Posted on 04/27/2014 8:01:40 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule
If an institution is prepared to cover up systemic statutory rape of minors, what won’t it cover up? Whether or not he’s “the Jerry Sandusky of climate change”, he remains the Michael Mann of climate change, in part because his “investigation” by a deeply corrupt administration was a joke.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Pinging me as a reminder to read tomorrow.
Steyn (related) ping.
It doesn’t matter if climate change is real or not. Big business and the media have enforced it, and anyone who disagrees will now be viewed as crazy. It’s amazing how many conservative and just normal people believe in it more than anything else in their life.
Turns out Lord Black is just as good a wordsmith as is Mark Steyn!
Turns out Lord Black is just as good a wordsmith as is Mark Steyn!
The senior Penn State administrators who failed to address Sandusky were largely the same people using the same words in the Mann non-investigation.
In 1776 Great Britain was not nearly as democratic as their colonies in America. A much smaller percentage of the population had the franchise for the lower house, and significant political power was still held by a hereditary monarch and upper house. Ireland in particular was ruthlessly dominated by a minority of a minority, in its own interest and against the interests and will of the majority, though its power was starting to wane.
I'm a little vague on the political history of Switzerland and the Netherlands. I believe both polities varied significantly in how government was chosen by canton or province.
As far as Scandinavia: Sweden was an (enlightened) absolute monarchy. Not much democratic about that form of government. Norway was simply a region of Denmark, which was like Sweden an absolute monarchy.
I have no idea why Black thinks Scandinavian absolute monarchies were democratic.
He might have mentioned Poland as democratic, since it was, in a sense. If you consider only the nobles, about 10% of the population, to be the demos (as the Polish government of the time did), Poland was among the most free and democratic countries to ever exist. Though in 1776 the Partitions of Poland had begun, which within a few years would result in the disappearance of the Polish state. Partition was caused largely by the Polish nobility, with their Golden Freedom, being constitutionally unable to keep a government in being capable of defending the nation.
I have to agree with you. He is terrific, one of the best I have ever read. Wow!
Keep writing, Lord Black, please.
You should never expect to win a political show trial run by your opposition. Just ask Scooter Libby.
pingue
The format almost killed my IPad. Worth it, though.
Never trust a guy that wrote a book named “Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom” (unless the title was sarcastic, I confess I’ve never read it myself, or unless it was subtitled “-through slavery”)
Bflr
Arguably, the title could be applied without irony, if you consider FDR’s pivotal role in preventing the triumph of Fascism as far more important than his domestic policies.
However, given the circumstances, it’s difficult to see how any other US President would not have equally stepped up to the plate after Pearl Harbor.
While I haven’t read the book, I did read a review. I believe Black’s basic premise is that FDR championed freedom by “restricting freedom to save it.” (Not unlike “destroying the village to save it.”) Given the general fate of free-market and democratic systems in much of the world at this time, it’s a not utterly incongruous premise.
In 1932, due to the total mess the country was in, which was almost universally though not necessarily accurately blamed on the excesses of capitalism, it was quite impossible that a true champion of the free market would be elected. It is not unreasonable to believe that FDR was the best possible option for the survival of freedom, given the (genuine) Fascist and Communist alternatives.
Turns out Lord Black is just as good a wordsmith as is Mark Steyn!
...something that bears repeating...
BTTT!
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