Kim Strassel: Another Misguided Cruz Missile - WSJ.com:
Good article on the circular firing squad that is doing it's best to scuttle the Republicans slim hopes of taking the Senate.
CONSERVATIVES are to be the party of principle first, but it has never been all that clear what the Republican Party in America is. The Democrats have always been the party of "POWER by whatever means necessary baby!!!".
Republicans have made runs at "justice" ... ending slavery, giving blacks the vote, ensuring the they were actually allowed to vote, etc, based on principle. All those efforts faced staunch opposition from Democrats.
"Progressives" have been a major force in both parties -- Teddy Roosevelt being the big Republican "progressive". "Progressive" is another oxymoron like "liberal", the best definition is paternalism enforced by the state. Prohibition was an example of a "progressive" project, as was eugenics, forced sterilization for the "less fortunate". The National Socialists in Germany were unabashedly "progressive", but when they didn't turn out to be so wonderful, the term "liberal" was stolen from the ACTUAL liberals -- or "libertarian" wing of the more conservative parties.
So Republicans have always had an "identity problem" -- while the media likes to claim they are the party of the "rich", that is definitely not so ... the vast majority of the wealthy in this country are Democrats. Including CEOs, Hollywood Stars, media personalities, Sports Stars, Wall Street Tycoons, and of course Lawyers.
In gambling, the big rule is "the house wins". This is also true in politics, and "the house" is made up of 90%+ Lawyers -- State and Federal, but of course the big money folks are also part of "the house" -- they prefer a government controlled playing field where their risks are bailed out by the government and their rewards can be taxed lightly or not at all. (they are HUGELY in favor of income earning folks in the $40-$500K range paying VASTLY more taxes)
That is why we find when a Democrat tries to appoint people they are all 10's, 100's of thousands or more out of whack on taxes. The IRS is part of the corrupt system that rewards the friends of the the ruling party and punishes it's enemies. Being the right level of Democrat freind means that you are exempt from things like high taxes -- you are a freind, taxes are for the enemies to pay!
Reagan formed a coalition that is very damaged now, and as this article points out, teetering. The Tea Party is an unabashedly upper low and ACTUAL "middle class" movement -- meaning folks from around $40K INCOME to say "< $500K" in INCOME. The media and the Democrats, but I repeat myself, get VERY angry about folks like that having the gall to think!
Note, I said INCOME, not WEALTH!!! Because of the income tax, we live with a good many fantasies in this country. Reagan formed a coalition of that "income middle class" + elderly and religious folks that still cared about values at that time. The Democrats like to call people that make $150, $200, $300K ish "rich". A few years of that maximum level of income is "nice", and if one watches their Ps and Q's, lives WELL below the lifestyle level one would "think" such an income would buy, invests wisely and has some luck, you might be able to have something.
Most people don't -- they borrow heavily all the way up the scale, spend a lot on cars, vacations, etc, and maybe invest in a lot of popular products that primarily make investment people wealthy. Then the plant closes, the market crashes, the housing prices drop, etc, etc, and they are back in the "needs assistance" class -- which is what the system the Democrats set up is exactly as planned!
The Democrats have used abortion, gay marriage, added government assistance and programs and vastly increasing amounts of public employment (much of it via contracting) to lock in their power base solidly. Romey was wrong about the 47% takers vs makers ... it is more like 53% primarily takers. Doesn't mean they don't work, and don't work hard, but they believe that the same "house" that is owned by lawyers, wall street, hollywood, the super rich, etc is actually going to make their lives better.
The party of power could care less about the benefit of anyone but themselves, least of all those that are willing to be the "controlled" -- sometimes known as "the sheeple" part of their voting block. Over 90% of the blacks, over 70% of the women, over 70% of those that receive some sort of government "benefit" -- rising of course with BOcare. Those that consume a diet full of public education and mass media that either never thought they had a shot, or have lost faith for more than being wards of the state are way too afraid to question the hand that (for now) feeds them.
So we kill the general competitiveness and innovation of the nation by increasing the transfer from the small business owner and the $40-$500K income level as well as future generations -- making sure that they know their future is hopeless before they ever even get out of school.
To the extent that the ruling class cares, which in general they don't, their belief is that they will be able to ride out the implosion -- sure, many of the sheeple that voted them in might live in absolute squalor and death, but by that time they will have fully institutionalized the kind of corrupition we see under BO.
The Republicans are now a rump party. W was our last faint hope, but he was too much of the old line patrician kind of R like his Dad, and not nearly the kind of communicator that was needed. We screwed the pooch with the '06 election and it has been downhill from there. I see nobody on the horizon capable of transmitting the relatively simple message that the vast majority of Americans have been completely duped, and those that look around a bit are just waiting for the inevitable final fall.
It becomes hard to know what to cheer for -- a Republican win that might stave things off a very tiny bit, another Republican rout that would return us to the '07-'09 kind of free fall, or just some treading water, which is the most likely. Very very few even have a remote handle on the seriousness or our situtation, and games like Cruz is playing are very much rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
'via Blog this'
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Unapolagetic and Weightless
And Now for Something Completely Different | Power Line:
I agree with PL, Kate Upton weightless is TRUE innovation!
Isn't it great that on the left, the people they approve of are supposed to be PROUD of WHO THEY ARE!!! Like a "minority" like "women" who are actually a majority, can be PROUD ... well, unless they are too proud of how they look, too "perfect", maybe too white, too wealthy, or too Christian ... or "randomness forbid", conservative!!!
The left is very much like the Amish or the Medieval Catholic Church. If you agree with their dogma, you have a right to "their view of happiness" ... which includes a special kind of scolding pride. If you have any disagreements with their views on everything from eating, drinking, how you look, to where you shop, what you do for a living, what kind of car you drive, etc, etc, you darned well better be APOLOGETIC!!
Gay - Proud. Gun owner - Apologetic! Poor drug user - Proud. Wealthy conservative - Apologetic!
Muslim with wife in burka behind you - PROUD! Christian sitting with family in church - APOLOGETIC!
and so it goes.
'via Blog this'
I agree with PL, Kate Upton weightless is TRUE innovation!
Isn't it great that on the left, the people they approve of are supposed to be PROUD of WHO THEY ARE!!! Like a "minority" like "women" who are actually a majority, can be PROUD ... well, unless they are too proud of how they look, too "perfect", maybe too white, too wealthy, or too Christian ... or "randomness forbid", conservative!!!
The left is very much like the Amish or the Medieval Catholic Church. If you agree with their dogma, you have a right to "their view of happiness" ... which includes a special kind of scolding pride. If you have any disagreements with their views on everything from eating, drinking, how you look, to where you shop, what you do for a living, what kind of car you drive, etc, etc, you darned well better be APOLOGETIC!!
Gay - Proud. Gun owner - Apologetic! Poor drug user - Proud. Wealthy conservative - Apologetic!
Muslim with wife in burka behind you - PROUD! Christian sitting with family in church - APOLOGETIC!
and so it goes.
'via Blog this'
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Abusing Sub-Human Mongrels
Nugent Apologizes for Calling Obama 'Subhuman Mongrel':
I'm quite certain that "sub-human mongrels" .... whatever they are, and wherever they may be found, were just as put off as Chimps, Nazi's, Shrubs, Village Idiots, Incurious George, Cheney Sock Puppets, Bush Baby's, etc, etc when just about every hollywood personality and media pundit was having a field day beating up on W.
Ted Nugent apologizing?? Seriously? What sort of standard is this? Are going to have Rap Stars, Keith Oberman, Chris Mathews or James Carvelle apologizing for similar or worse statements?
Not likely.
It might be nice if wondrous decorum was the standard of the body politic, but such has NEVER been the case in the US. In fact, unless one is going to set up a Stazi, SS, or KGB there is no hope for such decorum anywhere. Of course if you DO set up such an organization, even if it kills millions and incarcerates millions more, the set of people either saying (or being accused of saying) "something derogatory" is limitless.
Such was the reason that we had a 1st Amendment and formerly BOTH sides of the political spectrum in the US took a VERY dim view of things like the IRS enforcing political will, the NSA doing political snooping, folks that make movies that are not complimentary about "dear leader", or as we saw last week, the FCC deciding to "ask media folks about their biases".
Our left is now in such ascencion that they feel the need to silence those that fail to bow to their majesty -- while of course their own rhetoric is free and even encouraged to be as nasty as whatever whim strikes them at the moment. Does one expect the North Korean leadership to censor their own speech?
Earthy freedom has never been about smooth, nice, tidy and "respectful".
When today's MSM says "the dialogue is coarse", they mean that there are still people that are not on bended knee to their self-declared superior intellect and morals, and deign to say so in direct terms. They have no qualms at all at using the most vile slurs possible against those people, but they definitely want that opposition SILENCED!
'via Blog this'
I'm quite certain that "sub-human mongrels" .... whatever they are, and wherever they may be found, were just as put off as Chimps, Nazi's, Shrubs, Village Idiots, Incurious George, Cheney Sock Puppets, Bush Baby's, etc, etc when just about every hollywood personality and media pundit was having a field day beating up on W.
Ted Nugent apologizing?? Seriously? What sort of standard is this? Are going to have Rap Stars, Keith Oberman, Chris Mathews or James Carvelle apologizing for similar or worse statements?
Not likely.
It might be nice if wondrous decorum was the standard of the body politic, but such has NEVER been the case in the US. In fact, unless one is going to set up a Stazi, SS, or KGB there is no hope for such decorum anywhere. Of course if you DO set up such an organization, even if it kills millions and incarcerates millions more, the set of people either saying (or being accused of saying) "something derogatory" is limitless.
Such was the reason that we had a 1st Amendment and formerly BOTH sides of the political spectrum in the US took a VERY dim view of things like the IRS enforcing political will, the NSA doing political snooping, folks that make movies that are not complimentary about "dear leader", or as we saw last week, the FCC deciding to "ask media folks about their biases".
Our left is now in such ascencion that they feel the need to silence those that fail to bow to their majesty -- while of course their own rhetoric is free and even encouraged to be as nasty as whatever whim strikes them at the moment. Does one expect the North Korean leadership to censor their own speech?
Earthy freedom has never been about smooth, nice, tidy and "respectful".
When today's MSM says "the dialogue is coarse", they mean that there are still people that are not on bended knee to their self-declared superior intellect and morals, and deign to say so in direct terms. They have no qualms at all at using the most vile slurs possible against those people, but they definitely want that opposition SILENCED!
'via Blog this'
No Right to be Shameful (or Shameless)
Opinion: Arizona's shameful 'right to discriminate' bill - CNN.com:
The insanity of "banning discrimination" lets one glimpse the abyss of meaninglessness. If one is unable to discriminate, how would one decide what was discrimination??? If all is the same, with no ability to discriminate, then all is nothing.
In the real world, you would not be able to even conceive of such a fallacy ... you would not be able to discriminate the letters from the white background, and even to write in some language is clearly a choice, and therefore a form of "discrimination".
In the mostly imaginary political world however, it is EASY -- and "productive", in fact, it is the essence of politics prior to the creation of the Constitution, known today as "the Chicago Way". Separate your enemies from your friends and punish the one and reward the other!! Those that think like you, have an "approved color" or creed are naturally immune to "discrimination", or sanctions for discriminating against others!! They have the power, they make the rules!
As this column says, they get to decide what the "right" side of history is, and to sanction those that are in disagreement with their dogma. Simple!
Christianity had it's "Spanish Inquisition", and one would have thought that after all the 20th century ideological examples --- Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, etc, that American leftism could have avoided this path.
Apparently not. Let's ban gravity, pain, death and ugliness as well.
'via Blog this'
The insanity of "banning discrimination" lets one glimpse the abyss of meaninglessness. If one is unable to discriminate, how would one decide what was discrimination??? If all is the same, with no ability to discriminate, then all is nothing.
In the real world, you would not be able to even conceive of such a fallacy ... you would not be able to discriminate the letters from the white background, and even to write in some language is clearly a choice, and therefore a form of "discrimination".
In the mostly imaginary political world however, it is EASY -- and "productive", in fact, it is the essence of politics prior to the creation of the Constitution, known today as "the Chicago Way". Separate your enemies from your friends and punish the one and reward the other!! Those that think like you, have an "approved color" or creed are naturally immune to "discrimination", or sanctions for discriminating against others!! They have the power, they make the rules!
As this column says, they get to decide what the "right" side of history is, and to sanction those that are in disagreement with their dogma. Simple!
Christianity had it's "Spanish Inquisition", and one would have thought that after all the 20th century ideological examples --- Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, etc, that American leftism could have avoided this path.
Apparently not. Let's ban gravity, pain, death and ugliness as well.
'via Blog this'
A Brave Weather Soul
Winter Outlook 2013-’14: Mixed signals, mostly ‘average’ winter overall? | Updraft | Minnesota Public Radio News:
"It takes a brave soul to forecast a colder than average winter overall for Minnesota given the long term trends."
We know why it takes a "brave soul", but WHY do we accept that? We now know that 2013-214 is in the top 10 winters on record for sub-zero nights in MN ... and still piling them up. This "indicator" has been used over and over ... and is used in this article to claim that "MN is the fastest warming state".
We also know that this winter (and to some degree last winter) are not likely to be used as data indicating that longer term predictions may be wrong. While "sub zero nights being rare" was trumpeted as "proof of climate change", we now will just hear silence about those previous strong pronouncements (for at least a year or so).
And for all but "brave souls", even mentioning what we have and are experiencing is a sign that one might be a "denier" ... and one CERTAINLY would not want to be one of THOSE!!!
To deny the sacredness of modern "settled science" is HERESY -- perhaps one will need to be "re-educated".
Man ALWAYS has a religion -- that which he considers sacred and beyond question. The meme that created the most successful civilization in the history of the world was that it was MUCH better to hold matters that are beyond science -- ultimate meaning, purpose, limits of human knowledge, morality, etc in religious awe, so we would be better equipped to just "go with the data", "no bravery required" on issues of short term mortal physical stuff, and save religious awe for that which is truly transcendent!
Hint ... converting temperature to the level of the sacred gives just a tiny hint as to our current degree of "lost".
'via Blog this'
"It takes a brave soul to forecast a colder than average winter overall for Minnesota given the long term trends."
We know why it takes a "brave soul", but WHY do we accept that? We now know that 2013-214 is in the top 10 winters on record for sub-zero nights in MN ... and still piling them up. This "indicator" has been used over and over ... and is used in this article to claim that "MN is the fastest warming state".
We also know that this winter (and to some degree last winter) are not likely to be used as data indicating that longer term predictions may be wrong. While "sub zero nights being rare" was trumpeted as "proof of climate change", we now will just hear silence about those previous strong pronouncements (for at least a year or so).
And for all but "brave souls", even mentioning what we have and are experiencing is a sign that one might be a "denier" ... and one CERTAINLY would not want to be one of THOSE!!!
To deny the sacredness of modern "settled science" is HERESY -- perhaps one will need to be "re-educated".
Man ALWAYS has a religion -- that which he considers sacred and beyond question. The meme that created the most successful civilization in the history of the world was that it was MUCH better to hold matters that are beyond science -- ultimate meaning, purpose, limits of human knowledge, morality, etc in religious awe, so we would be better equipped to just "go with the data", "no bravery required" on issues of short term mortal physical stuff, and save religious awe for that which is truly transcendent!
Hint ... converting temperature to the level of the sacred gives just a tiny hint as to our current degree of "lost".
'via Blog this'
Monday, February 17, 2014
Liberty, Mills, and Lying to Ourselves
Three Cheers for the Nanny State - NYTimes.com:
Reading this article reminded me of the old "Everything I say is a lie" ... "I'm lying". Wrestle with that for awhile if you choose, but the lady that wrote this ought to pay more attention. If everything I say is a lie, then me telling you "that was a lie"... but if that is a lie, then ...
But those cheering for the Nanny State certainly DO believe that THEY, and the "proper authorities" have that vision and it is CORRECT! John Stewart Mill, Augustine, Jesus, Moses, Buddha, etc were all wrong, but the Statists are RIGHT! It is amazing how "refined" the human species has become in just a few thousand years. It must be because ONLY the "liberals" have gotten smarter through "natural selection", and the poor folks that don't see their brilliance have been "left behind".
I'm an idiot ... I have doubts. I actually did like the book by Daniel Kahneman and his research partner Amos Tversky, "Thinking Fast and Slow", but next to John Stuart Mill, they are about as profound as Reverend Moon next to Jesus. YES!!!! We have A LOT of "cognitive biases" ... and even WORSE problems ... we are mortal human sinners!!! The really sad part of it is that knowing that is like a guy whose parachute won't open in free fall -- he is totally understanding of his condition, but he is completely helpless to help himself.
If he is in that situation because he and 100 other people fell out of a jet, the the author of the column would be the one proudly yelling, "Hey, you are all in free fall, and I have figured that out!!!!"
Only since the real world lasts longer than free fall even from a jet, she wants to pass laws requiring that we all flap our arms!!
'via Blog this'
Reading this article reminded me of the old "Everything I say is a lie" ... "I'm lying". Wrestle with that for awhile if you choose, but the lady that wrote this ought to pay more attention. If everything I say is a lie, then me telling you "that was a lie"... but if that is a lie, then ...
"We have a vision of ourselves as free, rational beings who are totally capable of making all the decisions we need to in order to create a good life. Give us complete liberty, and, barring natural disasters, we’ll end up where we want to be. It’s a nice vision, one that makes us feel proud of ourselves. But it’s false.""WE have a vision of ourselves" ... well, some of us do. Primarily the folks that are like the lady writing the article. True Christians certainly don't have that vision -- they believe that both their heart and their reason are extremely self oriented and deceitful.
But those cheering for the Nanny State certainly DO believe that THEY, and the "proper authorities" have that vision and it is CORRECT! John Stewart Mill, Augustine, Jesus, Moses, Buddha, etc were all wrong, but the Statists are RIGHT! It is amazing how "refined" the human species has become in just a few thousand years. It must be because ONLY the "liberals" have gotten smarter through "natural selection", and the poor folks that don't see their brilliance have been "left behind".
Mill was wrong about that, though. A lot of times we have a good idea of where we want to go, but a really terrible idea of how to get there. It’s well established by now that we often don’t think very clearly when it comes to choosing the best means to attain our ends. We make errors. This has been the object of an enormous amount of study over the past few decades, and what has been discovered is that we are all prone to identifiable and predictable miscalculations.Yup, Mill was wrong ... err, actually, maybe MOST people have a terrible idea of "how to get there", but if you allow liberty, SOME will figure out ways that work, and they may well be REWARDED because MOST were wrong, but since ALL had liberty, SOME figured out things that worked! In biology it is called "evolution" ... make a lot of tries and the ones that work WIN!
The crucial point is that in some situations it’s just difficult for us to take in the relevant information and choose accordingly. It’s not quite the simple ignorance Mill was talking about, but it turns out that our minds are more complicated than Mill imagined. Like the guy about to step through the hole in the bridge, we need help.Yup, that is A "crucial point" ... in fact the STANDARD "progressive" problem in almost all situations is confusing ends with means and failing to get the means right, then not realizing it and running everything into the ditch. Eventually, they are so pissed and disgusted, they start killing people that disagree with them because they MUST be right!!!!
Of course, what people fear is that this is just the beginning: today it’s soda, tomorrow it’s the guy standing behind you making you eat your broccoli, floss your teeth, and watch “PBS NewsHour” every day. What this ignores is that successful paternalistic laws are done on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis: if it’s too painful, it’s not a good law. Making these analyses is something the government has the resources to do, just as now it sets automobile construction standards while considering both the need for affordability and the desire for safetySee, "The Government" ... you know, the folks that brought us BOcare, the TSA, the NSA, the Vietnam war, 17 trillion in debt, etc, etc, ... THEY ... THOSE PEOPLE, they are the ones that "have the resources"! Why? Well maybe because money stolen from some people buys "real smarts" ... or maybe giving a lot of people cushy but insanely boring bureaucratic jobs somehow makes them "more qualified" than normal humans. Mill was clearly an idiot to think that what we needed was "a lot of attempts", and some mechanism that gave us feedback as to what worked.
I'm an idiot ... I have doubts. I actually did like the book by Daniel Kahneman and his research partner Amos Tversky, "Thinking Fast and Slow", but next to John Stuart Mill, they are about as profound as Reverend Moon next to Jesus. YES!!!! We have A LOT of "cognitive biases" ... and even WORSE problems ... we are mortal human sinners!!! The really sad part of it is that knowing that is like a guy whose parachute won't open in free fall -- he is totally understanding of his condition, but he is completely helpless to help himself.
If he is in that situation because he and 100 other people fell out of a jet, the the author of the column would be the one proudly yelling, "Hey, you are all in free fall, and I have figured that out!!!!"
Only since the real world lasts longer than free fall even from a jet, she wants to pass laws requiring that we all flap our arms!!
'via Blog this'
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Trans-Cocaine
Transgender kids: Have we gone too far? - The Globe and Mail:
I believe it was Robin Williams who said "Cocaine is God's way of telling you that you have too much money".
I'd argue it is Satan's way, but the principle is the same ... it is a bad idea.
The end of this article states:
This condition is always to be the case -- the issue is not that people are now "more accepting", it is that one cultural elite segment holds stronger sway than any used to, and the groups that they accept are both different and MORE restrictive when it comes to actual thought. There used to be more of a competitive market of culture, where religion had a major place at the table, philosophy, classic literature, classic arts, small rural colleges, military colleges, national fraternal organizations, etc, etc
Now it is all Ivy League, Madison Avenue and Hollywood. True, there is Fox news and talk radio, but those views are firmly labeled like a cigarette pack with "these views are hazardous to your social standing". Certainly there are both rebels with and without causes, of which I count myself one (Christian / Conservative) ... but those that understand the game and the costs and are still willing to take the now more real (IRS, NSA, ...) risk of being counted are dwindling.
There is no more of a conservative phrase than "first do no harm". Within it are buried a host of assumptions about humility and the huge value of "things that work", even far short of "perfectly" (whatever that means in this mortal world). The felt in the bones appreciation for "the devil you know vs the devil you don't", and the irrefutable fact that the devil is in the details, details, details ... on to infinity. There is no human "proof" so good that a "Black Swan" can't show it's face at some future time under some unknown condition and undo the best laid plans.
How is a person less than 20, or even 30, ever really "sure" of hardly anything? "Comfortable with your gender?". Every time I see a dance floor, I realize that I'm still not all that comfortable with being 6' 4" and large. Sure, it has it's moments, but it isn't that great for letting you "fit in". It was much more of a problem when I was a weak uncoordinated big kid getting beat up by smaller better developed peers (I didn't turn 5 until the fall of my Kindergarten year). Puberty fixed the "strong" problem, and the final growth spurt put some more distance on the "bigger" front to make me not an "easy target", but still, very easy to see in a group for good and ill.
Maybe we should all be regularized to the same height, weight, rate of development to make us more "comfortable"?
Maybe the core problem is this post 60's obsession with "comfort" in all forms. Who was it that decreed that life was to be "comfortable"? How much harm have we already caused in the rather dubious cause of "comfort"?
Perhaps DIScomfort, and even DISagreement with some regularized cultural view is much more likely to produce vibrant, growing, creative and FUN cultures and nations. Perhaps a Republic ruled by a set of laws on the light side that allowed a wide divergence of actual views with true mutual tolerance?
Nah, could never work today. Time for a "benevolent" tyrant that rules by decree! If there are any confused kids, probably better to make a quick diagnosis and roll out the drugs and the surgical instruments. All that better to make you "comfortable"!
'via Blog this'
I believe it was Robin Williams who said "Cocaine is God's way of telling you that you have too much money".
I'd argue it is Satan's way, but the principle is the same ... it is a bad idea.
The end of this article states:
"It’s a mark of social progress that we are increasingly willing to accept people on their terms, for who they are. But maybe we’re manufacturing more problems than we’re solving. If we really want to help people, we should remember the old rule: First, do no harm."We may be "increasingly willing to accept people on their terms" unless they are pedophiles, black conservatives, fundamentalist Christians or rich people that don't state the lefty party line as well as Gates and Buffet ... among of course many others whose "terms" are not meshed with the liberal elite's "most favored peccadillo" status.
This condition is always to be the case -- the issue is not that people are now "more accepting", it is that one cultural elite segment holds stronger sway than any used to, and the groups that they accept are both different and MORE restrictive when it comes to actual thought. There used to be more of a competitive market of culture, where religion had a major place at the table, philosophy, classic literature, classic arts, small rural colleges, military colleges, national fraternal organizations, etc, etc
Now it is all Ivy League, Madison Avenue and Hollywood. True, there is Fox news and talk radio, but those views are firmly labeled like a cigarette pack with "these views are hazardous to your social standing". Certainly there are both rebels with and without causes, of which I count myself one (Christian / Conservative) ... but those that understand the game and the costs and are still willing to take the now more real (IRS, NSA, ...) risk of being counted are dwindling.
There is no more of a conservative phrase than "first do no harm". Within it are buried a host of assumptions about humility and the huge value of "things that work", even far short of "perfectly" (whatever that means in this mortal world). The felt in the bones appreciation for "the devil you know vs the devil you don't", and the irrefutable fact that the devil is in the details, details, details ... on to infinity. There is no human "proof" so good that a "Black Swan" can't show it's face at some future time under some unknown condition and undo the best laid plans.
How is a person less than 20, or even 30, ever really "sure" of hardly anything? "Comfortable with your gender?". Every time I see a dance floor, I realize that I'm still not all that comfortable with being 6' 4" and large. Sure, it has it's moments, but it isn't that great for letting you "fit in". It was much more of a problem when I was a weak uncoordinated big kid getting beat up by smaller better developed peers (I didn't turn 5 until the fall of my Kindergarten year). Puberty fixed the "strong" problem, and the final growth spurt put some more distance on the "bigger" front to make me not an "easy target", but still, very easy to see in a group for good and ill.
Maybe we should all be regularized to the same height, weight, rate of development to make us more "comfortable"?
Maybe the core problem is this post 60's obsession with "comfort" in all forms. Who was it that decreed that life was to be "comfortable"? How much harm have we already caused in the rather dubious cause of "comfort"?
Perhaps DIScomfort, and even DISagreement with some regularized cultural view is much more likely to produce vibrant, growing, creative and FUN cultures and nations. Perhaps a Republic ruled by a set of laws on the light side that allowed a wide divergence of actual views with true mutual tolerance?
Nah, could never work today. Time for a "benevolent" tyrant that rules by decree! If there are any confused kids, probably better to make a quick diagnosis and roll out the drugs and the surgical instruments. All that better to make you "comfortable"!
'via Blog this'
Kansas Through the Looking Glass
The matter with Kansas now: The Tea Party, the 1 percent and delusional Democrats - Salon.com:
Even though OZ is shown for obvious reasons, "Alice" is the right book ... although I can also see Franks saying "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"
Yes, Yes, Reagan won, and we did level out in the '80s, but Government STILL grew like topsy, and our schools and universities still remained reliable left wing propaganda disseminators.
