. . . remembers the assault, four years ago today in Iraq.

And stud/god Michael Kelly has a cameo!

It's an intense read—very engrossing.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:05 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 28 words, total size 1 kb.

I have finally encountered someone over the internet who is so malevolent, so vile and so reprehensible that I simply must make this person into an antagonist.

And not in a book, either: I'm too eager to symbolically crush this person under my size fives.

No one else is wicked enough for me. Those who perpetrate genocide bore me. Serial killers are passe. Child molesters? Whatever. Everyone's doing them.

I've found heart's one true my villain, and I intend to be faithful to him. For at least two weeks, or about 20 double-spaced pages.

If I could physically find him, I'd send him a locket or something.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 08:42 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 115 words, total size 1 kb.

I never used AOL, but I had friends who told me that it was awful—that people kept bugging them, wanting to chat.

Google might be turning into something similar. I mean, as a Mac user, everything seems fine. But when I log into my gmail account from work, using Internet Explorer, Gmail wants to tell me what everyone is doing—based on nothing other than the fact that I've sent them e-mail in the past. People like my colleague at the nonprofit, who is a fellow night owl. And bloggers whom I would never presume to send notes to for any frivolous reason: Gmail wants Windows users to know whether they are at their machines at any given hour of the day or night.

It's kind of creepy. I understand that it's supposed to facilitate chat, but do I really want to chat with everyone I know? Do I want them to be able to chat with me?

And is chatting efficient anyway?—isn't there a certain amount of sitting around while the other person types? And having them wait while I type, producing lines that contain [cough, cough] typographical errors?

Hm. I don't know if I like this Brave New World. I think I want the old one back.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 08:30 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 214 words, total size 1 kb.

. . . that England doesn't really exist. After all, I've never seen it.

Someone just made it up. That's all.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 08:15 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 25 words, total size 1 kb.

Probably. (Make sure you watch the video of the guy in the baseball cap: he's another one of the "Attila cousins." There is an extensive network of us all over the country.)

Yeah: Patrick Hynes sent me the link. So sue me.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 07:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 52 words, total size 1 kb.

ICANN says no, one more time. James Joyner points out that this thwarts "the hope that pornography could find its way to the Internet."

Yup.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 07:32 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 35 words, total size 1 kb.

. . . cops to being "an effete, sissy-boy latte-sipper," while discussing the Iranian-British crisis and the Conrad Black trial with Hugh Hewitt.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 07:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 27 words, total size 1 kb.

Yeah: Rudy puts California back in play. But Thompson activates the base, while grabbing some of the swing voters that Rudy would get.

If all the red staters show up (I mean, residents of red states, not writers at Red State), we might not need California. Electorally speaking, of course. (Hey: without the Golden State, try feeding this country.)

H/t: Insty.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 06:55 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 69 words, total size 1 kb.

If you had to find someone over the internet—absolutely had to—how would you go about it?

What if their site was a Blogspot site? What if it was a domain, but blind-registered?

What if you only had a name, but wanted to get a social security number?

I'm working on a story. The information I need might not be stuff that should be widely disseminated, so feel free to e-mail me with your thoughts.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 78 words, total size 1 kb.

Verity Kindle objects over on this thread to the use of the word "papist" by someone who referred to themselves as a "recovering papist."

The problem being, as he/she sees it, that the word suggests we worship the Pope. Hey—I thought we worshipped the Virgin Mary. And the Saints. And golden calves. Guess I've been doing it all wrong.

You know how I am about language, though: making any word verboten goes against my grain, because it empowers that word and makes it more hurtful simply by being forbidden. So, once more: shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, tits, nigger, kike, spic, faggot, skirt, heeb, whore, mick, lezzie, redneck, gook, chink, slut, wetback. Wingnut. Leftard. Papist.

(Now the Ann Coulter defenders are going to get on my case, on the basis that she only used a transgressive noun. That is not, of course, how I see it: I feel that she applied a perjorative term for homosexual—listed above—to a heterosexual, married man. In public. With cameras rolling. At an event I'd like to take itself more seriously than it sometimes does. So, yes: that was different.)

If anyone is entitled to use the term "papist," it would be a cradle Catholic, whether or not that person is still in the Church.

It's people of faith—Muslims, ironically, being sometimes an exception—who are marginalized the most in society today. I think we can take it as a given that any rocks being thrown around by the devout of any mainstream faith are either (1) done in a spirit of jest, or (2) the mark of idiots.

