We don't need political messiahs, we need politicians who will conform their actions to the plain reading of the US Constitution and keep their extra-constitutional power lusts and money grabs to themselves.
We need real public servants whose zeal for the founding fathers' house consumes them.
We need brave men and women who will make a whip of cords and drive the moneychangers from the US Capitol, which the contemptible sneaking cowards we elected have turned into a "den of robbers."
We need a truly independent press not afraid to call the politicians, democrats and republicans, what they are: A brood of vipers, hypocrites! They bind up laws to burden good citizens, while they exempt themselves.
These political pharisees strain out a gnat when circumscribing citizens' rights, but swallow the camel for personal and partisan political gain and the money and power that it brings them.
Unfaithful stewards in the Democratic and Republican parties squander our hard earned money and leave us more enslaved than before, and then add to the insult by giving us a dishonest accounting of their nefarious activities
They love grandiose titles and places of honor, and they forget that they work for the citizens, not the other way around. They have neglected "the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness."
They are blind guides, leading us all into a pit. Hypocrites! Snakes! They have crucified reason, strangled liberty and placed themselves above the laws of nature and of God.
Their cup is clean on the outside, but on the inside it is full of greed and self-indulgence.
Our government institutions are whitewashed sepulchers, "beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean." This leads We The People to view those in power with suspicion: "In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."
We don't need self-anointed messiahs in Washington. We need honest men and women who carry out their enumerated duties and leave the rest to the people.
We need real public servants whose zeal for the founding fathers' house consumes them.
We need brave men and women who will make a whip of cords and drive the moneychangers from the US Capitol, which the contemptible sneaking cowards we elected have turned into a "den of robbers."
We need a truly independent press not afraid to call the politicians, democrats and republicans, what they are: A brood of vipers, hypocrites! They bind up laws to burden good citizens, while they exempt themselves.
These political pharisees strain out a gnat when circumscribing citizens' rights, but swallow the camel for personal and partisan political gain and the money and power that it brings them.
Unfaithful stewards in the Democratic and Republican parties squander our hard earned money and leave us more enslaved than before, and then add to the insult by giving us a dishonest accounting of their nefarious activities
They love grandiose titles and places of honor, and they forget that they work for the citizens, not the other way around. They have neglected "the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness."
They are blind guides, leading us all into a pit. Hypocrites! Snakes! They have crucified reason, strangled liberty and placed themselves above the laws of nature and of God.
Their cup is clean on the outside, but on the inside it is full of greed and self-indulgence.
Our government institutions are whitewashed sepulchers, "beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean." This leads We The People to view those in power with suspicion: "In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."
We don't need self-anointed messiahs in Washington. We need honest men and women who carry out their enumerated duties and leave the rest to the people.
With sincere apologies to St Matthew, St John, and most of all our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
We need a truly independent press...
ReplyDeleteCalling your attention to THIS. Excerpt:
Obama Orders Press Blackout After US Egan Jones Downgrades US Credit Rating
A shattering report from RIA Novosti’s Washington D.C. bureau appears to prove that the mainstream press in America has become nothing more than a propaganda arm of the Obama regime when during a White House news briefing this past week they were effectively ordered not to report on this past weeks credit rating cut of US government debt....
As long as people remain lazy and incurious, and thus content to let others tell them what to do and how to do it, the deplorable situation Kurt describes will continue ad infinitum.
ReplyDeleteinstead of making the effort to think for themselves, and find the right way to go by seeking competent instruction, then buckling down to take full advantage of it, people seek a magical Someone to lead them out of the wilderness.
Tyrants will continue to spring up from the ground like so much crabgrass as long as men slough off their responsibility to themselves and their families onto imaginary Superior Beings.
For allowing themselves to fall prey to the Siren Song of the Cultural Marxists, who polluted our popular culture and educational system with softly Satanic wiles, the American People have no one to blame for their current plight but themselves.
Whenever someone encourages you to shift blame to others and then promises you an easy way to overcome the challenges of making your way in the world, you ought to recognize that person as a Servant of Satan.
~ FreeThinke
Well, AOW, there more proof -- as if we needed it -- that Stalinism has arrived and taken root in Washington, DC.
