When a society has been told for years it can have something for nothing the damage is not just physical, but psychological; an entire mentality is crippled. A former British official who is now a director at the London School of Economics says that Britain is in deep trouble. Years of entitlement have convinced people that government is an endless source of wealth. With the economic crisis in full swing, the government has to cut back for national survival. The problem is that no one wants the music to stop. Even the intellectual class, according to Sir Howard Davies, has come to believe that any crisis can be met by simply borrowing and printing more money.
Sir Howard Davies, now Director of the London School of Economics, said Britain faces a dangerous rise in the levels of public debt – even taking into account tax increases planned for coming years.
“The next six months are going to be extremely delicate in the UK”, he told a gathering of HSBC clients in London. “It is very clear that something dramatic has to happen to control spending: but is the economy robust enough to survive fiscal tightening?” …
What is disturbing is that the British people seem unwilling to face minimal belt-tightening. Even professors in higher education are balloting to strike, demanding a continuation of boom-time pay raises. “You have the best minds in the country planning to go on strike for 8pc. People are miles away from understanding what is needed.”
Polling data shows that 48pc of the public are against any spending cuts and only 20pc see the need for retrenchment. Britons appear to assume that the “fantastic growth in public spending” over the last decade has become an entitlement.
It’s laughable, right? But how sane is everyone else? A riot which broke out at a Burlington Coat Factory outlet when a mentally disturbed woman, posing as the newly rich winner of a lottery, hoaxed customers into believing she would pay for everything that they bought illustrates how credulous people can be. She drove up to the store in a rented limo and announced that she was going to pay for everything the customers bought. Before long the store resembled the scene of a civil disturbance.
A woman arrived at the store in a Hummer limo, announcing that she’d won the lottery and offering to cover tabs totaling up to $500. … Before the hoax was even revealed, two dozen police officers were called in to quell the unrest sparked by the woman …
As cashiers rang sale after sale, Brown left in her limo to withdraw funds to cover the large scale shopping spree- but returned empty handed. The situation predictably worsened, with the large crowds expecting free things and not willing to leave empty handed. Shoppers began throwing merchandise on the floor and looting.
But it isn’t just the people at the Burlington Coat Factory or Britain who can be tricked into buying things on fake credit. Forbes recently described how health care “reform” is going to be paid for with a windfall that will never come. Is there any difference between a woman who imagines she’s won the lottery and politicians who will pay for future expenses from invented revenues?
A careful reading of the evidence suggests that the Baucus bill will add as much as $376 billion to the federal deficit through 2019. And that figure understates the full impact of the bill on the budget. If the big-spending parts of the proposal started next year rather than in 2014, the fiscal damage would be much greater.
At face value, the Baucus bill seems to be close to what the president ordered. According to the CBO, the bill gives coverage to 29 million uninsured Americans for less than $900 billion while simultaneously reducing the deficit. The problem is that the bill counts as savings large cuts to Medicare providers that will almost certainly never happen.
The most blatant example is the annual cut in fees paid by Medicare to physicians. The cuts started out small, about 5% a year, but even that was unsustainable. To “solve” the political problem without having to admit to a big increase in the deficit, Congress has given doctors a series of one-year fixes. The foregone payment reductions add up, and next year Medicare is supposed to slash doctor’s fees 21%. Clearly, that will not happen.
The Ohio hoaxer was arrested and she is believed to be mentally disturbed. But politicians can do the same thing without worrying about being dragged away by the men in white coats. Steve Chapman talks about how Washington, having just watched the financial system destroyed by a real estate bubble, is inflating another to take its place.
Watching Washington policymakers in action, I sometimes think they make mistakes because of unrealistic goals, flawed thinking, blind obedience to party, or dubious information. And sometimes I think they make mistakes because they are—how to put this?—clinically insane.
There is no other way to explain what is going on at the Federal Housing Administration, which provides federal guarantees for home mortgages. Given the collapse in real estate prices, the weak economy, and the epidemic of foreclosures, banks are acting with more caution than before. They now commonly require home buyers to make down payments of 20 percent to qualify for a loan. But the FHA often requires only 3.5 percent.
That’s the equivalent of playing pool with a guy named Snake, and it’s had two predictable effects. The first is that the agency is insuring about four times as many home loans as it did just three years ago. The other is that the number of FHA-approved borrowers who are not repaying their loans is climbing. Since last year, the default rate has jumped by 76 percent.
Another likely consequence looms: you and I eating the losses.
Chapman says, “a former executive of mortgage giant Fannie Mae told a congressional subcommittee that the FHA ‘appears destined for a taxpayer bailout in the next 24 to 36 months.’” Is anybody surprised? Should anybody be surprised? Chapman describes the behavior as akin to being “clinically insane”. Maybe the problem is exactly as Sir Howard Davies described it: the culture of dependency which in some circles is confused with the phrase “scientific socialism”. When even people who should know better believe they can get something for nothing — striking academics in the UK, shoppers in a store, people with health care insurance, people with mortgages — the problem comes to resemble not ordinary debt but participation in a scam. It’s almost as if a hoaxer had appear on the national scene and grandly offered to pick up the tab for a dazzling future without a real dime to his name — and people believed him. How could it happen? And what happens when the joker is unmasked?
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168 Comments
1. Tamquam:Oh, but there’s more. Evidently a bill has been introduced to increase the scope of the Community Reinvestment Act and to remove it’s oversight from the FDIC and place it with Obama’s Community Organization umbrella organization. Won’t that be marvelous?
Oct 15, 2009 - 5:26 pm 2. Tamquam:Oh, but there’s more. Evidently a bill has been introduced to increase the scope of the Community Reinvestment Act and to remove it’s oversight from the FDIC and place it with Obama’s Community Organization umbrella organization.
Oct 15, 2009 - 5:27 pm 3. wws:http://arroyosecohomes.org/2009/10/06/the-hits-just-keep-on-coming/
Won’t that be just marvelous?
I believe you’ve referenced this before, wretchard, but it bears repeating – the central conceit is that governments and social systems are Too Big to Fail.
Nothing is Too Big to Fail.
That’s the end result of believing in a fantasy world where things happen just because people want them to. You’ve written about that, too.
Systemic failure, the Singularity, call it what you will – it’s coming.
The closer we get, the more we can feel the world accelerating; I think we all feel that now.
Rushing headlong into the sweet embrace of the Reaper.
Oct 15, 2009 - 5:37 pm 4. Links For Today » The Ethereal Voice:[...] The world gone mad part 1. [...]
Oct 15, 2009 - 5:42 pm 5. whiskey:Wretchard writes”
How could it happen? And what happens when the joker is unmasked.
Duh. A nation no longer comprised of middle class nuclear families, but young people (or young in outlook) eternally on the make falls victim to any scam.
You can’t cheat an honest man. Or at least, not much and not for long.
Washington’s Democrats are not stupid. This is all part of “get Whitey” or more accurately, the average White Man (and woman). From Rush Limbaugh being defenestrated from the NFL, to a naked, blatant transfer of wealth from Whites to Blacks and Hispanics (the housing bill CRA stuff). It’s transfer or share the wealth. Duh.
With a blatant racial angle. The Senate has certified the House bill with all the nasties — paying for abortion, illegal aliens, rationing, single payer, etc. It will be passed via the “nuclear option” i.e. 51 votes in the reconciliation process. Done deal. Dems don’t fear voters because they plan to fraud their way through, covered by the Media and with ACORN and Sharpton and so on flying air cover or with ground support.
Or as Obama would argue, one man one vote one time. Or Chavez or Castro or Zelaya.
People support this because they know they’ll “win” in the transfer of wealth (elites, non-Whites) or form PC driven young people on the make, with no real expectation of ever forming a family.
Conservative habits of mind and fiscal policies don’t just happen by magic — they come from a widespread investment by men and women in the nuclear family and their own self interest in having a home, kids, and a better life through slow, steady striving. The sexual revolution upended that into a society of single motherhood, default matriarchy and thus a get-rich-quick philosophy. Where any scam seems sensible.
Oct 15, 2009 - 5:42 pm 6. wretchard:“All the world’s a stage”. The first and most important step in real demagogue’s career is to transport his audience in the mentality of watching a stage show. Having imposed that mental adjustment on his audience, the conjurer can represent men with cardboard crowns as kings and actresses as mythical damozels. The media has been instrumental in turning things into a kind of morality play. Can we really tell the difference any more between news and the great play?
What was the Nobel Peace Prize about except to assert that fantasy and reality are one? Now we can look forward to a world run by windmills, without nuclear weapons, free everything and great gatherings where we can sing to Buy the World a Coke. It’s madness, but the show is still compelling, and the theater has to start burning before people pull their gaze away from the stage.
Oct 15, 2009 - 5:57 pm 7. Tcobb:To “progressives” breeding parasites is not a bug, its a feature. All hail the parasite–it is entitled. And the kings and the benefactors of the parasites are entitled to the worship they surely deserve.
The thing the “progressives” have never figured out is what to do when the host dies, except to blame the host for dying.
Oct 15, 2009 - 5:58 pm 8. dla:The West is interesting. Our economies are likened to giant airliners flying along at 40,000 feet. When the nose dips – people panic and predict doom and destruction. When the nose is level everyone is happy – regardless of the altitude. When the nose rises experts predict problems.
Unlike closed societies, (like North Korea), citizens of the West can tell their “dear leaders” that they are wrong. America’s “the one” may have made some big mistakes, but regardless Americans are letting him know what they think. Less of America is entitlement-minded than Britain and more of America is getting concerned with the current Congress’s ability to make sound financial decisions.
Oct 15, 2009 - 6:00 pm 9. PA Cat:A number of folks have commented that today’s surreal news item about the Colorado kid and the homemade Mylar balloon is a near-perfect capsule summary of the present madness:
Dad is a storm chaser, considers himself a “psyientist,” and thinks he can prove there is life on Mars. He designed the balloon to enable motorists to float above traffic on their way to work.
Dad and Mom appeared twice on a reality TV show called “Wife Swap.” There has been speculation that today’s excellent adventure was a publicity stunt designed to get them more attention.
Much-repeated blog comment: “Anyone else think the whole nation fascinated by a hot air balloon that turned out to be empty just might be a little symbolic?”
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/10/15/video-someones-been-a-bad-bad-boy/
Oct 15, 2009 - 6:18 pm 10. Teresita:“Anyone else think the whole nation fascinated by a hot air balloon that turned out to be empty just might be a little symbolic?”
When the balloon goes up in the next war it will be Obama the boy wonder hiding in a little box. His Messianic “Yes We Can” dream balloon is already leaking, but the libstream media will soldier on, and if a hot-air denier stands up and says, “The balloon never had sufficent lift to actually carry the Boy” no one will listen.
Oct 15, 2009 - 6:56 pm 11. no mo uro:Detroit citizens applying for handouts from Obama’s “stash”.
‘Nuff said.
Oct 15, 2009 - 6:57 pm 12. Tamquam:Whiskey: “This is all part of “get Whitey” or more accurately, the average White Man (and woman). From Rush Limbaugh being defenestrated from the NFL, to a naked, blatant transfer of wealth from Whites to Blacks and Hispanics (the housing bill CRA stuff). It’s transfer or share the wealth.”
Not quite. Do you really think that the Blacks and Hispanics are going to wind up with this wealth in THEIR pockets? Somehow I don’t think so. This is a naked power grab. ‘Disaffected’ minorities are merely window dressing, useful props that will be discarded and burned along with all who are not among the cognoscenti on the day of fulfillment.
About the double post above: Oops.
Oct 15, 2009 - 7:06 pm 13. Josh:Even the intellectual class, according to Sir Howard Davies, has come to believe that any crisis can be met by simply borrowing and printing more money.
Boy, I hope they’re right, since that’s what we’re doing, to the tune of about three trillion dollars in the last year.
And you know what’s even scarier? So far, it’s working.
I guess I just don’t know any more what you get when you add two plus two – whatever you like, apparently.
Oct 15, 2009 - 7:07 pm 14. Josh:wretchard @ 6: ever read Niven’s “The Ringworld Engineers”? As the Ringworld threatens to drift into the sun, protagonist Louis Wu tries a rhetorical hook on The Hindmost, “We will soon have a unique opportunity!” Louis says. The Hindmost peeks out his head to ask what that might be. “The chance to study sunspots from underneath!”
Thus falleth the empire, … and you were there!
Oct 15, 2009 - 7:15 pm 15. Langley:Josh@13
It does SEEM to be working.
Who does inflation of the “money” supply “work” for?
The first receivers of the new hot money.
They bid up the prices as the money moves through the economy.
By the time it gets down to people who work for a living (a declining % of the population) the price (though not the value) of things has increased.
This is only one of the ways that the government programs designed to help the poor always hurt them in the end.
Oct 15, 2009 - 7:24 pm 16. Teresita:Josh, Ringworld Engineers was good, Ringworld Throne was incoherent, but Ringworld’s Children was a return to form. They have to move the Ringworld because the ARM likes playing around with antimatter bombs too much. When the Mullahs get their nukes, we won’t be able to move away.
Oct 15, 2009 - 7:26 pm 17. Enscout:I grew up in western S D, watching all the while what ‘entitlements’ could do to a once proud people.
Endeavor to persevere…@6:16
Oct 15, 2009 - 7:27 pm 18. RWE:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n24L2MjP5_s&feature=related
Isn’t it strange that people can insist that drastic action be taken to respond to a theoretical construct based on questionable data and models that can hardly be trusted – like Global Warming – and ignore real, hard facts, such as the growing national debt, the impact of litigation run amok, the outright insanity that accompanies the modern concept of Civil Rights, the drugging of many of our children, nuclear weapons in the hands of lunatics, and so forth?
We laugh at people of times past who argued over the number of angels who could dance on the head of a pin. But at least those people were not focusing the energies of whole nations on that topic, while ignoring the real issues – if they had, we would not be here.
Oct 15, 2009 - 7:29 pm 19. Ashen:It’s all planned. Destroy the source of our strength, our economy, force cuts in defense, speech codes etc. Long term commie goal of takeover by the “workers”. Solution, put Christian values back in school, put free market economics back in schools, demonize communism and liberalism as it should be. The audio/video of Anita Dunn is code speak for the communists. When she advises them to find their own battle to fight it means organize in cells and wait for further instructions.
Oct 15, 2009 - 7:33 pm 20. Joshua:wws, #3: Nothing is Too Big to Fail.
Again, I must point out that “too big to fail” (at least as the phrase was originally coined) really means “too big for TPTB to allow to fail, for fear of catastrophic political consequences resulting from said failure”.
Steve Chapman: Watching Washington policymakers in action, I sometimes think they make mistakes because of unrealistic goals, flawed thinking, blind obedience to party, or dubious information. And sometimes I think they make mistakes because they are—how to put this?—clinically insane.
Occam’s razor, people… Economic policies often take years or even decades for their full effects to become evident. Washington policymakers tend to have a much shorter time horizon – namely, the completion of the next election cycle. Which, it goes without saying, brings us back to the true meaning of “too big to fail”…
Oct 15, 2009 - 7:37 pm 21. VonBear:the beneficent some
omniscient masters
our betters
pedagogic group think
princes sip our heritage
from street hustle chalices
decree electric blanket stasis
infantilism redux
functionally lobotomized
Oct 15, 2009 - 7:51 pm 22. MarkJ:succored on memes of armageddon
called to the multiculti cotillion
groups one thru thirty three
dance on a thousand volt grid
their honor to lick dung
off the boots of
the beneficent some
“Steve Chapman says, “a former executive of mortgage giant Fannie Mae told a congressional subcommittee that the FHA ‘appears destined for a taxpayer bailout in the next 24 to 36 months.’””
