Quote of the Month

Writes Mr. William S. Lind over at The American Conservative:

Then, the obsolete paradigm was dynastic competition, especially that between the Houses of Hapsburg and Romanov; the new paradigm was set by the mortal threat posed to all Christian, conservative monarchies by the notion of popular sovereignty and Jacobinical definitions of human rights. By fighting each other instead of uniting against the left, three dynasties doomed themselves and possibly us as well. Western culture’s last chance of survival may have been a victory by the Central Powers in World War I.

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G.K. Chesterton at 140

Seven score years ago today, G.K. Chesterton was born.

A few quotes:

• Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about.
• A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.
• I believe what really happens in history is this: the old man is always wrong; and the young people are always wrong about what is wrong with him. The practical form it takes is this: that, while the old man may stand by some stupid custom, the young man always attacks it with some theory that turns out to be equally stupid.
• My attitude toward progress has passed from antagonism to boredom. I have long ceased to argue with people who prefer Thursday to Wednesday because it is Thursday.
• Men invent new ideals because they dare not attempt old ideals. They look forward with enthusiasm, because they are afraid to look back.
• It is a most extraordinary fact that all modern talk about self-determination is applied to everything except the self. (Government and the Rights of Man)

Roth Passing at 75

Three quarters of a century ago today, Joseph Roth passed away.

A Journey One Hundred Years Ago...

A century ago today, Gavrilo Princip left Belgrade for Sarajevo.

Said the Mad Monarchist some months ago:

Truly, if there was one completely guilty party in this whole affair it was the murderer Gavrilo Princip who assassinated two innocent people.

Elsewhere previously: Ad Orientem

EvKL Passing at 15

15 years ago today, Erik Maria Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn passed away.

His work is indeed needed in this day and age, and comes in handy in the current Norwegian bicentennial.

Please feel free to browse previous posts.

Unity and Loyalty

Two centuries ago today, the representatives at Eidsvold joined hands and proclaimed unity and loyalty. Severin Løvenskiold and Count Wedel Jarlsberg did not participate in this ceremony.

Lafayette Passing at 180

Nine score years ago today, Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette passed away.

King of Norway

200 years ago today, Prince Christian Frederik accepted the vacant throne of St. Olav.

Dávila Passing

Twenty years ago today, Nicolás Gómez Dávila passed away.


Previously: Nicolás Gómez Dávila at 100

A Constitution at 200

Two centuries ago today, the Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway was signed (by the convention's presidium) and dated.

A previous May 17 performance by the Royal Guards:

The Bike Lane

A New Yorker gets a ticket for not staying in the bike lane and shows us how absurd it is:

H/T: The Daily Paul

The Treaty of Westpahalia

366 years ago today, the Treaty at Osnabrück of the Peace of Westphalia was signed.

Klemens von Metternich

In this Norwegian constitutional bicentennial year, 241 years ago today, Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Fürst von Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein was born.

Grant on Yellen

Jim Grant gives his thought on the madness of the Federal Reserve:

H/T: The Daily Paul

Norwegian Military Tattoo

The Norwegian Military Tattoo is a biannual event in Oslo. It took place this past weekend.

Friday afternoon there was a parade from the fort to City Hall, with a following concert in front of the city hall.

This year's event was specifically in honor of the bicentenary of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway.

When one sees women in police officer uniform it is often in pairs, i.e., with a male colleague.

At this event, heading out from the fort, there were three women dressing up as policemen:

And that's not all. At City Hall Square, there were seven of them, women only:

If there is any of part of the police and military domain that is supposed to be theatrical or theater-like, it must be parades and tattoos.

Ratification Exchange in Paris

Two hundred years ago today, ratified versions of the Treaty of Paris were exchanged in Paris.

Pure Popular Sovereignty

Two hundred years ago today, the Norwegian Constitutional Convention passed the constitutional provision on constitutional amendments.

This provision was to be subject to much political conflict later in the 19^th century. It was argued that a constitutional amendment implicitly needed Royal Assent, and it can certainly be argued that that was part of constitutional law at times.

However, a recent doctoral thesis has unfortunately shown convincingly and with high probability that the intent of the framers was a pure popular sovereignty system when it comes to the constituting (amendments included) authority.

This painting, created by the losing side in the constitutional conflict of the 1870s and 1880s, hangs till this day in Parliament Hall:

Russian Summer Ball 2014

The details of the London Russian Summer Ball for 2014 have been released. It's the 19^th annual ball in the series. It will take place on Saturday June 7^th.

No to Bare Chests

Over at The Daily Telegraph, Dr. Tim Stanley laments the culture of bare chests.


H/T: LewRockwell.com

Family and Democracy

Says Sunshine Mary:

So if you believe democracy is the best form of government, right for all people in all places at all times, then you must certainly be governing your family as a democracy. One vote per person, right? Now then, you mustn’t discriminate against any members of the family with something like a voter test to determine if each voting member has the requisite understanding of the issues and sufficient intelligence and wisdom to be making such decisions; after all, we don’t have such tests at the national, state or city level, so you certainly don’t need them at the family level, right?

What a Day...

Today is the ideological left's day of celebration:

And the Black Book of Communism: