I'm Certifiably

Progressive?

Over at The Big Stick Progressive Conservative has pronounced me A Board Certified Progressive in the Teddy Roosevelt sense of the word. Which is actually how I think of myself when it comes to politics. In fact I even said as much in my bio over at Poligazette. I used to refer to myself as progressive until Democrats started borrowing the term.Over the years I've been labeled a liberal, called a conservative, and listed amongst libertarians. So kudos to PC for getting it right.

Since one good turn deserves another I think its time I hand ouit an award that I've been sitting on
for a while..DWSUWF's Pissant Provocateur award aka The Pissy.

First the recipients:

Progressive Conservative at The Big Stick

Kevin Sullivan at The Independent Liberal

Kranky Kritter at Centerfield

Sideways Mencken from the blog of the same name (Kvetch all you want but its supposed to be all about you, remember?)

Now the qualifications that led to the award:

"1. The award recipients are pissants – i.e., they're not the biggest bloggers in the 'sphere, they're not Kos or Hewitt or Sullivan, but they make up in attitude what they lack in size/readership.

2. They are provocateurs – i.e., they provoke other people into thinking about and responding to subjects they might not otherwise think about and respond to.

3. By virtue of the first two traits, they advance the intrinsic value of a government that is closely, evenly divided between partisans, so no one party has outright control of the outcomes, recognizing that (a) divided government honors the check-and-balance intent of the founding fathers; and (b) divided government tends to work better; reference the Reagan and Clinton years versus the Carter and Bush #43 years."

and finally the rules:

The Rules of the Partisan Pissant Provocateur Award:

1. Copy and link to this post (meaning these rules and the Award icon).
2. Reflect on five bloggers who cause you to gnash your teeth when reading their posts, but who you nevertheless feel compelled to return to and read time and again. Write a short sincere (or not) paragraph about each one.
3. Make sure you link this post so others can read it and the rules.
4. Go leave your chosen bloggers a comment and let them know they’ve been given the award.
5. Put the award icon on your site.
6. Did I mention you should link this post?

Congratulations!

Credit Where Credit is Due

As you may recall I used to have a Schmap widget at the top of my sidebar that showed who won which state during the Dem primaries. I took it down once it became apparent that the race would be decided by the super delegates. A couple of days later I got an email from Emma at Schmap asking why I had taken the widget down. I explained and added that if they ever came up with a widget that the tracked polling data of the two nominees I'd install it on my sidebar.

A month passed....

I received another email from Emma stating that they had such a widget and that they'd be happy to customize a widget for me. I asked for red, white, and blue one and not only did they design it within a few days they even created a mockup of my site to show me what it would look like.

Kudos to Schmap for having a good product and proactive customer service. I hereby officially award Schmap the Crapomatic Seal of Approval. Remember folks, if its not Crapomatic its just crap.

Now if only someone would design a Crapomatic Seal of Approval for me.

Of Note

I've been listed on The Best of the Web's blog directory for free under the category "Moderate"! It may not be an award but its the next best thing and it puts me in good company.

This Blog is Now Rated ...

E for Excellent. Thanks to Carrie at Carrie's Nation who was awarded it by Archcrone Awww shucks Carrie. Thank you.


I'm now supposed to pick ten blogs to bestow this award to.




1: The woefully unappreciated Divided We Stand

2: Done With Mirrors

3: Sideways Mencken

4: Thought Theatre

5: Buck Naked Politics

6: Independent Liberal

7: The Glittering Eye

8: Foreign Policy Watch

9: Polimom Says

10: Donklephant

Don't forget to pass it on.

Court Strikes a Blow Against Excessive Secrecy

And it'll be hard for the right wing noise machine to claim the presiding judge is judicial activist this time. Why? Because in order to do that they'd first have to admit that Reagan was wrong.

From the AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House visitor logs are public documents, a federal judge ruled Monday, rejecting a legal strategy that the Bush administration had hoped would get around public records laws and let them keep their guests a secret.

The ruling is a blow to the Bush administration, which has fought the release of records showing visits by prominent religious conservatives.

