On Ross Douthat on Abortion: A Case of Op-Ed Malpractice
I caught that sorry piece of shit last year misrepresenting a study by a demographer on the aging of Japan's population. He went on about the Japanese culture of suicide, which 1) wasn't mentioned in the original scholarly journal article -- oh, hell, yes, I checked; you ALWAYS have to check with Ross cuz he's worse than Ann Coulter about making shit up in stuff he claims to have "read" -- 2) overlooked the fact that Western countries like Hungary have had much higher suicide rates than Japan for decades, and 3) overlooked the possibility that EVEN IF Japan had had a higher suicide rate, it might have been neutralized by safer driving or a healthier diet or whatever, and I remember that I decided then and there never to read another goddamn word he wrote.
The End.
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On Cheese Melty
Not quite as cool as the Gävle goat, but cool nonetheless.
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On "Disagree And Still Be Friends": A Conversation With Andrew Sullivan
All anyone needs to know about Sullivan is that he thinks Roe v. Wade was the worst Supreme Court decision of all time: worse than Dred Scott (slavery is constitutional), Plessy v. Ferguson ("separae but equal" = OK), Lochner v. New York (employers can work workers 'til they drop), Korematsu v. U.S. (legalized interning of U.S. citizens of Japanese descent during WWII), Bush v. Gore, Citizens United v. FEC ...
The man is an idiot, full stop.
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On The Questions Following Aaron Swartz's Death
@Leon: I did not know that the SS had those things within its purview now. OK, that, at least, makes sense, then. Thanks.
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On The Questions Following Aaron Swartz's Death
ubu raises an excellent larger issue. But the involvement of the Secret Service is what puzzles me. So far as we know to date, the case involved neither a threat to the currency (let alone the larger financial system) nor a threat to the president or other top government officials. Anything else, to the best of my knowledge, would be an FBI or purely local matter.
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On Should You Buy All 778 AC/DC Songs Now Available On iTunes?
One man's ""The musical growth rate of this band cannot even be charted. They are treading water in a sea of retarded sexuality and bad poetry." is another man's "Do one thing. Do it well."
And although I realize this is heresy, "Back in Black," the album, actually hangs together pretty well as an album.
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On Elizabeth Warren on How Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton Sold Us Out
As recently as a couple of decades ago, it wasn't considered bizarre to have anyone so pro-consumer in a national policy position. Now, we just blithely, and correctly, assume that regulatory capture is so complete that it wouldn't happen in the first place. And thus do free countries become less free.
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On In Praise of SlutWalk
See, here's the thing. Rape has one essential ingredient: a rapist. Without that, you can have entire battalions of women walking down Broadway in pasties, 6-inch heels and nothing else and you will not get one single rape. Not one.
What a rape victim was wearing when she was raped is irrelevant. What matters is that a rapist was there. That's all. Nothing else.
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On Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner, 1943-2013
RIP, Sugarfoot. "Skin Tight." "Fire." "Roller Coaster." It was a great time to be listening to the radio.