Lone Prairie Roundup: First Issue Some are city folks and such. We may seem a little elementary at times. The Hollywood formula for a Western Beautiful women,good guys, bad guys, http://www.cow-boy.com/roundup1.htm
Extractions: Lone Prairie Roundup THE EDITORIAL PAGE The adventure is under way. Welcome to the club. The Roundup will keep you up to date on CowBoy Heritage Club activities, special deals, and other events in the months and years ahead. In this first issue we take up where The CowBoy Handbook left offmore facts fun, and philosophy, with emphasis on fun. When this club was in the planning stage (not that it isn't now) one dream was to someday have a trail drive with genuine Texas Longhorns. The club is not ready for that, yet, but the Great American Trail Drive is. See page 16 for details. One of the most impressive sights I've seen was a herd of 93 Longhorns the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America brought to Dodge City in 1966. If you have never seen a large herd of these critters, check out this event. You have plenty of time and it's an experience from all three Golden Eras. Left over from the Handbook Unlike the National Geographic Society, we don't have millions of members and a big magazine. We do have the ability to respond to what you want-when we know what that is. So let us know.
Ned Rice On Tom DeLay On National Review Online Besides, regular folks know that exterminators perform a useful service, theycreate jobs, and they keep us all safe from bad guys like bugs and mice. http://www.nationalreview.com/rice/rice200503230745.asp
Extractions: T om DeLay is much in the news these days, even for a Majority Whip whose party's ascendancy (here and abroad) is beginning to resemble a beautiful, freakish juggernaut. Since their 40-year stranglehold on Congress slipped away at century's turn the Democrats become either apoplectic or befuddled whenever Republicans see fit to exercise their hard-won legislative leverage. Which makes Tom DeLay a lightning rod for criticism because, after all, they don't go after guys who don't know how to TCB. Or to put it another way, you'll notice there aren't a lot of "Impeach Mary Bono" websites. Granted, being an exterminator is not a glamour job. There was even a time when I might have chuckled at the thought of someone making a living by setting mousetraps and spraying baseboards. Then one day I discovered that my kitchen was infested with cockroaches. Before I knew it my entire view of the highly trained, hard-working professionals in the much-maligned pest-control industry had changed. Much as one's view of, say, urology might change in the event that one ever required the services of an urologist. Today I happen to believe that exterminators are like gods among us, right up there with my tax guy, the guy who comes over when my cable is out and my...well, let's just say a certain physician I happened to meet recently.
The Corner On National Review Online They pass resolutions on Cuba (good), Israel (bad) and american foreign policy These guys always look good on paperthat means, they went to the right http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/03_09_14_corner-archive.asp
Extractions: It's important not to stretch too far when looking to draw wider meaning from the appalling number of heat-wave related deaths this summer in France. The French family is not about to fall apart, and France's healthcare system is better than anything across the English Channel. That said, a death toll on the scale that occurred was more than a series of individual tragedies, and it deserves more of a response than it seems to have got. Writing for Austria's Format magazine, Christian Ortner has not been impressed: ""European intellectuals went wild when the electricity failed in Baghdad. They note the 10,000 heat deaths in France with a shrug of the shoulders." This is an analogy that shouldn't be pushed too far, but interesting nonetheless. Via Bill Dawson blogging away from Vienna
Looka! 01.2003 | Uh, Are You Gonna Finish That? He is the worst president in all of american history. These guys sure dopick on Mexico a lot, home of many of the bad candies on their list. http://www.gumbopages.com/looka/archive/2003-01.html
Extractions: 2. n. Chuck Taggart 's weblog , hand-made and updated (almost) daily, focusing on food and drink, music (especially of the roots variety), New Orleans and Louisiana culture, news, movies, books, sf, media and culture, Macs, politics, humor, reviews, rants, the author's life and opinions, witty and/or smart-arsed comments and whatever else tickles the author's fancy.
Natalie Davis' All Facts And Opinions Welcome to american history photo by Natalie Davis Home safe and sound following my And wait The article showcases proGLBT companies as bad guys and http://gratefuldread.net/archives/cat/cat_glbt_issues.html
Extractions: http://www.makepovertyhistory.org Summer of Secrets is the theme of this year's edition of "Big Brother," the CBS reality show that traps a group of people in a house and leaves them to fight over power until one is left standing. As in previous years, hundreds of the show's fans look to Joker's Updates to keep them apprised of happenings in the house. But if all BB6 fans believe Joker's is a haven for them, they had better think again. Word to the wise: If you are gay, lesbian, or bisexual, Joker's may not be a safe place for you. Sure, it can be fun to dish the dirt on the BB6 houseguests. Members also have a forum in which they can create polls along the lines of "which houseguest is your fave?" or "who is the most evil player in the house?" One poll question posted was quite interesting: "Gals, who would you like to spend the rest of your life with?" The list of potential answers allowed included only the names of the male houseguests. Meaning, only heterosexuals were permitted to play. And the same was true for a poll that offered a variation: "Guys, who would you rather spend the rest of your life with?" Again, the answers were geared only to heterosexual participants. In other words, the poll reinforced the notion that everybody is "straight." Which, as you can imagine, is a kick in the gut to someone who isn't.
