Ace, please forgive my denseness (density?) but I don't understand the reference to kashruth (the laws regarding what's kosher and what's not). I presume you mean how does one stay true to conservative values while living amongst liberal influences.

Am I close?

I just mean that as observant Jews keep kosher -- avoiding certain things because of religious strictures -- some conservatives might keep "conservative-kosher" because their ideology or principles require, or at least suggest, it.

The culture is dominated by phonies, not liberals, really.

If you make money and you keep it and spend it pretty much all on yourself, you ain't any kind of liberal, sorry.
You are actually a good little fiscal conservative, no matter what you'd like to pretend or espouse.

And I think many conservatives expect pragmatism- or 'markets' - to eventually resolve all the stupid ideas in the world, without much grassroots cause-mongering.
Which is unfortunate.

As Lord Peter Wimsey says in 'Murder Must Advertise':
"just because someone has a monomania doesn't mean they can't get their facts straight"

Ace,

Slow down, man. Take a breath. Relax. Have a drink. Eat something.

Come on, eat, eat - you're skin and bones!

But Ace, aren't you arguing for that which you turned away from in college? Do you really want to stop eating Snickers for a conservative cause when ya didn't like stopping if for a liberal cause? If that is what it takes to get you to start blogging liberal than I'm all for it.

I can't believe that there anyone would seriously give you shit because Nietzche was a fervent atheist.

Oh wait - yes I can.

DON'T STRAY FROM THE RESERVATION, ACE. THAT WAY LIES MADNESS AND SHUNNING. PROFESS FAITH IN GOD OR BE TRAMPLED UNDER HIS FOOT.

Who cares is some whiners don't want you to quote Nietzche? You certainly shouldn't.

But Ace, aren't you arguing for that which you turned away from in college? Do you really want to stop eating Snickers for a conservative cause when ya didn't like stopping if for a liberal cause?

Ummmm.... no? I sorta thought I was arguing against that mindset entirely.

Do I really write that unclearly?

With ya on this one ace.

Like the French wine thing. Now, I'm pretty far to the "right" whatever that means, and I was pretty upset with France's government's behavior in re the war. I also don't drink much wine. At all. Maybe a bottle a week at best.

But I'll be damned if I care where a wine came from if it's good and $6 a bottle.

For people who buy wine by the case, maybe it's important to express some political statment with your purchases.

For big ticket items I try to buy as domestic as possible so long as it's a good deal.

But really, a Snickers (for example)?

Who the fuck cares?

There's noting I but enough of to make me care about boycotting a certain manufacturer.

It reminds me of this one guy who lived in our neighborhood growing up in Michigan. He would walk around the neighborhood in a plain t-shirt and shorts (or blue parks and pants) with a sandwich bag pinned to the back of his clothes. The sign read "Boycott Lettuce" or "Boycott GM" or some such shit.

We called him Boycott GM as his name (not to his face).

And laughed.

Virgins, no offense, but the boycott thing is a really crank-y way of doing things. More than a little unhinged. And remeniscent of the Caesar Chavez inspired idiocy of the 70s, if you ask me.

I like you man, but it's going nowhere, and just making you look like a crank.

Bob, I guess I don't care... much.

I find it more of a vaguely-interesting BS-session question than something I'm actually bothered by.

But I'll be damned if I care where a wine came from if it's good and $6 a bottle.

Nahhh, personally, I'm big on that.

Australian or Californian. No French. No German.

'Sides, Californian and Australian wines are, in fact, cheaper.

And better.

Have you ever noticed that when the subject turns to Jesus and stuff, Ol' Bill's never far behind? He'll pop up in the strangest places, runnin' down the Son of Man and his followers. I suspect the Web is a fine medium for him since we can't smell the FUCKING BRIMSTONE!

Plus he has a radio show with a Jew--how are we going to see them polish their horns if they're on the radio?

Clever, Scratchy, but not clever enough.

Oh wait - yes I can.

Calling all bible-thumpers -- please follow me over to Wizbang.

Ditto on the French wine. We have been loving the Australian stuff.

Hey Bill, you've got your own crankiness, too.

Being a "contrarian conservative" almost as a principle is a bit tiresome, too.

Now, I know you're not self-identified as "conservative", but if so, it helps to state that up front, so at least the true believers don't jump on you at a moment's deviation. You used to do that on your blog, stopped for a while, and then when the Schaivo thing came up, your new readership wasn't aware of where you were coming from. (IMAO)

As for Nietzche, a good libertarian (or free-thinking independent [read, "I'm not going to say what I espouse in a coherent system"]) like yourself should find as anathema Nietzche's rejection of logic and reason.

