Dyre Portents

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Tidying Up
2008-02-17 07:25:00
I spent a couple of hours today doing blog maintenance. Deleted some stuff on the sidebar, added others, fixed a few broken links, and fixed/added a few blog directory buttons. Most importantly I combed through technorati.com and blogrolling.com and added every blog I found that links here. Since I know that technorati has more than a few bugs in it I may have missed a few blogs. So, if you currently link here let me know in the comments and I'll add your blog.Also if you're open to trading links with me then drop me a line in the comments comments or email me at dyre42 at gmail.com and I'll add your blog to ye olde reciprolist.

National Flags Redefined
2008-02-17 01:20:00
as graphs. Its a clever way to make a statement about a nation if nothing else.America's for example:vs China's:h/t to The Daily Dish
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Things I Have Learned
2008-02-16 18:38:00
Always make sure the AC is off prior to carrying a naked baby from one room to another.
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Six Word Autobiography
2008-02-15 05:56:00
I originally heard about this on NPR but forgot to blog one until Dave Schuler reminded me with his. So here goes:I still get toys for Christmas.
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Toys for Texans
2008-02-14 07:02:00
Another intrusive government attempt to legislate "decency" was shot down in Texas today.From the Austin American StatesmanCourt strikes down Texas ban on sex toysA federal appeals court has struck down a Texas law that makes it a crime to promote or sell sex toys. "Whatever one might think or believe about the use of these devices," said an opinion written by Justice Thomas M. Reavley of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, "government interference with their personal and private use violates the Constitution." Under Texas law it is illegal to sell, advertise, give or lend obscene devices, defined as a device used primarily for sexual stimulation. Anyone in possession of six or more sexual devices is considered to be promoting them. The Texas law dates back to the 1970s and is seldom enforced. Travis County prosecutors say that they haven't charged anyone with a sexual device-related crime in at least the past seven years, and ...
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Obama Crushes Clinton in Potomac Primaries
2008-02-13 07:34:00
He beat her by an average of thirty four percent. I figured that given the racial mixes involved in the races in question that he'd take MD and D.C. but that he'd eke out a tiny victory in VA or lose by five percent or less. Mainly I based that on the fact that he's done better in states that have caucuses, have a high percentage of Blacks, or a very low percentage of blacks. Simply put he does well in areas where racial tension is low or winners are more or less decided by debate. (Not my theory but I can't remember who to credit for that bit of pattern recognition.) In my experience (I'm from VA.) Virginia has just enough racial tension to have made it a hard state for me to predict. But what I had forgotten is my theory that the more Obama wins the more he will continue to win. I theorized that if Obama won an early primary and SC he'd prove that he was electable. Once that happened voters that were backing Clinton because she was the presumptive front runner would start si...
More About: Texas , Primaries , Potomac

Coffee Blogging
2008-02-11 18:27:00
This cartoon reminds me of a Sideways Mencken post.H/T to DWSUWF
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Baby Hiatus
2008-02-08 04:34:00
My daughter is scheduled to be born Friday the 8th at 7am via C-section. So I'll be back a couple of days after that.
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Calling All Conservative, Moderate, and Libertarian Bloggers
2008-02-07 06:53:00
After participating in last weekends Blog Amnesty Day I find that my new blogroll is heavily slanted to the left. In the interest of fairness and shameless self promotion I'd like to correct that. So if you'd like to swap links let me know in the comments of this post, slap a link to my blog on yours, and I'll do the same. Additionally every blog participating will be listed in this post so that as this progresses you'll know which blogs are open to trading links and you can drop them a line too. Finally many of the lovely and talented people on my link love blogroll would be happy to trade links with you as well.Thanks,Dyre
More About: Conservative , Bloggers , Calling , Libertarian , Moderate

