Now Hilarycare is going to be mandatory if Mrs. Clinton is elected and can get it passed.
Hilary claims to be pro-choice.
Is there not a contradiction here.
I remember when the term pro-choice was first used. Choice was posited as the value rather than abortion as a right in and of itself because pro-abortion was not as easy to sell.
So much for the value of choice.
Then again, this is a country where English is spoken, but not understood.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
No you can't and don't change on my account
When I was a kid I had a gofer gig on my way home from school. I would get coffee for the men who worked at a gas station and their friends who would gather at the mechanics' break and talk. Like a lot of Boston area Micks, the discussion would be political.
These men were high school grads at most. All of them voted Democrat. The arguments they had were on a higher level than anything I've heard from college grads, whether in person or on radio or TV in the last couple of decades. I suspect this is because the parochial school system of that day was superior to the winter camp that college has become now.
Most of the current campaign, whether Democrat or Republican has been the retailing of twaddle to the American people. The most embarrassing thing I've seen has been the Will.i.am silliness. Just keep chanting "change" and "yes we can" that will give it some meaning. Om me padme om. All the people who appeared in that are not sharp enough to realize they marked themselves as primitives.
Reflecting on all this, I've come to the conclusion that the only purpose to elections is that unlike some other countries we don't change governments violently. We select candidates with little rhyme or reason and then vote and go on.
The current campaign has caused an addition to the Short Dictionary of Politics.
Change: 1. Old, To transform or convert. 2. New, Politically, whatever you want it to mean.
Now more on elections and how they are sold by the candidates. If you saw Mrs. Clinton's Christmas message (see below in case you missed it), where she promised everything except a Merlot Maintenance Program for those of us who don't need methadone (and she might have hooked me with that) you can see the justice of our dictionaries definition of her party.
Democratic Party: American cargo cult masquerading as a political association.
Mrs. Clinton has inspired us to steal from H.L. Mencken, "Every Election is a Sort of Advance Auction Sale of Stolen Goods" and we distill it thus
Election: Auction in advance of stolen goods.
H.L. wrote this in either the twenties or thirties of the last century. Plus ca change and you finish it.
These men were high school grads at most. All of them voted Democrat. The arguments they had were on a higher level than anything I've heard from college grads, whether in person or on radio or TV in the last couple of decades. I suspect this is because the parochial school system of that day was superior to the winter camp that college has become now.
Most of the current campaign, whether Democrat or Republican has been the retailing of twaddle to the American people. The most embarrassing thing I've seen has been the Will.i.am silliness. Just keep chanting "change" and "yes we can" that will give it some meaning. Om me padme om. All the people who appeared in that are not sharp enough to realize they marked themselves as primitives.
Reflecting on all this, I've come to the conclusion that the only purpose to elections is that unlike some other countries we don't change governments violently. We select candidates with little rhyme or reason and then vote and go on.
The current campaign has caused an addition to the Short Dictionary of Politics.
Change: 1. Old, To transform or convert. 2. New, Politically, whatever you want it to mean.
Now more on elections and how they are sold by the candidates. If you saw Mrs. Clinton's Christmas message (see below in case you missed it), where she promised everything except a Merlot Maintenance Program for those of us who don't need methadone (and she might have hooked me with that) you can see the justice of our dictionaries definition of her party.
Democratic Party: American cargo cult masquerading as a political association.
Mrs. Clinton has inspired us to steal from H.L. Mencken, "Every Election is a Sort of Advance Auction Sale of Stolen Goods" and we distill it thus
Election: Auction in advance of stolen goods.
H.L. wrote this in either the twenties or thirties of the last century. Plus ca change and you finish it.
Friday, February 15, 2008
You think that's funny
Mangan and Sailer are posting about stuffwhitepeoplelike and it is funny. they ask for suggestions and I sent in grey haired guys with pony tales, not to mention bald grey haired guys with pony tails.
Thinking to impress my son with how cool the old man is, I told him about it. Believe me, you can't outdo your kid about the net. He told me about failblog which is another chronicle of stupidity. My favorite in the era of supposed peak oil, a guy holding up a sign saying "who needs oil, I take the bus" which runs on whatever I guess.
Thinking to impress my son with how cool the old man is, I told him about it. Believe me, you can't outdo your kid about the net. He told me about failblog which is another chronicle of stupidity. My favorite in the era of supposed peak oil, a guy holding up a sign saying "who needs oil, I take the bus" which runs on whatever I guess.
Not so beautiful but useless.
Jane Fonda started a flap by showing the country she possesses a sophisticated vocabulary. A local talk show made up of a woman reporter, Margery Eagan, and a liberal guy, Jim Braude, talked around it all day. Braude was not upset and Eagan was.
She finally asked him, did he talk like that around his kids and then callers had him on the run from other positions.
I'm old before my time, but I do not find the coarsening of language a happy occurrence. It is not good that most of the women in this country would be turned down by the navy because their language would curdle the blood of old salts. O tempora, O mores.
She finally asked him, did he talk like that around his kids and then callers had him on the run from other positions.
I'm old before my time, but I do not find the coarsening of language a happy occurrence. It is not good that most of the women in this country would be turned down by the navy because their language would curdle the blood of old salts. O tempora, O mores.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
We are all Miss Teen South Carolina now!
The camcorder was just coming into vogue when my wife and I were houseparents in a girls' dorm. I was grateful to have been a college student before that invention and even more fortunate to have been able to destroy the still photos (I think I got them all). I had no idea that youtube would come someday and now, more than literally, nothing is sacred.
Anyway, we round on poor Miss Teen SC when all she was trying to do was win a beauty contest. Let's hear from some smart, hip politically involved folks.
Lest you think it is limited to supporters,
I am making the voice of humility corollary to Adam Smith's "There is a lot of ruin in a nation."
"There is a lot of stupid in a political class."
Of course, there is Dana Perino,
C'mon lads, you were never interested in Miss SC for her mind to begin with. Just look at her. What she does well, she really does well. Dana was probably a cute perky teenager once too.
Anyway, we round on poor Miss Teen SC when all she was trying to do was win a beauty contest. Let's hear from some smart, hip politically involved folks.
Lest you think it is limited to supporters,
I am making the voice of humility corollary to Adam Smith's "There is a lot of ruin in a nation."
"There is a lot of stupid in a political class."
Of course, there is Dana Perino,
C'mon lads, you were never interested in Miss SC for her mind to begin with. Just look at her. What she does well, she really does well. Dana was probably a cute perky teenager once too.
Friday, February 08, 2008
Stick a fork in him, He's dog food.
a Madison Avenue fable from Ben Wattenberg.
Seeking to produce a new dog food, a big corporation set market researchers, food chemists and advertising agencies to work. The experts came up with a new product they were proud of. The dog food sold well, for a while. Then it slumped. Puzzled, the corporate executives commissioned a public opinion firm to see what was wrong.
Soon, the answer came back: "The dogs don't like it."
This is a fair enough analysis of the Mitt Romney campaign.
I've been hard on the Mitt. I did not vote for him. Take Ron Paul out of the mix and he was, however, the least unsavory of the lot.
Policy wise, he was as bad as the rest. If you were looking for someone to just keep the trains running on time, He was your man.
One disagreement about the coverage of the man was that he was plastic. I'm not completely sure what people mean by this. Sure, when he was "jivin" on MLK day he looked like he was trying too hard. So what. That he could not overcome his natural reserve hardly means he was "plastic." Just the opposite. The plasticity of Hilary Clinton wherein she can mimic a black woman and then go teary eyed is the standard.
Plastic, whitebread, racist terms for not being a complete public jerk.
Seeking to produce a new dog food, a big corporation set market researchers, food chemists and advertising agencies to work. The experts came up with a new product they were proud of. The dog food sold well, for a while. Then it slumped. Puzzled, the corporate executives commissioned a public opinion firm to see what was wrong.
