RUSSELL ON HISTORICAL DETERMINISM

This is a nice smack down of Marx, Spengler, Toynbee and others who thought they had discovered the master pattern of human social development:

History can be viewed in many ways, and many general formulae can be invented which cover enough of the ground to seem adequate if the facts are carefully selected. I suggest, without undue solemnity, the following alternative theory of the causation of the industrial revolution: industrialism is due to modem science, modem science is due to Galileo, Galileo is due to Copernicus, Copernicus is due to the Renaissance, the Renaissance is due to the fall of Constantinople, the fall of Constantinople is due to the migration of the Turks, the migration of the Turks is due to the desiccation of Central Asia. Therefore the fundamental study in searching for historical causes is hydrography.

SOURCE:Freedom and organization, 1814-1914, by Bertrand Russell; London, G. Allen & Unwin ltd. [1945]; p. 230

EMERSON ON SLAVERY

Some wingnuts still insist that the Civil War was about States's Rights but they are very wrong.  This is what the leading American intellectual of the time thought:

For his own part, he was convinced that there could never be peace and a real Union while this devilish slavery, seed of war, was in American soil. "Root it out," he wrote in his journal, "burn it up, pay for the damage, and let us have done with it."

This was his mood when, on May 3, 1851, he addressed the citizens of Concord on the Fugitive Slave Law. In both geography and patriotism, his address was narrowed down almost to Massachusetts. It put the South aside as essentially a separate nation. What it lacked in liberality, it made for in intensity. Infamy was in the air, Emerson warned his fellow townsmen. Who could have believed that a hundred guns would be fired Boston to celebrate the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law? There had been a political betrayal, and Webster was the arch betrayer. "All the drops his blood," Emerson declared, "have eyes that look downward." But again there was a note of wisdom. As for action, the principal thing to do to follow the example of the British in the West Indies and buy the slaves. There must have been by this time a good deal of loose talk about expense of such a move, and estimates were evidently going up by leaps and bounds. But the increasing cost did not daunt Emerson. If it going to be two thousand million dollars, as was now said, it would paid more enthusiastically than any other contribution had ever been, he was confident.

SOURCE:The life of Ralph Waldo Emerson by Rusk, Ralph L.;New York, C.Scribner's Sons, 1949.; pp. 366-67

WAS THE CORDRAY APPOINTMENT LEGIT?

I can't tell myself because I have no legal training but John Elwood at The Volokh Conspiracy thinks Pres. Obama acted within the law.

IT'S NOT JUST THE PRIMARIES...

the entire conservative movement in America seems to be one giant Gong Show!  Consider these casually gathered facts:

- We know that for conservatives, Ronald Reagan is up there with St. Peter, Winston Churchill and Joan of Arc, and his mythic image must be defended no matter what the truth is, especially on taxes.  Well, Ricky the Santorum just accused St. Raygun of contributing to the entitlement financial problem!

- A lot of the radio gasbags are turning themselves into pretzels trying to play the insider/outsider game.  For example, Laura Ingrham has been claiming the insiders want to help Romney and hurt Santorum despite the fact that she's not only a DC insider, her radio show is broadcast from the frigging Heritage Foundation.  Ingraham also has a hard time covering herself in Bagger populism.

- After getting their ass handed to them over the payroll tax cut, the House Baggers are beginning to implode all over the walls.

- CPAC, the biggest gathering of the movement conservatives, hasn't realized that Sarah Plain is long past her sell-by date.

- After getting completely hammered by outside groups as a direct result of the Citizens United decision, Newton Gingrich now thinks it was a bad SC decision.

- Finally, according to Erick The Deep Red, Santorum isn't conservative enough!!!

IT'S THE TURNOUT, STUPID!

Despite all the agit-prop from FAUX News and the radio gasbags, the turnout in Iowa was barely above the 2008 number and that is bad news for the Baggers.

WILL MARK LEVIN HAVE TO DENOUNCE THE NATIONAL REVIEW?

