On October 21, 1774, the first display of the word “Liberty” appeared on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts, in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.
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The purpose of a military — unless invading places for the hell of it — is to wield violence against violent threats to your country. What else are all the tanks and guns for?
The putative threats haven’t normally included . . . the weather.
But that’s been changing.
We probably shouldn’t be surprised to learn that Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is on board with scare-mongering about catastrophic “climate change,” supposedly wrought by mankind’s industrial contributions of carbon to the atmosphere. But Chuck needs to study harder if he thinks that hurricanes, tornadoes, and other rotten weather — or, for that matter, changes in average global temperature — are anything new on this planet.
He also credulously accepts the most dire predictions about melting glaciers, rising sea levels, islands sinking under the ocean, rising emigration and global unrest, etc. And without a touch of irony avers that we must be “clear-eyed” about “the security threats presented by climate change, and . . . proactive in addressing them.”
How are soldiers supposed to “address” variations in weather except, like all of us, by proactively wearing coats, carrying umbrellas, turning on air conditioning, moving away from eroding shorelines, building arks, etc?
Drop bombs on coal plants?
Not quite.
Secretary Hagel wants defense ministers to start attending UN climate-change conferences, for starters.
In other news, scientists say the rate at which plants are absorbing carbon dioxide (green things love the stuff) has been substantially underestimated in climate models.
Just when you think you’ve got the enemy figured out. . . .
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Jean-Paul Sartre
I cannot make liberty my aim unless I make that of others equally my aim.
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October 20, US territory expansion
On October 20, 1803, the United States Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase. Exactly 15 years later, the Convention of 1818 signed between the United States and the United Kingdom which, among other things, settled the Canada-United States border on the 49th parallel for most of its length.
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Jean-Paul Sartre
We will freedom for freedom’s sake, in and through particular circumstances. And in thus willing freedom, we discover that it depends entirely upon the freedom of others and that the freedom of others depends upon our own.
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Houston, You’re a Problem
Will this installment of “Common Sense” be subpoenaed by the City of Houston?
The city first subpoenaed the sermons of pastors who oppose a controversial equal-rights ordinance and who have “ties” to conservative activists suing the city. When that raised howls of protest, the city, in its infinite wisdom, issued new subpoenas for “speeches” by these pastors.
The difference between sermons and speeches? None.
The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance expands what counts as illegal discrimination in the workplace to include any based on sexual orientation or “gender identity or pregnancy.” The ordinance seeks to eradicate the “diminution of dignity, respect and status” that it declares must result from any unequal treatment — regardless of the reason — related to any of 15 or so protected characteristics. The vagueness and catch-all character of this further workplace regimentation would doubtless spawn new lawsuits by dignity-diminished employees eager to interpret motives in the most lawsuit-conducive light.
My point, though, is not about governmental bullying of employers and violation of their rights, but governmental bullying of critics of government policy and violation of their right to speak freely. Speech that vexes you is not thereby properly subject to legal action. Indeed, political speech is precisely the kind of feather-ruffling communication that the First Amendment was designed to protect.
Nobody would bother trying to curb the flow of sermons (or speeches) about the weather.
Houston needs to be sued again — for issuing all of these subpoenas.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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October 19, British defeat
On October 19, 1781, representatives of British commander Lord Cornwallis handed over Cornwallis’ sword and formally surrendered to George Washington and the comte de Rochambeau, at Yorktown, Virginia. The Revolutionary War (or War for Independence, or Colonial Rebellion, or whatever you wish to call it) was over. In 1918 on this date, conservative writer Russell Kirk was born.
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Niels Bohr
Every great and deep difficulty bears in itself its own solution. It forces us to change our thinking in order to find it.
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Townhall: The Deceivers
Will the Decepticons transform Arkansas? Not if the truth gets out to the people in time.
Click on over to Townhall.com. Read. Enjoy. Then come back here for the necessary R&D.
- YouTube: Arkansas Term Limits TV Ad “Outrage”
- YouTube: Arkansas Term Limits TV Ad “Loosen”
- Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (subscription required): Group’s ads warn Issue 3 deceptive
- KTHV TV Little Rock: Ark. GOP opposes Issue 3
- The News (Salem): Arkansas Ballot Issue 3 – boon or boondoggle?
- YouTube: Speech by Tim Jacob about Issue 3 Scam
- Ballotpedia: Arkansas’s Issue 3
- Full Text of Issue 3
- Save Term Limits: Legislative Vote on Issue 3
And then: contact your friends and family in Arkansas. There is no reason to let the Decepticons win.
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Video: Grading the Governors
Who gets the A’s, who gets the F’s: