eric_cantor2This week, we’re all about change: change the Majority Leader, a change of life, loose change, and more. Our guests are The Campaign Stop’s Jim Geraghty, (read his new book The Weed Agency: A Comic Tale of Federal Bureaucracy Without Limits) to discuss the political earthquake that happened this week, and Kevin Williamson, who stops by to talk about Iraq, his transgendered controversy, and capitalism and Catholicism — will the two every agree? Also, Lileks play a little Name That Tune. Help the guy out in the comments, won’t you?

Music from this week’s’ episode:

Lola by The Kinks

EJHill is off this week.

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There are 28 comments.

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  1. flownover Inactive
    flownover
    @flownover

    Cantor Hear Me Knockin ?

    Horrible misuse of “Lola” conflating Laverne Cook ( or is it ((was it)) Cox ?).
     There is just not enough play of ” Permanent Wave” . One of their great tunes. I say this having just coached my niece on what to eat and how to watch things in New Orleans. She didnt know who Ray Davies was, but she did recognize the word “Kinks” . 

    One question from clinging flyover country: Is LBGTQ a new network ? What channel is that on Primestar ? Can’t Kevin answer that question or were those the call letters from his pirate radio station from Lubbock ? 

    • #1
  2. Guruforhire Inactive
    Guruforhire
    @Guruforhire

    They should read the confessor series by terry goodkind.

    The first book is called wizard’s first rule (spoiler, the rule is:  People are stupid)

    Terry is an out and proud objectivist and it starts getting pretty blatant come about book 6.

    So blow up atlas shrugged into 11 fantasy novels of the same length, with a little more moral nuance.

    http://www.terrygoodkind.com/rules.shtml

    • #2
  3. Son of Spengler Member
    Son of Spengler
    @SonofSpengler

    Great podcast, gents. I really enjoyed it.

    • #3
  4. Sam Thatcher
    Sam
    @Sam

    Dear Rob,

    Mafouz and Furst. Excellent choices. Have not picked up Furst’s latest, but will if you give it a good recommendation.

    Best,
    Sandra

    • #4
  5. doc molloy Inactive
    doc molloy
    @docmolloy

    Lesson from the fall of Saigon ‘never rely on America as your ally.’ Maybe Baghdad can hang on till April next year. And the media repeated and is repeating itself all over again.. It is they who are in a quagmire. Sunk in their own mess. Their messiah failed them.

    • #5
  6. user_1938 Inactive
    user_1938
    @AaronMiller

    Excellent podcast. The best in recent weeks.

    I generally agree with Williamson about Church leaders on economics. But what role does God play in His vision of the economy? In orthodox Christianity, God is active and we prosper by relying on His graces. Much, if not most, of human activity in a society such as ours involves the marketplace. So to ignore God in our considerations of it is to imagine God sitting on the sidelines like a Divine Watchmaker, which has never been the Church’s understanding of our Creator.

    God acts through cooperative souls, making us His hands and voice in the world when we are faithful. But is it enough to say only that He inspires our good labor and ideas? Is that the limit of His involvement in the market? Atheists and pagans trust in the power of human intellect to plan and provide all that is necessary. Christianity also trusts in reason, but not so completely.

    The saints trusted in God to provide that which was not evidently present. The miracle of the loaves and fish is repeated throughout history by Christ’s disciples. The bishops are right to be wary of secular economics. We can cooperate with pagans economically without thinking and acting exactly like them.

    • #6
  7. Guruforhire Inactive
    Guruforhire
    @Guruforhire

    I think the fundamental problem is that jesus talks to multiple audiences, with different callings, which results in misapplication.

    Jesus makes a broad rhetorical point about the corruption of his contemporary wealthy, and then goes on to list their sins.

    He also makes a lot of points about how the church leadership should live, which if broadly applied to the laity results in a sick and perverse death cult.

    He promised that god would clothe us greater than any lily of the water, and free enterprise is a beautiful vehicle that fulfills that promise.  

    Modern churches treats everybody like an apostle and not apostles and a laity.  These in my reading of the bible are different audiences with different callings.

    Be honest, don’t cheat people, have compassion for the poor and broken, bias your activities towards the consumptive when possible, and enjoy gods blessings.

    • #7
  8. user_1030767 Inactive
    user_1030767
    @TheQuestion

    Was James imitating the Whistler?  The Whistler was a radio program, which I’ve never listened too, but I saw Jack Benny spoofing it.

