Tag: politics

Quote of the Day

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Once you decide that most soldiers are upstanding, decent, intelligent people, and every soldier you’ve met nicely supports that assumption, how do you go back to thinking they are children who can’t think for themselves and are being exploited by the neocons?

Once you decide that the bigger government is, the more inefficient and greedy it becomes, how do you go back to thinking that all social problems would be fixed if we properly funded them?

Once you decide that the problem with education isn’t lack of funding — see the schools in DC — but a screwed-up union and an ossified system which disregards merit, how do you go back to “It will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber”?

Once you decide that affirmative action is generally not a good idea because race preferences are generally not a good idea, no matter what the context, how do you go back to supporting ethnic preference in government contracts? (Clarence Thomas is the uber-perfect example here; I railed at him for decrying affirmative action when the only reason he had gotten on the Supreme Court was to be The Black Justice. It NEVER crossed my mind that perhaps he was QUALIFIED for the job. Witness my soft bigotry.)

Once you decide that some people — NOT ALL PEOPLE, NOT MOST PEOPLE, but some very small percentage of people — are poor because they won’t work hard enough to get un-poor, how do you go back to believing that, because there are poor and hungry in our country, our nation has failed?

(Note: These aren’t strawmen. The ideas to “go back to” are ones that I believed, truly.) – Lissa in A “mindset” continued at lookingforlissa

(h/t to Tam for the pointer – and read Part 1 of Lissa’s conversion story as well.)

Quote of the Day

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America is the most benign hegemon in history: it’s the world’s first non-imperial superpower and, at the dawn of the American moment, it chose to set itself up as a kind of geopolitical sugar daddy. By picking up the tab for Europe’s defense, it hoped to prevent those countries lapsing into traditional power rivalries. Nice idea. But it also absolved them of the traditional responsibilities of nationhood, turning the alliances into a dysfunctional sitcom family, with one grown-up presiding over a brood of whiny teenagers — albeit (demographically) the the world’s wrinkliest teenagers. America’s preference for diluting its power within the UN and other organs of an embryo world government has not won it friends. All dominant powers are hated — Britain was, and Rome — but they’re usually hated for the right reasons. America is hated for every reason. The fanatical Muslims despise America because it’s all lap-dancing and gay porn; the secular Europeans despise America because it’s all born-again Christians hung up on abortion; the anti-Semites despise America because it’s controlled by Jews. Too Jewish, too Christian, too godless, America is George Orwell’s Room 101: whatever your bugbear you will find it therein; whatever you’re against, America is a prime example of it. – Mark Steyn, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It

I owe Mike Vanderboegh an überpost today, but I’m taking the M1 Carbine to the range this morning. Don’t expect it before tonight some time.

Another Che / Obama Fan

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Another Ché / Obama Fan

This time from Gaza.

Curmudgeonly & Skeptical reports that The Golden Child has been receiving illegal campaign contributions from the Gaza strip. I guess an endorsement from Hamas means more than we thought!

But the interesting thing about the post was the image:

Who is that on the floor behind the artist?

It is said you are known by your associates. Both John McCain and Joe Lieberman have stated that “they cannot say” that Obama is a socialist, but given the evidence of the people who have staked their hopes on him, I’d say the question has been answered.

(Weird) Quote of the Day

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(Weird) Quote of the Day

Skydivers: If you are at all like me, and if you are at all like me then you regard thirty-minute home pizza delivery as one of the fundamental characteristics distinguishing truly civilized societies from those inchoate masses of culturally benighted heathen hearts who put their trust in reeking tube and iron shard and English muffins with mozzarella and tomato sauce on them, then it necessarily follows that you must also regard the now almost constant loss of various and sundry body parts by skydivers as they plunge towards the Earth as an especially irksome phenomenon and one with disturbing implications for the long term electoral viability of the Republican Party. – Akaky Bashmachkin, Skydivers – at The Passing Parade, in a rather odd but fascinating (in a fatal traffic accident rubbernecking kind of way) rant on . . . I’m not quite sure what.

“There Goes MY Citizenship!”

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I received an interesting piece of mail today, a letter from Mr. Tim Morgan, the Treasurer of the Republican National Committee. I don’t wish to bore my readers, but I think you need to see what it said:

Dear Mr. Baker,

I don’t want to believe you’ve abandoned the Republican Party, but I have to ask . . . Have you given up?

Our records show we have not yet received your Republican National Committee membership renewal for the critical 2008 presidential election year.

As the Treasurer of the RNC, I know our Party’s success depends directly on grassroots leaders like you.

