Politics, Lies, and Logic

Molten Thought has a logical analysis of several recent political "scandals".

Credibility is everything these days. It's the coin of the realm of the blogosphere, and the credibility-challenged media and politicos are struggling mightily to adjust to this reality.

When information is transmitted so freely, so readily, and so widely, spinmeisters and liars see their stock plummet swiftly.

The American people have never liked a liar---they just lacked the means of easily telling when someone was lying prior to the Information Age.

(Also read their post on Darwinian dogma.)

most difficult bible verse

Here's a "meme" question that is actually worth asking - What is the most difficult verse in the bible for you? I'll have to think about my 'final answer'...

There's one that is difficult for me conceptually (which is not exactly the point of the exercise): What is going on in 1 Samuel 28?

wasted energy bill

From the corner, GM asks "Has anyone considered that fighting in the Mideast could be reduced if radical environmentalists stepped out of the way of domestic oil production and nuclear energy?"

air america scam, pt.2

What did Al know, and when did he know it?

no bias here, pt.3945

Powerline wonders why there has been so little coverage of the assassination attempt on President Bush.

Victory in Iraq

Varifrank has a good essay on how Americans view victory.

The miracle of World War II isn’t that Americans, who having survived the great depression went into battle with only 90 days of training and managed to beat the “Aryan superman” on his own home turf at a war they had trained for 10 years to fight. The miracle was that despite our losses in a war we didn’t start, that despite our natural desire for vengeance we still managed to set it aside because we recognized the common goodness of mankind. We fed our former enemies and helped rebuild their country. We bet on the Germans, and the bet paid off. It was a gamble, and it was by no means certain to win. Its over now and we can go home, as friends.

We are placing the same bet on the Iraqis. The Iraqis are people and they deserve the freedom that was taken from them by people who wished only to enslave them.

Although it's not the central theme, here's another good portion:

There is now an effort underway by the left to turn victory into defeat. The people who once argued we only went to Iraq for the oil are already screaming that we are leaving, and by calling it a “pullout” it acts as a preemptive attempt to set the tone of the debate, to say that we’ve lost when in fact, we’ve won. The Iraqis have won. They still have their oil, and now they have their dignity.

The world bet that we wouldn’t expose our soldiers to fire to remove a dictator, and they were wrong. The world bet that we wouldn’t leave if we did invade and again, they were wrong. The world said that the Arabs couldn’t be trusted to vote and yes, they were still wrong. The world said that civil war would break out, once again, wrong. They said that the Shiites, the Sunni and the Kurds could never make a working government, and yes, once again, they were wrong.

Of course, being wrong every single time should be no reflection on the left's intelligence, but it should cause us to evaluate their value in the debate.

baseball history

Bobby Bragan is about to make pro baseball history.

On Aug. 15, Fort Worth's Mr. Baseball will set a working-age record for a manager at the pro level.

Bragan will be 87 years, 9 months and 16 days old when he dons a Cats uniform and returns to the dugout for one night against the Coastal Bend Aviators at LaGrave Field.

The article also mentions that Mr. Bragan remembers talking to Honus Wagner.

worma > frogma > ratma > dogma

This new blog Darwinian Fundamentalism looks promising. Here's one humorous link from that site, most other articles are more serious.

primitivism

Joe N at No Pasaran! sums up the neo-luddites,

The new primitivists of the developed world... sentimentally yearn for simplicity, but forgot that it came with great harshness. They look fondly on a nasty, short, and brutal life to satisfy a yearning for innocence that they have been unable to find in their relations with people or in other disappointments they find with themselves.

makes this recommendation,

The least one can do is ignore them. The best one can do is to continue to prove their world view otherwise by living well in a modern world, and occasionally asking them to empirically examine the basis of their reasoning, and why living examples of it only can be found in the least equitable and poorest societies on earth.

and concludes thus,

In a good society people help the disadvantaged on either the conservative or collectivist model. Either way, they are helped. If a social theory causes that society to help more of them, we aren’t just being stupid, we’re being cruel by bringing more people into mediocrity and misery. The more of them you have to serve, the harder it is on the remainder supporting them, and they too are victimized by a tyranny of bad ideas. Intended to pander to a comfortable sliver of the population that thinks compassion is about helping the greatest number of people, they should be more concerned with the conditions which require so many people to need any help at all.

air america scam

Al Lied! Kids Died!

(hey maaan, like, who cares if it's true? it's catchy!)

groundwork for the cultural revolution

can you see a pattern here?

panic

being hatless, i don't have this problem... ;)

Happy Birthday

Mary Jo Kopechne would have been 65 today...

Deutsche Flugzeugwörter

Achtung! Das Noisenjetten bilden eine Humorlisten über die Fliegenwagen.

movies

Here's a movie I'd pay to see - Hollywood Death Spiral.

net worth

and i'll take the $32,786 on gift certificate, mr. sajak.

good question

Monday Evening asks, "If the Constitution is a living, breathing document, how much more lively must be a Supreme Court Opinion?"

What are the Court’s opinions? I mean, we know what they were; We know what they wrote; but that was weeks ago. What do the words they wrote then, mean for us today? We need a committee to tell us what the Court’s opinions mean.

frogs

Michigan J Frog is not dead, they just put him in the cornerstone of a building which wil be be demolished in 2055.

Unfortunately, the funeral-crashing toad is still free...

headlines

Headline - Mistaken Shooting in London:

The man shot dead by police in south London yesterday is not connected to attempted terror attacks on the capital, Scotland Yard said today.

“For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets,” said a spokesman.

...and in related news:

Thousands of people killed by Islamofascism around the globe were not connected to terror attacks either.

“For people to lose their life in such circumstances is our policy and one that Muslim fanatics do not regret,” says Osama bin Laden.

(\sarcasm)

"mommy, i'm scared!"

"don't worry honey, it's only poetry."