John,

The Chesapeake lost the battle--but the U.S. did win the War of 1812.

Not sure I can agree.  The farthest I'd go is calling it a draw.  Impressment still continued until the end of the Napoleonic wars, which if memory serves was one of the casus belli.  Plus any conflict in which your Capital city is invaded and partly destroyed stretches the definition of 'win'.

Both sides had reason to celebrate the end of hostilities, but I'm not sure the outcome was a net benefit for the USA.  Although we did get a rather catchy tune out of the action in Baltimore harbor. 

Here in VA/02 the wait was 30-45 minutes.  Longest time I previously had to wait?  About 5-10.  My ballot was #96 cast on one of four machines at 10am.  Turnout in southern part of VA02 is heavy.

Plus the conversations in line were epic:

'Don't trust the media, they're in the tank', 'I just hang up on pollsters', 'We can't take another four years of this'  etc.

One of the things goosing turnout in my city is a couple of ballot measures: one for light rail (y/no) and a state Constitutional amendment strengthening the restrictions to eminent domain takings.  Both are red meat for conservatives.

Stu,

Wow.  That brought back memories.

I spent 4 years in Japan as a young Navy brat and remember swinging the Kine in school every year.  Of course, being Gaijins,  we schoolboys made a competition out of who could take the most whacks at it.

Thanks for the quick nostalgia trip!

Al French

My guess is that Romney pretty much had that vote sewed up anyway.

I'm sure you're right.  I should've been clearer in the implications - Military personnel will break for Romney, but let's cast the net wider.  There are a lot of businesses (small and large) that rely on DoD dollars.  They also understand what sequestration and a smaller fleet would mean to their lives, and will vote accordingly.

Ed,

Thanks for the kind words.  However I'd like to stipulate for the record that I'm probably a *bit* farther right than our resident RINO squish Rob.

The piece you showcased above was done on commission several years ago for a Nantucket Gallery, specifically for display in October.  The entire carving is held up by one steel pin running up through the right leg into the body.  If I can get the gallery to fwd a current pic of it I'll post it.

Tom,

Not bad. You've gotten a lot a really good facial detail for such small figures.  Is carving a hobby you picked up, or did you receive some instruction?

Keep up the good work!

Sorry I missed this thread earlier.  Part of being a Conservative business owner means things like deadlines...and meeting payroll.

For those of you who wish to see exactly what we do here in the studio I'll link my company's website to my profile.

The eagle pic over there----> was a commission for a client/gallery outside of Philly.  Some of my public work is on display at the Concord Mills Mall in Concord, NC and the Rose and Crown Tavern/Pub in Nantucket, MA - as well as a few others places.

Richard Young

I am familiar with 'A Man For All Seasons', but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with an analogy that ends with "  ...he dies in the end".   The worst I had in mind was some canceled orders and bitter recriminations!

Thanks to all the members for their feedback.  Ricochet really is a unique community on the web.

Eeyore

It might be a head-fake, but check the screen name.

Not a head-fake.  Moniker is courtesy of my (then) 3yr old son on seeing the state of my studio: "Dad, do you make sawdust?"

I'm a woodworker/carver.  The eagle over there---->  was a commissioned piece last May.  8' long, 4' high.

If you receive Pendleton Home catalog you can see more of my company's output.  We have 8 items featured with them this fall.

No Caesar

I suspect you are going to take the gig, otherwise you'd not have posted this.

Good call.  I've agreed to appear sometime after the election.  But I did take the weekend and have the discussion with my wife and family to get their opinion.  I didn't include that in the original post because I wanted to hear Ricochet opinions, not 'atta-boys'.

I can do 'soft conservatism' on the radio without going full-on Goldwater.  So the actual content of the spot doesn't worry me.  But no one will confuse me with a liberal afterward, and that seems to be a litmus test these days.

Glad I'm not alone in reading a column by Paglia....

As a professional artist I can confidently say she's both right and wrong: right in that the modern art movement is a vast echo chamber of defunct avante garde ideas, with students unwilling to expose themselves professionally to the marketplace.  She is wrong however, in assuming that the premise extends to all art.

The incentive system the art world has established is similar to the world of professional sports - a very small percentage end up in the highest ranks.  But unlike sport, the art world moves on subjective values.

The image of a starving artist, selling his/her wares on a street corner is a well-known cliche'. But unlike professional sports, there may very well be great worth in work produced that doesn't get lauded in the NYTimes.  We just may be too short-sighted to see it at the time.

Biden - stage whisper: "See that menu?  I wrote that."

Definite Nanny State-ism.  Having grown up on the Outer Banks of NC (and currently enjoying Irene's passage through SE Va.) our family rule of thumb was that once you could throw a baseball into the wind and catch it, THEN it was time to come in.  But we were also prepared to be self-sufficient for a week or more after the storm ended.

I'm afraid we're in the process of passively outlawing common sense via Government 'actions'.