Miscellany: 11/27/12

Quote of the Day
I can live for two months on a good compliment.
Mark Twain

Lerma's Op-Ed in Pravda: Some Excerpts

Recently, Obama has been re-elected for a 2nd term by an illiterate society and he is ready to continue his lies of less taxes while he raises them. He gives speeches of peace and love in the world while he promotes wars as he did in Egypt, Libya and Syria....

He is a Communist without question promoting the Communist Manifesto without calling it so. How shrewd he is in America. His cult of personality mesmerizes those who cannot go beyond their ignorance. They will continue to follow him like those fools who still praise Lenin and Stalin in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin could never have imagined anyone so ignorant or so willing to destroy their people like Obama much less seeing millions vote for someone like Obama. They read history in America don't they? Alas, the schools in the U.S. were conquered by the Communists long ago and history was revised thus paving the way for their Communist presidents. Obama has bailed out those businesses that voted for him and increased the debt to over 16 trillion with an ever increasing unemployment rate especially among blacks and other minorities. All the while promoting his agenda.

 Lawsuits a plenty against religious freedom and expression in the land of the free. Christianity in the U.S. is under attack as it was during the early period of the Soviet Union when religious symbols were against the law.

First, there is a lot Lerma writes about, quoting Putin on fiscal conservatism, etc., that most pro-liberty conservatives would agree with.  I'm no Obama apologist, but the Arab uprising was more a matter of an an incompetent administration being caught flatfooted by events beyond their control. Whereas an argument can be made about meddling, there have been reprisal attacks against civilian populations by rogue leaders, and Russia has done its fair share of meddling, particularly with respect to Syria.

Russia's government is considered by many to  be rife with corruption and the prosecution, conviction and imprisonment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Putin critic, are unconscionable. We have seen a thin-skinned Putin expand treason laws, and the government has even cracked down on a critical feminist punk rock group. I'll also point out Putin favored Obama's reelection.

I do regard the general intolerance in the US  of even the most benign presence of crosses, Nativity scenes, or displays of the Ten Commandments or even casual references to "God" in public speech to contradict the essence of liberty, but at the same time I don't like crony relationships between organized religion and state, such as when leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church de facto endorse the election of Putin.

Lerma, in another column, references Rossiter's 2011 The Liberal Mind, which I have not read. Here's a relevant book excerpt:

The radical left’s efforts to regulate the people from cradle to grave. To rescue us from our troubled lives, the liberal agenda recommends denial of personal responsibility, encourages self-pity and other-pity, fosters government dependency, promotes sexual indulgence, rationalizes violence, excuses financial obligation, justifies theft, ignores rudeness, prescribes complaining and blaming, denigrates marriage and the family, legalizes all abortion, defies religious and social tradition, declares inequality unjust, and rebels against the duties of citizenship. Through multiple entitlements to unearned goods, services and social status, the liberal politician promises to ensure everyone’s material welfare, provide for everyone’s healthcare, protect everyone’s self-esteem, correct everyone’s social and political disadvantage, educate every citizen, and eliminate all class distinctions. Radical liberalism thus assaults the foundations of civilized freedom. Given its irrational goals, coercive methods and historical failures, and given its perverse effects on character development, there can be no question of the radical agenda's madness. Only an irrational agenda would advocate a systematic destruction of the foundations on which ordered liberty depends.

IPPON! Other excerpts are available here.

Even Russian leftists despise Obama. Consider Jamie Wendland here:

[The move to a repressive regime is] actually a subtle process that is done with popular public support and under the guise of complete legality, justification, democracy and to the greater good of the society.

It is, in other words, the road to fascism present day America is taking and it's only being accelerated by a delusional love affair with President, Barack Obama.

While Democrats and Obama Loyalists ride their rainbows and unicorns in celebration of the re-election of the messiah, we on the left, are shaking our heads, wondering how Democrats could support four more years of failed Bush policy. 

