Monday, February 06, 2012

Obama and Nero - A Despot Comparison

Nero.

Nero enjoyed driving a one-horse chariot, singing to the lyre, and poetry.  He even composed songs that were performed by other entertainers throughout the empire.  At first, Nero only performed for a private audience.

In 64 A.D., Nero began singing in public in Neapolis in order to improve his popularity.  He also sang at the second quinquennial Neronia in 65.  It was said that Nero craved the attention,  but historians also write that Nero was encouraged to sing and perform in public by the Senate, his inner circle and the people.  Ancient historians strongly criticize his choice to perform, calling it shameful. (bold by ed.)

Obama.

Regarding that little singing bit the president did recently.  The Al Green thing.  If you haven’t seen the clips of that then look it up.  Easy to find.  It’s been spread wide and far.  And that was the plan.  That moment was rehearsed to death. As in over and over and over again.  Apparently the president has been complaining for some time that he’s no longer cool.  He was actually in on a meeting with some of the Plouffe gang and told them more than once he wanted to be cool again.  “Like in ’08.  We were the sh-t back in 08″.  Those are the president’s words.  He is obsessed with getting back to being cool like in ’08.  It’s become something of a theme apparently in-house among the younger staff.  They have started to greet one another with “Are we cool again?” as a joke.

So anyway, back to that singing thing the president did.  Told he practiced that little line for days.  Seems likely that Obama spent more time on trying to sound good on that bit than he has on dealing with anything else facing the country.  They brought in a voice coach.  He was playing the song over and over again. It was a complete focus… (bold by ed.)

Above quote taken from a The Ulsterman Report post titled White House Insider: Obama Complains – I Wanna Be Cool Again! linked via Sondrakistan.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/06 at 11:26 AM
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Domestic Terrorist Violent Extremist Club of America

Do you oppose the over regulation of most aspects of your lives by state and federal authorities, and consider this over regulation by state and federal authorities as a deliberate attempt to curtail your freedom?  If so, then I would like to welcome you to membership in the Domestic Terrorist Violent Extremist Club of America.  It’s a most equal opportunity club.

Domestic Terrorist Violent Extremist Club of America Membership Qualifications/Specifications

Homeland Security Lexicon: You’re All ‘Militia Extremists’ Now

Via Glenn Reynolds

IMPORTANT UPDATE:  Lest any individual consider the qualifications for inclusion in the Domestic Terrorist Violent Extremist Club of America as too exclusive, a more inclusive Enemies of America Club has been formed by Obama et al, as Victor Davis Hansen explains.

But there are new monsters in America, and I am starting to wonder whether I am to be considered among them: those of the uninvolved and uninformed lives, the bar-raisers, the downright mean ones, the never deserving of respect ones, the Vegas junketeers, the Super Bowl jet setters, the tuition stealers, the faux-Christians who do not pay higher taxes, the too much income makers, the tormenters of autistic children, the polluters, the enemies deserving of punishment, the targets to bring a gun against, the faces to get in front of, the limb-loppers, the tonsil pullers, the fat cats, the corporate jet owners, the one-percenters, the stupidly acting, the not paying their fair sharers, the discriminators on the “way you look”, the alligator raisers and moat builders, the vote deniers, the clingers, the typical something persons, the hunters of kids at ice cream parlors, the stereotypers and profilers, the cowards, the lazy and soft, the non-spreaders of money, the not my people people, the Tea party racists, the not been perfect and mistake makers, the disengaged and the dictating, the not the time to profiteers, the ones who did not know when to quit making money, and on and on.

Also linked via InstaPundit.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/06 at 10:12 AM
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Sunday, February 05, 2012

Dad’s Bible

When my father passed away in November 2007, my Mum encouraged all of us kids, there’s eight of us, to take Dad’s Bible home with us and spend some time perusing it.  Not because any of us kids did not own our own Bibles, because we did, but rather to see for ourselves Dad’s use of his Bible.

