Month: August 2006

  • Wal-Mart is anti-family, hates Christians, and loves dangerous sex!

    Via Glenn Reynolds, McQ at QandO looks at the phenomenon called “Wal-Mart Derangement Syndrome” (WMDS) and finds himself in agreement with Jonah Goldberg: So its a new twist on the old mantra that businesses Wal Mart’s job is to provide good pay and benefits to its workers. Not to profit through the delivery of the…

  • Your views are more protected than mine?

    After my earlier post, I’m not quite sure whether I can tell the difference between religious-based satire and satire-based religion, but I’ll try. I’m not sure how I manage to get on these mailing lists, but an outfit called “Americans for Truth” — describing itself as “a public policy organization devoted solely to countering the…

  • But lesbian pork is not halal!

    In his recent post on California Assembly Bill 1441 (which would add “sexual orientation” to the long list of categories against which government funded groups may not discriminate) Clayton Cramer analogizes to pork-eating: I think there’s at least an arguable case that this law, by imposing a standard that is contrary to the religious beliefs…

  • atheists with desperate souls

    Via Glenn Reynolds, I was quite taken with Belmont Club Richard Fernandez’s analysis of the role of religion in war: In those dark days faith, like freedom was sometimes just another name for nothing left to lose. And yet it was not altogether meaningless: it made the margin between victory and defeat. But perhaps the…

  • hair is not a feminist issue!

    According to the Daily Mail, British women spend nearly two years of their lives on their hair: The average British woman spends an astonishing ?36,903.75 on her hair in a lifetime, according to new research. She will spend the equivalent of just under two YEARS of her life washing, styling, cutting, colouring, crimping and straightening…

  • “Redneck-in-chief” puts nation’s youth at risk!

    According to Duke University professor Mark Anthony Neal, President Bush is a bad role model for black youth: For many young black males living in the nation’s urban centers, macho means maintaining an image, no matter what the cost. For some of the men cut off from life’s promises, it’s a self-made image. In their…

  • Eradicating dangerous aliens from San Francisco!

    In what’s probably a sign of the times in which we live, authorities in tolerant San Francisco are planning a major crackdown, with the goal of eradicating foreign invaders: SAN FRANCISCO – In an effort to preserve San Francisco?s natural habitat, The City approved a plan Monday that would cut down thousands of non-native trees…

  • Retaliatory driving?

    I’m a little confused about recent events in the kindly, tolerant San Francisco Bay Area. Last night I read that a Fremont man named Omeed Aziz Popal drove his SUV on a murderous rampage, killing one and wounding 14. Today I read that the driver was a devout but apparently stressed out Muslim who attended…

  • great flood of historic nostalgia

    Here’s a famous photograph which received much attention for many years: While it was (and probably still is) widely seen as a poignant illustration of the social injustice that lies at the root of America, it depicts victims of a 1937 flood in Louisville. The juxtaposition of black flood victims with a PR billboard showing…

  • The halves and half-nots (and other risk-free dangers)

    In a fit of hurried grocery shopping yesterday, I carelessly grabbed a container of what I thought said “Half and Half” for my morning coffee. Unfortunately, I missed reading the words “Fat Free.” No excuse; it wasn’t even fine print. Worse, I didn’t see the “Fat Free” part until I had opened the container and…

  • bulldoggish bride blogging

    Coco is in heat right now, which is a bit of a nuisance, but it will all pass relatively quickly. However, she is taking a keen interest in other dogs, and she seems to have developed a bit of a crush on Bonnie Wren’s bulldog, “Mojo.” Coco likes Mojo’s style, because not only does he…

  • Half as wide?

    In blogging, I’ve found that the best way to make a fool of myself is to write blog posts about things outside of my areas of familiarity or expertise. Hence my reluctance to get into extensive tactical or strategic analyses of the war against terrorism. That said, here I go anyway. I know next to…

  • Anarcho-anachronistic art appreciation

    During my long absence yesterday, I visited the Neue Gallery in New York, where for the first time I saw Gustav Klimt’s breathtaking portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer. The public clearly loves it, and reviews have been predictably mixed. Here’s the slightly snarky New York Magazine: 3. Adele Bloch-Bauer, a wealthy Viennese, may or may not…

  • The easiest choice is no choice!

    Today is so stormy that Yahoo weather is actually predicting possible tornadoes: HAIL AND VERY HEAVY RAINFALL. A COLD FRONT THAT PASSED TO OUR SOUTH WILL RETURN TODAY AS A WARM FRONT. THE AIR AHEAD OF IT WILL BE STABLE…BUT BEHIND IT INCREASINGLY UNSTABLE. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO FORM ALONG THE BOUNDARY AND…

  • Fear of man? Really?

    Via Justin, both Coco and I were quite fascinated by the story about “psycho killer” raccoons: OLYMPIA, Washington – A fierce group of raccoons has killed 10 cats, attacked a small dog and bitten at least one pet owner who had to get rabies shots, residents of Olympia say. Some have taken to carrying pepper…

  • At least he didn’t use the “P” word!

    Another never-ending source of amazement for me is the nature of some of the lawsuits that manage to get filed in court. Via an email, I see that a litigious Pennsylvania woman has recently sued a boy for making the meow sound at her: JEANNETTE, Pa. (Aug. 23) – Meow. A district judge has been…

  • No time for global thinking

    I’m busy entertaining an out of town visitor for the next few days, and while I’ll try to find time to write posts, one of the disadvantages to writing this sort of blog is that most of my posts require relatively larger chunks of time than posts like this one, and I’m having a time…

  • Putting my mouth where my mercury is

    I’m getting a bit sick of reading about the alleged “risks” of mercury: Leila Varella’s son Darius, 9, no longer munches tuna sandwiches for lunch. His mother now regrets the slabs of shark she tossed onto the grill. Two years ago, amid national concern about mercury in seafood, they plucked strands of hair to be…

  • Getting specific about random hate

    I’ve never been a fan of hate crime legislation, because I think that crime is crime, and an attack by one person on another person is inherently heinous. If the fact that the victim belonged to a particular group was a motivating factor, that might make the attack especially heinous and depraved, and it is…

  • The Fourth Amendment is an unclosed loophole

    While it always irritates me to read about police officers shooting dogs during routine raids, stories like this tend to restore my faith: SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – The city of San Jose agreed to pay nearly $800,000 to the Hells Angels motorcycle club to settle claims police needlessly killed three dogs during raids on…