24 to 36 months. An FHA bailout would, needless to say, coincide very neatly–and, for the Democrats, inconveniently–with the next presidential election cycle. No wonder Obama is in a hurry: he’s expecting a perfect economic and political shit-storm to blow in just in time for the 2012 elections. I suspect some odds-makers in Vegas are already wagering that Obama will be a one-termer–a “Carter with a better hook shot.”
Oct 15, 2009 - 8:02 pm 23. james wilson:Charles Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crownds
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly; and one by one.
Oct 15, 2009 - 8:04 pm 24. Marty:The Mississippi scheme of John Law, which so dazzled and captivated the French people, inspired them with an idea that they could carry on the same game in England. The anticipated failure of his plans did not divert them from their intention. Wise in their own conceit, they imagined they could avoid his faults, carry on their schemes for ever, and stretch the cord of credit to its extremest tension, without causing it to snap asunder.
The English commenced their career of extravagance somewhat later than the French; but as soon as the delirium seized them, they were determined not to be outdone.
Mr. Walpole was almost the only statesman in the house who spoke out boldly against it. Although, in former times, the house had listened with the utmost attention to every word that fell from his lips, the benches became deserted when it was known that he would speak on the South-Sea question.
Give Social Security recipients $250 each because prices DIDN’T go up so there’s no COLA, cost est. $13B and hardly anyone thinks this odd??? (Sen. Gregg, bless him, did question it, but let’s see how he votes.)
In early 2008 the Chicago Transit Authgority and other public transit in the Chicago area needed a financial bailout and at the 11th hour, after the bill was passed, Gov. Blago slipped in (amendatory veto) free rides for seniors, with no State reimbursement and no additional State funding, at a cost to the transit operators of about $40M per year. The General Assembly bitched about the process, but approved it and it has since even been expanded to disabled veterans and other favored groups. Well, now the transit Authority is back to a 2010 “Doomsday” budget with a $60M hole in it because of all the free rides.
The laws of arithmetic no longer apply, what goes up need not come down, just because something can’t go on forever doesn’t mean it won’t.
Don’t blame the pols, tho; we elect them and the one thing you can say about elected officials is that they know what it takes to win an election. I wouldn’t even be surprised if a lot of the pols know how crazy this is, but their read is that if they try to stand in the way they just generate opposition in the next election. So, shame on all of us.
Oct 15, 2009 - 8:18 pm 25. grrr:Looking back the Y2K was but a rehearsal.
Oct 15, 2009 - 8:19 pm 26. Mad Fiddler:Saruman – now taking the name “Sharky” – bitter beyond the ken of mortals at being cast from Orthanc, undertakes his revenge in the scouring of the Shire.
Mean, vengeful, vicious, hate-spitting, murder-anything-that-won’t-submit-to-me, spite…
Oct 15, 2009 - 8:28 pm 27. Ashen:VonBear@21
Nice poem, I like it. I wish I could see you recite at a “poetry jam” just to see how long it would take the commies to figure it out.
Oct 15, 2009 - 8:39 pm 28. Ashen:Mad Fiddler@26
The betrayer of Orthanc was, at last, slain by the very creature who served him, Wyrmtongue. Who then was slain in turn by arrows from stout Hobbit bows.
Oct 15, 2009 - 8:46 pm 29. Lifeofthemind:Somewhere I read that there is a reliable test that can tell the difference between healthy adults and adolescents. A normal healthy adult is susceptible to being taken in by a trained functional salesman, especially a confidence artist. However the same adult usually has the inner stability and experience to detect that there is something wrong with a true sociopath. The difference is that the manipulative salesman is other directed and the lunatic is entrapping his victims in a narrow world of his own construction. In other words healthy adults can fall victim to a Bernie Madoff but rarely are taken in by a Charles Manson or Reverend Jim Jones. When otherwise sane adults do get caught up in a sociopath’s delusion it is usually as part of a mass movement, which has its own dynamics.
For children the opposite condition applies. They are used to people in the adult role taking responsibility and projecting authority over them. They can detect whether the person they are dealing with believes in what they are saying or is lying to themselves. Adults lose that inner sense or at least do not expect that high a level of honesty and consistency from other adults. For the child or adolescent the sociopath who truly believes in the story they are selling, no matter how divorced from reality, is credible but the slick salesman who is only peddling a line sets off their warning bells.
As government controls infantilize the population we become more vulnerable to being swept up in fantasies by a Messianic “One.” I hope that Dr Sanity does not come after me for pontificating or shrinking without a license.
Oct 15, 2009 - 8:48 pm 30. Lifeofthemind:Ashen,
And yet Saruman, like Sauron and Gandalf/Mithrandir/Olorin was of the Maier. He had participated in and had heard the music of the Ainur at the beginning. He had seen Elu Iluvatar. He knew better, that was why he is a tragic character.
Imagine knowing what perfection is and knowing that you have fallen to being a parody of a parody (Sauron) of a parody (Morgoth) of the One.
Oct 15, 2009 - 8:58 pm 31. Ashen:I have to apologize y’all for posting this OT, but allow me to thank the proprietor and denizens of my favorite pub, BC. Let me thank you for giving a start on an educational journey I always wanted. I don’t have the money to attend a school for it and one wonders if I’d get it there anyway. The book and author references I read about here are giving me solid, tangeable ground on which to stand. They give substance to the free spirit that dwells within me ( thanks mom, love you). I’m heading out to get some coffee now, I’m taking my oldest brothers copy of “John Adams” by David McCullough ( thanks bro, love you too), with me. Nite.
Oct 15, 2009 - 9:01 pm 32. toad:“Everybody leave the room, except Axlerod, Emanuel, Reid, and Pelosi.”
Oct 15, 2009 - 9:08 pm 33. EvilDave:8. dla:
Less of America is entitlement-minded than Britain
Yes, but that is part of the plan with universal healthcare. Get EVERYONE hooked on an entitlement.
Oct 15, 2009 - 9:10 pm 34. elby:Get everyone coming to the government with their hat in their hand.
I was helping my daughter with her math tonight. We came to a problem which resulted in 6 = 3. I explained that that meant there was no solution, because 6 cannot equal 3. But then I told her, 6 can never equal 3 unless you’re a liberal. In which case, Hollywood will come out with TV shows and movies in which 6 always equals 3. And the news media will tell us that 6 does indeed equal 3. Then academics will give us the rationale that 6 has always equalled 3. In the minds of liberals it will then be true that 6 equals 3, because they have said it is so. And if you put up your hand and say, but 6 does not equal 3, then you will be laughed out of the room as a rube and an ignoramus.
The ‘elites’ are insisting that 6 = 3. That debt = wealth. That to solve the problem of bad mortgages being written one must write more bad mortgages. That the government can take over health care and actually save money while providing world class care. That standing by and merely wringing our hands while a terrorist nation acquires nuclear weapons will ‘bring peace’.
The biggest bubble that needs to be popped is the leftists fantasy bubble. They will learn that they cannot make something so by flooding the culture with fantasy until everyone believes it to be truth.
6 does not equal 3.
Oct 15, 2009 - 9:17 pm 35. ADE:elby @ 34
Let a = b
Square both sides: a^2 = b^2
subtract b^2 from both: a^2 – b^2 = b^2 – b^2
Factor out: (a + b)*(a – b) = b*(b – b)
But a = b, so (a + b)*(b – b) = b*(b – b)
Cancel (b – b), it is the same on both sides
Therefore (a + b) = b
Let a = 3. Therefore b = 3.
Therefore (3 + 3) = 3
ie, 6 = 3.
See, I’ve got the makings of a politician.
ADE
Oct 15, 2009 - 10:05 pm 36. presbypoet:The problem is ponzi schemes and pyramids do “work”, at least at the start. It looks so easy. Who wants to pop the bubble? Just sell to a greater fool. That is who they think we are.
Rule of thumb. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
One warning for Belmont Clubbers. A lesson from my cat. A very intelligent cat. He is very suspicious. Because he is so smart, he thinks of all the possible bad things that might happen. So he worries. If I leave an hour before I am to serve him dinner, I have to tell him when I will be back. Even after almost 20 years, he still worries. That is a danger for us. We see all the possible dangers, then get so worried we can’t do anything. It is hard to trust when you worry. That is a paradox we live in, how to trust, who to trust, and how to trust when we know we can’t trust anyone.
We live in interesting times.
Oct 15, 2009 - 10:15 pm 37. Bubba Thudd:The most addictive, most debilitating, most insidious drug known to man is unearned money. Look at what it has done to the Native Americans, the inner city Blacks, the British “working class.” It is the Democrat Party’s most potent weapon (vote for us and we’ll give you other peoples money!).
Oct 15, 2009 - 10:24 pm 38. apex:We may soon find ourselves awash in a sea of starving addicts – as scary as anything George Romero could have imagined. Ayn Rand saw it coming decades ago. The non infected may have no choice but to retreat to a fortified place, hunker down and go Galt till the looting hordes devour themselves.
The laws of economics are like the laws of physics. You can cheat gravity for a while, but not forever. Question is how you do it, an airplane stays up for hours, a building for centuries, but in the end, everything requires energy and effort to hold up, or it comes down. And the higher and the more you are holding up, the more energy you need, which is finite.
apex
Oct 15, 2009 - 10:25 pm 39. PA Cat:36 presbypoet
Teach your cat Psalm 145:15-16. My three trust that they will be fed through their human intermediary even though two of them were abandoned on the street at one time and have every reason to worry about their next meal. This is not to say that they don’t affect a lean and hungry look to remind me when dinner time approaches– they have also learned Martin Luther’s last words: Wir sind Bettler; das ist wahr. (”We’re all beggars– that’s the truth.”)
Oct 15, 2009 - 10:31 pm 40. RagnarD:wretchard writes: “The Ohio hoaxer was arrested and she is believed to be mentally disturbed.”
But somehow we do not put the same onus on our politicians. Why? Because we share in their delusions, most likely.
ADE @ 35: But you cannot make this step, it is not correct.
But a = b, so (a + b)*(b – b) = b*(b – b)
Nor this:
Cancel (b – b), it is the same on both sides
False assumptions do not make truth. But good try at satire. Wrong is still wrong except in DC and Liberal minds.
The magical thinking currently in fashion is due for a correction. Many of us have been warning of this but get discounted as cranks. In fact, the level of magical thinking in the culture has become so entrenched that it resembles a psychosis and is endangering the health of the culture.
Oct 15, 2009 - 10:41 pm 41. ADE:RagnarD @40
But a = b, so (a + b)*(b – b) = b*(b – b) is actually correct.
However, the next is the sleight of hand:
Cancel (b – b), it is the same on both sides is wrong – it is an implied divide by zero, which is of course a no no.
Cheers,
ADE
Oct 15, 2009 - 11:23 pm 42. Batman:I suppose this is another way to say what most have been saying in recent weeks here at BC, but here goes anyway.
Why is alcohol part of every culture known for the past 5000 years? Because beer and wine work. They taste good, disinhibit us to a slight degree, thus making socialization more affable. They also dull pain, both physical and psychological. That is, until you go past the second drink.
The first beer is refreshing. The second lifts spirits. The third makes one just a bit disoriented. The fourth causes coordination and judgment to decline. The fifth brings on recklessness and so forth.
A typical alcoholic can’t stop after the first or second drink. A non-alcoholic can. For a typical alcoholic beer is a drug; for the non-alcoholic it is a food.
After three generations of cultural relativism, deconstructionism and entitlements, we have morphed from a culture that can stop after the first or second temporary governmental intervention and then resume our individual lives, to a people who can’t stop at the third drink.
All that works until your liver collapses, your stomach bleeds, your brain cells are dissolved, and you lose everything.
Unless we help ourselves and unless we remake the culture we are heading for the cliff. Perhaps we will be pushed over the edge or perhaps we will just stumble over the brink all by ourselves.
Oct 15, 2009 - 11:28 pm 43. DWB:Wretchard # 6 It’s madness, but the show is still compelling, and the theater has to start burning before people pull their gaze away from the stage.
The problem for those of us in the theater who smell the smoke and see some flames, where to go or what to do? The ‘Gault’s Gulch’ people are wisely quiet. New Zealand?
Oct 15, 2009 - 11:29 pm 44. mac:Wretchard,
I’ve been hammering my Congressman and both Senators for years now about too much government spending. The Congressman talks about how much we need to cut, then votes for more pork for his district. Of course, if he wants pork for his district he has to vote for pork for others’ districts.
The Senators just send me form letters saying 1)they appreciate my input, and 2)they know what they are doing is right for the country. The unspoken but very clear message coming through is that if I wish to waste my time in writing them, it’s my business but the effort will have absolutely no effect on their decisions.
I know all of them are lying in their teeth, especially the Democrats. However, it couldn’t be more obvious they don’t give a damn what I think. They won’t, either, until they start feeling seriously concerned about their personal welfare.
In all seriousness, I think the only thing that will get their attention is violence. The pols bend before that at every turn of events. Look st the blacks, the Muslims, North Korea, etc., etc. The response is always the same: accommodation, “meeting them halfway,” “we need to talk to our enemies,” etc.
Reasoning of any other sort than the violent just gets barely perfunctory lip service in public and contemptuous dismissal in private. What did the September 12 D.C. meeting receive from the Obamites? They claim to not even know it happened, and that was one of the largest political demonstrations in the history of the country.
Lord knows I wish it was different, but the facts are clear. Only when the politicians become afraid that their skins are at risk will they start to listen. Until that point, they couldn’t care less what conservative Americans think and won’t hesitate to run roughshod over their interests.
Oct 16, 2009 - 2:01 am 45. Fletcher Christian:mac – Someone could have written what you just wrote during the years when Republicans had both Houses and the presidency, and it would have applied in exactly the same way. The USA is not the only country where this applies, either.
The simple truth is that politicians of any party in any country, or at least an overwhelming majority of them, don’t give a damn about either their constituents or their country. All they are interested in is either power, or keeping their noses in the trough, or both.
The ongoing expenses scandal in the UK is a case in point. Compared to the size of the budget the amounts of money involved are tiny; that isn’t the point. But it does indicate the attitude of the political classes to the people they work for.
One contributory factor in this problem is the generally abysmal standard of public education in both the UK and the USA. After all, someone properly educated (particularly in statistics and economics) will see through politicians’ lies much more easily. So proper public education is against the interests of our lords and masters. Coincidence? I don’t think so. The same applies even more forcefully to unelected “public servants”.
People voting on issues they don’t understand is the central problem of democracy – and the only answer to that is some sort of qualification, and that is not going to happen short of violent revolution a la Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers”. (THis was actually takeover by veterans after a catastrophic war, but the principle still applies.)
Guy Fawkes had a point. So did Timothy McVeigh.
