Saturday, January 31, 2015
MVP Breaks 100,000 Hearts
Yup. Great player, great guy, and 100,000 Wisconsin girls will cry themselves to sleep.
Marquette U. v. McAdams: What's Going On Here?
No less than three nationally-recognized entities have severely criticized Marquette University's action against Professor McAdams: FIRE, Dr. D. Downs of UW-Madison, and AAUP. In addition, Daniel Maguire (!!) of MU's faculty, joined in McAdams' defense. Another MU-related attorney, Rick Esenberg, also wrote MU to defend McAdams--and, incidentally, (acting as McAdams' counsel) raised the bar a few feet with the threat of civil action for defamation.
All the documents can be found at McAdams' blogsite.
For its part, Marquette has clammed up after a few carefully-chosen words reported by local media.
So what's going on here?
Is this a case where the newly-installed President of MU took some seriously flawed advice and pulled the trigger without checking with counsel? Was he so busy carrying on with the Bucks and with Dwayne Wade that he just sorta nodded a vague approval of schmeissing McAdams without due diligence?
Or did the decision come from a lower-rung bureaucrat in the MU H.R. operation? In that case, one should not go long on that individual's career prospects at MU--because, unless there's a smoking gun found in McAdams' hand and a dead body in the same locked room with him, Marquette is in deep, deep, doo-doo.
On the other hand, maybe MU's top dogs made the decision that they would "fire" McAdams and simply pay him off in a settlement with a "shut-up" clause. IOW, they were willing to take the short-term hit in order to stifle McAdams, and they gambled that in the long run, this would go away.
Hmmmm.
All the documents can be found at McAdams' blogsite.
For its part, Marquette has clammed up after a few carefully-chosen words reported by local media.
So what's going on here?
Is this a case where the newly-installed President of MU took some seriously flawed advice and pulled the trigger without checking with counsel? Was he so busy carrying on with the Bucks and with Dwayne Wade that he just sorta nodded a vague approval of schmeissing McAdams without due diligence?
Or did the decision come from a lower-rung bureaucrat in the MU H.R. operation? In that case, one should not go long on that individual's career prospects at MU--because, unless there's a smoking gun found in McAdams' hand and a dead body in the same locked room with him, Marquette is in deep, deep, doo-doo.
On the other hand, maybe MU's top dogs made the decision that they would "fire" McAdams and simply pay him off in a settlement with a "shut-up" clause. IOW, they were willing to take the short-term hit in order to stifle McAdams, and they gambled that in the long run, this would go away.
Hmmmm.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
If At First You Miserably Fail....
Seems like the solons of Connecticut don't really get it. With 80++% of its citizens simply ignoring the "register your guns" law, they're now proposing another "register your guns" law.
Ya'know, just in case that 80++% forgot about the first one.
Ya'know, just in case that 80++% forgot about the first one.
Dead From "Flu"? Probably Not
Ticker always finds interesting little gems.
Flu results in "about 250,000 to 500,000 yearly deaths" worldwide, Wikipedia tells us. "The typical estimate is 36,000 [deaths] a year in the United States," reports NBC, citing the Centers for Disease Control....
Yeah, but:
... According to the National Vital Statistics System in the U.S., for example, annual flu deaths in 2010 amounted to just 500 per year -- fewer than deaths from ulcers (2,977), hernias (1,832) and pregnancy and childbirth (825)... Ticker quoting Journal of Advanced Practice Nursing
Oh, well. 500, 36,000, whassa diff?
The diff? A helluvalot of flu-vaccine revenues.
Flu results in "about 250,000 to 500,000 yearly deaths" worldwide, Wikipedia tells us. "The typical estimate is 36,000 [deaths] a year in the United States," reports NBC, citing the Centers for Disease Control....
Yeah, but:
... According to the National Vital Statistics System in the U.S., for example, annual flu deaths in 2010 amounted to just 500 per year -- fewer than deaths from ulcers (2,977), hernias (1,832) and pregnancy and childbirth (825)... Ticker quoting Journal of Advanced Practice Nursing
Oh, well. 500, 36,000, whassa diff?
The diff? A helluvalot of flu-vaccine revenues.
Our WIERD Masters
This guy has nailed it.
...The WEIRD demographic, as I’ve explained before, standing for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic, is wholly dominant among our media elites that play a huge role in forming opinions and judging the acceptability of the same. Over the last half-century the WEIRD vanguard has taken over the academy, the media, and the entertainment world; one of its better-known members is in the White House right now. Obama’s castigation in 2008 of “bitter” Americans who cling to guns and religion was a perfect one-sentence explanation of how WEIRDos view less educated and enlightened fellow citizens, which is no doubt why his opponents will cite it forever.
There is no tyranny as offensive as a cultural tyranny, of course, and just as affluent, educated post-moderns view their lessers with undisguised contempt, the guns-and-bibles brigade returns that contempt with interest. This goes some way to explaining why American politics has become so bitter in recent years: both sides simply hate each other and bother less and less to mask it.
The WEIRD contingent has had an impressive string of victories since the 1960’s, especially in America. Their record of wins, fast, may have no precedent in history, since culture tends to shift slowly, sometimes glacially. The culture war has been won, and the victory for the WEIRD side is essentially total. In the last fifty years, racial relations have been so dramatically transformed by government and culture, hand in hand, that racism, once casual among many whites, is totally unacceptable in anything resembling polite society. It speaks volumes that Jeffrey Dahmer, who murdered, dismembered and ate seventeen young men, many of them black and Hispanic, was at pains to make clear that, though he was a cannibalistic serial killer, he wasn’t racist: that fact he deemed important....
