Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Primordial Slack: The Audacity of an Au Pair Insurgency

"...I found myself mulling all of my own fine recommendations for the job of au pair. I raised one fine son, why not another's? Music, art, and classical literature, bi-lingual, up-to-date on computer technology (except for BlackBerry. Crap!) and a more-than-casual Judeo-Christian theological background. Why not rock another's cradle and raise up a leader or at least a voter? And who has the sort of money to pay me my worth and keep me in comfort and security while I do such a dastardly deed? At this rate, only a government employee..."
Primordial Slack: The Audacity of an Au Pair Insurgency

Female genital mutilation “is part of the Sunna of the Prophet” — Winds Of Jihad By SheikYerMami

Still happening, folks, move right along, nothing to see here.

Female genital mutilation “is part of the Sunna of the Prophet” — Winds Of Jihad By SheikYerMami
Exclusive: Radical Islamic Schools Thrive Throughout AmericaPublications Family Security Matters

Fitzgerald: “It’s over. We’re here. It’s over” — Winds Of Jihad By SheikYerMami

Fitzgerald: “It’s over. We’re here. It’s over” — Winds Of Jihad By SheikYerMami: "der of the Jews from the “newspaper of record.”"
Something wonderful:

YouTube - norcsii's Channel

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Two pages of 2700 health care bill in which is a domestic military:
Obama's Private Army now law. Hidden in health care bill

San Francisco "Anti-War" Rally: The New Communist/Truth/Jihad Alliance

"On March 20, a coalition of communist groups, 9/11 "Truth" activists and anti-Israel extremists gathered in San Francisco to protest against -- well, just about everything.

The event was in theory an "anti-war" rally timed to coincide with the seventh anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, but since that war is basically over, the anti-war movement now has not only evaporated almost completely but has also lost its focus, as a plethora of tangential issues and petty gripes have taken center stage.

And so, without the veneer of faux-pacifism to disguise the protesters' true feelings, one stance has emerged as the unifying philosophy:
San Francisco "Anti-War" Rally: The New Communist/Truth/Jihad Alliance
Dr Sanity explains:
"You would think it would be a simple matter to be "in touch" with reality. But it isn't. It requires a great deal of cognitive effort--i.e., thinking--and often that effort must assert itself over powerful emotions that draw the person away from the real world, to a place more comfortable and unchallenging--i.e., to their inner reality.

So, how does a rational person determine what is true and what is delusion? How do you decide if something is a myth or is real? How do you decide if someone is paranoid, or simply "connecting the dots" and facing reality? How do you determine if someone is neurotic, where thoughts and behavior are conflicted and distressed, but not inappropriate or outside socially acceptable norms; versus psychotic, where thoughts and behavior become unanchored to reality? [Freud distinguished the two in this way: “in neurosis the ego suppresses part of the id out of allegiance to reality, whereas in psychosis it lets itself be carried away by the id and detached from a part of reality.”]

Official Website of Andrew Klavan —

Official Website of Andrew Klavan —
"...At the peak of Escalante’s work at Garfield, his math enrichment program involved over 400 students and produced more kids who passed Advanced Placement calculus than wealthy Beverly Hills High. He achieved this truly mind-boggling feat despite constant opposition from guess which formidable source. If you guessed evil right-wing racists, congratulations, you have the chief qualification to become a New York Times columnist: a distorted sense of reality. Because the true answer of course is: that untouchable mainstay of the Democratic Party, the teachers union.

The union opposed Escalante’s classes at the beginning when they were smaller than union rules allowed and at their peak when they became larger. There were complaints he came to work too early and left too late, and gripes about his high standards and tough discipline. “If you looked into what is going on in this school in the name of the union,” Escalante wrote the union president in 1990, “I think… you would be appalled.”

Saturday, April 03, 2010

via Vanderleun:
Richard at the Belmont Club with his usual clarity makes a little list that shouldn't be missed in » A Reason To Believe: Nothing is Transparent: 5 Fascist Fundamentals

"So why do smart people believe in dumb things? The author Scott Peck claimed that intelligence was no defense against foolishness, especially where belief was concerned. The intelligent were perhaps even more vulnerable than the simple precisely because they believed themselves to be immune when in fact they were not. All a cult leader had to do was flash his neon sign in the middle of a spiritual night and the vainglorious moths would come in their thousands, beating their wings against the electrified screen. If you built it, they would come. And whether the goals of the belief joint were Helter-Skelter, alien abduction or the Workers Paradise, these temples of the night would do a land-office business and all be built in the same way. All of them would have:

"1. A charismatic leader demanding total authority at their center. From him would radiate authority through an elect group of followers. This is inevitable since power does not spring from the institution, but rather from the personal divinity of the god at its center.

