Jennifer Rubin's "The Democratic convention goes far left; media unaware", in the WP.

h/t Maggie's Farm

Gagdad Bob on the "roiling asylum of political pathology" that is the DNC, and on the unfortunate (for everyone else) fact that the liberals' collective delusion/hallucination is not a mere fairy tale:

…it is always critical to bear in mind that the best possible human order will still have a great deal of disorder in it, for the simple reason that there is no secular or state-managed cure for man…[…]…Hence the reason for conservatism, which attempts to conserve the real order of things, which is again always imperfect. Conversely, the leftist instinct is to conclude that this order is imperfect -- which it obviously is -- and therefore "fundamentally transform" it.

The problem is, even though these revolutionary dreamers are detached from reality, they are nevertheless a big part of our reality. We can't just choose to have Obama leave us alone, or tell him to go and live in his own private fantasy world if that is how he wishes to live his life. No, we are all stuck in his fantasy. We are all affected by people who refuse "to distinguish between dream and reality."

(emph. mine)

The caring/sharing/logical left: A tweet from $1m Obama donor Bill Maher :

#MittRomney u fucking loser, pack it in, when Black Elvis gets jiggy with his teleprompter ur dead meat

I want a single horn hat like the guy in the choir.

Re: Swedish folk music.

The dawn of socialism.

@ EBD
Once the socialists are firmly entrenched , the usefull idiots like Maher are generally silenced as they have served their purpose and are now a embarrasment. Maher would find that the TSA mentality has quickly taken over the broadcast industry and only the chosen MSNBC types would be free to draft a opinion on government issues. Being obnoxious is a luxury for free people only and he better enjoy it while he still can.

Mike Rowe's letter to Gov. Romney.

Romney read it.

Mike Rowe is is very surprised.

One vote at a time, Gov.

Small Enslaved Animals
"An alluring idea," they write, would be to sell the carbon indirectly sequestered by the sea otter protected kelp forest...

Lance, good for Mike Rowe and good for Romney for answering. The content of his letter to Governor Romney was right, and we have the same situation here in Canada. There is a shortage of skilled labour in almost every trade, and many of these trades could lead to satisfying self employment. There are too many people chasing social engineering moonbeams.

The socialists nearly entrenched themselves here, but Adscam, Paul Martin and Stephen Harper derailed the finishing touches with philospher king Michael ready in the wings to consult with Mo Strong to make Canada the carbon neutral template for UN world governance (yes it would have been so esoteric).

Now the left is making their bold move with their utopiate fantasies in the US, which started with the election of Obama. They are attempting to sell a false narrative of a "progressive" (socialist) America when it's abundantly clear that's not the case for the still centre-right US of A. With MSM acquiescence and assistance, rabid socialism is now presented as the new norm with traditional American ideology labeled/memed as extreme; and we on the right are counting on the electorate to figure this out by November. We shouldn't be so sure, I'm sorry to say.

If Obama gets elected and the Dems manage to carry Congress, none of that will matter. Now untethered from the electorate, the Dems will simply impose their "progressive" political cultural stamp on the US. Sure that will bury Hillary Clinton (so why did Bubba help Obama? Hmm) but consider how this political dissonace will leave a lasting imprint of the American political psyche (oh and right, $trillions more debt at precisely the wrong demographic juncture). In any event the US hard left won't need Obama or the Clintons any more. They might even use use them as scapegoats and ask for yet another "new deal" in mid-term elections.

IOW can fiction trump reality with the re-election of Obama? Frankly there shouldn't be a snowball's chance in h**l, but I and others have concerns about Romney's approach thus far. I for one feel, though it's still early days, he must now begin to press home his alternative and take over the narrative, instead of letting himself be defined, and force the Dems to admit their contempt for small/medium business and belief we all belong to the commune of government and must serve it. Jonah Goldberg has similar concerns about Romney:

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/316215/campaign-wrong-ideas-vs-no-ideas-jonah-goldberg

Romney needs to get off his a** right now, and start working his plan. Again, I harken the PMSH's successful defeat of the LPC and their attempt to re-define the Canadian political culture to leftist from centre or centre-right. Harper stopped that dead in its tracks by moving the discourse and policy options closer to predominate Canadian political ideology.

It's a more dire situation in the US, with a far more shrill and less experienced Dem party which now is clearly socialist (not their history) thuggishly pushing their way into the corridors of power. They're going to use every half-fact, outright lie and smear to get what they want - total control of the executive and legislature. Think of a cornered animal with no other alternative.

