Saturday, March 28, 2009

Slack Liberation Theology and the Reign of the Anti-Bob

How time flies! It's already Antichrist Saturday. However, I think I'll change the name, since that one is too loaded, and bound to be misunderstood by all but our most fanatical readers. Therefore, we'll use the term anti-Bob to designate the Odious one who wishes to misappropriate our slack and reduce us to serfs of his levy-athon state. Instead of a nation of resourceful and individualistic rascals in charge of our own slack, the anti-Bob would turn us into a grey nation of pathetic sponge Bobs and splenetic bland beasts. Obama is the quintessential Slack Liberation Theologist, as he is all about liberating us from our precious, God-given slack.

But when the slackless have enviously confiscated all of the slack from the productive members of society, there is no slack left for anyone but the super-wealthy. Look at the present situation, in which the anti-Bob is even plundering the slack of future generations (at least the ones who will not be aborted, abortion being the ultimate in slack theft) in order to give a kind of "false slack" to his slack-jawed and open-handed mytho-flockers.

But any serious slackonomist knows that this will fail, as true slack can never be created or conferred in this manner. Our founding subgenii knew that our slack was a divine birthright, and that the state could not grant it, only protect it. The problem inevitably faced by the left is that eventually there is no more slack left to steal. Then, instead of being the beacon of slack for the world, we will be just like any other slackless hive of leftist rabble, climbing over each other like animals to fight over the few crumbs of slack granted by the state.

*****

It was like watching people letting themselves be hypnotized for the greater glory not of Christ but of men. It was like watching a generation willing to continue their enslavement to a self-imposed definition of inferiority rather than rise up in the liberation of truth faith and equality. I saw not a hunger for the glory of God, but a thirsting after the glory of a race to the detriment of all others. How weak, I thought, and how shameful. A Christ triumphant would drive these race hustlers from His temple. --Vanderleun @ American Digest

Yesterday I mentioned that one of the reasons the left gives Obama a pass on his membership in a religious hate cult is the soft bigotry of low or no expectations for blacks. Of course they hate us. Of course they believe crazy things. Of course they seek solace in bizarre conspiracy theories.

However, another big reason is that the left doesn't take religion seriously except for any version of "conservative" Christianity, which it takes as a serious evil. All other religions are simply harmless or neutral, no matter how harmful, Obama's Trinity Church being a quintessential example. Spengler quotes James Cone, one of its most prominent "theologians":

"Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community.... Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love."

Spengler notes that in his recent defense of Rev. Wright, Obama made reference to the "academic prominence" of Black Liberation Theology -- which, translated, means the indulgence by white leftist intellectuals of this kind of abject kookery. Ironically, Obama's "faith in the white establishment is touching; [Wright] honestly cannot understand why the white reporters at Fox News are bothering him when the University of Chicago and the Union Theological Seminary have put their stamp of approval on black liberation theology."

Of course, white leftists do not put their stamp of approval on Black Liberation Theology because it is theology, but because it is Black, but more to the point, Marxist.

[Brief update: just yesterday I read a passage by Balthasar, who raised a point that I have discussed in the past, that Marxism represents a kind of radically upside-down and debased version of Judaism -- which would explain why, in the history of leftism, disaffected and sometimes frankly anti-semitic Jews have always played such a prominent role (think of Noam Chomsky, George Soros, Howard Zinn, Michael Lerner, etc.). It's just a brief footnote, but he reminds us of how any "liberation theology" is rooted in a utopian messianism, in which the object of hope is fully immamentized. In true theology, the messiah is outside space and time, even while drawing us toward him.

But the false messianism of the left takes the Jewish idea of the messiah, and politicizes it. This creates a "radical eschatology," in which it is believed that our existential alienation can be remedied by overturning the present order. This is why the left is always so reactionary, since they inevitably convert perennial existential / ontological / spiritual problems into political ones. In turn, they will always be attracted to false messiahs and anti-Bobs, whereas the spiritually normal person will be immune to the attraction. There are no political solutions to spiritual problems, whereas there is usually a spiritual solution to most politicized problems.]

All valid theology has to do with systematic distinctions between ego and Self on the one hand, and reality and illusion on the other. Ego is to illusion as Self is to reality. Human beings are uniquely and providentially situated in the cosmos so as to be naturally (horizontally) idolatrous but supernaturally (vertically) -- or "transnaturally" -- oriented to the Absolute. This is just another way of saying that human beings are mirrors of the Absolute, and potentially contain within themselves the entire scale of being, the whole existentialada.