Soon, the answer came back: "The dogs don't like it."
This is a fair enough analysis of the Mitt Romney campaign.
I've been hard on the Mitt. I did not vote for him. Take Ron Paul out of the mix and he was, however, the least unsavory of the lot.
Policy wise, he was as bad as the rest. If you were looking for someone to just keep the trains running on time, He was your man.
One disagreement about the coverage of the man was that he was plastic. I'm not completely sure what people mean by this. Sure, when he was "jivin" on MLK day he looked like he was trying too hard. So what. That he could not overcome his natural reserve hardly means he was "plastic." Just the opposite. The plasticity of Hilary Clinton wherein she can mimic a black woman and then go teary eyed is the standard.
Plastic, whitebread, racist terms for not being a complete public jerk.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Now This is Spin
In the current season we are going to hear a lot of after primary comments from candidates about how an abysmal finish presages inevitable victory. We laugh about our times and such behavior. Come, come mes amis, the Nineteenth Century gives us an example of positive thinking that puts all our fuhrer wannabees to shame.
Relieved from the necessity of guarding cities and particular points, important but not vital to our defense, with an army free to move from point to point and strike in detail the detachments and garrisons of the enemy, operating on the interior of our own country, where supplies are more accessible, and where the foe will be far removed from his own base and cut off from all succor in case of reverse, nothing is now needed to render our triumph certain but the exhibition of our own unquenchable resolve. Let us but will it, and we are free; and who, in the light of the past, dare doubt your purpose in the future?
Jeff Davis penned those lines just after the evacuation of Richmond and before Appomattox. To be fair, he expected a guerilla campaign that would have probably drained the Union coffers and might have succeeded, or not.
He specifically ordered Joe Johnston to execute the plan. Joe ignored him. I can understand Joe's attitude, "I was holding off the superior forces of Sherman before Atlanta and frustrating Billy no end and you relieved me for that dope, Hood. Hey, you want to sleep outside with the lice for a few years, be my guest." I don't think your man was spinning as much as he was delusional. This is the question we may want to ask about the candidates.
the voice of humility gives the all time Spin Award to the late Emperor of Japan,
...Despite the best that has been done by everyone — the gallant fighting of the military and naval forces, the diligence and assiduity of Our servants of the State, and the devoted service of Our one hundred million people — the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage, while the general trends of the world have all turned against her interest.
Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization.
Such being the case, how are We to save the millions of Our subjects, or to atone Ourselves before the hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors? This is the reason why We have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the Joint Declaration of the Powers.
...
The hardships and sufferings to which Our nation is to be subjected hereafter will be certainly great. We are keenly aware of the inmost feelings of all of you, Our subjects. However, it is according to the dictates of time and fate that We have resolved to pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is unsufferable.
That, "not necessarily to Japan's advantage" stuff May be histories greatest understatement. Although the words don't express anything good is happening to Japan, the word surrender is nowhere. The "We have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the Joint Declaration of the Powers" when you did not have much choice is worthy of honorable mention.
No, I think our species is devolving, our spinability is not keeping up.
Relieved from the necessity of guarding cities and particular points, important but not vital to our defense, with an army free to move from point to point and strike in detail the detachments and garrisons of the enemy, operating on the interior of our own country, where supplies are more accessible, and where the foe will be far removed from his own base and cut off from all succor in case of reverse, nothing is now needed to render our triumph certain but the exhibition of our own unquenchable resolve. Let us but will it, and we are free; and who, in the light of the past, dare doubt your purpose in the future?
Jeff Davis penned those lines just after the evacuation of Richmond and before Appomattox. To be fair, he expected a guerilla campaign that would have probably drained the Union coffers and might have succeeded, or not.
He specifically ordered Joe Johnston to execute the plan. Joe ignored him. I can understand Joe's attitude, "I was holding off the superior forces of Sherman before Atlanta and frustrating Billy no end and you relieved me for that dope, Hood. Hey, you want to sleep outside with the lice for a few years, be my guest." I don't think your man was spinning as much as he was delusional. This is the question we may want to ask about the candidates.
the voice of humility gives the all time Spin Award to the late Emperor of Japan,
...Despite the best that has been done by everyone — the gallant fighting of the military and naval forces, the diligence and assiduity of Our servants of the State, and the devoted service of Our one hundred million people — the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage, while the general trends of the world have all turned against her interest.
Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization.
Such being the case, how are We to save the millions of Our subjects, or to atone Ourselves before the hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors? This is the reason why We have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the Joint Declaration of the Powers.
...
The hardships and sufferings to which Our nation is to be subjected hereafter will be certainly great. We are keenly aware of the inmost feelings of all of you, Our subjects. However, it is according to the dictates of time and fate that We have resolved to pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is unsufferable.
That, "not necessarily to Japan's advantage" stuff May be histories greatest understatement. Although the words don't express anything good is happening to Japan, the word surrender is nowhere. The "We have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the Joint Declaration of the Powers" when you did not have much choice is worthy of honorable mention.
No, I think our species is devolving, our spinability is not keeping up.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Wicked Smaht
Here in Los Angeles, the more dismal murders -- such as one teenager shooting another over graffiti-tagging rights to an alley -- are committed mostly by the usual suspects. In contrast, the colorful capers that Quentin Tarantino or the Coen Brothers would find cool, the seemingly brilliant schemes that somehow go awry and end in a bloodbath, are perpetrated primarily by white newcomers from either the Middle East or the ex-Soviet Union: Armenians, Israelis, Persians, and the like.
Yet, Hollywood seems instead to be falling in love with an ethnic group that has been here even longer than the Italians: the Irish. Working class white Boston, where killings, while rare, frequently remain unsolved, has been the setting for the recent Oscar-winners "The Departed" and "Mystic River."
Steve Sailer wrote the lines above. He may be right, now, but not too long ago, there were two Irish* gangs one (The Winter Hill Gang) that was attritted by government action and morphed into its successor run by a very cool customer, Whitey Bulger who, when the government was close, took off and is still at large. You can see his picture just below OBL's on the FBI's ten most wanted list.
Anyway, one of Bulger's minions, John Martorano (don't let the name fool you), is going to be on Sixty Minutes this Sunday. John confessed to around twenty murders. He was one of a number of prolific killers. Things may have calmed down and I've been away for a long time, but contrary to what Steve thinks, there is enough material for several novels and exposés, documentaries. You could get hundreds of movies and a few operas.
In the nineties, I had a business interaction with one of the gang members. Nothing sordid or illegal. Be assured, I limited this to the minimum possible. This was not a higher ranking guy, but he was scary.
The area is changing. East Boston, once heavily Italian has large swaths where MS 13 is big.
I live now in near as rural an area of the Bay State as you can find East of the Connecticut River. I go rarely to the Boston area. Last year I went to a family funeral. My extended family members are almost all college graduates and live away from Boston and its neighborhoods where less than a generation ago we all spent time. We have done what we could to, at least unconsciously, lose the "accent." As we were talking, someone brought up the movie, "The Departed" and everyone fell to discussing the stars and their attempts at mimicking the patois. As the conversation proceeded, I noticed that everyone had slipped back into the accent.
Below is a video of comedian Steve Sweeney. I think it is funny and worth watching to see how you do not want your kids to grow up talking.
Note, Sweeney mentions the number and the Herald. That paper is the direct descendant of the Record American that came out in several editions every day. On the sports page would be the US Treasury Balance. I always wondered why that was so. Before the state lottery started picking the number the last three digits of the treasury balance was it. Just putting that out there if anyone had so much time out to wonder about that.
*One could even say Italo-Irish as the gangs included some Italian footsoldiers, but, hey even the local Mafia chief was half Irish.
Yet, Hollywood seems instead to be falling in love with an ethnic group that has been here even longer than the Italians: the Irish. Working class white Boston, where killings, while rare, frequently remain unsolved, has been the setting for the recent Oscar-winners "The Departed" and "Mystic River."
