28 February 2009

“Excuse me. I have to go to space now.”

Sorry for being so other-media heavy, but I’ve had an extra-helping of busy-gravy ladled on my foodweek. A peace offering?

And the even better follow up:

27 February 2009

If A Prius Was Any Gayer, It’d Come With A Bleached Tailpipe

My Leader To Whom I Swear All Fealty Has Another Missive For His Followers:

Heed his words, America. Heed his words.

It Was Going To Happen Sooner Or Later, I Just Wished It Was Sooner

Whatever your conception of God, I hope you agree with me that he (or He) is happier today because of this news.

J-Dobs and I are not friends. *Angry Emoticon*

Finger Lickin’ Dead

Another media rehabilitation on Jimmy Kimmel Live with a side of awesome sauce, please:

23 February 2009

Steely Hands with Countdown to Singularity*

The Brits have a wonderful talent for writing ledes. Another for the possible “best of” year-end list:

Autonomous military robots that will fight future wars must be programmed to live by a strict warrior code or the world risks untold atrocities at their steely hands. [emphasis added]

/futurismlolz

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*I think that’s the first, and last, time I’m ever going to reference a Fagen-Becker joint.

Iraq-Vet Loses His House Because He Smoked Weed

This is idiocy of the worst kind. Who gives an Iraq-vet, one who lost both his legs, a brand new house but then rescinds the offer because of pot?!

Homes For Our Troops does the Lord’s work 99.999% of the time. They give handicap-adjusted houses to our nation’s most deserving citizens, severely wounded veterans. I think HFOT is a wonderful institution.

Yet…

I don’t see that Mr. West’s worthiness of receiving a free house (and all our wounded vets deserve such treatment, btw) is diminished in the least by his use of cannabis. It’s in effect saying: “although you have made a sacrifice far larger than we could ever imagine, we’ll give you guys the world as long as you obey our standards, even if you might be really damaged emotionally or psychically from the horrors of combat.” Just asinine.

Maybe it’s a bureaucratic issue, that HFOT has a bylaw that forbids any assistance to convicted criminal veterans. If so, the bylaw needs to go. If this was an executive decision, then they need to realize how over-the-top this issue is.

If this story galls you as it does me, here’s the contact page on Homes For Our Troops site. A great group like theirs shouldn’t be sidetracked by outdated social norms.

21 February 2009

Not Fair

I can’t compete with this:

Nigerian web scam bilked Utah out of $2.5M

It’s a perfect headline. P-E-R-F-E-C-T.

Not To Get Ahead Of Ourselves…

… but I’m just glad that we finally recognize Obama’s rightful position. I mean, Jesus was never The First Black President, so why should he complain?

20 February 2009

An Education Pill

For today’s installment of As The Drug War Continues To Suck, we look at methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), better known as Ecstasy, the “Disco Biscuit”, the “hug bug”, or simply “e”.

1. The first thing you should know is that most, if not all, of the conventional wisdom on MDMA is wrong. I know that I grew up hearing the statistics that one night of using MDMA could be lethal. Well, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine study that legend is based on? It’s a crock of crap. Instead of giving primates a pill of MDMA, the doctor injected them with overdose levels of methamphetamines. Two of the monkeys died, natch, and the medical community therefore, in a moment of the most blissful disconnection, proclaimed MDMA a lethal drug. Federal government ineptitude fever- catch it!

2. Pushed by one the most anti-freedom drug warriors in the U.S. government’s history, then Senator Joseph Biden, the Reducing American’s Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act (yes, the RAVE act, groan), which was targeted at MDMA use, eventually made its way into law as an attachment to the Amber’s Law bill. It has had a dramatic effect on freedom of assembly, since the bill allows for police to investigate parties where the notorious drug gear of “bottled water and glow sticks” are present.

Note, for all of my pro-drug Democrats, the roster of co-sponsors to the bill: 15 out of 17 are from the DNC.

3. The truth about MDMA? It’s been found to be beneficial to the emotionally distressed, people like veterans suffering from PTSD. Doctors and psychiatrists who partake of it consider it a “low-calorie martini” and “penicillin for the soul”.

