Archive for August 2004
The Final Penalty is Death
Have you ever stopped to consider what would happen if you refused to submit in any way to even a small injustice on the part of the state? Let’s take a parking ticket, for example. Without bothering to create a specific scenario, let’s assume that you received the ticket in error and were not in violation. That’s the premised reality for this make-believe situation. You violated no established code, but received a citation for a violation just the same, and now you’re unjustly bound up in the system—if only to a minor degree that’s little more than a troublesome annoyance. Now, you waste more time and endure more annoyance to run through the established “due-process” to contest the citation. It falls on deaf ears. The citation stands. You refuse to pay. Eventually, a warrant to seize your vehicle is issued. One day, you’re returning to your car and there’s a tow truck in the process of hoisting it, and a cop standing guard. You run to the car, and ignoring shouts of “HALT!…HALT!…HALT OR I’LL SHOOT!” you jump in the car, fire it up, and attempt to extricate yourself from the tow truck. The cop runs over and points a…
Read MoreBecause I Was One
Perhaps it’s that philosopher and professor Kieth Burgess-Jackson was a liberal that he’s so razor sharp effective at deconstructing them. There is no reason to think there is a conservative conspiracy to thwart liberalism. There’s no need for a conspiracy. Liberalism contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction. It denies the moral relevance of such things as desert and responsibility. It thinks in terms of groups rather than individuals. It is guilt-ridden to the point of incapacitation. It naively believes that human beings are infinitely malleable. These beliefs are so detached from reality—as given to us by science—that they ensure that liberalism will never get a grip on the popular imagination. Deep down, liberals know that they can secure the power they crave only by misrepresenting themselves to the American people. The American people, however, are too smart to be taken in by such dishonesty. Instead of acknowledging and accepting this, liberals persist in thinking that they fail because—and only because—of a conservative conspiracy.
Read MoreThe Power to Beg for the Whip
What’s Billy Beck spewing venom about now? In other words, you can all have your stupid opinions, out there. You get to have your ridiculous say. You can gang-up as you please and see what you can gouge and scratch out of each other. And then, we’ll all get to deal with the increasingly disastrous consequences for a couple of years until the next Great Public Conspiracy after the next Peak of Cannibal-Pot Hysteria. You rotten assholes. Americans. I used to really admire you. And if I came across a bunch of assholes at the end of your driveway getting ready to take a vote on whether to violate your rights, I wouldn’t be telling them that we’d have to agree to disagree or any such weezily rot, like I hear all you bastards equivocating all the time while you’re excusing yourselves for getting ready to gang-up and violate each others’ and everybody else’s rights, this November. [bah] What on earth could be the point? They’re all going to do it again this year: they’re going to line up at the polls and endorse this rule of their lives, just like animals suddenly come upon the power of begging for…
Read MorePoliticized and Tribalized
A friend alerts me in email that Alan Bromley gets No Holiday From Hate. “Screw you!” someone shouted from across the porch. My daughter’s head swerved to the yelling miscreant, then back to me, somewhat fearful of my reaction. I said: “And to you sir, may I ask, don’t you see the irony of the Democrats using ‘restore trust’ as their slogan. Did you not see their lineup of speakers? “Let’s count: we had Ted Kennedy, who lied about trying to save Mary Jo Kopechne. We had Hillary Clinton, who lied about her billing records, about her commodities trading prowess, about kissing Arafat’s wife right after Arafat accused the Israelis of poisoning Palestinian children. We had Al Sharpton, of Tawana Brawley fame, who later incited an anti-Semitic riot in Harlem with fatal consequences–funny how you blindly embrace these leaders of liberty, isn’t it? “And then we had your sweetheart, President Clinton, who never saw a big hairdo or a little lie he couldn’t resist. We had John Edwards, who made his fortune convincing juries of the evils of doctors, and finally, Kerry himself, who is living the biggest lie of all–marrying rich, then richer, and feigning empathy for the downtrodden…
Read MoreHoist By Their Own Petard
(Alternate title: The Law of Unintended Consequences) I truly adore this political mud slinging by independent groups (“527s”) that’s arisen in the wake of “Campaign Finance Reform” plugging up a few outlets for private contributions. Of course, the very same money just found its way to other outlets, and when those are plugged, it will find its way to yet other outlets. Will all this evidence cause people to doubt the intellectual and “problem”-solving abilities of John McCain and his allies in the relentless struggle to “reform” political campaign finance? Of course it won’t. When new laws don’t work, or work opposite of their intended goal, the solution is nearly never to get rid of the law. The [political] “solution” is always to spend more money, to add more complexity, to bolster it with more regulators and bureaucrats. Want proof? See here. President Bush wants to work with Republican Sen. John McCain to go to court against political ads by “shadowy” outside groups, the White House said Thursday amid growing pressure on the president to denounce attacks on John Kerry’s war record. “We want to pursue court action,” Bush spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters aboard Air Force One en route…
Read MoreIt’s a Start (Maybe)
In a striking admission, George W. Bush said the other day that that ”We actually misnamed the war on terror. It ought to be [called] the struggle against ideological extremists who do not believe in free societies and who happen to use terror as a weapon to try to shake the conscience of the free world.” From an article by Daniel Pipes in the Chicago Sun-Times entitled, ‘Terrorism’ battle is really fight against Islamism. You know, I said as much on September 11, 2001. Islam has not undergone an ideological and cultural renaissance as has Christianity and Judaism. That means, it has not undergone the transformation from taking doctrines and ancient texts literally, to taking them metaphorically—symbolically. Yes, I understand there are a lot of Christians who profess literal belief in the Bible and every word of it. But, alas, they too have been infected with some degree of rationality and reality, for few of them actually practice the literalness they preach. They’ve been infected with the American Spirit, which runs starkly contrary to every tenet of their dogmatism. Perhaps herein lies the root cause of the reluctance to peg this conflict for what it really is—and what it really…
Read MoreJuxtaposition
The opening voiceover in the HBO special Band of Brothers said: I’m not a hero, but I served with a bunch of heros. John Kerry’s message is: ‘I’m a hero, and I served with a bunch of war criminals.’ That was Lee Rodgers, during this morning’s show on KSFO. UPDATE: See Heroes Don’t Shout. Via Michelle Malkin.
