Pandæmonium

Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:04 am by McGehee Talk back [Fiction] In Progress

The place was called “Pandæmonium,” with that funny A-E-melted-together thing that’s supposed to mean something more than just noise and chaos. In this case I suppose the “something more” would be sex and booze, and probably drugs. Also probably a virus if you weren’t careful. I wasn’t here for noise, chaos, sex, booze, drugs or a virus. The guy at the door took one look at me and stepped aside, choosing not to pass judgment on my attire. Or maybe I’m more fashionable than I think. Inside, looking over the heads of the people standing around in the loud, gyrating darkness of the nightclub, I saw the bar along one wall, booths arranged along another, and a door leading into the back almost hidden in the corner between the two. It wasn’t difficult making my way through the tipsy, tripping patrons to that corner, nor to see the two bouncers moving to intercept me. Only two? This place must be darker than I thought. » Read more "Pandæmonium"

Play Rough, Fight Dirty—Chapter 5: Down by the River

Fri Oct 10, 2008 2:10 pm by McGehee Talk back [Fiction] [Play Rough, Fight Dirty] Completed

Chapter 6 will begin at its appointed time. When is that, you ask? You’ll find out at the appointed time. Billy puttered up Bob’s street on the dirt bike just as Caleb and Dad were inspecting the go-cart. Bob had talked his father into providing spare parts from his collection to build an engine, gearbox and clutch for the go-cart, and helping us find other assorted parts at a scrapyard out on Oil Patch Road where the owner owed Caleb a favor and let us have the parts for free. Once we had everything we needed, it only took us another week to finish the project, and Mom wanted Dad to look it over before I tried to drive it. Billy’s arrival drew a stare from Dad, but after a moment he seemed to shrug it off and resumed inspecting the go-cart. “What do you think, Frank?” asked Caleb expectantly. He was humoring Dad and Dad knew it, both well aware that Caleb knew more about engines, and was no more likely to let his son operate an unsafe machine than Dad was to let me. But we all knew Dad was only humoring Mom, so he played along. After a moment, Dad turned to Bob. “Let’s see you take it up and down the block a couple times.” Bob grinned and climbed into the old riding-mower seat we’d used, and I went around back to start the motor. Though we were using a motorcycle engine, the kick starter wasn’t practical on a go-cart so we’d adapted the pull-start. “Clutch," I called out. Bob pushed down on the clutch pedal and said, “Clutch.” “Brake." We went through the whole checklist like this for the grown-ups’ benefit, until all that was left was for me to pull the cord. It fired right up, and Bob only had to adjust the choke a little to make the motor rumble like a real Harley-Davidson chopper. Caleb, Bob and I were all grinning with pride, and Billy sat on the dirt bike next to Dad’s car, looking on with a grin of his own. Dad’s eyes went wide, though, at the serious sound of the motor, and he gave Caleb a doubtful look. “How fast will this thing go?” he asked over the noise. » Read more "Play Rough, Fight Dirty—Chapter 5: Down by the River"

Psy Ops

Fri Oct 10, 2008 9:14 am by McGehee Talk back [Get Offa My Lawn!]

Four years ago, Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) waited until Election Day to start the panic-mongering among Republican voters, with exit-poll information cherry-picked from certain locations, and false reports of exit polls from others. It didn’t work very well, since the main effect was only on people who hadn’t voted early that morning. Midday voters tend, so I’ve read, to be Democrat voters. Well, in 2008 they’re starting much earlier. The polls are all over the place. Something screwy is going on. On Election Day 2004, having seen comment threads and blog posts reacting to the phony exit-poll numbers—and having nothing to go on but my own sense that something wasn’t right—I wrote: Those early exit poll numbers showing Kerry winning states where Bush had a lead going into Election Day? Ignore ‘em. They’re bogus. [...] Good lord, people—some of us Bush supporters really are Spaniards, aren’t we? Godawmighty, is this what it’s coming to? Wipe your noses and unbunch your @#$!ing panties. Jeez! » What a Mess I’m tempted to stick this post to the top of the front page until all the polls have closed on November 4. Wipe your noses and unbunch your panties, people.

More Pointless Observations

Thu Oct 9, 2008 10:54 pm by McGehee 1 comment [Asides]

