The New Clarion

Time 2020-11-11 03:03:05

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Worth a Look July 16th, 2015 by Bill Brown Metasite There are so many good things happening out on the Internet right now that we can t possibly write about all of them. But it d be a shame not to share them with our readers, so we ll regularly assemble a handful of links into a post. (Soon we ll have these integrated in the blog s new design as a side column so they don t interfere with the regular content.)[UPDATE: Moved links to sidebar.] 1 Comment Somehow July 13th, 2015 by Bill Brown Politics The growth and fairness economy. This latest interview one of the few granted to the press strikes an all-too-familiar note: the people are suffering out there and it s time for someone to start addressing that.This tired, musty sentiment somehow seems even more trite with Clinton s stilted performance. The emotion she conveys is ennui, as if she s giving this speech because that s what presidential candidates do. (Watching some past speeches of hers, you can t rate her as much of a speaker but at least her smug condescension could be mistaken for passion.) The nameless Americans whose life stories perfectly encapsulate her talking points are quickly followed by breezy anecdotes about her own origin story, demonstrating that she s just like you. Over the years, I ve heard or read dozens of these same stump speeches from candidates of all persuasions.The litany of giveaways would make almost any politician blush. It s almost as if they ran 100 programs through a series of focus groups and decided to leave nothing to chance by taking the top 50. (I actually counted 56 but there are very few specifics provided.) There is literally something for everyone in that speech, and it is utterly repugnant (and unrepentant) in its demagoguery.As usual, behind all of this is the forgotten man: the businessman. Hillary Clinton and her ilk chide him while holding out their hands for campaign funds and picking their pocket to pay for programs. As she praises the social contract of the middle class if you work hard and do your part, you should be able to get ahead she omits the party for whom they are doing their part. Further, the businessman she hails isn t the businessman that built the greatest economy. Small businesses may create 60 percent of today s jobs, but America rose into greatness through the efforts of the mightiest corporations. The strongest middle class got their paychecks from companies with thousands of employees. Those companies were not barber shops, pool cleaning services, or cake shops.Those companies once signed 99-year leases, funded laboratories, and moved mountains. They grew because they built a better product, provided a valuable service, or offered something never before conceived. Today they are pale shadows of their glory days, expert in compliance and maintaining the status quo.Why are small businesses the engines of our measly growth nowadays? And why do they start to lose their focus on the future after they add their fiftieth employee?How do Hillary Clinton and her kind expect to keep their show horse on a tight rein, with a hay wagon full of people attached, and still gallop at its unbridled pace? Comments Off on Somehow Duty to Die July 10th, 2015 by Bill Brown Culture There was a brutal murder this past weekend in Washington, D.C. A thug tried to steal a young adult s cell phone and then knocked him to the floor in the struggle. Once on the ground, the thief proceeded to stab the victim 30 or 40 times all over his body. Finally, he came back to the corpse and stomped on it a bitThe other passengers in the train car watched in horror, afraid for their lives. They didn t try to save the victim and they mostly tried to end the train ride alive. According to Ayn Rand in her excellent essay entitled The Ethics of Emergencies from The Virtue of Selfishness:A rational man does nor forget that life is the source of all values and, as such, a common bond among living beings (as against inanimate matter), that other men are potentially able to achieve the same virtues as his own and thus be of enormous value to him. This does not mean that he regards human lives as interchangeable with his own. He recognizes the fact that his own life is the source, not only of all his values, but of his capacity to value. Therefore, the value he grants to others is only a consequence, an extension, a secondary projection of the primary value which is himself.In the Objectivist ethics, you help (or, more significantly, save) a stranger when doing so doesn t jeopardize your life. This was an extreme example of lifeboat ethics and anyone who tried to stop the murderer was putting his or her own life on the line. It is perfectly moral to not have risked your life in that situation.But, amazingly, some don t see it that way. The Federalist condemns the other