AICN prompted me to look through Amazon's Blu-Ray selection - out of the 943 movies, I would be interested in watching/re-watching 5%. How can such disposable and ephemeral entertainment be the foundation of an authentic culture?

Went to BLOX today; it'll probably be the last show I attend for a while, though there is a small show in Dublin near the end of August. Drank 2 cans of NOS while I was there - Mango/Passionfruit. Don't know if it was because of the sugar or the heat but I didn't feel hungry, so I didn't sample the food trucks.

Handed Down By Our Forefathers

E. Christian Kopff was a special guest on today's . He's in Rockford for the annual Rockford Institute Summer School. Dr. Fleming was not on the program initially but joined host Paul Youngblood, Dr. Kopff, and Aaron Wolf later. In the second hour of the program Drs. Kopff and Fleming were talking about the importance of the classics and of the Latin and Greek languages.

 A caller asked about the Great Books Dr. Fleming - Dr. Kopff mentioned Mortimer Adler, and the two classicists mentioned some Great Books schools, St. John's College and TAC. Dr. Fleming had one criticism to make of the curriculum at TAC - he thought 2 years of Latin was insufficient, and that they should bere 4 years of Latin plus 4 years of Greek.

I'd agree, or advocate this sort of preparation at the "secondary" level, along with the trivium/quadrivium. I wish I could be paid to study Greek and Latin. Sarge is off in Rome studying Latin in a 4-week intensive course. While I still have some affinity with the Chinese classics, they don't are not equal to the Western classsics or to the Christian theological and philosophical traditions. (Editing a book on the history of Chinese philosophy just makes this clear to me once again.) Besides, most Chinese don't care, and it has very little relevance to their lives (except in so far as the classics can be used to justify their being good followers in an empire) .

It's days like this that lead me to dream about teaching in some way at a classical school. But good Uhmericans are up-to-date, and we don't need a classical education any more! We just need to be taught "science" and "math" and maybe the "humanities," along with "critical thinking skills."

Traditional conservatives should do what they can to maintain and pass their Western/Anglo-American/Catholic intellectual patrimony on to the next generation. While there may be some on the left who are interested in classical education and the like, this should be one of the things that sets traditional conservatives/communitarians apart from them.

Familiae Sancti Hieronymi is still around. I checked a while ago and their learning materials are now available in CD format. (I don't think this was true the last time I wrote a post about the organization.)

See Dr. Koppf's Is American Unconservative?, in which he discusses Kevin Gutzman.  He writes:

The importance of pre-Lockean traditions, British, Christian and Classical, has been made over and over again for generations after Hartz by scholars including P. G. A. Pocock, Bernard Bailyn, Gordon Wood, Carl Richard and many others.  The importance of the Classical Tradition for the Constitution has been documented just last year by David J. Bederman, The Classical Foundations of the American Constitution(2008). Catherine Winterer’s The Culture of Classicism: Ancient Greece and Rome in American Intellectual Life, 1780-1910 (2002) has shown that the classical tradition continued to be influential for generations after the founding.

TAC: Celebrating 40 Years with the Founders


(Dr. McArthur addresses the Students of Thomas Aquinas College)

Related:
Familiae Sancti Hieronymi Cenaculum Miamiense

Dr. E. Christian Kopff on "Classical Greek Philosophy and American Democratic Thought"

The Ultimate Uhmerican Meal?

Certainly it's "healthier" than the pizza that The Thinking Housewife criticizes, even more so if you get rid of the bun. And the fires. And the shake. But those are good once in a while. 80/20, right? I find that getting a burger is my default meal outside the house these days. I can't afford a real restaurant. (And I haven't quit Costco pizza yet.)

The 50 Best Burgers in San Francisco Many of them cost more than $15! But Roam is on the list. I'll try to go there on Sunday to celebrate ah Fai's birthday. Still have to get out to Oakland for Trueburger (which is on the list, too).

The Truth Hurts

A comment at Marky Mark's, She's Not the Little Girl I Once Knew.

When you have a female spinster like her in the US there is always some underlying problem. Even females living alone almost always have a mental problem and you will rarely find a normal one. Open your eyes and just do some observation. The only somewhat normal females who live alone are older divorcees and even they nhave a lot of other females like themselves who they're constantly talking to on the phone. A lone female is almost always a bit crazy or has some problem and they should be avoided.And whether in Europe or the US a female living at home is just an old maid and there's a reason that she never left the nest. Men on the other hand can live alone and be perfectly normal since most men are loners by nature and are not afraid of being by themselves and can always find some way to occupy themselves. Lone females seem to get crazy on their own or were crazy to begin with which is why they're alone. It's just not the same with men. Really do some observation and take notes and you'll see I'm right.

