I gotta make this one quick because I took my nighttime pill combo a little bit ago and it's gonna kick in soon, and soon I'll either stop typing or I'll be typing gibberish. I hate, hate, HATE waking up the next day, seeing something I've posted, thinking "WTF is WRONG with ME??" and frantically deleting and/or editing the post.

Anyway, just some recent stuff from the inbox and/or Google Reader...

• At my YouTube account I got a note from a kid named JC Van Luyn, asking me to check out his music and comment on it. I might have been a bit reluctant at first, but the note really charmed me:

  Hope the day/night is finding you well, just to let you know, I apologize in advance if I took your time in some way by you reading this message. Don't hesitate to press the delete button if it does....

  He goes on from there to talk about his music, etc, but ya know what? When's the last time someone solicited you to check out their website and preceded their remarks by saying that, yeah, it's quite possible you actually do have a life and something better to do?
  
  So I checked out his stuff, which consists of some interesting covers and original songs. I found one original that I particularly enjoyed ... but what really won me over was JC's cover of Outkast's "Hey Ya." I'm sure you remember that song, it was a huge hit a few years ago and even though I really liked it, the over exposure eventually ruined the song for me. Well, JC's solo acoustic arrangement brought the track back to life for me and, damn! I'm diggin' this:




• Speaking of YouTube, most of the time when I load that page it's to check for updates from The Mighty Zo, like this one:

  I been saying for months that this guy was going to move on to bigger n' better stuff. Looks like Pajamas Media is the first step.
  
  One day we'll all be saying "Remember back in the day when Zo Rachel was just another guy with a YouTube account??"




• Another semi-daily check for me is the What's New page at Snopes, where you can learn fascinating things, like the latest web scuttlebutt about the history of the French Dip Sandwich.
  
  The French Dip, of course, is a sandwich made of thinly sliced beef, served on a hard French role, and often served au jus. Au jus is a French term that is pronounced Ah JHOOOO and means "sneezed on."
  
  Probably sneezed on by that beret-wearing asshole who resented having to wait your table in the first place, you American capitalist dog vit no ah-prishy-a-SHAUN of cul-CHA vaut zo eveh.
  
  Well, no ... not all Frenchmen behave like characters in Merry Melodies cartoons from the 50's. Some of them are much worse. But, I think my point is, you can get the real scoop on the sandwich at Snopes.



• Instapundit has posted a link to a story about twenty celebs who've aged badly.
  
  I thought the story was a bit hard on some of these folks:
  

  

  
  OK, so Diamond Dave doesn't look like a rock star anymore. He kinda looks more like a shop teacher now. But what's wrong with looking like a shop teacher? What's wrong with being a shop teacher? Someone has to be held accountable when a 14 year old kid bandsaws off two or three of his favorite fingers.
  
  But then I saw this picture and yet another small part of my childhood died inside of me:
  

  

  
  How will we ever convince the younger generation that those two women are the same woman? And that Kathleen Turner used to be one of the hottest actresses in the business?
  
  But then I noticed something:
  

  

  
  They only seem weird when you stick them out there by themselves and compare them to their bygone youth. Youth is bygone for all of us, dammit, and comparing today to '85 is always a bad idea. But if you saw that couple, the two people in the third picture combo right above ... if you saw them pushing a cart together at Wal-Mart, contemplating the best kind of detergent to buy or looking through the bargain DVDs, you wouldn't think anything of it. Nice enough looking older couple, right? Maybe she works at a law-firm and can help Shop Teacher Dave save his job when that damn kid finally gets sloppy with that bandsaw.
  
  So here's to the celebrities that grow old ... if not gracefully than at least naturally. Maybe even fearlessly. Is there any other way to do it? Screw the Botox and plastic surgery. Screw running from aging. Aging beats the alternative, right? Get old and enjoy it. It seems to be working for that nice couple, the Roths; Kathleen and Dave.

Labels: Links, Movies, Music, Politics, You Tube, Zo

I finished 11 to 7 yesterday; man, I hate that shift. I live like a zombie when I work graveyard.

Now I'm playing catch-up and I have a ton of things to do today. But first, morning coffee, blogs, etc.

So what's on the pile for today?

• New year, new schedule of surgical processes ... worst of all, the deductible starts all over for the year. I had surgery in January, I'm having another procedure next month, and damn! I'd just finished paying off last year's medical bills!
  