Steve Sailer wrote the lines above. He may be right, now, but not too long ago, there were two Irish* gangs one (The Winter Hill Gang) that was attritted by government action and morphed into its successor run by a very cool customer, Whitey Bulger who, when the government was close, took off and is still at large. You can see his picture just below OBL's on the FBI's ten most wanted list.
Anyway, one of Bulger's minions, John Martorano (don't let the name fool you), is going to be on Sixty Minutes this Sunday. John confessed to around twenty murders. He was one of a number of prolific killers. Things may have calmed down and I've been away for a long time, but contrary to what Steve thinks, there is enough material for several novels and exposés, documentaries. You could get hundreds of movies and a few operas.
In the nineties, I had a business interaction with one of the gang members. Nothing sordid or illegal. Be assured, I limited this to the minimum possible. This was not a higher ranking guy, but he was scary.
The area is changing. East Boston, once heavily Italian has large swaths where MS 13 is big.
I live now in near as rural an area of the Bay State as you can find East of the Connecticut River. I go rarely to the Boston area. Last year I went to a family funeral. My extended family members are almost all college graduates and live away from Boston and its neighborhoods where less than a generation ago we all spent time. We have done what we could to, at least unconsciously, lose the "accent." As we were talking, someone brought up the movie, "The Departed" and everyone fell to discussing the stars and their attempts at mimicking the patois. As the conversation proceeded, I noticed that everyone had slipped back into the accent.
Below is a video of comedian Steve Sweeney. I think it is funny and worth watching to see how you do not want your kids to grow up talking.
Note, Sweeney mentions the number and the Herald. That paper is the direct descendant of the Record American that came out in several editions every day. On the sports page would be the US Treasury Balance. I always wondered why that was so. Before the state lottery started picking the number the last three digits of the treasury balance was it. Just putting that out there if anyone had so much time out to wonder about that.
*One could even say Italo-Irish as the gangs included some Italian footsoldiers, but, hey even the local Mafia chief was half Irish.
Comedian Steve Sweeney
Posted Jun 21, 2006Boston Comedian Steve Sweeney performs at the Marriott Hotel
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
The Short Dictionary of Politics
This was published 2006 with a few additions since. Below is the updated version.
Please note, this is not exhaustive list. Readers are invited to submit suggestions for further installments.
Also, there are no claims to originality. I do not want to be part of the company of Ambrose and Kearns-Goodwin (non sum dignus), so some of the ideas I assimilated (e.g. the civil rights entry), I just don't remember from where.
Assisted Suicide: The ultimate reform of the Social Security System. If senior citizens utilize assisted suicide en masse, the system's solvency can be greatly enhanced.
Bombing: Diplomatic method preferred by US Government policy makers pioneered during the Clinton administration.
British Royal Family: Founder of the family, William, started out as Capo di Tutti Capi of Norman Mafia. Descendants and others built the organization into a successful franchise over centuries, despite family infighting. Today, family has no real role as they have been kicked upstairs to mainly ceremonial positions. Currently undergoing branding crisis as members are not terribly appealing as celebrity material. Family should consider new ways of appealing to public. Should seek the assistance of Mr. Frank McCourt who turned a stupid and unappealing childhood into an industry.
Change: 1. Old, To transform or convert. 2. New, Politically, whatever you want it to mean.
Civil Rights: In truth, there can only be three: Life, Liberty and Property. Anything else is the attempt of one group to secure privileges at the expense of another group or society itself. Of the three above, Property is the most important. If the individual's property is secure, there is little reason for anyone to take his life or liberty.
Communism: Natural religious progression wherein lower caste man is made into his own god and enslaved in his own name. Lasted far longer than could possibly have been expected. Still claims believers in the professorate.
Democratic Party: American cargo cult masquerading as a political association.
Demagogue: Person who appeals to the emotions to gain power or fame. See also: Politician.
Department of Education: American cabinet secretariat responsible for extracting money from the public while convincing them that the decline in public education is being arrested. Judging from the department's growth amidst continuing school failure, policy is an unmitigated success.
Election: Auction in advance of stolen goods. (With thanks to H.L. Mencken)
Equality: In nature, an impossibility among the human species, which despite evidence is almost universally desired.
Feminism: Formerly a movement to secure women rights to opportunities not generally open to them. Today, the movement exists to secure power for women who attend highly selective institutions. Practical effect has been disastrous for less highly placed women who now have access to the same stupid and boring occupations men have had to do for eons. Current philosophy is heavy on misandry. The religious aspect of the cult has one sacrament.
Green Party: So far, only significant role has been vehicle for Ralph Nader, Ross Perot of the left.
Her Majesty's Government: Political wing of the British Army.
Iron Law of government: Everything eventually reduces to its absurd. If this is an actual law of physics that exists in nature is not known. In politics and government, it cannot be denied. Whereas in business a company can go bankrupt (unless it is publicly favored), in the realm of government, if (actually, when is more appropriate) a program attains absolute failure, it becomes a candidate for increased funding (e.g. DARE,).
Nazi: Common smoke screen name for National Socialist German Workers Party, the German variant of socialism. The success of this party in bringing ruin to most of Europe, its own population, as well as racial enemies cannot be gainsaid. Its accomplishment was so complete that the whole enterprise collapsed after only thirteen years of operation, whereas the Soviet version started decades earlier and met its demise several decades later. Impresario of German Socialism was Adolph Hitler, a man with the soul of a ward boss who nevertheless was able to foist his program on a nation with near universal literacy and a very high degree of advanced education. The success of the program, along with golf, argues against the continued progress of evolution. Despite the socialist nature of the ideology, other socialists have had amazing success in making sure National Socialism is not identified as the philosophical soul brother it is.
Political Correctness: A fear of knowledge. Under the regime of political correctness as practiced in the United States and some other nations, any evidence disproving accepted doctrine must be denied, if not suppressed. (via Steve Sailer)
Politician: In the American democracy, generally a person who lies in seeking election to public office because there is ample evidence of little profit in speaking the truth (e.g. would Woodrow Wilson have been reelected if his slogan had been "He's hasn't got us into war yet, but, he intends to"?). See also demagogue.
Populist: Highest form of demagogue.
Reform: Word has no real meaning yet is impossible to oppose. The question, "Are you against x reform?" can never be answered negatively without destroying politically one who so answers no matter the actual value of the reform proposed. The word's greatest value is that it is as an accurate marker for poseurs (e.g. John McCain).
Republican Party: American political association with no other permanent purpose than to secure executive positions, legislative posts and patronage emoluments.
Reverend: 1. Title marking certain persons who after serious study and piety are ordained as suitable to lead and instruct the faithful. 2. Honorific applied to certain class of charlatans (examples: Rev. Paisley, Rev. Sharpton, Rev. Jackson)
Revolution: A method by which one elite manipulates the masses to transfer power from another elite due to real or perceived oppression. The success or failure of the revolutionary party, once the ancien regime is overthrown, depends on how well they manage their transition from belief in ideology to practical management of the entity they have stolen.
Self-esteem: the psychological notion used to justify rampant egotism (with help from Theodore Dalrymple)
Social Security: The perfection of a system discovered by a Signor Ponzi wherein early "investors" are paid off by the subscriptions of later participants. System requires ever more contributors to stave off inevitable collapse. Due to the default of Ponzi's path breaking enterprise, he eventually suffered incarceration. Managers of our Social Security system expect no such problems as they have tools to deal with eventualities such as invisible default (i.e. one can start collecting at age 105) or monetization.
Soviet Union: Several countries that were controlled by an apparatus known as the Communist Party. For approximately seven decades said apparatus was able to rob the people in their own name. Went out of business when there was no more to rob.
Tolerance: 1. Old, permitting free expression of views one does not share. 2. New, suppression of thought, or speech found uncomfortable by favored groups.
Transgender operations: Current form of approved ritual mutilation.
