I just read this phenomenal essay from Robert Stacy McCain, "The Politics of Fear."
I get a shout out as well!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
The Slow Disappearance of the American Working Man
At Business Week.
It's a changed economy. The traditional working man will be back to work when the economy comes back. But those outsourced jobs and the declining returns to college education are probably permanent features of the American post-industrial economy. Again, with growth, new opportunities will open up for those in construction and services, and of course the college educated will see more opportunities in the professional sectors like law and finance. I wouldn't read too much into it beyond that. We've been seeing variations on these trends for decades.
More on this stuff later.
For generations, American workers kept up with technological change by achieving higher levels of education than their parents. High school education became the norm as the country progressed from an agrarian society to an industrial one. After World War II, increasing numbers of Americans went to college as the economy became more complex. But for reasons not fully understood, college graduation rates essentially stopped growing for men in the late 1970s, shortly after the Vietnam War ended, perhaps in part because draft deferments were no longer an inducement. Women, on the other hand, continued to pursue college degrees in greater numbers and have been more responsive to the changing economy in other ways, taking many of the nursing and technician positions in the expanding health-care industry and making greater headway in service jobs.Keep reading.
While unemployment is an ordeal for anyone, it still appears to be more traumatic for men. Men without jobs are more likely to commit crimes and go to prison. They are less likely to wed, more likely to divorce, and more likely to father a child out of wedlock. Ironically, unemployed men tend to do even less housework than men with jobs and often retreat from family life, says W. Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia.
It's a changed economy. The traditional working man will be back to work when the economy comes back. But those outsourced jobs and the declining returns to college education are probably permanent features of the American post-industrial economy. Again, with growth, new opportunities will open up for those in construction and services, and of course the college educated will see more opportunities in the professional sectors like law and finance. I wouldn't read too much into it beyond that. We've been seeing variations on these trends for decades.
More on this stuff later.
'I Admire Your Passion'
My classes went really well last week. And recall on Tuesday I mentioned that I'd be covering Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address during lectures. Well, I stress how President Lincoln appealed to Thomas Jefferson in the first paragraph of the Address, where he wrote:
While presenting the discussion to my students, I pull up my photo of President Lincoln's statue at the Lincoln Memorial, and I ask if students have visited Washington, D.C. A lot of students have not been to the nation's capital, so I share how I felt when I've visited, and I stress how deeply affected I have been, and how especially moving is the Lincoln Memorial. My textbook features a photograph of the left-hand wall of the Memorial, where the Address is engraved, and I mention how there are always people sitting down beneath it, reading quietly in appreciation. And then I remind students that Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Memorial. And if you visit, make sure to look for the inscription at the top of the steps, where it says that MLK delivered his speech from that very spot, August 28th, 1963. And I recite for my students how Dr. King challenged the country to "live out the true meaning of its creed, that all men are created equal." And I draw the line of liberty back from Dr. King to Abraham Lincoln to Thomas Jefferson, and I remind folks that while this nation was indeed founded in crisis --- the crisis of slavery --- our greatness lies in our charter documents, pieces of parchment holding the political philosophy that pushes Americans to a higher moral standard, a template of universal goodness, one that still shines bright in the world. And we as citizens can't just stand on the sidelines hoping that the American democracy will continue, but that we have an obligation to ourselves and our fellow citizens to continue the work of our forefathers, to continue to ensure that democracy "shall not perish from the earth."
In any case, I do enjoy the discussions with students, and after my very last class on Tuesday, a young woman named Rebekah came up after I dismissed the class, and she said to me, "You know, Dr. Douglas, I admire your passion." I thanked her and I returned the compliment, because she's been very engaged in class, asking questions and volunteering to lead the discussions. Moments like that are what really make teaching meaningful. I hope I have a lot more of these over the course of the semester.
