. . . Some of the backlash against things that the Bush Administration has been doing probably stems from a lack of understanding of just how bad the law has always been in many areas, leading to a false impression that things represent shocking new departures from the Constitution when they really represent . . . er, . . well-settled departures from the Constitution.

True that.

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I love it.

The fact that we lose so many children to this disease is outrageous in this day and age. I'd love to see it eradicated.

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A lot of Methodists don't approve of drinking, either.

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They aren't going gently into that good night.

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Although I'd like to think my hips aren't quite that big.

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I showed my mother how to conduct a search on the web.

I'm not sure I was thinking clearly at the time.

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I still have to produce two short articles for my nonprofit organization (on the volunteer side, naturally).

And then I wake up to do some more scut work for the same people—also on the volunteer side.

You may laugh, and I would too. It's also possible/probable that I've taken the volunteerism thing a bit too far. But in volunteer-land I've really learned how to disengage my ego from the work I do, and this has truly helped in terms of how I deal with my clients: Now I know how to can the emotion when it's necessary. I don't have to own every project I work on. I don't have to get my way all the time. I don't have to know everything that's going on around me.

If you want to know the truth, it's rather nice. Now if only the public utility would pay me for the colorful, crazy three weeks I spent with them. I'll give them the full 30 days before I sic mobsters, lawyers, or my mother's pit bull on them.

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. . . that drugs are bad—unless, of course, you get them from your doctor. Then they are good.

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I still love David Cassidy. He was my first crush: I was eight years old, but very passionate.

And he's turned into quite a showman/performer. Not to mention a good sport about all the swooning middle-aged ladies who attend his shows.

Not that I was one of them about five years ago at a little theatre in Las Vegas' Rio casino. Oh, no.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 11:34 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 Nice blog you have here And don't worry about David Cassidy, every little girl has their crazy crushes..hehe! Nice to meet you Miss Attila!

Posted by: Christy at October 17, 2007 08:23 PM (lETs9)

2 I agree, nice blog! Everyone who agrees should send you premium gin!

Posted by: Darrell at October 17, 2007 09:35 PM (cZ7zg)

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HipNerd is there. He's helping my mother get her Mac configured properly. My hope is that she'll start using the Web (so she can have any info she wants at her fingertips) and the Net (so I can write her little missives at all hours—or when I actually remember what I wanted to ask her about).

He asks for suggestions about what should go on her "start" page.

"How about a link to Science News?" I suggest. (Attila the Mom is a former science teacher.)

"Or we could put in a link to your blog," he remarks slyly.

"Great idea," I tell him. "But unfortunately, I can't remember the URL for my blog. I don't even recall its name right now."

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Actually, I'm working for my favoritest manager in my favoritest department for my favoritest client.

The job parameters:

• Figure out what to do;
• Figure out how to do it;
• Go do it;
• Figure out when you'll need to be in the office to get it done, and be there then;
• Don't bother me too much;
• Don't make a bunch of expensive mistakes.

So I do that, and then I send him a bill at the end of the print cycle. It's like I've died and gone to vocational heaven.

Finally.

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Well, sort of. New project for a longstanding client.

It's going to be kind of fun.

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Via Insty, a George Will column on how our tax dollars are being used to subsidize progressive fiddle-faddle in social work programs across the nation:

A study prepared by the National Association of Scholars, a group that combats political correctness on campuses, reviews social work education programs at 10 major public universities and comes to this conclusion: Such programs mandate an ideological orthodoxy to which students must subscribe concerning "social justice" and "oppression."

In 1997, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) adopted a surreptitious political agenda in the form of a new code of ethics, enjoining social workers to advocate for social justice "from local to global levels." A widely used textbook -- "Direct Social Work Practice: Theory and Skill" -- declares that promoting "social and economic justice" is especially imperative as a response to "the conservative trends of the past three decades." Clearly, in the social work profession's catechism, whatever social and economic justice are, they are the opposite of conservatism.

