Vox Popoli

From the Washington Times:

Howard Dean’s not-so-surprising announcement that the Democrats are stepping smartly to the right of the president on the immigration issue hit the Republicans yesterday like a rap on the nose with a long-handled wooden spoon, undercutting the assurances that some congressmen are sending back to Washington that nobody really cares about the human tide surging over the border. “The first thing we want is tough border control,” Mr. Dean says. “We can do a much better job on our borders than George Bush has done. Then we can go on to the policy disagreements about how to get it done.”

Now are you beginning to understand what I said months ago with regards to Hillary, immigration and the 2008 election? The Lizard Queen is going to tack hard right on immigration once she sees how well the public responds to this little test. Remember, there isn’t any genuine difference within the parties when it comes to their leadership and their candidates, so the issues are transferable. While the unions have been obediently following the open borders theme for a while, once the Democratic leadership signals a change in direction, they’ll happily get back on board the nationalism train they have historically ridden.

Thus spake The Elder:

Tomorrow’s Northern Alliance Radio Show promises to be a doozy. The first hour will be a very touching one in the after-school special sense of the word. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and maybe even learn a life lesson or two.

In the second hour, we’ll once again welcome mysterious paleo-libertarian Christian curmudgeon Vox Day to the show. Vox has eschewed media appearances of late and the only place you’re going to hear his always controversial, but never boring viewpoints is on the NARN. We’ll be covering topics such as the feminization of culture, education, women’s suffrage, and cats with Mr. Day.

Curmudgeoned in the very flower of my prime? I never! Although I have to say, I rather like the curmudgeons of previous generations, the Menckens, O’Rourkes and Derbyshires. In a world that is quite obviously going mad at an increasing rate, one might well find solace in being a voice of contemptuous sanity.

I’m rather curious about that Very Special first hour. Is Chad’s sister pregnant? Is the Atomizer struggling with alcohol? Did Saint Paul get caught smoking in the school parking lot or did JB finally lose his virginity?

Relax, there is no rape, it’s just pretty unicorns keeping their little pink horns warm:

So basically, don’t live your life the way men are allowed to without placing themselves at risk.

I don’t want to live in that world.

My favorite thing that I’ve ever seen on feminist blogs (and I’m not going to find a link b/c I’ve seen many blogs post it) is a list of things we can to do stop rape:

1. If you see a woman passed out drunk at a party, don’t rape her.
2. If you go on a date, go home with a woman, start making out with her, then she says she doesn’t want to have sex, don’t rape her.
3. etc.

People who focus on “risk reduction” are accepting as a forgone conclusion that there are just a certain number of sick men out there who will rape and there’s nothing we can do about it. Bullshit. Let’s start teaching men not to fucking rape people, huh?

Oh, obviously THAT’S the problem. It’s so OBVIOUS now! No one ever told Ted Bundy not to kill people.

If I was so unfortunate as to be a feminist, I think I’d have to go out and throw myself in front of an onrushing lacrosse team in despair. This is actually accepted, nay, acclaimed(!) as deep and meaningful thought by feminists: don’t be bad!

Yes, if only someone had told Temujin that before he reduced an entire city to ashes and piled up skulls in pyramids to rival those in Egypt: “if you see a city, don’t obliterate the entire population”, then surely he would have refrained. If only someone had told Mr. Hitler that “Jews are people too”, I’m sure he never would have embraced the Endlosung. I’d like to see this woman lecture a Chicago Disciple or a Congolese rebel leader simply to see the look on his face before he expired from laughter.

The point is not that ALL men are bad and women should cower in fear in the presence of a penis, (unless it’s the White Buffalo’s, then cowering and shrieking is in order), it is that SOME men are and always will be. And they don’t come with pentacles tatooed on their foreheads either… although if he does, you just might want to take that as a pretty good sign to stay away from him.

Of course, given the hamster-like analytical ability of the average college girl, she’d probably decide it was edgy and sexy and excitedly accompany him to his “very cool” torture chamber complete with sacrificial altar. After all, it’s every woman’s RIGHT to visit a devil-worshipping cannibal psychopath in his lair and NOT get sodomized, sacrificed and devoured.