For example, Schuon notes that the great Christian virtues, e.g., charity, humility, poverty, and childlikeness, have their final end in the transcendent Self, or in Christian terms, the nous. Each of these virtues represents a negation "of that ontological inflation which is the ego." Practice of them helps soften and dissolve this existential infarct that clogs up the arteries of being. Likewise, Christ represents "the Self holding out a hand to 'me'; man must lose his life, the life of the ego, in order to keep it, the life of the Self."

Black Liberation Theology precisely turns the cosmos upside down in the manner of all materialists -- which is another reason why it is embraced by left wing materialists. For it promises not any kind of universal transcendence of the ego, but a particular fulfillment of its demands for a "chosen" (in the pernicious, non-Judaic sense) people: "Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community." Here the "black community" is analogous to the rebellious ego, which makes its own intrinsically heretical demands upon God: "If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him."

Shelby Steele writes of Obama that "a little race hatred seemed a small price to pay for a more secure racial identity," and that his tacit endorsement of "a mindless indulgence in a rhetorical anti-Americanism" represents "a way of bonding and of asserting one's blackness." Again, the source and outcome of this need are ego insecurity and "hardening," not spiritual aspiration and transcendence.

In genuine theology it is understood that "the world" -- and by extension, your very life -- are "on fire," so to speak. This is how many of Jesus' most extreme statements are to be taken -- as urgent calls to get a clue about the eternal order of existence, and to do something about it before it is too late. I would say "obviously," but I guess it's not, that Jesus was not referring to the political order of the world. Rather, he was speaking to Man as such about Existence as such -- not to this or that man in this or that situation, but about the way things always are for man as he always is.

But as Vanderleun notes in his essay, it's easy to confuse the manacles we forge for ourselves with the ones we imagine are placed upon us by others, and then rail against the others as a substitute for the universal call to self-betterment and transcendence. For as Schuon writes, "the man who does not know that existence is an immense brazier has no imperative reason for wanting to get out of it" -- which is why the beginning of wisdom is the awe of God, not the hatred of white people, or Rush Limbaugh, or "neo-cons," the latter attitude only plunging those who embrace it deeper into the flames.

I thought, watching these sermons, these crazed rants spouted in the name of God, "Don't they know.... Can't they see... They're not worshipping God or Christ, they are worshipping men.... racist men.... the very thing their forefathers suffered under and fought to get free of... and now they're back in the same place. --American Digest

Don't fwy off with my swack, Mr. Pwesident! It's not yours.

61 comments:

Cory said...

The "social gospel.

"Black Liberation Theology".

Just new names for old idols. Moloch, Baal, Istarte, Priapus - the list goes on and on. These things never seem to die but instead take on new personas as ego-driven men (mind parasites at work) use all their talents and imagination to build shining edifices to house madness.

I find I care for these people but have no idea how to crack the armor of ignorance and get through. Then I consider the immense harm they do within and across nations and cultures and I just hope that sooner rather than later they will be swept away. The problem is that the sweeping usually entails the sacrifice of many good and decent people who put themselves on the line to confront and suppress the evil.

In the meantime deliverance comes one soul at a time. I pray a lot for these.

julie said...

Saturday slack

Anonymous said...

Corey, don't think you will crack anyone's armor of ignorance. . . That's their karma. Keep practicing the "virtues" because that is the greatest 'revange'. Why? because then You won't even have to say anything and they will feel it on an energy level. Feed the Holly Flame. . . the Knower of Love-vibrations will put'em vibes to 'work'.

Theofilia

Warren said...

Brilliant post today, Doc - above and beyond. Do you feel like marinating yourself in Balthasar for months is having some kind of subtle effect? I think I've noticed it in your writing lately, but maybe I'm wrong.

To Mrs. G: Best wishes and blessings to you on your big day which is fast approaching. Think of the baptismal waters as the Rubicon. Welcome to the biggest, messiest, most lovable and most infuriating family in the world!

Gagdad Bob said...

"Do you feel like marinating yourself in Balthasar for months is having some kind of subtle effect?"

No. Probably just a profound one. However, I don't think I would have been able to appreciate his depth without the prior assimilation of Schuon, who helps me apprehend and understand the principles embedded in the Balthasarian ocean. Schuon is like a scalpel, Balthasar is like a flood. Both help you "break through," but in very different ways.

ximeze said...

Awwwwwww those kits are so CUTE!!! Thanks Julie

julie said...

That reminds me, I think I need to read Schuon next.

