Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Me, quoting me, in an e-mail, on the subject of our anti-war loudmouths:
The paradox in which these people live is a simple one. Their main thesis is that no victory is worth realizing because it would have to come at the cost of someone else, and that someone else would have to be obliterated in some way. They effectively resist Churchill’s thing about “bear any burden, pay any price,” etc.; the point of diminishing returns arrives, according to them, and it arrives quickly. Best to just quit — “throw it in, or we just might win.” But then when it comes time to MAKE that point, they will indeed bear any burden, pay any price, ignore any point of diminishing return theoretical or practical. No victory for them will be complete if it doesn’t come at the cost of their “enemies,” and as far as obliterating people — well, so long as the targets are properly selected, they just can’t wait to do it!
The quote in question is from the We Shall Fight on the Beaches speech delivered to the House of Commons in 1940:
We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…
The “bear any burden pay any price” thing was an innovation worked in by President Kennedy when he was borrowing from the concept. JFK lingers on in spirit as a democrat party deity, which is something of a rich irony.
In 2008 we find ourselves grappling with an ideological flesh-eating parasite in modern liberalism. It champions determination, drive, resourcefulness, grit and plain old-fashioned ballz — only in promulgating itself, and for no other purpose. In that singular endeavor of self-reproduction, it never wanes, fumbles or retreats. Holding high the banner of itself, it shows all the “patriotism” for which it shows theatrical horror elsewhere, including the resolve to seek out, interrogate and punish the desultory and apathetic.
All the energy and heat of an erupting volcano.
All the single-minded determination of any wild, starving predator.
All the stamina of water wearing away on a rock.
The power of a tidal wave.
All these forces of nature reserved for simple reproduction of the idea. And only for that, for the idea is nihilism. We are not good, we don’t belong where we are, and nothing is worth anything, for we are undeserving of whatever it is.
What peaceful people they’d be if they were consistent about this. Because then they’d say “well, we should get out of this war because it’s just too dang painful and hard, but if there’s other folks who disagree about that and they outvote me, that’s quite alright. What’s the use of arguing. Heck, I’m not too sure I should have an opinion about it anyway.”
Quite the difference between that hypothetical product of consistency, and what we see them do every day and every week…no?
Wouldn’t it be nice if they worked up one-tenth as much anger toward radical terrorists as what they have in reserve for conservatives, “neocons,” and other ideological opponents?
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