2008-06-17

Yesterday evening, at 5:01 PM, the first legal same-sex marriage (SSM) licenses were issued in California. I don’t know why that time was picked, but I note it coincides with midnight, Universal Time (or Greenwich Mean Time). Perhaps this was intended as a signal that this was a new “global” court decision? Who knows?
In any [...]

2008-06-13

Marriage exists in every society on the planet, but why should it?

2007-08-14

Sometimes, it seems people would rather throw a screaming fit than
admit success.
A couple of weeks ago, I read a tirade based on an op-ed piece that appeared in the Washington
Post. The authors of this post, Paul X. Kelley and Robert F. Turner, accuse the President of issuing an executive order that:
…has compromised our national [...]

2007-07-10

One of the arguments in favor of pulling out of Iraq is that it would force the Iraqi government to take responsibility for its own security.
I’m� curious to know how many who agree with this argument� would� agree with� programs like� privatization of� Social Security, Medicare, Education, and so on.� Wouldn’t withdrawing government support for [...]

While driving around at work, I saw a car sporting a bumper sticker that read:
Donate George Bush’s stem cells for early primate research
The car was a BMW with shiny black (unmarred) paint.
I wonder how long a car would retain its finish if it sported a bumper sticker reading:
Donate John Kerry’s medals to a war hero
Just [...]

2007-07-06

TCS writer Tim Worstall looks at some of the numerical manipulations underlying the claim that healthcare in the US is worse than in places like Cuba.
For example: Medicare is more efficient than privately-funded health care? Well, Medicare has an overhead of 1%, and the overhead for private health care is between 10% and 30%. But…
“Overhead” [...]

2007-06-21

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was on a panel discussion about torture and terrorism law. During this discussion, the topic of Jack Bauer came up. (source)
…a Canadian judge’s passing remark - “Thankfully, security agencies in all our countries do not subscribe to the mantra ‘What would Jack Bauer do?’ ” - got the legal bulldog [...]

2007-06-10

One word about the Paris Hilton case:� Pfui.
She’s a spoiled brat. She’s grown up in an environment where she’s learned she can either buy or charm her way into whatever she wants, or out of whatever she doesn’t want.� She’s finally run up against something she can’t manipulate her way through, and it’s a shock [...]

2007-05-31

…Then give me another word for it.
Proponents of the immigration bill making its way through Congress are constantly claiming “it’s not amnesty”. For example:
Amnesty is forgiveness for being here without any penalties — that’s what amnesty is. I oppose it.
— President Bush.
OK, if “amnesty” means forgiveness without any penalties, then we need another word for [...]

2007-05-15

CNN changes history!
I’ve been having a debate with someone in a forum with a very slow turn-around time. It’s a newsletter that’s published once a month, so each cycle of the “discussion” takes two months.
Anyway, she believes the federal response to New Orleans after Katrina was slow – and indeed, slower than to areas [...]

2007-05-06

I believe “torture” is overused in this country, and in areas controlled by this country.
By “torture”, I mean the word, not necessarily the action.
I’ve been putting in my two cents’ worth on this subject for a while, and I think it’s time I state, for the record, where I stand on the subject.  For the [...]

2007-05-03

China’s plan to keep the skies sunny and clear during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing shows how far weather modification has come, climatologists say.
If a storm approaches the city, the Chinese said they would seed the clouds with silver iodide to force rainfall, cleansing the air and ensuring spectators and athletes stay dry.
(Source)
It’ll be [...]

2007-04-30

Torture
John McCain has spoken ex cathedra on the subject of torture on Fox News.
WALLACE: How would you fight the War on Terror differently than it’s being fought now?
J. MCCAIN: I would probably announce the closing of Guantanamo Bay. I would move those detainees to Fort Leavenworth. I would announce we will not torture anyone.
….
We cannot [...]

2007-04-29

he link to this article showed up in the Brown & Caldwell California Water Newsletter the other day.  When I looked at the original publication date — November/December, 2002, I was inclined to wonder why this was being published now.  Be that as it may, the article paints a dim picture of the results of [...]

I see a piece in Captain’s Quarters about the upcoming election in Turkey.
Turkey has reached a crisis over radical Islam, as their recent elections have created a precarious position for the tradtionally secular democracy. Abdullah Gul, the candidate for the leading party, will become Turkey’s next president despite his history of supporting Islamists. The army [...]

2007-03-15

But too many firemen are being injured or killed in wasteful exercises of their power.  Fires continue to break out.  Buildings, forests, and local chaparral continue to burn.  Fire fighters continue to risk life and limb in an ongoing fight against new fires.  Whatever tactics those in power are bringing to bear against the threat [...]

2007-03-08

Dean Barnett writes at the Townhall.com blog:
After a bit of initial chit-chat, he hit me with a hypothetical that he had already bounced off a couple dozen of my fellow job-seeking classmates: “A potential case comes to you. You’re not sure whether the alleged perpetrator is guilty or not. What do you do? Do you [...]

2007-03-06

…of what amounts to the Martha Stewart offense.  (source)
Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was convicted Tuesday of lying and obstructing a leak investigation that reached into the highest levels of the Bush administration.
….
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who has led the leak investigation, said no additional charges would be [...]

2007-03-01

For better or worse, we tend to judge people on the language they use.
This post at Cheat Seeking Missiles looks at some statistics.
Patrick Ishmael at The News Buckit picked up an Instapunk challenge and scanned lefty and right blogs to assess their usage of George Carlin’s “Seven words you can never say on television.” The [...]

2007-02-27

Thomas Sowell reviews a new book, Supreme Conflict by Jan Crawford Greenburg.  Greenberg describes a Clarence Thomas who doesn’t quite mesh with the conventional wisdom.
No one has been denigrated and demonized by this mindset more than Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The charge has been endlessly repeated that he is “not qualified” — with no [...]