In the News

There has been a lot of really interesting stuff going on lately.

IN NATIONAL NEWS

Senator Robert Byrd died the same day that the Supreme Court said that a black man could own a gun. Coincidence?  (shamelessly stolen from Michael Z. Williamson). Some people got mad at me for my post after Ted Kennedy died. Apparently I was insensitive, (who me?) but like I said then, if you’re a complete scumbag when you’re alive, you don’t turn into a saint the second they put you in the ground.

The media coverage of Byrd has been so positive that at first I’d thought maybe some monk who raised orphaned puppies by the same name had passed away. But nope, it was that same piece of crap that recruited people for the KKK.  One report said that he was a “champion of civil rights.” I know that may make your head hurt, but remember my first rule of racism. If a liberal does it, it can’t be racist. Anything a conservative does is automatically racist. Mark my words, a couple of years from now, a Republican will say something nice about Robert Byrd, and the press will run him out of office for supporting a racist hate monger.

Just in case you need a refresher.

Republican uses the word “macaca” (and I don’t even know what the hell that is. It’s like calling somebody a “chuwero” )  = RACIST and unelectable.

Democrat was a recruiter for the KKK = NOT RACIST so elect him for 42 years.

You know though, as much as I complain about the current congress, during this last session we’ve lost Kennedy, Murtha, and the Grand Wizard. I’m strangely okay with this. I may be insensitive, but I’d rather be insensitive than a socialist.

Meanwhile, the Gulf of Mexico is still filling with oil. Don’t worry though, because the federal government is on the scene to make sure that none of the skimmer boats are improperly tagged or lack sufficient fire extinguishers (per regulation 18-765-C-subparagraph 4), no sand bars were built without proper environmental impact studies being performed first, and no union jobs were threatened by volunteers from foreign nations. The only jobs that will be lost are all of the rest of them because Obama’s response was to shut down the other industries in the area that hadn’t exploded.

Two months into the crisis and Obama’s total response consisted of telling Matt Lauer he was going to kick somebody’s ass, just before he violated the Constitution to steal a company’s money without due process, went golfing six times (no, seriously), and is pushing cap & trade. (because that’s gonna do what, exactly?) Just remember everyone, the federal government under George Bush didn’t evacuate the entire city of New Orleans within 24 hours of Hurricane Katrina because he hated black people or he was incompetent (I can’t keep all of these straight). Look, I don’t expect, nor want, the federal government to be the response to everything, but the double standard gets a little silly sometimes.

The Supreme Court came through again, (usual 5 vs 4) and told Mayor Daly and the city of Chicago to suck it. Their idiotic gun ban was struck down. This is very good news. Even though it doesn’t mean the control freaks will stop pushing this stuff, but it is another nail in their coffin. I first became political because of the gun issue. I was a young gun nut during the Clinton years. Things were much bleaker then. We’ve made a lot of strides in the gun rights arena since then.

Elena Kagan/Kevin Smith (oh, when will they stop living the lie?) is still going through the senatorial dog and pony show necessary to nominate her/him to the Supreme Court. It is so boring that Al Franken is sleeping through it. Why do we even do these things? They just get up there and lie, “Oh, I respect all the amendments! Oh, I just love the military!” Then they get their lifetime appointment of Constitution raping. (in his last case, Stevens actually argued that it is okay to infringe a right, as long as it has been infringed for a long time, because then the right has been “redefined”) Well, I suppose the hearings are worth something, because if it hadn’t been for Sotomeyor, I would never have been able to start calling myself a Wise Latino, and that just cracks me up.

IN WORLD NEWS

It turns out that while America is busy trying to turn into Big Dumb Canada, other nations are still In It To Win It. A Russian spy ring was caught, and this is shocking because Putin seems like such a nice guy. These people were in deep, and judging by the Facebook pictures, some were Bond-Girl level hot. That’s old school espionage right there. I can respect that.

