And a hat tip to the gentleman for the photo.
"Prepare for war: live free or die." This kind of thing is a good argument for freedom of speech. Some would say this kind of thing is incitement, but you can't incite people who aren't already pretty mad. If they are mad enough to be incited in Missouri, the boys in D.C. are lucky if someone thinks to warn them in time to head it off.
And how much time do we have? If this fellow speaks for more than himself, the idea is to give 2010's elections a chance. Since you'd have to allow time to see if the change did work, though, I'm guessing you'd want to push out your prospective timeline for the shooting to start until summer 2011. That should be about the time that we should be rotating troops home from Afghanistan in large numbers. They may come as our soldiers from Iraq have come, well-satisfied with victory; or they may come angry, if the timeline aspect of the war plan proves only to leave the Taliban in control of areas their brethren have died to defend.
That will be an interesting few months, I expect. If you wish to head off that war, and we should all wish that, there is still time. Much hangs on Afghanistan, and much on how long it takes for Congress to abandon this lust for spending that has overtaken it. We should support our fighting men, and try to rein in the politicians.
"Gadzooks!"
Wren Song
The wren, the wren, the king of all birds:
Some people theorise that the Wren celebration has descended from Celtic mythology. Sources suggest that the Druids used the wren in augury and might have studied its flight, amongst other birds, to derive predictions about the future. It may also have been introduced or influenced by Scandinavian settlers during the Viking invasions of the 8th-10th Centuries.A merry song, with an interesting tale behind it. How well suited for the season, and the Hall!
Various associated legends exist, such as the wren bird being responsible for betraying Irish soldiers who fought the Viking invaders by beating its wings on their shields, in the late first and early second millennia, and for betraying the Christian martyr Saint Stephen, after whom the day is named. This mythological association with treachery is a probable reason why in past times the bird was hunted by Wrenboys on St. Stephen's Day....
Times Sq Gunman
Times Sq. gunman held weapon like rapperGet some, sergeant.A Times Square bloodbath was narrowly avoided because the machine-pistol-toting thug who fired at a cop flipped the gun on its side like a character out of a rap video, causing the weapon to jam after two shots, law-enforcement sources said yesterday.
When scam artist Raymond "Ready" Martinez held the MAC-10-style gun parallel to the ground, it caused the ejecting shells to "stovepipe," or get caught vertically in the chamber, the sources said. The gun is designed to be fired only in a vertical position.
If he had fired the weapon -- which had another 27 rounds in the clip -- properly, Martinez, 25, could have killed the hero cop pursuing him and countless others walking through the swarming tourist mecca Thursday morning.
Instead, Sgt. Christopher Newsom was able to return fire -- killing Martinez with four shots before anyone was hurt.
Seriously, though... what a maroon.
National Review meditates:
In fact, however, the classic just-war tradition began, not with a presumption against war, but with a passion for justice: The just prince is obliged to secure the “tranquility of order,” or peace, for those for whom he accepts political responsibility, and that peace, to repeat, is composed of justice, security, and freedom. There are many ways for the just prince (or prime minister, or president) to do this; one of them is armed force.The whole essay bears consideration.
Philosophy @ Lowes
Since we bought the new place, I've been cutting and splitting a lot of wood. There are downed trees all across the property which need to be cleared, and which of course can be used to heat my house next year -- some of the wood has been down long enough to burn this year, even.
For that reason, I'm thinking of buying a more powerful chainsaw to handle the things that are just too tough for my little lightweight Mac-Cat. Doing some comparison shopping tonight, I ran across Lowes' "Guide to Buying a Chainsaw." It begins as follows.
A chainsaw is one of those tools that can be described thusly: When you need one, nothing else will really do.That's quite true. Nothing else really will.
Malth. Mad
Is there something in the water that is making all these people long for Chinese-style authoritarianism? First it was Mr. Thomas Freidman of the New York Times, and now this piece from the Financial Post.
China has proven that birth restriction is smart policy. Its middle class grows, all its citizens have housing, health care, education and food, and the one out of five human beings who live there are not overpopulating the planet.First of all, those claims about the living conditions in China are absolute nonsense. Its middle class grows, yes -- on the east coast, while the vast majority of China is one of the poorest countries on earth. "All its citizens" certainly do not have housing: I saw people living in utter rubble. "All its citizens" certainly do not get health care in any fashion we in the West would recognize as such. Food and education are available (today! Remember the Great Leap Forward and the Hundred Flowers Period, respectively), but education is strictly rationed by an examination system or connection to powerful families.
Furthermore, it's not really proper to describe Chinese nationals as "citizens." They are subjects, with very limited freedom of movement even within China, and the requirement to petition their government for lawful changes of address, let alone to visit other nations.
But at least the lady is open to a rational debate on her proposal.
For those who balk at the notion that governments should control family sizes, just wait until the growing human population turns twice as much pastureland into desert as is now the case, or when the Amazon is gone, the elephants disappear for good and wars erupt over water, scarce resources and spatial needs.Right, well, I suppose we should just hop on the first plane to Tyranny, then. In case, you know, some of those things might otherwise happen. Obviously there's nothing else we might be able to do to increase our ability to feed populations.
