Friday, May 30, 2008

More Crazy Antidiscrimination Law

Apparently, it is illegal to deny men entry into women's restrooms in Colorado - at least if the man thinks he's a woman. (I'm not certain if being transgendered is a requirement here or not).

It's time that we say what needs to be said: antidiscrimination laws have become completely tyrannical and need to be abolished.

That is all.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Ballot Access for Constitution Party 05-29-08

Here is the current Constitution Party Ballot Access map, updated from three days ago, based on Constitution Party data.

052908a

Sunday night, I will try to post the May 1, 2008 Ballot Access Map for the other parties/candidates on the ballot access map page.

That is all.

AntiWar.com Needs Funds

If you find this site useful, then now is the time to donate.

I am afraid that I can't give any more than I am giving now (although I am still giving $15.00 monthly), because I am currently tapped out. But I can call on my readers to help.

That is all.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Ballot Access for Constitution Party

052708a

This ballot access map will be updated more frequently than the previous one, and is based on the statistics on the Constitution Party's own website. One difference is that I am not counting out Oklahoma or Arizona until both the party and individual deadlines pass. States whose deadlines have passed will, upon notice on the CP website, be colored white (for uncertain) until it is determined whether or not they have write-in access.

Note: "Just started" is listed here as "not started" (green). States do not get yellow until actual petitions are collected, except in cases (e.g. for those running for individual candidates in Louisiana) where methods other than petitioning are being used for ballot access.

That is all

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Gitmo and Propaganda

I like this article, which deals with Guantanamo detainees who are released and who then commit terrorist acts. The pro-warriors, of course, use them as evidence that anyone who comes to Guantanamo must be detained forever lest they be a terrorist. That perhaps this indicates that our methods for screening people to determine their status before shipping them to Gitmo or for keeping them at Gitmo are faulty never enters their minds.

The truth of the matter is that the treatment of Guantanamo detainees has always been less of an issue for me (not because I don't care how they are treated but because I haven't heard of any severe mistreatment in Guantanamo) than the issue of the sufficiency of the screening methods. That is, my main concern is that the methods for challenging one's detention or getting one's detention reviewed may not be sufficient.

That is all.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Friday, May 16, 2008

Calling a Tail a Leg Doesn't Make it a Leg

According to Ruth Rosen's article on TPMCafe amounts to saying "these gay couples say that were already married, whether the state says so or not."

Actually, they are not truly married, whether or not the state claims they are.

That is all.

More Same-Sex "Marriage"

I don't think that the recent California Supreme court decision bodes well for the country.

But I am too weary to blog about it now.

That is all.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

If Only They Were Engaging in Incestuous Lesbian Sex, They Might Have Had a Chance

Two sisters who have lived in the same house for forty years are denied the same protection that gay couples are allowed under civil unions.

I think that Peter Hitchens has the best take on this:

We were told that the civil partnership laws were all about compassion.

We were persuaded that, without these changes, long-standing homosexual couples would be forced to sell their homes to pay death duties when one of them died.

It was their 'Human Right' not to suffer this.

Well, where's the compassion, or the "Human Rights" when sisters Joyce and Sybil Burden seek the same privileges? Nowhere to be seen.

The thing was a fraud. It wasn't about kindness at all, only about furthering the sexual revolution.


That is all.

"But I Don't Want to be a Model Minority"

From the folks at "Alas," I found this little gem from some Asian woman who apparently wants to be seen as a "debit to her race" (scare quotes, these are my words, not hers).

Here's an excerpt:

When people talk about the model minority, “model” is code for never making other people feel uncomfortable about racism. “Model” means not being like all those other troublesome people of color. It means keeping your mouth shut and your eyes lowered. It means smiling brightly and nodding along. Yes, sir! Whatever you say, sir! It means never complaining.

No, what makes Asians a model minority is that they have (as an average) a lower crime rate than whites, and they don't respond to welfare by huge increases in illegitimacy. Plus, they can compete with whites on race-blind tests, unlike other groups where the majority have to be given a large handicap to have any chance to compete for things such as higher-tier colleges. Also, they don't tend to burn down their cities when they feel slighted.

I suppose that it may be racist to congratulate Asians on this. But you know, if it bothers them that much, all they need to do is start committing more rapes and murders, and to encourage their children not to do well in school and then to blame the fact they don't do well on white racism and I am sure that eventually they will be able to escape that pesky label,

That is all.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Strangely Prophetic

A FedEx commercial featuring Steve Irwin from a few years ago.

An announcement about the end of "A Dress to Di for" contest shortly after the accident that killed Princess Diana.

