Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity...

“You cultivate the essential virtues: high purpose, intelligence, decency, humility, fear of the Lord, and the passion for freedom.” -William F. Buckley Jr.

7 comments:

Freedom Fan said...

Volt,

It may be heresy, but I hafta admit I never really "got" Buckley, and National Review always seemed kinda lame. I have been reading all his obits and I still don't really get it.

His heart may have been in the right place, but his language was stilted to impress, not to communicate effectively to the common man, which would have made the message much more potent.

Plus his mannerisms always seemed very bizarre to me.

Sorry; help me understand this apparent Conservative icon.

IrOnY RaGeD said...

Hi FF,

Buckley WAS rather erudite, but it came from his immense knowledge not pretense.

Liberals like to present themselves as "intellectuals". Buckley actually WAS one. He fought them on their own turf and won.

He was the one who actually brought new ideas and ways of thinking into conservatism, and he pretty much singlehandedly wrote the conservative platform.
Of course others have added and built upon it, but he supplied the foundation.

Before him, most conservatives were timid and non-confrontational, and ill equipped to face the liberal intelligentsia in academia.

You can check out his wiki page here:

William F. Buckley Jr.

He was also not to be outmatched if it came to verbal fisticuffs either. Check out his confrontation with Gore Vidal:

Vidal vs Buckley

I also just found this interview he did with Noam Chomsky. Might appeal to the intellectual in you.
Long and tedious but worth the listen:

Chomsky vs Buckley part 1

Chomsky vs Buckley part 2

Buckley definitely had the patience of a saint, but when pushed could stand his ground with the best of them. (he also did a stint as a CIA agent in 1951)

IrOnY RaGeD said...

You know whats really sad FF?

What happened to liberals?
They used to be against people being murdered and mutilated for their political and religious beliefs all over the world.

Now they just say "Sure the guys that do that are bad guys, but hey they're not an imminent threat to us..."

They used to want to hold the whole world to our standard of democracy and justice.

Now they suddenly believe that everybody's way and culture needs to be respected no matter how many innocent people they kill.

(sorry, just popped by the love and peace board)

IrOnY RaGeD said...

Oh FF, this is rich!!!

I don't know if you've been following the Bezerkeley war on the Marines or not, but evidently they've got Code Pink involved in the protests.

The old commie Medea Benjamin has been leading protests in front of the Marine recruiting center. She's gone so far as to call the marines "war criminals", so when she gets threatened by someone who SUPPORTS the Marines and there are no police around who does she call for help from? That's right. The Marines...LOL

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/2080

AND I'm sure it left a bad taste in their mouths but they DO come to her assistance.

What a world these people live in eh?

Freedom Fan said...

Heh. Volt, Berzerkely voted out the Marines and sent a letter to them stating that "they were not welcome" in their little commie berg.

However, the cowardly weasels quickly back-tracked when Conservative Congressmen started legislation to pull federal funding from their feed troughs.

I found a suggestion on FreeMarkSteyn.com that in a perfect world Congress would have passed a resolution stating that the town of Berkeley was "not welcome" in the USA and invite them to secede and rely upon the code pinkies to provide their security.

Thanks for the info on Bill Buckley; I am rethinking my opinion of him.

IrOnY RaGeD said...

hey FF, MORE BAMBOOZLING
Obama's plan to disarm the US.

"I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems...

(Like the "unproven" one that recently shot a satellite out of earth orbit?)

"...I will not weaponize space..."

(I'll leave that to China and Russia)

"...I will slow development of future combat systems..."

(to give China and Russia time to catch up...)

"...and I will institute a "Defense Priorities Board" to ensure the quadrennial defense review is not used to justify unnecessary spending..."

"...I will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons..."

"...and to seek that goal, I will not develop nuclear weapons..."

"...I will seek a global ban on the development of fissile material..."


(Whoops, there goes nuclear power - which along with the demonization of the oil companies should set us back to the dark ages at least...)

"...and I will negotiate with Russia to take our ICBMs off hair-trigger alert...

...and to achieve deep cuts in our nuclear arsenals..."



Still think Obama isn't the most dangerous candidate out there?

Freedom Fan said...

Scary indeed.

Liberals believe that our military is the biggest threat to world peace, whereas Conservatives believe that a threat to use our military force ensures peace.

Similarly libs believe the military is just a big welfare system and social experiment which is evil because it doesn't permit openly gay behavior, whereas Conservatives and Libertarians believe that providing national security is the most important function of government.

Obama's opinion is mainstream liberal; recall that bill clinton also "loathed" the military, and I'm sure hillary echos that sentiment.

Normally a radical liberal must disguise himself and run as a Conservative in order to be elected. Now we will see if a true liberal can run as a true liberal and become elected.

Already it seems that Obama's spinmeisters are essentially calling him a liar who is just saying what he needs to say to get elected. For example, this is what the spinners assured Canadians regarding Obama's eagerness to gut NAFTA.

I expect similar spin with regard to his uber-dove statements, promising dismantle our national defense and expose the soft underbelly of the greatest power on earth to her mortal enemies. Can you imagine Obama being tough with the Islamic terrorists and their sympathizers?

Both Obama and hillary are just so liberal that they will either fail to be elected, or will inspire a tremendous backlash in the following mid-term elections like 1994.