Vox Popoli

Papapete rants: All you Civil War history rewriter, YES, IT’S ABOUT SLAVERY!!! You can say “States Rights” like a mantra as much as you want, but the South didn’t secede because it didn’t like the current OSHA regulations. The “States right” that we’re talking about was the “right” to OWN other human beings. What do you think the Missouri Compromise was about? Have you ever heard of “Bleeding Kansas”? The South seceded because they were afraid that they would lose the right to keep other people as property. Period. End of story. The rest of the argument is smoke and mirrors.

That’s a pretty silly argument. I’d be interested in hearing an explanation of why the New England nations were discussing secession in the 1820s if the Civil War was about nothing but slavery.

The underlying motivations are actually unimportant. The simple fact is that the states had a right to secede, regardless of why they wanted to do so. This right was abrogated by military force. Therefore, the war was over states rights. This is supported by the post-war fact that secession is now no longer considered a states right.

What mystifies me about the hysterical SLAVERY SLAVERY shouters is that it is not as if slavery is an automatic casus belli. The institution has been practiced continuously throughout human history and is being practiced today in more than a few countries. The fact that the South wished to continue what had been a legal institution throughout the entire nation since its founding is hardly outrageous. Furthermore, it ignores the economic realities of the time, which is that the North was forbidding the South to trade with England and France through the use of severe import taxes.

Remember, war is always about exerting power and resisting the exertion of power. Always. The very notion that the North went to war to free the poor black slaves is downright laughable when viewed through the dispassionate eye of a military historian, particularly considering that the Northern slave states did not free their slaves until after the war.

Consider an analogy. A state which has always permitted abortion suddenly votes to ban it as infanticide. The mores have changed with the development of prenatal technology, and it is now viewed as a disgusting procedure by the majority of the populace. The large city in the center of the state, with a high population of morally suspect women who can’t figure out how to use birth control, is shocked by this ban and decides to exercise its right (postulated here) to secede from the state. Does the state have the right to invade, pillage and prevent the city from seceding, even if the city has the right to secede and the state has no written or explicated power to stop it from doing so? After all, these people are murdering babies!

Papapete writes: Case law is what determines what the law means. You may disagree with the result, you may not like it, but reality is what it is, not what you want it to be. Right now the Constitution is what the Supremes say it is, like it or not. Try that argument in a court of law. I guarantee that your butt will be in the slammer so fast your head will spin. That’s reality, deal with it.

As in all cases, the fact of a need for an adjective substantively changes the meaning of the noun. Case law is not law. Case law is a modern substitute for law, completely changing the nature of a system that was originally conceived to be “a nation of laws, not men”. So now, once more demonstrating that the American Revolution is over, (or, alternatively, has gone full circle), we have a nation of men making dictates.

For example, case law in Minnesota dating back to the 19th century has modified the meaning of “private property” to mean “things that grow in the soil”. This has been upheld multiple times by the Minnesota Supreme Court. Orwell didn’t see the half of it.

The silver lining is that since the law is manifestly no longer Law, you are under no moral obligation to pay it any regard whatsoever. One cannot obey something that does not exist. As W. Somerset Maugham wrote: “do what thou wilt, with due regard for the policeman around the corner.” That, too, is reality, and one that always frightens the authorities cowering behind their facade. Abandon the truth and eventually your lies will crumble about your head. This does not bode well for the future of our society, but then, news that the world is fallen should hardly be a surprise to anyone.

Matt Drudge has a link to a British story about a three-year old child who died of heart failure due to her obesity. Meanwhile, today’s Star and Sickle covers the ongoing debate in St. Paul to ban smoking from restaurants, bars and night clubs – all in the name of health.

It seems to me that if health trumps everything, it’s time to shut down the fast food restaurants of America and start arresting everyone who is more than ten pounds overweight. Why should smoking – which isn’t anywhere nearly as bad for you as being fat – be quasi-banned while people walk around openly double-fisting Dunkin Donuts?

