Forward Biased (Current Events): Carnival of the Vanities #182

"One of the best COTVs we can recall." - The Nose On Your Face

Well, here it is, folks—the Carnival of Carnivals, the One Carnival To Rule Them All™, the Blogging Carnival That Spawned The Plethora Of Other Blogging Carnivals Covering Every Imaginable Topic And A Few Unimaginable Ones. Fortunately, the One Carnival™ itself covers every (worthwhile) imaginable topic as well, from political stuff to critical stuff, economical stuff, gastronomical stuff, humorous stuff and gloomorous stuff—but, alas, this isn't Cats, so I'll just shut up now.

By the way, whilst I've deigned to sort these wonderful entries into categories, many of them could quite properly fit into more than one category, such as Humor and Politics, for example. But since politicians have been acting kind of funny for years now, making Humor and Politics somewhat redundant, I've grouped humorous political entries under Political Stuff for purposes of this Carnival, which I can arrange as I please, me being Lord High Host For The Week and all. If you disagree with any of my Royally Rightful Rulings please submit all complaints (in triplicate) to ~~Forward~~ Reverse Biased, Division of Redundancy Dept., at nitpickingwhinylosers@gimmeafreakinbreak.com, no later than two minutes after your alleged unsatisfactory experience. We solemnly guarantee that all complaints will be promptly laughed at by our professional, courteous staff before we spam you with ads for herbal viagra, mortgage loans, and offers to transfer gazillions of dollars into your bank account if only you will give us your account number, date of birth, and other personal data that's all public knowledge anyway, right?

Within each topic, entries are arranged more or less in the order I received them, not necessarily in the order in which I like them. It would be quite rude of me to expose any entries that are not quite up to snuff, now, wouldn't it? Of course it would. If there were any, I mean. Which there aren't. At least not this week—which gets me off the ol' hot seat. Convenient how it worked out that way.

The categories, in order, are:

Political stuff
Economical and financial stuff
Human interest stuff
Science stuff, with some media stuff thrown in
Education stuff
Religion stuff
Historical stuff
Ethics stuff
Sports stuff
Humorous stuff that's also mainly non-political in nature, mostly anyway

Oh yeah—I did say I would shut up, didn't I?

Before I do, one last important note: be sure to tune in next week to Blogger Idol, where Daniel M. Harrison bravely takes up the mantle of hosting the 183^rd Carnival of the Vanities. And, most importantly, if you think you've got what it takes to host the One Carnival™ yourself, surf on over to the schedule page and let Zeuswood know when you'd like to boost your readership by, oh, a couple thousand hits or so. You can even sign up to be notified every time a new CotV is published. Cool, huh?

Alrighty, then—on with this week's Carnival, starting off with:

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Political stuff

Barak over at IRIS Blog warns us not to believe everything we read about the Dubai ports deal in Dubai Port Capitulation Likely Fraudulent.

There is news that the Dubai Ports firm is giving up its attempt to take over US ports by turning over control completely to an American firm:

...However, the stories admit that:
It was not immediately clear how the divesture would be handled or what U.S. company would take over the operation.
One article, however, quotes a statement that "we will continue to hold our U.S. operations separate while this process continues." In other words, the Dubai corporation will maintain a separate incorporation status for the American subsidiary."

(Continued >>)

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Trackbacks and refers:

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Doll at Freedom Watch gives us more on the Dubai ports deal with lawmakers will push legislation to block ports deal, pointing out the ulterior motives behind some efforts to push this deal through.

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Below the Beltway's Doug Mataconis contributes his perspective on Dubai with the end of the ports fiasco, but the beginning of what?

So, the opponents of the deal will get what they want, but what does that accomplish ? Foreign management of American ports is, quite honestly, nothing new. In the end, though, this was less about foreign ownership per se than it was about Democrats and Republicans who want to distance themselves from the Bush Administration using the fact that the company in question is owned by Arabs to gain political points.

Throughout this political fiasco, the opponents of the deal were able to get away with misrepresentations and outright lies, largely because the Bush Administration handled this matter in a completely inept manner.

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Meanwhile, over at The Skwib, we learn that Thag Not Like Politics! Fortunately for us, Mark Rayner does, or at least he doesn't mind writing a bit of satirical political allegory. The more things change, the more they remain just as they were a million or so years ago...

