I cannot outrun my past...but I can deny it any influence upon my actions and decisions now.
Until I'd been in the Navy about five years, I was a racist.…
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
I cannot outrun my past...but I can deny it any influence upon my actions and decisions now.
Until I'd been in the Navy about five years, I was a racist.…
Article comments
576 - Glenn Contrarian
STM -
Also, when it comes to the Union Jack - that's just me giving voice to the same kind of attitude many American Southerners give to Yankees...because when push comes to shove you know we're all on the same side. After all, where did we get the Magna Carta?
577 - Dr Dreadful
Stan, I just read that some environmentalist twit is trying to put the willies up everyone by claiming that the dust storm contained radioactive dust from the uranium mines in the outback.
Never mind that uranium is too heavy to blow very far, or that by the time it reached the coast it'd be so diluted in all the other dust that whatever radioactivity it brought with it would probably be far lower than the natural background radiation.
Those photos were surreal, though - having been there and seeing places likethe Harbour Bridge and Bondi shrouded in that Martian glow. It was like the closing scene of Mad Max.
578 - STM
Mate, it serious WAS the most bizarre thing I've ever seen. Some of my mates in the country were laughing, because they get dust storms all the time ... but this was doozy. People woke up and thought it was the end of the world - seriously.
Even my daughter was freaking out at the red-yellow light. They had been doing some controlled bushfire burns (hazard reduction) in some of the national parks north of here, and I thought it was smoke from that so I wasn't worried, but it was spooky for sure. It was like a red-yellow London pea-souper fog, or one of those things that rolls in in about 5 minutes up San Francisco Bay.
None of them are red-yellow and look like the aftermath of a nuclear attack, though :)
579 - STM
Glenn: "After all, where did we get the Magna Carta?"
The same place you most of the Bill of Rights amendments to the Constitution of the US.
Even the enlightened French thinkers influencing the constitution based their politcal views on their experiences of living in England, which because of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 was being run by the people's elected representatives in parliament rather than a king now stripped of power and having an executive role similar to that of a US president (but with less power!).
For that reason, they saw that as "superior" (Voltaire especially but not him alone), compared to the absolutism of th French monarchy and the religious intolerance of the French clergy and its ties to Rome.
Which is why the French revolution, unlike the American, was such a powderkeg.
King George was an aberration: apart from being a crackpot, he illegally medled in parliament by setting up his own little coterie of MPs whowere there to do his bidding.
That included the war with America.
What a lot of Americans don't understand is that they didn't actually win the revolution on the battlefield. George wanted to continue it after the defeat at Yorktown - and certainly did have the means to do so - but the whigs in parliament came to power and the majority had been a) anti-war with America (believing it wrong to fight a quasi civil war against their own brethren) and b) believed quite vehemently in self-government for America abd rhe right of Americans to decide their own future, and voted to discontinue it.
When you study and weigh up the battles, even with the French involved, it was a mighty close run thing that could have gone the other way had George's mob won the day and continued the war.
My view: Americans weren't an oppressed people at the time of the revolution, far from it, although they were taxed odiously in some areas and wanted less government interference.
What they were fighting for was not liberty - a great rallying cry but they already had that as the English had always been champions of liberty themselves, and the laws of the colonies didn't change much afterwards. American common and criminal law is virtually identical to the criminal law of both Britain and its former colonies.
They were,. however, fighting for independence, as the great statesman Benjamin Disraeli believed ... and the two are very different things.
My personal view: Americans had every right to decide their own destiny, and should have been given it without any bloodshed whatsoever.
They were fighting for
580 - roger nowosielski
"Even the enlightened French thinkers influencing the constitution based their politcal views on their experiences of living in England, which because of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 was being run by the people's elected representatives in parliament rather than a king now stripped of power and having an executive role similar to that of a US president (but with less power!).
For that reason, they saw that as "superior" (Voltaire especially but not him alone), compared to the absolutism of th French monarchy and the religious intolerance of the French clergy and its ties to Rome."
Good point!
I wasn't aware of the extent to which the ideological exponents of the French Revolution were influenced by their practical experiences with, and exposure to, the English parliamentary system.
