THE BOY SCOUT MOTTO: WORDS TO LIVE BY

The generator is fueled and we have plenty of booze, water, food, toilet paper, and ammunition. Practically everyone who knows me thinks I am a little eccentric because of my disaster prep--funny how the snickers fade away when the hurricane warnings go up . . .

Yips! from Robbo: Ah, we laugh out of guilt over our own lack of preparedness. FWIW, the vast yet secure real estate holding known as Fort LMC is our pre-programmed fallback position in the event of alien attack, Mayan-predicted doomsday or zombie apocalypse.

Random Commuter Observation - "The End Is In Sight" Division

Despite the fact that we're going to hit the mid 90's again today, I am encouraged by the signs that autumn is at last approaching. To wit:

Item: The sun's path has changed so that the south side of the street is now shady both in the morning and the evening.

Item: The crews are out this morning planting mums along the sidewalks.

Item: The local Starbucks today rolled out its fall line up, including the famous punkin-spice latte.

Just a little more patience.......

Gratuitous Nats Posting (TM) - "Go To BED!" Division

Note to Self: When rain delays the start of the game until past 10 PM, just let it go and read about it the next day. (At least the Nats crushed the Marlins last night, albeit in front of a crowd of approximately 200 people.)

Yaaaaawwwwnnn..........

Palin-Hatin’ – Read the Fine Print Edition

Now, taking into consideration that The Daily Beast is as much a cyber-tabloid as anything out there on the web, I’m sure there are people that would look at the following headline and impart at least a modicum of seriousness to it:

Read a bit further down for an explanation: “59 percent of Americans think Sarah Palin is not fit to be president of the United States, according to a new 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll.”

M'Kay. Which Americans, exactly?

Well, that’s where it gets interesting. First, click the link to the Vanity Fair article and scroll AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL the way down to the bottom for this nugget:

“NOTE: This poll was conducted at the CBS News interviewing facility among a random sample of 847 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone August 3–5, 2010. Some low-percentage answer choices have been omitted.” [emphasis mine].

Um. Yeah, alright. And guess what other questions these “random” adults weighed in on?

- Is taxing tanning at a salon a good idea?
- Which do you think is the most overused word in the English language today – Like, Awesome, Tweet, Organic or Hope? (“hope” being the lowest scorer, natch)
- Which of the following do you think is the most likely to actually exist – Ghosts, UFOs, Vampires, Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot or None of the above? (And, of course, 5% answered “none”)

Incredible, eh? These are likely the same types of folks that Sean Hannity’s staff members stop on the streets of New York who can’t answer “Who is the Vice-President?”.

Frankly, I’d consider an internet poll to be more scientific. What percentage of this group do you think are actually registered voters? Likely voters?

I’m going to be generous and say about 15%.

Get used to this folks. I have a feeling you’re going to see a whole lot more of this over the next several years.

THIS JUST IN

CBO reports the Iraq War cost less than the 2009 stimulus bill. Via Fox.

Gratuitous Nats Posting (TM)

This blog regrets the abrupt end of Strasmas and certainly wishes the kid successful surgery and a complete and speedy recovery, but reminds those summer soldier and sunshine patriot types out there that a real fan cheers for the team, not just a single player.

That is all.

GO, NATS!!

Storm of the Century of the Week Watch - Tropical Edition

No doubt the LMC is getting ready to top off the ol' generator at the vast yet secure compound known as Fort LMC, because here comes Earl:

Tuesday into Wednesday, Earl is expected to be a major hurricane curving more to the northwest into the open waters of the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. The arrival of a new storm system should then turn Earl more to the northeast later in the week.

That turn should spare the United States a direct hit from Earl. However, the AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center is concerned that Earl will still pass dangerously close to the East Coast.

North Carolina's Outer Banks and Massachusetts' Cape Cod are at greatest risk for being grazed by Hurricane Earl's wind and rain late this week. The hurricane may then threaten Nova Scotia and Newfoundland next weekend.

