December 11, 2003 by s.z.

TownHall on Parade I dedicate today's "Describe than TownHall in 50 words or less" to Sadly, No!, one of the Little People we met on our rise to the top.  And since he's a clever, entertaining guy (despite being one of the "Folks"), we suggest you check out Besides That, It's Awesome, the new current events game that the common people seem to find so amusing. Now, here's today's Walk on the Wild Side: Paul Greenberg Some guys are studying Texas English, the new official language at the court of George the Lion Heart. And don't forget all for oil. Ryan Zempel Ryan interviewed  Bernard Goldberg, some guy who wrote a book about how the liberbal media is dissmissive of conservatives.  Or something like that -- I wasn't really paying attention, and it sounded pretty unimportant anyway. There are some conservative websites and many liberal websites that are nasty and vicious and shouldn't be taken seriously.    Robert Novak Dean has GOT to stop answering when reporters ask him about that rumor concering the President's foreknowledge of 9/11.  Otherwise, Bush's boys are gonna fit him for cement overshoes. "It's McCarthyism in reverse," one 35-year Democratic political veteran told me. "Dean doesn't understand that he's accusing Bush of something worse than an impeachable offense. It's treason."  He and several other Democrats that I contacted all expressed the fear that Bush's political operatives will shred an opposing presidential candidate that undisciplined.  George Will George springs a pop-quiz on the Democratic candidates -- and unless they get at least a "C" on it, they can't run for President.  George Bush has a note from his Mom, excusing him from this and all future exams.  And gym class too. Over the past two decades steel production has increased from 75 million tons in 1982 to 102 million tons in 2002 -- but whereas 289,000 workers were required to produce the 75 million tons, just 74,000 workers produced the 102 million. Do Democrats believe this increased productivity is an economic misfortune?  Part 2: and if those 215,000 steel workers are now out of jobs, but the CEO is a lot richer, do Republicans consider this a good thing or a bad thing? Thomas Sowell It's none of your damned business if Wal-Mart is bad for the country!  How DARE you even ask the question!  While we econominsts know that Wal-Mart's extremely large market share and labor policies may hurt some people, hurting people is just part of how the free market works.  If the other stores get run out of business, they can always sell their organs to sports stars to get by. Judge Robert Bork once said that somebody always gets hurt in a court room. Somebody always gets hurt in an economy that is growing. Pat Buchanan Al Gore is the new Richard Nixon: ruthless, cold, creepy, and paranoid.  But the downside is, Gore now finds Bush "unpleasant to be around" and "strange." Of Al Gore's stunning endorsement of Howard Dean, even before the Iowa Caucus, it may be said, Richard Nixon would have been impressed. For Gore is executing with boldness and coldness a comeback strategy identical to the one Nixon engineered 40 years ago.   Suzanne Fields But Bush is the new Abraham Lincoln: honest,  brave, heroic; always freeing slaves and being misunderstood by liberals, such as John Wilkes Booth. When President Bush was forced to confront acts of terrorism and the fear that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (a fear that nearly everyone shared), he was forced to change both attitude and analysis. With appeals for homeland security and the necessity to find Saddam's weapons, he rallied a large majority of the American people in support the war in Iraq. It was a matter of national interest. When that war was quickly won and the troops found no weapons of mass destruction, the president was forced to look to other themes muted in his original assessment. Like Lincoln, he had to expand his vision in changed circumstances.  Well, that concludes today's Town Hall Wrap-Up.  Thanks for stopping by.  You all come back now, hear? 7:36:40 AM

