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Alan Abelson, RIP
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South Carolina on My Mind
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Ben Stein's Diary
Points of Interest
As if Obama could just press a button on a computer game and “reset” relations so we are all friends.
(Page 3 of 3)
Now it’s gotten worse. Now, apparently, at least some writers want us to believe there is a “corporate arm” of the Nazis here in America that manufactures money.
But it gets better. At one point, the head Aryan is taunted by the bruiser about not being sufficiently pro-American—as if any real Aryan would also be an American patriot. Then, in a perfect quad-fecta, we see that all the members of the Aryan group (or some of them) are former Army men.
So there we have it in a nutshell. In this show’s world, the perfect TV writers’ world, the Aryans are close kin to the Corporates who are also patriots and connected with the Army.
This would be funny if it were not so sad.
I will have to watch this more closely. On the other hand, does anyone really care?
THEN, TO WATCH A BUNCH of Fox News shows about Libya-gate. It is perfectly clear now that the Clinton-Obama State Department left those poor diplomats to be killed in Benghazi and now are trying to cover up by saying it was a “spontaneous mob uprising” over a movie trailer. Now it’s all been shown to be lies, but Mr. Obama does not care. The election is in the bag, so why should he care? With total contempt, he just breezes from talk show to talk show, fundraiser to fundraiser, and waits for the crown to be placed upon his brow.
This Benghazi disaster is the worst cover-up I have ever seen, in that lives were lost and we apologized to the wrongdoers. And Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton have still not apologized for their lies. But Mr. Obama rides the crest of media love and off he goes. Four more years of Obama and Biden. Then where will we be? With a nuclear-armed Iran and a disarmed America, where will we be?
I will give you a hint. The man who made this Internet trailer that so inflamed the Muslims was arrested in a midnight raid in his home in Cerritos, near Los Angeles, and is now in prison. His supposed crime? Using an alias while on probation. His real crime? He upset the Muslims in faraway nations and we have to please them at all costs. That’s the future.
God help us.
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.
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Appleby| 11.30.12 @ 7:26AM
Welcome to the world the rest of us have been living in most of our lives. Only of course without the perqs of being wealthy -- thanks for another reminder that you're rich and we're not -- but with the slowly dawning realization that, like the victims of Hurricane Sandy, who used to sneer at "flyover country" and tout their superiority over us, when the apocalypse comes, it doesn't skip anybody. Canadians who die on waiting lists cling to their socialist medicine because they really don't mind if their child dies on a waiting list, so long as a rich person's child dies five minutes sooner. Socialism is about misery and revenge. Welcome to our world.
Cobalt| 11.30.12 @ 8:03AM
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
Winston Churchill
Al Adab| 11.30.12 @ 2:42PM
"In war, resolution; In defeat, defiance; in victory, magnanimity; in peace, good will."
Conservatives would do well to remember.
Intelligent Design| 11.30.12 @ 8:05AM
The more affluent Canadians don't wait, they just fly to Chicago or perhaps Los Angeles and pay for medical treatment. Then they vote for liberals again, and praise Obama.
Appleby| 11.30.12 @ 4:05PM
That's the part the socialists never grasp -- that rich people have options. There's an interesting sidebar to the border-huggers' health care option, too: dozens of little Americans, particularly multiple births, are born every year because when Canadian Mama is ready to bring forth, there's not a single Neonatal Intensive Care bed IN CANADA, and thus Kate and Duplicate or Pete and RePete are provided with birth certificates reading Decanted In USA.
JimH| 11.30.12 @ 9:23AM
Appleby, I think the thing with Ben is that since he associates with so many people who are much wealthier than he is, he truly does not think of himself as rich. This is an essentially leftist view as they seem to be far more concerned with relative rather than absolute wealth.
Appleby| 11.30.12 @ 4:36PM
Very likely so. When I was on my round the world cruise, my roommate and I were lounging in our 6 x 8 cubbyhole cabin one evening when a friend of hers whose father was one of Howard Hughes' chief lieutenants, dropped by and mentioned that he was going to wire home for money "because I'm down to my last $1,000." This was in 1969, when the average working Joe earned $5,000 per year. My roommate and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. Then we explained to the somewhat hurt 17 year old that we hadn't had that much money between us when we left home, and we'd both been told "don't write home for more." So I know what you mean, but it doesn't hurt to remind people to be sensitive.
gene| 12.1.12 @ 10:23AM
"....When I was on my round the world cruise...."
