- “Anti-think” abounds among social justice pecksniffs. Particularly on the question of arms and the safety of politically correct minorities.
- One of my personal heroes, Giordano Bruno, was the very model of a Freedom Outlaw Agitator. Not the most prudent guy ever born. Bit of a suckup to powerful patrons; but that’s the way it was back then.
- Wow. We’re fast approaching a milestone (not) to celebrate. Government employees in the U.S. now outnumber manufacturing employees by a figure that’s pushing 10 million. (The article calls them workers (sic).)
- Speaking of which, Investors Business Daily says that the biggest problem in yesterday’s weak jobs report wasn’t the small number of new jobs. “… [I]t’s that wage gains also slowed and the average workweek is now shorter than at any time since the economy was still getting back on its feet in 2011 …”
- There are countless outrages in the world and we’d implode emotionally if we had to internalize them all. But I confess that one that hits me in the gut every time is self-righteously self-indulgent parents who use religion as an excuse for turning their kids into punching bags. In this case, too, she’s just another violent criminal using any convenient legal loophole to escape accountability.
- Apparently not giving a damn saves brainpower. (I coulda told them that.) More interesting question is whether the workings of the don’t-give-a-damn brain are genetic or habit-formed or both.
- Jeff Jacoby nails it. I’ve tried to articulate this myself, but it’s an issue people tend to respond emotionally about: supporting Israel while not supporting foreign aid to Israel.
- But enough of the serious stuff. Have some cute beagles. And have a nice Labor Day weekend.
I keep seeing these “Texas students worried about guns on campus” articles. What most folks don’t understand is that Texas, unlike the little states, has more than one “state university” and indeed two large “state university” systems.
This article is about the University of Houston, in very blue Houston, and mentions the University of Texas in ultra-blue Austin. There’s considerably more panty-bunching about the new campus carry law there, which is why the news media pick it up.
The Texas A&M University System implemented the new policy with barely a ripple.
The folks from Austin and Houston need a field trip to the Texas Capital. Let them sit in the gallery and watch real-life “philosophical arguments” with real-life legislative consequences.
On the way out of the Capital entrance, point out the License to Carry line that bypasses the metal detectors.
Yup, they just witnessed “philosophical arguments” where the legislators, their staffs, and the visitors can all carry concealed.
Now I know why there’s no Claire Wolfe Action Figure.
http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_bell_bring_on_the_female_superheroes
It simply isn’t right to work for government- at any level. Yet, almost everyone I know does. And they refuse to see themselves as parasites and a part of the problem. Partly because the paychecks are nice, and they “work” and feel they have contributed something to society (rather than destroying society by what they choose to do). Then they look down on people on welfare, without accepting the fact that everyone who gets a government paycheck is on welfare, but is actively harming Liberty in the process. It’s really kind of sickening.
The nastiest arguments I have ever seen on FB were centered on “spanking”. I’m talking about generally “nice” people getting murderously, profanely angry at those who equate “spanking” with the initiation of force/aggression. Usually because they believe their religion tells them to “spank” their kids.
I don’t support Israel because I don’t support States. I have no problem with the people who live there, though.
Also, I no longer see a way to subscribe to comments.
I saw the story earlier about government employee numbers and the numbers in the manufacturing sector in the not so United States on Drudge. It got me to thinking about how bad the same thing was up here in Canada. I took a look at statscan and sure enough while it’s not as bad as in your country its not good either. I can see no good coming from all this. I suspect the hook will finally be set with a universal basic income the way it is happening up here. In the end there will be nothing but government employees and proles.
http://www.benefitscanada.com/benefits/other/ontario-to-move-ahead-with-basic-income-pilot-83901
Yep money for nothing and your chicks for free as long as those printing presses print.
“Also, I no longer see a way to subscribe to comments.”
Hm. I don’t either, now that you mention it. I’ll take a look in WP settings. If I can’t figure it out, I’ll see what HWFIW can do.
I looked for a setting that would restore the “subscribe to comments” function. No luck. I installed a plugin I thought would do it. The plugin would have allowed users to manage all their comment subscriptions, which is nice. Except I couldn’t find a setting that would actually, you know, allow any subscriptions.
It’s probably just me. I turned it over to HWFIW, who has an embarrassing habit of finding things I was looking for. Easily. Right where I couldn’t find them. I did tell him there was no urgency, though. Labor Day weekend and all.
LOL, LarryA, on the tragic lack of a moi action figure.
