Proper Props

Related Link » Obama to Hear From McChrystal for First Time Since Troop Request
“Among those set to attend the Wednesday afternoon meeting are Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, Central Command's Gen. David Petraeus, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones and other top officials.”
— FOXNews.com

Well, it's good to know that The Obama has seen fit to interrupt His busy "Kumbaya Cum Laude Lordy Apology Tour" to have an equally important war man-made disturbance council. You can easily tell it's very high level, with top officials such as Sir Gates, Lady Clinton, and, especially, Jester Biden in attendance, but what's up with all those military types? What could they possibly bring to this Arthurian Round Table that could benefit this Community-Council-in-Cheap? And why, pray tell, are Larry, Curly, and Moe not in attendance? Have they not read the memo? Duh? You can't get anything done without the proper props. Seriously.


  This is one f*cking book store!

Post #955 Proper Props

§ I Am Music and I Pick the Songs: Flashdance ... What a Feeling

{Song #32 « Song #33 » Song #34}

§ ≡ One of an ongoing series of posts in which I pick, in my not-so-humble opinion, the best songs of the second millennium. Feel free to offer constructive dissenting opinions; preferably set to music.

Song #33 is Flashdance ... What a Feeling sung by Irene Cara.

In addition to topping the Billboard Hot 100 and earning a platinum record in 1983, "Flashdance ... What a Feeling" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1984.

A truly wonderful song, full of energy and spirit. And my opinion is not influenced by the dancing of Jennifer Beals. Not in the least. Honest.

Irene Cara sings — Flashdance — Jennifer Beals dances
h/t Reuben Moore

Post #954 § I Am Music and I Pick the Songs: Flashdance ... What a Feeling

Brainy Bunch O'Bananas

Related Link » The Brainy Bunch
“Someone recently pointed out how much Barack Obama's style and strategies resemble those of Latin American charismatic despots — the takeover of industries by demagogues who never ran a business, the rousing rhetoric of resentment addressed to the masses and the personal cult of the leader promoted by the media. But do we want to become the world's largest banana republic?”
— Thomas Sowell, senior fellow at the Hoover Institute

Charisma. It trumps common sense every single time. The kool kids are drawn to it like flies to flypaper. And the not-so-cool kids are drawn to whatever the kool kids are drawn to. Then the grown ups have to clean up the bloody mess. Here we go again.

If you've lived through a world war (and survived) you've seen it coming. First casualty is common sense. The kool kids see cute people in Holyshitwood becoming fabulously wealthy, so they figure if they emulate these cute people they'll become fabulously wealthy too, without having to do any heavy lifting, like, you know, developing some skill that can lead to gainful employment.

Then the cute people, who are basically morons with a talent for entertaining, begin to believe their agents' hype and their fans' adulation, and make the astonishing leap to self importance. This scenario creates a feedback loop that, well, feeds on itself.

Then, after the vast majority of kool kids discover that becoming fabulously wealthy requires fabulous talent, fabulous effort, fabulous luck, and frequently all of the above, they become fabulously disillusioned and begin looking around desperately for someone to blame for their miserable little lives. And, of course, there is never a dearth of scapegoats when you need one.

This creates a perfect-storm setting for a charismatic kool guy who steps up to plate and takes the world by storm, as it were. This kool guy organizes the disillusioned kool kids by focusing their attention on the most convenient set of scapegoats, which generally includes the previous leadership and the juice.

Now you have a virtually unstoppable frenzy of stupid shit run amok, so to speak. And the race to the finish line begins, where the prize is the winner's right to define it: will it be a glorified banana republic, or a new birth of freedom?

Stay tuned.



Post #953 Brainy Bunch O'Bananas

I'm With Groucho

Related Link » How I’m Losing My Love For Israel
The Polymath
“I admit that my exhaustion is exacerbated because, in my social circles, supporting Israel is like supporting segregation, apartheid or worse. I know this is a sign of weakness of will on my part, and I hope that the Times-magazine-sanctioned rise of J Street changes things, but I don’t think advocates of Israel understand exactly how bad the situation is on college campuses, in Europe, and in liberal or leftist social-political circles. Supporting Israel in these contexts is like supporting repression, or the war in Iraq, or George W. Bush. It’s gotten so bad, I don’t mention Israel in certain conversations anymore, and no longer defend it when it’s lumped in with South Africa and China by my friends. This is wrong of me, I know, but I’ve been defending Israel for years, and it’s gotten harder and harder to do so.”
— ‘By Jay Michaelson (Forward)’

“What we got here is ... failure to communicate.”
— ‘Strother Martin (as the Captain in Cool Hand Luke)’

“I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member.”
— ‘Groucho Marx’

I'm with Groucho. I've had similar difficulties in dealing with friends, colleagues, and acquaintances, the vast majority of whom have been leftist liberals, and not only concerning Israel but also concerning President George W. Bush.

Like any other quandary, if the situation reaches the point where it becomes intolerable, one must pause to do a proper cost/benefit analysis. In all such cases, there are few alternatives to choose from: (1) abandon your support of the entity at the center of the dispute; (2) abandon your association with your adversary; (3) make the dispute off limits for your interactions with your adversary.

For the specific cases concerning Israel, as well as concerning President Bush, in most instances I have resorted to option (2). In a few cases, I have opted for (3), because abandoning my adversary/relative would have been too costly for me emotionally.

But I have not had to resort to option (1). That would have been much too costly for me in terms of sleep deprivation.

Post #952 I'm With Groucho

Clever With Numbers But Often Obtuse

Related Link » Why are Jews Liberals?
“In my own view, even bolder thinking would reach the conclusion that it is long past time for the Jews of America to join the side that has come to side with them, and to stick with it unless and until this ceases to be the case. [...] The great issue between the two communities turns on how they feel about the nature of American society. Again with all exceptions duly noted, I think it fair to say that what the Left mainly sees when it looks at America is injustice and oppression of every kind — economic, social, and political. By sharp contrast, the Right sees a complex of traditions, principles, and institutions that have made it possible for more freedom and — even factoring in periodic economic downturns — more prosperity to be enjoyed by more of its citizens than in any other society known to human history. It follows that what liberals believe needs to be changed or discarded is precisely what conservatives are dedicated to preserving, reinvigorating, and defending against attack.”
— by Norman Podhoretz (Author), Why are Jews Liberals?

Most readers of my blog think I'm a conservative (or, even more specifically, a Republican). I am not. I am what might be called a "temporary conservative". Temporary because no one knows what a typical conservative will stand for a decade from now, nor what conservatism, let alone liberalism, will even mean a decade from now.

I certainly have no allegiance to any political party. I loath political parties, but at the same time I recognize that they happen to be the way the system provides us with choices for elected office. My only abiding allegiance, ever since I was old enough to swear allegiance, has been and will forever remain to the United States of America. Do I really have to explain why that is so? Shouldn't that be obvious to any thinking American? Wouldn't that also be what every American would want from any of their elected officials, most especially their President?

Juice had been famously characterized by God as "a stiff-necked people" in the Old Testament. If you are not familiar with God's characterization, you are probably more familiar with the pejorative characterization "clever with numbers" or its more Jew-baiting version "clever with money". This is a reference, albeit a disparaging one, to Jewish "street smarts", for how else could they have survived millennia of persecution by Jew-haters. The latter were not only not-as-clever with numbers, or mathematics in general, but wouldn't deign to besmirch their souls with filthy lucre, which is why extending credit (i.e., banking, for those of you who think The Obama is going to pay off your credit card debt) was one of the very few activities made available to Jews to make a living among their holier-than-thou superiors. But I digress, as is often my wont.

Of course, God's characterization was correct, and its modern colloquial equivalent is "pains in the neck". Juice are, by and large, "street smart" (for how else could they have survived, etc.), but sometimes they just can't see what's in front of their noses (spare me, I've heard all those disparagements too; I've got one for you: can you see Uranus through a telescope?). If they could, they probably wouldn't have the patience to figure out which side their bread is buttered on.

So the Juice blindly follow, in the tradition of yellow-dog Democrats (NOT blue dogs; read up on your color codes, dude), whichever Kennedy happens to come along for his or her tithe. It never occurs to them that all the Kennedy's who have come along since 1968, most especially including Teddy, have had nothing in common with Jack or Bobby, except for that hereditary name.

Post #951 Clever With Numbers But Often Obtuse

The Wizzer of O: A Love Story

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a great community of people called HappyLand. And they prospered mightily. And all the other people who lived elsewhere wanted to come join the happy people. And many did; and they prospered too.

But some others, who wanted the cool stuff in HappyLand but didn't want to do any heavy lifting to reap such benefits, decided to make the happy people miserable, because, you know, misery loves company. So they attacked unsuspecting HappyLand, and many formerly happy people were murdered.

The Leader of HappyLand rose to the challenge and marshalled the formerly happy people, who were now pretty wizzed off, and together they kicked some major butt. But the cool kids in HappyLand didn't like the way the Leader (TheBigDubya) just kicked butt without sugarcoating the process.

The cool kids thought it was unseemly to just kick butt; they wanted the murdering slackers to love HappyLand and become more like the formerly happy people. They disregarded the fact that the murdering slackers just wanted to murder formerly happy people, because, you know, they weren't into "happy"; they were into "murdering".

So the cool kids turned on TheBigDubya and decided that he was responsible for everything bad that was happening to them. They needed to blame somebody, but it was just too unseemly to blame the murdering slackers. Too unseemly and too obvious. It just wasn't cool, you know? There had to be some more intricate reason for why HappyLand was being attacked. So they came up with a fanciful party line: Blame it on TheBigDubya.

Gas prices sky-rocketing? Blame it on TheBigDubya. Lost your job? Blame it on TheBigDubya. Wife won't shut the f*ck up about it? Blame it on TheBigDubya. Kids are lazy motherf*ckers? Blame it on TheBigDubya. And on and on like that.

Well, after a while this got to be a bit old, so the cool kids, who were basically morons but trendy, decided to look for a new Super Star to guide them. And, as luck would have it, there came upon the scene just what the doctor ordered: a Great Community Organizer — The Wizzer of O.

And "O", as His friends called Him, was a godsend. In fact, some of the more trendy cool kids said He was God, or at the very least a Being who had the power to send tingling up and down your legs and to organize the shit out of everything, with a bit of help from His personal scam artists, whom He liked to call "Czars".

Then, the proverbial shit hit the proverbial fan. The murdering slackers realized that The Wizzer of O was nothing more than an empty suit manipulating levers behind a see-through curtain, while His attack dog, the despised Rahm-it-up-your-ass Emmanuelle, kept chanting, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain; move along; nothing to see here."

And so it came to pass that the not-so-cool kids, the so-called conservatives, who were basically your Mom and Dad but who refused to clean your room and make breakfast for you, decided to take matters into their own hands and start dispensing some tough love (i.e., explaining in painstaking detail what stupid shits the cool kids were). And there was a great hue and cry in HappyLand. And some of the cool kids, the little motherf*ckers known as "acorns", were revealed to be not really cool at all but your basic motherf*ckers.

And The Wizzer of O was revealed, over and over again, to be nothing more than an empty suit pulling levers at random behind a see-through curtain.

h/t Theo

Post #950 The Wizzer of O: A Love Story

Well, they sure had me fooled!

Related Link » Iran Is Warned Over Nuclear ‘Deception’
“PITTSBURGH — President Obama and leaders of Britain and France accused Iran on Friday of building a secret underground plant to manufacture nuclear fuel, saying the country has hidden the covert operation from international weapons inspectors for years.”
— ‘By DAVID E. SANGER and HELENE COOPER, September 25, 2009 (NYT)’

Duh a word that stupid people tend to say in cartoons before they speak, also used in modern days when someone sarcastically points out that someone said something obvious.

Post #949 Well, they sure had me fooled!

Human Decency Is Redundant

Related Link » Joseph Welch confronts McCarthy
“Until this moment, Senator, I think I never gauged your cruelty or recklessness. [...] Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”
— ‘Joseph Welch to Senator McCarthy, June 9, 1954’

Related Link » An insult to history that demands a response
“History beckoned [John Adams] to be brave, eloquent and indignant on behalf of the imperishable truth. Would that the same could be said of those who at this moment should confront the perversion of history with something less craven than a polite demur.”
— ‘By Simon Schama, September 22 2009 (FT.com)’

Like everyone else residing in the animal kingdom, our first priority is survival. What distinguishes our species from all others is, in my humble opinion, the ability to conceptualize decency, once we feel that our personal survival is not immediately at risk. Decency is uniquely human.

