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Ah, my ridiculously circuitous plan is one-quarter complete!
By absentee Posted in absentee | Archived | Humor | mysteries | newbies — Comments (63) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Well there you have it. Redstate has officially let me in. Like me, you're probably wondering how this could have happened. Has Redstate jumped the shark?
I've been blogging for over 4 years now, I think - it's hard to tell time online. Before that I was a frequent message board pontificator and, before that, I would just harass people at parties with off the cuff essay recitations. You haven't lived until tried to engage someone on Burke's 1777 Address to the British Colonists in North America during a drinking contest at the barracks.
An opportunity such as this involves ego risk. In order to assure you (and my wife) that I don't have a big head, I will be interrupting this blog entry with a Top Five list of the dumbest and most embarrassing things I've ever done. I hope my desperate humiliation can bring some small joy into your life, as it no doubt has to many, many others. (For example, while discussing the top five list with my wife, and trying to decide what should be included, she suggested "You know, maybe you need a top ten list." Yep.)
Introducing The Blogtastic Top Five All Time List Of Absenteupidity
Number Five:
Upon returning to the barracks from my late night second job distributing pizza coupons, I reached into my pocket to search for my keys to unlock the door. My left hand was full with my keys, so I searched the right pocket first. They weren't there, so I took the keys from my left hand and put them into my right hand, that I might search my left pocket. No luck.
Frustrated, I put the keys into my mouth so I could look in both pockets at the same time. I kept patting myself down and getting more frustrated.
Introducing The Blogtastic Top Five All Time List Of Absenteupidity
Number Five:
Upon returning to the barracks from my late night second job distributing pizza coupons, I reached into my pocket to search for my keys to unlock the door. My left hand was full with my keys, so I searched the right pocket first. They weren't there, so I took the keys from my left hand and put them into my right hand, that I might search my left pocket. No luck.
Frustrated, I put the keys into my mouth so I could look in both pockets at the same time. I kept patting myself down and getting more frustrated.
But they were in my mouth, you see.
... Good times.
It's been a rocky road for me online. When I started out, I was a wanna-be writer, opining in juvenile discussion forums about the senselessness of human existence and exchanging amateur poetry; experiencing and sharing paeans to artistic genius and analysis such as "I like the way every other line rhymes for the most part."
Eventually I moved away from discussion forums and entered the fray of debate forums. I fit in well. I don't mind saying I was a master of the art of the flame. For the uninitiated among us, a flame is a type of insult peculiar to the internet. (click here for one of the nastiest flame threads in existence, language and sanity warning of course!) The masters of the flame will make you laugh at your own permanent humiliation. I lived in this space for years.
When the age of blogs dawned, I was a natural early-adopter. My combative record online led me first to become a commenter on other blogs. I have a confession I've sat on for years; I was a reverse Moby. That's right, I originally tried the ultra-lame practice of adopting the pretense of comity on liberal-leaning blogs in order to try and make right-arguments from the left. This was a spectacular failure and was the story of my first day on blogs. Humbled, I moved back into my genetically pre-determined role of provocateur and carried on. Eventually, though, I felt I needed my own homestead. I needed my own blog.
Number Four:
We had a little house in Hubert, NC, a few years ago. I was warming up the car at zero dark thirty one morning in our little garage. I should note right off the bat that I'm one of those coffee zombies. Until I've had a good, oh, two pots of coffee, I'm a bit of a morning slug.
So I'm sitting in the driver's seat, in my cammies, in the dark little garage, and I think "Hey, am I going to die from fumes?" I didn't want to be late, you see. The Marines train you well. My death would have resulted in being late for work and that was what worried me. So I put my boot in the car, put my arm up on the seat, turned my head over my right shoulder, and backed out.
At first I wasn't really clear on what was wrong. There was an unfortunate sound, and the car simply wouldn't move any further. Being a Marine, I simply gunned it. Force makes right, after all. The unfortunate sound became quite a lot more ... unfortunate. It was the driver's side door, which I had left open, and which was now considerably jammed onto the garage door track, and severely bent out of shape.
Suffice it to say, I was late for work that day.
We had a little house in Hubert, NC, a few years ago. I was warming up the car at zero dark thirty one morning in our little garage. I should note right off the bat that I'm one of those coffee zombies. Until I've had a good, oh, two pots of coffee, I'm a bit of a morning slug.