  I think David summed it up up adequately when he said "Is this real life? Why is this happening to me? Is this gonna be for EVER? AAAAAGGGHHHHHH!!"
  
  But enough bitching about my personal junk.

Some of the internet junk from the past days/weeks that I've wanted to link to and/or comment on but just haven't bothered ...

• Good stuff from Scrappleface:
  

  President Barack Obama has reportedly written another private note to his Russian counterpart offering to halt deployment of a defensive nuclear missile shield in Europe, this time in exchange for Russia’s help in dealing with U.S. talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh.



• I've written before about how much I dislike Rush Limbaugh, but the way the liberals and RINOs are piling on him is triggering a bit of a personal backlash.
  
  I've been praising Mike Steele for ages, but no politician is perfect and I guess it was inevitable that even he would put his foot in a pile of bullshit.
  
  How, Mike, did it make even a little bit of sense to deign to wade into this anti-Limbaugh flap? And to do so from the leftist point of view? You blew the call on this one, buddy... and you handed the left a great stick to beat you with.


• Zo puts the recent Limbaugh BS in perspective, and does a better job than anyone else. Zo always puts it all in a nutshell better than anyone else, so it's not like it's anything new. I've mentioned that Zo rules, right?

  You know what a truth rush is? It's when you hear the absolute truth spelled out in simple, understandable terms that make you feel excited and energized. Whenever I listen to Zo I always get a truth rush.
  
  Rush WHO? When will Zo get a talk program? I'd listen every damn day.



• Comedian Louis CK tells Conan that today's young people are "the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots.... non-contributing zeroes." And he's right. I hate to generalize ... well, no I don't. I do it all the time. And I really tend to believe that damn near everyone born after 1975 or so is a whining, self-absorbed, unrealistic, childish, spoiled moron. (You know who you are.)
  
  Of course I also tend to believe that the baby-boomer generation is just as bad. So, yeah, basically everyone should always ignore everything I ever say because I'm a bitter, miserable old bastard.
  
  Give this clip a couple of minutes to really get going, it's well worth it and it's funny and dead-on. This had me laughing really, really hard and I'll be looking out for this guy from now on. Check it out:

  HT: BlackFive.



• I haven't mentioned the Octomom here because the story just disgusts me. But it ain't going away and more stuff comes to the surface every day. So here's my one Octomom post, let's get this over with.
  
  What do we know about Octomom so far? Well, in no particular order...
  
  
  • She's a psycho who has children by the litter.
  
  
  • She's obsessed with Angela Jolinie (or whomever) and has had her face carved and injected so she can look like her favorite movie star.
  
  
  • She's trying to sell the videotape of the birth of her litter.
  
  
  • She flips out and calls 911, threatening to kill herself in front of her children.
  
  
  • The cops have repeatedly investigated reports that she neglects her kids.
  
  
  • She says she might do a porn move, "maybe in a year, when the baby-fat goes away."
  
  Now, we all know weirdo moms ... flake-jobs who breast-feed in public (and sometimes until their kids are in middle-school) and have their kids sleep in the same bed with them and give their kids names like Armani and Timberland. But this woman is beyond weirdo mom. This woman is a dangerous nut.
  
  My take on it is that the doctor who performed her artificial fertilization ought to be held accountable for the well-being of those children. He knew that this woman was insane and he enabled her in the worst possible way. A responsible medical professional would be advocating that this woman be forced to have her tubes tied. And that's all I got to say 'bout that.

Labels: Links, Media, Michael Steele, News, Politics, You Tube, Zo

On the celebrities who've made "pledges" and libertarianism:

I've mentioned that Zo rules, right?

Labels: You Tube, Zo

What else is there to say besides Zo rules? Nothing. I'll leave it at that. Zo rules.

Labels: Politics, You Tube, Zo

On Bill O'Reilly, Obama's tax plan, national defense, the so-called "Freedom Of Choice Act," the selflessness of the American Soldier and liberal hatred. Awesome, as usual:

Labels: You Tube, Zo

I've had a YouTube account for ages. I mostly use it to post short clips of family video and occasional funny montages, etc. I only recently started clicking the "subscribe" button so I'd get updated when some of my favorite "vloggers" post new stuff.

I'm glad I finally did. I enjoy seeing the updates and watching these videos. None of these are anything special visually, these are just monologues from smart guys with interesting ideas. I suppose they could have been written and posted at regular blogs, but hearing and seeing these fellas express themselves makes it all the more personal, immediate and interesting. Here are a few recent examples...

