook/dp/B00A2CCRDE/ref=la_B002BM1QHG_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1352915536&sr=1-10
    If you have any German-speaking friends who are passionate fans of Karl May – send them to me!

    1. Congratulations and good fortune. You have a good series, may it find its audience.

19. Regarding going Galt. It is not a dream, it is a nightmare. Do it only if you have no other choice. (Yes Rand’s heros still worked in menial positions. Today even that sort of work at a level that houses and feeds you puts a lot of money in the moocher’s hands).

20. Nope. It is over. No one will ever, ever be elected US President on a campaign of free markets, small government and fiscal sanity. It’s identity politics and moocherism from here on out.

    Obviously this will fail badly. But the solution will always be more government. The GOP will embrace this too, possibly very soon, because even they will realize they can’t win the White House any other way.

    It would take something like a world war to get the US citizenry to snap out of this. But hey, buy used DVDs if it makes you feel better.

    1. If everyone thought that way, it would be over, but there is still a bare chance that it can be turned around yet. We have to make it painful to be one of the big government Progs, instead of lying down and making it easy.

       1. Yes. Would all the fainting ladies (and yes, especially the guys) please do so on the sidewalk. You’re on the path we need to march through.

          Wayne, get a forklift to clean the way!

          1. Fainting ladies– I snorted coffee– where have all the manly men gone? Actually I made sure I married one– I don’t think an effeminate could have handled my enthusiasms.

             1. I don’t think an effeminate could have handled my enthusiasms.

                So…is that what kids are calling them these days?

                1. Depends on who you are calling a kid Scott… *snort… actually I was thinking of my berserker tendencies–

                   1. OH…so…NOT the…thingies…

             2. Where have all the manly men gone?
                Gone to eunuchs, every one.
                When will they ever learn?
                When will they ever learn?

                1. So true RES

                2. Aaaargh, now I won’t get the Kingston Trio out of my head for a day.

21. I have decided to do much the same thing. Will hunker down somewhat and try to ride things out as best I can the next four years(and perhaps beyond).

    I will stop or at least reduce supporting certain artists, companies, and even states. If I want to buy a bottle of wine, it will be local or perhaps some foreign ones instead of California. Same with books, movies, etc. They can express their ideas and opinions all they want. Just, don’t expect me to pay for it. If you still want to read a certain authors books even if you disagree with them, go to the library.

    What I will do instead is support those that share my values by buying their products.

    PS I’ve read some of your Musketeer books and liked them. Plan to read some others in the future. Not trying to suck up. Just want to let you know I like your work.

    1. I’m trying to get rights back, so I can continue the series. Thank you for reminding me to send yet another letter…

       1. Idaho also makes some wines that are reportedly very good. I am not enough of a connesuer of wines to report reliably, (I always thought Boone’s Farms made a dang good wine personally 😉 )

          1. Portuguese wine is cheap and decent — and Portugal for all its sins, in its misguided way, is trying to pay its debts. And OMG they voted for the party that wanted to privatize television. Also they laughed at the suggestion that voter ID was discriminating against the poor and told the left (natch) that if they wanted to cheat they could at least go through the trouble of faking an ID.

             It’s close to the first time in my adult life that I’ve been proud of the land of my birth.

             1. It’s close to the first time in my adult life that I’ve been proud of the land of my birth.

                That made me throw up in my mouth a little. I caught it before it could damage the new monitor though.

                1. Mind you, it’s the land of my birth, NOT my country. If you feel that way about a country, you should leave and go somewhere more congenial, not demand it change to suit you — which betrays an hubris of such magnificent proportions that Martians can see it without a telescope.

                2. I merely snorted what I was drinking and nearly choked on it.

          2. North Carolina has several developing wineries and have begun producing some rather promising products.

    2. RivRider – Texas wines are it! I think most of them will do mail order! – Check out the various wineries listed in this website. Everyone says that Texas wines are about where Napa-Sonoma-Mendicino were, about thirty years ago.
       http://texaswinetrail.com/wineries
       Fredericksburg Winery’s Northern & Fredericksburg is simply the best that I have ever tasted, and normally, I don’t much like reds. It is awesome! A single glass of it is worth four or five of anything else.

