Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, June 15 2010 @ 10:29 AM CST
Tennessee Dem on female Republicans: “You have to lift their skirts to find out if they are women” [*1] — With every day, the deeply-held racism and sexism of the average Democrat–not just elected Democrats, but those rank-and-file voters who vote for these racist/sexist mouthpieces–becomes more apparent. To vote for a Democrat is to vote for a racist, a sexist, a socialist, an ultimately a thug. It drags the voter down to that level, if he or she is not there already.
If you are a Democrat voter who is not a racist or a sexist, you really need to open your eyes and ears to what the people you are voting for are saying–because they are speaking for you. Oh, the racism and sexism are most often cloaked in high-sounding words like “fairness” and “rights” and “equality” but the core of all of those concepts, in the mind of a Democrat, is a very, very ugly view of people different from the Privileged Class–the Class for which the Democratic Party truly works to maintain.
Don’t like class-based politics? Don’t like race-based politics? Don’t like sex-based politics? Think that everybody truly should have equal access to law and opportunity? Think that people should progress based on ability, not on race, sex, class, or anything other than their determination and talent (and the usual little bit of luck?) Then you can’t vote for a Democrat, because while they say things that sound kinda like they support those things, what they actually do is consistently, profoundly destructive of equality before the law and the concept that “all men are created equal.”
Media gets low ratings from public [*3] — I’d be OK with “shocker” in front of this title . . . for purposes of ironic humor . . . Meritocracy and teachers unions cannot coexist [*4] — Vouchers for everyone. Make schools–including and especially public schools–compete for students. I mean really compete, on the only thing that really matters: students learning what they need to become more successful in life. Everything else is fluff–at best.
And, demolish the U.S. Department of Education. Take off and nuke the entire bureaucracy from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
Bloomberg Businessweek, on “the mother of all bailouts” [*5] — We can’t keep doing this. By that I mean, we will not be able to continue to do this. It will end. It can end while we have some kind of control over the situation (call it a “soft landing”) or it will end badly. Very, very badly. Weimar-Republic Germany badly. For now, we still have a choice. But the window of opportunity to fix this like rational, reasonable people is closing. Rapidly.
Fox poll: 54% want independent investigation into Sestak, Romanoff job offers [*8] — Well, the rules are: Republican Administration: 20% is enough to get an independent investigation; Democrat Administration: 80% required to get a whitewash investigation, 115% to get an independent investigation. Because everybody knows Democrats are just that much more ethical than Republicans are. And if you disagree, they’ll punch you out for trying to video them.
The American flag is not a symbol of conquest. It has passed above countless captive lands, and returned home when those lands were freed. Spoiled children love to whine about wars of conquest, fought for money and oil. What a sad little fantasy! The flag of the United States has never been carried by thieves. It rises over the sites of disasters around the world, glowing on the uniform of soldiers who shoulder their rifles to carry food and medicine. It stood watch upon the ramparts we built to save Europe from communism, after we saved them from fascism. We have made a gift of the future to broken nations across the globe, and often receive nothing but sneering contempt in return. We’d do it again in a heartbeat.
Friedrich von Hayek: The Road to Serfdom [*27] — There should be a semester of high school study set aside for the careful consideration of the arguments in The Road to Serfdom.
South Carolina voter: I voted for Alvin Greene because … his name reminded me of Al Green [*30] — I have a friend, who was once a fairly stalwart conservative, who voted for Obama because he “didn’t like the kind of people who were voting for McCain.” I hope he’s happy, because frankly, I thought then that he’s was idiot on this one, and nothing since then has caused me to doubt that judgment.
Some One Is Missing [*34] — Oh, the irony. Of course, everybody–EVERYBODY all around the world knew fully well that George W. Bush really would kick somebody’s ass if he thought it needed kicking. The best Obama can do is puff out his chest and talk about it.
The smog and pollution in China provide us with a valuable lesson: the standard libertarian paradigm of property rights needs to be extended to the environment. First-use homesteading must be the basis of environmental rights, which are currently socialized property.
I refuse to believe government programs launched in the Forties, Sixties, and Seventies are indestructible features of our lives, immune to repeal or reform. I don’t believe a nation with a 234-year history of courage and industry is destined to suffocate in a shallow pool of nanny-state cement, poured only a few generations ago. It will be difficult for the American giant to rise again… but history unfolds in the space between difficult and impossible.