ReplyDeleteI'm using old-fashioned terminology unashamedly once again. With very very few exceptions the press corps act as Servants of Satan.
This has been true for decades. It's incredible that people are just beginning to wake up to a dim awareness of how manipulated and controlled they are and have been by the enemedia.
But AGAIN that has happened because of the infernal lazy mindedness I discussed in my last post.
I'm not one of Bill Bennett's biggest fans, but I was delighted to hear him denounce the late, not-so-great Mike Wallace, who made a hugely successful career from the relentless practice of brazen effrontery based on disloyalty to our country and all the things that made it great.
Bennett reminded us that Mike Wallace told the world that he was a journalist first not an American, therefore he felt he had no obligation whatsoever to protect American troops our America's interests abroad, even if his unrestrained reportage led to the death of American soldiers.
It may be distasteful to speak ill of the dead, but will say flat out that I hope Mike is roasting on a spit in one of the hottest corners of Hell right now, and will remain there throughout eternity.
It's time we stopped pussy-footing around and started to call a bastard a bastard and a traitor a traitor.
We owe NOTHING to the Servants of Satan but CONTEMPT and DERISION.
~ FreeThinke
Politicians have been skunks since before the days of Greece, or the Roman Empire. What we need is to get rid of partisan political hacks like you who think only their way is the correct way, to govern such a large and diverse population.
ReplyDeleteBanning the press from Dover air base encouraged the temptation of abuse. The press never endangered the American soldier, that's left to the incompetence of leaders who know nothing about waging war, but love to start unecessary wars.
Love to call Obama a Socialist, a Marxist? Nixion's (Republican) Saturday night massacre was a Stalinistic act, if ever there was one.
Partisanship is hurting the country. We can't get anything done because of the "only we have the correct answer" egotistical attitude.
Communal taxation; a great concept that has made our nation better than any in the World. We can do together what no citizen can do alone. Do you think private enterprise will build their own roads to their businesses?
Money is what greases the wheel, especially in a capitalistic system. Republicans have decided America is not worth investing their money in, and our infrastructure is crumbling because of their selfish attitude.
Do you think their was no corruption while we built the greatest nation on Earth? It's part of the beast; and if Republicans only answer is to starve the beast, well, that philosophy has lead us to the multi-trillion dollar debts we have and the future bankruptcy of America.
Since when are Americans no longer willing to pay the needed costs to have the greatest country in the World? Since RR and the Republican stupidity of cutting taxes without cutting spending. You support Republicans, so you own direct fault in the bankruptcy of America. You are a partisan hack, so you have a direct responsibility for the stagnation of the country and its inability to get anything done.
Politicans are only a reflection of the people, corruption and all.. We get the government we deserve (vote for). Republicans have had majority in the Congress and the White House for 80% over the last 30 years. We are a reflection of their political philosophy, today. Well done, if you like a failing, bankrupt America
As long as people remain lazy and incurious, and thus content to let others tell them what to do and how to do it, the deplorable situation Kurt describes will continue ad infinitum.
ReplyDelete-----------
Others like Andrew "Douche Nozzle" Breitbart? Or your favorite, Michael Savage?
Oh the situation will continue alright but the fringe right will be in the fore.
Be sure to go over to Z's and get the address for Andrew's children's fund. The fat clown is running a freaking grift from the grave.
"Do It for Andrew" or Glenn or Sean or "Talent on Loan from Synthetic Morphine". Pull out your copy of the Bible or Hayek and start lecturing. That's an inquisitive mind.
GRAMSCI RULES !!!
Anon: A mathematical fact you may want to ponder is that in good times and bad, high tax rate or low tax rate, the federal government revenue intake has always been 16-18 percent of GDP.
ReplyDeleteSpending has continued rising, during republican and democrat governments. Obama has raised it to almost 25% of GDP.
Pinning it completely on republicans makes you the partisan hack.
And it is a stupidity to claim that your morbid, slobbering lust for pictures of coffins would have kept the morgue abuses from happening.
Having photographers snap pictures of the back ramp of a C-17 would not have deterred the lazy, disrespectful bastards who dumped those human remains.
