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From The Road To Serfdom, by F. A. Hayek, 1944, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1994, The University of Chicago Press.

The supreme tragedy is still not seen that in Germany (prior to World War II) it was largely people of good will, men who were admired and held up as models in the democratic countries, who prepared the way for, if they did not actually create, the forces which now stand for everything they detest.

Excerpted under Fair Use for purposes of non-commercial education, discussion and comment. Any transcription or typographical errors are mine.

From The Road To Serfdom, by F. A. Hayek, 1944, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1994, The University of Chicago Press.

. . . the most important change which extensive government control produces is a psychological change, an alteration of the character of the people. . . even a strong tradition of political liberty is no safeguard if the danger is precisely that new institutions and policies will gradually undermine and destroy that spirit.

Excerpted under Fair Use for purposes of non-commercial education, discussion and comment. Any transcription or typographical errors are mine.

From The Road To Serfdom, by F. A. Hayek, 1944, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1994, The University of Chicago Press.

A conservative movement, by its very nature, is bound to be a defender of established privilege and to lean on the power of government for the protection of privilege . . . the essence of the (classical) liberal position, however, is the denial of all privilege, if privilege is understood in its proper and original meaning of the state granting and protecting rights to some which are not available on equal terms to others.

Excerpted under Fair Use for purposes of non-commercial education, discussion and comment. Any transcription or typographical errors are mine.

From The Road To Serfdom, by F. A. Hayek, 1944, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1994, The University of Chicago Press.

Conservatism, though is necessary element in any stable society, is not a social program; in its paternalistic, nationalistic, and power-adoring tendencies it is often closer to socialism than true (classical) liberalism; and with its traditionalistic, anti-intellectual, and often mystical propensities it will never, except in short periods of disillusionment, appeal to the young and all those others who believe that some changes are desirable if this world is to become a better place.

Excerpted under Fair Use for purposes of non-commercial education, discussion and comment. Any transcription or typographical errors are mine.

Oh, brother.

Paula Moore-Kirby, 42 years old, had less trouble with the Web site, but couldn’t work out how to answer the question about how many jobs her father had created or saved. She couldn’t leave it blank, either, she said. After several calls to a helpline for recipients she came away with the impression that she would hear back if there was a problem with her response, and have a chance to correct it. So with 15 minutes to go before the reporting deadline, she sent in her answer: nine jobs, because her father helped nine members of the Corps to work.

Well--any thinking, rational person understood from the beginning that the Obama "jobs created or saved" nonsense was exactly that: nonsense. It was a con. A "lie," if you will.

But the formula is now set:

Eighteen boots equals nine jobs, in the Obama Economy. One job is precisely equal to two pieces of footwear, in Obama's America.

How's that "hope and change" working out for you?

Cue "Can't Afford No Shoes" by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention . . .

It's official--In the U.K., anyway:

In a landmark ruling, Mr Justice Michael Burton said that "a belief in man-made climate change ... is capable, if genuinely held, of being a philosophical belief for the purpose of the 2003 Religion and Belief Regulations".

In other words, "climate change" isn't about science, it's about dogma.

The science may not be settled, but the "consensus" remains solidly fixed in the sacred texts of the IPCC and in the intolerant, true-believer minds of the High Priests of Climate Panic. And my God can beat up your Gaia, or maybe it's the other way around. Religious wars at dawn! Burn the unbelievers! Convert or die! Death to all those who would profane the great Mother Earth God and Her Prophet, Algore!

"And yet, it moves!"

Aldous Huxley:

There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self.

William G. McAdoo:

It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument.

Wernher von Braun:

I have learned to use the word 'impossible' with the greatest caution.

From The Vision of the Annointed, by Thomas Sewell:

Today, despite free speech and the mass media, the prevailing social vision (collectivist "liberalism") is dangerously close to sealing itself off from any discordant feedback from reality.

Parenthetical comment mine.