April 22, 2007
War Liberal is no more
Visit the new site at thomasontracts.wordpress.com.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 06:58 PM | Comments (0)
May 12, 2006
Brief Hiatus
I am just not feeling inspired right now. You might have noticed. I don't think I'll post again until Monday.
Plus the comments are still screwed up. Sorry.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)
May 11, 2006
Comments disabled
Spammers. I hate them. It is being worked on.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 03:04 PM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2006
There must be some mistake
I was reading the Constitution earlier, and according to this, as of today I'm old enough to run for President. I'm sure that they meant "forty".
Posted by Mac Thomason at 08:13 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
March 12, 2006
Pulp Nonfiction
So I am supposed to cut out the refined sugar, and I really don't like diet drinks. (It's not the taste, they just have a wrong mouth feel.) So I've taken to drinking orange juice, which is unusual for me in that I never used to at all -- I mean, literally never. And now I'm addicted to the stuff. I drank a half gallon in the last 36 hours, which can't be healthy, though my blood is now 20 percent vitamin C. Also, I am bewildered by the varieties of orange juice on sale, but that is a cliche.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:39 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
March 06, 2006
Why I am a Darwinist
The Panda's Thumb
MedlinePlus: Back Injuries
No truly intelligent Designer would have come up with the human spinal column. Ow.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 30, 2006
Paste
Toothpasteworld - World's Largest Toothpaste Collection
1. I buy new toothpaste just before I run out in the old tube. However, I always wind up opening the new toothpaste before I totally run out, yet don't throw away the old. So I have an increasing supply of old toothpaste tubes lining my bathroom sink.
2. The label on the toothpaste tube says to brush twice a day. Now, I was told to brush after every meal. So either people aren't brushing after every meal, or they're only eating two meals a day, or the toothpaste makers are missing an opportunity to promote greater use of their product.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 12:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 01, 2006
I Bite
Blogs join partisan fray on state political scene
I don't really want to talk about myself. So I'll just quote.
In the past year, several blogs devoted to Alabama politics have begun offering a new way for political junkies to get their fix.Some go for a biting humor like War Liberal at www.warliberal.com...
Mac Thomason, 34, of Northport runs the War Liberal site. He said he began writing after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Originally focusing on national and international affairs, Thomason has moved to state politics.
"My goals now are: 1. To be entertaining. 2. To share the wackiness of Alabama politics with the world at large. 3. To improve my writing," Thomason wrote in an e-mail.
A college librarian - he didn't want to say where - Thomason offers a biting commentary on big state issues.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 04:55 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Happy New Year!
There's no ideological edge to that statement, is there? Because I don't mean to offend anyone who celebrates the New Year at the spring equinox or something.
Anyway, let's hope this one's a lot better than the last few have been.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 12:30 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 31, 2005
Because I ramble
I had over 2400 entries in my "Alabama" section, so I'm archiving it and will start a new Alabama section Sunday. Same thing with the Ichthypundit -- there weren't nearly as many but some of them are pretty long, so it's archived now.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 01:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 28, 2005
Occasionally living in Alabama is worth it
It's just super nice out, has been the last two days. It was in the seventies today, mostly sunny. It's really wreaking havoc with my plan to spend the Christmas Holiday Winter Feast of Sol Invictus break inside playing video games.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 04:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 24, 2005
I don't care if this makes Bill O'Reilly happy
Merry Christmas, everybody.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:00 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
November 24, 2005
Happy Thanksgiving, all
Me, I have to hit the road. Best wishes all around.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 01:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 13, 2005
In which I wish I was dead
So I spent yesterday in bed with the Martian Death Flu. I could barely move and couldn't think at all. I looked on the internet and it turns out that I had exactly the same symptoms as the onset of Dengue Fever, but I was pretty sure it wasn't that.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:09 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
August 30, 2005
That was unpleasant
13-hour power outage. It just came back on a few minutes ago. My father tells me that from what he can tell everything's out in the Over-The-Mountain district of Jefferson County.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:06 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
August 26, 2005
I mean, it's been weeks since the last hurricane
What is this, four in the last year? I'm 250 miles inland here.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 24, 2005
Which one are you talking about?
