Clipmarks | cniq_cniq's clips

The Allure of Tyranny

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 14:28:47 GMT

clipped by: cniq_cniq

"It is ultimately a cruel misunderstanding of youth to believe it will find its heart's desire in freedom," says Leo Naphta, the great character of Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain" "Its deepest desire is to obey." On Sunday, voters as far apart as Caracas and Vladivostok took to the polls and put Naphta's theory to a practical test.

The phenomenon in which masses of people enthusiastically sign away their democratic rights is not new:

But it's one that Americans especially have a hard time coming to grips with.

That is the crucial context in which Chavismo and Putinism need to be understood. "The totalitarian phenomenon," observed the late French political philosopher Jean-Francois Revel, "is not to be understood without making allowance for the thesis that some important part of every society consists of people who actively want tyranny: either to exercise it themselves or--much more mysteriously--to submit to it. Democracy will therefore always remain at risk."

Tags: despotism, autocracy, freedom, democracy, putin, chavez

God, Country and the Surge

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 01:15:54 GMT

clipped by: cniq_cniq

Clip Source: blog.acton.org

The next quote may make sense for those who have lived in the Middle East. Having lived in Cairo myself, what the author says is plausible:

I’m convinced this openly expressed spirituality is one of the reasons Army and Marine officers seem to be making greater headway in terms of ground-zero diplomacy with sheiks and tribal elders than the rank-and-file civilian diplomats. The Iraqis simply trust American soldiers, their word, and their sincerity, because of their spirituality.

As I’ve said before: though some members of Congress might cavalierly suggest U.S. soldiers and Marines are “cold-blooded killers,” the very nature of their work — something few Americans fully grasp — demands they be some of the world’s most moral men if they are going to be effective at what they do. That doesn’t mean soldiers are perfect. But it does mean many of them have been forced to face God in a way most of us have not, and it’s often reflected in their characters and unconscious behavior.

Tags: iraq, war, christianity, faith, religion, defeatism

Fighting AIDS with African Common Sense

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 00:33:34 GMT

clipped by: cniq_cniq

Clip Source: www.acton.org

Amid reports that the United Nations has been grossly overestimating the scope of the global AIDS pandemic, a new book points to what may be an even greater miscalculation: AIDS relief efforts have failed to understand the crucial role of family and community networks in controlling the disease.

This is the message of Helen Epstein’s important new book, The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West and the Fight Against Aids. Her book is one long testimony to the necessity of at least some social structures operating on a human scale. Although Epstein doesn’t cite the principle of subsidiarity from Catholic social teaching, or the corresponding principle of sphere sovereignty from the Dutch Reformed tradition, the importance of intensely local communities as “first responders” is clearly highlighted. Her book shows that the few noteworthy successes in slowing the spread of AIDS and comforting the sick have not come from sophisticated international organizations, but from local communities.

Tags: alarmism, liberal failure, subsidiarity

Will the secular left soon attack the religious right for being pro-science?

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 21:29:58 GMT

clipped by: cniq_cniq

Clip Source: www.opinionjournal.com

In other words, scientists may now be able to have the embryonic stem cells we've been told they need for research--without creating and destroying embryos to get them. If so, the argument is over.

Or, maybe, the argument is just beginning, for this news turns on its head everything in what the nation's newspapers have delivered to us as a story of blinkered pro-lifers vs. courageous scientists.

The people who turn out actually to have believed in the power of science are the pro-lifers--the ones who said that a moral roadblock is not, in point of fact, an outrageous hindrance, for scientists will always find another, less-objectionable way to achieve their goals.

Watch for it, now that abortion is out of the equation: much less hype about all the miracle cures that stem cells will bring us, more suspicion about the cancers and genetic pollution that may result, and just about the same amount of bashing of religious believers--this time for their ignorant support of science.

Tags: liberals, politics, abortion, culture of life, stem cells, alarmism, propaganda

The SOS Al Gore sinks in Antarctica

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 19:49:52 GMT

clipped by: cniq_cniq

Clip Source: patriotpost.us

Overdoing it with the eco-theology of global warming, 154 explorers set out for Antarctica to witness the phenomenon of melting ice caused by American SUVs. Instead, they witnessed the fact that ice is increasing in Antarctica, namely by running into some with their boat, which then sank. It gets better. The polar express, a 38-year-old ship named the MV Explorer, had a history of inspection problems and was owned by Bruce Poon Tip, a follower, friend and supporter of Al Gore's religion. The New York Times is worried: "While the rescue may have been a success, the consequences for the Antarctic's fragile environment of having a submerged ship estimated to be holding 48,000 gallons of marine diesel fuel sitting off its coast are unclear." Indeed, thanks to Al's buddy, there is a carbon footprint at the bottom of the ocean nearly as big as Gore's.

