I really did like writing that last long post – and, so inspired, am in the process of writing another. It’ll likely become a series as I explore my views of just what, exactly, makes one a Conservative or a Progressive. But as enormously long posts take a long time to write, how about some content?
Well, the Broncos won – and all Chargers fans are delighted as it means the near-certain retirement of Manning and thus the Bolts will have a shot at the AFC West next year. As for Newton’s meltdown in the post-game presser: I cut him some slack. He’s a young, vigorous man who just had a fantastic year but the Big Prize – the thing he’s worked his whole, young life for – was ripped away from him…by that absolutely stunning Denver defense (I hadn’t seen a Denver game all year – I had no idea just how good those guys are). Newton will be back – and I think he’ll eventually get his well-deserved ring…and he’ll mature and do better.
Sanders and Hillary are tied in national polls – mostly a meaningless thing as the Primaries are a series of electoral contests which don’t 1 for 1 relate to each other…but it is a stunning fall from the heights for Hillary, who is now nakedly demanding Progressives support her simply because she’s a woman. I still think she’ll steamroll her way to the nomination, but she’s heavily damaged goods. This is what makes the GOP primary so important – whomever we nominate is likely the next President, even if it’s Jeb (that is a change for me – I thought him the one sure-loser for 2016, but Hillary is so bad that even Jeb could possibly beat her). Related: final poll for NH shows Bush in 2nd, Rubio in 4th. If it works out that way, then we’ll have Jeb to kick around for a while longer. I hope it’s not true – I hope by SC (or, at least, by the “SEC Primary” we’re down to a three man cage match between Trump, Cruz and Rubio). Also related: pretty, young woman is feeling the Bern…which is still rather sad, but I have about 1,567,978% more respect for any Prog backing Bernie than I do those backing Hillary. Seriously – Bernie is lots and lots of things I disagree with, but he isn’t a nauseating tub of corruption.
How do you fall on the “Obama is doing this deliberately/Obama is just an incompetent dolt” debate? My view: he’s an incompetent dolt who is managing to deliberately wreck things because for more than 7 years, no one has really dared to try and stop him.
NARAL/Moloch = Same/Same.
A financial expert opines that there is zero chance of a recession this year. I’m sure you’re comforted.
Keep Libya in mind – Obama’s failed war there might be heading towards Failed War II.
Draft women into the military? I’m a bit old fashioned – heck no. But here’s the thing – if we believe that women should serve in combat then there are two requirements:
1. Women must meet the exact same standards as the men and there can be no lowering of standards and
2. You’d have to register women for the draft.
Call me whatever you want – but I think that it is the duty of men to fight; to spare women, as far as possible, from the horrors of war. Liberals don’t particularly care about that – ramming through their idea of equality is far more important, even if “equal” means “lower the standards until the women can meet them”. They also aren’t at all concerned about combat efficiency because war is wrong and, at any rate, Soft Power will make war un-necessary. Meanwhile, careerists in the Armed Forces are willing to do anything to get another star on their shoulder and if that means lowering combat efficiency in order to suck up to the politicians, they’ll do it.
If all that is happening is getting you down:
A Ballade of Suicide
The gallows in my garden, people say,
Is new and neat and adequately tall;
I tie the noose on in a knowing way
As one that knots his necktie for a ball;
But just as all the neighbours–on the wall–
Are drawing a long breath to shout “Hurray!”
The strangest whim has seized me. . . . After all
I think I will not hang myself to-day.To-morrow is the time I get my pay–
My uncle’s sword is hanging in the hall–
I see a little cloud all pink and grey–
Perhaps the rector’s mother will not call– I fancy that I heard from Mr. Gall
That mushrooms could be cooked another way–
I never read the works of Juvenal–
I think I will not hang myself to-day.The world will have another washing-day;
The decadents decay; the pedants pall;
And H.G. Wells has found that children play,
And Bernard Shaw discovered that they squall,
Rationalists are growing rational–
And through thick woods one finds a stream astray
So secret that the very sky seems small–
I think I will not hang myself to-day.