War Liberal: What do MTV and Hoover have in common?
Chuck, the Google troll, says I have a serious problem and am a freak. But he doesn't specify.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 02:48 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 15, 2005
A note on site policy
If anyone Googles his way here, and then leaves a comment deep in the archives which shows that they have no idea that what they're reading is meant ironically, I will delete that comment rather than approving it. I'm sorry, I have no desire to deal with the humor-impaired.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 02:30 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
August 01, 2005
I got nothing
I hate August. There is nothing to talk about. There aren't even any interesting stories about fish, it's all fish kills and after awhile those are pretty boring.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 08:10 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 10, 2005
We all scream
Here's the thing. I really wanted some ice cream. So I went out in the hurricane. It's very windy but the only damage I saw (in a very limited area) were a few uprooted ornamental trees (maybe six feet high) which weren't firmly rooted, one decapitated umbrella, and an overturned trash can. I'm sure there's worse.
I am fine. My apartment is pretty well sheltered by a hill and is far away from the tree line. The wind isn't very strong here.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 08:40 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Buckets
Not much wind here, yet, but a lot of rain. Flood watches all over the place. It looks like a bug invasion is about to begin, too. I hate that.
UPDATE: Now the buckets are replaced by barrels. Wind's kicked up a little. Actually, if you stay out of the rain it's rather comfortable.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 05:34 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
I've used "Ill wind" before
Hey, thanks to the hurricane, three day weekend!
Posted by Mac Thomason at 12:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 05, 2005
Cindy
Great, instead of aiming directly at my house it's aimed ten miles to the southwest. I suppose it's an improvement.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 03:50 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 03, 2005
What an odd troll
Signs his name George W. Bush on top of it.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 12:04 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
June 14, 2005
An open response to Trevor
War Liberal: Great, just great
Comments 1, 15, and 16, and his weblog. Points taken in no particular order...
1. The claim that technology would have made slavery go away is a laugh -- and an oh-so-typical Libertarian claim that the "market" will take care of any injustice. It reminds me of nothing so much as the Marxist claim that the state would wither away. There's no evidence of it and in fact experience shows otherwise. It took almost a hundred years after the legal end of slavery in the United States for southern blacks to gain basic civil rights. Slavery still exists in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia. The only technologies that ever did anything to end slavery were printing and the Springfield rifle.
2. Another Libertarian problem is that they can't seem to get their minds around the fact that just because an injustice will go away "someday" that actual human beings are suffering now. We have a duty as members of a society to fight injustice even if in a few generations that injustice will be gone. In the long run, we are all dead. (Ooh, I quoted Keynes at him. Now we're really going to have a flamewar.)
3. Libertarians may be quarrelsome, but every one I've ever run across agrees on two central points:
- The Federal income tax is the worst thing ever.
- Guns are neat.
4. Seriously, the Libertarian obsession with the supposed horror of Federal government control has blinded them to the very basic and obvious fact that local authorities are at least as capable of oppressing their people as the central government. In fact, they're usually more capable, because they can focus more closely upon individuals. Even with modern information technology, the 280 million people of the United States are pretty much an undifferentiated mass to the Feds, while local governments can focus and micromanage.
5. Similarly, Libertarians are (bizarrely) incapable of understanding that personal liberty depends upon a strong government, one that keeps the wealthy and powerful from exploiting the poor and weak. American history is rife with examples of individual citizens and corporations denying personal liberty to countless individuals. The checks and balances between the public and private sector are just as important as those between the branches of government.
