Nightly Ramble: Of Captions, Charts Birthdays, Dollars, Payoffs, Cultures,Definitions, Clogs, And Tunnels in Paris

• Third place at OTB’s Caption Contest. I dunno. Sometimes the picture connects with the weird side of me, and sometimes it doesn’t.
• I see Rasmussen has Fred topping Rudy for the first time… and Fred’s not even officially running, yet. McCain and Romney are distant third.  This should quell all the remaining speculation about the relative strength of Fred Thompson as a presidential candidate. I’m telling you, folks, there is a hunger out there for a conservative candidate, and the rest of the wannabes, simply don’t qualify.
• A huge BBCT to Blackfive, who celebrates their fourth year up and running, today.
• I suppose I can’t blame Drezner for looking at the Iran situation through an economic filter.  After all, that’s what he does, and he does it very well.  He also runs a blog still worthy of my daily reading. But at some point , concession is going to have to be made to the fact that that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is running the Iranian economy into the ground, because economic matters are not his focus. As to what specifically is his focus, well, you’d have had to have been paying attention for the last couple of years, to make that determination. It’s that chant of “Death to America” the press has been ignoring/denying.
• Speaking of finances, it is said that college graduates as a rule earn more than their non graduating counterparts.  Never was that more true than in the case of the Duke lacrosse players who recently had a payday with the university.  I cannot imagine that is the end of it, however, there have got to be other civil suits going on in their immediate future.  These guys won’t have to be working, anytime soon.  And frankly, after what they went through, they deserve to be an easy street.
• VDH outdoes himself, today. …..My only quibble… and it’s a minor one: The word, Victor, is “culture”.
• Consider the statement: “I hate intolerance”.
• Michael Moore is more of an anal clog than I thought he was..  After claiming he didn’t mind people downloading his movie for free, it turns out he’s behind turning in such people as do as he suggests to the police.  All in the name of stopping “Internet piracy”.  What he doesn’t seem to be addressing is the question of whether not someone would actually pay to see that movie. I tend to doubt that they would have before, and they certainly aren’t going to do that now. The other thing he doesn’t seem to be addressing, His Rotundity himself encouraged people to download the movie. Based on that, prosecution would seem a little difficult.
• I am struck with the parallels and opposites… in Princess Diana, we had a rather nice looking blond lady…somebody who it was said belonged to all the people.  She died in a tunnel, in Paris.  On the other hand, we have a girl named Paris, a rather different shade of blond who is anything BUT a lady, and who apparently thought of herself as a princess, AND who has belonged to everybody at one time or another, and these days nobody would get caught dead in her tunnel. Opposite ends of the spectrum, I suppose.

The Democrats have been attempting to make a good deal of mileage out of “the surge isn’t working”, and so I have some other people.  Meantime, we have held our peace here, waiting for the last troops to be deployed, and for the resulting action. The reason the surge hadn’t been racking up nearly the successes the Democrats would have us believe would be automatic, is that the action incidental to the surge, hadn’t really started yet.  Well, now it’s about to. 

This campaign is actually a series of carefully orchestrated battalion and brigade sized battles. Collectively, it is probably the largest battle since “major hostilities” ended more than four years ago. Even the media here on the ground do not seem to have sensed its scale.

An interesting interview of James Pierson at NRO today. Here’s a snip:

JAMES PIERSON: Kennedy’s assassination, happening the way it did, compromised the central assumptions of American liberalism that had been the governing philosophy of the nation since the time of the New Deal. It did this in two decisive ways: first, by compromising the faith of liberals in the future; second, by undermining their confidence in the nation. Kennedy’s assassination suggested that history is not in fact a benign process of progress and advancement, but perhaps something quite different. The thought that the nation itself was responsible for Kennedy’s death suggested that the United States, far from being a “city on a hill” and an example for mankind, as Kennedy had described it (quoting John Winthrop), was in fact something darker and more sinister in its deepest nature.

MILLER: How did this play out politically in the 1960s and beyond?

PIERESON: The conspiracy theories that developed afterwards reflected this thought. The Camelot legend further suggested that that the Kennedy years represented something unique that was now forever lost. Liberalism was thereafter overtaken by a sense of pessimism about the future, cynicism about the United States, and nostalgia for the Kennedy years. This was something entirely new in the United States. It was evident in the culture during the 1960s. George Wallace tried to confront it in the electoral arena in 1968, as did Richard Nixon — though it was somewhat difficult to do so because neither Lyndon Johnson nor Hubert Humphrey represented this new orientation. It was not until this mood of pessimism was brought into the government during the Carter administration that it could be directly confronted in the political arena, which is what Ronald Reagan in fact did.

