KEVIN V. writes:

Here is today’s State Department announcement, sent to all employees:

2012 National Transgender Day of Remembrance

National Transgender Day of Remembrance is observed on November 20th each year to memorialize those who suffered or died as a result of anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. Such persons were victimized simply because they failed to meet someone else’s expectation of how they should identify or present themselves. Globally, the transgender community is among the most vulnerable and most misunderstood of communities, often facing lives of persecution, humiliation, poverty, exclusion, and rejection – even from their own families. (more…)

IN rejecting the current American order, it is a big mistake to idolize the Founding and seek to return to an earlier point in our political history. As a reader noted in the previous entry and as Lawrence Auster points out, we couldn’t have gotten here unless America was flawed from the start. Mr. Auster writes:

The official documents of the Founding defined America in terms of universal equal freedom (the Declaration of Independence) and neutral government procedures (the Constitution). It did not define America as a religiously, culturally, and racially specific nation. Yes, such culturally specific definitions were a part of the Founding, but were not stated with the same force, explicitness and authority as the equalitarian, procedural aspects. (more…)

HERE IS another example of fraktur, colorful documents made by Pennsylvania Germans in the 18th and 19th centuries. This marriage certificate was made in 1839 in Northampton, Pennsylvania. Here is a translation: I, Maria Stüwer, entered into the state of matrimony with Johannes Spriegel, on the 14th day of March, in the year of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, one thousand eight hundred and thirty seven. In God’s name we commenced, his spirit leads us on the right path, to announce the state of householding. Because it is still so unknown to many, we bring the verses into bright light, informing those the teaching breaks. [In English] Made by Daniel Stephen Horn, Teacher, September the 3rd, 1839.

HERE is good news. Thousands of people turned out in cities across France for two different demonstrations, yesterday and today, against a bill that would legalize homosexual marriage and adoption. Tiberge writes about the events at Galliawatch.

Notice how the banner above calls attention not just to marriage as one man and one woman, but to the child as having both a mother and a father. Homosexual marriage involves the unjust deprivation of children of their natural parents and homosexual adoption deprives the orphaned child of surrogates for both his mother and father. Behind the banner is a sign calling for parity in marriage, mocking the left’s constant calls for parity with equal number of men and women in all spheres of life. And below is another great sign, which says, “A father, a mother — One doesn’t lie to children.” That’s a terrific statement.

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CHRISTINE SMITH writes:

I came across this song by the Quebec band Mes Aïeux on Youtube. I think these Québécois are onto something. The song didn’t end with as much “punch” as I had hoped, but they bring up some good points about the degeneration of culture.

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  AT Galliawatch, the blogger Tiberge, who writes about the nightmarish conquest of France from within, writes: The Plutonic forces of destruction cannot be stopped. We have to let them run their course to make way for the new. But we must, at the same time, do whatever we can to see to it that the new order, built on the ashes of the old, is not devoid of memory. That it is, instead, totally aware of what happened, of who was responsible, of what was done and not done to prevent it, and of the responsibility to keep alive the best of our efforts.

AT Minding the Campus, Clark Whelton discusses the linguistic chaos that extreme tolerance and open-mindedness created. He writes:

In the mid-1980s, American English was overwhelmed by a linguistic mutation that transferred the burden of verbal communication from speaker to listener. Because it sidestepped the need for vocabulary and clarity, and because its shapeless syntax shielded speakers from the risk of saying something insensitive or incorrect, this new mode of expression won rapid acceptance, jumping from campus jargon to national discourse with astonishing speed. It was, like, you know, like, whoa. I mean, I’m like omigod! It was, hello, you know, totally amazing, and stuff.

He says the trend has basically run its course, which is surprising to me.

