PROMETHEAN OBSERVER

2012-01-03T16:16:00.001+09:00

The entries for Random Observations and Notable Observations by Others (in the links on the left of this page) have been updated as of January 3, 2012

A, thus far, incomplete enterprise

2006-01-23T13:00:00.002+09:00

This site is primarily for compiling notes and ideals. New entries will be added over time...

(The quotations that follow are personal observations. Because so many of the issues addressed here are basic themes in political philosophy, there are no doubt many quotes among them that come close to simply restating the quotations or general observations of others. It is certainly not my intention to be merely copying the thoughts of others so, 'apologies for those cases where that may appear to be the case)

TOPICS:

2006-01-22T13:00:00.004+09:00

AMERICA, ANTI-AMERICANISM, THE NATIONALIST SENTIMENTS OF OTHER COUNTRIES, AND DESIRES BY SOME FOR A GLOBAL ORDER

1.
Why do Canada and Mexico have such massive, powerful, and expensive militaries? To protect them from the "greatest danger to world peace" that lies at their borders. (Yes, this is a joke).

If anyone hasn't noticed, the "great hegemon" that is accused of being so threatening and aggressive doesn't seem to arouse any genuine fear at all to sane people in neighboring countries.

2.
It's not the job of the American president to help European countries regain their sense of glory. If the French, Germans, etc. truly wish to reestablish a sense of significance, they'll need to start by scraping the stagnant social bureaucratic scheme they've adopted.

3.
It's better to be a rich country with some poor people than a poor country with some powerful politicians.

4.
The reason America has been, and will likely continue to be, a wealthy and powerful country is that those with superior potential, intelligence, and ambition are simply free to do superior things -- which eventually benefit many. This is only a problem to those who resent the very concept of varying ability or degrees of engagement in life. Such resentment is no more than, what Ayn Rand called, "Hatred of the good, for being the good."

5.
Europeans who despise American “hegemony” do so more out of a fear and awareness of their own weakness rather than a perception of America’s strength.

6.
Patriotism is when you wave a flag. Nationalism is when you try to plant it in another country.

7.
When one says that they "despise Americans," which of the almost 300 million people do they hate most? -- The Blacks, Hispanics, Whites, rich, poor, intellectuals, men, women, laborers, scientists, artists, Republicans, Democrats...et al., or is it just anyone in America who doesn't obey that mini-tyrant in the socialist critic's head?

8.
The heroes of America are those who will not be told what to do. They are the free spirits who create artworks, music, literature (and smut), sky scrapers, technology, and medical miracles...and who sometimes just sit down, drink a beer and do nothing -- because that's what they've chosen to do.

9.
The Germans… (obviously not all Germans): They used to favor National Socialism. Now many (if not most) favor International Socialism. Their only difference over time is that now they'd like to see their collectivist authoritarian ideology cover a wider area.

10.
Listen to John Kerry, Al Gore, and Ted Kennedy and you'll hear the common sound of angry and bitter guys who wanted to be President, thought it was their right and destiny...and didn't get their way.

11.
Why is an American’s appreciation of their country, “blind patriotism” and a French citizen’s appreciation for France enlightened superiority.

12.
Contemporary criticism of the U.S. has become kind of like The Boy who Cried Wolf. Since people show outrage* every time the U.S. farts, when it actually does takes a shit it's hard to take the smell that seriously.
*(a seriously overused term – not to be confused with “right-wing hate speech”).

13.
1. All countries, first and foremost, pursue their own interests.
2. Thinking they don't or shouldn't is stupid.
3. (This applies when discussing the United States as much as any other country).

14.
How often does history provide a society that is extremely powerful and is essentially a force for good? (This will be a worthless question if you're incapable of acknowledging that there is such a thing as good or that "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" is a "self-evident" good thing).The answer is; not very often. And, although it's an unnoticed fact of our time, such a country exists. Now imagine a world where there is an extremely powerful country or alliance of countries that are essentially a force for evil...or at least dedicated to the destruction of "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

15.
Saying that America is an "oppressive" and "racist " country is like complaining that the color sequence in a rainbow is flawed and can be improved – it's pretty much a reflection of your own perceptions and how significant you think it is that the world isn't as perfect as you'd like it to be.

16.
The degree to which one is an "anti-war / pacifist" regarding wars involving the United States is typically proportional to the degree of apathy toward other wars where the U.S. is not involved. In the case of "wars of national liberation" (communist coup d' etats) a "pacifist" often becomes remarkably pro-war.

17.
"Multipolar/Multilateral world" actually means an alliance of emerging dictatorships that determine the destiny of humanity – nice going.

18.
Hitler killed six million Jews and loved his dog. It does not then follow that loving dogs is a bad thing.
In a another analogy, the fact that America's founding father were holders of slaves – the common practice of the time (as it was in many societies throughout history) – does not somehow reflect poorly upon the concepts of freedom of the press and religion or the separation of powers within government.

19.
America's founding fathers "were slave owning white male bourgeoisie land-owners." How then could freedom of speech, press, religion, and assembly possibly be a good thing?

20.
Why is it that those who bring up and critique America's involvement in the Vietnam War never manage to even briefly note that France had actually colonized the country and fought to keep it before America's gradual entry into the conflict?

21.
Among the loony left's many bizarre beliefs is that America is, and always has been, essentially a fascist state. If so stupid a belief had even a grain of truth to it one would have to at least wonder why America wasn't allied with Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War II. In fact, the U.S was a bitter enemy of the Nazis (for example) and most people before WWII speculated as to when, not if, we would go to war against a system and philosophy so obviously contrary to our own beliefs in individual freedom and democratic pluralism.

22.
Hardly profound...Most non-Americans (and all leftists) would like to see America's president be someone who does not support the interests of America [!]. The same situation, of course, does not apply when other countries' citizens consider the stance of their own leaders and their countries' interests.

23.
America can be noted to have almost perfected capitalism (of course, those days are long gone)...and Europe has, on several occasions come close to perfecting socialism, communism, fascism, and Nazism...

24.
Nine out of ten dictatorships (or aspiring dictatorships) hate the U.S. What should that tell one...?

25.
In addition to Europeans, Canadians, and Australians etc. not liking America, one must realize that there are many Americans that don't like America. What it ultimately comes down to is a definite favoritism for the left wing romantic world view amongst a generation (actually two generations) of people raised and reared on media, "education," and "entertainment" with a one track style of thought. America is just a good hook for their projection of the evil seen in societies unplanned by intellectuals and stratified by wealth and achievement The twist is that they think they're being unique and rebellious for their conformity to everything they've been told by the mouthpieces of the most pampered generations in history.

CENTRIFUGAL AND CENTRIPETAL
POLITICAL FORCES

1.
Civilization hovers somewhere in that Freudian realm between absolute abandon and absolute control. When a fervent outpost is reached on either end one can expect its opposite to eventually manifest. It is the country that wanders on the fine line between chaos and restraint that is most successful in survival and worldly achievement.
2.
It's most unfortunate, but freedom contains its own self-destruction within itself. Ultimately the same freedom that affords diverse creativity, innovation, and economic dynamism also provides a platform for every spoiled, ungrateful, and stupid fool to subvert, attack, and help to destroy this very concept which allows for such prosperity and advance.

COMMUNISM / MARXISM AND LEFTISM IN GENERAL

1.
To say that all history is a series of class struggles is like saying that history is a pattern of people eating. True as both may be, in and of themselves, such observations aren't particularly insightful or profound.

2.
With all the fancy charts, schemes, and tomes one finds from Marx and his followers, the philosophy ultimately comes down to the simple and undramatic observation that, "It's not fair that life isn't fair."

3.
If there's one thing a Marxist hates more than a Capitalist, it's an intelligent proletarian.

4.
The tragedy and paradox of Marxism's allure lies in its ability to con youthful idealists into believing that Socialist rule is somehow "revolutionary." To the contrary, it’s the most stoic of inflexible and archaic ideals -- that individual expression should be crushed before the "needs" of "society" (the State). Marxist authoritarian rule seeks to indeed "meet the needs" of its slave caste, to merely subsist as drones in a bland ant hill of regressive conformity.

5.
The Communist party doesn't seem to be aware that a party is supposed to be fun.

6.
The communist "revolutions" have not been revolutions at all but mere coup de etats. They did not bring about revolutionary changes in government or society but merely transferred power from one authoritarian clique' to another -- same statist authority, different names.

7.
A communist "revolution" is when one group (socialists) corners the market on everything. Historically, that group has been comprised of disgruntled intellectuals speaking in the name of various "oppressed" groups they care little for. The socialist method of obtaining universal monopoly has always been through mere coercion and violence. Persuasion alone would never get them the power they demand.

8.
The only way a Marxist economy can develop new technology is by the same method they use to acquire assets in general -- theft.

9.
Any political authority that refers to outlawed opposition as, “enemies of the people” or “counter-revolutionaries,” is probably not going to be very open and tolerant to anyone in general.

10.
A communist ranting about their "right to free speech" is like a wolf proclaiming the virtues of a vegetarian diet.

11.
One of communism's many paradoxes (hypocrisies, actually) is that, while in a free society, its followers will obsessively call for, "change" while supporting a style of government that, once established, will not permit change of any kind.

12.
The best thing a communist government can do is give up their allegiance to that old-time religion imported from Europe (Marxism) and then "wither away" the way the state is supposed to do according to Marx.

13.
Some Marxists and their ideas seem to never die, but I wish they would “fade away.”

14.
In the left's new extrapolation from its original doctrines, a Muslim-Fascist police state is a type of freedom and our constitutional republic and concept of self-government are types of "oppression." – Some things never change.

15.
The classic Marxist story-line; the pampered, lazy, and unproductive lecture and chastise the people who have created and maintained developed and dynamic open society. Why? For daring to lack obedience to the former.

16.
It's an old axiom in psychology that neurotics build castles in the sky and psychotics live in them. To this I would add that leftists demand that other people live in them as well.

17.
Leftists basically believe that the Emperor has clothes...and that we should pay for them.

18.
The basic philosophy of communism (and this would include today's trendy neo-comms) is that the rich have everything and the poor have nothing...and, it would be a better world if the circumstance were the opposite.

19.
A Marxist intellectual will seldom acknowledge that fascism is merely a variant of their own statist/collectivist philosophy (Mussolini was a devout Marxist throughout his career as the first fascist dictator and, like Hitler, despised free-market capitalism).

20.
No matter how socially intrusive a leftist may be, they will always draw a line at the boundaries of their own liberty and independence.

21.
What exactly is the reason communism is imposed on any society? The society will still always possess the societal attributes the communist supposedly hates, add authoritarian domination and economic stagnation, and then say they're on the road to paradise. Ironically, the first steps toward anything even vaguely resembling paradise occurs when the first free transactor in commerce takes place – when the human mind chooses personal improvement over obedience to an abstract overlord.

22.
Though a "liberal" may be motivated by desire to "help people" the practical reality of their philosophy ultimately defaults to a need to control people. A classical liberal / libertarian on the other hand makes no pretense to either seeking to help or hinder others. In motivation, their means and end are the same, they merely wish to be left alone -- and hope that others will be left to their own choices in life as well. Pop mythology aside, the libertarian conservative is by far the less aggressive or demanding of fellow citizens. The left, in all its shades, seeks to impose and control – they are innately authoritarian.

23.
A shirt with a communist autocrat across its front doesn’t count when the person wearing it lives high off the fruits of open society and a free economy.

24.
There's nothing a leftist hates more than someone using the process of intellectual reasoning and arriving at different conclusions from their own.

25.
Hu Jintao, of communist China, is a typical late-model dictator. The kind that trade in drab uniforms for suits and ties so they can feign a degree of legitimacy before their dying socialist prison state succumbs to the reality of human nature and the desire of citizens live freely.

26.
Leftists want to have [your] cake [ -- and everyone elses' -- ] and eat it too.

27.
If capitalism is supposedly so cruel, heartless, and oppressive, why is it that the mood, tone, and manner of its opposite – Marxist style socialism – is consistently so grim, gray, stern, and lifeless?

28.
Most communists fail to note one obvious and fatal flaw in their whole scheme. If a society outlaws almost everything, they will have almost nothing.

28.
We all tend to give "the benefit of a doubt" to some side in the issues of the day, and we all are occasionally wrong in our often misplaced sympathies. Western conservatives tend to reserve their benefit of a doubt to the decisions and action of their own free societies. Leftists more often than not, direct their doubt benefits to dictators and utopian/authoritarian political schemes. They do this knowing that their stance would ultimately deprive the benefit of freedom and individual expression to others. And for this they fancy themselves heroes, "rebels," and scholars of great insight.
Affording the benefit of a doubt is an easy exercise of common sense – that some are incapable of making.

