New Home

I'm just tired of dealing with the terrible performance of Blogger. OK, it is free and a great place to get started but enough is enough.

This is the final entry here. Look for new posts at Elegant Distractions as well as the archives (sans comments).

The Socialists' Tool

Every year the principle of the sanction of the victim from Ayn Rand becomes more evident as the anti-[fill in the blank] forces work desperately to disassemble Western Civilization. (Number Five says, "No disassemble!")

Today's example come from this post from Roger L. Simon. He suggests that the Left is converting to capitalism:

"So politics today is a battle between capitalist forces with the moveon.orgs of the world acting as cannon fodder for one side. Sure they will be paid off to some extent (e. g. academic tenure) if this quasi-left is victorious, but I doubt to any significant degree. We are in an era when capitalism (the market) has won and the spoils are being divided."

No, Roger, I think what you are seeing is the exploitation of capitalism by those who would destroy it, freedoms being subverted by those who cry for diversity, the military getting 'support' from the very people who chase recruiters from college campuses.

These people, in a similar fashion as the terrorists, use the virtue of their victims as a weapon against them. They take the power, freedom and wealth of a capitalist society only to spend those resources to tear down the very structures that gave them such capabilities.

To borrow the motto from Forbes Magazine, capitalism has become the socialists' tool.

Berger Plea Ignores Victims

Tomorrow, Friday 1 April, 2005, Sandra Sandy Berger is expected to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of removing classified documents from the National Archives. This plea arrangement is a travesty of justice.

How are the librarians at the NA supposed to cope with the grief and anguish of having to "restore" the valuable documents which were spirited out of the building in Berger's pants?

Justice has not been served and this blog will not rest until the librarians receive adequate counseling for their trauma. Or until "CSI" comes on.

Rather Vindicated!

After all the RatherGate^tm (or, if you prefer, MemoGate^tm) mess, it turns out Dan Rather was correct after all. Here is definitive proof. Time for apologies all around.

Rovian Incredibles

The BlogFather saw The Incredibles and wasn't off-put by the Rove-powered Direct-Brain Induction^tm.

Glenn, perhaps the reason you didn’t find the individualist philosophy in The Incredibles pronouced is because you aren’t terrified by the concept? Maybe you've spent too much time around these sorts of people?

Of Course, Rescuing Always Works

The WSJ ran an article by Jeff Opdyke today explaining why some people shouldn't have control over their own finances: they might make bad choices! No, really! Turns out not everybody is a financial expert. Mr. Opdyke complains that his own mother is a fiscal wimp:

Allowing her to manage her account would be tantamount to encouraging her to serve as her own lawyer or dentist. She simply doesn't have the skill set. But she also may not be able to resist.

How did the government let this happen? Clearly what is needed is not private SS accounts but financial re-education camps for young and old. We can't let people walk the streets if they don't know the difference between a P&L and balance sheet. For God's sake, what if they make a mistake!

I am worried -- and, frankly, not just for her. Family members like me ultimately bear the brunt if our parents make a hash of their investments.

And we don't want to have to live with our parents mistakes. Bad enough we have siblings, now we might have to take in old people who claim to be related, just because they took decisions as if they were adults. Who do these people think they are?

But here's the point: My mom had money, and she found the expenses to match the money. Like so many people, my mother doesn't really understand money or the importance of saving for tomorrow. And, like so many people, the knowledge that there's a big unspent slug of money in your name is just too tempting to overlook when there are expenses you have in mind.

Some people spend everything that comes through their hands. This is news? Some parents spend all their money on ungrateful offspring, in a sometimes-futile attempt to make a better life for their children, instead of squirreling it away for a Caribbean cruise after retirement. Some blow it on themselves and deny anything to their kids.

Mr. Opdyke wants you and me to take care of his mother because she's a spendthrift and he doesn't want to pay for her crap as she gets older. Sorry, but I have my own struggling progenitors to deal with. I don't want his, or yours.

The problem with Social Security is that people expect it, and they expect it to absolve them from responsibility for themselves and their families. Used to be a time (only very old people will remember it -- I don't) when you took care of yourself because nobody else would. Too bad we've taught generations that they don't have to worry about the future. We will tax the hell out of people in order to save you from your own bad choices.

Parents who rear their brats absent of consequences discover quickly that their snot-nosed hellions run the roost. Now, the diaper-clad toddlers are retirees screaming for dessert after tossing their peas on the floor. How are they going to learn about consequences at this age? It may be too late.

Damn you, LifeHacker!

There I was minding my own business, running through the latest updates from the Good Blogs when LifeHacker throws me down the long and painful stairs of addiction. I had lived a good life to this point devoid of any knowledge of the fabled Moleskina notebook. Decades of self-control gone in the flash of a pixel.

Before I knew what I was doing, I had discovered moleskinerie where I learned of the right pens to use. Mike's review saved me the error of overspending for a good instrument (still resisting the fountain pen obsession).

Then it was on to finding notebooks. I couldn't stop myself. What was this power gripping me? I'd never experienced the like of it before. Two bookstores later, there they were, the little black notebooks with the bright-colored bands. Thank goodness for that bit of marketing acumen, otherwise how would I, a mere novice, distinguish these distinguished books from the sea of imitators on the shelves?

I picked up two pocket notebooks but they only had one large notebook. Had to have two each, so I could pull Writer into my increasingly rapid downward spiral. The next day, we found the notebook at Barnes & Noble, bought a dozen Pilot G2s and a couple Pilot Dr. Grip Gel pens. There was no stopping until this was done.

Now, Writer and I have assigned the pockets to a special project. Eldest Daughter will be wed in September and we are using the notebooks to write special messages to her. We keep these thoughts private from each other. On the Blessed Day we will present the notebooks to her filled with our experiences, thoughts, hopes, memories and best wishes.

Damn you, LifeHacker for adding these books to our lives. And thank you.