Mark30339

[My comment was removed by an apparently insecure author -- some details are terribly inconvenient, even when spoken by conservatives]

I thought I'd respond by buying the digital subscription, but even with the subscription, my online experience remains the same TSA-like interaction with unwanted popups and forever loading flash ads. Hey Jonah, is there a National Review online subscription available that upgrades me to clean, fresh, ad-free access to NR's online horde of wisdom? Stroke my ego and call it a Digital VIP subscription.

INVESTIGATION: Lena Dunham ‘Raped by a Republican’ Story in Bestseller Collapses…

Mark30339 Guest 3 months ago

To defend his good name, Barry One has a legal defense fund at http://www.gofundme.com/ib59bo . Perhaps Lena and her publisher will regret generating profitable publicity by malicious lies and smears.

Discussion on American Thinker 200 comments

The Million Man Cigarette and Salt March

Mark30339 3 months ago Removed

So how do we translate the week's events into something more than self deluding put-downs of those with misguided views? How have conservatives and conservative principles made positive improvements in peoples lives -- because I fail to see how Clarice's glib indulgence in schadenfruede makes conservatism appealing to anyone.

Discussion on National Review Online 892 comments

Black Lives Matter

I suggest the black pastor's reflection here: http://www.thegospelcoalition....
About 2 years ago I was in my car waiting at a light near a predominantly black apartment complex. A white boy of about 16 walked by and literally 40 black youths poured into the street to punch and kick the boy. The light turned green and I drove toward the action and those youths slipped away and disappeared into their apartments as gracefully as a cloud casts a moving shadow. The boy got up and left the area and when I inquired he did not seek my assistance.
With all due respect to Kevin, this is not about having the more persuasive argument or the more effective policy. This is about a fatherless mob exploiting opportunity and feigning indignation. To the extent we have a mainstream community rooted in character, integrity, morality and law, let's stop assuming that this fatherless mob and its supporters want to live in such a community.

Mark30339 Patrick 3 months ago

Yes. That movie was an attack on legitimate parenting instincts to protect an extremely naive and underskilled 19 year old, and it deemed those instincts to be rooted in racial prejudice and bigotry. The movie made it plainly clear that of the two errors: a) do nothing as your beloved daughter is led by strangers down a path filled with worry and danger; or b) appear to take action that could possibly have, among its many motivations, a bigoted one --- the second error was the far greater sin.

How to Check the President

Mark30339 PicklePlants 3 months ago

Newt passed a budget that clipped Clinton's spending ambitions, Clinton vetoed it and the ensuing public relations battle enormously boosted Clinton's standing while the GOP was devastatingly branded as the party of shutdown. The House GOP did it again in 2013 and, for a time, boosted a paralyzed Obama. In both cases, the GOP completely capitulated on budget legislation to get government open again. Shutdown is the strategy of a party desperately seeking the contempt and distrust of the electorate. Before embracing shutdown as a viable choice, find out how many battleground elections were won by a republican vowing to shut down government to curtail the President, and predict how many of the 24 GOP senators up for re-election in 2016 will support shutdown over the next 2 years.

So, given the weak choices offered by the authors, this article essentially suggests that the only way to check this President is to bring a plastic spoon to a knife fight. I suggest 2 better choices, 1) a relentless public relations campaign with Daniel Hannan espousing the virtues of integrity, consistency and transparency in both government and in press reporting on government, and 2) commencing the petition to have the States call for a constitutional convention. Every time the POTUS goes lawless cowboy, get a State to sign the petition.

Is Jonathan Gruber a Michael Mann without academic freedom defense?

A great post. I wondered if Gruber faced a false claims exposure.

Protestants Should Heed the Pope This Week

I commend Mark Tooley's post and would encourage reflection on both the nature of the male/female relationship and the millennia of tradition as to the procreative ideal for the husband and wife relationship. One important aspect of the tradition formerly passed from generation to generation was the expectation that a) the adults would sacrifice their needs for the needs of their children, and b) a key need of children was a stable, respectful, and committed relationship between mother and father. Clearly we have drifted to a tradition that expects the vulnerable children to suck up the disruptions inherent in an anything goes series of relationships that resemble recreational experiments. The whimsical desires of parents trump the the needs of the children, and no social construct reprimands or discourages that posture.

Obamacare Facebook page full of Astroturfed comments

Great report. Perhaps it will lead to a policy of not allowing AT authors from spiking sufficiently respectful comments that challenge their posts.

Ukrainian Lessons for the West

Mark30339 Mark30339 4 months ago

George Weigel's piece is a spectacular blueprint for putting a nation back on course. Perhaps he can supplement it with more detail on the missing de-legitimatizations. If nothing else, it can serve as a quite useful future treasure to be unearthed much like the portrayal in A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ. This society of increasing fatherlessness and increasing matriarchy tends to determine that there is nothing worth fighting for.

