Category Archives: Politics
Ted Nugent
Ted Nugent says he’s sorry, kind of, for referring to the president as a subhuman mongrel. He’s also sorry that his words will be used against politicians he supports.
“I did cross the line, I do apologize”, Nugent said, “not necessarily to the president , but on behalf of much better men than myself, like the best governor in America, Rick Perry, and the best attorney general in America (Greg Abbott)”.
Republicans are keeping their distance.
Flynt v Falwell Cartoon First Amendment Anniversary
Today is the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Flynt v Falwell decision. It was a very important ruling because it acts as a kind of get out of jail card for cartoonists. Also, it gives me an excuse to quote myself from my book The Recent History of the United States in Political Cartoons: A Look Bok!:
As an endangered industry, political cartooning seeks, and gets, federal protection. It comes in the form of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Flynt v Falwell
Larry Flynt published an over-the-top raunchy cartoon, in his porn magazine Hustler. The cartoon was about Rev. Jerry Falwell and his mother. Falwell sued and the case made its way to the Supreme Court. Falwell claimed the cartoon caused him emotional distress. Of course it did. That was the point, as Chief Justice Rehnquist noted in the court’s unanimous opinion for Flynt:
“The appeal of the political cartoon or caricature is often based on the exploration of unfortunate physical traits or politically embarrassing events… often calculated to hurt the feelings of the subject of the portrayal.”
In order to protect political cartoons the court had to protect Larry Flynt’s offensive cartoon. Not many jobs have a Supreme Court mandate to cause emotional distress.
Even so, it’s not like I keep this date marked on my calendar. I noticed it when I stumbled on this piece about it by Carl Cannon at Real Clear Politics. Cannon had this to say about the court’s ruling:
To decide otherwise, the eight justices reasoned, would effectively outlaw political cartooning. This, too, the high court ruled, would be an unwise and unconstitutional decision to render. Rehnquist quoted approvingly from the words of a cartoonist:
“The political cartoon is a weapon of attack, of scorn and ridicule and satire; it is least effective when it tries to pat some politician on the back. It is usually as welcome as a bee sting, and is always controversial in some quarters.”
First Amendment
Flynt and Falwell eventually went on the road together debating the First Amendment.
Settled Science
The Settled Science is unsettling. President Obama began last week with a trip to California where he blamed the drought on Global warming, aka Climate Change. Most climate change models predict warming will cause a wet California.
Click on this chart to see the WSJ Mcnider/Christy article on why John Kerry is all wet.
More Settled Science
Then John Kerry dragged the State Department into the act by proclaiming Climate Change to be the world’s greatest weapon of mass destruction. He added that only shoddy scientists disagree. Here’s is Dr. Krauthammer’s diagnosis.
This Forbes piece shows that 31,000 scientists might not like being called “flat earthers” by Kerry and his fellow climate McCarthyites.
Update:
Krauthammer, in the piece mentioned above, says insisting the science is settled is “a crude attempt to silence critics and delegitimize debate”. Sure enough, environmental activists launched a petition demanding that the Washington Post not publish his column.
FCC Plan to Pressure Newsrooms
Last week the Wall Street Journal published a story about an FCC plan to pressure newsrooms to provide the kind of coverage the government wants. That led to the kind of coverage the government didn’t want and the FCC backed off its scheme.
Where Does Wendy Stand?
Wendy Davis became famous for her pink running shoe filibuster in the Texas assembly. She was trying to stop the passage of a law to ban abortion after 20 weeks and require higher standards for abortion clinics. She claimed ignorance of the Gosnell case.
A national “Stand With Wendy” campaign erupted among the pro abortion crowd.
Wendy cashed in on her fame to run for governor. But her campaign took on water when Wayne Slater reported on her resume in the Dallas Morning News. Now she’s trying to right her ship by standing with the abortion limiting views she filibustered.
