Althouse: At the Dragon Café...

January 13, 2012

At the Dragon Café...

... things won't last forever.

42 comments:

Simon said...: Is it just me, or is corporal a pretty poor rank to show for ten years of service in the military? Sarge?; 1/13/12, 11:03 PM
Palladian said...: I was amused to learn that there is a new gay pornographic film that was shot in Madison, Wisconsin. With Madison in the title, no less. I will not repeat the full title, nor will I provide a link. I guess I never thought of Madison as a "sexy" place.; 1/13/12, 11:17 PM
Palladian said...: Let's just say I never thought "Madison sucks" meant anything but the obvious.; 1/13/12, 11:19 PM
Pastafarian said...: Bartender, I'll have a Patron X, neat. Pour Palladian one of those godawful Speyside whiskys that taste like Liquid Smoke and Highlander ball sweat.

Simon, what'll you have?; 1/13/12, 11:36 PM
Simon said...: Makers Mark, on the rocks.; 1/14/12, 12:07 AM
Palladian said...: Speyside?!

Nice, but I prefer Islay, which taste like burnt suburban ranch house, Betadine and roofing tar. Ardbeg is a favorite, and Laphroaig.

But actually, tonight I'm drinking my standby and dearest friend, gin & tonic, or maybe a few pink gins. Plymouth, Boodles, Beefeater or Bombay Dry if you will.; 1/14/12, 12:10 AM
rcommal said...: ... things won't last forever

But their lingerings and shadows might well hang about or drip for a damn long while.

Nay?; 1/14/12, 12:35 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: And since we all know everything lasts forever outside the D.C. then we must... of course... with ... uhh... grace... charm.... and ... uhh... wit,..... adnd classyness and... the uhh.... other um... charm.

GO TEBOW!; 1/14/12, 1:36 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Well.

Let it be known now here.

The next POTUS will use this to his advantage:

Fulfill the book.

I am not betting either way.; 1/14/12, 3:37 AM
AlanKH said...: Am I the only one who never heard of the "angry black woman" stereotype before the hand-wringing Left brought it up days ago with respect to Michelle Obama?

Here's a thought: maybe some people are associating Michelle Obama with the angry, joyless liberal stereotype that Mike Stivic epitomized.; 1/14/12, 4:33 AM
HT said...: "things won't last forever."

Really?

MOTHRA below me is raging. He is a certain kind of new to the city dweller who just wants what he wants right away and goes into a tizzy if he can't have it. Well he's been having MOTHRA for over five years & forcing it on me. What I have learned is that poor baby moved to a city and discovered - shock - he does not like street noise. No, he does not like street noise. So. What does he do? He uses his heat unit to drown the street noise out. And his hvac unit stays on and on. Whereas most working units click off after 10 minutes because it does not take long to heat less than 600 square feet, his drones on and on, vibrating my apartment, above his. MOTHRA. Aggressively clueless. Childish. Immature. Insufficient commitment to neighbors. Anonymous living. Childish living. But still expects others to put up with his noisy habits. And happily so.

Juvenilia washington dc.

Hello court room.; 1/14/12, 5:14 AM
traditionalguy said...: The re-election effort for Obama is again being based upon an appeal to a sympathy vote for historically oppressed blacks, that won Obama the last election.

But Barack has long since come across as a mean and angry half white Marxist gangster with a disarming smile.

So voila, in Michelle we see Axelrod spinning her into the authentic American black woman under attack for race by the eternal bad whites who oppress her for no good reason.

And it may work. Why do people bother to hate Michelle Obama anyway?; 1/14/12, 6:09 AM
Joe Schmoe said...: That dragon looks like he's licking his own butt.; 1/14/12, 6:27 AM
Anonymous said...: I am sad that my thirst for political news is unsatisfied.

Here is what I want:

I want to know 24/7 what is happening in Romney campaign. I want to what Newt is saying, doing, etc.

I want to every time anything happens. I want to see it live (webcast). In sum, I want a website that has 24/7 real time updates for me.

So far, I am sad that none of the TV shows (CNN State of Union, Matthews, Fox, etc.) do not have their shows live cast.

The only website that has some value to me is politico,com, but it is not updated 24/7. NYT is good but it has firewall.