University - public: A public university is mainly a large scale day care provider. Most do some practical scientific research.
University - private: Private universities are generally smaller scale day care providers. Very selective establishments exist mainly to mark the children of a certain class or wealth as members of an elite.
War on Drugs: Growth industry whose constituency is well served by the government regulations that propel it.
War on Terrorism: Campaign that will utilizing all the lessons of the drug war while also inventing its own.
Please note, this is not exhaustive list. Readers are invited to submit suggestions for further installments.
Also, there are no claims to originality. I do not want to be part of the company of Ambrose and Kearns-Goodwin (non sum dignus), so some of the ideas I assimilated (e.g. the civil rights entry), I just don't remember from where.
Assisted Suicide: The ultimate reform of the Social Security System. If senior citizens utilize assisted suicide en masse, the system's solvency can be greatly enhanced.
Bombing: Diplomatic method preferred by US Government policy makers pioneered during the Clinton administration.
British Royal Family: Founder of the family, William, started out as Capo di Tutti Capi of Norman Mafia. Descendants and others built the organization into a successful franchise over centuries, despite family infighting. Today, family has no real role as they have been kicked upstairs to mainly ceremonial positions. Currently undergoing branding crisis as members are not terribly appealing as celebrity material. Family should consider new ways of appealing to public. Should seek the assistance of Mr. Frank McCourt who turned a stupid and unappealing childhood into an industry.
Change: 1. Old, To transform or convert. 2. New, Politically, whatever you want it to mean.
Civil Rights: In truth, there can only be three: Life, Liberty and Property. Anything else is the attempt of one group to secure privileges at the expense of another group or society itself. Of the three above, Property is the most important. If the individual's property is secure, there is little reason for anyone to take his life or liberty.
Communism: Natural religious progression wherein lower caste man is made into his own god and enslaved in his own name. Lasted far longer than could possibly have been expected. Still claims believers in the professorate.
Democratic Party: American cargo cult masquerading as a political association.
Demagogue: Person who appeals to the emotions to gain power or fame. See also: Politician.
Department of Education: American cabinet secretariat responsible for extracting money from the public while convincing them that the decline in public education is being arrested. Judging from the department's growth amidst continuing school failure, policy is an unmitigated success.
Election: Auction in advance of stolen goods. (With thanks to H.L. Mencken)
Equality: In nature, an impossibility among the human species, which despite evidence is almost universally desired.
Feminism: Formerly a movement to secure women rights to opportunities not generally open to them. Today, the movement exists to secure power for women who attend highly selective institutions. Practical effect has been disastrous for less highly placed women who now have access to the same stupid and boring occupations men have had to do for eons. Current philosophy is heavy on misandry. The religious aspect of the cult has one sacrament.
Green Party: So far, only significant role has been vehicle for Ralph Nader, Ross Perot of the left.
Her Majesty's Government: Political wing of the British Army.
Iron Law of government: Everything eventually reduces to its absurd. If this is an actual law of physics that exists in nature is not known. In politics and government, it cannot be denied. Whereas in business a company can go bankrupt (unless it is publicly favored), in the realm of government, if (actually, when is more appropriate) a program attains absolute failure, it becomes a candidate for increased funding (e.g. DARE,).
Nazi: Common smoke screen name for National Socialist German Workers Party, the German variant of socialism. The success of this party in bringing ruin to most of Europe, its own population, as well as racial enemies cannot be gainsaid. Its accomplishment was so complete that the whole enterprise collapsed after only thirteen years of operation, whereas the Soviet version started decades earlier and met its demise several decades later. Impresario of German Socialism was Adolph Hitler, a man with the soul of a ward boss who nevertheless was able to foist his program on a nation with near universal literacy and a very high degree of advanced education. The success of the program, along with golf, argues against the continued progress of evolution. Despite the socialist nature of the ideology, other socialists have had amazing success in making sure National Socialism is not identified as the philosophical soul brother it is.
Political Correctness: A fear of knowledge. Under the regime of political correctness as practiced in the United States and some other nations, any evidence disproving accepted doctrine must be denied, if not suppressed. (via Steve Sailer)
Politician: In the American democracy, generally a person who lies in seeking election to public office because there is ample evidence of little profit in speaking the truth (e.g. would Woodrow Wilson have been reelected if his slogan had been "He's hasn't got us into war yet, but, he intends to"?). See also demagogue.
Populist: Highest form of demagogue.
Reform: Word has no real meaning yet is impossible to oppose. The question, "Are you against x reform?" can never be answered negatively without destroying politically one who so answers no matter the actual value of the reform proposed. The word's greatest value is that it is as an accurate marker for poseurs (e.g. John McCain).
Republican Party: American political association with no other permanent purpose than to secure executive positions, legislative posts and patronage emoluments.
Reverend: 1. Title marking certain persons who after serious study and piety are ordained as suitable to lead and instruct the faithful. 2. Honorific applied to certain class of charlatans (examples: Rev. Paisley, Rev. Sharpton, Rev. Jackson)
Revolution: A method by which one elite manipulates the masses to transfer power from another elite due to real or perceived oppression. The success or failure of the revolutionary party, once the ancien regime is overthrown, depends on how well they manage their transition from belief in ideology to practical management of the entity they have stolen.
Self-esteem: the psychological notion used to justify rampant egotism (with help from Theodore Dalrymple)
Social Security: The perfection of a system discovered by a Signor Ponzi wherein early "investors" are paid off by the subscriptions of later participants. System requires ever more contributors to stave off inevitable collapse. Due to the default of Ponzi's path breaking enterprise, he eventually suffered incarceration. Managers of our Social Security system expect no such problems as they have tools to deal with eventualities such as invisible default (i.e. one can start collecting at age 105) or monetization.
Soviet Union: Several countries that were controlled by an apparatus known as the Communist Party. For approximately seven decades said apparatus was able to rob the people in their own name. Went out of business when there was no more to rob.
Tolerance: 1. Old, permitting free expression of views one does not share. 2. New, suppression of thought, or speech found uncomfortable by favored groups.
Transgender operations: Current form of approved ritual mutilation.
University - public: A public university is mainly a large scale day care provider. Most do some practical scientific research.
University - private: Private universities are generally smaller scale day care providers. Very selective establishments exist mainly to mark the children of a certain class or wealth as members of an elite.
War on Drugs: Growth industry whose constituency is well served by the government regulations that propel it.
War on Terrorism: Campaign that will utilizing all the lessons of the drug war while also inventing its own.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Do not use me so, I wish to be known for my mind.
PICTURE REMOVED
Okay, I admit I am a horribly flawed human being. I am always consulting sitemeter to see how much traffic comes here. I love it when someone arrives due to a search for Quintilius Varus. Unfortunately, the biggest search is for the girls in the picture above. What is also interesting is the places the searches originate from. They tend to be often Middle Eastern or if European, cities known to have large Middle Eastern populations. In this country, university towns are heavily represented. I have the feeling the people who are looking at the Italo-Celtic Central Massachusetts babes are not spending as much time studying the holy books as they should be.
Anyway, I am not a pimp and in a few days, the picture will be gone.
Do not use me so, I wish to be known for my mind. Though that may not be all that great an idea.
See original post
Okay, I admit I am a horribly flawed human being. I am always consulting sitemeter to see how much traffic comes here. I love it when someone arrives due to a search for Quintilius Varus. Unfortunately, the biggest search is for the girls in the picture above. What is also interesting is the places the searches originate from. They tend to be often Middle Eastern or if European, cities known to have large Middle Eastern populations. In this country, university towns are heavily represented. I have the feeling the people who are looking at the Italo-Celtic Central Massachusetts babes are not spending as much time studying the holy books as they should be.
Anyway, I am not a pimp and in a few days, the picture will be gone.
Do not use me so, I wish to be known for my mind. Though that may not be all that great an idea.