6. This is my site, I'll do what I want with it. Very Libertarian.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 01:52 PM | Comments (16) | TrackBack
June 10, 2005
Here comes the rain again
Once again, there's a tropical system headed directly at my house. Fortunately, this one isn't nearly as strong as Ivan, so what we're likely to get this time is just rain. Lots of rain. I guess I better get used to living in freaking Bangladesh, what with the constant tropical systems we've been told to expect.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 05:29 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 16, 2005
Notifications
I've got this MT-Notify thing I use on Braves Journal that sends out messages and excerpts whenever I update. I could use it on War Liberal as well, if anyone's interested. If so, leave a comment or email me at warliberal (at) yahoo (dot) com.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 01:54 PM | Comments (3)
May 02, 2005
Remedial Driving (Lesson One)
Okay, folks, some of you seem to be having a problem with operating your motor vehicles. Now, maybe it's been too long since you've had any instruction, but it's never too late to learn. We'll keep it simple and brief.
Okay, let's begin. Look down (that's the direction your legs are). There may be as many as four pedals down there. But the important ones are a long one in the middle (that's right below your belly button) and a tall one on your right (remember, you write with your right hand, unless you're lefthanded, or unless you can't write, which is possible, I guess, so that's the direction of the passenger's seat, unless you have a British car).
Now, the long one in the middle is what we call the brake. This is used to stop your car. You do this when you see a red light. (Red is the color of your blood. I assume you see your blood a lot just in the normal course of accidents.) The tall one on your right is what we call the accelerator, or gas. This is used to make your car go or to go faster. You do the first when the light is green. (Green is the color of the grass, unless you live in Kentucky.) You do the second when you're on the highway and you're driving 55 even though the speed limit is 70 and has been ever since the Republican Revolution, so that's at least one good thing they did.
I hope all this has been helpful. Next time, we'll talk about turn signals.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:19 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
May 01, 2005
In which my flippancy comes to the notice of the Brookings Institution
So JC from Sabernomics emails me today (well, yesterday, now) to tell me that I'm quoted in the opening of this book by Stefan Szymanski and Andrew Zimbalist. On the first page, yet. I found a PDF of the first chapter, and sure enough, there I am, second from the top. So I'm a little freaked.
It's in reference to this old post on War Liberal:
War Liberal Classic: Another reason to hate soccer
Another reason to hate soccerAccused Terrorist Talks at Belgium Trial
The "accused" terrorist (who has already admitted to being sent into Belgium to drive a bomb into a U.S. Air Force base, and to "committing himself becoming a 'martyr' for Osama bin Laden") is named Nizar Trabelsi. And he's a former European pro soccer player. You don't see any former NFL players or Major League Baseball players joining al-Qaeda, do you?
As a bonus, enjoy some of the so-literate comments.
(Cross-posted from Braves Journal.)
Posted by Mac Thomason at 01:23 AM | Comments (13)
April 21, 2005
I have returned
Here I am. Nothing to say right now except that I have to clean up all the spam that's gathered over the last three days. So, do they have a new pope yet?
Posted by Mac Thomason at 03:32 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 20, 2005
In which I convene
Hi there. I'm at the Alabama Library Association convention. I've managed to get internet access here briefly, but I need to keep it brief. So, hi there! I'll have a long report later if anyone's interested.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 11:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 18, 2005
Looking for volunteers
Okay, so I'm going to be out and about a lot over the rest of the week, and web access will be intermittent. So commenters, here's your chance. Leave a comment with your email address if you're interested in doing some guest blogging over the next few days.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 04:11 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 16, 2005
Adventures in driving
My enemies list has a new entry. It was:
1. Roy Moore and his followers.
2. The Bush Administration, if you want to call it that.
3. Neo-Confederates and their ilk.
4. Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions.
To this, add the Georgia Department of Transportation. Now, the Alabama DOT is no great shakes, mind you. Their particular specialty is to leave up signs saying that there's construction underway when the construction is already finished, which fools naive travelers into slowing down and making a mess for everyone else. There's a beautiful stretch of interstate between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, except that the people traveling it are all driving slow because they think that there's construction and the speed limit is 55.
