Archive for January, 2008
Open letter to Boortz listeners
Wednesday, January 30th, 2008I was very interested to see this open letter to fascist neocon warmonger and all-around State lover Neal Boortz and his radio show listeners. I hope certain residents of Georgia who are co-proprietors of this site can listen to Boortz on Thursday or Friday and see if he mentions this ...
Blagging: “Karaoke for shy people”
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008Brilliant! I got that from Andrew Sullivan, who got it from this story in the New York Review of Books. The largest number of blog posts, some 37 percent, are now in Japanese, according to a recent Washington Post article by Blaine Harden, and most of these are polite and self-effacing—"karaoke ...
Derbyshire on Obama
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008Paeloconservative and NRO's resident sane person John Derbyshire makes at least a good point or two in his blag post of skepticism towards Obama's allure. Derb, like me, just doesn't get Barack Obama's attraction to the American people.I dunno, I must be missing a gene or two. Everybody, including even ...
Vox Day’s ignorance about scientists
Monday, January 28th, 2008Vox Day takes an ignorant shot at research scientists:While I have tremendous regard for the effectiveness of the scientific method, I have very, very little respect for scientists. They are very, very far from the impartial devotees of scientody that they so love to portray themselves being. With a few ...
Dave Barry on the presidential nomination system
Sunday, January 27th, 2008The libertarianish humor columnist hasn't lost anything in his semi-retirement. Then again, maybe he is doing as Will Rogers did and "just watching the government and reporting the facts": On Tuesday, millions of Florida voters will head for the polls. Being Floridians, many of them will become confused and drive into ...
Vox Day on non-aggression and religion
Saturday, January 26th, 2008Vox Day found a blag post about him that was quite funny. It is from a German guy who calls himself atheist and libertarian (I don't know if he would fit my and Kelly's rather narrow definition of libertarian) who wrote: This morning, I stumbled upon a very popular blog (judging ...
Workaholics, workophiliacs, and clock watchers
Saturday, January 26th, 2008Because of a variety of factors, I've felt a little less than passionate and motivated about lab lately. I think these factors are mainly: fixation on computer-related free-time activities; frustration with getting scooped and having to hurry off our paper and then abandon the project; and lack of confidence that ...
Evil and stupid
Thursday, January 24th, 2008That's how Laurence Vance describes mainstream Protestantism in general. As understanding, tolerant, and diplomatic as I try to be in public, I'd have to agree. Like Wes Baker, I too am sickened and embarrassed at Christian opposition to Ron Paul. The Protestant church is not only no friend of freedom, it ...
Biggest factor in rising health care costs:
Thursday, January 24th, 2008The doctors themselves, says Dr. Steve Cole. Thanks to Overlawyered.com.
How the British government protects its subjects
Thursday, January 24th, 2008By shielding them from the dangers of watching TV without paying an unjust and exorbitant fee to the State, of course. I happened across this web page about one Briton's experience with the TV licensing arm of the State, and the first thing it brought to mind was, of course, ...
Affordable private health care
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008A group of physicians in Rhode Island has formed what they call HealthAccessRI, a network of doctors who are providing their customers primary care for a small monthly fee, with medical insurance playing no part in it. This news article presents a very favorable view of it. The premise underlying the ...
Kooks and conspiracy theorists
Monday, January 21st, 2008Among libertarians online, mainly in their blags, there has been some discussion, pretty heated, disappointed, and resentful, about the revelations that Ron Paul's newsletter of the 1980's and early 1990's contained very strongly racist, anti-Semitic, bigoted, and conspiracy-theorist/paranoid essays. Very few of them ever had a byline, so no attribution ...
A new low for Randall Munroe
Monday, January 21st, 2008I thought today's xkcd comic was uncharacteristically smug and laaaaaame. I mean, is it about religion? Or people who think they're prophets? Or magicians like David Blaine or something? I took it as the first one. I'm not even religious. I don't believe in a religion. But I found it completely ...
Maybe they do deserve their reputation…
Monday, January 21st, 2008Having lived next to the state for most of my life, I never knew South Carolinians were quite this ignorant and misguided about things.
Overlapping fan bases
Monday, January 21st, 2008When I was at the aforementioned midnight showing of Serenity, I couldn't help but think, somewhat smugly but most likely correctly, that there has never been a political cause and a movie or TV show that had fan bases that overlapped as extensively as those of Ron Paul and Firefly. ...