It should be stressed that the exact track of Hurricane Earl for late this week is far from etched in stone.

Doesn't look like Orgle Manor will get much of anything out of it. A shame. The last one to come through our neck of teh woods was Isabel in 2003, and while being without power (read A/C) for a week after was not much fun, the storm itself was kinda exciting.

WHICH SIMPSON ARE YOU?

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That's just great since I always thought of myself as Homer. I will hang it up and drink my girlie beer now.

"LET US BEGIN"

Doctor Zero posted this at Hot Air:

. . . Most crucially, we dishonor ourselves when we forget we “have the same steel spine and the moral courage of Washington and Lincoln and Martin Luther King,” as Sarah Palin said at the Restoring Honor rally. We remain the proud inheritors of a revolutionary philosophy, the children of vision and industry. We have not diminished into timid weaklings, unworthy of the trust of our ruling class. Our land is still abundant, and filled with parents who want to make a better life for their children. Why should we listen to assurances that our future will be one of decline, where children hear their parents mourn better times from distant memory? Why should we accept that ten percent and more of our population must remain unemployed forever? Why should we excuse the failure of an incompetent Administration by believing we became helpless and destitute in just a few short years, and are now obliged to provide limitless resources to our caretakers?

Let us begin

LMC BRUNETTE BIRTHDAY SERIES-COUNTRY MUSIC DIVISION

Shania Twain hits 45 today:

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'Nuff said.

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

Check out the trailer for Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief. Uma Thurman as Medusa and Rosario Dawson as Persephone. Not bad.

SOOPER-SEKRIT MESSAGE FOR ROBBO

Father Justice sent me a form to fill out on you. Needless to say, "attach extra sheets if necessary" has taken on a new meaning.

GROUND ZERO MOSQUE

The good folks at NRO pointed out this clip of Andrew McCarthy and Imman Kringle. McCarthy points out that many Muslims draw a distinction between "terrorism" which they profess to deplore, and "resistance" which is undertaken against non-Muslims. Watch how Imman Kringle dodges the question of whether Hamas is a terrorist organization.

Kringle's argument is a distinction without a difference. It reminds me of the arguments Sinn Fein used to make that it should not be held accountable for the terrorist actions of the IRA.

TMI--ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS NO ONE IS ASKING DIVISION

Hot Air is reporting Ken Mehlman is out of the closet. My first reaction was: "Ken who?"

"Botany Bay.......Botany BAY?!! Oh, NO!"

THEEEESE is Seti-Alpha Five!!!!

Astronomers have discovered a planetary system containing at least five planets that orbit a star called HD 10180, which is much like our own Sun.

The star is 127 light years away, in the southern constellation of Hydrus.

The researchers used the European Southern Observatory (Eso) to monitor light emitted from the system and identify and characterise the planets.

They say this is the "richest" system of exoplanets - planets outside our own Solar System - ever found.

KHAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!

ROBBO JOINS THE FACEBOOK COLLECTIVE

I can prove it. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Yips! from Robbo: Hey, it's "For The Children."

Random Early Season Observation

Mayun am I tired of Brett Favre.

Random Commuter Observations (TM)

Aaaaaaah.......

I say this because the first cold front of the season has come through at long last, leaving high temperatures in the low 80's and even the upper 70's for the next few days. Robbo begins to revive from his wilted summah state.

I read somewhere or other that we have had better than 50 days of highs in the 90's this year. Now in the South Texas of my yoot, this would only have provoked the mildly surprised remark, "Whoa! Is it April already?" But in my more mature years it becomes a positive burden.

You Will Be Assimilated.....

I can't believe it, but I actually find myself wondering whether I should get up a Facebook account.

The only possible reason I can see to justify it at this point is the recently obtained knowledge that the eldest Llama-ette in fact already has one. Mrs. Robbo, who also has one, assures me that nothing can go in or out of the Llama-ette's page without the Parental Eye becoming aware of it, but I begin to wonder if two guards might not be better than one.

