Showing posts with label Things That Make You Say HMMM.... Show all posts
Showing posts with label Things That Make You Say HMMM.... Show all posts
2010/10/11
2010/10/04
I Smell a (liberal) Rat...
So the black-robed legislature is back in session, and newly minted Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan is recusing herself from fully HALF of the cases on the court's docket.
I suspect that if I had the time to research those cases, I'd know why.
I suspect that if I had the time to research those cases, I'd know why.
2010/10/02
Teach Your Children Well
Joe Sobran's untimely death prompted some re-reading of his work - or at least the small portion of it that resides in my library. Herewith one of my all-time favorites, penned in 1999:
"Because I write about politics, people are forever asking me the best way to teach children how our system of government works. I tell them that they can give their own children a basic civics course right in their own homes.
In my own experience as a father, I have discovered several simple devices that can illustrate to a child's mind the principles on which the modern state deals with its citizens. You may find them helpful, too.
For example, I used to play the simple card game WAR with my son. After a while, when he thoroughly understood that the higher ranking cards beat the lower ranking ones, I created a new game I called GOVERNMENT. In this game, I was Government, and I won every trick, regardless of who had the better card. My boy soon lost interest in my new game, but I like to think it taught him a valuable lesson for later in life.
When your child is a little older, you can teach him about our tax system in a way that is easy to grasp. Offer him, say, $10 to mow the lawn. When he has mowed it and asks to be paid, withhold $5 and explain that this is income tax. Give $1 to his younger brother, and tell him that this is "fair". Also, explain that you need the other $4 yourself to cover the administrative costs of dividing the money. When he cries, tell him he is being "selfish" and "greedy". Later in life he will thank you.
Make as many rules as possible. Leave the reasons for them obscure. Enforce them arbitrarily. Accuse your child of breaking rules you have never told him about. Keep him anxious that he may be violating commands you haven't yet issued. Instill in him the feeling that rules are utterly irrational. This will prepare him for living under democratic government.
When your child has matured sufficiently to understand how the judicial system works, set a bedtime for him and then send him to bed an hour early. When he tearfully accuses you of breaking the rules, explain that you made the rules and you can interpret them in any way that seems appropriate to you, according to changing conditions. This will prepare him for the Supreme Court's concept of the U.S. Constitution as a "living document".
Promise often to take him to the movies or the zoo, and then, at the appointed hour, recline in an easy chair with a newspaper and tell him you have changed your plans. When he screams, "But you promised!", explain to him that it was a campaign promise.
Every now and then, without warning, slap your child. Then explain that this is defense. Tell him that you must be vigilant at all times to stop any potential enemy before he gets big enough to hurt you. This, too, your child will appreciate, not right at that moment, maybe, but later in life.
At times your child will naturally express discontent with your methods. He may even give voice to a petulant wish that he lived with another family. To forestall and minimize this reaction, tell him how lucky he is to be with you the most loving and indulgent parent in the world, and recount lurid stories of the cruelties of other parents. This will make him loyal to you and, later, receptive to schoolroom claims that the America of the postmodern welfare state is still the best and freest country on Earth.
This brings me to the most important child-rearing technique of all: lying. Lie to your child constantly. Teach him that words mean nothing--or rather that the meanings of words are continually "evolving", and may be tomorrow the opposite of what they are today.
Some readers may object that this is a poor way to raise a child. A few may even call it child abuse. But that's the whole point: Child abuse is the best preparation for adult life under our form of government."
Originally written for http://mises.org
"Because I write about politics, people are forever asking me the best way to teach children how our system of government works. I tell them that they can give their own children a basic civics course right in their own homes.
In my own experience as a father, I have discovered several simple devices that can illustrate to a child's mind the principles on which the modern state deals with its citizens. You may find them helpful, too.
For example, I used to play the simple card game WAR with my son. After a while, when he thoroughly understood that the higher ranking cards beat the lower ranking ones, I created a new game I called GOVERNMENT. In this game, I was Government, and I won every trick, regardless of who had the better card. My boy soon lost interest in my new game, but I like to think it taught him a valuable lesson for later in life.
