Friday, February 28, 2014

Still Crazy After All These Years

Jonah Goldberg takes a socialist apologist struggling to separate the evils of Nazism from the glorious righteousness of socialism to the woodshed in his recent article at National Review.

Stanley makes some fine points here and there, but I don’t think they add up to anything like corroboration of his thesis. The chief problem with his argument is that he’s taking doctrinaire or otherwise convenient definitions of socialism and applying them selectively to Nazism.

Stanley’s chief tactic is to simply say Nazis shouldn’t be believed when they called themselves socialists. It was all marketing and spin, even putting the word in their name. Socialism was popular, so they called themselves socialists. End of story.

One of the most effective tactics of the left is to simply deny any association with the proven failures of the left. "We said that, but we didn't really mean that," is a convenient feint. Another corollary to that is, "We did that, but we didn't really mean that." The left, it must be noted, struggles under the burden of less than stellar outcomes, but insists that we allow them their failures (and their body counts) because their goal of a workers' paradise is so very, very noble.

Another frequently employed rebuttal to the charge that Nazism was indeed a brand of socialism is that it couldn't possibly be socialism because it was nationalistic in its expression. Socialism, it would seem, is only valid as a label when applied to everyone -- in the world. "Workers of the world unite." But as Goldberg points out, all the "-isms" explored have never actually been able to carry that whole world thing off...settling unanimously instead for nationalistic glory. Over and over and over again.

In purely economic terms, nationalization and socialization are nothing more than synonyms (socialized medicine = nationalized health care).

This is true every time, kittens.  Despite their declared goals to unite the whole world, socialism is, by necessity, a nationalistic expression of an economy. In comparison, capitalism can reach to any corner of the world to unite people in cooperative and productive ways. But socialism can only be expressed through control. Therefore it is necessary to have all participants under the same iron fist. That's why socialist countries don't enter into trade agreements as frequently as they enter into wars. Or they become strangulated on their self-imposed isolation.

Yes, simply put:

Simply put, no one talks about uniting the workers of the world anymore. Every socialist movement or party that comes to power promises national unity, not international solidarity. Sure, rhetorically a handful of tin pots may talk about their brothers across some border, but that’s a foreign-policy thing. Domestically, economically, culturally, it’s all about nationalism, not internationalism. In other words, nowhere in the world does being a nationalist preclude a person or movement from being a socialist. Rather, it’s a requirement.

Socialism, communism, fascism, collectivism...are all possible variations of how and under what moral authority the state seeks to control you and everything you do, and are better defined as forms of statism, in my mind. The term statism removes any doubt as to just who is behind all the grabbing and killing. (I find it amusing, yet disheartening to realize that when I type "statism", my computer thinks
it is misspelled. How can we have an intelligent conversation about this when we can't even accept that the term exists?...sigh...) It is not "society" that rules, as implied in the word "socialism." And it isn't the "commune", as implied in the word "communism." It isn't even the fasces, which is the Latin root for fascism, meaning "strength through unity." It is the state - the guys with the guns. In all forms, collectivism is the most radically UN-collective form of government there is because it is uniformly imposed by a very small elite exerting total control and power over everyone else. The "collective", in every example, is stripped of all power, left voiceless and vulnerable; all power resides in the state.

And it was ever so.

Stanley at times seems to hold up Marx as the only acceptable standard for socialism. It isn’t and never was. I would argue as a matter of sociology and philosophy, socialism traces back to caveman days. Put simply as a matter of accepted intellectual history it long predates Marx. Babeuf’s “Conspiracy of the Equals,” for instance, which was hatched long before Marx was even born.  (emphasis mine.)

This is something I have been arguing for so long I am weary. Statism has always been with us; it is the default state of mankind. From the caveman to Generation Z, the average man on this planet has been born, lived and died under the rule of a handful of other men who were so convinced of their superiority and worthiness to rule that they were willing to kill to settle the matter.