4. It’s reputation as a aphrodisiac, “love drug”, or rape drug is vastly overblown. For every one person you find who describes ecstasy as a “six-hour orgasm”, you will find 20 who find it more of an emotional enhancer than a hormonal/physical enhancer.

Eisner quotes a distributor who claimed to have originated the name Ecstasy. He said he picked it "because it would sell better than calling it 'Empathy.' 'Empathy' would be more appropriate, but how many people know what it means?"

5. I’ll close with an editorial from New Scientist, hardly a cabal of tripped out rave-heads and Grateful Dead fans:

“IMAGINE you are seated at a table with two bowls in front of you. One contains peanuts, the other tablets of the illegal recreational drug MDMA (ecstasy). A stranger joins you, and you have to decide whether to give them a peanut or a pill. Which is safest?

You should give them ecstasy, of course. A much larger percentage of people suffer a fatal acute reaction to peanuts than to MDMA…

…This is a worldwide problem. We need a rational debate about the true damage caused by illegal drugs - which pales into insignificance compared with the havoc wreaked by legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco. Until then, we have no chance of developing a rational drug policy.”

Consider yourself educated.

Next time someone brings up the “hard” drugs like ecstasy, perhaps you can pass on the light of knowledge to him. Who knows? Maybe by the time I’m 50 we'll unwad our collective Puritanism Panties and legalize the imminently safe drug, MDMA.

“I feel twitterers around me, r there any twitterers wit me, say somethin.”

This story was so fantastic in its Sports-Celebrity-Interaction*, it drove me to twitter (Peep the right side of the blog for my last 5 tweets). If you follow me, I’ll follow you…

As if I needed an excuse to post a heapin’ spoonful of awesome:

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*Seriously, how cool would it be to just waltz into the diner and see Kazaam/Shaq-Fu sittin’ in the corner booth, twitterin’ away? If that happens to me with Mike Hart or Larry Bird, you’re gonna get a twitter of basically “OMGOMG!@#*$*!MikeHartsHere!!!AAAAAAAAH!”

Friday Schmaltz

This kind of story, written by anyone besides Tiny Bouffant’d Midget, is guaranteed to get me all verklempt and I’m-fine-no-really-its-nothing-I-just-got-a-piece-of-popcorn-in-my-eye.

19 February 2009

Radley Balko Finds The Truth. The Ugly, Ugly Truth.

Radley Balko, yeoman truth-searcher, has a new feature piece at Reason. WARNING: NO SERIOUSLY, WARNING: it’s some horrifying stuff.

In the piece, Balko releases a video clip from an autopsy examination of a 23 month old drowning victim. The forensic doctors in charge of the autopsy, Michael West and Stephen Hayne, have long been considered corrupt and lousy experts. Of course, that doesn’t stop the police from using Hayne and West’s testimony in thousands of court cases each year.

Anyway, Balko investigated a case the two scientists handled back in 1993, where their testimony put a man, Jimmy Duncan, on death row. Hayne and West filmed their examination of the little girl, but then the defense lawyers grabbed a copy. What did they see?

The video shows bite marks mysteriously appearing on the toddler's face during the time she was in the custody of Hayne and West. It then shows West repeatedly and methodically pressing and scraping a dental mold of a man's teeth on the dead girl's skin. Forensic scientists who have viewed the footage say the video reveals not only medical malpractice, but criminal evidence tampering.

BAM! INNOCENT MAN FOUND GUILTY AT TRIAL BASED ON “EXPERT TESTIMONY”! THERE’S SOME QUICK LOOZIANA JUSTICE FER YA!

I’m writing in faux/snarky hysterics because I think if I actually take the time to think about this case, I’ll get so angry that I’ll lose control of my body and do something I regret. Like drink a whole bottle of moonshine in a single setting, or go throw rocks at squirrels. This is disgusting.

