Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Triumph of the Will: Let the Rot Begin (10.24.10)

Moving on from the Hermit, we come now to Letter X, The Wheel of Fortune. We actually discussed this one a few weeks ago. In fact, that's what started this whole meditation on the Meditations. Also, in flipping through this chapter, I see the I've discussed most of these ideas in other contexts, and I don't want to repeat myself. So let's just move on to Letter XI, The Force.

This is a timely symbol for the events of the day, as the force of the left ascends on the political wheel of fortune. However, we can draw coonsolation from the fact that, being that leftism is a closed intellectual and spiritual system, it is already "on the way down," outward appearances to the contrary notwithstanding. In short, its end is in its beginning, as the poet said. The higher it ascends in its intoxicated reach for power, the further it will fall. The concrete fact of Obama shall soon enough kill the vaporous idea of Obama.

This passage by UF is perfectly apt today: "Plato has never had success as a revolutionary and never will do so. But Plato himself will always live throughout the centuries of human history... and will be in each century the companion of the young and old who love pure thought, seeking only the light which it comprises." In other words, you can never really have a "revolution" of people oriented to the white point of wisdom discussed in yesterday's post.

For one thing, it is an individual endeavor, not the sort of thing that could ever occur on a massive scale. And the left is a mass movement, which automatically condemns it to mediocrity and banality. It is led by a herd of elites who imagine themselves superior, but nothing could be more banal -- and self-contradictory -- than the idea of "mass excellence."

In contrast to Plato, Karl Marx has enjoyed over a century "of astonishing success and has revolutionized the world. He has swept away millions -- those who went to the barricades and trenches in civil wars, and those who went to the prisons, either as jailers or as prisoners."

Really, can you name another philosopher who has enjoyed such a literally smashing success in such a short span of time? But you -- yes, you there, "as a solitary human soul, a soul of depth and sobriety, what do you owe Karl Marx?"

I don't know yet. Ask me next April 15th.

The point is, "Plato illumines, whilst Marx sweeps away." Obviously, it is impossible to imagine a person of any spiritual stature getting caught up in the Obama hysteria. But it is equally impossible to imagine such a person being caught up in any kind of political hysteria. It is one of the reasons we can never match the diabolical energy of the left. Since the leftist is condemned to the horizontal world, he channels his spiritual energy into politics. As I wrote a couple of years ago,

"Regardless of what happens Tuesday, it shouldn’t greatly affect the spiritual equilibrium of the Superior Man, whose invisible combat will continue as usual. Indeed, this is what distinguishes us from the agitated multitude of horizontal men who locate their salvation in politics. Whatever the outcome, our lives will continue to center around our own perfection and salvation, not for narcissistic reasons, but for the simple reason that it is not possible to save others unless we have first saved ourselves. Needless to say, horizontal Republicans will not save us from horizontal Democrats.

"The project of the left is to make us all useful to the collective, when the only possible justification for the collective can lie in its usefulness to the individual -- again, not in a horizontal, egotistical sense, but in a vertical sense. Assuming that life has a transcendent purpose -- and you cannot be human and not make this assumption -- then the purpose of society should be to help human beings achieve this purpose -- i.e., to be useful to the Creator."

Hmm, I see that Bob foretold the cult of Obama:

"Horizontal man, in denying the vertical, necessarily replaces it with a counterfeit version that substitutes the collective for the One and human will for the Divine authority. Taken to its logical extreme, this manifests as the demagogue, the cult of personality, or the dictator-god who expresses the vitalistic will of the people. But all forms of leftism lie on this continuum. So much of the pandering of the left is merely totalitarianism in disguise -- a false absolute and a counterfeit vertical."

And there is no one so inflated with narcissistic hubris as the leftist social engineer who will save mankind from its own self-inflicted wounds. The leftist can give man everything but what he most needs, and in so doing, destroys the possibility of man. As Eliot said, he dreams of a system in which it will be unnecessary for anyone to be good.

Likewise, "the moment we talk about 'social conscience,' and forget about conscience, we are in moral danger." Eliminate the idea of moral struggle, and "you must expect human beings to become more and more vaporous" (Eliot). Since man is placed at the crossroads where he is free to choose between good and evil, this again eliminates man. You might say that for the leftist dreamer, man is strictly unnecessary. In fact, he just gets in the way. Humanity is reduced to "a manageable herd rather than a community of souls," which naturally includes the dead and unborn (Lockerd).

For horizontality goes hand in hand with exteriority and outwardness, which is the initial direction of the fall: first out, then down. Gravity takes care of the rest. Horizontal man is down and out, whereas our salvolution lies up and in. Animals are almost entirely exterior. Like the leftist, they do not actually live in the world, but in the closed system of their own neurology. Only man -- inexplicably and miraculously on any scientistic grounds -- can exit the closed system of his own neuro-ideology and enter higher worlds, worlds of truth, beauty, and moral goodness.

To be in contact with these higher worlds is to be Man. To neglect or deny these anterior worlds is to destroy man, precisely. It is to starve and suffocate man’s spirit by laying waste to his proper environment, the only environment in which he can actually grow into full manhood. You cannot replace the holy grail of Spirit with the lowly gruel of flatland materialism and expect it to feed the multitudes. Human beings do not draw their spiritual nourishment from outside but from above -- which in turn “spiritualizes” and sacralizes the horizontal.

Being what he is -- and isn’t -- horizontal man externalizes concerns about his self-inflicted soul murder, and obsesses over the future of "the planet" -- over speculative weather reports one hundred years hence.

But right now there is a hell and there is a hand basket, because we can clearly see both with our own third eyes. Furthermore, we can see exactly who is running with baskets in both hands. Look, it's Nancy Pelosi! Harry Reid! Barney Frank!