Plenty more at the link.
So. What has this meant, in the geo-political order?
Well, you could start with the massive failure of Iraq--both in GWB's utterly misguided toppling of Saddam and in Obozo's even-more misguided abandonment of the effort. (Colin Powell's famous "If you break it, you bought it" remark was meant to give Bush pause--but the War Party sector of The WIERD managed to triumph, in a Pyrrhic way.)
It also explains the complete and total disregard of religion as THE factor in the Middle East (and for that matter, in large parts of the US).
...the vast majority of Muslims fall into a big group that lives the faith as best they can, without questioning its essentials. They try, they fail, they keep trying. They usually make an effort during Ramadan, at least, and if a life crisis appears, they will pray and seek the comfort of the mosque; the rest of the time their lived faith is rather hit-or-miss. In other words, they are completely normal human beings.
It needs to be clear that these majoritarians do not question Islam: if pressed, they will state the problem, the failing, is with them, not the faith. It should be obvious that the group wholly absent from this division-into-threes is the post-modern Western skeptic, the nominal mainline Protestant, or perhaps a very Reform Jew, who’s down with gay marriage since it’s been “reinterpreted” in recent decades. Hipster Jesus — into you with your sins, cool with your ironic vibe — does not have a corollary in Islam. The hardest thing for WEIRDos, who view all religion as odd, and perhaps risible, when not dangerous, to grasp is — Muslims actually believe this stuff.
The WIERD simply cannot wrap their heads around this "religion" stuff--at all.
...While race is of interest to the WEIRD demographic, sex is more central to their worldview. Catfights among progressives about determining who has more sexual privilege are fun to watch yet challenging for normals to comprehend. Here the LGBT issue has played a major role....However, just as with race and gender issues, LGBT advocates are showing minimal magnanimity in victory, preferring to double-down on public dissenters. Even the powerful are being driven from jobs and public life over their opposition, even when quiet, to gay marriage. There is more than a whiff of the Social Justice Warrior (SJW) mob about all this, and the idea of live-and-let live does not seem to be in fashion among the Cultural Marxist Left. It’s difficult to see how America avoids a serious clash between progressives and tradition-minded religious groups over all this....
As to the Boehner/McConnell cave-in on illegals:
...Mass immigration is the preferred solution for WEIRDos, because it gets them off the hook for reproducing while providing interesting ethnic restaurants, plus ample cheap labor to do the household chores that affluent progressives don’t seek to do themselves (until recently many of these domestic tasks — cleaning, fixing, lawn-cutting — were assigned to a family’s children, who no longer exist in numbers).
In the United States, mass immigration, heavily from Latin America, is causing discontent but is seen as a nuisance, at most, by WEIRDos, who seldom know the working-class Americans who do see this as a serious threat to their economic and social well-being....
Lots, lots, more at the link and worth the read (even though this author tends to the prolix)
...The WEIRD demographic, as I’ve explained before, standing for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic, is wholly dominant among our media elites that play a huge role in forming opinions and judging the acceptability of the same. Over the last half-century the WEIRD vanguard has taken over the academy, the media, and the entertainment world; one of its better-known members is in the White House right now. Obama’s castigation in 2008 of “bitter” Americans who cling to guns and religion was a perfect one-sentence explanation of how WEIRDos view less educated and enlightened fellow citizens, which is no doubt why his opponents will cite it forever.
There is no tyranny as offensive as a cultural tyranny, of course, and just as affluent, educated post-moderns view their lessers with undisguised contempt, the guns-and-bibles brigade returns that contempt with interest. This goes some way to explaining why American politics has become so bitter in recent years: both sides simply hate each other and bother less and less to mask it.
The WEIRD contingent has had an impressive string of victories since the 1960’s, especially in America. Their record of wins, fast, may have no precedent in history, since culture tends to shift slowly, sometimes glacially. The culture war has been won, and the victory for the WEIRD side is essentially total. In the last fifty years, racial relations have been so dramatically transformed by government and culture, hand in hand, that racism, once casual among many whites, is totally unacceptable in anything resembling polite society. It speaks volumes that Jeffrey Dahmer, who murdered, dismembered and ate seventeen young men, many of them black and Hispanic, was at pains to make clear that, though he was a cannibalistic serial killer, he wasn’t racist: that fact he deemed important....
Plenty more at the link.
So. What has this meant, in the geo-political order?
Well, you could start with the massive failure of Iraq--both in GWB's utterly misguided toppling of Saddam and in Obozo's even-more misguided abandonment of the effort. (Colin Powell's famous "If you break it, you bought it" remark was meant to give Bush pause--but the War Party sector of The WIERD managed to triumph, in a Pyrrhic way.)
It also explains the complete and total disregard of religion as THE factor in the Middle East (and for that matter, in large parts of the US).
...the vast majority of Muslims fall into a big group that lives the faith as best they can, without questioning its essentials. They try, they fail, they keep trying. They usually make an effort during Ramadan, at least, and if a life crisis appears, they will pray and seek the comfort of the mosque; the rest of the time their lived faith is rather hit-or-miss. In other words, they are completely normal human beings.
It needs to be clear that these majoritarians do not question Islam: if pressed, they will state the problem, the failing, is with them, not the faith. It should be obvious that the group wholly absent from this division-into-threes is the post-modern Western skeptic, the nominal mainline Protestant, or perhaps a very Reform Jew, who’s down with gay marriage since it’s been “reinterpreted” in recent decades. Hipster Jesus — into you with your sins, cool with your ironic vibe — does not have a corollary in Islam. The hardest thing for WEIRDos, who view all religion as odd, and perhaps risible, when not dangerous, to grasp is — Muslims actually believe this stuff.
The WIERD simply cannot wrap their heads around this "religion" stuff--at all.
...While race is of interest to the WEIRD demographic, sex is more central to their worldview. Catfights among progressives about determining who has more sexual privilege are fun to watch yet challenging for normals to comprehend. Here the LGBT issue has played a major role....However, just as with race and gender issues, LGBT advocates are showing minimal magnanimity in victory, preferring to double-down on public dissenters. Even the powerful are being driven from jobs and public life over their opposition, even when quiet, to gay marriage. There is more than a whiff of the Social Justice Warrior (SJW) mob about all this, and the idea of live-and-let live does not seem to be in fashion among the Cultural Marxist Left. It’s difficult to see how America avoids a serious clash between progressives and tradition-minded religious groups over all this....
As to the Boehner/McConnell cave-in on illegals:
...Mass immigration is the preferred solution for WEIRDos, because it gets them off the hook for reproducing while providing interesting ethnic restaurants, plus ample cheap labor to do the household chores that affluent progressives don’t seek to do themselves (until recently many of these domestic tasks — cleaning, fixing, lawn-cutting — were assigned to a family’s children, who no longer exist in numbers).
In the United States, mass immigration, heavily from Latin America, is causing discontent but is seen as a nuisance, at most, by WEIRDos, who seldom know the working-class Americans who do see this as a serious threat to their economic and social well-being....
Lots, lots, more at the link and worth the read (even though this author tends to the prolix)
Obama's Stasi: The Consumer Financial "Protection" Bureau
The Consumer Protection Financial Bureau was created under Dodd-Frank (by the Democrats and for the Democrats). It is paid for by you--directly or indirectly--but does not answer to Congress for its budget or policies.
It is used to shut down businesses that the Democrats don't like. Such as gun dealers.
And the Code of Omerta is part of its game.
...A shocking bulletin that CFPB issued to banks, which was obtained by The Daily Caller, was sent around this week in the midst of controversy regarding the administration’s Operation Choke Point program, by which the administration pressures banks to cut off accounts for supposedly suspicious businesses, including gun dealers. Operation Choke Point’s anti-gun mission was recently confirmed in a series of audiotapes published by the US Consumer Coalition, in which a bank teller explained to a gun dealer why his account was being shut down....
Well, now. Explaining CPFB to your customers? That's blatantly illegal!!
“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [CFPB] issues this compliance bulletin as a reminder that, with limited exceptions, persons in possession of confidential information, including confidential supervisory information [CSI], may not disclose such information to third parties,” the bulletin states....
So. If they don't like you, you're out of business. And no one can tell you WHY you're out of business.
I'm sure McConnell and Boehner will get right onto this. Sensenbrenner and Ryan, too.
It is used to shut down businesses that the Democrats don't like. Such as gun dealers.
And the Code of Omerta is part of its game.
...A shocking bulletin that CFPB issued to banks, which was obtained by The Daily Caller, was sent around this week in the midst of controversy regarding the administration’s Operation Choke Point program, by which the administration pressures banks to cut off accounts for supposedly suspicious businesses, including gun dealers. Operation Choke Point’s anti-gun mission was recently confirmed in a series of audiotapes published by the US Consumer Coalition, in which a bank teller explained to a gun dealer why his account was being shut down....
Well, now. Explaining CPFB to your customers? That's blatantly illegal!!
“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [CFPB] issues this compliance bulletin as a reminder that, with limited exceptions, persons in possession of confidential information, including confidential supervisory information [CSI], may not disclose such information to third parties,” the bulletin states....
So. If they don't like you, you're out of business. And no one can tell you WHY you're out of business.
I'm sure McConnell and Boehner will get right onto this. Sensenbrenner and Ryan, too.
Yup. Boehner Is Chickens*&t
All that lying last year about "defunding amnesty"...
...In the least surprising development in all of human history, February is now around the corner, and Boehner and McConnell are folding like cheap suits....
...Make no mistake, however: this is exactly what Boehner and McConnell wanted all along. They wanted Obama to take the heat with the conservative base for a policy that they actually support. So they are mounting at every step of the way what has been obviously fake and token opposition to Obama’s plan. And at the end of the day they are going to throw up their hands and say “Aw, shucks, nothing we could have done here, Obama held all the cards!”
Oh, wait! Maybe they'll de-fund Obozocare!
...In the least surprising development in all of human history, February is now around the corner, and Boehner and McConnell are folding like cheap suits....
...Make no mistake, however: this is exactly what Boehner and McConnell wanted all along. They wanted Obama to take the heat with the conservative base for a policy that they actually support. So they are mounting at every step of the way what has been obviously fake and token opposition to Obama’s plan. And at the end of the day they are going to throw up their hands and say “Aw, shucks, nothing we could have done here, Obama held all the cards!”
Oh, wait! Maybe they'll de-fund Obozocare!
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
EPA Missed By Thaaaaaaat Much
We'll begin with the reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPwrodxghrw
Note the resemblance of Maxwell Smart to the EPA gang?