Now St. Paul officials are saying that a state-wide ban is needed because St. Paul will be at a competitive disadvantage as people will go elsewhere to eat and smoke, drink and smoke and dance and smoke. Non e’ merde, signor Holmes. I despise totalitarians of all stripes, but the sanctimonious health fascists are particularly annoying.

Why do people so despise freedom? Freedom necessarily involves the ability to make stupid and short-sighted choices too.

I am not surprised by the fainting couch reaction from many people when I suggest that, considering the war has been won, we bring our troops home. They raise a whole host of arguments of how doing so will cause Iraq to somehow become worse than the hellhole it was under Saddam Hussein, which is a bizarre point considering that an Iraq under Iranian or Syrian or Saudi Arabian domination is precisely NO more dangerous in a world that already has Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

But let’s forget Iraq for now. Can we at least agree that Japan is unlikely to fall under the control of neighboring jihadists? Can we bring our troops home from there? No? Okay, how about Germany? No? Italy? Belgium? Can’t we at least bring our troops home from freaking Belgium?

Americans absolutely hate to be told that they have constructed an Empire, but assuredly, future historians will regard it as one. Yes, it’s a virtual empire of sorts, but it’s real for all of that. And, as every student of Rome knows, empire follows republic just as collapse into barbarism follows empire. From economics to shifting social mores, I see absolutely no sign that America is not following this historical progression.

Robert Novak writes: [former OK Congressman Tom] Coburn’s problem is that he takes seriously the professed Republican agenda: limited government, entitlement reform and anti-abortion advocacy. He was a rare sincere GOP supporter of term limits, leaving the House after three terms as he promised to do. The result is scant support for Coburn from the Republican establishment, in the nation’s capital as well as Oklahoma. If elected to the Senate, he will do it largely on his own.

That situation suggests the current realignment cycle in American politics is nearing an end after 36 years, with the Republican Party displaying symptoms of a nervous breakdown. The party’s leadership, from President Bush on down, went out of its way to push the undependable Republican Sen. Arlen Specter to victory against a staunch conservative in the Pennsylvania primary because he was considered a stronger general election candidate. In contrast, dependably conservative Coburn gets no establishment support in the contested Oklahoma primary though he is the best bet in November.

This is some of the best proof that the Bush administration is nothing but ur-liberals in conservative clothing. They fought hard for the liberal Specter over a legitimate conservative in the primary, supposedly in the interest of holding the Senate, but won’t lift a finger for the genuine conservative who is the strongest Republican candidate in Oklahoma. Strange, a Pennsylvania senator has no more votes than an senator from Oklahoma… I imagine the president wanted to have Arlen as chairman of the judiciary committee so the American people could be saddled with more of those great Republican Supreme Court nominees like Souter, O’Conner and Warren.

A person’s motivations can be determined by his actions, not his words.

A book by three current and former U.N. employees about peacekeeping operations portrays wild parties with alcohol and drugs, and convicts and mental-asylum inmates passing as soldiers. Embarrassed U.N. officials have threatened firing or other disciplinary action against two of the authors, Heidi Postlewait and Andrew Thomson. U.N. rules bar employees from writing about their work without approval, which had been denied in this case.

Right, let’s turn Iraq over to the UN. Whether your beliefs are driven by the priority of human freedom or geopolitical stability, you should be able to see that the UN would ensure complete disaster. I’d rather see us hand the keys to Saudi Arabia, Iran or Hezbollah. Five randomly selected Iraqi teenagers would be a wiser choice.

Remember, human rights under article 27 of the UN’s declaration of human rights are only held at the pleasure of the UN.

Bush’s speech came amid record slump in his approval rating on CBS poll to 41 pc against challenger Kerry’s 49pc

This is potentially trouble for the president, as an incumbent who polls 40 percent or below during the summer usually loses, while one who polls 50 percent or better usually wins. However, as a general rule of thumb, I always add 5 percent to the Republican in the poll, which usually more closely approximates the actual results. There are exceptions to this, Bush-Gore being a good example, but it holds up most of the time.

Still, at 46 percent, Bush is in the neutral zone. I still think that any summer activity by al Qaeda will only help Bush, though, not hurt him as some observers are thinking.

