[Date: July 20, 2014 at 11:27:39 AM PDT]
PN:
Ever had that feeling?…………
Rick D. gave me a copy of Charles Krauthammer’s collection of earlier work entitled “Things that matter”. Mr. Karuthammer is American born, raised in Montreal, educated at McGill, Balliol, and Harvard. He left a successful career in psychiatry to be a journalist. He explains:
“………. the same reason I left psychiatry for journalism. While science, medicine, art, poetry, architecture, chess, space, sports, number theory, and all things hard and beautiful promise purity, elegance, and sometimes even transcendence, they are fundamentally subordinate. In the end, they must bow to the sovereignty of politics.
Politics, the crooked timber of our communal lives, dominates everything because, in the end, everything – high and low and, most especially, high – lives or dies by politics. You can have the most advanced and efflorescent of cultures. Get your politics wrong, however, and everything stands to be swept away. This is not ancient history. This is Germany 1933.
………….Turns out we need to know one more thing on earth: politics – because of its capacity, when benign, to allow all around it to flourish, and its capacity, when malign, to make all around it wither.
This is no abstraction. We see it in North Korea, whose deranged Stalinist politics has created a land of stunning desolation and ugliness, bot spiritual and material. We saw it in China’s Cultural Revolution, a sustained act of national self-immolation, designed to dethrone, debase and destroy the highest achievements of five millennia of Chinese culture. We saw it in Taliban Afghanistan, which, just months before 9/11, marched its cadres into the Bamiyan Valley and with tanks, artillery and dynamite destroyed its magnificent cliff-carved 1,700-year-old Buddhas lest they – like kite flying and music and other things lovely – disturb the scorched-earth purity of their nihilism.
Politics is the moat, the walls, beyond which lie the barbarians. Fail to keep them at bay and everything burns…….’
Very powerful language which rings so true in my innocent 65 year old pea brain.
Today’s rant has a political bent, more prevalent than usual.
Whose world is this, anyway? Same as it ever was: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7pVjl4Rrtc
CANADA
Stephen Harper on the current Israeli – Palestinian unrest:
http://www.pm.gc.ca/news/2014/07/13/statement-prime-minister-canada-response-situation-israel
Makes me proud to be Canadian. And an even bigger fan of Stephen Harper.
Michael Coren comments on the Toronto conflicts between Israel supporters and Palestinian supporters:
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/looney-anti-israel-protesters/3674984027001
Makes me wonder about Canada’s immigration policies.
Canada rejects the U.N. High Commissioner’s comments re: Israel:
http://eyecrazy.blogspot.ca/2014/07/canada-rejects-un-high-commissioner-for.html
Makes me wonder why Canada is still a member of the U.N.
AUSTRALIA
Carbon Tax Sanity
Bravo Australia! The “Carbon Tax” law has been repealed. I’m not sure this is a sign of honest, intelligent, and forceful politicians, but it is a very good sign. Canada next?:
http://online.wsj.com/articles/australia-repeals-carbon-tax-1405560964?mod=trending_now_5
This always was a thinly veiled scam to transfer $$$ via coercion from wealthy nations to the basket case nations. Let them eat their own cake……
Here is the CBC’s view on the issue:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/australia-s-carbon-tax-repealed-after-2-years-1.2709642
Always dependable pablum from the left…..
Aboriginal Reality (Not safe for “Progressives” / closed minds)
Suzuki Samurai’s views on the aboriginal condition:
http://pc.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/and-now-for-something-completely.html
This article is incredibly astute. It is pertinent to any culture that exists with an “indigenous” population (or minorities) – i.e. Canada and the U.S.
Some quotes –
“This is the all-too-often default position for good people isn’t it? Whatever has been done, has either done nothing or made things worse. But the situation is so shit, that any caring person would want something to be done. So if something ain’t working – do it harder. If the money isn’t fixing it – spend more. If government inference isn’t changing anything – they should interfere even more in perhaps another way, or the same way, or both … fuck, who knows? Something must be done – this looks like something – so just for fuck’s sake do it!!”……………
…………..”Whatever the failures of government, and they are many even if well-meant, one would think that the question of the Aboriginal culture itself should be recognised as being at least partially responsible for the problem. Yet, if media reports were all one had to go on, you would think that irresponsibility, indolence, violence, jealousy, theft, rape, incest, paedophilia, intemperance, and lack of concern for the future all started with the arrival of a Yorkshireman and his ship in the 1770’s.
In fact, the aboriginal culture is often referred to with such deference and obsequiousness one would be forgiven for thinking they’d reached such a state of Nirvana we should all be emulating them! Yet this is a culture whose language, as Bill Bryson mentioned, that never contained a word for ‘yesterday’ or ‘tomorrow.'”…………….
