Category: Uncategorized

From the New York Times:

“If you don’t go to Thailand and you are a young woman here, what can you do,” said Ye Xiang, 20, whose features still had the pudgy look of a teenager’s. “You plant and you harvest. But in Thailand and Malaysia, I heard it was pretty easy to earn money, so I went.”

At least 20 other young women from this tiny hamlet, which clings to a hillside just off a side road near the Mekong River, have headed off to foreign lands to work in the sex trade. “All of the girls would like to go, but some have to take care of their parents,” Ms. Ye said. In this regard, there is nothing peculiar about Langle, at least nothing peculiar for this part of Yunnan Province, whose women are favorites in the brothel industry from Thailand – whose national language is related to their own dialect – to Singapore.

Experts say that in some local villages a majority of women in their 20’s work in this trade, leaving almost no family untouched and the young men without mates. Not long ago, many of the recruits were kidnapped to become modern-day sex slaves, but these days the trade has become largely voluntary.

One of the aspects of feminism that I’ve always found particularly amusing is the way in which it dances around a basic and apparently universal fact of life: most women don’t like to work* and they won’t if they can avoid it by having sex instead. Although I suppose it’s remotely possible that an early feminist capable of long-range strategic thinking may have known the likely economics effects of doubling the size of the work force and hoped to use falling real wages to force women out of the home if they wished to maintain a normal standard of living.

Now this desire to avoid work could be equally true of men, but we’ll never know since no one is willing to give us the option of escaping the daily grind in return for regular access to our beautiful bodies.

*Work is defined here as something that you would never consider doing of your own volition unless someone paid you to do it. Taking care of your children, washing the car and doing the dishes may not be fun-filled leisure activities, but they are not work.

John Leo writes about his daughter’s college education:

At a Manhattan holiday party last week, hosted by a friend with Wesleyan ties, I overheard my daughter explaining that no real debate takes place on campus. This was a major frustration, since she is feisty and brilliant and loves to argue ideas. She is politically liberal but wonders how Democrats of her generation will be able to speak convincingly to the middle of the political spectrum when so many of them shun the complexity of arguments and simply spout the party line.

Actually, my bet is that she doesn’t love to argue ideas. She only thinks she does because she hasn’t actually done it yet. I’ve met a thousand girls like his daughter and never once have I met one who could make a case that would survive five minutes against me and very few have enjoyed the experience. It’s like the man who reads and reads books about the martial arts but never once steps foot inside the dojo to get his block knocked off. When he finally does, he is hurt, embarrassed and angry.

Republicans fall into this too, to some extent, but not as badly because they are at least exposed to the other side’s philosophy in college. But if I’ve read all of your side’s works and you’ve never even heard of mine – men who have been refuting the Left’s thinking for eighty years – who do you think is going to get their head handed to them?

What’s amusing is how few of these self-professed socialists have actually read any Marx or any other socialist, at most they’ve heard their professor mention names and summarize a few basics. They spout opinions on political economy without having ever read Smith or Keynes, much less Bastiat, Hayek, Mises or Rothbard. Indeed, one wonders why Mr. Leo is convinced that his daughter is so intelligent, considering that he describes her as just another mindless left-liberal drone.

I’d like to be a fly on the wall at a party with Vox, SB, OC and White Buffalo. I’m thinking the conversations are … interesting.

SB: So, how are you? Have you been doing any writing?

OC: Some. Nothing too serious, just the occasional bit like the Hitchhiker’s or that Potter piece that Vox has been slacking on.

SB: That too? Hmmmm. Been shooting lately?

OC: We got down to the range a few weeks ago. How’s your Glock treating you?

VD: I told you I could match up with the Cocktails! I HAD them. See, if my matchups hadn’t been so horrible in the first round I would have won the whole thing!

WB: Could have, should have, would have. I don’t see no ring on that finger! I don’t see no ring! Anyway, no one made you draft Peerless Price and Jerry Porter.

VD: You seriously want to talk draft, Mr. Randall Cunningham #1 overall in 1999? Mr. “I drafted Kurt Warner and Kelly Holcomb in 2003”?

