Finnpundit, like most (all?) enthusiastic advocates of one ideology, has to depend on rhetorics because ultimately politics are more complicated than that. I’m not sure that he really even believes in what he preaches all the time. The guy knows some big words and can articulate, I’ll give him that.

As an enthusiastic Ann Coulter reader I must protest. In Coulter’s text there seems to be something I can relate to, but this American worker-consumer hero working his way through all possible societies, well, that’s just too much for my tiny brain.

(Okey, I’ve never read a whole Coulter book. I once tried and got half-way through. The Liberal media this and that. Hohhoijaa.)

I wouldn’t call him that. He’s provocative. Compared to someone like Ann Coulter, he’s not that provocative.

I don’t think Finnpundit is a nationalist and his issue is not about making America out of Finland. Finnpundit is very critical of politics and politicians encroaching on the rights of private property and he wants globally more power to corporate interests. Finnpundit is a very articulate advocate of corporatocracy (corporate power, excuse me for not finding the right Greek word to this alternative to our kind of democracy) and he wants the market forces to have more power everywhere. If I’m interpreting him wrong, he can always correct me.

I think pundits are people who believe that they have deep knowledge. If you call yourself a pundit, that means you think you know what you’re talking about. Pundits are those who have opinions on politics and express them frequently and articulately.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pundit_%28politics%29

“Pundit” I believe is the Hindi word for sage. It’s sometimes written as “pandit” as in Pandit Nehru (the honorary title of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru who was no right-winger). The wikipedia article for Nehru explains that his title means “scholar” or “teacher”:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehru

“Pandit” and “pundit” is the same thing, it’s just that in English you write an “u” to mark that the Hindi sound is pronounced like how Finns pronounce “a”:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pundit_%28India%29

My guess is Finnpundit calls himself by that name because he wants to tell us he is the guru on all things Finnish. He is the teacher who explains Finland to an American audience, or that portion of America that shares his deeply-felt beliefs on the capitalist free markets.

In Europe the use of “pundit” as political blogger is also spreading and those who don’t like American right-wingers who call themselves pundits can try European pundits such as Europundits:

http://www.europundits.blogspot.com

And what is it about this “pundit” thing? I was under the impression that “pundit” reffered to people who have deep knowledge about this or that, but, apparently, it nowadays refers to all kinds of right-wing nutcases.

Presidential pardons are a relic from long ago and I’m not really sure if it’s meaningful to have them in 21st Century Finland. But it is a long-term practice and Halonen isn’t really doing anything very dramatic in this issue of pardons.

When Finnpundit takes up the issue of anti-Americanism in Finland, he’s usually critical of Finns talking about stuff they don’t know that much about. The same would apply for anti-Finnish Americans. But since Finnpundit most probably is Finnish-American, he knows everything about both Finland and America and is immune to such arguments. When Finnpundit criticizes Halonen, or John Kerry, or anybody else Finnish or American, he is basically telling a fellow Finn or his fellow American to shove it. Knowing Finland, knowing America, knowing Finns, knowing Americans, all this makes Finnpundit immune to criticism. Only when Finnpundit tells the French (or anybody else) to shove it, according to this logic there is reason to suspect that he has no clue of what he is talking about. If I’m maliciously misrepresenting Finnpundit’s logic, please feel free to protest.

And this is the American who raves about anti-Americanism in Finland! Haloo, Halonen on demokraattisesti valittu valtionpäänainen, whether you like it or not. Show some respect. (Not that you would understand what I wrote) I could call Bush junior an illiterate asshole if that wasn’t too difficult a concept for him – and you – to understand. “Heck, I’ve never heard of an asshole that could literate … Mine just makes these odd sounds I can’t control. Now, let’s kill some more innocent Muslim children.” I could but I won’t. I have too much respect for the democratic tradition in the US. Luckily enough, Bush is just a mistake which will be corrcted.

http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/vasen/id33852.html

The ten years for aggravated arson is the maximum; two years is the minimum. Courts very rarely use either the minimum or the maximum, they tend to like the middle ground more.

You know, you don’t have to guess about these things, there is real information available on the web!