Penn Jillette, as a rule, doesn't do reviews. Here, he breaks that rule to offer his thoughts on The Wrestler, a movie that I loved. You can watch Penn's video without worrying about plot spoilers. If anything, this clip may simply make you want to see the movie more than you already might:

I love the way Penn feels forced to describe what's so wonderful about the movie with such simple terms: "very real," for instance. And I like the way Penn often simply shakes his head, unable to come up with words. The Wrestler is really that kind of movie.

This next one is from my favorite vlogger, Zo Rachel. Here, Zo takes on global warming, Hollywood, and race, as per: politics:

Drinking With Bob is another YouTube vlog I watch from time to time. Bob usually cracks me up with his manic urgency. And I usually agree with his core points. Here, he talks about the Blago scandle:

Labels: Entertainment, Movies, Politics, You Tube, Zo

Indispensable, as always:

Labels: Politics, You Tube, Zo

This is Zo's famous video on gay marriage ... the one that YouTube couldn't tollerate:

Find a fault in his logic. Go ahead, I dare you.

And not only is his argument seamless, but he's able to tackle the subject without coming off like a hostile ass ... unlike a certain other blogger I know, who just happens to be me.

Labels: Faith, Politics, You Tube, Zo

...kicks ass, as always:

A lot of this one is aimed at Zo's fellow black people, so some of it doesn't speak specifically to me.

But most of it is just classic Zo. That same awesome, creative, fresh perspective on common sense that his fans love.

Common sense is pretty rare these days. And when it's presented with the authority, sense of humor and warmth that Zo Rachel musters, common sense can give you a head rush.

By the way, Zo finally has his own domain. One day we'll be able to brag that we discovered this guy when he was just getting started.

Labels: Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube, Zo

Man, what a week, huh? My head is still spinning.

Here are some videos to close out a week's worth of fairly active blogging on my part.

This first video is political AND personal. It's a little long, like six minutes, so I understand if you don't want to watch it. My 9 year old stepson, Liam, really followed the Presidential election this year. He watched and read a lot of news, and he asked me a lot of questions about it. And he and I had a number of conversations about Obama and McCain. So I got out the video camera:

Of course, he's been influenced by my conservative perspective. The day will probably come when he and I don't see eye-to-eye on any number of political issues. But I go out of my way to make it clear to all of our kids that agreeing on everything isn't what's important. What's important is that we keep talking and keep listening to each other, and that we share our opinions with love and with respect. We're a family. That trumps everything else. You can disagree with someone in your family on political matters and still love and respect them.

This next one is the latest from the Mighty Zo Rachel. I've been following his YouTube channel for only a few weeks now and I check it daily to see if he's posted anything new yet. In this video Zo talks about the aftermath of Election 2008 and offers some good advice to his fellow conservatives:

Man, we need to goad Zo into getting into politics. I don't know where the hell the man lives, but he needs to start out running for city council or the school board or whatever. And then work his way up to state office, and then on to Federal office and then the White House around 2020. I'm dead serious, dude. He strikes me as a communicator, a leader, and a man with a clear, conservative vision. That's what we need. Zo Rachel For President.

OK, check this next bit out: Presidential dog Barney is taking some hate for having allegedly bitten a reporter:

It looks to me like Barney might have gotten a little snag on one of this guy's fingers. But that ain't the point. Here's the point:

If you know anything about dogs, you already know what this reporter did wrong. A dog is a living animal. An animal, not a toy, and as an animal it has to be approached in a certain way. That reporter didn't know a damn thing about Barney. All dogs are different, some are jumpy, some are territorial, some are nervous, some are just mean. You have to know what kind of dog you're approaching and you have to approach him properly.

Never just put your open hand on a dog. Don't offer your open hand to a dog, either. He might respond well to that, or he might feel threatened by it. Barney seemed to have felt threatened. And he did what dogs do when they feel threatened.

The reporter is lucky. Had Barney been a moody Mastiff or a St. Bernard, he might have taken the ends of two or three of those fingers.

When you approach a dog you don't know, first of all, ask it's owner or guardian if you can pet the dog. If you're given the go-ahead, the first thing to do is to offer the dog the back of your closed fist for the animal to smell. If he doesn't like what he smells, or just generally doesn't like you, he'll let you know with a growl or a snort, or he'll back off. If he accepts your fist with a tail-wagging and general happiness, that would be the time to go ahead and give him a little scratch.