But hey, if it pisses off your new mortal enemies, the God-botherers, why not go with it?

I like domestic Reislings (white) from the Pacific Northwest. Domestic wines are allowed to be stronger than the imports. Yea!

Bob, I guess I don't care... much.

I find it more of a vaguely-interesting BS-session question than something I'm actually bothered by.

See, now that's where I get offended. You should be aiming a little higher than "vaguely interesting".

Especially after I bought your t-shirt, thus filling your pockets with crazy blog money...

Bill? Cranky?

Nawwwww! Say it ain't so.

No time to read the comments, but hope you weren't reacting to my "oh god, intervention needed" snark... I just think nihilism and altruism are for sniveling dolts. That's all. Back to work, just got swamped.

Didn't you indicate you were considering a boycott of Cafe Press in your post just before this one?

When I start buying more than one or two bottles a month, I might care. But I'll never give up my Spetlaese from the Rhineland, even then.

Besides the good wine/good price thing with Aussie and domestic (read OREGON) wines, why not buy a wine that's good and a good price (if the same as Aus/USA) no matter where it comes from. Chirac isn't getting a cut of the bottle (or he already has and now you're just hurting American wine merchants).

Oh yeah, you're all on fucking notice.

It's not so much feeling that I'm going to bankrupt someone, it's having the satisfaction of knowing that:
1. French wine.
2. Whoopie Goldberg
3. Chevy Chase
4. Michael Moore.
5. The list goes on.
Won't be getting any of MY money.

But if a Jew is completed, does he still have to follow the Kosher laws?

Yes, he did, and I've been wondering the same thing. My theory, expresse in the other thread, is that he's just trying to distract us from what we really want to discuss -- lesbians with cocoa butter.

I don't keep "conservative-kosher" very well at all, because I'm not conservative. I'm liberal.

And I'm using the term liberal to actually mean liberal, and not leftist. For example, in the middle east, I see George W. Bush leading great advances in women's rights, gay rights, and the treatment of minorities. So I voted for Bush because he promotes liberal causes.

All the same, although I'm not remotely "conservative kosher" or "right-wing PC" (RWPC!), I do get a bit touchy about widespread anti-Christian bias. I'm pretty much agnostic, but it bothers me to see. I don't mind blasphemous humor (love it, in fact), but I hate stereotypes about Christians.

Sorry, forgot the quote in previous post:

Didn't you indicate you were considering a boycott of Cafe Press in your post just before this one?

Yes, he did, and I've been wondering the same thing. My theory, expresse in the other thread, is that he's just trying to distract us from what we really want to discuss -- lesbians with cocoa butter.

Oops, almost forgot. Do I keep conservative/kosher?

Not very. Fiscally, I'm 100%, but socially I'm way more libertarian. I take a lot of heat from my more religious friends for my live-and-let-live attitude toward porn and marijuana. I just figure there are bigger fish to fry. Like economics.

Would anybody who seriously tries to keep "conservative kosher" even be reading this site?

That hilarious remix of "Hello" was probably the nastiest thing I have heard in my entire life...

Didn't you indicate you were considering a boycott of Cafe Press in your post just before this one?

Ah. I see now.

Yes I did. But dude-- seriously. They were peddling a t-shirt that endorsed the political assassination of a fucking president.

I didn't say that ALL boycotts were unjustified. I specifically said the right, I think, as done a better job of boycotting only for good reasons.

Like, that the French are vicious anti-semitic anti-American jagoffs and their economy should be crippled posthaste.

I just don't like the idea that any time Alec Baldwin says something stupid (about once a month) I should boycott his movies.

Although I do boycott them. Not because of his ideology (which he's entitled to, I think), but because 1, his movies have sucked since Red October and 2, no one puts him in movies anymore, pretty much.

Ace-- O/T, but cool story of some U.S. ass-kicking in Iraq.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A48017-2005Apr12?language=printer

I know how much you like this sort of stuff.

Hell, I know how much *I* like this sort of stuff.

That hilarious remix of "Hello" was probably the nastiest thing I have heard in my entire life...

On behalf of Allah, I thank you, and take credit for my good taste in posting it.

Yes, he did, and I've been wondering the same thing. My theory, expresse in the other thread, is that he's just trying to distract us from what we really want to discuss -- lesbians with cocoa butter.

I am reeling it in on the sex-talk for a while. I go over the line periodically, and then I pull back from it for a while. Until I get into the mood again.

So, fewer f-bombs, less strong sexual content. At least for a while.

Although I will continue to have some of that stuff. But I'm just trying to get a PG-13 rating now, because R ratings make it harder to sell tickets.

