Category Archives: Ann Coulter

Update III: The State of the Tea Party Movement (Coulter Mistakes Movement's I.D.)

Ann Coulter, Liberty, Political Philosophy, Republicans, Rights, Taxation, The State

The state of the Tea Party Movement is great.

Despite what the lying left says, it’s mostly ordinary citizens acting spontaneously. The old hacks aren’t even invited or welcome to most events.

It’s not anti-Obama but anti-Big Government and that includes Bush and the Republican Congress when they had the majority. Naturally, as soon as they lost power, they fell in love with limited government again.

Alas, the Republican Party is a pathetic joke and the Tea Party Movement has become the real opposition party to the Democrats. Good.

Now, the blowing off steam phase is over and the movement must get serious fast or lose its momentum.

A movement needs a goal. Here’s a good one:

Restore the Republic.

By which I mean the pre-constitutional Republic. The American Revolution was not fought for the Constitution. The Constitution didn’t exist yet.

Nor will griping about the Constitution do. Face it. To the extent that the Constitution was designed to preserve the old Republic, and I have serious doubts about that, it failed. Constitutionalism failed. Parchment did not stop the steamroller of big government!

Why? That question has been answered by Learned Hand:

Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it.

A movement needs its own symbols and ours are there for the taking: The Betsy Ross flag is a no-brainer. And let’s use the old national anthem. My Country Tis of Thee. It speaks of liberty, not bombs bursting in air during a war whose meaning is still unclear. And let’s pledge allegiance to the principles of the American Revolution for Christ’s sake! (Peace is the common theme.)

Face it. The symbols of patriotism have been hijacked by evil men for evil purposes such as mass murder and massive bankster theft.

We will take patriotism back and make it true and good again.

Then, we need a plan. Why?

*Because most of us are naturally inclined to two activities that history shows are usually a waste of time: lobbying politicians and trying to elect new ones.

*Because no movement to shrink the federal government has succeeded since 1800-1804!

*Because many people are inclined to think we can reform our way out of this mess. In fact, reforming a rotten system merely extends its lifespan.

*Because the trajectory of America is downward fast and we have no time or margin of error for mistakes.

*Because if we do not give our people something constructive to do, right now, they will burn out and be gone.

At the April 18th WNY Tea Party, we will roll out a 12-point plan for direct citizen action that would make Gandhi smile. It’s a devastating one-two punch: education, then action! The plan fits on one side of one sheet of paper.

So, two things. If you are within driving distance of Buffalo and you miss this tea party, you will regret it when you see the video.

Two, if you are running a tea party on April 15th and wish to learn more about our plan, contact me.

Thanks and good luck at your event.

Jim Ostrowski
WNY Tea Party Program Committee
jameso@apollo3.com
Cell–(716) 435-8918

Update I (April 15): I’ll be interviewing our pal Jim for my WND column on Friday. Jim, a major tea-party organizer, continues the thread in “Pitfalls for the Tea Party Movement”:

“It’s time for a checklist of the pitfalls we need to avoid to be successful. These will roughly track the smears expected to be made against us.

*Do not be an appendage of the failed Republican Party or neoconservative movements.

*Be open to all American citizens who share our core philosophy.

*Have a positive agenda for real change.

*Be for something other than merely electing Republicans. The country is rightly sick of Republicans after the last eight years.

*Bring something to the table other than Constitutionalism. All that has happened happened in spite of the Constitution.

*Avoid conspiracy and arcane legal theories including Obama’s citizenship. Our opponents control the courts and will never accept your “common law” or “Patriot” legal theories. Never!

*If you support lower taxes, be prepared to specify the spending cuts required to pay for them. And never say you will cut “waste, fraud, and abuse” because then everyone will know you are full of crap. …”

Update II: Hero Joe Horn makes an appearance at the Alamo, from where Glenn Beck is broadcasting. Read about Horn in “JOE HORN: WANTED MAN…AND A HERO.” If only I were in Texas. People are flying the Gadsden Flag; there are signs that read, “Revolution Brewing,” and ALL express disgust with Republicans and Democrats alike.

