The Pillars of Apathy

I refuse to believe government programs launched in the Forties, Sixties, and Seventies are indestructible features of our lives, immune to repeal or reform. I don’t believe a nation with a 234-year history of courage and industry is destined to suffocate in a shallow pool of nanny-state cement, poured only a few generations ago. It will be difficult for the American giant to rise again… but history unfolds in the space between difficult and impossible.

There is no such thing as eternal legislation. Even the Constitution can be amended. It’s only a question of how much willpower it will take for us to cast aside the intolerable acts of our political class. We are descended from men who showed great vigor in resisting intolerable acts.

I don’t believe the American electorate is a hopeless mass of imbeciles and parasites. Of course, we’ll always have plenty of both… along with a breathtaking population of hard workers, visionaries, and heroes. It’s terribly short-sighted to write off a populace that ignores its expensive media apparatus and fills the streets for Tea Party rallies – joining people loudly accused of racism to denounce a supposedly inevitable system of total State control, run by a man they were taught it was sinful to oppose. The allegedly stupid proletariat of the United States just made Friedrich Hayek’s 66-year-old masterpiece, The Road to Serfdom, Number One on the Amazon.com bestseller list. Our fellow citizens are thinking, and questioning. Questions are acid to statism.

Amen, Brother! We, as a nation, need to understand that almost all of "progressive" economic theory (either Marxism of Keynesiansm) is simply, utterly wrong. It doesn't work. It is "unsustainable." It is bankrupting us. The New Deal turns out to be a Bad Deal. Stimulating government spending is NOT the same thing as stimulating the economy.

The government is NOT the economy, and the government is NOT the answer to every social problem we find. Indeed, many of the social problems we have today are made worse--if not actually caused, by the kind of bull-in-a-china-shop government intervention and micromanagement of people's lives which is the hallmark of "progressive" political action.

Democratic Congressman Assaults College Student -- Oh, yeah. This one can't be linked enough. Democrat. Congressman. Assault. College student, the victim. This guy (the Congressman) should spend time in jail. Of course, most Congressmen should, actually.

IDLED OIL RIGS ARE MOVING TO BRAZIL Following Obama’s Drilling Moratorium -- It turns out that all the high-minded environmentalist blather boils down to NIMBY: Not In My Back Yard. We don't care if you drill for oil in the Atlantic Ocean off Brazil--just don't do it within sight of an American beach. Because, you know, it's so unsightly to see an oil rig when you're trying to catch a few rays.

Of course, oil-covered pelicans are a bit more unsightly, but then the environmentalists decided that oil wells where they'd be almost impossible to maintain if something went drastically wrong--a mile deep in ocean water--was preferable to oil wells in a couple of hundred feet of water, where crews could still get down and actually work on with human hands of something blew.

Not "green." Just NIMBY.

The Great Democrat Embarrassment Continues -- I know it can't last (can it?) but the whole fiasco for the Democrats over their candidate for U.S. Senate from South Carolina, Alvin Greene, is just too damn entertaining for words . . . in a year where perhaps THE major issue is the demonstrated Democrat incompetence at actually governing (as opposed to just running for office, which Democrats are clearly very good at), the presence of Alvin Greene at the top of a state's Democrat electoral ballot speaks volumes.

Rabbi Who Taped Helen Thomas Is Inundated With Hate Mail and Death Threats -- Why do those Tea Party right wing wingnuts . . . oh, wait, it's "progressives" doing the hating here? Ah. Never mind, then.

The left’s strange hostility to Hirsi Ali -- If your first reaction is "Who?" then you really should be ashamed of yourself. You can't afford not to know who Ayann Hirsi Ali is, and what she has had to endure.

Obama fights critics on spill response: report -- Whiner in Chief. If the job is too hard for you, Barry, then you can always do the entire nation a huge service and just quit. Maybe you should try shutting the hell up and doing your f'ing job instead of constantly looking for someone, anyone else to blame for all the problems of the world. Oh, and your job is not to be Head Of The Democratic/Progressive Transformation Of The Entire World To Be A Better Place. Your job is to be the chief executive officer of the Federal Government of the United States of America. Maybe you should have familiarized yourself with the job description. It's here. See especially Article 2. Let me know if you need help with some of the bigger words.