For those who don’t quite see all the fuss, allow me to lay out what happened: Hayne (the chief forensics expert), would get a hint that the police wanted the autopsy to point in a certain direction. He would then discover “possible bite marks” on the body that other experts hadn’t noticed in their own examinations. This, of course, means that the police are required to take dental molds of suspects teeth. Hayne brings in his expert on teeth, West, and the two of them would use the freshly-acquired molds to physically desecrate the corpse and make the necessary marks on the victim. Their subsequent testimony re: the bite marks would oftentimes be sufficient for a guilty verdict.

Don’t get it twisted: if Jimmy Duncan had been executed for this crime (he’s still on death row), Hayne and West would have been murderers, straight up.

Some say that “The State has the right to execute guilty criminals.” Perhaps so. I tend to think not, but whatevs. But even if one is granted this claim, though, the claim does not allow for the State to have “the right to execute every convicted criminal and a few extra innocent citizens on the side in order to make sure the we get all the bad guys.” The hoary truism about “better 100 guilty men go free than 1 innocent man be in prison” is still a true and good value for society, despite its hoariness. Therefore, if the veracity of the word “guilty” in our initial statement is at all in question, the State’s according power should be just as much in doubt. This awful story is proof enough that empowering the State and her bureaucrats to execute convicted criminals is a foolhardy and dangerous position. One is placing far more trust in the competency of the State to determine guilt than the evidence warrants.

Read The Whole Thing Only If You Want To Learn The Truth But Become Really Really Angry. WARNING AGAIN, THO: GRAPHIC AND DISTURBING VIDEO.

If Anyone In Europe Would Know What a Totalitarian Government Looks Like…

it would be the Czechs.

Someone, Please -- Hire This Man. Immediately

I Doubt Biff Henderson Makes That Kind of Money

I know this might be news to some (namely parents who haven’t given much thought to the makeup of academia), but the story that Well-Fed Academics Are Cozy With Democrats might be the new “Sun Rises In The East” news story. I mean, does anyone doubt the fact that “educator” class is firmly entrenched on The Left? Yaaawn.

It is worth noting, however, that John Holdren, who is the director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, was paid $250 to speak about climate change… by the Late Show with David Letterman? Huh?

Two Column Fists In the Freedom Fight

Yeesh, I don’t like that post title.

My rhetorical-fight analogies are waning. Pretty soon I’ll begin naming newspaper columns and blog posts after boxers (like I’ve named my own fists*):

- George Will has a bangin’ column highlighting the efforts of some newspapers looking for a bailout. A Philadelphia publisher insists that, even if it means that the State would own the “free press”, the bailout is needed for the truck drivers and printing press operators. Gawd. /dinosaurindustry

- Paul Ingrassia, former Detroit bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, crushes the auto executives, bashes the unions, and ridicules Social Security, all in the span of 1250 words. I think I’m in love.

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*For those who would care to know, my left hand is named Les Darcy and my right is John Mugabi.

18 February 2009

More Cause-N-Effect

When a federal government passes a stimulus bill that weighs over 866,000 tons in actual weight (davefoulk’s got his numbers wrong), you get this kind of heartening reaction:

“… the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas hereby claim sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States…

…RESOLVED, That this serve as notice and demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers.”

The sovereignty roll swells larger by the day. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s a good place to start.

17 February 2009

Signs from the Stimulus Protest at the Denver Museum

So I went to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science to protest President Obama’s signing of the $787b state-stimulus bill. There was a crowd of about 70 standing outside the museum entrance, about 15 of them there in protest.

I thought I’d take the Clever Cake for my sign:

kdk_0159

(All credit and inspiration go to Ted Balaker at Reason.)

But I’m afraid I claimed the bronze, at best. Silver goes to:

kdk_0160

(That’s a bag of pork rinds on the Bill’s right.)

And the gold? To a blissful combination of vice and satire:

kdk_0161

That’s how we do it in Colorado: voice our discontent with style.

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UPDATE: I just got this picture sent from my brother, who showed up with me at the museum:

Obama After Stimulus

I’ll zoom in on the back seat for ya:

Obama After Stimulus

Yeah, we gots ourselves a wave from the Chief Stimulator!

