Althouse: At the Val-Dieu Tavern...

June 6, 2010

At the Val-Dieu Tavern...

... you can talk all night.

57 comments:

traditionalguy said...: That is a Paul Bunyan size ale. You can just tell the police or the wife, don't worry,"I only had one beer"; 6/6/10, 8:28 PM
Scott said...: Charlie Rose attended the Bilderberg conference this year.

I wish they would invite someone like Steven Colbert.; 6/6/10, 9:21 PM
traditionalguy said...: The wife and I were driving home this afternoon listening to NPR and I suddenly could not stand hearing the happy sing song voices of the NPR announcers speaking about all of the death and disasters going on this week like it was amusing everyday garden club news. So I turned it off. She corrected me and reminded me that everyone else's opinion is valuable and needs to be heard too. So I apologised to her...and I hereby apologise to the Althouse Commenters for having been narrow in my views. I will listen more and learn more. In honor of D-Day I accept General Patton's punisment for verbally slapping anyone.; 6/6/10, 9:27 PM
Unknown said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/6/10, 10:44 PM
Unknown said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/6/10, 10:48 PM
Unknown said...: I just saw the photo of Rush and his new bride**, both beaming. And the first thought that crossed my mind? Arianna Huffington. Is the tell-all is being written as we speak my friends? I assure you the lib's chops are being licked for some raw red-meat years hence. Hell is other people. (A wee-bit cynical, no?) If I were Rush: I empathetically think there might be the thoughts of some marginal paranoia; but at the end of the day I'd just have to live my life, too.)

** When I originally typed this it was typed as "bird" not bride. Does the Freudian slip apply to typing? Probably shouldn't in my case since my typing is sh*t.; 6/6/10, 10:53 PM
Unknown said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/6/10, 11:01 PM
Synova said...: So... Freeman Hunt is on the 20 hottest conservative women list?

Oh! LOL. I see edutcher noticed that too.

Grats Freeman!

Apparently Newsweek is grumpy about it for you, like it's disrespectful and a double standard for those who complained about the Newsweek cover with Sarah Palin in running clothes.

I could explain why it's not a double standard but two different things, if the guy at Newsweek is interested.; 6/6/10, 11:58 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: If anyone cares, my overnight post is up.

And it's niiiiiice.; 6/7/10, 3:51 AM
lemondog said...: Summer Breeze; 6/7/10, 6:05 AM
lemondog said...: Who is Ed Bubble and why is he being busted?; 6/7/10, 8:42 AM
Fred4Pres said...: It is Monday morning, but what the heck I am going for that!; 6/7/10, 8:54 AM
Fen said...: So this horsefaced prune saunters into the bar, grabs a drink off someone's table, then starts rambling:

"I censored myself for 50 years....Now I wake up and ask myself, ‘Who do I hate today?’

I’m a liberal, I was born a liberal, and I will be a liberal ’til the day I die.”; 6/7/10, 9:04 AM
Big Mike said...: @Fen, if it's my beer he grabs, that day may come sooner rather than later.

I mean it depends on the location. In New York or Chicago you're not even allowed to fight back in self defense if someone physically attacks you. But in real places, taking a beer you bought and paid for, well ...; 6/7/10, 9:11 AM
Fen said...: she

the quotes are from the horsefaced jew-hating prune Helen Thomas; 6/7/10, 9:18 AM
lemondog said...: Helen Thomas Comes Under Fire for Remarks on Jews, Israel

President Obama even surprised Thomas with cupcakes last year on her birthday, which is the same day as the president's.

They seem to have more than just cupcakes in common.; 6/7/10, 9:29 AM
Scott said...: I personally have no interest in Helen Thomas' cupcakes.; 6/7/10, 9:56 AM
AmPowerBlog said...: Hey, that's my kind of tavern!; 6/7/10, 10:04 AM
GMay said...: Why are you people still going on about Helen Thomas? Alpha Liberal has already told us it was just a slip of the tongue:

"Helen Thomas said something impatient, dumb and intemperate. I do not think it's racist."

You see, if she had just been a little more patient, she could have taken the edge off that response. And yes, it's dumb of her to express her true feelings when a camera is rolling. She should in fact temper her true feelings next time, if there is a next time.; 6/7/10, 10:12 AM
AllenS said...: Blogger sucks.; 6/7/10, 10:26 AM
Anonymous said...: Look kids!