Oct 16, 2009 - 4:08 am 46. elby:What we need is massive civil disobedience. I don’t mean just protests in the street. I mean a producers strike. It occured to me the other day, when someone was telling me how bad coal is for the environment that what would happen if all the coal driven power plants just shut down for a few hours? Would they get the point? don’t like coal? We’ll give you what you want.
How about any business that is portrayed as evil just shuts down for a few hours or days. How about doctors have a work slowdown, and see only a few of the sickest patients. The message: if you want to cut healthcare costs by simultaneously increasing the number of patients who want to be seen and cutting the reimbursements to doctors, then over time there will be fewer doctors and this is what will result.
How about people march on Washington, sit down in the streets and refuse to leave. Show up in the House of Representatives, wait for a politician to speak and then shout “you lie!” When that person is dragged out for disrupting the ‘honorable’ halls of congress, the next one takes his place and does the same thing.
We need massive civil disobedience, not token protests here and there. Right now, we know the effects of the leftists policies. But they take place slowly over time and it is like the frog slowly boiling in the pot. We need to turn up the temperature, and get it boiling right now. Violence is not needed.
Oct 16, 2009 - 5:26 am 47. AZM:… OT
Geert Wilders allowed into the UK (AP)
British Muslims have been divided on how best to deal with him. Some Muslim community groups support the government’s efforts to keep him out of the country, while others argue that the ban has been counterproductive.
A group of around 20 protesters gathered outside Parliament buildings holding placards saying “Sharia for the Netherlands” and “Islam will conquer Europe.”
“Islam does seek to conquer Europe,” said 23-year old protester Abu Ilyas. “What’s so bad about that?”
Oct 16, 2009 - 5:48 am 48. wws:To presbypoet: You’re very correct to point out that a loss of trust can be debilitating to any system in and of itself. And yet trust, like virginity, is quite difficult to regain once lost.
Let me give you a real world example that’s been on my mind lately. We have a small, cooperative family business with several related parties who all work together. It wouldn’t work if we all did not trust each other implicitly. Very recently, one of the parties has been caught handling a significant sum of money in a dishonest manner – doing things that were kept hidden from those who were affected and who should have been told long before anything was done. Now, things will be made right; but it will be a very long time before true trust is restored to that relationship, if ever.
Oct 16, 2009 - 6:13 am 49. LFMayor:That’s at least two votes for a “Heinlein”… now we’re making some progress!
Oct 16, 2009 - 6:13 am 50. Teresita:He had seen Elu Iluvatar. He knew better, that was why he is a tragic character.
There is a principle in the New Testament that the unfaithful ones among those who have been given a greater light, such as teachers and leaders, will be given more stripes than unfaithful students and servants who were given a lesser light. With more knowledge comes more accountability. And quibble: The One is ERU Iluvatar.
Oct 16, 2009 - 6:36 am 51. WillDoMathForFood:OK, everybody here seems to agree that the system is broke. We spend money in ways that would make a drunken sailor blush, without regard to receipts, or how much is likely to be taken in in the future. How do we fix it??
The simplest idea I’ve heard was posted on the TaxProf Blog website: get rid of payroll tax withholding. When people have to actually send the government a check every month, or every quarter, then it’s going to HURT. For me that would amount to thousands of dollars per month. People will suddenly become much more interested in how that money is being spent. They’re going to want the government to spend less of it – and, as an added bonus, even people who pay very little money in taxes are suddenly going to realize, “Hey! This is REAL money, and it’s MINE!” We’ll suddenly become a Republic again, not a democracy of 2 wolves and a sheep.
I know, it’ll never happen. And, if it did, then tax revenues would plummet as cheating would suddenly become universal, making criminals of everybody. But it’s no more unrealistic than any other scheme that might be enacted to fix this problem. I’d love to hear alternatives. How DO you fix it?? There has to be a structural change, because pols are pols, and the current system is constructed to appeal to their worst impulses to play Santa Claus.
I guess after awhile you get numb to it, but I’ve always wondered why every person in the world doesn’t suddenly become a conservative when they see the withholding from their very first paycheck.
Oct 16, 2009 - 6:40 am 52. Lifeofthemind:AZM,
Tie it back into the thread topic. This is easy. Radical Muslims refuse to assimilate and accept the core Western values of tolerance, rule of law and comity that permit free citizens to share a political space. They openly proclaim that they are part of an invading army that is subjugating the host victim, only they are not usually bearing arms and they do not meet the other standards (discipline, identifiable uniform or device, state sponsorship, openly bearing arms) of lawful combatants under the Geneva Conventions. The politicians and their enablers refuse to acknowledge the reality that these invaders admit to. To refuse to do so is insane.
In fact a clever apologist could argue that they do in fact meet the Geneva standards if we would only acknowledge it and treat them as such. They have a written code and guide, in the Koran and Hadith and receive detailed instructions from an organized chain of command. They wear identifiable uniforms, the long brown coats and full beards of the men and burqas of the women, that are specifically designed to set them apart and identify them. They are funded and supported by the Saudi government and agents of the Saudi royal family. The only standard they fail to meet is that they carry weapons secretly, although they openly proclaim their intent to do so.
Oct 16, 2009 - 6:40 am 53. Richard Aubrey:When you, figuratively speaking, get an entitlement-propounder’s wrist up between his shoulder blades and ask, politely, where the money is REALLY supposed to come from, they point to some program with which they are not concerned.
Oct 16, 2009 - 7:09 am 54. Mark:Entitlement-propounders do not propound unlimited spending on everything. Just on their own project. Unfortunately, we have propounders for everything.
But it makes it easier, or more logical, to say “I’m not for unlimited spending. We can cut over there.”
Knowing it won’t happen, of course.
Further unfortunately, the program they most like for cuts is defense.
Thomas Frank wrote “What’s Wrong with Kansas,” in which he argues that regular folks are deluded and act against their self-interest in not voting for liberals, who Frank claims will create jobs and provide better benefits. The opposing argument would say that folks know intuitively that there’s no free lunch, and that joblessness will go up, not down, when liberals enact their agenda.
So liberals need a non-econmic trump card. That is where concern for victims comes in. A Judeo-Christian nation is wired to care for and show charity to victims. Pseudo-victims and their handlers now know how to exploit the good tendencies of the religious traditions. As the traditional religious values diminish, concern for victims grows, since people hold onto this core ameliorist tendency of the religion. Liberals claim to care more for victims. Health care for everyone! Conservatives are mean. Indeed, they are “divisive.”
It’s a cliche now that liberal “diversity” is a kind of uniformity. Uniformity, lack of differentiation, leads to a cultural crisis, because when things go wrong people don’t want to blame themselves. There must be scapegoats, those who are seen as being divisive, disruptive to the status quo.
Witch hunts, actual violence, shunning . . . one seees this increasingly. (If you have read Ionesco’s play “Rhinocerous” you know the feeling that the herd mentality has begun to take hold. Vampire movies provide the same warning that there is serious blood sucking going on behind the apparently placid action.) The shocking aspect of the current environment is that so much of the scapegoating rhetoric comes from the White House and Congress. A little boy at a press conference gets set up to ask Obama, “Why do they hate you?”
After a scapegoating frenzy, the scapegoat can be honored and even sanctified. (Liberals tried to scapegoat Reagan; now they tend not to say bad things about him; Liberalania has always been at peace with Reaganania.) But that is not the stage we are at now.
As a perpetual victim, the Rev. Sharpton alwasys gets a free pass. Rush Limbaugh is marked by the original sin of white maleness and can get no free pass.
We seem to be at a time of cultural crisis. However, the majority of people are functioning, good-meaning citizens. And they have an opportunity to throw the bums out. They can do it.
But maybe the media-government-philanthropy-liberal church axis can convince people to vote against their real self-interest, which can only reside in a sustainable, sound-money economy.
An aside on the Limbaugh matter: The great Johan Huizinga wrote “Homo Ludens,” about the role of play and games in culture. Games take place within a set of rules, in a field set apart from everyday life. Now the liberals have violated the sacred space, so to speak, of the game field. Whites had excluded blacks for many years, of course; but the game had been set right and represented some stasis of racial understanding, within the boundaries of the field. Liberal pseudo-concern for pseudo-victims has violated one of the most sacred spaces in American culture, the real Sunday church of America, the NFL.
Brothers and sisters, Keith Olbermann will now lead us in the three-minute hate. And Everybody said, “Amen.”
Oct 16, 2009 - 7:11 am 55. Thomas Drew:Whoever thinks an organization can be too big to fail, or for The Powers That Be to allow to fail, had his chance to learn otherwise all the way back in 1989. In that year, a pretty large organization, wielding quite a bit of power (the USSR) failed; simply ceased enforcing its own borders. Nobody in the US–especially not the “experts” that went to collitch and studied soshology and hystory–seems to have read this as anything but good news; nothing of a cautionary lesson to be learned. God help us, and God help my grandson.
Oct 16, 2009 - 7:16 am 56. Batman:Suppose you and 534 others each had a credit card on the same account. And suppose that the total balance had to be divided equally among all of you, regardless of what you individually spent.
If you see that dozens (or hundreds) of your fellow card holders were spending recklessly, would you still be restrained on your purchases knowing you would be paying disproportionately for their excesses? Probably not. More likely you would reason, “If I am paying for the excesses of the other card holders anyway, I might as well get lots of stuff too.”
In a nutshell, that is how Congress works.
Oct 16, 2009 - 7:22 am 57. HEPT:We give an unimaginable amount of money, tax payer money to enemies of our way of life and country than we should.
Oct 16, 2009 - 7:31 am 58. Sertorius:All we get in return is more of the same “death to America” and covert actions designed to defeat us.
This pay to foes won’t be curtailed why should pay for SSI be curtailed?
If it comes to seniors, diasabled and poor Americans or Egytions I prefer paying Americans and the Egytions can go elswhere.
#5 Whiskey: I’ve begun to think you’re an optimist.
http://goforth.levi.com/newdeclaration
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
Oct 16, 2009 - 7:36 am 59. Thomas Drew:With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,–
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce!–won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen:
O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
From me, whose love was of that dignity
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage, and to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine!
But virtue, as it never will be moved,
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
So lust, though to a radiant angel link’d,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed,
And prey on garbage.
Batman: You are right; from a certain point of view what we see is rational behavior. I seem to remember this is what my Econ I textbook called a fallacy of composition. That is, a situation in which the interests of any given individual run counter to those of the aggregate. I don’t know whether a system can be designed to defeat this phenomenon. However, I’m pretty sure it can be predicted by people who design systems, and at least discouraged or mitigated. In any case, if I (a hopeless English major) know this, how is it that responsible “experts” act like they never heard of it? It’s hard to avoid the conclusion they plan on it, for reasons of their own. Hence many of the comments we see above, and many times before this on BC. I tell you there are days when I’m glad I don’t need this ship to stay afloat much longer, from a purely selfish point of view; but like I said, I worry about my grandson.
There’s a wonderful aphorism in the Lampedusa novel Il gattopardo: Finché c’è morte, c’è speranza. Trans: As long as there’s death, there’s hope.
Cheers.
Oct 16, 2009 - 7:37 am 60. Teresita:apex: The laws of economics are like the laws of physics. You can cheat gravity for a while, but not forever.
Europe has already rejected socialism by sheer necessity. The United States and Obama are lagging indicators.
Oct 16, 2009 - 7:41 am 61. maineman:The European frog is just about cooked. Their repudiation of socialism comes too late for them unless someone or something pulls them out of the pot.
We aren’t just a lagging indicator but are fundamentally different, given that the French Revolution was explicitly anti-religious and the American experiment was and is essentially a religious endeavor. Barring some intervening variable, we are at the beginning in this country of an escalation of aggression that will go to extremes, with the very real possibility of devastating effects, a concern that has been floating through BC for many months at least.
Add to this the global escalation of violence that America’s pacifistic stance necessarily will promote, on top of the violence of Islamism and terrorism, and you really have a terrifying brew.
I fear that Rene Girard is right, that the apocalyptic biblical texts lay out the necessary result of the demystification of the “founding murder” by Christianity. His article, “On War and Apocalypse” in the Aug/Sept 2009 First Things is a real mind-blower. Thanks to whoever turned me on to that a few days ago.
Oct 16, 2009 - 8:16 am 62. bogie wheel:We give an unimaginable amount of money, tax payer money to enemies of our way of life and country than we should.
All we get in return is more of the same “death to America” and covert actions designed to defeat us.
This pay to foes won’t be curtailed why should pay for SSI be curtailed?
If it comes to seniors, diasabled and poor Americans or Egytions I prefer paying Americans and the Egytions can go elswhere.
But this is an erroneously limited presentation of the choices, HEPT. How about, “none of the above”?
It comes down to what is Constitutional. The Federal government is not supposed to be in the charity business. It is not supposed to be in the permanent-foreign-aid business (outside the direct interests of national security and defense). The enumerated powers are quite clear and quite limited.
Either we follow the Constitution, or we make it up as we go along. THAT is the choice for which there is no third way. Either we govern ourselves according to the fixed principles of the Constitution, or we end up governed by random shifts of power-grabbing, abusive and exploitative thugs in suits.
In the days of the gravy-train of post-WWII prosperity, it was nice to believe that we could use the Federal government as an apparatus of social compassion and largesse to an ever-expanding number of people (Americans and non-Americans) rattling their tin cups before the legislators in D.C. The more they looked like Tiny Tim, so much the better. (This comforting image was the sop with which the Great Society program was sold and perpetuated. As we all know, the reality of why it was done was not so charming — it was rarely about compassion and almost always about power.)
But the Federal largesse was never Constitutional. We thought at the time that we could afford it, so we ignored its unConstitutionality.
Now, we face the reality like a double-barreled shotgun: this stuff is neither affordable nor Constitutional.
The Federal government is effectively bankrupt. There is no more money.
Maybe, just maybe, those dead white guys who drafted the Constitution knew what they were talking about all along. Maybe, just maybe, a return and radical adherence to the Constitution is the way back to solvency, sanity, and individual liberty … ya think?
Oct 16, 2009 - 8:31 am 63. Marty:I hear Buchanan and Tullock roaming thru here as people try to understand what motivates the pols. Good. But in the end, the pols just do what they think we want them to do, and since they are successful at being elected, they’re probably right.
Of course, when pols just pander to our worst inclinations, it DOES undermine the rationale for representative rather than direct democracy… I mean, we can pander to ourselves just fine, we don’t need middlemen.
51. WillDoMathForFood—
Oct 16, 2009 - 8:34 am 64. foont:Not that it’ll ever happen, but instead of doing away with withholding, make it once a month, so most people will see 1 to 3 big checks and then a small one and get a feel for the size of the tax bite. As if…
I agree that civil disobedience on a mass scale would be the best way to address an unresponsive government. What is needed is leadership. Who is willing to take the punishment that will be meted out to anyone daring to lead such a movement? A Gandhi or a King is a rarity both for the ability to inspire and the willingness to suffer.
Rebellion is lawful when the government itself has become unlawful. We have a government that has blatantly violated the letter and certainly the spirit of our Constitution. The government has taken upon itself the power to say what the Constitution means and legislates accordingly. The judiciary is no longer a reliable check because it has been politicized. Consequently unconstitutional laws become “constitutional”.