Early Super Tuesday Results
2008-02-06 05:31:00
Right now it looks like McCain is on top largely due to Huckabee drawing off the conservative Christian vote. Meanwhile Obama and Clinton are neck and neck. It looks like its all going to come down to California. At this point Romney has to win California just to stay in the game. However early exit polls make that appear unlikely. CA looks like a tight race on the Dem side and with the counting not yet started the race may not be decided until the wee hours of the morning.Now reporting only those races that according to CNN have 80% of their precincts reporting here's how it looks so far:DemsClinton wins in NJ (53%), MA (56%), NY (57%), TN (59%), MO (68%), OK (55%)Obama won in CT (51%), KS (73%), ND (61%), AL (56%), DE (53%), GA(63%)RepublicansHuckabee AL (41%), AR (61%), TN (34%), GA (35%), WV (52%),McCain OK (37%), NY (51%), DE (45%), NJ(56%), CT (52%), IL (48%)Romney ND(36%), MT (38%), MA (51%)Frankly I'm hoping for Obama and McCain to come out on top. Why? Because if both ge...
More About: Results , Super , Early , Tuesday , Super Tuesday

We Interrupt This Blog
2008-02-05 03:50:00
To bring you the following announcement. Blog ging will be light this week. I'm sick and my daughter is scheduled to be born on Friday. She might decide to arrive earlier. If all goes as planned I will of course be covering tomorrow primary returns but that all I'm willing to promise for this week. As for next week? We'll see what kind of sleep I'm getting then.
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I'm B.A.D. I'm Nationwide
2008-02-04 07:35:00
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and Jon Swift are celebrating the anniversary of Blogroll Amnesty Day. Essentially they have issued a call for bloggers to link to blogs smaller than them in remembrance of the day Atrios declared blogroll amnesty day and deleted a ton of smaller blogs off his blogroll which in turn set off a string of link deletions on other similar minded monster blogs. I'm all for voluntarily supporting the little guy. I'm just not one hundred percent certain that the blogs I'm linking to have less traffic than mine. But it's the thought that counts right? So here we go...First a few folks from Central Sanity:Short WomanCarrie's NationThen a fellow Moderate Blog Network MemberConnecting.the.DotsThen some guy my cats highly recommendKiko's Houseand over on the new blogroll I've added about ten more blogs (including Skippy and Jon)That list will get longer over the week as I hunt down participants of B.A.D and trade links with them. Now if you have a blog and want to...

Tagged
2008-02-02 23:56:00
Alan Stewart Carl at Maverick Views tagged me with a meme that been going around lately.I ignored the only other time I was tagged but that was mainly because it wasn't as simple as this one.So here's the rules of the Meme:1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages).2. Open the book to page 123.3. Find the fifth sentence.4. Post the next three sentences.5. Tag five people.I had to wander into the living room and the first book I laid my eye upon was Pirate by Fabio which is a: not mine and b: autographed (My tiny wife claims that she was merely passing by the table where he was posing for pictures and autographs and he scooped her up in a desperate attempt to get a breather from picking up and posing with a group of significantly larger women.)"Besides, decent women were expected to be chaste---men were not. That was simply the way of the world. But his world had changed ever since the minx laid claim to him."I tag Bridget Magnus of ShortwomanCitizen Carrie of Carrie's N...
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Things I Have Learned
2008-02-02 18:20:00
Never ask a woman,"When is the baby due?" unless you have prior confirmation that she's actually pregnant.
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Texas Governor Rick Perry to Endorse McCain
2008-01-31 22:53:00
First California's governor now Texas '...From the Dallas Morning News: LOS ANGELES ? Texas Gov. Rick Perry will endorse John McCain for president, saying he is the best candidate in the GOP field to fight the war on terror. The Texas governor's first choice, Rudy Giuliani, dropped out of the presidential sweepstakes and on Wednesday endorsed Mr. McCain. "For the governor, it came down to a very simple calculation: The single dominant issue is the war on terror," said Perry spokesman Robert Black. "And he believes, looking at the field, the single best individual to be commander in chief and not flinch in this war is John McCain." The endorsement from the red-state governor comes just days before the Super Tuesday primary in which 21 states will weigh in. Mr. Perry will formally make his endorsement Thursday afternoon in Austin. Getting endorsements from the governors from the two most populous states in the nation back to McCain lost a lot of points in bord...
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The Govenator Endorses McCain
2008-01-31 21:39:00
That puts McCain up on Huckabee by one in the action movie hero primaries.From Bloomberg News:Schwarzenegger Calls McCain a `Hero' in Endorsement By Hans Nichols Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed John McCain's bid for the Republican presidential nomination five days before the state's delegate- rich primary, calling him an ``American hero'' who is unafraid to work on bipartisan solutions. ``I am endorsing Senator McCain to be the next president of the United States, because I am interested in a great future'' for the country, Schwarzenegger said after the two men toured a solar roofing manufacturer in Los Angeles. McCain has shown ``over and over again'' that he will reach ``across the aisle in order to get things done,'' the governor said. The endorsement is a reversal of a vow made by the governor earlier this month to stay neutral in the race. ...