passengers as beta males and men without chests in an appalling display of armchair machismo. The kicker, for me, is when the author indicates that their behavior is a great example of callous and unthinking selfishness. The point of Ayn Rand s essay is that morality is not defined by what one would do in an oncoming bus scenario. Those are not common occurrences and morality is ostensibly a guide to life. So the actions of anyone riding that train don t really speak to their morality.But if a random group of Americans on a random train on a random day values their lives such that they shirk the common altruist duty of sacrificing themselves for a stranger, perhaps selfishness hasn t been extinguished from the American sense of life. 16 Comments Sander Levin s Latest Statist Efforts July 26th, 2014 by Mike N Politics On (July 21) I received his newsletter from my US Congressman Sander Levin-D District 9 Michigan. In it he reports, New study: Affordable Care Act (ACA) lowers uninsured rate according to which 9.5 million additional adults ages 19 to 64 are now covered by insurance, and the national adult uninsured rate declined from 20 percent to 15 percent. He adds that according to this Commonwealth Fund study a large majority of enrollees report that they are generally happy with their health care coverage. [Read more ] Comments Off on Sander Levin s Latest Statist Efforts Advice to Republicans June 18th, 2014 by Mike N Politics In the wake of Eric Cantor s defeat at the hands of a grass roots unknown both the GOP establishment and the Tea Party groups are wondering what next? The GOP is wondering how to prevent future defeats and the Tea Party groups are wondering how to engineer more of them. But as conservative pundit Byron York recently wrote: The midterm elections are less than six months away, and Republicans still can t agree among themselves on what it will take to win. [Read more ] 1 Comment One reason Republicans Keep Losing April 8th, 2014 by Mike N Politics It s not often that an article will provide glaringly obvious proof of why conservatives and Republicans have been impotent at stopping or even slowing the liberal s march to dictatorship. Ayn Rand has said repeatedly that conservatives keep losing to liberals because conservatives share the same moral values as the liberals but don t preach those values as consistently as the liberals do. In any conflict between two men (or groups) who hold the same basic principles, it is the more consistent one who wins. From the essay Anatomy of Compromise. [Read more ] 3 Comments Sander Levin s Republican Bashing March 14th, 2014 by Mike N Politics, Socialized Medicine My US Congressman Sander Levin of Michigan sent out his Congressional Connector newsletter this week and like usual never misses a chance to bash Republicans. Here is his first paragraph:House Leaders Push Through “Polluter Protection Act” Instead of taking action to create jobs, or restore benefits to the 2 million Americans who have been cut off from Emergency Unemployment Compensation since December 28, the Republican Leadership of the House of Representatives brought a bill [H.R. 3826] to the House Floor on March 5th to strip the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency to address carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants – the largest source of carbon pollution in the United States. The House approved the measure on a vote of 229 to 183. First of all let me say that the reason unemployment benefits were cut off is because the emergency benefits legislation expired. Also Mr Levin s President Obama keeps telling us we are and have been in a recovery for several years so why the need for all the emergency benefits? [Read more ] Comments Off on Sander Levin s Republican Bashing The Anti-Philosophical Nature of Today s Intellectuals March 9th, 2014 by Mike N Culture In the introduction to Ayn Rand s book Philosophy: Who Needs It heir to her intellectual estate Leonard Peikoff wrote Ayn Rand was not only a novelist and philosopher; she was also a salesman for philosophy the greatest salesman philosophy has ever had. Boy was she ever. The first of her writings I read was the title essay of her book For the New Intellectual. Her nutshell compression of philosophic history in terms of Attila and the Witch Doctor immediately oriented me to the fact that if I wanted to understand the world s problems and by implication, their solutions, I must look at philosophy. And so I did. [Read more ] Comments Off on The Anti-Philosophical Nature of Today s Intellectuals It s the Principles, Detroit December 22nd, 2013 by Mike N Uncategorized The Thursday 12/19 Detroit News carried an editorial by Reynolds Farley who once conducted the Detroit Area Study at the University of Michigan. Titled The often-overlooked roots of Detroit s bankruptcy it looks at these roots only in terms of details, of concrete particulars