IN 1336, the Italian poet Francesco Petrarch climbed Mont Ventoux, now part of the Alps in southern France, with his brother and two servants. The mountain is over 6,000 feet high. At that time, recreational mountain climbing was rare. Here is a letter the poet wrote about their excursion. From the letter:

We found an old shepherd in one of the mountain dales, who tried, at great length, to dissuade us from the ascent, saying that some fifty years before he had, in the same ardour of youth, reached the summit, but had gotten for his pains nothing except fatigue and regret, and clothes and body torn by the rocks and briars. No one, so far as he or his companions knew, had ever tried the ascent before or after him. But his counsels increased rather than diminished our desire to proceed, since youth is suspicious of warnings. (more…)

A READER writes:

Please forgive my poor English. It is not my first language.

So, a little background: I’m a 20-year-old college student in a major university in my country, currently in the third year of my undergraduate course. As a good fraction of male college students, I come from a very socially awkward adolescence, and, as soon as I got in college, I was desperate to go to all the parties, and drink all the alcohol, and please myself from all the college girls that would be anxiously waiting for me, in these places. I should have gone to a total of about 20-30 parties, until a few months ago.

It turned out that all the repressed feelings of my adolescence that brought me into this quest lead me to nothing but a deep sense of disappointment. I have found that alcohol is not the happiness potion that people try to make it seem to be; that most people who call themselves “friends” of yours want nothing with you but to not leave them alone in these parties; and, most importantly, that the process of finding mates in these parties is the most humiliating and hurtful thing I have ever subjected myself to. (more…)

DAVID J. writes:

Good day! While perusing the CNN website recently, I came upon a nearly cheesecake photograph of Marissa Mayer, the current CEO of Yahoo! The picture, intended for this spread in Vogue magazine, immediately reminded me of the following maxim by the late Lawrence Auster.

When men occupy a high office, it is for the purpose of doing a job. The job comes first. When women occupy a high office, it is for their self and their vanity. Public boasting about their “power” comes first, along with displays of themselves.

It is astonishing that Ms. Mayer devotes so much time seeking attention about her position and marketing her attractiveness.  Feminists consider it a victory that a woman has ascended atop the corporate world, especially in the hyper-competitive field of high technology.  Feminism states that women are more than mere sexual objects and can do everything that men can do (and equally as well).

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YOU can read the full text of Obama’s speech about Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech here, but you needn’t bother. Basically, President Obama said:

1. A lot has changed for blacks in 50 years, but the white man is still no good.

2. People who make more money than you are greedy.

3. Some of you are wondering why things have gotten so much worse since “I Have a Dream,” but King believed in jobs for everyone and I do too. Vote for Democrats and you will get a job. Someday.

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A HARVARD study of continental Europe shows no correlation between gun control laws and reduced murder rates. Breitbart reports on the study.

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  IN A memorable 2011 VFR discussion titled, "Contrary Thoughts on the Martin Luther King Holiday and its Significance in American Life," Lawrence Auster mentioned King's activities on the night of his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, which has been the subject of an outpouring of racial atonement in the media this week, a sort of Yom Kippur for white liberals. In that discussion, Auster wrote: As for MLK’s sexual activities, according to his own long-time lieutenant Ralph Abernathy, he did carry on with a great variety of women more or less continuously. He even was having a very audible sex session with a woman in his hotel room immediately after he delivered the “I have a dream speech,” while his confederates, gathered in the main room of the suite, heard the session going on. That he behaved in such a manner on that historic day suggests a person who is seriously disordered. On another occasion, which as I remember was just before his death, as told in Abernathy’s book, King got into sleazy arguments and physical fights with two different paramours on the same evening. The evidence is established that MLK was not just a man who had an adulterous liaison here and there as he traveled around the country, living and working under tremendous stress, and an object of awe and admiration, a situation that will naturally present sexual temptations, but that he was spectacularly out of control in his…

HENRY McCULLOCH writes:

In New Mexico, sodomatrimony has not (yet) been inflicted on the state by legislation or referendum.  Nevertheless, in two New Mexico counties, judges – pretending to see an “equal rights violation” in not issuing licenses to sodomites purporting to permit them to “marry” one another – have just decreed that county clerks must issue licenses permitting these obscene parodies of marriage to proceed.  We’ll see if New Mexicans take any state-level action through their legislature to reverse these judges’ mischief.

