Politics USA: Lotteries and Poverty edition
Republicans love to complain about some liberal “nanny state” idea and then they turn around and write laws about what poor people can’t do with their money and what women can’t do with their bodies...
View ArticleWere you there in the aspen grove?
I’ve always liked the name aspen. There’s something pleasing about it. And the trees are pleasing too. They’re related to the birch, and it was nice to see some real broad leaf trees when I was in...
View ArticleWhy on Earth does anyone think Barrack Obama is left wing and/or liberal?
The American president strikes me as being an authoritarian war-monger. And, strangely, he doesn’t get much criticism for this. Even the extra-judicial killing of US citizens (including at least one...
View ArticleAnalysis: Art and Culture
We all like art of some kind. Sometimes, indeed, fairly often, some of that art is in some way problematic. That’s alright, but it’s interesting, and analysis of art can be an interesting and useful...
View ArticleOzymandias, Texas
Did you know that Percy Bysshe Shelly wrote “Ozymandias” after a trip to New Spain? No, nor did I. This is hilarious. And wonderful. And deeply, deeply silly. TRiG.
View ArticleQuantum Romneyism
This is now well out of date, but I still think it’s funny. Romney holds a superposition of all political opinions until you observe him, then they collapse based on the audience. TRiG.
View ArticleIn which the US Republicans continue their efforts to commit political suicide
Fred Clark is fond of pointing out what he calls Republican “outreach” to various groups. Their cluelessness, arrogance, and massive sense of entitlement is, really most amusing. Outreach. Outreach....
View ArticleThe Liberation of Paris: Whites only
In August 1944, at the time of the Liberation of Paris, the French army was two thirds black. Two thirds! De Gaulle had raised an army in Africa. And yet, all the soldiers involved in the Liberation of...
View ArticleCartoon Drawings and the Default Human Being; or, Why do Japanese people draw...
Had this question ever occurred to you? I don’t read much manga myself (barely any, though I do like the art style), but it does, at first glance, seem that everyone in them is white. As it turns out,...
View ArticleLaw in theory, in practise: Stand your ground
Some US states have “stand your ground” laws, which defend people who use firearms in self-defence. So long as they’re socially approved people, of course. TRiG.
View ArticleMarriage (word, action; name, deed): the significance and cultural...
Any relationship you have might be good enough for civil unions, but not for marriage. At Box Turtle Bulletin, Rob Tisinai talks about why having marriage, not just civil unions, is important: I have...
View ArticleNOM: Willing, deliberate liars
The National Organization for Marriage has been spreading a host of falsehoods about research into same-sex parenting. Every so I often I lob a tweet about this to Thomas Peters, NOM’s Communications...
View ArticleHow May Day became a workers’ holiday
May Day is celebrated around the world as a labour holiday. One of the few countries that doesn’t celebrate it is the one where it all began, the USA. The origins of May Day as a workers’ holiday go...
View ArticleChristian Horror Films: Horrific Christian Culture?
Any time people get worked up about a menace they believe in but can’t actually see – demons, Commies, jihadis, hordes of hoodie-wearing thugs — they’re likely to take it out on the weakest and most...
View Article“my rights end where yours begin”
That’s the whole conundrum of invoking God as the singular rationale for or against public policy—God says lots of different things to lots of different people, and all of them think that they’re...
View ArticleJapanese Addresses: ways of thinking
Recently I was rereading Joel Spolsky’s introduction to distributed version control, Hg Init. (To be precise, it’s an introduction to Mercurial, but it also functions fairly well as an introduction to...
View ArticleThis is mental anguish?
Do you remember John Pike, the “pepper-spraying cop”? He’s been given $38k for mental anguish. The world is not fair. TRiG.
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