Read MoreLas Vegas Monorail
Some testimony and commentary regarding my weekend trip to Las Vegas and riding the new Monorail, via Greg Swann at Pressence of Mind.
Read MoreThen why not try freedom?
Yea, here’s a ringing endorsement of western European socialism. Seems former east Germans aren’t able to find enough essential differences between their current and past standing to realize that they’re “better off” now than they were under communism. There’s a spiritual lesson here, folks. Human beings are born to be free. A cage with a lot of nice trappings is still a cage. America is becoming more productive and individuals are attaining a “higher standard of living,” but are individuals more free in the important ways that count? And if not, are they truly better off? It reminds me of what I said to a taxi driver last evening during the drive from my hotel to the airport in Las Vegas: “I love Vegas because it’s the last bastion of freedom in America—it’s an illusion, of course, but I’ll take it for now.” (link via Bruce McQuain, with a different take)
Read MoreWhat’s worse: being a phony, or falling for one?
It’s been my keen observation that one of the reasons conservatives generally have it tougher in American politics than liberals—in terms of media portrayal and public “persona”—is that conservatives have more of a tendency to be straight up. They are sooner to tell you, unabashedly, how they stand. Often, I sense that they sometimes even delight in stating a position they know someone else is likely to disagree with. On the other hand, I’ve observed liberals to have a greater propensity to tell you whatever it is they believe you want to hear if they sense you’re liberal, or if not, they stick to banal “crowd pleasers.” Next time you’re at a social gathering talking with strangers, give off various telltales in matters of politics. If you investigate, you will find that the ones who parrot what they think you want to hear are generally liberals while the ones who tell you what they think in spite of the telltale are generally conservatives. So, assuming you have some stake in a given matter, would you prefer to deal with someone with whom you have some disagreements, but who’s straight up with you? Or, would you prefer someone whose statements amount…
Read MoreLes Vacances
Well, the wife & I are outta here for a few days. Off to relax, camp, and “fly the rim.” This is like our seventh consecutuve year, so you gotta know how much we enjoy it. Back sometime Monday.
Read MoreLefty Gets Half a Brain Transplant
George W. Bush is an asshole, isn’t he? That’s lefty Tom Junod, who gets half his brain transplanted and writes about it in Esquire Magazine. Here’s some telling excerpts: What if he’s right? As easy as it is to say that we can’t abide the president because of the gulf between what he espouses and what he actually does, what haunts me is the possibility that we can’t abide him because of us–because of the gulf between his will and our willingness. What haunts me is the possibility that we have become so accustomed to ambiguity and inaction in the face of evil that we find his call for decisive action an insult to our sense of nuance and proportion. The people who dislike George W. Bush have convinced themselves that opposition to his presidency is the most compelling moral issue of the day. Well, it’s not. The most compelling moral issue of the day is exactly what he says it is, when he’s not saying it’s gay marriage. The reason he will be difficult to unseat in November–no matter what his approval ratings are in the summer–is that his opponents operate out of the moral certainty that he is…
Read MoreIt’s not like anyone gives a damn, but…
For those of the left out there who pretty much get their news from the major networks, the morning paper, and one or more of the popular news weeklies, this is all going to be complete news to you (which, alas, is not news). Here’s a pretty comprehensive report on 59 “deceits” (I’d call most outright intentional lies, but why split hairs over that?) in Michael Moore’s film Fahrenheit 9/11 that even the left-winger Charles Hitchens hated, as I linked to here. There’s also a much shorter summary of those 59 lies, here.