Anyway, what I meant to say was, speaking of the Anti-Bob, this is worth a read. Might spoil your mood for the day, though. I suggest reading it with a bottle of Pepto at hand...

Anonymous said...

"Likewise, Christ represents "the Self holding out a hand to me; man must lose his life, the life of the ego, in order to keep it, the life of the Self."

Now, I do share my 'stories' in a - "see? if I can do this, so can you" way..... because.... "Not in vain was His suffering!".

*
Once upon Sept. 96', my -- "White Warrior" (name in journal)holding out a hand to me, soul-event.

I was soaring towards a large, white and round 'celestial opening' uttering, "almost there!". . .On His knee with right hand streached out a "White Warrior"... On His right, and slightly further 'inside' the opening, all in white standing Woman.

I took this to mean I was there already in essence.

Theofilia

Anonymous said...

Bob, if I'm a nuisance here, just say the word, eh?

Theofilia

hoarhey said...

Shortly after The Great And All Powerful O sent Gordon Brown packing with his DVD set and the plastic helecopters, I found it strange that when he then met with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, he spent hours speaking with him and yucking it up, very much at ease.
Recently, at a public meeting with Brown in Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says this, “the global financial crisis was caused by white people with blue eyes”.
The familiarity with which Obama had previously interacted with the Brazilian President then made perfect sense.

QP said...

Ho! This post caused the qp to inspire:

-O.O-
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United Acres of Raccoons,
and to the den for which it stands,
one masked nation,
impenetrable,
secure under Slack,
with truth, beauty and goodness for all.


Need tweaking?

Anonymous said...

Are Christians the only ones God is renewing? No, as John says: "Everyone who loves is born od God" (Jn 4:7). Nothing is said here about a profession of faith. John simply says that if someone is truly loving, grace is at work, even if annonymously, in that person's heart. The prevenient and sanctifying grace of God is at work in the world beyond the church, and we should be sensitive to its fruits.

-Flame of Love A Theology of the Holy Spirit, penned by Clark H. Pinnock

And on a PS note to Cory -- Jesus' did say what is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. (not exact quote)

No doubt you know this? (that) Our spirit body is 'knitted' together, or made by the love-energy....seeing how we are part n' parcel of the Great Love.

Theofilia

Rick said...

“Obama is the quintessential Slack Liberation Theologist, as he is all about liberating us from our precious, God-given slack.”

Bob, from Mark Levin’s new book:

“In the civil society, private property and liberty are inseparable. The individual’s right to live freely and safely and pursue happiness includes the right to acquire and possess property, which represents the fruits of his intellectual and/or physical labor. As the individual’s time on earth is finite, so too is his labor. The illegitimate denial or diminution of his private property enslaves him to another and denies him his liberty.”

Now that is slack-infringement explained quite well.

But here’s my point, again, in favor of the point of the book: this explanation happens, not buried in the middle or end of the thing, but on page 4. I’m up to page 80, but so far it’s been mostly like this. To the point. It’s a small 250 hardcover – 50 of which at the end are sources for the claims made on the first 200 pages. He may turn out to be the Thomas Paine of our time. It’s all stuff we know. It’s just organized so well (from foundation to peak), and is explained quite clearly. Completely backed up with facts; most of them easily available for verification if you have a bad memory. Not too many notes in the tune, but good and plenty of punch. The Constitution is central to the book, obviously, and at most times reads very much like it; so cleanly and with that permanent perfection as the quote above.

Anonymous said...

yah, you tele'm Tristan:)

I was just like "wo what if they think I feel 'special' or sum such bloody thing, because of all them stories up my sleave."

HelNo! I'm still the rock n' roller I once was only on a dif. level, but no one knows I'm "spiritual".

I know that my kids and aaaall my kinfolk like me a lot:). Speaking of which, one of my brothers is having a solo gig tonite and we're all gona be there:) and have a glass of sweet vino afterwards.

I will wear my best jeens. My hair at its bush-wavy best seeing how once upon I was a hairstylist, but whose bragin':)

Theofilia

Rick said...

I heart it, QP.

ximeze said...

Ricky,
Just got an email that my copy of Levin's book is now ready of pick-up. You'll have a chatting partner in the den real soon now.

julie said...

FL just keeps getting cuter, doesn't he :)

Van Harvey said...

