Miller on Cameron

Restore The Constitution, Guilford Courthouse

Some thoughts on my first rally, the RTC event at Guilford Courthouse Battleground Park, Greensboro, NC...

Easily the most entertaining speaker was Bubba, from What Bubba Knows.  If you expect sensitivity and tolerance, Bubba does not mind shaking your sorry ass up.  I like that.

We arrived a little late, and I'd complain about the sparse signage for road names and numbers, or the repeated instances of signs hidden by foliage overgrowth, but I'd be afraid more so-called stimulus funds would get earmarked for pruning services.

Judging from how far away we had to park, I was thinking the attendance would be over 1,000.  I believe it was more like 500-700.  Still a good turnout, considering the weather, but who belonged to all those cars?  My guess is that many of those vehicles were parked there by the passive resistance crowd: Park in the way...walk off to other parts of the park...discourage attendance?  If so, it certainly didn't work, because there were lots of attendees parked further back from us, who walked (and limped) farther to and fro.

My radar was on alert for trouble, but there was none.  At least, there was no obvious blatant trouble.  There were some curious characters, but even the few that I mentally pegged as such were applauding the same speakers and at the same times as was I.

Whether you had the full re-enactment uniform (which was way cool), or the tie-dye t-shirt, or shirt & tie, or the Veteran's hat (thanks, by the way) or the boonie hat, I was glad to see you and glad you're on the right side.

I wasn't so glad to hear some of you, and that was my only major gripe regarding the event.  If you were there to schmooze or carry on your own agenda, you should have the common decency and regard to set yourself up at a little table on the periphery, or even the entrance, and blather on to your heart's content.  If you were sitting or standing near me or someone else who gave a shit what the speaker had to say, as a manner of learning what the speaker was all about or to perhaps glean some wisdom, have the good sense to shut the fuck right up.  There were some things said that I'd heartily endorse, and some things that knitted my eyebrows, and some things that I missed because I was distracted by your soliloquy.

Especially if you were one of those speakers.  There were at least five of you who felt no qualms about being out in the crowd before or after your speech, showing little regard for the one at the podium and droning on and on about the golden friggin corral, or how hot it is, or the epic saga of how you came to acquire this particular firearm.  Point one is there's a time and place.  Point two is never miss an opportunity to shut up and listen.

And a note to the organizers of the next one: The distrubution of pamphlets and such needs to be limited to the entrance/exit areas to minimize the associated distraction therein.  And, if there was a published cast of characters (list of speakers, with maybe a bare-bones bio for each), I missed it.  If there wasn't such, make a note of having one for the next rally.  I'll be there.

Note to the law enforcement personnel:  If you're hiding behind a wall, you appear as if you expect to be a target.  On the other hand, those listening to and applauding the speeches are apt to be sorted into the "friendlies" column.  Listening has a multitude of benefits.  Hiding has comparitively few.

All in all, I enjoyed the rally, and was glad I went.  Plus, I wished I'd have planned enough time around the event, before and after, to suitably appreciate the historical markers.  Coming soon hopefully, a photo-essay field trip to King's Mountain.

We were there.

III

Brilliant!

Freckles and I had tentatively planned on going to the Crawdads' game last night, but talked ourselves out of it.  The scheduled fireworks would have been fun, but sitting through the 18-4 drubbing...not so much.

So, instead, we watched part of a game on the TeeVee last night.  And were treated to two sportscasting gems!  Without naming names:

1) Pitcher tosses a big overhand curve, which the umpire calls a strike, and the catcher snags just above the dirt in front of him.  The previous pitch, another curve, had bounced in the dirt in front of the catcher and gotten away, allowing the runner on first to advance to second.  Announcer #1 (also known as Master of the Obvious #1) says, "If he'd not caught that one, it would have bounced on the ground."

As if everyone would have expected the ball to circle the globe?

And:

2) A shot from the blimp shows the sunset over the river, and the announcer, seemingly in an attempt to upstage his partner's MOTO moment says, "That is, I believe, a view toward the West end of town."

The implication, I suppose, is that if you were fast enough, you could run to the next town and the sunset would still be in the East.

