Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Vonnegut's Premonition

Recent events have caused Mr. Quarter to recall a Kurt Vonnegut short story entitled Harrison Bergeron that he read in high school. Wickipedia summarizes the plot as follows:

The story is set in the year 2081. Due to the 211th, 212th and 213th Amendments to the Constitution of America, all Americans are mandated equal. “They were not only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way." In America no one is more intelligent than anyone else, no one is better looking or more athletic than anyone else. In order to stop any sort of competition in society these measures are enforced by the United States Handicapper General. The current Handicapper General and her team of agents have developed several forms of "handicaps." Beautiful people are forced to wear masks, athletic people have to carry weights, and intelligent people have to wear radios in their ears that interrupt thoughts with loud noises.

Sound familiar? Sounds a lot like the world that Obama would like to create. His speech in Kansas last week certainly bespoke of a world dominated by "fairness." Mr. Obama insisted that "unfairness" could only be rectified by handicapping the wealthy with higher taxes. It is not a great stretch to imagine how he would create equality and fairness in all other areas of endeavor in this country

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Deuce Spikes Diversity

I'm surprised by the lack of comments, rants or criticism of my posts regarding diversity. No one has even bothered to call me a racist! Either my thesis is so self evident it's not worth commenting on, or the subject of race is so volatile most people would rather just keep their thoughts to themselves. Either way, continuing to discuss diversity seems to me pointless and so I will leave the subject where it is and move on to more interesting topics.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

The Deuce And Diversity: Part III

"When freed, (the Negro) is to be removed from beyond the reach of mixture."
Thomas Jefferson (1781)

"The number of purely white People in the World is proportionally very small...I would wish their Numbers were increased."
Benjamin Franklin (1751)

"Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people, a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs..."
John Jay (1787)

"...there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will for ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality."
Abraham Lincoln (1858)

"I have not been able to think out any solution to the terrible problem offered by the presence of the Negro on this continent."
Theodore Roosevelt (1901)

"There are racial considerations to grave to be brushed aside for any sentimental reasons. Biological law tells us that certain divergent people will not mix or blend...Quality of mind and body suggests that observance of ethnic law is as great a necessity to a nation as immigration law."
Calvin Coolidge (1921)

"I have a strong feeling of repugnance when I think of the negro being made our political equal and I would be glad if they could be colonized, sent to heaven, or got rid of in any decent way..."
James Garfield

"I stand for the national policy of exclusion...We cannot make a homogeneous population of a people who do not blend with the Caucasian race...Oriental coolieism will give us another race problem to solve and surely we have had our lesson."
Woodrow Wilson (1912)

"There is a limit to the capacity of any race for assimilating and elevating an inferior race, and when you begin to pour in unlimited numbers of people of alien or lower races of less social efficiency and less moral force, you are running the most frightful risk that any people can run."
Henry Cabot Lodge (1895)

"I am strongly of the opinion Negroes ought to be in Africa, yellow men in Asia and white men in Europe and America."
Harry Truman (1911)

"Who believes that Whites and Blacks can ever amalgamate in America? Or who wishes it to happen? Nature has set an impassable seal against it. Besides, is not America for the Whites? And is it not better so?"
Walt Whitman (1858)

"They (Africans) have neither the mental or emotional abilities to equate or share equally with White men in any functions of our civilization. I have given my life to try to bring unto them the advantages which our civilization must offer, but I have become well aware that we must retain this status: White the superior, and they the inferior. For whenever a White man seeks to live among them as their equals, they will destroy and devour him, and they will destroy all his work...Never fraternize with them as equals. Never accept them as your social equals or they will devour you. They will destroy you."
Albert Schweitzer (1961)

"The northern European, and particularly Anglo-Saxons made this country. Oh yes, the others helped. But that is the full statement of the case...They added to it, they often enriched it, but they did not make it, and they have not yet greatly changed it. We are determined that they shall not. It is a good country. It suits us. And what we assert is that we are not going to surrender it to somebody else or allow other people, no matter what their merits, to make it something different. If there is any changing to be done, we will do it ourselves."
Congressman William Vaile (1924)

If you're anything like me you probably had a visceral reaction to those quotes. They're naked expressions of disdain for non-whites, and hence for "diversity". I don't believe you could find anyone of note, who would be considered a member of mainstream society, who has publicly said anything remotely like the above quotes in decades. And that of course is a good thing. Or is it?

Here are some quotes from minorities AND whites about whites and white culture in America and around the world. They are from AmericanRenaissance.com.

Dr. Kamau Kambon, former visiting professor of African Studies at NC State University, made the following remarks at “Black Media Forum on the Image of Black Americans in Mainstream Media.” This was a program presented on October 14th at Howard University and broadcast by C-SPAN.

“And then finally I want to say that we need one idea, and we’re not thinking about a solution to the problem ... And the one idea is, how we are going to exterminate white people because that in my estimation is the only conclusion I have come to. We have to exterminate white people off the face of the planet to solve this problem ... [We need to] get very serious and not be diverted from coming up with a solution to the problem and the problem on the planet is white people.”
Mike S. Adams, Exterminating Whitey, Oct 21, 2005, Townhall.com.

Black friend of columnist Carl Rowan on O.J. Simpson: “Doesn’t O.J. know that we can fuck ‘em now, but we still can’t kill ’em?” Carl Rowan, The Coming Race War in America (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1996), p. 201.

Mario Obledo (former California secretary of health and welfare and co-founder of Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund: “We’re going to take over all the political institutions of California. California is going to be a Hispanic state and anyone who doesn’t like it should leave. If they [Anglos] don’t like Mexicans, they ought to go back to Europe.” [interviewed on radio station KIEV, Los Angeles, June 17, 1998.]

Jeff Hitchcock (co-founder of the Center for the Study of White American Culture) — “There is plenty to blame whiteness for. There is no crime that whiteness has not committed against people of color. There is no crime that we have not committed even against ourselves ... We must blame whiteness for the continuing patterns today that deny the rights of those outside of whiteness and which damage and pervert the humanity of those of us within it.” [Chris Weinkopf, “Whiteness Studies,” Frontpagemag.com, June 25, 2003.]

Gregory Jay (English professor at the University of Wisconsin, on the purpose of Whiteness Studies) — “to make visible the history and practices of white supremacy as found in social life, the law, literature, music, politics, and every other realm of our ‘civilization.’” [Chris Weinkopf, “Whiteness Studies,” Frontpagemag.com, June 25, 2003.]

Stan Crock (correspondent in BusinessWeek’s Washington bureau) — “minorities — not whites — should be the beneficiaries of both the 14th Amendment and the notion of “strict scrutiny” of racially tinged laws.” [Stan Crock, The Real Affirmative Action Problem, BusinessWeek, May 30, 2003.]

Haunani-Kay Trask (Professor of Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and author of the following poem)

Racist White Woman
I could kick
Your face, puncture
Both eyes.
You deserve this kind
Of violence.
No more vicious
Tongues, obscene
Lies.
Just a knife
Slitting your tight
Little heart.
For all my people
Under your feet
For all those years
Lived smug and wealthy
Off our land
Parasite arrogant
A fist
In your painted
Mouth, thick
With money
And piety
[Ryan O’Donnell, “Hate America Professor,” Frontpagemag.com, June 25, 2003

Samuel Lin (Asian student at the University of California at Berkeley on what should be done about white men who date Asian women) — “I think we should f — -in’ kill them all. Get your own ladies. Stick to your own flavor.” [Carrie Chang, “White Light,” Monolid Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 1.]

Carrie Chang (writer for Monolid Magazine on an Asian friend who dated white men) — “Suffice it to say, she was not the only Asian woman I had met with a hankering for Mr. Mayonnaise or marshmallow face.” [Carrie Chang, “White Light,” Monolid Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 1.]

Donna Lamb (member of ‘Caucasians United for Reparations and Emancipation’) — “Knowing what I know about what my people did, I wouldn’t be able to respect myself if I weren’t doing everything I can to have … white people face up to this crime we committed and to right this great wrong.” [Manny Fernandez, Thousands To Rally for Reparations Apology Also Sought For Slave Descendants, Washington Post, August 16, 2002]

David Roediger (social historian at the University of Minnesota) — “Whiteness is the empty and therefore terrifying attempt to build an identity on what one isn’t, and on whom one can hold back.” [The Social Contract, A Europhobia Sampler, Summer 1998, p. 290.]

Grace Watkins (black 18-year-old New Yorker on two policemen killed in a shootout at the Stapleton Houses project where she lives): “I think a lot of people out here weren’t worried about [the killings] because they thought they were white cops. But when they heard the cops were black, they’re attitude changed totally. And they started expressing concern for the police officers’ families.” [Douglas Montero, “Surprising Sympathy Dawns in Projects,” New York Post, March 12, 2003.]