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23. Sorry Sarah, luv u to death, but must disagree. While I agree there are some bright spots (see this encouraging graphic from Wa Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/2012-exit-polls/), I must request u remove the rose-colored glasses, unclog your nose, and smell the coffee.

    We “only” lost by 1%, true. But that point needs to be accompanied by the caveat that we lost in an election where the re-election of the incumbent under the conditions of his presidency was UNPRECEDENTED. In other words, we lost by 1% in an election that shouldn’t even have been close. We lost by 1% in an election that under any reasonable electorate would have produced a LANDSLIDE for our candidate. We lost in an election when there should have been no possible way to lose. Yet we LOST.

    Given those FACTS, we need to shake out of our “fight ’em in the trenches” mentality and recognize that if we couldn’t win under these circumstances, there is a good chance we can’t win at all. Smell the coffee, its brewed strong for 2 presidential election cycles. Stop being Dagney and start being John. Let them suffer the consequences of their votes. In a democracy, the people should get what they voted for.

    I hate this feeling and realization myself. But after having battled hard for 2 decades now only to see a single republican president and watching him be literally gored by the media and democrats the entire time, the smell of the coffee has begun to invade my nostrils. No matter how much I dislike it, don’t want it to happen, want to fight it, I keep coming around to the realization that we are no longer the favored girlfriend. We are out on the street, the relationship is over. Let the looters & moochers & govt cronies consummate their illicit and destructive love affair. Stop fighting it. Until the pain of not chaning exceeds the pain of changing, we will see no changes. Let the pain begin.

    1. The hell? Even if the odds of success were low, it would still be worth fighting for that one-in-three or one-in-twenty (or whatever) chance. “There’s a good chance we will fail” doesn’t stop doctors from operating on people who’ve been in car wrecks and it doesn’t stop start-up businessmen from giving it their all. (Much less explorers … the Corps of Discovery couldn’t have known they’d go and come back with only one death. They went anyway.)

       1. Note that the people on the side of the American revolution were THREE PERCENT> There’s more of us than that.

    2. Nope. Hell, no. In the words of my darling husband (who has a way with such things) HELLMUTHAFUKKINGODDAMMITNO!

       You see, when the choice is fight and maybe lose the country to the creeping Marxist crud, or give up and definitely lose the country to the creeping Marxist crud, you fight. Even if you’re tired of it. Even if you think the people you’re trying to save have given up on you. Even if they HAVE given up on you, you fight, because the alternative is looking at yourself every morning and knowing that you helped make the failure happen.

       Congratulations.

       1. Good on you. Yes, you have to be able to live with yourself.

          I grew up in a very political family and was very active when I was younger. I considered myself in recovery from the destructive addiction. One of the things I truly hate about the present circumstances — I find that I have to become re-engaged, but the war is not politics. It is over our culture and its underpinnings.

          1. Yes. Same issue here. I work better when I can tune this stuff out. Apparently that’s not the plan, though, so…

    3. Do you want a quick-and-dirty postmortem on the election? It’s not hard. It’s six things:
       1) Something on the number of six MILLION people who voted in 2008 sat out this election. That number could be half the true figures, but it’s impossible to say for sure. They were either evenly split, or 60-40, with more Repugs staying home than Dems.
       2) The military and overseas vote was SUPPRESSED – something on the order of a million votes that normally split 70-30 Conservative.
       3) Voter fraud played a huge part in winning several swing states. People say that fraud didn’t play a big part, but that’s pure BULLSH$$. Voter fraud also probably caused some Romney votes to be credited to Obama, but it’s almost impossible to PROVE.
       4) The Republicans nominated a candidate that Obama spent SIX MONTHS defining the character of, with little or no blowback. By the nomination, many people already had formed a negative opinion of Romney, which was NEVER really addressed by the candidate.
       5) Romney had far too many “priors”: prior policies that either were close to the president’s or the same. That made a number of conservatives very uncomfortable with their candidate, and the CANDIDATE did little to reassure them.
       6) Most damning of all, Romney never embraced the TEA Party, the heart of the conservative movement in the United States. He didn’t ask for their help in getting elected. He didn’t call attention to them being present, or working their tails off to get him elected. Quite a few people I know gave up trying to get the Romney Campaign’s attention. They voted, but did nothing else — no financial contributions, no volunteering, no cheerleading. They were pi$$$d and let the candidate know it.