Typical comment from a lefty who dutifully reads the propaganda and regurgitates it. Your masters are proud of you, but your talking points collapse upon scrutiny.
FT,
ReplyDeleteYesterday, when I read the link I left today in my comment above, I gasped. Then, I turned off my computer.
Losing freedom of the press is something which cannot be recovered from for a long time -- perhaps never.
Hey AOW, why not subscribe to Bloomberg for your financial news. Stories there as well as in other outlets.
ReplyDeleteNothing like the fringe right and their conspiracy theories.
The Rule of Empires Timothy H. Parsons
ReplyDeleteAmerica’s wars are very expensive. Bush and Obama have doubled the national debt, and the American people have no benefits from it. No riches, no bread and circuses flow to Americans from Washington’s wars. So what is it all about?
The answer is that Washington’s empire extracts resources from the American people for the benefit of the few powerful interest groups that rule America. The military-security complex, Wall Street, agri-business and the Israel Lobby use the government to extract resources from Americans to serve their profits and power. The US Constitution has been extracted in the interests of the Security State, and Americans’ incomes have been redirected to the pockets of the 1 percent. That is how the American Empire functions.
The New Empire is different. It happens without achieving conquest. The American military did not conquer Iraq and has been forced out politically by the puppet government that Washington established. There is no victory in Afghanistan, and after a decade the American military does not control the country.
In the New Empire success at war no longer matters. The extraction takes place by being at war. Huge sums of American taxpayers’ money have flowed into the American armaments industries and huge amounts of power into Homeland Security. The American empire works by stripping Americans of wealth and liberty.
----------------
I bring this up because you have a few brainwashed military types who post here. They've had plenty of time to outgrow their childish notion of "fighting for our freedoms" and replace that with a more nuanced view.
But the stupidity goes on largely thanks to the aphorisms we live by. But as military you have less caue than most to give everyone the tone for being uninformed.
Well, well, well! I see the Servants of Satan are up and at 'em, glib as ever with their disingenuous talking points never designed to enlighten, but only to wound or annoy. So predictable! So transparent! So boring!
ReplyDeleteThe Left-Right, Republican-Democrat paradigm is irrelevant. It's The Oligarchs v. The People now. Both parties are in bed together performing unspeakable acts under the sheets at the public's expense.
"We have met the enemy, and he is us."
Because of our overall denseness and lack of curiosity we don't have the wherewithal to fight The Forces of Darkness anymore.
Satan's minions have been so devilishly clever they have managed to get us at each other's throats while THEY go merrily on pulling the rugs out from underneath our feet, tripping us up, kicking us while we're down, then robbing us blind while they bend over and pretend to help us get back on our feet.
Nothing new, unfortunately.
"Like the diet prescribed by doctors, which neither restores the strength of the patient nor allows him to succumb, so these doles that you are now distributing, neither suffice to ensure your safety nor allow you to renounce them and try something else."
~ Demosthenes (384-322 B. C.)
Apparently, despite all the political machinations and mega death, the adage holds true:
Plus ca change, plus a la meme chose."
For those of you in Rio Linda that means:
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY REMAIN THE SAME.
~ FreeThinke
The great deceivers, who promise to give much and will steal our freedom in return. Just pay attention to their words.
ReplyDeleteDucky, if this is about Empire and the M.I.C, how come the Forbes list of the richest Americans predominantly have nothing to do with the military and little to do with industry per se?
ReplyDeleteSoftware, Investments, Retail, Energy, Casinos, Online Retail, Internet, Computers, Apparel, Real Estate, Media, Pharma, Cosmetics,...
Companies such as Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway, Oracle, Walmart, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Dell, Mars, Fidelity, Enterprise, News Corp,
397 Billionaires and narry a bullet, gun, nor defense contractor among them.
Seems like there's not much military left in the military industrial complex.
Cheers!
Finn makes a great point, but I cannot discount out of hand what Ducky says, putting aside his snide editorial embroidery for the moment.
ReplyDeleteOur government is covered in blood-sucking, rent-seeking leeches of all manner and stripe, and turncoats on the inside continue to sell access to the host.