"2. Controlling techniques harnessing shame, guilt and peer pressure to bring dissidents to heel. Within a cult are only hymns of praise and condemnations of the wicked. Deviation from dogma would be treated as a moral failing; sin or blasphemy against a sacred leader and his goals.

"3. Self-isolation from the world. Cults constitute little universes unto themselves; closed hermetic societies, where the “us” faces out against the “them”.

"4. Extremist or fanatical behavior. In a cult excess is normal. Activity is frenzied, every emotion is at the highest pitch. People act as if possessed because time is short. The long awaited moment is at hand.

"5. Secrecy and deception. Routine documents are concealed. Inquiries are treated with suspicion. Associations, personal histories, financial records, decisions — all go behind a firewall. Nothing is transparent."

Friday, April 02, 2010

"..The book is called The Israel Test, and you will want to know what that test is. I will let Gilder tell you — he has some questions: “What is your attitude toward people who excel you in the creation of wealth or in other accomplishment? Do you aspire to their excellence, or do you seethe at it? Do you admire and celebrate exceptional achievement, or do you impugn it and seek to tear it down?”

Gilder’s idea is that people who have a problem with Israel have a problem with human efflorescence, freedom, genius, and difference. He reminds me of Paul Johnson, who says that those who hate America in fact hate humanity itself: because people from all over the world gather in America to live as fully, freely, and happily as possible..."

Early in his book (as later), Gilder discusses the astounding success of Jews. “In countries where Jews are free to invent and create, they pile up conspicuous wealth” — and in so doing “arouse envy and suspicion.” The author quotes Gorky, who said, “Whatever nonsense the anti-Semites may talk, they dislike the Jew only because he is obviously better, more adroit, and more capable of work than they are.”



Pass This Test on National Review / Digital

Thursday, April 01, 2010

HT AmericanDigest from Dr. Helen
"...So just remember that next time a liberal treats you poorly, it may not be his or her fault. Like the psychopath who has no empathy for his fellow human being, liberals may have a blind spot when it comes to having any empathy or understanding for their conservative brethren. It often makes a psychopath worse to show empathy for him, as he will take advantage of it.

The second possibility is that liberals do have the capacity to empathize with conservatives, but they do not have to do so because of the liberal bubble they mostly live in. Schools, the media, and many of the cities they live in lean left. This means that there is no incentive to understand other ideas and there are no consequences for showing disgust and ugly feelings towards conservatives. Thus, Goldstein’s ex-professor feels free to vent at him — knowing that few will care.

For example, if a Republican vents at a Democrat, he or she will be seen as a “hate-monger.” For an example of this, notice how Eric Cantor can have his office shot at and it is played down with all kinds of excuses, while if the tea partiers are said to have shouted at Democrats without any proof, it is taken as the gospel truth, with no video needed. The left are just “innocent victims.”

So what is the prescription here for those of us who are conservative or libertarian? There may be no way to get the “other side” to understand our views, for they may not have the capacity to do so. Until the lack of empathy for conservatives miraculously changes, we might do better to grow our own ranks, getting more of us involved, rather than trying to rationalize our own views to the other side. Giving in only wastes valuable time that could be put to better use and makes liberals more likely to treat us poorly.

At the same time, we should consider that it could be a lack of consequences that allows liberals to lack empathy or understanding for their fellow right-leaning citizens. Expanding right-leaning media and exposing liberals to ridicule and consequences (e.g., Andrew Breitbart) might then be the correct path to take, for the ease with which they attack may decrease once they realize that they will not get off scott-free as they once did.

Finally, and my third possibility, is it could be lack of education that allows the left to lack empathy. They are not exposed to right-leaning and libertarian ideas. For example, how many classes at school are teaching about the ideas of Hayek, Friedman, and Rand? If kids grow up without this information, they may turn into adults who lack the ability to understand other points of view..."Pajamas Media � How Should Conservatives Deal with the Left’s Disrespect and Lack of Empathy?
"...Qureshi is a Muslim. The debate started last year when Isaac Medina, a Muslim convert from Guadalajara, Mexico, noticed the wording when he saw pre-made diploma frames in the Trinity bookstore. Muslims have been attacking Christianity since the inception of their religion. They’ve spotted a weakness in our system, the attempt to be diverse at any cost, even if it costs us the one thing that made this nation great—its Christian foundation. Muslims understand this; many Christians don’t (see America's 200-Year War with Islamic Terrorism). Muslims call for diversity as a wedge to get in the door, open it wide enough for others follow behind, then once in pool their collective energies and force Christians out..."Muslim Students Want to Take Over Christian College