Two good posts about the true meaning of “fascism,” and why the current US government course is more “fascist” than “socialist,” by Michael Ledeen:
We Are All Fascists Now
We’re All Fascists Now II: American Tyranny.
1 |
MacGregor Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:35:30pm |
When fascism comes to America it will be wearing a smiley face.
-George Carlin
| 2 |
unreconstructed rebel Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:35:51pm |
Has Garrison Keillor written another tune?
| 3 |
The Sanity Inspector Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:36:12pm |
I liked what someone once said the difference between communism and fascism is. Under communism, the government takes the business leaders out and shoots them. Under fascism, the government takes the business leaders out to lunch, where they threaten to shoot them unless they obey orders.
| 5 |
mean Gene Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:38:41pm |
How many days ago did I post this in spinoffs?
It is absolutely wonderful.
| 6 |
Perplexed Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:38:47pm |
re: #4 albusteve
oh good…we finally made to the bottom /
Not yet. Not yet by far. Give it another 6-12 months though.
| 7 |
screaming_eagle Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:39:08pm |
But Keith Olberman said eaverything is O.K.
/
| 8 |
brookly red Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:40:52pm |
Wow. That is kinda scary…
I was just talking to a guy in the neighborhood from the former Yugoslavia, (& lived w/communism) yesterday & he said pretty much the same thing.
| 9 |
Bloodnok Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:43:05pm |
Excellent articles. Very accurate right down to our very own Il Dunce.
| 10 |
ichef Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:43:31pm |
Wasn’t it Woody Guthrie that used to have “This Machine Kills Fascists” on his guitar? Where did the musicians like that go?
| 11 |
Cathypop Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:43:46pm |
“the great “rescue” to which our governors are subjecting us will challenge our commitment to freedom in many dramatic ways. It’s going to be a hell of a fight.
I hope.”
I feel that most inteligent people will always fight for their freedom. And yes it will be one hell of a fight and I hope to be in the middle swinging something heavy.
| 12 |
sphincter Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:43:51pm |
This is nothing short of National Socialism, Facism. I read as much of the bill over the weekend as time would allow. Too bad my representative didn’t.
| 13 |
ORD neighbor Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:44:24pm |
The thing to learn from lessons of history is that we do not learn from lessons of history. No, this is not original but I have not found the original source. Yet.
| 14 |
Racer X Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:44:34pm |
For those of us more concerned with the future of freedom than with the pedantic subtleties, the key point is the political one: the great “rescue” to which our governors are subjecting us will challenge our commitment to freedom in many dramatic ways. It’s going to be a hell of a fight.I hope.
This is why we must continue to challenge The One™. If he pushes crap down our throat we are not obligated to just swallow it. I wrote every one of my representatives and expressed my dissatisfaction with the contents of the stimulus bill.
| 15 |
ayatollah ghilmeini Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:46:13pm |
It feels like 1939 all over again.
The Jewish world is waking up to a new reality: in the last 15 years anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish violence is exploding all over the world on a scale not seen since the late 1930s. If anti-Semitism was once something to be embarrassed of an international halls of power, from 1946-1976, today it has become a badge of honor.
The upcoming Durbin conference on racism will be hate fest that far outstrips its predecessor. The enemies of the Jews smell blood and this is their Nuremberg rally. You can quote me on that. It is not just offensive that the United States even deigns to have anything do with this contemptible, disgraceful and disgusting conference that bears the odious baggage of the first Durbin intellectual pogrom, it is beyond the pale for the US to have anything to do with it. There is simply no way to make a sewer smell sweet. This is Orwellian: using conference meant to end hatred as a tool to foster hatred. There is nothing high-minded in the hearts of its sponsors. The purpose of this conference is to advance hatred and hatred against one people.
If Durbin does not directly to threaten Jewish existence, justifies and excites those who want to annihilate the Jewish people. Durbin is the excuse.
With the exception of the slight setback in Gaza, the Axis has been on a roll. The government of Lebanon is about to be subverted by Hezbollah. Then there is Iran’s nuclear program. There is no question they’re working on missiles. There is no question they’re working on nuclear technology. There is no question they’re getting ready to buy sophisticated anti-air weapons to protect the nuclear weapons technology they say they don’t have. The last thing Iran seems to want to do is the one simple easy to verify step to give the international community any confidence in what they are doing.
Seen in the context of their open denial of the Holocaust and rhetoric reminiscent of the worst of German war propaganda, one might is tempted to conclude these guys are charging head long to war. And you would be right. Violent and horrific slaughter of gigantic proportions is in the offing from maniacs who think some Imam is going to hop out of a hole after 900 years to say some nice things that are sure to make everyone convert to Islam on the spot. They believe this like we believe the sky is blue; they also believe that even if they die in a nuclear exchange, they will go to a heaven far better than this earth. There is no downside in their minds.
Instead of doing something rational like threatening any assistance to any country participating in Durbin, our Obama geniuses had an “aha!” moment and realized they can fix the conference! By working with the people organizing it who are just like us and want world peace, just like us, what harm can possibly come? Best still, helping on Durbin will make the New Axis know we are nice people so they will know they can reach out to our diplomatic overtures!
The Flying Wallendas were the greatest tightrope walkers the word ever saw. But they did not work with nets and most of them died. Every show had to be perfect, or they would die. Eventually, they did die from the inevitable single mistake. When there is no fallback, disaster is invited. Iran can negotiate away in “good faith” drag out the process and get their bomb. What will the US do then? What? What is the fallback plan then? What do you do when a regime that has been killing and kidnapping Americans for 30 years, who holds an American HOSTAGE RIGHT NOW goes nuclear? This Epimethean blindness and false confidence gives us no wire to stand on. We are to walk off the platform on trust. Trusting the clerical regime of Iran, our avowed mortal enemy, to catch us; Chamberlain had an excuse, he had never seen the likes of Hitler before. We have no such excuse. Obama’s foolish egoism is going to get millions killed. The first victims will be the Jews.
The Jews are on the tee, the club is swinging back, its 1939 all over again…..
| 16 |
aboo-Hoo-Hoo Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:46:21pm |
| 17 |
Randall Gross Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:46:35pm |
Ledeen’s right on with this. Technocracy is the new Fascism.
| 19 |
jcw46 Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:47:15pm |
re: #13 ORD neighbor
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
George Santayana
| 20 |
reine.de.tout Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:47:58pm |
I’m sending both of those to everyone I know.
For those who decry the loss of religious influence in our lives, I thought he made an interesting point -
It is no accident that the campaign to drive religion out of American public life began in the 1940s, when the government was consolidating its unprecedented expansion during the Depression and the Second World War, having asserted its control over a wide range of activities that had previously been entrusted to the judgment of private groups and individuals.
…
Permitting the central government to assume our proper responsibilities is not merely a transfer of power from us to them; it does grave damage to our spirit. It subverts our national character. In Tocqueville’s elegant construction, it “renders the exercise of the free agency of man less useful and less frequent; it circumscribes the will within a narrower range and gradually robs a man of all the uses of himself.”
Those who are fighting to get religion “back into” our lives are fighting the government to allow religious beliefs in, and that’s the wrong battle.
If they wish for religion to be a force, then it seems to me they should be seeking ways to establish private institutions to do the things that government does, not suing the government.
| 21 |
sphincter Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:48:11pm |
aboo-Hoo-Hoo
Under 8,000 heading down to 5,000 or 4,000. Welcome to the new Facist State.
Yes, it’s worse than we thought it would be
| 22 |
brookly red Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:48:11pm |
re: #12 sphincter
This is nothing short of National Socialism, Facism. I read as much of the bill over the weekend as time would allow. Too bad my representative didn’t.
I don’t get how Multi-culture-ism mixes with Nationalism… the Fascism part is pretty clear.
| 23 |
Peter Verkooijen Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:48:32pm |
Finally. Michael Ledeen gets it. This is the truth!
| 24 |
Racer X Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:49:03pm |
We will not be bludgeoned into submission; we will be seduced. He foresees the collapse of American democracy as the end result of two parallel developments that ultimately render us meekly subservient to an enlarged bureaucratic power: the corruption of our character, and the emergence of a vast welfare state that manages all the details of our lives.
We be focked.
| 25 |
LynnfromNZ Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:49:33pm |
Huey Long had it right — when fascism comes to America its advocates will term it “anti-fascism.”
| 26 |
Peter Verkooijen Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:50:03pm |
re: #17 Thanos
Ledeen’s right on with this. Technocracy is the new Fascism.
No, it’s not a “new fascism”! Obama is classic fascism in the Mussolini tradition. That’s Ledeen’s point.
| 27 |
jcw46 Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:50:16pm |
The important question is; what will YOU do about it.
| 28 |
Perplexed Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:50:35pm |
| 29 |
Peter Verkooijen Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:51:39pm |
re: #10 ichef
Wasn’t it Woody Guthrie that used to have “This Machine Kills Fascists” on his guitar? Where did the musicians like that go?
Woody Guthrie was a Soviet sponsored communist.
| 30 |
Racer X Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:52:00pm |
All manner of new governmental powers are justified in the name of “the children,” from enhanced regulation of communications to special punishments for “hate speech;” from the empowerment of social service institutions to crack down on parents who try to discipline their children, to the mammoth expansion of sexual quotas from university athletic programs to private businesses.
