Dennis Prager = Rodney King

Statism doesn’t need to control all its leading opponents. It seeks out a few who have a handle or two and -- when the moment is ripe -- twists.

Yesterday morning I heard Dennis Prager interviewing William Voegeli, author of "Never Enough: America's Limitless Welfare State."

Dennis of all people should have made the connection I’m about to make. But he didn’t.

This is the old story of losing our paradise because of “evil forces” playing on human weaknesses. We were misled down this path, weren’t we? We Americans who are so trusting of those in government and on the Left, confident that they are simple and decent honest human beings like ourselves, and so are incapable of treachery and worse. /s

From that radio interview it was clear that “Never Enough” parallels my exegesis of the Eden story.

We had everything we could want materially. But we could not withstand God’s simple test of our control of our ego.

When Eve fell or was pushed against the forbidden tree and saw that touching it didn’t kill her (as she mistakenly thought was the bar), she then listened to the voice that said that “God’s selfishness for His knowledge and power was why He barred her from eating of it” (targeting her sense of trust and undermining her obeisance and gratitude). Furthermore, she succumbed to coveting all that was His: "if you eat of it, all that is His could be yours."

Ambition is good, but unbridled ambition is costly (what do you say now welfare state lovers?)

And then, once she ate of it, she couldn’t be alone in her sin, she felt the need to have company in sin. And so it goes.

When God later confronted Adam, he complained it was “the woman whom YOU gavest to me” was the fault — like he didn’t see it in the salad she provided. “It’s not my responsibility!”

Back to the current dilemma: It’s not YOUR responsibility conservative Americans? 

Back to Eden: When quizzed, can’t you just imagine Adam explaining to God how he was totally misled by the woman? Right Adam, nothing willful in your being misled was there? It never occurred to you that you could give into temptation and blame someone else for the consequences, did it? Right? “No — not Me. Never. I swear.” God’s omniscience is a pisser ain’t it?

Back to Now: Like we were misled by the “Progressives” into believing we could borrow until the cows came home and not worry? Mr. Prager: You want us to believe that there was no willful misleading maybe by you or any of your colleagues. Nor even that you have willingly permitted yourself to be misled. Do you Mr. Prager? When will you recognize how much bilge you are pumping?

As Doug at BC noted:

The whole time he was prattling on about liberals not having an evil bone (“proof” being that he loves them) in their bodies, I was reliving my behaviors and the feelings I carried in my guts after college gave me multiple rationales to take out my unresolved issues and hostilities on others in pursuit of utopia.

Wishing for a World Devoid of Evil does not make it so.

I swear, I can hardly stand listening to Dennis Prager because of all the “ultimate issues" he knows so well how to skirt. He’s worse than any hypocrite. He’s an enabler of the Statist advance.

It was Doug's words which prompted me to the title of this post.

Dennis Prager is a Rodney King who wants us to believe we can all just get along so he doesn’t have to confront his complicity in the disaster unfolding around him -- and us.

Progress-of Imagery

It is not that they are oblivious to the Orwellian inference, I am beginning to think it is just the opposite, it’s a dare. 

That observation is by Two by Four at Belmont Club. It was prompted by the government contractors working on the domestic spying program "Perfect Citizen" who shared emails with the Wall Street Journal that boasted "Perfect Citizen is Big Brother."

And now, before I offer you my imagery, I remind you dear reader of this progression:
Altruistic ==► Casuistic ==► Craven ==► Shameless ==► Brazen ==► Sneer at US ==► Contempt for US ==► [TBD]

Think of a rodent burrowing into new ground that is soft like never before. 
With each new stage, it pops its weaselly head up to see if there’s any predators closing in. 
The varmint infestation is astonished at how easy its advancement has suddenly become. 
They can’t believe their luck as they continue on their rahming…. 

Leftists = Fascists

In a nutshell:

Our postmodernist “Progressives,” as did the black and brown shirts of a bygone era, would have us "Shut up or else."