Charles Barron (New York City Councilman, on the subject of reparations for slavery) — “I want to go up to the closest white person and say: ‘You can’t understand this, it’s a black thing’ and then slap him, just for my mental health.” [Deroy Murdock, “Dems Need to Houseclean” National Review Online, January 6, 2003.]

Sharpe James (mayor of Newark, New Jersey referring to his light-skinned black opponent in the 2002 Democratic primary) — “the faggot white boy.” [Deroy Murdock, “Dems Need to Houseclean” National Review Online, January 6, 2003.]

Willie Brown (then-California assembly speaker, after a 1995 victory over Republicans in a leadership battle) — “The white boys got taken fair and square.” When asked by ABC correspondent Judd Rose if he regretted that comment, Mr. Brown replied, “It was an adequate and accurate description of a collection of people who had been defeated on this occasion.” [Deroy Murdock, “Dems Need to Houseclean” National Review Online, January 6, 2003.]

Noel Ignatiev (white Harvard professor and editor of “Race Traitor” magazine) — “Keep bashing the dead white males, and the live ones, and the females, too, until the social construct known as the white race is destroyed. Not deconstructed, but destroyed.” [Robert Boatman, “Trent Lott’s of the Left,” Frontpagemag.com (online), January 3, 2003.]

Donna Brazile (Director of Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign) — “A white-boy attitude is ‘I must exclude, denigrate and leave behind.’ “ [Robin Givhan, Clearing the Decks at Gore Headquarters, Washington Post, Nov. 16, 1999, p. C1.]

Nathan McCall (journalist for the Washington Post in his autobiography “Makes Me Wanna Holler”) — “The fellas and I were hanging out on our corner one afternoon when the strangest thing happened. A white boy … came pedaling a bicycle casually through the neighborhood. … Somebody spotted him and pointed him out to the rest of us. ‘Look! What’s that motherfucka doin’ ridin’ through here?! Is he crraaaazy?!’ … We caught him on Cavalier Boulevard and knocked him off the bike. … Ignoring the passing cars, we stomped him and kicked him. My stick partners kicked him in the head and face and watched the blood gush from his mouth. I kicked him in the stomach and nuts, where I knew it would hurt. Every time I drove my foot into his balls, I felt better … one dude kept stomping, like he’d gone berserk … When he finished, he reached down and picked up the white dude’s bike, lifted it as high as he could above his head, and slammed it down on him hard. … We walked away, laughing, boasting, competing for bragging rights about who’d done the most damage.” [Nathan McCall, Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America, Random House, 1993, p. 3.]

Robin Morgan (white author) — “My white skin disgusts me. My passport disgusts me. They are the marks of an insufferable privilege bought at the price of others’ agony. If I could peel myself inside out I would be glad. If I could become part of the oppressed I would be free.” [Robert Boatman, “Trent Lott’s of the Left,” Frontpagemag.com (online), January 3, 2003.]

Spike Lee (film director) — “When talking about the history of this great country, one can never forget that America was built upon the genocide of Native Americans and enslavement of African people. To say otherwise is criminal.” [Lee Gives ‘The Patriot’ a Thumbs-Down, Los Angeles Times, July 7, 2000, p. F2.]

Spike Lee (film director) — “I’m convinced AIDS is a government-engineered disease. They got one thing wrong, they never realized it couldn’t just be contained to the groups it was intended to wipe out. So, now it’s a national priority. Exactly like drugs when they escaped the urban centers into white suburbia.” [Janet Braunstein, “Spike’s Message Obscured,” Detroit Free Press, Nov. 9, 1992, p. 4F.]

George P. Bush (son of Florida Governor Jeb Bush and his Mexican-born wife Columba, and nephew of the President speaking to a gathering of Hispanics) — “... we have to fight for our race, we have to find the leaders who represent us.” [Reuters, Aug. 2, 2000.]

Marcus Jacoby (the only white on the historically black Southern University football team from 1996 to 1998) — “I heard the entire stadium booing me. Fans were yelling ‘Get the white boy out.’” Mr. Jacoby left the team because of repeated death threats. [Ira Berkow, Race: “Keeping Score in Louisiana,” The Oregonian, Aug. 1, 2000, p. A6.]

Ann Rhodes (University Relations Vice President at the University of Iowa speaking after it was discovered a black woman staged a phony hate crime) — “I figured it was going to be a white guy between 25 and 55 because they’re the root of most evil.” [Greg Smith, “Black Student Arrested in Racist Threats at Iowa Dental School,” AP, April 20, 2000. Scott Hogenson, “College Official Calls White Men ‘Root of Most Evil,’” CNSNews.com, April 21, 2000.]

Ice Cube (black rap musician) — “Ice Cube wishes to acknowledge white America’s continued commitment to the silence and oppression of black men ... White America needs to thank black people for still talkin’ to them ‘cause you know what happens when we stop.” [pamphlet included in his 1992 album The Predator.]

Randall Robinson (black race activist and head of TransAfrica, a group that promotes racial solidarity between black Africans and black Americans) — “In the autumn of my life, I am left regarding white people, before knowing them individually, with irreducible mistrust and dull dislike.” [Randall Robinson, Defending the Spirit: A Black Life in America, 1998, p.xiii.]

Randall Robinson (black race activist and head of TransAfrica, a group that promotes racial solidarity between black Africans and black Americans) — “My father died in 1974 at the age of sixty-eight, of what the family now believes to have been Alzheimer’s disease. Toward the end, and not lucid, he slapped a nurse, telling her not to ‘put her white hands on him.’ His illness had afforded him one final brief honesty. I was perversely pleased when told the story.” [Randall Robinson, Defending the Spirit: A Black Life in America, 1998, p.xiii.]

Frances Cress Welsing (black psychiatrist) — “White male homosexuality may be viewed as the symbolic attempt to incorporate into the white male body more male substance by either sucking the penis of another male and orally ingesting the semen, or by having male ejaculate deposited in the other end of the alimentary canal. Through anal intercourse, the self-debasing white male may fantasize that he can produce a product of color, albeit that the product of color is fecal matter.” [Frances Cress Welsing, The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors, Third World Press, 1991, p. 47.]

Frances Cress Welsing (black psychiatrist) — “On both St. Vanlentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, the white male gives gifts of chocolate candy with nuts ... If his sweetheart ingests ‘chocolate with nuts,’ the white male can fantasize that he is genetically equal to the Black male.” [Frances Cress Welsing, The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors, Third World Press, 1991, p. 76.]

Frances Cress Welsing (black psychiatrist) — “Is it not also curious that when white males are young and vigorous, they attempt to master the large brown balls, but as they become older and wiser, they psychologically resign themselves to their inability to master the large brown balls? Their focus then shifts masochistically to hitting the tiny white golf balls in disgust and resignation — in full final realization of white genetic recisiveness.” [Frances Cress Welsing, The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors, Third World Press, 1991, p. 141.]

Chancellor Williams (Afrocentrist and author of The Destruction of Black Civilization) — “The necessary re-education of Blacks and a possible solution of the racial crisis can begin ... only when Blacks fully realize this central fact to their lives: the white man is their Bitter Enemy.” [Phil Collier and David Horowitz, The Race Card, 1997, p. 104.]

Elizabeth Smith (Texaco vice president for investor relations) — “White males are only hired by default,” [Jon E. Dougherty, “White Males Need Not Apply at Texaco,” WorldNetDaily.com, March 31, 1999.] (added 2/05/03)

Carol Moseley Braun (former U.S. Senator responding to a column by George Will on her many financial scandals) — “I think because he couldn’t say ‘nigger’ he used the word ‘corrupt.’ George Will can just take off his hood and go back to wherever he came from.” [George Will, Moseley-Braun May Find Defeat, Chicago Sun-Times, Sept. 7, 1998, p. 19. Scott Fornek, Moseley-Braun Writes Apology, Chicago Sun-Times, Sept. 9, 1998, p. 24.]

Rodolfo Acuna (professor of Chicano studies at Cal State Northridge) “There’s a growing feeling ‘Why should we pay for all these senior citizens’ if the majority of them are white and all they were willing to pay for was prisons?” [Jonathan Tilove, Generation Gap Becoming Racial Gap, San Francisco Examiner, Nov. 23, 1997, p. A17.]

Stephen Klineberg (Rice University sociologist on the defeat of a ballot initiative in Houston that would have outlawed affirmative action) “I think this shows that Houston has transcended its redneck Southern past and is recognizing its destiny as a multiethnic, international city in a global economy.” [Jesse Katz, Houston Thinks Globally in OK of Affirmative Action, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 6, 1997, p. A14.]

Amiri Baraka (poet laureate of the state of New Jersey) — “Come up, black dada nihilismus. Rape the white girls. Rape their fathers. Cut the mothers’ throats.” [from “Black Dada Nihilismus.”]

