89 Comments

1. Mike McDaniel:

The moral rules, bizarre as they have become, are quite clear. Anything goes, but if a democrat is caught doing something everyone recognizes–but is too-pseudo sophisticated to admit–is wrong, it will be swept under the rug. If that doesn’t work, only a few news outlets will report it, will almost always omit his or her party affiliation, will laud the malefactor’s many years of saintly toil on behalf of the downtrodden and dispossessed, and will blame republicans for everything, particularly of hypocrisy for ever daring to try to uphold moral standards of any sort. No one will be particularly surprised, and there will be few, if any, consequences, for virtually everyone expects democrats to be, if not immoral, certainly amoral. Oddly, this confers a sort of immunization on democrats for any kind of moral malfeasance (and most kinds of criminal wrong-doing).

When a republican is caught, Louis Renault Award quality acting is in great abundance (we’re shocked! Shocked!). Every mainstream news outlet carries the story as front page news for days, weeks or months. Party affiliation and adjectives such as “conservative” or “ultra-conservative,” are abundant. Any moral stance the unfortunate ever took is mentioned and ridiculed, all conservatives are tarred with the same brush, and the consequences–of all kinds–will be immediate and severe.

I am, of course, generalizing–all generalizations are bad–but this is, in large part, a red state/blue state matter. And despite liberal claims to higher morality and compassion, it is conservatives who will be far more accepting and forgiving of any human failing. As believers in Christian principles, they know that man is not perfectible (certainly not by means of government), all sin, and all need forgiveness.

All societies need heros, but when a large portion of a society recognizes no consistent moral rules, heros become the bizarre and freakish. Michael Jackson was unquestionably talented, but his story is familiar through the ages. Hubris, a complete lack of emotional and rational restraint, no moderation whatever in living, all of these things are destructive, and as you suggested Dr. Hanson, it’s amazing he lasted as long as he did. Too many worship professional athletes, adolescents in adult bodies who make ridiculous amounts of money, and who live in a hazy world of adulation and unrestricted hedonism. Increasingly, such athletes are street thugs who have a narrow set of physical skills. It’s equally surprising they last as long as they do.

So Jackson was an entertainer, but he pales (no pun intended) when compared with entertainers of the past, such as Jimmy Stewart, who, at the height of his career, voluntarily went to war in WWII, flew the required 25 missions as a bomber pilot, risking his life every day, and returned to live a life of effort, class and decency. Which of these men is truly worthy of praise, recognition and emulation? In our current war, hundreds of true heros have risen, but we know little or nothing about them because our news media is interested only in the bizarre and freakish.

California, is indeed the canary in the coal mine. The only question now is whether Obama will save the unions and continue our slide to national bankruptcy and collapse by propping up every bit of contradictory thinking, economic idiocy, irrational policy, and the elevation of mediocrity–even stupidity–that is daily fare in California. I would like to believe that all of this is merely the inevitable swing of the pendulum, and that we are due–overdue–for a swing back toward moral and fiscal sanity, but President Obama is in a unique position to do such damage to America–and to the world–that he may be able to unhinge the pendulum itself. California merely provides a potential glimpse into the future.

Jun 27, 2009 - 9:30 am 2. Gaffe Prices:

I describe what the left has become as Neo-Puritan: It has consisted of a lot of hair-shirt demonstrations, based on a litany of pieties, all made-up-as-you-go on-the-spot to out-holier-than-thou the other prosperous individualists next to you in a collective, peer group-pressurized holocaust of shame-on-you-for-breathing-you, you you profligate CO2 polluter you.

that amounted to preparing the ground work for what they do now at Federal level. Our future consists of ogres and bridge trolls in innummerable well Fed agencies empowered with police powers, not only to rebuke, but conduct inquisitions and punish the sinful.

the mind numbing simplicity, combined with the weird logic of indicting every human being under the rubric that if man caused global warming, and that it will be the elect, the select, the few of mankind, purged of this barely fathomable sin, that will put all things to right, and save the planet so abused by man in the nick of time, and redeem itself by force-FED material solutions that makes one leery and weary of reversing course in time to stave of this “Man-Made-Disaster” (which, ironically, is what we now are supposed to call terrorism (shorn of any moral consideration as to its real and true “root causes”).

The Social Science on that one has been settled too.

And don’t think that Ham sandwich you just made for lunch to fortify yourself is safe from Judgement either, its now under indictment as well, we’re just busy with other, bigger things right this minute.

Jun 27, 2009 - 10:29 am 3. ding:

Another good one professor, but you must realize that you’re preaching to the choir here?

There is a union-paid political add running here in California decrying cuts in education and services while asking indirectly for more taxes on “others”. As always, there is the unflattering photo of a politico, in this case the governor.

The purpose of this add is to shift the focus of our current situation from the unions to the government, in this instance personified by Arnold.

And it works.

Jun 27, 2009 - 10:29 am 4. 11B40:

Greetings:

I live out in the San Francisco Bay area. The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system is currently in contract negotiations with its unions. A woman “organizer” for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was on the TV news the other night and her statement (call to arms?) went something like this: “We’re not greedy private sector employees; we serve the public.”

OK, if you say so. But, I’m thinking that she serves them like those aliens in that “Twilight Zone” story. You know, with rice and beans. (If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.)

Jun 27, 2009 - 10:50 am 5. Gaffe Prices:

and those innummerable pieties include up to, but are not limited to, wearing a condom, so that the promiscuous sex we are all encouraged to gorge ourselves on, can be magically rendered pure and safe again.

You know, when I get in my car, I strap on a seat belt to protect me if I should be involved in an accident, but if it was a piece of latex standing between me and gonnerhea, syphilis, and aids, and those were the consequences of driving into an accident, I would definitely switch to walking.

I would as well consider returning to the horses and horse driven carriages for all as alternative transportation, but of course that would bring up the moral question: not of running the gauntlet of old, such as risking the attendant typhoid fever the horse manure in the streets would bring, but with the colonialist enslavement of the horse and imposing it with my cruel values.

So I guess we’re every bit as damned when we don’t as we are even damneder when don’t, we’ll need our betters, our philosopher kings, to decide for us

Jun 27, 2009 - 11:00 am 6. TLM:

One thing our want-it-all society doesn’t want is to feel physical pain. The medical profession was denounced for years for under treating pain — especially in terminally ill patients. Now pain management is its own specialty, with many people of productive age and good health taking narcotics on a daily basis, not just for acute (eg. kidney stone) pain control. Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger et al are only the celebrity overdoses of a more common problem: poly-pharmacy with multiple interacting meds designed to make life pain free. Take enough of them and you’ll be pain free, forever. What was that old saying? Count no man happy until he’s dead and gone from this world…?

