If “everybody knows” such-and-such, then it ain’t so, by at least ten thousand to one.
Robert Heinlein
[Can you say “we need more gun control?”–Joe]
Category Archives: Politics
Quote of the day–Henry Kissinger via Paul Smith
THE STORY that amused me most in 1998 came out of the Christopher Hitchens’ column in The Nation: “At a glamorous book launch given by Vogue for Katharine Graham, a Nation colleague of mine was introduced to Henry Kissinger. On hearing the name of the magazine, the doctor drew back. “The Nation? So I suppose you think I am a war criminal?” Yielding to that fatal instinct that sometimes urges people to be laid-back and unpredictable, my comrade attempted a pleasantry and observed that in these post-Cold War days, the old mag was just as likely to describe – who knows? – Bill Clinton as a war criminal. Kissinger stared into his cocktail and said slowly and distinctly, `Mr. Clinton does not have the strength of character to be a war criminal.'”
From Paul Smith
January 13, 1999
Apology from Muslim friends of Norway and Denmark
Very nice.
Quote of the day–William F. Buckley, Jr.
Mrs. Roosevelt’s polemical life was lived right in the heart of liberal mania, with the results that, themselves bereft of their senses, they were incapable of recognizing that Mrs. Roosevelt was bereft of hers.
William F. Buckley, Jr.
Up From Liberalism
Gun control advocates are ‘moderates’
It isn’t the first time I’ve seen this and it probably won’t be the last:
Bloomberg, who was a Democrat before he switched parties for his first run for mayor in 2001, is a political moderate on such issues as abortion and gun control.
Why aren’t politicians that want to, and do, violate the constitution considered extremists instead of moderates?
Constitutional ignorance
Jon Armstrong was interviewed yesterday. And in that interview he was asked what he would do if he were president of the US. His answer caused one of those blank stares (type 1) in me for a few seconds:
I’d disband the military entirely and spend the money on teacher salaries as well as encouraging public innovation.
I’m nearly certain he is serious. I looked at some of his blog postings and it’s entire consistent. The defense of our nation via the military is one of the few things the U.S. Constitution grants the Federal Government the power to do and he would apparently leave us defenseless. There is no Constitutional authority for spending money on teachers and he would do that. I guess when he took the oath of office and said he would uphold the Constitution he would have his fingers crossed or something. Of course that’s not really any different than it is with the bozos we have in government (at all levels) right now. But when I say the Constitution isn’t even considered a strong suggestion it’s barking moonbats like this which prove my point.
Quote of the day–Harry Browne
When the government tries to stop someone from ruining his life with drugs, it converts a personal tragedy into a national disaster.
Harry Browne
March 1998
Libertarian Candidate for President in 1996.
Freedom to travel
I don’t get it. Or probably more accurately these people don’t get it:
Wash lawmakers want to ban overseas sex tours
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Travel agents wouldn’t be able to book or sell “sex tours” under a measure lawmakers are considering, following the lead of Hawaii, which signed a similar bill into law two years ago.
Arranging such tours would be a Class C felony, intended to crack down on sex tours to such places as Thailand. Violators would face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Sen. Karen Fraser, the main sponsor of the bill, said she wants to help reduce the demand for such trips. While she said she wasn’t aware of any Washington state travel agents offering such tours, she said the state needs to take a pre-emptive stand.
“It is a global moral issue, and we should take every step we can to try and reduce sex slavery,” she said.
Okay, I’m against slavery of any type but not all sex for money involves slavery. Prostitution is legal in many countries and even some counties in Nevada. Would this law prohibit a “sex tour” to Nevada too? Just because these Puritans in the Washington State legislature want something to be against the law everywhere doesn’t mean they have the authority to exercise that control over their citizen when they travel outside the state. They can’t tell their citizens they can’t use a machine gun or suppressor when they visit Oregon, Idaho, or Nevada. They can’t tell their homosexual residents they can’t get married while in Massachusetts if they meet the requirements of that state. If they want to exercise that type of control then they should just be up front about it, put up their own “Berlin Wall”, and make it illegal for their residents to leave the state.
Quote of the day–Thomas Jefferson
He has erected a multitude of New Offices and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
Thomas Jefferson
The Declaration of Independence
Listing the abuses of King George III
[Sound like any government you know in present day?–Joe]
It’s hopeless
Always the optimist I sometimes I fantasize about people being rational in a political environment. I know, rationally, that is it is irrational to expect people to be rational. But I sometimes think that if only I can come up with the right set of facts and logic I could convince almost anyone of the truth of some things–such as gun control is wrong. Here’s evidence that it’s hopeless:
Political bias affects brain activity, study finds
Democrats and Republicans both adept at ignoring facts, brain scans showUpdated: 6:46 p.m. ET Jan. 24, 2006Democrats and Republicans alike are adept at making decisions without letting the facts get in the way, a new study shows.
And they get quite a rush from ignoring information that’s contrary to their point of view.
Researchers asked staunch party members from both sides to evaluate information that threatened their preferred candidate prior to the 2004 Presidential election. The subjects’ brains were monitored while they pondered.
