Month: August 2002

Here’s a picture of my new “Steyr Scout”. It was taken at the range a few weeks ago.

Review and/or Revoke Peta’s tax-exempt status. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is a lunatic group that considers animals to be morally equivalent to people. They give money to support ecofreak terrorist groups, which is a violation of the law on tax-exempt status. This is a petition asking the IRS to revoke that status.

Fog-light.

bq. Although it has been linked to elsewhere in the blogosphere, I feel that this essay by John Fonte is simply too important to pass without mention here.

It’s a long essay but far more than worth it. For me, it was more like a gripping novel; once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down. It isn’t just good, it’s exciting because a lot of us have known for some time that there was something wrong in the world but it was difficult to pin down and put our fingers on. It was something that has no face and no name. Like fog it swirled all around us but not being corporeal we lashed out fiercely in all directions, landing blows on nothing. It was like an itch we could never scratch.

John Fonte has done us all a service by running his nails deliciously down that spot and we will hear more of him and, more importantly, much more of the ‘Transnational Progressives’ (“Tranzis”) he so graphically disects.
[Samizdata.net]

I agree that the article is a “must read.” Although the Evil Empire was defeated, the evil that pervaded it–the evil of collectivism–is still abroad in the world. Dr. Fonte’s article shows the face that evil has taken in the modern world.

Angry hippo survives the great flood. Zoo staff were amazed to see him emerge from the elephant enclosure and were said to be overjoyed after the torment of seeing their charges die last week. Petr Fejk, the zoo’s director, said the hippopotamus was in “attack mode” when he was found but had calmed down after being given something to eat. [news.Telegraph.co.uk]

It’s not that surprising. Hippos are semi-aquatic creatures, after all.

Frankly, the consensus (bolstered by my conversations this weekend) is that war with Iraq won’t happen in the near-term.  There isn’t a casus belli, or at least one up to American standards.  Given that Bush will be unable to muster the support he needs to send 250 k Americans to enjoy sun and fun in Qatar, Kuwait, and Iraq:  he should stop this farce now.  Every moment he delays, sinks our economy.  He can’t, despite his desire, correct the original sin of his father:  to demonize Saddam and not eliminate him.  [John Robb’s Radio Weblog]

The consensus among whom? I don’t know if Bush will really invade Iraq or not, but thinking that he won’t because there’s no casus belli doesn’t make sense. Under the previous administration, the US invaded, occupied, or otherwise committed acts of war against Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Serbia, the Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and probably a few others I can’t think of offhand. There was no casus belli in any of those cases, and there was none of the overwhelming public support that an invasion of Iraq has now.

Sure, there’s no casus belli with Iraq now, and it would be illegal for the President to order in invasion without Congress first declaring war, but so what? When did little things like the law and what’s right ever concern the US government? If Bush decides not to attack, it will be to avoid angering someone he can’t afford to anger, or because the polls show a dramatic shift in public opinion against an attack.

I don’t think it makes much difference one way or the other as far as the economy is concerned. It’s sinking anyway, all a war will do is make it sink a little faster.