Friday, December 30, 2011

Happy New Year

With New Years Day happening sometime in the next thirty hours (give or take a smidge) and with the Christmas thread entering moderation as it's now more than seven days old, it's time to open a new open thread and wish everyone a Happy New Year.


Here's a sad thought: between Sunday and April 12 of this year, every single penny you earn will go to Uncle Sam and his 50 wards! You generous slave you!

Then until mid-May, you're working to pay your non-tax taxes like Social Security and Medicare, which Uncle Sam steals from Algore's lock box in the dead of night.

But after that, it's clear sailing! :)

Post your New Year’s Resolutions! I resolve to stop paying taxes.

198 comments:

tryanmax said...

This might be non sequitur to your post, but I resolve to write one page every day until I actually finish one or more of the projects I've stalled on. As with all my New Year's resolutions, it officially begins on the 2nd.

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, I've found that doesn't work for me. I do better when I just set aside something like an hour to work each day and then don't worry about how much I achieve during the hour.

But then everyone is different. I tend to write to get stuff on paper and then spend all my time editing rather than writing.

DUQ said...

Happy New Year everyone. I resolve to vote to get Obama out of the White House and to eat more cookies.

Unknown said...

I resolve not to make any resolutions. I never keep them anyway.

Tam said...

Lawhawk took mine! Happy New Year all!

tryanmax said...

If I resolved to set aside an hour each day, it would never happen. But my ADD allows me to work in the margins of the rest of my activities.

AndrewPrice said...

Tam, Everything came out totally great! Lights are still a little cloudy, but everything else is at least 20/20. And as with last time, no pain at all. :)

Interestingly, this time, since they didn't need to cut the flaps because they were already there and just had to be opened, they didn't blind me, so I got to watch the guy opening the flaps with a scalpel. Talk about a weird experience. Then everything got amazingly blurry, only it wasn't blurry so much as pixelated... very strange.

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, Everyone is different. I found that page limits don't work for me because it doesn't fit the style in which I write. Sometimes single sentences can take forever and sometimes I can get a half dozen pages on paper in half an hour. It all depends on how clearly I grasp the scene in my head and how well it flows as I type.

And in any event, I spend more time editing. In may last book, I figured that it too me 3-5 hours per page to edit after I had the whole thing written.

(Legal stuff is different, I can do a 20 page brief in about 2 hours start to finish no sweat.)

Tam said...

oh my goodness...weird! I was terrified of my surgery, but then I really enjoyed the experience. It was surreal and interesting to me. It would be even more so being able to watch it! Good for you. Maybe I will retract my no resolutions resolution and look into whether I could be re-operated on.

AndrewPrice said...

I've always had problems with people touching my eyes, even contacts were a problem because my eyes flinch when touched. So I was worried the first time I did this surgery, but it turned out not to be a big deal because the anesthetic eliminated the sensation.

And since the first time wasn't a big deal, this time really wasn't either. In fact, it was easier, knowing what to expect. And then of course they gave the same anesthetic, so I felt nothing even when they directly touched my eyes. So it wasn't a problem at all. In fact, it was kind of fascinating to see them poke and push my eyeball and not feel it at all.

Plus, so far at least, the recovery has been even quicker than last time. Not to mention, it's just great to see detail everywhere again.

I'm thrilled! :)

tryanmax said...

Just learned about this, it's an online petition requesting Obama to veto the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012. This is the one that allows for indefinite detention of American citizens without trial or access to legal counsel, with suspicion of terrorism as justification.

According to the page, the goal is 25,000 signatures, and it is within 6,000 of the goal, but today is the deadline to sign. http://wh.gov/jeY

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks tryanmax, this is an area where conservatives are simply wrong. We should not be falling for the "fear of terror" idea as a basis for giving the government vast new powers.

tryanmax said...

Nuts. I think the petition just closed.

Doc Whoa said...

Happy New Year! Thanks for reminding us what Uncle Sam takes from us.

Glad your surgery went well, be glad Obamacare doesn't apply to eye surgery.

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks Doc. Everything turned out great! I can see details again... everywhere. They're like germs... ;/

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, What are you working on anyway? If you don't mind sharing.

Ed said...

Did anybody see Gingrich weeping in Iowa? What is that about? I guess he's trying to show he's human or something. I blame Oprah.

Ed said...

tryanmax and Andrew, What's the petition about? I haven't heard about the issue.

tryanmax said...

Andrew,

I just have a few different novels that I've sketched story lines for but haven't taken much further. Depending on how well I keep my resolution (and on which project) I'll reveal more as there is more to reveal.

tryanmax said...

Ed, I think the petition just closed. Not that I think it would have effected anything, but without the requisite signatures, it certainly won't.

It was about the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, which is basically another bill that uses fear of terrorism to justify government overreach. Andrew, care to chime in?

AndrewPrice said...

Ed, I saw the weeping. I think it's pathetic that everybody needs to go weep somewhere on camera now to show they aren't jerks. It's the same thing with getting filmed holding a baby, shooting a gun, and eating at a picnic.

Frankly, if I ran for president I would send in tear samples to a lab as proof, and then I would mix up the order on the rest and go shoot up a picnic.

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, I've got about two dozen ideas I want to write. I realized pretty quickly that I had to focus on one because it was just too hard to shift back and forth and still get in the right frame of mind for each.

But rather annoyingly, this led to the other novels (the ones I wasn't working on at the time) really pushing themselves forward in my mind and demanding time. Basically, the more I worked on one, the more I wanted to work on the others... at least until I got in deeply enough that the current book took up all my available RAM brainspace.

As an interesting aside, however, this resulted in tons of ideas for those other novels coming forward and I capitalized on that by recording all the ideas for future use.

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax and Ed, Without going into too much detail... still on vacation after all... this bill allows the government to ignore the legal system when it accuses people of being terrorists. Here are the big provisions:

1. Allows the government to hold "suspected members of Al Qaeda or those who substantially supported them" indefinitely without trial. How do you define the italicized language and how do you disprove it if accused since you can't get a trial?

2. "Noncitizens" suspected of terror would now be tried by the military.

3. DOJ would need to "consult" with the military before bringing criminal charges against terrorists. The FBI has stated extreme concerns about this, as has the military which does not want to get involved in policing.

4. And it lets the military waive your legal rights when the military certifies that allowing you those rights would be too onerous.


Naturally, as with all tyrannical legislation, we are assured that while the bill essentially turns the military in a police state-type military and lets the government make people disappear.... this will only be used against bad people. This is what they always say when they want to pass something heinous.

And, sadly, as so often happens knee-jerk conservatives fall for it because "we needs it to stop them thar terrorists."

Uh huh.

Ed said...

Wow! Thanks guys. I hadn't heard anything about that, and that doesn't sound like good ideas.

