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October 27, 2004

Ann Coulter Speaks (Kinda)

Actually, she responds to an email interview; for some crazy reason, she doesn't trust the liberal media to print her answers accurately.

Some good stuff, some vintage Ann, but I liked this especially:

Q: Why don't you convert to libertarianism? You and John Stossel could get married and save America.
A: Libertarians are potheads posing as right-wingers. But John Stossel is a fine fellow. I just don't think I could go along with working "give me a break" into the wedding vows.

Yup-yup. Libertarians are nice people and all, but seriously, a political philosophy has to be built on a more vigorous intellectual foundation than Weeeeeeeeeeeed! Weeeeed! Weed, man! Weeeeeeeeed!

I mean, seriously. Conservativism goes back to John Stuart Mill, Edmund Burke. People like that. Big thinkers.

Near as I can tell, libertarianism was born after a midnight showing of Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams.

And reliable sources inform me that most votes for a libertarian candidate are cast due to losing a bar bet of some sort.

Come on, libertarians. Straighten up. Fly right. Come in on the winning team for the big win.

posted by Ace at 02:15 AM

Comments

Uh, Ace, why didn't this turn up first on your blog?

Posted by: someone on October 27, 2004 02:27 AM

With your cries of "Weeeed!" I thought you were channeling Bill & Ben, not Cheech & Chong.

Posted by: Pixy Misa on October 27, 2004 05:56 AM

Damn, I guess that means my chances of getting a more conspicuous link are down the shitter.

I didn't register as a Libertarian- I just voted that way. ish.

Posted by: thebastidge on October 27, 2004 06:25 AM

You and Coulter couldn't be more right about Libertarians, at least the ones in my state. All they care about is changing cannabis laws. Oh, one guy is obsessed with banning the draft, and seems to have made it his mission in life. I mean, he was trying to get laws passed forbidding it in the 90's.

Posted by: Moonbat_One on October 27, 2004 06:46 AM

Ha! Well said, Ace. And as for the two-party system, I posit most wars are not three-sided affairs. Michael Moore, a hungry beefalo, and a plateful of tacos? That's a three-sided affair.

Posted by: Velociman on October 27, 2004 07:08 PM

Um, Ace, John Stuart Mill was a libertarian.

David Hume, now there's a good atheist conservative for you.

You're right about the pot thing, though.

Posted by: See-Dubya on October 27, 2004 07:08 PM

I always liked the definition of a libertarian as "A Republican without the morals." I think that sums up my political philosophy rather well.

Posted by: francisthegreat on October 27, 2004 07:25 PM

There's a big difference between _l_ibertarians, and _L_ibertarians.

Mainly, the little ell folk vote sanely. And I'd call Ann Rand one of the leading lights - though they're calling AnnRandism 'Objectivism' or something.

And francis - I don't think it's without _all_ the morals. Personal property rights/self-defense and a few others can be considered 'morals'.

Posted by: Al on October 27, 2004 09:28 PM

I'm with See-Dubya, Mill was a libertarian. He made me into a Libertarian.

Look, Ann is right that we Libertarians need to talk less about drug legalization. It's but one part of the Libertarian platform, and a fairly unpopular one at that.

For the record, I ran for state house as a Libertarian, but I'm voting for Bush because the Libertarian Party is wrong on the war on terror.

Posted by: libertarianjim on October 28, 2004 12:22 AM

Libertarians are not conservatives. They are not liberals. They are not moderates/statists.

http://lawgovpol.blogspot.com/2004/09/political-philosophies.html

Posted by: Niffur on October 28, 2004 12:40 AM

Since folks are talking libertarianism here: check out this long letter to an undecided libertarian blogger from Ohio. HD Miller (at Travellingshoes.blogspot.com) linked to it a couple days ago:

http://fladenexp.blogspot.com/2004/10/clint-taylor-elliot-you-better-vote.html

Posted by: See-Dubya on October 28, 2004 01:15 AM

I used to like Ann Coulter but lately she has made some stupid remarks and her latest libertarian remarks show what schmuck she really is. What did Bush say "I once tried blow but I didn't like the smell" rofl. Yes legalization is but one of their many rational ideas. Comming soon to a theater near you: Bush Vs. Kerry - Who ever wins, we lose.

