This is strongly related to my concept of the Apollo cargo cult. If we want to justify humans in space, we have to stop using the word “exploration,” because it simply raises the issue of letting robots do it. Talking instead about space development and particularly settlement implies humans, by definition. And if we can’t persuade the taxpayers that those are worthwhile goals, and instead try to sell them a bill of goods, then we don’t deserve taxpayer money for our hobbies. And cults.
Category Archives: Social Commentary
Switching To Android
I’ve never been an Apple fan, partly because it seems like a cult, and partly because I’ve never liked their closed business model. It may finally be starting to bite them, for all but the True Believers. And perhaps their faith has been shaken by the loss of the cult leader.
Gun Clubs At Schools
As Glenn notes, this is about oikophobia, even though it’s as, or more, important for kids to learn about the proper use and handling of guns as it is for them to learn to drive, particularly considering that the former is a fundamental constitutional right. As Glenn notes, this insane “gun-free zone” and “zero tolerance” policies have been a horrific failure.
I wonder if drum and bugle corps still carry the wooden rifles, as they did when I was in high school? Or is that too “terroristic“? More and more, it seems like sending your kids to a public school constitutes parental malpractice.
[Update a few minutes later]
Why are anti-gun activists so violent? as Glenn says, maybe the people we need to keep guns away from are elected Democrats.
[Update a few more minutes later]
Related: the loving, tolerant Left:
Over the last few years, I’ve heard the left talk about how hateful conservatives can be. Being a libertarian, there have been plenty of occasions where I disagreed with conservatives in discussions on social issues, but I’ve never at any moment gotten to the point where they were berating me or wishing harm upon me.
Needless to say, I’m strongly considering sending this one to the police since the e-mail address, which I’ve left off the post, is from a legitimate account.
They don’t want us to have guns because they project and think that we’re as violent and deranged as they are.
Outrage Over Overzealous Federal Prosecutors
Can it outlast the Swartz case?
It should. As he points out, it’s not like it’s anything new. It’s all part of the growth of Leviathan and a tyrannical state, and it needs to be trimmed way back.
Also, be sure to read Radley Balko’s piece on abuse of federal power.
No One Will Do Your Laundry
…in space. I’d say we raise angora bunnies, and everyone wears sweaters, except I hate sweaters.
Save The Crab Lice
OK, I decided that I had to take action to prevent this environmental holocaust. So head on over and sign my petition. I know they’re microfauna, not mega, and not all that charismatic, but they’re all God’s creatures. Let’s see if we can break a hundred thousand.
[Update a while later]
A comment over at Free Republic: “Just another case of Brazilian deforestation causing another extinction of a species.”
[Afternoon update]
An email from Jim Bennett: “If you declared Sandra Fluke’s nether parts to be a navigable waterway they would come under the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers, who would then have the power to forbid the clear-cutting of habitat.”
Gravity Plus Celery
Save The Pubic Lice!
Apparently all the dehairification down there is making crabs an endangered species. Is the EPA and PETA going to get on the case? I mean, if they can declare a mud puddle on a farmer’s road a wetland and prevent him from filling it, why can’t they force all those college students to grow their hair back and create habitat?
Aaron’s Law
A bipartisan effort to rein in out-of-control federal prosecutors? As Lessig says, it would be a small step, but an important one.
The Latest Shooting Victim
The Constitution. Even the gun grabber’s own ignorant words tell the tale of how stupid their hoped-for prohibition is: they call them “military-style” weapons. In other words, it has nothing to do with function, but is about fashion. And such a ban is unconstitutional, because as many have pointed out, it was exactly militarily useful weapons that the Founders wanted to protect.
[Update a couple minutes later]
When only the police are armed, or they outgun the citizenry, it’s called a “police state.” Which is what leftist regimes always turn into, because it’s their goal.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Here’s another casualty of the war on guns: the truth. The kind of CDC “research” that Obama wants to see is almost invariably fraudulent anti-gun propaganda. Guns are not a disease.