Frank C. on Jersey Shore

Hey, how you doin'?  Estase is letting me vent again, so I think I'll talk cable today.  My favorite thing on cable is that Turner Classic Movies.  I never saw a bad movie with Glenn Ford.  Maybe he made one, but if he did, I never saw it.  I don't think Greg Peck made too many bad movies either.  Ever see The Big Country?  That's the schizzle, right there.  It had Berl Ives in it too.  I love that line, where Greg Peck says, "I can't control what people think of me.  I can only control what I am."  Wow, that coulda come outta the Bible or something.  Unfortunately, most people now are worried much more about what people think of them than what they are.  That's pretty effed up, excuse my language.  My son is into that Facebook thing.  I don't know if I understand the point of something where you have 78 friends, only five of which you've seen in the last ten years, and play a game where you pretend you're a farmer.  What do ya pretend your back hurts and you're broke?  I think I'll invent a game called MidasVille.  You pretend to be a mechanic and get virtual torn up knuckles.  But back to TV.  I lost most of my interest in TV around the time Survivor was put on.  Think of it as Gilligan's Island, but without the interesting plot and the jokes.  The guy that won the first season liked to walk around naked.  In my neighborhood, about ten seconds after he pulled that garbage, he'd be tackled to the ground and cops would be on the way.  REALITY TV.  Reality, my ass.  Nobody ever paid me to live in a house with six alcoholic Italians.  Now a bunch of alcoholic anglo-saxons living together had already been done.  It's called a fraternity. 

Frank C. Speaks

Hey, how ya doin'?  Estase named this blog after my ancestor Francois deCharette.  So you can call me Frank C.  Makes me sound a bit like I belong to A.A., which happens to be true.  Estase is letting me come on here and say my piece.  How do you like what's going on in the Middle East, eh?  Reminds me of my ex-wife throwing a tantrum.  Like she'd say she was pissed off about my coming home late.  Really she was just sick of me.  Unfortunatly, the United States can't take the Middle East to Divorce Court, even though that's what Ron Paul seems to want to do.  We have to live with them, which is not looking like an easy thing to do right now.  The thing that gets me is that the reason they say they are rioting is because of some YouTube video, which sounds a lot like people rioting because the Chicago Bulls won a third NBA championship.  I mean, I hate movies with Meryll Streep, but I don't burn down the multiplex over it.  That broad is something else.  She made a movie about a child-molesting priest that takes place before there were child-molesting priests.  Reminds me of that movie about the Roman Empire where the guy wears a wristwatch.  She ought to make a movie about kids getting felt up by their public school teacher, because there are a lot more cases of that than of kids molested by priests.  I bet the NEA would like that, huh?  And Chicago teachers, boy!  If I got paid $70,000 to produce eighth-graders who can't read, I'd think it was a sweet racket too.  I can hear my boss saying, "Frank, I want to pay you $500 to replace the brake shoes on this car.  Oh, and it don't matter if they work when you're finished."  Get outta here.

Bill Clinton Stabs Vets in the Back

Welcome to the all-new quidnunc Francois deCharette!  Francois deCharette intends to be an adventure in counter-revolution, striking at all revolutionaries, whether they call themselves liberals, progressives, communists, fascists, or Jacobins.  Named after the French opponent of the Revolution, this quidnunc firmly believes that facts, and when necessary, humor will be the best weapons against revolutionaries of all stripes.

