In his book "The Liberal Imagination," published in 1950, TRILLING POINTED TO THE "DANGERS WHICH LIE IN OUR MOST GENEROUS WISHES." PROGRESSIVES, Trilling observed, believe that through the "rational direction of human life" they can alleviate misery. But the reformers, TRILLING SHOWED, ARE TOO OFTEN OBLIVIOUS OF THE TRUTH OF THEIR OWN MOTIVES.
In his 1947 novel "The Middle of the Journey," Trilling probes this hidden impulse in his portrayal of Gifford Maxim, a character modeled on his Columbia schoolmate and legendary Soviet spy-turned-anti-Communist Whittaker Chambers. "AND IN THE MOST SECRET HEART OF EVERY INTELLECTUAL ... THERE LIES HIDDEN ... THE HOPE OF POWER, THE DESIRE TO BRING HIS IDEAS TO REALITY BY IMPOSING THEM ON HIS FELLOW MAN," Maxim says. THIS HOPE TEMPTS THE PROGRESSIVE TO EMBRACE COERCIVE POLICIES IN THE NAME OF SOCIAL EQUITY. "The more we talk of welfare, the crueler we become," Maxim says. "How can we possibly be guilty when we have in mind the welfare of others, and of so many others?"
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2011/0309/Before-NPR-scandal-a-warning-about-elite-liberals-compassion-turns-to-coercion
I do believe Progressive and the Left are a clear and imminent danger to this magnificent experiment called the United States. As they spread their web over our lives more and more of it is controlled by “do good” policies which put the left in the role of parent and the rest of us in the role of children.
I guess civility is now passé
MICHAEL MOORE IS ENRAGED AFTER THE WISCONSIN STATE SENATE voted to strip public unions of the ability to collectively bargain. Speaking on MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show," Moore said "they think they can get away with this."http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/03/09/michael_moore_reacts_to_wisconsin_union_vote_this_is_war.html
MOORE ALSO CALLS FOR A "STUDENT WALK-OUT" ACROSS THE NATION ON FRIDAY in response to the Wisconsin vote.
"THIS HAS TO CONTINUE DAY AFTER DAY AND THESE GOVERNORS HAVE TO STEP DOWN," Moore declared.
"The rich have committed these crimes and the people will demand your ass is in jail," Michael Moore said with a pair of handcuffs on the set of Maddow's show.
MOORE ALSO SHOCKED THE AUDIENCE BY TELLING THE RICH AND BANKERS THAT "WE HAVE A RIGHT TO YOUR MONEY!"
Civility and common sense are not Moore’s specialty. TEA Party members when they made threats basically told politicians they vote.
Absent Democratic Senator upset bill passed without him
Before the Wisconsin State Senate separated collective bargaining rights for public unions from their budget bill and passed it, a DEMOCRATIC STATE SENATOR ON THE LAM SAID HE "DROVE 80 MILES PER HOUR IN ORDER TO TRY TO GET BACK TO DO SOMETHING" ABOUT IT. However, he was unable to get back to the Capitol since he, along with the 13 other Democrats in Wisconsin's state Senate, are currently hiding in Illinois.
http://realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/03/09/runaway_wis_dem_drove_back_as_fast_as_he_could_to_stop_gop.html
Perhaps he should have thought of this before he and his cohorts went on the lam from their jobs as legislators.
What EJ Dionne takes from the Wisconsin battle
Consider the contrast between two groups of Democrats, in Wisconsin and in the nation's capital.
THE WASHINGTON DEMOCRATS, INCLUDING PRESIDENT OBAMA, HAVE ALLOWED CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS TO DOMINATE THE BUDGET DEBATE SO FAR. As long as the argument is over who will cut more from federal spending, conservatives win. Voters may think the GOP is going too far, but when it comes to dollar amounts, they know Republicans will always cut more.
In Wisconsin, BY CONTRAST, 14 DEMOCRATS IN THE STATE SENATE DEFINED THE POLITICAL ARGUMENT ON THEIR OWN TERMS -- AND THEY ARE WINNING IT.