So I'm sitting in the driver's seat, in my cammies, in the dark little garage, and I think "Hey, am I going to die from fumes?" I didn't want to be late, you see. The Marines train you well. My death would have resulted in being late for work and that was what worried me. So I put my boot in the car, put my arm up on the seat, turned my head over my right shoulder, and backed out.
At first I wasn't really clear on what was wrong. There was an unfortunate sound, and the car simply wouldn't move any further. Being a Marine, I simply gunned it. Force makes right, after all. The unfortunate sound became quite a lot more ... unfortunate. It was the driver's side door, which I had left open, and which was now considerably jammed onto the garage door track, and severely bent out of shape.
Suffice it to say, I was late for work that day.
I believed that blogging was the future of writing. Those tiresome columnists and book writers were blind luddites hacking away at their 18th century typewriters. I was an espresso-drinker, not a cup-of-joe reporter. So I set up at blogspot and chose to use a new name. It was time to break with my message board past and enter the new age; message boards were so 2000. I travel a lot for work, and of course I traveled quite a lot while I was in the Marine Corps. I also have a procrastination disease when things are expected of me. I knew there would be large blocks of blank dates on my blog. What better name, I thought, than absentee? (Actually I seriously considered Neologist, but I've used it too many other places.)
As blogs went in those days, mine was a smashing success. This is to say, someone visited there once and felt compelled to comment. I knew this meant I was destined to be a blogger for all time. This was the future, I could feel it and, as we know, feelings are futuristic by nature. I bought Hewitt's book "Blog" and read it at Starbucks and Caribou coffee. I'm so twenty-first century, I thought over my double cappuccino.
The blog did OK. I got some nice link-ins once in a while, especially on non-political entries. When Eason Jordan was forced to retire, I got a trackback and plug from LaShawn Barber. This was it! I had arrived! With all the perspicacious wisdom of Howard Hughes building the Spruce Goose, I designed to capitalize on my moment by disappearing for several months. Through some kind of cosmic injustice, this failed to inflate my hit count.
Number Three:
Like Superman and Achilles, I have a singular, overarching weakness. I have what I refer to as a mild, and what others refer to as a barking mad, case of arachnophobia. It's primal, of course. I have no intellectual fear of spiders. But taken by surprise ...
On a field exercise, somehow or other my issue was made known to my fellow Marines. We were sitting in the woods waiting to learn how to use C4 and Det Cord to level trees when the guys came up with a complicated and intricate plan to humiliate me. While sitting on a stump, they picked up a spider and threw it at my face, laughing hysterically. (Muscles Are Required Intelligence Not Essential).
Primal overtook intellectual (and literally punched it in the face) and I lunged backward in a panic. Unfortunately I had my gear on, and my rifle slung over my shoulder, so in a tangled mass I rolled off the back of the stump ... and off the back of the log behind the stump ... and off the slight drop behind the log behind the stump ... and down the hill behind the drop behind the log behind the stump, canteens and magazines strewn along the path, right into a thorn bush.
See you think it's over now, but no such luck. I still had the heebie-jeebies, and some kind of fuzz or grass or something (I choose to consider the offending creature was dead at this point) tickled my face and my freak out continued, undeterred by the thorns, which I soon became melded with in what can only be described as a Stephen King-like nightmare merging of flesh and thorn.
It took some time to extract myself. Not from the thorns, but from the hilarious humiliation. By "some time" I refer to "some time in the distant future". Needless to say, I blame the spider.
Like Superman and Achilles, I have a singular, overarching weakness. I have what I refer to as a mild, and what others refer to as a barking mad, case of arachnophobia. It's primal, of course. I have no intellectual fear of spiders. But taken by surprise ...
On a field exercise, somehow or other my issue was made known to my fellow Marines. We were sitting in the woods waiting to learn how to use C4 and Det Cord to level trees when the guys came up with a complicated and intricate plan to humiliate me. While sitting on a stump, they picked up a spider and threw it at my face, laughing hysterically. (Muscles Are Required Intelligence Not Essential).