Andy Mcnab Discussion Even down to the point that the good guys have to watch their background before though or else he never visits real houses where regular US folks live! http://www.gnooks.com/discussion/andy mcnab__4.html
Character Does Matter And the way polls read, a lot of Americans seem to think it doesn t matter. The sad fact of history is that there arent bad guys and good guysthe http://www.leaderu.com/real/ri9809/green.html
Extractions: The following is a transcript of a lecture to faculty presented by Frederica Mathewes-Green at the University of Delaware annual leadership breakfast, co-sponsored by Christian Leadership Ministries. While discussing topics for this talk, this one was suggested to me: Does Character Matter? Is character an important component of leadership? Can you be a leader without attention to personal integrity, or private morality? Since that topic was raised some events have brought the question to national prominence. And the way polls read, a lot of Americans seem to think it doesn't matter. Competence is everything. Personal integrity is expendable. Now, I don't want to dwell on this particular example but rather want to look at much larger, more serious historical examples of exercising leadership without exercising character. Rather than examining the current microcosm, look at the macrocosm to draw the issue more starkly.
Anti-com.com : Multimedia For Your Brain tooo bad i m not closer i missed a good chance to fisk some morons now Hi guys.This is Jonas Salk from Protest Warrior. I ma regular poster over there http://www.anti-com.com/weblog/archives/001040.html
Extractions: HOME MISSION ABOUT US INTRO ... LEGAL U.S. Constitution: First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Parkway Rest Stop: February 2005 Archives Her bottomline version of recent american history was some cocktail of malehegemony, Not being one who is anxious to take chances with bad guys, http://www.parkwayreststop.com/archives/2005_02.html
Extractions: Main Are you old enough to have received tuition bills for your kids education that roll your eyes to the back of your cruller? I am, and I have. I recall getting bills from daughters college (a small fancy schmancy college that serves Designer Water) for about a zillion dollars per credit for a course that was called something like The Medium of Movement. Huh? As such, I pity the parents of a kid at Centre College of Kentucky who get their next tuition bill for a zillion dollars so that their freshman kid can take a course called " The Café and Public Life , " which is described as follows: The café has long been a storied place for creating public life, from convivial social groups to intellectual salons to revolutionary cells. We will study how the café is a third place not home, not work where people from different social groups can meet and mix. Caffeine, especially in coffee, tea, and chocolate, has fueled a modern public sphere that promotes hard work and clear thinking. We will make several field trips to different kinds of cafés to see for ourselves how they can be incubators of public life, and to actively create critical discourse ourselves by talking to café regulars. When I was a freshman in college, my courses were as follows:
Nexus » 2005 » March little evidence that regular folks thought of outlaws as being their idea ofheroes. In this movie, the infamous Jesse James gang are the good guys. http://www.omgn.com/nexus/?m=20050304
Xtcian: Thin Ties With Piano Keys With the War on Terror, I think think you re rightregular folks are getting a conflict with undisputed good guys and bad guys, with us saving the day. http://www.xtcian.com/arch/002235.php
Extractions: In which Certain Events that happen to Ian end up as Compelling Words designed to Entertain all Comers. Main I've been wondering lately about the permanence of American moods; i.e., how long are we going to suffer through this redneck fight-or-flight America-first conservative hoo-hah before the great unwashed masses get sick of it and move on to something else? The current pace of fear-mongering in this country is exhausting, and if history teaches us any lesson, it's that a hard fad's gotta die. We were talking about America's moods on an email list the other day, and here's a few I came up with: Americans' interest in WWII: 1941-45 (4 years) Jingoistic terror-obsessed conservatism: 2001-? Given the attention span of Americans en masse, it seems like we can only stomach a "movement" for around 5-6 years before we move onto something else. Of course, in the middle of such a movement, you can't ever imagine it ending (like Rubik's Cubes in 1981) and even now we can't see our way through the fog of Bush's "War on Terror." But these things must end. There will come a day, even after more spectacular suicide attacks like 9/11 and the London bombings, when most ordinary Americans will realize that while Death will kindly stop for them (apologies to E. Dickinson), they probably won't die today, or even tomorrow.
