welcome to the choir

Larry Norman, "father of christian rock music", left the planet on the same day as grandmother.

led zeppelin would be proud

i've heard of yellow-dogs and blue-dogs, but now dustbury is reporting some black dogs in the democratic party. :)

look again

at language

Who gave us the terms "Left" and "Right"? The atheistic, murderous French Revolutionaries, who were themselves on the Left Bank of the Seine, and whose implacable enemies were on the Right Bank of the Seine. These monsters, overshadowed by the evils of other Leftists later, were quite prepared, by their own admission, to kill one quarter of the population of France - many millions of people - to achieve their revolutionary aims.

Who invented the terms "liberal," "conservative," "progressive," "reactionary," "revolutionary," "radical," and "moderate" in the sense that we use those terms today? Karl Marx and those who largely accepted the Marxian view of things created this lexicon of political shades. Marx, who influenced Lenin, Mussolini and Mao, has been allowed from the grave to give us those words that we use to describe our politics today.

Orwell presciently told us that language is the key to politics. He also warned us that the intention of those who seek power was to drain meaning from words so that we could not cogently grasp the enemy or his weapons.

and hoover vs. f.d.r.

Herbert Hoover, Republican

• Race: In 1924, Hoover maintains that America's anti-Japanese immigration quotas are wrong, full stop.
• Integrity: Hoover disdains anti-Semitic jokes, and stands against tricks "to smuggle fascism into America through a back door."
• WWII: Hoover is not against all wars, but against Roosevelt's handling of the war, and shares John F. Kennedy's concerns.
• Childhood: "Hoover was born in pinch poverty in the little town of West Branch, Iowa, where every home is humble."
• Hobbies: "Hoover [the poor country pupil] entertained himself with sticks and tacks, strings, wires and nails and the assortment of things the village smithy leaves scattered in the shade of the chestnut tree."
• Education: Hoover, the orphan, worked his way though Stanford, because he was not too proud to do laundry work.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Democrat

• Race: During WWII, FDR sends Japanese families to "internment camps" while many white Germans are free to play, and travel.
• Integrity: Like so many Democrats, President Roosevelt adopts a fondness for anti-Semitic jokes.
• WWII: FDR often falls out with Churchill, makes a series of costly blunders, and falls in love with Stalin.
• Childhood: Roosevelt was America's little Lord Fauntleroy, the child of a Hudson River squire. He grew up in Hyde Park, NY.
• Hobbies: "Franklin played with imported toys under the tutelage and protection of a governess [to the age of fourteen!], which ever is the nicest term." Then, he was off to Groton, the elite preparatory school.
• Education: Franklin Roosevelt's daddy dear, paid his son's way into Harvard, living "on the Gold Coast" and then Columbia.

both links via molten thought

road hazards

some due to rage, more due to ignorance and inattention

something i never thought i'd say

Clinton Obama 08!

:)

"It Takes a Village to Steal an Election"

Looks like the Clinton machine is at it again:

Black voters are heavily represented in the 94th Election District in Harlem’s 70th Assembly District. Yet according to the unofficial results from the New York Democratic primary last week, not a single vote in the district was cast for Senator Barack Obama.

That anomaly was not unique. In fact, a review by The New York Times of the unofficial results reported on primary night found about 80 election districts among the city’s 6,106 where Mr. Obama supposedly did not receive even one vote, including cases where he ran a respectable race in a nearby district.

City election officials this week said that their formal review of the results, which will not be completed for weeks, had confirmed some major discrepancies between the vote totals reported publicly — and unofficially — on primary night and the actual tally on hundreds of voting machines across the city.

Vince Foster and Ron Brown could not be reached for comment.

slaveowners then and now

apology nothing, how about reparations?

letter to both sides

Fellow GOMLPer The View From Out Here wrote an open letter to both of the political parties:

As a citizen of this, the greatest country on earth, I want to say that I find the choices you have given me to be disgusting. The lack of consideration for the voices of American citizens shows that both parties desire power above the good of the country.

My first grievance is the continued lack of response to American citizen’s cries to stop illegal immigration. The influx of illegal immigrants and the rush to grant them all the privileges of citizens has lowered our standard of living and taken away benefits of citizenship. Both parties have worked to give this group amnesty so they can win them as voters. When we rose up you backed off, till you thought we were asleep again. But I am not.

