Fun Contest for Conservatives -- $100 Top Prize

***Update: Now $125 thanks to Joan of Argghh!

I've been complaining for some time now that the label Republican In Name Only, and its acronym, RINO, are ineffectual to say the least.

My topmost reason is that a dichotomy exists in the word republican. Conservatives think of republicans as representing the people who elected them, with an eye fixed on protecting and preserving the American constitution with its limits on government and its recognition of personal rights. Progressives think of republicans as elitist and doing what they think is right no matter what the common folk think, and "The Constitution is only a piece of paper."

When conservatives see the "Progressive" subversive wing dominating the party and the decisions it makes, they get really rankled. But simply using the term RINO and intending that to be taken as disparaging by the arrogant politicians does not get the job done. The elitist either laughs at the ill-conceived acronym or looks down at the one who hurls RINO and sniffs "that's the kind of know-nothing who needs me to make the decisions." The elitist may be slightly annoyed by our intentions, but is neither insulted nor embarrassed.

So here's the contest. Come up with a variety of suggestions for an acronym to replace RINO. Here's some guidelines.

• The letters it stands for should be easily understood. It might include words like republican, or subversive, or corrupt, or elite, or evil, or globalist. I don't really know what combination will work, that's why I decided to fund a contest.
• It should be an easy word to repeat. 
• It should be fun to repeat. FOOLs or DOPEs would be great if it could be tied to our subversives.
• It should be a word that people will not feel embarrassed using. CRAPO (Corrupt Republican Aiding the Puppet Obama) for instance seems to me not ready for prime time. 
• It should be a word that penetrates the hide of an arrogant SOB.
• It should be timeless. When Obama is out of Office, a word like CRAPO will lose any punch it might have had (if it ever did.)
• It may or may not have a good image associated with it. RINOs has rhinos. ASPs (All Sell-out Politicians) has serpents.
• Enter as often as the muse inspires you, but do not spam.
• Most of all, have fun inventing this new acronym. If you win, that's a bonus. 
• Post all suggestions in the comments. Email me only if your comment does not appear. It may have gone to moderation or spam. Blogger has done both without my knowledge.

I'll decide which new acronym gets $100 from me.

My decision is final.

Currently in the lead is SKUNCs.

Statists Knowingly Undermining National Charters

It has great imagery, is clean both up-front and underlying, and also picks on how all contemporary subversives appear to be globalists. 

Bonus: no pol likes being known as a skunk even if they secretly don't mind at all.

Contest ended January 31, 2011.
And the Winner is "SKUNC".

PF is grateful to blog owners who have endorsed this campaign.

• Crusader Rabbit
• Primordial Slack
• Neanderpundit 
• Frothing Mouse
• Snugg Harbor 
• Free Republic

START Treaty -- Subversive Republicans

Progressive Subversive Republican members of the Senate who voted in favor of the START treaty during the lame duck session of the 111th Congress.

Subversive Republican	State
Lisa Murkowski	Alaska
Johnny Isakson	Georgia
Richard Lugar	Indiana
Olympia Snowe	Maine
Susan Collins	Maine
Scott Brown	Massachusetts
Thad Cochran	Mississippi
Mike Johanns	Nebraska
Judd Gregg	New Hampshire
George Voinovich	Ohio
Lamar Alexander	Tennessee
Bob Corker	Tennessee
Robert Bennett	Utah

In this instance, RINO subversive Republicans John McCain (AZ) and Lindsey Graham (SC) were not needed to pass this sell-out of America's dearly obtained ABM security.They're sure to turn up again for other sell-out duties.

"This Is Right Up Your Alley" -- Misanthropes

The quote in the title above was the message I received this morning via an email "Death Panels Back On." Included in the email was a link to Glenn Beck. However I'd already seen it mentioned at Drudge and JWF (who linked to the NYSlimes) yesterday. I guess I'm glad someone who didn't want to believe me before is beginning to notice; but is he too few, and are we too late?
 
