Open Threads

News From the Homefront Hits National Review:

Dave Kopel writes about the University of Wisconsin forbidding the WVU mascot (a Mountaineer, complete with an evil, oppressive rifle) being forbidden to bring his rifle into Wisconsin’s stadium, letalone firing it. They have come to their senses and relented.

he University of Wisconsin has demonstrated that it is not inclined to celebrate diversity, practice tolerance, or remember its own history. But it is capable of feeling embarrassment.

The Wisconsin football team plays the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday. Ever since 1936, West Virginia athletic teams have been accompanied by a student who is chosen as the “Mountaineer.”

He or she wears a tailored buckskin outfit and coonskin cap. The Mountaineer traditionally fires a musket before the game begins, and whenever West Virginia scores; the musket contains only powder, and no ammunition. It is no more dangerous than a starter’s pistol.

On Tuesday, the peckish administration at Wisconsin not only forbade the Mountaineer to fire a gun; the Mountaineer was forbidden even to bring the musket into Camp Randall Stadium. Supposedly, the school was enforcing a policy against weapons in the stadium, although the athletic department explained that the gun would have been barred even if there were no general policy on weapons.

One personal note- I know the Mountaineer. I had him in class two years ago and I just spoke with him at a University sponsored tailgate at the home opener last Saturday.

News From the Homefront HitsPost + Comments

I noticed something funny the other day when I was checking some sites I usually read. I noticed that I have no real political classification in other people’s eyes. I am rarely classified as a conservative, never as a liberal, sometimes as a Warblogger. It is easy for my left-wing co-workers to dismiss me as just another right-wing Nazi, but anyone who has read me knows that is not really the case. So, I thought I would clear up the air a little bit. Here are a few of my viewpoints:

I am a registered Republian who votes libertarian. A Republican in West Virginia IS a protest vote, believe me.

I think most Democrat politicians in Washington are evil. I think most other Democrats outside of Washington are not evil, but misguided.

I think Republicans are generally the lesser of two evils (although there are some who make me wonder).

I am pro-choice, generally, but I will never have an abortion.

I am for legalization of marijuana.

I am generally against the death penalty, but not for child molestors, people who committ treason, terrorists, people who think they are traffic cops and go 55 in the passing lane, or O.J. Simpson.

I do not think the Sopranos are an ethnic slur.

I hate taxes. All of them, particularly sin taxes. Get your grubby taxes off my scotch, you filthy bastards.

I like paved roads and a strong military, and I like a sound currency.

I don’t care if there are low levels of arsenic in my water. I own a Brita, and I already had a set of nagging parents. I loved them dearly, but I moved out. I guess that means we can kill the EPA.

I think Big Business means lots of jobs, a strong stock market, and fat Americans with the wealth and ingenuity to build more smart bombs to drop on radical fundamentalists and other scum.

I believe in Israel, and I adhere to the words “Never Again.” And that doesn’t go for just the Nazi’s. I am not going to forget you god damned Communists either.

I don’t care what grown men do to each other in their bedroom, as long as they are consenting.

My foreign policy is not nuanced. I am firmly in favor of killing anyone who wants to blow my fellow citizens up for simply going to work. I have no problem wiping an entire group of people off the map if the want to try that crap, either.

I am in favor of racial profiling at airports. I also realize that no airplane has never been hijacked with breast milk or toenail clippers.

Every day I run into thousands of stupid people. Public education has failed.

I think EVERYONE should have the right to own a firearm. I choose not to, for now.

Europeans need to lead or get off the pot. We were warned once about ‘Entangling Alliances.” National interest and self-defense is good enough for me.

I believe Al Gore is evil, Bush is NOT stupid, and Colin Powell was once a good soldier.

Private Property is the cornerstone to any lasting civilization.

I hope that has helped. I do not know what party I belong to, but if I ran a party, my motto would be “Get off my grass.”

I noticed something funny thePost + Comments

London Mayor feels Safer in New York, via the Blogfather:

LONDON – In a surprising vote of no-confidence in his own city, Mayor Ken Livingstone said Tuesday that he feels safer in New York than in London.

“I do feel safe in London, but I don’t feel as safe as I did when I went to New York,” Livingstone told reporters, adding that crime seemed much worse now than when he was a child. “I want to be back to something more like I grew up with. We have lost the visible (police) presence on the streets.”

But you can smoke in London. Go to hell, Bloomberg.

London Mayor feels Safer inPost + Comments

Rant of the Year Nominee from Andrea Harris:

“It’s hard to remember that this is just one giant hissyfit of a class of people — an international class, or at least transatlantic — who have had their moment in the sun pass them by. I try to remember that as I come across that idiotic c#nt Germaine Greer (I’m just taking back the word, darling, don’t get your knickers in a twist) bleating about how she stopped wearing colors in order to “protest the Gulf War” and is now urging all women to wear veils to protest the warmongering USA, or maybe she just wants all women to cover themselves so she won’t have any competition, god knows that’s what it would take… (I hate this woman. Can you tell?)”

Go read the rest.

Rant of the Year NomineePost + Comments

MSNBC ran a poll all day long titled:

“Attack on Iraq: Can Bush Make His Case?”

Apparently they are unaware that he has already made his case with the majority of Americans, and that it is just a few slimy pols who are out for political posturing and partisan gain.

And Donahue sucks, too. Pull the plug on MSNBC.

MSNBC ran a poll allPost + Comments

Not Sure If It was a Repeat or Not,

but if it was not then tonight’s Law and Order was the start of what I am sure will be two weeks of capitalizing by major media on 9/11. The show was syrupy and stupid, full of silly platitudes.

The closing line, the always smug D.A. stating:

“Give us your tired, your poor, your terrorists.”

I don’t think I can take a week of this.

Not Sure If It wasPost + Comments

Nelson Mandela, Please Shut the Hell Up

“We are really appalled by any country, whether a superpower or a small country, that goes outside the U.N. and attacks independent countries,” Mandela said before meeting with French President Jacques Chirac at his Johannesburg home.

Was he serious, or just trying to make Chirac feel at home by setting a nice anti-American climate?

According to Mandela, “What they are saying is introducing chaos in international affairs, and we condemn that in the strongest terms.”

Better that we have stability with thugs and murderers in control than chaos and regime change. Explains why his neighbor, Mugabe, is still in control.

Nelson Mandela, Please Shut thePost + Comments