Category: Uncategorized

Robert Novak considers 2008:

Nationally prominent Republicans are talking to each other about the possibility of getting Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to accept the vice-presidential nomination in 2008 since he has ruled out running for president that year.

Bush probably would be the front-runner for the party’s next presidential nomination if he only had a different last name. GOP politicians agree that five Bush presidential nominations out of the last six campaigns would be one too many for the country to take. But second place on the ticket might be acceptable to voters.

Lovely. Conservative Republicans will no doubt be thrilled to be given the choice between an abortion-friendly woman with no executive experience backed up by yet another Bush, or Hillary Clinton. BECAUSE (basic arithmetic aside) A VOTE FOR [Libertarian candidate] IS A VOTE FOR CLINTON!

Cthulhu 2008!

Joe Carter poses a conundrum:

But while blackmail is a sin, should it also be a crime? Libertarians, who claim it is a “victimless crime” would say no. Would a Christian libertarian also argue in favor decriminalizing the practice? The reason I ask is because one the main complaints I have with most libertarians is that they often work backwards from a grievance to the development of their core beliefs. Christians, on the other hand, must start with Biblical principles and work their way to a coherent political philosophy.

But a number of bloggers whose intellect and opinions I respect (particularly John Coleman, Josh Claybourn, and Vox Day) subscribe to some version of Christian libertarianism. While I don’t find the political theory to be a tenable option, I’m open to changing my opinion and so I’m eager to hear a defense of blackmail from a Biblical perspective.

My favorite thing about the Evangelical Outpost is that one can always count on Joe to bring up something interesting to consider while simultaneously calling someone out on it. I suppose I could imitate the Panda’s Thumbkins and tell him that there is a plethora of material written by Very Important Names defending blackmail on Christian grounds somewhere Out There, but instead, I’ll see if I can make a case. Although this will probably cause CAIR, Atrios and the Electrolites to conclude that I am also a blackmailer, in addition to my copious other crimes against humanity.

First, there is nothing criminal with regards to disseminating non-private information about an individidual. You might find it very embarassing to have your wife learn that you were deported from Italy after being caught with your pants down in the act of pretending to molest the statue of Juliet by the Veronese police, but there’s no law preventing me from telling her. Or sending her the digital pictures, BC. Nor is there any law which forbids one party from giving money to another party in return for legal services, or as a gift.

There are two routes to defense here. One is the link between the Christian intellectual tradition and “Die Gedanken, sie sind frei”. Freedom of thought is an integral part of free will, but to ban blackmail is to necessarily engage in thought-policing, since it is the intentions, rather than the actions, which are being judged. Your intention is to buy my silence; you are operating under the assumption that I intend to inform others if you do not pay. Blackmail is therefore inherently a thought crime since if it occurs, no action has actually been taken by the blackmailer.

Second, the commandments to the Church in the proper means of dealing with remorseless sinners is potentially relevant here. Exposing the sins of an unrepentant individual to others, far from being a wrongful act, is actually required of the church member in good standing. Since such exposure is a virtuous act under Biblical principles, it cannot and should not be viewed as something negative, much less as the basis for a crime.

So, WB, about those pictures of you and that elephant seal in Carmel….

Captain Ed is outraged by Mike Tice’s admission of ticketmongering:

Instead of working to boost that by improving as a coach, he decided instead to run a little criminal conspiracy with his players and his coaches. Even if that stopped when he became head coach, the inappropriate nature of his lockerroom racket should disqualify him from any leadership position (as if his on-field performance doesn’t already fill that ticket). Small wonder, then, that Randy Moss seemed to present such intractable discipline problems with the coaching staff setting this kind of example. They not only set the tone for the players, they may have exploited them to maximize their own profits.

Sheer idiotic greed. This is what the Vikings want us to buy with a publicly-financed stadium?

Criminal conspiracy, yes! I don’t have any problem whatsoever with Mike Tice scalping tickets, since every single coach in every single professional league, plus the big NCAA sports, does it. Anti-scalping laws are quintessential bad law; they are a violation of property rights and are rightly ignored by everyone. Tice denies he ran the scalping operation as head coach, but even if he did, so what? The league knows what’s going on and it’s obvious, considering that not every NFL player shows up at the Super Bowl and yet the stands are still packed.