Amiri Baraka (poet laureate of the state of New Jersey) “When I die, the consciousness I carry I will to black people. May they pick me apart and take the useful parts, the sweet meat of my feelings. And leave the bitter bullshit rotten white parts alone. (from his classic “Leroy”) [John McAlpin, “NJ Gov. Seeks Authority to Fire Poet,” AP, Oct. 6, 2002.]

Robert Mugabe (President of Zimbabwe who is taking the land of white farmers and revoking their citizenship) — “Our party must continue to strike fear in the heart of the white man, our real enemy!” [J.T. Young, “Zimbabwean double standard,” Washington Times, January 14, 2003, p. A15.]

Robert Mugabe (President of Zimbabwe who is taking the land of white farmers and revoking their citizenship) — “Zimbabwe is for black people not white people.” [“Zimbabwe ‘Votes’” American Renaissance, April 2002, p. 9.]

John Street (black mayor of Philadelphia) — “Let me tell you: The brothers and sisters are running this city. Oh yes. The brothers and sisters are running this city. Running it! Don’t let nobody fool you; we are in charge of the City of Brotherly Love. We are in charge! We are in charge! [Cynthia Burton, “Street Talk Hits a Nerve on Race,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 17, 2002, p. A1.]

Harris Sussman (white “diversity consultant,” in a front-page article in Managing Diversity, a publication subscribed to by U.S. government agencies) — “When we say ‘white people,’ we mean the people of greed who valued things over people, who value money over people. We know exactly what their values are and where they lead. We have all paid a terrible price for those values ...” [White People, Washington Times, Feb. 13, 1997, p. A10.]

William Raspberry (black columnist)- “It is hard to think of whites-only groups formed for the benefit of their members that could gain our approval. Perhaps an organization of white LA police officers formed to help its members improve their attitudes towards minorities ... It’s always illegitimate for white men to organize as white men.” [William Raspberry, “Dubiously Exclusive,” Washington Post, Nov. 24, 1995.]

Maggie Gallagher (white columnist) — “I hate the idea of being white. I never think of myself as belonging to the ‘white race.’ Those who do, in my experience, are invariably second-raters, seeking solace for their own failures. I can think of few things more degrading than being proud to be white.” [Maggie Gallagher, “The Rhetoric of Race,” NY Post, Oct. 20, 1995, p. 25.]

Leonard Jeffries (chairman of the African-American studies department of the City College of New York, interviewed in the May, 1995 issue of Rutherford magazine) :

Q: But the black man is no longer a slave.
A: The slave should be waking up, thinking of ways to slit the slavemaster’s throat ...
Q: What kind of world do you want to leave to your children?
A: A world in which there aren’t any white people ...
[T.L. Stanclu & Nisha Mohammed, Leonard Jeffries Jr., Rutherford, May 1995, p. 13.] (added 2/05/03)

Paul Mooney (black comedian) — “White people are scared, because minorities are taking over. White people are worried because they can’t out-f*** the Mexicans — minorities in numbers alone are taking over, and white folks are scared because they are afraid that we are going to do to them exactly what they’ve done to us. And they are absolutely right. When the s*** turns around, we are going to treat you exactly like you’ve treated us: like s***.” [Danyel Smith, Full Moon, The Bay Guardian, 3/3/93.]

Art Carey (white columnist) — “White Guys also tend to have wide hips, flat butts, bulging love handles, fat guts, sunken chests, weak chins, spindly arms, treble voices, red necks and, after a certain age, thinning hair or bald heads. Some may find these anatomical peculiarities appealing, believe it or not ... Think of the most obnoxious White Guy you know. Guess what? He’s going to croak ... you get to watch White Guys die.” [Art Carey, “The Great White Dopes,” San Jose Mercury News, June 15, 1993.]

Kay Patterson (state senator in the South Carolina legislature writing in an invitation to black politicians) — “Now please don’t bring any of your ‘White-Friends,’ this is a ‘Colored’ meeting.” [Patterson offers no apology for actions, Post and Courier (Columbia) 4/5/93, p. 3B.]

Jocelyn Walters (journalism student at the University of Georgia in the campus-related paper called The Red & Black) “I’m talking to you, white America. You’re wrong. You’re evil ... Your greed is overwhelming. Your lust for power disgusting. The blood on your hands signifies what a demon you are ...”

“You have always thrived off of the blood and sweat of others. You drink them. It is your sustenance ... You make me sick! Sick with anger. Sick with disgust. Sick with the desire to ruin you like you have ruined so many others ...” [Jocelyn Walters, “Blacks Should revolt against white, male America,” The Red and Black, Feb 15, 1993.]

Richard Parry-Jones (white vice president of Ford Motor Company) — “we are trapped in a monocultural environment that is dominated by old white males. We need to change.” [AP, Ford Ties Executives Perks Pay to Merit, Dec. 24, 1999.]

Susan Sontag (white intellectual) “The truth is that Mozart, Pascal, Boolean Algebra, Shakespeare, parliamentary government, baroque churches, Newton, the emancipation of women, Kant, Marx, and Ballanchine ballets don’t redeem what this particular civilization has wrought upon the world. The white race is the cancer of human history.”

Sonny Carson (black activist in New York when asked if he was anti-Semitic) “I am anti-white. I don’t limit my ‘anti’ to just one group of people.” [Mark Mooney, “Ex-Dinkins Organizer Boasts He’s ‘AntiWhite’” New York Post, October 21, 1989, p. 3.]

Miles Davis (black jazz musician) “If somebody told me I had only one hour to live, I’d spend it choking a white man. I’d do it nice and slow.” [Miles Davis Can’t Shake Boyhood Racial Abuse, Jet March 25, 1985.]

Eldridge Clever (former Black Panther leader on why he raped white women) “Rape was an insurrectionary act. It delighted me that I was defying and trampling upon the white man’s law, upon his system of values, and that I was defiling his women ...” [Eldridge Clever, Soul on Ice, McGraw-Hill, 1968, p.14.]

Gus Savage (former U.S. Representative from Chicago to a white member of the press) “I don’t talk to you white motherf*ckers ... You bitch motherf*ckers in the white press ... F*ck you, you motherf*cking *sshole ... white devils.” [Marilyn Rauber, “Reporter Says Black Rep Hurled Racial Slurs,” New York Post, June 27, 1991, p. 18.]

Chino Wilson (in an editorial in the Daily Collegian, campus newspaper at Penn State University) “After looking at all the evidence there is only one conclusion: white people are devils ... I believe that we must secure our freedom and independence from these devils by any means necessary, including violence ... To protect ourselves we should bear arms (three handguns and two rifles, maybe an M-16) immediately and form a militia ... So black people, let us unite, organize and execute.” [Chino Wilson, “African American Students Should Not Trust ‘Devilish’ White People,” The Daily Collegian, Penn State University, January 28, 1992.]

Khalid Abdul Muhammed (former assistant to Louis Farrakhan — current leader of the New Black Panther Party) — ‘Hollywood is owned by these so-called Jews. Look at the movies they make about us, Black people killing Black people. Let’s make some revolutionary movies where we kill white people in the movie. Kill ’em so hard you have to cover up your popcorn from the blood spraying out of the screen.” [Speech at San Francisco State University, May 21, 1997.]

Khalid Abdul Muhammed (on what South African blacks should do to any whites who refuse to leave South Africa): “We kill the women. We kill the babies. We kill the blind. We kill the cripples. We kill them all ... When you get through killing them all, go to the goddamn graveyard and kill them a-goddamn-gain because they didn’t die hard enough.” [November 29, 1993 speech at Kean College in Union, New Jersey.]

Mary Frances Berry (head of U.S. Commission on Civil Rights) — “Civil rights laws were not passed to protect the rights of white men and do not apply to them.” [Civil Rights Under Reagan, San Francisco, ICS Press, 1991, p. 141.]

Augustin Cebada (Head of the Brown Berets, a Hispanic activist organization at a July 4, 1996 rally) — “We’re here today to show L.A., show the minority people here, the Anglo-Saxons, that we are here, the majority, we’re here to stay. We do the work in this city, we take care of the spoiled brat children ... we are the majority here and we are not going to be pushed around.”

Augustin Cebada “Go back to Simi Valley, you skunks! Go back to Woodland Hills! Go back to Boston! Go back to Plymouth Rock, Pilgrims! Get out! We are the future. You are old and tired. Go on. We have beaten you. Leave like beaten rats. You old white people, it is your duty to die ...” [Quoted in Barbara Coe, Reconquista, The Takeover of America, California Coalition for Immigration Reform, 1998, p. 20.]

Prof. Jose Angel Gutierrez (University of Texas, Arlington) “We have an aging white America. They are dying. They are shitting in their pants with fear! ... I love it!” — [Speech of Jan. 1995, quoted in Coe, Reconquista, p. 16.]

Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall
(in a conversation with Justice William Douglas about racial preferences) “You guys have been practicing discrimination for years. Now it is our turn.” [William O. Douglas, The Court Years 1939-1975, New York, Random House, 1980.]

Bell hooks (black professor of English at City College of New York) “I am writing this essay sitting beside an anonymous white male that I long to murder.” [From her book A Killing Rage, quoted by David Horowitz in Hating Whitey, Spence Publishing, 1999, p. 31.]

Sister Souljah (rap artist and black activist) “If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people.” [R.W. Apple “Jackson Sees ‘Character Flaw’ in Clinton’s Remarks on Racism, New York Times, June 19, 1992.]

Ice Cube (black rapper and actor, on the anti-Korean album Death Certificate)

“So don’t follow me up and down your market.
or your little chop suey ass will be a target.
So pay your respects to the black fist
or we’ll burn your store right down to a crisp.”
[Eric Briendel, “Rap Star to Koreans: ‘We’ll Burn Your Stores,’” New York Post, Dec. 5, 1991, p. 29.]

Amiri Baraka (black poet and writer)

“You cant steal nothin from a white man, he’s already
stole it he owes
you anything you want, even his life. All the stores will
open up if you
will say the magic words. The magic words are: Up against
the wall
motherfucker this is a stick up!”
[Quoted in Anne Wortham, The Other Side of Racism, Ohio State University Press, 1981, p. 257.]

Mario Obledo — (1998 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and former head of Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund — MALDEF) “California is going to be a Mexican state, we are going to control all the institutions. If people don’t like it they should leave.” [Tom Leykis Radio Show, June 7, 1998.]

Malcolm X — “The death of over 120 white people is a very beautiful thing.” [Speech in Los Angeles on June 3, 1962 upon learning of a plane crash. He also said on numerous occasions, “The white man is the devil.”]

Rev. James Cone — “What we need is the destruction of whiteness, which is the source of human misery in the world.” [Quoted in David Horowitz, Hating Whitey, Spence Publishing, 1999, p. 44.]

Art Torres (former chairman, California Democratic Party) — “Remember, [Proposition] 187 [the measure to cut public benefits to illegal aliens] is the last gasp of white America.” [The Social Contact, Summer 1998, p. 290.]

Willie Brown (Mayor of San Francisco to a white parent complaining that affirmative action would penalize his children) “I don’t care about your idiot children.” [The Social Contract, Summer 1998, p. 290.]

Please note; the first list of quotes by whites are primarily about the belief that for numerous and varied reasons the black and white races could not successfully intermingle socially or politically. In contrast, 146 years after the end of slavery and 46 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and the ongoing attempts by most whites and some blacks to coalesce into one culture, the second list of quotes are primarily contemporary expressions of hatred of whites.

This post is not about what race is superior or inferior. It's not about past, current or future racism and discrimination regardless who practices it. It's not about hatred or payback or political power. It's not about I.Q. or crime or poverty. It's not even about right and wrong, or good and evil.

It is, I contend, about the reality of the human condition throughout history and all over the world.


People prefer their own kind. Scientists call it Genetic Similarity Theory or Ethnonationalism or kin preference or even tribal identity. There is much scientific evidence to support the theory and very little that argues against it.

In Part IV of The Deuce and Diversity we'll examine the science that makes a lie of "diversity is our greatest strength."

Monday, October 31, 2011

Mr. Quarter Opins on the Cause of Income Inequality

Much is made of the percentage change in the wealth of the upper 1% over the past decade. I suspect that if one examined wealth or income gains for the various quintiles of the US population this trend would be evident over the past 30 years. So is someone to blame? Can we point the finger at a specific group, individual or condition that has led to the inequality of wealth in the United States?

Mr. Quarter has held forth in this space previously pointing out that the constitution of the United States. while providing for equal opportunity for all, does not guarantee a right of equal outcome. However, the media and the OWS gang continue to howl over the supposed unfairness of the accumulation of wealth by the financial industry and associated investment industry. I recently reviewed an article citing IRS statistics that suggested that a full third of the wealth created or acquired in the past ten years could be found within these areas. But no one ever asks the fundamental question of why there?

The answer is obvious. Time and again over the past thirty years have there been lamentations in the media of the decline of manufacturing and the transformation of our economic base to services industries. We all know that it's true. Our economy no longer creates wealth by making goods and selling them as the foundation of our GDP.

Unions demand more in wages and benefits and the employers move their operations overseas. So what jobs remain? How can you earn a living? Low paying service jobs paying minimum or near minimum wage or high paying service jobs such as consulting, medicine, sales, IT, financial services, investing. Then we have the parasitic economic activity like litigation, real estate sales. Think about it and name a vocation in the US that actually produces a significant amount of wealth and is not a service oriented activity. In this country, what we do is sell services to each other, receiving payment for creating nothing.

So we subsist by providing services to each other. One need only take a casual drive through the rural areas of the nation and look at the businesses in small towns. All oriented toward selling some service to the local populace - which provides all the human capital to deliver the service.

But not all services are equal in value. You pay less to have your lawn mowed than you pay to have your malignant colon removed. You pay more to your bank for the privilege of using a debit card to withdraw your own money than for the coffee you bought at 7-Eleven. You pay more to the real estate agent to sell your home than you paid for the furniture in the house you just sold. And on and on - the more abstract the service, the more it costs until you get to the ultimate service - Wall Street investment.

So if we are mad, and many are, the anger should directed be at ourselves. We created this economy where we asked for more and more until it was cheaper to take the business elsewhere. We created a nation where your livelihood and wealth depends on the value of the service you can provide rather than the tangible wealth you create by laboring.

Incidently, while the OWS gang bellyaches about being part of the 99%, they are living in a dream. The fact is that they are part of the 1%. You read that correctly, they are part of the 1%. The fact is that poverty level income in the United States is still greater than the income level of 99% of the rest of the world. I wonder whether they are all willing to forfeit some of their income, no matter how meager, for redistribution to the other 99%?

Monday, October 24, 2011

The Deuce And Diversity: Part II

Many of the statistics and news accounts included in this blog on the blessings of diversity are taken from the book White Identity: Racial Consciousness in the 21st Centuryby Jared Taylor, published in 2011.

"We have a serious interracial violence problem in this county involving blacks and Latinos. Some people deny it. They say that race is not a factor in L.A.'s gang crisis....but they're wrong. The truth is that, in many cases, race is at the heart of the problem. Latino gang members shoot blacks not because they're members of a rival gang but because of their skin color. Likewise, black gang members shoot Latinos because they're brown...
I would even take this a step further and suggest that some of L.A.'s so-called gangs are really no more than loose-knit bands of blacks or Latinos roaming the streets looking for people of the other color to shoot."

L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca
June, 2008
L.A. Times article, "In L.A., Race Kills"

From January 2004 through June 2005, 44 blacks and Latinos were killed and 200 wounded in shootings in an area of L.A. of just three and a half square miles. Police said only about half the victims were gang members (L.A. Times, Dec 17, 2005).

In 1992 during the riots that followed the Rodney King police brutality verdicts, blacks targeted Korean-owned stores for arson. Black animosity towards Korean owned grocery stores and other small shops in black neighborhoods led to the creation of a Los Angeles Black-Korean Alliance in 1986 to try to reduce tensions. The Alliance collapsed after the riots (N.Y. Times, Dec 26, 1992).

Racially motivated violence is rampant in L.A. county schools. The following is just a small sample of the larger fights and outright riots.

Nov 20, 2004, Jordan High School in South Los Angeles; an estimated 1000 students brawled. It took 60 cops in riot gear to quell the disturbance (ABC channel 7, L.A., Nov 20, 2004).

Apr 14, 2005, Jefferson High School in L.A. A brawl broke out in the schools cafeteria after Hispanic students told blacks to "go back to Africa." Over 100 students were involved in the fight which was broken up by police (L.A. Times, Apr 15, 2005).

May 5, 2005, L.A. school district. Some 51,000 middle and high school students skipped school when rumors spread that Hispanic gang members were going to kill blacks in celebration of Cinco De Mayo (L.A. Times, May 6, 2005)

May 9, 2008, Locke High School in L.A. 600 black and Hispanic students fought. It took 60 school district guards and 50 cops to lock down the school (L.A. Times, May 10, 2008).

In 2005, Valencia High School in L.A. had to pay a $300,000 law suit settlement for failing to protect four black students from racial attacks (L.A. Times, Sep 12, 2007).

A 2008 survey of over 6000 South Los Angeles high school students revealed that only 25% of the students felt safe in school.
Throughout L.A. county schools, blacks routinely stay home in droves on Cinco de Mayo, and warn black teachers that they should do the same (Washington Post, Feb 20, 2006).