Spot on. What I don’t get is why they can get away with this crap. We are putting our children into a financial debt to The State that they will never be able to pay off!
| 31 |
Randall Gross Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:52:04pm |
re: #26 Peter Verkooijen
No, it’s not a “new fascism”! Obama is classic fascism in the Mussolini tradition. That’s Ledeen’s point.
Technocracy is what the Euros call their style of gov’t right now if you had not noted. I said that in the manner of the fashionistas … e.g. “Brown is the new black”.
| 32 |
Perplexed Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:52:10pm |
re: #26 Peter Verkooijen
No, it’s not a “new fascism”! Obama is classic fascism in the Mussolini tradition. That’s Ledeen’s point.
Look at the way the ONE poses. The last time I saw anyone walk around with their chin held that high was in WWII footage of Il Duce.
| 33 |
CyanSnowHawk Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:52:31pm |
“Totalitarian Democracy”
If the foo shits…
| 34 |
albusteve Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:52:32pm |
| 35 |
Randall Gross Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:52:39pm |
re: #29 Peter Verkooijen
Woody Guthrie was a Soviet sponsored communist.
Which explains the anti-fascism.
| 36 |
Pabloanno Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:52:44pm |
We are to be immobilized, Gulliver-like, by myriad rules and regulations, annoying little restrictions that become more and more binding until they eventually paralyze us.
ah yes. A financial industry definition I think.
| 37 |
Nevergiveup Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:53:07pm |
re: #32 Perplexed
Look at the way the ONE poses. The last time I saw anyone walk around with their chin held that high was in WWII footage of Il Duce.
It wasn’t hanging so high from that lamp post in Milan last I saw?
| 39 |
Frater Eosphoros Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:53:43pm |
Keep your powder dry… Where is Alexander Hamilton when we need him the most!?!?
| 40 |
midwestgak Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:54:01pm |
| 41 |
Perplexed Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:54:21pm |
re: #36 Pabloanno
ah yes. A financial industry definition I think.
Glen Beck talked about that today. Seems that with the banks under total government control, they can bypass Congress and put into place anything that they want to and no one can do a thing about it.
| 42 |
Pabloanno Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:54:55pm |
re: #39 Frater Eosphoros
the war has already started. We’re just aren’t using bullets yet.
| 44 |
Vicious Babushka Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:55:16pm |
re: #10 ichef
Wasn’t it Woody Guthrie that used to have “This Machine Kills Fascists” on his guitar? Where did the musicians like that go?
They are all fascists now.
| 45 |
Pabloanno Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:55:52pm |
re: #41 Perplexed
great. scariest thing about all this crap I think. Banks clearly want some things I don’t.
| 46 |
midwestgak Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:55:58pm |
| 47 |
Vet_Missing_Parts (1LT, Ret) Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:56:01pm |
Brilliant articles. Well said.
| 48 |
Perplexed Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:56:24pm |
re: #37 Nevergiveup
It wasn’t hanging so high from that lamp post in Milan last I saw?
Yep, and that is an appropriate end to dictators.
| 49 |
Nevergiveup Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:57:05pm |
The first trailer of Quentin Tarantino’s latest film, which stars Brad Pitt as a Nazi-killing commander, was released today.
[Link: www.dailymail.co.uk…]
Anybody hear anything about this?
| 50 |
Racer X Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:57:07pm |
The devilish genius of this form of tyranny is that it looks and even acts democratic. We still elect our representatives, and they still ask us for our support. “…servitude of the regular, quiet, and gentle kind…might be combined with some of the outward forms of freedom, and…might even establish itself under the wing of the sovereignty of the people.” Freedom is smothered without touching the institutions of political democracy. We act out democratic skits while submitting to an oppressive central power that we ourselves have chosen.
To those who think Obama is “not that bad” please read this article. Carefully.
And don’t give me any crap about “the Republicans started this shit first”. Republicans have been caving in to Democrats for a long time. One group is marching as fast as they can towards this end. The other is putting up a weak struggle against it.
| 51 |
Perplexed Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:57:17pm |
re: #45 Pabloanno
great. scariest thing about all this crap I think. Banks clearly want some things I don’t.
Pop on over to Glen Beck’s site. I don’t do justice to his talk on this subject.
| 52 |
Nevergiveup Mon, Feb 16, 2009 3:57:55pm |
re: #48 Perplexed
Yep, and that is an appropriate end to dictators.
Yup, he picked his friends poorly.
| 54 |
HoosierHoops Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:02:09pm |
| 56 |
ladycatnip Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:04:28pm |
There is no single dramatic event in Tocqueville’s scenario, no storming of the Bastille, no assault on the Winter Palace, no March on Rome, no Kristallnacht. We are to be immobilized, Gulliver-like, by myriad rules and regulations, annoying little restrictions that become more and more binding until they eventually paralyze us.
Chilling. Time to dust off Tocqueville’s book and actually read it. It’s somewhere in a box…
| 57 |
LionOfDixon Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:04:48pm |
Yes, and Obama has promised to make Amtrak run on time…..
| 58 |
midwestgak Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:04:55pm |
re: #54 HoosierHoops
Hey {Hoosier}. I read in an earlier thread that you thanked jcm for helping me with my MAC stuff. That was sweet of you.
| 59 |
Peter Verkooijen Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:05:28pm |
re: #46 midwestgak
Greetings Lizards,Let’s try again.
Bad definition, typical of socialist-leaning post-WWII European academics. It only names some symptoms and avoids going into the socialist origins.
| 60 |
barry the baptist Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:05:29pm |
Very interesting and frightening. Essentially the expansion of govt necessarily dictates that our liberties will shrink. The ‘spendulus’ plan created 32 new govt agencies that, I am sure in time, we will come to abhor.
| 61 |
Nevergiveup Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:05:39pm |
| 62 |
brookly red Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:06:05pm |
| 64 |
Fat Jolly Penguin Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:08:09pm |
| 66 |
HoosierHoops Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:08:57pm |
re: #58 midwestgak
Hey {Hoosier}. I read in an earlier thread that you thanked jcm for helping me with my MAC stuff. That was sweet of you.
It’s very nice too see you..I’ve been off all day blogging and watching 7 straight hours of NCIS on USA today..Just every so often in life there is a good Monday..Sometimes…
*wink*
| 67 |
kynna Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:09:29pm |
So what can we do about it? It seems like they’ve got all the bases covered. Nobody raises an eyebrow at papers publishing people’s home addresses because they donated to a particular political cause. Government looks in to Joe the Plumber’s records and hands them over to a hostile media: yawn. Sarah Palin’s e-mail gets invaded: “stupid lady shouldn’t use Yahoo”.
Clinton already set the precedent for punishing dissenters with the IRS. Kind of hard to get a movement going when everyone is scared sh*tless and nobody dares look out for the *true* little guy.
| 68 |
quickjustice Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:10:42pm |
Welcome to corporate fascism. I agree with Ledeen’s definition, but I disagree that Obama’s election “ushers in” a new era. There are plenty of examples of “private-public partnerships”, particularly in health care, that have been around since the Great Society. What do you think an HMO is? Why do you think the government has been promoting them since Richard Nixon left power? (Answer: to ration health care, saving government and employer money, with government and employer connivance).
I do agree that the mask has come off. Democrat public policy has been fascist since the FDR Administration. It’s about to get much, much worse.
| 70 |
midwestgak Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:11:29pm |
re: #59 Peter Verkooijen
Bad definition, typical of socialist-leaning post-WWII European academics. It only names some symptoms and avoids going into the socialist origins.
Fascism is what it is. Socialism is what it is. Capitalism is what it is. Communism is what it is. Fascism can exist without being tied to socialism. The are all exclusive. One does not have to exist before the other. IMHO
| 71 |
Perplexed Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:11:55pm |
re: #67 kynna
Overwhelm them with numbers. 10,000,000 Joe the Plumbers would overwhelm them.
| 73 |
itellu3times Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:12:36pm |
re: #56 ladycatnip
Chilling. Time to dust off Tocqueville’s book and actually read it. It’s somewhere in a box…
Yes, well, Tocqueville accurately describes France as it’s been for at least two thousand years, I vaguely recall something in Caesar’s commentary on the Gallic wars, about the regimentation of the opposition (tho who was he to criticize, you might ask!)
Not that it might not happen to us to - it’s that old difference in freedoms, freedom-of, or freedom-from.
| 74 |
Sunlight Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:13:00pm |
Has anyone heard of this group?
| 75 |
LionOfDixon Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:13:52pm |
Watch old films of Benito Mussolini making speeches…..he has that same, look-over-the crowd’s-head, self-important, arrogant type of speaking style as a certain someone now in power…….
| 76 |
midwestgak Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:15:21pm |
re: #66 HoosierHoops
It’s very nice too see you..I’ve been off all day blogging and watching 7 straight hours of NCIS on USA today..Just every so often in life there is a good Monday..Sometimes…
*wink*
heh. We all need to relax sometimes.
| 77 |
Elcid Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:16:06pm |
Wouldn’t the all encompassing “totalitarianism” be sufficient?