Bill,

I think there's a way to disagree politely with religious/traditionalist/moralist conservatives without being snide about it.

I've got a pretty bawdy site and while I have driven away a lot of religious conservatives with my cussin' and dirty-talk I've still managed to retain some of them.

I just don't see the need to demonize people who have strong religious convictions. Yeah, I disagree with them on some things. So what? I disagree with some of my best friends on all sorts of things (like, say, the proposition that they should loan me large sums of cash to support the Ace of Spades LifeStyle (TM) ), and yet there's no need to be angry about it.

Again:

I am all about the love.

It's time for you to give up some of that anger and try to be a little more, what's the word?, faggy.

Hey Bill, you've got your own crankiness, too.

Being a "contrarian conservative" almost as a principle is a bit tiresome, too.

Right, but I'm not. I'm just freely pointing out the stupidity of those on the right, now that I no longer care about focusing my ire on the left, now that the binary decision of an election is over. Unchecked, cliched conservative bs will be the seppaku of the right.

Now, I know you're not self-identified as "conservative",

Damn straight.

but if so, it helps to state that up front,

What, like a permanent banner? Perhaps a forehead tattoo?

so at least the true believers don't jump on you at a moment's deviation.

The true believers can blow me.

You used to do that on your blog, stopped for a while, and then when the Schaivo thing came up, your new readership wasn't aware of where you were coming from. (IMAO)

Right, well, adding disclaimers about "what type of label I am" tends to get tiresome, as opposed to independently conducting my analysis and then rendering my honest opinion.

I mean, I know that you're not being a dick, and I don't intend to be one either, but do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?

This whole identification thing can take on silly proportions. And in my mind, true conservatives wouldn't be cheering Congress to get involved in the life of one woman, attempting to thwart state courts, no matter what the case. After all, how much "injustice" is combatted by similiarly intrusive means by the left?

Means aside, are their goals inherently evil? Nah.

So, considering the fact that I viewed my position on the Schiavo matter as the true conservative position, there is also confusion about what the confusing labels even mean.

So confusing.

Hey, how old are you, anyway? Because when I went to college (Columbia U., class of 1972) the way to get a cool date was to be a member of the counter-counter-culture (i.e., a conservative).

Two points:

1. Hey, look, if you want to get some play with the ladies in college you either be liberal as all get out or else you start as star cornerback for the football team

I was stridently right-wing in college (in Europe!), and I got mad play from the ladies. Sometimes, they would call me a Nazi during sex.

But I didn't do that for a living. I was just so f'ing crazy.

2. Please stop referring to "nickles." The element and the unit of currency are spelled the same way: nickel. Damn it.

Oh, and more f-bombs, please.

Hey, how old are you, anyway?

According to my AOL profile, I am 22 years of age.

I am also, it says, into rock-climbing, long walks on the beach at sunset, and inserting methamphetamine capsules in my ass.

Because when I went to college (Columbia U., class of 1972) the way to get a cool date was to be a member of the counter-counter-culture (i.e., a conservative).

As they say: It was always better in the old days.

I came of age during the Era of AIDS. Lucky me.

Well, as a Conservative Jew who keeps kosher, um... I don't actually have an opinion on the matter.

I used to be a liberal. (Hey, look, if you want to get some play with the ladies in college you either be liberal as all get out or else you start

I was a Liberal too, for the same reason, the trouble is: it worked well. Either Abbie Hoffman or Jerry Rubin confessed many years later that he became a radical to get pussy - as did old dogfaced Willliam Kuntsler (even with his name) and surely old sourpuss Kerry did too, though nothing could help much in his case, ... well Terezza did marry him, there's proof positive! But because you found the Left's boycotting tactics a pain in college is no reason to be down on the right boycotting.

The difference between the Left boycotting and the right boycotting is that the right has not sucessfully done so in forty years. The last time I know of when the right actually scored a victory was in the mid-sixties and I had to read about it recently in a book. I can't remember a sucessful boycott by the right in my lifetime. The Left has been so sucessful for so long that all they must do is to threaten a boycott, and people businesses roll over immediately! Most people in this country are being jerked around by the tail that has been wagging the dog for generations: the small cabal of activist judges, academe and the media. And what, exactly, is their power to intimidate based upon? It is based upon fear, fear of protestors, fear of bad publicity, but most of all: fear of economic retaliation, (like being blacklisted as a "hate-site" for posting Moslem jokes). Most people are cowed by the thought of losing their jobs as it is, the dread of some Liberal Pressure Group going after them or their employer is terrifying and so they roll over to the Left's demands right away. As long as this situation exists the balance of power between Conservatives and Liberals will remain the same as it is today. The Ward Chamberlains and the NY TIMES will still be there, unless the right learns to boycott. One well publisized sucessful boycott by the right would alter the political landscape totally. When people discovered how much power they really have and how easy it is to do, they'd take back the power. Power to the People!

