"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
by Smitty
Seablogger has an interesting post on Eyjafjallajökull (eye-uh-fyalla-yoe-kull, or so) over in Iceland.
A really jolly eruption, in a worst case scenario, could bring about a sequel to the Year Without Summer. As fragile and interconnected as globalization has made things, much less than that could be worrisome.
This post was actually prompted by Uncoverage.net‘s “Fire and Iceland” post. Uncoverage doesn’t seem to know about the Benatar Rule.
by Smitty
Irrespective of the details of the ObamaCare legislation, the ugliness, the kickbacks, the foul propaganda directed against citizens, there is the fact that the spirit of the Constitution has been trampled.
Somebody, say, Fred Thompson, needs to cut a brief ad describing how legitimate legislation works, and how this monstrosity has played out.
The notions in the founding documents need re-emphasis, and the seemingly obvious point that ObamaCare, like the income tax, will not be seen as legitimate by those who’ve sworn “to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic“, until such time as this fundamental alteration in the fabric of the country occurs according to Article V.
I’ve sworn that military oath repeatedly these last couple of decades. My loyalty is to the Constitution. A century of Progressivism and “settled law”, plus $3, is worth coffee at Starbucks to me.
by Smitty
The Battle of Flamborough Head is an important one for partiots in this dark hour, 231 years later. Serapis was the Royal Navy vessel, and the Bonhomme Richard was captained by Jones.
Commodore Jones, accepting that if he could not use the 18-pounders he could not win a gun-fight, quickly adopted a policy of trying to grapple and board his opponent. Pearson’s crew spotted the change, and adapted rapidly, using the superior maneuverability of Serapis to keep out of reach, while continuing to bombard the slower ship. On one occasion though, according to the later recollection of First Lieutenant Richard Dale, the Bonhomme Richard’s bow ran into Serapis’ stern and, with neither side able to take advantage of the situation, Captain Pearson cheekily asked the punning question, “Has your ship struck?”. Dale reports Jones’s reply as, very simply, “I have not yet begun to fight!“
Senator DeMint invoked this seminal event in US and US naval history today after the highly economical 20 pen signing ceremony.
“I hope you feel as I do, that we have not yet begun to fight.”
I predict that the President’s sordid breech abortion is only going to get uglier as it goes along. How in the world is it signed into law and then these clowns are going to work on the reconciliation of the Senate and House bills? At what point does today’s icing on an unbaked cake appear the lousiest political mess of all time? Today? Next week? Election day?
Palate cleanser:
No, Senator DeMint was not invoking that John Paul Jones, though here he is with his latest project, Them Crooked Vultures, doing “No One Loves Me & Neither Do I” with a truly monstrous slide bass:
by Smitty
‘Smart Politics‘ claims the carnivorous conservative:
Being the party of pointing out problems, without solutions, or simply the party of No is not enough. The GOP has got to bring more to the table than that if they hope to win the health care debate.
‘Oh Boy,’ replies Ace of Spades:
The problem is offing up a replacement plan ensures the focus of the debate will shift to, Which plan is better for Americans? That’s an argument we might win but it’s a tougher one to have. The Democrats will run out their sob stories and we’ll be on the side of arguing cold, hard, theoretical numbers.
Keep in mind too that the mind of the electorate has been systematically crippled by the Left. Notions of history, economics, and ethics have to re-instilled. Whatever the final shape of ‘Repeal and Replace’, it has to attack evil seeds currently being planted.
Not only is health care not a fundamental right, the notions of ‘fundamental’ and ‘right’ need to be recovered. The Left evangelizes falsehood with religious zeal.
So, to repeal and replace I would add ‘reinforce’. The Left is impotent at debate with anything other than emotion. Ryan’s gentle, firm rebuke of Slaughter at the committee hearing must be replicated across a dozen topics. The American people not only need to understand that the Progressive agenda is false, but why it is false.
by Smitty
Pelosi: Launch it now!
Sestak: I really wasn’t a blackshoe, but she doesn’t look seaworthy to me.
P: Once we kick her down the ways, more construction will follow.
S: No, really, that’s how the rules of the game work. Sure, there’s always a little fit and finish once she’s launched, but responsible engineers don’t just throw out a partial product.
Hastings:
S: This is madder than an Eric Massa snorkeling expedition.
P: Shut up, Sestak. We have to get this thing launched before the customer remembers that the original order was for an aircraft!
(Hat tip: Upload Liberty.) Gee, y’know, it seems like somebody warned you that this wouldn’t work. And speaking of things that won’t work . . .
“Hate speech” against American conservatives:
Speaking to students and academics at the University of Western Ontario Monday, Coulter said the e-mail sent to her Friday by Francois Houle, vice-president academic and provost of the University of Ottawa, targeted her as a member of an identifiable group and as such, she will be filing a complaint with the Human Rights Commission alleging hate speech.
“I’m sure the Human Rights Commission will get to the bottom of it,” Coulter said to loud cheers from the 800-strong audience. “I think I’m the victim of a hate crime here. Either what (Mr. Houle) did was a hate crime, or the whole commission is BS.” . . .
(Why can’t both things be true? I submit that Houle is a hate criminal and the whole commission is BS.)
Ezra Levant, lawyer and former publisher of the Western Standard magazine, spoke before Coulter on Monday and called Houle’s letter a “veiled threat.” . . .
“It’s almost like there is one standard for Conservatives and one completely different one for Liberals,” Coulter told the crowd . . .
“A word is either offensive or it’s not. In a world of political correctness, all words are banned unless they’re used against conservatives.”
The post-speech Q-and-A was exciting:
“As a 17-year-old student of this university, Muslim, should I be converted to Christianity? Second of all, since I don’t have a magic carpet, what other modes do you suggest,” Al-Dhaher said to loud and sustained applause.
“I thought it was just American public schools that produced ignorant people,” Coulter replied, prompting her own round of applause.
Ann sent an e-mail to an Ottawa newspaper:
“Now that the provost has instructed me on the criminal speech laws he apparently believes I have a proclivity (to break), despite knowing nothing about my speech, I see that he is guilty of promoting hatred against an identifiable group: conservatives,” Coulter wrote in an e-mail on Monday.
She questioned whether every speaker booked at the university received a similar warning or just the conservative ones.
“The provost simply believes and is publicizing his belief that conservatives are more likely to commit hate crimes in their speeches. Not only does this promote hatred against conservatives, but it promotes violence against conservatives,” Coulter wrote.
Assuming that Dudley Do Right doesn’t catch her first, tonight Ann speaks at the People’s Republic of Ottawa. Should she escape from that Stalinist gulag, on Thursday she will speak in Calgary, and then return to America to hang out with me at Saturday’s Vegas Tea Party.
UPDATE: Kathy Shaidle has a report about Coulter’s speech last night, which you may compare to this excellent example of Canada’s respectable, responsible, unbiased press corps.
UPDATE 3/24: Canuckistani terrorists shut down Coulter speech in Ottawa.
“Free Enterprise. The American Dream. Horatio Alger gone mad on drugs in Las Vegas. . . . Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels start closing in, the only real cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas. … Just roll the roof back and screw it on, grease the face with white tanning butter and move out with the music at top volume, and at least a pint of ether.”
— Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
OK, the original plan had been to drive to Vegas, but that was before life got complicated and the weasels forced me to spend a whole week blogging about their sordid ObamaCare scam — about which, the less said, the better.
Among the unfortunate side effects of that disaster, however, was the catastrophic scrambling of my travel plans because I needed an extra day or two to finish up arrangements in Washington before leaving, and because the drive time from here to Nevada is 38 hours, the cross-country itinerary wouldn’t work out if I was going to be there to pick up Ali Akbar at Las Vegas McCarran International Airport for the trip to Searchlight to catch the start of the Tea Party Express III tour.
And if any of that makes sense to you, you need more drugs. That makes two of us, but don’t worry. Gonzo is a pre-existing condition and, thanks to Bart Stupak, now we can bill taxpayers for our heinous chemicals.
Never mind. Hit the tip jar, because I paid $528 for the cheapest possible round-trip to Vegas, leaving here Thursday afternoon and not returning until next Wednesday. Mrs. Other McCain is already mad enough without me getting stuck with that tab, even though I’ll be saving money by crashing on Steve Foley’s sofa in Vegas. Plus, I’ll have to pay $75 a day for a rental car so I can drive Ali to Searchlight, hang out a few hours, then turn around and drive back to Vegas in time for Ann Coulter’s appearance at the Henderson Pavillion.
After that day of insanity and whatever weirdness Foley gets me into Saturday night, then I’ve got to get up Sunday morning and drive 300 miles (20 cents per mile = $60) to meet the Tea Party Express in Phoenix, Arizona, where Barbara Espinosa of American Freedom blog has promised me face-time with J.D. Hayworth and Vernon Parker. So I’ll spend Sunday and Monday in Phoenix, drive another 300 miles back to Vegas on Tuesday morning, and do some more reporting on the campaign against Harry Reid before catching a red-eye back home with a 3-hour layover in Minneapolis.
Only a lunatic would attempt to cram all this into six days. So hit the tip jar, because where else are you going to find a lunatic who’s also a professional journalist?
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”
— Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72