There is no such thing as eternal legislation. Even the Constitution can be amended. It’s only a question of how much willpower it will take for us to cast aside the intolerable acts of our political class. We are descended from men who showed great vigor in resisting intolerable acts.
I don’t believe the American electorate is a hopeless mass of imbeciles and parasites. Of course, we’ll always have plenty of both… along with a breathtaking population of hard workers, visionaries, and heroes. It’s terribly short-sighted to write off a populace that ignores its expensive media apparatus and fills the streets for Tea Party rallies – joining people loudly accused of racism to denounce a supposedly inevitable system of total State control, run by a man they were taught it was sinful to oppose. The allegedly stupid proletariat of the United States just made Friedrich Hayek’s 66-year-old masterpiece, The Road to Serfdom,Number One[*2] on the Amazon.com bestseller list. Our fellow citizens are thinking, and questioning. Questions are acid to statism.
Amen, Brother! We, as a nation, need to understand that almost all of “progressive” economic theory (either Marxism of Keynesiansm) is simply, utterly wrong. It doesn’t work. It is “unsustainable.” It is bankrupting us. The New Deal turns out to be a Bad Deal. Stimulating government spending is NOT the same thing as stimulating the economy.
The government is NOT the economy, and the government is NOT the answer to every social problem we find. Indeed, many of the social problems we have today are made worse–if not actually caused, by the kind of bull-in-a-china-shop government intervention and micromanagement of people’s lives which is the hallmark of “progressive” political action.
Democratic Congressman Assaults College Student [*3] — Oh, yeah. This one can’t be linked enough. Democrat. Congressman. Assault. College student, the victim. This guy (the Congressman) should spend time in jail. Of course, most Congressmen should, actually.
IDLED OIL RIGS ARE MOVING TO BRAZIL Following Obama’s Drilling Moratorium [*4] — It turns out that all the high-minded environmentalist blather boils down to NIMBY: Not In My Back Yard. We don’t care if you drill for oil in the Atlantic Ocean off Brazil–just don’t do it within sight of an American beach. Because, you know, it’s so unsightly to see an oil rig when you’re trying to catch a few rays.
Of course, oil-covered pelicans are a bit more unsightly, but then the environmentalists decided that oil wells where they’d be almost impossible to maintain if something went drastically wrong–a mile deep in ocean water–was preferable to oil wells in a couple of hundred feet of water, where crews could still get down and actually work on with human hands of something blew.
Outrageous Fortune [*14] — Or: What, exactly is “hate speech?” Another incident in the long, disgraceful history of “progressive” suppression of free thought and discussion . . .
New Dogs; Old Tricks: [*15] — Wherein the climate-change evangelists continue to attack the skeptics rather than defend the science. At some point you realize they do this because they can’t defend the science, because there is no science there.
Deflating Social Security [*16] — Social Security was sold to the American Public as a supplement to retirement income. It wasn’t supposed to be the primary retirement income source. But government programs always grow. It’s called “scope creep,” and it has destroyed countless programs and plans throughout human history. Social Security is simply the latest one to fall victim.
Us vs. Them [*18] — Us being the private sector. Them being government employees. Growing the latter is NOT economic “stimulus.” At some point, it becomes, in fact as well as in concept, a form of slavery, subjugating the former to the latter. When the public’s servants become the public’s rulers, society enters a very, very dangerous, unstable, potentially violent situation. We’re getting there. It needs to be stopped, and it needs to be reversed.
Watts talk wasn’t really about a logical argument. It was about how to create a logical argument of sufficient authority to challenge the establishment. He was describing an open source research project, though perhaps much of the audience failed to realize it. Watts reeled them in as good speakers do, by telling them a story. He described how he had originally been a Global Warmist who had experienced a Pauline conversion on the most innocent of grounds. He had fascinated by measuring instruments and gadgetry and always had been. After retiring from a career as a TV weatherman he began to wonder whether a change in the specification of the paint used to coat temperature measuring stations might have anything to do with the rise in recorded readings. It was a simple enough idea. When temperatures were first collected the temp stations consisted of a whitewashed birdhouse like structure with a mercury thermometer in it. As recently as the 60s the whitewash was still used to maintain a consistency in experimental apparatus. And then the weather service changed the spec to paint. So he asked: Watts Up With That?