The professional philosophers and professors of ethics will continue to debate the finer points of ethical conduct for millennia to come. But those of us who need guidance in our own lifetime must make do with some basic rules of thumb, especially in times like these when the scum of the earth slither to the podium at the United Nations — I'madinnerjacket; Qaddafi; Chavez; (Saddam had lost a conflict).

For me it is ironic that I learned some personal guidance at the movies where, despite the personal failings of many leading actors, the good guys are easily distinguished from the scum, not by their appearances but by their actions. Even the Lone Ranger (who wore a mask) was unambiguously identified as the good guy by an 8-year-old boy. How? Because human beings who are not pathological can sense decency; it is our conscience that makes us human.

So, when you are preparing for bed, with your belly full and your immediate family well and accounted for, consider your own actions and the passions you expressed during the day that is coming to a close. Look at yourself in the mirror, and ask yourself, "Do I feel guilty?"

Well do ya, punk?

h/t Secular Apostate

Post #948 Human Decency Is Redundant

But I Mean It in a Nice Way

Related Link » Sleeping Through Speeches
Obamania
“I think the key to stopping the Obama remaking of the U.S. is calm and reasoned analysis, since the American people are beginning to turn on his agenda. After 9 months they realize that there is no "there" there, just formulaic platitudes and the now-tired rhetorical flourishes. Otherwise, the agenda is simply Jimmy-Carter sanctimoniousness abroad, and Clinton’s first two failed years, between 1993-4, at home. But the antidote is to politely, but steadily point this out — the constant distortions, hypocrisies, and contradictions — without resorting to slurs and smears. If conservatives can stay cheery, optimistic and reasoned, the Obamians, as all fallen prophets, will become angrier, more self-righteous, and incoherent. There is no need for conspiracy theories, to banish the moderate conservatives, or to cannibalize one another; instead the Obama record is out there for all to see and examine. After all, we have a president who boasts that we are back on the UN human rights council, and then brags of our new multilateral equity – and then is followed by the likes of Gaddafi and Ahmadinejad who show us what the new unexceptional America’s peers-to-be are really like.” [emphasis added]
— ‘Victor Davis Hanson, September 23rd, 2009’

I think Professor Hanson is right. I have been too emotional in my criticisms and condemnations of all the leftist attempts to hijack our country. No more will you see here such outbursts as, "They're all f*cking idiots!"

From now on it's, "They're all f*cking idiots, but I mean it in a nice way."

Post #947 But I Mean It in a Nice Way

Anything is possible, except certainty

“Anything is possible, except certainty.”

 — TheBigHenry's Law of Possibility

Post #946 Anything is possible, except certainty

§ I Am Music and I Pick the Songs: Brooklyn Roads

{Song #31 « Song #32 » Song #33}

§ ≡ One of an ongoing series of posts in which I pick, in my not-so-humble opinion, the best songs of the second millennium. Feel free to offer constructive dissenting opinions; preferably set to music.

Song #32 is Brooklyn Roads sung by Neil Diamond.

I've always loved Neil Diamond's songs. And, though in general the songs I love are those with beautiful melody first and foremost, in Diamond's case, his lyrics intrigue me too.

You want nostalgia? You simply can't improve on this beautiful reminiscence of his boyhood in Brooklyn. Not alluded to in this song, but true nevertheless, Brooklyn is where he, coincidentally, went to high school with the equally talented Barbra Streisand.

Neil Diamond — Brooklyn Roads


Post #945 § I Am Music and I Pick the Songs: Brooklyn Roads

You might be a racist if ...

• You might be a racist if ...
  you think that The Obama, instead of preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution, spends all his waking hours embellishing His third memoir, whose working title is, "How The Won Supplanted Abraham Lincoln in the Pantheon of American Greatness".
• You might be an elitist if ...
  you think Jimmy Carter is a f*cking idiot.
• You might be judgmental if ...
  you judge Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank, and many others too numerous to enumerate, to be repulsive political hacks.
• You might be an anti-Semite if ...
  you think Barbra Streisand should just shut the f*ck up unless she is singing or performing some other service with her mouth.
• You might be a McCarthyite if ...
  you think Jane Fonda and her ilk are frothing-at-the-mouth lunatics.

I could go on, but you catch my drift. You might be any or all those things (and more).

Or, you might just be an unbiased observer.

Post #944 You might be a racist if ...

There's no mendacious cynicism here; move along ...

Related Link » ACORN CEO 'Outraged' by Behavior of Employees in Prostitute Tapes
ACORN chief organizer Bertha Lewis tries to calm a growing firestorm over the behavior of her group's employees.

“Lewis initially took a defiant tone against the criticism of her organization when the tapes were first made public by filmmaker James O'Keefe. But that stance softened as more tapes were revealed -- so far detailing hidden-camera operations at five separate locations across the country.

"Any organization is not entirely perfect," Lewis said on "FOX News Sunday". "I was outraged by it. Everyone should be, and I can understand how the Congress was also."

She said any employee "too stupid" not to adhere to professional standards will be terminated.

"Internally, let's have some reform," Lewis said. "It's indefensible what I saw (in the tapes)".” [emphasis added]
— ‘FOXNews.com; Sunday, September 20, 2009’

So, before anything else is said or done after a scandal is revealed in your organization, deny in the most indignant and defiant tone you can muster that there is the slightest possibility of truth in what has been revealed. Moreover, threaten to sue vigorously anyone and everyone who had the temerity to suggest that anything of the sort could possibly have occurred in the organization, which has such a stellar record of integrity.

Then, wait a bit to see if the elitist media pick up on the scandal. If even this craven lot can not avoid reporting the scandalous activity, despite their best efforts to ignore the obvious or spin it off the radar, then wait a bit more to see if the funding agency, that mendacious organization known as Congress tries to do anything about it.

Finally, when the shit hits the pocketbook, then, and only then, drop to your knees and mendaciously plead for mercy. After all, dignity and indignation play no role when real money is involved.

Law suits? What law suits? I was only kidding. We don't need no stinking law suits. We'll just get rid of a few bad apples, and then we can get back to the real business of securing the re-election of our dear leaders in the White House and in the Senate and in the House of Representatives.

h/t IOWAHAWK

Post #943 There's no mendacious cynicism here; move along ...

Too Much of a Good Thing

Related Link » Candied Bacon Ice Cream Recipe
“Who doesn't like bacon and eggs?” [emphasis added]
— ‘David Lebovitz’

Candied Bacon Ice Cream
h/t Craig Newmark

No doubt, there are those who don't like bacon and eggs. But you can't count me among such hopelessly clueless people! Just like Pavlov's dog, I begin salivating as soon as I see that "Beggin' Strips" commercial:

Beggin' Strips Commercial: "ITS BACON!"