"By late summer of 1973, Day and Guarino and several other commanders, men who were SROs in Hanoi, were upset that no formal action had been taken against the men in the Fink Release Program.  The commanders asked for a meeting with General John Flynn and Admiral James Stockdale, the highest-ranking POWs.  At the meeting, Day delivered an ultimatum:'If you don't file court-martial charges,we will.'  Stockdale replied by filing court-martial charges against Edison Miller and Walter Eugene Wilber, accusing them of mutiny and attempting to cause insubordination.  Colonel Ted Guy initiated court-martial proceedings against eight enlisted men who, as the so-called Peace Committee, had--he claimed--openly collaborated with the enemy.  He charged them with disobeying the lawful orders of a superior officer, acting in conspiracy with the enemy, and aiding the enemy.  In rapid succession, charges were filed against the eleven officers who had accepted early releases.  But after Abel Kavanaugh, one of the enlisted men, committed suicide on June 27, all charges against all personnel were ordered dropped.  For better or worse, the POWs were all lumped together in the mind of the public, and the White House did not want a series of bitter and highly public courts-martial.  Those charged were allowed to quietly leave the service.  They returned to their homes in far-flung corners of America, civilians beyond the reach of military justice.  Because their experiences remained unknown by the general public, they were revered in their hometowns and in their adopted towns.  The POWs would not go public on an issue their superiors clearly wanted closed.  But their anger toward the early releases was unabated.  Day came up with a solution.  He incorporated a group known as the NAM-POWs and was the first president.  One of the bylaws, subtle enough to be overlooked by most, said membership was open to those who had served honorably in the prison camps of North Vietnam.  'Served honorably' was the operative phrase.  Early releases and members of the Peace Committee--as the controversial enlisted men called themselves--were not eligible for membership.  The NAM-POWs, from the moment of their creation, had more moral authority than any other veteran's group in America.(p269-271)  But one of the names for the {Florida}panhandle is 'LA'--as in 'Lower Alabama'--and the beaches here and to the east often are referred to as the Redneck Riviera.  It was pickup-truck country, predominantly Protestant and then yellow-dog Democrat to the core.  Day had never seen or heard of the sort of politics he found in the First District.  Democrats held every elective city, county, state, and national job.  Bob Sikes, congressman from the First District, was the political boss of the panhandle.  He had more seniority in the district than anyone but God and was almost as omnipotent.  Sikes called himself the 'He Coon,' because the male raccoon knew where the food was and how to get to the water.  Sikes brought in more pork than a meatpacking house, and it seemed that coon tails, signifying the driver's allegiance to Sikes, waved from the antennae of every pickup truck in the First District.  When Day and Doris took Steve to register to vote, they told the registrar they wanted to register as Republicans.  The reaction they got was about the same as if they had said they wanted to register as Catholics.  'Ain't no use in you all registering as no Republicans because there ain't no Republicans to vote for,' the elderly registrar said.  Day was appalled.  Because of Nixon and because of the long conversations he and McCain had in jail about politics, he was a committed and devoted Republican.  He thought there should be Republican candidates running in every race in the district.  Day was then and remains so today a man of elaborate and courtly manners.  But he does have his hot buttons.  And the registrar had punched one.  'When I need advice on how to register to vote, I'll ask for it,' he said.  'Until then, hand me the paper and I'll register as a Republican.'  When he left the registrar's office, he had that same head-up, arm-pumping, determined, and hard-eyed look of defiance that Jack Van Loan had noticed in the yard at the Hanoi Hilton.  Turning to Doris, Day said, 'We're going to have to do something about this(p275-76).'   In 1976 a CBS producer asked McCain and Day if they would return to Vietnam with Cronkite and be the featured part of a documentary--two of America's best-known POWs doing the reconciliation thing.  McCain accepted.  Day refused.  Then one of Cronkite's staffers called Day, tried to schmooze with him, and asked, 'Wouldn't you like to go back to Vietnam?'  Day paused.  He had no respect for the man he still referred to as 'Walter Crankcase,' the weak dick who stood up after Tet and said America was losing the war.  Then he said, 'Yes, I would.  Leading a four-shipper of F-100s carrying wall-to-wall nape.'  'I'm sorry you feel that way.'  'I'm not.'  So McCain went to Vietnam with Cronkite and made the documentary(p284-285).  In 1979, California governor Jerry Brown appointed Edison Miller, half of the Bob and Ed Show in Hanoi, as a supervisor--county commissioner--in the Third District of Orange County.  In 1980, that appointed term was over and Miller had to run for election.  More than two hundred former POWs signed a letter that was sent to some hundred thousand voters in the district.  The letter said that Miller 'cooperated with the enemy to the detriment of his fellow American prisoners of war'  and that he 'wrote articles' for the Communists against the interests of his government.  The letter claimed that Miller violated his oath as a military officer, that he disobeyed the lawful orders of his superiors, and that he 'does not have the dedication to duty, to his country, or to a sense of public service which would qualify him for any public office.'  The letter ended by calling on voters in the district to reject Miller.  They did.  He received only 16 percent of the vote and later filed a defamation suit against the POWs.  Bud Day was one of several lawyers who represented the POWs on a pro bono basis.  The court granted the POWs request for a summary judgment that threw Miller's suit out of court.  Miller appealed, but his appeal was tossed out(p294-95).During the 1992 presidential election, Day volunteered again to campaign for President Bush.  He did not approve of Bush's campaign techniques, but he would work for the president because Bill Clinton was the Democratic candidate.  Years later, on June 12, 2005, Alan Ehrenhalt began a review of The Survivor:  Bill Clinton in the White House on the front page of the New York Times Book Review by saying, 'Millions of Americans despise Bill Clinton.'  He said Clinton haters believe the former president was 'immature, self-absorbed,' and indecisive;  that he lacked discipline and was reluctant to use military force even when needed.  Ehrenhalt's review did not begin to plumb the depths of revulsion that military people felt in 1992 (and still feel) toward Bill Clinton.  From the time he first appeared on the national stage, Clinton's pouting expression, lip biting, and what they considered to be his inveterate womanizing, noninhaling-dope-smoking behavior made him--and this is not too strong a word--loathed by military people.  Everything about 'Slick Willie,' they found repugnant.   For Bud Day, Clinton personified not only the self-indulgence and fuzzy thinking of the Democrats but weakness as well.  He had no self-discipline, no integrity, no patriotism.  He had no principles.  He was a man without honor.  And he had no military background, which was okay, but--as Robert Patterson described in Dereliction of Duty, he was openly contemptuous of the military, which was not okay.  When Clinton won (due in large part to the fact that third-party candidate Ross Perot received 19 percent of the vote), Day believed the republic was in danger.  Making things worse had been an attack Day could not help but take personally.  Perot's running mate was Admiral James Stockdale.  After a stumbling performance during a nationally televised debate, Stockdale was savaged by the media.  Day knew that Stockdale was one of the most brilliant men ever to wear a uniform.  To have reporters ridicule him widened even further the gap between the military and media.  Clinton lifted the economic embargo on Vietnam and appointed Pete Peterson, a former POW, as the first American ambassador to Vietnam.  Day thought Vietnam should remain isolated.  He could not imagine a former POW being a Democrat, much less taking a job in the Clinton administration.  He wrote Peterson a letter in which he all but called the ambassador a traitor.  Clearly, Day had the same tightly focused right-or-wrong view of the world that he always had.  The single-mindedness that enabled him to be a great leader in Hanoi was still there.  It was not always appropriate in the civilian world.  In coming years it would sometimes be even less appropriate.  He would seem rigid and incapable of forgiveness.  About a year after Clinton was elected, Day drove up to Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, where the Air Force operates several schools for young officers.  Part of the curriculum includes bringing in distinguished retired officers to talk to the young officers.  Day was one of several MOH receipients on a panel that appeared before newly minted graduates of the Squadron Officer School.  Doris was sitting in the audience with the brigadier general who was commander of the school.  One of the young graduates asked if each of the old warriors would give his opinion of President Clinton.  The other officers gave the proper answer:  they were loyal to the commander-in-chief, no matter who he might be.  Then it was Day's turn, and he said, 'I wouldn't trust that. . .'  He paused, unwilling to use the profanity on the tip of his tongue.  Then the dam broke.  'I wouldn't trust that son of a bitch as far as I could throw him.'  Doris said the base commander went rigid with shock.  And it would not be until the base commander was transferred and a new commander appeared that Day would be invited back to Maxwell.  In the summer of 1995, Day received in the mail his copy of the Retired Officer Magazine and read a story saying the U.S. government no longer was allowing military retirees over the age of sixty-five into military hospitals.  These old retirees were losing their free medical benefits and were being forced into the Medicare program, which meant they would have to pay for part of their medical coverage.  Medical care was very much on Day's mind.  His physical condition was such that he had been declared 100 percent disabled.  Day figured the article was wrong, another media foul-up.  By now Day believed his major life's work was over.  He had been retired almost two decades.  The 20mm ricochet was just a close shave and not a sign that there remained another mission for him.  Vietnam was why God had saved him from death so many times.  The travel and invitations to speak continued.  His children were living proof of the good job Doris had done during Day's almost six years' absence.  His law practice was thriving.  The awards and honors were and unceasing river.  The health problems caused by the Bug were as under control as they would ever be.  A few days after Day read the article, he drove out to the hospital at Eglin to pick up a supply of medicine.  'Colonel, I'm sorry.  But I can't fill that,' said the pharmacist.  'Why not?'  'This is an active-duty drug.'  'What do you mean?'  'We don't give it to retirees.'  'What's the basis for that?'  'It costs too much.  These pills are three dollars each.'  Day nodded tightly, spun away, and went looking for the highest-ranking hospital official he could find, the deputy hospital commander, and said, 'I have a real bitch.'  'What is that, Colonel?'  When he explained what happened, the deputy commander nodded and said, 'That's a dollar decision.  We get allocated so much money, and our job is to take care of the active-duty force.'  'I think your job goes quite a bit further than the active-duty force.  We were included in that allocation.'  'Sir, you're going to have to talk to the hospital commander about that.'  By now Day had up a full head of steam.  Added to his natural combativeness was a sense of outrage and indignation.  When he went into the Marine Corps in 1942, the recruiter told him that if he served twenty years, he would have free lifetime medical benefits.  He was told the same thing when he joined the Air Force.  In the years since he retired, his medical benefits and his medical care had been free.  The people affected by this new ruling--and he was one of them--were World War II and Korean-era veterans, what TV anchorman Tom Brokaw would call in his book 'the greatest generation.'  More than a million of these men were still alive, and they had been receiving free medical benefits for years.  Those benefits were as much a part of military culture as saluting the flag or saying 'sir' to superiors.  Day went down the hall, eyes hard and right arm pumping.  He found the flight surgeon, a man who had treated him in the past, told him what happened, and said, 'This is a lot of bullshit.'  The major agreed.  'I can't believe the government is sniping away at you old guys.'  'Where did this come from?'  'The White House.  President Clinton did this.'  Day's face hardened(p301-304 American Patriot:  The Life and Wars of Colonel Bud Day by Robert Coram)

Singularity of Government, Part Two

"Can the folly be paralled, to adore and be the slaves of a single person for doing that which it is ten thousand to one whether he can or will do, and we without him might do more easily, more effectually, more laudably ourselves?"
John Milton
The Ready and Easy Way
1660

Limitations of Parliament

"For it is only the king's right, he will say, to call a parliament; and this he will do most commonly about his own affairs rather than the kingdom's, as will appear plainly so soon as they are called. For what will their business then be, and the chief expense of their time, but an endless tugging between petition of right and royal prerogative, especially about the negative voice, militia, or subsidies, demanded and ofttimes extorted without reasonable cause appearing to the commons, who are the only true representatives of the people and their liberty, but will be then mingled with a court faction."
John Milton
The Ready and Easy Way
1660

Intermediation of Elections

"Another way will be to well qualify and refine elections, not committing all to the noise and shouting of a rude multitude, but permitting only those of them who are rightly qualified to nominate as many as they will; and out of that number others of a better breeding to choose a less number judiciously, till after a third or fourth sifting and refining of exactest choice, they only be left chosen who are the due number and seem by most voices the worthiest."
John Milton
The Ready and Easy Way
1660

Popular Assemblies

"So that the main reason urged why popular assemblies are to be trusted with the people's liberty, rather than a senate of principal men, because great men will be still endeavoring to enlarge their power, but the common sort will be contented to maintain their own liberty, is by experience found false, none being more ambitious to amplify their power than such popularities; which was seen in the people of Rome, who, at first contented to have their tribunes, at length contended with the senate that one consul, then both--soon after, that the censors and praetors also--should be created plebian, and the whole empire put into their hands; adoring lastly those who were most averse to the senate; till Marius, by fulfilling all their inordinate desires, quite lost them all the power for which they had so long been striving, and left them under the tyranny of Sulla."
John Milton
The Ready and Easy Way
1660

Singular Government

"And what madness is it for them who might manage nobly their own affairs themselves, sluggishly and weakly to devolve all on a single person; and, more like boys under age than men, to commit all to his patronage and disposal who neither can perform what he undertakes, and yet for undertaking it, though royally paid, will not be their servant, but their lord!"
John Milton
The Ready and Easy Way
1660

Accountability of Governors

"Nay, it is well and happy for the people if their king be but a cipher, being ofttimes a mischief, a pest, a scourge of the nation, and, which is worse, not to be removed, not to be controlled (much less accused or brought to punishment) without the danger of a common ruin, without the shaking and almost subversion of the whole land: whereas in a free commonwealth, any governor or chief counsellor offending may be removed and punished without the least commotion."
John Milton
The Ready and Easy Way
1660

