One sees great things from the valley, only small things from the peak.
G. K. Chesterton
Earlier One-Off Post: Foroohar and Another Puff Piece on Cherokee Lizzie
Congratulations, Super Bowl 49 Champion New England Patriots!
Well, my folks and 4 of my younger siblings were born in Massachusetts, so I'm sure they are happy, I'm more of an NFC fan and was somewhat disappointed, but kudos to the Patriots for a fourth-quarter come-from-behind victory. The Seahawks gamely battled back; that tipped reception just shy of the goal line was awesome. I have to be one of those Monday morning quarterbacks who will second guess the play called leading to an interception in the teeth of the defense from the 1-yard line. I've got some running backs who can punch it in plus a scrambling quarterback who can rollout to either weak side and force the defense to commit, opening up a receiver. But I've never coached even a Pee Wee league team to victory....
Chart of the Day: Death and Taxes
Image of the Day
Political Potpourri
I'm not really obsessed with 2016, but I'm watching Rand Paul carefully. He has a way of needling potential candidates/competitors like Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, and most recently Jeb Bush, who has admitted smoking marijuana as a young adult but seems reluctant to take on the dysfunctional War on Drugs.
Drudge is reporting a Washpo piece on how Rand Paul, an opthamologist, was upset at the recognized board which requires ongoing recertification for newer surgeons but grandfathered older surgeons who had been issued lifetime certifications. Paul considered the double standard unconscionable and decided to create his own competitive board. It's not clear where the Post was going with it; I think it wants to question his own self-serving certification; let's first point out that he was certified under the old system, although I think he let his certification lapse a few years back. For whatever reason, time constraints, difficulties in winning recognition of his certification board, etc., Paul eventually let the organization fold.
It's difficult to know what's going on in the polls; I've seen Rand in the single-digits in a number of polls and double that in others. A recent Des Moines poll showed him finishing a close second to Walker, even though he didn't make an appearance at a recent summit where Walker won rave reviews.
Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John McCain are so alarmed at Rand Paul's maverick foreign policy that Graham is considering his anyone-not-Rand candidacy, but let's point out neocon positions in the GOP are more the rule than the exception. It isn't even clear he can win as a favorite son candidate in his own home state. However, Paul seems to be at the back of the pack in the latest poll I saw, about 7%.
Gov. Snyder (R-MI) has made a self-serving comment how the next President should have gubernatorial experience. I have my own issues with Snyder, including the anti-Tesla vote and a spendthrift GOP legislature. I understand how Obama, without executive experience, has undermined a senator as President, but I think some recent former governors have had their own issues, e.g., nationbuilding, spending, deficits
I'm still seeing an odd pattern of Obama's job approval; Gallup and Rasmussen have it around 50, and others around the mid-40's and net disapproval. A aimilar story about the Hillary Clinton pairwise polls; Fox News is showing Rand Paul and others within 5 points, while other sources have her in the double-digits.
Facebook Corner
(FEE). Search your conscience. Consider the evidence. Be mindful of facts. And ask yourself: “When it comes to helping the poor, would Christ prefer that you give your money freely to the Salvation Army or at gunpoint to the welfare department? -- From the latest installment in the weekly "Clichés of Progressivism series at FEE.org:
The piece is spot on. There is no virtue in coveting a neighbor's goods--or rationalizing its theft by others, including the State; envy is a vice, not a virtue. Jesus repeatedly distanced Himself from the authorities, rejecting any claims to an earthly kingdom or being seen as an insurrectionist. Never forget--He considered the greatest commandment was to love God, not your neighbor. His issue with wealth was in the rich man's obsession with it to the point of crowding God out of one's life. But, in fact, He had wealthy followers, and in one telling anecdote, He rebuked His disciples at Bethany for complaining about a woman anointing Him with expensive perfume and not instead selling the perfume and giving the proceeds to the poor; there is also the parable of the proud Pharisee and the tax collector--He was not impressed by people bragging about their charity and righteous deeds while contemptuously judging others. [Note to readers: I had seen an earlier post of this article and have been working on a relevant one-off post over the weekend; I will likely expand on the above comments in that post which I expect to publish later this week.]
(Lawrence Reed). "Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas" -- Yale University president and historian Alfred Whitney Griswold (1906-1963), who also wrote, "Could Hamlet have been written by a committee, or the Mona Lisa painted by a club? Could the New Testament have been composed as a conference report? Creative ideas do not spring from groups. They spring from individuals."
Ah, but what would the populist "progressives" say? I can just imagine Elizabeth Warren arguing with William Shakespeare that "You didn't write that... Who taught you to read? Who inspired you to write"?
(separate comment)
However, it raises a serious question: recall the burnings of the library of Alexandria and recent reports of ISIS in Iraq purging libraries of non-Islamic materials. We can't regenerate rare manuscripts which are not yet in the public domain.
(National Review). The Duke porn actress tries her hand at political philosophy.
Actually, Williamson seems to be confounding libertines, like the Duke student, with libertarians. Libertines tend to be libertarian, but not all libertarians are libertines. Paleolibertians maintain culturally conservative values, even though they tolerate certain morally questionable behavior of others. Walter Block has a good essay on the distinction here: http://mises.org/sites/default/files/11_1_7_0.pdf
When boil it all down, all libertarianism is is pro-drugs, pro-porn, pro- prostitution.
No, you are confusing tolerance for dubious behavior, even if you personally oppose them, with acceptance. Not all libertarians are libertines.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Steve Kelley via Townhall |
Joe Cocker, "You Are So Beautiful"