I have to say, I get frustrated with a lot of the scaremongering on the right. I see it a lot, especially where Islam comes up. Many conservatives seem obsessed with hating Islam and they freak out about anything Islam-related without ever asking whether it really affects us, how it really affects us, and whether they would consider similar restraits placed on Christianity as just. I'm not saying there isn't much to complain about and defend against from Islam, but it doesn't help the cause when conservatives freak out every time some Muslim gets mentioned on the news.

I see it with other issues too and it tells me that conservatives have a long way to go before they return to being rational.

AndrewPrice said...

You're welcome Ed.

I know exactly what you mean. Too many conservatives don't really think, they just react. They aren't conservatives so much as anti-liberals. They hear about something some liberal has proposed and they instantly hate it and attack it.

You see this a lot in terms of knee-jerk defenses of huge corporations and the things these corporations want, you see it in terms of environmentalism where every environmental proposal is "greenweenie"-ism no matter what merits it has, and you see it in terms of defense where any suggestion of a change in tactics is called "surrender."

It's rare that liberals are right in the solutions they propose, but they do often identify issues that should be addressed. But these "conservatives" wouldn't know the difference between a good idea and a bad one if it bit them on the ass.

Essentially, they are doing exactly what the left is doing -- seeing some groups as 100% evil and others as 100% pure -- and then mindlessly favoring/opposing anything those groups do or say.

It's idiocy.

You see this a lot with regard to Islam too. There are some people, for example, who think that all Muslims are the same and should be treated as the enemy. This is of course intensely stupid and it's incredibly self-defeating. But that's what these people want to believe and you'll never get them to see reality. The best you can do is ignore them because fortunately no one is going to listen to them anyway. The problem is, they discredit conservatism with their idiocy because the MSM uses their views to parody conservatism.

DUQ said...

Well put Andrew. I come here because I like hearing your rational take. It frustrates me how often I hear things that sound horrible and then you explain why the radio-guy or other blogger got it all wrong. Why can't more people think before they start running around screaming that the sky is falling?

CrispyRice said...

Hey Happy New Year everyone!! Wishing everyone a year of happiness, love, good health and a massive conservative upswing!!

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks DUQ. Unfortunately, a lot of people who provide their opinions for a living don't really think through what they are saying before they speak.

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks Crispy! Happy New Year too you! Let's hope for the conservative landslide! :)

Ed said...

Oh man, Newt is now talking about Palin for Vice President. I hope she has the sense to turn this down.

CrisD said...

Happy New Year!

I have noticed that some people see everything through a political lens. I guess if you get paid large sums this is "what you do"--but when it is just a regular person (like a relative of mine), it is very annoying. It is like a religion! or really a cult..

Oh, well, I am probably annoying sometimes too. I resolve to be less annoying!!

Glad to hear the surgery went well, Andrew Can not imagine myself doing that. Can barely do eye drops--I have to put 8 drops in and just keep trying to open my eyes!

Deciding whether to do the duck. My daughter will be arriving soon and we will make the decision together! Hope it goes with champagne!

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks Cris! I'm the same way. But in this case, once they give you the anesthetic, it actually becomes really easy to keep your eyes open and even to let people poke them. It's a strange feeling.

Duck is great! We usually do duck every Thanksgiving. I've even gotten good at carving it too, which is always the hardest part.

I think it's definitely a problem for some people to put the politics aside, but I think the bigger problem is that rather than believe IN something too many people simply believe AGAINST things. I see this everywhere now -- in politics, in religion, in sports, in everything. Rather than having things that they themselves support and want to see, too many people now base their lives on being against things that other people want.

Thus, for example, leftists have no economic policy anymore. Instead, they just hate the rich and hate corporations. So they automatically hate anything that is suggested by the rich or by a corporation without ever considering whether or not it will make the world better.

The same is often true on the right, where some people hate things like environmentalism. So whenever they hear an environmental proposal, they automatically hate it without ever asking if it's a good thing.

I really think the biggest problem in modern society is that people no longer have things they believe in personally, i.e. positive things that make them happy, and they instead base their beliefs on simply opposing everyone else. That's not a good way to live or a good way to build a society, but I think that's where we are these days.

Tam said...

Speaking of being against rather than for something, my husband has been really interested in "The Secret" lately. It is all about having a grateful heart and putting yourself on a plane to attract positive things into your life. If you really focus on positives and visualize positive outcomes, you attract more positive people, opportunities, etc. to your life. The flip side is that if you focus on the negative, that is what you get. So being against something, or hating a person/group/ideology actually empowers that person/group/ideology because that is where the energy is focused. I think that it makes sense. It would be nice to see more BELIEVING in something and standing up for that something than just reacting to what they hate in the world, in whatever sphere that may be, religion, politics, whatever.

IRS Representative said...

I resolve to kidnap Andrew Price and throw him into our torture chamber--uh, make that our auditing center--until he reneges on his determination not to give us the tax money we so richly deserve.

T-Rav said...

Honestly, right now I would probably vote for Palin if she were on the ballot. Although I just remembered that Missouri has a caucus, not a primary, so my ballot will be non-binding and virtually meaningless but...(sigh)

AndrewPrice said...

Tam, I am not familiar with "The Secret"?

Though I can say that in my experience, what you describe is true. I can't explain it. I don't know if its some form of karma, divine intervention, self-help or what, but in my experience, being positive gets rewarded and being negative gets punished. I've seen this myself, I've seen it with other people I know, people I've met randomly, in sports and even in politics.

And I don't just mean "rewarded" in the sense of "you're happier" if you think positively, but I mean it in the sense of "affects everything around you", i.e. others respond more positively to you, good things seem more likely to happen to you and those near you, luck starts going your way, and more opportunities seem to arise. It's pretty amazing.

Like I said, I honestly can't explain it. Some of it could just be that nicer people tend to get better responses from others and that may lead to a lot of this, but even that doesn't explain much of the random chance suddenly going your way or good things suddenly happening out of the blue.

Unfortunately, in this day and age, too many people are so bitter about everything that they can't see this for themselves and many would rather tear someone else down rather than build themselves up. That's too bad. And it would definitely change the world for the better if people started hoping for good things more than wishing for bad.

AndrewPrice said...

Ah, the IRS is here. Do your worst buddy, you can't get blood from a stone.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, I never thought I would say this, but she would probably get my vote too right now.


(P.S. I sent you an e-mail that bounced back to me, so I'm not sure you got it.)

Tam said...

The Secret (by Rhonda Byrne, Australian tv writer and producer)is essentially the law of attraction, you get what you give sort of thing. Of course it goes into depth and detail and practical ways to apply the ideas in your life. It has made a tangible, positive difference in my husband's life, and therefore mine and my kid's lives as well. It's interesting.

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks Tam! I'll check that out, it sounds like an interesting idea -- one which does apply directly to human nature. In fact, the "you get what you give" principle seems to be true in most fields and with most activities.