Boeing... One place we know Boeing is definitively not based out off anymore is Wichita, Kansas. On January 4th, Boeing announced it was moving the tanker work out of Kansas to other U.S. plants and closing its Wichita operation next year.
ReplyDeleteIn 2008, Boeing asked Kansas officials to help win a $3.5 billion contract for 18 Air Force tankers. Wichita's Mayor Carl Brewer says Kansas had a long history of coming through for Boeing. In fact, Axelrod notes that Boeing received 650 tax breaks over the last 30 years and $3.5 billion dollars in bonds.
Boeing would have failed if it had to face the Free Market and only exists today as a Company because of the Trillions of dollars it has received in government assistance.
Of course, when you're a Corporate Criminal like Boeing getting free money from the government just... isn't... enough... Boeing, the Corporate Criminals, admitted to stealing $644 Million via fraudulent contracts. That would be called stealing if you the regular person did it but a Corporate person named Boeing gets the nomenclature of fraud.
Boeing is a company who could never succeed except for Billions of tax payer assistance.
But, yeah the MIC is sooooooooo useful...
In seriousness, Silverfiddle. This week's The Nation has excellent coverage of the theme of the decline of participatory democracy.
ReplyDeleteI have some sympathy having gone through the democratic movement in the 60's and seeing genuine change and one of the most vibrant artistic periods since the Renaissance.
I disagree with them over the possibility of reclaiming that movement under laissez-faire Kapitalism but it's a solid thesis.
While we split hairs about Obama's statements on SCOTUS it is worth noting that a bill has virtually unanimously moved through Congress which makes it a felony to demonstrate in areas where there is a secret service presence or OUTSIDE a building holding an event of "National Significance".
Seems unconstitutional to me but The Black Messiah will sign it and we can only hope the ACLU will challenge it. But it is clearly aimed at the lies of #Occupy and other movements that are trying to find a voice.
Hadn't heard about it? Try keeping up with less fringe right sources. Meanwhile AOW will get her knickers in a knot over a lie posted on some obscure blog while the main action goes down. Participatory democracy in this country is a freaking joke and in your heart I think you agree.
Meanwhile, my tone will remain a bit pithy so long as leftists are routinely stereotyped and ridiculed in your articles.
Well Finntann, if you look at the size of the military budget you can see it's extensive. We need some kind of excuse like scary Muslims to spend that kind of cash.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile it's quite independent of other unproductive areas of the economy like sucking Goldman Sach's dick.
Ducky: I have heard of the bill, and if you troll the rightwing "fringes" of Right Blogistan, you'll see that they are talking about this, and not it a good way.
ReplyDeleteI continue to agree with you that we have a problem, including the Golden Calf moles in our government. We disagree on size and scope of defense, but we're probably not as far apart as you may think.
What goes almost unnoticed is the Domestic Security-Intelligence Industrial Complex. It hides behind thick layers of security and classification, and it serves a real purpose, but wherever there is a lack of sunlight, malignancy and waste are sure to grow. It could probably take a 15% cut with no hit to national security. I can't say the same about DoD.
Where did I stereotype leftists in this article? Sure, I prefaced it with a known "Obama as messiah" meme, but I blasted both parties because I think they are both guilty. I thought I was being pretty evenhanded.
Silver, you're just as guilt as DC Messiah worship as the rest of the unwashed. You just prefer your political religion to others. Heck this whole post was decrying political messiah-dom by translating the acts of your religious messiah to today's political world. You want our politicians to be messiahs of your cause.
ReplyDeleteI got news for you - Jesus wouldn't have gotten involved. If He were around today, he'd look at us as just another Rome.
JMJ
Although I have to admit this was a very balanced and pretty much spot on column, Silver.
ReplyDeleteJersey: I think you misunderstand.
ReplyDeleteI do not unquestioningly follow politicians or put them on pedestals. And I included both D's and R's equally.
Also, I am certainly not advocating religion and politics mixing. I was just making a literary play off The Bible. You must have read it cockeyed...
We have a free press still. What we don't have is an honest press. We don't need leaders. We need true civil servants that abide by the law of the land; the constitution. "The US Constitution may be flawed, but it's better than what we have now"
ReplyDeleteCoservativesonfire will now give us a short description of how the Constitution is of any value whatsoever in guaranteeing quality reportage.