See original post
Monday, December 31, 2007
HAPPY NEW YEAR
the voice of humility wishes everyone a happy and politically incorrect 2008 Anno Domini.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Fear of Knowledge
The iSteve blog has a post about Anthropology titled Almost makes you feel sorry for Jared Diamond ...
. It is interesting enough, but is important to the voice of humility for providing a new definition for our ongoing Short Dictionary of Politics project. Herein we quote Mr. Sailer,
But there's another reason cultural anthropologists love ethnographic dazzle: political correctness. PC is essentially a fear of knowledge. The cultural anthropologists wallow in data and despise generalization and reductionism for fear that somebody might turn data into information, knowledge, and, God forbid, wisdom.
The voice of humility is an accomplished enough thief to work it into our dictionary thus:
Political Correctness: A fear of knowledge. Under the regime of political correctness as practiced in the United States and some other nations, any evidence disproving accepted doctrine must be denied, if not suppressed.
As we have stolen from Mr. Sailer, we will go against normal practice and link to his fundraiser, Panhandlemania. The voice of humility does not solicit money for others, but if you are not going to endow us with vast generosity, we would rather you donate to Mr. Sailer than NPR.
. It is interesting enough, but is important to the voice of humility for providing a new definition for our ongoing Short Dictionary of Politics project. Herein we quote Mr. Sailer,
But there's another reason cultural anthropologists love ethnographic dazzle: political correctness. PC is essentially a fear of knowledge. The cultural anthropologists wallow in data and despise generalization and reductionism for fear that somebody might turn data into information, knowledge, and, God forbid, wisdom.
The voice of humility is an accomplished enough thief to work it into our dictionary thus:
Political Correctness: A fear of knowledge. Under the regime of political correctness as practiced in the United States and some other nations, any evidence disproving accepted doctrine must be denied, if not suppressed.
As we have stolen from Mr. Sailer, we will go against normal practice and link to his fundraiser, Panhandlemania. The voice of humility does not solicit money for others, but if you are not going to endow us with vast generosity, we would rather you donate to Mr. Sailer than NPR.
Monday, December 24, 2007
The Acception That Proves the Rule
My kids got the movie, Accepted, out of the library. It is not much. Minimalist plot summary: Goofy kid can't get into college, starts one of his own and succeeds. In watching the movie accepted, it is obvious why “hero,” Bartelby, has not got into college. Stupid parents beget stupid kids. It is one long unending not so funny vulgarity. I don't know what it is about golf and college movies, but it appears de rigeur that there be an anti Anglo-Saxon jibe about anti-semitic blackballing. Hey, it's almost 2008, someone has to get the script writers of worthless movies a life.
So why do I waste time on something I think is complete dreck. The truth is, I'm not sure it was a comedy. Oh, it definitely wanted to be a comedy with nonstop lame jokes. Unfortunately, there was just a tad too much reality. The plot line of kid sets up college that is all things to all youth, well, is that not a lot of what college is sold as?
Lets take a look at a admissions web page for one of New England's popular colleges where cool kids go for a serious but fun four years (at least),
Imagine yourself at Middlebury College, with four years to try new ideas and explore the subjects and pursuits you feel passionate about. Four years to explore a liberal arts curriculum so diverse and interdisciplinary that it would take over a century to experience it all. Four years to act in a student production, do research with faculty scientists, join a relief mission to a third-world country, hike the Long Trail, or play left wing on the hockey team. Where would you start? No matter where you choose to begin, Middlebury offers abundant opportunities for learning and growth—and opens doors to the future you envision.
Ah well, I'm sure no catalog ever said something like, you will spend hours in the library doing term papers and we expect you to toe the line and if you don't, maybe voke ed is for you.
In a prior post, I told how I was required to read Newman's The Idea of a University the summer before I attended a papist undergraduate institution. To my utter shame, I remember so little of it. I vaguely recall some of it in that an undergraduate curriculum at a Liberal Arts college should be knowledge for its own sake. Well, I guess the fellow in the film was pursuing the goal of blowing things up with his mind for its own sake, but that is hardly a liberal art. No matter, we want you to grow and learn at Middlebury while we open doors for that future you envision.
South Harmon Institute of Technology, the name of the college in the film (yes, they meant that acronym) also wants you to grow and learn. The standards are undoubtedly looser than Middlebury's but the idea is really little different.
Now, do not get the idea the voice of humility is decrying this. After all, if we have a real system of liberal education, maybe one hundredth of one percent of the population might qualify. That is not on. The country would not stand for it and the thought of an aimless horde of seventeen year olds being unleashed on the country to search for work they are unqualified to do and probably does not exist is scary to say the least. No let them ferment for a few years and take jobs that the country needs like drug counselor or campus security worker.
Indeed, we have been marching toward this for well over a hundred years. No, it is not something that started with the post WWII GI Bill. Christopher Lasch, In the Culture of Narcissism wrote that The president of Princeton was hoping the success of the football team would lead to interest and applications to his college among Kentuckians well over a century ago. Princeton, that bastion of privilege, where the BA is a ticket to membership in the elite actually had to sell itself to rubes in the hinterlands?
The growth of college has probably been the most successful rent seeking enterprise in world history, putting the pre-christian pagan priesthood that it has much in common with to shame.
So why do I waste time on something I think is complete dreck. The truth is, I'm not sure it was a comedy. Oh, it definitely wanted to be a comedy with nonstop lame jokes. Unfortunately, there was just a tad too much reality. The plot line of kid sets up college that is all things to all youth, well, is that not a lot of what college is sold as?
Lets take a look at a admissions web page for one of New England's popular colleges where cool kids go for a serious but fun four years (at least),
Imagine yourself at Middlebury College, with four years to try new ideas and explore the subjects and pursuits you feel passionate about. Four years to explore a liberal arts curriculum so diverse and interdisciplinary that it would take over a century to experience it all. Four years to act in a student production, do research with faculty scientists, join a relief mission to a third-world country, hike the Long Trail, or play left wing on the hockey team. Where would you start? No matter where you choose to begin, Middlebury offers abundant opportunities for learning and growth—and opens doors to the future you envision.
Ah well, I'm sure no catalog ever said something like, you will spend hours in the library doing term papers and we expect you to toe the line and if you don't, maybe voke ed is for you.
In a prior post, I told how I was required to read Newman's The Idea of a University the summer before I attended a papist undergraduate institution. To my utter shame, I remember so little of it. I vaguely recall some of it in that an undergraduate curriculum at a Liberal Arts college should be knowledge for its own sake. Well, I guess the fellow in the film was pursuing the goal of blowing things up with his mind for its own sake, but that is hardly a liberal art. No matter, we want you to grow and learn at Middlebury while we open doors for that future you envision.
South Harmon Institute of Technology, the name of the college in the film (yes, they meant that acronym) also wants you to grow and learn. The standards are undoubtedly looser than Middlebury's but the idea is really little different.
Now, do not get the idea the voice of humility is decrying this. After all, if we have a real system of liberal education, maybe one hundredth of one percent of the population might qualify. That is not on. The country would not stand for it and the thought of an aimless horde of seventeen year olds being unleashed on the country to search for work they are unqualified to do and probably does not exist is scary to say the least. No let them ferment for a few years and take jobs that the country needs like drug counselor or campus security worker.
Indeed, we have been marching toward this for well over a hundred years. No, it is not something that started with the post WWII GI Bill. Christopher Lasch, In the Culture of Narcissism wrote that The president of Princeton was hoping the success of the football team would lead to interest and applications to his college among Kentuckians well over a century ago. Princeton, that bastion of privilege, where the BA is a ticket to membership in the elite actually had to sell itself to rubes in the hinterlands?
The growth of college has probably been the most successful rent seeking enterprise in world history, putting the pre-christian pagan priesthood that it has much in common with to shame.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
From the Sublime
Over on the Black Sea up until a few days ago there was a lovely picture picture of Hope Sandoval of the band Mazzy Star with the words, "I want to taste the breath that's true."
