I had to laugh when we saw this billboard at a stoplight between I-80 and US-20 near Bristol, Indiana. The billboard also said something about Crossroads Community search Church. I see that some bloggers have picked up on it already.
Aug 082008
Reticulator
Aug 072008
From a WSJ article about the comeback of the Children’s Railway in Hungary (aka the Pioneer Railway). It’s run by childen aged 10 to 14.
Fun wasn’t the goal in 1948, when the line was created by Stalinist apparatchiks to train future rail workers and instill political obedience in youths.
Say, what? Install political obedience in youths? Would a government on our planet ever do such a thing?
Well, maybe it would. After all, what’s the purpose of seat belt laws and mind-numbing safety warnings on anything you can buy at the hardware store if not to get people in the habit of letting the government decide these things.
But back in Stalin’s day, Hungarian kids who qualified got special perks with which to lord it over their peers, such as Coca-Cola to drink. In our country kids can buy their own Coca-Cola.
Well, maybe a better analogy than seat belt laws would be organizations such as the Peace Corps and Americorps. And then there is Obama’s plan to institute mandatory volunteering for young people. Maybe we’re not so different from Stalin’s Hungary, after all.
Aug 072008
Important announcement:
Here is my decision in the matter of Ezra Levant and the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission:
I. Pardeep S. Gundara in his capacity as a private individual is hereby authorized to send a communication to Ezra Levant informing him that he respects his rights to free expression of opinion. Such communication must be made using his personal letterhead, personal e-mail, or personal phone.
II. Pardeep S. Gundara, in his capacity as Southern Director, is PROHIBITED from sending such communication, because it would have an intimidating effect suggesting that Ezra Levant may speak and publish only with government permission. No such communication may be sent using official government letterhead, official e-mail, or government telephone.
III. If Pardeep S. Gundara wishes to appeal my decision, he may post a request for review to this blog within 30 calendar days.
Also cross-posted to the Conservatism community on LiveJournal
Edited pronouns to show that Pardeep Gudnara is male, not female
Aug 072008
I posted the following over at the Libertarianism forum on LiveJournal, under the heading
Left-libertarianism = Totalitarian libertarianism
Q. Would it be fair to characterize left-libertarians as people who want the freedom to choose for themselves while denying choice to everyone else?
A. Yes.
Aug 022008
The image is from Google News. Note that Obama admits that he was race-baiting, but somehow that’s not what appears in the headline at the Washington Post. (You can go read the article if you don’t believe me.) Instead, what makes the headline is an accusation for which the Obama camp offers no basis whatsoever. And the other newspapers aren’t much better, in that they offer their headlines to Obama to use as a megaphone. And I’ll bet Obama didn’t have to pay a dime of his campaign stash to get this kind of spin.
Aug 022008
Here’s a keeper discussion (Atlantic Monthly, Matt Yglesias, ht to PostModern Conservative) on the great value provided by all these blogs written by people who don’t know what they’re talking about. Article title: “Does this blog suck? Do all blogs suck?“
Aug 012008
I had almost forgotten about this. After Barry Goldwater won the Republican nomination in 1964 Pat Brown said, “The stench of fascism is in the air.” We conservatives used to put up with that kind of talk a lot, and learned to just let it roll off.
But now watch what happens when you point out that the leftwing fascists are acting like fascists. We get lectures about how we shouldn’t throw the fascist label around so casually.
Jul 292008
According to Gary Kasparov, Barak Obama said this in Berlin:
“[W]e must reject the Cold War mindset of the past and resolve to work with Russia when we can, to stand up for our values when we must.”
Did he really say that? If so, which Cold War mindset does he mean? There were lots of mindsets during the Cold War, some of them vehemently opposed to each other. Were they all so wrong? Every last one of them?
And what kind of talk is that about standing up for our values when we must? When we must? Must? Why not do it when we can? Why not do it even when it’s difficult? I like the idea of working with Russia at every opportunity where we can, but Obama’s wording leads one to think he’d be willing to do it at the expense of our own values.
Without all the campaign money he has, shouldn’t he be able to hire a speechwriter who could check these things before he says them aloud?
Jul 272008
Conservatives should have figured this out long ago. Instead of whining about Supreme Court rulings, ignore them. That’s what the District of Columbia is doing. The Supremes upheld the right of citizens to keep and bear arms, so the government is now putting new restrictions on that right so as to render it meaningless.
Democrats (and George Bush) have long understood that the laws are meant for other people. Gas taxes too high? Democrats assume that when they’re on partisan political business, they are doing the Lord’s Work and don’t have to pay them. When they’re caught, it’s no big deal.
Of course, maybe this only works if you have the mainstream media to cover for you. And it also helps to have the economic might of government workers and NGOs on your side.
Jul 232008
I learned from Postmodern Conservative that one of my favorite columnists, Robert Novak, is alleged to have hit a pedestrian with his car and then tried to leave the scene.
As a long distance bicycler and bicycle commuter, I want to see dangerous driving behavior punished. Maybe it was my imagination, but on my ride home from work tonight an oncoming white monster pickup wanted to play chicken with me. I just pointed my bike directly back at him until he got back in his lane and roared off as loudly as he could. We don’t need that kind of crap on the roads. On the other hand, it’s no worse than the recklessness with which people are pushing so-called universal health care with no regard to the consequences for our civil liberties. That behavior needs to be punished, too.
BTW, Novak would still be one of my top favorites even if he had to write his column from a jail cell, which perhaps he should be doing.