Visitor records are created by the Secret Service, which is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. But the Bush administration has ordered the data turned over to the White House, where they are treated as presidential records outside the scope of the public records law.

But U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled logs from the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's residence remain Secret Service documents and are subject to public records requests.
...

Lamberth, who served in the Justice Department before President Reagan put him on the federal bench, has roiled Democratic and Republican administrations alike with rulings rejecting government secrecy claims.

Occasionally one runs across a public figure that we really need to clone and Judge Royce C. Lamberth seems to fit that bill. I've only said that about one other person and that was former congressman Pete McCloskey. Since it appears that once a year I become aware of people whose actions for the American people merit that their value to this country warrants that a copy of them be made I hereby create the Meritorious Cloning Award and bestow it upon them both. The winners of said award will receive a certificate of merit, a cotton swab, a small plastic bag, a set of instructions, and a prepaid return envelope.

H/T to Done With Mirrors

They Like Me!

Yesterday it was Central Sanity and today its apparently my turn to win the coveted Blog of the Day award. I would like to thank the BOTDA Academy, my Mom, The Misses and most importantly those of you that take time out of your day to read my opinions. Thanks!

Ron Paul Wins Maryland Straw Poll

If Ron Paul can could win states the way he wins straw polls he'd be a shoo in.

From the WaPO:

Ron Paul Takes the Ribbon in State Fair's GOP Straw Poll

A curious thing happened this year at the Maryland Republican Party booth at the State Fair: A GOP presidential straw poll was won by Ron Paul, the idiosyncratic congressman from Texas who is a fierce critic of the Iraq war.

Perhaps just as curious was the Maryland GOP's decision to trumpet the results in a news release last week with the headline: "Maryland GOP Presidential Straw Poll Is a Big Success; Grassroots Candidate Wins Surprise Upset."

According to the release, Paul received 263 votes, and former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani (for whom Republican former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is toiling) was second with 220 votes. (Ehrlich received three write-in votes.) Former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson-- who had yet to declare his candidacy -- finished third with 188 votes. No other candidate cracked 100 votes. more

I doubt that Ron Paul will get the nod from the GOP however I'm certain that campaign managers will be studying Ron Paul's tactics for years to come. Additionally he's doing a better job of promoting Libertarian ideas than the Libertarian party is in my humble opinion. Finally he's doing an excellent job getting disheartened citizens engaged/re-engaged in the political process. And if the GOP takes what he's been able to seriously they'll discover that some of the old principles the party was founded upon are new again.

For the three latter points Ron Paul is hereby awarded the Crapomatic Institute's highly prestigious "Way to Go" Award. Said award will be mailed to his campaign HQ in a week along with its prize; a fabulous federal debt note bearing the likeness of Abraham Lincoln or a digital equivalent of equal value. Congratulations Dr. Paul.

update:

Mr. Dyre42,

Thank you very much for your donation of $5.00 to the Ron Paul 2008 Presidential Campaign.

Your donation will allow us to expand and grow our campaign.

We depend on donors like you to help us spread the message of freedom, peace and prosperity through Ron Paul’s candidacy.

Thanks for being a part of the campaign!

Your confirmation number:
T45149-93480791

The Greatest Living American

I rarely read more than an article from the Huff Po (I do however appreciate the traffic they send to me) but this story they nailed. Today Norman Borlaug (1970 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate) was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for saving the lives of millions of people.

