Let's start out today by asking...
How Dumb is Ann Coulter?

I've written before that the ex-patriot community in Japan is rather liberal, so sometimes I forget how popular conservative ideology is back home. I had assumed because Ann Coulter had been so largely discredited, no one would read her anymore. To my dismay, I noticed that every book store I went into still had her books prominently displayed, so there must be people out there who still take her seriously.

Ann Coulter has been completely discredited in almost every venue you can imagine. Just a few small examples are Spin Sanity, of course Al Franken's book (a great read for anyone who hasn't read it already), and then Ann Coulter's responses to Franken's book, which only prove his points (which can be read here). Ann Coulter has been slammed for factual inaccuracy by just about everyone who has reviewed her books. (My favorite review is from the Washington Post, which you can be here.) Indeed, it is probably safe to say that every intelligent person already holds Coulter in contempt, and anyone who still likes her is beyond the grasp of reason. So in that respect I suppose it is pointless to continue to slam her.

But just for fun...
I couldn't resist linking to this, a video in which Ann Coulter claims Canada sent troops to Vietnam, and then argues with the Canadian interviewer who claims otherwise.

Now, consider that this little fact isn't just a bit of trivial pursuit. Canada's lack of involvement in the Vietnam War was part of the reason for the strained relations between Johnson and Trudeau. It was why Trudeau was looked upon by much of the New Left as the only good politician. It is why anti-war protests did not spill over to Canada in the same way they did to other US allies (like Japan or West Germany). In fact, this is why people went to Canada to avoid the draft in the first place. It wouldn't make any sense to go to Canada to avoid the war if Canada was also fighting in Vietnam.

And not only does Ann Coulter seem to mistake this, but is so sure of herself that she argues with the Canadian interviewer. And all this from a woman who is old enough to have lived through the events, who makes her career as a political pundit, and who writes books about how dumb liberals are. Unbelievable.


Speaking of Vietnam, appearently this is making the rounds but if you haven't seen this 1967 news article on reported terrorist efforts to disrupt elections in South Vietnam, it's worth a read, here or here.

Onto other topics...
Snow
And we've got snow here in Gifu. Not that we didn't have it before, but we've got a lot of it now.

On my previous blog post I wrote about some of the differences between Oita and Gifu. Add this to the list. Gifu has a lot more snow.

As you can see from both Mike's and Josh's blog, Ajimu apparently has a bit of snow right now as well. Indeed over my 3 years there I saw some snow from time to time. And it was amazing how little snow it took to get things cancelled. We had a snow day once when only the thinnest layer of snow covered the ground. I was supposed to run in a race last year that was cancelled (much to my relief) because just a little bit of snow was in the air.

Now, granted a little bit of snow can cause a lot of havoc in a place like Ajimu. No one has snow plows or snow shovels or even decent snow wear. No one is used to driving on the snow, the car tires are not made for winter driving, and the the fact that Ajimu is surrounded by mountains on all sides makes going anywhere more trouble than it is worth. I wrote last year in the blog that even a little bit of snow caused me to be trapped in the town of Ajimu.

But it is interesting to see the contrast in Gifu. We had so much snow I'm certain it would have been a snow day even by Michigan standards, and yet school went on as normal. Many of the teachers weren't able to drive on the roads, so they either walked to school, biked or took the train. I drove, but I live close to school, and besides consider myself well accustomed to winter driving.

I also learned a lot of words on the play ground today that I never learned in Oita. Like the Japanese words for "snow ball fight", "snowman", "snow fort", and "person who got hit in the face with a snow ball."