EDUCATION IS A WEAPON

“Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.” - Joseph Stalin

If you thought I was joking or too extreme in my discussions of the ongoing corruption of k-12 education; and how all the leftist "educational experts" like Bill Ayers intend to destroy the minds of your children in the era of hopenchange, then you need to read this. All of it.

What is happening in Minnesota is the evolution of education into leftist political indoctrination.

The health of our educational system--from K-12 through college-- is absolutely essential to the long-term welfare and competitiveness of the United States. American education used to be the strongest on the globe, and to the extent that remains true, it is because the hard sciences in this country (e.g., math, engineering, computers etc.) have been largely resistant to the political taint that runs rampant in the humanities. The latter subject areas, which include literature, philosophy, and history, have become unabashedly ideological over the last two decades; and the "social justice" advocates of today's collectivists have taken over our K-12 education system and are determinedly undermining American values with their politically correct, multicultural and anti-capitalist curriculum.

Make no mistake about it, what many teachers today are doing is indoctrinating their students minds into an unquestioning obedience to the collective. This they cannot do unless they also can manage to corrupt even the hard sciences with their dogma.

There can be no area where a child is allowed to think freely and without the proper political perspective. That is far too dangerous for the underly ideology they are promulgating.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !

Be sure to eat something yummy!

Here are some my favorite holiday dessert recipes. Consider them food for thought, as well as sustenance for the soul and body!


DEATH-BY-CHOCOLATE CAKE
(Surprise! A real WMD )

It's very simple to make and my family really likes it. I've been making it for several years now and probably originally got the recipe from some magazine, which one I've long forgotten (otherwise, I'd mention it). I prefer to eat it either unadorned, or with a high quality vanilla ice cream, but if you are a purist, you are free to use chocolate ice cream instead.

1/4 c. oil
2 eggs
1 1/3 c. water
1 chocolate cake mix (get your favorite--I like devil's food chocolate cake)

Mix the above ingredients by hand (do not use electric mixer). Pour into greased 9x11 inch pan. Sprinkle 12 ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips on top (I like Hershey's). Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Cool about 5 minutes. Poke holes in cake (it should still be warm) and spread with 1 large jar of Smuckers Hot Fudge Topping. ENJOY

AXIS OF EVIL FRUITCAKE
(In honor of all the ding-dongs and nutjobs out there)

1 C sugar
1/2 C butter, melted
1 egg
pinch of salt
1 1/2 C applesauce
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t cloves
1/2 t nutmeg
2 t baking soda
2 C flour
1 1/2 C golden raisins
1 C currants
1 C candied fruit mix for fruitcake
1 C pecans
1 C red candied cherries for fruitcake (one small container)
1 C candied pineapple chunks for fruitcake (1 small container)

Blend ingredients in a large bowl. Pour into 2 or 3 loaf pans (depending on the size of the pan) lined with wax paper. Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour, or until knife inserted in middle comes out clean. Let cool completely. Refrigerate for a day or two before serving. Can be frozen, too. Wrap well in foil and ziploc bags and store in the refrigerator or freezer. You can spike it with brandy, but the applesauce base keeps it moist. Enjoy.

Moral: Handled properly, a variety of candied fruits and nuts can be extremely delicious after they are all democratically mixed together and baked in an oven possessing a steady temperature.

THE BOO'S BREAD PUDDING
(For all the Angels out there!)

5-6 C day old Challah bread cubes
4 C scalded milk
1/2 C butter, melted and cooled
1 C sugar
1/2 t salt
4 eggs, beaten
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1 C raisins

LEMON SAUCE
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 T cornstarch
1 C hot water
3 T lemon juice
1 T lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8x11 inch casserole with nonstick spray. In a large bowl combine bread cubes, 1 C sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix in raisins. In another bowl, blend milk, melted butter, and eggs. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix together without turning bread mixture into mush. Pour mixture into prepared casserole dish. Place casserole dish into a larger baking pan. Pour hot water into baking pan about 1/2 up the side of the casserole dish, creating a water bath. Bake for 45- 50 minutes. Sauce: In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 C sugar, cornstarch, hot water, butter, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Cook on medium heat until bubbling and thickened. Stir constantly to avoid scorching. Serve with bread pudding.


