Month: June 2004

Here’s an example of fashionism: Gore calling his critics “brownshirts.” Quite aside from the general inadvisability of calling your political opponents fascists, you’d think that if Al Gore wanted to call someone a fascist, the last synonym he’d pick from the thesaurus would be “brownshirt,” considering that he was famous for literally wearing a brown…

It’s Friday, and Online Test Day at Classical Values, where I test my patience, and as the case may be, my patients. From the constantly enigmatic Cultural Cuisinart, Ghost of a flea, I found a quick way to make a Classical Values drink: How to make a Classical Values Ingredients: 3 parts competetiveness 1 part…

From the ‘old news is good news so long as it’s ridiculous’ department … Those who know better than you are gaining ground the world over. Following Canada’s customarily laughable lead, Australia will now require cigarette manufacturers to display images of cancerous and diseased limbs and organs, a step the EU had agreed to take…

Here’s a new report of WMDs found in (of all places) Iraq: The head of the U.S. team conducting the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq announced on Thursday that his group has uncovered at least ten more artillery shells filled with banned chemical weapons and is finding new WMD evidence “almost every…

Readers may have noticed that the elusive Justin Case (whose interest lies in technology, science fiction, and other things of which I am woefully ignorant) has finally authored his first post — a review of the thought processes in the mind of one of modern Luddism’s pioneers, a guy named Jeremy Rifkin. For some time,…

Since it’s recent launch, NRANews is not only doing well, they’ve expanded. The show can now be heard on Sirius Radio. Plus, if you don’t have the Sirius equipment, there’s a special offer for NRA members. I’d be an idiot not to take advantage of this, because it’s a fraction of what you’d pay in…

Good News for Modern Man! The ever amusing Jeremy Rifkin is about to produce another work of comedic genius. I will, of course, wait for the paperback edition,and urge all other readers to do likewise. I should note that Mr. Rifkin, a longtime favorite of mine, has managed to reinvent himself yet another time. Our…

HINT: He’s rich, he’s powerful, he talks to Jesus, Buddha, God, Hitler and Stalin. And he thinks gays are “dung-eating dogs” who should be roasted. (Precisely what they do to dogs where he comes from). This account of Sun Myung Moon’s official “coronation” is not a new story. It happened in March, and the same…

Last night, VARIUS CRISPINUS alerted me to a fascinating new poll which was featured right on the front page of a newspaper called El Hispano. At first I didn’t get it, but he told me to study the numbers carefully. Finally, the realization set in. There are more Hispanic voters than we thought! Take a…

The latest “threat” is starting to look old…. Is there some sort of misunderstanding going on? I’m having some trouble at the theoretical level, and I think I need to back up. Way up…. First of all, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (leader of al Qaida — an organization said to be not terrorist, not in Iraq,…

That was refeshing. I’m just back from lunch where I caught bits of a conversation on everyone’s favorite subject: American policy. On a college campus you come to expect superficial radicalism. (And I say superficial because it’s little more than name-dropping obscure or cred-setting bands at a party–Dennis Kucinich is worth a Ben Gibbard, Chomsky…

Via Andrew Sullivan, here’s Bob Barr (no friend of gay marriage) on the FMA: I am not new to my conservative principles. No one has ever tried to accuse me of being a liberal Republican or a moderate Republican; I have only been a conservative Republican. And, as a conservative Republican, I have never compromised…

Eric pointed me toward a link posted at Instapundit yesterday, and I thought it was pretty great. It reminded of something I did in high school that never went as far, and was never as serious, but still it makes me smile. The vegans had posters throughout the halls advertising for the Great American Meat…

Perhaps because I am so tired of these things, I didn’t give as much consideration to morality (which is so often seen in terms of sexual shame) in my post on liberalism as I might have. But I do wonder, despite all the attention paid to the matter, how many Americans believe that Janet Jackson’s…

It’s becoming very difficult to discuss politics at all without being shouted at or called names, or being lumped into one or more odious categories (usually by self-appointed spokespeople for one category or another). Any discussion of politics is hamstrung by what can only be called fanatic devotion to a showdown between an increasingly shrill…

The enemy strikes again, this time by beheading South Korean Kim Sun-il: CAIRO, Egypt (AP) – An Iraqi militant group has beheaded its South Korean hostage, Al-Jazeera television reported Tuesday. The South Korean foreign ministry issued a statement confirming the report. Kim’s body was found by the U.S. military between Baghdad and Fallujah, west of…

I’m trying to get caught up, which is something that by definition never happens in blogging. But I am glad to have help here, in the form of a genuine classical scholar, who’s writing under the name of VARIUS CRISPINUS. (If that sounds too much like a cereal brand name to you, do some research!)…

I know how much Eric enjoys Howard Stern, and I’m no stranger to the show (it’s how I wake up in the morning, and I’ve been listening for the better part of my life). But that cat (H., not E.) has fallen prey to the kind of illogic that fills Rock the Vote! tents at…

Via a phone call I just learned that National Public Radio (which I rarely hear) is featuring a program today on blogging. And to show what a total ignoramus I am after a year of blogging, I’m only familiar with two of the guests. Here’s the guest list for today’s show: Lev Grossman *Staff writer…

The debate over whether the war is the number one issue facing American voters — and whether Bush or Kerry would be a better steward of that war — might be obscuring a debate more profound, and more disturbing. I think it not only goes to the heart of the attitudes underlying the war issue,…