Dean's World

Let's have an open thread.

I have a busy night planned tonight, but I'll be home around midnight Eastern. What are you up to? Got any fun links? Anything you wanna talk about?

I need help with something. The novel I'm writing calls for a man-made structure standing about 7,000 feet tall.

I'd like to treat this structure as realistically as possible even though it's for a fantasy novel. There's a specific reason for this.

So, if you have any experience with the design and/or construction of tall buildings, and want to give me a hand, please e-mail me (pjkyinatgmaildotcom) or comment below with contact information.

Thanks in advance!

I've posted my predictions for 2008 at The Glittering Eye. I've also included a round-up of predictions.

My track record is running at 73% for both 2005 and 2006. Your own predictions are welcome in the comments either here or at TGE.

"The security has changed and it took us by surprise. We're very happy. Especially us young people," said al-Azzawi, a 22-year-old student taking a break from dancing to a traditional Iraqi band in the ballroom of the Palestine Hotel.

"I haven't seen a happy place like this in so long. I wanted to see if I could maybe meet a few girls!" he said. "I only hope the Iraqi people can enjoy more happy times like this."

Salah al-Lami, 27, the singer who performed at the Palestine ballroom and then for another New Year's Eve crowd at the Sheraton Hotel across the street, said it was the first time he had sung before a live audience in four years.

Their leader, Abul Abed, meets the Americans every day.

On the wall is a picture of him with General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq.

"At the beginning, people saw it as an occupation which had to be resisted. But then they saw that the Americans were working in the interests of the people."

It is the last evening of this turn of the calendar, and it need not have any special significance. But not surprisingly we cannot resist looking back — as, really, we should every day (but this we do resist!) of the year.

At this time last year I was in another place, watching the sunset from another vantage point. It was very pretty from there, but it was not the right place.

I have had a lot of places. (Read the rest at Likelihood of Success.)

Arretium, circa 128 BCE

Rufus’s suicide and the open gloating of his wife and cousin had been bitter to endure. The next morning Vipsania had taunted me before the household, daring me to act, to prove I was divine and undo the acts she had set in motion. And I had been powerless, knowing in my black and burning heart that the Romans themselves had stolen my divinity from me—tearing me from my lands and the comfortable dominion I had enjoyed, burying me in the stinking swamp of their worthless and corrupt myths and beliefs. What place was this for the Huntress, amongst the brick, stone and poison of a city?

My ultimate humiliation had come after the death of my doomed love, after she showed me the cold and lifeless body of the old Greek Marieko who had despised me yet had won my affection and respect. She told me Marieko cursed my name before he died.

“You should die as well,” she told me, “Though Livius says I should deny Rufus the final honor of his dying wish, I believe I will keep your pretty throat intact.”

“You would do well to heed the words of your husband-to-be,” I snapped at her, seeking to goad her into action, “lest he suspect you might have designs upon yet another man.”

She laughed at me then, the sound made ever more cutting by the clear beauty of her voice. “Oh, no, little one, Livius has no such concerns regarding me. He shall be Senator and I shall have what I desire—a path to power for my sons. Our match is too perfect for either of us to risk it. No, I am free to do with you as I please. And I am mindful of my debt to you, for I am certain my late husband would never have been moved to such a bold plan had you not filled his head with silly notions of Destiny and Prophecy. And, of course, I know the perfect solution… the perfect place for the likes of you.”

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I see that Andrew wrote an alarmist piece about Islamists in Pakistan. Get some perspective. I provide counter from numerous sources.

Right now this is only available for Mac users, but it has exciting implications.

What I’d like to be able to do is use photos or fractals or some kind of random visual in conjunction with music – rather like the old 60’s era light shows. Wouldn’t that be cool for a party? 

Or even when you’re by yourself and have your music station running on your cable or satellite.

I quite agree.

on targeted assassinations.

For the record, I pretty much agree with the comment left by "Gord" at 1:40 am.

Walter Russel Meade thinks so.

A nice beginning.

In the midst of Moshe’s famous encounter with G-d at the burning bush, Hashem reveals to him the purpose of the upcoming exodus: “After you take the nation out of Egypt, You shall all serve me on this mountain [i.e. you shall receive the Torah]".

The Hebrew letters forming the word Mitzraim (Egypt) are the same as those forming the word Maitzarim (limitations or restrictions), the only difference between them lying in their respective pronunciations. Thus, Torah tells us, freedom from Egypt is, in a grander sense, the true freedom of the Jewish people from all that had hitherto limited and restricted it.

Every entity has its own freedom:

While the plant is free when it is afforded the opportunity to grow unrestrictedly, an animal can not be free under similar conditions; it must also be afforded the opportunity to roam without limitation.

Higher is Man: A man who is afforded all his physical needs, but not the opportunity to learn and acquire wisdom, is not free.

Different is the Jew: Endowed with a soul that is a "part of G-d', a Jew cannot be free without the opportunity to engage in Torah and Mitzvos; “No one is free other than he who engages in Torah and Mitzvos.” (Pirkei Avos)

Ready. Set. Go! [6:24EST]

After the hideously stupid "Impeach Bush" article, it looks like Harper's has blown it again.

That's too bad. There are people I know and respect who've worked for that once-great magazine.

Like Visicalc, a name slips into history.

My latest is up at Guardian.

The Malaysian government has banned non-Muslims from using the word 'Allah'. It is a sign that political Islam has got out of hand - and time for a pluralist response.

6:29pm -- go!

Presented for your perusal without further comment.

A church and Christian newspaper in Malaysia are suing the government after it decreed that the word "Allah" can only be used by Muslims.

In the Malay language "Allah" is used to mean any god, and Christians say they have used the term for centuries.

Opponents of the ban say it is unconstitutional and unreasonable. [...] There has been no official government comment but parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said the decision to ban the word for non-Muslims on security grounds was "unlawful". "The term 'Allah' was used to refer to God by Arabic-speaking Christians before Arabic-speaking Muslims existed," he said.

Well, one comment: obviously, the ban is wrong and any muslim supporting it is an idiot.

If you haven't already read Ali's post on PajamasMedia, do so. Ali believes that the United States should give up on Musharraf and call for an objective international panel on Bhutto's murder.

If the U.S. can create the conditions for such a public demonstration of the history and extent of jihadist killing and infiltration, it would arm the people of Pakistan with unerring proof about who is their real enemy. It would be a boost to their sense of survival. It would demonstrate that the US is looking out for them. They would be able to take these feelings to the polls.

Or would it simply result in Nawaz Sharif taking power and allowing the militants in Pakistan to gain more power, and perhaps even nuclear weapons?

Ali's positions seems naive to me. If we cut off support of Musharraf and support an independent inquiry, the Pakistanis will have a change of heart about the United States and realize we're on their side.

What is the likelihood of that happening? As Ali notes, Sharif has never had security problems because he is on the same side of the extremists. If Musharraf leaves and creates a power vacuum, isn't Sharif - and the jihadists who support him - the one most likely to fill it?

Pakistan has always been a complicating factor in American foreign policy. It has made relations with India tougher, and since 2001 has constrained our fight in Afghanistan. Should Pakistan switch sides and cut off coalition overflights, we would have no way to supply forces in Afghanistan.

Benazir Bhutto was one of a kind. I don't see anyone able to replace her. I'm sure that today the Joint Chiefs, the Pentagon and even the maivens of State are brainstorming what to do now that America's policy towards Pakistan is buried in a mausoleum in Ghari Khuda Bakhsh.

Geneticists Lynn Jorde and Henry Harpending of the University of Utah proposed that the variation in human DNA is minute compared to that of other species. They also propose that during the Late Pleistocene, the human population was reduced to a small number of breeding pairs — no more than 10,000 and possibly as few as 1,000 — resulting in a very small residual gene pool. Various reasons for this hypothetical bottleneck have been postulated, one of those is the Toba catastrophe theory.
...
According to the Toba catastrophe theory, 70,000 to 75,000 years ago a supervolcanic event at Lake Toba... The theory was proposed in 1998 by Stanley H. Ambrose of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Within the last three to five million years, after human and other ape lineages diverged from the hominid stem-line, the human line produced a variety of species.
...
According to the Toba catastrophe theory, a massive volcanic eruption severely reduced the human population. This may have occurred around 70–75,000 years ago when the Toba caldera in Indonesia underwent an eruption of category 8 (or "mega-colossal") on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. This released energy equivalent to about one gigaton of TNT, which is three thousand times greater than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. According to Ambrose, this reduced the average global temperature by 5 degrees Celsius for several years and may have triggered an ice age.

