NASA Complains, and So Do I: My experience with the AGW movement.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/washington-secrets/2012/04/astronauts-condemn-nasa%E2%80%99s-global-warming-endorsement/469366 There is very little that is the product of the human mind that is incomprehensible to an individual who is determined to understand it. I’ve gone through the climate arguments for years now, and the data as presented is tentative if not counterfactual and contradictory. Especially troubling is the fact that the increase in…
Paper: Conservatives Have Lost Faith In The Integrity Of Science
Notes from: Politicization of Science in the Public Sphere: A Study of Public Trust in the United States, 1974 to 2010 — Gordon Gauchat Available at: http://www.asanet.org/images/journals/docs/pdf/asr/Apr12ASRFeature.pdf 1) Their position: Science is, and always has been, political. It will remain political, because the economy of the scientific establishment, and academia in particular, represents a large…
RE: STRATFOR On Iran’s Strategy — Why I Support Action Against Iran
Depending upon your concept of the world: universalist democratic socialist, or hierarchical tribalist, or utilitarian economist, you might see US policy toward Iran in a different light. One thing is for sure: we are accomplishing for militant islam, on behalf of Iran, precisely what the Persians and the radicals have always desired — a restoration…
CNN Is Anti Christian On Easter. How Nice.
I really don’t care about the content of religious mythology. I don’t think it matters. It might be better for preachers to read from the Iliad and the Odyssey, The Carolingian Epic, La Morte De Arthur, and the Nibelungen than it is to read from the Bible. It might be better to read selections from…
Defending John Derbyshire: Dear Brits, Get Ready To Eat Crow On Race
(Updates at end of post.) The Guardian has a nice piece on the flap over John Derbyshire’s recommendation in Takimag that white and asian parents educated their children to avoid african americans on the streets. I found the comments typical of populist high minded British/Canadian public commentary and unrelated to the facts. Dirbyshire is a…
Gödel’s Theorem Needs Godel’s Law
Kurt Gödel’s incompleteness theorem came up in a debate the other night. I usually react by hanging my head and groaning in anticipation of the chaos that eventually ensues. But on an impulse made a statement about the narrowness of its applicability in a vain attempt to avoid the conversation. It was futile. Chaos ensued. The conversation really…
Caplan and Boettke On Wikipedia And The Economic Calculation Debate
I haven’t read the wiki article on economic calculation before. But this subject is one on which I have spent ten years of work, and Caplan’s quote in the wiki as it’s written bothers me because it’s too easy to misinterpret. 1) Caplan’s argument is reducible to this statement: “between price signals for planning and…
A Libertarian Reformation Is Possible: Restoring Libertarianism from Libertinism.
The Success Of The Rothbardians Using The Strategy Of The Marxists: Community and Ideology The success of the Rothbardians under the leadership of Lew Rockwell in prosthelytizing anarcho-capitalism through education, community-building and information distribution has affected the American political debate — so successfully that they have caused much of the public to identify libertarianism almost exclusively…
Baiting? See Saul Alinsky, Strategist Of The Proletarian Left
I get a lot of heat from the left for adopting one of their tactics: baiting. But let’s see where those tactics comes from. Saul Alinsky. Our president’s hero. The western concept of political debate originated in the right of the enfranchised warrior to debate tactics in order to gain consensus on those tactics —…
Castes, Not Egalitarianism, Are The Natural Outcome Of The Failure To Break Tribal Bonds.
Lets compare the arab spring with the protestant reformation, and today’s USA and see if we can learn something. The protestant reformation was caused by: a) a rapid population increase in the germanic countries (just like the arab spring) b) the desire of the nobility to keep revenues in-country. c) the population’s rejection of endemic…
Defending Hans Hermann Hoppe On Immigration
I have to defend Hoppe a lot less frequently these days from passionate critics who don’t understand him, but here is another one. I don’t think I do a very good job really. But I get the discussion started. By Garry Ladouceur: THIS IS WHAT THIS ACADEMIC HAS TO SAY ABOUT IMMIGRATION-HE IS OF COURSE…
Do We Have Occasion To Verbally Criticize The Feckless?
Murray states: we must change the language that we use whenever the topic of feckless men comes up. Don’t call them "demoralized." Call them whatever derogatory word you prefer. Equally important: Start treating the men who aren’t feckless with respect. Recognize that the guy who works on your lawn every week is morally superior in…