Starting with Carter and moving forth through W, Fanny and Freddy Mae continued to produce cheap loans on homes federally insured -- and some high zoot Democrats on Wall Street did a lot of work with leverage and got bailed out. BO got the most of his BILLION dollars to buy the WH from Wall Street ... 2nd lawyers, and 3rd Unions ... especially teachers. But the '08 crash was all due to "Republicans" when you live through the looking glass.
Remember Billy and Hilly? They were elected as sharper left turn from already left sliding HW Bush of the "No new taxes ... never mind" pledge. Of course they screwed things up enough in only two years to give the Republicans their first ownership of Congress in FIFTY YEARS. Just to show how very "right" this nation has been. Slick "triangulated" both politically and sexually and kept himself in the WH and entertained as R's cut the rate of growth in entitlements from hypersonic to supersonic for which they received massive chastisement and Slick received the credit for the resulting meager surplus as Silicon Valley gave the Dutch Tulip Bubble a run.
W was elected and promptly did a gigantic federal prescription drug benefit. Now THAT is a pretty reactionary part of that "rightward shift"! I think his motto was "Meaner and Harsher" because of the rabid mood of the right, and Gore's was "Kinder and Gentler". Anyway, Gore went on to become a billionaire shaking down business for worthless "carbon credits" (deposit a bunch in my account and I'll say good environmental things about you), and selling his failed cable channel to oil money from the Mideast ... because giving money to the fortune of an "environmentalist" helps them keep their private jet and yacht fueled, plus convinces most of the massage women to provide the right level of "personal service".
People in Kansas certainly have no right to think of folks like Gore, Wall Street Bankers, University Professors making a 100's of K a year in education and consulting income, plus of course MANY government workers making over $100K a year now with super fantastic benefits relative to those hicks in Kansas don't firmly have the rubes in Kansas "best interests in mind"!
It is interesting to read a column like this and understand just how far much of our left has strayed into an alternate universe that exists solidly between their ears. Their faith is as powerful as Muslims flying planes into buildings, and they are just about as ornery toward anyone that doesn't agree with their dogma, or imaginary world view. We have "right turned" through "Gay Marriage", BOcare, skyrocketing poverty and spending and an unprecedented flight from the work force in just the past 5 years under what I assume Frank sees as the masterful leadership of King BO of the royal edict!
Frank concludes his all knowing screed with the following:
See, Kansas is "wrecked", seems easy to check, just compare it with "progressive paradises" like CA, IL and NY on something simple like unemployment.
Kansas 5.9%
California 8.7%
Illinois 9.2%
New York 7.5%
http://money.cnn.com/interactive/economy/state-unemployment-rates/
See, "through the looking glass", those states are wonderful and Kansas sucks. All of those states not only have horried unemployment compared to Kansas, they have huge budget problems, murder problems, and other pathologies. But they are ruled by geniuses and Kansas is "wrecked".
Such is life through the looking glass, and how might one ever communicate reasonably with those that live down the rabbit hole?
'via Blog this'
Even though OZ is shown for obvious reasons, "Alice" is the right book ... although I can also see Franks saying "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"
The main premises of “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” were straightforward enough. First, I pointed out that the great right turn, which began in the 1970s and continues to this day, has not served average people well. Second, that a large and increasing number of those average people were voting for privatizing and deregulating Republicans even as their situation grew worse. From these two points arose the obvious question: Why?Remember that "great right turn" the US took in the '70s? I guess Watergate, followed by Roe V Wade, then Jimmuh Carter, losing Iran, and the hostages started it all. I know those big rightward moves really hit me right between the eyes.
Yes, Yes, Reagan won, and we did level out in the '80s, but Government STILL grew like topsy, and our schools and universities still remained reliable left wing propaganda disseminators.
Starting with Carter and moving forth through W, Fanny and Freddy Mae continued to produce cheap loans on homes federally insured -- and some high zoot Democrats on Wall Street did a lot of work with leverage and got bailed out. BO got the most of his BILLION dollars to buy the WH from Wall Street ... 2nd lawyers, and 3rd Unions ... especially teachers. But the '08 crash was all due to "Republicans" when you live through the looking glass.
Remember Billy and Hilly? They were elected as sharper left turn from already left sliding HW Bush of the "No new taxes ... never mind" pledge. Of course they screwed things up enough in only two years to give the Republicans their first ownership of Congress in FIFTY YEARS. Just to show how very "right" this nation has been. Slick "triangulated" both politically and sexually and kept himself in the WH and entertained as R's cut the rate of growth in entitlements from hypersonic to supersonic for which they received massive chastisement and Slick received the credit for the resulting meager surplus as Silicon Valley gave the Dutch Tulip Bubble a run.
W was elected and promptly did a gigantic federal prescription drug benefit. Now THAT is a pretty reactionary part of that "rightward shift"! I think his motto was "Meaner and Harsher" because of the rabid mood of the right, and Gore's was "Kinder and Gentler". Anyway, Gore went on to become a billionaire shaking down business for worthless "carbon credits" (deposit a bunch in my account and I'll say good environmental things about you), and selling his failed cable channel to oil money from the Mideast ... because giving money to the fortune of an "environmentalist" helps them keep their private jet and yacht fueled, plus convinces most of the massage women to provide the right level of "personal service".
People in Kansas certainly have no right to think of folks like Gore, Wall Street Bankers, University Professors making a 100's of K a year in education and consulting income, plus of course MANY government workers making over $100K a year now with super fantastic benefits relative to those hicks in Kansas don't firmly have the rubes in Kansas "best interests in mind"!
It is interesting to read a column like this and understand just how far much of our left has strayed into an alternate universe that exists solidly between their ears. Their faith is as powerful as Muslims flying planes into buildings, and they are just about as ornery toward anyone that doesn't agree with their dogma, or imaginary world view. We have "right turned" through "Gay Marriage", BOcare, skyrocketing poverty and spending and an unprecedented flight from the work force in just the past 5 years under what I assume Frank sees as the masterful leadership of King BO of the royal edict!
Frank concludes his all knowing screed with the following:
Surveying the wreckage of Brownback’s experiment last year, one Kansas journalist was moved to pen an obituary for the state. But Governor Brownback sees things differently. Thanks to years of passionate work by his army of elite-fighting everymen, Kansas is now “open for business,” he says, under the loving mercantile gaze of a “Big God.”
See, Kansas is "wrecked", seems easy to check, just compare it with "progressive paradises" like CA, IL and NY on something simple like unemployment.
Kansas 5.9%
California 8.7%
Illinois 9.2%
New York 7.5%
http://money.cnn.com/interactive/economy/state-unemployment-rates/
See, "through the looking glass", those states are wonderful and Kansas sucks. All of those states not only have horried unemployment compared to Kansas, they have huge budget problems, murder problems, and other pathologies. But they are ruled by geniuses and Kansas is "wrecked".
Such is life through the looking glass, and how might one ever communicate reasonably with those that live down the rabbit hole?
'via Blog this'
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Understanding Aristocracy
Opinion: We need a vibrant middle class - CNN.com:
America was founded as a Constitutional Republic rather than a Democracy because our founders understood something that the columnist doesn't. Those that have been successful in a country, want to have families that carry on their values and have invested actual wealth ... maybe for generations, have a LOT more at stake in a nation than a minimum wage worker, undocumented Democrat, or the "politician de jour".
So we have 2 Senators per state and we once had Senators appointed in the states rather than elected by popular vote prior to the 17th amendment in 1913. Many of our founders wanted more control by the aristocracy, and it seems pretty clear that they were right.
When people that have invested their lives and their futures SUCCESSFULLY in a nation, they are not likely to allow unborn future generations to be saddled with debt due to benefits voted to the current generation.
Do we "need" a "vibrant middle class"? Probably, but certainly not "at all costs", and there would seem to be pretty strong evidence that whatever policies BO thinks are going to achieve that goal (if in fact that is actually what he wants to do), it certainly isn't working. Guess what. The same policies worked equally as badly under Carter.
Much like driving through some stressful snowy roads to get to warmer weather (which I did Friday), there is often some risk / stress / work / uncertainly required to get to worthwhile objectives ... say cruising the Caribbean with a beverage in hand (just to name a random case). Remove the "challenges" and things do "change", but most likely in the direction of "stasis" rather than "growth" ... getting in shape, getting educated, getting rich, getting to FL, etc all require effort. Stating that "we need a vibrant middle class", and calling the rich "clueless" really doesn't move the ball forward.
The "rich" may be oh so "clueless" as the link from the main page claims, but much in the same vein as "If Einstein is so smart, how come he is dead", if the rich are "clueless", how come they are rich and you aren't?
That is ALWAYS a question that pisses off the left, but why? Pro golfers play way better golf, swimsuit models tend to look better than the rest of us, and I definitely can drink the author of the article under the table. So? Actually I'd like to lose enough weight so such a test might be in question, but right now it isn't .
It is absolutely certain that every rich person passed up, and continues to pass up the ability to be poor. The inverse is not true -- nor CAN it be true! Figuring that out would go a long way to helping the author of column understand the real world.
'via Blog this'
America was founded as a Constitutional Republic rather than a Democracy because our founders understood something that the columnist doesn't. Those that have been successful in a country, want to have families that carry on their values and have invested actual wealth ... maybe for generations, have a LOT more at stake in a nation than a minimum wage worker, undocumented Democrat, or the "politician de jour".
So we have 2 Senators per state and we once had Senators appointed in the states rather than elected by popular vote prior to the 17th amendment in 1913. Many of our founders wanted more control by the aristocracy, and it seems pretty clear that they were right.
When people that have invested their lives and their futures SUCCESSFULLY in a nation, they are not likely to allow unborn future generations to be saddled with debt due to benefits voted to the current generation.
Do we "need" a "vibrant middle class"? Probably, but certainly not "at all costs", and there would seem to be pretty strong evidence that whatever policies BO thinks are going to achieve that goal (if in fact that is actually what he wants to do), it certainly isn't working. Guess what. The same policies worked equally as badly under Carter.
Much like driving through some stressful snowy roads to get to warmer weather (which I did Friday), there is often some risk / stress / work / uncertainly required to get to worthwhile objectives ... say cruising the Caribbean with a beverage in hand (just to name a random case). Remove the "challenges" and things do "change", but most likely in the direction of "stasis" rather than "growth" ... getting in shape, getting educated, getting rich, getting to FL, etc all require effort. Stating that "we need a vibrant middle class", and calling the rich "clueless" really doesn't move the ball forward.
The "rich" may be oh so "clueless" as the link from the main page claims, but much in the same vein as "If Einstein is so smart, how come he is dead", if the rich are "clueless", how come they are rich and you aren't?
That is ALWAYS a question that pisses off the left, but why? Pro golfers play way better golf, swimsuit models tend to look better than the rest of us, and I definitely can drink the author of the article under the table. So? Actually I'd like to lose enough weight so such a test might be in question, but right now it isn't .
It is absolutely certain that every rich person passed up, and continues to pass up the ability to be poor. The inverse is not true -- nor CAN it be true! Figuring that out would go a long way to helping the author of column understand the real world.
'via Blog this'
Thursday, February 13, 2014
To Soothe Is Not My Inclination
The Arrogance of Mitt - Mark Bowden - The Atlantic:
The author clearly thinks that it is a foregone conclusion that Mitt is wrong -- wrong and "arrogant". One could suggest that ANY predictions about the future, 5 years, 50 years or 100 years are "arrogant", but we all make them. We start a career, a family, an education, reading a book -- assuming that it isn't futile for a myriad of reasons. Our death, the death of a family member or dear friend that "changes everything", war, pestilence, economic collapse, hemorrhoids, inflation. All things great and small can and will affect or even devastate our puny predictions.
Does a man like Mitt run for President for any other reason than to serve and to do a better job than the current occupant of the White House? I find it hard to believe he does ... unlike BO, he has accomplished much, and his eyes are set on eternal issues, not merely the next 4, 8, or 80 years of America in this mortal coil.
What about BO? is not "arrogant"? Two autobiographies before age 50? Does his picture show up under "narcissist in the dictionary as it should yet? For a Jr Senator whose only real "experience" outside of law school was as a "community organizer" -- a rabble rouser, a man worshiping Saul Alinsky who dedicated the manual for "community organizers" to Lucifer to reach for the presidency of the former "greatest nation on earth"?
We know from BO's books, the company he keeps and his actions in office that BO really does intend to destroy the nation that used to be America. Mitt is right. We set ourselves up. BO may have a different ultimate goal than the rest of the folks trying to take rather than make, but deep down they all know that their path is corrupt. They may or may not be dimly aware that it is the standard path to "Greece" of "once great nations", but there is a sense that taking rather than making can't last for long.
So we go down. Babylon, Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome, Britain ... and now America. Only God is sovereign, our puny nations are but tares to the fire.
'via Blog this'
“To soothe is not my inclination,” says Mitt, who sees Obama as a certain disaster. “This is really serious, guys. This is really serious. I cannot believe that he is an aberration in the country. This is following the path of every other great nation, which is we’re following greater government, tax the rich people, promise more stuff to everybody, borrow until you go over a cliff. We have a very high risk of reaching the tipping point sometime in the next five years.” He frowns and shrugs."I find that paragraph and the title to be very informative.
The author clearly thinks that it is a foregone conclusion that Mitt is wrong -- wrong and "arrogant". One could suggest that ANY predictions about the future, 5 years, 50 years or 100 years are "arrogant", but we all make them. We start a career, a family, an education, reading a book -- assuming that it isn't futile for a myriad of reasons. Our death, the death of a family member or dear friend that "changes everything", war, pestilence, economic collapse, hemorrhoids, inflation. All things great and small can and will affect or even devastate our puny predictions.
Does a man like Mitt run for President for any other reason than to serve and to do a better job than the current occupant of the White House? I find it hard to believe he does ... unlike BO, he has accomplished much, and his eyes are set on eternal issues, not merely the next 4, 8, or 80 years of America in this mortal coil.