I had no idea, actually, but the Original Cyberpunk reminds us that yet another would-be holy day is upon us:

My gosh, it’s Earth Day again. I remember the first Earth Day in 1970, mostly because it was a good excuse to cut school and go run around outside. One of my more activist-oriented friends tried to organize a group to go pick up trash along the river, but that business was too filthy and too much like work for the majority of the Earth Day cultists, who mostly wanted to be seen publicly Caring About The Earth and demanding that The Government Should Do Something. Even today, that particular bit of the memory collage makes me think of Matthew 6.1: “Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them…”

Silly enviromentalists! Don’t they know that only Hallmark and Colored/Negro/black/Afro-/African-American/Black people are allowed to invent holidays in America?

Now that I’ve been informed, I plan to honor Gaia by holding a memorial service for the tree that I murdered two summers ago. Oh, the remorseful tears that will flow!

Feministe dreams of a world where unicorns all play nicely:

Thank you, Ann Coulter, for this wonderful insight:

And if you are a girl in Aruba or New York City, among the best ways to avoid being the victim of a horrible crime is to not get drunk in public or go off in a car with men you just met. While we’re on the subject of things every 5-year-old should know, I also recommend against dousing yourself in gasoline and striking a match.

That’s right: If only these women wouldn’t go out in public and drink, they wouldn’t be physically harmed. Now, obviously, all people should do what they can to prevent themselves from being the victim of a crime. In fact, the vast majority of us already do that. But how come when a guy gets killed, no one is saying, “Well, he really shouldn’t have gone to a bar”? Because men are entitled to live their lives like normal human beings, in the public sphere. Women, apparently, are not.

Yes, my dear darling feminista, if you don’t go out in public and drink yourself silly, the probability of bad things happening to you is significantly reduced. If you avoid doing it in a city, alone, in the early morning, that helps too. If you can somehow manage to avoid doing that, you are far less likely to find yourself in jail, in the hospital or in a tasteful wooden box. But probability management is difficult, to be sure, and I suppose we can’t expect most women to understand such very complex matters since, as Barbie tells us, math is hard.

Sure, if a woman insists upon follow her urge to embrace the bad boy, she may well end up with these unpleasantries inside her home as well, but at least she won’t be bored. That’s always a nice consolation while she’s waiting in the emergency room.

This post demonstrates the complete fixation of feminists on white middle America, since “he deserved it” is EXACTLY what is said when most young men are killed. Of course, most male murder victims are black gangbangers, so of course they deserve it since it is a young white woman’s right to get drunk by herself at 3 AM in a city bar, but it is not a young black man’s right to engage in business transactions in broad daylight.

In case she hasn’t noticed it yet, men are bigger and stronger. Evidence suggests that they also possess more common sense, because they are more prone to be armed despite the fact that women have a greater need for weapons that negate their physical disadvantages. It’s every woman’s right to walk unarmed into a hungry lion’s cage, and it’s everyone else’s right to shake their heads at her stupidity when she gets messily devoured.

The odds of something bad happening are always small, but that does not mean they are nonexistent. It is typical that women would rather attempt to tear down all of society and rebuild it in a totalitarian manner instead of simply accepting responsibility for themselves and either a) avoiding situations where the risk of danger is higher than normal, or, b) preparing themselves to deal with such elevated risks.

It staggers me that it is so often necessary to remind adults of two simple things:

1. Sometimes people say things that aren’t true.
2. Some people are bad and want to hurt other people.

No ideology, religion, philosophy or system of government that has ever existed, exists today or will exist in the future will eliminate those two facts of human existence. The sooner feminists stop clinging to their rainbow-colored fantasies of unicorn equality and begin contemplating the realities of life on this planet, the better off they and the silly young women who take them seriously will be.

Sister Karen Klimczak, the murdered nun, had more in common with the gangbangers than she does with la feminista or whatever dead white girl inspired Ann Coulter’s column in the first place. She knew the risks and she accepted them. But in her case, she did so in the service of God, not greed, and she should be honored for her loving sacrifice.