Such poverty!, SUCH deprivation! He could not write home for more money, Oh the horror! The humanity!
The he finishes by saying:
"....So I know what you mean, but it doesn't hurt to remind people to be sensitive......"
Many of us have been too busy working full time and going to school full time simultaneously and never went on any cruises. Nor any real vacations for that matter. Re-think and re-take your "sensitivity" lessons.
Occam's Tool| 12.2.12 @ 12:59PM
I have been on one cruise that my parents paid for---a Carnival Caribbean cruise for their 50th that I woyuld have preferred not to go on. I make $330-$350 K a year, Appleby. I put away money for my two kids' college education and buy the books to homeschool them and let my wife stay at home to teach them, as well as provide a horse for my horse crazy daughter, and put away money for my pension (50% of my state pension is paid by me) and retirement account (100% paid my me).
I look forward to many more staycations to take care of wife and kids. And I'm so very, very lucky, and I know it. I lost my original retirement account due to trying to care for an invalid wife while going overseas to work with the Maori. Overseas is hideously more expensive than the US was.
I will be working into my 70s. And that's OK.
Occam's Tool| 12.2.12 @ 1:01PM
The free cruise cost me $8000.00 in plane fare and assorted costs. The 'rents are Liberal Dhimmicrats. Never again.
Alan Brooks | 11.30.12 @ 6:59PM
Speaking of creed of failure, this piece is lousy, isn't near as good as Ben's article ther other day about his Scottsdale friend who was railroaded for fraud.
Ben could be a good writer if he'd stick to what he knows.
Alan Brooks | 11.30.12 @ 9:25PM
This piece is 'okay'- but it's all over the road (Russians Sandpoint Aryans Muslim rioting) as so many of your's are--
stick to one topic, please.
Pecos Pete| 11.30.12 @ 7:28AM
God help us! Indeed.
Intelligent Design| 11.30.12 @ 8:01AM
How is this for Group Think? Well, it's not really thinking. It's worshipping at the altar of "diversity", which is code for "we all agree on our pre-conceived notions of reality, so don't bother us with facts".
http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....ributions/
Abdullah| 11.30.12 @ 9:13AM
Ben, my humble mastery of English tells me, that "erstwhile and long-gone" is tautology. Is it not?
Frekki| 11.30.12 @ 9:20AM
It's always been this way Ben. When I was little, and my California Dad was pursuing his Doctorate at UC Berkley, my Chesapeake Bay mom would have me speak for her in public. Why, because her accent meant to the Californios that she was a retard. Human beings always want to feel superior to their fellows, and the more insular the culture, the more superior they need to feel.
Purp| 11.30.12 @ 2:14PM
Completely snarky and wrong headed article. Worst blame game I've ever read. Come on Ben.
Al Adab| 11.30.12 @ 2:40PM
What the Left takes as a matter of Faith is that it is the United States, through its power, arrogance, and overuse of natural resources, which is responsible for conflict in the world. Those nasty republicans remember want unending wars, they want Amerika (sic) to rule the world and they want a theocratic nation. Believing as they do, it is impossible for them to recognize that there do exist enemies of this nation and others seeking power for themselves which are unreconsilable simply by wishing it so.
Sadly this delusional, and very dangerous, ideology rules (their word) in the halls of Washington, the executive branch, the State Dept., the UN, and so on these days, Unless the voters demand a dose of realpolitik the country is destined to fall into a disaster of its own making.
Purp| 11.30.12 @ 2:45PM
You're wrong, but you don't care ... it makes you feel better to project, doesn't it?
CJW| 11.30.12 @ 5:39PM
Purp the Village Idiot posted the following after the elections:
"Purp| 11.8.12 @ 10:35AM
"The Lord rules, not Obama." - CORRECT!
The Lord works in mysterious ways... and this is something for the faithful to contemplate in the way the see the world:
Hurricane Sandy and Chris Christie was the Lord's way of pressing his thumb on the scale to tilt in the direction of President Obama. It was His punishment of Republicans for their lying and trying to cheat (Voter Suppression) their way to political victory, while espousing faith, freedom and constitutional credentials."
