I’ve got…
…some plans for another post, but I have a busy afternoon ahead of me. So I thought I’d give you an open thread in the meantime to discuss whatever you want. There’s so much happening (most of it upsetting), so here’s your chance to talk.
Here’s one piece you might want to take a look at (hat tip: Ace). It echoes some thoughts we’ve discussed here recently. And then take a look at this piece by Sarah Hoyt, who still thinks the American people are not that dumb.
I hope she’s right, but I have very serious doubts.
Ben Stein’s column is at once beautiful and terrible, a pastoral day’s outing concluding with commentary on our delusional federal government and narcissistic President.
Stein’s column makes me, an old man who settled five years ago in a place I wanted to make my last place on Earth, contemplate the possibility of moving to Australia or Canada. Or even Rwanda. Anyplace might turn out to be better than post-Obama America, where calling a depression a ‘recovery’ or ignoring the arrest of a petty movie maker, or having the Federal government sue states for enforcing laws, is business as usual.
Good grief, Neo, we live in grim times! Why did you remind us? We could have focused instead on which Hollywood star is marrying whom, or whether or not Kate’s topless photos will ever see the light of day, or some other pressing business.
Maybe it’s the age. Maybe it’s yesterday’s dinner not settling well. But I truly feel awful. F
I thought Hoyt stole her title from you!
whatever we want! I was going to ask for a place to go to when we become faint of heart . . . but courage tells us to keep quiet when we feel faint of heart. Keep the faith. Keep the faith in the spirit that formed these United States.
Now, I’m no “born again” type, but the Christian young man who got 22 million hits on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY said something very wise on Huckabee this weekend; it went like this: sometimes, when we forget the power that is the only truth (i.e., God), we endow sub-sets with power, e.g., being a Democrat or being a Republican. Then we loom toward ‘the other’ with a passionate hatred that simply doesn’t work. I’m paraphrasing big time, but that was the jist of it. Huckabee answered with this: “I know that in 200 years I won’t be a Republican, but I will be a believer.”
While it is truly hard to believe that people like Hillary and Ambassador Rice and DWS actually believe what they say, they probably do believe it – and that is the best they can muster.
I was on a walk yesterday with a Democrat and our dogs. She looked at me and suddenly said, “You’re not a Republican, are you?” I could answer, “I was a life-long Democrat, but now I am an independent. I used to like Hillary.” She quickly said, “Oh, and isn’t Hillary just doing the most courageous job?” “No,” I said. “Today when I see that she blames the crisis on the video, I say that is very wrong. It is an extremely dangerous form of denial. It will not help to solve the crisis. There is extreme anti-Americanism going on, and the administration ought to admit it to deal with it.” I said it calmly, so she could not disagree. Anyone with eyes and ears can see the anti-Americanism going on. We re-commenced talking about dogs – but there may have been an ITTY BITTY crack in her armour.
Like the Christian young man on youtube, I think we cannot approach them as if they are evil (though they seem evil). They believe their emotions and their emotions tell them that they are compassionate, and that love others who are compassionate because it helps them believe that they themselves truly are compassionate. The trick is to wedge something OBVIOUS to them when we get the opportunity.
We should all read more Thomas Sowell.
In case anyone missed this Breitbart “Big Hollywood” posting:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/09/15/Obama-Contribution-Anti-Islam-Filmmaker
I live in one of the bluest of blue states (Washington state). I can tell you that I see a lot fewer Obama bumper stickers on cars this year and a lot fewer supportive discussions about him. I had a customer at work talk about how worried she is about Obama winning a second term. I think that the polls are wrong, overweighting with Democrats in the belief that this is 2008. I also think that the administration’s handling of the Middle East is causing concern among people that might be leaning towards Obama this election. It’s clear to most folks that the media has totally lost touch with most Americans and is trying desperately to get Obama re-elected.
Honestly, what sort of President ignores a foreign policy crisis to run off and fund raise in Las Vegas? If having our ambassador murdered is not a foreign policy crisis, exactly what it important enough to drag Obama away from raising money?
American people dumb?
Rhetorical question, right?
Ben Stein is an weak man lacking courage.
We don’t fight just to win. We fight because we believe, because we are commanded, and because death is preferable to slavery and defeat.
The deck is pretty even and pretty little men despair! These don’t even qualify as sunshine patriots. Eject them from the warrior caste and make them wash dishes. Sarah Palin replaces and disgraces them.
Barack Obama/Jimmy Carter parallels (a few, there have to be more):
Teheran embassy/Cairo and Benghazi
high gas prices/ditto
Emphasis on conservation alone v. increased production/ditto (except Carter pushed for higher coal production — Obama the opposite)
anti-Israel/anti-Israel
Nobel Peace Prize????/Nobel Peace Prize (Sadat and Begin had come to an agreement before Camp David)
others?