Ricotta Cheese Pie

Pastry
use 9 in. round layer cake pan. Sift together in a bowl:
2 C flour
1/2 t salt
1 C shortening (cut in with pastry blender until pieces are size of small peas. Sprinkle gradually over mixture, 1 t at a time
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1-2 Tbs cold water

Mix lightly with fork after each addition. Add only enough water to hold dough together. Mix until egg is thoroughly combined and blended.

Filling
Combine:
3 C ( 1 1/2 lbs) Ricotta cheese
1/4 C flour
2 T grated orange peel
2 T grated lemon peel
1 t vanilla extract
1/8 t salt

Beat until foamy 4 eggs; add gradually 1 C sugar. Stir beaten eggs into Ricotta mix until blended and smooth. May add: 1 t cinnamon; 1/2 t cloves; 1/4 t nutmeg; or chopped walnuts. Pour into pastry. Bake at 350 degrees about 50-60 minutes (until pastry is golden brown). Cool on rack.

Pat's Apple Crunch Pie

Crumb Topping:
½ C plus 2 T flour
½ C packed light brown sugar
1/3 C granulated sugar
1 t ground cinnamon
1 stick (1/2 C) cold butter, cut in small pieces

Filling:
7 medium to large tart apples (about 3 ¼ lb., such as Granny Smith, Pippins or Greenings)
1 T lemon juice
½ C granulated sugar
3 T flour
½ t ground cinnamon
1/8 t ground nutmeg

Have ready a 9 inch pie plate and a cookie sheet. Place oven rack in lowest position in oven. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Line pie plate with pie crust. Flute or crimp edge. Crumb topping: Mix flour, sugars and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Cut in butter until mixture forms moist coarse crumbs that clump together easily. Filling: Peel, half and core apples. Cut in 1/8 inch thick slices by hand. Put into a large bowl. Toss with lemon juice to coat. Mix remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle over apple slices; toss to coat. Layer apple slices in pie shell, mounding them higher in the center. Pat topping evenly over apples to form a top crust. Place pie on cookie sheet to catch drips. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake 45 minutes longer or until a skewer meets some resistance when center of pie is pierced (apples will continue to cook after pie is removed from oven) and topping is golden brown. If topping is browning too quickly, drape a piece of foil over pie. Cool pie completely on wire rack before serving.


Have A Wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Q: WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

A: Oh, just about everything....



[Political Cartoons by Chip Bok ]

IT'S BARBIE IN A BURQA ! ISN'T THAT SWEET <3

Via Hot Air, I saw the report that Barbie has had a new makeover to make her even more mindless and sexualized! Burqa Barbie has the distinction of being the absolute ultimate sex toy, in that it's very existence completely degrades womanhood in a way even Bimbo Barbie never could.

Welcome, Barbie, to the wonderful world of Sharia!

Remember this news article about a young girl in Iran who was accused of "crimes against chastity" and executed? This is one of the many career options in store for the Burqa Barbies under the vicious misogyny of Islam. Just imagine how many girls we don't read about or hear about, who suffer the same fate as that 16 year old in Iran?

Back in 1997, a group called Aqua came out with a catchy little tune that I found amusing. The song was called "Barbie Girl" and it lampooned the mindless Barbie bimbos who seem to have no real existence or sense of self without a male in their life. Of course, if the Barbie doll lives in a free society, she can choose to function on the bimbo level; or she can choose to break free of the Barbie stereotype (like Elle Woods in the movie Legally Blonde).



Well, now we can imagine Burqa Barbie Girl in an Islam World, where the only way to "break free" is through death.