College was that way, for example. The more interest you took in it and the harder you worked at it, the more you got out of it.

As an aside, I'm finding writing to be the same thing. I've noticed a lot of people (famous people like King and Cussler, etc.) are now cranking out books. But I honestly don't see that as a satisfying way to do it. If you aren't really putting a lot of thought and care into what you're doing, then what are you really getting out of it? I'm sure they get money, but will they really be proud of anything they achieve these days? I doubt it.

tryanmax said...

Anti-liberal. I like it. At least it's better than any other term I've heard for the mindless on the right. And more accurate than the typical conservative vs. liberal false-dichotomy. I've always considered conservatism as a middle-ground and actually think of myself as a centrist more than right-wing.

This is really the first forum I've found where the discussion is primarily positive and not constantly griping that this is wrong and that is wrong, at least, not without discussing seriously the reasons why things are wrong. Even on centrist sites people just tend to take an anti-both-sides attitude. Not so here.

* * *

Normally I react against statements like, "the biggest problem today is..." because I think most of those sorts of problems are actually perpetual and the speak just happened to take notice recently. But I am inclined to agree that there has been an increase in people merely being against things without being positively for something.

You can root these things out by the things that people project at one another. Everyone is accusing the other of being the obstructionist, the do-nothing, the party of 'no.' That talk wasn't nearly so common even four years ago. These accusations get bandied about more as they become truer, not necessarily of the accused but mainly of the accusers. Of course, when everybody says it about everybody else, it's more likely that everyone is right, but only in the way a broken clock ever is.

tryanmax said...

I heard the new King book, the alternate history where JFK is not assassinated, is actually pretty good. I recall reading one review that said it is his best work in years, even though there was something the critic said nearly ruined it for him. Drawing a blank on what exactly it was, though. In any case, my mom got a copy for Christmas and promised to lend it to me when she's finished. That might not be until June, but I'll try to remember to share my reactions when the time comes.

Tam said...

I tend to distrust and avoid authors who crank out book after book. If they can write so rapidly, it doesn't seem possible that there is a lot of depth in the writing. I imagine a lot of formulaic writing...just change the names and places and slight variations in the plot and bam! New book. Dan Brown comes to mind. Even Shakespeare followed a formula. I saw a play in London, The Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged"...it was hilarious and clever and basically said he followed a formula and only had a few works or real genious. He also just happened to have an amazing grasp of the language so what his plays may have lacked in substance, they made up in style. I think many modern authors don't even have a good grasp of a thesaurus, let alone the language itself.

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, One of the things I decided when I started blogging was not to be "partisan" in the strict sense. I am conservative, I make no bones about that and I prefer to poke fun at the stupidity on the left, BUT I refuse to shade my beliefs or my analysis just to make my side look good. I believe in truth. And if we are wrong, then we should recognize that and fix it... not pretend that we are really right.

And I'm thrilled that our readers are equally rational about these things. And even more so, I'm thrilled that our readers think and share their ideas not only for why things are right/wrong, but how to fix them or make them better. That's what makes for interesting conversation -- getting beyond the knee-jerk reactions and talking about solutions.

That's what I don't see at so many other political sites. Instead, people just cheerlead for their own beliefs -- right or wrong, thought-through or not -- and then spend their time complaining about the other side, often very hypocritically.

I don't care for that at all.

(continued)

T-Rav said...

I actually noticed a few weeks ago what a huge number of books King has published. They take up two or three entire shelves at some bookstores. I've read parts of his new "11/22/63," which I guess I kinda liked. Like a lot of alternate history, I found it interesting but not a must-read.

AndrewPrice said...

(continued)

Normally, I wouldn't use a statement like "the biggest problem today..." But in this case I really do think that is fair.

For one thing, having been on this planet now for 41 years and having paid attention the whole time, I've seen a serious and dramatic change in the way people relate to each other. When I look back on the 1970s, the 1980s and even the 1990s, people treated each other differently than they do today.

No matter what was going on politically or economically, people still seemed to wish each other well and genuinely hoped that everyone could someday achieve their own American dream no matter what their politics, their race, their religion, or their beliefs.

But starting around 2000 (Bush/Gore election... though the seeds were earlier with guys like Howard Stern), I noticed a real change. Suddenly it was ok to say hateful things and to wish people ill in politics. And then the internet really took off and this suddenly because acceptable in other aspects of our lives.

Now people think nothing about saying they hope someone loses a job or falls down in an icy parking lot "to teach them a lesson." I see thousands of people hoping athletes get injured or businesses fail or other similar hateful sorts of comments. And the venom they spew is incredible.

This has filtered down to everything these days and I can honestly say I almost never hear anything positive in print, on the radio, in films, or even in public -- instead, you just regularly hear things that would have brought an angry rebuke 20 years ago.

I do think this is the reason so much in our society is so wrong at the moment. That's why I think this is a fair statement.

AndrewPrice said...

Tam, I am shocked at how horrible so much of what is out there is, and I don't even mean generic or formulaic -- I mean awful English, bad grammar, lack of noun/verb agreement, bad verb tenses, losing track of the action.

And I agree entirely about authors who crank out books. There is no way those can be thoughtful books. You need a formula to pull that off.

Interestingly, I've read that what's happened is that publishers (who are in serious financial trouble) have started to encourage writers to turn out as many books as possible with the idea being that the more books people produce, the more they can sell -- in the past they tried to publish them more slowly so the authors and the readers wouldn't burn out.

So guys like King and Clive Cussler and many more started turning out about one book per month starting around 2010. And looking at the comments I'm seeing a LOT of complaints that these are all just formulaic.

I'm also seeing a lot of comments where people are upset about typos and other mistakes because the publishers have gone to electronic editors now which can't catch wrong-word mistakes like "loose" and "lose" and can't catch substantive mistakes like things that don't make sense.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav and tryanmax, As I've said before (in a post actually), I had a lot of respect for King as a storyteller at one time. But he lost that somewhere along the way. These days I honestly feel like all he does is steal. I can literally go through one of his books or films and point out where everything he does came from. It's like he just rents a bunch of movies one weekend, writes down the best scenes from each, lines them all up, types them in, adds his 1-2 stock characters, and then sends it to his publisher.

tryanmax said...

Knowing how long it takes me to just get three or four pages written just the way I want them, I can't begin to fathom how an author pumps out 1000 page novels in a month. Then again, so much of what takes so long in writing a few pages is cleaning up the unnecessary and confusing garbage that comes out just putting thoughts together. Without that self-editing, everything I write would be a tome.

Incidentally, the surest sign of bad blogging is a high word count. Good blog entries aren't necessarily short, but they should be concise and topically focused. Blogging has definitely become a writing form of its own. Here's to good blogging!

T-Rav said...

