Gee whiz, ace. I thought your "moral bankruptcy" status was already decided based on all those times you sold dope dressed as a nun. Or the triple-amputee prostitution ring. But you know: your broken moral compass is why I love you. Don't ever change, man.

P.S. -- Yes, I stole this from the "Hanover Fiste/Captain Sternn" bit in Heavy Metal.

P.P.S -- I'm deathly sick of politix'n'stuff, ace. Do a brother a favor and post another movie thread or something.

There's never a candidate or nominee with whom one will agree all the time... the test is to find those that you agree with more than disagree. While it's somewhat lazy, there's nothing wrong with using proxy-issues to determine whether or not to support or vote for someone. The key is to determine the appropriate proxy-issue. For some people, it's as simple as knowing the political party of the candidate. For others, it's knowing how the candidate feels about gay rights.

"Well, I don't know. There are some issues I don't care all that passionately about (abortion, gay rights) but which tell me how someone's going to vote on the issues I do care a great deal about."

Do you even read your comment sections, pal? Hell, the conservative clatch argue all the time over these issues, arrive at different positions, and seek differing justifications for arriving at these positions.

I do not disagree with your larger point, that there are indicators out there that tend to give a good idea of how someone will vote on an issue one way or other. But if the blogosphere has taught us anything (other than videos of kids wiping out on skateboards never get old) it's that there is no monolithic conservative party-line out there. To cite only one example, relevant to your earlier post, if there were, National Review wouldn't support drug legalization.

And your LARGER larger point is still 100% true: we should know more about these nominees. I may think Charles Schumer is an arrogant little cow-tit, but I can agree that he reaches the right conclusion for the wrong reasons.

*I* want to hear what Judge Roberts has to say about these issues. Information is power, and that's half the battle, which is one to grow on, so I hanker for a hunk of cheese, and look, a wagon wheel!

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

I don't know about morally bankrupt, but it is ideological hackery to simply read a position on an issue you don't care about, or even disagree with, to say that you will agree with a list of other unknown positions. For one thing you should be asking how the tea-leaf position was justified; on abortion I would think that it would mean one thing to you if an anti-abortion position was based on the idea that the states should have the ultimate say on the issue, and another thing entirely if the position was based on idea that abortion should be outlawed on the Federal level because the Bible says it is morally wrong. And I would also think that if you got over the Republican group-think and thought the issue out you would be in favor of most gay rights.

"Do you even read your comment sections, pal? Hell, the conservative clatch... "

What the hell is a clatch? I need to know whether I should be pissed or not.

D'oh-- I meant "klatch."

I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.

Roger, Roger!

I'm deathly sick of politix'n'stuff, ace. Do a brother a favor and post another movie thread or something.

Any suggestions?

Here's a topic my kids and I like to talk about: Greatest Movie Never Made. For example, I'd love to see a movie of The Mote in God's Eye, but I doubt if it would ever be made - and if they did, they'd probably screw it up. But if it were done right, it would be really cool; hence, it's a candidate for Greatest Movie Never Made.

Just a suggestion; do with it as you will.

"Ideologically bankrupt" is kind of strong, but I have to admit that in general I agree with Varones' point that it's a bad idea to set litmus tests for conservatism; even more so when it's an issue that you ourself don't feel strongly about. Much more disturbingly, I find myself agreeing with vonK that the grounds on which Roberts (or anyone else) reach a given conclusion make a difference.

Finally, I agree with Monty and Brown Line that politics is becoming wearisome to the point where I'm ready to sublet the Unabomber's shack and tell everyone to f*ck off. Can't we discuss best soundtracks or something?

ace: do a thread on John Carpenter movies. Given your love of 80's cheese, that's a slam-dunk. Escape From New York, Halloween, The Thing, They Live... All bona fide cheese classics. I'd even accept Christine as above-average cable-fodder.

Then 1990 rolled around and Carpenter started to suck and hasn't made a decent flick since. He should have been arrested for Ghosts of Mars.

Another good thread-topic might be, "Formative television shows of our childhood." I can't be the only one whose basic personality was formed by Hawaii Five-O, Ironside, and Mannix.

Sir,

This Varones guy proudly mentions (it's in his titular epigram) that he is a vegetarian. I use vegetarianism as a proxy-issue.