29.
For consistent corruption and cronyism, nothing beats "business" transactions in a communist state.

30.
The left hates the free-market precisely because it its free -- their ultimate gripe is with freedom itself even aside from its expression in economics. Here’s a real “revolutionary” idea the left should follow; mind your own business.

31.
While it is the nature of extreme Leftists -- in their bid for power-- to stand for internationalism and pacifism, after attaining power, with consistent regularity, they become both devote nationalists and militarists.

32.
Communists’ ranting of their right to free speech is like a wolf proclaiming the virtues of a vegetarian diet.

33.
I think it can be said that the left, with regular consistency, takes a stand for cultural radicalism (often in expressions of the course and decadent), before they attain power. After attaining power it is quite another matter as they inevitably become cultural puritans every bit as dogmatic and oppressive as the most fervent religious extremist.

34.
The difference between the right and left is that the right loves hearing people "tell it the way it is" and the left loves hearing people tell it the way they imagine -- and isn't.

35.
Leftists are the kind of people you don't want to be around when they're making "a better world."

36.
Notice to the left. Listen to what you're really saying, then wince with embarrassment.

DICTATORSHIP, TERRORISM AND FANATICISM

1.
The following should be a common sense insight but, among some, it is not:

A dictatorship will always, in some way, mistreat a large segment of its population. In dealing with other nations it will always be untrustworthy, and it will always present a potential – and usually manifest – threat.

It should take equal common sense to see that such institutions should be dealt with sooner rather than later, as they will inevitably have to be dealt with at some point, typically on less than favorable terms to civilized and open societies.

2.
The key to successful foreign policy is in recognizing that there are both good and bad governments and that you deal with them differently.

3.
An unelected political “authority” is not legitimate – ever!

4.
Only in the warped minds of Leftland is sympathy for dictatorship seen as a moral virtue.

5.
With the left's new found appreciation for Muslim religious (and political extremism) we find that they finally support the prophet motive.

6.
Regardless of the sibling rivalry and heated animosity between Communists, Fascist, and Nazis, a person would have to be a total fool (or hypocritical partisan) to not recognize them all as virtually identical in character and behavior.

7.
A cult of personality in politics has never been a good thing – ramping such emotions up, on steroids so to speak, can only be worse.

8.
Most societies have the common sense to justly punish those who use force or deception against another. The societies that punish thought and free expression (no matter how foolish or mean-spirited it may be) are called dictatorships.

9.
Think of all the love and peace we could have if we'd just learn to cooperate with dictators more...or so the story goes.

ECONOMICS, DISTRIBUTION, AND REDISTRIBUTION

1.
Capitalism uses the carrot. Socialism uses the stick...

2.
It is no coincidence that a country's economic strength tends to parallel the extent to which business-minded people are encouraged to stay (and thrive) vs. being motivated to giving up or simply leaving altogether.

3.
While there is such a thing as "welfare for the rich," a tax cut is not an example of it.

4.
In the eternal debate as to what is to be despised and feared more, business or government, it may be noted that businesses only want your money, and even then one can choose not to give it to them. If only the state and its minions were open to such negotiation.

5.
Criticism of the most productive will always arise from the least productive.

6.
“Some things are just too important to leave to the whims of the market [the ever-changing cumulative effect of millions of individual decisions]”…

Actually, most things are too important to leave to the whims – and compulsory edicts – of politicians, bureaucrats, and philosophers.

7.
Next time let Robin Hood pay with his own money.

8.
A socialist view of economics is where one feels that the cost of an apple should be determined by one's hopes and dreams – this in regard to apples and everything else.

9.
"Helping the poor" always sounds nice 'on paper'," In practice it seldom amounts to little more than punishing the rich or, eventually, punishing anyone who opposes "helping the poor."

10.
They've been "helping the poor" for the last 40 years or more ("they" being the Federal government -- tax money). By now they should be able to claim one of two scenarios; Their "war on poverty" worked and the nearly 7 trillion dollars spent have paid off In virtually eliminating poverty (in which case the programs can be scaled down considerably if not outright eliminated)...or...their project failed and should therefore be discontinued. Instead we get, "we're not doing enough."

11.
How is it that Democrat politicians (i.e. John Edwards) can often ramble on about their rise to positions of power and wealth from "blue collar / working-class" roots and miss the irony of their attacks on America as an unjust society that requires socialist leveling?

12.
Simply saying one is "for the underdog" is meaningless when one is the overdog and merely wants a punitive government to attack people richer than one's self.

13.
The Democrats’ economic policies can best be summed up as “trickle-down” taxation. Their rant always begins with a proclamation that “the rich” will be forced to “pay their fair share” (an amount determined by the demagogue and various bureaucratic parasites). It’s never acknowledged that the “rich” already pay the bulk of America’s tax revenue (40% of Americans pay no federal taxes at all). In the end the call to steal through such punitive tax measures “trickles down” to the middle class and everyone else through eventual higher taxes, higher prices for products and services, reduced employment options, and an overall drag on the economy. For what? So that socialist politics can enact its standard war upon success and achievement. …Pathetic.

14.
In a nutshell, the leftist sales pitch for power: "Give me power and I'll pass laws to steal other people's money and maybe I'll give you some too."

15.
Remember; Capitalists are bad because they've got stuff. And, we're good because we don't have as much stuff. However, we'd continue to be good if we had more stuff because we're better people. So,...give us their stuff.

16.
I've never met an anti-capitalist who wasn't deeply benefiting from capitalism and demanding that those benefits be deprived of others.

17.
"You get what you pay for"...unless you paid for it through taxation, in which case you're likely to get something for someone else that they don't even want or pay for.

18.
After Journalists and teachers, the people who seem to know the least about economics are economists.

19.
Why is it that when wealth is supposedly "redistributed" from "the rich" to "the poor" only power is actually redistributed from citizens to politicians and bureaucrats?

EDUCATION

1.
"I'm an independent thinker...I agree with everything my Marxist Professor taught me"

2.
An entire subgroup of frustrated radicals has emerged in our time because they were stupid enough to think that college courses in “woman’s studies,” and “critical theory” et al. would provide them the marketable skills that would maintain the lifestyles of their bourgeois upbringing. Being able to complain about “unfairness” in life is not a marketable skill. The job market has little calling for professional agitators , angry control freaks, or disgruntled spoiled brats.

3.
The old saying is true, “Those who can’t do; teach,” and I would add that, those who can’t teach; teach teachers.

4.
If you can’t read this, thank College Ed Schools, Teacher Unions, and government “education” bureaucrats.

5.
As long as schools of Education and Journalism (not to mention college curriculum in general) continue to turn out students predisposed to the worldview of the left, there will be few who will defend values of substance or decency...and many who will actively advocate horrors unimagined.

EQUALITY, CONSENSUS, AND IMPOSED COMMUNALISM

1.
"Some people don't want to be free." -- So that means the others should remain enslaved?

2.
In Left-land it's always about "equality" not quality..., and they'll throw in the dictatorship at no extra cost.

3.
All slaves are "equal" before a slave master.

4.
Free people stratify into classes – it's called "diversity" – deal with it.

FEAR OF CHAOS / THE BELIEF THAT HUMANITY IS "EVIL" WHEN LEFT UNCONTROLLED

1.
A mature revelation can occur when one realizes that the thing they are is the thing they've always been.

2.
There is a part of leftist thinking that seems to require that the world be a bad place; that people be evil, "greedy," "selfish," and "unjust." One can think one's self quite noble when most of the world is terrible, and one can see the need for their own acquisition of power if they truly believe that they have within themselves the unique goodness to "make a better world." If the world is not so bad, and perhaps getting better, it becomes all too necessary for leftists to "invent" (in their own minds) a bad world to avoid the cognitive dissonance that arises in a bitter control freak unable to deal with real problems found in a simple mirror.

ISLAMO-FASCISM

1.
Calling Islam a “religion of peace” is like calling a wolf a vegetarian.

2.
We can clearly discern that Bush planned a secret "inside job" in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center...
...because his 1993 attack on the same building failed (???).

3.
In Mohammad (a merchant), the left has finally found a businessman they can love.

4.
"Homophobia" means fear of homosexuals. I don't think there are many people who are actually "afraid" of homosexuals. There's certainly no cause to be. "Islamophobia" means fear of Muslims. ...That's a whole other story now, isn't it...

5.
Calling Islam a "religion of peace" is like calling rugby a board game.

LIMITED GOVERNMENT AND RULE OF LAW VS. GOVERNMENT BY WHIM, EMOTION, AND POPULAR CONTEMPORARY OPINION

1.
The government has the power to do right-wing things you don't like because you gave it the power to do left-wing things you do like.

2.
The fact that many people like dictatorship certainly makes life difficult for those of us who share no such perverse affection for bondage.

3.
A slave owner wants to keep control over other humans. A slave wishes to be free of such control. Can we really say that the two merely represent different and equally valid "viewpoints?" Should one not be "narrow-minded" and "lacking nuance" and stand by what is morally right? The difference between any statist and free spirit is akin to that of a slave and his or her would-be master. To resist the encroachment of the state into the personal lives of citizens is not a "different" or "selfish" "point of view, it's an attribute of moral character and substance.

4.
Freedom for all is preferable to feigned moral glory for some.

5.
People should be left alone and their beliefs, actions,and associations should be voluntary – now, why would anyone have a problem with that?

MATERIALISM AND SCIENCE VS. MYSTICISM, "SPIRITUALITY," FAITH, AND IMAGINATION AS PUBLIC POLICY

1.
It is odd that many who praise a mystical worldview are so adamant about having authority and control over the non-mystical / material world.

MORALITY, ELITISM, AND MORAL ARROGANCE

1.
Government support of any group will always be at the expense of another. Moral judgments regarding government's "role" rest not on some magical insight into what is right, but merely upon which groups one favors.

2.
One of the left's prime motivations is to simply wear the laurels of elitism. They resent capitalism and the capitalist elite that rise to power from the hourly democratic votes of free-market choice. They wish to replace this result of free and individual choice with the drab authoritarian planning of an intellectual elite (themselves), placed in power by "revolution" (force) and maintained by coercion.

3.
As a rule; bitter, depressed, and failing individuals, groups, and nations resent and despise optimistic, happy, and successful individuals, groups, and nations. One's political perspective is largely determined by whether one views the former as victims, or merely bitter, depressed failures.

4.
Some leftists are just going to have to face the fact that many Americans don't see America or its problems through the lens of Ivy league snobbery or authoritarian arrogance.

5.
Some of the most ruthless and cruel extremists of history had gained their power partially through articulated bogus platitudes to moral virtue.

6.
There is no law or indication that a person merely expressing a belief in "sharing," altruism, or moral goodness actually embodies any such principals. In fact, there is good reason to believe that the degree of passion in which one speaks for such values is inversely disproportional to the actual degree of goodness the speaker embodies.

7.
Who doesn't "hate" (passionately dislike) something, and often by default, someone -- often, some group? Those who so often decry "hate speech" can hardly be seen as immune from this common human emotion. If I hear of another example of some elitist entertainer or intellectual suggest that George Bush or Dick Chaney should be killed (possibly due to hatred of them) I'm gonna laugh/cry.

8.
There is no one who magically gains moral superiority through mere adherence to a particular view. Actions do not just "speak louder than words," actions are the only real words with any genuine moral value or authority.

9.
People who are genuinely poor are motivated politically – if at all – by despair, hopelessness, dependence, and envy.
…Middle class "revolutionaries" are just motivated by stupidity (with a bit of arrogance).

PLATO, ROUSSEAU, MARX, AND THE RESULT

1.
If it can be said that “all of Western philosophy is a mere foot note to Plato," it’s equally appropriate to say that all of the West’s “experiments” in totalitarian government are footnotes to Plato’s Republic.

POST MODERN / DECONSTRUCTION MIND GAMES, RELATIVISM, AND “POLITICAL CORRECTNESS”

1.
Most "skeptics" are not skeptics. skepticism toward one side of an issue isn't skepticism, it's mere partisan politics and is hardly a sign of objectivity or insight.

2.
Why are Nazis called, "neo-Nazis," and neo-communists called, "activists?"

3.
Basic Rule: Those most critical of a conservative worldview will always be the first to show sympathy or benefit of a doubt to dictators and authoritarian governments.

4.
Why would someone think they are on the right side of history when they've chosen to be on no side of history?

5.
When someone says that you need to be “more open-minded,” what they typically mean is that you should agree with them.