There’s a lot to commend this thinking.  I have often enough said in these spaces that Reagan was the electoral success that he was specifically because he confronted the cynicism that American liberalism had become.

Of course part of that cynicism, might be attributable to the mixed messages that liberals are giving themselves:

MILLER: Lee Harvey Oswald was a Communist. Have liberals been reluctant to accept this fact? And is their reluctance at the heart of all the conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination?

PIERESON: Liberals who were rational and realistic accepted the fact that Oswald killed JFK but at the same time they were unable to ascribe a motive for his actions. They tended to look for sociological explanations for the event and found one in the idea that JFK was brought down by a “climate of hate” that had overtaken the nation. Thus they placed Kennedy’s assassination within a context of violence against civil rights activists. They had great difficulty accepting the fact that Kennedy’s death was linked to the Cold War, not to civil rights.

Apparently, they are still unable to deal with the reality of that situation.  In any event, a great read, worth your time.

Dirty Harry Reid is against spilling of American blood to wage to global war on terror.  Yet Dirty Harry would rather have American motorists die as result of driving a Yugo than to drill for American oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge.  What kind of pervert places more value on the life of polar bear or moose than an American family?  The Washington Examiner, examines Dirty Harry’s logic, such as it is:

WASHINGTON (Map, News) – Despite Congress’ repeated efforts to repeal the laws of physics in favor of something more politically correct, the fact remains that bigger is safer when it comes to vehicle size. Supporters of increasing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards ignore what millions of minivan and SUV drivers already know: They stand a much better chance of surviving an accident than drivers of lighter, more fuel-efficient subcompacts. The problem is that significantly improving fuel economy means cutting average vehicle weight. The curb weight of a typical family sedan can be reduced from the present 3,200 pounds to, say, 2,800 pounds. But maintaining the same level of safety with advanced air bags, refined crush zones and other technological fixes could make the lighter family sedan unaffordable for middle-class buyers.

Maybe Dirty Harry and his nutroots don’t give a darn about your family’s life.  Do you?

Don Surber’s take on Dirty Harry, and Mrs. Pelosi, is apt:

Reid’s call for more highway deaths in the name of saving oil is a 1970s answer to a 21st century issue. Liberals are stuck in the ’70s, aren’t they?

Don is right.  The Democrats do want to return to the ‘Seventies.  Ironically, or purposefully, they seem to have forgotten how much misery their pet ideas caused in the ‘Seventies, as I blogged about earlier.

(edit Bit: Added “No blood for oil” graphic. Hey, if it works for THEM, it oughta work for US, right?) 

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As it happens, I’m taking some time this week to re-read the Lord of the Rings trilogy. So it is that when I stumbled across this post from 12/17/03, I decided it was time to repost it.

Jeffrey Overstreet’s interview with John Rhys-Davies

Yes, I’m a LOTR fan, have been since the late 60’s.
I was rather disappointed when Viggo Mortensen turned into such an idiot. But this interview with John Rhys-Davis I found encouraging.

Says Rhys-Davis, in part:

“I’m burying my career so substantially in these interviews that it’s painful. But I think that there are some questions that demand honest answers. ….. I think that Tolkien says that some generations will be challenged. And if they do not rise to meet that challenge, they will lose their civilization. That does have a real resonance with me.”

On reading this, my eyebrows went up, bigtime. And in truth, this is spot on; If you read any of the background writings surrounding the author, the idea of his writing this epic was, in part, to create unique western mythology; one centered around early England, in the hopes of extending the reach of English Culture. Given the collapse of British colonialism doing his lifetime, and two world wars, the latter of which nearly cost England their country, his concerns are easily identified and understood. Sad that so many who claim to understand Tolkien miss this important point.

An interesting sidebar to this point is that Rhys-Davis grew up in Colonial Africa, and so perhaps has a better grasp of cultural value and what happens when cultures collapse from external pressure as surely happened in that part of the world.

He goes on from there:

“I mean, the abolition of slavery comes from Western democracy. True Democracy comes form our Greco-Judeo-Christian-Western experience. If we lose these things, then this is a catastrophe for the world”.

He echoes my thoughts, often expressed in these spaces, when he points out:

“…and there is a demographic catastrophe happening in Europe that nobody wants to talk about, that we daren’t bring up because we are so cagey about not offending people racially. And rightly we should be. But there is a cultural thing as well.

