Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Unveiling Fallacies from the Mouth of John Edwards

Edwards spoke of joining what he called “two Americas” — one of privilege and another of want.
Though very common, the falseness of this argument is very frustrating. When - in the entire history of civilization - have we NOT had both privilege and want in any given society? (hint: never)

From a post by Jon Henke at Questions and Observations.

This post by Henke, in regards to a John Hawkins article, is also interesting reading.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/10 at 07:50 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Understanding It

Vaclav Havel has penned a short essay for The Walrus titled Turning Profit Into Culture. The essay itself is not available online, but Alina Stefanescu has posted a short excerpt from the essay, which I repost below, and also provides a short summation of her own.

"It’s worth stressing that entrepreneurship is above all about the creation of values, not about the accumulation of wealth. Of course, material gain-- profit-- is the force that drives the market economy, but it should be understood to a far greater extent as an essential instrument of human creativity, not as an end in itself."

Posted by John Venlet on 02/10 at 07:33 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

"Sick Irony" or Par for the Course

Mike Tennant, at Strike the Root, notes that an individual who disputes paying taxes is more apt to be punished, unjustly in my opinion, than an individual with a rap sheet a mile long who has now allegedly killed a little girl.  Tennant rhetorically asks the following question and supplies his own answer.

Why was this guy on the loose, while the guy who just wanted to keep what he’d earned was locked up?

The State knows where its priorities lie.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/10 at 07:21 AM
(2) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Republicans and Democrats are both Frauds

Richard Nikoley has penned an short essay in response to feedbacks on an earlier post which was titled Fraud or Dishonesty: Take Your Pick. I decline either.

From the response.

In plain English: America was born of a moral foundation based on individuality and freedom, the direct and unavoidable consequence of which was capitalism, and the direct and unavoidable consequence of which was wealth—an uplifting of the average man to heights utterly undreamed of in all of his history. “Democracy” had not one thing to do with it. Democracy is the antithesis of capitalism, and serves only as a looting mechanism, whereby clever Democrat politicians stir up hate and envy against the hands that feed in order to extort an unearned livelihood. Because business-people are by nature bottom-line thinkers, they realize that rather than fight, it is usually easer just to pay off the moochers and get back to work. The leeches are happy with such as an arrangement, as it means they can make their rounds again and again, like an ATM machine.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/10 at 07:03 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Dogma - When You Can't Think for Yourself

If the Catholics watch that film, they better watch it with their minds attuned to the rulings of the Catholic church. And don’t think for a minute that the church doesn’t have a dogma for the way the faithful are supposed to think about this subject.  Just in time for the release of The Passion, the Catholic church is issuing a 150 page booklet to ensure the Catholics are all on the same page.  The booklet is titled The Bible, the Jews and the Death of Jesus. Get your copy now, before its run up the bestseller list.

From the first paragraph of the linked article.

Fearful that Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion of the Christ” will revive age-old tension between Christians and Jews over the death of Jesus Christ, U.S. bishops are issuing strict instructions on how Catholics should view the crucifixion.

Those darn Catholics, you never can be quite sure when they’re going to cross the line.

Via Google News.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/10 at 06:28 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Diploma Mills

Here’s the headline, as it appears in the New York Times. Study Says U.S. Should Replace States’ High School Standards. The study is the work of three organizations, the American Diploma Project, Achieve.org, and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.

I didn’t spend much time reviewing the, I’m sure, august staffs of the above organizations, but based on their dogooder goals, I’d wager most of the staff members are ex-teachers or administrators diligently working together to maximize the power of the schools with the stick of the state.  Reading the NYT column though, I did notice the project did get one thing right,

The report charges that employers and postsecondary institutions “all but ignore the diploma, knowing that it often serves as little more than a certificate of attendance,” because “what it takes to earn one is disconnected from what it takes for graduates to compete successfully beyond high school.

Via the Mises Economics Blog.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/10 at 06:01 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Monday, February 09, 2004

"These thoughts were inspired by reading some of the obituaries of Helmut Newton,..."

The title to this post is taken from a column by Peter Aspden published in the Financial Times. The title to the column is The Revolver: Much taboo about nothing.

The first three sentences.

Ever heard the one about the gardener, three nuns and a dog? You will soon, and it is every bit as depraved as it sounds. The question is leading the promotional campaign to advertise a new film, The Good Old Naughty Days, due to be released in Britain next month.

