The Seriously Out of Season Apollo 13 Parody Movie Memorial Weekend Open Thread.
Gene Kranz-approved. No, really.
By Moe Lane Posted in Miscellanea — Comments (32) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
He showed it to his family last Thanksgiving:
Open thread.
« Today is worthy of celebration — Comments (7) | War Is Good For Children — Comments (6) »
The Seriously Out of Season Apollo 13 Parody Movie Memorial Weekend Open Thread. 32 Comments (0 topical, 32 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
Some contretemps with the moderators ?
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
And over a disagreement that I thought we'd pretty much settled here on RedState more than two years ago. Apparently not. I have emails in to two of the Directors and one other Editor and hopefully they'll get it all straightened out before anyone has a conniption fit and starts writing for MyDD.
Twice called those who opposed the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube "nutters." Because of his length with the site, and in spite of numerous other warnings given to him over the last few months, he was given an opportunity to apologize. When he moved to another thread and began commenting there, he was explicitly told that his next comment needed to address the "nutters" remark. He persisted in refusing, so he fell on some bullets.
End story.
------------
[F]or by the fundamental law of Nature, man being to be preserved as much as possible, when all cannot be preserved, the safety of the innocent is to be preferred...
-John Locke
He got his back up, and because its the internet felt the usual rules don't apply.
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
And BCC:d three of the Editors of this site. But when I have some harsh words to use (and I have them from time to time) at least I have enough respect for this site to do it in private.
Thorley, if you're reading this, I think you're going to have to meet some people halfway, especially now that I've learned that you were given the opportunity to apologize in public and decided not to. You have their email addresses. Maybe you need to take a week off and think it over. It's worked for me in the past.
Where he was given the chance to apologize and refused. Maybe everybody owes everybody an apology, starting with Thorley.
C'mon folks, this is beneath us. It's not what we need right now, and it sure isn't helping us move forward here.
I'll say right at the outset that I think the Schiavo affair was a mistake on the part of the Republican Party. I thought it was a mistake when the first thread hit the wire and I still think it was a mistake right now. OTOH I know that other people have strong feelings that it wasn't. I bowed out of the discussion at the time because I could feel the bile rising in people's throats about it. It didn't seem to be anything except an irreconcilable difference that wasn't going to do anything except come back to hurt all of us in the future. I still feel that way.
K,
I'm not going to rise to the defense of anyone who has been "blamed", got no dog in that fight, but I would encourage you to look at the tone and pointed sticks being used to point out the flaws in Mitt Romney here on RS. Starting with titles of blogs.
For sure passion is good, but long term use of pointed sticks to point out the flaws of another camp and candidate, especially when you're a paid gun for another camp and have "blam" rights here on RS tends to be...searching for words that are not a pointed stick....raise eyebrows.
But, it's your court.
_______________________________
Dennis Miller for President...no more wimps!
I think he's far and away the best candidate we have. There are a lot of people who disagree with me profoundly but I still believe that.
I knew it was going to be a tough row to hoe here on RedState, and so I resolved very early on that I was going to grow a thick skin when it came to reading the language other people are using to try to knock him down. I intend to keep supporting him, and people who want to try to knock him down are just going to have to deal.
I've said what I was going to say about the candidates involved in this this discussion in private. I hope the Eds. and Directors will think it all over.
K.
Fair enough.
Right now I'm fence sitting, McCain on the one side, Romney on the other.
I do think that comments in threads can get heated, and I am as guilty as sin about bringing gasoline to bond fire at times.
Still...invoking the Reagan 11th commandment, modified a bit to say it's fine to point out the inconsistencies of your opponent, but watch the stuff that cuts too close to the bone on a personal basis. After it's all said and done, someone from the R side of the ditch is going to be left standing, might as well not leave a blood trail for the general election, although the Democrats are waiting, would say praying...but not sure the secular humanist of the left are "down" with that concept.