I also have what they used to call a "sweet" tooth, and thank goodness for Splenda®, because I have type II diabetes. Furthermore, I love ice cream.

So, what could be more splendiferous than candied bacon ice cream? (I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.)

Post #942 Too Much of a Good Thing

Leno? At NBC? Hopey Dopey?

Related Link » commercial joke



— ‘rootsarama’

Careful, Jay. In some leftist circles that would qualify as racist propaganda.

Post #941 Leno? At NBC? Hopey Dopey?

Just ask any Obama idolater ...

Related Link » Does He Lie?
“Obama said he would largely solve the insoluble cost problem of Obamacare by eliminating "hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud" from Medicare. That's not a lie. That's not even deception. That's just an insult to our intelligence. Waste, fraud and abuse [...] as the all-purpose piggy bank for budget savings has been a joke since Jimmy Carter first used it in 1977. Moreover, if half a trillion is waiting to be squeezed painlessly out of Medicare, why wait for health care reform? If, as Obama repeatedly insists, Medicare overspending is breaking the budget, why hasn't he gotten started on the painless billions in "waste and fraud" savings?

Obama doesn't lie. He merely elides, gliding from one dubious assertion to another. This has been the story throughout his whole health care crusade. Its original premise was that our current financial crisis was rooted in neglect of three things -- energy, education and health care. That transparent attempt to exploit [Rahm-it-up-your-ass] Emanuel's Law -- a crisis is a terrible thing to waste -- failed for health care because no one is stupid enough to believe that the 2008 financial collapse was caused by a lack of universal health care.” [emphasis added]
— ‘Charles Krauthammer, September 18, 2009, Townhall.com’

Charles Krauthammer speaks the truth, but even Charles, as anyone else who has reached the point of unconstrained exasperation, can't help the occasional hyperbole for emphasis.

Sorry Charles, but, unfortunately, there are tens of millions who are "stupid enough to believe that the 2008 financial collapse was caused by a lack of universal health care". Just ask any Obama idolater. Sigh.

Post #940 Just ask any Obama idolater ...

§ I Am Music and I Pick the Songs: My Heart Belongs to Me

{Song #30 « Song #31 » Song #32}

§ ≡ One of an ongoing series of posts in which I pick, in my not-so-humble opinion, the best songs of the second millennium. Feel free to offer constructive dissenting opinions; preferably set to music.

Song #31 is My Heart Belongs to Me sung by Barbra Streisand. Released as a single from her multi-platinum 1977 album Streisand Superman, "My Heart Belongs to Me" peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the summer of that year. It also spent four weeks at #1 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart, Streisand's fourth #1 song on this survey.

Alright already; your heart belongs to you. And, of course, so does your golden voice. Your brain, however, such as it is, belongs to some village that has misplaced its idiot.

Be that as it may, there is no denying that magnificent voice.

Barbra Streisand — My Heart Belongs to Me


Post #939 § I Am Music and I Pick the Songs: My Heart Belongs to Me

It's a Basic Truth

Related Link » House Rules
“It's a basic truth of the human condition that everybody lies.”
— ‘Hugh Laurie as Dr. Greg House’

Related Link » Mark Twain Quotes
“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.”
— ‘Mark Twain’

Related Link » All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
“To begin with, did I really learn everything I need to know in kindergarten?”
— ‘Robert Fulghum’

Unless you have been on an extended change-of-station to Antarctica, you are no doubt aware of the great kerfuffle kicked-up by Rep. Joe Wilson's less-than decorous interruption of The Obama's recent address to a joint session of Congress. Specifically, Rep. Wilson accused The Obama of lying during last week’s televised address on health policy. Mind you, according to the great outcry emanating from the immaculate left-side of the aisle, this rude interruption was unprecedented (as if ...).

Be that as it may (and I, for one, make no attempt at excusing such disrespectful behavior no matter how deserving the target of said behavior is perceived to be), I make the following observations.

What we have here is not a dispute about lies and the lying liars who perpetrate them. Nor is it primarily about whose behavior is more or less egregious. No, it's about something that most Americans learn early in life, somewhere in the neighborhood of junior high school (at least for my generation; nowadays it's probably learned in kindergarten).

With few notable exceptions (the U. S. Armed Forces and the IDF come to mind), the following are all intimately familiar with a basic truth: politicians of all stripes (it's a very long list — you know who you are); all of Holyshitwood (Clint Eastwood gets a pass); the "elite" press (yeah you, Dowdy Maureen); Serena "Expletive Mouth" Williams; Kanye "I'm More Important Than You 'Cause I'm Black" West; and too many others to enumerate (yeah, yeah, me too).

And that basic truth is:

You can dish it out; but you can't take it.

You can take that to the bank, if you can find one that's open.

Post #938 It's a Basic Truth

These bastards are serious!

Related Link » The Road to Serfdom
“The Rule of Law, the absence of legal privileges of particular people designated by authority, is what safeguards that equality before the law which is the opposite of arbitrary government. It is significant that socialists (and Nazis) have always protested against 'merely' formal justice, that they have objected to law which had no views on how well off particular people ought to be, that they have demanded a 'socialization of the law' and attacked the independence of judges.”
— ‘Friedrich Hayek’

Please read the above excerpt, and then contemplate the rhetoric from The Obama surrounding His nomination of (now) Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor. Any doubts enter your mind about the wisdom of The appointment and the subsequent "advice and consent" by our "esteemed" Senate of Sheep?

Read some books if this doesn't ring any alarm bells for you. A very good book to read, now that our liberty is under attack by an administration that, if it isn't evil is at the very least alarmingly naive and dangerous, would be "The Road to Serfdom".

For those who don't actually need to read a book to recognize a completely unscrupulous attack on the very fabric of our Nation's unique and priceless heritage, do something useful to help perpetuate that which millions of patriots gave their lives to preserve.

Wake up, for god's sake. We are under attack. These bastards are serious!

Post #937 These bastards are serious!

