Switcheroo Theories, Real and Imagined

       Polar shifts in politics only occur when extreme changes in the practice of politics make the foundational principles of the party outdated.
       The actual switcheroo came in Nineteenth-Century Britain, where Benjamin Disraeli turned Toryism from an ideology that gave unlimited power to the Crown into a Conservative party.  Eighteenth-Century Tories were unremittingly hostile to commercial life, and considered landed gentry the only fit wealthy.  Disraeli romanticized pre-Reformation England, and had Charles I in his pantheon of Tory saints.  Old Tory ideology was about King over Parliament;  new Tory ideology was a rejection of Utilitarian attempts at utopia.
       The imaginary switcheroo came in Nineteenth or Twentieth-Century America.  The Republican Party, after opposing extension of slavery, the Dred Scott decision that black people were farm animals, and secession, supposedly changed place with the pro-slavery Democratic Party.  Perhaps it was after Charles Sumner authored the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.  It must have been after a Democratic president thought "Birth of a Nation" was a great film, and re-segregated the military.  As a matter of fact, black Americans were reliably Republican until FDR's presidency.
       Unlike the actual switcheroo, there was a genuine political change that caused Toryism to become Conservative (and Whig to become Labour).  The Reform Act of 1835 made more Britons entitled to vote.  This, combined with post-1688 Parliamentary ascendency made the Toryism of Henry St. John and Jonathan Swift an antique curiosity.  Republican ideology, being a continuation of old Federalist principles, has never been obsolete.

Left-Wing Philistines

       A few months ago, I did a post called "Right Wing Philistines."  In the interest of equal treatment, Estase will explore the similar liberals.  
       Left-wing Philistines think the solution to every problem is a new scheme for redistributing wealth.  The Bernie Sanders types are unconcerned with any issue save the fact that some people have money, and they don't.  Where Right-wing Philistines want lower taxes, Left-wing Philistines hate wealth and those who have it.  All their posturing about the 1% is like some Carlyle stereotype of the French Revolution.  These cultural Marxists are the new heart and soul of the Democratic Party.  Much of this arises from the fact that twenty-somethings are ignorant of the horrors that Soviet Russia and Maoist China wreaked upon the people of those countries.
       Extreme leftists hold equality as a higher value than liberty;  they would rather everyone suffer extreme poverty (like Venezuela) than live in a system where people on the top support those at the bottom.  Thus, the Left-wing Philistine might be compared to the proverbial story of killing the goose that laid golden eggs.                                                                          

"Robin Hood: Genesis of a Whig Myth" Revisited

       People with a legal degree usually assume they are an expert on everything.  Mark Levin, on his radio show, opined that Robin Hood was somehow Marxist, as he (as Levin saw it) took from the rich and gave to the poor.  Levin seems unaware of British political history, and took no note of the context of the myth.
       The villains in Robin Hood are the landed gentry, the Church and the Sheriff of Nottingham.  In the story, they are responsible for living high of the hog while the common people lived in poverty.
         In eighteenth century Britain, Tories were the defenders of the landed gentry, the Church of England, and were known for calling the emerging commercial class thieves.  The respectable way for people to be wealthy was the ownership of large amounts of land;  this, of course, was not open to the vast majority of Britons.  To the consternation of this commercial class, the Tory intelligentsia ( Jonathan Swift et al) considered traders and artisans thieves and riff-raff.
           Mr. Levin's theory that Robin Hood is Marxist ignores the opproprium that Torys attached to commercial life, and seems to ignore the fact that landed gentry are not necessarily the equivalent to rich Americans.  Rich Americans have no genealogical entitlement to their wealth.  Being born poor does not mean staying poor in America.  Becoming a businessman never meant being treated like a criminal (except on MSNBC!).  Thus, unlike eighteenth century Britons, we would not see despoiling rich people as tit for tat the way Whigs did at that time.  So, unless Mr. Levin is among those who see eighteenth century Whigs as the predecessors of Karl Marx ( and there are, admittedly, such people) he should recognize Robin Hood as a fantasy for commercial people sick of being treated like criminals for their efforts.

Black Friday

Bonfire of the Stereotypes

       The trinity of secondary liberal evils is racism, sexism and homophobia.  Anything perceived as violating this trinity is pure evil, and must be eradicated.
        The Simpsons is a left-leaning animated comedy that has been on TV since the late 1980s.  Based entirely on stereotypical characters, it is television's longest running series.  The main character is Homer Simpson, a stereotypical fat dullard.  His boss is Montgomery Burns, a stereotypical evil rich person modeled on John D. Rockefeller.  The family doctor is based on Cliff Huxtable, the main character from The Cosby Show.  Simpson's neighbors are the Flanders, a negative stereotype of Christians.  His bartender is Moe Syzlak, a stereotype lowlife.  Recurring in the show is a batch of illiterate hillbillies.  In short, The Simpsons is based on stereotypical characters.
        After years of lambasting rich people, nuclear power, children's TV, Christians, rural people, ad nauseum, suddenly the left hates the stereotypical Indian character Apu, who runs Springfield's convenience store.  Proving one thing:  stereotypical comedy is only funny when applied to groups the left is allowed to mock!  Comedy Central has created an entire industry ridiculing the right, with a gallery of faux Fox News hosts whose entire schtick is how stupid Republicans are.  Saturday Night Live stopped being funny when Tina Fey turned it into a broadcast-TV version of Jon Stewart's The Daily Show.  For the left (and this includes the people who make The Simpsons, which includes leftist commentator Harry Shearer), comedy is politics conducted through other means.  Depicting Republicans as meeting in a spooky castle from Frankenstein is funny;  thirty years in, they decide that an Indian running a convenience store is hopelessly racist.  One can only laugh at rich people, fat people, stupid people, etc.  This is part of the politicization of comedy.  
       While I'm on a tear, I'd like to point out another thing the show did that Estase was deeply offended by.  Ned Flanders in one episode shows his sons a cartoon about blowing up an abortion clinic.  Nobody complained to the network about stereotyping Christians and pro-lifers in this way.  Hank Azaria never beat his breast in contrition about that skit.  Because any offensive stereotype that is aimed at the right is acceptable and funny, and any stereotype that isn't aimed at the right is offensive and racist.  I shudder to think what these modern comedy mavens would make of the Marx Brothers, whose comedy included send-ups of Jewish opera stars, Jewish doctors, the medical profession, etc.  Mel Brooks would find it impossible to make most of his films given the repressive pseudomorality that prevails today.

