Is honesty and transparency important?

And just how important in a supposedly democratic republic is honesty and transparency in our political leaders, news media and public advocacy groups?

[NOTE: this is a combo post. Stop the ACLU/Free John Kerry’s records—both are subsumed in the content of this post.]

I would submit that honesty is an essential criterion for political leaders in a democratically republican nation. When one expects political leaders to have only one trustworthy statement in their repertoire (“Everything I tell you is suspect, if not an outright lie.”), then democratic rule of a republic is dead.

Oops. Did I just imply that democratic rule of the U.S. is dead? Well, yes. And if not dead, at least moribund.

Of course, honesty among reporters of news of importance to forming public policy is equally important. And I think it’s obvious we don’t have a preponderance of honest reporting among the Mass Media Podpeople. (For those who do not believe that, let me refer you to a good mortuary. Your embalming procedure is overdue.)

And honesty in public advocacy groups? NOW? the ACLU? CAIR? (Just to name a few of the most egregious group liars… )

No, the public forum is littered with the effluvia of dishonest discourse.

And what of transparency? Hugh Hewitt commented recently, concerning a WAPO reporter who requested, then declined to hold an interview with him after he simply requested that it be held live, on air on his show (for purposes of getting the FULL interview on record, not a twisted, excerpted portion),

“…she declined to conduct the interview she requested. How interesting to note that the Post is willing to use sources that insist on anonymity, but not sources that demand transparency.”

And what of Helen Thomas’ recent declaration that she would kill herself if Dick Cheney ran for President? You know, Thomas the Termagant, who insists that she can twist anything any politician she does not like any darned way she wants? heh

“I’ll never talk to a reporter again!” Thomas was overheard saying…

“Nobody has thinner skin than reporters,” Eisele [who reported Thomas’ suicide remark] said with a laugh. _1_

Yeh, Helen. Riiiight. It’s all fair game unless YOU are the subject of a news report.

Sauce for the goose.

But the same ought to go for any person or group that puts themselves in the position of attempting to affect public policy. Everything they say that at all relates to their positions, attitudes, actions and views as expressed in relation to their advocacy (politicians, Mass Media Podpeople, soi disant “public interest groups”—and even bloggers like me) is fair game for accurate quotation, commentary and review.

Or ought to be.

Politicians (OK, usually Liberalist—not authentically Liberal) often scream Foul! when confronted with their actual words or behaviors, accurately tossed back into their laps to deal with.

(BTW, John Fraud Kerry, where are your full and complete military records? They have yet to be released to the public.)

Newsies are the same, apparently.

And no one at the ACLU, CAIR or NOW are interested in having the public genuinely aware of how they make (or use) their “sausages” are they? The ACLU doesn’t like it when folks (accurately) claim they support pedophilia and terrorism. CAIR doesn’t like it when folks point to CAIR support of Islamic jihadist terrorism (_2_ and _3_. And many NOW members just hate it whenever anyone suggests they bathe (too many references to list. heh).

See Stop the ACLU for more info about the disingenuity and obfuscation typical of that subversive organization.

And do support holding politicians’ feet to the fire by continuing to call on Jean Fraud sKerry (known to some as John F. Kerry) to actually release his full military record to the public. See Cao’s Blog for someone doing the heavy lifting on this one.

Free John Kerry’s 180 Blogburst group:

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Pasta à la Lovely Daughter

Lovely Daughter is “in the house” for a visit, and she made some Lovely Daughter Pasta for dinner recently. Yum.

This is one of those recipes where the ingredients are “measured” by those most delicate of chef’s instruments: smell and taste.

Ingredients:

  • Enough of your fav pasta for the number of folks you wanna feed. Lovely Daughter used linguine nests, which seemed just right for this. Cook pasta al dente.
  • One clove of garlic per person served. (OK, I have an amount for this one. 🙂 Crushed and minced (or use a garlic press, as Lovely Daughter did).
  • Enough olive oil to just cover the crushed garlic in a small bowl.
  • Crushed Oregano, Rosemary, Basil, Parsley, Red Pepper and Kosher Salt to smell/taste. (Add to crushed garlic/olive oil.)
  • One tomato per person, diced, or enough grape tomatoes to go around, cut in halves.