What about BO? is not "arrogant"? Two autobiographies before age 50? Does his picture show up under "narcissist in the dictionary as it should yet? For a Jr Senator whose only real "experience" outside of law school was as a "community organizer" -- a rabble rouser, a man worshiping Saul Alinsky who dedicated the manual for "community organizers" to Lucifer to reach for the presidency of the former "greatest nation on earth"?
We know from BO's books, the company he keeps and his actions in office that BO really does intend to destroy the nation that used to be America. Mitt is right. We set ourselves up. BO may have a different ultimate goal than the rest of the folks trying to take rather than make, but deep down they all know that their path is corrupt. They may or may not be dimly aware that it is the standard path to "Greece" of "once great nations", but there is a sense that taking rather than making can't last for long.
So we go down. Babylon, Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome, Britain ... and now America. Only God is sovereign, our puny nations are but tares to the fire.
'via Blog this'
Fahrenheit 9/11 Was Illegal
Taking down D’Souza | Power Line:
Prior to Citizens United, Corporations couldn't do explicitly political propaganda like F - 9/11, Moore OUGHT to have been CONVICTED!
We live in the surreal universe. The people that HATE Citizens United LOVE things like F - 9/11, and since consistency is NOT an issue with them, laws simply do not exist in their world.
and their world has won!
'via Blog this'
Prior to Citizens United, Corporations couldn't do explicitly political propaganda like F - 9/11, Moore OUGHT to have been CONVICTED!
We live in the surreal universe. The people that HATE Citizens United LOVE things like F - 9/11, and since consistency is NOT an issue with them, laws simply do not exist in their world.
and their world has won!
'via Blog this'
I Wonder Why Katrina Cleanup Was Slow?
Guess What Word These News Anchors Forgot When Reporting On Mayor's Bribery Convictions? | Independent Journal Review:
Of course we all KNOW that answer. George W Bush!!! Incompetence, no care for Black people, etc.
Naturally, the fact of a Cat 5 storm in an area below sea level with known incompetent local and state government and now a proven corrupt mayor had NOTHING to do with it!
BO WITH a cheerleading MSM is having trouble keeping distance between himself and his OWN disaster of BOcare.
W OTOH had as much to do with Katrina as BO does to do with a cold winter and snowstorms or increased petroleum production, but that didn't stop the MSM from hanging Katrina around W's neck as an albatross, or allowing BO to take credit for oil production going up when he has tried to stop it at every step!
We largely live in a media created "reality".
'via Blog this'
Of course we all KNOW that answer. George W Bush!!! Incompetence, no care for Black people, etc.
Naturally, the fact of a Cat 5 storm in an area below sea level with known incompetent local and state government and now a proven corrupt mayor had NOTHING to do with it!
BO WITH a cheerleading MSM is having trouble keeping distance between himself and his OWN disaster of BOcare.
W OTOH had as much to do with Katrina as BO does to do with a cold winter and snowstorms or increased petroleum production, but that didn't stop the MSM from hanging Katrina around W's neck as an albatross, or allowing BO to take credit for oil production going up when he has tried to stop it at every step!
We largely live in a media created "reality".
'via Blog this'
Free Thinking Black = "Uncle Tom"
A Day After Clarence Thomas Says We're Too Race-Conscious, Lawmaker Calls Him 'Uncle Tom' | Independent Journal Review:
Looks like Clarence Thomas has been immediately proved right yet again. First there was Slavery, then there was Jim Crow, now there is Race Industry Ideological Purity requirements.
The ability of man to be free REQUIRES LIMITED Government!!! If Government is not strictly limited, man is in bondage!
Note, it is "liberal" to demand that all Blacks think alike! That is why I hate the theft of that term by the left. "Socialist", "Statist", "Totalitarian" (what else would one call demands against how you are allowed to think?). All those terms are basically correct ... "liberal" and "progressive" are both complete lies!
'via Blog this'
Looks like Clarence Thomas has been immediately proved right yet again. First there was Slavery, then there was Jim Crow, now there is Race Industry Ideological Purity requirements.
The ability of man to be free REQUIRES LIMITED Government!!! If Government is not strictly limited, man is in bondage!
Note, it is "liberal" to demand that all Blacks think alike! That is why I hate the theft of that term by the left. "Socialist", "Statist", "Totalitarian" (what else would one call demands against how you are allowed to think?). All those terms are basically correct ... "liberal" and "progressive" are both complete lies!
'via Blog this'
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Let's Abort Google Engineers
Protesters show up at the doorstep of Google self-driving car engineer | Ars Technica:
When the moorings with God, History, Culture, and common human decency are lost, then "the abyss is the limit".
Here we have some Berkley folks that don't like the way a Google engineer is living ... so they write screeds that make it sound like "aborting his life" would be just fine. I mean, if you have no qualms at all about aborting completely innocent human lives by the hundreds of millions for the sake of convenience, why not? There is no "judge" except "how you feel", and it seems that the right amount of weed, drugs, or whatever ought to do a good enough job to satiate your conscience.
Bleeding out from Ebola or AIDs sounds pretty damned "degrading" to me, but then death is one of those things for which "dignity" is just a fabrication, much the same as "dignified defecation".
People die, that is certainly a constant. Sooner, later, etc, if it has meaning, then it is a lot better than all the meaningless lives of all the non-thinkers everywhere on the planet. "The flies of summer" ... one may as well mourn for them.
'via Blog this'
When the moorings with God, History, Culture, and common human decency are lost, then "the abyss is the limit".
Here we have some Berkley folks that don't like the way a Google engineer is living ... so they write screeds that make it sound like "aborting his life" would be just fine. I mean, if you have no qualms at all about aborting completely innocent human lives by the hundreds of millions for the sake of convenience, why not? There is no "judge" except "how you feel", and it seems that the right amount of weed, drugs, or whatever ought to do a good enough job to satiate your conscience.
"There are men and women in the Congo, slaving away in giant pits in order to extract gold and other precious metals from the earth. "You have to love the combination of hubris and selective thinking that goes into this. Yes, no doubt some of them will die in mines ... but probably preferably to those that just die of AIDs, or bleed out from Ebola or many other sundry diseases in the jungle of "nature".
Bleeding out from Ebola or AIDs sounds pretty damned "degrading" to me, but then death is one of those things for which "dignity" is just a fabrication, much the same as "dignified defecation".
People die, that is certainly a constant. Sooner, later, etc, if it has meaning, then it is a lot better than all the meaningless lives of all the non-thinkers everywhere on the planet. "The flies of summer" ... one may as well mourn for them.
'via Blog this'
Too Sensitive About Independent Thinking
Clarence Thomas says people are too sensitive about race nowadays - Salon.com:
Salon is pretty derisive about the idea that "a slight is a slight" ... after all, they and everyone on the left actually hates Justice Thomas for not following in the role they have defined on their liberal plantation that over 90% of blacks have the good sense to follow.
Of course Salon does too ... in the current liberal dogma, in the lack of any God and the ultimate meaninglessness of existence, in their current mental superiority over other people based on ... well, based on their fealty to current liberal dogma!
To contrast, even a non-Christian conservative would base the meaning of the oath and the Constitution on as much as they can humbly learn of thousands of years of human wisdom. The left dare no reference that, because it clearly shows the horror of their "project".
We need to work out a "liberal" oath. "I swear my allegiance to whatever a poll of current liberal elites says I should think today, so help me randomness and meaninglessness".
Salon and Satan no doubt find it quite delicious that BO and every member of Congress swore to uphold the Constitution, yet in the SOTU address when BO said he was going to break it by passing law without Congress, all the Democrats got up and cheered, thus breaking their oaths as well.
I suspect that Satan, Salon, and the other minions feel about like many of us on the right do when we hear "Iraqi suicide bomb instructor blows up class", as they watch a scene like Democrats applauding BO breaking the law he is sworn to uphold. "Evil cynical pleasure". The best that Satan and his minions can hope for, since true joy is reserved for Christians.
Salon is pretty derisive about the idea that "a slight is a slight" ... after all, they and everyone on the left actually hates Justice Thomas for not following in the role they have defined on their liberal plantation that over 90% of blacks have the good sense to follow.
“The worst I have been treated was by northern liberal elites,” Thomas said. “The absolute worst I have ever been treated. The worst things that have been done to me, the worst things that have been said about me — by northern liberal elites, not by the people of Savannah, Georgia.”In leftist minds the slavery of 150 years ago, and the Jim Crow (run my Democrats, but that part is to be forgotten) ought to be enough of a "slight" to lock blacks on their reservation for at least the next 50 years. Guys like Thomas call their whole progrom into question, so he must be belittled, derided and marginalized at every turn.
“I quite frankly don’t know how you do these hard jobs without some faith. I don’t know. Other people can come to you and explain it to you,” he said. “I have no idea. I don’t know how an oath becomes meaningful unless you have faith. Because at the end you say, ‘So help me God.’ And a promise to God is different from a promise to anyone else.”Thomas is way too much of an independent thinker for the folks at Salon. The gall! To think that just because "swearing on the Bible" for an oath before God ought to mean something! Even worse, he admits he has faith!
Of course Salon does too ... in the current liberal dogma, in the lack of any God and the ultimate meaninglessness of existence, in their current mental superiority over other people based on ... well, based on their fealty to current liberal dogma!
To contrast, even a non-Christian conservative would base the meaning of the oath and the Constitution on as much as they can humbly learn of thousands of years of human wisdom. The left dare no reference that, because it clearly shows the horror of their "project".
We need to work out a "liberal" oath. "I swear my allegiance to whatever a poll of current liberal elites says I should think today, so help me randomness and meaninglessness".
Salon and Satan no doubt find it quite delicious that BO and every member of Congress swore to uphold the Constitution, yet in the SOTU address when BO said he was going to break it by passing law without Congress, all the Democrats got up and cheered, thus breaking their oaths as well.
I suspect that Satan, Salon, and the other minions feel about like many of us on the right do when we hear "Iraqi suicide bomb instructor blows up class", as they watch a scene like Democrats applauding BO breaking the law he is sworn to uphold. "Evil cynical pleasure". The best that Satan and his minions can hope for, since true joy is reserved for Christians.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Creepy Conservatives
Pew Study Makes More Conservative Voters: Ross Douthat Column | New Republic:
One of the primary views of "progressives" is that humans are infinitely malleable in any way they deem to be "correct". "Gender Stereotyping" is BAD ... you know, like women give birth, pay more attention to their hair, tend to shop more for shoes, watch less football, etc. (YES, I DO realize that there are exceptions ... there are ALWAYS exceptions, That is why we sometimes get hit by something coming from our blindspot! Generalization means USUALLY correct!) That is BAD ... "real diversity" is like transgender lesbian bi-sexuals that cross dress! That is GOOD! Any sort of natural difference between humans is BAD!
I grew up in a Fundamentalist Baptist Church whose philosophy was pretty much "we don't do anything Catholics do!" ... candles, statues, liturgy, vestments, infant baptism, the Lords Prayer, etc) The church was defined as much as being anti-Catholic as by anything positive from Christ.
"Progressives" are pretty much the same ... if God likes it, they hate it! They are defined by being UNnatural ... and they are amazed that people just being people don't have the good sense to realize that being yourself is CREEPY!
The basic motto of "progressivism" is REPEAL REALITY!! ... or at least any sort of fixed sense of same. Men thinking that they ought to protect their wives, daughters and sisters? We must be Neanderthals, right? I mean, not even being EMBARRASSED about thinking such a backward thought? CREEPY!
They probably feel as much at home in a NW WI beer joint as I do in a trendy Vegan reseraunt, although I'm guessing that if most of them feel the need to sneer, they may be less confident there. They can always hope that their female companions feel the same way!
'via Blog this'
One of the primary views of "progressives" is that humans are infinitely malleable in any way they deem to be "correct". "Gender Stereotyping" is BAD ... you know, like women give birth, pay more attention to their hair, tend to shop more for shoes, watch less football, etc. (YES, I DO realize that there are exceptions ... there are ALWAYS exceptions, That is why we sometimes get hit by something coming from our blindspot! Generalization means USUALLY correct!) That is BAD ... "real diversity" is like transgender lesbian bi-sexuals that cross dress! That is GOOD! Any sort of natural difference between humans is BAD!
I grew up in a Fundamentalist Baptist Church whose philosophy was pretty much "we don't do anything Catholics do!" ... candles, statues, liturgy, vestments, infant baptism, the Lords Prayer, etc) The church was defined as much as being anti-Catholic as by anything positive from Christ.
"Progressives" are pretty much the same ... if God likes it, they hate it! They are defined by being UNnatural ... and they are amazed that people just being people don't have the good sense to realize that being yourself is CREEPY!
The basic motto of "progressivism" is REPEAL REALITY!! ... or at least any sort of fixed sense of same. Men thinking that they ought to protect their wives, daughters and sisters? We must be Neanderthals, right? I mean, not even being EMBARRASSED about thinking such a backward thought? CREEPY!
They probably feel as much at home in a NW WI beer joint as I do in a trendy Vegan reseraunt, although I'm guessing that if most of them feel the need to sneer, they may be less confident there. They can always hope that their female companions feel the same way!
'via Blog this'
Tehran Prepares to "Negotiate"
American flags burned as 10,000 Iranians protest on US Embassy siege anniversary - NBC News.com:
Nice to see that BO's "negotiating partner" is burning him in effigy. I'm sure he would be happy to join them in burning the flag of the "great imperialist Satan", but maybe they have not read "Dreams From my Father" and understand that his mission and theirs are one in the same!
All both BO and Iran want is PEACE! Indeed, once Israel lies in nuclear ash and the whole world is on bended knee to Allah and Sharia Law, the world will finally be at peace ... well except for a few little "frictions" between Shia and Sunni, but never mind.
