Two Sides of the Same Counterfeit Coin: Part 5

I happily belong to an infinitesimal minority that feels we’re not informed enough to have all the answers to every controversial issue in America. We don’t have a monopoly on virtue — and don’t want one.

We’re not only willing to change our minds, we welcome it — and appreciate those who correct us.

The doubt-free have no such notion.

Exemplified in And Now For The Weather, Jolly Ol’ Phil, “I’M OK, YOU’RE OK” — and page after page of people peddling poppycock without an atom of courage, concept of conscience, or inclination of courtesy . . .

You walked into the party
Like you were walking onto a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf it was apricot
You had one eye in the mirror
As you watched yourself gavotte . . .
Well I hear you went up to Saratoga
And your horse naturally won
Then you flew your Lear jet up to Nova Scotia
To see the total eclipse of the sun
Well you’re where you should be all the time

The “arguments” of “Expert” By Association — taking cue from his kin on Rolodex of Ridicule:

“You use words like honor, courage and commitment as punch lines at liberal cocktail parties” — ripping off A Few Good Men and thinking I wouldn’t notice
The “therapist” routine
“Academia”
“I’ve stood on the wall — have you?” — Jesus, why not toss in “You weep for Santiago” while you’re at it?

What does any of THAT have to do with the price of tea in China — or THIS?

The moment I mentioned uranium hexafluoride in response — he didn’t know what to do. Why bother considering what someone has to say when it’s so much more satisfying to sling insults instead?

The full-blown Yellowcake to UF6 Conversion to Uranium Enrichment video is in Part 4 — but this primer is pretty helpful as well:

Keep that “NBC of all places” in mind at the end — as this ridiculous tactic is used all the time.

Moreover, that link is meaningless — it doesn’t even imply what he believes it says.

And as the person who’s probably read more on this subject matter than anyone else on the planet — yeah, I’d already read it.

Oh, and about those NAVY Core Values he holds so dear:

He made it impossible to have a conversation on what the issue was actually about.

And once again . . .

A lot of that goin’ around

Holy War

Red Light District

Seduced by the Secretary

This 2:22 scene from Shattered Glass is a model of self-deception — how a reporter allows her friendship to severely cloud her judgment.

What’s especially educational is the turnaround time to see what would be obvious to anyone without a personal stake in it.

She repeatedly digs in to find a way to absolve her friend, but she can’t escape the envelope of arguments that cut off every avenue of evasion.

But she’s disagreeing in good faith — as in being willing to be convinced with compelling argument:

You’re not

Chuck Lane: This wasn’t an isolated incident, Caitlin. He cooked a dozen of them, maybe more . . .
Caitlin Avey: No, the only one was Hack Heaven. He told me that himself
Chuck Lane: If he were a stranger to you, if he was a guy you were doing a piece about, pretend that guy told you he’d only did it once. Would you take his word for it? Of course not! You’d dig and you’d bury him! And you’d be offended if anybody told you not to.

If only we could calculate the astronomical amount of waste we produce in our steadfast refusal to open our eyes as she did.

I wonder, would it even matter to you then?

As the door swings a breeze her way, and she looks around to wonder — she is well on her way to the truth.

That scene is at the center of America’s plunge into the abyss of absurdity:

Defending the indefensible when it serves you — and turning on a dime when it doesn’t.

Comforted in the Cloak of Loyalty’s Lies, it just doesn’t register that by refusing to hold your own accountable — you do a cosmic disservice to your leaders, yourselves, and worst of all — America and the world around us.

Blind loyalty would bore me to death, so I fail to find the attraction on that alone.

So even if you pooh-pooh my mission for honesty, integrity, and decency — try it out just for somethin’ different to do.

If we don’t right this ship soon, returning to some sense of complying with reality has no chance — not in our lifetime, anyway.

I don’t know much about Thomas Sowell — but for him to brazenly ignore the Right’s playbook in the Gutter Games of Government — smacks of someone who’s been courted by them way too long.

Putting the Left’s bullshit aside for the moment — for this man to make these claims below, he is either:

Intellectually dishonest to the point of being delusional
A liar
Been living under a rock for the last 30 years

Pick one

And yeah, I’m about to take him to task on WMDs — along with some others in the “Facts Over Feelings” parade.

You want the Left to listen to you — get some credibility.