That there are still legislators and judges who support the Constitution is true but their numbers and influence have dwindled to the point where they can be safely ignored by the authoritarians. I note that in the current climate the constitutionality of proposed legislation virtually never questioned in congress or in the dominant media.
Oct 16, 2009 - 8:35 am 65. Marie Claude:Maineman, yeah, in your cozy NY bubble you can write whatever BS you want, but it’s evident that that is only your bitter reading of us that motives it, we are not what You are trying to reduce us, thanks God !
Oct 16, 2009 - 8:37 am 66. wws:For Thomas Drew: Allow me to give you a very good real world application of the situation you describe, one we all will be facing soon.
It is getting to be almost common knowledge that the dollar is going to continue to fall and that commodity and asset inflation will be kick into gear as the dollar goes down. Of course, this could change; but since the price of a strong dollar now is probably going to be 15% – 20% unemployment in the short term, I can’t see any administration sticking with the financial policies that would bring that about. A weakening dollar is the “crack” our economy is now hooked on.
So, being self interested rational economic beings, what are citizens going to do in the face of this? Almost certainly what has happened in every other nation that has gone through this cycle; those who will profit the most will be those who game the system and take out massive amounts of debt to finance asset purchases which will go up in value solely because of inflationary pressure – and then the asset can be sold at the higher price, the loan paid off, and the difference pocketed.
Of course, this would in the aggregate simply produce another asset bubble that would then collapse like the last one did, like all bubbles do, except now almost none of our institutions would be able to withstand the blow.
The ultimate endgame for all of this? I think the Federal Government in the end will issue public debt to in some way or another cover all of the excessive private debt, while also issuing debt to cover their own obligations.
And then, at some point, the US will default on all of it’s debt, just as many South American countries have done over the years. As Wretchard said a couple posts ago, that will be the “oh shit” moment.
And we, our children, and our grandchildren will live like Argentinians the rest of our days.
I’m thinking of learning Portugese and moving to Brazil. They’ve got a much better future than we do.
Oct 16, 2009 - 8:47 am 67. raven:“Lives, fortunes and sacred honor”.
Oct 16, 2009 - 9:24 am 68. dan:I am not going anywhere.
Marie Claude said: “we are not what You are trying to reduce us, thanks God”
Maybe not, but that’s certainly the impression one gets from (1) Europeans I meet, (2) the European press, (3) the entirely negative European treatment of serious problems (either it doesn’t exist, or it is America’s fault, or it is the result of some natural and anachronistic misunderstanding, or a combination), and (4) the basic spectacle of a Europe that, in all cultural contexts, appears to prefer its oddly adolescent present (much like the USA’s) to anything of its glorious past.
So where is this mighty and wise force of European nature that is somehow not reflected in any of those things? It would cheer me up to find out that all my experience was just wrong.
Oct 16, 2009 - 9:49 am 69. Charles:The question is who’se your daddy.
We have two: God and our own natural fathers.
In the first generation Adam was made in the image of God. But in the second generation seth was made in the image of adam.
NIV<> So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
NIV<> When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.
That’s why the New Testament says
Galatians 5:16-18
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you would. But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.
What the libs propose to do is substitute the Government for God so that the Spirit of men does not come from God. and the men in high positions are lawless.
Oct 16, 2009 - 9:58 am 70. Subotai Bahadur:#44 mac
In all seriousness, I think the only thing that will get their attention is violence. The pols bend before that at every turn of events. Look st the blacks, the Muslims, North Korea, etc., etc. The response is always the same: accommodation, “meeting them halfway,” “we need to talk to our enemies,” etc.
Reasoning of any other sort than the violent just gets barely perfunctory lip service in public and contemptuous dismissal in private. What did the September 12 D.C. meeting receive from the Obamites? They claim to not even know it happened, and that was one of the largest political demonstrations in the history of the country.
Lord knows I wish it was different, but the facts are clear. Only when the politicians become afraid that their skins are at risk will they start to listen. Until that point, they couldn’t care less what conservative Americans think and won’t hesitate to run roughshod over their interests.
I think that our paths have been restricted so as to make eventual violence a certainty. The political class OF BOTH PARTIES are, and believe themselves to be, functionally immune from the consequences of their actions; both the direct sequalae of the actions themselves, and the secondary reaction of the people who are in fact subject to those actions. If you are winning, and you believe from experience that the system is rigged so that you cannot lose, what incentive do you have to change it? Or to even entertain the possibility that change could be possible, desirable, or even acceptable.
#46 elby
How about people march on Washington, sit down in the streets and refuse to leave. Show up in the House of Representatives, wait for a politician to speak and then shout “you lie!” When that person is dragged out for disrupting the ‘honorable’ halls of congress, the next one takes his place and does the same thing.
Your overall evaluation of what we need is accurate; but I fear that it will be but a step. Consider that we literally had the largest political demonstration in the history of the Republic on 9/12. Not only in DC [where aerial photo overlays show it to be larger than either the "Million Man" March or the Obama coronation] but in addition there were huge simultaneous nationwide protests by those who could not make it to DC. MiniTru has spoken ex cathedra now, however, and “officially” it was only a few thousand in DC, and the state-controlled media and government is going with those figures. Indeed, the White House proclaimed absolute ignorance of any demonstration taking place. [image there of the White House Press Secretary dressed as Marie Antoinette - sorry, had to share that] The peaceful demonstration route has been tried and deliberately ignored. I would also note that Congress was very carefully not in town during it.
If any individual tried to speak out in either House of Congress while they were in session, the first two would be merely dragged out. Then all “outsiders” would be barred and removed from the Capitol, and the ban made permanent; which would dearly please our political class.
They ignore numbers, especially when they themselves [Congress and Obama] are not physically there. During the 9/12 demonstrations, I was afraid of violence from Democrats’ hired thugs and by the police and military under the orders of the regime. Because the demonstration posed no political or physical threat, I guess they decided not to fight back. But violence is still very much in their arsenal.
And violent action shares in the general political class’ immunity also. The gentleman who was beaten and kicked by Democrat SEIU/NAACP political thugs in St. Louis has received no legal redress. Despite the encounter being taped and the perpetrators arrested, the local DA [a Democrat, of course] has kinda overlooked filing of charges. Oops. At least they are consistent.
In any case, there will be no reaction regardless of numbers, so long as there is no threat to the political class. If there is such a threat, the Republicans will rally to the side of the Democrats, because they fear the people outside even more than the Democrats do. Kind of like the French Vichy government feared the advance of the US Third and Seventh Armies in 1944.
If such a threat is imposed, the coercive organs of the State will be called upon. And whether or not there are Oathkeepers who refuse to fire on fellow Americans; it will be very much ‘on’ nationwide at that point. There will be a series of “Merriam’s Corner” moments nationwide that will shape the future.
If citizens use the Leftist tactic of sit-ins and occupation of government offices, the Left unlike the Right, has absolutely no compunction about the use of deadly force. As a side note, if such were to occur, not only the “leaders” of the political class are part of the hostile forces there, but also pretty much any government bureaucrat and staff member in DC with the exception of Congressional Pages; unless proved otherwise.
With the existence and honesty of further elections being highly questionable based on the regime’s actions and funding, with peaceful assembly to petition for the redress of grievances being ignored; what remains is non-violent direct action as you suggest before things turn violent. And this regime is hard wired to go violent [and has already done so during the Congressional Town Halls] at any extension of demonstration tactics.
Once again, our options are narrowing. Non-violent direct action may be the necessary next step; but it is sure to provoke official or “unofficial” [Union/ACORN/OFA-Americorps goon squads operating under the "protection" of the State] violence. I would suspect that Wretchard has seen this scenario play out before, albeit with a less secure legal and constitutional framework. I would appreciate his comments.
Our country is indeed in the grip of larger events, and the general flow of the future is now determined; economically, politically, and militarily. But history shows repeatedly that at the cusps, it is the actions of individuals making stands, or running away, that determine the final ends of that flow.
America is a nation of immigrants. Our ancestors came here in search of Liberty. And each generation has been filled with those who were willing to make a stand for Liberty; sometimes paying the ultimate cost.
If the moment should come to us, may we be worthy of the brave souls who came here, and those of our fathers and mothers who made that stand. May we bequeath Liberty to our children and grandchildren.
# 64 Marie Claude
I am not trying to disagree with you, just trying to understand what you said.
Are you arguing that Europe is not Socialist?
Are you arguing that it is not repudiating Socialism?
Are you arguing that it is not too late for such repudiation if it is in fact taking place?
Are you arguing about his views of the natures of our respective revolutions, or that they differ or do not differ?
Or are you arguing about the risk of international violence?
Discussions in a text based format are hard enough, because you cannot hear emphasis or read expressions to determine meaning. It is more than doubly hard when translation from one language to another is involved. Once again, I am not necessarily disagreeing with you at this point, I am trying to parse out what you meant.
Subotai Bahadur
Oct 16, 2009 - 10:15 am 71. Marie Claude:Subotai, yes, we are not a “socialist” continent but social democraties that allow businessmen to prosper.
Dan, because you make your deductions through your prism, with no intention to acknowledge that our system is working by us.
Well, about the supposed “America’s fault”, I can see there that you still want to minimise the fact that America was the last decades topic for conflicts in the world scale, where Russians, Chineses… were absent, not true anymore though, we’ll see more these giants in the medias topics
Oct 16, 2009 - 10:34 am 72. Annonmous:Lo, there do I see my father.
Oct 16, 2009 - 10:45 am 73. Matt Beck:Lo, there do I see my mother.
And my sister and my brother
Lo, there do I see the line of my people
Back to the beginning.
Lo, they do call to me.
They bid me take my place among them
In the halls of Valhalla
Where the brave may live forever
-13th Warrior
Many of the posts above are now addressing the question of what the concerned citizen ought to do about the impending demise of Western Civilization. I think the options can be summarized as follows:
1. Write, call, or email your Congressman. Not likely to do much good at this juncture. Of course, if the Right could somehow effectively syndicate itself so as to put real pressure on the politicians, that would be a different story. But syndication is essentially a technique of the Left; part and parcel of its inner-directedness toward anarchy and piracy. It is the basis for all “party politics.” The Right is always aristocratic, individualistic, and proprietary. Consequently, there really is no such thing as “the conservative party.”
2. Continue to write and speak the truth. It is very important to do this, and we all love Richard for doing it. However, he is preaching largely to a very supportive and appreciative choir. We must validate his efforts by our own actions in whatever field of endeavor we are most suited for. There are thousands of fronts in this battle, and we all have some bit of territory to hold which God has not entrusted to another.
3. More Tea Parties. I think the Tea Party bluff has been called. Unless we continue to ratchet up the pressure with actual force, the Parties will come under the Law of Diminishing Returns. Besides, as we saw with Option (1), conservatives are difficult to organize. The 9/12 march on Washington was more or less a spontaneous outpouring of emotion; heartening to us conservatives, but unlikely to provide staying power unless it can be organized and disciplined into an actual fighting force.
4. Civil Disobedience/Going John Galt. We’re getting warmer now. It would be very helpful if we could arrange for some kind of tax revolt, beginning with a push for payroll protection (as has been mentioned above). We must have the courage to deliberately break silly laws, and we must have the moral gravity such that it is apparent even to our enemies that our lawbreaking does not mean that we aren’t men of principle, but the contrary: men of a Higher Principle. But as for going John Galt, it is diificult know what that would look like in practical terms. We need a workable paradigm of Galtism, the development of which will be one of the most important religious endeavors of the nest decade.
5. Starve the Beast/Ignore the Bore. This is my preferred option for now. It consists in living in such a way that one has as little contact with government and the MSM as possible. W must simply unplug ourselves from Obama and Co. The very substance of modern governmnet is akin to an electromagnetic field that warps all particle paths in its vicinity, but this field ceases to exist when you turn of the television and kindle the flysheets. I realize this is only a provisional measure, but the geopolitical realignment which is coming will likely obviate any long-range plans we could make now, anyway.
Oct 16, 2009 - 10:57 am 74. Willy:Saw there has been some discussion of our current government leaders disregarding the Constitution. Saw some of Obama’s speach in New Orleans yesterday, and one comment really stood out to me. When explaining why it was taking so long to get NO repaired, Obama said, (Paraphrasing) “We could get it done quicker, but there are things in the way like govt red tape and the Constitution” Our president, and most in Congress, only see the Constitution as being in the way of progress, and are continually bad mouthing it as standing in the way of prosperity and equality for all Americans. I see this push continuing until a majority agree, and the document is disposed of. “We are at the begining of a Fundenmental Change in America…” Obama, February 2009.
Oct 16, 2009 - 11:25 am 75. Mad Fiddler:In the previous article’s comment stream I followed a link posted by Doug in his comment 200. Doug, Thanks for the link, which in turn leads to this link to mainfo.blogspot.com
The “mast-head” of that site is a photo of the September 12th “Tea-Party” protest in D.C. which gives a matchless sense of the scale of that event.
The blogger’s current entry goes into a lot of detail about Obama’s participation in the upcoming United Nations conference on climate change scheduled for December 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Lord Monckton, the scientist famous as debunker of AGW faux-science, seems to have expressed deep concern that the treaty sets up the structures of a de-facto world government, which would supersede the sovereignty of signatory nations.
Obama is expected to sign on behalf of the USA, casting away our rights as citizens to the pervert lying murdering pimps that run the United Nations.
We need to exercise our Constitutional Rights to the maximum extent possible while they still exist.
(WRT Katrina redevelopment, it would be educational to review the status of other areas hit by hurricanes prior to Katrina, to get a sense of whether NOLA is being treated any differently.)
Oct 16, 2009 - 11:26 am 76. Eggplant:RWE #18 said:
“Isn’t it strange that people can insist that drastic action be taken to respond to a theoretical construct based on questionable data and models that can hardly be trusted – like Global Warming – and ignore real, hard facts, such as the growing national debt, the impact of litigation run amok, the outright insanity that accompanies the modern concept of Civil Rights, the drugging of many of our children, nuclear weapons in the hands of lunatics, and so forth?”
I think there is something deeper here. The fact that our economy is imploding and there is nothing that we can do about it is the elephant in the room. People don’t like having their noses rubbed in ugly truths. It is much more pleasant to argue over fantasy nonsense like Global Warming since it doesn’t really impact our lives. I find it surreal that the nation is so focused on Obama’s health care proposal when it’s obvious that we don’t have the money to pay for existing socialist programs like Medicare. It’s like the captain of the Titanic having the band play music to calm the passengers because he knows the ship is sinking and there’s nothing that he can do to stop it.
Oct 16, 2009 - 11:44 am 77. LFMayor:Subotai @69: Brilliant work sir.
Matt @72: options four and five have effect beyond feeling good about “doing something”. The only limitation is participation. Stick your head up and lose it, you need enough heads poking up at once to bring enough attention to the subject that it gets Joe and Jane Robot to look away from “Dancing with the Has-Beens” and take note. If you do it too small you’ll end up just another YouTube entry and link to a webpage that’s been classified and neutered by the MSM as extremist.
Oct 16, 2009 - 12:02 pm 78. Don Rodrigo:About your religious endeavors… the majority of people won’t lift a finger, unless there’s obvious and easy gain to be had for them and with that it could be good or bad. What’s needed is a new Awakening… such as when the Royals learned that the Church’s control was but paper, or then later the People learned the Royals were not divine and infallible, but simply Men. Each saw the slow creep toward centralization of power, then the escape from it.