The "death panels" resurfaced when it was revealed that the Czars of the Obama administration (Zeke Emmanuel no doubt) are going to push ahead with "end of life counseling." That push (as has been happening with quite a number of public policy decisions in the 21st Century, most brazenly under Obama) -- is to spite public disapproval of them.

What do you want from me?

Your uncle Pascal has been warning you of misanthropes seeping into the medical establishment after having seeped into most other institutions. And, in my opinion, the worst of these misanthropes infest the allegedly opposition party: the Republicans. You know them by now? They are the subversives you still, mistakenly and ineffectually, call RINOs.

Here's what I'll do for you.

In the absence of a general strike by all Americans to protest the theft of democratic republicanism by elitist republicanism, I will pray it is not too late.

Addendum to "Minitrue Crowing"

Added this to Minitrue Crowing Like the Puppet-in-Chief.

Obama and the Minitrue Agency of Lies* dolts are crowing of their deeds achieved to spite YOUR wishes as expressed this last November.

The RINOs cowardly brains of the Progressives subversives endangered national security in a lame duck session. 

The lame ducks were forewarned (in September) against giving into their bitterness and going along with such treachery here.

*Editor's note: In later years Pascal began using 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.

Minitrue Crowing Like the Puppet-in-Chief

A troll berated me on Wednesday for characterizing Mr. Obama's lame-duck victory speech as "crowing."

It's my guess the jackass is ignorant of George Orwell's Animal Farm, because I could have used other less flattering barnyard noises -- such as squealing like a pig -- to describe the utterances of his dear Puppet.

But apparently, Obama was simply demonstrating to the voices of the Minitrue how he wanted them to perform.

What follows is a video collage of the command performances by the overpaid droids of the Minitrue Agency of Lies*, with them CROWING about the lame duck as was demonstrated by their fearless Kenyan Red.

Ooops. That's close, but no cigar.

Well keep that image in mind at all the important junctures in the following collage.
[This video may not appear in some streams. Please click through to the blog entry to see it.]


Obama and the Minitrue Agency of Lies* dolts are crowing of their deeds achieved to spite YOUR wishes as expressed this last November. The RINOs cowardly brains of the Progressives subversives endangered national security in a lame duck session. The lame ducks were forewarned against giving into their bitterness and going along with such treachery here.

*Editor's note: In later years Pascal began using 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.

Statist Tools: Suppression of Critics

In the news yesterday, thanks to Breitbart, was a story of an airline pilot whistle-blower.

The Transportation "Security" Administration (TSA) went after him with the sort of heavy-handedness we associate with banana republics in their early stages. I think it is clear that such top-down efforts to stifle whistle-blowing is another assault on America and for what it stands to the common man. Whatever happened to the Left-backed whistle-blower PROTECTION law, hmmm? Is that a non-starter when the Left is in power? Will the sun rise in the East tomorrow morning?

What's more to come? Watch this video report, and you tell me if you can guess the answer. I don't think it is an admission of ineptitude, and promise to reform, and a thank you to the pilot.

[This is a video that does not appear in some streams. Go to the blog entry to see it.]



It was once typically American for local sheriffs to ask "who the hell are you" of heavy-handed Feds.
Sadly, today, it is more typical that local entities seem to fall into line and add on more unpleasantness, gratis, to subjects of Fed displeasure.

Statist Tools: Inconsistencies [Updated]

First published 10:00AM Oct 27, 2010

Collected Evidence of Inconsistencies

This item has been added to Statist Tools: Inconsistencies.

Today's episode came to my attention at Kevin Baker's The Smallest Minority.

Kevin calls it Quote of the Day - Cognitive Dissonance Edition.

Go read it. 

What follows is my expansion, not as quick to the point, but with a bit more exploration of the point.