I was just thinking about these recently (I remember seeing the commercial for the dress contest back in the summer of '97 and remember seeing the Steve Irwin ad a few years ago) and about how weirdly prophetic they seem in retrospect.

That is all.

Reverend Wright is a Racial Issue - and Rightly So

One interesting thing about the mainstream "conservative" treatment of the Reverend Wright controversy is the fact that most of the Wright critics downplay, dismiss, or deny the racial component of this.

There is often a sort of disclaimer to say that "it's not the color of his skin, but the things he said," or the statement (true enough) that they would do the same thing with a white pastor who said the same things.

What does not get mentioned too often, though, is the fact that there is indeed a racial element, but that this element is totally legitimate.

A lot of people, when seeing what Reverend Wright says, think "is this what he believes?" And then they think "do most blacks agree with him?" When they realize that a large number of black people do indeed view the U.S. as a country that is defined primarily by its racism, a lot of htem wonder "do we really want a black person as President if he believes this way?"

And that is a perfectly legitimate question, as "racist" as it may seem.

As Steve Sailer has pointed out, it is not Wright so much as Obama's own radicalism in the past that is at issue here. Wright is just a revealer of Obama's (former?) radicalism rather than the real issue per se.

That is all.

Friday, May 09, 2008

April 2008 Constitution Party Ballot Access

Here is a ballot access map for the Constitution Party as of April 1, 2008:

Apr08CP

Click on this link to be taken to ballot access maps for the major third parties.

I made these maps using photoshop, and they are based on the April issue of Ballot Access News (I received it around April 1, and added a few states in because their changed status was announced around the same time). [Because I based the map on the hardcopy newsletter, and have not proofread it against the online version, it may not match the statistics at the link if anything has been corrected or altered prior to posting the issue online].

If you don't want your ballot access tables to be one month out of date, you need to subscribe to Ballot Access News.

That is all.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Ballot Access Map to be Updated Shortly.

I have been a little busy, but I will try to get to it this weekend.

That is all.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

42 Hostile Coalition Deaths in Iraq Last Month

This is the highest level since last September.

I suppose it is too early to say for certain that the recent lull in violence in beginning to reverse itself, but presumably we will have a better idea at the end of this month.

That is all.

Why is Anal Sex Considered Good while Smoking and Fat are Considered Bad?

Mychal Massie on our double standards.

That is all.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Monday, April 21, 2008

John McCain Delenda Est

After reading this, this, and this, I havecome to the conclusion that I want John McCain to LOSE, LOSE, LOSE.

No, I won't vote for Hillary or Barack Junior, but I will be voting (and rallying for) a third party with the express purpose of keeping Nukem McAmnesty out of the White House.

(Links from LRC blog).

That is all.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

On Supporting the Troops

I support the troops in the sense that, if they are to stay in Iraq, I would rather that they succeed than that they fail. (By succeed I mean that they accomplish goals that protect American interests).

However, I am against the war because I believe that it is an inefficient use of our troops and will more likely fail than succeed and that leaving Iraq will protect our interests more than staying.

That being said, if the only way to "support the troops" is to tongue-kiss Bush's rectum, then screw the troops.

Moreover, if any U.S. soldier tells me (of his own volition) that he wants me to support the President, and that he doesn't feel supported if I don't kiss the President's heinie, that soldier can go to Hell.

That is all.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

An Excellent Rejoinder to Obama

Patrick Deneen (Thanx and a tip o' the hat to John Savage:

Someone should advise him to go to Latrobe and say the following instead:

“You go to these big liberal cities in California, and like a lot of cosmopolitan centers of libertarian lifestyle individualism, they have benefited from the wrenching displacements you’ve experienced. They benefited immensely from free-trade and globalizing policies of previous Administrations - Democratic and Republican alike - and they’ve been told that they have earned their status and they owe nothing to anyone.

“And it’s not surprising that they get optimistic, they believe that they can dispense with religion or borders or community as a way to remake the world in exactly their image.”


Right on.

Murray Rothbard on Malcolm X

While Rothbard is, in my opinion, a little hard on blacks in general, I like his piece on the general interpretation of Malcolm X, in part because it cuts through all of the garbage that we tend to hear the PC crowd tell us about how we need to understand muderous rage and need to acknowledge the legitimacy of the desire of many black people to externinate us.

I must admit that I am somewhat ambivalent about Malcolm X due to his apparent alteration in his racial thinking after his conversion to orthodox Islam a year or so prior to his death. And certainly some of the most militant blacks are also the most socially conservative in their ideas about how the black community should act.