I hope I get to see the next rush away from it.
“”"”" Is there any difference between a woman who imagines she’s won the lottery and politicians who will pay for future expenses from invented revenues? “”"”"
Yes, there’s a big difference. The politicians have power, and can’t be locked up in a loony bin for their legislative actions.
Oct 16, 2009 - 12:11 pm 79. Gaffe Prices:You mean to tell me this isn’t the line for a $5000 stimulus/bailout free
Oct 16, 2009 - 12:14 pm 80. Don Rodrigo:market,money payout? I’ve been queueing for hours.Re my #77 entry. Wretchard stated that. I scanned the post too quickly. (Sigh)
Oct 16, 2009 - 12:17 pm 81. bogie wheel:Willy @ 73 -
TOTUS was just following up on his comment from the campaign, where he said, disapprovingly, that the Constitution is “a charter of negative liberties.” (So were the Ten Commandments, Bub.) IOW, his problem with it is that the Bill of Rights is phrased in language of all the things that the government shall not do … not, as he would prefer, a laundry list of entitlements. My impression is that he would subject the U.S. to the EU Constitution in a heartbeat if he could, the kumbaya language of passages in, for example, Article 1-3 being much more his style.
Basically, the guy has a problem with American sovereignty. Deep down, he doesn’t think the United States should be a sovereign nation-state governed by the current U.S. Constitution. To put it mildly, that’s a serious disqualifying factor for someone who holds or wishes to hold the office of POTUS.
Oct 16, 2009 - 12:31 pm 82. Wadeusaf:30,000 government jobs, bought and paid for by your tax dollars. Contract jobs, not permanent, probably not even full time, but 30,000 jobs.
Just Stimulating huh?
When Lady Thatcher took the reigns of power in the British government, things were bad, real bad. The victory of solid ideas over pipe dreams, the infusion of entrepreneurship into a slim pool of stagnant decay did amazing things for the British, the Irish, the Scots and much of Europe. The victory of those ideals which empowered Thatcher-ism were not made permanent. And thus have resulted in a the moldy soup that defines England and most of Europe today. The Democratic Socialism is still socialism, and it still robs business of the ability to adapt, improve, expand or die either in a gallant flurry of energy or gracefully in the planned designed rise and predictable fall that is the promise of Democratic socialism. Instead of grace or glamor, business is a wheezy choking affair that is misdiagnosed as being the fault of global warming, or (perhaps)too much executive incentive.
While in the US the corporate structure has become equal parts suffocation and vanilla in franchising and merchandising not only designer accessories for the modern life, but the proper attitude and the proper emotions for properly expressing onself in a manner that is guaranteed to never offend but merely blend into the offal.
What the democrat party touts is socialism that has not been proven successful or sustainable, just stagnable and lacking substance. It stands on a weak foundation of poverty, equality and death, without definition or agreement, and a printing press that has way too much ink on hand.
Democratic Socialism is the ultimate blandizement.
Oct 16, 2009 - 12:44 pm 83. Pajamas Media » Buy One, Take Ten:[...] Read the entire piece here. [...]
Oct 16, 2009 - 12:48 pm 84. Sebastian Shaw:Why is the US Government allowed to perpetuate ponzi schemes such as Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, etc al? I don’t get it.
Oct 16, 2009 - 1:01 pm 85. Delia:83. Sebastian Shaw,
“Mo money, mo money, mo money.”
Who gobbled up the golden goose?
If it quacks like a duck…
Oct 16, 2009 - 1:19 pm 86. peterike:Subotai,
I think you are right that we are heading toward some kind of showdown, and if so it will not be pretty. For decades now the Left has been importing millions into this country, legally and illegally (yes, with the quiet approval of the professional Republican class), most of whom will be on their side in a shoot out. Folks on the right love to say “we have the guns,” but that’s only compared to white Liberals. The Left has all the gang-bangers of color, and an ever growing cadre of young male muscle, the only thing that will count for much when the lid blows.
But I don’t know when the bits get flipped, or even if there will be any one event. In fact, that might be the way the Left wins without a fight: if no single event is big enough, bold enough and disgusting enough to galvanize the opposition. And where do we go to fight, anyway? Do we follow massive vote fraud in the 2010 election by dragging Democrats out of their offices and stringing them on light poles? Or do we just “go lefty” and riot in the streets? I don’t really think Conservative minded people are as willfully self-destructive as the minority communities that happily trashed their own neighborhoods. You aren’t really going to see suburban people burning their neighbors’ homes and businesses. And they aren’t likely to go after the police, or the military, the way the Left would.
How does a climatic battle take place when there’s no place to have it? Who do you throw a rock at when you know rocks need to be thrown?
I’m just rambling, I know, but I really can’t come to a clear picture of just how this could all go down. I wonder if we’ll just boil in our own oil of rage, with nowhere to go and nothing to do. All raged up and no place to go.
Oct 16, 2009 - 1:47 pm 87. Ashen:For revolution to succeed we’re going to need the military plain and simple. March in cuff all of congress and take them to the town square, and try them and their ideas and past actions against the Constitution. We’ll save the trial of Obama and his cronies for last. Then what do we do? How would we keep order in the streets? Marshal law most likely as the feral among us start looting. Then do we have new elections? Install people? How do we keep it from happening again? Should there be a requirement, other than age and criminal record, on who can vote? Please respond.
Oct 16, 2009 - 1:57 pm 88. engineer:Observation – sold a house a few months back. As part of the deal we, the seller, paid for a laundry list of future taxes, insurance, and so forth. This was built into the sale price of the house so that the sale price overstated the actual transaction by about 5% in this case. We received a commensurate amount over the asking price for the property. This apparently is now pervasive in the real estate markets. So, when the FHA requires 3.5% down, the buyer may be getting 5% or more back in some form or another so they actually have negative skin in the game [i hate this phrase]. The agents like it because it increases their fee. Local governments like it because the property [and surrounding property] will be taxed on the basis of an artificially increased sale price. But, hey, don’t worry gentle reader – how could this possibly go wrong?
#23 – I have considered Obama to be a political bubble since his speech in Denver summer of 2008 with the fake Greek columns etc. That one made smoke, sparkzzz, & flames shoot out of my BS detector. Had to replace it. Getting a mass audience for a political speech like that with all the enthusiasm hoopla just screamed BUBBLE. Popular delusions are certainly not restricted to the financial arena as in the Internet bubble. What we have had is a political bubble based upon an messianic personality and a utopian view of the world that is now starting to deflate. Unfortunately, IMO, this will all end very badly and will be difficult to recover from.
Consider California. This state has lead in “progressive thinking”, welfare, entitlements, political correctness, taxation, and just plain stupidity. See Grayout Davis for example – where purchasers of the ultimate perishable commodity could not hedge forward in a futures market. Anyway this state is now a fiscal mess – a failed state – yet the political forces prevent taking of the necessary actions required to restore economic growth and fiscal probity. How much more difficult will the restoration be when the current national popular delusion abates?
Oct 16, 2009 - 2:02 pm 89. wws:“Why is the US Government allowed to perpetuate ponzi schemes such as Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, etc al? I don’t get it.”
Golden Rule, Sebastion. Him that got’s the gold rules. Not only do the Feds still have more than anyone, they also still have the ability to take anybody’s else gold away whenever they feel like it.
Oct 16, 2009 - 2:21 pm 90. steveaz:Ashen @86
“How would we keep order in the streets?”
Ever notice how, in even our most lawless cities, when a power-outage makes the stop-lights go out and they stop ordering traffic at intersections…that drivers tend to self-regulate better than when the lights were working? I’ve noticed this in such hectic cities as San Francisco and Seattle, and marveled at the paradox: with regulated traffic people speed up for yellows and run through reds – with no regulation, they’ll mostly obey the “four-way stop” rule, yield to the guy on their right and wait their turn to drive on.
Something about chivalry, and the loss of anonymity inherent in being stopped. It’s like they regain their individuality for the duration of the outage, and feel responsible, almost coy, for being identifiable as one cow and not a herd…
Once the cons see the noose, I expect most regular folks will not need much orderin’. Heck…it’s not as if they ever did, really.
Oct 16, 2009 - 2:26 pm 91. Poor Citizen:-Steve
You are correct in that the past six years or more we taxed and spent our way into oblivion, hence, the deficit is out of control and entitilements are under attack.
But fear not. We have a new administration now and a new direction. So, if we start booming again as we did during the Clinton years, the deficits will again disappear and we will have enough surplus to afford most of these entitlements, including health care. Will another boom happen? of course it will. Good Article.
Oct 16, 2009 - 2:33 pm 92. herb:Subotai:
I have previously commented that the next tax season should be a demonstration of the resolve of the producers. Simply file in strict accordance with the law. On 15 April everybody files at once. No early filing. No electronic filing. Hard Copies. Then about three months later file an amended return with a few dollars in recently discovered deductions. Lather/ rinse/ repeat. Think of the chaos if their inflow stopped for 4 months and then caught up in a day.
The IRS is way behind in processing what they get anyway. Any production-based organization depends on a set of assumptions about input and manning. Screw with that and the wheels fall off very quickly. I believe some “progressive” professors named Cloward and Piven came up with this as a means to screwing with the military in the 60’s. We are beginning to see the utility of Alinsky’s methods, I cant see anything against using the other co-conspirators
Oct 16, 2009 - 2:38 pm 93. NahnCee:“Once again, our options are narrowing. Non-violent direct action may be the necessary next step …”
I keep wondering what would happen if a majority of American taxpayers neglected to put a check in the mail next April 15. Sort of a “we refuse to pay for it until it’s put to a vote” action and reaction. Government might shut down, but who would miss it except for the welfare-recipients.
Oct 16, 2009 - 2:40 pm 94. steveaz:Poor Citizen,
I’m wondering…can you list one tax enacted under the Bush administration that you’d like to see repealed?
I ask because, I thought he was reviled for his $1.2 trillion tax cuts. As I recall, Tom Daschle held a muffler in one hand and, standing next to his wife’s Lexus, told me that the cuts were a bad, bad thing.
Maybe he should have raised taxes, not cut them? Or, not signed the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit? Or, not enforced the UN’s Security Council resolutions in the Middle East, or…?
Real policy debates took place o’er the past eight years. The committee record, and not the media myths, might be a useful record going forward.
Oct 16, 2009 - 2:40 pm 95. Subotai Bahadur:#70 Marie Claude
OK, now that we have that kinda sorted out. May I ask a few questions? How do you personally differentiate “Social Democracy” from “Socialist”? What point of government control of business and society is the break point between the two in your definition? Because, I rather suspect that the terms mean something different on our side of the Atlantic than on yours, and that may be part of the disagreement; the degree of state control that we each will tolerate.
Do you believe that Europe is becoming more Socialist, or less Socialist? And how do you view that trend, positively or negatively?
…. America was the last decades topic for conflicts in the world scale, where Russians, Chineses… were absent …
Then Americans and Europeans seem to be agreeing, albeit from the opposite sides of the concept. Europe largely considers America to be the source of the world’s problems. Americans are coming to view Europe as allies of the sources of America’s problems. What seems to be changing, is that more Americans are paying attention to how Europe views us, and understanding that we are neither friends nor allies; but in fact are adversaries in the world.
Moving back to issues of state control; our political parties, and our electorate, are both alike and different. While from our point of view Europeans have most of their political parties ranging from those who are avowedly Marxist-Leninist to what we would consider Socialist [even your "conservative" parties are very Socialist in our view] although you call them Social Democrat; with the Marxists considered respectable and part of the governing mainstream. There are a few miniscule splinter parties approximating the Nazis, however they are not considered part of the political system and their activities and power is heavily restricted by law. There does not seem to be any allowed political alternative to what we call Socialism in Europe.
We have only two major parties and their allies. On the Left we have the Democrats who have their covert Marxist-Leninist wing that controls much of their agenda while denying it, and it extends to what you would consider to be Social Democrats. There are no “conservative” Democrats, and have not been for decades.
The Republican party is suffering from bi-polar disease [also known as schizophrenia]. The leadership, such as it is, really wants to be Social Democrat. The base of the party ranges from a controlling about 20% Social Democrats at the top all the way to Libertarian. Note that I do not mention religion. Despite the propaganda put out by European and our state-controlled media; explicitly religious motivations in the Republican party are very much the minority. The “Christian Coalition” et. al. were a force in the party for only a few years, and that was decades ago. I am both active in the Republican Party [until a better, less collaborationist vehicle comes along], and a conservative/libertarian, and I am not Christian in any form. There are many Christians in the Republican party, but their faith informs their own sense of ethics and does not control the party. The difference is that unlike the Left both here and in Europe, being non-Christian does not mean being anti-Christian. Tolerance means just that. We are not looking for Christian conspiracies. They respect our beliefs, we respect theirs.
Another misapprehension that Europeans have is that it is the Republicans who supported slavery and who support racism. Sorry, but it was the Republicans who freed the slaves. The Democrats were largely a southern regional party, and the government of the Confederacy was exclusively made up of rebel Democrats. In the post civil war era, it was the Democrats who imposed segregation. It was the overwhelming majority of the Democrats who opposed the Civil Rights laws. In fact the Civil Rights movement in the Democratic Party came from a small part of the Democrats in New England, and the majority of the Democrats voted against them. What got things passed was the almost unanimous support of the Republicans. Look up the votes in the Congressional Record.
From the point of view of Conservatives here, there is not much difference in racial matters now versus then; except that instead of an agricultural plantation, Blacks are being held by Democrats on an economic and political plantation in urban areas.
Allow me to close with one small matter of translation. In English, the adjective and both singular and plural form for both objects and people relating to China is “Chinese”, not “Chineses”. It would be like referring to people from France as “Frenches”. As I said, it is a small thing, but despite my Mongol Nom d’ Blog I am American of Chinese ancestry.
Subotai Bahadur
Oct 16, 2009 - 2:53 pm 96. Don Rodrigo:Hey, has anyone checked out Anita Dunn in a video clip over at Gateway Pundit?
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/10/of-course-fox-bashing-white-house.html
WHAT’s with the flicking tongue?
Oct 16, 2009 - 3:02 pm 97. Ashen:steveaz@89
I do notice that, and I understand your point. I’m wondering though if people would be as orderly were a real, violent revolt to occur. I’m curious about how the military would respond. Maybe all BC’rs should move to Texas and prepare.
Oct 16, 2009 - 3:24 pm 98. Tamquam:Subotai 72: “And this regime is hard wired to go violent.” Yes indeed.
Oct 16, 2009 - 3:35 pm 99. presbypoet:A very good read on what might happen is from John Ringo last year, “The Last Centurion.” A near future tale, it has sunspots vanishing, killer flu, a democrat in office who doesn’t want to leave, and a military unit left in the lurch in west central Asia.
One of his more interesting books. He is always easy to read, but this one will make you think. Just started his most recent book. The Tuloriad, latest in the Aldenata series. The Posleen are almost sympathetic.
Oct 16, 2009 - 3:36 pm 100. maineman:Don Rodrigo,
Good point. I noticed that, too. I’d love to have the opinion of a psychiatrist or neurologist on what they think they’re seeing there.
