At the core of modern liberalism

Modern liberalism pats itself on the back for having good intentions even if the policies modern liberals pursue obviously don't work.

So whether it's stripping U.S. citizens of their right to work for whatever wage they want (via the minimum wage law), or stripping U.S. citizens of the right to defend themselves (via gun control), what matters most to the liberal mindset is that their "good intentions" were revealed to all.

Will Liberals now call for 'Knife Control' with Ohio Dark Night Copycat?

Gun kills people, and so do knives, and this copycat had plenty, so why don't liberals call for knife control?

From The New York Daily News:

Scott Smith, of North Ridgeville, had a beige satchel that raised suspicion when he entered the theater. After Smith took a seat, an off-duty Westlake police officer who was providing security to the movie theater asked to search the bag.

The officer found a loaded 9mm Glock handgun, multiple loaded magazines and three knives inside, Westlake Police Lt. Ray Arcuri said. An additional knife was found underneath his clothes.

Thomas Sowell on What Fascists, Socialists, and Leftists Have In Common

What socialism, fascism and other ideologies of the left have in common is an assumption that some very wise people — like themselves — need to take decisions out of the hands of lesser people, like the rest of us, and impose those decisions by government fiat.

Thomas Sowell, Socialist or Fascist?

Video: Liberal Democrat Alan Colmes Defends Ron Paul against Newt Gingrich and Neocon defender

What Happened to the Anti-War Left?

Liberalism has an extensive history of being anti-interventionist in foreign policy. But as this Presidency rolled around, and perhaps even a little before then, liberals weren't so anti-war anymore. Justin Raimondo, of AntiWar.com, describes the situation he had with a leftist friend:

In conversation with a progressive friend of mine the other day, I had occasion to hear a valid criticism of my writing: why, he asked me, do you limit yourself to attacking the left on the war question, why not praise them when they’re doing something right? This is a paraphrase, and not a word for word quotation, but you get the idea: an entirely negative critique, given the left’s storied history of anti-interventionism, is not entirely fair.

However, it is precisely because of the long, heroic tradition of left-wing anti-imperialism that I tend to get a bit bitchy when it comes to the contemporary record, which hardly measures up. When I hear that United For Peace and Justice, the major antiwar coalition controlled by Communist party types, has basically dissolved itself – at a time when the US is fighting two and a half wars, with a third in the making – I tend to suspect they’re just not that into it, as the saying goes. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that their hero, President Obama, is the one fighting the wars now, and without George W. Bush to demonize anymore, the fight has gone out of them.

Read the rest here.

Sneaky: The Obamacare Provision Regulating Gold

This could be the shortest blog post ever, asking only one question: Why is there a provision on regulating gold in a health care bill?

But I will further express my anguish over these new details about the Obamacare bill being brought to light.

Thomas Sowell's recent article alerted me to this provision:

One of the many slick tricks of the Obama administration was to insert a provision in the massive Obamacare legislation regulating people who sell gold. This had nothing to do with medical care but everything to do with sneaking in an extension of the government's power over gold, in a bill too big for most people to read.

I never understood politicians who slip in these unrelated provisions into a much larger bill that is likely to get passed.

One can be for Obamacare--not me personally--but against the regulation of gold and be put in a very tight situation: "Do I go against the bill because of the gold provision? Or do I go for the Obamacare bill and cramp the liberties of gold owners?"

Seriously, it was a massive bill that no one read - and now that its details are coming to light people are going to see how slick and insidious the left can be.

What happened to the old left? The one that didn't encroach people's liberties.

Eric Rauch on the Definition of "Liberalism"

In a recent critique of Bill Maher, Eric Rauch defines what he thinks liberalism really is:

All forms of liberalism—whether educational, political, or theological—are nothing more than reactions against “traditional” beliefs and ways of doing things. Like atheism, liberalism is a negative belief system in that it can only ever communicate what it is against, instead of what it is for.

Do you agree?

He also offers praise for Maher and Limbaugh for doing a valuable community service:

When interpreters—like Maher and Limbaugh—break down the “newspeak” of the political talking machine into the vernacular and street language of the average American voter, they are performing a needed community service.

I agree, and get the point, although I have never listened to one broadcast of Limbaugh. I have, however, heard many sound bites on TV.