When the story on the increase in sexual assault in the military came out I was certain there was more to it. For example, bad data, redefined terms, phony accusations, etc.
Five days before the IRS story broke, Obama, sermonizing 109 miles northeast of Cincinnati, warned Ohio State graduates about “creeping cynicism” and “voices” that “warn that tyranny is .?.?. around the corner.” Well.
Here’s part of what Obama said.
They’ll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices.
The president is delusional. Tyranny is always just around the corner. Power corrupts. More power = more corruption.
Tyranny is a constant danger, but it’s not the only danger. The size and reach of the government is itself a danger, because it enables tinkering and empowers the tinkerers. The danger is not only that some Hitler type will come along — although that is a danger. The more likely scenario is that some lunatic bureaucrat with a silly idea will cause all kinds of trouble, simply because he has the power of a bloated government behind him.
Obama is trying desperately to convince the country that there’s no story in the Benghazi mess. Fewer and fewer people are accepting his spin. The Washington Post is giving some of his recent statements four Pinocchios.
There are still a lot of questions to be answered about Benghazi, including …
On the 9/11 immediately after the death of OBL, why weren’t they better prepared for an attack?
When it was obvious there was an attack, who failed to order an appropriate response?
Who ordered the Marines who were ready to respond to stand down?
What time did Obama go to sleep that night — while our Ambassador was fighting for his life?
Why was a fundraiser in Las Vegas the next morning more important than dealing with the crisis?
Who came up with the silly story about the Youtube video and why?
Why did they continue to push that story for a week after the attack when it was transparently false?
Why did the President, the Vice President and the Secretary of State lie to Pat Smith (mother of one of the Americans killed in Benghazi) about the Youtube video?
The president promised an investigation into the attack and he promised that the perpetrators would be brought to justice. What has happened?
If we had a watchdog press, rather than a lapdog press, this story could have received the attention it deserved before the election. Now we’re shackled with this lying, power-grabbing Chicago politician for a second term — which is already shaping up to be a scandal-ridden disaster.
We measure politicians by how much they promise to give us — by which we mean what they promise to rob from everyone else and redistribute to us. The consequence is a political class that is always finding new ways to mandate this and promise that … and pay for it later, if at all.
He allegedly shows that Hispanic immigrants, even after several generations, had lower IQs than non-Hispanic whites. Note: I’m not saying he’s right.
It doesn’t matter if he’s right. There are some things you aren’t allowed to say in contemporary society. We have to keep repeating our “useful fictions” no matter what the evidence says.
Kinship — defined by blood relations — is a social order that predates the state. There are lots of relations that depend on kinship. The state recognizes it, relies on it, and in some ways promotes it, but the state doesn’t create it.
Same-sex “marriage,” on the other hand, is an invention of the state, and as you start to delve into the details of it, different rules will inevitably apply to it. For example, there is no “consummation” of a same-sex marriage in the same way there is a heterosexual marriage. There are no natural children of a same-sex marriage. And, as I’ve said before, we might find ourselves in the weird situation where a man can marry his brother but not his sister.
As the law tries to wade through all this stuff and work out the details, it may demand that all marriages — same sex or opposite sex — be treated equally. This could result in opposite-sex marriage being stripped of some things related to kinship. For example, the natural children of an opposite-sex union might not be considered the children of the marriage without a state-approved “adoption.”
Heterosexual exchange and reproduction has always been the very “grammar” of social relating as such. The abandonment of this grammar would thus imply a society no longer primarily constituted by extended kinship, but rather by state control and merely monetary exchange and reproduction.
I find the original article (which is hard to read) a little too paranoid for my tastes, but he raises some interesting legal issues that may come out of same-sex marriage.
One thing is very clear, in my opinion. The idea that recognizing same-sex marriage is not going to change all other marriages is naive nonsense.
… we have sleep-walked into the legalisation of practices whose logic and implications have never been seriously debated
Attack of the Tinkers, and Other Hidden Village Stories
This is a collection of short stories based around the concepts in The Hidden Village, an (as-yet) imaginary game for city dwellers to play in their off hours -- at lunch or happy hour, or as they wander the city streets. The participants join a guild and compete with one another for members, points and territory. But there’s a secret purpose to the game that the players don’t know about. Get it now on Smashwords or on the Kindle.
(Yes, that's a new cover.) The hi-tech gamer clan has become the mortal enemy of the elf clan, and the first elf war begins in The Underground Escape -- the exciting sequel to The Hidden Village. Geof Franklin and Jennifer King have become entangled in clan business and find themselves right in the middle of a deadly conflict. Loyalties are tested and alliances are formed as other clans take sides Kindle: $2.99
The Hidden Village
Geof Franklin gets the late-night phone call every parent dreads and discovers that his son has been missing for weeks. As he relentlessly searches for his only son, he gets pulled into the orbit of a cult-like sub-culture of clans that live by their own rules and think nothing of killing anyone who stands in their way. Kindle: $2.99
The Intruder
Jeremy Mitchell is a refugee from a separatist, anti-technology community who is a fish out of water in the high-tech society of the 21st century. He recklessly plunges himself into his new environment and finds himself caught in a confusing web of technology and intrigue. Powerful forces try to make him a pawn in a contest between rival intelligence organizations, but he doesn't play along with their game and makes his own rules. His loyalties are tested by a budding love affair with a young college student, who, along with her computer geek girlfriend, are unintentionally pulled into the conflict. Paperback: $9.99 Kindle: $2.99
This was going to be a long blog post, but it got out of hand, so I made it into a small book. It's a review of the Hitchens v. Craig debate on the existence of God. Paperback: $5.99 Kindle: $0.99