Death worship in the NY Times

Oh, sure, it's dressed-up in nice liberal, academic, Princetonish language, but it's still death worship... good ole' Obliteration of the Self!

wv: "inglog" - What a blog would be called in Oceania.; 6/7/10, 10:47 AM
Lincolntf said...: It was only a matter of time before someone on the wacky-Left let the truth slip. They can call themselves "anti-banker" or "anti-capitalist" or "anti-Wall Street", but it's all just a mask for the same recycled hate that has always fueled them.
Helen, as hideous on the inside as she is on the outside, should be shunned by all decent people.; 6/7/10, 10:59 AM
GMay said...: It's a slow day over at AoSHQ too and they don't use Blogger.

I think you bloggers are just slacking.; 6/7/10, 11:03 AM
GMay said...: Scratch that, the majority of their bloggers over there are still sleeping off their Sunday night Valu-rite vodka binge drinking hangovers.; 6/7/10, 11:05 AM
ricpic said...: Imus's Bernie McGuirk, on Elton John playing at Rush's wedding, "I have the feeling that he wasn't the only one there for the money."

I don't see you as a mean spirited guy, rh, but this is a mean spirited comment. Plus, it's cynical. Because of the age difference the bride must be a gold-digger?

Sometimes generosity of spirit is called for.; 6/7/10, 11:07 AM
A.W. said...: I kept wondering why Ann was posting so little today. then i took a good long look at the pic...

hangovers are rough...

Er, well, so i heard. I have a medical thing that prevents me from drinking, therefore I only know from others. Its sounds like the worst migrane possible.; 6/7/10, 11:20 AM
Lincolntf said...: Helen's gone! Done. Retired to some hole in the ground where her hatred and ignorance can't do any harm. Good news for us all.; 6/7/10, 11:21 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Helen's gone - without issuing an apology!; 6/7/10, 11:30 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: ricpic,

"Sometimes generosity of spirit is called for."

What you're missing is, this ain't one of 'em. The whole occasion is contrived and weird. I've tried to make this point before:

Demanding (or even asking) people to go along with multiple "marriages" invites cynicism - the whole concept is a lie.; 6/7/10, 11:39 AM
GMay said...: I'm sure the mainstream media outlets, especially the NYT, who have lionized her for years are going to be all over this shit in 3...2...1...; 6/7/10, 12:00 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Ann,

"I finally figured out how Crack Emcee writes those posts,...You have your illustrations, and you do your writing, and you merge them in a very spontaneous, improvisational way. Right?"

Right. (Good call!) The idea of making "art" comes first for me - because I'm an artist, first. This was merely my latest strategy.

Since I can't play music right now - which is what I'm made to do (and why I ask for donations: so I can get back to it) - I've got to stretch my artistic wings somehow, and doing the mix-and-match thing was more challenging (and giggle-inducing) than finding the "proper" photos for each post.

I've got several new approaches waiting in the wings, but they'll take longer to implement, as they force me to confront some technical issues, which aren't my favorite things to deal with, since I ain't a geek.

One more thing: I'm working on a seven-year old Apple laptop, with a broken disc drive, a broken keypad, a missing "shift" key, and a fan that's now so damn loud I can only use it at home without embarrassment. I'm not kidding:

I don't ask for donations as a lark - I really need 'em.

My ex cleaned out the bank accounts (we had five) right after I discovered what was going on. Before that, I could easily make $500.00 for a 15 minute appearance onstage. Now, I just want to get back to work, but without making money for the assholes who abandoned me. Consider doing something, will you? I was jealous when you got your iPad.; 6/7/10, 12:04 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: "I read the lack of response as 'yes.'"

Jesus Christ, woman, it takes time to write on this old thing!

I find it fascinating that, even after all this time, you think I'd bullshit you, or act coy, or some shit others will.

When are you going to treat me as an individual?; 6/7/10, 12:07 PM
pdug said...: Souter says

"The meaning of facts arises elsewhere, and its judicial perception turns on the experience of the judges, and on their ability to think from a point of view different from their own."

Is anybody really thinking from a point of view different than their own, or is it just our imagination that we are inside another's point of view.; 6/7/10, 12:22 PM
A.W. said...: Ann

i can use blogger, apparently, so maybe you can, now, too.

sorry for the hangover joke.; 6/7/10, 12:27 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Ann,

"We love you. We give you lots of regard here. But it's not enough, and you're always saying it's not enough."