WB: Did I mention that I don’t see no ring? (flashes cubic zirconium-encrusted finger)

OC: What are those two going on about, anyway?

SB: You so don’t want to know.

Fraters Libertas salutes 2004’s Blogs of Distinction:

The Barbara Eden “Genie, get back in the bottle” Award

Winner: Vox Day for spending the better part of the year championing the repeal of women’s suffrage.

Thank you, Fraters Libertas. Thank you very much. I like to think that I’ve set the bar rather high, although I have no doubt that even now, some unknown blogger is putting together an iron-clad case on how Philip the Fair’s suppression of the Templars caused real wages in France to peak in 1323, inevitably leading to the iniquities of Maximilien Robespierre, Jean-Jacque Rousseau and Michel Foucault.

Terry Jemison of the Department of Veterans Affairs reported this week to the American Free Press that “Gulf-era veterans” now on medical disability since 1991 number 518,739, with only 7,035 reported wounded in Iraq in that same 14-year period.

This week the American Free Press dropped a “dirty bomb” on the Pentagon by reporting that eight out of 20 men who served in one unit in the 2003 U.S. military offensive in Iraq now have malignancies. That means that 40 percent of the soldiers in that unit have developed malignancies in just 16 months.

Since these soldiers were exposed to vaccines and depleted uranium (DU) only, this is strong evidence for researchers and scientists working on this issue, that DU is the definitive cause of Gulf War Syndrome. Vaccines are not known to cause cancer. One of the first published researchers on Gulf War Syndrome, who also served in 1991 in Iraq, Dr. Andras Korényi-Both, is in agreement with Barbara Goodno from the Department of Defense’s Deployment Health Support Directorate, that in this war soldiers were not exposed to chemicals, pesticides, bioagents or other suspect causes this time to confuse the issue.

This powerful new evidence is blowing holes in the cover-up perpetrated by the Pentagon and three presidential administrations ever since DU was first used in 1991 in the Persian Gulf War. Fourteen years after the introduction of DU on the battlefield in 1991, the long-term effects have revealed that DU is a death sentence and very nasty stuff.

Anyone have any hard data on this stuff? It sort of blows a hole through the idea that one can “support the troops” by encouraging them to fight in what would appear to be an extremely dangerous environment. The number of disabled vastly exceeding the number of wounded would seem to indicate either massive fraud or something gone seriously awry.

Last week: 11-5. Overall: 158-80. Fantasy: 9-6-1 (third place)

New England Patriots over San Francisco 49ers

Houston Texans over Cleveland Browns

Buffalo Bills over Pittsburgh Steelers

Cincinnati Bengals over Philadelphia Eagles

Detroit Lions over Tennessee Titans

Dallas Cowboys over New York Giants

Baltimore Ravens over Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings over Washington Redskins

Carolina Panthers over New Orleans Saints

Kansas City Chiefs over San Diego Chargers

Green Bay Packers over Chicago Bears

Jacksonville Jaguars over Oakland Raiders

Seattle Seahawks over Atlanta Falcons

Tampa Bay Buccaneers over Arizona Cardinals

Denver Broncos over Indianapolis Colts

New York Jets over St. Louis Rams

A very difficult week, considering the number of players who will be sitting and teams that won’t be trying to win. We’re in eighth place in the picks pool, but a strong performance could jump us up to third or fourth. The White Buffalo is close behind, in tenth. Eat funky dust, bovine breath!

As for fantasy, a huge performance a week too late gave me a solid third-place finish. A different first-round foe would have meant victory, but it was not to be. Still, not bad at all after beginning the season 1-4, as Daunte Culpepper and Bubba Franks were my only week one starters who were still starting at the end of the season. In retrospect, good in-season management was undone by poor drafting.

TimF encounters an unfamiliar mindset:

I guess I’m also confused when the far right nuts are against things like the Brady bill…which is just trying to make sure criminals don’t have gun access. How could anyone be against that?

