COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Saturday, December 04, 2010

What is Happening with Mark Steyn, an Honest Man?






I really enjoy hearing Mark Steyn and hope that he is OK. This from his website:


A note to our readers
(from SteynOnline)

WEDNESDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2010
I know the on-again off-again nature of SteynOnline in recent months has sorely tried readers’ patience. Rather boringly, I have some health issues that demand somewhat more attention than I’ve been able to give them. So rather than keep driving you nuts by showing signs of life on the home page for a day or two and then lapsing back into sleep mode for a week, we’re going to close up shop for a while.

I very much regret having to do this. SteynOnline opened up just before Thanksgiving 2002 and, usually at this time of year, we’d be doing a big old anniversary bonanza. In recent seasons, late November and December have found me out on the airwaves plugging Jessica’s and my annual Christmas offering. But our instant disco classic will have to make it without my help this year. I would be remiss in not adding that it and many other delights remain available at our bookstore.

We will return before the end of the year. You can take that to the bank (and stick it in the vault next to your credit default swap).

Mark

53 comments:

  1. .

    I wish Mark Steyn well. I agree with about 90% of what the guy has to say.

    Pretty good in this day and age.

    .

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  2. Brazil Recognizes State of Palestine With Pre-1967 Borders


    Brazil today recognized the state of Palestine based on borders before Israel seized control of the West Bank in 1967.

    The foreign ministry said the recognition was in response to a request made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva earlier this year.

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  3. First Christopher Hitchens, now Mark Steyn.

    Sickness and Disease take their toll.

    Still, ash, while we bemoan the course the US has taken, there still is no better place to be.

    No where else where 330 million people live so well, have so many freedoms and take advantage of them.

    There is no where in the entire whirled that outshines the American City on the Hill.

    The US remains "Second to None".

    Despite the many shortcomings and faults found in the United States and its government. While judged against an ideal, it may fall short, when judged against the rest of the whirled, she soars.

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  4. I like that gauranteed return prior to the new year.

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. A valid issue over which to condemn 17 GOP Representatives, and all those in the Senate:

    Michelle's Munchies:

    $4.5 billion to further Federalise food for kiddies and hire additional SEIU "workers."

    The Washington Post reports:

    The Democrat-led House voted Thursday to send President Obama a bill that would enable more poor children to receive free meals at school, raise the nutritional quality of cafeteria fare and reduce the junk food and sugary beverages sold in school vending machines.

    The bill, which cleared the Senate in the summer, won House approval on a 264 to 157 vote. Seventeen Republicans broke party ranks to join Democrats in favor of the bill. Four Democrats were opposed.

    The bill, a priority for the president and first lady Michelle Obama, would boost spending on child nutrition $4.5 billion over 10 years and raise federal reimbursements for school lunches more than the inflation rate for the first time since 1973. It also would require for the first time that free drinking water be available where meals are served.

    The bill accelerates the budding healthful-food movement in public education - think whole wheat pizza with low-fat cheese and low-sodium sauce - but leaves unanswered key questions about whether schools can afford to give tens of millions of students better meals.

    Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), the incoming committee chairman, said Democrats were flouting the will of the voters.
    " 'Stop growing government,' people are telling us,"
    Kline said.
    " 'Stop spending money we do not have.' It's a simple request and a sensible one.
    Yet it continues to be ignored."

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  8. Blogger is eating my priceless posts again.
    ...and again.

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  9. Another cover-up?

    The most successful attack against Israel, in decades, and it is an act of G-d, not man.

    An accident.

    Not arson.

    An initial inquiry conducted by fire investigators has pointed to negligence, not arson, as the cause of the wildfire.

    Israel Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that the investigation into the fire, which has burnt down thousands of acres of forest and prompted the evacuation of 17,000 people, was continuing.

    He said despite foreign firefighters helping to battle the blaze, it was still out of control in tracts of northern Israeli forest.

    According to the investigation, the wildfire started at one location west of Ussifiya. It is believed that household trash and tires that had been discarded in the area caught on fire and the fire spread. Investigators are looking into what exactly caused the trash to ignite.