This doesn't come up in Georgia, or at least the Atlanta area (which is now about half the state) because the roads are always under construction. And somehow, they always get worse. There are no smooth roads in the greater Atlanta metropolitan area.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 06:59 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 30, 2005
Green Day
When is the real first day of spring? It's not really March 21 or whenever. For me, it's the first day you wake up to find that your car is covered with yellowish-green pollen. And what can you do about it? Wash your car twice a day? Anyway, that was Monday, and tonight it's finally raining to wash it off. I'm betting the car's covered again by noon tomorrow.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 17, 2005
Age
I'm 34 today, and I feel it.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 01:27 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
January 07, 2005
Geocities
Some sociopath -- that's all it is, there's no gain here for him -- has been sending trackback spam to this site. The identifying url is always simply geocities.com. I've been forced to block this, though I'll probably remove it in a few days. I don't know of anyone who does have a geocities site, but if you do, don't list in in your comments or your comment will be blocked. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:07 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 21, 2004
Pointless minutiae of daily life
Yet another sign I am an enormous geek: Looking at the clouds and saying to myself, "Hey, that one looks like the Crimea".
Sign I am basically a simple man: The joy I get from using new scissors.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 01:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 14, 2004
Not without a certain irony
I had to call the dump where I'm leaving pre-July posts something. Anyway, let the spiders go at it and I'm sure they'll have thousands of spam comments to delete in no time.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 02:07 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Here's the thing
I write too damn much. So I've kicked all the entries from before July 8th (don't ask why) to this subsidiary weblog. Anything new will be at macthomason.com.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)
A short note
I've imported all the archives I could from the old version of the site, and deleted the entries (except for the last one) from there. Any internal links from before the last few weeks will be busted, I'm afraid, but all the data's here and the search functionality is fine. I'm a little worried that there might be some slowdowns, so if you have any problems (especially with comments) let me know, okay?
UPDATE: Okay, that didn't work. I've shunted everything from before July off to a new, subsidiary blog. That should keep things rolling here for awhile.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 11:01 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 04, 2004
Oh, no, not again
bloghosts [closed for business]
I'm going to have to find another new hosting service. Sigh. Anyone have any ideas?
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:54 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
November 03, 2004
Positive economic news
See, when I get depressed, I start buying DVDs hoping that will cheer me up. Unfortunately, I seem to be focusing on dark crime dramas right now, so it seems unlikely. Why are they waiting until mid-December for the Return of the King DVD anyway?
Posted by Mac Thomason at 12:48 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
October 28, 2004
That was weird
If you tried to comment and got a 500 error, the problem should be fixed now. Anyone more familiar with Movable Type than me... Somehow, the permissions for mt-comments.cgi were set to 0, which caused the problem. I've no idea how that happened, any ideas? Is 755 right, or should I set it to a lower level?
Posted by Mac Thomason at 07:13 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
There's something weird going on with my email, and the support system at Bloghosts is down and has been all week. Anyway, if you need to contact me privately to offer me something to repair my (choose: too-big/too-small/flaccid) piece of anatomy use the email address warliberal -at- yahoo -dot- com.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 05, 2004
In Which It Is Insinuated That I Am A Cracker
So, if you're new here, I work at the library of a historically black private college. I won't name it, but there's more than enough here on this site to figure out which one it is. There's this woman who comes into the library periodically. She's a "nontraditional" student, meaning she's older than I am. She is also an incredible pain in the butt. We only have two general-use computers, neither of which the school pays for, they're actually for the use of a business information service. I won't name the company, but it has the same name as the founder, who is the Mayor of New York.