BARBIE AND KHALID IN AN ISLAM WORLD
[- Hi Barbie!
- Hi Khalid!
- You shouldn't be talking to me, you know?
- I know, Khalid!
- Now you will have to die because you have deliberately aroused me and shamed your family.
- Ha ha ha ha! ]

I'm a Muslim girl in an Islam world
Life in hijab, simply so fab!
You can't see my hair, you don't even know I'm there
Try to escape, and I'd be raped

Just a glimpse of skin, drives our men to sin
They're afraid, you see, of my sexuality

I'm a Muslim girl in an Islam world
Life in hijab, simply so fab!
You can't see my hair, you don't even know I'm there
Try to escape, and I'd be raped

I'm a veiled ghostly girl in a fantasy world
Made by men who are frightened by my sex.
I'm a drudge, with no grudge, cause my feelings don't count
I can't work, I can't drive, I can't even go out.

You can hide me away
Cause it makes you feel so manly
You can beat me at night
So your honor works out just right

I'm a Muslim girl in an Islam world
Life in hijab, simply so fab!
You can't see my hair, you don't even know I'm there
Try to escape, and I'd be raped

Let's be honest, why be modest? ha ha ha, yeah
If I get hit, I provoked it-- oooh, oooh, ooh
Let's be honest, why be modest? ha ha ha, yeah
If you feel shame, I am to blame-- oooh, oooh, oooh

Make me hide, make me pray, do whatever you please
I am worth half a man, that's what Allah decrees
All I do is bring shame; I am always to blame
If a man goes insane with desire

You can hide me away
Cause it makes you feel so manly
You can beat me at night
So your honor works out just right

I'm a Muslim girl in an Islam world
Life in hijab, simply so fab!
You can't see my hair, you don't even know I'm there
Try to escape, and I'd be raped

Let's be honest, why be modest? ha ha ha, yeah
Men are leaders, girls are breeders-- oooh, oooh, ooh
Let's be honest, why be modest? ha ha ha, yeah
If you feel shame, I am to blame-- oooh, oooh, oooh

[- Oh, Khalid, I'm having so much fun!
- Well, Barbie, you're alone with me and that makes you an evil temptress.
- Oh, please, can I be a suicide bomber?]

IMPROVING OUR RELATIONS IN THE WORLD ?

I don't think so.

"The astonishing disregard with which Mr Obama treats Britain has been made clear by his deliberations over the Afghan issue. As he decides how many more troops to send to Afghanistan — a decision which will fundamentally affect the scope of the mission — Britain is reduced to guesswork. The White House does not even pretend to portray this as a joint decision. It is a diplomatic cold-shouldering that stands in contrast not just to the Blair–Bush era, but to the togetherness of the soldiers on the ground... There will, though, inevitably come a time when Obama discovers who America’s true friends really are. Sooner or later he will have to deal with the considerably more taxing issues of Islamist militancy, rogue nuclear states and other tangible threats to the West’s security. At that point, Obama will discover a simple but essential truth. The world divides between those who support American values of freedom and democracy, and those who seek to destroy them. Few nations have been more committed to supporting those values with both blood and treasure than Britain. This country, and especially those British troops fighting alongside their American counterparts, deserve far better than this president’s disregard."

All Obama has done is ingratiate himself and us to tyrants and offend important allies. This goes by the name of "smart" diplomacy. Must be some new meaning of the word "smart" that I've never heard of....

(h/t The Corner)



UPDATE: Oh, BTW, here's the delusional President who baldly states, "We've restored America's standing in the world."

Could somebody please give this guy a clue?

COMMON CAUSE WITH THEOCRATIC, HOMOPHOBIC, MISOGYNISTIC PSYCHOKILLERS

I just happened to notice this today from Andy McCarthy at The Corner:

A panel of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld the convictions of my old adversary, Lynne Stewart, for providing material support to terrorism — i.e., helping the Blind Sheikh run his Egyptian terrorist organization from U.S. prison, where he is serving a life-sentence. The convictions and sentences of the other two defendants were also affirmed. Lynne, who has been out on bail since being convicted eons ago, has been ordered to surrender to begin serving her sentence.