So I am surprised and concerned especially because I know how generously you supported President Bush and the RNC in the past. You helped advance our vision for America and elect Republicans at all levels of government. Mr. Baker, I know other things come up, and perhaps you’ve just been delayed in renewing your membership. If that’s the case, I understand.

But we’ve not heard from you this year — and I hope you haven’t deserted our Party.

Your generous financial assistance and active involvement are more important than ever as we work to elect a new Republican president and Congress.

There is so much at stake. The Democrats are determined to put a liberal like Barack Obama in the White House, expand their narrow majorities in the U.S. House and Senate, and push our country to the Left with their agenda of high taxes, big government and weakened national security.

Big Labor, radical liberal protest groups and Hollywood elites are planning to spend more than $500 million to defeat Republicans and aid the Democratic power grab.

That’s why I urgently need you to renew your RNC membership for 2008 with a contribution of $1,000, $500, $250, $100, $50 or even $25.

The men and women who will represent us in this year’s elections are hard at work building strong campaigns.

And so is the RNC. We are doing our part to provide the research, staff support, voter registration, volunteer recruitment and training, and direct financial assistance our candidates need to win.

The RNC is the ONLY Republican organization permitted by federal law to directly support our presidential nominee.

If we fail to hold the White House and make gains in Congress, the Democrats have made clear they will overturn every reform you helped President Busyh achieve.

Democrat presidential candidates and the Reid/Pelosi-run-Congress have promised to repeal the Bush tax cuts, retreat from the War on Terror and increase the size of government through their one-size-fits-all health care plan.

We cannot allow them to succeed! That’s why your renewed commitment is so important.

So if you have delayed in renewing your membership because you feel the RNC has let you down, or no longer needs you, please let me know. I want to hear from you.

Just include your comments and suggestions with the enclosed Membership Confirmation and return them with your 2008 membership renewal check. You can also renew by calling 1-800-XXX-YYYY or via our secure website at www. gop.com/gotohellyoustupidLOSERS.

But please don’t turn your back on our Republican candidates running for office from the Courthouse to the White House; they are counting on your support. Renew your RNC membership today. Thank you.

P.S. The 2008 elections are critical to the future of our nation. We need the support of every Republican to retain the White House, regain Congress and elect GOP legislators at all levels. Please don’t quit on our Party and our cause now. Renew your RNC membership today. Thank you.

Fascinating. Smells a bit of desperation, no? Especially since I’ve never been a member of the RNC.

So I took up Mr. Morgan’s suggestion and decided to send him some comments. I wrote a nice, concise one page letter to stick in the little postage-paid envelope. When I read it to my wife (who is a Japanese national, though she’s lived here since she was nine years old,) she said “There goes MY citizenship!” She decided this year that she would finally apply to become officially an American.

Below is my brief reply to Mr. Morgan:

Mr. Morgan:

I read with interest your recent missive to me (attached) beginning “I don’t want to believe you’ve abandoned the Republican Party, but…”

Mr. Morgan, I’ve never been a member of the Republican Party. I changed my voter registration before the last Arizona presidential primary because I wanted to vote for Fred Thompson, but he withdrew before my vote even got counted. (I voted absentee for work reasons.)

Your letter continued: “So I am surprised and concerned especially because I know how generously you supported President Bush and the RNC in the past.” Really? You know that? Because Fred Thompson is the only Republican candidate I think I’ve ever donated money to. I “supported” President Bush by voting against Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, but he never saw a dime of my money.

Continuing on: “…I hope you haven’t deserted our Party.” No, you’ve deserted me. “The Democrats are determined to put a liberal like Barack Obama in the White House, expand their narrow majorities in the U.S. House and Senate, and push our country to the Left with their agenda of high taxes, big government and weakened national security.” Well, Tim, I have to tell you; the only difference I can see between what the Democrats want, in that description, and what the Republicans did over the last seven-plus years is taxes.

Here’s a clue if you want any of my money: secure the borders, confirm the judges, CUT SPENDING, keep the Bush tax cut in place, DRILL FOR OIL ON OUR OWN SOIL, rein in the BATFE and get rid of the TSA. Oh, and implement a damned flat-tax while you’re at it.

The next four to eight years look to suck like a Dyson vacuum cleaner, and personally I’m not certain the Republic can survive it. I’ll hold my nose and vote for McCain, though, in the faint hope that more than half the (tiny) voting population isn’t insane. I’ve enclosed one of the McCain campaign bumper stickers I’m selling to benefit my favorite charity, Soldier’s Angels. Sorry I had to fold it to get it in the envelope, but somehow I doubt seriously you’d actually put it on your vehicle.

Thanks for writing, and have a wonderful day.

