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Czja’s brain doesn’t melt down despite slogging through THE DICHOTOMOUS SUBVERSIVE:

I read your chapter in The Anthology at the End of the World. As I just said over at Ranting Room, I have put off reading this not because I wasn’t curious, but because I don’t know the first thing about Hitchhiker and I wanted to familiarize myself with that before picking up the Anthology. I’m glad I didn’t wait any longer because it is not necessary to have read Hitchhiker in order to enjoy your analysis – although I’m sure it would be much more meaningful if you did.

You are extremely fun to read no matter what the topic.You really have that in your corner. The hypothetical you posited about Thatcher and Friedman was hysterical and set up your analysis – or whatever you call it – well. I thought it was excellent to get a defence of limited government out of a S.F. book. I wonder, were you chosen, because of your political columns, to write about that particular aspect of Hitchhiker or did they give you an free reign and you decided to emphasize Adam’s “libertarian” leanings on your own?

Thanks very much and all that. In answer to your question, I was originally contacted as an SFWA writer – even though my fellow members would almost surely vote me out if given half a chance – but I was given free reign to write about whatever I wanted, subject to the editor’s approval. If you consider how Jacqueline Carey devoted her essay to assuring the reader that she gets English humor, it should be readily apparent that the bar is not an overly elevated one.

That being said, I’m rather pleased with how it turned out. The book’s been out long enough that I’ll post my essay here one of these days.

A panoply of comments, most consisting of the usual kneejerk drivel:

Bohemian: Now that we have the useless lousy advice from some nerdy fundie twit that probably can’t get screwed in a hardware store…

CashMoneyGifford: I do not know a woman in the world who would let that creep dog near their no-no place.

Batting 1.000 so far. Criticize Sisterhood cant and the obvious conclusion is that the critic can’t get laid. I suppose the only answer is to talk Spacebunny into releasing a sex tape…. Now, do we have Mensa?

I’m glad to see a few other people laughing at his Mensa qualification. How can you be smart enough to get into Mensa, but dumb enough to regard it as an achievement? Mensa sells validation of one’s intelligence, prepackaged intellectual stimulation, and help finding other smart people. The funny thing is, smart people generally don’t those things. Mensa should be marketing to dullards, then – and who’s to say they aren’t?

Bingo. An identity outing?

I’m a member of SFWA, and I’m not seeing him in the 2004 member directory. (You would think the 2005 edition would have been out by now, but I’haven’t seen it.)
Ah, wait. His real name is [Sweet Cthulhu, but you people are stupid… follow the Latin into Greek, it’s a joke!], who is a SFWA member. Mystery solved.

And now the crowd is going wild! Three for four so far… can the Farkers bring it all the way home? YES!!!!! 19Cranes boldly steps up to the plate and knocks it out of the farking park!

19Cranes: Mr. Vox Day badly needs a cockpunching. I can’t even bring myself to take apart his arguments, because they’re just so infuriating.

Four for four! S/he could do it, but s/he won’t. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the perfect feminista quadfecta! Congratulations to everyone who contributed and don’t hesitate to fly again with us next time.

ZT is in no particular hurry:

What sucks is being the 20 something guy and look at all these silly women. “Oh I’ll have children when I get to my 30’s”. I want to say “Good luck with that and make sure you have an incredibly good job to pay for the fertility clinic. I do love some of the looks I get when I tell a women I’m looking for a women between 18 and 26. I get older but that number stays the same. Not because I just love the sexy ladies (Which I do.) but because I want to have children.

Actually, I just had a conversation about this with The Perfect Aryan Male. He attended his high school’s 20th year reunion last weekend and was commenting on how attractive he’d found one or two of his former classmates to be. Since he’s single, I asked him if he intended to ask either of them out.

“Oh no, they’re too old,” was his immediate response. “I’d still like to have kids.”

Now, keep in mind that TPAM was the senior lawyer for a two-billion dollar company until recently and is still one of its corporate directors, so he doesn’t exactly find it terribly difficult to find dates. The conversation reminded me of the Sex In The City episode when Candace Bergren is angry at Sarah Jessica Parker for dating a man that is her age and she’s forced to settle for a strange little man who looks rather like a turtle.