So purpie believes God killed over 100 persons and destroyed millions of dollars of property to help Obama win.
In Sept Purpie wrote that Amassador Stevens was at fault and caused his death.
Purpie also wrote that the unborn are biological entities not deserving of protection until God allows them to be born. (What does this mean?)
Purpie represents the Loon Left that should be mocked and ridiculed, and not engaged in conversation
Ronsch| 11.30.12 @ 2:50PM
Ben my friend, you leave out a couple of points about WWII and the Russians...For example, their non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany which was to split Europe (specifically Poland) between the two...Only when Germany opened up Operation Barbarossa did Stalin decide that Nazis were bad. Considering that on the advice of German agents, Stalin had all but liquidated his officer corps, expecting Hitler to do the same (surprise Uncle Joe!) and watching the crumbling of Russian defenses did Uncle Joe realize his mistake of trusting Hitler. Speaking of help, did you know that the good old US of A supplied Russia with war materials via Alaska prior to official (and after) entry into WWII?
Stalin and Hitler turned plain old warfare into and ideologically driven deathfest. Russia did not care how many troops they sacrificed in assaulting German defenses. That is why the Russian death toll was so high. Not to mention the Soviet confiscation of foodstuffs from civilains during the first two years after the German invasion of Russia to feed the Red Army. In addition, the deals that Uncle Joe made with the US ensured heavier casualties by allowing Russia to roll right through Eastern Europe. The US would have taken those casualties, but Uncle Joe had a far ranging plan of holding all of the territory taken by the Germans from 1940-1943. Ben, do you really believe that Stalin had any interest in returning those countries to their free, former selves?
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 11.30.12 @ 3:09PM
You want to really know why the Russians are angry Ben? It's because as soon as the Soviet Union collapsed NATO was dropping bombs on Russia's traditional ally Serbia interfering in a Bosnian Civil War that the Serbs did not start and that all sides had blood on their hands. Then we added insult to injury by supporting Albanian KLA terrorists in Kosovo and stealing that traditionally Serbian Orthodox land from Russia's traditional allies and thumbing our nose at Moscow's protests. Then we moved NATO (Russia's enemy during Soviet times) right up to Russia's borders even adding Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia all of which fought alongside Hitler's Nazi forces during WWII in which 27 million Soviet citizens perished. On the economic front we have supported expat Russian oligarchs who much of the Russian public view as thieves who exploited Russia's resources on behalf of the West. Add on top U.S. bases in the former Soviet Republics of Central Asia and the anti-Moscow color revolutions we supported in the Ukraine and Georgia (resulting in the election of Sakaashvilli who would start a war with Russia in 2008 believing he had U.S. backing). Add all these things together and then put a missile defense system in Poland, Romania and Turkey all aimed at Moscow and can you see why Russia is angry?
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 11.30.12 @ 3:12PM
Also everyone must know that Stalin was not Russian and neither was the Communist Party that ruled Russia during Soviet Times. The crimes of the Soviets cannot be blamed on the Russians. The martyrdom of Russian Orthodox Christians and the persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church during Soviet times attests to that fact.
Occam's Tool| 11.30.12 @ 5:40PM
Dmitry: The Commies were, to a very large extent, Great Russians. They were the type that boast about how Conservative they are and then vote an almost straight Democratic ticket except for essentially writing in Mickey Mouse for President and wasting their vote on that. Or, to put it a different way, Nekultyrnyoo, once upon a time Ya Eezychayoo Russki Yazik. I was also a VEEP for YAF.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.1.12 @ 4:04PM
Once again Occam my straight Democratic ticket (I did not vote for Barrack Obama, I wrote in Ron Paul or as you say "Mickey Mouse") was my protest against a Republican Party that is trying to eradicate organized labor a group to which I belong. I voted George W. twice. I voted straight Republican tickets ever since my 18th birthday and my reward has been two endless wars that have buried us in debt and Wall Street banksters running wild and then robbing the U.S. treasury while the average U.S. taxpayer and homeowner are left holding the bag. We've seen millions of good American jobs outsourced to the Peoples Republic of China and that fine Democratic Republic of Vietnam. We've seen unprecedented intervention in the affairs of sovereign nations around the world in the name of Democracy when we really just want to build oil and natural gas pipelines that cut out the Russians. The Democrats are no better. Barrack Obama is a disgrace. He is pledging support for the terrorist Free Syrian Army and has all ready armed them with stinger missiles through the Qataris and Saudis. Obama is a war criminal. He had no right to interfere in Libya and depose of Ghaddafi neither should U.S. drones be dropping bombs on people in Yemen, Somalia or Pakistan. Both American political parties are criminal and corrupt.