Morgan questions the psychological health of dog owners:

Being told that you’re not as great as you thought you were can be hard to take. Coming home to an animal whose wiggling deference says, “Yes you are great!” is essential to their egos.

Cats are just too honest, and some people aren’t ready for that, Vox.

We’ll ignore the obvious anthropomorphizing here, (which is clearly inaccurate anyhow based on at least two of the “cute cat” stories in the thread from which this statement came), and simply examine the question of whether cat owners are prone to masochism, narcissism and mental instability.

It is natural to seek out those who enjoy our company, but it is a sign of low self-esteem to crave rejection, especially from those near and dear to us. Since we’re anthropomorphizing – an “honest” cat indeed – exchange a beloved human for the beloved animal in several of the aforementioned circumstances.

“I came home from work and my wife was so happy to see me that she smiled and flung her arms around me the moment I walked in the door.”

Is this truly the sign of a fragile ego? Or is this?

“My husband was smiling at me and told me that he wanted a hug. But when I went to put my arms around him, he punched me in the face. It hurt, but I didn’t mind because I know he still loves me.”

And how about this?

“My wife never pays me any attention except when she needs something. Then she’s really nice to me until I give her what she wants. Sometimes she leaves and I don’t see her for days. But mostly she just sits in the house and ignores me.”

Clearly, cat owners are desperately in need of psychological help since they not only feel that they deserve this malicious and sadistic treatment, but actually crave it. They perceive cats as honest only because the abusive little beasts treat them as badly as they believe they deserve to be treated, being of such little inherent worth.

While seeking love, affection and friendship is healthy and the sign of a rational, well-balanced individual, a masochistic desire for rejection and abuse is indicative of insecurity and self-destructive psychological instability. It is logical, then, to conclude that the mere desire to own a cat should probably be sufficient evidence to justify prescribing anti-depressants.

Q.E.D.

Fred doesn’t feel much sympathy for the Americans he left behind:

Americans will say, “But Fred, all these Mexicans come into the US and get welfare, school for their kids, driver’s licenses and medical care, and don’t pay taxes, and who knows what all. It isn’t fair.”

To which I respond: “All true. But why is it Mexico’s fault? You practically invite them. Mexico has no obligation to keep its citizens in, though the United States has the right to keep them out. If you folks up north choose to let in poor Mexicans, don’t be surprised when you have poor Mexicans.”

Note that the immigration problem is entirely of America’s making. Laws, decisions in the courts, amnesties, interpretation of the Constitution, and policy all encourage illegal immigration. What the US does is to say to impoverished and desperate people, “See this river? Don’t cross it. If you do, we’ll give you all sorts of privileges, and jobs, and a chance to advance in life and give your kids a good future. Now, don’t cross it, you hear?”

Keeping immigrants out would once have been easy, but you didn’t do it. You could have fined employers a thousand dollars a day for hiring illegals, half of it to go to whoever turned the employer in; denied them all services, and deported them instantly. Today, taking things away from people who have lives in the States and kids in the schools would be brutal. (You are going to forcibly deport millions of people? That will be pretty.) And of course they soon come to have the votes to make deportation impossible. But it wouldn’t have been in the beginning. Don’t blame Mexico for having an immigration policy more sensible than yours.

Fred’s is an excellent response underlining the difference between the law as written and as applied outside the United States. I can attest that the same is often true for Italy, as what looks like a very intrusive government from the outside is actually much freer in terms of one’s daily life than America. An expat like Fred will laugh out loud if he hears you say that America is the most free country in the world, in fact, many leave precisely because it isn’t.

Things change. The fact that your great-grandfather was free doesn’t mean you are.

Jonah Goldberg responds to a reader pontificating on authentic Islam:

It reminds me, I’ve always thought that Western public diplomacy could make a bigger deal about how Islamic radicalism wipes out “dissident,” indigenous, forms of Islam. It would have to be done very carefully, and with the right spokesmen, but I think the more it can be demonstrated that Wahabism or Salafism or Jihadism are foreign as opposed to “authentic” forms of Islam in most parts of the world the easier it would be to communicate that we aren’t at war with all Muslims and the easier it would be to separate potential enemies from allies.

