Stephen Roney's Blog, page 134
June 9, 2022
The Canadian Baseball League
Summer is here, and it is just a darned shame there is no Canadian Professional Baseball League. Contrary to popular belief, the game is as old and as ingrained in the land in Canada as in the US. The first documented game of baseball was in Beachville, Ontario in 1838. Labatt Park, in London Ontario, is the world’s oldest baseball stadium.
It is a cultural failure that we have allowed the game to decline north of the US border.
Going to a baseball game is a really great cultural experience in a country like Korea or Japan. It could be in Canada too.
'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.
June 8, 2022
Issues on the Minds of American Voters
... according to Rasmussen. The issues do not look favourable to the Democrats. Can ballot box stuffing be enough to save them?
The State of the Conservative Race
Since more than half of the current membership of the Conservative Party have been recruited through Pierre Poilievre’s website, the strong presumption must be that he is going to win the Tory leadership on the first ballot. It is now unlikely that any Conservative politicians are going to see a future in attacking him publicly; or, indeed, supporting his rivals. We may be at the point of inevitability.
The strategy of Jean Charest and Patrick Brown until now, of attacking Poilievre with unprecedented venom, now looks very bad for them. Especially for Charest, who has the bigger reputation, and more to lose. Given that Brown reputedly signed up 150,000 new members, Charest looks likely to come no higher than third on the first ballot. That’s especially an embarrassment for someone with his stature. Thinking only in terms of his own political future, I would bow out now, declare my enthusiastic support for Poilievre, and make much of calling for party unity. Even start actively campaigning for Poilievre. He could then look like the kingmaker, and could claim to have made a personal sacrifice for the party. If Poilievre wins the next election, he might hope for an important cabinet post. If Poiiievre loses, he has now paid his dues and would be well-positioned to run as his replacement.
If Charest drops out, will others stay in? Brown might not. Lewis might as well stay on as a spare in case emergency, and to keep it interesting; but will stop attacking the frontrunner. Baber and Atchison might as well stay in, as they were always only in to raise their profiles.
But it’s liable to be a quiet race from here on in.
'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.
June 7, 2022
The Conservative Groundswell
The Pierre Poilievre campaign claims they have signed up over 300,000 new members to the Conservative Party through their website. The Patrick Brown campaign claims 150,000 more. The Poilievre figure alone more than doubles the number of members of the Conservative Party--without yet taking into account those signed up by the other campaigns, or who signed up directly, as I did, at the CPC website to participate in their leadership race.
Something important is happening in Canadian politics.
Rather than being impressed or acknowledging the historic nature of this groundswell, a panel of politicos hosted by the CBC warned that Pierre Poilievre was "playing with fire,” appealing to people who would not go along with a move to the centre for the next federal election.
Assuming Poilievre had to move to the centre for the general election.
No concern that it was dishonest to run on one platform for the leadership, and switch up for the general election. No concern that this large number of committed people supporting Poilievre deserved to be represented. The general public was, to these politicians, cattle, to be deceived and controlled. And this was spoken openly, and not hidden.
To be fair, you might argue that they are only being realistic; that to get the most votes, you need to straddle the ideological middle. However, this assumption, although it seems logical, is not borne out by the facts. Mike Harris in Ontario, Rob Ford in Toronto, Ralph Klein in Alberta, Francois Legault in Quebec, all proved highly successful in elections while maintaining a hard right position, at least rhetorically. Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Stephen Harper, Donald Trump all were successful with a hard right stance. Erin O’Toole, Mitt Romney, John McCain all fell short lunging for the centre.
It is a losing proposition for an opposition party to try to take the centre ground. What is considered the centre ground is largely defined by the party in power. If the electorate likes their policies, they are going to stick with the government. If they do not like their policies, they are still not going to see any reason to vote in a new party that promises the same policies
This is equally true for the left or the right. In the recent Ontario election, the Liberals and NDP agreed with the ruling Tories on everything. Result: win for the Tories. In 2015, Tom Mulcair’s NDP made a lunge for power by moving to the centre. Result: win for the Liberals, who ran uncharacteristically further to the left.
I assume political operatives know their business. They realize then that the idea that the Tories must move to the centre is electoral bunk. Rather, they are demanding it as an obligation to fellow members of the ruling class that everyone take the approved stand on all the issues, and not allow the common hoi polloi a say.
This is what “the centre” really means. It really means “the party line.” Only in such a situation can at leasthalf the electorate be declared “far right,” and "populism" be called "far right." That necessarily implies that “the centre” is actually well to the left on the spectrum of actual popular opinion.
'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.
June 6, 2022
The American Constitutional Crisis
Apparently over 70% of those who see Dinesh D’Sousa’s new documentary “2,000 Mules” are convinced that the last US presidential election was illegitimate.
This puts the American system in a predicament. In the Westminster system, the Queen or Governor-General could dissolve Parliament and call a new election. America has no mechanism to rerun an election, so far as I can see. All they could do is impeach Biden. But that would not correct the error; the presidency would be thrown to his vice-president, elected at the same time by the same suspect vote.
