In response to a long, thoughtful post on religion and democracy. a commenter on the Belmont Club wrote: A favorite criticism of Christianity is to point to the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition and claim that these events are somehow proof that Christianity is by nature “just another violent religion”. This is both an intellectually… Continue reading Islamofascism and the Rage of Augustine
Mobilizing the Poor and Other Delusions
Yesterday a Democratic friend of mine emailed me in part: “There is a big constituency of poor people who are just not making it at all.” This is one of the American Left’s conventional dogmas — that there is some vast ocean of descamisados out there waiting to be mobilized into a political force that… Continue reading Mobilizing the Poor and Other Delusions
Are the Democrats becoming a regional party?
The 2004 elections are over. Bush won, of course, but I want to focus on an interesting question raised by the red-state/blue-state map of the outcome. It looks suspiciously as though the Democrats are on their way to becoming a regional party. Specifically, a regional party of the urban Northeast and the West Coast metroplexes.… Continue reading Are the Democrats becoming a regional party?
John Kerry — Communist agent of influence
Read this: John Kerry and the VVAW: Hanoi’s American Puppets?. They don’t mention that while John Kerry was operating as an agent of influence for the Vietnamese Communists, he was still an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve. There is a word for what a serving military officer does when he acts as an agent… Continue reading John Kerry — Communist agent of influence
Predictability, Computability, and Free Will
I’ve been reading some philosophical discussion of the free-will/determism question recently. Quite a number of years ago I discovered a resolution of this question, but never did anything with it because I assumed I had simply reinvented a well-known position and could not really contribute anything to the debate. However, the research I’ve done recently… Continue reading Predictability, Computability, and Free Will
The Far Side of Irony
Having seen Team America: World Police last Friday on its opening night, I’m amused by the mainstream-media spin that this movie is an anti-right-wing satire too subtle for the yokels to get. In fact, I think it’s it’s something much more peculiar and interesting — a movie that hides a strong fundamental patriotism and appeal… Continue reading The Far Side of Irony
Software vs. Art
Jamie Richards asks an intelligent question in response to my essay on deadly genius in the arts: I’m not programming-savvy at all, so maybe this is crap… what do you think about the idea that computer programming is a cultural area operating under the same conditions that set up the “Modernist disruption”? As I understand… Continue reading Software vs. Art
The Terror War Comes Home
For the first time in my life, I find that I am seriously considering voting Republican in a presidential election. What has pushed me to it is this report of shots being fired into a Bush-Cheney campaign HQ in Knoxville. TN. It’s not the first shot fired at the Republicans. And it comes on top… Continue reading The Terror War Comes Home
Deadly Genius and the Back-To-Zero Problem
There are entire genres of art that have self-destructed in the last hundred years — become drained of vitality, driven their audiences away to the point where they become nothing more than museum exhibits or hobby-horses for snobs and antiquarians. The three most obvious examples are painting, the literary novel and classical music. After about… Continue reading Deadly Genius and the Back-To-Zero Problem
The Art of Science
One of my earliest blog essays (Terror Becomes Bad Art) was about Luke Helder, the pipe-bombing “artist” who created a brief scare back in 2002. Arguably more disturbing than Helder’s “art” was the fact that he genuinely thought it was art, because none of the supposed artists or arts educators he was in contact with… Continue reading The Art of Science
What Did Dan Rather Know, And When Did He Know It?
Dan Rather’s just-released statement just begs to be fisked: Last week, amid increasing questions about the authenticity of documents used in support of a 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY story about President Bush’s time in the Texas Air National Guard, CBS News vowed to re-examine the documents in question—and their source—vigorously. And we promised that we would… Continue reading What Did Dan Rather Know, And When Did He Know It?
MSM Loses its Power to Swing Elections
One of the most notorious lines of the 2004 campaign season came to us in Mid-July when Evan Thomas, the Assistant Managing Editor of Newsweek, said: “Let’s talk a little media bias here. The media, I think, wants Kerry to win. And I think they’re going to portray Kerry and Edwards – I’m talking about… Continue reading MSM Loses its Power to Swing Elections
Top Ten Reasons I’m Neither a Liberal Nor a Conservative:
I’m reposting this screed from 2002 because it’s no longer visible on the Web, and in the near future I expect to post some things that will get me accused of right-wing bias. Top Ten Reasons I’m Not A (Left-)Liberal: Gun control. Liberals are completely wrong about this. A fair number of them know better,… Continue reading Top Ten Reasons I’m Neither a Liberal Nor a Conservative:
CBS and SCO Charge: Bush stole Unix!
OREM, UTAH — In a startling and unexpected joint press conference, CBS and SCO, Inc. charged today that President George W. Bush had conspired with IBM to steal Unix code while Linus Torvalds was AWOL from the Finnish army. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder at the podium, Dan Rather and Darl McBride flourished what they said was documentary… Continue reading CBS and SCO Charge: Bush stole Unix!
Inciting to riot
Gary Farber asks: Would you assert that a modest libel law, or copyright law, or incitement to riot law, inevitably lead to 1984? How about a law banning private nuclear weapons? I would say that the risk from a modest libel law or copyright law is small, though not nonexistent; look at the way the… Continue reading Inciting to riot
Keeping Freedom Alive: a response to Vodkapundit
In a trenchant essay he posted on the 30th of January, Vodkapundit fulminates against people he calls “doctrinaire libertarians”. While I sympathize in some respects — I too have been attacked for my pro-war position — I think there is some serious danger that Steve’s arguments are throwing out the baby along with the bathwater.… Continue reading Keeping Freedom Alive: a response to Vodkapundit
The Web and Identity Goods
InstaPundit writes: This seems to me to suggest that free downloads don’t do much to cannibalize actual [book] sales. I have more (or at least longer-term) experience with this than anyone else. Back in 1991, The New Hacker’s Dictionary was the very first real book (like, with an ISBN) to be released simultaneously in print… Continue reading The Web and Identity Goods
Narcissism and the American Left
John Perry Barlow, referring to the 2004 elections, writes: We can’t afford to lose this one, folks. If we do, we’ll have to set our watches back 60 years. If they even let us have watches in the camps, that is. “If they even let us have watches in the camps.” This is a perfect… Continue reading Narcissism and the American Left
War is the Continuation of Journalism
StrategyPage reports that Baathist dead-enders in Iraq are now using press credentials as cover. Some Iraqis working for Reuters were arrested after an attack on U.S. troops guarding a downed helicopter. Reuters is now protesting that this was an error. Considering the virulently anti-American slant of Reuters coverage, this is bleakly funny. Those Iraqi employees… Continue reading War is the Continuation of Journalism
Donald Sensing is so right
Donald Sensing is dead on target in his post suggesting the U.S military re-adopt the M1911 .45ACP pistol. I’ve fired a Beretta 92F and it’s an ugly, awkward gun that neither feels good in the hand nor inspires confidence in its stopping power. Those who have actually seen the sharp end of combat generally agree… Continue reading Donald Sensing is so right