Category: Uncategorized

4,400 news stories later, Augusta National is still standing firm. The power of the cultural Left is not unlike Freddy Krueger’s in the first Nightmare on Elm Street – it can take you apart only if you allow it to do so. Hootie weathered the firestorm of media attention, took care to reduce his exposure to weaker wills that would be tempted to give in, waited patiently for Martha Burke to reveal herself for a fool, and now life goes on as before.

There’s a lesson in that.

A reader who shall remain anonymous asks if they are annoying me and if I would prefer that they refrain from posting. The short answer is no.

The longer and more precise answer is: probably, but so what? If you’re annoying me enough that I actually want you to stop posting, I will tell you in the Comments that you are annoying me and I want you to stop posting on that subject. If you ignore the warning, I will ban you and delete your future posts should you use a different IP address and continue to post in a recognizable manner. The ban is nothing personal, and if you post reasonably in the future, I don’t mind at all if you’re back under another name or whatever. In any case, this hardly ever happens. Otherwise, annoy away. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, heck, I’m usually surprised so many people do.

However, I do not feel that I need to explain myself every time I dismiss an argument. Those posting here are not only politically diverse, they are of varying levels of age, knowledge, education, experience and intelligence. What is new to one may well be old to another, indeed, it may be thousands of years old. I, for one, was shocked when I learned that women in the military as social engineering was first broached in Plato’s Republic. There is nothing new under the sun, not much, anyhow.

If I am short and dismissive of your argument, I suggest that you ask your fellow blog readers why they think I am doing so. There are plenty of smart people here, and chances are that they not only know why but will be more inclined to explain than me. Believe me, I’m not going to write my one-thousandth critique of the Labor Theory of Value every time a Marxian pops up, instead I will almost surely mock them briefly and move on. While it’s true that insulting isn’t persuading, neither is it an automatic admission that you know what you’re talking about. Sometimes, it’s just my recognition that it will take a good bit of reading before you can even begin to have a reasonable conversation with me.

Since politics has much to do with economics, and since very few people know anything at all about economics while I happen to be trained in the theories of the three (four if you count monetarists separate from Keynesians) economic schools, this is bound to happen from time to time. I’m always pleased to argue arcana with a true believing macro number cruncher like WB, but if you don’t know C+I+G, well, I just don’t have any interest in revisiting 101. But maybe someone else does.

So, develop a thick skin and learn to choose your shot. If I survived four years of Marxians and Keynesians doing their best to slash apart my Austrian arguments, you’ll survive the occasional metaphorical spanking and perhaps even deliver one from time to time.

Okay, so last week’s completely blew. Sorry about that. I had other things on my mind and didn’t think it through, so this week’s should be more interesting.

Why is conspiracy theory inherently ridiculous? Why is labling something a conspiracy sufficient to dismiss it from consideration?

The genius blesses us with his words: And I’m not supposed to tell you this, so keep this under your hat, but you know that Mars Rover thing? You know, the one where these two armored vehicles are running around Mars, sampling things and looking at things? The truth is, and don’t tell anyone I told you, that Mars was actually the first planet in this solar system that had a central bank and a fiat currency. Yeah! Surprised, huh? And now look at it! No water, no air, no Starbucks, no nothing! In fact, Earth was originally populated by a few rich Martians who barely escaped the devastation of Mars when the inflation reduced the value of the currency to the point where the economy was destroyed, and then the people were destroyed, and then the planet was destroyed. They barely made it here with their lives!

And I call myself a fiction writer. Pah! Unworthy, unworthy! The man can out-imagine Kim Stanley Robinson in a throwaway paragraph.

Okay, I added those who’ve requested it to the Reader Blogroll. And not to worry, Sarah, if I am ever named to the post of Planetary Dark Lord, I’m planning for my minions to run a little less on lines of deeply contemplative intellectual narcissism and be cut generally in the Marisa Miller/Veronica Verikova brain-optional mode. The standard uniform will, of course, be that of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.

