The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

The French Vs. American Revolution

Posted on | September 8, 2012 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

Interesting piece at Ladd Ehlinger’s blog on the French Revolution. In particular:

My opponent, on the other hand, made the curious observation that the Reign of Terror was a necessary step in rooting out the French monarchy. I don’t recall the exact wording, but it had something to do with the French having to be a bit more brutal than the Colonials because the French monarchy was right there, and the British monarchy was so far away from America.

The French never had a Magna Carta; the notion that the Monarch was less than absolute was not in circulation when the French hit that “gotta let ‘im go” moment.  Certainly, the distance, relative peace and prosperity of North America built upon the British tradition of liberty throughout the 18th century. But credit George Washington: the American Revolution wasn’t a completely smooth ride:

A notice was circulated inviting all field-grade and company level officers to a meeting on March 10 to consider these issues. As this meeting was against regulations, it implied a casting-off of Washington’s leadership and the taking of drastic action. A further message suggested that the officers should not disband until they had obtained “justice” and also implied that Gen. Washington was secretly in favor of such an act, but because of his position could not take an open stand. Thus, the officers should not worry about disregarding Washington’s public stance and acting independently. It further hinted that the time had come to employ swords, not words. This inflammatory letter concluded, “If you have sense enough to discover and spirit to oppose tyranny, whatever garb it may assume, awake to your situation. If the present moment be lost, your threats hereafter will be as empty as your entreaties now. Appeal from the justice to the fears of government, and suspect the man who would advise to longer forbearance.”

Read the whole thing. The more you investigate George Washington, the more you realize that he exemplifies American Exceptionalism, by which I mean our emphasis on the individual and liberty. There is a reason that #OccupyResoluteDesk has compared himself to just about every other President, save Washington.

But the French, for all they had helped birth the United States, lacked a Washington. There was not the time, space, and Divine Providence to put a Washington in France. The lack of that providential thread made the Terror about as close to Hell as imaginable under the sun.

While the two were close temporally, the American Revolution is unique, I will argue. The French Revolution is closer to the recent messes in Libya, Egypt, and Syria than any of them are to the American Revolution. America in the 18th century was about an ideal laboratory to grow a population of educated leaders to birth these United States, warts and all. Godless Commies and useful idiots will be quick to emphasize their racial- and gender-uniformity, while never offering any counter-argument for how the Founders were supposed to overcome their situation, other than by doing what they did.

I submit that contrasting the American revolution against the French or any other will emphasize:

  • How blessed these United States are in every way, and
  • How foolish it is to think you can just randomly “throw liberty” at people who lack any tradition of such, and expect the liberty to flower.

Let us ponder our blessings, and reject those who’d trivialize them.

Category: History

Next Up, Olbermann Will Accuse The Sun Of Being Raaaaacist

Posted on | September 8, 2012 | 7 Comments

by Smitty

Twitchy helps get at the difference between amusing and funny:


Keith Olbermann is like a self portrait of an artist depicting himself as a total fool. That is, he is a representative sample of the mainstream media. Part of our societal recovery plan from these idiots has got to be a rule saying references about the presence/absence of visible light (e.g. ‘Dark Ages’) are not raaaaacist. Or, maybe. . .

Olbermann’s Law: Anyone attempting to transform a reference to the visible spectrum into a raaaaacist comment reveals themselves a dim bulb, indeed.

Category: Keith Olbermann

Whatever You Do, Don’t Link This Video Of Illegal Alien Benita Veliz At The DNC

Posted on | September 8, 2012 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

Sorry, Benita. My wife is a legal immigrant. We paid in the thousands of dollars in fees, and spent a few years dealing with USCIS. I realize that being a Democrat means substituting emotional plays for the rule of law:

However, I’m just not terribly sympathetic. Your non-grasp of following directions, Benita, along with so many others in your situation, has so infected the country that the Senate Majority Leader can’t even follow the rules and pass a budget.

Junk’s gotta stop, lady. According to American Power:

The woman’s speech was one of the most important of the convention, as it officially confirmed the Democrat Party as the party of lawlessness and utterly sick ethic political pandering. The “DREAM Act” is not about legalizing those who came through “no fault of their own.” It’s about building a bullet-proof Hispanic ethnic voting bloc, damn the Constitution, to say nothing of national sovereignty.

Better not link this post. Like every other shady Democrat move, we should just accept the emotional pill in lieu of thinking about what these idiots are doing to the country.

Can I get a USCIS refund? Doubt it.

Update: Bill Quick notes a flavor of law the Dems fancy.