Primal overtook intellectual (and literally punched it in the face) and I lunged backward in a panic. Unfortunately I had my gear on, and my rifle slung over my shoulder, so in a tangled mass I rolled off the back of the stump ... and off the back of the log behind the stump ... and off the slight drop behind the log behind the stump ... and down the hill behind the drop behind the log behind the stump, canteens and magazines strewn along the path, right into a thorn bush.
See you think it's over now, but no such luck. I still had the heebie-jeebies, and some kind of fuzz or grass or something (I choose to consider the offending creature was dead at this point) tickled my face and my freak out continued, undeterred by the thorns, which I soon became melded with in what can only be described as a Stephen King-like nightmare merging of flesh and thorn.
It took some time to extract myself. Not from the thorns, but from the hilarious humiliation. By "some time" I refer to "some time in the distant future". Needless to say, I blame the spider.
Eventually I went hybrid, spending part of my time blogging and part of my time assaulting the comments sections of liberal blogs. I spent more and more time at Americablog and Sadly No!, a destructive interloper at the former and a mostly silent observer at the latter. (And hey, if you are looking for a liberal blog to cut your teeth on, or just observe, skip Kos and go for Sadly No! Especially note Retardo Montalban/'HTML Mencken'; they've got offensive snark down to an art form over there, so don't say I didn't warn you.)
I would fight with Kossaks and get banned, or get bloody at Eschaton or Steve Gilliards travesty of a blog. As I engaged time and again I once more sank almost completely into my opposition role. However, trying to persuade people in the comments sections of left blogs is very Napoleon in Russia; it seems heroic, but you end up leaving frozen corpses everywhere and have neither Vodka nor Tolstoy to show for it.
Number Two:
Not long after I got my driver's license at 16 years old, I was parked at my high school after hours for some reason. I had pulled all the way around back, beyond the end of the parking area, between the concrete poles, and onto the gravel area near the cafeteria ... For some reason. As I was pulling out to head home, I had trouble maneuvering the USS Hoopty that I called my own. I didn't have enough room to turn around, and as I tried to back out between the posts, there came a terrible crumpling sound.
The sound was my ego, as I realized that I was scratching up against the pole. As I tried to maneuver and position ... for some reason ... I pushed further against it. A new terrible, horrifying sound filled the air.
This time, it was the sound of half the marching band, watching, pointing, and laughing. I hadn't realized it, but they were gathered around practicing out back and had decided to watch my spectacle.
As I squealed and screeched my way out at an excruciatingly door-destroying pace, the drum corps decided play an accompanying drum roll. On my bumper.
I wasn't very popular in High School ... for some reason.
Not long after I got my driver's license at 16 years old, I was parked at my high school after hours for some reason. I had pulled all the way around back, beyond the end of the parking area, between the concrete poles, and onto the gravel area near the cafeteria ... For some reason. As I was pulling out to head home, I had trouble maneuvering the USS Hoopty that I called my own. I didn't have enough room to turn around, and as I tried to back out between the posts, there came a terrible crumpling sound.
The sound was my ego, as I realized that I was scratching up against the pole. As I tried to maneuver and position ... for some reason ... I pushed further against it. A new terrible, horrifying sound filled the air.
This time, it was the sound of half the marching band, watching, pointing, and laughing. I hadn't realized it, but they were gathered around practicing out back and had decided to watch my spectacle.
As I squealed and screeched my way out at an excruciatingly door-destroying pace, the drum corps decided play an accompanying drum roll. On my bumper.
I wasn't very popular in High School ... for some reason.
When I found Redstate, I was still combative by nature. My first few blogs met with limited success; too heavy on the snark, too light on the smart. I stuck around, though, for the same reasons all of you have. Redstate is a haven online. It's unique among the blogs. The comments areas are not Snoopy vs. the Red Baron, they are Lincoln vs. Douglas. Eventually, I adjusted. I started to learn and, better than that, I started to contribute. Over time, either age or wisdom (or perhaps necessity) have mellowed my combative side. These days I'm practically agreeable.
Blogging is an interesting hobby. It's not just writing. It's linking, it's being snarky, and it's being challenged. Blogging at Redstate has been one of the great enjoyments for me the last few years. Sure, sometimes I miss the more combative experiences and, yes, I miss lovingly crafting uber hardcore flamage but, ultimately, I'm just glad to have an opportunity to talk about what I'm thinking about.