Yeah, but. Here’s the problem. Not only is “Arab Islam” frequently viewed as more normative or historically authentic, because of the Prophet being an Arab, but the BILLIONS of dollars our friends the Saudis have distributed over the years have gone a long way into equating “Arab” with “Waḥḥabî” with “authentic.” It’s a false equation on all sides, I think, but it doesn’t mean they haven’t done a good sales job. The massive underwriting of schools, patronage of mosques, huge funds through foundations, and—let’s not forget—their status as Guardians of the Holy Places (to which all Muslims aspire to make the ḥajj), have gone a long way in convincing a lot of the less-lettered and farthest-flung portions of the Muslim world that theirs is the “purest” Islam. Bad news all around.

Could it be countered? Probably. But it’d have to be an indigenous (-appearing?) Muslim phenomenon out of Istanbul or Samarkand or Cairo or someplace which could not only bring intellectual heft but historical prestige to the ballgame and convince people that the Waḥḥabîs/Salafîs are the bad guys that they’ve historically been perceived to be throughout the Muslim world.

If there is anything more ridiculous than the elected head of the Great Satan asserting what is or is not Islam, it is a Jew doing so. At least Jonah recognizes that his opinion on the matter is irrelevant, although there’s something amusingly ironic about a Jew blaming the spread of a wicked deceit on a wealthy people spending vast sums of money to buy influence.

Since most Jews don’t believe in their own religion, they seem to find it particularly hard to take the faith of others seriously. I’ve found that orthodox Jews are not only less openly contemptuous of “Bible thumpers” than their faithless kin, but they also seem to be far less likely to harbor these bizarre notions of reforming the Muslim religion from the outside.

I don’t think observant or inobservant Jews would like it much if Jerry Falwell and Louis Farrakhan announced that they were launching a program to determine who is an authentic Jew and what authentic Judaism entailed. I know Christians wouldn’t stand for it, not even if it was Billy Graham and the Pope doing it, let alone Abe Foxman. (We certainly don’t think much of atheist pseudo-scholars and their regular pronouncements about the ever-changing historical Jesus.) Does anyone actually believe Muslims are LESS sensitive to this sort of thing?

What’s alarming is that some of the people who publicly endorse this “hearts and minds” strategy of appealing to the “authentic Muslims” in the midst of the Dar al-Islam are in charge of the un-War on not-Islam. Do they similarly believe that WWII could have been averted if only Mr. Chamberlain had explained to the German people that Mr. Hitler was not an “authentic Aryan”?

If the entire religion is false in the first place, as Christians, Jews and inobservant Jews all presumably agree, then the authenticity of the falsehood is totally irrelevant. What does it matter if a large mass of people are enamored of one lie versus two? A debate concerning angels, pins and dancing would be more useful and less dangerous.

Thus spake Arsene Wenger after the Gunners beat Villareal 1-0. “He was fast,” the Arsenal manager added. Personally, I thought his defense was limited, but he did a nice job of shutting down Diego Forlani given his size disadvantage.

This will hardly surprise Manchester United fans, of course.

1:45 – Kickoff, Arsenal’s formation looks superficially more defensive than Villareal’s with only Henry up front, but that’s misleading since Ljungberg and Pires are so fast to get forward.

1:46 – Ugly pass back to Lehman there, but he manages to avoid pulling a Barthez and clears it nicely. Villereal has clearly decided to press the Arsenal defense, but Toure and Senderos are dealing with it easily enough.

1:48 – That was quick. First yellow for Arzo of Villareal. Free kick to the right of the box. Henry is taking it… sloppy defending on the cross in… bounces around but Toure fires wide from five yards out. Defenders are so hopeless sometimes.

1:51 – Villareal tries a little longball. Goal kick deep into the Arsenal end, but Toure blows the header so Forlani tries an optimistic shot from 35 meters. It would be three points if this was football. Arsenal brings it up, corner, Gilberto gets a header, but no chance and it’s wide. The Gunners are winning every ball in the midfield.