The OC writes: I keep looking at all the strange signals emanating from the Kerry campaign and wondering what the heck he’s up to. Will he accept the nomination at the Democratic convention or stall for a few weeks? Will he do something truly insane and name John McCain as his VP? Is he *really* the Democratic candidate,or just a very high-priced stalking horse? Well, Kerry’s face definitely supports the horse theory, but I’ve long held that this election will be a referendum on the Bush presidency, and if Bush shows any vulnerability at all the powers within the Democratic party will dump Kerry in a heartbeat and engineer a Clintonian return to power.

But how do they get around that “convention” business, all those pesky delegates, and the risk that an open and honest convention might pick Dean or Edwards? Ah, this is where their true Machiavellian brilliance lies…Picture this:The Democrats hold their national convention as scheduled and present a four-day televised infommercial and lovefest, in the process sucking up all available oxygen in the continental U.S. On Saturday night, at the peak of the convention, Senator Hillary Clinton delivers a show-stopping, unforgettable, utterly *incendiary* speech nominating Kerry for President, and he steps up to the microphone and–expresses his heartfelt appreciation, but says he’s got to wait awhile before accepting.

By the next morning the spin-cycle is churning in megawash mode. The Sunday morning talk shows are dominated by one question: is he brilliant, or nuts? Just what the heck does he think he’s doing? And by the way, did you catch Hillary’s speech? Maybe (the suggestion is offered as if casually), just maybe,the Democrats picked the wrong candidate…For the next four weeks, the nation is hanging on tenterhooks. Will he, or won’t he? This is bigger than the American Idol and the Survivor season finales combined. Nothing else that happens — *nothing* Bush does — can penetrate the beef-witted national consciousness.

And then, just a day or two before the Republican convention is to start, Kerry announces that he’s calling a pressconference to annouce his decision.That night, the entire nation — no, the entire world, and many of the nearer planets — tunes in to watch, as Kerry steps up to the microphone, essays a sad smile, and announces that he’s finally releasing his Naval medical records,including the full files on his Purple Hearts. And he knows, that when the American people see the truth of his medical condition — the terrible chronicpain he’s suffering, the lingering damage he lives with every day, the tragic disability he’s struggled to keep hidden all these years, THE AWFUL DISABILITY CAUSED BY THE WOUNDS HE RECEIVED IN HEROIC SERVICE TO HIS COUNTRY –They’ll understand why he must, tearfully, turn down the Democratic nomination for President.

THE MEDIA GOES BERSERK! Whatever happens at the Republican convention, whatever speeches get made, whatever happens in the rest of the world, it doesn’t matter! All attention is focused on the closed-door sessions of the DNC, as they meet (like the college of cardinals selecting the next pope) to choose the candidate…who will pick up Kerry’s fallen banner and lead the charge! Will it be…? Or how about…? Possibly…? And then the puff of white smoke emerges from the chimney, and the reporters rush in to be there when the doors swing open and the party leaders emerge, smiling, to announce that, after days of excruciating discussion and considering many fine candidates, they have picked:Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In one brilliantly executed stroke, they have solved five problems:

1. Hillary picks up the sympathy bounce from Kerry, which gracefully floats her over any and all defense-related issues.

2. Hillary ascends to the nomination without having to go through the primary process, thereby avoiding the necessity to debate her ideas with other candidates or actually meet and greet the smelly, unwashed proletariat.

3. The announcement immediately absorbs all political attention in the country and robs Bush of the traditional post-convention bounce.

4. She gets to wage her campaign in the forum of the compliant national media,using all of the funding the DNC has accumulated for this putsch.

5. And finally, if she times this right, her ascension will take place AFTER THE START OF THE MCCAIN-FEINGOLD 60-DAY BLACKOUT PERIOD, so anyone voicing criticism of her will be subject to prosecution by the FEC.

Okay, so there’s my nightmare scenario. Now tell me why this can’t happen.

