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A Tuesday Open Thread for Christmas week

And I really like this video, especially considering that the guitarist is playing a Taylor:

(ht: Between Two Worlds)

So here’s an open thread for today. Enjoy the week and remember who Christmas is all about.

Oh, and in case someone wants to buy me a Christmas present, this would be interesting.

COMMENTS

  • jdub19

    My favorite is Bob Seger…” Little Drummer Boy”

    Anyone have a clip?

  • Aaron Gardner

    Seriously, none of it is productive. Achance, Jaded, Mbecker, Gamecock, all of you have respectable positions on issues, but most of you are not engaging on issues.

    TARP is, was, and always will be CRAP.

    Palin will be a force in the Party and depending on the next 4 years could be our next pick for President…but 4 years might as well be a century in Politics.

    Mike Duncan failed at the RNC for the simple fact that he never tended to the brand, nor did he speak to or for the grassroots.

    Sen. McCain is what’s wrong with the party right now.

    For as much as President Bush has done to secure our nation, he has equally crippled the cause of Conservatism here at home.

    Look I like all of you guys and gals, and I agree and disagree with each of you on different subjects, but it is gonna take all of us to get this train back on the tracks. Lets get all these side issues out of the way so we can get to the hard work that is ahead for all of us.

    Flame me if you want, heck I am thinking “can’t we all just get along” a la Rodney King even as I write this, but I think you all can agree that this infighting has become silly. So let’s just take a breather and get prepared to come back Jan 1st 2009 as one team ready to fight the Dems, not ourselves.

    Flame away….;^)

  • Patrick_Murdock

  • jdub19

    .

  • jdub19

    sorry

  • Diogenes314

    Enjoy the week and remember who Christmas is all about.

  • bs

    That’s like 5 diaries in one comment. Nicely done!

  • bs

    with the WKRP Turkey Drop as the best TV scene ever.

    And maybe the Newhart finale scene where Bob wakes up in bed with Emily…

  • Diogenes314

    In the name of all that is holy-NO WE CAN’T.

    Seriously, Merry Christmas all.

  • Aaron Gardner
  • Aaron Gardner
  • Diogenes314

    Believe it or not, I usually try to get along with those I disagree with. I’m just not very good at it.

  • Aaron Gardner

    You get there eventually…you just like to take the very long very deliberative road in every conversation…which is good in ways and bad in others….I admit you piss me off often, but eventually we end up in some form of agreement….;^)

  • $peciallist
  • Diogenes314

    Personally, I love the Joan Jett version.

  • E Pluribus Unum

    And I mention that only because people think Taylors are ‘all that’. They are OK, but Takamines ROCK.

    Oh, and Merry Christmas to you and to all, bs. The reason for Christmas — never forget what was done and what it cost.

  • E Pluribus Unum

    ARe you kidding me? Paris freakin Hilton? The person whose career high point is a Hardees hamburger commercial?

    No, here’s the REAL thing. Sarah Palin showing off her naughty-librarian look for her FAVORITE REDSTATE BLOGGER……

    Palin_EPU
  • E Pluribus Unum

    It doesn’t phase Christians. We have the hole card.

  • bs

    In fact, I just recommended one to a pastor friend of mine. They are probably the best price-performers that I’ve seen. But I’ve always liked the sound of a Taylor. It took me over 30 years of playing to splurge on a decent acoustic, and that’s what I bought. Every time I play, someone says “wow, that guitar sounds great” (no comment on the player, though…)

  • izoneguy

  • $peciallist

    it sounds awesome Only when I play Peter Frampton songs….

    And….I hope this isn’t you they are looking for…

    Police are looking for a suspect described as a balding white man in his 40s, driving a tan Ford F-150 extended cab pickup.

  • E Pluribus Unum

    When I heard all the APBs last night and this morning, I took note of that description also. Other than the pickup, it’s right on.

    Unfortunately — and this is hard for a Texan to admit — at the moment I do not own a pickup. Sigh, yes, I know, I know. Sold my Silverado about May or so. My vehicles are currently a Prelude, a Supra, and a Supra.