And impeaching is difficult. It must be done for cause, there must be a formal trial, it can tie the legislature up for months. It is much simpler in Westminster. Boris Johnson is right now undergoing a caucus revolt, and they might vote him out as of this evening.
Update: Johnson survives with 59% of the vote.'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.
Terry Glavin Defends Reality in the National Post
In the cont4ext of the residential schools "mass graves" fraud.
June 5, 2022
What about Whitney?
There are credible reports that Amber Heard regularly abused her sister Whitney. So why did Whitney testify in Amber’s defence, and apparently perjure herself on the stand for her? And against Depp, who had been good to her?
This is not surprising. It is the usual case, when one has been abused in childhood. Nineteenth-century French “alienist” Auguste Tardieu reports the experience of a Dr. Nidart, called to testify against the parents of an abused girl:
What Dr. Nidart discovered, to his evident puzzlement, was that Adelina would invent stories of what had happened to her, in order to cover up the crimes of her parents against her own person, imagining falls and accidents, rather than allow others to know the horrible truth of what had been done to her. As we shall see, her parents had kept her literally hermetically sealed off from the real world outside, and in a pathetic, heartbreaking gesture of tenderness toward her own tormentors, she wished to protect them ... from the world.
This is probably why Freud abandoned his original “seduction theory” of the cause of mental illness, in favour of the Oedipus complex. After being so certain of the former, he never explains what made him abandon it for the latter idea, that the sexual molestation was all imagined by the child. Except to say that patients did not stay in therapy when he propounded the seduction theory. True or not, they would not hear this criticism of their parent.
Freud developed a contempt for his patients.
This phenomenon is obviously also related to the well-known “Stockholm syndrome,” a tendency of hostages to take the side of their captors over time.
But why does this happen?
The best explanation, it seems to me, is that we have a God-shaped hole in our psyches. We are born with a craving for certainly. Every child seeks truth and right; no child, as the founder of Boy’s Town observed, wants to be bad. When this is not satisfied by an awareness and acceptance of God, the psyche must latch onto something. As Chesterton wisely said, “Those who do not believe in God will believe in anything.”
Narcissists ultimately believe in themselves as God. A narcissistic parent or older sibling will do what they can to impose that belief on those around them, impressionable others in their power: a child or a kid sister.
Among the things they will inevitably do is to seduce their charge into some form of immorality. This becomes a test of their true allegiance. Once accomplished, it holds the victim more completely in thrall. The helpless little fly can now no longer hope to appeal to the true God for aid, or to the concepts of right or justice, or to the world outside. Everything depends on the approval of the parent or sibling, who holds their secret.
The child, even once an adult, will then commonly sacrifice their own interests for those of the narcissist, and will desperately defend their false god against all comers.
The cure for mental illness, as a result, is true religion. AA has it right: one must acknowledge and submit to a “Higher Power.” Those who do get well. Those who do not do not get well. Jung said the same.
And do not think of the Whitneys as mere helpless victims. There is good reason why the prohibition on idolatry is the First Commandment. It is the sine qua non of all morality. One is morally culpable for idolatry. It is the one unforgivable sin, the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. If worshipping yourself as God is the worst sin possible, worshipping another as God is only marginally better.
'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.
June 2, 2022
The Biden Smirk
Biden smirks a lot.
Guess who doesn't smirk?
Donald Trump.
'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.The Narcissistic Smirk
It is a bit disappointing that Johnny Depp did not get a settlement of $50 million, and Amber Heard nothing. That would have felt more like justice. I think Depp had a reasonable case that he had lost as much as $50 million in career damage. And there seems to me no logic in finding defamation against his lawyer, who had good reason to believe he was speaking the truth. And if he didn’t, is Depp responsible for what he said?
But in a way, this outcome is best. Had Depp gotten more than he did, sympathy might have moved towards Heard, which would be the worst outcome. Many would feel sorry for her despite what she did.
Reputedly, she will not be able to cover the present settlement. She is supposed to be worth only $2 million. Odd, though, since she got $7 million from Depp a few years ago, and has not donated any of it to charity. Where did it all go?
The bottom line is, the jury found that Johnny Depp did not abuse Amber Heard; that her claims that he did were lies. That is a great victory for all the victims of narcissists, and especially for abused men. It reassures me that there is some justice in the world.
I hope now he gets his career back.
Another advantage of the trial is that it revealed to us who the good people are in Hollywood: those who stuck by Depp. Oddly enough, they tend to be celebrities I always suspected were nice people.
Many observers have noticed that Heard had a tendency to “smirk” during proceedings: a distinctive half-smile in which only one side of the mouth goes up.
This facial expression, for whatever reason, is absolutely characteristic of narcissists. Perhaps it shows their own internal confidence in their superiority; they believe they are putting something over on the world. It is familiar to anyone whose life has been cursed by a narcissist.
Watch and think carefully: Have you ever seen this expression in another? If you ever see this expression in another, habitually, you see a red flag. Get away if you can.
'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.
May 28, 2022
New York Post Blows the Whistle
The truth is coming out on residential schools.