...The EPA said its new smog standard was based on “1,000 studies” published since 2008. The agency argued the rule would also bring $23 billion in monetized net benefits. But EID found that EPA’s monetized benefit calculation is 3,100 percent higher than what the agency calculated in 2011 for the same smog standard....
That new standard is 'the costliest regulation ever imposed,' and EPA has plans for an even MORE expensive one.
Note the resemblance of Maxwell Smart to the EPA gang?
...The EPA said its new smog standard was based on “1,000 studies” published since 2008. The agency argued the rule would also bring $23 billion in monetized net benefits. But EID found that EPA’s monetized benefit calculation is 3,100 percent higher than what the agency calculated in 2011 for the same smog standard....
That new standard is 'the costliest regulation ever imposed,' and EPA has plans for an even MORE expensive one.
Iran the Enemy?
While there's no doubt that Obozo is a national security problem, there IS doubt that Iran is a problem. But as usual, it requires some knowledge of which players are doing what.
The Muslim world is not a monolith. There are two major brands of Muslim: the Shia, and the Sunni. They don't get along at all. So how does this play out in the Middle East?
Iran is Shia.
...A closer look reveals a Shia minority in a Sunni-dominated world where Shia are despised heretics. And of all the terrorist organizations we have the most reason to fear and hate — al-Qaida, Islamic State, Ansar al-Sharia, Boko Haram — none is Shia, all are Sunni....
Saudi Arabia, by the way, is Sunni.
So. Who's really the Big Bad Wolf here?
For a longer exposition of this mess, see Peter's essay.
The Muslim world is not a monolith. There are two major brands of Muslim: the Shia, and the Sunni. They don't get along at all. So how does this play out in the Middle East?
Iran is Shia.
...A closer look reveals a Shia minority in a Sunni-dominated world where Shia are despised heretics. And of all the terrorist organizations we have the most reason to fear and hate — al-Qaida, Islamic State, Ansar al-Sharia, Boko Haram — none is Shia, all are Sunni....
Saudi Arabia, by the way, is Sunni.
So. Who's really the Big Bad Wolf here?
For a longer exposition of this mess, see Peter's essay.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Best LIttle Methodist College in De Pere...
We're acquainted with a number of St Norbert's graduates. All likeable (or lovable) folks. But for about 20 years I've known that the college is really Methodist (or something not-Catholic).
Once again, St Norbert's does its best to prove it.
St. Norbert College has apparently decided to go ahead with hosting prominent abortion-rights advocate Gloria Steinem, despite the recent disapproval of Bishop David Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay. The College’s current trajectory is both offensive to its bishop and reflects a deeper misconception about its own Catholic identity,...
Yup.
Once again, St Norbert's does its best to prove it.
St. Norbert College has apparently decided to go ahead with hosting prominent abortion-rights advocate Gloria Steinem, despite the recent disapproval of Bishop David Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay. The College’s current trajectory is both offensive to its bishop and reflects a deeper misconception about its own Catholic identity,...
Yup.
Yellow Flags Flying on Economy
We mentioned, a week or so ago, that copper prices were heading downward. Ticker noticed a few other signals.
New orders for manufactured durable goods in December decreased $8.1 billion or 3.4 percent to $230.5 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This decrease, down four of the last five months, followed a 2.1 percent November decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 0.8 percent. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 3.2 percent.
Transportation equipment, also down four of the last five months, led the decrease, $6.8 billion or 9.2 percent to $66.7 billion....
He also mentions a 3-month downturn in computer orders and a 90-day downturn in machinery orders AND shipments. You can ask Deere employees about that--or those at Rexnord's Falk operations.
And since Obozo has been actively destroying the economy for the last 6 years, the 'recovery' has been far less than robust, which begs a bit of speculation: just how bad will the next downturn be?
Stay tuned.
New orders for manufactured durable goods in December decreased $8.1 billion or 3.4 percent to $230.5 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This decrease, down four of the last five months, followed a 2.1 percent November decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 0.8 percent. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 3.2 percent.
Transportation equipment, also down four of the last five months, led the decrease, $6.8 billion or 9.2 percent to $66.7 billion....
He also mentions a 3-month downturn in computer orders and a 90-day downturn in machinery orders AND shipments. You can ask Deere employees about that--or those at Rexnord's Falk operations.
And since Obozo has been actively destroying the economy for the last 6 years, the 'recovery' has been far less than robust, which begs a bit of speculation: just how bad will the next downturn be?
Stay tuned.
Run Away, Tammy!!! Run Away!!!
Tammy Baldwin has made a career of doing absolutely nothing except being a 'nice' lesbian.
Yah, she'd put her name on some legislation once in a while; she'd flounce around in all the right places. But she never really DID anything.
As it turns out, "doing nothing" can get you some very nasty headlines.
So what does Tammy do?
Bribes an ex-assistant and runs away from the Press.
Run Away, Tammy!! Run Away!!!
Yah, she'd put her name on some legislation once in a while; she'd flounce around in all the right places. But she never really DID anything.
As it turns out, "doing nothing" can get you some very nasty headlines.
So what does Tammy do?
Bribes an ex-assistant and runs away from the Press.
Run Away, Tammy!! Run Away!!!
Monday, January 26, 2015
Another Look at Gun Control
Read this list and you will clearly see the required litmus-test for gun ownership.
In 1865 a Democrat shot and killed Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States .
In 1881 a left wing radical Democrat shot James Garfield, President of the United States who later died from the wound.