14 February 2009

That #1 Spot

Every once in a while I realize how frickin’ lucky I’ve been in terms of Where I Live. I’ve lived in a lot of widely-recognized wonderful spots: Colorado Springs, Malibu, Princeton, etc. It’s an awesome streak, really.

Well, add another to the win list: Ann Arbor is the number one college sports town.

Just typing this I had an epiphany: maybe I’m the reason why these places are totally cool and desirable. I’m a “Cool Boost” supplement for a city’s Jamba Juice.

Boring-ass cities: I’m available for hire! I see you lookin’ at me Cincinnati! Holla at ya boy, Provo!

Saturday Fun

Serious stuff later, but here’s a wonderful commercial:

Sorry guys, my parents just died a couple of hours ago.

Who wouldn’t want to go to that party?

13 February 2009

You Can’t Fight It

The early leader for best headline: Anarchist Hangout Surrendering to Market Forces.

/capitalismlolz

There is no god but Bill Watterson, and Calvin is his prophet.

(click on it for larger size)

Give it a second! It’s going to space!

A propos my optimistic note earlier this week, Louis C.K., comedy god, had a great rant last night on Conan.

(H/T: barefoot meg)

12 February 2009

Obama High School

This is my city. Overheated progressivism is what. we. do.

Watch the movies though, if only for the reax shots from other Boulder students that basically say: “Uh, no. Look, I’m not against naming the school after a Democrat president, y’all, but maybe we should be sure that he’s gonna turn out okay before we start chiseling the sign? I mean, Warren G. Harding was a popular and handsome man, and look how that turned out.”

11 February 2009

Sweet Are the Mexican MNT’s Tears

 Suck it, Mexico.

image

And some highlights (including some typical Mexican thuggery earning the red card, natch):

It’s good to be the king, bay-bee!

A Non-Sarcastic Optimistic Note

In contrast to my early-week doldrums, today I’m feeling a little Hump-Day Hope!

Allow me to toss the info your way, and maybe it’ll do the same for you:

Brad DeLong, econ prof at UC-Berkeley, wrote a stunning column for The Week. Besides having one of the worst bio-photos in a paper EVAR, DeLong has some great perspective:

- Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations went on sale in 1776 for 1.8 pounds sterling when the average annual income was 30 pounds. So a family could buy roughly 17 copies of the book on their yearly income. Today, a family could buy 6,000 copies. So at least in the sense of book-buying, we’ve multiplied our resources 350 fold.

- DeLong:

Today, buttermilk-fried petrale sole with pickled vegetables and parsley mayonnaise, served at Chez Panisse Café, costs the same share of a day-laborer's earnings as the raw ingredients for two big bowls of oatmeal did in the 18th Century.

- While only emperors could afford to hear symphonies-on-demand in the 18th-century, today you could by a world-class recording of his work for $17.99 on Amazon.

- 1776: 50% of income spent on food. Today: 20%.

DeLong ends with the statement that mankind will, contra optimists of the early 20th century, never learn to be leisurely and enjoy what it has earned. We’ll always find ways to spend our increasing incomes in increasingly large ways. It reminds me of that “law” by some economist, roughly stated: Mankind will continue to have improved living conditions while continually feeling worse off.

The second piece, less academic in nature, is this page from Women’s Day. From the 50’s onward, they have some inflation-adjusted numbers of basic household and woman-related costs. Again, vast improvements are made over time in nearly every category: annual income for single mothers, representation of women in the workforce, amount of house. The only ways it’s declined is in the amount of meat being consumed and the television usage has rocketed. But both of those declines are decisions made from luxury rather than want.

Also, in the WD piece, notice how resolutely unbelieving some of the commenters are. They’re peeved that someone would adjust things to inflation (gasp!). Things aren’t supposed to be getting better! Bushitler and Reagan put us both back DECADES! Your facts are ruining the NARRATIVE!

To such people, I quote thee:

“When someone hides something behind a bush and looks for it again in the same place and finds it there as well, there is not much to praise in such seeking and finding.”