Ricky, I'm only up to pg 23, but I’m very much enjoying it as well, though with some minor ancillary quibbles (his mentioning the Progressive era "But in the 1930's, during the Great Depression, the Statists successfully launched a counter revolution..." leaves out that the Great Depression itself was brought on by Proregressive policies in the early 1900's... but keeping with the “Not too many notes in the tune, but good and plenty of punch”, it makes sense to do so (and who am I to comment on editing and brevity!), and the worse, but commonly heard remark “Ironically, industrial expansion resulting from World War II eventually ended the Great Depression, not the New Deal” leaves the dangerous impression that War is good for an economy, it isn’t, but it was the regulations and restrictions which were lifted off of the economy in order to free up industrial expansion for the war effort, which buried the Great Depression in the box with FDR), and such overly picky criticisms are more than swept aside by gems such as “As the word ‘liberal’ is, in its classical meaning, the opposite of authoritarian, it is more accurate, therefore, to characterize the Modern Liberal as a Statist.”, which just lights up fireworks for me, especially as it seems he’ll refer to them only as “Statists” throughout the rest of the book. Lord would I love to see “Liberal” again associated with true Liberty.

Back to it…

wv:discobac
Nooooooo!!!

Van Harvey said...

QP, what Ricky said!

Van Harvey said...

julie said..."FL just keeps getting cuter, doesn't he :)"

And it looks like he got a wayyy better 'copter than Gordon Brown did!

robinstarfish said...

Corey, don't think you will crack anyone's armor of ignorance. . . That's their karma.

Theofilia, not so fast. It's nobody's karma to remain ignorant. Even the strongest armor is broken day in and day out by individual people who care enough to talk to another, to go out of their way to get under someone's skin because they can see where they are. Everybody has a breaking point.

You have no idea who might be talking to the devil's own minions such as George Soros or even the Obamessiah Himself. Remember Chuck Colson? Who could have predicted that? Somewhere, somehow, the real Gospel could reach the darkest corners by someone who won't take no for an answer. It could be a chance meeting, why not? It could be you that mentions something to someone who in turn translates it to someone else who knows someone who repeats it in the ear of Bill Zebub who then has trouble sleeping that night. Again, why not?

Those mysterious ways, you know.

I dunno, good vibes just don't get it done for me unless Gary Burton's behind them. It's better to act like everything you say matters. Even if 99% of it doesn't. You just never know where that 1% might end up.

Alan said...

This is one of my favorite posts.

Aside: I put off ordering a copy of Levin's book as it launched and have now tried to buy it at several stores in southern CA and AZ... no luck. All of the store clerks have said they totally underestimated the demand for this book and they are getting more requests every day than they can remember for a book. Even Amazon isn't giving me an estimate as to delivery time.

QP said...

Thanks for the thumbs up guys. I'm willing to sketch a flag if you'll pitch me some ideas...with all of us being mindful to avoid the look of "cult".

I live in a small town with no access to B&N or Borders, and I'm so jealous you guys are reading Levin's book, while I'm waiting for Amazon to deliver sometime during the first week of April. Thanks for the tip and the preview Ricky.

In the meantime, I'm making do with, among other things, this essay put up today by the Curmudgeon at Eternity Road. Hedging Your Bets Part 3: Defending Your Property After reading it I was re.minded of Sensei's a.k.a Walt admonition - "Keep a low profile". I watched "Children of Men" last night; hope I don't have keep it as low as cutting branches to disguise the entry to my driveway.

QP said...

Yea. Robinstarfish is up and about!

Yep, our own good karma has the potential to mow down bad dogma all the time. It happened to me, thank heavens.

Rick said...

Ximeze,
That’s great.

Alan, you know I’ve heard similar stories. When I bought mine and placed it on the counter – 3 days ago - the clerk said, “another one! Who the heck is this guy?!” I said, “He is a Constitutional lawyer. Radio show on ABC.”

She said, “Has he been on Imus?”
We stared at each other for awhile.

I said, “Why don’t you read it.” Politely.

As I was walking out, the tall clerk bent to her, "I heard in NYC there were 6,000 people in line for it.”
That must have been Mark’s book signing.

Anyway, isn’t it strange that the major chain bookstore (B&N) I went to hadn’t thought it important to tell everyone in the store this book shot to #1 on Amazon the first day. For whatever reason. Just to tell them.

I’m not suggesting there is some conspiracy. I’m just asking if this is a way to run a company, especially a bookstore who competes with Amazon?

Anyway x 2, that’s why I said the other day that you better go git yers before we run otta trees. And people are buying more than one at a time…as gifts. Someone called into Rush and said she bought 6.

It’s a nice size too, handsome cover without the jacket. I think I paid $18. What a country.

Van Harvey said...

"I think I paid $18. What a country."