Anyway, she likes to sit at one of these computers and print things out from the Internet, lots of things, a huge number of pages. Paper is free, which I'm not wild about because it encourages this sort of behavior. Also, she expects to be waited on hand and foot. I don't like to do this, not only because frankly I can't do my job when I'm waiting on one person hand and foot, but also because she's evidently a heavy smoker and reeks of cigarettes, which make me nauseous.
She comes in last night and starts pestering the student workers, plus me, who foolishly came out to the desk near the end of the day. She parks herself at one of the computers, one which has been freezing up a lot lately. (I don't know how to fix it, and can't even tell what the cause is.) So she starts and it freezes up, so she yells that it's stopped and I have to come fix it.
I tell her that the computer isn't working well right now and that it will probably freeze up again, but I ctrl+alt+del it to shut down IE which had locked up. Sure enough, it locks up a minute later. She yells, I tell her I'll reboot the computer, which will take a couple of minutes.
Apparently, she is upset that the computer (which, I remind you, is not provided by the college and which we don't even have to allow for general use) doesn't start immediately. She asks for my name, says she pays $5000 a year to go to school here and doesn't get anything out of it, and stalks off. Then she comes back into the building and asks for the Dean. He isn't here right now, so I go get the administrative assistant, because she's a whole lot better at dealing with fools than I am.
So the woman starts ranting again about how she pays $5000 a year and she's going to get what's coming to her or she's going to go to the Federal government, to the "Federal board of education". Then she says, looking at me, "I don't know how you do things in Alabama, but I'm from Michigan," and stalks off again.
I can only assume that this Federal government stuff and the Alabama thing that she is insinuating that I am a racist for not waiting on her hand and foot. Luckily, everyone knows she's nuts, and there were students there to verify that I didn't do anything wrong. But still, I don't like it.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 08:43 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
September 27, 2004
Nobody ever whispered to me
The Atlantic Online | November 2004 | Karl Rove in a Corner | Joshua Green
Okay, we all know that Karl Rove is a slimebag of the highest order. But who knew that he, like his putative boss, spent time corrupting the politics and institutions of my home state? Yes, it's true! Apparently, we're the minor leagues now.
Anyway, Rove allegedly started a whispering campaign at the University of Alabama School of Law insinuating that a Democratic state Supreme Court justice was a pedophile. This was just about the time of my one, regrettable, year of law school there, but nobody ever tried to use me as a conduit for smears. I'm actually rather insulted.
Also, Rove was the architect of much the Business Council of Alabama's still-current strategy of painting Democratic judicial candidates as tools of the plaintiff's bar and their use of "horror stories" of allegedly overgenerous judgments. This actually explains something to me. I've wondered why the Republicans have been so good at getting elected to judicial office (eight of nine current justices are Republicans) while only getting about half the other statewide offices, and Democrats still control the legislature. Maybe it's because they had an Evil Genius design their judicial campaign plan but only local yokels for everything else.
What did Rove learn from Alabama? Well, let's just say that he might have gotten some lessons from a recurring character around here:
In the rare instances when he has failed to set the terms of debate, Rove hasn't fared nearly so well. Four years ago, in a race to succeed Hooper, who was retiring as Alabama's chief justice, Rove lined up support from a majority of the state's important Republicans behind his candidate, an associate justice named Harold See. Like most of Rove's clients, See had an enormous financial advantage and ran a brutally negative campaign—but he was nonetheless trounced by Roy Moore, the "Ten Commandments" judge, who succeeded in making the race about religion. This loss may have helped Rove to recognize the power of religion as a political motivator: from the question of gay marriage to organizing churches for Bush, it features prominently in his playbook for the current election.
Yes, the long-sought Roy/Rove link at last.
(Link from Talking Points Memo.)