6.
A free person saying, "maybe they don't want to be free" is like a rich person saying, "maybe they don't want to be rich" – it's a stupid statement in both cases. Likewise it demonstrates a complete lack of awareness regarding the circumstance of post-war Germany and Japan where both countries' citizens seem okay with the freedom idea (well, okay, at least this is the case in Japan).

7.
However one may justify the intellectual benefits of "seeing the other side," in confrontations between free and totalitarian philosophies, this is probably not a good time in history to be playing "devils advocate" for authoritarian ideals (especially if one's advocacy for the devil's side is genuine).

8.
Among those who believe there is no right or wrong it is also common to believe that right is wrong.

9.
We've now come to an odd Orwellian quandary in time, where one can be denounced as being a "fascist" ...for opposing fascism.

10.
Hypocrisies of radical relativism: "There are no 'good guys and bad guys,' …but, Bush and America are the bad guys."

11.
"Political Correctness" is nothing more than compulsory obedience to left-wing political philosophy.

12.
If it's for individual freedom it's "hate speech.” If it's for gulag socialism, it's "a voice of dissent.”

13.
People can debate merits or flaws in feminism (usually just Marxism directed toward females) but, in the end, it can definitely be said that the feminist view is decidedly not romantic -- unless icy ideological resentment is seen to embody the attributes of a warm heart.

14.
Savages from any culture aren't noble. That's why they're called savages.

PRIVATE PROPERTY VS. SEIZURE BY THE STATE "FOR THOSE WHO 'NEED' IT"

1.
Encroaching attempts to "provide justice" to special interests eventually produces a net effect of injustice for all. Similarly, "redistribution" (confiscation) of wealth ultimately becomes a mere distribution of misery.

2.
Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar,...and have the common sense to realize that nothing "belongs" to "Caesar."

3.
The left keeps telling us that our worst enemies are those who create, market, and sell ideas, products, and services. I personally think the real triad from hell consists of philosophers, politicians, and bureaucrats. Unfortunately, their occasional "downfalls" from power are always temporary and their rise all to recurring.

4.
Political/economic choices are simple. An government can either prevent (outlaw) the production of wealth thus leaving virtually everyone poor (ie. North Korea), or permit the seeds of capitalist economy to produce some wealth, which is then confiscated and punished to a degree where further growth is discouraged or stopped in its tracks (i.e. several socialist/capitalist fence sitting countries dotting the world today), or they can whine and rant about the "injustice" of an unequal outcome of wealth while the slow process of a prosperous middle class society emerges over time elevating the circumstance of many as well as "society" as a whole.

RACISM, MULTICULTURALISM, AND OTHER GROUP OBSESSIONS

1.
Almost anyone can be accused of not liking members of various groups they are not members of, to some degree. The same self-righteous demagogues who so often find "racism" in others have their own bitter hatreds for various groups. Business persons, "the rich," Americans, and Westerners in general, are often despised by many Leftists who would gladly plunder these group's resources or even kill them in what they'd consider just acts of retribution.

3.
Racism, like socialism is impractical (some would find the dispassionate nature of this observation offensive. We're supposed to get excited about some injustices). The way to relieve the world of any stupid or evil philosophy one only needs to demonstrate, in practical terms, how useless and counter-productive it is to peoples' self interest.

2.
The essence of "multi-multiculturalism" is that the dice roll of birth should become a religious affiliation.

3.
No doubt nicer people are less hateful and hate doesn't really help anyone but the concept of "hate speech" is a stupid concept that I personally...(gasp!) hate.

"REVOLUTION," "ANARCHY," AND THE "REBEL"

1.
You too can help to create heaven; you need only accept the politics of hell...

2.
There is considerable difference between one who is anti-authoritarian and one who merely wishes to replace one authority with another.

3.
One could perhaps take the "revolutionary's" banter regarding "oppressed" persons more seriously if they actually were among such people themselves.

4.
There are more than a few people who do not like living under collectivist tyranny (socialist, Islamic, or otherwise). The Left is consistently not sympathetic to their plight. In a pseudo-rebel's eyes, the only valid criterion in judging a country's political system is that it has sought to eliminate free commerce and that it plays lip-service to "equality." A person's desire to act and live by their own conscience doesn't concern the Left in the slightest.

5.
When a political "leader" wears a uniform it's generally a bad sign and often indicates that he's eventually going to kill lots of people as a matter of public policy.

6.
Ask the average “anarchist” (someone supposedly opposed to government) what they think of the UN or Cuba. Most so called anarchists are quite happy with the idea of government, bureaucracy, and restrictions upon other people’s lives, meaning they really aren’t anarchists at all but merely garden variety socialists.

7.
There is no one more opposed to freedom than a free person who has done little or nothing in their life with that freedom.

8.
I’ve often had the vague suspicion that those who hype possible connections between “global warming” and human activity, actually want it to be true. If there is genuine human induced global warming, like “racism,” “inequality,” and “poverty,” etc., they can complain about it. The most fervent Jacobins are ultimately motivated by a need to complain, the “issue” itself is not the real point.

9.
One of the more absurd standards in contemporary politics is the image of a young person with an I-Pod, designer jacket, and cell phone decrying the evils of capitalism. Do they really think a socialist state would be satisfying their indulgent – and spoiled – lifestyle, or that a socialist state would want to cut a CD of their favorite band (among its “priorities”)? Name-calling the foolish is appropriate in this instance – they’re stupid.

10.
Amongst the more bizarre paradoxes of political philosophy is the left’s simultaneous hatred and love of authority.

11.
Societies (like individuals) who have everything tend to get bored. The statist mantra of “change,” regardless of how irrelevant it may be to actual circumstance, is always seductive to those who are simply bored. Be careful of the things you wish for.

12.
The secret (this should be obvious) to genuine revolution is in eliminating employment for bureaucrats and politicians, not simply replacing them or increasing their numbers.

13.
The truth regarding revolutions is that "we" never start "revolutions." Violent spoiled brats occasionally seize power. ...(The American War of independence which allowed for the formation of a limited constitutional republic based on the rational ideals of The Enlightenment was not a "revolution").

14.
Every self-styled "rebel" is a nascent dictator, or at least wants to lick the boots of one.

15.
Some middle class kids want "revolution" because they want to be "revolutionaries."
…Poor people want plasma wide screen TVs.

ROMANTIC IDEALISM AND ENVIRONMENTALISM-- A RETURN TO SIMPLER TIMES OR GRANDER FUTURES

1.
The more one seeks utopia, the more one's fellow citizens will disappoint, and the more danger one will be to them.

2.
When a nation espouses a policy of "peace at any price," you can be certain that the "price" will be high...and will ultimately include peace itself.

3.
As with National socialism, communism, and a host of other radical isms, the contemporary Islamic Jihad is just another branch of Romantic Idealism. A dreaming child -- with a gun. Their gripe is ultimately not with sin, excess, or imperialism, it is with modernity itself.

4.
Though it may be ridiculously obvious, it bears noting that civilization has a definite civilizing influence on uncivilized people. (It needs noting because there are actually people who believe there is no such thing as civilization or degrees of adherence to standards that make for better living conditions for individuals or a society as a whole).

5.
The ungrateful and the stupid of our time may soon regret their inability to have applied common sense to the issues around them.

6.
The whole idea of establishing an ideal state is ultimately mystical in essence, as is any fascination for collectivist projects. The age of reason and enlightenment -- and the logic underlying them offer the ultimate protective arguments against mysticism and its political branch, tyranny. Mysticism and religion are valid issues of human interest or attention but ultimately have no value in politics (and are, in fact, dangerous).

7.
A Baby Boomer or post-Baby Boomer expressing an conviction for peace, cooperation, and "sharing" is like a one week old baby starting a Co-op for breast milk.

8.
Farmland in Iowa is more climatically "fair" and "natural" than farming in Greenland or Siberia. Cool is better than warm – everywhere. Warm is better than cool – everywhere. The Earth's temperature should always remain the same from now on (even though that has never been the case before). And, as usual, "ignorance is strength."

9.
"Trying to 'make a better world' " often seems to get some a blank check to destroy all that is good in this one.

10.
Anyone who isn't "oppressed" by someone by age twelve isn't living in the real world.

11.
It's important to remember that "utopia" means "nowhere." In this regard, the left always has been, and continues to be going towards utopia fast.

RULES, REGULATIONS, AND THE INCOMPETENCE OF THE BUROCRATIC STATE

1.
The ultimate symbol of the bureaucratic state should be a mindless weasel with a clipboard in one hand and a whip in the other.

2.
Those who favor the imposed, impersonal, and inefficient attributes of a "public ~~,"
will always demand that you be compelled to share their admiration for such nonsense

3.
There's nothing more pathetic -- or dangerous -- than a stupid dweeb with a title, a set of rules, and the arbitrary power to enforce them.

4.
Regarding the “War on Poverty” and similar “social”[ist] boondoggles:

Supporters should either acknowledge that such programs were successful, have ended poverty, and are therefore no longer needed and should be discontinued or, acknowledge that such programs have failed (over the last forty years) and are therefore useless and should be discontinued.

5.
If there are any words in political discourse more unsuited to be spoken together they are the words "Public" and "Servant." Anyone claiming to be a "servant" of the public will do so only as a pretense to mastery. Whether it be a totalitarian tyrant or the lowliest of bureau functionaries, such characters wish to be servants to no one, the public in particular.

6.
One can be certain that any social “planner’s” attempts to diminish parental authority over children will simultaneously involve the desire to increase the state’s authority over them.

7.
It is the nature of government to not act in accordance with human nature but instead to compel something akin to the opposite of human nature. It is in this obvious folly that government intrusion is almost always a recipe for failure or the exacerbation of worldly problems. It is no wonder that those so enamored with the authority of government hate the free market in economics where human nature is afforded its widest expression.

8.
"Predatory lending" is like "predatory" sales of swampland. If someone buys cheap swampland, they're stupid. If someone sells it to them, they're guilty of seeking out and finding stupid people.

9.
Don't trust anything from a politician that has the words; "project, program," or "initiative."

10.
Anytime someone says they're "going to give you free...[i.e. health care]," it means they're not going to give you free [ie. health care] and they're probably going to take something from you.

11.
Spending more of other people's money isn't "change."
Creating a larger ineffective bureaucracy isn't "change."
Intruding further on the daily lives of citizens and calling for more allegiance to collective ideals certainly isn't "change."
...It's all more of the same.
Someone should clue most of the Democrat party in as to the meaning of the word "change."

12.
If one observes a venue frequented by the public that has an attribute clearly unappealing or without purpose to the public, one can almost be certain the circumstance is the direct or indirect result of a government decree (i.e. In Japan; sinks in the front of every restaurant).

13.
If someone hates corporations, why would they be so fervent to have corporate authority focused and enhanced into the hands of mindless and inefficient drones working for the biggest and most coercive corporation there is?

"SELFISHNESS," "GREED," AND "SHARING"

1.
What's so noble about "sacrificing" someone else's freedom to one's own ideals?

2.
A capitalist feels no need to claim a motive beyond the mere acquisition of wealth (usually hoping to also do something they enjoy in the process). A leftist's claimed motive is always some holier-than-thou posturing of self-sacrifice – to "help the poor and oppressed." A leftist's true motives are, in fact, baser than that of an average capitalist. The bottom line for a capitalist is…the bottom line (material wealth). For a leftist, it is raw power and authority over others' lives and the course of all human events. As is always the case, true motives speak louder than words.

3.
If the left-minded "altruist" thinks "sacrifice" is so grand why does he or she never consider how the sheep being sacrificed feels about it?

4.
The greediest form of greed is envy.

5.
"Greed" is always a trait that someone else has.

6.
"Greed" is supposedly what guys in smoke filled rooms process (never people like you or I). Risking one's fortune to produce a product to sell is seen as "greedy," Buying a lottery ticket and risking ten dollars in the hopes of becoming rich is what exactly? Productive enterprise?

7.
I have yet to meet anyone uttering the word “greed” who lacked noted degrees of avarice themselves.

8.
Everyone is “greedy” ...but the person who decries greed – supposedly

9.
To ask the perpetually moot question; if humans are “basically” good or evil, is like asking if rainbows are basically red or blue.

10.
Greedy Bastards...You can always tell when you're in an “evil, greedy, and selfish capitalist country...you can drink the water.

11.
"Money is the root of all evil...[unless it's mine]."

12.
All businesses care about is profit...and, all seals care about are fish. So?

SOCIALISM

1.
Socialism is never voluntary. If it were, those so inclined would form their little commune and leave the rest of us alone.

2.
The Socialist's complaint is not so much with "Capitalism" as it is with human nature in general, for human nature is diverse and unpredictable. It will always manifest infinite possibilities, weak, strong, course, and refined.

