But the having-a-penis thing didn't work for me.

Oh, well.

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Oh, dear.

In our eagerness to combat The Evil Ben Stein, we're now referring to speech as a "brushfire of controversy"? That's a heck of a metaphor to apply to free speech. Got to extinguish them stray ideas, yo.

And now David Linden, who was sweet and lovely enough to send me the above link, is thinking, "ah, but—yes. The difference is that this speech is subsidized by the government, and whether we call it 'creationism' or 'intelligent design,' our conclusion must be the same: this cannot be subsidized by the State."

Linden is right, of course. But that is the predicament we have gotten ourselves into as a result of thinking that education must be a function of the State. And that therefore scientific inquiry itself must be an arm of the government. Do not get me wrong: I want all the benefits of that, too. I want my fellow citizens to have gobs and gobs of "free" education (or, perhaps, free "education"). But not to the point of muzzling academics, or policing thought.

And certainly not to the point of censorship within the academy: the idea of proving "thought crimes" by going back to the previous draft of a book (as in the video linked on the home page above) to establish intent is outrageous in the extreme. What's next?—finding an article that I've fact-checked, reverting to the original text, and using that submitted manuscript to prove that the publication I was working for meant something other than what it agreed to publish?

Whaaaaat? A publication makes a correction, but should be accountable for each early draft?

I'll concede that Stein might have been so horrified by what he found during the making of Expelled that he fell off the intellectual balance beam on the other side.

But I do not care. History will correct Ben Stein's mistakes, just as it corrected Darwin's. And I shan't cower on this side of the balance beam out of fear.

What cannot be corrected is the stifling of intellectual exchange. If we didn't have that, you'd be researching the four humors, Baby. Cutting up rats and looking for Earth, Wind, and Fire in their little rodent brains. *

The difference between us lies in what we hold dear: what is sacrosanct to some is the ideal of science, a desire to hold it precious above all else, and not to see it sullied with error. To others, it's speech.

Here's my perspective: Error will always be with us. What we must have is the agency for correcting same.

Neither ideal is absolute. Neither can be absolute. I'm not going to defend yelling the word "fire!" in a crowded theater, and you aren't going to defend someone who looks for flaws in the theory of evolution, and posits a stopgap notion—or, to the athiestic way of thinking, someone who "cheats" (or throws up his or her hands, acknowledges the mysteries of the universe, and utters the phrase "intelligent design").

So you are intellectually married to Imperfect Science, and I am married to an even more Imperfect Search for Truth. **

We must, of course, both push on. But always, always looking through the looking glass to the other's side, here and there. However darkly.

* Though I'm not sure that would be so bad; they were the best. To you, Sweet Thing. And to World Peace.

** Keats told me that it's the same thing as beauty, but Keats never researched the careers of serial killers. Nor, as I understand it, did he cut up rats.

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1 The ironic bit about "yelling 'Fire' in a crowded theater" was that it was said by a Supreme Court justice in his opinion upholding a sedition charge against a man whose "crime" did not consist of yelling "Fire" in a crowded theater, but of pointing out that military conscription violated the Thirteenth Amendment (which is plainly does).

Posted by: John at May 01, 2008 03:36 AM (XnWuX)

2 Yea, I mean I still think that talking about God and so forth is a philosophical questions. It's not science, it's metaphysics. But I don't think it requires any witch hunts or anything. All sorts of really lame science is done, funded by the government. Trust me, way more bad experiments are done, fully government funded, with crazy liberal ideas than there are ones with crazy conservative ideas. A lot of people need to just go take a cold shower and a nap and get over themselves.

Posted by: silvermine at May 01, 2008 07:35 AM (4gdyI)

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"Oh. You mean Jeremiah Wright? The "whitey is the devil" guy?—hates Jews? I can't stand him, myself. I thought you meant Jeb Wright, my old pastor, from the other black church in my neighborh . . . wow; would you look at the time!"

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That's Reynolds on Obama explaining the Wright business—or attempting to.

I'd say "too giggle-inducing," myself. Like Obama woke up this morning and decided that the good Reverend is a bit of a creepy racist. In a flash. On the road to Damascus.