Jun 27, 2009 - 11:16 am 7. vanderleun:

Dear Professor Hanson,

Alas you are out of date. You need to read

Rules of the Republican Priesthood

http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/american_studies/rules_of_the_re.php

Jun 27, 2009 - 12:32 pm 8. vanderleun:

On the rest, as a native Californiaian I’d love to live in California again but I just can’t make myself that stupid.

Jun 27, 2009 - 12:40 pm 9. TheBigHenry:

How long will it be before the rest of the nation catches up with the California disaster? Will we make it past the Obamination?

Jun 27, 2009 - 1:11 pm 10. Dave the Kapampangan:

VDH: “Are We Victorians or Libertines?”

Answer:

Neither. We are just lousy hypocrites. Pointing at others’ splinters while making excuses for our own logjams. The hypocrisy is as dumb as the National Enquirer shrieking that our celebrities are fat. Hello? Look around. (And put down the Cheetos.)

The entitlement mentality of modern times is fully divorced from the idea of consequences. That explains the vacant, uncomprehending stare after an entire lifetime of moronic lifestyle choices– and the big, “Huh? What?” when the hero “finally realizes” after 20 years that the drugs have ravaged his body and the family has abandoned him long time ago. But it’s not just the celeb saying “Huh? What?” staring like a dolt; it’s all his fans as well. A whole generation.

That’s entitlement mentality for you.

The faith used to be that you can do whatever you want, as long as you don’t harm others. Now the expectation is that you can do whatever you want, and “society” will fix it up with its infinite tax money. And when doing whatever the heck you want kills you off, breaks your body, deprives kids of Daddy and Mommy, and bankrupts the state of California, you’re supposed to act surprised that other people weren’t able to fix it for you.

Jun 27, 2009 - 1:33 pm 11. Watcher:

Even after an election where tax hike initiatives were crushed in a vote by the people, the Dems are pushing to raise California taxes. They KNOW the voters have had enough but they just won’t change. We’d vote ‘em out but they’re locked up tight in safe districts so there won’t be any chance of change until redistricting happens. Then they’ll probably find a way around that. An initiative was passed to force a more fair way of drawing congressional and state assembly boundary lines but it won’t happen for another year or two. Meanwhile we watch as our beautiful state circles the drain.

The Republicans in the assembly and even Ahhnold got the message in the last election but it looks like the state will have to actually collapse before the people decide to replace the asshats under the dome.

The problem, to sum it up, is safe districts, legislation by initiative and term limits. Legislators who won’t be here next term have nothing to lose by voting “yes” on every spending measure.

Jun 27, 2009 - 2:17 pm 12. Watcher:

Oh re: #6 TLM – Pray you never suffer chronic pain. It’s idiots like Michael Jackson and Anna Nicole Smith that make it hard for those of us who do. Sometimes, after you’ve tried every possible remedy for degenerative disk disease from physical therapy to meditation to acupuncture to epidural injections to surgery, sometimes the only way to have any kind of quality of life is through the use of narcotics. And it’s a marginal quality of life even then. The best you pain relief you can hope for with narcotics is 15-30%. The rest you have to live with. You shouldn’t judge another person till you’ve walked in their shoes.

Jun 27, 2009 - 2:24 pm 13. tanstaafl:

About 1995 I walked into a packing-house of a friend-dozens packing fruit, fork-lift driving, and engaged in frenzied production to ensure all of us fresh produce. The owner mentioned that four regulators had come that day…

In the context of what killed California and legions of worthless bureaucrats drawing salaries they couldn’t begin to ‘earn’ elsewhere… awhile back I got an email listing California state agencies…

State Agencies Directory

(the crowd that drives SUV’s while bemoaning new, or old, drilling is now working hard at the federal level to Californify it)

Jun 27, 2009 - 3:00 pm 14. PM:

VDH, run for office. Common sense would be refreshing.

Jun 27, 2009 - 3:10 pm 15. Dr. T:

I don’t care about the sexual antics of our politicians, as long as they aren’t screwing children or using taxpayer dollars to buy sex. My primary moral concern for politicians is honesty, which unfortunately seems incompatible with getting elected. I can think of only two national politicians who were usually honest: Gerald Ford and John Glenn. Jimmy Carter thought he was honest, but he continually lied to himself and was dishonest, overall.

Michael McDaniel’s comments on the major media were right on the money. I gave up watching TV seven years ago, and I gave up on the major news weeklies (Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report) decades ago.

The US as a whole has greatly surpassed California’s debacle in regards to debt, taxation, and in huge numbers of worthless but highly paid government employees. If cap-and-trade passes the Senate, then our nation will implement more onerous environment-related regulations than California (or the rest of the world, for that matter). At least California hasn’t taken over businesses and financial institutions, so the feds are worse in that regard. With a few more years under Obama the Destroyer, we will be in worse shape than California is today.

Jun 27, 2009 - 4:02 pm 16. Cris:

Gerard,

You can stay where you are. California is coming to you.

Jun 27, 2009 - 4:59 pm 17. Jack Marcotte:

Essential vdh

It is simple. The fear of God needs to invade and take over human nature again.

With divine help the world will seem manageable to those who know they need help, and it will be manageable in a sensible way.

That is what brought us to this “dance”. The high water mark in the worlds human culture. Most PC and intellectuals act as if our current position is just a perpetual motion process. Not.

We will now recede into the “darkness” we literally have run out of productivity because to many victims have been created for political gain and power. Our gene structure will need to be revivified after the die off.

We have hung around long enough to forget. We have been so successful that the fluff of our culture, the parasitic, PC, affirmative action, victim group minorities who have been brainwashed into believing they created America only for the needed political power grabs are now going to find out that the shear weight of their real incompetence created for phony political gain will take America down.

Oh yes! The results of the path we are on will put the fear of God back into individuals where it will be needed to survive.

Is this comment to simple for PC secularists and intellectuals? Can it be concluded that this is the ranting of a right wing Christian fanatic? Maybe by some who are ignorant of how America got here.

Look at how helpless most “Americans” are now with “others” supporting even the ability to think Utopian thoughts used just for subversion of the US political system.

No real work is even involved only just handing out blame. Not a clue exists on what will need to be done, other than to make it worse.

It is just more of the same with the OBAMA buffoon gibberish.

Plumbers, remember Joe the Plumber, those guys that install your toilets have done more to advance society in America than any politician or intellectual alive today.