Food N’ Sex

This is a great piece from Mary Eberstadt at the Hoover Institution’s Policy Review.

It’s a longish one, probably best-suited for a post-dinner glass of wine and a laptop in the living room. Brief summary, however: Eberstadt explores the shifting moral values of the West as they are related to the realms of food and sex. She posits that there has been a reversal between the two. In the 50’s food was a laissez-faire thing (can anyone say Meat Cook Book?) while attitudes on sex were enforced with a relatively strict society. Today, in contrast, sex has become anything-goes, while food is full of self-righteousness and sanctimony.

It reminded me of Dan Savage’s Skipping Toward Gomorrah (a fascinating read, btw), where he was able to find groups that celebrated every one of the Seven Deadly Sins. 6 were quite easy, but finding a group that celebrated Gluttony proved nearly impossible. The closest he approximated was “fat acceptance” groups, which aren’t exactly the same as pro-gluttony, but did the trick for Savage’s purposes.

Furthermore, the only time one hears the word “sinful” being used in modern society is where? That’s right: eating. Al Gore forbid you call a co-worker’s tryst with the secretary a foible, but go right ahead and whip up that batch of freshly made Absolutely Sinful Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Like I said: fascinating stuff.

This Is Why I’m A Vegetarian

Right heeyah.

Not a single thing is appetizin’ on the whole site.

10 February 2009

Profiles in Condescending Stereotypes

I’m still feelin’ crummy enough that my constitution was barely up for watching this:

RTWT. (HT: Hot Air)

This clip shows more about the bigoted stereotyping of the South by the Left than anything else. (not for the first time, either) 

It just too easy: move out of the South and engage in the de rigueur denigration: “All my friends and family from (insert southern town here) were prejudiced; I’m a ‘refugee from intolerance’, etc.” After a few shared condescending laughs at the Twanging Christianists, you are welcomed into the “aware” elite of College Town Literati.

It’s also the most arrant kind of crap that passes for thought in such circles. Hell, I think it’s ridiculous, and I consider myself a South-hater.

“Really?” you ask. Yup. I’m at a point in my life where it’s nigh impossible for me to hate the South more. Why?

Two reasons: the SEC and country music. Any region that can prop up The Most Obnoxious People On The Planet AND The Country Bee-Gees* gets a double shot of Wrath De Snowden.

But even in the depth of my lick-spittled rage at the South, I’m smart enough, traveled enough, and, dare I say, mature enough to stop calling everything south of Washington, D.C. “Racist Jesusland”.

Lookit: I know how easy it is to turn to your life partner on the Zola Stella Sofa (of course its sustainable) and say:

“Thank GAWD, Eloise, that Bill Moyers was able to escape that racist-fascist hellhole of the South when he did! They probably still lynch people in some parts. I heard that there were thousands of anti-Muslim attacks in the week after 9/11, and that was just in Mississippi! I just shudder to think what would’ve happened to a progressive man like our PBS host if he had stayed in those backwaters.

By the way, did you hear that Caroline, Allen and Ellen’s daughter, got into Duke, but instead to chose Wellesley? She told me last week that she just couldn’t reconcile her values with a predominantly white and “rural” area like North Carolina. GAWD they raised her well, didn’t they?

Aw, shoot, did we miss Rachel Maddow? She’s soooo smart! Unlike those ditzy bimbos on Fox! Oh, it’s just starting? Great! Get the Snuggies and that organic wine I bought!”

But just because your view of the South is defined by My Cousin Vinny, Defiance, R.E.M., and Ira Glass doesn’t qualify you to label the South any more than my knowledge of Mighty Ducks lets me talk about Minnesota. Grow some perspective.

To echo the countless other commentators out there: I’d much, much, much rather be a Muslim in The Deep South than, say, a Prop 8 supporter in Hollywood or a Marine in Berkeley, or a conservative speaker on a college campus.

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*As if I couldn’t hate those talentless assclowns more, I go to their Wikipedia page to find out that they are from Columbus, OH. Double Stuft Hate!  Mmm, the sweet taste of utter loathing lingers on my lips…

09 February 2009

Freedom Steel In The Time of Chaos: Or, Why Liberty Is Important Even When The State Spends $2 Trilli In 5 Months.

