zenpundit.com

A LITTLE BIT OF RIGHT-WING SARCASM:

Ann Coulter on the Iraqi Museum, Liberals and the French:

“At least we finally got liberals on the record against looting. It seems the looting in Iraq compared unfavorably with the “rebellion” in Los Angeles after the Rodney King verdict. When “rebels” in Los Angeles began looting, liberals said it was a sign of frustration – they were poor and hungry. As someone noted at the time, apparently they were thirsty as well, since they hit a lot of liquor stores. Meanwhile, the Iraqis were pretty careful about targeting the precise source of their oppression. Their looting concentrated on Saddam’s palace, official government buildings – and the French cultural center.

However many precious pots were stolen, it has to be said: The Iraqi people behaved considerably better than the French did after Americans liberated Paris. Thousands of Frenchmen were killed by other Frenchmen on allegations of collaboration with the Nazis. Subsequent scholarship has shown that charges of “collaboration” were often nothing more than a settling of personal grudges and family feuds. This was made simple by the fact that so many Frenchmen really did collaborate with the Nazis. The French didn’t seem to resent the Nazi occupation very much. Nazi occupation is their default position. They began squirming only after Americans came in and imposed democracy on them. “

A VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH AND DEMOCRACY

The odious, incumbent protection law misnamed ” Campaign Finance Reform ” is struck down

Good riddance. While we are at it roll back most of the inane and counterproductive post-Watergate reforms as well and let candidates raise however much they like from whomever they like subject only to full public disclosure and American citizenship of the donors. With the current system, only a billionaire is free to break with particular special interests, PACs and rain-makers who totally dominate the Democratic and Republican parties. McCain-Feingold was an authoritarian, anti-democratic law that prohibited the unwashed masses from contributing to the public debate during election times -i.e. the time it matters most. It was an attempt to reserve national politics as the province of the self-appointed elite and shut the rest of us up under the guise of populist rhetoric about ” cleaning up the system ” ( a ” system ” created by previous reform laws that enshrined lawyer-lobbyists as the gatekeepers to electoral competitiveness – in the old days, a candidate had so few financial backers that we at least knew who was buying him and if he stayed bought after the election)

THE THING I FOUND MOST AMAZING ABOUT THE BILL BENNETT STORY:

It wasn’t the gambling habit but the fact that he could plunk down 8 mill and not miss it. In our lifetime political discussion have become entertainment and celebrity and with it comes all the riches formerly due – or perhaps in excess of – a medium grade Hollywood movie star. It’s hard to imagine Walter Lippmann, despite having been America’s only big league pundit for half a century, earning enough from his political commentary to afford the gambling habit of a Turkish pasha.

I don’t begrudge Mr. Bennett a cent of what he spent. He earned it, it didn’t come out of my or anybody else’s pocket unless they were willing to buy his books or pay for his time and he’s free to spend it any way he chooses. If instead of gambling in Vegas Bennett gambled on -say – the value of a Monet bought at auction going up – no one would have a second thought about it but fundamentally the operating principle of speculation is the same. It’s also nice to see someone reaping the rewards of being smart and well educated instead of for ball-handling skills and 40 yard dash times.

He may take a hit on the virtues thing however.

IN PRAISE OF CALPUNDIT:

I just wanted to say that I am tremendously impressed with the quality of discussion on his site having just watched a dialogue on mathematics unfold. It’s a far cry from the ad hominem gibberish and endless recycling of the 2000 election that you see elsewhere. An intelligent audience indicates superior content – you don’t see MENSA meetings at monster truck rallies or roller derby championships – perhaps Kevin Drum is on the way to becoming The Economist magazine of the blogosphere

DANNY GLOVER AND HARRY BELAFONTE …LICKING CASTRO’S BOOTS ( OR SOMEPLACE HIGHER)

In the wake of a crackdown on the Varela 78 – Castro’s jailing of democracy and human-rights activists – U.S. celebrities are flocking to defend the Communist tyrant

Reuters reports:

” U.S. singer Harry Belafonte and U.S. actor Danny Glover are also among the personalities who have signed the two-paragraph declaration “To the Conscience of the World” so far, Gonzalez announced to a May Day rally in Havana.

“At this very moment, a strong campaign of destabilization against a Latin American nation has been unleashed. The harassment against Cuba could serve as a pretext for an invasion,” it continues.

These celebrity morons are the honorary jailers and torturers of the Cuban people and they deserve contempt.