  • Diogenes314

    Not a typo, I like my version better.

  • NightTwister
  • IJB

    I’m sitting here right now, watching CNBC, and they’re letting Biden give a statement!

    They should never let him talk! The Obama people should *never* let Biden near a camera again!!

    Even if they have to lock him in the basement of Number One Observatory Circle for the next 4 years, the Obama people MUST NEVER LET BIDEN TALK PUBLICLY AGAIN!!!

    I’m amazed they’re letting him get anywhere near a camera. Strange…

    P.S. Any ‘line’ on who Obama’s V.P. pick will be in 4 years? I’ll lay money that it’s not Biden again!!

  • Diogenes314

    Even if some of us old school types don’t celebrate pagan ‘holy days’.

    But for those who do, Merry Christmas. Again.

  • Achance

    Sunrise today is still almost an hour away at 0847 AST and sunset is at 1509 AST. It’s been about that for the last two or three days. At the solstice, the Earth kinda wobbles around and the days vary a few seconds a day for a few days. BUT in a day or two the days start getting longer. That’s why the old Winter Solstice holidays, the date for which sets our date for Christmas are a few days after the actual solstice. By the 25th or so, using a sundial or similar kind of instrument or even an observatory like Stonehenge, you can observe that the Sun has indeed begun to move higher in the sky and that it won’t remain Winter forever.

    Six hours and 22 minutes and another hour maybe on each side of twilight makes for a really short day and a long, cold depressing night. No wonder it was cause for wild celebration when the Sun could be seen to once again begin its climb towards long, bright, warm days. Even if it does’t represent the date of Jesus’ actual birth, December 25 and the re-emergence of the Sun is an awfully good choice of days to celebrate His birth.

  • $peciallist

    at least he doesn’t have a PT cruiser….

  • E Pluribus Unum

    Yeah, I give Taylors their due – I just always like to run counter to the crowd.

    By the same token, I will never buy a PT Cruiser as long as they are all the rage — even though I secretly thing they are way cool. So I have an 01 Prelude, which (1) I think are some of the most handsome cars EVER, and (2) nobody has them, and (3) Hondas are the best cars anywhere, and (4) its color is ‘electron blue pearl, a cool color that Honda slapped on about 1000 vehicles ever. Oh, and (5) when turboed up, can get down to about an 11 sec quarter.

  • streetwise

    a built in champagne and quiche dispenser?

  • streetwise
  • NightTwister

    Austin Powers…

  • E Pluribus Unum

    –nt

  • NightTwister

    3, 2 & 1 available here.

  • Achance

    it makes me really uncomfortable. I was tooling down the highway minding my own business listening to Rush last week, doing maybe 50; speed limit is 55 but it was icy so I was holding it down a bit. I was in the right lane and I saw motion in my rear view mirror. Some guy passing me in the left lane lost it on the ice, started fish-tailing and hit me just at the back of the cab. Hit me hard enough that even with studded tires I went around two and a half times, but I kept it in the road and didn’t hit anything. He went flying off the road and out into the tidal flats. Neither of us were hurt. My cab is cruched in the lower left corner, the whole left side of my bed is caved in and torn in a couple of spots and my rear axle is all out of alignment. His right front quarter panel is cruched and steam and coolant were pouring out of it, but I don’t know how much damage he got. He got cited; that’s all I cared about, and uncharacteristically here, seems to actually have insurance. Anyway, my long-suffering ’90 Ranger is probably going to be totalled.

    The guy had just moved here. He had it in 4wd-High and thought he was bullet proof. Happens constantly here with new drivers or new to here drivers; they have 4WD and think they can just cruise like its summer when the road is icy or snowy. First couple of snows or good spell of cold icy weather, the ditches are filled with 4WD trucks and SUVs.

  • E Pluribus Unum

    OK then.

    My Prelude – I took a car I got for $11k (with 180whp) , put $25k into it to make it 480whp (on E85), and go sub-11 (ok, best slip ever was 10.89, usually get about 11.1 out of it). It’s a mid-4′s 0-60. I have grown tired of smoking Mustangs, Camaros, and 350z’s. Now I will only play with Corvettes, Supras and other mildly exotic cars or substantially modified anything.