Most history books tend to be rather silent on this matter.
581 - Dr Dreadful
Stan @ #578:
Every once in a while, if the wind's in the right direction, the south of England gets the remnants of a Saharan dust storm. Nothing like what got dumped on Sydney - the dust is yellowy-brown, for one thing, rather than red - but it is strange to walk outside and see the suburbs covered in a fine layer of sand, as if everywhere were a block from the beach!
582 - STM
Doc: "Every once in a while, if the wind's in the right direction, the south of England gets the remnants of a Saharan dust storm"
Bloody hell mate, Saharan dust storm - that's some serious bloody shit. Nice to be in south-east England though and imagine you're at sunny Bond-eye.
Rog, I didn't realise just how much that was the case until a few years back when I started to study a bit of American political history.
I realise our democracies are slightly different in form - although not very - yet the function is, to all intents and purposes, identical. Seriously, Americans living here report not noticing and NOTICEABLE difference, if you get my driftt, in say how people stand up to government and how the press takes up issues and causes and attacks greedy corporations (and their practises) and lousy individuals and supports different political candidates without fear or favour. Although free speech is not implicitly mentioned in our constitution, the High Court continues to rule that since it existed prior to federatuion and goes back to the English tradition along with many other things protected say through common law or statute rather than in written constitutional form, its existence is implied in our constitutition and therefore it exists in all its glory.
See, old mate, different paths can take you to the same destination - which I find fascinating.
The key to it all, of course, is rule of law.
And the notion that no man is above it: A Prime Minister of Australia, a President of the United States, or the Queen of England.
We are indeed all very, very lucky people. And what we have is worth fighting for (if it's done for the right and good reasons).
Glenn .... been reading about the Filipino flooding. Sounds a bit drastic there mate.
Hope you and yours are OK and they can salvage some of what's been messed up in the floodwaters.
Cheers bud ... good luck.
Like I say, different
583 - Cannonshop
#561 Well, Glenn, I suppose that song's right up there with wanting to hate-fuck Sarah Palin's daughter *(Your side, and on a nationally broadcast show no less-TELEVISED.)
As for your fictional comparison, I'd expect a Dem version would be "Steele the Uncle Tom", and it would probably get heavy rotation on morning shows in major markets. 'cause that's how your friends on the left roll.
What it wouldn't get, of course, is labeled "Racist" by the left.
584 - Dan
All regular Rush Limbaugh devotees know that The term 'Barack the magic negro' was first coined by L.A. Times columnist, David Ehrenstein.
Always one step ahead, Rush was quite properly mocking the double standard that a liberal editorial columnist was not held accountable for.
and it's pretty funny too.
585 - Dr Dreadful
Always one step ahead, Rush was quite properly mocking the double standard that a liberal editorial columnist was not held accountable for.
Perhaps, Dan. But I think the Limbauvians misunderstood (willfully or not) Ehrenstein's point. Ehrenstein - who is part African-American himself - was referring not directly to Obama but to a particular perception of him in certain segments of white society and culture.
586 - Clavos
Ehrenstein - who is part African-American himself - was referring not directly to Obama but to a particular perception of him in certain segments of white society and culture.
That would be the "progressive" (love that sobriquet!) segment, right?
587 - Dan
I think you're selling the Limbauvians a little short there Dr. D.
The song makes specific reference to Ehrenstein's point in the lyrics.
"The guy from the L.A. paper
Said he makes guilty whites feel good
They’ll vote for him, and not for me
beause he’s not from the hood."
It is sung impersonating Al Sharpton through a megaphone. At the time Sharpton was complaining about Obama not being an authentic black. So it has more than one level of relevance.
It seems obvious that it is the anti-Limbauvians who miss completely the grander scheme and eloquence of the point Rush was making. Hearing only the phrase "magic negro" out of context, they lapse into their typical orgy of ignorant incrimination.
Thus, completing the circle with more sound bites and journalistic hit pieces for Rush to regale his clued in audience with.
588 - Nicole Weaver
Wow! I am hugely impressed with your willingness to write this article. You are brave! I think it is definitely healthy to take a check-up from the neck up .
Nicole Weaver