3.
A socialist is a little more insightful than a communist in that he or she recognizes that one can't continue to take other people's money if they seize it all at once.

4.
A socialist ultimately wants to have someone else's cake and eat it too.

5.
The Socialist only strives for "equality" as an aside to a more general desire for conformity to their own static vision.

6.
Fascism = Socialism + Nationalism
Communism = Socialism + Internationalism

Their common attributes are inflexibility, the need for absolute control …and, of course, socialism.

7.
Socialism is for people who may reluctantly submit to authority, but enthusiastically support the command that others do so.

8.
In the final analysis, the socialist's programs are no more than schemes to placate envy -- the intellectual's envy that his or her theoretical creations will never match the tangible status, power, progress, and achievements of capitalist materialism.

9.
Socialists are little more than thugs with bigger vocabularies.

10.
Under socialism, what one person is willing to support or tolerate becomes another's imposed condition.

11.
A socialist will always come to the defense of a socialist; the degree of a sect’s coercion or totalitarian violence in not an issue, only that they share a common hatred for capitalism.

12.
The difference between a pack animal and a socialist is that a pack animal is less dangerous to those around it.

13.
While there may be a few poor people smitten by the promise of sharing in the spoils of a socialist conquest, by far, socialism in all its stripes is a cult of the middle class and above. It’s no wondering that those who most despise its nature tend to be of more humble background.

14.
At the heart of all socialists' appraisals of life lies a simple but bitter hatred for the free choices and actions of others.

15.
Socialist are the ultimate reactionaries. They merely seek a return to monarchy, where intellectual ideologues are kings, and their court; teams of parasitic bureaucrats whose passion to "cooperate" with the king's schemes earns them the spoils of other's productive actions.

16.
The ultimate gripe held by most socialists is that they don't want to see private people have private lives.

17.
Socialism's solution to societal "weeds" it to simply outlaw flowers.

18.
I have to confess that my fear/hatred of socialist schemes is ultimately selfish...
If they success in enslaving society to their beloved methods of bureau-coercion, like everyone else, I and my loved ones will be forced to go along for the ride.

19.
There are basically two prime constituents to the socialist cause; those seeking handouts, subsidies, and free stuff in general, and those seeking power or self-esteem as players in the state's authority.

20.
It's been said by some that Jesus was the "first socialist" (this is pretty insulting to Jesus), but wishing to "help the unfortunate" is not the same as wanting to punish the successful or erecting a powerful state to control the lives of others. Robin Hood is not the founder of a great religion.

21.
The real "first socialist" had no qualm with the "sin" of envy. The first socialist was the guy who looked at his neighbor's good fortune and wanted to steal part or all of it for himself. The mythology of socialist goodness, then and today, conflicts with the reality of people merely wanting the authority to plan and punish.

22.
It's impossible to restrain or eliminate the free exchange of economic products, services, or labor and retain basic human liberty. To be against economic freedom is to be against freedom itself. In simpler terms (as it has often been stated), one can be a socialist in a capitalist system but being a capitalist in a socialist system either means you are breaking the law or they haven’t got around to implementing "true socialism."

23.
One can’t really fault humans for their weak resistance to the siren song of state sanctioned “free” stuff. One can fault socialists for continually taking advantage of this weakness for the cause of their own mere quest for moral authority and political power.

23.
Envy + Arrogance + Coercion = Socialism

24.
In its most basic essence, socialism is envy and theft -- envy of others' success, achievement, power, and status and the desire to wrest control of that success, achievement, power, and status without having to possess the substance and character required to attain the aforementioned.
All one requires to be an effective socialist is to envy others and use the brute force and violence of "revolution" or the force of guile in legislative decree (or follow and support those that do either).

25.
The motive behind socialist "revolution" isn't just an idealistic notion of "making a better world." It's largely a visceral need to mete out punishment against perceived forces of "oppression" – usually the system that has showered abundance upon the very spoiled brats who seek its' destruction. In the end, motives for the socialist vision are more about punitive authoritarian anger than about any desire to do good.

26.
If a business person honestly proclaims his or her desire to become rich, and a power grasping socialist politician proclaims a desire to "help the less fortunate" (with others' resources, of course), why is the honest business person held in contempt and the lying demagogue seen as honorable by some?

27.
A genuine believer in the values of capitalism wishes to be wealthy and cares not if others share in such good fortune. A genuine believer in the values of socialism merely wishes "equality" even if it means the equal sharing of mass poverty. A capitalist strives for advance. A socialist, motivated by hatred of those who advance, strives for decay or, at minimum, stasis.

28.
Socialist philosophy can be summed up as a belief that there is too much of everything and not enough of nothing.

29.
Among the many absurdities of the socialist state is the one that has citizens actually pay so that someone can force them to do things they don't want to do.

30.
Do you hate corporations?
Imagine a company that produced a product or service that was of a lower quality than previous alternatives. That you had to wait endlessly to receive and were literally forced to buy. Imagine the staff of said company to be often rude, unhelpful, and unmotivated to care at all about satisfying you questions or concerns. Take a step further and imagine that if you chose to buy another company's better and faster product that you'd be fined or imprisoned. Now imagine that the “company” in question is the government and carries this nightmare with the convenience, skill, and charm of everything else they do.

Imagine Democrat imposed health care. Imagine socialized medicine. Imagine your life and in the hands of people motivated, not by profit, but...nothing.

Compulsory, state imposed “care.” What could be more stupid.

TECHNICAL PROGRESS, SOCIETAL ADVANCEMENT -- AND THEIR OPPONENTS

1.
There were clearly too many cars driving around 50,000 years ago. Environmental justice can now be served by rolling back global warming temperatures to the “natural” levels of the last great ice age. To fully “return to natures plan” we can even clone a few wooly mammoths and send Native Americans back to Asia (across the frozen land bridge they were thought to have migrated to the Americas across before the last great period of "global warming."). The fact that Ohio will be covered in a massive sheet of ice will have to be overlooked for the sake of a higher (and paradoxically unnatural) need -- unchanging nature.

2.
For the first time in history, the biggest health problem faced by poor people is a problem being overweight from eating too much food.

THE ARTS AND ARTISTS

1.
A problem with musicians, artists, and entertainers is that some are good at what they do and think it somehow qualifies them as experts in completely unrelated fields like domestic and international political policy.

2.
"Fight the powers that be." -- then, collect a check from them for singing about it.

3.
On nihilism in art: Rolling around naked in mud and calling it "art" is like screaming, "Destroy the system" and calling it, "Political Philosophy." The point can be argued intellectually, but so can murdering a few million people. It appears that the "less intellectual" are often more suited to judging meaning and value in both art and life.

4.
It's odd that many "artists" don't think that a life saving drug created at great expense, risk, and years of research isn't intellectual property, but a four minute song created under the haze of pot and alcohol is.

THE INTELLECTUALS, JOURNALISTS, ACADEMICS, AND "PHILOSOPHERS"

1.
The history of collectivist political philosophy has been primarily different arguments on how to enslave one's fellow citizens.

2.
When one hears the argument that views in support of freedom are, "Simplistic," one is easily reminded of the complexity of thought that motivated Robespierre, Lenin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, and other collectivist tyrants -- the "complex" ideals of intellectuals have often resulted in the deaths of millions. "Simplistic" minds tend to leave people alone.

3.
Values outside of the political dogmatist’s plans and schemes are a threat to all they hold dear (their egos in particular). So it is that "God," and religion in all its guises, are such threats to rule by philosopher kings. A belief in the deity of choice is just another freedom that the planned society and its masters will not tolerate.

4.
Reading the favored tomes of the left (i.e. Marx and Chomsky) doesn’t make one “well-informed,” as so many leftists would insist; it merely makes one well informed of the left’s biased perceptions. What’s so impressive about that?

5.
There are only levels of “disinterest” (objective and non-biased appraisal). No one is truly or completely a “disinterested party.” Everyone’s sympathies lie somewhere; one may have to take some time to consider another group’s or individual’s connection to one’s own life but in the end, who they are and what they stand for will be clear, along with their level of threat or friendship to one’s own standards of existence.

6.
“Progressive” intellectuals really should stick to their semi-plausible praise of Scandinavian welfare-socialism and skip their, all too prevalent, defense of and praise for one-party thug states (China, Cuba, Vietnam, and the former Soviet Union). The truth is that, given a choice, many actually prefer the more hard-line manifestations of socialism.

7.
"Geniuses" are overrated. I prefer the simple wisdom of common folks; for their general decency and common sense, as well as the unlikelihood that they'd kill millions of people in some grandiose utopian social scheme.

8.
Regarding "Political Correctness" and humor: Honesty is funnier than patronizing dogma.

9.
When an intellectual uses the term, "The Masses," he or she basically means "Those who are not me."

10.
The attributes most suited to creating a good painting, piece of music, or film are typically not suited to effectively run a country.

11.
Intellectual scholarship virtually never trumps common sense.

12.
Media Games: If someone joins a trendy alliance of millions opposed to the values and actions of free society, they're called brave free-thinkers. If one questions the motives of totalitarian sympathizers and statists, they're simply called “right wing nutcase extremists.”

13.
Intellectuals, or people who are trying to be intellectuals, usually can argue all sorts of nonsense against -- another person's -- freedom. They love the "nuance" of multiple definitions, but in the end they want to be free and they don't want you to be...for some reason.

14.
The good guys and the bad guys are once more becoming increasingly obvious in their stance but this time The West is full of a bunch of pampered twerps who wouldn't know a poisonous spider if they saw one. Relativism is grand in a coffee shop...on the international game board, not such a good idea.

15.
A basic rule of thumb for leftists is that the more passionately they are regarding global issues; the more careless, irresponsible, selfish, and inconsiderate they will be in their personal dealings.

16.
A reality of contemporary media -driven politics is that someone who is left of center by any objective appraisal is now often refereed to as ""Moderate". It is then no wonder that an obvious (virtually self-proclaimed) communist like Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is so often refereed to as simply left of center. The Jacobins in establishment media have altered objective semantics that much.

17.
When a politician or intellectual says that they have a "plan," you should run.

18.
One of the greatest errors in semantics one can make with regard to political philosophy is to equate "intellectuals" with intelligence.

19.
To those who say, "We shouldn't impose freedom on people who may not want it," it never seems to occur that we shouldn't speak for other people and say they "may not want freedom" when they most likely do. ...especially if they're in a prison camp or totalitarian state.

20.
There's a very fine line between a refined and curious intellectual and a mere boorish and arrogant snob. Likewise, there's a fine line between an ignorant religious "flag-waving" redneck and a simple person of unpretentious substance who holds genuine values and insight into human character. The left, in general is usually incapable if seeing the realities between either line of character.

THE MIDDLE CLASS, AND MIDDLE CLASS CULTURE AND VALUES

THE STATE AND "THE PEOPLE" VS. INDIVIDUAL AUTONOMY AND FREE WILL

1.
Indeed, there is no “I” in “Team” …and there never will be. The “team” is just going to have to deal with it.

2.
I have ultimate jurisdiction over my own life...

3.
No one can "prove" that I should be a slave to a collectivist ideal, and I can't "prove" that I should be left alone. None the less, I choose to be left alone.

4.
The differences between the Right and Left can be narrowed to very basic passions;

On the Right: A belief in individual freedom.
On the Left: Hatred for a free market in products and ideas (capitalism).

5.
According to the Left: We have a right to everything...but our own values, choices, and lives...

6.
Why should one's willingness to live as a slave to state authority be another's sentence to such bondage?

7.
The socialist state is a place where one person's "compassion" for the "oppressed" leads to another's sentence to oppression.

8.
Contrary to popular criticism, apathy regarding political matters may actually be a healthy sign. In a free society it is striking how many people actually take no interest in politics at all – they actually have lives of their own to run.

A government of minimal significance to one's personal life is far preferable to a society where all matters of one's existence are political issues. There is a long list of governments and ideologies where citizens have been compelled to "care" about politics and share other's obsessions to obey contrived "truths."

An increasing interest in political matters in a society is a sure indication that two types of people have fully emerged; one that seeks to control others and one that needs to defend the right to be left alone.

9.
The nature of big brother is a valid cause for big fratricide.

10.
I think its okay to be completely dogmatic about other people leaving you the fuck alone. If some others are societal masochists, there are plenty of people who will gladly order them around, take their money, and constrain their lives.

11.
When a person is discussing their circumstances or values and uses the word, "We," he or she is most likely talking about themself while assuming they are qualified to speak for everyone else.