    UPDATE: Yes, I just YouTubed it.  The Whistler was a radio mystery drama narrated by “the Whistler” that aired from 1942 to 1955.   I’m mainly familiar with the Jack Benny spoof, where he was the “Fiddler” (he played a violin instead).

    • #8
  9. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Michael Sanregret: Was James imitating the Whistler?  The Whistler was a radio program, which I’ve never listened too, but I saw Jack Benny spoofing it.

     Bingo! Congrats, Michael. The Whistler was a fine concise radio drama, mystery stories with an Ironic Twist at the end. Hundreds of episodes are available at archive.org and other sources – and it spawned seven movies. Now forgotten, except by those of us who love the radio culture of the pre-TV era.

    • #9
  10. Proud Skeptic Inactive
    Proud Skeptic
    @ProudSkeptic

    Great podcast, guys!  I really enjoyed it.   Having Kevin Williamson on was a great choice.  I’ve been reading him for several months and, though he tends to be a little too strident most times, some of his work is outstanding…the Appalachia piece especially.

    BTW – I agree with Rob that taking out one of the Republican leaders from time to time is a good thing in the long run.  Cantor had his good points but knocking him (or someone like him) out is a good reminder to our entrenched Republican friends that we are still here and will continue to have to be reckoned with.

    • #10
  11. Grendel Member
    Grendel
    @Grendel

    doc molloy:

    Lesson from the fall of Saigon ‘never rely on America as your ally.’ Maybe Baghdad can hang on till April next year. 

     Right, because the Democrats will get in power and turn you over to their fellow Fascists in the name of peace:  Vietnam, Nicaragua, Iraq, Afghanistan.  It was Europe’s (67,00 troops still deployed after 70 years) and Korea’s (28,500 after 60+ years) good luck that Truman picked up the challenge of the Cold War and was followed by a Republican.  Nixon–and Abrams–pulled Vietnam out of Johnson’s and McNamara’s quagmire, and the Democrats pushed them back.  The Left has spent the last 14 years tsk-tsking at Reagan and Bush for neglecting Afghanistan after winning the initial engagement and not being ready to run Iraq after deposing Saddam, but they hail BHO for deliberately doing the same thing.  These are not tactical campaigns, like Grenada and Panama; they are strategic, like Europe, Japan, and Korea.  But tactically Democrats think only of looking righteous in today’s headlines, and strategically they are opposed to the US’ interests.  Democrats haven’t been Americans in any but the narrowest legal senses for decades.

    • #11
  12. user_1030767 Inactive
    user_1030767
    @TheQuestion

    James Lileks:

    Michael Sanregret: Was James imitating the Whistler? The Whistler was a radio program, which I’ve never listened too, but I saw Jack Benny spoofing it.

    Bingo! Congrats, Michael. The Whistler was a fine concise radio drama, mystery stories with an Ironic Twist at the end. Hundreds of episodes are available at archive.org and other sources – and it spawned seven movies. Now forgotten, except by those of us who love the radio culture of the pre-TV era.

     I will have to check that out.  When I was a kid in Cincinnati, the Xavier University radio station would play old radio shows, but the only one I remember listening to frequently was “The Great Gildersleeve,”

    • #12
  13. Rachel Lu Member
    Rachel Lu
    @RachelLu

    I really like Williamson’s work, and I enjoyed that interview a lot, but I’m just curious… what does he mean by “reality is not metaphysical?”

    • #13
  14. JimGoneWild Coolidge
    JimGoneWild
    @JimGoneWild

    I guessed the radio program, The Shadow. “The Shadow Knows” or something like that. Missed it.

    • #14
  15. SteveSc Member
    SteveSc
    @SteveSc

    Kevin Williamson was a great guest.  I have seen his articles @ NR, just subscribed to his RSS feed.

    • #15
  16. Layla Inactive
    Layla
    @Layla

    I love “Lola”in principle, but it’s one of those songs that folks used to serenade me with when they first heard my name. Uh…lyrics much? NOT a compliment. Please stick with “Layla.” ;)

    For the sons Robinson: I’ve probably recommended it before, but the Blackstone Audiobooks’ Dracula, read by Robert Whitfield and available on Audible, is *fantastic*. Somehow an epistolary novel read aloud is just so…right.

    • #16
  17. user_473455 Inactive
    user_473455
    @BenjaminGlaser

    One of my (unattainable) goals in life is to get folks to pronounce Appalachia correctly.