       This isn’t a Chinese menu — you don’t get to “Pick one from column A, and two from Column B”. IF you’re going to run as a conservative candidate, you have to address EVERY ONE of those points. Romney didn’t. Romney lost. Fin.

24. Guy Gavriel Kay? His economics didn’t set me off. His notions of religion did. Can’t read him.

    1. Hmm. I really enjoyed Under Heaven, actually. But I haven’t read anything of his other than that and Tigana. I take it he’s much less interesting to read when he’s not trying to do pseudo-historical fantasy?

       (And yeah, Tigana had some problems, but I’ll forgive a lot if the magic system is sufficiently shiny. I’m just about the only one of my friends who were fine with Mistborn’s two sequels, because the plot may have been poor, but allomancy is awesome!)

       1. Tigana was not his worst. But what can you say about a man who presents three religions, one that worships the sun, one that worships the moon, and one that worships the stars? And their only other trait is that one of them has nasty worshippers.

          1. Good grief. Seriously? Er, which book was this? (I’ve heard good things about the Fionavar tapestry, so I’d probably still try to read it if so, but I’d definitely brace myself for the worst going in.)

             1. Lions, IIRC.

                1. It’s hard to do medieval religions without medieval religions, but he keeps trying. Yet he’s not really interested in making his Crystal Dragon Jesuses interesting in themselves, either. His troubadour book was really painful to me, because I’d been studying up on troubadours and got all his references, but the religious side was a complete and total fail. (Replacing matter-is-icky Albigensianism with an earthy goddess religion? Are you freakin’ me?)

                   Of course, Bujold is the shining example of how to do fake medieval religion that’s actually got some flavor and chew to it, but Harry Turtledove’s Phos is pretty good also.

                   1. Yeah. You don’t get to just file serial numbers off, you have to re-engrave them.

                   2. Bujold is a shining example– I reread her books– especially her later ones–

25. My “wake-up call” was to re-register to ‘independant’ from Republican. I am sick and tired to supporting RINO’s. The GOP takes us, the base for granted. All this pandering to get the undecided, all of their snail mails will go in the trash from now on. I also emailed ‘mittens’ and told him I WANT MY MONEY BACK.

26. I notice that your zombie is more strongly based on the original myths than the zombie movies. (The original zombie myths, that is; if you want to know what medieval vampires look like, go to a zombie movie.)

    The original horror was not that you might face a zombie, it’s that you might become a zombie, enslaved even after death. The cure is to feed ’em salt.

    1. Heh. The three vampire stories I have written so far have pretty medieval vampires – they are a lot more like fast zombies than the oversexed beauties most often used now. The biggest difference to zombies is that they can also be fairly smart. I have nothing against superheroic supersexy ideal boyfriend vamps (or superseductive superhuman very bad ones either) but got a bit tired of how hard it has been getting to find any other kinds. And I am fairly familiar with the original folklore versions. Those critters can be delightfully creepy.

       1. You might like Robin McKinley’s Sunshine

          1. One of my favorite vampire stories– I wished she was willing to write more in that world (I asked). 😉

          2. Have it, thanks. One of the few exceptions I have been able to find. But even in her book there is the idea that it is possible, however highly unlikely, to ‘tame’ a vampire, or become trusted friends with one. I kind of like the idea that even the more sympathetic ones can’t help themselves, the same way a carrier of a highly contagious and deadly disease would be unable not to kill even their loved ones if they remain with them. Well, the vampires are a bit more active than disease carriers when it comes to that ‘kill’ part, but anyway. 🙂

             Really pity Ms McKinley refuses to write more of that story.

             1. Look on the bright side: the sequel won’t disappoint us.

    2. Have you been reading Witchfinder? I think that Sarah has the idea that being not quiet alive and not quiet dead, but in someone’s control is a horror.

