Monthly Archives: March 2007

NADA

She’s Melting!

Ann Coulter has always seemed like a fake to me. Easily a fake put forward by people trying to discredit all conservatives, given how vile she is. mjh

Shreveport Paper Becomes 4th This Week to Drop Ann Coulter By Dave Astor

The Times of Shreveport, La., today became at least the fourth newspaper this week to drop columnist Ann Coulter.

In a note just posted on the newspaper’s site, Times Executive Editor Alan English wrote: “Today we move past the rhetoric and unproductive dialogue offered by Ann Coulter. The Times is dropping her column effective immediately.

“It is her recent ‘joke’ about John Edwards being considered a ‘faggot’ that is the back-breaking straw for a decision we’ve openly discussed for some time.”

The Times had previously considered dropping Coulter last year after the author/Universal Press columnist made nasty remarks about 9/11 widows.

Also dropping Coulter this week were the Lancaster (Pa.) New Era, The Oakland Press of Michigan, and The Mountain Press of Sevierville, Tenn. …

Shreveport’s English wrote today that Coulter’s “repeated use of hyperbole in the call for the death of some journalists and politicians was beyond the pale. And while we all believe she was ‘just kidding,’ her ‘shock-jock” writing style is no different from Howard Stern’s practical jokes and bathroom humor that aims to draw a school-yard snicker but falls well short of reasonable, thought-provoking journalism. Unlike the work of a Thomas Sowell or a Kathleen Parker, two thoughtful conservatives, does a Coulter column raise the level of discourse? The answer: rarely.

“No doubt some conservatives will lament the loss of their beloved Coulter, someone who made the joke they are too polite to make. …”

Coulter’s exact words Friday were: “I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘faggot,’ so I — so kind of an impasse, can’t really talk about Edwards.”

She followed her “faggot” reference with a statement on her Web site saying Edwards campaign manager David Bonior — a former Congressman — “is fronting for Arab terrorists.”

loco

Seeing Red

ABQjournal: Camera Forum Draws 150, Mostly Critics By Dan McKay, Journal Staff Writer

People pointed fingers, waved their arms and lectured city councilors on the Constitution.

They talked about George Orwell, excessive fines and yellow lights that aren’t yellow long enough.

Lee Logan, a disc jockey for 106.3 The Range, railed against “Big Brother and the taking away of our rights.”

My natural sympathies are with people worried about Big Brother. Even country DJ’s, whose listeners fancy themselves rebels even as they consistently vote Republican. Perhaps the right to run a red light is in the Second Amendment.

Maybe these people are sincere. Maybe they aren’t just looking to break the law whenever they want without consequences (other than death). But, if you’re truly worried about your rights, I suggest you read the USA Patriot Act (if you can find the unredacted, “need-to-know” version). Maybe you should protest the Transportation Security Administration (now xraying citizens) or burn your national ID card. Perhaps you should protest an administration with secret CIA prisons, an administration which views US Attorneys as its busboys. Yes, freedom is on the march, in jackboots. Deadly intersections are far from the biggest danger.

Red-Light Cameras Gone In a Flash? Mayor Says Bill Passage Would End City Program, By T.J. Wilham and Trip Jennings, Copyright © 2007 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff Writers

Last week, Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, said the rest of the state suffers when Albuquerque doesn’t pay the state traffic violation fees, which finance everything from court construction to brain injury services. …

“Why should the people in the whole rest of the state build Albuquerque’s Metro Court and they don’t pay anything back?” he said. “That’s basic fairness, but then, I don’t live in the Imperial City.”

There you have it; under it all is the resentment of a Representative whose feelings are hurt. By the way, he doesn’t mean Santa Fe.

What is the logic of complaining about Abq taking money from the state when this program pays for itself — and won’t, if the state gets involved? What is the logic of someone from Roswell telling Abq what it can do?

I’m furious with the NM State Legislature, which has considered several bills designed to ruin the red light cameras. They’ve talked about warning everyone which intersections it is OK to blow through. They’ve debated reducing the cost of risking murder. Finally, they want their cut.

At the bottom of all this noise, there are statistics. How many accidents and deaths before and after the cameras? Does anything else matter, particularly the views of puny pols, DJ’s and scofflaws? mjh

NADA

conservatism as a respectable social philosophy

E. J. Dionne Jr. – A Historian Who Saw Beyond the Past

“No intellectual phenomenon has been more surprising in recent years than the revival in the United States of conservatism as a respectable social philosophy,” the distinguished commentator wrote.

“For decades, liberalism seemed to have everything its way,” but “fashionable intellectual circles now dismiss liberalism as naive, ritualistic, sentimental, shallow. With a whoop and a roar, a number of conservative prophets have materialized out of the wilderness, exhuming conservatism, revisiting it, revitalizing it, preaching it. . . .”