ReplyDeleteSorry bubba, the needs of the market and Kapital trump good governance every time.
Ducky, thanks for the reminder for SF's readers. I believe most Americans of either side of the political aisle will be happy to help four children who lost their father...especially an amazing loss like his.
ReplyDeleteThis comment showed something about you that's almost scary. I'm so sorry.
AOW, there was another blackout the White House admitted to last week;..the Malia Obama goes to Mexico story. They admitted they told the media to kill the story, but not before conservatives, more curious for the truth than our media is, had it.
SF:
"We need real public servants whose zeal for the founding fathers' house consumes them."
Beautifully said, but I'm starting to think we 'get what we vote for'...liberals are growing in numbers because entitlements are getting bigger and better...
When the zeal of non-public servant Americans for the founding fathers' tenets returns, THEN we might vote for fine people. Sadly, with the lib indoctrination in news and school, that might not happen.
No, Silver, I understood your post. It's just the underlying subjectivity that bothers me. That and the assumption that others believe things they do not. The right has long assumed that those who voted for Obama believe him to be a "savior," a "messiah." For all but a tiny minority, that is simply not true. Obama/Biden was simply a better choice than Senile/Wackjob.
ReplyDeleteJMJ
z, kids lose fathers every day and the fringe right shits on them.
ReplyDelete"Do It for Andrew"? A perfect example of why the fringe right is an instrument to stunt participatory democracy (except by the "right" people) in this country.
The upside is that in three months he'll be forgotten.
Jersey, you didn't think the pole dancer was presidential?
ReplyDeletePoint is Ducky, it's entitlements that are killing us and they aren't military-industrial entitlements.
ReplyDeleteSocial entitlements, corporate entitlements, financial entitlements, political entitlements, union-entitlements, green entitlements.
The government's handing out money like the Russians are in the Holland Tunnel and it's the reason we're in the boat we're in.
Left, Right, Up, Down... there's no difference anymore.
Military-Industrial Complex might have been accurate when Ike said it, but today its turned into the
Military-Agrigultural-Pharmaceutical-Financial-Energy-Real Estate-Media-Industrial Complex.
Uncle Sam's thrown back the covers and everybody has jumped into bed with him.
Gladiatorial games would make more sense, at least then I wouldn't have to watch American Idol!
Now, you can reform the system you got, or implement a system you don't... and I don't see to many pleasant alternatives out there.
Greek Socialism anyone?
Cheers!
Ducky, please link any information on this: "z, kids lose fathers every day and the fringe right shits on them."
ReplyDeleteSorry we can't help EVERY SINGLE CHILD who loses a father, but I can't tell you how many I have, and I'm sure others here have, too.
And I'm fairly sure that people sent money when Dr King died leaving young children, too...Right and Left, and that nobody said that the Left "shits on other children" because they didn't help everybody's children. Use your head, Ducky.
The following is a bad poem, but it makes a good point. It's so old my mother used to sing it in her Sunday School. The music that goes with it is even worse than the words -- and yet IT MAKES AN IMPORTANT POINT.
ReplyDeleteWe cannot all be famous or be listed in "WHO'S WHO,"
But every person great or small has something great to do,
For seldom do we realize the importance of small deeds
Or to what degree of greatness unnoticed kindness leads
For it's not the big celebrity in worlds of fame and praise,
But it's doing unpretentiously in undistinguished ways
The work that God assigned to us, unimportant as it seems,
That makes our task outstanding and brings reality to dreams
So do not sit and idly wish for wider, new dimensions
Where you can put in practice your many "GOOD INTENTIONS"
But at the spot God placed you begin at once to do
Little things to brighten up the lives surrounding you,
For if everybody brightened up the spot in which they're standing
By being more considerate and a great deal less demanding,
This dark old world would very soon eclipse the "Evening Star"
If everybody BRIGHTENED UP THE CORNER WHERE THEY ARE!
~ Helen Steiner Rice
Funny how something so witless, unsophisticated and pitifully trite can still make us aware of a Great Truth.