Though I remain cautiously optimistic and am not yet ready to suspend disbelief in an Obama victory, Romney, IMO isn't now doing what's needed to prevail against this moribund and tragic administration, though I surely hope he comes around for both our countrys' sake.

Sign me up for the selling sea otter kelp CO2 capture to the libtard uropeons. How do I convince greentards to pay me to breed sea otters?

@ ∞ ≠ ø at September 9, 2012 12:09 AM

Yup....proof positive they are nuts.

In fairness, Bill Maher is a pathetic, loathsome creep. So he does have an excuse.

Peter Schiff interviews at DNC. Democrats Let Ban Profits. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=07fTsF5BiSM

"Spare a couple of color TVs, an Xbox, and an air conditioner for a poor beggar, sir?"

Data from the Department of Energy and other agencies show that the average poor family, as defined by Census officials:

• Lives in a home that is in good repair, not crowded, and equipped with air conditioning, clothes washer and dryer, and cable or satellite TV service.

• Prepares meals in a kitchen with a refrigerator, coffee maker and microwave as well as oven and stove.

• Enjoys two color TVs, a DVD player, VCR and — if children are there — an Xbox, PlayStation, or other video game system.

• Had enough money in the past year to meet essential needs, including adequate food and medical care.

Great talk given by Mike Rowe regarding work;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-udsIV4Hmc

It's 20 min but well worth it.

Great essay from James Delingpole regarding health effects of wind turbines;

http://quixoteslaststand.com/2012/09/09/are-wind-farms-saving-or-killing-us-a-provocative-investigation-claims-thousands-of-people-are-falling-sick-because-they-live-near-them/

Mao Stlong* Lepolt.
...-

"Harper, Chinese leader wrap APEC summit with trade deal
CBC.ca"

...-

"Are Chinese Banks Hiding “The Mother of All Debt Bombs”?"

"China's massive bank financed stimulus was intended to keep the economy moving. It may instead lead to economic disaster."

http://thediplomat.com/2012/09/07/are-chinese-banks-hiding-the-mother-of-all-debt-bombs/

*Ex-Liberal leader Rae's uncle, c/o Red China.

"Bank Loan Tricks Stain, Strain Steel Sector"

"Companies that cross-guaranteed loans and over-collateralized stocks are struggling in a weak market"

"Before this year, Qiao said, business was booming. Customers typically started queuing at daybreak, and deal-cutting continued until the shop closed at 9 p.m. Delivery trucks for Qiao's and other shops rolled through the trading center well into the night.

By August, however, the 20-hectare market in southeast Beijing had largely fallen silent. Most merchants closed their doors. Qiao's shop was one of few still open for the trickle of potential buyers who surveyed products but bought few, or none.

The scene has been repeated at steel trading centers across China where business hit the doldrums several months ago, confirming forecasts by investment bank economists and market analysts for weaker businesses after a slowdown in 2011."

http://english.caixin.com/2012-09-07/100434402.html

EBD, this ability to live in both fact and fiction, in both the real and the imaginary worlds, is a basic and integral part of our human species.

It enables man to anticipate and plan his interactions with the realities of the environment, such that he can imagine, if you'll forgive the trivia of the example: 'What if I domesticated chickens in my yard, wouldn't that be an easier and more reliable source of food than hunting wild turkeys'?

What if I built a house, then..
What if I invented stirrups, then would I able to ride a horse better?
What if I invented the wheel, the horse harness, the steam engine, the plane, the computer, the vaccine...and so on.

The 'what if' world of the unreal, the imagined entity, is a basic and necessary property of our species.

Imagination is in itself real! It becomes a burden and a danger when we move it into the imaginary world of perfection rather than 'good things that work in the real world'. It's the notion of an end state; a state of Final Mode of Perfection, that is dangerous. When we do that, we move outselves out of the reality of mortality and into the insanity of immortality. That's why the Greeks were very clear in distinguishing between the gods and men.

To imagine a world, not a thing-in-the-real-world, but a world that is perfect is disastrous. To achieve that state requires force, enormous force, to remove reality, to remove every living entity in its mortal nature and instead, set up immortal or imaginary beings.

That's what the leftist ideology flitters and flutters with - that notion of perfection. If only everyone would behave 'like this', all together, all in a commonality, then the left assures us, the oceans will cease to rise and peace will exist on earth. And the unemployment will fall below 8%. That utopianism is the left and their contempt, their indifference to reality, deserves our contempt.