Sorry America we are not being lead by a plumber, a man who must have common sense, knowledge and skill to do his job.

BS and meaningless words has never plumbed a house or a commercial office building. But it can get a POTUS elected with a few Acorns thrown in the mix.

Jun 27, 2009 - 7:40 pm 18. George Best:

Michael Jackson is the epitome of Californias downfall. What took so long is right.

Its sad to see someone with so much talent and success to be nothing like he was at his best. While entertainers from my parents generation aged with dignity, today they do not. MJ, like Cali, despite his past is an utter failure being held together by enablers looking to squeeze the last ounce of resource from it. Look at MJ with all his resources, totally in debt.

If that doc who injected him with the fatal shot isnt guilty of medical malpractice, I dont know who is. He sold his soul to be around someone who he perceived as famous. Notice how he lawyered up real quick. I see an involuntary manslaughter charge coming. Who will give California that final shot? Maybe we just got a glimpse with that Congressional vote on Friday.

Ultimately MJ paid the price for years of being used by others while also taking advantage of others. He avoided prison, but he didnt avoid early death. The irony could be written about at length. He is a classic example of how our country is dying as well.

Luckilly we still have some time to fix our country before its too late because we have people who care. MJ didnt have a single one.

Jun 27, 2009 - 8:34 pm 19. Ron Kean:

Somebody should bring back some kind of virgin cults. Honor them in some way. I know lots of dads that would appreciate some recognition or status symbol or ideal.

I once looked up the yearly gross sales for viagra and saw over a billion dollars in sales. $10.00 a pill. I’m guessing it’s a growing industry. Getting larger all the time.

If it wasn’t for netflix I would have sold my TV long ago. With the possible exception of Fox News, I can’t stand anything on it and Hollywood types say TV has better writing than movies. Who cares?

Michael Jackson was great. But his face… And his boys wearing masks…

The bass guitar in ‘I Want You Back’ was the absolute all time greatest.

Jun 27, 2009 - 9:51 pm 20. Joseph:

Victor you maybe right about California, but doesn’t your state have one of the best public referendum options and therefore your troubles of your own making? Or is it because all those good folks leaving aren’t staying and fighting the good fight?
As for all those politicians like Sanford, Ensign, and Vitter, it isn’t their actions but their hypocrisy. It is the same reason that Spitzer had to and why Clinton should have resigned.

Jun 27, 2009 - 10:03 pm 21. Pajamas Media » Our Schizophrenic Society:

[...] Read the entire piece here. [...]

Jun 28, 2009 - 1:22 am 22. Ken Besig:

What we have now is licence and and a cynicism best described by Oscar Wilde whereby we all know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Indeed, not only do we not know our own history and values, we have elected a President who knows them even less than we do!

Jun 28, 2009 - 4:27 am 23. seansarto:

9. seansarto:

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

California is the state where if someone writes “yes we can” under “WORK EXPERIENCE” or “EDUCATION” on an employment application, then they get the job or you lose yer means of livin’ an’ to provide it to them…A state where a bum who considers the hassle of having to barter food stamps for liquor with bodega clerks a “conspiracy” to impediment their “pursuit of happyness”…So California dishes out 100 bucks cash every month to them, no questions asked…plus another 100 or so in food stamps in “empathy”….On them good ole “Just like a bank card…yer one of us too!” EBT cards (I can foresee the day the credit card companies will have a stake in them…I correct myself, because they run on the same operating systems, I guess the credit card companies already do.)…Who needs schools if that’s the rule of the law?
An’ don’t forget Hollywood made schizophrenia the national pastime…It grooms young eccentrics like Michael Jackson just as much as it does Bob Dylan’s, Bruce Springsteen’s, Madonna’s and Beatles…The point is to get ‘em when they’re young, then that way there’s no real investments in their lives to unravel yet…No harsh experiences there, that you have to re-compensate for with the rest of the upper social strata . That way you can convince ‘em they’re Bosses, Mullahs, Godfathers, Presidents, Kings or Queens…Groom them to be…Make them believe…even convince ‘em they’re the Common Man if ya got to.

As far as the rest of it….
It was figured out pretty early in moral thought that sex an’ pre-eminence shared same domains…That’s why I think the cultures of Catholicism to Puritanism an’ even First World Developments came into being….To try an harness and discipline such inclinations and distinguish pleasures from practicalities in terms of resources and survival….And that is where such concepts as “Natural Selection” collide with ones such as “self-defense” in third world terms..

Jun 28, 2009 - 5:14 am 24. Class Clown:

I tend to think that we have mostly just become a society of character assassination opportunists. If we want to bring someone down, we just go with what is available. That’s why substance abuse, sexual hijinks, or anything else can in turn be either be praised, or condemned.

Jun 28, 2009 - 5:20 am 25. Roger Godby:

“California is coming to you.”

I enjoy sequels and variants of “Night of the Living Dead,” but I never wanted to live them. It looks like I’ll have no choice.

The worst is the “progressive” pathogen: It flees from its dying host only to infect a new healthy one. Californians are infecting AZ, NV, and CO; Chicagoans are infecting WI, IN, and the rest of IL.

Jun 28, 2009 - 5:20 am 26. Patrick of Atlantis:

If Obama gets his health care reform passed, will that mean I won’t be able to have my face reconstructed to look like Michael Jackson or Nancy Pelosi?

Jun 28, 2009 - 5:32 am 27. john from cinncinatti:

MJ like California have people who care, its just that they don’t listen to them, because they are the stars. what we have is an idiotocracy at the federal level. with President Camacho running the show,helped out by the idiots from California. poor California, so close to America, so far from God.

Jun 28, 2009 - 5:38 am 28. william:

Michael Jackson is a symbol of the decline of the west!

Jun 28, 2009 - 6:20 am 29. TLM:

Watcher:

I’m not denouncing pain specialists, the treatment of chronic pain syndromes, or the use of narcotics to effect such treatment. While the potential for abuse of narcotic medications is very real, they remain the mainstay for the treatment of pain.

I find it ironic that recent celebrity OD’s are of the prescription variety. Used to be — a la Jim Morrison — they OD’ed on street drugs like heroin, a narcotic which has a profound euphoric effect. In other words, the user/abuser was searching for nirvana not pain control. I wonder if this says anything about modern celebrities, or about the trials and tribulations of modern celebrityhood.