In the US we seem to be 300 million frogs obliviously swimming in a warming pot. A few are alert enough to know what is coming -- but will we be able to find and organize enough of them to implement what George calls for and reverse course? Our comforts and petty squabbles shrink us from even being willing to ask what past disciplines made today's life possible, or what our resistance to discipline will render for the next generation.

Thank You, Jonathan Gruber

Discussion on National Review Online 517 comments

An excellent post by Rich. So succinct even non-MIT types like me could comprehend it in one try.

The Pope’s Unforced Error

Mark30339 JP 4 months ago

Actually, there already is an established practice of provisional or conditional baptism. One would think a provisional annulment could be established while there are minor children in the home and the parent performs on a commitment to keep up with catechism and the sacraments. Our church has a long history of clergy and even popes keeping concubines and fathering children and still validly administering their office despite the public scandal. The beneficial mercy I suggest is not outweighed by the risk of the Church and its authority being scandalized by remarried Catholics devoting themselves more fully to the faith under the indulgence of a provisional annulment.

Mark30339 T_Edward 4 months ago

The prodigal's brother again fails to see the obvious. If the remarried custodial parent lapses from attending Mass and belonging to a parish, then the children are highly likely to follow suit.

Cardinal Burke has a stunning intellect and is quite eloquent in both spoken and written word. And he is correct about traditional Church doctrine and discipline regarding remarried Catholics and gay Catholics. He was also correct to challenge the bolshevik tactics at the recent synod which departed from confidential exchanges and issued a radical, single view press release suggesting synod support for major changes.
However, I am not sure that the Cardinal is ever persuaded to views other than his own. He had a reputation as an autocrat when he was Bishop of La Crosse, WI and of St. Louis.
With respect to remarried Catholics, perhaps the great minds of the Church can work out a revised sanction which allows some kind of provisional access to the sacraments for the sake of minor children of the marriage, so that THEY have continued access to the sacraments. It was disappointing that the ubiquitous gay agenda emerged to consume almost all the oxygen for the synod and seek to twist Church doctrine to better conform with prevailing political movements.

Inside the Plan to Block Obama's Executive Amnesty

Mark30339 Mainstream Mike 4 months ago

Dem support for Obama and the Dem leadership is weak. It's a good time to peel away sensible democrats to support sensible bills. Then let's see if POTUS has the balls to veto bills with bipartisan support and then withstand further decline in approval. What he wants is the fierce partisan fight you describe Mike, because the fight ends with his veto and his power prevails over the GOP. On the other hand, vetoes of bipartisan bills will look like an abuse of power.

Smart ways to fight back: The GOP makes the legislative rules and committee assignments, it's not subject to a veto or a 60 vote cloture -- so exploit those unilateral posturing opportunities. No doubt some members on the Left will have useful insights on a portion of the needed corrections. Display efforts to "get along" by setting up new rules that give selected members of the minority a chance to participate. Perhaps each chair can have discretion to create the position of "opposition consigliere" as a consultant to help advise on legislation to have better opportunities for getting some endorsement votes from the Left. These would be people serving at the pleasure of the chair -- NOT Reid/Pelosi or the ranking member, it's not like the leadership is held in high regard by rank and file dems anyway -- and actions by the dem leadership that blocks or punishes the consigliere can be made to look like ugly partisanship in the press.
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Next, create substantial but discretionary privileges for the minority that are contingent on the President's good behavior and are diminished each time the President unlawfully bypasses Congress or disregards the law. The GOP can't punish the President, but it can punish members of his party and they will be better positioned to prevent or punish his misconduct.
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Third, the dems already adopted the "nuclear" option on judicial appointees (except for SCOTUS). Perhaps the Senate can pass a contingent rule that triggers the full nuclear option (even for Scotus) in the event of Presidential misconduct like exceeding his authority on immigration or on Obamacare.
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Fourth, set up an 18 month select committee to investigate and hold hearings on the insidious Administration practice of promising full cooperation with Congressional inquiry and then lying, deceiving, hiding, losing and stonewalling on documents and testimony. Included in the scope would be mistreatment of journalists like James Rosen, Stephen F. Hayes and Sharyl Attkisson.
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Lastly, work on legislation that really helps -- and find ways to get similar bills enacted in GOP States. When Obama vetoes those bills, show the benefit derived in those States and denounce Obama for blocking progress.

[My comment was set aside by an apparently insecure author -- some details are terribly inconvenient, even when spoken by conservatives]

The biggest mistake the GOP can make is to let themselves be yet again branded the party of government shutdown. The best way to avoid this is refusing to play the shutdown card because Obama will benefit from calling the bluff (as the Ted Cruz republicans were schooled earlier -- just like the Gingrich republicans in the 90's). There are smarter ways to fight back.

Texas Cities are Losing Control of Fracking

Mark30339 4 months ago Pending

A primary issue in Denton, and many other parts of Texas, is protecting scarce water supplies. I am all for developing oil and gas, but not in urban areas and not near water supplies. All the people who want to dismiss this protest as over-reaching tree hugging should put their money where there mouths are, buy a discounted home in the affected Denton areas, and try raising children there. Be sure to research the purchase by reading the local comments at http://www.dentonrc.com/local-...

