An interesting comparison of The Occupy and The Tea Party. They sure appear similar to me. REPORTED OCCUPY PARTY TEA PARTY ARRESTS 4149+ 0 DEATHS 7 0 RAPES 12 0 [...]
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Economicnoise.com
has been ranked in the top 150 Conservative websites (#140) See the rankings here. To my knowledge, this is the first time this site has appeared on this list.
I suspected the website was gaining traction when I learned that, on a monthly basis, readers from over 140 countries visit the site.
While I am flattered and have you readers to thank, I have never considered myself or this website conservative. To me, the word is nothing but elastic, a label used by the masses. So too is liberal. Both have little content other than in the mind of the user or the listener. Frequently the one speaking the word has a different conception of its meaning than the one hearing it. All too frequently both words are used in pejorative ways to incite one side against the other.
Friedrich von Hayek wrote a brilliant essay on why he was not a Conservative entitled Why I Am Not A Conservative. Despite his rejection of this label, people continue to refer to Hayek as one. If Hayek can be called a conservative, I suppose that I should be proud to be grouped in with him. Hayek as many of you know, preferred to describe himself as a “classical liberal,” a lesser understood term but one with more meaning. That I hope is what is reflected more on this blog than conservatism.
To the many readers and other blogs who have linked to articles here, it is your support and response that makes this (sometimes grueling and lonely) effort worthwhile. Your feedback and small recognition like this ranking allows me to believe that I am not merely a modern day reincarnation of The Man from La Mancha, flailing away at imaginary dragons.
Thanks again to all supporters.
Jan 312012
I originally tweeted a reference to this piece. Upon re-reading it, I felt compelled to refer to it in a post.
Here is Barry Rubin’s take on His Royal Incompetency:
I’ve been waiting for someone to voice my reaction to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union message. But and since I haven’t seen anyone else do it — I’m not referring to the foreign policy aspects which I analyzed fully here but the whole speech — I’ll do it myself.
It was very scary.
Why? I am reminded of the famous scene in The Caine Mutiny embedded above in which the captain is testifying at the court-martial of officers who removed him from command during a storm on the basis of mental incompetence. Perhaps you remember the brilliant film performance by Humphrey Bogart. As he testifies about his fine job of command, the captain slowly breaks down into coherence. He pulls out of his pocket some little steel balls which he rolls endlessly in his hand. Click. Click. Click. The court-martial officers look at each other and you can see in their faces what they are thinking: This man is bonkers.
Wonder why your kids don’t learn at school? Here is but one reason related to political correctness gone wild. The woman in this video is shrill, but she is correct in what she says. The hypocrisy of the school system, driven by the political correctness madness, is quite evident in the manner with which they treat the Muslim religion as compared with the Judeo-Christian religions that predominate in the country.
Jan 202012
This article caught my attention. I thought it must have great applicability to politicians although Calvin Trillin, the author, did not go there with what would appear to be a universal concept. It seems as though it would have been invented for the political class, possibly then spun off into other areas of society.
Maybe some clever reader could adopt it. Might I suggest that the ACI term be dropped in such a target-rich environment. Terms like “Weiners” or “Kerry’s” might better convey the message. Anthony Weiner and/or John Kerry would provide interesting standards against which others could be measured. There is no reason to limit this competition for a standard to only these two. Others like Barney Frank, Barack Obama or Joe Biden could provide useful standards.
Perhaps some clever reader can take this idea and come up with a system for politicians. Until then, enjoy the following:
ACI
A new way of measuring pretentiousness.
By Calvin Trillin|Posted Friday, Jan. 13, 2012, at 4:40 PM ET
Talking a lot about wine gets you a substantial ACI
Siri Stafford/Thinkstock Images.When I entered the nearly empty bar near Grand Central, I was unsurprised—and, I’ll admit, rather pleased—to see, sitting on the stool he’d occupied when I was in the bar some months before, the mature gentleman who had told me that the economic crisis was inevitable once smart people started taking jobs on Wall Street. (“Our guys would have never invented credit default swaps,” he’d explained. “They couldn’t have done the math.”)
I settled myself a few stools away, but I did nod; in return, he lifted his martini in my direction as a sort of understated toast. He was dressed, as he’d been the other time I saw him, in gray trousers and a tweed jacket and a blue button-down shirt—none of which differed from what could have been purchased in close proximity to a New England college campus in 1959. Again, he was wearing a club tie. This time, it appeared, from my vantage point, to be decorated with tiny artificial-heart valves.
No sooner had I ordered a drink than we had occasion to exchange glances that communicated dismay: Three men who were sitting at the other end of the room had begun discussing wine in voices that seemed intended to enlighten oenophiles who were strolling past Rockefeller Center.
The man at the end of the bar nodded in their direction and said, “Among people who think of themselves as wine connoisseurs there’s a 61 percent ACI.”
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