And honest, I wrote that before I saw this article: Too Big Or Too Small?

Mark Steyn suggests that Obama may be the first president for whom the office just isn't good enough

Another Stumble in the Gulf -- Un. Freaking. Believable.

The administration has decreed a six-month moratorium on exploratory drilling in the Gulf, based on a report that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar wrote for President Obama. Salazar claimed that a panel of seven experts selected by the National Academy of Engineering had peer reviewed his report. It turns out, though, that the seven experts never saw the recommendation for a moratorium, and in fact oppose it . . .

Just when you think the Obama regime can't get more incompetent . . .

Deficit commission may target mortgage deductions; Update: Take the poll! -- You know, I'm not 100% opposed to eliminating the mortgage deduction . . . IF, IF-IF-IF-IF we stop all of these nonsensical policies of "putting people into houses they can't afford," I say we all take off, and nuke Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.


Is the MFM Really Afraid of Political Violence From the Right, Or Is It Just Another Negative Political Attack? -- No, I'm quite sure they're really afraid. AND it's a negative political attack. The two are not mutually exclusive. They're afraid because it's well established now that liberals and leftists simply don't have the moral framework to adequately understand the motives and actions of people of the right--while the right has a much more balanced moral framework and can understand the leftist view. It's because the Left does not understand the Right that they oppose the policy recommendations of the Right. It's because the Right does understand the Left that they promote policies of freedom, and oppose policies of oppression.

Mitch Daniels: We need a “truce” on social issues to concentrate on our fiscal crisis -- He's not saying anything I haven't said. The Drug War isn't working. Time to try something else. Social Security isn't working (is bankrupt.) Time to try something else. Medicare isn't working (is bankrupt.) Time to try something else.

The whole "progressive" New Deal approach to government isn't working. Time to try something else.

In Their Own Words: A Warning Label on the Constitution -- Actually, publications from Wilder Publications need warning labels:

WARNING: The publisher of this document, Wilder Publications, is composed entirely of deeply stupid people. Read this at your own intellectual risk.

On The Table

The time has indeed come to put many things on the table. All of them are dusty, overpriced relics of discredited statist theories and collectivist ideology. How long has it been since Americans were allowed to tackle any serious problem by enhancing their liberty? Who can remember the last time we approached a situation by reducing the burden of regulation and taxation on our private citizens, unleashing their energy and creativity? When was the last time we were allowed to view a crisis as an opportunity for the private sector, rather than the State?

And don't try using the lies about deregulation causing the oil spill or the housing meltdown. Neither are true. Don't lie to me--or to yourself. Go find the truth, instead. If you have the courage to face the truth, that is. Maybe you don't. Maybe you want Someone To Make It Better. But nobody will. Nobody but you, that is. What are YOU doing?

Looting Taxpayers: Mortgage Interest Deduction Editon -- I'm starting to wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to simply revoke the privilege from the Federal Government of taking money in any way, shape, or form, from any citizen of the United States. Make the Federal Government "tax" the States. Let the States have control of the purse of the Feds. Pass a Consititutional Amendment limiting the Federal budget to some percentage of State budgets.

Don't tell me it can't happen. Don't tell me it's impossible. We're into an age where nothing is impossible, and nothing is off the table.

We need to do something drastic to bring some sense of fiscal discipline to Washington. Simply electing a bunch of fiscal realists (not even "fiscal conservatives"), while a good move, will not be enough.

Somebody needs to bell the cat.

But wait, there's more . . .

Wealthy businesswomen win California Republican races -- "Wealthy?" Well, yes, but note the implicit bias. Why not "Successful?" "Prominent?" Or just "Businesswomen?" Why the qualifier "wealthy?" Why that word, specifically? THAT'S what people mean when they talk about media bias. And I'm quite sure that the headline writer didn't even think about using that word instead of something more neutral. It simply didn't occur to them. That's what bias means--it's not a conscious act, most of the time. It's "just the way things are." Just like "black people just aren't as smart as whites." Nobody actually went around saying that--it's just something that racists simply assumed was true, and built their worldview upon that false assumption.

