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.

Making College Count

WHen Hillary Clinton claimed to be working for "hard-working Americans", Oh Blah Blah's camp claimed this was a racist code-word. (Which betrays a certain pessimism about African Americans and their work ethicc from Oh Blah Blah.) Tonight Michelle used the phrase herself to describe the people that Oh Blah Blah works for. Michelle never broached the issue of higher education, and why Oh Blah Blah thinks everyone deserves a Bachelor's Degree. What will it mean to have a college education in a world in which it has been dumbed down to the point where it means no more than a Hiigh School education does now. A better goal would be promoting young people studying math and science, leaving non-entities like gender studies and African American studies behind as a relic of the politically correct 90s.

Stupid Conservatives

Apparently, some conservatives are actually planning to vote for Oh-Blah-Blah. Obviously, these people missed watching him in action during a hearing about the Iraq War. On the panel were General Petraus and an official from the State Department. The man from the State Department mentioned that Iran is helping the insurgency with men and weapons. Oh-Blah-Blah said with alacrity "Don't you think you should tell the Iraqi government?" The idea of someone so stupid or so out of touch becoming president should scare any conservative, or intelligent liberal for that matter.

National Interests

"If we do not permit our members to act on 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
1780 Guildhall Speech

Economic Recovery

"Those who have much, need much; and, on the contrary, those who limit their possessions to their natural needs, rather than to their excessive ambitions, need very little. "

Boethius
The Consolation of Philosophy

(Green trans.)
Book Two, Prose Five

Ahmadinejad?

"Behold, thou art with child, and then shall bring forth a son, and shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard the cry of thy humiliation. He shall be a rude man, his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him."
Genesis 16:8
Quoted in De Fuga et Inventione
Philo of Alexandria

Monkey Business

A n Utah firm planned to introduce a sock monkey made to resemble Oh-Blah-Blah, raising a firestorm of anger over the racism of comparing Oh-Blah-Blah to a monkey. Ten years ago, I would have been angered by this, but I am not now. Over the past eight years, criticism of George W. Bush has been so ugly, so unfair, and so exaggerated that this seems almost what a Democratic candidate deserves. First Bush was called stupid. Then he became subhuman- - another blogger refers to him as The Smirking Chimp. After that, he became Bush The Retard. What's more, Bush has been called Hitler. WHy is it that liberals can call Bush whatever they like, but Oh-Blah-Blah is untouchable? If the Republican candidate were black, would it be OK to call him a monkey? Apparently.

No Birth, No Birthright

Barack Obama has stated that a college education is the birthright of every American. But how can you on one hand support unrestricted abortion on one hand, and then say that every baby has the right to higher education? Can you really say that before birth one has no rights, but upon birth you are owed your higher education?

Grandstanding "Conservative"

Madame Disraeli has announced that she will campaign for Hillary Clinton if McCain is the Republican candidate. Well, that makes perfect sense. If the present occupant of the White House hasn't been enough of a liberal for Mde. Disraeli, now she wants the next President to be even worse. Whatever else you can say about John McCain, at least he opposes abortion. If Disraeli thinks Hillary is better, she either needs to out herself as a liberal, or seek psycho-analysis. Hilary conservative? Come on!