Ah, QP, Alan, Ricky, you all have my sympathy, but you really need to pay attention to Ximeze's updates - I ordered it from Amazon the day she mentioned it and got for $15.

Up to pg 36 now, gets better and better with each page.

Rick said...

Van,
“leaves the dangerous impression that War is good for an economy”

You’re right. You know, I cruised right over that because I’m so used to it by now. It’s like libs almost wish you would come out and just admit already “you want a war to fix this, don’t you.”

The point is, I’m probably missing lots of stuff I know, but thank God, Mark had the foresight to include what I’d have forgotten to put in. In this case, he slipped (maybe) because “he’s forgotten how to think so stupid”. (Or) it wasn’t necessary to make that part longer since the basic stuff’s the point. (There’s a footnote to the source anyway.) I mean, half this book, but probably 99% of the effort, is refuting lib-think –- which requires lib-think -- but in a way to help them see the light. The reachable ones. The book really isn’t for me (in other words, I’m already sold on the Constitution in every way you can or should be in awe of it), so I’m purposely slowing down my reading of it now.

I think it was absolutely brilliant to come up with the new term “Statist”. It allows the person you want to help think you’re talking about someone else :-)

Rick said...

Not to mention it’s an accurate term and you really are talking about someone else: the overlords out to highjack your brain and your precious slack.

$15 plus shipping? Mine was $18 tax included.

:-D

Rick said...

I think it’s available as a downloadable eBook already on Amazon. There’s software called Stanza that you can install on a PC, Mac, iPhone, smartphone.

Van Harvey said...

Heh, sorry to rub it in, but... from my Amazon msg:
"Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto
Price on order date: $15.00
Price charged at shipping: $15.00 Lowest price before release date: $13.75
Amount to be refunded: $1.25
Quantity: 1
Total Savings: $1.25

$1.25 is your total savings under our Pre-order Price Guarantee.
"


And shipping was nada.

What a country.

;-)


"(Or) it wasn’t necessary to make that part longer since the basic stuff’s the point."

Agreed, just happens to be one of my bugaboo's, and really, it takes nothing away from the book or it's actual message and power.

Rick said...

The eBook is $9.99 :-D

Rick said...

All this qualifies as slack, right?
'cause it feels like slack…

Van Harvey said...

Ricky said "$9.99 "

;-)

Ok, you've got me there, you could get if for $3.76 less than I could, not having a Kindle... and it looks like Amazon isn't offering any other (or at least not as prominently as they used to) downloadable formats.

Geez, Microsoft sure blew it on that front. They've no understanding of either their users or of Style. With MS Reader, they should have dominated the eBook, and eBook reader market... and they would have, had they had a clue how to stylisticaly present their PocketPC's abilities and 'evangelize' them.

Nothing the iPhone has, let alone the Kindle (such as color, color photos, and much more), that the PocketPC hasn't been able to do for years, they just didn't have the wit to present it in such a fashion... no, just make it grey! Smaller screen! More BUTTONS!!!

Argh.

I'll have to look into 'Stanza'... wonder if it is open to developers?

Ah well... back to the slack!

robinstarfish said...

Local library chain (about a dozen or so) has 2 copies, 47 holds. That equates to least a 6 month wait.

Good thing I'm patient. And old school.

Joan of Argghh! said...

The raccoons were the cutest, but people with wind chimes should be dragged off and shot.

Okay, unless they live waaayyy far away from other human beings, then wind chimes are okay. Maybe. Those clangers were of the worst sort!

wv: blestie: a blest beastie! or "blest be the tie".

:o)

Cory said...

We are supposed to be exemplars. But if you TRY and be an exemplar you generally come across as a pompous, self-righteous ass.

So the trick is be real. And to do that one has, I think, to seek the kingdom of god and once that is found all else is added. I have seen exemplars (real ones) and they seem always to be surprised that anyone is watching them that closely or taking them that seriously.

The really righteous people I have known have been quite unselfconscious about that fact. They aren't unaware of this so much as unconcerned and are always aware of their shortcomings and failings in the sight of God. And they look at others and know that "there but for the grace of God.....". It is the nature of holy men (and women) to act in righteousness spontaneously and with a lot less effort than, say, me. And they do crack the shells of some pretty hardened hearts.

word veri said...

So, do you mind if I call you Bobino?

Rick said...

(psst)

(over here)

Free Money (quotes) while supplies last

*WARNING*
spoiler alert

Mrs. G said...

Thanks so much Warren and Julie. I'm really excited about the upcoming baptism. It'll be Easter Vigil.