The next issue is your desire to enslave the people through expansion of government programs. The expansion of the safety net that will turn our nation into a cradle to the grave social state goes against the founding principles of this country. Look to Europe, Socialism has not worked there. Yet you seek to choke the life out of our country, through government give aways, so that the citizens will vote for your party perpetually.

It may be too late to have a good choice for President, but I state my intent to work to elect people to congress who will uphold the foundations of our country, and work for the freedoms of the people.

, and recommends that if you agree, "print it out and place it on both the Republican and Democratic parties offices in your city or county."

The Abomination of Taxation

and we don't even get to rest on the seventh day...

10 reasons to doubt global warming

(paraphrased)

the first five:

1. It hasn’t gotten warmer in the past seven years.
2. The Sun, which by itself accounts for about 99.8% of the solar system’s mass, just might have a profound impact on the temperature.
3. There is a lot of money in global warming. There have been charges laid against companies like Exxon/Mobil for paying for climate change research, however, there is more money involved in proving the theory than debunking it.
4. Kyoto isn’t about reducing carbon... Kyoto “is not a simple environmental issue... This is about international relations, this is about the economy, about trying to create a level playing field for big businesses throughout the world... the Kyoto Protocol is “the first component of authentic global governance.”
5. Regardless of what really happens, the alarmists fit reality into their predictions, or they just ignore reality completely.
   

then the second five begins with this:

In 1895, the New York Times was telling America to stock up on firewood, because the Ice Age was coming... Then in the 20s, the Earth got a fever and temperatures increased a half a degree, leading the Times to report on the new impending doom: global warming. In 1954, the Earth was destined to freeze again... This global cooling talk went through the 70s and the first Earth Day... In 1974 Fortune wrote:

“It is the root cause of a lot of that unpleasant weather around the world and they warn that it carries the potential for human disasters of unprecedented magnitude,”

Sound familiar?... either way they were certain we were doomed. And remember, those journalists didn’t just make these stories up out of thin air. Each one was backed up with science. Or so they thought.

read both links.

but don't question his patriotism!

update 2: Hussein also refuses to salute the American flag.

update & bump: Lamest. Apology. Ever.

Barack Hussein Obama refuses to wear an American flag pin, and there are Che Guevara flags hanging in his campaign offices. Maybe he doesn't personally idolize that communist mass-murderer, but his staffers sure do.

valentine 08

as per usual, nothing special about this day for me. go read this, which is far better than both this and this combined.

salutes

America's newest Korean War fighter ace, Retired Lt. Gen. Charles G. Cleveland.

Southeast Oklahoma's newest Electronic Gaming Regulation Enforcement Agent, Local Malcontent.

on meaninglessness

great title, great concept: Of Pro Bowls and Nematodes

new york london paris munich

everybody talk about hot planet!

the sun rises on the west

Even though Ibn Warraq doesn't mention the theological underpinnings, he proves the West's superiority of values.

The World Turned Upside Down

A few centuries ago the British bemoaned their cultural upheaval in song. Unfortunately it seems time to start singing a new version, inspired by this pathetic bit of news: "Archbishop of Canterbury argues for Islamic law in Britain"

Listen to me and you shall hear,
news hath not been this thousand year:
Since Herod, Caesar, and many more,
you never heard the like before.
Holy days are despised.
new fashions are devised.
Old Christmas is kicked out of Town.
Yet let's be content, and the times lament,
You see the world turn'd upside down.

The wise men did rejoice to see
our Savior Christ's Nativity:
The Angels did good tidings bring,
the Shepherds did rejoice and sing.
Let all honest men,
take example by them.
Why should we from good Laws be bound?
Yet let's be content, and the times lament,
You see the world turn'd upside down.

P.C. now reigns, we must obey
and quite forget the Christian way.
Kill three thousand men, or two towers fall?
We must not say a word at all!
The world must all be linked,
while we just feast and drink.
And then strange notions will abound.
Yet let's be content, and the times lament,
You see the world turn'd upside down.

Our Lefts and Rights and Centrists too
dare not offend a soul (but you):
Deploying sappers at our wall,
invaders shan't be hindered at all.
They count it as good
to play Robin Hood
while good men in bad laws are drowned.
Yet let's be content, and the times lament,
You see the world turn'd upside down.

A list of rulers, truly mad -
Ayatollah to Ahmenadijad -
slay all who stand to block their paths.
Dance halls and bus stops? Now bloodbaths.
The deaths of innocents they rejoice
with insane ululating voice.
Jew, Gentile, Hindu - no quarter found.
Yet let's be content, and the times lament,
You see the world turn'd upside down.

The mullahs will rejoice aloud
to make their western mushroom clouds,
and stoning women and children to death
won't cause them even one sad breath.
Now stand, my brothers, to cease
their bloodthirsty cult of "peace"!
And once again we shall hear
true peace throughout the year.
Let's not be content, and weakly lament,
To see the world turn'd upside down.

update: sadly, it's not just "across the pond" any more

ClearPlay

This looks like a good idea: a self-censoring DVD player.

how about "America is great, ignore the whiners."

Lileks has a six-word motto for the NYTimes, and its little poll too, "Hundreds of snippets of derisive snark."

"You can picture the satisfied little grins on the authors’ faces; you can imagine the whole tableau – the computer (which most people in the world will never touch, let alone use, let alone own) the TV in the corner connected to a network that has channels catering to every taste, the iPod stocked with music hoovered up free of charge without consequence, the fridge stocked with food – the light comes on when you open the door, too, unless it’s burned out, and then you go to the store and get another one; they always have another one. The soft bed, the coffee machine, the well-fed pet, the vast panoply of free information and unfettered opinion flowing 24/7 from the internet. You can drink alcohol without being sentenced to death; you can be a girl alone in a room with a man without earning a public stoning; you can stand up in a room and argue for the candidate of your choice without being arrested; you stand in a society that allows for astonishing amounts of freedom, comfort and opportunity. But.

But. Someone somewhere is a practicing Baptist and someone somewhere else is eating a hamburger larger than you’d prefer, and other people are watching cars go around a track at high speed. As your skinny unhappy friend said the other night: people are just too fat and happy. He bites his nails and plays WoW six hours a night, but he has a point. It doesn’t matter that these fascists-in-fetal-form never quite seem to accomplish anything; it’s not like they drove the gay Teletubbies off the air or had Tony Kushner drawn and quartered in the public square. But they’re preventing something. Something wonderful. And they’re driving large cars to Wal-Mart and putting 18-roll packs of Charmin in the back and they have three kids. Earth has withstood a lot in its four billion years, but it cannot withstand them. And even if it does, who wants to live in a world where these people don’t care that they’re being mocked by small, underfunded theaters in honest, gritty neighborhoods?"

my motto for that article is "read the rest, it gets better."

"progress"ing us off a cliff

Bidinotto says "anybody but McCain"

"While the (Jonah) Goldberg article zeroes in on Democrat "progressives" like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, he surprisingly -- and completely inconsistently -- gives a pass to Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain. McCain embodies not Wilsonian progressivism, like the other two; rather, he embodies Teddy Roosevelt progressivism. Here's a candidate who calls himself "conservative," but who spends much of his time channeling bully-boy Teddy R while bashing corporations, extolling "patriotism" over "profits," assaulting the First Amendment (McCain-Feingold), pushing hardcore environmentalism (no oil drilling in Alaska; imposing cap-and-trade restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions; touting the horrors of "global warming"), voting against major tax cuts, demanding individual self-sacrifice on behalf the great unifying causes of The State -- and calling us "my friends" while he picks our pockets and directs our lives.

If Mike Huckabee embodies the extreme social-conservatism minority within the GOP, McCain represents a resurrection of progressivism, long-interred since the early twentieth century. And his brand of progressive statism, like Hillary's, borrows from an ugly intellectual tradition long denied by progressives, but thoroughly exposed by Goldberg: fascism.

No, Bidinotto is not saying that the election of Hillary, Obama, or McCain will be a harbinger of brownshirts in the streets kicking down doors and beating up writers, bloggers, and editors like...well, like me. No, modern times require more sophisticated methods of social control and coercion. Like compulsory "national service" programs, in which we will all be required to do our Patriotic Duty by participating in various "progressive" social causes. Like controls on political activity and political speech via the IRS and "campaign finance reforms."