And more for "social darwinism will triumph" box - Oz Conservative: Two Canadians hit a nerve with London Girl.

Some Waylon Jennings

Waylon Jennings on Austin City Limits

As American as anyone else?

cbsSF: 'Bullet Button' Supporters Intensify Campaign Against State Sen. Yee

He sure isn't, if part of American culture is republicanism. Nothing more than an abettor of the mommy state. (And when he attempts to defend himself and his bill, he sounds like an emasculated beta--reinforcing negative stereotypes about Asian males.) The liberal local CBS affiliate is trying to scare people about the "bullet button" and talk about "assault rifles." I do find it interesting an Asian opposing the bill was featured, rather than someone white. (It's probably not a coincidence.) Why's the state AG avoiding the reporter? One would think that she supports stricter gun laws. Such people are their supporters aren't worth defending if the TSHTF, as they won't allow average citizens the means to take up their republican duties. They can take care of themselves.

The Imaginative Conservative: Four Tenets of American Republicanism: A No-Frills Primer

Edit. And who can forget the ongoing but realtively unknown Fast and Furious scandal: Ann Coulter: Fast and Furious is Not a Law Firm 

Saw my friend Rx and his wife tonight; we had dinner at Thai Lemongrass. The food was decent, but as it is always the case with Thai food, the portions were small. It almost drives you to eat more rice in order to feel satiated. Anyway, I was shocked when he told me that he was an Obama supporter, and he asked me to explain why I wasn't going to vote him. I doubt that I convinced him, since he thinks Obamacare will be beneficial to lower- and middle-classes. He's on a diet apparently, but he and his wife look good and are happy down in SoCal. I didn't get a chance to see his son (or his nephew and niece). His nephew is already in high school, and is taller than Rx! Sigh.

Strauss-Howe Generational Theory

The Generations of Men: How the Cycles of History Shape Your Values, Your Idea of Manhood, and Your Future

I think James Howard Kunstler has discussed the the Strauss-Howe Generational Theory as well in several of his podcasts. (Or maybe it was Duncan Crary.) A cyclical view of history might appeal to a traditional Chinese or a Confucian; at first glance I don't accept it. Jack Donovan posted a link to the article on his FB; the article does mention him by name.

The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe
Comparison with Generational Dynamics




Misc. M6A2 UCIW COVERT CQB THUNDER LWRC International

Items of Interest, 12 July 2012

Kevin Carson, “Green Economy?” We’re Not Green Enough to Buy It
Carson: Time to decide, "Green" Capitalism or Solidarity Economy? You shouldn't have to think about it long.

Tomgram: Rebecca Solnit, One Big Continent of Pain

Rod Dreher, A Tragic Journey To a Monastery


From Counterpunch:
Information Overload by DAVE LINDORFF
Driving a Stake Through the National Security State

Fukushima And The Nuclear Pushers by KARL GROSSMAN

Jolting The Mind For Action by RALPH NADER

More With Joel Salatin

America’s most famous farmer puts America over his knee

From the Real Food Summit:

full show

The Assertive [Celtic] Woman

(IMP Awards)

In a discussion about the movie Brave, I added: "I am reminded of the feisty redhead in The Quiet Man, played by Maureen O'Hara, who finds satisfaction being put in her place by John Wayne. No one's going to make that kind of movie now." In fact, if the movie were to be updated, she'd probably be like the heroine of Brave - independent and submitting to no man. John Wayne's character would still be the rich American visiting the homeland, but he would be impressed by how much of a strong woman she is, perhaps even being bested by her in the boxing ring! Much like a modern-day Boudica, she'd be a raging Celtic warrior seeking unconditional surrender. (But would she still respect him after beating him?) She'd probably also fight her brother in court for the inheritance, and he'd be disowned, much like the patriachy that he represents, for somehow unjustly taking away what belongs to her and oppressing her.

Pedestalizing?

A reader of The Thinking Housewife submits this post to her blog:

A few days ago, I visited What Women Never Hear and found an interesting list of posts on the power and significance of virtues in girls and women, how masculinity is dependent on the exploitation of feminine virtue and how the lack of virtue in a female makes her an empty shell for a man. I was immediately reminded of Rabindranath Tagore’s wonderfully touching poem that he dedicated to his muse and mentor, his sister-in-law Kadambari. The first time I read this poem next to the picture of this beautifully feminine woman in a Tagore memorabilia museum, I had tears in my eyes.