Tags: global warming, climate change, alarmism, humor

Anti-Semitic Atheism

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 19:31:36 GMT

clipped by: cniq_cniq

Clip Source: article.nationalreview.com

In a unguarded moment in a recent interview with Britain’s Guardian, Richard Dawkins, Oxford professor and bestselling author of the atheist polemic The God Delusion, regretted that atheists have, he believes, so little political influence in the U.S. — especially compared with the influence of one other religious group: Jews. According to Dawkins, American Jews “more or less monopolise American foreign policy as far as many people can see. So if atheists could achieve a small fraction of that influence, the world would be a better place."

Dawkins scores a trifecta for European intellectuals: His claim is anti-semitic, slanders religion, and asserts victimhood. Still, it raises what is actually an important empirical question: Do nonbelievers truly have so little political influence? It turns out that the data tell a different story. In American liberal politics, nonbelievers are a very powerful political force indeed.

Tags: liberals, looney left, anti-religious, alarmism, politics

House GOP Exits Will Strengthen Right in ‘08

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:52:04 GMT

clipped by: cniq_cniq

Clip Source: www.humanevents.com

With the number of House Republicans retiring at 17 and counting -- compared to four exits on the Democratic side -- there are few GOP prognosticators who dare to say that their party has any chance of regaining the majority it held in the House from 1994-to-2006. Simply put, the mathematics just aren’t there.

But one little-noticed fact may have a major impact on Republican ranks in the House after ’08, no matter what their numbers: that with so many of the seventeen including prominent moderate GOPers, odds are strong that the trend toward the terms “Republican” and “conservative” becoming mutually inclusive will continue after the next election.

It won’t happen, but the time may be sooner rather than later that an election cycle leaves the term “liberal Republican House Member” a phrase to describe an extinct species.

Tags: republican, conservative, election, politics, 2008, commentary, human events

The Great Global Warming Swindle

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:36:40 GMT

clipped by: cniq_cniq
clipper's remarks: Download:

http://rapidshare.com/files/66916219/TGGWS.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/66916201/TGGWS.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/66916173/TGGWS.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/66916132/TGGWS.part4.rar

http://www.youngdev.net/media/The.Great.Global.Warming.Swindle.WS.PDTV.XviD-REMAX.avi

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WV4J373P

Clip Source: www.greatglobalwarmingswindle.co.uk

A DVD of the film, The Great Global Warming Swindle, will be available from mid July (despite the strenuous efforts of those who support the theory of global warming to prevent its release). The DVD is an expanded and improved version of the film broadcast in the UK on Channel Four. More interview material has been added, covering a broader range of subjects than was possible in the broadcast film.

However, we urge those interested in hearing the case against the theory of man made global warming to dig deeper. The main purpose of this site is to point people towards key scientific papers, books and other relevant material.

We have received literally thousands of emails from scientists and others expressing their support and encouragement. These emails are also often very useful, steering us towards new studies in different areas. Please keep sending them.

The email address is: gw@wagtv.com

Tags: global warming, climate change, alarmism, profiteering, expoitation

Alarmism

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 23:38:56 GMT

clipped by: cniq_cniq

Clip Source: www.opinionjournal.com

"The Scientists Speak," reads the headline of the New York Times editorial, which informs us that there is no question the New York Times editorialists are right:

There is no doubt! These are scientists, after all, and they're working for the U.N. They don't make mistakes!

Or do they? Here's a news story that also appears in the Times today:

The United Nations' AIDS-fighting agency plans to issue a report today acknowledging that it overestimated the size of the epidemic and that new infections with the deadly virus have been dropping each year since they peaked in the late 1990s.

We're so confused. Didn't the scientists speak? How could they have gotten it so wrong? After all, they're scientists!

Here's a quote from the Washington Post that may shed some light on the matter:

"There was a tendency toward alarmism, and that fit perhaps a certain fundraising agenda," said Helen Epstein, author of "The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West, and the Fight Against AIDS."