Jun 28, 2009 - 7:13 am 30. DRN51:

In Theodore White’s, Making of a President 1964, he offered a story of an unnamed LBJ cabinet member who was caught exposing himself in Washington DC. The press buried the story ‘out of respect for the family’. What is different about how such stories are handled 45 years later?
* an ethical media that wasn’t clawing for attention and ratings
* a moral code accepted by the vast majority of society that understood what was wrong separate from what was illegal

* common decency and respect towards others that was a compass for doing what is right
* false moralizing and whining for attention over “outrage”, “offended”, and “victim” making

Jun 28, 2009 - 7:50 am 31. JD:

To VDH.

Wasn’t sure I understood your use of the word schizophrenia. Seems to me that it is a word misused at times in public discussions.
Schizophrenia truly is a devastating illness. It is marked by a variety of symptoms including a decline in one’s judgment and overall cognitive fucntioning, as well as by misperceptions of reality and the presence of false beliefs that cannot be challenged. Additionally there are what are termed the negative symptoms, among these being the presence of apathy/lack of motivation.
It was my error to think you had misused the term, it is an apt description of what has happened to society.

Jun 28, 2009 - 7:56 am 32. SteveB/Colorado:

For once, Mr. Hanson has written a piece that I see making a lot of sense. Watching California from a distance, it seems to be a prime example of governmental schizophrenia: Democrats want no cuts in government services; Republicans don’t want to tax anything.

Here in the intermountain West, we have forms of “schizophrenia” particularly in regard to federal public lands. For example, ranchers who run livestock on public lands decry government “interference” in their operations (the “sagebrush rebellion”). Yet those operations are heavily subsidized by taxpayers in the form of artificially low grazing fees.

Energy companies claim thousands of acres of land in the West are “locked up” so they can’t be drilled. Yet, as of June, 2008, before the recession really hit, companies were sitting on over 67 million acres of undeveloped leases, on-shore, mostly in the West, and off-shore. Go figure.

In politics, we have “paragons” of public virtue who extol “family values.” But then we get the likes of Mark Sanford, John Ensign, David Vitter, Larry Craig, etc. At least Bill Clinton didn’t make a career of catering to the religious right & publicly proclaiming his “virtue.” Here in Colorado, we had prominent anti-gay Reverend Ted Haggard who turned out to have a gay lover “on the side.”

Perhaps we make too much of what should be private dealings within families. Some French president died a number of years ago. His wife & mistress sat together at the funeral and no one blinked an eye.

#17 Jack Marcotte: “It is simple. The fear of God needs to invade and take over human nature again.” Be careful what you ask for. I don’t think society needs a return of the Spanish Inquisition; or to turn over determination of “moral” values to the likes of James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Gary Bauer, and the Falwell family.

Jun 28, 2009 - 7:58 am 33. J.E. Dyer:

Nailed California to the wall again, Professor, as usual. It has been like season tickets to the theater of the absurd, to watch the state react to the budget crisis by firing teachers, threatening cuts in firefighting funds, and cutting money for the prisons.

Yet California spends nearly 20% of its budget on this:

http://theoptimisticconservative.wordpress.com/features/

I urge readers here not to miss this surreal communication. This IS the problem with California spending. This is it, right here.

Thanks also, Professor, for not leading off with pro forma hagiography about Michael Jackson. For the folks out there, if you don’t live in the TV service area of LA, rejoice. It’s been all MJ, all the time since the “Breaking News!” that he was rushed to the hospital.

As people began pouring into the streets around the hospital, on the afternoon of his death, the thought in my mind was, God help us, we let these people vote.

Jun 28, 2009 - 8:04 am 34. river:

The paucity of common sense and common decency today makes this society the very strange one it is.

Jun 28, 2009 - 8:04 am 35. Saltherring:

The God our “postmodern” society has denied has left us to our own devices….greed, sexual immorality, laziness, dishonesty and self gratification. We lie in our recliners, drink in hand, and point fingers at greedy businessmen, corrupt politicians, inept schools, the news media, government bureaucracy, illegal aliens, Hollywood immorality…while failing to grasp that these entities are mere reflections of what has become of America.

“Your” congressman fights for a piece of the pie, while all the rest lie in bed with lobbyists. The guy at Labor & Industries who winked while getting you a 50% disability pension for your “bad back” was only doing his job, but goddamn those panhandling welfare bums who hang out in the park. Your semi-literate, video-game-addicted son earned his “straight A’s” but the schools need to start teaching “basics”. Fox News is full of “right-wingers”, that’s why you watch MSNBC or CNN for the “real” news. The union got you a 10% wage increase, another week’s vacation a year and free prescription drugs during the last negotiations, but that crooked CEO shut down the plant and shipped your job to China. Hollywood movies are perverted, yet you leer at the young girls as they pass your home on their way to school. The girls at the office are aghast regarding the smut on TV, but most voted for Obama because secretly they’d like to sleep with him. You’d like to see those damn illegal aliens rounded up and shipped back to Mexico…well all but Pedro, who does a hell of a job on your lawn for 6 bucks an hour.

You guessed it…WE are the problem. We like our “free stuff”, our closet lusts, our cushy jobs and our bought-and-paid-for politicians. And we like someone else paying the bill…yeah, them rich guys down at that swanky golf club. Yep, look in the mirror and you’ll see America…and how it got that way.

Jun 28, 2009 - 8:10 am 36. Strawman:

I once gave a talk years ago in the Santa Barbara hills and joked to the audience that I was glad to see there were still a few oil platforms out in the bay. Not silence, but furor followed that bad joke. Yet as I left, as I mentioned once before, the parking lot was full of SUVs. Where did the gas come from?

The gas station. Everybody knows that. Meat comes from grocery stores, and electricity comes from the grid. This is the post industrial society run by a post turtle.

Jun 28, 2009 - 8:31 am 37. Tomp:

A nation without standards will disintergrate – slowly.

Jun 28, 2009 - 8:36 am 38. antaine:

“there won’t be any chance of change until redistricting happens. Then they’ll probably find a way around that.”

They are…watch how they manipulate the next census now that the White House has exclusive control of it (or have we forgotten that that happened soon after innauguration?) – every district will become a gerrmandered “safe” district for Democrats, every state blue in the Electoral College…

Jun 28, 2009 - 8:50 am 39. C. Davis:

We live for the moment without considering the consequences for tomorrow. We want to correct the wrongs of others while we are just as guilty. A big car for me but I don’t care where the fuel comes from as long as it’s not in my country. Sex with whoever I want whenever I want without the worry of unwanted pregnancy, disease or a broken family. Feel good drugs today with no concern that they will kill me tomorrow. Government bailouts today without thinking of the future of our children. Welcome to America! Live for yourself in the moment.