Discussion on National Review Online 36 comments

Dispatch from the Future

Perhaps the piece will help the Left see the possible consequences of their practice of policy implementations that greatly exceed the boundaries of their authority. But this cuts both ways, the Left may become excited about the prospects of executive orders compelling 80% withholdings on the salaries of the rich, and 0% withholding on the working poor. The Obama era has reinforced a Leftist delusion that they can always pay for their agenda with printed dollars when tax receipts aren't enough.

It’s How They Wrote the Law

My hope is that Chief Justice Roberts comes to his senses, reconsiders his prior opinion, and strikes down the law on constitutional grounds. That is a far better solution for all concerned. Gutting the practice of federal subsidies creates a disaster for both right and left. Given that, my educated guess is this: Roberts will double down and announce that his superior intellect perceives penumbras in the law which authorize the federal subsidies. It's his only option if he wants to keep his landmark opinion on Obamacare constitutionality relevant.

Wind turbines declared health hazard in Wisconsin

Great report from Thomas/Clarice. Left and Right are so conditioned to stick to their orthodoxy regardless of the human consequences. This is only one county among the several thousand counties in the US, but it's nice to see critical thinking trump ideology at least once.

Mark30339 RhettButler1 4 months ago

I'm no expert, but I know that low frequency base thumping from car stereos agitates intensely.

The Left and Lena Dunham

Interesting theory on purges among the left. Eliot Spitzer had a sex scandal about sex, but he had single-handedly made so many enemies that the scandal gave pols full cover in withdrawing support. Bill Clinton's sex scandal was about lying under oath before a federal judge, but the left turned it into an over-reaching Ken Starr snooping into understandable fibs about an irrelevant affair; Clinton held on to his political and media support. His well documented war on women is somehow absolved -- apparently because his politics are correct.

Outrageous 'John Doe' prosecution of Scott Walker supporters in Wisconsin ends

It is good that Thomas Lifson is highlighting this problem. An enormous amount of trust and discretion is given to prosecutors with no system of accountability. Prosecutors need to be people of integrity who are interested in strengthening the fabric of our society -- but our system rewards them with higher office for the scalps they succeed at taking unscrupulously.

Discussion on National Review Online 746 comments

Brittany Maynard’s Death

Mark30339 idgie57 4 months ago

Very thoughtful comments. Do you have insight as to options with sedatives and pain meds? I know increasing dosages of morphine can lead to death of the patient, but it is administered in stages to provide comfort, not to stop the heart. Does the Oregon shortcut really provide dignity not available elsewhere?

Mark30339 Guest 4 months ago

I suggest we charitably remember that the most vigorous of non-believers was Saul of Tarsus.
Chuck's argument is perhaps more persuasive against himself rather than against Kevin. A staunch devotion to atheism does not purify reason, it brings its own dark bias as to why we are here. And that devotion to atheism begs the question: why is Chuck here? . . . That is, why is Chuck at a publication founded by a monumental intellect who was a devoted believer. And If Kevin's reasoning falls because of Christian faith, so does Buckley's, and Reagan's and even the reasoning of America's founding fathers.

As Walter Miller's A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ nears its end, state sponsored euthanasia tents are erected near monastery grounds due to widespread radiation sickness and despair. The abbot tries vigorously to steer the despairing away from the state facilities. Shortly thereafter, he is dying from a nuclear bomb shock wave, and he ponders the life of an infant who he knows to be marching into euthanasia with her despairing mother. As the abbot fights off crippling pain and bouts of unconsciousness, he uses his last energy to prayerfully carry as much suffering as he possibly can, so as to reduce the burdens heaped on that innocent, trusting infant.
Ms. Maynard made a choice, but the abbot offers a different choice, much like our Lord who persevered through the fears faced at Gethsemane; He chose to carry monumental suffering in order to conquer the dark grip of death and redeem us back to the Giver of our lives. One would hope that Christians would do all in their power to bring aid to the afflicted, and simultaneously do all in their power to prevent substituting that aid with euthanasia.

An FBI October surprise dirty trick in South Dakota Senate race?

"So if I suspect the DoJ's FBI of blatant interference in an eleciton to favor the Demcorats, perhaps I can be forgiven."
Pretty soon you'll be telling us that this Admin shamelessly lied about Benghazi failures and coordinated unlawful IRS harassment of conservative nonprofits to avoid a 2012 election setback.

Health-Care Hell

Mark30339 themaskedblogger 4 months ago

Witness the astonishing arrogance of the Left, but when will the electorate hold them accountable? My guess is for only this election cycle, during which the Right will pass legislation to repair the damage, a grand compromise between establishment republicans and the President will gut the repair, and thereafter the Left will successfully blame the Right for the country's health insurance problems. It's just a guess.