_______________________________
Dennis Miller for President...no more wimps!
that this particular blam is a little disturbing to me. If Leon gave him 2 months then why did he all of a sudden bring it up when he is directly debating a thread that Leon wrote. Not only that he blammed him then proceeded to refute the proceeding post. This seems heavy handed when debating someone about your own diary. If it was that this was the particular deadline for Winston why did he not get blammed in the other diaries he commented in today?
A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever. -John Adams
Generally, when a moderator says "You need to apologize," the deadline is the next comment you make. Because I was unsure whether Thorley had in fact seen his instruction, I gave him one more chance, but was explicit that his next comment needed to address the instruction to apologize. He replied to that comment and specifically ignored this instruction. That's bad tactics.
------------
[F]or by the fundamental law of Nature, man being to be preserved as much as possible, when all cannot be preserved, the safety of the innocent is to be preferred...
-John Locke
and I approve. I also appreciate that lines have to be drawn to keep this site clean. That is a main reason I keep coming back. However one last comment about this and Ill shut up.
Leon demanded an apology as an editor after directly entering the debate with him the first time as well. Winston’s "insult", to a group which I consider myself in, was after Leon made personal sarcastic remarks about their intelligence. This to me seems much more against the rules then labeling a group with an epithet, like say, moonbats. To me it just seemed wrong. Apparently I am in a minority though so I'll just sit here impotent like conservatives in congress.
Honestly at this point though I think the blam is impossible to retract anyway.
A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever. -John Adams
Thank you. It seems the net puts my manners on vacation.
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
it pays not to forget whose backyard we are playing in. Second chances are almost the rule here, this I admire. It is always easier to ban and salt the earth so no dissent may exist, but RS seems to welcome it as long as everyone plays by the rules.
__________________________________________________________
Thou art the Great Cat, the avenger of the Gods, and the judge of words...-Inscription on the Royal Tombs at Thebes
BBK
"All Animals are Equal, but some are more equal than others"
That's the rub isn't it.
_______________________________
Dennis Miller for President...no more wimps!
Is that this is not the Animal Farm. We've not adopted any Animal Farm policies.
------------
[F]or by the fundamental law of Nature, man being to be preserved as much as possible, when all cannot be preserved, the safety of the innocent is to be preferred...
-John Locke
we would have sabre tooth squirrels and venomous fluffy bunnys. Not the way nature works.
Those that are rubbed by this natural order should form their own farm.
___________________________________________________________
Thou art the Great Cat, the avenger of the Gods, and the judge of words...-Inscription on the Royal Tombs at Thebes
As a Brownback supporter, Romney detractor, and someone who would fall into Thorley's "nutter" category for my opinions on the Schiavo matter, I hope Thorley is given the opportunity to come back if he's willing to meet the directors halfway. Sometimes things get said in the heat of the moment and mistakes are made. I know RS is not a democracy, but if there were a vote, I'd go with leniency.
If he's going to act like a Daily Kossack and make sweeping condemnations of what is possibly a majority of this site's regulars, he should be treated like a Daily Kossack.
Red State shouldn't meet anybody halfway on this. The rules are the rules, and if they're going to be enforced they should be enforced consistently.
I don't mean a foolish consistency, either. But if you look at Leon's and Thomas's comments in the relevant threads, the long-time commenter in question was given every opportunity one would expect a long-time commenter to be afforded.
Hey; not all blams are forever. But there shouldn't be a meet-half-way thing going on here.
Run like Reagan!
I think Vista is a little green in the marketplace right now, but I have to say that I'm impressed with Microsoft's efforts to reach out to customers and help them with their development efforts. I just received an email inviting me to participate in a 90-minute *free* online tech session using Visual Basic and .NET, and one of the perks is that you get a *free* copy of Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition ($300 retail) if you take the 90 minutes and fill out the evaluation form.
That's new for Microsoft: Spend 90 minutes online looking at some features of their development environment with a consultant and get a licensed copy for nothing. The haters will call this "bribing" people to pick MS products, but I think it's actually reminiscent of the truly generous "hacker" spirit I knew when I first started programming.
