Category: Uncategorized

The Chick Magnet, from the Onion:

Hey, I don’t want to brag, but when you got it, you got it. And when it comes to picking up women with severe personality disorders, I’ve got it. Seems like whenever I’m in the same room with a sexy young nutcase looking for some hot dysfunctional action, we lock eyes and I gaze right into the twisted, abnormal recesses of her psyche, and then—bam! We make an instant, undeniable, and incredibly unhealthy connection….

I know what you’re thinking: “Who is this guy to sound so full of himself?” I’m not being egotistical—it’s just true. Hey, I know I’m not perfect. Who is? We’ve all got problems. I’m sure I’ve got some myself. But here’s one problem I don’t have: the ladies. When it comes to charming every borderline psycho in a skirt, I take second place to no man. I guess I just give off that “Hey there, pretty lady with the lifelong unresolved emotional issues” vibe. It can’t be taught—you either got it or you don’t. And I got it….

The sex is great, too. Believe me, all these highly unstable women have so many self-esteem issues, identity crises, and subconscious needs for approval from absent or emotionally abusive father figures, they’ll do practically anything to try to please a man, no matter how self-destructive it is. Sweet!

It is one of the great mysteries of life, and to be honest, a theoretical variance that I find somewhat difficult to fully comprehend. For in contrast to the above theme, nearly every church teaches that true love is more fulfilling and sex in a married relationship is much better than that experienced by those sad, hedonistic unfortunates philandering their way through life.

However, it seems that most of the married Christian men I know could easily pass for Woody Allen in Annie Hall, while every predator-at-large is aware that the whackjobs with mental health issues are not only more available on a regular basis, but are much more enthusiastic about the business than the average woman, religious or otherwise.

I’m not saying this is any justification for running off with the nearest bipolar yoga instructor on Prozac or anything, only that the church may be doing a real disservice to both men and women by creating false expectations through focusing primarily on the self-fulfillment aspects of marriage instead of the sacrificial ones.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if John Norman turned out to be correct and this entire Sexual Revolution turned out to not only be physically and societally damaging to women, but erotically ruinous as well? The mysterious appeal of his wildly un-PC novels to women would seem to hint that this just might be the case.

Chuck Colson writes on Townhall:

Recently, a Wall Street Journal poll announced that both political parties—Republicans and Democrats—are now held in low regard by the American people. Usually if the fortunes of one party decline, the other party increases—sort of a zero sum game. Now, however, for the first time in polling history, both parties come up in negative territory.

It’s good to see that not all Republicans are the Three Monkey variety. Now, if those people who are rightly disgusted by the faux-conservative Bush administration can manage to withstand the temptation to give into the quadrennial “vote for x is a vote for y” deception, perhaps we can see one of the third parties begin to gain some traction.

As some have noted in light of what appears to be the recent CAFTA chicanery, arguments that change must come through the two-party system are increasingly dubious, since those in power have repeatedly demonstrated their willingness to break the rules in order to maintain their position of primacy.

In any case, I find the strategic arguments for voting two-party to be irrelevant. Only if you vote your conscience are you properly fulfilling your responsibility as a free citizen. Pragmatists are merely intellectual whores by another name, and as Governor Schwarzenegger is currently demonstrating in California, it’s clear that their methods are ultimately doomed to failure anyhow.

The inestimable Peter Drucker on Alan Greenspan:

“The Alan Greenspan of the 1920s and 1930s was Montagu Norman, the governor of the Bank of England. He had the same reputation as Greenspan has now. But he lost it with the Depression, the same way Greenspan will lose his. The idea that the Federal Reserve chairman has power is a delusion. The only power he has is over the interest rate, and the interest rate has ceased to be important because businesses are no longer dependent upon borrowing from banks. The interest rate is only important to the stock market, to people that short or buy on margin. For the economy — yes, if it goes up to 18% or down to 2%, but half a point is a symbolic gesture. The Fed has control only as long as people trust that when Greenspan opens his mouth, it is meaningful. But the first time it does not work — well, magicians get no second chance.”

Peter Drucker was the author I read most voraciously during my intellectual formative years. I haven’t read anything of his in over a decade, since I basically lost interest in the boring world of normal business once I entered the game industry. But it doesn’t surprise me that such an incredibly astute mind would instantly see through the Grand Charade and the Master Charlatan.

This showed up in the inbox. I can’t vouch for it.

Two hours of debate on CAFTA ended in the U.S. House at 10:59 p.m. Wednesday night. Representative Ray LaHood (R-Illinois), speaker pro tempore, then ordered a 15-minute vote — at the end of which CAFTA had been defeated! But with the vote kept open for more than one hour after it began, the “final” vote tally was 217 in favor to 215 against, with two not voting. Or was it? We were led to believe that the two members who didn’t vote, Jo Ann Davis (R-Virginia) and Charles Taylor (R-North Carolina) who were already on record as going to vote “no” and would have defeated CAFTA, had been persuaded to remain silent. Mr. Taylor’s was a key vote from a textile state that everyone was watching.

Republican leaders “spent much of [the] time wrestling with about 10 rebellious but ‘undecided’ Republicans, pleading and pressuring one after another to vote for the agreement.”

But on Thursday, the day after the vote, I received a telephone call from a talk radio host in Congressman Taylor’s district. He told me he had asked Mr. Taylor that morning why he didn’t vote against CAFTA as he had pledged. The talk radio host told me “Taylor said he had voted ‘no’…but somebody changed it and Mr. Taylor was furious.” “‘I voted NO,’ Mr. Taylor announced in a terse statement on Thursday, saying the House clerk’s written log showed his vote….”

If they’re going to this sort of trouble and playing games with the voting record to make sure something is rammed through the House and Senate, you know it’s heap bad news.