NUMBER ONE:
When I was at Correy Station in Pensacola for training school, I had a lot female Navy friends. Thaaaat's right.
I was hanging out with one of them, and we ran up to her barracks room for some reason. Against one wall was her desk/wardrobe/multi-purpose cabinet which anyone who has ever had a barracks room would recognize. The room was dark, but for one small lamp which was on the opposite side of the room. Between the lamp and the desk was the rack, which is nautical talk for bunk beds. She had the cabinet door open above the desk, and while she was doing whatever, I tried to see some photos on the door.
I leaned in close, but it was just too dark; the rack was casting a shadow right where I wished to see. Inexplicably, as I peered at the mysterious photos, I began waving my hand upward. You see, I was waving the light up ... from where it was cast to the shadowed area ... the light ... so I could see.
When I realized what I was doing, I just stood there, looking at my futilely gesturing hand, attempting to exert the weak strong force on these non-compliant photons. If you are interested, waving light as if it is some type of illuminating gaseous cloud doesn't work.
At all.
When I was at Correy Station in Pensacola for training school, I had a lot female Navy friends. Thaaaat's right.
I was hanging out with one of them, and we ran up to her barracks room for some reason. Against one wall was her desk/wardrobe/multi-purpose cabinet which anyone who has ever had a barracks room would recognize. The room was dark, but for one small lamp which was on the opposite side of the room. Between the lamp and the desk was the rack, which is nautical talk for bunk beds. She had the cabinet door open above the desk, and while she was doing whatever, I tried to see some photos on the door.
I leaned in close, but it was just too dark; the rack was casting a shadow right where I wished to see. Inexplicably, as I peered at the mysterious photos, I began waving my hand upward. You see, I was waving the light up ... from where it was cast to the shadowed area ... the light ... so I could see.
When I realized what I was doing, I just stood there, looking at my futilely gesturing hand, attempting to exert the weak strong force on these non-compliant photons. If you are interested, waving light as if it is some type of illuminating gaseous cloud doesn't work.
At all.
I'm surprised to be in this position today. I only hope I can put up some blogs that people want to read. We come to Redstate to read blogs, essentially, and I hope I bring some good ones to the table. I am a Republican, and I mean that most definitively. I want Republicans in office, I want Republicans to beat Democrats, and I believe Republicans are the force that will keep America great and strong. For the most part, that optimism and party loyalty drive my topic selection. I hope it doesn't become tedious with time.
I've been greatly honored with this opportunity. I cannot express the fervency of my hope that I am up to the task.
absentee
lol janis, let me know the results and thks! -nt
by absentee
absentee
Welcome aboard! [nt]
by Paul J Cella
And the Lord upon the Golden Horn is laughing in the sun.
Not Lord Admiral, but Muntz:
Stop hazing yourself, stop hazing yourself!
Thanks to you and to Paul!
absentee
speaking of hazing, don't you have some sins to confess
by gideon1789
now that you have assumed a position of leadership?
Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
by NightTwister
Well deserved.
"After two years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood." -Fred Dalton Thompson
I'm quite sure of that ;o)
by E Pluribus Unum
Kill the terrorists
Protect the borders
Punch the hippies -- Frank J
Weeeeelllll.....
by NightTwister
Actually no, but that was a funny story. It reminded me of a time in basic training when we were out in the field at night. I was walking down a path when someone shouted STOP!. I was about three steps away from walking into a large pile of razor wire. I still shudder to think what would've happened if someone hadn't said something.
"After two years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood." -Fred Dalton Thompson
How that's what I'm talkin' about...
by GordonTaylor
Nice to see ya on the front page...
That run this place to do it.
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
Well done, absentee ... n/t
by rbdwiggins
***
“Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so.” – Ronald Reagan
and to you rbdwiggins
by absentee
... And Joliphant.
Danke schön!
absentee
An excellent post
by Ben Domenech
Bonus points for references to my personal hero, Bender Bending Rodriguez.
When the blogs
by Darin H
start making money, *cough*never*cough*, I'll be sitting pretty. For they shall come running to me - master of the budget! In the meantime, it's great that someone has such great skill with the keyboard and the wit and the ideas and the glayvin. Ahem, sorry about that. I get a good writing idea every few months, and even then someone usually can say it better and more clearly than me. You tend to not only write very well, but bring out new and interesting ideas (and new and interesting ways to look at them) along with great humor.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, recommend - I think I've recommended just about all of your blogs over the last 6+ months. Your promotion is well deserved.