March, 2005, Grant High School in L.A. Armenian and Hispanic students rioted, sending four students, two teachers and one police officer to the hospital. Following a previous riot in 1999 the Dean of the school reported that there had been one large scale fight motivated by race at the school at least once a year for more than a decade (The Valley Star, Mar 16, 2005; L.A. Times, Oct 23, 1999).

It's not just those crazy kids that are finding it difficult to celebrate diversity in their neighborhoods and schools.

In 2007 the L.A. Unified School district had to dispatch conflict resolution experts and mental health professionals to deal with a black/Hispanic conflict in one of it's advisory councils. Seems the council members had been fighting for months over whether to hold their meetings in English or Spanish.

L.A. County must print election ballots in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Tagalog and Korean. The California DMV translates it's documents into 30 languages. Please note; in almost all elections only citizens can vote...and one of the requirements for being naturalized is the ability to speak English.

In fiscal 1998-99, L.A. County courts had 91,600 man-days of interpreting to provide and pay for.

For twenty years the L.A. County Sheriff's Department was stymied in it's attempts to make a criminal case against an extended family of Oaxacan Indians who were running a $2 million per month heroin smuggling ring. The sheriff's department couldn't translate the language used by the indians, which is only spoken by a small number of people in southern Mexico.

In 1999 the Cartoon Network permanently banned the showing of any 'Speedy Gonzalez' cartoons in the U.S. because of "ethnic stereotyping." A spokesman for the network confirmed that the cartoons were "hugely popular" on the Cartoon Network in Latin America.

By now you'll have noticed that much of the problems of diversity in Los Angeles are between blacks and Latinos, with hardly a word about whites. That's largely because white are a minority in L.A. County now, and a very small minority in the L.A. Unified School District. When the riot starts, white kids take cover. It's not their fight.

Do the God-fearing enjoy the blessings of diversity any better than the rest of the population? At least one national study reported that almost 95% of churches have congregations "at least 80% one race or ethnic group"(Louisville, KY Courier-Journal, Apr 26 2004).

Do I need to point out that the blessings of diversity described so far are prevalent wherever the races rub together, particularly in urban settings? The problems in L.A. are a microcosm of what's happening in most of America.

Since 9/11 religion has become a battleground too. Muslims have been clashing more and more with non-muslims over places to pray; work schedules that don't allow for five prayers a day; the absence of foot baths; Muslim cabby's that don't want to take fares that have any alcohol in their shopping bag or have a dog with them; the wearing of traditional Muslim clothing by women that hide their faces in public; demands that Muslim holidays be included in school calendars; separate gyms and pools be provided for men and women.

In 2004 a Latina woman Lina Morales was fired from her job at Rising Star, a Muslim owned firm in Florida, for eating a bacon sandwich. The company had banned pork from its premises (local6.com, Orlando FL, Aug 4, 2004). Muslims consider pigs and all pork products to be 'unclean'.

Americans now know what honor killings are. Americans now know there is something called Shariah Law that Muslims are demanding they be allowed to practice and that this law be recognized in American courts. Dozens of natural-born and naturalized U.S. Muslim citizens have been indicted for supporting jihadists and their terror plots. Some have travelled to the Middle East and blown themselves up in suicide bombings.

The great 'melting pot' and assimilation into one nation of Americans...E pluribus unum...worked well as long as the vast majority of immigrants came from Europe. Alas, the melting came to a screeching halt with The Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965 (Hart-Celler Act) which opened immigration to America to all parts of the world.

In just 25 years, one generation, after the passage of Hart-Celler Act whites were a racial minority in California.

In 1965 whites were 90% of the population of the U.S. Now that number is barely above 70% and dropping fast.

"Diversity is our greatest strength" may be a pernicious lie, but boy do we have diversity, strength or not.

Who's it good for? Ask the people of L.A.

In Part III we'll examine how whites looked at diversity prior to 1965 and compare that to today's views.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Mr. Quarter's Question of the Day

Obama's condescending attitude toward congressional Republicans and his insistence on passing the parts of his jobs bill that put government employees first and foremost leads Mr. Quarter to the question of the day:

If you can’t possibly cut back the government bureaucracy in good times (because there is enough tax money and we have “unmet needs,” etc.) and you can’t possibly cut it in bad times (because we have to preserve those jobs as “stimulus’) when does the government stop growing?

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Mr. Quarter Admires the Occupy Wall Street Protestor

Mr. Quarter has to hand it to the Occupy Wall Street folks. Wish I had thought of that gig. I mean really, demanding to be paid for simply existing, while insisting that those who actually have a job get less money in order to support my freedom to choose indolence over work. Holy Smokes, I've been working the same old shtick for 28 years, letting stress build up until I can barely stand it. Paying a mortgage on a house that I'll have to sell in order to retire. How could I have been so stupid!

Monday, October 10, 2011

The Deuce And Diversity; Part I



"Diversity is our greatest strength."

A phrase seemingly uttered by every left-leaning man and woman in America. In fact, if you're a journalist, educator, college student, union member, actor, minority, illegal immigrant or job seeker, you can't just utter the phrase, you are required to shout it from the rooftops at every opportunity or else be stripped of your humanity and be called a hater and a racist and a mean poopy-face.

Don't even dare ask why diversity is our greatest strength or you'll be labeled a 'denier'. Being called a denier is even worse than being called a racist 'cause there's nothing worse than being a racist and denying it...I guess.

Well, I'm asking why? Nobody ever says why. Is there anyone out there that can give me a list of say ten verifiable facts why? If there are I haven't found them yet. I've searched high and low for these verifiable facts...and this is what I've found; greeting card platitudes.

The quotes that follow are from iCelebratediversity.com and are representative of attitudes promoting diversity found at many other web sights, including business, education and government sights.

We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color. -- Maya Angelou

Great achievements are not born from a single vision but from the combination of many distinctive viewpoints. Diversity challenges assumptions, opens minds, and unlocks our potential to solve any problems we may face. -- Source Unknown

If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. -- John F. Kennedy

We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams. -- Jimmy Carter

If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place. -- Margaret Mead



Note that none of the above quotes offer any concrete, practical reasons why diversity is so great. Business, education and government emphasize how diversity 'brings people together', 'exposes people to different cultures' and 'teaches us how to be inclusive of people different than ourselves.' These reasons sound all well and good, but the reality is that judging by how Americans live their lives, 'exposing people to different cultures' does not bring us together nor induce us to be 'more inclusive.' In fact, it seems to have the opposite effect. More on this later.

If diversity is indeed our greatest strength then Los Angeles ought to be our greatest city since it is probably the most diverse city in America, L.A. county being home to 140 nationalities speaking 130 languages.



It's neighborhoods should be fully and peacefully integrated; it's schools should be the safest in the country with the highest graduation rates and top scores in college entrance exams; crime should be low, as well as drug use and teen pregnancy rates. Discrimination suits should be relatively few and the local EEOC should be looking hard for anything to do. City governments should operate efficiently and elections should not devolve into racial block voting. There should be little religious or cultural strife. All the people should be able to and want to communicate effectively with one another and share their 'rich tapestry' and 'beautiful mosaic' to the benefit of all.

While I certainly don't believe diversity is the panacea for all that ails America (as apparently so many others do), L.A. ought to be head and shoulders above most other cities in America, or perhaps the world, when it comes to benefiting from diversity in practical ways that can be observed, measured and contrasted with other cities.

Alas, it is not so. On the contrary, Los Angeles is the poster child for why diversity is not only not our greatest strength, but may very well be the greatest cause of societal strife and conflict in America.



In Part II we will examine the reality of diversity in Los Angeles and how it argues against diversity being our greatest strength...or a strength at all.

Friday, September 23, 2011

The Deuce Loves Music

Okay. So who doesn't love music. Well, my dad hasn't liked any music since Floyd Kramer was tickling the ivories and The Sons of the Pioneers were singing about "cold, clear water", circa 1955. But he's an extreme example. Me? I groove to the serious rhythms.

Top Artists of ALL TIME:

1. The Rolling Stones



I don't want to hear any noise about the Beatles. They were okay up until they went all Hari Krishna and Yoko put the dork hex on Lennon. The Stones are still rockin' even though they're all older than dirt and Keith Richards has ingested enough drugs to kill all the Beatles five times over. What man wouldn't trade his life for that of Mick Jagger? Damn few.

Best Singles.

(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
Street Fightin' Man
Sympathy For The Devil
Jumpin' Jack Flash
It's Only Rock 'N' Roll
Paint It Black
Brown Sugar
You Can't Always Get What You Want




2. Prince



Mentally unstable? Maybe. Obsessed with sex? Seriously, deep down aren't we all? But my God, did anyone put out more high energy funky hits in the 80's? No. And, he actually played an instrument, unlike all these lame-ass rap pretenders we're saddled with today.