Dysfunctional Disability Judges

Why else would the most anti-transparent administration in history be packing the appellate courts under senate leader Harry "Dr. Strangelove" Reid who has learned to stop worrying and love the nuclear option. This regime knows Jillian and her ilk will be coming with appeals, and it needs the votes to withstand their legitimate pleas for disclosure.

Pathetic Privilege

Some of us grew up with June and Ward Cleaver's rather rigid but clear sense of propriety. However, the social signals abruptly shifted to embrace Norman Lear's steep and slippery slope away from the earlier norm. TV dictates a propriety and society acquiesces in the decline. I suppose it's appropriate to single out this woman to cry out in disgust, but Kevin's derision is not likely to erode the strange pride she has in being this way -- or in media's willingness to saturate us with more celebrations of polymorphous perversion.

Yoga, Door to Transcendental Meditation and Demonic Possession

There is a powerful reality beyond what we casually see, touch, hear, smell or taste. And we probably have just a small inkling of how our formation as children dominates our subconscious and sways the choices we think we make rationally. I dabbled in yoga briefly and have profound respect for how the postures become so ingrained in the body that the mind both welcomes and yields to them. We think of new age as having an image of universal good will; yet it is always about developing self and always about deactivating how we let our neighbor's concerns come inside. It is totally incompatible with a Christian life of having Jesus dwell in me while I dwell in the Body of Christ. New age thinking is a prime culprit in today's moral relativism that makes it fashionable to be proud of pro-choice logic, proud of legally sanctioned suicide, proud of terrifying drone strikes to fight terror, and proud of anything goes intimacies that fill the world with unfathered children who will build on the oppressive majority that insists on truth being relative.

How to Secede in Business

Before we embrace the elixir of NGO activism, we might want to face the fact that liberals almost always end up in permanent dominance of these entities. Look at the Pew Foundation, the American Bar Association, and almost the entire universe of academia. Allan Bloom decried the shift in his 1987 book THE CLOSING OF THE AMERICAN MIND. What will stop NAARP from morphing into another puppet of CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations)? Until it was co-opted by government subsidies, AARP represented retired people -- now it sides with death panel Obamacare. Saul Alinsky would probably agree that the easiest thing to turn is a nonprofit organization, it just takes some focused deceit.

Meet the New Serfs: You

Kevin's polymath command is astounding. But as he shares more and more, confidence wanes as to whether we can ever restore the nation that was once called a shining city on a hill.

Ruins of the Middle East

The even worse news is that the USA will be seen as structurally incapable of being reliable as an ally, friend or even stabilizing presence for much longer than a news cycle. The left seems incapable of formulating a coherent, long term policy to serve USA interests, and the right is helpless as electoral tides glibly eviscerate the policies they crafted to serve American interests; further, the dismantlers do so with a certainty that they not only will they never be held to account for the resulting disaster -- THEY will prosper from it at the nation's expense.

The Great Catholic Cave-In that Wasn’t

Thank you George for publishing something of prominence to countermand the Der Tag narrative so craved by the prevailing hedonism. Still, one wonders why the Vatican does not do more to pre-empt these reckless distortions.

Kevin Williamson and a Painful Truth

The author's reflection on crime, denial and equilibrium is intriguing. The dichotomy about men being prosecuted for injury to infants is not the point. The prospective mother has a conflict of interest in the abortion decision, and the law shockingly makes no provision for the interests of the the child to be represented. For live children, the law calls for a guardian ad litem, but for unborn children who are even more dependent and vulnerable, there is nothing. For a short piece on the history of abortion as a crime is found here: http://www.missourilife.org/la....

They Are Coming for Your Children

Mark30339 hokkoda 5 months ago

Yes, the toxic bureaucrats strike again. Since 1960 public schools have provided enormous additional benefit to only one group: the adults employed there. See the Harvard and Stanford experts on the subject at Uncommon Knowledge https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

How Liberals Dominate the Public Debate

A former journalism undergrad recently commented on how the department declared itself to be objective, and yet was amazingly uniform in portraying events as favorable or unfavorable. In short, there is no getting through to journalism's gatekeepers with sound conservative policy or with even-handed treatment. So the slogans are only a symptom, and if the Right mixes up the game with new slogans, the gatekeepers will adjust and resume the dominance. Perhaps the answer is to talk far less and only debate when a Daniel Hannan type moderator is on hand. In the meantime, conservatives are free to be more points of light, just jump into areas of need and produce results.

The Science Is Settled: Fracking Is Safe

People need to appreciate the gigantic mess you have on hand with oil and gas well fields. And with fracking, there are huge supplies of toxic liquid brought to the site. Yes methane and other hydrocarbons can release from natural processes and our environment survives --- but I don't see any commenters willing to have their children's water supply bubbling up with methane. How many are signing up to trade places with people suffering under the "subset" of problems in PA and TX? The technology can't stop natural gas rising up from the outside of well pipes. The outside of the pipe can be sealed with cement at the surface, but over time the cement cracks and the seals fail. Plus, fracking's horizontal routes make it impossible to know how many other vertical routes are bubbling up. I favor oil and gas exploration, but I'm not for boring near water supplies or under residential areas.