It's in a class with One Little Candle to be sure, but how could it NOT be true that "It's better light a single candle than to curse the darkness?"
~ FreeThinke
Funny how "Conservatives" all want to invoke Saint Ronnie except when he makes sense....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRuWMoEWE1E&feature=share
www.youtube.com
Funny how hopium-stoned liberals stagger in here and make nonsensical comments.
ReplyDeleteLiberalmann: I view you comments like little cartoons in between the serious adult comments.
I've known liberals who were so busy trying to save the world they didn't have time to feed their children, keep their clothes clean or wash their own butts. They rarely bothered to brush their teeth or comb their hair either.
ReplyDeleteWhat they were doing was much too important for them to take the time not to go around looking like an unmade bed and stinking like an untended outhouse.
Our first duty is to OURSELVES. Your body is The Temple of the Holy Ghost, so is mine. If we don't treat ourselves and our own family and close friends with utmost care and affection, how could we possibly do anything worthwhile for anyone else?
If we are always angry, always jeering at others, always carping, making snide remarks and finding fault, how could we expect to be a positive force for good anywhere?
The negative approach -- which is what Critical Theory is all about, and make no mistake about it Critical Theory is the ESSENCE of the leftist Weltanschaung -- does nothing constructive. It only angers, depresses, tears down and lays waste.
In short it's NO GOOD.
~ FreeThinke
It's all about how much money they can get and how much power they have over the people.
ReplyDeleteThe Constitution was meant to protect us from the likes of a self-proclaimed potentate like Obama, Stalin or any vile dictator.
So Silverfiddle, again, what do we do?
ReplyDeleteYou and I are very close in our assessment of the problem but I continue to state that our economic system is functioning as designed.
Can we reform capitalism. Most on the left believe the problems can be resolved. They aren't as extreme as I.
So can you find common cause?
You commented on a post at Fredd's blog and really liked his mouth breathing rants. He goes so far as to say you should fire any liberals who are working for you.
The Queen of the Ladies Who Lunch checks in and says she just can't understand what makes liberals that way ("Do It for Breitbart").
Total nonsense but you seem to endorse it.
So we just play fuck-fuck while the corporatist government glides along? Put our hopes in Romney, Santorum, Allen West? Better come up with something else.
As we create a larger and larger underclass and allow Kapital to transfer more wealth upward? Keep putting down your chips on a rigged game?
Well I suppose as long as you feel comfortable you think you're free.
SF..."Liberalmann: I view your comments like little cartoons in between the serious adult comments."
ReplyDeletepriceless!
Freethinker, you may enjoy this
ReplyDeleteLiberalmann.
ReplyDeleteThere's not a single thing stopping Warren Buffet or anyone else for that matter, even you, from voluntarily making contributions to the IRS for the purpose of reducing the debt.
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/gift/gift.htm
Feel free.
Pithy viburnum, that hardly constitutes a sound tax policy.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the budget submitted by the progressive caucus does constitute sound fiscal policy.
Pity that only the Ryan budget got coverage.
Reagan's tax policy is a little more complex than the simpletons at Media Matters and the Obamalamadingdongs who act as propaganda vectors would have you believe:
ReplyDeletehttp://money.cnn.com/2010/09/08/news/economy/reagan_years_taxes/index.htm
Ducky: I honestly believe we cannot find common cause.
ReplyDeleteMarkets act rationally in that they reflect and react to the people who participate in them. Irrational exuberance over tulip, or houses, will cause bubbles.
Government intervention masks market signals and makes markets dysfunctional.
As a rich man, you are familiar with the old rule, "Bad money chases out good." Well dumb money chases out smart money. Just look at the red hot inflation and rampant dysfunction in education and medical care.
Got your appendix out? Thank a doctor. Got it out at ten times the global average? Thank Uncle Sam.
While I agree about the essential quality -- or lack thereof -- in Kinkade's work, I see no particular social significance or evil implications in it.
ReplyDeleteThe gratuitous attack on Kinkade's character and personal life -- as all of us who love genuine Art, Music and Literature ought to know -- is irrelevant to the worth of his output.