Curtis—
Churchill said:
It’s interesting to reflect that for most of the 30s, Churchill was considered laughable at best and possibly mad, a man whose time had come and gone, a dinosaur whom history had passed by, living by an outdated code. And yet when they needed him, they called for him, and he was able to lead the British people.
I really don’t get this “it’s all over but the counting” attitude that seems to be all over the conservative blogsphere these days.
Had these pundits been in the locker room of the Boston Red Sox before the 2004 World Series, I can imagine them sorrowfully telling the team, “It’s no good. We’ve looked at all the statistics and run all the scenarios. There’s no way you can win.”
Thankfully, I also see those “dumb” players and coaches shaking if off, saying “Whatever … Let’s get out there and get it done.”
I have a theory, reticent, about why that may be.
In a word: Urban.
All of us living in urban or suburban societies never have our lives disrupted, or if so, only momentarily. But if you live “in Nature” you have encountered storms (know how many times lighting strikes the earth each day, how much power is generated per day by all the thunderstorms per day? Well, its alot, I’ll tell ya.) rains, icy roads, in effect, things which demand a conquering response. In urban society that doesn’t happen. The city or county responds for you. Therefore, the individual response of urban dwellers lags the rural primate who doesn’t fall apart upon the first sign of resistance.
hooo, hooo, ahhh, ahhh, AHHHH!
Curtis,
Yes, the self-reliance that comes from rural life may be why Kansas keeps voting conservative even though Thomas Frank insists that it’s not in their interest.
The other point is that there are no statistically robust indicators of the future. This is very clear in areas like the financial markets. Whenever someone comes up with what looks to be a promising indicator, the indicator seems to almost always (immediately and perversely) stop working. So, there really is no reason to be a mental masochist, as Clint put it. It’s CNN’s job to demoralize us; why help them do that to us?
M of Hollywood,
I totally agree. Speaking calmly and matter-of-factly is important, as if what you’re saying is completely obvious to any thinking person.
Doesn’t believe in property.
Make me your slave.
Doesn’t believe in objective value.
Make me your slave.
Doesn’t believe in the market.
Make me your slave.
Doesn’t believe in energy.
Make me your slave.
Doesn’t believe in meat.
Make me your slave.
Doesn’t believe in hard work.
Make me your slave.
Doesn’t believe in federalism.
Make me your slave.
Doesn’t believe in individual achievement.
Make me your slave.
Doesn’t believe in America.
Make me your slave.
Doesn’t believe in family.
Make me your slave.
Doesn’t believe the Constitution.
Make me your slave.
Doesn’t believe in peace through strength.
Make me your slave.
Does believe in Obama.
Make me your slave.
I have no wish to engage is negativism. The way to victory is to stay positive. When you step onto the mat against a younger and larger (hence stronger and quicker) opponent there is no room for negativity. Concentrate on your objective: victory. BHO is going down hard. By this time next year he will be appointed to the Chicago School Board and Michelle will be writing a monthly diet and nutrition column for Oprah.
Exactly. Isn’t it a central tenet of martial arts that the victor is already established before the contest?
It’s a nightmare. Tech support. Tech support. –Vanilla Sky
To all Obama supporters: Open your eyes.
The wisdom of Somerset Maugham:
http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2547187-of-human-bondage
Example:
You will find as you grow older that the first thing needful to make the world a tolerable place to live in is to recognize the inevitable selfishness of humanity. You demand unselfishness from others, which is a preposterous claim that they should sacrifice their desires to yours. Why should they? When you are reconciled to the fact that each is for himself in the world you will ask less from your fellows. They will not disappoint you, and you will look upon them more charitably.
” Isn’t it a central tenet of martial arts that the victor is already established before the contest?”
Although I have been put down on 4 occasions (burns a hole in my memory) over the last 35+ years here in the USA and Japan; I have put down my opponent more times than I need to count. I still compete at 64. The older I get and the younger the opponent, the more confident I feel. Its not about speed or strength. Its all about a calm attitude, balance, strategy, and timing. Accept the attack as a gift; a gift to use against the opponent. Once you accept the attack you are a member of the 1%. Do not resist the attack, it is a gift.
Negativity and defeatism is just a stage. I was morose in 2009.
Then I reached acceptance. As Art likes to repeat, the Gramscian march has burned through Atlanta and reached the sea. As I like to repeat, the crony-bankster economic system has leveraged itself off the cliff.
From here, my broad mood is optimistic. I relish the opportunity, no matter how slight, to reinstate something like our Founders’ Constitution in some portion of our territory. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?