Pete Rozelle to Roger Goodell

"Not the loveliest of our fellow countrymen become" . . .
movie stars, rap artists, celebrity musicians, politicians, or journalists, yet we let them rule over our steep descent into moral relativism. How fitting for them to throw the spotlight upon and lucify the incredibly few incidents of misbehavior among professional athletes. And how fitting that our priority is to "clean up" the NFL rather than vet the cultural elites. We seem to have no problem with going through the private email and voice mail of NBA executives, when do the elites grant us access to theirs?

Don't Blame the NFL

Let's not relegate football down to some affirmative action program that provides the rudiments of structure and discipline for troubled males. Life is messy and filled with competitors and bullies looking to take your opportunities for themselves. Football captures this reality this for young men, and instills strength, initiative, assertiveness, determination, discipline, respect, esteem, teamwork, a sense of belonging to something bigger than the individual self and a structure for dealing with defeat. Football is one of the few great endeavors that teaches how a man, despite all his shortcomings, can be a more effective man. Football has never been about being a blemish-free Eagle Scout.

Discussion on The Federalist 650 comments

Another Day, Another Quote Fabricated By Neil deGrasse Tyson

Thanks for the great work taking this paragon to task, yet I doubt he has even the slightest concern over your piece impairing his standing as a learned and objective messenger of truth. We are all so far behind the curve, and that is how the new paragons like it. See Andrew McCarthy's piece:

Global Warming and the Feynman test

This article is an excellent combination of facts and balance. Scientists seem to have self-appointed as theocratic messiahs conspiring to save the world from a warming apocalypse. Are they not shocked by their religious zeal and their contamination of science? Obviously their faith trumps their integrity. In my faith, the imperative is NOT to bear false witness.

Let Me Get This Straight

I remember being taught in college English about Marshall McLuhan announcing that the medium is the message. When print was all we had, a level of critical thinking was required to be apprised of local, national and world events. Today's sewage-like gush of steering distortions we call news are so easily taken in that critical thinking is optional. No longer is there a reflective pause like there was between morning papers; today's news is unceasing and it relentlessly conditions us toward cynicism and nihilism. If we can only have one set of warning labels in today's world, take them off the cigarettes and put them on the news.

Surprised by Joy

This life is about taking our infirmities and making something noble with them. It is precisely the imperfections that unleash abilities to reach levels of grace and dignity that were seemingly impossible. Yet so many thinkers are plagued with the deluded temptation to know better than our Creator and snuff out lives that are not sufficiently appealing. The mounting horror is that this Dawkins mindset marries in so well with single payer health care allocators. These carefully selected appointees will no doubt will strip all notions of Church in a blind allegiance to an atheist State. Orwell seems to be saying "hello" louder and louder every day.

ISIS Horrors and Just War Teaching

There is no question that the ISIS atrocities have to be stopped. Even from a Christian point of view, military containment and confrontation is not off the table, much to Mr. Tooley's obsessed delight. But is there a way for Western Christians living in safety and comfort to at least offer our homes as refuge for the children of these front line Christians? How can each of us move from self-soothing banter to sharing the burdens of our Christian brethren and taking constructive action?

41 American Anglican Bishops Stand in Solidarity with Persecuted Believers

Mark30339 9 months ago

This is a great first step, but while our government is being lobbied, can't we lobby ourselves? Is there a US parish to Mideast parish support program? Should we as individuals offer our homes as shelter?

Benghazi Constructs

Mark30339 Cherubin 9 months ago

Apparently, the precious value of life, of honor and of integrity are not nearly as precious as the need to hold on to power. Perhaps the Benghazi hearings and the 2016 electorate will adjust those calculations.

The Narcissistic Creed

Mark30339 9 months ago

Scary good observations Mr. Williamson. Thirty years ago my mentor at college (he was a 40 year old PhD student in counseling psychology) would lament the explosion of polymorphous perverts (his word for navel gazing narcissists) -- of course Bishop Berkeley had him beat by 250 years. This would seem to be a mushrooming development joined with the great mushrooming of media in our lifetimes. It is so hard to perceive oneself as relevant in a world of information overload overwhelmed within a much larger universe of misinformation overload. The delusion of relevance in posting (or even "liking") a worded selfie has an obvious appeal.
The scary tipping point is that our LEADERS prefer the same indulgence rather than being held accountable for the presence or absence of effective action. For today's leaders, being perceived as concerned and "hip" trumps substance. I love the admonition to suggest that the selfie lot should consider abstaining from the vote. It is not naive to at least propose that the nobler posture is to recognize what you don't know and to do no harm. There really isn't much historical precedent for it in American politics, but this connected age may be the one that is positioned to see the merit. Perhaps first we'll need to restore an inclination to read 1700 word articles to the poignant end.