    Two male residents of Daliat al-Carmel were released on Friday after having earlier been arrested on the suspicion that they had attempted to ignite fires in the Carmel hills region.
    After being questioned by police, it became clear that the two were not responsible for the acts they were suspected of.


    17,000 Northern residents have thus far been evacuated from their homes as the wildfire has raged out of control in the Carmel hills south of Haifa, Israel's third largest city, since Thursday morning.


    'Carmel wildfire will take a week to be extinguished'

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  10. In a particularly caustic passage, Scarborough seeks to draw a comparison between the accomplishments of H.W. Bush and Palin.

    I suppose Palin's harsh dismissal of this great man is more understandable after one reads her biography and realizes that, like Bush, she accomplished a great deal in her early 20s. Who wouldn't agree that finishing third in the Miss Alaska beauty contest is every bit as treacherous as risking your life in military combat? Maybe the beauty contestant who would one day be a reality star and former governor didn't win the Distinguished Flying Cross, but the half-termer was selected as Miss Congeniality by her fellow contestants.

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  11. Arson attacks spread Saturday, Dec. 4 from the North to Jerusalem, where fires started at Tsur Hadassah and the Jerusalem Forest. Day Three of the Carmel fire day began with a fleet of foreign planes taking off at first light to dump water and fresh supplies of retardants on the flames and smoke again engulfing Beit Oren, Ein Hod, Nir Etzion and Isfiya, fanned by scorching winds.

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  12. Six foreign nationals and Palestinians were caught on video setting fires near the Judean settlement of Bat Ayin in the Gush Etzion bloc. Police said the suspects were taken in for questioning on suspicion of arson.

    Israeli residents of the said that at about 11 am they saw fires on lands they said belonged to Bat Ayin. Security sources said it was apparently land whose ownership is not regulated.

    Dov Mark, land supervisor for the Gush Etzion Council, said such acts have taken place a number of times. "This is a known Palestinian method to take over state land," he said. "With the support of anarchists, who usually come from abroad, they come to an area of natural woodland which has never been cultivated, burn it on purpose and at the same time plant trees. It's all supposed to alter the reality on the ground."

    nov 8th 2010

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  13. Glad to see your comments about our country, Rat. I agree.

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  14. I don't know why blogger does that. The other morning it took about five of mine in a row.

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  15. It is hard to believe that we are going through another round of allowing ME countries to control our future energy needs.

    It is criminal neglect from the Republicans and Democrats. The Republicans demagogue the need for a tax increase on fuel, offsetting it with employment taxes and affectively allow ME countries to tax our oil for us, thus increasing their revenues.

    The Democrats are doing everything in their power stop domestic energy production.

    We will soon be over 10% unemployment (official numbers).

    At this stage we need to focus on job creation and import substitution of energy. We can do it with nuclear and liquid natural gas as well as with domestic drilling.

    The only way to do that is to increase taxes on imported energy, primarily gasoline. Every penny could be offset by reducing employment taxes.

    Future revenue from nuclear power plants and large scale distribution of power could be a source for funding social security.

    A cellulose to energy plant in every county is a great idea from Rufus as well as refuse to steam or cogeneration.

    We learn this week from Petraeus that we have wasted one hundred years of the cost of imported oil in the ME wars. We also learned that we pumped $7 trillion into various banks during the financial meltdown.

    Let's go for it and put $2 trillion in domestic energy production and drive unemployment south of 7% and get every dime back with future revenue and import substitution.

    Even the two stupid parties should be able to see this.

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  16. .


    Billboards to proclaim Jesus' return on May 21, 2011

    Mark your calendars and get ready.

    According to 20 billboards to appear Monday across metro Detroit, Jesus is returning on May 21, 2011. And if you aren't saved, it isn't going to be easy, says the Christian Web site behind the billboards, which are to read "He Is Coming Again!"...

    If People Around You Start Suddenly Disappearing Into The Sky on May 21, 2011, You Will Know Why

    .

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  17. .