Jun 28, 2009 - 9:14 am 40. sheesh:

I’ll skip the “poor Governor Sanford” and the “This entire popular culture transcended fornication years ago” which are both thinly veiled and patently ridiculous misdirections from the blazing hypocrisy that will soon consume the family values party . . . onto to the simpler and larger point …”Television, in other words, is a cesspool.’

The first question is, “Why is TV a cesspool?” I believe we get the TV/ movies/government we deserve. Media programming, in large measure, reflects popular culture, not direct it.

Look at Fox News,or worse yet Fox Television – they show more gratuitous T&A than all the other networks combined . . . “Tonight on The Factor . . . Spring Break! . . . Girls Gone Wild . . . Stock Traders Turn Strippers” followed by soft porn b-roll and the inevitable disclaimer from Loofah about “We bring these stories to you to shed light on the issue.”

The second question is, “Why are the 80% of Americans who are Christians clamoring for such cesspool content?

Heavens to Murgatroyd, I can’t imagine.

Jun 28, 2009 - 9:39 am 41. Anonymous:

Dr. Hanson, Thank you for yet another terrific article, outlining the ills of our society.

I commented on another blog that the rabid reaction of the public to Sandford’s misdeed was more disgusting than the deed itself. As one poster above pointed out: let’s remove our own logjam before pointing out the splinter in someone else’s eye.

#1 Mike McDaniel: Your post was outstanding and worthy of a blog piece if its own. Thank you.

Jun 28, 2009 - 10:11 am 42. Rick:

39.

you have the gist of it. we could not fight WW2 today. it would have caused too much sacrifice to our goal of feeling good today.

our current political elite is the worst of the feel good today crowd. they have run a decent country into the ground to remain in power. hard decisions and good management are avoided so that they can get re-elected next cycle.

obama had a chance to be real. he could have said we are going to clean up this mess. he could have said, “too big to fail is too big to save”, that NO private company will yield this much power and influence. but he didnt. he fell for the trap that Goldman is essential for the survival of the “banking system”. pure BS. AIG? really pure BS.

Jun 28, 2009 - 10:30 am 43. Moogie:

#41 is me, Moogie. For some reason, my “remembered” personal info disappeared, but I didn’t notice it until I commented on another blog.

Jun 28, 2009 - 10:38 am 44. Today’s Tidbits:

[...] Thoughts on a Schizophrenic Society We’re bombarded by what is laughingly called ‘news’ as the media goes on and on about Michale Jackson and Governor Sanford of SC.

Jun 28, 2009 - 10:52 am 45. Dick Bachert:

To paraphrase and update the Greeks, “Whom God would destroy, He first makes mad.”

That not only applies to individuals but entire cultures.

If our cultural behavior is any indicator, surely OUR destruction is at hand.

Jun 28, 2009 - 11:01 am 46. Jeff Perren:

Clearly Atlas is shrugging in California, and it’s about page 850 of 1100. Or, as someone recently said: the barbarian curtain ringing down on civilization is only inches from the floor.

Jun 28, 2009 - 11:04 am 47. Linguist:

Spot on. But I would argue that for those who live their lives relatively uninfluenced by the infamous “land of fruit and nuts”, character and integrity still do mean something.

http://smokebreak.blogshevik.com/2009/06/27/why-character-integrity-matter/

Jun 28, 2009 - 12:20 pm 48. Cybergeezer:

Profundity on display again, Mr. Hanson.
California is a parasite to the other states. And the symbiotic relationship with Washington, shall be nurtured for political favors.

Jun 28, 2009 - 1:28 pm 49. momof3:

“This entire popular culture transcended fornication years ago when it decided that tampons”

My only quibble here is why include tampons? They have nothing to do with sex and are necessary personal hygeine products for half the country’s population. Shall we ban toothpaste ads because people might kiss with their mouths?

Jun 28, 2009 - 1:28 pm 50. Marie Claude:

About the Sanford case medias coverage, in France he could have sued papers in trial, and get a lot of money to quietly live with his ducinée until death comes, cuz private life is protected, and papers that still want to edit such a new, must have made their calculs, the sales of their “rubbish” would still cover the trial charges.

Now I find infamous that, in addition, his private mails were exposed to the mobs. I think this not digne of a supposed superior moral country, he is no murderer, just in love (with attenuated circonstances, his wife wasn’t living with him anymore)!

Well, we have this analyse here of your “comportemental behaviour” towards sex, it’s victorian, with all the frustrations that are implied, this is why we can see the extremes, austerity and the excesses in pornography, where neither of these are necessary here, we have a more “natural approach” for them, it doesn’t mean moral relativity, just being well with one’s head and feelings

Jun 28, 2009 - 1:34 pm 51. Marc Malone:

#40 sheesh – You seem to think that we who watch Fox want to see this stuff. We don’t, but many of us would not even know about this stuff, if Fox did not air it. We aren’t drooling over it. We are aghast. I know you find this hard to believe, but it’s true.

I do admit to loving the ladies on Fox. Smart AND beautiful. And real Ladies! They’re not shrill, nor hateful. They don’t stir my lust, but rather reassure me that such fine ladies still exist. I find them very comforting.

Jun 28, 2009 - 1:40 pm 52. Cybergeezer:

Mr. Hanson; I smell duplicity!

Jun 28, 2009 - 2:27 pm 53. Marc Malone:

Our society is not schizophrenic. There exists a real divide amongst us. Some few are yet Victorians, recognizing the strength morality gives to society. The vast majority, however, are Libertines. Some profess to Victorian beliefs, but fail the test of the moment.

They fail, because they never really believed, or rather, they never knew why they should believe. They accepted the morality, without understanding the concepts in depth. I find the reason the GOP has so few leaders, is because they really don’t grasp the deeper reasons behind the values we hold. This is evinced by their inability to enunciate clearly those values.

Obama, for all his faults, knows how to speak soaringly. He enunciates concepts with soaring rhetoric, which fills people’s needs, because we all, in our hearts, aspire to nobler principles. He speaks to greater ideals. They are purely contrived and false, but contain power naetheless. Eventually, reality will give the lie to his “noble” words, but such maintain his power for the nonce.

There is a distinct lack of erudition within our society. We so often speak on a merely superficial level. Few, if any, of our leaders seem able to ruminate on the same plane as our Founding Fathers. They have learned any number of statistics about issues, which can provide some insight into a problem, but that’s about as deep as they can plumb. They can rarely offer some insight as to deeper ramifications of such statistics. They sound informed. People are impressed by their knowledge of the issues. It is, sadly, what passes for wisdom in these shallower times.