"Mothers who ate a vegetarian diet during pregnancy had a five-time greater risk of delivering a boy with hypospadias, a birth defect of the penis."
http://www.mercola.com/2000/feb/6/vegetarian_pregnancy.htm

Negative effect on the penis. Uh-uh, no thanks. Vegetarianism is wrong on so many levels. I've never met a vegetarian who wasn't a fanatic. But not in an open, honest way, like say, an Islamofascisct. No, they are sneaky and sly, with their beards and Birkenstocks, smiling serenely and trying to convert children by giving them "wheatless/dairy-free" cookies that look and taste like dirt clods, when the kid specifically asked for a machine manufactured, suger-laden, highly refined and, most important, TASTY, Oreo.

The fact that this guy has made what he condsiders the pricipaled act of proudly proclaiming his dietary fetish tells me all I have to know about him and his opinions. This would be like Dan Rather reeling off his many journalistic credentials and then mistakenly admitting that he is a liberal, LIBERAL Democrat. I know Rather is wrong in so many ways but can't quite nail down why. His liberal, Liberal Democratic beliefs are the concrete evidence to explain his inherent vileness and stupidity.

Without invoking the Nazi's as lefties are so wont to do, may I mention that

HITLER WAS A VEGETARIAN!

Sincerely,

rcl

What's wrong with being a morally bankrupt partisan hack?

Ace, if he said you were Morally Solvent I'd be shocked.

What about a thread on best spoof movies, like Big Trouble in Little China etc.

Zombies, people.
Shambling, shuffling, brain-snackin' zombies.

If your candidate has taken the unpopular position on something, the one that doesn't get smooches from the Times, then you can at least believe he'll make principled decisions. More often than not, these are going to come up your way.

Wah-lah

ace, for the record, is your moral bankruptcy a dissolution, or reorganization?

unsecured creditors need the info.

Damn - for being only 62, Walken looks like he's just come off one of those HST style 20 year meth binges...

How does Walken get his hair to stand on end like that? Butch Wax? (And Walken can indeed trip the light fantastic: catch his dancing chops in Pennies From Heaven or the Weapon of Choice video.)

Another good thread-topic might be, "Formative television shows of our childhood." I can't be the only one whose basic personality was formed by Hawaii Five-O, Ironside, and Mannix.

Best. Sitcom. Ever: Barney Miller!

Best. Sitcom. Ever: Barney Miller!

Close, but no. Dobie Gillis was. Even the credits were great.

rd:

I've never met a vegetarian who wasn't a fanatic.

HITLER WAS A VEGETARIAN!

Formative television shows? WKRP.

SJKevin:

I was gonna bust on you for being a vegetarian, but your love for WKRP redeems you. That was a great sitcom! Herb Tarlek is my hero to this very day, and Bailey...oh, man, was she hot!

You know why it's not out on DVD while crap like "Mork and Mindy" is, by the way? It's because they can't afford to pay ASCAP for the frigging songs! They have to pay royalties for every song snippet on every show, and the studio figured it was too expensive to be recouped from a DVD release. That sucks, man. I'd buy a WKRP DVD set in nothing flat.

Favorite WKRP epidsodes?

The trooper testing Venus and Johnny's reflexes under the influence.

And of course the classic ones with dancing chicks and flying turkeys.

It ran every night at 10pm throughout gradeschool and I refused to go to sleep until I had watched on my 13 inch b&w with simulated wood veneer.

Howard Hesseman's growling "booger" into a microphone is still my favorite WKRP moment.

They have to pay royalties for every song snippet on every show, and the studio figured it was too expensive to be recouped from a DVD release.

How much can the Henry Mancini Singers rendition of "You're Having My Baby" cost?

Andy, as God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.

Les Nessman's play by play of turkey day would have won a Marconi if it were real.

"His doctor told him to avoid meat for a while, that's all..."

SJKevin,

A little sensitive, aren't we? May I suggest a little iron in your diet. Perhaps a nice slab of Prime Rib. Square you right away.

Respectfully,

rcl

Wings and News Radio are classics.

In Wisconsin, winter is the best seven months of the year.

I totally agree with Ace and think it is beyond ridiculous to say that his position is morally bankrupt.

I sorta decide for the opposite reasons than Ace. Abortion and gay politics do matter to me and how a candidate feels about it usually tells me everything I need to know about him/her about other issues as well.

Monty, I haven't heard from you!!!!

Sparkle:

I emailed you last night. Did you get that one? Or have you sent me one since then that I haven't responded to?