The reason the left disavows Nazism is not that it was such a horrific, deadly and potent form of socialism. All socialism is horrific, deadly and potent in its ultimate expression and socialists are never squeamish about what must be done when they are winning. "You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs," Stalin is reported to have said to dismiss the alarming number of citizens who just needed killing. Socialists are never dissuaded by a high body count under winners. So Stalin can kill 20 million of his own people because Stalin won, and kept his millions of dead behind an Iron Curtain. Mao can kill 50 million because Mao won, and kept his millions of dead behind the Great Wall. Castro won. Chavez won. Pol Pot won. Kim-Il sung won. And their dead are forgotten because the winners write history. And creating paradise, it would seem, requires a firm stomach.

It is when you LOSE that the left disavows you.

The left disavows Nazism (and equally fascism) because it was so thoroughly beaten by the loathsome capitalist nations, and, therefore, not just exposed, but humiliated.  Nazism LOST against the power of free people. So did fascism. This can not be. So both systems were simply re-assigned, with a smirk, to the right.

These guys aren't even hard to figure out.


Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Harry Reid Says ALL Stories About The Disaster of Obamacare Are Lies

Lies! Lies!! LIES, I TELL YOU! NOW SHUT UP!



Every single one of them.

Every story. All lies.

Every story of a cancelled policy. Every story of denied coverage. Every story of a doctor who refuses to accept your new shitty coverage. Every story of delayed treatment. Every story of significant increases in policy rates and deductibles. All of them are lies.

Lies being told all across America.

And you, Mr. and Mrs. America, are the liars. It pains me to say this, but it seems inarguable many of you are so racist, so committed to hating on a black man in the White House, so ungrateful and thick-headed over the wonder that is Obamacare that you are  -- by the millions -- willing to flat out LIE over and over and over and over and over and over again...in story after story...in order to score points against our Beloved Leader and his crack team of internet specialists, bureaucratic ninnies, IRS goons, and FCC thugs.

Oh, Senator Reid makes a half-hearted effort to assign blame to the notoriously evil Koch brothers, saying they are paying for ads that, by exerting devious corporate control over your puny minds, remove all responsibility for the horror stories against the Regime with which you delight in scaring neighbors and small children.

But you are the liars, Mr. and Mrs. America. 

Get that? You. You are liars easily led by right-wing propaganda, willing to go on camera and lie about something as potentially horrendous as your own death. Is there no level to which you will not stoop? You will make sh*t up "out of whole cloth." Do you really believe the rest of us will take you and your horror stories seriously? When you start dying, we will know you for the liars you are and be unmoved by your obituary. You had it coming, you liar.

Mark my words. Since the people of this country have become so ungovernable that they are willing to engage in malevolent and mendacious slander against their own benevolent government, "we're going to have some problems here."

And here.

And here.

*******************************

I wrote this to be snarky, which is always my first inclination. But after a little thought I realized that Senator Reid's words are far too potent, far too insidious, far too dangerous to be dismissed with mere sarcasm. These are the words of the Senate Majority Leader. He is talking to America and calling us liars, saying that we are unable to understand even simple facts and are not to be trusted. 

Let's be very clear here. A senior elected official of our government is inciting citizens to call anyone who opposes Obama and his policies liars. They are giving us permission to really hate each other, to fight each other, to kill each other.



Big H/T: Weasel Zippers



Monday, February 24, 2014

Well, I feel violated.

Harry Belafonte informs us that anyone wishing to restrain the federal government as it swells to unsustainable levels is, "violating the American desire." Apparently opposition to fiscal debt in the trillions, concern over the fact that there has been no budget for Obama's entire presidency, outrage at the deadly insanity that Obamacare is now fully demonstrating is "violating the American desire."

As I said. I feel violated.




And, according to Mr. Belafonte, I should be thrown in jail after I'm violated.

Lovely.

Now I know what "tally my banana" means.

Day - oh!

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Why I Vote Democrat!

I vote Democrat because I believe it's okay if our federal government borrows $85 Billion every single month.

I vote Democrat because I care about the children ... but saddling them with trillions of dollars of debt to pay for my bloated leftist government is okay.

I vote Democrat because I believe it's better to pay billions of dollars to people who hate us rather than drill for our own oil, because it might upset some endangered beetle or gopher.

I vote Democrat because I believe it is okay if liberal activist judges rewrite the Constitution to suit some fringe kooks, who would otherwise never get their agenda past the voters.

