Razing Arizona
I got a couple of angry comments about yesterday’s post, accusing me of indifference to civil rights. It’s not that I’m indifferent, it’s just that I’m not an absolutist. There are a lot of well-accepted exceptions to our fundamental civil rights, so what’s one more? The right to free speech doesn’t let you yell ”Fire!” … Read more
Soul Solution
I got an emailed question about a recent post where I mentioned that I would always oppose human cloning “because of the soul thing.” The question was: “What the hell are you talking about? “Soul thing”?” Well, I’ll explain. I shouldn’t have to, but I will. Each human has one (and exactly one) soul. Let’s … Read more
Time’s Arrow
Many of the responses I get from these posts accuse me of being an apologist for Conservative hypocrisy. They base this on the fact that I don’t condemn Conservatives when they condemn liberals for the same things that Conservatives have done in the past. Well, there’s a very good explanation for this, and it isn’t … Read more
Same Thing
I know that democrats are for gay rights, but I didn’t know that it extended all the way to homophones. A couple of emails came in explaining that what I heard on the News wasn’t ‘demon pass’, but rather ‘deem and pass’ (also known as the ‘Self-executing Rule’ or the ‘Slaughter Rule’). Well, they can … Read more
Transitivity of Oaths
Here’s an email from the latest little bird crying out for the regurgitated worms of truth: “Why the new oath for Oath Keepers? The military oath has served us well for years and years. The only reason to change it is to remove the requirement to obey any legal order given by your superiors. This … Read more
Not On Our Watch
I got an email from a reader asking what the actual purpose of the Oath Keepers is. Why do they even exist? Well, they explain that better than anyone: We Oath Keepers have drawn a line in the sand. We will not “just follow orders.” Our motto is “Not on our watch!” If you, the … Read more
Cloture as a Natural Process
There was some whingeing and hand-wringing about my recent post on the filibuster and cloture. There seems to be a belief that just because the filibuster was rare in the past and is common now, that this is an unnatural situation. Nonsense. Exponential functions always start out small and grow exponentially. By definition. Didn’t you … Read more
The Immoral Cloture
I got an email about my post on the filibuster, asking: “You’re counting cloture votes, not filibusters. Why is that? Cloture motions are requests to stop filibusters, and as such are good. They help the Senate do business. Shouldn’t you be counting and condemning filibusters themselves?” Well, there is a difference between cloture motions and … Read more
Glenn Beck
I get a lot of email complaining about the supposed ‘bias’ of Fox News, and a lot of it centers on Glenn Beck. Well, I don’t see it, and in fact I can demonstrate that it is not true. Remember that the free hand of the invisible market works in mysterious ways. It is able … Read more
Political Baraminology
I got an angry email from a reader saying that I was “talking in circles” in my previous explanation of the Congressional approval ratings. From the email: “If you’re saying that Democrats approve of the obstructionist policies of the Republicans, and the approval rating is higher among Democrats because they like this standstill, then why … Read more