Also, related, I blogged Steven Givler's recent essay on the New York Times, where he mentioned we might benefit from the example of community college professors, and after I commented at the post, Steven wrote:
Be strong dear friends and readers. I'm still in the fight.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.The Civil War was not initially fought for the emancipation of the slaves, but for the preservation of Union. After Gettysburg the correlation of forces was shifting, and when Lincoln was asked to present at the dedication for the Soldiers' National Cemetery, he put great effort into composing a dedication that would transcend divisions and unify the continued campaigns around an elevated set of war aims focusing on human freedom and the American experience. Should the country be forever divided, it was very well possible that the spark of liberty would forever "perish from the earth."
While presenting the discussion to my students, I pull up my photo of President Lincoln's statue at the Lincoln Memorial, and I ask if students have visited Washington, D.C. A lot of students have not been to the nation's capital, so I share how I felt when I've visited, and I stress how deeply affected I have been, and how especially moving is the Lincoln Memorial. My textbook features a photograph of the left-hand wall of the Memorial, where the Address is engraved, and I mention how there are always people sitting down beneath it, reading quietly in appreciation. And then I remind students that Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Memorial. And if you visit, make sure to look for the inscription at the top of the steps, where it says that MLK delivered his speech from that very spot, August 28th, 1963. And I recite for my students how Dr. King challenged the country to "live out the true meaning of its creed, that all men are created equal." And I draw the line of liberty back from Dr. King to Abraham Lincoln to Thomas Jefferson, and I remind folks that while this nation was indeed founded in crisis --- the crisis of slavery --- our greatness lies in our charter documents, pieces of parchment holding the political philosophy that pushes Americans to a higher moral standard, a template of universal goodness, one that still shines bright in the world. And we as citizens can't just stand on the sidelines hoping that the American democracy will continue, but that we have an obligation to ourselves and our fellow citizens to continue the work of our forefathers, to continue to ensure that democracy "shall not perish from the earth."
In any case, I do enjoy the discussions with students, and after my very last class on Tuesday, a young woman named Rebekah came up after I dismissed the class, and she said to me, "You know, Dr. Douglas, I admire your passion." I thanked her and I returned the compliment, because she's been very engaged in class, asking questions and volunteering to lead the discussions. Moments like that are what really make teaching meaningful. I hope I have a lot more of these over the course of the semester.
Also, related, I blogged Steven Givler's recent essay on the New York Times, where he mentioned we might benefit from the example of community college professors, and after I commented at the post, Steven wrote:
Hi Donald, I was actually thinking of you when I mentioned the community college.As I always say, conservatives are good people. And I'm strengthened by the periodic feedback I receive that I am indeed doing something that is good and decent, and those efforts are not entirely overlooked by both my students and those who have followed my writing. Those of us of good moral standing know that decency and right always prevail, but we can never let our efforts wane, for Satan's toilers stalk along the sidelines, looking for a chance to weaken us and pave the way for darkness to spread across the land. We have faced the danger in history and we have come near to it again of late. Thankfully, the Obama interregnum is now half past, and we can soon push to victory in 2012 and reclaim some of the liberty that the dark side has vanquished.
Be strong dear friends and readers. I'm still in the fight.
A Mindless, Nihilistic Dirge In Praise of a Godless Universe
From Kathy Shaidle, "Where’s Guy Fawkes when you need him?":
And that brings me back to Kathy Shaidle, because she's right on. For as much as I love The Beatles, John Lennon's "Imagine," while beautifully idealistic, is ideologically evil. And that's why progressives love it. Their idealism is not about improving the world but destroying it. Every left-wing progressive scheme of grand 20th-century state-level socialiist "improvement" ended in the camps. And despite the 100s of millions who have been exterminated on the road to leftist heaven, they keep trying. That's nihilist. It's so despicably stupid as to make pure evil simply banal. And Kathy links to Dennis Prager, "Why the Right Fears Transforming America -- and the Left Seeks It," who writes:
In honor of goddam Jack Layton, the goddam bells on the goddam Peace Tower played goddam “Imagine” — a mindless, nihilistic dirge in praise of a Godless universe.Kathy's talking about the Ottawa Peace Tower, and the memorial for the late New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton.