One of the basic premises of contemporary liberalism is that humans are basically good.
This is the source of their never-ending compassion for criminals, whom they claim are victims of society's ills -- namely the unequal distribution of wealth. In other words: "poverty causes crime." (This is where the libs and the Left got mixed together. Libs will deny it, but the Left exploits envy in order to write laws that seek "social justice," which, as I've shown elsewhere, is a mockery of true justice.)

This "poverty causes crime" balderdash has been extensively disproved time and again. Did Bernie Madoff commit his crimes because he was impoverished, or because he didn't mind impoverishing his victims? Hmmmm?

Anyway, the quote of the day makes quick work of liberal inconsistency.  If they really believed that "humans are basically good" then why not trust them with firearms? Well, they do if the guns are wielded by any old person who has been recruited into the police force or other "properly recognized" security detail. (For instance, the private bodyguards of the liberal elites). All of a sudden liberals are okay with authority? Armed authority?

This is despite the bloody history of the 20th Century. That was where Leftist governments murdered roughly 200 million of their own unarmed subjects. It is no odd consistency that an armed citizenry is a guarantor that governments remain relatively good (i.e., non-murderous).

Hence this particular inconsistency is a Statist tool par excellence.

Clapper of The Dilbert Principle Presidency

This is Day 38 since I recognized that Barack Hussein Obama was the Dilbert Principle President.

Think of a pretty bell.
Then think of a pretty bell that few people know is cracked.
Then think of someone yanking the clapper on that bell.

Imagine the dull thud.

Then imagine the pained expressions of those who had expected something resonant.

I suggest that this captures the essence of how the world has reacted to how much Director of National Intelligence (irony) James Clapper was uninformed.



Stunned Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper.

I'm torn. I'm not sure if I feel more sorry for our country or for this poor man.

Why the GOP Kept the Lame Duck Alive

In only a few days, the RINOs globalist members of the GOP have signed off on DADT, and the New False Start treaty, and the 911 Responders' victimoguery. This despite the groundswell of votes from conservatives and independents in the November elections that doesn't like this sort of behavior in Washington.

The Statist wing of the GOP continues to prove that my analysis is correct: The GOP Progressives Traitors are the covert brains behind the Statist advances that are overtly demanded by the Left.

The Left-wing radicals who continue to be known as "Progressives" remains in control of the Democratic Party.

• Most all that they say and do to support their agenda is brainless. 
• It should be easy to counter them. 
• Yet they continue to roll out legislation that the Puppet in Chief will sign. 
• The Left openly seeks middle class elimination (the keystone of Marxism) in every form from good economics to life affirming social norms to strong national defense.

Sneering in the face of the voters, these Leftwing nutsoids advance their policies DESPITE the fact that the political momentum favors the Right. How?

Let's first assume that the GOP spoke the truth when its members said "we got the message" after the election. Then they would not be afraid of either Obama or the Minitrue. They'd be seeking to prove to the voters that they REALLY got it this time. They'd fiercely fight in this lame duck session. If a few RINOs closet Dem GOP went along with the Dems to pass DADT, START, and whatever, that would be at the cost of the Left. All bad that accrues from that would become Leftwing politically stinking albatrosses. And then come the new year, with the larger GOP numbers in both houses of Congress, much of this lame duck Leftwing crap would either die or truly be watered down.

But now, let's go with what I've been saying. With the GOP Progressives Oppressives acting as the brains behind all the Left wing demands, they really need to let the Left get most of what it wants NOW. They'd use the Left demands to seek accommodation with the Left's demands. For example, I heard one GOP Senator say they worked to dicker down the cost of the 911 First Responders bill down from $6Billion to $4Billion. I guess he thinks we should be grateful that the Left didn't get the whole hog. Damn bastard has no desire to sound principled. "It's too damn hard."  With all the press against it (Google 911 responders bill republican and see it really wasn't easy), it is hard. BUT THAT'S WHAT AMERICA WANTS. Damn you.

So, the we hear from the GOP the orderly cave-in.  We hear them saying BS "it went along with these lame duck demands because "otherwise the Dems would peal off one or two Republican votes and pass" whatever bill Americans hate "with all of the high costs."