When your child is a little older, you can teach him about our tax system in a way that is easy to grasp. Offer him, say, $10 to mow the lawn. When he has mowed it and asks to be paid, withhold $5 and explain that this is income tax. Give $1 to his younger brother, and tell him that this is "fair". Also, explain that you need the other $4 yourself to cover the administrative costs of dividing the money. When he cries, tell him he is being "selfish" and "greedy". Later in life he will thank you.
Make as many rules as possible. Leave the reasons for them obscure. Enforce them arbitrarily. Accuse your child of breaking rules you have never told him about. Keep him anxious that he may be violating commands you haven't yet issued. Instill in him the feeling that rules are utterly irrational. This will prepare him for living under democratic government.
When your child has matured sufficiently to understand how the judicial system works, set a bedtime for him and then send him to bed an hour early. When he tearfully accuses you of breaking the rules, explain that you made the rules and you can interpret them in any way that seems appropriate to you, according to changing conditions. This will prepare him for the Supreme Court's concept of the U.S. Constitution as a "living document".
Promise often to take him to the movies or the zoo, and then, at the appointed hour, recline in an easy chair with a newspaper and tell him you have changed your plans. When he screams, "But you promised!", explain to him that it was a campaign promise.
Every now and then, without warning, slap your child. Then explain that this is defense. Tell him that you must be vigilant at all times to stop any potential enemy before he gets big enough to hurt you. This, too, your child will appreciate, not right at that moment, maybe, but later in life.
At times your child will naturally express discontent with your methods. He may even give voice to a petulant wish that he lived with another family. To forestall and minimize this reaction, tell him how lucky he is to be with you the most loving and indulgent parent in the world, and recount lurid stories of the cruelties of other parents. This will make him loyal to you and, later, receptive to schoolroom claims that the America of the postmodern welfare state is still the best and freest country on Earth.
This brings me to the most important child-rearing technique of all: lying. Lie to your child constantly. Teach him that words mean nothing--or rather that the meanings of words are continually "evolving", and may be tomorrow the opposite of what they are today.
Some readers may object that this is a poor way to raise a child. A few may even call it child abuse. But that's the whole point: Child abuse is the best preparation for adult life under our form of government."
Originally written for http://mises.org
2010/09/20
Vocabulary Word of the Day
OK, so I do one of these about six times a year. But, I've been ruminating on political correctness, which has it's origins in Marxism, so here you go: The word is Zampoliti
Zampoliti were Red Army political/cultural officers. One was assigned to (infllicted on) every unit, and was responsible for the maintenance of ideological purity. Zampoliti monitored all speech and thought, and set errant Soviets back on the straight and narrow when they drifted from unquestioning admiration of all things Commie. Can't have those conscripts poking fun at socialism, after all. Why, they might get all cynical and pretend to work or something.
Zampoliti were the thought police, and Orwell would have been proud...
Most of the time, their mere presence was all that was required to stifle independent or critical thought. However, the unit Zampolit could and did rat people out to Moscow, and ruined many a career.
This relates to modern PC in a rather sick way: Today, Zampoliti are alive, well and entirely homegrown. They're our own children. We pay dearly to have them transformed into political officers by our "educational" system. PC indoctrination begins at an early age in America, and reaches its apogee in college, with disastrous results for society. PC is censorship, censorship which works by instilling fear of the truth in people otherwise capable of apprehending it. PC prohibits the telling of many truths about our predicament. Of course, our predicament is dire, and these truths need telling.
I ran across this excellent video on the origins of PC by way of Billy Beck's blog two--four. It chronicles the entire sordid history of this form of censorship.
Watch it. Forward it. Do something to stem the tide.
Zampoliti were Red Army political/cultural officers. One was assigned to (infllicted on) every unit, and was responsible for the maintenance of ideological purity. Zampoliti monitored all speech and thought, and set errant Soviets back on the straight and narrow when they drifted from unquestioning admiration of all things Commie. Can't have those conscripts poking fun at socialism, after all. Why, they might get all cynical and pretend to work or something.
Zampoliti were the thought police, and Orwell would have been proud...
Most of the time, their mere presence was all that was required to stifle independent or critical thought. However, the unit Zampolit could and did rat people out to Moscow, and ruined many a career.
