Intellectual activism in defense of the American way of life.
Politics
Venezuela
Jan 31st
If you don’t know what’s going on in Venezuela just yet, click on the link below.
For an overview, check out this article on their site: Is John Galt Venezuelan?
This is pretty funny: U.S.
Jan 30th
This is pretty funny: U.S. food programs ‘make the poor obese’
“The U.S. government’s food aid programs for low-income people are contributing to the high obesity rates of America’s poor, according to a recent report from a Washington think thank.
In his paper, Besharov, director of AEI’s social and individual responsibility project, notes that that the U.S. government now spends billions annually on its three major programs to help feed the poor: $18 billion on food stamps; $8 billion on school breakfasts and lunches; and $5 billion on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, which provides food directly to mothers and children.
He says these programs are driven not by an emphasis on healthy eating habits that could help stymie the costly problem of obesity, but by outdated policies that contribute to obesity. Such policies ignore the fact that Americans are much more likely today to be at risk from health problems related to overeating and obesity than those that arise from lack of food. “
On Cloning
Dec 28th
Matt Drudge had a recent story referring to the recent claims of a successful human clone being born under the tagline “DID THIS WOMAN CHANGE THE COURSE OF MANKIND FOREVER?”
Now, I usually like Drudge, but he seems to have joined the general hysteria surrounding human cloning.
I am skeptical that a successful human clone is scientifically possible in the near future, but even if this feat can be accomplished, I see nothing wrong or immoral about the practice. First, the classic argument against cloning, that interfering with reproduction “goes against God’s will” is nonsense. If we take this argument to its natural conclusion, then any human manipulation of genes is immoral. But we are in effect participating in genetic manipulation when we choose one mate over another, or breed a certain variety of a crop over another, or choose to have kids or not. Simply by favoring blondes over brunettes, or mates of a certain race, we are in fact engaging in genetic manipulation – and if man was made in God’s image, than that image is certainly a moving target. Excluding human manipulation of us and our environment leaves us with little choice, but to go back to the caves or trees we originated from – because it is in fact human nature to rule nature, rather than be ruled by it.
Cloning, like any technology gives man power — to improve his life, or to destroy it. In the long run, it is only the productive and life-enhancing applications of technology that make life and further development possible, which is why technology and industry is fundamentally beneficial to human life. The “natural order” for man is as a rational being who applies his creative power to benefit his life by conquering nature – including that of his own body. Because it excludes human achievements from “nature,” the entire notion of going “back to nature” implies a return to our animal nature — a miserable, short, and brutish life scrounging scrubs while trying to eke out a pathetic survival.
Another argument against cloning is that it will lead to birth defects and shortened lifespans. Perhaps so, but so will so does smoking, consuming alcohol and bad diets while pregnant – and mothers are not legally liable for in those cases. Perhaps, if cloning was inherently detrimental to a fetus – for example as random radiation exposure might be, there might be a case for banning it, but in fact, it promises incredible advances in preventing genetic disease and perhaps even improving on the fragile condition from which we have involved. Sure, some people might mess up their kid’s genes, but then stupid people have kids all the time – more than their fair share even, and no one tries to pass a law against that.
More on NK Nukes
Dec 23rd
Apparently, North Korea is going full stream with nuke production — they have removed UN seals and inspection devices, and openly admitted to nuclear weapons production. Apparently, they’re not afraid to take the world with them if they ever go down:
The communist party’s newspaper Workers’ Daily declared that “the army and people of the DPRK are fully ready to mercilessly strike the bulwark of US imperialist aggressors” – implying that they could hit targets in the US.“There can be no earth without Korea,” it said. “The army and people of the DPRK will destroy the earth if the enemies dare make a nuclear strike at it. This is their do-or-die spirit.”
Do what exactly? Achieve a communist utopia? If the mass starvation of their people is that utopia, then “kill everyone or die trying” is a better description of their “spirit.”
A pacifist speaks his mind.
Dec 17th
On October 8, Air Force Academy cadet Robert Kurpiel sent an e-mail to several college professors seeking support for the academy’s annual assembly, which provides a forum for the exchange of political views. His polite request sought advice on publicity for the event and such. One who responded was Professor Peter Kirstein of St. Xavier University in Chicago. Here is his October 31 reply in full and verbatim:
You are a disgrace to this country and I am furious you would even think I would support you and your aggressive baby killing tactics of collateral damage. Help you recruit. Who, top guns to reign [sic] death and destruction upon nonwhite peoples throughout the world? Are you serious sir? Resign your commission and serve your country with honour.No war, no air force cowards who bomb countries with AAA, without possibility of retaliation. You are worse than the snipers. You are imperialists who are turning the whole damn world against us. September 11 can be blamed in part for what you and your cohorts have done to Palestinians, the VC, the Serbs, a retreating army at Basra.
You are unworthy of my support.
After the national media covered this story, and Dr Kirstein was temporarily removed from his position for his remarks, he gave the following (non)apology:
I have expressed to Cadet Kurpiel my regrets over what I communicated to him in my e-mail. I did not mean to impugn his character. I am sure he is of the highest character. I should have written him in a more thoughtful and contemplative manner. As one who believes in non-violence and the avoidance of conflict, I could have been more circumspect and creative in my communication with him..”
