Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Use Your Heads Not Your Hearts

Dennis Prager, writing for Townhall.com, has a thought provoking piece up titled “It’s the heart versus the Bible."

Prager’s piece looks at how individuals make determinations of right and wrong.  Are individuals using their eyes and heart, or their minds?  A couple of excerpts.

"In a nutshell, that’s the major reason for the great divide within America and between America and much of Europe. The majority of people use their heart—stirred by their eyes—to determine what is right and wrong. A minority uses their mind and/or the Bible to make that determination."

And this.

"This is a potentially fatal problem for our civilization. As beautiful as the heart might be, it is neither intellectually nor morally profound."

Interesting piece.

Also via No Watermelons Allowed.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/17 at 06:33 AM
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Time for Me to Leave

Commentary has published a piece by Nidra Poller titled “Betrayed by Europe: An Expatriate’s Lament." Poller’s piece explores her return to Europe, more specifically France in 1972, and then moves into why she feels she now must leave, again. I write, again, because her family was pushed out of Europe in the 1930’s by, yes, anti-semitism fueled by the hatred of the Nazis.  It’s the same anti-semitism, now, but the fuel is now Islamic hatred.  From Poller’s piece.

"The sea change began on September 28, 2000, when the domestic repercussions of Arafat’s prefabricated “al-Aqsa” intifada in Jerusalem struck me in a dizzying instant of recognition. I was hardly alone. Stunned and dazed, the formerly integrated, assimilated, liberated, progressive, and (in some cases) indifferent Jews of France found themselves—ourselves—thrust out of the body politic and herded into a virtual ghetto. In the years since then, things have only gotten worse, much worse."

Via J Bowen at No Watermelons Allowed.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/17 at 06:21 AM
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A Trend or Just Trendy?

While the navies of France and China play nicey nice in the Straits of Formosa, flexing their military muscle at the individuals of Taiwan, similar to strutting lifters at Venice Beach, the newly rich Chinese Commies are shopping for the best available housing options, 80% loan to value mortgages, and designer chic.

"With banks ready to offer 80 per cent low-interest credit, the rich are abandoning their proletarian apartments in communal blocks for residential developments with names such as Palm Springs, Fifth Avenue, Aristocrat Towers, Chateau Regency or Merlin Champagne."

From an article in the Independent titled “China’s designer revolution is based on thoughts of mortgages, not Mao."

Via Drudge.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/17 at 06:07 AM
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Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Burning Down the House (4th hand)

Via InstaPundit via Lopez at The Corner we are informed of this.

"I am listening to KRSI (Radio Sedaye Iran) right now. There are many Iranians calling (from Tehran, and Gorgan, etc.).

All reports indicate that almost every neighborhood in Tehran is on fire. People are throwing home-made bombs, Molotov cocktails, etc. into the homes of mullahs, and burning pictures of Khamenei in complete defiance of his recent edict to mourn during the month of Muharram."

Good for them.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/16 at 04:51 PM
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A Prospectus I'd Like to Read

Marijuana, a recreational drug, a medical drug, or both?  Personally, based on my experiences, I’d say both.  Is the day approaching which will eliminate the foolish prohibition of cannabis sativa?  It’s possible, and here is a sign that that day will come.  Amigula Incorporated, has become the world’s first publicy traded medical marijuana company.  The company’s 52 week low is $0.15 and 52 week high, not to be confused with ingestion, is $240.00, which I’m thinking is a typo, or the price of an O.Z.

The company is currently in search of a major “star” to act as a spokesman for the company, and the benefits of the product. I’m thinking of suitable teevee advertisements as I type this.  The article is here.

Via Dean’s World.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/16 at 02:34 PM
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A Quote

"One should stand upright, not be propped upright."

Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Book III

Posted by John Venlet on 03/16 at 02:17 PM
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Bulgaria Travelogue

Shonk has recently returned from another trip to Bulgaria.  Photos here. Commentary here. A couple of comments from the commentary.

"The sidewalk is a perfectly reasonable place to park.

In Bulgaria, the head nod and the head shake have exactly opposite meanings of what they do in the US. This is extremely confusing, even when you’re aware of it."

and my personal favorite,

"You can’t learn Bulgarian in one night. No matter how much vodka you drink."

Posted by John Venlet on 03/16 at 07:21 AM
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Playing Superpower with My New Friend

Back on January 27th, of this year, Billy Beck had a short post up titled “The West is Red." Billy’s post linked to a New York Times article titled “With Fanfare and a Grand Parade, Paris Celebrates France’s Ties to China." I wrote Billy a short note after I read the NYT article wherein I said something along the lines of “France still has delusions of grandeur, I see, hopping in bed with the Chinese, now.  What do you bet the Chinese are on top?”

