Bush Statue to Topple in London
"A gentleman is someone who never gives offense unintentionally." -- Oscar Wilde
From madogre:
"She is unique in the world of politics as she is the sum of all fears... you take everything wrong with politicians, boil it down and pour it into a female shaped mold -- You have Hillary Clinton. No morals, no ethics, lots of skeletons of her own making, and a long list of corruption scandals." -- Mad Ogre
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries - December, 2003: Algid November - first off, if you don't know the word, algid, as I didn't, click to read the definition. Weather and the gratification of fighting in desolate places; the pistol has come of its own in this Arab war, especially the venerable 1911; "Herewith the wisdom of the aged: When you can't do anything about it - take a nap"; the 300 Savage cartridge; F. Bob Chow, R.I.P.; the 50 caliber Browning machine gun; the importance of trigger action to the "hitability" of a rifle; lever gun offers advantages over bolt in safe handling; Boykin trumps Bush in "this religious matter"; no Constitutional separation of church and state, repeated lies to the contrary notwithstanding; the heavy sporting rifle; "the whites of their eyes"; the 223 cartridge; "If you have a right to be respected that means that other people don't have a right to their opinions." -- Thomas Sowell; "couldn't be further from the truth" and "innocent civilians" considered undesireable phrases; Norinco's new Broomhandle Mauser; all men are created equal?; it is more blessed to give than to receive; a proper niche for S&W's .500 Magnum; "mainstream" dissed; arctophilia, a psychopathic affection for bears; the object of a military enterprise is victory, not getting home; the Bren Ten; the five essential attributes of a soldier.
The Liberty Committee - Medicare Rx: Republican socialism - billions of dollars in never-ending entitlements are included in the 1,071 page medicare prescription drugs bill. Yet members of congress won't receive it until tomorrow or Thursday, and they will be asked to vote on Friday or Saturday. Use this page to tell them to vote "HELL NO!"
Linda S Heard at Gulf News - Bush's blockbuster visit is set to roll - George Bush will visit London today amidst large (100,000 expected) protests. [grabbe]
Whilemulling over the visit of President Bush to Britain, the image of Bruce Willis in Die Hard with a Vengeance springs to mind. In it, the policeman anti-hero stands in the middle of Harlem, clad in a sandwich board on which is scrawled a racist message.
Once he's spotted, Willis has to leg it fast. And so will anyone who has the urge to stand up in the middle of London's Trafalgar Square brandishing a sign saying: "I love Bush" next Thursday.
The columnedSquare - beloved by pigeons and New Year's revellers- is the place where a 20-foot effigy of the American leader is destined to be toppled a la Baghdad.
Members of the Stop the War Coalition have been busy buying up US flags -- along with boxes of matches -- and designing placards with such catchy phrases as "Blackhawks over there; Chickenhawk over here".
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And what does Bush say about all this? "I'm glad to be going to a free country where people are allowed to protest ... I'm really looking forward to it. It's going to be a fantastic experience." Not so much fantastic as phantasmal. Watch out for fixed smiles and tight close-ups from Fox News.
Jennifer Howland at The Christian Science Monitor - Cyber-ethics throw wrench in mom's world view - the RIAA's hard-handed tactics have convinced at least one father to forbid his family from downloading music over the internet. But he's not happy about it.
The music industry tries to increase our sense of compunction by arguing that downloaders are, in effect, stealing musicians' livelihoods. Yet many musicians - from David Bowie to small unknown bands - disagree. Trading music on the Internet is a form of marketing for small bands who could use the exposure. Sampling obscure songs could, after all, persuade the downloader to buy an entire album or attend a concert. And Mr. Bowie, who has made millions, believes the whole concept of copyright may be going the way of the dinosaur.
Eric S. Raymond - What good is IQ? - some highly politically incorrect facts about IQ differences between the races. [eric]
Mean IQ differences do not justify making assumptions about any individual. There are African black geniuses and Ashkenazic Jewish morons; humanity and ethics demand that we meet each individual human being as an individual, without prejudice. At the same time, group differences have a significance too great to ignore. In the U.S., blacks are 12% of the population but commit 50% of violent crimes; can anyone honestly think this is unconnected to the fact that they average 15 points of IQ lower than the general population? That stupid people are more violent is a fact independent of skin color.
And that is actually a valuable hint about how to get beyond racism. A black man with an IQ of 85 and a white man with an IQ of 85 are about equally likely to have the character traits of poor impulse control and violent behavior associated with criminality -- and both are far more likely to have them than a white or black man with an IQ of 110. If we could stop being afraid of IQ and face up to it, that would give us an objective standard that would banish racism per se. IQ matters so much more than skin color that if we started paying serious attention to the former, we might be able to stop paying attention to the latter.
D.W. MacKenzie at the Ludwig von Mises Institute - Slaves to the Marshall Myth - debunking the myth that the Marshall Plan had much of anything to do with the recovery of West Germany, Hong Kong, and Japan. after World War II. It was the free market and a lack of government interference that allowed them to rebuild. [notreasonblog]
Of all the myths that persist concerning economic history, the myth that the United States rebuilt Europe and Japan following the Second World War is among the most popular. While there is considerable disagreement concerning other myths, like the notion that FDR saved us all during the Great Depression, the myth of the Marshall Plan enjoys wide support.
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Following the Second World War, West Germany, Hong Kong, and Japan were in worse shape than Iraq is today. Unlike the recent war in Iraq, cities in these nations were nearly leveled. Indiscriminate bombing by the United States, Royal, and Soviet air forces left these nations in ruin. These nations had very little in the way of natural resources to sell to begin with, and the war devastated much of what had been built.
Hong Kong rebuilt with minimal governmental interference (Rabushka 1979). This resulted in rapid economic development and a steadily rising standard of living for the people of Hong Kong. This progress benefited not only highly skilled upper income workers, but also low paid unskilled workers.
J.J. Johnson at Sierra Times - Whack'em & Stack'em: Collateral Damage of The Endless War - choked to death at the airport allegedly trying to swallow controlled substances. [sierra]