I can't define true religious slurs. But I know them when I see them.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:57 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 284 words, total size 2 kb.

I'm with Beth on the Kathy Sierra flap.

Maybe sexual themes should be considered over the line, but chick bloggers will always be the recipients of such remarks, so I prefer to simply have a thick skin. I leave those accusations of ugly sluttiness (and slutty ugliness) up when they are aimed at me, because they speak for themselves about what kind of argument the commenter is capable of making.

Death threats and rape threats, however, are illegal. And they should be.

Be careful when you threaten people over the internet: you're never quite as anonymous as you think you are.

And if you want to be taken seriously, balance your passion with some . . . what were those things? Ah, yes: facts.

UPDATE: I agree with the thrust of Michelle's post, too: when we give in to bullies, we embolden them. I'm not too interested in that.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 04:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 159 words, total size 1 kb.

Hackbarth suggests that the upcoming showdown between the President and Congress over funding the troops in Iraq might turn into a game of chicken. I hope it doesn't. Of course, the "signing statement" option is worse, as I see it: for Bush to sign something with an exit date on it at all can't help but cheer the insurgents on.

Just as Congress needs to show some backbone and either fund our presence there or not fund it, Bush has to show some backbone and veto anything that contains an exit date or excessive pork.

And the April 16th idea is absurd, tantamount to saying "we support the troops, but not their mission. Nor their operations. Nor their overhead just for being there."

Listen, guys and gals: you took Congress over by promising to be more accountable and less corrupt. You didn't deliver on that: instead, you're trying to turn your victory into a mandate on ending the war. If you believe that—really, really believe it—you know what you need to do.

Cut funding completely.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 181 words, total size 1 kb.

I just got off the phone a little while ago from a conference call with Senator John McCain, who is extremely concerned about the Senate's passing an appropriations bill that includes a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq—not to mention an obscene amount of pork.

One of McCain's goals in gathering a crew of bloggers to talk to on the phone was to get the word out about 1) the damage this bill [and its companion in the House] is doing to the war effort, and 2) the consequences of failure, should we miss the chance to get democracy on a firm footing in Iraq.

He also wants us to keep encouraging the troops, to whom the House and Senate bills must be a tremendous slap in the face.

"In Vietnam, we lost—and that was the end of it," he told us. "In Iraq, if we lose they will follow us home. Failure would be catastrophic."

Senator McCain makes the point that we need the funding for the troops in Iraq by April 15th, so the Democrats are playing political games with this issue pretty late in the day. And, of course, he reminds us that the Constitutional role of legislators is to fund or de-fund: not to set conditions on how or when the money is used to conduct a war.

He quoted General John William Vessey, Jr: "The system is driving policy, rather than policy driving the system." This, of course, is one of his big worries. Remarks McCain: "I've got to tell the American people what's at stake." He warns us that ultimately the war on terrror will be won or lost in public opinion. And all of us participating knew that the mainstream media is not interested in good news about Iraq.

McCain does feel that overall Bush could be doing a better job of reaching out to the American people (but then, who doesn't think this?). He recommends weekly or biweekly updates in which the President uses maps to track our progress and identify problem areas. After all, McCain points out that the surge has given us dramatic progress. He told us that he expected good things from Bush's address today, but regular, detailed reports would be very helpful—even if they were only carried on C-SPAN. (I found this detail interesting in terms of the information dissemination we might anticipate should McCain make it to the White House in 2009.)

The Senator remarked that Bush should read the list of pork projects in the Emergency Supplemental when he vetoes the bill. (Sure enough, the President remarked on some of the more, um interesting provisions included in it when he gave his address this morning.)

Some of the progress the Senator would like us to keep in mind includes the fact that Sheikhs in Anbar province are now allying themselves with us, and encouraging their followers to joing the army and police forces. Also, Malaki's de-Baathification program is about to be implemented.

We spoke briefly about the situation in Iran, which of course is growing more intense every day, with the taking of hostages. He regards these, of course, as "a wake-up call" that should show us how the Iranians might handle nuclear weapons. "This kind of behavior," he tells us, "is a serious, serious challenge."

He underscored the Iranians' age-old ambition for "hegemony in the Middle East," but reminded us that we still have "the best military in the world," while emphasizing that military action is the always the last option.

Ryan Sager of the New York Sun asked if McCain-Feingold should be updated (expanded, really) to meet the conditions of the digital age. The senator's answer: no. Online dialogue is a "marvelous change" that is drawing more young Americans into the political process, he told us. (I read that as a signal that his free-speech-suprression days may be over, which would be nice. Now to repeal the original bill . . .)