Fascism, Socialism…Like hello.
| 78 |
FrogMarch Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:16:19pm |
I was just think that today. The left are fascists. …and Nancy Pelosi just ran off to Rome to thank Mussolini. (kiss his grave or something)
| 79 |
Perplexed Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:16:33pm |
re: #69 buzzsawmonkey
Nixon was a piker compared to Clinton.
| 80 |
Randall Gross Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:16:49pm |
It goes beyond that — recent rules from Witch hunt Waxmans’ laws, purportedly for our safety, have created a little technocratic bureaucracy under the Consumer Product Saftey Improvement act. The fallout when put into action prohibits vintage children’s books:
[Link: proteinwisdom.com…]
and is putting 2nd hand stores out of business left and right:
[Link: www.dynamist.com…]
You know, it’s all to make us “safe”
| 81 |
FrogMarch Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:16:58pm |
When Roosevelt was elected in 1932, in fact, Mussolini personally reviewed his book, Looking Forward, and the Duce’s bottom line was, “this guy is one of us.”
| 82 |
screaming_eagle Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:17:05pm |
re: #75 LionOfDixon
Watch old films of Benito Mussolini making speeches…..he has that same, look-over-the crowd’s-head, self-important, arrogant type of speaking style as a certain someone now in power…….
And the people of Italy loved him. At first anyway.. .. .. .
| 83 |
Ojoe Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:18:39pm |
“Mussolini made the trains run on time.”
—Famous saying about Mussolini; he ended badly though; shot by partisans; hung upside down, dead, on public display, then cut down so people could line up to walk across him.
We live in interesting times & as a people we have brought them on ourselves by taking the easy way for too long.
| 84 |
stevieray Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:18:50pm |
The reason today’s left prefers a Fascist model, instead of the classic Marxist, is simple: deniability.
If the gov’t. takes direct control of the means of production, they take direct responsibility for its failures. By letting business stay in private hands, they can run things through regulations and threats, while blaming the owners for all the inevitable failures.
| 85 |
FrogMarch Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:19:02pm |
The stock market tanked the day after Obama won.
Somebody ran the banks back on September 18th (or so)
hmmmm.
Now - we have the government nationalizing banks and other industries as fast as lightening.
Didn’t take long.
| 86 |
kynna Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:19:32pm |
re: #69 buzzsawmonkey
With all respect to Clinton, Nixon also used the IRS to go after opponents.
Point taken. We’ve been electing bullies for decades and decades.
| 87 |
midwestgak Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:19:57pm |
re: #77 Elcid
Wouldn’t the all encompassing “totalitarianism” be sufficient?
Fascism, Socialism…Like hello.
Hi Elcid,
The topic of the thread was fascism, but you make a good point:
Totalitarinsim
| 88 |
Nevergiveup Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:20:38pm |
re: #78 FrogMarch
I was just think that today. The left are fascists. …and Nancy Pelosi just ran off to Rome to thank Mussolini. (kiss his grave or something)
Where is he buried?
| 89 |
Cathypop Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:21:01pm |
re: #84 stevieray
The reason today’s left prefers a Fascist model, instead of the classic Marxist, is simple: deniability.
If the gov’t. takes direct control of the means of production, they take direct responsibility for its failures. By letting business stay in private hands, they can run things through regulations and threats, while blaming the owners for all the inevitable failures.
Definition of the left - It’s not my fault.
| 90 |
gregb Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:21:16pm |
At least in fascism, private property rights were intended to be preserved. Living in California, there’s been an unprecedented onslaught through the triumvirate of taxes, eminent domain, and environmental laws.
| 91 |
ORD neighbor Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:21:21pm |
“I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws, and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it.”
-Judge Learned Hand
| 92 |
Racer X Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:21:33pm |
Why in the hell did we need to VOTE on this Porkulus bill on Friday, giving legislators zero time to read it?
If it was so urgent to get it passed and signed into law, why has Obama NOT EVEN SIGNED IT YET?
Anyone?
Killgore?
| 94 |
Cathypop Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:22:45pm |
re: #92 Racer X
Why in the hell did we need to VOTE on this Porkulus bill on Friday, giving legislators zero time to read it?
If it was so urgent to get it passed and signed into law, why has Obama NOT EVEN SIGNED IT YET?
Anyone?
Killgore?
Oshit won and he decides when to sign it. Period! End of story!
| 95 |
brookly red Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:22:49pm |
re: #92 Racer X
Why in the hell did we need to VOTE on this Porkulus bill on Friday, giving legislators zero time to read it?
If it was so urgent to get it passed and signed into law, why has Obama NOT EVEN SIGNED IT YET?
Anyone?
Killgore?
seems to me you already know the answer…
| 97 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:24:08pm |
re: #71 Perplexed
Overwhelm them with numbers. 10,000,000 Joe the Plumbers would overwhelm them.
There are not that many to be found. Joe’s boldness is rather rare.
| 98 |
albusteve Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:24:18pm |
re: #92 Racer X
Why in the hell did we need to VOTE on this Porkulus bill on Friday, giving legislators zero time to read it?
If it was so urgent to get it passed and signed into law, why has Obama NOT EVEN SIGNED IT YET?
Anyone?
Killgore?
are you in denial?….it is exactly that…a strong arm takeover
| 103 |
albusteve Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:25:55pm |
re: #97 Dark_Falcon
There are not that many to be found. Joe’s boldness is rather rare.
it’s all about taxation and people do not have control of their money….you cannot withold funds from the govt
| 104 |
Ojoe Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:25:58pm |
Pork pork
Bo bork
Banana Fanana
fo Fork
MMMmmmmmm! Big breakfast!
| 105 |
Randall Gross Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:26:34pm |
re: #90 gregb
At least in fascism, private property rights were intended to be preserved. Living in California, there’s been an unprecedented onslaught through the triumvirate of taxes, eminent domain, and environmental laws.
But that’s exactly how fascism works. You own the property, you pay the taxes, and they tell you how you may or may not use it.
| 106 |
Rexatosis Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:27:13pm |
American Society does not read, does not think, and refuses to understand the “road to hell is paved with good intentions” because it refuses to comprehend the concept of “unintended consequences.” It has become perfectly ripe for the populist rhetoric of facism to feast upon.
| 107 |
albusteve Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:27:20pm |
re: #103 albusteve
it’s all about taxation and people do not have control of their money….you cannot withold funds from the govt
at least in most cases that is…it’s all cut out by the time you get your paper paycheck
| 108 |
Sharmuta Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:27:48pm |
We will not be bludgeoned into submission; we will be seduced.
How very true. And even some on the right, who we’d think would naturally resist this tendency, have already shown they’re willing to limit their own freedoms for the sake of dealing those with whom they disagree by calling for certain books and religion to be banned. Freedom has many enemies, but have we the strength and convictions to reject this seduction when the both the left and certain quarters of the right seem to actually long for it?
| 109 |
Ojoe Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:27:58pm |
re: #103 albusteve
Well. you can passively earn very little & then they can’t take much from you.
Is this where we are headed?
| 110 |
Killian Bundy Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:28:16pm |
| 112 |
rawmuse Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:29:11pm |
Q) If the tax rates are 20 cents of a dollar, how much does the government control?
A) 100 percent
| 114 |
lawhawk Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:29:31pm |
re: #92 Racer X
Why in the hell did we need to VOTE on this Porkulus bill on Friday, giving legislators zero time to read it?
If it was so urgent to get it passed and signed into law, why has Obama NOT EVEN SIGNED IT YET?
Anyone?
Killgore?
I explained the reasoning yesterday; scare the Congress into passing it without reading it which would open it up to further scrutiny, but then Obama will sit on it until Tuesday because it doesn’t make sense to pass legislation if no one is paying attention to things on a holiday weekend. He wants to have the media full tilt treatment, and that can come only on a weekday.
It should tell you plenty about what the Democrats not only think of their plans, but of their porkfest. They don’t want people to know what’s in it because it would truly horrify most Americans as to how much money is set to be spent on programs completely unrelated to the stimulus.
In fact, the Democrats are downplaying the possible immediate effects of the bill so as to not only temper expectations, but to set the stage for another round of porkfest. Further, the Democrats cut the only thing that even the NYT admitted was likely to have an immediate effect on the economy - tax cuts/refund. They limited the tax cut portion so as to get the bill under $800 billion (which is still laughable since the true cost is in the trillions).
| 115 |
Killgore Trout Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:29:44pm |
re: #92 Racer X
I don’t know, it’s just the way things work. It’s been this way for a long time and nothing has changed.
| 116 |
NukeAtomrod Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:29:55pm |
re: #70 midwestgak
Fascism is tyranny by a dictator.
Communism is tyranny by committee.
Socialism is a generic term for Communism and Fascism.
All are based on the idea that the government is wiser than the individual and therefore should make all the decisions.
The only solution is less government. And that’s the one thing we’re unlikely to get.
| 118 |
Cathypop Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:30:02pm |
| 121 |
albusteve Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:31:06pm |
re: #109 Ojoe
Well. you can passively earn very little & then they can’t take much from you.
Is this where we are headed?
I don’t know…I work for cash only…I do not pay federal taxes…but I have no debt and no property in this country…I used to be terrified of the IRS when I had a lucrative business and a family…not anymore….I hate the feds
| 122 |
Nevergiveup Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:31:25pm |
| 123 |
Killian Bundy Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:31:29pm |
re: #92 Racer X
Why in the hell did we need to VOTE on this Porkulus bill on Friday, giving legislators zero time to read it?
If it was so urgent to get it passed and signed into law, why has Obama NOT EVEN SIGNED IT YET?
Anyone?
Killgore?
Evidentily, those “3.6 million Americans who wake up every day wondering how they are going to pay their bills, stay in their homes and provide for their children” can suffer for four extra days so Obama can have his photo op, after he enjoys his three day weekend in Chicago.
