tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38803332024-03-13T07:45:44.032-04:00Disturber of the Peace<b>"Any questioning of the moral ideas that prevail ...is received with the utmost hostility.
To attempt such an enterprise is to disturb the peace"<br>
<i>--H. L. Mencken</i></b><br>John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.comBlogger175125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-9833595427287944322013-06-07T19:52:00.002-04:002013-06-08T08:57:48.443-04:00Breaking News: The New York Times Denounces ObamaThe New York Times editorial board today denounced the Obama administration for its massive and unprecedented NSA-run domestic datamining operation. Some notable highlights:
"Within hours of the disclosure that federal authorities routinely collect data on phone calls Americans make, regardless of whether they have any bearing on a counterterrorism investigation, the Obama John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-6180088131372706782013-06-06T20:27:00.003-04:002013-06-07T12:40:05.113-04:00GOT FASCISM? Verizon, Obama, and the National Security Agency
"Far from providing the audacity of Hope, the Obama regime has been audacious in its contempt for legality and standards of civilisation. Fascism is not too strong an epithet." --British reader commenting on the Manchester (UK) Guardian's breaking story:
NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily
Why is it that foreign news outlets –including the liberal-to-leftist John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-29498084034755071262013-05-20T13:34:00.001-04:002013-05-20T20:27:17.043-04:00With Voters Like This, Who Needs Nincumpoops?<!--[if !mso]>
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
<![endif]-->It seems some outspoken politico folk don't understand the difference between nonprofit charities and nonprofit advocacy groups.
Take for example "progressive" defenders of the IRS' recent abuse of its power
against 501(John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-36636378590251293712012-12-25T20:39:00.003-05:002012-12-25T20:40:52.238-05:00THE CURMUDGEON'S FRUITCAKE RECIPE
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
It's time once again to post our favorite yuletide fruitcake recipe:
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-48802706892643928052012-12-07T18:42:00.000-05:002012-12-07T19:11:25.064-05:00"RICK SANTORUM vs. THE DISABLED"Did the United Nations Make Him Crazy?Over the past few days, the mainstream media and dozens of advocacy internet sites have been jumping on Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania) for the Senate's failure a few days ago to get a 2/3rds majority vote to ratify the U.N.'s Conference on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities international treaty (hereafter CRPD) passedJohn M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-36637604654561309462012-12-03T11:42:00.005-05:002012-12-04T07:11:50.321-05:00COMPROMISE, NEWSPEAK STYLE
Obama to House Republicans: "Take It or Leave It"
From the very first hour
of his victorious status quo re-election on November 6, President Obama has been urging both sides to "compromise" while at the same time repeating his demand
that the House Republican majority --also victorious in the same status quo re-election-- end the
Bush tax cuts for the upper 2% John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-2784436335908949662012-12-02T09:07:00.001-05:002012-12-02T09:08:56.240-05:00WHAT IS THE "FISCAL CLIFF"?
This 7-minute video, produced by the Wall Street Journal a few weeks before the election, is an excellent "primer" on the Fiscal Cliff --what it is, what it means, and how it can be avoided.John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-90575518801895380242012-11-30T09:21:00.002-05:002012-12-03T10:54:26.824-05:00THE "FISCAL CLIFF" SHELL GAME CONTINUESCharles Krauthammer on Tim Geithner's Absurd "Deal"Yesterday, the White House sent Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner to the House GOP with an "offer" in the face of the coming fiscal cliff: Obama wants another $1.6 trillion in taxes, but not to pare down the national debt. Instead, this would be used to fund Obamacare and entitlements, yet another "John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-31226170057199435302012-11-27T09:45:00.002-05:002012-11-27T09:50:29.067-05:00RUSSIA'S PUTIN ON OBAMA'S RE-ELECTION
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." — George Santayana"...There are no grounds to suggest that by putting the responsibility [for the economy] over to the state, one can achieve better results. Unreasonable expansion of the budget deficit, accumulation of the national debt - are as destructive as an adventurous stock market game.&John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-44779477827138276822012-11-26T20:17:00.003-05:002012-11-27T08:09:42.504-05:00ENGLISH A RACIST LANGUAGE, EXPERTS DISCOVER*Perhaps the best solution to this crisis is to stop speaking English altogether (unless you're a liberal):
...."The entire English language was created by slaveowners as a means of oppression. You can’t just say that one word is a racist code word or another....Whenever [conservatives] use English, they are using it to hiddenly express racist ideas. John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-21756157970348313392012-11-23T13:26:00.000-05:002012-11-23T13:26:23.440-05:00'TIS THE SEASON TO BE GREEDY?