In 1963 a radical left wing socialist shot and killed John F. Kennedy, President of the United States .
In 1975 a left wing radical Democrat fired shots at Gerald Ford, President of the United States .
In 1983 a registered Democrat shot and wounded Ronald Reagan, President of the United States .
In 1984 James Hubert, a disgruntled Democrat, shot and killed 22 people in a McDonalds restaurant.
In 1986 Patrick Sherrill, a disgruntled Democrat, shot and killed 15 people in an Oklahoma post office.
In 1990 James Pough, a disgruntled Democrat, shot and killed 10 people at a GMAC office.
In 1991 George Hennard, a disgruntled Democrat, shot and killed 23 people in a Luby’s cafeteria.
In 1995 James Daniel Simpson, a disgruntled Democrat, shot and killed 5 coworkers in a Texas laboratory.
In 1999 Larry Asbrook, a disgruntled Democrat, shot and killed 8 people at a church service.
In 2001 a left wing radical Democrat fired shots at the White House
in a failed attempt to kill George W. Bush, President of the US .
In 2003 Douglas Williams, a disgruntled Democrat, shot and killed 7 people at a Lockheed Martin plant.
In 2007 a registered Democrat named Seung – Hui Cho, shot and killed 32 people in Virginia Tech.
In 2010 a mentally ill registered Democrat named Jared Lee Loughner, shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed 6 others.
In 2011 a registered Democrat named James Holmes, went into a movie theater and shot and killed 12 people.
In 2012 Andrew Engeldinger, a disgruntled Democrat, shot and killed 7 people in Minneapolis .
In 2013 a registered Democrat named Adam Lanza, shot and killed 26 people in a school.
As recently as Sept 2013, an angry Democrat shot 12 at a Navy ship yard.
Clearly, there is a problem with Democrats and guns. Not one NRA member, Tea Party member, or Republican conservatives was involved in these shootings and murders.
See! It's easy!!
Pantywaist v. Putin
Obozo--the very model of Pantywaist Pussy, is pushing the wrong people's buttons, according to this ex-counter-intel guy:
...To the shock and dismay of hopeful Westerners, including nearly all NATO leaders, the hard hit of sanctions has caused Russians to hate the West, not Putin. Most Russians view their war in Ukraine as a legitimate defense of Russians and Russian interests, certainly nothing like America’s aggressive wars of choice halfway around the world, and they are backing the Kremlin now.
Word of this defiance has even crept into The New York Times, which otherwise is a pitch-perfect expression of the WEIRD worldview. As Russian troops are advancing deeper into Ukraine, fresh from victory at Donetsk, NYT asked what on earth is going on here, why would Russians want more war now that the cost of it all to their economy is becoming obvious? The explanation was proffered by a Moscow economist: “The influence of economists as a whole has completely vanished,” he opined about the Kremlin: “The country is on a holy mission. It’s at war with the United States, so why would you bother about the small battleground, the economy?”
Once again, Westerners have imagined Putin is just like one of their leaders — cautious, timid even, obsessed with Wall Street and finely tuned to what big donors care about — when our Chekist-in-Charge is nothing of the sort. With perfect timing, Patriarch Kirill, the head of the powerful Russian Orthodox Church, addressed the Duma this week, for the very first time, delivering a speech long on social conservatism, including a plea to ban abortions to help Russian demographics, as well as a caution to ignore the West’s dangerous “pseudo-values.” Putin’s Russia is inching ever closer to Byzantine-style symphonia, and in the war against America and the West that is coming — and, according to many Russians, is already here — the Kremlin wants its people to be spiritually fortified for a long fight....
Russia is not the biggest foreign policy problem, of course; ISIS holds that spot, and will continue there as the entire Middle East goes into a bloodbath. Think it's just Yemen? Then check the health reports on the new King of Saud--and by the way, how's that Saudi Army doing? Better, how will it do with around 30 crown princes vying for control of those oil revenues?
One advantage in electing the Pantywaist: his Patriots-style deflateds will not support throwing US troops into that mess. Given his strategic stupidity, it's better (for them AND us) that they stay home.
...To the shock and dismay of hopeful Westerners, including nearly all NATO leaders, the hard hit of sanctions has caused Russians to hate the West, not Putin. Most Russians view their war in Ukraine as a legitimate defense of Russians and Russian interests, certainly nothing like America’s aggressive wars of choice halfway around the world, and they are backing the Kremlin now.
Word of this defiance has even crept into The New York Times, which otherwise is a pitch-perfect expression of the WEIRD worldview. As Russian troops are advancing deeper into Ukraine, fresh from victory at Donetsk, NYT asked what on earth is going on here, why would Russians want more war now that the cost of it all to their economy is becoming obvious? The explanation was proffered by a Moscow economist: “The influence of economists as a whole has completely vanished,” he opined about the Kremlin: “The country is on a holy mission. It’s at war with the United States, so why would you bother about the small battleground, the economy?”
Once again, Westerners have imagined Putin is just like one of their leaders — cautious, timid even, obsessed with Wall Street and finely tuned to what big donors care about — when our Chekist-in-Charge is nothing of the sort. With perfect timing, Patriarch Kirill, the head of the powerful Russian Orthodox Church, addressed the Duma this week, for the very first time, delivering a speech long on social conservatism, including a plea to ban abortions to help Russian demographics, as well as a caution to ignore the West’s dangerous “pseudo-values.” Putin’s Russia is inching ever closer to Byzantine-style symphonia, and in the war against America and the West that is coming — and, according to many Russians, is already here — the Kremlin wants its people to be spiritually fortified for a long fight....