Blogs For Victory 
Another entry in the “Just How Low-Class IS Donald Trump Anyway” list: (give me a moment to turn to the next page…)
“…a woman in the crowd shouted something about the Texas senator (Cruz) that not even Trump would repeat at first.
“She just said a terrible thing. You know what she said? Shout it out because I don’t want to say,” Trump said.
But when it still wasn’t clear what the woman was saying, Trump went ahead and repeated it, and jokingly warned the audience member not to say it again.
“You’re not allowed to say and I never expect to hear that from you again,” Trump said. “She said he’s a pussy.”
I think he was so impressed with the cuteness of his debate comment that he would not accuse Cruz of stealing the Iowa caucus but he did, he thought he would double down on this tactic.
Whatta guy
I am in the “Obama is doing this all on purpose” camp.
He is an ideologue. Given that his mother was an America-hater who left her husband in Indonesia and took young Barack away from his influence when Lolo started to moderate his own anti-American position, sending him to her parents in Hawaii to be reared by the same anti-America people who shaped her and to be “mentored” by Frank Davis, who was openly Communist and openly America-hating, it is silly to claim that somewhere along the line Obama found or developed a deep and sincere love for this country. He certainly didn’t choose to align himself with the most racist and anti-America church in Chicago because of his love for this country. He certainly didn’t choose to buddy up with the despicable Ayers couple, Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dorhn, who had openly tried to overthrow the government, planted bombs, and in Bernie’s case killed people while Bill just wished he had, out of patriotism.
Barack Obama’s entire history, going back to his childhood influences and moving forward to his choices as an adult, all point to dislike if not overt hatred for the United States and everything it stands for. His own wife never found anything about this country that made her proud of it until it accepted Barack as a potential president. He openly said his goal was to “fundamentally transform” this country.
I don’t understand how anyone can understand his background, his influences, his choices and his own words and still think that his successes in weakening this country while strengthening and enabling its enemies are simply accidents due to his bumbling.
I actually agree with you – though I still count Obama in the dim-bulb category because, seriously, to believe the things he believes one has to lack even a spark of intellectual curiosity.
But the cynical drive for power in Obama – in other words, the proof that he wants to do certain things – was shown in his joining Wright’s Church. He needed that to gain “street cred” in Chicago’s African-American Democrat politics. He joined and he sat there through 20 years of racist and anti-American sermons in order to do that…but then, presto!, it was opened up to him the possibility that he could reach America’s top political prize and he dropped Wright like a bad habit. You don’t sit there for 20 years unless you tend to agree – but you drop it like a bad habit if, in service of what you believe, being dishonest is an appropriate tactic.
I don’t agree that swallowing the whole socialist agenda is proof of a low intellect or even, as you say, lacks “..even a spark of intellectual curiosity..” Though it seems counter-intuitive, the fact is that a lot of people with high IQs are also Leftists.
I think this is more a factor of psychology than intellect. So many really bright people seem to think that accepting and promoting Leftist ideas and ideals somehow supports their self-perception as being smarter than everyone else. I think this is partly due to the underlying meme of Leftism—that some people are so superior to others that they should be put in charge.
When you think about it, Leftism is the ultimate in snobbery. It is all about elites being allowed to make and enforce decisions that control the less brilliant, the less talented. To sum it up, the “Less”. A person whose identity is based on feeling superior to others is going to be attracted to a system that tells him “Yes, you ARE smarter, and so you SHOULD have more power, while those less intelligent than you need you to take care of them”. To many of these self-styled intellectual elites, it is almost insulting to indicate that the average guy on the street is quite capable of making his own living, making his own decisions, and running his own life. It is like snubbing the Smart Ones, telling them they are not only not needed, they are not even wanted. That just doesn’t make sense, to an “intellectual”.
We all know people who never hesitate to tell others what they “should” do—how to dress, who to marry, what they should be doing to make a living, etc. This attitude expanded produces Leftism. It attracts those whose opinions of themselves are so high they feel entitled to make decisions for others, and most of the time these high opinions are based on knowing they are, actually, pretty smart. They get good grades, they assimilate information quickly, so they are attracted to a political system that rewards people like this by putting them in charge of others in an official capacity.