Posted by: gothpunkr on October 28, 2004 10:59 AM

Libertarianjim said==>Libertarian Party is wrong on the war on terror. Really? America's imperialist policty is guaranteed to result in terror just as every imperialist entity throughout history has experienced terror. Why do we support the Saudi Royal Family? Money and Oil. Lets get all of our troops out of Saudi Arabia I personally could give a crap where the price of gas goes, its cheap as hell inflation adjusted here at $50/barrel (was $80/barrel during first gulf war in adjusted dollars).

Posted by: gothpunkr on October 28, 2004 11:10 AM

One wouldn't expect coherent arguments from someone who uses the s/n "gothpunkr."

And one would be absolutely right.

Posted by: zetetic on October 28, 2004 11:24 AM

Of course your use of the "ad hominem" invalidates your views. Your a putz but not in an ad hominem sort of way.

Posted by: gothpunkr on October 28, 2004 12:16 PM

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What? Skeleton of the most famous Musketeer, D'Artagnan, possibly discovered in Dutch church closet.
Dumas picked four names of real musketeers out of a history book, D'Artagnan, Athos, Aramis, and Porthos. So there was an actual D'Artagnan, though he made most of the story up. (Or, you know, all of it.)*

Charles de Batz de Castelmore, known as d'Artagnan, the famous musketeer of Kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV, spent his life in the service of the French crown.
The Gascon nobleman inspired Alexandre Dumas's hero in "The Three Musketeers" in the 19th century, a character now known worldwide thanks to the novel and numerous film adaptations.
D'Artagnan was killed during the siege of Maastricht in 1673, and there is a statue honoring the musketeer in the city. His final resting place has remained a mystery ever since.

A lot of Dumas's stories are based on bits of real history. The plot of the >Three Musketeers, about trying to recover lost diamonds from the queen's necklace, was cribbed from the then-almost-contemporaneous Affair of the Queen's Necklace. And the Man in the Iron Mask is based on real accounts of a prisoner forced to wear a mask (though I think it was a velvet mask).
* Oh, I should mention, Dumas says all this, about finding the names in an old book, in the prologue to his novel. But authors lie a lot. They frequently present fictions as based on historic fact. The twist is, he was actually telling the truth here. At least about these four musketeers having actually existed and served under Louis XIV.
Fun fact: You know the beginning of A Fistful of Dollars where the local gunslingers make fun of Clint Eastwood's donkey and Eastwood demands they apologize to the donkey? That's lifted from The Three Musketeers. Rochefort mocks D'Artagnan's old, brokedown farm horse and D'Artagnan is incensed.

A commenter asked which should be read first, The Hobbit of LOTR?
Easy, no question -- read The Hobbit first. It's actually the start of the story and comes first chronologically. It sets up some major characters and major pieces in play in LOTR.
Also, the Hobbit is Beginner-Friendly, which LOTR isn't. The Hobbit really is a delightful book, and a fast read. It's chatty, it's casual, it's exciting, and it's funny. In that dry cheeky British humor way. I love that the narrator is constantly making little asides and commentary, like he's just sitting next to you telling you this story as it occurs to him.
LOTR is a very long story. Fifteen hundred pages or so. The Hobbit is relatively short and very punchy and easy to read. If you don't like The Hobbit, you can skip out on LOTR. If you do like it, you'll be primed to read LOTR.
Oh, I should say: The Hobbit is written as if it's for children, but one of those smart children's stories that are also for adults. Don't worry, there's also real fighting and violence and horror in it, too.
LOTR is written for adults. (It's said that Tolkien wrote both for his children, but LOTR was written 17 years later, when his children were adults.) Some might not like The Hobbit due to its sometimes frivolous tone. Me, I love it. I find it constantly amusing. Both are really good but there is a starkly different tone to both. LOTR is epic, grand, and serious, about a world war, The Hobbit is light and breezy, and about a heist. Though a heist that culminates in a war for the spoils.