By leaving Madison rather than providing a quorum to pass Gov. Scott Walker's assault on collective bargaining for public employees, the Wisconsin 14 took a big risk. Yet to the surprise of establishment politicians, voters have sided with the itinerant senators and the unions against a Republican governor who has been successfully portrayed as an inflexible ideologue…..
….A nationwide Pew Research Center survey released last week, for example, showed Americans siding with the unions over Walker by a margin of 42 percent to 31 percent. Walker's 31 percent was well below the GOP's typical base vote because 17 percent of self-described Republicans picked the unions over their party's governor….
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/03/10/what_wisconsin_can_teach_washington_109180.html
The timing of this opinion piece is interesting. He declares the Democrats are winning just as Walker and the Republicans pass the legislation the Democrats fled the state to stop. That’s not to say the Republicans won. It is a risk for them. I’m remembering the battle of Obamacare and how the Democrats were told once you pass it, the people will grow to love it. They did, but the people didn’t. So will the same thing happen to the Republicans in Wisconsin? I doubt it. Obamacare affects everyone in the country, while the reforms of Walker affects on the public union members in Wisconsin and it will be 20 months until the next election. I am glad the Republicans stuck to their guns on this one.
This is what Fascism looks like
Mob scene" is Meade's expression. He was there, unable to get in and hearing rumors about legislators unable to get in.http://althouse.blogspot.com/2011/03/mob-scene-at-wisconsin-capitol-morning.html
MORE: From Meade: Legislators CAN GET INTO THE BUILDING, BUT REPUBLICANS ARE BEING BLOCKED FROM GETTING TO THEIR OFFICES AND INTO THE ASSEMBLY CHAMBER. It's the Assembly that needs to vote on the bill that the Senate passed last night, leading to the renewed protests. Meade heard from a source that Democratic legislators unlocked at least one door that leads to the doors for a cluster of Republican legislative offices. THAT WOULD APPEAR TO BE PART OF A SCHEME TO PREVENT THE VOTE. [ADDED: THE DOOR WAS UNLOCKED TO LET THE AREA FILLED UP WITH PROTESTERS AND BLOCK THE OFFICE DOORS.]
"This is what democracy looks like" — that's the chant we've heard for 3 weeks. HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS NEW DEMOCRACY, THAT HAS A MOB STORMING THE CAPITOL AND, WITH THE AID OF THE MINORITY PARTY, BLOCKING THE ACCESS OF THE MAJORITY PARTY INTO THEIR OFFICES AND INTO THE LEGISLATIVE CHAMBER? It looks more like anarchy to me.
A Thousand Points of Blight
In a 2006 speech to the National Press Club about lobbying reform, Illinois Senator Barack Obama waxed eloquent about the malevolent influence of special interests on Beltway politics: "THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE TIRED OF A WASHINGTON THAT'S ONLY OPEN TO THOSE WITH THE MOST CASH AND THE RIGHT CONNECTIONS. THEY'RE TIRED OF A POLITICAL PROCESS WHERE THE VOTE YOU CAST ISN’T AS IMPORTANT AS THE FAVORS YOU CAN DO." And, alluding to that infamous hive of scum and villainy, the Bush administration, he added: "When big oil companies are invited into the White House for secret energy meetings, it's no wonder they end up with billions in tax breaks while Americans still struggle to fill up their gas tanks and heat their homes." It appears, however, that talk is a good deal cheaper than political influence.
Four years later, Obama had long since moved to Pennsylvania Avenue and was RECEIVING FREQUENT VISITS FROM PEOPLE WITH MORE THAN A PASSING RESEMBLANCE TO THE INIQUITOUS SPECIAL INTERESTS WHOSE INFLUENCE HAD ONCE FILLED HIM WITH RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION. Not only did he conduct intimate tête-à-têtes with energy executives, meetings that outraged more than a few progressive advocacy groups, HE WAS RECEIVING A STEADY STREAM OF VISITORS WITH MUCH AT STAKE IN THE HEALTH CARE REFORM LEGISLATION that was being hotly debated in Congress and in the public square. Many conservatives and libertarians worried that secret deals were being cut, and this anxiety was by no means ameliorated when WE LEARNED RICHARD TRUMKA WAS GETTING MORE FACE TIME WITH THE PRESIDENT THAN WAS MRS. OBAMA…..
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/03/10/a-thousand-points-of-blight
Obama is a true statist. Far from excluding special interests, he has welcomed them and tried to bribe them for their support.
The State of Obama
A calamity on all fronts
AN OBSERVER IS ENTITLED TO WONDER IF THIS ADMINISTRATION HAS TAKEN LEAVE OF ITS SENSES. I have often written here that it might do better at some point, but it HAS BEEN IN OFFICE FOR 26 MONTHS AND ITS POLICY RECORD IS A SHAMBLES. It has given precisely NO INDICATION OF WHAT IT PROPOSES TO DO ABOUT THE TRILLION-DOLLAR-PLUS DEFICITS it is serenely racking up and projecting. The latest budget, in lockstep with its precedents, is a farcical mockery of prudent management: It forecasts no improvements, and such forecasts as there are are BASED ON PIE-IN-THE-SKY EUPHORIC ASSUMPTIONS THAT TREASURY OFFICIALS CANNOT RENDER WITH A STRAIGHT FACE. Habitués of this column would be aware that I consider these deficits to be effectively increases in the money supply, since the money has been spent and infused into the economy, even though most of the bonds that backed the deficits of the last three years were acquired by the Federal Reserve. I don’t believe that this alters the eventual nature of the impact of the spending on the economy.
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/261666/state-obama-conrad-black
Obama has been lucky so far. With all the other major currencies monetarizing their debt, it hides the affect that Obama’s spending should have. But this is an interesting article you should read.
As for those pie in the sky projections, next year the deficit will drop precipitously due to an assumption of a huge increase in revenue. Do you believe it? I don’t.
Representative King’s hearing into Islamic Radicalization
Never in my entire career in Washington have I encountered THE HYPE AND SCARE TACTICS OF THOSE OPPOSING THE HEARINGS INTO ISLAMIC RADICALIZATION BY REP. PETE KING. A classic example was a headline on MSNBC.com: "Inquiry by congressional committee looks like inquisition to many Muslims."http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2011/03/10/2011-03-10_muslim_american_groups_not_rep_pete_king_are_the_ones_fomenting_hysteria.html
The line of attack is now familiar: If King (R-L.I.) were truly interested in violent extremism, his hearings would focus on a wide range of groups that wreak havoc on America, INCLUDING NEO-NAZIS AND OTHERS; BY FOCUSING SOLELY ON MUSLIM EXTREMISM, THE ARGUMENT GOES, HE IS BETRAYING HIS BIAS.
This is utterly ridiculous. Our organization, the Investigative Project on Terrorism, recently did an analysis of all terrorism convictions based on statistics released by the Justice Department. THESE STATS SHOW THAT MORE THAN 80% OF ALL CONVICTIONS TIED TO INTERNATIONAL TERRORIST GROUPS AND HOMEGROWN TERRORISM SINCE 9/11 INVOLVE DEFENDANTS DRIVEN BY A RADICAL ISLAMIST AGENDA. Though Muslims represent less than 1% of the American population, they constitute defendants in 186 of the 228 cases the Justice Department lists.
Are you familiar with the 20/80 rule of thumb. It states that 20% of the population will provide 80 of the problems, benefits, etc. In this case we have a 1/80 ratio which seems enough justification to hold these hearings.
What Obamacare supporters can look forward to
A SURVEY OF MORE THAN 60 HOSPITAL TRUSTS HAS FOUND THAT THEY CARRIED OUT ALMOST 11,000 FEWER PLANNED OR 'ELECTIVE' OPERATIONS IN 2010 THAN THEY DID IN 2009.