Even so, I won’t shed any tears if this stupid non-scandal makes Tice’s position as head coach untenable. Anyone who is so slow as to run the ball less than 15 times per game against three of the worst run defenses shouldn’t be a head coach in the NFL. Tice doesn’t lack guts, which is why I expect him to ride this out, it’s a deficiency in the little grey cells that is the problem.

And speaking of little criminal conspiracies, I knowingly recycled my paper and plastic after the posted and permitted time last night. Settle down, ladies, I know how you love a rebel. What can I say? It’s just how I am.

An Englishman speaks his mind:

I will add but one remark on the truest heroine that the world has ever seen. If any person can be found in the present age who would join in the scoffs of Voltaire against the Maid of Orleans and the Heavenly Voices by which she believed herself inspired, let him read the life of the wisest and best man that the heathen nations ever produced. Let him read of the Heavenly Voice, by which Socrates believed himself to be constantly attended; which cautioned him on his way from the field of battle at Delium, and which from his boyhood to the time of his death visited him with unearthly warnings. Let the modern reader reflect on this; and then, unless he is prepared to term Socrates either fool or imposter, let him not dare to deride or vilify Joan of Arc.

Jeanne d’Arc is certainly worthy of admiration. She was more than a mere figurehead, and although she never struck an enemy down, her physical bravery matched her unshakeable faith. Even her capture never caused her to doubt, and as Creasy points out, her decision to obey the wishes of the French lords and generals in continuing with the campaign after the anointing of Charles VII as the King of France demonstrates her courage, since she believed her mission had been accomplished and she no longer enjoyed divine protection.

That being said, if one considers the long-term fruits of both Socrates and Joan of Arc, one tends to find a certain sympathy for the point of view of those appalling Englishmen who tortured and killed her. Not that their actions were justified, but considering what a France free of the English common law heritage has given the world – the French revolution, Napoleon, the treaty of Versailles and now the European Union – one has some doubts about whether those voices were of heavenly or hellish inspiration.

Jay Nordlinger loves another man and he’s proud:

We conservatives do our fair share of griping about George W. Bush. In truth, I think we do more than our fair share. But there will soon come a day when we deeply lament the absence of a president who would do such things as send John Bolton to the United Nations.

Miraculous, or nearly so.

No, miraculous would be a president with the stones to throw the UN out of the US and turn in our membership card. And conservatives don’t do nearly enough griping about a president who is not and never was one of them.

From the Independent:

Research into the attitudes of 1,500 women with an average age of 29 found that 61 per cent believe “domestic goddess” role models who juggle top jobs with motherhood and jet-set social lives are “unhelpful” and “irritating”. More than two-thirds agree that the man should be the main provider in a family, while 70 per cent do not want to work as hard as their mother’s generation. On average, the women questioned want to “settle down” with their partner by 30 and have their first child a year later.

Vicki Shotbolt, deputy chief executive of the National Family and Parenting Institute, said: “This is the generation of young women who have seen the ‘have it all’ ethos up close and personal, and they have realised that it doesn’t work.

What’s particularly bizarre about the concept of “having it all” is that as it would be better described as “doing it all”, the obvious shortcomings would seem to be as obvious as the problems of working two full-time jobs. A woman can’t expect to make a home, be a mother and work a full-time job successfully. I mean, if none of the great, Super Bowl-winning coaches have been able to simultaneously wear two very similar hats as coach and general manager in the NFL, why would a woman expect to be able to pull off wearing two very different ones with any reasonable degree of success?

While I have macro and demographic concerns about women in the workforce, (at this point, women are more responsible for lower real wages in the US than globalization, and without insufficiently-Americanized immigrants, the US birthrate would be sub-replacement rate), I have no personal problem with it. I have far more respect for the competence of the woman who comes to me and says: “look, I have children and I need to leave every day at two, can we work something out?” than the one who tries to hold down the full-time job, is constantly trying to duck out of the office to deal with one emergency or another and is always frazzled. I’d much rather pay more to have two of the former working overlapping schedules than deal with one of the latter.

Feminists have not done women or society at large any favors by denigrating the desires of women who wish to put their families first. For all its pretenses, feminism has never been about choice, as Simone de Beauvoir made very clear when she explained how feminists must remove homemaking as a potential choice for young women, because too many women would choose it.

Fleck isn’t sanguine on real estate either:

8.5% of mortgages taken out last year nationally were taken out by people who did not plan to live in these houses. That’s up from 5.8% in 2000. Knowing how rough these data are, my guess is it’s probably even higher. And it’s contrary to what our esteemed bubble-blowing Fed chairman says about real estate not lending itself to a bubble because it’s not fungible and people have to live somewhere.