    • #17
  18. Pike Bishop Inactive
    Pike Bishop
    @PikeBishop

    highly recommend the Kevin Williamson & Charles C. W. Cooke podcast “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” that you can get over at NR  http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/376008/mad-dogs-and-englishmen-podcast-midday-sun-charles-c-w-cooke

    • #18
  19. Grendel Member
    Grendel
    @Grendel

    Rachel Lu:

    I really like Williamson’s work, and I enjoyed that interview a lot, but I’m just curious… what does he mean by “reality is not metaphysical?”

    “Reality is physical”?
    “Reality is independent and objective, not a subjective mental construct”?
    “Veritas conformatio mentis cum quod est”?

    • #19
  20. Grendel Member
    Grendel
    @Grendel

    Mike Murphy:  “The stupid wing won.”

    One more chit in Mike Murphy’s dossier in my file of Blatherers of Opinion Lightly Leavened with Truisms Who Are Stooges of the Establishment.  His big shtick is that he’s just saying what it takes to win, but there must be a reason candidates stopped paying him for advice on…how to win.

    I don’t understand why Peter Robinson et al. seem to esteem Mike Murphy and Christopher Hitchens as much as they do Michael Barone and Haley Barbour.

    • #20
  21. Peabody Here Inactive
    Peabody Here
    @PeabodyHere

    James, you made a great point about the way dads are portrayed in the culture these days (lovable oafs etc.).  Saw this commercial in the movie theater last night.  Not a lot of dialog or plot but the tone is certainly not “dad as barely tolerated nincompoop”.  I found it touching.

    http://www.youtube.com/user/dovemencareus?v=7Jpb2_YdxYM

    • #21
  22. Quinn the Eskimo Member
    Quinn the Eskimo
    @

    Thank you for the shoutout, Rob, though most of the credit for the quality of the conversation about South Carolina politics goes to the good and knowledgeable Ricochet members from the Palmetto State.  I’m just a Jersey boy.

    • #22
  23. user_1030767 Inactive
    user_1030767
    @TheQuestion

    JimGoneWild:

    I guessed the radio program, The Shadow. “The Shadow Knows” or something like that. Missed it.

     The Whisperer reminds me a lot of the Shadow (spooky guys in fedora in the shadows).  They also remind me of the Phantom Stranger and the Spectre from DC Comicx.

    • #23
  24. Rob Long Contributor
    Rob Long
    @RobLong

    Sam:

    Dear Rob,

    Mafouz and Furst. Excellent choices. Have not picked up Furst’s latest, but will if you give it a good recommendation.

    Best, Sandra

     They’re all good.  I’m a sucker for Europe during the darkness of WWII.

    • #24
  25. Rob Long Contributor
    Rob Long
    @RobLong

    Quinn the Eskimo:

    Thank you for the shoutout, Rob, though most of the credit for the quality of the conversation about South Carolina politics goes to the good and knowledgeable Ricochet members from the Palmetto State. I’m just a Jersey boy.

     You know, I should have made that clear.  Because what I was going to say was, sometimes that’s how conversations go here at Ricochet.  Someone asks a question and a dozen experts emerge.  But the question is the catalyst.  Just as valuable.

    • #25
  26. Cordelia Inactive
    Cordelia
    @Cordelia

    Summer listening: Plutarch’s Lives

    • #26
  27. J Flei Inactive
    J Flei
    @Solon

    James Lileks’ whistling stunt was a little obvious:  he’s clearly messaging that  he’s been smoking doobs during the podcasts, and is thus subliminally advising Peter Robinson’s kids to just get high instead of listening to any literature.   We got it. 

    Thanks for a great podcast by the way.

    • #27
  28. Rawls Inactive
    Rawls
    @Rawls

    Kevin Williamson would be much more worthy of Robinson’s praise if he was out there fighting to create better lives for trans people — promoting solutions for their disproportionate drug use, pornography participation, suicide rates, etc.

    All I’ve seen him do so far is insist on using pronouns that make trans people feel all the more terrible. Anyone could do that.

    There are plenty of trans people who’ve had surgery and lead well adjusted lives and there are plenty who’ve regretted their surgery and felt damaged by it.

    How about promoting trans people’s right to making an informed, mature decision about it for themselves? There are plenty of things in the world that are dangerous if used improperly — guns, alcohol, and sexual reassignment surgery among them. Let’s promote responsible behavior in regard to the use of all of those, instead of condemning them.

    • #28
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