We can express it by constantly reminding the left, in the political realm, of The Facts, and reminding them that reality must always trump utopian fiction.

I'd normally not listen to a TV actor's opinion on anything other than acting, but, Mike Rowe is not your normal actor. He probably has seen and done more of the "core" jobs than anyone else and he has it right: getting your hands dirty working these days is looked down on in the western world.

just my two cents worth.

Right ET ... the thing being that useless people have useless dreams and are mostly incapable of making them work in a any sense of reality.

Successful people don't bother trying to force useless dreams onto reality.

Your right Texas, and the only way government is going to help, is stay out of it.

The value of hard work starts at home, including the benefit of common sense.

Of course you could go the route of Ontario and start - the Ontario College of Trades.

They haven't decided yet whether they want to charge one hundred or two hundred dollars a year for employees hundred for employers to feed the new bureaucracy that quote " is an arms length from government".

pooey...... they haven't figured out they can't attract people to the trades that don't want to get dirt under their finger nails, or in today's politically correct working environment hurt feelings even in the first place, so they dumb down whole industries.

Working for a living didn't used to involve rocket science thinking.

Just another progressive mess, and it's going to get way worse before it gets better.

http://www.collegeoftrades.ca/

Sorry that should read "and six hundred for employers".

In fairness, Bill Maher is a pathetic, loathsome creep. So he does have an excuse.

Posted by: Black Mamba at September 9, 2012 2:05 AM

I was going to be far more brutal, and with better spelling than that Twit-Head.
But yes as much as you're understating it, your judgement is well aimed.
Cheers.
dwright

TY ET. The job of countering fiction with reality is crucial to the GOP campaign, and again I say they must start out of the gate now, so the winning election momentum is assured.

Elections are essentially political horseraces and the start of the race is crucial; unfortunately the media defines the issues, though this is less so now than before because of multimedia. With the present MSM, even a faster, fitter horse can lose the race, if the slower horse gets out of the gate first and continues to build momentum. Yes pace is important and again the GOP has the advantage as the Dems already look tired and aren't introducing any new ideas, just hoping their negative campaign gets them past November; after that it will be clear saililng for them.

So, when Dems try to blame the GOP/Bush for their present predicament, Romney must counter that rather than live in the past, Americans should ask themselves what the Obama/Dem future looks like, aka Europe/Greece.

Reagan was a realist who was needed in his time and Romney must be that realist for these times. BTW, the rest of GOP should pitch in asap, including the elder Bush.

Mr Romney act now; don't hope for change. Prepare the way for the debate and onward to November. If you're confused, call Stephen Harper.

BTW the analogy of an election as a horserace is contained in the excellent book "Absent Mandate."

http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~leduc/mandate.html

Shamrock, nice comments. I like your comment that Romney should reply to the oft-stated Democratic complaint that 'Bush did it', with, a question of 'do you want the future that Obama is taking us to, a bankrupt Europe'?

Yes, the GOP must stay firmly within the facts of reality, and keep at it. Lay out their specific, factual platform, step by step. Just as Harper did with his key five points - where he ignored the Liberal tactic of emotional threats (guns in our streets)and an insistence on 'have faith in the Liberals as the Natural Governing Party'.

Obama is running a campaign similar to the Liberals, with that request for faith in him, a request to ignore or sideline reality, an insistence on 'the future is better' - and, a major focus on appeasing identity blocs: blacks, hispanics, women, the unions.

It will be a close race and it is up to the GOP to be very calm, specific and focused against the hyperbole and emotionalism.

http://pjmedia.com/blog/when-the-law-becomes-oprah-fied/?singlepage=true

"In the months following that incident, which came to occupy a place in my thoughts out of proportion to its material significance, I reflected that what the officer had asked of me was probably less a reflection of his personal beliefs and peccadilloes — he was likely not someone who took pleasure in hearing the personal stories of speeding drivers — than of the institutional culture within which he worked. His interest in my story almost certainly indicated the emphasis in the criminal justice system, in which not only judges but even police officers are encouraged to understand crime in its social context and to consider not only “intention,” always a part of the system, but also a range of personal factors when determining criminal responsibility."

Damn good essay.

TrueNorthist ,yes a fine article.

The bit on the 'residential school horrors' is quite telling. I've heard of groups of 'survivors' being coached by their well-meaning lawyers to remember the abuses that they have buried.