    My Supra (the 2nd Supra is just a parts car) is being fitted to get me about 750whp. I don’t even want to contemplate the 0-60 and quarter times it will have.

    And by the way, no stickers, no rice, no under-carriage lighting (but then I repeat myself) It looks completely stock, except you can tell it’s got an IC, and well, the exhaust is clearly not stock.

    It’s a good thing I only got wussy cars. I don’t think I could handle a real-man car.

  • NightTwister

    My favorite is still the GTO.

  • E Pluribus Unum

    Sounds totalled to me, considering its a 90. Sorry to hear that Achance – a good truck gone, at the hands of a nimrod who drives on ice like a Texan — which is to say, *not* well.

    And I don’t know how a man manages life in AK without a truck.

  • Achance

    from ’87 until ’06. When wife 1.0 and I split up, my daugher and I wanted to move, so I sold my truck and camper to pay the costs and fees on the illegal wrap around that I used to get into this house. The economy here was in the toilet and houses couldn’t be sold. I was just divorced, had lousy credit, but I did have a high-level State job and enough cash to pay the costs.

    As long as I worked for the State, I didn’t have a life, just a job, so dump runs and building supply hauling either didn’t get done or got hired out. My boats have always been slipped and when the 24′ needed hauling out, I could always find somebody with a 3/4 ton p.u. and an appetite for beer. The 30′ requires either a marine lift or a commercial hauler, so moving it isn’t an issue – except for what it costs.

    When I retired, I was looking at ten plus years of “deferred maintenance” around the place, so a truck was necessary. Don’t know how I ever lived without one and hardly ever drive my Chrysler 300 anymore. It just sits under its cover and only comes out if we’re going to dinner or I have to go meet with a client or the like. Now I’m back to driving the Chrysler until the insurance gets sorted out with the Ranger. I have an old S-10 down in CA, but it is an expensive hassle to drive it to Bellingham, WA and bring it up on the ferry or to SEA to put it on the barge. It isn’t a vehicle I’d drive through northern BC and the Yukon to get it here on the Canadian road system this time of year. But anyway, after this summer’s fuel prices, there’s a lot of trucks on the market for a song. Bought my kid that was getting out of the Army an ’02 Explorer in great shape with low miles for $4000.

  • AceInTX

    nt

    You Rock 2

  • Darin_H

    Those aren’t real trucks.

  • AceInTX

    TRAMP or SLUT are more fitting IMHO

  • AceInTX

    Beating A Dead Horse

    Ya know what I mean

    You Rock

  • Achance

    I need to do dump runs, haul potting soil, some building materials, and, hopefully king crab pots, etc. I say hopefully on the crab posts since we’ve only had about a week to take king crab in the last two yers. But, personal use king crab pots are too big to put in the trunk of a car. The pots are a sore subject with me since I stopped bumming off my friends year before last and put full king crab gear on my boat. We’ve only has seven open days since and I haven’t taken ONE king crab in two years. I was going to run to one of the districts where you could take them this year, but at $4.50+/gal., it was cheaper to buy crab.

    For that matter, most of the people I know that have REAL trucks don’t need them. Back when I was in and around the construction industry, I had a pretty firm rule of staying away from contractors with a new Cowboy Cadillac and radio; still a good rule I think. Most of the REAL trucks I see never haul much of anything and almost never haul any more than I can haul in my much cheaper to own and maintain UNREAL trucks. And with building materials, if it’s a big load, let the lumberyard bring it to you.

    I’ve owned REAL trucks. Back in the early days in Anchorage, the roads were so bad that a 4WD made some sense, especially if you worked an odd schedule. As the roads got better, there was less and less use to put up with the maintenance costs and lousy gas mileage of half and three-quarter ton 4WDs. I kept my ’74 Dodge until ’87 and haven’t had a REAL truck since.