The Emerging Junta

Mark30339 Genna2 10 months ago

If the dominant media doesn't align to condemn the act, then only a few of us Hortons hear the Who. The only way to hold the federal government in check with a functioning free press is to put in republican governments. Such a press screamed bloody murder when Bush replaced 7 of his 93 US Attorneys after the 2006 midterm elections -- yet where are they today with this infinitely more serious abuse of power?

Obama’s War on Louisiana

If only the Obama administration was caught closing a lane on a bridge, THEN we would have a real scandal!
Many thanks to Quinn for highlighting Gov. Jindal. The real substance of the story is not the Obama roadblocks, it is conservatives in Louisiana doing great things to help people in their state. This is the kind of branding that, if emphasized, will win over independents everywhere.

Time to Mount the Academic Ramparts, Clean House, and Free the Serfs

One thumb up. This post has a small hint of the good work being done by conservatives at F.I.R.E. and for the most part is a sober assessment of government sponsored student loan indentured servitude. The "fever swamps of the left" quote diminishes what would otherwise be a powerfully objective assessment of student aid policy.

Jesus and the Death Penalty

Mark30339 Marlin B. Newburn 10 months ago

This point is very well taken. For the safety of the outside world, prison confinement seems to be sufficient. But if prison guards and other inmates are in serious danger from determined offenders inside the prison, there may be grounds for a life sanction in response to violence committed or attempted there. No one should enjoy exercise of the ultimate act of self-defense, but the State is responsible for the safety of those guards and other inmates. See the reasoning at https://www.ewtn.com/expert/an...

Mark30339 FreeManinAmerica 10 months ago

One has to wonder whether the Gospel beckons the heart more than the reasoning mind. The priority of heart over reason would seem to be the point of what sounded like cannibalism at the end of John Chapter 6. Contrary to FreeMan's assertion, it's not clear that Jesus endorsed Roman justice. What is clear is that the forgiving Lord commanded us to follow HIM and HIS ways; the fledgling first century people of The Way were singled out for how they did not conform to prevailing conventions of disregard for the downtrodden and for the growing duty to worship of Caesar as a deity.
An ego centered mind intends for the "bad" thief to be in eternal suffering, and then proclaims it as true. Why proclaim as true what is unknowable? Why not simply follow Christ and leave open the status of the bad thief's soul. If the good thief interceded on the other's behalf, would our Lord refuse him? Why not implore all of us to pray for the soul of the bad thief. Isn't that what a follower of Jesus would do?
If today's people of The Way are allowed to contribute to the formation of state policy, then of course they are entitled to expose the disconnect in the state first demonstrating that the condemned can be confined for several years while the reasoning of justice exhausts its due process duties, and then the state insists on execution rather than continued confinement. Clemency is an imperative for a follower of Christ. The point is to sanction and confine the offender, and to collectively carry the burden of his crimes without further bloodshed.
People who are not followers of Christ are reminded that the whole point of this article was to explore capital punishment from a Christian perspective. People who are serious about being followers of Christ need to give this view respectful consideration.

Mark30339 FreeManinAmerica 10 months ago

Comedian Ron White likes to throw out a line about how, while other states ponder the merits of capital punishment, his state of Texas was putting in an express lane. If that's not fast enough, maybe you could advocate for giving the arresting officer the OK to off the guy, but only if the officer's real sure and promises to post it on youtube.

Obamacare’s Doom

I certainly hope the shrewd and self assured Justice Roberts can see that this law he was against before he was for, has resulted in unprecedented disregard of law, and turns the Presidency into a dictatorship that suspends, extends and disregards laws as it sees fit. If he loves the rule of law, it's time to trash the ACA because if Congress can't get something as simple as the origination clause right, then it's bill is highly suspect as very bad law.

Foreign Policy: From Bad to None

Mark30339 Mark30339 10 months ago

Hating the Left means we only get ourselves to vote GOP (with the added bonus of poor turnout). Dole, McCain and Romney did not lose because they avoided contempt and disrespect. Ron Reagan was spectacularly genial on a personal level, and had the brains and the guts to eviscerate policy positions of the Left (as does Dr. Hanson in his article). Superiority complex conservatives dripping with contempt for people who voted Left resurrect Goldwater, not Reagan. They should nominate Mark Levin for office and see how that candidacy goes.

Bravisimo! This is precisely the kind of rhetoric and tone with which the Right can win elections. Appeal to the center with calm, assertive understanding while avoiding disrespect and contempt.