Life Insurance Mandate for Dead People

Related Link » A Health Insurance Mandate That Works Like Auto Insurance? Think Again
“Many drivers can go without collision insurance if they like. If a hood is dented on the car of someone without the coverage, that person can drive around with a dented hood. But the only kind of health insurance Obama is talking about is collision insurance. If someone's body is a jalopy, he or she still has to get covered. [...] "The primary purpose of the auto insurance mandate was to provide financial protection for people that a driver may harm [i.e., liability insurance], and not necessarily for the driver himself," they wrote.”
— ‘By Judson Berger, FOXNews.com’

The explanations given in the referenced article are correct, as far as they go, but I think there is a better example that would clarify the ridiculous mandate proposed by the Obama administration, namely the part about providing universal health-care insurance regardless of preexisting condition.

Suppose instead of universal health-care insurance we contemplate universal life insurance. Suppose further that we mandate coverage for everyone, regardless of their preexisting life-status. Can you not see how ridiculous that would be? Do you not realize that life insurance companies can not provide coverage for dead people?

Insurance companies exist to provide protection (for an appropriate fee) to people who want to hedge their bets against some perceived (but unknown) level of risk. If the risk is known with certainty, however, no one in their right mind will sell you insurance coverage for it. And no one can be mandated to commit financial suicide; at least not in a free society like ours still is.

Post #936 Life Insurance Mandate for Dead People

The Arrogance of Ignorance

Related Link » Why He Will Not Read Your F*cking Script
“Academy Award-, WGA-, and BAFTA-nominated A History of Violence screenwriter Josh Olson has an interesting screed in this week's Village Voice:
[...]
Yes. That's right. I called you a dick. Because you created this situation. You put me in this spot where my only option is to acquiesce to your demands or be the bad guy. That, my friend, is the very definition of a dick move.”
— ‘By NIKKI FINKE | FOUNDER & EDITOR IN CHIEF (Deadline Hollywood)’

There are many thousands, and in some areas of expertise — perhaps millions of professional experts in the world. If we specify the area of expertise, however, chances are very good that you are not one of those experts.

If you happen to strike up a conversation with someone and discover that that person is an expert in a field you may have some interest in, try not to ask the expert to bring you up to speed in 25 words or less. That would be an insult to the time and effort the expert invested in the process of becoming an expert, or, in the case of the rare individual like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, an insult to the genius he was born with.

Try not to be a dick.

Post #935 The Arrogance of Ignorance

Why the River-crossing Statistician Drowned

Related Link » The Flaw of Averages: Sam L. Savage On Why We Underestimate Risk in the Face of Uncertainty
“Have you heard the one about the river-crossing statistician who drowns after determining that the water is, on average, only three feet deep? This, says author Sam L. Savage, is just one example of the flaw of averages.”
— ‘ReasonTV’

The Flaw of Averages
h/t Theo

The computer-based sampling technique "Monte Carlo simulation" was coined by the polymath John von Neumann. Von Neumann and Stanislaw Ulam, along with many other eminent physicists and mathematicians applied Monte Carlo simulation to help create the first nuclear weapons during the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) during the Second World War. LASL was later renamed the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).

Post #934 Why the River-crossing Statistician Drowned

A Beautiful Tribute

Related Link » Home
“But two and a half centuries is but an eyeblink compared to the sense of home that some people have.”
— ‘Secular Apostate’

Please visit my friend, the Secular Apostate, to read his beautiful tribute.

Ofra Haza Yerushalaim Shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold)


Post #933 A Beautiful Tribute

Beverage of Chumpions

Related Link » Friedrich Hayek
“Friedrich August von Hayek CH (8 May 1899 – 23 March 1992), was an Austrian and British economist and philosopher known for his defense of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism against socialist and collectivist thought. He is considered to be one of the most important economists and political philosophers of the twentieth century. Hayek's account of how changing prices communicate signals which enable individuals to coordinate their plans is widely regarded as an important achievement in economics. One of the great polymaths of the 20th century, Hayek also contributed to jurisprudence, neuroscience and the history of ideas.”
— ‘From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia’

Related Link » The Road to Serfdom
“[S]ince this group is not large enough to give sufficient weight to the leader's endeavours, he will have to increase their numbers by converting more to the same simple creed. He must gain the support of the docile and gullible, who have no strong convictions of their own but are ready to accept a ready-made system of values if it is only drummed into their ears sufficiently loudly and frequently. It will be those whose vague and imperfectly formed ideas are easily swayed and whose passions and emotions are readily aroused who will thus swell the ranks of the totalitarian party.”
— ‘Friedrich Hayek, The Road to Serfdom’

"One of the great polymaths of the 20th century" turned out to be a great prognosticator for the 21st. In his signature work, which transformed the landscape of political thought in the 20th century, he managed to characterize the signature lubricant of "modern" leftist idolatry.

This lubricant of choice favored by our demagogues doubles as a refreshingly delightful beverage, loaded with stupor-inducing vapidity and light-headedness. Best of all, it comes in a variety of colors, including purple. It is known as Nebraska's "official soft drink".

Post #932 Beverage of Chumpions

9/11 Tribute in Light Memorial

Related Link » Tribute in Light Memorial illuminates a passing cloud above lower Manhattan
“The twin towers of light, made-up of 44 searchlights near “Ground Zero,” are meant to represent the fallen twin towers of the World Trade Center.”
— ‘U.S. Coast Guard photo by Public Affairs 2nd Class Mike Hvozda (RELEASED)’

Post #931 9/11 Tribute in Light Memorial

Repulsive and Disgusting Behavior

Related Link » 2 ACORN Employees Fired, Could Face Criminal Charges
“The staffers appeared to commit federal tax fraud by offering to help the visitors — for a fee — to establish a child brothel, legal experts say. [...] An ACORN official told the couple how to falsify tax forms and seek illegal benefits for 13 "very young" girls from El Salvador that they said they wanted to import as prostitutes. [...] Though no tax forms were filed and the child prostitutes didn't exist, the ACORN official engaged in "numerous acts of criminal facilitation," said Judge Andrew Napolitano, FOX News senior judicial analyst. [...] Trial attorney Lee Armstong said that the employee had engaged in "repulsive ... disgusting behavior," but nothing illegal occurred.”
— ‘FOX NEWS, September 10, 2009’

While so-called "mainstream media [MSM]" are thoroughly exercised by the indisputable breech of decorum by Rep. Wilson during the President's address to a joint session of Congress, the same MSM is paying little attention to what is indisputably repulsive and disgusting behavior by (now former) employees of ACORN.

As predicted by Glenn Beck on his Fox News program last night, these two pathetic excuses for minimal ethical standards were hung out to dry by their bosses soon after the incriminating video surfaced, though initially their spokesman Scott Levenson denied any culpability, which is SOP of spokesmen for anyone alleged to have engaged in despicable behavior and obviously guilty as charged.

Post #930 Repulsive and Disgusting Behavior

A Tale of Two Revolutions

Related Link » A Tale of Two Revolutions: The War of Ideas & the Tragedy of the Unconstrained Vision
— ‘Afterburner with Bill Whittle (10min video), Sep 10, 2009 (PJTV)’

I try to minimize my use of hyperbole, but sometimes it is unavoidable.

Do yourself a favor and watch this "must see" video. It explains a lot about our current National political polarization.

Post #929 A Tale of Two Revolutions

“At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”

Related Link » The Van Jones Matter
“But reality doesn't daunt Jones's defenders. One Obama administration source told ABC that Jones hadn't read the 2004 petition carefully enough, an excuse echoed by Howard Dean. Carefully enough? It demanded the investigation of charges "that people within the current [Bush] administration may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war." Where is the confusing fine print? Where is the syntactical complexity? Where is the perplexing ambiguity? An eighth-grader could tell you exactly what it means. A Yale Law School graduate could not? No need to worry about Jones, however. Great career move. He's gone from marginal loon to liberal martyr. His speaking fees have just doubled. It's only a matter of time before he gets his own show on MSNBC. But on the eighth anniversary of 9/11 -- a day when there were no truthers among us, just Americans struck dumb by the savagery of what had been perpetrated on their innocent fellow citizens -- a decent respect for the memory of that day requires that truthers, who derangedly desecrate it, be asked politely to leave. By everyone.”
— ‘By Charles Krauthammer, September 11, 2009 (washingtonpost.com)’

Can't we all just get along, at least on Patriot Day, which commemorates those Americans who died on that awful day? I guess not, because a schmuck like actor Charlie Sheen wants a face-to-face meeting with President Obama so he can ask him to personally order an investigation into the "9/11 cover up".

“Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” — Joseph N. Welch, June 9, 1954

Post #928 “At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”

"Let me make sure there's a [IRS] code for that, OK?"

Related Link » ACORN Officials Videotaped Telling 'Pimp', 'Prostitute' How to Lie to IRS
“Officials with the controversial community organizing group ACORN were secretly videotaped offering to assist two individuals posing as a pimp and a prostitute, encouraging them to lie to the Internal Revenue Service and providing guidance on how to claim underage girls from South America as dependents. [...] A spokesman for ACORN, Scott Levenson, when asked to comment on the videotape, said: "The portrayal is false and defamatory [...] ACORN wants to see the full video before commenting further".”
— ‘Thursday, September 10, 2009, FOX NEWS’

The following video was provided for anyone who wants to comment further.

Chaos for Glory: My Time With ACORN by James O'Keefe


BTW, $8K a month is $96,000 per year, not $9,600 per year. I think the IRS computers would flag that factor-of-10 error real quick. Also, a deduction for condoms? I am not sure that sort of "social" engineering has been instituted. Yet.

Post #926 "Let me make sure there's a [IRS] code for that, OK?"

§ I Am Music and I Pick the Songs: San Francisco

{Song #29 « Song #30 » Song #31}

§ ≡ One of an ongoing series of posts in which I pick, in my not-so-humble opinion, the best songs of the second millennium. Feel free to offer constructive dissenting opinions; preferably set to music.

Song #30 is San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) sung by Scott McKenzie. It was written by John Phillips (father of Mackenzie Phillips) of The Mamas & the Papas, and was released in June 1967 to promote the Monterey Pop Festival.

I do have to hand it to the "flower children". I happened to have been in San Francisco in June of 1967 (ironically, during the Six-Day War).

Those "gentle" people knew how to do sex, drugs and music. One of the most beautiful songs to come out of that era was, as it happens, "San Francisco", currently home to some of those now-homeless hippies.

Scott McKenzie, San Fransisco


Post #926 § I Am Music and I Pick the Songs: San Francisco

When you're smiling ...

Related Link » Chavez's Deadly Star Turn In Venice
“Based on the film's trailer and Stone's own statements, the film emphasizes that the public has it all wrong about the clowning Chavez being a threat to the West. It's merely an image problem he has, brought on by unjust demonization from George W. Bush. [...] If radical chic, which Tom Wolfe wrote of in the 1970s, was the self-destructive propensity of the privileged elites to sidle up to predators trying to kill them, what went on in Venice amounts to an intensified modern version of that very same decadence.”
— ‘By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Tuesday, September 08, 2009’


Shit-eating Grins for the Well Fed

Meanwhile, back in the real world, The Obama Lama is dismantling our defense capabilities as he attempts to hug and smile his way to the hearts and minds of those who eat his lunch.



h/t Theo
A Self-explanatory Smile

Post #925 When you're smiling ...

No racism to speak of here ...

Related Link » Obama is fast losing white voters' support
“His approval ratings with the crucial bloc have plunged since April. Strategists say the healthcare debate is largely to blame, but that's not the only reason. [...] New surveys show steep declines in Obama's approval ratings among whites -- including Democrats and independents -- who were crucial elements of the diverse coalition that helped elect the country's first black president. [...] "While Obama has a lock on African Americans, his support among white voters seems to be almost in a free fall," said veteran Republican pollster Neil Newhouse.”
— ‘By Peter Wallsten, September 7, 2009 (LATimes)’

What is going on here? And why is it going on here? I thought the election of the Nation's first black president had put to rest the stigma of racism in America?

Alright already; so Obama's Administration has advocated several trillion dollars-worth of controversial policy. Is that any reason to rejuvenate the racism-phoenix from its ashes? You don't see African Americans getting all exercised, and abandoning our dear President just because of a measly trillion dollars or three.

No racism to speak of here, move along ...

Post #924 No racism to speak of here ...

Yeah, but what has he done for us lately?

Source Link » Pelosi and Newsom on Van Jones

“He is what I like to call a magnificent disruptor.”
— ‘Nancy Pelosi on Van Jones (see video, above)’

I am not even going to touch that one. [I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.]

“I know this guy is not just a dreamer; he's a doer.”
— ‘San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom on Van Jones (see video, above)’

What are the odds he's done the Mayor of San Fran?

What he needs to do more of, IMHO, is time.

Post #923 Yeah, but what has he done for us lately?

You want a second opinion?

