War Commentary

Cognitive Dissonance

Jonah Goldberg, on the insanity of people who think that Bush knew about 911 ahead of time (depressingly, about a third of Democrats):

Ah yes, because Bush’s post-9/11 plan has worked out so perfectly on so many levels. All along he’d hoped that by 2007 he’d be a political eunuch on the Hill and below-freezing approval levels. And the mad genius’s plan to seize Iraqi oil and topple regimes across the Middle East has gone off without a hitch. Meanwhile, Karl Rove’s Mark Hanna-like scheme to permanently lock in a Republican majority couldn’t be going smoother.

Don’t any of these morons consider why, if he’s so evil and conniving, and willing to destroy buildings and murder thousands, he didn’t plant WMDs in Iraq?

And disgustingly, rather than using the opportunity as a “Sister Souljah moment,” a major Democrat candidate panders to them, instead of properly denouncing them as loons. He can’t, though, because they’re his base.

Political Commentary

Contempt For The Law And Culture

In the context of the Fort Dix hirabis, Victor Davis Hanson has some useful thoughts on the problem of completely uncontrolled immigration:

Once the United States accepts as a permanent condition the notion that several million illegal aliens can reside in perpetuity and under immunity from the law, then a sort of insidious message is established:

We in America will ask nothing of our immigrants-not legality, not English, not rudimentary knowledge of our history and values, and not real efforts at assimilation and Americanization.

So, the wannabe jihadist, here illegally, whether as in the Fort Dix case or as was true of a few of the 9/11 murderers

General

Too Sensible

Mickey channels one of my pet peeves:

Wouldn’t we save a lot of gasoline quickly and cheaply if we replaced most of our “STOP” signs with “YIELD” signs? I’m sure there is a safety argument against this, but I’d like to hear it, along with up-to-date comparisons with countries that rely on “yield” more than “stop.”

There is no valid safety argument against it. Requiring a full stop adds zero safety, though it is useful for revenue production. The notion that a full stop is somehow safer is…what’s the word…oh, yeah. Idiotic.

I too got a ticket for this in Manhattan Beach many years ago, and was supremely irritated by it. It’s particularly stupid at four-way stops. We could in fact waste less time and less fuel if such signs were yields rather than stops.

The other idiocy that I see (in southern California–south Florida is actually much better) is the notion that if there is a left green arrow, that once you lose it, you can no longer turn left on the green, even if there isn’t another car within a mile. The purpose of green arrows should be to make it easier to make a left, not harder. Yeah, I know, it’s partly to protect pedestrians, but either way, people should be allowed to exercise some judgment. There are few things more infuriating to me than sitting at an intersection with a green light to make a left turn in the middle of the night, and knowing that it will be illegal if I don’t wait for the arrow.

And I should note that I just realized that there is a fourth thing that I prefer south Florida for, compared to southern California. In general, the traffic regulations are more sane (even if the drivers are much worse). You can turn left any time the traffic is clear, even at intersections with left-turn arrows, and you can do a U-turn almost anywhere. It’s the default, whereas in California, you can only do one if given explicit permission from the signage.

[Late morning update]

A recurring theme in comments with which I heartily concur: we need to teach people to drive, not merely operate an automobile. It’s far too easy to get a driver’s license in this country.

Administrative

Comments Section Hygiene

I’m not in the general habit of banning commenters, but having already established the precedent with Anonymous Moron, I guess I need to do a better job of policing. I am going to henceforth ban anyone who uses the acronym “LOL” in response to something that they themselves wrote.

Why? Because it is juvenile, and stupid. Anyone who does it apparently never learned the old wisdom that one doesn’t laugh at one’s own jokes. It looks particularly stupid when they’re not funny. In fact, it looks stupid to the max when they are never funny. But then, folks who do it are generally not the type of people who are able to realize how stupid they look.

In addition, most people (at least in this comments section, but I’ve noticed it in other fora as well) who do so also tend to add zero signal, and a lot of noise.

For that matter, I also want to add some tips for people who want to quote other people, to avoid confusion and ugly comments. There is a simple HTML tag, that looks like this: <em>quoted text</em>. Please use it. Also, please put your name in the “Name” field, unless you’re determined to remain anonymous. I have no interest in seeing a name in a comment.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!