I’d taken Mum’s encouragement and spent some time with Dad’s Bible the week after he died, but I recently asked Mum if I could borrow it again and did so.  When I got home with it, I paged through it side by side with the Bible my folks had given me back in 1984, and while I noted similarities in the marginalia within Dad’s Bible and mine, Dad’s Bible seemed to me as a more authoritative, and well used, volume of study.

Dad’s Bible, a thirty-fifth anniversary gift lovingly inscribed to him by Mum with these words, Presented To: “My loving and faithful husband,” displays flashes of color; highlighter pink, yellow and green, ballpoint blue and black; and also contains a few particularly important to my Dad other writings, along with a card which states his name, Jerry (actual name is Gerard) means “Mighty Warrior,” though I’ve found that many name meaning sites state that the name Jerry means “One who rules with a spear,” though I’m certain my Dad would prefer the Hebrew meaning of Jerry, “May Jehovah exalt,” as I never saw my Dad with a spear in his hand, a paddle, well that’s a different story.

Many of the passages, or verses, highlighted by my Dad deal with contending with adversity in life, something he was quite too familiar with, health wise, and just as many highlighted passages and verses deal with God’s faithfulness to individuals of faith, messages which my Dad did not preach, but rather lived, which is best illustrated by the one and only biblical passage which Dad highlighted with a blue ballpoint star, yellow highlighter, and decisively underlined a portion of.  Psalm 16, with the following verses receiving the aforementioned decisive underlining.

5 O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot.
6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance.

While it was somewhat of a melancholy and humbling exercise taking my Dad’s Bible in my hands once again, the beauty and example of Dad’s life evidenced within those pages exceeded the magnificance of the Book of Kells.  Would that I had my Dad’s unfailing faith in the message contained in those two verses from Psalm 16.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/05 at 10:05 AM
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Mortgage Market Failure Pin the Tail on the Donkey

Yesterday’s New York Times had a four (4) page article, written by Gretchen Morgenson the NYT’s business and financial editor, which alleges to have pinpointed the underlying weak link which resulted in the mortgage market collapse, and that if the early warning sounded by one Nye Lavalle had only been acted upon, the financial markets would not be in the pickle they currently are in.

The NYT article is titled A Mortgage Tornado Warning, Unheeded and it opens with this bold statement.

YEARS before the housing bust — before all those home loans turned sour and millions of Americans faced foreclosure — a wealthy businessman in Florida set out to blow the whistle on the mortgage game. (bold by ed.)

Morgenson’s article goes on, at length, enumerating on Lavalle’s investigation (147 pages), and Fannie Mae’s seeming dismissal of Lavalle’s investigation, but the many words strung together by Morgenson all lead to the erroneous conculsion that if only the foreclosure filing irregularities discovered by Lavalle would have been judiciously addressed then the economic issues the world is contending with would not exist, and the dream of American homeownership would still be a dream worth having.

While there is no doubt what-so-ever that irregularities have occurred, and still do, in the mortgage foreclosure filing process, it is simple minded to conclude that the mortgage market meltdown, and the resulting worldwide financial mess, would have been averted if only Lavalle’s “mortgage tornado warning” would have been heeded.  It’s a pleasing theory to distribute to the masses, but it’s akin to a William K. Black peddling of theoretical blame.

The collapse of the mortgage lending industry did not require the sounding of a tornado warning.  The probability of the mortgage market collapse was clearly viewable as soon as one looked upon one single solitary subprime loan.

The stage was set for the collapse of the subprime lending industry with the origination of the individual subprime loan underwritten to foolish; one could say incompetent; underwriting guidelines.  As more and more of these structurally deficient loans piled up in lenders’ servicing portfolios, to be mined again and again for any remaining equity subprime borrowers may have retained in their homes, the swiftness of the final collapse lacks any astonishment.  The subprime lending business model was fundamentally flawed and myopic.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/05 at 08:58 AM
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Saturday, February 04, 2012

I Can Gig It, Man

Keith Burgess-Jackson points to a post titled The New Job Market at the blog I Want A New Left which comments on a Tina Brown article at The Daily Beast headlined The Gig Economy wherein Brown laments the following.

No one I know has a job anymore. They’ve got Gigs.

