Levendus' Notebook

2003-01-27T20:24:00.000-05:00

Yet another excellent peice from Bill Whittle. It really is too good to excerpt.

My favorite post in the comments section:

We're invading Iraq, and putting down their dictator. Let the world pick sides as they wish.

Posted by: trevalyan on January 27, 2003 06:53 AM

Damn straight.

{Just a bit of advice ignore the posts from Mark Tinsley. They are extremely long and a complete waste of time. I'll sum them up-- we shouldn't invade Iraq because it's: a violation of the UN charter, will kill Iraquis (innocent), is hyppocritical for the US to do so, the US helped create Saddam, special interests are the driving force behind The Battle of Iraq so that they can profiteer, the US invasion of Panama was just as bad as Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the US allows Israel to have WMD, the US has WMD, ad nauseam. It got so bad that Bill had to block him from the comments section.}

2003-01-27T17:27:00.000-05:00

Over at the Independent is this article from Bruce Anderson.

Here's something interesting from the Anderson article:

The French sought solace in Europe. They hoped to obtain a surrogate for empire in the EU, by harnessing its economic power to French purposes: a French jockey on a German horse. We British found our solace in the special relationship. We hoped that it would not only prove to be an equal partnership, but one in which we could provide the intellectual direction: a British jockey on an American horse. They might have the moneybags; we would supply the brains.

Thus far the French horse, though less powerful, has proved more biddable. The American nag will tolerate no foreign jockey. Far from being a partnership of equals, the special relationship has barely been a partnership at all. The Americans have been happy to have us with them, but only as long as we did their bidding. In terms of broad retrospect, the special relationship may seem harmonious; the detailed history makes it clear that the UK found it much harder to manage than most of our politicians were prepared to admit at the time. With the possible exception of the Falklands, there has been no instance of America supporting the UK when it was not in their interests to do so.

WTF? Did you see how unselfconciously he stated that the UK saw the US as a horse to be ridden? LOL, then he's incredulous that we refuse "foreign jockeys." Finally he bemoans that the UK has had a harder time controlling their steed than the French does Germany.

Let's make something clear, WE WILL NOT BE RIDDEN! It's not just foreign jockeys that are rejected either.

Was it the Cold War Realpolitiking that enabled such a gross mis-evaluation of American character and intent?

Well, we are no longer restrained by Soviet-containment. If the Old World still desires relevancy then they need to recognize, and quick, the true America. If not; then they can join the calvacade of also-rans.

RANT IN A NUTSHELL: We are not your fucking junior partners. We could be the masters of the world if we so desired; but we DON"T. Your Socialist induced anemia has left you powerless to exert any real influence over the world. The US has been forced to clean up the mess that your failed European Empires have left behind. So get back in bed grandpa and rail on about the Jews and Cowboys. We'll take care of it. Here's a cup of tea; don't spill it on yourself.

Atlas awakens and his shoulders begin to twitch. Are they worth the effort?

(link via Instapundit and Atlantic Blog)

2003-01-24T03:54:00.000-05:00

Ein Breira

I ran across this story on the comment section to this post on Tacitus(thanks Brian). The young Arab displays the attitudes that I discussed here. Mr. Ganor has a website also.

This is a true exchange between an Jewish Israeli
and an Israeli-Arab student from Hebrew University
that was written up in Jerusalem Insights #394.

Conversation on the Beach

By Solly Ganor
Herzliya, Israel,
Friday, December 6, 2002

About half a mile from where I live in Herzliya, on a hill
overlooking the Mediterranean, stands an old mosque. It
was built during the Middle Ages and a Moslem holy man is
buried on that site. The holy man's name was Sidney Ally
and that is how the mosque is known to this day. The beach
bellow, stretches all the way to Herzliya to the South, and
Netanya to the North.

I often go there for walks because from its heights one has
a panoramic view of the sea and the whole area. There is another
reason why I go there; from that hill, at certain weather
conditions, the Mediterranean turns into a color of blue that
can not be seen anywhere else.

Last Friday, as the wind began blowing from the East, the Medi,
as we call our sea, began calming down. It flattened the waves
coming ashore until it became as placid as the Kinneret during
the summer. It was then that the deep blue color, as if by a
magic wand, emerged from the depth of its waters.

It wasn't the first time I saw it and I always witness that
phenomenon with rising spirits. " If there is so much beauty
in this world, then there is hope for us humans yet." I said
to myself.