“Dubyag not good hunter,” Thag said.

“Maybe,” Bushenior said, “but he’s my son, and Onga is my daughter. I can convince the other Elders that I am right.”"

Tune in to see the exciting conclusion!

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So, who can beat Hillary in 2008? Kevin W. at The Liberal Wrong Wing analyzes potential presidential candidates in '08 Potentials in Memphis, and thinks, among other things, that a significant number of Republicans wouldn't vote for Condi Rice simply because she is--are you sitting down?--a woman. Gasp. Choke. I surely hope he is wrong about that, not because I necessarily think Condi is the best choice (she may be, and I like her plenty), but because I'd hate to think that that many Republicans are so bigoted. Please prove me right about that.

Don't get the wrong idea, now—he has plenty of good insights into the plethora of potential candidates. Of course, you'll have to tune in to find out what they are.

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Buckley F. Williams at The Nose On Your Face ("News so fake you'll swear it came from the mainstream media") offers us the Top 9 Suggested Jay Bennish Book Titles, in honor of the ~~America hating~~ ~~free-thinking~~ leftist Colorado teacher who had one of his in-class rants recorded for the public. Examples:

8. Superanticapitalisticjewsarequiteatrocious
7. From Bushitler To Brownshirts: Fun With Cliched Nazi References
6. You Can't Spell America Without M-E
1. * How I Went From 'Indoctrinating Hippie Asscrumb' To 'Courtroom Defendant Chic' In 3 Easy Steps

Just watch—this will lead to school systems all across the country passing rules forbidding the recording of class lectures. Needless to say (despite the fact that I'm saying it), the very opposite is what should occur. Each school district should see to it that every class is recorded and posted for public access on the district's web page. Privacy, you say? What privacy, exactly? These are public schools, and we all, particularly each student's parents, have a perfect right to know what's going on in each classroom. The NEA will fight that idea ruthlessly, of course, which tells you exactly whose interests they promote, which you knew anyway, right?

(I also just have to link to Ace of Spades' wonderful "Jay Bennish's Geography Pop Quiz," which I shan't quote here as it isn't a Carnival entry, but which you really should surf on over and read anyway. It's short. Just, you know, come back when you're done, 'cause I haven't finished yet. Not nearly. Go get a Coke or something and settle back in.)

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No right is more important than that of free speech, yet no Constitutional amendment is more abused and misinterpreted than the First.

Letters from the Bostonian Exile brings us more Jay Bennish nonsense (I mean nonsense on the part of Bennish's apologists, not the Bostonian Exile) with Jay Bennish's First Amendment case? Please!

It oversimplifies the matter to say that Bennish was speaking as a citizen on matters of public import and that fact renders his speech free from any consequence. He is free to speak out, write letters to editors, attend and organize protests, and even publish manifestos -- on his own time. When he does so on the public's dime, then there must be some reasonable regulation of how he conducts his class. And the public, in my mind, may draw a line in the sand at ideological indoctrination.

...(For those who are impatient: Does this mean that I think Bennish should have been fired for his in-class statements? Probably not. Keep reading.)

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It’s truly sad how the international community allowed [him] to use his own trial as a personal platform.

Sounds familiar, does it not?

No, Jack Cluth of The People's Republic of Seabrook isn't referring to Sadaam, but to Slobodan Milosevic, in justice denied is...well, justice denied.

To say that the wheels of justice turn slowly at ICTY wouldn’t begin to do justice to the glacial place at which the trial of Slobodan Milosevic proceeded. Now that Milosevic has died in ICTY custody in the Hague, not only have millions of his victims been denied justice, Milosevic’ already mythic status among hard-core nationalists in Serbia will only increase, because he will be defined as a martyr for “Greater Serbia”. It didn’t have to be this way, and the international community has only itself to blame for this sorry state of affairs. By it’s timid, accommodating approach to Milosevic, it allowed Milosevic to define the tone of his trial and to turn it into a forum for his own personal campaign for vindication.

