PN:
Joe’s Comment – Summer time is the problem solving time. Warm is good. Home made vitamin D. Shorts and a tee are all ye need. When it gets too hot for flies to buzz around, that’s the big smile.
Half Way Day
The number of this rant is 2617.
The year is half done.
All Joe and I remember so far is a nasty Winter, and a Spring that didn’t.
Didn’t spring, that is. It more or less sprogged. Or sprugged or sprangged or spratted. It certainly leaked, drenched, soaked, wicked, flooded, sponged.
No Spring for you!
Next on the continuum is Summer.
Our favorite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOV96BCAvZc
Soap Box
Joe and I believe that the Founding Fathers of America established a truly new and unique method of government, and created an incredible wealth of knowledge for self governing peoples.
One of the most profound concepts is that without virtue, without informed council, without free speech (indeed, without freedom), self governance is lost.
If self governance is absent, can tyranny be avoided?
A quick search of quotes brings forth many examples of the thinking behind their American philosophy –
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” (John Adams, October 11, 1798.)
“….wherever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government.…” (Thomas Jefferson)
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free . . . it expects what never was and never will be” (Thomas Jefferson)
“I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” (Thomas Jefferson)
“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. ” (Benjamin Franklin)
“Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.” (Benjamin Franklin)
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” (Thomas Paine, 1777)
“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take: but as for me give me liberty or give me death!” (Patrick Henry, 1775)
“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” (Thomas Jefferson)
So where is the West, and specifically Canada, today?
The classical thinkers described four “Cardinal Virtues” –
◊ Justice
◊ Moderation
◊ Wisdom
◊ Courage
Without a citizenry steeped in these “virtues”, such a government “by the people, of the people, for the people” cannot exist, survive, or (indeed!) be created.
Much more discussion by Dr. Norman Doige below in Sunday Sermon.
Joe and I ask, where does that leave the West today?
In our humble opinion (IOHO) the electorate is lacking what it needs for healthy government.
We place the blame on the education system.
We place the blame on parents.
We place the blame on politicians.
We place the blame on people!
The remedy?
Start talking about how the West got where it is, and why it is superior to any yet experienced culture in the history of humanity.
What say you?
Before you respond, read 1984 Redux below….
1984 Redux
An insightful oped by Bayou Renaissance Man, titled “The tyranny of the über-state – and what happens when it breaks down“. In his analysis, he uses Newton’s Third Law as a metaphor: the force centralized (Federal) government can impose nation wide to meet some objective – once the pressure to conform is relaxed – the citizenry respond with “an opposite and equal force” by re-asserting the counter argument the State meant to eradicate. The response is often magnified over and beyond the original intensity.
He uses South Africa as an example, and the Soviet Union as another to make his point.
A link in his essay targets an oped by Toadstool, which maintains that “General Lee Had It Figured Out” – a quote from the General:
“The consolidation of the states into one vast empire, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of ruin which has overwhelmed all that preceded it.” – Robert E. Lee
In view of the heavy-handed dictates of the Federal governments of Canada and the United States (“human rights” kangaroo courts, multicultural and diversity mandates of inclusion, “minority” dictum, burdensome regulations, et cetera), the good Confederate General had it spot on.
Wait a minute!
How can you possibly call Robert E. Lee a good man?
He fought (brilliantly) for the South, for the Confederates, for the evil slave owners (Oh! the shame! Oh! the infamy!)
Which leads to the “post modernist” “everything is relative” boondoggle of leftist politics currently tearing down statues, banning flags, re-writing history to match some criteria that never were, never will be, and never matter.
Time for some Stefan Molyneux:
More below the fold in “Sunday Sermon”, featuring Canadian professor Dr. Norman Doidge speaking about “The Infallible State of Mind” .
Two Enemies of A Free Society
Milton Friedman had a crystal clear vision of how a Libertarian culture would work. Listen as Dr. Friedman explains the two enemies – the business community on one side, and the intellectuals on the other. Sincerity and earnestness does not a logical case make:
Liberty and Libertarians
Dinesh D’Souza also thinks very clearly about what it means to engage in “free trade”. That is, trade without protections, enforcement, or third party oversight. Akin to selling or buying a product or possession privately to or from another person. Your own values and the values of the other person establish the boundaries of the transaction; not the State. Short, sweet, to the point:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc5GSnJDvGQ
Murder Inc.
Joe and I live in Vernon, BC, Canada.
The population here is 40,116 souls in Vernon city as of 2016.
One murder in Vernon = 2.49 murders / 100,000 citizens
Take a look at this release from Statista –
Another from Statista regarding Chicago –
If the Chicago statistic were true for Vernon (16.4/100K), Vernon’s actual murder count would be approx. 7 murders per annum, or just under 3 X as many as now.
If the New Orleans statistic were true for Vernon (46.9/100K) Vernon’s actual murder rate would be approximately 19 murders per annum (over 7 X).
What makes the difference?
Joe and I have a few theories, one of which is based on diversity.
Joe’s Garage
The weeks fly by.
Joe continues to insist that he is getting rid of vehicle after vehicle.
Not what I’m seeing…..
Here’s the latest addition – a complete rolling chassis (minus engine) of a 1949 Ford F1 short wheel base (114 inch) pick-up truck –
I know what Joe is thinking.
If we can only find a cab and box……
POLITICS, POLITICIANS, WACKJOBBERY, HUMOROUS, STUPID
SUNDAY SERMON
The political mess in Canada has promoted dangerous government intervention in the most fundamental and sacred aspect of Western civilization – free speech.
Dr. Norman Doidge does an excellent work in stitching together the fabric of Socrates’ arguments with the development of Western thought through the ages, and presenting a “you are here” scenario of present day discourse in Canada.
Dr. Doidge was the first speaker at this event held in January of 2017 by The Speakers Action Group, which organization claims “Our goal is to provide the Canadian public with speakers who can address all aspects of anti-Semitism and related racism issues, based on first-rate, world-class expertise and empirical research.”
Joe and I aren’t too sure about all that, but we gobbled up the words of Jordan Peterson (Sunday Rant 2517), and this week, the words of Dr. Norman Doidge (psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, U of T, Columbia U):
This and Dr. Jordan Peterson’s presentation was followed by a Q & A:
WEATHER (OR NOT)
A good week!
The first days of Summer have been fantastic.
Today, Sunday, the official high temperature was 32°C (89.6°F).
Joe and I had a very productive outside day – high temperature = no aches and pains in knees, back, shoulders, hips. As the temperature goes up, the aches and pains go down.
And the beer…..
A cold beer on a warm day is very close to perfection.
Joe (vitamin D) Mekanic
p.s. Ramirez had a productive week –