Of course, if I did so, I'd have to maintain a pretty strict firewall between it and Llama Central, so that would involve creating, or at least maintaining, yet another Intertoob Persona.

Whaddaya think?

Where's Robbo?

As rumors to the contrary seem to be filling up the Tasty-Bits (TM) Mail Sack, let me just hasten to assure you all that no, I have not been haled before a Truth and Reconsiliation Tribunal by the Comité de salut public.

I just haven't posted much of late because I've been a bit under the weather.

And speaking of which, is it too early to coin the name "Glass-Arm" Strasburg?

I GET THE REASON FOR THE MOVE . . .

but the Middle East? The local fishwrapper reports that Erik Prince, the founder of the company formerly known as Blackwater, relocated his family to the United Arab Emirates. The company had no comment and counsel in several pending cases against Xe Services is seeking his deposition. IMHO, Costa Rica would be a more inviting locale: easier climate, stable political climate, the dollar is the medium of exchange, surfing on its west coast, and (like the UAE) no extradition treaty.

Random Pop Culchah Observation

Speaking of go-go, that "Lady Gaga" person is really rather homely, isn't she.

Just thought I'd share.

THE BEST GO-GO OF THEM ALL

Belinda Carlisle is 53.

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SKINNY DIPPING

This long-distance dedication goes out to all who enjoyed an illicit dip on a warm night in times long gone by . . .

Enjoy your stroll down amnesia lane. (A tip of the hat to Monica Mink who first brought this tune to my attention.)

YOUR HUMBLE LMC IS LISTENING TO . . .

Because I feel like it.

SOLUTION FOR THE GROUND ZERO MOSQUE

The President is quite correct that the present owner of the site may sell private property to whomever he wishes and that a mosque can be built there if it conforms with local zoning. However, nothing prevents the State, County, and City of New York from then exercising the right of eminent domain and seizing the property for a public purpose. KMR suggested a firehouse.

WEEKEND READING ASSIGNMENT

NRO posted a link to the petition for a stay pending appeal in the same-sex marriage case. It is brutal in its discussion of the errors of the district court.

We will now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

LMC BIRTHDAY SERIES

The timeless Halle Berry is 44 today.

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Where's Robbo?

For those of you who also read my blatherings over at my other digs and may be wondering why I have not posted recently, it seems that Wordpress found what it calls "questionable content" and has temporarily shut me out until whatever the problem is has been resolved.

Help! Help! I'm being repressed!

UPDATE: Problem fixed. So was it a matter of my subversive moral values? Inflammatory damnation of our so-called culture? RCBfA submissions, as suggested by Jordana?

Nope. Turns out I used a copyrighted pic of Arlington Cemetary in a post earlier this year. Somebody spotted it and filed a DCMA take down notice. So WordPress temporarily pulled the plug and yanked the post.

My bad. But at least it shows somebody is paying attention, I suppose.

Anyhoo, stand by for the port to be uncorked again.

R.I.P. Ted Stevens

I'm just now catching up with the news of the death of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens in a float-plane crash near Dillingham, AK.

Chilling stuff.

As it happens, I've flown into the Dillingham airport myself, albeit in a commercial 737 jet. Back when I was there (this would have been in the very early 80's), the runway was not paved and the jet - flown by Wein Air Alaska, which seems to have folded a while back - had some kind of modification to keep gravel from getting into the engines. Wein flew out once a day from Anchorage to King Salmon, from KS over to Dillingham and then from Dillingham back to Anchorage. The flight from KS to Dillingham is easily the shortest I've ever been on. 15 minutes tops and I don't think we cleared 5000 feet.

As it also happens, I've flown around that area in the very kind of plane - a De Havilland DHC-3T, knicknamed the "Otter" - involved in Sen. Stevens' crash. Indeed, probably my nastiest flying experience evah was when a storm front caught us flying back from a remote river to the Katmai Park lodge. We had to go through several mountain passes and were buffeted all over the place. It's the only time I ever literally fell to my knees on the ground once we arrived safe and sound and thanked God for my preservation.