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Nuance.

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And young men, for that matter: know why you're going to college. Are you looking for an education, or job-training? If the latter, what kind of job are you looking for?—and are the classes you're taking relevant to it in any way, shape, or form?

If college truly is about job-training, it is indeed a terrible idea, most of the time. But what if education is more than that?

I don't have any answers: I found the Emperor to be a nudist, but an awfully well-built one. Great to date, yet I didn't wind up marrying him. Some people go to college and never come back. That's okay, too.

Try to get a handle on your motives. And do, please, figure out where the money is going to come from.

For what it's worth, the world is full of illiterate former English majors, and that makes me wistful. On the other hand, math and science are the subjects that you kind of have to learn from people who know 'em: anyone can just read literature or history.

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It's not so much "what did Glenn know, and when did he know it?"

It's more like, "why the plaid flannel, at the White House?"

Just because one is cooking, doesn't mean one's standards can go all to heck . . . unless Glenn suspected people would take pictures of him there, and he was attempting "plausible deniability." The plot thickens . . .

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There's a lot to recommend the McCain approach to healthcare, spelled out in some detail this morning in an address at the Lee Moffit Cancer Center—and fleshed out further in a media conference call between reporters/bloggers and two of the Senator's top advisors—Carly Fiorina and Doug Holtz-Eakin.

Free market/Federalist nuts like me are bound to have a few questions as we investigate this further, but McCain's plan certainly is more market-based/flexible than any other approach I've read about, and it doesn't create disincentives to continue research into pioneering treatments—nor forbid people from buying healthcare wherever they like (quite the opposite, in fact). Here's Johnny Mac's YouTube promo of the plan, and here's an article about the new approach that's highlighted on the McCain website.

There are a handful of important elements, here. McCain proposes:

1) Giving each family a $5000 tax credit, payable directly to the healthcare plan of their choice;

2) Creating the conditions so that people can buy healthcare across state lines, in the expectation that competition will lead to greater efficiency and lower costs;

3) Making it more difficult for the worst doctors to operate, by publishing doctor fee systems and patient ratings over the internet;

4) Leveling the playing field for the self-employed and the unemployed by making it truly feasible for individuals and families to "de-link" their healthcare from their employment, rather than, in effect, forcing people to change doctors every time they cahnge jobs;

5) Pushing forward on tort reform, to keep frivolous lawsuits from driving costs up for everyone else;

6) Encouraging healthcare providers to use individual case management, rather than fee-for-services programs, and to incentivize preventative care and healthful life choices for the patient; coaxing the industry into becoming more outcome-based (without—so Team McCain claims—creating mandates for those patients).

It's promising, and while I'd like to see minimal government involvement in healthcare, this is the lightest approach I've seen in some time, and it does address some of the perverse incentives in the existing system, while maing more care available at lower cost.

Thanks to Patrick Hynes, as always, for coordinating this, and the press office at McCain HQ for continuing the New Media outreach.

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. . . for prime time.

Hat tip: Memorandum.

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Wachel on Wupert's upcoming deployment:

I feel like a colossal asshole for sleeping in a comfy bed with comfy pillows in a quiet room every night while these guys are out there sleeping on cots in tents and lugging around half their weight in body armor every day. I also feel like a colossal asshole for never worrying about this stuff before. ItÂ’s not like the war started the day Rupert got called up. I guess sometimes things just have to get personal for a person to wake up to certain painful realities.

It just sucks. That’s what I know. I wish I had something profound to say about it but I don’t. It just sucks. I never really “got it” when I heard or read about how deployments wreak havoc on the troops’ families and how that in itself makes it so much harder for the troops themselves. Oh, I get it now, way more than I ever wanted to. I’m not saying my life is havoc right now, far from it. I just finally get what’s so different about your loved one being away from you for this reason as opposed to other reasons like college or moving across country or whatever. People do those things for themselves. They serve in the military for everyone else, and it’s physically, psychologically, and mentally a world apart.

