Narcissism

“Hey kids, let’s read a story about ME!” Ah well, at least he’s not using a teleprompter this time.

Whoring for Attention

I burned the Quran… onto a CD-ROM. Now what the hell do I do with it?

Obama: “Raaaaacism!!!”

Obama’s surrogates and apologists have never let up on the smears that opposition to Dear Leader is racially-based, regardless of and completely separate to the issues pushed by Obama and his abysmal job performance. Many of these groups take their marching orders and talking points directly from the top, while Obama himself stays above the fray. Well, now Obama himself has pushed this despicable lie.

…the brutally honest, be it absurd assessment can be found in Family of Freedom: Presidents and African-Americans in the White House. Now according to the book, at a private White House dinner in May of 2010, the president explained to his guests that quote, “race was probably a key component in the rising opposition to his presidency from conservatives, especially right-wing activists in the anti-incumbent Tea Party Movement.” At the same function against argued that the Tea Party has simply angry that a black man is president. Now rather than dispute that notion, President Obama agreed and reportedly called racism the quote, “subterranean agenda of the movement.” So without a shred of evidence, the president has no problem labeling the Tea Party as racist. But in recent years, he’s been ultimately quick to forgive racially insensitive remarks made by some on the left. …

A Splash of Cold Water

Just as I’ve been saying for some time that ObamaCare wasn’t passed yet, even when others got despondent about Ben Nelson (D-NE) providing the 60th vote in the Senate and sending it to the reconciliation committee, and so forth; now I have to say that I think pronouncements of ObamaCare’s death are also premature. Beyond the fact that they still have (and always will have) more dirty tricks up their sleeves (and we can’t replace any more of them until November), I often see people hanging their last-ditch hopes on judicial review ruling the whole thing unconstitutional. Well, we all know that socialized medicine is unconstitutional; and blatantly, obviously so…

…however, we’re not the ones who get to make that call. Joseph Stalin said that it doesn’t matter who votes, it matters who counts the votes (a quote used repeatedly by the very people abetting or supporting Al Gore’s attempt to steal the Presidency in 2000). In the same way, it doesn’t matter what the Constitution says, it matters who gets to decide what the Constitution says. Liberal politicians and judges have for decades been ignoring the plain language that’s actually in the Constitution (e.g. the Second Amendment) while completely making up passages that aren’t actually in it (e.g. Roe vs. Wade). The McCain-Feingold “Campaign Reform” Act was also blatantly unconstitutional – Congress knew it when they passed it and President Bush said so when he signed it. They all sat back and passed the buck, hoping the Supreme Court would overrule it. But they didn’t, and now we’re stuck with it.

Sure, it’s possible that SCOTUS will save us if all else fails, but don’t just assume that and rely on the Supreme Court to block this monstrosity. It needs to be fought and opposed every inch of the way, with no step in the process unresisted. Force them to read the whole thing aloud at every opportunity. Keep the pressure up on the blue dogs, on any and all Democrats up for re-election this year. The worst thing anyone can do is sit back and assume that Obama’s hostile takeover of your health is over.

Addendum: Of course, not long after I wrote this entry, the news had to break that the Supreme Court has just, on this very day, “struck down part of the landmark McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill” … just in time to make me look foolish. (Like I need their help in looking foolish!) I Question The Timing.™

P.C. Runs Amok

I was directed to this piece on The Stranger‘s Slog about the Amazon.com listing for a new edition of Joseph Conrad’s The Nigger of the Narcissus that has been retitled The N-word of the Narcissus.

WordBridge Publishing has performed a public service in putting Joseph Conrad’s neglected classic into a form accessible to modern readers. This new version addresses the reason for its neglect: the profusion of the so-called n-word throughout its pages. Hence, the introduction of “n-word” throughout the text, to remove this offence to modern sensibilities. The N-word of the Narcissus tells the tale of a fateful voyage of a British sailing ship, and on that voyage the ability of a lone black man to take the crew hostage. The ability of this man to manipulate an entire ship’s crew can no longer be seen as a mere exercise in storytelling. Conrad in fact appears to have been the first to highlight the phenomenon of manipulation based in white guilt.