Indeed, my old father was involved in a crash himself in that same Otter a year or two later. My brother and I had been left at the base lodge while he and some friends hopped across to another lake to fish. When it came time to leave, the pilot, a mere teenager, forgot to lower his flaps on take off. The plane failed to make height, stalled, and fell down into the marshy tundra at the edge of the lake. Fortunately, it didn't blow up or anything, and everyone was able to crawl out pretty much unscathed.

Including the kid flying, there were six men on that flight. Dad, who was the youngest passenger, had a private pilot's licence. All of the other four had flown in WWII, and two of them were still with TWA. Apparently, the only chance of a fatality that day was when the senior guy, who had flown umpteen combat missions in a B-25 bomber over Europe and then flown commercially almost 40 years without a single mishap, tried to get his hands on the kid for the purpose of ripping him into little shreds for the stupidity of his error.

At any rate, as noted in some of teh press reports, tooling about that part of teh word in that kind of vehicle is dangerous, and things do happen sometimes.

Gratuitous Nats Posting (TM) - Poetic Justice Division

Just prior to my leaving town, Mink Monica dropped the following little ditty in the Tasty Bits (TM) Mail Sack in honor of the opening of a three game series between the Nats and teh Phils:

Oswalt, just in time
I was getting worried there
Nah, I'm just kiddin'

Well, of course I've been out since then, but I wanted to take the opportunity to say this to Monica:

Ha! You got that? Ha! HA!

For those of you who don't follow these things, the Nats clobbered the Phils that night, beat them again the next day and damn near swept the series.

We're pretty much out of the running now, but I am looking forward to our roll of NL East spoiler with increasingly wicked anticipation. You'll rue the day, MM. I'm talking imminent rue-age.

GO, NATS!!!

Driving Miss Waypoint

Not too long ago, Mrs. Robbo bought herself a GPS thingum for the Orgle Manor Cherokee.

Now anyone who has spent any time hanging around Llama Central will remember that Robbo has - how shall we put it? - a somewhat reactionary view towards new technology, especially technology devoted to communications and surveillance. Although I would be correctly tarred and feathered as a Tory if I ever showed up at a John Birch Society meeting, I nonetheless have a certain libertarian distaste for the idea that my technology (or more exactly, somebody operating my technology) is keeping tabs on my whereabouts. If the GPS knows, for example, that the local speed limit is 65 and that I am, in fact, doing about 80 and just passed Exit 5, how long is it going to be before that info is slipped into the mitts of the New Jersey Highway Patrol? (As an aside, I fully expect to receive a ticket in the mail based on the mathematical impossibility of my having made it from the top to the bottom of the Turnpike, duly recorded by my E-Z Pass, without breaking the limit. Fortunately, the account is in Mrs. Robbo's name.)

Apart from that, of course I also fear that human over-reliance on technology will simply make things easier for SkyNet when it decides to attack.

Anyhoo, despite my misgivings, I decided to give the ol' GPS a workout on our trip to Maine. (Nice to be back, by the way.) And for the most part, I rather enjoyed the experience. For one thing, I like maps. For another, all that data at eye level helped break up the monotony of the long drive. For a third, well, let's just say that there is something a bit, ah, naughty about that cool, authoritarian female voice telling me when and where to turn. In fact, I even went to far as to name her "Miss Waypoint" and to murmur "Yes, ma'am" when she gave me instructions.

Indeed, I was just beginning to let my guard down when I was suddenly reminded again of the perils of this sort of thing.

As is our custom, we took two days to drive down from Maine, stopping off in Codport, CT overnight to visit the in-laws. From the Mass Pike, we usually take I-84 to Hartford, there picking up I-91 down to New Haven and then slogging on down the coast on I-95.

This was plainly the course Miss Waypoint had in mind as well. However, as we rolled out of Hartford, I decided, as I sometimes do, to jump on the Cross/Merritt Parkway instead, cutting the corner and avoiding the truck traffic. Thus, as we passed Meriden, I took the appropriate exit.