By 2020, 50% of the children in Holland under the age of 18 will be of Muslim descent. You look and see what your founding fathers thought of the Dutch. They are constantly looking at the rise of democracy and Dutch values as being the very foundation of American Democracy. If by the mid-century the bulk of Holland is Muslim and don’t forget, coupled with this there is this collapse of numbers … Western Europeans are not having any babies. The population of Germany at the end of the century is going to be 56% of what it is now. The populations of France, 52% of what it is now. The population of Italy is going to be down 7 million people. There is a change happening in the very complexion of Western civilization in Europe that we should think about at least and argue about. If it just means the replacement of one genetic stock with another genetic stock, that doesn’t matter too much. But if it involves the replacement of Western civilization with a different civilization with different cultural values, then it is something we really ought to discuss because, g**dammit, I am for dead white male culture. ”

Ryhs-Davis knows full and well, this is far from a popular POV in Hollywood…

“You do realize in this town what I’ve been saying [is like] blasphemy “

He caps it with:

“But if Tolkien’s got a message, it’s that ‘Sometimes you’ve got to stand up and fight for what you believe in.'”

Too bad Mortensen doesn’t understand that, despite that message being bluntly placed into the script, and into the book itself:

“Those without swords can still die on them”.

Rhys Davis has come up several notches in my view.

I highly recommend a read of this interview.

My compliments to Mr. Overstreet for having the testicular fortitude to post this interview; and my compliments to Andrew Sullivan (Of all people) for turning us on to it

Isn’t it interesting, that the very networks that refused to run Trojan Condom ads are the very same who spent so much airtime  on Paris Hilton?

At the same time, portraying men seeking sex as pigs is fine… and so is portraying Paris Hilton as an innocent victim.

Is it just me, or is there a lack of consistency in this logic?

So now the usual suspects are suggesting that conferring on knighthood on Solomon Rushdie, may spark attacks on against Britain?  That a Knighthood for Rushdie justifies suicide attacks?

All I can say is, this proves what I’ve been saying all along; they never really had a reason, and don’t really need much of an excuse.  I suppose that if killing people is on your mind, one excuse is as good as another.  What they’ve shown us, is how nonsensical the whole thing is, and how mentally deficient they are.  If they’re and that much of a hurry to go see Allah, perhaps the nice thing to do would be to oblige them by arranging for the hastening of that day.

I see where Right Wing News has an article up with John Ensign.  A number of topics get covered, and it’s a good read.

I’m trying a slightly different format for this evening’s RAMBLE. I may or may not try this longer term, but experimenting once in a while with the formatics is a help for me.

• Nice to see the Lovely Michelle has a nice looking new layout at the site. Personally, I’m thrilled that she is running on WordPress .  (Yes, that’s what I run here.)
• Little Green Footballs has made note that the ACLU has finally found a religion it will defend: Islam, of course. no big surprise, for that.  If it’s UnAmerican, Particularly if it’s overtly so, these idiots will support it.
• Fred Thompson is continuing to impress. I particularly enjoyed the idea of him saying that Harry Reid’s comments are not meant for a logical analysis.  This is right on line with what I said here couple of nights ago; he’s going after the emotional response.  Simply put, his comments, and his record, neither of them will stand up to any serious scrutiny.  Of course, the Democrats are not about to do that.  Particularly The Kos Idiots, and the Democrat CaveDwellers.
• I see where Chris Matthews is mouthing that “this country was built on biased reporting.”  Well, let’s be fair; it’s true that the country as it’s developed, over the last 60 years, and specifically because of biased reporting.  However, unlike Matthews, I don’t view that as a good thing.
• The folks over at Powerline, are asking “what about the gang of 88?  ” You may recall, that this is the group of Duke University professors, who supported the virtual Lynch mob deployed against the three Duke Lacross players.  it strikes me as alarming that these professors, supposedly so dedicated to fact finding within their professions, so easily jump onto bandwagon arguments in this case.  It seems to me that they bear some of the responsibility for what happened to those three boys.  If I am Duke University on looking at some form of punishment for these idiots. ( whatever it was monetarily that came out of the settlement between Duke and those three victims, some of it should be coming out of those professors paychecks.  Not that they bear sole responsibility, from the standpoint of the school, but they were certainly standout players in the Lynch mob , and ought to be paying for it now.

Addendum: Billy notes :

It’s good to see that the Gang of 88 have not been forgotten in the Nifong aftermath.

Got a way with words, that boy. And he’s right; it is bigger than just Nifong… and so on.

Q: Was the gun yours?

A: “It’s my gun. But what I said in the [March] press conference is true. I did not give it to Phillip, nor did I ask him to do anything with it.”

Q: Will you talk about the question of whether you comply with the District’s handgun law?

A: “I don’t think we need to discuss that any more.”

Oh, really?

According to Peter Hardin of the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Via the Washington Data Line) that’s an exchange that occurred between Webb and another (Apparently nameless) reporter.