Damn you Senator. Didn't you ever hear Reagan say "make my day!" Americans hate this sort of compromise. Unneeded compromise on the day after victory. Senator: You suck.

• You keep acting like you didn't like DADT -- but you really like destroying the best of American Institutions.
• You keep acting like you favor America's safety -- but you sign away our rights under a treaty that becomes legally binding on us NOT TO DEPLOY MISSILE DEFENSE.
• You keep claiming to know what are the limits in the Constitution -- but you sign off on extraordinary expenditiures while claiming your actions are good because you saved us a pittance from what the Dems would pass by themselves alone.

And so our GOP brainiacs are happy to let their President Puppet crow over "his" success as  "the comeback kid" (in a non-denial denial). In keeping with the teachings of the Sophists, it's far better to let the fools bask in the limelight. When you've gotten what you wanted in the face of widespread public disapproval, it is far wiser to let others claim the credit.

Statist Tools: Snares and Intimidation #2

Early in December, I ended part 1 with this about the injustice dealt to gun-owner Brian Aitken by the state of New Jersey:

Hey you liberals: I think that your beliefs that judges always act mercifully are in need of serious review.

I personally think that this judge has displayed a lower sense of mercy than that of a common criminal. The common criminal doesn't pretend that he's punishing you for the sake of respect for the law.

I surely hope New Jersey allows its chief executive to commute sentences, and that Governor Christie overrides this injustice very soon.

Well yesterday, that happened. (h/t Ace) That's great news. Way to go Governor Christie!

Sadly, intimidation for owning guns continues. But, perhaps in response to prayers, one individual will not have to suffer any more on the Statist altar.

His prosecution was persecution.
His persecution served the purpose of intimidating YOU.

Whatever happens in future to Governor Christie, good or bad, learn from his example today. Become the sort of leader he is today.

***Update***
Hold on. There's a good caveat regarding Christie. It comes to mind when considering the question proffered by Allahpundit at the hotair link.

"Exit question: Why commute his sentence instead of pardoning him outright?" 

Yeah, the man remains a felon under the conviction, and the conviction was used by his ex-wife to deny Brian parental custody of his son. His son was the reason he moved back to New Jersey in the first place so that he became ensnared in this nightmare.

See? Those in power continue intimidating us. They simply cannot help themselves. 

Come. Let us help them reform.

***Update 2***
The answer to the question in update #1 is: By only commuting the sentence and not pardoning the conviction, governor Christie left Mr. Aitken and supporters standing to overturn, through the appeal process, the conviction  and the practice of legal persecution that led to that conviction.

If Mr. Aitken and defense team do fight further for his rights -- and our rights by extension -- then the commute rather than the pardon is indeed an effort to "Let us help them reform." That would be an excellent course of action, and I support the thinking.

Now pray for the follow through and for success.

Something Other Than RINO

Republican In Name Only. RINOs. Sounds like rhinos. But it does not carry any stigma for those whom we call RINO. There is good reason for this.

America is ostensibly a constitutional republic. There are other forms of republic, of which America was never intended to be, but into which it has always been in danger of transitioning. The most favorable sounding is a Platonic republic. It is, in short, a republic ruled by the best and brightest of its citizens -- the true elite. There are downsides to such a government, because of arrogance that too often overcomes the best of intentions of people who think highly of themselves and are being flattered about their status regularly.

But what if we have people who think of themselves as elites primarily because they associate with other members who also think of themselves as elites? A mutual admiration society at the highest levels of power. They would lack most of the true accomplishments that an elite force might have, but have all of its arrogance. It's bad enough to have American school children who score near the bottom of the world's students in math and science, while scoring the highest in self esteem. It's much worse to have politicians sitting at the top of the most powerful nation on earth who have the highest self-esteem and are dolts.