  • $peciallist

    he’s probably a strapping young lad by now…

  • Darin_H

    I didn’t mean the Cowboy Cadillacs, I just meant something like a 12 year old F-150 XLT extended cab, red, with enough bed room to actually haul stuff. I got no use for “pretty” trucks just like I got no use for little trucks.

  • $peciallist

    it never gets old!!

  • streetwise

    so you can contact one of those gross but highly useful people who work with their hands, as they come in handy occasionally. The book syncs to your Blackberry.

  • Aaron Gardner

  • streetwise

    as the drivers here haven’t a clue how to drive in icy weather.

    IIRC, while 4WD give you better traction, the higher center of gravity on SUV’s creates extra risk of losing control.

    Especially if you’re a lousy driver to begin with!

  • izoneguy

    Tramp & Slut are more befitting of who the real Paris is.

  • izoneguy

    ….is pretty much what the Obama presidency will be like!!
    LOL

  • Achance

    for starting and for deep snow and worse for almost anything else except for some of the very expensive variable AWDs like the Audis and Porsches have. ONLY a 4WD will push snow. If it’s deep enough that the underside is scraping on it or the spoiler is pushing it, you aren’t going far unless you have 4WD; good excuse to come in late or just stay home.

    I also find an old fashioned RWD handles better for everything but starting up or deep snow than either FWD or 4WD.

    A conventional 4WD is absolutely evil handling in sliding conditions. Your typical understeering (pushing in NASCAR parlance) RWD “wants” to keep the tail behind it if you get off the power and will tighten a turn with more power up to when it starts “pushing” the front wheels or the rear wheels get “loose.” Even in very slippery conditions, you can steer one with your right foot up to when they just lose traction. None of that works right with conventional 4WD because it is pulling the front end and pushing the rear end. It has a lot more basic grip but once it loses its grip is almost uncontrollable; you just back off and ride with Newton’s Third Law.

    Likewise, a FWD has more basic traction, but when it loses traction it is Godawful tail happy. My 300M has a very elementary traction control and ABS. It will go anywhere, any time as long as you aren’t asking it to push snow with the spoiler. Mine’s an inch and a half lower than stock, so that means it isn’t going anywhere until the roads are plowed if we’ve had more than four inchs or so. But with a set of Blizzak MS50s (studless snow tires) it will go like a tractor even on glare ice.

    Wierdest driving I’ve ever done was on the Kuskokwim River out in Western Alaska. The river freezes up solid in winter and the State plows a road on it. When I worked out at Bethel Agency, I had a big old Dodge PowerWagon Crew Cab, had the aerodynamics of a house. You’d take off on the river ice and you can tool along nicely, fifty, sixty mph – ice isn’t as slick as you think when its 20-30 below. Then you’d be just tooling along like you were on I-5 in CA and you’d reach that point where there was more air resistance than there was traction on the ice and all four wheels would start spinning and the truck would go every way but straight until you got a grip on it. Kept you awake!

  • Achance

    and assuming that my Ranger is totalled, I’ll probably look for a full size 4WD truck that I can steal from some unfortunate who can’t afford it any more.

  • Kenny Solomon

    Drug dealers and assorted other freaks of conscience get pardoned and commuted.

    No Ramos.

    No Compean.

    Sigh.

    Locked and loaded. Ready for anything. Praying for nothing other than my Dolphins making the playoffs.

  • From ME to You

    We see the same thing happen here in Maine!

  • bs

    I gotta dig this one back out. It’s one of my favorite ads:

  • janis

    comment for the Directors about the same thing. Thought it would be nice if they would arrange to break the site again for a few days and let folks cool down.
    Sort of a RedState “Tower of Babel.” But you stepped in and handled it quite nicely.

    Put off ALL my Christmas shopping until today and got it done in just under 6 hours. Was proudest of what I got my 80-something parents who have a hard time finding something on TV they like. So I found them the complete 9 season set of “Little House On the Prairie” which they loved when it was running. Comes complete with 60 discs including three made for TV movies.