Punishment of Kings

"God in much displeasure gave a king to the Israelites, and imputed it a sin to them that they sought one, but Christ apparently forbids his disciples to admit of any such heathenish government. 'The kings of the Gentiles,'saith he,'exercise lordship over them,' and they that 'exercise authority upon them are called benefactors: but ye shall not be so; but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that serveth.'"
John Milton
The Ready and Easy Way
1660

Education and Talent

"If others hence will pretend to disturb all counsels, what is that to them who pretend not, but are in real danger--not they only so judging, but a great, though not the greatest, number of their chosen patriots, who might be more in weight than the others in number: there being in number little virtue, but by weight and measure wisdom working all things, and the dangers on either side they seriously thus weighed. . ."
John Milton
The Ready and Easy Way
1660

Unfit for Government

"It is also sanctioned by the dictates of justice and by the constitution of nature that he, who from the imbecility or derangement of his intellect is incapable of governing himself, should, like a minor, be committed to the government of another, and least of all should he be appointed to superintend the affairs of others or the interest of the state."
John Milton
Second Defense of the English People
1654

Worthy Officials

"Are they fit to be the legislators of a whole people who themselves know not what law, what reason, what right and wrong, what crooked and straight, what licit and illicit means? who think that all power consists in outrage, all dignity in the parade of insolence? who neglect every other consideration for the corrupt gratification of their friendships or the prosecution of their resentments? who disperse their own relations and creatures through the provinces for the sake of levying taxes and confiscating goods--men, for the greater part the most profligate and vile, who buy up for themselves what they pretend to expose to sale, who thence collect and exorbitant mass of wealth, which they fraudulently divert from the public service, who thus spread their pillage through the country and in a moment emerge from penury and rags to a state of splendor and wealth?"
John Milton
Second Defense of the English People
1654

Venality

"For who would vindicate your right of unrestrained sufferage or of choosing what representatives you liked best, merely that you might elect the creatures of your own faction, whoever they might be, or him, however small might be his worth, who would give you the most lavish feasts and enable you to drink to the greatest excess?"
John Milton
Second Defense of the English People
1654

Virtue in Government, Part Two

"And unless that liberty which is of such a kind as arms can neither procure or take away, which alone is the fruit of piety, of justice, of temperance, and unadulterated virtue, shall have taken deep root in your minds and hearts, there will not long be wanting one who will snatch from you by treachery what you have acquired by arms."
John Milton
Second Defense of the English People
1654

Cromwell

"They were a stay to the good, a terror to the evil, and the warmest advocates for every exertion of piety and virtue."
John Milton
Second Defense of the English People
1654

Tyrannicide, Part Three

"He therefore who would authorize the destruction of tyrants does not authorize the destruction of kings, but of the most inveterate enemies to kings."
John Milton
Second Defense of the English People
1654

Tyrannicide, Part Two

"Let them show us then why the same law may not justify much more a state or whole people, to do justice upon him against whom each private man may lawfully defend himself; seeing all kind of justice done is a defense to all good men, as well as a punishment to bad, and justice done upon a tyrant is no more but the necessary self-defense of a whole commonwealth. To war upon a king that his instruments may be brought to condign punishment, and thereafter to punish them the instruments, and not to spare only, but to defend and honor him the author, is the strangest piece of justice to be called Christian, and the strangest piece of reason to be called human, that by men of reverence and learning, as their style imports them, ever yet was vented. They maintain in the third and fourth section that a judge or inferior magistrate is anointed of God, is his minister, hath the sword in his hand, is to be obeyed by St. Peter's rule, as well as the supreme, and without difference anywhere expressed: and yet will have us fight against the supreme till he remove and punish the inferior magistrate (for such were greatest delinquents); whenas by scripture and reason there can be no more authority be shown to resist the one than the other; and altogether as much to punish or depose the supreme himself as to make war upon him till he punish or deliver up his inferior magistrates, whom in the same terms we are commanded to obey and not to resist."
Christopher Goodman
Of Obedience

Tyrannicide

"Whence doubtless our ancestors, who were not ignorant with what rights either nature or ancient constitution had endowed them, when oaths both at coronation and renewed in parliament would not serve, thought it no way illegal to depose and put to death their tyrannous kings. Insomuch that the parliament drew up a charge against Richard the Second, and the commons requested to have judgment decreed against him that the realm might not be endangered."
John Milton
Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
1649

Commonality

"Nor is it distance of place that makes enmity, but enmity that makes distance. He, therefore, that keeps peace with me, near or remote, of whatsoever nation, is to me, as far as all civil and human offices, and Englishman and a neighbor. But if an Englishman, forgetting all laws, human, civil, and religious, offend against life and liberty, to him offended and to the law in his behalf, though born in the same womb, he is no better than a Turk, a Saracen, a heathen."
John Milton
Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
1649

Selfish Ruler a Tyrant

"A tyrant, whether by wrong or by right coming to the crown, is he who, regarding neither law nor the common good, reigns only for himself and his faction: thus St. Basil among others, defines him.
John Milton
Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
1649

Election of Kings

"This, though it cannot but stand with plain reason, shall be made good also by Scripture (Deut. XVII,14):'When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations about me.' These words confirm us that the right of choosing, yea of changing their own government, is by the grant of God himself in the people. And therefore when they desire a king, though then under another form of government and though their changing displeased him, yet he that was himself their king and rejected by them would not be a hindrance to what they intended further than by persuasion, but that they might do therein as they saw good (I Sam. VII),only he reserved to himself the nomination of who should reign over them."
John Milton
Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
1649

Origins of Authority

"It being thus manifest that the power of kings and magistrates is nothing else but what only is derivative, transferred, and committed to them in trust from the people to the common good of them all, in whom the power remains fundamentally and cannot be taken from them without a violation of their natural birthright, and seeing that from hence Aristotle, and the best of political writers, have defined a king, him who governs to the good and profit of his people, and not for his own ends--it follows from necessary causesthat the titles of sovereign lord, natural lord, and the like, are either arrogancies or flatteries, not admitted by emperors and kings of best note, and disliked by the church both of Jews (Isaiah 26,13) and ancient Christians, as appears by Tertullian and others. Although generally the people of Asia, and with them the Jews also, especially since the time they chose a king against the advice and counsel of God, are noted by wise authors much inclinable to slavery."
John Milton
Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
1649

Nature of Contract

"No man who knows aught, can be so stupid to deny that all men naturally were born free, being the image and resemblance of God himself, and were, by privilege above all the creatures, born to command, and not to obey; and that they lived so, till from the root of Adam's transgression falling among themselves to do wrong and violence, and foreseeing that such courses must needs tend to the destruction of them all, they agreed by common league to bind each other from mutual injury, and jointly to defend themselves against any that gave disturbance or opposition to such agreement. Hence came cities, towns, and commonwealths. And because no faith in all was found sufficiently binding, they saw it needful to ordain some authority that might restrain by force and punishment what was violated against peace and common right."

John Milton
Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
1649

Virtue In Government

"For, indeed, none can love freedom heartily but good men; the rest love not freedom but license, which never have more scope or more indulgence than under tyrants."
John Milton
Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
1649

Laws Lean on One Another, Part Three

"If any one shall imagine that I have forgotten my own notion of a law, when I make the law, whereby men judge of virtue and vice, to be nothing else but the consent of private men, who have not authority enough to make a law: especially wanting that which is so necessary and essential to a law, a power to enforce it: I think I may say, that he who imagines commendation and disgrace not to be strong motives to men to accomodate themselves to the opinions and rules of those with whom they converse, seems little skilled in the nature or history of mankind: the greatest part whereof we shall find to govern themselves chiefly, if not solely, by this law of fashion; and so they do that which keeps them in reputation with their company, little regard the laws of God, or the magistrate." John Locke Concerning Human Understanding, p231.

Congressional Reform, Part Five

"If we degrade and deprave their minds by servility, it will be absurd to expect, that they who are creeping and abject towards us, will ever be bold and incorruptible assertors of our freedom, against the most seducing and the most formidible of all powers. (p216)"

". . . if we do not permit our members to act upon a very enlarged view of things; we shall at length infallibly degrade our national representation into a confused and scuffling bustle of local agency."

Edmund Burke
Guildhall Speech

Congressional Reform, Part Four

"Certainly, Gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative, to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinion high respect; their business unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfactions, to theirs; and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own. But, his unbiased opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you; to any man, or to any set of men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure; no, nor from the law and the constitution. They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion."
Edmund Burke
Speech to the Electors of Bristol p 54-55.

Congressional Reform, Part Three

"In legal construction, the sense of the people of England is to be collected from the House of Commons; and, though I do not deny the possibility of an abuse of this trust as well as any other, yet I think, without the most weighty reasons, and in the most urgent exigencies, it is highly dangerous to suppose that the House speaks any thing contrary to the sense of the people, or that the representative is silent when the sense of the constituent strongly, decidedly, and upon long deliberation, speaks audibly upon any topic of moment. If there is a doubt whether the House of Commons represents perfectly the whole Commons of Great Britain, (I think there is none) there can be no question but that Lords and the Commons represent the sense of the whole people to the Crown, and to the world. Thus it is, when we speak legally and constitutionally. In a great measure, it is equally true, when we speak prudentially, but I do not pretend to assert, that there are no other principles to guide discretion than those which are or can be fixed by some law, or some constitution; yet before the legally presumed sense of the people should be superseded by a supposition of one more real (as in all cases, where a legal presumption is to be ascertained) some strong proofs ought to exist of a contrary disposition in the people at large, and some decisive indications of their desire upon this subject."
Edmund Burke
Letters on a Regicide Peace p236-37.

Congressional Reform, Part Two

"'Tis not therefore for Kent or Sussex, Lewis or Maidstone, but for the whole nation, that the members chosen in these places are sent to serve in Parliament: and tho it be fit for them as friends and neighbors (so far as may be) to hearken to the opinions of the electors for the information of their judgments, and to the end that what they shall say may be of more weight, when everyone is known not to speak his own thoughts only, but those of a great number of men; yet they are not strictly and properly obliged to give account of their actions to any, unless the whole body of the nation for they serve, and who are equally concerned in their resolutions could be assembled."
Algernon Sidney
Discourses on Government, p 565.

Lex Misericordia

"Sir, there is no human enactment which is just that is not a re-enactment of the law of God."
William Henry Seward
Higher Law Speech

Laws Lean on One Another, Part Two

"Manners are of more importance than laws. Upon them, in great measure, the laws depend. The law touches us but here and there, and now and then. Manners are what vex and sooth, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe in. They give their whole form and colour to our lives. According to their quality, they aid morals, they supply them, or they totally destroy them."

Edmund Burke
Letters on a Regicide Peace, p 126.

Obama Now Selling Judgeships for Health Care Votes?

Obama Now Selling Judgeships for Health Care Votes?

Posted using ShareThis

The Strange Death of Humor, Part Two

This is directed to those of you who write what passes for comedy in 2010. Down's Syndrome is not a hoot. Have you traded in your humanity? What is wrong with you? Do other people's problems make you feel like laughing? Oh, it's your politics. So it is all right to make fun of diseases, so long as it advances your political position. It's vivisection morality again. THE BEST LACK ALL CONVICTION, WHILE THE WORST ARE FULL OF PASSIONATE INTENSITY.

Things Reversed

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The Falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
THE BEST LACK ALL CONVICTION, WHILE THE WORST
ARE FULL OF PASSIONATE INTENSITY.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"

W.B. Yeats
"The Second Coming"

Laws Lean On One Another

"[S]uch traditions should neither be designated laws nor left unformulated. They are the mortises of a constitution, the connecting links between all the enactments already reduced to writing, and preserved by it, and those yet to be recorded, a true corpus of ancestral and primitive tradition which, rightly instituted and duly followed in practice, will serve as a sure shield for all the statutes hitherto committed to writing, while if they swerve from the right bounds, it is as when a builder's supports give and subside under his edifice; the result is a general collapse of one part upon another, substructure and all that has been so admirably built upon it alike, when once the original supports have fallen."
Plato
Laws, Book Seven, p 176
(A.E. Taylor trans.)

Endorsements

No one really cares about what candidates Estase picks for Illinois's Republican primary, but here goes anyway.

Governor- Dan Proft. He seems to be a solid conservative who might help purify the cloaca maxima of Springfield. No Republican is likely to become governor anyway,but my money is on Proft.

Senator- Patrick Hughes. He is what I think of when I think of a Republican--someone with genuinely conservative social values. What's more, the only other conservative in the race carries some nasty birther baggage. Therefore, I'm going with Hughes to replace the big Dick who is our current Senator.

Typical Squishys

Mark Kirk--someone who calls himself a fiscal conservative, because no one would call him any other kind of conservative. Why is it that the Illinois GOP continues to offer us Durbin-lite instead of a real choice?

Enough Already!

The Night of the Big Wind in Ireland was an incident in the 1840's where hurricane force winds tore the roofs of of thousands of Irish cottages right before temperatures dropped precipitously and snow fell. Many thousands of people died as a result. Yesterday's earthquake in Haiti raises the question once again--why do horrible things happen to countries that have already suffered enough?

Vivisection Morality

"The other starts from the basic principle that a collective aim justifies all means, and not only allows, but demands, that the individual should in every way be subordinated and sacrificed to the community-- which may dispose of it as an expirimentation rabbit or a sacrificial lamb."

This example of Saul Alinsky type morals comes from Darkness at Noon, page 127, by Arthur Koestler.

From Sinai's Height

I always thought that pro-choice meant being free to choose whether or not to be involved with abortion. That abortion is not about choice is shown by events at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, where nurse Catherina Cenzon-DeCarlo, a Catholic nurse, was forced to participate in a non-emergency abortion on a 22-week pregnancy. The details can be found at www.hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2009/12/12/pro-life-nurse-forced-to-assist-an-abortion.

BEAR TO THE RIGHT

BEAR TO THE RIGHT
I have an idea-- announce a moratorium on building settlements in Judea and Samaria that commences when Iran abandons all its nuclear program. It would be really nice if our government were as tough on Iran as it is on Israel.

The Catholic Key Blog: Bishop John Wester Challenges Senate, Obama to Allow Undocumented Immigrants Health Coverage

The Catholic Key Blog: Bishop John Wester Challenges Senate, Obama to Allow Undocumented Immigrants Health Coverage
I wish Bishop Wester's ilk cared as much about abortion as they do about inflating our deficit to pay for illegals to get free health care.

Rinky Dink Reading Lists, Rated X

Anyone looking for a real gross-out that won't make you feel like eating for a few days should go to FirstThings.com. They have a very disturbing story about the recommended reading list that Kevin Jennings's organization created for children to read. It includes fun books about first grade boys having sex, wholesome stuff for kids to read. What kind of a psycho thinks that Kevin Jennings has any business being allowed near a school, let alone being made the man in charge of making them safe? How entangled with the promotion of homosexuality is President Obama?

Freedom of Speech

"A freedom of raillery, a liberty in decent language to question everything, and an allowance of unravelling or refuting any argument, without offense to the arguer, are the only terms which can render such speculative conversations in any way agreeable(p 49)."

A.A. Cooper (Lord Shaftesbury)
Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times

An Observation

The difference between a statesman and a politician is the difference between Susan Boyle and Britney Spears. The statesman looks unimpressive and performs well, and the politician is slick and, well, does not perform well. See also Plato's Gorgias, where the philosopher is compared to the physician and the rhetor is compared to the chef.

The Confused and Scuffling Bustle of Local Agency, Part Two

The trillion dollar stimulus was sold to us as a necessary job-saving measure. Now the government website Recovery.gov is claiming jobs were saved in congressional districts that do not even exist. This is not a mistake on the part of the government, it is a deliberate effort to decieve the American people into believing that this series of pork programs have done something they have not and will not do--save or create jobs.

Why Systematizers Are Wrong, Part Three

"In short, my lord, all these systems are so many enchanted castles, they appear to be something, they are nothing but appearances: like them too, dissolve the charm, and they vanish from the sight(p9). The philosopher begins with reason and ends with imagination. The historian inverts this order: he begins without memorials and he sometimes ends with them (p70)."
Henry St. John (Viscount Bolingbroke)
Study and Use of History

Remember Joe?

Last week, Frank Rich railed that by rejecting a liberal Republican in New York state, conservatives were "eating their own." Mr. Rich never showed much concern when his own party did exactly the same thing to liberal hawk Joseph Lieberman. (Remember my August 2007 blog "Hypocritical Kos," which was about a tasteless photo promulgated by Daily Kos showing the Senator's head at the level of President Bush's waist.) What is good politics for Democrats is barbarism for Republicans.