And I tell you what, it makes me want to dismember people like [anti-troop idiot whose name Joy redacted for the same reason Rachel took out the link] (whom I shall not link to on second thought) and feed the parts to my dogs.

Holy shit, Rachel. My prayers with Rupert; you've really brought this home for me.

(Yeah; Imade a grammatical correction to the Lucas quote. I'll take it out on Rachel's request, if she can spot it. I know it was wrong to do that, but it was a weak moment. I mean, I could insert little "[sic]" notes into people's quotations, but that's, like, calling attention to 'em, ya know? It feels like a snide thing to do on a medium like the internet, wherein speed is so much the name of the game that even the very best bloggers sometimes . . . gulp . . . find that space aliens have inserted typographical errors into their work.

I could actually make a full-time job of writing discreet little emails to other bloggers, pointing out their mistakes. But no one would pay me, and even more people would hate me. So—no.)

Also: Rachel is reading Michael Yon's latest, Moment of Truth in Iraq. I can't wait to get my hands on it, but I spent this month's discretionary funds on a couple of tank tops in the first few days we hit ninety degrees here in SoCal. (Do me a favor: next time I brag about the weather here—which will probably be tomorrow—fuckin' shoot me. 'Kay?)

The Rach (aka The Rock) also recommends this post by James Aalan Bernsen on the surge.

About the suffering of military families—well, I don't know. I have discovered that when I turn on the "sensitive" switch I tend to melt into a puddle of sympathy, and I'm less effective as a human being. Just as I had to detach from squeamishness to take science classes, I have to detach from real human pain in order to (1) write essays about politics, or (2) write fiction about crime. (I remember having a stern talking-to with myself while I was doing research on serial killers; the careers of Ted Bundy and his colleagues make for tough reading if you are saddled with any compassion. I had to find the shut-off switch.)

I have no answers. I only know that I no longer have any inclination to prop up military leaders who cannot be coaxed into some kind of democratic inroads to human rights. Which leaves me hopeful that we can use capitalism to, um, give the Chinese government some rope. And it leaves me barely avoiding the dark pits of despair when it comes to North Korea.

And as a crime writer, of course, I will probably someday write the "detective nullification" plot that all the greats play with (even Dorothy L. Sayers did it once in a short story—though she condemned it in one of her novels).

But for the most part I serve the function of a traffic light, reminding my fellow creatures that—nine times out of ten—murder is evil.

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Karl, having relentlessly researched Black Liberation Theology at Protein Wisdom remarks:

About ten weeks ago, it was becoming clear that Obama was running a campaign of winning caucuses in normally Republican states to overcome the “inevitable” establishment candidacy of Hillary Clinton, much as McGovern did to Muskie in 1972. Thus, it did not come as a shock when Obama’s campaign began to look more and more McGovernite in which voters it wins and loses.

And Robert Stacy McCain has a detailed analysis up at The American Spectator that's well worth reading. Money quote:

OBAMA'S PREDICAMENT now resembles nothing so much as that faced by George McGovern in July 1972, after the Democratic presidential nominee belatedly discovered that his vice-presidential choice, Missouri Sen. Thomas Eagleton, had previously been hospitalized for mental illness.

As with Obama's mishandling of the Wright controversy, the Eagleton disaster was an unforced error on McGovern's part. McGovern and his campaign team had dawdled over choosing a running mate, evidently in the mistaken belief that Ted Kennedy could be talked into taking the No. 2 spot.

When Kennedy finally gave a definitive "no," and other top possibilities also declined, the McGovern campaign scrambled and came up with Eagleton. There was no time for a background check and when Eagleton was asked if he had any skeletons in his closet, he said he didn't—even though he'd been hospitalized three times for severe depression and had twice undergone electroshock therapy.

It was only after he'd been nominated as vice president that journalists began reporting about Eagleton's history of mental illness. Rather than to take responsibilty for his deception and resign from the ticket, however, Eagleton tried to hang on. The Democratic campaign endured more than a week of agonizing limbo—at one point, McGovern famously declared he was behind Eagleton "1,000 percent"—before Eagleton was finally forced out.

