Leftism

Marxism versus the Middle Class

October 10, 2011October 10, 2011 by Orthodox Editors

Anti-communism Anti-Marxism by Jeremy Meister –
Marx’s idea has often been called a “classless society,” but this characterization constitutes one of the biggest myths in modern history. What Marx wanted was a return to the “natural order” — a medieval society where there is a ruling upper class that owns all the property and makes all the decisions while the lower peasant class does all the menial labor. …

Obama’s out there waving around one of the richest men in the world (Warren Buffet) in his attempt to sell average Americans on his “millionaire’s tax.” So now all intellectual talking heads are discussing the goodness and virtue of making those who make seven figures pay more.

But the real focus should be how it is going to affect those at the bottom. Obama and his surrogates have been floating the idea of 250K or 200K as the possible cutoff. Now, it should be pointed out that there is nothing stopping them from making the cutoff as low as 150K or 100K — we’re still in the idea phase, after all. [Read more…]

More Fun When You Share

October 7, 2011October 8, 2011 by Orthodox Editors

Obama communist socialist democrats by Jeffrey Folks –
This week I received a credit card offer that suggested I share duplicates of my card with family and friends. “It’s more rewarding when you share,” the offer promised. Just call the 800 number, and we’ll zip a duplicate of your card to any of your family members or friends.

Of course, you’ll be responsible for the charges. That’s what sharing is all about.

And that conception of sharing has been showing up everywhere lately. It was front and center in Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, when she screeched that she’d like to seize ExxonMobil’s profits and redistribute them to “smart” green energy companies — smart start-ups like Solyndra, not corporations like Exxon that actually produce something of value.

The same idea underlies Obama’s constant talk of “fairness” and of taxing those who “can afford to pay a little more.” Obama is simply reciting the fundamental Marxist doctrine of equal distribution of wealth. That idea of equality never translates into reality in actual Marxist societies — far from it. [Read more…]

The ‘Hunger’ Hoax

October 5, 2011 by Orthodox Editors

by Thomas Sowell –
Twenty years ago, hysteria swept through the media over “hunger in America.”

Dan Rather opened a CBS Evening News broadcast in 1991 declaring, “one in eight American children is going hungry tonight.” Newsweek, the Associated Press and the Boston Globe repeated this statistic, and many others joined the media chorus, with or without that unsubstantiated statistic.

When the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Agriculture examined people from a variety of income levels, however, they found no evidence of malnutrition among those in the lowest income brackets. Nor was there any significant difference in the intake of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients from one income level to another.

That should have been the end of that hysteria. But the same “hunger in America” theme reappeared years later, when Senator John Edwards was running for Vice President. And others have resurrected that same claim, right up to the present day. [Read more…]

It Is Not the Economy, Stupid

September 30, 2011September 30, 2011 by Orthodox Editors

America Liberty Freedom God by Bruce Walker –
Life is the pursuit of truth, of love, of honor, and of liberty. America was created not for purposes of comfort or money. It was created so that each of us could seek, unmolested by public needs, a private path to what is right.

Watching the Republican debates, listening to the droning of our dreary presidential flop, reading what wise pundits on the right as well as the left say, one might assume that economics was the standard of all policy and politics. Twenty years ago, when Bill Clinton ran for president, his mantra was clear: “It’s the economy, stupid!”

I pray that we do not surrender to the damnable vice of utter materialism. If we do, nothing can save us. America is a rich nation which is being drained and hobbled by those who hate it with unbridled venom. “God damn America!” Obama’s preacher screeched. All over the world and all over our nation, grotesque little monsters frown and sneer at our country. [Read more…]

Dreher: ‘Anti-Bullying’ Another Battle in the Culture War

September 15, 2011September 15, 2011 by Orthodox Editors

by Rod Dreher –
For many years now, the gay movement has been using school bullying as a wedge to work pro-gay teaching into curricula and into the life of public schools, and to marginalize religious students and others who hold a traditional view of the morality of homosexuality.

It goes under the mantra of making schools “safe.”

If you don’t affirm homosexuality explicitly, the argument goes, then you are making your schools unsafe for gay kids. You can well imagine how lawsuit-fearing school administrators hate to hear that.

It’s nonsense, of course.

There is no reason at all why pro-gay instruction, either in classrooms or extracurricular, has to happen for bullying to be opposed effectively. What’s wrong with a school administration saying that bullying will not be tolerated, and making good on that policy by coming down like a ton of bricks on bullies, no matter their target? That would be the most value-neutral way to handle it. [Read more…]

Obama and the Burden of Exceptionalism

September 4, 2011September 6, 2011 by Orthodox Editors

Obama liberal failure — Illustration by Chad Crowe

by Shelby Steele –
If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a hundred times: President Obama is destroying the country. Some say this destructiveness is intended; most say it is inadvertent, an outgrowth of inexperience, ideological wrong-headedness and an oddly undefined character. Indeed, on the matter of Mr. Obama’s character, today’s left now sounds like the right of three years ago. They have begun to see through the man and are surprised at how little is there.