So, I am sad, very sad. I can get all 24/7 news from Arab sites about them, but I cannot get anything about my own political candidates.

How sad? Pity me.; 1/14/12, 6:57 AM
Pastafarian said...: Palladian, our palates could not be more different.

I tried Laphroaig just once. I shit you not, I could not get the taste of smoke out of my mouth for days. The description at Masters of Malt included all sorts of subtleties, but all I could taste was peat smoke. It was like chewing on a half-burnt charcoal briquette after extinguishing it with piss.

(Masters of Malt, by the way, is a great site. They sell single malt "by the dram" allowing you to try obscure or very expensive whiskys without buying the whole bottle. I found a Glenfarclas and a Bowmore that I like quite a bit.)

Simon, I'll have one of those with you. It might help drive away the haunting memory of the taste of Laphroaig.; 1/14/12, 6:58 AM
rhhardin said...: Ragon on the way out. The store is now (at least temporarily) a new Sears.; 1/14/12, 7:53 AM
Mick said...: I want to thank the "law prof" for turning me on to Federalist #68. Many of the Obama apologists, and misguided "Conservatives" claim that there is no "definition" to natural born Citizen, like the Framers just stuck it in the Constitution, and did not know what it meant. This is despite numerous points of evidence, and the fact that the SCOTUS has NEVER said that ANYONE was a natural born Citizen unless they were born of 2 US Citizen parents on US soil.

The Federalist Papers are the most direct link to what the Framers meant by the words in the Constitution, as John Jay, A. Hamilton, and James Madison were explaining the Federalist Constitution to the public.

What was staring me in the face all the time was the word "ascendant" in Federalist #68, written in March 1788, by Hamilton, whom had beforehand suggested that the President be "born a Citizen", but was overruled in favor of "natural born Citizen". That is an important fact, that gives even more validity to what you are about to read.

The word "ascendant" means "ancestor".
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Ascendant

"2. an ancestor; forebear."

Now put the words "improper ancestor", or "improper ancestry" where "improper ascendant" appears in Federalist #68.

"These most deadly adversaries of republican government might naturally have been expected to make their approaches from more than one querter, but chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils. How could they better gratify this, than by raising a creature of their own to the chief magistracy of the Union?"

"Raising a Creature of their own" must refer to the ancestry of the future President, and it certainly could not mean that the future President could be born of a foreign father, when the desire was to place every practicable obstacle against cabal and intrigue by foreign powers.

They guarded against an improper ancestor, by raising one born in the US of 2 US Citizen parents. It is all very logical. This is right from the horses mouth. Meaning of the term of art, natural born Citizen from a man who was there.; 1/14/12, 8:16 AM
Tim said...: "GO TEBOW!"

Yes, beating the hoodie is always for the better.

More importantly, the best defense in NFC is poised to give a bone-jarring beat down to a classy, but due for a loss, visiting Drew Brees and his Saints.

GO 'NINERS!!

And if you like peat monsters, Lagavulin is the way to go.; 1/14/12, 8:20 AM
Joe Schmoe said...: That dragon must be a Democrat. I can tell by the forked tongue.; 1/14/12, 8:39 AM
GMay said...: "Is it just me, or is corporal a pretty poor rank to show for ten years of service in the military? Sarge?"

It's not just you. If he's been in half a career and has managed to achieve the lofty grade of E-4, I'm not surprised he violated such a basic rule.; 1/14/12, 8:42 AM
GMay said...: If a Mick vomits all over the internet, and no one cares to read it, did it actually happen?; 1/14/12, 8:43 AM
Joe Schmoe said...: I was amused to learn that there is a new gay pornographic film that was shot in Madison, Wisconsin.

Palladian, by saying "I was amused to learn...", are you speaking as someone more familiar with the film than you're letting on? Such as one of the actors?; 1/14/12, 8:43 AM
Carnifex said...: If a Mick tells the truth but you refuse to hear it who is the fool?

Got yer back Mick.

As far as the gargoyle, I immediately thought of my cats.

As far as divergent taste, I think my wife and I are the winners. She's a Duncan Donuts and I'm Krispy Kreme.