I'll try to post something about the experience.

Blessings to you both,
Mrs. G

julie said...

Leslie, I do hope you post something about it, if you get a chance and if the spirit moves you.

On a wholly different and less pleasant note, international outreach, Clinton style.
Oy.

julie said...

To make up for the Clinton link (and also to provide backstory on Our Lady of Guadalupe), here's the story of what she couldn't bother to learn about before visiting the shrine.

Anonymous said...

Bob, this post wins prominence as your worst ever.

Your polemic presents the sorry spectacle of a spiritual mind wallowing in cynicism and whining.

You are boxing at shadows. Why? Is the food low in your pantry? Is there no roof over your head? Any black theologians skulking in your neighborhood?

You've lost touch with what's important, which is to TRUST THE LORD. This kind of pessimism is a slap in the face to your handler.

Where is your trust? Where is your peace of mind?

This post does a disservice to your flock. Instead of inspiration, you served them a dose of paranoid ramblings about Obama.

You couldn't just wait until he actually did something hurtful, so you start waving theories around like they actually mean something ahead of events. They don't. Obama hasn't stepped in any doo doo yet.

Bush began the handouts, remember. Obama has not instituted one new thing--he's only acted on what was left of the previous administration.

Unless you wrote this on the express orders of Petey, you've left your rightful path and you should just get right back on and forget this execrescence was ever authored by you.

If you want to be a self-appointed critic of the left, do it in a manner a Christian would recognize.

ximeze said...

"Obama hasn't stepped in any doo doo yet."
Thus spake Aninny teh clueless.

Oy vey



wv:Omangl

ximeze said...

I don't know guys....
Real books made of paper & ink seem more slackful to me than any kinda hard box that needs a battery for reading. Old school I know, but there's something so very wrong about those thingies.

hoarhey said...

Self Appointed Christian said;

"You couldn't just wait until he actually did something hurtful,"

Are you fucking kidding?

QP said...

hoarhey said...

Self Appointed Christian said;

"You couldn't just wait until he actually did something hurtful,"

Are you fucking kidding?


Some people are fucking simpletons. Thank God for the Keps in this world.

Dougman said...

anon-Obama has not instituted one new thing--he's only acted on what was left of the previous administration.

That's right. Oblah-blah never introduces anything new, he just attaches hiss-elf to what is and sucks the life out of it.
" I inherited this mess"
So he makes even more worse for a couple more years to keep blaming it on the previous Host and then make some changes that actually will work say, oh, let's say just in time for the next election and all the media swoon and sing his toon and wins another term.

Rick said...

I’m with Mr. Emerson:

"The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons."

Rick said...

Ximeze,
I hear ya. I’m a big fan of paper, its color, font, the smell, and picking up MOTT at the end of the day, everyday for months was like getting to hold a Holy relic. Because it was. When I think that McCullough held the actual letters John Adams wrote…and that I’m only one step removed from them myself when reading his “Adams”. It’s as if I’m touching my side of the thin veil that separates us.

This may sound like a small thing but, it was also uncomfortable holding that massive book MOTT for hours at a time. I read Arnot’s “Parables of our Lord” in eBook. It was a nice break but not the same. I have the Bible NRSV too, which is just simply handy. And it’s sort of interesting to look at the words fresh, stripped of all those accoutrements. Anyway, Mark’s book is a nice almost paperback size and the binding not too tight. Lighter than it looks too. Remove the jacket and the spine is blue, the covers red and the pages of course almost white. Very Federal-ish. That’s a really nice touch.

julie said...

QP, thanks for the Potter link! I had a big book of Beatrix Potter stories when I was a kid, but that one wasn't in it. And of course, reading it now it takes on a hugely different set of meanings than it would have when I was little. Makes me want to go back and read some more...

QP said...

Julie, I adore Miss Potter. Her pictures and stories while charming and delightful, are also deep — and they show something vital and thrilling about imagination which every person, every parent, every child needs to know. 

Anonymous said...

Robin,

My response to Cory was from the "If they can't hear what you teach, then shake the dust from your sandals and leave, for they may even hurt you physically" -- a la Jesus' angle.

Matthew 5:39 - (Sermon on the Mount)The Master teaches "But I say to you, do not resist him who is evil; but whoever slaps you on your cheek, turn to him the other also." --- = Don't say another word. Walk away, for he/they might kill you.

Of course, you are right, we must speak to others ..........

Cory made a good point tho, that without enligtened awarenss we sound like a "pompous, self-righteous ass".

Matthew 6:1 -- "Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven."