What was it that Rahn Emanuel said …
/in other words, this whole “crisis” is so much bull[expletive deleted], manipulated to cram the entire Democrat political agenda down the taxpayers’ throats, with the 2010 midterm elections in mind, and without any meaningful scrutiny
| 124 |
Ojoe Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:31:34pm |
I had better get back to “work”.
(promotion)
Bye for now.
| 125 |
rawmuse Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:31:59pm |
re: #117 ploome hineni
If the government takes 20 cents of a dollar in taxes, then you, as the taxpayer, must account (and therefore defend) for the other 80 cents. Therefore, they control 100 percent.
| 126 |
Walter L. Newton Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:33:18pm |
re: #90 gregb
At least in fascism, private property rights were intended to be preserved. Living in California, there’s been an unprecedented onslaught through the triumvirate of taxes, eminent domain, and environmental laws.
And in Ca/ (as in many states), your law makers are working on NEW taxes and cost, to be piled on the cost of the stimulus bill EVEN though those states are RECEIVING money from the stimulus.
Which brings us back to the fact that, there is no way anyone in the United States is going to see any financial benefit from Obama’s administration.
There is a concerted effort by the state democrats and the federal democrats to bring us ALL under the thumb of Uncle Nanny.
We all will have to deal with it, but at least we conservatives knew it was coming and could see the outcome of it all.
The liberal bark eaters will absolutely have their heads explode when they suddenly realize that there is no handout coming their way and they will be beholden to the government forever.
| 127 |
screaming_eagle Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:34:42pm |
re: #120 buzzsawmonkey
But the road is paved with environmentally neutral good intentions, which are installed by a workforce perfectly adjusted to mirror the demographics of the larger society, all of whom are paid a carefully-monitored living wage with generous benefits and guaranteed cost-of-living increases, and no inquiries as to their legal immigration status, after all the requisite hearings on neighborhood impact and appropriate studies on whether the repaving will affect the historic nature of the neighborhood.
Not to mention the 50 million dollar study before it is even started.
| 128 |
A Kiwi Infidel Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:34:59pm |
re: #111 ploome hineni
/spit
Point one; If “Archbishop” Rowan believes this he is a traitor to his religion, to his country and to Jesus Christ (whom I believe the AB pays lip service to)
Point two; The sharians will have feeding frenzy on the lad who is making the headlines down the righthand side of the page of this article,
Point three;Under sharia, you will not be seeing lasses like the lass below the righthand column headlines, whether on the street or in print.
| 129 |
FrogMarch Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:36:38pm |
| 130 |
nyc redneck Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:36:54pm |
pelosi is big on prancing around bug eyed and exclaiming endlessly how “it’s all for the children.
this slogan is designed to shut people up.
who could object to something (anything) that is good for the children.
the whole time, WE are being infantilized.
as we allow the gov’t to make more and more decisions for us.
soon, bloomberg is going to take the salt shaker off the table.
this kind of usurpation is so demeaning.
this is how a civilization is weakened from w/in by it’s own leaders.
amazing, it is happening as the article says.
| 131 |
Achilles Tang Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:37:30pm |
re: #20 reine.de.tout
For those who decry the loss of religious influence in our lives, I thought he made an interesting point -Those who are fighting to get religion “back into” our lives are fighting the government to allow religious beliefs in, and that’s the wrong battle.
If they wish for religion to be a force, then it seems to me they should be seeking ways to establish private institutions to do the things that government does, not suing the government.
I don’t disagree with your approach, from your perspective, but I do have to comment that given that the US is the most religiously observant nation in the 1st world, it always seem strange to me that this is such a strong issue with many.
Isn’t 90%+ belief in God good enough? Just who is this effort directed at?
| 132 |
LionOfDixon Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:37:30pm |
I wonder if Italy had its Specters? You know, the guys who should have known better, but said something like “hey, this Benito guy is okay…we can work with him..let’s just give him a chance…and I had such a wonderful time at his cocktail party last week…..”
| 133 |
albusteve Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:37:56pm |
re: #126 Walter L. Newton
And in Ca/ (as in many states), your law makers are working on NEW taxes and cost, to be piled on the cost of the stimulus bill EVEN though those states are RECEIVING money from the stimulus.
Which brings us back to the fact that, there is no way anyone in the United States is going to see any financial benefit from Obama’s administration.
There is a concerted effort by the state democrats and the federal democrats to bring us ALL under the thumb of Uncle Nanny.
We all will have to deal with it, but at least we conservatives knew it was coming and could see the outcome of it all.
The liberal bark eaters will absolutely have their heads explode when they suddenly realize that there is no handout coming their way and they will be beholden to the government forever.
you are exactly right…wait til weed is back up to 200$ an oz and inflation drives the cost of a Twinkie out of the ballpark….we will at least have the last laugh then
| 134 |
Cathypop Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:37:59pm |
re: #126 Walter L. Newton
And in Ca/ (as in many states), your law makers are working on NEW taxes and cost, to be piled on the cost of the stimulus bill EVEN though those states are RECEIVING money from the stimulus.
Which brings us back to the fact that, there is no way anyone in the United States is going to see any financial benefit from Obama’s administration.
There is a concerted effort by the state democrats and the federal democrats to bring us ALL under the thumb of Uncle Nanny.
We all will have to deal with it, but at least we conservatives knew it was coming and could see the outcome of it all.
The liberal bark eaters will absolutely have their heads explode when they suddenly realize that there is no handout coming their way and they will be beholden to the government forever.
The bark eaters will bow their stupid heads and say it is for the best. Have you ever met one that would listen to logic? They do not exist and neither do unicorns.
| 135 |
Randall Gross Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:38:06pm |
This is a perfect thread for one of my Auden favorites:
The Fall of Rome
The piers are pummelled by the waves;
In a lonely field the rain
Lashes an abandoned train;
Outlaws fill the mountain caves.
Fantastic grow the evening gowns;
Agents of the Fisc pursue
Absconding tax-defaulters through
The sewers of provincial towns.
Private rites of magic send
The temple prostitutes to sleep;
All the literati keep
An imaginary friend.
Cerebrotonic Cato may
Extol the Ancient Disciplines,
But the muscle-bound Marines
Mutiny for food and pay.
Caesar’s double-bed is warm
As an unimportant clerk
Writes I DO NOT LIKE MY WORK
On a pink official form.
Unendowed with wealth or pity,
Little birds with scarlet legs,
Sitting on their speckled eggs,
Eye each flu-infected city.
Altogether elsewhere, vast
Herds of reindeer move across
Miles and miles of golden moss,
Silently and very fast.
— W.H. Auden
| 136 |
lawhawk Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:38:17pm |
re: #126 Walter L. Newton
That day is fast approaching at the rate that states are calling in their chips and saying that they’re plum out of money or need bailouts. Kansas is now saying they’re going to hold off on issuing their income tax refunds - that’s your money Kansasans. You’ve let the government borrow it from you, but it is your money. California is even further along in heading down the trail of bankruptcy. Fiscal and financial illiteracy is greatly to blame.
And the federal bailout will prove to not do a damned thing, because whatever money you think you’re getting as a federal refund is going to end up going to the state where you live to make up for its shortfall even after it increases its state’s budgets at a time when everyone else should be curtailing spending.
| 137 |
NukeAtomrod Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:39:13pm |
re: #92 Racer X
Why in the hell did we need to VOTE on this Porkulus bill on Friday, giving legislators zero time to read it?
If it was so urgent to get it passed and signed into law, why has Obama NOT EVEN SIGNED IT YET?
Anyone?
Killgore?
A show of power? The Dems want to crush any future opposition through intimidation. “We’re going to vote on it. You don’t have to read it, because you’re going to lose anyway.” Obama is just rubbing it in.
| 139 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:40:22pm |
re: #128 A Kiwi Infidel
Point one; If “Archbishop” Rowan believes this he is a traitor to his religion, to his country and to Jesus Christ (whom I believe the AB pays lip service to)
Point two; The sharians will have feeding frenzy on the lad who is making the headlines down the righthand side of the page of this article,
Point three;Under sharia, you will not be seeing lasses like the lass below the righthand column headlines, whether on the street or in print.
All those points are true.
1. Rowan is a fool who should be removed from his post. He’ll still be saying “lets be friends when the crowd of Islamists line up to stone him.
2. If you are looking for a way to argue that the discipline of faith was needed to rescue a decayed society, the Alfie Patten story is tailor made for it.
3. Needs no elaboration. We all know why it is true.
| 140 |
IslandLibertarian Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:40:30pm |
re: #63 BigPapa
I’ve spent time in Kona…worked on the airport summer of ‘97……..
How’s the economy these days?
| 141 |
screaming_eagle Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:40:55pm |
re: #134 Cathypop
The bark eaters will bow their stupid heads and say it is for the best. Have you ever met one that would listen to logic? They do not exist and neither do unicorns.
What do you mean Unicorns don’t exist? LIE , LIE I tell you. You just wait until I get mine in the mail! That will show you!
| 142 |
Nevergiveup Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:40:59pm |
re: #129 FrogMarch
San Cassiano Cemetery or somewhere in Italy.
Unsure what to do, the authorities held the remains in a kind of political limbo for 10 years, before agreeing to allow them to be re-interred at Predappio in Romagna, his birth place, after a campaign headed by Leccisi and the Movimento Sociale Italiano.