Texas Governor Takes Handicapped Space While Putting Bush on Ballot Texas Governor Rick Perry's black Suburban sat in a handicapped spot for about 40 minutes Wednesday while he filed the paperwork to get President Bush on the ballot for the state Republican primary. Reporters called the Liberty Bank, where the Republican Party of Texas is located, and got this report from a woman who answered the phone (but refused to give her name): The woman said she thought it was rude that the governor parked in the handicapped spot on the street in front of the building. "It was kind of ironic in a sense because it's the governor ... and you would think he would respect the signs out on the street, especially for the handicapped," the woman said. The space Perry's vehicle was parked in was marked with a green and blue sign with a wheelchair emblem. It warned: "Reserved Parking $50-$200 fine without vehicle permit. "The woman said she thought about telling Perry and his staff they were parked in a handicapped spot, but decided to wait to see if the black suburban was ticketed.  It was not.   The governor's people have said admitted it was a handicapped spot, but claimed they didn't see the sign.  They volunteered to donate some money to a charity for people with disabilities. However, under Texas's strict code of justice, parking in a handicapped space is a crime which counts under the "three strikes" rule, and since the staffer who parked the car already has two prior offenses (jaywalking, and second-degree murder), she faces the death penalty.  The governor said he'd like to pardon the staffer who parked the car illegally, but it "wouldn't look good in an election year."  He denied having told the meter maid to "look the other way," as he was "undertaking a mission of the gravest import at the behest of the President," which might involve "taking out Saddam Hussein," who had been seen in the vicinity. President Bush said he's just glad to be on the ballot, and thinks his stunning victory in the primary will make the staffer's death worthwhile.  (The Star-Telegram contributed to this story) 6:40:49 AM

What I Learned From Fox News Today Well, I only watched it for a few minutes while the good programs were having commercials, but I did take notes.  So, this is what I learned from The Hannity & Nonentity Show, with guests Ann Coulter and Bob Beikel, "Democratic Strategist" : 1. Ann Coulter's Adam's apple is getting more prominent all the time! 2. Ann no longer has a blog (I actually learned that by visiting her site, and noticing that it's no longer there -- but I imagine Sean would have reported this, if he would have thought of it.) 3.  Hillary Clinton's people keep calling Beikel to bash Dean.  Gore wants to ride the Dean train (presumably, in a non-sexual way.) 4.  Alan says that the Iraq contract ban is alienating Canada.  Ann doesn't care.  Clearly, the problems of a country of Canadians don't amount to a hill of beans when an important country like America is at war.  Then Ann thinks for a minute, and says that some of them hosers in Viet Nam, so they're okay. 5.  The only Democratic candidate who could get Ann's support (if she was into that kind of thing) would be Lieberman, because's for the war.  Ann even approves of Hillary Clinton now, because Hillary is backing the war.  Ann just likes war.  Sean agrees that EVERYBODY likes war.  6.  Beikel says that not everybody likes war -- in fact, many people don't care for it at all.  Those people are going to ask themselves, "Am I better off than I was 4 years ago?" and answer "no."  Sean interrupts to say that they ARE TOO better off, in that they've had two tax cuts and get to "appreciate a President" who "went the extra mile to find those guys."  [Note: I don't know what the hell Sean is talking about either.] 7.  Beikel says that the economy is not as good as it was 4 years ago, because while new jobs have been created to replace some of the ones that were lost,  80% of the technical jobs that went away were replaced by lowly paid service industry positions.  Sean angrily says that Beikel is wrong, and they were not.  Beikel says they were too.  Sean demands to know where he got his statistics.  Beikel says from "The President's Department of Labor."  Time's up. Now, from the Bill O' Reilly Fear Factor: 1.  Bill has no sympathy for battered woman Whitney Houston.  Bill asks his expert on abused women if there is something wrong with him.  He interrupts her before she can answer.  She has some info about abused women that she wants to share, but there is no time, so Bill just denounces Whitney for being a drug-using skank, and a bad mother.  End of segment. 2.  Al Gore is a big jerk for not calling Joe Lieberman before telling the world that he's taking somebody else to the prom.  Al is not a standup guy.  Joe IS a standup guy. 3.  "The Folks" achieved another great victory over the forces of evil when the pornographic Abercrombie & Fitch catalog was pulled, all thanks to Bill mentioning it on his show, and that "Focus on the Family" guy calling for a boycott of A&F. 4.  