Well, I maintain we'd have some Republican representatives who think exactly that they are Plato's dream come to fruition, but are, in reality, some of the most deluded souls in all of America. They bridle at having their self-assessed good intentions limited by a piece of paper known as the constitution. Yeah, they took an oath to protect and defend that constitution, but oaths are for subjects, not rulers. Everybody knows that.

Anyway -- isn't it that sort of person at the highest levels of the GOP who we conservatives consistently call RINOs? We are hoping to be derisive and inflict at least a bit of pain so that they might notice. Here's a news flash: It. Doesn't. Work.

Get this straight. We conservatives think of the Republican Party as the party of limited government. Ronald Reagan even said that. And we're pretty sure that's a major plank in the party's platform, but we could be behind the times.

The reality is -- and it should be as plain as day after 30 years or so of using the term RINO -- that when we call Progressive Statist Republicans RINOs, they think we're simply too dumb to understand. In their own minds they are elitist Republicans, and they have their friends who agree that they are the elite.

"So who are these lowly conservatives to say that we are republicans in name only? It is to laugh. They have no sense of history, or of Plato, or of our importance in the great vision of Plato. Let's just ignore the ignorant fools."

What I am asking in this post is for conservatives to put on their thinking caps. Come up with a new nickname or acronym that will be derogatory, nasty, and insulting enough to penetrate these self-assessed elites thick skulls.

We live in an age where the corrupt and powerful are shameless. Still, if scorn is heaped high enough, it reveals their thinking that the rest of us are stupid. No despots can withstand such exposure for long. Help penetrate the pomposity of Statist Republicans and maybe save this great nation.

Dilemma? No Choice

From Drudge: OBAMA FALLS TO 40% APPROVE IN FOXNEWS POLL...

So you believe that Obama has a dilemma. Does he serve his ideology or seek to regain lost love? The wishful narrative goes like this:  "The media played up love for Obama so he could get elected. He misses it. Obama wants to be loved, so he'll come around."

Your uncle Pascal warns you to look to history, particularly the history of despots and their wise men. More on that to follow.

First, let us look at two incidents reported widely this past week. Both involve what could be seen as the result of unthinking apparatchiks. One was connected to a big entity, the other to a small one. Both bore the signs of heavy-handed stupidity. Yet in both instances, the "stupidity" also carried a warning to regulated institutions and decent individuals, indeed to all on-lookers of what transpired.

1. Feds force bank to pull 'Merry Christmas' buttons... As I reported yesterday, the Fed backed off, but the bank and other institutions know, there is yet another shoe to drop. The initial action, as always, carries with it intimidation. In this instance, it was against  Christianity and those displaying its symbols. That intimidation remains in place.
2. Good Samaritans Fined for Helping to Save Deer in Distress. (with a h/t goes to JWF). Could our masters be looking to chill heroes? That's like asking will the sun rise in the East tomorrow? The cowardly scum at the top HATE heroes -- hence no good deed goes unpunished. Heroism, like martyrdom, is tied to old biblical values. Martinets must do their duty. In this instance: 
   1. the men were well above the age range for the law allegedly broken, 
   2. the ticket wasn't even properly filled out, so they could be let off on a technicality. 
   3. but the men, if they want to fight city hall, will have to take more time out of their schedule to in order to fight back. 
   4. Hence, the ticket will cause the next good Samaritans to engage in double-think "oh, what's the use, I no longer live in a world where I'm rewarded for heroism."

What's the common thread in these two stories? The people involved did not ask for permission from above to act before they did. So they must be punished one way or the other or else the masters will risk having other subjects acting without first obtaining permission.  

Individual initiative must not stand.

Where those at the top appear to be faltering, in a normal world they would seek a remedy. But what if the seeming faltering is their goal? Well, then, there must be penalties for noticing the faltering. For then you are in the world where the emperor has no clothes and he knows it. In such a world, nearly everything that is true, especially as arises from individual initiative, must be suppressed, in order to ward against some damn fools blurting out the obvious and making governing that much more difficult. (What do you think this is, America or something?)

