Month: August 2006

I may ber back later, weekend “projects” permitting, to do a roundup post of sorts, but for now, it seems like a good time for a reminder that others have looked at current events in their own time and noticed that the character of mankind leads very naturally to the close observer shrugging and saying simply, plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose…

A General Summary

We are very slightly changed
From the semi-apes who ranged
India’s Prehistoric clay;
He that drew the longest bow
Ran his brother down, you know,
As we run men down to-day.

“Dowb,” the first of all his race,
Met the Mammoth face to face
On the lake or in the cave:
Stole the steadiest canoe,
Ate the quarry others slew,
Died — and took the finest grave.

When they scratched the reindeer-bone,
Some one made the sketch his own,
Filched it from the artist — then,
Even in those early days,
Won a simple Viceroy’s praise
Through the toil of other men.
Ere they hewed the Sphinx’s visage
Favouritism governed kissage,
Even as it does in this age.

Who shall doubt “the secret hid
Under Cheops’ pyramid”
Was that the contractor did
Cheops out of several millions?
Or that Joseph’s sudden rise
To comptroller of Supplies
Was a fraud of monstrous size
On King Pharaoh’s swart Civilians?

Thus, the artless songs I sing
Do not deal with anything
New or never said before.
As it was in the beginning
Is to-day official sinning,
And shall be for evermore!

Rudyard Kipling

Memory plays tricks. I still hear, in my minds ear, “whoso drew the longest bow” in the fourth line. Oh. Well. I do the same to Stevenson and Tennyson. Always “improving” their writing in my memory.

Hie theee to The Christian Science Monitor and read Jill Carroll’s story in her own words. JUST DO IT. One reader who pointed the article out over at Chaos Manor Musings responded to the account,

…WE tolerate absurd depictions of Christ without ever demanding that the authors or artists be murdered. They don’t. So we run cowed by their threat? Color me pissed at that cowardice on the part of our media and our government.

Exactly.

Tacked to the walls at TMH’s Bacon Bits (but leaving the backsplash in TMH and his Lovely Wife’s hands), Woman Honor Thyself and Blue Star Chronicles.

It’s Friday and this is an Open Trackback Alliance post. Link to this post and track back all weekend. More below.

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Is it just me, or is the “news” of contemporary events all—or at least almost all—bad, ranging from the merely dismal to the catestrophic? even the weatherman seems apologetic and tentative when he has good news, as if to say, “Well, the weather will be nice today, but don’t blame me. I’ll be sure to have bad news tomorrow. Besides, haven’t I given y’all the good news in as gloomy a fashion as possible?”

Is it really the case that it’s just human nature to want bad news, so the market’s just feeding us what we want?

Or is it the case that human beings are, as Christian theology teaches, fundamentally self-flawed, sinful creations who typically make bad news, and that in any case, the universe itself is out to get us?

*heh*

Still, there has to be better news out there than the Mass MEdia Podpeople’s Army and all its Hiveminded minions bring us.

Doesn’t there? Somewhere?

Maybe Ferdy has heard some…

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As I said, this is an open trackback post open all weekend long. Link to this post and then track back. If you want to host your own linkfests, check out

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Well, I can believe the first part of that, at least.

…but they were such niiiiice lil bugs…

(Semi-late—freebie, of course :-)—”tech support” call from a relative outa state… while I was in NO position to help didn’t help with the fighting fires, kicking aligators and roasting locusts, either. Oh, and not calling for self, for a friend, who, as it turns out, only had one real problem with his dialup: he’d not paid the bill. *sigh* No, can’t have my credit card number. *heh*)

Arrrrgggghhhh!

Back when I can pretend to be sane.

This is Wednesday’s

post. Link to this post and then track back.

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Here’s a fact-based opinion from a real (as opposed to fake, like typical Democratic leadership) liberal concerning the nature and effect of the Fair Tax. Now, while I normally view anything from a “liberal” stance with as much skepticism as I view comments from s soi-disant “conservative” politicians, this guy makes some good points.

Which led to me calling him a real liberal in my opening remark.

Read, and tell me what you think. It’s a little long for a blogpost, but very much worth your time to read. Please do.

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Reprinted with permission from Running in Circles
by Connor Carney

The Progressive Democrats’ Sales Tax

I consider myself to be fairly liberal on most issues. So some of you might be surprised that I am about to take a position that’s usually the providence of hardcore conservatives. I support HR25—the Fair Tax Act of 2005.

Yeah. The one that would replace virtually the entire tax system with a 23% sales tax.

I read about it most recently in an unnecessarily hostile editorial by Matthew Holmes. Truth be told, his article did nothing to convince me that the tax is a good thing. But it convinced me to wade through the full text of the legislation, and I’ve decided that not only is the Fair Tax Act justifiable, it is the ideal legislation for progressive Democrats. I’ll explain why.

Defining “Progressive”

I used the word “progressive” up there in my introduction. Exactly what that term means can be a little shaky sometimes, but when we’re talking about tax code, it has a pretty clear meaning: people with more money shoulder more of the tax burden. Using this definition, sales taxes are usually something progressives would avoid, since they often hit the poor the hardest. Most sales taxes make life considerably harder for the impoverished, because they increase the cost of basic necessities, making it harder for people to get by.

A National Luxury Tax

This proposal isn’t like that. The secret lies in Title II, Sections 301-303, a provision called the “family consumption allowance.” These provisions allow families to purchase necessities without paying taxes on them. (“Family” means “1 or more family members sharing a common residence”).

