August 10, 2012 - 12:37 am
- Are We Seeing a Shift in the American Electorate? By Stephen Green. We are at a point where both parties are pretty well discredited, at a time when we need real leadership to undo the mistakes of the last dozen years.
- The Expendable Bin Laden, by Andrew C. McCarthy. When al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood work at cross-purposes.
- The China Temptation, by Jaime Daremblum. Why Brazil should reject Beijing’s economic model. (You can read this article in Spanish here.)
- Is Obesity a Disease or a Moral Failing? By Theodore Dalrymple. And what are we to make of the fact that an affliction of the rich is now predominantly a problem of the poor?
- Why Is Israel More Prosperous than the Palestinians? By Barry Rubin. The ultimate demonstration of media bias.
- Does Military Service Matter in a President? By Bridget Johnson. For the first time since 1944, Americans will be asked to choose between candidates with no military experience to be the next commander in chief.
- 7 Great Quotes About Life from Legendary Football Coaches, by John Hawkins. Hitting life like a linebacker blitz.
Other news of interest:
At Drudge: Controversial T-Shirt Sold At Bookstore At Penn State.
——-this is why I favored something more overtly draconian for Penn State (not that I am a fan of the NCAA). They truly seem to have a warped moral view that says as long as the football isn’t affected, justice has truly been done. Sandusky’s initial defense tactics, at the time of his arraignment, involved trying to out the victims, presumably so the Penn State loyal could make their lives difficult. There was the riot when Paterno was removed. There Is the Paterno family trying to get the statue back, and the fact there was even an argument. I have to conclude that “Happy Valley” means “moral dwarfery” in German.
At Drudge: Zimerman Prosecutors in Huge Screw-up,
It shoud be up here later, but you simply are not going to convince me that this release was accidental. I think with this case we are seeing the modern prosecutorial police state in action. Excessive overcharging designed to make a plea bargain the only
possible route, blatant pandering to voting interests useful for later campaigns (or pandering designed to at least keep those voting blocks quiet, so as to not do political damage), releasing information to taint jury pools and to make the defendant pay a price no matter what, and going after critics of all the above when the prosecutor has no official reason to do so. I am not a firm believer in the innocence of Zimmerman (anymore, thanks to a lot of stuff inadmissable as evidence, which was the point of the release. Neither do I think him guilty. I just don’t know.), but this all stinks. The state simply has too much power and Martha Coakely is a thug in heels.
At Drudge: Cop given graveyard shift.
My basic view on the entire thing is that it is time for gay marriage proponents to stop with the fascism and intimidation and start showing a decent respect for the opinions of mankind and refine their arguments a little bit past the shallow “h8″ and “if two peoples luvs each other why shouldn’t they be able to marry?” thing they have been doing. Where is their version of “Summary View of the Rights of British America”? Where is their “Common Sense”? Who is their Locke, their Montesquieu? Where are their elucidations on natural law? From what I can see, they have nothing. I’ve been tempted at times to start making their arguments for them–not because I care one way or another, I don’t (which then means I always default to the status quo), but simply because I think attempting to make such kind of great changes as they wish without a robust intellectual foundation just is bad all around. It bespeaks a midset more akin to a conqueror–”I have decided I am right, and simply will have my way.” This American Experiment simply will not last much longer if we base everything off of emotion and emoting. And thus, because they are attempting to put in place that which has never been while at the same time not really bothering to explain why we should, all while engaging in brute force tactics, I am now pretty much anti-gay. Because how you play the game matters, and it is up to you who propose the change to justify it, not me to justify my opposition or reluctance.
Plus, I’d like to wait and see how the next twenty years turns out anyway, vis a vis us learning about the links between mind and body, the maladies thereof, and how it affects orientation. My guess is that the number of gays will go down tremendously, at least those whose natural inclinations are toward the same (which I view as a birth defect, or perhaps an infection of the brain affecting regions–both arguments, incidentally, good ones that gay marriage supporters could make if they cared about anybody’s opinion but their own. But they don’t.)