27. My dream last night was that I was on a passenger bus with a lot of other people and I couldn’t get off of it.

28. I agree, it’s no time to lie down.

    When my wife heard on the radio that libs want to boycott Papa John’s, she turned to me and suggested that’s where we ought to buy pizza from now on. We’ll probably do the same thing with any other business targeted for similar treatment.

    Beyond that, I’m suddenly far more picky about who I do business with.

    For instance, I need some automotive work done. I have a great quote from a guy – but he had a big ol’ Obama banner in his front yard. I’m looking for an alternative to using him even now, and odds are he won’t even know why he lost the job if I can find someone else to do that job for a reasonable price.

    I’d suggest you not inform businesses why you are not using them, as that way maybe they’ll keep their Obama signs up longer so more people can tell who NOT to use.

    Another tactic – keep that red/blue county by county vote map handy.

    When you have to spend money – especially for major purchases – see if you can spend it in a red county. Even in blue states there were a LOT of red counties that should be within reasonable travel distance of the high population centers. Spend your money in those counties. You’ll probably still end up giving money to Obama supporters, but the odds go down when you get out of the blue counties.

    If you can still vacation, try to do it in red counties/red states.

    The only thing the socialists/leftists are going to understand is when it hurts them directly, either in the pocket book or with their stomach growling.

29. I’d like to throw a metaphor into the memestream, here — free for your consumption and re-use. Blow Your Horn.

    It starts from those “public service” announcements (that’s service as in a bull to a cow) that Disney did back in the years immediately after WWII. They featured Goofy engaged in myriad tasks, giving examples of Doing It Rong and lecturing America on The Right Way. There was one in particular which advised defensive driving, from which the takeaway was, “Don’t drive with your horn.”

    Which, I maintain, sank in and was appropriated by large swathes of the country. And it became, “Don’t be judgmental.” After all, that’s what a toot of the old Ah-OO-ga is — a judgement. A message: “You’re doing it wrong” or “Hey! I saw what you did there!”

    And, as the advice took hold, miscreants in the general population took advantage. And got away with stuff — cutting in line, driving while not there (putting on makeup, talking on the phone, reading the paper — whatever), littering, beating their wives. And we were Not Judgmental.

    My counter-contention is that, in preference to “there ought to be a law” which demands a (generally oppressive) government solution, we ought to engage in social pressure to persuade folks to behave. We ought to blow our horns when we see somebody behaving in a socially obnoxious manner.

    Blow. Your. Horn.

    M

30. Unlike OWS, you can’t just camp out in parks and poo on police cars. (Not that any of you would, I’m sure.)

    Not on Police Cars, no. Eco-loons or feminazis, maybe…

    1. EW. Wayne. EW.

       1. You don’t know where that car’s been. Who knows what you’d catch from getting that close to it.

          1. I’d be more worried about the Eco-loons or feminazis myself, chances are the police car has been washed lately.

             1. No, no, the eco-loon’s car and the feminazi’s car. Chances are the eco-loon and the feminazi have a personal fragrance that could drop a dragon at fifty paces anyway.

                1. I used to walk by the OWS’s camp downtown. I won’t say you’re wrong. (Of course, I used whatever boy was with me as a straight man and started denouncing communism in tones that a street preacher uses for the devil! I couldn’t help myself.)

    2. Only dead ones. If there aren’t any dead ones, I know how to remedy that.

31. Sarah, as a former home-schooling mom and having lived for 16+ years on one income, I can share some ideas. We haven’t had cable TV since my almost 16 year old was born. We have shopped thrift stores for years – rarely buying anything brand new. To the point that when I started working from home and making more money two years ago – we still shop thrift stores. We don’t go out to eat more than once per week, if that, and rarely do we spend more than $40 for our family of 4. I’m also making a point of calling attention to the economy whenever appropriate. Standing in line -at the thrift store- as my girls had picked out books and movies this weekend I told them I hope they’ll enjoy them as this is our main form of entertainment for the foreseeable future! Mark – I love it – Blow. Your. Horn.

    1. We’ve been doing the same thing for the last twenty years or so — we’re very lucky that we have an excellent thrift store nearby — an ARC. My friends never believe me until I take them there. AT THAT we shop there on sale-day. But thank you for reminding me. I was trying to figure out what to get the kids for the holidays, that we could ACTUALLY afford, and it hit me that I shall take each of them by two Saturdays and tell them to pick games for the other sibling. Voila.