12.
If I lived in a country where the state commanded all aspects of my life, where people were regularly arrested and punished for merely holding viewpoints that differed with those of the government, I would really be pissed off to hear of some free and well off people saying "some people don't want to be free" or "we can't make them free."

13.
A person who believe in freedom needn't "justify" it to anyone. Any reasons which may be conjured to deprive one of freedom are as relevant as an argument as to which colors you should like.

14.
I'd say about 70% of American's love freedom. The other 30% or so simply want to control the lives of everyone else.

15.
The state, like any institution , is incapable of "compassion" or "feeling." One can debate the merits of issuing government checks on purely practical grounds, but to claim such actions are somehow expressions of "compassion" is childish fantasy at best and all too often downright dangerous (when used to justify an overbearing tyranny). An office supply will never "love the oppressed." Nor will a stone building. Don't think for a minute that a lawyer or politician is any different merely because they seek to anthropomorphize the apparatus of state.

16.
Overall, its probably preferable to be among "uncaring" or disinterested people who leave you alone than those who use their self-perception as warm and "caring" people to meddle in your every affair and coerce your every action.

17.
It is a frightening thing to consider that so many people are not just willing to live under and support tyranny, but virtually demand that others who may not share their masochistic worldview should be compelled to join them.

18.
It's odd that Americans who so disdain the federal government's intervention overseas are so enamored with the idea of that same government's intervention into the personal lives of fellow citizens.

19.
People who "don't care" leave other people alone.

20.
Sometimes the “rugged individualist” (a straw-man subject of contempt by some) is just someone who wants to be left alone.

21.
America never was a "democracy." It was never meant to be a "democracy" (although the word is now often used – incorrectly – to refer to an open and free society). America was designed to be, and always has been, a constitutional republic with a high degree of self-government and the rule of law to restrict the authority of both the government and the mob (the mob being what leftists refer to when they speak of "democracy"). Power to "the people?" -- NO! Power to the person!

UTOPIAN SCHEMES -- "COMMUNITY" AND COLLECTIVISM

1.
The barnyard animal approach to compassionate politics: All humans should be supplied with enough grain to feed on.

2.
Creating the socialist state and a belief in Santa Claus are both idealistic, but with a belief in Santa Claus, nobody gets hurt.

3.
Absolute power does corrupt absolutely.
A dictatorship is always a bad thing.
...the left will not recognize this, 'too lost in dreams of "free health care" and "equality."

4.
It would serve the world a great deal of good if people were to know (or remember) that “utopia” means nowhere.

5.
Following a radical populist is the ultimate act of conformity.

VICTIMHOOD AS HEROISM / LASSITUDE, INCOMPETENCE AND SLOTH AS VIRTUES

1.
Abject failure can often warrant pity but should hardly be looked upon as heroic or an object of admiration.

2.
The most sincere observer of oppression usually gauges status on a case by case basis (not a pre-conceived group template that all oppressed people will neatly fit into).

3.
When the Whole is Not the Sum of its Parts

When a group is noted as being a victim of oppression, the implication is – regardless of intentions – that those who are not members of the noted group are somehow overly fortunate, well-off, or vicariously oppressors.

It's like saying, “All wealthy white male paraplegic divorced unemployed war veterans dying of cancer...'have all the power' .”

The perpetual overstatement of victim-hood in a free society ultimately invalidates the individual misfortunes that, to some degree or at some time, affect all members of humanity.

As with all things Left-wing, the group standard is the reference template. Whether accurate in specific instances or not, such a template skews reality...and screws the people really living in it.

4.
Saying that "rich people have more influence than poor people" or that poor people have "no power" is like saying "the Sun makes the weather hot." ...It's true. It's always been true, and...so what? Likewise thinking that being poor is somehow, vicariously heroic, commendable, or even worthy of excitement is like saying a turtle deserves our attention because it is slower than a rabbit or that a rabbit is bad because it's faster than a turtle. So, side with the lives of turtles or rabbits, curse the Sun for hot days...and, let others choose their passions and resentments regarding the state of the universe.

5.
A parasite is an oppressor working from the ground up.

WAR, CONFLICT, AND PACIFISM

1.
A tragic and ironic paradox can be seen in the fact that, if pacifists dominated free societies, we’d forever be at war. (considering the nature of who pacifists always wish to appease).

2.
"The war to end all wars" (if such a thing is actually ever possible) will clearly be one that finally eliminates the perennial rebirth of authoritarian governments and the stupid ideologies that feed such institutions.

3.
There are three paths to peace for a Democracy:
1. Defeat the authoritarian enemy (a democracy’s adversary will never be another democracy).
2. Sit on your ass and let an authoritarian institution defeat you and establish its oppressive system of ideals over you, your family, and neighbors.
3. “Establish dialog” (See number 2).

4.
Behind the feigned humility of every treasonous soul is a massive ego that fancies itself above all allegiances (while allying themselves with an enemy committed to death of such traitor's family, friends, and neighbors).

5.
In a time of war, the tendency of dominant Western journalists to be left of center is the greatest resource available to any authoritarian enemy.

6.
If a free society and dictatorship are at war, the left will always side with the dictatorship. If two dictatorships are at war, the left will always side with the one that permits the least economic freedom.

7.
The difference between patriotism and nationalism is akin to the difference between wanting your high school debate team to do well vs. wanting you school's soccer team to crack the skulls of the other team.

8.
The pen is mightier than the sword,...but the sword really hurts.

9.
One could never accuse Neville Chamberlain or Jimmy Carter of being a "war monger," but one could accuse them both of being just plain stupid.

10.
Mars by nature is reckless. To lament the occurrence of atrocities in war is understandable (and should be expected from any decent person) but to be surprised at such occurrences merely reveals stupidity.

11.
Supporting peaceful resolutions to conflict and being opposed to war are noble ideals, but The West now finds itself in a circumstance where its leaders will have to decide if they are on anyone's side, because there are strong undemocratic forces emerging and coordinating that are clearly not on the side of open, free, and pluralistic society. The relativistic and weak-willed are on the verge of losing everything that decent thinkers have fought for over centuries (as well as potentially losing civilian populations in the millions). The so-called "peace-makers" of our time are not blessed, and if they have their way, they shall inherit no more than scorn from future historians of character and honesty.

12.
When the choice is "support the troops" vs. "consider the [enemy's] perspective," I'm going to go with the troops. The enemy (yes, there is an enemy) wants you, your friends, and family either dead or enslaved to ideologies and dogma. If you're "considering his or her perspective" (the enemy) you're not an "intellectual" or "peace-maker," your a total fool. It may also be added that, if you don't know who the enemies are or if they even exist...you haven't been paying attention.

13.
Although most socialists would fancy themselves skilled in their insights into the economics of war, their view is ultimately incredibly simplistic...basically, "War requires weapons therefore weapons makers benefit from war, therefore weapons makers cause wars. It's like saying farmers cause hunger!

14.
"You can't force someone to be free" is like saying you can't "force" a victim of abuse to be freed of abuse – yes you can(!), in both cases (and it's the right thing to do).

15.
In any war against tyrants their should never be an "exit strategy." There should be success, the triumph of democratic ideals, and eventually leaving the conflict, minus the surrender euphemism, "exit."

16.
"History is written by the victors"...bullshit. History is written by the people who write history, some who often side with the defeated (regardless of how horrible the defeated institution was).

17.
An "illegal war" is certainly terrible. Who wants a war that's not approved by lawyers.
A legal war is obviously the only way to go and would be much nicer. Remember, when having a war, only use the tried and true method of lawyer approved ® war.

18.
"Some people don't want to be free."
...but, shouldn't they at least be free enough to make that decision without some pampered (and free) spoiled brat speaking for them?

Random Observations:

2006-01-21T13:00:00.010+09:00

1.
Whatever one my say of the "Tabula Rasa" view of humans, I believe that environmental conditioning only works on mice, sheep, and a large percent of the human population.

2.
What am I going to did with my life?

3.
Classical:
Something worth preserving.

Contemporary:
Something that no one knows if it's worth preserving yet.

4.
Be consistent..., Subvert everything.

5.
...With a fist raised to heaven and an extended middle finger waved at the ground below...

6.
It's most natural for humans to be unnatural.

7.
Give a million monkeys infinite time and they just might randomly type out a work by Shakespeare – maybe.

Give a trillion-trillion-trillion, etc…subatomic particles enough time to interact randomly and they will most certainly produce a universe – Shakespeare included.

8.
How many Leftists does it take to screw in a light bulb?

None, they're too busy ranting about the "injustice" of having to screw in a light bulb.

9.
Guilty until proven innocent:
Isn't it an odd semantic quirk when people say, "It was a child," or, "it was a dog,"...and "they're so innocent," the implication being that if you're an adult human, you're automatically guilty of something.

I say we hold trials for all kids under the age of 6 and any animal that looks deceptively cute to determine if they are indeed "innocent" as claimed. If not, they get no treats of any kind for a week. As for the "guilty" adult humans -- make them attend sales meetings at large insurance companies – and Barbara Streisand concerts.

10.
"Come on everyone. Lets all join hands with total strangers of diverse backgrounds, class, and lifestyle for a big insincere group hug."

11.
Miracle saints and lunch items :
The famous grilled cheese sandwich auctioned on e-Bay that had a “miracle” image of the Virgin Mary was actually not so impressive because, in the bible itself (many people don't know this), Mary was actually described as looking somewhat like a grilled cheese sandwich – “and she was of note to be one half cubit in length and breadth and had a complexion akin to lightly toasted bread – and orange colored melted cheese.”

12.
God, who doesn't exist, is laughing at us...for believing that he does exist...

13.
“Bleed the productive…win valuable gifts and prizes.”

14.
Age is youth in motion.

15.
Hollywood has become a mere venue for rich individuals and corporations (the entertainment industry) to bitch about other rich individuals and corporations (every other free market expression of products, services, and ideas).

16.
One picture can attempt to sway thoughts like a thousand words but is often "worth" only one word – "deception."

17.
I like art..and my wife has art on her face.

18.
People who say they “are not taking a side” will typically be taking the opposite side from yours.

19.
Anyone who says they “don't take sides” is probably taking the side of your enemy.

20.
Guess I'm just not a "rebel" ...like everyone else, who is a rebel?

21.
"True love" is what occurs when you basically find someone who can tolerate your nonsense.

22.
Wanting a sex change is perfectly normal. Almost everyone would like a change ...from some sex to more sex.

23.
No one should be "obedient" to anything beyond common civility or efficient productivity. All else is icing of shit on a cake of ass.

24.
The most difficult thing to save someone from is their own stupidity.

25.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions and blatant stupidity.

26.
Clothing or lack of clothing has its effect no doubt but, the sexiest thing a woman can do is to look and act like she wants sex (yes this is from a guy's perspective).

27.
Seeing the object when there appears to be an object allows there to be an object.

28.
Savor all that pleases the moment, and leave leftovers for unpleasing moments.

29.
Regardless of how much free will one may exercise, all events become fate after they have taken place.

30.
Response to those who believe some random guy is or was “God:”
The creator of the universe probably doesn't have hair.

31.
Ultimately, everyone's academic degree is a “B.S.” degree.

32.
If God “made 'man' in his own image” we are faced with the rather odd concept of the creator of the universe modeling monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees similar to his own image.

33.
Don't plug your brain into anything but the thoughts of your choice.

34.
The only true reality occupies the immediate moment,
…and it’s gone already.

35.
Laugh at all nonsense that comes your way...and realize that it occurs everyday.

36.
Steal fun and games and laugh at the fools who left them unnoticed.

37.
Comeback to a faceless bureaucrat: "I'm sorry, what exactly was the role I had asked you to play in my life?"

38.
If you "can't judge a book by its cover" it makes one wonder why books have covers (?)

39.
Comedy, philosophy, and the arts are all channels that allow us to cry, laugh, and stand awestruck at the daily things and events we see around us that we are so accustomed to that we miss them for their impact or beauty.

40.
Ambiguity is everywhere and when things are otherwise even that is transient. Inhale the vapors, refine the vision, and lie still in epiphanies large and small.

41.
See the writing on the wall,…and start editing it.

42.
That's all he terrorists are fighting "for" -- hoping to get the 72 virgins "in heaven" that they can't get here. In more mundane circumstances we usually just call such folks losers. But more fervent. They're just plain, "sore losers."

43.
"Reality is perhaps too obvious. So it is that works of the creative imagination (Art) bring such satisfaction. They are ultimately stealth depictions of reality. The most fanciful or bizarre creative work on some level reminds us of the absolute marvel of the mundane that surrounds us daily. No one marvels at a supermarket, but put that supermarket on another planet and stock it with the same items morphed to another paradigm with shoppers of the same variety as those we see daily -- albeit more wondrous form -- and we are "entertained."