While the elite media, such as the NYT, always portray these wins as insignificant and try to make it sound like only CONSERVATIVES care about TEEN GROUP SEX, it was, in fact, proof that it's "the folks" who are interested in in teen group sex. 5.  Bill introduced guestst Nick Gillespie from Reason Magazine and some colorless guy named Dreher, a member of some conservative group.  Gillespie says that this didn't have anything to do with Bill and "Focus on the Family" -- no, the real reason that A&F pulled the catalog is that their customers, trendy teens, think the A&F clothes suck, and haven't been buying them. 6.  Bill yells that this WAS a Folks' victory, just like how getting CBS to pull the Reagans movie was a great Folks' victory.  Gillespie replies that they are nothing alike, in that A&F couldn't care less that some old religious fuddy-duddies aren't shopping at their store.  However, the RNC and other pressure groups WERE successful in getting the cowardly CBS to exercise prior restraint on the Reagans movie, but that wasn't a GOOD thing. 7.  Bill cuts Gillespie's mic. 8.  Bill then tells Gillespie where he was wrong . 9.  Bill goes Dreher, who agrees with everything Bill says. 10.  Bill claims the NTY is trying to marginalize conservatives.  He turns Gillespie's mic back on so Gillespie can agree that the culture is coarsening our children. 11.  He doesn't, so Bill cuts him off and goes back to Dreher, who DOES think that our children are getting coarse.  End of segment. This concludes our Fox summary.  Tune in tomorrow for our summary of "Law and Order" reruns on NBC.    6:02:10 AM

Kids Update Hmm, it seems that Judson Cox, the result of Liberty University's secret project to breed Ann Coulter with Merle Haggard, just came out with a follow-up to his innovative piece on why cloned pandas pose the second greatest threat to civilization.  So, live from ChronWatch, we bring you . . ..  "Don't Save the Whales, Part 2" Natural Selection and Culture [snip] It has become fashionable to claim that all cultures are equal.  It is a romantic notion of noble savages, much like the desire to preserve endangered species. Cultures fall due to inferiority--to preserve them is to undo societal progress.  [snip] My heritage is predominately Irish.  Before Saint Patrick civilized Ireland, it was a land of warring tribes, who practiced human sacrifice and slavery. It was devoid of literacy, mathematics and science.  I play Celtic music and know hundreds of folk tales by memory; however, I would not wish to live in ancient Ireland.  Even Saint Patrick went there, for the first time, only because he was captured as a slave! Ireland's is a sad tale of conquest by more advanced cultures, but no reasonable person would wish to undo the progress conquest brought.  The same is true of my other ancestors: English, French, German and Cherokee--all have benefited from conquest by superior societies. Yes, St. Patrick was a superior society, and managed to conquer all of Ireland by himself, though but a slave.  He demonstrates cultural Darwinism at it's finest. Western civilization found its apex in America due to our Constitutional rights. Chief among these were property rights.  The individual owned himself, his land, his possessions, his means of production and the fruits of his labor; he had the right to bear arms to protect his property and with this self determination, he had religious freedom, freedom of association and a representative government.  The American was not a peasant, slave or serf, ultimately owned by a king--he owned himself and could do with himself as he pleased.  This unique code of law brought the ambitious, from all over the world.  In America, they could realize their dreams, they could make use of the knowledge their ancestors had sacrificed to gain.  Within a few generations, America had advanced the arts and sciences further than any other culture on earth. As you all know, the concept of private property was unknown until the American Constitution was written.  This idea, plus the right to bear arms, brought the world's ambitious to our shores.  England helped out via the practice of transportation, which involved dumping its most ambitious criminals and ne'er-do-wells on our shores.  Slavers, subconsciously obeying the dictates of evolution, captured those Africans who were hoping for a better life, and brought them to America where they could realize their dreams by being farm hands and house slaves, and make use of the knowledge their ancestors had sacrificed to gain. Due to multiculturalism, Americans are taught to embrace their ancestral heritage and identify it more than with America.  Americanism is portrayed as a negative force.  