Nicely Put, Mr. Klavan

I liked what this man has to say. It rings true to me, and I share his experiences on a daily basis.

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The Big White Lie
Andrew Klavan

The thing I like best about being a conservative is that I don’t have to lie. I don’t have to pretend that men and women are the same. I don’t have to declare that failed or oppressive cultures are as good as mine. I don’t have to say that everyone’s special or that the rich cause poverty or that all religions are a path to God. I don’t have to claim that a bad writer like Alice Walker is a good one or that a good writer like Toni Morrison is a great one. I don’t have to pretend that Islam means peace.

Of course, like everything, this candor has its price. A politics that depends on honesty will be, by nature, often impolite. Good manners and hypocrisy are intimately intertwined, and so conservatives, with their gimlet-eyed view of the world, are always susceptible to charges of incivility. It’s not really nice, you know, to describe things as they are.

This is leftism’s great strength: it’s all white lies. That’s its only advantage, as far as I can tell. None of its programs actually works, after all. From statism and income redistribution to liberalized criminal laws and multiculturalism, from its assault on religion to its redefinition of family, leftist policies have made the common life worse wherever they’re installed. But because it depends on—indeed is defined by—describing the human condition inaccurately, leftism is nothing if not polite. With its tortuous attempts to rename unpleasant facts out of existence—he’s not crippled, dear, he’s handicapped; it’s not a slum, it’s an inner city; it’s not surrender, it’s redeployment—leftism has outlived its own failure by hiding itself within the most labyrinthine construct of social delicacy since Victoria was queen.

This is no small thing. To rewrite the rules of courteous behavior is to wield enormous power. I see it in Southern California, in the bleeding heart of leftism, where I live. I’ve been banned from my monthly poker game, lost tennis partners, lost friends—not because I’m belligerent but because I’ve wondered aloud if the people shouldn’t be allowed to make their own abortion laws, say, or if the world might not be a better place without the UN.

It’s a rotten feeling. I sometimes think that I’d rather be deemed evil than a boor. Wickedness has some flair to it, even a whiff of radicalism. If you molest a child, there’s always a chance that you can get the ACLU to defend you as a cultural innovator. But if you make a remark at table about the destructive social effects of broken homes and then discover that your dinner partner is a divorcée—trust me, you feel like a real louse. It’s manners, not morals, that lay the borderlines of our behavior.

This, I believe, is the reason conservative politicians so often lose their nerve, why they back down in debate even when they’re clearly right. No one wants to be condemned as a brute—especially not conservatives, who still retain some vague memory of how worthy it is to be a lady or gentleman.

And because we’ve allowed leftists to define the language of political good manners—don’t say women are less scientific; don’t remark that black people bear the same responsibility for their actions as whites; don’t point out that the gunman was a Muslim, it’s not nice—the sort of person willing to speak the truth isn’t always the sort of person you want to be seen with. It sometimes takes, I mean, a Rush Limbaugh or a Sean Hannity to withstand the obloquy attached to stating the facts of the matter. If these people in their public personae seem harsh to more genteel conservatives, it may be because it requires that extra dollop of aggression to shatter the silence created by the Left’s increasingly elaborate sensitivities.

Still, mannerly as we would rather be, truth-telling continues to be both compelling and ultimately satisfying. There is, after all, something greater than courtesy. “Firmness in the right,” Lincoln called it, “as God gives us to see the right.” We find ourselves at a precarious moment in an endeavor of great importance: namely, the preservation of Western rationalism and liberty. It does mankind no good to allow so magnificent an enterprise to slip away merely for fear of saying the wrong thing.

What Are Words For?

Ann Coulter , conservative provocateur, used the "new f-word" to describe what she couldn't say about John Edwards. She was trying (poorly) to reference the latest liberal PC craze - speak your mind and use a slur, go to rehab.

In particular, she was referring to the case of actor Isaiah Washington, who apparently called one of his fellow actors a "faggot", apologized, then headed to rehab for his sin. This was soon followed by Tim Hardaway stating his "homophobia" and his preference for keeping his distance from gay men. Hardaway was punished by the NBA and lost some endorsements.