Again, vertical man never obsesses, let alone enters the state of perpetual hysteria of leftist man. As Eliot wrote, "we fight rather to keep something alive than in the expectation that anything will triumph." Nevertheless, vertical man naturally frets about the deteriorating conditions of the interior of the human world, and its seemingly unimpeded slide into barbarism, spiritual exhaustion, scientistic magic, neo-paganism, self-worship, the cult of the body, abstract materialism, and a vapid and rudderless subjectivism.

Such lost souls cannot discern the signs of the times, much less the direction of history. For them, history can be nothing more than a meaningless tale told by a tenured idiot, full of sound and fury but signifying a nice paycheck and adoring coeds. Horizontal man scoffs at spiritual reality on the peculiar grounds that it cannot exist, denying its presence with that which affirms it by virtue of its self-evident existence.

It is a truism that vertical man paradoxically lives very close to the ground, as he has internalized the cautionary tales of Eden, of Icarus, of Babel, and of various episodes of the Honeymooners. In contrast, horizontal man seizes what does not properly belong to him, not just recapitulating the fall but enshrining it in his ideology. It's no longer a bug but a feature.

But when you cast your vote for horizontal man, you are unwittingly chipping away at the foundation of the very tower in which horizontal man is privileged to sit despite his metaphysical ignorance. For in reality, we only have the luxury of superfluous and slumbering horizontal men because of the vertical men -- real men -- who came before and built the tower brick by brick (except for the cornerstone, which was not made by human hands).

Thus we can see our own possible future by casting our gaze at Europe, which is too high and top-heavy for its own long-forgotten foundations, and is well into the process of toppling into dust. For when horizontal man falls, he doesn’t actually fall far, only back down to the ground where vertical man awaits him.

Yes, we are exiled in time, but for vertical man, time does not alter the basic existential situation which religion is here to address. It is believed by our intellectually sterile and spiritually shallow elites that religion is no longer relevant. In so believing, they underscore their own irrelevance, for to paraphrase Schuon, they blame Truth for their own lack of qualification to understand and accept it. Suffice it to say that to be eternally young is to forever grow -- only inward and upward, toward the primordial light that has already defeated horizontal darkness, today and forever.

So render unto the horizontal the things that belong to the horizontal, but do not store your treasures there, where myths corrupt and chickens doth come home to roost. As always, be as wise as the horizontal serpents who stand on their bellies, but innocent as vertical doves who kneel on wings.

A secularist culture can only exist, so to speak, in the dark. It is a prison in which the human spirit confines itself when it is shut out of the wider world of reality. But as soon as the light comes, all the elaborate mechanism that has been constructed for living in the dark becomes useless. The recovery of spiritual vision gives man back his spiritual freedom. --Russell Kirk

97 comments:

Jamie Irons said...

Bob,

Thanks for this wonderful essay, which did much to cheer me up on election day. I am tempted to reprove myself: O, ye of little faith!, as it is an apt reproach.

Sometimes you can be very funny indeed, as in:

It is a truism that vertical man paradoxically lives very close to the ground, as he has internalized the cautionary tales of Eden, of Icarus, of Babel, and of various episodes of the Honeymooners....

;-)


Jamie Irons

julie said...

Haven't read the post yet, but I notice that Spengler actually manages to fit a brontosaurus into his excellent (if chilling) rendition.

Van Harvey said...

"Likewise, "the moment we talk about 'social conscience,' and forget about conscience, we are in moral danger." Eliminate the idea of moral struggle, and "you must expect human beings to become more and more vaporous" (Eliot). "

Similarly with concoctions such as 'african-american', the first is added to destroy the second, and to dissolve itself into a collective. The only thing you can count on after that, is that someone will be by to do the collecting.

Van Harvey said...

"To be in contact with these higher worlds is to be Man. To neglect or deny these anterior worlds is to destroy man, precisely. It is to starve and suffocate man’s spirit by laying waste to his proper environment, the only environment in which he can actually grow into full manhood. You cannot replace the holy grail of Spirit with the lowly gruel of flatland materialism and expect it to feed the multitudes. Human beings do not draw their spiritual nourishment from outside but from above -- which in turn “spiritualizes” and sacralizes the horizontal."

Worth the price of admission, ten times Over.

julie said...

"the moment we talk about 'social conscience,' and forget about conscience, we are in moral danger."

"But when you cast your vote for horizontal man, you are unwittingly chipping away at the foundation of the very tower in which horizontal man is privileged to sit despite his metaphysical ignorance. For in reality, we only have the luxury of superfluous and slumbering horizontal men because of the vertical men -- real men -- who came before and built the tower brick by brick (except for the cornerstone, which was not made by human hands)."

This seems to resOnate like an augmented 7th with Walt's post today, wherein he quotes this:

"Salvation is the indissoluble union of man's soul with his spirit. To know the use of an instrument -- its proper function -- and to be capable of working it fully, one must know it's structure in detail. It is the same where man is concerned. If someone comes to know his exact structure he will be able to understand the reason why he came on Earth, and how to accomplish his mission."

It's interesting. The mental process that occurs truly is akin to refocusing your eyes to see the 3d image in the magic eye picture. Here we have two disparate yet connected sets of mental imagery, each complete in itself, yet if you can shift your focus so that the two become one, something greater than the sum of its parts emerges. It actually has a tantalizing shimmer and sound.

julie said...

Clearly, Van, you're way ahead of me this morning :)

walt said...

We can be grateful for the "education" we have received from examining the political frays over the past year and a half -- including your incisive insights into the broader and higher/lower implications of it all.

It's been uncomfortable, but valuable. I'm challenged every day to turn round in myself, and the cultural goings-on are a great spur for this.

Anonymous said...