This is simply unbelievable! All this time I thought this leftist terrorist-sympathizer was in jail, and instead, she's been galavanting around free to continue to create mischief and proudly proclaim her treason.

Way back in 2005 I wrote a post that asked, "How do you solve a problem like Lynne Stewart" and basically said the following:

Lynne Stewart reminds me of a song from The Sound of Music-"How do you solve a problem like Maria? A fliberty gibbet a will-o-the wisp...." Andrew McCarthy asks himself this question, too and he grapples with Lynne Stewart, the PERSON, versus Lynne Stewart, the Lefty Kook, recently convicted of aiding and abetting terrorism. He knew her, worked with her and had a very real sense of her decency. Yet, he was able to say:

There is something wrong with Lynne's brain. Obviously, she loves being a darling of the loony Left — a Left so loony it now makes common cause with theocratic, homo-phobic, misogynistic psycho-killers, since, after all, they too hate America. Nestled among this element, her humanity synapse disengages, such that she can spout about faraway terrorist kidnapping victims and other unknown civilians as legitimate targets with all the contemplative depth of a dinner companion asking you to pass the salt.

But she is not without humanity. What has happened to her here is very far from a tragedy — a tragedy is when someone unwittingly crosses the path of Abdel Rahman's ilk and is ruthlessly murdered for the great offense of being an American, or a Jew, or a Christian, or anything other than an Islamic militant. This is what Lynne Stewart promoted, and for that she must pay dearly.

So, what is it that is "wrong with Lynne's brain"? If we could figure it out, perhaps we could understand all those others on the Left who "make common cause with theocratic, homo-phobic, misogynistic psycho-killers". Is it just because they are anti-American, anti-Capitalists? Or is being anti-American, anti-Captitalists another symptom of the brain disorder?

I think it is the latter. Let me explain. In a previous post, I discussed how one goes about enabling terror. Now I propose to explain why someone would do that, and why. Some of this I touched on when I described a classic case of hysteria .

As in a case of hysteria, or a conversion disorder--where the symptoms are not intentionally produced, but are the result of unintentional--or unconscious-- motives, the Lynne Stewarts of the Left are not deliberately being obtuse. They aren't even deliberately evil. They truly don't see anything wrong with being a nice person and kindly grandmother, and simultaneously thinking that a terrorist attack in Indonesia where children might be killed is a wonderful thing. This kind of cognitive dissonance is the result of a psychological defense mechanism called "repression". Repression is necessary in the expression of a conversion disorder where some physical symptom (blindness, paralysis, pain) becomes the focal point; so that the individual is able to avoid the unacceptable thought or feeling. For that to occur, the unacceptable thought or feeling must be ruthlessly stashed away from awareness, or repressed.

But symbolic physical symptoms like blindness are not the only way that repression can be manifested. Another, and much more frequent psychological strategy to rid one's self of the unacceptable thought or feeling is to display a contradictory and often unbelievable (to an outside observer, anyway) dissassociation, or disconnect, between a person's thoughts and feelings on the one hand; and behavior on another.

This is why so often the Lynne Stewarts present an unsolvable puzzle to an outside observer. How can they argue for Peace and behave violently or even encourage/enable violent behavior ? How can they demand Free Speech but simultaneously suppress it in others? How can they be for "diversity" and squelch any dissenting opinions? How can they claim to be for freedom and democracy, and make common cause with those who would destroy it? The catalog of paradoxes goes on and on.

The key is to focus on what the Lynne Stewarts DO, not on what they SAY. On BEHAVIOR, rather than SPEECH. They can yell slogans of LOVE, PEACE, and FREEDOM; but if their actions are HATE-FILLED, VIOLENT, and support OPPRESIVE REGIMES, they are using repression to hide the true feelings that underly their actual behavior.

Often, repression requires stronger and stronger psychological defenses be erected as time goes by and reality keeps up its steady knocking on their door. So, repression often leads to projection and denial. (see here for a discussion of all the psychological defense mechanisms).