People in the ancient world weren’t worried about things that shock the modern mind, things we’re not supposed to say. There’s an honesty that permeates the literature and drama. It helps. People explicitly said why they did what they did. They would invade a place and say they did it because they could, because nobody could stop them. They took it because they wanted it, and they didn’t apologize. There was no pretense, like when Stalin said he supported national liberation movements or when Hitler said he needed space.
This does not strike me as evidence of progress. The curse of the modern age is the loss of honesty about why people think, feel, and act the way they do. Many of our ills, I think, can be traced back to this sad truth.
Tanning to take tax hit [*32] — 10% Federal sales tax on tanning–courtesy of the Democrats’ passage of Obamacare. The camel’s nose is under the tent. Do you care? Sales taxes are the most regressive taxes of all, hitting the poor the hardest because they have no way to avoid them–except to go to an underground economy (which will make organized crime very happy, but almost no one else). NOW do you see why Obamacare is a really, really, really bad idea?
Austrian economics is superior to Marxism in every respect, and this includes internal, sectarian squabbles. When we Austrians feel the time is ripe for another bloodletting — it keeps us strong by thinning the herd once in a while — we argue over fractional-reserve banking.
Gallup: 49% of Americans think Democratic Party is too liberal [*41] — And 38% say “about right” and there are actually 10% of those polled who think the Democrats are “too conservative.” Wow. Oh, by the way, the numbers for the Republicans? 41% “About Right,” 40% “Too Conservative,” 15% “Too Liberal.”
Like celebrities, feral legislators are extremely unpredictable and dangerous. If you see one roaming the streets, do not approach it. Call animal control and let the professionals handle it.
Nowadays, “fascism” is just an all-purpose insult. Few of those who call people they don’t like “fascists” know what fascism is. Fascism is an economic system. The name comes from an ancient Roman symbol, the “fasces,” a bundle of sticks – referring to how all sectors of society would be tied together by the government.
Back in the day, many intellectuals and other so-called progressives hailed fascism as a “third way” between communism and capitalism. Under fascism, private property does exist, but it is concentrated into big businesses, controlled by the government. Workers are also concentrated, into huge unions, again, controlled by the government.
“Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.”
“All within the state. Nothing outside the state. Nothing against the state.”
– Benito Mussolini
Sound at all familiar? No? You haven’t been paying attention, then. “Progressivism” IS fascism–but it’s fascism with really, really good P.R.
The left’s strange hostility to Hirsi Ali [*2] — If your first reaction is “Who?” then you really should be ashamed of yourself. You can’t afford not to know who Ayann Hirsi Ali is, and what she has had to endure.
Obama fights critics on spill response: report [*3] — Whiner in Chief. If the job is too hard for you, Barry, then you can always do the entire nation a huge service and just quit. Maybe you should try shutting the hell up and doing your f’ing job instead of constantly looking for someone, anyone else to blame for all the problems of the world. Oh, and your job is not to be Head Of The Democratic/Progressive Transformation Of The Entire World To Be A Better Place. Your job is to be the chief executive officer of the Federal Government of the United States of America. Maybe you should have familiarized yourself with the job description. It’s here[*4] . See especially Article 2. Let me know if you need help with some of the bigger words.
The administration has decreed a six-month moratorium on exploratory drilling in the Gulf, based on a report that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar wrote for President Obama. Salazar claimed that a panel of seven experts selected by the National Academy of Engineering had peer reviewed his report. It turns out, though, that the seven experts never saw the recommendation for a moratorium, and in fact oppose it . . .
Just when you think the Obama regime can’t get more incompetent . . . Obama Will Support UN Investigation Of Israel [*8] — I’m not liking so much this whole living in a third world strongman personality cult regime thing, so far . . .
Too good to check: Saudis to let Israel use their air space to attack Iran? [*22] — Plausible. The Arabs trust the Persians almost as far as they can throw them. Contrary to what you may think, Islam is not all one big happy religion. In that way it’s a lot like any other religion, from Christianity to Marxism.
