Regrouping Open Thread
As you may have guess from my blog silence yesterday, it was a very long weekend, which left no time for blogging. Even if I’d had the opportunity to write, I didn’t have the time to ruminate, which is a predicate to any writing I do. (Yes, I know that’s not always obvious.)
This morning, too, has been busy, although not in any very productive way. I’m heading off to lunch with DQ, though, which is always revitalizing. In the meantime, there are a few things I was saving for your attention:
Mr. Bookworm, who is an ardent Jon Stewart fan, got very agitated when he watched Jon Stewart’s attacks on Glenn Beck’s attacks against George Soros. As far as Mr. Bookworm is concerned, Glenn Beck is a Nazi who, by showing Soros as a Jewish puppet master, is engineering another Holocaust. I agree that, as a Jew, it’s disturbing to me that Soros is Jewish — but that’s in large part because there is no one more dangerous than a self-hating Jew. It is Soros who funds some of the worst antisemitism in America, and backs some of the most anti-Israel groups (including the now discredited J-Street). It was a fruitless conversation for me to point out that Beck, a Mormon, has shown himself to be a friend of Israel and a friend of Jews, while Soros has consistently been a heavy-duty enemy.
Anyway, I thought of this foolish go-round when I read Barry Rubin’s amazing essay about Friedrich Nietzsche. I had no idea that Nietzsche was an ardent philosemite. Because he got co-opted by the Nazis, I blithely assumed that he was as antisemitic as the Nazis. What a surprise to learn that it was Nietzsche’s hostility to Christianity that gave him cachet with the Nazis and led to him being forever conflated with the Holocaust.
On a totally different subject, unless we’re talking in generalities about the Leftist police state, if you want your liver curled, read about the excesses of Child Protective Services in England. I thought it was bad here, but the neuroses that characterizes local parents when they think of that heavy-handed organization is nothing compared to the real fear parents in England feel.
Sadie sent me a link to a scathing indictment of the new TSA tactics. I think you’ll find it as interesting as I did. I continue to hold my position that I don’t mind enhanced security, as long as it’s meaningful enhanced security. This demeaning charade, however, doesn’t make me feel safer about flying, but it leaves me increasingly scared of my own government.
Bruce Kesler is right — state bankruptcy is the way to go. Bankruptcy is an orderly way to deal with crushing debt. It will allow states to get rid of destructive pension plans and the other economic poison. Of course, what’s going to happen instead is costly bailouts that merely reward utterly irresponsible behavior. Both bailouts and bankruptcies are painful, but bailouts will ultimately lead to economic death, while bankruptcies are a pruning process that will allow new, green shoots to grow.
After all this, do you need a laugh? Tom Elia has one, courtesy of Dave Barry and his blurred . . . well, you’ll see.