In case Mr. Sowell hasn’t seen it:

“Following Facts Where They Lead“ . . .

“Said so and so” — that’s one helluva trip you took there, Mr. Sowell.

Stirring Defense . . .

The “Promotional” Program

Ah yes, the “promote your little video” ploy

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil

Ice Capades

Or Not . . .

Snowflake, Libtard, Libturd, Cupcake, Bush hater, Bush basher, Bush Derangement Syndrome, TDS, Demoncrat, Democrat Party

What were you saying about hostility and hatred — and answering arguments, Mr. Sowell?

That’s some earth-shattering scrutiny — really penetrating probe.

But hey, it was still early in 2003. You probably picked it up a year later. I mean, surely you hold your standards for how to “destroy” the Left’s arguments — equally against the Right:

It’s not like you had much information available by July 10, 2004 — so once again:

People who talk glibly about “intelligence failure” act as if intelligence agencies that are doing their job right would know everything.

Between my quote below and Sowell’s excerpt that follows — which one strikes you as glib?

D.O.E’s standard is to spin a tube at 20% above 90,000 RPM before failure — so 48,000 short is a pretty loose definition of “rough indication” — Richard W. Memmer

George W. Bush was one of the last to say so.
Yet he alone is accused of lying.

Not in my world — where I call a spade a spade:

It was never just Bush’s war

If the current charge that President George W. Bush deliberately deceived Congress about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were to be taken seriously, it would be grounds for impeachment, if only as a warning to future presidents.

Then there’s this blowhard in your band of bullshitters:

The only way someone can maintain with a straight face that George W. Bush lied into the Iraq war is to immerse himself in ignorance, refuse to listen to clear, obvious facts and/or retain a pathological hatred of George W. Bush because it provides psychological satisfaction.
They need a shrink. — Larry Elder’s full FB post

Then there’s Ben Shapiro — who breathlessly bitches about the Left in his “facts over feelings” marketing campaign.

I took a look at the table of contents in his books below. Surely a man of Shapiro’s intellect would know that feelings over facts was behind the biggest and most costly lie in modern history — a fiasco for the ages.

Seems like such a world-altering topic would be of immense importance in a book about “facts over feelings.”

Not one word

I can’t find any articles of him specially addressing the issue either. Mr. Shapiro, if I’ve missed your detailed examination on the nuclear claim, by all means — please enlighten me.

But I didn’t — did I.

You had me several years ago
When I was still quite naive
Well you said that we made such a pretty pair
And that you would never leave
But you gave away the things you loved
And one of them was me . . .

That movie played a pivotal role in shaping my path.

I come from a different place. A different time. A different way of life.

“I Told Ya, Didn’t I!”

In the book: DUKE, We’re Glad We Knew You: John Wayne’s Friends and Colleagues Remember His Remarkable Life — in the forward is a 1979 article that includes the following:

To him a handshake was a binding contract. When he was in the hospital for the last time and sold his yacht, The Wild Goose, for an amount far below its market value, he learned the engines needed minor repairs. He ordered those engines overhauled at a cost to him of $40,000 because he had told the new owner the boat was in good shape.
— The Unforgettable John Wayne by Ronald Reagan

As I wrote on I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver, I’m not defending The Duke’s flaws — I’m defending sanity.

His backward views on blacks back then — pale in comparison to the garbage their guardian angles are dumping on them today.

Speaking of being used

National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as “ridiculous,” “out of control,” and just plain “goofy.”
The leaders spent much time lauding the president, but they were never shrewd enough to do what Billy Graham had done three decades before, to wonder whether they were just being used.

As Kuo wrote in his Afterword — in 2004 he was asked to speak at the St. Louis Family Church (his “spiritual home” he called it). He relayed how after the service someone came up to him and said . . .

“You tell President Bush to get that Supreme Court right!”

He had heard it all many times before — and always responded in a “pat” and polite manner to put the person’s mind at ease, but not this time:

That night . . . I threw out the old script. Instead, I said, “Maybe the problem isn’t the courts, maybe the problem is us. Maybe things are so screwy because we’ve spent more time thinking about how to advance politically than we have about just changing our own lives.”

On top of being incredibly informative, his book is an enjoyable read.

Everything he advocates comes back to the concern he quoted from a “prominent pastor”: