Month: November 2007

It is a cold and rainy day. The long struggle waged by the forces of the Coldening of late fall against the decadent forces of Global Warming finally appears to be succeeding. But in a dying last gasp, the last flowers of November are in full bloom on my front porch, defying the Coldening with…

It has been a while for some music so here is the Airplane at The Family Dog, 1970.

Glenn Reynolds asks a good question about Andrew Sullivan’s inability to disagree with Glenn without misrepresenting what he says: it’s telling that he can’t seem to criticize me without misrepresenting what I’ve said. In this post he links to a truncated version of my views on the torture debate on another blog. Why? What I…

There is a very interesting discussion of the nuclear proliferation aspects of the Bussard Fusion Reactor going on at Talk.Polywell. Here is what I think needs to be done: We need to build Bussard Reactor neutron generators as soon as possible to test out possible proliferation aspects – like trying to make Plutonium – so…

My unending quest to determine precisely what it is that constitutes morality takes a lot of twists and turns, and one of my major complaints is with the constant manufacture of new morality. Well, it’s Sunday, and time for the latest dish of manufactured morality. In this case, the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer…

In a video at Iowa Hawk that Glenn Reynolds linked earlier, a brief glimpse of a bullfight reminded me of an interesting (and still unresolved) First Amendment issue. Can videos like the one that follows be made illegal? I found the above simply by going to YouTube and entering the searchword “bullfight.” I’m not a…

I complain a lot about legislative efforts to impose more gun control, mainly because the biggest problem — armed ex-convicts — results from the non-enforcement of existing laws against criminals possessing guns. What good are laws if they are not enforced? What makes people think that more laws will result in more law enforcement if…

Strong words, perhaps? They’re not my words, but that’s one view of how the City of Philadelphia’s legislation to promote hiring of ex-offenders would affect the city. In the wake of a spate of shootings of police officers, the Philadelphia City Council passed the bill unanimously yesterday: Democratic mayoral candidate Michael Nutter scored a legislative…

It took a Brit to say it (and Glenn Reynolds to link it): ….we want Bill in the role of First Husband. I have to admit, Bill is running. And maybe he’ll win. What? Surely you don’t expect me to say “May the best man win”? That would be sexist. Besides, the men are ganging…

Barry’s Adventures put a photo up of Barack Obama not saying the Pledge to the flag. Now I’m not a big fan of the flag pledge as I discuss in Making The Pledge. Still, a minimum amount of decorum (hand over heart) is the sign of a savvy candidate. I guess I have Obama’s candidacy…

Here’s something you don’t see every day: Glenn Greenwald linking a right wing blogger favorably. So favorably, in fact, that Greenwald crossed out the “right-wing” in “right-wing blogger” although he did allow that the blogger was “writing at a garden-variety pro-war blog that typically spews the standard venom characterizing the right-wing blogosphere.” Here’s what was…

The video in M. Simon’s post about medical marijuana served as a reminder that logic is wasted on moral issues. That’s because moral issues supersede logic, and replace it with determinations based on right and wrong, good versus evil. The problem is that a substantial number of powerful and influential people believe very strongly that…

In a great Newsbusters piece, Matthew Sheffield reports something you will definitely not see in your local newspaper. A United Nations scientist has refused the Nobel prize that he (as part of the IPCC) is supposed to share with Al Gore, and for the most damning possible reason. The scientist (IPCC member John R. Christy)…

Do you think locking people up is making a difference? So asked outgoing Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson in an Inquirer interview. The interview (which appeared in Tuesday’s paper) was widely seen as an attack on incoming Mayor Michael Nutter (the latter’s election next Tuesday being a mere formality). I’ve criticized Commissioner Johnson more times…

PTSD is probably the most common reason for chronic marijuana use. PTSD and the Endocannabinoid System. From Reason TV. HT Reason Magazine Hit and Run. Via Instapundit.