Democrats therefore, are left grasping for straws for any liberal distinction, drawing attention to Obama's alleged progressiveness, by pointing to gay marriage, possible legalization of marijuana, or contraceptives... It has been the states and the courts, not the president, taking the lead in case after case. 

During his first term, Obama not only completely embraced virtually all Bush doctrine, he expanded it. Social, domestic and environmental policy has by and large, also remained a continuation of the Bush administration. 

Wendland argues that Obama has co-opted Congressional progressive Democrats into supporting policies they would never accept under a GOP President. (There are "all-important" nuances--e.g., Obama micromanages kill lists.) I will simply point out here a number of pro-liberty conservatives, including me, opposed Bush/Obama policies, and I repeatedly pleaded with Romney during the campaign to throw Bush under the bus. However, I completely disagree with the left's meddling with economic liberty and preoccupation with centralization of authority and stealth takeover. He criticizes charter school expansion--which is still a public-funded option. There are private schools, but parents are forced to pay for their children's education twice.

Glenn "Serrano" Beck

Courtesy of Michael D’Antuono,
"Truth"

I am so sick and tired of hearing clueless progressives buy into the excuses of failed passive leadership: this guy was cheerleading noxious partisan sausage making and spurned compromise saying "Elections have consequences." For all the whining over Senate filibusters, let me point out  dozens of bills were passed during the 111th Congress, and the primary reasons others didn't pass is because of unwillingness to compromise  The 111th Congress greatly expanded spending; when the GOP tried to get modest spending cuts year over year last year, Obama held the line: nothing like state and local governments which were slashing workers, operations, selling assets, etc. Obama never put forward a viable budget. Obama has never been exposed to the nature and extent of ridicule and abuse that Bush went through.  This doesn't mean there hasn't been incivility on both sides of the political divide. Even though I personally dislike the man (I don't like political spin, finger-pointing, excuses, etc.), I don't really publicize what I consider to be over the line.

Very recently there have been a couple of Obama supporters whom have implied a comparison of Obama to Jesus Christ, very offensive to myself and other Christians. The first is a piece of art (see above) which shows Obama wearing a crown of thorns and his arms outstretched in a crucifixion pose.Then there is an overrated entertainer, Jamie Foxx, whom said at an awards show:  “It’s like church over here. It’s like church in here. First of all, give an honor to God and our lord and savior, Barack Obama."

This sets the stage for Glenn Beck's inspired  parody, channeling his inner Serrano, instead of a crucifix in urine, puts an Obama bobblehead in "pee-pee"...

Glenn Beck's "Obama in Pee-Pee":
Obama Bobblehead in "Urine"

Who will be Time's "Person of the Year"?

I was subscribed to the now defunct  US News and World Report print edition, which was converted to a Time subscription. We are about 2 weeks away from Times' Person of the Year. Last year's selection of the Protester was laughably absurd.

This year's selection is from another odd selection of candidates, including athletes, politicians, other government or business leaders, pollsters entertainers, even physics characters etc. Even 15 minutes of fame personalities like Sandra Fluke, whom made having people other than her significant other and herself pay for their contraceptives (why not add their meals and hotel bills to the tab?)

Faithful readers know I write one-off annual awards (worth no more than a few bytes in cyberspace): Man of the Year and Jackass of the Year. I have not finalized my lists or selections (which will likely be posted on or just after Christmas: I want to see what is done on the fiscal cliff and/or European crisis ).

I have posted nominees for JOTY, but I haven't listed MOTY candidates. I share only one selection with Time: the first. Keep in mind I might choose someone I disagree with or not listed here:

• John Roberts: his mixed verdict on ObamaCare will have an effect on all Americans
• Ron Paul: his swan song from politics 
• Angela Merkel: the German chancellor whom has to put up with Hollande and the PIIGS, arguably the most important person dealing with the European crisis
• Speaker John Boehner: just having to put up with the nonsense of pieces of work like Pelosi, Reid and Obama should qualify him for sainthood. 

Musical Interlude: Christmas Retrospective

Charlie Brown (Vince Guaraldi Trio), "O Tannenbaum"