One of our most secret and ancient of operatives lives in the distant Nepalese cliffs, where he works on eldritch deeds most foul. His name is “Ken,” because that’s what everyone calls him.

Dread Czar,

I saw the clip of said leg-sweep, and that fellow from CBS accomplished something: he made me think better of Noot Buonaparte. I didn’t think that was possible.

Agreed: Newt is a loaded weapon, and the last thing you want to do is give him ammunition. The Czar gives Newt some credit: he knows that many people aren’t as smart as he is, and he welcomes the opportunity to explain and educate. Unless of course, you try to school him by making a fundamental error in something he knows quite well. Then Newt will peel your face like an orange, which is what happened.

On the subject of V for Vendetta, in the original comic serial (collected as a graphic novel) V was explicitly anarchist (for given values of anarchist: Alan Moore is a heck of a comics writer, but not exactly a coherent political philosopher). In the comic there’s a good long sequence in which V hijacks the TV to lay out his case.

There were substantial departures from the graphic novel (pity they couldn’t have made the movie before Donald Pleasence died — the most sympathetic character on the “government side” was modeled on Pleasence).

For whatever that’s worth….

Best regards,
Ken

The Czar regrets he is forced to take your word for it. He is familiar only with the cineplay version.

Interestingly, as a follow-on to our comment about the character of Lewis Prothero being Goebbels, many Lefties claim that the film Prothero is based not on Limbaugh, but on Glenn Beck! Even the Left disagrees with the popular notion that Prothero is based on Limbaugh; admittedly, probably many on the Left have never heard either man broadcast and so cannot tell the difference. Certainly, neither Limbaugh nor Beck have much in common as far as format, substance, and style—and certainly neither man is anything like the Leftist impression of what they decide to be correct. There is no evidence that actor Roger Allam has ever studied either Beck or Limbaugh; one supposes that you merely ascribe his performance to whatever media figure you hate most.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.