I have made you the pole star of my life,
I shall never lose my way in this sea.
Wherever I go,You always shine in my view
And shed light from your anxious eyes.
Secretly in my mind,Your image is always alive
I lose my mind,When I lose your sight.
When my heart wants to stray, Along a wrong way
Your remembrance fills it with shame.


What more is there to say on the impact that a virtuous girl and woman has on a man? And on society as whole! Yes, all world religions demand sacrifices of the female sex. Yes, they hold up different standards. Because the virtues of a man never affect a woman’s femininity the way a woman’s virtues have command over a man’s masculinity. A virtuous girl forces a young male to be a man rather than a boy. Maybe this is why we have an epidemic of man-boys.


I am always astounded at how Tagore knew so well the dynamics of love and sexuality.

This is similar to the soft power that Dr. Laura claims women have over men. Can a woman control a man because of his desire for her? Undoubtedly, but the same can happen in the opposite direction. (Book of Genesis, consequences of the fall!) Who tames males and civilizes them? Some would have us belief that this is the job of women, but I've long since changed my view on this -- it is men who raise men, not women. Some men may change temporarily in order to get the girl, but how many of them lapse into their old ways once they are married? But the virtuous man seeks to please God and himself accordingly, and to find a woman who will respect him accordingly.

Men do seek to please their women; some to avoid nastiness, others because they want to keep her affection. Some do it out of love. Only one of these can be reconciled with maintaining the proper frame.

Prof. Gutzman on Obamacare

Originalism vs. Obamacare by KEVIN R.C. GUTZMAN The Affordable Care Act goes beyond anything the Founding Fathers envisioned.

Consumerism and Adultlescence

Caped Crusaders and the Flight From Society by David Masciotra

I have posted some thoughts about comic book heroes here and here.


Misc.
Another essay praising of Alexander Hamilton.

John Dowland, The Earle of Essex Galiard

John Dowland (1563-1626): The Earle of Essex Galiard [a5] - The Royal Wind Music

Take Back Your Time

It's been a while since I've looked at the website. There is a conference, August 24-5, at Seattle University.

Related:
The Power of Social Movements

Tattoos

Discussion at VFR. I have a post in the works on the adoption of tattoos by Korean female celebs; I will try to finish it soon. LA links to another blog with a post on the same topic.

The Animated Bayeux Tapestry

Feast of St. Benedict

Reposting this video featuring Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey.



See also Quaerere Deum - Documentary for Norcia. (ver 1)

Dom Mark Daniel Kirby: Evening of Saint Benedict's Day

Misc:
Te Deum

Larkin Poe, "Lilac Wine"

"Red Rocking Chair" Brittany Haas, Lauren Rioux with Bruce Molsky

Men Crossing Their Legs

CR is derisive: Universal Logo Of The Feminized Male

It is very common for British men and actors (Jeremy Irons in Brideshead Revisited?) to cross their legs at the knees, many Hong Kong and South Korean actors and celebs do so too... is it really a subconscious denial of their masculinity? Or is it more for "ease" and "comfort"? A Q&A at GQ in which the practice is criticized as being effeminate. (Another Q&A, less critical.)

Ladies avoided sitting with their legs apart. (Regardless of whether they were wearing pants or dresses?) But how they adjusted and avoided the fatigue of keeping their legs together varied: crossing at the ankles vs. crossing at the knees (wikihow). According to this internet piece on Victorian manners, it was considered improper for both men and women to cross their legs - I assume that crossing at the knee is meant. According to this link for visitors to Hong Kong, men should try and keep their feet on the floor.

Who Runs Things

The Nation: LIBOR: Crime of the Century
PJB, Casino Capitalists Playing With Fire
Kunstler, The Drowning Pool Libor Scandal: As New York Fed Chief, 
Timothy Geithner Had Multiple Meetings With Barclays
Why the Barclays-Libor blame game ignores the real problem

Two on Feminism

Dalrock, Feminist Territory Marking
Welmer, Feminism and the Decline of an Institution



The Invisible War - FB - Apple
Rotten Tomatoes
NPR

Distributive Justice

Errors of Libertarian Economics by Angus Sibley

AK-12

Recoil: THE NEW KALASHNIKOV – AK-12

Pistol Annies - Takin' Pills

How Real Is Reality TV?

How much do they reveal about the personality and character of the contemporary Uhmerican woman? Is reality TV an accurate portrait? Watching Hell's Kitchen could be an eye-opener for some, especially if they are living overseas and not used to women acting poorly.