Read MoreTo Hell in a Handbasket, I Tell Ya
I hope the readers aren’t suggesting that unless God exists, anything goes. Why would that be? Why can’t morality be concerned with human well-being, fairness, or respect for persons? Why must there be a supernatural dimension to it? That’s Keith Burgess-Jackson (again), with a post on the ties between religion and morality. Interesting. At one level, there’s a parallel in that excerpt to arguments I hear for the necessity of government. God and government, or we’re to hell in a handbasket. Curious though, isn’t it? In broadcasting such a warning, isn’t one really saying that their motivation for believing in God and government is as a hedge against immorality and predation? If so, then are their alternatives to both that might work as well, or better? The central point here is that God is not the source of morality and the State is not the source of security. The source of both is to be found in the nature of the human animal. He’s just created God and the State in order to cope the two most profound issues of his life. Someday, the human animal will grow to learn that he needs neither fantasy in order to ensure his…
Read MoreJust For Fun
Play the game.
Read MoreWhy Vietnam?
Its all he has. If America were to really judge John Kerry’s record, the real record, the one that makes a difference, his Senate record, they’d most likely reject him outright. But now, even his Vietnam record appears to be something other than he claims. Bruce McQuain, in a thorough analysis of this.
Read MorePhony Compassion
Don’t fall for liberal propaganda. A rational person evaluates actions in terms of both costs and benefits. A rational person understands that there are costs to inaction as well as to action, and that one is as responsible for what one allows as for what one does. Liberals make it seem as though the war in Iraq has only costs and that not waging war there would have been costless. Both propositions are patently false. That doesn’t matter to liberals. They have an agenda. They are ruthless true believers. Keith Burgess-Jackson, talking about the insincerity he perceives in the left’s wringing of hands over the Iraq war. Don’t lefties know that only a complete idiot would not have seen through such a facade from the first instant, or, is that the whole point of it?
Read MoreSo Be It
Of course that is 4 months more than you or I have spent in a combat zone…………………and certainly 4 more months than GW. From an email. Well, no, no bullets were flying, but let me provide a few highlights of my service as a US Navy officer in the same surface warfare officer (SWO) corps as John Kerry: I patrolled the Persian Gulf in warships both before (USS REEVES (CG-24)) and after (FNS COLBERT (C611)) the USS STARK (FFG-31) was hit with two Exocet missiles fired from an Iraqi F-1 Mirage fighter (both supplied by the French). 37 killed, 21 wounded. While aboard USS REEVES (CG-24), I also patrolled 12 nautical miles from the USSR military seaport and airbase of Vladivostok for about 2 months. We were alone, asserting our claim that international waters extend to within 12 nautical miles of any territory regardless of claims of territorial waters that extend past that. We were shadowed the whole time by Soviet warships and aircraft with guns pointed our direction. I was the US SEVENTH FLEET officer of the watch the night the USS VINCENNES (CG-49) shot down the Iranian Airbus (thinking, and reporting to us that they had taken out…
Read MoreAm I a “Bushie?”
Well, it happened. Someone finally called me a “Bushie.” Do I prefer Bush over Kerry in this election? Absolutely. I’ve made no bones about it. Am I a fan of Bush? In general, absolutely not. In the narrow context of the war, yes. It’s really all about the lesser of two evils, for me. Bush is just as much of a disaster on the domestic front as any democrat, spending like a drunken sailor. I’ve never once equivocated about this fact. What of the charges of deceit and lying? Well, it pretty much goes with this territory, i.e., this particular context. I think it was strategically critical to take Iraq, and so did they. I also think that laying out all the real reasons for doing so would never fly politically. Pragmatism over principle? Yes, to a degree, but people running planes into buildings and swearing an allegiance to kill you if they get the chance constitutes an emergency situation where conventional morality does not always apply.* The war against Islamism is the only reason I back Bush. Still, I will not be wasting my time voting. What of the charges of horrible blundering? Has anyone stopped to realize that…
Read MoreDiversions
So, I get this, by email from a brother-in-law just as I’m sitting down for lunch. No indication of its source. Don’t know whether it’s contrived, or an actual speech or letter. Nevertheless, it got me to thinking. Bud: Thanks. This turned out to be very enjoyable reading on my Blackberry during lunch. A quick search upon my return to the office yields that this letter was written by some retired attorney to his sons. About the only real quibble I have with it is that I think our support of Israel is right up there on our list of why we’re hated and attacked. No matter; no sane person can review the footage of 9/11 and not take seriously the threat. That we should continue to pansy-ass our way, in harmony with an ineffectual and corrupt United Nations (as Kerry would have us do) and weasels like France, Germany, and now Spain is unconscionable, to me. It’s remarkable to me how hatred of GWB can actually motivate sane people to overlook this sort of threat; and thinking Kerry can do any better is just unfounded, and probably totally wrong. You want to know how shallowly nearly everyone sees all…
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