Wetland Aliens Cause Bird Extinction [*23] — Hey, wait . . . wasn’t there a news story a few days ago about how Barack Obama was an alien? And isn’t the oil spill killing lots of wetland birds in Louisiana? Hmmm . . . (yes, people, that’s a joke. Sheesh.)
Washington Democrats’ Out-of-Control Spending Spree Needs to Stop. Now [*29] — Like alcoholics, Democrats can’t stop. They require an intervention. If they, and the country, are lucky, that intervention will start this November. And Republicans? Oh, they’re not alcoholics. They can stop any time they want. Or, as the saying goes: “We’re not alcoholics, we’re drunks! Alcoholics go to meetings!”
U.N. report raises concerns about North Korea sanctions [*35] — Here’s the deal: We need to end the North Korean nightmare. China can come in from the north, US and South Korea from the south, and we need to just end the misery for the North Koreans–and the troublemaking of the madmen ruling them.
A short note on the Obama administration’s aggressive prosecution of leakers [*36] — Well, yes. It’s the Chicago Way. George W. Bush would have been crucified by the Concerned Left if he’d done half of what Obama is doing now. But you’re not hearing about it all, are you? Why is that, we wonders, yes, Precious, we wonders . . .
Contributed by: filbert Friday, June 11 2010 @ 11:12 AM CST
Deficit commission may target mortgage deductions; Update: Take the poll![*1] — You know, I’m not 100% opposed to eliminating the mortgage deduction . . . IF, IF-IF-IF-IF we stop all of these nonsensical policies of “putting people into houses they can’t afford,” I say we all take off, and nuke Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
Is the MFM Really Afraid of Political Violence From the Right, Or Is It Just Another Negative Political Attack? [*2] — No, I’m quite sure they’re really afraid. AND it’s a negative political attack. The two are not mutually exclusive. They’re afraid because it’s well established now that liberals and leftists simply don’t have the moral framework to adequately understand the motives and actions of people of the right–while the right has a much more balanced moral framework and can understand the leftist view. It’s because the Left does not understand the Right that they oppose the policy recommendations of the Right. It’s because the Right does understand the Left that they promote policies of freedom, and oppose policies of oppression.
The time has indeed come to put many things on the table. All of them are dusty, overpriced relics of discredited statist theories and collectivist ideology. How long has it been since Americans were allowed to tackle any serious problem by enhancing their liberty? Who can remember the last time we approached a situation by reducing the burden of regulation and taxation on our private citizens, unleashing their energy and creativity? When was the last time we were allowed to view a crisis as an opportunity for the private sector, rather than the State?
And don’t try using the lies about deregulation causing the oil spill or the housing meltdown. Neither are true. Don’t lie to me–or to yourself. Go find the truth, instead. If you have the courage to face the truth, that is. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you want Someone To Make It Better. But nobody will. Nobody but you, that is. What are YOU doing?
Looting Taxpayers: Mortgage Interest Deduction Editon [*6] — I’m starting to wonder if it wouldn’t be a good idea to simply revoke the privilege from the Federal Government of taking money in any way, shape, or form, from any citizen of the United States. Make the Federal Government “tax” the States. Let the States have control of the purse of the Feds. Pass a Consititutional Amendment limiting the Federal budget to some percentage of State budgets.
Don’t tell me it can’t happen. Don’t tell me it’s impossible. We’re into an age where nothing is impossible, and nothing is off the table.
We need to do something drastic to bring some sense of fiscal discipline to Washington. Simply electing a bunch of fiscal realists (not even “fiscal conservatives”), while a good move, will not be enough.
The Beck Bomb [*10] — Seems to me that somebody went through Road to Serfdom last fall and winter and pulled out a few “Thoughts For The Day.” Maybe it’s time to re-run the series . . .
A study: The temperature rise has caused the CO2 Increase, not the other way around [*22] — Oh. Um, er, yeah . . . about all of that Cap and Trade, have to destroy the economy in order to save it stuff . . . never mind . . . of course, we will never, ever, ever hear this from the current generation of politicians and scientists who’ve gone all-in for global warming/climate change, will we? They’ve got too much skin in the game now to back out now.