However, the idea that all of the responsibility for improving race relations lies with whites, orthat we need to shut up and let the minorities dictate all of the terms of the debate - which often seems to be the mood when discussing Mr. X - or the idea that whites are intrinsically racist and htat nothing we can do is ever good enough for blacks - well, I am sick of it and I think that this piece provides a good counterpoint.

That is all.

Letter to the Boston Herald Shows Open Borders Fallacies

A woman (I presume) named Mary Hopkins recently wrote a letter that appeared in the Boston Herald:

The “long-established” process for welcoming people to this country has changed drastically in the last 20 years. We are no longer the most welcoming country.

Note that she provides no references here. I was under the impression that U.S. immigration laws were pretty welcoming compared to those of most, perhaps all, other countries. (I will try to get some statistics to publish if I can find any comparative statistics to refer to).

If you don’t have an advanced degree, capital or a relative who already has legal status, then your chances of gaining entry here as a legal immigrant are very small indeed.

And this is a problem why? Why should we let in people who are more likely to become social services parasites?

People don’t come here without documents because it’s a nuisance to fill out the paperwork. They come here that way because it’s the only way open to them

Perhaps if they cannot get in here legally they should take the hint and stay out.

Ms. Hopkins obviously suffers from the delusion that what angers people about illegal immigrants is that they have not filled out proper paperwork. No, what angers us is that they come into the country uninvited, and that they do not allow us to choose who we wish to let in and who we do not.

Ms. Hopkins' argument is akin to saying that if someone crashes a party, the host is at fault for not inviting him.

We must create an orderly, accessible and reasonable process by which people can apply to come here as immigrants.

We do. We just don't have a process that grants everyone's application.

It would also be good to create a process by which undocumented immigrants who had not committed offenses besides being here could regularize their status.

How about by going home, where their status will already be perfectly regular?

People get blamed for not doing their paperwork, but when someone offers a way to make it possible, the shriek of “amnesty” goes up.

No, people get blamed for coming into the country without being invited. And if it is suggested that we mut extend invitations to unwanted "party-crashers," that is indeed amnesty.

Under present law the great majority of the undocumented cannot clear up their status.

Sure they do. It's called "going back to where they came from."

This shows the sickness of the opne borders lobby. The U.S. people have no right to control the borders of thier country, and the interests of the immigrants ought to be the sole determining factor in our immigration policy.

That is all.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Tom Tancredo, Go to Hell

Tom Tancredo endorses John McCain*, not just because he feels that McCain is the lesser of two evils:

Tancredo... said Thursday he'll go ahead and back his longtime immigration-reform foe, McCain, because he thinks either of the Democratic alternatives would be worse.

"Sometimes I say to myself, 'Can I really do this?' " Tancredo said of supporting McCain. "And then you listen to Obama or Hillary and say, 'Yeah, I have to.' "


but also because he rejects possible alternatives for not wanting to kill Muslims badly enough:

Despite Barr's immigration stands, Tancredo said he could not support him because of his foreign policy stands, including "a blind spot on radical Islam."

As Daniel Larison points out, this generally simply means that Barr isn't supportive of the unitary executive or the gutting of civil liberties (or, I would add, that Barr isn't gung-ho enough about "killing all them ragheads over there").

He does give pragmatic reasons for opposing Barr, which again amounts to "whatever it takes to stop Obama or Clinton," which is at least an argument not based on murderous bloodthirstiness, but which is also based on the sort of gutless cowardice that is going to destroy the GOP and give the country over to the socialists if it is not jettisoned in favor of principle and courage:

He added that he believes Barr's candidacy is a serious threat to Republican chances in November, because it could siphon off conservative voters who are skeptical of McCain.

If Tancredo doesn't have any courage, he can go to Hell.

*Supporting him is endorsing him Tancredo's playing little Clinton-esque word games.

That is all.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Another Incomplete Rally to the "War on Islamic Extremism"

Henry Lamb writes an article exhorting us to continue the war in Iraq because we are the only ones who can "stop Islamic extremism."

I am not impressed for at least two reasons:

First, his understanding of World War II is off:

When Hitler set out to conquer the world, it was American blood, treasure and determination that stopped him.

No, it was mostly Soviet blood, treasure, and determination that stopped him. Something like 3/4 of German deaths were at Soviet hands.

He also doesn't seem to have any idea what to do about Islamic extremism except for "stay in Iraq and Afghanistan." What he hopes to accomplish there is not made clear.

That's a big problem with a lot of the pro-warriors. They assert the evilness of Islam (or Islamic extremism) or somesuch as the reason to stay in Iraq, but they don't exactly make clear how we are going to make vertian htat Iraq stays in moderate Muslim hands, or, if they see Islam as irredeemably destructive to our interests, how they plan to prevent Muslims from eventually ruling a Muslim country.

