Category Archives: The Zeitgeist

Letter of the Week: In Defense of Coulter

Ann Coulter, Media, The Zeitgeist

James Huggins writes:

Ann Coulter usually calls a spade a spade. In this case she called it a bloody shovel. Sometimes she’s over the top but at least we know where she stands. At least, also, she doesn’t genuflect to the gay/lesbian idol like the rest of us are forced to do. These alleged conservatives who jump up on chairs and pull up their skirts like Gracie Allen seeing a mouse give me a pain. Maybe Coulter is over the top, but I’ll take her “hemline-short” arguments any day as opposed to the never ending gutless pandering to the left done by supposed conservative spokesmen. By the way, what’s wrong with being homophobic? As long as a homophobe isn’t shooting or rock throwing then said homophobe should be allowed his own opinion. It’s a free country. Isn’t it? Or anyway, it used to be.

 

How Dare You Disparage a TV Host, Ilana!

Intellectualism, Journalism, Media, The Zeitgeist

Now for something completely different. A blogger has claimed it was outrageous of me to belittle Glenn Beck’s brain power without the attendant detailed textual exegesis and footnotes—just about. I had mistakenly surmised that among those with a modicum of intelligence certain things are manifestly true. Alas, the culture has deteriorated to such an extent that no a priori agreement exists about intelligence and its manifestations.
Since Beck, mercifully, doesn’t write (he will, he will; the dreaded book will appear in the fullness of time), there are vaults of TV-time evidence to prove he is not too bright. For anyone who possesses a smidgen of intelligence, who lives in America, has watched a lot of TV, and listens to the radio; let us establish a couple of a priori truths:
Beck is a bit of a simpleton. Rush Limbaugh isn’t the brightest. Hannity is not too smart. Nor was poor Anna Nicole Smith, RIP. If civilization means anything, some things in this world must simply be accepted as axiomatic. But standards mean squat, I know, I know!
And while we’re at it, the economic laws of supply and demand do not need empirical proof for their validation; they are a priori true. Or, as Gene Callahan puts it in this excellent essay, “they are logically prior to any empirical study of economic phenomena.”

Updated: ‘Inflation 101 for Women Pundits & Other Tyrants’

Economy, Media, The Zeitgeist

“Libertarians have a keen appreciation of how governments monkey with the money supply. This is but one of the reasons principled libertarians abhor the optional war pursued in Iraq. By and large, the war accounts for the $9 trillion in national debt. It’s a debt that has been increasing ‘average of $1.47 billion per day since September 29, 2006.’ At the time of writing, every one of us owes $28,921.”

“Yet, never once have the war harpies and their hombres in the ideological trenches indicated they comprehend how and WHO is paying for all this. I know they believe we’re not being taxed in lieu of the debt, a faith they base on Bush’s promise not to raise taxes…”

Here’s hoping that “Inflation 101 for Women Pundits & Other Tyrants” —a primer about inflation at home and hyperinflation in Zimbabwe—will persuade ‘the distaff side of the commentariat,’ especially, to stop whooping it up for war.

Update: Related reading: “Lethal Weapons: Neocon Groupies“

Updated: 'Inflation 101 for Women Pundits & Other Tyrants'

Media, The Zeitgeist

“Libertarians have a keen appreciation of how governments monkey with the money supply. This is but one of the reasons principled libertarians abhor the optional war pursued in Iraq. By and large, the war accounts for the $9 trillion in national debt. It’s a debt that has been increasing ‘average of $1.47 billion per day since September 29, 2006.’ At the time of writing, every one of us owes $28,921.”

“Yet, never once have the war harpies and their hombres in the ideological trenches indicated they comprehend how and WHO is paying for all this. I know they believe we’re not being taxed in lieu of the debt, a faith they base on Bush’s promise not to raise taxes…”

Here’s hoping that “Inflation 101 for Women Pundits & Other Tyrants” —a primer about inflation at home and hyperinflation in Zimbabwe—will persuade ‘the distaff side of the commentariat,’ especially, to stop whooping it up for war.

Update: Related reading: “Lethal Weapons: Neocon Groupies“