I’m pretty doggone sick today. A serious case of the snuffles and mubblefubbles.

How sick, you ask? So sick as to think that the word “doggone” is acceptable in polite blogospheres.

Anyway, I don’t know if it’s the medication on my brain, or if it’s the bombardment of “stimulus” and “TARP” and “crisis” and “credit infusion”, but I have a bleak view of the roads ahead. I’m pretty pessimistic about the future, about my chance to freely earn my own living and live in liberty. Doesn’t look like it’s going to be happening in my life time, and none of my parents’ generation seems to care. Sorta disillusionin’, to be perfectly honest.

Well, when I find myself in times of trouble, Grampa Milty comes to me…

Here’s Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

It’s a bracing watch, and it’s a great enhearkenment* to the gospel of liberty. His political/economic theory (espoused in the Yubes videos above) is as close to my own views as I’ve found on the internet.

So, in closing my disease-addled rant…

*Feebly raises pasty, sweaty head from pillow, stares hauntingly straight through the Steadicam 8 inches in front of his face*

<cough, hack up spittle, cough>

ME: As long as someone knows the truth, as long as you out there heed the words of Milton The Resolute, as long as my corpse is plastinated and screwed into a Section 23 seat at Michigan Stadium, THEN I shall not have lived in vain!!! LIVE TO MAKE GRAMPA MILTY PROUD!!!

<death rattle/Hokey Pokey of the Alveoli, I see the end and she’s coming quickly.>

*Collapses back into thin reed pillow provided by kindly Côn Sơn Island prison guard.*

[cut to black]

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*I know I made it up, but it should sooooo be a word. W000 WORD-MAKIN ON TUSSIN!

06 February 2009

Gods Of Politics, Satire, and Celebrity Self-Puffery! Hear My Prayer!

Make this so.

Kilmer4Guv

I looove me some Photoshop.

Bringing Reality to the Table

Jim Manzi, on a fool’s errand to bring cold hard facts to the discussion on the stimulus. It’s a great idea that will, of course, never be implemented. The Emperor likes his nudity…

A Long Thought or Two About Geert Wilders and Islam

I just wrote a loooong email response to my father regarding this speech by Geert Wilders. I’m thinking, I guess, that if I put so much effort into writing it for him, why not share it with the world?

Take it or leave it, here ya go:

Dad,


I have a lot of thoughts on this speech, but rather than spew them all out in an undisciplined cloud, I'll try and phrase them succinctly and and in bullet question-form:

- He's right on the growth of Islam. Here's a good (if a bit anodyne) overview of the current number of Muslims in Europe from the BBC. But to ask my first question: does Wilders have any way to prove what percentage of these Muslims are devout and what percentage are merely cultural? By my lights, cultural Muslims (a la Steven Spielburg to Judaism) aren't detrimental to a Western liberal democracy. Rather than deal in broad numbers, Wilders would be better suited to discuss statistics that deal with specific policies (like support for suicide bombing, for example) than with religious/cultural identifiers like "Islam".

- Wilders does steal an intellectual base or two with blanket statements. Perhaps its because it's in a speech, but he seems to simply assert that there are secret plans to build "super-mosques" with absolutly no evidence. I'd like more than just buzz terms if we are going to analyze this properly.

- Wilders also loses some credibility in my book when he generalizes news stories (which I know in detail) to make a rhetorical point. To wit: sharia courts, while "part" of the legal system of the UK, aren't the same sharia courts we see in Saudi Arabia or Egypt. There are no beheadings or stonings to speak of. Please don't misunderstand: I find the mere existence of sharia courts in England revolting to my instincts, but no one is well served by overheated generalities.