The problem with bias is that biased people can not see their own biases.

Charles Krauthammer talks more about the Democrats’ Civil War -- And the Hillbuzz guys expound upon the thesis:

The problem, at its core, is that the DNC made a conscious decision to enter into a pact with the Devil, in the form of the thuggery, fraud, and ACORN-backed tactics Democrats now gleefully employ as a Leftist party. Seeing the party embrace this behavior, propagate it, and RELISH in it is revolting to those of us who thought the party was better than this. Those of us who can of age politically when the Clintons were president in the 1990s are ashamed of the Obama Democrat Party. This is not what we signed up for when we registered as Democrats in high school. This is not what we agreed to when we campaigned for Democrats in every election since we turned 18. This is not the party we supported with whatever spare cash we had to donate all these years.

These thugs will never get another cent out of any of us, and we can’t honestly see a day in the future when we will ever vote Democrat again.

They have permanently alienated us.

This isn't little old libertarian-leaning Republican me saying it. This is a bunch of lifelong Democrats, staunch Hillary supporters, gay guys from Boystown in Chicago, who were expelled from their party by the leftist goons who are backing Barack Obama. They figured it out. When will you--or will you, before it really is too late?

In Praise of Capitalism: How the ‘Social Justice’ Left Uses Economic Incentives to Create Academic Propaganda -- This is a wooden stake, driven into the heart of the public's trust in the veracity of university professors and researchers. If not stopped in its tracks by honest college and university faculty who still hold the truth to be the paramount goal of education, the public will in response, in order to know what is really true, eventually have to simply discount anything said by any "professor" from any "university" as being hopelessly biased. The way the subjects of the Soviet Union had to engage in reading between the lines of Pravda-actually, much like what we now have to do, parsing of what the hopelessly left-biased Old Media outlets produce.

ObamaCare could wipe out health insurance for 1 million low-income workers -- Oopsie. Sorry about that. But remember, we Democrats care more about you than those evil, vicious Republicans . . . always have, always will, even if we take your health insurance away from you to show you how very, very much we care about you. Don't you feel good about us? We sure do . . .

The Talking Cure for the Tragedy of the Commons: Bad things happen when governments keep people from cutting their own deals on resource management -- The "tragedy of the commons" lies precisely in the fact that it is a commons. Owners act, for the most part, in ways that preserve, if not enhance the value of what they own. Things that are held "in common" do not generally receive that level of attention to value preservation or enhancement, unless specific and sustained common actions are made. Those actions are extremely difficult to sustain, especially when they become subject to political deal-making. And so, you have garbage piling up on vacant lots.

Whew. That was . . . much linkage. But I'm caught up. Oh, except for the stuff that happened in the past . . . twenty-two hours or so since I scheduled the posting of this bad boy. A blogger's work is never done . . .

Oh, OK, I'll explain why a Catchup Whip was necessary--again. First, I've had a chest cold. Yeah, I know, whine, whine. Or, in this case, wheeze-wheeze-cough-cough-cough. Mainly, I've been working on the background for my forthcoming blockbuster science fiction series, tentatively going under the title The Guider Universe.

What's a "Guider?" Good question. You'll have to read the stories--assuming I ever actually get them written. When will I get them written and/or published? Yet another good question, Grasshopper. One of my big problems is that . . . God help me . . . I like doing the research and world-building more than I like doing the plotting and characterization and all that fiction-writing-stuff like stringing-all-those-recalcitrant-words-together-to-make-a-coherent-and-interesting-story. Sigh.

OK, just a bit more about the story: it starts . . . well, the story starts maybe twenty or thirty thousand years ago, in this galaxy but on a star far, far away, then works its way to Earth where it spends the next five to seven thousand years, and then runs (at least) three hundred years into the future, so far.

