Scott LaFaro 1961
If you are interested in traveling to the site of LaFaro's death on the 50th anniversary of the tragedy, July 6, 2011, please contact me via email (see my blogger profile for email address.) It would be good to pay tribute.
LaFaro changed jazz bass playing before he died at 25. Through his innovation, he made my life as a bass player immeasurably better. I can hear the melodies and harmonies that I want to play and I can play them because he showed me how. The least I can do is to lay some flowers at the site of the accident.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Leftist Dogma and its Derangements
The left loses every time on philosophical principles and on historical and economic facts. This is why they usually offer nothing more than imaginative and deranged expressions of antipathy towards conservatism. They can't disprove that Man has unalienable rights to liberty and property. They can't disprove that big government devolves into wasteful kleptocratic bureaucracy. They can't disprove that some ways of life are better and others worse. Because these things are demonstrably true. And yet the falsehood of these truisms is the core of leftist dogma.
If the core of your dogma were demonstrably false and yet you were unfailingly committed to it, you would be deranged, too.
The left loses every time on philosophical principles and on historical and economic facts. This is why they usually offer nothing more than imaginative and deranged expressions of antipathy towards conservatism. They can't disprove that Man has unalienable rights to liberty and property. They can't disprove that big government devolves into wasteful kleptocratic bureaucracy. They can't disprove that some ways of life are better and others worse. Because these things are demonstrably true. And yet the falsehood of these truisms is the core of leftist dogma.
If the core of your dogma were demonstrably false and yet you were unfailingly committed to it, you would be deranged, too.
Sunday, November 07, 2010
Crap You Believe
You actually believe this stuff:
FDR ended the Great Depression with extensive regulation and high spending.
Democrats care about the poor and non-whites, not corporations. Republicans care about corporations, not the poor or non-whites.
If you tax at lower rates, you get less revenue. If you raise taxes, you get more revenue.
Republicans are the party of No. They have no policy ideas.
Democrats pushed the Civil Rights Act through against Republican opposition.
Barack Obama is an intellectual who is very smart.
The Democrats under Reid, Pelosi and Obama saved us from sliding into a depression. The evidence is that they said so. That unemployment skyrocketed after their stimulus program - which they promised would reduce unemployment - is not evidence to the contrary.
Social Security and Medicare are great programs, not ponzi schemes. They just need to be funded properly with higher taxes on the wealthy.
The Democrats' spending will get us out of the recession. It's several trillion, and it's been two years with no results but we need to be patient.
It is not the case that the Secretary of the Treasury said this in 1939:
You actually believe this stuff:
FDR ended the Great Depression with extensive regulation and high spending.
Democrats care about the poor and non-whites, not corporations. Republicans care about corporations, not the poor or non-whites.
If you tax at lower rates, you get less revenue. If you raise taxes, you get more revenue.
Republicans are the party of No. They have no policy ideas.
Democrats pushed the Civil Rights Act through against Republican opposition.
Barack Obama is an intellectual who is very smart.
The Democrats under Reid, Pelosi and Obama saved us from sliding into a depression. The evidence is that they said so. That unemployment skyrocketed after their stimulus program - which they promised would reduce unemployment - is not evidence to the contrary.
Social Security and Medicare are great programs, not ponzi schemes. They just need to be funded properly with higher taxes on the wealthy.
The Democrats' spending will get us out of the recession. It's several trillion, and it's been two years with no results but we need to be patient.
It is not the case that the Secretary of the Treasury said this in 1939:
We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises ... After eight years of this Administration, we have just as much unemployment as when we started. ... And an enormous debt to boot!You actually believe all that crap. What the hell is the matter with you?
Friday, November 05, 2010
Leftism
You're a leftist, not a liberal. Liberalism died 100 years ago.
Leftism is not so much a political philosophy as psychological attitude composed of a contempt for the poor and a hatred for conservatives. This is why it flourishes unencumbered by the facts of history and economics and by the lack of philosophical basis (cf. the conspicuous failure of Rawls's attempt at proof.)
Why would someone embrace such an impoverished political stance? Because of his discontent with himself, his lack of love for himself, and his envy of certain others: those who love themselves and flourish in this world as it is. For someone who is lost in these ways leftism provides an immediate semblance of complete moral redemption. The sickness - the contempt for the poor and hatred of conservatives - become sanctioned as the very redemption of the lost soul, the substance of his righteousness. They disguise themselves as pity and compassion for the poor and righteous moral indignation for conservatives, thus becoming psychologically almost impossible to overcome. This is why we have old, foolish leftists in their 50's and 60's or older, pathetically oblivious to their deplorable situation.
The poor become the tools of the leftist's political designs, the conservatives his political enemies.
If he is smart or ruthless, he will become one of the powerful. If neither smart nor ruthless, he will become one of their useful idiots.
You're a leftist, not a liberal. Liberalism died 100 years ago.
Leftism is not so much a political philosophy as psychological attitude composed of a contempt for the poor and a hatred for conservatives. This is why it flourishes unencumbered by the facts of history and economics and by the lack of philosophical basis (cf. the conspicuous failure of Rawls's attempt at proof.)
Why would someone embrace such an impoverished political stance? Because of his discontent with himself, his lack of love for himself, and his envy of certain others: those who love themselves and flourish in this world as it is. For someone who is lost in these ways leftism provides an immediate semblance of complete moral redemption. The sickness - the contempt for the poor and hatred of conservatives - become sanctioned as the very redemption of the lost soul, the substance of his righteousness. They disguise themselves as pity and compassion for the poor and righteous moral indignation for conservatives, thus becoming psychologically almost impossible to overcome. This is why we have old, foolish leftists in their 50's and 60's or older, pathetically oblivious to their deplorable situation.
The poor become the tools of the leftist's political designs, the conservatives his political enemies.
If he is smart or ruthless, he will become one of the powerful. If neither smart nor ruthless, he will become one of their useful idiots.
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
The Patient Stirs
The patient is in a stupor, the victim of a malicious poisoning.
He tries to wake up, his only chance at survival. Stirring, he opens his eyes - glazed, pleading, panicked, a fire burning deeply in each one, yet only partially focused on what lies before them. A leg jerks. A hand grasps. Some sounds are heard, sincere and urgent, yet garbled and muddled. The eyelids narrow once more, the pupils still gazing out from between them. The poison courses through the veins toward the heart, half of the body still, accepting, at peace. It won't be long. The throat emits moans, a fist clenches, the chest strains.
The patient is in a stupor, the victim of a malicious poisoning.
He tries to wake up, his only chance at survival. Stirring, he opens his eyes - glazed, pleading, panicked, a fire burning deeply in each one, yet only partially focused on what lies before them. A leg jerks. A hand grasps. Some sounds are heard, sincere and urgent, yet garbled and muddled. The eyelids narrow once more, the pupils still gazing out from between them. The poison courses through the veins toward the heart, half of the body still, accepting, at peace. It won't be long. The throat emits moans, a fist clenches, the chest strains.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