No word on any repercussions towards Mark Knopfler, of Dire Straits, who's '80's smash hit "Money For Nothing" has these lines, transmitted across the airwaves on a daily basis for 25 years:

See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy, that's his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he's a millionaire

Knopfler admits he was quoting the rough-talking blue collar laborer he observed watching MTV while delivering appliances. Coulter was attempting to skewer the far-left Liberal mindset that thinks re-education camps are the solution for bigotry, as well as alluding to the fact that some on the Left believes you can wish the Vice President dead, but you definitely can't call him a faggot.

Whew. At least they have some standards.

Left Cheers Assassination Attempt

Pajamas Media catches the Huffington Post scrubbing the comments from it's more rabid Leftist readers who were hoping...and praying...that Dick Cheney would be killed in the suicide attack on him in Afghanistan.

Wait a minute. They are forgetting thier own rules again. These people simply cannot comment on or even support a Cheney assassination unless they are actually willing to attempt it themselves. They are just going to have to enlist in the Taliban, Mahdi Army, AQ in Iraq, or the Revolutionary Guard. Or they must, if I recall correctly, be willing to “send their own sons and daughters” to do it.

If they will not strap on the bombs, aim the rifle or lick the stamp on the anthrax letter, they are… Chicken Vultures, I guess..?

The People Have Spoken?

From The Corner:

Dissident Chicks [Jonah Goldberg]

You've got to love this :

Maines said, ''People are using their freedom of speech tonight [by giving us] all these awards. I'm very humbled.''

But, the people who criticized these people were ... what? I am so disgusted with people who think free speech is defined as being able to say what you think without being criticized.

I think Goldberg has it right. Natalie says 'the people have spoken", and claims it is validation of sorts. Someone pointed out in the comments section of the Corner that 20,000 liberal artiste Grammy voters may have spoken (in error, naturally), but the people were the ones speaking when you had to re-route your entire tour due to low ticket sales...that was the people speaking, Nat.

I find it odd (not really) that it took a trip to L.A. ( is that West Dixie?) ,endless co-writing sessions with L.A. rockers, uber-producer Rick Rubin and the support of the Liberal Left to manufacture a "straight from the heart, this is our response" record. Surely, the empowered, independent Dixie Chicks don't need help from the phallocentric Rock Star World to help them speak their own minds?

FWIW, the Grammy Awards have ceased to be anything of value to music fans. Jon Bon Jovi won a Country Grammy....why say any more about it? Ridiculous.

UPDATE: And another thing...this whole episode about "death threats" apparently spooked the Chicks. Allegedly, the girls received threats from angry Americans. Somehow the death threat that is Islamofascism - the one directed toward ME - does not bother them, they'd rather cattily criticize the one guy doing something about it. I'm supposed to care about their alleged death threats when tens of thousands of religious fanatics would behead me for not being a Muslim?

A House Divided

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) tried to prevent Minority Leader Steny Hoyer from being the new Majority Leader and attempted to install her ideological peer, John Murtha, in Hoyer's stead. The newly Democrat-controlled House voted 149-86 for Hoyer, dealing Pelosi her first loss before she has even assumed the official title as Speaker.

This is bad news for the Far Left who have been clamoring that the Democrat victory was due to their constant whining and complaining about Iraq. In fact, all of the decisive House seats that tipped the balance to the Democrats were won by Dems running to the right - as conservatives.

Now with Pelosi's attempt to strong arm a loud and gruff antiwar Lefty into a leadership position rebuffed, it appears that the congressional Dems are not going to allow Pelosi to stack the leadership with political lightning rods... which does not bode well for her support of impeached federal judge Alcee Hastings.

Ed Morrissey has a lot more on this issue at Captain's Quarters, as do the guys at Powerline.

Am I Still Here?

Well, life and work have swamped me until now, and this is just a brief respite until I go out on the road again in November.

Since I will be out of state on Election Day, I voted early at the local library. Very nice, new electronic voting machines and no lines to speak of...hooray!

I voted for a Democrat for the first time in years...for Governor. Phil Bredeson has been a good guy as far as I can tell and I see no need to vote a Republican in just because he's a Republican.

I'm not at all a fan of the current crop of national Democrats, they are every bit as partisan and extremist as the Pat Buchanans, David Dukes, Strom Thurmonds and whatever far right-wing pol you want to name ever were. Maybe even worse, since they are allowing and abetting a purge of Democrats who "are not liberal enough".

To think that Joe Lieberman, the Vice Presidential nominee of 6 years ago, had to leave the Democrat party and run as an Independent due to his stand on one issue - the War on Terror - is mind-blowing. That this good man is "no longer a Democrat" - even though he is a reliable liberal, Jewish Senator from Connecticut - is actually a little scary. What happened to the Democrat's Big Tent I heard so much about? What happened to celebrating diversity? What happened to nuance?

Slate has an article that explores what will happen should Lieberman win entitled: Is Joe Lieberman Still a Democrat?

Of course, once the motivated left-wingers got Ned Lamont nominated in the run-off, the rest of the electorate suddenly remembered why they have been sending Lieberman to Washington for so long, and he leads Lamont by 14 points in the recent polls. We'll see who shows up on Election Day: the anti-war party-purgers or more traditional Dems. Good Luck, Joe!

My Sharia Moor

Sorry for the long wait between posts. Too much stuff going on to comment on how much stuff is going on!

The head of Al Qaeda in Iraq is dead, killed by U.S. troops in a bombing run after his whereabouts were determined by an insider tip. Weeks of planning and following the murderous "spiritual advisor" of the gang led to the safe house. The house is no longer safe, nor a house for that matter. And the subsequent seizure of documents, hard drives and other intel has led to the arrest or termination of hunfreds of Al Qaeda operatives. The Iraqi government believes this is the beginning of the end of AQI. All good news, despite the Far Left blogger rantings about Al-Zarqawi being a CIA plant. (See DailyKos, I won't link to it).

Some say that his death will inspire more terrorists to appear. Funny how that seems to be the convential wisdom, despite evidence that for every terrorist "created" there are more than enough Marines trained and willing to kill them. Until they get their kill ratio to under 100-1, more terrorists equals more targets.

I'm all for getting out of there as soon as the job is done, but not a minute before. This action has hastened the inevitable - the insurgents will eventually dwindle down to a manageable few, the Iraqis will take control of their own security, and the U.S. can send her men and women back home.

Northern Kentucky Lights

Seems the head of NKU has given the boot to the Women's Studies professor who urged her students to vandalize a sanctioned pro-life display of crosses. The now-jobless teacher suggested her students "exercise their freedom of speech rights and tear down the display".

"Freedom of speech rights" include vandalism? I don't know what's more pathetic, a teacher so confused she advocates destruction of property in the name of free speech or her idiot students who actually thought she had a point and proceeded to smash the crosses.

Kudos to the powers that be at NKU for doing the obviously correct thing - get that idiot away from teaching kids anything.

Instapundit has the details here

We Gotta Get Outta This Place

Thank God I don't live in Massachusetts. Reading articles like this one from the Boston Globe, I can't imagine what these people are thinking.

The final paragraph is textbook:

The Stoughton No Place for Hate Committee, a local antidiscrimination group, plans to discuss the episode at its meeting tonight because of fears that residents might be hurt or insulted.

Ah yes, a committee to discuss fears of possible hurt feelings and insults.

No Place For Hate? No Clue At All.

Report Cards

Judging by the contents of their character, President Bush gets an "A", former President Clinton a "B", while the opportunistic Reverend Lowry and the increasingly despicable Jimmy Carter both get an "F". Seems that ever since the Wellstone memorial debacle, funerals, wakes and internments are fair political game for the Left. Disgusting.

Poetry Corner

There once was man named Jack Murtha
Who mewled like a cat (see: Kitt, Eartha)
Predicting our doom helped Osama, from whom,
he was separated at birtha

Losing Your Head

Someone named Joel Stein wrote this column for the L.A Times today. There has been much blogosphere discussion, with Hugh Hewitt methodically peeling back the onionskin layers of his logic in an interview. It reads a bit like a parent teaching a child an important life lesson.

