Incognegro

Can anyone else tell I'm getting tired of blogging?

I'm getting tired of blogging.

The daily grind, anyway.

I've explained TMR's interests and outlook a billion times, and it does no good, so - since you're all so happy with Glenn Reynolds' precognitions and I don't feel like doing it again - I'm happy to know I'm right and just let the cards fall where they may:

"There are not enough Tea Party people, not enough libertarian people, not enough socially conservative people to win a Republican nomination, by definition. Anyone who comes from one of those traditions must expand beyond that tradition to win."

And to "expand beyond that tradition" must mean some of that "rethinking in other areas” Mickey Kaus was talking about.

Or not.

You never know with the Get-off-The-Democrat-Plantation crew.

I don't anyway.

Even our hero, Hammering Hank Aaron, tells them they're racists and they didn't get a clue, so what does that tell you?

Jenny McCarthy says "I am not 'anti-vaccine'” after years of being anti-vaccine - is that any different from the "colorblind" Republicans who can't stop doing and saying racist things?

I can't see it.

It's all cultism to me now - herd mentality - call it what you want.

A woman told me acupuncture is an ancient practice yesterday.

I let her talk.

This morning another woman attacked me over recycling.

I apologized for upsetting her.

Most major hospitals have mainstreamed my wife's beliefs - what am I going to do, blog about the idiocy I see - some more?

It's so widespread I'll never do anything else.

 

 But now I am doing something else.

 

Tomorrow is another edition of Uncle Ray's Psychedelic Soul, where he and I will be counting down his Top 100 Psychedelic Soul Albums and discussing whatever he may decide to throw at me.

(He's indicated Hank Aaron WILL be a topic,…)

Feel free to tune in, call in, catch up, make trouble:

In case you haven't noticed, I've honestly stopped giving a damn,…

 

They Do Not See Race They Do Not See Race They,...

By way of Hot Air, Ol' Mickey Kaus let the veil slip, but  - to bring it home - caught The Euphemism Train To Blacksville: 

"The GOP establishment is desperate to suppress Tea Party conservatives and also obtain the immigration amnesty they believe will win Latinos and relieve them of the need to do too much rethinking in other areas.”

Tea Party suppression? And Latinos, specifically, are seen as an escape hatch - from who or what? What "other areas" might Right-Wing relief from "too much rethinking" be required?

How about reaffirmations of the importance of responsibilities - I mean, citizens - until they recognize,…

 

(Cult) Context

On the micro level, it looks like Scientology killed someone else. 

On the macro level, it looks like Mickey Kaus noticed something about the president:

"Obama isn’t vague or incoherent. He’s quite precise about where he wants to go–namely back to something like what we had three decades ago. If his means don’t come close to matching his ends, if they even subvert them, that seems a more troubling, almost pathological mismatch, in which liberalism becomes a sort of cargo cult whose mechanisms have zero hope of achieving the desired results."

And here in the middle, everybody shrugs because they're listening to smart people,...

 

It's Still True: They DO Have Ways Of Making Me Talk,...

The Atlantic Monthly's Conor Friedersdorf recently said, "the civil war the right needs is one waged against the hucksters, whether they're in the marketplace of ideas or the marketplace itself." I guess - considering TMR's mandate is to fight hucksterism - that means I have to fire the first shot.

Here goes nothing. 

It has long been said that life was "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." Congratulations - through the wonders of modern technology - they've made it longer. From Glenn Reynolds' Instapundit:

MICKEY KAUS: Will MSM Guilt Start Working for Mitt? “‘Like Ali, Obama Floats Like a Butterfly’–that’s the headline Real Clear Politics gave Howard Fineman’s latest post. But even though Fineman is Editorial Director for leftish Huffington Post (and appears regularly on MSNBC) his piece isn’t what you’d expect. It’s basically a plea to the MSM to start covering Obama they way they’d cover a normal candidate. . . . An MSM veteran, Fineman, in essence, is agreeing with conservative critics of his profession: they’ve been cutting the President way too much slack, failing to take him to task in areas (the Woodward portrayal, Libya, the jobs numbers ) where they would have hammered another candidate.”