    PayPal Suspends WikiLeaks Account


    As the release of hundreds of thousands of United States diplomatic cables brings more attention to WikiLeaks, commercial entities on the Internet have come under increased scrutiny for their business relationships with the organization. The e-commerce Web site Amazon and the domain name company EasyDNS.Net both severed their ties to WikiLeaks during the course of this week. And now they are being joined by PayPal, the online payment service...

    The Kiss of Death

    .

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  18. rat, re: the shining city on the hill:

    It is one thing to 'be the best' it is quite another to invade, occupy, ect. to help others to pull up their socks - i.e. be more like US.

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  19. The South Koreans seem to think it worked out pretty well, Ash.

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  20. Soda/candy bar machines don't belong in school cafeterias.

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  21. As for the "occupier," part: I agree completely. It's time to bring a bunch of troops home. From Europe, from Japan, from Korea, from Aghanistan, from Iraq (leave 15,00, or so, as a tripwire to be considered by any Iranian alliance looking toward Saudi Arabia, and the other Gulf oil producers.)

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  22. The witless Dems can be just as stupid as the dimbulb Republicans, sometimes. They have a tendency to let the extremely good be the enemy of their perceived perfect.

    In their dreams of a utopian state powered by windmills, and solar cells (two things I Am in favor of,) they have allowed the Oil Companies, and their sockpuppet Republicans to prevent the continuation of the biodiesel, and ethanol tax credits.

    This is going to severely retard the growth of "Cellulosic" ethanol development, and dreams such as mine will have to go on the back-burner for quite some time.

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  23. They typical American county bundles up $300,000.00, Every Day, and ships it out of country. They could keep most of that in Their Own County.

    But, Exxon, The Koch Bros, and Fox News (the propaganda organ of the saudi royal family) assure them that that would, somehow, be a bad idea.

    Is your State having problems? Maybe the leadership should look at those states that aren't. Iowa. Mn. South Dakota. N. Dakota. Nebraska.

    Perhaps they are doing something different from the rest. Like producing their own energy?

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  24. I was just rummaging around in the back room and found nearly 1100 posts that the Blogger spam filter had blocked. There were some there from Quirk's horoscope efforts. Some from bob, doug, the cleaning lady, a couple from Pan Ed. There was one from Ash on 9/15/10 re: the Catholic church and pedophile priests. It looks as though he tried to post it 4 or 5 times. That's probably why he thinks we "censored" him.

    There was also when WiO absolutely blew his stack; went ballistic. It's just as well that blogger caught that one.
    __________________________________

    BTW - Trish! welcome back. We missed you.

    Mel, sorry to hear about the medical report.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I think that what might be happening is that when blogger is slow and we don't see a comment immediately, we repost, then don't see it and repost it a third time. Meanwhile the blogger spam filter sees the same post multiple times and thinks "Spam".

    ReplyDelete
  26. Here's an example of what I found.

    First attempt disappeared, which I usually take as an omen (not the pink kind), but here goes anyway. Share CL. Do we do as Deuce suggests and put another million out of work right now? okey-dokey artichokey. 1. "right now" isn't in the cards. I'm thinking a decade of transitions, not tomorrow, which strongly suggests to me that the process will be fitful and maddening. USA government is not good at long range planning. Example in point is the Gates initiative to put the military on a diet (ref Panama Ed). I support the direction of the move but it will take some time - and some dedicated patriots. Something about unemployed brass - doesn't much bother my private happy pink space. 2. Pass the Pickens nat gas legislation - tomorrow. 3. I'd put some federal push behind ethanol (solar/wind are finding their own markets - alternative liquid fuels are not - can't imagine why) just to send a clear message to the world. Markets need confidence almost as much as capital. See more...
    By The Cleaning Lady on Islamism Gains in Turkey on 9/13/10