You don't lay your open hand on a strange dog. You just don't do it. You might get bitten. Let's hope that reporter has learned and will remember one of the basic lessons of human - dog interaction.

OK, let's wrap this up with a little raw Anthrax, "Caught In A Mosh" and "Got The Time", recorded live in Sacramento in '98. This was back when 'Thrax had their best vocalist ever, the mighty John Bush. The technical quality of this clip just ain't all that happenin' ... but the energy is there and I'm sure it was a great show.

Coming Tomorrow ... SouthCon presents me hosting my own made-up version of an episode of MTV's Headbanger's Ball. It oughta be a lot of fun.

Labels: Dogs, Media, News, Personal, Politics, You Tube, Zo

I wrote the other day that I wasn't gonna take time to blog for a while. But today I saw that Zo Rachel has a new video posted. And I watched it, and as usual, it's brilliant, insightful and funny. Zo kicks all the ass, man. So I wanted to log on and post it, and here it is:

Zo is hugely quotable: "Obama and the Democrat party are the ones who stand above you holding up the heads of the rich, as you work yourselves into a frenzy, so they can toss it to you. Now, I'm just wondering, how does this make your life better as you destroy the ones who could give you jobs?"

Zo also does a great job in this one of blasting the whole argument about how "Obama is a community organizer, just like Jesus!"

And he talks a little bit here about the attacks he gets for being a black man and a conservative. And his observations are so good and so smart, and he presents them so well, that he left me wanting to pump my fist and yell "Yeah!" ... and I'm not even a black guy.

The point is, Zo is an awesome communicator. Not just a "good speaker," but a communicator. There's a difference. A "good speaker" can talk for a long time and sound really cool, but never really say anything. (As in "Hope, change, hope, change.")

A great communicator can say incredibly important things in very few words ... and say them clearly, directly, concisely and creatively ... and say them in a way you instantly understand and relate to and will remember. (As in "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.")

Obama is a "speaker." Zo is a communicator.

You guys enjoy him on YouTube while he's there, because he's headed for a much bigger future than this.

But, anyway, I got to thinking about the race issue as Zo addressed it. One of the good things about the Obama candidacy is that it's interjected the subject of race into the national conversation ... as it relates to ideology and politics.

It seems to me that number of people who "aren't supposed to be conservative" have been speaking out lately, "outing" themselves as conservatives. A great many people who are minorities and/or women are refusing to pack themselves onto the bus with Obama and Hillary (remember Hillary?), where the Democrats seem to think they belong.

The Democratic party has claimed to hold the monopoly on "diversity" for a long time. But it's always been obvious that Democratic "diversity" is a very stifling kind of "diversity." After all, liberals and Democrats don't believe in ideological diversity. You must agree with them on every topic ... abortion, taxes, the environment, civil rights, the war, etc ... or you're out in the cold.

Meanwhile, among conservatives, there's plenty of room for both ideological AND cultural diversity. Plenty of conservatives disagree on any of the topics listed above, and on other topics. My opposition to the death penalty, for instance, doesn't make me a "fake conservative." And my fellow conservatives never tell me that I don't really understand that issue, or that I'm a "sell-out," or that I'm deluded.

Differ from the Democratic party on any issue and you'll find out quickly how little tolerance they have for ideological diversity:

• Have doubts about the specifics of climate change? Then you're a "global warming denier," kinda like a "holocaust denier."


• Have concerns that abortion on demand might be irresponsible at best, or maybe murder at worst? Then you're some kind of monster who wants to oppress women.


• Oppose the Obama campaign? You RACIST!


• Support the troop surge and the successful result's it's generated? WARMONGER! NEOCON!


• Insist that immigration be a legal process? You're a racist and you're ignorant.

And as Zo has pointed out, if you're a black man and you hold any of these opinions, you can expect to be labeled an "uncle tom," too.

So if you're going to be a liberal Democrat, good luck. You better get a copy of the approved liberal positions and adopt each and every one of them. There's no room for individual thought. Thinking for yourself, after all, is divisive. Shut up. Be happy. Vote Obama.

Meanwhile, the real diversity can be found under the great conservative umbrella. The ideological diversity has always been here. And more and more, the real cultural and constructive diversity is obviously here, too.

Conservatism: It's what America looks like, it's what America thinks like. It's the foundation that keeps America great. Great enough to withstand anything, even the coming four years of Obama socialism.