as if no underlying principles were involved. This detail caused that detail which in turn led to this other detail. But no one asks the obvious question: What gave rise to the first detail? [Read more ] 5 Comments Is Debbie Wasserman Schultz Right? November 30th, 2013 by Mike N Politics Gary North, former staff economist for Ron Paul, has a blog called Tea Party Economist in which he posts links to current political and economic news. His latest posting carries an article on Debbie Wasserman Schultz s claim that the Democrats will win in 2014 because they will stand solidly behind the Affordable Care Act aka ObamaCare. For those who don t know, Ms. Schultz is the national chairwoman of the Democrat Party. [Read more ] 2 Comments Citizens Can See What the Press Can t November 1st, 2013 by Mike N Politics, Uncategorized I normally post on editorials or news stories in the media but today I want to post on an excellent letter to the editor in the Nov 1st Detroit News titled blame the media by Walter Konarzevski. It s in response to an editorial by News editor Nolan Finley criticizing the White House press core s way overdue ability to criticize the President. [Read more ] Comments Off on Citizens Can See What the Press Can t The Same Old Medicine for Detroit? October 27th, 2013 by Mike N Politics Ever since Detroit filed for bankruptcy in July of this year there has been a flood of articles in the media on the suggested causes of Detroit s demise and almost as many on suggested solutions. The solutions invariably call for more of the same poison that made Detroit sick in the first place: a political institution, city government, trying to provide economic services something the marketplace is supposed to provide if left free to do so. Let s remember that government is force. It has nothing to offer citizens except the management of force. It is not an economic entity. It cannot provide anyone with economic benefits unless it takes them from some citizens and doles them out to other citizens. On net balance the city does not gain anything. [Read more ] Comments Off on The Same Old Medicine for Detroit? Caesar s Messiah October 13th, 2013 by Myrhaf Uncategorized I watched a fascinating movie, Caesar s Messiah, based on the book by Joseph Atwill. Atwill s thesis is not just that Jesus did not exist, but that he was created as propaganda by writers close to the Roman Emperor Titus Flavius. The author explains his argument here.I should confess here that not only have I not read Atwill s book, but I have not read the Bible (though I did once search the Old Testament for the dirty parts). As a lifelong atheist, the Bible has always seemed like a tedious waste of time to read. Since there is no evidence for the existence of God, why read a bunch of lies about this supernatural being?I laughed at one wag who, when asked if he had read the Bible, said No, but I saw the movie. I have used the line a few times myself, but I shouldn t, because I have not even seen the movie. So the reader can dismiss me as biased and ignorant. Fine. You re free to leave.Now that I have admitted my ignorance, let me give you my uninformed opinion. Atwill s movie convinced me maybe 40%. I have some big objections that I will raise below.The most interesting part of Atwill s argument is the parallels between Josephus s account of The Wars of the Jews and the gospels. Jesus s life follows Titus s exploits in Palestine step by step, like a bizarre parody of the general s war. The parallels are too numerous to be a coincidence.My problems with Atwill s argument are first that the Roman creation of Jesus has a dual purpose, satire and propaganda. This is an uneasy coupling. Only a state propagandist of genius could transcend the seriousness and mediocrity that usually come with his profession. A writer would be wise to pick either satire or propaganda, but to combine the two only weakens both.Second, Atwill contends that the Romans also created Saul/Paul as a fictitious character. It would take further genius to come up with all those letters Paul wrote, and to get into his point of view so thoroughly. I can see how Render unto Caesar serves Roman interests, but not some of the other tenets of Christianity, such as Paul s attacks on reason. Only a sincere, serious mystic could have written what is attributed to Paul. Moreover, Paul s lack of details about Christ s life make it seem as if he wrote before the gospels were written, and was ignorant of those fables.Third, I believe there are mentions of Jesus and the Christians that predate the Flavians.The Caesar s Messiah thesis is a fun intellectual game, but I doubt it will persuade the faithful.UPDATE: I don t want to end on such a flippant note; the political and philosophic issues involved are profound. If Atwill is right, then Christianity began as a project by a totalitarian state to keep its subjects obedient. This is stunning. As the the 21st century progresses, I believe we will see that religion is still the greatest tool the ruling class has to keep people obedient. 