……………”One of the many great benefits of living in a division-of-labour society is the multiplication of knowledge achieved by living and exchanging with others. Yet the government has been led to believe, through guilt and pressure from sociologists, that Aborigines are better off living in remote communities, far away from society — alone with their culture as it were. Another way to put that is this: they are creating an incentive by paying welfare and lip-service to people to live far away from jobs, education, health, and most importantly – OTHER IDEAS. At the same time, the government introduces other initiatives like relocation allowances for better job opportunities, skills training programs for people unable to write their own name, and welfare management programs with cradle to grave assistance that comes wrapped up with messages to stand on their own two feet. No wonder they looked dazed and confused at the white fella’s idiocy.”…………..
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.”Or, in Thomas Sowell’s more eloquent words:
Cultures are not museum-pieces. They are the working machinery of everyday life. Unlike objects of aesthetic contemplation, working machinery is judged by how well it works, compared to the alternatives. The judgement that matters is not the judgement of observers and theorists, but the judgement implicit in millions of individual decisions to retain or abandon particular cultural practices, decisions made by those who personally benefit or who personally pay the price of inefficiency and obsolescence. That price is not always paid in money but may range from inconveniences to death.
Aborigines have been paying the price for the inefficiency and obsolescence of a culture that should by now either be a museum piece or a tourist attraction, but not the working machinery of their everyday lives.
They are self-evidently not ideas worthy of modern man.”
The concept of “genocide by welfare” rings true in the Canadian history of the “first nations”. I’ll add another coinage of my own, “cultural genocide”. The pursuit of so-called tribal ways, or the old ways simply because that was the existing culture is backward, non productive, and destructive if viewed as anything but a “museum piece” of how it was. Quoting SS again, “This is nothing about which today’s Aboriginals need to feel either pride or humility, since today’s individuals have no responsibility for what others did in the past, only what they themselves do today and in the future.” This excellent bit of wisdom applies to all people of all cultural niches. I’m convinced that for the living, there is only one culture. One living, breathing, complex multifaceted culture that IS judged by it’s multitudes continuously, and is altered constantly according to the desires of these same multitudes. And, as Thomas Sowell inferred above, the price of these decisions may be cultural genocide…..
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A metamorphosis is occurring in our lifetime which will alter the United States permanently. Will it be a positive change, a reinforcement of the beautiful dream the founders made real, “we the people” shaping their destiny through republic political discourse? And if it is negative, what import has it in world events? This week the Soviets shot down a civilian airliner. Putin’s big dick, I suppose. Where is the American response? The Munificent Mulatto is damn near mute. A small dick man. Impeach the bastard. What a pompous blowhard narcissistic sissy boy.
Never dawned on me that murdering innocent people was acceptable political discourse. Mia culpa. I have been asleep for the entire history of “civilization”. Meanwhile, what does it mean to Canada? Stew on it for a while.
Immigration is always touted as “a good thing”. Like all “good things”, immigration has to fit a framework, have a definition, follow a process, be accounted and accountable. “Immigrants” have responsibilities and duties, part and parcel of being an immigrant – can anyone say “assimilation”? This is NOT happening in the U.S. If, as any Democrat / progressive would tell you, it is so grim, so despicable, so desperate for the poor in the U.S., where are the millions of citizens illegally “immigrating” to Mexico, to Guatemala, to Panama, to South America? The answer is so patently obvious, so blatantly common sense, that it is invisible to the progressive eye.
What is happening in the U.S. is not “immigration”. Never was. It is migration out of despair, a hoax, a political poison. Do the lemmings do it any better? An Ann Coulter quote is pertinent – “If we’re so cruel to minorities, why do they keep coming here? Why aren’t they sneaking across the Mexican border to make their way to the Taliban?” The words of the POTUS are irrelevant on the subject: these are not the “brightest and best”, nor are they trained in any meaningful way to assimilate into the North American (European) cultural melee. Hell, I have a problem doing that, and I was born and raised here (not the brightest and best myself). The following graphic presents data about the migrants of desparation they know about –
Does that sound like a plan? This is not immigration. It knells the death of the West.
The response seems to be entering a box canyon of choice – send them home to fix their broken culture / poisoned political culture, and give them succor in doing so. Or do nothing, change your society, your demographics, loose your culture.
Look around your home town. Remember it for your children and grandchildren. They may ask, some day, what was freedom? Just shadows on a wall?………… What say you?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghVAH_WX-9I
POLITICS, POLITICIANS, WACKJOBBERY, HUMOROUS, STUPID
As the human tragedy unfolds in Texas, California, and Arizona like a slow motion train wreck, the Governors of those states are helpless because of laws passed in this man’s administration (before Republicans took the House). Unforgivable. Impeachable. Treasonous.