So, if the women aren’t interested in marriage until they’re at least 30, and 38 is too old, this leaves a fairly narrow window of opportunity for when the theoretically high-flying woman is going to find Mr. Perfect, marry him and bear his children.

M writes, presumably from campus:

Thank you for educating all of us poor, confused, 20-somethings… I swear that for a few years I had no idea at all of what to do with my so-far-unused womb! I mean, what with getting a college education and dating, I totally took my eye off the ball. I could literally have missed my opportunity to get married at 16, be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen for a few years, pop out 4 or 5 rugrats, and get divorced and stuck with mouths to feed on no education by 26!

Ooh, a college education! That’s really impressive! These days, it means one is capable of making it through “See Spot Run” without moving one’s lips. I wonder what M’s major might be, Sociology or International Relations? It will make her very employable, I’m sure.

Inexperienced little college girls are tremendously arrogant about the world until they run smack into the reality that they peaked in terms of their attractiveness to men between 18 and 22. It’s all downhill from there, unfortunately, because unlike women, there isn’t a man on the planet who cares that a prospective mate is an executive at HBO or has an MBA from Dartmouth. In fact, many intelligent and successful men would consider those things to be detrimental to any potential relationship.

But don’t take my opinion for it, because it’s worth noting that Maureen Dowd, the noted conservative and male chauvinist, wrote a column expressing her dismay at how men don’t care about women’s career accomplishments just a few months ago.

Meanwhile, RK doesn’t seem to be terribly upset at having missed her chance to pick up a piece of paper before she hit her mid-twenties:

I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed your article ‘Women! Someday Is Today!’. I am a 26-year-old married mother of 3 young children and blessed to be married to my husband. I had originally intended to go the “get-a-business-degree-apartment-living-suit-wearing-independent-woman route” after school, but the Lord made it clear that He had other plans when at 18, I met my husband at a band practice and he courted me with such gusto, I understood his sincere and self sacrificing love for me in a short matter of time. I never would have imagined myself with my husband per se, as he is not what I necessarily envisioned in my head when I was younger – but I did very much admire his mind, his wisdom, his kindness, his gentleness, talent and his strong faith. In a short matter of time, I also came to see him a romantic light. Fourteen months after we met we were married and have been happily so ever since.

I don’t mean to sound self-righteous. I just wanted to emphasize that as a woman, I get so sick of the all too pervasive “Sex In The City” culture that is rapidly ruining the potential for many women out there to be truly healthy in their natural roles and I’m glad you spoke up about it.

And more from the clueless. AQ writes:

I think your views on marriage and women are perhaps the worst things I have ever heard. Please return those ideas to the 50’s where they belong and leave this generation out of it.

The amusing thing is that she probably thinks she’s well-educated. And while she does manage to avoid drooling on herself – as far as I can tell – it will be interesting to see what she makes of the ideologies of which she has never heard that are vying to supplant the Western cultural tradition once the Equalitarian Society runs its inevitable course.

One thing about which Europeans are completely correct is that most Americans, left and right, are shockingly parochial. (The fact that I happen to be a tri-lingual, soccer-playing Europhile elitist doesn’t make this untrue.) I mention this because few Americans are cognizant of the massive difference that a decline in the birthrate from the USA’s near-replacement level 2.0 to Italy’s 1.17 can make. And that, thanks primarily to the priorities of young women like M and AQ, is precisely where America is presently headed. They may not care about the demographic realities now, but they will once they realize that there is no one to pay their social security or to defend them from those who will force them to wear burkahs.

European fatalism in the face of Islamic expansion is much easier to understand once you’ve walked through an Algerian ghetto in Paris or a German ghost town that was once a prosperous village.

DE tells a tale of one woman’s woe:

Your views are simplistic. I am a 55 year old woman. When I was 20, I married an articulate, intelligent medical student with a good background and a promising future. Twelve years later, he was a drug addict, had literally shot me in the back, abandoned me with two children, and eventually went to prison. I had delayed my own career. I married again: this time a college-educated oil and cattle baron. 21 years later, he turned out to have a preference for little boys and embezzlement, injured me to the point of hospitalization, and fled the country to avoid a financial obligation of the divorce settlement. I am now permanently disabled and cannot “return to an education or career”. While I love my son, I would trade it all for a chance to make another choice: a career, dignity, and financial independence.

