This is going to have to be a make up day. Doing back squats, Angie, and working on form on ohs and front squat. Will post results. RIP W.F.B.Jr.

Awesome video - very well done, glad to finally see the ending.

WOD: "Jolie"

400 m run
15 thrusters
10 burpees to box jumps
5 rounds for time

Good job Jolie !

Nice nutrition video in the journal. Nicole has a potty mouth, and that's totally hot.

My father said, "Son, remember the three Bs to be a real man. Broads, Buicks, and Buckley"

A great man has passed. Will the conservative movement pass with him?

I'm going to enjoy the rest day! Great cycle everybody.

We are getting more and more interest in the East Coast CF Challenge, be sure to sign-up ASAP!

A fitting tribute. There are very few people you can point to who were directly responsible for the prosperity we've enjoyed for the last 25 years. Reagan, WFB and the Republican Congress through the 90's. In his passing we can only hope to one day return to mutual respect and open thoughtful debate in politics he so masterfully embodied. WFB was a class act and proved politics can enlighten and engage rather than debase by juvenile name calling. It is up to us now to carry on and live by his example, and most of all show it in the election booth this fall. Long live WFB.

New cfit journal, what am I doing in the posts then?

Bill Buckley lives. He lives in "God and Man at Yale" and on "Firing Line". He lives in the intellects of ordinary men and of extraordinary achievers. He died in his study, but he will live long in mine. Long live Bill Buckley.

Wanted to share this video with my rest day buddies.

TOTAL CHAOS from The Chaos Compound. Pretty good numbers, but mostly it was a going away workout for a lot of good dudes who will be leading Americas elite in a year or two. Thanks RK, VK, AS, IH, and WP for swimming in the deep end with me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8pT2vk7aOc

Name Squat Press Deadlift TOTAL
(PL) 325 140 445 910
(AS) 325 185 405 915
(IH) 275 125 395 795
(TC) 335 185 345 865
(RK) 325 155 305 785
(VK) 120 60 145 325
(RR) 215 95 305 615
(MC) 235 135 285 655
(SK) 285 145 445 875
(BC) 355 180 465 1000
(WP) 335 165 385 885

lots of cheese. lots of lessons learned.

Stay strong guys.

PL

That was an awesome video series; I really enjoyed it. I love Sevan's sudden modesty once everything is said and done, haha

Jolie just rocks! Great video.

I've been loving this series all week. Great editing and music selection too.

CCTJOEY, no, it wont die, this is all the more reason to carry it on.

A fitting tribute. There are few people you can point to who are responsible for the prosperity we've enjoyed for the last 25 years; Reagan, the Republican Congress and WFB. WFB elevated political debate to mutual respect and thoughtful debate, away from juvenile name calling and knee jerk personal attacks. He was a class act, and a fundamental role model for ages to come. Long live WFB.

Awesome video again. Loved everything about it.
I knew Jolie would win! Good thing she kicked his butt. He deserved it for lots of reasons
Cute shot at the end! You rock woman!

My back is more sore than it's ever been since starting CrossFit. I think it's from the OHS... I haven't really done anything else the last few days. whoa. Hands are hurtin' for certain too.

Love CrossFit and Love this rest day. Enjoy!

“We need a rebirth of gratitude for those who have cared for us, living and, mostly, dead. The high moments of our way of life are their gifts to us. We must remember them in our thoughts and in our prayers; and in our deeds.”

-WFB

#17 - Cool to pull that.

I was very disappointed from all that trash talk. must have been a real humbling experience. rock on Jolie...

gonna get around to those articles later tonight.

makeup day for me tomm with the backsquats and a nice long run swim-pt run

"I was very disappointed from all that trash talk."

comment 19

You aren't nearly as disappointed as I am. LOL

JOLIE, you have not seen the last of me!

Now that was a very cool video. I really enjoyed that and Jolie was very classy and is in obviously insanely good shape! I shall strive to that goal!

post, the third

Jolie's cute. And #19: Sevan was just kidding with the trash talk. No worries.

Sevan! - nice work still sir!

Nonetheless the fact that if I were to adjust those weights for my body weight versus Jolie's...Good God I'd have been doing probably 150 pounds and that would have taken me ALL DAY! LOL

She was very impressive. Its a nice role model to try to follow.

God bless WFB. "I shall not look upon his like again."

Really great video, I was yelling at my laptop for Jolie to win at the end. Great job Sevan, though I'm really glad you didn't vomit, that would have been kind of gross.

WFB: The passing of a giant. Arguably, he was one of the most influential persons on the American (and world) scene in the last half century not to be elected to office. He gave conservatism a voice and the energy it needed to make it “mainstream.” The linkage between WFB, Goldwater, Reagan, and pushing communism to, and over, the brink is undeniable

For me, I was always impressed that despite his wealth, his worked ethic was legendary: 2 or 3 columns a week, a book or two per year, dozens of speeches per year, a weekly TV show that ran for 33 years, running a magazine, etc., etc., etc. WFB knew how to live too: sailing, skiing, playing the harpsichord, entertaining. I have 30 or so of his 50+ books – all informative and entertaining. I especially enjoyed his sailing books like “Racing Through Paradise” and “Atlantic High” and his books where he chronicled one week of his life, e.g., “Overdrive”. These books give a good insight to the man, his friendships (with those on the right and left), family, and faith. WFB packed a lot of living into every day. Talk about a purpose driven life!! Whether you agree with his politics or not, we could all take a lesson from him on how to live.

His passing, along with my father, who coincidentally was born in 1925 and died 8 weeks ago on Jan. 1, leaves a big hole for me.

Thanks coach for remembering WFB.

WFB, RIP.

Thank you to all the great folks at CrossFit Kids. The certification seminar is well worth the time and money! Even after just one day of the seminar I have come away with so many great skills and ideas to incorporate into our kids classes.

I highly encourage anyone who is running a kids program to attend this seminar.

Fun video! Thanks Tony.
Glad I kept the volume low for the kids but still the video rocked.

If you have a suggestion, someone please pass along any advise for relieving 'turf-toe'. I have been taking ibuprofin twice a day for the past month and the condition is still present. What's strange is I can do box jumps just fine; no double-bounce, etc. Same goes for pushing off for wall-ball and it's not a bother when stabilizing for heavy squats or thrusters. But later in the day, usually for the drive home, BANG, I'm hobbled when I get out of my truck.

Tomorrow I am going to up the anty and start an epsom salt soak, and heck, I might even grab one of those foot whirpools thingies to see how that helps. Oh, and I'll be grabbing some new shoes too, so advice there would be helpful too.

Like I said, any advice would be nice, so please e-mail me from the name link. Thanks in advance.

Tony: great series with the vids... love it!

these videos were a lot of fun...thanks

sevan you are hot :)

Great video!

"A great man has passed. Will the conservative movement pass with him?"

God, let's hope so.

I train at One World so I am lucky enough to train with Jolie and Freddy, Jolie is the real deal, I was blown away when I first seen her train. I am excited to see my home come up on the site.

missed wods for the last week,lots of Drs appts but will do yesterdays wod today and enjoy it!!hate it when I can't do my wods.

jolie is a badass, one world is badass... awesome facility, go to them if your in the bay area! Only way to get harder is to train with someone who is harder than you, and they definatley are. Hooyah macho camacho!

Tony,
That was some very impressive vid editing going on there, very nice product.
JB

Female CrossFitters look out for Sevan! I'd do it too for the hug...

Buckley's deep understanding of the human person and the importance of truth, goodness, and beauty in the world are why he made such an impact. That is why he railed against communism, which subordinated man to the service of the state. This is a great degradation to man and should be fought at all turns.
Even more close to home, however, is reclaiming the dignity of the human person. What good are liberal or conservative politics if they over-look the person whom they were made to serve? Ours is a fight for the recognition of truth and the inviolable goodness of the individual, a freedom found only in that objective truth. This is not a freedom, however, to do whatever we want, but a freedom to do what is right. This is the true American spirit, that man is capable of greatness and should be provided the ability to live according to what is right. If we want to honor the memory of Bill Buckley, may it be in living this American spirit, living our lives in recognition of that truth which surpasses the individual and because so, upholds the individual.

Thanks for putting these articles up. We work so hard on perfecting our physical-health, we must also work hard on perfecting our intellectual and moral health.

Thanks for the compliments, folks, but all the editing credit goes to Carey Peterson. He's behind the camera in all these, but you can hear some gems of insight coming out of his mouth during the vids if you listen carefully. We had a blast shooting these, but the real work is in pulling everything together in editing. If you like them and want more like them, let Carey know!