To me, that looks a lot like “fly-catchers tongue”, which is a symptom of tardive dyskenesia and can result from long-term use of some psychotropic medications, mostly those used to control major mental illness. I don’t have extensive expertise in the area, though, not even being a physician, so I don’t know what else it might be or be caused by. It just seemed like a bit too much was happening there for it to be attributable to dry mouth or anxiety. I will say that that symptom was not present, as far as I could tell, when she made her “Fox is on the enemies list” speech.
Oct 16, 2009 - 3:42 pm 101. RWE:Eggplant no.75:
I think that if people are looking to escape reality they focus on things like the O.J. Simpson trial, the Casey Anthony trial, TV shows on who can dance and who can sing, whether Brad and Anjelina will break up, and if Britany is going to shed those unslightly extra pounds she picked up. That and UFOs and Bigfoot and Ghosts. In other words, that reflected in the literature you see being sold when you wait in line at the Wal Mart.
I don’t think they dream up ways to utterly sabotage the economy and greatly reduce our standard of living while enriching a bunch of bureaucrats just for fun.
I think that much of this comes from people trying to establish a new set of competancies. People like you and I know how to do stuff. Fix cars, fly airplanes, launch rockets, repair computers, troubleshoot SSB radios – daunting, impressive stuff like that. So they come up with a new set of things they can shine in, like not drive and not fly and have a low carbon footprint.
Faced with a world in which they understand little and can affect even less, they strike back by insisting that not understanding things is better, and doing less is noble.
It is another version of being an expert on Bigfoot or UFO’s – you get to make up your own rules.
Anyway, that is my selfish, biased, technocrat view of it.
Oct 16, 2009 - 3:43 pm 102. peterike@85:For the revolt to be successful, there needs to be a solid piece of ground with potable water source large enough to support a massive army, at least in the beginning. Also what will be needed are resources such as material for ammunition, weapons, energy, etc. Trained individuals such as engineers and such to design and build. Next let’s talk talk about the intangibles, like fighting spirit. Is the will in place to do what it takes, however deplorable, to win. Many are sheep and will nod and acquiesce to whoever holds the strings of power or is more popular. Count them out of the effort. The first strike must come quickly as someone here alluded to already, with enough of a force to decapitate or severely disable the foe in the beginning. If all that happens, by some miracle, and victory is achieved what then? What is the ultimate goal? Is it a return to small govt and self reliance, etc? What happens to the “collaborators”? Who decides what?
Oct 16, 2009 - 3:46 pm 103. Old Soldier:presbypoet: I have not read “The Last Centurion” but Ringo dealt with some of the same topics in “The Road to Damascus.” His contribution to the Bolo series.
Oct 16, 2009 - 3:47 pm 104. spindok:The essential libertarian position, as I understand it, is represented here by Wretchard. The result when one recieves the product of others without consequence which then becomes a ‘right’. After a while, it is one.
So let us remember the individual whom for no fault of her own, is mentally or physically disabled, or otherwise prevented from sharing in the good fortunes of others among us. What about her? She does not exist in Ayn Rand’s novels and this has bothered me for some time.
I never thought that libertarianism was really about consequences. In terms of ‘rights’ you have none outside your own flesh and property. As I once learned “your rights stop at my nose”.
Fair enough, and libertarian thought is still strong in the way I live and think.
Politics and government might seem important here yet mean little when we do what we do every day.
So, I landed in the field of medicine, I could care less about this political crap when your appendix is the size of a sausage. All I want are the tools to get it taken care of. That is struggle enough but when the computer system gets unstable and I cannot get to the …
Still it gets done. We all worked hard this week.
Nobody can stop human progress so long as there are people on this planet. It is our destiny.
Shabat Shalom,
peaceful and happy weekend to all
Spindok
Oct 16, 2009 - 3:48 pm 105. Ashen:Post 101 is mine. I guess I typed in peterike by mistake in the name section. My apologies.
Oct 16, 2009 - 3:51 pm 106. biblio44:12. Tamquam: ‘Whiskey: “This is all part of “get Whitey” or more accurately, the average White Man (and woman). From Rush Limbaugh being defenestrated from the NFL, to a naked, blatant transfer of wealth from Whites to Blacks and Hispanics (the housing bill CRA stuff).’
The above message brought to you by the White Citizens Council, a subsidiary of PJM, Inc.
Oct 16, 2009 - 3:58 pm 107. Fen:Hey biblio, there is no “White Citizens Council”. That would be racist.
There is however, the National Assoc for Adv of Colored People, the Congressional Black Caucus, etc.
And this gem: “Black Liberation Theology will only accept the love of a God that participates in the destruction of the White enemy”, Dr Cone [Obama fan in support of Obama's racist hatemongering church].
Oct 16, 2009 - 4:18 pm 108. Charles:US Military Pays $400 A Gallon For Fuel In Afghanistan
It would be cheaper for the US to source fuel in
Oct 16, 2009 - 4:56 pm 109. bogie wheel:afghanistan.
Steven Malanga has an article over at City-Journal called “Whatever Happened to the Work Ethic?”
http://tiny.cc/vuNIg
His thesis is that free market capitalism in America, and the prosperity it brought to Americans, did not occur in a vaccuum.
The economy went hand-in-hand with a culture, one rooted in the Protestant work ethic and the virtues of thrift, hard work, integrity, delay of gratification, and patient self-improvement. Schools based their curriculums around the teaching of these virtues. The McGuffey Reader (4th) included a cautionary tale called “The Consequences of Idleness.” Ben Franklin’s aphorisms on work and thrift and moderation were taught, memorized and extolled. Horatio Alger somehow managed to sell 200 million books (in a nation of about 40 million) about rags-to-riches heroes. Milton Bradley, just 24 years old in 1860, came up with a game called “The Checkered Game of Life” (which looked a lot like a checker-board, hence the name), which emphasized the relationship between character and wealth. The game was an instant success.
One loathes to admit it but the capturing of the culture by the leftists starting in the 1960s was a master stroke, probably THE master stroke. And there’s a reason weevils like Ayers want to go after the kiddies’ minds. Because it works.
Unfortunately for conservatives and libertarians, capturing the culture is the work of at least one generation, sometimes two. At this juncture it appears we may not have that much time. We all know that
the progressives’ lie, that the good life can be enjoyed perpetually without effort or traditional morality, eventually implodes on itself … what we are concerned about is what the collateral damage will be.
But this is not a one-front (political) war. If there is to be any recovery of anything good, it will require telling, re-telling, and re-telling again, in the culture and in the schools.
Oct 16, 2009 - 5:02 pm 110. Alvin:Revolution? Resistance? Anyone remember the 60’s: tune in, turn on, drop out? I never thought I’d find myself on the other side.
Oct 16, 2009 - 5:07 pm 111. Marie Claude:Subotai, thanks for your long declamation, though I have the sentiment that it wasn’t intended for my alone concern.
I also thank you for your “small matter”, and will try to not forget it, though plural for populatons names seem aleatory to me, sometimes some get an “s”, sometimes not, so thank you for introducing me into one exception.
Now about what I understand by “social democraty”, here is a translation of the french Wikipedia that I find globally accurate for EU, but still french rules are less permissive :
In a break with “communism”, social democracy in the modern sense was placed during the twentieth century under the sign of the Keynesian doctrine that combines private enterprise and initiative of the state, while remaining within the economic framework of capitalism .
Social democraty is kinda an indivisible political culture which starts from social pluralism and defends “moderation”, this political compromise supposes available structures for negociations and ideas discussions.
In general, the Social Democrats support:
mechanisms of regulation of private production in order that they defend the interests of employees, consumers and small businesses, for example through the protection of trade union action, minimum wages, supervision of working conditions;
a social market economy, understood as an intermediary organization between free competition and the planned economy; only for the big enterprises and state enterprises, middle and small businesses have no obligation to follow the rules, but only the labours laws
a welfare state that protects the population for the risks tied to health or work;
a public system of education, health, childcare, etc.. financially accessible to all;
levels of tax rates to finance these public expenditures through a progressive tax; it is calculated according to your ressources, with a decresive percentage
freedom of immigration and multiculturalism;
not in France, true for UK, the Dutchs…
but free circulation for european inhabitants
secularism;
I recently learnt that France is with Russia the official alone states where no official religion is tied to their definition
the liberalization of morals: the institution of gay marriage, in Holland, Germany… not in France, where Gays can only obtain a certificate of conjugal life, so that their companions can benefit of the health care … if it happens that they have no job ; also if one deceases, his companion can stay in their common home.
abortion rights, and sometimes the decriminalization of drugs less harmful; in Holland, Swiss, not in France
a foreign policy based on promoting democratic values, human rights and consultation;
a commitment to European integration to promote European federalism.
It should be noted that the center-right supports some of these measures, however, to a lesser degree
Now France practices more or less this sort of social democraty, since the last decades almost all the state enterprises were/are going to be private, and it’s not without sufferance, today the “Postes & Telecom” staff has a high rate of suicides.
Also journalists by us like to deride upon our “monarchy”, especially during these days when they all are “mouthy” on Sarkozy’s elder son that will get an honorific posision in the quater of “la Défense”. Though, it’s more due to the fact that this young wolf is ambitious and intelligent, during his whole child life, he can’t remember when his father was caring for him. But this promotion is embarrassing Sarko, and he can’t empech it like if it was for an anonym, still because of his past as a non-caring father.
Otherwise, all our presidents since De Gaulle and the Vth constitution, benefitted of a monarchial position, some even built musueums, Pompidou (Beaubourg), Mitterrand (Louvre pyramid), Chirac (quai Branly Museum of the primitive and asian arts)
Though I don’t find that our “social democraty” is more disturbing than any other system, When I was in UK in the seventies, I had more control and rules to follow than in France today, even Switzerland was more regulated than us !
For a foreigner, especially a French, travelling into the US, it is more restrictive than if a foreigner would travel into our country
Oct 16, 2009 - 5:09 pm 112. CHUCK2251:WHAT DO YOU EXPECT,WITH THE DEMOCRATS IN CONTROL. THE MORE ENTITLEMENTS THE MORE VOTES. THEY DONT EVEN WANT SHERIFF JOE TO ENFORCO THE LAW. HE USED TO GET 80 % OF THE VOTE, NOW HE ONLY GETS 60 % DUE TO THE POLITICAL CORRECT DEMOCRATES MOVING THERE. CHECK OUT MCSO.ORG
Oct 16, 2009 - 5:24 pm 113. Mortimer Snerd:fen/106, LOL — once upon a time i went left wing for a few years just to see what i’d look like with a differnt colored hide, but i’ll be damned if it didn’t stay white, no matter HOW stoopid i let myself get. turns out politics and race is two different thangs –somebody tell Che & gang.
btw, latest watchman-from-the-radio-right Nyquist column is up.
Disarming America –here’s a snip:
President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton treat with the Russians as though America was guilty of imperialist ambition and trickery. They give Russian military experts unprecedented access to U.S. missile sites. Could it be, having sat in the Trinity United Church of Christ, listening to Rev. Jeremiah Wright calling God’s wrath down on America, that Barack Obama is unconsciously setting up our nuclear destruction?
Also, h/t instapundit, a post on the White House communications Maoist, with some interesting commentary. Haldol?
Oct 16, 2009 - 5:28 pm 114. maineman:The problem, as I see it MC, is that equality (of outcome)is antithetical to freedom. The systems described in Wiki sound like various versions of a similar suicide pact.
By the way, my heart aches for Europe, and I sincerely hope I’m wrong in my assessment. I love Italy and am very attached to my grandfather’s family there.
I’m just not convinced that I see a willingness on the part of the citizenry to die in order to preserve what you have created and to remain who you are, which my gut tells me will be necessary.
There as well as here.
Oct 16, 2009 - 5:33 pm 115. AST:No need to be coy, Richard! We all know who the Joker is.
Oct 16, 2009 - 5:33 pm 116. maz2:“A single man will not know how to oppose the will of 500 million Europeans.”
…-
“The Will of 500 Million Europeans
From the desk of The Brussels Journal on Fri, 2009-10-16 17:39
A quote from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, 15 October 2009 [via Open Europe]
Some recommend not provoking [Czech] President Klaus, hoping that he will find himself incapacitated of continuing with his project [delaying the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty until the British elections]. Personally, I believe we ought to keep a firm hand since everyone has already voted, including the Czech Republic. A single man will not know how to oppose the will of 500 million Europeans. The European Council that will take place at the end of the month will be the right occasion to test the determination of Europeans and to put pressure on the Czech President.”
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/
Oct 16, 2009 - 5:39 pm 117. maineman:I haven’t seen any reaction to Mad Fiddler’s link in #74. It’s very alarming.
Does anyone know if it’s legitimate? I know Monckton is, but did he really say that, is the treaty meeting really scheduled, etc?
If so, it seems like healthcare may be the distraction to keep the focus off the move to one world government.
Oct 16, 2009 - 6:11 pm 118. JFSanders031:@95. DR,
It is obvious, she is a reptilian overlord and her biological camouflage was wearing off. How would you like to be sitting across from her on a dinner date?!
All of this. And the band plays on…
Oct 16, 2009 - 6:16 pm 119. Marie Claude:Maineman,
wikipedia is a bit carricatural, we aren’t only that, but a mixture of “liberalism” (european definition)too. Even the “left” main party has liberal propositions, it was the PS that made the privatisations proposed by the “right”, we can say that the main left and the main right follow the same path towards more liberalism ; what a government achieves, the following “opponent” doesn’t undo what was undertaken by the former. Only in the extrems you’ll get these “egalitarian” people, or these advocates of merit, but unfortunately it is likely to be associated with a military power.
Salaries are free, but there is an obligation for a minimum one, ajusted on main food produces prices, otherwise, bosses would take profit of the weakests and exploit them, this would be an appeal for illegal immigration.
What most of the people don’t see with the EU new Lisboa treaty, is that Nations as themselves will not have such a big specifity, but provinces inside these nations will get more attention and will get more subventions to develop their cultural specifity.
Like Toscana, or the Pouille, Calabra or Sicilia… in Italy
Brittany, Provence, Jura, Picardie, Gascogne… in France, they’ll get a new importance and identity
Oct 16, 2009 - 6:26 pm 120. ScenarioA:Wretchard, you wrote: “When a society has been told for years it can have something for nothing the damage is not just physical, but psychological; an entire mentality is crippled” …. “Even the intellectual class, according to Sir Howard Davies, has come to believe that any crisis can be met by simply borrowing and printing more money.”
—
As I read your essay today, something about it didn’t seem right to me. After pondering it a bit, I came to the view while you are right in your opening sentence, Sir Davies is wrong in his diagnosis. The damage to which you refer is not that everyone has become silly and stupid, incapable of understanding basic economics as Sir Davies implies. No. The damage is both broader and deeper. Broader because the elites are affected too. And deeper because if the situation were only as Sir Davies diagnoses it, a few educational programs on basic economics, served up in an entertaining manner (movies, TV sit coms, whatever) could repair silly ignorance to a practicable level.
The damage has been to the basic relationship. And its of a nature which is difficult (for me, at least) to capture in words. That basic foundation of trust which is necessary to a democratic form of government has been damaged. But, its more than that.
