From the monthly archives:

February 2003

Bad Poem Thursday

February 27, 2003

–
Gaining Perspective
It’s tiresome but true that truth is vantage-bound.
The blood-splayed strife of beast against beast
May be seen as the peace of tiny things,
Dumbly and mutely bouncing around.
From one point of view we’re all one race–
“From a distance,” as Bette might say.
But closer in we hate so well,
And so well we blow each other away.
No doubt [...]

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We Have a Winner!

February 24, 2003

– The winner of the Name the Car contest is the ebullient Lynne Kiesling! This weekend, at the Mercatus Center Capitol Hill Campus Chiefs of Staff Retreat, Lynne suggested Bucephalus, the name of Alexander the Great’s awesome stead… and I like it! So I hereby christen the Civic Buchephalus. And henceforth and forever so shall [...]

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Prudent Predators, Sensible Knaves, and Fooles

February 18, 2003

– Several years ago, debate raged on several Objectivist discussion lists about the the problem of the “prudent predator.” The problem, simply put, is this: Why should a rational egoist accept constraints on her self-interested behavior, such as respecting others’ rights, if it is advantageous to throw them off in a particular case? The prudent [...]

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What’s That about Oil? –

February 17, 2003

What’s That about Oil? – Energy expert Lynne Kiesling at Reason Public Policy provides an excellent overview of the ways in which the war with the Hussein regime is and is not about oil.

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The Keen Wind of Understanding

February 17, 2003

The Keen Wind of Understanding — From Richard Holloway’s review of Dawkins’s new book, A Devil’s Chaplain:
The goal of life is life itself. There is no final purpose, no end other than entropy and the end of all endings. But there is deep refreshment to be had “from standing up full-face into the keen wind [...]

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Are You Scared Yet? –

February 17, 2003

Are You Scared Yet? — Well, I am, to tell the truth. But the press is going overboard. Check out this terrifying picture from the FoxNews main page:

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Snow Poem — The quickening

February 16, 2003

Snow Poem –
The quickening snow
Creates the oak,
The ragged, intransigent leaves,
A beacon of static
As the massing heavens
Betray the darkness
And embarrass the night.
… Stay warm!

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Blogoramalamadingdong — It was fun.

February 10, 2003

Blogoramalamadingdong – It was fun. We should do it again. I seem to be the coverperson (along with the lovely Miss Ahluwalia) over at Julian’s wrap up page. Unfortunately, my expression seems to be of the sort elicited by a visit to the proctologist.

Also, here at Missy’s page looking grave and deceptively conservative, and [...]

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Women and Children First –

February 5, 2003

Women and Children First –

I can’t help but picture these grandmothers as charred corpses. Hussein hands out guns, thereby making his civilians combatants. The US kills them, then Hussein, and the NYT, claims them as civilian deaths. I’m somewhat heartened by the fact that people aren’t dumb when it comes to self-preservation, and will very [...]

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James Watson — Iconoclastic Randian

February 4, 2003

James Watson – Iconoclastic Randian Hero of Science who also, as it happens, likes to get laid. I quite like the fact that he pisses people off. And he’s often right on, for instance:
“You know, the only people who say that stupid people don’t exist are people who are not stupid. We know that if [...]

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Automobility! — I finally got

February 4, 2003

Automobility! – I finally got a car! I can stay out on weekends after the Metro stops running! I can LEAVE WASHINGTON! It’s a cute vehicle, a 1996 Honda Civic EX in lovely shape with just 43,000 miles. So I’m jazzed. But I need your help. I like to forge a personal relationship with my [...]

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