Category: Democrats

The Sexual Predators Union

Posted on | September 8, 2012 | 5 Comments

Otherwise known as the United Federation of Teachers:

In the last five years in New York City, 97 tenured teachers or school employees have been charged by the Department of Education with sexual misconduct. . . .
[T]he unions — believing that they are helping the cause of teachers by being weak on sexual predators — prefer suspensions and fines, and not dismissal, for teachers charged with inappropriate sexual conduct. . . .
One example: An arbitrator in 2007 found that teacher Alexis Grullon had victimized young girls with repeated hugging, “incidental though not accidental contact with one student’s breast” and “sexually suggestive remarks.” The teacher had denied all these charges. In the end the arbitrator found him “unrepentant,” yet punished him with only a six-month suspension.
Another example from 2007: Teacher William Scharbach was found to have inappropriately touched and held young boys. “Respondent’s actions at best give the appearance of impropriety and at worst suggest pedophilia,” wrote the arbitrator—before giving the teacher only a reprimand. The teacher didn’t deny the touching but denied that it was inappropriate.
Then there was teacher Steven Ostrin, who in 2010 was found to have asked a young girl to give him a striptease, harassed students by text, and engaged in sexual banter. The arbitrator in his case concluded that since the teacher hadn’t actually solicited sex from students, the charges—all of which the teacher denied—warranted only a suspension.

Go read the whole thing. The bizarre laws in New York, essentially dictated to legislators by the teachers unions, have the effect of making public-school employees a specially protected class of sexual predators. Behavior that would put any other person in prison results in slap-on-the-wrist administrative discipline actions for members of the teachers unions.

Once a teacher gains tenure — and tenure is a non-negotiable “right,” according to the teachers unions — it becomes practically impossible to fire the teacher for any reason.

Category: Crime, Education, New York, Unions

So What If Obama Doesn’t Understand The Economy: He Understands Power

Posted on | September 7, 2012 | 3 Comments

by Smitty

Via Instapundit, the mighty Klavan:This is a funny video, in particular the way the video editing underscores the government/business tax tautology.

But Obama never has understood more than how to run a con. A major facet of that con has been having somebody to attack.


Lacking anything to attack except his own record, Obama phoned in an an empty speech. So now we’re left with two months of BHO clinging bitterly to his collectivist guns and Das Kapital, looking for anything to attack and gain leverage to win the election.

Mitt Romney’s “Captain Bland” approach takes on added wisdom, as he seems just too boring to provide the evil figure Obama needs to be seen as an overcomer.

Category: Democrats

Domain Name Servers And You: Thoughts On Recent Intimacy

Posted on | September 7, 2012 | 34 Comments

by Smitty

There was a birthday party for my mother-in-law Wednesday that sort of ate the day, and Thursday we flew back from Old Europe. The World’s Youngest Blogger did really well. He had slept most of the flight over, and was in full charm mode on the way home. A bottle on the descent got him through the pressure adjustment.

Then I discover that the domain registration, which was payed on 02 September, has involved some Internet Protocol address shift, and the Domain Name Server updating has the blog substantially unreachable. Renewing the domain has not been problematic previously. The degree to which some of this blogs ‘fans’ may have ‘helped’ is wildly unclear. Ground truth in such questions is darn hard to obtain, even in good conditions. We’ll see about registering the domain for longer; about the only thing you can do to smooth matters is lower the frequency of renewal. So we’ll do that.

Thanks to Instapundit and the bazillion readers on Twitter who’ve shown support.

Category: Blogging

Friday Open Thread

Posted on | September 7, 2012 | 11 Comments

— by Wombat-socho


Stacy being bedeviled by the site’s annual DNS renewal, and Smitty being somewhere betwixt der Oder und der Rhein, it’s left to me to keep Friday from being a joyless, postless day.



God help you all.
I got nuthin’ but this awesome banner.*

Talk amongst yourselves.

*(h/t Moe Lane)

Category: Blogging, Computers, Moe Lane

LIVE AT FIVE: 09.07.12

Posted on | September 7, 2012 | 4 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
MTV Music Awards Eclipse Lackluster Last Night Of DNC

Brit Boy Band Beats Bieber

One Direction scores three awards, edging out Rihanna

Earthquake Kills 24 In Southwest PRC
20,000 homes damaged in Yunnan, Guizhou provinces


No HOPE For Obama Poster Artist Shepard Fairey
Even the jungle wanted him deadjailed



POLITICS
Primaries Set Stage For Fall Races In Massachusetts

Joe Kennedy III, a/k/a The Young Pretender

JPK3 to face Sean Bielat for Barney Frank’s old district; incumbents won or faced no challenges