1:55 – Arsenal presses, Villareal loses the ball, but Henry’s pullback goes for nothing… SQUIRREL ON THE PITCH… he’s in the area, now he’s in the net! What is this, the Discovery Channel?

1:56 – I’m cracking up, the Arsenal fans are chanting “There’s only one squirrel”. And there’s only one Thierry Henry! Through ball… GOAL! 1-nil to the Arsenal!

1:57 – Numerous bad words! Vehemently spoken! Offsides? Goal disallowed. It’s close… announcer doesn’t buy it but he looked a step off to me. If you’re looking for a four-letter word that rhymes with truck, I am your man. On the plus side, the squirrel is back.

2:01 – Villareal’s coach looks like the Walmart version of the Special One. I don’t fear him. Also, he’s apparently starting Barbara Bach on the right wing. Nice headband.

2:03 – The ref stops the game as Mr. Squirrel is now running through the penalty area. However, he finally headed off to the showers, so it’s back on. A little attack down the left, but Toure and Hleb deal with it. Apparently Troy Polamalu is moonlighting on Villareal’s left wing in the offseason.

2:06 – And my second favorite men’s Calvin Klein underwear model makes a run down the side but can’t keep it inbounds. Run, Freddie, run like the wind! Defense looks a little shaky again dealing with a long ball, Senderos can’t keep up and Lehman has to run out of the box and clear it outside. Free kick from 40 meters.

2:09 – Right at Lehman. Kein problem, mein Freund. Arsenal breaks back with 4 on 3, Pires tries a Bergkamp special from the corner of the area and only manages to prove that he’s no Dennis Bergkamp. WE WANT DENNIS! Okay, it’s probably too soon for that.

2:16 – Villareal has a midfielder named Arubabarracuda or something to that effect. I just thought I’d mention it for your edification. Henry reminds me of watching Randy Moss in 1998. You can tell the ball is heading his way from the sound of the crowd. Ces Fabregas beats two guys with a nice run towards the box but gets stuffed by the last defender before he can find space for a shot. For some reason, Toure just made a long and involved run with the ball towards his own line, then gives up a throw-in. Um, Kolo, we want to go THAT way….

2:18 – Henry cross, ping-pong, Pires is through! No, Arzo tackles the ball from behind and gives up a corner. It’s in, Toure misses AGAIN. Senderos, stuffed, another shot, blocked and over. Another corner… right to Barbosa, who appears to be about 15. Arsenal is knocking hard, but the bounces aren’t falling their way yet.

2:21 – Oh for Pete’s sake! Toure totally blows a clear and Forlani makes a perfect pullback cross. Fortunately it’s behind the two Villareal players and Senderos clears. Arsenal counterattacks fast, Henry bursts pass the defender and crosses hard to Freddie but Barbaros blocks it.

2:24 – And it’s a 5.4 on Arzo’s anguished dive after crossing legs with Pires. The ref doesn’t buy it, though. No yellow.

2:26 – Arzo can’t stay with Henry, but Villareal’s packing seven in the box and Arsenal can’t break through. Hard low cross…. GOOOOOAAAAAL!

2:27 – It was Toure of all people! . Redemption! Hleb ran onto a quick through ball, (great pass from Henry after the corner rebounds), cut the ball right across the face of goal and Toure slides in for a lovely redirection that ends in the back of the net. Arsenal isn’t getting anywhere up the middle or on the right, but the left is clearly vulnerable. Freddie makes a nice run there but the entry pass is blocked.

2:30 – Nice free kick from Villareal but Lehman punches it out into the middle. Aaagh! Toure misses another header when the ball comes back in, Gilberto takes down Josemari… it should be a penalty, but no call. Okay, let’s just get to halftime, gang. Toure tries to clear but gives the ball away again… I know he scored, but I can just hear my high school coach now: “get him out of there!”

HALFTIME. Good, positive start, but something has to be done on the Gunner’s defensive right. I like Toure, but he’s having serious problems tonight. I’d be shocked if Villareal wasn’t thinking the same thing, on their part, but considering that they’re already clogging the area and Arzo’s on a yellow, I don’t see what more they can do.