New Mexico’s Republican – and Catholic – governor, Susana Martinez, has already said she plans to do nothing to challenge this.  The state’s Democratic – and Baptist – attorney general, Gary King, has said the same.  King plans to challenge Martinez for the governor’s mansion instead.  So New Mexicans for Normal Life are without allies at the statewide level of both major parties.  Martinez even trotted out that oh-so-stale line so beloved of Catholic politicians looking for an excuse to defy the Church’s teaching: “personally opposed, but…” (more…)

FRED OWENS writes:

Here is a look at the future for aging boomers. The cause of this problem is arguable, and possible solutions are worth discussing. But the numbers themselves are facts. We did not have enough children to give each one of us a nursemaid and blame who you will, the fact itself is rather stubborn.

It might be worthwhile to urge younger people in their child-bearing years to take heed.

But even so, we aging boomers will have to care for each other, one ancient cripple aiding another, and suffer through it.

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DANIEL S. writes:

Last week’s conviction and sentencing of Bradley “Chelsea” Manning to 35 years in prison for leaking documents to Wikileaks warrants some passing comments.

First of all, it should be reiterated that what Manning leaked was essentially material any informed observer would have likely known. Much of the material was merely the dirty laundry of Washington’s diplomatic elite. As Mark Hackard observed at the time:

The secrets exposed by the leak pale in comparison to the utter vapidity and decadence of the class at the helm of the self-proclaimed “last, best hope for mankind.” Washington suffers embarrassment from such a massive hemorrhage of sensitive information, but what’s most embarrassing is the emptiness of it all. The Postmodern Empire is like Oakland- there’s no there there.

What was the most troubling revelation was not the Wikileaks documents themselves, but what the presence of someone like Bradley Manning, a sexually confused anti-American, have access to such material tells us about our military and intelligence elites. Mark Steyn saw a correlation between the leaking of Bradley and the government’s previous tolerance, even promotion, of the mass murdering jihadist Major Nidal Hasan: (more…)

THE Muslim Ahmed Akkari says he came to reconsider his role in the Danish cartoon protests while staying in Greenland. The isolated beauty of the Danish-governed island inspired him to think and read. I have never been to Greenland, but it is well known as a place of spectacular beauty. Here are one photographer’s stunning photographs of the Arctic island.

Greenland is the third largest country in North America, with more than 836,000 square miles and a population of about 56,000, making it the least densely populated country in the world. I realize Greenland is very cold, but those who say the world is overpopulated still have an awful lot of explaining to do.

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  AUSTRALIAN media and political figures last week castigated the United States for the Christopher Lane murder, blaming a lack of gun control laws, and advised Australians to decline to visit the U.S. Perhaps Americans should cancel trips to Australia too. Australia needs hand control and foot control laws. This weekend, a 26-year-old woman was beaten unconscious in Victoria after she asked a bus driver to remove a group of black teens who were causing havoc on the bus. According to The Herald Sun: The 26-year-old asked the driver to remove the group who were standing in the aisle being noisy and knocking into passengers. A woman from the gang then threw a drink at her and punched her in the face. "Others from the group got involved and the woman was dragged to the ground, punched and kicked to her body and head, rendering her unconscious," Sergeant Anita Brens said. "The bus driver opened the bus door and the group ran from the bus along Swanston Street towards Flinders Street."

AHMED AKKARI, a former Muslim imam who was a major figure seven years ago in stoking violent protests over a Danish newspaper cartoon of Mohammed, is now full of love for his adopted country and publicly announced three weeks ago that he was wrong to oppose freedom of speech. See this report by Ingrid Carlqvist in Dispatch International on Akkari’s appearance last week before the Free Press Society of Denmark. Akkari is still a Muslim, which gives reason to suspect his sincerity. He also argues for tolerance of Islam in Denmark, which is further reason to suspect his sincerity. Nevertheless, he made this statement:

The truth is that there is not a single mosque or Muslim organization in Denmark that is not run by Islamists. As soon as you enter the house of the believers, you are met with Islamism whether you want it or not. As soon as you become a devoted Muslim, you are infected by extremism.

