Author Archives: BZ

Cycle

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Alexander Fraser Tytler once wrote, in 1770:

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government.

It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury.

From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over lousy fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.

The average of the world’s great civilizations before they decline has been 200 years.

These nations have progressed in this sequence:

  • From bondage to spiritual faith;
  • From faith to great courage;
  • From courage to liberty;
  • From liberty to abundance;
  • From abundance to selfishness;
  • From selfishness to complacency;
  • From complacency to apathy;
  • From apathy to dependency;
  • From dependency back again to bondage.

The United States is a democracy, an empire.

It is within the gunsights of any number of countries that would rejoice upon our demise.
  • Because we are free, we are a target.
  • Because we are loud and obvious about our freedoms, we are a target.
  • Because we accept secularism as well as various religions, we are a target.
  • Because we are prosperous, we are a target.
  • Because we possess logic, common sense, rationality, proportion, we are a target.
  • Because we have a system that works, we are a target.
  • Because we have saved numerous countries and not demanded their lands we are a target.
  • Because people mistake sense for weakness, we are a target.
  • Because we are successful we are a target.
  • Because our society readily makes Americans of most of its inhabitants, we are a target.
  • Because some societies are jealous of our success, we are a target.
  • Because we are frequently Larger Than Life we are a target.

All things considered, we are a Miraculous Presence.

But I would ask: where are we now, on this continuum? And can we pull back from the end of this continuum, and avoid Rome?

A portion of the world seeks to destroy us, that much is clear, no matter where we are on the scale.

Destroy you.

Destroy me.

BZ
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Justice Clarence Thomas

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I frequently create posts a day or a few days ahead of their posting.

This post was created on Sunday, September 30th, after having watched the CBS show “60 Minutes.”

I was in the process of searching for a pm NFL game but, after having found nothing, ended up on my “local” channels. Quite frankly, I haven’t watched standard TV channels in over 16 years. That is to say: CBS, ABC, NBC. The other networks are even less scintillating.

I came across Steve Kroft’s interview of Justice Clarence Thomas.

Quite frankly, I was riveted.

Which is precisely why it will NOT be featured on Liberal blogs. I hope to ameliorate that fact.

He is often dismissed as a man of little accomplishment, an opportunistic black conservative who sold out his race, joined the Republican Party and was ultimately rewarded with an affirmative action appointment to the nation’s highest court, a sullen, intellectual lightweight so insecure he rarely opens his mouth in oral arguments. The problem with the characterization is that it’s unfair and untrue.

The truth is actually spoken and, further, written.

My job is to write opinions. I decide cases and write opinions. It is not to respond to idiocy and critics who make statements that are unfounded,” Thomas says. “That doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t have constructive criticisms, but it should be constructive. Whether or not I’m black or not, that’s just silliness. That is not worth responding to.”

Thomas clearly does not trot out the political line or theory extant from the far Left Wing. And for that he is hated. HATED.

Kroft asked: some say you’re a sell-out and that you couldn’t care less about blacks Do you care?

Oh, obviously I do,” Thomas says. “Come on, you know? But it’s none of their business. How much does Justice Scalia care about Italians? Did you ask him that? Did anyone ever ask him? Give me a break. Do I help people? Absolutely. Do I help, love helping black people? Absolutely. And I do. But do I like helping all people? Yes. In particular I like helping people who are disadvantaged, people who don’t come from the best circumstances. Do white people live in homeless shelters? Do Hispanics live in homeless shelters? Is disadvantaged exclusive province of blacks? No.”

And that’s the point.

Thomas says the court may be closely divided on important ideological issues, but that he has never heard an uncivil word spoken in his 16 years there. He is reportedly one of the most popular people in the entire building, well-liked by everyone including his colleagues. Still only 59 years old, he is on track to become one of the longest serving Supreme Court justices in history. With every decision he makes and every opinion he writes, he thinks about his grandfather, Myers Anderson.

And then further:

He has expressed his legal views in more than 300 written opinions, which is about average given his tenure, but he rarely opens his mouth during oral arguments.

“The perception is, the critics will say it’s because you’re not smart enough or you’re too insecure or you’re afraid to make a fool out of yourself,” Kroft says.