[Link: en.wikipedia.org…]
His body was stolen once and then held by the Gov. for !0 years before allowing it re-interred. I think Hitlers remains were moved like 10 times.
| 143 |
solomonpanting Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:41:32pm |
Obama: I want to “fundamentally change America.”
the great “rescue” to which our governors are subjecting us will challenge our commitment to freedom in many dramatic ways.
See? Obama didn’t lie.
| 144 |
Cathypop Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:41:42pm |
re: #141 screaming_eagle
What do you mean Unicorns don’t exist? LIE , LIE I tell you. You just wait until I get mine in the mail! That will show you!
Dream on baby!
| 145 |
Killgore Trout Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:41:44pm |
Read it: Stimulus legislation (PDF)
| 146 |
Perplexed Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:42:24pm |
re: #141 screaming_eagle
What do you mean Unicorns don’t exist? LIE , LIE I tell you. You just wait until I get mine in the mail! That will show you!
Unicorn burgers and steaks. Yummy.
| 147 |
Sharmuta Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:43:03pm |
We will not be bludgeoned into submission; we will be seduced.
Because the hard lesson of “there is no such thing as a free lunch” has not only not been learned, it hasn’t even been taught. When success is punished and failure rewarded, it’s easy for people to learn not to appreciate their own hard work. The public wants to be seduced because they’ve come to believe in entitlements. They don’t see entitlement mentality as a problem, they think the problem is that the entitlements haven’t gotten to the right people.
The constrained vs. the unconstrained mindsets, and the unconstrained is winning.
| 148 |
Cathypop Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:43:14pm |
re: #146 Perplexed
Unicorn burgers and steaks. Yummy.
I can make a mean enchilada with unicorn meat.
| 149 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:43:19pm |
re: #136 lawhawk
That day is fast approaching at the rate that states are calling in their chips and saying that they’re plum out of money or need bailouts. Kansas is now saying they’re going to hold off on issuing their income tax refunds - that’s your money Kansasans. You’ve let the government borrow it from you, but it is your money. California is even further along in heading down the trail of bankruptcy. Fiscal and financial illiteracy is greatly to blame.
And the federal bailout will prove to not do a damned thing, because whatever money you think you’re getting as a federal refund is going to end up going to the state where you live to make up for its shortfall even after it increases its state’s budgets at a time when everyone else should be curtailing spending.
Lucky for me the state of Illinois already deposited my refund into my checking account. Now if only some more Chicago Dems could be deposited into jail.
| 150 |
Killian Bundy Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:43:29pm |
Oh boy, Hillary said that she’s going to address climate change.
/is that really the Secretary of State’s job?
| 151 |
reine.de.tout Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:43:48pm |
re: #131 Naso Tang
I don’t disagree with your approach, from your perspective, but I do have to comment that given that the US is the most religiously observant nation in the 1st world, it always seem strange to me that this is such a strong issue with many.
Isn’t 90%+ belief in God good enough? Just who is this effort directed at?
Naso - I agree with you.
I have seen it here, even - we don’t have enough “religion” in our lives.
And people want the government to be able to make religious displays, of say the 10 commandments. And they will sue to try to install or maintain such displays, to try to “force” religion back “into our lives”.
They are fighting a losing (or lost) battle when they do that.
What they need to focus their energy and attention on is establishing private institutions or organizations from which they can espouse their point of view - not force government institutions to do it for them.
I hope I’m making sense - when I read through the articles, this was just a little kernel of a thought that occurred to me and I haven’t yet quite got it put together in my head in a way I can write it.
| 152 |
Mostly sane, most of the time. Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:43:56pm |
Where is the line? Where is the line between oppression and a properly functioning government? I have no problem with most building code, in fact every time they report on a third-world earthquake, I say a prayer of gratitude for our building codes. But sometimes it gets silly. (My father is a construction-based engineer. You should hear his stories.)
I don’t mind proper licensing of certain type of professionals, but we’ve all heard of the lemonade stands being shut down.
Where is the line?
| 153 |
Cathypop Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:44:18pm |
re: #150 Killian Bundy
Oh boy, Hillary said that she’s going to address climate change.
/is that really the Secretary of State’s job?
Well she is full of hot air. I think she knows what she is talking about
| 154 |
Pygmalienation Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:44:41pm |
Sobering article indeed… Alexis must’ve seen BHO and his enablers coming.
I fear it will be a fight to gain back what has been lost in just the first month of BHO’s administration.
| 155 |
screaming_eagle Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:45:08pm |
| 156 |
solomonpanting Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:45:16pm |
re: #150 Killian Bundy
Oh boy, Hillary said that she’s going to address climate change.
Tell her to send it to Al Gore without a return address.
| 157 |
albusteve Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:45:19pm |
re: #149 Dark_Falcon
Lucky for me the state of Illinois already deposited my refund into my checking account. Now if only some more Chicago Dems could be deposited into jail.
and as soon as you spend it you will dumping alot of it right back into state coffers…it’s a lose/lose
| 158 |
Nevergiveup Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:45:20pm |
re: #150 Killian Bundy
Oh boy, Hillary said that she’s going to address climate change.
/is that really the Secretary of State’s job?
Well with the Obama is parsing out her turf, what is her Job?
| 159 |
pre-Boomer Marine brat Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:45:32pm |
In late, … about to go to the 2nd page of the 2nd of Ledeen’s columns.
HOLY SHIT !
| 160 |
A Kiwi Infidel Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:45:35pm |
re: #141 screaming_eagle
What do you mean Unicorns don’t exist? LIE , LIE I tell you. You just wait until I get mine in the mail! That will show you!
I already got mine! Do you have a problem with your mail?
| 161 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:45:50pm |
re: #146 Perplexed
Unicorn burgers and steaks. Yummy.
Sounds good. I’ll bring the A-1 and the Ketchup. What sort of soda would you like for our unicorn cookout?
| 162 |
Walter L. Newton Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:46:09pm |
re: #136 lawhawk
That day is fast approaching at the rate that states are calling in their chips and saying that they’re plum out of money or need bailouts. Kansas is now saying they’re going to hold off on issuing their income tax refunds - that’s your money Kansasans. You’ve let the government borrow it from you, but it is your money. California is even further along in heading down the trail of bankruptcy. Fiscal and financial illiteracy is greatly to blame.
And the federal bailout will prove to not do a damned thing, because whatever money you think you’re getting as a federal refund is going to end up going to the state where you live to make up for its shortfall even after it increases its state’s budgets at a time when everyone else should be curtailing spending.
Colorado is slated to get 1 or 2 billion (I have seen those figures and every figure in between) and yet the state is right now planning on taking away property tax cuts to senior citizens.
For a matter of fact, I’ve notice a BIG trend in both the stimulus, state governments and just general talk that seniors are not just worth as much as younger folks and they should not be taking so much of the pie.
I’m not kidding. Look and listen closely to what is coming down the pike. It’s not pretty.
Welcome to the Monkey House. How about a little legal culling of the herd.
We already know that there has been talk by Dashle that certain medical treatments for seniors have to be reexamined in light of their costs.
| 163 |
Kronocide Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:47:04pm |
re: #140 IslandLibertarian
It’s taken some lumps, but we’re not all in the soup kitchen lines yet. I’m still making my mortgage without a bailout! LOL.
The economy here isn’t as diverse, but I’m luckily in the construction industry at the luxury end and we still have work. There was some changes, but it seems we’re close to the bottom.
| 164 |
IslandLibertarian Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:47:14pm |
re: #147 Sharmuta
With those “Blueish” hang-ups of self-reliance and personal responsibility, you will set back the release of “Rainbow-Unicorn” economics!
/I want my MTV BONG HIT FREE STUFF!
| 165 |
Walter L. Newton Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:47:19pm |
re: #145 Killgore Trout
Read it: Stimulus legislation (PDF)
No! Why should I, no one else has. Besides, I like surprises.
/s
| 166 |
Achilles Tang Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:47:22pm |
This quote from above struck my eye regarding some earlier disagreements discussions with others regarding the 2nd amendment and how guns are our final protection against tyranny.
Most of us imagine the transformation of a free society to a tyrannical state in Hollywood terms, as a melodramatic act of violence like a military coup or an armed insurrection. Tocqueville knows better. He foresees a slow death of freedom. The power of the centralized government will gradually expand, meddling in every area of our lives until, like a lobster in a slowly heated pot, we are cooked without ever realizing what has happened. The ultimate horror of Tocqueville’s vision is that we will welcome it, and even convince ourselves that we control it.
| 167 |
LionOfDixon Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:47:24pm |
re: #153 Cathypop
Bill Clinton probably warmed up Monica’s globular breasts with his warm hands and hot breath…..so maybe it is within her purview, as is cigar production.
| 168 |
CynicalConservative Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:47:39pm |
re: #162 Walter L. Newton
Colorado is slated to get 1 or 2 billion (I have seen those figures and every figure in between) and yet the state is right now planning on taking away property tax cuts to senior citizens.
For a matter of fact, I’ve notice a BIG trend in both the stimulus, state governments and just general talk that seniors are not just worth as much as younger folks and they should not be taking so much of the pie.
I’m not kidding. Look and listen closely to what is coming down the pike. It’s not pretty.
Welcome to the Monkey House. How about a little legal culling of the herd.
We already know that there has been talk by Dashle that certain medical treatments for seniors have to be reexamined in light of their costs.