Lewis Eblesizer (1799-1884)

       Lewis Eblesizer of Blandinsville township {ed.-McDonough Co., IL}, a man prominent and well-known for years throughout the Northwest part of McDonough, died at his home Friday morning last at 3 o'clock.  He had been in poor health for the past three or four years, his disease being an affliction of the heart.  For six months he has grown worse rapidly, and during a month or more his death has been expected almost daily.  Funeral services were conducted at Blandinsville Saturday, after which the remains were buried in the Liberty burial ground northeast of town some two or three miles.  He was about 85 years old.  Deceased was born, we believe, in Indiana.  He migrated from near New Albany in that state, about the year 1839, coming to Illinois in company with the families of Andrew Huff and Jacob Keithley.  The deceased was then unmarried.  Mr. Huff and Eblesizer first settled in Rushville, Schuyler county, where for a few years they carried on a plow shop.  About 1844 or 1845 they came to McDonough and settled upon the land where the deceased spent the remaining portion of his life.  Deceased still single, boarded with Mr. Huff, and the two spent the time in improving their land in the summer, and blacksmithing in the winter.  Some years later, was united in marriage with Elizabeth Nance, whose parents resided in Hancock County, near LaHarpe.  The fruits of their marriage was one child, a son, C.C. Eblesizer, now some thirty years old and married.  The wife of deceased survives him.  Mr. Eblesizer was a first class farmer in every respect, a man of strong convictions, yet scrupulously honest withal.  He was a kind neighbor, a warm friend, a man whose living was a benefit to the community in which he lived.

The Macomb Journal Volume 29, Number 21, 21 FEB 1884

Honored Relic of War

       Geddes Post No. 142, G.A.R. has a relic in the shape of a beautiful silk flag--or the remains of a flag-- that was presented to Co. C, 78th Ill. Vol. Infantry by the ladies of Blandinsville in June, 1862, the day the company, under the command of Captain Hume, left for Macomb to go into camp in Springfield, Ill.
      The flag cost $60, and was a handsome one.  The money to purchase it was raised by the ladies of Blandinsville , and the presentation speech was made by Miss Joanna Buzzel, who was at that time teaching in the public schools of that village, and the lady is still living in the eastern part of the state, and there are still a few of the donors living in and around Blandinsville.  But of the 90 men who marched away under the bright folds of the beautiful flag but one resides in Blandinsville and one in La Harpe.  The company carried the flag to Springfield and it was used as a regimental banner for several months, when the government presented the regiment with the national colors.  Captain Hume then sent the banner home, and at his death a few years ago the flag was given to Charles Spielman, the only survivor of the company then residing in Blandinsville, who kept it until last fall, when he presented it to Comrade Elisha Hamilton of this place {ed.-LaHarpe}, who served in Co. C, and he presented it to the G.A.R. post, and it is kept in their hall.
       How many of the 90 men who marched away with the flag almost 43 years ago are alive today?  We doubt if anyone can tell, or what they endured during their three years' service no one can portray, for the 78th was a gallant regiment and the long list of dead and wounded as shown by the Adjutant General's report, shows that they did their full share in defense of the old flag and preservation of the Union, and those who are still alive are old and broken in health from their exposure in southern swamps or from wounds received in battle.
       Taking the muster roll we find that almost 30% of those who marched away that June morning were either killed, wounded or disabled before the war closed.  The records show the following casualties--27 out of 90.  But 35 of the original members of the company served to the expiration of their three years' service, and were mustered out June 7, 1865.
       Capt. Charles Hume resigned December 18, 1861.
        Lieut. Oliver P. Cartright resigned Oct. 4, 1864.
        George W. Blandin, first lieutenant, who was promoted to Captain, was killed at Kennesaw Mountain in that awful charge, June 27, 1864, where 10,000 men fell in less than 30 minutes.
         Marion D.M. Bond was wounded and discharged in May 1865.
        J.H. Bently was discharged April 6, 1865, on account of disability.
        Marshall J. Cline was killed Aug. 7, 1864, in front of Atlanta, Ga.
         George W. Dowell died at Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 29, 1863.
         John S. Forrest was killed at Jonesboro, Ga., Sept. 1, 1864.
          William W. Harmon died at Savanna, Ga., Feb. 21, 1865.
          John E. James fell with Captain Blandin at Kennesaw Mountain June 27, 1864.
          Thomas Lindsey died at Chattanooga, Tenn., June 25, 1864.
           Jacob H. Michaels was among the killed at Kennesaw Mountain June 27, 1864.
           Michael Menley was promoted to Sergeant and was killed at Atlanta, Ga., Sept. 4, 1864.
            Charles H. Magie died at Nashville, Tenn., Aug. 19, 1863.
           John Monahan died at Chattanooga, Tenn., April 3, 1864.
          Charles L. Norris also died at Chattanooga, Tenn., Nov. 6, 1864.
           John W. Rush was also among the killed at Jonesboro, Ga., Sept. 1, 1864, at which time every man who answered to the name John was killed.
            Sylvester Ruddell died at Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 30, 1863.
            Marion Sperry was discharged March 7, 1864, on account of disability.
            Cyrell Taft gave up his life amid the awful shot and shell at Jonesboro, Ga.
             James Tipton was discharged Nov. 11, 1863, on account of disability.
            Richard L. Terry lost a leg in the siege of Atlanta in 1864.
             Henry Venning was killed at Jonesboro, Ga., Sept. 1, 1864.
            James T. Doyle was discharged Feb. 1, 1864, on account of disability.
            John Duncan was discharged and was mustered out of the service March 13, 1863.
             Sylvester McFall was discharged on account of wounds Dec. 19, 1864.
             James O'Cain was discharged Sept. 13, 1864.
             They sleep in unknown and unmarked graves from the Ohio river to the Atlantic ocean, but they are not forgotten in the homes they left and the vacant chair is still a cherished relic of their memory while they await the coming of their comrades and friends to greet them on the other shore.

