Being Human
October 8, 2012 4:45 P.M.
One of the great missionaries of classical learning and American freedom passed away over the weekend. J. Rufus Fears ... Rufus Fears is perhaps best known outside of Oklahoma, however, for his fantastic series of lectures published by the Teaching Company. These works represent nearly 150 hours of entertaining and insightful presentations on subjects ranging from mythology, classical literature, and the Great Books to the political, religious, and intellectual history of Europe, the Americas, and beyond. As it happens, I was just listening to his fascinating 36-lecture series on the history of freedom when I learned of Professor Fears’s untimely death.
The vice president’s office contends that the loan not being approved until after the 2010 elections is proof that politics wasn’t involved.
“The fact remains that the Department of Energy made the loan guarantee based on its assessment of the project’s merits at the time, not on input from the White House or the office of the vice president,” Mr. Biden’s office told The Times.
The administration made similar arguments about the more than $500 million it awarded to the now-bankrupt solar company Solyndra LLC.
BrightSource — whose investors include Google Inc., BP Global, Chevron Corp. and Morgan Stanley — doesn’t dispute the fact that it touted the project to influence-peddlers and the most powerful in Washington. While admitting that it ramped up the pressure in early 2011, BrightSource says politics played no role and that Ivanpah was simply deemed a worthy candidate for federal dollars.
• as well as 43 people who starved to death, 287 people were recorded by doctors as being malnourished when they died in hospitals;
• there were 558 cases where doctors recorded that a patient had died in a state of severe dehydration in hospitals;
• 78 hospital and 39 care home patients were killed by bedsores, while a further 650 people who died had their presence noted on their death certificates;
• 21,696 were recorded as suffering from septicemia when they died, a condition which experts say is most often associated with infected wounds.
The records, from the Office for National Statistics, follow a series of scandals of care of the elderly, with doctors forced to prescribe patients with drinking water or put them on drips to make sure they do not become severely dehydrated .
His mom was standing at the finish line, wondering what happened. 'It was only a mile, I knew he was tired, I was like, 'Where is he, where is he, where is he,' his mother, Kim Baltz, told CNN iReport. 'All of a sudden the announcer just said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to turn around and look at what's happening on the course' ... Everybody was crying. It was just very touching that the Marines were there. They picked him up and everybody was cheering and just giving them support and Ben support.'
Ben's mom said he was a little discouraged he wasn't able to finish on his own, and a bit embarrassed that he had to be carried, but his parents told him that he was an inspiration to a lot of people that day. 'We want to give him the message that he can do anything, and he has an inspirational story, and he just needs to be thankful that he is able to do it because there are a lot of kids out there that are still fighting cancer. We just want him to get out there and participate in life.'
Mornin' all. A little wisdom:
If we can control spending and shave a few points off the inflation rate, we can do more good for the poor, the elderly, and the finances of State and local government than any package of Federal programs ever could.
Ronald Reagan 3/9/1981
Young conservative Samantha Pawlucy was ridiculed this week for wearing a pro-Romney T-shirt to class. The teacher even compared Samantha to the KKK. [Video]
“was forced, on multiple occasions, to engage in explicit sex acts with other children and forced to perform oral sex on children his own age.”
The Star reports that the alleged incidents took place in the library, the school bathroom and in the second-grade classroom.
July 25, 2012 at 9:33 am
The food stamp program, part of the Department of Agriculture, is pleased to be distributing the greatest amount of food stamps ever.
Meanwhile, the Park Service, also part of the Department of Agriculture, asks us to “please do not feed the animals” because the animals may grow dependent and not learn to take care of themselves.
Still classy, President Bush dances with a wounded warrior. He looks a little lead-footed, but she seems to be enjoying it. [Photo]
the school administrators, through Social Justice Week, gave a platform to community organizers who in turn provided students biased information and encouraged them to take specific steps to protest.... When we heard about the week, we contacted school officials requesting to observe and record the events. All parties consented. [video]
I grew up playing in hardcore punk bands and fighting skinheads, and the political mantra for that scene was “Anarchy and Peace.” It seems incredibly naïve in retrospect, but being into punk rock was actually great training for becoming a rational, libertarian, paleoconservative adult. Here are 10 reasons why:
1. IF YOU’RE NOT AN ANARCHIST WHEN YOU’RE YOUNG, YOU HAVE NO HEART; IF YOU’RE NOT A LIBERTARIAN WHEN YOU’RE OLD, YOU HAVE NO BRAIN
The dangers of academic deification are numerous. Those who dominate the educational language of the times determine the moral compass (or lack of compass) of the curriculum. They control who is accepted and who is rejected, not by measure of intelligence or skill, but by their willingness to conform to the establishment ideal. They construct a kind of automaton class, which has been taught not to learn independently, but to parrot propaganda without question. Simultaneously, those of us who do not “make the grade” are relegated to the role of obliged worshippers; accepting the claims of the professional class as gospel regardless of how incorrect they happen to be. To put it simply; the whole thing is disgustingly inbred.
Just in one little corner of culture -- cuisine -- there's so much that people blow off. According to these guys, "There are over 20,000 species of edible plants in the world yet fewer than 20 species now provide 90% of our food." Somewhere, there's a culture that makes something awfully tasty out of plant #14,247.
WTF? I thought it was just a movie! [Tweets from twits]
...going into poll locations in DC on April 3, being offered ballots for one Ben Jealous; one Bill Maher; and David Brock. ... also depicts Project Veritas going to a polling place and asking about Alicia Menendez, daughter of New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez (D) and a political commentator on MSNBC; a poll worker asks to see ID, preventing Project Veritas from being offered Menendez’s ballot. The point: voter ID works in preventing voter fraud. ...
Tax the table at which he’s fed.
Tax his tractor, tax his mule,
Teach him taxes are the rule.
Tax his cow, tax his goat,
Tax his pants, tax his coat.
Tax his ties, tax his shirt,
Tax his work, tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco, tax his drink.
Tax him if he tries to think.
Tax his cigars, tax his beers,
If he cries, then tax his tears.*
Tax his car, tax his gas,
Find other ways to tax his a**.
Tax all he has, then let him know
That you won’t be done till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers,
Tax him some more.
Tax him ’till he’s good and sore.
Then tax his coffin, tax his grave.
Tax the sod in which he’s laid.
Put these words upon his tomb,
“Taxes drove me to my doom.”
When he’s gone, do not relax.
It’s time to apply the inheritance tax.
In a new video provided to Breitbart.com, James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas demonstrates why Holder should stop attacking voter ID laws--by walking into Holder’s voting precinct and showing the world that anyone can obtain Eric Holder’s primary ballot. Literally.
[h/t Drudge Report]
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