The silence was interrupted by a noisy bus full of Arab
worshipers who arrived to the mosque for their Friday services.
They wore the traditional Arab garb, and entered the mosque
quietly. Some of them threw me hostile glances. Their arrival
brought me back to our desperate conflict with these people for
the piece of land we call Israel, and they call Palestine. Only
a few years ago at Camp David, we deluded ourselves that they
are finally ready for peace; Israel and Palestine living next to
each other for the mutual benefit of both peoples. But that was
not to be. They are still not ready to relinquish their old dream
to oust us out of the Middle East.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I heard a voice behind me speaking
English. As I turned around I saw a well dressed young man of
about twenty five, looking wistfully at the sea. By his accent
and looks I realized that he was an Arab, probably one of the
lot that arrived by bus. A quick visual scan of his body assured
me that he didn't come to stab me, or blow himself up.

I nodded. "Yes it is beautiful". Well, we have at least one thing
in common, I thought.

And then I had a second thought. "Here stands an Arab youth next
to me, in the heart of Israel, calmly admiring with me the sea.
There was not a shadow of a doubt in his mind that something bad
would ever happen to him here in Israel.

I tried to imagine myself standing that way in Ramalah, and having
that conversation with an Arab youth. Then I remembered a scene
filmed by an Italian TV correspondent in Ramalah last year.

Two Israelis, who by mistake took a wrong turn, found themselves
among a mob of Palestinians. They were brought to the Palestinian
police station where they were lynched and their mangled bodies
were thrown out of the window, to the cheering crowds below.
They kicked them and beat them until they were an unrecognizable
mess of flesh." The Italian TV crew, who filmed that scene, had to
run for their lives to escape the mob. Fortunately, they were able
to sneak the film out and show it to the world, one of the few films
that were ever shown of the Arab atrocities.

But the world isn't interested in Arab atrocities. They are used to
them and they don't make good news.

For a while we stood in silence admiring the view.

"Didn't you come with the others to pray?" I asked just to make
conversation.

I was curious about him. Why did he join me? It wasn't just to
watch the view, of this I was sure.

"I know what that old fool will say by heart. He is of the old
school and preaches moderation. Fortunately, his time is over."

" You don't think that moderation is a good idea?"

" What has moderation ever done for us? We have been moderate
long enough. We are growing weaker while you have grown stronger.
It is time for us to act."

I was a little surprised by his belligerent tone right from the
start. Usually Arabs are polite in the beginning of a conversation.

" Do you think that you were moderate up to now? Would you call
five wars the Arabs launched against us, moderation? I wonder
what you would call hostility?"

He gave me a sober look.

" Hostility is what you are getting now. Our young people are
blowin themselves up in all of your major towns, taking with
them hundreds of your Israelis. President Arafat has promised
you a million 'Shihads' to march on Jerusalem. The march has
already began, and it won't be thanks to Arafat. He is another
old bungler.

Things are changing. Until now you had the upper hand, but no more!

Our "Shihads," are the answer to your atomic bombs. If necessary,
one "Shihad" can be an atomic bomb, here in Israel, in America,
in Europe, or anywhere the Jews and the Crusaders live. We don't
need millions of dollars worth of sophisticated labs and expensive
scientist. What we have is cheap and efficient. That is because we
are not afraid to die. We have finally found your soft underbelly,
your Achilles Heal. You Judeo-Christians worship the sanctity of
life, while we don't mind dying for Islam" The last sentence he
said with certain pride in his voice.

From the way he expressed himself, I realized that he is a student.
As if confirming my thoughts, he told me that he is a student of
political science at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. " Do all
the Arab students studying at the Israeli universities share your
views?"

" Absolutely! A few may be oriented towards the West, but the
overwhelming majority are for the new emerging Renaissance of
Islam."

Then he smiled and said, " You might as well enjoy the beautiful
view from "Sidney Alley" while you can. You won't be able to do
so for long. If I were you, I would pack and leave for safer
countries."

I gave him a long look.

"Thanks for the advice, but I remember another Arab who gave the
same advice to us in 1948, when the British were pulling out. He
may have been your grandfather, for all I know. He lived in a
village somewhere around here and he was a friend of a Jewish man
named Peytan whom I knew as well.

Peytan lived in Kefar Shemaryahu across the road. One day the Arab
neighbor came visiting Mr. Peytan and strongly advised him to pack
and leave. At the same time, he brought out a measuring tape and
began to measure the room they were sitting in.

'What are you doing?" Asked my friend.

"Look, you are going to lose your house anyway. There is no way
that six hundred thousand of you can stand up to the combined
might of six Arab regular armies, not to mention our Palestinian
battalions. We can actually kill you with our hats!"