To those of us who are smart but whose personal identities are not based on feeling superior to others due to intelligence or money or looks or athletic talent or other superficial attributes, there is nothing threatening about the idea that people deserve to have the freedom to make their own choices. We are quite happy with the concept that everyone should be able to decide for himself how hard he wants to work, what he wants to do with what he earns, and so on, as long as this freedom includes the consequences of making decisions that don’t turn out so well. We aren’t snobs.
I think people are either drawn to socialism because they want a lot of free stuff they don’t have to work for, or because they know they are smarter than average and believe this means they should be in charge. It’s just that the “smarter than average” people on the Left combine their intelligence with a deep seated conviction that this should allow them to make decisions for other people, and then enforce them.
The psychological aspect of this is that it precludes applying the lessons of history to this general belief system. It depends on an ongoing and highly developed talent for denial, on making excuses for the past failures of a system that puts some people in charge of other people by explaining that the system will work if only the RIGHT people are put in charge of the others. If your entire identity is based on a belief that your intellect makes you better than others, you are not going to give this up just because others who believed the same thing produced failed policies. No, these failures will only reinforce your conviction that it will take YOU to make it all right.
It’s not a lack of intelligence, it’s too much hubris.
Hubris is, indeed, a lot of it. But I do wonder about the intellectual spark plugs out there.
Bernie Sanders’ ads – I get to see them because Nevada is an early Caucus State – say he’s going to get us “income equality”. He means between men and women…and people on the left just eat that up. But just a bit of thought, and the whole concept is revealed as utter nonsense…if women made less than men for doing the same job then the men would all be fired and replaced by women, tomorrow. What dimwit of a business owner is going to hire more expensive labor when cheaper labor is immediately available? I mean, come on – you’ve got to be someone who doesn’t think, at all, to believe there is income inequality in the sense that women get paid less for the same job (Hillary is doing it, too – her ad has a little girl asking her if she, as President, would be paid less than a male President…).
I think that our Progs believe they are smart and informed – and in IQ points, maybe they are smart…but they sure don’t seem to think things through.
Women need to make up their minds: Are they serious about being given the same opportunities as men? Then they need to accept the same responsibilities.
I have always thought that at least a year of national service would be a good thing for the youth of America. There was a time when young people were taught to love this country, to admire it and respect it. That is not true any more. Now we are producing generation after generation of young people who scorn the United States, who are so ignorant of our roots and our history and our accomplishments they actually hate the country and hate themselves for being Americans.
I think a year, or maybe two, between high school and college, or between 18 and 20 for those who don’t go to high school, would be a benefit to them as well as the country. There are a lot of ways to do public service, from teaching illiterate adults to read and write to caring for children while their mothers get educated and find good jobs to military service. Some could even do Peace Corps type of work, helping the poor in other countries.
If we can’t see the need for something like this. all we have to do is look at the ignorant and spoiled children who want Bernie Sanders to be our next president.
I have always thought that it would be good for our military to be involved in things like defending the people of Sudan against terrorists while helping with things like teaching people how to dig wells or care properly for livestock. Combined with military training, this would turn out people with a deeper understanding of the world around us, of its problems, and also with greater appreciation for what we have here. This would give us a large and well trained military force of trained soldiers, who are actually making a difference in the world when not called to bear arms.
I agree – the one young Progressive I stay in routine contact with is a young man who spent a year in the Peace Corps working in Africa. His ideas are still mostly Progressive nonsense, but he (a) worked very hard and (b) got to see what real poverty is like. It has given him the most important thing anyone can get: a sense a gratitude (and, I think, even more importantly, a sense of gratitude towards God). It has made it impossible for him to be a nasty, mean-spirited person. I got mine from being in the Navy – chipping paint, cleaning restrooms that 30 men had used and washing dishes (the duties, back in my day, of a fresh-from-boot camp sailor) got me the experience of hard work, and started the very long and difficult process (not yet complete) of teaching me humility. Serving something larger than myself (ie, our nation) was also very important – and it was also important for me to see how other people live.