Ah, the "pursuit of earthy peace". At least it is one that we will all reach, in the tomb. With BO's help, blessed rest may be much quicker than many of us would have thought, but still just a millisecond change next to eternity.
'via Blog this'
Nice to see that BO's "negotiating partner" is burning him in effigy. I'm sure he would be happy to join them in burning the flag of the "great imperialist Satan", but maybe they have not read "Dreams From my Father" and understand that his mission and theirs are one in the same!
All both BO and Iran want is PEACE! Indeed, once Israel lies in nuclear ash and the whole world is on bended knee to Allah and Sharia Law, the world will finally be at peace ... well except for a few little "frictions" between Shia and Sunni, but never mind.
Ah, the "pursuit of earthy peace". At least it is one that we will all reach, in the tomb. With BO's help, blessed rest may be much quicker than many of us would have thought, but still just a millisecond change next to eternity.
'via Blog this'
Succeeding in Using the IRS
The most dangerous woman in America | Power Line:
Nixon ENDEAVORED to use the IRS to "screw his political opponents". BO SUCCEEDED and here we have a lady with the goods. I certainly hope her security systems are excellent, her life is in grave danger.
'via Blog this'
Nixon ENDEAVORED to use the IRS to "screw his political opponents". BO SUCCEEDED and here we have a lady with the goods. I certainly hope her security systems are excellent, her life is in grave danger.
'via Blog this'
El Presidente BO
Yes! We Have More Bananas | Power Line:
The latest encyclical from his eminence on his "signature achievement", BOcare is worthy of the tinniest of tin pot dictators, but as PowerLine correctly says, there is no chance of impeachment, which is the only legal remedy available for a president that thumbs his nose at the Constitution and says "I can do anything I want".
If Nancy Reagan had set a couple of dogs down to a fine table setting with jewelry on, the MSM would have went more ballistic than a Saturn IV!
Surrealism is all that makes sense in an insane world.
'via Blog this'
The latest encyclical from his eminence on his "signature achievement", BOcare is worthy of the tinniest of tin pot dictators, but as PowerLine correctly says, there is no chance of impeachment, which is the only legal remedy available for a president that thumbs his nose at the Constitution and says "I can do anything I want".
If Nancy Reagan had set a couple of dogs down to a fine table setting with jewelry on, the MSM would have went more ballistic than a Saturn IV!
Surrealism is all that makes sense in an insane world.
'via Blog this'
The Superhighway to Serfdom
Random Thoughts - Thomas Sowell - Page 2:
A very good and wise column by Sowell. It is a crying shame he could not have been our first black president. All well worth the read if you have the time.
A very good and wise column by Sowell. It is a crying shame he could not have been our first black president. All well worth the read if you have the time.
"With his decision declaring ObamaCare constitutional, Chief Justice John Roberts turned what F.A. Hayek called "The Road to Serfdom" into a super highway. The government all but owns us now, and can order us to do pretty much whatever it wants us to do."'via Blog this'
Monday, February 10, 2014
Democrats, The Real Anti-Government Party
The End of Government | RealClearPolitics:
The usual case of Democrat policy is to create more of what they claim to be reducing, and less of what they claim to be increasing.
Thus, programs to decrease poverty increase it, BO has claimed that he wants to reduce income inequality, but has made a record increase in it, Democrats always claim to be the party of "jobs, jobs, jobs", yet the results of their policies show a REDUCTION of 1.5 million from the last expansion, even 5 years into the vaunted reign of BO.
So here we have this. The Ponzi Scheme of FICA plus the vote buying extravaganzas of Medicare and now BOcare are running on autopilot and consuming the entire government.
Thank goodness we know all about Justin Beiber, Miley Cyrus, etc.
'via Blog this'
The usual case of Democrat policy is to create more of what they claim to be reducing, and less of what they claim to be increasing.
Thus, programs to decrease poverty increase it, BO has claimed that he wants to reduce income inequality, but has made a record increase in it, Democrats always claim to be the party of "jobs, jobs, jobs", yet the results of their policies show a REDUCTION of 1.5 million from the last expansion, even 5 years into the vaunted reign of BO.
So here we have this. The Ponzi Scheme of FICA plus the vote buying extravaganzas of Medicare and now BOcare are running on autopilot and consuming the entire government.
Over the next decade, all the government's projected program growth stems from Social Security and health care, including the Affordable Care Act. By 2024, everything else will represent only 7.4 percent of national income (gross domestic product), the lowest share since at least 1940, says Douglas Elmendorf, head of the Congressional Budget Office.Even more not amazing, most Americans have no idea this is even a problem!
Thank goodness we know all about Justin Beiber, Miley Cyrus, etc.
'via Blog this'
New Harley Divine Glide
Bonhams To Auction Off The Pope's Harley-Davidson - Forbes:
I thought of a number of potentials ... some get sacrilegious (maybe all?) ... "Vatican Edition", "Dyna Pope", CCLXVI ... 266, the number of pope he is, kinda spoof on Harley's model numbers, eg Heritage Classic is an "FLSTC"
'via Blog this'
I thought of a number of potentials ... some get sacrilegious (maybe all?) ... "Vatican Edition", "Dyna Pope", CCLXVI ... 266, the number of pope he is, kinda spoof on Harley's model numbers, eg Heritage Classic is an "FLSTC"
'via Blog this'
Subversion for the Rest of Us! (maybe)
Is The LEGO Movie The Most Subversive Pro-Liberty Film Ever?:
Interesting column. I'm not going to buy it as correct yet, because I've not seen the movie myself, it IS delicious to even POSSIBLY see Michael Moore getting confused about what is up here because of his knee-jerk reaction to the evil president being "President Business" is just too rich.
Good column, 2nd invocation of "immanentize the eschaton" in a couple weeks!
'via Blog this'
Interesting column. I'm not going to buy it as correct yet, because I've not seen the movie myself, it IS delicious to even POSSIBLY see Michael Moore getting confused about what is up here because of his knee-jerk reaction to the evil president being "President Business" is just too rich.
Yes, I really mean this: “The Lego Movie” is hilarious, smart, satirical/political (the President’s name is “President Business”) & fun. GO!
“All I’m asking for is total perfection!” bringing in “micromanagers” to help out. It was that scene’s call to immanentize the eschaton, by the way, that convinced me the FOX panelists hadn’t seen the film before critiquing it. President Business actually gives a character a choice between fealty to him or “a tea party with your mom and dad.”
'via Blog this'
The Woven Contribution of the Collective
Opinion: Jerry Seinfeld, wrong on diversity - CNN.com:
"It's an invitation to appreciate the woven contribution of the collective."
For those familiar with the "Borg Collective" on "Star Trek the Next Generation", the other line is "You WILL be assimilated" -- which is the motto of PC, LZ Granderson, and the socialist collective in whatever form it rises up.
The often self-appointed spokespeople for the collective will FORCE you to see things their way if you are too stupid, or lack the "good sense" to cow to their demands. Assimilation is NOT a choice!
America was founded by people who were willing to risk their lives to NOT be assimilated ... into the State Church, or their assigned Class / Slot / role in a much more collective society in Europe. America was a place where you could be YOU, brands of you that just didn't exist in Europe -- fur trapper, explorer, pioneer farmer, river boat gambler, cowboy ... etc.
The fact that Seinfeld is Jewish is never mentioned by LZ. It turns out that down through the ages Jews have suffered a lot of "discrimination" as well, and still do -- often from blacks, especially Muslim blacks.
Is PC in America going to deal with that? Nope, Blacks are even even more of a reliable voting block for the collective than Jews, and while Jews will often get a pass from a lot of the collective on the PC thing, apparently LZ hasn't got that memo.
Focus on what is funny? That is like focusing on quality, or the product, or making a product, or winning games. America isn't about that any more, America is about "fairness", "diversity", "PC" ... sure, if a few products of some sort happen to fall off some line somewhere, that is OK, but that is NOT our focus! No, we are BETTER THAN THAT!
'via Blog this'
"It's an invitation to appreciate the woven contribution of the collective."
For those familiar with the "Borg Collective" on "Star Trek the Next Generation", the other line is "You WILL be assimilated" -- which is the motto of PC, LZ Granderson, and the socialist collective in whatever form it rises up.
The often self-appointed spokespeople for the collective will FORCE you to see things their way if you are too stupid, or lack the "good sense" to cow to their demands. Assimilation is NOT a choice!
America was founded by people who were willing to risk their lives to NOT be assimilated ... into the State Church, or their assigned Class / Slot / role in a much more collective society in Europe. America was a place where you could be YOU, brands of you that just didn't exist in Europe -- fur trapper, explorer, pioneer farmer, river boat gambler, cowboy ... etc.
The fact that Seinfeld is Jewish is never mentioned by LZ. It turns out that down through the ages Jews have suffered a lot of "discrimination" as well, and still do -- often from blacks, especially Muslim blacks.
Is PC in America going to deal with that? Nope, Blacks are even even more of a reliable voting block for the collective than Jews, and while Jews will often get a pass from a lot of the collective on the PC thing, apparently LZ hasn't got that memo.
Focus on what is funny? That is like focusing on quality, or the product, or making a product, or winning games. America isn't about that any more, America is about "fairness", "diversity", "PC" ... sure, if a few products of some sort happen to fall off some line somewhere, that is OK, but that is NOT our focus! No, we are BETTER THAN THAT!
'via Blog this'
Saturday, February 08, 2014
Failing the 11th Commandment
Articles: Memo to Conservatives: Republicans Aren't Your Friends:
and Reagan said: "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican".
The linked article completely fails at that commandment, as are MANY failing that on all sides in the current Republican party. We need a "Luther" to tell us "What does this mean"?
The article rightly points out that there is a lot of dissension in the Republican party right now, this is correct, but it is NOT new! Republicans are the party of "Conservatism", which means basic fundamental PRINCIPLE .. rule of law, the carrying on of the culture and tradition so that men are more than "the flies of summer" in Burke's words.
To be conservative is to "put principle above politics", BUT, it is ALSO to understand the extreme limitations of politics. Politics is "war by other means" ... the "other means", selling, cajoling, forming coalitions, and yes COMPROMISE. Republicans are to be BOTH principled but also very pragmatic, just like Christians. The situation of conservatism int he world is much like Paul expounds for us in 1 Corinthians 9
19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
"We serve a higher power". In the US, that used to be The Constitution (and it's under-girding wisdom and documents), the Truths that we once ALL agreed were "self evident". Conservatives still do believe that.
The Democrat Party are not "our enemies" as the article says, although we are often THEIR enemies. Conservatives believe in "first do no harm", and the humility of understanding that no one person, no group, no generation, or even no small set of generations contains anything CLOSE to the "wisdom of the ages", and that is WITHOUT taking the Divine into consideration -- which a large majority of conservatives also believe to be critical as well.
Democrats are perfectly willing to do what they see as "short run harm", with BOcare being only one of a whole myriad of examples. Indeed, their signature modern program, Social Security, was put in place as a known Ponzi scheme to buy the votes of the present with the sweat of future generations.
The MOST dangerous path at this time is for people that want to think of themselves as "conservative" is to demand "drastic change RIGHT NOW", even if that change would be in "the correct direction". As in life, we can't turn the nations clock back to "1900" and "restart". A number of very erroneous changes have been made, but they can't be UNmade via short term politics, and it isn't conservative to believe that they can.
There is no other way but "forward" in time, which is TOTALLY different than "progress", which is FAR from assured. It is the meaning and understanding of cultural, religious, political and even artistic wisdom that conservatives use to temper the hubris of "change". Time will pass without our help, and it definitely will "wound all heels" as well as at least partially "heal all wounds". Let's not be heels.
Conservatives need and should encourage strong and open discussion of what the basic principles of economics, human nature, real science, history, etc mean in the current context, and make CORRECT predictions of what the errors of hubristic strident "liberal" policies will result in. Reagan calling the end to the USSR and turning us from an economic situation nearly as bad as the current BO hole to a period of boom did more for the standing of conservatives than any current words or fighting will. BUT, he had to WIN politically to be able to do that!
We now need to "call the ball" as to what current policies are and will result in. This is relatively easy -- the principles don't change, so the "change agents" always screw up. We will have continued economic flat-line to decline, the continuation of the disaster that is BOcare, the continued decline in the family and the social fabric due to "gay marriage", abortion, and other destructive policies.
We need to provide sober reality based CLEAR statements of REAL AND OBSERVABLE consequences of the current failed policies AND the alternatives. This ought to be "easy", the Reagan example is only 20-30 years old. Within the lifetime of MUCH of our population, and in the lived memory of many. The principles never changed, we just failed to follow them.
It is easy to "lose faith" so that the Republicans in power move to "Democrat lite", forgetting that principles really matter even on the timid side, and others "go zealot" as the Tea Party is wont to do, DEMANDING an entire loaf of IMMEDIATE change or they are going to take their votes and go elsewhere. The linked article thinks it is a "good time for civil war" in the Republican party, but right now, I don't see it as a time that we can WIN the war!
The South fired the first shots in our Civil War. Had they not, and had they not made the aggressive but failed advance that ended at Gettysburg, they would likely have "won" ... in that secession would have happened, they would have probably controlled a lot of at least Mexico and South America, and a whole other raft of "maybes". Slavery would still be gone as the dying institution it was, but States Rights would still be alive!
"Democrat Lite" is WAY less damaging than "going zealot" and LOSING a war. Going zealot exposes conservatives to the same failings as "progressives" -- the supposedly brilliant "quick fix", "big change". Countries and cultures are most successful with incrementalism IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!