I’ll say this for Russia. I’ve actually got more respect for Vladamir Putin than I do for Barack Obama. Now don’t get me wrong. Putin is super-villain evil. I’m not saying he’s good in any way, but I can respect ruthless strength. Barack Obama is a flailing pansy in comparison. Putin takes his shirt off to skin bears. Obama holds Paul McCartney concerts. Putin has executed dissidents and kung-fu fought MI-6 agents in a secret volcano base. Obama gets cranky and whines whenever people dare question him. Putin uses his cyborg laser eye to vaporize people who dare question him, and then he goes back to his harem of sexy KGB seductresses with codenames like Iron Maiden and Black Widow. Sadly, Russia’s leader would kick our leader’s ass in a fight, and that’s just sad.  They’ve got the final boss fight from a Chuck Norris movie and we’ve got Steve Urkel.

Meanwhile, a bunch of left wing hoodlums are burning stuff at the G-20, just like they do. Every. Single. Year.  Why is it that the media is so deathly afraid of us right wingers being violent, though we hardly ever are, yet lefties and socialists shut down a city for a week every year and nobody notices because it’s so ho-hum. It’s probably because if a single local Tea-Party got into a mood we could overthrow a small country. My side doesn’t screw around. When we get violent, we go big or we go home. I see your trash can through a store window and raise you a Barrett M-82, hippy.

IN LOCAL NEWS

We’ve got our move in date for our house. We’re now one month away from getting out of this damn tiny apartment. I’m pretty sure that my kids will each claim a room of their own and then lock the door for a week. I’m cool with that.

I’ve got LibertyCon next week in Chattanooga. Sadly, when I booked our flights months ago, the LibertyCon website had listed the wrong dates. (I even printed them out, so I’ve got proof!). So in order to not miss ¾ of the event I was flying out there for, I contacted Travelocity to see about changing Mrs. Correia and my return flights back a single day.

After penalties, and the price increase for the next cheapest flight on that date, they wanted an additional $1,900.  No. That is not a typo.  For those of you who’ve read Monster Hunter Vendetta, I warned you about gnomes. Apparently the Travelocity gnome is a viscous little bastard too.  I ended up cancelling the whole thing, taking a penalty, but getting some credit for future flights, and then bought new tickets for about double what I paid for the original ones a couple of months ago, and it was still cheaper than having Travelocity switch me. Friggin’ gnomes.

I’ve got requests for more Tom Stranger and a couple other Ask Correia (both of which are surprisingly popular). I’m working on it, but I’m also cranking along trying to get done with Monster Hunter Alpha. The last four months in this tiny apartment, where I’ve got crap for a workspace, has been hell on my production. My daily word count average is about half of what it was when I had an actual office. I think you guys are really going to like MHA though, because though it is a MH book, it isn’t an Owen book, so it certainly has a different flavor. Then I’m excited to get to work on the 2nd Grimnoir novel, and if I can pull it off, I’d like to try to squeeze in a standalone (the Africa book) before I start on Monster Hunter Legion.

And I got these guys mailed finally! (pic by Miguel)
You can now listen to me on the radio
More Grimnoir art

27 thoughts on “In the News”

  1. Being a West-by-God Virginian, I feel the need to at least say that while being a generally horrible person, Byrd did do a lot of great things for my state. That being said, I couldn’t stand him.

    1. I was really torn with the whole hate/need/detest/hope-he-hangs-on-for-two-more-years (very dysfunctional) feelings for “Sheets” Byrd.

      I am from Utah. Utah is a BIG coal state. Byrd was the coal industries best friend in Washington. As wierd as it may seem, old “Sheets” probably did more to block the lunatic enviro wack-jobs attacks on the coal industry than any three Republicans.

      Yes, I am glad he is gone. At the same time, I am worried that Utah’s School Trust Lands development is at greater risk than a month ago.

  2. “[Russia’s] got the final boss fight from a Chuck Norris movie and we’ve got Steve Urkel.” — This, sadly, is too true. But instead of the classic “Did I do that?” line, it’s “Let me be clear. I did not do that. That right there is the fault of the failed policies that I’ve been elected to hopefully change.”

