Archive for October 2006
Just Doin’ My Part
As you may have heard, Bush The Thief just signed a law sent up by your House of Muggers and Molesters and your Parliament of Whores that effectively makes it illegal for you to choose to spend your money online in games of chance or skill if that's how you want to spend your money. To that end, here's a list of 55 online casinos for your enjoyment. I'll be keeping tabs and will be sure and publish what I find as to work-arounds for all this baloney. Though I don't know the specifics of the law, I believe it essentially makes it illegal for U.S. Banks to pay the credit card charges you make with online casinos. Off the top of my head, I'd say that if you like to gamble online, looks like you need to get a credit card that's issued by a foreign bank not under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Though, I don't know if that'll work. You also might refrain from spending another dime on any domestic gambling venture, from Vegas, to Atlantic City, to Indian Casinos, to the state's own gambling machine in the form of lotteries. By the way, in case you're...
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America: Going to the Dogs
Just another day...you know...here in "the land of the free" & all. You don't like that occasional step into a pile of dog dodo? Neither do I. Real irritating, isn't it? In fact, it's so bad that I think we ought to throw people in jail who don't clean up after their dogs. How's that sound? No, wait. I'll tell you what: let's get tough on crime and throw people in jail for even failing to carry along a pooper-scooper when they walk their dogs. Now, whadya think? Pretty good, eh? And, hey: looks like the folks of St. Charles Missouri already thought of it. Well good for them, huh? I jest, of course. Only, unfortunately, I shit you not about the St. Charles ordinance. You can pay a fine of $500 and go to jail for three months. ...And not necessarily for ultimately failing to clean up, but for not having something to clean up with when you walk your dog, i.e., in your immediate possession. So, presumably, police will now be conducting random pooper-scooper checks, issuing warnings, then tickets, and then jail time -- until such future point that nobody remembers a time when it wasn't entirely natural...
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Stay Home
As Radley adequately demonstrates, the republicans are nothing if not completely full of shit. And Bill Bennett? Jesus. I loathed that fake, self-righteous fuck even while grudgingly supporting republicans over democrats. Stay home; but if you must, just take a chance and shake things up. Kick the republicans out on their asses. In terms of practical politics, it would only be what they deserve. On a related note -- since I'm talking about the disaster that is the Republican Party -- Billy has up a link to a video at youtube, wherein conservative Andrew Sullivan discusses his book. Though Billy is entirely correct concerning the underlying principles of the matter, I think Sullivan's comments are remarkably insightful, given the logic of the modern political struggle, such as it is. I guess I liked a lot more than just bits, and I just didn't see a lot of rot. Part I Part II (additional comments below the video) I rather like his contrast of all the brands of religious fundamentalism (Muslim, Christian, Jewish) with that of a more liberal religious tradition. It has certainly been my experience. As a kid, I got shuttled off to Mormon church (mom's family) and Lutheran...
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Wish I Was There
You know what? I've given up trying to get tickets to some of the concerts that blow through. Tonight, fer instance, at the Shoreline Amphitheater, it's Roger Waters. He's only one of the two principle members of my favorite band of all time, Pink Floyd. Show starts in a bit more than an hour; but here I sit, effin' blogging and completely SOL. Eff. And KFOX is intent on making me feel bad by playing Floyd all throughout the day. And tonight? Tonight, from 10pm to 12, it's nothing but. And at midnight? Dark Side of the Moon. The whole album. Just rub it in, why dontcha? And it's not as though this is the first time. Hell, I've missed out on David Gilmore on each of the numerous times he's graced the Bay Area with his music. Double eff. And get this: a couple of weeks ago, the wife and I were up at our cabin in the Sierras and decided to run down to Ironstone Winery. It's like 20 minutes away from the house. Tops. Guess what we missed the night before? Only the effin' Wilson Sisters and Kansas. Shit. Shit! This is a continuation of the insult...
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What Muslim Culture and Feminism Have in Common
Messing up humanity, that's what -- at least according to William Tucker in a wonderfully interesting article. But you'll have to read the whole thing to grok what I'm talking about. (Venlet)
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Blasphemy
Courtesy of Landover Baptist. More fun here.