       We were eating out about once a week. I’m looking to bring that down to no more than once a month and that only if unavoidable.

32. The number one thing you should do is to invest in an hour of a competent CPA to ensure you are not overpaying taxes.

    An hour of quality CPA time will cost you less than $200. You will probably identify ways to save much more. Legally.

    I am not talking about tax evasion, or anything even remotely illegal. I am not talking about gimmicks, tricks, or shady practices.

    This is about making sure your taxes are done properly to stop throwing your money at Obama.

    No, I am not selling anything. There is no link to click that leads to shady websites.

    Instead use the yellow pages or ask a friend for the name of a good CPA — and then go schedule an appointment.

    Have you done this Sarah? If not, what is stopping you? Why are you not doing this today, and then writing about it in a blog entry?

    1. Yes, we have. We were already saving as much as we could on our taxes. We have in fact used “a good CPA” for three years.

       DO YOU KNOW HOW UNHOLY DIFFICULT TAXES ARE FOR A SELF-EMPLOYED WRITER? DO YOU KNOW HOW FEW CPA’s KNOW JACK SH*T about it?

       I’m not writing about it because it would take a whole book, and half of it would apply to CO only. When pro writers get together, what we talk about is taxes, because we take it in the nose everytime.

       WHY are you making assumptions about me? Or for that matter, the readers of this blog?

    2. I mean, at least one of the regular commenters IS a CPA.

       1. So EVERY reader on your blog is a) a self employed writer and b) presently paying the lowest practicable tax rate?

          Silly me! I thought that an article on strategies for saving money on taxes would be useful, popular, and easy for you to write. Please forgive me for wasting your time and blog pixels.

          1. Yes. And it would also could get me in SERIOUS trouble. We are all adults and I presume each of us is paying as little as we can legally.

             I CANNOT GIVE TAX ADVICE. I’M NOT A CPA. My blogging about it would be second hand. I’m sure there are tons of books out there by CPAs, if you care to give advice.

          2. Time is relative and malleable…so no big deal. Blog pixals on the other hand, come from the same place fornits and fornus and, thus, are difficult to come by without flexible bullets.

          3. Yes, silly you. Very silly you. Giving tax advice when you aren’t qualified is a really good way to land yourself in deep trouble with the tax people – who might be decent enough individuals, but the group is rather like a shark without the kind, gentle nature.

             Then, every state in the USA has different rules. Some are very different, others not so much – but enough that smaller companies limit the number of states they license themselves to do business in because of the cost of following the often-conflicting regulations.

             A self-employed writer has zero chance of giving useful tax advice in this environment.

             Not to mention assuming that someone who has been a self-employed writer for over ten years has not bothered to investigate her tax liabilities to minimize overpayments is the height of arrogance and laziness.

             Maybe think a bit before trying to ‘help’, next time.

    3. I read all but the last paragraph in Sweet Lou’s comment as reasonable advice, for those who have not done so already.

       On the other hand, the suggestion to consult a CPA is ALL that is reasonable there, because, as Sarah and Kate said, for an author to presume to make tax suggestions to people, many of whom live in different States, would be foolish at best, disastrous at worst.

       1. I was sort of okay till the last paragraph. The last paragraph went into insane land fast.

          Note also, that it could have started with “Have you” not the presumption that this never occurred to anyone else.

          1. I am not a CPA — I have the degree, passed the exams but never applied for it because it wasn’t necessary for the type of accounting services I provide. Writers do not … wait a min, let put this more clearly: WRITERS DO NOT NEED A CPA. What anybody earning a significant amount of money needs is a tax specialist, particularly a tax specialist experienced in the particular sections of the tax code applicable to writers’ circumstances. This is probably more the case for anyone writing Indie.

             That tax specialist probably <should be a CPA, but could be a tax lawyer or even just an accountant with deep expertise in this particular area. All squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares, ne c’est pas? Although in this case not all CPAs are tax experts, not all tax experts are CPAs.