Yes, that is what he actually said: "We can kill you with our hats.

" We have been good friends for a long time. You might as well give
me your house rather than to someone you don't know."

"His advice reminded me of your advice. Yet during the 1948 war,
that was forced on us by you, your 'grandfather', not only didn't
get the house in Kefar Shemaryahu, but he lost his own house and
became a refugee. And now he is blaming it on the Jews. Fifty-five
years later he still sits in the camp. His views haven't changed much.
He still wants not only his house back, but he wants the house in
Kefar Shemaryahu, of his Jewish friend as well. Will he ever get it?
I doubt it."

" Yes, he will get it! And you know why? Because in 1948 they were
all cowards! Today, our generation is proving that we are not!
Eighteen determined men with carton cutters who were not afraid
to die, defied the big American might, causing them thousands of
dead and trillions of dollars worth of losses. We found out that
we can bring the Western capitalist system to its knees, and we
shall do so! It is a shameless selfish system that causes endless
human misery around the world, especially in the third world
countries and for Islam. It is time for it to go!" It was obvious
from the way he said it that he didn't say it for the first time.

"Communism, Nazism, Fascism, they all were defeated by the Western
Democracies, what system do you propose to replace it with?" I
asked. I was beginning to get irritated with this young Arab.

" Islam!" He said fiercely.

" Islam?" I asked. " Islam? What did Islam ever do for the
countries under its rule? It brought nothing but poverty
and misery to the masses, while bestowing fabulous riches
to the rulers. All you have to do is look around you.

Israel, that was in 1948 a pauper state, barely able to feed
its population, has grown into a modern self sufficient state.
We have absorbed a million Jews from the Arab countries, who
fled for their lives leaving all they possessed behind, while
your Arab brothers with their billions of petro dollars let
the Palestinians rot in refugee camps.

While we progressed in the last fifty years, the Arab states have
only regressed. As a matter of fact, the Arab masses are worse
off than when they were under the British or the French rule.
How many Nobel prize winners has Islam produced? How many new
inventions to benefit mankind? Practically zero!

How many Einsteins, Freuds, Salks and Rubinsteins has Islam
produced? Zero! From a once vibrant Arab civilization, that gave
us Algebra and the concept of the zero, Islam has plunged you into
a pit of fanaticism, illiteracy, poverty and corruption, and you
would like to force the world into the same abyss?. "

For a while he looked at me perturbed. " We all make mistakes.
But Islam with all its faults is a thousand times more preferable
to the abomination that is the West." He finally said quietly. Then
he gave me a fierce look and said: "If you had said in any Arab
country about Islam, what you have just said to me, you would be
a dead man!"

" I am sure I would. And if you had said in any Arab country
denouncing their corrupt regimes the way you are denouncing
Israel, you would be a dead man too.

Yet, here you are, studying at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem,
allowing yourself openly to speak of subversion and treason against
the State of Israel, without any fear of being arrested, let alone
being killed for it. Doesn't it say something to you?"

" Yes, it says that you are weak, and that weakness will be your
undoing." he said seriously.

" Isn't there a way our two nations could ever come to terms
and make peace?"

Again he gave me that serious look. "Yes, there is a way. We are
not like the Nazis who gave you no other choice but death. We give
you the chance to convert to Islam, then you will become a part of
us and our people will live in peace."

For a while we stood in silence looking at the sea.

"You will never defeat us because we have a secret weapon, the same
weapon that saved us from you in 1948." I said.

" Yes, and what is that, your atom bomb?" His tone was derisive.

" No. In Hebrew it is known as 'Ein Breira'.

"Ein breira? That is your secret weapon? It means 'there is no other
choice.' Why, we too can say the same thing."

"But that is not quite true. We have 'no other choice' because you
challenge our very existence in this country, whereas we don't do
that. We are quite willing to coexist with you as a Palestinian
state and an Israeli state, side by side. You don't.'

There was nothing more to be said. The sun was dipping towards
the horizon in the West, and the sea lost it's deep blue color.
The magic was gone. It was time to go home.

"Good bye. I have to go inside the mosque. I promised them a
lecture." He said walking away.

I could imagine what the lecture was all about. We didn't offer
to shake hands. After all, you don't shake hands with your sworn
enemy. I walked home depressed.

If there was a way out of this conflict, I didn't see one.

The only way out of this conflict is to break the magical thinking inspiring the "Renaissance of Islam." My only hope is that it won't require us to pursue genocide in order to do it.