PS. From earlier, she had a stroke. Again, thanks for everyones concern.; 1/14/12, 9:06 AM
Toad Trend said...: Gay pornography is 'sexy'?

Gack.

Quite a meme you got there.

wv - fistionc; 1/14/12, 9:07 AM
Toad Trend said...: "PS. From earlier, she had a stroke. Again, thanks for everyones concern."

Hope she didn't suffer too much damage. Getting help right away is key. Keep us posted as to her recovery Carnifex. Godspeed.; 1/14/12, 9:09 AM
Rusty said...: (Masters of Malt, by the way, is a great site.

They got one of those for bourbon?

GMay said...
If a Mick vomits all over the internet, and no one cares to read it, did it actually happen?

At least his is informative. Yours...not so much.; 1/14/12, 9:10 AM
Rusty said...: I should have said 'factual' there.; 1/14/12, 9:10 AM
PaulV said...: AMERICAN POLITICO, you will be happy to learn that Obama, in a desparate attempt at re-election has moved to the right of Gov. Walker. He has appointed the union busting Jack Lew as his COS. Not surprised that you are ignorant of his background. You rely on Lame Stream Media to think for you. Walker has not even tried to bust an union as Lew has.
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/01/13/new-obama-lieutenant-a-union-buster/; 1/14/12, 9:13 AM
edutcher said...: The Blonde loves dragons - especially the five-toed ones.

Simon said...

Is it just me, or is corporal a pretty poor rank to show for ten years of service in the military? Sarge?

I believe the career track has one making E-5 (buck Sergeant) in 5 years, so GMay is probably right.; 1/14/12, 11:13 AM
Mick said...: Carnifex said...

"If a Mick tells the truth but you refuse to hear it who is the fool?

Got yer back Mick".

Thanks! That's a change around here!; 1/14/12, 1:24 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: There used to be a seedy place called the Dragon Inn in Camden, NJ. Its unofficial slogan was "drag em in and drag em out"; 1/14/12, 1:26 PM
Writ Small said...: Things won't last forever, but they will often dragon.; 1/14/12, 4:08 PM
Simon said...: Well well! Notice that Mick has now, at last, abandoned his untenable claim that Minor v. Happersett defines the term "natural born citizen." (I destroyed that claim here.) Now he falls back on the weak tea of "SCOTUS has NEVER said that ANYONE was a natural born Citizen unless they were born of 2 US Citizen parents on US soil," which still implicitly overreads Minor's dicta (see this), but coming from him it's a big concession.

Today, though, Whackamole offers a brand new reason why he's right that Obama is ineligible: He claims that the word "ascendant" in Federalist 68 means "ancestor" ("These most deadly adversaries of republican government might naturally have been expected to make their approaches from more than one querter, but chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils") and cites the well-known founding era dictionary "dictionary.com."

Unfortunately for him, this usage is unknown to real founding era dictionaries (e.g. Johnson's 1795 Dictionary of the English Language in Miniature ("s. height, elevation, a. predominant, superior, overpowering") and Sheridan's 1789 Complete Dictionary of the English Language ("superior, predominant, overpowering")), where it's a cognate of ascend ("to mount, to rise, to move higher, to advance in excellence," J1795) and ascendency ("influence, superiority," J1795), which suggests that it was unknown to founding era usage. Johnson's 1828 Dictionary repeats the definition of the 1795 abridgement, so it seems fair to say that whenever "ascendant" took on a secondary meaning of "ancestor" (if it ever did), such a usage was unknown at the time of the founding.

Moreover, when Hamilton uses the same word elsewhere in the Federalist Papers (nos. 11 ("I shall briefly observe, that our situation invites and our interests prompt us to aim at an ascendant in the system of American affairs"), 60 ("it is infinitely less likely that either [the interests of landed men or merchants] ... should gain an ascendant in the national councils, than that the one or the other of them should predominate in all the local councils"), and 77 ("Whether a governor of this State avails himself of the ascendant he must necessarily have, in this delicate and important part of the administration, to prefer to offices men who are best qualified for them")) it is in contexts incompatible with the preferred by Mick and where the meaning found in contemporary dictionaries makes sense.