Here’s an entertaining cartoon about the problem of inflation and the banker cabal that profits by it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j69Ap4lndl0
Curtis, its not so easy to lump the whole urban area into one thing. there are many in the urban living, that go outside that. in fact, i am quite positive that my life doing things outside of city and domesticated living, has enriched me and the ideas you put forth and more.
however, when people talk of urban people like you just did, they do so thinking of the icons of such living. i wish to call them the domesticated distracted class… they actually exist in all financial spheres, in some more than others, but they live in a domesticated world in which outside things are something to believe. though they dont see it that way, as its the only view they have, and so that’s their reality. they tend to hang out in self reinforcing cliques and really dislike people who inform them.
but there are many others,laborers, and travelers and people who came from the country to the city. and so on. they are not what we see in media, because media dont want you to know that they are there.
I grew up in the city, went to the country in summers. all kinds of adventures… a few hairy ones too (a particular one having to do with a bull, and another with a bucking cow. lord they are big when they do that. don’t get me wrong, their big when they aren’t doing that, but when your over 6 feet tall, your kind of not used to looking UP at a cow while standing). at one time helped handle animals at great adventure, and so on, and so on.
and its funny, but the military says the two most likely to survive IEDs and incidents in military conflicts today are the inner city slum kids (like me), and the country folk that hunt.
and you easily know why, those two groups work intimately with predators… the country folk pretending to be such, and the inner city kid from a bad place having to deal with human kind of predators (and their pets).
one can hunt, one knows when its being hunted.
the others? well they have problems with the Nintendo kids… they spend too much time in front of screens and so they don’t react to things in their peripheral vision. they treat the Humvee windshield like a screen…
another thing is that the favored listen to their hunches, while the domesticated have a lot of practice ignoring them, pushing them down, and convincing themselves that what they are telling themselves is not what they are telling themselves.
so the hunters and inner city subjects respond to things like.. its too quiet. where did all the people go? why does that not look right… they respond and take serious even if they dont have a solid a ha.
on another note, i dont think somerset maugham is all that right…
I find that from the first sentence she is wrong, and i have thousands of examples and even personal stories as to that.
You will find as you grow older that the first thing needful to make the world a tolerable place to live in is to recognize the inevitable selfishness of humanity.
i find quite the opposite. what is his measure?
do not get me wrong, there are selfish people out there, and many of them. but they are not who such people focus on. and i find people that see that in the world, are seeing themselves more than the world.
i would rewrite it… i would not put the premise as first… if its first, and thats it, your dead… lots of other firsts way before that one…
but i would say, learn to tell the difference between the kinds of people you meet. avoid sociopaths (cruel), narcissists (vain), and the selfish (greed).
the first likes to hurt you for their pleasure
the second hurts you if you don’t affirm their whatever
the last, hurt you because the key to whether its greed or not is whether you do an immoral act to acquire it. (a key point that neatly sorts the businesses. greedy cheats by petitioning government and changing the games rules… greedy is not the man who makes something buying the supplies and selling the result without tricks).
i dont find humanity all that selfish…
in fact, compared to everything else, man is the most altruistic giving animal that has ever existed.
such a man imagines humanity
and his nihilism is celebrated
selfish? most ambulance corps in the US are volunteer as are fire departments. Charities in the US collect and disburse BILLIONS. in a disaster, if the state dont stop them, people mobilize to help.
oh. and the biggest proof he is so off base. if we really were that selfish, socialism would not last an hour let alone 150 years or so…
selfish? i once hit the skids and was nearly homeless (again).. i wasnt paying attention and a man i have seen before asked for some change. i gave him the last of what i have, and said, in a couple of weeks, your going to have to make room for me… we chatted.. i left… he called me, and gave me enough money for my rent and laughed that he has a lot more, enough to pay for a cocaine habit he wished he never had. and wished me luck.
i had just lost my family and career and so on. the landlord of the property i rented, didnt pay for it, and the bank forclosed. i had no where to go. a acquaintance frend of a crew i chatted with online in the early days knew what was going on. she contacted me, and loaned me 7000… enough for new apartment, security, moving truck… (which is why i am in the city)… and i paid her back as fast as i could…
At one point i had my EMT training. i paid for it. i gave up my nights for it. why? so when they called for an ambulance and i was on call, we could use the jaws of life, or do other things that non EMT cant do.
i have known people being generous to me, people being generous to others…
his next sentence tells you why he has this opinion.