Miss Waypoint had not said anything since we'd got on I-91, other than to instruct me to stay on it for another 28 miles or so. When I took the parkway exit, however, she suddenly snapped into life.

"Recalculating....," she said, a gentle note of remonstrance in her voice.

"Re-cal-culating...," she said again, a distinct displeasure creeping into her tone. (We had had some fun doing this to her a couple of days before when we took a detour on the way to my sister's house to stop at a store, thereby starting a torrent of revised directions. I had been hoping that sooner or later we could provoke her into blurting out, "Very well! You asked me how to get there, I told you, and you won't listen. Find the goddam place yourself!")

We got no such outburst this time. After a few seconds, Miss Waypoint realized what I was up to and revised her own course to conform with mine.

Or so I thought.

We hadn't been on the parkway more than 20 minutes or so when Miss Waypoint came to life again. "Severe traffic ahead," she said. "Recommend detour at Exit 61." The exit was coming up fast and I had only a few seconds to react. Curious to see what would happen, and assuming that she was only going to get us off the parkway for a short while to get around whatever the blockage was, I took her recommendation.

Well. All I can say is more fool me. After a short time noodling around on secondary roads, I suddenly realized where I was: The outskirts of New Haven.

Yes, the hussy was routing us back to the course she had wanted us to take in the first place.

"But, Tom," you are no doubt saying, "Why didn't you just turn back to the Merritt?" Well, I don't know the back roads of that part of Connecticut well enough for that kind of trailblazing, at least not with a half tank of gas and a bunch of increasingly restless Llama-ettes.

It was thus with a sinking heart that I found myself on Trumbull Street in New Haven, duly turning on to the ramp that would put me back on I-91 just before it merged on to I-95. But that sinking feeling quickly turned to fury as I found myself in a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam caused by an accident up ahead.

Now here's the kicker: The accident scene and the congestion it caused clearly showed up on Miss Waypoint's monitor. Thus, she plainly knew about it. And by the time we crawled past, the tow-trucks were just hauling off the last of the wrecks, which meant that the accident had happened some considerable time before we got there, which meant......that she had known about it before she pulled us off the parkway!

In other words, Miss Waypoint was still sulking over my decision to ignore her original instructions and had decided to add insult to injury by decoying me off my route back to hers by a claim of congestion even though she knew her choice was worse than mine.

Bitch.

It was at that point that I did what I should have done earlier and yanked her cord out of the charger.

Will I ever listen to her again? Well, I don't know. After this experience, I'm almost afraid to, knowing what lengths she'll go to to discipline errant behavior on my part.

On the other hand, there's that voice......

VICTORIAN BRUNETTE

Mrs. LMC persuaded me to watch The Young Victoria last night, courtesy of the latest batch of movies from the good folks at Netflix. Great Britian's longest-serving monarch was played by Emily Blunt:

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Very not bad. I await Robbo's discerning review.

YIPS! from Robbo: In the words of Prince Albert, "Shhhvvvinggg!!!"

ROBBO'S CO-WORKERS REACT TO HIS RETURN

Ranging from the eager--

"It's about time you crawled back, you slackard! And since you didn't remember today is my 53rd birthday, I have a little something extra for you . . . "

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to the sublime--

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(All birthday reminders past, present, and future are via the fishwrapper faithfully deposited each morning on the porch of the post headquarters, located, of course, amidst the vast real estate holdings which comprise Fort LMC).

YIPS! from Robbo: The actual response of my co-workers was along the lines of, "What? You were gone? When?"

But Dude - Gillian Anderson...sublime? Whereas Glenn Close boiled the bunny because the script demanded it, I'm guessing Gilly does it just because she loves the smell of parboiled hare in the morning.

Not that this would be such a bad way to go. But, still.........