Logan’s Run.
| 169 |
Perplexed Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:48:12pm |
re: #161 Dark_Falcon
Iced tea w/lemon, unsweetened for me and 4-5 cases of pop. Your choice. Got to watch the beer though since MN cops have been known to arrest folks for public drunkenness (even in their own back yard).
| 170 |
A Kiwi Infidel Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:48:22pm |
re: #161 Dark_Falcon
Sounds good. I’ll bring the A-1 and the Ketchup. What sort of soda would you like for our unicorn cookout?
A young pastor came out from the States and brought some “Liquid Smoke”. We cant get it here. Fantastic in venison burger patties.
| 172 |
Cathypop Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:48:50pm |
re: #151 reine.de.tout
The way I see it families need to teach their children the 10 commanments and not rely on government. Don’t make the lefties see it as being shoved in their faces even thou is is not. I get what you are saying but am having trouble putting it into words.
| 174 |
Perplexed Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:49:27pm |
re: #168 CynicalConservative
Logan’s Run.
Nope, logical consequence to abortion. Kill them in the womb and when they get too old/infirm to fight back.
| 176 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:50:03pm |
re: #157 albusteve
and as soon as you spend it you will dumping alot of it right back into state coffers…it’s a lose/lose
I know. At least I get to spend it, though. My cousins out in CA won’t be able to. Frankly, i hope that Ca simply defaults on its debts. Having government simply fail there and then shut down for a short time would serve the state’s population with a much needed wake-up call.
| 177 |
Sensible Remnant Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:50:09pm |
Fascism= government control of private industry. It seems to me we are already there. Obama is just formalizing the trend and taking the smiley mask off the situation. Unfortunately we are living in interesting times.
| 178 |
Cathypop Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:50:19pm |
re: #167 LionOfDixon
Bill Clinton probably warmed up Monica’s globular breasts with his warm hands and hot breath…..so maybe it is within her purview, as is cigar production.
Gross!
| 180 |
Walter L. Newton Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:50:58pm |
re: #176 Dark_Falcon
I know. At least I get to spend it, though. My cousins out in CA won’t be able to. Frankly, i hope that Ca simply defaults on its debts. Having government simply fail there and then shut down for a short time would serve the state’s population with a much needed wake-up call.
The Dems in Ca. are working on MORE taxes and getting ready to take MORE money from the citizens. They are not learning anything.
| 181 |
tradewind Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:51:04pm |
re: #158 Nevergiveup
Just gives credence to the rumor that during the campaign, Warren Buffet and Rubin sat BHO down and said ’ we’ll support you if you stick to the economy and let the Clintons handle the world’.
I snickered then, but now, not so much.
| 182 |
Kronocide Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:51:42pm |
| 183 |
screaming_eagle Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:52:08pm |
re: #180 Walter L. Newton
The Dems in Ca. are working on MORE taxes and getting ready to take MORE money from the citizens. They are not learning anything.
So are the Dems in Ohio. They heard NY’s new tax ideas and couldn’t resist.
| 184 |
albusteve Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:52:14pm |
re: #145 Killgore Trout
Read it: Stimulus legislation (PDF)
right there at the top of page 270…the feds have your med data
| 185 |
Killgore Trout Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:52:18pm |
re: #165 Walter L. Newton
It is pretty much a waste of time. The MSM coverage is superficial and vague. Right wing pundits are in hysterics, left wing pundits simply aren’t interested and nobody knows if it will work or not.
| 186 |
Perplexed Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:52:25pm |
re: #180 Walter L. Newton
The Dems in Ca. are working on MORE taxes and getting ready to take MORE money from the citizens. They are not learning anything.
Isn’t that the definition of insanity? Doing something that has failed every time it was done and doing it again just because it might work this time around? Could the Legislative body of CA be brought up on mental health warrents?
| 187 |
Nevergiveup Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:52:28pm |
re: #181 tradewind
Just gives credence to the rumor that during the campaign, Warren Buffet and Rubin sat BHO down and said ’ we’ll support you if you stick to the economy and let the Clintons handle the world’.
I snickered then, but now, not so much.
But he is NOT letting her run the world.
| 188 |
Randall Gross Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:52:35pm |
re: #138 buzzsawmonkey
THE MANAGERS
In the bad old days it was not so bad:
The top of the ladder
Was an amusing place to sit; success
Meant quite a lot - leisure
And huge meals, more palaces filled with more
Objects, books, girls, horses
Than one would ever get round to, and to be
Carried uphill while seeing
Others walk. To rule was a pleasure when
One wrote a death-sentence
On the back of the Ace of Spades and played on
With a new deck. Honours
Are not so physical or jolly now,
For the species of Powers
We are used to are not like that. Could one of them
Be said to resemble
The Tragic Hero, the Platonic Saint,
Or would any painter
Portray one rising triumphant from a lake
On a dolphin, naked,
Protected by an umbrella of cherubs? Can
They so much as manage
To behave like genuine Caesars when alone
Or drinking with cronies,
To let their hair down and be frank about
The world? It is doubtful.
The last word on how we may live or die
Rests today with such quiet
Men, working too hard in rooms that are too big.
Reducing to figures
What is the matter, what is to be done.
A neat little luncheon
Of sandwiches is brought to each on a tray,
Nourishment they are able
To take with one hand without looking up
From papers a couple
Of secretaries are needed to file,
From problems no smiling
Can dismiss. The typewriters never stop
But whirr like grasshoppers
In the silent siesta heat as, frivolous
Across their discussions,
From woods unaltered by our wars and our vows
There drift the scents of flowers
And the songs of birds who will never vote
Or bother to notice
Those distinguishing marks a lover sees
By instinct and policemen
Can be trained to observe. Far into the night
Their windows burn brightly
And, behind their backs bent over some report,
On every quarter,
For ever like a god or a disease
There on the earth the reason
In all its aspects why they are tired, the weak,
The inattentive, seeking
Someone to blame. If, to recuperate
They go a-playing, their greatness
Encounters the bow of the chef or the glance
Of the ballet-dancer
Who cannot be ruined by any master’s fall.
To rule must be a calling,
It seems, like surgery or sculpture; the fun
Neither love nor money
But taking necessary risks, the test
Of one’s skill, the question,
If difficult, their own reward. But then
Perhaps one should mention
Also what must be a comfort as they guess
In times like the present
When guesses can prove so fatally wrong,
The fact of belonging,
To the very select indeed, to those
For whom, just supposing
They do, there will be places on the last
Plane out of disaster.
No; no one is really sorry for their
Heavy gait and careworn
Look, nor would they thank you if you said you were.
| 189 |
USBeast Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:52:43pm |
Communism/Socialism requires the individual to rise up in the morning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed asking: “What can I do to serve the State?” Capitalism allows the individual to rise up whenever he/she damn well pleases bright-tailed and bushy-eyed asking: “What’s in it for me?”
Communism/Socialism insists on telling me what’s good for me whether I like it or not. Capitalism tells me to paddle my own canoe.
Communism/Socialism tells me that all my needs in life will be provided by the State. Capitalism tells me life is a crap shoot.
Pass the dice.
| 190 |
A Kiwi Infidel Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:53:09pm |
re: #179 ploome hineni
well, get rid of him
I was an Anglican, I am now non-denominational.
He is a country on the other side of the world.
With the way the protestant church has gone, I would say he is there for some time yet.
| 191 |
Walter L. Newton Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:53:36pm |
re: #183 screaming_eagle
So are the Dems in Ohio. They heard NY’s new tax ideas and couldn’t resist.
And here in Colorado, same thing. The state is Dem controlled and they are still working on more taxes and more ways to skim more money from us, even though the sate will be getting 1-2 billion from the stimulus.
| 192 |
Achilles Tang Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:53:51pm |
re: #170 A Kiwi Infidel
A young pastor came out from the States and brought some “Liquid Smoke”. We cant get it here. Fantastic in venison burger patties.
This could be a clue for an entrepreneurial Kiwi…….
| 193 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:54:55pm |
re: #169 Perplexed
Iced tea w/lemon, unsweetened for me and 4-5 cases of pop. Your choice. Got to watch the beer though since MN cops have been known to arrest folks for public drunkenness (even in their own back yard).
Well, I wouldn’t have brought beer away, as I don’t drink it. I will remember the iced tea of course, and I’ll get a good assortment of soda.
| 194 |
A Kiwi Infidel Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:55:28pm |
re: #192 Naso Tang
This could be a clue for an entrepreneurial Kiwi…….
I have been researching…………….
| 195 |
screaming_eagle Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:55:49pm |
re: #191 Walter L. Newton
And here in Colorado, same thing. The state is Dem controlled and they are still working on more taxes and more ways to skim more money from us, even though the sate will be getting 1-2 billion from the stimulus.
Ww just got our Dem Gov 2 years ago, and Dem congress this last election.
You’ll never guess why we went Dem.
Corrupt Rep.
Didn’t see that one coming huh?
| 196 |
goddessoftheclassroom Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:55:59pm |
re: #190 A Kiwi Infidel
I was an Anglican, I am now non-denominational.
He is a country on the other side of the world.
With the way the protestant church has gone, I would say he is there for some time yet.