I’d like to say that this is shocking and unprecedented, but I really can’t. I’ve seen too many books, plays, Christmas carols, and so forth edited by the PC Police to remove any hint of offense. Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn has also been criticized, not to mention banned, for inclusion of the same word, which was common language at the time – and Huck Finn was most specifically “against racial prejudice, increasing segregation, lynchings, and the generally accepted belief that blacks were sub-human.” The publisher of The N-word of the Narcissus defends his global search-and-replace of a piece of literature despite admitting that it was not a racist tome. Apparently, he was simply unable to contemplate reading a book (or being seen reading a book) with a word on the cover which gave him the vapors:

…My motivation for making the change was my own aversion to its profuse use of the n-word, which hindered me from ever getting around to reading it. When I finally did read it, I was astounded by its message. Conrad penned a complex, modern exploration of race relations such as I have seldom encountered elsewhere. And it is precisely the use of the n-word which obfuscates that exporation, which seems to indicate a superficially racist story rather than the sensitive, indeed jarringly relevant exploration which it actually is. I have no regrets for creating this version of the book. Indeed, I am glad for the attention it has brought to the book. The Nigger of the Narcissus deserves reading now more than ever, deserves discussion, deserves pride of place on reading lists, and if The N-word of the Narcissus contributes to this end, it will have served its purpose.

The message of the book has been in no way altered by the crude hack-job of editing out a single word from the title and the text; if it was worth reading, it was worth reading. (Disclaimer: I have never read it myself, as I am not a big fan of Conrad.) The only “purpose” which substituting “n-word” throughout the document can serve is to encourage others to continue editing, changing, and diminishing our cultural heritage. We are standing on the shoulders of giants; and rather than be enlightened by the view, Ruben Alvarado has chosen to piss in the giant’s face. (Not to mention that some find “the n-word” at least as offensive, if not more so, than the word it’s replacing.)

I certainly do not endorse the use of the word in modern discourse (I’m not a certain member in good standing of a certain blog), but there are only so many times you can edit, alter, and attempt to “improve” upon the past before all you’re left with is the special edition of Star Wars, and nobody remembers who fired the first shot in the Mos Eisley cantina.

Wednesday Roundup

According to the AP, the recovery is not as strong as previously thought (or, at least, previously announced/boasted). “The economy grew at a 2.2 percent pace in the third quarter, as the recovery got off to a weaker start than previously thought. … The Commerce Department’s new reading on gross domestic product for the July-to-September quarter was slower than the 2.8 percent growth rate estimated just a month ago. Economists were predicting that figure wouldn’t be revised in the government’s final estimate on third-quarter GDP.” There’s a big surprise. In Connecticut, unemployment claims are overwhelming servers. In California, the state whose Governor has the gall to try hold up his failing state as an example to others, small-business bankruptcies are up eighty-one percent. Things are tough all over. The Obamas may even delay their Hawaiian vacation. Oh, the sacrifices Teh One is willing to make!

Meanwhile, as the people in this country try to cope with the real problems they face in life, a new book (“Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living” by New Zealanders Robert and Brenda Vale) is telling people that their pets are a bigger threat to the environment than SUVs.

The Vales, specialists in sustainable living at Victoria University of Wellington, analysed popular brands of pet food and calculated that a medium-sized dog eats around 164 kilos (360 pounds) of meat and 95 kilos of cereal a year. Combine the land required to generate its food and a “medium” sized dog has an annual footprint of 0.84 hectares (2.07 acres) – around twice the 0.41 hectares required by a 4×4 driving 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) a year, including energy to build the car. To confirm the results, the New Scientist magazine asked John Barrett at the Stockholm Environment Institute in York, Britain, to calculate eco-pawprints based on his own data. The results were essentially the same. “Owning a dog really is quite an extravagance, mainly because of the carbon footprint of meat,” Barrett said.

It’s bad enough that Build-a-Bear is getting into the business of brainwashing children on the evils of global warming with underhanded and completely dishonest scare tactics (“Christmas may be canceled this year!”), a business in which they are not alone*, now they’re going to be told that their beloved pet is also destroying the world.

*This is Pirahna Club, a newspaper strip which has been running a story since December 14th (so they’re already in their second week) about the polar icecap melting, causing Santa’s workshops and elves to sink into the ocean:

Clash of the Titans

First Shatner did Palin… Then she returned the compliment. (H/T: Hot Air) Still, I don’t think Kirk has ever objected to a woman coming up on top.