    ReplyDelete
  27. Here's another one that trashed:
    blert@BC: The idea of bringing modernity to the natives is a supreme mistake. It won’t stick. KSA is a perfect example. Culturally, they are still in the 12th Century. Jihad R Us is their mindset. Material comforts will only confirm such a faith. The more educated and wealthy a muslim gets the more he climbs Maslow’s scale and MUST kill. That’s what self-actualizing means to a muslim. Notably, ALL of the worst threats have college educations in the West. That folly must stop ASAP. ............................................ I confess I have a soft spot for blert. He writes in single sentence paragraphs. Even if you disagree with his formulation of the Muslim mindset (I abstain for now), it still leads to a policy directive for AfPak that seems to make sense: emphasize self defense and forget electricity and cell phones. As I write this, I am reminded of the mistakes made by the Peace Corps in 1970/80's Africa where the organization was criticized for bringing modern birth See more...
    By The Cleaning Lady on Thunder on the Left on 9/9/10

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  28. .

    Haven't seen the Cleaning Lady in awhile.

    A child returns, another goes away.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  29. There was one comment from Rat in early August re: Hiss, body parts that he must have tried to post 12 or 15 times.

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  30. Re: Steyn, I believe he guest hosted Rush's show recently. I could be mistaken, maybe he was on with Dennis Miller.

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  31. Thanks for your concern, Whit. A little R & R and hot compresses all day yesterday and I'm good to go for tonight.

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  32. "A child returns, another goes away."

    ---

    I resemble and will remember that comment, Quirk!

    ReplyDelete
  33. It isn't that we don't see them, Whit:
    They appear, then disappear on later page refreshs, we re-post, and later some of them return, resulting in duplicate posts.

    ...I was asleep while Blogger turned me into a repeat poster.

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  34. .

    I resemble and will remember that comment, Quirk!

    Good luck.

    At your age that will be quite a trick.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  35. .
    It isn't that we don't see them, Whit:
    They appear, then disappear on later page refreshs, we re-post, and later some of them return, resulting in duplicate posts...


    This happens a lot with posters of a certain age.

    .

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  36. I've learned over time to copy any lengthy posts for that reason. Then I can just paste it in when it does happen. And you're right it could happen two or three times in a row. Grrrr….

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  37. There was also when WiO absolutely blew his stack; went ballistic. It's just as well that blogger caught that one.



    I'd love to see that one...

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  38. Excellent news...

    the 1st listing in google for GOAT FUCKERS?


    Muslims Are Goat-Fuckers | SOLO - Sense of Life Objectivists
    Nov 2, 2007 ...

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  39. Condom History

    In 1872 the Arabs invented the condom, using a goat's lower intestine.

    In 1873 the British somewhat refined the idea by taking the intestine out of the goat first.

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  40. .

    Condom History

    Pretty good WiO.

    Too late for this year's Boscos but definitely a nominee for next year.

    .

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  41. Ol' Mark gives Great Interview, don't he?

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  42. Yeah, Condom History is definitely a "keeper."

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  43. Whit wrote:

    "There was one from Ash on 9/15/10 re: the Catholic church and pedophile priests. It looks as though he tried to post it 4 or 5 times. That's probably why he thinks we "censored" him."


    Yeppers. I tried that post over a few days and it go up for a short period and then disappear. It certainly seemed as if it were being purposely deleted.

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  44. I AM GLAD TO SEE ALLEN AND TRISH BACK.

    I have been fighting the City.



    A child returns, another goes away."

    ---

    I resemble and will remember that comment, Quirk!


    And some are an eternal presence.

    --

    Who said family is the cross of everyday life we have to bear today?

    Ah, I remember, it was Pastor Braun.

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  45. "Yeppers. I tried that post over a few days and it go up for a short period and then disappear. It certainly seemed as if it were being purposely deleted."

    ---

    GD Paranoid, Delusional, Schizo.

    ...but we already knew that.

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  46. What is it that is good about taking all the fun out of putting on a condom?

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  47. Cultural Prejudice, if you ask me.
    But,
    you won't.

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  48. Cables Discuss Vast Hacking by a China That Fears the Web

    As China ratcheted up the pressure on Google to censor its Internet searches last year, the American Embassy sent a secret cable to Washington detailing one reason top Chinese leaders had become so obsessed with the Internet search company:
    they were Googling themselves.

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