The Hobbit Challenge: Read two more chapters. I didn't have much time. Bilbo got the ring.
I noticed a continuity problem. Maybe. Now, as of the time of The Hobbit, it was unknown that this magic ring was in fact a Ring of Power, and it was doubly unknown that it was the Ring of Power, the Master Ring that controlled the others.
But the narrator -- who we will learn in LOTR was none of than Bilbo himself, who wrote the book as "There and Back Again" -- says this about Gollum's ring:
"But who knows how Gollum had come by that present [the Ring], ages ago in the old days when such rings were still at large in the world? Perhaps even the Master who ruled them could not have said."
In another passage, the ring is identified as a "ring of power."
I don't know, I always thought there was a distinction between mere magic rings and the Rings of Power created by Sauron. But this suggests that Bilbo knew this was a ring of power created by Sauron.
Now I don't remember when Bilbo wrote the Hobbit. In the movie, he shows Frodo the book in Rivendell, and I guess he wrote it after he left the Shire. I guess he might have added in the part about the ring being a ring of power created by "the Master" after Gandalf appraised him of his research into the ring.
I never noticed this before. I know Tolkien re-wrote this chapter while he was writing LOTR to make the ring important from the start. And also to make Gollum more sinister and evil, and also to remove the part where Gollum actually offers Bilbo the ring as a "present" -- Bilbo had already found it on his own, but Gollum was wiling to give it away, which obviously is not something the rewritten Gollum would ever do.
But I had no memory of the ring being suggested to be The Ring so early in the tale.

Finish the job, Mr. President!
Melanie Phillips lays out the case for the total destruction of the Iranian government and armed forces. [CBD]

TJM acts like he knows anything about John Wick and screenwriting. It's embarrassing, really.

Podcast: Sefton and CBD talk about how would a peace treaty with Iran work, Democrats defending murderers and rapists, The GOP vs. Dem bench for 2028, composting bodies? And more!

Oh, I forgot to mention this quote from Pete Hegseth, reported by Roger Kimball: "We are sharing the ocean with the Iranian Navy. We're giving them the bottom half."

Batman fires The Batman
Batman is disgusted by the Joachim Phoenix version of Joker
Batman tries to fire Superman
Batman is still workshopping his Bat-Voice

Forgotten 80s Mystery Click: Red Leather Suit and Sweatband Edition
And I was here to please
I'm even on knees
Makin' love to whoever I please
I gotta do it my way
Or no way at all

Tomorrow is March 25th, "Tolkien Reading Day," because March 25th is the day when the Ring is destroyed in the book. I think I'm going to start the Hobbit tomorrow and read all four books this time.
The only bad part of the trilogy are the Frodo/Sam chapters in The Two Towers. They're repetitive, slow, and mostly about the weather and terrain. But most everything else is good. Weirdly, the Frodo-Sam chapters in Return of the King are exciting and action-packed and among the best in the trilogy. (Though the chapters with everyone else in Return of the King get pretty slow again. Mostly people talking about marching towards war, and then marching towards war.)

Sec. Army recognizes ODU Army ROTC cadets for their bravery and sacrifice in private ceremony
[Hat Tip: Diogenes] [CBD]

TJM gives you a brief tour of his movie collection.

Forgotten 80s Mystery Click
One day I'm gonna write a poem in a letter
One day I'm gonna get that faculty together
Remember that everybody has to wait in line
Oh, [Song Title], look out world, oh, you know I've got mine

US decimation of Iran's ICBM forces is due to Space Force's instant detection of launches -- and the launchers' hiding places -- and rapid counter-attack via missiles
AI is doing a lot of the work in analyzing images to find the exact hiding place of the launchers. Counter-strikes are now coming in four hours after a launch, whereas previously it might have taken days for humans to go over the imagery and data.

Robert Mueller, Former Special Counsel Who Probed Trump, Dies

“robert mueller just died,” trump wrote in a truth social post on march 21. “good, i’m glad he’s dead. he can no longer hurt innocent people! president donald j. trump.”

TJM has thoughts on Superheros and Iconography

Canadian School Designates Cafeteria And Lunchroom As "No Food Zones" For Ramadan
Canada and the UK are neck and neck in the race to become the first western country to fall to Islam [CBD]

Chuck Norris, Action Icon and 'Walker Texas Ranger' Star, Dies at 86

Podcast: Sefton and CBD have a short chat about Iran, the disgusting SAVE Act theater, Mamdani's politicizing of St. Patrick's Day, and more!