This reminds me of idiot Bonejob Brendan Keefe, who murderously hates David Horowitz, because the latter has rightly excoriated radical socialist progressivism as a nihilist project of hate, demonization and destruction. Sometime back, I commented at Bonejob's, and he whined like a child:
I would say in particular that this phrase from your blurb of his book -- "the freakish nihilism of the radical left" -- doesn't even make sense in light of what this book of his is supposed to be about: "the Left has continued to advance its socialist schemes …" Stipulating for the moment that We have such an Agenda, it can hardly be said to be nihilist to have one -- to seek to advance a different social order (or to foist one upon you, if you insist) is not at all the same thing as wanting to do away with any and every social order, just for the sake of destruction.Blah. Blah. Blah. Bonejob has no reply to David Horowitz or to the right's perfectly accurate description of progressivism as sick, disgusting nihilism, and I hammer idiot Bonejob for his ignorance:
And seriously, you should at least read the book (cited at the link below) before you blow off "nihilism." The left has recycled Soviet Marxism-Leninism, giving a pass to the murder of 100s of millions. When those apologies for totalitarianism --- what leftist refer to as "actually existing socialism" --- become a defense of a failed ideology, all you have left is utter nothingness, hence nihilism. Try to fit that into your vocab, big boy.It goes on like this, with Bonejob continuing to act like a child, typing some kind of dissing epithet, "Blargh," and finally throwing up his hands in defeat:
I was not typing "Blargh" in response to your effort to twist the definition of nihilism to fit your own preconceived notions. It was in response to everything else.For Bonejob, "being your age" means calling your opponents crazies worthy of being mocked. It means adopting a postmodern collectivist epistemology that rejects the accepted usage of words such as nihilism. That's typical, since progressives can't respond to arguments on the merits, and frankly must resort to outright lies and intimidation to win the day. It's pathetic. David Horowitz knows whereof he speaks when pointing out the true nature of leftist ideology as a nihilistic project of hate and nothingness.
And that brings me back to Kathy Shaidle, because she's right on. For as much as I love The Beatles, John Lennon's "Imagine," while beautifully idealistic, is ideologically evil. And that's why progressives love it. Their idealism is not about improving the world but destroying it. Every left-wing progressive scheme of grand 20th-century state-level socialiist "improvement" ended in the camps. And despite the 100s of millions who have been exterminated on the road to leftist heaven, they keep trying. That's nihilist. It's so despicably stupid as to make pure evil simply banal. And Kathy links to Dennis Prager, "Why the Right Fears Transforming America -- and the Left Seeks It," who writes:
Lennon's utopia is our dystopia. A world without God to give people some certitude that all their suffering is not meaningless is a nightmare. A world without religion means a world without any systematic way of ennobling people. A world without countries is a world without the United States of America, and it is a world governed by the morally imbecilic United Nations, where mass murderers sit on its "human rights" councils. A world without heaven or hell is a world without any ultimate justice, where torturers and their victims have identical fates -- oblivion. A world without possessions is a world in which some enormous state possesses everything, and the individual is reduced to the status of a serf.
Liberals [progressives] frequently criticize conservatives for fearing change. That is not correct. We fear transforming that which is already good. The moral record of humanity does not fill us with optimism about "fundamentally transforming" something as rare as America. Evil is normal. America is not.
The Islamic Supremacist Propaganda Machine Cranks Out Another 'Islamophobia' Report
From Robert Spencer, at Frontpage Magazine.
And see the new report from the Horowitz Freedom Center, "Islamophobia: Thought Crime of the Totalitarian Future."
Thanks goodness for David Horowitz.
And see the new report from the Horowitz Freedom Center, "Islamophobia: Thought Crime of the Totalitarian Future."