Akkari has apologized to cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.

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DON VINCENZO writes:

In a unanimous decision, the five judges of the New Mexico Supreme Court last week upheld the State Appeals Court’s ruling that it is illegal for even a small photography business owned by practicing Christians to refuse to photograph a homosexual “commitment ceremony” on the basis of their religious beliefs. What makes this ruling bizarre, as well as another step in the continuing loss of religious liberty, is that the State of New Mexico does NOT permit homosexual marriage. That detail seemed to not to matter to the legal solons who sit on New Mexico’s highest tribunal.

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    KARL D. writes: Here is something sweet for a change from The Daily Mail. A ninety-six year old man penned some lyrics about his recently-departed wife of 75 years and sent them into a local songwriting contest. What happened next was something he didn't expect. I wish the young man who ran the contest was wearing something other than a torn up ball cap and braces, but you can't have everything. Be sure to watch the video to hear the song.

THE Orwellian hypocrisy of the term “hate crime” has never been more obvious than during the last two days, when Oklahoma officials have assured the public that the presumed murder of Australian Christopher Lane by three thugs, two of whom were blacks enamored of anti-white black gangsterism, was not a hate crime. The news was broadcast around the world today and it was remarkably uniform. According to The Guardian, to cite just one of many news sources:

Stephens County district attorney Jason Hicks said there was not enough evidence collected so far in the investigation to indicate Lane’s killing was motivated by race.

“At this point, the evidence does not support the theory that Christopher Lane was targeted based upon his race or nationality,” Hicks said in a statement.

This is not true.

If a person tells his friends, as did James Edwards, that he hates a certain category of people and then goes out with his friends to kill a person from that category with no provocation, there is enough evidence to consider it a hate crime. If this is not potentially a hate crime, then no crime is. Of course, there should be no such thing as the “hate crime.” All crimes are acts of hatred. But the term adds prosecutorial leverage to crimes committed by white, heterosexual men, and that is its only purpose, which makes it useless when it comes to Christopher Lane.

The public laps these assurances up. The disturbing desire for justice must be wrong. There will be no justice. There will be a prolonged trial, followed by years in a recreational center for the convicted, followed by more murder.

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THOMAS F. BERTONNEAU writes:

Sometimes at The Thinking Houswife you address the topic of female elegance. I attach a photo-portrait of my paternal grandmother Nellie Pamela Gayaut (1883 – 1966) taken around 1906 at the time of her marriage to my grandfather, Gaston Bertonneau.  Nellie was a Creole, born and raised in the French Quarter, French-speaking, and a daughter of les gens de couleur libres, the mulatto artistocracy of old New Orleans. She could be a French girl, costumed to be painted by Degas or Toulouse-Lautrec. I regret deeply that she died when I was barely twelve and that I did not have the opportunity to know her better, for example, to speak to her in French.

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  IN this entry yesterday, I reported that 49 percent of blacks interviewed in a Pew Research Center Survey said "a lot" more needs to be done to achieve racial equality. I had misread the figures. The actual number, as the reader Brian C. pointed out, is 79 percent and I have corrected it.

THE New York Times has published all of one paragraph on the Christopher Lane murder. I won’t bother to compare these few words with the reams of columns and news articles on the Trayvon Martin case because it’s all so obvious. This one paragraph was just enough to mention that the victim was in a “well-to-do” neighborhood while the accused came from the “gritty section of town.” Race was not mentioned at all.

Given the widespread coverage of the Lane murder elsewhere, I am surprised, however, that the Times has not run a piece stating that this case has prompted a “conversation” about race. Or perhaps a “conversation” about “gun control.” It is just about time for an article that amplifies the economic differences between the victim and the accused and makes sure everyone knows that one of the three was white. It’s time to explain to the world why the murderers were not to blame: the teens came from broken homes, they were poor, they did not have all the advantages of Christopher Lane and it was way too easy for them to acquire guns.

Someone is asleep at the switch. On the other hand, maybe this is wisdom. Sometimes the most effective propaganda is silence.

— Comments —

James P. writes:

The New York Times — when they talk, they’re lying, when they remain silent, they’re lying.

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