Since then, he has posted a picture of some specimens of what looks to be Underclass Caucasia and below has the words of Hank five before Agincourt, as written by Billy Lancerattle, "For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, this day shall gentle his condition."
In looking at the picture, I am more reminded of the words of Wellington before Waterloo, "I don´t know what they do to the enemy but they scare the hell out of me."
I reflected on this picture in relation to my post on inequality, Watsonia Delenda Est just below. Anyone who thinks that if the other just disappears we will enter into a state of Nirvana need only look at the picture at the Black Sea and remember the words of JJ Walker,
Northern Ireland shows that when there are no Blacks or Jews around, people can improvise.
There is no society so poor that it will lack for an underclass. ergo inequality ergo conflict.
As to the couple in the picture at Black Sea, had he been at Agincourt, no matter how many acts of valor Baldie might perform, the only gentling of his condition possible was centuries away. If the battle took place today, Henry would not have knighted him, but would have given him leave to undergo electro shock with twice the voltage for Blondie.
Since then, he has posted a picture of some specimens of what looks to be Underclass Caucasia and below has the words of Hank five before Agincourt, as written by Billy Lancerattle, "For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, this day shall gentle his condition."
In looking at the picture, I am more reminded of the words of Wellington before Waterloo, "I don´t know what they do to the enemy but they scare the hell out of me."
I reflected on this picture in relation to my post on inequality, Watsonia Delenda Est just below. Anyone who thinks that if the other just disappears we will enter into a state of Nirvana need only look at the picture at the Black Sea and remember the words of JJ Walker,
Northern Ireland shows that when there are no Blacks or Jews around, people can improvise.
There is no society so poor that it will lack for an underclass. ergo inequality ergo conflict.
As to the couple in the picture at Black Sea, had he been at Agincourt, no matter how many acts of valor Baldie might perform, the only gentling of his condition possible was centuries away. If the battle took place today, Henry would not have knighted him, but would have given him leave to undergo electro shock with twice the voltage for Blondie.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Watsonia Delenda Est
James Malloy quotes W.D. Hamilton on GNXP,
... [M]ight it be fair also to say that the champions of 'no difference' in race or sex, or intelligence ... are the guardians of a greater 'untruth' that allows people to live together in mutual harmony, implying that these critics really deserve to be praised as our protectors even when they are factually wrong? ... it is roughly how the self-appointed guardians choose to present themselves - leaving aside, usually, the step of frankly admitting that they are promoting factual untruths when they know that they are.
The problem with the quote above is that no matter what is said and done, we don't live in harmony. If there were real acceptance of each other, why rock the boat. Unfortunately, as there is no equality, it can not be glossed over with happy talk. Equality does not exist in nature and has never existed amongst men and women. If there is not equality then there can only be jealousy when the observation of group differences occurs. This is tragic. When members of Group A complain that a test was designed by Group B and thus benefits only Group B members and Group B members reply that Group C test takers had no part in the design of the test and outdo Group B it has no effect on the argument because the conclusion, if true is still felt as an insult. Do Group B members not feel jealous of Group C because Group C is relatively small here and intermarries at a high rate. If there were fifty million Northeast Asians swamping colleges would American Caucasia's attitude become similar to Black America's? No, I don't expect ranting about "Yellow Skin Privilege."
Our species is, in the main, nothing to write home about. We strut and brag and yet so few of us have ever advanced mankind. We are using the storage batteries charged by others. Let us read the words of Ralph Adams Cram, whose writings on the subject influenced Albert Jay Nock to abandon egalitarianism,
Yes, but there is another side to the question. However repulsive and degrading the general condition of any period in the past, there never has been a time when out of the darkness did not flame into light bright figures of men and women who in character and capacity were a glory to the human race. Nor were they only those whose names we know and whose fame is immortal. We know from the evidences that there were more whose identity is not determined, men and women lost in the great mass of the underlying mob, who in purity and honour and charity were co-equal with the great figures of history. Between them and the basic mass there was a difference greater than that which separates, shall we say, the obscene mob of the November Revolution in Russia, and the anthropoid apes. They fall into two absolutely different categories, the which is precisely the point I wish to make.
We do not behave like human beings because most of us do not fall within that classification as we have determined it for ourselves, since we do not measure up to standard. And thus:
With our invincible—and most honourable but perilous—optimism we gauge humanity by the best it has to show. From the bloody riot of cruelty, greed and lust we cull the bright figures of real men and women. Pharaoh Akhenaten, King David, Pericles and Plato, Buddha and Confucius and Lao Tse, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius and Virgil, Abder-Rahman of Cordoba, Charlemagne and Roland; St. Benedict, St. Francis, St. Louis; Godfrey de Bouillon, Saladin, Richard Coeur de Lion; Dante, Leonardo, St. Thomas Aquinas, Ste. Jeanne d'Arc, Sta. Teresa, Frederick II, Otto the Great, St. Ferdinand of Spain, Chaucer and Shakespeare, Strafford and Montrose and Mary of Scotland, Washington, Adams and Lee. These are but a few key names; fill out the splendid list for yourselves. By them we unconsciously establish our standard of human beings.
Now to class with them and the unrecorded multitude of their compeers, the savage and ignorant mob beneath, or its leaders and mouthpieces, is both unjust and unscientific. What kinship is there between St. Francis and John Calvin; the Earl of Strafford and Thomas Crumwell; Robert E. Lee and Trotsky; Edison and Capone? None except their human form. They of the great list behave like our ideal of the human being; they of the ignominious sub-stratum do not—because they are not. In other words, the just line of demarcation should be drawn, not between Neolithic Man and the anthropoid ape, but between the glorified and triumphant human being and the Neolithic mass which was, is now and ever shall be.
The higher beings amongst us are infinitesimally rare and for all practical purposes are a species above. The brilliant fellows at the right tail of the bell curve as measured by tests are so few. That they are almost never descendants of Sub Saharan Africa or are Women is seen as injustice before any reflection takes place.
Well, I am descended from a nation that has not had that many members of the intellectual elite. By intellectual elite, I don't mean senior partners in Biglaw. There have been some of those from amongst us and valued members of other overblown so called professions. No, I mean a Newton or Gallileo or Archimedes or Einstein. The color of their skin or gender is irrelevant as any of their achievements have benefited all. Still, there is resentment.
You know, I wish people of my ethnicity were top of the pops. I kind of resent that Jews score consistently better. I also remember the early fifties when parents would not let kids play together for fear of Polio. A relative by marriage spent the last few years of his life in an iron lung and was soon buried in his well decorated uniform. I played with his son at the beach where he could at least take off his braces to swim. One day we went to a building and waited in line. My sisters and I were given a shot. Soon, no parent stopped their kids from going off to play.
The point is, the scientist who conjured the vaccine may not have been Pythagoras, but he was no slouch. If the choice were my kid in an iron lung and a Jew getting a scholarship that obviates that, well, I hope I would not be churlish in the matter.
Ah, but the reigning egalitarianism denies there is anything special in any accomplishment. If only discrimination or prejudice were extinguished then anyone could be anything. In practice this means the game is rigged and we hope for the golden day when anyone can be the equal of Stephen Hawking in brainpower, and, only brainpower. Does anyone really believe this?
It seems about a thousand years ago, but I vaguely remember a Firing Line show with Malcolm Muggeridge and Germaine Greer and a bunch of Lefty Brits. At one point, Muggeridge opined about a doctrine that no one really believes and likened it to the Marxist idea of the withering away of the state. The implication was that even Marxist were not stupid enough to believe in such tripe anymore. All the assorted lefties tried to look as if they were not there. They could not say, "Quite right there, Malchie, old boy," but they hardly wanted to stupidly say how it was an article of their true faith.
