third world county – Page 373 – "In a democracy (‘rule by mob’), those who refuse to learn from history will be the majority and will dictate that everyone else suffer for their ignorance."

July 27, 2007July 27, 2007

“Some Cold-Eyed Rationalism”

From a longer post by someone worth listening to:

We need to rethink our anti-terrorist strategies and tactics with some cold-eyed rationalism. What do the measures cost us? Including in national dignity: at the moment the TSA is indistinguishable from an organization whose major purpose is to humiliate the people and make certain Americans understand they are subjects and not citizens. How easily can they be circumvented by intelligent and determined people? What new targets do our security measures create?

It is pretty clear that you can’t stop intelligent and determined people from destroying airplanes if the attacker doesn’t mind being killed. You can prevent the airplanes from being taken over and used as cruise missiles against other targets. We all know how that can be done. Strong cockpit doors, armed pilots, air marshals not dressed in 3-piece suits and short haircuts on randomly selected flights. We all know how that can be done.

We need to assess the real threats and deal with those. When we do, we will find that one of our more powerful weapons is our citizenry. If we really believe in freedom and the republic, we would enlist the citizens in this war on terror. Actually, we clearly don’t believe in any of the ideals we want to export to other nations. Instead, we disarm the citizens, express horror at the notion that people can assist in protecting themselves, and we allow conspirators to set up the citizens and then sue hell out of them. It is as if we are determined to progress from republic to empire.

Be sure to CLICK on over and read the rest. And consider contributing to the ongoing serious discussion about an honorable exit strategy in Iraq. As Pournelle once put it, We broke it; it’s ours [to fix].” There are some seriously interesting comments there from folks who’re more “in the know” than most of us.

THIS is an open trackbacks post, open Friday through Sunday. Link to THIS post and track back. 🙂

If you have a linkfest/open trackback post to promote OR if you simply want to promote a post via the linkfests/open trackback posts others are offering, GO TO LINKFEST HAVEN DELUXE! Just CLICK the link above or the graphic immediately below.

If you want to host your own linkfests but have not yet done so, check out the Open Trackbacks Alliance. The FAQ there is very helpful in understanding linkfests/open trackbacks.

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Perri Nelson’s Website, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, The Random Yak, DeMediacratic Nation, Adam’s Blog, Stuck On Stupid, Leaning Straight Up, Cao’s Blog, , Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, Conservative Thoughts, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, 4 Time Father?, Nuke’s news and views, and Pirate’s Cove, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

July 26, 2007July 26, 2007

T-13, 1.35: Thirteen “Thangs”

Just a kinda, sorta, halfway semi-randaom list of 13 Things…

1. Cables, wires and peripherals, oh my! How do these things meet, mate and multiply so quickly?

2. 2-keyboards, 2-mice, 1-Palm cradle, one label maker, one scanner, phone headset, off-cradle phone (need to get that back in the cradle charging–been off since last night), old 5″ IBM Mini-comp fan (providing “personal airflow” for… me), desk detritus and keyboard tray “duff” composed of various pocket jetsam, file cabinet escapees, wanders-in from elsewhere, etc.

3. I love it when idiots serve up their own rewards. Like the folks who stop a full car length beyond stop bars at traffic lights hereabouts. See, darned near ALL the traffic lights here around America’s Third World CountyÃ¢â€žÂ¢ (historical note: there were no traffic lights IN America’s Third World County a decade ago) are set to stay green for the high-traffic road in an intersection and only change for the cross-street when a car sits for a predetermined amount of time on a sensor buried in the road. No car on sensor? No light change. So, I love it when I see an idiot who’s driven beyond the stop bar to stop. I just hope there’s also a LEO who needs another ticket for his quota nearby when the idiot eventually jumps the light…

4. Why is it the cats here at twc central only want to sit in my lap in two places, at similar inconvenient times? Right: when I’m typing at a computer keyboard (at any of the twc comps) or when I’m communing with my inner nature while sitting on the throne.

