Month: August 2003

  • Bend over for Allah?

    It is the policy of this blog to courageously confront bigotry and homophobia whenever and wherever observed. Not even the gods are exempt — especially a monstrous usurper going by the name of “Allah!” This very same “Allah” — a former Pagan deity — has not only had the effrontery to start a blog, but…

  • Who’s afraid of Howard Dean?

    A very astute blogger, David Adesnik, has noticed that Howard Dean and his supporters are now being subjected to ad hominem attacks. Carefully chosen culture war language is being used: among other things, Dean supporters are derided as “Birkenstock liberals.” Here’s more. Instapundit (my source for these links) cited a Democratic insider who “thinks that…

  • Classical Foundations Unshaken!

    Instapundit is getting flak for (let’s see now, I hope I get this right….) attributing to George Washington language written into the Treaty of Tripoli during his presidency, but which was not ratified until after his term, when it passed the Senate with little debate — when John Adams was president. The language in question…

  • Lesbian, hates stupid people, seeks soulmate!

    It must really be back to school time, because every time I turn around, there is a new test! Having to bare the deepest darkest secrets from the innermost reaches of my closet is deeply embarrassing, but the official policy of this blog remains searching, fearless self-disclosure. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the first…

  • Heinlein maneuver?

    I guess I am just being lazy about blogging, but between the long drive and having to readjust to the East Coast, I am not feeling terribly creative. Which makes me really glad to have found another wonderful test — this one from the mysterious, multifaceted Ghost of a Flea. It is called “Which Heinlein…

  • Toast ‘n Post

    Tim the Michigander (why do you do this to me Tim?) has come up with another blasted test — this one called “What is your battle cry?” I never knew that I would have a battle cry, but here is mine: What Is Your Battle Cry? Yea, verily: Who is that, rampaging along the freeway!…

  • History in the making!

    The history of the blog war to end all blog wars is being written right now. Here is Part II. I assure you, in time this classic will rival Thucydides! Indeed. We. Live. In. Dangerous. Times. And we don’t even know how the war will turn out. But, remember the age-old, tried-and-true maxim that history…

  • Hot music!

    I should not be writing anything right now, because I see road in front of me, and feel goofy from too much driving. Had to take 24 hours off because of truly scorching heat in Nebraska on Tuesday. The car I was driving has no air conditioning or even air vents, and there was no…

  • Nail ’em!

    Another favorite blogger, Objectivist Craig Ceely (I always like Objectivists, even though I’m a poor excuse for one myself) was kind enough to link to me yesterday regarding my proposal to solve the spamming problem by using a Classical method: CRUCIFIXION. The problem is that when I wrote that I was on Blogspot, so if…

  • Quaint customs here and there….

    Isn’t multiculturalism wonderful? Most people know about the Eskimo custom of putting grandma out in the snow when her teeth become too worn down to continue to soften seal skins. But for some reason, the French method — locking grandma up in the attic and going on vacation — seems to be less well known.…

  • Tolerance is selfish!

    No, really! Read this gem from Don Watkins; it’s utterly brilliant.

  • A picture is worth a thousand rounds!

    When I saw this picture at Frank J’s Peace Gallery, a warm, peaceful, sentimental, feeling came over me. After all, when I was a wee lad, still in the student phase of my life, I helped out in the campaign to recall Mayor Feinstein for imposing unconstitutional gun control laws on San Francisco. An unheard…

  • Rising hopes

    Here’s a view of San Francisco at sunset, from wharfside at the decommissioned Alameda Naval Air Station. It’s pretty close to the end of my trip West, and the beginning of the trip East. For a variety of reasons, it is difficult to be bicoastal, and being away from one’s principal residence for more than…

  • My better 65%

    It’s soul-baring test time again. When it comes to disclosing my deep dark truths to you, my loyal readers, there are no lengths to which I won’t go, no depths to which I will not sink. I am disgusted by the first test, because I thought I was a much nicer person than I apparently…

  • Do “coding errors” miss the target?

    What, exactly, is a “coding error?” That’s what Professor John Lott (author, More Guns, Less Crime) is accused of in this 120 page atrocity. Does anybody have time to read this shit? I don’t. And I am not putting down the authors (described by Glenn Reynolds as “honest”; but be sure to check out Lott’s…

  • It’s back-to-school time…

    For many years I have wanted to know where it is written in granite that if you are a homosexual (or let’s just say you have engaged in homosexual acts), you have to be a socialist. Or, to put it bluntly, if you are a male and you happen to have had oral sex with…

  • First (Fertile) Wi-Fi post

    The first principle is not to fool yourself — and you are the easiest to fool. — Richard Feynman I have not checked the above quotation, but it is staring at me here on the wall at Fertile Grounds Expresso, at 1796 Shattuck Aveune (near Cedar) in Berkeley. They have free Wi-Fi, and this is…

  • Improving on a classical theme?

    See that really cool new psychedelic image over there on the left? That is my blogfather‘s new logo. He has redesigned his whole blog, and while I am not a person who likes change (and I was quite fond of the black, outer-space look he had before), this really works, it is growing on me,…

  • Fine old cannibals

    Well, from what I’ve been reading, Uganda’s former cannibal-in-chief is still dead. This time, apparently “he’s not only really dead, he’s really most sincerely dead.” But anyone who thinks monstrous, Idi Amin-style tyranny died with Amin should read this. Why does the West systematically ignore African butchery? Fear of being seen as racist? (I am…

  • On the perpetuation of bigoted categories

    Reacting against bigotry may be a fun form of entertainment, but can it be carried too far? When I was in high school in the late 60s and early 70s, racism was ugly, raw, and a real national disease. The word “nigger” — while it was starting to be used only in hushed tones in…