Theofilia

Anonymous said...

anon at 10:40 was right in the sense that a harsh criticism of Obama only makes sense had it come on the heels of an equally harsh criticism of the diabolic "statist" that preceeded him. Bush gets immunity, though, since he calls himself a conservative. Forget that nothing he did was conservative, so long as he talked the patriotic talk.
You constantly attack the obvious statists, as though one would expect anything else from a democrat. The real problems are from those who are wolves in sheeps clothing.
Attacking Obama, though accurate, is finally too easy and has already taken the form of a derangement. I suggest the works of a Robert Higgs, for example. His intelligent and timely critiques don't suffer from party alignment as do Bob's and Van's (unfortunately, they are unable to see this themselves), not to mention Limbaugh and Levine.

Van Harvey said...

aninnymouse said "His intelligent and timely critiques don't suffer from party alignment as do Bob's and Van's ..."

Aid for the selectively blind can be found in several of my posts, such as Here,"By the way, I’m not letting the Republicans off that hook either, they only hide their lack of principles from themselves better than the Democrats do. Any ‘free marketer’ [Psst! Aninny! That was Bush] who claims to believe in property rights and capitalism, but promotes appropriating trillions of dollars (or even one) in order ‘to fix the market’, never held any real belief in property rights and capitalism in the first place – they certainly didn’t understand it’s principles. As with Bush the 1st, who promised ‘Read my lips, no new taxes’ and then signed on to huge new taxes because he thought it would fix things and make them better ‘for the good of the country’, shows that he had no principled grasp or understanding of principles to begin with; the reason why a principled person would say ‘no new taxes’ is because the good of the country is served by no new taxes, and even more so by repealing taxes and divesting the government of powers it has improperly grabbed… argh.

Idiots."
or from 9/17/08, A Birthday or a Funeral, for the United States Constitution? or to pick a couple One Cosmos posts at random, see the comments here and here... or better yet pull your head out of your butt and use your own eyes.

"I suggest the works of a Robert Higgs, for example"

I don't know anything about Higgs, but if he leans towards the Von Mises side of the libbies, he may be decent, but if he leans towards the Rothbard side, and his apparent affiliations with Rockwell seem to point that way, then he's but an anti-conceptual hippie of the right, and just as dangerous as the leftists, if not more so.

I'd suggest Thomas Sowell's "Economic Facts and Fallacies", or as a free online alternative, Sowell's counterpart from the early 1800's, the last worthwhile Frenchmen, Fredrich Bastiat's "Economic Sophism's" , and of course The Founders Constitution, but that may be presuming more of an ability for you to read and think for yourself than the available evidence warrants.

Anonymous said...

I love Sowell.

Van,
You are too little too late. The posts you quote and the comments are supposed to be critiques of so-called conservatives? Puleeease! These aren't criticisms like you wage against Obama. These are suggestions, ones like you would put in a little box at work.
Don't misunderstand. I get it. Obama is a bad dude. I didn't vote for him and never would. I'll bet you voted for the Bush's, though. And here is the thing. You voted for "statists", to use the now "in" word from the conservative darling Levin. Statists, through and through. Go back and check your work and see how many critical references you have on Bush compared to Obama.
See, you are, of course, missing my point. Obviously Obama is a statist. He doesn't pretend otherwise. Bush pretended to be a conservative and railroaded the nation and left in ruins the conservative movement.
Higgs, again, since he doesn't recieve his paycheck from party affiliation, doesn't care a whit about partisan politics, but principles. He runs circles around your logic, friend.
And I say this with the utmost good will, I assure you. I am simply following your advice by not allowing nonsense to go unchecked.
Regards.

Van Harvey said...

“I love Sowell"

Hmm… ok, not a lost cause.

You didn’t ask for a critique of conservatives, you said “Bush gets immunity, though, since he calls himself a conservative…", I only pointed out that he doesn’t.

And he didn’t get points because he called himself a conservative, because he wasn’t, or rather, he didn’t have that which I value in actual conservatives, an understanding and support for the principles of classical liberalism. He never fully understood capitalism, property rights or the proper function and limits of government... and for that reason, I didn’t vote for him in the primaries of the 2000 election (McCain either, even worse than Bush). But given the options of Gore or Kerry (and of course Obama), I most definitely voted against them (as well as against H.W. Bush & Clinton in ’92).

