Monday, April 28, 2014

Flotsam and Jetsam

Aral Sea Coastline, Neil Banas, Flickr
In the spirit of keeping things moving here, have some quick thoughts.

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Hot Air had an excellent Quotes of the day feature on the Bundy situation. My personal favorite was this one:
That’s what’s so interesting, not about this racist moron but about the Republicans who supported him until he revealed his views on slavery… 
What if, instead of being a right-wing rancher who flouted the law, Bundy was the leader of a left-wing group of college radicals who occupied a government building? Ronald Reagan notoriously said of Berkeley protestors, “If there is to be a bloodbath, let’s get it over with. No more appeasement!” 
Or what if Bundy had been the leader of the New Black Panther Party? What if he and his followers had, for 20 years, brazenly stolen from the federal government, refused to obey court orders and threatened police with guns? Would Hannity have been duped into defending him? Fat chance. 
Or, umm, what if Bundy had been a Muslim, declaring a tiny caliphate on that dusty piece of Nevada? Does anyone really think Fox News would have made a hero of him then?
This one was a close second, however:
As we've learned once again, there are, quite frequently, people who believe and say reprehensible things — or even take foolish actions — who nevertheless find themselves facing an unjust or excessive government response. Often we find out about the person’s challenges with the government well before we find out anything about that person’s beliefs or character, and in the resulting rush to stand on principle we can inadvertently, prematurely, and often wrongly elevate the person… 
Let’s be clear, one is not giving aid and comfort to the Left when one condemns foolish and reprehensible behavior by those whose cause-of-the-moment you might sympathize with or support. Nor does such criticism render a person a “RINO.” But one does give aid and comfort to the Left when one embraces not just the principle but the deeply-flawed person — especially when that person has revealed themselves to not just suffer from the normal flaws that afflict all of us but from deep character defects that bring shame to their allies. 
And, yes, I know there is a double standard. After all, a man like Al Sharpton has not only made racially reprehensible statements, he has incited deadly violence. Yet he has an MSNBC show and is a friend of the president. A man like Bill Ayers is an admitted domestic terrorist. Yet he is now a respected member of the Left establishment, he helped our president get his political start, and even now he is the toast of Leftists on college campuses around the country. 
But this is the Left’s profound moral failure, not ours.
It's good to see that there's still some thoughtful conservatives out there.

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Speaking of thoughtful conservatives, here's U.S. Representative Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, being politically savvy:
AMODEI WAS a bit critical of both Reid and Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., for adding labels to the controversy surrounding Bundy and the BLM 
Reid called the supporters of Bundy "domestic terrorists." Heller called them "patriots." 
"First of all, I don't think labels help this thing at all," Amodei said. "I sure as heck don't think they are domestic terrorists, with all due respect to the majority leader. 
"Dean may like the word, patriots," Amodei said. "But the labels don't get you where you need to get, which is: what is the culture of your law-enforcement operations in Nevada and elsewhere in the West, since you own so much of it?"
Meanwhile, here he is showing some wit while commenting on Bundy's remarks a few days back:
"All I would say is welcome to the limelight, Mr. Bundy. And now that you're in it, interviews like that come part and parcel with that. Either you are up to the task or you are not. And how you pivot from grazing rights to the plight of African-Americans over the course of U.S. history is, I will just say is quite a leap in terms of subject matter."
Indeed.

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At Dartmouth, white people are not allowed to use "Fiesta". Caucasian owners of Ford Fiestas are reportedly despondent.

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Yes, I'm late to the show, but I finally installed Papers, Please. The first time I played it, I killed off my entire family within a week. Doing better this time around - I'm not going to lie, I never thought stamping passports for a totalitarian regime could be so enjoyable. Trust me, the game's better than it sounds.

Oh, and it runs in Linux, for those that care about such things.

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At a party I went to a few months back, an older gentleman clearly trying a little too hard to be cool was telling me about how his doctor told him to peel the skin of off his sausages before he ate them to address a variety of age-related digestive issues he was experiencing. I thought about that while eating a couple of bockwurst for lunch. Old guy at the party, I eat these bockwurst in your honor - skin and all. 

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