I was Episcopal, but I’m now attending services with an Anglican congregation under the auspices of the realigned Diocese of Pittsburgh. It’s far more traditional/orthodox, being more concered with Biblical authority than social justice.
| 197 |
Sharmuta Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:56:01pm |
Constrained vs. unconstrained- a Conflict of Visions
hat tip: Syrah
I feel this conversation sheds a lot of light on the situation we currently find ourselves in, and on that will take a lot of hard work on the part of the Constrained to correct.
| 198 |
victor_yugo Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:56:20pm |
| 199 |
Perplexed Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:56:23pm |
re: #193 Dark_Falcon
Well, I wouldn’t have brought beer away, as I don’t drink it. I will remember the iced tea of course, and I’ll get a good assortment of soda.
Will get a backhoe out there to dig a proper pit and a couple hundred pounds of charcoal.
| 200 |
tradewind Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:56:48pm |
According to LeDeen,
In the seamless web created by the new tyranny, everything from the Boy Scouts to smoking clubs will be strictly regulated
“One Tocque Over the Line …..”
| 201 |
Killian Bundy Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:56:59pm |
Obama to appoint panel for auto recovery
It will take more than one “car czar” to help get the embattled U.S. auto industry back on track, President Barack Obama has decided.
Instead, his administration is establishing a presidential task force to direct the restructuring of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, a senior administration official said Sunday night.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers will oversee the across-the-government panel, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because no announcement has been made.
Good god of brown gravy, how much is this going to cost?
/how about instead, we just let GM declare Chapter 11, that’s what the [expletive deleted] bankruptcy laws are there for!
| 202 |
lawhawk Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:57:12pm |
re: #162 Walter L. Newton
I’ve seen similar figures, but here’s the thing about all those numbers. The porkfest includes actual pork, like bridges, roads, senseless spending etc., but it also contains massive expenditures for Medicaid and Medicare, and that includes billions. Watch how the states figure on this when coming up with their budgets.
For CO, they’re looking to double motor vehicle registration fees. And they’re busy complaining that their local pork projects didn’t get funded.
Colorado is expected to receive about $1.97 billion in stimulus money this year, with $404 million going to transportation, according to the U.S. Senate Democratic Policy Committee. The Obama administration estimates the spending will create or save 60,000 jobs in the state.Colorado cities and counties submitted at least $4.4 billion in ready-to-go projects to Congress recently through Colorado Counties Inc. and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Represented on the wish lists are 12 cities and 34 of the state’s 64 counties.
Create or save is the new nonsense term that Obama has thrown out when claiming that this porkfest will work.
It isn’t going to create jobs. It isn’t even going to save all that many jobs; many of these jobs were never in doubt since we’re talking about ongoing construction projects and regular maintenance.
Colorado is complaining that it is getting just about 10% of the amount it submitted. Multiply by 50 states and you get a wish list into the trillions of dollars, which is yet another pressure to get porkfest 2 rolling now, even before the full cost of this mess is taken into account.
| 203 |
Dark_Falcon Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:58:08pm |
re: #180 Walter L. Newton
The Dems in Ca. are working on MORE taxes and getting ready to take MORE money from the citizens. They are not learning anything.
They cannot learn. Learning would mean major cuts in staff and services. The media would scream and the public would be angry. The legislature that did such a thing might save its state only to be bounced out of office in the next election. Lord, what fools these mortals be!
| 204 |
goddessoftheclassroom Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:58:15pm |
I’ve got to go. Good night, dear Lizards!
| 205 |
sphincter Mon, Feb 16, 2009 4:59:20pm |
re: #127 screaming_eagle
Strike Force, eh? 2/502 Delta back in the day.
| 207 |
screaming_eagle Mon, Feb 16, 2009 5:00:57pm |
re: #205 sphincter
Strike Force, eh? 2/502 Delta back in the day.
Strike Force here as well. Charlie. Though orginally was in First Strike for about a year.
| 208 |
GGMac Mon, Feb 16, 2009 5:00:59pm |
re: #20 reine.de.tout
I’m sending both of those to everyone I know.
For those who decry the loss of religious influence in our lives, I thought he made an interesting point -
Those who are fighting to get religion “back into” our lives are fighting the government to allow religious beliefs in, and that’s the wrong battle.If they wish for religion to be a force, then it seems to me they should be seeking ways to establish private institutions to do the things that government does, not suing the government.
Good point. I’m guessing that very few of our population are any longer aware that most of the great hospitals here, as well as most of the (once) great colleges/universities came into being because of local churches.
| 209 |
hazzyday Mon, Feb 16, 2009 5:01:55pm |
Who pays for this stimulus package?
The Chinese?
Illionaires?
Our kids?
Us?
I see my state is excited about 4 billion in projected stimulus funds? I can’t tell if we are getting shafted or not. If it’s 800 billion stimulus, then my state gets .5 percent of the stimulus? if my math is right there. If it’s just a state stimulus that figure would be 16 billion.
Either the feds have this money in hand from our tax payments or they have to borrow it? I wonder if Bill Gates tax bill had gone up this year? Or if he gets a pass.
It seems a lot like we are just taxing ourselves to pay ourselves so some politician can skim off the transaction and create unproductive programs for people.
It would be better just to do away with the IRS and let the stimulus trickle up. Then at least I will feel it. With trickle down it all dries up to the big institutions before it hits the ground.
| 210 |
aboo-Hoo-Hoo Mon, Feb 16, 2009 5:05:50pm |
Mary Robinson, who was the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights when al Qaeda militants flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001, said the United States caused harm with some of the ways it responded.
Smile.
| 211 |
UberInfidel67 Mon, Feb 16, 2009 5:08:35pm |
re: #210 aboo-Hoo-Hoo Well of course! If we had just learned our lesson and stopped meddling in everyone elses affairs (although they mostly BEG for our interference) the world would be at peace.
//////////gimme a break
| 212 |
GGMac Mon, Feb 16, 2009 5:11:05pm |
re: #43 buzzsawmonkey
Do not forget that Guthrie was, if not an out and out Communist, very much a fellow-traveler.
As was Obama’s mother, grandparents, mentors…and the occasional Hyde Park neighbor: those major influences in his life, who primed and preened him, and taught him to perfect that “I am the One” pose.
| 213 |
Flounder Mon, Feb 16, 2009 5:11:49pm |
WOW!
“It covers the surface of society with a network of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd.”
It is called political correctness.
I am not one for words.
This really informs me.
This really scares me.
At least I know what to call it.
I will try to communicate better when I get some sleep.
Charles, I disagree with you on Darwin (He didn’t have a time machine and dinosaurs and plants are now running my truck…solar power!) but I enjoy your posts!
| 214 |
tradewind Mon, Feb 16, 2009 5:21:36pm |
re: #196 goddessoftheclassroom
I’m a cradle whiskeypalian, in a southern diocese, and we just sort of ignore the ECUS. But did I read somewhere that the Pittsburgh diocese had split with them?
If so, more power to ya’ll.
| 215 |
horse Mon, Feb 16, 2009 5:27:04pm |
It may require a monumental crash and reboot of our systems to rid it of this newer and stronger obam.fascim virus strain. And we need to replace our bloated and high cost corporate virus screening software from GOPorkus to a leaner and more modern open source solution tailorable to the needs of the individual.
| 216 |
brookly red Mon, Feb 16, 2009 5:29:48pm |
Well, at least after all these years of telling people that the Fascists were taking over & being called all kinds of names for doing so… I do feel some what better. But we are still in deep pooh.
| 217 |
Empire1 Mon, Feb 16, 2009 5:36:21pm |
re: #147 Sharmuta
The constrained vs. the unconstrained mindsets, and the unconstrained is winning.
Aha, another Thomas Sowell reader!
| 218 |
Sharmuta Mon, Feb 16, 2009 5:37:39pm |
re: #217 Empire1
Aha, another Thomas Sowell reader!
No, unfortunately! Syrah just turned me onto him, and I’ll become a member of the readership shortly.
| 220 |
notutopia Mon, Feb 16, 2009 5:49:57pm |
These articles are spot on where we sit today, and if we don’t dissent and start effectively collaborating our efforts as a unified conservative party, instead of laying in waiting for someone to spoonfeed us a party, we are going to end up as mindless, working, breeding stock for a central government that will wholly OWN us.
I don’t want anyone taking care of my responsibilities or making any of my personal decisions for me!
I refuse to end up as the lobster in the governmental pot!
| 221 |
jwb7605 Mon, Feb 16, 2009 5:50:13pm |
re: #202 lawhawk
[SNIP]
For CO, they’re looking to double motor vehicle registration fees. And they’re busy complaining that their local pork projects didn’t get funded.[SNIP]
I moved to this state (CO) in 1982, and they had just passed an increased gasoline tax to help pay for road improvements. That tax was supposed to expire in 1992.
It didn’t, of course.
| 222 |
quickjustice Mon, Feb 16, 2009 5:58:25pm |
To beat this ,we’re going to have to begin advocating for Charles Murray’s libertarian approach in “In Our Hands: A Plan to Replace the Welfare State”:
[Link: www.amazon.com…]
| 223 |
horse Mon, Feb 16, 2009 5:58:50pm |
re: #147 Sharmuta
They don’t see entitlement mentality as a problem, they think the problem is that the entitlements haven’t gotten to the right people.
I wonder what they will do when the number of people receiving entitlements sky rockets. Hawaii ended its universal child health care program last year, just seven months after it started, because enrollment was mostly by those who already had coverage, but dropped it to get in on the free program.
