Category: Uncategorized

Jonah Goldberg rips it up:

There’s no time here to dismantle fully the edifice of condescension and ignorance constructed by Maher and Smiley (I put Dowd in a different category). But what offends them so much about religion is that it is a source of authority outside — and prior to — politics. What has offended the Left since Marx, and American liberalism since Dewey, is the notion that moral authority should be derived from anyplace other than the state or “the people” (conveniently defined as citizens who vote liberal). Voting on values not sanctified by secular priests is how they define “ignorance.” This was the real goal of Hillary Clinton’s “politics of meaning” — to replace traditional religion with a secular one that derived its authority not from ancient texts and “superstitions” but from the good intentions of an activist state and its anointed priests. Shortly before the election, Howell Raines fretted that the worst outcome of a Bush victory would be the resurgence of “theologically based cultural norms” — without even acknowledging the fact that “theologically based cultural norms” gave us everything from the printing press and the newspaper to the First Amendment he claims to be such a defender of.

I’m always interested to hear people who believe in nothing trying to explain why someone else SHOULD behave in a certain manner. Tell me again why I shouldn’t blow your head off since there is no God, no good and evil, no right and wrong? Oh, because it would be non-utilitarian if everyone were to behave so, and you’ve constructed a rational structure in your head which, um, doesn’t have anything to do with me? BOOM!

The Original Cyberpunk shares his wisdom with the liberal masses:

SEVEN LESSONS FROM LAST WEEK’S ELECTION

I meant to write a column about hunting, but when I came back from deer camp last night I found my inbox stuffed with anguish-filled wails from longtime liberal friends. In hopes of helping them on their journeys through anger and denial, then, I will defer my intended column and instead write a few carefully chosen and, I hope, healing words that will, God willing, help them to make some sense of the horror of it all.

Lesson 1. Senators don’t win the Presidency. Governors do. You have to go back to John F. Kennedy to find someone who made the leap directly from the Senate to the White House, and even “Doonesbury” now admits that the 1960 election was a squeaker that was stolen on behalf of Kennedy by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s Cook County Democratic machine. If you want to win the Presidency, stop nominating liberal senators, and instead, nominate moderate governors. If you can find any in your party.

Lesson 2. If your candidate is a lifelong wuss, don’t bother trying to pump him up with injected machismo and outdoorsy photo ops. It didn’t work for Carter, it didn’t work for Dukakis, and it still doesn’t work now. You’re not fooling anyone by putting your candidate in a Carhart’s jacket, so stop trying.

Lesson 3….

Good night, good luck, win awards. Whatever. Do what you do. Do it well.

The Greatest Show on Turf looked rather underwhelming yesterday. My favorite thing about what is sure to be TMQ’s Sweet Play of the Week tomorrow was that the supposed trick play guru of the NFL was all but depantsed by the fake FG that put the game away for New England.

The Patriots get stuff on a third-and-goal run and WR Troy Brown – who did a very nice job playing defensive back, by the way – looks as if he’s walking off the field with the rest of the offense as the kicking team comes on. But as he stops by the sideline, the Rams take no note and line up to make a completely desultory effort at blocking the field goal attempt. Except there isn’t one, as Viniateri takes the snap from center and throws an easy little pass to Brown while the Rams stand there, jaws gaping, and the game is essentially over.

And yes, I enjoyed the lingering camera shot of Mike Martz staring blankly at the field before getting all hot and bothered at the referees, his defense, at everyone but himself. Legal play, Coach Martz, legal play….

Mark Steyn hits the mark:

However superior the EU is to the US, it will only last as long as Mr Reade’s generation: the design flaw of the radical secular welfare state is that it depends on a traditionally religious society birthrate to sustain it. True, you can’t be a redneck in Spain or Italy: when the birthrates are 1.1 and 1.2 children per couple, there are no sisters to shag.

In the same way that socialism is parasitically dependent upon capitalism, the radical secularists are parasites that depend on a traditional religious society to survive. If the United Socialist States of Canada were to secede and leave Jesustan behind – a division I wholeheartedly support, by the way – we Jesustani would reclaim whatever USSC lands we wanted after three generations of unfettered abortion, low birth rates and sexually transmitted diseases dramatically reduced the population ala dying Western Europe.

Bob Herbert tries, unsuccessfully, to avoid demonstrating his own ignorance in the New York Times:

I think a case could be made that ignorance played at least as big a role in the election’s outcome as values. A recent survey by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland found that nearly 70 percent of President Bush’s supporters believe the U.S. has come up with “clear evidence” that Saddam Hussein was working closely with Al Qaeda. A third of the president’s supporters believe weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. And more than a third believe that a substantial majority of world opinion supported the U.S.-led invasion. This is scary. How do you make a rational political pitch to people who have put that part of their brain on hold? No wonder Bush won….

You have to be careful when you toss the word values around. All values are not created equal. Some Democrats are casting covetous eyes on voters whose values, in many cases, are frankly repellent. Does it make sense for the progressive elements in our society to undermine their own deeply held beliefs in tolerance, fairness and justice in an effort to embrace those who deliberately seek to divide?

And speaking of ignorance, Mr. Herbert, do you believe that spending more government money will help the poor, despite four decades of evidence to the contrary? Do you believe that “shall make no law” means to pass a law or not to pass a law? If shells filled with sarin are not weapons of mass destruction, what are they? And do you believe every poll and study you read?

Remember, you’re on the side that can’t figure out how Bush won because they don’t know anyone who voted for him. The side that can’t figure out that 0-11 on “gay marriage” does not indicate mass public approval. This would seem to indicate that if there is cluelessness floating about, it just might be on the side of the zeros. Speaking of cluelessness, by the way, was Dukakis really so spectacularly successful that you just couldn’t resist nominating another archliberal Massachusetts politician?

