The Smallest Minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. – Ayn Rand
Quote of the Day.
Let me know when you stop regarding us religious types as ignorant, irrational subhumans.
Francis Porretto, proprietor of Eternity Road (which I have listed on the sidebar under “True Excellence,” BTW) from a comment to yesterday’s QotD.
Compare and contrast that with this comment by Sarah, of the blog Carnaby Fudge:
“What has been your best blogging experience?”
Arguing with Kevin from The Smallest Minority over religion and philosophy.
Things that make you go, “Hmmmmm…..”
Quote of the Day.
(A)t heart, most US citizens are libertarians by default – it is simply that most of them have “pet” projects they consider to be exceptions. Libertarianism is political atheism, and, to paraphrase Dawkins, everyone is a libertarian on most subjects, some just go one political project further.
“Adirian” in a comment to the post Really, It’s Worse Than That.
Quote of the Day.
You see, I can already predict how things would go if it were demonstrated that anti-depressants have a determinant role in sudden outbursts of homicidal-suicidal violence.
Promotion of responsible use of these drugs? No way.
Pharma companies would be sued nearly out of existence and the use of anti-depressants strictly regulated (some of them may be banned altogether), all to the detriment of those people who’d actually benefit from them. – Fabio C. in a comment to Another Gun Free Zone.
What do you expect in a country where there’s one lawyer for every 300 of us? Hey, they gotta eat!
Quote of the Day.
“There is something about a Republican that you can only stand him just so long; and on the other hand, there is something about a Democrat that you can’t stand him quite that long.” Will Rogers
Found at my boss’s blog. (I didn’t know he had one until today!)
Quote of the Day.
I don’t have MDS (McCain Derangement Syndrome)…but I’m not dazzled by the image of McCain as President.
It’s not good when your candidate’s slogans could be:Meh, you could do worse.
or
Meh, he’s not that bad, I guess.
While the Democrats with Obama are selling Hope and Change!!!, we’re dealing in meh.
We are screwed.
From a comment by “Mumblix Grumph” at American Digest
Quote of the Day.
From Tam:
Look, if I want to read about failed relationships, career problems, family struggles, and substance abuse, I’ll write a friggin’ diary. The characters in the books I like to read have problems, too, but they usually solve them with laser beams or tactical nuclear warheads. I read these books because I wish I could solve my problems that way, too. This is called “escapism”, and is why most folks seek entertainment in the first place.
Hear hear!
This was almost the QotD, from the same post:
See, housing costs money, and you need a house to keep your books in so that they don’t get wet or blow around too much. If it weren’t for books you wouldn’t need a house and could just live under a bridge someplace, which is a lot cheaper and would therefore allow you to retire now.
My only argument with that is that my house also keeps my guns dry and rust-free. Other than that, no quibbles.
Quote of the Day.
From this PSH story linked to by many concerning a “buy-back” (how can they “buy back” what they never sold in the first place?) in which anti-gun California State Senate President pro-tem Don Perata “sold back” a .357 Magnum revolver, but admits he keeps a shotgun at home for protection.
But what’s the QotD? This:
Perata introduced the program last month at a news conference outside the Piedmont Avenue piano store where 10-year-old Christopher Rodriguez was hit during a piano lesson by a stray bullet fired during a nearby robbery. He was left partially paralyzed.
“What happened to Christopher is sad,” said Perata. “Guns are causing this kind of violence everywhere, and we have to stop it.”
So long as you keep misidentifying the cause, you’re never going to stop it.
There’s a second interesting part to this story, as well. Perata turned in his revolver but,
He said he had a permit to carry a concealed handgun until it lapsed a few years ago.
Must be nice to be connected. However:
In December, a gun-wielding man robbed Perata of his sporty state-leased car at a red light in North Oakland.
“Nothing brings it home like having a gun pointed 6 inches from your face,” he said.
Right. Well, at least you’ve made sure you can’t defend yourself on the street, so if “giving them what they want” isn’t enough…
Quote of the Day.
Via Shooting the Messenger from the NY Post op-ed, Fools Rush In:
Conservatives are one Justice away from completing the tantalizing half-century project to get the Supreme Court to stop using the Constitution as an Etch-a-Sketch for their ideas about right and wrong.
Fits disagrees with the op-ed, but that one pull-quote says a lot.
Well, Mitt has put his campaign on “hold” (i.e.: I quit, but didn’t really say so). Huckabee doesn’t have a prayer outside the Bible-belt, so that pretty much means that John McCain is a shoe-in for the Republican nomination.
If Hillary wins the Democratic nomination, it will be a horse-race to see which horse’s-ass crosses the finish line first.
If Obama wins the Democratic nomination, I think he’ll be the next President of the United States. Put him next to McCain on a stage and a public obsessed with American Idol ain’t going to pick the cadaver.
Here’s what each means, insofar as I can tell.
McCain: He’ll keep us in Iraq until it’s stable, even if that lasts throughout his term (I sincerely believe he’s only going to get one.)
He MIGHT select decent judges for federal benches up to and including SCOTUS.
He will try to “work with the Democrats Left”. The Republican Party will lurch even further Left with him.
“Immigration Reform”? Essentially open borders, and amnesty for everyone.
Hillary: We’ll probably stay in Iraq until she can pull the troops out without looking like an international loser.
She WILL select Leftist judges who will be hell to stop, and who are perfectly comfortable wiping their asses with the Constitution.
She will LEAD the Democrats to even more social entitlement programs, greater spending, higher taxes, and the beating of the taxpayers will continue until morale improves. She may get two terms, too.
Either Hillary or one of her appointed Federal judges will find some way to foist “universal health care” on us all with her blessings.
Bill Clinton will be in the White House – again. Some fear he will be appointed to some high office or another. I think it’s a reasonable fear. Hillary would probably like to get rid of him once she achieves her life’s dream.
Obama: As CIC, I have no doubt that he’ll yank our troops out of Iraq immediately, and then ignore whatever happens in Iraq, placing the blame on the Iraqi authorities for not taking care of their problems themselves. Expect a new wave of “boat people.”
Immigration reform? Hell if I know.
Social programs? I think he’s even farther Left than Hillary.
If either Hillary or Obama wins, I expect there to be a great exodus from the military. McCain? I don’t know.
I have concluded, however, that Confederate Yankee has the right of it:
McCain for President. Or we’re really screwed.
I expect to see that on bumper stickers very shortly.
I’m almost 46 years old. The next Presidential election will be 2012 and I will be 50. I’m getting too old for this sh!t.
I think it’s past time that the Republican Party went the way of the Whigs, because if America doesn’t get off its collective ass and continue to support individualism, personal responsibility, capitalism, and individual rights, it appears that no one is going to.
Quote of the Day.
From House of Eratosthenes, where I need to spend some time perusing the archives:
Today’s Best Sentence I’ve Heard or Read Lately (BSIHORL) award goes to Ramesh Ponnuru, writing in the National Review Online, who writes about Caroline Kennedy’s Political Romanticism
She says that Obama could be a president like her father. I assume that means that he’ll be overrated, not that he’ll bring us to the brink of nuclear war.
I don’t know about that. Obama seems to have some curious ideas about how to deal with Pakistan….