It's nice to see.
I laughed, I cried, I ate. :)
Two thirds of the world is covered by water, the other third is covered by Champ Bailey
I'm sitting here trying to take in the recent Thorley Winston kerfuffle and I wanted to say something else:
People on RedState who don't already realize it should know that even though I'm much more of a positive person than I used to be, I still usually approach situations from the dark side of the silver lining. My recent post about "Global Hosing" is typical of the way that I look at big issues at the first approximation -- because I like to be proven *wrong* when I get glum. I always start out with diminished expectations and once in a while I get surprised when things don't turn out as badly as I thought. ;)
When I think back over my recent life I know that a lot of this pessimistic outlook has come from hanging around academic liberals, who absolutely are the most negative people in the world if you really take what they say seriously. It's hard to convey just how downbeat they can be on almost every subject of consequence -- for a lot of them, the world is constantly on the verge of coming unraveled. Global Warming is the latest manifestation, but many of the people I've known could take a barrel of fresh cream and make it curdle into sour cheese just by looking at it. It's an intellectual fetish.
Surprisingly, though, I'd just like to say that I don't think Republican chances in 2008 are anywhere near as bad as they might look right now. I don't think we've really begun to fight, and I'm very optimistic about our chances once we really start fighting. The worm will turn again before 2008, just as it unexpectedly did right after 2004. Don't despair about that. This world and the politics that drive it are difficult to predict, no matter how many consultants people employ to try to rig the game in their favor.
All we need to do is not let the melancholia overtake us and get people to the polls once we've made up our minds. Success is the best remedy for defeatism, and I actually think we're due.
I like our chances in 2008. Our starting bench is very strong, and we have some very good second stringers, as well. I would take nearly any of them over the players the Democrats have on their bench.
In no particular order
First String
Rudy - 9/11 hero. Strong Executive experience.
John - War hero. Years of experience in Senate. A bit of a crank, though.
Mitt - Super Executive-man. Has more compentance in his little finger than all of the Democrat bench combined. Strong campaigner.
Second String
Newt - One of the best ideas man around. Iffy executive, though.
Brownback - Solid conservative.
Thompson - Don't know enough about him other than he knows how to act the part.
Hucklebee - Good Executive Credentials.
Oh yes, I will be happy to stack these guys up against the Dems anyday.
First String
Hillary -- Never had to fight a real campaign. Rides on the coattails of her husband. Naturally very shrill.
Obama -- way too early for this guy. Mistake to bring him on so quickly.
Edwards -- total lightweight.
Second String
Richardson - only one worth mentioning. Has solid executive experience.
Yes, indeed. I like our chances in 2008.
"If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools..." 'IF' by Rudyard Kipling
This week President Bush celebrated International Eat a Tasty Animal for PETA Day with cat on a cob.
I know it is an old lefty pic, but I still find it very funny.
___________________________________________________________
Thou art the Great Cat, the avenger of the Gods, and the judge of words...-Inscription on the Royal Tombs at Thebes
Let me put something out here for the record, even though it's littered across another thread.
Thorley Winston has been posting here for over two years. In that time, he progressed from a commenter with specific beliefs who was willing to engage in an argument, to a commenter whose whole behavior became (1) taking shots at other wings of the party, (2) taking shots at front-page writers, and (3) writing comments that deviated from (1) and (2) only to agree with someone else (usually thus hitting (1) or (2) in the process) or to agree with someone who had agreed with him.
Out of anyone with a shorter posting history, that would have been game over. Instead, when Thorley was warned, he'd duck out of the thread in which he was warned, or stop commenting for a few days. Again, out of anyone else, that would be game over.
The "nutter" thing is what we traditionally call a Pointy Stick™. Given that the "nutters" represent a significant portion of the editorial staff of this site, and a not insignificant portion of our readership, Mr. Winston was offered yet another opportunity to withdraw his shots. He declined.