It Starts With an "H"

There is a word liberals love to use whenever a Mark Sanford sex scandal or a Rush Limbaugh drug problem comes up. This word should also be applied to David Letterman, who for years has made fun of other people's sexual misdeeds (remember his two-priests-in-a-tree joke) or their possible sexual misdeeds (Sarah Palin's daughter might screw Alex Rodriguez), or even the way they dress (Sarah Palin dressing like "a slutty flight attendant"). Well, to Hell with all that nonsense, because Letterman himself is unable to control his sexuality. So I never want to hear another joke from David Letterman making fun of someone else's sex life. There's a word for this.

Apologies to the Geto Boys

Damn, it feels good to be Obama
A real radical-ass with skills
Although I was born in Hawaii
Ended up in Chicago making deals
George Soros is my homeboy
And my government's making wheels
I get all my props from NBC
Send contracts to GE
Givin' all support to abortion
Babies don't vote for D's
Is it all about the women?
It's only sex to me
I used to work for ACORN
And they really helped me win
Marxism was finished
'Till I pulled it outta the dustbin
Now all I gotta say to you
Radical Islamic pranksters
Israel gets attacked- - nothin's what I'm gonna do
Damn, it feels good to be Obama

Book Review

The book The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs. Disraeli by Richard Aldous is the story of how two brilliant men introduced Britain's modern two parties. The current Conservative Party arose from the Tory party, which included refugees from the old Whig party who disapproved of the armed ideology of the French Revolution. Thus, Disraeli's party was reformist and aristocratic at the same time. Meanwhile, the Whig party was transforming from the party skeptical of monarchical power into a party embracing the egalitarianism of the French Revolution. Gladstone's role came in the anti-protectionism and social change of today's Liberal party.

The two men were not emblamatic of their politics- - Disraeli was a liberal conservative who contracted venereal disease and married for money, while Gladstone was a conservative liberal obsessed with sexual guilt.

The Lion and the Unicorn is enjoyable to read, and Aldous gives us a perfect introduction for the neophyte, and a sense of their rivalry to those of us already familiar with the two titans of 19th century British politics.

Friends of Mr. Cairo

She came, as in the book, Mickey Spillane
That Saturday night dark masquerade
Had filled his friend with lead, the same, sweetheart
But then, as nothing happens quite the same
Investigation is the game
He had to check her story right away- he dead
Sam Spade his buddy first to go he got it
She spelt it out, how could they know the "Fatman" got it- he dead
Her sister didn't really live at all- confusion- he dead
His chase led to the Fatman, to face the friends of Mr. Cairo
That night the double crosser got it right
Pretending he was really dim
He slipped to Sam a double gin (Mickey Finn)
He woke, the boys had gone, but not his gun
They left a note to lead him on
The chase to find the Maltese Falcon- you bet
Early thirties gangster movies
Set to spellbound population
From Chicago to Hong Kong
Via Istanbul the Talking Tong
Dirty rats through prohibition
Money flowed through gangsterism
Acting out this fantasy
In Hollywood's vicinity
The best part for the best rendition
Al Capone he sent to prison
Citizen Kane came fast and quickly
Conquerin' ol' New York City
Poking fun at superstition
Media became television -give me Cagney anyday
Or Jimmy Stewart for President
Or Eddie "G" and all those guys
Who always shoot between the eyes, between the eyes, between the eyes
Father love do you work, do you work for mother
Chances could call, and accept that, be no other
Science as it might, disappear correspond with color
Chance is the fruit, will outlive, what is now the brother
Call for total wealth to distribute like a picture
In black and white, give it joy, give it, let it hit you
Spoil our existence by extreme gift to population
Father love do you work, do you work for Mother
Tell me straight be the Godfather be no other
Media Kings give us now give us total movie
Straight right now, give it clear, give us total movie
Now being here, being now, being here believing
One on one to talk to you
Like film stars they get close to you
You've mirrored his appeal
He wants you so, wants to be beside you
Then you pass by giving him the other side of you
Like the mystics do
So that every time he moves, he moves for you
Soul and light can always see the meeting of true love and she
The silent night and I,
I guess a lonely mind might see
I've seen love on the screen
I've seen a screen goddess and me- oh,
How often this, how often, this power of you
And so I must confess
Whatever I see
I'm meant to be there with you, with you, with you
Silent golden movies, talkies, technicolor, long ago
My younger ways stand clearer, clearer than my footprints
Stardom greats I've followed closely- closer than the nearest heartbeat
Longer than expected- there were great
Oh love, oh love, just to see them
Acting on the silver screen, oh my
Clark Gable, Fairbanks, Maureen O'Sullivan
Fantasy would fill my life and I love fantasy so much
Did you see in the morning light
I really talked, yes I did, to God's early dawning light
And I was privileged to be as I am today, to be with you, to be with you

Jon and Vangelis "Friends of Mr. Cairo"

Consolidate, Regulate, Confiscate

There existed, at the turn of the century, two very different types of progressive thought. The thinking of Teddy Roosevelt was that the market should always involve a number of small interests competing with each other to produce at the lowest price possible. Hence, Roosevelt was known as a "trust-buster"; corporations like Standard Oil needed to be broken into smaller concerns.

A very different vision of businesses was held by Justice Louis Brandeis, who believed there was no such thing as a business that was too big. (Sound familiar?) Corporations should, in this view, be allowed to become enormous entities regulated closely by government. Ultimately, this view of business is totalitarian, because it takes no legal skill to nationalize behemoth corporations, making them part of the government.

The Obama administration follows the Brandeis model to a T- - consolidate, regulate, and confiscate.

Irving Kristol, RIP

Estase wishes to express his condolences to the family of Irving Kristol, perhaps one of the most brilliant men in America. Kristol was one of those people like Bill Buckley that Estase would have loved to have met in person, and is delighted to have known in print. God bless, Mr. Kristol.

What Reform Movement?

In November 2006, Estase wrote a blog entitled "Samson Leftism" where he opined Democrats had no policy objectives, and was told with great pride by someone calling himself Causal that

"[Democrats will] Allow the government to negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for Medicare patients."

was one of Bela Pelosi's great ambitions. However as Oh Blah Blah's health plan has led him to buy off big pharmaceutical, Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post writes,

"Critics on Capitol Hill and online responded with outrage at the report that Obama had gone behind their backs and sold the reform movement short. Furthermore, the deal seemed to be a betrayal of several promises by then-Sen. Obama during the presidential campaign, among them that he would use the power of government to drive down the cost of drugs to Medicare, and that negotiations would be conducted in the open."

Immoral Moralist

Yesterday Oh Blah Blah said we should have government-run health care because Ted Kennedy thought it was a moral issue. Pardon me for looking to someone other than a drunken, lecherous abortion-monger for moral guidance.

Why Systematizers Are Wrong, Part Two

"Metaphysical hypotheses, in short, are not content to account for what may be by what is, nor to improve science according to the conditions of our nature, by raising probability on the foundations of certainty: but the makers of them affect to range in the immense void of possibility, with little or no regard to actuality; and begin very often, as well as end, in supposition(p360)."
Fourth Essay
Henry St. John (Viscount Bolingbroke)

Liberals and Radicals

Liberals wish America was like Sweden.
Radicals wish America was like China.

Liberals like John Meynard Keynes.
Radicals like Karl Marx.

Liberals hate cigarette smoking.
Radicals hate people drinking milk.

Liberals like contraception.
Radicals like abortion.

Liberals fear the CIA.
Radicals fear the FBI.

Liberalism is like malignant carcinoma.
Radicalism is like liver cancer.

My New Favorite Lyrics

You're working so hard
And you're never in charge
Your death creates success
And you'll build and suppress

Change in the air
And they'll hide everywhere
And no one knows who is in control

Muse "Rule by Secrecy"

Rough TIme For Oh Blah Blah

I guess Daily Kos is not the place to go for political news. The Kosites seem surprised everyone is not in love with Obamacare, and opine that Obama just is not aggressive enough. Daily Kos makes The Nation look conservative.

Why Systematizers Are Wrong

"Thus we may concieve how men came to employ corporeal ideas, for the most part to explain the intellectual phaenomena, and sometimes to assist even their own reflections on them. The art was reasonably invented and usefully applied. But it soon became artifice, as soon as philosophers took into their heads to affect such science as they are incapable of attaining(p 131). Figures in general, these of speech, and all others that do not typify determinatly, are unworthy of rational creatures, how much more of God? and figures that typify nothing, are nothing, or they are worse than nothing; they are so many lies, since they pretend to denote something real, where nothing real exists (p138)."