The Democratic candidates were quick to issue statements about Bhutto's murder yesterday. I found the angle of critique of Obama's comments to be particularly blind, however. Come by Nation-Building (or my masochistic cross-post at DKos) and see why.

Hmmm. That would sure save a lot of lives.

My latest is at Pajamas Media.

Well, you know it’s cold up there, and that’s the only reason I can think of for La Crosse County’s new plan to let all its female prisoners out of jail. It must be brain freeze.

The article outlining the program, in the La Crosse Tribune, quotes a local defense attorney as saying  in 15 years he’s never represented a woman who was put in jail because she’s dangerous.

“I’m not saying there won’t ever be a woman in La Crosse County who’s dangerous and needs to be locked up for the safety of the community,” said Belzer. “I will say that would be the rare exception rather than the rule.”

He also says women are almost always in the system “because of some kind of relationship with a man.” 

Of course he’d say that – he’s a defense attorney!

There are so many problems with this issue, both legal and moral, I hardly know where to begin.

Maybe the worst of it is that the county is acting on the advice of The Carey Group, which according its website, is a real estate development consulting firm. Huh????

I’m at a loss for words.

I found this result unsurprising.

I'll be very interested to see how this lawsuit works out.

Ridiculous headline and story of the week: How Will Paris Hilton Survive?

In case you somehow come here before opening the windows or turning on a radio -- a huge event that changes everyone's top ten lists of "stories of the year":

Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide attack that also killed at least 20 others at the end of a campaign rally, aides said.

save a Jew from our enemies. Thank G-d.

Michael Yon has an important letter.

Pass it on.

How many do you think have the stomach for it?

JoeSettler

Beautiful.

Most are members of the Assyrian Church of the East, I'd wager, which is a branch of Orthodoxy.

One of the last of the great escapers from Stalag Luft III has also now passed away, after more than half a century of borrowed time.

A brave and admirable man. Perfect? Of course not.

Not safe for work or people who don't like foul language:

watch football games.

I admit it, I know in my heart that Frank is right.

Hey, cool!

What are the odds that we could see this 1st amendment trashing body go completely the way of the dodo? One could only hope.

More cynical commentary from Eric at Classical Values.

And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.

Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger."

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

"Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, "Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us." And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

(From the Gospel According to Luke.)

In this comment thread, Valjean made this insightful comment:

As a general rule, people should not invoke the name Hitler for ANYTHING even a crumb cake recipe. Nothing good can come from it.

(Strike-through is Mine)

My condescending praise:

Valjean,

That may be the smartest thing I think I"ve seen you say!

His response:

Again, you fail to recognize that most of the time I am right...

My response:

Look,

You are sure you are right--I respect you had at least the brains to write "most of the time"--I am sure you are wrong. We have both claimed Victory. So we could "war" it out with further declarations to that effect.

Or we can war like men on the battlefield of Dean's World and let the readers decide.

And you best watch it with the ad-hom, lest you appear a lightweight who needs brute emotional force to wage a war over who is right.

Smith told a Scottish paper that Hitler "didn't wake up going, 'Let me do the most evil thing I can do today.' ... I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good.'"

I was driving home from the City, choking as it was with cheap-dollar tourists from around the globe (I'd never seen Midtown so jammed on Christmas Eve), through the empty streets of Polish-Catholic Clifton, New Jersey. Somewhat emotionally distraught (not because of the tourists!) I concluded that ice cream would be a fine spiritual salve, so I pulled into the local Carvel, whose bright fluorescent light, I was surprised to see, was still burning bright.

I was only surprised because I figured that the help would not want to work tonight, just as this reason was enough to close the Latino-staffed kosher pizza shop I'd walked to on the way to the bus terminal in Manhattan (yeah, that distraught!). But in fact the Chinese proprietor himself was behind the counter, scooping out the ice cream — and who were his customers?

Well, there was me, from the Jewish part of town, of course, with my black velvet yarmulke and white shirt and dark suit. And four others, all together — four young Arabs, another feature of our part of New Jersey, a young man and three women. Two of the girls (they could not have been much older than teenagers) were wearing hijabs on top of modern-looking high school clothes; one in jeans and one in Clifton High Mustangs sweatpants. Another one looked completely Americanized, no hijab, but because of her lack of covering her semitic looks and ebony hair were all the more obvious. And there was the brother, a tall curly-haired boy ordering a "classic sundae" with vanilla ice cream and hot caramel. The Chinese Carvel franchisee served the four of them in turn while someone else emerged from the back to help me with my order.