For people on the right, opposition to the liberal, Wilsonian progressivism of Hillary and Obama is a no-brainer. But in their visceral reactions against liberal Democrat progressives, many of these same right-wingers seem poised to rush headlong and without reflection into the waiting arms of conservative Republican progressive John McCain.

On the heels of George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" -- i.e., big-government altruism on behalf of conservative values -- John McCain's selection as the GOP leader would be a further ideological disaster for the party, and for the nation. His ascendancy would cement in place within American politics two hard-core variants of statism as the only major-party alternatives, and thus effectively banish the individualist/limited-government faction from participation in the political process.

That trend has been underway for decades, with growing numbers of Republican candidates doing their best to repudiate and run from the party's individualist premises. Some of the better conservatives, like George Will and Rush Limbaugh, have been sounding the alarm. So has Objectivist writer Robert Tracinski, the most philosophically astute of the various commentators.

But now, with the best GOP candidates (Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson) gone, and two remaining candidates (Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul, in their own ways just as bad ideologically as McCain) not realistically in contention, that leaves the underwhelming Mitt Romney as the last best hope of stopping McCain. But at this point, unless Romney manages to pull the proverbial rabbit out of the proverbial hat (I turn my secular eyes to California tonight, and desperately offer up a secular prayer), then the fall election will be a choice between Tweedledee liberal progressivism and Tweedledum conservative progressivism. And either way the election turns out, the next four years will be a statist nightmare."

(emphases mine)

I'm not ready to say who I'd vote for in a McCain-vs-either-dem race (update: CSM is), but in the "lesser of two evils" sense it might feel like a choice between cthulhu and morgoth...

undersea cable cut

If you pay close attention to online news, you may have heard about undersea communications lines being cut around the Middle East. While Occam's Razor might point to an earthquake in the region, the comments here are much more entertaining. I'll paraphrase the best ones:

First time is an accident. Second time's a coincidence. Third time it's a conspiracy. So what's the fourth time, profit???

It was American Tech Support, getting revenge for all the outsourcing.

USS Jimmah say hai!!1!

Cloverfield?

of course, i had to add

"lolsquid say "i'm on ur seaflor chuwin ur cablz nom nom nom""

stuck in the commune

Get Offa My Lawn Party member Twisted Spinster is upset about what will happen to the TV series 24:

"...it’s a shame that yet another apparently hard-hitting and gritty show is going to be shoved into the Very Special Lesson cesspool...

...(also) two extremely obnoxious "Global Warming Will Kill Cuddly Things" spots, one by the World Wildlife Federation (due to the length, the lies told — it uses those shots of polar bears floating on ice floes as emotional manipulation devices, images which we know to have been edited in such a way as to not show the fact that the bears were floating next to much larger and more solid ice sheets which they could easily reach by their usual method of just swimming over to them — and the gulpy sobbing voice of the actress they used I have resolved never to give them a dime in contribution); and another by some website which uses the anti-appeal of a Cute Widdle Kids montage of them each saying “Tick.” “Tick.” “Tick.” “Tick.” “Tick.” until I hit the mute button... Way to get me on your side, Glopaholics.

But it’s always been like this. Dealing with what our so-called entertainment media sees fit to serve up to us here in the US of A has always been an exercise in torment for anyone who thinks that art should not take a back seat to teaching five-year-olds how to share their toys. Unfortunately to get into power in this country... you have to be the sort of person who really believes that the rest of the nation is comprised of toddlers clutching their dollies stubbornly to their chests. I don’t think I have to give any examples, do I? Just think of the upcoming election, or look at the night’s television schedule. The media, of course, is part of the powers that run this country. Back when I was young the problem was an entertainment industry hamstrung by the need to be “proper” according to the standards of no later than twenty years previous. In the Sixties and Seventies that meant the Forties and Fifties was the touchstone of progress, and Depression-era decorum was the norm, which meant only women on TV wore white gloves and hats when they went outdoors. Today, in the supposedly progressive first decade of the 21st century, our Baby-Boomer-run media empire has stalled in those halcyon days when women considered themselves “emancipated” if they were living with bearded stoners, being called “my old lady,” and serving mushroom tea instead of coffee to all the bearded stoner’s bearded stoner pals. There have been a few attempts to crawl at least into the Reagan era, but for the most part we’re stuck in the commune..."

