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From the Obama Ministry of Truth
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Ben Stein's Diary
Orange Juice Unlimited
Who could have dreamed of it a century ago?
(Page 3 of 3)
Unlimited fresh orange juice. Fresh baked goods. Fresh butter. All on demand in any quantity I wish. Who could have dreamed of it a century ago?
Then a ride in a car…not just a car, but an air-conditioned car with XM radio so I can hear songs from my childhood as I watch the palm trees glide by. And I am on perfect, absolutely perfect roads without potholes.
It is really amazing, once again, and we usually take it for granted. Plus, in the back seat are my gorgeous dogs, Brigid and Cleo, fast asleep. Peaceful.
After the meeting, I went to drive some golf balls. There were some annoying young people on the range, but overall, it was gratifying. Now, most of the time I actually hit the ball and it goes somewhere roughly where I want it to go.
Then, I got into bed to listen to Mozart. Again, here is this once in history genius, Wolfie Mozart, and I get to hear him in perfect fidelity while looking out at the pool and the golf course and the mountains with my dogs next to me. All for pennies. I still use a CD player with ordinary head-phones and it sounds just electrifying. Lately I have been listening to Laudate Dominum over and over again and it’s perfect, too.
I just want us all to think of what we have going on in this glorious America. Maybe Obama is a problem. Maybe bad times lie ahead. But God has shed His grace on us. If we don’t believe it, we are worse fools than I thought.
About the Author
Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He writes “Ben Stein’s Diary” for every issue of The American Spectator.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (34) | Leave a comment
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Tim| 5.24.10 @ 9:49AM
"Then a step into a hot shower just gushing clean, steamy water. How many millennia has man been on the planet and for how brief a span have we had hot water for the masses on demand? Not for a heartbeat. But I get it. "
Amen.
Tomas| 5.24.10 @ 2:18PM
When I got up this morning I was determined to have a really, really bad day.
Thank you for helping me chose another path.
I made a new friend today. We shared a latte. Talked of childhood.
-
Matt Morehouse| 5.24.10 @ 10:02AM
I dunno, maybe sweet Ben could use a few semesters in the School of Hard Knocks to temper his criticisms of just about everything Conservative.
Wouldn't surprise me if his next column favors gun confiscation and cap and tax.
David Yarbrough| 5.26.10 @ 3:32PM
HUH??? What criticisms? Unethical business practices are not conservatism!
stuart rose| 5.27.10 @ 9:55PM
Thank you, David.
Rapacious, corrupt business practices are most definitely not in the playbook of conservatism.
The fact that the recession has sparked mindless capitalism bashing by many does not mean conservatives such as Ben Stein- and wee, byline-less conservatives like us- from supporting restraints on thieves.
Vance P. Frickey| 5.26.10 @ 6:11PM
The bastards who bundled up bad debts and sold them as grade A securities are NOT conservatives. They, almost without exception, bundled up their egg money and paid it into Barack Obama's campaign coffers so Mr. Obama could continue to protect Wall Street from its immorality, as he did while a US Senator who took some class action suits out of the state and local courts so that women and minorities would have to wend their ways through the already overcrowded Federal court system to break the glass ceiling in securities trading and banking.
This, by the way, is neither conservatism nor liberalism, but corruption of the same sort that led the Obama administration in the little under year and a half of its existence to give British Petroleum eight safety awards - before they coated the coast of Louisiana in crude oil through an amalgam of carelessness and penny-pinching. And BP has given Obama just over $990,000 over his political career.
This would be playing out much differently in the press of the President's name were Bush. Not because of conservatism, not because of liberalism, but because of corruption.
Ben Stein was right. Wall Street has moved on past any connection with conservatism - they are now simply power and money-mad crooks, no principles or personal convictions required.
Paul | 5.24.10 @ 10:20AM
I enjoy reading your columns Ben, but you are such a sissy. It seems you always have the sniffles or a tummy ache. It's time to "man up".
Alan Brooks| 5.24.10 @ 12:39PM
Well, he is no teenager anymore... tummy aches and sniffles are part of entering the golden years-- what in less PC times was called old age.
You don't get old, you get 'mature'.
"Nurse, I feel very mature today, you'd better fetch the doctor."
"Gramps has reached full maturity, we'd better call the mortuary."
PCC| 5.24.10 @ 10:36AM
I think this diary entry shows that Mr. Stein reads the comments section. He has definitely toned down the emphasis on his lavish lifestyle after the pasting he took on his previous column.
Ken (Old Texican)| 5.24.10 @ 10:41AM
Wallstreet is a whore-house, true. Heh, the third longest lived profession.
Out of all the scoundrels in his life, the only ones Jesus felt a need to take a whip to were "the money-changers in the temple". (Their Wallstreet)
The thing that Ben missed though, are the equally prostituted "elected officials" that have been the enablers, Republican and Democrat alike.
The primaries are crucial, folks. Let's do our best to nominate clean courageous Republicans, elect them, and start the roll-back of all this crap that has injured our country.
WW Rutland | 5.26.10 @ 12:21PM
The bad translation of the bible has caused many problems. The money changers had to change money due to the fact that the common money (Roman, Israeli, Greek) was not used in the temples so someone had to change it to temple money so you could buy a prayer. When you go from Aramic to Greek to Latin to 16th century English it does not work. Go back to Aramic to modern English and see the difference.
Same thing about young 15 year old pregnate girl changed to 15 year old pregnate maiden.