The trusts that replied carried out 1,227 fewer knee replacements, a drop of six per cent, and 531 fewer hip replacements.
And they carried out 2,041 fewer hernia operations, down 7.25 per cent, and 1,770 fewer tonsillectomies, a drop of 11 per cent.
The figures are from Freedom of Information requests to England's 170 NHS hospital trusts, made by the Patients Association, of which 62 responded.
THE PRESSURE GROUP DESCRIBED THE FIGURES AS "A DISGRACE" WHILE DOCTORS LABELLED THEM "WORRYING".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8368983/Hospitals-cutting-operations-while-waiting-times-rise.html
This is happening in the UK, but as the supporters of Obamacare told us this could never happen in the USA. BTW, a knee replacement is only elective if it isn’t your knee.
House Oversight Committee Approves SOAR Act
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform HAS PASSED THE SCHOLARSHIPS FOR OPPORTUNITY AND RESULTS ACT BY A MARGIN OF 21 TO 14. As NRO reported earlier, THE SOAR ACT WOULD REINVIGORATE THE D.C. OPPORTUNITY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM, which would distribute a limited number of vouchers to low-income students in the district so they could attend private schools..
“Today’s vote continues the bipartisan momentum to restore educational choice and opportunity for schoolchildren in the District of Columbia,” says Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif), the committee’s chairman, in a statement. “Independent studies and reports from parents and students have validated the educational benefits the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program has provided to low-income D.C. students. Without the robust and steadfast opposition of teachers’-union special-interest groups, I believe there would have been consensus of support for this commonsense proposal. ”
Although Sen. Joe Lieberman (I., Conn.) has introduced the bill’s counterpart in the Senate, one education-reform expert has warned me, “I DO NOT SEE A WAY WE CAN GET TO 60.” IN FACT, NOT ONE HOUSE DEMOCRAT VOTED IN FAVOR OF THE BILL. SEE THE ROLL CALL BELOW
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/261852/house-oversight-committee-approves-soar-act-brian-bolduc
When you want to talk about special interest with a choke hold on a party, the NEA seems to have that on the Democrats to the detriment of other members of the Democratic coalition. This is just awful.
Some good news
It’s THE HOLY GRAIL AT CLEAN ENERGY RESEARCH LABS ALL OVER THE WORLD and something which could address long term energy issues domestically and beyond: more efficient photovoltaic solar….
…The researchers studied this technique on a fairly new type of solar cell that uses tiny particles of semiconductors called quantum dots. QUANTUM DOT SOLAR CELLS ARE CHEAPER TO PRODUCE THAN TRADITIONAL SILICON CELLS, BUT THEY HAVEN’T CAUGHT ON DUE TO THEIR RELATIVE INEFFICIENCY.
For Stacey Bent, a chemical engineering professor at Stanford, this represented something of a challenge. SHE KNEW THAT SOLAR CELLS MADE OF A SINGLE MATERIAL HAVE A MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY OF ABOUT 31 PERCENT, a limitation of the fixed energy level they can absorb, and that quantum dot solar cells didn’t share this limitation. “QUANTUM DOTS CAN BE TUNED TO ABSORB A CERTAIN WAVELENGTH OF LIGHT JUST BY CHANGING THEIR SIZE,” the Stanford report on her research says. “And they can be used to build more complex solar cells that have more than one size of quantum dot, allowing them to absorb multiple wavelengths of light.”…
….Even with this breakthrough, THERE’S STILL WORK TO DO: BENT SAID THE CADMIUM SULFIDE QUANTUM DOTS SHE’S BEEN USING AREN’T IDEAL FOR SOLAR CELLS, so her group plans to try other molecules for the organic layer, while also tinkering with the solar cell increase light absorption
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/10/solar-power-breakthrough_n_833483.html
Good news here. Let’s hope it pans out.
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