Category: Valley of the Shadow

I’d Always Taken ‘Valley of the Shadow’ As A Psalm 23 Reference

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by Smitty

Joe Fein has an important post up about dealing with existential issues. Go read/comment/link.

Americans come in all manner of shades, sizes and ideals.
One of the first lessons I learned in NYC was not to stereotype anyone.
All I can hope for is that we are treated as individuals, not as a group.

If I may offer a positive, non-prescriptive observation, I’ve never heard of a major atrocity committed by someone who:

  • Got decent rest,
  • Took exercise,
  • Ate reasonably, and
  • Was active in some community of faith.

The possible exception that comes to mind is Charles C. Roberts, but even the extreme case gets at my point: be engaged. The well-reflected life is not lived passively, disconnected from those in the immediate vicinity*. The social and political order of the country depends upon Americans NOT being sheep. Progressivism wants to build some Orwellian/Huxlian paradise, where Statism supersedes the Judeo-Christian emphasis upon the individual/family as the unit of societal analysis.

The struggle to be who we are and carry out or individual destinies is really where life is located, at least from a temporal sense. So be about that. Sorry, I can’t pull a “Just do what I did.” My own path was unique to an introverted Navy brat. Though, to divulge a secret, taking a prayerful read through the Bible was life-changing. Especially Ecclesiastes, for whatever odd reason.

The alternative is to permit these political creeps to sell your liberty short on the market for political power, and then use that power to beat you down.

Fight the good fight, Joe.

*Significant medical barrier notwithstanding, obviously.

Zilla On Da Tech Guy’s Show

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by Smitty

As fortune would have it, I’m off to a retirement ceremony for my boss last year in Afghanistan, so I shan’t call in and harass. Nevertheless, the details are here, and you will be energized by taking in Pete’s show, which I can attest comes in just fine over the internet.

Also on the radio tomorrow is Valley of the Shadow. Check him out on the left coast!

Is Ian Masters Looking For A Job In, I Don’t Know, Say, Tennessee?

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by Smitty

Valley of the Shadow points out Ian Masters, an LA radio personality of some note, who really seems to dig him some anti-Semitism. Read all of Joe Fein’s debunking of a sad situation in LA.  It brings to mind Charlotte Bergmann, whom I saw cruise through the blogger lounge at CPAC, but had no time to hail. These Lefty radio personalities seem to have problems with raaaaacism. Do they get that in their broadcasting school?

It used to seem strange and paradoxical that the Left, purporting to be all about fairness and decency, stand revealed as the least fair and decent upon serious analysis. But that seems to be their point: there is no ‘serious analysis’ on a societal scale. It’s really all about power, isn’t it? Especially if you have no moral center to explain why this is a violation of Matt 4:8-10.

And, speaking of those who apparently lack a moral center, Sean Penn continues to pal around with anti-Semites and those who hate America. Gotta love Sean’s approach to free speech: his is consistant in his mis-application thereof.

Republicans? In California?

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For several weeks now, I’ve been hearing rumors that there was something in California called a “Republican Party” with elected officials and stuff.

But I dismissed all those rumors as crazy talk, because it has been years and years since any actual Republican has won any important election in California. Somebody told me that Maria Shriver’s ex-husband once claimed to be a Republican, but I never believed a word that guy said (and as it turned out, Maria shouldn’t have believed him either).

Imagine my surprise, then, when my buddy Joe Fein in L.A. wrote a blog post saying that not only is there a “Republican Party” in California, but they’re having what they call a “state convention.” I figured this meant that three or four guys were getting together in the corner booth at a diner on Wilshire Boulevard or something, but Joe has some pictures and at least one of them shows what appear to be at least half a dozen people in what looks like a hotel lobby.

Joe also has pictures of what he calls the “media department” of this alleged California GOP — I dunno, to me it looks like a dude with a laptop — and also a photo of a chick in front  of a “Rick Perry for President” sign. Rick Perry probably heard the rumors, too, and figured what the heck, if they say they’re having a convention, might as well send a chick with a sign.

Anyway, Joe promises that this “California Republican” stuff is for real, and says he’ll be posting some more pictures as proof that they’re really having a “convention.” So go check Joe Fein’s Valley of the Shadow blog this weekend because it might be true.

Maybe their so-called “media department” will send out a press release.

Crazier things have happened.

Joe Fein, in a Fighting Mood

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My L.A. friend Joe Fein has been trying for some time to get the California GOP to take online New Media seriously. He’s trying again with “Why 30 Bloggers are Worth More for the CAGOP then One MSNBC.”

Joy McCann likes Joe’s message. Let’s hope California Republicans are paying attention. Otherwise, some day soon they can hold their state convention at the La Brea Tar Pits, with the rest of the extinct species.

Does Mitt Romney Agree With Bill Maher?

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In case you missed it, hate-filled HBO “star” Bill Maher one-upped his own most tasteless anti-Palin slurs:

Question: Has Mitt Romney ever spoken out forcefully in Gov. Palin’s defense? Because some people have noticed the crickets chirping:

Joseph Fein, a party insider from the Los Angeles area, said some people feel they can’t trust Romney.
“Where was he when Michael Steele was being attacked?” Fein said. “Where was he when Sarah Palin was attacked? Romney not standing up was noticed.”

That’s from a Politico story about the notable paucity of 2012 contenders at the California GOP convention, and that quote is from our buddy at the Valley of the Shadow blog, who covered the convention all weekend.

California GOP: Falling Down

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“After LA lost the aerospace industry during the Clinton Administration, we lost a half million aerospace workers, voters and donors.”
— former California GOP Chairman Shawn Steel

That quote reminded me of the 1993 movie Falling Down starring Michael Douglas as a laid-off Los Angeles aerospace engineer trying to make sense of a world falling apart. And it seems to me that the California Republican Party’s response to its 15-year decline has been scarcely less counter-productive than Douglas’s actions in that movie.

More from Joe Fein’s interview with Sean Steel:

The first question was: How to win Los Angeles in 2012?
Mr. Steel answered by saying, “The formula for winning Los Angeles is 60% Asian, 40% Latino and 55% Caucasians,” He continued, “When we battle, we [in RPLAC and CAGOP] must use the 40 – 55- 60 rule.”

Really? I mean, really? Instead of talking issues, message, organizing and campaign strategy, the first thing that pops into your mind when you’re asked about a plan for victory is demographics? And please explain how you think the GOP is going to get 60% of the Asian vote or 40% of the Hispanic vote when it can only get  55% of the white vote?

When I visited California I was struck by the fatalism of the state’s Republican officials, who simply write off most Democrat-held districts as unwinnable and passively accept the idea that huge swaths of the electorate are immune to GOP appeals.

Go read the rest of Joe’s coverage of this weekend’s California GOP convention. Maybe there’ll be some glimmer of hope.

Or else conservatives everywhere can get an object lesson in how not to run a Republican Party.