How do I know this? Because when the despot is forced to choose between being loved and being feared, and he is unwavering on what he wishes, don't you know which choice he will make?

So here's your insight to courtly thinking courtesy of your uncle Pascal.

From The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli (translation Stephen J. Milner)

This gives rise to an argument: whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the opposite. The answer is that one would like to be both, but since it is difficult to combine the two it is much safer to be feared than loved, if one of the two has to make way. For generally speaking, one can say the following about men: they are ungrateful, inconsistent, feigners and dissimulators, avoiders of danger, eager for gain, and whilst it profits them they are all yours. They will offer you their blood, their property, their life and their offspring when your need for them is remote. But when your needs are pressing, they turn away. The prince who depends entirely on their words perishes when he finds he has not taken any other precautions. This is because friendships purchased with money and not by greatness and nobility of spirit are paid for, but not collected, and when you need them they cannot be used. Men are less worried about harming somebody who makes himself loved than someone who makes himself feared, for love is held by a chain of obligation which, since men are bad, is broken at every opportunity for personal gain. Fear, on the other hand, is maintained by a dread of punishment which will never desert you.

Moral Marshmallows Retreat -- For Now

One of my oldest understandings of Progressives our cowardly, voracious, power-mad institutional termites was how surprisingly willing they appear to be to back off when challenged.

I read a story at Drudge early in the day about how an Oklahoma bank was commanded by the Federal Reserve to take down its Christmas signage, ban employees from wearing "Merry Christmas" buttons, and remove the Christmas greetings even from its website. 

Then, late in the day came the report that the Feds had reversed themselves — for now — as can be seen from this piece at Ace’s: Feds Attempt to Force Oklahoma Bank to Remove Crosses, Bible Verses; Bank Fights Back and Wins.

I'm decided to post this primarily to explain the "For Now" aspects for this seeming retreat by our cultural assaulters.

This is typical of the apparatchiks, hence my "for now" interjection above.  “Apparently, this was all the fault of an overzealous Federal Reserve examiner.” Yeah — Right.

Guaranteed, the bank managers will feel the pain sometime down the road. It will be like the sword of Damocles hanging over them. How do I know? The Fed examiner was not named, and I am certain will not be reprimanded (unless he's foolish enough to display actual remorse — then he'd better watch out).

The Fed will keep reminding the bank honchos of it too of their inevitable comeuppance — probably through the next interchange with the same examiner who could make things more difficult. (I’m just sayin’ is all.) And it's likely the parent organization may find some way to send a signal to the Feds that they got the message — in a manner that will scapegoat some poor schlemozzel at the bank.

 Anyway, I don’t want anyone to who reads of this story to ever think that our eternal vigilance can ever end.

Isn’t it really too bad God doesn’t perform miracles anymore? You know what I mean — like opening up the earth and swallowing transgressors en masse for all the world to see. (No, the frozen butts of the COP16 cretins at Cancun early this month qualifies as fitting, not miraculous.)

Typical Leftist Aggressive

Too many of our politicians who claim to be on the Right keep playing with those on the Left.

It doesn't seem to matter how many times the Left breaks the rules, the Right keeps playing with them. And just when you think the Left has lost interest -- feigning disinterest? --  they suddenly rise up and punch (and maybe stoop to biting) you in the nose.  Progressives Aggressives indeed!

A don't know about the rest of you, but I am sick and tired of our alleged representatives playing pattycake with those who are out to enslave me.

Here's the video:

PSB Month 11: Sen Brown (RINO MA) Backs DADT Repeal

Once again, do not despair social conservatives and American patriots. Despair favors your enemies. They're enjoying this betrayal, sure, but they're enjoying your discomfort even more.