Rand Paul Distances Himself From Libertarianism [*30] — Actually, I think it would be best if libertarians distanced themselves from “Libertarianism” and started actually engaging Democrats, Republicans, and especially independents, rather than sitting in their basements muttering to each other . . .
Obama’s Moratorium Disaster: “Tens of Thousands” on Gulf Coast Will Lose Their Jobs [*35] — This bunch simply has no more sophisticated conception of economics than “hey, lookie there, some money, give it to us!” They have no clue how money–or more accurately wealth–is made, and show no signs of being able to learn that simple but essential fact. They don’t believe in the production of wealth. They believe that the economy is a “zero-sum game” where if one person is making money, somebody else must necessarily be losing money. This is a very primitive–one might say barbaric view of economics.
FCC to Congress: ‘Whatever’ [*37] — The FCC, like so many New Deal bureacuracies and programs, is utterly out of control, and needs to be abolished and replaced with more responsible entities.
Almost half of the world’s population has lower than optimal levels of vitamin D and scientists say the problem is getting worse as people spend more time indoors or cover up too quickly and completely when they are exposed to sunshine.
Non-white populations in less sunny climates are at higher risk since dark skin can make it harder for the body to absorb ultraviolet light.
Barack Obama’s message is quite clear: he is spiteful with regard to traditional Americans with traditional American values, spiteful with regard to America’s traditional allies and spiteful with regard to America’s traditional place as the beacon of liberty. Barack Obama prefers an America that is nuclear-neutered, bankrupt, statist and paralyzed with dhimmitude to an America that is exceptional.
This President intentionally makes a mockery of the Presidency — the leadership of the free world — because he believes the notion of the free world, as we have traditionally understood it, to be a mockery. He wishes it seems to reduce us from the free world to the Third World. The fundamental principles of Western Civilization are completely anathema to those of President Barack Obama. Hence Dorothy Rabinowitz’s characterization of him as an alien President.
Peter Singer, writing in the New York Times, asks whether a world without people wouldn’t be a better place. His argument is simple. If nobody is alive then nobody’s human rights can be violated. “Have you ever thought about whether to have a child? … But very few ask whether coming into existence is a good thing for the child itself.”
Good idea, Peter. You kill yourself first. I’ll watch, and see how to do it.
Bernanke “Puzzled” by Gold Rally [*56] — It’s pretty easy to understand, Ben. People don’t trust people like you to “run” the economy. With good reason.
No One Cares About Gaza [*63] — I’ll start caring when the Palestinians (and more importantly their supporters around the world) stop acting like amoral barbarians.
That solar sinking feeling [*64] — Cold will kill far more humans–and other lifeforms on Earth–than warmth will. And it might be getting colder.
Let’s return now to my original question: What is wrong with Obama? My guess is a great deal. The answer is complex and likely includes some combination of the above.
Along with the brain issues are personality disorders: narcissism, paranoia, passive-aggressiveness. There’s even the possibility of the most destructive character defect of all, an antisocial personality. Untreated abuse can foster antisocial traits, especially among boys.
If my assessment is accurate, what does this mean?
It means that liberals need to wake up and spit out the Kool-Aid…and that conservatives should put aside differences, band together, and elect as many Republicans as possible.
Because Obama will not change. He will not learn from his mistakes. He will not grow and mature from on-the-job experience. In fact, over time, Obama will likely become a more ferocious version of who he is today.
Why? Because this is a damaged person. Obama’s fate was sealed years ago growing up in his strange and poisonous family. Later on, his empty vessel was filled with the hateful bile of men like Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers.
Obama will not evolve; he will not rise to the occasion; he will not become the man he was meant to be. This is for one reason and one reason alone:
It’s been a while since the last update–since April 29th, in fact, when I finally cracked the 220 barrier for the first time. Or maybe that should be, hit 220, then bounced.
Here’s the tale:
On May 5th, we left for our Panama Canal cruise, returning on May 26th.
On May 27th, I went in for another weigh-in: 228.2. OK, not too bad . . . 8.4 pounds up over a cruise. Not good, but could have been worse.
June 3: 227.9.
And then, today, June 10th: 220.2 pounds, within 0.4 pounds of my all-time low. And what’s better, the nutritionist said I could start eating lean meats and low-calorie veggies for supper, instead of the meal replacements. YAY! So I’ve spent the last hour and a half or so washing and chopping vegetables for a pork stir fry tonight.
