“The sales pitch for the American political system is that it is a robust debate between two distinct political parties. The Republicans and Democrats are coalitions of interests opposed to one another. The groups that make up each party are held together by a shared ideological outlook. The Republicans are the conservative party, and the Democrats are the liberal party. The political process adjudicates the disputes between the parties over public policy and the result is a compromise.
In reality, America is a one party system. It has been since Gettysburg. The differences between the two parties are miniscule. This is why public policy never changes when the party in charge changes. The mild reforms of the Reagan years were followed by a consensus that remains in place to this day. There is some tinkering around the edges to keep up appearances, but otherwise the results of each election have no impact on public policy or the priorities of government.
As for those two ideologies, they are just two faces of a single ruling class ideology that is something like a religion now. There is left-liberalism and there is right-liberalism held together by a common moral framework. Like the old Bolsheviks, the left side of the American ideology is maximalist and radical. It wants to usher in the promises of the revolution right now. The right side is more cautious, preferring an evolutionary approach to ushering in the promised utopia.”
Re Chicken:
Childless breeding age human Females do some mighty weird $&@% as the fertility window begins to close. Still I guess better a chicken than importing a David French Special from Darkest Africa.
Imagine having a chicken wearing a chicken diaper having the run of your house. Let’s have some good chicken recipes!
I’m a feather phobe, and have been ever since my father killed a hen and I saw it running around with its head chopped off. There were also some nasty roosters at my aunts who used to chase me. From a distance feathered critters are OK, and the internet makes me feel protected.
I was once in a street market in Paris where the had defeathered chickens sitting up with the feathered heads looking a you. I walked on to the seafood stall.
I immediately went to this from the Kids TV Show Animaniacs segment “Chicken Boo” here are the theme lyrics:
“Chicken Boo, what’s the matter with you?
You don’t act like the other chickens do.
You wear a disguise to look like human guys,
But you’re not a man, you’re a Chicken Boo.”
The difference between humans and animals is measured in degrees of freedom.
A chicken that believes it’s a dog or a Zaphod that believes it’s a revolutionary; both are silly.
expat I guess you didn’t like Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”:
(little boy) “Mommy are the birds going to eat us?”
(waitress in background) “Three fried chickens with mashed potatoes and gravy!”
Today’s snuggler is tomorrow’s McNuggets
Planned Chicken for most people. Planned Parent/hood (e.g. selective-child, clinical cannibalism) for others (e.g. Progressive church, synagogue, corporation, clinic). Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. Everyone has their point of “pride”… narcissistic, yet natural indulgence, not lions, lionesses, and their unPlanned cubs playing in gay revelry.
@Micha Elyi:
OK Boomer. Now go drink your You-know-what Penicillin.
“Everyday in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed
And you crawl out of bed and you crawl out of bed
Everyday in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed
And you look at the moon where the window is
And the stars shine, and the stars shine, and the stars shine
Everyday in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed”
In reality, America is a one party system. It has been since Gettysburg.
I can never figure out how much of your stash you’re actually consuming.
Art+Deco:
Pretend you’re a Little Green Fact Checker from Mars. Makes things easier.
Cynicism?
It’s this type of Idealistic Constantly Retconning Hand Waving Bullshit that has helped smooth the path of the USA into the sorry state it finds itself in today:
It’s going to take a very great deal of Machiavellianism and Reaching For My Browningism to claw back a polity where people can spout arrant nonsense and do little harm — at which point the cycle begins again. Cynical? Hell yeah.
Zaphod:
The charge of cynicism had to do with your criticism of Rufo as “gatekeeper.” I see little evidence for this “gatekeeper” role in Rufo, who’s been devoted quite early to the fight against CRT and has been pretty relentless about it.
You do exhibit a great deal of cynicism in many of your comments. I’m quite cynical, too, at this point, actually. But I think you sometimes get into a cynicism competition, and I think your remarks about Rufo may fall into that category.
@Neo:
Leftists own Purity Spiraling… What’s a Deplorable to do but Cynicism Spiral? 🙂 But yes, point taken… I admit to being somewhat competitive.
In some cases “cynicism” is a byproduct of overwhelming narcissism.
That supposed to be news? 🙂
I’ve been hard at work Making Narcissism Great Again ever since Solipsism became a Thing.
A line from Jason Riley’s book about Thomas Sowell:
“Well into the twenty-first century, black leaders still often seemed far more interested in seeking slavery reparations and toppling Confederate statuary than in offering poor black families an escape from failing public schools.”
Ouch! So true …
As you read the book, it may be useful to consider parallels. Black Americans were trying to figure out how to overcome racial animus from the larger society.
We, as conservatives, are puzzling over how to overcome ideological animus from the elites.
I’ve seen them for sale as pets in Thailand, otherwise not for many years. Doubtless frowned upon by Peta and similar infestations in the West.