“Well, they make fools out of themselves with those kinds of comments,” Thomas says. “Justice Marshall rarely asked questions. Justice Powell rarely asked questions. That’s a personal preference. I certainly wouldn’t do it to provide histrionics for the media gallery or for other people or for critics. Critics will always be critics.”

Justice Thomas has impressed me here and now. This was a stellar interview. Thomas is a man who abhorred quotas, rallied against quotas. He is based in logic, common sense, training, education, experience. He believes that all people should achieve their goals by merit rather than by melanin. Which is why every faction on the Left wants him removed.

I got the impression that Kroft was expecting to encounter a Justice Thomas that conformed to the statements of his detractors; a “yes” man, a sycophant. What he got instead was a man who expressed his feelings, looked Kroft directly in the eye, answered each and every question completely. In short, Kroft found that Thomas is clearly a man to be respected for his achievements and is no “boy” or “trembling toady” for the Poverty Pimps, the Sharptons, the Jacksons, the Excusionists, the Victim Party, the Left or, as he made abundantly clear, overeducated white Liberals (one final reason that no one will remotely touch, except for me, in terms of blacks and The Left hating Thomas: his wife, Kate, is white). It is very easy to understand now why Thomas was and is attacked and, despite that, continues to excel, strive and thrive. Justice Clarence Thomas is one very smart, class act.

BZ
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No Shit, Sherlock

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When we first bought into Saudi Arabia, due to the discovery of oil in March of 1938, little did we know where it would take us. Saudi Arabia has a history of playing both halves against the middle and, truly, quite successfully so. Think of it: they have managed throughout the years to appease the West and various militantly-Islamist factions rather adroitly. Certainly there have been some rough spots in the road but, overall, they manage to still hold the World Trump Card: oil.

I read this recently at NewsMax and thought: no shit, Sherlock. Tell me something I don’t already know. To wit:

1. Saudi Arabia Is ‘World-Class Exporter’ of Terror
The involvement of Saudi Arabian citizens in worldwide terror did not end with the 9/11 attacks — today thousands of Saudis are managing terrorist networks and orchestrating suicide bombings and jihadist attacks around the globe.

Saudi Arabia has become, in short, a world-class exporter of Islamic violence, according to Youssef Ibrahim of the New York Sun, who cites these alarming developments:

— As many as 30 Saudis enter Iraq each day with plans to become suicide bombers and kill Americans and Shiite Muslims.
— More than 1,000 Saudis are now training at an al-Qaida camp in Syria, while others are training in camps in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
— Of the insurgents who fought the Lebanese army’s during the siege of the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp, which claimed more than 300 lives, more than 30 percent were Saudis.
— At least 800 Saudis are currently being held in Iraq or Jordan, charged with terrorist acts or intentions.
— Outside the Middle East, Saudi jihadists are also operating in Somalia, Malaysia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the Philippines.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001, were Saudis.

Ibrahim pointed to a segment of ABC’s “World News Tonight” on the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, which detailed how Islamist terror originates and ends with “Saudi Arabia, its people, and its government,” Ibrahim writes.

The report “conjured an Orwellian image of a conveyor belt with human bombs placed on it running out of the House of Saud and reaching around the globe. Saudi-funded mosques and madrassas supplied ideological content, and wings of the Saudi ruling establishment stoked the fire of its infernal machine.”

Ibrahim raises the question of why the U.S. by and large “looks the other way” regarding the behavior of its so-called ally — and major source of oil.

The answer, he opines, lies not just in the well known “Bush-Saud Family” factor — the Saudi royal family’s links to the Bush family and associates — but in the “corrupting process” that reaches into “every segment of the American ruling establishment over three decades.” He asserts that many in Washington’s diplomatic and journalistic establishment have benefited from Saudi largesse intended to buy influence in the U.S.

Ibrahim concludes: “The result is that while Washington hears the music, it is not listening to the words.”

Let me posit this question now: do you faintly suspect that cash might be an issue?

