ELSEWHERE

A stupid philosopher: This bit of wisdom is from a Duke University philosophy professor -- commenting on why he does not hire conservatives to teach philosophy: "We try to hire the best, smartest people available," Brandon said of his philosophy hires. "If, as John Stuart Mill said, stupid people are generally conservative, then there are lots of conservatives we will never hire. Mill's analysis may go some way towards explaining the power of the Republican party in our society and the relative scarcity of Republicans in academia". So he takes an attack by Mill on his political opponents that Mill made in Victorian-era Britain and treats it as good information about the USA today. And even if that were a reasonable thing to do, note the non sequitur: Even if stupid people are generally conservative (and there is no EVIDENCE offered of that; I have met a lot of stupid Left-voters in my time), it does not follow that conservatives generally are stupid. Note the usual Leftist elitism too. Brandon is clearly implying that society generally is stupid. Nice type! Just to REALLY ruin Brandon's party, however, let the FACT be noted that the correlation in the general population between anti-authority attitudes (which Leftists pride themselves on) and low IQ is quite substantial. Survey research shows that it is in fact Leftist attitudes that are associated with stupidity!.

Federal Communications Commission a useless "New Deal" monstrosity: Some of the most significant "accomplishments" of the FCC include protecting AT&T from competition for decades by granting the company monopoly privileges, similarly protecting television broadcasters for years by restraining cable television, and delaying the entrance of cellular phones into the marketplace for more than a decade. Such bureaucratically inflicted stagnation on the communications industry has cost the economy tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars. Bringing the cumbersome FCC into the mix is unnecessary in the Timberlake-Jackson controversy. If the pop stars defied a contract with CBS in their salaciousness, the market will handle it in the best possible way and CBS can always seek legal damages. It is not in the network's interest to offend viewers or to pull so much attention away from the game itself, which happened to be quite exciting this year. Contractual promises and fear of losing work will have more influence on celebrities than will government harassment of the networks on which they appear

The strange case of the missing homosexuals: The recent UK census indicated that the homosexual population is tiny -- only one 750th of the 10% that is sometimes quoted. The homosexual activist response to the low count is that it indicates most homosexuals are still afraid to come out of the closet. Ticking a box on a confidential census form is coming out of the closet? Definitely one for Sherlock Holmes.

Fleeing socialism: "Germany's brightest and best qualified young professionals are leaving the country in droves and securing lucrative positions abroad. ...Every seventh person with a doctorate in science leaves Germany for the United States, The Scientist magazine has reported. Three of the four German Nobel Prize winners work in the United States".

Porphyrogenitus has an analysis of Leftist psychology that is similar to mine but he thinks there is still some life in the old story that some U.S. "liberals" are not Leftists. I am sorry to say that I think he has been had on that one. Are there ANY "liberals" who don't believe in using government coercion to increase "equality"? If they do believe in it they are just slowed-down Communists and if they don't believe in it they are conservatives as far as I can see.

Keith Burgess-Jackson has put up a good letter from the NYT about the "Bush lied" chant.

Carnival of the Vanities is up again with its usual big range of selected reading.

True love is forever? Diamonds are forever? The Wicked one says that only herpes is forever.

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The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

Another example of Leftist dishonesty: They blame the 9/11 attacks on "poverty" in the Islamic world. Yet most of the attackers were Saudis and Saudi Arabia is one of the world's richest countries!

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