The results were announced today.
“We did not see any increased activation of the parts of the brain normally engaged during reasoning,” said Drew Westen, director of clinical psychology at Emory University. “What we saw instead was a network of emotion circuits lighting up, including circuits hypothesized to be involved in regulating emotion, and circuits known to be involved in resolving conflicts.”
And people think I’m the one with the problem because they give the way my mind works a name–they call it Asperger Syndrome (thanks Mike, that was a big help–seriously). I’m with the Aspies that call them Neurotypical.
Quote of the day–Kim du Toit
And that’s the difference between Mr. B and myself. He shakes his head in bafflement, I resume sharpening the M4 bayonet while crooning “Soon, soon, my precioussss…”
Kim du Toit
January 24, 2006
[I can relate to that–in so many ways.–Joe]
Quote of the day–Alfred Korzybski
There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything; both ways save us from thinking.
Alfred Korzybski
[I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately. It’s not been
pleasant. Details later when I get my mind around it all.–Joe]
Quote of the day–Mark Twain
There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.
Mark Twain
Quote of the day–Groucho Marx
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and then applying the wrong remedies.
Groucho Marx
[The Washington State Legislature is in session again.–Joe]
Quote of the day–Senator Soaper
Democracy is a form of government in which it is permitted to wonder aloud what the country could do under first-class management.
Senator Soaper
[Except under McCain-Feingold.–Joe]
Quote of the day–Robert Bork
The judge’s authority derives entirely from the fact that he is applying the law and not his personal values. That is why the American public accepts the decisions of its courts, accepts even decisions that nullify the laws a majority of the electorate or their representatives voted for.
Robert Bork
Opening statement at 1987 Senate hearings to become associate justice of the Supreme Court.
Quote of the day–James Harlacher
There is no “scourge of illegal guns” in New York City.
Being a police officer is inherently dangerous, and it is wrong to pretend that infringing on the constitutional rights of citizens will eliminate all the dangers associated with the job.
This is nothing more than a disgraceful attempt by Bloomberg to use the tragic deaths of two police officers to advance his irrational political agenda.
If he really wants to help the city, he can start by ending the scourge of eminent-domain abuse.
James Harlacher
Brooklyn
New York Post January 4, 2006
Interesting twist on the cold war
Tell me again why we didn’t open the ANWR for more oil production. Here is a important clue as to why we should:
PICTURE the families shivering in apartments without heating, factories grinding to a halt, frozen water pipes bursting in the depths of winter. Welcome to the new Cold War.
At 10am on Sunday, Russia is threatening to unleash the most powerful weapon in its post-Soviet arsenal: unless Ukraine agrees to a fourfold increase in the price it pays for gas, Russia will simply turn off the tap.
Nor is it just Ukraine under threat — the EU imports about half of its gas from Russia and 80 per cent of that comes through Ukrainian pipelines.
So when President Putin met Ivan Plachkov, the Ukrainian Energy Minister, in Moscow yesterday, there was more at stake than relations between the neighbouring states. Analysts fear the dispute could provide a foretaste of how Russia will use its massive oil and gas reserves as a foreign policy tool in future disputes with the West.
“Energy co-operation has replaced military might as the mainstay of Russia’s international credibility,” Chris Weafer, chief strategist at Alfa Bank in Moscow, said. “It is using its importance as an energy partner to pursue its geopolitical and foreign policy agenda.”
Quote of the day–Ebenezer Elliott
What is a communist? One who has yearnings
For equal division of unequal earnings.
Idler or bungler, or both, he is willing
To fork out his copper and pocket a shilling.
In response to Steve Lacey
This started out to be a comment to Steve’s post and his question, “What on earth is going on back home?” It grew in size and scope to the point it needed to be its own post which I now offer to you. It’s not the first time (here is a collection) I have touched on the subject and for certain it will not the last.
The number of days I have spent in the U.K. can be counted on one hand so I recognize my limitations on being an authority on the politics and mindset there. However, it is my opinion that the rush toward a police state in the U.K. is because of a mindset that developed slowly over the last 70 to 80 years. Read F.A. Hayek’s Road to Serfdom for my best guess at to what is going on. Hayek published the book in 1944 and he was specifically warning the U.K. about the dangers of where they were headed. The basic problem as outlined by Hayek is that the people decided it was the job of government to take care of them. From socialized medicine to giving up their right to self defense it’s always the government who is responsible. Once that mindset is cemented into place and the government fails on any given task the “answer” is always more power to the government.
The really scary part is what comes next. As Hayek points out extreme power, however benign the original people to whom it is given, attracts “the wrong sort of people” and is repulsive to those who would be most responsible with it. Hence the more power the government is given the more you will find people in government that should not be given that power. The examples abound–Soviet Union, Communist China, and Nazi Germany. In the 20th century there were at least 60 million people killed by their own governments because of this sort of error in political philosophy. I hope the U.K. will not be a prime example of the 21 century.
One would think that after 60 million dead the lesson would have been learned but the evidence from the U.K. is that some people may still have to learn it for themselves.