Until society provides dignity to motherhood, more women will choose to be barren. The arabs and others, who have enslaved women and turned them into baby machines, will win the war by outproducing us in their beds.

My views may be simplistic. Of course, demographics and mathematics are equally so.And while it may be equally simplistic to point this out, the evidence would appear to suggest that DE is an impressively bad judge of character. Clearly she has never worked in an office, or she would not think there is any dignity to be found there. Still, unlike many women who have had careers, she has contributed materially to the continued existence of the human race even if she now regrets doing so.

Nevertheless, DE manages to pinpoint the fundamental flaw with the Equalitarian Society. If too many women choose to be barren, eventually the choice will be taken away from them.

TW’s experience, on the other hand, is rather enlightening:

I’m 29 and just had my second child. Your article hit a nerve that’s been vibrating since I conceived #2.

As an engineer, I found it amazing that my male coworkers were in general supportive when I had my daughter 3 years ago. My female coworkers, however, tended to say I was too young; shouldn’t I get more established in my career first? I retorted that they were 5-15 years older and didn’t have children. I would be working for another 50 years given our Social Security mess. I wanted children. I had 1-2 decades for childbearing and 5-6 decades left for career goals.

When I switched to a technical documentation position while pregnant with my second child, the “gender divergence” became even more pronounced. Men understood taking a less demanding position while expecting (no more calls on weekends when the production line had problems) and were typically accepting of the pregnancy. When I said it was my second child, they thought, “It’s nice that someone is giving their child a sibling.”

Women asked if this was my first child. When I said it was my second, they asked if it was planned or an accident. Or they asked how I could afford it. When I admitted that we hadn’t planned on number two quite so soon, more than one woman actually said, “You know, you can get that fixed.” Given that attitude, it is no wonder they drove away both potential spouses and the opportunity to have children away.

The only comfort is that those with such attitudes are not the ones who are breeding.

JW hopes others can learn from her example:

You are so right in this article. I keep trying to say this to younger women who think that they have all the time in the world. I’m 50 and never married–and it is doubtful that I ever will be because I squandered my chances thinking I had time. I also had this stupid idea that, before I could become interested, the guy had to be like Mel Gibson or John Wayne. You’ll notice that neither of those guys was ever interested in a female lawyer.

You should also add to your list that they not become obsessed with acitivities that don’t advance their plans to become wives and mothers. I became obsessed with law, soccer and sailboat racing–all of which, at the time, seemed more fun than dating and looking for Mr. Right.

From NRO’s Corner

IT’S GETTING WORSE [John Podhoretz]
The White House needs to know this. Really. It’s getting worse. Trust me.

But why trust Mr. Podhoretz, when you can verify?

Right Wing News emailed more than 200 right-of-center bloggers and asked them to answer 4 questions about the Harriet Miers nomination….

Here are the questions the bloggers were asked and their responses. The percentage & number of bloggers that chose each option follow the question.

1) Do you think George Bush made:

A) A good or excellent decision in selecting Harriet Miers as a nominee for the Supreme Court? (9% –7)
B) A bad or terrible decision in selecting Harriet Miers as a nominee for the Supreme Court? (49% — 39 responses)
C) A so-so decision? (20% — 16)
D) I’m not sure yet. (22% — 17)

2) Has the decision to select Harriet Miers:

A) Made you view George Bush more favorably? (4% — 3)
B) Made you view George Bush less favorably? (53% — 42)
C) Neither? (33% — 26)
D) I’m not sure yet. (10% – 8)

On a personal note, I will be a little disappointed if these right-wing bloggers get their wish and Miss Miers fails to be confirmed. I was looking forward to being able to work in that Creepy McCrypto reference for the next fifteen years.

The Last Boy Scout may be fitting for the new Chief Justice, but it just isn’t quite as fun.

DA shares her experience:

Despite your young age, what great advice advice is in your column today on relationships with men and not postponing marriage and children! I can vouch for the truth of each one of your points through my own experience.