Today, InstaPundit, points to Reuters article with a headline of “China, France Hold Naval Drill Before Taiwan Vote."

Yep, China and France are in bed.  They’ve moved beyond first base, rounded second and the Chinese are getting out the ropes for a little S&M with their willing bed mate.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/16 at 07:04 AM
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This is Too Much

Gregg Easterbrook has a piece in the New York Times titled “All This Progress Is Killing Us, Bite by Bite." The piece is a lamentation of biblical proportions, pure and simple.  Karen DeCoster’s comment on it sums it up quite well.

"Am I the only person that sees in Gregg Easterbrook, a guy who always writes like he is on the verge of slitting his wrists because he is so overwhelmed with wonderful choices and possibilities?

Gregg, what’s “killing” people is their own individual stupidity, their own laziness, their own gluttony, and their sheer lack of common sense. People hurt themselves due to the choices they make; “progress” is not the offending party. Progress improves every aspect of our lives, but like with anything else, one has to undertake an individual effort to become disciplined and informed about the available options. Manic depressives like Easterbrook hate the fact that human ingenuity and productivity has given all of us the possibilities for endless betterment and luxury."

Posted by John Venlet on 03/16 at 06:44 AM
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Dinner Conversation

Jonathon Wilde, over at Catallarchy relates a recent dinner conversation where the topic turned to politics and then, more specifically, to a government without charity programs.  Jonathon’s post is titled “Yeah, but I would basically be the only one." From the post.

”...He made the argument that people are too selfish to give to charity, and thus a society without government welfare programs would simply desert the less fortunate.  So I asked him, “Would you give to charity?” to which he replied, “Yeah, but I would basically be the only one.""

I’ve thought of this false conundrum myself over the years, and in fact I even thought the way of the response to Jonathon’s question, but I realize that this type of thinking is foolish.  Jonathon’s thoughts on this are worth taking the time to read, but I’d like to add a couple of others.

If coercion is the only method individuals think works to fund charity, in is in fact not charity, it is simply the government playing highway robberman while disguised as Robin Hood.  If individuals are compelled to give to charity, to donate, it is not charity, and it is not a donation, no matter what soothing words are uttered by the professional jobholders.  It is simply, as Marcus Aurelius called it, "militant altruism."

Posted by John Venlet on 03/16 at 06:14 AM
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"Old-fashioned Bigotry, Plain and Simple"

Anti-semitism, Jew hating, is, sadly, a common biogtry in the world.  I cannot quite figure this out.  Is anti-semitism fueled only by the stories from the Bible which highlight the Pharisees’, which was just one particular sect of Jews, complicity in turning Jesus over to the Romans for crucifixion?  Or is the anti-semitism also fueled by the industriousness and success of certain Jewish individuals?  I think anti-semitism is mostly fueled by ignorance, or just plain old stupidity.

The Chronicle Review has published a piece by Neil J. Kressel titled “The Urgent Need to Study Islamic Anti-Semitism." A title which is fairly clear as to what the content of the piece will examine.  Though anti-semitism in the Islamic world is one of the more virulent forms of anti-semitism, being as it is boasted of and preached to the ignorant as the “will of Allah,” the anti-semitism prevalent in Europe and even here in the U.S. is just as debilitating.

Article link via Arts & Letters Daily.

Update: Via David Bernstein, at The Volokh Conspiracy, I was pointed to an article titled “The new face of anti-Semitism" which was published in the Montreal Gazette. The article posits that Islamofascists and Palestinians are reinfecting Europe with the disease.  I’d say the new face is just like the old face except for the fact that the new face conceals a more profound ignorance.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/16 at 05:52 AM
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Monday, March 15, 2004

You Gotta Wonder

Scientific endeavors lead to all types of little known factoids.  Though I admire the fact that we have the ability to study all types of minutia, at times I wonder about the benefit gained.  When new minutia findings are released to the world, with the excitement exhibited by the clams in a B.C. comic, I often don’t know whether to laugh or shake my head in wonderment at the amount of time and energy expended in exploring such a minute item.  Here’s just one such announcement.  Fish fart. Yes, you read that right.  Fish fart.  Specifically, herrings fart.  You can listen to a farting herring here.

I read about this in my most recent issue of Fly Fisherman and thought I better pass it on.  I’m not sure what is funnier, the fact that fish fart or that intelligent minds are investigating farting fish.