This picture says it all –
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, NEAT STUFF
This picture is a representation of “fluorescence” emitted by plants during the growing season –
It is a measure of productivity, a byproduct (in a frequency invisible to the human eye) of photosynthesis. This is the “corn belt” of North America. A short quote from accompanying article:
“NASA scientists were able to show that during the Northern Hemisphere’s growing season, the midwestern U.S. has more photosynthetic activity than anywhere else on the planet, including the Amazon (the tropics are more productive on a yearly basis, however). Nearly all of this can be attributed to agriculture in what is sometimes called America’s Corn Belt — where, unlike the rainforest, crops are bred, engineered, and managed to be as productive as possible.”
Article here: http://www.wired.com/2014/04/grawk-fluorescence-photosynthesis
Also visible are the Western Canadian provinces, the “bread basket” of the world. Mexico / Central America are also very productive.
Managing crops feeds the world. Bred, engineered, and managed. I like the sound of that! GMO me baby! There. I said it.
GUNS, GUNNERS, GUNNERY
MUSIC (Beasty Soothing)
Emmylou Harris and Sheryl Crowe – Pale Blue Eyes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzJBd8Dmcqg
Steve Earl & The Del McCoury Band – The Mountain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBuMFDHkrH8
Bob Seger – Turn the Page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe7yOccqdxI
PHILOSOPHY, PHILOSOPHERS, SMART THINKING
Best Quote?
Cousin Delsie sent along the following –
“The Budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced,
the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands
should be curtailed, lest Rome will become bankrupt. People must again learn to work instead of living
on public assistance.”
– Cicero, 55 BC
So, evidently we’ve learned bugger all over the past 2,069 years….
Are You a Libertarian?
John Stossel explores the concurrences and differences of Conservatism and Libertarianism:
http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org/2014/07/stossel-show-libertarians-versus-conservatives/
I have wrestled with these positions for years. Today’s self definition? I’m a theoretical Libertarian. In a theoretically equal populace. Where people have theoretically similar dreams, objectives, desires.
THE RELIGION OF PEACE (ON US ALL)
A rancher found this book on his land, located at the U.S. / Mexico border –
The person who posted this information said, “We’re frigged. The Left did this.” Not much to add……..
Reflection
The argument most often proffered when these religious savages act out their verbalization is “you are misinterpreting the holiest of books, it doesn’t say that”. When, of course, it says that. Here we have the crux of the dilemma…… when will we Westerners start to take the statements and actions of Islam as the word of Islam? The following article details the sordid actions about to be implemented by the “Islamic State” in northern Iraq:
http://news.yahoo.com/convert-pay-tax-die-islamic-state-warns-christians-181415698–business.html
Ann Coulter once said “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity. We weren’t punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That’s war. And this is war.” Ms. Coulter is always entertaining….. and very intuitive on occasion. Let’s make a list…convert to Islam, or pay protection $$$, or die by the sword….. Tell me again these progressive ultimatums are NOT iterated ad nauseum in the book that cannot be criticized? Sam Harris is right; all religions are not equivalent – “Why Islam is violent and Buddhism and Jainism are not”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNndF8RP7Lw He is speaking truth when he says religious “moderates”, by reason of their moderation, cannot perceive religion as the problem. Religion is NOT a “unified domain of doctrine”.
Joe and I say (we are unanimous) that the “golden rule” is not applicable outside the narrow confinements of micro-culture. That is, cross checking in hockey is not the same as cross checking in lacrosse, and doesn’t exist in sissy football (soccer), although there may be some “moral equivalent” to a cross check. The golden rule applies to people with the same morals / ethics / social environment / education / sensibility. If a guideline is necessary to deal with these idiots, we (Joe is usually much more “hawkish”) believe the “platinum rule” is most appropriate – do unto others what they would want to be done unto them. Where Joe and I differ is interpreting the malignant underbelly of “religion”. Joe is atheist. I see religion as a facade for tribalism. Either way, bad juju.
SUNDAY SERMON
The prime pulpit pontificator today is Steven Weinberg, presenting his views in Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason, and Survival – Session 1, from The Science Network’s “Beyond Belief” series of 2006:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKyFkAfmwFA
Begging the question: is “the rapture” possible in a rational mind?
WEATHER (OR NOT)
This week is one for the good books. Only one cloudy day with high wind and some rain. Otherwise, hot, hotter, hotterest! Yum! The days are getting shorter. Gotta get all the sun I can………..
Joe (Glowing) Mekanic
p.s. Ramirez is very crisp –
A repeat below to accentuate the above –
And this one, too –