I am absolutely against that. Why? Because it is an absolute impossibility. Consider the following: a few years ago, the Chinese government decided to crack down on illegal firearms. By using the full power of the totalitarian state, they managed to seize 120,000 illegal guns in one month.

Now, the significant thing is that all guns had been illegal for fifty years, fifty years of totalitarian government where 38 million people were murdered by the government in the Great Leap Forward. If you cannot manage to prevent criminals from obtaining firearms in 50 years of murderous totalitarian government, you have absolutely no hope of doing it in a society with even a modicum of freedom.

Israeli soldiers have sold their rifles to Palestinian terrorists. How hard would it be to arrange for a pot-smoking National Guardsman to “lose” his M-16? It might cost less than buying one at the gun store. Police weapons are stolen from parked police cars; manage an effective gun ban and you’ll have policemen being jumped simply to steal their Glocks. And miniature stamping presses allow those who are reasonably handy to manufacture their own – the Chinese found more than one in their massive investigation.

One might as reasonably rely on the Gun Fairy taking the guns away. The only thing gun control ensures is that the bad guys outgun the good guys. It’s only considered an option for those who haven’t thought the issue through.

The National Academy of Sciences issued a 328-page report based on 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, a survey of 80 different gun-control laws and some of its own independent study. In short, the panel could find no link between restrictions on gun ownership and lower rates of crime, firearms violence or even accidents with guns. The panel was established during the Clinton administration and all but one of its members were known to favor gun control.

Naturally, gun control advocates will assert that this proves nothing and that more study is needed until one tiny piece of information is found that supports their mythical case, at which point that will be the only data referenced in the media.

If the legacy media had any interest in the facts, this report would suffice to stop their incessant drumbeat for gun control. But as they’ve repeatedly proved in the past, any correlation between the demonstrable truth and the legacy media agenda is merely accidental.

Reuben Frank of Sports Illustrated praises a genuine All-Pro QB:

Culpepper has 37 TD passes, which is the seventh-most in NFL history, behind only Manning this year, Kurt Warner in 1999 and Brett Favre twice in the mid-1990s. And Culpepper has completed 69.8 percent of his passes, which if he maintains it would be fifth-best in NFL history, behind only Kenny Anderson in 1982, Sammy Baugh in 1945 and Steve Young and Joe Montana once each.

No quarterback in NFL history has ever thrown for as many yards with as many touchdowns in the same season as Culpepper. Including Manning.

No quarterback in NFL history has thrown for as many yards with such a high completion percentage. Including Manning.

No quarterback in NFL history has thrown for as many touchdowns with such a high completion percentage. Including Manning.

If Culpepper continues at his current pace in the Vikings’ final game, at Washington — and throws fewer than five interceptions — he will finish the season with the fewest interceptions among any quarterback in history to throw for more than 4,700 yards. Right now, the fewest INTs by a quarterback with 4,700 yards is 17, shared by Dan Fouts in 1981 and Marino in 1984. Culpepper has only 11, so he should annihilate that record.

I’ll be the first to admit that Donovan McNabb has significantly improved his game with a bona fide #1 receiver. But I do not retract my statement that Culpepper is a better quarterback and one more worthy of adulation despite the fact that, as usual, the NFC East quarterbacks get all the press. Even though Owens was healthy for most of the season and Moss wasn’t, Culpepper outperformed McNabb on a statistical basis, and as for the win-loss record, the difference between Philadelphia’s defense (14.8 ppg, #1) and Minnesota’s (24.9 ppg, #25) – not to mention the difference between Andy Reid and Mike Tice – is more than enough to account for the five-game disparity. Let’s face it, Tice alone has blown three games this year, Chicago, Seattle and Green Bay.

And even if Steve McNair hadn’t been injured, I don’t think there’s still any doubt that Daunte is much the better QB of the two. As for Michael Vick, please, don’t make me laugh. Exciting, yes. Fun to watch, sure. A top QB? Forget it… I said that Drew Brees was a better quarterback early in the year and I see no reason to back of that statement either.

One win and we’re in. We got a black quarterback, so step back.