THE RIGHT MUST BOYCOTT!!!

Conservative kosher, huh?

Well, I tend not to drink French wines, but not because I dislike the French - I'm just cheap. Plus, I think French wines have too much tannin.

I thought the whole "freedom fries" thing was stupid.

I kinda like the Dixie Chicks.

I don't shop at Wal-Mart, but it's only because I used to work there and know they are evil.

I'm a religious conservative, but I don't mind the filthy cussin' on Ace's site. I'm convinced the Dusty girls ad is going to get me in trouble at work, though. I'm the only guy in my office.

I hate being put in a box with Dobson and Robertson, which explains my extraordinary pissiness at Andrew Sullivan and Oliver Willis.

That's about it, I guess.

I was stridently right-wing in college (in Europe!), and I got mad play from the ladies. Sometimes, they would call me a Nazi during sex.

"No one has ever had a fantasy about being tied to a bed and sexually ravished by someone dressed as a liberal." -- P.J. O'Rourke

Bill

Re labels:

"I mean, I know that you're not being a dick, and I don't intend to be one either, but do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?"

Thank you for recognizing my sincerity, adn yes I do realize it's a foolish thing.

But this is the internets we're talking about, where the ridiculous (kos) gets 100,000 hits per day (or whatever).

I mean, either you accept that folks online expect a certain something from their favorite sites and modify their expectations accordingly, or you get flamed and bitch about it when no one gives a damn.

I'm just postulating that the former is more reasonable than the latter, and make you look less crank-y.

I think you're wrong on some things, but our differences of opinion don't offend me.

Your religion baiting does offend me, though, and stereotypes a wide swath of religious Americans and internet users. It's bigotry plain and simple. I would hope you take sicere criticism to heart, and though I'm not perfect or even all that mellow, I am just an anonymous poster. You're a personally identified content provider.

And the "true conservative" position to Randy Andy S was John Kerry in the election. See how perspective can warp things?

I'm not too keen on the Dusty ads either. I read a fair amount of right-leaning blogs while at work, and (ironically enough) many of them tend to have ads with scantily-clad women. Nothing against scantily-clad women, per se, but I'd prefer not to have to worry about how it looks if somebody passes by my cube and sees me intently studying a web site featuring some girl in a bikini.

If I didn't read blogs at work, I wouldn't care. But since I do, the racy advertising is something that I can live with but would prefer not to have to.

I second Slublog on all those positions. I think it's fine and important to organize the occasional conservative boycott--I mean it's just necessary: if you're a private actor and you know that you can piss off the right with impunity, whereas you'll get no end of crap from the left for the tiniest infraction (or none at all, eg Nestle), you're going to tack left. That's why we're losing the culture war. We're unable to impose economic discipline in quite the same lockstep fashion. And that's OK.

You want a good example of a right wing boycott? Smith and Wesson. They pussed out on settling with the Clinton DOJ and their name is still mud. It will take them years to regain the goodwill of gun owners who had plenty of alternatives of fine American firearms who would actually protect their customers' rights.

Here's the difference, though: If it's possible, we need to be a little bit latitudinarian about the boycott thing so we don't do what happened to Ace. Don't go off like a Teamster on a scab if you see someone open a bottle of Montrachet. Drink up with them. If a guy has a new Smith and Wesson, shoot it. Don't politicize this stuff relentlessly and don't demonize people for these personal choices.

At the same time, make the case publicly on blogs and outlets like NRO, Fox, etc. I respect people's right to disagree with me on, say, paying a little extra for American or Taiwanese manufacture over Chicom slave-dreck. But just like I'm not going to be an effective evangelist for my religion (Christianity, I highly recommend it, e-mail me for details!) by insulting people and telling them they're going to HELL RIGHT NOW UNLESS I DUNK YOU IN THIS WATER YOU HEATHEN WRETCH I have to be satisfied with making the case with some humility and hoping a few people will agree with me--just maybe enough to make a difference.

I don't mind the racy ads. They're a sublte indicator that Ace isn't a tool of the PC crowd.
Besides they provide stimulating content. Its win-win in my book.
I mean whats a right leaning blog without the objectivication of women, gay bashing/closet desiring, D&D geekiness, war porn, and high school sex jokes. Oh... NRO.

I think a point that needs to be made is that in order to actually boycott Cafe Press, one would have had to shop there in the first place. I've never bought anything from them.

