This is going to be the first in a series of Saturday posts. It has nothing to do with anything historical or political, just for fun. This time Martin recounts a past woodworking adventure.   Read the rest of this entry »

If the fourth chapter of Ideas Have Consequences was difficult to come to terms with and harder to explain, the fifth chapter is one of painful clarity. Once again Weaver’s prescience is astounding, especially when one considers that the Internet did not yet exist when Weaver wrote this book in 1948.   Read the rest of this entry »

Federalist 39 is pretty interesting. Madison doesn't mince his words, explaining where the proposed Constitution consolidates power - even over individuals - and where it is limited and must share authority with the states. What follows in our attempt to put it in more modern prose - and understand it ourselves.   Read the rest of this entry »

The following is a synopsis of the fourth chapter of Richard Weaver’s Ideas Have Consequences intermingled with some thoughts from this reader. This is the fifth in a series of posts about this important book.   Read the rest of this entry »

Thumbing through the April 2014 issue of Mechanical Engineering, one finds a heavy predominance of articles pertaining to so-called Green Engineering. Some of these articles cover pretty neat engineering science, regardless of the use to which it is being applied. Some of them are about technology being used to solve non-existent problems.   Read the rest of this entry »

Some books are nearly impossible to review. Such works have no wasted words and cannot be effectively summarized in the space available for any review. In fact, sometimes the explication of their contents cannot be done more concisely than the manner in which the author himself chose to arrange his words. Richard Weaver’s The Ethics of Rhetoric is one such book.   Read the rest of this entry »

There is a good deal to think about in this book and what it has to say will challenge the modern Right as well as Left. The former, depending on his religious beliefs, may be more inclined to give it due consideration, despite it’s challenging propositions. The latter are the very people that Brownson warned about, and will no doubt dismiss it as a religious rant, despite the clarity of Brownson’s arguments.   Read the rest of this entry »

A Treason of the Heart is an incredibly depressing book, the equivalent of Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities. Both books share the distinction of featuring characters with little, if any, redeeming value. At least Wolfe’s book is fiction. It is about British people who have taken up foreign causes - often in direct conflict with their own country. It is an interesting book, but it isn’t a lot of fun to read.   Read the rest of this entry »

The following a rough transcription and translation of a popular news program in Russia. I wanted to get this out quickly, so the translation is loose and may have some minor errors, but it's a reasonable gist of what the man had to say. It's not every day that the mouthpiece for Russia boasts about being able to turn the US into a pile of radioactive ash.   Read the rest of this entry »

Here is some powerful symbolism showing what is happening in Ukraine.   Read the rest of this entry »