Best Singles.

Let's Go Crazy
Little Red Corvette
U Got The Look
The Beautiful Ones
Kiss
Baby I'm A Star
Raspberry Beret


3. Elton John



He owned the early and mid-seventies with his classic piano ballads with lyrics by long time collaborator Bernie Taupin. He's sold more than 250 million records and had 50 top 40 hits. Appeals to the masses? Yeah. And that 'flamboyant phase' was just a tad embarrassing. But still, the masses aren't always wrong and light-up glasses and feather boas are...forgivable. Just too much talent.

Best Singles.

Bennie And The Jets
Rocket Man
Someone Saved My Life Tonight
Saturday's Alright For Fightin'
Daniel
Levon
Your Song
Honky Cat
The Bitch Is Back
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me




4. The Eagles



Arguably the best harmony ever with killer guitar riffs and inspired lyrics. A singular mix of folk, country and rock that continues to sell out concerts all over the world. Haunting stuff.

Best Singles:

Hotel California
Sunset Grill
Rocky Mountain Way
Life In The Fast Lane
Desperado
Lyin' Eyes
The Boys Of Summer
One Of These Nights
In The City




5. The Temptations



One of the greatest groups to come out of the golden years of MoTown. Known for their choreography and stylized harmonies, the Temps put the smooth to the turbulent 60's.

Best Singles:

My Girl
Get Ready
(I Know) I'm Losing You
I Wish It Would Rain
I Can't Get Next To You
Ball Of Confusion
Just My Imagination
Cloud Nine


The rest of my top ten.

6. Led Zeppelin
7. Tina Turner
8. Aerosmith
9. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
10. AC/DC

Honorable Mention.

The Moody Blues; Marvin Gaye; David Bowie; The Cars; James Brown; The Beach Boys; Bruce Springsteen; Aretha Franklin; Guns n' Roses; Fleetwood Mac; The Kinks; Parliment; Otis Reading; Def Leppard; Earth, Wind and Fire.

Let the debate begin!

ROCK N' ROLL FOREVER!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Coward

Paul Krugman, the sometime economist and full-time elitist commentator on all things political posted this on his blog regarding the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

"Is it just me, or are the 9/11 commemorations oddly subdued?

Actually, I don’t think it’s me, and it’s not really that odd.

What happened after 9/11 — and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not — was deeply shameful. Te atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons.

A lot of other people behaved badly. How many of our professional pundits — people who should have understood very well what was happening — took the easy way out, turning a blind eye to the corruption and lending their support to the hijacking of the atrocity?

The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.

I’m not going to allow comments on this post, for obvious reasons."


All Mr. Quarter can say is what a f__king coward you are Mr. Krugman. Hiding there behind your keyboard and unwilling to even face the tongue lashing that your readers would administer for such a despicable and cowardly editorial. Shame on you!

Update 09/12/11: Apparently Mr. Quarter was not the only one offended by Paul Krugman's diarrhea of the keyboard. Yesterday, Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense under GWB tweeted that he was cancelling his subscription to the New York Times because of Krugman's comments.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Mr. Quarter on Basic Economics

The progressive argument goes that the current economic conditions and run up of the deficit are all Bush's fault. If you listen to Paul Krugman and others, it goes on further to say that the $800 Billion economic stimulus wasn't nearly big enough - should have been even larger. Well, for clarification, lets see what Robert Reich (former Clinton Administration Labor Secretary and noted progressive) says on his own blog today:

"Before I turn to the President, though, let’s be clear: The lousy economy is due to insufficient demand. Consumers – who are 70 percent of the economy — can’t and won’t buy because they’re running out of cash. They can’t borrow against homes that are worth a third less than they were five years ago, and most consumers are bad credit risks anyway because they’re losing their jobs and their wages are dropping. They also have to start saving for the kids’ college or for retirement, which will cut their spending even more.

Without enough consumers, businesses won’t hire enough people and pay them enough to reverse the vicious cycle. So we’re dead in the water. Even the stock market has caught on to the truth."

So, let me get this progressive argument straight 'cause I am just a dumb Iowa farm boy: The economy is bad because consumers are running out of cash and can't stimulate demand? Did I get that right? So, the Bush tax cuts which leave more cash in consumer pockets were bad? Massive stimulus spending by the federal government that creates debt that must be repaid through higher taxation that takes cash out of consumer pockets is good? It would be better for the economy to take a "balanced" approach that includes both increased revenues (higher taxes) and decreased spending rather than simply spending less and lowering tax burden? Wait a minute, did Reich say that business won't hire enough people and pay the enough to reverse the cycle? I thought our president said that businesses (i.e., corporations) were getting a pass and not paying their fair share? Is Reich saying that Corporations need to make a profit so they can hire workers and pay wages, leading to consumer demand and a better economy? Even to my simple understanding of economics that seems sort of like a contradiction.

Mr. Quarter needs to get a book because this whole economics thing is really confusing.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

The Deuce In Crisis

I have this book. I dust it off every couple of years and go through it. I've read it several times and have many paragraphs and lines highlighted. I tend to go to it when the world is not making sense. It posits a number of hypothesis' that I don't want to believe in, but with every year that goes by I find myself agreeing with more and more.

The core idea of the book is fairly simple: You are everything. The individual is everything. Everything you think, everything you say, everything you do should have but one goal...to enrich you, not just in material wealth, but in all things. Power, women, glory, security, status...EVERYTHING!

Ultimately, nobody else matters more than you do, and why should they? Life for human beings is no different than life for every other living thing. Hunt, or be hunted; survive if you can; place no one's welfare above your own because you were born to further your own existence, not someone else's; find a way, anyway, to get all the good things life has to offer...honestly if you can, but in the end business is business and the devil take the hindmost. Love a wife...love your children...love your kinsman...protect them and nurture them as best you can. But remember, wives and children are property. They exist and prosper only by your good graces, and if the should every fail to "love, honor and obey you", cast them out.

There is no reward after death for living a "good" life. Nor is there any punishment for failing to do so. No Heaven, no Hell, so why abide by the teachings of a pacifist Jew who got himself killed 2000 years ago? Any "God" or "prophet" or "enlightened one" who taught anything but self-enrichment at any cost was a fool and anyone who follows such teachings is a fool in turn.

Do not fear death, for death is better than living as a slave. Not just a slave in literal chains, but also those slaves who rely on the sustenance provided by any master, be him a boss, corporation or business owner. Taking orders from and being reliant upon any other man for one's living is slavery. A few slaves are very well paid, but most are given a slave's wages...barely enough to survive. And never forget, the master will keep you only as long as you are of value to him. The very moment you cease to be of value is the very moment he will kick you into the street with the trash.

All men are not created equal.

Governments exist for the sole purpose of controlling the mass of slaves that make up mankind. The men too weak, too sickly, too stupid, too fearful to rise to prominence and rule over other men. The rich and powerful make those laws that best benefit themselves, and why not? They've earned the right to do so by securing for themselves the ability to do so.

All of life is competition, and competition is warfare. It is the way of all living things, and so is the way of mankind. Win the war and you reap all things good in life. Lose the war, and die, or worse live in slavery, until such time as you are able to rise up and make war again, if you have the will to do so.

I trust you get the idea.

As I said, I don't want to believe these things, but as I watch the world turn and the great movers and shakers around the globe maneuver their armies of soldiers, bankers, propagandists, sophists and toadies, I find it harder and harder to deny what seems obvious. In short, money talks and all the rest is b.s. Or, as some wit once said, "He that has the gold makes the rules."

Money means power, and power means control, and control means you get almost whatever you want.

Consider; the current salary (2011) for rank-and-file members of the House and Senate is $174,000 per year. The Senate and House Majority and Minority Leaders get $193,400. The Speaker of the House gets $223,500. This is not bad money. Not filthy rich by any means, but not starving either. And yet, members of Congress, especially the Senate, raise tens of millions, sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars to get re-elected. Why? The plain answer is wealth and power. Their personal wealth almost always increases while in office, whether by hook or by crook. Congress members are not subject to "insider trading" laws as are corporate execs. Sweetheart deals and outright bribery abound, whether for mortgages (Obama) or trading on cattle futures (Hillary Clinton) or legislation that favors one's business constituents and personal investments, Star Kist/Del Monte Foods (Nancy Pelosi) or taking millions in cash from defense contractors (Randy "Duke" Cunningham). There are dozens of other examples for those that need further convincing.