Assembly is obvious.

Serve with your fav veggies and enjoy!

(A little freshly-ground black/green/white/pink pepper could be nice. I used my own lil idiosyncratic mix of three of the four.)

Later

Stuff to post today. Let this be a placeholder for…

A really cool page w/lotsa patriotic mp3s thanks to Romeocat at Cathouse Chat. I’ll link it when I’m at the right computer, etc. Done, now, obviously.

News from Saudi Arabia: ding dong, one-a the witches is dead. Also h.t to Cathouse Chat. (Well, he wore dresses, didn’t he?) Links and comments will be edited into this post for the Saudi deal, too. Suffice it to say, plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. *sigh*

Yeh, I know the death of one cockroach isn’t a sign that the whole colony is immediately on its way to the Eternal Crematorium. But still: one in the minus column for the Wahabbist terrorist enablers can’t be all bad, can it?

And yeh, there’s more. Just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Gimme a break. *VBG* 🙂

[OK, OK, I’m still not getting around to it. *sigh* Maybe tomorrow will be a day of blogolicious posting. I did get a great quasi-recipe from Lovely Daughter to whip into shape for Carnival of the Recipes, so there’s one for Tuesday… Be patient. The dog days of summer have bitten early.]

Lemme catch my breath… and pump down more of The Holy Brew, eh?

Stick a fork in me. I may be done.

OK, this is so good, I may not have to blog the rest of this week. Heck, it’s so very nearly perfect, I may have to hang up my keyboard permanently…

Recieved from Hugh H. (No, not that one; an entirely different one.) via email:

The Drugs I Need

Take one (and one ONLY) and call me in the morning. If you can. (You might just laugh your head off and so not be able to call. Better have the EMTs ready to resucitate you before viewing.)

The Silver Lining…

OK, this is a wee tad convoluted to follow closely, ‘K?

Rightwing Nuthouse posted on this WAPO article about the devastating potential of an “Asian bird flu” pandemic. Then he posted here (on The Wide Awakes) about his original original post at Rightwing Nuthouse and asked TMH Bacon Bits‘ The MaryHunter for his “mad scientist” response.

(With me so far? ‘K)

Well, The MaryHunter hasn’t responded, yet, as far as I can tell, but here’s my take: every cloud has a silver lining. This sounds like a made-for-mad-scientist opportunity to address the global threat of Islamic jihadists.

Mad Scientist Mode: ON

I’m thinking… a new charity.

Contaminated Quail for al Qaeda?

Tainted Turtle Doves for Terrorists?

Scummy Sandpipers for Saudis?

Wicked Woodcocks for Wacko Wahabbists?

Yeh, so an Asian bird flu pandemic could be catestrophic. With a little planning, there could be a silver lining…

The possibilities seem absolutely endless…

Mad Scientist Mode: OFF

(With a nod to Jonathan Swift for his inspiring work in A Modest Proposal… )

*LOL* “McCain Wants Fred Thompson for Supreme Court”

This Newsmax headline outlines McCain’s (justified) fear that Fred Thompson would make a better presidential candidate than he. (Of course Thompson would make a better president than that snake McCain)

Well, duh. BTW, Anyone who respects McCain after McCain-Feingold limitations on free political speech is a communist or a “useful idiot”.
N.B. “useful idiot: This is a term coined by Vladimir Lenin to describe Western liberals who defended and apologized for communism. These are people whose blind, self-effacing hatred of their own free society serves as a handy device for totalitarian ideology as a means of deflecting the criticism which comes from the rest of us who are sane and unwilling to compromise morality for the sake of multiculturalism*, or political correctness*. They are useful to these calculating ideologues, even though they are idiots. These days, more and more, the useful idiots are quasi-dhimmis*, shilling for Islam.” _1_ See also _2_

imbibo capulus ergo sum

It shouldn’t take a Latin scholar to translate “imbibo capulus ergo sum”
This is another one of those days when “I drink coffee, therefore I am” is my byword du jour.
Need. More. Coffee.
Wonder Woman knew this instinctively and brewed a pot immediately upon rising. Bless her!
Love is caffeinated bliss.