McCain Routs Romney in Florida
2008-01-30 08:03:00
John McCain beat Mitt Romney by five percent in the Florida primary. Not the widest of margins but enough for McCain to continue forward momentum. Mike Huckabee despite having not won a primary since Iowa has said he'll stay in the race. That means he'll continue to act as spoiler continuing to deny Romney the Evangelical vote he needs to best McCain. Additionally Rudy Giuliani is allegedly dropping out of the race and endorsing McCain further strengthening McCain position going into Super Tuesday. Looks like Mitt Romney is going to get tag teamed on Tsunami Tuesday.

The Kennedys Pass the Torch
2008-01-29 16:16:00
To Barack ObamaFirst Caroline Kennedy:My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible. We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama. It isn?t that the other candidates are not experienced or knowledgeable. But this year, that may not be enough. We need a change in the leadership of this cou...
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Things I Have Learned
2008-01-27 03:57:00
Lectric shave works really well. But I'm not ready to smell like Grandpa.
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"Rambo" Endorses McCain
2008-01-26 07:55:00
Apparently there's some sort of action movie star primary going on too. First Chuck Norris endorses Huckabee and now this:Now all we have to wait for is Bruce Willis to endorse somebody and this "primary" will be over. I'd include Ahnold but since he currently holds a political office of real import his endorsement might actually carry some weight.
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Kucinich Quits the Campaign
2008-01-25 06:52:00
Apparently the mothership told him it was time to bail.From the AP:Democrat Dennis Kucinich is abandoning his second, long-shot bid for the White House as he faces a tough fight to hold onto his other job ? U.S. congressman. In an interview with Cleveland's Plain Dealer, the six-term House member said he was quitting the race and would make a formal announcement on Friday. "I will be announcing that I'm transitioning out of the presidential campaign," Kucinich said. "I'm making that announcement tomorrow about a new direction." Kucinich has received little support in his presidential bid; he got 1 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary and was shut out in the Iowa caucuses. He did have a devoted following. Kucinich, 61, is facing four challengers in the Democratic congressional primary March 4, and earlier this week he made an urgent appeal on his Web site for funds for his re-election. Rival Joe Cimperman has been critical of Kucinich for focusing too much time outside...
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Ron Paul Vs Giuliani? Paul Wins.
2008-01-24 08:20:00
File this one under "Whodathunkit?"From The Politico:Ron Paul continues to best Giuliani Ron Paul, the Texas congressman frequently dismissed as a long shot candidate with no real chance at winning the Republican presidential nomination, has won nearly twice as many total votes to date as Rudy Giuliani, a candidate still widely viewed as a strong contender.With his second place finish in Saturday?s Nevada caucus, where Paul defeated Giuliani in every county in the state, the Texas congressman has now received 106,414 votes to 60,220 for Giuliani. Both candidates have collected zero actual delegates.Literally if you had bet me four months ago that Ron Paul would beat then pundit predicted front runner Rudy Giuliani in every one of the races prior to Florida I'd have taken that bet and then asked you what you were smoking. Looking at it now I think it goes to show exactly how much strength Paul's message has with people and that Rudy's strategy was a total gamble. Frankly I hope Pau...
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McCain Leading in Florida Polls
2008-01-24 06:14:00
But only within the margin of error. According to recent poll by the St. Petersburg Times Romney and McCain are now statistically tied after Thompson exited the race. Apparently two out of the seven percent of Thompson supporters went McCain's way. Why? I've given this a lot of thought and I am convinced that there is only one possible explanation for their defecting to McCain.They just really dig geezers.In truth I think it has to do with authenticity. Because whether or not you love or hate Thompson you have to admit that he is what he is. The same can be said for McCain. So while Romney picked up the five percent of Reagan loving conservatives that want to back a potential winner that isn't John McCain. McCain picked up the two percent of supporters that want a leader rather than a politician. End result? A tie. However with Giuliani and Huckabee tied for third place at fifteen percent all McCain has to do is siphon off enough Rudy supporters to eke out a win. And that's act...
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Quote of the Day
2008-01-23 07:59:00
Normally I don't do this type of thing but this one made me laugh. Byron York of the NRO took a Republican friend to see Obama speak in SC and his friend had the following to say afterwards:?Oh, s?t.We?re gonna need a bigger boat.?I don't agree with many of Obama's positions but I can't fault him on his speaking ability. Give him a big enough forum to be heard in and he could possibly sway enough hearts and minds to win.
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Fred Thompson Tucks His Tail
2008-01-23 07:18:00
Pardon the inflammatory title. Sometimes in the quest for alliteration sacrifices must be made.Fred Thompson bowed out of the race for the GOP nomination today. From The AP: NAPLES, Fla. (AP) - Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson quit the Republican presidential race on Tuesday, after a string of poor finishes in early primary and caucus states. "Today, I have withdrawn my candidacy for president of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort," Thompson said in a statement. Thompson's fate was sealed last Saturday in the South Carolina primary, when he finished third in a state that he had said he needed to win. In the statement, Thompson did not say whether he would endorse any of his former rivals. He was one of a handful of members of Congress who supported Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2000 in his unsuccessful race against George W. Bush for the party nomination. Additionally the unofficial word is that ...
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Sayonara Central Sanity
2008-01-22 08:16:00
One of the blogs I occassionally contribute Central Sanity is closing its doors. I had this to say by way of a farewell post.I was a reader here long before I ever started posting. I really came to appreciate how the authors on this blog were able to cut to the chase and say in a few paragraphs what it took other bloggers an essay to say. Hence when I was asked to contribute here I jumped at the chance. Central Sanity, I think, became a blogger's blog. So while it never had the readership of The Moderate Voice it became a place that many bloggers visited to test the metal of their opinions. So while some of the authors here have stopped contributing due to real life a number of authors here have moved on to bigger and more influential blogs in the centrosphere.So ultimately what made Central Sanity great also in part lead to the circumstances that are causing it close. Central Sanity has effectively acted as a springboard to many of its contributors....So while on one hand I'm sor...