The column took me back to the 70’s, when I was in my twenties; I remember the times: “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle”, etc. I always wanted to get married but it’s hard for one individual to buck an entire popular culture and that’s almost what it was back then, especially if you were living in California. That aside, however, your column stresses common sense actions to take and that’s important. That can make the difference in the course of someone’s life, regardless of the nonsense preached in the media.

I finally did marry a great guy at 38; but for the family part of things, well, it was too late.

I hope your column reaches at least one young lady and instills some good sense.

Unfortunately, it’s seldom too late for regret.

VC wishes her kids would listen:

No one could write a better column on the subject of women and their desire to have a home and family. No one. Dr. Laura, advice columnists, PHD’s in psychiatry, no one. I’m speaking from the perspective of a 55 year old woman with grown children and with a thriving business. My 26 year old daughter is grad school, had an abortion at 17 and is determined that she will not have any children. My son is married to a very nurturing woman and he is “afraid” to bring children into the world. I’ve told them both that when I die I will be most proud of and only thinking of my family, not my business, not my accomplishments. Your statement of at 40 and at 60 a job is all they will have was so very true.

Thank you for an instant classic. Just wish it had been on another website besides WND. My son won’t read anything from that “wild-eyed” website.

VC’s sad situation is why I am so cruel when shredding the purported “achievements” of women – and to a lesser extent, men – who believe that they are contributing anything to society by obtaining a masters degree or shuffling papers in an office. Regardless of whether one views them from a religious or a Darwinist perspective, the activities of 90 percent of the people in America are completely and utterly useless EXCEPT for those directed towards having, raising and providing for the next generation.

No one is going to improve the world, much less save it, by means of a Powerpoint presentation or a doctoral thesis on lesbian themes in Indian film.

VC, my recommendation is to tell your son to stop being a pussy and an evolutionary dead-end. And buy your daughter a cat, she might as well start her collection now.

This is hilarious:

UNICEF’s first adult-only episode of “The Smurfs,” in which the blue-skinned cartoon characters’ village is annihilated by warplanes, has terrified young children….

It opens with the Smurfs dancing, hand in hand, around a campfire and singing the Smurf song. Bluebirds flutter past and rabbits gambol around their familiar village of mushroom-shaped houses until, without warning, bombs begin to rain from the sky. The Smurfs scatter and run in vain from the whistling bombs, before being felled by blast waves and fiery explosions. The final scene shows a scorched and tattered Baby Smurf sobbing inconsolably, surrounded by prone Smurfs.

Is there any chance that this isn’t destined to become a cult classic, played repeatedly in nightclubs around the world? I’ll bet some industrial band is using it as part of their live show within weeks. Can’t you imagine Ministry cranking out “New World Order” with dying Smurfs filling the giant screens in the background?

At least someone in the UN has a sense of humor. This makes me optimistic that they will soon be able to convince the Peyo family that a short film showing Smurfette snorting coke and taking on all of Smurfsville in a massive gangbang is the best way to warn humanity about the dangers of drugs and sexual promiscuity.

Let’s face it, weren’t you just a little suspicious about Smurfette’s moral character, or the lack of it, being that she was the only game in town?

From NRO:

I’ve seen the future of hockey, and it is soccer. At least that thought flickered through my mind last night, attending my first MLS game, in which the NY-NJ Metrostars sadly defeated the DC United at RFK Stadium, 2-1. The attendance was 18,751. The night before, at the Washington Capitals’ second hockey game of the season, a measly 13,021 spectators paid for admission.

The MLS is, admittedly, a minor league on the world stage. Even their all-star team wouldn’t stand a chance against juggernauts like Milan, Juve or Chelsea. Nor is the sport anywhere nearly as interesting on television as the NFL – despite the commentators being much, much better – but it is deservedly becoming more popular.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the USA repeated its strong run in the next World Cup, as what the American team gives up in pure technical ability it makes up in tactical superiority and sheer athleticism. Traditional powerhouses such as Italy, France and the Netherlands have looked atrocious in qualifying and there’s a reasonable shot that the USA could make it through to the semifinals if they can avoid injuries and play to their potential.

Continued success on the world stage may or may not boost soccer’s popularity in the USA, but regardless, the sport will continue to be a much more interesting spectator sport than hockey, baseball or basketball.