I prefer Amazon.

And for the record, I'm not against the idea of boycotts. Sometimes they're necessary in order to remind retailers or manufacturers who makes them rich - taking the customer for granted or doing things just to piss them off should be bad business.

By them, of course, I mean "us," the customer.

You know, for a guy who makes his living putting pen to paper (pixel to screen?) I really write some cruddy sentences at times.

If I didn't buy products created by people who I disagree with politically, my record and book collection would be rather small. No thanks.

You raise a good point about Menken, and I think some posters are being rather selective with their outrage. They don't like Nietzsche because he was an athiest, but they have no problem with our Founding Fathers, for example, most of whom were slave-owners. Hell, Michael Moore hasn't even done anything that bad! Of course, he's also contributed nothing as worthwhile as the Founding Fathers either, so...

Anyway, my point is that lots of folks who do a great amount of worthwhile things had some pretty shitty things, too. One can enjoy the good things without necessarily embracing the bad.

In most cases (e.g., books, music, food), politically-motivated boycotts are stupid.

Hell, Michael Moore hasn't even done anything that bad!

I respectfully disagree.

Well, that link didn't work. try this one instead.

Nietzsche thought Jews "[a] people of genius" were the strongest and purest race in Europe [Beyond Good and Evil,]
supported their further integration, and recommended kicking anti-semites,
"these latest speculators in idealism" out of Germany
[Genealogy of Morals] (this was at a time of rising soc***ist anti-semitism in Germany.) Nietzsche was strongly
opposed to nationalism as well as racial
conflict (Marx and Engels both supported racial conflict and were German nationalists in the
worst sense of the word.) Nietzsche criticized Judaism in as far as it had created
Christianity - Nietzsche was virulently anti-Christian, but was not entirely
negative about Judaism.
Rejection of logic? He rated the
scientist as the highest of the higher types of men. Rejection of reason - what does
that mean? reason need not be rational - hence soc***ism! He at times
recommended paying more attention to instinct than spirit, but that is far from
rejecting logic. As for
Nietzsche being depressing - Zarathustra depressing WTF?! More at the link..

Nietzsche the Nazi?

Boycott can be effective and I see no problem with them as long as you don't let it control your life. Making snarky anti-Christian jabs and religion-bashing is not cool. Quoting Nietzsche does not consititute this.

I actually like boycotts as a means of protest: they don't involve passage of yet more legislation, enforcement is necessarily voluntary, and if businesses feel they're unfairly targeted, at least theoretically they can respond. ("Buy Our Product: Dipshits Won't!" is an ad line that would tempt me, anyway.)

OTOH, sit-ins and protest marches were effective before the left trivialized them with incessant, meaningless repetition. I got pretty tired of hearing my lefty friends tell me that everything I ate or drank made me some sort of globalization whore, and I'm old and surly enough these days that if the right tries the same tactic, I'll just laugh at them.

Nietzsche: not a leftist; also spelled with an 's'.

Me: boycotting Spain.

BTW this was a really funny riff. "Portuguese Death Squads" indeedy. I'm going to go have a Snickers.

Your religion baiting does offend me, though, and stereotypes a wide swath of religious Americans and internet users. It's bigotry plain and simple.

Sorry Bill, he's right. I enjoy your blog and check it every day. But, he's right.

Let's see, in this house:

No CNN, ever! I even tell the motels and hotels I patronize to switch to Foxnews.

I used to drink Gray Goose for my vodka. No more. It's from France. Now my vodka's strictly Polish. And red wines from Chile, Australia and Northern California are better than the frog-juice anyway.

And if it wasn't for the Sopranos and Six Feet Under, I'd cancel HBO tomorrow. Too much Bill Maher. Too much pro-left propaganda on most their shows.

I have always bought American cars, even though Hondas run forever if you take care of them. That's pretty much keeping kosher for the USA auto industry.

I've discussed before on Ace's site the fact that I don't drink any Gallo wines--including E&J Brandy--because they are Nancy Pelosi's biggest supporters. For cooking brandy I use Christian Brothers instead. There are a lot of Gallo wines and it's kind of hard to avoid them, but I think it's important.

Ah, Mencken was writing at the turn of the century. Jew bigotry was like complaining about people who refuse to pull their pants up and proceed every sentence with "Like".

Mencken was also a rabid anti-Christian hyper-materialist. Don't care, I love the bastard anyway. Now, if he had secretly killed a man and feasted on his lightly roasted man-cutlets, and then proceeded to use his long bones to construct an ottoman of pain--well, then we'd have to rethink our fanboi nature.