Democrat Center Folds

Mark30339 mebenhack a year ago

"At this juncture it doesn't really matter what 'the party of stupid' does. The bottom line is that the voters from this diverse coalition who keep these democrat slugs in power are driven by sheer ignorance, unbridled greed or naked lust for power."
Mhack, I think your statement unwittingly holds the secret to the left's success. And I think you, and I and Clarice share much of the responsibility for this predicament. The center-left alliance is made stronger when conservatives use all their oxygen to complain and blame. Like so many other gifted bloggers on the right, Clarice is stuck in complain and blame mode. We fail to display a healthy respect in our disagreement, and we double down with contempt for the left rather than demonstrate how conservatives are using their creative freedom to provide solutions of any kind, large or small.
We are not going to attract the center into a center-right alliance by calling them ignorant, or by indulging in contempt for the positions previously supported by independents. We need to project like Daniel Hannan, but we look and sound more like an embittered Barry Goldwater.
I strongly urge conservatives to absorb THE RIGHTEOUS MIND by Jonathan Haidt and appreciate how pointless our reasoning is when our postures repulse voters intuitively.
If conservatives want to win elections, we have to appeal to both the center and the right. This week Victor Davis Hanson climbed out of complain and blame mode to write an appealing piece on foreign policy, see http://www.nationalreview.com/.... Dr. Hanson takes a great approach and tone. He starts the conversation with common ground, and then has a sober but respectful conversation on the alternative courses available to recent leaders and the consequences from the paths chosen. It projects a calm, informed, respectful and trustworthy leadership -- and it's 100% whine free.
When independents sample conservative blogs, this is the kind of writing that should be prominent.

Then Came Dave

Mark30339 Mother_of_4_Original a year ago

Excellent suggestion as to the source of DL's appeal. My take is that his overwhelming levels of self-loathing contribute to highly developed skills in self-avoidance and transference. DL is never more awkward than when he attempts sincerity. And he was never more exposed as incapable of intimate fidelity as when he glibly sexualized and demeaned the Palins' minor daughters.

Justice Department says no to ‘strip down’ of tax lien in Chapter 13

Great discussion. SCOTUS shot down Ryan's petition on March 24, 2014.

Brandeis U. Decides Against Honor for Islam Critic

Here we go again with prejudice and bigotry against people of color who don't conform to politically correct thinking. Could the academic elite please reduce their orthodoxy to writing and publish it in a little red book so we can all know how to get our minds right?

America’s New Anti-Strategy

Dr. Hanson and I will probably not agree on immigration but we certainly both endorse conservatism. In this article he takes a great approach and tone. If conservatives want to win elections, we have to appeal to both the center and the right. Accordingly, he starts the conversation with common ground, and then has a sober but respectful conversation on the alternative courses available to recent leaders and the consequences from the paths chosen. It projects a calm, informed, respectful and trustworthy leadership -- and it's 100% whine free.

State of Disunion

Mark30339 clarice Feldman a year ago

Hello Clarice, your posts are consistently packed with remarkable and useful information. But the domains of AT, FrontPage, Powerline and the like are still too obscure to believe that these seemingly published words fall from your lips to the electorate's ear. Instead these words, and their contemptuous tone, bounce around like an echo that reinforces an arrogant contempt within the Right for those who don't embrace the presumed superiority of conservative thinking. This tone won't be getting us any landslide victories.

Clarice has done a solid compilation of posts found elsewhere in the conservative blogosphere. Maybe she should call it "Clarice Hears a Who." How does re-announcing these facts on AT translate into a savvy electorate poised to reject Hilary in 2016? Hearing these things over and over in our obscure, conservative echochambers actually makes us less patient, more strident and more disrespectful of independents. Clarice calls them "low information voters" -- I guess because they don't read AT, FrontPage or Powerline. If we want to win elections, then we need to become calm, thoughtful people who court independents with confidence and respect.

Bridge(gat)ing the Democrats' Culture of Corruption

From my memory, this piece is the biggest touchdown dance Clarice has ever posted, and once the glow of this gloating fades we have to ask . . . what touchdown did our team score?

Leland Yee, the Kochs, and the Press

Look. Publicly traded Disney owns ABC. Publicly traded Comcast owns NBC. And CBS is publicly traded. If the Right wants these entities to be more fair and balanced, they need to buy a majority of shares and attract journalists like Tapper and Atkinson who pose tough questions for everybody. Laments over how media is unbalanced, unfair, inconsistent and advocacy driven get us no where -- that innocence was lost in the election of 1800 between Adams and Jefferson.

Soylent Green Really Is People

I need days and weeks to mourn this callous disregard for human dignity. And pronouncements of contempt for the persons and policies responsible may make some of us feel better -- but they won't result in an uplifting of internal dignity in the places where it is so desperately low. The years of non-stop complaining from the Right over social decline seems to be counterproductive. I wonder if we need to say a lot less, and be present to set dignified examples a lot more.

Barry Goldwater versus the RINOs

I like to think I'm a conservative, and my views on smaller government/bigger freedom make me a lock. But the Right's odd quest for purity and orthodoxy ends up with circular firing squads. For example, if I have principled objections to deadly force when other options are present and to capital punishment, I'm labeled a RINO. When I advocate for the children of illegals on humanitarian grounds, and criticize the ad hoc enforcement of a completely unworkable immigration law, I'm called a concerned troll.
I think medicare, medicaid, food stamps, affirmative action, student loans, earmarks, farm subsidies, charitable deduction limits, and deficit spending have morphed into huge, and nearly uncontrollable mistakes -- but they are now as American as Apple Pie. This nostalgic wish for the return of a straight talking, entitlement canceling Barry Goldwater borders on mental illness.
We can't improve squat if we can't win elections. When people like the highly intelligent, repulsively snarky Mark Levin stand for election in toss-up districts and their conservative purism wins, then I'll endorse the author's Goldwater premise. In the meantime, I'll be a big tent Scott Walker republican who goes out of his way to persistently welcome all who are troubled by the Left. Rather than being the party of Goldwater purists, let's be the smaller government party of Welcome and win some elections.