2 Comments Used Car Salesmen Wouldn t Try to Sell This September 22nd, 2013 by Mike N Education On the editorial page of the Sunday 9/22 Detroit Free Press is a local commentary purporting to show 6 conservative reasons for Common Core by two conservatives. They are identified as Chester E. Finn jr. and Michael J. Petrilli are, respectively, president and executive vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a right-of-center education policy think tank. Finn served in the Reagan administration. Petrilli served in the George W. Bush administration. Both are affiliated with the Hoover Institution. Obviously these gentlemen are neocons, liberals who couldn t stand the consistency of the leftists in their political circles. But that is beside my main point. The entire article is based on the premise that the responsibility for education lies with the government instead of the market. This in turn is based on a more sinister premise: that your child belongs to the state. It talks about how Michigan has been lauded for its education reform efforts Michigan here means Michigan government not Michigan citizens. Let s remember government is force. It forces kids to attend and forces citizens to pay for the education of their kids as well as the kids of others. [Read more ] 2 Comments Obama s Whimsical Foreign Policy September 11th, 2013 by Myrhaf Foreign Affairs Obama s Syrian fiasco has been an appalling spectacle of a President who does not seem to think that attacking a country demands serious thought and preparation. Stuart Rothenberg of Roll Call runs down the highlights:First the president of the United States draws a red line, promising action if it is crossed. Then, when Syria crosses the line, he prepares for action, saying that absolutely, positively, a military response is necessary.Then, at the last minute, he apparently changes his mind and figures that passing the buck to Congress to authorize military action is a good idea. But, of course, he won’t say what he’ll do if Congress fails to authorize action. Then, after his secretary of state seeks to mollify those worried about a full-scale war by promising that the U.S. military response would be “unbelievably small,” the president responds that “the U.S. does not do pinpricks.”Is this an Abbott and Costello comedy routine? A Peter Sellers movie about an inept political leader?One could go on listing the contradictions and confusions of Obama s Syria policy. The interesting question is: why? Why is Obama doing this in the first place and why is he so laughably inept? Here are a few thoughts. [Read more ] 3 Comments Liberals for Gun Rights? June 24th, 2013 by Mike N Culture I almost fell off my chair yesterday 6/23 when I read an oped by James Hill, the politics editor at the left wing Detroit Free Press titled Why I Carry: why having a firearm is like having insurance. This is strangely unlike the usual editorial policy of the Freep. Normally the paper is teeming with editorials, opeds and LTEs calling for more gun control, a euphemism for people control. [Read more ] Comments Off on Liberals for Gun Rights? Evading the Premises in Detroit March 27th, 2013 by Mike N Politics I have spent most of my 70 years living in and outside of Detroit. I ve watched it go from a booming town to a near ghost town with jobs and people and of course money, leaving for greener pastures. In its earlier years if there was a problem, there was no problem. Somebody would step up examine the problem and fix it. Detroit s leaders never feared facing a dilemma and tackling it. [Read more ] 4 Comments Towards an Unfrozen Politics January 25th, 2013 by Jim May Uncategorized “How should men best live together?” Aristotle, The PoliticsThis is the basic question that Aristotle took to be the beginning of politics, the first and basic question which gives rise to the field.  Until recently, I thought so as well until I realized the error involved.  There is another question that comes before this one, but which almost no one even knows is there to be asked. [Read more ] 7 Comments The Dunces Who Would Control Us January 3rd, 2013 by Inspector Uncategorized Before the blood had even dried from the Sandy Hook mass murder, the control-freaks in the media and Washington were already screeching for new laws to infringe and destroy our right to keep and bear arms, and with it, our right to self defense. Others have already detailed the ways in which their proposed laws are immoral stripping the innocent of their right to defend themselves, without trial or conviction and impractical because criminals and the insane simply do not listen to such laws (i.e. Sandy Hook was already legally declared a gun free zone. And we see how well that worked.).But I d like to