Tony~ Great video...one of your best
Jolie~ you are an inspiration, I enjoy your humble attitude, get results performance
Sevan~ get effort!
Coach and Lauren,
Thank you for challenging us in all aspects of being human, physical, mental, spiritual...
#39 "Even more close to home, however, is reclaiming the dignity of the human person. What good are liberal or conservative politics if they over-look the person whom they were made to serve? Ours is a fight for the recognition of truth and the inviolable goodness of the individual, a freedom found only in that objective truth. This is not a freedom, however, to do whatever we want, but a freedom to do what is right. This is the true American spirit, that man is capable of greatness and should be provided the ability to live according to what is right."
Beautifully said!

Tomorrow hmmmmmm maybe Linda?

"Back in the thirties we were told we must collectivize the nation because the people were so poor. Now we are told we must collectivize the nation because the people are so rich." WFB

excellent vid ,knew Jolie would win, well done Sevan ,kept going through the pain. the difference to me looked like Jolies superior kipping pull ups to Sevans,which were more like normal chins. well done both.it's atually stopped raining,oh wrong it's on again!

Great acting sevan, but there are easier ways to get hugs! You da man!

Just remember, not everyone here agrees with conservativism, or at least everything that comes with it. I for one, do not.

Great vid conclusion.

Great vid...thanks!

did Angie today, rx'd

f/45/135

100 strict/overhand pullups
100 pushups
100 anchored situps
100 squats

27 min

Great videos! I really enjoy the trio. Nice job Jolie. Hats off to Sevan for the effort. It really was a close race to the end.

From the Feb 28 New York Times:

"Yet despite his uncompromising beliefs, Mr. Buckley was firmly committed to civil discourse and showed little appetite for the shrillness that plagues far too much of today’s political discourse."

"For a time back in the 1960s and ’70s, Mr. Buckley and the liberal columnist Murray Kempton were something of a traveling road show. And they were friends. Yale’s angry young man turned out to be not so angry after all. He hated most of what the liberals stood for. He didn’t hate them."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/opinion/28thu4.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=%22William+F+Buckley%22&st=nyt&oref=slogin

scott k,

Good point, but there are an even greater number who don't know what it is.

I, like Buckley, identify myself as a libertarian and not a conservative.

Buckley had a gift for friendship across political lines. He was also a mentor to generations of young writers.
He made conservatism respectable by rescuing it from cranks, crackpots, and anti-semites. His joy and exuberance was delightful to watch. The intellectual rigor of "Firing Line" is unsurpassed.

But a fair and balanced picture must also make mention of some of the less attractive aspects of Buckley's record. The National Review has never apologized for the hideously racist and hateful stuff it printed in opposing civil rights. It supported the apartheid regime in South Africa until the bitter end. Today the magazine prints bogus stories about African-Americans voting illegally. For decades, the magazine heaped praise on Franco, a facist dictator. And Buckley spent over 50 years defending Joseph McCarthy.

Great job by both Jolie and Sevan! Great video series Tony!

CrossFit rocks!

#51 Daniel-

Buckley was right about McCarthy, whom liberals have attempted to villify.

#46 Scott K- you're only 23; wait a few years, and you'll become more conservative. Don't worry, hop in, the water's great!

Awesome video... Jolie Rocks!!!

JOLIE - My Heroine!

Thanks for the articles on and by Bill Buckley.
RIP - may his legend live forever.
I wonder who has the baton after him.

One of my favorite books was written by Buckley,"Let Us Speak of Many Things".

Thanks coach; great articles today.

Sevan-

Your gracious and courtly gesture (allowing the lady, Jolie, to "win") was inspirational. You have proven that chivalry is not dead.
You, sir, are a gentleman.

Great video(s)!

Comment #26 - Posted by: jeftyg

Great post, thanks. I hope Crossfit will be a tonic in your grieving.

Paul

Jolie you have been an awesome inspiration to me and my 8 year old daughter, Jolie. Yes, I had to tell my Jolie that One World Jolie would probably beat daddy too. Great work by both of you..Thanks for the laughs

#29, James Humphrey -

I recommend you also post your question on the message boards, in the Injuries section. There are a lot of knowledgeable people there who don't necessarily read these comments.

The only toe problem I've ever had was a tendency toward bunions (big toe points toward the other toes) and the base joint becomes sore. It really falls all the way back to some bad knee alignment, which torques my ankles (and has given me plantar fasciitis and achilles problems to go with the resulting arch problems) - and the arch problems correlate with the pain in my big toe. I do a lot of stretching, and actively work the medial side of my big toe (trying to stretch it to be straight vice bent in). I've used toe separators, which are basically rubber blocks to force space between the big toe and adjacent toe, in the past. Resolving the knee problem has removed a lot of "downstream" problems for me.

Good luck.

I loved the vids, well done to all, and congrats Sevan for being amusing and entertaining and putting it all out there. J kept laughing at your quips. Nicely done. Making Crossfit vids that J enjoys as much as I do is a gift and I'm grateful!

Jolie - awesome as usual. "The force is strong in that one."

WFB - defender of liberty, defeater of communism. Can there be a more honorable title? Thanks Coach for getting these three articles to us, I wanted to read about him all week but missed the mark. These were a feast of learning for me.

I really enjoyed Nicole's piece from the CFJ. Reminds me of the cert last year when she was teaching about the GHD, which she termed the 'fine axx developer.' Now really, who would be more well qualified to make such a judgement?

Freakin' beautiful day in Memphis today, 60+ degrees, CAVU 'to the moon', a great day to be alive and enjoying the blessings of liberty we've been given the likes of WFB.

Paul

#59 annlee; thanks, I'll definitely look at the injury section.

Jolie, you are absolutely amazing.

Great video! I gotta try that WOD sometime.

Wonderful video series, enjoyed every bit of 'em all. Nice work to both Jolie and Sevan!

Just a quick reminder: East Coast Crossfit Challenge in Albany NY May 30th-June 1st. See www.albanycrossfit.com for details. Only 30 more days of $75 registration fee, then the price goes up to $100. Also, great deal on spectator tickets for $20 for the whole weekend, includes food all weekend AND the Sat. night BBQ! Come and socialize and cheer your favorites on.

Susie

Playing around this morning:

4 rounds for time.
500M row.
10 PU.

The CF Afghanistan t-shirts arrived last night. Thank you Shawn G. for getting those out so quickly.

Missed the workout yesterday so did a CFC WOD from last week:

7 Rounds of:
7 Pull-ups
7 Thrusters (95#)
7 Burpees

15:24

This hurt a lot.

45/m/6'/185
firedog06@comcast.net

PROBIE AND I DID THE ASS WHOOPING WOD EARLY TODAY!

MY TIME: 6:06 SLOWER THAN LAST TIME.
PROBIE: 7:34 NOT BAD!

PROBIE IS SHORT FOR PROBATIONARY FIREFIGHTER.

JOLIE IS A HARD CORE ATHLETE! POWERFUL AND SLEEK!

RURAL/METRO FIRE DEPT.
TUCSON, AZ.

Great picture!

While you're down there ....

31/f/160/68"

today i did "grace". i don't think i have ever tried to do this with any real weight.

w/u 100 DU for time -- 9:54
CFWUx2 (real pullups, -dips)
burgener warm upx3 broom, 15# bar, oly bar
1x5 clean and jerk with oly bar.

grace
clean and jerk (135#men, 95# women)
30 reps for time
7:24 with 70#

today was not so good. just couldn't focus. hence the 10' for double unders and inconsistent form on cleans. also bummed cause i thought the bar i was using was 25#, not 15#. :-( i think i need to start doing a few cleans everyday. the form eludes me and degrades so fast when i was getting tired.

ck

Reflections on Bill Buckley:

Buckley became a star of the conservative movement. That movement grew from grass roots in the days of Eisenhower, and rallied around Goldwater as its standard bearer. This was a movement against Moderate/East Coast Republicans, Marxism and International Communism, Marxism and the welfare state, racism, and big, centralized, Marxist-like government. Eisenhower made no small contribution when he installed anti-Communist training for all military personnel. It was a movement for fiscal responsibility, individualism and federalism. Even Hillary, the most intelligent woman in America, joined, it was that strong

This was a time of the most intense left wing media (LWM), dominated by the NY Times and the prime time newscasts from the three networks. It tried to hang the albatrosses of the John Birch Society, war mongering, racism, and religious fundamentalism on the movement. Climbing out of that hole has taken decades, and Buckley certainly helped.

Buckley was the prime spokesman for the movement, selected by the LWM. He was barely understandable - overly inflected accent, algebraic arguments, and a vocabulary that stressed dictionaries. He looked like a screwball - rolling eyes, weak-necked, slouching in his chair, upstaged by the randomly waving baton of a pen or pencil perpetually glued to his hand. He was a caricature of himself. The LWM was happy to use him regularly for balance, the comical standard bearer for conservatism. In the end, the tactic backfired - he beat them at their own game.