We started the Post Scott Brown series back when Scott Brown won the special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by the late Ted Kennedy. We knew the elation over his win ("new era" of conservative takeover of the GOP) was overblown. This is the first addition in a long dry spell to the series because more popular sites, of whose allegiance to principle remains open to question, seem to enjoy passing along troubling news.  Because he does not appear to be nasty to SoCons as others are, I give you this from Ace:

And now Scott Brown, somewhat predictably, as he had the same objection.

Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown today voiced his support for a stand-alone repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell [DADT] policy, bringing the bill one vote over the 60-vote threshold that it will need to reach if and when the Senate votes on the measure in the coming weeks.

Let me remind you that Scott Brown's "staunch conservatism" was denied by him as early as nine days after his election. From PSB Day 9:

See? This hardly took any time at all:  "Brown tells AP he'll sometimes side with Democrats". One needed not be some great seer to recognize that Scott Brown is human, and a politician at that, and he hails from Massachusetts. QED.  

Scott Brown is merely another ADE to those who are applying the finishing touches to the destruction of one of America's most important institutions -- it's armed forces. I'm not sure how DADT will undermine our forces, but almost assuredly it will come from treating non-heterosexuals as a protected class. No, it does not need be that way, but that is the way it has played out in every other institution in this country. This does not portend well for our forces.

My principled position is:

DADT should not be removed UNTIL the destructive and unjust practice of dividing the population between  protected and unprotected classes is ended. This anti-American one-way street of "justice" must end. 

So far, even among friends, I have not heard a single voice who agrees with me. Maybe only God knows how badly that speaks for our country.

Sarah Palin, Orwellian Target

"I don't see why the left even bothers with their relentless attacks on Sarah Palin when you've got these milquetoast RINO's doing the work for them." -JWF  

This wistful observation is how JWF began Irony: Palin's a Quitter, Says Woman Who Quit EPA Job After Two Years. He and a many others still don't get it. Nobody wants to get "it." It is too painful to think about, the fear of scornful reception makes it too threatening to discuss. Dammit people. This is how power-grabs are accomplished most easily: by instilling fears over actually discussing the mechanics of power-grabs.

Palin, quite simply, is being used as the Statists' two-minutes hate object. An Orwellian target is something we should easily recognize. And the worst implications of the device, given all the resources poured into servicing it, need to be explored by cooler patriotic heads because its purpose is to divide and undermine us.

RINOs and Leftists both hate her because she fits the bill for Alinsky rule #12. She is liked by vast numbers of independents because she carries herself as one of them. So she is used as the natural embodiment and personification of the TEA Party. It's the sophisticates against the great unwashed, the inner party against the proles.

As our world becomes more Orwellian, you have to expect the State entities (parties and Minitrue) to hurl invective at its opposition. And Palin fits that bill as Trotsky fit it for Stalin.

One more thing --

The Sort of Progress PF's Been Promoting

This is so optimistic that you can be sure it leaves the Progressives power-mad repressives and Greens Malthusian misanthropes in frothing fits of rage.



Cuz they want this reversed, and normal people don't.

History Wordplay

History to me is His story.

From the beginning of creation up until now, the spool of time has been unwinding. Thus, if you believe in God the Creator, well history is His story. Yet even believers will rarely get the history correct, because there are so many different ways to believe in Him. Or not at all. Belief in men, or a man, or in other forms of life or concepts, they will all look to history to validate their view.

So we have come to this current time with variations on history, many which claim they are the right, or correct history, depending on which axe they're grinding. (One of my favorites is how archeologists keep finding stuff that are hundreds of years out of sync. The mental gymnastics required for historians to save face on all the apparently incorrect sequences they'd concocted really ought to be in the Olympics. It's world class sophistry.)

And as global Statism grows, the variations of history will be contested only up to that point that it serves the State. For as Orwell warns us

"He who controls the present controls the past; and he who controls the past controls the future."

And in that world: 
"We are at war with capitalists; we always have been at war with capitalists."
And so that will be one thread of history. It will be like many others as the need arises. But in this special instance, since Communism (or socialism or whatever our rulers wanna call it) doesn't work, then when it is right for the all knowing all powerful State to hit the restart button, it will be:
"We are at war with communists; we always have been at war with communists."