Catholic author and blogger Mark Shea offers a pithy and timely comment on materialism and capitalism in the Season Formerly Known as Christmas on his Facebook page:
":...Capitalism, like fire, is a useful tool if it is subjected to the Holy Spirit and profits take a firm back seat to more important goods like the love of God and Neighbor. Allow it to John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-62567041106220545122012-11-19T08:54:00.000-05:002012-11-24T16:31:48.619-05:00
POLITICALLY CORRECT CHRISTMAS GREETING
It's that "most wonderful time of the year" again, so a fellow curmudgeon sent in the following updated and sanitized safer
version of Christmas well-wishing in the Post-Christian Era.
Feel free to pass it on to the
Scrooges, Grinches, ACLU
lawyers, and secular fundamentalists on your own Yuletide list:
Holiday
Seasons Greetings to You
John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-32646993361018241722012-11-18T19:49:00.001-05:002012-11-21T09:51:32.827-05:00AL QUEDA’S USEFUL IDIOTS:
At Least One Columnist “Gets It” About Islamo-Fascism
(First published June 15, 2004)
In his very thoughtful column yesterday at National Review Online, Victor Davis Hanson addresses a central Western liberal attitude which will inevitably lead to the demise of the West if something isn’t done to reverse it.
The West, especially Europe, says Hanson, has beenJohn M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-61804277103800518772012-11-18T19:47:00.001-05:002012-11-21T09:45:23.583-05:00CAVING IN TO "ISLAMIC LAW":
Will the West Sacrifice Its Freedoms to Placate the Implacable?
At least one American columnist thinks so.
Back in 2006 at the height of the controversy over some editorial cartoons critical of the radical wing of Islam, Washington Times columnist Diana West got it right in the op-ed piece "Cartoon Rage," about the Western media's cowardly response to ongoing John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-74584360010430941902012-11-18T19:38:00.000-05:002012-11-21T09:40:09.458-05:00PEGGY NOONAN WRITES ABOUT 9/11 ...IN 1998
Noted Conservative Columnist Saw the Signs of the Times
Below is an eerie passage from a piece written by columnist Peggy Noonan on Nov. 30, 1998. It was republished on Sept. 18, 2001 at the Wall Street Journal web site opinionjournal.com, where the entire piece can be read:There Is No Time, There Will Be Time
....Something's
up. And deep down, where John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-32762395461606361392012-11-18T19:33:00.003-05:002012-11-21T09:54:22.517-05:00"UNTIL THEN..."
A Magnificent Tribute to Our Guys and Gals in Uniform
This
Flash presentation first appeared in 2006. It was moving and beautiful
then, and remains so now. It incorporates some wonderful photography of
our troops "over there," together with a recording of Marta Keen's
gorgeous song "Homeward Bound," the lyrics of which are as follows:
In the quiet misty morning when the John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-1130858056714757772005-11-01T10:10:00.000-05:002012-11-21T10:03:18.128-05:00OH, THE IRONY!
Greenpeace Damages Coral Reef (11/1/2005)
"In one of those 'the
operation was a success but the patient died' scenarios, Greenpeace's Rainbow
Warrior II damaged a coral reef in the central Philippines--during a climate
change awareness program.
"The ship and its Birkenstock
crew will have to pony up after being assessed a 640,000 peso ($15,000) fine
after the 55m John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-1130858878396535912005-10-31T22:22:00.000-05:002012-11-23T13:43:18.230-05:00THE REAL ORIGINS OF HALLOWEEN
It's Not a Wiccan Holy Day After All
On BeliefNet (use the link above to read the article), a Catholic priest writes about the history of this allegedly pre-Christian pagan festival:
"We’ve all heard the allegations: Halloween is a pagan rite dating back to some pre-Christian festival among the Celtic Druids that escaped church suppression. Even today modern John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-1126797366276853222005-09-15T11:11:00.000-04:002012-11-23T14:12:07.952-05:00IT'S THE VICTIMS' FAULT?
Baptist Writer: Hurricane Katrina Was "God's Wrath"
In a rambling pontification on his internet-based radio broadcast, Baptist writer and "scholar" James White argues that the USA, if not the populace of New Orleans, brought Hurricane Katrina upon itself:
White seems convinced that Hurricane Katrina, like the 9-11 terrorist attacks, was an instance of God's wrath John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-1086893349072074532004-06-10T14:48:00.000-04:002012-11-27T08:34:33.248-05:00“RELIGIOUS LIBERTY FOR WHOM?”
Political Correctness and the Coming Death of the First Amendment
Dr. James Hitchcock, a professor of history at St. Louis University, notes some scary trends here and in the rest of the West which bode ill for the survival of freedom of conscience and religion –at least for those whose consciences are religious in orientation.
In his weekly column, titled John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-1086876969686807212004-06-10T10:15:00.000-04:002012-11-23T14:27:22.980-05:00TED RALL vs. THE FIRST AMENDMENT:
Far-Left Cartoonist Takes a Page from the Church of Scientology’s Law Book
One of the more interesting aspects of Looney Left “journalist” Ted Rall’s character (see our June 9 post on Rall, “Attack of the Girlie-Men,” below) seems to be how he handles criticism, including when it comes from a colleague in the form of parody.
In 1999, fellow editorial John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-1086801958716454342004-06-09T13:22:00.000-04:002012-11-23T14:17:06.334-05:00ATTACK OF THE GIRLIE-MEN:
Envy-Ridden “Journalists” Whine One More at the Gipper
German sociologist Helmut Schoeck points out in his book Envy: A Theory of Social Behaviour that envy is "a drive which lies at the core of man’s life as a social being…[an] urge to compare oneself invidiously with others." The envious person is a type of sociopath who, upon comparing him- or herself with another John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-1086791084269228532004-06-09T10:22:00.000-04:002012-11-23T14:18:47.444-05:00THE FOUNDING FATHERS GO DOWN THE MEMORY HOLE
A Frightening Trend in "Higher" Education
It seems that university history departments around the US are abondoning study of the Founding Fathers and the American Revolution. As one source notes,
"Two of the leaders in colonial- and revolutionary-era scholarship, Bernard Bailyn at Harvard and Gordon Wood at Brown, are being replaced by historians John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-1086628453066087962004-06-07T13:12:00.000-04:002004-06-07T13:14:13.066-04:00HAIL TO THE CHIEF
Ronald Reagan, Rest In Peace
The USA and the world have lost a great leader, and a very good man.
God bless you, Mr. President. And thank you!John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3880333.post-1084466563255861992004-05-13T12:41:00.000-04:002004-05-13T12:46:44.226-04:00MEMO TO THE WEST, POST-NICK BERG:
How to Respond to Islamo-Fascism
The recent mea culpa hand-wringing in the West over the abominable mistreatment of imprisoned Iraqi terrorists and insurgents by rogue American military personnel is as much a commentary on the morally weakened state of the West as it is yet another demonstration of the blindness of the West to an evil which cannot be comprised John M. Esparolinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15537564120103625179noreply@blogger.com0