According to the Kansas City Star (and thanks to JammieWearingFool.), a Missouri man whose land borders an interstate highway, and had the brass to post a sign that reads

Are you a 
Producer or Parasite
Democrats - Party of the Parasites

found that sign torched, not once, but twice. And then subsequently had another building torched as well.

Anyone who lives in Los Angeles and has had smaller scale things happen to their property (for their cars having bumper stickers unfavorable to Obama)

1. understands the hateful bastards who are behind this story and 
2. are slowly coming to recognize the accuracy of the title of this post. 

Conservative Angelinos are beginning to understand, overcoming the opposite thoughts promoted by "conservative" talkshow hosts like Michael Medved who probably did such things (sneakily attack those on the right) when he still proudly called himself a Leftist (instead of the closet one he is today).


Related posts:

1. Degeneration of Democracy -- by Thomas Sowell
2. GOP leaders who demanded anonymity, threatened Congressman Joe Barton to retract his use of the words shakedown in describing a Chicago style shakedown employed by the Obama WH.
   
3. Leftists = Radical Islam

Answer The Race Hustlers....

when you hear of this:

Black holes are the most attractive bodies in the universe.

What exactly is your problem?


Related posts:

1. Statist Tools: Victimoguery

Flag Day, 2010

Take heart Americans. The majority of your forebears came to these shores for what this flag represented.

What with Obama dissing the flag at every opportunity, and those under his influence or thumb seeming to follow suit, I pray you pause to view the following:

[Note: For reasons unknown, the following video does not appear on this blog's front page. You must click through down below at the "read more" for it to appear on the page as more than a couple of hotlinks. Funny, but it seems to show up normally at Google Reader, but not on my own home page. Google and Blogger need to fix themselves, like UNIX.]

The Star Spangled Banner, like you've never heard it

Smittys Place | MySpace Video

The hearts that loved and fought for this flag would be greatly saddened by the current state of the republic for which she stands.

That republic has for quite some time been under assault. And how. We've drifted from a constitutionally limited republic to a far more aristocratic one (as demonstrated below the break).

Finally, I believe Americans have vivid cause to be pissed at Obama. More and more will come to understand what it is he is streaming. Let this still subtle adaptation -- of a less clearly understood meaning of a previous outrage to our flag -- help them reach that understanding:

Leftists = Radical Islam

This is NOT a statement of moral equivalency.
It is an identity.

In a nutshell:

Both radical Islam and postmodernist “Progressives” would have us submit to their will like we were their animals rather than free men.

DeVore Shows the Strength to Beat Barbara Boxer

Here are words that no MFM is willing to publish or publicize:

"What humanitarian mission opens sea lanes to terrorists, to Hamas?
What peace activists lynch Israeli soldiers?
What humanitarian mission refuses to cooperate with lawful authorities?
What peace activists chant about Mohamed's massacre of a Jewish tribe?
The Gaza flotilla was not about peace, it was about war."

It's in the spirit of the Tea Party not only to lay out how bad these "peace" activists behaved, but how bad the Left behaves in general.

DeVore is no shrinking violet.

The country needs more like him, especially in the US Senate. 

Chuck DeVore at the Israel Solidarity Rally in LA! from Joshua S Trevino on Vimeo.

Writer's Block

Today my writer's block is particularly galling because I think the three pieces in the works are important in a timely way.

They are on PC, Statism, and solutions. All three have been combined in my thoughts for quite some time. Their cross currents were making it difficult to focus. It was a major accomplishment for me see a way to break them apart. It is in keeping them apart that appears to be the difficult task.

Adding to my difficulty, I am actively telephoning registered Republicans in my neighborhood (scarily thin percentage) and encouraging them to vote for Chuck DeVore for US Senate. What are the other two major candidates in the running? One is a proven liberal who has lost before, and the other is far too tied to Statist and global interests. Both supported the TARP and Stimulus, both have supported Cap N Tax, and neither would vote to repeal 0care. Only DeVore has been a consistently solid conservative.

It would be a terrible tragedy to waste the opportunity provided by the tea party rebellion to rid the nation of Senator Barbara Boxer by offering a Barbara Boxer lite as her replacement.