However, no matter how poorly ‘W’ may have understood the core principles of America, he did have an obvious love of this nation and for what it stands for (no matter how imperfectly), and the desire to defend it, and, and for that, he unashamedly has my thanks, and in those areas he sought to act towards those ends (such as the ‘war on terror’ (an idiotic term… something like ‘war on radical islamists’ would have been better, but hey, you go to war with the POTUS you have, not the one you’d like to have)), he got my full support.

There are many other areas where he didn’t get my support. Signing McCain/Feingold (earned my ever lasting anger), education bill, farm subsidies, immigration amnesty, prescription drugs… horrible, one and all.

“These aren't criticisms like you wage against Obama"

Bush imperfectly understood the principles which this nation was founded upon, and his policies, which he thought were helping the nation, caused much harm – none more so that the bailout – but misguided efforts driven by good intentions and poor understanding, does not receive the same ire as deliberate opposition and malevolence towards those same principles, which leftism IS.

Obama, as I pointed out in the campaign, has and has had, enmity for the Constitution and principles of classical liberalism which it was created from, going back decades. He is a leftist through and through, and I will heatedly oppose his policies at every step of the way. However, as I also pointed out in The Concord Hymn - for the 44th President of the United States of AmericaAs President, he is due the respect of the office, the support of the citizenry, and the best wishes of the people.
I will do my best to oppose, as far as I can see, all of his policies, but I will not sink, and I hope no one else I know will either, to the sickening, juvenile, destructive vitriol heaped upon the 43rd President of the United States of America, George W. Bush."
, as well as here.

And that I hold to still. However, don’t think that will save him from mocking and heated disagreement, to refrain from that would be un-American.

“Go back and check your work and see how many critical references you have on Bush compared to Obama.
See, you are, of course, missing my point."

No, you are missing the point. Go back and count how many positive references I made for Bush… very damn few, and those few – I can’t even think of any (other than perhaps on personality, yeah, I liked his personality and ‘sense of life’) – if made, I’m sure were regarding judicial appointments such as Roberts & Alito, the war, which I supported though I felt he didn’t prosecute it as fiercely and uncompromisingly as I would have preferred. If you look through my posts on philosophy and politics, it should be obvious that any support I could give him, was tepid at best. Bush and all the little ‘r’ republicans, are harmful to the principles upon which this nation was founded (as I said in the post cited above “ Lets 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."… but even so, they are far less harmful, than anyone remaining on the left today – or rather, little ‘r’ conservatives are harmful, but leftists are destructive.

“Don't misunderstand. I get it. Obama is a bad dude"

Hmm… do you say that personally, or politically? I don’t know that Obama is a ‘bad dude’, at least from what I’ve seen of his girls, that doesn’t show through, but his political ‘principles’ are bad indeed, and likely to bring about great evil. Was FDR a ‘bad guy’? Or Teddy Roosevelt? I don’t think so, not as people, but as politicians, their ideas and policies were catastrophic to this nation. For me, it isn’t personal with Obama (it was with Clinton, a disgusting, scheming, hypocritical, corrupt dirt bag – a disgrace to the office of the POTUS, and to the nation), or about party – I am not a republican, they just happen to be the ones I’m usually left with to vote against the larger threats.

“Higgs, again, since he doesn't recieve his paycheck from party affiliation, doesn't care a whit about partisan politics, but principles."

As I said, I don’t know anything about Higgs, I’ll look into him when I have the chance, and I hope he is what you say – but whether or not he can “run rings around my logic" is irrelevant, there are plenty of unprincipled and corrupt creatures far smarter and faster on their neuron’s than I, and able to run rings around me with slickery logic chopping skill… but that is quite literally meaningless. If however he understands true principles, and can show me a thing or two, fantastic and all the better.

And ‘Anonymous’, don’t hide behind nic-less names which leaves you indistinguishable from fools who use the same nom, ‘duality’ ain’t pretty.

Regards.

Van Harvey said...

Btw, "You voted for "statists", to use the now "in" word from the conservative darling Levin"

Though I haven't finished his book yet, so far he has shown a very good grasp of principles. Do you use 'conservative darling' pejoratively, and if so, do you do so for actual reasons, or out of emotional dislike without the support of principled reasoning?

priap patrol said...

Why do you ask? Are you worried someone's cutting in on your territory?

Anonymous said...

Yeah. Van would rather win an argument than be right. What a defensive prick. His whole tone reminds me of a teenage girl lobbying for the car keys on a school night.

Van Harvey said...

@01:14:00 AM & 01:20:00 AM, a little empty on the content, but you sho got sty-ill.

Orlando Cepeda said...

Yeah, Van, that wasn't me on the last two posts.

You can call me Orlando.

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