"Born 1914 in Cresco, Iowa, Borlaug has saved more lives than anyone else who has ever lived. A plant breeder, in the 1940s he moved to Mexico to study how to adopt high-yield crops to feed impoverished nations. Through the 1940s and 1950s, Borlaug developed high-yield wheat strains, then patiently taught the new science of Green Revolution agriculture to poor farmers of Mexico and nations to its south. When famine struck India and Pakistan in the mid-1960s, Borlaug and a team of Mexican assistants raced to the Subcontinent and, often working within sight of artillery flashes from the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, sowed the first high-yield cereal crop in that region; in a decade, India's food production increased sevenfold, saving the Subcontinent from predicted Malthusian catastrophes. Borlaug moved on to working in South America. Every nation his green thumb touched has known dramatic food production increases plus falling fertility rates (as the transition from subsistence to high-tech farm production makes knowledge more important than brawn), higher girls' education rates (as girls and young women become seen as carriers of knowledge rather than water) and rising living standards for average people. Last fall, Borlaug crowned his magnificent career by persuading the Ford, Rockefeller and Bill & Melinda Gates foundations to begin a major push for high-yield farming in Africa, the one place the Green Revolution has not reached." full article

For all that it's worth Mr. Borlaug I hereby award you The Crapomatic Institute's first ever Lifetime Achievement Award. Live long and prosper.

H/T to Central Sanity

Open Minded Bloggers Award: My Five

I've managed to narrow it down to the following five in no particular order:

1: Justin Gardner of Donklephant for creating such an excellent forum for open minded debate.
2: Joe Gandelman of The Moderate Voice for the same
3: Dennis Sanders of NeoMugwump for being a Black Gay Republican who not only deals with his parties views but seeks to change them from within.
4: NeoWayland of Pagan Vigil for taking the time to explain his Pagan/Libertarian views so patiently.
5: Sean Aqui at Midtopia for never letting the partisan commenters get his goat.

The award’s creator has asked that each winner pass the award along to five new winners. Again from the award’s homepage:

1. Feel free to put the Award badge on your website side menu or wherever works best
2. Link to this page so that people can easily find the origin of the Award
3. Write a post on your blog linking to five blogs that you believe blog with an open mind

My First Award

I am the proud recipient of The Open Minded Blogger's Award
which was awarded to me by The Maiden over at Hell's Handmaiden.

"This award is given to Blogs that demonstrate respect towards others, research and consideration of oppossing views, free-flowing conversation with commenters, and an overall spirit of civility and openess. It is time we recognize such commendable behavior on the internet."

I'd like to thank him for the honor.

I'll have to post my five later as figuring out exactly who to put into slot no. 5 is proving troublesome.

Man Wearing Only Underoos Pins Leopard

Having previously fended off a St. Bernard and a Pit bull while naked (No, I'm not making that up.) I tip my hat to this man. Hell, I only scared them away, he effin wrassled and pinned a leopard for chrissake.

Man clad in underwear pins leopard

By ARON HELLER, Associated Press WriterMon May 28, 5:44 PM ET

A man clad only in underwear and a T-shirt wrestled a wild leopard to the floor and pinned it for 20 minutes after the cat leapt through a window of his home and hopped into bed with his sleeping family.

"This kind of thing doesn't happen every day," said 49-year-old Arthur Du Mosch, a nature guide. "I don't know why I did it. I wasn't thinking, I just acted."

Raviv Shapira, who heads the southern district of the Israel Nature and Parks Protection Authority, said a half dozen leopards have been spotted recently near Du Mosch's small community of Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev desert in southern Israel, although they rarely threaten humans. more

Synopsis of the me battling dogs while naked story....

Jan 1 2006
I'm in bed. SO is up but not about. Son (age 7 at the time) is up and about early. Son opens door to see if other munchkins are out. St. Bernard pushes son aside and wanders inside. Son comes up to tell on St. Bernard. St. Bernard follows son. Roomies Pitbull/Springer Spaniel mix opts to defend bedroom. Son and SO both begin screaming. I leap up push son into hall push SO behind me and step in between dogs. I used a lighter to scare Pitbull mix back and drag St. Bernard downstairs and out of the door. I lock door and go back to bedroom, sit on bed and light cigarette and state,"Well, after that, this year is all downhill from here."

If only I'd known how wrong I was then. (Hence my brief departure from blogging) On the plus side I've quit smoking since then.

So given the difference in difficulty in pinning a leopard vs my ordeal I do hereby award Arthur Du Mosch the Crapomatic Institute's first ever Cajones of Steel award. Live long and prosper Arthur.