2003-01-23T11:07:00.000-05:00

Dr. Carrigan responds again. Follow this link for the context.

2003-01-22T12:16:00.000-05:00

Dr. Carrigan responded. Follow this link for the context.

2003-01-22T11:29:00.000-05:00

Via Tacitus comes this article from Salon.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and America's decades-long failure to act as an honest broker in it, is the root cause of worldwide Muslim rage against the United States. Until that conflict is resolved in a way that provides justice for Palestinians and security for Israelis -- and only the United States has the power to make this happen -- the vast anger felt by Muslims around the world at America will continue to fester. And that anger will continue to be a breeding ground for terrorism.

I beg to differ. The "root cause" is a culture rooted in a Medieval interpretation of Islam. It's the pre-modern Musilms that are angry. How can the US be an honest broker to people who still hold a grudge from the Crusades?

I respectfully disagree with those who think that they are ashamed of their lack of progress. Their ashamed that a bunch of Infidels are on their land. They are humiliated that they were made parts of the various Western Empires. To them the Crusades never ended. They want the West utterly defeated, just like Europe wanted the destruction of the Ottoman Empire. They focus on the US because we support Israel, as well as defile the holy land. They hate us because we have the power to thwart their counter-Crusade.

As for the Palestinians; since when did they want peace? Their every action says otherwise. What they want is the destruction of Israel. They want their own homeland. Whether or not they have a claim to a historical Palestine is irrelevant. They believe that they do and act accordingly. They're not going to listen to the Infidels and the Great Satan say otherwise. They had a great deal with the Israelis by any rational measure but they just started the Intifada. The Palestenians are religious zealots and could care less about the peace process. They are fully convinced that Allah will grant them victory. In fact the "peace process" has encouraged that zealotry. In their mindset they are winning because they haven't been crushed. To understand this just imagine the Israeli/Palestinian power relationships reversed. The Palestinians would be aggressively pursuing a Carthaginian peace; and they, unlike the Israelis, would have absolutely no qualms about it.

Israel wants to exist and the Palestinians want their extinction, or at least their expulsion. How is US power supposed to broker an equitable peace? Should we ask, or compell, Israel to migrate? Even if we completely withdrew our support from Israel there would be no peace. Well maybe the peace of a graveyard. The Israelis are fully capable of executing the Samson stratagey if necessary.

It's important that I state that I am not de-humanizing Muslims. I am fully cognizant that they are fully human, in fact all-to-human. It's just that they are human circa 700 AD. You can't treat a pre-modern peoples as if they weren't. That's why negotiations have failed. That's a modern conception. These opinions are not true of all Muslims, naturally. Many have been able to modernize and co-exist peacefully. What I am discussing is the "breeding ground of terrorism." The Liberal and Islamo-fascist notions of "justice" are not the same. We fail to realize at our own peril.

2003-01-22T05:43:00.000-05:00

MMMMMMM..........Now that's some good supposin'.

2003-01-21T19:45:00.000-05:00

Via Boingboing comes this article titled "UNPACKING UNITARIAN-UNIVERSALISM: UNDERSTANDING AND EVANGELIZING MEMBERS OF THE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST ASSOCIATION OF CHURCHES (UUA)," by Cky J. Carrigan, Ph.D. (Feburary 2000) .

Here's a little taste:

All secular humanists are atheists, but all atheists are not necessarily secular humanists. Worldviews that merely reject the existence of God are not necessarily the same as the humanist worldview. To be a humanist, one must be committed to the positive belief in the possibilities of human progress and to the values central to it. In other words, a nihilistic atheist is not a humanist, because he is not optimistic about humanity's future.

I guess I'm not a secular humanist because i'm more of an ambivalent atheist. There's reasons for optimism and pessimism. I lean toward optimism because I recognize a fundamental drive for happiness in the human psychological make-up. There's also room for pessimism when I also realize that the will to be deluded is just as strong at times.

I e-mailed Dr. Carrigan the following:

In your article you said the following:

The two most common evidences for the existence of God are the very existence of the universe itself, and the intricate design of the universe. These arguments are called the cosmological and the teleological arguments respectively. Basically, the cosmological argument argues for God on the basis of the presence of the universe. If there is a universe, then there must have been a Universe Maker, God. The teleological argument argues for God on the basis of the design of the universe. If the universe looks like it has been designed, then there must have been a Universe Designer, God

For the sake of this discussion I'll concede your argument. How do you make the logical leap from Universe Maker, Universe Designer that it was God who did these things? Why is the god of Abraham automatically designated as the creator of the universe? Is there any supporting evidence for this?