No, it's not. I'm scared to death this thing is going to die and I won't be able to post again. I'm pissed that I can be right, about almost every major issue of the day, and all folks focus on, like a bunch of NewAgers, is whether or not they can detect a smile. The demands everyone has put on me, from birth, are too much (tell me you don't read articles about people from foster care, and that they always start with "so-and=so is beating the odds" or it's a story about how they didn't - that's not your life, or anybody else's here. You can pretend we're the same, as you go places with your family and celebrate holidays in the warmth of a familial bosom, but that ain't my life and never will be. Hell, even when I thought I was getting it, I later discovered that was a lie.) I was abandoned at birth. You know nothing about it. The fact that I'm here - not just writing on your blog but breathing - is a major achievement. I know it because I know where I'm from and what I've had to endure. Asking me to also be happy is asking too damn much.

Nobody REALLY cares, and they NEVER have, starting with my own mother.

I'm almost 50 now. I think I know what I'm talking about. This ain't no fashion show, where I'm trying to be attractive - I'm trying to live and am finally doing it on MY TERMS - because there was a cute fucking kid, once, that figured out a long time ago that few people will give a shit about as much as they're own shallow bullshit. Your smiles are mocking. That's what they've taught me. Sorry, but I will not join you with them, unless they erupt from me naturally.

Actions speak louder than words.; 6/7/10, 12:32 PM
GMay said...: Holy pity party Batman.; 6/7/10, 12:40 PM
bagoh20 said...: I love ya Crack, but nobody successful sounds like you in your comments today unless they just got lucky, which is a bad plan.

You can find decent computers for nearly nothing out there. Plenty of people buy a new one when their old one works just fine. They often give the old one away. I just got a laptop yesterday for free to help our nonprofit. There are website that deal with just free stuff that people give away. You put up a request and maybe someone has one for free.

BTW, you underestimate the value of a smile to the smiler. That may sound New Age, but even they stumble into the truth occasionally.

I agree with your dismay at how unrewarded being right can be. But that's just one of many injustices in life. Get over it. The goal is not to receive justice but to deliver it, otherwise where will it come from?

I'll check out your site again, it's been a while. If I'm impressed, I'll contribute.; 6/7/10, 1:15 PM
ricpic said...: It's a great relief not to be cared about.; 6/7/10, 1:18 PM
traditionalguy said...: @ Crack...I hear your pain. You are a good man that is worth saving. Many good men that have been wounded early in life have opened their hearts up to the Holy Spirit, the one that you seem to be intensly wrestling with right now, and they have found themselves in a safe family at last. And I love you.; 6/7/10, 1:34 PM
A.W. said...: ann

it says this is a regional thing. so maybe you could find an ally in another region to help you post. it would have to be someone you trust, but maybe someone like glenn reynolds, and you just give him your password, and the text of the posts you want to post and viola, you are online again.

Just a thought.

Also it is possible to create posts by emailing to a certain address, if you have set that feature up. maybe that is another workaround.

Sucks to see this happening to you.; 6/7/10, 1:44 PM
lemondog said...: ricpic said...
It's a great relief not to be cared about.

Don't know if you're indulging in sarcasm, but I agree. It relieves one from the driving and oppressive sense of guilt and the need to assume responsibility.; 6/7/10, 1:46 PM
Anonymous said...: My theory:

Today's Blogger problems are of divine origin, Althouse. It is God telling you to attend to Crack's emotional need for validation. Once you do, I'm sure you'll be able to post with no problem.; 6/7/10, 1:58 PM
Palladian said...: I don't want you to care about me. I just want you to buy limited edition prints of my drawings!; 6/7/10, 2:12 PM
Trooper York said...: "rhhardin said...
I don't care about Crack myself, but then I care about hardly anything that you're supposed to care about.'

Dude, you freak me out!; 6/7/10, 2:23 PM
Trooper York said...: But I understand where it comes from man.

None of us can choose our family.; 6/7/10, 2:25 PM
Trooper York said...: Speaking of which, I care about you ricpic. You are one of the treasured commenters on my blog.

I promise never to put you in a box!; 6/7/10, 2:27 PM
Scott said...: Both of my father's parents were dead by the time he was 12. He was handed around to various uncles and aunts in the mid-Atlantic. Eventually he graduated high school and joined the Army. He blew away the Army General Classification Test, which streamed him in with the college graduates. "We don't know what he did in the Army," but after WWII he went to college, then to medical school.