Americans are breaking into tribes of peoples, each vying for dominance.  We are forced to become multi-lingual and our arts and sciences, the culmination of thousands of years of knowledge, is derided as the worthless writings of ''dead white males.''  This has resulted in social promotion for students who don't know the material, remedial classes in college and illiteracy rates approaching pre-Civil War levels! Damn, we are being forced to become multilingual!  This is a sad, sad day for our once proud culture.  And it's multiculturalism that's to blame for remedial classes in college!  See, back when I went to school, my virtually single-cultured university was forced to offer remedial classes to kids who hadn't paid attention in high school, or who were just plain stupid.  Now I feel really bad, knowing that these white kids from middle-class American culture were just victims of other tribes who refused to melt into the pot.  And I did look up the current illiteracy rate (3%) and the pre-civil war rate (12%).  But Judson isn't really talking about that.  He's indirectly saying that BLACKS don't, as a group, READ AS WELL as whites, so their culture is dragging us down, and we might have well have left them in chains. Instead of aspiring to greater levels of prosperity and enlightenment, we are embracing cultures that our ancestors fled. We are moving backward toward barbarism and thugishness.  Even Spike Lee and Sista Souljah (individuals who hate white/European culture) have given speeches warning of the negative values promulgated through hip hop/gangsta culture.  These values encourage criminal behavior and denigrate women; the popularity of such music shows the direction we are heading as a nation.  How long will it be before America follows Canada's lead in incorporating Islamic law into its legal system?  How long before Americans are squatting in the dirt and practicing slavery like the Taliban? So, the gansta culture leads to Canadaism, which results in "squatting in the dirt and practicing slavery"?  Interesting.       There is no master race, no genetically superior people; there are superior cultures.  There are those who practice slavery and squat in the dirt and those who build space shuttles and computers.  Right now, there is a great debate over manufacturing jobs going overseas and the resulting unemployment.  Companies are finding better educated people in the third world whose wages are not increased by regulations, unions and taxes levied to pay for myriad social programs.  The dirt squatters and the computer makers are changing places, and we have no one to blame but ourselves. It's been proven that any regulation of business leads to dirt squatting and Islamic Fundementalist rule -- and that cultures such as China, where there are no labor unions to object to workers in unsafe factories manufacturing export goods at a pay rate of .25 an hour, they will take our place at the apex of Western Civilization.  Thank God we got the word, and can do something to stop this before the ice age comes and we all die, thanks to those damned clones.  4:45:57 AM

Thanks! Wow, thanks to you all for visiting my low-rent  blog.  And thanks to Pandagon, Atrios, and TBOGG for luring you here as part of a vast left-wing scheme to push forward an amendment of the Declaration of Independence adding Christopher Hitchens, John Derbyshire, and Andrew Sullivan to the list of abuses which England has committed against us. Anyway, now that I have achieved blogging success (as measured by traffic) beyond my wildest dreams,  I feel unable to cope with it all, and plan to crash 'n burn, Behind the Music style. But before I do, here are a few things you might find of interest: Fried Green al-Qaedas, reporting on Ronny Spector, character witness.   Mark also brings you the shocking story of the inevitable result of Canada taking that first step on the slippery slope of depravity by permitting gay marriages: yes, consensual cannibalism in Germany! Washing the Blog has a very funny piece featuring Bill O'Reilly discussing  the current hit movie, The Last Samurai Vs the Forces of Secularism (and the Elite Media.  Bill also chastises Canada, our Bad Example to the North. And A Perfectly Cromulent Blog offers his mandatory Christmas viewing, to include "A Charlie Brown Christmas," "Mister McGoo's Christmas," and Invasion U.S.A. So, if I crash my convertible while high on scotch and pills, despondent because I blew all my money on shoes, hookers, and worthless stock in a company trying to market Beta tapes as the next retro fad, then read the above until I make a comeback. 2:42:08 AM