44.
Somewhere there's a drought and somewhere there's a flood and somewhere someone is tucking in a toddler and another is savagely spilling blood. In the end it all means that numbers increase possibilities. Often tragic when it's your number. A mere column in a newspaper when it's someone else's.

45.
Find a person who sees vast intrigues and conspiracies in world events and you'll find someone whose personal life is dramatically uninteresting.

46.
The future may be in the same book, but it's a different chapter now.

47.
I want to start a religion where you get the 72 virgins now (actually they don't have to be virgins – I never did quite understand that aspect of Muslim "paradise").

48.
(In reference to a common astrology saying); "The stars do not compel but impel" -- and meteors just fall on your head.

49.
Frustration…Self-induced failure leads to aggression.

50.
Everything in moderation is for people who can tolerate the deprivation of moderation.

51.
I must confess that the most significant branch of my philosophy is I'm-pissed-o-mology.

52.
Being “wrong” means not being right, according to someone else…

53.
Shyoga-nai…Nai! (You have to live in Japan and disagree with one of its major cultural ideals to understand this).

54.
Reality only occupies the immediate present…and it (the immediate present) is gone already.

55.
Are not all events that touch our lives but mere catalysts to those that follow?

56.
Pretend you're in a movie. Know your pretending, know it's a movie, ...and all will be fine.

57.
'Mind if I smoke...Oh Hell!, 'mind if I burst into flames?

58.
No more bad please.

59.
Aristotle and Plato reconciled:

60.
The whole world is a ghost.
Matter only looks “real” because we're in the same dream with it...On the other hand, it's appropriate to acknowledge the tangibility and significance of something you share a world with. Even a ghost can probably be cut in the world it dwells in.

61.
There's nothing worse than a “no-it-all” that doesn't know anything.

62.
Wouldn't it be funny if god wore a hat.
63.
The word, "dread" probably fails to capture the feeling of...dread. At such times, one may hope to summon such ineffective words to one's side and we can only hope that there may be a part of the universe that secretly knows that nuance of our feelings and later gives us credit to the loses which come our way...

64.
Most people don't even know what's going on after it happened.

65.
It could be that the only reason people exist at all is so that food has a place to travel.

66.
If one's life is relatively happy and significant, there will not likely be a need to meddle in the affairs of others. The left is typically not happy and their lives never quite significant enough for their ego's satisfaction.

67.
We're riding on the crest of a wave of immediate reality, poised on an ocean of mere memory or anticipation.

68.
The past would never happen if the future didn't want it to.

69.
"Matter can neither be created or destroyed."
That concept can probably be taken a step higher. Matter is ultimately a manifestation of an archetypal principal (see the writings of C.G. Jung) – the crystallization of form.
It is a base archetype that can neither be created or destroyed. Being-ness can only Be, fragment, dissipate, diversify, and its pieces interact in either harmony or discord.
Matter is just the most obvious "thing" in this process -- to us at least -- but we're made out of matter so no attempted insight by us can ultimately be all-encompassing.

70.
The most random events can be considered fate...after they occur. Thus, the difference between caprice and destiny in the universe ultimately resides in the mere reference point in time one observes from.

71.
While “early to bed” may offer health, wealth, and wisdom, “early to rise” is to be avoided
at all costs.

72.
“Don't sweat the small stuff...It's all small stuff” is the creed of someone who doesn't know how to measure.

73.
Aging is a steady progression of coming to know and accept how insignificant one is in the grand scheme of things.

74.
He became a weight around the necks of anyone who came within proximity to him. When walking into a room that was completely quiet it somehow became quieter.

75.
If the only thing you symbolize is yourself, then you and what you symbolize isn't very noteworthy.

76.
The point at which a tragedy becomes printed on a T-shirt is the point when it ceases to be a tragedy.

77.
The imagined past and imaginary future are in pervasive tension with a willingness to accept the real present.

78.
God created the universe;... and since then it's all been pretty much just an act.

79.
A fine symphony is as if beauty itself had been cut from the air by a mind lathe.

80.
“How can you say such things?” ...well, easy actually. And the ease of saying them is facilitated by the fact that they are true.

81.
Death is when all of life becomes nothing but memory.

82.
It is a fact of human psychology that we can be "having a bad time" when in fact, nothing bad is happening. And, conversely, we can be having a good time when nothing particularly good is happening.

83.
I don't think that god comes in a book.

84.
Tomorrow has always happened.

85.
There's something sad about the future when it becomes a memory.

86.
Those who fail to see the magic aren't blind...they're stupid.

87.
My shoes even hurt when I'm not wearing them...

88.
Some sheep have no problem with the smell of lamb chops.‏

89.
I'm not a day person,...why does life so insist that I adopt manners alien to my nature?, so foul to my urgent striving for tranquility?

90.
We're all here today and gone tomorrow and can only hope that after the show we get to watch reruns for eternity...or something like that.

Notable Observations By Others

2006-01-20T13:00:00.017+09:00

Before beginning observations by others, I'm posting the following great quote as a sort of preamble to them all. It is a great testament to conservative and libertarian values regarding, government, economics, and morals:

“I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I believe that every right
Implies a responsibility, every opportunity, an obligation; every possession a duty.

I believe that the law was made for man and not man for the law; that
government is the servant of the people and not their master.

I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the
world owes no man a living but it owes every man an opportunity to
make a living.

I believe that thrift is essential to well-ordered living and that
economy is a prime request of a sound financial structure, whether in
government, business or personal affairs.

I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man's word should be
as good as his bond; that character-not wealth or power or position-
is of supreme worth.

I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of
mankind and that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross
(waste matter) of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human
soul set free.

I believe in an all-wise-and all-loving God, named by whatever name, and
that the individuals highest fulfillment, greatest happiness, and
widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with His will.

I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; that it alone
can overcome hate; that right can and will triumph over might.”

-- John D. Rockefeller, Jr., quotation inscribed at Rockefeller Center

1.
"...The cognitive behavior of Western intellectuals faced with the accomplishments of their own society, on the one hand, and with the socialist ideal and then the socialist reality, on the other, takes one's breath away. In the midst of unparalleled social mobility in the West, they cry "caste." In a society of munificent goods and services, they cry either "poverty" or "consumerism." In a society of ever richer, more varied, more productive, more self-defined, and more satisfying lives, they cry "alienation." In a society that has liberated women, racial minorities, religious minorities, and gays and lesbians to an extent that no one could have dreamed possible just fifty years ago, they cry "oppression." In a society of boundless private charity, they cry "avarice." In a society in which hundreds of millions have been free riders upon the risk, knowledge, and capital of others, they decry the "exploitation" of the free riders. In a society that broke, on behalf of merit, the seemingly eternal chains of station by birth, they cry "injustice." In the names of fantasy worlds and mystical perfections, they have closed themselves to the Western, liberal miracle of individual rights, individual responsibility, merit, and human satisfaction. Like Marx, they put words like "liberty" in quotation marks when these refer to the West..."

-- Alan Charles Kors, from the essay "After Socialism"

2.
"At the height of the Cold War, it was common for American 'liberals' to defend Communists as being just 'liberals in a hurry.' I agree with that. and I paricularly agree with its logical corollary: That 'liberals' are just slowed-down communists."

-- Dr. John Ray, on his web site, Dissecting Leftism

3.
"Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic."

-- Unknown

4.
“Immoral acts by individuals do not become moral when practiced by a million people calling themselves ‘society’.”

-- Unknown source, but I’m quite certain it was either Ayn Rand or a follower of hers.

5.
“Society: A mystical entity that is no one in particular and everyone but yourself.”

-- Unknown source, but I’m quite certain it was either Ayn Rand or a follower of hers.

6.
"The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else."

-- Frediric Bastiat, Essays, 144

7.
"A man who would consider himself a bandit if, pistol in hand, he prevented me from carrying out a transaction that was in conformity with my interests has no scruples in working and voting for a law that replaces his private force with the public force and subjects me, at my own expense, to the same unjust restriction."

-- Frederic Bastiat, Harmonies, 463

8.
“Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows or both…The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

-- Frederick Douglass (quoted by Edward Cline)

9.
You have to stand for something or you'll fall for anything.

-- Aaron Tippin

10.
(French bureau-autocrat's cluelessness and arrogance in one quote)

"I have always been aware that what is good for the nation is not always popular with the public."

-- Jean-Pierre Raffarin, after resigning as prime minister (quoting Charles de Gaulle).

11.
“…it’s clear that the death penalty really does deter crime. The recidivism rate among executed murderers is a perfect zero percent.”

-- Mark W. Smith, from his book, “The Official Handbook of the Vast Right-Wing conspiracy.”

12.
“For a tree’s branches to reach to heaven, its roots must reach to hell.”

-- Medieval alchemical dictum, as quoted by Stephen Arroyo in his book, “Astrology Karma & Transformation…”

13.
“The individual may strive after perfection but must suffer from the opposite of his intentions for the sake of his completeness.”

-- C.G. Jung, as quoted by Stephen Arroyo in his book, “Astrology Karma & Transformation…”

14.
“Weakness defines a power relationship not a moral attribute.”
-- Robert Kaplan

15.
“…in the conflict between totalitarian regimes and democracy, you must not hesitate to declare which side you are on.”
-- Adam Michnik, a leading figure in the Solidarity movement of Poland, as quoted by Clifford May in an online essay

16.
“When PETA [People for the ethical treatment of animals – a radical animal rights group] is able to prevent animals from eating other animals, I will stop eating animals.”
-- Jim K. responding to foxnews.com regarding commentary on “political correctness.”

17.
“…For the proletariat this will, in reality, be nothing but a barracks: a regime, where regimented workingmen and women will sleep, wake, work, and live to the beat of a drum [Mikhail Bakunin is prophetically describing the communist state that Marx sought to create]...

...There will be slavery within this state, and abroad there will be war without truce, at least until the “inferior” races, Latin and Slav, tired of bourgeois civilization, no longer resign themselves to the subjection of a State, which will be even more despotic than the former State, although it calls itself a People’s State.”
-- Mikhail Bakunin (Anarchist), written in 1872, as cited in Marx & Friends In Their Own Words

18.
“…Whiners, if given power, readily become tyrants. Marx was seen by his contemporaries as a potential tyrant. Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-72), the Italian revolutionary, and a rival of Marx’s in the International Workingmen’s Association in the mid- 1860’s, once described Marx as ‘a destructive spirit whose heart was filled with hatred rather than love of mankind . . . extraordinarily sly, shifty and taciturn. Marx is very jealous of his authority as leader of the Party; against his political rivals and opponents he is vindictive and implacable; he does not rest until he has beaten them down; his overriding characteristic is boundless ambition and thirst for power. Despite the communist egalitarianism which he preaches he is the absolute ruler of his party; admittedly he does everything himself but he is also the only one to give orders and he tolerates no opposition’"
-- Gary North, as cited in Marx & Friends In Their Own Words

19.
“You may be interested to know that global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes,
and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking numbers of
Pirates since the 1800s. For your interest, I have included a graph of the
approximate number of pirates versus the average global temperature over the
last 200 years. As you can see, there is a statistically significant inverse
relationship between pirates and global temperature.”
-- Bobby Henderson; Passed on to me in an e-mail from a friend

20.
“…That some 5% of the world's population creates 25% of the world's wealth…” (emphasis mine)
-- Tim Worstall, in an essay from Tech Central Station

21.
In a recent interview, General Norman Schwartzkopf was asked if he thought there was room for forgiveness toward the people who have harbored and abetted the terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks on America. His answer; “I believe that forgiving them is God's function. Our job is to arrange the meeting.