My question for Joel: Supposing the LAT needed your skills in Iraq. Suppose you were kidnapped by insurgents, who are targeting the Press more often lately. Would you support the U.S. troops who come looking for you? What if they found you, would you support them then? How about if they burst in at the last minute and interrupted your beheading, how about then? When would you support the troops? The ones who make sure you can "never worry about money and do well in school" without having to enlist in the military. Have you no sense of your insufferable arrogance and unapologetic ignorance - even after it has been exposed all day?

If only shame was still a concept people cared about.

20 Best Singles of 2005

I was in an airport the other day and bought a SPIN magazine, the first in many years. Apparently The Killers are the Band of the Year. I have never heard them until tonight when I checked out "Mr. Brightside". SPIN calls it "lusciously melodramatic". I must have missed something. It wasn't bad, just not particularly luscious or melodramatic. Hmmm.

I have long suspected that I'm too old to comment on Popular Music these days, but a quick scan of the "20 Best Singles" may have proved it. I have never heard of fully half of the bands. Of those I had heard of, I have only heard three of them - Gwen Stefani, Green Day and Kelly Clarkson. I have a lot of catching up to do, and that may not be all that rewarding.

I do kind of like the Fall Out Boy tune - "Sugar, We're Going Down" (ranked second behind something by Gorillaz Inc.). It was lusciously melodramatic.

Last of the 1,000 Dances

Soul shouter Wilson Pickett died today. I've played versions of his smash "Mustang Sally" in nearly every bar band I ever joined. It's a universal song, like "Proud Mary". Everybody knew it, all of the girls loved it, anyone could scream it out - but not like Pickett.

He always seemd to be the dirtier, nastier version of Otis Redding to me. His women were a little trashier, his night clubs a little seedier, his music a little coarser. He was the Rolling Stones to Redding's Beatles. Both enjoyed the stellar backing of the Stax house band, and guitar genius Steve Cropper co-wrote "Midnight Hour" with Pickett, as well as "Dock of the Bay" with Redding.

It's sobering to see the great artists of Rock and Soul's Golden Age passing away so rapidly and so young. Guess I'll get out the Stax compilations and toast "Wicked Pickett" goodbye.

Induction Junction

Finally, the post New Year's Diet begins. I lost 10 pounds in November, but put it all back on - and more - since then. I have had past success on the Atkins Diet, having dropped 65 pounds in less than a year a couple of years ago. I'm back on it today and so far, I've had bacon and eggs, and hamburger patties. And cheese, glorious cheese. Six year old Cheddar from Brennan's in Madison, Wisconsin. Sharp Cheddar so old it loses some of the sharpness and starts to crystallize. Delicious.

I plan on giving a weekly update as to pounds lost every Monday. I'd like to drop another 50 pounds this year...4 pounds a month - if you have it to lose like I do - is a do-able goal, I think. I tend to drop it very quickly, and this time I am joining the YMCA which is right down the street...

Who Does Number Two Work For?

Though we have been through this before, it looks like we might have blown up Zawahiri into tiny DNA samples. Since Bin Laden failed to give the New Year's "State of the Jihad" address, Zawa took up the mantle and gave immediate credence to the rumor that OBL is already dead. So, we may have in fact blown up the leader of Al Qaeda, reportedly using an unmanned Predator.

Kinda sucks to be targeted by some guy in bunker who's probably watching Family Guy on one monitor and directing the flight path of lethal rockets on the other...guess maybe ya shoulda rethunk that whole 9/11 thing, eh Ayman?

At least if he is dead, we can all take comfort in knowing it was the Will of Allah.

Update: Pakistani officals say he was not there. Too bad. Forensics may discover who was killed, hopefully some AQ.

Update II: After the media had a day or two of telling us it was an innocent family of jewelers sitting down to supper, turns out it was a high level strategy meeting for AQ. Killed three big dogs and maybe two bodyguards. Kinda hard to keep a bodyguard gig if your main threat is a Predator... sayonara, losers.