When confronted with irrefutable proof of their own actions and consequences, such people must eventually resort to a complete denial of reality. Or, alternatively, they will project the blame for their behavior onto another person or group ("It is the fault of the Israelis" or the "Jews", or the "Blacks"--and more recently, of "Bush", "Cheney" and so on ad nauseum) . Or, they may utilize both mechanisms.

The level of self-awareness or insight into themselves is abysmally low. All available psychological defenses are rallied to prevent the acceptance of the fact that they did something bad or wrong. It MUST be (in Lynne Stewart's case, for example) the government, the U.S., Capitalism or President Bush, that is to blame!

How do you solve a problem like Lynne Stewart? Therapy won't help. She is too far gone to spend any time accepting that her own behavior has led to her current situation. Her self-identity is not likely to be shaken by events in the real world. Those events can and will be twisted so that it only confirms her world view. Her sense of herself must be preserved at all costs. Even if it means the death of thousands.

Just send her to jail where she can't do any more harm. And stop feeling sorry for her. She's made her choice.

So, let's move on to other lefty kooks and terrorist enablers who are now running our country at the highest levels. McCarthy makes the connection and goes on to say in his post about Stewart:

By the way, since my topic in today's column is Attorney General Holder's sudden concern over delays in the military commission system, it's worth pointing out that, for conduct that started around 1999, Stewart was indicted in 2002; her trial did not begin until mid-2004 and took about eight months; after that, they dawdled for over a year before finally imposing sentence in October 2006; now, a decade after the conduct, seven years after arrest, four years after trial, and three years after sentence — and mind you, she's been free on bail since 2002 — the appeal has at long last been decided, and it has resulted in . . . a remand for further sentencing proceedings. And, after they someday occur, there will surely be another trip to the Second Circuit, and then an appeal to the Supreme Court. After that, the habeas corpus petitions start . . .

From the very first day of the Obama Administration (was it only 300 days ago?? It seems like forever), we have seen a concerted push for complete and total denial about Islamic fanaticism behind 9/11; behind the likes of Major Hassan; and the danger that Islam extremism poses to the free world. This denial has taken the form of policy after policy that ""make(s) common cause with theocratic, homo-phobic, misogynistic psycho-killers" and elevates them morally, intellectually, and legally so that they can be cheerfully given all the rights, perogatives and privileges of American citizens. These lefty kooks claim that this is to preserve "the rule of law", but then in the same breath insist that there is absolutely, positively no possibility in hell that KSM and others could ever in a million years possibly be acquitted.

What a bizarre perspective that displays about the rule of law. I always thought that the rule of law meant that a person was innocent until proven guilty. Lefty kooks appear to believe that the person is guilty and can't possibly be proven innocent no matter what.

Now, I happen to agree that KSM is guilty and that there is little question about his involvement in the 9/11 attacks on this country. I also happen to think that war criminals like him should have every iota of information squeezed out of him that might save lives; and that there is every moral, intellectual and historical argument that he then should be taken by the military and summarily executed.

As for Lynne Stewart, her real crime has always been treason. Her behavior has been and remains inexcusable. And all the authorities have done is to dither about her actions for years.

When are we going to stop giving these theocratic, homophobic, misogynistic psychokillers--and their kooky leftist enablers--ready-made national platforms on which they are free to spew their sick and hate-filled messages?

When are we going to break free of the national psychological denial and repression that keeps us from decisively dealing with reality?

OBAMA PC CLOWN CORPS HYMN

[Political Cartoons by Lisa Benson]

THE OBAMA PC CLOWN CORPS HYMN

(sung to the tune of the "Marine Corps Hymn")

From the Halls of Academia
To the Shores of Hope and Change;
We wont't fight our country's battles
Cause war is so deranged;
But we'll fight for social justice
And to spread the wealth around;
We are proud to claim the title of
An Obama PC Clown.

