It's been a busy week so I've been limited in posting time, but I thought I'd check in this morning with a note or two....
The scandal at Penn State University is horrendous and toppled one of the finest football coaches ever, Joe Paterno. It's a shame this kind of stuff happens, but given the putrid slop that Hollywood pours out daily and the exaltation of politicians like Bill Clinton, Teddy Kennedy, and Barney Frank, I'm not the least bit surprised. You sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind. America has become a sex-saturated society, we never hear our leaders condemn it or urge the people to virtue and self-control, so we get what we deserve. Yesterday in my classes here, I showed my students some videos of early 20th century American films, mainly Charlie Chaplin and The Three Stooges. Nothing even remotely risque, just pure fun and comedy and the students loved it. But democracy means appealing to the lowest common denominator in a society so that no one will feel left out. Thus, trash becomes an acceptable form of entertainment. And little boys get raped. And then the leading lights express horror that such a thing could happen. Tragic, but not surprising.
**********
The Herman Cain saga continues. He's been hurt by the accusations, but he hasn't been destroyed yet, and that has the liberal media beside itself. As noted, a successful black conservative is the most dangerous political creature alive to liberalism because it's a denial of their whole racial philosophy. Plus, if Cain becomes the nominee and gets even 20% of the black vote, Obama would be in serious trouble (he got 96%, I believe, in 2008). So Cain has to go and the media will hound him till he's out.
In one sense, it doesn't matter because I never thought Cain had a chance of getting the nomination in the first place (and I still don't think he does). The Republican establishment doesn't want him, every bit as badly as the liberal media. The one who has benefited most from Cain's problems is Newt Gingrich, who is now 2nd or 3rd in the polls, depending upon which one you look at. Gingrich is far and away the most intelligent of the Republican candidates; he can say or do something incredibly stupid sometimes, but that doesn't detract from the fact that his ideas are the most insightful of all the candidates. His being an historian doesn't hurt; a President should be a good historian so that he can consult the past for what works and what doesn't (another failing of liberalism). Our Founders were brilliant historians and that's why they were able to set up the best government that man had ever devised. And it's been destroyed by ignoramuses.
Yet, for all his intelligence and knowledge, Newt has serious marriage baggage that will make it very difficult for him to win the nomination or the Presidency; in some ways, he makes Bill Clinton look virtuous. Of course, adultery and harrassment doesn't matter to a Democrat--unless it's a Republican doing it. Barney Frank can run a queer whorehouse out of his basement, Teddy Kennedy can harrass every woman in Washington, Bill Clinton can cheat on his wife and lie to a grand jury and it's no big deal. But they'll try to fry a Republican if a woman even hints that one made her uncomfortable by the way he looked at her. If Gingrich continues to rise in the polls, he'll be the next media target. They've gone after Bachmann when she showed some promise, they blasted Perry when he was at the top of the polls, they've tried to atomize Herman Cain...Gingrich is next. Because, you see, Romney must be the candidate. Why? Because he's the least frightening, he's John McCain II, and Obama can beat him. And that's what it's all about.
*********
This is amusing. A communist Chinese Sovereign Wealth Fund spokesman -- a communist commenting on Europe -- said, "I think if you look at the troubles which happened in European countries, this is purely because of the accumulated troubles of their worn out welfare societies...I think the labor laws are outdated -- the labor laws induce sloth, indolence rather than hard working. The incentive system is totally out of whack." The Commies get it and the socialists in Europe don't. Actually, "communism" as any kind of economic or social system is totally defunct in China. This society is more capitalistic right now than America. The government is still a little too oppressive, but they've pretty well turned their people loose economically and it's showing. Europe is in serious trouble and Obama and the Democrats seemed determined to take the United States down that road. But it's all part of the moral degredation of America. Some people are adulterers; some people are lazy parasites. And the Democratic Party attracts them all with its "progressivism." "Progressive." What a hoot. Calling a manure pile a rose doesn't make it one.