No one should be surprised at this, of course. The "International Community," whatever that is (look under "International Law and other mythical entities"), hasn't actually accomplished anything or solved a single problem in recent memory. Yes, I'm talking about the Disunited Nations and Tyrannical Dictators Association, sometimes referred to as the "UN."

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EXTRA! Someone is running against Sen. Byrd (D-Klansman) of WV, and that someone is Hiram Lewis. Real Teen- Right on the Right gives us an exclusive interview.

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At The Cigar Intelligence Agency, blogger "M" displays his intelligence as (s)he lets us in on a little secret: border counties' problems dramatic.

Our southern border is a sieve. The Mexican government even publishes comic books telling their citizens how to cross the border and get a job without getting caught. They rely on the estimated $15 billion a year that illegal immigrants send back home to cover shortfalls in their own ability to provide basic social services. We've been engaged in an economic war with Mexico for years. And Mexico is winning.

And what do we do about the situation?

Publish studies and issue reports.

Give me a break.

That fence is sounding better and better all the time.

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You might as well forget all those "dumb blonde" jokes, as the case simply cannot be made that blondes lack intelligence. Not as long as Mensa Barbie is around.

This time she warns us of what's happening beyond our Southern border (believe it or not, there is a Southern border) in WND: Mexico the next Lebanon?

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Ah, there's nothing I like more than an aptly-named blog. Well, besides trackback and a good cup of coffee. And Common Folk Using Common Sense serves up plenty of common sense in the sheaf: their hatred of Christ and their fear of Muhammad.

The University of Saskatchewan publication The Sheaf chose not to publish the famous Mohammed cartoons “out of respect for Islam.” From the Muslim Student Association, Thursday, 23 February 2006
We have to take a step back and look at this issue as a whole. In a time of increased tensions between Islam and the West, was publishing cartoons equating Islam with terrorism beneficial or detrimental? In the end, Muslims simply wish to be treated with respect – the same respect Jyllands-Posten showed Christianity in 2003 when it refused to publish a caricature of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, with the reason that it would lead to a public outcry.
OK, so the student newspaper of the University of Saskatchewan didn’t print the 12 Danish cartoons because they respect Islam and didn’t want to stir any public outcry.

So why, on March 2, 2006, did the Sheaf, this same newspaper, (in print and online) print a grossly inflammatory cartoon of Jesus? The picture is here if you care to see it. It is a cartoon of Jesus having oral sex with a “Capitalist Piglet”. In the second frame of the same cartoon, the piglet tells Jesus that the act is Kosher if he doesn’t swallow his mouthful of ejaculate - which is seen dripping from Jesus’ mouth.

Needless to say: No reports of Christians rioting, burning down buildings, or issuing death threats over the vulgar cartoon.

...the Left...are the spoiled brats of virtually unlimited freedoms, who see Christians as more dangerous than Muslim Fanatics and Free Enterprise as more dangerous than Coersive Socialism.

The Left is a dangerous force.

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Question: who is Gene Hallman? Gullyborg at Resistance is futile! answers it for us.

Quite possibly the most dangerous man in Oregon politics!

As we bloggers are not, as a whole, often given over to overstatement or hyperbole, you'll want to find out just why Gullyborg considers this man to be so dangerous. (Hint: like most cases of overstatement and hyperbole, this has something to do with the Supreme Court.)

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DL at TMH's Bacon Bits lets us know that Democrats have strategies, not principles with a little parable:

There were two brothers who loved to fish. One, a meticulous man with an arsenal of lures and the very latest high tech electronics – you know, sonar, GPS, akalinity and temp meters - and he never used live bait. He loved to “figure out the fish” He thrived on using fair, light sporting tackle. Though he kept a fish or two for a meal now and then, he often practiced catch and release. His brother was a more practical man however, he usually slipped into some remote corner of the lake and simply tossed in a stick of dynamite, picking up the stunned fish and rushing them home for the freezer.

Both men were alike in that they were successful fishermen, but like the liberals and conservatives of today, they were eons apart in how they approached their quests for what they wanted. Yes, they both used strategy, but one had character and principle; the other never bothered with that kind of stuff, as it just got in his way.

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Economical and financial stuff

Andrew over at Liberty Cadre wants to be sure we don't overlook Arthur Seldon and his contributions to modern economics, in Seldon's Complete Works. Shoot, if anyone can contribute to modern economics without sounding like a fool, I'm interested. Read it for yourself.

