Month: March 2011

Jones and Food

Rolling Stone magazine lights up Alex Jones. Kinda. It starts off swinging hard. Toward the beginning of the piece: “The Gates Foundation? ‘Obviously a eugenics operation.’ The latest WikiLeaks dump? ‘All the hallmarks of an intelligence disinfo campaign.’ While urging his audience to wake up and smell the police state, Jones can sound thoughtful and intellectual, quick to quote Nietzsche, Plato, de Tocqueville, Gibbon and Huxley. Mostly, though, he defaults into machine-gun bursts of rage that crescendo with an adolescent snarl — Holden Caulfield playing Paul Revere.” But although the author is obviously no fan, he’s rather kind throughout the rest of the piece. The writers mentions that Jones is a doting father and husband, not a bigot, and possessed with high analytical abilities. He even lets Jones get the last word: “I have deep context for every claim I make,” Jones insists. “I know some people say I exaggerate, but I believe everything I say. It’s just that the denial is so strong, the apathy so deep, that people need something to shake them out of their morass. We’re like flowers who naturally turn toward the sun, and the globalists want us turned toward Hollywood and the TV so they can poison us. It’s like one of those drawings with a hidden pattern. Once you stare long enough, it appears. Then you wonder: How did I ever not see it?” It’s almost as though the Rolling Stones writer gives Jones more credibility than I do (and I get a kick out of the guy). It’s a sense of objectivity that I didn’t see much during my … Read the rest

Conan: ‘President Obama gave a nationally televised speech about Libya. The speech was titled, “No, I wasn’t born there.'” Kimmel: “President Obama escalated the war in Afghanistan, he sent the Navy in to shoot at pirates in the Indian Ocean, and now he’s attacking Libya. It’s like he took the Nobel Peace Prize as an insult.” Fallon: “A reporter in Florida said he was forced into a closet by Joe Biden’s staff to keep him from talking to guests at a fundraiser. He said it wouldn’t have been so bad if Biden wasn’t already in there for the same reason.”… Read the rest

Catholic Arts and Letters Weekly

This guy broke into Auschwitz. Perhaps the best link in today’s post. . . . more

And Germany still can’t get over the Nazis. Is that what’s driving its opposition to intervening in Libya? It’s not just common sense? . . . more

The online New York Times has a new funky subscription arrangement. This dude isn’t impressed. . . . more

America’s most prolific serial killer, but hardly anyone has heard of him. One eerie story. . . . more

Five deeper books and their relation to food. Kinda contrived, but interesting. . . . more

The Barry Bonds drug trial might have broader implications for drug cases. . . . more… Read the rest

More Hans

Hans-Hermann Hoppe might be the most original thinker on the face of the earth today. Over the weekend, I found this lengthy interview with him. I have only grazed it, but I have downloaded it for close reading later. I’ve already spotted gems, like this one: “Under monarchy, the distinction between rulers and ruled is clear. I know, for instance, that I will never become king, and because of that I will tend to resist the king’s attempts to raise taxes. Under democracy, the distinction between rulers and ruled becomes blurred. The illusion can arise “that we all rule ourselves,” and the resistance against increased taxation is accordingly diminished. I might end up on the receiving end: as a tax-recipient rather than a tax-payer, and thus view taxation more favorably.” * * * * * * * UK. Anyone care to guess what the market does in light of England’s blow-up? And is it me, or do SHTF events seem to have picked up with intensity in the last five years, with a seeming steeper escalation these past two years? Greece, Japan, Egypt, England. And Wisconsin. I don’t know, but we’re either gaining awareness, or we’re soon going to gain numbness. * * * * * * * Grice. Great quote from that Dylan Grice piece that I linked to on Saturday: “Shorting mankind’s ingenuity isn’t a smart thing to do. But ingenuity isn’t wisdom. And shorting mankind’s ability to absorb wisdom … well, aren’t you silly if you don’t?” * * * * * * * Funny Fallon. I’ve never watched Jimmy Fallon’s late night show, but … Read the rest

Drunk Dating

What’s the hardest part of giving up drinking? The buzz? The relaxation? The good times? The taste? Nope. If you’re single, it’s the difficulty of dating, according to this guy. When I was dating, I routinely drank beforehand for two reasons: (1) I drank pretty much every evening, and I saw no reason not to drink, just because I was picking up a date later that night; (2) the reason he cites for drinking: “the easy cheats drinking had always given me: instant familiarity, the easing of tension. I wanted to feel I was making a connection, even if it was just an illusion.” I met Marie in a bar, and I have little doubt that the instant familiarity on loan from beer helped us make a connection. I didn’t want to break a good streak, so I habitually picked her up for dates after a few beers. Not drunk, just relaxed. After we got to know each other better, she cynically inquired about the constant (yet ever-changing) assortment of empty beer cans in my back seat. I explained to her that I didn’t drive while drunk, but I did drink and drive (a practice that ought to be legal, incidentally, though actual drunk driving ought to be punished yet more harshly). She was disgusted. I responded, “Look, if I can’t have a beer or two and drive, I might as well sell my car.” She wasn’t impressed, but we did have more dates. * * * * * * * The Wino. My diet is really killing my beer drinking, but I think I may have found a … Read the rest

The Ruling Class

You’ve seen cyber-lists about the horrible state of the U.S. economy. This site has taken the exercise one step further: it has juxtaposed fourteen financial facts about the Ruling Class against fourteen financial facts about the Subjected. Some of the facts take cheap shots, but for the most part, it’s a revealing piece. Samples: Funny – The average bonus for a worker on Wall Street in 2010 was only $128,530. It appears that more Wall Street bailouts may be needed. Not Funny – During this most recent economic downturn, employee compensation in the United States has been the lowest that it has been relative to gross domestic product in over 50 years. And Funny – According to DataQuick Information Systems, the sale of million dollars homes rose an average of 18.6 percent in the top 20 major metro areas in the U.S. in 2010. Not Funny – In 2010, for the first time ever more than a million U.S. families lost their homes to foreclosure, and that number is expected to go even higher in 2011.

* * * * * * * Questioning. I firmly believe (though I’m open to contradiction) that there is a ruling class in America and that they take advantage of tax policies and bail outs and other forms of government benevolence. And if there is such a ruling class, there must be a “subjected” class, which constitutes everybody else.

Still, when I look at the awful fourteen “Not Funny” facts above, I’m (gratefully) aware that none of them apply to me, although they do affect my clients and potential clients, and therefore have a downward … Read the rest