By the way, do you know what will be happening to China's "growing middle class" once the current generation begins to need to retire, and the far-smaller "one child" generation has to take over the shop while caring for their aging parents and grandparents? And here I thought the Green movement was supposed to be about "sustainability."
Women & Shopping
...this time, to the mall!
Prof Kruger said on the other hand in prehistoric times men had to hunt for specific items which meant they had to be clinical in their approach like they are now with shopping.
"Men often have a specific item in mind and want to get in, get it and get out," he said.
"It's critical to get meat home as quickly as possible. Taking young children isn't safe in a hunt and would likely hinder progress...."
"[G]uys, myself included, have been puzzled by why women shop the way they do."
Oddity of the Nobel
Today's speech underlines just how odd this whole Peace Prize award to the President really is.
I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage. Compared to some of the giants of history who've received this prize Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela -- my accomplishments are slight. And then there are the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice; those who toil in humanitarian organizations to relieve suffering; the unrecognized millions whose quiet acts of courage and compassion inspire even the most hardened cynics. I cannot argue with those who find these men and women -- some known, some obscure to all but those they help -- to be far more deserving of this honor than I.It's true that he has done little, he states. By comparison with those who have won the prize in the past, he has "slight" accomplishments.
But perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the commander-in-chief of the military of a nation in the midst of two wars.
He hasn't sacrificed anything for peace, unlike those beaten or jailed. Others who have are "far more deserving."
And, you know, he's leading two wars, including one he's chosen to double down on in just the last week.
It's abundantly clear that the Nobel Peace Prize committee just tossed out its standards entirely this year. What they were thinking in making this selection is unclear, because none of the markers that would normally point to a candidate are present.
It's always good to hear the President invoke Just War theory, though, and his remarks on Holy Wars are consistent with the doctrine evolved by Michael Walzer (Just and Unjust Wars). As an advocate of Just War theory myself, I agree that we should use it as our guiding principle. Justice in war is a noble thing -- but it's not "peace," and this made for an odd occasion to explore the topic.
Down in Flames
Significant content warning, but Eric's old friend Dennis the Peasant has hit bonaza dirt on at least that first video.
Dear Cassandra will love it, though.
Gotta Rec This One
Our very good friend Greyhawk points out this article, about battlefield screwups that were hilarious (until people died, of course).
Reckoning
Joe's post on the subject of religion as adaptation meriting, as it does, future consideration and a fuller consideration of the argument, I'd like to add that I do have one particularly firm belief at the moment. It is that there will, someday and in some fashion, be a reckoning for the words spoken here:
That is a religious belief. I simply cannot believe otherwise, though there is no empirical data to support it, and the belief has not been tested by scientific methods. I am as sure of the reckoning to come as I am of the sun rising tomorrow. It is an interesting question, whether it is a false belief that arises merely from adaptation, or the influence of the image of God that we have heard was written in us.
Whichever, I fear for the speakers. It seems to me that they have placed themselves in a terrible peril, and ought to tremble in fear of what they have done.
State Dept
I have two pieces on the State Department at BLACKFIVE: The Good, and The Bad and The Ugly.
Good point from TH
"Just when you think 'they can't keep making it harder'..."
Regulatory risk from the federal government is now -- by a longshot -- the biggest barrier to increasing private sector employment. Neither looser money nor string-pushing "stimulus" can overcome that in the long run.No, obviously we do not.
Already our economy is struggling against health care "reform," massive new regulation and/or taxation on any business that emits carbon, the proposed "Employee Free Choice Act," new regulation in financial services, new corporate "governance" requirements, fiscal catastrophes in all the large states controlled by the Democrats, and huge new tax increases for the people who actually decide to hire people (whether they are corporate tools or individual entrepreneurs). Do we really need "an array of 90 rules and regulations" from the Labor Department on top of all that?
This proves to be a beautiful place in a beautiful park, reachable by footpath through a wood that runs atop a cliff overlooking the Hudson river. After a time, you come to a ridgetop and look across to the next, where the bell-tower of the monastery-shaped museum rises from the oaks.
I'm not sure that New York City has anything else that could hold my interest or suit me so well; but it has at least one thing that can.
Irish, NY Style
In honor of the unexpected raid into the north country, some good Yankee music.
Snowballs in Hell
First of all, let me congratulate Alabama on their victory, and an oustanding season. Though a Bulldogs fan myself, tonight we must all say: "Roll Tide!"
Second, an announcement about the weather in Hell. I find myself tonight in New York City, where I will be for the next couple of days. Had you asked me to predict such a visit even a week ago, I'd have put the likely timeframe as sometime between now and never. Yet here I am, intending to take the suggestion from our friend 'Dellbabe in da Bronx' to visit the Cloisters tomorrow.
It's cold up here. However, compared to the last time I was in New York, I do notice a greatly decreased propensity among the citizens to steal anything that isn't tied down. Nobody seems to be afraid, really, though pervasive fear was another feature of the NYC I remember. I guess all those stories about Rudy were really true. Amazing what can happen if you put your mind to it.