Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Adding Gravitas, Supposedly
“Some 9-11 widows to endorse Kerry on Tues."
I have no further comment.
Monday, September 13, 2004
My Sympathy is Limited
Drudge has a headline link, with the following verbiage, to draw you in.
“TV Reporter Killed by US Fire During Live Baghdad Broadcast."
The link, takes you to Netscape/CNN report on the incident. The article, assumes that the reporter was killed by U.S. fire, though I doubt in the chaotic moments one could be certain, unless a autopsy was performed which could definitively show that U.S. weapons were responsible for the reporters death.
Additionally, within the news report, we read this.
” Insurgents hammered central Baghdad on Sunday with one of their most intense mortar and rocket barrages ever in the heart of the capital, heralding a day of violence that killed nearly 60 people nationwide as security appeared to spiral out of control.
At least 37 people were killed in Baghdad alone. Many of them died when a U.S. helicopter fired on a disabled U.S. Bradley fighting vehicle as Iraqis swarmed around it, cheering, throwing stones and waving the black and yellow sunburst banner of Iraq’s most-feared terror organization.
The dead from the helicopter strike included Arab television reporter Mazen al-Tumeizi, who screamed, “I’m dying, I’m dying,’’ as a cameraman recorded the chaotic scene. An Iraqi cameraman working for the Reuters news agency and an Iraqi freelance photographer for Getty Images were wounded.
Maimed and lifeless bodies of young men and boys lay in the street as the stricken U.S. vehicle was engulfed in flames and thick black smoke."
Pay attention to that second paragraph, and consider, if any rational individuals would be “swarming” over a recently destroyed military vehicle, during a fire fight.
Sunday, September 12, 2004
Read, Just Now
“The scope of praxeology is the explanation of the category of human action. All that is needed for the deduction of all praxeological theoroms is knowledge of the essence of human action. It is a knowledge that is our own because we are men; no being of human descent that pathological conditions have not reduced to merely vegatative existence lacks it. No special experience is needed in order to comprehend these theorems, and no experience, however rich, could disclose them to a being who did not know a priori what human action is. The only way to a cognition of these theorems is logical analysis of our inherent knowledge of the category of action. We must bethink ourselves and reflect upon the structure of human action. Like logic and mathematics, praxeological knowledge is in us; it does not come from without.”
Ludwig von Mises, Human Action, A Treatise on Economics, Third Revised Edition, 1963 Chapter II. The Epistemological Problems of the Sciences of Human Action, 10 The Procedure of Economics, pg. 64
Big Boom in North Korea
I wonder what that’s all about.
"South Korean officials say they are trying to determine the cause of a huge explosion Thursday reported in North Korea near a missile base of the communist state."
“No Nuclear Test in North Korea, Officials Say."
“"Peculiar cloud” was spotted over North Korea."
“‘Huge explosion’ in North Korea."
“U.S. Says N.Korea Blast Probably Not Nuclear."
Saturday, September 11, 2004
All The Buzz Words, No Validity
The New York Times, in an un-signed op-ed, natch, has the bees a buzzing over the sunsettinig of the “assault weapons” ban. Here are the buzz words.
Regressive, frightful, protecting the public, rapid-fire battlefield weapons, high-tech gunslingers, shooting rhetorical blanks, public safety, inconvenienced, criminals, unfettered, crimped, mincemeat, pleaded, vital, gun mayhem, outlaw, mockery, irresponsible, victims, greedier, profit, degenerate, brandish.
Not bad. They incorporated 32 buzz words, in a 360 word op-ed titled “On Guard, America."
Check This Out
One of Karen DeCoster’s friends, a parapalegic, is a Harley rider. Check out his customized Hog, complete with riding space for his canine companion. Excellent. Live Free or Die.
Feel Free to Rob this Coffee House Owner
The big doings in Grand Rapids, Michigan, recently, have revolved around the story of the owner of a local jewelry store, Randall Dice, who was robbed by a teen of a $19,000.00 Rolex watch. The Grand Rapids Press describes the teen thusly, "unarmed, watch-swiping teen."
Mr. Dice chase said teen, as he exited his store, snubnosed .38 in his hand, and fired off a few rounds in the fleeing teen’s direction. Good for him, I say. Though I would recommend to Mr. Dice that he purchase a more accurate shooting handgun, say a Glock or Beretta, and that he also spend a couple nights a week at the range, since his shots missed the thieving teen, though the window of a passing vehicle suffered, and two other vehicles also absorbed .38 slugs.
What I find most interesting about the article, though, is the following comment, uttered by one Anne Brown, the owner of Four Friends, a coffeehouse.
"I would let somebody run out with a muffin, if they really wanted a muffin, and a Rolex is different?"