Past Glories

Poetry Corner. I had a limerick published in the Opinion Journal a while back. I did not hear about it until long after it was published, and I actually found out by Googling my own name on a long bus trip. Not that there's anything wrong with that..!

That gave me the inkling to start a current events blog, which I eventually did. Just filling y'all in on the origins.

Wake Up to Make Up

I think some of us, here and elsewhere in the world, are finally acknowledging the real conversation we need to be having...the one that Mark Steyn summarized so succinctly. Partisanship and ideology are moot if you have no place to practice them.

After seeing threats only in the guise of the Soviets and their client states, we have taken a bit long to recognize the asymetricals - terrorism, creeping immigration powered by a fervent belief in multiculturism that espouses a tolerance for a barbaric, oppressive monoculturistic society as if it were a legitimate idea. It takes a leader with backbone and single-mindedness to address these issues.

I don't care what Party that man or woman may belong to, but they better understand the role. I believe Bill Clinton got lucky in that he presided over a country that accepted his lackadaisical "don't attack, don't defend" approach to terror and were lulled by the inability of the terrorists to successfully attack us on our soil. 9/11 changed all of that - or should have - and I think even Clinton would have handled it differently than he did during his terms. I can't imagine him trying to continue to criminalize a war after being attacked directly.

Like him or hate him, we need a Bush-like leader right now. Until this threat is minimized, we need ALL future Presidents to have his attitude. Electing an non-Bush-like Exec will not make the threat go away. Terrorists will not stop their jihads. Fatwas will not cease. Iran will not stop it's nuke program. North Korea will not become suddenlly sane.

I bet life was very different on December 6, too. After Pearl Harbor, it took a while for the country to get with the program. Roosevelt and Truman had the advantage of a Nazi Germany and an aggressive Japanese Empire to declare war against, and standing armies to do battle with. This new style is subtle and we sometimes seem to forget that we are making this up as we go. We will make big mistakes. Soldiers will die. Lots of money will be spent. What is our other option?

And Now, Direct From Liverpool....

Video may have killed the radio star, but seeing these old Ed Sullivan clips is certainly a treat. Without any decently recorded live albums, the only evidence of how great a live band The Beatles were exists solely in old video footage.

After they stopped touring in 1966, they increasingly wrote and recorded music that would have been impractical to perform live, even if they had the desire to do so. Paul McCartney has been doing later period Beatle songs in his shows and they translate wonderfully. My favorite Beatle period is 1965-66. For the most part,the instrumentation is still two guitars, bass and drums, but the songs are deeper in meaning and the maturity and craft they bring to a 2:30 Pop song is still exciting 40 years later.

Check out "Help!". They absolutely nail the arrangement, the vocals, and George has his tricky guitar lick down cold...amazing.

Sorry I Missed It

The Progressive Democrats of America (is there any other kind?) threw a shindig the other night. When discussing politics and religion, I always pay attention to what the actors think. I don't make any major life decisions without running it by at least one thespian.

Actor Sean Penn added to the enthusiasm of the day by stressing that all of the nation's anti-war activism was taking hold and was starting to work—while admitting that the stress of living under the current administration was making it tough for him to quit smoking. Stating that he "was not a pacifist on the inside", he was moved to be one on the outside for the sake of his children and grandchildren's future. He said we have to fight for everything we have.

Yeah, that's the strength of the Left, Bush has them so stressed, dried leaves wrapped in paper are stronger than their will to quit. Why don't you fight for your lungs?

Perhaps the most unforgettable moment occurred when Jesse Dyen, Camp Casey's beloved sound guy and songwriter, played his guitar and sang "Sons and Daughters", the beautiful and plaintive anthem that was born in Crawford during those hot August nights. Before he sang, Jesse asked the audience which direction southeast was. He explained that when the song was sung every night at Camp Casey, they always faced Bush's ranch. The emotion in his song was reflected and magnified by the packed hall. It was aching and palpable.

Ah,the beloved singer/songwriter/sound guy...I'm sure it was brilliant, inspiring even more empty gestures at each rendering. Buy a compass, swampy.