Well Germaine, as a sub-mediocrity myself, I lead all in hailing your installation in the grand pantheon of the Gods of Mediocrity. She has had a good run in a life of self promotion but is like all the other deniers on Firing Line or the attackers of Watson. Down deep they know that inequality is all pervasive as was Marxism a crock. They also know their own limitations. As expressed in Fewtril #216 of Deogolwulf
Mediocrity tends to a tolerance of everything but excellence.
That makes sense. If all the gods we make are mediocrities, when a real one shows up he has to die.
I live in a nice enough house with many wonderful things. I drive a car that transports me great distances. All the arts and sciences that are in these, I had no part in creating. The smallest of the inventions were the genius of others. It is so with all but the tiniest fraction of humans. It has not been a bad life and I am grateful.
... [M]ight it be fair also to say that the champions of 'no difference' in race or sex, or intelligence ... are the guardians of a greater 'untruth' that allows people to live together in mutual harmony, implying that these critics really deserve to be praised as our protectors even when they are factually wrong? ... it is roughly how the self-appointed guardians choose to present themselves - leaving aside, usually, the step of frankly admitting that they are promoting factual untruths when they know that they are.
The problem with the quote above is that no matter what is said and done, we don't live in harmony. If there were real acceptance of each other, why rock the boat. Unfortunately, as there is no equality, it can not be glossed over with happy talk. Equality does not exist in nature and has never existed amongst men and women. If there is not equality then there can only be jealousy when the observation of group differences occurs. This is tragic. When members of Group A complain that a test was designed by Group B and thus benefits only Group B members and Group B members reply that Group C test takers had no part in the design of the test and outdo Group B it has no effect on the argument because the conclusion, if true is still felt as an insult. Do Group B members not feel jealous of Group C because Group C is relatively small here and intermarries at a high rate. If there were fifty million Northeast Asians swamping colleges would American Caucasia's attitude become similar to Black America's? No, I don't expect ranting about "Yellow Skin Privilege."
Our species is, in the main, nothing to write home about. We strut and brag and yet so few of us have ever advanced mankind. We are using the storage batteries charged by others. Let us read the words of Ralph Adams Cram, whose writings on the subject influenced Albert Jay Nock to abandon egalitarianism,
Yes, but there is another side to the question. However repulsive and degrading the general condition of any period in the past, there never has been a time when out of the darkness did not flame into light bright figures of men and women who in character and capacity were a glory to the human race. Nor were they only those whose names we know and whose fame is immortal. We know from the evidences that there were more whose identity is not determined, men and women lost in the great mass of the underlying mob, who in purity and honour and charity were co-equal with the great figures of history. Between them and the basic mass there was a difference greater than that which separates, shall we say, the obscene mob of the November Revolution in Russia, and the anthropoid apes. They fall into two absolutely different categories, the which is precisely the point I wish to make.
We do not behave like human beings because most of us do not fall within that classification as we have determined it for ourselves, since we do not measure up to standard. And thus:
With our invincible—and most honourable but perilous—optimism we gauge humanity by the best it has to show. From the bloody riot of cruelty, greed and lust we cull the bright figures of real men and women. Pharaoh Akhenaten, King David, Pericles and Plato, Buddha and Confucius and Lao Tse, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius and Virgil, Abder-Rahman of Cordoba, Charlemagne and Roland; St. Benedict, St. Francis, St. Louis; Godfrey de Bouillon, Saladin, Richard Coeur de Lion; Dante, Leonardo, St. Thomas Aquinas, Ste. Jeanne d'Arc, Sta. Teresa, Frederick II, Otto the Great, St. Ferdinand of Spain, Chaucer and Shakespeare, Strafford and Montrose and Mary of Scotland, Washington, Adams and Lee. These are but a few key names; fill out the splendid list for yourselves. By them we unconsciously establish our standard of human beings.
Now to class with them and the unrecorded multitude of their compeers, the savage and ignorant mob beneath, or its leaders and mouthpieces, is both unjust and unscientific. What kinship is there between St. Francis and John Calvin; the Earl of Strafford and Thomas Crumwell; Robert E. Lee and Trotsky; Edison and Capone? None except their human form. They of the great list behave like our ideal of the human being; they of the ignominious sub-stratum do not—because they are not. In other words, the just line of demarcation should be drawn, not between Neolithic Man and the anthropoid ape, but between the glorified and triumphant human being and the Neolithic mass which was, is now and ever shall be.
The higher beings amongst us are infinitesimally rare and for all practical purposes are a species above. The brilliant fellows at the right tail of the bell curve as measured by tests are so few. That they are almost never descendants of Sub Saharan Africa or are Women is seen as injustice before any reflection takes place.
Well, I am descended from a nation that has not had that many members of the intellectual elite. By intellectual elite, I don't mean senior partners in Biglaw. There have been some of those from amongst us and valued members of other overblown so called professions. No, I mean a Newton or Gallileo or Archimedes or Einstein. The color of their skin or gender is irrelevant as any of their achievements have benefited all. Still, there is resentment.
You know, I wish people of my ethnicity were top of the pops. I kind of resent that Jews score consistently better. I also remember the early fifties when parents would not let kids play together for fear of Polio. A relative by marriage spent the last few years of his life in an iron lung and was soon buried in his well decorated uniform. I played with his son at the beach where he could at least take off his braces to swim. One day we went to a building and waited in line. My sisters and I were given a shot. Soon, no parent stopped their kids from going off to play.
The point is, the scientist who conjured the vaccine may not have been Pythagoras, but he was no slouch. If the choice were my kid in an iron lung and a Jew getting a scholarship that obviates that, well, I hope I would not be churlish in the matter.
Ah, but the reigning egalitarianism denies there is anything special in any accomplishment. If only discrimination or prejudice were extinguished then anyone could be anything. In practice this means the game is rigged and we hope for the golden day when anyone can be the equal of Stephen Hawking in brainpower, and, only brainpower. Does anyone really believe this?
It seems about a thousand years ago, but I vaguely remember a Firing Line show with Malcolm Muggeridge and Germaine Greer and a bunch of Lefty Brits. At one point, Muggeridge opined about a doctrine that no one really believes and likened it to the Marxist idea of the withering away of the state. The implication was that even Marxist were not stupid enough to believe in such tripe anymore. All the assorted lefties tried to look as if they were not there. They could not say, "Quite right there, Malchie, old boy," but they hardly wanted to stupidly say how it was an article of their true faith.
Well Germaine, as a sub-mediocrity myself, I lead all in hailing your installation in the grand pantheon of the Gods of Mediocrity. She has had a good run in a life of self promotion but is like all the other deniers on Firing Line or the attackers of Watson. Down deep they know that inequality is all pervasive as was Marxism a crock. They also know their own limitations. As expressed in Fewtril #216 of Deogolwulf
Mediocrity tends to a tolerance of everything but excellence.
That makes sense. If all the gods we make are mediocrities, when a real one shows up he has to die.
I live in a nice enough house with many wonderful things. I drive a car that transports me great distances. All the arts and sciences that are in these, I had no part in creating. The smallest of the inventions were the genius of others. It is so with all but the tiniest fraction of humans. It has not been a bad life and I am grateful.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Orwellian Language of the Year
Okay, I really don't like to do the W pile on, but sometimes I can't help it.
The radio is on as background noise in the kitchen and our pres is giving his weekly address. Most of what I hear is blah blah blah blah blah as that is what it is. I do hear one thing, "Congress needs to pass a bill to protect the middle class from higher taxes."
I'm down witcha, George. File a bill that reads, "Any tax that attacks a middle class citizen, either physically or with hate speech shall serve a sentence not less than three years or more than ten and shall pay a fine of not less than $10,000 or more than $250,000 or its equivalent in real money."
There mon president, as they say, mission accomplished.
The radio is on as background noise in the kitchen and our pres is giving his weekly address. Most of what I hear is blah blah blah blah blah as that is what it is. I do hear one thing, "Congress needs to pass a bill to protect the middle class from higher taxes."
