Disqus - Latest Comments for Youngblai

Re: FROM JAMES YOUNG: Collisions of the Damned: The Defense of the Dutch East Indies (The Usurper’s War…

Youngblai — Sat, 24 Sep 2016 10:38:22 -0000

Hello all--this is James Young. Thanks very much everyone for the kind words. Currently the publishing schedule is a bit in flux due to finishing my dissertation, but right now the next book out should be _Though Our Hulls Burn..._, which is the sequel to An Unproven Concept. I'm tentatively shooting for April 2017 on that one, followed by the next Usurper's War book. I'll probably also have some short story content in there as well.

You can keep up with info either by going to my blog (https://vergassy.com/) or joining the mailing list (link at the blog).

Re: #YesAllWomen

Youngblai — Thu, 29 May 2014 12:04:10 -0000

Sweet mercy, cynical much? There are women who use men, yes. Just like there are men who think the sole purpose of women is for their amusement. I would prefer not to be judged by the latter just as I am sure women would prefer not to be judged by the former.

Re: #YesAllWomen

Youngblai — Thu, 29 May 2014 11:59:11 -0000

Well glad you're self-identifying as a lower brain stem individual.

Believe it or not, it's called "respect for a fellow human." I would say you could "Google it," but reading it on digits is obviously not going to instill it in you after ## years.

Re: #YesAllWomen

Youngblai — Thu, 29 May 2014 11:52:31 -0000

It makes me sad that this is the state we've gotten to, and even sadder that people cannot even have a conversation about it without it devolving into misandry/misogyny debates. Shouldn't be that hard for people to just _talk to each other_ regardless of plumbing.

Re: Friday night news dump: Dawn Johnsen withdraws nomination for DOJ post | Washington Examiner

Youngblai — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 14:23:11 -0000

Sarge,

Don't hate Rob because he's trying to make the author not seem like a moron. I caught that one right off the bat also. Comments don't have to meet grammatical standards, but I don't think it's crazy to expect the main article to.

Regards

Re: http://theoneblog.brendanloy.com/2008/11/nerdiest-thing-ever.html

Youngblai — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 23:32:46 -0000

Wow. Just wow.

Re: Election Day notes

Youngblai — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:52:16 -0000

Get better Becky!

Re: http://theoneblog.brendanloy.com/2008/11/as-promised.html

Youngblai — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 07:11:30 -0000

You gotta wonder if McCain, on his way to defeat, is firing scuttling torpedoes into the S.S. Palin.

Re: http://theoneblog.brendanloy.com/2008/10/happy-halloween.html

Youngblai — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:41:38 -0000

There's gotta be something with the water in Western KS. When my wife and I drove through there while moving cross-country (from WA to KY), we both got sick too.

Re: http://theoneblog.brendanloy.com/2008/10/electoral-college-contest-reminder.html

Youngblai — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:14:56 -0000

I'm not sure I'm in agreement with a 338-200, but I think it's probably going to be a pretty good drubbing come Tuesday.

Re: http://theoneblog.brendanloy.com/2008/10/and-we-off.html

Youngblai — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:19:30 -0000

Have a safe trip!

Re: Breaking news

Youngblai — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:18:53 -0000

Yes, but not for the reason you're thinking--the AIM-9 Sidewinder is a heat-seeking, air-to-air missile with about a 10-lb. warhead. Should one flatten the entire Syrian port of Latakia, I think I'd want to know how long we've had anti-matter technology and why, if we've figured that out, we don't have cold fusion yet.

Sorry to be snarky, but if you're going to posit a scenario at least make it plausible.

Re: Breaking news

Youngblai — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:17:05 -0000

Well, you know, other than those MS 13 folks and other Hispanic gangs conducting low-grade ethnic cleansing in L.A. and Newark. Or the fact that our radical Islamic friends have a ready infiltration route should they decide to get serious. However, you have acknowledged the larger point--if we can't control our borders, it's a bit strange for us to expect another nation to without good incentives.

Now, is this a large incentive? Should it have been done _now_? I think the answer to the first is "no" and therefore the second is also "no." It takes time for a "message" to register unless one writes it in large quantities of blood and heavy helpings of blunt objects. The Syrians can look at a calendar just as well as the next person, and all a minor raid like this is going to do is make them resolve to get us back at a later date.

As to Pakistan listening--riiiigggghhhttt. That's why they've instructed their soldiers to fire on any U.S. helicopters that cross the border. No, if they'd got the message they would have left a skeleton force on the Indo-Pakistan border and handled their business in the Northwest Provinces. They have not--ergo, I don't think that message really took.