So pray for the sad condition of CA politics. Based on the responses I've received from Los Angeles Republicans, DeVore should win ten to 1. That's before the funny counting gets factored in.

And please pray that my thinking process settles down so I can bring the three essays to a satisfactory conclusion. I can use all the help I can muster.

Reflex

Pasc, you really believe there's a group, aka progressives, that aim to enslave us all or ??? And Obama is one of them? -- Representative of millions

Rep, you're already under their influence.

Your unwillingness to assess the evidence of your own experiences demonstrates this. You've been trained to scoff at any notion of the sort, as displayed by your question. I'd say it is as reflexive in you as Pavlov's dogs slavered to the ringing of a bell. 

FUBAR Equivalency

News report (h/t AoSHQ):

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu lashed out Tuesday at Israel's attack on a Gaza aid flotilla...  

"Psychologically, this attack is like 9/11 for Turkey."

Right. The World Trade Towers occupants were openly flouting peace initiatves and chanting their intentions as they steamed toward an deliberate confrontation. </s>

Got you Equivalency Excellency. Got you too, MFM.

Partials

1. Randians are Statist Dupes:
On the same Belmont Club thread that prompted my post of yesterday, a fan of Ayn Rand opined less than gratefully about those we commemorate on Memorial Day.

"For some, this 'sacrifice' is no sacrifice at all, if it means preserving what they most value in life." 

That struck me as a bit too much like:

"I agree. It's important we fight them. Here: let me hold your coat."

It compelled me to write down this explanation that I've long had stewing about Ayn Rand's philosophy, Objectivism. Even she gave fair warning that it may not be all that pleasing for the common man.

In my comment I support the claim

What Marx provided the Leftists, Rand provided the Statists: a nifty false flag behind which they hide their true intentions from the gullible.

In fact Rand's philosophy aids Statists to both hide their true intentions with talk of freedom's blessings while at the same time legitimizing their gains over our liberties. Here's is what got my Spidey-sense tingling:

So what first alerted me to the deceitful side of Rand? The actions and words of her most lauded acolyte, Alan Greenspan. 

When Greenspan said “who in their right mind would buy a 4.5% fixed mortgage when a 3.75% variable is available?” I knew he either was intentionally deceitful, or someone had something terrible they used — and he succumbed — to get Greenspan to abandon those who trusted him. Like Rand did Willers.

(Comments inspired me to write more on this.)

2. The Problem with Conservatism.
The label Conservative is a conflicted banner under which to fight tyranny. The reason should be obvious. In a word: Inertia. Last week's outrageous collectivist demand has become today's status quo. Conservatives, as a whole, feel comfortable with the status quo. "Wake me when they really do something."

We got to today's status quo because "Progressives" understood that conservatives will not fight a simple request in light of far more unsettling demands.

"What's a penny to you? A nickel? A quarter?
What's incremental? LOL You slippery-slopers make me laugh."

They know that there are plenty in the conservative community who may be relied upon to relinquish a little ground just so long nobody lets the boat be rocked too violently (as the radicals, the Progressives' ally, threaten). And especially if it is only another conservative who has to pay. How much evil advances this way?

Ironic isn't it? The lines attributed to the godfather of conservative philosophy, Edmund Burke, states the paradox we face simply:

"All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

A chief problem of conservatives is that we tend not to want to move unless forced to do so. When the Progressives of the nineteenth century started labeling their adversaries as reactionaries, they weren’t far off. It still takes a palpable threat to get us off the dime. Please: find some way to demonstrate how I’m wrong about this.

3. Bookends to the Age of Reason:
I have often thought of Blaise Pascal (d 1662) and Clive Staples Lewis (d 1963) as these bookends.

When Pascal developed the mode of satire with which he undermined the scoundrels who used the Counter Reformation for their own elevation to power, he helped tumble the old order. Reason and rationality were used to great effect in The Provincial Letters and the public grew fond of it. By the time of Thomas Paine. it showed commoners to be the equal of kings in standing before the Lord, and ushered in the era that proved that human advancement would be the better for it.