He never sounded like he read, nor looked like his insight. While the mainstream media slid into an abyss, Buckley grew. His debates with John Kenneth Galbraith and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., were classics that helped bring conservatism into a practical focus. America became used to his style, and he expanded in so many directions to deserve the name Renaissance Man. And we learned to know him as an incredible gentleman in a vulgar era where such niceties atrophied. He was that rarity of both an intellectual and intelligent.

Conservatism is still climbing - leaderless, Buckley-less, disorganized, urging Christian fundamentalism in place of religious freedom, confused again by the propaganda of the latest danger to Western civilization, witlessly giving ground to the populism of the left. Conservatism will have to be perpetually reinvented against the ever encroaching swamp of the left, promising incentive-less equality over practicable wealth and power, and the skid from a towering republic to an impoverished democracy.

Thanks for the videos they are great.

Comments like"why does baloney reject the grinder" are just classic Buckley!

It was so fun to listen and read Mr. Buckley, and we so much better off for his great contributions.

WHATS UP WITH THESE POLITICAL ARTICLES... I THOUGHT THIS WAS FITNESS.... AND EVEN THOUGH I LOVE CROSSFIT AND MOST OF THEIR TRAINING PRINCIPLES... THE ALLISON VIDEOS ARE SOME OF THE MOST UNPROFESSIONAL FOOTAGE IVE SEEEN ON THIS SITE... I LOVE FITNESS MORE THAN ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE... IN MOST CASES ITS ALL IVE GOT.. I LOVE THIS WEBSITE BECAUSE CF IS USUALLY SO ON POINT WITH THEIR SCIENCE, PROFESSIONALISM, AND APPLICATION... BUT THE ALLISON VIDEO IS JUST A MOCKERY... JOLIE IN THE ASSWOOPING VIDEO, NOW THERES A SERIOUS FITNESS PROFESSIONAL... NOT JOKING AROUND WITH HER TITS ALL OVER THE PLACE... KEEPS A STRAIGHT FACE WHILE KICKING SOME DUDES ASS IN A PULLUP THRUSTER BURPEE CIRCUIT.... LETS GET BACK TO BUSINESS PEOPLE!!!!!!!

4*3 reps weighted chin-up @ 16p
max pushups in 2 min: 30

I normally refrain from engaging in political discussions within this community, but I couldn't resist one particular thought that occurred to me with the passing of WFB: compare the penetrating intelligence of a program like Firing Line to the embarrassing farce of today's political talk (Hannity & Colmes, Hardball, etc.). It's also useful to recall just how uncomfortable WFB had become with the current shape of the conservative movement in this country. A true giant of intellectual life in the 20th century who will not be replaced. RIP.

Annie but staged so only 50 pullups, 14min target is whole WOD

just picked up a copy of "lone survivor"...thanks just doesn't seem to say enough!

Couch Potatoe, #33,

Glad to see God's convenient for the liberal movement today.

ZACH- Dude, chill. It's a rest day. A day for discussions. If you don't like it, don't read it. Every rest day is like this. I could care less about the political, etc. discussions so I DON'T CLICK ON THEM. Duuurrrr. I read the comments because some of my friends post on rest days.

Again, chill. Go lift something heavy instead.

Good partner work-out with limited equipment.
2:00 runs alternating with the following done tabata(20 on,10 off)
sit-ups,incline press,back ext.,triceps push downs, ab plank, kb swings, reverse curl-ups.
Good 28 minutes.
Partners can work with own weights, while other runs.

Speaking of fighting Communism, I would encourage everyone to take a look at the following two links on the history of Barack Obama (first) and the nature of the church he attended off and on for 20 years:

http://www.freedomsenemies.com/_more/obama.htm

http://sweetness-light.com/archive/barack-obamas-church-ultra-left-and-afrocentric

I have learned that where his supporters are concerned, these links are intrinsically biased, because they portray him in a negative light. This is because they are negative. It is not, as far as I can tell, because any of the particulars are inaccurate.

We need to be clear: "hope" is code-speak for "Social Justice", itself code-speak for leftist social policies which will be racist, classist, economically damaging, and dangerous to our national security.

Since few people read links, I will point out a few high points. His mothers parents went to the "little red church on the hill" in Seattle, and were apparently Marxist fellow travellers. His mother married a Kenyan Muslim in college (who was himself already married in Kenya, who was a drunk, and who died some years later in an apparent drunk driving accident), and had him. They divorced when he was 2. She then married a few years later an Indonesian Muslim and moved with him and young "Barry" Obama to Jakarta. From roughly age 6 to age 10 he irregularly attended the mosque with his father. He was also enrolled for some of that time in a Muslim school in which they studied the Koran roughly 2 hours a week. He was also enrolled in supplementary Arabic classes, so as to be able to read the Koran in the original.

In Islamic law, the father carries the same force the mother does in Judaism. If your father is Muslim, you are presumed Muslim, particularly if you participate in the faith, as he did.

His mother divorced his stepfather when he was ten, and shipped him off to live with his white grandparents in Hawaii. She never repatriated, and died in Jakarta.

His fellow traveller grandparents had a friend named Frank he mentions as a mentor in one of his books. Frank was a member of the Communist Party of the USA. He never bothers to mention, apparently, in any of his books, the fact that not only is he half white, but that his white grandparents played a large role in his life from age 10 to roughly 18. He makes it sound like he grew up on the South Side, when in fact he went to an affluent high school where recreational drug use was prevalent.

When he went to college, by his own admission he sought out fringe people, including Marxists. He wanted nothing to do with "compromising" with mainstream, white culture.

When he got to Chicago, he joined a black Marxist church, and remained there for 20 years, off and on. The pastor married him and his wife, and gave him the phrase "the Audacity of Hope".

I hear how who people spend time with doesn't reflect on who they are, but let's ponder for a moment if John McCain had the sort of relationship with the Phoenix Grand Wizard that Obama has with Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Does anyone doubt that would come up?

This guy is dangerous. We drop our guard at our peril, and I say that knowing full well that he makes many people "feel good". Study history. There have been many dictators who made people "feel good". At first.

If that sounds like a rant, it is. I am appalled at my own country and their complete lack of discretion, as well as the media for playing it nice with this guy.

Ahh, it's so very easy to see the 'sense' in conservatism when you are born into great wealth and never have an economic care in the world. All WFB's life proved is that, given the choice, be born into a rich family. Some day I too hope to sail the world on a yacht I didn't work to earn and tell people how to live their lives properly. A true American hero indeed.

Reading Jeff Glassmans posts are like watching OPT do a wod. Amazing!
Incredible amount of work completed in a short period of time.
In one short paragraph he has described the state of conservatism in our country.
He is the Crossfit rest day champion!

M/48/151

Tossed my back Friday AM. Combined with shoulder...what a mess.

1 hour back and shoulder PT/T'ai Chi.

Noonan had well-written thoughts on WFB on Saturday. Not unlike the white papers on policy that the candidates put out, the writings of WFB allow one to divine true intent without the mist of personality or presentation. Examples abound.

An proposal for a personal experiment: read, after whiting out the author, a randomly chosen op-ed by any of the three main presidential candidates alongside one from WFB (also whited out). Read them unaware of who wrote the piece, or where the author lived, or to whom the author was born. Who makes the more compelling case on his/her chosen topic?

#81 - I strongly agree!

Those were wise words from Jeff Glassman; he situated Bill Buckley in the context of this times. My one quibble would be my usual lament: conflating Marxism with the welfare state and big government.

Social security is a deeply moral, spectacularly successful and wildly popular big government program that represents one of the greatest triumphs of American democracy. Ditto for greater public sector financing of health care -- which is is coming...sooner, rather than later.

Neither program has much to do with Marxism. But both challenge the dogma that private sector solutions are always and everywhere best.

hahahahaha he lost to a girl

I can't add much more to what's been said about WFB. I can say, however, that in the few debates I did see that he was involved in, and the numberous books and articles I have read by him, the thing that stood out most to me is how he silenced his detractors not with name calling, not with sly insults, but with pure logic. Leaving those he was debating on several occasions speechless. Their arguments almost always turned emotional, and just didn't hold up.