With limited humans acting in the limited domain of politics, "the lesser of two evils" is OFTEN (if not ALWAYS, which I virtually never say) is the best that can be hoped for. Shoot for "pure best", and one gets Slick Willie over HW, BO over McCain, and BO over Romney. Significant movement in the WRONG DIRECTION over potential "holding the line", or incremental change in a positive direction.
YES, we need to "police our own" ... if Chris Christie wants to hug BO a couple weeks before the election, he is either a RINO at heart, or so narcissistic, clueless, or Machiavellian that we certainly don't want him as a presidential candidate even if he can win ... the bridge just seals the deal. Not going to war with your fellow Republicans is not the same as having no standards as long as there is an "R" on the label. The conservative life, like the Christian life is not simple -- it is a constant battle of reference to principle, thought, meditation, considered action, and yes, prayer!
It is "D" that means that you sign up explicitly to have NO STANDARDS other than total and completely firm D loyalty, no matter how hypocritical or inconsistent the position. Thus, human babies, kill them all whenever for any reason, ... snail darters, owls, etc, preserve them at all costs; deficit under R, scandalous, destructive, "unsustainable ... 5x the deficit under D, too small, great policy; Guns, terrible, destructive, ought to be banned ... Drugs? Doesn't the Constitution declare a CLEAR right to them in the prenumbra of the privacy clause right next to abortion? ... and on it goes.
"Thinker" needs to do some more studying and THINKING relative to their views in the linked article. As we all do, always. The "D" way is the human way, into which we fall without prayer and grace.
'via Blog this'
and Reagan said: "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican".
The linked article completely fails at that commandment, as are MANY failing that on all sides in the current Republican party. We need a "Luther" to tell us "What does this mean"?
The article rightly points out that there is a lot of dissension in the Republican party right now, this is correct, but it is NOT new! Republicans are the party of "Conservatism", which means basic fundamental PRINCIPLE .. rule of law, the carrying on of the culture and tradition so that men are more than "the flies of summer" in Burke's words.
To be conservative is to "put principle above politics", BUT, it is ALSO to understand the extreme limitations of politics. Politics is "war by other means" ... the "other means", selling, cajoling, forming coalitions, and yes COMPROMISE. Republicans are to be BOTH principled but also very pragmatic, just like Christians. The situation of conservatism int he world is much like Paul expounds for us in 1 Corinthians 9
19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
"We serve a higher power". In the US, that used to be The Constitution (and it's under-girding wisdom and documents), the Truths that we once ALL agreed were "self evident". Conservatives still do believe that.
The Democrat Party are not "our enemies" as the article says, although we are often THEIR enemies. Conservatives believe in "first do no harm", and the humility of understanding that no one person, no group, no generation, or even no small set of generations contains anything CLOSE to the "wisdom of the ages", and that is WITHOUT taking the Divine into consideration -- which a large majority of conservatives also believe to be critical as well.
Democrats are perfectly willing to do what they see as "short run harm", with BOcare being only one of a whole myriad of examples. Indeed, their signature modern program, Social Security, was put in place as a known Ponzi scheme to buy the votes of the present with the sweat of future generations.
The MOST dangerous path at this time is for people that want to think of themselves as "conservative" is to demand "drastic change RIGHT NOW", even if that change would be in "the correct direction". As in life, we can't turn the nations clock back to "1900" and "restart". A number of very erroneous changes have been made, but they can't be UNmade via short term politics, and it isn't conservative to believe that they can.
There is no other way but "forward" in time, which is TOTALLY different than "progress", which is FAR from assured. It is the meaning and understanding of cultural, religious, political and even artistic wisdom that conservatives use to temper the hubris of "change". Time will pass without our help, and it definitely will "wound all heels" as well as at least partially "heal all wounds". Let's not be heels.
Conservatives need and should encourage strong and open discussion of what the basic principles of economics, human nature, real science, history, etc mean in the current context, and make CORRECT predictions of what the errors of hubristic strident "liberal" policies will result in. Reagan calling the end to the USSR and turning us from an economic situation nearly as bad as the current BO hole to a period of boom did more for the standing of conservatives than any current words or fighting will. BUT, he had to WIN politically to be able to do that!
We now need to "call the ball" as to what current policies are and will result in. This is relatively easy -- the principles don't change, so the "change agents" always screw up. We will have continued economic flat-line to decline, the continuation of the disaster that is BOcare, the continued decline in the family and the social fabric due to "gay marriage", abortion, and other destructive policies.
We need to provide sober reality based CLEAR statements of REAL AND OBSERVABLE consequences of the current failed policies AND the alternatives. This ought to be "easy", the Reagan example is only 20-30 years old. Within the lifetime of MUCH of our population, and in the lived memory of many. The principles never changed, we just failed to follow them.
It is easy to "lose faith" so that the Republicans in power move to "Democrat lite", forgetting that principles really matter even on the timid side, and others "go zealot" as the Tea Party is wont to do, DEMANDING an entire loaf of IMMEDIATE change or they are going to take their votes and go elsewhere. The linked article thinks it is a "good time for civil war" in the Republican party, but right now, I don't see it as a time that we can WIN the war!
The South fired the first shots in our Civil War. Had they not, and had they not made the aggressive but failed advance that ended at Gettysburg, they would likely have "won" ... in that secession would have happened, they would have probably controlled a lot of at least Mexico and South America, and a whole other raft of "maybes". Slavery would still be gone as the dying institution it was, but States Rights would still be alive!
"Democrat Lite" is WAY less damaging than "going zealot" and LOSING a war. Going zealot exposes conservatives to the same failings as "progressives" -- the supposedly brilliant "quick fix", "big change". Countries and cultures are most successful with incrementalism IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!
With limited humans acting in the limited domain of politics, "the lesser of two evils" is OFTEN (if not ALWAYS, which I virtually never say) is the best that can be hoped for. Shoot for "pure best", and one gets Slick Willie over HW, BO over McCain, and BO over Romney. Significant movement in the WRONG DIRECTION over potential "holding the line", or incremental change in a positive direction.
YES, we need to "police our own" ... if Chris Christie wants to hug BO a couple weeks before the election, he is either a RINO at heart, or so narcissistic, clueless, or Machiavellian that we certainly don't want him as a presidential candidate even if he can win ... the bridge just seals the deal. Not going to war with your fellow Republicans is not the same as having no standards as long as there is an "R" on the label. The conservative life, like the Christian life is not simple -- it is a constant battle of reference to principle, thought, meditation, considered action, and yes, prayer!
It is "D" that means that you sign up explicitly to have NO STANDARDS other than total and completely firm D loyalty, no matter how hypocritical or inconsistent the position. Thus, human babies, kill them all whenever for any reason, ... snail darters, owls, etc, preserve them at all costs; deficit under R, scandalous, destructive, "unsustainable ... 5x the deficit under D, too small, great policy; Guns, terrible, destructive, ought to be banned ... Drugs? Doesn't the Constitution declare a CLEAR right to them in the prenumbra of the privacy clause right next to abortion? ... and on it goes.
"Thinker" needs to do some more studying and THINKING relative to their views in the linked article. As we all do, always. The "D" way is the human way, into which we fall without prayer and grace.
'via Blog this'
Wednesday, February 05, 2014
EEEK, Seinfeld Puts Comedy Ahead of PC!
Liberals Still Aren’t Funny: Seinfeld Feeds Buzzfeed to the Buzzsaw | Power Line:
Jerry may need a bit of diversity training. When I was at IBM, we got that every year, because PC **WAS** (and still is AFAIK) more important than customers, products, profits, etc at IBM. It is easy to look at the recent level of success at IBM to see how well that went.
Jerry certainly doesn't get it. Just because he is Jewish isn't likely to exempt him. PC "equality", "diversity", the whole schmo is WAY more important than "funny", quality, products, profits, production, money, and all that other "stuff".
PC **IS** one of the big things that counts as modern "morality" and BO and company have done a great job of shaping the heads of Americans as to what is important and what isn't.
A half hearted glance at BOcare gives a good idea of how important BO and his minions hold competence and actual product quality to be!
'via Blog this'
Jerry may need a bit of diversity training. When I was at IBM, we got that every year, because PC **WAS** (and still is AFAIK) more important than customers, products, profits, etc at IBM. It is easy to look at the recent level of success at IBM to see how well that went.
Jerry certainly doesn't get it. Just because he is Jewish isn't likely to exempt him. PC "equality", "diversity", the whole schmo is WAY more important than "funny", quality, products, profits, production, money, and all that other "stuff".
PC **IS** one of the big things that counts as modern "morality" and BO and company have done a great job of shaping the heads of Americans as to what is important and what isn't.
A half hearted glance at BOcare gives a good idea of how important BO and his minions hold competence and actual product quality to be!
'via Blog this'
Billy Destroyed After Self Awareness
F-35 Delayed After Fourth Prototype Becomes Self-Aware And Has To Be Destroyed:
At least it is only going to take a few billion on an unknown schedule to fix this. No doubt extremely cheap compared to trying to fix BOcare!
I'm thinking that if they actually put in an extreme striving for each plane to be prettiest, that ought to keep them very competitive and devious, but allow them to be quickly subdued just by throwing some stuff on their hangar floor.
If someone can come of up with the aircraft equivalent of hairstyle and makeup, they would take a few hours to "scramble", but at least they wouldn't be a general threat.
'via Blog this'
At least it is only going to take a few billion on an unknown schedule to fix this. No doubt extremely cheap compared to trying to fix BOcare!
I'm thinking that if they actually put in an extreme striving for each plane to be prettiest, that ought to keep them very competitive and devious, but allow them to be quickly subdued just by throwing some stuff on their hangar floor.
If someone can come of up with the aircraft equivalent of hairstyle and makeup, they would take a few hours to "scramble", but at least they wouldn't be a general threat.
'via Blog this'
The American Dream of Not Working
The Jobless Care Act - WSJ.com:
Good column on the CBO report. Negative effects of the delayed employer mandate are not included yet, they will likely more than double this bad news. This kind of news is as exciting as "gravity still works", which I can only imagine would be a shock to BO and his cronies.
'via Blog this'
Good column on the CBO report. Negative effects of the delayed employer mandate are not included yet, they will likely more than double this bad news. This kind of news is as exciting as "gravity still works", which I can only imagine would be a shock to BO and his cronies.
'via Blog this'
BOcare Hits Mayo Employees
Mayo Clinic revamps benefits: Employees to shoulder more health-care costs - PostBulletin.com: Local:
Have heard of a few Mayo employees that are likely to add to the CBO reported drop in number of people working at the end of 2014 in order to stay on a group plan. The CBO projects the workforce will drop by by 2 million or so over the next 10 years. The report also indicates flat economic growth projected into the future -- and usually these reports are on the optimistic side.
"Progressivism" is simply the idea that human nature is changeable by social technologies and education. The USSR, Nazi Germany, and the declines in Japan, Europe and the US should have shown us by now that it us not, but "Progressivism" is a religious faith like "Climate Change", not something affected by facts or actual results. When a nation becomes "progressive", millions die. So far those millions are primarily unborn babies, minorities, and others easily affected by the social engineering pathologies here in the US, but the trend that we see with IRS, NSA and attempts to confiscate guns is in line with including those not willing to cow to the "progressive" religion in the future.
Sane people respond to reality and incentives. If it is hot we try to get cool, if it us colder we try to get warmer. When people look at the economic climate, they decide if they want to work at all, how much, at how hard a job, etc. I personally know a large number of people (myself included) that would be very employable, but given their age (late 50's) level of assets, pension, etc, have decided that we had no interest in being 50% government workers (add Fed-State, FICA and AMT).
We are seeing a GIANT growth in the number of non or "under" workers at the other end of the work force. People in their 20's to 30's keeping incomes low to maximize government benefits, living together vs marrying, etc. In Europe, super high unemployment and never moving out of home has been an epidemic for 20 years or more -- we have now copied a lot of their system, so we are seeing more and more of their results.
The old Star Wars "is the Dark Side stronger" question is never really settled. Certainly if good people refuse to stand up, evil will prevail.
'via Blog this'
Have heard of a few Mayo employees that are likely to add to the CBO reported drop in number of people working at the end of 2014 in order to stay on a group plan. The CBO projects the workforce will drop by by 2 million or so over the next 10 years. The report also indicates flat economic growth projected into the future -- and usually these reports are on the optimistic side.
"Progressivism" is simply the idea that human nature is changeable by social technologies and education. The USSR, Nazi Germany, and the declines in Japan, Europe and the US should have shown us by now that it us not, but "Progressivism" is a religious faith like "Climate Change", not something affected by facts or actual results. When a nation becomes "progressive", millions die. So far those millions are primarily unborn babies, minorities, and others easily affected by the social engineering pathologies here in the US, but the trend that we see with IRS, NSA and attempts to confiscate guns is in line with including those not willing to cow to the "progressive" religion in the future.
Sane people respond to reality and incentives. If it is hot we try to get cool, if it us colder we try to get warmer. When people look at the economic climate, they decide if they want to work at all, how much, at how hard a job, etc. I personally know a large number of people (myself included) that would be very employable, but given their age (late 50's) level of assets, pension, etc, have decided that we had no interest in being 50% government workers (add Fed-State, FICA and AMT).
We are seeing a GIANT growth in the number of non or "under" workers at the other end of the work force. People in their 20's to 30's keeping incomes low to maximize government benefits, living together vs marrying, etc. In Europe, super high unemployment and never moving out of home has been an epidemic for 20 years or more -- we have now copied a lot of their system, so we are seeing more and more of their results.
The old Star Wars "is the Dark Side stronger" question is never really settled. Certainly if good people refuse to stand up, evil will prevail.
