 The sadness of evil men is that they believe no truth that does not paint the world in their colours.
Eric Ambler
"The Schirmer Inheritance," Vintage (2003), ISBN 0375726764
The Objectivist movement would be much larger if its leading intellectuals and think tanks had ever heard of a man named Gutenberg.
Philip Coates
On Nathaniel Branden's The Basic Principles of Objectivism and the necessity of publishing books, not tapes
Our Obama, who art in D.C., Hallowed be thy Name. Thine Acorn come, Thy will be done, in America as it is in Venezuela. Give us this day our daily speech, And forgive us our whiteness, as we forgive those that murder our citizens, And lead us not into capitalism, But deliver us from freedom. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever
Anonymous
If you are confused by the first nine months of the Obama administration, take solace that there is at least a pattern. The president, you see, thinks America is a university and that he is our campus president. Keep that in mind, and almost everything else makes sense.
Victor Davis Hanson
National Review
Six months ago, Obama's approval rating was 70 percent. Does Carter think that number has sunk to 50 percent because tens of millions of Americans suddenly discovered Obama was black? ... The destructiveness of what Carter has done is hard to exaggerate. ...if we don't have a black president after 2012, much credit should go to the mean little peanut farmer from Plains.
Patrick J. Buchanan
Race and Stupidity
Since nature does not guarantee automatic security, success and survival to any human being, it is only the dictatorial presumptuousness and the moral cannibalism of the altruist-collectivist code that permits a man to suppose (or idly to daydream) that he can somehow guarantee such security to some men at the expense of others.
Ayn Rand
VOS "Collectivized Ethics," p.104
On the 233rd day of his presidency, Barack Obama grabbed the country's lapels for the 263rd time—that was, as of last Wednesday, the count of his speeches, press conferences, town halls, interviews, and other public remarks. His speech to Congress was the 122nd time he had publicly discussed health care. Just 14 hours would pass before the 123rd, on Thursday morning. His incessant talking cannot combat what it has caused: An increasing number of Americans do not believe that he believes what he says.
George Will
Why No One Believes Obama
Now, there is a certain class of sophisticated modern theologian who will say something like this: "Good heavens, of course we are not so naive or simplistic as to care whether God exists. Existence is such a 19th-century preoccupation! It doesn't matter whether God exists in a scientific sense. What matters is whether he exists for you or for me. If God is real for you, who cares whether science has made him redundant? Such arrogance! Such elitism." Well, if that's what floats your canoe, you'll be paddling it up a very lonely creek. The mainstream belief of the world's peoples is very clear. They believe in God, and that means they believe he exists in objective reality, just as surely as the Rock of Gibraltar exists. If sophisticated theologians or postmodern relativists think they are rescuing God from the redundancy scrap-heap by downplaying the importance of existence, they should think again. Tell the congregation of a church or mosque that existence is too vulgar an attribute to fasten onto their God, and they will brand you an atheist. They'll be right.
Richard Dawkins
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574405030643556324.html
It is morally acceptable to allow one's neighbors to die because they cannot afford medical care, and it is morally acceptable to allow one's neighbors to go broke because they get sick. If you agree, please post this as your status for as long as you like. Health care is NOT and should NOT be a right or an entitlement!
Luke Setzer
Facebook Wall
Well, that shining moment in politics has ended. Wilson has already started the "I'm sorry for for my uncharacteristic honesty and passion." rounds. It was a great moment though. I do wish that it had been over something a little more relevant than immigration. I guess I should just be happy BO didnt declare a state of emergency and shut down the net.
Ryan Keith Roper
You lie!
Our objections to the Democrats’ health care proposals are not mere “bickering” or “games.” They are not an attempt to “score short term political points.” And it’s hard to listen to the President lecture us not to use “scare tactics” when in the next breath he says that “more will die” if his proposals do not pass.
Sarah Palin
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/note.php?note_id=131081638434&ref=nf
You lie.
South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson
Outburst at President Obama's Health Care Address to Congress
"We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that -- if you quit on school -- you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country." . . . If the adults won’t listen, go after the kids. Can you think of a better way to inculcate the character of totalitarian servitude and obeisance in children than this speech?
Edward Cline
Barack Obama: Seducer of the Young
Critics say that greed is the driving force of capitalism. My answer is that envy is the driving force of socialism.
Svetlana Kunin
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=336952385266203
Any self-respecting schoolkid, enjoined by his principal to be a "servant" to the head of state, would reply, "Get lost, creep." And, if they still taught history in American schools, he'd add, "Oh, and by the way, that question was settled in 1776."
Mark Steyn
Obama 'Outreach' To School Kids Feels More Like Personality Cult
Can you imagine the press running an article in 1939 saying that Hitler, speaking from Moscow, approves of FDR's decision not to allow increased immigration of Jews from Europe and hopes that FDR keeps his promise to turn back refugees? Without comment. With a straight face?