Almost time to head out for a late lunch. Menu choice is a no-brainer today.
@Neo: Feel free to post cute sea slug videos… snakes, civet cats… It’s all on the menu here.
(Inscrutable Oriental Saying WordPress won’t reproduce in the original) <– If its back faces the sky, it's edible.
Except for Bats. Bats are Right Out.
Zaphod – my father was the manager of a five-and-dime during my childhood in the fifties. At Easter, the store (among others in a relatively rural Texas town) always sold chicks dyed in pretty colors, just like those in your link, and sometime rabbits. He hated the extra care that they required just to keep them alive until sold, but I suppose they brought some profit or the store owners wouldn’t have kept it up.
Dad was very happy when the animal rights activists shut down the trade (one of the few good things they accomplished; I think they started out okay but quickly went off the rails).
We were not allowed to have them as pets ourselves, except once; the cute chick grew to be an obstreperous rooster, and very soon became Sunday dinner.
My mother said, “Never again.”
I am all for appreciating all the lifeforms that make up our biosphere, and for treating them with kindness and respect.
However, as most of us move further and further away from the experience of what used to be an overwhelmingly agrarian America–and influenced by the Disneyfication of wildlife–it becomes easier and easier for some people to believe that animals are not unpredictable and often dangerous wild creatures at all (not only harmful from the perspective of potential violence but also from the potential of possible disease transmission), but are, instead, just people in funny suits, and to attribute all sorts of human characteristics to them.
This, of course, leads to situations like that of Boo, to tourists out West walking up to Bison to touch them or * to get “selfies” with them, and to situations like that of “Grizzlyman” Timothy Treadwell. * *
Gatekeepers / UniParty Part the Second:
https://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=24187
“The sales pitch for the American political system is that it is a robust debate between two distinct political parties. The Republicans and Democrats are coalitions of interests opposed to one another. The groups that make up each party are held together by a shared ideological outlook. The Republicans are the conservative party, and the Democrats are the liberal party. The political process adjudicates the disputes between the parties over public policy and the result is a compromise.
In reality, America is a one party system. It has been since Gettysburg. The differences between the two parties are miniscule. This is why public policy never changes when the party in charge changes. The mild reforms of the Reagan years were followed by a consensus that remains in place to this day. There is some tinkering around the edges to keep up appearances, but otherwise the results of each election have no impact on public policy or the priorities of government.
As for those two ideologies, they are just two faces of a single ruling class ideology that is something like a religion now. There is left-liberalism and there is right-liberalism held together by a common moral framework. Like the old Bolsheviks, the left side of the American ideology is maximalist and radical. It wants to usher in the promises of the revolution right now. The right side is more cautious, preferring an evolutionary approach to ushering in the promised utopia.”
Re Chicken:
Childless breeding age human Females do some mighty weird $&@% as the fertility window begins to close. Still I guess better a chicken than importing a David French Special from Darkest Africa.
Imagine having a chicken wearing a chicken diaper having the run of your house. Let’s have some good chicken recipes!
That’s it … https://www.popeyes.com/ chicken for supper today!
I’m a feather phobe, and have been ever since my father killed a hen and I saw it running around with its head chopped off. There were also some nasty roosters at my aunts who used to chase me. From a distance feathered critters are OK, and the internet makes me feel protected.
I was once in a street market in Paris where the had defeathered chickens sitting up with the feathered heads looking a you. I walked on to the seafood stall.
I immediately went to this from the Kids TV Show Animaniacs segment “Chicken Boo” here are the theme lyrics:
“Chicken Boo, what’s the matter with you?
You don’t act like the other chickens do.
You wear a disguise to look like human guys,
But you’re not a man, you’re a Chicken Boo.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45bUOIK2cAo
Today’s snuggler is tomorrow’s McNuggets.
The difference between humans and animals is measured in degrees of freedom.
A chicken that believes it’s a dog or a Zaphod that believes it’s a revolutionary; both are silly.
expat I guess you didn’t like Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”:
(little boy) “Mommy are the birds going to eat us?”
(waitress in background) “Three fried chickens with mashed potatoes and gravy!”
Today’s snuggler is tomorrow’s McNuggets
Planned Chicken for most people. Planned Parent/hood (e.g. selective-child, clinical cannibalism) for others (e.g. Progressive church, synagogue, corporation, clinic). Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. Everyone has their point of “pride”… narcissistic, yet natural indulgence, not lions, lionesses, and their unPlanned cubs playing in gay revelry.
@Micha Elyi:
OK Boomer. Now go drink your You-know-what Penicillin.
Now this is a Chicken’s Telos:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soto_ayam
There’s nothing quite like it.
He don’t know “Jack” Gets Up in Hong Kong.