Concerning the Nature, Extent, and Reality of Human
Knowledge
Henry St. John (Viscount Bolingbroke)

Half a Whack-Job

Presidential advisor Cass Susstein must be half a whack-job, because he is friends with Peter Singer, the Princeton philosopher who advocates bestiality and infanticide. Incidently, Begala, anyone who belongs to the same party as Howard Dean and Jesse Jackson should know better than to bandy about accusations of mental illness.

What is Judicial Review?

Treating Geraldo Rivera as if he were a legal intellectual may be silly, but more people see him on TV than read law books, so here goes. Geraldo said that one person's judicial activist is another's sound jurist. No, it is not.

A judicial activist is anyone who uses anything other than the laws themselves or historical assessments, including the Federalist Papers, to shed light on what the legislators meant in order to decide cases. An ancient principle is that judges tell the law, not make the law. This was made into a principle of judicial review by the Supreme Court finding in Luther v. Borden. Luther v. Borden said that political questions will not be decided by the courts, but by lawmakers or the people themselves. Things that judicial activists consider proper to consult include sociological studies, trendy philosophy, inventive false analogies, and even religious law. The last was consulted by a German judge regarding Islam and spousal abuse in 2007. Most people, even those who favor judicial activism, would never approve of this. But once you accept the principle that "good thinking" (Justice Ginsburg's phrase) is all that is needed to make law, why is that wrong?

Judicial activism is not necessarily liberal. If Justice Scalia argued a case based on Thomas Aquinas, that would be wrong for exactly the same reason that consulting Islamic law is wrong. At no period, past or present, was Thomas Aquinas elected or delegated to create any American law. Republican government is sick unto death once anyone other than an elected official creates a law. No one, other than a trained jurist, approved by such officials, should ever decide what a law means. Either Luther v. Borden was decided wrongly, or the Supreme Court has been exceeding its authority for decades. Sorry, Geraldo.

Freedom Trumps Democracy

Should America support democracy in all circumstances? Before you answer, keep in mind Edmund Burke's Conciliation WIth America , which states

"Man acts from adequate motives relative to his interest; and not on meta-
physical speculations. Aristotle, the great master of reasoning, cautions us, and
with great weight and propriety, against this species of delusive geometrical
accuracy in moral arguments, as the most fallacious of all sophistry."

In other words, politics cannot be an exercise in a priori reasoning where
"Two plus two equals four."
Advocating free elections in Turkey is based on this error. Because the election would result in Islamic theocrats taking over, it is foolish to watch tyrants take power by popular vote. In this case,
"Two plus two equals seven."

The Dying Bird

During the French Revolution, Thomas Paine criticized Edmund Burke's response by saying that he mourned the plumage but not the dying bird. Estase is a 36 year old with a Master's degree who works at Wendy's. Estase never understood that quote until he was in the sun sweating. I am part of the bird- - the working public expected to support a government allied with big business. Oh Blah Blah is transforming America into Japan, where you have to know somebody in government to make money.

The problem with a system where a few people make a great living because of government is like the situation before the French Revolution. The only difference is that at least in feudalism, you knew whose serf you were. I know that I am the serf on some corrupt New York businessman's fief. When Bastille Day comes, in the words of Dale Earnhardt, "Payback's a bitch, son."

Open Letter to Senator Durbin

I beg you: do not vote for Waxman-Markey. Do not even think about it. As the weather gets hotter this year, I dread the summer of 2010 with Waxman-Markey. No air conditioning? Please tell me you are joking.
I was reading Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the part where the crew is chastised by death itself.

The naked hulk alongside came,
And the twain were casting dice;
"The game is done! I've won! I've won"
Quoth she, and whistles thrice.

How do you think Americans will feel when they cannot afford to stay cool? What civil disorders will arise? Do not win a victory that ultimately causes suffering and death.

Does Barack Obama Have A Concept of Freedom?

The fact that Oh Blah Blah's only coherent foreign policy theme is conciliation with Islam does not bode well for his domestic policy. After all, if America does not stand for personal freedom in Iran (where he thinks a fraudulent election is OK) or Turkey (where he is helping a mullahcracy take over) or Afghanistan (where he says he does not want victory) it does not look good for freedom in America either.

What happened with the abortive revolution in Iran is the foreign policy equivalent of what Bush did with Hurricane Katrina. Oh Blah Blah dropped the ball. He could not have helped the Iranians, but he could have mustered some of the outrage he expressed over the murder of abortionist George Tiller.

Do you really want economic policy created by a man who is comfortable with Islamic theocracy? What do you think? As always, comments are welcome.

Those Pesky Rules!

"All the ancient, honest juridical principles and institutions of England are so many clogs to check and retard the headlong course of violence and oppression."

Edmund Burke
Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol

This Should Go Without Saying

As we await the elevation of Tyne Daly to the Supreme Court, Estase would like to discuss the "legal" philosophy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. No, it isn't enough merely to make up American laws from the bench, but Ginsburg believes we now need to let legislatures in other countries vote on American laws. In an address to the American Society of International Law, Ginsburg said we, "should not . . . abandon the effort to learn what we can from the experience and good thinking foreign sources may convey." This is not a philosophical debating society we are talking about. This is the law of the United States, and looking for clever sophisms to replace our laws strikes at our republican democracy. How about speech laws from Red China, or family law from Iran? Why have a U.S. Congress if the Supreme Court is going to force us to live under other nations' laws anyway? The main reason against this is the reason we fought England to form our country- - the founding fathers did not want us to live under laws we had no voice in creating. So unless we get to vote for politicians in Sweden, Swedish laws should have no bearing on our laws.

China Confidential: Turkey's 'Trial of the Century' Begins

China Confidential: Turkey's 'Trial of the Century' Begins
Is it really surprising that the pro-Islam Hawaii Forty-Four is on the side of the would-be mullahcrats?

Limits of Judicial Review

"Nor should it ever be lost sight of, that the government of the United States is one of limited and enumberated powers; and that a departure from the true import and sense of its powers is, pro tanto, the establishment of a new constitution. It is doing for the people, what they have not chosen to do for themselves. (p. 144) Constitutions are not designed for metaphysical or logical subtleties, for niceties of expression, for critical propriety, for elaborate shades of meaning, or for the exercise of philosophical acuteness, or juridical research. (p157) To resign an exposition so sanctioned, would be to deliver over the country to interminable doubts; and to make the constitution, not a written system of government, but a false and delusive text, upon which every successive age of speculatists and statesmen might build any system, suited to their own views and opinions. (p 378)."

Justice Joseph Story
Commentaries on the Constitution

Vested Interests

The bailouts at Chrysler and General Motors remind me of the classic vested interests case, the Charles Bridge Case. In the early 1800's, a group of investors chose to build a toll bridge to replace a ferry in Boston. The local government then made this investment useless by building a free bridge over the same river. The employees and stockholders in Ford Motors are about to be screwed in the exact same way. Their investment is about to be damaged or lost due to Oh Blah Blah's choice to subsidize the production of "eco-friendly" cars. These cars will compete with Ford products, and Chrysler and General Motors will be relieved of the pressure to do what all companies in a capitalist system are expected to do- - make a profit.

The Spirit of 89

Where does the wording and concepts of the American Constitution come from? Some of it comes nearly verbatim from the Britisn Declaration of Rights.
British By raising and keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace without the consent of Parliament and quartering soldiers contrary to the law.
American No Soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house, without consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

British By causing several good subjects, being Protestant, to be disarmed at the same time when Papists were both armed and employed contrary to the law. That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law.
American A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

British That it is the right of the subjects to petition the King, and all commitments and prosecutions for petitioning are illegal. And that for redress of grievances, and for the amending, strengthening and preserving of the laws parliaments ought to be frequently held.
American Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

British That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of parliament.
American They [Congressmen and Senators] shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony, and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

British That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed; nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
American Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

The International Community Did Not Make Us

The right of the Iranian People to not be beaten or murdered does not come from "consensus" or "norms."

President Algernon SIdney

President Obama needs to stop using pedantic language about the Iranian tyrants violating "international norms," and instead admit that they

China Confidential: Abandoned by America, Iranians are Massacred

China Confidential: Abandoned by America, Iranians are Massacred

Forcing Morals Upon Others

The Christian Congressman took the floor of the House amid boos and objections. The opposition called him a fanatic and said he was trying to force his religion on others. Any one who wanted to debate this right would be stopped by a coalition of those who supported it. The Congressman tried to oppose the right, and claimed it was unconstitutional to suppress debate in this way. The oppostion claimed their right was part of the Constitution. This did actually happen. The date was May 26, 1836. The Congressman was John Quincy Adams. And the right was slavery.