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Have an extra $27,728 burning a hole in your pocket? I was hoping you did, as I'm a little short this month. Nickel at fivecentnickel.com informs us that this is my personal share of the US national debt in debt reduction on a grand scale.

The Treasury Department just told Congress that the government needs to increase the $8.2 trillion debt by $781 billion to meet expenses. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is apparently planning on bringing this matter up on March 17th, just before a long weekend recess in order to avoid a lengthy debate. Great. As if $8.2 trillion isn’t bad enough. So what can we do?

...According to Frequently Asked Question #4.2 on Bureau of Public Debt web site, you can help reduce the debt by simply writing a check.

Yeah. Funny how they don't suggest that the government actually, you know, spend less money or anything. Of course, if you don't have all $27,728, you can save it up—all you have to do is (drum roll, please)...spend less money.

I feel a rant coming on...

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Adam Gurri at Sophistpundit looks at the transportation debate: looking at the options, HOV lanes, mass transit, and lack of supporting evidence for certain opinions. His perspective is that there is no one way of doing things that is too good or too inefficient to be improved upon, and that's always a good perspective to have.

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Dan Melson of Searchlight Crusade writes, as usual, about something I understand absolutely nothing about—in this case, joint loans taken out by a couple, married or otherwise, and which party is the primary borrower.

As I keep telling folks, there are a lot of shysters out there in my profession. The easiest way to get people to sign up is to promise the moon, and until you get the final loan paperwork you have no way of knowing whether they intend to deliver what they said.

Caveat Emptor.

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The #1 way to finance a home improvement, according to David A. Porter of Pacesetter Mortgage Blog, is a first mortgage loan. If, like me, you don't understand what that means, you know where to read to find out!

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Paul M. Secunda at Workplace Prof Blog relates how labor and management are using blogs to attempt to out-psych the other side during a strike, in blogging and psychological warfare on the picket line.

And with over 80,000 individuals already having visited the Sikorsky strike blog, there is every reason to believe that the very outcome of the strike might turn on who is more successful in molding perceptions about whether the strike is succeeding or doomed to failure.

And, in survey: IT job growth slowing down, he lets us know that job growth in the IT industry is, well, slowing down.

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Here's a surprising one. To me, anyway. Free Money Finance tells us why I pay more to go to a car dealer for service work.

Come to think of it, there are a few things I'm willing to pay more for if I perceive that the benefits are worth the extra cost. Read FMF to find out why he does the same.

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Big Picture Guy over at Big Picture, Small Office educates us on how companies respond to change in the marketplace in the waters wear the stones.

We make the same mistakes over and over again, mostly because of an unwillingness to make mistakes.

How's that for irony?

We allow bureaucracy to kill opportunity (see Knock, Knock, Who's There?). We are great at back-engineering to create new products, but even greater at back-sliding so that they seldom see the light of day. We are reluctant to spend the time and money on market tests, but would panic kill a program after one slow month.

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Greg at Generic Confusion discusses our response to taste changes in soft drinks in tuned up taste?

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Human interest stuff

Forget the bird flu--Ellison over at Blog d'Ellison (how is that pronounced? "Blaahg d'Ellisonh?") warns us of the dangers of Bathroom Water, otherwise known as "turlet water" (as we discover in the comments). Hey, not that kind of water—it's from the tap, people. The tap. She Who Must Be Obeyed will have none of that, though, as we shall see.

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Now, now, Miriam. I trust this isn't yet another case of the pervasive media bias that portrays most men as childish and generally inferior to women in the, um, maturity department.

Nah. She's right, and there are lots of men exactly like she describes in doctor wanted, psychic preferred:

Mr. Charm employs the strong, silent approach to doctors. He presents the body for inspection, and the doctor is supposed to intuit what, if anything, is wrong with him. If the MD really knows his stuff, he should be able to figure out what is wrong.

Of course, he never goes to the doctor if he actually feels bad...Also, he frequently complains (to me) that he aches all over. When I ask if he ever mentioned this to the doctor, he of course says no. He has diagnosed himself with a hopeless case of arthritis, totally irreversible and unresponsive to medical intervention. Why bother the doctor when the case is hopeless?