I suspect that the responses to the polls that Sir Davies referenced were motivated by a deep distrust, not by silly ignorance. And, Sir Davies’ diagnosis – which is quite silly itself when you stop to think about it – indicates a lack of trust and basic respect on his side. However, it’s not useful, in my view, to describe the problem only in terms of ebbing trust and respect. The problem is more basic.
Perhaps the most productive description might be in terms of predators and prey. A useful way to understand the responses to Sir Davies polls might be to think in terms of a band of elk surrounded by wolves – the respondents as elk begging the wolves to take their meal elsewhere.. “leave my group (taxes/benefits) alone, that band on the hill over there would make a more tasty meal for you.”
Socialism in all its forms from progressive to communist is predatory in nature. Those in power come to think as predators. The rest come to think as prey. That is at the core of the psychological damage to which you referred, wretchard.
George Orwell understood. His inspiration for “1984″ was Atlee’s relatively mild form of socialism.
Oct 16, 2009 - 6:27 pm 121. Marie Claude:Maz2
uh The Czechs have enough of Vaklav’s caprice !
if he carries on, he’ll finish like Mussolini, hanged by the feet !
http://aktualne.centrum.cz/czechnews/clanek.phtml?id=650166
Oct 16, 2009 - 6:34 pm 122. Doug:119. ScenarioA:
Wolves and Prey
Another Example:
Deciding to re-register as Democrat before partaking of Obamacare.
Not so much worried about what the doctors might do (always a thought, however) as where a lowly file clerk might shunt your records off to ’cause you deserve what you get as an evil Pub.
Oct 16, 2009 - 7:30 pm 123. Mongoose:Subotai, none of my business, but a word to the wise: You are wasting your considerable talents on MC. This line of “discourse” is doomed to frustration. You would have had to live in Europe to catch that particular form of moonbattery; it is well camouflaged, even from itself–or I should say most particularly from itself. This sort of reflexive sophistry, along with the usual causal, supercilious ad hominem dodges, is standard fare–this how the Enarchs have managed to get their perfidy past the middle classes and render them supine: They use their own vanity against them. Talk about slow cooking frogs.
And, as a matter of fact, the EU is not “rejecting Socialism”. Not at all. They are perhaps for the moment rejecting Trotskyism. I do not know why people would buy into this latest meme. Merkel is hardly a capitalist or a democrat. There is no conservative or libertarian political movement of any substance or resonance whatsoever in the EU. Anyone who thinks so is just being taken in by the latest media double-speak. They move now to a sort of European Peronism, but with the committee at the core, not a personality (only for the time being, of course). But do not think that they are moving there of their own free will. The political developments in the EU, lately characterized by the con-game of the Lisbon Treaty “ratification”, have little to do with the will of the “European peoples”, such as they are. This is rudley forced upon them by the new “EU Politburo” and the the new tranzi Nomenklatura. In their march to power they make the Soviets look like crude and impatient country bumpkins. Such a thing as “democracy”, “social” or otherwise, will not have the power to reverse this. It is a buffoonish delusion to imagine this will happen. (We too fall under their spell.)
“Social Democracy” was always just a hustle to buy time and gather forces. Such is the dodge of the “Third Way”. In any real essential analysis there is no such thing; it is a elusive and mythical a creature as is “socialist man” or “social markets”. The EU now moves to form a national State, no matter what welder’s mask the EU middle classes may have to squint through to avoid seeing it. Soon all pretense of “social democracy” will vanish and you will see this bizarre chimera of Enarch/tranzi global fascism/stateism/peronsim out in the open. And what a bizarre mixture of new and old tyranny it is: Part Acien Regime, part Enarch/tranzi Corporatism, part Global Peronism/Fascism. There will be no middle class in a few years.
Thing is, these tranzi poltroons have not the faintest notion of the weakness of their own minds, hearts or souls. They are not up to the task posed by even their darkest dreams and lusts. Catastrophe will be sure to follow in due time. They misjudge the very nature of the world and all in it, particularly their place in it. They will be swept away by something even more monstrous.
We can find little solace in this for their foolishness and arrogant misapprehensions of the nature of their own power and aspect will most likely drag us all down into the flames with them.
Western Civilization–or at least what is high in it–is hanging by the most tattered of threads. It may be beyond even the bravest of American patriots to right it, though I still have not abandoned hope on these shores. But do not look toward the EU for redemption: They are so mired in cant, sophistry, self-delusion and rationalization they cannot even allow themselves a momentary peek at or the slightest rumination on the maelstrom to come. MC is a case and point.
Rumsfield had it right when he spoke of Western Europe as a woman unable to face that she was on the far side of menopause. MC is a case and point.
Oct 16, 2009 - 7:40 pm 124. Mongoose:Tamquam. Wow. That is a lot of ammo. There is no good reason for this.
Oct 16, 2009 - 8:03 pm 125. Marie Claude:Melle Goose, don’t you think that Subotai can make his own opinion by himself ? so far what I read from his comments aren’t as low as yours, especially from a person that pretends to know it all about EU and Lisboa treaty. BTW did you read it ? of course not, but you’re the alpha female that wants to be obbeyed in her obsessed views on EU, especially on France that irritates her the most !
Yeah, Mr Chesney said things that were convenient at a moment for his policy, but that Washington repeared a year later, you don’t know the “undegrounds” of policy, but only what some of your bigot opinionists want you to believe
you are a bigger case than me for stubborness and short sight
Oct 16, 2009 - 8:19 pm 126. Marie Claude:Melle Goose
of course, the majority of people in EU didn’t read the Lisboa treaty too, that is why they were manipulated by political parties such as “Libertas” for Ireland for the first referendum, Libertas is a well known organistion with foreign finances to oppose with whatever means that EU get unified. Probably they hadn’t not enough money to buy the “no” vo lately, but a terrible money crisis made the difference in between
Talk about weakness of mind, funny I can’t see one on our side, but on yours, a HUGE one
and you have nothing to propose but your empty alpha rethoric, so far it didn’t drive you anywhere but into a wall
Oct 16, 2009 - 8:34 pm 127. Lifeofthemind:Mongoose and Tamquam,
I do not see any reason to act like this is part of some Black Helicopter conspiracy. There are around 50,000 armed Law Enforcement Officers in the various units of ICE and CBP. The contract calls for delivering 80 million rounds a year for 5 years. That works out to 1,600 rounds per officer per year. Officers have to shoot qualification rounds every quarter, they can miss a quarter occasionally, and they receive free ammunition to go practice on their own time. Proficiency is important and I think most readers of the BC want them, and all LEOs, getting their practice done.
Federal Law Enforcement, like members of the Armed Forces, are not the enemies of the American people. Their bosses are another matter.
Oct 16, 2009 - 8:43 pm 128. Rurik:122. Mongoose and Subotai
I beg to differ.
You are wasting your considerable talents on MC. This line of “discourse” is doomed to frustration.
Subotai may be wasting his talents on his direct object, but the effect is not wasted on hs indirect objects. MC serves as a prop, and the rest of us, at least myself, benefit from what is wasted on the obtuse. Long ago, I discovered that this can be a useful technique both in teaching and in learning.
This whole series of exchanges puts me in mind of Stalin’s slogan: ” Social democracy is social fascism.” See A. J. Gregor’s “The Fascist Persuasion in Radical Politics”.
Oct 16, 2009 - 8:44 pm 129. Marie Claude:Rurik, glad that I help to improve your basic connaissance on obtusety, I can reverse the compliment, mir is gleich, I learn a lot on yours !
Oct 16, 2009 - 8:50 pm 130. Pat:“Why is alcohol part of every culture known for the past 5000 years? Because beer and wine work. They taste good, disinhibit us to a slight degree, thus making socialization more affable. They also dull pain, both physical and psychological. That is, until you go past the second drink.”
That’s not the reason. Until the advent of modern sanitation (flush toilets and municipal water treatment systems), drinking water came from wells, rivers, and lakes that were almost always contaminated with fecal bacteria. Water simply wasn’t safe to drink. But alcoholic beverages were.
Oct 16, 2009 - 8:51 pm 131. Promethea:#92 NahnCee . . .
I still haven’t paid my Third Quarterly. I haven’t decided when I will pay it. I don’t have many ways to show my opposition to the current government, and don’t know the monetary consequences if they find me and fine me.
I’m really looking for suggestions as to how to throw a monkey wrench into this Evil Clown government. #72 Matt Beck’s ideas are too feel-good. I can’t Go Galt because I live in a city (grew up two blocks from Michelle Obama, the phony poor person), and I don’t want to live on pigeons.
Oct 16, 2009 - 9:04 pm 132. Rurik:128. Marie Claude:
Dorogaya moya,
Oct 16, 2009 - 9:10 pm 133. Lifeofthemind:“gleich?” Aber vorsehen sie vor gleichschaltung;. Seichas mne ustal, dobre vecher do zavtra.
I … grew up two blocks from Michelle Obama
Oct 16, 2009 - 9:12 pm 134. Marie Claude:There goes the neighborhood.
rurik
que bebió un vaso bien, dos vasos, hola daños
Oct 16, 2009 - 9:25 pm 135. Mad Fiddler:Right… 50,000 LEOs times 1500 rounds = 75,000,000 rounds.
1500 rounds per person doesn’t actually sound unreasonable for maintaining one’s proficiency. If that’s per year, it works out to just 300 rounds per person over the 5-year contract. If you’re gonna work on proficiency even a few hours per month, that hardly warms up the barrel.
(Say 300 rounds per year, divided among 25 sessions would only allow 12 rounds, right? That’s one clip.)
Let us take that as a MINIMUM personal standard, go forth and give more custom to the manufacturers, so we can keep our own skills at peak level.
Oct 16, 2009 - 9:56 pm 136. JJRedfan:Ferget it.
Oct 16, 2009 - 10:09 pm 137. Lifeofthemind:Mad Fiddler,
Oct 16, 2009 - 10:10 pm 138. Mongoose:Right you are. I double divided. One clip every two weeks seems barely enough.
LOFTM; are there really 50k officers there that have to qualify? The whole of the FBI only has about 12K that have to qualify. That number huge. Are you sure that that is not the total number of employees? That is a lot of agents. That is 1000 per per state. I find it hard to believe. They then dwarf the FBI if that is true.
Oct 17, 2009 - 12:21 am 139. RagnarD:Don Rodrigo @ 95 said: “WHAT’s with the flicking tongue?”
[Very tongue in cheek] Is she a ‘V’? [Referring to the 'Visitors' which is an old/renewed series about lizaroid aliens.]
Alvin @ 109 said: “Anyone remember the 60’s: tune in, turn on, drop out?”
The proper answer is, ‘No.’ Because if you do remember, you weren’t “there”. I only remember in flashbacks so I must have been ‘there’. And I never thought I’d be 30 much less a radical right leaning libertarian. Must be that cumulative drain bamage.
Marie Claude @ 110 said (in part): “Now about what I understand by “social democraty”, …”
My sense when I lived in Germany in the early 70’s as “Social Democracy” (please note the spelling, ma’am) was gaining it’s first strong footholds the sense was it was the methodology of the Eastern Block major Communists watered down format to allow the “camel to get his nose under the edge of the tent”. Now that camel has his head fully inserted and when the EU comes to be fully developed, you will make the final transition. There are various degrees of ‘infection’ at this point but be sure that there is no turning back now. And MC, remember the root of Libertarian is Liberty.
Mongoose @ 123 said: “Tamquam. Wow. That is a lot of ammo. There is no good reason for this.”
Mongoose, that is true but you have to put it in perspective. The US capacity is about 9-10 billion rounds of all calibers per year plus imports (remember the imports, they get important in a second). For over a year now ALL calibers have been scarce with a capital “S”. About the only .223REM (5.56×45mm NATO) available outside of the premium stuff is Brown Bear, Golden Bear and Eastern European manufacture steel cased, Berdan primed FMJ rounds. And they are about twice the cost of what they should be. Pistol calibers in the popular sizes are NOT AVAILABLE in the cheap stuff used for practice. Again, premium defensive is there but high priced. The DHS is just playing catch up. Of late (the last couple of months) the squeeze is lessening a tiny bit.
Pat @ 129 re alcohol: Good point and it was also a storage medium. Beers were a good way to preserve grain for consumption minus refrigeration. Bread molds and that mold can make you nuts. Guinness is about the closest in form to the old brews – solid and chewy.
Mad Fiddler @ 135 & LOTM re # of rounds: Most LEOs do not get that much practice. The run of the mill CC holder practices more than the LEOs. They do enough to pass yearly quals and that is it. I shoot more and better than the ones in the neighborhood and they tell me so. Most of them are glad to know that there are armed citizens around but I come form the ‘Wild, Wild West’.
Oct 17, 2009 - 12:47 am 140. wadeusaf:Maineman, That flick of the tongue is due to Obama Dentu-care. A little slip of the upper dentures makes the pronunciation of “two mints in one” sound and taste not like a candy mint and not like a breath mint but rather like she is saying “Mao (click) thsay (click) dung (click)”. Which is more to the point of being cow flatulent-like. I think we may have found the source of global warming.
You of course did hear her say she thought Mao was her favorite for making short philosophical points. Rather a hurried after the fact way of covering for a slip of the dung.
Oct 17, 2009 - 1:13 am 141. RWE:Marie Claude’s posts are often indecipherable (and I don’t just mean the ones in French), usually obtuse, sometimes offensive, and frequently ridiculous. But she has led me to an understanding of what I now think is Europe’s real problem.
For decades now, the Europeans have tried to overcome their natural tribalism, while still remaining both proud of it and proud of overcoming it. Each attempt at getting rid of such an important part of their nature has cost them a part of their souls, and far more so than the wars that are the justification for such efforts.
Like a wife who insists that her husband change, leave his job for another one, give up his favorite hobbies, quit spending Saturdays with the boys, and then discovers that he is no longer the hard working, affectionate man she married, the nations of Europe are each confronted with a package deal. You don’t get rid of one part without affecting the others.
Oct 17, 2009 - 5:03 am 142. Gary Ogletree:Entitlement addiction means we are headed for rough seas. An addict who runs out of money for dope either gets clean and gets to work, or turns to crime. By the time the Treasury defaults on our debt, our options will we severely limited. A minor inconvenience like the closing of the Strait of Hormuz would stop freight moving to your local Wal Mart and gas station. Multiply that by having the Federal Reserve Note become toilet paper. You might want to trade those for silver and basic commodities now while they have some buying power. A gun and ammo might be helpful to fend off the entitlement junkies who join predatory gangs. I fully expect we will come out of these times stronger and wiser, but a little forethought now might ease the pain while we sort it out.
Oct 17, 2009 - 5:17 am 143. Marie Claude:RagnarD, Danke viel Male für DemocraCy.
Where were you in Germany in the early seventies ? cuz I have been there too for a summer job in Travemünde and in Düsseldorf. I Still remember that the TRUE eastern Germany Socialists were risking their life in piercing the wall, I’m sure that they were surprised to find out that it wasn’t worthy afterword, since the rule of western Germany were a soft version of their own regime LMAO
Not at all, I have been walking along this wall in Priwall, that faces Travemünde, and I can tell you that the guards in their miradors, weren’t joking, even for the westernies tourists like us, they were pointing their arms at us, and if we had tried sumthin (give me the spelling
), I’m sure that they would have fired at us.
