Month: October 2009

  • Dede Has Taken Tim Leary’s Advice

    She has dropped out. Republican state Assemblywoman Dierdre Scozzafava has suspended her campaign for upstate New York’s 23rd Congressional District seat, giving a possible boost to Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman against Democrat Bill Owens, Fox News has confirmed. The move comes on the heels of a new poll that showed Scozzafava had fallen behind…

  • Happy Halloween!

    Carving a pumpkin is an annual Halloween ritual I’m too old to stop. Here’s what my jack-o-lantern looked like at sunset: And here’s how it looks now: Enjoy the ghosts! DISCLOSURE: A hypothetical marriage proposal from Donna in the comments below left me feeling deepy flattered, but also a tad guilty, and I’m afraid my…

  • Oil Supply And Demand

    Julian Murdoch thinks oil supply and demand are out of whack. OPEC has publicly stated that they believe inventories in developed OECD countries to be equal to roughly 61 days of demand–a number OPEC is none too happy about. They’d prefer the world to be constantly on the brink of running out (that is, 55…

  • Is tobacco the new pot?

    Juxtaposing two posts by Ann Althouse made me wonder. The war against tobacco is proceeding like a relentless juggernaut — to the point now where law professors are being forced to act as anti-tobacco narcs: They will be armed with small cards that detail the school’s impending ban on smoking or using tobacco products anywhere…

  • In The Future, Every War Will Be Vietnam For 15 Minutes

    Today we learn JFK was advised by morons. Well, at least one. America’s unwise, unwarranted, and sadly unwinnable war in Afghanistan–hastily initiated and then abandoned for Iraq by President Barack Obama’s ideologically blinded predecessor and dumped into Obama’s lap in the worst possible way–is beginning increasingly to smell like the 1964-68 war in South Vietnam…

  • In order to reduce carbon emissions, we’ll have to increase them!

    Great news! According to a Princeton University study, if we take greenhouse gas emissions arguments seriously, the implementation of cap-and-trade will have precisely the opposite effect that it’s intended to have. Carbon reduction laws encourage widespread deforestation as trees and other vegetation are harvested to produce energy from biomass to replace oil and gas. The…

  • Theocons vs Communists

    Given the Choice between a Communist and a Culture Warrior I’ll take the Communist. Why? Because a Communist might admit that a policy doesn’t work. A Culture Warrior will say: God Says. Making the Culture Warrior immune to reason. For the most part. Cross Posted at Power and Control

  • Palin Calls For Hoffman – GOP Folds

    Sarah Palin endorsed Doug Hoffman in the New York 23rd District House of Representatives race on October 23rd and now the Republican Party is getting behind him. The House Republican leadership is prepared to welcome Doug Hoffman into its ranks, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) said Thursday, a sign that the GOP…

  • That Which Is Not Seen

    Bastiat on taxes: Have you ever chanced to hear it said “There is no better investment than taxes. Only see what a number of families it maintains, and consider how it reacts on industry; it is an inexhaustible stream, it is life itself.” In order-to combat this doctrine, I must refer to my preceding refutation.…

  • Capitalizing on personal destruction

    While I hadn’t been following the story as much as I perhaps should’ve (I don’t do a good job of keeping up with the tabloids), it seems that Levi Johnston is busily making a full-time, public horse’s ass of himself. If you want the full story of his antics, John Hawkins has a great PJM…

  • As RINOs and Social conservatives battle over the future

    Did someone lie to Newt Gingrich about Dede Scozzafava or whatever her name is? That seems to be an important question to some. Certainly important enough that Glenn Reynolds to felt obligated to offer some perspective about what might be more important: To my mind, it’s more important — as noted in the Lamar Alexander…

  • Church And State

    I got a really interesting comment to my post A Libertine Speaks. Even though I spent many years active in the Church, preaching and having a music ministry, once I got old enough to realize I didn’t have all the answers, I didn’t want any church elders having influence in law. Law should only be…

  • Where Does The Oil Come From?

    There is some relatively new sciece out about the origins of oil and natural gas. ScienceDaily (Sep. 12, 2009) — Researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm have managed to prove that fossils from animals and plants are not necessary for crude oil and natural gas to be generated. The findings are…

  • “Respected Imam” killed in FBI shootout

    A big FBI shootout at a Detroit mosque is the subject of huge headlines Radical mosque leader killed in FBI shootout Feds say goal was Islamic nation in U.S. on the front page of today’s Detroit Free Press. Luqman Ameen Abdullah, Imam of the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque in Detroit, was killed when he fired at…

  • Who wants to look like a bigot?

    Commenting on Byron York’s post about how the Democrats outmaneuvered the GOP on ACORN (never mind the endless ongoing scandals), Glenn Reynolds opines that “Republicans are insufficiently relentless.” He’s right, they are, and I think there’s a poorly understood but well-oiled mechanism behind it. When Republicans are relentless, they look like bigots. Think Jesse Helms.…

  • A Seat At The Table

    Tom Donohue of the US Chamber of Commerce has a few things to say about the Obama Administration not offering them a seat at the table. “I did an interview a couple of week ago, and somebody said, ‘Well, the White House says that you’ve become Dr. No and you are going to lose your…

  • Making a hero disappear

    “I have to die a man or live a coward.” Dr. Ossian Sweet One of the basic principles of justice (and human rights) is the right not to have your house invaded. Call it “a man’s home is his castle” or whatever, but the right to resist invasion is both ancient and inherent in human…

  • Health Care Mantra

    Advocates of socializing health care have asked: how can America’s relatively free market spend the most money on health care, yet have among the worst outcomes? The answer is, we don’t. The oft-cited WHO rankings don’t really measure quality of health care, preferring to judge things like “fairness of financial contribution” and measures like life…

  • An opinion at gunpoint is no longer an opinion

    Last night I recommended a book titled The Right To Be Wrong, because I think it’s a good idea for people who disagree to always keep in mind that the right to be wrong is a hallmark of civilization. In the West, civil society generally abhors the opposite approach, which typifies totalitarian or extreme authoritarian…

  • And what if we’re all wrong?

    While I wasn’t tagged * (and I’m glad I wasn’t, for tagging me makes me want to avoid doing whatever I was ordered to do), I can’t resist responding to Glenn Reynolds’ “BOOKS I WOULD RECOMMEND TO THOSE WHO DISAGREE WITH ME” post. Linking Ilya Somin’s post, Glenn points out that it’s a theme of…