It goes out in tomorrow’s mail. With the McCain bumpersticker.

Quote of the Day

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When the young leader spoke eloquently and passionately and denounced the old system, the press fell in love with him. They never questioned who his friends were or what he really believed in. When he said he would help the farmers and the poor and bring free medical care and education to all, everyone followed. When he said he would bring justice and equality to all, everyone said “Praise the Lord.” And when the young leader said, “I will be for change and I’ll bring you change,” everyone yelled, “Viva Fidel!”

But nobody asked about the change, so by the time the executioner’s guns went silent the people’s guns had been taken away. By the time everyone was equal, they were equally poor, hungry, and oppressed. By the time everyone received their free education it was worth nothing. By the time the press noticed, it was too late, because they were now working for him. By the time the change was finally implemented Cuba had been knocked down a couple of notches to Third-World status. By the time the change was over more than a million people had taken to boats, rafts, and inner tubes. You can call those who made it ashore anywhere else in the world the most fortunate Cubans. – Manuel Alvarez Jr., “Beware Charismatic Men Who Preach ‘Change’ ” letter to the editor of the Richmond, VA Times-Dispatch found at Liberal Morality

RTWT. He has a pertinent question at the end.

Quote of the Day

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Another one from Heather MacDonald’s The Burden of Bad Ideas: How Modern Intellectuals Misshape Our Society. But first, a quote from philosopher Eric Hoffer from an interview he did with Eric Sevareid:

I have no grievance against intellectuals. All that I know about them is what I read in history books and what I’ve observed in our time. I’m convinced that the intellectuals as a type, as a group, are more corrupted by power than any other human type. It’s disconcerting to realize that businessmen, generals, soldiers, men of action are less corrupted by power than intellectuals.

In my new book I elaborate on this and I offer an explanation why. You take a conventional man of action, and he’s satisfied if you obey, eh? But not the intellectual. He doesn’t want you just to obey. He wants you to get down on your knees and praise the one who makes you love what you hate and hate what you love. In other words, whenever the intellectuals are in power, there’s soul-raping going on.

Now, from Chapter 1 of MacDonald’s book, The Billions of Dollars that Made Things Worse:

If the practical visionaries who established America’s great philanthropic foundations could see their legacy tday, they might regret their generosity. Once an agent for social good, those powerful institutions have become a political battering ram targeted at American society. You can instantly grasp how profoundly foundations have changed by comaring two statements made by presidents of the Carnegie Corporation just a generation apart. In 1938 the corporation commissioned a landmark analysis of black-white relations from sociologist Gunnar Myrdal; the result An American Dilemma, would help spark the civil rights movement.

An aside, it was Myrdal who wrote in 1942 that America is “conservative in fundamental principles . . . but the principles conserved are liberal, and some, indeed, are radical.”

Yet Carnegie president Frederick Keppel was almost apologetic about the foundation’s involvement with such a vexed social problem: “Provided the foundation limits itself to its proper function, Keppel wrote in the book’s introduction, “namely, to make the facts available and then let them speak for themselves, and does not undertake to instruct the public as to what to do about them, studies of this kind provide a wholly proper and . . . sometimes a highly important use of [its] funds.”

Three decades later, Carnegie president Alan Pifer’s 1968 annual report reads like a voice from another planet. Abandoning Keppel’s admirable restraint, Pifer exhorts his comrades in the foundation world to help shake up “sterile institutional forms and procedures left over from the past” by supporting “aggressive new community organizations which . . . the comfortable stratum of American life would consider disturbing and perhaps even dangerous.” No longer content to provide mainstream knowledge dispassionately, America’s most prestigious philanthropies now aspired to revolutionize what they believed to be a deeply flawed American society.

That was the lead-in for today’s QotD, the next paragraph:

The results, from the 1960s onward, have been devastating. Foundation-supported poverty advocates fought to make welfare a right – and generations have grown up fatherless and dependent. Foundation-funded minority advocates fought for racial separatism and a vast system of quotas – and American society remains perpetually riven by the issue of race. On most campuses today, a foundation-endowed multicultural circus has driven out the very idea of a common culture, deriding it as a relic of American imperialism. Foundation-backed advocates for various “victim” groups use the courts to bend government policy to their will, thwarting the democratic process. And poor communities across the country often find their traditional values undermined by foundation-sent “community activists” bearing the latest fashions in diversity and “enlightened” sexuality. The net effect is not a more just but a more divided and contentious American society.

On that note, I invite you to read a post of mine from last October, Hubris, from which the Hoffer quote came.

And which of our two presidential presumptives was a “community activist“?