So, feel free, you hungry thievers, to stop by Anne’s Four Friends coffeehouse, and help yourself to a muffin, or maybe one of her espresso machines, or, the till if you need a few extra bucks to go along with that muffin. Anne appears not to mind, especially if you really want her stuff.
“Jeweler’s downtown shots: reckless or righteous?"
Thursday, September 09, 2004
What They Say
My friends at No Treason, seemed to get talked about, and not always in the most flattering manner.
"What they say about us around the net:
"A little too consistent.... “
- Micha Ghertner
”...left-libertarian warmongers..."
- Lew Rockwell
”...obsessive and creepy..."
- Radley Balko
”...lunatic fringe..."
- Perry de Havilland
"pro-State warmonger/Bushian shill” ... “Collectivist Supremo” ... “bought-off, treasonous ilk"
- Karen De Coster
”...complete disregard, even a disdain, for the importance of culture..."
- Arthur Silber
”...*I* would place a high value in seeing you rot in a ditch..."
- Michael Schneider
I’m certain that the individuals’ feelings, at No Treason, are smarting something awful. Ha.
You Go Girl
The best comment I’ve read, yet, regarding working women and the concern over unequal pay when compared to men.
"If women really do offer equal work for 23 cents less on the dollar, why does anyone bother hiring men?"
From a piece titled “Because I’m a girl." The piece was written by Mary Katharine Ham and published at Townhall.com.
Linked via J. Bowen at No Watermelons Allowed.
Sodium-Pentathol
Truth does matter, no matter what Stanley Fish may think. I mention this because Michael P. Lynch has an essay, well actually an excerpt from his upcoming new book, True to Life: Why Truth Matters, published in The Chronicle. The piece is titled “Who Cares About the Truth?," and not only mentions the flopping Fish, but discusses the benefits politics and politicians could achieve by speaking the truth. A tall request indeed.
I think that even if sodium-pentathol was administered to the entire body of politicians in the United States, you would only get more empty promises, as articulated in the discussion thread from the sodium-pentathol link just prior.
"Well, it can remove your inhibitions against talking. The problem is, you can be led to say just about anything desired."
Sound like any politician you know?
Link to Lynch’s piece via Arts & Letters Daily.
I'd Rather be an Idiot, Than a Socialist
"If Kerry is elected, Heinz Kerry predicts that opponents of his health care plan will be voted out of office. She says, “Only an idiot wouldn’t like this."
“Heinz Kerry: Opponents Of Health Care Plan Are ‘Idiots’."
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
I Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts
The headline.
“Night Light Suspected in Rise in Child Leukemia."
The reality.
"We don’t know whether abnormal light exposure is generating this higher incidence of childhood leukemia or not, but in view of what we know of other forms of cancer this is not unreasonable,” Russell Foster, a molecular neuroscientist at Imperial College London, said in an interview."
I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house down.
The Count
Many news reports, have noted that one thousand military personnel have died in Iraq. Some, have noted this in rather dubiously selected language.
"U.S. military deaths in the Iraq campaign passed the 1,000 milestone Tuesday,...."
Milestone?
While the fact that military individuals are dying in Iraq is news, what is the count? Is the count news, or, is the count simply a means, or fodder, for those who want to use the military deaths in Iraq as a soap box? When the count of military deaths in Iraq reaches the “milestone” of equaling the number of deaths in the World Trade Center, will the count become even more earnest, more heart rending?
“U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq Pass 1,000."
Via Posted by John Venlet on 09/08 at 03:34 AM
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Tuesday, September 07, 2004
And These Are Just From the Introduction
Yesterday, I began my reading of von Mises Human Action. I didn’t get past the Foreward, before my pen was in my hand, annotating and underlining. Here are what I consider to be a few choice quotes, from just the Introduction.
"But even those thinkers whose inquiry was free from any theological tendency failed utterly in these endeavors because they were committed to a faulty method. They dealt with humanity as a whole or with other holistic concepts like nation, race, or church."
"Choosing determines all human decisions."
"It is the task of a “sociology of knowledge” to unmask philosophies and scientific-theories and to expose their “ideological” emptiness."
"He should let the dogs bark and pay no heed to their yelping."
"Science does not give us absolute and final certainty. It only gives us assurance within the limits of our mental abilities and the prevailing state of scientific thought."
"It is common with narrow-minded people to reflect upon every respect in which other people differ from themselves."
What further treats await me as I delve further into this work? I cannot wait to find out, and I doubt that I shall, wait.
Monday, September 06, 2004
Halloween is Coming
Halloween is coming, and a group of friends, with a penchant for the macabre, have decided to build a functioning guillotine, to startle and delight.
Some early versions of the guillotine include The Halifax Gibbet, and The Scottish Maiden.