You demand unselfishness from others
no. i dont.. and i also know the difference between self interest and selfishness. someone that talks that way, has a warped sense of what selfishness is.
who demands it of others? i dont. in fact depending on situations its just fine!!!!! go ahead, its your birthday, take the biggest piece of cake… everyone is a bit selfish sometimes and its in a give and take. and i can tell you, anyone that talks that way, learned their lesson by trying to take a lot, and having everyone tell them they cant have it, and rather than see their own selfishness, they see the others lack of alllowing him his, as selfish.
hen you are reconciled to the fact that each is for himself in the world you will ask less from your fellows.
what a horrid view… man must be an orphan or from some dysfunctional home (and to me, nannies are dysfunctional – i have known too many of the product of their work and the subtle revenge they have through the children)
mother theresa? she was in it for the publicity.
what about the people who read an article in the paper, and send something to help? they dont even get the tax write off… and i made a load of cash and retired being a volunteer. (actually i still suffer nightmares at times. what people end up in can be really nasty on many levels – made more so that most are just regular people)
and unlike him, i never had low expectations of others to not be disappointing that my fantasy of people was not met.
I think rather highly ofmost people, but then again, i am looking at the person, not whatthe person has, or can get, or refuses to give to me when i ask… for the man above, he could be bitter from someone else not loving him and thinks its selfish.
distance yourself from such people.
they neither imagine a better world, or see all of this one…
now i am sure he is not adopted…
if he was his parents would have disabused him of his attitude by existing and raising him, and if not, he is just s sad person with a dark view of the world, and will die miserably, as the words leave very little in the way of enjoying life at all, even by accident.
oh… and i am not a person who likes Rousseau either, so my seeing general goodness is not that kind either.
and wait till you see the next part… 🙂
it may surprise you…
Pretty awesome, Parker. You’re doing pretty damn good for a middle aged man.
Art, I look forward to digesting your missive.
“the biggest proof he [Maugham] is so off base. if we really were that selfish, socialism would not last an hour let alone 150 years”
It doesn’t. Or better, with a Southern twang, It don’t. Not without pure forces of terror and fright. Socialism don’t last a minute and has ne’er triumphed as the force of good will. Uh uhhh. Yeah.
“in a disaster, if the state dont stop them, people mobilize to help.”
In Kansas they do. In post-Katrina New Orleans they didn’t. The crime rate doubled. Yep. Swamp.
“she contacted me, and loaned me 7000… enough for new apartment, security, moving truck… (which is why i am in the city)… and i paid her back as fast as i could…”
She wanted you for a husband, hunh? Hey, she saw a meal ticket.
“what a horrid view… man must be an orphan or from some dysfunctional home”
Jacob said to Pharaoh, “All the years of my travels are one hundred and thirty. All the years of my life have been few and painful.” We all know the story of the sons of Jacob and how they sold their brother Joseph into slavery. Family is dysfunctional because man is dysfunctional. But quite less than what the State can be. Hello.
Other views expressed: Nannies and Mother Theresa are bad (selfish, perhaps? hunnnnnh?)and you made a load of cash by thinking highly of most people.
The ender: actually i still suffer nightmares
Yes, you do and have not found the reason or resolution for them. It is to weep.
Would you give them up for the power they have given you?
oh heck… that last was too long.. slice and dice it..
for a really good read..
Goodness — Dietrich von Hildebrand
http://payingattentiontothesky.com/2012/06/07/goodness-dietrich-von-hildebrand/
Curtis.. my nightmares are from picking up and looking for body parts when i was still a teenager. and the mistake of volunteering in an area i went to school in, so that i would end up on call with someone i knew at the other end…
and i didnt say mother theresa was bad…
(and i DID say nannies were… most mothers are better)
ah nevermind..
Parker! Parker!
It’s alright Art. We love you and accept you and don’t want you to go away. Without you, a specialness wouldn’t be here, but don’t use your talents against friends, unless absolutely necessary.
Two pieces at American Thinker:
Obama Destabilized the Middle East on Purpose
How the Financial Collapse Would Happen in an Obama Second Term
foxmarks:
Head {—–} ass
More separation is called for.
Neither the producers nor the you, apparently, can see what a load of biased hooey this thing is.
The banks didn’t loan out bad loans because they wanted to — they HAD to because the government FORCED them to, claiming to not loan out bad loans was **racist**. If they didn’t make loans to bad risks (disproportionately black or hispanic) then they would be investigated and charged based on such treatment, putting them out of business.
Trying to make out the banks as the “bad guys” in the whole financial collapse is just ludicrous.
Bupkis:
Why couldn’t it be a combination of Federal policy and banker choice? I say the version that only cites FedGov policy is childishly simplistic. Have you considered *total* debt and leverage? The problem is far, far bigger than just bad home loans.
What makes good loans turn into bad loans? Are you handwaving away student debt? What about the wave of consumer revolving debt (credit cards) from the mid-2000s? The “bad home loan” theory fails as a comprehensive explanation.
The “bad loan” model also completely fails to address the problem of systemic perpetual inflation. Why did the dollar price of gasoline and gold rise over 2,000% since 1955? Why is the same pile of boards and plaster valued today at ten times the price it cost to build in the 1950s?
We are being taxed on inflation, not real gains. It’s evil, if you believe evil exists.