Friday, March 26, 2004

Set Up Your Telescopes

“Five planets arrayed across evening sky."

Via PrestoPundit.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/26 at 05:41 AM
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Good Question

"About 5,000 innocent people are killed each year by drunk drivers. Ask yourself, do we want to live in a society where we allow cops to pin us down, push needles into us, and extract blood from us in order put a small dent in that number?"

Radley Balko asks the above in response to an article, subscription only, in the Wall Street Journal. Radley excerpts a portion of the article in the link provided here.

My answer to the question.  No way.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/26 at 05:34 AM
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What's Going on with Our Friends Across the Pond?

Last week, I read about the Brits billing an individual 80,000 pounds after releasing him from prison because he was innocent of the crime for which he had been imprisoned. Sixteen years in prison, for a crime he didn’t commit, and the Brits want to charge him 80,000 pounds.  Insane!

Today, stopping by Samizdata, I read about the Brits imprisoning a woman because her daughter repeatedly skips school.

What the heck is happening in Britain?

Posted by John Venlet on 03/26 at 05:20 AM
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Two Hundred and One Times, and Counting

So, those oh, so, august, Scientologists are suing an individual by the name of Gerry Armstrong for 10 million bucks because he just won’t shaddup.  “Shaddup, shaddingup, rabbit.” Do you remember that line from an old Bugs Bunny cartoon which was uttered by a gangster holding Bugs hostage?

Anyway, here’s how the Scientologists came up with the lawsuit figure of 10 million.

"That agreement states that Armstrong would pay $50,000 for every utterance about Scientology.

The church now maintains that Armstrong has violated the agreement at least 201 times and owes it just over $10 million."

Armstrong, who used to be a devotee and big wig in the “church,” wised up in 1981 and has, since that time, been rather outspoken about the shenanigans practiced behind those closed doors.  Good for Armstrong, I say.

In one of the first lawsuits filed by Scientology, against Armstrong, the judge who ruled had the following to say.

"Judge Paul Breckenridge Jr., who presided over that case, issued a ruling in which he called Hubbard “virtually a pathological liar when it comes to his history, background and achievements.’’ The judge also said the Scientology founder was “charismatic and highly capable of motivating, organizing, controlling and manipulating his adherents.’’

I wonder if Scientology legal dodos tried to sue the judge?

Link via The Obscure Store.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/26 at 04:57 AM
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Mania or a Calculated Risk?

Stopping by the Mises Economics Blog this morning I discover a post titled “More Tales from the Real Estate Mania." Within the post, written by Robert Blumen, there is a link to a Bloomberg article titled “Greenspan Backs Homeowner Debt as Prices Increase (Update1)."

Both Blumen’s post, and the Bloomberg article, take a look at some of the creative ways lenders are coming up with to get individuals into homes with lower payments.  These include adjustable rate mortgages, interest only mortgages, skip a few payment type mortgages, negative amortization mortgages, etcetera.  The gist of the Bloomberg article, and Blumen’s post, seems to be cautioning against “over exuberance,” or the “Tulip mania” of the Dutch, of way back when, if you are considering one of the mortgage programs discussed here and in the articles.

Though there is some truth to the cautions, one must remember that the programs discussed can be powerful financial tools for the borrowers.  Sure there are risks, but if one educates themselves about the market where they are purchasing a home, or, if the buyer works closely with an honest Realtor and mortgage lender, who lay out for them the upside and downside, the programs may be just what the doctor ordered.  A sound, calculated risk.  You take them everyday whether you realize it or not.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/26 at 04:31 AM
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Are the New Brown Shirts, Blue Shirts?

Last night, after a casual dinner, drinks and a late evening walk, I happened to catch to news story about a John Kerry rally held at George Washington University.  Howard Dean appeared on the stage with Kerry and pledged his fealty to Kerry and his campaign for glory.  Yuck.  What struck me, as the camera panned the group on stage, which was of course centered around the supposed Democratic savior, was all the blue shirted minions. The photo that link points to doesn’t quite give the full effect the teevee camera panning did to this blue shirt phenomena, but it will give you a general idea.  You can also watch this video of the rally from the Kerry website which is titled “John Kerry and Howard Dean: Democrats Unite" which will allow you to view quite a few other blue shirted individuals swarming for the Kerry campaign.

I don’t think that I’m the only one who noticed this blue shirted rally.

"Then, in nearly matching blue shirts, Kerry and Dean spoke to the students at GWU, located a few blocks from the White House."

From an article in Palm Beach Post which details the events of the rally and the fund raising extravanganza which followed in the evening.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/26 at 03:48 AM
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Thursday, March 25, 2004

What's That In Your Pants? It's the State of Georgia

"Genital piercings for women were banned by the Georgia House Wednesday as lawmakers considered a bill outlining punishments for female genital mutilation."

Why, you may ask, did Georgia ban genital piercings.  Well because Rep. Bill Heath (R) says,

"What? I’ve never seen such a thing,” Heath said. “I, uh, I wouldn’t approve of anyone doing it. I don’t think that’s an appropriate thing to be doing."

Well thanks, Bill, for forcing the individuals who reside in Georgia to live the way you want them to live rather than being able to utilize their own judgement.

Personally, I’m not into this whole piercing thing, but hey, whatever floats your boat, or possibly more appropriately, anchors it.  Shove off Georgia.

The ban does not apply to men, though.

Via The Owners Manual.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/25 at 12:54 PM
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Why Do They Always Take a Jab at the Positive?

I don’t often visit the Detroit Free Press, but, since I had a bit of time before I needed to attend to other matters, I stopped by their website and rooted around some today.

