Curmudgeonalia
I see I taste I write Links What?
Herein you will find periodic observations and my opinions on life and politics; also cogent book reviews and commentary. I welcome and appreciate your comments and questions, and encourage you sign up for e-mail reminders at each new posting, and/or to log on often.
March 7, 2008

Cogent Observations about Hillary

In this ever increasingly hostile Democrat primary season it is well to review some of the observations of Dick Morris, once (and for nearly two decades) an intimate of, and advisor to the Clintons. Below is a small collection of quotations from various sources; all of them from Morris:

[Hillary] “sees herself as idealistic, moral, and righteous, and can only conclude that those with opposing views must have opposite motives. . . . Behind every disagreement lurks an enemy. And not just an enemy, but the embodiment of evil.”

“But Hillary’s rhetoric is not just an effort to channel the scandal into defensible pathways; it also reflects her actual inner thinking. To Hillary, objective guilt or innocence is not nearly as important as the motivations and ideology of those who are bringing the charges. Good people—like herself—cannot really be guilty; bad people—like her conservative critics—are never really innocent. Nothing is objective. All is seen through the prism of ideology." (one might also add to her list numerous liberal Democrats, judging from her recent rhetoric--people who actually agree with her on most issues . . . like Barak!)

[inasmuch as Hillary] “believes she is acting through genuinely pure motives and sincere beliefs in good causes, to her the ends do, indeed, justify the means.”

“Hillary has demonstrated that we cannot rely on her conscience to keep her from using the most sordid and virulent methods when she feels that her grasp on power is threatened. Since such threats are an occupational hazard for whoever occupies the White House, we are right to wonder how may of these black arts she might bring should she continue on the path she has determined will return her there."

“Hillary gives every indication of an inability to see political opponents as good men and women who hold different opinions. Her tactics, when confronted with opposition, lead one to doubt whether she can ever learn to take disagreement in stride.”

“[Hillary’s] need to extract what she feels is just compensation for all her good work is one of the controlling forces in her life.” Dick Morris

(regarding the transparent lying in Living History: “Just as in the gift scandals that followed Hillary out of the White House, she was willing to incur political harm for financial gain—a tendency that augers ill for a president.”

Perhaps a good time to revisit some of these observations. ??


Posted by The Curmudgeon at 3:32 PM | TrackBack (0)

February 3, 2008

Reflections upon war: its morality and necessity

“Totalitarian regimes are innately and inherently aggressive and unstable, and if there is to be a fight with them, which there must/needs be, then it is ill-advised to let them choose the time or the place of engagement.”
Christopher Hitchens

“Western civilization has given mankind the only economic system that works, a rationalist tradition that alone allows us material and technological progress, the sole political structure that ensures the freedom of the individual, a system of ethics and a religion that brings out the best in humankind—and the most lethal practice of arms conceivable. Let us hope that we at last understand this legacy. It is a weighty and sometimes ominous heritage that we must neither deny or feel ashamed about—but insist that our deadly manner of war serves, rather than buries, our civilization.”
Victor Davis Hanson

“It’s a complex fate, being an American, and one of the responsibilities it entails is fighting against a superstitious valuation of Europe.”
Henry James

“To use military force requires being ready to use it to the hilt.”
Christopher Hitchens

Posted by The Curmudgeon at 4:18 PM | TrackBack (0)

January 11, 2008

Phone Blocks

Today, as I was going thru my e-mail "blocking" mail from anyone I didn't want to hear from again, I received 2 nuisance telephone calls. It occurs to me that some genius bastard could make a fortune by developing a handset with a "block caller" button.
When, God, oh when . . . and please!

Posted by The Curmudgeon at 5:00 PM | TrackBack (0)