- To a broader point, I also think Wilders makes a mistake by taking on Islam as a whole. While I'm not equivocating, the same critiques Geert makes of Islam could be made of Christianity. The Scriptures are quite clear that God does not desire a "moderate Christianity", just as the Koran commands Muslims. Every word in the Bible is God's and not open to interpretation, as the Koran is Allah's word. The list could go on. I'm not suggesting that Christianity is as violent as Islam, but I am stating that Christianity also has its own illiberal tendencies, if viewed through the right lens. Christians, through Providence and reason, however, progressed: there are few Christians who advocate slavery or suggest stoning unruly children. Few Christians believe that polygamy is acceptable.

Islam, to me, suffers more from a Petri-dish-style isolation problem than from a dogmatic interpretation problem. It's been a religion in a region that tolerates few (if any) challengers. There have been elements of progress in the past: the late 19th/early 20th century brought much change to the Middle East, and it showed in the moderation of theology and modernization of culture. The second half of the 20th century, however, brought a lot of Marxist-born ethnic/religious-identity theory to the region, regressing to a time 150 years in the past. This noxious filth must be excised from the world, without a doubt. But to pin the problems of the past 30 years on the core of a religion, a religion that managed to be at peace with the West for hundreds of years, is a bit short sighted.

Islam must be competed with, not eradicated.

- I'll close by attempting a summary: My quibbles with Wilders are far outstripped by my agreements. I guess where I differ from Wilders and (perhaps) the sender of this email, is that I've already chalked Europe into the "Lost" column. It's sounds harsh, but the sentiment is not one of haste.

Here's how I calculate it: the answer to illiberalism is a confident liberalism (I'm using it in the classic sense here). Fundamentalist Islam is an illiberal force that will expand until it is confronted. Fundamentalist Islam is covering Europe. Europe lacks the requisite cultural confidence in its liberalism. Therefore, Fundamentalist Islam will cover Europe. It's a longwinded syllogism, but it seems airtight.

For America, the prescription is equally simple: be confident in who we are. Don't apologize for finding burqas abominable. Speak out against "honor crimes" whereever they are. Refuse to accept that hanging homosexuals (as takes place in Iran) as the norm. When you read about genital mutilation for women in Muslim countries, don't tell yourself that "it's just a different world over there." Demand progress from the Middle East and SE Asia, and don't let up until the change happens.

That doesn't mean we have to colonize every country or fight every imam in power. It does mean, however, that we must be ever-vigilant of our own proceedings. If our money is involved, if our political/military support is essential, we should demand that our values are just as involved, just as essential.


Thanks Dad for forwarding this, I'd love to hear your thoughts as well,

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Same goes for you out there, readers. I’d love to hear your emails/comments too.

05 February 2009

Some more posterizin!

Welcome back, dear old friend!*

We’ve missed you so!

Checking out the campaign’s Ethics page, it’s actually quite laughable how quickly he’s moved on to the usual governmental problems.

It’s not laughable that President Obama has corruption in his administration: both parties have it in loads. What’s laughable is that so many people believed it would be different.

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* Everything else aside, the President has my undying gratitude for continuing to maintain the “_____ We Can Believe In” site. It’s almost like a Orffyreus Wheel of Comedy.

04 February 2009

Snark O’ The Day

McCardle vs. Wall Street Executives.

Journalist 1, Corporate Compensation Policy 0.

A Sane Look at BHM

I’m a few days late to the beginning of Black History Month, but I feel it’s my civic duty to direct y’all to Ta-Nehisi Coates.

“I think people who want to get rid of Black History Month are only slightly less annoying than people who complain about Kwanzaa. Yes, it's true--Bob Johnson and Michael Jordan weren't what Carter G. Woodson had in mind. But the true mark of a movement's success is its descent into hackery.”

Consider myself a hearty co-signer onto the piece.

TNC is one of the best bloggers out there, coming strong with opinions on a seemingly hourly basis. I often disagree with the man, but his takes are solid. If we could swap him out for Al Sharpton and Roland Martin as Voice of All Blackdom, cable news would be a better place.

The best part though? TNC would refuse the position, since he’s bold enough to think that the Black community is far too multifaceted and nuanced as to have a “voice”.

And that’s why he’s great.