(slightly edited)

what a wonderful world it would be :P

I was a little young to have paid close attention to Jimmy Carter's administration at the time. Except for hearing about high interest rates and gas prices (plus having a vague sense of malaise), I had no idea then how his presidency was.

But these days, the more I hear about him, the less I think of him. And the following article really sealed that low opinion - Jimmy thinks that Jesus should have given in to the devil's temptation:

"What a wonderful and benevolent government Jesus could have set up. How exemplary justice would have been. Maybe there would have been Habitat projects all over Israel for anyone who needed a home. And the proud, the rich, and the powerful could not have dominated their fellow citizens. As a twentieth-century governor and president I would have had a perfect pattern to follow. I could have pointed to the Bible and told other government leaders, "This is what Jesus did 2000 years ago in government. Why don't we do the same?""

The author adds some choice words,

"Carter places the miracles of government bureaucracy ahead of those of his own church, yet still wonders why the largest single contingent of Baptists in the country is skeptical of his New Covenant. "I treat theological arguments gingerly but am bolder when it comes to connecting my religious beliefs with life and current events in the world, even when the issues are controversial," Carter writes in Living Faith. In other words, the details of scripture are uninteresting until they offer a rationale for Carter's left-wing predilections or somehow justify the four years of tribulation known as his presidency."

and FrankJ adds elsewhere,

"So if you're wondering what means liberals think are okay to achieve their goals, the line is apparently drawn somewhere beyond deals with Satan."

math against tyranny?

why the electoral college is still a good idea

to the uttermost

Herescope excerpted part of a great sermon which should be read in its entirety. Here is part of the conclusion:

Was there ever a poor needy object that came and tell down at the feet of Christ when upon earth, whom that blessed Man of Sorrows sent away unheeded? Not one! And has He not now the same tender feelings, and are not these all united with infinite power, mercy, grace, and love? Thus He is able to save to the uttermost... However desperate the circumstances of the case may be, the Lord's arm is long enough and strong enough to pluck His child out of the depths of the Fall. Why? Because He ever liveth to make intercession for them; because the steam of His incense ever fills the court of heaven above. By sitting at God's right hand in glory, majesty, and power, "he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him."

Shall not this be more or less our experience to the end of our days? Shall we ever get beyond this coming to God by Jesus Christ, and being saved experimentally by His blood and righteousness.'? No, there will be a daily coming to the Lord through Jesus Christ, – coming as poor and needy, having nothing and being nothing, and looking up to Him to supply all our wants out of His fulness, seeing we are destitute and have nothing but rags, and ruin, and misery in ourselves. It is thus we get comfort, and crown Him Lord of all. And what a precious thing it is for a poor sinner who is come to the Lord, though it may be from the ends of the earth, to know that He is a God that cannot lie! He hath said, "All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me, and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out."

csm: "the religion of peace strikes again"

There can be no more apt title than the one Cheat Seeking Missiles made for this sickening story.

If serving Allah includes hiding behind retarded women while murdering innocent people (and pedophilia), put me down as the Anti-Allah.

time was...

If you're not already reading "The Daily Spurgeon", I would highly recommend it.

Time was... when every shower of rain was seen to come from heaven, when every ray of sunshine was blessed, and God was thanked for having given fair weather to ingather the fruits of the harvest. Then, men talked of God as doing everything. But in our days where is our God? We have the laws of matter... We talk now of phenomena, and of the chain of event, as if all things happened by machinery, as if the world were a huge clock which had been wound up in eternity, and continued to work without a present God. Nay, not only our philosophers, but even our poets rant in the same way. They sing of the works of Nature. But who is that fair goddess, Nature? Is she a heathen deity, or what? Do we not act as if we were ashamed of our God, or as if his name had become obsolete? Go abroad wherever you may, you hear but little said concerning Him who made the heavens, and who formed the earth and the sea; but everything is nature, and the laws of motion and of matter. And do not Christians often use words which would lead you to suppose that they believed in the old goddess, Luck, or rested in that equally false deity, Fortune, or trembled before the demon of Misfortune? Oh for the day when God shall be seen, and little else beside!

sick sad world

oh woe is we!

how can we have "no child left behind"? let no child get ahead!

yet another quagmire!