This is the front page for our dispatches from our Panama Canal cruise on the Regent Seven Seas Navigator from May 5-26, 2010.
Here are the individual posts, collected all in one handy location for your reading pleasure. As we travel, we’ll be adding posts so you can follow our journeys.
Contributed by: filbert Thursday, June 10 2010 @ 08:45 AM CST
Wealthy businesswomen win California Republican races [*1] — “Wealthy?” Well, yes, but note the implicit bias. Why not “Successful?” “Prominent?” Or just “Businesswomen?” Why the qualifier “wealthy?” Why that word, specifically? THAT’S what people mean when they talk about media bias. And I’m quite sure that the headline writer didn’t even think about using that word instead of something more neutral. It simply didn’t occur to them. That’s what bias means–it’s not a conscious act, most of the time. It’s “just the way things are.” Just like “black people just aren’t as smart as whites.” Nobody actually went around saying that–it’s just something that racists simply assumed was true, and built their worldview upon that false assumption.
Two news stories, one which describes the secret history of Helen Thomas[*3] and the Reuters news agency[*4] ‘s removal from its photos of a knife in the hand of a peace activist standing over a bloodstained IDF boarder on the humanitarian flotilla raises the question of what else is out there that we don’t know? How can we estimate whether this is simply an outlier?
. . .
Early in the 20th century, advertisers discovered they couldn’t trust the press. “At the turn of the 20th century, publishers were ungoverned. A practice of inflating circulation figures to win advertising dollars was common. With little recourse, advertisers were forced to buy advertising based on exaggerated circulation claims.” So in 1914 they created the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Faced with the commercial problem of verifying circulation stats, they resorted to auditing.
The methods circulation auditors employ are not very different from any other audit. Basically the watchdogs take a set of claims and hire independent inspectors to go and collect field samples. If the statistics of the sample vary markedly from the claims, a red flag is raised. So for example, a newspaper claiming a circulation in millions but whose publications can’t be found at newstands in any quantity would raise suspicions. Advertisers would stop buying ads in that newspaper and the market would punish the lie. Can the same principles be applied to the news? Can the press be relied upon to audit the press? Can rival sides of the ideological press be trusted to police the other? Or are we left with two separate news narratives neither of which can be regarded as ‘true’?
Surprise: Wall Street ‘Reform’ Bill Picks Winners and Goldman Sachs Wins [*12] — Hey, I have an idea . . . if you’ve ever worked for a bank, brokerage, or other financial services company whose home office is within–oh, say 100 miles of an ocean coast, or if, as a candidate for any political office, you have taken any political contribution money from any such financial services company, you are ineligible for any office of profit or trust in the United States, nor are you allowed to lobby the Congress or any agency of the Federal Government or serve on any advisory or regulatory board. Or, maybe we could just say if you have a degree from an Ivy League school, you’re forever banned from having any contact with the Federal Government, except to pay your @$@#$ taxes like the rest of us. Yeah, that’s my populist side showing . . .
Arrest Over Iraqi Helicopter Slaughter Video Leak [*13] — 1) The government probably keeps too much stuff secret. 2) Point #1 doesn’t make some loose cannon going and leaking hundreds of thousands of government documents a hero. Some secrets need to stay secret. Lots of them don’t. But the question is: who gets to decide that?
A great part of America now understands that this president’s sense of identification lies elsewhere, and is in profound ways unlike theirs. He is hard put to sound convincingly like the leader of the nation, because he is, at heart and by instinct, the voice mainly of his ideological class. He is the alien in the White House, a matter having nothing to do with delusions about his birthplace cherished by the demented fringe.
Less Talkin’, More Kickin’ [*21] — If you were President, wouldn’t one of the first things on your To-Do list when you heard about this spill, and the potential ramifications thereof, would be to call the head of the company involved and find out what the hell was going on–and more importantly–how the hell to stop it, or at least mitigate the disaster?
President Obama Is Making a Fool Of Himself… [*24] — With every day Obama makes it more and more clear that he simply does not have the tools to be an effective executive–ANYWHERE where something actually tangible and real is produced . . .
