Thus Spake Russ

Posted By Russ Emerson on September 25, 2011 at 4:27 am

• Work: done. Cats: fed. Dinner: done. Now for a bit of Mass Effect 2. Can't wait for Mass Effect 3… I'll have a dozen saves to import. #ME3 #
• +100 // @johnhawkinsrwn: I find those JonBenet Ramsey style fashion shows for little girls to be extraordinarily inappropriate and creepy. #
• I really wish I had some codeine right about now. Or a chainsaw. #neuropathy #sux2Bme #
• GMTA. // RT @thekelliejane: Somewhere toward the top of my list of things I'd rather die than do: watch "Ancient Aliens". #
• Yar. Yo-ho. Dead man's chest. Etc. #TalkLikeaPirateDay #
• Am I the only one thinking the new GM/UAW contract ($5000 signing bonus?) is naught but a vote buying scheme? #
• POTUS wants $1.5 trillion in new taxes… let's see… that'd buy 300 *million* UAW signing bonuses. Now it all becomes clear. Yaaar. #tcot #
• Buick ad says "humans have 3,000 thoughts/day." Not *deep* thoughts, obviously, so they must be counting "I'm hungry" and "I have to pee." #
• Bob Geldof at age 60 looks like Bob Geldof aged 30 wearing old age theatrical makeup. #topgear #
• It's after close-of-business on payday, and I still haven't been paid, according to the bank. This happens all too often. #
• See also "I Suck at Call of Duty" http://t.co/Ua06v2xh / RT @miracleofsound: New song! Goodbye Black Ops! http://t.co/3NZe92IJ #
• Hey, @mozilla people – you realize #Firefox has an enormous memory leak problem, right? #
• No sleep… vet house call… trip to vet office… picked up groceries… man, I'm pooped. http://t.co/1t3cyEcX #
• RT @rumpfshaker: RT @OHCONSERVATISM: RT @hipstervative: Let's get #RIPMARKMCPHAIL trending. #
• RT @DavidLimbaugh: The liberal worldview is most conspicuously recognized by its proclivity to always side with the bad guys. #
• Given the outright racism and misogyny towards @michellemalkin, I'm betting @alecbaldwin must be rather proud of his followers. #
• A real man would stand between someone like @michellemalkin and the barbarian horde. @alecbaldwin tells the barbarians to attack. #
• There's no denying @alecbaldwin is a good actor – I just wish he'd act like a civilized human being once in a while. #tcot #
• #blameMichelleMalkin // RT @EvanPokroy: Wait. Really? Ted Danson is now on CSI? WHAT THE MUFFIN IS THE WORLD COMING TO? #
• I'm already writing my GOP debate blog post for tomorrow. And why not? The "mainstream media" have already written *their* narrative. #
• Tim Emerson? No relation. #gopdebate #
• My GOP debate "analysis" post is ready to be posted. But at 1am no one will see it. No one'll see it at 1030am, either, but I can hope. #
• Frozen raspberries…. [insert Homer Simpson drooling noise here] #
• I used the word "dastn't" in a tweet. Sometimes the archaic verbs are the best. #
• I just made the mistake of looking at my SiteMeter. Thoroughly depressing. #
• My take on last night’s GOP debaters, as if they were US aircraft of the WW2 era. – http://t.co/DNiOv1UT #
• Time to disband the EPA. They apparently have nothing useful to do. // MT @Drudge_Report: EPA bans asthma inhalers… http://t.co/HIBDDfb6 #
• *>blocked<* RT @CatsPolitics: Is your refrigerator running? RT @AndrewLawton: Catching up on my television! #
• #Redeye needs more @danavachon and @jessejoyce, period, full stop. #

Category: Twitter | Comments Off on A Week’s Worth of Twitter Updates
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Posted By Russ Emerson on September 23, 2011 at 10:30 am

I’ve not got the slightest idea what prompted me to make these comparisons, but once the idea got into my head, I had to run with it.

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Rick Santorum — Curtis P-40 Warhawk — a brilliant combatant in certain limited circumstances; it won critical early battles, but remained in service far too long and was, by war’s end, completely outclassed by its more modern opponents. A plane every enthusiast has loved at one time or another.

Herman Cain — Republic P-47 Thunderbolt — a.k.a. the “Jug,” it was an incredibly rugged and hugely capable aircraft — dogfighter, interceptor, fighter-bomber — but it didn’t always have the “legs” to perform the long-haul missions.

Mitt Romney — Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress — capable of dishing out and taking considerable punishment, it had a rocky start, crashing during its first attempt to win an Army Air Corps contract. Ultimately, however, it became a serious contender for being peoples’ favorite aircraft.

Doctor Ron Paul — Douglas B-18 Bolo — After Boeing’s prototype XB-17 crashed during the 1935 competition to win an Army Air Corps contract, this Douglas entry won the competition pretty much by default, despite being vastly inferior. It was ultimately proven to be broadly deficient, especially in armor and armament. It is not noted for any outstanding achievements.*

Gary Johnson — Martin Model 146 — Like the B-18, this aircraft competed in 1935 against the prototype XB-17. Unlike the B-18, it lost.**

Newt Gingrich — Douglas SBD Dauntless — capable of delivering nearly pinpoint precision attacks with devastating effect, it was forced to soldier on long after it should have been pulled from service due to obsolescence, as no replacement was available.

Rick Perry — Consolidated B-24 Liberator — Not as durable, and certainly not as glamorous, as it’s main rival, the B-17. it actually had a longer range and carried a larger bomb load.

Michelle Bachmann — Douglas TBD Devastator — Ahead of the pack, even revolutionary in many ways, it was the first all-metal monoplane in US Naval service when made operational in 1937. However, it was rapidly outclassed, and ultimately has become more known for its final brave but suicidal missions, most going down in flames.

Jon Huntsman — Mitsubishi A6M Rei-sen — Sharp-eyed and knowledgeable observers will already have noted that this aircraft was actually produced by the Japanese; US forces captured an intact example on Akutan in the Aleutian Islands in 1942. It was most commonly referred to as the Zero. Which, in my opinion, sums up Huntsman.

Not present, but deserving mention:

Sarah Palin — Boeing B-29 Superfortress — It first flew in 1942… and then spent more than half of the rest of the war getting the bugs ironed out on the way to serviceability, finally being deemed combat-worthy and flying its first combat missions in June of 1944. It was not as effective as hoped, though by changes of tactics and armaments, it became one of the most lethal systems ever deployed. Then there was that whole Hiroshima/Nagasaki thing….

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* I suspect it also frequently wandered off course.

** He did, though, have the line of the night, “My next door neighbor’s two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this current administration.”

Category: Observations, Politics | 3 Comments »
Tags: debate, GOP