One Thing Leads to Another

How can anyone take seriously a guy who puts Courtney Love on his list of 100 people who are screwing up America. I mean Courtney Love? Really? And she didn’t even come in at #100? What, is she the new Yoko Ono or something?

Here. Let me show you my list of the 1 least relevant, least insightful, least interesting right-wing douchebag in America:

1. Bernard Goldberg

@Serolf Divad: And Matthew Lesko? He’s never offended anything but one’s sense of taste. And I had to look up Guy Velella (crooked GOP NY state senator). And Mailer is dead, so BG needs to update. Who do you think? Bernard Madoff? Spongebob? Billy Mays?

http://washingtonindependent.com/37360/scenes-from-the-real-america

@Serolf Divad:

Nah, he’s number two even for that. You forgot about Bill Kristol.

My favorite on the list?

Eminem.

WTF?

@Prommie:

Was that a 14-Year-Old in a Nazi Officers’ Hat?

Jesus.

Bob Shrum?

BOB SHRUM?

Why? He should be in Goldberg’s hall of fame not infamy. Lost every preznit campaign he’s worked on.

@Prommie: All I will say is that place is a hell of a lot closer to Fort Knox than it is to Louisville.

@Prommie: The high cost of shooting a machine gun. Spending 75 rounds from an AK-47 would run you $120.

The real reason Cletus and Edna couldn’t upgrade to a doublewide.

@blogenfreude: Anna Nicole Smith? Or maybe there is a Smith-Ken Lay-Noam Chomsky connection we aren’t aware of.

@blogenfreude: Anna Nicole Smith, also dead.

RML: can you reload AK47 shells? Would you want to?

@blogenfreude: @SanFranLefty: Ken Lay, also dead.

And just what did Latrell Sprewell do to rate on this list? Is Goldberg fucking PJ Carlesimo or something?

@Jamie Sommers:
Or a Knicks “fan.”

25. James Kopp

This guy shot a doctor in Western N.Y. who did abortions.

Notable: James Bopp (not on the list) is a Republican operative who is most famous for filing amici briefs for anti-abortion groups. Also: MMMBop (also not on the list) was a horrible, horrible song.

But also: 21. Judge Roy Moore. Concur in full as to this asshat. (Yes, the addition of this guy gives the veneer of bipartisanship. But credit where due.)

[ADD: Michael Savage and David Duke are on the list. Which makes me wonder about our dear Mr. Adkisson — did he even read Bernie’s book, or the list? Or did he learn that it was greatest thing ever from what he saw on teevee?]

@Prommie: You just don’t see the Nozzies, the militias or the white supremacists on the Outdoor Channel’s coverage of Knob Creek. I have seen WW2 German Army reenactment assholes on the Outdoor Channel’s “Wednesday Night at the Range”, however. “We’re doing it to honor our troops,” they say. Wait – weren’t “our” troops fighting the Germans that time out?

@blogenfreude: Shooting does cost a lot. For instance, 9mm 115 gr FMJs I use in my Glock 19 are anywhere from $16-$20 per box of 50. Use of anything other than factory ammo voids the Glock warranty. I’m waiting on a .22 LR conversion kit that will pay for itself in 300 rounds of low cost/low recoil target shooting. I got the stink eye from Mrs RML over last month’s credit card bill, which included 10 or 12 boxes of ammo. I guess reloading like I do for the revolvers does help your love life, per the title of a Field and Stream article this month . . .

Interesting – many cats who actually carried the M-16 while in the service really don’t care for them now:

“Black rifles are selling faster than manufacturers can put them together right now. Partly out of fear of possible new gun laws, and partly just because, everybody is buying them – everybody but me and my friend Tommy Akin, a gentleman and duck hunter from Tennessee.

“The day I turned mine in I swore I’d never shoot one again,” says Tommy, who served as a forward observer in Vietnam.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/ammunition/2009/02/bourjaily-why-im-not-buying-black-rifle

@chicago bureau: Judge Roy Bean? Loved the movie.

@chicago bureau: Goldberg puts them on there not because they’re assclowns, but because they embarass the GOP and conservatives.

@nojo: So it all comes down to the Bacon Number. Paul Newman was Judge Roy Bean, and he also co-starred in “Color of Money” with Tom Cruise. Cruise and Bacon were in “A Few Good Men” together. Kevin Bacon and Courtney Love were in “Trapped” together in 2002.

And Ken Lay? It’s complicated, but it’s there.

@redmanlaw: Glock makes AK-47? Now I’m confused … I thought … nevermind.

@blogenfreude: It was about the cost of shooting. (Since edited for clarity.)

There’s a great book on the AK-47 called “AK-47: The Weapon That Changed the Face of War” which is available through Amazon:

“During the past half century, the AK-47 assault rifle has established itself as the most ubiquitous implement of destruction on the planet. No other gun comes close for its durability, low price, ease of operation, and sheer killing power. It has become a mainstay of armies and terrorists alike, and a universal icon of revolutionary upheaval. Larry Kahaner’s book is the best history of this weapon that I have seen. AK-47: The Weapon That Changed the World will appeal to anyone who has ever watched the History Channel—or the evening news.”
—Max Boot, senior fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, and author of The Savage Wars of Peace

http://www.amazon.com/AK-47-Weapon-that-Changed-Face/dp/0471726419

(page includes an FAQ on the rifle)

A leftist postman I knew once had a button with the AK-47 on it as a symbol of armed revolution that he used to wear while off duty.

@redmanlaw: Kalashnikov only died in the last five years or so, I think. I remember the retrospectives.

@redmanlaw: Glad you’re here to straighten me out – you know more about firearms than I do about cars.

@Nabisco: I believe Miguel is still alive and trying a way to turn a buck on his name. Capitalist running dog.

@blogenfreude: That book also includes a chapter on child soldiers, which is perhaps the most memorable part of it. Loaned it out, gotta get it back.

TJ/ Cops shoot out the lights of photogs at Tom “Pretty Boy” Brady’s wedding in Costa Rica. Thing is, the “Costa Rican police” they mention were probably Colombians. Ticos can’t shoot worth a damn.

@blogenfreude: Otherwise referred to as the “Brady Bundchen” wedding by Stephanie Miller this morning.

BTW – Mrs RML is hooked on the Mrs O fashion blog, which covered the G 20 thusly:

From the moment she exited Air Force One in that chartreuse yellow Jason Wu dress, the fashion press swooned as one. Elle UK described this stunningly confident look as:

”An eye popping bright yellow shift by Jason Wu perfectly offset with a black belt and long line jacket that signalled to the world, we have arrived.”

Mrs. O rang the fashion changes throughout the week, moving from accessibly soft and pretty J. Crew separates to high octane Alaia glamour, and fashion commentators lauded almost every move. That asymmetric Junya Watanabe cardigan was admittedly widely regarded as something of a miss but by then the press were past caring.

http://www.mrs-o.org/

@Nabisco:
Mmm, bacon. Between you and Mellbell’s revelation that her sister doesn’t like bacon, I’m totally jonesing for bacon now.

Shit is getting more fucked up: “Police said this morning they still have no idea why an Altamonte Springs woman shot her son Sunday afternoon and then turned the gun on herself while the two were target practicing.

Evidence indicated Marie Moore, 44, intentionally shot her 20-year-old son, Mitchell, also of Altamonte Springs, police said. Why she did it, however, remains a mystery.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-shootings-040609,0,243986.story

@blogenfreude: Yes, you can reload the 7.62 x 39 cartridge. In fact, one may easily increase the accuracy of cheap ass Russian ammo by pulling the factory bullets and replacing them with premium bullets so long as the powder charge is right for the new bullet (the part that goes out the barrel; the whole thing is a “cartridge”), according to an article I read over the weekend.

Puppeh TJ: Politico reporting dog brought to White House over the weekend. First puppeh???

OMG! OMG! [high pitched squeal]

ADD: I don’t act like this around babies. Just doggies.

@SanFranLefty:

That mention is such a tease! I want details, Politico! This is not winning the morning!!!!

Meanwhile, back to the point of this post. Newt Gingrich, please STFU.

@SanFranLefty: Reagan was also talking at a time when there were only five nuclear powers (the Soviet Union, China, France, Britain, the United States). Technically there are still only five “official” nuclear powers. Israel, India and Pakistan all developed capabilities in the 60s and 70s, and South Africa developed theirs in – wait for it – the 80s. Iran and Syria? Confirmed during Dubya’s regime.

Newt’s an asshat.

@SanFranLefty: Not since Jimmy Carter have we had an administration this out of touch with reality.

Oddly, I don’t remember it that way. I think he should have stood up to Ted Koppel’s “America Held Hostage” crap instead of sending in the choppers, but that’s about it.

For the young ’uns: Koppel was a tool, and Nightline was the result.

@SanFranLefty:
Yes, he should.

Especially considering HIS plan to revolutionize the military (using air power–Lockheed/Martin Marietta is in his district–and light infantry) was the ORIGINAL BASIS for OPeration Iraqi Freedumb which was light forces supported by air power–the original plan was 75K light INFANTRY and planes not tanks or heavy artillery. BTW, tanks and artillery are what saved the US forces from getting bogged down in the early days of the invasion.

Also the basis on how Rummie ran the Pentagon (not very well.)

Odd for a guy who was approaching Dick “Dick” Cheney levels of cowardice, uh, deferments when it was his turn to face the “glorious” opportunity for combat in Vietnam.

@chicago bureau: But the Hale-Bopp comet did the world a favor by acting as the Flavor-Aid of the 1990s.

Oh shit: http://www.stinque.com/2009/04/06/wtf/

@redmanlaw:
@blogenfreude:

At $120 for 75 rounds they must be getting the ammo from Haliburton.

Going rate for that cheap-ass 7.62×39 Russian ammo is under 40 cents/round. Shooting *IS* expensive when you consider that is about as low as it gets for any boxed ammo other than .22

AK-47 AKA “African Credit Card”

@fupduk: I saw an article this weekend that said guys who shoot the 7.62 x 39 are the cheapest shooters on the planet. On a bad day I’m the guy who’s bumping up against $0.40/rd, $0.32/rd is on the cheap side for factory 9 mm. AK ammo runs about $0.13/rd on average.