Put that way, it actually sounds impressive. Let's take care of that! There will be star ships and ray guns and mysterious aliens, evil empires and unexpected friends and unanticipated enemies, terrible dangers and narrow escapes--all the good stuff. If I do it right, there will be lots of good clean fun for all. Oh, all right, some of the fun may not be so good and clean--if you insist.

What are we here for? Oh, yeah. Whippage.

Duh, McCartney: Bush’s Wife Was a ‘Librarian’ -- Just proving once again that Lennon was the more intelligent one of the duo . . . not that he was fookin' brilliant or anything . . . but come on, McCartney' original lyrics had him singing "Scrambled Eggs" instead of "Yesterday" fer cryin' out loud . . .

New tactic in jihadi war on US: duds -- Another attack is coming . . . you can be sure of that . . . it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of where, and when . . . until we stop them--or more accurately, until whatever relatively sane segment still remains of the Muslim world stops them - - - or, until we have the Mother of All Crusades. Don't think it can't happen. You can push people only so far. Then they will start pushing back. In my more depressive moments, it's that very pushback that I think the Islamicist extremists are trying to provoke.

Be careful what you wish for.

Overtreated: More medical care isn't always better -- In military terms, this is "battlefield preparation." In political terms, this is "spin." It is the first shot of the coming campaign to convince you that the cuts in medical care that are inevitable with Obamacare are good for you. There's an easier way to fix the "overtreated" problem: limit the lawsuit liability of doctors--"defensive medicine" means defending the doctor from lawyers, not defending the patient. But the Democrats didn't want to hear that simple truth. They still don't.

Just Like Henry: Congressional Democrats Avoid Constituents -- "Running for office" has not, in the United States of America, traditionally entailed fleeing from those whose votes you (allegedly) require.

The ‘Costs’ of Free Speech: Consequentialism and the First Amendment don’t mix. -- Did you know that Obama's Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan's view on your First Amendment speech rights boils down to "well, it depends on the 'societal costs.'" That not only disqualifies her for serving as a judge at any level, it should forever bar her from pulling any kind of paycheck from any government entity in this nation. What part of "Congress Shall Make No Law" escapes her comprehension? Good Lord . . .

'Phoenix Rising' for SB 1070 at Arizona State Capitol -- If I wasn't already married to the most wonderful woman in the world, the first picture alone would have me looking for a job in AZ . . .

And you know, something that's been eating at me since Obama said it . . . you know, any law has the potential for abuse. That's something that the left tends to forget, until it's convenient for them to remember it. Of course, many on the right exhibit the same blind spot, at times . . .

OK, I also like the sign "Seriously! Adopt Mexico's Immigration Laws!" Heh.

Scientists debate: Are recessions good for health? -- Idiot "scientists" . . . and idiot journalists . . . aren't good for my blood pressure, that's for sure . . .

The Ideologue

Opening question: Is it a Whip if it's three or four days old? Hey, here it is!

I'm going to split up this bunch of Whippage into several posts, just 'cuz there's so much stuff.

Intellectuals: Smarter Than God? -- Or dumber than Rocks, Boxes Of? On the other hand, what is your answer to the question "What is important? And why do you answer that way?

And how do you know that it is the correct answer--correct not simply for your own precious conscience and emotional stability (or, if you will, your rock-solid Faith), but also correct for those who do not share your particular view of life? That is, is what you judge to be "important" a subjective value, dependent on your whims (or Faith, or whatever), or is it an objective value, not subject to your own personal intellectual approval?

Use both sides of the paper, if necessary. This will be graded.

Oh, and congratulations . . . you're now an intellectual.

In the classical sense, anyway. And see, that's the problem: Modern intellectuals don't worry about things like objective values--that's the one single dominant trait of modern "intellectual" thought. Which is why modern "intellectuals" are so confused, and so confusing to us normal people who have to get to work on time or the boss will get mad. Because, the clock is objective--it doesn't care what you think about it. The boss, while he or she may not care what you think of him/her either, does care very much what the clock tells him/her about you. Thus endeth the lesson in the objective nature of reality. (And don't be a pointy-head and bring up Einstein, OK? Just don't. Most of us don't get that close to the speed of light, even on a good day. OK?)