22.
“Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose."
-- Ronald Reagan

23.
"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant: It's just that they know so much that isn't so."
-- Ronald Reagan

24.
"Of the four wars in my lifetime none came about because the U.S. was too strong."
-- Ronald Reagan

25.
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."
-- Ronald Reagan

26.
"No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.”
-- Ronald Reagan

27.
“History is evoked more and more these days, even as fewer of us read it…”

“…So the next time someone quotes philosopher George Santayana for the umpteenth time that ‘Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it,’ just assume that what follows will probably be wrong. Having a Rolodex of cocktail party quotes to beef up an argument is not the same as the hared work of learning about the past.”
-- Victor David Hanson, cited in The Tanuki Ramble blogsite

28.
“Any compromise between good and evil only hurts the good and helps the evil.”
-- Ayn Rand (John Galt’s speech in Atlas Shrugged)

29.
“…all Muslims are not terrorists, but almost all terrorists are Muslims.”
-- Neal Boortz

30.
“Being right too soon is socially unacceptable.”
-- Robert Heinlein

31.
“…The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surely curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.”
-- Robert Heinlein

32.
“Responsibility cannot be shared.”
-- Robert Heinlein

33.
"...virtue cannot be genuine without the freedom not to be virtuous. If that freedom does not exist, then the result is not virtue; it is just coercion. This is why Muslim criticisms of Western immorality ring hollow, because they would replace Western libertinism not with genuine virtue, but with enforced conformity and fear."
-- Robert Spencer, in an interview with Front Page Magazine, paraphrasing a concept articulated by Dinesh D'Souza

34.
"...If Che's world vision had prevailed, it's safe to say that Apple founder Steve Jobs would have never brought us the iPod. After all, it's tough to innovate when you're stuck behind a donkey farming turnips for the proletariat..."
-- Ryan Clancy, freelance writer

35.
“Tolerance is the virtue of people who do not believe in anything.”
-- G.K. Chesterton

36.
“...to different individuals and groups the common good is bound to mean different things.”
-- Joseph Schumpeter

37.
“...Leftists want to make us 'better' while at the same time denying that there is any such thing as 'better!!...”
-- Dr. John Ray

38.
"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."
-- Michaelangelo

39.
"...Name me a society that has degenerated into famine and misery and fear because it has adopted the teachings of Spinoza and Jefferson and Einstein. Dare you say that these and other men had no ethics because they self-consciously rejected a personal or intervening deity?..."
-- Christopher Hitchens, quoted at frontpagemag.com

40.
"Let's be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientist s in history are great precisely because the broke with the consensus."
-- Michael Crichton, as quoted "Nealz Nuze at Boortz.com

41.
"Revolution is certainly the most authoritarian thing there is; it is the act whereby one part of the population imposes its will upon the other part by means of rifles, bayonets and cannon."
-- Friedrich Engels – from his controversy with the Anarchists, as quoted on the blog site, Dissecting Leftism

42.
“...The thing I like best about being a conservative is that I don’t have to lie. I don’t have to pretend that men and women are the same. I don’t have to declare that failed or oppressive cultures are as good as mine. I don’t have to say that everyone’s special or that the rich cause poverty or that all religions are a path to God. I don’t have to claim that a bad writer like Alice Walker is a good one or that a good writer like Toni Morrison is a great one. I don’t have to pretend that Islam means peace.

43.
Of course, like everything, this candor has its price. A politics that depends on honesty will be, by nature, often impolite. Good manners and hypocrisy are intimately intertwined, and so conservatives, with their gimlet-eyed view of the world, are always susceptible to charges of incivility. It’s not really nice, you know, to describe things as they are...”
-- Andrew Klavan

44.
"...I can't imagine what it must be like to hold an ideology where Wal-Mart outrages me more than the slaughter of 600 people..."
A writer's comments at the blogsite, "Libertas" commenting on the left's acceptance and adoration for Che Guevara and his actions as leader of firing squads at the beginning of Cuba's "revolution."

45.
“Madonna believes in man-made global warming. Ok, now I'm convinced.”
-- Neal Boortz

46.
“We love government because it enables us to accomplish things that if done privately would lead to arrest and imprisonment. For example, if I saw a person in need, and took your money to help him, I'd be arrested and convicted of theft. If I get Congress to do the same thing, I'm seen as compassionate.”
-- Economist Walter Williams

47.
“Speakers of both the left and right who dare defy the intellectual Taliban of academia and support Israel or speak in support of American values are routinely harassed, drowned out and intimidated socially, academically and even physically. This is a universal characteristic of totalitarians of any stripe, they are more comfortable with other totalitarians, no matter how diametrically opposed their ideas, than they are with those who can see and point out the absurdity of their slavery to empty ideas and pathetic rationalizations.”
-- Yaacov Ben Moshe, from his blogsite; Breath of the Beast

48.
“Damn that [President George] Bush! He's made people who hate our guts not like us.”
-- Ann Coulter

49.
"An individual can become so secure within his own being that he becomes insecure within his false sense of security."
-- Steve Lynch

50.
Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from me. - Ayn Rand (1905-1982)

51.
“If we don't change direction, we're likely to end up where we're headed.”
-- Chinese Proverb

52.
“You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don’t ever count on having both at once.”
-- Robert Heinlein

53.
(In reference to the phony "anti-torture" lobby when they direct their scorn at the U.S. -- in incidents that can hardly be called torture); It's not torturing they criticize, it's America. If they opposed torture they'd be lobbying for an American victory in Iraq to insure torturers don't swarm the country.
-- the Libertas web site

54.
(Regarding “Climate Change”) “Climate change” isn’t like predicting Italian coalition politics. There are only two options so, whichever one predicts, one has a 50 percent change of being right. The planet will always be either warming or cooling.”
-- Mark Steyn

55.
“Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff.”
-- Frank Zappa (1940- 1993)

56.
Regarding 9/11 conspiracy theories and, specifically, the popular conspiracy theory film, “Loose Change” :
...if the United States government had no trouble killing so many people in the attacks themselves, there was nothing to stop them from bumping off one college student who thought he'd cracked the case...”
-- from the Wikipedia entry regarding the conspiracy film, “Loose Change” with a reference to the web site observations of “Maddox” on the site, “The Best Page in The Universe.”

57.
"Government is the Entertainment Division of the military-industrial
complex."
-- Frank Zappa

58.
When men are pure, laws are useless; when men are corrupt, laws are broken. - Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)

59.
When you put off paying war's price, you pay compound interest in blood.
-- Ralph Peters, Writer for the New York Post

60.
"Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and gospel of envy."
-- Sir Winston Churchill

61.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
-- Arthur Clarke

62.
Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it. - George Orwell (1903- 1950).

63.
"Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious."
-- George Orwell

64.
“The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility. And vice Versa.”
-- Robert Heinlein

65.
“... The peaceniks love to ask: When and where will it all end? The answer is easy: It will end with the surrender or defeat of one of the contending parties. Should I add that I am certain which party that ought to be?...”
-- Christopher Hitchens on the Iraq conflict and those who oppose it

66.
We love death. The U.S. loves life. That is the difference between us."
-- Bin Laden

67.
"…the European Union is the creation of bureaucrats, by bureaucrats, for bureaucrats…"
-- Theodore Dalrymple

68.
"…Having overwhelming military force on your side, and letting your enemies know you have the guts to use it, is being genuinely antiwar, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement brought on World War II and Ronald Reagan's military buildup ended the cold War…"
-- Thomas Sowell

69.
"...policies to redress economic inequality hardly affect true inequality at all. Policymakers and economists rarely denounce the scandal of inequality in work effort, creativity, talent, or enthusiasm. We almost never hear about the outrage that is America’s inequality in leisure time, love, faith, or fun—even though these are things that most of us value more than money. To believe that we can redress inequality in our society by moving cash around is to have a materialistic, mechanistic, and totally unrealistic understanding of the resources that we truly care about..."
-- Arthur C. Brooks in a City Journal essay

70.
“…We forget that once war breaks out, things usually get far worse before they get better. We should remember that 1943, after we had entered World War II, was a far bloodier year than 1938, when the world left Hitler alone. Similarly, 2005 may have brought more open violence in Iraq than was visible during Saddam’s less publicized killings of 2002. So it is when extremists are confronted rather than appeased…”
-- Victor David Hanson on the Iraq conflict

71.
“Anyone who isn’t a liberal when young doesn’t have a heart. And anyone who isn’t a conservative when older, doesn’t have a brain.”
-- Winston Churchill

72.
“It is clear to me that people often want incompatible things. They want danger and excitement on the one hand, and safety and security on the other, and often simultaneously. Contradictory desires mean that life can never be wholly satisfying or without frustration.”
-- Dr. Theodore Dalrymple, in an interview at Front Page Magazine

73.
“…in other words who have no religious belief and no intellectual interests to stimulate them, self-destruction and the creation of crises in their life is one way of warding off meaninglessness. I have noticed, for example, that women who frequent bad men - that is to say men who are obviously unreliable, drunken, drug-addicted, criminal, or violent, or all of them together, have often had experience of decent men who treat them well, with respect, and so forth: they are the ones with whom their relationships lasted the shortest time, because they were bored by decency. Without religion or culture (and here I mean high, or high-ish, culture) evil is very attractive. It is not boring.”
-- Dr. Theodore Dalrymple, in an interview at Front Page Magazine

74.
“Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.”
-- Dr. Theodore Dalrymple, in an interview at Front Page Magazine

75.
"How can we make the world a safer place for dictators and one-party police states?"
-- Paraphrasing the values and daily statements made by the United Nations and Left-wing political observers everywhere

76.
“Modern man particularly - or so it seems to me - is particularly bad at recognizing that much of his unhappiness or discontent stems from this inevitable source. Rather, he blames the structure of society and thinks that a perfection that will resolve all contradictions and eliminate all frustrations can be achieved, if only we abolished private property or followed the example of the 7th century followers of Mohammed. The attempt to force people to do so gives meaning to their existence, and of course a lot of sadistic pleasure into the bargain.”
-- Dr. Theodore Dalrymple, in an interview at Front Page Magazine

77.
“…Really, do we need more of these experiments to prove the critical importance of freedom to human security? Doctors, you know, stop an experiment when it proves deadly to the control group.”
-- Dr. __________Rummels on the communist social “experiment”

78.
“I left the appalling tragedy of Russia with a lasting hatred and distrust of communism and of intellectuals, gifted with intelligence, but without simple common sense.”
-- Malcolm Muggeridge, a correspondent for the Manchester Guardian, reporting on the great famine in Russia under Stalin

79.
“If you talk to God, you are praying, if God talks to you, you have schizophrenia.”
-- Thomas Szasz

80.
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx."
-- Ronald Reagan

81.
"...The odd thing, of course, is that real progress in the world is almost never achieved by self-proclaimed "Progressives." They generally make things worse rather than better. (See all the mad utopian schemers from Bin Laden to Stalin and Ahmadi-Nejad.) As a group, they are strikingly ill-equipped to even understand the world in any depth. Rather, it's farmers, business people, engineers, teachers, laborers, scientists, soldiers, cops, doctors, writers, inventors, all of whom create real progress --- or who keep the world from sliding back into barbarism..."
-- James Lewis, writing in The American Thinker

82.
"...Communist Russia comprised Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China's huge population, it was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

83.
The average Japanese individual prior to World War 2 was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel and bayonet.

And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were "peace loving"?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence."
-- From the blog site, "Snake Hunters"

84.
All the radicals in the world together have not created as much economic progress as the inventor of Diet Coke or the Post-It Note. I'm sorry, but it's plainly true. So the "Progressive" ego trip is really only an ego trip.

85.
“When the Swiss are for nonintervention in war, they are called “neutral.” When Americans are for nonintervention, they are called ‘isolationists’ [and, I would add that when the U.S. is not “isolationists,” they’re called “warmongers”].
-- Thomas Szasz

86.
"...Kirk identified six elements that make the conservative mind: belief in a transcendent order that "rules society as well as conscience"; attachment to "the proliferating variety and mystery of human existence" as against the routinizing and leveling forces of modern society; the assumption that "civilized society requires orders and classes"; the conviction that "freedom and property are closely linked"; faith in custom and convention and consequently a "distrust of the 'sophisters, calculators, and economists' who would reconstruct society upon abstract designs"; and a wariness of innovation coupled with a recognition that "prudent innovation is the means of social preservation." The leading role in this mix that Kirk attaches to religion marks him as a social conservative; his insistence that religion provides the indispensable ground for individual liberty marks him as a modern conservative...."

