tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19129587.post7596722783516399188..comments2024-01-13T08:49:14.041-08:00Comments on Myrhaf: Twilight of the WestMyrhafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16340507405537605164noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19129587.post-7064971575041372512008-09-10T02:11:00.000-07:002008-09-10T02:11:00.000-07:00I think it was Mises who said the left/right disti...I think it was Mises who said the left/right distinction has never been meaningful. As I see it, there are those who understand that freedom means <I>laissez-faire</I> capitalism and then there are the other 99% of people.Myrhafhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16340507405537605164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19129587.post-81576139644516995192008-09-10T01:08:00.000-07:002008-09-10T01:08:00.000-07:00Something I noticed in your triad of the West's en...Something I noticed in your triad of the West's enemies: of fascism, communism and Islam, only the latter is not a creature of the Left.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19129587.post-4418881603565674202008-09-08T01:07:00.000-07:002008-09-08T01:07:00.000-07:00I was nineteen years old when I first read Atlas S...I was nineteen years old when I first read Atlas Shrugged. I didn't know what to think. No one had spoken so clearly and eloquently about such weighty and broad topics. I had never considered the idea of Western Civilization falling apart. I had taken it's existence for granted. Even in history class, or in "social studies" where we picked over the pickings of Third World tribesmen, these four walls, this formica countertop, this air conditioned room, it was all treated as inexorable. So I was thinking about what to think about all of this that Ayn Rand had said to me; and then 9/11 happened. In a strange sort of desensitized, teenaged way, I was relieved. It answered a question for me.<BR/><BR/>It took me another five years for the impact of such a set of ideas, and what they said about such an event, to fully sink in. It told me that yes, it is real. This was not the last chapter of the book; this was the first chapter of my adult life. Unspeakable acts of evil can and do occur. Our lives are not guaranteed. They are not a blessing from God. They are the result of our thoughts and our efforts. Myrhaf, I can now say, with a reluctant pride, that I am able to feel that "funk" that you felt. Great post.GDWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09996586199024780592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19129587.post-19079529380631516512008-09-07T18:56:00.000-07:002008-09-07T18:56:00.000-07:00Excellent post!I'm afraid we will have to imagine ...Excellent post!<BR/><BR/>I'm afraid we will have to imagine Patton stopping at the border, not of Yugoslavia, but of Czechoslovakia (and we know how well that worked out):<BR/><A HREF="http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/liberation1945.aspx" REL="nofollow">http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/liberation1945.aspx</A><BR/><I>'While Third Army soldiers were headed relentlessly towards Prague, Bradley attempted to relay Eisenhower's halt orders to Patton. He finally reached Patton by phone after the latter returned from Sunday church services. "The halt line through Pilsen is mandatory, George, for V and XII Corps," Bradley informed him. He also ordered Patton not to send recon patrols any farther than five miles north-east of Plzen. Patton's objections were vigorous but futile.'</I><BR/><BR/>I think that the palpable excitement caused by Sarah Palin's nomination reflects the underlying belief in America's founding principles and spirit held by many of us; we who are increasingly uncomfortable and chaffing under the postmodern altruistic sludge that's been dumped onto us by the New Left, its predecessors, and the so-called Religious Right -- just about immobilizing us all in its sticky goo. <BR/><BR/>Her persona harkens back to our almost vestigial pioneer spirit; back when we had to tame nature or wither; create or starve; build or freeze; defend or die. One gets the hint that, of all the current crop of mostly equivocating candidates, she alone would have given serious consideration to "wiping all terrorist states off the face of the Earth within days of September 11, 2001." More than giving it serious thought; we get a sense that she would have done it. Maybe that's just what we'd like to believe, with scanty concrete evidence, but at this late date, even just the glimmer is exhilarating. Talk about yer hope'n'change.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05195711000193105451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19129587.post-34232465919071132262008-09-07T17:39:00.000-07:002008-09-07T17:39:00.000-07:00Myrhaf,Thank you for your elegant summary of where...Myrhaf,<BR/>Thank you for your elegant summary of where we stand, seven years after 9/11.Galileo Blogshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02592692929747610846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19129587.post-8933928674348307372008-09-07T17:38:00.000-07:002008-09-07T17:38:00.000-07:00The British and the Spaniards knew what to do when...The British and the Spaniards knew what to do when you encounter a psychopathic death-cult religion: You slaughter the priests and raze their temples.<BR/><BR/>Doing so generally results in such good will among the relieved populace that they adopt your language and still think well of you centuries later even if, in many other respect, your presence in their country was completely predatory.Bezzlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12752975251705231877noreply@blogger.com