Discussion on Philly.com 5 comments

All eyes on NFL commissioner

Some of us will remember October 2009 when Irsay and Goodell publicly announced that they would not allow Rush Limbaugh to be a co-owner of the St. Louis Rams. Yes, Rush's views are hard hitting and irreverent, but they certainly pack more substance than the malicious fantasies constantly spun by POTUS, the Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader. At the tip of the iceberg: remember how we "cling to our guns and religion, " how we "need to pass it to see what's in it," and how all the Obamacare hardship stories "are lies, all lies." My point is that the NFL clearly has plenty of stooges pretending to be virtuous -- but because their leadership leans so hard left, they silence opposing views in the name of their pretended virtue.

Uncontested and Contested Arrivals

Great article. But House investigations are so easily thwarted -- especially when the army of investigative reporters that descended on Palin's Alaska are now AWOL (as the joke goes, not only are they unable to find a scandal in the Obama administration, they can't find their hind-quarters with two hands).
I think the radical, long-ball play is for the GOP to boycott federal offices and throw all their resources into gaining more majorities in the States. The Left is directing a series of cascading train-wrecks and they have needed to blame their faults on conservatives. It is better that we withdraw in advance, and warn of the coming calamity. If the electorate is allowed to be in denial about the folly of their choice in 2008 and 2012, they will continue to believe that conservatives are the reason Washington keeps under-delivering on all the entitlements it has over-promised.
Again, I said this was radical (it's also AynRandian). I know the barbarians on the Left will try to raid and ransack -- but aren't they doing that already? A principled refusal to participate in federal politics for 2 years will expose the Left and should pay dividends in 2016. Especially when the States are shown to have prospered under GOP leadership.

Drag a Hundred Dollar Bill through a School of Journalism

With the plethora of rants we have on the conservative side, this is one of the better ones. Still, we need to move beyond this endless feeling sorry for ourselves phase and project the calm, secure, respectful, appealing and competent leadership our country desperately needs. We are falling way short of the mark. I suggest we stop the victimhood, that we present more like UK legislator, Daniel Hannan, and that we substitute the whining for activities that actually help people.

Bob Costas seeing Red. Or is it Dorian Gray?

Great take on Bob and his limitless ego. The 1945 version of Dorian Gray is a great flick, see http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/T...

Comedy as a Weapon of the Left

The steering of public opinion works, and political cartoons are not just as American as apple pie, they probably pre-date American apple pie. The dominant media will always have the advantage in this game, and whining doesn't change that reality. The Right has to take great care to avoid being branded as advocates of government shutdowns or of cut-offs to needy persons, or being seen as scolding, uncaring know-it-alls with superiority complexes.
Rather than complain about losing elections due to "low information voters," we could announce to the electorate our respectful disagreement, and continue to advocate smaller government. It is easy to find examples of how big, one size fits all policy hurts far more than it helps, and how costly it is. We need to shake off the media disadvantage, and remain calm, assertive and ready to lead with policy changes to expand private enterprise and curtail government.
The Right's problem isn't so much the unflattering comedy, it's that we seem so desperate, scattered and unready for leadership.

Mark30339 Emmy Emmenstien a year ago

Ms. Harris announces that the Evans book corrects the history on McCarthy and debunks the use of this name with baseless smear campaigns. Amazon comments on the book (see http://www.amazon.com/review/R... are enough to merit another look at McCarthy and to suspend the knee-jerk ridicule that Emmy is launching here.

Phil Robertson Won't Shutup and the Media Hates It

In the 1980s I was shocked to see people interpret current events to announce that God sent AIDS to punish Gays. We've come a long way from there, and Phil Robertson is a welcome relief. Fornication is so common and so accepted today, but fornicators don't organize act up campaigns to discredit those who call the behavior a failing under Christian ideals -- neither do the adulterers or the swindlers. But gays and abortionists are so insecure about their behavior that they have to reinvent morality to be a public relations contest. Why is it that intolerance is never about mistreatment of those who advocate Christian principles?

Pope Francis, Thomas Jefferson, and Capitalism

Frank Ryan's piece is exceptional and quite a welcome departure in tone from the average AT post. There is no substitute for capitalism, especially American capitalism -- but so much is spent on public relations because so much is still being covered up. I commend readers to visit www.globalwitness.com and review how corporate greed in the West helps despots in small countries plunder resources and leave populations destitute. This is not a think tank trying to install soviet-style command economies -- they simply advocate for full disclosure on the huge and secret payoffs that enable these plunders.

For Those of You Who Always Suspected Me of Being a RINO...