"Here we are!" I said. "The only customers for ice cream in Clifton!" They all smiled at me and chuckled. One of the girls, the uncovered one, said, "Of course, what else are we going to do tonight? We don't celebrate Christmas!" I assured them I understood, and waited for my cup, and we all smiled and wished each other an American good night as they climbed into a waiting SUV and I stepped out onto the abandoned street aglow from the light of green and red colored lights hung from the lampposts.

Cross-posted on Likelihood of Success.

Leftist dude with astrophysics degrees and something else says that Global Warming has stopped.

I recycle but do not consider myself an environmentalist. This here link I'm providing is the first time I've ever written about the subject.

ps - Merry Christmas to all and sundry. Dean, I'm sorry but I can't figure out how to put this post BELOW the Christ post you've got up for Christmas.

The actual derivation of the name (for anyone who's interested).

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

(From the Gospel according to Luke.)

Arretium, circa 128 BCE

Death, when it comes, rarely arrives by knocking at the door and waiting politely while you prepare yourself. This is a lesson I had learned long before, yet still the following events struck me with a force beyond any I had experienced in many centuries.

Two days before it came, Salia was playing in the library while I read. Her childish musings were no distraction to me; indeed, they were almost calming. Sometimes this place was simply too quiet for my liking—a thought that would have seemed passing strange not so long before. In a way her presence there was also an act of defiance, for Marieko had forbidden her to speak to me. This naturally rendered me irresistible to her, but I respected her grandfather’s wishes as best I could, feeling that I outraged the old man sufficiently as it was.

I was reading Euripides that morning, finishing up what Rufus had of his writings with Troiades. It struck me that Euripides seemed certain the gods were much like mortals, so petty and childish. It made little sense to me. In my domain I had most certainly punished those who slighted me, but mortals with the good sense to run away seldom had much to fear. Indeed, the more I read of the doings of the gods of the Greeks and Romans, the less kinship I felt with them, extending even to my counterpart, Diana.

It was while ruminating upon these things that a phrase caught my attention, something Salia whispered as she toyed with a rag doll on the floor near my feet.

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The two roles of the Messiah.

Hmmm.

Sounds like they're over-reaching on some of their conclusions, although I have little doubt that some humor is influenced by these things.

On issue after issue, China has become the second most important country on the planet. Consider what's happened already this past year. In 2007 China contributed more to global growth than the United States, the first time another country had done so since at least the 1930s. It also became the world's largest consumer, eclipsing the United States in four of the five basic food, energy and industrial commodities. And a few months ago China surpassed the United States to become the world's leading emitter of CO2. Whether it's trade, global warming, Darfur or North Korea, China has become the new x factor, without which no durable solution is possible.
...
So far Beijing has managed to balance economic growth and social stability in a highly fluid environment. Given their challenges, China's political leaders stand out for their governing skills. The regime remains a dictatorship, with a monopoly on power. But it has expanded personal liberty in ways that would be recognizable to John Locke or Thomas Jefferson. People in China can now work, travel, own property and increasingly worship as they please. This is not enough, but it is not insignificant, either.
...
In another Foreign Affairs essay, Princeton's John Ikenberry makes the crucially important point that the current world order is extremely conducive to China's peaceful rise. That order, he argues, is integrated, rule-based, with wide and deep foundations—and there are massive economic benefits for China to work within this system. Meanwhile, nuclear weapons make it suicidal to risk a great-power war. "Today's Western order, in short, is hard to overturn and easy to join," writes Ikenberry.

(Thanks Ryan.)

I see that Obama is turning into a serious threat, as is McCain.

Now, I cannot vote for Obama (he's wrong on Iraq in every important way, and as that's my #1 issue he has zero chance of getting my vote), but it would be hard not to be happy to see America have its first black President in my lifetime.

Hey. I'm just mopin' today. What are you up to?

(6:51pm Eastern)

Cool.

Man Canada should be embarrassed.

7:45 pm Eastern--Go!

This is an epochal moment: The U.S. has a chance to break away from failed policies of the past and throw itself behind two new constitutional democracies that occupy critical geostrategic positions in the most dangerous part of the world. Will we seize this moment or let it pass

At the geostrategic level, American diplomats have had to make devil's bargains far more morally suspect than going into Iraq. General George Patton and others lamented that World War II had broken out over saving the free peoples of Eastern Europe—only to end with the Yalta accords ensuring their enslavement by an erstwhile American ally whose military we had supplied lavishly.