Blandinsville Star-Gazette 23 FEB 1905  

Macomb (IL) War Dead ca. 1885

From the Macomb Journal 28 MAY 1885:

       Buried in Oakwood Cemetery:
Col. Carter VanVleck, 78th ILL Inft.: enlisted Sept. 1, 1862;  died Aug. 23, 1864 of wounds received at Atlanta, Ga. a few days before.
Major William L. Broaddus, 78th Ill.;  enlisted Sept. 15, 1862;  killed Sept. 20, 1863 at the battle of Chicamauga.
Capt. David P. Wells, Co. B, 16th Ill.;  enlisted May 24, 1861;  died at home, in service, April 7, 1863.
Lieut. William P. Pearson, Co. C, 84th Ill.;  enlisted June 5, 1862; died since discharged.
Surgeon Wm. A. Huston, 137th Ill.; enlisted June 6, 1864; died in service June 25, 1864.
Henry Bailey, Co. B, 16th Ill.; enlisted May 24, 1861; died since discharged.
Wm. H. Keener, Co. B, 16th Ill.; enlisted April 1861; died since discharged.
A.J. Dillon, Co. B, 16th Ill.; enlisted Feb. 8, 1862; died since discharged.
George Wetherhold, Co. B, 16th Ill.; enlisted May 24, 1861; died since discharged.
Wm. H. Randolph, deputy provost marshal, ninth district; killed while in discharge of duty.
Edward S. Piper, Sergeant, Co. C, 84th Ill; enlisted June 16, 1862; died in service at Manchester, Tenn., June __, 1863.
Wilbur C. Clark, Co. C, 151st Ill.; died since discharged.
J. Grear Morgan, Co. H, 2nd Ill. Cav.;  enlisted Aug 6, 1861; died since discharged.
Parmenium Hamilton, Sergeant, Co. I, 78th Ill.;  enlisted Aug. 1, 1862;  died in service of wounds, Oct. 15, 1863.
Moses A. McCandless, Co. I, 78th Ill.;  enlisted Aug 4, 1862;  killed at Griggsville, Tenn. Nov. 29, 1862.
Josiah Swigart, Co. C, 84th Ill.;  enlisted June 19, 1863;  died since discharged.
John A. Eyre, Sergeant, Co. C, 84th Ill.;  enlisted June 13, 1862;  died in the service.
Samuel Patrick, Co. A., 84th Ill.;  enlisted Aug. 8, 1862;  died of wounds.
B.F. Clark, Co. A, 84th Ill.;  died since discharged.
Robert Barry, Co. C, 151st Ill.;  enlisted Feb. 24, 1865;  died since discharged.
John Farwell, West Point cadet;  died in service, Oct. 17, 1867.
James McClelland, Sergeant Co. B, 10th Mo.;  enlisted Aug. 2, 1861;  killed at Corinth, Miss. Oct. 3, 1862.
David Blazer, 11th Ill. Cav.; died since discharged.
Dallas Wolf, Co. C, 151st Ill.; died since discharged.
Jerry Randolph, Co. B, 10th Mo.;  died since discharged.
James B. Kyle, Surgeon 84th Ill.;  enlisted Aug. 1862;  discharged June 5, 1865;  died June, 1878.
Browning N. Wiles, Captain, New York Volunteers;  died May 1880.
A.N. Harris, Captain Co. K, 10th Mo. Cav.;  died since discharged.
Henry Parker, Co. I, 78th Ill.;  died May 24, 1880.
T. Laughlin, Co. C, 151st Ill.;  died since discharged.
James Clark, 4th United States Regular Cavalry;  died since discharged.
Charles Bennett, Co. I, 78th Ill.;  died in service, 1863.
Garner H. Bane, Surgeon, 50th Ill.;  died since discharged.
Wiley Amos, Ohio Volunteers.
Samuel Fields, War of 1812.
Harry Hampton, Co. A, 16th Ill.;  enlisted April 21, 1861;  died since discharged.
Lewis Wingett, 55th Ill.;  died since discharged.
Alex Jones, Battery H, 2nd Ill. Art.;  died since discharged.
T.S. Clarke, Co. F, 50th Ill.;  died since discharged.
George Iseminger, War of 1812.
R.H. Gordon, Co. A, 16th Ill.;  enlisted April 24, 1861;  died since discharged.
________ Frank, Illinois Volunteers.
B.F. Applegate, 10th Mo. Inft.;  died since discharged.
John Forrest*  Co. C, 78th Ill.;  killed in the charge at the battle of Jonesboro, Ga.  Sept. 1, 1864.
John G. Hammond, 10th Mo. Vols.;  enlisted Aug. 1864;  died Sept. 15, 1880.
J.W. Dilley, Co. B, 1st Mo. Engineers;  died Sept. 30, 1880.
Henry Shetterly, Indiana Volunteers;  died Apr. 2, 1881.
Daniel Byerly, 124th Ill.;  enlisted Aug. 1862;  discharged Aug. 1865;  died Apr. 2, 1881.
Ingram Pace, Co. I, 78th Ill.; died since discharged.
B.F. Lane*, Co. I, 78th Ill.;  killed Sept. 20, 1863, at battle of Chicamauga.
Lieut. A.J. Werden, Ohio Volunteers;  died since discharged.
Amos Gardner, Co. B, 85th Ind.;  died since discharged.
A.L. Booth, Co. B, 9th Ill. Cav.;  died since discharged.
W.R. McKee, War of 1812.
Lieut. M.A. Goodfellow, Ohio Volunteers;  died since discharged.
Thomas J. Martin, Co. C, 84th Ill.;  enlisted Aug 16, 1862;  mustered out at close of war;  died at Macomb, Ill. March 8, 1882.
Thomas Edmonson, Color Bearer 78th Ill.;  enlisted Aug. 1862;  mustered out at close of the war;  murdered at Good Hope, Ill. March 17, 1882.
O.P. Lamphere, Ohio Volunteers;  died October 1882.
George Robinson, Co. B, 10th Mo.;  enlisted Aug. 1861;  died March 11, 1883.
Richard Hillyer, 151st Ill.;  died March 18, 1883.
Lieut. John B. Pearson, Co. D, 28th Ill.;  enlisted July 1861;  discharged at close of war;  died May 26, 1883.
Richard Lawrence, Quartermaster 28th Ill.;  died Nov. 14, 1883.
Peter Clark, Eckdall's Battery, 2nd Ill. Art.;  died Aug. 31, 1883.
Wm. L. Hampton, Co. C, 84th Ill.;  died Feb. 3, 1883.
H.B. Livermore, U.S. Surgeon;  died May 21, 1884.
Levi Penniwitt, Iowa Volunteers;  died since discharged.