Some say Richard Nixon would have been re-elected in 1972 no matter what, but McGovern's mishandling of the Eagleton affair destroyed whatever hope the Democrats had.

OBAMA'S MISHANDLING of the Wright controversy resembles the Eagleton affair in that it reveals a lack of foresight and preparation. Wright's sermons were available for sale on DVD, and Ronald Kessler of NewsMax.com had reported about Wright's controversial views as early as January. Yet when the ABC News story broke in March, the Obama campaign appeared to be caught flat-footed.

Much like McGovern's initial "1,000 percent" support of Eagleton—which only encouraged Eagleton's attempts to stay on the ticket—Obama's Philadelphia speech defending Wright has prolonged the crisis, with Wright now refusing to leave the spotlight.

Those are only a few of the similarities, however. The main one—the one that is keeping the superdelegates awake at night these days—is the fact that Obama is clearly unelectable due to his fringey associations in the popular mind. Simply put, he's been outed for the stupidest beside-the-point reasons as being too far to the left. There's irony to spare, here, because from a libertarian perspective Obama's association with black supremacist Marxism (aka Black Liberation Theology) doesn't yield much policy fruit from the racism side, but produces plenty on the Marxism side. So if it weren't for the fact that Obama's Marxism is (1) associated with violence (see Ayers, Bill), and (2) linked with black racism (Wright, Jeremiah), he'd be getting a pass on precisely the most destructive—albeit an unspoken—part of his platform.

Obama's candidacy is dead. The only question left is whether he'll take the Democratic Party with him. If the Supers go with Clinton, they still have a shot at the White House, but they can kiss the blind loyalty of some segments of the black population goodbye. If they Supers pick Obama, they are taking a four- to-eight-year break from seeking executive power—which the healthcare socialists and anti-War lobby may well find inexcusable.

Me? I'm going to go smoke a cigar.

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In point of fact, my grandfather left some barbiturates to my mother when he died. Not on purpose, but because no one in my fucking family ever throws any goddamned thing away. Not even pills. (Or, especially not pills.)

Neither the reds nor the shotgun turned out to be Good Things,* but you know—I'm over it.

* Fair use, Martha-Baby. Fair use.

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Now go say hello to him. And tell him you love him, and send him chocolates and booze, so he won't stop.

I mean, what do the Mixed Martial Arts have that the Blogosphere doesn't? (Um. Don't answer that.)

Seriously: That PW post contains the Best. Thread. Ever.

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It's the one Muir just put up; it'll still be on my sidebar for another 24 hours or better (he's early tonight).

Very sexy. Though I do think the sidearm looks more like a 1911 than a Glock. Fortunately, many of Chris' readers will be too distracted by the excellent way he draws Sam's ass to so much as peek at the gun.

(Like that old picture that sometimes goes around with the barechested firefighters and the Dalmations: the joke is that women just "can't find any dogs" in the photo.)

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1 What Glock?

Posted by: Darrell at April 28, 2008 09:08 PM (WYcE7)

2 Darrell,I found it tough myself to find the M-27 Baby Glock in the scene.And thanks, Attila Girl!

Posted by: Chris Muir at April 29, 2008 01:38 AM (Qn+aj)

3 G-27,it's late here.

Posted by: Chris Muir at April 29, 2008 01:54 AM (Qn+aj)

4 It could be me, but I could swear I see a conventional safety on the side of the firearm. And my .40 is in storage, so I can't take it out and look at it.

Posted by: Attila Girl at April 29, 2008 09:36 AM (Hgnbj)

5 I might have seen the characteristic pronounced thumb rest, instead of a safety---when I saw a pistol or holster at all. I say the drawing is good enough for government work. And better for even more when I don't see the pistol and holster. . .

Posted by: Darrell at April 29, 2008 12:48 PM (y6nt0)

6 Darrell, you're right: I think the fact that Chris modeled it on a compact model threw me off--I was missing that sort of "boxy" quality I associate with the Glock, but on a petite gun that's not going to come through. Chris--I'm sorry!

Posted by: Attila Girl at April 29, 2008 05:47 PM (Hgnbj)

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Last night the wind started blowing toward La Canada; I hoped it wouldn't spread the fire, but it did.

