Posted on 04/30/2007 8:42:59 PM PDT by jazusamo
May 1, 2007
Random thoughts on the passing scene:
Sometimes it seems as if everybody is trying to rip off his own little piece of America, until we are all torn apart.
A reader writes: "Liberals hold us individually responsible for nothing but collectively responsible for everything."
The last time I saw a Republican express outrage was 1991, when Clarence Thomas told the Senators what he thought of the smear tactics used against him. Before that, it was Ronald Reagan saying, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Before that, it was probably Teddy Roosevelt.
Too many people in positions of responsibility act as if these are just positions of opportunity -- for themselves. The ones who simply steal money probably do less harm than teachers who propagandize their students, media who slant the news or politicians who sell out their country's interests in order to get re-elected.
A reader wrote: "Have you ever noticed that opinion polls ask the opinions of people who have no expertise in the subject on which they are being polled and publish these opinions as if they were gospel truth instead of group ignorance?"
Judging by the polls, Republican voters' memories do not seem to be as short as Senator John McCain may have thought. Judging by press coverage, the media's memory does not seem to have been as long as he may have thought when he played to that gallery.
A sign of the times: A full-page ad for an Alaska cruise in the left-wing New York Review of Books says, "See Alaska's Glaciers Before They're Gone!" Shipmates listed include Ralph Nader and the editor of The Nation magazine.
The people who are scariest to me are the people who don't even know enough to realize how little they know.
A reader sent the following message, quoting his nephew: "Calling an illegal alien an 'undocumented worker' is like calling a drug dealer an 'unlicensed pharmacist.'"
Some of the biggest cases of mistaken identity are among intellectuals who have trouble remembering that they are not God.
Our education system, our media, and our intelligentsia have all been unrelentingly undermining the values, the traditions, and the unity of this country for generations and, at the same time, portraying as "understandable" all kinds of deviance, from prostitution to drugs to riots.
The home run records that made Babe Ruth famous have been broken but one of his records will probably never be broken -- pitching the longest shutout in World Series history, 14 innings. Few pitchers go even 9 innings these days.
"Global warming" seems to be joining "diversity," "gun control," "open space" and a growing list of other subjects where rational discussion has become impossible -- and where you are considered a bad person even for wanting to discuss it rationally.
Is your employer poorer by the amount of money he pays you? Probably not, or you would never have been hired. Why then should we assume that a corporation or its customers are poorer by the amount paid to its chief executive officer?
A review of one of the many environmentalist books says that even if you can't do all you would like toward "living green," you can at least "congratulate yourself on taking small steps to improve the planet." That is what environmentalism -- and much else on the political left's agenda -- is really all about, self congratulation.
Just watching Suze Orman for a few moments while channel surfing is enough to make me feel exhausted.
When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can't help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.
In his book "Income and Wealth," economist Alan Reynolds says that people often form "strong opinions" based on "weak statistics." Unfortunately, that is also true of a wide range of other issues, from "global warming" to "gender bias."
I am so old that I can remember a Democrat, at his inauguration as President, say of our enemies: "We dare not tempt them with weakness."
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Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His Web site is www.tsowell.com.
Oh, MAN!!! What a man he is. Thanks!
“”Have you ever noticed that opinion polls ask the opinions of people who have no expertise in the subject on which they are being polled and publish these opinions as if they were gospel truth instead of group ignorance?” “
I LOVE this one!!
Why don’t they poll a bunch of PHDs in physics about what they think of 9/11 conspiracies.
One of my favorite columnists!! YES!
LOL!! That's FR tagline material!
I chuckled when I read that also, he’s right on. :-)
nonnononono! This one takes the cake:
“A reader sent the following message, quoting his nephew: “Calling an illegal alien an ‘undocumented worker’ is like calling a drug dealer an ‘unlicensed pharmacist.’”
Agreed, it's a great tagline.
Yes it is. I always look forward to his next “Random Thoughts.”
I like this too....
“The people who are scariest to me are the people who don’t even know enough to realize how little they know. “
reminds me of every hollyweirdo that has to lecture us peeons.
Mark
When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can’t help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.
That’s a very strong statement coming from Dr. Sowell.
Because we'd flame the pollsters until they reached a fluid state, that's why.
Cheers!
When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can't help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.
This thought often runs 'round my mind. I fear Mr. Sowell is correct on this point.
I have never disagreed with anything that I have read from Thomas Sowell. That makes it a pleasure to read his writings.
There’s no better thinker that can write so the average person can understand those thoughts, IMO.
I never thought of it that way, but you are right.
BTTT.
If it happens, it needs to be in a timely manner. I want to pass a FREE country on to my kids and grandkids (though only one for now, but I want her to grow up and know what it means to live in a FREE Constitutional Republic!).
Ditto.
When I read Thomas Sowell it’s like emerging from the fog
and seeing the sunlight. I respect and admire him like no other. He is my Hero.
My favorite, along with Mark Steyn, after the passing of Michael Kelly.
More anecdotal evidence -- as if any more were needed -- that "global warming" is an effort by the Left to create an industry.
Hell, there's a percentage of pitchers that don't go beyond the 5th, with pitch counts becoming so overused.
I agree.
Is your employer poorer by the amount of money he pays you? Probably not, or you would never have been hired. Why then should we assume that a corporation or its customers are poorer by the amount paid to its chief executive officer?
Congressman Billybob
Latest article: "To Raise the Edifice (Geo. Washington on the Constitution)"
John / Billybob
The "Babe" holds more pitching records than hitting records. Also Try this on for size:
Starting pitchers salary 10 million per year. Games pitched about 35 . Paid per appearance $285000 plus. Pitches thrown per appearance about 100 or $2850 Per pitch. Cost of an intentional walk $11400.
Priorities???? Of course I come from an era when the players came to the ballpark on the subway with the fans!!
I mourn his loss. I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again: This world is a lesser place because he is not in it.
Even THAT would make more sense than the way they do it. Physicists are no doubt smarter than the average bear and used to thinking logically and unemotionally, so it wouldn’t yield results as bad as phone polls of whoever has nothing to do but watch Springer on a Wednesday afternoon.
I hear the cry for a "strong leader" more often from liberals these days than from conservatives. Since 2000, "Democrats" believe that democracy has failed them, and some hope for an autocrat to take charge (while laughably bemoaning Bush's "Hitlerian" tendencies).
It worries me to hear this from Tom Sowell, but I can vaguely imagine that the generation of soldiers who have faced true evil in Iraq might act to prevent similar things or worse happening here.
I believe that a military coup would primarily be to reestablish the Constitution... most service people take that oath VERY seriously (I surely did and yet do) and loathe and despise those politicians who use our Constitution as toilet paper.
I rarely have any respect for anyone who does not understand the document or has never bothered to read it.
My new tag line.
And a good one!
I remember JFK’s inauguration but I can’t remember him saying that, but then there’s lots I don’t remember now. lol
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