Thus wrote that lion of American liberalism, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., in 1955, long before the Reagan and Gingrich revolutions. Here was a historian whose understanding of the past afforded him remarkable perspective on the future. …

Schlesinger worried about “the classical condition of private opulence and public squalor.” He said of the 1950s: “We have chosen in this decade to invest not in people but in things. We have chosen to allocate our resources to undertakings which bring short-run profits to individuals rather than to those which bring long-run profits to the nation.” The new public priorities, Schlesinger said, should include schools, medical care and “energy development.” Meet the old agenda; same as the new agenda.

loco

Is Rape the Acceptable Sex Crime?

There’s something missing from the story about the alleged rape of a Sandoval County Sheriff’s deputy by her comrades — her brothers. The missing piece of the puzzle is Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White. Almost every day, you’ll find White fuming about sexual predators. He clearly communicates his despise for them. Unless they wear a uniform or serve another county?

I know nothing about the merits of this case, though I can’t imagine any police officer taking the risk of falsely claiming rape. A man’s word is his bond; a women needs a rape-kit. I hope the system works in this case and the truth comes out.

Still, White could call one of his daily press conferences and say, regardless of the case, rape is a vile crime that cannot be tolerated by humanity. He could use his public position to state the obvious: rape will not be ignored and rape victims have nothing to fear in coming forward. White may say, “hey, not my county,” but I think he has assisted neighboring counties in monitoring sexual predators. (Plus, APD is trying to entice personnel from all over NM, including Sandoval’s finest.) By his conspicuous silence, White implies it’s not his concern or this is a lesser crime. He’s wrong.

ABQjournal: Deputy: Fellow Officers Raped Me, By Rozanna M. Martinez, Journal Staff Writer

State Police are investigating claims by a female Sandoval County sheriff’s deputy that she was raped by other deputies at a party in December.

Sandoval County Sheriff John Paul Trujillo told the Journal on Friday he contacted State Police as soon has he received information about the alleged assault.

The incident involved off-duty sheriff’s officers and occurred in December outside the sheriff’s department’s jurisdiction, Trujillo said.

“I had an outside source look into it so they could verify or see if there was a criminal act that took place,” Trujillo said. “At this point we don’t know, it’s in State Police hands.”

Trujillo said he could not comment further. [mjh: except to say the department will not tolerate sexual predators?]

You may recall that Trujillo was accused by BernCo police officers of having sex in a car. (Not necessarily a crime.) What the hell is wrong with the Sandoval County Sheriff’s department? I think the State Police investigation needs to be expanded. mjh

PS: Trujillo says the alleged crime took place “outside the sheriff’s department’s jurisdiction.” Could that be Bernalillo County, making it all the more White’s concern?

Dump Duhbya

Hot Air About Gore

Think tank: a group that exists solely to promote one-sided views, about which its members give no thought. A self-aggrandizing term used by people with no sense of irony, like gentlemen’s club. Thugs with certificates.

Free-market: a conservative view that government exists to bolster business and leave individuals to fend for themselves.

Free-market think tank: a propaganda machine meeting at Hooters and saving the receipts for tax deductions.

ABC30.com: Gore’s Real ‘Inconvenient Truth’? By JAKE TAPPER

Armed with two years of Al Gore’s utility bills, a Tennessee think tank blasts the former vice president for environmental hypocrisy.

The windbags in the echo chamber are blowing hard today. It’s almost funny to hear people claim there is no human cause to global warming (itself a shift from outright denial of any warming a few years ago) AND castigate Gore for his contribution to global warming. Oh, I know, “it’s the hypocrisy.” Let’s not go there, people. If you’ve never done anything someone else finds hypocritical, you must live without any human contact. We’re all hypocrites from time to time or, if you can’t stand that, we’re all subject to the accusation, fairly or not. Leave it to conservatives to feign shock at human nature — that’s how out-of-touch conservatism is.

Let’s do an environmental impact statement of the endless war in Iraq. Or the White House. Or Dick Cheney.

Why did the long knives of conservatives flash today? Gore’s performance at the Oscars scares them. It wasn’t wooden. Conservatives have to think of a whole new set of accusations. As Iraq proves, conservatives are great at destroying things. mjh

FOXNews.com – Al Gore Changing His Mind About the White House? – Celebrity Gossip By Roger Friedman

Gore’s triumphant display at the Academy Awards on Sunday night certainly bolstered his ego if not his standing. And standing he got — an ovation inside the Kodak Theatre that not many ever receive.

On Saturday night, Gore made a surprise appearance at the home of billionaire Clinton backer Ron Burkle. This was not a coincidence. The event was for Armani, and Gore is not a fashionista, but he knew this was the place to be. And even though Burkle is committed for now to Hillary Clinton, he has plenty of money to share with other candidates if his main goal is to see a Democrat in office.