Although I don’t much like the celebrity oriented focus of Glenn’s show today (and my Sean is a way superior guitarist than Nugent), there are, at least, no Party Republicans in sight. And that’s a good thing. I suspect that Hannity and O’Reilly will make up for this welcome omission by convening the usual suspects for their parties. You know: Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Karl Rove. Glenn has enough of a feel for freedom to keep those sickening sorts away. A wise decision if to judge by this animated Texan crowd. G-d bless them.

Update III (April 16): In her latest column, Ann Coulter doesn’t think twice about claiming the tea-party movement as Republican. She’s usually cleverer about concealing the fact that she writes in support of the Stupid Party—always.
Incidentally, Coulter berates California as a laboratory for Democratic governance. I thought that state was governed by a Republican.

Updated: Coulter Clubs Countdown Keith

Ann Coulter, Journalism, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Media, Socialism

Commissar Keith Olbermann of MSNBC needed a good smack for his sneering pomposity, uncompromising partisanship, and dedicated efforts in furthering Fabian economic planning and centralization. Unlike the Obama Doberman, Rachel Maddow, his comrade in arms, will occasionally have Ron Paul on her show.

As a libertarian who opposed the war in Iraq and the occupation of Afghanistan (the only legitimate libertarian positions), I had once harbored a soft spot for Olbermann. It’s since become abundantly clear that he’s unprepared to so much as cross Obama–even when it becomes apparent that his man is digging-in in Afghanistan.

Ann Coulter’s angle is fun. I’d have never mustered the interest to look into Olbermann’s Ivy-League pretensions. Curiously, no less an august authority than the Newspaper of Record reported that Olbermann was a Cornell graduate. It turns out that it was from that school’s agricultural college that our earthy Keith rose to fame:

“… Keith didn’t go to the Ivy League Cornell; he went to the Old MacDonald Cornell.

The real Cornell, the School of Arts and Sciences (average SAT: 1,325; acceptance rate: 1 in 6 applicants), is the only Ivy League school at Cornell and the only one that grants a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Keith went to an affiliated state college at Cornell, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (average SAT: about that of pulling guards at the University of South Carolina; acceptance rate: 1 of every 1.01 applicants).”

I’ll be glued to the screen for the next hour, waiting to see how Keith handles the blow to his Cornell core. He’ll have to contend with quite a bit of snickering in the future.

A good read is “Olbermann’s plastic ivy.”

Update: Olbermann was flustered and awkward. He made Coulter his “Third Worst Person in the World,” and struggled to counter her revelations about his plastic Ivy degree. By appealing to her inclusiveness, Olbermann flunked logic miserably. Paraphrased:

“I thought we were all supposed to respect our fellow Cornell graduates no matter the college from which they graduated.”

An appeal to good will and emotion? How like a liberal to sidestep immutable truths by an appeal to emotion: “please be nice to me, Annie.”

Update II: What Do You Know? We Are Not All Keynesians

Ann Coulter, Barack Obama, Economy, Inflation, Iraq, Israel, Media, Republicans, Socialism, Taxation, War

The Royal “We” is unwarranted; and it’s not only me. The following statement was signed by more than 200 academic economists, and posted by the Cato Institute. The Wall Street Journal buried the statement among a list of economists touting the stimulus package–and the “principle” of printing and borrowing the country out of a depression:

“Notwithstanding reports that all economists are now Keynesians and that we all support a big increase in the burden of government, we the undersigned do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance. More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s. More government spending did not solve Japan’s ‘lost decade’ in the 1990s. As such, it is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S. today. To improve the economy, policymakers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth.”

Update I (Jan 30): I always give credit where it’s due. Michelle Malkin is the only conservative writer that I know of who’s consistently protested the bailouts and assorted ‘stimuli’—not only the porky parts. And not because she is familiar with the Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT), but because she is a true fiscal conservative. Good enough:

Stimulus Slush Fund for Housing Entitlement Thugs

The UAW’s Money-Squandering Corruptocracy

The Paulson Putsch: Time For A Fiscal-Conservative Counterinsurgency

Update II (Jan 31): Malkin’s moniker for her party: The Bend Over Republicans (BOR).