             Note, also that the last paragraph explicitly addressed Sarah about the advice, although the commenter tried to generalize in later comment. pfui.

33. Here’s something I find interesting: the assumption that, of course, all “right thinking people” agree with the lib agenda. Case in point: J.K. Rowling. Most of the libs I know love her stuff, and somehow completely fail to see how it’s far more stridently anti-government than anything Heinlein every wrote. I run into the same stuff with Tolkien all the time, and don’t even get me started on Robert Jordan.

    It does leave me conflicted at times as to my reading. But, as you say, it’s not like I have to do without, since I have an awesome used bookstore not too far from where I live.

    Glad to see you’re continuing to fight the good fight. Get well soon!

34. I called it going semi-Galt It can be good for the environment, too..

35. if you are looking for cheap fun that keeps you off the grid, consider camping. all it takes is a 20 min drive and you can find a campground that’ll give you the change of scene you need.

    As for going Galt, I think the unpleasantness I foresee is less like Atlas Shrugged, and more like The Black Obelisk. The good news is soon we’ll all be millionaires.

    1. Steve

       I don’t camp. I’ve had entirely too much nature growing up. I can’t even understand why people consider it fun. 🙂

       I’m sure those who do are already doing it.

       1. The Spouse asks, ‘Why, if G-d was so benevolent and merciful so as to put you in the world in a time and place where there is heating, cooling, electric lighting, porcelain fixtures in the loo, etc., why do you want to deliberatively abandon it and spit in His face?’

          1. Spouse and I are ALSO twins separated at birth…

             1. Now that is getting squicky.

                1. You wouldn’t want her to be your sister-in-law?

                   1. No. It’s also CACS is also my long lost twin. Fortunately this is all a matter of souls, so …

                      1. It has to do with the commutative property of relationships. If A = B (where “=” means “twins separated at birth”) and B = C, then A = C … which could be problematic as A & C are identified as spouses. Talk about your go eff yourself moments!

                      2. Ah. Either didn’t remember that, or you haven’t said it since I started reading here. Yeah, that would be kinda… ew.

                         1. Heilein: “but who are all you zombies” level “I am my own grandpa.”

    2. Sorry – but camping is off my list too– It has to do with my illness and that I need to be protected in certain ways from the elements. However, we have found ways to amuse ourselves in other ways. One of the best is to make friends with the neighbor’s chihuahua. We hold them, talk to them, and just have a great time. 😉

36. This is why I stopped my dish network service years ago. I just couldn’t stand paying $100 a month to be voluntarily brainwashed by total crap. Netflix lets me watch what I want when I want it and it’s a 1/10th of the cost. And believe me I’ve flipped on a movie got about 15 minutes into it and then turn it right back off if I detect just a hint of leftwing, politically correct retardedness. And I go into the review sections and give it 1 star and let everyone know you’ll think this movie sucks if you have more than a few functioning brain cells. Sure I miss my sports but I found that with the $100 I’m saving that I can just go to the bar down the street and sip a few (okay several) beers and enjoy the game to boot.

37. Speaking of dreams, I tend to dream in the third person, and have dreams that are more like stories. I have Star Trek dreams, Sims dreams, all kinds of dreams.

    Last night I had a dream where I apparently asked God to let me see things the way they really were, then woke up terrified that it’d come true, and stay that way beyond the dream. Ugh.

    1. I usually am someone else, but I have yet to dream in someone’s universe. The only exception is when reading a lot of disney comics I’ll dream THAT

       1. Oh, it gets worse than that. On occasion, the Star Trek dreams have *commercials*. shudder.

          *Jasini

          Facts are stubborn things, but not nearly as stubborn as fallacies.*

          On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 4:57 PM, According To Hoyt wrote:

          > ** > accordingtohoyt commented: “I usually am someone else, but I have yet > to dream in someone’s universe. The only exception is when reading a lot of > disney comics I’ll dream THAT :/” >

       2. I once dreamed I experienced some awesome adventures with a close friend of mine, and it took me a minute after waking to realize my friend was Daffy Duck.

38. I’ve never had cable and have no plans to change that, though I know some people live in places where that’s the only form of tv reception. If a cable show looks interesting, I wait until Netflix has the dvds/streaming. And like HeftyJo, I’m happy to head to the review section there. Writing scathing reviews is sort of a hobby of mine.