The Strange Death of Humor

The disgusting sexual assault by Sasha Baron Cohen against Eminem at the MTV Movie Awards points out something about American comedy. It isn't funny. The trend started with degenerates like Lenny Bruce and George Carlin, neither of whom could say anything without filthy language and gross references to sex. Movies such as American Pie included jokes about sick things like the ingestion of semen. It has moved past comedy now- - when Rachel Maddow referred to the Tea Parties she referred to them with an oral sex reference. Is it possible for anyone to get a laugh with the kind of word play humor Groucho Marx specialized in? Does anyone wish to treat any subject with taste anymore?

Involuntary Association, Part Three

"In some cases the subordinate relations are voluntary, in others they are necessary, but the duties are all compulsive. When we marry, the choice is voluntary, but the duties are not a matter of choice; they are dictated by the nature of the situation. Dark and unscrutable are the ways by which we come into the world."
Edmund Burke, "An Appeal From the New to
the Old Whigs"

Making College Count, Part Two

"The whole trouble is that the American system from beginning to end is gauged to the run-of-mine American rather than to the picked American. The run-of-mine Frenchman does not get any nearer the University than the adjacent woodpile. He does not get into the equivalent of our undergraduate college. If he gets through the French equivalent of our secondary school, he does so by what our ancestors called the uncovenanted mercies of Providence, and every step of his progress is larded with bitter sweat. The chief reason why my Italian friend found no educated American under sixty years of age is that forty years ago the run-of-mine American did not, as a rule, get much nearer the founts of the higher learning than the run-of-mine Frenchman does to-day, and for the same reason- - he could not, speaking strictly, "make the grade." The newspapers some time ago quoted the president of Colombia as saying that durin the past half-century the changes in school and college instruction, as to both form and content, have been so complete that it is probably safe to say that to-day no student in Columbia College, and perhaps no professor on its faculty, could pass satisfactorily the examination-tests that were set for admission to Columbia College fifty years ago."
Albert J. Nock, 1937

Appeasement Does Not Work

The foreign policy of Oh Blah Blah seems to be based on the idea that if we can just give enough money and sympathy to our enemies, particularly those who attacked us in 2001, they will decide that we are nice people and stop killing Americans. This is the logic behind nonsense like using American money to rebuild what Israel destroyed in its war in Gaza.

Unfortunately, the Catholic Church in America seems to believe the same sort of thing. If the bishops can flatter secondary liberals by endorsing their socialist vision as a "consistant life ethic" or a "seamless garment", they will stop doing the things the Church disapproves of. The most recent example of this is Notre Dame honoring Hawaii Forty-Four despite the fact that he is not only pro-choice, but has also declared war on the Catholic hospital system. Obama and his allies will not reconsider their policies simply because America's premier Catholic university did something nice for him.

Lockean Liberalism vs. The Political Commercial Complex

As shown in the Declaration of Rights, the idea that we are the masters of our own fate led to the belief that citizens have the right to arms for the defense of their own lives. Not only do advocates of entangling politics and commerce not support the Second Amendment, they now apparently believe that patriotism means sacrificing not for Mother, Country, and God, but for Chrysler. Obama solomnly declares private businessmen should accept 39 cents on the dollar because "we all have to make sacrifices." Funny, I do not see the UAW making sacrifices- - they are making out like bandits. The Oh Blah Blah way is making everyone but his political supporters suffer.

Is it any wonder that our masters will not trust us with guns when they assume the private investor should suffer for the good of Chrysler and the UAW?

The Declaration of Rights, 1689

Whereas the late King James the Second, by the assistance of divers evil councillors, judges, and ministers employed by him, did endeavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion and the laws and liberties of the kingdom.
1By assuming and exercising a power of dispensing with and suspending of laws, and the execution of laws, without the consent of parliament.
2By committing and prosecuting divers worthy prelates for humbly petitioning to be excused concurring to the said assumed power.
3By issuing and causing to be executed a commission under the Great Seal for erecting a court called the Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes.
4By levying money for and to the use of the crown by pretence of prerogative, for other time and in other manner than the same was granted to parliament.
5BY RAISING AND KEEPING A STANDING ARMY WITHIN THIS KINGDOM IN TIME OF PEACE WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF PARLIAMENT AND QUARTERING SOLDIERS CONTRARY TO THE LAW.
6BY CAUSING SEVERAL GOOD SUBJECTS, BEING PROTESTANTS, TO BE DISARMED AT THE SAME TIME WHEN PAPISTS WERE BOTH ARMED AND EMPLOYED CONTRARY TO THE LAW.
7By violating the freedom of election by members to serve in parliament.
8By prosecutions in the Court of King's Bench for matters and causes cognizable only in parlia-ment ; and by divers other arbitrary and illegal courses.
9And whereas of late years, partial, corrupt, and unqualified persons have been returned and served on juries in trials, and particularly divers jurors in trials for high treason, which were not freeholders.
10Excessive bail hath been required of persons committed in criminal cases, to elude the benefit of laws made for the liberty of the subjects.
11And excessive fines have been imposed; and illegal and cruel punishments inflicted.
12And several grants and promises made of fines and forfeitures, before any conviction or judgment against the persons, upon whom the same were to be levied.

All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known laws and statutes and freedom of this realm. And whereas the said late King James the Second having abdicated the government, and the throne being thereby vacant, his Highness the Prince of Orange (whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the glorious instrument of delivering this kingdom from popery and arbitrary power) did (by the advice of the lords spiritual and temporal, and divers principal persons of the Commons) cause letters to be written to the lords spiritual and temporal, being Protestants; and other letters to the several counties, cities, universities, boroughs, and Cinque Ports, for the choosing of such persons to represent them, as were of right to be sent to parliament, to meet and sit at Westminster upon January 22, 1689. . .

And thereupon the said lords spiritual and temporal and Commons. . . do in the first place (as their ancestors in like case have usually done) for the vindicating and asserting their ancient rights and liberties, declare: 1That the pretended power of suspending of laws, or the execution of laws, by regal authority, without consent of parliament, is illegal.
2That the pretended power of dispensing with laws, or the execution of laws, by regal authority, as it hath been assumed and exercised of late, is illegal.
3That the commission for erecting the late Courts os Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes and courts of the like nature are illegal and pernicious.
4That levying money for or to the use of the Crown, by pretence of prerogative, without grant of parliament, for longer time, or in other manner than the same is, or shall be granted, is illegal.
5THAT IT IS THE RIGHT OF THE SUBJECTS TO PETITION THE KING, AND ALL COMMITMENTS AND PROSECUTIONS FOR SUCH PETITIONING ARE ILLEGAL.
6That the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with the consent of parliament, is against law.
7THAT THE SUBJECTS WHICH ARE PROTESTANTS MAY HAVE ARMS FOR THEIR DEFENCE SUITABLE TO THEIR CONDITIONS AND AS ALLOWED BY LAW.
8That election of members of parliament ought to be free.
9THAT THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND DEBATES OR PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT OUGHT NOT TO BE IMPEACHED OR QUESTIONED IN ANY COURT OR PLACE OUT OF PARLIAMENT.
10THAT EXCESSIVE BAIL OUGHT NOT TO BE REQUIRED, NOR EXCESSIVE FINES IMPOSED; NOR CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENTS INFLICTED.
11That jurors ought to be duly impanelled and returned, and jurors which pass upon men in trials for high treason ought to be freeholders.
12That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of particular persons before conviction are illegal and void.
13AND THAT FOR REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES, AND FOR THE AMENDING, STRENGTHENING AND PRESERVING OF THE LAWS, PARLIAMENTS OUGHT TO BE FREQUENTLY HELD.

And they do claim, demand, and insist upon all and singular the premisses, as their undoubted rights and liberties; and that no declaration, judgments, doings or proceedings, to the predjudice of the people in any of the said premises, ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into consequence of example. To which demands of their rights they are particularly encouraged by the declaration of His Highness the Prince of Orange, as being the only means for obtaining a full redress and remedy therein. Having therefore an entire confidence that his said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the deliverance so far advanced by him, and will still preserve them from the violation of their rights, which they have here asserted, and from all other attempts upon their religion, rights, and liberties. The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, assembled at Westminster do resolve that William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange be, and be declared, King and Queen of England, France, and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging, to hold the Crown and royal dignity of the said kingdoms and dominions to them the said Prince and Princess during their lives, and the life of the survivor of them; and that the sole and full exercise of regal power be only in, and executed by the said Prince of Orange, in the names of the said Prince and Princess, during their joint lives; and after their deceases, the said Crown and royal dignity of the said Kingdoms and dominions to be to the heirs of the body of the said Princess; and for default of such issue to the Princess Anne of Denmark and the heirs of her body; and for default of such issue to the heirs of the body of the said Prince of Orange. And the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the commons do pray the said Prince and Princess to accept the same accordingly.