I get the occasional comment from a reader that, although my posts are generally interesting and well crafted, they are often incomprehensible. Well, perhaps that is so. But we aim to please here at Remembrance in Spacetime, so I have borrowed some straight talk from one of my favorite bloggers, Theo Spark at Last of the Few:

First, the basics:
Q. What is an economic stimulus payment?
A. It is money the federal government will send to taxpayers.
Q. Where will the government get this money?
A. From taxpayers.
Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?
A. Only a smidgen.
Q. What is the purpose of this payment?
A. The plan is for you to use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.
Q. But isn’t that stimulating the economy of China?
A. Shut up.

Next, how NOT to spend your stimulus money (and why):

• If you spend the stimulus money at Wal-Mart, your money will go to China.
• If you spend it on gasoline, your money will go to the Arabs.
• If you purchase a computer, your money will go to India.
• If you purchase fruits and vegetables, your money will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.
• If you buy a car, your money will go to Japan or Korea.
• If you purchase useless stuff, your money will go to Taiwan.
• If you pay off your credit cards or buy stock, your money will go toward management bonuses, and be hidden offshore.

Instead, keep the stimulus money in America by:

1. spending it at yard sales;
2. going to ball games;
3. spending it on prostitutes;
4. buying beer; or
5. getting tattoos.

These are the only American businesses still operating in the U.S.

Conclusion: Go to a ball game with a tattooed prostitute you met at a yard sale and drink beer all day.

You wanted a second opinion? You got it.

Post #922 You want a second opinion?

Some Liberals Are Monarchical

Related Link » Former Rep. Joseph Kennedy Nixes Senate Campaign
“The decision is expected to widen the field of announced candidates for Kennedy's seat. It became vacant Aug. 25, when the senator died of brain cancer at age 77. Three veteran Massachusetts congressmen -- Reps. Michael Capuano, Edward J. Markey and John Tierney -- have said they are considering campaigns but would not run against a member of the Kennedy family. The senator's widow, Vicki, had previously ruled out a campaign.” [emphasis added]
— ‘By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Published: September 7, 2009’

Let's get a couple of things straight from the get-go: I was too young to vote for Jack, but I would have if I had been of voting age. And, I had been planning to vote for Joe II's dad when tragedy struck.

But just because Joe II's grandpa bought Illinois for Joe II's Uncle Jack, it doesn't mean one of the two Massachusetts U.S.-Senate seats belongs to the Kennedy clan in perpetuity, you know?

This is still America, right? Or did I sleep-walk to some other country last November?

Oh well, I guess cuz Caroline will get her Senate seat after all. It's just her rightful inheritance, you know? Her pedigree is stellar, seeing as her dad was POTUS and all. On the other hand, his dad was the front runner when that Arab-nationalist assassin struck him down just after his victory in the California primary. It's a close call. Both brothers/uncles were Presidential. Therefore, both cousins/children must be at least Senatorial.

Post #921 Some Liberals Are Monarchical

The Wages of a Failed Golden State

Related Link » Feds Didn't Clear Brush In LA Wildfire Areas Because Of Liberal Pressure
“The wonderful thing here is that it's not just a story of glazed-eyed government incompetence breaking at the same time that the Obama administration is trying to nationalize 15% of the US economy. It's that the incompetence has its source in interest groups who issue diktats according to whatever the prevailing liberal pseudo-sophistication happens to be.”
— ‘Omri Ceren is a PhD candidate studying Rhetoric at USC’

h/t Craig Newmark

"California here we come ..." sings the Nation of Sheep, accompanied on musical pipe by the Pied-Piper-in-Chief.

ABBA: California Here I Come


Post #920 The Wages of a Failed Golden State

Fatal Attraction to Moore's Validation

Related Link » Michael Moore takes aim at money men
“Agitator supreme Michael Moore is back with a new target — and this time he wants the world to rebel against it. [...] Moore is adamant that capitalism is not the way forward, but struggles to offer a real alternative for how the economy could be run, or a way to convince people they do not need so much money to buy ‘stuff’.”
— By Keily Oakes, Entertainment reporter, BBC News, at the Venice Film Festival

Today in the entertainment tabs of the online news services appear many entries on Michael Moore's new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story. Moore seems to think he's practicing political economics or social activism, yet his work is often characterized as entertainment.

Moore's not exactly Adam Smith or Karl Marx. He doesn't have the intellect to analyse the problems of wealth distribution and social justice in sophisticated or interesting ways. He's an agitator of people, the heir to a long tradition of propaganda, the agitprop prince.

Why do people believe that he speaks the truth? There are certainly myriad reasons. But if we were to distill the mixture down to its essence, we're likely to find that people who have strong party and class affiliations, or who have an entrenched and simplex vision of political economics, fundamentally want to be right more than anything else. The Michael Moores of the world make such people feel like they're right.

How can anyone not believe someone who tells them they're right?

Post #919 Fatal Attraction to Moore's Validation

Anybody here speak Bleep?

Related Link » Identity thief and friends accost WLBT reporter
“Singleton to serve 4+ years: Singleton was convicted of identity theft. When first arrested, the reporter and cameraman were subjected to a WWF style smackdown from the convict and her friends. The street scene took place two years ago.”
— ‘prplhze2000’

WARNING: Lots of beeps masking bleeps! Not for the easily appalled.
h/t Secular Apostate

Post #918 Anybody here speak Bleep?

Life Is Not a Pair of Loose-fitting Sweatpants

One of my favorite jokes is a "shaggy dog story", in which the very long-winded setup concerns one man's quest for the meaning of life. When the quester finally confronts the omniscient guru, the guru replies, "Life — is but a toothpick." At this point of the joke, the quester becomes irate and recapitulates the entire setup, ending with, "And you have the audacity to tell me that 'Life is but a toothpick?!" To which the guru responds, "Alright already; so it's not a toothpick."

Most of us would agree that, indeed, life is not a toothpick. Less well understood, however, is that life is also not a pair of loose-fitting sweatpants. In life, very few situations can be addressed with a "one size fits all" strategy.

In particular, the extremely complex, and constantly changing, multi-national interactions between the United States (and its interests) vis-à-vis virtually all the other nations of the world, requires a very large number of dedicated career diplomats and policy theorists (and pragmatists) in a well coordinated State Department. Moreover, the Secretary of State, as practically all the other Cabinet Secretaries, needs to have a lot on the ball, so to speak, so as to coordinate such a complex network of foreign policy efforts. This is why the POTUS has, from the very beginning (when Washington, himself not too shabby a statesman, relied heavily on Jefferson) required a very sharp deputy at the State Department.