The ability to wax philosophic, to hold forth, to proudly declare and defend Greater Principles seems absent in political venues and in public discourse. Profound pronouncements seem to be lacking; the landscape barren of intellectual fruit.

When have you last heard an elected leader speak some truly quotable nugget? I don’t mean some speechwriter’s clever quip or turn of phrase, but rather, something that offers food for thought; comfort for one’s mind; some pearl of wisdom to keep with you throughout your life. Do they ever offer words by which to live?

This indicates to me the infection of Libertine thinking even amongst the Victorians. Eat, drink, and be merry. We cannot be bothered to study the ponderings of the great minds of history. That would require real industry of the sort abhorred by the Libertine mindset.

We yet have some wordsmiths among the punditry and the speechwriters. Perhaps, that is a clue to the problem. Mayhap, the politicians too oft are working the system and rely too much on others to craft their words for them.

Perhaps, do they begin to participate in the crafting of their own speeches, they will find their inner muse, and begin to craft more than mere words and clever turns of phrase. Perhaps then, the prosaic will turn to prose.

Jun 28, 2009 - 2:39 pm 54. hBG:

#32 SteveB : don’t worry about Dobson, et al., seeking to tell you how to live. Go right to the Source and try reading the Bible for yourself. Too many of us worship the Expert rather than the Creator.

Jun 28, 2009 - 3:02 pm 55. SukieTawdry:

Ask a liberal and he’ll tell you California’s only problem is Prop 13.

Californication: coming soon to a state near you.

Jun 28, 2009 - 3:50 pm 56. SukieTawdry:

Some weeks back, the Sacramento Bee had a report about the local Flood Control Board then in the process of giving its “professional” staff sizable raises. Their explanation was that in order to retain the best talent, they had to pay the best salaries even though none of the people who were getting raises had other offers on the table nor were even entertaining the idea of leaving. One man was scheduled for a 38 percent increase even though his job duties had recently been cut in half. Another’s raise was justified by a change in job title (although not in job). The head of the department, also in line for a nice increase, argued that if they wanted to attract a top-notch replacement when he retires (IIRC he’s 60), they’ll need to pay a top-notch salary (perhaps, but they don’t need to pay it to him, do they?). Since the Bee provided everyone’s age, it was quite clear what was really going on. They all are nearing retirement and as is traditional in California public service, they would all go out in a blaze of highly compensated glory with jacked-up retirement packages waiting in the wings. This, pretty much, is California in a nut shell. Our public servants past and present–and their unions–are draining us dry.

Jun 28, 2009 - 4:31 pm 57. misanthropicus:

RE #40/sheesh: [...] the blazing hypocrisy that will soon consume the family values party . . . onto to the simpler and larger point …”Television, in other words, [...]”

Sheeshkebob, minuscule and clumsy mind – probably you’re aware that most of the readers here for long have placed you under a “liberal nuisance” label and deal with you the way one handles roaches in a seedy motel (Soetoro’s America).

Still, I will honor your idiocy #40 on the present thread regarding the (liberal) TV manipulating/ deflecting important questions (see Michael Jackson or Sandford vs. the Iran affair), and I’ll ask you a simple question:
Where is the national coverage of the Monica Conyers debacle, yes, Monica Conyers, wife of the “Impeach Bush” crusader?

Yeah, where is the national coverage of the Monica Conyers debacle, yes, Monica Conyers, wife of the “Impeach Bush” crusader?

Or does the Monica Conyers thing remind Michelle Obama’s (sorry, Soetoro’s) endeavors?
Remind us, oh, righteous one Sheeshkebob, remind us what Blago said: “… and I’d like for Patricia a cushy corporate job, something like Michelle Obama’s[...]” (Incidentally, Monica Conyers is looking at 5 + years for graft, nice thing for mr. Conyers’ (legislator of Cato’s dignity) wife.

So where is the Monica Conyers national coverage?
Answer this, buddy, before starting your dayly contortions about Fox TV.

Say something, coward, say something -

Jun 28, 2009 - 5:57 pm 58. Anonymous:

24. Class Clown:
“I tend to think that we have mostly just become a society of character assassination opportunists. If we want to bring someone down, we just go with what is available. That’s why substance abuse, sexual hijinks, or anything else can in turn be either be praised, or condemned.”

I don’t tend to respond to other posts but I thought this one, #24 by Class Clown, had interesting implications when regarded with the terms and provisions of S909, the Matthew Shephard Hate Crimes Prevention Act being endorsed by Sen. Leahy. Specifically the term of “actual or perceived sexual orientation” and federal protections being allotted towards such offenses…If I understand it correctly, (an, “Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood”) It contends that such a society, one of “character assassination opportunists” is liable for federal prosecution. That if you are say, the perpetrator of a Columbine Shooting, that you are actually acting in inherent self-defense against an institution or community that has used “character assassination” to ostracize your participation in said community…Therefore the school’s populace, through name calling and disparagement which translates into availability of opportunity, have induced the violent response where one was not previously established.
The school’s population needs to do time and penalty…not “healing” under provisions of federal law.

Jun 28, 2009 - 6:20 pm 59. seansarto:

24. Class Clown:
“I tend to think that we have mostly just become a society of character assassination opportunists. If we want to bring someone down, we just go with what is available. That’s why substance abuse, sexual hijinks, or anything else can in turn be either be praised, or condemned.”

I don’t tend to respond to other posts but I thought this one, #24 by Class Clown, had interesting implications when regarded within the terms and provisions of S909, the Matthew Shephard Hate Crimes Prevention Act being endorsed by Sen. Leahy. Specifically the term of “actual or perceived sexual orientation” and federal protections being allotted towards such offenses…If I understand it correctly, (an’ “Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood”), it contends that such a society, one of “character assassination opportunists” is liable for federal prosecution. That if you are say, the perpetrator of a Columbine Shooting, that you are actually acting in inherent self-defense against an institution or community that has used “character assassination” to ostracize your participation in said community…Therefore the school’s populace, through name-calling and disparagement, which translates into availability of opportunity, have induced the violent response where one was not innately compelled.
The school’s population needs to do time and penalty under provisions of federal law…not “healing”.

Jun 28, 2009 - 6:27 pm 60. Donna V.:

Marie: I’ve been to France. You can’t tell me that there is no porn there.

That said, you have a point. Prudes and libertines are different sides of the same coin. Both are obsessed with sex and obsession can go either way. The irritating about the sexualization of the media is how juvenile most of it is. It’s a 16 year old boy’s idea of sex – this snickering, crude, “oh, my, are we being bad or what” attitude that gets on my nerves.