I haven’t listened to the Ted talk or read the transcript yet. But worrying about the lack of female superhero figures strikes me as the epitome of a first-world problem. It’s right up there with Gwyneth Paltrow worried that people on food stamps can’t buy sufficient quantities of cilantro, leeks, and fresh limes.
Firearms on campus – We are not, can not be, responsible for other peoples feeling or the whole of society comes crashing down under paralysis of inaction. Other adults are not responsible for you or your feelings. You are responsible for your own feelings. Now that we rightly understand this, what are Facts? Facts are real things that affect us all.
Brainpower – The the thing about saving brain power is it makes one’s brain feeble. The “more brain activity” to conduct the same physical activity re-proves that the brain requires work, like all of our systems, to get stronger and faster. They have also re-proved that an object in motion tends to stay in motion. The Alzheimer’s angle is interesting. Could there be so little challenging stimuli that the brain goes bye bye. Interesting. Alzheimer’s sufferers are almost all heavy tv watchers which put the brain into a deeper state of rest than sleeping.
Did the blog move? lightening I tell ya, greased lightening.
Comment subscriptions are back, Kent. It was a plugin I broke. As usual HWFIW took about two minutes to fix what I could not.
I haven’t listened to the Ted talk or read the transcript yet.
I think I’ll know when you do.
I haven’t listened to the Ted talk or read the transcript yet. But worrying about the lack of female superhero figures strikes me as the epitome of a first-world problem.
First-world problem? And how!
“It’s for the children.”
” saves brainpower”
The link… More publish or parish?
Maybe some 40 non random “students” sampled?
And, If I don’t decide reflexively, maybe I burn calories picking if I want to burn a lot more to move body, or not? Move? That demand decision!
Science? Wake me when these folks think they know why, the mostly white noise out there, is something I’m to have reason to stay up at night to dwell about…
Sorry All,
I’m so late being around here, and I’m an unknown outlier.
Plus is, I think there are many more, and younger,
I’m 66 last 31’st, and for my birthday, wish EPA would return honor its’ worldly mission, and render upon Mordar @ Potomac, or what ever it is, to prior wetlands, with plethora of”organic” gators, and also, lots of mosquitos, very many. Some more too.
Enough libations,
for the evening.
Time to rest some… (want to find some packrats, maybe, to share, with, ah, some…places they might thrive? They might not like my wetland idea?? Ah, more work…)
Pets, yes, as pets, you know…
Backstory: I was raised In a mix of city plus farming and ranching in central Texas. Our ranching operation was burned out by the drouth of the 1950s. That led to a family breakup and bankruptcy. So, most any sort of project which augments water supply strikes me as a Good Thing.
When I found an engineering job with the Texas Water Development Board, I found it to be a very worthwhile place. We helped develop water supplies for municipal, industrial, agricultural and recreational uses. I did preliminary design work on some sixty dam/reservoir projects of which a couple of dozen have been built.
Ever seen the California Water Project? Designed by bureaucrats. Takes water from Oroville Dam to Los Angeles. I designed a similar project for Texas, albeit I early on determined that it was not financially feasible.
Lots of bureaucrats involved in highway design and maintenance, I’ve noticed. Imagine how few straight highways we’d have without eminent domain. But maybe folks would like an Interstate with a 90-degree bend, every mile. 🙂
Take the Money and Run (Lyrics)
“Billy Mack is a detective down in Texas
You know he knows just exactly what the facts is
He ain’t gonna let those two escape justice
He makes his livin’ off of the people’s taxes”
What’s worse, the thief who steals your money and knows it’s wrong, or the government employee who lives on stolen money be thinks it’s right?
Heh. Whether family, clan, tribe or larger group, homo sap has always had some form of government and some form of taxation, regardless of what labels are used. I see no reason to believe it will ever change.
The US system seems to have been the first and only which was set up to have restraints on government. Human nature has indeed subverted it, but that doesn’t mean the basic system was bad. “You do the best you can with what you have.” T. Jeff et al did a pretty good job.
Granted, I’d not work for the Dep/Edu or some of the other agencies, but I’m pretty proud of having helped Joe SixPack have drinking water and a place to go fishing or water-skiing. Same for my father’s work in helping to make the Texas highway system one of the world’s best.
Never stood on a railroad track, trying to stop a train. I don’t pick fights I can’t win. I just live in the world as it is, changing what I can when I can and otherwise avoiding hassle. Never been much on whining. Fair is an event that happens every year in Dallas at the time of the Texas-OU weekend.
Aw, well. I dropped out in 1979. Nobody’s told me what or how to do, ever since. 🙂