'via Blog this'
Tuesday, February 04, 2014
Dana Milbank, Through the Looking Glass
Then
Now
A quick perusal of Milbank then and Milbank now is rather fun. Seriously? We were not "divided" when W was in the WH? Did the media not ask tough questions, interrupt him, and obsessively focus on his body language at a point he is trying to help construction in New Oleans? Of course the media found that to be "fake" ... but W still helps build homes at various placed around the country today, and AFAIK he isn't running for much. What are the odds of BO would such activities after he leaves the WH ... since he doesn't do them now.
We are ALL biased. **I AM BIASED" ... so I'm certain that I have blind spots as well. Doesn't Milbank have editors, assistants and maybe some readers with a memory longer than 20 min though?
When your bias consumes you, don't you just become an object for entertainment rather than "news"? Could Milbank REALLY have forgotten when the entire MSM was rabidly in W's face 24x7, and "Scooter Libby" and "outing" Valeria Plame, a "secret agent" that drove from her suburban DC home to CIA headquarters each day was 24x7 national news? Complete with a "Special Prosecutor"
Sometimes it feels like we have fallen through the looking glass.
So Bill O'Reilly doesn't lick BO's boots -- should "the one" be COMPLETELY unopposed?
'via Blog this'
Now
A quick perusal of Milbank then and Milbank now is rather fun. Seriously? We were not "divided" when W was in the WH? Did the media not ask tough questions, interrupt him, and obsessively focus on his body language at a point he is trying to help construction in New Oleans? Of course the media found that to be "fake" ... but W still helps build homes at various placed around the country today, and AFAIK he isn't running for much. What are the odds of BO would such activities after he leaves the WH ... since he doesn't do them now.
We are ALL biased. **I AM BIASED" ... so I'm certain that I have blind spots as well. Doesn't Milbank have editors, assistants and maybe some readers with a memory longer than 20 min though?
When your bias consumes you, don't you just become an object for entertainment rather than "news"? Could Milbank REALLY have forgotten when the entire MSM was rabidly in W's face 24x7, and "Scooter Libby" and "outing" Valeria Plame, a "secret agent" that drove from her suburban DC home to CIA headquarters each day was 24x7 national news? Complete with a "Special Prosecutor"
Sometimes it feels like we have fallen through the looking glass.
So Bill O'Reilly doesn't lick BO's boots -- should "the one" be COMPLETELY unopposed?
'via Blog this'
The Way of the RINO
Republicans to the Rescue? | RealClearPolitics:
RINO -- Republican In Name Only
The Republicans are Charlie Brown and the Democrats are Lucy. (or as I sometimes like to say "Luci", the female persona of Lucifer).
Let's spend some more money today and agree to "bigger cuts down the road". The R's always go for it, and then when the "bigger cuts down the road", show up -- as in the "sequester", Ryan and the rest of them cave on the "bigger cuts", and throw in some extra spending. (the football gets pulled away, to continue the Peanuts analogy).
Why do they do it? Because they want to be "liked". Because they get scared and think it is an "easy win" to "appeal to the middle". Because the MSM says that the ONLY "reasonable thing to do" is raise taxes more on more successful Americans and business and provide more "temporary assistance" to the growing set of less to non-productive Americans, while passing a larger and larger bill to future generations. Anything else is "extreme", "mean spirited", or "partisan". Nobody likes to be labeled with those words!
And so it goes with "immigration reform". Republicans MUST make an amnesty deal today, in exchange for "tightening the boarders tomorrow" ... "for the innocent children". As Sowell points out, billions of others of which are sadly born outside of the US as well, "through no fault of their own". They however are less likely to grow up to be Democrats than the ones in Mexico, so the "caring" of the Democrat party is not evident for them.
This is not new! Democrats are the party of "democracy", better stated as MOB RULE! They proudly presided over slavery for 100 years because it was a political winner. Then pivoted to Jim Crow, for another hundred for the same reason. Then they shifted to being "the party of the little guy", buying votes by transferring money from the pockets of the more successful to the pockets of the less successful and taking their cut.
Their currency is Political Power and bad checks written on the bank accounts of the successful. They are the party of the TAKERS or in the case of FICA, the "future taker wanna bees". Their morals consist of "win baby, win", because it is all a zero sum game to them based on government power. Being in power in national hell is infinitely superior to being on the back bench in a successful growing, thriving nation for them. They have no "rule of law" other than what they make up in the moment which they expect to use for political advantage.
We are fast running out of MAKERS, and RINOs are not the party of makers anyway. Makers need to build things, compete, produce, defend, make the reality based hard decisions. They are "the goose that lays the golden eggs", but the Takers have pretty much started hacking away at the magic egg laying capability of the makers, and that part of our once proud system is either close to gone or gone.
Why do great nations decline and die? Because they turn from their ultimate Maker (God) and his Law, then promptly turn against their earthy Makers and consume themselves.
'via Blog this'
RINO -- Republican In Name Only
The Republicans are Charlie Brown and the Democrats are Lucy. (or as I sometimes like to say "Luci", the female persona of Lucifer).
Let's spend some more money today and agree to "bigger cuts down the road". The R's always go for it, and then when the "bigger cuts down the road", show up -- as in the "sequester", Ryan and the rest of them cave on the "bigger cuts", and throw in some extra spending. (the football gets pulled away, to continue the Peanuts analogy).
Why do they do it? Because they want to be "liked". Because they get scared and think it is an "easy win" to "appeal to the middle". Because the MSM says that the ONLY "reasonable thing to do" is raise taxes more on more successful Americans and business and provide more "temporary assistance" to the growing set of less to non-productive Americans, while passing a larger and larger bill to future generations. Anything else is "extreme", "mean spirited", or "partisan". Nobody likes to be labeled with those words!
And so it goes with "immigration reform". Republicans MUST make an amnesty deal today, in exchange for "tightening the boarders tomorrow" ... "for the innocent children". As Sowell points out, billions of others of which are sadly born outside of the US as well, "through no fault of their own". They however are less likely to grow up to be Democrats than the ones in Mexico, so the "caring" of the Democrat party is not evident for them.
This is not new! Democrats are the party of "democracy", better stated as MOB RULE! They proudly presided over slavery for 100 years because it was a political winner. Then pivoted to Jim Crow, for another hundred for the same reason. Then they shifted to being "the party of the little guy", buying votes by transferring money from the pockets of the more successful to the pockets of the less successful and taking their cut.
Their currency is Political Power and bad checks written on the bank accounts of the successful. They are the party of the TAKERS or in the case of FICA, the "future taker wanna bees". Their morals consist of "win baby, win", because it is all a zero sum game to them based on government power. Being in power in national hell is infinitely superior to being on the back bench in a successful growing, thriving nation for them. They have no "rule of law" other than what they make up in the moment which they expect to use for political advantage.
We are fast running out of MAKERS, and RINOs are not the party of makers anyway. Makers need to build things, compete, produce, defend, make the reality based hard decisions. They are "the goose that lays the golden eggs", but the Takers have pretty much started hacking away at the magic egg laying capability of the makers, and that part of our once proud system is either close to gone or gone.
Why do great nations decline and die? Because they turn from their ultimate Maker (God) and his Law, then promptly turn against their earthy Makers and consume themselves.
'via Blog this'
Monday, February 03, 2014
Worshiping Entropy
Capitalism vs. Democracy - NYTimes.com:
As BO calls "inequality" the "defining problem of our time", and a new book has lefties nearly panting about the evils of "Capitalism", it seems time to take our eyes off our navels and glance around at a bit larger picture.
There are two primary forces in the universe. First -- creation, innovation, order, light, energy, LIFE, growth, existence, truth, purpose, Love. We Christians (and many others) give these the ultimate name of GOD.
The other primary force is called destruction, stasis, chaos, darkness, entropy, DEATH, decline, oblivion, lies, meaninglessness, hatred. The lord of these is sometimes known as "Satan".
Science has named these the 2nd law of thermodynamics - "the entropy of an isolated system never decreases, because isolated systems spontaneously evolve toward thermodynamic equilibrium—the state of maximum entropy."
Humans always worship. For thousands of years we had "many gods", St Augustine in City of God spends a LONG time discussing the vast number of Roman and Greek Gods, and why only worshiping one God in through the person of Christ Jesus is far superior. "City of God" is one of the foundational works of Western Civilization, but today few even know of it. We have lost our moorings, but our basic nature is unchanged.
We DO "worship", but we currently often call it something else "belief, political ideology, opinion, science, etc".
Those that worship the first force believe that SOMETHING (God to me, maybe "the great random accident to you") defied "the not" and not only set in motion, but in some way sustains growth of which LIFE is just one aspect. GOD is the ultimate inequality, being supremely unequal to all else, but his power engenders infinite diversity of energy, intelligence, types, classes, and dimensions so great that the human mind can't approach imagining it all.
However, if you worship entropy, actual diversity with a difference is one of your most horrible enemies. You believe in a return to some sort of eternal sameness. Nullification, the end, death, meaninglessness become your goals. You strive to turn truth and light to "50" or ideally THOUSANDS of shades of gray, eventually arriving at total darkness. Very "fair", and very "peaceful", just like a tomb should be.
At the point of maximum entropy, all is equal, all is undifferentiated, all is at "peace". A very simple and easy to understand peace of negation, as opposed to Gods Peace "the peace that passes all understanding", the peace of eternal life, light and bliss.
Democracy itself is a mechanism and an idea that says "everyone is the same", so it is therefore nihilistic in nature. Our nation was founded as a Democratic Republic in an attempt to prevent the corrosive effects of pure democracy, but like all corrosives, we continue to slide to "pure democracy" or "mob rule", one of the worst of the tyrannies.
Capitalism is much more like gravity than it is like democracy. Newton didn't invent gravity, he "discovered" it or more exactly, explained how it operates. Likewise, Adam Smith didn't invent capitalism, he just told us some things about how it works. Essentially, it is just competition -- which will go on by one means or another no matter what sort of system one attempts to set up. Set up a socialist system and the unions and other special interests compete to gain larger portions of the economic pie by the mechanisms of socialism.
Capitalism ... as in people exchanging goods and services in a competitive way to try to "get ahead" is going to go on. It can be somewhat "controlled", but not to the extent that democracy can. Democracy can be entirely cancelled, and has been many times in history ... though typically not by capitalism.
What is REALLY interesting in the article is the chart. I have no idea if it is factual or fanciful, but it gives one pause. For 1800 years capital returns 4.5-5%, then it's return plummets to 1% by 1913, then slowly starts to rise back to it's historic mean. Productivity meanwhile rises at an increasing rate for 1800 years, then flattens at the same time capital falls, then jumps for a mere 50ish years until being projected to fall back to 1820 levels by 2050.
Capitalism didn't show up in 1820, but the rise of increasingly bureaucratic governments, fiat currency, unions and other methods for large groups of people to increasingly vote themselves benefits from those more powerful governments did show up and grow on roughly that timetable.
So "who's zoomin who?" Have we seen a giant increase in the power of "capitalists" in the past 100 years? or of large bureaucratic state governments, fiat currency, taxation, regulation and massive public debt?
'via Blog this'
As BO calls "inequality" the "defining problem of our time", and a new book has lefties nearly panting about the evils of "Capitalism", it seems time to take our eyes off our navels and glance around at a bit larger picture.
There are two primary forces in the universe. First -- creation, innovation, order, light, energy, LIFE, growth, existence, truth, purpose, Love. We Christians (and many others) give these the ultimate name of GOD.
The other primary force is called destruction, stasis, chaos, darkness, entropy, DEATH, decline, oblivion, lies, meaninglessness, hatred. The lord of these is sometimes known as "Satan".
Science has named these the 2nd law of thermodynamics - "the entropy of an isolated system never decreases, because isolated systems spontaneously evolve toward thermodynamic equilibrium—the state of maximum entropy."
Humans always worship. For thousands of years we had "many gods", St Augustine in City of God spends a LONG time discussing the vast number of Roman and Greek Gods, and why only worshiping one God in through the person of Christ Jesus is far superior. "City of God" is one of the foundational works of Western Civilization, but today few even know of it. We have lost our moorings, but our basic nature is unchanged.
We DO "worship", but we currently often call it something else "belief, political ideology, opinion, science, etc".
Those that worship the first force believe that SOMETHING (God to me, maybe "the great random accident to you") defied "the not" and not only set in motion, but in some way sustains growth of which LIFE is just one aspect. GOD is the ultimate inequality, being supremely unequal to all else, but his power engenders infinite diversity of energy, intelligence, types, classes, and dimensions so great that the human mind can't approach imagining it all.
However, if you worship entropy, actual diversity with a difference is one of your most horrible enemies. You believe in a return to some sort of eternal sameness. Nullification, the end, death, meaninglessness become your goals. You strive to turn truth and light to "50" or ideally THOUSANDS of shades of gray, eventually arriving at total darkness. Very "fair", and very "peaceful", just like a tomb should be.
At the point of maximum entropy, all is equal, all is undifferentiated, all is at "peace". A very simple and easy to understand peace of negation, as opposed to Gods Peace "the peace that passes all understanding", the peace of eternal life, light and bliss.
Democracy itself is a mechanism and an idea that says "everyone is the same", so it is therefore nihilistic in nature. Our nation was founded as a Democratic Republic in an attempt to prevent the corrosive effects of pure democracy, but like all corrosives, we continue to slide to "pure democracy" or "mob rule", one of the worst of the tyrannies.
Capitalism is much more like gravity than it is like democracy. Newton didn't invent gravity, he "discovered" it or more exactly, explained how it operates. Likewise, Adam Smith didn't invent capitalism, he just told us some things about how it works. Essentially, it is just competition -- which will go on by one means or another no matter what sort of system one attempts to set up. Set up a socialist system and the unions and other special interests compete to gain larger portions of the economic pie by the mechanisms of socialism.
