Tyranny of the whiny, scared little bitches

Breath of fresh air, today. And a nice reminder that most folks in the American press and political class are really out of their leagues when it comes to the study of power.

“There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.” ~ Charles de Montesquieu

Or the more apt sentiment, right now.

“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

Or my particular favorite.

"The mania for giving the Government power to meddle with the private affairs of cities or citizens is likely to cause endless trouble, through the rivaly of schools and creeds that are anxious to obtain official recognition, and there is great danger that our people will lose our independence of thought and action which is the cause of much of our greatness, and sink into the helplessness of the Frenchman or German who expects his government to feed him when hungry, clothe him when naked, to prescribe when his child may be born and when he may die, and, in time, to regulate every act of humanity from the cradle to the tomb, including the manner in which he may seek future admission to paradise." ~ Mark Twain

Or you could follow the assholes driving this country into a serious shithole.

Don't trip over yourself takin' your pick.

Some much needed time off

'Shame on you': BP exec pilloried by lawmakers

What for? It's an accident, for God's sakes. I suppose we should shame our kids for shittin' in their diapers. Would make as much sense.

The arrogance of the left, right now, like too many of their right-wing counterparts, is stinky and putrid. Which is what elections are for. Which is why they're losing them. And why they'll keep losing them. No matter what excuses they make for their sorry-ass activism. Which has clearly made this situation, like Katrina, more problematic than it ever was originally.

I don't care how arrogant the left gets. Disdainful? Is that the term John Stewart used?

Stewart Calls Joe Barton A 'Disdainful Asshole'



These guys have a point. So does John Stewart, if you watch that video. About the effort to compensate people hurt by this mess. Just noone - left, right, or otherwise - is listening to one another, anymore.

Good example for the kids, there, I suppose.

And the more I watch, the more I really just don't trust any of them all. Which is apparently how most Americans feel about the same folks, if the polls mean anything. And, at this point in the game, it means I'm voting against the assholes doing all the strong-arming. And give two shits about what they have to say about jack shit.

That's called counterproductive, by the way, if you're keeping count. While you're pretending that everything's going hunky-dory. It's also called failure. And seriously mucking everything up, in the meantime. All so folks don't have to ever acknowledge that they might be wrong about any damn thing.

It doesn't matter to me, anymore, if assholes can't get the picture, is the truth. It's just time for them to take some much needed time off.

Backwards (no matter how you bullshit it)

If there is one article I have read in the last year that demonstrates the arrogance of the current period, this is the one.

Ultraorthodox Jews protest school ruling

These parents are jailed because they want to choose which schools their daughters go to. They choose not to send their daughters to an integrated school because they are concerned about the temptations of the modern world (a legitimate concern, even if I disagree with their fears of the modern world).

And this journalist rationalizes their jail sentences as "the ultra-Orthodox minority's refusal to accept the authority of the state" and the "extent the ultra-Orthodox live by their own rules, some of them archaic, while wielding disproportionate power in the modern state of Israel."

It didn't even occur to him that they might have a legitimate concern. And that, more importantly, those children are not his, nor the state's. They are people in their own right. And the responsibility, primarily, of those parents. And jailing parents who want to choose where their daughters go to school is nothing remotely close to anything resembling progress.

Where one educates one's children is among the most intimate and important choices a parent can make. And jailing parents for taking that choice seriously, even when you disagree with the choice, when it is a matter of conscience, as it so clearly is here, is repugnant.

This case is also, sadly, a lesson for social conservatives, like these Jews, who are, tragically, reaping what they sow, as well. If there is any argument for why religious conservatives should back off from efforts to coerce the consciences of others - gay marriage comes immediately to mind - this is the one. Because the other alternative is living with the consequences.

Coercing conscience is not progress. It is the long road of tragedy that has animated the great bulk of human history. What far too many are doing in the liberal democratic world, today (nevertheless the illiberal world) is trying to turn the clock backward. And cynically pretending that with enough force, no one can do anything about it anyway.

This was and is the rationale for Naziism, Communism, Islamism, imperialism, and every serious abuse of power that has ever reared its ugly head in this sad, strange, foolish little world.

It was also what got 70 million killed in WWII. 16 million in WWI.

One thing's for sure. This ain't forward.

This is backward. No bullshitting around it.

No matter who is pulling the strings.

And no matter how we bullshit otherwise.