And yes, I use reading glasses, at least if I have any hope of comprehending print smaller than 16-point.

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Dad at raising4boys.com writes about video phones and capturing priceless moments, and like me, he's a technophile. That's not an inexpensive personality trait, incidentally, but it's often worth the cost. It seems his three- and five-year-old sons discovered

...a rack of auto-inflating Whoopie Cushions in the toy aisle at our local Walgreens...I’m sure you can imagine how happy I was to be able to whip out my cell phone and capture the live-action hilarity when my boys started bouncing up and down with their butts on the Whoopie Cushions in the middle of the aisle.

Would that such technology was around when mine were that young.

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FIAR at Radioactive Liberty ("Not biased. Not slanted. Just cockeyed.") writes about the most interesting person I know, namely himself—not quite as egocentric a perspective as it might seem.

Why blog? Because it’s fun. If that’s not your motivation, quit now. Seriously. If you are blogging because you think you’re going to “make a difference” or “change the world,” then give up because that’s not going to happen. Quit. You are blogging for the wrong reasons.

Perhaps I’m being too cynical, or too harsh, but I look at it this way, if it’s not interesting to me, then it’s not interesting to anyone else either.

Quite true. I learned this one the hard way, namely by writing about something just because I thought I should. It sucked, of course. Heck no, I'm not telling you what it was.

I’m the most interesting person I know, and my favorite blog is this one right here. I’m not kidding. I think it’s perfectly normal too. Last night I spent an entire hour and a half reading my own blog, going through the archives.

It makes perfect sense to me. I post about the things that I think are interesting, or funny, or stupid, outlandish, angering, or whatever. My blog is about me, and the things I think. So why shouldn’t I find it interesting? It’s entirely about things that interest me.

The point is that if it doesn't interest you, then your post about it won't interest anyone else either. Write about what grabs you, and only after it grabs you—if you want it to grab your readers.

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Coturnix at Science and Politics believes he knows how to build a smart, safe car.

They have two general ways of thinking about this. The first is: make the car bigger, heavier and built of stronger materials so that it can withstand crashes and keep you alive. The obvious result is an evolutionary arms-race between Hummer, next year's "Uber-Hummer", the 2008 "Super-Hummer", 2009 "Ultra-Hummer" and 2010 "Hyper-Hummer".

I know—call it the "Hum-dinger!" Or not.

...The second strategy is to employ electronics to replace driving skills. You are reading this, thus you have some experience with computers - do you really want them to be in charge of life-and-death decisions?

Actually, maybe I do, in this case anyway. But I want my car to have windows, not Windows. The idea is to avoid crashes, remember?

...When I think of an ideally safe car, I think of driving something embedded inside bubble-wrap packaging, with styrofoam peanuts. In case of a crash I want an air-bag to deploy not in my face, but between the two vehicles (or the car and the tree), amortizing the impact and gently bouncing back.

Imagine a highway on which all the cars have, on the outside, the consistency of marshmallows. The worst thing that can happen if you bump into somebody is that you get a finger raised at you. Doesn't that sound saner?

Now, I'll leave it to you, gentle reader, to assess the sanity, practicality, and desirability of engineering and driving cars with characteristics (mass, structural integrity, agility, that sort of thing) such that they would "gently bounce back" following a collision at low speed, not to mention high speed, or whether having "the consistency of marshmallows" on the outside would make a car any safer to drive—although I don't like the air-bag-in-the-face thing any more than he does. But, hey, nothing's impossible.

He's certainly right about one thing: we need new ways of thinking about designing cars.

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Suldog-O-Rama brings us Jim "Suldog" Sullivan's experiences aboard the beer train.

I once hopped a freight train.

...My experience in this regard had no profound social significance. I was just stupid, as were my friends who accompanied me.

The Bakers Chocolate factory, on the Neponset River in Dorchester, Massachusetts, has long since closed its doors. However, when it was still a going concern, a rail line had serviced it. Long freight trains, their cars full to the brim with cocoa beans, would come into the plant area and unload their cargoes into a set of huge cement silos.