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 17, 2004
Everything is fine here
Tuscaloosa was really lucky, and in Ivan's wake we also get a super nice day... Up in Birmingham, my sister says she has power, but it still hasn't been restored at my father's place. She's going shopping.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 12:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 16, 2004
I got lucky
While Birmingham is shut completely down, Tuscaloosa has weathered the storm with little difficulty, it seems, at least in comparison. Most places are closed still, but the rain has largely stopped where I am (I would describe it as "heavy drizzle". The winds are still blowing the trees around, but nothing too serious. I'm still getting brownouts and brief outages when trees blow against the lines, but hopefully there won't be any major outages. If there are, power might be out for days because Alabama Power is stretched mighty thin, and the assistance they'd normally get from out of state is already working in Florida.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 03:04 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Hi, me again
Just popping in, because the power's been constantly on for an hour or more now. It's pretty rough out there, but not extraordinarily rough. The winds are actually coming from the west, or the west-northwest, now, which is the normal direction. Any trees that would knock down a power line probably fell down long ago. That probably won't last. There's lots of rain, and the river (I drove down that way, which I shouldn't have, but it worked out), which was already high, is running very heavy.
Things are a lot worse in Birmingham; my father says that he doesn't have power, my sister doesn't have power, my brother doesn't have power, nobody he knows seems to have power, and he knows a lot of people. Alabama Power says that not only is this a statewide record for power outages, it broke the old record by fifty percent already, and it's not done yet.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 01:11 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Maybe the worst has passed
Passed to the east, that is. According to my father, Birmingham is basically without power, but Tuscaloosa seems to have gotten away with nothing worse than a lot of rain and some intermittent power outages. So goodbye for now, but maybe I'll be back late tonight.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 11:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Could be worse. Will be.
Hi, folks. I took the opportunity of having a random day off to sleep it. It really is an ill wind.
Lots of rain, so far. The winds are gusting pretty heavy, but not anything that unusual, except for the direction. My power went out for about ten seconds a few minutes ago -- just as I was cutting my computer on, naturally. According to the TV, the number of outages in the central part of the state is already in the hundred-thousands. (And the people at the ABC affiliate just went wacko because their power is fluctuating and set off the fire alarm.)
The worst of the storm should start to reach here in three to four hours. I haven't seen a full forecast yet, but last night, they said the center should pass somewhat east of here around nightfall. I'll ride it out -- too late to do anything else.
UPDATE: The power blinked out again right after I sent that. I knew I should have gotten a UPS box but I am cheap. Anyway, see you late tonight/tomorrow, I hope.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 11:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 15, 2004
See you tomorrow (I hope)
I'm shutting down for the night. Hopefully power will be on at least at midday tomorrow, in which case I'll say hi. It does look like the worst of the storm will pass to the east of I-65, which itself is fifty or so miles east of here. So instead of ten inches of rain and 80-MPH winds, I might just get five inches and 55-MPH. But these things are unpredictable.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:37 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
A message from your local natural gas provider
You people with your electric hot water heaters and your electric stoves. "It's more convenient to pay only one bill," you say. "I'm afraid of a leak," you say. "I don't want my house to blow up," you say.
FOOLS!!!!
See where your precious electricity has gotten you? Squatting in the dark, eating cold beans, beans you hacked out of the can with a knife because you're so lazy even your can openers are electric! Wearing dirty clothes hand-washed in cold, fetid water you yourself don't dare drink! Stinking of sweat and fear while you wait for your precious electric company to deign to restore power to the dank cave you call a home!
Posted by Mac Thomason at 07:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 14, 2004
What do you think?
I'm looking at the forecasts and there's every chance that the Tuscaloosa area -- well, actually, everything south of Huntsville -- will be essentially shut down by the storm starting sometime Thursday and through Friday. Strong tropical storm-force winds are expected pretty much throughout the state, except when there are hurricane-force winds. The last forecast said that Ivan might still be a Category 2 as far north as Montgomery.
Now, Friday is my off-day. I contend that if the school's closed on Friday anyway I should get another day off. It's only fair, right? This assumes, of course, that I'm not killed by the hurricane. But what kind of off-day is it if I spend the whole time huddled in my bathroom? (Because it's the only room with no windows, that's why.)