The 2008 Election was the big elephant, of course, in this virtual room full of little elephants (mostly) peppering the Senator with questions. When he was asked about Fred Thompson, McCain laughed and said he thought it would be natural that Thompson should have high approval ratings: "after all, he's already been President three or four times, hasn't he?"

Regarding his own campaign, he identified his campaign's biggest weakness as being in the fundraising arena. "My own fault," he told us. "I don't like asking for money, and I've got to get over that." Overall, though, he's "happy" with his how his campaign is coming along.

Participants included Philip Klein of The American Spectator blog; Kim Priestap of Wizbang; Ryan Sager of the New York Sun; Erick Erickson of Red State; Robert Bluey of Bluey Blog; Fausta Wertz of Fausta's Blog; and James Joyner of Outside the Beltway.

Special thanks to Patrick Hynes of New Media Strategics (and, of course, Ankle-Biting Pundits) for facilitating the discussion, which I think helped a lot to bridge the perceived gap between Senator McCain and some elements in the blogosphere.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 07:23 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 849 words, total size 5 kb.

More rock 'n' roll about neurological functions.

Oh, and Southlanders: David Linden himself with be on KPCC today, Wednesday, at 2:40 p.m. (It's a pre-taped interview, so it won't be David in the flesh.)

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:39 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 46 words, total size 1 kb.

"Hey! We suck just as much as you do!"

Just as cowardly; just as prodigal.

Mr. President, I believe it's your serve.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:23 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 32 words, total size 1 kb.

Stop Googling my orange, if you're going to use it for the wrong reasons. I ran a picture of an orange to support the Ukrainians—not to take sides in the Irish troubles.

And take it from a Methodist girl who converted to Catholicism: using any form of Christianity as an excuse to beat up or harrass others is not exactly What Jesus Would Do.

Stop killing and intimidating each other. Keep on your leaders to tone down their rhetoric. (Yes: I'm talking about Ian Paisley.)

If the descendants of slaves here in America can live side-by-side with those whose ancesters ran plantations, you can probably manage power-sharing in Northern Ireland. And in case you hadn't noticed, the Liberal Democratic tradition is under attack in all its forms: you have bigger problems now than you have for the last few hundred years.

Pray for your enemies. Pray for peace. And ease the fuck up.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:17 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 167 words, total size 1 kb.

Hackbarth has the scoop, but correctly points out that we can't really regard Thompson as serious until/unless we see him raising funds.

Likewise, I won't see Gingrich as serious until he announces: he does seem to be enjoying his current role too much to demote himself to mere candidate status.

One of the most fascinating things about Thompson-mania is the fact that he appears to draw more from Giuliani's supporters than from Romney's; most analysts predicted he'd "take" more support from Romney fans. One possible explanation: people who consider electability to be a serious prerequisite—as I do—will find themselves more drawn to Rudy and Fred. Please don't get me wrong: I heard Romney speak at CPAC, and he did fine. I met him. I think he'd be a competent candidate.

But if star power and serious charisma are on-offer, from either Giuliani or Thompson, we do well to consider them an asset, along with the other factors we look at.

Because in the real world, that matters. Very much.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:59 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 181 words, total size 1 kb.

Bob Petersen is dead. He changed my life, and the lives of too many others for me to possibly count.

He was an example of how someone could endure unbearable hardship and yet soldier on.

He made hot rods respectable, and gave hunting a cachet it might not otherwise have had out here on the West Coast, in the 1970s—when Hunting magazine (Petersen's Hunting) was founded.

I worked for his staff on Hunting as a copyeditor, and after his company was sold I was Assistant Managing Editor on some of the Outdoor Division one-shots. Later, I moved to Automotive, and spent some time on-staff at Hot Rod Bikes, Custom Classic Trucks, and the Automotive newsstand publications.

Finally, I landed for a year at Sports Afield, which Pete had bought just to keep it from folding. It was a noble effort, though he eventually let it die when 9/11 worsened the recession that was starting anyway in 2001.

Pray for his wife; she's endured tragedy in her life, and needs our best thoughts and wishes.

Thank you, Mr. Petersen. The company you founded did a lot for me, and I'm grateful. I got to taste the prosperity print media used to represent, right before it started to die—or to transmute into something else.

I hope they have many classic cars in heaven—heavily customized, and in cherry condition.

