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Couple of milestones…

visits

Heh. Somehow in the excitement of getting married and shit, I failed to note that February 14 was also the second anniversary of sweasel.com (not counting the few practice months over at WordPress). About the same time, we quietly broke the 200K mark — a fortnight’s traffic for the big dudes, but a matter of quiet pride in this little geekwad backwater.

I want to thank you guys for sticking with me in this last boring year of girly self-absorption. It was a cinch that upping stakes, moving to a whole ‘nother country and getting hitched was going to Gidgetize and Barbify my outlook for a while. For a politics-and-geekery blog, that’s some bad mojo right there.

I thought about putting the site on hiatus until my life settles down a bit (and my natural nerdliness comes roaring back), but my mama told me blogs which hiatus never really come back. And I don’t think I’m done running my mouth yet.

I’ll tell you something, though: I don’t like politics right now. I’ve been arguing ideas — and not always playing nice — for as long as I can remember, but I don’t recall ever being so profoundly uneasy about the tone of the conversation. The center cannot hold. Bad moon on the rise. Whatevs. There’s a smell of crisis and ozone in the air and I don’t know where we’re headed. Or why I’m in this handcart.

Arguing politics isn’t fun at the moment.

So I believe I shall enjoy Spring at Badger House for a while longer. Thanks to everyone who comes here anyway. Some day — I swears — there will be bile again. And vitriol.

Meanwhile. My mosses. Let me show you them.

Comments


Comment from armybrat
Time: March 9, 2009, 9:13 pm

Spring has sprung at badger house? I’m so jealous. Snow in beantown today. And politics as a conservative in this blue, blue city, socked in by never-ending winter is just….well, it’s not fun.


Comment from Machinist
Time: March 9, 2009, 9:48 pm

Politics will wait,
She sniffs about her new life,
a cat in new digs.

Weasel poop or moss,
She makes all interesting.
A peek at her mind.

Minions make visits,
2CK times we drop in.
We are grateful, Ma’am.


Comment from Brigette
Time: March 9, 2009, 9:57 pm

Congratulations on breaking the 200K mark, and belated happy anniversary. What stat program do you use? Mine doesn’t do a monthly breakdown bar graph like that, or at least I haven’t found one yet.

Go ahead and enjoy marital bliss in Brit Barbiedom for a while longer. The politicians will still be there when the reality of married life sets in and you start being interested in things other than your husband’s handsome face again.

Meanwhile, I will keep fighting the Obamanistas on my blog, since I’ve been married nearly 20 years and my outlook was debarbified years ago.


Comment from Gnus
Time: March 9, 2009, 10:50 pm

Politics are (is?) everywhere. The adventures of Mrs. Sweaselbadger’s conquest of the Olde Sod, not so much.

There’s only one place to keep up with the doings of the sheeps, newts, olde doorbells, etc. And yes, even mosses. 🙂


Comment from porknbean
Time: March 9, 2009, 11:50 pm

We are all uneasy and getting more fidgety each passing day through the looking glass. There is no center. Only smoke and mirrors. And shadows.

Enjoy, bond, explore your little slice of heaven. We, who romanticize the English countryside, will live vicariously through you. Except for the sheep part. Creepy buggers make me itch.

And then soon, soon, we shall take up torches and pitchforks together.


Comment from JuliaM
Time: March 10, 2009, 1:32 am

Congrats on your ‘blogiversary’. Here’s to many, many more…

“There’s a smell of crisis and ozone in the air and I don’t know where we’re headed. Or why I’m in this handcart.”

Funny, that’s just how I feel. And not just nme, if the quality and tenor on my regular blog visits is any indicator…


Comment from See-Dubya
Time: March 10, 2009, 1:37 am

“I don’t like politics right now. I’ve been arguing ideas — and not always playing nice — for as long as I can remember, but I don’t recall ever being so profoundly uneasy about the tone of the conversation. The center cannot hold. Bad moon on the rise.”

I RENOUNCE YOU, APOSTATE! S.Weasel does not speak for the Republican party/Conservativemovement/ See-Dubya-con submovement!

Nazi.


Comment from Jill
Time: March 10, 2009, 3:15 am

I can hear the raccoons screwing outside my window.
Yes, Spring is in the air.

You do your thing; we’ll be here.

🙂


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: March 10, 2009, 6:48 am

Plain old Sitemeter, Brigettte. My stats are open; if you click the number at the bottom of the left column, you can see what I see when I check stats.

The traffic-spikey months are months I did snarky political graphics that got linked a lot, incidentally. Especially right before the election.

I wonder if this sense of gathering danger is more apparent in the UK, Julia. It’s like there’s an undercurrent of potential violence.


