Sucktastic. Suckerrific. Sucktacular. Suckadelic.

Also known as Rule #1.

Gatordoug writes:

One of my favorite blogging role models, Robert Stacy McCain sucks! He even says so, so it must be true. What really sucks about his sucking though is this. Apparently I have caught the BSV(Blogger Suckage Virus) from him.

He did not make these lists of best blogs, apparently because he sucks! I thought nothing of this obvious travesty, until I noted that I didn’t make the either, hence The next bit of evidence of my SUCKALICIOUSNESS? This list of the hottest Conservatve male bloggers. No RS McCain, and no ME either! Again, SUCKAPALOOZA!

Ooh, only “one of” his favorite blogging role models? Ouch. That must really suck, huh Stacy?

Stacy McCain, who received not one, but two Instalanches today…on the same post…backs up his claim to sucktosity by pointing to Allahpundit, who never, ever links him. No links. None. Nada. Nichts. Nichevo.

One does wonder why that is. I mean, how can a guy who graces Instapundit’s page with Althousian frequency fail to receive any links from Allahpundit? How?

The thought occurs: Allahpundit’s doing it on purpose. In which case…

Hey, Allahpundit, you know what would really get McCain’s goat?

Link me. Lots.

Hey, don’t look at me like that. It’s McCain’s own fault. He taught me about Rule #1.

Blogger mentioned in mainstream media. In other news, “BBQ Pork Wings” is the latest craze in food products.

The Wyblog’s Chris Wysocki – he who got The Trog at least a hundred hits or so by tipping me off that “boycott Letterman” is a great big piece of google-bait – has been noticed by the Baltimore Sun:

Baltimore Sun TV critic David Zurawik links the TVweek.com story, and again links to me by name. Mr. Zurawik noted the effect the boycott movement had on Embassy Suites:

One of the more intriguing aspects of the report is the alleged email a blogger received from a major advertiser seeking to distance the product from Letterman. This is where the rubber meets to the road in television, and it is surprisning that CBS has yet to comment on the matter given the coarse nature of Letterman’s word and the fact that they were directed at the child of a public figure, a category of people considered to be out of bounds for such attacks.

“a major advertiser seeking to distance the product from Letterman.” It’s not an “alleged” email; I wrote to Ms. Ray and she wrote back. Other folks wrote to her too, and received similar replies.

The boycott is working folks! It’s getting noticed.

In another column Mr. Zurawik notes:

I can’t wait to hear what Leslie Moonves, Letterman’s boss and the man who ultimately fired Don Imus, has to say on the matter.

Me neither Mr. Zurawik, me neither.

I know what you’re thinking: Chris has lost all of his blogger cred, getting noticed by the MSM like that. But that assumes he had any such cred to begin with, so maybe it’s all okay.

I kid, people. Because I care.

While Chris is out there getting all the mainstream media attention, some of us footsoldiers are doing our part, too. I haven’t watched Letterman even once since this whole thing started; nor have I stayed at Embassy Suites or a Best Western (or recommended them to anyone); purchased a Lexus; switched to Capitol One; or eaten any M&Ms.

More at American Power. Also at Cynthia Yockey’s place. Oh, and here’s some important context.

What would you taste like to a cannibal? Or to a zombie?

Do zombies actually taste, though?

Regardless. I’m not quite sure what to think about this:

Created by Recipe Star

Hat tip Boots & Sabers.

If you give a commie some shoes, he’s gonna want socks to go with them.

Writing at Pajamas Media, Cynthia Yockey makes a nice point about government health care, and why demand for it isn’t going away:

Soviet Communists — in the 1930s, I believe — wished to convince their workers of how downtrodden the U.S. worker was by capitalism and democracy. The Communists showed the workers newsreel footage of picketing union members and police, thinking their people would be outraged by the cops beating their fellow proles.

…Instead, the Communist workers saw the capitalist workers and instantly cried out: “The shoes! The shoes!” The Commies did not have shoes, or at least not shoes of the same sturdy quality that the capitalist workers wore.

…People who have no access to health care, and people struggling without sufficient health care, will be saying, “you mean soon I could have some?” Because when you can’t afford it, you already have delays and rationing. Practically any alternative doesn’t just look better, it is better.

…If fiscal conservatives are not able to explain to people who are barefoot — in terms of health care — how the free market that hasn’t gotten them shoes before will get them shoes under the Republican plan, I believe Obama and the Democrats will have very little trouble getting their plan passed.

I don’t entirely agree with her conclusion – the attraction of the new shoes is inversely related to the amount of change necessary to get the shoes. The more drastic the government plan is – or the more drastically it can be portrayed – the less chance it will pass.

But she’s still got a point. My concluding argument about socialized medicine is: at least in a more free-market-oriented system, you can improve your own position. You can get more through your own action. In a Canadian-style system, the only such action you can take is to cross the border.

To somebody who has none, and doesn’t believe there’s any to be had, that argument rings pretty hollow. Or, at least, it rings hollow when most people believe the government exists to give them things.

Give a man a fish…

Apropos of absolutely nothing, I had a brief conversation today about the saying: “Give a man a fish, you’ve fed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you’ve fed him for a lifetime.” Somebody wondered whether that came from the Bible (it doesn’t).

Leaping quickly to google its actual origin, I came across this guy, Ross Nordeen, a libertarian-conservative Thomas Sowell fan who’s got a lot of fun stuff on his website, including:

The Original

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”—Author unknown

The Improvements

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you will not have to listen to his incessant whining about how hungry he is.”—Author unknown

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you can sell him fishing equipment.”—Author unknown

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to use the Net and he won’t bother you for weeks.”—Author unknown

“Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Unless he doesn’t like sushi—then you also have to teach him to cook.”—Auren Hoffman, Herald Philosopher

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he will sit in the boat and drink beer all day.”—OldFox

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to sell fish and he eats steak.”—Author unknown

Found this, too:

“Teach a man to fish, and you introduce another competitor into the overcrowded fishing industry. Give a man a fish, and you stimulate demand for your product”

— Mickey the Fish, Sep 04 2000

Both disturbing and oddly compelling.

By the way, google says the actual saying comes from Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu.

He prob’ly thinks this song is about him.

Oh, right, I haven’t clicked over to No Sheeples Here yet today. Let’s just click over…yeah, okay, scroll down a little and…

Aah! My eyes! Oh God my eyes!

I have got to start spending more time at yard sales and such.

Because some people will sell things like this:

A rare leather-bound book that played an influential role in America’s early history could bring a windfall for a soldier training for his second tour in Iraq.

Indiana National Guard Capt. Nathan Harlan was a high school junior when he paid $7 for a 1788 first edition of volume one of “The Federalist” — a two-volume book of essays calling for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

That’s the first volume of The Federalist Papers. The actual Federalist Papers.

The book is being auctioned off tomorrow, but you can already make bids online. But:

Heritage Auction Galleries sold a complete two-volume set last year for $262,900 — a lofty price aided by the fact that it was in its original form and had been owned by a Revolutionary War soldier.

Harlan owns just a single volume, and its leather cover has been replaced, but the auction house estimates it will sell for $8,000 to $12,000. James Gannon, Heritage’s director of rare books, calls that range “very conservative” and says bidding could push the final price between $20,000 and $30,000 because the book is sought-after.

Understatement Of The Year nominee:

“…it was a good buy at $7.”