take a moment to examine the fact that the gun control-freaks laws are not only immoral and impractical, but also stupid. [Read more ] Comments Off on The Dunces Who Would Control Us A Mexican Hospital, an American Surgeon, and a $5,000 Check (Yes, a Check): this is a stunning indictment and proof that the health care industry is not operating under market forces. What specific distortions and historical forces got us here are up for discussion, of course, but this has to implode or change. {via} China, Capitalism, and the New Cold War: thought-provoking review of a book that seems to defend capitalism on pragmatic grounds, only to cede the argument in the end with leftist solutions to its perceived defects. The review does a credible job of laying out the nascent battle for dominance and is replete with links to other treatments. Rand Paul on His Book The Case Against Socialism on The View: sorry for another Rand Paul item so soon but this clip has it all: presentation of true facts, allegations of mansplaining, no true Scotsman, false reliance on the wisdom of crowds, and literal shutting down of conversation. Rand Paul Pulling US Troops From Syria May Be The Best Thing That Ever Happened To The Kurds : intriguing perspective that I haven t heard anywhere else. We shouldn t be in the business of homeland building for sure; I m not sure we should be in the middle of anything in the area. Turkey the Kurds Defending Trump’s Decision to Remove Syria Troops: Andy McCarthy splashes some cold water on the fevered concerns about the abandonment of our ally in Syria. His recommendation that Congress decide on military action in Syria after we exit the region. In other words, leave and don t come back since there s really no American interest there. I agree. Impeachment Town Hall: Saturday Night Live skewers the Democratic candidates and does so funnily. TNC only found this clip humorous and does not recommend watching an entire episode. So Who Is John Galt, Anyway? A Reader s Guide to Ayn Rand s Atlas Shrugged : a new book by Robert Tracinski. It looks like it mostly comes from blog entries but, seeing as how those are behind a paywall, it ll be new to you. I ve found his writing to be cogent and I just recently finished Atlas Shrugged so I might give this a look. My Gift to Climate Alarmists: this is a succinct overview of the fraud perpetrated by the alarmists. It focuses on the mechanics of the fraud rather than the philosophical aspects. For that, I d recommend Alex Epstein s PragerU video. St. Greta Spreads the Climate Gospel: this reflects my experience with climate alarmists. Their faith and fervor is identical to any born-again fundamentalist. The scary part is that the rest of the culture agrees with them and is only minimally hesitant about their goals. The Price I ve Paid for Opposing Donald Trump: this is one of my many misgivings about possibly voting for Trump. These cretins don t need any access to political power. National Security Workforce to Address Intersectionality : do you ever get the sense that you re in a waking nightmare? Money quote from the memo: Our greatest asset in protecting the homeland and advancing our interests abroad is the talent and diversity of our national security workforce. Students cancel annual Speedo Hike, say it s not inclusive enough to all body sizes : heavily swayed in the direction of outdoor—and otherwise—privilege What the hell is going on in colleges! The most baffling moments from Donald Trump s Washington Post ed board interview: he s incoherent. If his speaking is reflective of his thinking and I think it is he has no business being in politics and he s a business success in spite of his muddled mind. Deputy FM Cautions US to Remain Loyal to Nuclear Deal: that s from the state news agency of Iran and warns that if the United States imposes sanctions on Iran then Iran will renege on the deal. As they violate the deal by testing ballistic missiles. {via} Security Logs of Hillary Clinton’s Email Server Are Said to Show No Evidence of Hacking: said by the former aide who just provided them to the FBI. Mr. Pagliano told the agents that nothing in his security logs suggested that any intrusion occurred. And that gets reported as Security logs of Clinton email server show no evidence of foreign hacking without a mention of who vouched for the lack of evidence. Last Week Tonight on Donald Trump: bit long, but great takedown of the Trump mythos. In a more rational political environment, this would have killed his presidential campaign. I m not sure it ll make any difference. A Responsibility I Take Seriously: nominee must be without any particular ideology or agenda and have a keen understanding that justice is not about abstract legal theory, nor some footnote in a dusty casebook. I sure hope the Republicans can hold the line on his nominations.

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