The Old West Links Alpine Outlaws The most revered group of bad guys San Diego County has ever seen! A PRESENTATION of the history and Development of the american West, http://www.oldwest.org/cows/links.html
Gapers Block, Chicago, IL - Airbags: Election Fun With The Regulars of the most powerful and resilient municipal politicians in american history . Work for the good guys. (That s as close to a rhyme as I could get.) http://www.gapersblock.com/airbags/archives/election_fun_with_the_regulars/
Extractions: @import "/gb-inside.css"; Home Submit Donate Shop ... Revenge of the Second City by Ramsin Canon I got an email recently from a friend requesting information about an election tactic she'd heard of called "ballot management," which the Regular Democratic Organization uses to ensure their candidate gets in. It does indeed exist, I told her, and is just one of many methods. It struck me that although it is well known that the so-called "Machine" (better described simply as the Regulars) is still remarkably capable in municipal and state-wide elections, the details are obscured by myths, folklore, and misconceptions. Thus this public service announcement. The Chicago precinct captain organization has been considerably weakened over the last 10 to 15 years, ironically under the watch of one of the most powerful and resilient municipal politicians in American history. In certain wards, especially the gentrifying wards along the lakefront and near northwest areas of Ukranian Village, Wicker Park, Bucktown, and Logan Square, and at many precincts throughout the city, gone are the surly, snarling captains hauling in voters, and his minions forcing palm cards on dutiful voters. They are down, but they are not out. Some areas still have organizations capable of bullying and cajoling voters into picking the right man (or woman). But the power of the Regular Democratic Organization is much more sophisticated than this old notion of precinct organizations and city workers canvassing neighborhoods. The Regulars can kill candidacies long before they can have any effect at the polls:
Polemics: December 2003 Archives Several folks in the group I manage have been exchanging mockingmulticultural holiday good guys and bad guys. Playing the game of Realpolitik, http://polemics.us/archives/2003_12.php
Extractions: « November 2003 Main January 2004 » The latest issue of Smithsonian magazine features an intriguing, and intriguingly presented, story. It follows a Bantu refugee family from Somalia to Phoenix, immigrating from Fifth-World poverty into middle-class American culture. In the hard magazine version, the story opens with a picture of sheet-metal shacks, lined in rows, sitting on brown clay. The shacks stretch for miles in what looks like a scene from Lawrence of Arabia. Next, we see a family of nine. A father, Hassan, his wife, his seven kids, and his 61-year old mother. We are told that in Somalia, they've been persecuted because of their race (the Arab muslims are apparently unfriendly, to put it mildly, toward sub-Saharan African muslims). They've been waiting for years to get their immigration papers to America. Three years ago, the Feds were going to "relocate" 12,000 Somalis to the U.S., but 9-11 produced a lot of "red tape" for these refugees. Then, we see the family at a "cultural orientation class" in Somalia, led by the International Organization for Migration. We get a picture of the women of the family, staring amazed at a one-dollar bill. They learn how to make omelettes. Then a picture of them examining a toilet, with a caption that tells us that they think it's a chair. As it turns out, Hassan and family are so poor that they don't even own a chicken, which is the "bottom of Somalian poverty." Living conditions like this haven't existed in the Western world since the 1860s.
Sundance Movie Reviews: January 2004 Itsa sad chapter in american history. But lets not ignite the debate by I wouldnt mind it so much if they were all really bad guys and I had never http://www.summitpacificinc.com/sundance/2004_01_01_archive.html
Extractions: Wow! Stacy Peralta has followed up Dogtown and Z-Boys with an equally stunning documentary about the history of the big-wave surfing culture in America. Piecing together insider archival footage along with interviews from the big-wave legends, we are transported into the daring and free-spirited life of the early pioneers whose sheer passion for the sport spawned an industry that today touches the lives of millions. Itâs in getting to know these icons and their stories that gives the film its warmth. You can feel the respect Peralta has for these men as we hear accounts of Greg Noll striding from a pack of awestruck fellow surfers on the beach to singularly challenge 50-foot swells off Hawaiiâs North Coast. Or Jeff Clark, surfing the outrageously dangerous Maverick off the northern California coast all alone for 15 years before it was discovered and became the surfing destination in California. And the storybook history of Laird Hamilton, todayâs surfing icon. Hearing Greg Noll reverently refer to Hamilton as the best surfer ever sends chills up the spine.
TAPPED: June 2005 Archives legend of american history and legal achievement with a very conservative, The right desperately needs them to be bad guys, according to Michael http://www.prospect.org/weblog/archives/2005/06/
Extractions: Continuous commentary from The American Prospect Online Main June 30, 2005 EVEN MORE SOBERING. Larry Diamond , a former senior adviser to the coalition government in Iraq and a current fellow at the Hoover Institution , lays out where America went wrong in Iraq in a piece in today's San Jose Mercury News From the moment that Baghdad fell in April 2003 and much of the public infrastructure was systematically destroyed, the United States failed to fulfill the first overriding obligation of an occupying power: to establish and maintain order. Coalition (mainly American) forces failed to secure Iraq's cities, roads, electricity grids, oil pipelines and borders. The tenacious insurgency, fed and emboldened by an escalating influx of foreign jihadist terrorists, sabotaged roads and crucial facilities as rapidly as they were repaired. Add to this central error epic hubris: The coalition government relied heavily on a revolving door of diplomats and other personnel who would leave just as they had begun to develop local knowledge and ties, and on a large cadre of eager young neophytes whose brashness often gave offense in a very age- and status-conscious society. One young political appointee (a 24-year-old Ivy League graduate) argued that Iraq should not enshrine judicial review in its constitution because it might lead to the legalization of abortion. A much more senior Iraqi interlocutor (a widely experienced Iraqi-American lawyer) became so exasperated with the young man's audacity that he finally challenged him:
Roger L. Simon: Hollywood Asleep Disney did one for the good guys. Posted by Buddy Larsen TypeKey Profile He seems not only to be ignorant of american history but his own as well, http://www.rogerlsimon.com/mt-archives/2005/06/hollywood_aslee.php
Extractions: Main Index Hollywood box office is off this year by a fairly disastrous nine percent (accounting for ticket price inflation). Marketing people will give dozens of explanations but the reason couldn't be more obvious: The movies - with a few exceptions - are hugely predictable and unimaginative. In other words, who would want to go? A secondary explanation is that the coveted 17-year old boy audience is staying home to play computer games. Why wouldn't they? I don't play them myself but from what I understand many are far more original than Hollywood pabulum - and they are interactive. Of course, the other elephant in the room is Hollywood's lack of response to the world conflagration all around us, especially from a direction that would even hint the US was on the right side (other than Team America from the far-hipper-than-the-boomers South Park crew). This is a far cry from WWII when films from Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo to the bizarrely pro-Stalin Mission to Moscow abounded.
Joannejacobs.com: World War II Without War Its hard to be engaged when everything centers on the bad America did and not But I don t think it s good history to talk about good guys and bad guys http://www.joannejacobs.com/mtarchives/014106.html
Extractions: « Too tall to teach Main Unacceptable » American students learn how World War II affected Japanese-Americans, blacks and women, but not much about the actual war, writes Jay Mathews in the Washington Post. Students tend to learn social history but not military history. Tiffany Charles got a B in history last year at her Montgomery County high school, but she is not sure what year World War II ended. She cannot name a single general or battle, or the man who was president during the most dramatic hours of the 20th century. Yet the 16-year-old does remember in some detail that many Japanese American families on the West Coast were sent to internment camps. "We talked a lot about those concentration camps," she said. . . . Among 76 teenagers interviewed near their high schools this week in Maryland, Virginia and the District, recognition of the internment camps, a standard part of every area history curriculum, was high two-thirds gave the right answer when asked what happened to Japanese Americans during the war. But only one-third could name even one World War II general, and about half could name a World War II battle. Rosie the Riveter has trumped Patton.
Argghhh! The Home Of Two Of Jonah's Military Guys.. about american military hardware, might be that way; or folks that vote We save people from bad guys. We are the US Cavalry coming over the http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/004093.html
Extractions: by Andrew J. Bacevich, Oxford University Press, 2005 $28 ($21 if you get it via AAFES) When I sat down to read this book, I deliberately did *not* read other people's reviews, I wanted to have as uninfluenced an opinion (other than by my own biases) as I could. Bottom line? The book is not disrespectful of the soldier or the profession of arms. It is *not* a flattering portrait of the political and policy classes. And its all *your* fault, Jane and Joe Sixpack. Random Fate and Alan of GenX@40 will be comfortable with this book, Im thinking. Greyhawk weighs in here The interview by Chester is here (and is also the broken link down below that none of you told me about... so, not really reading it *all*, eh?) Politically, Bacevich characterizes himself as nothing more than a social conservative, but as you read, and the "huge disparities in income-distribution" and excessive consumption lines start falling off the page, you realize that Mr. Bacevich is more a New Deal Democrat with a whiff of populist. Which is fine, that doesn't damage his basic thesis, if it does make (to this reader) for some inapt passages in the book. But he's either clueless about his interest in Progressive politics, or, more likely, wants to mask that so that people like me will read the book. Heh. He'll get people like me with the title. Most of the readers of this blog who comment or communicate via email will find the book a good read, regardless of whether or not you end up agreeing with Bacevich's thesis.