"...Famously, at least in libertarian circles, Hayek, an Austrian-born economist who became a British citizen and then immigrated to the U.S. in 1950, wrote a postscript to "The Constitution of Liberty" (1960), explaining why he was not a conservative. For him, "true conservatism"--which he confused with European reaction--was characterized by "opposition to drastic change" and a complacent embrace of established authority. Because his overriding goal was to preserve liberty, Hayek considered himself a liberal, but he recognized that in the face of the challenges presented mid-century by socialism, he would often find himself in alliance with conservatives. As a staunch member of the party of liberty, Hayek was keen to identify the political arrangements that would allow for "free growth" and "spontaneous change," which, he argued, brought economic prosperity and created the conditions for individual development. This meant preserving the tradition of classical liberalism, and defending limited, constitutional government against encroachments by the welfare state and paternalistic legislation..."
-- Peter Berkowitz, describing "The Conservative Mind" in an essay in The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page

87.
"Human beings are born equal but cultures are not,...They are human made and for the most part man-made. There is nothing sacred about cultures and nothing blasphemous about reforming them."
-- Irshad Manji, a Canadian-Muslim feminist

88.
"The isolationists on the Right are afraid the world is bad for America, while the isolationists on the Left think America is bad for the world..."
-- Norman Podhoretz

89.
"Ever since Rousseau, the left has regarded the family as an obstacle to the revolutionary transformation of human nature they seek..."
-- Thomas Lifson, at The American Thinker

90.
Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't
-- Margaret Thatcher

91.
"In real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears. Things are not only what they are. They are, in very important respects, what they seem to be."
-- Hubert H. Humphrey (1911-1978)

92.
"From cradle to grave was their promise; and little by little, the graves started outnumbering the cradles." (In regard to European socialism)
-- Guy Millière

93.
"He who robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on Paul's support"
-- George Bernard Shaw

94.
"I am an optimist. But I am an optimist who takes his raincoat."
-- Harold Wilson

95.
"What's great about this country is America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you can know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good."
-- Andy Warhol

96.
"Our founders Marx and Engels believed that the government was endowed with unalienable rights to regulate life, ration liberty, and dispense happiness – and that to secure these rights, government must decide what's best for the governed, redistribute their property, and indoctrinate their children."
-- The writers at, The People's Cube

97.
"...Once you understand the Multicultural Pyramid of Oppression, you can begin to understand how to turn to your advantage certain circumstances that are beyond your control; such as where you were born, the type of genitalia you were born with, into what race you were born, and the religion of your parents. You see, the fewer things you have in common with The Oppressor, the more you can cast yourself as The Victim. And, as The Victim, you are virtuous, so there are certain things you can get away with that others can't; like actually oppressing people..."
-- Mark Steyn

98.
"The difference between people who 'do it' and those who don't is that those that do just do it!"
-- Donald Zydorczyk

99.
"People are sick of the same old bullshit, they want a new kind of bullshit."
-- Donald Zydorczyk

100.
"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all." [I'd add that doing something inefficiently that shouldn't be done at all is useless and blatantly stupid, but tell that to a bureaucrat or any other lover of the state].
-- Peter Drucker

101.
"A person is smart,...people are... and stupid"
-- Paraphrased from a line in the movie, "Men in Black" when Will Smith's character asks, "Why the big secret. People are smart. They can handle [information regarding aliens]."

102.
"In the beginning there was nothing, and it exploded..."
-- Unknown

103.
It can be justly asserted that any country which erects monuments to leaders still living is probably not a free society. (paraphrased)
-- Donald Zydorczyk

104.
[The following is an example of "unsophisticated" contemporary American culture]:
"The Truck is packed. The house is sold. The trees don't care. These woods were never mine, they just lent themselves awhile. No one can truly own the woods any more than you can own another's thoughts. Today my dream is to know the mind of a tree."

"To that end I hereby decree that I will be buried in a pine box with an acorn in my mouth. An oak will grow from my head, pressing its roots like flowers within my ribs, piercing my skull and slithering deep into the earth. I want my boughs to shelter children a hundred years from now. I want to be a tree where pilgrims trek for knowledge. I want lovers to caress each other in the soft ground beneath my shade. I want to withstand snow and wind, rain and drought, fire and hail. I want to thrive in the woods and die in the woods, return to the woods and become born in the woods."

"I want to stay home."
"I am ready to leave."
-- Chris Offutt

105.
"...The sad truth is that as long as you hate America and are in favor of national health care you can pretty much kill all the people you want without losing favor with the left. Let’s remember that this is an industry where step-one in a career resurrection involves hugging the dictator Hugo Chavez..."
-- From the Libertas blog site

106.
"Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for."
-- Will Rogers

107.
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
– Mark Twain

108.
“...people in America and around the world aren't dying from malnutrition because places like [Burger King] have made food fresh, cheap, and simple to prepare. Seriously, where ever you find a fast food restaurant, you'll find fat kids, but not starving ones. But in this easy age of value-free moralism, experts are more inclined to demonize Ronald McDonald than Robert Mugabe.”
-- Greg Guttfield

109.
"It is one of the ironies of modern liberalism that diversity should so often come to mean uniformity, and tolerance so often to mean intolerance: that is to say, think and act like me, or else."
-- Theodore Dalrymple

110.
“...Another colleague of mine, with great moral indignation and personal angst, once complained to me about how we are being “attacked” by Pepsi commercials. “By trying to tell us that we are not cool if we don’t drink Pepsi,” he agonized, “the capitalist machinery practices the politics of exclusion. By trying to pretend it offers us choice, it actually negates choice.”
My mom’s father was executed by the Soviet secret police. He did not have the luxury of being oppressed by Pepsi commercials...”
-- Jamie Glazov

111.
"The erroneous assumption is to the effort that the aim of public education is to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence .... Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States, whatever the pretensions of politicians, pedagogues and other such montebanks, and that is its aim everywhere else."
-- H.L. Mencken

112.
"One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain."
-- Thomas Sowell

113.
"...We relied on a paternalistic government to regulate what we shouldn't do rather than turn to our best and brightest private citizens to show us what we could.
Alas, no successful civilization in history - Greece, Rome, England, France, the list goes on - ever found prosperity through its bureaucrats and lawyers."
-- Victor Davis Hanson at FrontPageMag.Com

114.
"History rarely repeats itself but historians often do."
-- James Pethokoukis quoting a professor he had at Northwestern University

115.
"It depends on the question."
-- Film dirctor David Zucker's response to the cliché and meaningless statement, "War is not the answer."

116.
“What makes me laugh – ruefully, I assure you – is when our office seekers trot around the country promising “accountability” for Wall Street. Lehman [Bros.] just went bankrupt – in a market economy, things don’t get more “accountable” than that….
-- Jeanne Cummings in The Politico

117.
"The maxim that society exists only for the well-being and freedom of the individuals composing it does not seem to be in conformity with nature's plans. If classical liberalism [free-market capitalism] spells individualism, Fascism spells government."
-- Benito Mussolini

118.
Majority rule is three wolves and one sheep deciding on dinner.
-- unknown

119.
"The first step towards freedom is calling things by their real name. With the phrase "Punitive Liberalism," we at least have a truthful name for the toxic doctrine that would have us believe success is a form of failure."
-- Roger Kimball

120.
"...And that's assuming we could just 'end' wars – and you can't . You can lose, quit or win wars...but you cannot end them simply by walking away. Wars have two sides and the enemy, as the saying goes, 'gets a vote.'..."
-- James Jay Carafano

121.
"Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking [telling] others to live as one wishes to live." - Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

122.
"When men are pure, laws are useless; when men are corrupt, laws are broken."
-- Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)

123.
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
-- Yogi Bera

124.
"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."
-- Margaret Thatcher

125.
“You are one of those who did not return from hell empty handed.
--Unknown

126.
"They say they are not going to take any water out of your side of the bucket, just the "other" side of the bucket! That's their idea of tax reform..."
-- Fred Thompson, speaking before the 2008 Republican Convention

127.
“...Apparently Democrats are catching on to this idea of stability. According to a June 23rd memo distributed to House Democrat Caucus members, "stability and peace of mind" are to be included its daily talking points. So there are now four buzz words for [current president] Obama's healthcare plan: cost, choice, quality -- and stability.”
“OK ... so let me play with this idea of a "stable" lifestyle for a moment. How would one define a stable lifestyle? Let's see ... you are guaranteed a place to live. That's stability, right? So, you have a place to live, what more could you want? How about a guarantee of three meals a day! Getting more stable all the time. Now let's throw in a guaranteed job, and just to top things off we'll include health care! Sound good? Well .. this wonderful "stable" lifestyle is available to you right now! Just commit a crime heinous enough to get you sent to prison.”
-- Neal Boortz

128.
"...But his [presidential candidate, Obama] tax plans and their likely economic consequence are very much a plan for catastrophe. Doubling the tax in invested capital, and ratcheting up the top tax bracket to an effective 60%, will plunge the nation into a real depression. Not a recession or a downturn or a correction or a slowdown. A depression..."
"...When [Presidential Candidate] Obama says he will only tax the rich, it's like saying he won't shut down the entire ship , just the engine room."
-- Former Clinton Advisor, Dick Morris commenting on Barack Obama's (punish "the rich") tax plans

129.
"I don't know any true patriot who questions the right of Americans to dissent on any issue, whether we agree with them or not."
"The Left's patriotism-deficit has less to do with dissent than a very real and ingrained hostility toward America."
"Its recitation of our national saga runs from slavery to Wounded Knee, to the wartime internment of Japanese Americans, to segregation to My Lai and Abu Ghraib -- excluding everything else. Liberals love America; they just can't find anything positive to say about it, other than Susan B. Anthony and Rosa Parks."
Don Feder, in an essay at FrontPageMag.Com

130.
"Freedom of speech is an American concept, so I don't give it any value,..."
Dean Steacy; an investigator for the Canadian Human Rights Commission, when asked what value he gives to free speech in his investigations.

131.
"...David Horowitz ran up against this aspect of the leftist psyche after his father died. Horowitz begged his communist father's old friends to tell him what his father had been like as a person. But none of those old men could. They could recite his father's dreams (of the coming communist utopia ) but none could recite the facts about his father. Despite having known Horowitz's father for nearly 60 years, those old men couldn't tell his son whether his father had cheered for the Yankees or the dodgers, whether he liked ketchup on his french fries, whether he liked to dance or not...."
-- A comment left by "Carolyn" at the Libertas web site (an excellent example of the cold inhuman nature of socialist thinking as it always dwells in mere political abstractions).

132.
"Diplomacy without force is like music without instruments."
-- Metternich

133.
"To me 'justice' is when someone gets what they deserve. To the left 'justice' is when someone gets what they want."
-- Neal Boortz

134.
"The right to be let alone is indeed the beginning of all freedom
-- Supreme Court Justice William Orville Douglas

135.
"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not, but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for."
-- Epicurus (341 B.C. – 270 B.C.)

136.
“...Hatred is the central element of our struggle!...Hatred that is intransigent...Hatred so violent that it propels a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him a violent and cold-blooded killing machine. We reject any peaceful approach. Violence is inevitable. To establish Socialism, rivers of blood must flow!”
-- Che Guevara

137.
..."to promote, educate and advance conservative principles of fiscal responsibility, small limited government, free enterprise, the rule of law, private property rights, and the preservation and protection of individual liberty."
-- "The Lincoln Club," a small conservative values organization describing their values

138.
"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
-- Dr. Adrian Rogers quoted in the blog, "Dissecting Leftism"

139.
"Few things are more absurd than a "rebellious" American rock band playing the anthem of a political power that outlawed rock music and persecuted the musicians who were the true romantic rebels."
-- From a The People's Cube regarding an American rock band that regularly plays the old Russian national anthem before their concerts to express their hatrd for capitalism.

140.
"How could anyone possibly disagree with me when I so obviously know what's best for everyone."
-- In so many words...a typical leftist appraisal of things

141.
"...What comes to mind when Che is mentioned (other than bigotry, incompetent leadership and mass murder) is the time I saw a death penalty protester on the news wearing a Che t-shirt. I doubt he was even aware of the irony..."
--A person commenting at the the Libertas blog site

142.
"Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good."
-- Thomas Sowell

143.
["...]since when was it written into law that your earnings must "contribute to society as a whole"? Can you imagine what would happen to our economic system if every financial transaction was judged - or perhaps regulated - on whether or not it contributed to society as a whole? You do realize that this "society as a whole" noise is collectivist nonsense, don't you? I engage in an economic tranction - or "function" as Obama calls it, to get something that I want, not to contribute to society. The person on the other side of the transaction is getting something he wants as well. It's a trade ... a trade negotiated and transacted between two free individuals. Society plays no role here. Society isn't putting up any of the money, society isn't taking any of the risk. So long as I'm not harming someone else ... just leave me the hell alone. When I want to contribute to society as a whole I'll send some money to the Red Cross.[...]
-- Neal Boortz

144.
"The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything – or nothing."
-- Lady Nancy Astor

145.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it, and then misapplying the wrong remedies.
-- Groucho Marx (a Marx who actually did understand politics).

"146.
The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule."
-- H.L. Mencken

147.Unless a good deed is voluntary, it has no moral significance.
-- Everett Dean Martin

148.
The Soviet Union used to show the 1940 John Ford "Grapes of Wrath" movie to demonstrate how miserable life is under capitalism. But this backfired, as audiences watched the scene where the poor Okies pile into a beat up jalopy in their futile quest for a better life in California The audience's reaction was, "Holy crap! Poor people in America have cars!"
-- A comment by "boffotmc" at the Libertas web site