That is all.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

I Hate Mighty Mouse

I love my flat-screen Imac.

But Apple's obsession with single button mouses is stupid. I finally threw my mighty mouse against the wall and broke it today after the umpteenth time that it could not distinguish between a right-click and a left-click. (I am currently using the older PC mouse that I use with my older Mac). The "cool design" of having one button that you control by where you click it is functionally inferior to having a mouse with multiple buttons with definite, easy-to-see boundaries between them. I am going to see if I can get a wireless, Mac-compatible PC mouse tomorrow, Friday, or over the weekend.

That is all.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

March 2008 Constitution Party Ballot Access (2008 Presidential Race)

This is the status of the Constitution Party ballot access campaign as of late February 2008:

Mar08CP

Click on this link to be taken to ballot access maps for the major third parties.

I made these maps using photoshop, and they are based on the March issue of Ballot Access News (I received it on February 28 or 29). [Because I based the map on the hardcopy newsletter, and have not proofread it against the online version, it may not match the statistics at the link if anything has been corrected or altered prior to posting the issue online].

At some point, I will try to organize all of my previous maps so that a person can see the progress of the campaign over time.

That is all.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Separation of Church and Faith

If this report is acurate, it is a disturbing look into the results and goals of hate-crimes" legislation.

That is all.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Gender-Bender

Via Sully, I find this article about a "man" who is pregnant.

You know, if my wife goes crazy and thinks she is a dog, it does not mean that if we have a kid it is a puppy. The person is obviously still anatomically and biologically a woman.

This quote from the third page, is, I find, in some ways the most humorous:

On successfully getting pregnant a second time, we are proud to announce that this pregnancy is free of complications and our baby girl has a clean bill of health.

Really? How do we know that it is a baby girl? Maybe it's a baby boy with a vagina - you know, like his "father."

That is all.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Separation of Church and State

To understand the battles of the Religious Right and anti-Religious Left better (both of which are only part of the Right and Left, respectively), you need to understand that the battle is not just between right-wing theocrats and left-wing believers in religious freedom. While some of it may be that, much of it is between right-wingers who believe in religious freedom and left-wingers who want to effectively establish secular humanism as the official state religion.

This was brought to mind during this exchange.

That is all.

Continuing the Revolution

In one of the comments to this post, I was directed toward this website, specifically to its list of candidates who apparently believe in Paul-esque standards of liberty (I am not yet sure of the criteria to get on the list).

More on this as I know more about it.

In any case, if you are interested in continuing the fight that the Ron Paul for President campaign started, and in expanding it to Congressional races, then this is probably where to begin. Visit the site and get familiar with it.

That is all.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

On the Cuban Embargo

George Will argues for caution about ending the embargo on Cuba on the basis that trade with China has not brought freedom to that country.

I am unconvinced, though. Two things to consider: while politically China may be no closer to democracy than it was thirty years ago, almost certainly the degree of economic freedom has increased. Secondly, we must remember that China is a very large country, and that even a middle class that, in absolute numbers, seems large to us is only a small fraction of the overall population. Huge portions of its population (I think a majority) still live in rural poverty and virtually no amount of realistic economic growth is going to change this fact for at least a decade, probably two or three.

Change of this sort takes a long time in a country as large as China, and I don't see why we need to be pessimistic about the results of opening up the Chinese market in the 70s, or about what the results would be of lifting the Cuban embargo. It wouldn't clean up all of Cuba's problems, but it would be a lot better for everyone than what we have now.

That is all.

The Revolution Continues

For those of you who wish to campaign for Ron Paul-esque House and Senate candidates, here's a list of "Revolutionary" candidates:

Murray Sabrin

B. J. Lawson

With luck, the list will grow.

That is all.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Paul of Powerline: Please, McCain, Let Me Stick My Tongue Up Your Rectum

Tells you all you need to know about the SOBs at Powerline.

Oh, and about this comment?

If there are conservatives who sincerely believe that it makes little difference whether the Executive Branch is run by John McCain or Barack Obama, they are entitled to sit out the election. And if they’re going to sit it out, I’d appreciate it if they would sit it out entirely; in other words, stop attacking McCain for his “impurities.”

Go screw yourself.

That is all.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

The Descent of Larry Elder into Neoconnery

Can you believe that the guy who wrote this in 2000 wrote this in 2007 or this in 2008? Or that the guy who wrote this right after September 11 wrote this crap (more here, here, and here) four-and-a-half years later?


My question:

Is he really that much of a neocon or is he on the take like Armstrong Williams?