The first two paragraphs from the linked article.

"Biologists have linked a mysterious, underwater farting sound to bubbles coming out of a herring’s anus. No fish had been known to emit sound from its anus nor to be capable of producing such a high-pitched noise.

“It sounds just like a high-pitched raspberry,” says Ben Wilson of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.  Wilson and his colleagues cannot be sure why herring make this sound, but initial research suggests that it might explain the puzzle of how shoals keep together after dark."

Posted by John Venlet on 03/15 at 03:13 PM
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A Domesticated God?

Via Arts & Letters Daily I was pointed to an intersting interview with Alan Wolfe.  The interview was conducted by Michael Cromartie and published by Christianity Today. The interview is titled “Salvation Inflation"?” A couple of questions and answers.

"You say, “More Americans than ever proclaim themselves born again in Christ, but the lord to whom they turn rarely gets angry and frequently strengthens self-esteem.”

I find that a lot. And again, I think there’s both a positive and a negative side to that. The positive side is that this self-esteem, the sense of empowerment that so many people talk about, shows a dimension of evangelical religion that my secular friends are completely unaware of. My secular friends will tell me that evangelical Christianity is patriarchal to the core—it’s all about men oppressing women, going back to the most traditional kinds of gender roles and so on. And I see something entirely different. I see people being encouraged to develop as individuals, truly experiencing a sense of empowerment. In that sense, I think it’s an enormously positive transformation of traditional evangelical religion.

Were you surprised when you found that?

That was one of the biggest surprises. But there’s also a dangerous side to this change. There’s something wrong with too much self-confidence. I would have expected a little more doubt. Now, I’m married to a Dane, and there’s a Kierkegaardian culture in my family. Kierkegaard is largely missing in American religion. I don’t think there’s enough brooding going on."

And

"You comment in your book about the religious origins of non-judgmentalism. What are those?

I was fascinated by that. Again, my secular friends think the United States is filled with fundamentalist Christians who believe that the Bible contains the literal word of God and therefore know the Bible inside out. But what most people know from the Bible is “Judge not lest you be judged.” People come away with that lesson and this one: Do not throw the first stone. Especially Christians."

Posted by John Venlet on 03/15 at 08:19 AM
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Spanish Socialists

Little Tiny Lies weighs in on the news that Socialists are rising politically in Spain.  The post is titled “The Spanish Disease" and subtitled "Long Live King Osama I." From the post.

"The world is rapidly becoming polarized. On one side, the U.S., Britain, Israel, and the Jews. On the other, the barbaric, backward world of fanatical Islam, and the countries that are more afraid of the world of Islam than of losing their self-respect and autonomy. Ignorant, savage Muslims use the most cowardly forms of violence to persuade us to abandon the Jews, and we refuse, and instead of hating the instigators, the world hates us for standing up to them. For stirring up the hornet’s nest.

They are willing to hate us because we don’t frighten them. They know we and the British and the Israelis will never bomb their airports or shopping malls, so they blame us instead of the murderers--I’ll go further: the murdering societies--that do the actual harm. They don’t have the courage to punish the guilty, so they turn on those who are willing to fight in self-defense. If we would just stop and give them the Jews and stop pursuing the terrorists, everything would be all right. That’s the European view."

Posted by John Venlet on 03/15 at 07:24 AM
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Do I Feel A Draft?

Arthur Silber is worried about the government reinstituting the draft based on this story which details talk in Washington about a “special skills registration” for individuals with foreign language or computer skills.  Arthur addresses a legitimate concern, considering the foulness of coercing any individual to do something they do not wish to do.

Cap’n Arbyte has also posted on this draft talk, and I think he gets it right on why this won’t work.

”...but there is a very simple reason why this kind of draft is utterly impractical. It’s such an obvious problem that I doubt even the U.S. Congress could fail to realize it.

Atlas will shrug.

Intellectual work cannot be compelled. The unwilling will not do it. The government’s ranks of draftee computer programmers would be unproductive and error-prone and could (and would) easily sabotage whatever they were working on without detection. Bugs are subtle and difficult to find even when nobody’s trying to conceal them. But the real threat would be in the architecture of the system. A deliberately poor design decision would be virtually undetectable — it may not prevent the system from ever working, but it could hugely delay it. Delay is the deadliest form of denial of service.

Intellectual work can only be done on a voluntary basis. Mutual trust and shared goals are absolutely essential. A draft would undermine both."

The Cap’n’s post also includes an excerpt from Atlas Shrugged.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/15 at 07:13 AM
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