The philosophy of Firefly
Monday, January 21st, 2008The State Theatre in Ann Arbor did a midnight showing of Serenity on Saturday night, so, naturally, I was extremely excited about it and was looking forward to it for two weeks. I went with my girlfriend and several other friends, most of whom are huge Firefly fans. I pick ...
Donna D’Errico: freedom lover
Sunday, January 20th, 2008More fantastic wisdom from actress and model Donna D'Erico: Her plea for every freedom-loving American to donate money to Ron Paul's campaign on November 5, 2007. Man, I think she knows some of the issues better than some of the candidates.
Fox News: Omitting Ron Paul again
Saturday, January 19th, 2008From the Ron Paul campaign's blag: I wonder if fascist neocon warmonger and all-around State lover Neal Boortz will mention this on his show on Monday. Thanks to Lew Rockwell.
Vindication
Saturday, January 19th, 2008If Donna D'Errico endorses Ron Paul, who can claim that Paulians were on the wrong side of history? Unexpectedly insightful from a TV star who's supposed to be all looks and no brains. Lousy male pigs and their chauvinistic stereotypes.
Minarchism: Ethically self-contradictory
Saturday, January 19th, 2008A really good essay at the blag Brainpolice, a member of the Mises Institute's Austrian Network.
Stefan Karlsson on that dolt Jim Cramer
Saturday, January 19th, 2008Swedish economist Stefan Karlsson provides some video evidence of what a dolt Jim Cramer is—but, then, most of us already knew that. Cramer, as far as I can tell, is basically a Keynesian who loves big government, wants it to intervene to solve all economic problems (even—no, especially the ones ...
Republocrats in a nutshell
Saturday, January 19th, 2008One Tony Woodlief sums up our political system quite nicely:Both parties are convinced that government is exceptionally skilled at doing things they want more of, and entirely incompetent when it comes to things they don't like. Every candidate is a candidate for change, using the failed ideas of the past, ...
Dog translator
Saturday, January 19th, 2008The BBC reports on a new computer program that can translate what your dog is saying by the tone and nuances of its barks. That's a fantastic invention, but not as impressive as this...
Wow, freedom of choice works
Saturday, January 19th, 2008Customers desert a chain of restaurants that banned smoking. Businessmen made a calculation, implemented a policy, offered it to their customers, and the customers chose against them. End of story. Or maybe not. But it should be. That's kind of how protection of private property rights works in giving the ...
I love The Onion
Saturday, January 19th, 2008Our blag is young and doesn't actually have any readers, but I hope it lasts longer than President Bush's blag.
Ron Paul speech on medicine and government
Saturday, January 19th, 2008Ron Paul gave a fantastic speech at the 15th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine & Regenerative Biomedical Technologies, available on the homepage of worldhealth.net, about the harmfulness of government interference (coercion) in our medical care and the benefits individual freedom and choice would bring.
Undecided voters
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008As I've heard people on TV, the radio, in person, and my friends on Facebook declare themselves undecided voters in the Michigan primary and other states, I keep recalling Brian's line in a recent Family Guy episode: "Undecided voters are the biggest idiots on the planet." (I would have provided ...
Primary one-upmanship
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008As you might have heard, the state of Michigan might not have any say in the nomination of the Democratic candidate for president at the Democrats' convention in August because the state tried to increase its impact and visibility by moving its primary up from February 5 to January 15. ...
Me and Captain Mal
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008With conservative-libertarian Ron Paul's presidential bid failing to ever grow very strong, and his winning only ten percent or fewer of the votes in the first four states, and having people on the internet, on the radio, and in my imagination saying they were right not to support someone who ...
Medical bureaucracy
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008Yesterday I blagged about a biased book reviewer who was skeptical about patients' ability to make rational decisions and look out for their own well-being, and not the least bit skeptical about the ability of a socialist State to make decisions for people and improve economic efficiency. I had another thought ...
The danger of legislating morality
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008Vox Day blags about atheist Brent Rasmussen, who, like the Christian libertarian Day, understands that if you use the violent, coercive police power of the State to force your moral-religious beliefs on others, then your victims can, with equal justification and ease, force theirs upon you when they have gained ...