45:00 – Second half, no changes to either side. Freddie blows by the defender and breaks down the left but it’s a weak entry pass.

47:47 – Nice work, six passes clean passes sets up a ripping shot from Gilberto at the top of the area which curves wide right. Arsenal breaks again, but Hleb can’t find anyone. Arsenal throw-in.

50:00 – Freddie rounds the corner of the box, gets taken down but the ref waves it off. Fair enough. Villareal corner. Dangerous ball comes in low, flicked on into the center but Toure clears on the first bounce.

53:33 – Pretty clean game, I must say. Henry goes down hard on his back, but he jumped over the defender, the defender didn’t undercut him. No theatrics, just a Gallic shrug and handshakes all round. Have I mentioned that I like Thierry Henry? Flashy stuff from Arsenal, attacking and attacking from the right, finally Ebuue smashes the ball across the face of goal but it’s slightly behind Henry and there’s no power on the shot. There’s definitely another goal in this for the Gunners.

58:00 – Villareal has given up on the pressing. They’re reeling from the death of a thousand cuts here. That last round of no less than four attacks into and out of the box without being able to reclaim the ball seems to have demoralized them. Yep, they’re obvioulsly getting frustrated now, as Tacchinardi picks up a yellow for taking Hleb down from behind and he’ll miss the rematch. Free kick, Toure heads harmlessly onto Barbosa.

63:00 – Arsene can’t take it, he’s got his face in his hands. Nice flip to Hleb, but he’s a step off. Villareal tries to press, but Senderos and Toure play keepaway. Arsenal breaks up the right but the linesman can’t keep up and wrongly calls Henry offsides from ten yards back. There has to be a technological fix for this, there just has to be. Tacchinardi gets bumped, falls down and will apparently require immediate amputation judging by his reaction.

67:30 – Alvarez jumps to block a Freddie cross and comes down on the side of his ankle. The fans are whistling, but that actually looked like it hurt quite a bit. Henry in the corner, takes on three and manages a perfect cross but no one’s there. Dennis would have been there. I know, I’ve watched 100 of his goals in the last two days. So now it’s time. WE WANT DENNIS!

70:45 – Hleb crosses long, Pires keeps it in bounds and promptly gives the ball away. He’s been uncharacteristically invisible all night. Villareal subs Sorin for Josico, as if I’ve ever heard of either one of them.

73:30 – Senna grabs Freddie’s colla
r, tries to bulldog him down, and finally shoves him hard enough to send him flying. He then holds up both his hands to indicate that he hasn’t touched anyone. This would be more convincing if Freddie wasn’t lying flat on the ground with a mouth full of turf right in front of him.

77:55 – Here comes Dennis! And for a bonus, the Young Dennis. Amandagon would love the Young Dennis, he’s a near rapist too. Hleb and Freddie come out. Nicely done, fellows.

82:00 – The Young Dennis steals the ball and Dennis sends a cross that looks more like a shot right to the keeper. Long ball… offsides Villareal. They defend well but they don’t seem to have a clue about attacking beyond Route One.

86:00 – Senderos always looks a half-step slow, but he’s solid. Wins the ball then draws the foul. Villareal has controlled the last five minutes, though. Arsenal is too complacent. Another yellow for Villareal, Guille Franco was dissenting a little too vigorously over an offsides call.

88:40 – Henry steals the ball from Henry at the edge of the box, Alvarez bodyslams him but it’s only another yellow, should have been a red. Free kick, looked like a hand, ball comes back in and Toure completely whiffs on the ball. Which is just as well, he would have been offsides.

90:00 – 5 minutes of injury time. Seems like a lot, but okay. I blame the squirrel.

92:50 – Free kick from 45, headed across by Henry and somehow the defender cuts the ball out from Dennis on the bounce. Excellent and desperate defending, drat them. That should do it for the night.

95:00 – Honey, it’s raining in England! And it’s over. One-nil to the Arsenal. A fitting finish for a storied stadium and a good start for the first leg of the semifinal.