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| Via Living Christ blog |
Mormon Tabernacle Choir, "One December, Bright and Clear": Nativity Play
Quote of the Day
Many a man who falls in love with a dimple make the mistake of
marrying the whole girl.
Evan Esar
Pro-Liberty Thought of the Day
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| Via Illinois Policy Institute |
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| Via the Independent Institute |
My Blog Cited on Another Portal
I often visit another blog that carries certain news items, particularly political, that I rarely see covered elsewhere. (I have some differences with the editors; they tend to be more interventionist and less pro-immigration, a lot of news items on Muslim cultural assertiveness, etc.; I cover less politics than I used to). But as a matter of common courtesy, I'll probably list their blog (libertarianrepublican.net) over the next couple of days.
Don Boudreaux, "Questions About and For Those People Obsessed With Income Inequality": Thumbs UP!
This is so good that I wish that I had written it: something I regard as high praise for a writer. I have been privately stewing over the Politics of Envy as morally outrageous, and hearing Obama and Pope Francis engage recently in recycled class-envy rhetoric has aggravated. Both of them have praised vocations in government--a government whose first priority is self-preservation, what I've been calling in the blog "trickle-down government". Pope Francis should know better; the Gospels made it clear that government officials were not well-admired: Jesus was born in a stable, not at home because of a government census; Jesus mentioned that his enemies attacked him as one whom fraternized with tax-collectors (the ultimate rent-seekers); it was the government that executed Him on behalf of their religious cronies. (Lew Rockwell, a Catholic libertarian, has an excellent essay on the topic, pointing out Jesus' parables that praised industriousness among other things.)
Here are a couple of relevant paragraphs:
Income inequality is much in the news today. Regular patrons of the Cafe know that I find concern over income inequality itself – which is to say, envy – to be corrosive of a civil society. (I have no problem, of course, with concern over policies rigged to ‘distribute’ privileges and booty to those who do not deserve them; I object to such policies. I object to such policies whether they enlarge or reduce differences in incomes.) Few popular concerns strike me as being as childish, misguided, unfounded, and dangerous as concerns over differences in relative incomes earned in market-oriented economies.
Of course, I would emphatically oppose any such legislation to stop the inequality-mongers from peddling their antisocial endorsements of envy-as-public-policy. I would fight to the death to prevent such legislation. Any case made to forcibly silence such protests would be incredibly weak and immoral. But if you are among those who believe in the use of force to ‘redistribute’ incomes in order to prevent social uprisings that (you also believe) are inevitable if the People come to envy the incomes of ‘the rich,” then on what principled grounds do you stand to rule out shutting the mouths and freezing the keyboards of those who are constantly screaming to the general public that they – the public – should be more envious of the incomes of ‘the rich’ and more angry about income inequality? Your case for forcible ‘redistribution’ is also incredibly weak and immoral.The "progressives"/social liberals' argument is a type of extortion: higher earners should agree to high state theft of their assets, or there will be a "revolution" and even worse sanctions. This is a case of being really careful of what you wish for: social liberals are essentially morally responsible for the consequences of their provocative behavior to suggest other's property is their own. Forget that nonsensical Biblical prohibition against stealing and coveting your neighbor's goods...
ObamaCare Critique: Abridged One Sentence Version
Dr. Scamell will readily tell I can be long-winded--it can take me 20 minutes just to introduce myself (but have you seen my last name?) Familiar readers know that I can go for some length about the economic insanity of guaranteed issue and community rating, the economic clueless price-fixing of healthcare products/services, unresponsive, remote, unaccountable bureaucracies, etc., but Dr. Bellar can do it in just one sentence (HT Carpe Diem):
Facebook Corner
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| Via LFC |
An Obama-head trillion dollar coin...
Broke window fallacy much
That's how he gets into your house...You see, if you use your chimney to vent a coal stove....
Xmas presents? You didn't get that! Somebody else did!
He's IRS Grinch handing the presents to Santa Obama.
This idiot also thought an alien invasion would stimulate the economy.
He wrote "The Theory of Interstellar Trade" in 1978. Guess when the arcade game "Space Invaders" came out?
Tom Woods wished his wife Heather a Merry Christmas.
(Reason Magazine). Like it or not, the debate about NSA excesses is on.
i thought that "reason magazine" would offer an intelligent perspective on world issues & events. i was so wrong. nobody but hateful contrarians here, with no constructive solutions to offer. pity..
Who is so intellectually stunted to believe failed government is the "solution"? Conservatives understand solutions are generated better, faster, more accurately in the private sector. Your statement assumes a vicious cycle of government failure. The real solution is to stop stealing money from the productive economy to throw it through $600 government toilet bowl seats.
(The Cato Institute). It’s a very Merry Christmas for Washington insiders... http://j.mp/1fFeegf #tcot #tlot (via Dan Mitchell)
Merry anti- Christmas to all the government stooges who think they are better than everyone else and write laws to which they do not follow because being a liberal Marxist places them above the law.
'think they are better' um what? its the liberal states that are fighting for equality. not one republican far right state has come out for equality. i love how republicans love to twist words and pretend they are for small government when they push the drug war so hard , and 'traditional marriage'. oh lets not even get started on abortions, who Republicans continually try to make illegal, and call anyone who has one a murderer. But sure, liberals want a livable minimal wage, and a single payer health care system like the rest of the first world. You think its by accident that the USA spends more per person then any other country?
"Equality/inequality" is a term used by fascists to rationalize the use of force or to disrupt the social order.
Liberals see this and want to make govt better. Conservatives see this and want to make govt disappear.
Liberals steal from the real economy to make the inefficient, ineffective government bigger; conservatives know that any large-scale government is intrinsically a drag on the economy and seek to make the economy bigger.
(Justin Amash). Merry Christmas! Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
Simple, brief, affirmative, unapologetic... Unlike some of the judgmental politically correct vigilante trolls whom found their way to this thread...
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Henry Payne and Townhall |
Bing Crosby, "White Christmas"
Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Handel's Messiah Hallelujah Chorus
Jose Feliciano, "Feliz Navidad"
Nativity Scene at Shaw AFB, SC
I wasn't aware of this story until I read a recent post by Dennis Prager, a Jew whom, like many other non-Christians, do not have a problem with this politically-correct ban on the mere recognition of the Christian nature of the holiday. In fact, he points out Jewish songwriters are responsible for many of the classics:
- “White Christmas” was written by Irving Berlin (birth name: Israel Isidore Baline).
- “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” — Johnny Marks.
- “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” — composed by Jule Styne, lyrics by Sammy Cahn.
- “Silver Bells” — by Jay Livingston (Jacob Harold Levison) and Ray Evans (Raymond Bernard Evans).
- “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” — Mel Tormé and Robert Wells (Robert Levinson), both Jews.
- “Sleigh Ride” — lyrics by Mitchell Parish (Michael Hyman Pashelinsky).
There is a follow-up to this story:
South Carolina Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott and Rep. Mick Mulvaney said they had complained to officials at Shaw Air Force base in Sumter, S.C., about the scene’s removal.
“We are pleased the Nativity scene has been restored at Shaw Air Force Base. From the start, our offices have been in touch with Shaw officials expressing our concerns about this matter. We appreciate the Air Force for listening to our complaint, keeping the Nativity scene on base and moving it to the Chapel,” the Republicans said in a joint statement Thursday.
The Nativity scene was moved to the front of the base’s chapel, a public affairs officer told the NBC affiliate near the base.