And to think we'd have missed that.

Question

Do you believe that perhaps the Conspirator In Chief thinks that "Ground Zero" is named after him?

Freshly Minted

In the spirit of coining new terms of aspersion, like Islamophobia and ConspiRACIST, as a manner of degrading oppositional argument, I was already prepared to submit this one:

ISLAMOPHAG- One who endorthes toluhwanth above all elth.

But then, I learned this morning from Uncle Jimbo that Greg Gutfeld has investors lined up for an actual Islamophag establishment; one that seeks to play off the GZ Mosque's purported theme of unity.  UJ's favorite new name for Gutfield's Gay Bar for Muslims is Mohammed's Man Meet.

Fucking classic.

How about Mo-HOMOed's?  That's maybe too convoluted.

Towel-Heads & Pillow-Biters has a pleasant ring to it, no?

How about Let's Sharia My Prayer Rug?

All the "bouncers" should wear the official Bin Ladin coveralls, you know, the style with the padded knees and the zipper in the back.

Other suggestions?

UPDATE:

Ann Coulter's site is on board with more ideas, including -

Shiite Faced
Al Queerda
Holey War
Rahm Emanuel

If You Build It...

...Bigoted Crackers will come.

As you well know, there's been a raging debate over this proposed Mosque in NY city, very near the site of the 9/11 World Trade Center attack, also known as "Ground Zero." And recently, I found myself in a mudsling over in the comment section of perhaps my most-favorite blog, Flopping Aces.

It seems, other commenters may have resorted to some unsavory name-calling, and one of the regular contributors felt justified in returning the favor by posting an article which effectively lumped all opposition to the Mosque into the category of "Islamophobes."  The author also coined the term "conspiRACISTS" in his article, ostensibly to belittle anyone who didn't subscribe to his extreme notion of tolerance.

One other contributor took umbrage to the labeling, and he, Mike's America, is now an ex-contributor.  Two other contributors defended the race-hustling author.  One called me a bigot.  I hope I recover.

I never even voiced specific opposition to the construction, and don't believe the argument is one over the applicability of our Constitution, but over the protections our country should afford its citizens in a time of war, and even the very definition of who that enemy is.

Personally, I don't give a rat's ass if your game involves labeling me.  I'm unaffected.  I figured some others might be swayed by your condescending tone, though, so I pushed back.  Most folks still avoid being labeled racist at all costs, and that's why the liberal media plays that card every couple weeks.  I expect it from Olbermann and Matthews and CNN and ABC/CBS/NBC/PBS, and so I distance myself from those nitwits.

Similarly, I'm now convinced that some of the authors at FA have pissed away my loyalty.  You'd lost your argument when you lost your audience.  Calling 92% of those readers "Islamophobes" will do that.

Those same regular authors like to refer to themselves as "conservative."  If you're among a legitimate group of conservatives (Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Karl Rove, Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin), which of them would ever use the term "Islamophobe"?  Which of them would cringe, instead?

I enjoyed what Jeffrey Jena had to say about the proposed Mosque, though:

If this group of Muslims own this property then I must defend their right to do all that is legal with that property. If they think their actions will somehow raise tolerance for their sect they are sadly mistaken. If they want to be crappy neighbors then I would love to see New York do the same right back at them.

My first suggestion would be for Mayor Bloomberg to zone the area around the mosque for strip clubs and legalized street walking. Assign policemen of Jewish heritage to answer all calls at the Mosque. Schedule the gay pride parade to circle the block several times, if possible right at prayer hour. Allow as many street vendors as would like them licenses to sell pork sandwiches and “medicinal” marijuana in that area. My final suggestion would be to have the city tear up the side walks around the building and repave them with a nice mixture of Portland Cement and bacon fat.

Or, the Cordoba House masonry subcontractor could just run some livermush in with the mortar, and every brick laid becomes a big "Fuck you too, Mohammed".

Tolerance is a fine thing, taken in moderation.  Recently though, the very overextension of tolerance, in fear of being labeled intolerant, has gotten lots of good Americans killed.  I'd be an Islamophobe long before I'd be an enabler or a victim.

Pack Your Crap, And Get Out