I don't much care for Dick Morris. Seems to me he's wrong far more than he's right and why he still has a job is beyond me.

Maybe it's because he used to work for the Clinton's and now has a career saying not nice things about them? I'm of the opinion that since he wrote a book called Condi vs. Hillary: The Next Great Presidential Race, and it looks pretty good that Condi Rice has no intention of running and never did, that unless Morris pays everyone back that bought his book his opinion is pretty well worthless in my book.

So, why do I care about what Morris has to say now? Well, he's talking about Michigan (where I live) and he's talking smack about my boy, Fred Thompson. And that makes me happy? Why? Because since he's typically wrong, and he thinks Fred it going to drop out after Iowa.

This mean, to me, he's not. And Sean Hannity made a pretty good case for Thompson not caring if he loses Iowa because he's spent a lot of time in the southern states anyway. Thompson's not putting up with the moderator in Iowa gave him a boost in that state anyway.

Anyway, you can read Morris' piece here. If you make it all the way through you are a better person than I.

The AP reports:

J. Russell Coffey, the oldest known surviving U.S. veteran of World War I, has died. The retired teacher, one of only three U.S. veterans from the "war to end all wars," was 109. . . .

The two remaining U.S. veterans are Frank Buckles, 106, of Charles Town, W.Va.; and Harry Richard Landis, 108, of Sun City Center, Fla., according to the Veterans Affairs Department. In addition, John Babcock, 107, of Spokane, Wash., served in the Canadian army and is the last known Canadian veteran of the war.

Coffey once confided to his daughter, Betty Jo Larsen, that he wished people would remember his contributions rather than his old age. "He told me 'even a prune can get old,'" she said last spring. She died in September.

And she was no spring chicken.

"From the December issue of COMMENTARY: managing editor Gary Rosen reports on China's economic growth and political stagnation."

Of the ways one might choose to visit China for the first time, traveling with a delegation of American journalists, as I did in September, is not ideal. In addition to the usual frustrations of group touring, there is the burden of being “media friends,” as our Chinese hosts liked to call the nine of us (six from newspapers like the Los Angeles Times, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and Boston Globe, two from magazines, and one from a Texas television station). Our primary job was to attend official meetings—that is, to sit at long tables in dreary conference rooms, listening to bureaucrats run through their talking points and repeat the Delphic slogans (“peaceful rise,” “harmonious society,” “putting people first”) with which the Communist party makes known its priorities. If we were lucky, the bureaucrats spoke English; often, we had to endure line-by-line translations. Though the standard tourist stops were also on our itinerary—we wandered the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, sampled the shopping bounty of Shanghai, cruised Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor—free time was scarce. Leisurely exploration was not on the agenda.

But such travel has its advantages, too, especially in terms of access to the Chinese government, an organism notoriously closed to outsiders. One co-sponsor of our trip was the East-West Center, a Honolulu-based education and research institute funded primarily by the U.S. government and involved in various kinds of foreign-policy wonkery and trans-Pacific bridge-building. The other co-sponsor, the Better Hong Kong Foundation (BHKF), is a very different sort of enterprise......

Continued...

Do you know of any blogs that you think should get more exposure? A recent front pager, I've noticed that it's not easy to find new content providers. Can any of you post some links to blogs you feel warrant more attention? Please include links to your own blogs as well, if you wish.

A short description of the blog would be most helpful. But a link without a script is helpful too.

Okay, so most of us are pretty frustrated with the field of presidential candidates. Is it really too late for alternatives? Why not look in our own back yard — right here on Dean's World?!

Let's assume we're talking about the GOP nomination here. Despite Dean's protests, this is fundamentally a conservative blog.

Okay, consider the possibilities. Now, you usually want to watch out for people who want to be President because of the salary and bennies. So Dean, recently unemployed, is right out. Sorry, big guy. How about the rest of the continents in this World?

• Aziz? A Democrat.

• Andrew Cory? Way too liberal. A little flaky, too. No dice.

• Dave Price? A definite possibility. Thoughtful, articulate. Strong on Iraq. A strong favorite.

• Dave Schuler? Definitely in the running. Here blog cred is a key — I mean, we are talking about a blog-based candidacy. Weblog Awards Finalist in '05 and '06! I like Dave's views on just about everything — and he has views on just about everything!