Now I had the statute of student there, then I had no tax to pay on my wages, nor when I bought some stuffs in german stores, as customs weren’t abolished yet, as a foreigner, whatever I bought was detaxed !
I had not the feeling to live in a socialist country, but rather in a dynamic and commercial country, opened to businesses, that France still wasn’t able to challenge, cuz Algeria war was only over since a decade, also the mark rated about 1,5 franc.
Oct 17, 2009 - 5:42 am 144. Lifeofthemind:Mongoose,
The FBI are the elite, there should be fewer of them then of the regular units. Most marines are not Force Recon and most soldiers are not Airborne Rangers. The Bureau is in the Dep’t of Justice. For DHS the elite are the USSS Special Agents (non-uniformed,) For CBP numbers (2008) see:
http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/about/accomplish/facts_figures.ctt/facts_figures.pdf
• CBP officers: 19,726
• CBP Border Patrol agents: 17,499
• CBP Agriculture specialists: 2,277
• CBP Air and Marine agents: 1090
Agriculture Specialists are unarmed. The basic CBP officers are the ones at the border crossings and airports who ask to see your passport and if you have over $10,000 on you, any meat, fruit or seeds and if you visited a farm recently. Given the size of the border and the country these numbers do not seem excessive to me.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a separate agency with over 10,000 agents. They are the ones responsible for finding and deporting the millions of illegal aliens. The Obama administration has shut down recruitment for ICE.
Oct 17, 2009 - 5:50 am 145. Marie Claude:RWE
I am sure that you are trying had to have another perspecive other than your own clichés, I don’t care, you are the one that is still feeling miserable, not me ! yeah Europe is that old woman like some idiots told you a few years ago LMAO, (you are good to repeat it).
Oct 17, 2009 - 5:51 am 146. Marie Claude:May-be, but this old woman has still some ressources and tricks that the still teenager of yours hasn’t understood yet, that’s why you get your toys broken !
“trying HARD”, my bad, typo, si tu m’obéis !
Oct 17, 2009 - 5:57 am 147. NahnCee:It’s bad enough when that French person hijacks a thread by posting too many incomprehensible comments, many of which are off-topic and/or a snobbish reference to her Very Important Husband, but must we waste even MORE time and space devoted to analysis of her idiocy and whether or not Europe – and in particular France – matters?
The woman is an unemployed housewife with time on her hands, very little education or current accurate information, and a chauvenistic worldview. I’d rather read Whiskey’s anti-female diatribes which sometimes have a kernal of a good idea, whereas Marie-Claude’s concept of a good idea is “France supported America during the Revolutionary War so you owe us for ever and ever and ever.”
Bah. Humbug.
Oct 17, 2009 - 9:39 am 148. Marie Claude:Nahn Cee, how ya goin there, I didn’t hijack anything, but responded to a few commenters, some of good faith, and some of evident bad faith, to whom you belong too.
You couldn’t but be that hateful monger, that you are in use to when it come to french matter, weren’t you that nice person that launched the site Fµ.kFrance .com ?
uh, you know me ? housewife ? of course, but not alone that, got a retribued profession too, where I am free to choose my working hours, hey, I’m the boss !
May-be it’s you that poor ol housewife filled with bitterness and hate ?
Oct 17, 2009 - 9:53 am 149. biblio44:106. Fen: “Hey biblio, there is no “White Citizens Council”. That would be racist.”
Ah, another Righty who gets his history lessons from Beck, Hannity, O’Reilly & PJM.
Oct 17, 2009 - 9:53 am 150. Subotai Bahadur:#72 Matt Beck
In reference to your point number 3; agreed that the Tea Parties require a follow up, as the enemy has figured out that they are not yet a direct threat to them. This below may be part of the learning experience needed.
I am watching NY Congressional District 23 very closely. The Republican incumbent of that seat resigned to become Buraq Hussein’s Secretary of the Army. That says something about him. There is a special election campaign in progress to fight over the seat. It is a 3-way battle. The Democrats have a dog in the fight. The NRCC is firmly backing one Dede Scozzafava, and the New York Conservative Party is running a Doug Hoffman.
Up until a few days ago, Scozzafava refused to sign a pledge not to raise taxes, believing that such a rejection of raising taxes was ‘unrealistic’. She also is not only pro-abortion, but is a recipient of the Margaret Sanger Award [founder of the modern abortion movement and noted believer in eugenics to remove undesirables from the gene pool] from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. In her runs for the NY state legislature, she has run under the Working Families Party, which is ACORN’s political front [the WFP formed the mobs threatening to lynch businessmen and their families outside their homes]. She supported the Obama Stimulus. And incidentally was endorsed by Markos Moulitsas [owner of the Barking Moonbat blog DAILY KOS] as the most Progressive of the 3 candidates.
The National Republican Party has picked her as the hill to die on. She recently, and reluctantly, signed the tax pledge. The Republican party just gave her a huge donation. And Newt Gingrich just endorsed her as a Moderate, and “the future of the Republican Party”. And he may be right, albeit it will be a smaller party than he thinks.
The Conservative candidate Hoffman is a fiscal hawk, and the Conservative Party of NY is not known for being fond of anything loved by Scozzafava. And to the chagrin of the the National and NY state Republicans, the grass-roots and especially the Tea Party people are rallying around Hoffman and he is closing fast in the polling.
The Republicans have tried to pretend that the Tea Party does not exist. They, hopefully, are about to get a lesson. The ideal would be for Hoffman to win. It would be almost as good if the Democrat won, because there would probably be no change in votes in the House over the previous incumbent [any Republican who would be asked by Buraq Hussein Obama to become his Secretary of the Army, and who would quit Congress to do so, is NOT one who would have voted against anything Obama wanted].
In any case, it draws the lines between the Republican Party and those they claim to represent. It can be a learning moment for the National Republicans if they will take it [I believe they won't]. And it can be one for both the Tea Party people and Republican grass roots as to the hydra-headed nature of the real enemy.
I offer the election as a subject for study and research by BC-ers, and further involvement as they feel appropriate.
Subotai Bahadur
Oct 17, 2009 - 10:06 am 151. CaboTAR:Republicans believe every day is the 4th of July, but the Democrats believe every day is April 15. —Ronald Reagan
1. From bondage to spiritual faith;
2. From spiritual faith to great courage;
3. From courage to liberty;
4. From liberty to abundance;
5. From abundance to complacency;
6. From complacency to apathy;
7. From apathy to dependence;
8. From dependence back into bondage’
If you think entitlements are ‘rights’ & not ‘privileges’ then you need to read that new book, A Time To Stand by Oliver. It’s a parallel of modern day Americans to the colonist who finally took a stand against govt. tyranny. It’s insightful (based in part on real Americans & events) cause today’s Americans are finished with being taxed so others don’t have to work. I think we all know someone who is on an entitlement, but could still work. Just read it & see if it won’t be your hometown one day.
Oct 17, 2009 - 10:17 am 152. Rurik:http://www.booksbyoliver.com
133. Marie Claude:
que bebió un vaso bien, dos vasos, hola daños
Dobre den, devushka.
from the original classic Latin. I shamelessly admit to being a barbarian. But with barbaric virtues as well as uncouthness. I guess that you may have mixed French and Spanish into the same sentence? Or have you sprung some Frankish dialect on me in observance of European Eunity? Reverting to one of my favored languages, ponimaiyu kak umnaya sobaka. Thank God our host does not insist in posting his essays in Tagalog.
Oct 17, 2009 - 10:28 am 153. Marie Claude:I must admit a mior defeat. Your latest language has me quite mystified, as I have not studied any of the Romance languages which degenerated
Rurik, I’m still wondering which language you are using ? I thought it was some kind of slavic dialect, that I can’t speak !
it was mere spanish but with a french “proverb”
I thank our host for respecting one of your constitution main article : freedom of speech !
Oct 17, 2009 - 10:38 am 154. Rurik:146. NahnCee: and Marie Claude.
If I dare to step between two quarreling women
Oct 17, 2009 - 10:42 am 155. Rurik:May I suggest that we do owe an enduring debt to the French of the old regime and also to the militaristic Germans who gave us Baron von Steubin. Sadly, our French debt was unceremoniously canceled in 1789 when the sans culottes killed those fine Frenchmen to whom we were indebted RIP.
152. Marie Claude:
I am giving you Russian – tramsliterated into Western letters, because I find it almost impossible to make a Cyrillic keyboard work (for me) on the net.
Oct 17, 2009 - 10:58 am 156. Marie Claude:Last night I told you that I was tired and wished you a good evening till the morrow.
Today I have greeted you with a “good day”, and most recently I said that “I understand like a clever dog.”
Rurik, I owe you my love and an apologize, cuz I was telling you in spanish that “you drink too much, one glass it’s OK, two glasses, hello damages !”
Oct 17, 2009 - 11:22 am 157. Rurik:Marie Claude
When I was growing up, a family friend who had emigrated from Turin, taught me a local proverb “Better to drink an entire well of wine than to waste a single drop.”
For my Russian friends, your saying would work if you substituted “bottle” for “glass”.
Speaking culturally, if a barbarian can do so,
one of the aspects about the EU which most bothers me is the homogenization of drinking standards and customs across the continent, as appellations are being brought into line across national boundaries, and charming local products are being purged by Eurocrats. Today your wines tomorrow your famed six hundred cheeses. You will be left with only two cheeses – hard white, and soft, yellow runny – both of bastard lineage.
Oct 17, 2009 - 12:07 pm 158. Marie Claude:well, don’t worry people, in provinces have many tricks for not following the diktats, Italians, spanish, Greecs and French (at a lesser point) are the most ingenious populations with double standards.
only wines and cheezes for exportation are formated, not those we can get from our private adresses
Oct 17, 2009 - 1:01 pm 159. Syd:“Going Galt” is the process of dropping out of a corrupt society.
You can drop out by moving, be it to Texas, or Chile, or New Zealand.
But you can also drop out of American society, without resorting to tax evasion, by simply becoming a “net zero”. That is, produce no more than you consume. It leaves nothing for the looters.
If you’ve got wealth to store in the meantime, I’d strongly lean toward tangible, value-dense goods like gold, silver, diamonds, etc. These are hard for the government to track (especially when you hold them directly), legal to own, and largely immune from the looming inflation.
Oct 17, 2009 - 3:18 pm 160. mac:Marie Claude is doing her best to take Benj’s place. I got to the point where I simply scrolled past his posts and I’m rapidly approaching that point with her.
Europe, particularly Western Europe, is a cowardly lot of nations. They have as their only real unifying principles hatred of the U.S., love for legal taxes (and illegal cheating of those taxes), and gutless surrender to the Islamic invaders who are openly bitchslapping the natives and extorting huge sums of protection money.
They are rapidly surrendering any actual freedoms they have to an unelected, unaccountable, deeply corrupt EU. The Euros I work with know their system sucks, they know it’s rotten and just waiting to be kicked over by an internal failure or an outside invasion, and they have nothing but a shrug as a response.
I recently had a Frenchman tell me that “violence never solves anything.” When I told him that it was only violence that allowed him to speak French instead of German, his answer was, “So what? German, French, what’s the difference?”
The Euros have the same pusillanimous attitude that led to Dukakis being held in such complete contempt. There is nothing they hold dear enough to fight for, and they openly admit it; the Euro effort in Afghanistan is a sad joke grudgingly yielded by them as payment for their NATO insurance. John Stuart Mill’s famous comment nails their pathetic state perfectly.
Oct 17, 2009 - 3:32 pm 161. maz2:1914 Lord Grey.
1938 Chamberlain.
2009 Socialism, the religion of the stomach, swallows Europe whole.
Harry Graf Kessler, the Red Count, jubilates.
?
…-
“EU Lisbon Treaty to become law within weeks after Czech president concedes defeat
The controversial Lisbon Treaty is set to become law within weeks after the Czech Republic’s eurosceptic president conceded his attempt to challenge it was futile. Vaclav Klaus, the only European Union leader who has still not signed the document, said he could not wait for a British general election next year which could lead to a Tory government and a possible referendum to bury the Treaty.
Mr Klaus said: “The train carrying the treaty is going so fast and it’s so far that it can’t be stopped or returned, no matter how much some of us would want that.”
Mr Klaus, who angered EU partners when he further delayed the ratification process by asking for an opt-out on the treaty earlier this month, said he still did not see the document as a good thing for “freedom in Europe.”"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2364648/posts
Oct 17, 2009 - 3:39 pm 162. Marie Claude:yeah, I don’t like his fashising way of hoding the Czechs as hostages, when their parliament and senate already opted for the treaty, people are going into the streets to ask for his resign !
when this man also is the good friend of the “evil” Putin, and was supported by the State Department of the former US administration, this doesn’t make of him an European , in the first meaning !
Vaklav is a joke
Oct 17, 2009 - 4:41 pm 163. Odysseus:It gets even better. I have read that one of the cuts the Baucus bill proposes is reversed in a separate piece of legislation. So, the Baucus bill cuts cost, while other bills restore them. Has anyone outside the righty blogosphere even heard of the other bill? I didn’t think so.
Oct 17, 2009 - 5:50 pm 164. To Hayek With You:The professors are not acting irrationally. In a system where there is only one lever they are trying to gain control of it… just as everyone else is. It does not occur to them that they could excel and earn more pay because those levers for gaining wealth have been removed from the scene… and more importantly… from the mind. No one even remembers that they existed.
Socialist systems are necessarily ones where every group is pitted against every other. Strikes are common and deals are cut for political support or for cover for some project or indiscretion. All energies are turned towards moving that one lever instead of doing productive things. This is the reason why socialist systems are fallow.
Why work hard when you can join a group of professors and not work at all to get your raise? Why be frugal and save when the government will take most of what you make and inflate away most of the rest so that you can never be secure except that you are one of the elite or have their ear? Better to be a courtier or apparatchik and use the lever of power than be a free man on whom it is used. Better to hold the whip…
Until one day… someone pushes the lever… and nothing happens.
And when that day comes no one will even remember how to make a proper lever.
Oct 17, 2009 - 6:58 pm 165. Angel Martin:Wretchard, back to the topic in the original posting:
It’s not surprising that huge new entitlements are created when the economy can least afford them. That is the historic pattern.
In the UK, the largest expansions of the welfare state were created after WW1 and WW2. After WW1, Lloyd George promised to “create a nation fit for heroes”, even though GB was nearly bankrupt due to the cost of the war. After WW2, the Labour government brought in the National Health Service and nationalised the coal and steel industry even though the economy was in such bad shape that food and gasoline were still rationed. (gasoline was rationed until 1950 and meat was rationed in the UK until 1954)
Oct 17, 2009 - 8:31 pm 166. M. Simon:Whiskey,
Please explain why the sexual revolution of the ’20s was different from that of the 60s.
Oct 17, 2009 - 9:26 pm 167. Moho:Oh, I thought it was our constant warring that demonstrated that…
Oct 17, 2009 - 9:52 pm 168. robin4est:Wretchard
Oct 17, 2009 - 10:32 pmPlease do not fall for the siren call: “I thank our host for respecting one of your constitution main article : freedom of speech !”
Marie Claude contributes nothing to the discussions on this board.
You would not let a student parade her foolishness and disrupt discussion in a classroom. Why here?
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