Barry from the root Barrack which means barracks, a unit of housing little o would have us live in.

Van Harvey said...

Julie said Walt said "To know the use of an instrument -- its proper function -- and to be capable of working it fully, one must know it's structure in detail. It is the same where man is concerned. If someone comes to know his exact structure he will be able to understand the reason why he came on Earth, and how to accomplish his mission."

This reminds me of the post I put up yesterday Burke and reflecting the future forward", largely excerpting a seciton from Edmund Burkes "A Philosophical inquiry into the origin of our ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful". What's fascinating, is how he built up a view of how the mind worked, how it dealt with reality and its interaction with his soul - and the danger of Wit (intelligence, seeing similarities) without Judgment(noting the distinctions).

People remark on how his earlier philosophical thoughts seemed in contradiction with his denunciations of the French Revolution and the terror that must follow from it, years before the Terror occured; but the fact is, because he understood how the mind interracted with reality, he grasped the principles of human thought and behavior, and saw with 20-20 vision into the future... not because he could see into the future, but because he could see into the present.

walt said...

To give proper credit, the statement Julie quoted was from the writings of St. Theophan the Recluse.

Anonymous said...

Anybody want to throw in with me and buy Ken Wilber's house? I've got some loose change and a collection of old Playboys.

Anonymous said...

Now that Wilber's moving to the city, I guess he'll have to start wearing clothes.

julie said...

Hm. Not bad, and under a million. Of course, if I'm gonna throw in for a raccoon's den, I'd kinda like that place with all the little cabins RS posted a while back.

Someday, maybe.

julie said...

Whoa, waitaminnit - only three bedrooms? Nope, that won't do. The property's nice, though.

Gagdad Bob said...

$899,000 seems absurdly low. Until the real estate meltdown, that would buy you a modest lean-to in Los Angeles.

julie said...

"This house gave birth to the mature work of Ken Wilber..."

Yeah, that's probably a mark against it as well.

Van Harvey said...

Sorry, I know it's not fair, but I can't help it... whenever I Wilbur, I think of Mr. Ed "Now Wilburrrrrrrrrrrr"

I don't think he would like the house either.

julie said...

Going back to that sales blurb, does it mean the place is a womb with a view?

Aloysius said...

Christ gave us the parable of the Ninety Nine and One. He said that there is more joy in heaven over the one found sheep than the ninety and nine who have no need of repentance

Of course this is so because if they "got it" the ninety and nine all need repentance but they just don't think they need it. How could there be any joy in heaven for these "righteous who have no need of repentance"?

They are the collective. They are the Muslims who force conversion and eliminate those who convert out. They are the smug Left who will take it from you, line their pockets, and throw a few crumbs to the "poor who are always with us" -- thank goodness the Left says.

Christ only works one on one. His angels and ministers only work one on one. The Church united is one not a collective. It is one because its unity is achieved one soul at a time by the Holy ghost working in his agents of grace.

Anonymous said...

Whoo what a title! No need to read any further, eh troops? Relax and let it happen, Furbearers. After all, it's only a 4-year Bushwhacking, and no one with a swivel head like coons possess will question the divine justice therein. No need to whine. It only makes you sound leftist. Don't be a playa hata!

Hey, just kidding! I voted for Bush for a 3rd term! After all, his values are in the right place, and that's what counts, right?

All in the fun spirit of Rove, Cheney, and Rumsfeld. Love and kisses,

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

Oh, alas. He doesn't get the Shakespearean reference. Oh well. There's always next time, Mr. Pale.

NoMo said...

As an HR professional, I'm qualified to hope that affirmative action works a lot better at the POTUS level than in most businesses.

Where's that resume again?

Thanks for a tremendously centering post today Bob - just what the doc ordered.

robinstarfish said...

Obviously, it is impossible to imagine a person of any spiritual stature getting caught up in the Obama hysteria.

Thank God.

Regardless of what happens Tuesday, it shouldn’t greatly affect the spiritual equilibrium of the Superior Man, whose invisible combat will continue as usual... ...Whatever the outcome, our lives will continue to center around our own perfection and salvation, not for narcissistic reasons, but for the simple reason that it is not possible to save others unless we have first saved ourselves.

Thank God.

Human beings do not draw their spiritual nourishment from outside but from above -- which in turn "spiritualizes" and sacralizes the horizontal.

Thank God.

Human beings do not draw their spiritual nourishment from outside but from above -- which in turn "spiritualizes" and sacralizes the horizontal.

Yes, but...

For when horizontal man falls, he doesn’t actually fall far, only back down to the ground where vertical man awaits him.

Thank God.

Suffice it to say that to be eternally young is to forever grow -- only inward and upward, toward the primordial light that has already defeated horizontal darkness, today and forever.

Amen! This calls for some sweet Gospel music from da King!

On a day that could/should be quite depressing, I feel lifted up. The Spirit's being poured out today in extra measure, don't you think?

Thanks, Bob.

Gagdad Bob said...

My favorite Elvis gospel tune.

Anonymous said...

That public men publish falsehoods
Is nothing new. That America must accept
Like the historical republics corruption and empire
Has been known for years.

Be angry at the sun for setting
If these things anger you. Watch the wheel slope and turn,
They are all bound on the wheel, these people, those warriors.
This republic, Europe, Asia.

Observe them gesticulating,
Observe them going down. The gang serves lies, the passionate
Man plays his part; the cold passion for truth
Hunts in no pack.

You are not Catullus, you know,
To lampoon these crude sketches of Caesar. You are far
From Dante's feet, but even farther from his dirty
Political hatreds.

Let boys want pleasure, and men
Struggle for power, and women perhaps for fame,
And the servile to serve a Leader and the dupes to be duped.
Yours is not theirs.

--Robinson Jeffers

Anonymous said...