Malkin has incurred my libertarian wrath, expressed in “Internment Chic.” However, she deserves the credit Ann Coulter undeservedly gets.

The Canadian conservative writer Kevin Grace captured the core of Coulter’s “craft”:

“The secret to becoming a successful right-wing columnist is to echo the mob while complimenting yourself on your daring. That’s all there is to Ann Coulter’s craft, the rest is exploitation of the sexual masochism of the American male—he just can’t get enough of the kitten with claws.”

Or, as I’ve put it, “The secret to success is to keep the masses euphoric, moronic, and pheromonic.”

Coulter is an attractive GOP cheerleader, who has never opposed The Party in any meaningful way. When matters get heated, she further escapes into her formulaic, “Liberals This; Liberals That.” A recipe that works well for her.

Updated: Iraq 5 Years On: CBC Ignores American Anti-War Right

Ann Coulter, Iraq, Journalism, Just War, Media, Ron Paul

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation commemorated the invasion of Iraq with an outstanding Fifth-Estate segment: “THE LIES THAT LED TO WAR: The Political, Diplomatic, and Media Spin that Convinced Americans to Invade Iraq.”

An important point made was that America is no closer to a reckoning that this “adventure” was a great wrong, if not an outright evil. Ann Coulter provided a strident example of this hubris. Tossing her magnificent mane, she mocked Canadians for not getting the goods on how good things were in Iraq. This was how democracies shaped up, Ann “argued.”

A disgrace really. Cruel too.

A question to the fine chroniclers of the war at the CBC: There is a small number of American reporters, pundits, and a few politicians that has always opposed this abominable invasion on the grounds that it violated natural rights, Just War Theory, the American Constitution, the comity of nations—and practically every single stricture familiar to babes on the playground.

(SEE “Just War for Dummies”
& “Unnatural Lawlessness”)

Rep. Ron Paul protested tirelessly; as did this writer (starting in September 2002 in an editorial for Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe And Mail) and her non-Beltway affiliated libertarian colleagues.

(SEE “Why So Many Americans Don’t Support Attacking Iraq,” except that there weren’t so many Americans, despite the titular hope the Globe and Mail expressed.)

Why does the CBC fail to mention our much-marginalized faction? Is it because we are, for the most, of the Old, classically liberal American Right?

Why keep featuring the fiendish Coulter, Malkin, and their Canadian copycat, one Rachel Marsden? [SEE “Lethal Weapons: Neocon Groupies“] Why not help consign them to the dustbin of punditry and look to the principled few (talented too) who stood for the soundest of philosophical principles?

We exist!

I grieved when the death toll in Iraq stood at 289—a lousy landmark I also happened to protest in an op-ed for the Canadian Globe And Mail. (SEE “Bush’s Warfare State”)

I continue to mourn now that it has climbed to 4000—yesterday. My grief at the trashing of Iraqi lives has been a constant in my writing over the last five years—in columns and blog entries alike. (The Archive is here)

Who chose to nominate the average suffering Iraqi as “Person of the Year”? Certainly not Time magazine.

(SEE “My Person of the Year: The Average Iraqi”)

Update (March 25): The Man From Texas and his simply stated, straightforward truth-telling:

“Five years into the invasion and occupation of Iraq, untold hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are dead; some two million Iraqis have fled the country as refugees; and the Iraqi Christian community – one of the oldest in the world – has been decimated more completely than even under the Ottoman occupation or the rule of Saddam Hussein.

On the US side, nearly four thousand Americans have lost their lives fighting in Iraq and many thousands more are horribly wounded. Our own senior military officers warn that our military is nearly broken by the strain of the Iraq occupation. The Veterans Administration is overwhelmed by the volume of disability claims from Iraq war veterans.

A study by Nobel Prize economist Joseph Stiglitz concludes that the cost of the war in Iraq could be at least $3 trillion. The economic consequences of our enormous expenditure in Iraq are beginning to make themselves known as we fall into recession and possibly worse…”