Russia is not the biggest foreign policy problem, of course; ISIS holds that spot, and will continue there as the entire Middle East goes into a bloodbath. Think it's just Yemen? Then check the health reports on the new King of Saud--and by the way, how's that Saudi Army doing? Better, how will it do with around 30 crown princes vying for control of those oil revenues?
One advantage in electing the Pantywaist: his Patriots-style deflateds will not support throwing US troops into that mess. Given his strategic stupidity, it's better (for them AND us) that they stay home.
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Cloward-Piven Writ Largest
Hmmmm. Kilpatrick theorizes, credibly, that one should assume the worst about Obozo & Co.
...Obama’s contribution to the Cloward-Piven strategy is to extend it to every area of life. In other words, if you can overload the local welfare system, why not overload local law enforcement? Why not overload the health care system? Why not overburden the immigration system by letting in hundreds of thousands of illegals? Then you can claim that all these systems are broken and have to be totally rebuilt—preferably in the image of some imaginary socialist utopia....
No question--assuming the worst fits the facts and circumstances best.
But why confine it to domestic issues?
...The worst possible assumption would be that the President and some of his key appointees don’t really like America: that they actually believe all the hype about America being the sum of all evil, and therefore want to weaken its power on the global stage. Once again, the worst assumption is the one that best fits the facts. Let’s start with the fact that the administration has been radically cutting back our military force at a time when world threats are on the rise. There are fewer troops, fewer tanks, fewer ships, and fewer planes than at any point in recent history....
...Obama’s contribution to the Cloward-Piven strategy is to extend it to every area of life. In other words, if you can overload the local welfare system, why not overload local law enforcement? Why not overload the health care system? Why not overburden the immigration system by letting in hundreds of thousands of illegals? Then you can claim that all these systems are broken and have to be totally rebuilt—preferably in the image of some imaginary socialist utopia....
No question--assuming the worst fits the facts and circumstances best.
But why confine it to domestic issues?
...The worst possible assumption would be that the President and some of his key appointees don’t really like America: that they actually believe all the hype about America being the sum of all evil, and therefore want to weaken its power on the global stage. Once again, the worst assumption is the one that best fits the facts. Let’s start with the fact that the administration has been radically cutting back our military force at a time when world threats are on the rise. There are fewer troops, fewer tanks, fewer ships, and fewer planes than at any point in recent history....
Buy. More. Ammo.
Lie. Cheat. Steal. Rinse. Repeat. DEMOCRATS!
Remember that mortgage collapse thing? Remember that it's all the banks' fault?
Not really--although I will concede that SOME banks were rotten. They were usually controlled by Democrat donors.
..."The FCIC majority misused its mandate for political purposes," Wallison writes, adding that the panel made sure its findings supported Democrat demands for a "new New Deal" that would put even more of the banking industry under federal control.
Democrats passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July 2010, six months before the FCIC released its report — "a clear demonstration that the Democratic Congress knew well in advance exactly what this well-controlled commission would say." After Dodd-Frank shockingly left Fannie and Freddie untouched, the FCIC excused the glaring oversight by exonerating the toxic twins and their affordable-housing masters at HUD.
As a result, Fannie and Freddie, now under full federal control, are back making low down payment loans to low-income borrowers, and the Dodd-Frank-mandated Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is forcing banks to ignore credit risks in the name of affordable housing.
A corrupt investigation led to corrupt reforms.
We could ask what the new-majority Republicans intend to do about this, but you know damn well what the answer is. Hint: "We're powerless to act." Translation: "We have no balls. "
Not really--although I will concede that SOME banks were rotten. They were usually controlled by Democrat donors.
..."The FCIC majority misused its mandate for political purposes," Wallison writes, adding that the panel made sure its findings supported Democrat demands for a "new New Deal" that would put even more of the banking industry under federal control.
Democrats passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July 2010, six months before the FCIC released its report — "a clear demonstration that the Democratic Congress knew well in advance exactly what this well-controlled commission would say." After Dodd-Frank shockingly left Fannie and Freddie untouched, the FCIC excused the glaring oversight by exonerating the toxic twins and their affordable-housing masters at HUD.
As a result, Fannie and Freddie, now under full federal control, are back making low down payment loans to low-income borrowers, and the Dodd-Frank-mandated Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is forcing banks to ignore credit risks in the name of affordable housing.
A corrupt investigation led to corrupt reforms.
We could ask what the new-majority Republicans intend to do about this, but you know damn well what the answer is. Hint: "We're powerless to act." Translation: "We have no balls. "
2014: Damn Cold Year!
PowerLine shows us what climate has really been in history. It's different from what the Green Weenies screech and rant about, of course.
So as it turns out, 2014 was one of the coldest 3% of years in the last 10,000.
So as it turns out, 2014 was one of the coldest 3% of years in the last 10,000.
"Feminization" of the Catholic LIturgy: Is Burke Right?
Discovered this while engaged in a discussion over Cdl. Burke's remarks. Per the intro of the post, the Jesuit who wrote these observations is a liberal w/the usual laundry-list of demands for changes in the Church. But as you'll see, he presents a very interesting thesis which actually underscores and affirms Cdl. Burke's commentary.