Occam's Tool| 12.2.12 @ 12:51PM
Straight Democratic ticket for the California Statehouse.
I would think a Russian would understand the difference between bad and worse, nekulturnyoo.
And, if you think a write-in for Paul was helpful on election day in California, you are a bloody idiot.
And, while we dispute the origins of the leaders of the Communist Party, the rank and file were Great Russians. Please.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.2.12 @ 3:25PM
Let me remind you Occam that a good number of the Bolsheviks were Jews and that might partially explain (besides the material atheism of communism itself) the ferocity of the Soviet persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church. It's been said before and there is probably some truth to it. It can also be noted that many of the Soviet Union's early supporters here in America were also Jews.
Bob K| 11.30.12 @ 9:46PM
As the story goes Stalin was really of Russian parentage. He was born in Georgia. He spoke Russian with a pronounced Georgian accent all his life
Stalin's mother worked as a housekeeper in an Orthodox Church in Georgia. When it was discovered that she was pregnant with Stalin the Priest arranged a marriage for her with a local man and that is how Stalin got his Georgian surname. He also got much of his education as a student in the local Orthodox Seminary.
He is supposed to have known who his real father was; a Russian from a small city in Southern Russia. When Stalin finally consolidated his power over Russia one of the first things he did is rename that city with his fathers surname.
Bob K| 12.1.12 @ 9:00AM
Lenin, however was not predominantly "Great Russian." He was from the Urals and had Tatar and German ancestry also.
And as we all know, the third member of the "Three Who Made A Revolution," Trotsky, was a Russian Jew.
http://www.amazon.com/Three-Wh.....0815411774
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.1.12 @ 4:08PM
Dzhugashvili was his last name. That's a Georgian name not Russian one and he was born in Gori, Georgia. He never became an Orthodox priest but had been a seminarian.
Bob K| 12.1.12 @ 6:55PM
That was the surname of the man who married Stalin's mother as noted above. The dispute is about whether he was his actual father along with being his legal father which is not disputed.
Bob K| 12.1.12 @ 7:01PM
By the way, in those days, both in Russia and in the Caucasus, that was a good education for a child of peasants.
Ralph Novy| 11.30.12 @ 5:59PM
"In that book, I document how the TVland world thinks that outside of Brooklyn, America is basically fascist Klan country."
Oh, you "documented" it, eh, Ben? All that ... blah, blah, blah ... "outside of Brooklyn" crap?
No, of course you didn't.
If it weren't for your nasty comments regarding Obama, "liberals," etc., I'd indulge you as a harmless, senescent old fool. But you've dassed to to be damning and thereby are damned.
Marc Jeric| 12.1.12 @ 1:59AM
Dear Ralph - it seems you are another one of those enlightened new age marxists who find his arguments in invectives. But this former refugee from a communist hell knows how tom deal with limp-wristed commies like you: you are just another piece of "liberal" vomit.
Marc Jeric| 12.1.12 @ 1:56AM
Obama’s program called Arab Spring was designed to bring jihadist governments to Muslim countries. It has succeeded so far in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt. It is designed to do the same in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Coupled with the existing jihadist governments in Sudan, Turkey, and Iran, the program will be able to eliminate Israel, to exterminate all the Jews there, and thus to produce the final state of peace in the Middle East. Obama will then be ready to accept his second Nobel Peace prize. That is the reason for the Benghazi murder coverup.