Why pay for a newspaper, or watch ads on TV, when you can get the same caliber of information here for nothing? Anyway… It occurred to me at dinner this evening that 2008 is the first time both members of either party’s presidential ticket came from west of the Rocky Mountains (as defined by where the candidate is registered to vote, or has previously held elective office). When I mentioned this to my wife she asked when would have been the first time even one of the people on a major party’s presidential ticket came from west of the Rockies. I was able to rattle off a number of elections from just the last 60 years in which a California Republican was on the ticket (Nixon five times, Reagan twice), but after some more thought I hit upon this guy, though the Republican Party was not yet “major” in 1856. Next (he said, after some very light research) came 1860, when the Southern splinter of the Democratic Party nominated Sen. Joseph Lane of Oregon to be vice-president. That was the one and only time a Democrat from west of the Rockies was ever on any Democratic ticket. I remember reading somewhere that Herbert Hoover, with his ties to Stanford University, was considered to be “from California” when he sought and won the presidency in 1928, but I can’t find any corroboration without doing deeper research. Next came 1940, when midwesterner Wendell Willkie shared the ticket with vice-presidential nominee Sen. Charles McNary of Oregon, followed by 1948 when California Gov. Earl Warren was running-mate to unsuccessful Republican presidential nominee, New York Gov. Tom “the groom on a wedding cake” Dewey. In fact, from 1940 until now there were only four presidential elections in which someone from west of the Rockies was not on the Republican ticket: 1944, 1976, 1992 and 1996 (unless I’m mistaken, Vice President Cheney’s legal residence has been in Teton County, Wyoming, which is west of the continental divide). Until 2000, only California, Oregon and Arizona had ever offered a west-of-the-Rockies candidate for national office, and only California had ever succeeded. <update and correction> I missed 1988! There was no one from west of the Rockies on either party’s ticket that year either. My apologies. </update and correction>   Also of interest is the number of presidential elections, since either party began holding nominating conventions, that has seen at least one of the major parties with at least one candidate on the ticket being from a then- or former slave state. Democrats have had both members from such states in 1836, 1840, 1948, 1992 and 1996. Republicans, never. The years in which no candidate on either party’s ticket came from a then- or former slave state covers every election year but one (1904) between 1876 and 1924, after which only 1940 has not seen at least one candidate from a former slave state (Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland and Missouri all qualify, though they never seceded. West Virginia, having been part of slave state Virginia before 1863, is also included) on at least one of the two tickets. Yes, Joe Biden is this year’s representative of a former slave state.   And that concludes tonight’s edition of Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know, and Were Quite Content in Not Knowing.

Will Anybody Care?

Thu Oct 9, 2008 3:25 pm by McGehee Talk back [Our Times] [Get Offa My Lawn!] [Wackadoodle]

More to the point, will enough people care? So Barack Obama was a member of an extremist political party established by the Democratic Socialists for America, the Chicago New Party, and they cheered his victory in his uncontested run for his Illinois state senate seat as a step away from American values, towards socialism. Does it really matter? » Barack Obama Was Member of Socialist New Party It’s an apt question. The kind of people flocking to Obama’s banner don’t care what the facts may be about their chosen leader. He is their brother’s keeper, and they will follow him wherever he leads.

‘We Have Taken Control of Your Political System’

Tue Oct 7, 2008 9:50 am by McGehee 1 comment [Get Offa My Lawn!] [Media Ochre]

“...we control the narrative. Do not attempt to adjust your thinking except in ways we desire.” Knowing that the Republicans are attempting to distract voters away from the big issues of the day, “are we in the media going to aid and abet the McCain campaign’s obvious ploy?” asks the WP’s Eugene Robinson. Even if reporters point out that that the allegations McCain’s campaign makes are false, “writing about them at all gives them wider circulation.” Journalists “have a duty to avoid being turned into instruments of mass distraction” and must press for answers about the issues that really matter. “The McCain campaign has made clear that it wants to change the subject,” writes Robinson. “We can, and should, change it back.” » Drowned World Tour Is it really 1992 all over again? Back then, when George H.W. Bush was fighting for re-election against the media-endorsed Clinton-Gore ticket, a major media denizen was quoted as insisting that his industry would not allow the Republicans to win. The comment was picked up on by conservative opinion media at the time, but the media still got away with it and their preferred candidate was elected. Is 2008 really all that different from 1992? Can a nation be hoodwinked twice in living memory by an actively biased media doing the exact same thing it did before? Only the American people can decide that—but, “Fool me once, shame on you...” would seem to apply.

Ahnuld to Congress: Giff Us $7 Billion!

Sat Oct 4, 2008 11:58 am by McGehee Talk back [Get Offa My Lawn!] [Here's Your Sign]

California is continuing to jockey for a multibillion-dollar emergency federal loan despite Friday’s congressional approval of a rescue plan for the nation’s troubled credit market. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said. The governor had sent a letter Thursday to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warning that the state may be forced to turn to the federal treasury for help if it cannot quickly secure a short-term loan for up to $7 billion. » State may tap feds for loan McGehee to Ahnuld: Get stuffed. The American taxpayer shouldn’t have to keep bailing out the Democrat Legislature that keeps spending your state into bankruptcy—apparently about every four years. I thought the 2004 bailout was okay, but the idea was that you only get one visit to the well. And thanks to the banking bailout, the well’s pretty much dry now anyway.

Today’s Sudden Fiction
Wed Oct 1, 2008 3:45 pm by McGehee 1 comment [Humor?]	I am not blogging.

Not Exactly Blogging-Free
Wed Oct 1, 2008 6:46 am by McGehee Talk back [Asides]	It would be impossible to refrain entirely from blogging through the month of October in a presidential election year, but the activity here is almost certainly going to be light between now and Halloween. Besides, I have fiction to write. Y’all take up the slack for me on that blogging stuff, okay?

Why the Bailout Bill Really Failed

Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:43 pm by McGehee Talk back [Get Offa My Lawn!]

Even the big-government Democrats knew it was going to be an albatross. “All we needed was enough to potentially get us over the finish line, but we wanted the Republicans to be the ones to do it. This was not going to be a Democrat-passed bill if the Speaker had anything to say about it.” » Democrat Leaders Played to Lose They could have passed it without a single Republican vote, but averting the end of the world as we knew it, took a back seat to the kind of bipartisanship these Democrats like to practice: that of shifting blame onto the other party. Meanwhile, the sun still shines and the birds still sing. Is this crisis really as bad as the Mainstream Media have been telling us?

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