UPDATE: We're losing our shootists: David Arnold, and Jeff Cooper, and Bob Petersen. And the one whose death hurts almost as much as Dave's: Gary Sitton, whom I used to copy-edit at Hunting. The amazing guy whose writing was utterly magical. (And I stole that word from him, by the way: he once wrote in a column that Ernest Hemingway had been both "a magical writer, and a fairly sorry human being." If Gary was in any way a "sorry" human being, he saved most of his wrath for himself.)

Aw, fuck. I'm not good at death. I'm just not.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:56 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 330 words, total size 2 kb.

Was it for the martinis, the oysters—or the pearl?

(David Corn of The Nation discusses new media and the '08 election with Richard Miniter for Pajamas Media; it's a fun video hosted over at Reynolds' digs. Says Glenn: "it's better than Hannity & Colmes." So many things are.)

Posted by: Attila Girl at 11:52 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 58 words, total size 1 kb.

The organizers of this year's inaugeral premier conservative conference are holding a contest that I intend to win—due to the fact that I am the most deserving person, and haven't divested myself entirely of my early-twenties socialist leanings. Also: I'll be the cutest person there, even at the ripe old age of 45. So I basically have it sewn up. That will get me into the event in style, and even pay for my room. Furthermore, I'd get 20 minutes with the keynote speaker. If it's Newt, I'll have some fun questions for him!

The Conservative Leadership Conference takes place this fall, October 11-13th, in the fabulous city of Reno—which, as most of you know, is Nevada's answer to Lake Tahoe, California. Nevada, of course, bills itself as "the last free state," and in a number of ways that's absolutely correct. The beautiful thing about this conference is that it openly welcomes libertarians, so we won't have to skulk around in our camouflage clothing like we do at CPAC. (Did anyone get that on video, BTW? I looked like I was on a deer hunt, and not just because I was lugging a .30-06 around with me.)

If you want to be a total running dog and enter the contest as well, I guess I can't stop you—though I was thinking that since I'm clearly the cutest/most deserving blogger, it would be best if only I entered. That way, the drawing would be . . . easier on the organizers. Simpler.

The entire event is sponsored by the New Media Alliance, and co-sponsored by GOP USA, Townhall, and Americans for Tax Reform. So far.

I'll see you there. After all, Reno is a gambling town, and I'm a very lucky person.

UPDATE: I hear that the Grand Prize may be reformatted a bit, in which case I would only get free premium admission to the event—along with a few other people (almost) as lucky as I am. That's fine, too. After all, I like to share my good fortune with the downtrodden.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:44 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 344 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Nevada is quickly losing its "last free state" feel, thanks to the influx of Liberal Californians (we understand the Conservative/Libertarian invasion). They just shot down smoking in bars here in Nevada, which is something we NEVER thought would happen. But, fortunately, 90 year old grandmas still sleep with sawed off shotguns under their pillows. If you're gun friendly, you'll love the Silver State. :-) Thanks for posting and entering the contest. Good luck! -Eric Odom CLC Director

Posted by: Eric Odom at March 27, 2007 12:20 AM (ehe0k)

2 If you're sitting at a machine or game table you're fine, but the second you step into an area where children "could" be found, you'll find yourself in the middle of an anti-smoke swarm. It really has gone downhill. Last month I bought a cigar outside one of my favorite bars, Brews Brothers in the Silver Legacy Casino. The cigar stand is directly outside the door of the brewery so one would think, common sense of course, that you could light up and walk right in. But no, the brewery serves food, and there for is now a non-freedom environment. I made my way to the bar and before the word beer could even slip out of my mouth I had three employee's pulling on my coat. One even reached for my smoke, which was almost impossible to accept as reality. Free country my ass... -Eric Odom CLC Director

Posted by: Eric Odom at March 27, 2007 12:31 AM (ehe0k)

3 Yeah. We signed away our rights here in Cali first, ahead of the rest of the country. Statewide; it's unbelievable.

Posted by: Attila Girl at March 27, 2007 12:39 AM (0CbUL)

4 I should take up smoking just in defiance.

Posted by: Sean Hackbarth at March 27, 2007 05:50 PM (QJ5cf)

5 I've considered it.

Posted by: Attila Girl at March 27, 2007 08:44 PM (phohF)

6 I did it.

Posted by: Darrell at March 28, 2007 09:05 AM (n0Y/N)

7 I hear it's very slimming

Posted by: Attila Girl at March 28, 2007 09:48 AM (1tv3E)

8 Eventually.

Posted by: Darrell at March 28, 2007 08:58 PM (riGDd)

Hide Comments | Add Comment