Thanks to everyone who has been stopping by The Damn Dirty RINO since I opened it less than two weeks ago.  Due to the response I've received, I felt it would be worth the time and effort to go ahead and find a new, more spacious home for the RINO and give it a full-fledged domain name of its own.  So, from now on, you'll be able to find me at DamnDirtyRINO.com. 

I've transferred all the content from this blog on over to the new server.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any of the existing comments with me.  But, worry not, Dear Reader: the new digs has commenting available as well, only better.  Plus, if you see anything you want to share on Twitter or your Facebook page, it'll be much easier to do at the new place.

So, update your bookmarks, RINOids.  The RINO is on the move.

The Damn Dirty RINO

And just like that, the hump is upon us.  And you, Dear Reader, are the Captain Ahab of the workweek. 

You've made it this far, and by lunchtime today you will have officially put the worst of it behind you and will be able to turn a less daunted eye toward a weekend filled with much jubilation and merrymaking.  To help you get a proper start to your morning, I offer you the following video which should provide you with a little boost to carry you to the noon hour, when you will have reached your nine-to-five, Monday-through-Friday summit.

Of course, it would be unrealistic to expect anyone to start every day with the proverbial spring in their step.  Some days just start out badly and only get worse from there.  I have them, you have them -- it's all part of the human condition.  But, there's no law that says you have to take it lying down.  Sometimes, it's best to get in the day's face and give it a little hell.  For days like that, the young woman in the following video has the right idea:

Once you've gotten that out of your system, you'll likely feel a little less burdened.  While I'm not a big proponent of catharsis as a means of unburdening yourself as a general rule, if it helps you get to a place where you can plow through the remainder of your work-a-day drudgery with a little more confidence, I say go for it.  Just don't make a habit of it.  Instead, try the approach employed by the gentleman in the following video.  Because, you see, while life is the most important thing you have, it doesn't always have to be so damned serious.  So, you might as well have a little fun with your fellow man as you navigate your way through its sometimes-treacherous straits.

Of course, it's not always easy dealing with your fellow man.  Some folks are just basically less tolerant and forgiving of others.  But, you can't allow people like that to set the tone of your day.  If you do, the next thing you know, they'll be setting the tone for your every day, then your week, and finally, your life.  And you don't want that.  So, while it may be tempting at times to lash out at others for their foibles, it's always best to try to keep in mind that maybe, just maybe, they're having one of those off days that we all have.  Take, for example, the guitarist in this video.  You want to avoid being the singer.

Instead, when confronted with the frustration that sometimes goes along with working with others who may not be having the best day, try putting yourself in a different place mentally.  Try looking forward to your weekend, when you'll have a chance to decompress.  Or, perhaps try thinking of a particularly pleasant experience you had recently.  Or, simply try to make the best of whatever situation you happen to find yourself in.  One thing you might consider is the fact that you're not one of the musicians responsible for the following album covers.  (CONTENT WARNING: The last image contains nudity.)

But, sometimes, it's just not that easy to see the bright side of things.  It can be even tougher during the winter months, and if you live in the northern hemisphere, you're experiencing that right now.  The days are shorter, so there's just not as much sunlight available.  And, unfortunately, our bodies rely on sunlight to a great degree in regulating themselves -- from our ability to derive benefits from vitamin D to regulating brain chemistry levels which control our moods to our ability to maintain regular sleep patterns due to a disruption in our circadian rhythms.  Given these challenges, it's important to make a conscious effort to try and keep our moods as elevated as we can.  One way to do that is to expose yourself to as much sunlight as you can while it's available.  And, failing that, you can always try thinking of warm, sunny days and the good times you may have had over the past summer in order to help you look forward to the next.  And, if you're anything like me, the single most enjoyable thing about summer is that the high temperatures tend to necessitate the shedding of restrictive, stifling clothing by attractive young women.  Nowhere is that more true than in the case of women's beach (and indoor, for that matter) volleyball.  As a service to you, Dear Reader, I've gone and hunted down some imagery to that end in hopes of helping you maintain a sunny outlook during the bleak winter months.

And so, Dear Reader, I send you off into your mid-winter Wednesday hoping you'll be able to face it with a more hopeful, sunny outlook.  As a bonus, I've decided to include a little video of a song that I've been searching many years for.  I can still recall the first and only time I ever heard it, on a radio station in Carbondale, Illinois.  It was a cold winter night, much like tonight, in fact.  I was driving a yellow, 1984 Nissan (by Datsun) Sentra with a crappy radio.  This was before cell phone use was common, so I had no way of calling the radio station to find out who it was, and by the time I got home, I figured there was no way the DJ would have any idea what I was talking about.  But, all these years later, thanks to the wonder of the internet, I was finally able to track it down. 

The sound quality isn't the best, and it's not an official video, but something put together by a fan.  I liked the song so much that I could still recall the chorus nearly 15 years later.  So, I typed the words into Google in quotes and stuck the word "lyrics" at the end, and after a little whittling down of the search results, I was able to figure out that it was a song by a band called Bone Pony, and the title of the song is "Where the Water's Deep".  And, it just so happens that the video put together by the fan was made during the summertime, and features a basset hound.  So, it slips right into the theme of today's Early Morning Chuckle Fodder, since it's nearly impossible to think of summertime and basset hounds without smiling.  The sound of the home video intrudes on occasion, but that's fine.  I was just happy to find the song and learn who performed it.  Enjoy.

A little video I purloined from Ace of Spades -- no sound, though a salty language advisory is very much in effect.

Be sure to visit the link for Ace's commentary, which is always worth the click.  A sampling:

I think both right and left need to patrol their more excitable members and tell them to tamp down on the inciting language. But the left does not accept this; the media does not accept this. They do not view this as an actual problem which threatens real life people, but only as a points-scoring contest to win a news cycle.

In a piece I don't entirely agree with, but which I think is ultimately fair-minded, Jonathan Chait sounds a note of reason at The New Republic today.  Even the parts where I don't entirely agree are a matter of degree, and I think his arguments are made in good faith.  So, attaboys and kudos to him.

What Chait sees that others on the left either can't, or won't, is just how insidious their accusations are.  Or, maybe they do see it, but simply don't care.  What I think he underestimates, however, is the depth of cynicism behind those accusations.

Yet they fail to understand that this will appear to conservatives as an attempt to use the emotion of the moment to stigmatize them.

That's where I disagree with him.  Stop and think about who we're talking about here.  It's not people like Jonathan Chait leveling the accusations.  We're talking about people like Markos Moulitsas and Paul Krugman, who not only fully understand how such a heinous libel would be perceived by conservatives, but will never pass up an opportunity to replicate it.

People who have any concern about how such things appear to conservatives don't speak in terms of how to "deftly pin it on the tea partiers."  No, this isn't a matter of a failure to see things from the other guy's perspective.  This is a black-hearted, brazen attempt at dehumanization.  And, as well intended and very much appreciated as Chait's words are, this is the kind of affront that won't be forgotten or forgiven anytime soon.

Mark Finkelstein has an interesting little post over at Newsbusters, quoting Mark Halperin from an interview with Joe Scarborough on the respective reactions of the punditry on the left and right.  After, erm -- graciously -- conceding that the some (not to say all) on the left have behaved as shabbily as the the right contends they have, he quickly pivots:

But they're turning this right now, in the last 24 hours, back into the standard operating procedure of all of this is war and fodder for content, rather than trying to bring the country together.

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