For many years liturgists felt that highly formalized worship services bored people and turned them off; "creative" liturgies were proposed as the solution. Unfortunately, the resulting Butterfly, Banner, and Balloon Extravaganzas severely alienated many men. The most saccharine outbreaks of forced liturgical excitement featured fluttering dancers floating down the aisles like wood-nymphs, goofy pseudo-rites forced on the congregation with almost fascist authoritarianism, and a host of silly schticks usually accompanied by inane music. It was exciting all right; any men felt exciting enough to rise from their pews and walk right out the door. What was their problem? It seems that most men are instantly turned off by surprise spontaneity in ritual circumstances; moreover, ceremonies that are entirely nice, sweet, and happy usually strike men as phoney and completely unconnected with the harsh world they experience every day. ...
We know that 'the most saccharine' stuff is at the margins, rarely done any more. That said, he builds on that "spontaneity" stuff:
Men need a certain regularity and consistency in their worship; spontaneity has its appeal for men, but not in the midst of ritual. The highly popular masculine traditions of Judaism and Islam, for example, encourage set times, places, and formulae for daily prayer and worship, and men respond to these demands very well. Ritually, men like to know exactly what is expected of them and what the rules are; religion helps men when it challenges them to clear, reasonable, and achievable goals, whether liturgically or devotionally. ...
I think those observations are defensible.
But here is the strongest line of argument:
...Even more central to masculine worship is the notion of the Transcendent. In deemphasizing in recent generations a concern with absolutes and ultimates, heaven and hell, and eternity and infinity, modern Christianity has taken a decisive turn towards feminine religion, which is typically interested in the immanent and the incarnational, in finding God in the small things, the everyday, and the mundane. These are genuine Christian qualities and mark the beautiful spirituality of a Therese of Lisieux or a Mother Teresa of Calcutta; without doubt, men also need such grounding emphases. These traits are not, however, essentially masculine in nature. As liberal religion stresses increasingly the immanent and "horizontal" dimension of faith to the exclusion of the transcendent and "vertical" reality, it inadvertently ignores the voracious appetite of men for the Great, the Wholly Other, and the Eternal.
A liturgy or a sermon that truly speaks to men will tend to "pitch" men outside themselves, confront them with the Absolute, and offer them an eschatological viewpoint on life. Admittedly, this is hard to do in the Mass or eucharistic liturgy, which is structured around the domestic motif of the dining table. Yet a service that simply emphasizes the sacredness and eternity of the eucharistic actions, the infinite value of the ceremony, and the worldwide solidarity of the prayer is already on the way to capturing the male imagination....
That term, "horizontal" has been used as a descriptor of the Ordinary Form Mass for at least a decade by "conservatives" AND "liberals." To the former, it's a derogatory adjective. Note that the author concedes that men 'need such grounding', too; IOW, some is good.
Also worth noting: he correctly observes that 'it is difficult to do in a dining-table-based structure,' which recalls a complaint of the "conservatives." It is not just "a dining table"--it is also an altar of self-sacrifice, certainly an "eschatological" sign. Downplaying the latter in favor of the former, whether by image or textual reference--is "feminization."
There is a formulaic (conservative) expression which comes into play here, usually stated thus: the Mass is conducted in "sacred space," at a "sacred time," using a "sacred language" and "sacred music." That formula is clearly in evidence in Eastern Orthodox rites and Islamic rites. It is also clear in "high-church" Episcopalian rites which use the King James sacral-English translation as well as "smells and bells."
(We could spend a bit more time and pixels addressing the music issue, by the way, but we won't here.)
So. Was Burke correct? As to the question of "feminization," he most certainly was. Did he call for total elimination of women from Church ministry? No. Is he chary of "altar girls"? Yes--but he did not call for them to be eliminated, either--he specifically talked about age-levels in his interview.
There. That should set the liberals into a tizzy.
(By the way, Burke speaks of the need for the Church to address masculine "self-sacrifice" for the sake of the family. Think that the theme of "American Sniper" might kinda-sorta have that? No, I will not accept cheap-shot black/white argumentation on Kyle's first 5 years of marriage....)
For many years liturgists felt that highly formalized worship services bored people and turned them off; "creative" liturgies were proposed as the solution. Unfortunately, the resulting Butterfly, Banner, and Balloon Extravaganzas severely alienated many men. The most saccharine outbreaks of forced liturgical excitement featured fluttering dancers floating down the aisles like wood-nymphs, goofy pseudo-rites forced on the congregation with almost fascist authoritarianism, and a host of silly schticks usually accompanied by inane music. It was exciting all right; any men felt exciting enough to rise from their pews and walk right out the door. What was their problem? It seems that most men are instantly turned off by surprise spontaneity in ritual circumstances; moreover, ceremonies that are entirely nice, sweet, and happy usually strike men as phoney and completely unconnected with the harsh world they experience every day. ...
We know that 'the most saccharine' stuff is at the margins, rarely done any more. That said, he builds on that "spontaneity" stuff:
Men need a certain regularity and consistency in their worship; spontaneity has its appeal for men, but not in the midst of ritual. The highly popular masculine traditions of Judaism and Islam, for example, encourage set times, places, and formulae for daily prayer and worship, and men respond to these demands very well. Ritually, men like to know exactly what is expected of them and what the rules are; religion helps men when it challenges them to clear, reasonable, and achievable goals, whether liturgically or devotionally. ...
I think those observations are defensible.