Mike "Mitt-Killer" Huckabee?
2008-01-22 07:58:00
Over at The Politico Jonathan Martin posits that Huckabee is running for VP and is in fact running interference for McCain by intentionally locking up the Social Conservative vote.From The Politico:COLUMBIA, S.C. ? For people reading between the lines, Mike Huckabee?s concession speech here Saturday night dropped some enticing hints that his presidential campaign now has an agenda other than getting elected president. Huckabee?s new role: Mitt killer.The former Arkansas governor threw air kisses on primary night to winner John McCain, praising him for ?running a civil and a good and a decent campaign.?He also signaled clearly that he is staying in the race, despite losing three straight states. Exit polls in South Carolina indicated ? as they had in the previous three contests ? that Huckabee did virtually nil with voters beyond his base of conservative evangelicals, raising doubts that he has a plausible path to the GOP nomination.But as long as Huckabee is campaigning vigorously,...
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TMV Donation Drive
2008-01-22 05:34:00
The Moderate Voice is currently running a donation drive to help stabilize and develop the site. Please drop and hit the tip jar and help support a great site. I've already put my money where my mouth is. Thanks.
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Martin Luther King Jr Day
2008-01-22 04:36:00
For a little over half my life I've always marked this day by either listening to or reading King 's "I Have a Dream" speech. It's always seemed like the very least I could do.
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Things I Have Learned
2008-01-19 19:31:00
Tequila and full moons don't mix. Ever. Period. Under any circumstances.
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