But by the time of Lewis, the Fabians had brought England to the brink, and the postmodern era was about to embark shortly after the end of WW II. My favorite of his writings, perhaps because they were dry and to the point even as he needed to say what he did discretely, was The Abolition of Man. Simply contemplating that title, I pray you can see why I call him the other bookend to the Age of Reason.

A man's most effective weapon is his brain. "Progressives" have long aimed to gain control, and indeed have gained control of education. How well do you read and figure? How well does the up and coming generation? The trend is telling.

Memorial Day: Especially Important Today

This is my response to Richard Fernandez' excellent Memory and Survival.
[Note: the red text is to remind PF that he should endeavor to explore a subject further]

Wretchard, the Judeo-Christian moral ethic carried this along generation to generation. The “Progressives,” have long worked to eradicate its continuance a various ways.

Interestingly the success of the IPD [iterated prisoners dilemma] is contingent on the existence of memory, which in the human context is an awareness of history. History allows members of a society to understand their individual existence and well-being is somehow inseparable from that of the group.

How do I know my assertion is true?

There is our experience as we lived it. We have witnessed the lengths the “Progressives” have gone to to allow any small grievance be amplified by court order to suppress the continued mention of anything related to God and the institutions that were formed in His name. That concept of the Creator, even flying in the face of horrid misapplications, has influenced many a man to comprehend the natural law of the universe with an eye towards justice — not simply personal advantage.

And there is the evidence provided us by C.S. Lewis in 1943. He saw what the “Progressives” were up to and forewarned where they were taking us. I summarize “Men Without Chests”

The teachers who were to teach the postwar generation had been indoctrinated in Utopian prewar beliefs. (As the Left escaped all blame for its contributions for WW II, it easily came to dominate the academy, passing off the blame to “old” thought (a pre-WW I notion), we can see why they gained domination. And it continues still despite the Left’s hubris and repeated failures.)

The lesson was: Eschew all that has gone before. See the world with fresh eyes. Don’t be tied in any way to the nastiness of the past.

Lewis summed up where that was bound to lead. When “We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.” When we fail to build the heart that cares for the future — to inoculate people with our societal antibodies, the ones we gained from the painful lessons that have arisen out of human excess — and then expect of them only virtue and enterprise, it’s on a par with “castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.”

And we living in the postmodern world are its product, although the Left and its propaganda arms constantly denies there is anything wrong with the product — except for those [insert ad hominem here] who disagree with it.

And that suits those who hunger for power over us. They aim to be the supermen who remain — after what we might recognize as men have been abolished.

An essential reason to think back of our heroes on Memorial Day — in contradistinction to Obama dissing it — is to think of why they gave up their futures for ours.

In that thought nurtures the seed to carry on the Golden Rule. “Do unto to others what thou would have done unto thee” is anathema to those who wish to rule all the world. “Hah, what can you puny people do to me, the Great One? Morals are for lesser men.”

Those better “puny” men that we honor today wound up to beating back the nasty things that men can do as they claim to pursue, both then and today, their vision of Utopia for all.

The Left continues to try to impress the gullible that man is perfectible, and is thus naturally good. It’s a nice wish, but it is a lie. The Left in the service of Statism needs us to forget, forget. FORGET!

Mankind must from time to time arise to beat back tyranny, sometimes against great odds, and these heroes showed us how it can be done.
So we do not forget. Yes, it is in their honor and it is for their sacrifices. It is our duty.

It imbues in us an understanding that, in Wretchard's words, our “individual existence and well-being is somehow inseparable from that of the group.” [emphasis added]

Middle Class General Strike

I'd really like to know: what is forestalling such a series of actions?
The competent in our society have the means to force the incompetent to cry "uncle." But do we have the nerve?

Is it simply a lack of leadership? What is preventing that? Same thing?

**Update**

A funny thing happened while I've been awaiting an answer from the working world. I discovered that on Thursday, Mark Steyn published a screed that pretty much touched upon the reason that prompted my interrogatory to you.

We’re too broke to be this stupid

Mr Steyn Concluded:

Across the developed world, a beleaguered middle class is beginning to understand that it’s no longer that rich. At some point, it will look at the sheer waste of government spending, the other shoe will drop, and it will decide that it no longer wishes to be that stupid.

More Progress-of

Today I became aware that the video I had embedded in my last charting of the "Progressive" advance on their power and the face they are willing to reveal to us, Progress-of, has been removed.

Allegedly "due to terms of use violation."


The video displayed in living color her infamous response "Are you serious? Are you serious?" to the question "Where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority for enacting an individual health insurance mandate?"

Fortunately there are still audio recordings.



But still -- can you not envision the evil doer forcing the removal of proof of their evil doing?

Chalk this up to the ever more sneering demonstration of the Progress-of power.

For You Who Easily Attack Those With Standards

 This commentary by Og the Neanderpundit prompted the following.

How to answer the Great Man's agents who apply Alinksy Rule #4 ( “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”) to those of us who have standards?

Our standards makes room for the fact that we are not perfect. We are prepared to forgive those who ask forgiveness for transgressing against us as we would ask to be forgiven.

Mr. Great Man: You pass rules willy nilly, expect us to obey, and then proclaim when we fail that "ignorance of the law is no excuse" as you mete out harsh judgment.

To whom do you ask forgiveness when you fail, oh Great One?  Dare you judge yourself as you do the rest of us?

Permitting Leaders to Be Shameless Dumps the Shame Onto Us

Regular readers know I have charted the ever increasing boldness of they who aim to rule us. My most recent additions to that chart may be found at Progress-of.

My point of the charting was to highlight how fast the "Progressives" have moved since they decided they would no longer feel shame for seeking the power they've always lusted after. It is now our shame -- to our heritage and to our posterity -- that we let them advance so far.

The Left's hatred for America has never found resonance in anyone in so high an office as now. Its icon, President Obama, keeps finding new ways to demonstrate his disregard for our country's constitution and its moral foundations, and now, with his shunning his head of state honors on Memorial Day, for our nation's fallen heroes.

Michael Savage yesterday, after expressing his dislike for Obama's shunning of Arlington, summed up a number of the screened calls with the question that prompted the following rant. (This is was transcribed from The Savage Nation podcast archive:)

1:01:45
Caller's question: "Why is Obama Doing this?"

Am I making too much of this?

Okay, let's start again.
I'm an alarmist. I'm just a right wing alarmist.

We should be haaaappy that Obama's not going to the Arlington National Cemetery.
We should be happy that he's not going to the breakfast for the Goldstar Families who've lost loved ones in a military conflict.
We should be glad that he's not a militarist.
We should all be happy that he's downplaying the military.
Because we don't really need a military.

What we need are... well, not the military exactly. We certainly don't need guns.

We need something along the lines of, ummm, men who march with wooden guns. And sort of wooden tanks.
And the ships are being used properly: I'm glad that they're not firing a shot.
It's very good that we haven't fired one shot at Iran or at North Korea.

It's better that they are used basically as social service agencies with propellers.

It's good to take children from the inner cities and give them a uniform and shoes and let them become pregnant on the ship.
Because that's what the feminists want. That's what they expect out of the military.
The military is not meant for defending America. The military is meant to get the children off the streets so they can just have sex on the ships, get pregnant, and then raise a child on the taxpayers' dime.

You don't want to know any of that because no one tells you that.

It's the best kept secret in the U.S. Navy.

It's why not a shot is fired anymore.

It's why we have to call in the Spanish or the Portuguese navy to take on the pirates because our navy has become useless.
Worthless.
Worth nothing.

I have no idea why we have ships. They do nothing.

I don't know how a commander on a ship can take this anymore. I guess they know that if they won't do what they're told they get fired.
I know that if any of them spoke out they'd be fired by Mullin, the usher in chief there. Admiral Mullin, the usher from Hollywood.