Health care bias
Monday, January 14th, 2008In this month's edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the book Who Killed Health Care?: America’s $2 trillion medical problem—and the consumer-driven cure by Regina Herzlinger is reviewed by an unsurprisingly biased public health researcher. While the book doubtlessly has many flaws, its central premise is a valid and correct ...
The testimony of Kevin Padian in Kitzmiller v. Dover
Monday, January 14th, 2008This is easily the most thorough presentation of paleontological evidence for evolution by natural selection and the most damning collection of evidence against intelligent design that I have ever encountered. I would, in fact, go so far as to describe it as beautiful. Two shortcomings of this biology lesson, however, ...
MSN’s class-warfare-mongering
Monday, January 14th, 2008On MSN.com today, the link to an article in their "Money" section read, "New tax break helps the richest." Um, isn't that another way of saying, "New tax break helps the people who pay the taxes"? The article is about a tax break on mortgage renegotiations and foreclosures that will ...
He Needs More Cowbell.
Monday, January 14th, 2008You've probably already read this. But regardless, I'm linking it anyway. Christopher Walken is awesome. Last Second Clarification Edit: It should be noted that this is not actually written by Christopher Walken (or at least I suspect heavily it is not - if it is, though, it would be much more ...
Ryan McMaken is a natural selection “skeptic”
Sunday, January 13th, 2008So that's what fundamentalist Catholic nutjobs are calling themselves these days. Crazy kids. Notice how he tries to preemptively deflect such "vilification" from himself, even though it happens to apply to him perfectly, though admittedly not to other skeptics such as Fred Reed. He concludes: Beyond labeling everything they disagree ...
Fox News edits out Ron Paul from article
Sunday, January 13th, 2008Fascist neocon warmonger and all-around State-lover Neal Boortz used to issue a challenge to his listeners, that if they could ever cite one instance of Fox News slanting or biasing their coverage of the news—not their TV show hosts taking sides or expressing opinions, because that's what they're there for—but ...
Democrats won’t vote for Paul
Sunday, January 13th, 2008I think it's really a shame there is such a close and heated Democratic-nominee race, because this leads most Democrats to take a side for either Hillary or Obama, to influence the future of their party, for obvious reasons. Which means they can't vote against the idiotic neocons running for ...
Ron Paul favored among young businessmen
Sunday, January 13th, 2008Writes Lew Rockwell: An organization representing young entprepreneurs and business professionals in Arizona held a straw poll. Ron wins with 80%. AZ Sen. McCain comes in second with 12%. Why John got so many is another question.
Anthony de Jasay on the State
Saturday, January 12th, 2008I've been reading Anthony de Jasay's magnum opus, The State, since before Christmas but haven't gotten through it very fast. I don't read it regularly or in large blocks of time, and it is a very deep book. Every passage impresses me with his analysis and logic, though. I ...
Thousands demand to be exploited
Saturday, January 12th, 2008From Sean Corrigan of the Mises blag: Atlanta-Journal Constitution: "They came in droves—high school students, retirees, young moms, the unemployed—all for a shot at a job at a new Wal-Mart on Memorial Drive in central DeKalb County. In just two days, and with virtually no advertising or even any signs, ...
You’re to blame, Boortz
Saturday, January 12th, 2008Fascist neocon warmonger Neal Boortz and every other nationally recognized neoconservative pundit are just beside themselves in their fervent hatred of Hillary Clinton, their desperate pleas that the nation do anything it can to keep her out of the White House, and their predictions of dire consequences if she wins. ...
Circular reasoning
Saturday, January 12th, 2008Unfortunately for them, Creationists must rely on nothing but disputations of (supposedly) unconvincing science and circular reasoning to argue their points. While the former certainly can have its value, the embarrassing multitude and speciousness of their circular arguments renders the rest of their statements less credible. A recent commenter at Vox ...
People who defeat their own arguments
Saturday, January 12th, 2008I don't know why I was thinking about this now, but when I was at home for Thanksgiving I found an article from Fark.com about Black Friday scams that retailers don't want you to know about, and how to avoid them. I actually made the unwise move of reading the ...
Intel CEO at CES
Tuesday, January 8th, 2008Intel CEO Paul Otellini spoke today about the future of the internet at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It's an interesting article, though it discusses what we basically already know: the future of the internet is personalization, context-awareness, mobility (as in iPhones etc.), and incessant connectivity. Obviously this ...