Thanks goodness for David Horowitz.
George Harrison Documentary
Longtime readers will recall that before my new found infatuation with The Beatles, I've long been intrigued by George Harrison, and I was sad when he died so young. So you can bet I'm excited about the new documentary coming out from Martin Scorsese, "George Harrison: Living in a Material World." See Rolling Stone, "George Harrison Hits the Big Screen in Scorsese Doc."
The schedule is here.
The schedule is here.
Justice Bradley Attacked Justice Prosser
Progressives sought to destroy Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice David Prosser on the basis of a false allegation: that he had Justice Ann Walsh Bradley in a chokehold during the courthouse altercation. The radical left had it out for Prosser, and frankly smeared his reputation as part of a demonization campaign to get him off the court. Bradley's story started to fall flat very early on, and of course the special prosecutor did not file charges in the end, because the allegations were bogus. And now there's release of the special prosecutor's report. I've just skimmed things so far, but your first shot should be William Jacobson, "Turns out WI Justice Ann Walsh Bradley was the one with the anger management problem." And then check out this phenomenal entry at Althouse, "I've finally waded through the "chokehold" investigation file."
Expect more analysis on this later, but it's clear that Justice Prosser was defending against an attack from Justice Bradley, who charged him with fists raised, as Althouse reported from the beginning.
PHOTO CREDIT: Ann Althouse on Flickr.
BONUS: From David Blaska, "Where does David Prosser go to get his reputation back?":
There are some people who need to apologize to Mr. Justice David Prosser now that he has been cleared and soon. They took a shallowly researched and preposterous allegation -- that Prosser held fellow justice Ann Walsh Bradley in a chokehold -- and ran to the guillotine with it.
Aqsa Parvez Memorial
Via Reliapundit: And see Atlas Shrugs, "AQSA IN ISRAEL," and Jihad Watch, "Aqsa Parvez Memorial Grove dedication in Israel, August 24."
Friday, August 26, 2011
Hurricane Irene News
Well, it's been hot summer weather in the O.C. today, with temperatures in the mid-90s. But Hurricane Irene is bearing down on the East Coast and there's a lot of developments.
At NYT, "City Orders 250,000 People to Evacuate," and "This Storm, Bloomberg Responds Differently." And at LAT, "Airlines cancel nearly 5,000 flights because of Hurricane Irene." But see Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog, "Irene's eyewall collapses; further intensification unlikely."
BONUS: From Nate Silver, "A New York Hurricane Could Be a Multibillion-Dollar Catastrophe" (via Memeorandum).
At NYT, "City Orders 250,000 People to Evacuate," and "This Storm, Bloomberg Responds Differently." And at LAT, "Airlines cancel nearly 5,000 flights because of Hurricane Irene." But see Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog, "Irene's eyewall collapses; further intensification unlikely."
BONUS: From Nate Silver, "A New York Hurricane Could Be a Multibillion-Dollar Catastrophe" (via Memeorandum).
Romney Leads in Latest Reason-Rupe Public Opinion Survey
At Reason, "Romney Edges Perry in New Reason-Rupe Poll; Obama's Approval Rating at 47% and Congress' at Just 14%; Nearly 75% of Voters Open to 3rd-Party Candidate." Well, polls sure are more interesting when you have such lovely ladies analyzing the results:
Jon Huntsman on PBS NewsHour
He hedges on higher taxes for the wealthy, but that's where he was going with the discussion. He's RINO as far as I can tell. I doubt he'll go very far, and personally, I don't think he should be considered as running-mate for one of the top-tier candidates. See The Hill, "Huntsman says if elected he would call on wealthy to ‘sacrifice’." And at the clip, scroll forward to about 4:40 minutes:
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Rebels Bust Gaddafi's Bunker
A huge report at London's Daily Mail, "Missed him by minutes: How rebels and special forces came close to snaring Gaddafi." Also at Telegraph UK, "Libya: rebels surround apartment block 'hiding' Col Gaddafi."