Notice there's no concern from these champions of justice that the MSM - or the conservative blogosphere - have been cutting Romney "way too much slack, failing to take him to task in areas where they would have hammered another candidate"? That it's all a one-way street with these guys who've positioned themselves as the trustworthy alternative to the biased media? Mitt Romney spouts complete nonsense? His cult punishes those who reveal their "secrets" or is practicing voter fraud? That they're behaving like delusional Pat Robertson supporters in order to win? You'll never hear it from Glenn Reynolds, Mickey Kaus, Michelle Malkin, Robert Stacey McCain, Ann Althouse, the folks at Hot Air, Ace of Spades, - or even the reporters for The Washington Examiner - but can expect to, probably, be punished by a collective cry of "bigotry" (from them and the Romney campaign) for saying so instead.

I hold to a pretty hard ethical line (which I've defined as "not goody-goody, but just good") and it gets me in a world of trouble, online, that - if I didn't know I now live in a NewAge-obsessed-and-influenced society - I wouldn't understand at all.

But I do understand the times I live in, so (despite my occasional shock at the behavior of those under NewAge's spell) the cowardly treatment I get for, both, wanting to be correct in my assessments - while also wanting to be moral - have, unfortunately, become known to me as par for the course:

I can be right, and few will champion it. 

I can be slandered, and few will come to my defense. 

 I can be ridiculously outnumbered, and I will be forced to fight alone.

In this NewAge society, these virtues - including the willingness to fight on despite overwhelming obstacles - are not appreciated. Instead, to NewAgers, they are signs of madness.

Isn't this how it was in the NewAge's Third Reich?

Don't I understand that being right doesn't matter? The law professor, NewAger - and my friend - Ann Althouse, once said that my desire to be seen as correct "all the time" was ugly - and, to prove it, she continues to promote the idea that "inaccuracies and distortions" are "what is beautiful and wonderful about human life." Really?

She and her blog partner, Glenn Reynolds, have long engaged in the practice of "punishing with traffic starvation" those they deem unworthy, while appearing to encourage the free flow of ideas and letting water find it's own level. Why? Because power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, nothing more. Their sycophants (and that's what they are) will say nothing, which - just as we saw with Adolf Hitler - allows Althouse and Reynolds not to dare reflect on their behavior. Who cares if they're distorting the flow of information? After all, "inaccuracies and distortions" are "what is beautiful and wonderful about human life," right?

Joeseph Goebbels would be proud.

Isn't it bizarre that The Wall Street Journal's blogger, James Taranto - who was once a seemingly-fair and intelligent man - will now criticize Madonna and Obama but it's left to the supposedly biased FOX News to say "Mitt Romney's Gaffes Are Needlessly Weakening Him"?

Has even an editor for The Wall Street Journal forgotten what being an American stands for?

Like Conor Friedersdorf, I Refuse to Vote for Barack Obama. But I also refuse to stand with those who lie, distort, and mistreat anyone who demands there's a role for truth - not just in our politics but in our lives. For the last four years, we - those of us who make up the right side of the blogosphere - are supposed to have been the citizens of these United States, taking back our nation, by re-affirming the values that made this country great. Well I, for one, see no evidence of that having happened. Instead (since the death of Andrew Breitbart, really) there has been an ugly switch from understanding and utilizing the Left's tactics to - and, the Mormon cult follower, Mitt Romney's nomination can be no better example of this - becoming what they've always hated.

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The Stupid Party. The Hypocrite Party. The Magic Party. The Secret's Party. 

I know something about these things.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is TMR, and I am The Crack Emcee.

And I want it to be known, here and now:

This is what I've hated. I've hated it all along. I'll always hate it. And I hate it now more than ever.

All of it.

No matter who's promoting it. 

 

Suicidal Tendencies (They're Killing Everything)

Every time I've said the Right's money and attention was focused on the wrong people and outlets - those who are good at schmoozing, and maintaining their useless clique, but don't know how to fight and have been happily wasting time and money - I've been shouted down as a "meanie," and a sexist, and a self-serving prick, because, obviously, no one can fight better than those leading now, right?

To which I say "Fine - it's your funeral."