So, at least 8.5% of the market is buying simply because prices are going up — the very definition of a bubble mentality. In addition, the fact that prices are going up and people are chasing them distorts the very market that underlies the speculative boom — another classic symptom of a mania. (For a general background on bubbles, read a speech I gave on the topic.

I’d like to say great minds think alike, but Bill Fleckenstein is leagues beyond me when it comes to investing. Still, people can’t say they weren’t warned.

Cornerback Fred Smoot, the top coverage defender still remaining in the unrestricted free agent pool, has reached a contract agreement in principle with the Minnesota Vikings, a move that will further bolster a defense that statistically ranked 28th in the league overall during the 2004 season.

The four-year veteran cornerback, who had played his entire career with the Washington Redskins, is the second high-profile free agent acquired by the Vikings in the past week. Minnesota signed former Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Pat Williams last week

Trying to build through free agency makes me nervous, but the Vikes are making some very sound moves this offseason. They’re not overpaying for big veteran names, but are signing good young guys that have the potential to provide a sound defensive core. Even without Randy Moss, the Vikings should be able to be very competitive with an average defense, and if Smoot – who was arguably better than Champ Bailey in Washington two years ago – can overperform like Antoine Winfield did last year, the Vikes shouldn’t have too much trouble beating out Green Bay for the NFC North.

Have they improved enough to knock off Philadelphia? Not yet. But if someone teaches Mike Tice to run the ball instead of getting cute when playing running-challenged defenses, (or if Tice is brought down by his little ticket scalping operation), the potential is arguably there. I would have preferred to see them sign Derek Mason, but Rod Gardner would make for an excellent addition. Plaxico Burress is interesting, but too expensive considering his past underperformance. Then again, having a quarterback who can actually throw the ball might make a real difference for him.

I think Burress would be insane to go to the Giants, (having my doubts about the whinier of the two Mannings), and if he chooses a bigger payday over a playoff contender, then he’s probably not the sort of competitor you’d want in the first place. All in all, things aren’t looking too bad for the Purple and Gold.

‘But although people keep on talking about Thierry Henry, it won’t be Thierry Henry against Bayern Munich, it will be Arsenal against Bayern Munich.

“It’s a team game, not a one-man show.” [said Henry] “If Lauren had not given me that amazing cross against Portsmouth last Saturday, I would not have scored our first goal. I always say that without my team, I am nothing. The only player I have seen winning games on his own was Diego Maradona, even scoring with his hands! I do not remember anyone else taking a team from the beginning to the end and making them win, like at the 1986 World Cup, where he played on his own.”

While Dennis Bergkamp has always been my favorite Gunner, it’s hard not to like the attitude of Arsenal’s biggest star. Unlike the thugs of Manchester United – fans, players and manager alike – Arsenal plays like a team, with beautiful, selfless passing that is effective as it is attractive to watch. While the European soccer leagues have a tremendous amount to learn from the NFL in terms of how to run a league profitably with maximum competitiveness, there’s a lot of US athletes who would do well to learn from Henry’s example that in a team sport, you cannot have true success without putting the team first.

With regards to tonight, two goals at Highbury against Bryan Munich is tough, but by no means impossible. Not with Henry, Bergkamp and Pires all getting back into action.

Note – Any socialists seeking to make a larger point of this might do well to note that a national economy is not a sports team, and life is not a game.

That reminds me, Vox, 200 pounds on my first set of bench now: 10 reps, no spot. 210 with a spot towards the end. I’ve regained a fair bit of my old strength and size. So you’re doing, what, 225 first set?

Actually, I’ve been going pretty light for the last two months after injuring my hand. I need to get some neoprene gloves with better padding before I go back to lifting anything in the 300 range. Space Bunny has me doing supersets in order to cut up a bit, so on the bench I’m doing four sets of 10-12 at 195 followed immediately by 10-15 flies at 40.

Since I switched to the Perfect Aryan Male’s program, I’ve actually only done two sets of six at 225 for starters. (Following a warmup at 135, of course.) What you’re probably remembering is the two sets of 10 at 225 at the end to rep out.

But since soccer starts soon, I’ll probably stick to Space Bunny’s program for the nonce. It’s impossible to keep your strength up with all that running around.