Re: Breaking news

Youngblai — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:58:44 -0000

Jester,

Really? Seriously? Your argument is that the United States is allowed to go into Syria and brew something up because the Assad regime doesn't have an ironclad grip on its borders? Um, have you checked the documentation of the workers at your local day laborer's lately?
Generally launching cross border raids is considered an act of war. I'm not saying I'm necessarily opposed to it in all cases, but I think that we need to have a little more discussion about it than "The Bush Administration felt like doing a little housekeeping in the waning months." Two years, even one year ago, I wouldn't have been opposed to this per se. Now that we've got an election coming up in which the man who made the call is not going to be the one responsible for cleaning up the mess if it goes south? Yeah, not cool.

Re: Breaking news

Youngblai — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:52:34 -0000

We have got to have done this with the full agreement of the Syrian government. There's no EFFIN way we're attacking Syria right now.

Re: http://theoneblog.brendanloy.com/2008/10/peggy-noonan-palin-not-leader-not-fit.html

Youngblai — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:28:03 -0000

Okay, I see that you're going to stomp your foot and continue to act like a petulant toddler until I answer your question. So, I'll unclog your logic tree so we can move on to the next question-the economy's gone to hell in a handbasket.

I sort of thought that wasn't necessary to answer given that I strongly implied that the economy has gone downhill (you know, "distress" being a synonym for "really f-ed up situation"), but you apparently didn't do so hot on the vocabulary portion of the SAT.

So there, you've got your answer--now explain to me again how this matters? Because the _budget_ has little to do with the _economy_ in a nominally free market society, so I don't see why having Nan the Grand (Idiot) as Speaker makes any difference. _Especially_ since the President has the bully pulpit and the veto pen--and last I checked Dubya signed off on both of those budgets. Oh, wait, maybe you're going to tell me the Dems had veto proof majorities in both the House and Senate..._that_ is where the President owns the budget.

Re: http://theoneblog.brendanloy.com/2008/10/peggy-noonan-palin-not-leader-not-fit.html

Youngblai — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:30:46 -0000

Alastor,

I did answer your question--you just apparently need a tire iron between the eyes answer. So, here goes: The joy of being an independent is that I don't reflexively blame one party or the other. Indeed, there is plenty of blame to go around, to include the economic distress of the last 2 years. The GOP would have a lot more credit on this issue if it hadn't been their Treasury Secretary saying that the economy was fine, blah, blah. So if the President's employee is basically screwing up by the numbers, wouldn't that mean he shoudl share some of the blame?

Which leads to the next part--the Fannie and Freddie debacle has many fathers/mothers. Sorry, but the GOP was in charge of Congress--it does no good to say "We warned people..." yet expend no effort to really fix it. Strange, but the party that was ready to go nuclear over judges and rushed back for Terry Schiavo seems awfully quick to point the finger yet sure didn't do anything about it.

Let's not start about the Executive Orders and Signing Statements, 'kay? Once again, if Bush et. al. thought this was the economy shattering problem they now suddenly claim to have foreseen then wouldn't there be a few Orders and Statements trying to forestall the mess? Maybe a little open debate in Congress over it? Or are you admitting that your party was too da*n scared of being called names and / or desirous of power to actually, you know, lead?

This is why, btw, Obama still has a slight lead--the GOP keeps trying to talk about the past like they were the upstanding paragons of virtue when, yeah, most of American was kind of paying attention. Personally, when the other guy is someone who thought passing the worst impediment to free speech since the Alien Sedition Act was a good idea, I think I'm not finding myself capable of telling the difference between either side.

Re: Matt Drudge is so... subtle

Youngblai — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:33:10 -0000

Um, yeah, and can we maybe cover that whole, Colin Powell has demonstrated competence in a profession other than getting elected angle?

Re: Matt Drudge is so... subtle

Youngblai — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:32:21 -0000

I'm not sure I see racism in the photo. Then again, I sometimes get accused of being conservative when I'm not getting accused of being liberal. ("Actually I'm Logicapendent Dracoberal." "What?" "A logical independent who believes in the liberal application of Draconian policies.")

Likewise, I don't see the photo of a black man kissing a white woman as racist. It's sort of the whole Ford controversy last election--to me the issue that was being portrayed was that Ford was a man who thought nothing of hooking up at a Playboy Mansion party. You could've made the woman a green-skinned Star Trek babe--the man's still running around dipping his wick yet trying to run as a church going, God-fearing man in the Bible belt. Those two images don't mesh.

Sorry, but if you find that a picture of a black man kissing a white woman is somehow subtle racism, the issue may be on your side of the screen, not Drudge's. Anyone whose going to look at that pic and say, "Obama's kissing a white woman!" is probably not going to vote for the man anyway. Not to mention, let me tell you--there's probably just as many black women going "Oh WTF?!" as there would be white men--but no one's claiming that Drudge is trying to flip _that_ demographic.