JUDGE WALKER'S DECISION

Rich Lowry's take on it over at NRO is here. Reasonable people may reasonably differ on the merits of gay marriage. (My personal view is it is a contradiction in terms.) The merits of the constitutional challenges are weak. Marriage at common law is between one man and one woman at one time and was certainly so in the West and in the new thirteen states at the time of the ratification of the Constitution. The rational basis for continuing to recognize traditional marriage to the exclusion of any other is it encourages the continuation of the most successful mechanism over the ages for organizing stable families, the building block of civilizaton since the dawn of time. The equal protection challenge fails because nothing prevents gay people from marrying a member of the opposite sex who is of age, not otherwise married, and not within a forbidden degree of kinship. That gay people would rather not marry the opposite sex is too bad--rarely in life do we always get what we want. Had the case gone the other way, there is nothing preventing gay couples from loving who they want, living with whomever they want, and accomplishing most, if not nearly all of the material and practical incidents of marriage by simple contract. What the plaintiffs really want is society's affirmation of their lifestyle choices.

No matter how the case winds up, traditional marriage in the United States will continue. The larger impact of Walker's decision is to point out the dangers of federal judges bent on imposing policy choices cloaked as constitutional rulings. I clerked for two outstanding federal trial judges and was regularly in the federal courts for sixteen years before leaving private practice. I have a deep and hearfelt appreciation for the role they play in our society. Nevertheless, I am mindful that the power of the federal judiciary is staggering, especially in matters of constitutional adjudication; in its rawest form it can be the exercise of governmental power largely insulated and unchecked by democractic governance. The importance of judicial philosophy cannot be understated because it is the biggest day to day limit on the application of judicial power. The importance of a judge's fidelity to judicial doctrines developed to limit judicial power such as original intent, standing, ripeness, mootness, political question, and stare decisis cannot be understated.

The question of gay marriage is not a legal question so much as a political one and it is through the political process that Chief Justice Rehnquist observed: "The People, through their elected representatives, deal with matters which concern them."

If federal judges are going to impose political and policy decisions on us willy-nilly, then it is time to end life tenure, appoint judges for fixed terms in office, or elect them.

BLOOD

An interesting post via Hot Air ongrumbling about the ban on gay men donating blood. I for one am not ready to sacrifice the quality of the nation's blood suppy on the altar of political correctness.

FUN WITH MADAM SPEAKER

So when did Jesus acquire His right to life?

Via Hot Air.

THE CHINESE THINK OF EVERYTHING

Via Special Agent Bedhead: the animated version of Lindsay Lohan's jail stint:

ASSIGNED READING

Rich Lowry on adult supervision in the statehouses of New Jersey and Indiana. That is all.

QUESTION FOR THE GROUP-DISASTER PREP DIVISION

We bought a 5000-watt portable gasoline-powered Generac after the last big hurricane to come through the area eight years but I am concerned it might not measure up when the next one hits. A natural gas unit would be vulnerable to breaks in the gas lines caused by uprooted trees--exactly the same event which would cause a loss of power. Consequently, a diesel would seem to be the logical choice, especially since we have a 250-gallon heating oil tank; automatic standby feature is not necessary. Suggestions?

RETURN OF THE CLOWN CAR

Ford revived the Fiesta, a Seventies-era name and jazzed it up:

.

The orginal Fiesta's successor, the Festiva, was an Eighties model that Mrs. LMC derisively refers to as a "clown car." By way of full disclosure, I had occasion to drive the old Fiesta and later, the Festiva thanks to knowing the owners, both of whom were named "Margaret."

IRON MAN 2: THE LMC REVIEW

The Future ROTC Scholarship Recipient and I saw it last night at the local cinema cafe--it had everything: shmokin' hot gals, plenty of action, and great special effects. If there is ever an Iron Man 2: The Dude's Cut, that edition should be edited to minimize the annoying Gwyneth Paltrow and maximize Scarlett Johansson. ScarJo says little, but big lips, tight outfits, and amazing flexibility more that makes up for it.(What can I say? I freely admit to being the world's shallowest moviegoer.)

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