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Regrets
Dutch immigrant Rogier van Bakel of Nobody's Business is having second thoughts. This week marks the fifteenth anniversary of my emigration from the Netherlands to the United States. I've been in no mood to celebrate. Truthfully, I'm not even certain I would still move if I had to make that choice today. That's sad, isn't it? Sadder still is that if I'm honest, I can only promise him it'll get worse. But wait! There's an election next month, so everything's going to be just fine, right?
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Fallout
One has to wonder the full extent of the fallout once reality inexorably asserts itself. (DeCoster)
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Kos, Part III
Here are parts I and II. Now comes two entries that are must reads on this topic. The first, by Warren Meyer at Coyote Blog, was actually written in December of 2004. But don't be surprised by that. Principles of individualism haven't changed in the 8,000 years or so of recorded human civilization (or as far back as humans possessed free will, for that matter), so his essay was valid then, today, and a thousand years from now. Here it is. Before I continue to support this argument, I must say that on a number of issues, particularly related to civil liberties and social issues, I call progressives my allies. On social issues, progressives, like I do, generally support an individual's right to make decisions for themselves, as long as those decisions don't harm others. However, when we move to fields such as commerce, progressives stop trusting individual decision-making. Progressives who support the right to a person making unfettered choices in sexual partners don't trust people to make their own choice on seat belt use. Progressives who support the right of fifteen year old girls to make decisions about abortion without parental notification do not trust these same girls later...
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Kos, Part II
Here's Part I, which was updated to reflect Charles Hueter's post. Now comes an update to that very same post by Charles, sent to him by frequent commenter here, Kyle Bennett. It's all just crying out for a copy/paste job right here. Charles writes: Kyle Bennett sent in the following comment: Kos and his ilk have a very different notion of "personal liberties" than libertarians do. It's not just a political difference about what constitutes a personal freedom, but a fundamentally different epistemological and metaphysical view of what freedom is. They look at freedom as something like Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms". Things like freedom from want, freedom from fear, etc. The root of it is that they see *any* obstacle as an impingement on their freedom, where libertarians see coercion as the only obstacle that qualifies. Poverty, tragedy, discomfort, lack of opportunity, and even the need to pursue your own happiness, etc., to them, these are all examples of freedom being limited . Their "state of nature", against which the legitimacy of government is measured, is not the libertarian one in which everyone gets a spot on the starting line, but one in which everyone has a comfortable spot on the...
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Hey, That’s My Job
John Venlet tells the story exactly right with respect to school shootings -- or any publicity shootings for that matter. ...as helpless citizens of the state, we must be kept cowering in the corner, rather than presuming we have any ability to protect ourselves from the various evils lurking in the world on a daily basis. It's like the employee from hell who goes around saying "Hey, that's my job" all of the time, rather than being primarily concerned with whether a job even needs doing, and if so, actually doing it or ensuring it's done. It's the same thread that runs through labor unions: the scaffold guys can't plug in equipment because the electricians have to do it, and so on. It's just another of the many forms of forced and coerced protectionism, and what's being protected is always either a fake job or a job that's overstaffed, where someone is superfluous. Otherwise, what's to protect? You can look it up if you like, but in point of fact, far more crime is directly deterred on the spot by everyday people than the police could ever hope to achieve. The police are there to come clean up the mess,...
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Jon Stewart
The Daily Show. You know, I rarely watch it. And I'm generally put off by unfair and out-of-context humor. I'm also not much given to the nihilist undertones that often pervade such material. Nonetheless, even I can't help myself, from time-to-time. And I must admit that I have laughed my ass off.
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Just Another Day in the Land of the Free
"Booby Raid Gone Wrong" "Puppycide" Just another day.