Obama’s Convention Speech And The Age Of Diminished Expectations


Giffords Makes Emotional Appearance At DNC

Judge Orders Fort Hood Jihadi To Shave Or Be Shaved

Charlie Crist Endorses Obama

Pentagon: “No Easy Day” Contains Secrets

Chicago Braces For First Teacher Strike In A Generation

Modest Job Gains May Not Give Obama Lift As Campaign Enters Homestretch

…And Then A Bunch Of Speeches Happened



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Continues To Fall On Lackluster Jobs Report: NYMEX $95.15, Brent $113.49
Euro Hovers Near Two-Month Peak, Spurred BY ECB Bond-Buying Plan
Stocks Surge On Eurozone Rescue Plan
ADP Says Companies Added 201,000 Jobs In August
Navistar To Lay Off 200 Workers, May Sell Non-Core Businesses
Delta Airlines To Bring ND Crude To Philly Refinery By Rail
Amazon Updates The Kindle Line
Apple In Talks To Create Pandora Rival
Nokia, Samsung Events Herald WinPhone 8 Surge
Java Still Not Safe, Security Experts Say
Apple Cuts Memory Chip Order From Samsung
US Videogame Industry Sales Fall By 20%



SPORTS
THE NEW BEASTS OF THE AL EAST

Adam Jones and Matt Wieter slap hands after Jones goes yard in the eighth

Orioles hammer Yankees 10-6, claw back into tie for first; NY press begins to ask: What if the Yankees aren’t good enough?

Art Modell Dies At 87, Cleveland Browns Fans Still Filled With Hate

Rangers Need 10 Innings To Beat Royals

NHL Labor Talks Could Resume Soon

Braves Get Second Straight Unearned Win, Top Rockies 1-0

(Baseball) Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend

Clemens Prepares For Second Sugar Land Start; Denies Plans To Pitch For Astros

Benches, Bullpens Clear Twice As Nationals Complete Sweep Of Cubs



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
It’s Not Funny: Amy Poehler, Will Arnett Split After Nine Years

Will Arnett, Amy Poehler

An amicable divorce


Beyonce Accuses K-Dash Of Trying To Steal Spotlight From Jay-Z

Amanda Bynes’ Drivers License Suspended By DMV

Simon Cowell Would Love To See A Britney/Demi Duet


Baby On The Way For Wiz Khalifa, Amber Rose


Camille Grammer To Score $30 Million In Divorce

 Ryan Lochte Says Jeah to “30 Rock” Guest Spot

Alec Baldwin 2.0

Pink: “Having A Child Is The Best Thing That Could Happen”

Cee Lo Green Set For NBC Family Comedy



FOREIGNERS
APEC Seeks Growth Boost Despite Politics, Tensions
France Shooting: Possible Family Row?
Pakistani Judge Grants Bail To Christian Girl Accused Of Blasphemy
Putin Denies Role In Pussy Riot Case
Many Children Among 60 Dead As Boat Full Of Illegals Sinks Near Turkey
Taiwan Warns Japan Against Nationalizing Senkaku Islands
Eritreans Stranded On Israel-Egyptian Border
Save The Children’s Foreign Staff Ordered Out Of Pakistan
Indian Police Arrest 11 In Fatal Fireworks Factory Blaze
A Year Later, Yaroslavl Remembers Plane Crash Victims
Australian PM Cancels Speech Over Gay Lifestyle Row



BLOGS & STUFF
Riehl World News: No Bounce, No Boom, No-bama
Valley Of The Shadow: The Masks Of The DNC
WyBlog: The Nuns On The Bus Go Round And Round At The DNC
Modicum Of Insanity: The DNC Has An Age Problem
Weasel Zippers: Keith Ellison (D-MN) Tap Dances Around Jerusalem Platform Change
AmSpecBlog: How Bill Clinton Hogged Up Time At The DNC
GayPatriot: Democrats Brought In Union Activist To Impersonate Worker At Bain Company
Jammie Wearing Fools: Surprise! Steelworker at DNC Didn’t Work For Bain
Moe Lane: The Kinetic Bombardment From Orbit May Now Commence
Hit & Run: Bill Clinton’s Nostalgianomics
AmSpecBlog: Obama’s Hope-A-Dope
Jim Treacher: This Might Be The Dumbest Controversy You’ll See All Day
Ed Driscoll: Hey, The Non-Official Obama Campaign Needs Its Swag
Israel Matzav: Here We Go Again – US State Department Can’t Find Capital Of Israel
Power Line: The Dean Scream Revisited
The Lid: Netanyahu Flips Out At US Ambassador Over Obama’s (Lack Of) Iran Policy
Legal Insurrection: Composite Acceptance Speech
The Blaze: DNC Delegate Makes Death Threat – “Mitt Romney: I Would Like to Kill Him!”
WaPo: Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) Thinks Federally Issued Student Loans Are Unconstitutional; Unfortunately Uses Holocaust As Example of What Happens When You Ignore Constitution
American Thinker: Obama Knew About Omission Of God, Jerusalem From Platform Before Convention
NewsBusters: NYT “Fact Check” Instead Discovers “Startling Truth” From Bill Clinton Against Romney

Category: Live at Five
« go back — keep looking »

    About

    This is an area on your website where you can add text. This will serve as an informative location on your website, where you can talk about your site.

    Subscribe to our feed

    Search

    Admin