Ted Keer
http://rebirthofreason.com/Forum/NewsDiscussions/2549.shtml#0
But the great mass of Americans, the big center, will, I strongly suspect, not be listening. Mr. Obama has grown boring. And it's not Solid Boring, which is fine in a president and may be good. It's sort of Faux Eloquent Boring, especially on health care. The president likely doesn't know this, and his people won't have told him because they don't know it either, but Mr. Obama always has the same sound, approach, logic, tone, modulation. He always has the same stance. There's no humor or humility in it. News is surprise, and he never makes news.
Peggy Noonan
Coruscating on Thin Ice
There are things you can do to be free, and if you turn your attention to those things, no one will stand in your way. But when you become preoccupied with those who are blocking you, you overlook the many alternatives you could use to bypass them.
Harry Browne
How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World
Everyone likes penthouses, so why not have a building in which every apartment is a penthouse?
Ann Coulter
Liberal Lies About National Healthcare
The fundamental issue here is not the proper role of government; it is the proper concept of rights.
William Dwyer
http://rebirthofreason.com/Forum/NewsDiscussions/2540.shtml#4
You can't make an omelet without breaking chicks.
Mark Steyn
Things only a Kennedy could get away with
The consensus appears to be that creationism — the belief in a managed process with an omniscient authority — is the only way to achieve successful outcomes. There is general agreement that the natural operation of the market is inadequate, and that a better outcome can be achieved through the wisdom and activity of governments and regulators. This creationist approach is similiar to the industrial planning which went out of fashion in other sectors in the 1970s. It failed then. It’s failing now
James Murdoch
2009 MacTaggart Lecture
Still, even for a demographic doom-monger such as myself, you could hardly ask for a more poignant fin de civilisation image than a stampede of broody lesbians stymied only by defective semen, like some strange dystopian collaboration between Robert Heinlein and Russ Meyer set in a world divided into muff divers and duff donors.
Mark Steyn
Notice Anything Shriveling?
The problems of our economy have occurred not as an outgrowth of laissez-faire, unbridled competition. They have occurred under the guidance of federal agencies, and under the umbrella of federal regulations.
Ted Kennedy
http://blog.american.com/?p=4328
As part of his campaign to rally religious support for his health-care plan, Obama reportedly told a group of rabbis, "We are God's partners in matters of life and death." God's partners? During the election campaign, Obama notoriously dodged a question on abortion by demurring that the theology of the issue was "above my pay grade." Well, apparently he's been promoted.
Robert Tracinski
Are you happy to see the state to which we've fallen - pressure group pitted against pressure group, old against young, citizen against citizen all fighting to grab a share of the swelling portion of our national income funneled through the hands of Congress?
Bill Frezza
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2009/08/24/what_is_the_foundation_of_your_economic_beliefs_97371.html
There are those whose minds somehow see a value in stealing the legitimacy of an idea... even though legitimacy can't be acquired by theft. Anarchists have attempted to steal the legitimacy of the Libertarian party by twisting concepts and ignoring the realities. As if it made sense to have a party that puts up candidates for office in a government that they believe should be eliminated. They just keep insisting that they are right whether they are or not, then they can continue to pretend being as legitimate. Theirs is the primacy of words - not ideas and certainly not existence.
Steve Wolfer
Think of it as Evolution in Action
Having aggressively, even promiscuously, blurred the distinction between public and private sectors with improvised and largely unauthorized interventions in the economy, will [President Obama and other statists] ever countenance a retreat of the state? Or do they have an aspiration that they dare not speak?
George Will
Will Obama's Statism Ever Retreat?
Obama even gets away with saying things like having a system to "keep insurance companies honest"-- and many people may not see the painful irony in politicians trying to keep other people honest. Certainly most of the media are unlikely to point out this irony.
Thomas Sowell
Whose Medical Decisions?: Part IV
Except for the demented orphan, the living will is quite beside the point. The one time it really is essential is if you think your fractious family will be only too happy to hasten your demise to get your money. That's what the law is good at -- protecting you from murder and theft. But that is a far cry from assuring a peaceful and willed death, which is what most people imagine living wills are about.
Charles Krauthammer
The Truth About Death Counseling
Ghimmitude: A peaceful surrender to the state in exchange for health care security and benefits, based on accepting the inferiority of the individual and individual rights.
William A. Jacobson
Legal Insurrection
The road to socialism is not natural. It must be paved with the hard work of class envy, demonization of the successful, and obfuscation that each new massive spending program that will raise both taxes and deficits (that’s the point, after all, to create so much red ink that we must raise taxes and redefine what constitutes income) must be passed immediately, without delay, now-or-never to stave off Biblical hunger, plague, and flood. Or else!