Instapundit reader Jody Green - March 29th, 2011:

The issues facing this country at the federal level are so large and complex that only honest people have a chance of fixing the problems. We all know that we are not dealing with an honest opposition. We are dealing with people who are only trying to maintain their disgusting grip on the levers of power. See Shumer just today. This country is about to crash in a horrible “Man caused disaster” and we can not get that message to the vast majority of people. Our leadership plays games while we know the Titanic is sinking.

The Daily Caller's Mickey Kaus - March 30th, 2011:

Aren’t there some rich Republicans who can save the momentum of the anti union push with an independent expenditure? …

Where are the Kochs when you need them?

iOwnTheWorld's Big Fur Hat - March 26, 2011:

[If] some deep pocket conservative [could] pull together 90 of the most brilliant conservative creatives, [and] pay them a living wage,...we could BURY the left.

How We Really Are Now (Part II: King's Lead Hat)

While discussing (the delightfully named) Pigeon O'Brien's Huffington Post column, on her role in the John Edwards/Rielle Hunter affair, Mickey Kaus says:

O’Brien makes it clear that Hunter has some kind of unreported charismatic power, but doesn’t quite explain what Edwards saw in her that would prompt him to put his campaign (and party) at risk. …

Really? Out of the many bloggers we read and respect, Mickey Kaus is no slouch in the Thinking Department, so it seems odd to us he'd need more help from O'Brien (above) to sort that particular issue out.

Especially when she opened her piece this way:

Lisa Druck was trouble,...Yet we liked her. There was something charming and feral in her aggressive bubbliness. The seedier stuff bothered my prudish self, stories of strip poker and non-monogamy. But I was seeing her ex-boyfriend and if I wanted to keep him out of the riskier stuff, I had to like her. So I did.

Charming, feral, aggressive, bubbly, seedy, non-monogamous, and risky.

If you ask us, that's a lot for Ol' Mickey to work with - even if O'Brien is describing Hunter in the 1980s. Fortunately, she doesn't stop there, and paints a more recent picture of Hunter:

In 2004 I went to a dinner party for the anniversary of [our friend Jay McInerney's book] Bright Lights, Big City in New York, and there she was. She looked and acted nothing like frenetic, drama-dragging Lisa. We became fast friends, again. Lisa -- now Rielle -- was living in Boulder, in the carriage house of her former mother-in-law. I was doing publicity, website design and marketing. She wasn't doing a whole ton of anything, but she had some ideas.

A foundation was the center of the work, which we broadened to a website as a way of marketing her voice and image for a possible TV show, the "MTV guru." Rielle's friends Bob McGovern and Randy would help with logistics. We made a website. She paid for the domain name, I paid hosting. We spent five, six hours a day on the phone, gabbing and working.

She was really good at the guru stuff. Once I was on a miserable, rainy client trip. I moaned to Rielle. She was impatient, not loving my issues. "What are things you want?" she barked. I babbled about wanting prompt payment and value in my personal life. "No," she cut me off. "Money and love. Can you get those today? On this day? In the rain?" "Well, no..." I stammered. "Then focus on today. What's in front of you to do. The path. Don't be attached to outcomes. Don't DO, just BE." Oh. Ok. And the money and love came in time, as they will.

Soon the foundation and the website -- Being Is Free -- spiraled into too many months of fruitless work. I abandoned it. We spoke less, but a few months later, she was back on the beam. She had a crystal clear vision of what she wanted, and had moved to the New York area to stay with her friend Mimi. We rapidly filled in the site: her bio, cringingly titled 'Story of My Life,' a story of awakening called 'Shift Happens,' and 'Kids on Board,' the ever-important board of directors, which was mostly just a list of people helping Rielle. I came and went from this list. It was a fun gauge of how useful I was to old Lisa Druck.

Two sections remained blank: 'Fame I Am Lives Forever' and 'Where the Money Goes.' It's funny how those came in time, as they will.

As she made forays into yoga instruction in New York, there abruptly came a two-day silence. When she surfaced, it was loudly: "I met someone!" Her voice was thrilled. He must be really something. "What's his name?" "JOHN!" she sang. "Does he live in New York?" "No, North Carolina!" North Carolina? I pictured a skinny bearded guy, with enough money or mojo to catch her eye. "He's married," she quickly added, "small kids."