I vote Democrat because I believe that corporate America should not be allowed to make profits for themselves or their shareholders. They need to break even and give the rest to the federal government for redistribution.

I vote Democrat because I'm not concerned about millions of babies being aborted, so long as we keep all of the murderers on death row alive.

I vote Democrat because I believe it's okay if my Nobel Peace Prize winning President uses drones to assassinate people, as long as we don't use torture.

I vote Democrat because I believe people, who can't accurately tell us if it will rain on Friday, can predict the polar ice caps will melt away in ten years if I don't start driving a Chevy Volt.

I vote Democrat because Freedom of Speech is not as important as preventing people from being offended.

I vote Democrat because I believe the oil companies' profit of 3% on a gallon of gas is obscene, but the federal government taxing that same gallon of gas at 15% isn't obscene.

I vote Democrat because I believe a moment of silent prayer at the beginning of the school day constitutes government indoctrination and an intrusion on parental authority ..... but sex education, condom distribution and multiculturalism are all values-neutral.

I vote Democrat because I agonize over threats to the natural environment from CO2, acid rain and toxic waste ..... but I am totally oblivious of the threats to our social environment from pornography, promiscuity and family dissolution.

I vote Democrat because I believe lazy, uneducated stoners should have just as big a say in running our country as entrepreneurs who risk everything and work 70 hours per week.

I vote Democrat because I don't like guns ..... so no one else should be allowed to own one.

I vote Democrat because I see absolutely no correlation between welfare and the rise of illegitimacy.

I vote Democrat because I see absolutely no correlation between judicial leniency and surging crime rates.

I vote Democrat because I believe you don't need an ID to vote but you do to buy beer.

I vote Democrat because I believe marriage is obsolete, except for homosexuals.

I vote Democrat because I think AIDS is spread by insufficient funding.

I vote Democrat because I think "fairness" is far more important than freedom.

I vote Democrat because I think an "equal outcome" is far more important than equal opportunity.

I vote Democrat because I would rather have free stuff than freedom.


******************************

This is a great list which, I must admit, I flagrantly and without remorse stole off a comment thread from someone else who claimed they stole it from another Yahoo commenter. So, the way I see it, I didn't steal it...I just received stolen goods. I think that's safe, isn't it? It doesn't make me a lying, cheating, stealing Democrat to post it, does it?

HAHAHA! 



Obamacare-care

It's Sunday morning and it seems appropriate to give thanks to our wonderful government for all it has been doing for us lately. God can seem remote and often inexplicable in His Heaven, very often leaving us to our own resources to solve our problems, but the Government is our God here on earth...promising us heaven right HERE!

That's pretty sweet.

And it's a heaven that I don't have to do ANYTHING to earn...except vote correctly - but that's a cinch, even felons and drug addicts know how to do that.

So I give thanks for Obama and Obamacare and now ---- OBAMACARE-CARE.




It just keeps getting better. Obama really DOES love us.

Or maybe not....




RAAAAAAAACIST! HERETIC! BLASPHEMER!

SILENCE!!

There. That's better. Now what was I saying? Oh yes...Obama loves us. One and all. We are his children.

Amen.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Monday, February 10, 2014

Heaven on a plate.

There are certain tastes, textures, aromas which combine to transport you to a place where everyone's eyes are closed and words are stilled, unneeded. This dessert brings all of that together in a perfect blend.

And it's easy. I mean, REALLY easy. Like five minutes and in the pan easy.

For my money, it doesn't get any better than that.

Chez Panisse Almond Torte (you know it's fancy when it's a torte and not a cake)

For those of you who don't live in California, Chez Panisse is the restaurant in Berkeley made famous by Alice Waters who defined California cuisine. If you can get any of her cookbooks -- do.

Ingredients
1¼ cups sugar
⅞ cup (7 oz./200g) soft almond paste
1 cup (2 sticks) softened unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. almond extract
6 eggs, room temperature
1 cup (4.5 oz/130g) flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
powdered sugar for dusting

Fresh fruit

 Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Beat the sugar with the almond paste until the almond paste is in fine pieces. A stand mixer is best, but a food processor will beat everything into submission as well. Beat in the butter and the vanilla and cream the mixture until it is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition so the eggs are thoroughly mixed in.

2. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl, and beat into wet ingredients just until thoroughly blended. (If you are using a stand mixer, just add the mixed dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and blend. If using a food processor abandon its take-no-prisoners-power-grind now and transfer the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and blend just until it all comes together.)

3. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and turn the batter into it, smoothing the top evenly. Bake for 1 to 1¼ hours or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the center feels springy when you push it gently. You should also look for the a uniform dark gold color. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out SLIGHTLY moist, not wet. I have a convection oven and it took roughly 55 minutes at 300 degrees.

4. Let cool for about 20 minutes before releasing the sides of the springform pan. If you want to dust the torte with powdered sugar, wait until it is completely cool or the powdered sugar will "melt" and lose its beautiful white coating.


EAT! ENJOY! YUM!!!

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Fighting the Battles No One Cares About

If an issue facing this nation is seen as pressing or vital yet contentious and divisive, then all we ever get out of Washington are speeches and hearings and shuffling papers amid mumbles about "doing everything possible" while not actually doing anything at all. If the issue is -- even for a moment -- perceived by the public as lower down on the list of SHIT CONGRESS NEEDS TO FIX! then, by golly, THAT'S the unsolvable problem they will get right after.

Get ready for an immigration fight the public doesn't want

Just a few weeks ago, a State of the Union call for immigration reform would have seemed an exercise in futility. But now, President Obama, who Tuesday night will urge the House to pass new legislation, might have at least an outside chance of getting what he wants.
Yes, of course he will.

Does it strike you as odd that Congress always waits for our attention to become fixated on some of the other myriad HOLY SHIT THE WORLD IS GOING TO END! matters of importance before sneaking through the legislation they really wanted all along but knew damn good and well that the American public didn't.

At. All.

I think it's a strategy, if you ask me.



Free falling.

This video has over 15,000,000 views on YouTube alone. It is also on Vimeo and who knows where else, so it is safe to say that I am -- once again -- late to the party. I will never be the trendsetter; I can barely keep up with the whirl, only every once in a while snatching something interesting from the sparkling stream of information.

But this is very cool.




However,  I can't but notice -- and point out -- that it lists his girlfriend as free diving to do the CAMERA WORK! Seriously? So his awesome, out-of-this-world, amazing stunt being done like no one has ever done it before free dive is being filmed by his girlfriend who is ALSO free diving??

Damn.

I'm more impressed with her.

Then I also can't help but notice that there are multiple camera angles, and my itty bitty brain says that she couldn't have captured all those shots in one dive. So they must have done this whole freaking thing more than once. SEVERAL times more than once.

Damn.

And I find it difficult to get to the bottom of the pool.


Saturday, February 1, 2014

Be This Guy.

Nazi Germany, and the horrors it perpetrated, are decades behind us. Far enough behind us that the insanity which griped a nation and caused normal men and women to act as unthinking, vicious animals in the pursuit of "the good", can be safely blamed on just one man. Hitler.

Isn't that convenient? An entire nation went nuts, and now we blame only one man. One man responsible for all of it. One man to revile. One man.

We are safe from our own evil as long as we have that one man.

But perhaps there is some truth in the power of one man. When that one man is doing the right thing.

In Nazi Germany, one man refused to become a part of the insanity. This picture immortalizes his quiet defiance.

Be this guy.

It must have taken great courage to be that guy. To question what everyone else was so very, very eager to embrace. To look with clarity at the empty promises being made, the fellow citizens being demonized, the accusations and the threats coming from the pulpit of power.

Be this guy.

We all would like to think we would have been that guy. But studies on evil, and how it tightens its lethal grip on a people, show that we are -- before we are anything else -- a group animal, and our willingness to conform is in our DNA. Before we are moral, we are part of the group.  Studies show 90% of us are unable to resist the need to comply.  90% of us would be raising our arms. 90%.

That leaves only 10% to be this guy.

But the same studies show that when there was just one guy who "was this guy" it gave courage to those who would have gone along. It changed the dynamics of obedience to power, it broke the group back into individuals.

This guy reminds us that morality is never found in the group.

It is always found -- first -- in the individual.

Be this guy.






Now.