We forget so soon...

Cox and Forkum have a nice reminder of just how much of an enemy Hezbollah really is to us.
Check the July 23 post.
Remember that when you hear people calling for a "proportionate" response.

Cool!

Star Wars Theme ...
Played on the banjo ....
and not by Bela Fleck.

TOS is hitting them out of the park today.

This is the clearest discussion of the "net neutrality" issue that I've seen. The whole thing smells strongly of the Tragedy of the Commons (TotC). The problem with the TotC is the "commons." Let all land (or internet bandwidth) be privately owned, and let each person pay for what he uses, and the TotC disappears.

Argh!

A Nice Article from TOS

The Objective Standard published a nice editorial about our so-called "addiction" to oil. To this I would simply add that I do not accept any part of the premise that American's should have to sacrifice anything at all for the sake of our enemies.

The Hairy Leg Principle

I have a post on a relationship skill in mind, but it is in part logically dependent upon what I call the Hairy Leg Principle. The Hairy Leg Principle has been a part of my intellectual repertoire long enough that I thought it deserved its own post.

The Hairy Leg Principle Defined: The notion that the value of another's love for you is proportional to how you understand and respect their reason's for loving you.

To place the Hairy Leg Principle in context, consider how love is often described as "unconditional." But is it really? And would you want it to be?

Which would you rather hear: "Although there is nothing about you that I respect and admire, enjoy or otherwise consider to be of value, I love you." Or: "You are a [wo]man of unsurpassed character, intelligence, and wisdom. Because of that, I love you." I think most people would rather hear the second--and would be insulted by the first.

So, the Hairy Leg Principle presumes that love is conditionally based--but it goes further than that. For you to value the other person's love, you must understand and respect their reason's for loving you. This understanding does not necessarily have to be explicit (although I find it much more exciting when it is), but there does have to be understanding nonetheless.

Respect is also a key component. If someone claims to love you for reasons that you find silly or non-essential, their love will have no value to you. In my own case, if someone told me they loved me because I had hairy legs, I would not be able to respect or enjoy their affection at all. The amount of hair I have on my legs is inessential to my hierarchy of values. Thus the named "Hairy Leg Principle." When my grandmother tells me she loves me because I am her grandson, she's basically telling me that she loves me because we happen to share some DNA. Hello? I share 98% of my DNA with a chimpanzee! How irrelevant can you get?! But, when she calls me to tell me about an idea that she heard, that she thought I would appreciate--she doesn't even have to say she loves me--the fact that she recognizes an idea that I would appreciate, and bothers to call me and tell me about it registers that fact far more clearly than "because I'm her grandson." Incidentally, that phone call, which I received several months ago, is the first time in my adult life that I've felt that she had real esteem for me. It was the first time that her actions fit her words.

In my own case, I consider it silly to love me or anyone else for any reason that is beyond their choice. Sure, you may "love" their hair-color, or eye-color or something--but those things are not primaries. That's not to say that don't have their own importance--there is no mind-body dichotomy--attraction is in part physical--but they are not primaries.

So, love me for my rationality, my interest in ideas, or my zest for life. Or love me not.

On this day...

... let us remember the men and women that pledged their lives and fortunes to the cause of individual rights.

I salute you.

Let us remember all the men and women that fought to protect the security of this country from would-be invaders and oppressors.

I salute you.

Let us remember ourselves--those of us that are pledged to fight for the cause of individual rights in the modern era both at home and abroad.

I salute you.

Happy Independence Day!

Black Horse and a Cherry Tree

I don't listen to the radio, so I was a little slow coming across this song by K.T. Tunstall. If you haven't heard it, it's quite energetic and fun.
Check it out!

Ice Scribe got a Short Story Published!

---and it's quite good. She let me read it before, and I enjoyed it very much. Now you can enjoy it too! YAY!

The consequences of an appeasement policy...

... are that some piss-ant little country with a chip on its shoulder can threaten to start World War III. It is not just obscene that North Korea has so openly threatened us, but even moreso that they obviously expect to do so without repercussions. Get this straight--country's that violate the rights of their own citizens don't care one whit about your rights. Diplomacy for them is a game that they play to gain time to become an actual threat. Appeasment = Death on a massive scale for combatants on both sides of the conflict.

For a country so obviously superior in military terms to allow North Korea to become the threat that they have is unconscionable. I fear that war, and perhaps Nuclear conflict, may be inevitable at this point. It could have been avoided if the US had acted when the threat began, instead of allowing it to blossom. The blame lies squarely on those that refuse to ackowledge history; that appeasement promotes further conflict. If you are truly against war, you should advocate that the US respond to threats with immediate and overwhelming force--to dissuade other would-be attackers from leading us down this road. Indeed we have become the "paper tiger."

For a serious analysis on what is wrong with current American foreign policy, and what has led us to this point, read this article.

"First smiles, then lies. Last comes gunfire."- Roland Deschain, of Gilead, Stephen King, The Dark Tower.