One further comment, is that I suspect the Obama campaign will bond themselves, like All Powerful Sticky Glue, to Bill Clinton over the next two months.

Essentially, the tactic seems to be to use Clinton's enormous popularity, which has resulted in a hefty post DNC bounce for Obama, as a major wedge in the campaign. Again, it's fiction versus reality, but, it might work in favour of Obama.

The fiction seems to be to declare that Obama and Clinton are similar, that to vote for Obama is to vote for a return to the prosperity of the Clinton years.

The GOP have their mascot, Reagan, but he's not around to appear on the podium, to give rousing speeches, to hug Obama as his sidekick as is Clinton.

I'll bet that Obama will be appearing with Clinton, dropping Clinton's name every third sentence, and referring constantly to himself as 'of the same mind' as Clinton.

Careful. It could work; an incumbent is hard to dislodge.

Romney proves he is useless. Again.

Mitt Romney said on Sunday that if he were elected president he would keep portions of President Barack Obama's signature health care law...

"Of course there are a number of things that I like in health care reform that I'm going to put in place. One is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage.

In other words, Romney is going to maintain the policy necessitating the individual mandate. The former without the latter will destroy insurance markets. Thanks for vindicating my support for Gary Johnson.

http://reason.com/24-7/2012/09/09/romney-wouldnt-get-rid-of-all-of-obamaca

he supports reforms that empower states to make high risk pools more accessible by using cost reducing methods like risk adjustment and reinsurance.

Hmm,if you read a little deeper into the subject,a clearer picture emerges.

The cbc has a story up that has Netanyahu talking about our decision to nix the Iranian embassy.

He is also being interviewed on the "National" tonight. This may be a cbc program worth watching,note the date,it could come up in a future trivia quiz.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/09/09/harper-iran-apec.html

.

" Former Ojibway chief Terry Nelson is expected to lead a small delegation on a visit to Iran in October, APTN National News has learned."

Yep,I can see this working out well. However,the man " announced his unsuccessful bid to lead the Assembly of First Nations in a Toronto mosque on Good Friday",so maybe they will survive their adventure into foreign affairs.
If they plan on traveling there by traditional canoe,I'll consider throwing in a few bucks.

http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2012/09/04/former-ojibway-chief-terry-nelson-heading-to-iran-in-october/

A poll that needs a little nudge.

" Was Canada cutting off ties with Iran a good move? "

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2012/09/was-it-a-good-move-for-canada-to-cut-ties-with-iran.html

@ wallyj, the comments also could use a little help. The Neville Chamberlain sickness appears to be alive and well.

Fox News poll, right sidebar, here: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/index.html

"Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"

Our History Page: The Clinic Jack Visited While "Pioneering for-profit".

...-

"CBC News - Canada - Private clinic operation 'no secret', says Layton
www.cbc.ca/story/canadavotes2006/national/2006/01/12/​layton...

NDP Leader Jack Layton, who has campaigned as a defender of ... regarding a hernia surgery he had at a private clinic in the 1990s. Layton had the operation at the Shouldice ..."

...-

"Pioneering for-profit Shouldice hernia clinic sold for $14-million"

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/09/07/pioneering-for-profit-surgery-clinic-sold-for-14-million/

On the Shouldice and Layton.
That was a payoff for nicking the prostate.

ET @ 9:40 a.m.: "To imagine a world, not a thing-in-the-real-world, but a world that is perfect is disastrous. To achieve that state requires force, enormous force, to remove reality, to remove every living entity in its mortal nature and instead, set up immortal or imaginary beings."

"Perfect" is not an adjective that can properly be applied to the noun "[the] world". If one person had the power to impose his conception of a "perfect" world, yes, that would require force. But the use of force is in itself evil, therefore that could not be a "perfect" world!

The closest we can come to what might be sloppily described as a "perfect" world is precisely one that is free from coercion. People will still make mistakes, so in that sense "perfection" is not attainable.

@ nv53
The standard for perfect is not all that high.
The dictionary (Collins) lists the word's meaning as :
1 having all the essential elements.

2 faultless

3 correct, precise

4 utter or absolute

5 improve

6 make fully correct

Under #5 is every loon with good intentions and a social science degree as well as every social activist. I agree with you under 2,3,4 and 6 but every potential leader in the free world has strived for perfection under definition #5. Communists and dictators under #4. Obama is working towards #4 and thinks he's #1, 2 and 6. See how much fun we can have with words ??