Isn't it just as probable that some other entity could be the Universe Designer?

I haven't been able to get an answer that didn't devolve to a Scripture/God tautology.

I'm hoping that you can help me and appreciate your taking the time to respond to this inquiry.

Thank You,

Levendus

I'll post his response if I get one.

UPDATE (22JAN03): Here's Dr. Carrigans response:

Levendus--Great question. The classical arguments for the existence of God
to which you refer are not exclusively arguments for the existence of the
God of Christianity. These arguments are designed to be arguments against
atheism and for theism (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). Non-theistic world
views like atheism, agnosticism, and all eastern religions are ruled out by
the evidence of these arguments. There are series of other rational and
empirical arguments that connect the argument for the existence of God to
argument for the existence of the God of Christianity. Hope this helps.
Please feel free to inquire further. --cjc

Here's my response:

Thank you for your prompt response. I just have a brief follow up question.
How have you established God as the deity of the theistic argument; instead of a member of Graec-Roman Pantheon or one of the animistic entities still worshipped to this time?

Thank You,

Levendus

UPDATE (23JAN03): Once again Dr. Carrigan responded quicker than I could have hoped. His reply:

L--your observation is correct in the main. I suppose the arguments to which
you refer could be used to support a small number of deities in the G-R
pantheon, or perhaps even some spirits in animism, but the fact still
remains that these arguments are arguments primarily against atheism and
agnosticism. There are other arguments against the henotheism, polytheism
and animism to which you refer. There are also other arguments against the
associated philosophies of monism and pantheism that usually are associated
with earth or nature centered religions.

If you are a UU-ist that is also an atheist or agnostic, then arguments for
the existence of God are directed to you. But, if you are a UU-ist that is
not an atheist or agnostic, then these arguments are not germane to your
point of view.

Respectfully--cjc

Here was my reply:

Once again I would like to thank your for your prompt reply. I really appreciate your taking the time to answer my questions.

In your last response you said:

There are other arguments against the henotheism, polytheism
and animism to which you refer. There are also other arguments against the
associated philosophies of monism and pantheism that usually are associated
with earth or nature centered religions.

Can you give me a citation to, or a thumbnail sketch of, those arguments

Thank You,

Levendus

2003-01-21T18:55:00.000-05:00

MMMMMMM....ham,cheese and Frito's sandwhich. Just in case I wasn't getting my unRecommended Daily Allowance of nitrates and assorted un-nutrients.

2003-01-21T18:27:00.000-05:00

Culled from Slashdot:

A new type of PDA display:

This paper builds on that work by suggesting two-handed interaction techniques combining pen input with spatially aware displays. Enabling simultaneous navigation and manipulation yields the ability to create and edit objects larger than the screen and to drag and drop in 3-D. Four prototypes of the Peephole Display hardware were built, and several Peephole-augmented applications were written, including a drawing program, map viewer, and calendar. Multiple applications can be embedded into a personal information space anchored to the user's physical reference frame. A usability study with 24 participants shows that the Peephole technique can be more effective than current methods for navigating information on handheld computers

Then there's the new StorCard. A device that has 100MB to 5GB hard drive the size of a credit card:

Created by a company with the same name, StorCard can contain from 100MB to more than 5GB of data on a plastic card. At first glance, it looks like a credit card, and even has a magnetic strip like a credit card, for potential use in standard credit card readers.

The hard disk data, however, is accessed on a tiny spinning disk inside the thin card.

"The card actually has moveable parts inside its thin shell," says Bill Heil, vice president of StorCard.

A spinning wheel made of Mylar is engaged when the card is inserted into a StorReader, a USB-connected drive or PC Card that reads and writes to the StorCard. The reader is expected to retail for under $100 and the cards for under $15 each, Heil says.

Go here for the company's product info. I think I'll put off buying one of those key-chain drives for awhile.

Micah Alpern has a sweet roundup of virtual keyboards. Check it out before you buy one of those prtable keyboards for your PDA.

2003-01-21T17:45:00.000-05:00

Gato rocks.

2003-01-21T17:04:00.000-05:00

The penis has more bandwidth than a cable modem.

My wife turned down my generous introductory service package. She said that I may have more bandwidth put I keep downloading the same old content. Due to restrictions from a previous agreement with her, I'm prohibited from pursuing other possible subscribers. I think I may have to persue anti-trust litigation.

