[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 …
Category: Uncategorized
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 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 …
Feb 08 2014
The Calculus of Freedom
Peter Grant has resurrected the most important political questions of all time: those that were undoubtedly on Thomas Jefferson’s mind as he penned the critical passage of the Declaration of Independence: Who decides what constitutes “happiness”? Who decides what constitutes “the populace’s welfare”? Who determines what is (or what should be) “the ultimate good” of …
Jan 28 2014
Licensure
Five years ago at Eternity Road, I wrote: A colleague of your Curmudgeon’s made a piercing observation the other day. Imagine, he said, that a group of policemen have come to your house determined to execute a warrantless, causeless search and seizure. When you cite your Fourth Amendment guarantee of the right to be free …
Jan 26 2014
On Privacy
I hadn’t intended to write about this, but it seems to have risen to the top of the public agenda. The activities of the NSA aren’t the only things that have privacy-rights advocates’ hair standing on end. The recent, extremely disturbing case of the harassment of John Filippidis by Maryland police must concern any Second …
Jan 21 2014
Exclaves
[This disturbing piece from Daniel Greenfield has prompted me to repost the following, which first appeared at Eternity Road on March 15, 2006 — FWP] Your Curmudgeon has occasionally referred to tight-knit Islamic communities in majority non-Islamic nations as enclaves. This is in keeping with the dictionary definition of an enclave: an enclosed territory that …
Jan 14 2014
The Great Pyramid Of Cheese
[Charles Hill’s brief post on the Velveeta shortage has prompted me to repost the following highly educational article, which first appeared at Eternity Road on March 17, 2007. —FWP] On one evening not too long ago, a friend of mine, who has an extensive extended family, was dining with most of them. Included were several …
Dec 03 2013
Wastrels
[In response to the quite overwhelming number of readers who remembered it and pleaded for it after reading this piece, below appears a post that first appeared at Eternity Road on November 22, 2009. — FWP] To those who come here for spiritual reinforcement, to those seeking uplift or tools with which to defend their …
Nov 13 2013
An Intellectual’s Duty
[John Derbyshire, one of America’s brightest opinion writers, has produced a subtly satirical screed about the electoral dangers of letting smart people vote. It moved me to reprint the piece below, which first appeared at Eternity Road on March 12, 2008. — FWP] There aren’t many persons who, if asked whether significantly above-average intelligence could …
Sep 22 2013
Ultra Vires: Quandaries For Catholics And Conservatives
[The following essay, which first appeared at the old Palace Of Reason in April 2003, is being reposted by special request. Having reviewed it, I find it germane to many of the conflicts within both the Church and the American conservative movement at this time. — FWP] April 21, 2003 In its unique way, the …
Jul 17 2013
Tea Leaves By Twilight
Part 1: Portents Among the greatest of the curses upon the race of Man is our propensity for “thinking” with our wishes rather than our powers of reasoning — our willful disregard of what is in favor of what we’d like. It leads us to imagine that we inhabit a world far distant from …
Jul 04 2013
When It Came
(The following short story first appeared at Eternity Road on March 1, 2009 — FWP.) The president-designate’s eyes flicked briefly toward his chosen successor, then back to the helmeted soldier who stood before him, sidearm holstered at his hip. The soldier noticed the glance and smiled briefly. “It’s all right, Mr. Secretary,” the soldier said. …
Jun 19 2013
The Conservative-Libertarian Schism
[After I’d read this essay by humorist P.J. O’Rourke, it occurred to me that the time was right for a reprint of the following essay, which first appeared at the old Palace Of Reason in November, 2002. — FWP] 1. A Harmonization. In 1987, a California organization called the Advocates for Self-Government, led by a …
May 28 2013
You’re Getting Colder!
Today at Forbes, we have an excellent article by Peter Ferrara on the recently confirmed trend toward global cooling. The data, the correlations, and the grudging concessions by various powerhouses of global-warming alarmism leave no doubt that that house of cards, which always stood upon a shaky foundation of closely held temperature data and dubious …
May 23 2013
Patterns
[This piece first appeared at the late, lamented Palace Of Reason in February, 2002. In light of the foofaurauw in progress today over the multiple scandals we’ve learned about these past few weeks, it seems unusually apposite. Besides, I need time off from the “Debunkings” series. — FWP] Wise men see outlines, and therefore draw …
Apr 27 2013
The Manly Virtues
As usual at times when gutlessness and venality appear as a plague upon the land, there’s a lot of loose talk about “manliness” making the rounds. And as usual, the overwhelming majority of the gabbers haven’t got the faintest idea what they’re talking about. Manliness isn’t about size or brawn. Being covered head to toe …
Feb 08 2013
Bellwethers Everywhere: The Celebritarian Revolution
Apologies, Gentle Reader. This is a crucial topic about which I’ve written extensively in the past. Therefore, this post will be partly a reprint of material that previously appeared at Eternity Road, and partly a handful of new observations about the bellwether / celebritarian phenomenon in this year of Our Lord 2013. 1. Beautiful Bellwethers. …
Jan 27 2013
A Maxim, The Law, and The State of The Nation
It might well be that the greatest blessing to have recently descended upon these United States is l’affaire Gregory: the exculpation, by prosecutorial discretion alone, of pseudo-journalist and tendentious Washington twit David Gregory for openly and flagrantly breaking a D.C. law that’s been used to incarcerate other, entirely blameless persons. That little development has made …
Jan 06 2013
For The Feast Of The Epiphany
[The following piece first appeared at Eternity Road on January 6, 2008. — FWP] The ancient creed called Zoroastrianism predated the birth of Christ by about a millennium. Its founder, Zoroaster, laid down a small set of doctrines: There is one universal and transcendental God, Ahura Mazda, the one uncreated creator and to whom all …
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