    My main hobby, though, is geocaching. Already had the GPS, so it costs me nothing but AA batteries and some petrol. I get exercise, meet fun people, find places I never knew were there, learn interesting things, and work my brain doing it. It’s also something the whole family can enjoy together.

    I’ve always lived pretty thriftily, but I stepped it up last Wednesday morning, and every penny I save by not spending it here in blue California I’m investing in my land in Wyoming. That’s my Galt’s Gulch, both literal and figurative.

    1. I wonder how many people came to the same conclusion last Wednesday…

       1. Hopefully a lot. I work in a very leftist office — we’re paid by the state and our unions harangued us constantly to vote for tax-raising Prop 30. I voted against it, despite the fact that it not passing would have meant the loss of 3 weeks’ pay. As so often happens in CA, teh stoopid won out, and I’m done trying to save them from themselves. If they want to bankrupt this state to shove money into my hands, so be it. Wells are expensive, even in low-COL Wyoming ;).

          I’ve also begun the pushback in the office, and it seems I’m not alone. We’re in cubicles, so everybody can hear everybody else. This morning one guy was sounding off about how the economy was turning around, and somebody else contradicted him with the unemployment numbers. My snarky sarcastic comment about how we couldn’t be in that bad shape since we could afford to buy useless things like bullet trains got a ‘that’s right’ from down the line.

          There are more of us than we might think, and it’s time to start standing our ground and speaking up (though my snarkiness might not be the route for everyone, despite the above). I’ve found I make more progress not directly contradicting people, but with a bit of conversational judo. If someone says something outrageously stupid or flat-out wrong, ask him “Why do you say/think that?” Make them THINK about whatever bit of absurdity they’ve always taken for granted. Phrase your replies as questions “But what about the fact that X?” “Don’t you think that Y is more likely instead?” “Hasn’t Z always been the result in the past?” etc. Have the facts at hand and keep your temper. You may not convince him, in fact you probably won’t. But you might, and you’ll get people around you thinking. If nothing else, at least he’ll probably stop with teh stoopid when you’re around.

39. You might want a copy of this…

    Sometimes even the worst pun just needs to be illustrated. http://t.co/L5z1gI3O—
    Howard Tayler (@howardtayler) November 14, 2012

40. I heard a conservative talk show host (that I usually agree with and like) going on about Papa Johns last night. If it is the same thing you are talking about, they have had a class action lawsuit filed against them, for sending out something like 500,000 unsolicited text messages. He was saying how this shouldn’t be illegal, and they should be able to advertise how they want, since it is legal to send advertisements in the mail unsolicited, they should be able to do the same by text. IF I would have had phone service at the time I would have called and given him a piece of my mind (and I have never called a radio show in my life). There is a major difference between the US Postal Service, and texting cell phones, I don’t get charged for recieving ads in my mailbox, I do get charged for every text sent to my phone however, regardless over whether I want it or even if I read it or not.

    1. What I heard was that they’re in trouble due to reducing work force because of Ocare.

41. The Left want to boycott Papa John’s for cutting employee hours to avoid the Obamacare mandates.

    1. One of these days I’ll learn to click the Reply link when the comment is already at the bottom of the thread.

    2. More accurately, they want to do it because Papa John’s publicly acknowledged Obamacare as their reasons for doing it. Papa John’s should have blamed Bush. Or Republican refusal to extend middle-class tax cuts so that hard-working middle-class families can afford a pizza once a week*. Or even blame it on a youtube video, but noooooo, Papa John’s blasphemed the Holy O, blessed be his piece of pizza.

       *It should never be acknowledged that Democrats slammed Reagan era middle class tax cuts as being nothing more than a pizza a week.

    3. But Macdonald’s can get an exemption from Obamacare, because they can’t afford it?

       Nope, no hypocrisy there.

       On the otherhand Papa John’s dissing Obama’s baby WOULD explain why the Obama administration would be involved in the class action lawsuit I mentioned. Which had previously confused me, the federal government is not normally involved in civil lawsuits.