This morning the soot was in the air, and the smoke was visible. By noon that had changed. Now it just looks like hazy sunshine out there, but the flames are spreading again: the authorities aren't letting some of the evacuated Sierra Madreans back into their homes (in case the wind changes direction again), and now they're extending the evacuation into the eastern edge of Pasadena.

It looks like Altadena might be up next; what a nightmare. The evacuation/shelter map, courtesy of Foothill Cities Blog, is here.

I know, I know: I'm supposed to be grateful that homes aren't being destroyed. And I am. Really, I am. But it's still heartbreaking to lose some of Southern Cal's best hiking trails. Griffith Park last spring. And the area around Julian in last fall's massive tragedy.

(If I sound heartless, please keep in mind that in Southern California our wilderness areas and parks are the equivalent to Central Park in NYC: there are issues of identity involved that are difficult to explain.)

Please pray for us; this is one of three major things we have to worry about here. In some ways, it's worse than floods or earthquakes—wildfires move like lightning, and they kill a lot more people than the other two.

Water, around here: it's like cops and hookers. Ya know?

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Much as I despise identity politics, if I were a black Obama supporter right now I'd renew my commitment to him simply to spite Rev. Wright, who is clearly trying to sabotage the Obama candidacy so the superdelegates will have no choice but to make that U-Turn and give the nomination to Senator Clinton.

From Wright's perspective, there is no downside: (1) his name gets out there, and (2) vultures like him who feed off of the "victim perspective" will have more roadkill to savor after the nomination is "stolen" from Obama.

Sharpton, Jackson: he's coming after your market share, guys.

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If robots are doing all the work for me, why aren't they fetching me drinks and cigars? I mean, I assume they will peel grapes for me—and slice watermelon, and slather water crackers with bits of cilantro hummus—but if the Superhappy/Neuroscience Party really wants my vote, they'll have to allow for a few vices.

Even with the flying cars that I was promised decades ago.

Maybe several vices.

Perhaps a serious vice / virtue imbalance.

Quite possibly a serious of character flaws so impressive, the superhappy women will barely have the biomass to sustain them. Theoretically.

Via Grammar's Taskmistress.

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Well, gee. I hope so. If not, his loyalties were a bit misplaced during the Vietnam War, weren't they?

How do the citizenship requirements differ for

(1) military service;
(2) becoming a U.S. Senator; and
(3) being elected President of the United States?

We know that there are differences between (1) and (2). What I do not know is whether there are differences between (2) and (3).

I'll investigate, and let y'all know what I come up with.

On a related note, I think Megan McArdle is mistaken when she suggests that "Hillary will have a much harder time keeping Obama's supporters from defecting to the other side than he will hers." I just don't see it: right now Obama's negatives are far, far higher than Senator Clinton's. And each of theirs is higher than McCain's.

In a normal election year, the Democrats would have the advantage, due to the troubled economy and our national ambivalence about the situation in Iraq. But it is not a normal year. At this moment the Democratic Party elders are having to decide whether to commit "particide," and nominate Clinton—at the cost of the blind allegiance of black voters that they've previously enjoyed—or write off the White House for the next 4-8 years in order to keep the more non-analytical/fiercely loyal black voters in the fold.

It isn't an enviable choice.

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In Louisiana, U.S. Attorneys are facing charges if irregularities that could create the basis for an appeal that would unravel the conviction of a former governor.

Patterico and his co-blogger are closin' in on the story; presumably Patterico is bored with the LA Times, and wants to spank people farther east--that is, the ones that need spankin'.

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and it looks like the Sierra Madre/Arcadia fire is semi-contained. Evacuations are still in place at least through tomorrow morning—and many of the schools east of here will be closed tomorrow as well.

There's still no ash making its way to La Cañada, nor even any smoke visible. I just hope that the priority of protecting structures didn't lose us too much ground in the Angeles National Forest.

We'll know more tomorrow morning, but I have high hopes it'll be contained by then.

Centinel at Foothill Cities is staying on top of the situation, and he's linking to some cool stuff.

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