Victor Davis Hanson
On Becoming Europe
If “health care” were about health care, the devil would be in the details. But it’s not about health or costs or coverage; it’s about getting over the river and burning the bridge. It doesn’t matter what form of governmentalized health care gets passed as long as it passes. Once it’s in place, it will be “reformed”, endlessly, but it will never be undone.
Mark Steyn
Untangling the Spaghetti
A New York Times report on the administration's strategy for fighting back against its critics reads like the flight plan for the Hindenburg.
Robert Tracinski
TIA Daily, 12 Aug 09
Let me get this straight. Turn in a running vehicle that people can afford, to buy a brand new vehicle that they can't afford and accumulate more debt. Then destroy the running vehicle, rather than resell it to someone who can afford it. O, by the way, let's subsidize this by the taxpayer that is unemployed. I am so glad we have common sense in Congress. Not!"
Unknown Author
Reader at Marketwatch.com
The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care.
Sarah Palin
quoted from facebook
Like Richard Nixon, Barack Obama wants to govern on the strength of a silent majority, although with a twist. Obama wants the majority that opposes or questions his policies to stay silent.
Rich Lowry
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZmM2MTI2MTVkN2Y2ZjBlOTQ4N2U2YjY4ZGFkYzFmYzQ=
Forgive my reductionism, but there will always be tension between those who believe that the good of the individual is primary and that the good of the group must be subordinated to it, and those who believe that the good of the group is primary and that the good of the individual must be subordinated to it.
Phil Bowermaster
At least when I'm alternating between knife fighting for the last can of creamed corn at the market and growing home remedies in the garden on my fortified compound, I'll be secure in the knowledge that BO made the racism problem marginally better.
Ryan Keith Roper
Still No Apologies
“What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?”
John Conyers (D-Michigan)
During his speech at a National Press Club luncheon, Conyers (D-Mich.), questioned the point of reading the health care bill.
Innocence, under the extra-constitutional reign of political correctness, liberalism's brand of soft Shariah law, must be proved ex post facto.
Andrew Breitbart
Obama's Accidental Gift on Race
Etiam diabolus audiatur. (Let even the devil be heard.)
Patrick J. Buchanan
quoting Francesco Nitti in Churchill Stalin and the West, p 84
There is no necessary conflict between intelligent conservatism and real liberalism.
Henry Hazlitt
http://mises.org/story/3577
If America is circling the drain, Goldman Sachs has found a way to be that drain.
Matt Taibbi
The Great American Bubble Machine
In conclusion, Coulter has written a biting satire over the trend of anti-intellectualism that clouds part of the conservative ideology, which is otherwise based on principle and reason.
Peter Olofsson
The Coulter Hoax: How Ann Coulter Exposed the Intelligent Design Movement
"I would like evolution to join the roster of other discredited religions, like the Cargo Cult of the South Pacific. Practitioners of Cargo Cult believed that manufactured products were created by ancestral spirits, and if they imitated what they had seen the white man do, they could cause airplanes to appear out of the sky, bringing valuable cargo like radios and TVs. So they constructed “airport towers” out of bamboo and “headphones” out of coconuts and waited for the airplanes to come with the cargo. It may sound silly, but in defense of the Cargo Cult, they did not wait as long for evidence supporting their theory as the Darwinists have waited for evidence supporting theirs. "
Ann Coulter
Democrats treat judicial nominations like war -- while Republicans keep being gracious, hoping Democrats will learn by example.
Ann Coulter
Will the Defendant Please Rise?
I'm a natural scientist. I'm out there every day, buried up to my neck in shit, collecting raw data. And that's why I'm so sceptical of these models, which have nothing to do with science or empiricism but are about torturing the data till it finally confesses.
Ian Plimer
On Global Warming, The Spectator
In theory, this ought to be boom time for lefties. As their jobs, homes and savings vanish, the downtrodden masses should be stampeding back to the embrace of the Big Government nanny’s apron strings. Instead, the Euro-left got hammered at the polls, the center-right survived, and a significant chunk of the electorate switched to the “far right” – the various neo-nationalist and quasi-fascist parties cleaning up everywhere from Northern England to the Balkans. My favorite of these new and mostly unlovely groupings is Bulgaria’s Attack party, mainly because of its name. I would suggest the Republican Party adopt it, but no doubt within a month or two the latest Bush scion would be claiming to stand for a Compassionate Attack movement, and governors of coastal states would be declaring themselves fiscally attacking but socially surrendering, and the whole brand would go to hell.
Mark Steyn
The New Right, er, Left
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Book of Matthew
Matthew, 5:11 King James Version
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