So many of our "leaders" live by the credo, "Get it while the getting is good." They cut whatever deals are necessary to stay in office and win favor with the monied elite and their local constituents, like Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) who's "Cornhusker Kickback" made Obamacare possible. They utter the most inane things, arguably the most memorable being Speaker of the House Pelosi's "We have to pass the bill to know what's in it". They resort to the most despicable ad homonym attacks to smear their opponents, as John Kerry (D-MA) did just yesterday when, refering to the Tea Party movement, he urged media outlets to "not give equal time or equal balance to an absolutely absurd notion just because somebody asserts it or simply because somebody says something which everybody knows is not factual." The Tea Party wants lower taxes for everyone, reduced federal spending and a balanced budget. And Sen. Kerry calls that an "absurd notion." In other words, don't cover a political or economic opinion that differs from my own. The senator's hubris is astounding.

Crony-capitalism festers in the body politic. Do a little research on the CEO of General Electric, Jeffrey Immelt, and his relationship with the Obama administration. Or conversely, Obama and his ties to organized labor and AFL-CIO head Richard Trumka. Or perhaps most disturbing of all, the hydra-headed connections between Obama administration officials and the myriad far left advocacy groups funded by billionaire George Soros.

Does Obama have it right? Is Obama's world-view accurate and mine hopelessly naive? Does the world really boil down to an endless war of "The Haves vs. The Have Nots" with no rules except don't get caught. Is there nothing more, nothing deeper to life than getting all you can while you can, no matter what? Do the ends justify the means after all?

Is human existence, stripped down to it's basic reality, stripped of all it's supposed moralities, it's "golden rule", it's "turn the other cheek", it's promise of paradise for the life lived "loving your brother as you love yourself" and "be your brother's keeper", it's right and wrong and good and evil...is existence nothing more than screw everybody else, I'm getting mine, if you want to be successful in life? Is that what it takes?

Is that really the way of the world? Is that really the way of life for any truly rational man? Are words like honor, integrity and honesty...ultimately just words, to be used when convenient and discarded when not?

I hope not. But I'm not sure.

That scares me.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Deuce Is Hiring

Wanted: If you're among the perpetually angry and the professionally offended; if you're prone to violent outbursts and are totally lacking in logic, reason and self control; if you have violent fantasies of spraying automatic weapons fire at anyone not like you, then I want you for my new start up business, Deuce Defenders.

If you identify with and are a fan of Jenine Garafalo, Alec Baldwin, Keith Olberman and Rosie O'Donnel, then have I got an offer for you. Join Deuce Defenders!

When I heard that the Department of Education had their own S.W.A.T. team, and recently conducted a raid on a private home looking for evidence of student loan fraud, I realized that there was a business opportunity out there just waiting to be tapped... private S.W.A.T. teams. Think Black Water, only domestically.

Come on man! If the Dept. of Education can field a S.W.A.T. team, why can't I? I've got just as much need for a S.W.A.T. team as they do...and I can make it a profitable private business instead of a completely unnecessary waste of taxpayer money. But I need mean and nasty people to man my teams because we'll be dealing with the scum of the Earth. People that respect no law, that will kill the innocent at the drop of a hat and that will stop at nothing to continue their anarchist ways as they work diligently to destroy America! Al-Queda? No. The Taliban? No. North Korean commie zombies? No. I'm talking about...low grade white collar criminals!

Think of the opportunities!

your neighbor's dog crapping on your lawn

the guy down the block who just won't scoop the snow off his sidewalk

the hippies next door who are pirating your cable connection

somebody won't take down their Christmas lights by Jan 2

kids walking through your yard

Deuce Defenders will be happy to kick in their doors at four a.m., toss in some flash-bang grenades, then rush in brandishing automatic weapons and scare the living bejeebers out of everyone there. Then you'll cuff them all and stuff them in paddy wagons while you search the house for evidence of the heinous crimes they've committed. You'll wear black combat fatigues and black body armor and strut around talking bad cop talk like "Do you feel lucky, punk?"

I'll make a fortune...and you'll make minimum wage, but you'll have great benefits like getting to gear up and raid the homes of poor white trash, all the while feeling superior. You're self esteem will skyrocket while you release your inner demons, terrorizing those guilty of not paying their student loans in a timely fashion. You can get cool tattoos like Ms. Garafalo!

If you think you've got what it takes, Deuce Defenders wants YOU!

Experience in bullying and verbal abuse desired, but will train the right person. Ex-teachers highly desirable.

Equal opportunity employer.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Mr. Quarter Prepares for the End of Days

For those in the know, May 21, 2011 is the date of "The Rapture" prophesied by the Bible as calculated by William Camping who leads an independent Christian ministry on California based Family Radio Worldwide. Thus, it signals the beginning of the End of Days - which is incidentally calculated by Mr. Camping as occurring not later than October 21, 2011. As Mr. Camping sees it, if he is still here on May 22, it only means that he was not "Raptured" into Heaven and not that his calculations are off. That being the case, Mr. Quarter needs to do some planning!

So little time and so much to do. First, better take a few minutes and phone up all the a-holes that have crossed my life's path and let them know my feelings. Not necessary, but certainly satisfying. Actually, that thought brings to mind a quote that I once heard,"The only surprise in my life is that I managed reach this age without killing someone, although I certainly wanted to several times."

Now prioritize. Roughly five months, so only spend my time on the important stuff. Things that are not on the agenda: house cleaning, laundry, wash the car, mow the grass. In my youth, sex would have been high on the priority list - debauchery of some sort. At 53, Mr. Quarter is not as libidinal as in his youth so I have to push that one down the list in favor of other less biological events - although a regular quality romp is not to be discounted. So what are the big ticket items on the list - go fly fishing in Siberia, eat a $500 meal in a Paris Salon, smoke a Cohiba in a Havana night club, hike in Patagonia, see the pyramids in Egypt, visit the Parthenon in Athens, tour every distillery of single malt scotch in Scotland (and sample), stroll the Great Wall of China, visit the Taj Mahal, travel to Kenya and view the last natural herds of great beasts and top-of-the-foodchain predators, swim with a whale.

In the end, assuming that it comes next October, Mr. Quarter wants to sit surrounded by his children and wife. He wants to laugh with them over the kiddie poop stories and cry with them about the things past and things lost. I'll give them all a hug that will carry me into eternity. Heaven or Hell, it matters not because I know the kind of person I am, the rewards I've earned, and the punishment I deserve. Most of all, Mr. Quarter wants to look back on a life well lived and with few regrets.

Just in case, good luck to all of you and I'll see you on the other side.

Post Script: Well its Sunday morning and I am still here as is my wife. One possible conclusion is that we are not among the righteous. Looking out the window this morning at all the lawnmowers going leads me to believe that few if any of my neighbors were among the righteous, either. Perhaps I was not standing where I had a clear shot upward yesterday at the 6:00 PM rapture, so now I'm on standby? I hate it when that happens.

Maybe Mr. Camping's calculations were completely off and there is still some hope? Probably not. I believe that we human beings stand at the intersection of two infinities - between the incredibly small to the unimaginably large. Perhaps a supreme being with the power to create all that really isn't paying much attention to one point along the continuum of the universe.

Friday, May 6, 2011

The Deuce And Osama Bin Laden

OBL is dead, and yeah, I celebrated. What's that? Celebrating the death of any human being is un-christian you say. I tend to think God hates evil, and when that evil is encompassed in a human being, and the death of that human being is the only way to extinguish the evil, well then die you SOB!

When I heard the news I poured myself a shot, hoisted it in honor of the SEALs, the CIA, and everyone else who had a hand in hunting down and killing OBL, thanked God for the end of one particular evil, and tossed the shot back with gusto. Not once did I doubt the the righteousness of my toast or the feeling of gratitude and relief that OBL had finally paid for his evil.

Obviously not everyone agrees with the Deuce, and some who wanted to celebrate had their plans cut short when some unknown pussies took offense.



A bar near Chicago had planned an Osama Bin Rot'n night, with drink specials like "Osama Been Shot", and "The Floating Terrorist." Sounds like a party to me. But alas, the bar caved when un-named people expressed their displeasure over a party to celebrate the death of someone, even the most infamous terrorist who ever lived who caused the death of thousands of innocent Americans along with hundreds of Brits, Spainards, Africans (U.S. embassy staff in Africa) and clubbers in Bali.

So, the patriotic set around Chicago were denied their night of revelry. I felt cheated, so I devised some of my own drink specials that I'm working my way through slowly but surely.

The Drambui "Douple Tap"

The Coors "9 Mil Chill"

Baileys Irish Creme "The Leakin' Noggin"

The Chivas "Cyclops"

The Jose Quervo "Turbanator"

The Yeagermeister "Eat Shit and Diester."

The Jack Daniels "Jihad This!"

And my personal favorite, The Dos Equis "Most Interesting Corpse"

Stay thirsty my friends.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Deuce And The Royal Wedding

Prince William, grandson of Britain's current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, is getting hitched this Friday. The bride to be is commoner Catherine Middleton.