Sorry, Jim-Bob… I still have several questions.

* If the gun was yours, why wasn’t the public of iced of this last march when the story was still hot?

* Who is the reporter involved?

* Why did the reporter sit on the story?

* Why did you let a veteran Marine take the rap for you?

* Why did you withhold this information from the American people?

* Why do you still refuse to talk about whether not you will comply with the district’s handgun law, that your fellow Democrats foisted off on the American people?

* Finally, and perhaps most importantly, is this indicative of the amount of honesty and forthrightness that is to come from your is going forward?

The Jawa Report:

Hahaha! Che Guevera was a murderer and a racist! Hahaha!

Aren’t we Democrats revolutionary? Hahaha! I have a Stalin t-shirt at home! Hahaha!

Freikin’ hilarious. Honestly. Wearing t-shirts emblazoned with likeness of communist murderers is apparently chic in the Democrat Party nowadays. Glad we know who their ideological forefathers and compatriots are.

And that’s precisely the point.  My take is that every once in awhile a little bit of the truth of their ultimate goals, leaks out.  This is one such occasion.

TEHRAN, Iran —AP- A 5.6-magnitude earthquake shook Iran’s central desert on Monday, residents and state television said.

The quake was felt in the capital, Tehran and in several other cities for about seven seconds starting at nearly 6 p.m. local time, residents said.

Its center was near the central Iran town of Qom, in a sparsely populated area, and state television had no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The quake’s epicenter was 18.64 miles below the earth’s crust, state TV said. Life appeared to have returned to normal by late afternoon in the capital.

It’s true enough that this portion of Iran tends to get quakes on almost daily basis, if not so severe as this.   We seem to be dealing with a lot of unknowns, here.  Since that’s the case, I post this, in case it comes up later.

Now I admit that I was not familar with Rob Port, Say Anything, but I like what I see.

Since Moore says he doesn’t mind his movie being shared on the internet (something I really doubt is his true feeling on the subject), and since I’m a firm believer in the idea that one of the best ways to beat a stupid idea is to give the people pushing that idea as much room as necessary to beat themselves, here’s Moore’s entire movie posted for your enjoyment.  Amusement.  Consternation.  Whatever

Michaei Moore has said that he doesn’t believe in copyrights.  After all a copyright is a form of private property and socialists don’t believe in private property.   Yet, dispite his professed opposition to copyrights, for some reason Moors copyrighted his new Film, Sicko.

Well Port has been kind of enough to allow Moore to show himself to a man of his word.  Port has posted Moore’s entire film, Sicko.   Now the question is whether Moore will return Port’s kindness with a hand written thank-you note or cease and desist letter from his attormies.  Bets?

H/T:  Allah Pundit, Hot Air

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An interesting side note, on the Trent Lott story I ran with on Friday… Boortz:

  Several weeks ago in Venezuela Hugo Chavez seized control of the main television station.  It seems that the station just wasn’t in step with his socialist policies.  One can imagine that one of Chavez’s aide told him that Radio Caracas Television was opposing his policies, and Chavez replied with something like “We have to deal with that problem.”

Maybe that’s where Trent Lott got that line.

Hmmm.

I note Baldilocks, today, noting the Mike Nifong case... a case that DavidL has done so well in tracking. I have always said, that the idea was about getting himself reelected.  I’ve also suggested repeatedly that the implications of this misdeed are quite deep.   Baldilocks brings an interesting perspective to the field, however… one I’d not thought of:

Know this. There are many black people who will jump at the chance to “get back at” white people for the wrongs done to them and their ancestors because of race, even if the individual white person(s) have done nothing. Even some of those same black people who call themselves Christians hold to “the sins of the father” notion–I’m even related to some who hold this belief. That’s part of what this post was about.

Indeed, some blacks–and, notably, some who aren’t mostly black–wanted to punish the Duke lacrosse players without a trial.  Back in the day, this was called ‘lynching.’

I think that Nifong counted on this phenomenon, but is not intelligent enough to have thought things out far enough to a logical conclusion. Getting reelected was his immediate goal and other things regarding the rape allegation–the line-up irregularities, the DNA problems and the fact that one of the accused, Reade Seligmann, had an air-tight alibi–could be worked out later.  Or so thought someone as cynical and short-sighted as Nifong appears to be.

So now, Nifong will pay for his shortcomings as an individual, but what of the rest of us? By playing into the stereotypes that too many have for white, black, men, women, rich and poor, Nifong has done all of us–and those of other races–a great injury. Nifong’s dubious legacy–along with that of the O.J. Simpson jurors–is that it has made it that much harder for any of us to get real justice when we have been wronged in reality.

A valid point, well written.