In this light it is understandable that the Benghazi murder cover-up has been necessary in order not to endanger the April Spring program. The Libyan jihadist government was warned to upgrade its control of unruly jihadist undertakings. For several weeks after that murder of 4 Americans by the jihadists, Obama Administration insisted that it was a spontaneous reaction by unruly mobs inspired by an obscure You-Tube film trailer critical of the Prophet. When that explanation was shown to be false, we have now “ongoing investigations”. If those investigations ever approach a danger point, Obama will issue another executive privilege call.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.1.12 @ 4:19PM
I agree that the Obama government is supporting Sunni Islamists (Wahhabist/Salafist). This was true in Libya and is definitely true in Syria where our "allies" are now setting off bombs in Christian sections of Damascus. I don't believe that Obama or any other administration would have wanted the "Arab Spring" but they have embraced it in an attempt to coerce the movement in a direction favorable for Washington. That's why they are courting the President Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. What happened in Benghazi was probably a renegade Islamist faction . Do I believe the end game is the eradication of Jews and Israel? No, I don't believe that. The end game is to corner the Shia Islamic Republic of Iran and eradicate any dominance or geopolitical influence they have on the region. This is the chief goal of our Wahhabist allies and oil trading partners in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The civil war in Syria is an attempt by us the Turks and the Wahhabist Arab states to destroy a key Iranian ally (Assad) and with it the pipeline to Hezbollah in Lebanon. That's my take on the situation.
Occam's Tool| 12.2.12 @ 12:53PM
Yeas, I know you don't believe that anyone is trying to kill the Jews and destroy Israel. That is because you are a Union fool who votes Democratic, Dmitri.
destroying Iran would be a Pro-US intervention, whoch Obama is incapable of.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.2.12 @ 3:33PM
For a Jew you are sure dense Occam. Read the entirety of my last post. Does Israel have committed enemies, of course? However I think it would be arrogant and self centered for Israelis to think that the upheavals in the Middle East right now are centered around them. As I was saying there is a power struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia...Shia and Sunni. Also I now strongly believe that there collaboration between the CIA and Al Qaeda. Remember Beslan? Those that plotted and helped carry out that atrocity against Russian children were Sunni Islamists from Qatar not unlike who OUR GOVERNMENT is using in Syria right now. The Jews and Israel are not under the eminent threat of eradication right now. They have modern weapons, nuclear weapons and powerful allies. Something that Syrian Christians and other minorities do not have. If McCain and Obama and Netanyahu get their wish and Assad goes they will be responsible for the massacre of untold numbers of Syrian Christians, Allawites and other non-Sunni minorities.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.3.12 @ 4:36PM
A U.S. war with Iran would not be in America's best interest, it would be "supposedly" on behalf of Israel, but it would really be on behalf of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Martin kzovich| 12.2.12 @ 4:42PM
Yes indeed G-d help us. We have a "President" who is the "President " of the 51% who voted for him and to hell with the rest. He does not give a damn about our economy and in my view the worse things get the more he likes it. And by the way so do the Communists formerly the so called Democratic Party. I would not be surprised if the Republicans walk away because i have no confidence this jackass Obama will behave any differently that his record has shown.
Marc Jeric| 12.3.12 @ 10:13AM
In alphabetical order President Obama’s czars as of this writing are: Afghanistan/Pakistan Czar, AIDS Czar, Bailout Czar, Border Czar, Car Czar, Cyber Security Czar, Copyright Czar, Climate Czar, Central Region Czar, Disinformation Czar, Domestic Violence Women Czar, Drug Czar, Education Czar, Economy Czar, Energy and Environmental Czar, Export Czar, Government Performance Czar, Faith-Based Czar, Health Czar, Health Insurance Czar, Homeland Security Czar, Great Lakes Czar, Green Jobs Czar, Guantanamo Closure Czar, Information Czar, Intelligence Czar, Labor Czar, Middle East Peace Czar, Pay Czar, Regulatory Czar, Safe Schools Czar, Science Czar, Stimulus Accountability Czar, Sudan Czar, TARP Czar, Technology Czar, Terrorism Czar, Tobacco Czar, Urban Czar, War Czar, Water Czar, Weapons Czar, and Weapons of Mass Destruction Czar. In addition to these existing positions, several new czars are under consideration including: Zoning Czar, Student Loan Czar, Voter List Czar, Radio-Internet Fairness Czar, Mortgage Czar, Land-Use Czar, and Income Redistribution Czar. Total = 43 czars, or rather commissars as I prefer to call them. The average salary of these czars is over $170,000 per year, plus health care and pension benefits. In addition to these existing positions, several new czars are under consideration including: Zoning Czar, Student Loan Czar, Voter List Czar, Radio-Internet Fairness Czar, Mortgage Czar, Land-Use Czar, and Income Redistribution Czar.