Not that this will stop whackamole, but you keep popping up new arguments and we'll keep knocking 'em flat.; 1/14/12, 6:19 PM
rcommal said...: Our founders were a deeply skeptical bunch, profoundly both mistrustful of generalities and disinclined to trust utopian visions, which of any type inevitably involves the bowing down of individual heads to authoritarian visions of grandeur, at best, and tyranny, both at worst and most common.; 1/14/12, 8:25 PM
Rialby said...: The Driskill; 1/14/12, 8:50 PM
rcommal said...: Well, I think Mick deserves some credit for steadfastly showing fiber&sinew for his point of view in the face of most people not even bothering to engage him on the merits, much less think about and ponder his points.

Simon is an exception, in that, manifestly, he's at least willing, after having thought about and pondered the relevant complicated issues, to engage in a way having to do with the merits [related to the topic].; 1/14/12, 8:52 PM
Simon said...: rcommal: We've tried ignoring the birthers and it doesn't work. And they aren't going away, because they have in mind the mistaken idea that if they could somehow prove that Obama was ineligible, the remedy would be nullification of his public acts, which is powerful incentive. All that's left is to engage and refute them on the merits.; 1/14/12, 9:30 PM
rcommal said...: Simon: That's what I just said.; 1/14/12, 9:34 PM
rcommal said...: Also, I think that the general populace doesn't care about "natural born stuff" any more, not even in the most careless of fashions (that is a statement, not an endorsement, for those who are following along and might prefer to assign preference, inaptly, instead of observation).

That is: I think that battle for hearts and minds is largely lost, if only because the vast majority of U.S. folks don't care enough about the notion--or about the strident people who do care enough to rail about it--to pay sufficient attention to the issue to make it one that matters.

(Shorter: That hound won't hunt, and only the blind steadfastly don't see it.); 1/14/12, 10:27 PM
Mick said...: Simon said...

"Well well! Notice that Mick has now, at last, abandoned his untenable claim that Minor v. Happersett defines the term "natural born citizen." (I destroyed that claim here.) Now he falls back on the weak tea of "SCOTUS has NEVER said that ANYONE was a natural born Citizen unless they were born of 2 US Citizen parents on US soil," which still implicitly overreads Minor's dicta (see this), but coming from him it's a big concession."

Ah the OBOT Bridge tender Simon is on shift again. , tirelessly lying for the Usurper. Ascendant means "Ancestor". "Raising a creature of their own" certainly can't mean birth to a foreign father. It's as plain as day, and also matches perfectly with the holding in Minor v. Happersett, "indigenes" from "Law of Nations", and "born within the territory and ALLEGIANCE of a nation" from Tribe and Olason-- all over the span of more than 200 years-- all saying the same thing. NOT one person has been described as natural born when not born in the US of 2 US Citizens parents in SCOTUS. But yeah I'm wacky. How does it feel to aid in treason, and lick the boots of a Usurper? There will be hundreds of suits challenging Obama's name on the ballot in many states. It has just begun. We are awake and it's not going away.; 1/15/12, 12:14 AM
Simon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/15/12, 10:19 AM
Simon said...: Mick said...
"Ascendant means 'Ancestor'."

The only source that you have cited for that proposition is a 21st century website, while I have shown that such usage (a) was unknown to two leading founding-era dictionaries and (b) would be inconsistent with Hamilton's use of the same word elsewhere in the Federalist papers. To prevail on this point, you need a founding-era dictionary that gives "ancestor" as a definition of ascendant. You could also cite founding-era works that unambiguously use "ascendant" to mean ancestor, which could help establish that the usage was accepted even if it hadn't made it into the dictionary. A reliable secondary source describing the attachment of the sense "ancestor" to ascendant, along with a timeline, might also work.

"NOT one person has been described as natural born when not born in the US of 2 US Citizens parents in SCOTUS."

Unpacking all the double negatives, that can be stipulated to be true, because it's irrelevant. "The court has never rejected this theory" is a far weaker claim than "the court held that this theory was correct in X v. Y."

"There will be hundreds of suits challenging Obama's name on the ballot in many states. It has just begun."

Lots of luck. Let us know how that works out for you. If they don't produce better arguments than you've managed so far, it won't take long.; 1/15/12, 10:23 AM