Comment from Lokki
Time: March 10, 2009, 7:44 am

You say Obama wants a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it’s evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about depression
Don’t you know that you can count me out
Don’t you know it’s gonna be all right
all right, all right

You say Obama’s got a real solution
Well, you know
We’d all love to see the plan
Dem’s ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We’re all doing what we can

You say Obama will change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it’s the institution
Well, you know
You better free your mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Gore
You ain’t going to make it with anyone anymore
Don’t you know it’s gonna be all right
all right, all right
all right, all right, all right
all right, all right, all right

We now resume our voyuerism of the Weasel/Badger abode.
200k peeks through the window… and thank you.


Comment from dfbaskwill
Time: March 10, 2009, 7:53 am

Rest assured, countries like the US and Great Britain will be back. We are the only countries in the world to work hard enough at creating wealth. The Middle East produces almost nothing except turmoil. South America, Africa, and most of Asia cannot or won’t produce wealth. The Europeans take the whole month of August off and give their “workers” 6 weeks of vacation TO START. China works harder than anyone else, but their form of government will always hold them back (or confiscate their wealth!). Eventually, we will return to preeminence even if only by default.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: March 10, 2009, 8:07 am

It’s true, DF. I’m a firm believer in the Anglosphere, and it is opposed in some fundamental and mind-blowing ways by Europe (the French regard “Anglo Saxon” as a deadly insult, which roughly means “money grubbing bourgeois shopkeepers”).

It’s not a racial concept, either. I would include Hong Kong very much in the Anglosphere, for example. Until China breaks it.


Comment from dfbaskwill
Time: March 10, 2009, 9:24 am

There are places in China you’ve never heard of where capitalism is at the highest levels it has ever been. If China were to ever become a democracy, there would be no way to stop it. Instead, you are right, they will break it.


Comment from Bill Spencer
Time: March 10, 2009, 10:20 am

Hmmmmmmmm. Vitriol!


Comment from Princess Bernie
Time: March 10, 2009, 11:27 am

At the news that you will continue to blog, the market is now up 247 points. Thank GOD for S.Weasel, single-handedly keeping my 401k from being totally down the toilet. Right now it’s swirling around the old porcelain bowl, though.

Sirislee, congrats on your anniversary.

And I agree, I’m sick at my stomach about arguing politics. I like arguing ideas more. At least with ideas, you have a chance to educate and pursuade. With politics these days, not so much. Come to think of it, not so much with ideas, either.

sad, sad, sad


Comment from iamfelix
Time: March 10, 2009, 11:49 am

I RENOUNCE YOU, APOSTATE! S.Weasel does not speak for the Republican party/Conservativemovement/ See-Dubya-con submovement!

Nazi.

Ha ha ha ha ha … See-Dub has been reading too many posts @AoSHQ.

Enjoy yourself, Stoaty. We like *everything* you post. And yes, as PnB put it, when the time is right — Torches and pitchforks together!


Comment from paul s
Time: March 10, 2009, 12:12 pm

you glide over it because it’s a scary reality, but you’re right, the center can’t hold. there’s no center anymore. so-called moderates are just rags fluttering in the wind. it’s us vs. them, all the way to the end.


Comment from Nicole
Time: March 10, 2009, 1:03 pm

Grats on the blogoversary. 🙂

And I’ll take moss, cats, newts, girly stuff, geeky stuff, whatever. I come for the graphics and the comments and the downright spiffy way of writing that you haz, Miz Weasel.


Comment from Christopher Taylor
Time: March 10, 2009, 1:31 pm

Some day I’ll figure out what it takes to get lots of hits and visitors who stay. but I doubt it. Congrats Stoaty and I’m glad you’re doing well: your blog is great and you deserve the success you are getting, and more besides.c


Comment from Nicholas the Slide
Time: March 10, 2009, 2:13 pm

Arguing politics isn’t fun at the moment.

Boy I know that feeling. Might have something to do with the fact that now it’s all serious… not just a matter of disagreements and bantering, but actual serious “what you choose will have visible side effects in the very near future” sort of business. Even Serious Cat sez so.

Have to take a week off every now and then or else I get to feeling all head-asplodey. Need to go back to the range sometime, great stress reliever right there. Or the RenFest, which just kicked in last week. 😀

Take as much time as you need. A broken soldier isn’t much help to the cause. Need our resident mustelid commander in top-notch shape when things come down to the wire. What you say about an undercurrent of violence is not limited to the UK, that I can most definately assure you being so close to the Mexican border. The state department, the border patrol, and the administration at ASU all told students to avoid going to Mexico for Spring Break this week.

(Many didn’t listen. I expect within two weeks for the newspapers that remain to be filled with articles about students who have gone missing, been found dead, been imprisoned, or returned with something seriously wrong with them.)