David Yarbrough| 5.26.10 @ 3:39PM
The point of the moneychanger exercise was that those who made the temple money exchange exacted a disproportionate share for themselves - no different from selling overpriced doves and cattle for sacrifice to travelers who couldn't bring them from home. The behavior of the moneychangers and merchants was reprehensible, which is why Jesus took them on.
Alan Brooks| 5.24.10 @ 12:31PM
"There are people who are not feeling quite well who really want to hurt me and it's scaring me plenty."
It is called politics. But first, History 101:
once upon a time, religions sacrificed animals and humans in ceremonies; today they haff uzer vays of deelink vis you.
Dictatorship destroys people politically (i.e. annihilates them);
Democracy destroys people economically.
To find peace you'll have to wait for Heaven. Tough shit.
Rick| 5.24.10 @ 1:04PM
Well said......Ben Stein's column is the primary reason (although everything else is great too) that I buy the Spectator......Please keep up the great work.
Ken (Old Texican)| 5.24.10 @ 1:08PM
Alan, heh,
Down here in Texas we have a nasty worthless insect called a "stink-bug". If one lands on you and you slap it...it flits away with a really yucky smell on your hand.
You sir are nothing more than a stink-bug, signifying nothing...but a bad smell...as you flit away.
Tim| 5.24.10 @ 3:02PM
Ken, interesting how a man who simply praises God and ruminates on his life can evoke such nasty anger in so many people. I'm going to have to look for it, but I bet there's a Biblical passage on this...
Ken (Old Texican)| 5.24.10 @ 3:48PM
Tim,
Huh?
Heh, I'm not sure I understand that one. Please elucidate.
Tim| 5.25.10 @ 2:56PM
yeah, I'm good at being hard to understand. people not only hate Ben Stein, they seem to go out of their way to hate him. Makes no sense.
Bobnormal| 5.24.10 @ 1:24PM
Ah yes Rancho Mirage, where the rich live in California, as opposed to Ontario where we have industry and Trucks, that make potholes, oh the humanity!
Ken (Old Texican)| 5.24.10 @ 3:53PM
Hey guys,
Quit griping about Ben having a little comfort at the end of his life. He has worked hard for many years.
We olde fartes just can't hammer nails like we once could...and like you young bucks can. Give us just a little grace before you sit us adrift on an ice floe.
Thanks
Syd Chaden| 5.24.10 @ 4:51PM
Ben:
If you figure out why Jews voted overwhelmingly for Obama, please let me know. I have heard "self-hatred", "guilt", and "globalism" theories, but none of those would explain the move toward the destruction of Israel. Surely, one Holocaust is enough.
George| 5.24.10 @ 10:09PM
Ben you are great! I live on Kauai and own two GSP named Apollo and Huck. The names suit each dog but unlike you I hunt these dogs. They are super smart and have courage beyond belief. They have saved my bacon on several occasions. Keep speaking and writing. I think that you are one of the last of a breed! Love ya Ben!
Chuck| 5.26.10 @ 12:03PM
I too love german shorthairs. My good buddy breeds them and gave me a puppy about twenty years ago. He lost a leg (hit by a tractor) but never lost a step. I wonder about the breed living in Malibu, though. What you train them to point on instead of quail?
C. Adams| 5.26.10 @ 12:54PM
Don't worry Mr. Stein, Israel still has a friend and He is the Lord Almighty. He has always been and still is their protector. Indeed it would be nice if the people with whom He chose to reveal Himself to the world acknowledged His mighty works, however, there has always been a remnant of believers in the Great I am. There are also a great many Lovers of Israel here in the U.S.A. such as myself and I will defend her given the opportunity. I may not be Jewish but I certainly whish I was. I believe I have been adopted into that family; a wild vine grafted on. Thanks for your upbeat writings. I was beginning to worry about you since we hadn't heard much from you until lately. When I need something uplifting to read I always go to the Bible and the writings of Ben Stein. Thanks for keeping us appreciative of how good we have it. God loves a thankful heart.
Leon Stephens| 5.26.10 @ 2:41PM
"C. Adams"...AMEN and DITTO... I've been a long time reader of Ben Stein.Recently I dug out old issues of the Spectator just to read Ben's column. If anyone envies what Ben has, that is their problem. Envy will be a cancer in your life and destroy you from within. Ben Stein is a treasure in my book. I appreciate his work and his uplifting words.GO GOD...GO ISRAEL !!!
Big___Al| 5.26.10 @ 5:32PM
A one-legged German shorthair? Didn't Paul McCartney just get rid of one of those?
gunner| 5.26.10 @ 5:48PM
ben,
i doubt you'll remember me up here in vermont, but i enjoyed your remarks in this column. its true that we, even our "poor" enjoy a life of plenty compared even to our ancestors as recently as the early years of the century just past. "fresh orange juice every day" is a good metaphor. these days i'm a pensioner, in most places that's a synonym for "very poor" but i have my own house, with a paid off mortgage, whatever i want of the gadgets that make life easier, meat on my table when i want it, (steak was a luxury when i was a child, now its common fare) unlike some posting here i do not envy you for your good life, i have my share of it too. good food, a good wife and good dogs, its enough.
Rich Rostrom| 5.26.10 @ 9:50PM
How many millennia has man been on the planet and for how brief a span have we had hot water for the masses on demand? Not for a heartbeat."
Well, the Romans had hot baths that were open to the public (except slaves). Admission to the thermae was a luxury, but not an exorbitant one. And political figures often provided free bath days to win support.