#84
I respectfully disagree that Social Security was/is such a glaring success, unless you measure success by how much a program can convince citizens to become even more dependent on the government. One of the goals of this and other "New Deal" programs, as I understand them, was to limit or even wipe out poverty (please correct me if I'm wrong). I'm glad they were successful and we no longer have poverty in America.
Deeply moral? What about the millions of people that made tons of money throughout their lifetimes and don't need the exorbitant SS checks they get, or those that because they expect a petty SS check in old age, don't bother to save or invest a penny. Also, how's it moral when, like my coworker's father, a man dies just before he turns 65, and that money he gave for years will never be enjoyed by him or his family.

Spectacularly successful? Any economist or banker or accoutant will tell you that the return on the dollar in SS is no where near that of private investments over time. You (I, any paycheck earner) could put the same amount of money in a simple savings account and get a much better return. Not to mention that unless things change, the system will be defunct before long. Any org that could opt out of SS has even their lowest paid workers retiring much better off than they would have on SS (Search Galveston,TX + SS). Galveston's retirees have received an average of a 6.5% return on their plan - still not outstanding, but 3 times the return of SS.

Wildly popular? Yea, I love giving a ton of money out of my paycheck to the government that I will never see again. My family could use that, especially considering I'm not rich myself. I truly agree that there are a few out their that need help. Why should I give, however, to those not responsible enough to save, and take opportunity, food, even pleasure, whatever, away from my family. That's what I give to my church for.
I could go on, and I seriously am not trying to get in a ________ contest, but just as with the savings account example, I'm going to have to go with private sector solutions winning again. I would rather take my chances investing that money, than rely on a bunch of IOU's in the SS account now, or having each of my kids, when they're old enough to work, support another American besides their family. That's what the worker to benificiary ratio will be then - 1:1.
Whether it's marxism, communism, or socialism, each has aspects of bigger government, and as Reagan said, "government isn't the solution, it's the problem."
I'd Love to hear your thoughts.

Playing catch-up...

Angie

as rx: 19:55

Ran a 15 mile race yesterday with 2 miles (total) of the race through sand (on the beaches here in Pensacola). Finished in 2:25. Resting, resting, resting.

Great video series. Relatively new to CF, so I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who hurts doing just a few burpees! Tried the same challenge the other day and finished in 8:34. Not Jolie/Sevan level work, but I'll take it!

#84

"social security is one of the greatest triumphs of american democracy"

I assumne you are a liberal because this is pure liberal logic. Is it a success or is it just so woven into the social fabric, that people are accepting it? I imagine there would be a few people out there who would like to have their social security money and spend it the way they see fit instead of government so conveniently taking it out of your paycheck. I don't deny that social security could be interpreted as a success. I myself believe in it, but "one of the greatest triumphs of american democracy"?????

#86 pretty much points out the absurdity of that claim

Buckley is the man. He did what good conservatives all should have done and bring libertarian principles of economics and liberty into the conservative world.

I have loved these series of videos. Jolie is gorgeous as well.

#65 - do you know if it is still possible to view / possibly order a CF Afghanistan shirt? do you have a link?

thanks

#86, firekllr

Thanks for the respectful and thoughful reply. You write:

"Spectacularly successful? Any economist or banker or accoutant will tell you that the return on the dollar in SS is no where near that of private investments over time. You (I, any paycheck earner) could put the same amount of money in a simple savings account and get a much better return."

Hmmm...not sure about if "a simple savings account" would do better. I guess it depends what kind. But let's remember the name of the program. It's called social security...not unsocial insecurity (which is what private accounts would amount to.) In a private system, there would be winners and losers. Some people would do well. Others would be punished for their lack of financial expertise. The whole point of SS is to provide a basic level of security that ensures you don't end up eating dog food in your old age. Even if you've been a f***up your whole life, you still won't be destitute. If you've managed to prosper, you can take greater investment risks outside of SS.

"Not to mention that unless things change, the system will be defunct before long."
Absolutely untrue. There is a SMALL problem with SS that is easily solved through some combination of tax increases (eg. removing the SS tax exemption the rich enjoy on earning over about $100,000) and slowing the rate of growth in SS benefits (by adjusting the indexing formula.) The eligibility age could also be raised higher and faster than planned.

#72 ZACH: Go play with your smith machine.

My everything is sore. It feels great. With my luck OHS with come up tomorrow :)

#72 Zach:

I felt a bit like you did at first and I am a Conservative. But I like the fact that this site covers the spectrum from the lighthearted progress of Allison, the elite performance of Jolie, OPT, etc, Right Wing ranting and everything in between. It reflects Crossfit, people at all skill levels taking control of THEIR lives. That's conservatism, that's Crossfit. A liberal fitness site is counter-intuitive. Try www.sweatingtotheoldies.com

Finished my first month of Crossfit. Everyone thinks I'm crazy for doing these killer workouts
(I'm 54 years old) It hurts so good and I'm getting real strong. Thanks, Crossfit and this community.

M/28/6'/185
Made up Angie, half jumping pull ups:

16:46 (PR)

I did the workout from the "ass whoopin'" video....pulled it off in 6:49. Must've been one hell of a good day!

#60: "The force is strong in that one."

What's that FROM???? It's driving me crazy, please enlighten.

Thank you much.

19 / F / 5'7" / 142

Made up "Angie"
100 Pull-ups (70 pound assist)
100 push-ups
100 sit-ups
100 squats
Time - 21:29

Jolie rocks! Adding to the list of awesome CrossFit women I hope to meet someday...you all are my role models.

#72 ZACH = globo gym! Just looked up your URL/name. The CF community has cerebral discussions (be it political or something else) on REST days.

Jump in and time to drink the KOOL-AID, dude!

So yeah, score: Angie 1 my hands 0. Anyone have any advice on how to toughen up your hands faster? My hands are completely out of commission, just about tore all of the skin off of them doing the 100 pullups. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Great job babe. I had no doubts you could whoop ass. (who changed your name to JoLee?)

#100 "#60: "The force is strong in that one."
What's that FROM???? It's driving me crazy, please enlighten."

It is from Star Wars. :)

I have loved watching WFB and Noam Chomsky debate. They had some VERY interesting debates on many different issues. Both of them are very intellectual and very imposing in their views.

#80 - Just wait. If Hillary continues the way that she is, she will have her group bring up the fact that Obama has been part of a church that had marxist leanings. But, at the same time, so have synagogues, many churches, and others.

Yes, do not let down your guard. By the way, if Hillary does not bring up this point, the RNC is waiting in the wings for this issue.

To those arguing about social security - if not for it, my grandmother would not be doing so well. She would not be doing so well without my grandfather's investments. It pays to have both. Either side arguing that only one way is the best way is not going to win the argument in my eyes.

Now, for some other big issues - health insurance - 20% of America does not have or is underinsured. I can relate to this somewhat since I rarely see the doctor unless I am absolutely sick (like I did this past week). If the picture is as bleak as what was shown on 60 minutes tonight on CBS, then this country needs to wake up.

On another note, $4 / gallon of gas is coming whether we like it or not. I am going to start saving up for a smart car or another vehicle that gets really good gas mileage for my 60+ minute commute each way. I am also going to try and start convincing my higher ups (once I put in some quality work product for my company) that telecommuting is definitely in the cards since they have already given me a laptop and I have shown that I can work from great distances and make scheduled dates.

For the video - way to go Jolie! I hope to lose some of my gut and compete much later!

jolie, nice work!

sevan.... next time?

I need clarification:
In Nicole's lecture in the March Crossfit journal she shows an arch with PALEO on one side (left side of arch) and ZONE/PALEO on the other. she goes on to say that the ZONE/PALEO was the better, more effective, more productive diet (right side of the arch.) So is the PALEO then the weakest possible option? I just ordered the PALEO book and want to know what the true difference is between ZONon the. What did the PALEO side of the arch represent if the other side was the "elite". I am not new to crossfit but am new to trying to diet, I need help and clarification.
Thanks!!

CFJ Nutrition Video Article: I first found Sears' work in 1993 in college. (he was selling bars in triathlon magazine ads). I can't tell you how it turned my health and performance around then. I've strayed and returned and found the complete picture with Cordain's work (and strayed and returned....) I've been literally a student of health and nutrition for most of my adult life and have never heard/seen a presentation as good as Nicole's. It was simple without being oversimplified, complete without being boring and the delivery was logically organized. You were passionate and oozing with the type certainty that can only come from one who knows that she knows that she knows. Inspiring. I will watch it everyday until I am practicing what I know works. Thank you Nicole.

great show on Discovery right now (9-10p edt) called the Human Body, Pushing the Limits. Very cool stuff about strength and endurance.