Gigs: a bunch of free-floating projects, consultancies, and part-time bits and pieces they try and stitch together to make what they refer to wryly as “the Nut”—the sum that allows them to hang on to the apartment, the health-care policy, the baby sitter, and the school fees.

Gigs: They’re all that’s standing between them and…what? The outer-outer boroughs? Eating what’s left of the 401(k)? Moving to Alaska? Out-and-out destitution?

To people I know in the bottom income brackets, living paycheck to paycheck, the Gig Economy has been old news for years. What’s new is the way it’s hit the demographic that used to assume that a college degree from an elite school was the passport to job security.

Brown’s musing, I’m rather certain, is meant to elicit sympathetic clucks and nods of the head from readers.  But not for the individuals in the bottom income brackets because, hey, they’re used to living paycheck to paycheck and the so-called “gig” economy, but rather for the college degreed individuals who were astute enough to attend college, but not astute enough to understand that borrowing fifty to one hundred thousand dollars for a degree in Leisure Studies was an unsound investment.

Should these college degreed “gig” workers receive sympathetic clucks and nods of the head?  You decide.

Just as startling, these new alternative workers are not overwhelmingly low-income. They’re college-educated Americans who earn more than $75,000 a year.

I can think of myriads of individuals who are gig workers.  My son, for instance, who is a 1099 worker in the financial industry.  He does not get paid unless he sells, just like any other 100% commissioned worker.  I, also, am a “gig” worker, who doesn’t make a penny unless I sell.  There are many, many more which could be listed.  Writers are gig workers, artists are gig workers, every small business owner is a “gig” worker.

Not all gigs are great gigs, of that there is no doubt, but if an individual at least has a gig or three which keeps a bit of change jingling in their pockets, they should at least be grateful enough to say themselves “I can gig it, man.”

Posted by John Venlet on 02/04 at 08:57 AM
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Black Market News

“You know why its called the black market? Because its in the black.”

A comment from fairwitness posted at Bill St. Clair’s place.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/04 at 07:37 AM
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Friday, February 03, 2012

2012 - This Time It’ll Be Different

image

Claire at Sondrakistan.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/03 at 06:24 PM
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“Hypocrite” Birth Control

Ann Barnhardt is, at times, a bit too zealous for my tastes, but I found the following post by Ann (it’s titled Shooting Fish in a Barrel with a .950 JDJ, posted on January 31 - no permalink), which is an email exchange with a reader, bang up good.

Ann,

You have stated that you are 35 years old and, from what I can tell, have no children. Just wondering what method of birth control is preferred by hypocrites like you.

Signed,

D

—————————————————————————-

Dear D,

Virginity.

Regards-
Ann

Posted by John Venlet on 02/03 at 10:58 AM
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Concerned Quote of the Day

It’s the concerned people that I worry about. They’re never happy just standing around being concerned; they’re always getting all up in your business, trying to “help” and generally only succeeding in screwing things up even worse.

From Tam’s post News Flash.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/03 at 09:15 AM
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Early Riser - Advice from the Talmud

Though the following advice from the Talmud was posted by Dan Friedman as an appropriate response to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s posturing to wipe Israel off the map, it’s applicable right down to the individual level.

“If a man comes to kill you, rise early and kill him first.”

Preemption and Jewish Scripture

Posted by John Venlet on 02/03 at 08:28 AM
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Thursday, February 02, 2012

The Outlaw Jesse James’ School of Political Popularity

The other night, I took in PBS’s American Experience rendition of the story of Jesse James.  During the program, historian Kathy Jackson made the following remark regarding James’ success in rallying public opinion to his cause.

If you’re going to be an outlaw, what better way to escape the law and get people to help you than to have them believe that you’re doing it for them. For a greater good.

There’s a lesson that has not been lost on the seekers of political power and popularity.

Jesse James transcript.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/02 at 09:50 AM
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Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Early ED Research and Audience Participation

On Sunday, Radley Balko put up a number of links for his readers, one of which reads as follows.

As I was reading this, I kept thinking, “There’s no way this is going where it seems to be going.” But that’s exactly where it goes. And then beyond.

