Sunday, March 29, 2015

Schizophrenic God of Reason

The Randroid espouses one version of Natural Rights. The Randroid's version of Natural Rights wildly diverges from the noninterventionist libertarian's version of Natural Rights. Each camp claims to derive its version of Natural Rights from the self-evident premises of The Great God Reason. No leap of faith required! I can only conclude that The Great God Reason is a cruel and arbitrary god. Thank (the Christian) God I'm a Great God Reason atheist.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Cretinous Policy Intellectuals

From “Rationalizing Lunacy” by Andrew J. Bacevich:

What the three shared in common, apart from a suspect education acquired in New Haven, was an unwavering commitment to the reigning verities of the Cold War.  Foremost among those verities was this: that a monolith called Communism, controlled by a small group of fanatic ideologues hidden behind the walls of the Kremlin, posed an existential threat not simply to America and its allies, but to the very idea of freedom itself.  The claim came with this essential corollary: the only hope of avoiding such a cataclysmic outcome was for the United States to vigorously resist the Communist threat wherever it reared its ugly head.


The present-day successors to Bundy, Rostow, and Huntington subscribe to their own reigning verities.  Chief among them is this: that a phenomenon called terrorism or Islamic radicalism, inspired by a small group of fanatic ideologues hidden away in various quarters of the Greater Middle East, poses an existential threat not simply to America and its allies, but — yes, it’s still with us — to the very idea of freedom itself.  That assertion comes with an essential corollary dusted off and imported from the Cold War: the only hope of avoiding this cataclysmic outcome is for the United States to vigorously resist the terrorist/Islamist threat wherever it rears its ugly head.

Friday, March 06, 2015

Callipygian Charm

Rondure is the quintessence of callipygian charm. You need "junk in the trunk" to attain it, yes. But there are diminishing--and even negative returns. Jennifer Lopez has got it; Kim Kardashian, not so much.