That is all.

Paul Wins House Primary

There is still hope in the world.

Thanx and a tip o' the hat to Eric Garris on the LewRockwell Blog.

That is all.

Monday, March 03, 2008

New Computer

Although I bought it back in November, I have just got around to setting up my new Imac. This is the first post written on it.

More to come.

That is all.

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Ballot Access

Click on this link to be taken to ballot access maps for the major third parties.

I made these maps using photoshop, and they are based on the February 1st issue (the link will work as soon as the issue is posted) of Ballot Access News.

If you just want the Constitution Party ballot access map, here it is:

Feb08CP

That is all.

Friday, February 29, 2008

Where is the Money for the Border Fence? In Iraq, No Doubt.

Another reason to hate Bush.

That is all.

Ballot Access Map for February Coming Up

Tomorrow, with the posting of the February 1st ballot access chart at Ballot Access News, I will be posting a ballot access map for all of the major third parties.

Richard Winger has told me that he is okay with my doing this (I will be doing it using the information that is already available online, not the information from the hardcopy newsletter, so it will be a month late). In any case, you want the latest data, subscribe to Ballot Access News. I did, and it was worth it.

That is all.

Court Declares Vaccines May Be a Factor in Autism, Obviously Knows More than People Who Do, You Know, Actual Scientific Research on the Issue

As we all know, courts are the best qualified groups for determining scientific questions. No need for those pesky studies, or for actual non-anecdotal data.

Now, maybe there is more to this, I'll admit that I have not read through this paper very carefully, but at first blush it appears that courts took sympathy on a family with an autistic child, made an emotional decision, and people who are suspicious of vaccines are looking at this as if it were somehow scientifically significant.

thanx and a tip o' the hat to WorldNetDaily.

That is all.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

On Education

The comments by Gregory Cochran on this Steve Sailer post bring up an interesting question:

Is the primary purpose of getting a kid a "good education" really about improving aptitude (I'm assuming that Cochran is talking more about aptitude tests than tests of knowledge) test scores and getting him a higher paying job? If that is the case, yes, innate ability generally seems to be a much more important factor.

However, are there other benefits to having a "good education," such as a happier time in school, perhaps a better knowledge of culture and literature, and the like? Is the quality of education really unimportant to quality of life, or is it just that it does not create the material benefits that many people assume is its primary goal?

The thing that troubles me about Cochran's observations is the question of how far can you take the "innate ability thing" before how you treat a kid actually has consequences? Could we just stop all education and let all of the kids run wild? Could we lock them all up in closets for the first eighteen years? Is there any point in caring for our kids at all? Or is it just that virtually every kid in the U.S. receives the minimum level of care before the marginal returns on extra care diminsih to near-zero?

That is all.

Why Give to AntiWar.com?

Because if it were not for my getting interested in AntiWar.com back during the 2000 Presidential Race, I might have become a war hawk after 9/11.

Please give.

That is all.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Ann Coulter on McCain-Feingold

A great article.

McCain must be defeated, even if it the result is a Democrat in the White House (although I would not vote for the Democrat).

That is all.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Ron Paul and Third Party Run

If Ron Paul loses the primary for his Congressional seat, I would not be opposed to him running to retain it as an independent or as a third=party candidate, provided that he is able to do this (I don't know if Texas has "sore loser laws"). If he can't, maybe one of his children can run in his place.

Alternately, I would not be against him changing his mind on his decision not to run for President if he loses the Congressional nomination, although if he can retain his Congressional seat then he ought not to run.

In any case, if his opponent wins I'll probably send money to whoever the Democrat is running for that district (unless Paul runs third party), just to spite that little SOB Peden. I may get similarly involved in the race for Gilchrest's old seat, too.

That is all.

Is It the Surge?

Paul Craig Roberts on an alternate explanation for the decrease in violence.

That is all.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Come on, People!

In one week, Antiwar.com raised 55.48% of its goals. I've already donated $100.00, plus my $15.00 a month. We need to pick up the pace!

That is all.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

AntiWar.Com Needs Your Help!

If you can spare some cash, please donate today.

(I am currently pledging $15.00 a month automatically).

That is all.

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Monday, February 04, 2008

Constitution Party Ballot Access (2008 Presidential Race)

As of 01/01/08.

Note: There is an error in here. Missouri ought to be orange, not red, as the petitioning is finished but the CP has not officially been given access yet.

us_nl0108a

Thanx and a tip o' the hat to Ballot Access News.

That is all.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Marcus Epstein Nails It

This is not to say the West is free of ethnic warfare—in fact, no matter how "Operation: Iraqi Freedom" was justified, it was able to gain public support largely because Americans wanted to kill Arabs after 9-11

-War And The Imperfect Nature Of Man

That is all.