• Celia Farber? Too closely associated with her "issues," and too associated with unconventional views.

• J.A. Eddy? A good head, but I'm not entirely satisfied the fallout from Methuselah's Daughter is over.

• Jerry Kindall? I'm sorry, that's Jerry... who?

• Michael Totten? America doesn't deserve Michael Totten.

• Naftali? Single-named hasidic Jew with a mystical bent... hm, let me get back to you on that one...

• Rosemary? Her hands are a little full right now.

• Rudy Rummel? Too idealistic about things like peace, liberty. They'll shred him.

• Scott Kirwin? Maybe, maybe! But he is a self-proclaimed atheist who believes abortion is murder. Forget Kevin D.; America is not quite ready.

• Kevin D.? Religion the hard way. Makes Romney look Unitarian.

• Shay? Shay is also kind of stranger around here, mostly, so I am at a loss as to how to evaluate her. From her blog she seems interested in black people. I am betting she is one, too. That could be interesting, having a black person in this election.

• Trudy Schuett? Men's rights? Forget it, Trudy. You bet on the wrong horse.

• G. Willow Wilson? My new friend! Are we ready for a female Muslim President? Why... no! Nothing personal.

Oh, and I'm out, in case you're at all wondering. Too many skeletons in the ol' closet!

So I'm leaning toward a Dave/Dave ticket. But surely you have your views of the matter?

I"d like to present a theory. If my premise is incorrect, please inform. If my explanation doesn't make sense to you, please share why.

Being that tobacco has been a part of human society for a very, very, long time, why is societal recognition of its harmfulness so modern? Why don't we find writings going way, way, back attesting to its impact on human health. (I haven't heard of any, at any rate, and I do not count writings objecting to it as a "vice").

I do not accept an explanation claiming that only with modern diagnostics does its ill effects become apparent, mainly because, as any smoker or ex-smoker can tell you, the impact of tobacco on the human body--most notably breathing and the like--is all too apparent. And the farther you go back, the more physical was the tenor of everyday life

I likewise do not accept that the recognition is a product of the modern 'age of reason', because I do not accept that the modern age is an 'age of reason'. My studies of the oldies tell me that the educated class of our predecessors were far more rigorously rational that the educated class of the modern age.

I think, rather, that nowadays we--excepting, of course, the now relatively rare pipe or cigar smoker--do not know how to smoke. Chain smoking and deep inhalation as opposed to luxurious smokes out of a cob or eastern water pipe is the main contributer to the readily manifest harms of tobacco.

That said, I hate cigarettes, not that I wish to see them banned, though.

I have heard an argument claiming that alcohol is worse, and I guess in someways it can be. But while the overwhelming majority of people I know who drink it say it enhances their life and have no desire to quit, I have yet to meet an adult cigarette smoker who makes the same claim.

That said, I found an interesting blog on smoking that I wish to link to here.

Instapundit links to this story:

Hillary Rodham Clinton's youngest sibling is a deadbeat dad who owes tens of thousands of dollars in child support to his politically connected ex, The Post has learned.

In a disclosure that could prove embarrassing for his sister, Anthony Rodham has stiffed his former wife, Nicole Boxer, out of $75,000 in child support, as well as $55,000 in alimony, a source close to the case said.

I was glad to see this following Glenn's link:

Just what Hillary needs. Is it a plant?

As Mickey Kaus says, sometimes a story is just a story. But why didn't they get this cleaned up? It seems to me that it would be worth tens of thousands to the campaign to keep this story out of the news. (Via JWF)

Yeah, sometimes a story is just a story. What possible reflection could this be on Hillary Clinton? I'd say about none at all.

But what bothers me here is the term "deadbeat" dad. I know a deadbeat dad. For all kinds of reasons, many of which are of his own making, he is indeed in serious arrears on his post-divorce obligations. He also went about one year without working — again, for all sorts of reasons, of which none had to do with him preferring not to work in order to beat his wife and children out of gelt.

It seems that if you owe alimony or child support payments, that's the definition of being a "deadbeat." There is no reference whatsoever to the ex-husband's ability to pay; indeed, the New York Post story says, "Nicole Boxer received judgments from a Washington judge ordering Rodham to pay up earlier this year, but the cash-strapped business consultant has yet to fork over the hefty sums." He's cash-strapped — of course he hasn't "forked over."

