Thursday, August 23, 2012

For the Glory of Rome

I've been on a bit of a Caesar 3 kick lately and even dusted off the old game to play a bit here and there. But the background music helps to get you into the mood:

Type 1 (population 0-999)


Type 2 (population 1,000-2,999)


Type 3 (population 3,000-4,999)


Type 4 (population 5,000-6,999)


Type 5 (population 7,000+)


Long combat theme

Thursday, August 16, 2012

A Good Callender Campaign

One of the oldest cliches in politics is that whatever election it is, it is now the dirtiest election ever. This is complete hogwash. Every election is dirty and it always has been. In fact up until this year, modern campaigns have been rather mundane affairs.

Real dirty campaigns are like those organized by James Callender. Callender was an independent publisher who attacked the Hamiltonian Federalists during the period of the Adam's presidency. He was hired by Thomas Jefferson during the campaign of 1800 and attacked Adams on monarchial grounds. After Jefferson won, Callender turned on him when he was not granted special favors for his services. It was Callender who published the details of the affair between Jefferson and Sally Hemings. Callender would later go on to accuse Jefferson of attempting to seduce married women and suppress pro-Federalist newspapers (how's that for a First Amendment violation?).

Fast forward to this year. Neither campaign has accused the other of fathering children with a mistress yet, but we have had some saucy accusations so far:

- Republicans openly mock Mr. Obama of eating dog while living in Indonesia.
- Mr. Biden has rhetorically accused Mr. Romney of wanting to re-enslave African-Americans.
- Mr. Obama has been accused of wanting to destroy all free enterprise.
- A PAC ad has suggested that Mr. Romney is liable in the death of a man's wife.
- It has been suggested that Mr. Biden is mentally incompetent.
- Mr. Reid has accused Mr. Romney of tax evasion.
- Mr. Obama has been accused of supporting the takeover/destruction of the US by Muslim extremists.
- Mr. Ryan has been accused of wanting to ensure that older people starve to death or die due to lack of medical care.

There are others, but this gives a flavor of what we are getting into. I don't think it has risen to the level of some of the older campaigns (yet), but we still have a good two and a half months to go. We'll see how long it takes for the modern Ms. Hemings to make an appearance.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Dr. Who Anime

I have no idea who created this but if you are a fan of anime and/or Dr. Who you will enjoy this. It is based on voice acting and plot themes from the Third Doctor (John Pertwee). I could have done without the scantily clad anime girl, but the rest is pretty good.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

The Railroad Ticket

It was a bit of a surprise that as I was getting ready for bed last night, Mrs. X saw that Mr. Romney was announcing his Veep pick tomorrow. Based on the rumor information, I surmised that it was going to be Mr. Ryan and I can pat myself on the back for that one.

My only post on the VP was back at the beginning of April. I hadn't paid much attention to it because speculation was mostly pointless and I can't even remember a time when the VP pick had an actual impact on the race (outside of Mrs. Palin's selection four years ago). So I have no verifiable proof of my early Ryan advocation.

Of course, I use advocation loosely. I have no strong feelings towards the man one way or the other, but I felt that given the nature of this election and Mr. Ryan's credentials, he would be one of the best picks for Mr. Romney.

My thought process was as follows:

1. Romney had never worked in Washington and would be best served with someone with Washington experience.

2. Romney desperately needed someone that the Conservative wing approved of.

3. Romney needed someone with a penchant for economics, who was seen as pro-business as he was.

4. Romney needed a good attack dog. Someone who would go out and hit the Democrats as hard as needed and wasn't afraid of getting a little bloody himself.

Weighing all of these considerations in my mind, I though Ryan was the only candidate who fit this bill. Clearly I wasn't the only one who thought this way.

Now, does this mean it will help Mr. Romney get elected? I don't know. Some will be more inclinded towards Mr. Romney and some will be turned away. Only time will tell. Still, I can already tell that there's more interest in the VP debate between Mr. Ryan and Mr. Biden than there had been before.