May, 2014 archive
Visions of Paradise, Gun Nut Dept. 0
They won’t stop until every city is Dodge City; every hill, Boot Hill.
The Republican Medicine Show Gets Ready to Roll into Town 0
Shaun Mullen wonders what Republicans will have to show the electorate in 2016.
The party’s big problem in 2016 is that it doesn’t have another Romney. This is because the potential presidential candidates most likely to be appealing to the mainstream are Jeb Bush, who has a surname problem (this despite what some folks naïvely view as Hillary’s own surname problem), and Chris Christie, who has a corruption problem (he is so dishonest that he reminds me of an old school big city Democratic power broker and so dumb that he has driven the wealthiest state in the union to the brink of bankruptcy). So, we can forget about either being anointed the GOP standard bearer.
If Shaun is correct and not having another Romney is their big problem, they are indeed in trouble.
Much more at the link.
Happy Mothers’ Day 0
Afterthought:
They are the Veterans’ Honor Rose; I got them from Publisher’s Clearing House, which is like any other outlet store–if you know what you are doing, you can find deals. They have almost no scent, but the most nearly perfectly beautiful blossoms I have ever seen. And they can grow quite nicely in pots.
Rites of Passage 2
I remember having woman store clerks in Yankeeland look at me funny when I said, “Yes, ma’am.” They thought I was commenting on their age, when I was just being polite (Southerners will understand).
At the same time, I remember how jarring it was the first time some whippersnapper referred to me as “Sir.”
Coal Comfort 2
Lately, there has been quite kerfuffle in my local rag about the coal dust that covers much of the western part of Norfolk.
Indeed, it has reached the point that a muckety-muck from the Norfolk Southern wrote an op-ed disparaging folks who don’t like waking up to find coal dust on their properties and vehicles. According to the muckety-muck, the Norfolk Southern wasn’t there, didn’t do it, didn’t see a thing, there’s nothing to see here, move along folks.
I’ve driven past the Norfolk Southern’s coal piles–huge mountains of powdered coal waiting to be loaded on ships bound for China. If you haven’t seen them, you would have trouble believing them.
Turns out, they are grandfathered in.
QOTD 0
William Sloane Coffin:
We have sold our birthright of freedom and justice for a mess of national security.
Flacking for the Secesh 0
As soon as General Lee handed his sword to General Grant in Appomattox almost a century and a half ago, the campaign to whitewash (you will pardon the expression) the role of slavery in the Civil War began. Slavery had lost, and its proponents moved rapidly to “distance themselves”–as today’s idiom would have it–from the word.
It was about (pick the flavor of the decade) states’ rights/incompatible economic systems/agriculture vs. industrialization. When I was coming along, “incompatible economic systems” was in vogue.
The campaign of spin and deceit continues today.
In the Roanoke Times, H. A. Goodman points out that the truth is in the founding documents of the Confederate States of America and suggests that more persons should read them:
It begins by “invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God” and goes on to clearly state clearly that slavery will be an integral part of a new federal government:
“In all such territory the institution of negro slavery, as it now exists in the Confederate States, shall be recognized and protected bye Congress and by the Territorial government . . . . …”
Anyone who claims that the Civil War was fundamentally about anything other than slavery is a hypocrite and a liar and likely wants to sell you a bill of goods.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness sometimes demands a little varmint control.
Stark County Sheriff George Maier says Natasha Stover was shooting targets Monday with a BB gun when she laid down in the grass. Farmer Ralph Adams Jr., 79, thought she was a groundhog and fired a rifle about 165 feet away, hitting Stover in the head.
Via Southern Beale.
Afterthought:
Whatcha wanna bet this is filed under “tragic accident” rather than “negligent homicide” because old white man?
Droning On 0
Coming soon to a crash site near you . . . .
The pilot of the 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-200 airliner said the camouflage-colored drone was at an altitude of about 2,300 feet, five miles northeast of the airport. FAA rules state that the aircraft should be kept below 400 feet above ground level and should be flown a sufficient distance from full-scale aircraft.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
When you unload on a friend, be sure to do so politely.
Freedom of Speech Is Not Freedom of Speaking Gigs 0
This week, many members of the commentariat, including some whose overall track record is pretty good, have been outraged that Condileeza Rice’s First Amendment right to free speech has been violated and that she has been somehow censored.
Who violated it? She did, by withdrawing from a gig at the Rutgers University graduation ceremonies because the students did not want her there.
How was she censored, as no one told her what she could or could not say? She lost a speaking gig.
Students were unhappy that they were going to be addressed by one of the architects, albeit a minor one, of the Great and Glorious Patriotic War for a Lie in Iraq. Indeed a good case can be made that, given her role in authorizing the torture dungeons of President George the Worst (see the news story linked above), she should be in the dock at the Hague for war crimes.
Note that her actions were not private actions. This cannot be compared to, say, refusing to hire someone because you don’t like her Facebook page. These were the actions of someone who swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, and then chose not to do so.
Yet, because she is a member of the club–she wears nice suits, looks good in meetings, writes elegant emails, knows the right people–she continues to be treated as if she were somehow an exemplar of something.
Also, this was not just an “appearance” on campus that one could attend or not. It was graduation, which graduates want to attend if they can; if not a captive audience, they would have been the next thing to it, forced to subject themselves to the empty platitudes certain to pass her lips if they wished to receive their diplomas in person.
Frankly, were I a student at Rutgers, I would have been right out there demonstrating against her presence on campus, just as, when I was a student, I demonstrated against the presence of Richard Nixon on my campus.
In the column linked above, Dick Polman claims that there is some similarity between Rice and Eric Holder, because both are black, both have accomplished much from humble beginnings, and Holder recently canceled a graduation speech due to threats of right-wing violence. Using the same standard, Santa Claus and Medusa are alike because both are mythological creatures.
Anyhoo, back to my point.
Rice can say anything she wants to anyone she wants. Her freedom of speech has not been violated in any way. There is no censorship here.
The First Amendment guarantees that the national government cannot restrict someone’s speech. It does not guarantee a platform or an audience, nor does it insulate persons from consequences for what they have said and done.
Selfie Incrimination 0
You can’t make this stuff up.
(snip
Lawson allowed deputies to examine his cell phone, a review that, deputies reported, yielded “a (Selfie) picture that he had taken of himself wearing the mask prior to the burglary.”
Perspective Matters 0
In the middle of a response to one of George Will’s typically muddled attempts to make contemporary conservatism to appear to have some foundation other than greed and bigotry, Allen Starbuck delivers this gem:
Affirmative action was then known as segregation (less euphemistic than affirmative action), and protected whites from competition by blacks, not only in the educational world, but the job market. There were always a few blacks who achieved professional status and well-paid jobs, but they were always a small minority because of segregation, whether legal or merely customary.
Think about it.
Full Disclosure:
I stopped reading George Will regularly a long time ago. After a while, watching someone repeatedly putting lipstick on a succession of pigs gets old.