Month: December 2010
-
Happy New Year 2011
To my first mate and mother of our four children whose hard work has made our relationship better than ever. BFF. More and better dear. Love ya! And of course good wishes to all my readers. The comments and page views make blogging so much fun. Thank you! And the kids wouldn’t like it if…
-
An “alternative” as worthless as a bubble
Via Victor Davis Hanson and Jonah Goldberg (who both do a good job of defending what I would call basic sanity), I found myself drawn to a trainwreck of a piece in the Washington Post by a man named Colman McCarthy. A former Post columnist, he “directs the Center for Teaching Peace in Washington and…
-
Not Possible
Watts Up With That is looking into complexity and finds prediction in complex situations difficult according to the IPCC. Third Assessment Report: “In sum, a strategy must recognise what is possible. In climate research and modeling, we should recognize that we are dealing with a coupled nonlinear chaotic system, and therefore that long-term prediction of…
-
Come together, fellow FiCons?
Every once in a while, I see something that’s music to my ears, and a post Glenn linked — “SoCons” and “Ficons”: It Is Time To Come Together — was one of those times. What I do want to discuss is the why behind some of the distrust that exists out there between the two groups…
-
A resolution to keep? Or a resolution to end?
For many, many years, I have enjoyed my screen resolution the way it is, which is 800 by 600. I’m one of those people who can get by without reading glasses, but if I change the settings to the next highest level (1024 x 768), reading text (I’m using a Dell 17 19″ LCD monitor)…
-
Busted
A US Navy Officer has committed suicide over a no drug drug bust. A U.S. Navy officer jumped to his death at Manila’s airport after he was arrested with what was thought to be cocaine, Philippine officials said Tuesday, but tests later showed the white powder wasn’t an illegal drug. Lt. Cmdr. Scintar Buenviaje Mejia…
-
the politics of malice-based “love”
I was busy at the time (it was the night before Christmas, so I was probably overcome by Seasonal Altruistic Disorder), but Glenn linked a post from Bill Quick which discussed the dominant political paradigm in this country: …the operating theory of political success has essentially been one of bribery. The idea is that one…
-
Founders, Freedom, and Federalism
Via Hotair, over at FrumForum John Veccione assaults libertarianism with a veritable army of strawmen. As someone who marched merrily from movement conservatism to more or less doctrinaire libertarianism, I feel obliged to call in some rhetorical artilley on the columns of calumny therein, while attempting assiduously to avoid employing the No True Scotsman defense.…
-
“Do we want to live in their world?”
Does what a majority of ordinary people think matter to the tiny minority of privileged folks who rule without being elected? I realize that sounds like a rhetorical question, but in theory, we are living in a country with a constitutional government run by elected officials with specifically limited powers, so it always pisses me…
-
Stumble Bums
It looks like a number of Republican aspirants to the Republican nomination for President have stumbled in December. Mike Huckabee is emblematic of the stumblers. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee didn’t have an easy December, either. Writing about the much-debated proposal to “cap and trade” greenhouse gas emissions, Huckabee said, “I never did support and…
-
Gay Hitler? Finally, some real photographic proof!
I am not kidding. Go take a look. Should I issue a retraction of what I said? I’ll have to think about it, because this is no laughing matter. It’s a grave issue.
-
Hic et ubique terrarum
A great piece at Instapundit about education versus schooling, and how the disparity was addressed in centuries past. My sister was homeschooled, was accepted at Stanford, and after a year or so decided to become a firefighter/EMT. She travels the world, is certified as a divemaster, and spent last winter in Antarctica at McMurdo. She learned…
-
Crossed from Christmas, and crossed from the cross
Speaking of what should be taught to children, earlier I saw a quote from that landmark Supreme Court which (depending on your view of these things) either ordered the government to stay out of religion or ordered religion to stay out of the government. There is a difference, right? In a letter (pdf file) to…
-
Some slippery slopes are more offensive than others
Darleen Click left a very thoughtful comment to a previous post which I didn’t want to forget, because it reminded me once again of the absurdity inherent in classifying human beings according to their sexual tastes. let me through another variable in here – what is considered “acceptable” behavior in society will have a great…
-
Night before Christmas political surrealism alert!
Not a creature was stirring, except for my mouse…. I realize that the night before Christmas is no time for kidding around, but seeing this headline was really too much: Joe Biden disagrees with Pat Robertson on Pot “I still believe it’s a gateway drug. I’ve spent a lot of my life as chairman of…
-
lessons in comparative religion for children
I need to do a better job of keeping up with local news. Until today I did not realize that local activists are fighting for slower speed limits in Ann Arbor. One of them is a public school teacher who makes a fascinating comparison between driving and ritual human sacrifice: Jeff Gaynor, a teacher at…
-
What to do after you shoot that fat bearded drunk who came down your chimney?
Hmmmm…. Whether the night before Christmas is the right time or not, I have just finished devouring — with great relish — a book that Glenn Reynolds recommended not long ago: After You Shoot: Your gun’s hot. The perp’s not. Now what? It’s a real head trip of a book, especially if you’re one of…
-
Freedom In The World
A nice summary from Steve Chapman, but a bit pessimistic. An optimist might have noted the world has never been more free, and posited the notion that further movement is perhaps slow because there’s no more low-hanging fruit — the remaining unfree societies of 2010 have significant pathologies. And while there wasn’t a whole lot…
-
The drivers these days! Especially this time of year!
Last night I drove a half an hour west of Ann Arbor and back, and this morning I drove half an hour east and back. People are in a hurry, and many of them seem stressed. Bad drivers stand out more than ever. Michigan’s biggest problem is that it has set two different highway speed…
-
The Times They Are A Changin’
Pat Robertson thinks the war on marijuana is bad for family values. I have been saying that for decades. I have been posting this link often: Demographics. It runs down what mass incarceration does to family values. BTW Pat says he is “not exactly for the use of drugs”. I’d love to find what exactly…