At any event, don't expect much from me on Thursday and Friday.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:23 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
September 07, 2004
Another hidden cost of SUVs
The fifteen minutes of my life which I will never get back, lost to a moron who doesn't know that the stupid things are unstable on wet roads, especially going downhill. Multiply it by the hundreds of people (not counting other SUV drivers, who of course deserve it) who also lost fifteen minutes of their lives, and add in all the fuel lost, and the cost is pretty big. And it happens all the time. I hate those damned things.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 05:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 04, 2004
A little upgrade problem
I upgraded to Movable Type 3.1, and comments aren't showing up immediately for some reason. Don't worry; I have to approve them, but they are getting posted. I don't know why it's working this way, but I'm trying to fix it.
UPDATE: I think it's okay, but I'm not sure. (It's taking mine, but it might need approval for everyone else.) Again, if your comments aren't showing up, it probably needs me to approve them. At any event, if you have any problems I'd appreciate emails about them so I'll know.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 08:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Most banal dream ever
So, last night I dreamt it was Sunday, so I had to do laundry. My subconscious is raging, I tell you.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 02:07 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 23, 2004
Well, Well...
So, I write a column that everyone would agree with, no one feels like commenting anything positive at all?
Typical.
Apparently, unless I bash Kerry or praise Bush then I get responses--nasty, name calling vicious responses.
Mac was giving people on here too much credit I guess. The only time people positively respond is when i keep it "light" and make up fake movie ideas like Peter Jackson doing a re-imaging of "Police Academy".
Posted by Mac Thomason at 03:22 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
July 22, 2004
To Everyone On here--why is it so tough for you to have someone disagree? Why is Mac the only person who can have a legitimate disagreement and not name call?
Mac, Thank you.
This goes to show that people shouldn't judge what they don't understand.
FYI, Tatterdemalian, I voted for GORE/LIEBERMAN in 2000; I supported (blindly and mistakenly) Clinton both times. I also supported Reagan in the 80's and elder Bush in 88 before switching to Clinton in 92.
I am what is called a "moderate" or "independent"--you may have heard of us? Unlike you, we are not beholden to either of the parties in this country. We go issues by issue.
Furthermore, Tatterdemalian, I am pro stem cell research, pro environment, pro choice, etc. so I am definitely NOT conservative. I found myself in my car the other day yelling at a conservative talk show host I like some of the times because she was ripping on a website for telling young girls what they can do to deal with an abortion. I would rather young girls have an abortion that use hangers in back alleys.
The point being, I have become fed up with how far LEFT too many Democrats have become; and how much foreign policy advice too many people are taking from the likes of Michael Moore and Sean Penn.
Why is it, Tatterdemalian, that you & other people on here feel the need to tear me down and rip me to shreds because I don't blindly believe everything you believe? Why is MAC THOMASON the only Democrat on here with a belief in our friendship to have an honest disgareement with me instead of just tearing me down because I hate Michael Moore or disagree about Iraq?
Why can't you do that? Or is it because you have nothing of substance to actually say so that's why you tear me down to the applause of your fellow Moore lovers.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 07:34 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
July 20, 2004
Personal question
What do you think of the use of rocket-propelled grenades in parking enforcement? I think they're sadly underutilized, myself.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 02:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 11, 2004
I'm thinking of getting a stun-gun
I have my reasons.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 03:24 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
June 01, 2004
Troll of the day
Nah.
I generally don't delete the trolls (except for duplicate posts) but I think I will this one for language. I would ask why the anti-abortion fringe is so rapidly homophobic. I mean, it's not like gays are responsible for many unwanted pregnancies. He came in by a search for Eric Rudolph and was obviously looking for a fight.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 03:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 20, 2004
End of an era
Construction to begin in June on homes at John Carroll site
The site of my high school has lain empty for years since the school moved to its new home in Homewood. They're finally moving to build something there, 20 family homes.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 01:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 25, 2004
Site Notes
1. Still adding to the blogroll, which eventually will be just as long and useless as it ever was. Priority goes to commenters; again, if I left you out I apologize, and please speak up so I can fit you in.
