All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!
“Modern liberalism, for most liberals is not a consciously understood set of rational beliefs, but a bundle of unexamined prejudices and conjoined sentiments. The basic ideas and beliefs seem more satisfactory when they are not made fully explicit, when they merely lurk rather obscurely in the background, coloring the rhetoric and adding a certain emotive glow.”
James Burnham
Let’s face it, inaction by the Trump Administration to clean up the nightmare in the Justice Department (Mueller, Rosenstein, FISA Courts and the whole FBI in general) has been a discouraging debacle. But Julie Kelly lays out why she thinks that will now turn around with installation of William Barr as the AG. Read it and see what you think. It sounds good but two years of this nonsense has worn down my optimism.
“There is no one force, no group, and no class that is the preserver of liberty. Liberty is preserved by those who are against the existing chief power. Oppositions which do not express genuine social forces are as trivial, in relation to entrenched power, as the old court jesters.”
James Burnham
The subject of this post may seem slight in the scheme of things but in my opinion it gets to the heart of how a Conservative Supreme Court can reverse some of the worst of the damage done by unconstitutional judicial overreach.
Karin McQuillan describes how in 1984 the Supreme Court decided that the experts in the federal government could decide on regulations that not even the courts could challenge. This was called the “Chevron deference.” This has allowed EPA scientists to dictate all manner of restrictions on private citizens and businesses for completely fraudulent reasons. Fake frogs and mythical mice have been used to punish land owners and restrict them from using their own land to satisfy the spite of misguided naturalists. Now the new Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh have joined with Justice Thomas to take the lead to reverse the use of the Chevron deference and free the American people from their bureaucratic tyrants. It’s only a first step but it sets a precedent that can have bigger consequences. Progress.
Gig Young plays Martin Sloane a Manhattan advertising VP burned out from modern life. Driving his sports convertible through a rural area he realizes he’s at his home town (of course named Homewood). He wanders around and realizes he’s back 25 years ago when he was an 11-year old. He of course, meets himself and his parents. And he causes trouble. He accidentally causes his 11-year old self to fall off the carousel and hurts his leg. Finally, his father realizes that Martin is who he says he is but that retreating into the past is wrong. So some how or other he finds himself back in the present and although he is wiser he doesn’t appear any happier.
One small detail, a very young Ron Howard is a little boy playing marbles in the street near Martin’s boyhood home.
It’s a slight tale and not particularly poignant but I’ll give it a solid C.
This article hits some of the high points. If Barr can begin controlling the Justice Department and get it working on the real legal problems we currently face (people being fired or de-platformed for being normal) then we might see life returning somewhat to normal.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/425327-five-things-to-watch-during-barrs-confirmation-hearing
As I mentioned I’m seriously interested in starting some kind of local organization to allow me to impact the community around me. But other than hot air of, which I possess an abundance, I was short on practical know-how. I started re-reading Rod Dreher’s,”The Benedict Option,” and I think it will be useful. I previously reviewed it last year.
A Short Book Review of Rod Dreher’s – The Benedict Option – Part 2
But now I’m looking at it more as a handbook, so it will take a good deal more time to weigh the information to decide what is helpful to me. At this point, at the very least it has given me a number of resources for researching directions to go. If anyone else is looking for ways to build alternative social platforms I recommend that you take a look at Dreher’s book. There are definitely some useful starting points at the very least. And even if your position is non-religious there are things to think about in this book.
This is the homage to Sunset Boulevard. Ida Lupino is playing an over the hill actress named Barbara Jean Trenton. Martin Balsam plays her manager Danny Weiss who wants her to stop living in the past and rejoin the world. But Barbara Jean wants it to be 1934 forever, back when she was a beautiful young star. So basically, this is Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard except instead of murder we get urban fantasy. So, no surprise, after she realizes she was too old for the movies the world no longer had any appeal. So, of course, she ends up entering into the 16 millimeter film of the title. She is seen walking off camera with all of her old friends from twenty five years ago.
Obviously, there are no surprises here. It’s a straight forward wish fulfillment plot. It’s a good story and I’ll give it a B. Not bad.