But the reality, if you grok that God can also be a concept (even if He exists, He's done His best to leave each of us with our own concept of Him no matter what high holy men tell us), then every thing that really happens IS history. We may not know it, but it is. Like that proverbial tree that falls in the forest, it does indeed make a sound whether or not we sense it ourselves, since there are no forests in vacuums, and the laws of the universe tell us that it will resound.

So yes, history may come to us from honest wise scribes, or it has been altered by fools or charlatans. But what we must continue to seek is the most accurate accounting so that we can come to know and understand what is.

And maybe become truly wise in the process.

See? It is His Story.

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Unexpectedly related but timely example from Wabbit:

• Breyer: 'Founding Fathers Would Have Allowed Restrictions on Guns'

Wordplay

I've been told by quite a number of people something along the following lines:

Pascal, there may be ten people in the English speaking world who would understand or even care how you are using that word.

Of course, the critique is usually accompanied by the explanation that I am more intelligent than most, and so I can't expect other to know what I'm talking about.

I refuse to believe this is true. Dammit.

For one thing, I never liked being talked down to, and I don't think anyone else does either, so I will assume my listeners will be unafraid to ask for explanations should they be necessary. For another thing, I'm not that quick (something "intelligent" often implies). I'm curious about some things and will pursue them. But I'm also a slow reader by choice, and don't have the time to fully ferret out everything, and so often stop short. I retain for a long time what I've read or seen. I explore tangents to the things that catch my attention. So I've a wide knowledge, not necessarily intelligently applied. If some think me intelligent, it's only because I spent time accumulating knowledge and seeking wisdom, not because it came readily to me.

And here is maybe the most pertinent thing for this essay: our American educational system did its utmost to keep me from learning in breadth and depth in the same manner it has likely done that to you. I want to help any who seek it. Hence this post today. I want to try to bring remedy to that. I want to thwart the ignorance peddlers.

We Americans have been saddled by a bureaucratic nightmare in the eduction establishment. If there are a majority of Americans who do not know or care about their own language, their own history, their own economic system, their own political system, and their own religious heritage, it is because the bureaucracy has found a way to undermine the human thirst for knowledge, and the sense of survival that is served by it. Our anti-human wannabe masters want a lot of us to not care about our own survival. This comes from the not-so-much-any-more sub rosa  Sus worshiping green movement's influence. And destroying the understanding that would aid an individual's survival certainly fills that goal.

Our very language is filled with nuance that tells us a great deal. Most importantly, it informs us of the various ways schemers go about abusing the latitude a free society has gifted them with. That language also is full of information that helps us understand human nature without having to go to a behavioral expert (much to the chagrin of those who make money telling us how we should behave).

Look, a few days ago I had reason to shed some light on the word sophisticated. It seems to have fallen on deaf ears. But it's a word chock full of meaning many have not been exposed to.

I'd like to begin a series called Wordplay. Do you think you might find this interesting?

The damn school system probably made you hate studying vocabulary.
What if I could make it more interesting.
Would you read it?
Do you think it could help you better influence your neighbors? Give me a clue.

Postmodern Times Reveals a Place of Marvels

First Jerry Brown gets reelected in California, while neither his exceedingly wealthy RINO opponent nor the GOP ever challenged the legitimacy of his candidacy in court for being in violation of state constitutional limits. 

Yesterday Obama's oligarchical puppeteers remake Clinton president for a few moments. 


Regarding that, have you yet seen the phrase 

D R Y    R U N

come out of the mouths of the apparatchiks at the Ministry of Truth Agency of Lies? [In later years Pascal began using 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. -- ed.]


Trust in your old uncle Pascal; it's in the works. AKA trial balloon.


Postmodern times really is a place where you will not believe your eyes. (Nor want to.)