Cigarette-Smoking Man has an interesting post on that subject.

[Via Winds Of Change]

…into Loony Tunes from a commenter at the Aussie Oppressor’s site:

Wile E. Coyote is a mythic fusion of Sisyphus and Tantalus. He is doomed to labor eternally at a task that he can never complete, tormented all the while by the presence of the sustenance he craves (the Road Runner) just outside his reach, but close enough to see, hear, and even smell. He is continually subjected to agonizing pain and massively crippling injuries, but he can never die; instead, he heals instantaneously and is forced to continue his hopeless efforts.

In short, Wile E. Coyote is in Hell — a Hell as cruel and sadistic as anything that Dante envisioned.

also,

You have to feel for Sylvester, too – once he finally gave up on the bird, he settles down, has a kid, then spends his declining years plagued by hallucinations about a giant mouse. Poor bastard.

and

The thing that REALLY steams Me about the RR cartoon is not just that the coyote always loses (though that’s annoying to this canine fan), but that he’s an engineer or at least a technician. You get the message that technology will never solve any problem.

I think the USSR had a cartoon which had a wolf chasing a rabbit, but the rabbit was the inventor and his inventions WORKED.

Why did the damned commies do something right that we didn’t?

I just made up that word, for a site about a book that’s part blog (well, actually, the book (and theme) blog may not be up for another couple of days). But anyone who’s been paying attention to Glenn’s blogads will notice one for Jim Bennett’s new book on the Anglosphere, which he seems to have almost singlehandedly invented. I’m just pointing it out as well.

Hey, I’m just sayin’…

David Brown at Laissez Faire Books says that The Incredibles is an Objectivist-themed movie.

I haven’t seen it yet, but I plan to. I’ve heard many good things about it.

…in reading some moronic commentary on Usenet about Dan’s Unexcellent Adventure, that this little incident provides a pretty fool-proof intelligence test. Anyone who still believes, at this point, that the documents are genuine, or even could conceivably be genuine, has to be an imbecile.

Of course, someone who believes that they may be false, but now considers them irrelevant because the underlying story must still be true (and conveniently, because they’re obviously forged), is simply bereft of logic or ethics.

The comment from “John,” in this post, urging me to read Andrew Sullivan, wasn’t just rude–it was clueless.

Even accepting the (dubious) premise that Andrew is a “conservative,” why would John think that I would care, or that labeling him such would make me take what he says more seriously? I can only presume that it is because “John” deludes himself that I’m a “conservative,” and that therefore I’m intrinsically impressed by what other “conservatives” have to say. I’m not a conservative, but even if I were, I judge peoples words by the words themselves, not by the arbitrary political labels that are (mis?)applied to their authors, whether by themselves or others.

The comment from “John,” in this post, urging me to read Andrew Sullivan, wasn’t just rude–it was clueless.

Even accepting the (dubious) premise that Andrew is a “conservative,” why would John think that I would care, or that labeling him such would make me take what he says more seriously? I can only presume that it is because “John” deludes himself that I’m a “conservative,” and that therefore I’m intrinsically impressed by what other “conservatives” have to say. I’m not a conservative, but even if I were, I judge peoples words by the words themselves, not by the arbitrary political labels that are (mis?)applied to their authors, whether by themselves or others.

The comment from “John,” in this post, urging me to read Andrew Sullivan, wasn’t just rude–it was clueless.

Even accepting the (dubious) premise that Andrew is a “conservative,” why would John think that I would care, or that labeling him such would make me take what he says more seriously? I can only presume that it is because “John” deludes himself that I’m a “conservative,” and that therefore I’m intrinsically impressed by what other “conservatives” have to say. I’m not a conservative, but even if I were, I judge peoples words by the words themselves, not by the arbitrary political labels that are (mis?)applied to their authors, whether by themselves or others.

Via Allen Thomson, here’s a long essay on how a Christian came to become a non-believer.

In Enterprise last night, I was struck at how sometimes the writers Just Don’t Get It, and make the ship’s crew look like fools. If you didn’t see it, Archer and T’Pal are kidnapped and being held for a ransom of weapons to aid the local rebel cause. The Vulcans show up to the rescue, and inform the crew that “Vulcans do not negotiate for hostages.” Commander (?…what is his rank anyway, I’ve never been able to sort out ranks on ship, other than the Captain, but I haven’t been paying that close attention…) Tucker gets upset and whiny, and asks “Even if lives are at stake?” thus presumably demonstrating the moral superiority of the warm and emotional humans over the coldblooded and logical Vulcans.

Yes, Trip. Especially when lives are at stake. Of course,the writers don’t grant the Vulcans any kind of logical rejoinder–that negotiating for hostages simply ensures future hostage taking, and that sometimes lives have to be risked both on principle and to save the lives of many future hostages (the stance which, by the way, the U.S. government has appropriately taken in the Daniel Pearl case). No, they simply look Vulcan and disgusted. I wonder if the script was written pre- or post-911?

Oh, and whooooeeee, how about that little game of twister/simulated-sex scene that they had Archer and T’Pal do in their escape attempt? In prime time, too. Are they reviving the sexual tension from the first episode, or just trying to keep up with the competition?