Though mild clear weather
Smile again on the shore of your esteem
And its colours come back, the storm has changed you:
You will not forget, ever,
The darkness blotting out hope, the gale
Prophesying your downfall.

You must live with your knowledge.
Way back, beyond, outside of you are others,
In moonless absences you never heard of,
Who have certainly heard of you,
Beings of unknown number and gender:
And they do not like you.

What have you done to them?
Nothing? Nothing is not an answer:
You will come to believe - how can you help it? -
That you did, you did do something;
You will find yourself wishing you could make them laugh,
You will long for their friendship.

There will be no peace.
Fight back, then, with such courage as you have
And every unchivalrous dodge you know of,
Clear your conscience on this:
Their cause, if they had one, is nothing to them now;
They hate for hate's sake.

--W.H. Auden

julie said...

"In contrast to Plato, Karl Marx has enjoyed over a century 'of astonishing success and has revolutionized the world. He has swept away millions -- those who went to the barricades and trenches in civil wars, and those who went to the prisons, either as jailers or as prisoners.'"

Long term imprisonment can result in delusion.

Van Harvey said...

The Concord Hymn -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1837)

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled;
Here once the embattled farmers stood;
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps,
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream that seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We place with joy a votive stone,
That memory may their deeds redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

O Thou who made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free, --
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raised to them and Thee.

Anonymous said...

Julie,

No, no, if the Leningrad Cowboys say it's true, it must be true!

Anonymous said...

Spengler is good but always very pessisimtic.
The long term outlook for a messiah the human race is not good. Will he be destroyed by the same mob who elevates him?

Anonymous said...

"Regardless of what happens Tuesday, it shouldn’t greatly affect the spiritual equilibrium of the Superior Man, whose invisible combat will continue as usual. Indeed, this is what distinguishes us from the agitated multitude of horizontal men who locate their salvation in politics. Whatever the outcome, our lives will continue to center around our own perfection and salvation, not for narcissistic reasons, but for the simple reason that it is not possible to save others unless we have first saved ourselves.

Four years ago I was making phone calls for GWB until the pols closed, and then I sat up at the local Republican headquaters until I was just too damn tired to stay up any longer, but I did anyway, posting late into the night at LGF. I had never been so worked up over an election. I went to bed sick with worry, and woke the next morning as hung over as if I'd knocked back a fifth. But we won.
This election?
I have found myself praying for this country many times a day. I fear what may happen to this nation with the Darkling of the international left at the helm, and his toadies in both houses.

And yet, I don't have that hysteria going like I did last time- even considering that the stakes are higher now than ever before. Tonight, I'm keeping maybe half an eye on the pols. Win, or lose I'll find out tomorrow. I've said my prayers, and cast my vote, and said my prayers.

All I can do.

JWM

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Well said, John!!!
May God bless America!!!

"Suffice it to say that to be eternally young is to forever grow -- only inward and upward, toward the primordial light that has already defeated horizontal darkness, today and forever."

Amen.

Anonymous said...

Let me describe to you, O America, the depths of my sorrow.

Let me tell you about the humble motel clerk -- 28, the glow of pregnancy upon her cheek, $450 diamond on her chubby finger -- weeping over CNN.

Cautiously I probe (thinking they are tears of joy): Obama's gonna win, huh? (traitor politesse boils and bursts). Mute incomprehension expressed through thank you sir for staying at the amsterdam inn if there is anything we can...

She was crying because Obama supports murder.

That simple.

A few questions.

She said it, not me (the alleged initellectual, whatever that could possibly mean)

Simple. Killing innocent huamns is wrong.

Simple. If you don't get this, you're deeply in the grip of Mind Parasites (as the genuinely perspicacious -- I mean SERIOUSLY perspicacious with a 440 six-pack Holley carb engine of a mind kind of perspicacious -- glimpse afforded by the author of this blog.

America!

If you fail, it all comes down on our heads. Worse than National Socialism ( for you have far more potential negative power )

I am personally rebuked by you as a Canadian. Through the difficult trials of a post-911 world conservative Canucks toiled to convince our erstwhile leftist intelligentisa that we should fight in Afghanistan (we, have, as grunts firing bullets into the enemy day-by-day, not as "community organizers") that we should...


Sorry.. phone call.

Long time listener, first time caller.

Bob: Can I say: Hey Mom, I'm on Bob's blog! (grumble - didn't waste last 5 years reaading blogs).

Van Harvey said...

Here, here, JWM, my sentiments as well.

Anonymous said...

Well, every fool who voted for the dark one will get the America that they deserve. Unfortunately, we will also get the America that they deserve.
Pray.

JWM

julie said...

In the spirit of sticking my fingers in my ears and going "la la la" for one more day, I spent the afternoon reading "The Tower of Destruction." Then, when DH came home, we tossed a coaster which came up heads, thus dictating that we watch Citizen Kane (which neither of us had ever seen, though we knew the significance of "Rosebud") as opposed to "Roman Holiday." That effect I mentioned before, about the disparate yet connected sets of mental imagery? Wow.

I suspect the rum and whiskey helped.

***

Re the polls...

*sigh*

I hear if you tense up, it just hurts that much worse.

I may learn to relax, or at least be dispassionate; focus on self-improvement, etc. I can guarantee that I will never learn to like it.

Whatever the outcome, our lives will continue to center around our own perfection and salvation, not for narcissistic reasons, but for the simple reason that it is not possible to save others unless we have first saved ourselves.

Wash, rinse, repeat...

Van Harvey said...

Canuck, with all due respect, and thanks for the better sentiments, and my unalterble opposition to all of his likely policies, go F yourself.

We elected a President, and he is now our 44th Pesident, and if anybody treats him as the left did Bush, I'll punch them in their god damned face.