When it Comes to Presdential Elections, Lawrence Auster is No Different from the Mainstream

Lawrence Auster of VFR often has good ideas, but when it comes to presidential elections, he is not very useful. Last time around, he decided to launch a protest vote, not by supporting an actual third party candidate, but by writing in Tom Tancredo, who wasn't even running.

Now this time around, he has decided to endorse Romney, or in other words, four more years of the same. He supported Tancredo at first, but after Tancredo dropped out, he made it clear that Paul was not a man he could support because Paul he doesn't like Lincoln, because Paul doesn't think that we have the right to do whatever we want around the world and expect other countries to welcome it, and because his stance on immigration, although in practical terms probably tougher than anyone except for Tancredo or Hunter, is not based on the correct arguments and might get weaker in the distant future once (and if) all of his economic ideas were passed.

All of which would be fine if Auster had decided to sit out the race and endorse no one. But he has in essence endorsed Romney, meaning in essence he is supporting four more years of the same policies as we have had for the past four years.

So by all means read VFR for Auster's policy insights. But don't expect his decisions on the presidential election to be anything other than what you would find at any mainstream "conservative" organization.

That is all.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Iraqi Fatalities

I generally gauge the success of our efforts to tamp violence down in Iraq by the coalition hostile death count.

According to the latest data, we seem to be settling into late 2003, early 2004 territory, with death tolls in the 30s. The death toll has been around 30 in 3 of the last 4 months, and after dipping to 14 in December, is at 32 (so far) in January, suggesting that the decrease in violence has bottomed out.

I have been unwilling to make statements of this sort previously, because complaining that the violence "has been brought down only to 2006/2005/2004 levels" seemed unfair as long as the decreasing trend was continuing; but now that the level seems to have stabilizd at a new equilibrium, it is fair to start using the current numbers as the measure to judge our current strategy (at least in terms of violence levels against the coalition, which increasingly means just the U.S.).

That is all.

The Michigan and Florida Problem

If there is a clear Democratic winner, the Democrats will almost certainly count all of the Florida and Michigan delegates. But if not, and if these delegates make a difference, then they might well not count them - why? Because if these delegates make Clinton the nominee over Obama, the Democratic Party is going to alienate a whole lot of blacks who will feel that they were cheated. Same is true if the superdelegates make the difference; that is, if Obama wins the delegates in the "officially counted" states but loses once the superdelegates are counted.

I haven't yet heard anyone bring up the racial angle to this, but it seems clear as day to me.

That is all.

Wendell Woodman Endorsement of Ron Paul

An interesting piece in the Metro Boston News.

Thanx and a tip o' the hat to LRC blog.

That is all.

The Coming Catastrophe

Gary North on our precarious financiual situation.

That is all.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Obama vs. Mitt

I was thinking that Obama's win in South Carolina is a little like Mitt's win in Nevadda. Both won majorities in these respective states, in fact Mitt and Obama both won about the same percentage (Mitt's win seemed bigger because the remaining votewas split between more candidates). In addition, both had wins that were to some extent affected by identity politics, with Obama winning 78% of the black vote (~50% of voters in SC, I think) and Mitt 94% of the Mormon vote (25% of voters in NV).

The big obvious difference is that Mitt's win was only increased by the identity issue while Obama's was driven entirely by it, with Obama coming in third among white voters while Mitt still would have beaten the second place contender (my man Ron Paul) 2-to-1 amongst non-Mormon voters.

We will see how it goes.

That is all.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Ron Paul Shafted in Debates and Media

What is very interesting about Ron Paul is how unfair the media have been to him in the debates, and in particular, how the media are now all pulling a Fox and trying to ignore him.

For example, in the October CNBC debate, Ron Paul got less time than Huckabee, Brownback, Tancredo or Hunter, despite the fact that he had a higher fundraising haul n the 3rd quarter than any of them.

Then, yesterday, he received the least time of any of the GOP candidates in the MSNBC debate, despite the fact that he has beaten Rudy Giuliani in all but one (maybe two, I don't know about Wyoming) of the contests held so far.

And no one is discussing him anymore. After the debate yesterday, almost no mention of him was made until the text poll rankings came up.

Also, note how no one talked about the GOP part of the Nevada caucuses except to mention the winner, as Vox Day pointed out:

It's always easy to tell how Ron Paul does in a primary; you need merely count the number of finishers reported, then add one. If this means the media has to fail to report any of the finishers from second to sixth place, as was the case with the Nevada caucuses this weekend, well, that just leaves that much more space to anoint this week's "frontrunner."