Yet there is something more than inexperience or lack of character that defines this presidency: Mr. Obama came of age in a bubble of post-’60s liberalism that conditioned him to be an adversary of American exceptionalism. In this liberalism America’s exceptional status in the world follows from a bargain with the devil—an indulgence in militarism, racism, sexism, corporate greed, and environmental disregard as the means to a broad economic, military, and even cultural supremacy in the world. And therefore America’s greatness is as much the fruit of evil as of a devotion to freedom. [Read more…]

Can Warren Buffett Do Simple Arithmetic?

September 1, 2011September 2, 2011 by Orthodox Editors

Buffet and Obama Love fest Notice the striking similarities in misrepresenting the facts and seeming to lack basic math skills when making pronouncements on taxes and embracing a liberal/progressive agenda?

by Verum Serum –
As you probably heard, Warren Buffett wrote an op-ed last week begging to be taxed at a higher rate. Rather than give you an excerpt of the article, here’s a little video clip in which he makes most of the same points:

Two points to make about this. First, can Warren Buffett do math? The Tax Foundation looked at his proposal [ht: Matt Cover at CNSNews] and found that his plan is a bust:

Suppose Mr. Buffett got his wish and loopholes and deductions were eliminated, making it possible to tax the “super-rich” (those earning $1M – $10M per year) at an effective rate of 50%.

This would theoretically (in reality people would find ways to protect their money) bring in enough to reduce next year’s deficit by 8%. This amounts to 1% of our current debt. But Buffett also envisioned a super-tax on those making over $10 million a year. It’s an easy sell since few of us are so fortunate, but what would it accomplish? Again, the Tax Foundation crunched the numbers and found that a 100% tax rate on these individuals would reduce the deficit by 12%. [Read more…]

Observing 9/11 without God

August 31, 2011August 31, 2011 by Orthodox Editors

Ground Zero Cross by Robert Knight –

We’ve got a word for people who hate Christmas. The Grinch.

What should we call people who hate America’s Judeo-Christian heritage, even to the point of barring clergy at a ceremony at the site of a major tragedy?

How about “theophobic”? The word is already out there. You can look it up.

In one special case, we can just call the theophobe “Mayor.” That would be Michael Bloomberg, New York’s trendy, formerly Republican leader, who has topped even his own endorsement of a mosque near Ground Zero by forbidding prayer at the upcoming ceremony commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Maybe Mr. Bloomberg is only selectively theophobic, and would consider allowing some Muslim prayers, or perhaps an atheistic chant. To be fair, it must be noted that he has not had a problem with the display of the World Trade Center Cross, a 20-foot edifice composed of steel beams found that way in the Ground Zero rubble.[Read more…]

Families of 9/11 Victims Knocking on America’s Door

August 28, 2011August 28, 2011 by Orthodox Editors

Bishop Savas Zembillas with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg NYC

by Rev Michael Bresciani –

It is no secret that New York’s Mayor Bloomberg has decided not to ask clergy of any religion to be part in the tenth anniversary ceremonies at Ground Zero. A cross section of responses from both religious and secular sources shows that most people are shocked or at the least scratching their heads in wonderment at Bloomberg’s decision.

Bloomberg said that government “shouldn’t be in the business of picking” one minister or religion over another. That being true, it raises two simple but important questions. The first is, who asked him to pick? Is Mr. Bloomberg the Mayor, or is he New York’s pastor?

The second question should be whether he has considered asking the families of 9/11 victims if they want clergy to be present and to offer prayers. The ceremony is not about the government and it has never been.

In the gospel of Luke Christ gave a parable about a woman who comes to a judge to seek avengement in her cause. The judge ignores her because it is said that he “feared not God, neither regarded man.” (Lk 18: 2) In today’s twisted world who would have guessed we have come to a place where even this has been reversed and now it seems there are those who “fear man and don’t regard God” Has it come to this? [Read more…]

7 Reasons Why Liberals Are Incapable of Understanding The World

August 27, 2011August 28, 2011 by Orthodox Editors

by John Hawkins –
To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil. — Charles Krauthammer

Even liberals who’ve accomplished a lot in their lives and have high IQs often say things on a regular basis that are stunningly, profoundly stupid and at odds with the way the world works. Modern liberalism has become so bereft of common sense and instinctually suicidal that America can only survive over the long haul by thwarting the liberal agenda. In fact, liberalism has become such a toxic and poisonous philosophy that most liberals wouldn’t behave differently if their goal were to deliberately destroy the country. So, how does liberalism cause well-meaning, intelligent liberals to get this way? Well, it starts with… [Read more…]