I think this whole conceptualization of "deadbeatness" is perverse.

Life remains unpredictable, doesn't it?

I'll just have to trust to God that it'll all work out.

You fool those White Supremacists, Dr. Paul. You're a genius!

Paul/Kucinich in '08!

PS: Dr. Paul is right about the Constitution, too!

As someone who left home at the age of 15, I find the growing phenomenon of what are called emerging adults fascinating. I don't relate to it exactly, but demographically it appears to be correct, and seems to match much of what I've seen in young people these days.

Anyone looking for why sex outside of marriage is so much more common nowadays if they think "declining morals" and birth control are the primary cause of the phenomenon. The fact that we no longer live in a society that expects people to be married before the age of 18 has a lot more to do with it I'd think.

Cheryl Rofer, co-blogger at the diplomacy-oriented blog, WhirledView, has initiated an intriguing project: convene a “think tank” of bloggers to discuss the subject of nuclear weapons policy. With North Korea's apparent test of a nuclear device, the recent uproar in nuclear-armed Pakistan, and the concerns about the possibility of an Iranian nuclear weapons development program, the subject has special currency. Her introductory post provides a meaty bibliography for gaining some initial understanding of the matter.

Some bloggers have responded already. My contribution to the discussion is here. Michael Van Der Galiën of PoliGazette has responded, too.

Feel free to join in the conversation here, on Cheryl's, Michael's, or my blog, or on your own blog with a post of your own.

The North American Union, everyone!

Ron Paul sucks wet farts out of dead pigeons.

That is all.

(Oh please link this. Pleasepleasepleaseplease....)

* Update * Aww, Megan beat me to it. And so well, too.

...they also found bloody swords and knives... there are a number of body parts and skulls littered all around this property...

Joe Gandelman says lachrymose politicians are annoying, at least in more than very small doses.

Well, it's not like policy debate is dominating this election cycle, is it?

In the attached post, I posed a question premised on an understanding of Occam's Razor. As some commenters dispute that understanding, and as I think the question stands without reference to Occam, I am reformulating it and asking it again.

Premise: We will not assume the existence of something unless we have have evidence suggesting we should, and since a given phenomenon can be explained with one assumption, we have no logical right, as it were, to make a second.

Question: Is it accordingly more rational to only assume that entities exist in my mind than it is to also assume that they exist outside of it?

I recently had a know-it-all I was forced to listen to several times a week (I won't go into details of where and why) who repeatedly waxed poetic about how there are no real friendships on the internet and it's no better than television and how there's no "real human contact" in it and la-la-la. I didn't even bother arguing. But I'd like to print this out and give it to him.

Law 19:

Likewise our Sages commanded: that a man honor his wife more than he honors himself; that he love her as he loves himself; that if he is a man of means, he provide for her welfare in accordance with those means; that he not cause her to fear him excessively; that he speak to her gently; and that he not act nervously (depressed?) nor be easily made angry.

Law 20:

They [the Sages] likewise commanded upon the woman: that she honor her husband excessively; that she be in awe of him; that she tailor all her actions to be in accordance with his will; that he be in her eyes as a ruler or king, conducting herself in the ways of his heart, and distancing that which he hates.

And this is the conduct of the holy and pure children of Israel in their unions. And through this conduct, their dwelling will be beautiful and praiseworthy.

A fascinating look (scroll down to see how various major retailers spend their donation money).

Dennis Kucinich's brother has been found dead.

This is very sad. I'm by no means a supporter, and have often picked on him here on Dean's World, but I wish he and his family well in their time of grief.

Does anyone care about this anymore? I mean, seriously, does anyone care what the editors of Time think?

This is the first chapter I wrote for the book. I didn't want to start at the beginning nor the end so I jumped into the middle a bit. I knew this particular situation was coming for our protagonist, Peter, and it was something I was excited about so I wanted to push it out in some form to see if I could actually do it.

Overall, I'm happy with the end result though I know it will change upon eventual revision.

The chapter title, "A Knife in the Dark," is both a direct nod to The Lord of the Rings and a foreshadowing of something to come in the chapter. Plus I just think it sounds darned neat.

Be warned, there are a few place holders in this chapter. Names for characters and such I've not yet made up. Don't worry about them.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read my work over. You don't have to yet you're kind enough to do so anyway. It means the world.

Well, anyway, here you go!