At this point some will say that I am simply another Conservative Bush-Basher with an “agenda.” Others on the Left might say that Bush is Evil Incarnate and thank Wicca or The Goddess or Gaia that I’m finally acknowledging this. I submit that it isn’t even remotely this simple. Simple is, quite frankly, the very last word I’d use.

I submit that these are volatile, heady, confusing, disjointed times. I also submit this: that with our history, our many years of changing administrations, of the continuing imbalance in the temper of the times, in the fact that there are so many people on the planet, that there are so many differing belief systems, so many stressors, so many themes, inputs, views, pressures — there is essentially no way that one person can deal with the accumulated mountain of prior historical precedents and “know everything” and, by that dint, make all the “proper” decisions. I am wondering how long our system of government can function.

Let’s say: a Presidency declares Saudi Arabia a pariah; we pull all support, line our troops up along their border, cut off funding, freeze accounts, stop trade, point fingers, even send some teams in to kill certain royal members.

What would be the logical result? OPEC would retaliate and immediately. Oil supplies would be cut. Prices for gas would rise and then skyrocket. And then we’d simply be hamstrung. Gas stations would shut down. Lines would form for miles around the open stations. Then they too would limit their distribution. Everything we do revolves around oil. Everything. My ability to type on this keyboard. My ability to receive electricity through a generation station. Everything we need arrives by either truck or train. Those engines run on oil. We commute to work — sometimes many miles away. Again, oil.

When we begin to triage what is important in terms of our ability to limit oil usage, then our economy, our ability to work, to produce a product, to live our lives, to walk through the door of our businesses, to rant on the internet, to listen to the radio, watch TV, play video games, enjoy dances, feed our children, turn a tap and expect some kind of acceptable water to pour forth, flush a toilet and expect it to re-fill — all these aspects and more are affected.

Those fringe types who live in discarded Gillig buses, overpainted and rusting VW Transporters, doing their duty for AlGore — and more Mainstream Global Warming Believers epiphanied by purchasing the Toyota Prius, the Honda Civic Hybrid, riding their Specialized’s to work, watching the Sundance Channel — they are STILL buying into the repressive Oil Regime.

Folks: absolutely NOTHING GETS ACCOMPLISHED ON THIS PLANET THAT WASN’T ABETTED BY PETROLEUM PRODUCTS. NOTHING.

So: sure, drive a stake into the heart of Saudi Arabia. Makes you feel good. They kill Americans, right?

You ready to go back, as a result, to stone knives and bearskins? You read S.M. Stirling’s “Dies The Fire” recently?

BZ

P.S.
The photo? King Ibn Saud with President Roosevelt on board a ship returning from the Yalta Conference in 1945. Can you blame Roosevelt for wanting to secure our future, even then?
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Box of Rocks, Pt. II

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First: no, I didn’t go back to get a puppy. I know that, the way my life is situated, getting a pup would be unfair to the puppy. I am nothing if not a realist.

Second: I felt a bit better today. I went out train chasing with my camera. I caught train after train running both east and westbound. The ground was dark and damp, saturated with last night’s rain. The sky was cobalt blue and resounded with crystal clarity. I feel compelled to post a photo.

Third: our so-called “union” is hamstrung with internal strife that may cost the membership not just thousands of dollars, but potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in suits extant. My union is, unfortunately in Fornicalia, a “closed shop” — meaning that I have no choice: the dollars for my “association” WILL be taken from my paycheck. However, as the dysfunctional competing president, vice-president and board no longer represent me and, in my opinion, no one but their diminutive-brained selves — well, I cannot halt the deductions from my check, but I believe a law exists whereupon I CAN choose between the “association” and, for example, a CHARITY that I designate.

Is there anyone sufficiently versed in the area that can confirm this option for me in Fornicalia? Can you quote this law for me? Given the choice, I determine NEVER to provide another PENNY to my union and, if the option is available, I would designate my union dues be sent directly to my local Law Enforcement Chaplaincy.

Fourth: the Coonies came to eat the cat food I leave nightly for my three feral cat buddies in the neighborhood. I don’t leave the water anymore because the Coonies invite all their friends and cousins, conduct a massive hand-washing session and leave a bowl of dirty water. I’ve seen them bring out the bristle brushes, Palmolive soap, comb their hair, apply hair gel, some nice Ralph Lauren spray. And they’re fun to watch.