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that we should be keeping Chris Muir's family in our prayers.

I'll light a candle for his sister. My Protestant brethren will want to concentrate on praying that the rest of the clan will have strength and gain comfort. (My agnostic friends will want to send warm, fuzzy vibes—or think Really Good Thoughts. For all we know, God listens to these things just as much as conventional prayers. Maybe more.)

Thank you, Chris. We are all so sorry, and wish you the best. Take as much time off as you need: we'll be sending our love.

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I should have my interview with Wayne Allen Root up shortly; we created it in the form of a podcast from the tricked-out booth the media experts installed at CLC.

I'm actually very impressed with Root, and this fact surprised me just a little. After all, I can be a bit cynical about candidates for parties that may draw some support away from the GOP. On the other hand, the GOP and the Dems both suck so much right now that the more pressure they respectively experience to adhere to their ideals, the better.

I related to Root a lot more than I expected: after all, his background is in sports, and I am famously missing the "sports neuron" that causes people to yell at their television sets. But how could I not fall for a good-looking Libertarian businessman who is committed to the War on Terror and the U.S.'s alliance with Israel? He also has great teeth, and he bills himself as "a New York Jew, and a Las Vegas gambler." Perfect.

My broadcasting skills leave something to be desired, but I'm certainly aware of what the sticking points are between social conservatives/terror hawks and Libertarians (and "small l's, such as myself), so I asked most of the right questions—even if I stuttered and stammered a bit. (I may have to take a broadcasting course. After all, the solution to bad podcasting is more podcasting.)

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And I have a few hours left here in Reno before it's time to crash early; I'll be hitting the road tomorrow at an indecent, un-Joylike hour, and I still have a little bit of "real work" to do for two clients before I crash.

The last attendees and organizations are filtering away from the CLC, aka "Rightoberfest," as I write this. The conference is small, but it has more of a Libertarian orientation than any other convention I've covered as a blogger. An offshoot of "Blogging Man," it's very well-organized. Obviously, I think the GOP ignores the voices of Libertarians/libertarians at its peril, so I'm hoping this particular event grows next year.

I certainly suspect that I'll be here for the whole conference in 2008, rather than just driving down on Friday night! (My drive up here from L.A. is, as they say, a long, sad tale. I selected an inefficient route up here, and I blame either my father or the Jews—I haven't decided which quite yet.)

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The Conservative Leadership Conference is on now! Unfortunately, due to a slight case of day job, I won't be there until Friday night—but don't wait for me! Get your tail out to Reno.

They have an amazing collection of speakers lined up; it's going to be very cool.

Okay—back I go to juggling clients for another day and a half. See you in Nevada.

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The work that one does for $45 an hour, or the work that one does for $15 an hour?

Sometimes it's actually the latter: and yet, those micro-mini checks don't land with the good, solid thwumps! that distinguish the former.

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that the pro-life people and the pro-choice people should spend more time talking to (rather than talking past) each other:

They said they did not want us bringing the pro-life message to campus because they did not want to see dead babies on the way to the cafeteria or the library. At first I thought I was sad because the pro-lifers who do not display pictures of dead babies were being lumped together with those who do.

But then I realized I was sad for another reason: Some of my students who wrote these things had experienced abortion firsthand.

And so I have been thinking and I have decided it is time for us to change the way we do a couple of things in the campus pro-life movement. First, I think we can start by replacing pictures of the dead, dismembered fetus with pictures of some live ones. Instead of reminding people of what a horrible thing they did in the past when they had an abortion we can focus on what a beautiful thing the fetus is and how much more beautiful it can be in the future.

Via Kathy Shaidle.

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. . . to play "2008 Arithmetic," but there's a certain fascination in it, nonetheless.

I don't think either the MSM or any of the GOP contenders have played all their cards yet. Nor has Hillary, for that matter.

We still have twelve more months for an October surprise.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 08:23 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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