President Obama is a community organizer extraordinaire. That in itself is very meager credentials for shaping the foreign policy of the world's only surviving superpower. His politically motivated appointment of Senator Clinton, whose foreign policy expertise comprises little more than some fantasy interactions with terrorists on a few photo-ops in a few foreign countries, does not make for a crackerjack team at State either.

So what does The Obama do? He short-circuits the entire Department of State and appoints some crony from His thuggish entourage, most (if not all) of whom have been extracted from the Chicago political machine, as his foreign policy czar. This someone, whose identity escapes me, works well with The Obama's White House Thug-of-Staff, the inimitable foul-mouthed brazen SOB Rahm-it-up-your-ass Emanuel.

Hope for change, before some schmuck presses the wrong button.

Post #917 Life Is Not a Pair of Loose-fitting Sweatpants

Branch Regains Balance After Banking Binge

Related Link » Republican Congressman Calls on Jones to Resign
“Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana became the first lawmaker to call for the resignation of President Obama's "green jobs" adviser over new revelations about his past affiliations and statements. [...] ‘The Constitution of the United States vests Congress with the responsibility to advise and consent in the appointment of high ranking officials by the president’, Pence's statement continued. ‘To date, President Obama has appointed more than thirty individuals to czar positions within his administration without permitting the Congress or the American people to properly examine their backgrounds or public records’.”
— ‘FOX News' James Rosen contributed to this report.’

Finally, the Legislative Branch has begun to assert its Constitutional powers and obligations. Constitutional checks and balances among the three Branches of our Federal Government are designed specifically to prevent the aggrandizing of unchecked power by any single Branch, as the current President has been doing in appointing excessive, and unsavory, people to so-called czar positions of unrestrained power in the Executive Branch.

Wanking Czar: Barney the "Banking Queen"

Post #916 Branch Regains Balance After Banking Binge

§ I Am Music and I Pick the Songs: Satisfaction

{Song #28 « Song #29 » Song #30}

§ ≡ One of an ongoing series of posts in which I pick, in my not-so-humble opinion, the best songs of the second millennium. Feel free to offer constructive dissenting opinions; preferably set to music.

Song #29 is (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction sung by The Rolling Stones. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The song is considered to be one of the all-time great rock songs. In 2004 Rolling Stone magazine placed "Satisfaction" in the second spot on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, while in 2006 it was added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry.

About twenty years ago, during a long Labor-Day weekend, my local New Mexico radio station was playing one of those long-weekend countdowns of the "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time!" I had my radio on all weekend long and, of course, I was surprised by some of their picks. But there was no doubt in my mind what their #1 pick would end up being.

It was one of only two times in my life I've been wrong (the other time was in 1976 when I thought I had made a mistake). The radio station's #1 pick was "In the Still of the Night".

I came close though. My #1 was the station's #2. Not too shabby, but not complete satisfaction, which, I've been told, you just can't get.

Rolling Stones - Satisfaction


Post #915 § I Am Music and I Pick the Songs: Satisfaction

Clear; authoritative; historically pertinent; tragic; and, profoundly troubling!

Source Link » Suicide of the West?, from Townhall.com

“Britain's release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi — the Libyan terrorist whose bomb blew up a plane over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 270 people — is galling enough in itself. But it is even more profoundly troubling as a sign of a larger mood that has been growing in the Western democracies in our time.

In ways large and small, domestically and internationally, the West is surrendering on the installment plan to Islamic extremists.

The late Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn put his finger on the problem when he said: "The timid civilized world has found nothing with which to oppose the onslaught of a sudden revival of barefaced barbarity, other than concessions and smiles."

He wrote this long before Barack Obama became President of the United States. But this administration epitomizes the "concessions and smiles" approach to countries that are our implacable enemies.

Western Europe has gone down that path before us but we now seem to be trying to catch up.

Still, the release of a mass-murdering terrorist, who went home to a hero's welcome in Libya, shows that President Obama is not the only one who wants to move away from the idea of a "war on terror" — as if that will stop the terrorists' war on us.

The ostensible reason for releasing al-Megrahi was compassion for a man terminally ill. It is ironic that this was said in Scotland, for exactly 250 years ago another Scotsman — Adam Smith — said, "Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent."

That lesson seems to have been forgotten in America as well, where so many people seem to have been far more concerned about whether we have been nice enough to the mass-murdering terrorists in our custody than those critics have ever been about the innocent people beheaded or blown up by the terrorists themselves.

Tragically, those with this strange inversion of values include the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder. Although President Obama has said that he does not want to revisit the past, this is only the latest example of how his administration's actions are the direct opposite of his lofty words.

It is not just a question of looking backward. The decision to second-guess CIA agents who extracted information to save American lives is even worse when you look forward.

Years from now, long after Barack Obama is gone [to the dustbin of national-betrayal; ed.], CIA agents dealing with hardened terrorists will have to worry about whether what they do to get information out of them to save American lives will make these agents themselves liable to prosecution that can destroy their careers and ruin their lives.

This is not simply an injustice to those who have tried to keep this country safe, it is a danger recklessly imposed on future Americans whose safety cannot always be guaranteed by sweet and gentle measures against hardened murderers.

Those who are pushing for legal action against CIA agents may talk about "upholding the law" but they are doing no such thing. Neither the Constitution of the United States nor the Geneva Convention gives rights to terrorists who operate outside the law.

There was a time when everybody understood this. German soldiers who put on American military uniforms, in order to infiltrate American lines during the Battle of the Bulge were simply lined up against a wall and shot — and nobody wrung their hands over it. Nor did the U.S. Army try to conceal what they had done. The executions were filmed and the film has been shown on the History Channel.

So many "rights" have been conjured up out of thin air that many people seem unaware that rights and obligations derive from explicit laws, not from politically correct pieties. If you don't meet the terms of the Geneva Convention, then the Geneva Convention doesn't protect you. If you are not an American citizen, then the rights guaranteed to American citizens do not apply to you.

That should be especially obvious if you are part of an international network bent on killing Americans. But bending over backward to be nice to our enemies is one of the many self-indulgences of those who engage in moral preening.

But getting other people killed so that you can feel puffed up about yourself is profoundly immoral. So is betraying the country you took an oath to protect.” [emphasis added]
— by Thomas Sowell, Tuesday, September 01, 2009, ‘Townhall.com’

Post #914 Clear; authoritative; historically pertinent; tragic; and, profoundly troubling!