Here's a snapshot of what Conservatism looks like in America in 2008. Click the pictures below and get to know some of our very best (especially that dude on the bottom, pimpin' out with the fuzzy pink hat.):

Labels: Blogs, Links, Media, News, Politics, You Tube, Zo

... presented, admittedly, from a voter who opposes most of Obama's policies adamantly.

But don't just take my word on these issues. I've rounded up some resources. People who argue for the things I believe with much more clarity, style, good humor and optimism than I'm capable of.

Especially this guy:

Obama: Wrong On Healthcare...

Zo Rachel has a new video up , featuring his usual spot-on analysis (this time he looks at the last PotUS debate.) Zo also presents some ideas about where we are and where we're goin' in terms of ObamaCare. Listen carefully, take notes if you need to. Use your pause button. As usual, Zo seems to have damn near everything down to a science:

A message to the "undecideds" out there, if such things really exist: When in doubt, go Zo.

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Obama: Wrong (And Radical) On Abortion...

Gloria.tv has a great capsulization of of the John McCain and the Barack Obama positions on the abortion issue. This video absolutely sums it up. There's just nothing else to say beyond this:

I know a few people who say that they agree with me that abortion on demand is murder, but are planning to vote for Obama. Well, it's time to put up or shut up. Make your choice: It's either Obama or protection for the unborn. You can't have both.

And when all is said and done and you've voted for Obama, the most radically pro-abortion candidate ever nominated by the Democrats, don't be telling me about how pro-life you are. I'll shut that shit down right quick. If you vote for Obama, you have supported abortion-on-demand. You have used the political power allotted to you, the power of your vote, to advance the cause of those who believe in unrestricted abortion, no questions asked. Period. That's what you've done, that's who you are, and that's all there is to say about it. So don't try to explain your reasoning to me. You don't owe me an explanation. You know when you'll have to account for that act, and to Whom you'll make that accounting.

So pick one. Babies or Barack. If you've got love for one, you've got no love for the other.

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Obama: Wrong On Everything Else...

Some folks at Hot Air have put together a comprehensive argument against Barack Obama. In fact, they're billing it as THE Comprehensive Argument Against Barack Obama, and it's really pretty thorough.

Packed with quotes, news stories, videos and all kinds of valuable information, if you want to know why the Obama presidency is going to be bad for America, go to Hot Air now and read that post. At least you'll have some opportunity to brace yourself for the coming problems by being well informed.

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Meanwhile, the Moonbats at the Daily Kos seem to have surrendered that one last working braincell to the Kool-Ade. They're contemplating the possibility that Obama really is the savior. I kid you not.

I really don't see any way we can stop the Obama Juggernaut at this point. And McCain is too busy playing the nice guy to try. But if we keep trying to get the information out there, I guess there's some hope. Maybe.

Labels: Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube, Zo

Permalink -- Posted by Darrell at 09:32 --  0 Comments -- Links to this post

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I posted some videos yesterday by Alfonzo Rachel, a fairly new voice in the conservative blog/vlogosphere.

Man, this guys is friggin' awesome. He really is. His arguments are so strong and his perspective is so fresh that I kept hitting the pause button while watching his vids, thinking "I need to be writing this down. I need to remember this. These are SOLID arguments."

I added Zo's YouTube channel and his blog at Bob Parks: Black & Right to my blogroll. This guy's stuff is gonna be a regular check for me.

And I'll probably keep embedding his videos as soon as he turns them out ... because his vids kick all the ass. This one is a little older, and it's pretty long, and it's well worth watching:

Black & White on the Grey Matters 2 (War)

His comments about the whole "no war for oil" moonbattery vis a vis invading Mexico or Canada are just. completely. awesome.

This is Zo's first video:

Black & White On the Grey Matters

Labels: Blogs, Politics, You Tube, Zo

Although, to be honest, he had me at the Pryor shirt:

My new favorite term: "Ballot Cattle."

Check out this absolutely awesome video about abortion, too:

Basically all the same stuff I've been saying about abortion since I started this blog ... except he says it much cooler and funnier. This guy just rules.

I don't agree with every single thing he says (death penalty), but damn if he don't say it really well.

And check out his Obama/A-Team video ... so much good information and so much humor thrown at you so fast that it'll have your head spinning. You'll laugh, you'll cry ... you might even learn something.

Labels: Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube, Zo