Buried in Old Cemetery

Capt. James D. Walker, Co. H, 2nd Ill. Cav.;  enlisted Aug 6, 1861;  died since discharged.
Wm. P. Chase, 98th Ill.;  died in service.
T.B. Lillard, U.S. Volunteers.
James P. Whitten, Co. H, 2nd Ill. Art.
Thomas Smithers, War of 1812.
Samuel Campbell, regiment unknown.
W.S. Stokes, Co. B, 10th Mo.;  killed at the battle of Corinth, Miss., October 1865.
Elias Vancleve, regiment unknown.
Wm. McDonald, soldier in Black Hawk War.
Abram Rowe, Capt. Co. B, 16th Ill. Inft., enlisted Apr. 6, 1861;  discharged December 1864;  died June 26, 1884.

Buried in Catholic Cemetery

Frank Hall, U.S. Army;  died in Bushnell.
George Hendricksmyer, Illinois Volunteers;  died since discharged.
Sergeant Patrick Noonan, Co. C, 98th Ill.
Albert Regner, Missouri Volunteers.
Isadore Walter, 2nd Ill. Art.;  died since discharged.

_______________________________________
*The remains of these soldiers are not buried here, but monuments have been erected to their memory in Oakwood, and the place thus dedicated will be decorated.
________________________________________________
Headstones for Soldiers' Graves 

Two weeks ago the JOURNAL announced the shipment to this place of a number of gravestones, furnished by the government, for the graves of deceased soldiers not having been supplied with stones.  They were delivered free of all expense at this station.  Here the local Grand Army Post took charge of them and paid the expenses of putting them in position at the cemeteries here.  A number of the stones are for soldiers buried at other points in the county:  the names appear in the list below, and the friends of the deceased are requested to call and get the stones and put them up.  The stones are 3 1/2 feet long, 12 inches wide and four thick.  The following is the list:  
Surgeon W.A. Huston 137th Ill.
Henry Nichols, Co. C, 137th Ill.
B.F. Clark, Co. A, 84th Ill.
Robert Barry, Co. C, 151st Ill.
David Blazer, Co. A, 11th Ill. Cav.
Capt. A. N. Harris, Co. K. 10th Mo. Cav.
Harry Hampton, Co. A, 16th Ill.
Lewis Wingett, 55th Ill.
Alex Jones, Co. H, 2nd Ill. Art.
T.S.Clark 50th Ill.
R.H. Gordon, Co. A. 16th Ill.
J.G. Hammond, 10th Mo.
Daniel Byerly, 124th Ill.
Ingram Pace, Co. I, 78th Ill.
Lieut A.J. Werden, Ohio reg't.
A.L. Booth Co. B. 9th Ill. Cav.
Thomas Edmonson, 78th Ill.
George Robinson, Co. B, 10th Mo.
Richard Hillyer, 151st Ill.
Lieut. J.B. Pearson, Co. D. 28th Ill.
Richard Lawrence, Quartermaster, 28th Ill.
Wm. L. Hampton, Co. B, 84th Ill.
Peter Clark, 2nd Ill. Art.
Capt. J.D. Walker Co. H, 2nd Ill. Cav.
Wm. P. Chase Co. A, 86th Ill.
J.P. Whitten, Co. H, 2nd Ill. Art.
Capt J.D. Walker, Co. H., 2nd Ill. Cav.
Wm. P. Chase, Co. A, 89th Ill.
J.P. Whitten Co. H, 2nd Artillery
W.S. Stokes, Co. B, 10th Mo.
Patrick Noonan, Co. C, 96th Ill.
Isadore Walters, 2d Artillery
Ephraim Baker, Co. H, 73rd Ohio
James Jellison Co. B, 16th Ill.
Capt. Abram Rowe, Co. C, 16th Ill.
J.B. Wortman, Co. A, 84th Ill.  Pennington Point Cemetery
J.H. Reymer, Co. I, 124th Ill.  Spring Creek Cemetery
J.B. Toland Co. H, 12th Ill. Eldorado Twp.
Martin V. Scudder, Co. I, 78th Ill. Industry
The following were omitted for want of a company and regiment:  J.W. Dilley,Levi Penn,George Henricksmeyer

You Won't Have Paul Ryan to Kick Around Any More

       The job of restoring the Constitutional importance of Congress is the most daunting task in the American government.  For over a decade, its traditional function of designing the nation's finances has been usurped by the executive, resulting in atrocities like the continuing resolutions and the most recent pork-filled omnibus bill.  (Thank you, Chuck and Nancy).  Paul Ryan fell victim to the same system that ground up John Boehner.  At one point I blamed Boehner for the continuing resolution mess.  Now Estase realizes that the system is so broken that it is a superhuman effort for one man to try to normalize our Constitutional system.
        It would be ideal if we had a President who understood and respected our Constitutional system.  Instead, we have one whose understanding of such is shaky at best.  It is also unfortunate that fixing the system means that the President needs to use his power to reduce his power--a sort of Lord of the Rings situation.  Orange Blatherskite is probably not the man for that job.
        So what you have is a situation that would vex the strongest and wisest of men.  Richard Nixon famously said upon leaving the vice presidency, "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more."  People have been monstrously unfair to Paul Ryan, inferring that the size and expense of the government is something he was comfortable with, or that he is a "liberal."  In reality, the only way to avoid absolute gridlock is to give Chuck and Nancy some of their desires, including the bitter pill of abandoning those whose whole reason for voting Republican was to defund Planned Parenthood.  The GOP base is rightly pissed, and it remains unclear whether the Republican voter will even bother to show up in November, seeing as how Chuck and Nancy seem to win in any event.  
       The constitutional abuses that have existed for the last decade make the Speaker of the House a man with a hopeless, thankless job.  Under the Constitution, as written, he should actually be the most powerful man in government, exceeding even the President.  It is not clear that this is a problem that can be remedied, and Ryan can be excused for wanting the peace of mind that comes from not attempting an impossible job.

