Sorry kids, it’s been a busy week (out in the non-blogging world), but I found a few interesting things to share.
Lying Eyes had a nice piece on the limits of markets.
Jonah Goldberg notes that the taboos on criticizing Obama (and his manifest arrogance) are becoming the stuff of ordinary observation. This breaking of taboos on criticizing bad politicians from “victim” groups is a healthy one.
The gang at Alt Right note the not-terribly-surprising interest of neocons in embracing gay marriage.
Larry Auster’s hippy past comes to light without shame or regret (or much explanation). Incidentally, this guy criticized John Kerry’s service record back in the day, as if he were the second coming of Audie Murphy. It’s apparent that Larry served in the marijuana trenches of Colorado during the Vietnam War. And he banned me for noting the contradiction and absurdity of his highly judgmental grandstanding on the physical courage of a man, a man whom I do not particularly like, who at least spent some time on the Two Way Range.
Hillary Clinton suggests Serb minority in Kosovo might be oppressed (this after supporting her husband’s genocidal war of Muslim Kosovar liberation that left the Serbs to the tender mercies of the KLA terrorist regime run by head terrorist, Hacim Thaci). For some reason, I think admitting that this was a huge mistake, the equivalent of Soviet “liberation” of the Poles in World War II, is quite unlikely, as are American promises of protection to the Serbs, who are the whipping boy of Europe.
In other news, Serbs will be Serbs: young toughs were battling the cops this week in the street to stop a gay pride parade in Belgrade. Honestly, I don’t support thuggish violence, but at least these people still have enough blood in their veins to know that Euro-decadence is the harbinger of national decline. Conservatives in America react with a little venting and then a shrug at this and much else. In a just world, no one beats up gays, and gays do not go out into the street in their bondage gear and expect to be treated as if they were anything but a dangerous, antisocial subculture. (Sadly, Paladino in New York does not have the guts to defend his first instinct on this issue.)
I was happy to see the Chilean miners be freed from their long ordeal. It’s truly great news. To his credit, their president mobilized national and international resources to help, including America’s NASA, and thereby showed a self-confidence that is often absent in the prickly, insecure Third World. (Of course, Chile is probably the least Third World of all such countries, not least due to the stability and economic growth of the Pinochet years.)
Everyone is in a tizzy about the fraud of mortgage lenders being addressed now by BofA’s moratorium on foreclosures. These issues, frankly, are interesting only to lawyers, and I’m one of them, and even my eyes glaze over at the details. Mortgages and foreclosures are far too technical, as is our old-fashioned regime of property transfer and registration. Once payments are stopped and a workout cannot be had, the rest is all details. No one has alleged anyone had their house taken when they were making timely payments; it’s all a question of whether some highly technical documents that no one reads or understands were signed by the right bureaucrat or not. The whole thing is a tempest in a teapot. Since post-foreclosure any title is good against the world, contrary to the hype, this should all blow over. More important, how much national wealth do we want sacrificed so that a completely outdated and overly expensive process is conducted with scrupulous regard for the defense bar. That said, if you’re of a Machivellian bent, now is a great time to stop paying on your house; you could probably live their for four to five years with minimal efforts at defending from the bank, particularly in hard hit areas like California and Florida.
What can we make of all this news. Well, America and the world are having a reckoning with their loose money fiat regime unleashed barely 70 years ago after World War II. This whole system is unsustainable, and now the real gap between our perceived (i.e., paper) wealth and real wealth is more and more apparent. The name of the game is deleveraging, which means paying back debts individually and collectively. And that means pain, austerity, and, due to our nation of welfare addicts, instability in the transition. In such times, anything is possible, both in foreign and domestic affairs. The best one can do is try to hedge. And this means being prepared for uncertain times, i.e., anything from the Dust Bowl 30s to the Somalia 90s. And the best way to do that is to reduce debt, sock away some cash (literally, under the mattress), buy tangibles, adopt a minimalist personal philosophy, and be prepared for anything. America may have sold its soul for granite countertops, but right now a few gold coins, an AR-15, and a month or two worth of stored food and some tradeable stuff like a generator will do a hell of a lot more for you than a stainless steel refrigerator or a jet ski.
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I’d like to see the claim that “neocons embrace gay marriage” demonstrated. I think Gottfried was, as usual, confusing conservative office politics with – politics.