I'm down witcha, George. File a bill that reads, "Any tax that attacks a middle class citizen, either physically or with hate speech shall serve a sentence not less than three years or more than ten and shall pay a fine of not less than $10,000 or more than $250,000 or its equivalent in real money."
There mon president, as they say, mission accomplished.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
They're Taking Him Seriously
Yup, people are taking notice of Ron Paul. On the strength of a $500 donation from a white supremacist wacko Ronnie is being accused of all but Holocaust Denial at Bald Headed Geek. Daniel Sieradski is upset that the candidate is not in constant contact with him.
Look kids, if a non interventionist foreign policy scares you that much, the voice of humility will tell you how to kill my boy's candidacy the easy way. All you have to do is bring up his ideas about Social Security.
"We’ve all heard proposals for “privatizing” the Social Security system. The best private solution, of course, is simply to allow the American people to keep more of their paychecks and invest for retirement as they see fit." American voters won't be scared about Ron Paul's thoughts on the gold standard, but they do get worried when you tell them they might not be getting a "free" check no matter how inflated the currency it is paid in.
This method of attack is also dishonorable. Still, it is preferable than using up the term anti-semite. Reserve that for people who really deserve it.
Also posted at The Neutralist
Look kids, if a non interventionist foreign policy scares you that much, the voice of humility will tell you how to kill my boy's candidacy the easy way. All you have to do is bring up his ideas about Social Security.
"We’ve all heard proposals for “privatizing” the Social Security system. The best private solution, of course, is simply to allow the American people to keep more of their paychecks and invest for retirement as they see fit." American voters won't be scared about Ron Paul's thoughts on the gold standard, but they do get worried when you tell them they might not be getting a "free" check no matter how inflated the currency it is paid in.
This method of attack is also dishonorable. Still, it is preferable than using up the term anti-semite. Reserve that for people who really deserve it.
Also posted at The Neutralist
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Suppression
One can be celebrated in this world for Speaking Truth to Power, but if you actually "Speak Truth to Power," you get squashed like a bug. If you want to see what the fate of truth to power tellers is look at the White Rose and Franz Jägerstätter not to mention people who merely whispered truth and got into the maw of the Gulag.
The voice of humility does not speak on subjects like heredity or genetics because we possess only the dimmest understanding of the science. We do believe that we possess normal human powers of observation. As to our environment, suffice it to say, there is no equality anywhere whether amongst individuals or groups. To say otherwise is to be willfully blind.
Now Mr. Watson was not speaking to "Power," but "Power" overheard his conversation. I don't want to get into why he caved because he may have had some very important reason for doing it. However, had he told his oppressors to take a hike, the victory for truth telling may not have been decisive, but it would have been welcome.
It is also to be noted, it does not appear that he made his remarks about Africa and her children with either joy or rancor, but with a tone of regret. His statement of pessimism regarding that continent helped to land him in hot water. It would be interesting if his critics could be polled so we could find out who of that ilk is optimistic about the future of the "Dark Continent."
The voice of humility does not speak on subjects like heredity or genetics because we possess only the dimmest understanding of the science. We do believe that we possess normal human powers of observation. As to our environment, suffice it to say, there is no equality anywhere whether amongst individuals or groups. To say otherwise is to be willfully blind.
Now Mr. Watson was not speaking to "Power," but "Power" overheard his conversation. I don't want to get into why he caved because he may have had some very important reason for doing it. However, had he told his oppressors to take a hike, the victory for truth telling may not have been decisive, but it would have been welcome.
It is also to be noted, it does not appear that he made his remarks about Africa and her children with either joy or rancor, but with a tone of regret. His statement of pessimism regarding that continent helped to land him in hot water. It would be interesting if his critics could be polled so we could find out who of that ilk is optimistic about the future of the "Dark Continent."
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Friday, September 07, 2007
Not Yet A Believer, but
I haven't had that Billy Graham crusade moment where I head up to the altar and profess belief in the possibility of a Ron Paul nomination and election but the voice of humility is fidgeting in his seat.
You see, even though we still doubt, some others have, if not belief, fear. I saw the Congressman's performance on youtube and I saw Chris Wallace serve up what he thought was going to be an unhittable curveball. Of course it ended up a chest high slow one that Ronnie hit out of the park (why do I do this? I hate sports metaphors).*
Chris:
So, Congressman Paul, and I’d like you to take 30 seconds to answer this, you’re basically saying that we should take our marching orders from al Qaeda? If they want us off the Arabian Peninsula, we should leave?
Ron:
I’m saying we should take our marching orders from our Constitution. We should not go to war — (cheers, applause) — we should not go to war without a declaration. We should not go to war when it’s an aggressive war. This is an aggressive invasion. We’ve committed the invasion of this war, and it’s illegal under international law. That’s where I take my marching orders, not from any enemy. (Cheers, boos.)
Now, granted this is Fox and not CNN, but your man has to have them rattled enough that they come up with questions like this. Or.....have they seen the light. It looks like a partisan question, but anyone who has seen him answer before has to know this is nothing he could not handle.
In countering Ron Paul, Mr. Huckabee made an interesting comment.
Congressman, we are one nation. We can’t be divided. We have to be one nation under God. That means if we make a mistake, we make it as a single country, the United States of America, not the divided states of America
One is reminded of Chesterton's quip:
"My country, right or wrong," is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, "My mother, drunk or sober."
Now the former governor does not look like the type who comes from an intemperate family and I would never suggest that his mom ever even drank let alone to excess. Still, we can note that if she were to have ever had, say, ten manhattans of an afternoon, Mike would match her out of loyalty.
Boston radio commentator, Jon Keller was paying attention to the Thompson announcement. He notes that our thespian has not said anything other than a few bromides. His conclusion on the future of that campaign, "While absence makes the hear grow fonder, familiarity breeds contempt."
*Please note, my doubts notwithstanding, I support the candidacy of Ron Paul, not because it might be viable, but because he is the only near sane candidate of either party.
You see, even though we still doubt, some others have, if not belief, fear. I saw the Congressman's performance on youtube and I saw Chris Wallace serve up what he thought was going to be an unhittable curveball. Of course it ended up a chest high slow one that Ronnie hit out of the park (why do I do this? I hate sports metaphors).*
Chris:
So, Congressman Paul, and I’d like you to take 30 seconds to answer this, you’re basically saying that we should take our marching orders from al Qaeda? If they want us off the Arabian Peninsula, we should leave?
Ron:
I’m saying we should take our marching orders from our Constitution. We should not go to war — (cheers, applause) — we should not go to war without a declaration. We should not go to war when it’s an aggressive war. This is an aggressive invasion. We’ve committed the invasion of this war, and it’s illegal under international law. That’s where I take my marching orders, not from any enemy. (Cheers, boos.)
Now, granted this is Fox and not CNN, but your man has to have them rattled enough that they come up with questions like this. Or.....have they seen the light. It looks like a partisan question, but anyone who has seen him answer before has to know this is nothing he could not handle.
In countering Ron Paul, Mr. Huckabee made an interesting comment.
Congressman, we are one nation. We can’t be divided. We have to be one nation under God. That means if we make a mistake, we make it as a single country, the United States of America, not the divided states of America
One is reminded of Chesterton's quip:
"My country, right or wrong," is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, "My mother, drunk or sober."
Now the former governor does not look like the type who comes from an intemperate family and I would never suggest that his mom ever even drank let alone to excess. Still, we can note that if she were to have ever had, say, ten manhattans of an afternoon, Mike would match her out of loyalty.
Boston radio commentator, Jon Keller was paying attention to the Thompson announcement. He notes that our thespian has not said anything other than a few bromides. His conclusion on the future of that campaign, "While absence makes the hear grow fonder, familiarity breeds contempt."
*Please note, my doubts notwithstanding, I support the candidacy of Ron Paul, not because it might be viable, but because he is the only near sane candidate of either party.
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