I’d probably be fiction’s worst Dark Lord:

“Sir, what shall we do?”

“Obviously, my dear Dark Captain, you’re mistaking me for someone who cares.”

“But, great and mighty Dark Lord, shall we not blow the great horn of Hayek, summon our forces and crush the armies of the West?”

“If you like, as long as you don’t bother anybody. And leave the poor armies of the West alone. Don’t hassle anybody who doesn’t feel like showing either.”

A good offseason for the Vikings – so far. The additions of Winfield (CB) and Marcus Robinson (WR) should help make a good offense even better and shore up what has been a weak spot defensively for years. We still need that outside rusher, although I’m glad they didn’t go after Kearse or Wistrom. The first has been a bust for the last three years and the second simply isn’t worth the price that Seattle paid. They’ll have to address D-line in the draft, although some linebacker help is needed too.

Fortunately, there’s no need to do anything on a very deep offense, except perhaps to draft a few late-round linemen. This could be a very decent year for the Vikings; I’ll be surprised if they don’t take the NFC North and at least threaten to make some noise in the playoffs.

Double-M writes: Talk about splitting hairs! I see Vox’s views like this: He would let his Libertarian views run worldly / political affairs and his Christian ones run his personal affairs. There aren’t neccessarily any contradictions. He would let it be legal to whore about and get high on any substance, but as a Christian would preach against it and avoid it himself. Vox, am I right here?

This is absolutely correct. You see, I believe there is a difference between legality and morality. Those who insist on conflating the two quickly find themselves in the position of either a) jailing adulterers – good luck with your police-state – or b) having to defend death camp operators who were acting in full obedience of the law.

Some might call this hair-splitting. I see it as a clear distinction between obeying God and obeying Man.

The Los Angeles Times reports: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has lent her name and presence to a lecture series co-sponsored by the liberal NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, an advocacy group that often argues before the court in support of women’s rights that the justice embraces. In January, Ginsburg gave opening remarks for the fourth installment in the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Distinguished Lecture Series on Women and the Law…. Federal law says a judge or justice “shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” Several legal experts said Ginsburg’s ongoing affiliation with the legal activist group undercuts her appearance of impartiality.

When the next test of Roe v Wade appears, the pro-life attorney should demand that Ginsburg recuse herself. That will make it a little easier for poor Justice Kennedy to follow the Constitution instead of worrying about getting ostracized at Washington cocktail parties.

I have no more sympathy for the abortionettes and their bloody movement than I do for whoever blew up the Madrid train station this morning. But I do wonder why the abortionettes worked so hard for the easy availability of RU-486 while expecting society to be frightened of a return to the ur-mythic days of the coathanger and the back alley abortion. Since the death rate of young women hasn’t changed all that dramatically in fifty years, it’s clear that the horrors were exaggerated, meanwhile, RU-486 continues to add to its verified body count.

A young woman has died recently from an RU 486 abortion in the Swedish west coast city of Uddevalla. The Swedish pro-life group JA till Livet has informed LifeSiteNews.com that the country’s National Board of Health and Welfare has issued a report concluding that the death of the unnamed young woman was a result of the chemically induced abortion…. The abortion pill has been the cause of numerous deaths around the world. Legalized in the United States in September 2000 the pill has been responsible for the deaths of at least four women in North America, most recently 18-year-old Holly Patterson. In 5-8 percent of cases, RU-486 causes severe complications. Danco, the drug’s manufacturer, has reported at least 400 adverse events since RU-486 was approved in the U.S.

I am occasionally told that I should reverse the terms, since religion trumps politics. I agree with the latter half of that statement. But the truth is that the term is a political one, and it is my Christianity that colors my libertarianism. My libertarianism does not – consciously – color my Christianity. In spiritual or religious terms, I am a Christian. In political terms, I am a Christian Libertarian. Chiaro?