What percentage of neocons support gay marriage and what percentage oppose? I mean a real count, whatever one’s reasonable definition of neocon. (If it’s broad enough to include National Review, it’s broad enough to include First Things.) Till I see a count like that, I’m very skeptical of these accusations.
I suppose it depends on which one, but I know some prominent ones among them–not least, Frum–have suggested these culture war issues generally are losers and that the key going forward is emphasizing, well, who knows what. Going to war!
I’d like to see the claim that “neocons embrace gay marriage” demonstrated. I think Gottfried was, as usual, confusing conservative office politics with – politics.
What percentage , , ,
You’re right–Gottfried is way off base. We should announce our skepticism and insist on data and percentages.
For the tone deaf reader, that was sarcasm.
“Well, America and the world are having a reckoning with their loose money fiat regime unleashed barely 70 years ago after World War II. This whole system is unsustainable, and now the real gap between our perceived (i.e., paper) wealth and real wealth is more and more apparent.”
Yes indeed. I think this article below should have also made your round up. It explains how the export driven countries on the other side of the global economic order also face big problems.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/09/30/the_japan_syndrome?page=full
The global economy is degenerating into a system where some countries make stuff, and other countries buy the stuff they make. The only sustainable system of free trade is one where each trade partner has some internal balance of consumption and production, just like a household, but in a fiat currency world, China is free to underprice its labor to develop industry and the U.S. is free to let its industry disappear and borrow from China to make up the slack. It can’t go on forever.
I think this is the big “global issue” driving history right now, even bigger than Islam, and perhaps even bigger than Western degeneracy. The really scary thing is that if it comes to blows, it will probably be after we have exported all our industry to our rivals.
Is Auster unmarried? Wikipedia suggest he is. Sorry if this is a bit gossipy, but it seems that in many issues he talks the talk but does not walk the walk.
“Honestly, I don’t support thuggish violence, but at least these people still have enough blood in their veins to know that Euro-decadence is the harbinger of national decline. Conservatives in America react with a little venting and then a shrug at this and much else. In a just world, no one beats up gays, and gays do not go out into the street in their bondage gear and expect to be treated as if they were anything but a dangerous, antisocial subculture.”
How is the gay community “antisocial?”
And regarding Euro-decadence, a lot of countries that would qualify as decadent if allowing gay pride parades is your yardstick seem to be doing far better than Serbia.
Google the Fulsom Street Fair. QED.
How is the gay community “antisocial?”
And regarding Euro-decadence, a lot of countries that would qualify as decadent if allowing gay pride parades is your yardstick seem to be doing far better than Serbia.
Argh! Called out again! Roach, why do people on the right even try to observe anything anymore? We always get it so horribly twisted. I’m starting to get demoralized.
And heterosexuals never behave in a decadent manner? That would surprise a lot of people at Mardi Gras and college kids on spring break. Or is it that when heterosexuals behave badly there’s no deeper meaning to it, but when gays behave badly, it’s evidence of our innately malicious nature?
I’ve been hearing from conservatives for some time that tolerance toward gays is a harbinger of societal and/or national collapse. But the countries that are most tolerant toward gays seem to doing far better on almost any indicator than backward cesspools like Serbia. The Nordic countries have among the highest standards of living and fertility rates in Europe. So where is this collapse I keep hearing about?
Gay pride festivals are our versions of Carnival, not evidence of our innate danger to society.
Look divorce, STDs, and infertility have exploded as a result of feminism and the sexual revolution. Europe is being overrun by foreigners because it is indeed decadent and also because its unstable welfare state needs new blood to survive. So all these issues revolve around one another.
I’m honestly not terribly concerned with gays, but they need to respect the broader society’s norms. You can’t be a rebel and also ask for unconditional acceptance. The gay pride parades with their freaky costumes and public displays of disgusting gay affection are nothing to be proud of. Most normal people find them repulsive. As for Mardi Gras or Carnival, they’re frankly not American customs. America is–until the influence of the left and the sixties and a sustained propaganda campaign–an austere, Christian, generally sober and proper nation. Nothing like this exists (or existed) until very recently. No politician or normal person should give it his approval. It’s honestly the type of thing if the details were widely known would set back your little gay rights movement.
Don’t try to change our society and we won’t try to destroy you. That’s the deal. But right now that’s exactly what you’re doing, so reap the whirlwind.
Why even bother? I’ll despair over that later.
All behavior and character is trending badly. Duh.