Stuart Jeanne Bramhall reviews Local Dollars, Local Sense

Local Dollars, Local Sense – Part I
Local Dollars, Local Sense – Part II

Chelsea Green

We're all Uhmerican now.

KoreAm: Dying Alone: An Elderly Korean Immigrant’s Worst Nightmare Not all are guilty of senior abandonment, but we do overvalue "independence" as well as mobility for the sake of "prosperity." And sometimes, the seniors prefer to live on their own. (Like in the case of my grandmother.)

FukuBurger LV

2010? James Hsu interviews FUKU burger Las Vegas

twitter
schedule

The Copts Take Action

Byzantine, Texas: Copts Form "Christian Brotherhood"

Some may argue that this will make things worse and eventually encourage violence between the two groups. Should the Copts just play martyr and let the Muslims gather strength? So long as Egypt is relatively pluralist, the Copts probably need to organize politically so that they can protect themselves and find allies.

Peter Hitchens: The Hollow Crown (a new adaptation of Henry VI, Part 1)
BBC2

JS Bach Sinfonia to Cantata No.42

Jack Donovan Elaborates on Our Zombie Obsession

Zompocalypse Now
America’s Training Wheel Tribalism
Part I: “Zombies Are People, Too”

Related: Jim Goad, The Nagging Persistence of Tribalism

James Kalb, The Left, the Right, and Catholicism

CWR (via Insight Scoop)

Catholicism sees freedom as directed toward the good life, and fills in the details with its understanding of God and man. Liberalism likes to avoid big issues like God, man, and the good, because they cause arguments, so it sees freedom not as freedom to pursue anything in particular but as freedom to choose freely. Freedom is freedom to go after whatever it is you happen to want.


The result of that view, along with the view that freedom is the highest political goal, is that the good life drops out of sight as a public concern. That’s a problem for Catholics who want to promote the good life through politics, because almost all politics today are liberal. Even the battle between liberals and conservatives is mostly a dispute between two groups of liberals. The two sides may differ in their interpretation of freedom, but they agree that it comes first, and that in essence it’s freedom to do whatever you want.

Energy Bulletin links to items pertaining to Grace Lee Boggs

The Next American Revolution Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century

Links:
The Next American Revolution
Boggs Center (blog)
Bill Moyers Journal
A documentary in the works.

What to do about health care insurance?

Where Health Care Can Happen by Peter J. Leithart

Something at Free the Animal that is germane to the question of insurance, and I recently posted this: The Manufactured Debate Over Obamacare, by Kevin Carson.

Relevant posts at Distributist Review.

Health After Oil: Crafting Resilient Health Systems: An Introduction by Dan Bednarz

The Catholic Knight: Only One Solution to Obamacare

Another blog is gone...

True Femininity blog is shutting down...

I have noted, going through job postings for local farms, that many of the positions require someone who is bilingual (the other language being Spanish), or that this is preferred, since those who [actually] work on the farm speak Spanish [only]. Doing jobs that Americans don't want to do? How much are these workers being paid? If they are not being paid a living wage, how much more would the food cost if this were the case? Before farming can be a feasible occupation for young people in California much else in the political economy must be changed. (Instead of allowing it to be dominated by the e-tech industry and affluent immigrants who push the standard of living up?)

The Trophy White Wife

Last night I was having dinner at Bombay Garden, and I noticed that there was a group of white women sitting at the table next to the dessert area. With them was a young man, ostensibly the boyfriend of one of the women. I couldn't tell if he was Indian or not, though he could pass for one. (He was lighter-skinned than the Indians you would see in the Silicon Valley.) It brought to mind something that an "Indian" reader wrote at VFR:

Whilst they are strictly endogamous, and almost militant about marrying within their caste, all rules go out the window when their precious child wants to marry a white. As with blacks, marrying a white is the ultimate Indian status symbol, especially when it’s a white girl.

It is understandable why we non-whites who were born in the United States might idealize white beauty, though this may be changing slowly as television and the movies becomes more ethnically diverse. Why wouldn't this also be true overseas, with white women being perceived as the "exotic" beauty? I can't say white beauties have dominated through the export of movies abroad, as native beauties can compete through the mass media as well, but their presence in movies has had an impact on the popular imagination. Still, it does intrigue me when a white Catholic woman marries an Indian man. I know of at least two instances of this; I think at least one of the grooms was Catholic as well. How well did the first adopt the culture of her husband's family? She did visit India and got her skin colored with henna. iirc, she also wore an Indian dress for part of the wedding festivities. She came from a traditionalist family; were there no white traditionalist Catholic men interested in her?