Re: http://theoneblog.brendanloy.com/2008/10/more-election-photos.html

Youngblai — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 14:36:30 -0000

Actually, the gentleman is right. In order to get a clearance or something of that nature, Obama's associations would be investigated. Ayers, needless to say, would be a little bit of a red flag.

Re: http://theoneblog.brendanloy.com/2008/10/peggy-noonan-palin-not-leader-not-fit.html

Youngblai — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 09:49:43 -0000

Um, Craig--some of it is Bush's fault. Not all, but I would say the majority of it. Not saying that's a reason to vote for Obama, but I think before the GOP starts to be appealing again it's going to have to take a good, hard look on why one family has so much "Ooomph" in the party.

Re: http://theoneblog.brendanloy.com/2008/10/peggy-noonan-palin-not-leader-not-fit.html

Youngblai — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 09:16:08 -0000

I guess I should be brief lest David K attempt to state someone wrote more than Brendan did. Nah...

Increasingly I have come to believe that Peggy Noonan has hit the nail on the head. As someone who was agitating for Palin as a pick _because_ she was from outside the beltway, I now realize that, yes, either McCain did not vet her sufficiently or the man has poor judgment. Don't get me wrong--I don't necessarily disagree with some of the things she's saying, nor would I not say them myself in her place. However, I would do it with the understanding that, yes, I am pumping fuel vapor into a confined space and, possibly there may be a spark that kicks off a conflagration. Even though the "kill him" and "traitor" reports have been investigated and disproven by the Secret Service, the fact remains that if someone says that the next President is potentially pals with terrorists then they better be prepared for Americans to act on those statements. (See the "Kennedy is a Traitor" pamphlets handed out all around Dallas during late November 1963 for an example of this.)

Now, I am sure there are those on the right who are going to jump out and say that the Left did this too. Well, yes, they did, and there are some very limited situations where the "other side started it..." argument works. Of course, most of those involve wartime or justifiable homicide cases, not the nominally peaceful political process by which this Republic changes hands. Last time someone started using rhetoric like this...well, I've beat that drum to death, so I'll just stop right there.

The fact is, at this moment, Obama is simply the better candidate. That's damning with faint praise, of course, and the fact that America is probably going to elect someone who is a black liberationist / marxist / leftist in a time when the economy will have gone to sh*t means that we're probably going to get our just desserts. Yet, sorry, there is nothing that the Republican Party has done in the last 8 years that makes me say, "Oh, wait, the alternative to the Obama is so much better."

No, the GOP (to include the man at the head of the ticket) have earned themselves the ignominy of being the people that paved the way for the coming disaster that will occur once the Dem majority either A. informs all the people that thought the goody bag was about to be firmly opened that, in fact, there are no goodies in the store or B. attempts to fulfill all its promises, bankrupts the country, then has to start a virgin lottery in order to pay off the Chinese and our other debtors. (<--Slight hyperbole...I hope. China _is_ seriously short of women.) Instead of reinventing themselves, the GOP may find that it simply ceases to be recognizable as the country clubbers over ignorant religious rubes party it has been for at least the last four years. The populist monster that replaces it, in turn, may be something horrible to behold.

Re: Pondering Election Night

Youngblai — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:55:36 -0000

I hate to say it, but I'm with Brendan--I want there to be a brutal, one-sided, unrefutable beating by one side or the other. Not an electoral college win / popular vote loss or something that comes down to whether or not 100k or so ballots are valid, but a vicious, "Oh my God, was that his...spleen?" a** whuppin' of epic proportions.

Why? Because I'm sick of this. I'm sick of watching the radicals of both sides shrieking past each other and tearing at our Republic's entrails. I'm tired of otherwise sane, rational people deciding that, hey, that one single issue is so critical they will ignore _all other evidence_ as long as their guy believes like they do. Finally, I'm tired of having a nation of so much promise held hostage by the win at all costs politics that both sides employ.

So, please, let the victory be absolutely crushing whomever wins. Let there be no more, "selected, not elected" comments or "____ stole the election" debates. That is what I want to see on election night.

My guy ain't going to win (I don't know who I'm voting for yet, but it ain't either of the main candidates), but I hope whoever wins does so with an actual mandate.

Re: Liveblog tonight at 8:30!

Youngblai — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 08:40:00 -0000

Alastor,

The Politico blog has an article about a focus group in Ohio that, to put it bluntly, didn't give a f*ck about Obama being wrong--they just weren't voting Republican after the last 8 years. When you've got Mr. Conservative (allegedly) in the Oval Office buying banks, I can see why the GOP brand is on such hard times.
Myself, I'm still hoping that my quarter doesn't hit anyone when I go vote.

Re: Liveblog tonight at 8:30!

Youngblai — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:32:02 -0000

Yeah, I watched five minutes of the debate, got depressed, and figured that I might as well watch a movie with the Mrs. while we still have electricity. ;)