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Goldilocks Democrats
Not "too much" government, not "too little" government, but juuuuuust right. That's what this "new thing" ought to be called; not The Libertarian Democrat. This either. Look, this comes at an interesting time for me; in particular, having just thrown off every last ounce of grudging support for republicans I've had since I was a kid (indeed, in my younger days, it was enthusiastic support). There is no redeeming value to the Republican Party. Not a bit. Still lots of good people who call themselves republicans, of course, just as on the democrat side. But just as republicans will never get SWAT teams out of your bedroom -- will never stop concerning themselves with your petty "vices" or trying to force their sense of social values on you -- so democrats will never stop demonizing the most productive; those who are the greatest benefactors of society in terms of material well-being (and spiritual too, if you count being able to trade your labor via a job to support yourself as a spiritual essential). The essays are important reads on a number of levels. It's mostly bullshit, of course, and you're never going to get anywhere with the likes of Markos...
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The Ruling Class
...Democratically elected, of course.
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U.S. Government Destroys $7 Billion
This is what you won't see or hear reported much outside of financial circles. More than £3.5bn was wiped from the value of Britain's leading internet gaming companies, with PartyGaming, the world's biggest online poker company, seeing its market value slashed by £2.5bn. The price collapse saw its shares plummet 62 to 45p – a 58pc fall – which means the shares are highly likely to be removed from the FTSE 100 blue-chip index at the next FTSE reshuffle in December. PartyGaming, the world's biggest poker site, had a market value of £4.28bn at the close of trading on Friday. When it opens this morning, that value will have fallen to just £1.8bn, some £1bn less than a new company would need to be capitalised at to enter the FTSE 100. Its removal from the FTSE 100 would end a remarkable 16 months for the company, which at its peak was worth £7bn – more than twice the market capitalisation of British Airways. My previous entry, Fuck The Republicans, is here. How many of you realize that when the politicians in D.C. talk about "online gambling," they are talking about legitimate, publicly-traded companies listed on the London stock exchange, with...
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Sarcasm Alert
In view of the attempted shootings at schools of late, I'm sure gratified to realize that I was wrong when I said all those gun laws, gun-free zones, no-gun-within-a-million-miles laws and all that would do nothing to stop a crazy person intent on doing harm. I could pick at it, but I won't. Kim du Tiot has some valid observations here.
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Republican Litmus Test
Here's the deal. To my mind, the next couple of months are going to demonstrate that Reptilepublicans are just as evil -- if not more so -- as Demagogocrats. How? The Mark Foley scandal, of course. At first, it could be explained away as an "isolated incident," and everyone could look the other way -- as is typically the case -- 'cause, you know, there's an election coming so everything's going to be just fine. But now, it's pretty clear that Foley's predation on young, impressionable, goo-goo-eyed boys ("Mom, dad: guess what? I work for a U.S. Congressman!") was actually known at even the highest levels of the congressional viper pit "leadership." If republicans have any juice in their convictions, then they ought to stay home, or if they do vote at all, they ought not grant a single vote to a republican incumbent anywhere. If you do, then you're no better than the republican leadership who knew about this and looked the other way. You. Are. No. Better. That's simply inescapable. You watch. Watch closely. The republicans are going to try to bury this as fast as they can, and they're going to get every necessary assistance from Limbaugh,...
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Missed One, Kim
Doing my morning rounds, coffee in hand, I note at Billy's place that I missed an important post from Kim du Toit. Damn RSS reader, I guess. And he even mentions me by name -- but without the common courtesy of a link, however; and of course, without my fix in place, you'd be blocked from even linking over there from this site. ...Oh, well. But since I promised to be as objective as possible in this little project, I'll take the time to explain why Kim (and all his choirboys and girls) are wrong. Billy dealt with the root cause: ignorance. I'll deal with why it's wrong. 2.) Libertarianism. I happen to have some opinions which coincide with libertarianism. Indeed, if one has any opinions which favor the individual over the State, that’s inevitable. Unfortunately, for those of the Richard Nikoley/Billy Beck ilk, I don’t necessarily place the individual’s freedoms over the needs of society all the time—there are times when freedom of speech does not allow for revealing military secrets to the enemy, for example—and so my inconsistency makes me, to these radical anarchists, no better than Stalin. I’m the enemy as much as, say, an arch-statist like...
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