Nobrainer’s Think Tank

“I believe if you can’t say something nice about somebody, you must be talking about Hillary Clinton.” - Jeff Foxworthy

We’re going to cover a lot of ground and have some good times. So come along for the ride.

Social Security

From Deroy Murdock at NRO:

So, what Democrats recommend on Social Security is zippo, a debauched dollar, or a huge tax hike. By comparison, President Bush’s voluntary personal retirement accounts look sexier by the day.

Whatever happens, I’m still not counting on SS in any way, shape, or form. I like the personal account ideal. It doesn’t serve as a tool for the redistribution of wealth. Also, it encourages the average citizen to promote business and profits. This is in direct opposition to the flailing unions and greens. Both of which I feel are terribly misguided in their respective approaches.

China:
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Pulling from Michael Barone’s “Rove speech exposes fundamental split” we see what Evil Genius Karl Rove said that so infuriated the left.

“Conservatives saw the savagery of 9-11 in the attacks and prepared for war. Liberals saw the savagery of the 9-11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers. In the wake of 9-11, conservatives believed it was time to unleash the might and power of the United States military against the Taliban. In the wake of 9-11, the liberals believed it was time to submit a petition.”
[…]
Reading the initial press accounts of Rove’s speech, I wished that he had been more specific about which liberals he was denouncing — except that, as those press accounts failed to mention, he was. “I’m not joking,” he went on immediately after the words quoted above. “Submitting a petition was precisely what Moveon.org, then known as 9-11peace.org did. You may have seen it in The New York Times or The Washington Post, the San Francisco Examiner or the L.A. Times. (Funny, I didn’t see it in the Amarillo Globe News.) It was a petition that ‘implored the powers that be’ to ‘use moderation and restraint in responding to the terrorist attacks against the United States.’”

The only mistake one might want Rove to apologize for is using “the liberals” instead of “some liberals” or “most liberals.” To me, the mistake seems to have been made by the Democrats who so vociferously complained. In particular, why would Hillary have raised her voice? She has the votes to show that she approved military action. She is taking great pains to paint herself as a moderate. Why would she be up-in-arms when someone publicly and correctly categorizes liberals?

It appears the Evil Genius has struck again.

Further Reading:

Well, everything seems to be in working order. I upgraded to the latest version of WordPress. I upgraded to the latest version of SpamKarma. Plus you will probably notice that the comments page has changed.

If you have any complaints, bend over and I’ll show you where to stick them.

This morning, Fark directed me to read “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race.”

The mistake, as the author argues, is the human shift to agriculture. Using historical evidence, he shows that humans surviving by early agricultural means were less healthy than their hunter/gatherer counterparts. Agriculture then allowed the development of cities. The cities then brought their own detriments to human health.

The above may well be true, but should that be considered the worst mistake in the history of the human race? To convince me, the author needs to show that agriculture was unnecessary for survival. In fact, he suggests the opposite. “The evidence suggests that the Indians at Dickson Mounds, like many other primitive peoples, took up farming not by choice but from necessity in order to feed their constantly growing numbers.” For the data provided, it seems to me that overpopulation was the mistake. Agriculture was the solution.

The truth is, I would not have even brought this up if it weren’t for these statements:

In particular, recent discoveries suggest that the adoption of agriculture, supposedly our most decisive step toward a better life, was in many ways a catastrophe from which we have never recovered. With agriculture came the gross social and sexual inequality, the disease and despotism, that curse our existence.

Besides malnutrition, starvation, and epidemic diseases, farming helped bring another curse upon humanity: deep class divisions.

If agriculture was such a huge mistake, what alternative approach should have been taken? Logically, population control was the more acceptable answer. Lowered birth rates would help. But if those rates held constant, the people would still collectively face malnutrition and starvation… unless the groups specifically thinned themselves out. What a great alternative.

With his logic already on shaky footing, to prove any point the reader must readily believe class differences are shameful and that total gender equality is desirable. Throw in some appreciation for living in tune with nature, and it all sounds a lot like liberal propaganda.

And that concludes today’s public service announcement.

• At 3:12 this morning, something in Charlottesville exploded and woke me up. Being as it woke me up, it must have been seriously loud. Afterward I heard no sirens nor anything on the news this morning. Nor did I see any fireballs or smoke. Who knows?
• The spam filters in Outlook are sucking big time. I don’t want to switch to something like Thunderbird due to my use of Plaxo.
• What’s more, some spammer is using the grad student listserv as a sender. Unfortnately some of the spam is undeliverable, and I keep receiving “undeliverable mail” mail.
• Gmail is also upsetting me as new messages aren’t downloaded to all my computers. However, I think I just fixed that. Perhaps I should forward all my mail to one account that is good a blocking spam. Suggestions?
• Wait, why do I have so many damn email addresses anyway?
• I’ll probably be upgrading some blog files today. I’m sure I’ll screw something up, so I apologize in advance.