This relates to modern PC in a rather sick way: Today, Zampoliti are alive, well and entirely homegrown. They're our own children. We pay dearly to have them transformed into political officers by our "educational" system. PC indoctrination begins at an early age in America, and reaches its apogee in college, with disastrous results for society. PC is censorship, censorship which works by instilling fear of the truth in people otherwise capable of apprehending it. PC prohibits the telling of many truths about our predicament. Of course, our predicament is dire, and these truths need telling.
I ran across this excellent video on the origins of PC by way of Billy Beck's blog two--four. It chronicles the entire sordid history of this form of censorship.
Watch it. Forward it. Do something to stem the tide.
2010/09/14
Flags
Bought a nice Gadsden flag from a Craigslist advertiser today. Noticed it's made in China. Checked, and found my US flag was made in China as well.
Apparently the only flags we still make here are the false ones.
Apparently the only flags we still make here are the false ones.
2010/09/11
Anyone else have a feeling of "suspended animation"???
The still fall air brings not merely a portent of seasonal change, but of unease - of something ominous looming around the corner. I can't shake it, yet there's no movement - like that cartoon where you've stepped off the cliff but gravity hasn't kicked in yet.
The election looms, but with the suspicion that the Republican version of hope and change won't be much different than the one we're already living. And in a way, I dread the confirmation of that thesis even more than I dread the status quo. If I'm right, that's one more door closed behind us, and no new door open in front. So, the days crawl...
Work is strange, as customers and suppliers both seem to be waiting for some defining event that tells them what to do next. The seasonal aspect of my business should be picking up, but much seems to be on hold. So we go through the motions.
I expect a false flag event any day, but nothing, thankfully, has happened yet.
When I read a book, it's prep stuff or doomer fiction. It's what's relevant. We go to dinner at a non-prepper friends house, expecting a break from it all, and now they're worried. They repeatedly steer the conversation to preps. I gave them simple ways to start, and they actually wrote them down. I'm sure that's why we were invited.
I look at the financial news, but with a dark fascination - expecting to see the Dow plummet, or that Greece or California has imploded. Inflation is rearing it's head, particularly in food and household goods. Recent talk of more stimulus puts paid to all Washington's hot air about a recovery. It wouldn't surprise me at all to wake up, turn on the 'puter and find that the Arabs will only sell oil for gold from now on. Yet, here, too, a relative stasis.
So here I sit. It's right in front of me, yet it's strangely remote - like watching a movie of people waiting for the bad news, news that everyone knows is coming, but which never arrives.
Do you feel like you're just going through the motions, just waiting for the other shoe to drop?
The election looms, but with the suspicion that the Republican version of hope and change won't be much different than the one we're already living. And in a way, I dread the confirmation of that thesis even more than I dread the status quo. If I'm right, that's one more door closed behind us, and no new door open in front. So, the days crawl...
Work is strange, as customers and suppliers both seem to be waiting for some defining event that tells them what to do next. The seasonal aspect of my business should be picking up, but much seems to be on hold. So we go through the motions.
I expect a false flag event any day, but nothing, thankfully, has happened yet.
When I read a book, it's prep stuff or doomer fiction. It's what's relevant. We go to dinner at a non-prepper friends house, expecting a break from it all, and now they're worried. They repeatedly steer the conversation to preps. I gave them simple ways to start, and they actually wrote them down. I'm sure that's why we were invited.
I look at the financial news, but with a dark fascination - expecting to see the Dow plummet, or that Greece or California has imploded. Inflation is rearing it's head, particularly in food and household goods. Recent talk of more stimulus puts paid to all Washington's hot air about a recovery. It wouldn't surprise me at all to wake up, turn on the 'puter and find that the Arabs will only sell oil for gold from now on. Yet, here, too, a relative stasis.
So here I sit. It's right in front of me, yet it's strangely remote - like watching a movie of people waiting for the bad news, news that everyone knows is coming, but which never arrives.
Do you feel like you're just going through the motions, just waiting for the other shoe to drop?
2010/08/22
Sarah Palin's Odd Connection to Scientology
I've made no secret of the fact that I do not trust Sarah Palin. She is clearly a player in the machine, and likely the next pied piper of the right, poised to lead the Tea Partyers back into the Republican corral come 2012. She's always a bit too cheerful for the subject at hand, in which way reminiscent of Frances McDormand's dissonant character Marge in "Fargo".
Now I hear of a bizarre connection to Scientology. Seems her friend/adviser John Coale, who just happens to be Greta van Susteren's hubby, is a high level Scientologist. So, too, is van Susteren, if you care.
Nominally a Dhimmicrat, Coale jumped to Palin's side when Hillary lost the primary and has been there ever since. A quick Google search provided plenty of corroboration of this -
Now I hear of a bizarre connection to Scientology. Seems her friend/adviser John Coale, who just happens to be Greta van Susteren's hubby, is a high level Scientologist. So, too, is van Susteren, if you care.
Nominally a Dhimmicrat, Coale jumped to Palin's side when Hillary lost the primary and has been there ever since. A quick Google search provided plenty of corroboration of this -
2010/07/18
A Brilliant Analysis of Islam
It would be interesting to tally the death toll rung up by Marxist/socialist governments and Islamic governments over the last century, and compare that figure with the century's total dead by other than natural causes. I haven't undertaken the exercise, but am confident that such an accounting would shed much light on where humanity's real problems lie.
I regard left-liberalism and radical Islam as the two greatest philosophical threats to civilized society. The word Islam literally means submission, and Islamic doctrine divides the world into Dar al-Islam (House of Submission) and Dar al-Harb (House of War). Clearly, Islam's adherents always saw themselves at war with the rest of the world, and 14 centuries of bad behavior are there to clear up any remaining doubt.
Lately, I've been comparing the psychology of modern left-liberalism with that of Islam. The parallels are surprising - particularly in the areas of intolerance of competing views and the subjugation of non-believers. Like Muslims, leftists play for keeps. They're uninterested in reasoned debate, preferring to destroy competing views in much the same way Islam is commanded to subjugate, convert or kill infidels. Both are violent expansionist doctrines, and dhimmitude is rather difficult to distinguish from forced participation in Obamacare when you get right down to it.
I would note that despite the delusional BS of cowardly politicians, there can be no such thing as a peace loving Islamist any more than there can be peace loving Marxists/socialists. In both doctrines, adherents are commanded by their radical god to conquer and subjugate.
When your god is a violent radical, you have no choice in the matter. This fully explains the conspicuous lack of criticism of the barbaric acts of either leftists or Islamists by any followers of either.
I was delighted to discover a blog focused exclusively on the critical examination of radical Islam. It's called Citizen Warrior, and the link takes you directly to an older article that is outstanding work.
Enjoy!
I regard left-liberalism and radical Islam as the two greatest philosophical threats to civilized society. The word Islam literally means submission, and Islamic doctrine divides the world into Dar al-Islam (House of Submission) and Dar al-Harb (House of War). Clearly, Islam's adherents always saw themselves at war with the rest of the world, and 14 centuries of bad behavior are there to clear up any remaining doubt.
Lately, I've been comparing the psychology of modern left-liberalism with that of Islam. The parallels are surprising - particularly in the areas of intolerance of competing views and the subjugation of non-believers. Like Muslims, leftists play for keeps. They're uninterested in reasoned debate, preferring to destroy competing views in much the same way Islam is commanded to subjugate, convert or kill infidels. Both are violent expansionist doctrines, and dhimmitude is rather difficult to distinguish from forced participation in Obamacare when you get right down to it.
I would note that despite the delusional BS of cowardly politicians, there can be no such thing as a peace loving Islamist any more than there can be peace loving Marxists/socialists. In both doctrines, adherents are commanded by their radical god to conquer and subjugate.
When your god is a violent radical, you have no choice in the matter. This fully explains the conspicuous lack of criticism of the barbaric acts of either leftists or Islamists by any followers of either.
I was delighted to discover a blog focused exclusively on the critical examination of radical Islam. It's called Citizen Warrior, and the link takes you directly to an older article that is outstanding work.
Enjoy!
2010/03/31
Words
"I halve a spelling checker,
It came with my pea see.