Fifth: I subscribe to DirecTV but none of the premium channels. I don’t get HBO or CineMax or anything else. Showtime is FREE this weekend. So I’ve been watching a bunch of movies, and Californication, Brotherhood and, of course, my favourite: DEXTER. I have all three of the Dexter books authored by Jeff Lindsey. Grand fun.

Sixth: Go Green Bay Packers! Brett Favre is the last of a breed: a player who feels more obligated to the team than to himself. Unlike, for example, Joe Montana and Jerry Rice — who jumped ship for their last seasons.

Life is short. Find your loved one. Take her or him into your arms tonight. Tell them what you really think about them. Realize what an incredible value they are in your life. Be good.

Go Pack!

BZ

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Box Of Rocks

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I’m starting a new post-prototype, entitled “Box Of Rocks” — when I am motivated to go “stream of consciousness” and a series of not-necessarily-congruent thoughts predominate.

The past four days have been pretty much reprehensible; I caught the creeping mange recently which presented itself in the form of a running torrent down my throat and thusly hocked up into numerous Kleenex and down the drain of the shower. These monstrous green glops resembled thriving Santa Cruz banana slugs and seemed to pulse with a fluorescent life of their own, making a slapping sound when they struck the shower stall floor. It’s been entirely disgusting. So I’ve not felt nor looked my sterling best — interspersed with bouts of rib-aching coughing. And sneezing. Theraflu, Airborne, Sudafed and Zicam tablets.

I finally had to venture out from my mountain aerie for mail, food and supplies. The act of driving down to a nominally-stocked market (17 miles away) was taxing. I was fatigued when I returned early this afternoon. Enroute back, I chanced upon a station wagon parked in an open dirt area adjacent Highway 174. Two people sat on the tailgate, a large cardboard box in front of them. A nearby cardboard sign read: “FREE PUPPIES.”

I drove by, squinched up my forehead a number of times, shook my head, growled, then battled my inner self for a few seconds. I pulled over into the parking area of a great Italian restaurant and stopped. The inner argument continued: go stop go stop go stop. Finally: go. I turned around and went back.

The cardboard box contained six black and white puppies. They were in fact free. The owners, of not the greatest collective of teeth extant, were however desirous and honorable of acquiring good homes for their group. The pups banged and climbed and rolled and tumbled about in the box. I don’t know what possible breed they were, and the owners were no help, saying only that a black dog came to their home now and then and that, three weeks ago, threw pups under their deck. They appeared to be fat, ornery, active and in good spirits. They really did tear at my heart.

I picked one up and every sense drew in the puppy. It squirmed and made The Puppy Noise as it dug its nose into the flesh of my arm. It had dappled random spots of black onto its white fur and appeared to be short of coat. Its ears were down and floppy. Its nose was short, blunt. It had a thin black tail and sharp-ass little puppy claws. Then, of course, it had The Puppy Smell. I found myself actually burying my nose into its back. Inhaling. The Puppy Smell. Nothing else like it that exists in the world. The Puppy Smell.

Who knows what this pup would have grown up to be? Long of leg? A runner? A retriever? I had immediate visions of myself and a prancing black and white dog taking long walks in the cool air of the approaching Winter. Watching as long mixed manifest Union Pacific trains pounded the rails, with my obedient young dog sitting next to me. Taking drives to new places; exposing the dog to all sorts of new experiences and situations. Sitting in a chair, relaxing, three or four Winters hence, snowfall outside the window, a good fire in the stove, the dog coming and resting his head on my knee. Looking up into my eyes. Little eyelashes. Brown eyes.

Heavy sigh.

And then I thanked the owners and drove away.

It’s just not in the cards.

BZ
P.S.
Man, Winter is apparently here. It was cloudy all day and crept cold. I actually squatted down and lit the pilot for the house heat for the second time in one week. And boy am I glad I did so: at 3 am, the time I’m writing this addendum, it’s 31-degrees outside. The rain last night came in torrents, overwhelming the gutters and sliding off the roof in front of my huge windows in massive sheets. It was great!
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