Maybe if King stepped out of his comfort zone he could do something exciting. Like if he wrote about stuff outside his favorite corner of the world, for example? So much of the action either takes place in New England or revolves around people from New England. "The Stand" is largely set in Maine; so is "Tommyknockers"; the Torrances are from Vermont; "The Secret Window" or whatever the heck it's called is about a New England author who goes nuts. Having been there, I don't know what's so great about that place, and even if King loves it, is it too much to ask to mix the settings up a bit? Maybe some variety would help.

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, Believe it or not, I could turn out a 1,000 page novel in about a week if pressed. It will look fine and make sense and everything. But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone because it would be intensely pedantic.

It is very easy to say. "Things were going well, but not everything was perfect." It is much, much harder to say: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

And what really slows me down is coming up with realistic dialog. Again, it's very easy to just convey the information you need, but it's much harder to do it efficiently AND in a way that people really speak.


Blogging really is a different style again. Some people get it, some don't. Most don't. I see it as very similar to writing for a magazine though with a need for snark and a practiced informality like you're talking to someone you know.

Short is always better too, but too often the concepts we deal with here can't be done any shorter. I particularly notice this with the films which always start out about twice as long before I cut them down. I think that's because of the nature of what is being discussed, which often involves multiple rather complex ideas colliding all of which needs to be explained within the context of a specific film.

The political Star Treks I've been working on have been worse. There is so much to discuss there and yet the articles start out handicapped because of the inclusion of dialog from the scripts, which steal about a page from each article. Keeping those short while including the dialog and hitting all the points and being readable had been quite a challenge. It's a good thing I'm up for a challenge! :)

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, I think they've almost all been in Maine or at least the Northeast, except for a couple.

I think the real problem isn't the locations or even the topics so much as his unwillingness to step outside his style-zone. He uses the same tricks for writing characters (all cardboard) and dialog in each book and he's sharpened those tricks down to the point of being generic.

If you look at his work, not only has he not grown or improved, but he's gotten more bland over time. His ideas are stolen. His characters are so worn out that you could literally move them from novel to novel at this point without anyone noticing. And his dialog is what I think of as a combination of "say something cliche about the characters" mixed with "now give plot specific information."

If I were him, I would come up with a list of things to ban from the next book and then see what I can do. But I honestly don't think he cares about quality. He's all about volume and I'm not sure why? I'm not sure if he just wants the money or if he's hoping that volume will somehow give him a legacy like the one he almost had before he soiled it, or if he just doesn't realize that's he's turned into a hack? Maybe he's a narcissist who thinks anything he writes must be great no matter what? Or maybe he just doesn't have any ideas so he's desperately turning out books in the hopes of finally hitting upon something?

BevfromNYC said...

Tam - As much as I love Shakespeare, if he were alive today, he would be writing for television. He wrote to entertain the groundlings. He wrote plays about human nature which is why they translate well into any period. Tyrants and war are timeless, unrequited love is timeless, and there's nothing better than a case of mistaken identity and the hijinks that ensue. He stole from Greeks and Romans and many others.

I happen to be a devotee of conceptual Shakespeare. With very little effort "Taming of Shrew" works wonders as a western. "MacBeth" in feudal Japan, and Illyria in "Twelfth Night" can be just about anywhere. "Julius Caesar" - how about modern day Iraq or Libya.

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, I took a Shakespeare course in college and the professor did an excellent job of dissecting a couple of his comedies and showing that they are identical to modern sitcoms in structure.

I think where Shakespeare rose above all others was not in substance or plot as his stories are all very well-worn, but in his language which is just incredible. He can say more in five words than most other writers can say in a page. In fact, in many instances, it's just not possible to say what he said any better than how he said it.

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

Shakespeare was an entrepreneur and a showman. He was NOT a writer. The notion that he was a writer is from the fact that there was no way to properly attribute plays to the proper authors.

He owned the Globe. He had a coterie of writers that contributed to him when they couldn't contribute any where else. His company did very well and he was well liked by the King.

A writer would have dozens and dozens of books. Look around your house. Count how many books you have. Shakespeare's will didn't leave any books. The biggest question is that
his plays had a huge historical element to them. Julius Caesar for one. He would have had to know history intimately well as well as had expensive history books at his touch or an incredible memory.

There is no mention of Shakespeare's library of books. Some how, some way these incredibly accurate historical plays sprang from one man's head. Along with comedies and sonnets. Wow. Amazing. Incredible.

AndrewPrice said...

So you're one of those people, are you Joel? A Shakespeare denier! LOL!

I've heard lots of theories about who really wrote Shakespeare's stuff and some of it definitely sounds possible. I honestly have no opinion on the subject. But whoever wrote them (Will or other), the point stands that this guy was just a phenomenal writer and crafted some of the most perfect writing ever.

Tam said...

Bev, that is exactly why the complete works abridged play was so much fun. The writers made fun of the recycled plots and characters and the fact that The Bard was entertaining the masses, but he had a few really great hits in there. (Hamlet, Henry V) Hey, even the great Will Shakespeare had to make a living.

DUQ said...

So what is everyone's favorite Shakespeare (or stolen by Shakespeare) play? I am partial to "Hamlet".

AndrewPrice said...

Arg. Good question DUQ. When it comes to Shakespeare, I've liked it all, but I do think the BIG ones are big for a reason. My overall favorite though would probably be Henry V.

Of the more "obscure" ones, I like Measure for Measure.

Unknown said...

DUQ: I was a history major in college, so I have a fondness for Henry IV (both parts), Henry V, and Richard III. The Plantagenets were wonderful source material, and the War of the Roses makes for great drama (not to mention the backstabbing and assassinations). If Shakespeare were to write about the English monarchy today, it would mostly be rueful comedy.

T-Rav said...

I read Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and Romeo and Juliet in high school and liked them all (although I never could take the latter seriously after watching the film version with Leo DiCaprio). I never got around to any of the Henrys, though.

I'm not an expert on the "Who wrote Shakespeare's plays?" issue, although the evidence that someone else wrote them seems to me even less plausible than the claim that Shakespeare wrote them. More interesting, I think, are the historical circumstances out of which they were created. For example, there was an argument that Macbeth, which was written around the time James VI of Scotland took the English throne, was a veiled expression of hostility and resentment toward him and his foreign court; ending the play by having the rightful heir need English help to defeat Macbeth was supposed to show that the Scots were really just the little brothers of the superior English. Not sure I believe it, but it's interesting--although now I sound like one of those stupid deconstructionists and should stop yammering now. Argh.

AndrewPrice said...

Lawhawk, I thought the way Hal grew from the between Henry IV and Henry V was pretty impressive.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, I've read them all at this point, though I don't remember the details of them all.

I can't say I disliked any of them, though some of the histories weren't great. My least favorite is probably The Tempest which just doesn't seem in the same class as the others.

I would guess there are probably lots of little political points in these films, though at this point, I'm not sure how much we would truly recognize and how much we would just be reading into it after the fact -- that's a pretty easy thing to do.