“Everyday in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed
And you crawl out of bed and you crawl out of bed
Everyday in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed
And you look at the moon where the window is
And the stars shine, and the stars shine, and the stars shine
Everyday in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed”
https://youtu.be/ghHhRklLQzE
In reality, America is a one party system. It has been since Gettysburg.
I can never figure out how much of your stash you’re actually consuming.
Art+Deco:
Pretend you’re a Little Green Fact Checker from Mars. Makes things easier.
Cynicism?
It’s this type of Idealistic Constantly Retconning Hand Waving Bullshit that has helped smooth the path of the USA into the sorry state it finds itself in today:
https://lawliberty.org/harry-jaffa-erler-masugi-america/
It’s going to take a very great deal of Machiavellianism and Reaching For My Browningism to claw back a polity where people can spout arrant nonsense and do little harm — at which point the cycle begins again. Cynical? Hell yeah.
Zaphod:
The charge of cynicism had to do with your criticism of Rufo as “gatekeeper.” I see little evidence for this “gatekeeper” role in Rufo, who’s been devoted quite early to the fight against CRT and has been pretty relentless about it.
You do exhibit a great deal of cynicism in many of your comments. I’m quite cynical, too, at this point, actually. But I think you sometimes get into a cynicism competition, and I think your remarks about Rufo may fall into that category.
@Neo:
Leftists own Purity Spiraling… What’s a Deplorable to do but Cynicism Spiral? 🙂 But yes, point taken… I admit to being somewhat competitive.
Time for an Irony Interlude:
https://vdare.com/posts/her-name-is-anat-kimchi-white-female-doctoral-student-researching-disparity-in-probation-sentences-randomly-murdered-by-black-male-in-chicago
In some cases “cynicism” is a byproduct of overwhelming narcissism.
That supposed to be news? 🙂
I’ve been hard at work Making Narcissism Great Again ever since Solipsism became a Thing.
A line from Jason Riley’s book about Thomas Sowell:
“Well into the twenty-first century, black leaders still often seemed far more interested in seeking slavery reparations and toppling Confederate statuary than in offering poor black families an escape from failing public schools.”
Ouch! So true …
As you read the book, it may be useful to consider parallels. Black Americans were trying to figure out how to overcome racial animus from the larger society.
We, as conservatives, are puzzling over how to overcome ideological animus from the elites.
I don’t always agree with the CDC (heh), but they are probably correct here.
https://nypost.com/2021/05/21/dont-kiss-or-snuggle-chickens-cdc-warns-amid-salmonella-cases/
@AesopFan:
Never interfere with Darwin when he’s on the job, Sir.
Now when I were a lad, these were popular:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/colored-chicks-updated-pictures-july-7th.160286/
I’ve seen them for sale as pets in Thailand, otherwise not for many years. Doubtless frowned upon by Peta and similar infestations in the West.
Almost time to head out for a late lunch. Menu choice is a no-brainer today.
@Neo: Feel free to post cute sea slug videos… snakes, civet cats… It’s all on the menu here.
(Inscrutable Oriental Saying WordPress won’t reproduce in the original) <– If its back faces the sky, it's edible.
Except for Bats. Bats are Right Out.
Zaphod – my father was the manager of a five-and-dime during my childhood in the fifties. At Easter, the store (among others in a relatively rural Texas town) always sold chicks dyed in pretty colors, just like those in your link, and sometime rabbits. He hated the extra care that they required just to keep them alive until sold, but I suppose they brought some profit or the store owners wouldn’t have kept it up.
Dad was very happy when the animal rights activists shut down the trade (one of the few good things they accomplished; I think they started out okay but quickly went off the rails).
We were not allowed to have them as pets ourselves, except once; the cute chick grew to be an obstreperous rooster, and very soon became Sunday dinner.
My mother said, “Never again.”
I am all for appreciating all the lifeforms that make up our biosphere, and for treating them with kindness and respect.
However, as most of us move further and further away from the experience of what used to be an overwhelmingly agrarian America–and influenced by the Disneyfication of wildlife–it becomes easier and easier for some people to believe that animals are not unpredictable and often dangerous wild creatures at all (not only harmful from the perspective of potential violence but also from the potential of possible disease transmission), but are, instead, just people in funny suits, and to attribute all sorts of human characteristics to them.
This, of course, leads to situations like that of Boo, to tourists out West walking up to Bison to touch them or * to get “selfies” with them, and to situations like that of “Grizzlyman” Timothy Treadwell. * *
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZJUpX4tz2I
**See https://watchdocumentaries.com/grizzly-man/
This showed what the new generation does know about the basics of life and the value of adding more to humanity and its values.
I wonder how much time she wasted to care about an animal, she devoted herself and her life and her time to take care of one animal.
Is that all she can do this supposedly “smart human”?