Comment from Machinist
Time: March 10, 2009, 2:19 pm

Dfbaskwill said”Rest assured, countries like the US and Great Britain will be back. We are the only countries in the world to work hard enough at creating wealth.”

I wish it was as you suggest. Advanced economies like capitalism and free enterprise result in unprecedented productivity and wealth. They are the only systems that can support a prosperous middle class, but they require a large degree of empowered and autonomous people to work. This means the leaders must be good leaders and protect the interests of those citizens who support the whole structure. This does not lend itself to security for the type of people who want to rule and who’s main talent is the ruthless acquisition of power. These people are most secure in a situation where a small group of despotic rulers are supported in luxury by a much larger number of subsistence level lower class, kept ignorant, disenfranchised, and cowed.

While the superior results of modern economic systems would seem obvious, these rulers have historically not had a hard time getting people to feast greedily on the body of this goose that lays the golden egg, leaving them hungry for whatever scraps the now unopposed ruler chooses to throw to them. In mankind’s history there have been a number of examples of relatively free societies providing unprecedented prosperity and peace to their people and those around them but these have been the exceptions. Ruthless despots trying for lifetime rule by oppression and fear are much more the rule. This latest effort by Western society has been the best shot yet but the bad guys awaiting their chance on the sidelines would be happy to bring the whole thing down to secure their own power.

They don’t mind a smaller pie as long as their own portion is more than they can eat. The rest of us are easier to control if we are kept down.

The question might be how long the dark ages will last before the next great experiment.


Comment from dfbaskwill
Time: March 10, 2009, 2:42 pm

Machinist. Is the game lost then? I don’t think so. The best shot at freedom and prosperity isn’t over yet. I will admit, however, its a big-time body blow we’ve been dealt. And I have dried foods, water and a hand gun in the basement just to be sure. The current fiscal zombies will require a head-shot to stop! LOL


Comment from Machinist
Time: March 10, 2009, 2:51 pm

I don’t know, Sir. I do know you can’t count on it being preserved because it is the best or produces the best results. As long as we allow would be rulers to stop educating our children and use the school system to indoctrinate them then reality for most people will be what the government tells them it is. That is the road straight to hell and we are far down that path. We elected a Chicago machine politician with no experience running a business or governing and allowed his administration to impoverish several generations to come of our children, making them dependent on the state for basic survival, in his first couple of months. Where will we be four years from now?


Comment from Machinist
Time: March 10, 2009, 2:55 pm

Members of a political party destroyed our housing market and brought our economy to it’s knees, and we rewarded them with almost unchecked power to further loot our bank accounts and enslave our future generations. This war may have been lost and won a generation ago.


Comment from Allen
Time: March 10, 2009, 4:42 pm

“Arguing politics isn’t fun at the moment.”

True, but making fun of Joe Biden, and the rest of the clowns in the car is great fun.

There’s a new Sheriff in town pardner, Six Gun Joe.

Then we have “reset” Hillary.

Hillary: We made this cute thingy with the the Russian word for “reset” on it.

Russian: That’s not reset that’s overcharge, as in you want to “electrocute” us. Are you threatning us?

Then you have the Obamas who think a flaming bag of doog poop might make the perfect gift for VIP guests to the White House.

Pure comedy gold, and they’re the people who claim to be ever so smart.


Comment from Nicholas the Slide
Time: March 10, 2009, 4:56 pm

Pure comedy gold, and they’re the people who claim to be ever so smart.

Sadly partially dulled by the constant shouting of the zombies: “THAT’S NOT FUNNY”


Comment from porknbean
Time: March 10, 2009, 5:38 pm

While the superior results of modern economic systems would seem obvious, these rulers have historically not had a hard time getting people to feast greedily on the body of this goose that lays the golden egg, leaving them hungry for whatever scraps the now unopposed ruler chooses to throw to them.

Some words from ‘Liberty’s’ greatest advocate, French philosopher-economist, Frederic Bastiat, (1801-1850) Economic Sophisms and The Law.

“Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain, and since labor is pain in itself, it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder* is easier than work. History shows this quite clearly. And under these conditions, neither religion nor morality can stop it.”

*Plunder is when people forcibly take the property of another. Legalized plunder when they use the government to do so.

“The state is the great fiction by which everybody tries to live at the expense of everybody else.”

Since people covet and try to take what belongs to others,
“It is evident, then, that the proper purpose of law [government] is to use the power of it’s collective force to stop this fatal tendency to plunder instead of to work. All the measure of the law should protect property and punish plunder.”

Do our elected representatives protect property and punish plunder or do they punish property and protect plunder?