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

Claiming that Shakespeare wrote all of his plays is like claiming Roddenberry wrote all of Science Fiction, Star Trek was just one of his minor ventures. He did it on his Cray Computer in the mountains of Colorado. Prove me wrong six centuries later. It can't be done.

The reason why I think Shakespeare didn't is because of his will. He did not leave ANY books. Historians don't marvel at Shakespeare's library. Something the "Bard" needed to create his historical plays.

When you see Star Trek, one of the first things you see is Gene Roddenberry's name. He actually didn't write all of the stories.

Shakespeare was popular with the King and he was also popular with the masses. His plays could be attended by anyone.

Another thing, plays are not always played the way they are written. Now, I will concede that Shakespeare put on some really good plays. Who was the one that actually wrote out the plays after the play? Not the Bard. He was busy getting the next two new plays ready for the next showing.

StanH said...

Happy New Year!!!!

It’s getting time to fix the mistake of ’08!

BevfromNYC said...

Stan. Yes the fun begins on Tuesday in Iowa! Let the primary season begin. Let us pray...

AndrewPrice said...

Happy New Year Stan! Yep, Iowa finally starts the ball rolling!

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, Let us pray is right, the only problem is I suspect our prayers won't be answered and these clowns won't turn into better candidates. But it might happen?

AndrewPrice said...

BTW, our own T-Rav came up with an idea of putting up a delegate count tracker. I think that's a great idea and we're working on the logistics of how to do it.

If anyone has any suggestions, please post them here!


Also, post any other ideas for improvements you have. :)

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, On the Shakespeare issue, I will say that I'm certain they were at least finalized by the same man and I suspect they were written by one man as well. The language is just too consistent to have been done by different people. And it's not like the volume of work he created is beyond the scope of one man.

As for him not leaving books, I see your point, but there are several possible explanations. First, it could be he couldn't afford them. At that time, books were still only for the rich as they had yet to be mass produced. Secondly, his plays aren't so historically accurate about obscure topics that it's not likely he could have written them. I've never read a book about Gerald Ford, nor was I old enough to pay attention to politics when he was in office, but I know enough about him to write a play about his political life as president. It's the same thing here -- he was mainly writing about the rulers of the time and a few stories that had been passed down through the ages, e.g. Romeo and Juliet. Even things like Caesar aren't more than most people probably would have known. And don't discount that he might have had friends who could have filled him in on the parts he needed.

Finally, while it is entertaining to speculate about this stuff, barring some definitive proof, I'm just sticking with the idea he wrote them. He is credited with it by the people at the time, no one else claimed them before or after his death, and history has decided he's the man. Barring some serious proof to the contrary, to me, there is no reason to try to take away his credit.

William Shakespeare said...

You'll all be hearing from my lawyers!

T-Rav said...

Yep, I decided to try and keep track of it during the primary season, due to the confusing nature of things. Seriously, I have given myself headaches trying to understand the different rules, but I think I have a basic grasp of it. To give everyone a quick rundown:

-There are approximately 2,286 delegates from the 50 states, DC, and the various territories who will meet in August and vote for a candidate. You need a simple majority of those to win the nomination, so the magic number is 1,144.

-Per new party rules, all state caucuses and all state primaries prior to April 1st use some form of proportional representation in deciding delegate votes. (For example, Iowa has 28 delegates; if Romney gets 20 percent or so in the caucus vote on Tuesday, he should receive six delegates. Delegates chosen by caucuses aren't legally bound to accurately represent their state's votes, though, so this is subject to change.) For primaries occurring after April 1st, it's pretty much a winner-take-all system.

-The count could fluctuate wildly, due to the caucus rules, a few unique state procedures, and especially the fact that several people will of course drop out after the first few primaries and any delegates they've already won will undoubtedly shift.

All of which is to say, I'll have to stay on my toes keeping track of all this. I haven't decided yet whether to opt for a map, chart, or something else. Also, in the event that Romney hits the magic number before the nomination, I'll probably be looking for a tall building to jump from, so maybe someone else could take over then. :-)

Sir Francis Bacon said...

Hey, who's sockpuppeting me??

AndrewPrice said...

Ok, that Francis Bacon comment is hilarious! Well done! :)

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, Good luck with keeping score. It sounds like it's going to be a nightmare.

I'm thinking a simple chart might be best, but who knows?

And don't worry, when Romney gets close, we'll have the Boiler Room Elves tie a bungee chord around your waist. :)

Ed said...

Just in case anyone isn't aware, the ScyFy Channel is running their annual "Twilight Zone" Marathon.

T-Rav said...

Yay! (About the Twilight Zone marathon, that is, not about the other thing. Well, I guess if there was a bungee cord...)

AndrewPrice said...

Ed, Good call! I've been watching it all day. This is one of the best written shows ever!

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, Hmmm, looks like I made a typo. It's a good thing you caught "cord" instead of "chord" because the elves are sticklers for spelling when they can use that as an excuse to get out of doing something. We could have had a real tragedy here!

Ed said...

This is a good one with the girl who vanishes in her own bedroom. The Simpson's parodied this really well with Homer ending up being sucked into a 3-D world.

Mr. Shakespeare's Lawyers (former) said...

Good luck finding anyone to represent you, Will. Weren't you the one who wrote "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."?? -Henry VI Part II

Bill Shakespeare said...

Twas just a jest! Verily!

A Bungee Jumper's Last Thought said...

They didn't give me a 200-foot cord, they gave me a 2,000-foot cord!!! Don't those Elves think to double-check the shipping mani

Management said...

Dear Bungee Jumper,

Thank you for contacting Commentarama with your concerns. We are always happy to receive feedback to help us improve our services.

We have contacted the BRE and they have assured us that they do not make mistakes. . . which they care about.

Best of luck with your jump.

Management

The Real Management said...

Dear Readers:
It has come to our attention that someone impersonating "The Management" has posted the below message.

Dear Bungee Jumper,

Thank you for contacting Commentarama with your concerns. We are always happy to receive feedback to help us improve our services.

We have contacted the BRE and they have assured us that they do not make mistakes. . . which they care about.

Best of luck with your jump.

Management


We believe that we have been hacked and "Anonymous" may be responsible. For you own safety, please refrain from any further bungee jumping until further notice. Please be assured that we looking into this matter and will keep you apprised of any further developments.

The Real Management

Really The Real Management said...

Ignore him, he's fake. That's just the CIA hacking our site... the Culinary Institute of America. They are trying to discourage bungee jumping, which is good clean fun all Americans enjoy regardless of the length of the cord.

End The Fred said...

Cord length is a Fed plot to destroy the economy and imprison us! Switch to gold string!

AndrewPrice said...

Clearly, everyone here is insane. That or it's Sockpuppet Saturday.

tryanmax said...