(link via Instapundit)

UPDATE: OOOOOOOO......Blood lible... now she's saying that perhaps my bandwidth needs to be throttled back in order to prevent the downloads from being too fast.

2003-01-21T16:50:00.000-05:00

Boortz was on Donahue last night but walked off. I missed the show, dammit, so I didn't get to see why he left. Follow the link for his side of what happened.

It's too bad he walked off while he was off camera. It would have been much more dramatic if he had done it right in the middle of one of Donahue's interruptions. I would like to have seen the look on Donahue's face.

Read this to get an idea about how I feel about reparations.

2003-01-20T10:29:00.000-05:00

Totalitarianstock 'o3

Anyone who can coin such an apropos summary of saturday's protests is definitely tops in my book.

PS the headline is his not mine.

2003-01-20T07:30:00.000-05:00

This is what causes me to feel like this.

AVE! TACITUS

{link via Instapundit}

UPDATE: I spent all morning just on the comments to this post. They were really good. I really like the way that the ANSWER UIs were kept in focus. Many tried to shift the debate but they were brought back. GJ: Gary, Aaron, Vero, GulGnu and Jeanne. I still can't believe that Raimondo responded. I doubt that he will again though. I hope I'm wrong, he was great.

2003-01-20T06:48:00.000-05:00

I forget who I got the link for this peice from but it is a good one. In it Kay Hymowitz gives some explation to the appaling, but increasingly common, hypocrisy of the feminists in their silence about the suffering of Muslim women. It is becoming increasingly clear that leftist movements have no objective standards. What seems to be the rule for their good/bad categorization of all acts is whether it serves their quest for power. In which the first objective is overthrow of the existing power heirarchy by any means necessary. Even at the expense of those they were supposedly organized to assist in the first place.

This is what aggravates me the most about these utopians. They claim that they are for the down-trodden and oppressed but are quick to turn a blind eye to the depredations of real oppressors as long as it is politically expedient.

For shame. History is already judging you and you are completely oblivious. Wankers.

2003-01-19T20:06:00.000-05:00

Via Gato and the Cranky Hermit comes this site about International A.N.S.W.E.R.

2003-01-19T19:57:00.000-05:00

Gato rocks.

2003-01-19T19:07:00.000-05:00

From Instapundit comes the following:

This peice from Reason about the coming revolution in Neuropharmaceuticals. This is a must read peice. It's so good that to excerpt it would diminish it. Well except this:

Fukuyama wants to "draw red lines" to distinguish between therapy and enhancement, "directing research toward the former while putting restrictions on the latter." He adds that "the original purpose of medicine is, after all, to heal the sick, not turn healthy people into gods." [emphasis mine]

BULLSHIT!! That's exactly what we want. Sure these things start out as therapies, but are then transformed into enhancements. Who doesn't want to be a god? {note not the GOD, just a god}

What's really curious is that I don't resent people like Fukyama. I think that they might even be necessary. I am willing to entertain that they serve as a retardant that keeps human development from happening too soon. As long as they have influence and receive consideration I believe that it demonstrates that mankind is not ready for a supernova of ability.{think about the dot com bubble. Sometimes boundless enthusiasm has negative results} I think that they give humanity the time necessary to develop the psychological/moral/ethical dispositions necessary to being gods. In our struggle against the forces of stasis we prove that we are ready for the dynamic future that calls to us.

UP! Up into the abyss moochachoes!

2003-01-19T07:53:00.000-05:00

Go on over to LGF. Sit back and scroll around for awhile. It's all good.

2003-01-19T07:17:00.000-05:00

Instapundit has some reports, with pictures, from the D.C. and San Francisco protests. Follow his links for even more coverage,

2003-01-18T18:40:00.000-05:00

Jane Galt has a good response to those who see the latest divedend tax proposal as a boon to the "evil rich." make sure to read the comments for even more info.

2003-01-18T17:00:00.000-05:00

Woodlief has this post on his experiences as an abortion protestor. If I had to describe the tone I would say soft. Just describes, gives some opinions but doesn't preach the hell fire and brimstone.

2003-01-18T08:02:00.000-05:00

Steve over at Happy Fun Pundit is a little put-off by Sen. Clinton's recent appointment to the Armed Services Committee. Make sure you read the comments.

Scroll around you will not be disappointed.

2003-01-18T06:35:00.000-05:00

The Volokh Conspiracy has this post on Julian Bond's "Just spoils of a just war" comments on affirmative action.
I think my earlier post on AA is a nice compliment to Mr. Volokhs. At the very least it shows that I'm not completely out there.