The Brick Wall

       At the end of the horror classic Village of the Damned, George Sanders' character has to avoid thinking about his intention to blow up the alien children by thinking of a brick wall.  The children can read minds;  any hint of a thought of his intentions will thwart the entire mission.
      Sci-Fi Bruce Rauner, having alienated most Republicans through sanctuary state policies and publicly funding abortion, is in his death throes.  Yesterday Estase received three glossy pieces of junk mail aimed at stopping the candidacy of primary challenger Jeanne Ives.  Rauner ridiculously tries to claim that Ives is associated with Democratic oberfuehrer Conal Cochran, and that she wants to increase taxes.  This is, I guess, a contrast to Rauner's fiscal conservatism shown by publicly funding abortion when the state is already in arrears.
       

       It won't be necessary to control our thoughts to the extent that we cannot avoid concentrating on a brick wall.  Illinoisans need only remember how Sci-Fi Bruce Rauner betrayed them over and over again, mixing attempts at financial reform with the worst kind of liberal social engineering.  Even if a Democrat is elected next fall, at least that's a monster that comes under its own colors, and doesn't pretend to be something he isn't.

Right-Wing Philistines

       American conservatism at one time held a set of beliefs that included things like anti-Communism, belief in limited government, und so weiter.  These principles were reflected by an intellectual class who made reference to them in their writings.  There were different strains of conservative thought, but common themes united the Barry Goldwaters, Russell Kirks, and William F. Buckleys.
       The past decade has seen a dramatic deevolution in the complexity of conservative thought.  Talk radio, which at one time seemed like a means for bypassing the liberal messages of network news, has encouraged a pettiness that doesn't become any movement.  Conservative thought has become obsessed with the economic.  Right-wing philistines only concern themselves over the economic life of man.  Cutting taxes has gone from being a treatment for symptoms of liberalism to being the entire Republican message!  Limited government and the more philosophical aspects of the message have gone the way of the passenger pigeon. 
       A few years ago, the TEA party movement started this process, in an Ayn Rand reaction to budget-busting Obama policies.  The TEA party was agnostic on social issues, hence one never saw people in colonial garb protesting gay marriage or abortion.  Their simplistic tirades about taxes ended up becoming the dominant strain on talk radio.  It never occurred to the right-wing philistines that Obama was hardly the first president to go to absurd lengths in growing the size and cost of government.  When a New York liberal decided to try to get the Republican Party's nomination, the memories of the right-wing philistines didn't encompass the decades of sex and scandal that he brought with him.  Absurdly, many people who were strongly religious started to compare him to King David, or say that he was God's anointed, meant to bring America back to her roots.  Those of us who were skeptics were decried as liberals.
       The result is a Republican Party that is morally bankrupt.  Having abandoned her principles to a horde of talk-radio dittoheads, she created an Obama-style continuing resolution (weren't we supposed to be done with such things?) that even funded the worshippers of Moloch over at Planned Parenthood!  The obvious question is whether voting Republican has any discernible effect over what kind of government we get.  We may get a tax cut, but the schema of government remains the same.

Deep State, Deep Doo-Doo

       Many of O.B.'s supporters are fond of the term "deep state."  Their conspiratorial leanings incline them to believe that government employees exist primarily to frustrate the goals of the Trump Administration.  Somehow, previous Republican administrations never suffered from career government employees, but this one does.
       Naivete about how government functions seems to be a big problem with the alt-right, "populists," and other assorted Trump acolytes.  Non-military government employees are usually Ivy League graduates.  As a function of their origin, they obviously lean left.  They are career employees, as opposed to the political appointees every administration gets to install.  O.B.'s intention to radically cut the number of State Department employees no doubt incenses people who earned advanced degrees in International Relations with an eye to public service.  It also seems ill-advised in a world where diplomacy beats bloody slug-fests every time.  Even Ronald Reagan realized that the State Department served a vital function in preventing armed hostilities!   So if there's a war with the deep state, it's one that Trump started.
       Just as how O.B.'s supporters enjoy saying nasty things about Republican legislative leaders Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, they enjoy fantasies about saboteurs in Federal office buildings, plotting against the valiant patriots in the West Wing.  This manichean view of politics suits the uninformed and those who enjoy talk radio careers.  The latter are largely responsible for the simplistic views of most Trump supporters.  One might well say that Republican voters are less informed after 25 years of Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin.  Their impossible standards of right-wing purity would be impossible to meet in a legislature, where compromise is a necessary tool of government.  This is why right wing crackpots say idiotic things like "Paul Ryan is a liberal."  Paul Ryan is a person who has to cobble together governing majorities on every issue.  This means that in order to govern, even subhuman bottom feeders like Bela Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have to have some of their desires met.  It's called democracy--look into it!