I wonder specifically which values championed by conservatives are the ones that you find repellent? The concept that homosexuality is sin? The concept that marriage is between a woman and a man? The concept that killing unborn children is evil? The concept that not having sex is the best way to avoid contracting a sexually-transmitted disease? The concept that there is a God? The concept that such things as good and evil exist at all?

I’m just curious. Oh, and one last question, if Democrats are so smart and informed, why is it that so many of them can’t figure out how to make any money?

Under $15,000: 36% BUSH 63% KERRY

Over $200,000: 63% BUSH 35% KERRY 1% NADER

Paul Jacob writes of term limits:

While the power of incumbency is so great that voters have little leverage to hold congressmen to pledges on term limits, it is worth noting that those who have kept their word on term limits have gone on to become governors and senators, while not a single pledge-breaker has won higher office.

This demonstrates how important a role process has to play in limiting the power of goverment. The libertarian philosophy is not an optimistic one, but a profoundly pessimistic one based on the weakness and corruptible nature of the average individual. The success of term limits demonstrates the importance of codifying libertarian concept into the law wherever possible.

Not that politicians, bureaucrats and government agents won’t disobey the law at every opportunity. But we can at least make it difficult for them to wreak their poisoned will upon us.

Bob Novak writes:

The Republican base would have been even more infuriated to read the full press conference transcript confirming Specter’s litmus test: “I have said that bluntly during the course of the campaign and before. When the [Philadelphia] Inquirer endorsed me, they quoted my statement that Roe v. Wade was inviolate.” He suggested that “nobody can be confirmed” who does not accept abortion rights. Thus, Specter’s and John Kerry’s positions are indistinguishable….

That puts Frist, who has been criticized for his management of the judicial confirmation debacle, on the spot. He is considering asking the full Republican Conference to waive term limits for Hatch. The majority leader also may let Hatch keep his chairmanship temporarily to handle any immediate Supreme Court vacancy. Frist could mobilize a majority of the Judiciary committee’s expected 11 Republicans in the new Congress to breach seniority and bump Specter.

Any so-called Republican who believes Roe v. Wade is inviolate deserves to be violated. Repeatedly. With a large, splintering Louisville Slugger lubricated with pine tar. Even back when I was a Young Republican, I vastly preferred and harbored more respect for honest Democrats than the despicable and lamentably unendangered RINO.

It’s time to say sayonara to both seniority and Specter. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s number is 202-224-3344. His email address is: bill_frist@frist.senate.gov.

Last week: 8-6 Overall: 67-47 Fantasy: 4-4

L-New York Giants over Chicago Bears

W-Seattle Seahawks over San Francisco 49ers

W-San Diego Chargers over New Orleans Saints

L-New York Jets over Buffalo Bills

W-Indianapolis Colts over Minnesota Vikings

L-Detroit Lions over Washington Redskins

L-Kansas City Chiefs over Tampa Bay Buccaneers

L-Carolina Panthers over Oakland Raiders

W-Baltimore Ravens over Cleveland Browns

W-Arizona Cardinals over Miami Dolphins

L-Houston Texans over Denver Broncos

L-St. Louis Rams over New England Patriots

W-Pittsburgh Steelers over Philadelphia Eagles

W-Cincinnati Bengals over Dallas Cowboys

Just days after losing his run for Congress, Arthur Farnsworth, Treasurer for the Pennsylvania Libertarian Party, was arrested and charged with “willfully attempting to evade federal income

taxes.” The government has asked that bail be denied, claiming that Mr. Farnsworth is a “flight risk” even though Mr. Farnsworth has no criminal record, has never failed to show up for any required appearance and has made his beliefs about the IRS public for years. A preliminary hearing is set for Monday, November 8th.

For years Mr. Farnsworth has publicly expressed that the federal government has been deliberately misapplying the income tax laws and has been lying to the American people about the true nature of the tax. On his web site, Farnsworth equates the perception that everyone owes income taxes with the one-time widely held, but now defunct belief that the world is flat. Farnsworth correctly points out that federal courts have trouble agreeing on a specific legal definition for the word ‘income,’ and that there are dozens of references made by government officials, as well as within the law itself to the ‘voluntary

nature’ of the tax code.

The crime Mr. Farnsworth has been charged with, “willful evasion of taxes,” is based on two elements. First, that the Internal Revenue Code makes the individual liable for the income tax and second; that the individual actually believes the tax code makes them liable. Both elements are necessary to achieve a conviction according to the U.S. Supreme Court, which stated in Cheek vs. U.S., 498 U.S. 192, “A good-faith misunderstanding of the law or a good-faith belief that one is not violating the law negates willfulness, whether or not the claimed belief or misunderstanding is objectively reasonable. Statutory willfulness, which protects the average citizen from prosecution for innocent mistakes made due to the complexity of the tax laws, is the voluntary, intentional violation of a known legal duty.”

Farnsworth’s repeated public declarations about his beliefs that the law does not say he, nor most Americans, owes the tax would seem to fit the Supreme Court’s qualification, negating the second element of the alleged crime, willfulness. The government argues that even though Farnsworth has repeatedly made these statements, in reality, he does not believe them and it is he, instead of the government, who has been lying to the American people.

Those pesky Libertarians! Don’t they know that you’re supposed to believe whatever the government tells you? It will be interesting to see what sort of shenanigans the federal judge will engage in, as the judge will almost surely do his damndest to keep the tax code and the IRS regulations out of the court. Notice how these charges amount to the Orwellian thought-crime of proving what Mr. Farnsworth does or does not believe, his actions notwithstanding.

One hopes he’ll be smart enough to avoid allowing an officer of the court to “defend” him.