#108, jake o -

zone prioritizes QUANTITY - amount of protein relative to carbs relative to fat

paleo priorotizes QUALTIY - sources of pro, carb, fat

ideally, to maximize athletic performance (zone) with longevitiy (paleo), you take in paleo-type foods in zone ratios

#111
Thanks alot for the quick response. So is there a reference tool that can tell me how to "block/ segment" or quantify my Paleo foods? What is the right combination for this? I heard her mention lean mass, how do we measure that vs. body fat. I am really sorry if these questions are way too basic but this is the stuff that really gets me. Thanks alot in advance and thank you Nicole for the intro.
-Jake

m/22/6'1/180

made up "Angie"

as Rx'd: 30:49

100 pullups (about 9 min)
100 pushups (about 4 min)
100 GHD situps (about 14 min) hurt my time and abs tremendously
100 squats (about 4 min)

#103
I torn my hands as well on Angie on Sat; hurts like hell. A friend at the gym told me to put my hands in salt water for 10 min. Yes, I know you will want to scream bloody murder, but it has helped. I've done it twice now. Other than that, keep them clean and neosporin.
Hope this helps!

#39 Jim, well said.
We pursue excellence in CrossFit, but it seems that the virtue of excellence has been abandoned in so many other parts of our society. WFB embodied the pursuit excellence and truth, and made me feel like an intellectual mouse. I hope what he stood for will not be forgotten, but rather celebrated and replicated. Long live WFB Jr.

#94 Mr. Freedman:

I agree with your idea that social security is supposed to be a "safety net" of sorts, but that doesn't change the fact that I lose the personal freedom to choose what to do with that portion of my hard earned money. I've also had the personal freedom to make calculated and educated decisions with my savings in order to have resources in my old age. I haven't squandered it, and if I had, I would accept responsiblity for that, just as I have for other mistakes I've made. If I had the money I've put into SS, I would have even more.

As for your final thought, I was kind of at a loss for a while. It is my understanding that originally, the ratio of workers to SS beneficiaries was around 17 to 1. If I'm not mistaken, it is now around 4 to 1, or so. Your small remedies for the SS problems don't appear to me to be so small. Sure, we could solve a whole slew of problems by just taxing income earners more (until they stop producing because it's no longer worth it), or raising the qualifications for benefits, as in the retirement age for SS. But how long before we have to do that again? And again. Especially considering that our friends in Washington keep borrowing from the SS trust without repaying. If the taxing continues to go up, I might be one of the ones on the receiving end of the (unwilling) generosity of others. I think we can save the feds a little money in administrative costs if you just mail the check straight to me ;)
Or you could just use paypal! (lol)

now THAT'S a woman for CrossFit woman to really look up to....NICE JOLIE!!!!!!!!

#116, Firekillr

The doomsday scenarios for SS rely on wildly implausible worst case assumptions for each and every variable (population, mortality rate, inflation, etc...) If we do absolutely nothing, there will start to be a problem 10 to 30 years from now. But why do nothing? A mid course correction is in order. You ask how often this would be necessary. The answer is every 20 years or so.( bi-partisan commission came up with reforms in the mid-80's that served us well for 20 years. Now, it's time for some more tweaks.

That said, you have a point. Some of the ideas I mentioned aren't so small. But they preserve the essence of SS: a program that is both social and secure, providing freedom and dignity to all in old age.

My proposed tweaks

#96-- A liberal fitness site is counter intuitive?


I think superimposing idealogies onto workout styles is what's counterintuitive

But if it werent- There would be plenty more to say about the familial nature of the Crossfit Community.

Greg's warm up. Ánd I had a 50 minutes soccermatch in my body before I did Angie..

Last time was 20 minutes..

This time 17 minutes so 3 minutes faster..

#93 Janell

CF Afghanifstan t-shirts:

1 for $10
2 for $15
3 for $20 - each additional shirt is $5

Shawn Gniazdowski can be reached at crossfitjalalabad@yahoo.com

I have a picture of the graphic if you'd like to send me an email to reply to. (kurtboise@gmail.com)

We miss at our peril the fundamental point Buckley insisted on, which was the fundamental amorality of the avariciousness of Communism. This lesson has not been learned.

We won in Vietnam, then handed the country over to colonial invaders, who promptly added that territory to the Communist Empire.

This failure enabled a political climate of more general failure which, among other things, enabled us to rationalize our support of the fall of Iran to Islamic radicals. It enabled us at the same time to rationalize the invasion of sovereign U.S. soil, in the Embassy, as other than an act of war.

And to this day many people have failed to grasp the notion that utopian ideals lead to disaster, and that capitalism and constitutional democracy in tandem do more to alleviate human suffering than any such systems have in human history.

China still wants Taiwan. I was reading an editorial from the New York Times looking forward to, I think, 2016, in which they in effect argued that a successful invasion was inevitable.

It isn't. We need to learn the lessons of the past, which include the idea that Communism is far from inevitable, and that our own legacy is one to value and build upon.

It is only because of these long term collective failures to learn from our mistakes--we enabled the Cambodian Genocide to happen, among other such moral debacles--that we can even contemplate seriously a political candidate who has spent his entire life to the present moment in the company of radicals, and believe him when he says that good things will happen if he is elected.

We don't have a record of the vote that Obama cast in the lead up to the Iraq War. Why? He wasn't sworn in to the Senate until 2005. He has served just over 3 years of a 6 year term. He was never in the military. His first and middle names are both Arabic in origin.

Why in God's name do people think they need someone else to give them "hope", and "change"? What is wrong with our country that we feel the need to sit around like little birdlings in a nest , waiting for Momma bird to come regurgitate something into our impatient mouths?

Daniel,

You offer decent reasoning. I am not congenitally disposed to dispute the value of our old not starving. However, it is a historical fact that they didn't starve in the old days either. They lived with their children, who fed them. They also saved their money through their lives so as to be able to contribute. They owned their lives, because they owned their destinies. No one was out there begging for the chance to make their lives "easier".

The case can readily be made that the long term decline of the American family began precisely when the government decided that it could serve the role of parent.

Let's shed no tears for the passing of this racist.

Here are some lines explaining why majority rule shouldn't apply in areas populated by "inferior" blacks, from Buckley's editorial on "Why The South Must Win" in the National Review in 1957:

"The central question that emerges is whether the White community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary to prevail, politically and culturally, in areas in which it does not predominate numerically? The sobering answer is Yes--the White community is so entitled because, for the time being, it is the advanced race. The question, as far as the White community is concerned, is whether the claims of civilization supersede those of universal suffrage. The British believe they do, and acted accordingly, in Kenya, where the choice was dramatically one between civilization and barbarism, and elsewhere; the South, where the conflict is by no means dramatic, as in Kenya, nevertheless perceives important qualitative differences between its culture and the Negroes', and intends to assert its own. National Review believes that the South's premises are correctThe great majority of the Negroes of the South who do not vote do not care to vote, and would not know for what to vote if they could.Universal suffrage is not the beginning of wisdom or the beginning of freedomThe South confronts one grave moral challenge. It must not exploit the fact of Negro backwardness to preserve the Negro as a servile class. It is tempting and convenient to block the progress of a minority whose services, as menials, are economically useful. Let the South never permit itself to do this. So long as it is merely asserting the right to impose superior mores for whatever period it takes to effect a genuine cultural equality between the races, and so long as it does so by humane and charitable means, the South is in step with civilization, as is the Congress that permits it to function."

Jolie,
Amazing performance!!

Comment #85 - Posted by: Daniel Freedman

this comment is so divorced from reality I scarcely dare comment, as I wonder if it isn't just trolling to anger folk who like to use reason.

Here's the acid test for you 'interesting' claims for social security - why is is mandatory? If it was such a great friggin' deal, why does it have to be implemented at gunpoint? You want to make a point about how great it is, you better be advocating that it also would be optional, and show me women/men who were choosing it freely.

Here's the sales pitch - "you can have your money to do with it as you choose, or we'll take it, use it to get ourselves re-elected, and then when you are old or disabled, some other politicians will decide how much you get back, when, and what percent will be taxed. Current performance is no indication of future performance, but the beneficiaries now get almost 2% annual return! Such a deal!"

You know that no one's going to be allowed to choose first because many wouldn't choose it and that would wreck the real (current) purpose of social security - empowering the politicians, and secondarily, the program has been so spectacularly mismanaged (and that's a kind characterization - were it a business vice the govt that did what our politicians did to social security, they'd be under indictment), IT IS NOTHING more than a massive tax on the young and productive to pay the old or non-productive not to work.

Social security is a crime against liberty, economic power, national security, and common sense.

Paul

Comment #100 - Posted by: Susie

Stolen line from first Star Wars when DV is trying to shoot down LS - but cannot. Not that Sevan is anything like DV.

Comment #123 - Posted by: bklynsteve

That debate is done, thankfully, and even Buckley says out loud in public to Terri Gross on NPR for one, that he's glad he failed and that he was wrong. Dredging up 50 year old sins to attack a life as vibrant and empowering to others as WFB's is no class move.

While I find his advocacy of racial discrimination distasteful to say the least, I would prefer a man like WFB who will speak what is to the truth to the sooth saying, piss no one off under any circumstances wanna be leaders we've given ourselves today.

Barry - on the mark as usual, thanks, justified my visit to the discussion.

Paul

#123, being me and therefore more interested in truth than in not getting yelled at, I am going to risk bringing down the hate of substantially the entire world and ask the following question:

Do you believe that the progress of the African American community in this nation the last 50 years has falsified his basic assumption? Is it not the "hope" of rectifying the disastrous results of the War on Poverty that is getting Obama votes?

Look at the demographics: the collapse of the two parent family, the rates of poverty, and rates of incarceration, the rates of dropping out of high school. Look at what is being fed culturally to the ghetto: crime pays, women are for being used and discarded, and only power matters. That, and it is the responsibility of the rest of America that you are where you are, and therefore the responsibility of the government to get you out.

This is what Obama is talking about. This is his message. Yet, he goes to a church that rejects the aspiration to be middle class. To be bourgeois. There is tremendous latent violence in this message, that should be heard by everyone who is listening.

No one will deny--certainly not me--that "separate but equal" was unjust. I won't defend the segregation in housing, swimming pools, drinking fountains, buses, lunch counters and everywhere else.

At the same time, when the Civil Rights movement lost Martin Luther King, they lost their most vocal and clear headed proponant of the necessity of dignity and self determination. What got substituted were white liberals whose own guilt was assuaged by in effect appealing to the worst impulses of those who had been victimized. They decided that handing out money without qualification was the only just recompense for past wrongs, which resulted in the creation of a culture of dependency.

We now have a system in which those who are insufficiently intelligent to pursue their own rational self interest--education, better job, better life--are breeding kids at a rate faster than those who actually get ahead. This is a form of social selection that is heading in a bad direction.

The only possible remedy is a renewal of socially sustainable demands being placed on our poor to shoulder the same burden of personal responsibility the rest of us bear, and to find their salvations outside of the arms of a paternalistic government. They need jobs, but they need to make themselves qualified for those jobs. This is not happening at the rate necessary for any large, sustainable change.

Defend, for me, the War on Poverty. We have been writing large checks for many decades that, in sum, dwarf by several orders of magnitude the expenses of the Vietnam War and both Iraq Wars combined.

What have we accomplished?

I actually logged on to post the following quote, which is entirely relevant to the on-going effort WFB pioneered in our modern era to fight for our liberal heritage. It is from the memoirs of a cynical ex-Vietnamese patriot:

From this link: http://phanchautrinhdanang.com/30thang4/A%20Lament%20for%20Vietnam.htm

"While I was in jail, Mai Chi Tho, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, addressed a selected group of political prisoners. He told us: "Ho Chi Minh may have been an evil man; Nixon may have been a great man. The Americans may have had the just cause; we may not have had the just cause. But we won and the Americans were defeated because we convinced the people that Ho Chi Minh is the great man, that Nixon is a murderer and the Americans are the invaders." He concluded that "the key factor is how to control people and their opinions. Only Marxism-Leninism can do that. None of you ever see resistance to the Communist regime, so don't think about it. Forget it. Between you — the bright intellectuals — and me, I tell you the truth."

Nice one BrklynSteve- notice how the words flow like water over that- folks falling over themselves " to say the least". ha.

It is well established that chilbirth rates decline with an increase in the standard of living- making a moral argument out of it is an error in research.

Every body in office- dem republican- cuts major checks- look at all the Preachers we have in Africa doing medical work. W

My great grandmother had to fight to keep her social security al the time- they couldnt understand why a 93 year could pay cash for her house and car and need 400 a month- but she did and she did- I love the stuff- particularly that little card they give you. She worked hard, saved her money and lived within her means- she still needed the help. Its tanking - no one understands how we can sustain it- but its been good.

What is systemically hurting black and whites and shades between alike - but particularly blacks- is grade inflation in schools- that situation is extremely dangerous to the whole society- particularly Ivy league schools. Grades dont mean anything and test scores dont measure important intangbles- we can improve if an A is still an A and and F.

Obama will be president for the same types of reasons that George Bush became president- people like the look, Bush made everyone feel real macho and swaggerlike- and Obama makes everyone feell all hip and soft and smart. That Hope bs grates on me as well.

But- this will be a world opinion marketing coup. We soften them up- us liberals- yall take a little rest, get your strength up - and while you raise another big cheif who isnt about to fall over dead from age- we'll fix all the mess you make out of the poor people- give you some canon fodder and youll be crunching Muslims again in no time.

At ease! my right wing comrades- America marches not to a set of principles but to the rhythm of of its people- Thats why we named the country !US!

At least we wont get Hillary....

I feel like such a fat b@st@rd :(
I did Angie in 26:32
I couldn't get more than 7 pull ups in a row and when I do kipping, my shoulders click a little bit which is MORE than irritating! But I guess all that matters is that I did it, and I can say that I did it, and that I know what to shoot for for next time.
A late post but a post non-the-less ;)

Take care CF

Kizer~

Why is social security mandatory? For the same reason public financing of police and fire services is mandatory: they serve the common good. SS promotes individual choice and freedom. It enhances human dignity.

Let's not idealize a past that never was, please. Prior to SS, millions of old people lived miserable lives, barely scraping by. Some managed to save enough to live decently, but many more were dependent on charity from their families or churches. If you were estranged from either, you were out of luck. Plenty of people fell between the cracks. They lived sad, lonely lives and died prematurely.

In other words, SS allows old people to make their own choices and spares them the indignity of begging relatives or charities for help. Since the advent of SS, poverty and despair among the elderly has been greatly reduced. They live better, happier, longer lives. This is cause for celebration. So I stand by my earlier comment that SS is one of the greatest triumphs of American democracy.

Democratic politicians correctly describe SS as "a sacred trust." The overwhelming majority of Americans agree. Long may SS survive and prosper.

And now...it's time to apply the same notion of "the public good" to health care.

I missed the response to the war on poverty. Is someone wanting to argue that getting pregant at 16 is something other than a personal choice? Or that it is economically desirable?

Are things getting better? Are we winning the War on Poverty? If Obama's seduces our nations minorities and soccer moms into electing him, will larger checks be just what is needed? Is that the missing piece of the puzzle?

The argument about incomes applies in the Third World, where added hands are needed in the fields, and to offset high infant mortality rates. It does not apply here, as a nanosecond's reflection will show.

I am scanning Rousseau's Social Contract, and found the following interesting quote:

"The measure of confidence that Rousseau had in his fellow men is made clear in Emile. At the very end of that long book, when the hero is grown up, and his exemplary education has produced its paragon, the young man, who is married and about to have a child, begs his tutor to stay with him: 'Advise and control us', he implores the tutor, 'as long as I live I shall need you. I need you more than ever now that I am taking on the duties of manhood'.

"And just as the Tutor is the dominant figure of Emile [continues the editor] so does the Lawgiver become the dominant figure of the Social Contract. Indeed, the Lawgiver repeats in the state the role that the Tutor performs for the individual. He is needed for the same reason: men left alone will be led by their passions [as Rousseau himself was] and folly into disaster; they need someone to save them from themselves."

That, my friends, is Obama's actual campaign platform.

We'll find out either tomorrow or in November if most Americans think they need another Daddy.

Comment #130 - Posted by: james

Apparently, you lack the perspicuity to discern a right winger from a libertarian, and perhaps don't know the significance of the difference.

Paul

Daniel #132 -

The statement of 'the public trust' does not comport with the behaviors which Dem or Repub politicians have conducted. The trustfund was spent.

It is easy to say that SS made a difference - but it's illogical to state such since you do not know what other, better alternatives would have emerged if freedom were not trumped by FDR's socialism.

I admire you idealism but wish I could engage beyond a message board to confront with you the facts, the incomplete aspects of your advocacy (acknowledging you face the same limitations wrt time/posting), and move beyond a SS good/bad discussion to something better, such as how to sustain of the ideals behind social security in ways are less of an affront to liberty, choice and good outcomes for citizens. Charles Murray's "In Our Hands" outlines one compelling option, for example.

Like Barry, I am troubled that a country which was born of freedom, and still carries its banner better than almost any other, could value it so lightly.

Paul

Tony B and the AV crew-
Outstanding work. Super funny, very motivating.

Jolie-
You rock sist'a!

As for your 'public good' to health care, it's already being done to the tune of 40% of the money spent in this nation on health care.