But here is the strongest line of argument:
...Even more central to masculine worship is the notion of the Transcendent. In deemphasizing in recent generations a concern with absolutes and ultimates, heaven and hell, and eternity and infinity, modern Christianity has taken a decisive turn towards feminine religion, which is typically interested in the immanent and the incarnational, in finding God in the small things, the everyday, and the mundane. These are genuine Christian qualities and mark the beautiful spirituality of a Therese of Lisieux or a Mother Teresa of Calcutta; without doubt, men also need such grounding emphases. These traits are not, however, essentially masculine in nature. As liberal religion stresses increasingly the immanent and "horizontal" dimension of faith to the exclusion of the transcendent and "vertical" reality, it inadvertently ignores the voracious appetite of men for the Great, the Wholly Other, and the Eternal.
A liturgy or a sermon that truly speaks to men will tend to "pitch" men outside themselves, confront them with the Absolute, and offer them an eschatological viewpoint on life. Admittedly, this is hard to do in the Mass or eucharistic liturgy, which is structured around the domestic motif of the dining table. Yet a service that simply emphasizes the sacredness and eternity of the eucharistic actions, the infinite value of the ceremony, and the worldwide solidarity of the prayer is already on the way to capturing the male imagination....
That term, "horizontal" has been used as a descriptor of the Ordinary Form Mass for at least a decade by "conservatives" AND "liberals." To the former, it's a derogatory adjective. Note that the author concedes that men 'need such grounding', too; IOW, some is good.
Also worth noting: he correctly observes that 'it is difficult to do in a dining-table-based structure,' which recalls a complaint of the "conservatives." It is not just "a dining table"--it is also an altar of self-sacrifice, certainly an "eschatological" sign. Downplaying the latter in favor of the former, whether by image or textual reference--is "feminization."
There is a formulaic (conservative) expression which comes into play here, usually stated thus: the Mass is conducted in "sacred space," at a "sacred time," using a "sacred language" and "sacred music." That formula is clearly in evidence in Eastern Orthodox rites and Islamic rites. It is also clear in "high-church" Episcopalian rites which use the King James sacral-English translation as well as "smells and bells."
(We could spend a bit more time and pixels addressing the music issue, by the way, but we won't here.)
So. Was Burke correct? As to the question of "feminization," he most certainly was. Did he call for total elimination of women from Church ministry? No. Is he chary of "altar girls"? Yes--but he did not call for them to be eliminated, either--he specifically talked about age-levels in his interview.
There. That should set the liberals into a tizzy.
(By the way, Burke speaks of the need for the Church to address masculine "self-sacrifice" for the sake of the family. Think that the theme of "American Sniper" might kinda-sorta have that? No, I will not accept cheap-shot black/white argumentation on Kyle's first 5 years of marriage....)
Saturday, January 24, 2015
DOJ/ATF Abuse Coming to a City Near You?
Think that Big Gummint is your friend?
Think again.
The judge accused the government attorneys of perpetrating "a fraud on the court."
Dobyns' house was burned, and he argued it was arson, carried out by Hell's Angels, and successful because BATF had blown his cover and denied him protection. It turns out that a Justice Dept. attorney in his civil case told BATF not to reopen the investigation of the arson, lest its finding help Dobyns in his suit against BATF. That was concealed from the judge until the trial.
""An ATF agent who testified in this case may have been threatened by another witness during the trial." Justice Department attorneys ordered the agent not to report the threat to the court or he would face repercussions, [Judge] Allegra said."
When the judge entered his ruling, he ordered that the seven Justice attorneys who had handled the civil case were not to file any further documents in it -- essentially, they were banned from the court.
Dobyns' attorney complained that he had been under "extreme surveillance for the last sixty days, both fixed and moving..." and that his house and car had been broken into, although no property was taken.
A former BATF agent who testified for Dobyns attested that he, too, was followed after he left the attorney's office.
This is truly a BATF and DOJ Watergate... or worse. Attorneys and agency officials concealing evidence, secretly threatening witnesses, agency surveillance of attorneys and witnesses. All over a civil lawsuit -- can you imagine what they'd do over something big?...
Like, for example, backing a (R) candidate for Governor in Wisconsin....?
This story will not appear in George Stanley's rag.
Think again.
The judge accused the government attorneys of perpetrating "a fraud on the court."
Dobyns' house was burned, and he argued it was arson, carried out by Hell's Angels, and successful because BATF had blown his cover and denied him protection. It turns out that a Justice Dept. attorney in his civil case told BATF not to reopen the investigation of the arson, lest its finding help Dobyns in his suit against BATF. That was concealed from the judge until the trial.
""An ATF agent who testified in this case may have been threatened by another witness during the trial." Justice Department attorneys ordered the agent not to report the threat to the court or he would face repercussions, [Judge] Allegra said."
When the judge entered his ruling, he ordered that the seven Justice attorneys who had handled the civil case were not to file any further documents in it -- essentially, they were banned from the court.
Dobyns' attorney complained that he had been under "extreme surveillance for the last sixty days, both fixed and moving..." and that his house and car had been broken into, although no property was taken.
A former BATF agent who testified for Dobyns attested that he, too, was followed after he left the attorney's office.
This is truly a BATF and DOJ Watergate... or worse. Attorneys and agency officials concealing evidence, secretly threatening witnesses, agency surveillance of attorneys and witnesses. All over a civil lawsuit -- can you imagine what they'd do over something big?...
Like, for example, backing a (R) candidate for Governor in Wisconsin....?
This story will not appear in George Stanley's rag.
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