So don’t call it a “draft” as that has such a military meaning now. Call it “national service”. It would also have the benefit of providing some job skills for those who don’t intend to go on to college.
I don’t agree with your take on Cam Newton. He is acting like a typical snowflake, entitled to lavish praise and adoration, and real life has come as a complete surprise to him. He went into the game anointed in advance as its MVP, after years of being told he was the bestest most special most wonderful QB anyone had ever seen, and reality slapped him in the face. He strutted in his Superman T shirt with absolute conviction he was going to be the leader of the team that took down the Broncos and that old washed-up quarterback of theirs. He was cocky and arrogant and obnoxious and smug.
And he got spanked. He got schooled.
So he sulked. He pouted. He had a temper tantrum.
When I saw his face in one close-up I knew he was done. I commented on it to my friends, the glassy eyes and the mouth hanging open—“he’s not having fun any more”.
Of course, he was probably entitled to be a little ticked off—no one told him Von Miller could fly.
ROFL – I guess it was half way through the 2nd quarter when I saw the “what the heck is happening?” look in him. But, hey, it happened to Elway early on, and he came back and won back-to-back Super Bowls. He is good – but he’s still very young. Pity he couldn’t man up a bit in the presser.
I had a feeling he dreaded every snap, knowing he was so likely to get taken down by an invisible flying machine coming out of nowhere. I think Von Miller won MVP not only for his amazing athletic play but also for his total domination of Newton’s mind.
Something known in Denver, if not more widely than that—the Super Bowls the Broncos lost were lost because, at least to a great degree, the Broncos of that time, Elway in particular, barely even showed up for the game. Elway was a known hound dog and party animal early in his career, and it showed in the Super Bowls. My aunt and her sister went to a Super Bowl, which was a big highlight of their lives, as they loved the Broncos and loved Elway. They were at a hotel in the wee hours of the morning, around 2:00 or so, and were heading back to their own hotel when people stopped them saying “You can’t leave now—John Elway is on his way”. They scoffed—-Elway isn’t going to be here this late, he has a game in a few hours. But sure enough, a few minutes later Elway and a couple of other Broncos showed up, obviously drunk and ready to keep partying.
My husband and I didn’t know this, of course. We had seen the Broncos play well all season, and we had a big Super Bowl party. Our comment at the party was that the Broncos hadn’t even bothered to phone it in. They were pathetic.
Elway finally grew up a little, took some responsibility for being a team leader and for the hopes and dreams of Bronco fans. and when he settled down he became a great quarterback instead of a degenerate. When he did, the Broncos became a great team along with him. He continued with the rock star/groupie thing for a while, but at least he took football seriously.
Pure athletic skill will only take you so far in the big leagues. You have to have mental discipline and focus. The Denver team has had one big defect the past couple of years, and that has been the offensive line. We had no pass protection at all, and we had an older quarterback who had come back after what was supposed to be a career-ending injury. It was a bad combination, and Manning got hit, hard, over and over again.
But he is a professional, he has the mental discipline, he has the focus, and he never gave up. He stood there and took a beating, game after game. You need to remember that he did this even being aware of his age and past injuries. I think the offensive line tightened up its game when they realized that Bronco fans were putting together lynching parties if they let Manning get hurt. 😉 Seriously, though, the Broncos won way too many games because of the defense, while the offense got hammered because the quarterback had no protection, and it was late in the season by the time the offensive line got its act together.
When Manning was brought back in to take over for backup QB Brock Osweiler, who had stepped in when Manning had to take time off due to injuries, it was not because Osweiler was not dong a good job. He was a good QB but you can’t move the ball if you spend most of your time on your back. When Manning came back in, the line tightened up a little (see lynch party reference, above) and he got a lot of credit, but Osweiler did a good job even though he got hit a lot.
I think this was the first time Newton had really been challenged, and his immaturity in a lot of areas really showed through, from his inability to focus after being hit so often to his after-game sulking.