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."