Kristol Clear

"The enemy of liberal capitalism today is not so much socialism as nihilism. Only liberal capitalism doesn't see nihilism as an enemy, but rather as just another splendid business opportunity."

"The New Left, though it echoes this proposition when it is convenient for its purposes, is actually dedicated to the counterbelief- - which is the preliberal proposition- - that to be good is to be free. In the war between these two heresies, the idea of a free society that is in some specific sense virtuous (the older bourgeois ideal) and the ideal of a good community that is in some specific sense free (the older "socialist" ideal as represented, say, by European social democracy) are both emasculated; and the very possibility of a society that can be simeotaneously virtuous and free, i.e. that organically weds order to liberty, becomes ever more remote."

"The danger is rather that the large corporation will be thoroughly integrated into the public sector, and lose its private character altogether. The transformation of American capitalism that this would represent - - a radical departure from the quasi-bourgeois "mixed economy"to a system that could be fairly described as kind of "state capitalism"- - does constitute a huge potential threat to the individual liberties Americans have traditionally enjoyed."

All of the above are from Irving Kristol, and all are prophetic of what Obama is doing to America.

Unlaw

Here's another quote, this one being by a Dr. Freeman in the Fortnightly Review of September of 1871.

"We have reached the state which our fathers called Unlaw, not the state where law is silent, but the state where law is turned about and become its own opposite, the state when the institutions which were meant to declare right, and truth, and freedom, had been turned into engines of wrong, and falsehood, and bondage."

Three Political Experts

Sometimes a person's following has nothing to do with how much sense they make. Mao Zedong was not only a psychotically anti-American communist, his theory that the will to be wealthy and productive was all that China needed to be wealthy and productive lead to famine and decades of poverty. His thoughts would be of only historical interest if it weren't for the fact that many on the left still hold them. One wonders if Oh Blah Blah hasn't adopted these thoughts, since his Norman Vincent Peale economics seems to be that you can spend four trillion dollars and have economic growth by mouthing the words "fiscal responsibility."

Jesse Jackson said at the 1992 Democratic Convention that the Virgin Mary should have had an abortion. This would just be an odd religious belief if so many didn't see Jackson as a "black leader."

Ann Coulter confronts the insanity of Muslims claiming everyone should be Muslim by the insanity that everyone should be Christian. People still invite this Hillary Clinton fan to speak about what she thinks conservatism means.

The Confused and Scuffling Bustle of Local Agency

Barry Obama (aka Hawaii Forty-Four) holding a conference on fiscal responsibility is like Michael Phelps and A-Rod going on a high school speaking tour to keep people off drugs.

The trillion dollar "stimulus" plan is a bizarre economic expiriment that will either cause a recovery or massive inflation. It's kind of like the detonation of the first atom bomb at Alamagordo, New Mexico in 1944. Physicists weren't sure the bomb would not destroy the whole earth. Something would have to be pretty dire to justify this kind of gamble. Estase would like to know who will benefit from the high speed rail between LA and Vegas. Not all spending is investment.

"Sir, the very man, of all others, who has the deepest interest in a sound currency, and who suffers most by mischievous legislation in money matters, is the man who earns his daily bread by his daily toil." - Daniel Webster

Good Job, People

The first actions of Oh Blah Blah seem to be aimed at furthering the pro-abortion agenda by forcing pro-life people to pay for abortions overseas. What's more, Oh Blah Blah supports the atrocious Freedom of Choice Act, which would foist abortion on Americans on a whole new scale. Reports also say that Obama wishes to force all doctors to perform abortions.

This is a message to all you Catholics who supported this man. The change you voted for has come. It is a change from moderately pro-life laws to ones that threaten life from conception to some unknown point after birth. (See my previous blog "When Does Life Begin?".) Why didn't you find out about this man before you struck a blow against the right of doctors not to perform abortions? Why didn't you care that he had a 100% rating from NARAL? How will you feel when the Church is forced to leave the field of healthcare in the same way that conscience has forced it to leave the adoption field? I hope you are all happy, because I'm not.

Peace for Israel vs. Pieces of Israel

Isn't it amazing how people can apologize for Hamas rocket attacks, and turn around and accuse the recipients of these rockets of "terrorism" ? Also, note the Palestinian praise for the Nazi Holocaust. It will be interesting to see how pacifist Oh Blah Blah responds to this mess. Estase figures the foreign policy of Hawaii Forty-Four will be that of MoveOn.org: do nothing and whine if it turns out badly.

Flexibility in Government

"A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation."
Edmund Burke
Reflections on the Revolution in France
Penguin edition, p. 106

Battle Over Soul of the Republican Party

Why is it that no one was ridiculed more than Sarah Palin in this election? From the beginning she was treated with contempt by comedians for her looks, her G-rated vocabulary, and her social conservatism. Make no mistake about it- - a coalition of Democrats and secular Republicans have set out to make a laughing stock out of Palin. The reason is obvious. Palin represents the Religious Right, a group that Democrats and secular Republicans would like to shut out of American politics. Thus, lying about how stupid Palin is mirrors how stupid those on the Religious Right supposedly are. This was also what happened to Mike Huckabee. Pro-lifers are treated with a skepticism otherwise reserved for animal rights extremists like PETA. Palin is a threat to would-be 2012 nominees like Mitt Romney. Incidentally, has Mitt Romney decided whether he is pro-abortion or pro-life? Some Republicans would like to exchange conservatism for a doctrine of wild-west capitalism. These Republicans think they can win on taxation, but they're wrong: the only future for Republicans is for them to stand on the side of cultural conservatism. Abortion and gay marriage matter, and any Republican who doubts this does so at his own peril.

Shooting Yourself In the Foot

How can you even think about voting for Oh Blah Blah if you are Catholic? Please Catholics, go to Daily Kos and see what they have to say about your faith. These people regard your church as being something twisted and irrelevant. Oh Blah Blah is the best friend the abortionists have ever had. This man is more pro-abortion than Hillary Clinton. Wake up!

Modern Day Biddle

Back in the 1830's the government still hadn't gotten into the business of regulating the economy. One of the first attempts at this was the Bank of the United States, bane of the plutophobic Andrew Jackson. When Jackson denied the bank's utility, and took measures to kill it, the head of the bank, Nicolas Biddle, decided to prove the bank's importance by calling in loans to hurt the United States economy. Biddle started a panic, and, sure enough, Biddle hurt the economy. Historians have long judged Biddle to be something of a traitor, and Estase feels that history will take a similar view of Bela Pelosi. Pelosi flexed her political muscle by making a speech denouncing the rescue plan for the financial system. Just as with Biddle, it worked. Also like Biddle, Pelosi couldn't have cared less about the fact that the economy was going down the tubes Wednesday. She could have used her power to prevent the stock market hit that wiped out people's savings, but she decided to delay the rescue plan that was so important, and so urgently needed. Bela Pelosi acted like a spoiled brat, not a responsible statesman. If things get worse, Americans should know who to blame.

Does Life Begin at Birth?

The thing about Oh-Blah-Blah that scares me the most is his ambivalence about when human life begins. Estase believes that it starts at conception, but many abortion supporters consider birth as the start of a child's life. Oh-Blah-Blah claims ethicists (Peter Singer???) are undecided on when life begins. When is that point Barack? Is it two weeks after birth? Is it two months after birth? Is it when a child enters Kindergarten? This is really scary.

Merely Religious?

Recently seen on the back of a car- "I don't need to be threatened with Hell to be moral." Uh Huh. Another sign of someone claiming morality without explaining what they consider immoral is Plagiarist Joe Biden. The Plagiarist said that although he believes life begins at conception, he is unwilling to support this basic piece of human decency because he considers it a "religious" belief. Abortion is a basic question of right and wrong, and bringing basic morality into politics is fundamentally different than making Protestants eat fish on Friday. The Plagiarist is not providing anything more than window dressing for Oh Blah Blah, who shows signs of being the most rabidly pro-abortion presidential candidate of all time.