UPDATE – Congressman Taylor’s statement: “I voted NO on the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) in the vote last night. I informed the Majority Leader and the Appropriations Chairman I was voting no, as I had informed my constituents I was voting no. Rep. Howard Coble and I voted “no” together. Due to an error, my “no” vote did not record on the voting machine. The Clerk’s computer logs verified that I had attempted to vote, but it did not show my “nay” vote. I am re-inserting my “No” vote in the record. But even with my NO vote re-inserted, the bill still passed.”

Of course it did, Chuckie. Of course it did….

The secular extremists, the left-wing academics, the legacy media, the lavender lobby and professional anti-Christian activists might want to keep this in mind:

Chinese Christians outnumber members of the Communist Party

During the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong’s China turned on itself, torturing and killing hundreds of thousands of people. But the seeds were sown for an unexpected upsurge in Christianity.

In a social revolution that has prompted a heavy-handed response from the Government, religion is spreading through town and countryside and Chinese communities abroad.

Protestantism and Catholicism are among the approved faiths, the others being Buddhism, Taoism and Islam.

Buddhism and Taoism claim most worshippers but the state-sanctioned churches count up to 35 million followers. More significant are the underground or “house” churches, which are believed to have up to 100 million members, many more than are members of the Communist Party.

I’ve met any number of Christian workers here in China and the crop is indeed bountiful. One man is a Chinese American who returns each year on a mission trip, and believe me the man is fruitful. Others come here as English teachers and quietly preach the word.

Nero couldn’t do it. Julian the Apostate couldn’t do it. Diocletian couldn’t do it. Lenin and his Soviet successors couldn’t do it. Mao and his Chinese Communists couldn’t do it. As Jesus Christ said nearly two millenia ago, all the gates of Hell will not prevail against his church.

It is the temptations offered by the good things of the world that weaken one’s soul. Evil and oppression, on the other hand, serve to strengthen one’s convictions to cling to the rock of salvation. What could be more terrible than the rise and rule of the Antichrist? And what could offer a greater testimony to the timeless truth of the Word than witnessing that, except the Second Coming itself?

Michael Yon writes of American soldiers who are not American citizens:

Across Iraq, I keep running across American troops who are not Americans. Many of these soldiers and Marines are working towards attaining U.S. citizenship while in uniform, under fire, in Iraq.

SPC Saroth Muth (Cambodia)
SPC David Floutier (England)
SPC Hugo Juarez (Mexico)
SPC Evans Martin (Antigua)
SPC Octavio Rodriguez (Mexico)
SGT Ringsey Khin (Cambodia)
SPC Abdel Phipps (Jamaica)
SGT Collin Campbell (Trinidad)
SPC Bosco Jerez (Nicaragua)
SPC Jose Alvarado (Honduras)
SPC Moises Medina (Mexico)

SGT Walter Gaya, from Argentina, was scheduled to be sworn in with this group, but he was recently wounded in combat and could not attend the ceremony.

I have no doubt that these are all fine young men, the sort of energetic immigrants who quickly adapted to American culture and society and helped the nation achieve what today is its preeminent place in the world.

On the other hand, I can’t help but think of Rome’s foreign legions and at what point in Roman history they became common. Of course, if we were following the Roman example precisely, we’d have an army full of Saudis occupying Iraq.

Mr. Yon’s online magazine is a great blog, by the way. It makes for very interesting and sobering reading.

France begins its expulsions:

The gulf between British and French treatment of preachers of hatred and violence was thrown sharply into focus yesterday when France announced the summary expulsion of a dozen Islamists between now and the end of August.

A tough new anti-terrorism package was unveiled by Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister and a popular centre-Right politician. His proposals reflect French determination to act swiftly against extremists in defiance of the human rights lobby, which is noticeably less vocal in France than in Britain.

Imams and their followers who fuel anti-western feeling among impressionable young French Muslims will be rounded up and returned to their countries of origin, most commonly in France’s case to its former north African colonies. Mr Sarkozy also revealed that as many as 12 French mosques associated with provocative anti-western preaching were under surveillance. Imams indulging in inflammatory rhetoric will be expelled even if their religious status is recognised by mainstream Muslim bodies.

Those who have assumed French citizenship will not be protected from deportation. Mr Sarkozy said he will reactivate measures, “already available in our penal code but simply not used”, to strip undesirables of their adopted nationality.

I don’t believe it would be possible or right for the USA to strip individuals of their citizenship, but it’s clear that there’s a lot more on the table than most people yet realize.

France is, well, France, and as I wrote before, they have a long and not very pretty history of dealing very harshly with minorities they deem undesirable. I am not surprised that they have taken the lead with these steps and if there are more attacks in Europe, I expect other countries, beginning with Germany and Switzerland, to quickly follow suit.

I think we all know what this is:

A newfound object in our solar system’s outskirts may be larger than any known world after Pluto, scientists said today.

It also has a moon.

Designated as 2003 EL61, the main object in the two-body system is 32 percent as massive as Pluto and is estimated to be about 70 percent of Pluto’s diameter.

Other news reports that the object could be twice as big as Pluto are false, according to two astronomers who found the object in separate studies and another expert who has analyzed the data.

Da-da-da-dum Da-da-dum Da-da….

Marcus Aurelius writes in his meditations:

From my great-grandfather, not to have frequented public schools, and to have had good teachers at home, and to know that on such things a man should spend liberally.

Considering that men of erudition had figured this out nearly two thousand years ago, it’s appalling that anyone is still willing to consider this a matter for reasonable debate.

The public schools may have the today’s experts on their side. The homeschools are supported by the deeds and words of mankind’s greatest thinkers. On which side do you wish to place your bet?