Often legalized plunder is done in the name of the poor. Bastiat had a prediction about that,
“When under the pretext of fraternity, the legal code imposes mutual sacrifices on the citizens, human nature is not thereby abrogated. Everyone will then direct his efforts toward contributing little to, and taking much from, the common fund of sacrifices. Now, is it the most unfortunate who gains from this struggle? Certainly not, but rather the most influential and calculating.”

Many of us are increasingly confronted with Bastiat’s dilemma:

“When law and morality contradict one another, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his sense of morality or losing his respect for the law.”

Lock and load.

*the above musings of Bastiat were nicked from page 241 of ‘Liberty versus the Tyranny of Socialism’, Walter Williams
(‘Liberty’s Greatest Advocate’ can be found at townhall.com in Williams’ archives.)


Comment from Christopher Taylor
Time: March 10, 2009, 5:49 pm

“Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain, and since labor is pain in itself, it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder* is easier than work. History shows this quite clearly. And under these conditions, neither religion nor morality can stop it.”

The first part, right. The second is absurd: only morality and religion can stop it.


Comment from Michael
Time: March 10, 2009, 5:58 pm

Weirdest thing about the current mood is that the stores can’t keep ammo in stock. Even my wife wants to hoard ammo, never mind that the price has skyrocketed. Gives me the willies.


Comment from Machinist
Time: March 10, 2009, 6:09 pm

Christopher Taylor,

I’m afraid I must disagree. Historically it has NEVER stopped it. The first thing the people who would rule by enabling plunder do is suppress or redefine morality. Our founders recognized that it would take the force of law, embodied in the Constitution to stop government from buying power with the peoples own money. It was not until we gave up this concept and permitted the government to lay claim to our labor as it’s own, a concept that was anathema to the founders, that we see the government following this road. Only a government founded on and respecting the law can avoid this. That is why Democracies have always failed. A Republic is the only form of government we have seen with a chance of success. Too bad we didn’t “keep it” as Ben said.


Comment from Machinist
Time: March 10, 2009, 6:11 pm

Michael,

Thomas Jefferson would understand perfectly. Then he would spit on us for letting this happen. Too much blood was shed to win the freedom we gave up for a shiny bauble from the state.


Comment from wendyworn
Time: March 10, 2009, 7:27 pm

yes, that impending doom feeling, I know it well…


Comment from Steamboat McGoo
Time: March 10, 2009, 7:36 pm

Weaz said no politics. 🙂

So where are the mold photos – we wanders yes we wonders? We wuz waiting…

I want photos and a plethora of Latin polysyllables, thick and fast. Call in … The Badger!


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: March 10, 2009, 7:48 pm

Badger’s working, believe it or don’t. And that’s moss, McGoo. Moss.

Though, come to think of it, I really like molds, too. Did I mention my microscopes?


Comment from Machinist
Time: March 10, 2009, 8:04 pm

The story of molds, with a cast of thousands?

My apologies if I discussed proscribed subjects, gentle Weasel. I am most sincerely sorry.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: March 10, 2009, 8:07 pm

Oh, heavens no, Machinist. I wasn’t trying to control the conversation, I was explaining my own lameness.

Without comments, I would soon lose interest in this thing. The feedback is the fun part.


Comment from Machinist
Time: March 10, 2009, 8:15 pm

Thank you, Ma’am. You are a most gracious hostess.


Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: March 10, 2009, 10:02 pm

Yes, sorry McGoo. I been digging.

Truth to tell, I agree with her Ladyship, wendyworn and all – this whole think stinks. It stinks and stinks and stinks. It is ripe and rotten with the stench of corruption. As far as I can see, both your nation and mine are not just being run by fools but by villains, thieves and saboteurs.

It is far from impossible that Britain is about to see a huge electoral swing towards what the communists at the BBC like to call ‘the Far Right’ (it is, in fact, the ultra-nationalist Left).

And what does the political establishment here do, both Left and Right? It carries on doing precisely what the BNP needs it to do to stoke-up fury against the system.

If it weren’t so damned serious, you’d wet yourself with laughing at it.

This is getting serious.

Excuse me. I have some digging to do. It’s what badgers do in a crisis.


Comment from Steamboat McGoo
Time: March 11, 2009, 6:31 am

Sorry I interrupted you, Badger, and rattled the Weaz. I wasn’t looking for political commentary – although your view is always excellent (and agrees with my own, which is even more important! 🙂 ) – so much as more fascinating mold moss exotica! But that’s OK – I understand Spring has sproinged. Doin’ that here, too.


Comment from Former Lurker
Time: March 13, 2009, 12:59 pm

Congratulations on your 200K milestone! I’m glad I helped you get there in some small and insignificant way.

If you keep writing, I’ll keep reading, no matter what the topic. I like your style!

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