His lack of stable parenting when he was an adolescent contributed to making him a massive narcissist. He met my mom in med school. She had a raging alcoholic father, which contributed to making her codependent and emotionally needy. They stuck to each other like white on rice.

Dad went on to become a psychiatrist (a natual specialty for a narcissist). They had four kids. I'm #2. I'm gay. My first partner died of AIDS. I've been in therapy off and on all my adult life, and I have been going to AA meetings for 26 years.

What does this have to do with anything?

Not a lot, other than it goes to show that I can blame all sorts of personal pain on the circumstances of my birth. Life is so unfair. I can point fingers and wail and moan and gnash my teeth. In comparing my story to others, I can evoke more pity than some, and less than others.

Does any of this matter?

Hell no. If I can't be happy now, today, it's my own damn fault. As the Danish say, it's not about the cards you're dealt, but about the way you play your hand.

Every hand's a winner. And every hand's a loser. And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.

:); 6/7/10, 2:28 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Blogger's back!!

Thanks for hanging out in here.; 6/7/10, 2:29 PM
Trooper York said...: And Crack, I always feature and link to you on my blog as well.

In fact this photo of you and Adrienne Barbeau gets more than anything this side of the one of Nixon and Elvis!; 6/7/10, 2:32 PM
Trooper York said...: That's more hits. Sorry.; 6/7/10, 2:34 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Ha. I was about to comment that Crack could have my old Apple laptop before realizing that it too is seven years old. I assume you're looking for something a little more up-to-date, Crack? Maybe try freecycle or Craig's list?

WV: raingod Ha again! To think one would get that when writing a response to Crack!; 6/7/10, 2:37 PM
Scott said...: I have an old Acer laptop that works fine, that's loaded with Ubuntu. If that would work for you, email me your street address and I'll get it off in snail mail to you by Wednesday.; 6/7/10, 2:42 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Thanks for the congrats to those that offered it. I have no further comment on that list besides what I already wrote on Twitter and my blog, except to say that I love that two of my grandparents commented on that RWN post. As one longtime commenter here would write, "Hee."; 6/7/10, 2:45 PM
kent said...: Hall & Oates Join Arizona Boycott, Cancel Phoenix Gig

OH NOES!!! Not Hall & Oates! Can a fatal diss by the likes of Andrew Ridgely be far behind -- ?!? ;); 6/7/10, 3:08 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: GMay,

"Holy pity party Batman."

That's a load of bullshit.

Unfortunately, I'm at work and can't write now - my boss hates this blog - I'll speak when I get home tonight.; 6/7/10, 4:09 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: I know Trooper's just kidding, but I think it's fascinating that, every time someone online decides to depict me, they want to see me as a hobo or a crackhead - because it couldn't be farther from the truth: it's just my stage name, The Crack Emcee (and, yes, I drew that) but I still think it says something. No one ever sees me as heroic, except in person. (Today, one guy at work said I'm the best looking person in the office - and we have lots of women where I work.) Just to fill in the picture a bit, here's the photo you know.. Also, here's a few - including a shot of me when I was a youngster in the Navy. Another performance shot is here.

Here's some career info, but not nearly everything (I was once a model for Bank of America - ain't it wild how a dose of cultism, a divorce, and a few murders, can change a man's fortunes?) and, on the lower right-hand side, some more solo tracks that were never released. (I plan to release "Doorstops and Sugar/I Am" one day soon.)

There's also a couple of my rock songs (written, produced, arranged, and sang by me) on this other lousy MySpace page. The second song here ("Pow!") is some of my Jazz. Here's a popular album cover., and you can listen to snippets of it's tracks here.

So, I'm not what anybody thinks - and what I'm trying to do, the disrupted promise I'm asking you to help me fulfill before I die, is probably better than what any of you snarky bastards can fathom.

I've been called a genius my whole life - and, sorry, but I know it - and I think, after all I've been through, not helping me lead conservatism through the arts is a crime.

That's what I'm most pissed about.; 6/7/10, 11:02 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: BTW, Trooper, just to show there's no hard feelings - and I know you were joking - send me an e-mail and I'll send you some of my Country Music (I can't find any online.)

And, if anybody wants to hear it, drop me a line and I'll send you a (really rough, un-mixed or mastered) clip of a live performance.; 6/7/10, 11:11 PM