Prelude to Carnage

       "A drama as lush and gruesome as {Oscar} Wilde trying hard could make it, Salome was a pursuit of sensation for its own sake, an effort to produce what Baudelaire called 'the phosphorescence of putrescence.'  The original play, written in French in 1891, went into rehearsal in London a year later with Sarah Bernhardt in the title role, but performance was banned by the Lord Chamberlain on the ground that its presentation of St. John the Baptist was sacrilege.  Upon publication (with copies for the author's friends bound in 'Tyrian purple and tired silver'), the play was denounced by The Times as 'an arrangement in blood and ferocity, morbid, bizarre, repulsive and very offensive.'  In 1894 an English translation by Lord Alfred Douglas appeared, illustrated with luscious evil by the truest decadent of them all, Aubrey Beardsley.  Three of his drawings, considered indecent by the publishers, had to be withdrawn.  In 1896, when Wilde was in Reading Gaol, Salome was produced in Paris by the actor-manager Lugne-Poe at his Theatre de l'Oeuvre, with himself as Herod but without Bernhardt.  The quintessence of decadence was overripe and it was not a success.  In Germany, however, Salome matched a craving for the horrendous and found its place.  First produced in Breslau in 1901, its real success came in 1902 with a production by Max Reinhardt at his Kleines Theatre in Berlin, where {Richard} Strauss saw it.
       More a poem than a play, Wilde's Salome was an exercise in purple, an orgy in words, which succeeded on paper but embarrassed on the stage.  It offered the spectacle of Salome pouring out her hot erotic pleas to the eyes, the hair, the limbs, the body and the love of Iokanaan, of King Herod avid for his stepdaughter, of her voluptuous dance to excite his lust and win her ghastly desire, of the black Executioner's huge arm rising from the pit holding the bearded bloody head of the Prophet who had scorned her, of her necrophilic raptures addressed to the head on the platter and her final conquest of its dead lips, of Herod's climactic order of horror and remorse, 'Kill that woman!' and of her death crushed beneath the shields of his soldiers.  Performed in flesh and blood it delighted the Berlin audience.  Wilde's moonlit fantasia, in Germany, came into its own and enjoyed a phenomenal run of two hundred performances.
       The undercurrent of morbidity in Germany, which Rolland had already noticed, grew more apparent in the first decade of the new century.  It increased in proportion as Germany's wealth and strength and arrogance increased, as if the pressure of so much industrial success and military power were creating an inner reaction in the form of a need to negate, to expose the worms and passions writhing within that masterful, prosperous, well-behaved, orderly people.  It was as if Bismarck had perforce produced Krafft-Ebing.  Indeed, Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis which appeared in 1886 provided a well of lurid resource on which the German drama, then the most vigorous form of natural literature, could draw.
       Tragedy was the staple of the German theatre.  Social comedies with happy endings were not a German genre.  German fun was confined to buffoonery, either painful or coarse.  Their tragedies were not so much curative, like Ibsen's, nor compassionate, like Chekov's, but obsessively focused on mankind's cruelty to man, on his bent toward self-destruction and on death.  Death by murder, suicide or some more esoteric form resolved nearly all German drama of the nineties and early 1900s.  In {Gerhart} Hauptmann's Hannele the child heroine dies of neglect and abuse in an almshouse, in his Sunken Bell Heinrich's wife drowns herself in a lake and he drinks a poisoned goblet, in Rose Bernd the title character, seduced and deserted, strangles her newborn child, in Henschel the title character hangs himself after betraying his dead wife by marrying a tart who lets his child die of neglect, in Michael Kramer a sensitive son is driven to suicide by an overbearing father, a popular theme in Germany rich in such fathers.  In {Herrmann} Sudermann's Magda only the father's fatal stroke prevents his shooting himself and his daughter, who needless to say is illegitimately pregnant, the invariable fate of the German heroine.  An endless succession of them were driven in the grip of the circumstance to hysteria, insanity, crime, prison, infanticide and suicide.  In Sudermann's Sodoms Ende, which varies the pattern if not the end, a dissolute young artist, corrupted by the wife of a banker, drives his foster sister to suicide and dies himself of a hemorrhage.  In {Frank} Wedekind's Frühlings Erwachen (Spring's Awakening), first effort of a playwright who was to exceed all the rest, the discovery of sex by adolescents conflicting with the prurience of adults produces total catastrophe:  the fourteen-year-old heroine, being with child, dies, apparently of a mismanaged abortion;  the boy is expelled from school and sent to a reformatory by his parents;  his friend, unable to bear life, commits suicide and reappears in a graveyard with his head under his arm in a closing scene of opaque symbolism.  In the course of the action a third boy, in a scene of explcit auto-eroticism, addresses a passionate love declaration to the picture of a naked Venus which he then drops down the toilet.  First produced in 1891, the play was a sensational success and in book form went into twenty-six editions.
       Born in the same year as Strauss, Wedekind was a writer of satanic talent who had been an actor, journalist, circus publicity agent, singer of grisly ballads for Überbrettl and while on the staff of Simplicissimus served a term in prison for lese majeste.  'I have the imagination of disaster--and see life as ferocious and sinister' exactly described him, though it was Henry James who said it of himself.  Frühlings Erwachen, if taken as a plea for sex education, at least had a social message and a quality of pity, but thereafter Wedekind saw nothing but the ferocious and the sinister.  In the same years in which Freud was carefully arriving at his discovery of the subconscious, Wedekind saw an awful vision of it and stripped off every covering to show it as purely malignant.  From 1895 on, his plays plunged into a debauch of the vicious and perverse which seemed to have no argument but that humanity was vile.  Erdgeist (Earth Spirit) and its sequel, Die Büchse der Pandora (Pandora's Box), take place in a world of pimps, crooks, harlots, blackmailers, murderers and hangmen surrounding the heroine Lulu, who represents sensuality incarnate both heterosexual and lesbian.  Her adventures proceed through brothels and dives, seduction, abortion, sadism, necrophilia and nymphomania in what a contemporary critic called 'a torrent of sex foaming over jagged rocks of insanity and crime.'  It was sex, not creative in its primal function, but destructive, producing not life but death.  Lulu's first husband dies of a stroke, her second, bedeviled by her perfidy, cuts his own throat, her third on discovering her infidelity committed with his son is killed by her.  After prison, degradation and prostitution, she ends, logically, slashed to death by a Jack the Ripper in a final lethal explosion of that erotic power which {George Bernard} Shaw, a very different playwright, was celebrating at the same time as the Life Force.
       Strauss's antennae picked up whatever was in the air and he fixed unerringly on Salome--as the subject of an opera, not a tone poem.  Using more instruments than ever, he composed a score of tremendous difficulty and exaggerated dissonance with the orchestra at times divided against itself, playing in two violently antagonistic keys as if to express the horror of the subject by horrifying the ear.  Instruments were twisted to new demands, cellos made to reach the realm of violins, trombones to cavort like flutes, kettledrums given figures of unprecedented complexity.  The musical fabric was dazzling.  Strauss could write for the voice with no less virtuosity than for orchestra and the singers' parts seemed to grow more eloquent as the drama deepened in depravity.  Salome's final song to the severed head thrilled listeners with a sinister beauty that did justice to Wilde's words:

Ah! wherefore didst thou not look at me, Iokanaan!  If thou hadst seen me thou hadst loved me.  I am athrist for thy beauty;  I am hungry for thy body and neither the floods not the great waters can quench my passion. . . .Ah! I have kissed thy mouth, Iokanaan, I have kissed thy mouth.