Okay, so I've missed a heck of a day. Here are my thoughts:

- I suppose I probably could pump out a 1000 page novel in a month if that were the only thing on my plate. But the end product would probably emit steam.

- My favorite Shakespeare work is Titus. I'm partial to the idea of forcing your enemies to literally eat each other. In a pie, no less. (Although Mr. And Mrs. Tenorman Chili is pretty awesome, too.) Anthony Hopkins starred in a particularly stylish film adaptation.

- Fact, everyone who saw an original production of a Shakespeare play is now dead. Clearly the experience is hazardous. We should consider ourselves lucky that we don't know who really wrote those plays, as the knowledge would probably kill us too.

- On the delegate tracker: a bar graph with an accompanying tabular breakdown

- Bungee jumping is for kittens. Base jumping is where it is at. I have done neither. I did repel down a cliff once, though.

definitely-not-tryanmax said...

Sockpuppetting is for kittens and weirdos.

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, Good point about everyone who saw the original Shakespeare being dead. The CDC should look into that!

Sadly, there are people who can pump out 1,000 page books each month and still think their quality isn't crap.

A bar graph might work, so might a simple chart with numbers on it. Sadly, space is a limitation, though I guess it can expand if you click on it.

AndrewPrice said...

Sockpuppet base jumping sounds like an Olympic sport... Muppet Olympics.

The Bungee Jumper in Question said...

Obviously I can't respond to any of the people claiming to be "The Management," because that last thought came right before I hit the ground and died. So stop trying to contact me, because it just adds insult to injury.

T-Rav said...

Well, before this site descends into total madness, I'm heading off to a party. So Happy New Year's to everyone, and let's enjoy our last few months before the Mayan apocalpyse does Barack Obama one better.

tryanmax said...

We have ghosts on Commentarama! A haunted blog. That sounds like an idea for a movie that probably already came out, was popular with "the kidz" and is already forgotten. Cool.

kidz said...

dude thats ben lik so dun

AndrewPrice said...

Have fun at your party T-Rav! And everyone else, if you see a Mayan... run for your lives!

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, The concept of a haunted blog doesn't sound like it could go very far as a movie, but I'll bet we could release it anyway and make a fortune. :)

BevfromNYC said...

Hey, maybe we need a "Countdown to the Apocalypse" calendar!

AndrewPrice said...

Now that's a good idea. It's December 21, right?

I wonder if we can find one on line somewhere? Maybe at Mayanlastlaugh.com?

BevfromNYC said...

Eek! I am glad I said something. I thought it was 12/23/12. I could have been late the end of the world!

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, That's how the dinosaurs bought the farm -- they slept late and failed to get to the meteor shelters! ;)

P.S. NASA "debunked" the Mayan thing this week, but what do they know?

DUQ said...

This is going to be a tough year knowing the end may arrive right before Christmas. Maybe it just applies to Mayans?

AndrewPrice said...

DUQ, The timing does kind of stink. They could at least way until something like the first Monday after vacation. :(

tryanmax said...

Maybe the Mayan calendar is contingent on whether 0bama gets reelected. So, if we vote him out of office, we still get Christmas? Then again, he was the one who said that this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation...so maybe he's the reason NASA debunked the Mayans. You know, like he personally pulled the trigger on bin Laden.

AndrewPrice said...

Happy New Year East Coast!

tryanmax said...

Happy New Year East Coast!

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, Let's just say I wouldn't be surprised if Obama featured prominently on the Mayan Calendar of Doom as their version of Satan. . . only lamer.

AndrewPrice said...

Wow, great minds?! LOL!

DUQ said...

Happy New Year everyone!

BevfromNYC said...

Happy New Year from the East Coast!

tryanmax said...

Great minds and great timing!

AndrewPrice said...

Wow, it's let a time machine... Bev is speaking to us from next year! What's the future like Bev?

Doc Whoa said...

Happy New Year everybody! It's been a great year reading all of your thoughts and I look forward to next year being even better!

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks Doc!

tryanmax, Life is about timing! :)

BevfromNYC said...

Well, Andrew, the air is cleaner, the oceans have begun to recede, unemployment is down, and the federal budget has finally been balanced! Really! You'll see when you get here!

AndrewPrice said...

Wow! Cool beans! I can't wait to get there. Thanks Bev!


For a moment, I thought you were quoting Bill and Ted... "bowling scores are up, putt-putt scores are way down."

tryanmax said...

We have seen the future, and it is us.

BevfromNYC said...

Oh, but just to warn you...Obama is still President.

AndrewPrice said...

Argh, President of what? This sounds like a contradiction -- things going well but Obama still President? Perhaps you mean President of the Disgraced One-Termers Club?

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, Perhaps we are the ones we've been waiting for?

Though that makes us kind of stupid for waiting....

tryanmax said...

Happy New Year Flyover Country!

AndrewPrice said...

Yep, nobody important again until LA has their New Year. :/

T-Rav said...

"Yep, nobody important again until LA has their New Year. :/"

EXCUSE ME???

Happy New Year, jerks.

tryanmax said...

Don't sweat it T-Rav. You and I know the real measure of importance is the date of your birthday. ;)

tryanmax said...

Happy New Year Mountains!

AndrewPrice said...

Woohoo. It's New Year! Now I can go to bed now.

Happy New Year everyone.


Happy New Year T-Rav, even if you don't live in L.A. ;)

Individualist said...

Happy New Year Everyone!

tryanmax said...

Happy New Year Left Coast! Alaska, Hawaii, you're each on your own. I'm outtie.

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

Historians also said that FDR was a GREAT president and that he had no involvement in creating the Great Depression. Slowly, we are finding out the opposite is true.

They also say that he wasn't involved in starting World War II with Japan. We know that isn't true because prior to the attack, Japan had been in good faith negotiations with FDR's Administration, which rebuffed and insulted Japan time and again. Up until Sept of 1941, Japan had, for want of a better word, doves in charge. At that point the militants took over and took grave offense to FDR's insults. Some people are actually saying that FDR's/USA's indifference to Japan's woes were the reason the militants gained ascendancy and attacked.

On the minor point about Shakespeare, historians are content with assigning him the role. It is so much easier that way. On the historical "facts" about FDR, socialists er... historians are content as well. In the grand scale of things, history is written by the Victors, not the victims.

From all accounts of Shakespeare's personal life, he was a scoundrel, a liar, an adulterer, a thief and he gave his second best bed to his wife. Is it so hard of a stretch to think that he didn't include some of these aspects into his professional life?

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, I hear that Alaska and Hawaii never had a New Year because you went to bed... they're stuck in the past now. How sad. :(

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, The thing is, with Shakespeare, it's just speculation. There is no proof of anything. With FDR, there is a lot of proof about what he did and people are only now looking beyond the MSM-manufactured myth about FDR.