Van Harvey said...

Canuck, I perhaps put that a bit indelicately, but goddamn it, I'm tired of hearing the President of the United States talked about as if the office was nothing better than a loan shark.

I'm vehemently opposed to everything Obama stands for, but doesn't anyone know how to fight without pissing and whining like leftist pussies!?

How's that for an apology. Pardon me, as I go pour another scotch.

Anonymous said...

Van:

After reading this blog for months I cannot believe that your repsonse to my (adittedly hastily composed) post, is to threaten to punch me in the nose ( an affront to which, at 65, I would have no defense ).

I will attribute this, Sir, to your bad humor over tonight's defeat.

I am a "disciple of Bob" and am automatically so because we sing from the same book.

Sorry Van, if I offended. I've read hundreds of your posts. Please forgive me.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Van,
Pro-Bush Canuck is on our side, my friend. And I concur with you about Obama bein' the President in January, and there's no way we'll treat him like President Bush was treated.

However, I'll only support Obama as much as he supports the Constitution. As with any President.

The MSM and the Left finally won,
but that old sayin' holds true: be careful for what you wish for, you just might get it.

Thank God we have the fillibuster in the Senate.

Anyhow, emotions are strong right now. Let's remember that the Light wins, past, present and future.

Anonymous said...

Well, Van while we should avoid BDSII, it's going to be pretty hard to let all this good snark go to waste. Like I said over at your place, We'll think of something to do with it. Just give it time
;)

JWM

Anonymous said...

"RESISTANCE IS FUTILE"
The Borg

Van Harvey said...

Canuck said "I will attribute this, Sir, to your bad humor over tonight's defeat."

Yep. And I'll try to get out an apology this time without wiping my feet on it.

It is the office of the President of the United States of America, and I will not be party to its being sullied. I will oppose Obama in probably everything he does, but I'll be damned if I'll speak of the President as the god cursed leftist bastards have for the last 8 years.

(Note, I capped the "C" in your name each time, probably a small thing, but means a lot to me... I'm not reacting to you, just fed up with the POTUS being talked down. Sorry again.)

Skully! Gorg!

Van Harvey said...

er... Grog!

julie said...

Van - agreed, to an extent (I'm a wee bit too sloshed to get angry about it, and for tonight at least I think we can be forgiven for excesses of emotyion). He's our president now, for better or for worse. Attacking him like petulant children will do no good, for us or for this nation.

I do strongly believe in "Thy Will be done." Just because I'm not happy about the outcome, doesn't mean I'm about to descend into ODS. Rather, the important question now is,

"what must we do, as lovers of Truth, Beauty, Goodness, O!, to make sure we keep our little fleshlights burning brightly?"

Because ultimately, nothing else really matters, does it?

Anonymous said...

Van-
Scotch n' grog is a combo I've been meanin' to try! :^)

julie said...

But still..

Fuck.

Anonymous said...

Skully,

As a practical man schooled in the military and naval arts, you must have been taught strategies about waiting the enemy out. Which, let us not forget was done on a global scale in 40-45 ( 38 - 45 for Canuck soldiers ) -- the point is, Scully, naval and military personnel are trained to weather the storm.

Perhaps you could impart some wisdomn this area ( Bob needs all the help he can get )

( believe me, Iv'e read bob for some time --- seems too good to be true sometimes)

Anonymous said...

Not Perfect.

Definition of America tonight.

But let us please hear the deeply imperfect, and assume she is plugged in -- I believe she is -- to the endles riverrift Bob bobs and floats upon like some handy river priest.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVD0wJ8QyUI

Van Harvey said...

Julie, OH YEAH GOT THAT RIGHT!

Lol
CMAO

As I said at my place, now it's time to work to clean house in the Republican Party, kick out the stinking rectum's of all the Rino and big Gov't types still standing, work to make it a party of Conservatives and Classical Liberals, and move America forward.

We've got to fight them tooth and nail, but we don't have to destroy ourselves in the process. I believe I see very clearly the troubles to come, but damned if I'll let them begin in me.

As Bob said, we are not diminished by this election, frustrated yes, but it will only go so deep.

(Canuck, sorry again, I know you didn't deserve that... just sorta shot out)

NoMo said...

And so the testing begins. Why, I feel strengthened already. Giddy...even exhilarated!

Perhaps this is the wake up call we needed.

Or, perhaps it was that last glass of wine. Nite all.

8^)

Anonymous said...

Julie:
I'll second that, and throw in a couple of goddammitalltohellanyway's

Here's a contest-
Predict who will come up with the nastiest, most mean-spirited gloat from the left: Print, TV, and Internet. Maybe we could offer a prize- The Green Weenie Award for the most egregious rant.
(just trying to find a bright side)


JWM

Anonymous said...

He allowed Himself to be crucified. Yet we should not.

Explain, please.

Note that we are none of us perfect in out knowledge.

Seriously, sir, Van.

If I could ask you questions over the coming months I swer it will help enlighten me.

I'm an average ( I guess smart ) guy.

I really want to understand Christianity. I've absorbed so many of Bob's writings, but he's some sort of super-genius (I'm looking at you, Irish novelists).

I'm not a troll. I was on LGF for a long time. I got banned for something stupid I said about Charles.

I really do want to learn.

Van Harvey said...

I guess we could bet on it, but I think olbermunchkin is a shoein.

dogriver said...

Rot away, assholes!

Van Harvey said...

Canuck,
Seriously, sorry about that. I have no qualms about fisking fools, but I knew as I clicked (truth to tell, just before I clicked, but there you go) that you didn't deserve that... my apologies.

Skully! More William Wallace Grog!!!