       When Berlin and Vienna refused performance, like London, on the ground of sacrilege, Strauss's great admirer, Ernst von Schuch, conductor of the Dresden Royal Opera, presented it there on December 9, 1905.  The production, in a single act lasting an hour and forty minutes without interruption, spared the audience's sensibilities nothing.  Iokanaan's head, made up in realistic pallor of death with appropriate gore, was held in full view;  Salome's seven veils were ritually discarded one by one while Herod leered.  Death under the soldiers' shields supplied a punishing catharsis.  The audience responded with unbounded enthusiasm extending to thirty-eight curtain calls for cast and composer.  In subsequent performances in other German cities Salome went on to huge success and, for Strauss, large financial reward not adversely affected by bans and censorship troubles.  In Vienna owing to the objections of the Archbishop the ban held, but in Berlin over the strenuous objections of the Kaiserin a compromise was reached of the kind applied by the Church to the Song of Solomon.  Performance was allowed on condition that the star of Bethlehem should appear in the sky as Salome died, presumably indicating the posthumous triumph of the Baptist over unnatural passion.
       Outside Germany where taste was more prudish, Salome became 'the storm center of the musical world.'  In New York a tense audience at the Metropolitan Opera on January 22, 1907, awaited the rise of the curtain with 'foreboding,' soon amply fulfilled.  The music, when critics could tear their attention from portrayal of 'a psychopathic condition literally unspeakable in its horror and abnormality.' was acknowledged marvelous but perverted to means that 'sicken the mind and wreck the nerves.'  The opera's theme, not humanly representative as the material of music should be, was considered variously 'monstrous,' 'pestilential,' 'intolerable and abhorrent,' 'mpehetic, poisonous, sinister and obsessing in the extreme.'  Its 'erotic pathology' was unfit for 'conversation between self-respecting men,' and the Dance alone 'ought to make it impossible for an Occidental woman to look at it.'  Rising in 'righteous fury' the press agreed that popularity in Germany settled nothing for America and the Metropolitan bowing to the storm withdrew the production.
       The Eulenburg affair concerned homosexuals in the immediate circle of the Kaiser, but it was less their habits than the layers disclosed of malice, intrigue and private vendetta which shed a lurid glow on Germany.  Three years earlier Fritz Krupp, head of the firm, on being accused by the Socialist paper Vorwärts of homosexual acts with waiters and valets, committed suicide.  This time the central figure was Prince Philipp Eulenburg, former Ambassabor to Vienna from 1894 to 1902, a suave and cultivated aristocrat who was the Kaiser's oldest and closest friend, sang songs to him beautifully at the piano, and gave him intelligent advice.  As the only courtier to exercise of the whole a beneficent influence on the sovereign, he was naturally the object of the jealousy of Bülow and Holstein, who suspected the Kaiser of intention to make him Chancellor.  Initiator of the scandal was Maximilian Harden, the feared and fearless editor of the weekly Die Zukunft, of which it was said that everything rotten and everything good in Germany appeared in its pages.  Cause and motive had to do with Germany's diplomatic defeat at the Algeciras Conference which set off waves of recrimination among ministers, culminating in the removal of the spidery Holstein.  He blamed Eulenburg, although in fact his removal had been secretly engineered by Bülow.  Rabid for revenge, Holstein, who for year had kept secret police files on the private habits of his associates, now joined forces with Harden to ruin Eulenburg, whose influence on the Kaiser, Harden believed, was pacific and therefore malign.  With Holstein's files at his disposal, Harden opened a campaign of innuendo naming three elderly Counts, all A.D.C.s of the Kaiser, as homosexuals and graduallly closing in on the friendship of Eulenburg with Count Kuno Moltke, nicknamed Tutu, 'the most delicate of generals,'  commander of a cavalry brigade and City Commandant of Berlin.  The Kaiser ditched his friends instantly and forced Moltke to sue Harden for libel, which was just what Harden wanted to ruin Eulenburg.  Through four trials lasting over a period of two years, from October, 1907, to July, 1909, evidence of perversion, blackmail, and personal venom was spread before a bewildered public.  Witnesses including thieves, pimps and morons told of 'disgusting orgies' in the Garde du Corps regiment and testified to abnomal acts of Eulenburg and Moltke twenty years in the past.  A celebrated specialist in pathological conditions discoursed on medical details, Moltke's divorced and vindictive wife was called to testify, charges of insubordination and perjury were added, Chancellor Bülow was himself accused of perversion by a half-crazed crusader for the legal rights of homosexuals and forced to sue, the verdict of the first trial in favor of Harden was reversed by a second trial and re-reversed in a third at which Eulenburg, now ill, disgraced and under arrest, was brought to court in a hospital bed.  The public felt uneasily that justice was being tampered with, readers of Die Zukunft were given an impression of perversion everywhere and the prestige of Kaiser and court sank.  At the same time in Vienna the Emperor's brother, Archduke Ludwig-Viktor, known as Luzi-Wuzi, became involved in a scandal with a massuer. "  The Proud Tower by Barbara W. Tuchman Pgs. 319-20;321-22;323-24;324-25;329-30.

 

Killing Edmund Burke a Second Time

    The constellation of factors that are at play with Orange Blatherskite are making him a caricature.  The first is the current standards of political correctness, which are so impossible to not violate that even liberals end up getting accused of racism, sexism, and homophobia (the liberal holy trinity).  Second, O.B. takes pride in flouting even the most basic standards of adult behavior, let alone the rarified pseudomorality of political correctness.  Insults are O.B.'s love language.  Third, O.B. has the maturity of a twelve-year-old girl combined with the aggression of Rambo.  It's no wonder Tex Killerson is on his way out of Foggy Bottom;  imagine the frustration he felt trying to calm down North Korea, and seeing his boss engage in Twitter escalation with the regime.  
        Any things on fronts like abortion or deregulation that O.B. has done the right thing on seem overshadowed by the pettiness and lack of policy sophistication he displays.  O.B.'s favorite subject is the problem of illegal immigration.  At the same time O.B. wants to build a wall to stop illegal immigration, he attacks NAFTA on the basis that it is too favorable to Mexico!  The man who calls himself a genius doesn't seem to appreciate that any economic growth in Mexico will in and of itself reduce illegal immigration.  A poorer Mexico is one which will continue to have an exodus from it.  This "Jacksonian Nationalism" is tribalistic, short-sighted, and makes it easy for liberals to call O.B. racist.  These things don't seem to matter to O.B., and the fact that Fox News seems to consider O.B. the gold standard in conservatism means that millions of Americans are being led to believe that conservatism is race politics for white people.