And there you have it. In Part I of this series, "The Safety Dance", we observed the bizarre, yet seemingly deliberate way bloggers discuss religion and spirituality, in an apparent attempt to avoid whatever troubles can arise from appearing to do so. Mickey Kaus appears to be engaged in just this behavior when he suggests that, with the wealth of information O'Brien lays at his feet, he somehow needs more before he can figure out what was going on between Edwards and Hunter.

But, in case we're wrong, let's clear it up for him:

A self-styled guru, spitting mindless pabulum like "Don't DO, just BE" (as in "Be Here Now") and is either into teaching or learning yoga to better bend over for married fathers?

The attraction was NewAge and sex, Mickey, though not necessarily always in that order.

Now before you say that's not enough for Edwards to "put his campaign (and party) at risk", we will remind you only one of them was necessary for Bill Clinton to put his presidency at risk. Also, Clinton, too, has shown a weakness for NewAge psychobabble, working as he has with Tony Robbins, and as his quoting cult leader Ken Wilber proves:



Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also been known to agree with Wilber's "Theory of Everything", as well as cavort with NewAge psychics.

But let's get back to Rielle Hunter and John Edwards:

I struck up a conversation with the woman at the next event, as we waited outside. She told me her name and asked me what my astrological sign was, which I thought was a little unusual. I told her. She smiled, and began telling me her life story: how she was working as a documentary-film maker, living with a friend in South Orange, N.J., but how she'd previously had "many lives." She'd worked, she said, as an actress and as a spiritual adviser. She was fiercely devoted to astrology and New Age spirituality. She'd been a New York party girl, she'd been married and divorced, she'd been a seeker and a teacher and was a firm believer in the power of truth.

She told me that she had met Edwards at a bar, at the Regency Hotel in New York. She thought he was giving off a special "energy."

...I would soon learn that there was no such thing as small talk with Rielle Hunter. She told me that she'd felt a connection to me when we'd first met, that she could tell I was a very old soul. This meant a lot to Rielle. Her speech was peppered with New Age jargon—human beings were dragged down by "blockages" to their actual potential; history was the story of souls entering and escaping our field of consciousness. A seminal book for her had been Eckhart Tolle's "The Power of Now." Her purpose on this Earth, she said, was to help raise awareness about all this, to help the unenlightened become better reflections of their true, repressed selves.

Her latest project was John Edwards. Edwards, she said, was an old soul who had barely tapped into any of his potential. The real John Edwards, she believed, was a brilliant, generous, giving man who was driven by competing impulses—to feed his ego and serve the world. If he could only tap into his heart more, and use his head less, he had the power to be a "transformational leader" on par with Gandhi and Martin Luther King. "He has the power to change the world," she said.

I had been nodding and sipping my wine through all this. "Do you talk about this stuff with the candidate?" I asked. "All the time," Rielle replied. "I'll lecture him on it when he's getting too much up in here," she said, gesturing toward her head. "He'll see a look on my face and say, 'Yes, I know, Rielle, "Power of Now" says …' "

...She hoped that with her unique eye for Edwards's true potential, she could show the world the real John Edwards and, in the process, help him to become the better version of himself.

So what's our point? We wouldn't hesitate to place a bet that somewhere around a quarter of the Democratic Party is somehow involved in some form of NewAge spirituality or another - and all without the public's notice or understanding of how it influences their leader's choices or what a politician's occult beliefs actually mean.

We'd also be willing to wager, if the public knew these things - and we mean really knew - they'd leave the Democratic Party in droves.

That goes double for blacks.

And it is TMR's contention they have every right to know. That it's about time somebody started speaking the truth about what's going on with the NewAge belief system in particular.

But what, exactly, would we tell them? Consider:

Rielle Hunter saw John Edwards - a white ambulance chasing lawyer and opportunistic politician - as the modern day equivalent of Martin Luther King.

And, since we all remember Bill Clinton was also seen, somehow, as America's "first black president" (until reality set in) we think that's also a pretty good place to start.

To be continued,....