       1. The federal government, at least to my knowledge, is also not in the habit of telling defence contractors “I got yer back” regard legal fees the contractor would incur after failing to send out layoff notices, just so said federal government can avoid looking bad prior to an election.

          1. Yes. OMG, it’s impossible to keep up with all the scummy things these people are doing. They’re the combine — the Chicago machine. We need to stop electing presidents from the most corrupt areas in the country.

             Mind you to dislodge these ones, the Republicans are going to have to drop gentlemen’s rules and start questioning stuff like fraud.

             1. It is my biggest beef when McCain and now Romney ran their campaigns. Why didn’t they take off the gloves? They were using the wrong rules for this campaign. My personal opinion only–

                1. It’s not your personal opinion only. It’s staggeringly OBVIOUS.

                   1. I used to yell at McCain on the TV– even Reagan took the gloves off– Romney I didn’t even try– He was doing so well with the other REPs and then toned it way down for the actual election. He should have ramped up–

                   2. It is definitely not just your personal opinion. The talk shows get people calling in all the time asking why the Republicans don’t take the gloves off, and it’s always the same answer: “They say that they don’t want to descend to ‘their level'”.

                      I keep saying it’s not descending to ‘their level’ if you’re telling the truth, but of course, I can’t get to anyone who matters to tell them. 😛

                      1. It may be her personal opinion, but it isn’t JUST her personal opinion, it is the personal opinion of millions of other Americans. I can’t remember the exact quote right now, but there is one that goes something like; to defeat your enemy you must become like him.

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44. Any book by a leftist?

    Buy it used, scan it best you can, put it on the public Internet.

    Ditto, lefty movie. Any form of leftist intellectual property: Convert it to public-domain as quickly as possible. If you can’t dilute its influence, then at least dilute its ability to make money. And if you’re worried that’ll put it in the hands of too many impressionable youth, why then, splice your own critiques into every moment of it. Fisk it to hell-and-gone, and call the result a (critical) derivative work.

    A company that moves leftward in policy? Boycott, and while you’re at it find a way to post a seemingly unrelated bad review of their products or service or both.

    But buy-cott the Chick-Fil-A’s of the world. The Hobby Lobbys. The Papa Johns and Applebees, to whatever extent they stand up against the Anschluss.

    And buy the works of the right-leaning folks in the way that’s most profitable to them (not to the middlemen unless the middlemen are also right-friendly). If you buy one of their works used, take the difference between the used price and the brand-new price, halve that, and send that money directly to the author via PayPal or in some other fashion.

    Reward your friends.

    Undermine your enemies.

    Don’t, of course, do the latter in such a way as to seriously bring the attention of the authorities or anyone’s attorneys to your activities. Know how far is an inch shy of too far.

    And also, know your own ethical and/or religious beliefs. If undermining your enemies in some particular way (including what I’ve written above) violates them, then DON’T DO IT. Be the authentic you, the you with all your integrity intact. Don’t sink to their level…

    …but,

    I have to point out that there are times to flex around the borders of the latter injunction. Those times occur when the righteousness of the good (especially their willingness to play by the rules) is used as a weapon in the hands of the evil (who are unwilling to play by the rules).

    When that happens, don’t be evil. But be the most tough-minded and sharp-witted and crafty good guy you can be.

    After all, why SHOULD the evil folks be fat and happy?

    1. Daddy came home one day and told the following story: It appears that Abby Hoffman, the activist and author of Steal This Book, came back to his residence one day to find he had been burgled. He did not take this kindly at all, and raised quite a hissy fit with local authorities about his lost material possessions, including his televisions. It appears that, in spite of his stated opinions about other peoples property, he thought that his worldly good should have been respected.

       1. Based on the excerpt from that book on why you should steal it, I suspect that he didn’t so much dislike the concept of personal property, as he was just another anti-capitalist idiot. His claim was that it was all right to steal the book, because stores expected to have theft, to the point where they added the cost of it into all of their prices, and “even have a name for it: ‘shrinkage’. ” Never considering (or not caring) that it’s not that stores expect theft because it’s ok, but because they recognize human nature, and that if he tells people to steal more, that the stores will have to raise their prices more to compensate, or else go out of business.

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