What is LPD?

How can one describe the Liberalist Personality Disorder?

Click on over to Cao’s Blog to check out her post featuring the Loony Left Moonbat Brigade displaying classic signs of Liberalist Personality Disorder.

LPD is a complex array of co-morbidity. The seductively simple thing to do would be to simply label it as a subset of narcissism, but that’s not a sufficient description.

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

  • has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
  • is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
  • believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
  • requires excessive admiration
  • has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
  • is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
  • lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
  • is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her
  • shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes_1_

Still, it’s a good place to start exploring the “Liberalist Personality Disorder.”

But LPD (Liberalist Personality Disorder) seems to encompass much more than Narcissistic Personality Disorder. There are many in the Loony Left Moonbat Brigade who also exhibit signs of Histrionic Personality Disorder.

See:

A pervasive pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

  • is uncomfortable in situations in which he or she is not the center of attention
  • interaction with others is often characterized by inappropriate sexually seductive or provocative behavior
  • displays rapidly shifting and shallow expression of emotions
  • consistently uses physical appearance to draw attention to self has a style of speech that is
  • excessively impressionistic and lacking in detail
  • shows self-dramatization, theatricality, and exaggerated expression of emotion
  • is suggestible, i.e., easily influenced by others or circumstances
  • considers relationships to be more intimate than they actually are _2_

But wait! There’s more! (Too much more, as it turns out… ) Yeh, I guess LPD is a complex of co-morbidity issues. Once one starts to dig into the snakepit that is LPD, signs of so many disorders become plain that it’s impossible to separate one out as dominant in the groupthink.

Regardless, I think good public health policy would be to treat this disorder similarly to TB: isolation from the population at large. heh

Of course, those who advocate
that soldiers shoot their officers ought to be given the opportunity to do so in person, don’t you think? That is, ship them to Iraq and let ’em tell it to the guys in Deuce-Four (I-24th) in Mosul… it’d probably result in some VERY effective psychological “reality therapy”.

(Note: it’s easy to distinguish between “Liberalists” and “Liberals”. Liberals—genuine Liberals—listen to opposing views, engage in reasoned discourse, argue fairly and can “agree to disagree” amicably. Liberals also believe in free Speech and Press, Free Assembly (to petition for redress of grievances) and Freedom OF (not FROM) religion. The Liberalists who have hijacked the Democratic Party, for example, have none of those characteristics. Upcoming: a brief description of CPD: Conservatist Personality Disorder, or “me-too-ism in denial”. heh)

A Reason to Run?

Finally, someone has given Vice President Dick Cheney a potentially compelling reason to run for president.

“The day Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I’ll kill myself,” [Helen Thomas] told the HILL. “All we need is one more liar.”

Thomas made the remarks to the newspaper Thursday, July 28, 2005, according to Drudge.

Of course, the statement by Thomas will only become falsifiable (testable) if Cheney were to announce he were running. But then, he could always announce and then withdraw if Thomas became that rare mass media personality to actually say what they mean and mean what they say…

At least then we might be able to test what kind of liar Helen Thomas might (or might not) be.

heh

(Crossposted from a Friday post at Balanced News Blog–yeh, I’m that far behind here… )

Short Shrift Day

Light—very light—posting today. In fact, until later this may be all there is…

In fact, try checking out my sidebar and blogroll for reading material today. Anywhere But Here, Cathouse Chat, Cao’s Blog, Keep the Coffee Coming, BTW—oh, darn it, they’re all worth reading or I wouldn’t have blogrolled ’em. I souldn’t even have started a list; should just have inserted my bloogroll here and said, “Read these today, ‘K?”

🙂

L8R…