The Brainwashing Continues

Columbia Daily Tribune — Pencils and notebooks resembling President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign ads have been sold in at least one Columbia school and other public schools, causing the company that distributes the materials to travel around the state yanking the supplies out of machines. “Don’t be mad at us,” said Greg Jones, a sales representative with Pencil Wholesale. “It was a total accident.” Pencil Wholesale distributes supplies to six Columbia schools: Parkade Elementary, Cedar Ridge Elementary, Paxton Keeley Elementary, Mill Creek Elementary, Smithton Middle School and Hickman High School, said Linda Quinley, the district’s chief financial officer. … Two families have complained about the politically tinged materials. Three Missouri schools have contacted Jones since the beginning of the school year asking that the materials be removed, and Mill Creek Principal Mary Sue Gibson this week said she also planned to call Pencil Wholesale. … The bound three-ring notebook bears a photo of literal change – pennies, quarters, dimes and nickels stacked into piles. Above the photo, white text reads “CHANGE” over a navy background. Below the photo, “WE CAN BELIEVE IN” sits above a logo similar to Obama’s campaign image – three red stripes separated by white stripes in front of a white circle with a blue background arching over the circle…

Just a coincidence, I’m sure; I mean, anybody could just randomly toss together words and shapes and come up with Obama progpaganda, right? It happens all the time! (And increasingly – and disturbingly – on items directed at  Obama’s youth  children.) And as we all know, it isn’t just “cutesy” art on school materials. More and more, we keep learning about the various songs and hymns that children are being taught to sing in praise of Our Glorious Leader and in support of various liberal agenda. It’s getting harder and harder to believe that each of these hundreds of co-ordinated examples coming to light around the country are just an incredible number of purely coincidental isolated incidents, but they haven’t stopped bubbling up to the surface yet. Last week we heard about students being drilled yet again (the only drilling allowed by the Lefties!) in the evils of modern civilization and the coming ManBearPig Global Warming Apocalypse.

New York Post — When did global warming turn into a forced religion? My daughter came home from school recently with a spring in her step and a song on her lips. With no foreshadowing – or time to call an exorcist – out came this chilling refrain: “…You can hear the warning – GLOBAL WARMING…” By the time her father and I removed our jaws from the floor, we had learned that:

1. All the kids had been coerced into singing this catchy ditty, which we called “The Warming Song,” at a concert for parents.
2. Further song lyrics scolded selfish adults (that would be us) for polluting our planet and causing a warming scourge that would, in no short order, kill all the polar bears and threaten the birds and bees.
3. There was no deprogramming session on the menu. And no arguing allowed.

The international “Climategate” scandal is now moving into its third week. And reaction from folks on the scientific and political left – or is that redundant? – who treat global warming as a cult in which naysayers must be crushed has been depressing: Total denial…

However, I’ve saved the very worst for last. Those who follow Zombie‘s excellent work will recall the three part expose on Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings’ connections to Harry Hay and NAMBLA. The very definition of “safe schools” ought to include the exclusion of anyone connected in any way with NAMBLA, but Obama is once again putting the foxes in charge of guarding the henhouse. It should therefore come as absolutely no surprise (but still quite a shock) to see examples of what can only be described as child pornography being included on Jennings’ recommend reading list. Granted, not all of them are pornographic or propagandizing (I’ve already seen some of them before) however Gateway Pundit provides some of the worst excerpts which I will not quote here, and I which I caution you before you click to read them there. These book are explicitely about children having gay sex with adults and children having gay sex with each other… and they are specifically being written for children to read. Under normal circumstances, a man trying to expose children to these sorts of books would be arrested; but in the Obama administration he becomes a czar.

Gateway Pundit has more, including the promotion of “fisting” to children.

The Weapon

I read The Weapon (a sequel to Michael Z. Williamson’s Freehold) over the weekend. It was pretty good, but I think the Freehold was better. Anyway, the last part of The Weapon took place on Earth, about five centuries in the future. When the narrator discussed some of the cities in which his operatives were operating, it revealed some interesting predictions vis-a-vis future political divisions. For instance, Tehran and Baghdad were both listed as cities in the Republic of Israel; and another city mentioned was Paris, Germany.

_{(Disclaimer: I don’t get any compensation from Amazon whatsoever if you buy anything I mention from them, and I wouldn’t want a Kindle if you gave it to me for free.)}