I don’t think I need to add much commentary here, except I can say from some of my experience at Texas A&M that Dr Kirstein is no exception and this this is the ugly underbelly of today’s academia out in the open.
Trent Lott
Dec 16th
Here is a quote from MSNBC news:
He added, “I am going to have to make changes, make amends and do something about it.” Specifically, he pledged his support for affirmative action programs and for creation of a “task force on reconciliation.”
“There’s an opportunity here,” Lott said. “This is a wake-up call.”
When pressed by moderator Ed Gordon, Lott spoke candidly about his Thurmond comment. “It was insensitive, at the very least,” he said. He also said if he had to vote today he would vote for the federal holiday in honor of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which he voted against in 1983.”
Note a few things:
Lott doesn’t ever acknowledge that his comment was in fact racist — so what is he apologizing for exactly? He doesn’t say. Instead of admitting his own guilt, he wants a “task force” — as if his racist remarks should be dealt as a social problem, not a racist attitude on his part. (If he’s not racist, he hasn’t explained what he “really” meant by his remarks.)
As a response to his own racism, he decides to force it on others – by affirmative action. So what “convinced” him to support affirmative action and a national holiday for MLK? No answer. So does it then make any logical sense to change one’s political views in response to your actual political views being revealed? Of course not. It only makes sense to a politician who tells the public whatever he believes they want to hear, without bothering to define any principles or ideals to base his position on.
No Gore in ’04
Dec 15th
It seems that Al Gore won’t run in ’04 after all, clearing the way for (the marginally better candidates) Tom Daschle, Dick Gephardt, and Lieberman. Either way, as long as the Dems fail to get their act together and find something to stand for, Bush’s re-election should be a shoe-in.
Also, while advertising the upcoming speech on Abortion, I started a lively (perhaps too lively) debate on TexAgs.com which is probably the most active thread ever outside their college football section.
Quoth one commie
Dec 14th
“We need [Moore's] noisy, cocky energy, his passion and class consciousness; we need his shticks, we need his stones.”
Anyone who wants more proof that Hollywood/media is commie heaven should note the
13 positive and 0 negative reviews on Michael Moore’s latest manifesto: Bowling for Columbine.
Damn Voting!
Nov 5th
So I tried to go vote yesterday and today but the whole world seems to be determined not to let me. First, I found out that early voting ends four days before the elections, so a trip in the rain to the MSC was wasted. Today, I went to the MSC to have the officials tell me that all off-campus voters must go elsewhere, so I look at the precinct map and go to the City Hall (3 miles away) on my skates. I finally get there to find out that they do not have my name on the roll, and my precinct is actually right next to where I live. So I go 3 miles back, find the other voting location, and they tell me that they do not have my name either, so I get them to call election headquarters, which is finally able to tell me that I am supposed to vote at the MSC!
I have class, so I run home to get my books, and since I am running late, I take my bike. After class, I head to the MSC, but as I am riding by Beutel (the infirmary), I slip and fly headfirst into a metal pole. A very sweet girl half-carries my bloodied, limp body into Beutel, where eight stitches, lots of antibiotic, and a big credit card bill later, I hop on one foot (no kidding) to the MSC. FINALLY, I get there and do my thing for democracy. Then, I hobble back the mile it takes me to get home.
What a day! (The stitches come out in 10-14 days, and no, I did not get the girl’s number, though I could have sworn she would have given it to me if my hands weren’t all bloody.)
Zimbabwe
Aug 1st
The thing I find the most outrageous about politics in today’s world is not that so many collectivist and authoritarian governments exist, but that it is the free nations of the world that support them. The U.S. is building North Korea a nuclear plant in exchange for it agreeing to not build more nukes, as millions of its citizens starve, kept alive by the millions in aid that the country gets every year, while North Korea diverts its entire industry (supported mostly by western aid) towards making more weapons and keeping a huge conscripted military force in the army instead of allowing their enslaved masses to raise any crops. As it sends aid and builds North Korea nuclear plans (which are illegal to build in the US thanks to the enviro-wakos), the U.S. military keeps several thousand troops stationed at the border between the Koreas to guard against North Korean aggression. More so than the dictators of these countries, who are common thugs, the “civilized” countries that support these dictatorships are responsible for their existence.
Recently, “thousands of tons of U.S. emergency food aid destined for crisis-stricken Zimbabwe has been diverted to other countries, and a new shipload may be diverted within days, because the donations include genetically modified corn that the Zimbabwean government does not want to accept.” Why not? They “don’t want to contaminate their soil with genetically modified crops”!
Even more outrageously, Mugabe has said he is being prudent. “We fight the present drought with our eyes clearly set on the future of the agricultural sector, which is the mainstay of our economy,” he told Zimbabwe’s parliament on July 23. “We dare not endanger its future through misplaced decisions based on acts of either desperation or expediency.”
What Mugabe does not mention is that in the last year, he has stolen the land of thousands of white farmers in a pathetic attempt to boost his own failing popularity by taking the role of a common looter. Since the farmers produce most of the country’s agricultural output and hire millions of workers, millions of people have gone starving (and unemployed) and the country’s economy has nosedived. And this punk claims he is “set on the future”? But it’s not Mugabe who makes me sick – it is the aid agencies, the governments, and the media that support these regimes by adopting and promoting the statist, collectivist, nihilist, and pragmatic attitudes that create these sad situations.
Excuse me while I barf.
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