Look -- ughhhhh -- what can I tellya? Something's wrong with this picture. Why is Obama doing it? I have no idea -- it's a disaster [pause] for the Democrat Party." 1:03:40

 As for me, I feel what Obama is doing, so I know.

What is Obama doing Doc Savage? 
Obama is rubbing our noses in our shame.  The sooner we get used to it, the better.

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face— forever. -- George Orwell, 1984

MiniTrue Lies Would Be Capital Crime, Except...

The various media outlets, like AP, that spread lies such as:

APNewsBreak: Bubble of methane triggered rig blast

would lead to that media entity's demise due to wide-spread public distrust.  

There is a very rotten exception though.

The media outlet that justly dies of such infamy will rise again due to the fact that the regime for whom they are lying will bail them out -- with your tax dollars. 

From such backroom deals your Ministry of "Truth"* is foist upon you. 

*Editor's note: In later years Pascal Fervor began referring to American media as the Agency of Lies because he saw that we were not an Orwellian world quite yet, and felt it best that he speak the truth while he still could. He also used the acronym SKUNCs instead of RINOs for much the same reason.

Comment on JWF's "Give Me that Damn Gavel"

JammieWearingFool is recommending contributing to LtCol Allen West's campaign for Florida's 22nd Congressional District. I agree. But I am wary nevertheless for the reason I gave in the following comment:

Yes, donate directly to Col West, and not at all to the RNC. However, don't be surprised, when he wins, if he turns out to be no more solid than Scott Brown -- of whom I also was wary as demonstrated by this Post Scott Brown series.

Why do I compare Col West with Scott Brown? Florida is more conservative than Mass by a long shot, so it's not that.  It's because Col West is known to believe in "the ends justify the means" and was let off the hook more easily than some of our other troops charged in less clear circumstances.

Don't get me wrong here. I've been a bona fide supporter of Colonel West as this essay I published years ago atests. [That was a guest author, and I added the further comment "Lifesavers."]There is just a sea change in our politics that makes my skin crawl and makes me what to scream out "watch out! Don't allow the system bring you down in despair."

What I am getting at is that those now in power are ruthless and who are up to their craniums in "any means to power." They may very well feel comfortable with Col West because they see him as one of them, and they have something to hold over him that didn't come out at his court martial. It is possible that the army court let him off maybe a bit too quickly for a reason.

Yes -- call me paranoid; but I've been right far more often than I've been wrong about the character of those in the public spotlight. Caveat emptor.

ABC News: "Death Panels (snicker) Will Save Money"

ABC News: "Death Panels (snicker) Will Save Money" -- Paul Krugman of the NYTimes

 
Well, when ABC News' The Roundtable is willing to discuss this openly, brazenly, even with snickers for those who "bitterly cling" to the "old" JudeoChristian value system (that innocent human life is sacred), well, maybe there are many more who will take my last two posts seriously enough to pass them on to those who still believe "liberal" means behaving decently towards the less fortunate.



Your job, should you dare take up the challenge, is to

1. Convince all the liberals you know that the Left has taken power in the government under liberal disguise.
2. The Left is not the same as "liberal."
3. It is not a good thing as the above video attests despite the attempted white wash of the main speaker.

Prepare for the Free American Underground

I began yesterday's observation with the line: They (the "Progressive," self-assessed elitists) keep revealing to you how they think. Don't fear to pass it on. The bloc in power has begun to drop the smiley face.

Build your own blocs while there is still time. With the aid of their Sinister media and its disinformation, the fascists are already beginning to round up existing blocs that are more easily portrayed as extremists. It's a predictable pattern. After starting at the fringes, they eventually can get anyone they fear or even simply suspect. When they decide to come for you, they would like to do it by picking you off one or two at a time before you get suspicious enough to plan. But they're not yet prepared to get you all at once and may never be. If this is really meant to be a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people, then the nation's founders were expecting the people to forbid letting dictators rule them. Those more astute and less talkative are already preparing while they are still able. Join the movement. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

I can't begin to tell you how many people have said to me in the last 6 months, sheepishly, "It's sure looking like there's something more than paranoia in what you've been saying."