Francis W. Porretto
Mount Sinai, NY USA
Author's posts
Aug 06 2015
The Most Awful Day
[This piece first appeared at Eternity Road on August 6, 2005. Today being the 101st — yes, the 101st — anniversary of the day I deem “most awful” in post-Industrial Revolution history, and a number of geopolitical trends having bent in the direction of large-scale replays thereof, I felt it appropriate to repost it. — …
Jul 04 2015
Do The Right Thing
It’s more than the title of an overhyped Spike Lee movie. It’s a way of life…or it should be. Many people talk a good game. They proclaim, propound, and promise. They make extravagant statements about what they would do – or will do – if this or that should occur. They pose as …
Jun 20 2015
“Compelling Government Interest”
Time was, I wrote more than I do today about the abstract ideals that undergird freedom. These days, my attention is more focused on current events and what they portend. I’m not sure why that should be, except that it’s clear that, as Jubal Harshaw said in Stranger In A Strange Land, wallowing in …
Mar 19 2015
Off The Mishnory Road: Absolutes
I’ve long held the belief that any man who’s willing to assert the absolute truth of even one statement must eventually accept that every well-formed statement – i.e., a statement that either posits a fact or a causal mechanism — is either absolutely true or absolutely false, men’s contrary opinions notwithstanding. The concept behind that …
Mar 19 2015
Off The Mishnory Road: Fun And Games
I’ve subjected my Gentle Readers to three “Politically Insoluble” essays. The themes in those essays have kept me going back to the core concept behind them all: “They say here ‘all roads lead to Mishnory.’ To be sure, if you turn your back on Mishnory and walk away from it, you are still on the …
Mar 17 2015
Off The Mishnory Road: The Stoic Virtues And Masculinity
Before we launch into today’s tirade, please read Dystopic’s latest opus at The Declination. The snippet that inspired me is at the very beginning: There is a certain irony in the fact that Progressives, with their White privilege narrative, are too deeply rooted in European history to notice that other cultures are fundamentally unlike them. …
Jan 03 2015
The Tirade Of Tirades
Now the rainman gave me two cures, Then he said, “Jump right in.” The one was Texas medicine, The other was just railroad gin. And like a fool I mixed them And it strangled up my mind, And now people just get uglier And I have no sense of time. If you’re around my age …
Oct 17 2014
It’s On: The Ongoing Saga
From Colin Flaherty: Some stories you have to read 10 times before deciding: ’Yes: What I thought was too crazy is really true.’ This is one of those stories. Here goes, believe it or not: A black Baltimore bus driver organized a mob of 20 black people to assault a white family of three on …
Aug 22 2014
It’s On: Where Explanation Remains Required
Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote: I’m a child of the Civil Rights Era. I’ve yearned for the day when Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” vision would become the unquestioned reality of our nation. It has not arrived. If anything, it’s receded further from reality with every passing year. Intelligent people who …
Aug 15 2014
Owners
Brace yourself, Gentle Reader. It’s a day for fundamentals and fundamental questions: Who owns the economy — if you have any idea what that is? Who owns the ground beneath your feet? Who owns your car, or your phone? Who owns the law? Who owns you? Have you been asked those questions anywhere else lately? …
Jul 19 2014
Language Corruption Continues
From The Analects of Confucius: Zi-lu said, “The ruler of Wei has been waiting for you, in order with you to administer the government. What will you consider the first thing to be done?” The Master replied, “What is necessary to rectify names.” “So! indeed!” said Zi-lu. “You are wide of the mark! Why must …
Jul 15 2014
Strifings
No, that’s not a misspelling. Two remarkable articles came my way early this morning. They touch upon the same subject from different perspectives. What they reveal is critical to the quality of American life. First, let’s have some plaintive commentary from a sweet woman better known for her beauty and her acting: What has happened …
Apr 25 2014
The Forbidden Subject
It seems that no matter who you are, how innocent your deeds, or how ethically you treat your fellow man, you are absolutely forbidden to speak on certain subjects, on pain of ostracism, being abandoned to the mercies of the State, or worse. The premier such subject, eclipsing all others, is the correlation between certain …
Apr 17 2014
Habituations
[The following first appeared at Eternity Road on July 31, 2009. — FWP] In reply to this earlier piece, longtime reader and frequent commenter Goober wrote: It isn’t their fault. The founding fathers knew for a fact that even the kindest and most altruistic of governments would and could overstep their bounds on occasion. That …
Apr 03 2014
From My Cold Dead Hand
[April 3, 2014: In light of developments in Connecticut and New York, I’ve reposted the piece below. Those who are ready, willing, and able should consider joining the forces that will assemble this coming Saturday before the Connecticut state capitol. There is no issue more urgent than this one. — FWP] [February 2, 2013: The …
Mar 12 2014
The Nature Of Money And Currency Part 4: The Emergence Of Banks And Banking
The “Money and Currency” series has attracted a lot of email. To date, we have: This discussion of the properties of money and currency; This discourse on Gresham’s Law and bimetallism; This narration of the transition to a fiat dollar. I was tempted to continue on into the sociopolitical pressures that have propelled the massive …
Mar 08 2014
The Nature Of Money And Currency Part 3: The Great Transformation
To one who grasps the logic of monetary evolution — from less satisfactory to more satisfactory money commodities as technology advances and the scope of trade expands — the great question that inevitably arises is “How on Earth did we get here?” It’s a good question that takes a fair amount of historical research to …
Mar 08 2014
The Nature Of Money And Currency Part 2: Bimetallism And Gresham’s Law
The previous essay merely set forth the properties that distinguish a money commodity from a currency. I trust it was clear that I greatly prefer moneys founded on a precious metal — once was once known as a specie standard — to currencies that cannot be redeemed in a similarly valuable and durable commodity. Yet …
Mar 04 2014
The Nature of Money and Currency
Being an old fart, my education included a few items that are, let us say, no longer deemed suitable for dissemination to the impressionable young. However, had those young folks been exposed to a few of those items, quite a lot of our current miseries might well have been averted. Two of those …
Mar 02 2014
Pieties
[In light of this piercing cartoon from the great Chris Muir, I have reposted the following piece, which first appeared at the Palace Of Reason on March 29. 2002. — FWP] A recent, tax-funded study, conducted by the Public Service Research Institute, dared to delve into the truth or falsity of the allegations that New …
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