One of the reasons this site has gotten so quiet over recent months (years?) is that I’ve gradually come to a pair of conclusions.

1. I don’t have to have an opinion about everything that goes on in the world, and
2. Even if I do have an opinion, I don’t have to write it up and post it on the internet, unprovoked.

Pretty much anything there is that I might have an opinion about, I’ve probably already stated something like it previously when something else very much like it was going on before. Anyone who’s desperate to know my opinion can always just use that search box over there in the sidebar to see what I had to say about it in the past.

And if you do that and still aren’t sure about my opinion, or about the basis for it, use the comment form in this post to request amplification.

The clink of change into the tipjar won’t hurt, but isn’t mandatory.

Updated: Sat 13 Jun 2009 12:46 pm EDT

This one isn’t meant to be funny, because there’s nothing funny about it.

There were three moments in John Cullen’s life that were like a shot to the heart.

“That’s when I lost my mom when I was 18 years old, then when I was diagnosed with cancer at age 32, and then when I received that letter. Man, I was just devastated.”

“That letter” was the one sent by Chrysler to 789 of its dealers in mid-May, informing them they would no longer be able to sell Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge vehicles. Tuesday was the Newnan John Cullen Dodge’s last official day as a Dodge dealership.

[...]

Cullen said he has “exhausted” his investigations into aligning himself with another car company.

“Car companies are just not willing to expand right now, even though Newnan is just a fantastic market,” said Cullen. “It’s just because of the way the economy is. Manufacturers are not willing to put new points out there. So I’ve had no luck.”

► Dodge dealer John Cullen closes car lot

This is a direct result of decisions made by the President of the United States that were contrary to how things should have gone according to the law.

I have yet to see Establishment Republicans present anything resembling a message that will resonate with the GOP base, let alone independents and open-minded Democrats.

I made an observation a few years back:

You can’t put forth a coherent message when you have no more deeply abiding principle than winning back power.

► March 7, 2006

A big part of why the Democrats did succeed in taking control of Congress back then despite their own lack of a coherent message, is that their Republican opponents were likewise devoid of substance.

It’s still possible the Democrats can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory like their counterparts did before them—but I wouldn’t bet that way. The Democrats also have the advantage of an Establishment Media that is an unofficial house organ of their party. What the Dems will lack in message, the media will provide in the form of Teh Narrative™.

Updated: Wed 10 Jun 2009 11:29 am

I’ve been following this storyline with interest, anticipating what I was sure would be a most ... satisfying comeuppance. Looks like it’s on its way.

Karl is about to learn that you don’t threaten a woman’s kids. Ever. Anybody who’s ever seen a nature documentary about a mother bear with cubs could have told him that.

Sam calling Zed may be the most merciful thing she could have done.

Updated: Sat 6 Jun 2009

While the Obamedia try to focus your attention 24/7 on the Kansas wack-job who murdered an abortion doctor, they’ll almost certainly try to forget about this story as soon as they possibly can. Which is why this post is going to be tacked to the top of this page for quite some time.

A recent convert to Islam accused of having “political and religious motives” in a deadly Arkansas military center shooting pleaded not guilty Tuesday and was ordered held without bail.

One soldier just out of basic training died and another was wounded in what police say was a targeted attack by Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 23, on U.S. forces.

Muhammad already had been under investigation by the FBI at the time of the shootings.

An FBI Joint Terrorist Task Force reportedly had been tracking Muhammad after he traveled to Yemen and was arrested there for using a Somali passport. The probe had been in its early stages and based on Muhammad’s trip to Yemen, according to ABC News.

► Recruiting Center Shooting Suspect Pleads Not Guilty, Held Without Bail

I’m on record as saying that anyone participating in an act of terrorism should be treated as an unlawful enemy combatant regardless of citizenship or where captured. The whole point of 9/11 was to show that they could conduct their war on our own soil, and they have certainly made every effort to recruit our citizens to their cause. I don’t see why American citizens trying to commit political murders in America should be exempt from the same treatment as Saudi nationals trying to seize control of Iraq after Saddam Hussein’s downfall. Show that the intent of the act was terror, he goes to Gitmo—do not pass Go, do not collect $200.

Well, as you may have noticed in recent days, there’s now a mobile version of blogosferics 2009 formatted for those tiny displays on web-capable cell phones.

I did this because Wife-o-sferics and I recently upgraded to 3G phones that include a web browser as well as a slide-out QWERTY keypad to simplify typing. Unfortunately for some reason my own attempts to post test comments from my phone have been unsuccessful. I don’t know what the problem is and I don’t know for sure that users of other phones or with other phone companies (we’re with AT&T Wireless) will have the same trouble.

I invite you to attempt to post comments here using your own web-capable phone, to help me troubleshoot this. Please include the name of your provider and, if you wish, the brand and model of phone you’re trying to use.

We are where we are because people who ought to know better have been acting in recent years as if a candidate’s color or gender play any substantive role in determining his or her quality as a leader.

The consequences for Democrats have been obvious, but look at right-bloggers who have touted Michael Steele, Bobby Jindal, or even Sarah Palin without giving serious thought to their respective qualifications or their “ripeness” for a national campaign.

Before you dive onto a bandwagon for this or that “cool” flavor of politician because of its shiny wrapper, you really need to stop and ask yourself: If this person were a 50-something white male Protestant, would I be anywhere near as enthusiastic about supporting him?

If the answer is not a brutally honest “Oh, hell yes!”, you need to step away from the candidate and go bash yourself over the head with a board full of rusty nails until you regain your senses.

I’ve said this before at the height of the fancy-wrapper hysteria in 2007 and 2008. Now that the hysteria has passed I just think it needs to be reiterated so those who most need to learn the lesson stand some chance of doing so before they screw things up once again for the rest of us.

Updated: Thu 4 Jun 2009 10:33 am

Sadly, as is so often the case, the people who most need to learn the lesson have no clue there’s anything they need to learn, let alone what it might be. So I guess we’re already screwed.

Sacramento’s main psychiatric hospital to close. Legislature to reconvene in Napa.

This just in: Mike Judge isn’t politically correct.

It’s amazing what you can do when you’ve legalized everything: Netherlands to close prisons for lack of need.

Homeland Security maven gets the “I hope he fails” treatment, secretly sympathizes with Limbaugh.

Californians ordered to keep voting until they get it right. This time it’s for same-sex marriage.

Hospital management doesn’t disapprove of patriotism, unless it’s too, you know, big.

Updated: Wed 27 May 2009 3:32 pm

You know all those “moderate” “Republicans” who keep deploring the things said by guys like Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney? I finally figured out how to deal with them.

They’re upset because whenever guys like Limbaugh and Cheney say anything, the Lefties and their media pimps always take it out of context, distort the meaning, and create a negative taint to what was said. We’ve been arguing that the Lefties and their media pimps take everything out of context, but the “moderate” “Republicans” keep insisting it’s not the Lefties’ fault, it’s the fault of the person whose comment was distorted.

What we should do from now on is give the RINO surrender monkeys the same treatment the Lefties give conservatives: lie, distort and take out of context. And when the surrender monkeys complain? Why, it’s their own fault for saying things we could distort. If they don’t like it they should take their own advice and shut the @#$!! up.

Eventually they’ll either figure out we’ve been right all along, or they’ll shut up.