I suppose their next step could be means testing, but then many will just adjust their situation to fit into the means. Can’t have declarable income? fixed. Can’t have assets in my name? fixed. Can’t be married? fixed. etc…
| 224 |
quickjustice Mon, Feb 16, 2009 5:59:51pm |
It isn’t enough to endlessly analyze all the evils of excessive government and the welfare state. We need a plan for abolition: [Link: www.amazon.com…]
| 225 |
gulfloafer Mon, Feb 16, 2009 6:01:21pm |
I was officially scared after the Newsweek cover …
| 226 |
horse Mon, Feb 16, 2009 6:03:30pm |
re: #201 Killian Bundy
Perhaps he will be putting them in the very capable hands of the committee who assisted the The Twentieth Century Motor Company during its period of mismanagement.
| 228 |
Peter Verkooijen Mon, Feb 16, 2009 6:08:56pm |
re: #70 midwestgak
… Fascism can exist without being tied to socialism. The are all exclusive. One does not have to exist before the other. IMHO
Well, you’re wrong. Communism, fascism, national socialism are all just variations from the same pool of socialist ideas. They all historically developed from socialism.
| 229 |
Irenike Mon, Feb 16, 2009 6:10:06pm |
Ledeen is right on target. I’ve been worried about creeping American fascism for awhile, and reading Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism made me even more worried. Now, with all the government expansion in this Pork Sandwich bill, my worries are even more justified.
But you know what? I won’t despair. I will continue to speak the truth. Obama can’t convince me he’s up to any good, no matter how good a speaker he is. He can’t control what I think.
As for the rest of the Americans who voted for this guy, well, they can believe they’re getting a free lunch. And then, one day, they might just wake up when they realize they are paying for it. They’ll suddenly realize that their standard of living has dropped, and this country is no longer as free as it once was, that the prosperity they used to see around them isn’t there, and the government checks that roll in don’t go as far as they thought they would. They’ll gripe about the inflation, about scarcity in medical services, about declining lifespans, and wonder why all the most talented and productive people left for freer pastures. Atlas shrugged, indeed.
| 230 |
Sheepdogess Mon, Feb 16, 2009 6:19:59pm |
re: #229 Irenike
Good post.
However, he’s not a great speaker.
These are still good times.
Enjoy them.
The worst is yet to come.
| 231 |
soccerdad Mon, Feb 16, 2009 6:29:47pm |
read them both and they are great! He really outlines what is ahead if nothing changes. Fight. The water has just been turn up way too fast. hopefully enough of us will see the Fascist path the great one is leading us down.
| 232 |
FrogMarch Mon, Feb 16, 2009 6:35:20pm |
re: #180 Walter L. Newton
The Dems in Ca. are working on MORE taxes and getting ready to take MORE money from the citizens. They are not learning anything.
Gotta pay for the state union workers and their magnificent pensions.
| 233 |
FrogMarch Mon, Feb 16, 2009 6:36:39pm |
re: #191 Walter L. Newton
And here in Colorado, same thing. The state is Dem controlled and they are still working on more taxes and more ways to skim more money from us, even though the sate will be getting 1-2 billion from the stimulus.
Democrats live to tax. Taxing is like breathing.
| 234 |
unclassifiable Mon, Feb 16, 2009 6:40:47pm |
Absolutely brilliant analysis Mr. Ledeen!
Now how do I help reverse this? This will be a question that will gnaw at me.
| 235 |
unclassifiable Mon, Feb 16, 2009 6:49:12pm |
re: #30 Racer X
Spot on. What I don’t get is why they can get away with this crap. We are putting our children into a financial debt to The State that they will never be able to pay off!
Oh the kids will be able to pay it off…
… by “volunteering” for the National Public Projects Corps.
| 236 |
Promethea Mon, Feb 16, 2009 7:01:59pm |
re: #106 Rexatosis
American Society does not read, does not think, and refuses to understand the “road to hell is paved with good intentions” because it refuses to comprehend the concept of “unintended consequences.” It has become perfectly ripe for the populist rhetoric of facism to feast upon.
Well stated. How many people do we know who actually read books to try to understand what’s going on? Not many, in my opinion.
| 237 |
barry the baptist Mon, Feb 16, 2009 7:12:41pm |
Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (1835) is now—and it’s been a while since reading it—coming pretty self-evident. When the author discusses the downfall of the US via entitlements and the corruption of character one only needs to step back and think about the state of affairs here. Sad—and getting worse. Many students in today’s schools, for example, do very little but expect the very most as a reward. This problem just intensifies as the student gets older. Thus, what have we created in finality when said student gets a high school diploma? Answer: a poor, uneducated, and lazy citizen. Of course, there’s the old adage about an uneducated populace being unable to maintain a democracy..but that’s another thread.
Again, we are faced with the prospect of an ever expanding govt and sadly enough, most people are embracing it (govt) becoming more involved in our decision making (e.g., rules, regulations, etc).
| 238 |
Dar ul Harb Mon, Feb 16, 2009 7:42:10pm |
The People’s Republic of China shows the direction this is headed, unfortunately.
The ruling party may still call themselves “Communist,” but the system is fascism.
| 239 |
rawmuse Mon, Feb 16, 2009 8:12:34pm |
These were possibly the best articles written on the subject to date.
| 240 |
unclassifiable Mon, Feb 16, 2009 8:14:25pm |
Devo:
Freedom of choice is what we want.
Freedom from choice is what we got.
| 241 |
Wendya Mon, Feb 16, 2009 8:56:47pm |
The “new historians” who are reevaluating FDR’s new deal without the blinders of hero worship have all commented on the fascist nature of the new deal. FDR was apparently a big fan of Mussolini’s economic fascism. Unfortunately, the left has redefined the word to mean anyone to the right of Che so when you bring up the fascist nature of the left, their heads spin around, their eyes roll back into their heads and they lose control of all bodily functions.
Anyone who has ever lived in a leftist community can tell you all about fascism.
| 242 |
MPH Mon, Feb 16, 2009 9:26:00pm |
I am trying to find a photo of FDR giving a fiery speech in front of a massive print of his own face (probably 10 feet tall by 5 feet wide) — Mussolini-style.
If you have seen the intro to the HBO show Carnivale, you know what I am talking about. Here it is on YouTube:
(FDR is at the 1:17 mark)| 243 |
Boolz Mon, Feb 16, 2009 9:29:29pm |
socialism or fascism…you want six or a half dozen?
| 244 |
Neo_ Tue, Feb 17, 2009 6:44:30am |
I suppose we should now refer to Obama as … Il Douche
| 245 |
gregb Tue, Feb 17, 2009 11:06:40am |
A little hyper-inflation and all those kids debts will go away pretty quickly.
| 246 |
Mosse Wed, Feb 18, 2009 1:27:55am |
Both of these articles articulate the current situation better than any assessment I’ve read. Lizards, google “left fascism” and see the articles that come up. This analysis was fairly common, from the end of WWII forward. Must reading for the geneology of the present developments.
Charles — thank so much for the articles. You should post them at the top, daily. They contain the necessary understanding to move forward from here. The entire political class is, by now, completely complicit. We need a new “party” — NOW.
Once Praised, the Settlement to Help Sickened BP Oil Spill Workers Leaves Most With Nearly Nothing When a deadly explosion destroyed BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, 134 million gallons of crude erupted into the sea over the next three months — and tens of thousands of ordinary people were hired ...
Cheechako
Alone in a Bathroom: The Fear and Uncertainty of a Post-Roe Medication Abortion Angel tucked two white pills into each side of her mouth, bracing herself as they began to dissolve. Her deepest fears and anxieties took over. Angel had wanted to talk to a doctor before she took the pills to ... Cheechako
They Were Desperate to Get Pregnant. Then IVF Gave Them Extra Embryos. One morning last spring, Ashley Harrolle put her 1-year-old daughter down for a nap and went to the kitchen. She pulled up her fertility clinic’s contact information. It was time to make the call. In a freezer several hundred ... CheechakoJoe Bacon ✅
March FavoritesYou've seen these all already but looking back, just because. These are my favorite shots of this last month. That 1937 Zeiss Sonnar is such a gloriously wonderful bit of glass. Thanks for looking.
William Lewis
Russia’s New Combat Robots Blown Up by Drones Near Avdiivka When we landed on the moon, I thought about how science fiction had become real. Now, the robot wars have begun. It's more poignant somehow on the ground than in the missile wars we have in the air as ...
Rightwingconspirator
Why Did More Than 1,000 People Die After Police Subdued Them With Force That Isn’t Meant to Kill? An investigation led by The Associated Press has found that, over a decade, more than 1,000 people died after police subdued them through physical holds, stun guns, body blows and other force not intended to be lethal. More: Why ... CheechakoKGxvi
The Pandemic Cost 7 Million Lives, but Talks to Prevent a Repeat Stall In late 2021, as the world reeled from the arrival of the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus, representatives of almost 200 countries met - some online, some in-person in Geneva - hoping to forestall a future worldwide ... Cheechako
Texas County at Center of Border Fight Is Overwhelmed by Migrant Deaths EAGLE PASS, Tex. - The undertaker lighted a cigarette and held it between his latex-gloved fingers as he stood over the bloated body bag lying in the bed of his battered pickup truck. The woman had been fished out ... Cheechako