For the record:
(1) I would have tossed him for the "nutter" thing without giving him the chance to apologize.
(2) I would have tossed him myself, but I spent the day (and last night) preparing for a jury trial next week.
(3) Leon beat me to the punch. This is not because he's a Brownback supporter, but because he happened to be online when I was not.
(4) If you think Leon was nastier than I would have been, you have not been reading RedState very long.
Mr. Winston's exit, and your concerns with it, may be addressed to me, through my contact form on this site.
Drop the shots at Leon. If your problem is that Thorley was banned, come at me, because I wouldn't have given him a chance to apologize. If your problem is that Leon got him, take it up with God.
-----------
We are all heroes, you and Boo and I. Hamsters and rangers everywhere, rejoice!
Just my two cents, as I was unaware of any recent kerfuffle: I have noticed a distinct lack of respect for other posters from Thorley lately. Probably since before the last election, he has been quite catty when talking about the rest of us in this big tent. As a matter of fact, I would say that many of his posts have been dripping with contempt.
I have chosen not to engage him in any conversation because of his contemptuous attitude, but I'm not sorry I won't have to read it again.
Love, Nutter
I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful 100 percent.
I've been away from RS (away from my pc even) for a long time, mostly catching a minute here and there over the last few weeks. New job, yada yada yada.
If I have a weakness at RS it is my tendency to fight at the drop of a hat. In the jobs I've held I've often had to demonstrate a lot of self restraint. If I was an editor or contributer I would have to act differently, but as a proud member of the RS family for 2 years and 15 weeks I use my membership to learn, to engage, and often to vent.
I've participated in some great flame wars. One of the best was with a member named Yahuti. After things calmed down I admired Yahuti and consider him a RS friend.
I've pushed the envelope before, but always with the knowledge that the site is not mine to run. If I get out of line and get tossed I'll deserve it. There is an appeals process (called "e-mail the editors and apologize") and some day I may step too far over the line and have to eat some crow.
I'm also aware that on rare occasion a "blam" has been recinded because it was not proper and editors disagreed over the "blam".
Now about Winston. Consider the following:
1. The man was given several opportunities to apologize for behaviour that was out of line (I am one of the "nutters" Winston insulted). He kept refusing to apologize.
2. Leon is not alone. Other staff that have weighed in on the matter have agreed with the decision, and felt that, if anything, Leon was overly gracious.
3. Those of us that have read Winston can pretty much agree that his tone has been going downhill for some time.
If you take the "blam" by its self it may seem harsh, but in the context of the period of time before Leon's recent story the picture changes.
I too would like to see Winston back. But only after he does what I and most of us would do. Swallow your pride, apologize sincerly, and lower the snark in the future.
And a final thought. Those of you attacking Leon for being an editor with the abilty to blam people who disagree with his primary candidate choice...
Garbage. Leon bothers to put his "bias" at the front of his story (most people don't include a disclaimer or stick it at the end). Leon also has taken some pretty hard shots over the years but has shown respect to those who show respect. He's shown an awful lot of restraint with some of his Pro-Winston detractors here in these threads. Leon gives warnings more often than not, and those that don't get warnings haven't deserved them. For those of you who think Leon was petty in this matter then you can call Thomas petty too. It was a decision made by Leon after a period of several months and warnings, and backed by the staff (and again I remind you that they haven't always been in agreement in the past).
So back off and let the process continue. The decision was made, consultations occured, and now the ball is in Winston's court. End of story.
Sheesh!
"Greater is an army of sheep led by a lion, than an army of lions led by a sheep" - Defoe
I hope the recent kerfuffle over Thorley Winston gets resolved to everyone's benefit. I happen to like Thorley and I've enjoyed sparring with him in the past.
Let's not descend into madness, people. We're all on the same team, and while we have significant differences in some areas that's no excuse to let transitory animosity turn into long-term grudges.
SAVE THORLEY!