You forgot a link in your chain of causation, Mark. Liberalism is the Western disease. The countries that are doing better and are more liberal that you cite are less balkanized, more white. The people who work hard and follow the rules have been displaced to a lesser extent, even if they share your twisted up victimological obsessions.
But forget it. You’re right. Nothing is collapsing. Why is everyone so upset? It’s all rooted in nothing. We’re imagining things. You got us. Oh, how embarrassing.
I think an important point often forgotten in the “comparing countries” game, is that the prosperous, wealthy countries are still riding out the cultural and physical infrastructure built up by earlier conservative societies. This is generally true whether we are talking about Scandanavia or San Francisco, or really, pretty much anywhere in the modern West. The question is, what have they produced lately? For instance, who visits Europe to see anything they’ve built in the last 80 years? But when people like Mark play the comparison game they act as if these nations sprung up from the bare ground 30 years ago, and give the credit for all sorts of social goods created by the old intolerant Europe to their post-modern heirs, who are actually just frittering away their inheritances.
Get the 12 gauge shotgun before you buy the AR-15. Get some silver coins too. Booze and smokes to trade is not a bad idea either. If you have a generator, make sure you’ve got the gas for it. Most importantly, meet some like minded people if you haven’t already.
And Mark, beware of how our diverse, liberal nation treats gays:
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/10/11/2010-10-11_9th_member_of_latin_king_goonies_gang_accused_of_torturing_gay_man_is_in_custody.html
And:
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/10/14/cops-l-i-teens-accused-of-attacking-boy-on-bus/
Is Auster unmarried? Wikipedia suggest he is. Sorry if this is a bit gossipy, but it seems that in many issues he talks the talk but does not walk the walk.
How is not being married “not walking the walk?” I’ve never heard Auster say that living single is inherently liberal.
Or are you implying that he is either (a) gay or (b) obviously engaging in non-marital sex, as no one can abstain from sex as an adult? As a 31-year-old virgin, I would disagree.
Are you suggesting that Auster is a 60-year-old virgin? Heh.
He is constrantly babbling about tradition, and continuity, and marriage, so it’s a bit strange if he in fact is a childless single man whose lifestyle is not that different from that of the typical New York Jewish leftist intellectual.
I’ve been hearing from conservatives for some time that tolerance toward gays is a harbinger of societal and/or national collapse. But the countries that are most tolerant toward gays seem to doing far better on almost any indicator than backward cesspools like Serbia. The Nordic countries have among the highest standards of living and fertility rates in Europe. So where is this collapse I keep hearing about?
First, the harbinger of social rot that other conservatives like Buchanan mention has more to do with the decadent examples of Rome, 1800 years ago, and Weimar Germany. I wouldn’t correlate the success of the Nordic nations with tolerance of gays. As others have pointed out, there are other reasons why they have a high standard of living.
But give the Nordics time. They are on the path to decline. Is it because of gays? No, but toleration of gays, which is part and parcel of multiculturalism, is a sign that they won’t be able to resist other aspects of multiculturalism, namely immigration. They are already having trouble with non-assimilating immigrants in Scandinavia, but their society seems defenseless. A society that was not so open to gays would probably have no problem resisting a demographic transformation. Swap out the Nordics with third world Islamics and your Nordic nations are no longer going to look as good.
Second, you and others who slam Serbia seem to forget those poor souls spent hundreds of years under the thumb of the Ottomans, endured the Left’s wet dream of socialism for half a century, and enjoyed a brisk 100 day bombing campaign by Uncle Sam. I happen to think the Serbs are a pretty decent sort who might thrive if people would let them be.
Hi Roach, I’m always glad to see Auster’s hypocrisy pointed out so thanks once again for reminding us of his Purple Heart abuse.
And don’t forget with your “few gold coins, an AR-15, and a month or two worth of stored food and some tradeable stuff like a generator..” to include a home brew kit and the will and drive to create heaven on earth.
Cheers.
And I agree with UnPC. The US led NATO bombing of Serbia was one of the most disgraceful things I’ve seen by Western nations in my lifetime. All to install a Muslim nation in the heart of the Balkans.
-And I agree with UnPC. The US led NATO bombing of Serbia was one of the most disgraceful things I’ve seen by Western nations in my lifetime. All to install a Muslim nation in the heart of the Balkans.-
If I ran Serbia, I’d run the muzzies out. The US may talk the talk, but ther’ll be no walk. Russia will see to that. Zastava will be having their people work overtime…