Big Ol' Smitty

Also, I've looked at all the pictures Gary Floyd likes.

I won a pullup contest at my university fitness center. Came in second in 2 or 3 road races and won my age group a shitload of times. I was never really very good at any sports that take actual skill, but I'll out-pain your ass anyday.

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/03/04/...-while-mexican/

I agree with all that. You the man.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/23/t...e_n_169117.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/Sto...5547&page=1 This lawyer is really, really, really fucking stupid. Her working less is probably a favor to her clients.

ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz (My response to all of these interminable discussions of conservatism, socialism, capitalism, etc.) I do have one question. Since one of the Republicans' biggest strategies in the election was to call Obama a socialist, and Obama kicked McCain's ass, does that mean we have a mandate for socialism? And if "socialist" is the new hate word for lefties, does that mean it's cool to be "liberal" again? Or do they just equate the two words?

I haven't really traveled that much. I haven't been out of the country other than to piss on Canada on a canoe trip in the boundary waters. I've been to most of the states in the northeast and south, but haven't been west much other than Vegas once and into California for like a day. West Virginia seems like a shithole--an extension of eastern Kentucky.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/28/h...p_n_170796.html Golden.

While I agree that my blog post was a silly exercise, I disagree about piracy in Somalia. The pirates may be brave, but they're hardly noble. Trawling and dumping is a serious problem that should be addressed by the international community, but capturing cruise ships and oil tankers is not a legitimate response. Not to mention that they've slowed food relief, which is basically keeping a whole lot of Somalians from starving right now. Pirates are, in general, in it for the money and power. And the money coming into Somalia through piracy is only going to enrich a few. Ransom money is also going to the extremist Al-Shabbab, which is a terrorist group (and this is coming from me, who thinks the overthrow of the ICU was dumb), whose victory would be a disaster for the country, and to otherwise finance the war there. While I understand the cost-benefit analysis of the average Somali pirate, piracy is hardly a net positive for the country. And that's not even getting into the international costs of piracy. The UN was right to authorize attacks on pirates. I pretty much agree with everything else you said, while I found it a little melodramatic. Although I'm not sure how American intervention in Somalia in the 90s was self-interested...

I can't whistle either, and I feel much better after reading about all the other non-whistlers at TSM.

Czech, the rules didn't say everyone on earth got to kill someone they didn't like, it said me.

You have to wonder if Rush Limbaugh was secretly hoping for an Obama victory. With Obama in the White House, Rush can now preach from his soap box about how America is abandoning its core conservative values and have an audience who will say, "Right on Rush." Kind of like a guy I know who swears that the GOP can win the White House in 2012 by sticking to these values and running a man like Mitt Romney. As much as I like Romney, he'll never win because they rig the economy against him. When he was running in the primaries no one was worried about the economy and that was his strongest focus point. As soon as he dropped out the economy magically started tanking and even was proven to have been that way back in 2007. They'll do the same thing to him in 2011/12 if he decides to run again. How could someone with his finger on the pulse of America like Mitt Romney lose?

All of you guys predicting the demise of the GOP are silly. Basically, if Obama's policies work and things start to get better, the GOP probably won't do that well in 2010 and 2012. If they don't, the GOP will probably do well in those elections. It's really not much more complicated than that. Everyone was saying the same things about the Democrats in 2002 and 2004.

(obv.)

Mozi 2K9 During...discussion of The Art of War in [class], I learned about the ancient Chinese philosopher Mozi, and was intrigued by this: So basically, Mozi and company went around intervening in wars on the side of the just. This got me thinking about what I would do if I could raise my own military force and go Mozi-ing around the globe. Now, clearly, a force like this probably wouldn't be a good thing, and would probably end up causing more problems than it solved. But a blogger can dream... For the purposes of this fantasy, I'm going to assume that: a) My intervention force is pretty darned powerful and actually has the resources to make a significant impact on some of these conflicts and b) The international public has an indifferent to positive view toward my intervention force. If I am simply going to start an anti-me insurgency everywhere I go then there probably wouldn't be much point in intervening. So let's give this a try... IRAQ-I would use my intervention force to take over the US advising mission so that the America could completely withdraw forces in 19 months and not have to keep residual forces in Iraq. Hopefully, my presence in Iraq would carry less baggage than that of the US, and the Americans could focus on Afghanistan and their domestic economic woes. AFGHANISTAN-I would talk to General Petraeus and volunteer to use my force to either a) patrol the Af-Pak border to keep insurgents from escaping across or b) augment US force levels to better conduct COIN in Afghanistan, since, even with the Obama mini-surge, many analysts believe that more troops will be needed to conduct proper COIN. PAKISTAN-I would offer to provide intelligence services in rooting out insurgents in FATA and Swat, since the ISI is incredibly unreliable and in bed with many of the more unseemly elements there. SUDAN-I got nothin'. I can't really think of any use for my force here, other than perhaps augmenting the UNAMID peacekeeping force. SOMALIA-Conduct COIN against Al-Shabab and try to peel off the more moderate elements of the insurgency. Work toward a power sharing agreement between these moderate elements and the transitional government. Resist Ethiopian influence in Somalia to prevent their attempts to weaken new government. Add ships from my navy to international anti-pirate effort and possibly provide equipment to merchant vessels to help resist pirates (electric rails? something to make the rails slippery? I dunno). DRC/RWANDA/UGANDA-I would completely wipe out the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda and the DRC and the FDLR in the DRC. Don't think I would even really need to use COIN, since there isn't much support for these groups. MEXICO-Again, I got nothin'. Don't see a military solution to the drug wars. CAUCASUS-This is interesting, since I think both sides messed up here. But I think Georgia is ultimately the more just side. I would chase the Russians out of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and encourage the Georgians to make them mostly autonomous. While the Georgians were assholes to the breakaway regions, that's no excuse for Russia's actions. IRAN/N. KOREA-I would use my special operations capabilities to sabotage the nuclear programs in both of these states. I give up. In conclusion, I don't think I'd be very good at the Mozi thing. This stuff's way too complicated. I started to think about some other problematic areas like Tibet, Kashmir, and Ukraine, but really had no idea how to solve these problems. Guess this enlightened private army stuff is going to have to be resigned to the annals of Chinese history. NOTE: This is from a class blog post by me, but thought it might generate discussion here.

Osama bin Laden, obv.

OWNED.

Good calls all around except Anne Frank.

I eat a lot and exercise a lot and it seems to work well. I'm a cardio beast with pretty good speed and very good endurance and I can lift a lot for a little guy. My diet is carb heavy and mostly vegetarian, although I'm not averse to meat, but I don't really make too much effort to restrict fat--my wife's cooking is just very healthy.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02...man.php?ref=fp1

Why do you care so much and know so much about Disneyland, banky?

Mine was toward the end of 8th grade. I went with a rich girl with large breasts named Kristen. We played golf. I had taken up golf, as far as I can remember, to be able to date the hot rich girls in the school. By about 9th grade, I had given up golf because it is boring and tedious and realized that I was no longer interested in these girls because of their vapidity

Shorter Limbaugh: We don't need better policy ideas or to appeal to more voters.