And let's not forget the near blackout of Louisiana's caucuses, where Paul either did very well, or did even better.

That is all.

The Problem with Stimulus

What the President and Congress are proposing as an "economic stimulus package" has one terrible downside: they are, in the end, just shuffling money around.

No one is actually increasing the amount that the U.S. is producing. No one is cutting spending on something wasteful and letting taxpayers use it instead. No one is trying to increase investment by freeing up funds from the insane Iraq War.

No, the government is just giving everyone money it must print or borrow from foreign countries to everybody with the hope that we will use it to consume enough to mask the economic problems that are coming - actually, most of them probably are stupid enough to think it will actually work.

We need to bring the troops home from not just Iraq, but Korea and Europe as well. That would be a real economic stimulus.

That is all.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

The Problem with Liberals

Is that they think that every problem requires the government to engineer your neighborhood, your environment, your school in order to make it fit their idea of social justice. They won't just let you alone to live in peace.

This post (which I found from a link on Alas) is, I think, a good example of this.

That is all.

Ron Paul's NH Performance

Gary North on the "rEVOLution", and a link to a suggestion that there was ballot tampering in New Hampshire as an explanation of the poll/election results discrepancies.

I don't know if there was any fraud or not, but I do think that the system should be as transparent as possible to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

More from Dave Trotter.

That is all.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Blog of the Week Feature is on Hiatus

I need some time to find more good blogs, and then it takes a little while for me to Photoshop the graphic links, so I will suspend "blog of the week" for a the time being. I have only updated it once in the past year or so anyway.

That is all.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

The Ron Paul Racism Brouhaha

I'll try to comment on this (there is more here) after I have time to read all of the relevant articles.

Update: I do not think Paul is a racist and I plan to defend him, but I want to read everything first so that I know what to defend him against.

That is all.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Constitution Party Ballot Access

As best I can figure from the Ballot Access website and the Constitution Party emails I have received,

This:

us_nl1207a

is the current ballot access map.

That is all.

P.S. I am too tired to find the specific pages that this map was derived from, so the links are to the websites' front pages.

Monday, January 07, 2008

"Mythical" Success?

Michael Schwartz offers an alternate theory as to the decreased violence in Anbar, and quotes to a list of arguments Juan Cole made against the idea that recent trends show that victory is imminent.

That is all.

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Ouch.

Paul came in fifth in Iowa. Oh, well, it was fairly close, I think.

On to New Hampshire!

That is all.

Happy New Year

Sorry for lack of blogging recently. Been away from my computer for a while. Then I had to go back to work.


Now, for a blog post that is not about blogging: for what it is worth, I predict a 3rd place finish in the Iowa caucus for Ron Paul.

That is all.

Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy Old Year

Figured I'd get in one more post before the end of the year.

Here's hoping for a great 2008!

That is all.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Incandescent Light Ban

This is stupid.

And I say that as someone who uses only fluorescent bulbs - other than in a few places where the bulbs are on a dimmer or recessed (i.e. where the fluorescent bulbs say that should not be used, although I suppose dimmable and recessed-lighting safe fluorescent bulbs will probably soon be widelty available)* and for my Christmas decorations (I'll probably eventually switch to LEDs, after my current crop of bulbs dies out).

That is all.

*I have dimmable fluorescent bulbs for a lamp, but I don't know of any dimmable bulbs with traditional connectors.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Issues with a Co-Ed Military

Pregnancy, for one.

Yhis type of report indicates, if nothing else, that sexual integration of the military has not been as consequence-free as people would like to make it seem; which would tend to suggest that accepting open homosexuals into the military might also not be as consequence-free as its advocates claim.

That is all.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Tea Party Still Going

2 more hours.

Paul is at $5.2 million. Just a million more and we beat Hillary for one-day fundraising!

I donated $38.00. (On top of 4 previous donations for the 2nd quarter, 3rd quarter, Guy Fawkes Day, and a small donation to get some bumper stickers totaling - let's just say well past reportable levels).

If you haven't given yet, dig deep! (You can also call 1-703-248-9115).

That is all.

Ovet $1.4 Million Raised Today so Far.

As of approximately 9:12 am EST.

That is all.

Halfway Decent Articles About Paul

Well, it's a start.

Thanx and a tip o' the hat to LRC blog.

That is all.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Tea Party

Dear readers:

Remember to donate to Ron Paul on Dec. 16 (Sunday) in order to help make the "Tea Party of 2007" the most successful fundraising day ever.

So far, more than 30,000 have pledged to donate $100 - if everyone of the pledgers does this, that would be $3 million.