The “this” Radley refers to is an article posted at the DiscoBlog titled NCBI ROFL: Probably the most horrifying scientific lecture ever. which relates the story of Professor G.S. Brindley giving a lecture on his groundbreaking ED research in Las Vegas.  It’s some story, though I hardly think it qualifies as the “most horrifying scientific lecture ever.”

Posted by John Venlet on 02/01 at 08:53 AM
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Books - They Don’t Need Batteries

Gerard Vanderleun discusses books versus technology, in a post titled Bleached Woodpulp + Ink + Glue = A Mature Information Retrieval System, which is an interesting little read.  Here are 10 points regarding books’ strengths.

1) No “advanced” technology required. Ability to manufacture present in all areas of the globe.
2 ) Crude but functioning units can be made by kindergartners with pencil, paper and glue.
3) Operating system and interface rock solid.
4) All types of information can be stored.
5) Has been demonstrated to be able to retain information in retrievable form across several thousand years.
6) Of the two, the User will often crash first.
7) All parts can be recycled.
8) All or part can be backed-up at any Kinkos.
9) Can be powered for hours with one candle.
10) All users receive up to 12 years of interface training free.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/01 at 08:16 AM
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Protect Yourselves, Mexicans

InstaPundit links to a NPR piece titled Law-Abiding Mexicans Taking Up Illegal Guns, which, as Glenn notes, is “surprisingly positive,” considering the source of the story.

I would point out that NPR’s use of the scare word “illegal” legitmizes State control of firearms, and that Mexico’s firearms laws are most prohibitive, as I mentioned here, pointing to a Washington Post article detailing those prohibitive Mexican firearms restrictions, such as one, and only one gun store.  Is it any wonder, at all, that “illegal” gun sales in Mexico are so prevalent?

There is a more principled reason for owning firearms, and it has nothing to do with the State, whether it be Mexico, or America.

I have more principled reasons for my stand on owning firearms, and I don’t care one whit in the world for the Second Amendment. It means nothing to me. My rights have nothing to do with the U.S. Constitution, and when it dawns on people that it has finally been erased—the principal danger of all political premises posed as “social contracts”—my rights will still validly exist, even if I die defending them. I own firearms because I have a right to private property. That is the First Thing.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/31 at 02:15 PM
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Addled Alain de Botton

The last time I mentioned Alain de Botton in these pages, I encouraged him to let go of his mommy’s hand and show some maturity, as he was waxing nostagically for being treated as a child, by the State.

In response to my mention, Alain dropped me an email stating the following.

I take it as a point of pride to have lots of immature sides. Indeed, it seems a basic definition of maturity to understand, accept, and not run away from sides of one’s nature which might offend a rigidly ‘adult’ view of the self.

I responded to Alain’s note this way.

Thank you for your note, unexpected though it was.

I, too, have immature sides, Alain, and fully understand their workings in my daily life.  Like you, I do not run away from my immaturities, but rather attempt to harness these immaturities, or grow out of them, in such a way so that I do not endanger myself, or others, relying on my reason, rationality and individual self-reliance rather than the state’s chains, which you seem to express a longing for in your article.

Though you intimate that I have a “rigid” adult view of myself, I fully realize that what abilities and strengths I have can be augmented by other individuals, by emulation and study of their abilities and strengths, or by discarding what I have come to understand as untenable rigidities.

The state cannot, and does not, protect me, or you, from any dangers, Alain, it only provides a false sense of security, a wonderland so to speak, not unlike Alice’s.

Respectfully, and with wishes for a fine day.

Alain did not respond to these thoughts, as they may have been too rigidly mature.

Alas, Alain seems to not only be susceptible to immaturity, but addledness, as he is now hawking the building of a temple, to atheism.

The atheist ‘philosopher’ Alain de Botton has undertaken a (literally) monumental project: he wants to create in the City a 150-foot-high temple to ‘new atheism’.

I wonder what they’ll use for their “scripture” books and hymnals?

We already have temples to atheism, Mr de Botton

Linked via SondraK who notes if you build it they will come to worship.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/31 at 12:32 PM
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