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  NUMEROUS comments have been added to the excellent discussion in the entry on whether American traditionalists can rightfully view themselves as dissidents similar to the Soviet dissidents who fought Communism. In that entry, Henry McCulloch writes: I agree with [Lawrence] Auster that American traditionalists (Americans, in this comment) can no longer dissent from the U.S.A. in the same way Solzhenitsyn dissented from the USSR, although Americans’ view of the U.S. government should parallel Solzhenitsyn’s view of the Soviet Communist Party.  Americans traditionally do not dissociate their country from its government, despite early Americans’ wariness of government.  Solzhenitsyn, by the time he emerged from the gulag, certainly dissociated Russia from the Soviet Union; indeed he viewed the Bolshevik Revolution and all its works as largely alien irruptions into Russian life.  In his mind, Russia and the Communists’ Soviet Union were not at all the same thing.  Solzhenitsyn was right about that, even as he was also right not to deny Russians’ complicity in Communist crimes. Any successful future in post-America for Americans will be despite the U.S. government, which is as anti-American as the Bolsheviks were anti-Russian.  Mr. Auster says it’s no longer enough to be a dissident, because dissenting implies one seeks the restoration of a previous order.  But no restoration of the old American order is possible.  That America is gone.  Thus the United States that was the legitimate government of America is also gone, succeeded by a U.S. government actively hostile to most Americans.  This is not quite the situation Solzhenitsyn thought Russia was in under Communist rule.  If Solzhenitsyn had believed the Russia buried under the…

ANDY writes:

EMBOLDENED supposedly by Romney’s loss among women, liberal Democrats and Tories are scrambling for new ways to make motherhood obsolete, The Daily Mail reports. It all boils down to more of the same old socialist plans for subsidized childcare, parental leave and affirmative action, which all boil down to making motherhood more unappealing. (more…)

IN THE recent entry on an article titled “Going Solzhenitsyn,” in which a writer argued for traditionalists to look to Soviet dissidents for inspiration, Lawrence Auster maintains that it is too late for dissidence. Here is his comment in full:

My only quibble with Robert Oculus’s article is the title and the concluding phrase, “We must now go Solzhenitsyn.” I think it’s too late for that.

Let me explain. (more…)

GUILAIN writes from France:

Reading my recent description here of French women and their terrible fashions, one could think that I had never come across a beautiful, feminine woman.

Actually I have. It happened during my first year in college (six years ago). There was a young woman who always paid great attention to makeup, grooming and clothes. Her outfits were modest, but truly elegant. Most of the time she wore pants (I wish she hadn’t), but a few times she exhibited delightful skirts. I admired particularly that she never, ever appeared with androgynous shoes, but always with nice women’s shoes. She stood out thanks to the way she dressed, but that’s not all.

She also was full of feminine grace which one could admire in her movements and smile. And she was a Catholic. One of the last thing she told me before she moved to Paris (four years ago) was: “I like France.“

This one sentence was arresting. Why was it important? (more…)

SINCE the election, citizens from 20 states have filed for secession on the White House website. The petitions from two states, Louisiana and Texas, are close to the number (25,000) needed for a formal response from the White House under a petition program started by Obama last year. These online petitions obviously do not mean much formally, but they are encouraging nevertheless. More and more people appear to be thinking and talking about partitioning America.

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JOHN writes:

This front page AP story about the trial of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is how our hometown newspaper, the Cortland Standard, chose to observe Veteran’s Day .

We are truly a disoriented society.  God have mercy.

To all of you who have served this nation, I salute you.  I am grateful for your service.

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THE indignities to which the Holy Eucharist has been subjected since Vatican II are enough to make one physically sick. They make me nauseous and slightly dizzy, as I would feel if I saw, say, a small child slapped across the face. But things are getting worse. As reported at Tradition in Action, some parishes have instituted self-serve Communion.

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IN A COMMENT at VFR,  Henry McCulloch writes:

JAMES P. writes:

You wrote,

“Men, it seems, have lost all of their instincts when it comes to keeping their wives away from other men. I have a hard time feeling sorry for Broadwell’s husband. What was he thinking when he allowed her to go off every day? Why did he marry someone so unsuited to loving him? I guess he too was bowled over by Broadwell’s decadent vitality and attractiveness. Also, he might have liked the fact that she was going to earn big bucks. Life in Washington, or wherever else they lived, is very expensive.”

I couldn’t agree more. To permit your woman to travel overseas in close proximity to a powerful other man is nuts. Of course, that’s exactly what happens whenever a married woman deploys. Thus, marrying a woman who serves overseas is nuts. (more…)