Who cares? Depends on who you ask. CBS says interest is 'stoked' in the U.S., while the New York Times says it's a
'yawner'. In any event, all the major TV networks in the U.S. will be covering the wedding live, beginning at four A.M. EDT. It would take the second coming to get me up at that hour. On the other hand, I could be induced to stay up till then if the party was rockin'.

You can guess who cares. Women. 58% of American women are 'very or somewhat interested, or following news of the wedding.' Meanwhile, fully 50% of American men are not following the coming nuptials at all. Big surprise, I know.

For centuries men have not cared about the nuts and bolts of their own weddings, much less someone elses. Men say, 'Do we really have to go through this? Just tell me when and where', while women famously obsess about the minutest details, giving birth to the reality show Bridezillas, where perfectly normal looking women have multiple psychotic breakdowns because their centerpieces don't coordinate with the color of the tile in the ladies room. It drives would-be grooms to drink, often right up to the minute they step to the alter, and brings the sanity of brides into serious doubt.

The Deuce, surprisingly, is 'somewhat' interested in the royal wedding. Why, you ask? Well, first of all it's being held in Westminster Abbey, one of the most historical buildings in western civilization. Established in 1065, Westminster Abbey has been the sight of royal coronations and weddings, and the funerals and burial place of England's most iconic people, including Geoffrey Chaucer, Issac Newton and Charles Darwin.

If you care at all about history a chance to see Westminster Abbey is not to be missed.



Secondly, the Deuce loves military pomp. Royal weddings bring out the Scots Guards who escort the royal couple to Westminster Abbey, marching in their famous red coats and bear skin hats. Being an old Army guy, I admire military precision in marching and the Scots Guards marching is a hell of a show.



And there's bagpipes! Tradition says the bagpipe was invented by lonely soldiers far from home who missed the high pitched squeals, squawks and grating chords of their wive's voices.



The rest of the wedding hoopla can go begging as far as I'm concerned. Don't care about the ring, the gown or the guests and where they sit, although it's interesting that Obama wasn't invited. I guess Obama returning that bust of Winston Churchill to Queen Elizabeth didn't go over too well. However, with William's younger brother Prince Harry in charge of the reception, that could be entertaining. Harry likes to party. Don't think the reception will be televised. Too bad.



Maybe Sports Center will have some highlights I can watch.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Mr. Quarter's Opinion on Inequality

Inequality, or rather economic inequality comprises all disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income. A major and continuing complaint by liberals is that conservative ideology promotes economic inequality. Where in the Bill of Rights or any other amendment to the U.S. Constitution is a grant of equality of economic assets and income to all citizens of the United States? No where.

Citizens of the United States are accorded a number of rights intended to allow the pursuit of happiness and prosperity. Failure to pursue happiness and prosperity or, alternatively, declining to do so is also a right of the United States Citizen. What is not a guaranteed right in the United States Constitution is happiness and prosperity.

Likewise, there is no constitutional basis for the confiscation of economic assets and income with the intent of redistribution of said wealth for the purpose of relieving economic inequality. Those smart enough, ambitious enough, or just plain lucky enough to possess economic assets and income in excess of their needs are entitled to keep it. The United States Constitution tasks the federal government with only the duty of providing for the common defense and general welfare. You will note that the federal government is not tasked with providing for the individual welfare.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

The Deuce And Cowardice

cowardice [ˈkaʊədɪs]
noun
lack of courage in facing danger, pain, or difficulty


I'm convinced that God hates cowards...or, if God is incapable of hatred, maybe he just really, really dislikes them. I'm not God, so I'm free to hate them. And if hate is a sin, I'll settle up with God at His convenience.

Two news stories caught my eye this week, but not for the same reasons the stories caught the eye of the media who reported them. That's telling, I think.

The first was this one. An eight year old boy threw a temper tantrum at school. He tossed some chairs and a TV stand, then ripped some loose wood trim off the wall and threatened to beat his two teachers with it. His two teachers, probably women though the news reports don't say so, reacted in a way that would have made Joan of Arc proud...they locked themselves in an office and called the police. Seriously. Two adult women fled in fear of their lives from an eight year old with a stick. And no, the kid's name isn't Chucky.

The police responded, no doubt with a S.W.A.T team, and confronted the stick-wielding unholy terror (news reports don't say if guns were drawn during the confrontation with the crazed stickman). Police demanded the little miscreant drop the illegal assault stick. The boy refused, clearly evidence he was high on Ritalin, also known as the "angel dust" of suburban elementary schools. Always mindful of the possibility of a video camera being present and not wanting to get caught in a "Rodney King" moment, the cops were forced to resort to their "less lethal" weaponry and pepper sprayed the suspect. The alleged stickman dropped his weapon and was taken into custody.

One real adult could of grabbed the little twerp by his ear, lifted him up on his tip-toes and dragged him to the Principal's office for an old fashioned paddling. Instead, it gets turned into a federal case because of the cowardice of two grown women. Oh, don't give me the "if they touch the kid they could get sued" b.s. Fear of a law suit is just another display of cowardice. As for the cops, I guess they thought their department policy on the use of force applied to any violent offender regardless of age or size.

In any event the whole episode was pathetic, and says a lot about the state of American womanhood.

The second story is to me even more alarming.

A man was walking to his car in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium in L.A. with two friends after watching his team, the San Francisco Giants lose to the Dodgers. He was wearing Giant gear. The three men were accosted by two men in Dodger clothing. The Giant fan was attacked and beaten severely and was later hospitalized with a fractured skull. He is currently in a medically induced coma with a chunk of his skull missing after doctors removed it to relieve swelling of the brain. He is showing signs of brain damage. The two attackers are still at large.

There were several witnesses, all telling the same story. The attack was unprovoked, there were no weapons seen, and the man's two "friends" ran away leaving him to his fate. They ran away.

The Giants fans had a three to two advantage over their attackers. The attackers neither brandished or used any weapons. And the two buddies ran away, leaving their friend to be beaten nearly to death.

Cowards. Just that simple.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Another Liberal Push-Button War

Mr. Quarter saw the piece by David Warren in today's Ottawa Citizen and thought this quote concerning the current hostilities with Libya was too beautifully acccurate to not share here at Mr. Quarter's Corner:

"This is another liberal, push-button war, from the Bill Clinton era; one intended to produce very few allied casualties. .......See what the techies can come up with, working from satellite photos. Hit anything that looks mean on the other side, and spare the rest of the landscape. Just "tilt that playing field" against ... whichever nearly defenceless dictator we have decided to seriously dislike."

How true.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Mr. Quarter Admires The Clinton Talent

Yes, it is true! Just as The Deuce fought back regurgitation and admired Obama's temporary restraint in not getting involved in Libya, so does Mr. Quarter admire Hillary's (probably with Bill's guidance in the background) clever manipulation in walking Barry right off the plank. The trap she set for him is truly a thing of beauty and something that the Machiavelli's would have admired.

As reported in the press, there were two factions in the deliberations. One faction, led by Secretary of State Clinton and a bunch of academic weenies on the NSC, backed calls from the French and British governments for a NATO-led effort to assist the Libyan rebels and the resulting "No Fly Zone." The second faction, led by the Secretary of Defense (Robert Gates), opposed any U.S. role in the anti-Qadhafi operation. Hillary's faction won the day and Obama's next move was to go to war.

So now the White House message machine is working in overdrive to get out the narrative portraying Obama as initially opposed to any involvement in a Libyan campaign, but changing his mind at the eleventh hour when a humanitarian crisis appeared inevitable. Seems that the outcome of the debate has pissed off a bunch of liberals in Congress. Mostly because Congress didn't get to weigh in on the decision. Obama consulted with the Europeans, the U.N.,and the Arab League, but he forgot to check with the U.S Senate and House of Representatives before he started shooting with American military. That got Dennis Kucinich to start calling for Obama's impeachment!

So Obama now has 60 days under the War Powers Act to get his support lined up in the Congress. Congress could vote to withdraw U.S. forces after 60 days or could withdraw funding. Either way, the Democrats look split between the pissed off liberals representing the base and the remaining Dems trying to put a good face on supporting what he has done. All at a time when he will need support from the entire party to launch his 2012 re-election bid.

As Mr. Quarter sees it, Obama is now in a completely no win situation that has only negative domestic political consequences. If he continues on course, his base gets angrier and his party more divided. If the end point is anything but a friendly government in Libya, he has failed and the Republicans can point to his failure. If he withdraws without conclusion, he looks weak and appears to have failed. If, by some divine providence, the rebels win and have some affection for America, he looks no better than George Bush looked after Iraq. Think Hillary had nothing to do with setting the trap?

In the meantime, Hillary can sit back and watch, always adhering to the illusion of a loyal Secretary of State carrying out the bosses orders. Brilliant! After this week, Mr. Quarter is convinced that Hillary will challange for the Democratic nomination in 2012.