___________________________________
Two thirds of the world is covered by water,
the other third is covered by Champ Bailey.
With Stevens OUT as the newbie...
by haystack
Howe is now the coffee and breakfast burrito runner-I, otoh. take Sam Adams, slightly chilled.
Welcome home absentee...
Iustum et tenacem propositi virum non civium ardor prava iubentium, non vultus instantis tyranni mente quatit solida.
-Quintus Horatius Flaccus
Heckled by the marching band?
by Oscar98
Ouch.
www.fairtax.org
Sick of Government Expansion? libertarian-Minded Republican? Check This Out... Republican Liberty Caucus!!!
www.rlc.org http://www.republicanliberty.org/
PS- Congrats (n/t)
by Oscar98
www.fairtax.org
Sick of Government Expansion? libertarian-Minded Republican? Check This Out... Republican Liberty Caucus!!!
www.rlc.org http://www.republicanliberty.org/
well done
by shakeandbake
good luck on the other 75%. im looking forward to reaping the benefits!
I take all the credit for this. <nt>
by Leon H Wolf
------------
The Red Sox Republican: Burkeanism, Baseball, and Sundries.
There goes the neighborhood
by simpson316
Just kidding! Well deserved Caleb. I can't wait to see what you have in store for us next. Keep up the good work.
Fighting for conservatism one day at a time.
Congratulations!
by Whitehorse
Your posts are brilliant, & you have a way of creating scenes with words that few possess.
I'm not a fan of spiders, either. I was bitten on the knee by a large garden-variety spider once - fang scars stayed for years. I don't freak out if I just see one; however, if surprised, I react in a similar fashion.
I forgot one important thing
by absentee
I decided break my pseudonymity and then forgot to do it.
I'm Caleb Howe of Charlotte, married with two kids, 33 years old.
Pleased to meet y'all.
absentee
Great to know.
by jonlester
I've had some great musician friends from Charlotte over the years. I haven't been to a show there in 10 years but there's always been strong connections between the Athens and Charlotte scenes.
Isn't it funny absentee
by simpson316
how we all have mental pictures of the people that we interact with online? And they are almost always wrong. Your intellect and ability to prose so well led me to believe that you were much older and grizzled. Goes to show what preconceived notions can do heh?
Fighting for conservatism one day at a time.
More like: Mature...
by rbdwiggins
"Totally Grizzled" will take another twenty years, or so.
I speak from a reservoir of experience...
***
“Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so.” – Ronald Reagan
My best friend from H.S. is a Howe.
by NightTwister
He was touring with Santana last I heard.
Say "hi" to Kannapolis for me. I lived there for a 1 1/2 years back in the late '80s. Of all the places I've lived, it's still my favorite.
"After two years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood." -Fred Dalton Thompson
Congrats!
by LangdonAlger
Congrats on the promotion, and if you have any troubles writing future pieces, don't you worry about writing; let me worry about blank. (It's a Futurama reference, for the uninitiated).
Oh, and also, what is this I hear about a new site? Where the heck have I been?!
Speaking as a representative of the Navy
by Andysforsmalgovernment
Congratulations on making it through the Marines and coming out as coherent and erudite as you seem to be.
I only hope to make it someday in my relatively new hobby of blogging.
I always wondered why I was never invited into the female barracks. I guess the Marines landed first.
"Government of the people, by the people, for the people."
A. Lincoln
Congratulations! And the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" video is
by streetwise
on the way!
Too long coming, abs
by Charles Bird
Nice having you as a colleague. It'll take getting used to thinking of you as a Caleb.
1. McCain, 2. Thompson, 3. Giuliani, 4. Romney
a triumph for thoughtfulness
by John E.
Speaking purely selfishly, Yeah Baby. I just wish there were more with your character in the front seats.
Nice job, absentee.
by Vladimir
Your writing stands conspicuously out of the pack.
And if those are truly the stupidest things you've ever done, well...
There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life. - Frank Zappa
Congratulations Caleb
by Right Again
I've always enjoyed your posts. I've never had to search too hard for them since they are usually among the top-rated ones, but being front-paged will make them even easier to find.
Keep them coming.
Bravo absentee.
by Steve Foley
Congratulations on the bump!
Founder and contributor to The Minority Report and Editor for The Hinzsight Report
Congratulations!
by Jaguilar
Being a reader, I have to say I'm very pleased to see your promotion. I enjoy Redstate tremendously and have seen the ways you've added to it. You're entries are very entertaining/enlightening and I'm looking forward to more.
Once again, kudos.
Semper Ubi Sub Ubi
Thanks very much to everyone
by absentee
Both for the congrats, and for not mocking my photo!
absentee
Absentee is to most other
by Flagstaff
Absentee is to most other bloggers as writing is to typing.
To think that someone in the "family" has made something of himself at last.
Congratulations on achieving a monumental--errr, achievement!
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it.“--Jeff Cooper. From Bill Coffey's collection of military quotations
Thanks flagstaff
by absentee
I had a mental checklist of endorsements I needed for my ego's sake (gamecock, c17wife, kowalski, mbecker, joliphant, John E., R.E. Finch, streetwise, Night Twister, simpson316, whitehorse, gideon1789, socrates, longwalker, Darin H, E Pluribus Unum, janis, Steve Foley, David Hinz, finrod, Lord_Vegas, Tim Schieferecke, ekevlar, jaguilar, BooBooKitty, IL-Glock21, DGaines, and all the contributors, and a lot of others) and yours was among the top of the list. Your commentary and insight at Redstate are astute and invaluable. Thanks!
absentee
I'm honored...and humbled...
by eburke
...to be included in any list containing folks of the intellectual prowess of those you listed (albeit, ahem, belatedly so :-)
"All that need be done for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
blog brain
by absentee
Drop off the face for a week or two and look what happens!!
;)
absentee
Dude, where you been?
by E Pluribus Unum
I kinda dropped off the face of the earth for a few weeks too, but I have not seen you in ages. Welcome back, my friend!
Kill the terrorists
Protect the borders
Punch the hippies -- Frank J
I ain't the fastest poster in the world as I constantly write/rewrite trying to get things out just right (let's just say that it takes me a good 6-8 hours to write a blog) and Mrs. Burke was getting just a little bit frustrated at the pace of my bathroom remodeling 'honey-do'.
Also got much goin' on right now: I'm on the Governing Board and Executive Committee of the Christian High School my kids attend; I moonlight as the Defensive Coordinator at a D-III college and Spring Ball is coming up; and, due to my angst about the state of the GOP right now, I failed to take into account all my other commitments and got myself elected as a county delegate at the MN caucuses 'cause I have this stupid tagline that I try to live by so that's taking up some time.
(Oh, and I should probably mention that my employer has this antiquated notion that since they pay me, they actually expect me to get some work done)
So, add that to the fact that, like you, I was having dealing with where we're at as a party right now, and I needed some time off to regroup and rethink. I'm kind of at the opposite end of the spectrum from Neil--whereas he did the 3rd party thing out of frustration with where the GOP was at and decided that change could only happen from within, I have held my nose and held my nose and held my nose, and am starting to feel like an African-American in the Dem party--needed only when election time comes around. So, still struggling with what to do and dissent from the Party line has seemed to become a no-no here so....add it all together and I haven't been on here much.
I am glad I happened to drop by today and see absentee's 'promotion'. Well-deserved as he always makes me think whether we agree or disagree.
Now...aren't you sorry you asked? :-)
"All that need be done for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
Good update eburke
by E Pluribus Unum
Sounds about like I thought. My life is not unlike that right now. But there's a certain few people here at RS whose writings I always check out when I see them, because the rarity x content factor is so high.
You are one of those - also TheSophist, GengisDon (I know, I know...he's one of THEM), absentee (with whom I argue at least as much as otherwise, and who is no longer quite so infrequent), and Augustine, Bob Hahn, probably a couple more I can't think of.
So hey, good to hear from ya. Stay around.
Kill the terrorists
Protect the borders
Punch the hippies -- Frank J
Congrats absentee...I mean Caleb!
by eburke
A rather well-deserved promotion. Your thoughtful interactions and cogent points during the oft-times rancid primary season were a welcomed breath of sanity and logic.
For me, I judge a person's intellectual and emotional acumen not by the number of times they might happen to agree with my positions, but by my reactions to their persuasive ideas when we disagree. While I'm always pleased when you agree with the obvious wisdom of my observations & opinions, what I most admire about you is your ability at those times when we arrive at different junctures to arrive there in such a manner that I have always respected your civility, and the thought process in which you engage to arrive at your destination. I rarely leave one of your posts without a tidbit or two on which to thoughtfully chew.
So, congrats, Caleb. I hope this enables you to retire independently wealthy. The faux pas were hilarious (I could never be able to limit those moments to just 5). Who says Marines aren't an intellectual tour de force? But seriously, you are definitely one of the 'few good men' with whom our country has been blessed. Thank you for your service, then and now.
"All that need be done for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
BR's late to the Party-but huge huuge congrats absentee!
by BlackRepub
It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, glad your part of the leadership now. Also funny, funny, stories-I've done the keys thing myself, heh.
"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.Let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."-Barry Goldwater
McCain/Rudy 08-kill the terrorists and punch the hippies.
heh, thanks
by absentee
... also you too were on my endorsements-desired list. I just ran out of brain. That will go on my next top five!
absentee
Me too
by E Pluribus Unum
I've done that with keys, wallet, soda, beer, TV remote....
Kill the terrorists
Protect the borders
Punch the hippies -- Frank J
Hehe, EPU, that happens with beer/drinks a lot to me
by BlackRepub
Often the reponse to my panicing question of dude, what did I do with my drink was, you drank it man, just get another one. Which is always the right thing to do. Cheers-even though its Monday :-)
"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.Let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."-Barry Goldwater
McCain/Rudy 08-kill the terrorists and punch the hippies.
haha, kinda reduces the tragedy
by E Pluribus Unum
Yep, losing the beverage is only a momentary annoyance. Probably getting warm anyway...
Kill the terrorists
Protect the borders
Punch the hippies -- Frank J
Not the beer.
by NightTwister
Anything but the beer.
"After two years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood." -Fred Dalton Thompson
What an honor, way to go Absentee...
by Red Wing
...I find myself somewhere between being at a dinner party the drilling someone about the brilliance of Jefferson Davis' Inaugural Address as President of the Confederate States of America , while blogging and visiting a few debate boards, and getting the routine down so I don't get my hat handed to me here at what has become my beloved RS...
...So there is hope! Thanks for that Caleb.
Congrats on the assent, and keep those strong Republican Blogs coming baby!
"Back in the thirties we were told we must collectivize the nation because the people were so poor. Now we are told we must collectivize the nation because the people are so rich." ~ William F. Buckley, Jr.
Welcome aboard, man ... Mondo Congratulations! [n/t]
by Martin A. Knight
Great diary, typical of your body of work.
by DGaines
I hope you always continue to cultivate your natural propensity for insight and thoughtfulness. Great style is a tool that helps the medicine go down but the ideas themselves are the value you bring to the table.
Redstate is the real winner today. Good luck and God speed.
Congrats absentee.
by itrytobenice
And funny stories. Looking forward to seeing you in Red Hot as well. Your recent post regarding Calling China was a hoot.
I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful 100 percent.
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Recent comments
Bedtime for Jonny! That clip
by FlagstaffVery true
by civil truthCafeteria benefit plans address your concerns
by civil truthHe does need to learn
by jonlesterI get your rhetorical effort
by jonlesterWe're close. I don't know
by FlagstaffIs there a country on the
by Linus BernNot to mention CT
by simpson316Immediate apology to Nobama.
by jonlesterIf only...
by jonlesterInteresting question about recess appointments
by civil truthBecause you are a very recent RS registrant
by jonlester"Bartender, I'll have what he's having"
by SIConservativeB and not B?
by jonlesterMe too, but Barack is a lying McGovern
by JSobieskiThere is no question that he
by Linus BernMad-Lib logic? I disagree
by FlagstaffWin by any means nuance-able <nt>
by jonlesterHee Hee Hee. So Obama is in
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waving up the light thing. Will let you know if I'm any more successful than you are. In the meantime, congrats again and you and yours have a most blessed Easter!