As IF Times

link ROYAL CAR ATTACK: Blunder left Camilla cowering after hit with stick by protestors | Mail Online.

According to Police reports, the royal security people were within ‘seconds’ of using their firearms to counter the rioters who had surrounded the limousine carrying the royal couple.  I have to say,  the Brits really are a different breed of people.  The stiff upper lip that the English are so  famous for seems to permeate all levels of their society.  Even the police, renowned for their trademark restraint outdid themselves here.  Some may recall that in the old days, they were to be armed only with a whistle and a truncheon.  Surely that would be enough to subdue any unruly ruffian.

In this particular incident, it was reported that Camilla was actually prodded by a stick thrust through one of the broken windows of the car.  Apparently, she had a momentary loss of decorum and let escape an almost-royal scream.  How undignified indeed.  Charles of course was deeply embarrassed by her shameful display of common behaviour and glared at her reproachfully. ” Camilla”, he sniffed,  “One does not scream in the presence of commoners.  One must behave as a Royal.”  The security team assigned to the protection of the royal couple were equally adamant that all was in hand.  They were monitoring the scene and despite the poking of Camilla by a stick, apparently, she was in no real danger.  A police commander reports, ” Should Lady Camilla have been ensconced in a full nelson, a  headlock or some other grapple hold, we would have been forced to respond”  It’s likely the first response would have been to blow a whistle loudly followed by harsh words.  Apparently, the unruly mob’s yelling of “OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!”, the breaking of the limo’s windows and tossing of paint all over the car didn’t quite come across as provocation or cause for alarm in the judgement of the bobbies on duty. 

Compare this to the recent trip by the American President to Spain wherein he was ferried about in the mammoth armor plated Presidential limo, an entourage of black Suburbans equipped with machine guns and rocket launchers and of course a phalanx of G-men with suspicious bulges under their suits.  The west have become such sissies.  I’ll bet you Camilla and Charles didn’t even bother with seat belts so required of those here in the west.  Heck, here in the west, we are afraid of everything.  Michelle Obama even thinks child obesity is a threat to national security.  Speaking of the First Lady, imagine if Michelle had been prodded by a stick through a broken window of a car carrying her: it’s doubtful that the Secret Service would have been just within seconds of using their firearms.  If so, there would be heads rolling like  bowling balls. 

The Brits may want to take this security thing a little more seriously.  The notion that it’s just kids who are exercising their lawful right to protest may be a bit naive.  I don’t recall that “Off with their heads” is a legitimate form of protest, but, I have been out of school for a while.  Things must have changed.

link  Chris Matthews says Barbour, Christie too fat to be president | Washington Examiner.

People who read what I write may not be that familiar with Chris Matthews.  Matthews is the MSNBC correspondent immortalized for his famous quote of  ” I get a tingle up my leg when I hear him (Obama) speak”.  MSNBC is also home to other commentators wandering back and forth across the line of sanity; Keith Olbermann for example.  This cable station has long been the home of left leaning views on social and political issues.  When I say left, I mean laughably partisan.  Now that Comcast has taken over the station, it’ll be interesting to see what becomes of the format.  At the moment, it may as well be the Comedy Channel.

But the real point of amusement are the techniques common to all left wing commentators in criticizing conservative personalities.  Unable to attack specific platforms, the predictable default tactic consists of ad hominem attacks on the individual.  The popular approach is to label them stupid.   Dan Quayle, Ronald Reagan, George W Bush and recently of course, Sarah Palin have been tagged with this characterization.  It’s most humorous when Joy Behar and Cher describe conservatives as dumb, you  can’t make that up.  Sometimes, it’s more subtle, as in Barbara Walters asking in sneering, condescending  tones during her interviews with both Obama and Oprah on whether Palin was qualified to be President.  Recently the D list comic Kathy “Gutter Mouth” Griffin, called Bristol Palin, fat.  Well, sticks, stones and all that stuff, but it gets old.  These are the persuasive arguments from….12 year olds?  So now, the articulate Matthews thinks that Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey is too fat  to be president.  He’s obviously never heard of William Howard Taft, the 340 pound 27th president of the U.S.  In his time, he too was derided for his weight.  According to lore, William G. Harding famously commented,

“…He’s not fit to be in that office… No Really, he can’t even fit in the damn office!…”

In fact he actually did get stuck in the White House bathtub and had to be pried out.  Subsequently a wider tub was installed.   Like Christie of New Jersey, Taft was able to poke fun at his own weight and it certainly did not prevent him from being an effective president. It’s particularly pathetic that lefty commentators have so little material that they regress to the juvenile schoolyard taunts of their youth.  Labelling people fat and stupid; this from the side who has Michael Moore as a hero.  It is this same side of the political spectrum that bemoans the lack of decorum and civility in political discourse.  For fine examples of articulate statesmanship, check out the Dem clowns, er congressmen Alan Grayson or Anthony Wiener on Google, I won’t bore people with their shtick here. 

Christie may be fat, but Matthews is a jerk.  At least Christie can always lose weight.  We’re better off having a principled fat guy than a skinny… well you know.