WoTD - Randslide

I have to love neologisms. After Rand Pauls overwhelming (30+ percentage points) victory in the KY primary they have coined a new phrase:

The Randslide

Hah.

Now Rand is pretty Libertarian in outlook, which is why he answers questions with typical Libertarian nuanced philosophical analysis. (I.e. yeah X law might have been a good thing but if you look at the implications for private property rights... etc.)

Now, the lame-stree-media is trying to convince everyone that the Tea Party folks (who got Paul his victory) are a bunch of Libertarian wackjobs. Well...

It is not strictly correct to say that the Tea Party is Libertarian. Mostly they are pure Fiscal Conservatives. Of course, Fiscal Responsibility is a strong Libertarian position.

Remember the GOP is comprised of three folks who really, really, really hate each other, the Christian Conservatives, the Fiscal Conservatives, and the Defense Hawks. Working together is what got Regan elected. They threw the Fiscal conservatives to the curb during the Bush years and currently the Christian groups are being sidelined by the Fiscal folks.

The tea partiers' positions on Social Conservative, or Defense/War Hawk type of Conservatism are generally all over the map. THey in general don't give a flying hoot who is diddling whom in the back room, their number one (#1) item on their "Contract for America" is a balanced budget.

They do not generally identify as "Republican" either. They hate Bush too, just for different reasons than everyone else.

Ezra

The spousal unit's new horse is, ah, interesting.

We were letting it graze in the front pasture, and it was fine until Pete (the uber-goofy German Shorthair mix) decided to start running back and forth along the fence line.

Horse started acting like it was distressed, kicking and running about. Thing is, I think the horse was having fun. I.e. I think the horse was pretending to be upset at the stupid dog-beast. When I put the dog in the house the horse kept looking over the fence as if to say "hey, where'd my friend go?"

Honestly if I had a good sturdily fenced yard (that wasn't full of chickens) I'd let the dog and horse into the same yard and let them play their goofy horsey-dogie games. And if the dog got a hoof in the midriff then maybe it would learn a lesson about messing with creatures that outweigh you 12 to 1.

I'm also thinking that the horse is going to be a bit too spirited for the kids to ride until they (and he) are older. He's not exactly well behaved on a lead line. He does what he is told but often has to be reminded that "I am the Human and I am IN CHARGE".

It's not exactly a bad thing that the critter wants to play. It's just that when a 1/2 ton critter wants to be playful things can get a bit dicey for us much smaller critters.

May 20 is Everybody Draw Muhammad Day

That's right folks, May 20 is Everybody Draw Muhammad Day.

Never let it be said that I was not willing to help out on such an important day celebrating freedom of speech. Notwithstanding any actual talent mind you.

So here is my effort, I'm afraid it got a bit wet before I could photograph it:


Some may consider this 1/2 hour early. But it is May 20 on the East Coast already.
Happy Everybody Draw Muhammad Day everyone.

Two Major Victories Tonight

We all have cause to celebrate tonight.

1) Dr. Rand Paul, son of Congressman Ron Paul, won the KT Republican primary. Rand is the founder of Kentucky Taxpayers United, which as you can imagine is not exactly pro taxation.

Oh and Paul did not just WIN, he slaughtered the hand picked guy the Washington insiders were backing. 65% to 32% . Ouch.

2) In other news the backstabbing weasel from Pennsylvania (aka Arlen Specter) will be jobless come January. Among Specter's crimes includes voting for the so called "stimulus" package, the Wall Street bailout, and of course the unforgivable sin of voting to confirm Eric Holder to the position of Attorney General.

Yeah, it's a nice night tonight.

And the Rainbow Fades to Dark

Legendary Rocker Ronnie James Dio is no longer with us.

LA Times story HERE

Not Kansas

So the 4-year old son comes in telling me there is another peacock in the yard, only this time it's on the roof.

Yup. Peacock on the roof.

The German Shorthair pointer is, ah, very intent on said bird.

Yeah, welcome to the country. Arizona style.

Hung Parliament

So the UK has a hung parliament. It the US because of our strong 2-party system this basically can not happen. The actual closest we can come is to have one house in the hands of one party and the other house in the hands of the other.

Note: this is generally the absolute best governement you can get, because it keeps them from "dooing something simply because they can."

Mark's prediction for the UK:

It's going to be a Conservative/LibDem coalition.

It's Win/Win for both parties. The Torries get to gvern, and the LibDems will get a couple of cabinet seats and be in a position to tell their constituents "see voting for the minor third party can advance our addenda" which gives them a pretty good opportunity to expand their base.

And anything to thumb their noses at Labor is going to play well right now.

Seanan's Big Idea

Seanan McGuire has a "Big Idea" piece up at John Scalzi's place.

GO