Realist conservative crack-up? Well not really, but check out this Robert Locke rebuttal to a John Derbyshire article that was conservative pessimism incarnate (Derbyshire's most recent column online has to do with the fall "march of the godless" and he analyzes very fairly I think). What confuses me is that I always thought Derbyshire and Locke were both pretty similar-insofar as they weren't easily pigeon-holed as neo-con, paleo-con or whatever conservative label you want to tack on someone. Both are historically aware and literate conservatives who are classic manifestations of grumpy old white men (I say that as a compliment) who don't shy from politically incorrect topics that old white men tend to shy away from for fear for being tarred and featured. I plan to respond to both at some point soon-but need to take a break from blogging for a few days. I am going to an interesting wedding this weekend of two old friends. The groom is a Unitarian-Universalist who has a Japanese-American father and a German immigrant mother. The bride to be is a Reform Jewess who's parents work at an Orthodox private school. The fact that the groom's maternal grandparents had Nazi connections is somewhat awkward. In fact, his maternal grandmother was fond of saying, "When the Fuhrer was in power, there was always a chicken in the pot." The invitation from my friend noted: "Be ready to meet some Japs and JAPs". The food should be interesting....