Our progressive cause is all the rage
From dawn to setting sun;
And the dilly-dally dithering
Hides the barrel of our gun;
In the snow of far-off northern states
And in sunny southern towns;
You will find us always on the job--
Obama's PC Clowns.

Here's a toast to our great CIC
Who we are proud to serve!
And we'd stand up for our way of life
If we only had the nerve;
If Pelosi and the Democrats
Ever doffed their little crowns;
They would find their back are covered by
Obama's PC Clowns.

ONE BIG FATHEAD

I have always thought that when you don't have a clue about what you are doing, the best way to disguise this is to call a meeting. Make sure you name it something big, important, and fancy--like a "December Jobs Summit" or something. It will delay the widespread appreciation of your ignorance.

December might well be a jobs trough, as opposed to a summit; but since the real reason for calling a meeting on the issue to disguise the fact that "the President hasn't got a clue how to grow the economy," it doesn't really matter.

Consider the following quotes:

"If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings." ~Dave Barry, "Things That It Took Me 50 Years to Learn"

or, better yet, from one of my favorite thinkers:

People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything. ~Thomas Sowell

Or, the ultimate description, from Carl Jung:

A collection of a hundred Great brains makes one big fathead.

How true.

A PARTICULAR AMERICAN MADNESS

This article by John Podhoretz has it exactly correct: (hat tip: Kent S):

Can it really be that anybody seriously believed a career Army psychiatrist would deal with the “stress” of his own deployment to a war he opposes by opening fire and shooting 43 people? Evidently, the answer is yes, as Noah Pollak and others have noted. This is a particular American madness, as far as I can tell, the invocation of ludicrous pop psychology to explain acts that can only properly be described as evil.

This is more of the therapeutic psychobabble that I have written about before, and to put it bluntly, such nonsense is destroying psychiatry's credibility as a discipline. I wrote then:

"The therapeutic sensibility", or what I call "therapeutic psychobabble", is not actually therapeutic (i.e., it does not lead to healing) in the least.

In fact, this sensibility often becomes the major impediment that prevents patients with serious emotional problems from taking control over their lives. And, for individuals who aren't patients (but soon will be, most likely) it reflects a passive world view, where a person is the helpless victim of forces outside their control.

The key aspects of this psychobabble include an overemphasis on "self-esteem" at the expense of self-control and personal responsibility; an attitude that practically worships "feelings" at the expense of reason and truth; a fundamental misunderstanding about stress and the role of stress in life (i.e., that "all stress is bad", for example; and failing to appreciate that stress, when it is acknowledged and dealt with in healthy ways can enhance maturity and psychological health); and finally the glorification of victimhood and the celebration of unhealthy narcissism and the narcissists who exhibit it.

Case in point. Podhoretz also grasps the reason why this particular idiocy is being put forward with such enthusiasm now:

The “stress did it” claim has nothing to do with Hasan anyway; it’s a cover for implicit attacks on the McChrystal strategy for deploying significant additional troops to Afghanistan. That’s the true purpose of the pop-psych analysis anyway; it’s a way of removing the singular meaning from an event and converting into something more all-purpose.

Something much more "all-purpose"--like narcissitically turning the conversation to a topic that will help Dear Leader rationalize his supposedly in-depth,careful, already determined, future decision about the war in Afghanistan; which, when it finally becomes public will not quite be at all that it seems.

REMEMBER THE VICTIMS OF COMMUNISM

As the world--including the US--begins to flirt with this toxic ideology yet again, it's more important than ever to remember the millions of victims who suffered in these Marxist "utopias." Somehow, the memory of communism's virulence seems to be fading in the new, improved postmodern political world.

From Reason TV:



and, as a companion to the above, here is Reagan's Berlin speech:



I truly wish we Americans had even one-tenth of the vision, moral clarity, and courage of President Reagan in our current leaders....

