Open Threads

As Dumb As It Gets

Charlie Rangel’s resolution to bring back mandatory military service may be the dumbest and most cynical piece of legislation of the last 20 years. Sgt. Stryker pretty much eviscerates the whole idea, and Talk Left denounces it from a liberal standpoint. Surprisingly, the normally principled Kos likes the proposal– as do as do half of his readers (check the comments).

Look folks- If the proposal does not make the military stronger, or keep it the same at less human or financial burden, it is a BAD IDEA. The military is not your little social engineering playground, and as Sgt. Stryker notes, it is not reform school for your screwed up kids.

I was most taken by Talk Left’s analysis, which really cuts to the heart of the problem with many in the loony left- a visceral hatred of money, capitalism, and anyone who might have one dollar more than you. As Talk Left notes:

We can’t believe the number of “liberals” touting Rangel’s obscene proposal to invoke a mandatory draft as a means of avoiding a war in Iraq–the faulty premise being if you put the sons of the rich at risk, perhaps the rich will come to oppose the war.

and

How crass and unfeeling for these “liberals” to wish such a fate on an 18 – 26 year old who has done nothing to deserve it. So what if their parents have money? Is that their fault? How does that devalue their accomplishments and dreams?

How, indeed?

As Dumb As It GetsPost + Comments

Kos’s Political State Report is up and running. PolState.com is a collaboration from people all over the country with grass roots reporting. It should be rather interesting.

Yours truly will be adding some stuff from WV, when there is something interesting going on. With the legislature in session soon, that should be almost daily. At any rate, don;t expect the partisan bitching you get from every other blog out there, as this is not intended to be a left-wing/right-wing blog, but rather a source for stories that otherwise might be ignored. Go check it out.

Kos’s Political State Report isPost + Comments

Happy New Year, and all that. I have not been posting much because I have been watching football non-stop and working on some stuff for next semester. Life gets back to normal today, though.

Happy New Year, and allPost + Comments

The Worst Spam Letter Ever

Hi, I have seen your ad and visited your website. I love the way your website looks with such elegant presentation. Did you build it yourself? Or pay someone to build your beautiful website. I’m also a netpreneur and i love to develop good business relations. I’m taking a minute to write to you because I love to help when I can. This internet is such a jungle, sometimes a good tip can help. I don’t if you are like me but i believe the ball always comes back one day or another. Seeing your ad reminded me how i used to throw away money time after time on advertising with very little results. It was like i was in the dark ages. I found the light one day by accident. What a great event as it made me clearly see how to get people coming to my website. Wow!, my mind was shocked by amazement how simple it is and how it saves me precious time so i can enjoy the money that i make instead of being a slave to regular society rules. I quit my job as a massage therapist to become a future webmaster. I felt like that until the day i discovered a good resource. It explained to me how to get my traffic for free. Not the regular method we see everywhere. Tactics that worked for me. It made all the difference for my website. Since then, i’m experiencing great results without spending a dime in advertisement. If you would be interested to know where i got the information, simply reply to this email with Send Info in the subject line and i will send you a link. Respectfully yours, Donny Depew

The elegant presentation of my website? What- the ugly coloring, the messed up fonts, or the spelling errors? I was laughing hysterically by the end of the letter.

The Worst Spam Letter EverPost + Comments

Islam, the Peaceful Religion

A gunman slipped past guards at a Southern Baptist hospital and opened fire Monday, killing three American missionaries with shots to the head and wounding another. Officials said he may be part of an Islamic militant cell targeting foreigners and secular-minded politicians in Yemen.

Clearly, Patty Murray was correct. We need to build more hospitals and infrastructure in the Middle East, and then staff them with our citizens, and then they will stop worshipping Osama and his twisted religion.

*** Update ***

The Instapundit already said very much the same thing, so yet again, I am not as original as I thought I was.

Islam, the Peaceful Religion APost + Comments

Alex Knapp asks:

What is a Democrat, anyway? Go find out why he is asking.

Alex Knapp asks: What isPost + Comments

That Damned Flag

Racism seems to be the drug of choice for some of the lefty bloggers out there, and it appears that racism is so rampant that it is everywhere. In fact, you might be a racist and not even know it, at least according to the standards now being floated about my the more paranoid in our midst. I know for sure I am a racist, because just like Bill Frist, I would choose to hand out unsharpened pencils if I were campaigning- that is the level of absurdity to which the current debate has sunk. At any rate, now the confederate flag appears to be an issue again with the lefty bloggers. I admit no allegiance to the confederate flag, and I have no idea why people like it and wear it proudly. To me, and to most black people, the flag stands for one thing- slavery. As I have stated before, when I see someone wearing a confederate flag, I just think of them as having a case of the stupids- because the meaning of the flag is so clear to me, at least. To others, this is not the case, and I could never figure out why, particularly when I know a lot of decent, non-racist people who do fly the flag. I knew a bunch of great guys in the Army who were proud of Dixie, and they did not have a racist bone in their body. Sebastian Holdsclaw, in a comment on Matthew Yglesias’s site, has one plausible explanation:

I think that displaying the Confederate flag is disgusting, but if the question is, “How can Americans who think of themselves as patriotic wear it?” I have a thoeretical answer: symbolism drift. It isn’t a technical term (so far as I know) but I think you all know what I mean.

Roughly (and with many intermediate steps) I think that the drift is: Symbol of the Confederacy (treasonous), Symbol of Rebellion against intrusive Government (somewhat unmoored from the specific rebellion), Symbol of General Southern Rebelliousness (think Dukes of Hazard). Generally, patriotic, Confederate flag wearers tap into their southern rebelliousness as a facet of their American spirit.

In parallel with this drift (or perhaps causing it) are the lies which Southern culture tells itself in order to ennoble the Confederate rebellion without embracing slavery. I do not mean the coded racists who embrace the Confederate rebellion because they hate black people, I mean other people with Southern roots who want to be able to take pride in their heritage. Unfortunately for them, the legacy of the Confederate rebellion is such that their heritage is deeply tied to the evil of slavery, so mental gymnastics are required which end up looking foolish or scary to outsiders.

I can understand that. I am coming to the conclusion that the flag is worshipped by those people Sebastian has discussed, as well as the real racists, skinheads, and other scum. Throw into that mix people with sentiments like this:

As much as I hate to admit it, I doubt if we will ever get a chance to vote on the flag issue,” said Tom Nesbitt, 61, a disabled Vietnam veteran and farmer in Cordele. “It’s like everything else the liberals cram down our throats. Once they have the upper hand, there’s no going back. All we can do in rural Georgia is keep voting the [politicians] out of office.”

Perhaps he is lying. Perhaps he is speaking in code. Or, perhaps this is a legitimate protest against an obnoxious ruling party. I guess there are multiple reasons that people loved that damned flag, but for me, I can live without it. I don’t like the meaning I associate with it.

That Damned Flag Racism seemsPost + Comments