The results? The Comptroller General of the treasury went on speaking tours to tell us what our elected leaders will not (one exception that I know of is Rep Jim Cooper, D, TN), which is that by 2041, there will be enough money in the treasury to pay for medicare/medicaid/social security and payments on the debt - and nothing else. Obviously, long before we reached that point we'd enter the credit death spiral as no one would buy our debt at an interest rate we could pay. Sometime between now and 2041, the reckoning will come for unsustainable "entitlement" programs; stand by for that food fight.

The qualifiers? The numbers assume a 2.5% growth rate. If instead the GDP were growing at 3.5% annually now til then, we'd have the money to pay for these programs. So you'd think that a responsible choice would be to obsess on removing any barriers to growth of GDP - but there's not even any discussion of it. The big govt leaders you are so proud of don't even want to talk about it.

I challenge you to study these assertions and bring your party to a responsible position which supports its stated desire to sustain the unsustainable. They are the most adamant about doing that which prevents more rapid growth in GDP.

Again, I admire your idealism and I want what I assume you want - which is the best posible outcomes for the most possible humans. I think it's entirely possible that our positions are genetically irreconciliable - as proposed generally in "The Tower of Babel" myth.

Paul

"I think it's entirely possible that our positions are genetically irreconciliable - as proposed generally in "The Tower of Babel" myth."

Which is to say, I think it may be genetically predetermined that some will see the risk of collectivization as far greater than the risk of winner/losers resulting from liberty.

Paul:

I agree we've probably reached the limits of debate available here. I, too, appreciate your sincerity and good faith.

One final note about SS. The Comptroller General's numbers are highly suspect. They forecast disaster. But closer scrutiny shows only that there is a possibility this MAY happen in the distant future, and only IF:
a) nothing is done
b) only the most far-fetched, wildly implausible, pessimistic scenario is used on each and every one of the many variables

I'm all for increasing GDP. But is that the only purpose of government, or man? Canada and many European countries have chosen to trade a little GDP growth for a lot of justice and equality. This strikes hundreds of millions of well-educated people in advanced democracies as a common sense approach. They think it improves society and enhances freedom; their opponents think such an approach is nuts.

It all depends on how you view the world. But very few people are extremists. Most people have various combinations of liberal and conservative beliefs. That's why I'm hopeful SS can be reformed along the lines I suggested earlier... in a way that preserves its essence.

Daniel,

What do you believe the positive and negative psychological outcomes are of the notion that the Government exists to protect us from the consequences of our failures and mistakes?

Sunday was all but rest day.
90 km cross-country skiing in Vasaloppet
7 hrs 51 min 19 sec
Means I finished at position 5437, more than 1200 better than last year. Main reason for the improvement, as I see it, is that I started Crossfit four months ago. Sit-ups, pull ups, back extensions and dips are really good for skiing! Thank you Crossfit!

Daniel,

Have you noticed how weak and inconsequential those countries are? Did you notice they are 'free' from being Soviet because we made it so? Did you notice their choice to be socialist and "trade a little GDP growth" has led to, for example, 25% unemployment for those under age 25 in France? Did you notice their struggles to pay for their "socialist utopias" have left them unable to field more than a fraction of combat capability, between the lot of them, that our nation can? Did you notice they sustain their financially devastating socialist medical systems through rationing, vice innovation and competitive practice?

What you are suggesting is "hundreds of millions of well-educated people in advanced democracies as a common sense approach. They think it improves society and enhances freedom; their opponents think such an approach is nuts" has anything to do with what is the right and wrong of limited govt power. They made their bed - let them keep it. It would seem that you have not examined their bed, or, as previously referenced, cannot see the same things I saw.

There are two ways to organize econmic transactions - mutual agreement (aka freedom) or govt coercion backed by force of arms. That you or millions of others would continue to choose the later to make the world as you see fit is irrelevant to the rightness or wrongness of that choice. They have not 'enhanced freedom' through socialism, they have retreated from freedom. It was a grand experiment - it has failed.

It is not the place of govt to increase GDP, per se, it is the place of govt to secure the rule of law and property rights so that free citizens may engage in trade, purchase and implementation of capital, and employ their comparative advantage in mutually agreeable ways for the betterment of all. That the US has allowed this to happen to a greater the degree than most other nations is not coincidental to our higher living standards and better quality health care.

That the US has broken with this idea of liberty wrt health care is the reason for the existing problems in US health care (cost, efficacy, safety, all being compromised compared to what they could be).

I will stop there. You have a utopian view of socialism/marxism and I have no illusions that I will make you love freedom more than supposed security today.

Paul

Paul- I know several Libertarians and most of the ones I know actually work for the party or for CATO institute. That doesnt mean I have a nuanced understanding- fact is I lump them with the Green Party- two fringe groups who dont have a grasp on the complexities of the American situation.

Barry- you are flat wrong concerning birth rates and infant mortality-mostly because your analagy is pat and therefore incomplete. Like I said- there are causes that have nothing to do with morality just are there are some that do- its a bigger picture than youll allow.
The argument was not that getting pregnant at 16 is a personal choice per se- but that that there are many factors influencing behaviour- again- its only through asking questions sincerely and not rhetorically to prove a point that youll get anywhere beyond big words, long quotes and small ideas and cliche anaylasis. It may or may not be ecomically desirable- there is no single operating principle you can refer to either way.

As long as yall keep arbitrarily splitting the country into Conservative and Liberal. Left and RIght- you leave out millions of us who dont fall for the demagogues of either side ( as Freedman just pointed out- many of us are a blend of opinions)

Paul- I know several Libertarians and most of the ones I know actually work for the party or for CATO institute. That doesnt mean I have a nuanced understanding- fact is I lump them with the Green Party- two fringe groups who dont have a grasp on the complexities of the American situation.

Barry- you are flat wrong concerning birth rates and infant mortality-mostly because your analagy is pat and therefore incomplete. Like I said- there are causes that have nothing to do with morality just are there are some that do- its a bigger picture than youll allow.
The argument was not that getting pregnant at 16 is a personal choice per se- but that that there are many factors influencing behaviour- again- its only through asking questions sincerely and not rhetorically to prove a point that youll get anywhere beyond big words, long quotes and small ideas and cliche anaylasis. It may or may not be ecomically desirable- there is no single operating principle you can refer to either way.

As long as yall keep arbitrarily splitting the country into Conservative and Liberal. Left and RIght- you leave out millions of us who dont fall for the demagogues of either side ( as Freedman just pointed out- many of us are a blend of opinions)

James,

Actually, I think I'm right. Your assertion to the contrary does little to convince me otherwise. Unless you give me some reason to ignore the evidence of my own experience and what I read, I will continue to believe that the facts of the birds and bees are well dispersed, and the problem is neither economic nor educational, but one of displaced responsibility.

You see, the kid that gets pregnant at 16 can rely on our social "safety nets"--the ones Daniel is extolling--to shield them from the most obvious consequences of their actions. They then go in to raise a kid, in poverty, not knowing themselves what it means to be an adult. That kid, in turn, repeats the cycle 16 years later.

The reality is that the only long term cure for poverty is jobs that pay well enough to raise that person above the poverty line. In order to qualify for such jobs, people need to be qualified. And if they drop out of high school when they are 16 to have a kid, they are going to be dumb as rocks and not qualified for anything.

They will then vote for whoever votes them the largest increase in their public funds. This is not a long term solution, and is categorically one which reinforces the worst impulses in people--irresponsibility, self indulgence, laziness--and does nothing to foster positive values of thrift, determination, and planning.

This is an endless cycle, and Obama will do nothing to end it, and likely much to increase it, through economically damaging policies.

James, there is no 'American Situation'. There are meat-sticks and non-meatsticks.

Non-meatsticks believe in the need to get their head out of their hind quarters.

Meatsticks either don't realize their heads are in there, don't mind that their heads are in there, or do not believe it is that meatstick's fault if they have their head there, or like like most elite liberals actually pander to and/or advocate for those whose heads are in there.

Hope.
Change.
Future.

Hope we can believe in. (If we don't want to be responsible for our actions)

Obama '08

awesome awesome series of videos. you guys are doing great stuff. this is fantastic

Daniel, I recommend to you Charles Murray's "In Our Hands." Even if it doesn't pursuade you, I think you'll find a very interesting and thoughtful analysis. His earlier book, "Losing Ground" was thought by some to be the basis of Clinton's support for welfare reform. Great quote from that book - "It's not what we've spent, it's what we bought" referring to the astonishing damage social programs did to minorities in America.

I disagree with your last post, and thought I posted a response, but it 'didn't take.' No matter. Sentences like this "But is that the only purpose of government, or man?" really leave no where serious to go.