I found an article, from the 23rd of March, which relates the story of a couple recent happenings where private individuals protected themselves from gun weilding scum intent on nefarious deeds.  As the article reports,

"Applying the school-yard axiom that turnabout is fair play, would-be robbery victims thwarted their attackers in two recent separate incidents—one by facing down the alleged bandit in a standoff, the other by shooting a man in the butt."

I say bravo.  Of course the article goes on to caution the readers on reverting to the erroneous understanding of “The Wild, Wild West,” and State Senator Gilda Jacobs (D) quips,

"But do we want a bunch of vigilantes running around with guns to do the police’s work?"

displaying the usual scare language of “vigilantes” and reminding us of the wonderful “protection” the police provide.  Bah.

What gets my goat the most, though, is even the headline to the story is couched in negative terms.

“Gun toters halt robbery attempts."

“Gun toters,” they must be a motley bunch.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/25 at 07:46 AM
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Criticizing His Own

The Washington Post has an great series of articles available, written by Courtland Milloy, which detail some of the criticisms of Henry Louis Gates Jr. in regards to the black community.  Gates criticisms strike me as dead on, well, except for where he calls for the government to intercede with more job programs.

The articles are “A Challenging Analysis of Black America," “Black America Long Silent On Bad Behavior," and “Black Achievers Urged to Lend Others a Hand."

Via Ronald Bailey at Hit & Run.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/25 at 06:25 AM
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Attacking Religious Intensity Because "They Can't Get Any Madder"

In a post at Gene Expression titled “Breaking Taboos," lukelea has attempted to heave a large brick through Islam’s plate glass window.

”...More to the point, they’ve never disassociated the idea of God (which obviously is dear to millions of believers) and the name of Mohammad. Maybe the new slogan should be: there is no God but God, and Mohammad WAS his messenger—until he left Mecca and went to Medina. There he became a violent and intolerant human being. Contrast his career with Abraham’s, the guy who really invented (or if you prefer, discovered) God. If you have a heart, you gotta prefer the latter."

The comment thread is somewhat interesting also.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/25 at 05:39 AM
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F*cking IRS

My ex-wife has been sending my sons to private, parochial schools since kindergarten.  Of course that’s relatively easy for her to do since I have to pay 70 percent of this cost, on top of child support.  Ouch.  It runs me between five and six grand per year.  Can I get a deduction for this?  No.

Well, how come the f*cking Church of Scientology can?

"A trial is to begin here on Wednesday morning to determine whether a Jewish couple can deduct the cost of religious education for their five children, a tax benefit they say the federal government has granted to members of just one religion, the Church of Scientology.

The potential ramifications are huge, for a ruling in favor of the couple could affect the millions of Americans who send their children to religious schools of all types. At stake is whether people of all religions can deduct the cost of religious education as a charitable gift, as Scientologists are allowed to do under an officially secret 1993 agreement with the Internal Revenue Service."

Why was the IRS keeping it a secret?

Via Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/25 at 05:21 AM
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A Case Of Voluntaryism

The Fourth of July is the quintessential American holiday.  It’s just a shame that more individuals do not realize that the Fourth does not symbolize American government, but individual liberty.  I’ve always enjoyed the Fourth, especially once darkness falls, usually around 10 P.M. in this neck of the woods, because then I can sit back with a cold beer, a fine cigar, and be dazzled by pyrotechnic displays.  I take the most enjoyment from the mortars booming in the sky and their reverberations against my body as I contentedly sit staring skyward.

Here in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the populace had been threatened with cancellation of this yearly treat.  Previous donors, suffering economic hits as they say, had scaled back considerably their contributions to this American celebration.  Press reports, bemoaning this, had quoted various city officials stating their sadness at the cancellation of Fourth of July fireworks, and, statements to the effect that even if some corporate donor ponied up the cash to cover the costs, and additional costs for security, a fireworks display wouldn’t happen.

Well, fireworks are going to happen in Grand Rapids, Michigan this year because small businesses and individuals have ponied up the cash.

The only dark note to this story, is that the city of Grand Rapids still will pocket a portion of the cash for their “expenses.”

Posted by John Venlet on 03/25 at 04:52 AM
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I Can't Argue With That

"On the moral question, whether it was right for the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, to order the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, there is no difference from the question whether it would be right to assassinate Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden co-founded Al Qaeda, Yassin founded Hamas. These are organizations which exist for the express purpose of killing people; Qaeda being committed to killing “Crusaders and Zionists” plus bystanders; Hamas more specifically Jews plus bystanders. The question is not whether one should do it, but how."

David Warren

Via VodkaPundit.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/25 at 04:48 AM
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"Big-jaw Gene"

Though Jay Leno’ s jaw may be an extreme example of the “big-jaw gene” still residing in a human, it’s hard to imagine that humankind’s evolution was contingent upon big jaws evolving into small jaws.

“Theory: Humankind hinges on jaw."

Via Google News.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/25 at 04:39 AM
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Wednesday, March 24, 2004

There's Some Truth To It

Claire Wolfe thinks she may have ”...essentially blow(n) away the whole purpose of my life up to now." She states this ”...because the quest for truth is about the most useless quest any human being can ever undertake, anyway." A quest Claire has been on for essentially all her life, she states in her post, thus her pessimistic statement.

I can appreciate Claire’s comments, though I think the quest for truth she mentions is the quest for the “Ulitmate Truth,” regarding the whole God thing, which, as far as I can tell, one will never know, until they are physically dead.  I think, but do not know.

I found Claire’s rumniations on this subject similar to thoughts I’ve had over the years regarding the search, and the materials found in the search, well, except for the “useless” part.  I’ve found that there are truths that are universal and natural, the problems start when you stray outside of those and begin cramming your “truths” down individuals’ throats.

Claire’s post is titled “QUESTING FOR TRUTH. A long, immoderate rant for people who care about such things."

Interesting post and hardly immoderate.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/24 at 03:25 PM
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