Jun 28, 2009 - 6:29 pm 61. seansarto:

Title 18, Sec. 2a says anyone whose speech “induces” a hate crime may be punished “as a principal”.

Jun 28, 2009 - 7:12 pm 62. bill:

Love those California rules!

And don’t forget those do-nothing overpaid jerks now retiring are the first ones to cry foul when their neighbor questions the growing disparity in Prop 13 tax payments. Some of these folks retire on huge public pensions with free health care benefits while their neighbor struggles with a property tax burden that might be nearly 10x that of the fat cat who made his generous living and retirement off of those property tax receipts.

Jun 28, 2009 - 7:31 pm 63. Stephen:

Marie Claude: I think you are assuming a bit much here. I believe the good Governor was living with his family until about 2 weeks ago. Questions continue to percolate of whether his assignations were done with or through the use of state funds and further without proper notification of relevant authorities of is absence: He is after all the governor of a state with responsibilities that trump his physical desires. And “love”? Sheesh. You’ve set a pretty low bar there, given how quickly he seems to have kicked his Argentine honey to the curb.

Jun 28, 2009 - 9:07 pm 64. BettyBlue:

I think the real lesson to be learned from this scandal, and the John Edwards sex tape scandal, and the Eliot Spitzer scandal and all the rest of the scandals, is this;

This guys can’t run their own lives; why should they be allowed to run ours? Why give them huge amounts of government power, and tax dollars? Why all this strange faith in the power of the government, when it’s obvious it’s run by a bunch of irresponsible, hormone-ridden idiots?

And love’s got nothing to do with it.

Jun 28, 2009 - 9:22 pm 65. Marie Claude:

63, I have read their emails

Well, I am not aware of the habits in America, I narred the incident like it would be seen over here, beside in the business of cheating his wife, Berlusconi is a champion, and the Italians still consider he is OK

Jun 28, 2009 - 9:42 pm 66. IvyClaireRN:

It seems that Hollywood and the U.S. Government are filled with semi-functional schizophrenics. There is no doubt in my mind that Michael Jackson suffered with schizophrenia. It is tragic to see the enablers and parasites that made up most of Michael Jackson’s world. Michael, you were a wonderful entertainer during your prime. May you rest in peace.

Jun 28, 2009 - 9:47 pm 67. Rachel Peepers:

Dr. Hanson,

Good question. Maybe this video will help start to answer it.
Regards, Rachel
Jennifer, if you haven’t seen this video, I think you should check it out. In my book, it pretty much says it all.

This guy’s video on you tube has been so popular that Obama
called him personally. He said that he was very disturbed with the video and
invited him to the White House. Obama also said he wanted the White House to
handle the Press and not to talk about the video or the White House visit.
That’s interesting.

Watch it now. This may be the best six minutes invested in
your future. You may have to turn your Sound Control up some.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYscnFpEyA

Regards, Rachel

Jun 28, 2009 - 11:29 pm 68. Steven:

We used to be able to vote with our feet and move from a high tax death spiral state like New York or California. However, Obama is going to take the New York plan national. Once he succeeds (and it is a sin to hope that he fails), there will be no escape.

Jun 29, 2009 - 6:46 am 69. inklingz:

Thought some of you might appreciate recent post on concept of whether there are any innate truths and why ideologue has become a term of derision.

Jun 29, 2009 - 6:59 am 70. sheesh:

51. Marc Malone:
“#40 sheesh – You seem to think that we who watch Fox want to see this stuff. We don’t, but many of us would not even know about this stuff, if Fox did not air it.”

You wouldn’t know about Spring Break or Girls Gone Wild or Stock Traders Turned Strippers . . . . now why do you need to know about that stuff? I would think you would be clamoring for more Monica Conyers coverage like your resident pool boy misanthropicus . . . and maybe you’d get that coverage if Fox wasn’t busy with “Woman Claims World Record for Largest Breasts!” (Yes, an actual lead-in.)

“Fox News . . . we report, you play with yourself.”

Jun 29, 2009 - 7:38 am 71. Robert Winkler Burke:

Dear Dr. Hanson,

Never cease to roam the skies of great thought. We need you.

The Blind, the Gamers and the Seers
By Robert Winkler Burke
Of inthatdayteachings.com
Copyright 5/17/09

The blind, the gamers and the seers,
Oh man, what a fight!
The conned, conn’ers and explainers,
Oh God, who is right?

The blind have sort of chosen,
Not to intensely see,
God bless ‘em, they work for bread,
In dark hazard, busy.

The gamers, being somewhat clever,
Have by mystic ways figured out,
Tricks of tyranny o’er the blind,
Of invisible shackles stout.

The seer, whose intensions are good,
Wants to give light on this sham,
Is hated by the gamers and blind,
Who say, Let us kill this man!

Amazingly, the gamers usually con the blind,
To be the misled, crucifying crowds wry,
Until that seer-brought day of revelation,
When fields of caterpillar become butterfly.

Then the slugs of oppression,
In the light will dry up and die,
While the eagles of seeing,
Ever vigilant, roam the sky.

Jun 29, 2009 - 8:29 am 72. siggie:

watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYscnFpEyA

we are a nation of “do nothings that takes effort”, parasites that expect to be supported by the governement. And where do you think the gov gets the money to support the parasites????

We have to be p.c., so as not to offend anyone with the truth. Disgusting state of affairs we have going on.

seems like Sheesh must be unemployed, and either just out of school, or flunked out of political science.. He’s just yankin’ your chains, don’t respond. speaks out of both ends…

Oh yeah, like the governor did anything worse than our dear Clinton with cigars and blue dresses..get a life. Neither was right, the gov should not resign. Clinton was on “company time”…in “company headquarters”, using “company facilities”..blahblahblah, who cares…it’s just fodder to keep your minds off of what is really goin on in America. Picking this one morality issue when we have far greater morality/gov issues going on ..is like picking fly poop out of pepper.

Jun 29, 2009 - 8:39 am 73. JMH:

The moral rules, bizarre as they have become, are quite clear. Anything goes…this is, in large part, a red state/blue state matter. …it is conservatives who will be far more accepting and forgiving of any human failing…they know that man is not perfectible

I have a slightly different take, though this is the right general direction. It is largely a red state blue state issue, but on the question of moral rules, or any rules really, the reason for the schizophrenia is that Blue Staters have abandoned the Rule of Law for the Rule of Men.

A Republican is wrong because he’s (or she’s) a Republican (for example, Sarah Palin was lambasted for having her baby and would have been lambasted for aborting it too). A Democrat is excused anything because he’s a democrat. c.f. Bill Clinton’s treatment of women, and in case you think that was an abberation, c.f. Barack Obama’s even worse mysoginy.