Best regards until next time, Paul

Barry 80,
I don't agree with you often, but one particularly incorruptible nugget of your analysis this rest day has won me over: "[Barak Obama's] first and middle names are both Arabic in origin." That really upsets me too. What's most upsetting is that I get confused when I see him on the glowing picture box stepping out of a big American automobile surrounded by white men with handguns and sun-glasses, I think, geeze, maybe this Obamabinladen is actually a good-old-boy with a tan after all....Hold on now Mr. Jean-Claude Barry, you wait a cotton-pick'n minute....your first name, Mr. Barry, is French in origin ain't it? (Monsieur la Duc de Barrie). I hope your father Jean-Jacques wasn't one of those coward frogs who pissed Champagne into his helmet on the Maginot Line as the Huns overran the low countries. Well, I don't rightly know. I reckon Mr. Barry may have been an Algerian communist, or an athiestical ballerina. Good God, John Birch, where are you now? Politics by etymology Mr. Barrie.

Mr. Glassman (Jr.),
Buckley's was an Ivy league conservatism - for boys who learn languages in the day, play piano under the watchful eye of their mothers in the evening, and read history books written by their father's acquaintances before bed. These boys never work summer jobs for a wage or a commission, only for the experience, just to round them out. These boys pronounce their middle initials in public from a very young age. The world is a very affordable tabula rasa on which they can stamp their 'W's and their 'F's and, their'Buck-lahys' (provided they do as their fathers wish). In grade school these boys never feel the sting of the schoolyard bully's fist because they cheer him on, and on, with just the right tone - sneering and at the same time limp. Later, they cheer bigger, better paying bullies, hitting more sophisticated notes - moralizing and merciless, at the same time. Like you, Mr. Glassman, I respect the sophistication of a D'bleu Eff Buckleigh. But it is ultimately wasted on me. I'll take my conservatism with an earthy draft of Solzhynitsyn over the effervescence of an airy WFBrut.

Daniel, #139

You wrote,

>>Canada and many European countries have chosen to trade a little GDP growth for a lot of justice and equality.

Your trade-off between GDP and “justice and equality” must mean you're thinking of economic justice and economic equality, code words of Marxism. Right? Surely you aren't comparing criminal justice systems, or voting and the Bill of Rights.

The trade-off is never to give up a little GDP growth in favor of more your kind of “justice and freedom”. The trade-off is between power and control to the politicians at the expense of freedom and well-being of the populace. The trade results in growth of neither GDP nor “justice and freedom”. Socialism draws economic energy from the flywheel of private enterprise; it supplies none, and creates little wealth except at great costs to the people. It shifts the economic disparity from the economically successful to the political captains, at the expense of the people.

Post WWII, Great Britain experimented with nationalized industries. The country sank economically. It is still trying to recover from the effects. But the direction is the opposite of what you claim.

France today is trying to extricate itself from a similar mess. It is nationalizing industries it confiscated, and is trying to enforce new labor laws to get the drones it created back to work. They are resisting by the torch. France is trying to replace government ownership with intense government regulation, and that will fail, too. Capitalism isn't the automatic result of selling off government ownership. It requires individuals to seek risks in competition with others. Selling shares in Air France, France Telecom, Renault, and Thales divides ownership in monopolies. France needs to create internal competition in each market sector, then it might achieve a needed dose of capitalism.

Also check out freedom of speech in France!

But ask yourself why France is doing any of this, and you'll realize that economic justice and economic equality are fictions. They are the promise of a half-baked Utopia. And the citizens are the half that gets baked.

Equality of outcome is the propaganda of the left. It focuses immediately on the class envy of the type expressed by Hillary, Obama, in fact every Democrat, half the Republicans, and Prole #149. Profit equals greed. Socialism promises equality of wealth for votes. It needs people to believe we can all be financial equals, and to be ignorant of the fact that that is achieved only when we all have nothing. That is the inherent, never-ending, unavoidable quest of socialism. It needs voters to be ignorant of the fact that each is better off under a system of free enterprise, and to accept that some will be more successful than others. It is the cancer of democracy. Jobs and money are not the gift of government, but the price of socialism.

“To each according to his needs.” And who decides what you need? Might that be Congress and the tax code?

And when we all have nothing, why will we go to work? The Marxist promise was “from each according to his abilities”. Reality is because the government requires it. You are now a slave.

Barry is Irish. We were a historically persecuted race, so I claim victim's rights. You can no longer speak with disdain towards me, since I have a beef.

Here is the money quote on Rousseau, by his editor. The whole debacle starts right here:

". . .freedom is not being subject to any other MAN. Here one may suspect Rousseau retained from his experience of life the simple notion—which might well be the occupational notion of domestic servants—that being dependent on another man is slavery, and that freedom is simply having no master. To be dependent on things or institutions is quite different and wholly unobjectionable. Throughout the Social Contract it is clear that Rousseau never sees institutions as a threat to freedom. The image of a King or Prince in Rousseau’s eyes is the image of the master, and he sees such monarchs as enemies of liberty. But the image of the state touches him quite differently."

In other words, to me "free" is to substitute submission to the State for the indignity of working for someone else. This is the root of the evil of leftism. You can derive most of the worst horrors of the 20th Centure from this basic notion. Pol Pot, in particular, was an enormous admirer of Rousseau.

Here's another fun one, taken directly from The Social Contract, Book 2, chapter 7:

"Whoever ventures on the enterprise of setting up a people must be ready, shall we say, to change human nature, to transform each individual, who by himself is entirely complete and solitary, into a part of a much greater whole, from which that same individual will then receive, in a sense, his life and his being. The founder of nations must weaken the structure of man in order to fortify it, to replace the physical and independent existence we have all received from nature with a moral and communal existence. In a word each man must be stripped of his own powers, and given powers which are external to him, and which he cannot use without the help of others. The nearer men’s natural powers are to extinction or annihilation, and the stronger and more lasting their acquired powers, the stronger and more perfect is the social institution."

Obama wants to set up America to be "free", which includes somehow raising our poor up without exposing them to being middle class.

Don't listen to his speeches. Look at who he has chosen to surround himself with his entire life. Any talented speaker can make you believe whatever he wants.

Daniel, #139

Whoops! France is not nationalizing industries. It is privatizing the!

Sorry.

CCTJOEY #154,

Hey, why'd I get subtitles? Barry didn't get subtitles!

Jeff

P.S

France doesn't allow private ownership of TV or radio stations.

I respectfully disagree with the contention that "economic justice and economic equality are fictions" and those who strive for them are freedom-hating Commies or socialists.

Neither Canada, nor France nor Germany are socialist countries. I do agree that in France, there is too much government control of the economy and too many unsustainable social programs.

Daniel,

You are a moderate, and not someone who bothers me personally. I am not opposed in principle to some sort of threshold minimum living standard vouchsafed by some entity.

Where there is a need for discussion is whether or not that entity ought to be the government--and not churches, community relief organization, or family members.

Moreover, if it is to be the government, are we doing it the most intelligent way possible?

In my view, these are not just economic questions, but moral questions. What is the effect on family integrity of creating paternalistic government? What is the effect on personal responsibility, and associated notions like integrity?

With respect to poverty, government intervention has been nothing short of disastrous. It has shattered the dignity inherent in building your own life, and created a class of people who view themselves as powerless victims, and not agents of their own destinies. As importantly, it has not only not solved the problem, but has made an eventual real solution more difficult.

Daniel #156,

You’re right: economic justice and economic equality are not fictions. They exist in Cuba.

I didn’t say that those who strive for those goals are anything, but implied that those who vote for them are fools. The politicians making the promise are cynical about freedom, and demagogs about justice and equality. I wouldn’t call them Commies or socialists -- unless I could somehow know that they drank their own bathwater, i.e., believed in their Communist/socialist propaganda.

The relationship between a demagog and her agenda is called orthogonal -- in mathematics. Let CCTJoey translate that!

Also I didn’t claim that France or the UK was socialist. You said that Europe had chosen to trade a little GDP for justice and equality. You gave no examples. So I gave you two huge counterexamples: European nations taking giant steps away from pro-labor (democratic justice), anti-business (socialist) agendas almost certainly in favor of GDP.

Jeff,

You have frequently commented that you couldn't figure out where the offensive element of Petraeus' tour in Iraq came from.

It was Gen. Odierno, if I am reading this correctly:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=14822&R=139AE25C1D

Jeff means that though the demagouge and her agenda are running along two different vectors, make no mistake, they end up at the same point.

That place is painted in various shades of 'red', if you know what I am saying.

Three misc. points:

1) I disagree that that people who vote for economic justice and equality are fools.