  3. I want to be a super villain with sexy KGB seductresses named Black Widow and Iron Curtains…

  4. What is your schedule for LibertyCon?
    the 10th is my birthday and I’m trying to talk the wife into goin down for the weekend….
    maybe I can call in sick on the 9th too… I just doubt we can leave the farm alone all weekend.

    1. I’ll be there all day Friday, and most of the day Saturday. Saturday night all the Baen writers get taken to dinner by our publisher. Sweet. 🙂

      Sunday I’m going home.

      1. well, if I make it down on friday with the family, would you be interested in grabbin some grub?
        I’ll check to see if I can take a vacation day tomorrow

  5. Fly Southwest, if you can fit in the seats. I have problem fitting and I’m not quite as large as you. And since my dad flies for them, he gets to stay employed.

  6. Anyone else get the feeling that Putin has actually read and puts into practice the Evil Overlord’s Guide?

  7. ” It’s probably because if a single local Tea-Party got into a mood we could overthrow a small country.”

    Indeed 😛 Also I fully support you working on the “Africa Book” before the next MH, the concept has me extra-excited plus some.

  8. Non-post related question: how does a guy from Utah, that went to high school on the far Left Coast, end up setting his novel in Alabama?

    1. Believe it or not, I served an LDS mission in Alabama. 🙂

      I love Alabama. The south is an awesome place. And when I started writing fiction, I thought of all the places I knew well, and as a plus, southerners are always portrayed negatively in fiction, so I wanted to show them as the heroes.

      1. Well now, how about that. It was refreshing to read something set here that wasn’t centered around negative stereotypes or bammer football fans (loyal Auburn grad myself, sick of all the Bear and National Champ hype).

        You know there are a good many abandoned mines here about in Jefferson County. One tony, over the mountain development, is even built right on top of a few…

        Oh, and check DeSoto Caverns website for their latest “Happy Hernando” billboard touting The Butterfly House, I got a large laugh on my morning commute juxtaposing the image with MHI.

      2. This is just wonderful! I’m just discovering you as an author and commenter and now I can’t wait to run out and read everything you’ve ever read.

        I’m an Alabaman who was born in Iowa and raised in Tennessee. I am all about positive portrayals of southerners.

        Yay!

        1. Well, I’m a lifelong westerner, but it always bugged me to see how southerners are usually portrayed in fiction, since it didn’t square at all with the ones that I knew. Hence the Shackleford family being from Alabama.

  9. “It’s probably because if a single local Tea-Party got into a mood we could overthrow a small country. My side doesn’t screw around.”

    I suspect that’s true, you probably don’t have many readers who couldn’t do more damage than the average riot by themselves, but I think the reason that the media worries about them so much is because they think the left-wing protestors are correct.

  10. i have one ? for you Mr. Larry. in monster hunter Legion

    is some one going to say, we are Legion????

    cause that be sweet

  11. And then there’s the context of the “macaca” moment.

    A blogger for the opposition (now-Senator Jim Webb) was shadowing every single George Allen campaign event. At a particular event, he was being disruptive. He had a Mr. T-style haircut (I think it’s officially called a “Mandinka” . . .)

    Allen chides him, and then asks him what’s going on with the hair, “is that a man-something, macaca, something like that ??”

    The blogger and the Washington Post turned THAT into a scandal. Yep. Not knowing the correct name of an obscure ethnic hairstyle.

    It not only sunk his Senate campaign, Allen was a likely candidate for President in 2008 until then. . .

  12. More ammo for the “Nothing a Democrat does is racist” argument. Let me take you back to Strom Thurmond’s retirement. Sen. Trent Lott said that he thought that Strom would have made a pretty good president. Lott was drug over the coals for saying that a segregationist would be a good president. What they missed was that Thurmond was the DEMOCRAT candidate in ’48 when he ran.

    Apparently its ok to praise a man who tried to block every single piece of civil rights legislation because he had a D after his name his whole career.

  13. “They’ve got the final boss fight from a Chuck Norris movie and we’ve got Steve Urkel.”

    Except that Steve Urkel would kill Obama with his brain. We have LESS than Steve Urkel.

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