"Dio For America"

"I'm a wheel
I'm a wheel
I can roll I can feel
And you can't stop me turning"

This is the funniest thing I've seen this campaign season.

(Linked outta Hit & Run)

Same As It Ever Was

"Without a random clue in the world what the fuck's going on, we must protect our phoney-baloney jobs, ladies & gentlemen!"

(Federal Open Market Committee)

Your Clue For The Day

Read very carefully -- word-for-word -- the first two sentences of this article, and think very hard and as clearly as you can about what they mean.

I don't know about you, but I remember when private savings accounts were not "creat[ed]" by the administrative branch of the federal government, and when it would never have occurred to any American to call them "entitlements", because there was simply no question about private property that required the qualification.

T_h_i_n_k__ h_a_r_d_ about what this means, ladies and gentlemen.

Here is another little test for you:

See if you can manage to hold together a context. Then, consider the last word of the second sentence of that article in that context. Consider:

It is "expensive" that you keep what is yours.

Do you understand?

Eugene Volokh is disqualified from taking this test on the grounds of X-eyed myopia. I'm still holding my breath over Matt Welch

Periodic Endarkenment

"By 'proof' we mean that your explanations must be direct, observable, physical, natural, repeatable, unambiguous and comprehensive. We don't want hearsay, popular opinion, 'expert' testimony, majority vote, personal conviction, organizational rulings, superficial analogies, appeals to 'simplicity,' 'apologies' to Galileo, or any other indirect means of persuasion which do not qualify as scientific proof."

That's Robert Sungenis of Catholic Apologetics International explaining to you how he will not be convinced while offering a thousand dollar reward if you can convince him.

This, ladies & gentlemen, is cynicsm. It's the difference between one whose mind can be won with facts -- and their implications -- of which he is ignorant, and one who prefers his ignorance over facts.

Just so you know: the fact of which Mr. Sungenis is not convinced is heliocentrism. That's right: he doesn't think the earth revolves around the sun.

The BIG Idea

"A certain small income, sufficient for necessities, should be secured for all, whether they work or not, and that a larger income ... should be given to those who are willing to engage in some work which the community recognizes as useful."

That quote is attributed to Bertrand Russell, c. 1918, by a gaggle of commies who think they have the right to dispose of what you own.

It is constantly shocking to me: how that moral principle is so routinely and systematically ignored. You can find all kinds of discussion about whether the thing would actually work, but a serious examination of the morality of straight-up theft -- on which this is premised -- is almost vanishingly rare.