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...
Thinking some more about what Prelutsky has pointed out about words, and Margot’s conflict with me yesterday: It occurs to me that what we’re looking at, here, is a sort of “Devil’s Toolset” for constructing societal and cultural protocols that don’t work. Changing a perfectly decent descriptive term for an idea, to some other descriptive term, just because the former has taken on a reputation that is unhelpful to getting the idea sold; that is something you only do when you’re trying to sell something that shouldn’t be sold. As for Margot’s complaint, it’s the eternal Left Wing battle cry of “Why can’t you leave me and my friends alone so we can have a private conversation about how everybody should be forced to live?” The plan should be binding, it should apply universally, there should be no way to get around it or even to recoil from it, and if necessary it should restrict how supposedly “free” individuals are able to express and think. But discussions about what exactly the plan should be, will be limited to a select few. In fact, from what I’ve managed to observe about this, a significant portion of the discussion will be devoted to the topic of “Hey! That guy doesn’t belong here!”
Of course that must be the case; you’re only talking about how everyone should live, whether they want to live that way or not. Can’t have any ol’ Tom, Dick and Harry participating in that, actually expressing opinions! Might lead to dancing, or cats and dogs living together, or something.
The Devil’s Toolset has a third item: The Faustian Bargain. We just saw that a couple years ago with ObamaCare. Once you’re in, you can’t get out. Say the resistance to a plan vacillates between 49% and 70%. Just get some commitment event to happen when the resistance is 49%, and it will never matter again that the majority once again disapproves. Very much like fastening a carabiner clip with lots of tension in the line; how hard you have to pull on the line, is irrelevant, just as long as you can manage to get it pulled far enough to click the clip in place. Once it’s fastened it’s fastened. That’s exactly what they just got done doing to us.
And then there’s the ratchet. We could think of this as a serial procession of bargains like what’s described above. For all the contention and drama we saw take place with getting ObamaCare enacted, fast, since everyone knew Obama would lose crucial Senate votes in the midterms coming up — it’s going to be much more difficult than that, getting it repealed. Thus is the case with all liberal initiatives. Not only is it next to impossible to get them repealed, but in a year or two the abnormal becomes the new normal. People become accustomed to it. Which is not to say, by any stretch, that we’re being made stronger by that which doesn’t immediately kill us. Quite the opposite. Safety nets become hammocks, skills atrophy, and worst of all, a hubbub ensues about what needs to be addressed by the next safety net.
Today is Veterans Day. Much will be said about giving thanks for the men and women who fought and died for our freedom. You know, the thought occurs to me: Giving thanks for a gift is pretty easy. Accepting the gift, and making the best use of it possible, is not so easy. Perhaps this grateful nation would do well, this year, to put its attention on both of those things, rather than just one.
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