Posts Tagged ‘culture’

A Primer on Real Life Pt One: I’m Old Enough to Remember When This Was Real Life 101

Posted: November 21, 2023 by datechguy in culture
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I was looking at Stacy McCain’s site and he quoted a stat from Douglas Murray that I recall Rick Santorum advancing during his quest for the 2012 GOP nomination which unfortunately he lost to Mitt Romney who lost to Barack Obama whose 2nd term is the primary source of a lot of the ills we are facing today.

The stat is as follows:

However, one of the key insights Murray found from studying poverty statistics was that any young American had a 97% chance of avoiding long-term poverty if they accomplished just four simple things:

1. Get at least a high school diploma.
2. Get a job and keep working.
3. Get married and stay married.
4. Don’t have children before you’re married.

Is this too much to expect? Is this an impossible obstacle to overcome?

For dozens of generations these basis steps (with the exception of the high school diploma which only became common in the late 19th century) were considered so natural and so normal that they didn’t even have to be said. Then again during that same time nobody needed to be a biologist to define “woman” or “marriage” either.

The sad thing is the days when these facts were known by all are in fact still in living memory but my generation of baby boomers, unable to cope with the safe and secure world that their parents had given their blood sweat and tears to bequeath them ran away from these values and thus now their children and grandchildren are at a point where you have them idolizing a terrorist whose primary ambition was to kill them.

But the idolization of Bin Laden and even the Hamas Terrorists have a more basic source, the forgetting of just how lucky they are to be in the position they are in. All of this is achieved in erasing history and forgetting the collective acquired wisdom of millennia that were the building blocks on which their lives were made.

A Point Concerning Christianity, Truth and Culture (with an assist by Chesterton)

Posted: November 14, 2023 by datechguy in culture
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Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.

Matthew 7:13-14

One of the things we have noticed from the left in general and from both the Biden administration and the pro-terror folks in media, academia and among the mob is that they are not on speaking terms with the truth.

Part of this, at least for the Arab mobs is understandable as they would have been indoctrinated their entire lives and you might even suggest that this would be the case for those in academic setting except for the fact that this would be a tiny part of their lives.

For a Christian this should not be a surprise, because as we are taught the devil, the father of lives is in fact the prince of this world and once people move away from the Judeo-Christian standard of false witness being sinful and wrong then words simply become another means to an end.

One of the things about living in Western Civilization particularly during the golden age of American power at it’s height as a Christian Nation a lot of people were convinced that Judeo-Christian values were the norm. If however you look at both history and the current age and of course scripture the church’s warnings about “the world” one must conclude that the values of Judeo-Christianity are completely contrary to human nature and that while in the long run these values used as a standard to live by, even if people fail lead to the kind of culture worth living in.

The irony of course is that that so many in the west reject these values not realizing that they are the bedrock on which their free and prosperous society is built while in the world who rush to migrate to the west in order live reject the values that make that society they are fleeing to possible.

Chesterton absolutely nailed it:

In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.

Five Random Thoughts Under the Fedora: A Side Effect of Texas Success, An inconsistent COVID stat, Good Advice delivered the right way, The Three Second Solution and Groktoberfest Oct 28th

Posted: October 7, 2023 by datechguy in catholic, culture, medicine, opinion/news, personal, special events, Uncategorized
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There is a story about how the special rare style of eclipse that will be viewed from Texas is going to produce issues with Texas’ power grid renewable side because said eclipse will be so long.

This highlights one of the things that sane Red States need to address. As people flee to them the demand on basic services from Electricity to water are going to increase which means you have to build the infrastructure to handle said increases. This means power stations, dams etc which will mean some expense for state budgets.

Of course they might decide not doing this will keep the liberals out.

There was a story out of New Zealand that I referenced briefly yesterday that based on their specialties Doctors were given Covid Vaccine exemptions but only if they did not reveal said exemptions is yet another “post Christian” horror story where the general population was kept in the dark for fun and profit but there was a stat in the story that I must confess throws me off. To wit:

The most highly Covid vaccinated nations in the OECD are in order Portugal, Chile, Canada, Iceland, New Zealand, Spain and Australia. Their average percentage of the population vaccinated is 91 per cent. Their average rate of excess deaths so far in 2023 is 12 per cent above the five-year historical average.

The least Covid vaccinated nations in the OECD are Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Poland, Estonia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Switzerland. Their average percentage of the population vaccinated is just 63 per cent. Their average rate of excess deaths so far in 2023 is 0 per cent compared to the five-year historical average. In other words, they have averaged a normal death rate.

The great difference between excess deaths is not a surprise but the 0% figure from countries that have a 63% of the population vaxxed is. 63% is a solid majority of the population. I’m no doctor but the math seems inconsistent that there would be no statistical excess deaths given that more than 3 in 5 of the population took the jab if the jab is the cause.

I’d be interested in seeing the historical rates of some of the known COVID jab side effects pre-covid in those countries vs the others and I wonder what the booster rates were in those countries. That might be the difference.

Stacy McCain took on the Trevor Bauer story on great Major League pitcher who insisted on his innocence and had the courage and wisdom to hold out till said innocence could be proven.

While I suspect the lawsuit against MLB will be epic as his suspension cost him tens of millions of dollars the bottom line is that by not embracing the Church’s teaching on marriage and sex Bauer put himself in that situation. However as many young rich men won’t listen to that point Stacy pointed out some basic facts both about there statistical odds of a genital herpes but more importantly a basic fact of life that might make a more effective argument:

If a woman is very attractive, why is she still single at age 27? Why is she still in the dating market? What’s wrong with her?

Now if you’re date her for a while with the thought of Christian marriage you might be able to find out the answer to that question but if you’re out for a quick lay these are the risks you take.

God’s laws aren’t just the right thing they’re the smart thing.

Thursday I was at a stop light in Fitchburg with a large truck on my left next to me. The light turned green and because I was running early I paused before going because our two lanes were going to merge into one not wanting to bottle neck.

It’s a good thing I did because the very next moment a car from the lane whose light just turned red passed just in front of me at high speed, jumped the curb and crashed into a parked car at the bank parking lot where I had been five minutes earlier.

If I had been a second or two faster in moving forward that car would have hit my drivers door square and you would be reading something else this morning.

I seem to have run into a lot of things over my lifetime where the difference between life and death was a split second away. I guess all those Rosaries make a difference.

Finally if you are in the New England area on Saturday October 28th consider Groktoberfest put on by the good folks at Granite Grok .

It will be an excellent chance to meet up with other conservatives. There will be music, comedy, Local Groups and Vendors, food, beverages, Speakers and even a gun raffle. (Ruger 10-22)!

Tickets are on sale now here. I’ll be buying mine before the end of the week.

Back Home Under the Fedora, An Offer You Can’t Refuse?, I don’t Care Why He’s Defending the Constitution, It’s almost not Newsworthy Anymore, Seriously?, 9/11 Birthdays and Head Shaking

Posted: September 11, 2023 by datechguy in Blame Biden Administration, culture, election 2024, fun, News/opinion, pinball
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I’m back home from Pintastic NE 2023 the most relaxing time I’ve had in months and frankly the best Pintastic I’ve attended with one exception. I didn’t have a chance to interview Gabe at the end of the show because of time constraints, however I will be uploading and posting video daily till it’s all up. Meanwhile here is the new Godfather 50th Anniversary Pinball Machine.

The one on the left is the “cheap” one that sells for $12,500, the one on the right is the expensive version that sells for $15,000. You’ll hear more about that specific game later in the month.

There seems to be a lot of shock that Ted Lieu is objecting to the move by the governor of New Mexico to try to remove gun rights by fiat:

I’d like to give Mr. Lieu the benefit of the doubt that he actually understands that this is unconstitutional but I would not be surprised if this is more of a case of learning what Harry Reid did not, namely if your side changes the rules in one state then the other side can do the same elsewhere.

Frankly I’m less concerned if he’s doing this for selfish reasons, altruistic reasons or both as long as he’s with us in defending the constitution.

Apparently the president’s performance in Vietnam was yet another national embarrassment but frankly I’m wondering something.

For a long time Joe Biden making a fool or an ass out of himself was not newsworthy because the media didn’t want to promote or expose this fact which was a disgrace in terms of how journalism works.

I’m wondering however if we’ve actually reached a point where Joe Biden being non compos mentis is so common and so established that it’s no longer newsworthy if he acts that way, or that it will not be newsworthy until he carries himself like a normal person.

I’m sorry. I like Citizen Free Press and think it’s usually an excellent source but this a “fascinating read” Really?

Can someone tell me why anyone, particularly a conservative site is trusting a story from the NYT or Bill Kristol as a source as to what big money GOP donors are thinking concerning election 2023?

Finally today is 9/11 and as a child of Depression era parents and the son of a father who served in the Pacific in World War 2 I find myself more and more frustrated on this day.

I hate that we didn’t rebuild the towers twice as big.

I hate that we didn’t finish the job with Iran when we had armies to the east and west of Iran and a navy to the south.

I hate that we didn’t do in Iraq what we did in Germany and Japan, namely stay till they were no longer a threat even if it took half a century. If we weren’t going to do the job right why go in?

But all those things that I hate are a function of what the country and the culture has become helped on by enemies who figured out it’s cheaper and smarter to spend their money on pols and academics that you can buy and use for decades rather than weapons that can be destroyed or go obsolete.

All of these things were choices made by us as a nation, just as our decline has been a choice. That’s the worst part of it all.

On the bright side today is the birthday of one of my nephews that I’m closest to so while 9/11 is a day of infamy on the day and shame pondering our response nationally personally I’m glad to have this fine fellow in my family so happy birthday and many more.

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