Jun 29, 2009 - 9:04 am 74. TLM:

sheepish:

“Fox News . . . we report, you play with yourself.”

“ABC/MSNBC/CBS/NBC/NPR/ETC…we report all Obama all the time: you can play along while we play with ourselves.”

Sheepish — if you but once denounced the obvious rosy-palmed lickspittle droolbucket thrill-up-my-third-leg adolescent infatuation the above media outlets have for Obama, I’ll acknowledge your point about Fox News. Then again, I don’t watch them either.

Jun 29, 2009 - 9:34 am 75. Sydney:

VDH again on target. Recently I saw a job offered for an art director at UC President’s Office (the affirmative action factory in downtown Oakland)–$139,000. About $40,000 to $60,000 more than private fims offer.

WHITE liberal baby boomers (and now their offspring) have brought down California. It’s over folks. All sorts of taxes and fees will continues to rise; meritocracy is dead; thousands upon thousands of envriomentalist will prevail to stop everything; two-teir society almost complete; current and future minority leaders all radicalized; hiring quotas by private and public companies are standard procedure (reverse descrimination thrives); population will continue to explode (no water); a general ‘cluelessness” prevails among populace (we’re mostly dumb); education system focused in PC and Postmodern thinking which is the norm; crime, gangs and prisons will flourish; state unions (17% of population) will get even bigger and more powerful, politicians beyond irresponsible; and on and on and on.

Fortunately, VDH clarifies some of these issues in his writing. and he deserves thanks. Thanks.

P.S. No fatalism here. The best oddmaker in the world would bet big on California going further downhill, and WE all know it. It almost seems like it was inevitable. It was too nice to stay that way.

Jun 29, 2009 - 9:53 am 76. Brad:

This sheesh guy doesn’t reason too well.

Jun 29, 2009 - 12:50 pm 77. vivo:

Mind cleansing, censorship is here.

Jun 29, 2009 - 1:24 pm 78. Blarty Blarckleblart:

What does ivory tower no-real-job-having academic elitist Victor David Hansen know? He’s too busy strutting through his vanity vineyard in his Ralph Lauren “work clothes” to understand what normal people think.

Jun 29, 2009 - 2:33 pm 79. Cybergeezer:

As a business would do, spin off or sell off the parts that are bringing the business down; Mexico would probably pay a fair price for California. The Native Americans could pay a fair price, too. And the proceeds could buy more constituents from liberals in Texas and Alaska.
Or, maybe Obama could just pawn California to China; The possibilities for the Prince of Incompetence are endless, since the Constitution is such a nuisance.

Jun 29, 2009 - 3:45 pm 80. eme:

vertical farming could mean organic food for everyone

Jun 29, 2009 - 4:23 pm 81. Paul of Alexandria:

Dr. T (15):

I don’t care about the sexual antics of our politicians, as long as they aren’t screwing children or using taxpayer dollars to buy sex. My primary moral concern for politicians is honesty, which unfortunately seems incompatible with getting elected.

Ok, I’m puzzled. Please explain to me why a politician that cheats on his wife – whom he presumably loved and swore an oath to – would refrain from cheating his constituents – whom he knows little if at all?

There’s a good reason for demanding private morality from public figures (and everybody else, for that matter).

Jun 29, 2009 - 6:43 pm 82. Vader:

“Can one think of very many politicians who were not guilty of some sort of adultery…”

Well, there’s Mitt Romney.

Heaven forbid that we should vote for a “cultist”, though. Even if he’s a financial genius who has slept with exactly one woman in his life.

Jun 30, 2009 - 7:33 am 83. Marc Malone:

#70 sheesh – Why do I need to know about this stuff? Because I have two young daughters! You got a problem with that?

As for any other odd thing, you’re cherry-picking. Don’t even try to tell me it doesn’t happen on other stations. Furthermore, contrary to MSNBC hype, Fox is NOT a Conservative channel,Shep Smith is Liberal, as is Geraldo Rivera. Glenn Beck is Libertarian. O’Reilly is Right-of-Center. Hannity is strictly Conservative. And so it goes. They run the gamut, which is at it should be.

Jun 30, 2009 - 9:58 am 84. We Are All Michael Jackson Now:

Hanson is onto something thematically when he gathers the collapse of television (300 Digital Channels sponsored by the same 3 erection commercials), the collapse of Michael Jackson and the collapse of California.

Jun 30, 2009 - 12:08 pm 85. alamendah:

Nice post. Thanks

Jun 30, 2009 - 12:09 pm 86. M. Report:

45 Dick Bachert: God makes Mad

The Greek gods punished those who offended them by infecting the offenders with Hubris, which made them think that _they_ were gods; their exaggerated pride and self-confidence then led them to commit criminal acts,
eventually overreaching, and thus causing their downfall.

See also Satanic Pride, and
Old English Ofermod.

Not to be confused with Narcissism, an excessive love and fascination with oneself, which can send a tingle up the leg.

Jun 30, 2009 - 4:25 pm 87. Ron Kean:

This thread’s been stuck at 75 for a couple of days now. I think somebody at Pajamas Media may be sleeping on the job.

My three favorite Michael Jackson songs are:
I WANT YOU BACK
NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE
MAN IN THE MIRROR

My fondest memories or California are:
Venice Beach
Universal Studio Tours
A kosher bakery on Fairfax
Pico Roberson
The Spruce Goose at Long Beach

I was there when an Egyptian immigrant shot somebody at the El Al Airlines desk. I remember the TV and radio saying that they couldn’t determine the motive for the shooting. That was the first time I thought that everything’s goofy but I’m not.

I think Ahnold should make a movie and have a part like Jerry Lewis did in KING OF COMEDY. I think if Ahnold read this blog he would learn something.

This is the best blog.

Jun 30, 2009 - 4:51 pm 88. sheesh:

83 Marc Malone . . . “Fox is NOT a Conservative channel”

http://crooksandliars.com/2007/02/04/rupert-murdoch-admits-manipulating-the-mediasurprisesurprise/

Jun 30, 2009 - 7:44 pm 89. Lawrence Kohn:

The following rhyme is my amen to Victor

Our era dubbed “Cybernity”
Sustained by secularity
Immersed in virtuality
Where books lack sensuality
Prof Hanson with alacrity
Reminds us of eternity
Within whose bounds each entity
Exists quite temporarily
But strives for every liberty
To make a living meaningfully
Despite the cultish certainty
Of chic, cool post-modernity.

Jul 8, 2009 - 8:08 am

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