Van Harvey said...

dogliver, why don't you go sniff and lick a few more, it's what you're good at, and let us go about what we're good at, being Human Beings being Americans (actual and in spirit).

(worthless piece of crap)

dogriver said...

Van,

I respect your perspective, you whining loser. I can feel your love and I respect your pain. You suddenly sound so...leftist.

Are you seeing anyone?

Anonymous said...

Van:

No apology necessary.


Skully only vaguely remembers me from days gone by ( right, y'old sea dog! )

Buck up! bretheren. Tonight over all nights let's take a moment to exchange the animal air that we all share for the sweet, deep Breath -- the Word bled into our very flesh -- our small model flesh made round through His Word.

Anonymous said...

That didn't take long.

D-/F, on the rant dogbreath, but here's what- how about a prize fer bein' first troll. Would that make you happy?
Oh, and we're used to a much better class of troll. We have trolls here who would wipe their butts with you. You gotta' do better than name calling if you want to annoy us.

JWM

julie said...

The most mean-spirited? It's gotta be the internet (hell, judging by dogriver it's already begun - can you imagine any of us doing the same at a lefty site, were the situation reversed?).

But the absolute worst gloating? My money's on the Kos Kids.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and Pro Bush Canuck:
I remember you from over at LGF. I enjoyed your posts there as well as here. I didn't realize that you'd fallen from favor with the Lizard King.

JWM

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Pro-Bush Canuck-
Aye! Weatherin' storms.
Well, lessee...first of all, integrity. Preferably, the watertight kind.

You don't wanna sink in the middle of a storm.
Actually, you never wanna sink, but durin' a storm is 'specially bad.

Next, you wanna make sure you got plenty of Ovisions. Stuff like fOrtitude, cOurage, and Ovaltine.
Some might prefer bOscoe.

The thing is, storms at the beginnin' seem like they're gonna last a looong time. So it's easy to give into despair.

That's why some storms, like this one, are so big, to get ya to give up before ever really fightin'.
Like that 300 pound gorilla that got you cornered at yer favorite waterin' hole.
Ain't no way, logically speakin', yer gonna beat that guy, right?

Ha ha! That's what the gorilla expects. For ya to give up. Makes sense to him and everyone else watchin'.
So instead, you attack! That's right, you go after the 300 gorilla! The one you can't possibly beat!

'Cause when you can't possibly win, you impossibly win!
Sure, you'll get hurt in the process, but ignore the pain.
That just means yer gettin' somewhere!

When you can't take one more step you take it. When you can't throe another punch, you throw it. And when yer senses tell you it's over, you ignore 'em and don't stop 'til the gorilla is down for the count!
Then, as Sir Walt would say, you kick it while it's down!

That's pretty much how ya handle storms. Like that 300 pound gorilla. The bigger they are the easier they are to hit (n' kick).

You can't lose if'n you don't give up. That's one of those cosmic laws Bob is always talkin' about.

So pick yerself up offa the deck and enter the fray once more.
Tell that storm what it can do to itself and finish yer mission!
:^)

Jim said...

Anyone up for blog pool on how long before the new sheriff shuts up Rush and company?

Followed in short order by ChiCom like control of the internet.

Oh, crap, that's what the left wing nuts said about Bush, never mind.

Anonymous said...

hO God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
(Psalms 63:1).

Anonymous said...

The Obama campaign is already fucking with our psalms!

I swaer I typed the above post correctly.

Damn sore winners...

Anonymous said...

That last post was me, not Cap'n Ben.
He's currently fightin' a 300 pound gorilla.

Van Harvey said...

doglicker, as I said to one of your incarnations the other day, this election will not make any real changes in me, I will go on being me, same as before - you on the other hand, will be even more you than you are now.

I pity you.

dogriver said...

Van:
Take a deep breath. Now take another. Assess: this far into the revolution, your money and your family are safe. Exhale. Exhale again.

This has got to be tough, seeing all that you love- the insouciance, the isolation, the pomp and privilege suddenly becoming....ACCESSIBLE! Wretched coaliton! Damn a man and a plan!

God, the profaning of the sacred Reagan teachings must rate right up there with Leta and the Swan, the Sabine Women, Rush Limbaugh's Book (available on Amazon for $1 plus postage and handling, if you need an extra copy to send a fence-riding bandmate)

but buck up, Rosinante. Should you need further encouragment, it's right there in your archives. Just substitute "us" for "them", leftist for "me" and "you", and you'll be an advice millionaire.

Do you plan to make yourself available for speaking engagements?

BTW JWM:

I know exactly what you're used to, you posing braggart. Go diddle some lesser troll.

Does this mean no Starbucks tomorrow?

Van Harvey said...

Ben/Skully,

You are a treasure!

Anonymous said...

As a Canadian I proudly own ( currently ) 7 firearms. All long guns, each of which I have had to report ( reluctantly, at the last moment ) to the State. The State seeks to identify citizen-held weapons in the same spirit that a decent scout seeks to identify the enemy's weak points, so that they may be further encouraged.

Alright, big strong robust America.

Let me tell you something.

When I was a boy (in the 1970s) it was a rite of passage to carry a shotgun through town. The barrel was ALWAYS to be pointed in the direction of game. Guns were part and parcel of our polity; permission was neither sought nor obtained.

Things gradually started to chage with the imposition of Marxism in Canada.

Today I must lock all guns in a "theft-proof safe" which the government will happily provide for $3,000 (well beyond the means of a sport hunter).

If you're going to need us, need us soon, because we're already up to the chin in this cold water and paddling as hard as we can. Running out of oxygen.

dogriver said...

Fairest Julie, unsullied by an impure thought or action, your umbrage is noted.

"Why boys, why for would anyone visit mean spirted words upon our fair land? Oh, those spirits must be foul in deed who would stain our pure underpinnings with their base ejaculations!"

