Month: June 2005

I woke up this morning only to discover that misunderstandings abound! And some of them come close to touching upon things and concepts near and dear to the heart of this blog. Particularly startling were some academic remarks (pointed to by Glenn Reynolds) and noted by Juan Non-Volokh: …Brain Leiter offers this “somewhat tangential comment”:…

I see that Bill Whittle has posted part II of Sanctuary. If you like Bill’s work you might want to mosey on over there.

This seems like a good law school exam question: DAVIE, Fla. — An altercation in a casino parking lot escalated into road rage and ended with a man killed in a hit-and-run accident, officials said. Julio Cesar Roqueta Reyes, 24, of Miami, died early Sunday morning when he was knocked into traffic and struck by…

Am I too polite? Now that I’ve spent what seemed like an inordinate amount of time proving the stupidity of the San Francisco pit bull owner whose conduct is now endangering the rights of other dog owners, I have more questions. Other bloggers (Doug Petch is a good example) had no problem acknowledging immediately something…

One of the things which most disappoints me about people is their frequent inability to think. Perhaps even there I’m being charitable; inability is more excusable than unwillingness, because mental slowness cannot be helped, and what annoys me cannot fairly be attributed to organic mental deficits. I’m not arguing that there aren’t stupid people wholly…

Glenn Reynolds agrees with Andrew Stuttaford’s analysis of the latest incident of judicial tyranny in which an American woman and her husband were sentenced to eight years for serving alcohol to minors. According to this report in the Richmond Times-Dispatch George and Elisa Robinson threw a party for their 16-year-old son at which alcohol was…

Speaking of reading, here’s a wonderful picture of Dick and Jane playing with the Romans: (Via reader David Meadows, who says it came “from that rogueclassicist guy.”) Whoever did it, my thanks for a perfect Sunday reading lesson!

There’s some sort of awful book confession meme going around the blogosphere, and last night I learned to my horror that Matt Sheffield has tagged me! (Which means I have to disclose personal information about my precious books.) The last time something like this happened, Nick Packwood asked me embarrassing occupational questions. So now it’s…

Does language have meaning anymore? No, seriously. It’s bad enough when words like “fascist” and “liberal” lose all meaning. But I am increasingly at a loss to understand the ordinary usage of the most basic, most simple words and concepts. It’s not that I think of myself as particularly ignorant (I hold a B.A. in…

Evolution or God! That used to be the “choice” demanded by fundamentalists unable to grasp the idea that if there is a deity, that deity could operate (or “create”) things in any way he might desire. A classic example of this thinking is the Jack T. Chick pamphlet, “Creator or Liar” which maintains it is…

Much as I support technological improvements, I’m afraid I’m a bit of a failure as a futurist — at least, until the future creeps up with me. But occasionally I’ll have an idea which forces me to examine emerging technology, as happened today as I mulled over an especially morbid idea. None of us likes…

Speaking of fascism, and interpretations, Dick Durbin knows fascism when he sees it. Fascism involves “extremely cold air-conditioning” and “loud rap music.” (And if you think that’s bad, not only is my air conditioning too cold, but I fail to change the filter, which turns the thing into a giant recirculating dust pump. Plus, I…

“(expletive deleted) Of course, I am not dumb and I will never forget when I heard about this (adjective deleted) forced entry and bugging. I thought, what in the hell is this? What is the matter with these people? Are they crazy? I thought they were nuts! A prank! But it wasn’t! It wasn’t very…

My good friend E. over at the Dave has some tough words for Dick Durbin following the Senator’s claims of Nazism in the American military’s treatment of prisoners at Gitmo (centering largely around the use and subsequent non-use of air conditioners and the playing of rap music): somebody get me dick durbin on the phone.…

I’ve been pretty busy lately editing an old Greek textbook, plodding through some rather unrewarding research, and getting caught up on some reading I’ve put off too long. Of course, that’s all meant that I’ve neglected Classical Values. I’d first like to apologize to Eric, but second and most importantly to those few rabid commenters…

In his haste to apply labels, there’s something the Archbishop of Canterbury might not have given much thought, and that is the role of the new media he condemns in reporting news that would otherwise go unreported. Some of this news might even be considered important. According to blogger Austin Bay (who has extensively traveled…

In remarks which struck terror into my paranoid, self-indulgent, nonsensical, and dangerous heart, the Archbishop of Canterbury has savaged the blogosphere: THE Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has criticised the new web-based media for ?paranoid fantasy, self-indulgent nonsense and dangerous bigotry?. He described the atmosphere on the world wide web as a free-for-all that…

The 143rd Carnival of the Vanities is being hosted by Mister Snitch, who runs a Batman-centered blog based in Hoboken, New Jersey. My thanks to him for including my potty parity parody despite my having first sent it out with a dysfunctional link. Here are three taste-tempting treats: Rick Moran argues that the Bush/Hitler comparisons…

It isn’t often that I find myself accused of being part of the “Leftysphere,” but it’s now a matter of official record. This happened yesterday because the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Daniel Rubin (who probably wouldn’t consider himself a member of the “Rightysphere”) linked and discussed my earlier post about Michael Jackson. Doubtless considering me one of…

While I’m not exactly sure what the correct definition of “wingnut” or wingnuttery is, the phrase is almost always intended as an insult; the clear implication being that the “wingnut” is both an extremist as well as not mentally stable. Nat Hentoff is someone I greatly respect (regardless of whether I might agree with him…