With Shakespeare, the only evidence we have is that certain plays were written, he claimed the ownership when they first appeared and no one at the time disputed that. To overcome that there needs to be solid proof that someone else wrote them, not just speculation about possibilities. That's the problem with most desconstructionist thought -- it's just guess work, it's not supported.

tryanmax said...

My apologies to Alaska. However, maybe by depriving Hawaii a new year, I have successfully trapped 0bama in the past, never to bother us again. We can hope....

AndrewPrice said...

If only it were that easy.

//sigh

Ed said...

I'm looking forward to 2012, especially getting rid of Obama. I've never felt more excited about voting someone out of office.

Ed said...

Also, since this is about New Year's resolutions, I resolve to do anything I can to vote Obama out of office.

AndrewPrice said...

Ed, Nice resolution.

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

You are right. Still, it makes one wonder and it is a fun speculation. It is what I call a harmless conspiracy theory which allows the user to go all out and there are no consequences of note. :-))

Joel Farnham said...

Oh and Happy New Year to all. Merry Christmas as well. :-)

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, Absolutely, it is fun to think about. Indeed, as conspiracy theories go, this is one of the more entertaining to think about. And there is a lot of good reason to think there might be something to it. :)

Happy New Year to you too!

AndrewPrice said...

Broncos game is about to start. Gooo Tebow! Prove the world wrong! :)

USArtguy said...

Happy New Year one and all. 2012 is 15 hours old at this moment and it's been a great year so far! It's got to be better than last year.

Anonymous said...

Merry New Year!

I don't do resolutions. When I was in school, I would make resolutions for the new school year in an attempt to improve myself. I wouldn't do it for New Years because that's the middle of the school year - who wants to do something different and possibly get noticed by the wrong people when there are only five months left!? :-)

As for 2012, I'll be starting school again a week from tomorrow. I have to pick up my books this week - FAU's website leaves much to be desired: I can't even get the full titles of the books I need so I can get them on Amazon for less! I need to physically go to the school bookstore with my schedule and hopefully not pay through the nose. (Buy used, I know!)

I also ordered my new cell phone from Amazon Wireless, Amazon's cell phone store. I wanted to get an iPhone 4S now that they're on Sprint but, in an effort to save money, I went with the Samsung Galaxy S II instead. Siri will have to go one without me, though Google is working on their own voice feature codenamed Majel (get it?).

Oh, Andrew, you'll love this. Yesterday with friends, I watched an episode of the mid-90s sci-fi show seaQuest. I don't know if you remember the show but it took place on a submarine in the near future and starred Roy Scheider.

Anyway, William Shatner guest starred on an episode as an Eastern European dictator (!). Of course, he neither looked nor sounded Eastern European - he had a mustache and that was about it. He delivers the following three lines of dialogue perfectly straight: "Bloodshed follows me like a wedding train," "I need your dolphin!!", and "I am a direct descendant of Vlad the Impaler."

Hilarious! The episode even featured some helicopter stock footage from Airwolf, too.

AndrewPrice said...

Happy New Year USArtguy! I hope things go well for you this year. :)

AndrewPrice said...

Scott, Good luck with school. Buy used or steal... stealing is best.

I do recall Seaquest but I rarely watched it at the time and I don't recall the Shatner episode... but that sounds fitting somehow. LOL! At least he didn't say "I had a dream in which I was replaced by a bald man in pajamas."

I'm not much of a believer in New Years resolutions either. They're ok, but it's better to get in the habit of fixing your faults when you find them rather than waiting until a special day.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, What are you trying to do?

T-Rav said...

Don't bother me while I'm working!

T-Rav said...

Oh, and 7-3 is the final score of a baseball game, not a football game. Just an observation.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Happy New Year guys n' gals!

Andrew said "Plus, so far at least, the recovery has been even quicker than last time. Not to mention, it's just great to see detail everywhere again."

That's great news! However, now that you can see the details again can you see the Devil?
I heard he likes to hang out there.

tryanmax said...

USArtguy, glad to hear the New Year is started right for you. Things are starting well for me, too! And not just because I got the crystal in the divorce and spent the evening drinking champagne from it! (Actually, I think it was spumante.)

Things feel strangely optimistic this first day of the new year. I know everybody likes to be optimistic with the start of a new year, yet somehow it doesn't just feel like a side-effect of the holiday.

I'll tell you what, if things go well in November, I fully expect a late fourth quarter market upswing that all of the "experts" will find "unexpected." Wouldn't that put punctuation on everything conservatives have been saying for the last four years!?

Here's to a New Year that is better than the last.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Joel said:

"They also say that he wasn't involved in starting World War II with Japan. We know that isn't true because prior to the attack, Japan had been in good faith negotiations with FDR's Administration, which rebuffed and insulted Japan time and again. Up until Sept of 1941, Japan had, for want of a better word, doves in charge."

Hi Joel.
I respectfully disagree.

Alhough I loath much of what FDR did, I can't say he was wrong in not negotiating with emperial Japan at that time.

I also wouldn't call Japan's leader(s) at that point "doves" since they were raping, enslaving and killing the Chinese (among others).

Even if FDR did negotiate with them we would've still been drawn into the war at a more inoportune time, eventially, because England was on the brink.

We already were helping England unofficially and it would've been insane to write them off as a loss for the sake of a temporary peace.

There's much more to say on that topic but I honestly don't believe that FDR wanted a war.
However, he must've had an idea about how bad it would be to letr the Japanese and Nazis have their way.

Regardless, it was the nazis and imperial Japanese were the ones that left FDR with no choice.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Man, my spelling in that last comment is atricious!

Atrocious! And atricious!

Spelling Cops said...

We'll let you off with a warning...this time.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Andrew: LOL! at your comment in reply to "we are the ones we have been waiting for!" Hilarious!

You make comedic mincemeat of those banal golden calfs. :^)

Nanking said...

Ben speaks the truth, he does.

AndrewPrice said...

Hey folks, sorry I've been out with friends starting the new year right.

I agree about the sense of optimism. This feels like a really good year coming up. :0

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, They did make the playoffs, though sadly they backed into it. I was hoping they would have kicked in the front door. :(

AndrewPrice said...

Ben, It's much better to be able to see the devil than not see him and have him bite you in the rear when you aren't looking! LOL!

On the Japanese, I agree. They were highly aggressive and they were pushing their way through Asia long before the war -- China, Korea, etc. And the things they did to those countries was incredibly despicable. Going to war with us was simply part of the long term plan.

AndrewPrice said...

Ben, It's kind of hard not to make mincemeat out of Obama's garbage. In fact, he should be the gift that keeps on giving for comedians. . . if only they could look past their politics.

tryanmax said...

Andrew, how dare you have a life outside of this website! ;)

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, Better than drinking coke out of a styrofoam cup!

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, It was an accident... it will never happen again! LOL!

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Andrew, I concur! LOL!
Better to see the devil you know than to not see the devil you don't know.

Okay, that sounded more profound when I first thought of it. Now, not so much.

tryanmax said...

Oh, I drank coke from styrofoam, too.

AndrewPrice said...

Ben, I think it's the rear end bite that makes it all sound more profound than it really is. ;)

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, It wouldn't be a party without one of those!

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Andrew:

I blame FDR for taking so long to get involved in WW2.

He basically kicked the can down the road until he had to act.

Millions of lives would've been saved had he listened to Churchill and acted sooner.
And probably without making a pact with the devil, I mean Stalin.

FDR did have charisma and the gift of gab, so to speak (like Reagan but without his wisdom) so I'm sure he could've sold it to the American people (many of which had ties to many countries in Europe that were being razed).

And the nazis did attack our merchant marines which was an act of war.

I think FDR just wanted it all to go away and stuck his head in the sand as long as he could.

Once Japan attacked Pearl Harbor the choice was made for FDR.

It actually would've made more sense for Japan not to attack us and many of Japan's top military officials, including their admiral of the navy advised against it.

I shudder to imagine what would've happened had America not intervened when we did, which was almost too late as it was.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Best thing about styrofoam is it doesn't break.
Plus you don't hafta wash 'em.

Wait, you just drank coke, Andrew?
What kind of party was it? :^)

AndrewPrice said...

Ben, I think that's true on all points. First, we were essentially at war with Germany in the Atlantic long before it became official and we were supplying Russia at the same time we claimed to be neutral -- so we were at war, FDR just didn't have the courage to stand up and admit it. If he had, he probably could have cut the war a lot shorter and saved a lot of lives.

And you're right about Japan being foolish. I realize they were being strangled with a trade embargo from the US, but they really should have left us dangling at peace while they took India and Australia from the British. That would have crushed Britain, which would have let Germany and Japan turn their full attention to Russia and win the war while we sat on the sidelines.

But that's not how it happened fortunately.

DEA said...

We are watching you, cokeheads!

Um, wanna buy a gun?

AndrewPrice said...

Ben, a coke party.... wait, that's doesn't sound right somehow? ;)

AndrewPrice said...

DEA, Of course we don't want to buy any guns.... do we look like Mexican cartels to you?

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

I had a Shasta Cola part once.
It's not called the poor man's coke for nothin'.

(Hangs head in shame).

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Helpful tip:

Shasta cola and cheap rum doesn't go well together. Just sayin'.

DEA said...

I don't know, what does a Mexican Cartel look like?

(Calling the Mexican Cartelophobe pc policia).

Eric "you want to super size that gun order?" Holder said...

I thought Operation Gunrunner was our departments latest effort to stop folks from running with guns, which is dangerous by the way.

AndrewPrice said...

Ben, They call it "Coke and Rum" rather than "Shasta and cheap Rum" for a reason.

FYI, that's the college version. And you haven't lived until you drank a bottle of rum cheaper than the plastic cup you drink it from. Ah... college. Barf.

AndrewPrice said...

DEA, I'd say they look like Danny Trejo... and they're carrying lots of cash and drugs. We're 0 for 3 on that.

AndrewPrice said...

Yes indeed, running with guns is dangerous... so is shooting and driving.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

AndrewPrice said...
Ben, They call it "Coke and Rum" rather than "Shasta and cheap Rum" for a reason.

I know that, now. I could've used that advice 30 years ago, LOL!

Speaking of cheap alcohol, did you ever notice that cheap tequila tastes better than cheap rum? Relatively speaking.

AndrewPrice said...

Ben, I'm not much of a drinker -- hate the taste of alcohol -- but I did learn in college that if you're going to drink, don't go cheap.

T-Rav said...

Whether you're drinking Coke, rum, or Obama Kool-Aid, make sure you do it in one of these (probably all the rage in West Virginia):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKZqGJONH68&ob=av2e

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, I've never seen that, but it's pretty darn funny. He's got quite a list of guest too.

Here's the link: LINK

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Obama koolaid oughtta have warning labels because it will make you go blind. Seriously. Of course you hafta be partly blind simply to drink it and probably not one to pay heed to warning labels anyway.

Perhaps a required history course so that the brain damag...I mean, mentally challenged can see what they are getting themselves (and everyone else) into first would be more prudent.

Can't see the vid but if West Virginny (mountain momma) is involved there's sure to be laughter.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Andrew, I'm not really a lush, I jest play one in the blogosphere, sometimes.

Besides, I can't afford to be a lush and I'm too old to drink the rot gut stuff or really hard stuff.
Heck, I gotta take antacid before I drink water. Or was that after drinking water?

Well, you get my point, I think. :^)

AndrewPrice said...

Ben, It's a song about a red plastic cup. West Virginy isn't mentioned.

On the ObamaAid, yeah, you definitely need to be blind to ignore the warning labels, but that's what most liberals are.

I believe it's antacid before water never been notter or something like that.

tryanmax said...

I find almost every flavor of Kool-Aid mixes well with vodka. Not sure about rum.

tryanmax said...

I knew a European exchange student that was absolutely thrilled to find that Americans really do drink out of those red plastic cups. Apparently they don't have such things over there, nor do they have keggers.

AndrewPrice said...

Vodka KoolAid! Woo hoo!

AndrewPrice said...

We should put that in the travel guides -- pictures of the red cup. LOL1

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

LOL! Oh yeah, the red plastic cups are conservative too (red). Berkeley probably has green ones.

I think ObamaAid also has a lot of acid in it. The LSD kind. Then again, having dealt with people on acid (they were, not me) in our loco ER they tend to make more sense than the average Obamamaniac.

AndrewPrice said...

Ben, No doubt they are green at Berkley... if they even allow evil plastic near the school.

I'm glad you clarified who was on LSD! LOL!

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Tryanmax: thrilled? I suppose it would be a novelty for someone raised there. But thrilled? LOL! Sorry, it is funny. Not laughing at your friend just picturing the look of amazement at the red plastic drinking cups. :^)

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Me too. I'm learning that self editing can be ben-eficial.

The ER is crazy enough without acid, lol. Actually, the meth users are usually the most whacked out, stark raving mad looney tunes (without the funny part).

Then there's the one's that mix everything. Bad mojo times ten. Think crazy psychopaths on steroids. Not much fun to restrain but less fun not to restrain.

Good workout though. :^)

AndrewPrice said...

Ben, I've seen some of that too and I'm amazed at the people who still think this stuff should be legal.

tryanmax said...

Ben, "thrilled" is exactly the word. According to a mutual friend, the first thing she did when she got home was show off red cups she took back home. Apparently it is a subject of some intrigue amongst European teenagers.

tryanmax said...

Could be worse. Could be krokodil. Just Google it. Don't do an image search if you've recently eaten.

AndrewPrice said...

It's nice to hear that we're like a sociological curiosity for European teens.

I'd never heard of this krokodil stuff, but it sounds great! Idiots.

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