Ojibwe, Language of Champions

Yeah, this is great:

You’re seeing about half of the wonderful student-athletes of the Michigan football team showing off their Ojibwe language skills. Highlights:

- The Rodriguez family awkwardly participating in a player’s class project (@ about 10 seconds in)

- Mike Barwis taking to the American Indian language like a fish to water (@ about 2:45)

- Steve Three dorking it up throughout.

Truly, the greatest collaboration between My People and America’s Pastime since this.

“…if you started the day Jesus Christ was born and spent $1 million every day since then, you still wouldn’t have spent $1 trillion.”

Or even $819 billion, the amount proposed in the House’s stimulus package.

I can’t be alone in sayin’ that I probably won’t pay this.

I’ll set up shop in Turks and Caicos. I’ll become my own corporation in the Bahamas. I’ll move to Uruguay, Hong Kong, or my dear Czech Republic.

My loyalty is to freedom and liberty first, my nation second.

03 February 2009

A Just Question: What Would The Founding Fathers Think?

“Unlike any government before or since, ours was founded on the supremacy of the individual over the collective. The Founders understood full well that harmony and security might suffer when every man (it would be many terrible years until that word would be understood to mean every human) was the king of his castle. These men weren't naive; they were serious radicals. [Emphasis added –S.] And they knew that living out a radical belief in freedom would require courage and sacrifice.”

Preach, Brother Shroder, preach.

Four-Legged Victims of the War on Drugs

I meant to post this yesterday, but everyone should read this fantastic feature in the Washington Post Magazine. Forward it on to anyone you know who is still agnostic or ambivalent on the drug war, especially to any dog lovers you know.

I think so many people, especially conservative and right-leaning individuals,  presume a level of efficiency and competency on the part of our law enforcement that they deny our bureaucrats running Departments of Education, HUD, Transportation or Commerce. Were it not so. Whether you view it as an unfortunate reality or as another reason to abolish most forms of government, the War on Drugs has had an undeniably enormous effect on the size of law enforcement, the massive growth of “criminals” on our streets (and subsequent sociological fallout from time spent in prison), and the growth of the prison industry in the United States. This litany of government failure would be paraded around by the Right if it were public school teachers’ salaries, NEA grants, and “eco-friendly” boondoggles.

Is the level of government ineptitude tolerable in the War on Drugs? That’s up to each person to decide for himself. I think a fair-minded review of the facts, however, points toward this government effort being an intolerable evil foisted upon a dubious public.

02 February 2009

The Thought Police v. King of the Jazz Critics

Nat Hentoff, the Godfather of jazz writing, speaks:

“…When the riots and deaths following those Danish cartoons were reported in American newspapers, none of the offending cartoons was published accompanying the stories in major dailies, except the Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Sun. But I ran the story at the Village Voice, where I then had a column, with the cartoon of Prophet Muhammad wearing the bomb-shaped turban.

I was damned if I'd be intimidated for doing my job as a reporter…”

Note: Hentoff’s also a fearless civil libertarian (probably no coincidence that the Fulbright Fellow who is the preeminent critic of America’s freest musical expression supports freedom of expression in other areas).

A personal note: when I was on the editorial board at The Michigan Review, I think I was the only person who militantly stood for publishing the Danish cartoons in our own paper. I viewed it as a moment of free-speech-solidarity, but I got voted down. After reading Hentoff’s piece, I’m even more confident that we should’ve run the cartoons.

I’ll throw one up right here, since I’m in such a free-speech mood:

image

Ain’t no shame or hiding in these quarters.

YouTube, A Better Cop Than the Cops?

It seems that whenever I start feeling that I should be cutting the police a break, that the majority of law enforcement are very humble social servants, a clip like this pops up on YouTube and I’m reminded of what I’ve read and seen, both in realistic fiction (The Wire) and real life (Oscar Grant, Malice Green or just a usual day on Radley’s blog).

Maybe some of the men and women who comprise our law-enforcement are decent liberty-minded citizens eager to protect the innocent. Heck, the majority of them might be good people.

It doesn’t change the fact that we’ve given faaaar too much power to a group that is far too fallible.