One big reason. Kerry’s Purple Heart wounds were on the order of papercuts. Whatever he’s got on his medical records, it isn’t military service-related disabilities. Considering his record as a gigolo, I’m guessing it’s an embarrassing social disease.

From the Washington Times:John Kerry is flirting with catastrophe by considering — it’s not clear how seriously — a bizarre scheme to delay his acceptance of the Democratic nomination in order to squeeze through a loophole in campaign-finance law to enable him to collect millions of dollars of public swag. To do this, he would first flip, by making a speech accepting the nomination but not really accepting it and later calling the delegates back to Boston, or to Chicago or some other place to execute the flop. He has wide and long experience executing such flip-flops. Or he might accept the nomination from the Democratic National Committee, whose members could meet anywhere, or even by telephone. There’s no precedent for any of this, so the convention assembled, which is after all the final arbiter of its rules and whether to suspend them, can do as it pleases.

Wes Pruden thinks that playing this game to collect more money not only makes Kerry look stupid – it does – but also runs the risk of a brokered convention that would nominate Hillary Clinton. That’s possible, but unlikely, I think, as most serious political observers don’t really think Kerry can win, and Ms Rodham-Clinton has no interest in playing a loser’s hand. The only thing that could upset her apple cart is were Kerry to win, and every time the man does anything, he makes that look less and less likely.

Now he’s in the process of sabotaging his convention bounce in favor of more ads that won’t work anyhow. With the problems that Bush has created for himself, Kerry should be killing him in the polls; the fact that he isn’t demonstrates what a horrible candidate he is. This reminds me more and more of the Dole nomination, when a vulnerable president was saved by the nomination of an incompetent foe.

JAU writes the boys from the govparochial school systems preyed mercilessly and and with impunity on the homeschoolers. These boys totally lacked any capacity or inclination to defend themselves from the taunts, pranks, beatings gleefully administered by the boys with the benefit of a short lifetime of fending for one’s self in the schoolyard….from where I stood they did not look like noble christian soldiers manfully restraining themselves in the face of provocation, but like sheltered sniveling misfits cowaring in the corner because they’d never had to go without the protection of mama’s wing….

This makes me laugh. By this logic, we should all send our children to inner city schools, because then they could learn how to pull out a nine and blow the head off of anyone who disses them, much less attempts to taunt or beat them. The only mistake that the homeschooling parents made was in sending their children to this high school – one of the advantages of homeschooling is that it prevents a child from developing the pack mentality that exists in every school, be it public or private.

What JAU describes isn’t strength of character, it is a superficial toughness that exists only in the exotic environment of the age-same. In the real world, potential victims have the protection of weapons, allies and social customs; only in the schoolyard is an individual expected to stand up for themselves without any resort to assistance. Interesting that one doesn’t see those sort of petty abuses at the office, as they would get one fired in a heartbeat.

One of my little brothers, who is quite a bit younger, came running to the car when I was a senior in high school, and told my other brother that a bully was hitting our youngest brother and making him cry. We left the car running in the street – my brother actually did a Dukes of Hazzard slide over the hood – and descended on the bully like a wrathful hurricane. The next morning, the two of us were summmoned into the Dean’s office, who wanted to know what on Earth had inspired two high schoolers not known to be bullies into beating up a fifth-grader at the elementary school.

Thoroughly unrepentant, we told the Dean that if he messed with the littlest one, we’d beat him up too. At that point, he laughed and said that when he called our mother the night before, she’d told him that she was only sorry that she hadn’t been there herself. No one ever bothered our little brother again.

The BS that passes for school socialization is useless, even detrimental in the long run. I’ve seen dozens of guys who think they’re tough from years of being the big fish in the small pond shrink like violets in their first round in the dojo, and that’s not even the true measure of the man that is real combat. Innocence is a treasure, not something to be despised, and there’s nothing wrong in believing that those to whom you belong will protect you.

My friend in Force Recon used to hate it when his platoon would hit a bar together, knowing that they were going to fight. And yet, he always threw himself into the thick of it because nobody fights just one Marine. And it doesn’t get any realer, or any harder, than the USMC.