Cedarford digs up a few rotting chunks of horse meat long ago ground into hamburger, slaps them together and shouts “look at my pretty pony!”

“I say that major sabotage and spying could have significantly impaired the war effort and cost the Allies many more lives.”

And you’re hopelessly wrong. Speak to any military expert, officer or historian, they’ll quickly set you straight with regards to the inability of sabotage to significantly impair ANY historical war effort, much less the American effort in WWII. But unlike Malkin and Powerline, Cedarford at least has the wits to avoid trying to defend the invasion and spot raid idiocies. But in any event, the sabotage and spying argument was dealt with and dismissed months ago. Go to the September archives on the right and you can learn all about logistics and the inefficacy of massive attempts to inhibit production.

As I’ve demonstrated, the production delta was such that no amount of sabotage and spying could have impaired the war effort for a single day, much less “severely crippled” it as Malkin would have us believe. From my letter to Michelle Malkin posted her on September 6th in response to her own post that day:

Shipping Tonnage Produced, 1942 to 1945

—————-1942———-1943————1944———-1945

USA—–6,252,300—15,153,000—14,580,000—8,804,900

Japan——511,100—-1,023,000——1,929,200—–626,300

delta——-1223%——–1481%————757%——-1406%

Because you appear to be unfamiliar with both military history and logistics, I note that the bulk of the shipping production for every belligerent power was not warships, but merchant shipping, 72.92 percent to be precise. And considering your interesting opinion that aircraft carriers are the only basis upon which threats to the two American coasts should be assessed, please be advised that Japan was only able to build nine carriers over the course of the war, some of which were never launched, while the US launched 120, many of which were surplus to requirements.

Aircraft produced, 1942 to 1945

———–1942——-1943——-1944——-1945

USA—-47,800—–85,900—–96,300—–46,000

Japan—8,900—–16,700—–28,200—–11,100

delta—–537%——-514%——-342%——-414%

I note here that even if every West Coast aircraft production facility had been destroyed in 1942 by “attack, invasion, spot raids, sabotage, and surveillance”, the USA would have still had essentially the same advantage over Japan that year that it did in 1945, when the war was all but over, 403 percent compared to 414 percent.

In the event that you find yourself inclined to argue that a significant percentage of American production was required for the European war in 1942, I recommend that you first examine the production statistics for Great Britain, the Soviet Union and Germany, then read Winston Churchill’s excellent six-volume History of the Second World War. You will find that the Allied leaders were well aware of the implications of their significant advantage in industrial capacity even before America’s entry into the war.

All the signs strongly indicate that Malkin was foolish enough to base her case on military necessity despite never bothering reading any of the relevant Army or Navy warplans or strategic planning documents and never checking to see if the historical data supported her assumptions in any way. She so clueless that she even asserted that there were NO carriers based on the East Coast at a time when FIVE of America’s nine carriers were operating out of Norfolk – and three of the four based on the West Coast were in Samoa.

Furthermore, no amount of spying could possibly have been as dangerous as the media leaks that led to two of our most important warplans, containing detailed production information, being printed in major Chicago and Washington newspapers. German spies ensured that the publishing of AWPD-1 led directly to one of Hitler’s rare Fuhrerbefehl, moving German AA batteries to protect all of the 113 (if I recall correctly) production targets specified within days, and yet the Senator who leaked the information was not even investigated, much less interned. Nor was the British national who published detailed reports in the Chicago Herald about the status and disposition of US naval forces in the Pacific immediately after Midway arrested… but over 100,000 innocent ethnic Japanese lost their homes and property thanks to this “necessity”.

If there was any sort of reasonable case for military necessity, Malkin would have been willing to debate it as she debated other aspects of internment. She refused to even try making a case because she knows that she didn’t do any research on it and has since learned that there is no case to be made. I have more respect for Michael Moore than I have for Malkin, the quintessential conservative media whore. Far from being “obsessed” with Malkin as some have claimed, I haven’t read her for months… if I’m in the mood for implausible, poorly researched historical fiction, there’s always Christian Jacq.