2. Warliberal.com should now take you here after a brief delay. If you use the url instead of a bookmark or link, that's probably going to be easier.
3. "Only" the last 1000 posts from the Blogger versions of the site are still available. (They're still on the Blogger server.) Does anyone know a way I can export more than 1000 entries?
Posted by Mac Thomason at 11:10 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 23, 2004
Here we go again
War Liberal 2.1.2 is now on the air. Everything looks different now and I'll be tweaking it over the next few days. (I am definitely going to swap out the sidebar from left to right.) But all the information is here. Hopefully, the upgrades made by the kind people at Bloghosts will greatly improve the speed of hosting and commenting.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 06:00 PM | Comments (7)
March 22, 2004
Site update
bloghosts - reliable and affordable blog hosting
I should be changing over some time today or tomorrow. I think I'm going to do a completely new install, so the look of the site will probably revert to a basic MT template for awhile. Or maybe not.
I wanted to ask for a hand on something. How can I forward a page inside my domain? What I mean is I'd like to keep the warliberal.com/mt/blog address, since that's where most people link to, but I'd like to forward warliberal.com to it. And I have no idea how to proceed.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:03 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
March 18, 2004
Suggestions
My ISP is going to start bandwidth overage charges starting in April. For me, this would mean paying about half again what I have been, either by upgrading my account or in overage fees. And I'm really cheap.
So here are the options if I don't do that:
1. I can cut the front page down a lot by removing the blogroll to another page, cutting out any internally hosted pictures, and keeping only a couple of days' posts up front. I don't know if that will be enough, but I think so. Still, it wouldn't leave any room for growth.
2. I can move to another host. I am leaning towards this. I know that some people have been frustrated with the comments problems here anyway and maybe that would fix the problems. Anyone have a hosting service to suggest?
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:44 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
March 17, 2004
A Favor to mac on his Birthday--My apology for Rudeness
Dear Readers of Warliberal,
I want to apologize for being a big, fat meany sometimes.
Yes, people telling me not to be upset about "The Passion" or telling me how great France is, or why we should leave the poor terrorists alone so they can be free to murder innocent people, makes my proverbial skin crawl, admittedly, but Mac is one of my oldest friends and has requested I be nicer since he doesn't censor some of my more controversial comments.
So, I am sorry particularly to people like Haggai--though I obviously disagree with you a lot, there are better ways to say it.
So, on Mac's birthday, I make a pledge that starting Thursday March 18th, any comments I make will not be personal attacks. I am sure we will continue to disagree (at least with many of you), but I like Mac enough to send an open apology letter to everyone on the Blog and play nicer.
I am very sensitive to certain issues and take a lot personally. It's just my personality, can't change that, but I am a big Mac fan and when we rip on each other, it's never that serious because we have known eachother since 1993.
So again, I have been a jerk and I am sorry for being personal & rough in my attacks to everyone. If half of you still can't stand me after this still, that's up to you, but it's fair to say I owed doing this because Mac asked it of me on his birthday.
Alex R.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 02:07 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Great Topic Idea, Mac: Celebrities I would like to SHOOT
My list of celebrities I would like to shoot in no particular order: (and for various reasons)
Sean Penn
Susan Sarandon
Tim Robbins
Michael Moore
Gwyneth Paltrow
Carrot Top
David Arquette
Mike Farrell
Margo Kidder
MEL GIBSON******* (I would empty my round in him)
Martin Sheen
Al Franken
Janeane Garofelo
Madonna
Vanilla Ice
Heath Ledger
There are more, but that's a good sample size; I agree, shooting Paris Hilton also would not be a bad thing. She's really not that attractive, either.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:14 AM | Comments (3) |