Plus, at LAT, "Eww! Moammar Kadafi (hearts) Condoleezza Rice." And Memeorandum.
Plus, at LAT, "Eww! Moammar Kadafi (hearts) Condoleezza Rice." And Memeorandum.
Attack of the Leftist Hate Zombies
Well, what do you know? I get by with a little help from my friends.
At Bob Belvedere's Camp of the Saints, "Right Wing Bloggers Under Relentless Attack:
Be sure to read the whole thing. I really appreciate the support.
See also, The Other McCain, "The Infinite Viciousness of the Online Left."
PREVIOUSLY: "REPSAC = W. JAMES CASPER = HATE." And, "Carl Salonen Libelous Workplace Allegations of Child Pornography and Sexual Harassment at Long Beach City College."
At Bob Belvedere's Camp of the Saints, "Right Wing Bloggers Under Relentless Attack:
Donald’s enemies have even started a blog to harass him with [americannihilistblog.blogspot.com — I will not dignify their deplorable behavior with a ping].Exactly.
That Donald is heated in his words is understandable: these people have attacked his honor and dignity and some are trying to get him fired [see here for the latest vile attempt to get him terminated from his job and here]. The man is under threat from several redoubts. Also, he realizes that what they are doing is what Leftists have done throughout history and he knows well that, if they can get away with it regarding him, they will be emboldened to increase the intensity and scope of their attacks on others of the Right. His attackers are the mongers of fear. They are the merchants of intimidation. All opposition must be silenced. Donald Douglas must be utterly destroyed.
Be sure to read the whole thing. I really appreciate the support.
See also, The Other McCain, "The Infinite Viciousness of the Online Left."
PREVIOUSLY: "REPSAC = W. JAMES CASPER = HATE." And, "Carl Salonen Libelous Workplace Allegations of Child Pornography and Sexual Harassment at Long Beach City College."
'Stairway to Heaven'
AoSHQ is a big Zeppelin fan, so here's this for my Thursday place-holding video.
And check Ace of Spades for some hot blogging throughout the day.
And check Ace of Spades for some hot blogging throughout the day.
More on Widener Law School Controversy
At Legal Insurrection, "Widener Law School loses major donor over Connell case."
This case is far from played out. Nice blogging by William Jacobson.
This case is far from played out. Nice blogging by William Jacobson.
REPSAC = W. JAMES CASPER = HATE
W. James Casper is pure hatred. His whole blogging world is all about sponsoring threats and seeking to destroy others. He's allied in yet another campaign of hate (top result is American Nihilist's satanic program of death and destruction). Freakin' commie asshat. Because RACIST = REPSAC = HATER has come to this, thinly veiled death threats, this post is for the record.
Yeah, it became a repository of hate.
Scroll through W. James Casper's record of hate at the link.
'I intended for American Nihilist to be a one off joke on the silly "nihilist" meme you created. I sent invites to all the "nihilsts" I could find, thinking we'd all just have a quick laugh at the expense of the silly little meme, & that'd be it... But some of 'em wanted to sign up, and once they did, and started writing--in character--it became something better than the one off joke I intended...'
*****
Yeah, it became a repository of hate.
Scroll through W. James Casper's record of hate at the link.
Progressives Go Nazi on Katy Perry After She Tweeted 'Pray for Israel' in Support of Jewish State
At Hot Air, "Twitterverse couldn’t take it when Katy Perry tweeted, “Pray for Israel”." And at The Blaze, "POP STAR KATY PERRY ATTACKED AFTER TWEETING AN APPEAL FOR HER FOLLOWERS TO ‘PRAY FOR ISRAEL’."
And see especially Michelle, "What happened when Katy Perry tweeted “Pray for Israel”."
Progressivism is an ideology of hate and death. Same satanism, different day.
And see especially Michelle, "What happened when Katy Perry tweeted “Pray for Israel”."
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