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I dew knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait aweigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the era rite
It's rarely ever wrong.
I've scent this massage threw it,
And I'm shore your pleased too no
It's letter prefect in every weigh
My checker tolled me sew."
I just saw this amusing doggerel again (it's been floating around the web for years) and this is as good an excuse as any to bring up the topic of spell checking, and particularly my amusement at the fact that the words "Barack" and "Obama" still trigger the spell checker every time! Kinda cool that I'm not the only one who finds these words illegitimate.
It came with my pea see.
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I dew knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait aweigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the era rite
It's rarely ever wrong.
I've scent this massage threw it,
And I'm shore your pleased too no
It's letter prefect in every weigh
My checker tolled me sew."
I just saw this amusing doggerel again (it's been floating around the web for years) and this is as good an excuse as any to bring up the topic of spell checking, and particularly my amusement at the fact that the words "Barack" and "Obama" still trigger the spell checker every time! Kinda cool that I'm not the only one who finds these words illegitimate.
2010/03/06
Jesus Plus Nothing = Global Theocracy
It's hard to know where to start on this one. You just have to read it for yourself.
An unsettling article from Harper's
An unsettling article from Harper's
2010/02/23
Interesting CBS News Poll on Obama's First Year
Not scientific, anyone can participate. What's striking is that there is a fair amount of selection here - not too many conservatives would find the CBS blog relevant, so it stands to reason the vast majority of respondents would be liberal.
With that, here are the scores thus far:
The Economy
A 1.97%
B 3.16%
C 5.06%
D 19.12%
F 70.69%
Foreign Policy
A 3.68%
B 3.22%
C 7.81%
D 23.08%
F 62.21%
Health Care
A 2.12%
B 2.31%
C 3.49%
D 9.87%
F 82.20%
Afghanistan
A 3.38%
B 13.58%
C 27.86%
D 24.16%
F 31.01%
Iraq
A 3.51%
B 9.59%
C 26.42%
D 24.75%
F 35.73%
Threat of Terrorism
A 3.20%
B 3.76%
C 7.99%
D 20.68%
F 64.37%
Energy and the Environment
A 2.77%
B 4.18%
C 12.01%
D 21.46%
F 59.57%
Social Issues
A 3.25%
B 4.17%
C 12.87%
D 21.22%
F 58.49%
Bipartisanship
A 3.10%
B 2.51%
C 4.18%
D 9.35%
F 80.86%
Obama's Overall Job as President
A 2.54%
B 3.26%
C 4.20%
D 26.11%
F 63.89%
(That grade on Afghanistan tells us how few people read Kipling these days!)
And I'll help out, since they forgot the Illinois poll on his first year:
A 113.8%
B 94.9%
C 31.6%
D 2.5%
F 0.4%
Go ahead. Make his day!
With that, here are the scores thus far:
The Economy
A 1.97%
B 3.16%
C 5.06%
D 19.12%
F 70.69%
Foreign Policy
A 3.68%
B 3.22%
C 7.81%
D 23.08%
F 62.21%
Health Care
A 2.12%
B 2.31%
C 3.49%
D 9.87%
F 82.20%
Afghanistan
A 3.38%
B 13.58%
C 27.86%
D 24.16%
F 31.01%
Iraq
A 3.51%
B 9.59%
C 26.42%
D 24.75%
F 35.73%
Threat of Terrorism
A 3.20%
B 3.76%
C 7.99%
D 20.68%
F 64.37%
Energy and the Environment
A 2.77%
B 4.18%
C 12.01%
D 21.46%
F 59.57%
Social Issues
A 3.25%
B 4.17%
C 12.87%
D 21.22%
F 58.49%
Bipartisanship
A 3.10%
B 2.51%
C 4.18%
D 9.35%
F 80.86%
Obama's Overall Job as President
A 2.54%
B 3.26%
C 4.20%
D 26.11%
F 63.89%
(That grade on Afghanistan tells us how few people read Kipling these days!)
And I'll help out, since they forgot the Illinois poll on his first year:
A 113.8%
B 94.9%
C 31.6%
D 2.5%
F 0.4%
Go ahead. Make his day!
2010/02/18
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