(h/t The Dish)

He didn't do so after Jim Manzi smacked down an important part of Liberty and Tyranny but now the National Review accuses Rick Santorum, Levin's only remaining candidate, as a "pro-life statist"!!!  The term itself is from another major wingnut, Erick Erickson.

A GREAT QUESTION FOR MITT ROMNEY

(I think I got this from the Monday Stephanie Miller Show but I'm not sure.)
Mitt Romney's current net worth may be as much as $250 million and in 2006, he earned over $37 million, so a natural question to ask Romney is:

HOW MANY JOBS HAVE YOU PERSONALLY CREATED IN THE LAST FEW YEARS?

After all, Romney is in the group of "job creators" that Fats Limbaugh and other gasbags claim are being attacked by Pres. Obama.

ABSOLUTE CONFIRMATION

I noted before that GOP pundit Mary Matalin thinks the American people are fed up with wars and tonight I heard the greatest War Whore, Laura Ingraham, admit the same thing.   This can only be more bad news for Santorum.

TWO MORE REASONS TO DESPISE SANTORUM

1) Santorum: 'I'll Die' to Stop Same Sex Marriages
David Neiwert

2) For no reason, Santorum ‘singled out blacks’
January 02, 2012 12:40 PM
By Steve Benen

THE OTHER BIRTHER WACKOS

The Duggars and Rick Santorum have a morbid fascination with dead fetuses.  The Duggars posted pictures of their miscarriage on the Internet, including this one:

Back in 1996, the Santorums did something even stranger:

The childbirth in 1996 was a source of terrible heartbreak — the couple were told by doctors early in the pregnancy that the baby Karen was carrying had a fatal defect and would survive only for a short time outside the womb. According to Karen Santorum’s book, ”Letters to Gabriel: The True Story of Gabriel Michael Santorum,” she later developed a life-threatening intrauterine infection and a fever that reached nearly 105 degrees. She went into labor when she was 20 weeks pregnant. After resisting at first, she allowed doctors to give her the drug Pitocin to speed the birth. Gabriel lived just two hours.

What happened after the death is a kind of snapshot of a cultural divide. Some would find it discomforting, strange, even ghoulish — others brave and deeply spiritual. Rick and Karen Santorum would not let the morgue take the corpse of their newborn; they slept that night in the hospital with their lifeless baby between them. The next day, they took him home. ”Your siblings could not have been more excited about you!” Karen writes in the book, which takes the form of letters to Gabriel, mostly while he is in utero. ”Elizabeth and Johnny held you with so much love and tenderness. Elizabeth proudly announced to everyone as she cuddled you, ‘This is my baby brother, Gabriel; he is an angel.’ ”

No wonder Jim Bob Duggar (his real name!) has endorsed Santorum.

ANDREA MITCHELL IS CORRECT ABOUT IOWA

She laid on some truth about Iowa:

“The rap on Iowa,” she said. “It doesn’t represent the rest of the country… too white, too evangelical, too rural. Still here, politics are personal.”

Here are the relevant facts from the US Census:

The first number is for Iowa, the second is for America as a whole -

White persons, percent, 2010 91.3% 72.4%
Black persons, percent, 2010 2.9% 12.6%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, percent 5.0% 16.3%

ANOTHER CONSERVATIVE FAIL

You may recall that back in 2009, the American Seniors Association was supposed to be the conservative alternative to AARP.   This didn't work out very well so the wingnuts are trying again with the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC).  Tonight, Mark Levin said AMAC has a whopping 225,000 members which is close to a rounding error for AARP.

A SMALL VICTORY

The Daily Beast does not describe Douglas Schoen as a "Democratic" anything.

RADIO TIDBITS

The Gingrich radio ads on KNST are being paid for by American Solutions for Winning the Future, a group that Gingrich started.

Doc Thompson subbed for Billy Cunningham and slammed Rick Perry and the other GOP whiners for suing Virginia to allow them to appear on the primary ballot. Thompson correctly pointed out that this action doesn't show much respect for states' rights.