Capitalism ... as in people exchanging goods and services in a competitive way to try to "get ahead" is going to go on. It can be somewhat "controlled", but not to the extent that democracy can. Democracy can be entirely cancelled, and has been many times in history ... though typically not by capitalism.
What is REALLY interesting in the article is the chart. I have no idea if it is factual or fanciful, but it gives one pause. For 1800 years capital returns 4.5-5%, then it's return plummets to 1% by 1913, then slowly starts to rise back to it's historic mean. Productivity meanwhile rises at an increasing rate for 1800 years, then flattens at the same time capital falls, then jumps for a mere 50ish years until being projected to fall back to 1820 levels by 2050.
Capitalism didn't show up in 1820, but the rise of increasingly bureaucratic governments, fiat currency, unions and other methods for large groups of people to increasingly vote themselves benefits from those more powerful governments did show up and grow on roughly that timetable.
So "who's zoomin who?" Have we seen a giant increase in the power of "capitalists" in the past 100 years? or of large bureaucratic state governments, fiat currency, taxation, regulation and massive public debt?
'via Blog this'
Friday, January 31, 2014
The Bourne Equilibrium! (Must Read)
Bret Stephens: Kurt Vonnegut's State of the Union - WSJ.com:
I'm completely converted. Equality of result is for me!
Don't put it off, read it right now and you can be free as well!
and then, if you REALLY want to live dangerously, read this http://www.tnellen.com/westside/harrison.pdf !
'via Blog this'
I'm completely converted. Equality of result is for me!
Don't put it off, read it right now and you can be free as well!
and then, if you REALLY want to live dangerously, read this http://www.tnellen.com/westside/harrison.pdf !
'via Blog this'
Immanentizing the Eschaton
You Stay Classy, Paul Krugman - Ricochet.com:
I often run into things that make me feel like a complete and total idiot for having not been aware of them. At one time NRO put out T-SHIRTS! with the title phrase on them, and yet up until 10 min ago, I had never heard of it! As a Christian and a Conservative, I need to put on the dunce cap and sit in the corner for a few hours!
Eschaton - The final Christian heavenly state. From "The New Science of Politics", yet ANOTHER book that I had never even heard of, so I am now VERY behind on my reading again! This is nearly as horrible a situation as when I am yet again required to get the Ranger out and plow snow! ;-)
Nice short little article covering a recent emanation from the eminent and no doubt highly caring "economist" (and former Enron adviser) Paul Krugman. I don't like to cover a lot about Krugman because I agree with this NRO article that he intellectually died sometime around the point at where he took $50K from Enron, wrote glowingly about them, and then promptly wrote columns excoriating them, the W administration relative to them, AND "their advisers" while while conveniently forgetting he was on that list himself!
When you find it necessary to attack a person going in for their 4th round of cancer treatment on any topic, let alone their statement relative to losing their oncologist, people (as opposed to leftist Golems) tend to just say "I'll pick other battles").
But not Paul ... let me charge in and attack the cancer patient Krugman. Yes, "I'll break you in half like a boy" is bad behavior for a back benching congressmen, akin to the usual output of George Clooney, or Matt Damon, or Alec Baldwin, or ... well, you get the picture, While we are on the topic, if there is breaking to be done, it seems Justin Bieber might be a decent place to start ... but I digress.
But one might expect a higher standard from the NYT. How pray tell do they still have a guy that is this crass and out of touch writing a regular column for them? It is a testament to the selective reporting of what passes as American "journalism" that this goes on! In this case, I don't even care one whit what the actual facts of the Coburn case. I PERSONALLY know of one person that lost their coverage under BOcare (because it "wasn't good enough), and their wife had a stroke in the fall. So now their new coverage is over $10K more than their old, PLUS it has close to a $10K deductible!!!
But now I better understand why ... if you can Immanentize the Eschaton (in the LEFT sense of "end times"), you get Luciferian dispensation!
'via Blog this'
I often run into things that make me feel like a complete and total idiot for having not been aware of them. At one time NRO put out T-SHIRTS! with the title phrase on them, and yet up until 10 min ago, I had never heard of it! As a Christian and a Conservative, I need to put on the dunce cap and sit in the corner for a few hours!
Eschaton - The final Christian heavenly state. From "The New Science of Politics", yet ANOTHER book that I had never even heard of, so I am now VERY behind on my reading again! This is nearly as horrible a situation as when I am yet again required to get the Ranger out and plow snow! ;-)
Nice short little article covering a recent emanation from the eminent and no doubt highly caring "economist" (and former Enron adviser) Paul Krugman. I don't like to cover a lot about Krugman because I agree with this NRO article that he intellectually died sometime around the point at where he took $50K from Enron, wrote glowingly about them, and then promptly wrote columns excoriating them, the W administration relative to them, AND "their advisers" while while conveniently forgetting he was on that list himself!
When you find it necessary to attack a person going in for their 4th round of cancer treatment on any topic, let alone their statement relative to losing their oncologist, people (as opposed to leftist Golems) tend to just say "I'll pick other battles").
But not Paul ... let me charge in and attack the cancer patient Krugman. Yes, "I'll break you in half like a boy" is bad behavior for a back benching congressmen, akin to the usual output of George Clooney, or Matt Damon, or Alec Baldwin, or ... well, you get the picture, While we are on the topic, if there is breaking to be done, it seems Justin Bieber might be a decent place to start ... but I digress.
But one might expect a higher standard from the NYT. How pray tell do they still have a guy that is this crass and out of touch writing a regular column for them? It is a testament to the selective reporting of what passes as American "journalism" that this goes on! In this case, I don't even care one whit what the actual facts of the Coburn case. I PERSONALLY know of one person that lost their coverage under BOcare (because it "wasn't good enough), and their wife had a stroke in the fall. So now their new coverage is over $10K more than their old, PLUS it has close to a $10K deductible!!!
But now I better understand why ... if you can Immanentize the Eschaton (in the LEFT sense of "end times"), you get Luciferian dispensation!
'via Blog this'
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Lawless, Lying and Clueless
The State of the Union, or: Obama Breaks Up with Congress : The New Yorker:
I had no time to watch his eminence BO gassify the House Chamber Tuesday night, but have been watching the fairly paltry after-gas effects. It seems that almost nobody had time to give it very much notice.
Of the many whoppers told this year, the one I particularly found revealing is the "we have created 8 million new jobs". Yeah, sure. If you count ONLY the job creation numbers since the LOW point in 2010, you can come up with that number. But as to a somewhat REAL number, we are 1.5 million BELOW the W peak. Hardly something his worshipfulness would want people to realize because it would prove the simple point that his policies are an abject failure. BO sets a new low point for the term abject failure.
The Democrats actually stood and cheered as he said that he was going to ignore the Constitution and Congress. He took an OATH to honor the Constitution as did they. So we have the spectacle of a criminal standing before his judge and jury, declaring that he is going to continue and expand his lawbreaking, yet they stand up and cheer! The bulk of the MSM is completely OK with this -- perhaps they have been spending too much time in Colorado!
The stock market is looking tepid, people in N America are freezing in the "Climate Change", propane prices are though the roof (which hurts "the little people", but who cares, "our guy" is in the WH), our foreign policy is a bad joke, and we are appointing ambassadors to Norway that likely can't find it on a map! We are still in the comedy phase of our decline, but the tragedy phase tends to hit rather quickly.
'via Blog this'
I had no time to watch his eminence BO gassify the House Chamber Tuesday night, but have been watching the fairly paltry after-gas effects. It seems that almost nobody had time to give it very much notice.
Of the many whoppers told this year, the one I particularly found revealing is the "we have created 8 million new jobs". Yeah, sure. If you count ONLY the job creation numbers since the LOW point in 2010, you can come up with that number. But as to a somewhat REAL number, we are 1.5 million BELOW the W peak. Hardly something his worshipfulness would want people to realize because it would prove the simple point that his policies are an abject failure. BO sets a new low point for the term abject failure.
The Democrats actually stood and cheered as he said that he was going to ignore the Constitution and Congress. He took an OATH to honor the Constitution as did they. So we have the spectacle of a criminal standing before his judge and jury, declaring that he is going to continue and expand his lawbreaking, yet they stand up and cheer! The bulk of the MSM is completely OK with this -- perhaps they have been spending too much time in Colorado!
The stock market is looking tepid, people in N America are freezing in the "Climate Change", propane prices are though the roof (which hurts "the little people", but who cares, "our guy" is in the WH), our foreign policy is a bad joke, and we are appointing ambassadors to Norway that likely can't find it on a map! We are still in the comedy phase of our decline, but the tragedy phase tends to hit rather quickly.
'via Blog this'
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
The Incredible PFT (feminism)
Louise Pennington: Femen: Reinforcing the Patriarchal F***ability Test:
I'll let you disambiguate the "PFT". While I well know that the percentage of what is going on in the world that I know about is well in the ".0000..." class, sometimes it STILL seems surprising to see what I've never heard of!
Long ago I read "A People's History of the US" by Howard Zinn (http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html) and became initiated into the "victim view of history" ... the savages were all "noble", the Communists were and are noble, Labor is noble ... Christianity, "Western Philosophy", and Capital / Business most of all, are EVIL. Take them away and Nirvana quickly ensues! It's a nice simple view, shared by a lot of our state supported colleges. It's a wonderful world.
There is another alternative galaxy out there far far away where the roles of men and women were defined in some murky past by a male conspiracy ... no doubt over beers and football, possibly including cigars.
While the essential part of the Zinn view is removing civilization, the essential part of the feminist view seems to be the removal of procreation. I'm not much of an evolutionist, but I'm thinking there might be a problem with that, but I'm probably wrong. I'm the kind of dunce that believes that solar and wind don't work on a calm foggy day, and some people actually need the belief that there is a CHANCE they will keep a good deal of what they make before they get up and go to work in the AM. I'm admitting my lack of touch with current reality.
Apparently, pretty much all of western civilization is based a vast conspiracy of males to want to RAPE young women ... they may of course consent, be of age and all that, but it is still rape as defined by the keepers of the PFT.
I'm quite sure that there is nothing at all "natural" about women of prime breeding age displaying their sexual availability, it happens in no other species. No doubt before the advent of the Western Male PFT, the "natural man" didn't even notice unless he was in some "appropriate age range". I can't even imagine the chief of some tribe in the 10K year ago African savannah would EVER use his position to gain sexual favors!
No, such unnatural acts are the work of evil patriarchal conspiracy (I'm guessing it is predominantly right wing, but perhaps this is one or the very rare areas where the political spectrum comes together??) If there is such a thing as this being "natural" however, we are now highly advanced and with proper education we can definitely learn to counteract our urges.
Except of course for Gays ... they are the way they are and have no choice in the matter. Oh, and teens ... they need free birth control. Oh, I guess women as well ... they have to have it provided for them for free. It is a complex world, but the feminists and the Zinn historians as well as no doubt BO know the answers, and they will tell us for sure!
Anyway, I'm sure folks like the author of this and the linked articles have this all figured out. I'm just another lost evil western patriarch with everything signed over to my wife. They seem intent on "smashing the patriarchy" ... I imagine the matriarchy will be a real hoot.
I'll let you disambiguate the "PFT". While I well know that the percentage of what is going on in the world that I know about is well in the ".0000..." class, sometimes it STILL seems surprising to see what I've never heard of!
Long ago I read "A People's History of the US" by Howard Zinn (http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html) and became initiated into the "victim view of history" ... the savages were all "noble", the Communists were and are noble, Labor is noble ... Christianity, "Western Philosophy", and Capital / Business most of all, are EVIL. Take them away and Nirvana quickly ensues! It's a nice simple view, shared by a lot of our state supported colleges. It's a wonderful world.
There is another alternative galaxy out there far far away where the roles of men and women were defined in some murky past by a male conspiracy ... no doubt over beers and football, possibly including cigars.
While the essential part of the Zinn view is removing civilization, the essential part of the feminist view seems to be the removal of procreation. I'm not much of an evolutionist, but I'm thinking there might be a problem with that, but I'm probably wrong. I'm the kind of dunce that believes that solar and wind don't work on a calm foggy day, and some people actually need the belief that there is a CHANCE they will keep a good deal of what they make before they get up and go to work in the AM. I'm admitting my lack of touch with current reality.
Apparently, pretty much all of western civilization is based a vast conspiracy of males to want to RAPE young women ... they may of course consent, be of age and all that, but it is still rape as defined by the keepers of the PFT.
I'm quite sure that there is nothing at all "natural" about women of prime breeding age displaying their sexual availability, it happens in no other species. No doubt before the advent of the Western Male PFT, the "natural man" didn't even notice unless he was in some "appropriate age range". I can't even imagine the chief of some tribe in the 10K year ago African savannah would EVER use his position to gain sexual favors!
No, such unnatural acts are the work of evil patriarchal conspiracy (I'm guessing it is predominantly right wing, but perhaps this is one or the very rare areas where the political spectrum comes together??) If there is such a thing as this being "natural" however, we are now highly advanced and with proper education we can definitely learn to counteract our urges.
Except of course for Gays ... they are the way they are and have no choice in the matter. Oh, and teens ... they need free birth control. Oh, I guess women as well ... they have to have it provided for them for free. It is a complex world, but the feminists and the Zinn historians as well as no doubt BO know the answers, and they will tell us for sure!
Anyway, I'm sure folks like the author of this and the linked articles have this all figured out. I'm just another lost evil western patriarch with everything signed over to my wife. They seem intent on "smashing the patriarchy" ... I imagine the matriarchy will be a real hoot.
Protest needs to be vibrant, engaging and culturally specific but we will not smash the Patriarchy by reinforcing its belief that the only women who matter are those who conform to the Patriarchal Fuckability Test.'via Blog this'
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