Month: November 2005

At least, that’s how the philosophy is summarized by Strauss expert Shadia Drury, whose views are discussed in an excellent post by Jon Rowe. While Rowe disagrees with Drury’s assessment of Straussians, he acknowledges a Straussian tendency which I’ve always found disturbing: The Truth is not a Pearl, but rather is, or at least often…

My reaction at the time the Libby indictment was announced: It’s almost a labyrinth. So, so, CIA-like…. Now that Bob Woodward has entered the picture with another one of his now–you–see-it-now-you-don’ts, “labyrinth” is almost too weak a word. This stuff has been going on for so long, it’s a wonder someone hasn’t outed Woodward. Worshiped…

Today Glenn reminds us that there are people who still believe that God hates shrimp. The last time the issue was raised, my, um, thoughts were convoluted, but I offered this picture in the hope that perhaps a few soles souls could be saved before the war on shrimp goes down to, um, defeat: Sigh.…

I arrived late to yesterday’s Open Source Media launch, so I missed Jeff Goldstein’s keynote address (although Roger L. Simon filled me in). But I had a wonderful time yesterday. I have no idea what to expect from Open Source Media (I’m not an insider, of course), but it’s amazing and inspiring to see so…

Justin had a fun post (about ID) yesterday, although I didn’t get back till midnight so I didn’t see it until this morning. In my view, the problem stems from a lack of agreement on what God is (and of course whether God is). Not surprising. If God is an infinite spiritual force which existed…

AJ Strata is hosting this week’s RINO Sightings Carnival, so check it out. I especially enjoyed Michael Demmons’ piece on gas price gouging. (My state, Pennsylvania, is the second worst!) SayUncle treats Pat Robertson to fairness and logic. (Which is more than Pat Robertson usually does unto others.) Bostonian Exile on “talking points” — and…

Lately, I’ve been trying to ignore this business about Intelligent Design. Not because it’s not fascinating, but because I don’t see any way to definitively settle it. Perhaps I just lack imagination. Anyway, I’ve been fairly successful so far, but a post I saw at Dean’s World got me to thinking. What if I.D. could…

Via Fight Aging and Stephen Malcolm Anderson, an interesting interchange at Dean’s World regarding life and its true worth. Read the whole thing. Samples follow, to tempt you over… I make no secret that I side with the anti-aging forces. Senescence is a horrible killer, a disease that should be fought with every available weapon.…

It’s been quite a while since I’ve linked to any online tests. (I used to feature them every week.) There don’t seem to be as many as there once were, but this one — “Which Horrible Affliction are you?” — is pretty good. Mine is rabies, which fits my, um, style: Which Horrible Affliction are…

One of the ways the “Big Lie” is made to work is through a process of endless repetition. Through repeating something over and over again, it is hoped that people — the weaker people, anyway –will eventually be convinced that it is true. But there is another category of person who, while he will never…

As I struggled yesterday with what seemed like an impending conflation of guilt and innocence, I remembered that certain darker voices of deconstructionism would see this as an example of how the process of reason itself is invalid. That because language is so subjective (and subject to manipulation), there can be no such thing as…

Innocence is a term that describes the lack of guilt of an individual, with respect for a crime. It can also refer to a state of unknowing, where one’s experience is less than that of one’s peers, in either a relative view to social peers, or by an absolute comparison to a more common normative…

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Diane Mastrull (who’s previously portrayed opposition to Kelo-style condemnations as “anti-development”), has written a front page story in today’s Inquirer which I think drips with sympathy for condemnation-happy governments. Beginning with a headline calling the anti-Kelo movement a “Backlash,” the story wastes no time casting aspersions on the thought processes — if…

When I posted part I of Leon Kass’s courtship essay, I promised to locate and post an actual defense of Dr. Kass. Maybe even two of them. Well, here they are, gleaned from the comment sections of other blogs who got there ahead of me. Is it morally questionable to do this? Perhaps. I’m hoping…

Via Fight Aging, an interchange between Aubrey de Grey and one of his critics. Much substantive criticism began the cycle of sarcasm… Dear Aubrey: I saw you on TV the other day, and was hoping that now that the aging problem has been solved, you might have time to help me in my publicity campaign…

Events have conspired to delay this long promised post. However, like marriage, some things are worth waiting for. Here at last is “The End Of Courtship“, part two. As usual, I’ve front-paged a few especially relevant excerpts, then taken excessive liberties with emphasis and boldface. Also worth waiting for is the Bradley Prize, which Dr.…

Okay, so I’m old enough to remember the original. So what? It’s funnier if you can remember the original. “Age of Aquarius”, anyone? Without further ado, Iowahawk‘s “Age of Eurabia“… When Mahmooooud is in the Notre Dame And prayer rugs line Versailles Then this will please the Prophet We’ll get hot chicks in Paradise! This…

Two heads are better than one. It took Sean Kinsell to make me finally figure out Senator Rick Santorum’s reelection strategy. After trying without much success to make sense out of his behavior, I’ve finally concluded that he’s running an anti-incumbency campaign. Politically speaking, running against an incumbent makes a lot of sense right now.…

Did you know that Sony’s latest CDs — the kind you pay big bucks for in stores — have been sold with preinstalled Trojan-style malware which installs itself into your computer? The idea is to stop you from copying the CDs, but already, hackers have written viruses which “piggyback” onto the malware. I didn’t know…

There’s a curious slogan written in giant letters on the bridge which spans the Delaware River between Pennsylvania and Trenton, New Jersey. Here’s what it looked like earlier today: I have no idea how many times I’ve driven across that bridge and wondered about the meaning of the message, but I always assumed it had…