print* SPOOKY GIFTS. Looking for a present with which to spook out your loved ones? Glenn Beck’s e-newsletter suggests that you “Put Glenn Beck Under Your Tree.” If you are unable to buy tickets to see Beck’s performance art, he’d like you to buy his products. (Actually, I have a better suggestion; buy “Broad Sides.”) I know you aren’t, but I’m still lamenting the loss of a potential force for liberty. Beck is circling the drain, caught in an echo-chamber out of which not even his indecipherable charts can lead him.
* FAIRY TALES. My husband, a fairly old-fashioned (if not old) man who works closely with the similar types, tells me that men seldom discuss their spouses at work. It should not be too difficult for the heterosexual soldiers in the military to agree to keep quiet about their families in exchange for some silence from the homosexual contingent. Aha, but you see, as “‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ For Hets and Homos” argued, the underlying impetus in this battle is to make the military as much like the culture at large: a big whore house. I do not think the activists even think in such terms. It is just that it is second-nature for the North American Personality to demand complete merger of the private and professional.
Tell me that Osama’s ascetic army will not skedaddle at the site of a brigade that looks like this:
* WIKIWONDER. Look at the WikiLeaks Mirrors page: “In order to make it impossible to ever fully remove WikiLeaks from the Internet, you will find below a list of mirrors of WikiLeaks website and CableGate pages.” An amazing operation.
Have at it. This is an Open Forum (with limitations, naturally). Please post whatever is on your mind (including, if you’d like, brief questions to your host on this or the other issue).
UPDATE (Dec. 10): The gentle-wo/man, in the image above (second from the right), is “transitioning,” me thinks. The spouse tells me that he came upon a transitioning person in the hallways at work. This poor person was not only sexually ambivalent but obese too, so it wore a muumuu. Right there they formed a bond. I’m joking. As you can imagine, your ordinary guy, the square type especially, doesn’t know what to do with this stuff. An outward display of your inner-most conflicts will make a co-worker run in the opposite direction.
I have plenty of sympathy for authentic pain, however pampered the sufferer. There is a lot of pain wrapped up in sexual ambivalence. Not so much these days, where what you get is emotionally pampered individuals publicly displaying “pain” they imagine they have; and have been instructed to feel.
Middle-aged folks like myself well remember the agony endured by a sexually ambivalent persons only two decades or so back. Everyone knows someone who is gay or even people who feel they were born the wrong sex. As if life were not hard enough. How horrible is it to be confused about a core characteristic as is gender.
Here’s the point I’ve tried to make not always successfully. A decent society is a private society. I am not opposed to gays serving in the military; I’m against the idea that sexual proclivities and peccadilloes are a public affair.
Where, why, and how did it all go wrong for Beck? I suspect he OD’d on himself some time after Van Jones was shown the door, because Beck hasn’t been quite the same since. The only thing sadder than Beck ranting about his enemies is how predictable his descent has been. He’s literally gone Lonesome Rhodes after all. I’d qualify the distinction between Beck and the character from “A Face in the Crowd” in the following way: Andy Griffith’s character became obsessed with his burgeoning power, whereas Beck loves the feel of his significance.
To give credit where credit is due, Beck has had an impact on the current mood of the country, and it’s the best kind of influence because he’s encouraged people to actually read for themselves and dig into the weeds. I discovered Lew Rockwell’s blog because of barelyablog.com. But I found BAB because of an interest in classical liberalism; an interest derived from Beck mentioning Von Hayek (whose books I’ve subsequently devoured along with Ron Paul’s book on Gold, along with Bastiat, de Tocqueville). All of this is because of the narrative created by a series of Beck’s shows. I found reason.com because of John Stossel’s appearance on Beck early last year.
Sad. Because I’ve basically stopped watching Beck for several months now.
“Beck is circling the drain”
BwaHahahaaaaa !!!!!!!!!!!!!
A few random thoughts:
(1) DADT worked in theory (of course, the government did not carry it out well) that one’s PRIVATE life should be private. Sadly, most people want everyone to be just like them and therefore must impose their “agenda” and make the private into public.
(2) America is living beyond its means. Even Freedom Watch is a bit disappointing arguing that estate taxes should be zero and no tax increase on millionaires, etc. Most of this would be fine [in fact, low flat rates – even on estates would make more sense than the current garbled system] IF spending was not $ 4 Trillion. Instead, the compromise is to increase unemployment spending and add to the deficit. It is all unreal and will end badly.
(3) Now I have to estimate my family medical bills for next year under another buttinsky tax loophole program
[again, I would prefer a simpler system without the loopholes] – Ciao!
Only a country in a deepening moral and spiritual abyss could think that forcing men to shower next to others who are openly gay is a splendid idea. The next few years are going to be interesting as much as they are sad. Will there be separate showers for homosexuals? Will there be all queer units that live in separate quarters? Which brings to mind a question. Why can’t I as a straight man use the female showers in the same way that a gay man uses the male facilities? If I keep my hands to myself and use the showers for their intended purpose then what is the difference?
Regarding the “dream” act…all the immigrants have to do is join the military, get their simple minds indoctrinated, and presto…the government has the civilian military force they’ve always “dreamed” of.
“Beck is circling the drain, caught in an echo-chamber out of which not even his indecipherable charts can lead him.”…Ilana, you bring a smile to my weary face with every post. Whether it’s your wonderful sense of humor, or the refreshing political, social, philosophical, and economic positions you set forth. Thanks again.
“Fairy tales”….too funny.