"Ah Dame Julie, shield thine eyes from the televised public opinion, for Obama and the like are spewing more filth and bile upon your undeserving senses. Grace, dignity, humility, genuine joy...the HIPHOPRASY!"

Anonymous said...

dogriver:

Woof!

Van Harvey said...

doglicker, you make my point, you are already far more you than I could ever sink to, even if I somehow managed to down a full bottle of scotch.

Even in your 'celebration', you experience nothing but dealing out degradation - which we don't accept, and you are left holding.

Such a pitiable creature you are.

Anonymous said...

dogriver:

You really don't get it, do you?

You can't "rub it in our faces" because we weren't part of some farcical psudeo-Roman adoration cult in the first place.

You know what, I REALLY wish blessings upon you, your family, your friends, and everyone you come into contact with in the next several weeks and thereafter.

That's it. No strings attached. I'm a Christian. I love you as any other soul.

Anonymous said...

Braggart?
Pretty good as far as being annoying, but I'm afraid if you were watching, you'd find a 100% correlation of the things I've said I've done with the things I've actually done. No brag, or bullshit.
Nice try.
Oh, C+ for the confused mess of allusions in your post to Van. That's better trolling, fer sure.

JWM

Jim said...

Hey doggie careful how you tease your betters to wit:Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. – H. L. Mencken

Anonymous said...

In Canada we've avoided electing flaming Marxists for almost 25 years. Nonetheless we did do it in 1970, and ALL of the restrictions on civil liberties broached by Pierre Trudeau (who was not only a Marxist, but also spent a carefree motorcycle driving summer of '41 sporting a german helmelt) are still supressed.

As Americans you may not be aware that people like Matk Steyn have been forced from Canada into the US under threat of prosecution.

Charles Johnson has done more than most Americans to alert the popualation to the precipitous slide that awaits apathy.

I cannot possibly tell you what to do as Americans. But here is where I would start:

1- rifle with TUNED scope (marlin + 8x)

500 rds .223

1- 12 ga. mossberg pump

100 rds 12 OO

(no handgunds alowed in Canada)

if you can get the $200 stamp in your state, buy and learn to fire an automatic weapon.

Disclosure: I am working with an Israeli firm now.
These things make sense, yet are far from you circle (grate).

Anonymous said...

Just as many international flashy dictators have bowed before the US Marines ( and, I will add, before Canadian combat snipers ) domestic insurrcetionists ( the guy who probably wrote O's "memoir" ) will bow before an armed citizenry.

Never, ever forget: Mao Zedong was profoundly right: "power grows from the barrel of a gun".

leftists want to own all of those guns.

Conservative liberals want to distribute ownership across the phone directory.

Van Harvey said...

Canuck said "Never, ever forget: Mao Zedong was profoundly right: "power grows from the barrel of a gun"."

Ehhh... the exercise of power relies upon the barrel of a gun, but real power follows from the web of ideas and beliefs which those holding the guns, and those manufacturing them, and those paying for them, and those feeding and clothing those who hold them, believe to be true. If the one leading the firing squad doesn't take that into account, he may be surprised to find the squad pivots towards him when he calls 'fire!'.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Pro-Bush Canuck-
Aye! Fortunately, there are even quite a few Democrats, in the House, who are pro-Second Amendment here.

And we still have enough Republican and a few Dems in the Senate who will refuse to curtail our liberties on that front.

Without the help of the vast majority of Congress, President-elect Obama can do nothin' to hurt our liberties in any major way.

He can select two more Leftist judges to the SCOTUS, to replace two of the oldest Leftists, but again, no major change.

Even the "fairness Doctrine" is unlikely to get passed, because I doubt the MSM want's to give equal time to Conservatives.

Unfortunately, abortion laws are unlikely to change and I wouldn't wanna be a coal miner right now, but no President can do too much irreversible damage in 4 years.
We gotta be vigilant and alert though.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Van-
Good point. That's why I don't believe our Military (vastly Conservative) would ever follow orders to force our citizens to give up their guns (as some conservatives fear).

They cherish liberty, as most Americans do (even though some Americans are very ignorant of what it takes to keep those liberties).

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Well, g'night folks! Tomorrow a new day dawns a (real) Hope springs eternal! :^)

Anonymous said...

Hi from Australia - I always thought you guys would be smarter than us, but alas, no.
Speaking of Wilber - Do you realise than americans have just voted in to office the first president example of full fledged boomeritis - wilber-style!! I guess michael moore will be the offical presidential "documentarian" for the foreseeable future.
I never thought americans would voluntarily vote against liberty and for the mediocrity of "equality", let alone a self-designated "dear leader" - you live & learn.
It does remind me of the last line of "the Candidate" - "what do we do now?"
NOTE: if you really want insight into america's/world's future, re-read Sowell's "vision of the annointed (self-congratulation as abasis for social policy)"
Best regards from a big fan - Carolyn

Van Harvey said...

Double yep on Sowell's book.

As Churchill said "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else."

We're forgetful enough to need to be reminded how stupid we can be on a regular basis - sadly, it's not like we haven't done the same before: Wilson... FDR... Carter... here we go again.

Van Harvey said...

Ok, my wife is going to hurt me if I don't come to bed. Night all.

ge said...

Here's to Obama's half-whiteness, like Bob Marley's [which headline editors & everyone seem happy to sweep under the rug]

Last night Rev Wright issued this comment: "America's chickens have come home to roost!"


A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury...

I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors...; in her fertile fields and boundless forests; in her rich mines and vast world commerce; in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless Constitution.
Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.
America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.
The safeguard of morality is religion, and morality is the best security of law as well as the surest pledge of freedom.
The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other.
Christianity is the companion of liberty in all its conflicts-the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims.