Also via Arts & Letters Daily.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/09 at 10:20 AM
(1) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

"Newfangled Linguistics"

The list of terms—which have hotly contested definitions—goes on: “FTM” for female to male, “MTF” for male to female, “boydyke,” “trannyfag,” “multigendered,” polygendered,” “queerboi,” “transboi,” “transguy,” “transman,” “half-dyke,” “bi-dyke,” “stud,” “stem,” “trisexual,” “omnisexual,” and “multisexual."

Sheesh.

From an article at SFGATE.com via Arts & Letters Daily.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/09 at 10:04 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

I Guess I Must Visit My Local Book Reseller

In a recent post at Selling Waves, Shonk shared a quote from G.K. Chesterson’s book The Ball and the Cross. This morning, at the blog Gene Expression, Thrasymachus shares a quote from Chesterton’s book What I Saw in America. My stack of “to reads” must continue to grow.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/09 at 07:17 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Crowned

Roderick T. Long has an interesting post up titled Aristocracy for Everybody. He quotes George Woodcock, Ernest Lesigne and Anne Rice through the mouth of the vampire Lestat and mentions Oscar Wilde and Benjamin Tucker.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/09 at 06:50 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Twisted

I am continually amazed at how individuals twist sayings, statistics and what not to suit their fancy.  In particular, my amazement stems from the fact that these twists are typically constructed to support fallacious arguments and ideologies, that, in most instances, require a body of laws and threats of cudgels to be enforced.

David Yeagley, in a post titled One in Christ?, A Re-take on Missions, which takes a look at interracial marriage, does some twisting of his own while thumping the Good Book as the authority on the subject being considered.

While reading the piece, I did find two short paragraphs, which almost qualify as non sequitur, and follow.

Indeed, this liberal Christianity is theoretically more potent than Communism, and has contributed to the very dissolution of culture and nationalism which Communism seeks to achieve. 

But both liberal Christianity and Communism run against human nature.  Not that human nature is the standard of right and wrong.  As Rose (Hepburn) tells Charlie (Bogart), on the African Queen, “Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we were put in this world to rise above.” Yet, this objective philosophy pertains to the individual.  To make a political policy of it smacks of religious tyranny and oppression, such as Europe saw in the Dark Ages, and the Islamic world has seen since the day of its appearance.

The above two paragraphs are not twisted and, in my experience, correctly state the kinship between both Communisim and Christianity which are, at the end of the day, two of the most pernicious ideologies afflicting mankind.

Update: A cautionary word of the day - bibliolater. Though the number 2 definition could be applied to myself, the excessiveness of the 1st leaves me cold.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/09 at 06:25 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Sunday, February 08, 2004

Peddle This

Kerry hates it, Dean hates it, Bush hates it, Edwards hates it, what does this mean?  It means aboslutely nothing because it is spewing out of the mouths of politicians.  What do they supposedly hate?  Influence peddling.

Go read Aaron Haspel’s post at God of the Machine for the complete analysis of this particular nugacious soundbite dripping like honey from the lips of supposedly presidential political aspirants as they lure the ignorant to their hives of imprisonment.  I’m going to take a walk in the woods.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/08 at 03:42 PM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

"This is not the way science is done, it is the way products are sold."

Shonk is right. Read Aliens Cause Global Warming, a speech given by Michael Crichton.

Question everything.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/08 at 03:28 PM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

The Most Bassackwards Proposal I Have Ever Laid Eyes On

The proposal.

In its fiscal 2005 budget, the Bush administration proposes to encourage Americans to save more by creating two private savings accounts. These new entitlements may be worthwhile, but they are also expensive. Congress should not approve them unless the president also agrees to Social Security reform.

Yep, that’ll work.  Steal everyone’s money and then make them think, actually feel in this case, that you’re starting a savings account for them.  WTF!, over.

Via Billy Beck, and make sure you read what he has to say.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/08 at 03:07 PM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

A Four Shooter Cell Phone

Donald Sensing has a video available on his server which demonstates a four shot cell phone. I kid you not.

Via Samizdata.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/08 at 02:57 PM
(2) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Page 183 of 203 pages « First  <  181 182 183 184 185 >  Last »