    Merry Christmas to all of you! This is my internet home and you are my political family. And, just as in all families, we don’t all agree and sometimes we get pretty pissy with each other. But, again as in all families, we need each other for support, strength, ideas, and, uhhhh, ……okay, I’ll say it

    LOVE. That’s right, I love you folks. You’ve kept me more or less sane for quite some time now. The next four years will be quite the challenge, so I will be depending on all of you to keep up the good work so I don’t end up on the porch of some institution drooling into my pudding cups. Deal? :-)

  • Aaron Gardner

    I think I am gonna look for The Walton’s on DVD for myself…kind of reminds me of the RedState family…I think Achance would be JohnBoy..heh

  • redneck_hippie

    Taking a hot soup break from cleaning snow off car, driving home through snow/sleet/rain, and MORE driveway shoveling!

    Having fun driving my Sentra on the Interstate where the semis are only going 30 or 35 MPH.

    Dashing dashing dashing through the snow.

    Merry Christmas!

    And,
    Remember,
    to
    Forgive
    Is
    Devine

  • Aaron Gardner
  • SE779

    And a happy new year.

  • jadad

    although I am a Fender man myself-both acoustic and electric. Still, my wife has an ooooold Yamaki acoustic that sounds terrific in a quiet room.

    Just hoping my first comment on RS won’t be too controversial….

  • Eric Adam

    I know this isn?t really a ?discussion forum? but I do have to ask:

    When do ?skeleton bones? turn to dust?

    I mean is there anything that a conservative can overcome when it comes to stupid actions of their youth?

    I just throw this out there. I am talking about things like DWIs, bankruptcy, etc. etc. Nothing like felonious.. but just maybe embarassing.

    I ask this in the vein that Barack got elected with the press covering up everything, but people skewered Palin for every little nit-picky thing.

  • bs

    No, especially not with me. I have two electrics – one 50s-vintage Gibson Les Paul Junior and a Fender Strat (mexi). I went on the cheap with the electric originally because I wasn’t sure if I’d spend much time with it. As it turns out, I have used it for years, it sounds fine for my purposes, and I don’t really need anything more.

    Welcome to Redstate.

  • JustLeaveMeAlone

    cuz if you don’t, we are officially shipping you out of state.

    Cars can be acceptable, provided they have at least one of the following:
    1) A Dallas Cowboys sticker
    2) A Houston Texans sticker
    3) A Kinky Friedman sticker
    4) a trunk full of Shiner Bock and/or Lone Star
    5) Robert Earl Keen CD blasting

    My car has two of the above. If I could have found a Kinky sticker, I’d have that too. Gotta love a guy whose slogan is “Why the Hell Not?”. And his solution to illegal immigration is probably the only thing that will work, but no one will do it.

  • AceInTX

    and I had a blast thrashing om McCain…but come on!

    Beating A Dead Horse

    Laughing Mutley

  • AceInTX

    this coming from an ex metal head…

    Band 4

  • Aaron Gardner

    but I am sure you would surprised by the diversity in my iPod…;^)

  • Jaded

    ROCK ON MY MAN

  • Aaron Gardner
  • Jaded

    nt

  • olsmithie

    not Happy Kwanzaa, not Happy Festivus, just a

    Very Merry Christmas!

    and, remember the reason for the season.

    Regards

  • olsmithie

    everything bad you had done will be insignificant to the media and ignored… JK

    If you have become a responsible person of character and morals, then you can expect the media to dredge up every speck of dirt and magnify it.

    That being said, study long and hard on how to answer when asked about your indiscretions. Consult with some of the old salts in political circles and ask how they would handle it. And

    keep reading Redstate…

    Regards

  • E Pluribus Unum

    nt

  • olsmithie

    Want to borrow my nightstick??

    Merry Christmas

    Regards

  • olsmithie

    the tickler is that many of the problems are within the party, not just the Dems.
    These must be addressed, but as you point out, they must be addressed without damaging those within the party.

    Regards

  • Rod_Patrick

    the squabble over Palin is unproductive to all of us (although I tend to side with Janis on the matter*).

    Rebuilding this party requires a real unification in hearts and in minds.

    Merry Christmas to everyone.

    *But I partly agree with Achance.