Codependence Is. . . .

   Codependence is seeing a potted tree in someone else's yard, and feeling the urge to volunteer to plant it for them.

Lepidus on Gary Bauer

    Gary Bauer is a fraud and a con man.  There, I just gave you my conclusion.  Now I will provide my reasoning.  Donald Trump has demonstrated that he stands for nothing, and will say anything to gain the support of his cult followers.  He has no record as a conservative;  on the contrary, his record consists of years of supporting liberal, pro-abortion democrats like Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton.  The esteemed, wise social conservative guru Gary Bauer showed his infinite wisdom by declaring that Trump winning the nomination of the Republican party would be acceptable if "social conservatives received ironclad promises" from the reality TV star on gay marriage and abortion.  Ironclad promises?  What the deuce does that mean?  Barack Obama gave ironclad promises to not fund abortion with Obamacare.  Newsflash:  Obamacare funds abortion.  Barack Obama gave an ironclad promise to respect religious beliefs concerning abortion.  Newsflash:  The Little Sisters of the Poor still have to pay for contraceptives for their employees.
       The point I'm trying to make is this:  Rather than electing a liberal who promises not to act like a liberal, wouldn't it be infinitely preferable to elect a conservative?  And Gary Bauer--here's some free advice.  Don't prostitute yourself to a con man like The Donald and still expect people to trust your worthless advice.  You sound like someone suggesting we negotiate with the Daesh.  If anybody still sends you money, they are the same type of person who would buy a swamp in Louisiana thinking it's a real estate investment.

Dr. Draco Faulhaber Speaks

       I have been granted a chance by Frank and Lepidus to contradict their old-fashioned ideas about choice.  
       I, Draco Faulhaber, came into the world in 1948, a far less enlightened time.  In 1948, many states banned abortion entirely.  Providers, such as myself, would have faced prison.  And for what?  Helping women solve their problems!  Preventing extra mouths to feed!
       Frank and Lepidus argue that children are more than just bread-gobblers, that they are a "resource."  If children are such a resource, then why would the far-sighted and progressive Chinese regime dislike their high population so much?  Our Chinese brothers (men currently outnumber women 3 to 1 there) will see a dramatic drop in population in 60 years.  This is the sure route to wealth!  You can see this in families of great wealth.  If parents have $100 million, and only one child, that child will inherit $100 million.  But if there are three heirs, each would only inherit $33 million!  Never was a bigger lie conceived than "The more the merrier!"  The main problem with us humans is that there are just too many of us.
       Not to go too far afield, but people are greatly mistaken in condemning Hitler and Stalin.  Hitler relieved the earth of over nine million mouths to feed!  Stalin was an even greater benefactor, eliminating forty million excess Ukrainians.  Until we appreciate the gifts of Hitler and Stalin, the anti-choice religious fools will dominate us, destroying the planet with more bread-gobblers. 

Breeding Like Rabbits

      You know, I thought I'd like the new Pope.  I'm Frank, he's Francis.  But this guy has been really annoying me.  He started out by saying that the Church had talked too much about abortion.  You know, because killing people isn't important at all.  Then he started talking about poverty constantly.  So he forgot that Jesus said there would always be poor people.  Then there was the claim that global warming was the biggest problem.
       But this crap the Pope said about having too many kids was the last straw.  My parents, Bob and Sharon Charette, had five kids.  My old man, he said that he needed to have plenty of kids because, "the good diffuses itself."  Never went to college, but my friend Lepidus told me that came from somewhere.  The Charettes never had lots of money, but we always knew there were things more important than money.  Dad always thought that being a good proletariat meant that he at least needed to provide society with kids.  Paul VI said contraception was wrong, so my old man felt like he was less of a sucker at that point.  But now the Pope seems to be saying my old man was a sucker after all.
        Frank C. is now to the point where he wonders how weird the crap a Pope says can be without being absolved of the need to listen.

The Obama Double Event

       On 29 SPB 1888, Jack the Ripper claimed his third victim, Elizabeth Stride, and his fourth victim, Catherine Eddowes.  This double event marked the escalation of violence in the ripper's attacks, as well as the first and only time the ripper killed two women in one night.  The ripper, whose first murder had been a simple strangulation, had now progressed to the violent dismemberment of women, which would culminate in his disassembly of Mary Kelly, the fifth and possibly last victim.
       Last week, President Oh Blah Blah followed up his administration's scandal of indefinitely delayed treatment of veterans by the VA with the release of five dangerous Muslim terrorist in exchange for Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl.  This two-pronged slap in the face to America's military was the Obama double event.  Showing on one hand a callous indifference to people who defended the colors in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, while being absurdly self-sacrificing in defense of someone who betrayed his unit by leaving his post shows the schizophrenia of modern liberalism.  Letting people who honorably served go without treatment while letting terrorists go free to get a deserter back shows the ambivalence of liberals towards soldiers.  Good soldiers get crapped on, while bad soldiers have the store given away on their behalf. 

Frederick Schickelgruber Speaks

       Kaitlyn urged me to write something on her father's blog.  Lepidus and his friend Frank are unregenerated neanderthals who never understand what I am saying.  In the interest of helping Frank and Lepidus' readers evolve, I have finally relented.  You see, I teach several sections of my course on existentialism.  It wasn't easy to find the time for this exercise.
      The beauty of existentialism is that it has no constraining element of "truth."  Truth is always the interest of the stronger.  Frank and Lepidus also seem to have a bizarre idea that there is some unchanging standard of right and wrong.  Lastly, they have a bourgeois idea that there are provable facts.
       How do these two know things for certain?  What one person chooses to believe is right or correct is entirely subjective.  One ultimately must accept authority rather than seek out something as being true or right.  This obsession with reason and theory is the basis for capitalist thinkers.  This principle is particularly significant in a world whose magnificent exterior radiates complete unity and order while panic and distress prevail beneath.  Autocrats, cruel colonial governors, and sadistic prison wardens have always wished for visitors with this positivistic mentality.  If science as a whole follows the lead of empiricism and the intellect renounces its insistant and confident probing of the tangled brush of observations in order to unearth more about the world than even our well-meaning daily press, it will be participating passively in the maintenance of universal injustice.  Thinking hard about facts is a right-wing way of life based on fantasy.