Hell and Back: Special Ops Ranger

Discovery Channel

DISCOVERY CHANNEL GETS FIRST LOOK AT SPECIAL OPS RANGERS TRAINING COURSE IN "HELL AND BACK: SPECIAL OPS RANGERS"
TV Diva: 'Hell and Back: Special Ops Rangers' on Discovery Channel
Army.mil

No trailer on youtube, so I'll put this up instead:

What's going on with the OCA?

Rod Dreher: Metropolitan Jonah Ousted

Orthodox Church in America
Met. Jonah prescient on Don't Ask Don't Tell repeal

Edit. Official announcement.

Impressions of Haywire

The movie's soundtrack has a 70s feel and the movie is rather artsy in its visual feel. This isn't a surprise since the director is Steven Soderbergh. As an action movie is it better than, say, the Bourne series? A movie fan can be grateful that the action sequences are not shot with a shaky cam. They may show off her MMA skills but nonetheless lack realism since she manages to kick every male ass in the movie. The viewer can tolerate her wooden acting since her role does not demand much of her. (Though she is able to act like an Uhmerican woman when she is undercover with Michael Fassbender.) But the girl power exhibited by the movie is just overwhelming, as she is trying to be more of a man than her male co-stars. Can we blame James Cameron's Vasquez in Aliens? At least Vasquez showed her vulnerable side towards her end. The movie would have been much more enjoyable if her character had been a man. While the technical aspects of filming the action sequences should be an example to other directors, the perpetuating of girl power theme needs to end.

Yahoo
Rotten Tomatoes



Related:
One female marine tells part of the truth about women in the military:  A Few Good Women

Celebrating an Uhmerican Holiday

On the night of Independence Day, I walked to a local park to watch the city's fireworks show.

It was a diverse crowd, reflecting the demographics of the local residences. A lot of Indian families; you could smell some of them. Perhaps the distinct odor acquired through a specific diet is better than plain body odor due to sweat. It may explain how such a diet arose in the first place, given the temperature (and humidity) of certain parts of India.

There must have been a few thousand people at the park, all there to enjoy the fireworks display. Something pleasing to the senses after a nice day off from work, right?

Independence Day is devoid of meaning for these people; if they knew what it really meant they'd be out protesting instead of pretending all was well with a frivolous display of fireworks. They are ostensibly celebrating a dead constitutional order that no longer exists, for the most part. The date of its disappearance? The beginning of the WBTS for Southrons. It has been a multifaceted decay, beginning with the Federal judiciary, and then spreading to the legislative and executive branches. One must also consider the degeneration of the states, along with the rise of the corporations and the moneyed elites, the destruction of communities that comes from a wrong notion of property rights and excessive mobility, already present at the inception of the colonies.

If the residents, my neighbors, knew political liberty, would they be voting for Democrats who seek to take political liberty away? I learned that disgrace of an Asian Paul Fong was re-elected, though it was no surprise. The day before, SB249 passed committee. An armed citizeny is necessary for a healthy republic and as a check on those who hold political office. But those who live around here have no desire to have that sort of control over their own lives. They're sheeple comfortable with their suburban middle-class life with all of its comforts and pleasures.

How many true patriots were in attendance that night, people who believe that they have roots in this area and will tough things out? How many are committed to the other people there?

A couple of deputies were on their bikes, doing crowd control and ordering people off the sidewalk. How can it not be detestable work if one does not possess the proper motivation or intention? I didn't find them to have a calm commanding presence; their attitude sounded more like annoyance with the crowd. A failure in inculcating masculinity, perhaps. Have the police academies lost the knowledge of what it means to be a true man? Having women, who learn an exaggerated notion of masculinity, present in law enforcement doesn't help, either, as this mentality starts to infect the men as well if they associate with one another too much as equals? (If they were really 100% alpha, wouldn't they put the women in their place, and subtly push them out of law enforcement? Or is that a harrassment charge just waiting to happen?)

While I was exiting a couple of Koreans passed by. Has the size of the Korean population grown that much here?

I do want to move somewhere else. Felton the other night for the music at Don Quioxte's; felt out of place. There were a couple of older white men with long beards in attendance. Ex-hippies? Or true country folk? I ddi feel a bit out of place walking the streets of Felton.

The STOP SB 249 (Yee) Campaign
California: Anti-Gun Bills, Including an Attack on Many Semi-Automatic Firearms, to be Heard Early Next Week
Calguns


Someone took video of the 2010 show:


Related:
The Thinking Housewife: Quintessentially American Fireworks

Real Food Summit

website