-Alexis De Tocqueville
nearly 2 centuries ago

Rick said...

Ricky checking in…

My parents voted for Obama and all I got was this superficial President.

Don’t get mad at me. “I voted for Thomas Sowell”. Loved the guy ever since I laid ears on ‘im.

*commercial break*

Ok. Sorry about that. But I couldn’t keep it bottled up any longer. The libs should understand. Anyway, I feel better now. It is my right to do so. Apparently.

But seriously my fellow Raccoons, and I am serious, keep an eye on me. In fact…
I do solemnly swear… to treat the office as sacred, as I have since becoming an adult, and the man occupying it with as much respect as I can outwardly muster. Set an example of how to act when your guy doesn’t win, and point out the difference to those who didn’t know how to. I will act like a man who loves his country, this will be easy, and what it stands for. This is still my country and he will be my President. May God bless the United States of America. Amen.

I actually feel like I’m over it already. Honestly. Looking forward to the inauguration too. Ben’s right, he can’t do much. And will add that he hasn’t done anything yet. “Just words, just speeches…”

Niggardly Phil said...

I lol'ed: Olbermann

Van Harvey said...

Ge, it's not Americas chickens that are coming home to roost, but Marx's. How the real source of America's power, as De Tocqueville identified it, our Goodness, was targeted for destruction was through the tactics set out by Antonio Gramsci. Two good summaries of that, are,

The Origins of Political Correctness
"So the Marxists’ had a problem. And two Marxist theorists went to work on it: Antonio Gramsci in Italy and Georg Lukacs in Hungary. Gramsci said the workers will never see their true class interests, as defined by Marxism, until they are freed from Western culture, and particularly from the Christian religion – that they are blinded by culture and religion to their true class interests. Lukacs, who was considered the most brilliant Marxist theorist since Marx himself, said in 1919, "Who will save us from Western Civilization?" He also theorized that the great obstacle to the creation of a Marxist paradise was the culture: Western civilization itself."

, and in more detail,
Gramscian damage
"The Soviets had an entire “active measures” department devoted to churning out anti-American dezinformatsiya. A classic example is the rumor that AIDS was the result of research aimed at building a ‘race bomb’ that would selectively kill black people.

On a different level, in the 1930s members of CPUSA (the Communist Party of the USA) got instructions from Moscow to promote non-representational art so that the US’s public spaces would become arid and ugly.

Americans hearing that last one tend to laugh. But the Soviets, following the lead of Marxist theoreticians like Antonio Gramsci, took very seriously the idea that by blighting the U.S.’s intellectual and esthetic life, they could sap Americans’ will to resist Communist ideology and an eventual Communist takeover. The explicit goal was to erode the confidence of America’s ruling class and create an ideological vacuum to be filled by Marxism-Leninism."


And all of that was and is made possible by the ideas, realized or not, by Descartes, Hume, Rousseau & Kant, they are the source of what are taught our kids in school, and that make cultural marxism/political correctness possible.

Know your enemy folks, it's not the people, and it damn sure isn't the coloring in their skin, it is their ideas, and they aren't confined to Dem's.

BTW, for all the bad times that are likely coming, one of the ways where we can decelerate the latest frenzy of hate and degrade America first meme, kicked off by algore's contesting the 2000 election, is by not letting the battle descend to leftist standards of behavior on our part.

Don't soften your attack, don't let up on the attack, but don't undermine your attack by conceding their main target, your goodness.

Van Harvey said...

Hey Ricky, a big Yep to you.

Van Harvey said...

You know, one litle thing that's been bugging me, why were McCain's yard sign colors yellow, white and blue?

What the hell was up with that?!

Someone made that choice, purposefully.

Morons.

Van Harvey said...

Ha! Ok, last one before heading into work,

Obama Declines GOP Request to Redistribute Votes
by Scott Ott for ScrappleFace

(2008-11-05) -- President-elect Barack Obama today politely declined a request from the Republican National Committee to "redistribute the votes" from yesterday's Congressional contests in order to "spread the power around."
READ THE REST AT...
http://www.scrappleface.com/?p=3187

Fido said...

Capt Fezzi’s on the way to the office but he phoned to say he just got 10 more jokes. But he’s holdin’ strong…except for one. Well, he told me…but you know me and secrets. Anyway, he said (just kiddin’ around now) he said, Fido, slap this baby on the Lady Liberty, will ya:

Christy Brinkley/Halle Berry/And that guy from the new Batman movie 2012

That’s nuthin, he said, “The slogan is ‘Why not?’”

Said, “Fido have you seen ‘em? They could be models for cryin’ out loud.”
Unquote.

I told him he better pull over before he runs aground again.

Van, Ricky says thanks.

Niggardly Phil said...

Marilyn Ferguson, New Age Author, Dies at 70

"In the dawning new age, people would exercise their talents to the fullest; war and social hierarchies would disappear; and the human race, impelled forward by thrilling new scientific discoveries, would embrace the happiness that belonged to it by birthright."

lol

julie said...

Happy Guy Fawkes Night, to any British brothers of the mask out there. I must say, there would be something rather cathartic about running around town with a burning barrel of tar on your back (or just generally watching things explode) right about now...

ge said...

$$ crisis, what $$ crisis??

'...His home a log-cabin, his parents were poor, many trials and hardships he had to endure...' Then the Illinois senator harvested more campaign cash than anyone before him, using both the Internet and traditional high-roller dinners to bring in more than $650 million from some 3 million donors for his presidential campaign. The 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, John Kerry, raised less than half that amount, as did George W. Bush and Al Gore combined in 2000.
[not strange at all, may the richest man win, to the victory go the spoils]

hey he mighta rather jumpstarted the redistribution with some of that sta$h

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