Tags: alarmism, global warming, climate change, hype, hysteria, greed

Death Row T-Shirts

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 19:19:42 GMT

clipped by: cniq_cniq

Clip Source: www.deathrowtshirts.com

Tags: t-shirts, humor, comedy, jokes, funny

A Worthy Definition of Freedom

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 23:51:08 GMT

clipped by: cniq_cniq

Clip Source: blog.acton.org

Here’s a definition of freedom worth noting:

The Word of God teaches that the Christian is a free man and should “stand in the freedom which Christ has made him free.” What is meant by Christian freedom? What is freedom in general? We answer: it is not the right and the ability to do as one pleases, but the ability to move without constraint in the sphere for which God made us. Freedom therefore is not inconsistent with limitation and law. The bird is free only when it can move in the air unhindered. A worm is free when it is not prevented from moving in the ground--in a sphere which would mean bondage and death for many other creatures. A locomotive is not free unless its motion is confined to the two rails on which it was made to run. Man was made in the image of God to be like Him and to reflect his holiness. Consequently he is free only when he moves without constraint in the sphere of holiness and obedience to God’s law.

Tags: christianity, freedom, licence

Food Kills

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 23:22:27 GMT

clipped by: cniq_cniq

Clip Source: www.cnsnews.com

It is now a proven fact that eating food -- any kind of food -- will kill you. No one who has eaten food in the past is alive today, and everyone currently eating food will die. Therefore, those noble people who seek to save us from eating every kind of food that the earth provides should be hailed and saluted for their efforts to keep us alive.

Bear in mind that at least 10,000 Americans on the average die every day from something, not infrequently just old age and the infirmities associated with it. If you live beyond age 85 or into your 90s, the odds of dying from something are pretty good.

So why is it that meat is so often singled out as lethal? Well, for one thing, there are any number of vegetarian groups that, like some weird religious cult, flood the Internet and other media with fulminations against eating meat of any kind.

Tags: alarmism, liberals, peta, hype

Two Sure Things

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:28:14 GMT

clipped by: cniq_cniq

Clip Source: archive.patriotpost.us

THE GIPPER

“Conservatives were brought up to hate deficits, and justifiably so. We’ve long thought there are two things in Washington that are unbalanced—the budget and the liberals.” —Ronald Reagan

Tags: humor, political, ronald reagan, conservatives, liberals

Top 10 Most Outrageous Liberal Media Quotes

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 19:28:32 GMT

clipped by: cniq_cniq

Clip Source: www.humanevents.com

7. Dan’s Salute to ‘Honest’ Bill
Host Bill O’Reilly: “Do you think President Clinton’s an honest man?”

Dan Rather: “Yes, I think he’s an honest man.... I think you can be an honest person and lie about any number of things.” -- Exchange on Fox News’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” May 15, 2001.

8. Extolling Virtues of Fidel’s Prison

“For Castro, freedom starts with education. And if literacy alone were the yardstick, Cuba would rank as one of the freest nations on Earth. The literacy rate is 96%.” -- Barbara Walters on ABC’s “20/20,” Oct. 11, 2002.

10. Rosie vs. ‘Radical Christianity’

“As a result of the [9/11] attack and the killing of nearly 3,000 innocent people, we invaded two countries and killed innocent people in their countries.... Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America.” -- Rosie O’Donnell on ABC’s “The View,” Sept. 12, 2006.

Tags: human events, media research center, lists, political, liberal, conservative

Dastardly Scientists

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:11:51 GMT

clipped by: cniq_cniq
clipper's remarks: John Coleman - Founder of The Weather Channel

Clip Source: www.uspoliticsonline.com

This is my field of life-long expertise. And I am telling you Global Warming is a non-event, a manufactured crisis and a total scam. I say this knowing you probably won’t believe a me, a mere TV weatherman, challenging a Nobel Prize, Academy Award and Emmy Award winning former Vice President of United States. So be it.

The impact of humans on climate is not catastrophic. Our planet is not in peril. I am incensed by the incredible media glamour, the politically correct silliness and rude dismissal of counter arguments by the high priest of Global Warming.

It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming; It is a SCAM. Some dastardly scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long term scientific data to create in allusion of rapid global warming.

Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon they claimed to be a consensus.

Tags: john coleman, weather channel, global warming, climate change, alarmism, junk science