UPDATE: Reading Wretchard today, I found this relevant quote from Joe Loudon:

Now we have a new face of America. We elected Barak Obama, and he does not feel that moral duty to you as Reagan did, at least not enough to stand up to the shrill American voices that hate the American military. So he will not be there on November 9th to Celebrate the Fall of the Berlin Wall. I do not think he sees it the way you do. He will also not participate in the festivities on the campus of my College. Westminster College, in my State of Missouri, is where the great Allied leader Winston Churchill gave the Iron Curtain Speech. He told the World how millions of our fellow human beings were being stuffed into the cage, the very cage I was privileged to help dismantle. He had a way with words. On the campus of another American College he gave his shortest speech “Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever give in.” But I digress.

Our new President believes that you are on your own. As the KGB agent-turned-billionaire, puppet master of the Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin conducts war games of an assault on Poland, Obama has decided to tear down the American missiles from Poland. We knew that he cared less as he promised to remove our protection from the Iraqi people. 150 of them were slaughtered just this week. He really wants to find a way out of Afghanistan and pull our soldiers out just as you are pulling your U.N. workers out right now.

So my new President will not be there with you, like John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan were there for you. He has other priorities. I really wish I could be there to celebrate with you. Unfortunately, with the passing of time, I have five children, our economy is bad, and I too, have other priorities. So I am sorry that my President, the American face to the World will not be there for you. I feel just a little better knowing that you asked America to give him to you. I hope you like him.

HYPOTHETICAL ATROCITIES AND HYPOTHETICAL VICTIMS: Psychological Displacement and the Fierce Urge to Be Politically Correct.

I must agree with Mark Steyn on this insanity:

The Headline of the Day, from the BBC:

Shooting Raises Fears For Muslims In US Army

Really? Right now the body count stands at:
Non-Muslims 13
Muslims 0
I was reading from some of this kind of coverage on the Rush Limbaugh show today. Even if you take the view that it would be grossly unfair if all Muslims were to be tarred by Major Hasan's brush, it is, to put it at its mildest, the grossest bad taste to default every single time within minutes to the position that what's of most interest about an actual actrocity with real victims is that it may provoke an entirely hypothetical atrocity with entirely hypothetical victims. I refer you yet again to this note-perfect parody:

British Muslims Fear Repercussions Over Tomorrow's Train Bombing

This kind of media coverage is really a form of mental illness far more advanced than whatever Major Hasan's lawyers eventually enter in mitigation, and apparently pandemic, at least among the western media.

On a related note, from David Horowitz: "Is everybody out of their mind?"
Bonus: "We're the ones who love death - our own."

However, I would disagree in that this is not formal mental illness; though it is insanity. It is more precisely called an severe neurosis, a term that has gone out of favor in contemporary psychiatry, but which very adequately describes the kind of thinking that runs rampant in these days of political correctness--a form of deranged thinking designed to protect the individual from the awareness of imminent danger (think of the paralysis of deer in headlights). Specifically, it is a type of neurotic defense mechanism that serves to deny reality; and I have talked about it many times on this blog.

It is called psychological displacement, and it is an attempt to avoid an unpleasant and frightening truth by substituting something (or someone) that is less threatening. Bush Derangement Syndrome a form of psychological displacement; the kind of thinking that maintains that Christianity and Judaism are just as violent as Islam is a form of displacement; the irrational fear that Christians intend to foist a theocracy on the U.S. is also a form of psychological displacement.

Displacement: The separation of emotion from its real object and redirection of the intense emotion toward someone or something that is less offensive or threatening in order to avoid dealing directly with what is frightening or threatening

Here's are two cartoons that describe the pathology exactly:





[other cartoons by Paul Nowak here)

(BTW, though I am really busy getting ready for the move and doing extra work before I leave Ann Arbor, I will, from time to time, put up a post when I can't stand to be silent about events. My sincere condolences to the Ft. Hood victims and their immediate and extended families.)

THE LAST ROSES

I can't resist posting a picture of the last three roses I picked today from my rose garden. We are expecting nighttime temps below freezing for the next week, so I don't expect to see any more blooms this season. The rose garden I plant when I get to California will be able to bloom all year long....can't wait!