Pledge or don't pledge, donate what you can on Sunday, either online or by phone using a credit or debit card (check donations can't be guaranteed to come in on a certain day, they are welcome, but they won't cause the same amount of buzz as a "moneybomb").

Sad to say, but I won't be able to donate too much this time around. I have had a number of bills come due and am too tapped out to give more than $10.00 or $20.00. However, I have alraedy donated enough to Paul that my donations will have to be reported to the FEC (I'll be no more specific than that), so I don't think that my asking others to donate can reasonably be seen as "do as I say, not as I do."

That is all.

On the Latest GOP Presidential Debate

James Wolcott:

Ron Paul, whose answers are concise, emphatic, and deviate from the establishment orthodoxy regarding the ever expanding reach of American Empire. His devotion to the Constitution has the spike of authenticity, whereas you can imagine Giuliani treating it like a Chinese menu, picking and choosing which articles he's willing to abide by.

Even leftists are impressed by Ron.

(I know I found this post of Wolcott's through a link, as I don't read him generally, but I cannot remember or retrieve the linking website, so thanx and a tip o' the hat to somebody).

That is all.

Iraqi Refugees Returning - Mixed News

Refugees are returning as things get more peaceful, but some of the returns are due less to homesickness than to the increasing unfriendliness in the refugees' host countries.

Thanx and a tip o' the hat to Thoreau at Unqualified Offerings.

That is all.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Alas, We're Morons

More fun from Alas, a Blog, specifically Rachel s.:

Disclaimer: I think racial DNA tests are absurd, and are based primarily on social notions of race, not actual distinct genetic and biological human categories.

Yes, because DNA tests measure social notions, and not biology.

So apparently it has not been discovered that he has 16 times as many black-origin genes as other whites, but has 16 times as much "social notion" as other whites.

On the other hand, Steve Sailer has a good reason to be skeptical of the test results: at the individual level, these tests are less reliable than when combining the tests of a group, because there is so much more "noise" the smaller the sample size.

Too bad, I was hoping Watson might be able to reclaim the term "octoroon" for his people.

That is all.

The Church of the State

Interesting musings on public schooling from the Mises Institute.

That is all.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Empirical Questions are Best Resolved through Name-Calling

Mandolin at Alas, a Blog displays typical leftism.

As usual, anyone who dissents is banned, and they continually attempt to answer scientific questions by to their holy book.

Full disclosure: I do think that there is an a gap in average intelligence between people of African and people of European heritage, and that some of that gap is genetic. On the issue of a whether or not there is a correlation between pedophilia and homosexuality, I have no position, because I have never bothered to study it in any detail and because most of the proclamations that I have heard from either side of the debate come from people who were too biased one way or the other for me to trust them without looking into the matter myself.

That is all.

Saturday, December 08, 2007

"Progressive" DoubleThink

I have an interesting debate with some liberals about the nature of freedom and of imposition.

From his answers, it is obvious that "Tankard" either is being deliberately dishonest, or else he doesn't seem to grasp what I am arguing about. He is apparently under the impression that the issue I am arguing is whether or not embryos are people, whereas what I am arguing about is whether or not forcing a taxpayer who believs embryos are people to fund embryonic stem cell research is forcing one's beliefs on the taxpayer. My argument, it should be noted, is not based on what the basis of the belief about the embryo is, or on whether or not the belief is correct, or on whether or not the person supporting federal funding is right or wrong to do so. I am just trying to et soemone to admit that forcing a person to fund something he doesn't believe in is imposing your beliefs on him, and these people are either so obtuse or so dishonest that they cannot admit this.

That is all.

Paul on Sovereignty

An interesting article on the North America Union at WorldNetDaily.

That is all.

The Greatest Poem of All Time

Outside of the Bible, that is.

I vote for The Gods of the Copybook Headings by Rudyard Kipling.

I really think that the five words would make a great book title or book series title:

"with terror and slaughter return."

That is all.

Friday, December 07, 2007

Ron Paul's Next "MoneyBomb"

Sunday, December 16.

As I understand it, the other reported "Ron Paul Day," Saturday, December 15 (Bill of Rights Day), is a rally, not a moneybomb, so if you want your donations concentrated on one day, for the maximum media impact, donate the next day instead.

That is all.

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Sorry for Absence

I was a home (w/o internet access) from the Wednesday before Thanksgiving until the Wednesday after, and on Friday (that is, yesterday, not the Friday after Thanksgiving) I had lithotripsy (they broke up kidney stone using soundwaves, what I like to call a "sonic laser"), and I am still recovering. So probably no or very light posting until sometime in the middle of next week.

That is all.