I adore the work of W.H. Auden, for instance, but his personal life was a pathetic shambles. So what? For all I know his masochism and self-destructive tendencies may been the necessary adjunct that tinged his work with greatness. It's naive and idiotic to imagine that only a Simon-pure individual could produce worthy art. Things don't work that way, as anyone with a shred of knowledge and artistic sensibility surely knows.
Some of the most primly moral people are also the dullest -- which does not properly imply that depravity and licentiousness are necessarily the hallmarks of genius.
The parallel with George W. Bush -- a president I do not admire -- is a preposterous attempt at polemicizing a rather silly non-issue.
In short the Salon review is just another example of Critical Theory run amok. It's little more than a bitchy, tendentious little hit piece making a poor attempt to masquerade as legitimate art criticism and political analysis.
The authoress reveals herself to be just another a snotty leftist ideologue with a poison pen. Possibly a Maureen Dowd wannabe?
Dorothy Parker, whom I unreservedly adore, despite her wrong-headed embrace of Marxism, once wrote:
I'd rather flunk
My Wassermann test
Than listen to rhymes
By Edgar A. Guest!
A sentiment with which I'd heartily concur, except that my late father, a fine Christian gentleman if ever there was one, loved Edgar Guest, and quoted him frequently. So that stuff, which I somehow recognized as Kitsch, even at an early age, still played a positive role in my childhood development. It was part of my dad, part of our family life, and so it became part of me. I know it for what it is, but I can't find it in my hear to condemn it.
I could say with some justification:
The poetry of Helen Steiner Rice
Is not well written, neither is it nice.
'Tis mawkish, pedantic, didactic and dreary
Platitudinous, cloying and falsely cheery.
Instead I preferred to tell you that bad poetry like hers CAN -- and often DOES -- express valuable home truths that encourage people to follow productive paths with a measure of courage and optimism.
So, on again I say unto you:
The negative approach -- which is what Critical Theory is all about, and make no mistake about it Critical Theory is the ESSENCE of the leftist Weltanschauung -- does nothing constructive. It only angers, depresses, tears down and lays waste.
In short it's NO GOOD.
I'll stand by that. One can recognize unpleasant, unflattering Truths, and not beat everyone in sight over the head shoulders with the knowledge.
In a TRULY broad, generous, tolerant view of the human condition, there is room for EVERYTHING, but deliberate cruelty and murderous intolerance.
Did you ever experience Mrs, 'Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico? The point there was that Mrs. Harris's naiveté and admittedly terrible taste were no impediment to her endearing charm and sterling character. If anything what many would regard as her gross deficiencies made her an unforgettably touching figure.
And Gallico did NOT write Kitsch.
You don't have to dwell on urolagnia, coprophagia, and the exquisite pleasures of man-boy love or snuff sex to qualify as an "important" writer of modern "literature."
~ FreeThinke
"Ducky: I honestly believe we cannot find common cause."
ReplyDeleteThat's a shame. But of course, we wouldn't be debating if we all agreed. On the other hand, it would be nice, positive and constructive at that, if we could agree on some things. And we often do!
This time though, we should remember that times change and sometimes we have to find new things to agree upon.
"Markets act rationally in that they reflect and react to the people who participate in them."
No. "Markets" - groups of people - do not act rationally. People do not act rationally. Now, you can say, "Oh, put enough people together and a rational cause will come of them," and just as easily I could show you the countless historical retorts, "And yes, just as many horrifically irrational things would come of them."
"Irrational exuberance over tulip, or houses, will cause bubbles."
Yes, but Western civilization learned long ago that bubbles are bad, can be avoided, and can be avoided without doing more bad. That is the "sin tax," that is one of the oldest taxes in history. If I'm not mistaken, ancient Israel practiced this sort of taxation and regulation.
"Government intervention masks market signals and makes markets dysfunctional."
Government can do that. But without government, there would be no markets at all, but for that of feudal warlords selling each others' booty. The ideal in this instance is to make government more effective. It's certainly not to turn a blind eye. That would be fucking stupid.
"As a rich man, you are familiar with the old rule, "Bad money chases out good." Well dumb money chases out smart money. Just look at the red hot inflation and rampant dysfunction in education and medical care."
That's all well and fine, but the trading of conservative money against liberal money is fraud. Without some central authority to at least keep an eye on what's going on, to call a spade a spade, anything can happen, and people, investors, people like those who were swindled by GS, are screwed.
That is not not the makings of a stable world where capitalism can flourish.
I am a progressive and a liberal and a socialist - AND I am also a CAPITALIST. Don't forget that. And don't forget this: Just as we learned when we were kids, it takes a team to make a player but the player to make a team. It's not dualism. It's human nature.
JMJ
What was so complicated about Reagan;s tax policy, Silver?
ReplyDeleteThe upper earners got a huge break.
Middle earners got a smaller cut and a Social Security tax increase.
Then what happened to the upper income tax cuts? Equity bubble although the suckers will give you some cock and bull story about creating jobs. That did happen when Clinton raised taxes. It's counter intuitive.
Let's see, Freethinker. If I remember the Gallico, a cleaning women dreams of owning a Chanel dress and finally manages to obtain same.
ReplyDeleteThe desire for something of true beauty is hardly kitsch.
Ducky: "Pithy viburnum, that hardly constitutes a sound tax policy."
ReplyDeleteThen why the fuss and bother over the Buffet rule? It doesn't constitute one either. At best it would rake in 50 billion a year. That would pay for about 100 HOURS of government spending.
"But without government, there would be no markets at all, but for that of feudal warlords selling each others' booty"
ReplyDeleteBy that line of reasoning we would still have feudal overlords.
Honestly, you've got that backwards, without markets there would be no government, and thus you would still be a serf instead of a citizen.
Markets exist and have always existed. I give you meat, you give me tubers. Barter gave rise to capital, and capital gave rise to power other than that contained in your fist alone.
I may not be as good a swordsman as you, but I can certainly hire one or ten. Brute force can not compete against das kapital indefinitely.
The accretion of wealth gave rise to social mobility. As the power of the merchants and craftsmen grew, the power of the feudal overlords diminished. Guilds gave rise to organization outside the feudal structure and with capital, cities could hire mercenary armies independent of the existing status quo.
In simpler terms, a good assassin is worth more than 100 men-at-arms.
Cheers!
I bring this up because you have a few brainwashed military types who post here. They've had plenty of time to outgrow their childish notion of "fighting for our freedoms" and replace that with a more nuanced view.
ReplyDeleteBut the stupidity goes on largely thanks to the aphorisms we live by. But as military you have less caue than most to give everyone the tone for being uninformed.
I can say, without fear of contradiction, that many of us military types; when able to enjoy an unhurried bowel movement in a secure area with thick walls around us, think about you often.
Especially, when there isn't enough sh*tpaper.
Finntann said...
ReplyDelete"But without government, there would be no markets at all, but for that of feudal warlords selling each others' booty"
By that line of reasoning we would still have feudal overlords.
Honestly, you've got that backwards, without markets there would be no government, and thus you would still be a serf instead of a citizen.
Markets exist and have always existed. I give you meat, you give me tubers. Barter gave rise to capital, and capital gave rise to power other than that contained in your fist alone.
I may not be as good a swordsman as you, but I can certainly hire one or ten. Brute force can not compete against das kapital indefinitely.
The accretion of wealth gave rise to social mobility. As the power of the merchants and craftsmen grew, the power of the feudal overlords diminished. Guilds gave rise to organization outside the feudal structure and with capital, cities could hire mercenary armies independent of the existing status quo.
In simpler terms, a good assassin is worth more than 100 men-at-arms.
Cheers!
Excellent!
You want our politicians to be messiahs of your cause.
ReplyDeleteNo. We want politicians to leave us the hell alone, act constitutionally and stop inciting racial tension.
It's not hard. In fact, their existence would be a breeze. They could become part-timers and take huge paycuts.
Markets are rational, in that they reflect the actions of the participants. That is their value. If you hit yourself in the head with a hammer, you'll form a knot, maybe bleed, and perhaps pass out.
ReplyDeleteOur government is trying to do the equivalent of encouraging people to hit themselves in the head with hammers but it is futilely trying to prevent the after affects. Some people get helmets, but that just encouraged them to use bigger hammers and hit harder...