This exemption does something interesting: it means that the government would only get taxes from the sales of nonessentials—things that the impoverished, by definition, don’t buy. By allowing essential products to be purchased without the tax, it turns the “national sales tax” into something more like a “national luxury tax”.

In other words, people who spend most of their money on things like food, clothing, and medicine end up paying almost none of the tax burden, while people who spend a greater percentage of their income on luxuries pay a greater percentage of the tax burden. People who don’t have very much money almost uniformly fall into the former group, while people with lots of money almost uniformly fall into the latter group. People with more money shoulder more of the tax burden—it’s as progressive as is gets.

Helping the Needy

Continue reading “Fair Tax Blogburst/OTA Wednesday”

This is Tuesday’s Open Post. Link to this post and track back. More below the profiling proposal…

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A recent comment by Jerry Pournelle, in excerpt:

“We would, apparently, give up air travel entirely than to treat young males of Middle Eastern origin traveling alone or with other males differently from the way we treat 80 year old grandmothers traveling with their children and grandchildren. We all know the dangers, don’t we? Old ladies often blow themselves up with their children and grand children. So do retired generals carrying the Medal of Honor, can’t treat them differently from — well, you get the idea. Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for the West as it commits suicide.”

Profiling works. Ask the safest airline in the world, El Al.

But our political masters see it otherwise.

*sigh*

“Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for the West as it commits suicide.” (James Burnham)

And kid thyself not: the modern American “conservatism” (of our political masters) is even more fitting to recieve Dabney’s condemnation than the “conservatism” of the 19th Century was:

“American conservatism is merely the shadow that follows Radicalism as it moves forward to perdition. It remains behind it, but never retards it, and always advances near its leader. This pretended salt hath utterly lost its savor: wherewith shall it be salted? Its impotency is not hard to explain. It is worthless because it is the conservatism of expediency only, and not of sturdy principle. It tends to risk nothing serious for the sake of truth.” – R. L. Dabney

Thousands Standing Around: an experiment in full employment for thugs and goons from the left end of the Bell Curve designed to see just how much freedom the sheeple will surrender for percieved safety. No genuine improvement in security. All sizzle, little (if any) steak. What better example of our political masters’ Prime Directive: perception is everything, substance nothing, in managing the sheeple.”

And that brings up the need for profiling. The American electorate needs to start profiling political candidates and eliminating the fluff–those who are actively inimical to protecting the liberties of the American people or simply too much in love with their own image and hungry for power–who are the most serious enemies of the Republic, before they can do more harm…

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Also note the other fine blogs featuring linkfests at Linkfest Haven.

From Jerry Pournelle, in a discussion about TSA, airport security and the current crackdown:

“…were I a terrorist I would find the enormous lines at security check points very tempting.”

…if your boss is a Mohammedan.

The “offensive photo” is below the fold, so as not to embarrass jackass Mohammedans too much…

Continue reading “Warning! Offensive photo! May be NSFW…”

During my sometimes-usual Friday check of TTLB and others (been more often recently since someone pointed an anomalous rapid change over at TTLB–anomalous enough to be interesting, at least), I noticed something that’s had me back every day since. One of those morbid fascination things…

Since at least last Friday, it seems the Democratic Underground and twc have been trading places in the TTLB rankings.

Of course, it doesn’t mean much of anything. I can count several dead blogs (and one not-a-blog-at-all) on the same screen, so I can tell myself, “Being ranked right next to the DUhs doesn’t mean anything, not anything at all… ”

And if I say it often enough, it starts to make sense.

*heh*

“Hu-what?”-ing over at The Bullwinkle Blog

By Heidi at Euphoric Reality

For a long time here at GTB, we have focused on the tsunami of humanity that flows over our southern border from Mexico. Mexicans, by far, are the largest group of illegals inside our borders, and their open agenda of Reconquista has place tax-funded groups like La Raza, MEChA, and LULAC under the microscope. We’ve also covered the alarming news of the number of Middle Easterners who take full advantage of our unguarded borders to infiltrate our country, paying coyotes tens of thousands of dollars to allow them to blend in with herds of illegals crossing the border. Once inside the country, they disperse and fade away into our society.

Lately, focus has shifted from clandestine border crossings to blatant visa violations as the FBI hunted and captured 11 Egyptian men who entered the country under false pretenses. Such visa violations (including overstaying visa expirations) are not unusual for Middle Easterners, particularly from Pakistan, Yemen, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, etc., but we Americans are rarely aware of them. Chechens are also making concerted efforts to get into the country illegally, despite the generous visa allowances for their country.

Today, I’d like to examine our broken immigration process in the light of the current war in the Middle East. To that end, I’d like you to reference this column by Investor’s Business Daily.

Why Borders Matter

Aug 09 06

The war in Lebanon is an object lesson in border protection. Hezbollah secretly beefed up its forces there as Israel lowered its northern guard. Then Hezbollah attacked. We should take note.

Lest Americans think this is “Israel’s war,” it’s worth repeating that it was Hezbollah that bombed the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks in Lebanon, killing some 250 Americans. Hezbollah also kidnapped Americans Terry Anderson and Beirut CIA Station Chief William Buckley. Buckley died in captivity with nine others. Some of the masterminds are still at large.

Hezbollah (Party of Allah) is not just a faraway threat. Its leaders have infiltrated the U.S. by breaching our own porous borders.

Continue reading “Guard the Borders”