5. Will I ever have the 1886 Buffet clarinet I pulled from a trash bin rehabbed? Maybe. Until then, it’s a purty desktop ornament/dustcatcher.

6. I’m thinking of starting an “Office Archaeology Club” for those of us who enjoy the thrill of discovery whenever we dig down several layers and discover gems of past civilizations lurking in our offices…

7. Best fuel economy tip? Walk.

8. Speaking of which, I read somewhere recently (and lost the reference when I didn’t immediately blog it–*heh*) that human-style walking upright is 75% more efficient than chimp-style 2+2 walking. But the ultimate in efficient transport is, of course, imaginary transport. What flights of fancy have propelled the human race to heights no chimp can aspire to!

9. I just know there MUST be a use (beyond target practice or coffee cup coasters) for the 1,000s of floppy disks I have boxed, filed and strewn about. There must be.

10. Have to mow again. Can no one and nothing deliver me from this torture? (Yeh, yeh, I know: pave it.)

11. Rain, rain, go away! There is such a thing as too much green.

12. Trying out a new-to-me backup solution. Cobian Backup. We’ll see how it works. So far, not bad. It’s a Windows-only backup software, so any future networked backup solution I built with it would have to be Windows-based.

13. I need a nap. 🙂

Posted at the Thursday Thirteen Hub. Click on over there and make the rounds, wouldya?

July 17, 2007

The Death of the West

Western Civilization owes its very life to the influence of the Christian church (in the sense of the catholic–not Catholic–church). And that is probably why Western Civilization now appears moribund: the Christian influence which has been so strong for most of the past two millennia is now waning. As Dr. Chris Hook, a medical doctor, put it in an article on bioethics for Reformation Online,

This year, the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in Great Britain, has at last brought back to the ChurchÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s attention of the life and work of William Wilberforce and the his colleagues in the Clapham Community. Wilberforce has long been one of my personal role models, his memory spurning me onward in my work in bioethics, when otherwise I have despaired and wanted to leave it all behind. It is my hope that this recent attention will illustrate what God can do with communities of committed Christians who bring together expertise from various fields and financial and social resources and influence to change society. Slavery was but one issue this group faced and hoped to reform, and they faced similar opposition to what those wishing to defend human dignity today face: the power of commerce, government, academy and a lifeless, bloated and self-centered church. Yet with GodÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s guidance they were able to collect their joint resources and changed an empire, in spite of itself, and the world.

Of course, the “Wilberforce effect” is simply the kind of blatantly obvious effect genuine Christian communities have had upon Western Civilization in the past. Other, more fundamental processes, seem utterly hidden from most folks’ (including politicians *spit* Mass Media Podpeople and soi disant historians) eyes. Nevertheless, it is the loss of Christian influence, largely as “Christian” churches lose their Christianity, that has resulted in a society with no integrity, no heart, no soul–a society with no reaon for existence but greedily and foolishly seeking instant pleasure and wealth with little or no thought for tomorow.

Hence, we have politicians *spit* and Mass Media Podpeople and Academia Nut Fruitcakes advocating measures for our society that, like the recent Senate shamnesty bill, are immoral, shortsighted and foolish. We have a citizenry that has collectively sold itself into slavery to indebtedness for its whole lifetime and the lifetimes of its grandchildren. We have “artists” expressing the heart and soul of our society in “art” that is either literal or figurative shit.

And yet. Perhaps there is a remnant. Perhaps, as was shown in the public outcry about the recent Senate shamnesty bill, there are still enough people sticking their fingers in the many holes in dikes holding back the barbarian waters… perhaps.

One can only hope.

THIS is an open trackbacks post. Link to THIS post and track back. 🙂

If you want to host your own linkfests but have not yet done so, check out the Open Trackbacks Alliance. The FAQ there is very helpful in understanding linkfests/open trackbacks.

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson’s Website, Right Celebrity, DeMediacratic Nation, Jeanette’s Celebrity Corner, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, DragonLady’s World, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Webloggin, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, Conservative Thoughts, and Public Eye, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31