...The company decided to relocate to the Midwest...the trains that arrived now were full of beer. To teenage boys, some of whom had a slight larcenous streak, this was a much more interesting proposition than trains full of cocoa beans.

Admit it, now—you want to know how this ends.

It ends with the word "probably." If you want to know all the other good stuff, though, you'll have to go there and read.

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No matter where you are in the chain of command, you are moving inexorably toward the day you will be removed from your company's payroll.

...Just remember, getting laid off is not the end. It can be the beginning of an unparallelled adventure.

Any of my readers care to corroborate or refute that statement?

That's the beginning and the end of a most worthwhile essay by David St. Lawrence of Ripples, titled if you are employed, I am writing from your future.

For the middle part, you know where to go.

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Science stuff, with some media stuff thrown in

Francois Tremblay takes his libertarianism like he takes his atheism: strong, no cream or sugar, please. His post at The Radical Libertarian reflects this just as his other Carnival entry reflects his atheism. While I'm no anarchist, the politico-scientific method contains much with which I can agree.

When government is involved in science, the scientific method goes out the window and is replaced by the politico-scientific method. Let me list some properties of this method, used both by the right and the left. Soon you should be an adept politico-scientist too!

...Your opponent is ALWAYS on the dole or the secret payroll of an evil corporation or organization. If he does not appear to be, just assume he is anyway and use it as a slur. You, on the other hand, are funded by pixies.

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Trudy W. Schuett at DesertLight Journal gives us more along the same line with gullibility at the old media corral.

in 2004, a think tank calling itself the Violence Policy Center released a study ranking by state, the instances of domestic violence in which guns were used.

Media outlets in all 50 states immediately reported this as if it were actually a news story, when in fact, there was no news there at all. Domestic violence exists in every state. Guns exist in every state. Domestic violence does involve weapons in some instances. Nothing new there.

The ranking was simply a way to present otherwise-meaningless data in a way that seems to mean something.

My best guess is that they were intending to imply that guns somehow cause domestic violence, or that if guns weren’t available, these deaths would not have occurred.

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The recent summerlike weather here in SC has had global warming proponents crawling out of the woodwork like so many termites in spring, but climate is an altogether different issue from mere weather. Different River ("You can never step in the same river twice") gives us global warming causes record snowfall, right?

Of course! But you must have faith, my child.

For deep religious people, everything is a sign of God, Hell, or Global Warming, whatever their religion is.

Science and rational thinking work very differently, however. One must formulate sharp statements, and if they’re falsified, the theory is dead.
And this is why global warming is such a great theory politically and such a lousy theory scientifically: regardless of what happens – heat waves, cold spells, more snow, less snow, whatever – it is always spun as something that “might be a sign of global warming.”

Anyone remember that, back in the 70s, we were headed for another ice age?

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Education stuff

I’m a teacher and I loathe these damned tests.

You and me both, dude. (Or dudette—I'm not sure.) Vikingjuice at Multiple Mentality gives us a teacher's perspective on tests.

I get that tests are an invaluable tool in education but so much has been placed on the outcome of these tests that it completely alters the point of testing.

Testing day is a complete lock-down of the building on par with how prisons are run. Students can’t talk from the moment booklets are distributed, till the end of all testing in the ENTIRE building. They can’t go to the restroom without someone monitoring them in the halls and just outside the stalls.

...We have to sign out for all materials in the morning, keep everything locked under key when not in use, must meticulously account for every single booklet and scan-tron form, and then must return everything and sign back out at the end of the day. Plutonium transfers in real America are usually handled with less actual security, effort and paperwork.

...In their original days, tests were created to simply gauge the level of understanding and comprehension of a particular subject or topic. They weren’t the end of the world but instead, signified whether a student was ready to move on or needed to be re-taught certain parts of the material...The test not only measures curriculum, now it IS the whole complete curriculum.

No argument from me here.

Who loses? The students. Who profits? Anyone who makes a test, distributes a test, or votes to have a test.

Remember that the next time your local representative opines on the need for more "accountability" in education—meaning more testing, of course.

Legislators have the absolute greatest power over how tests are implemented and what they mean to a particular state. Yet, they are the least knowledgeable people in the entire education world as to what students need and what is most successful in getting people to learn.

...Testing means money. Big money — nationally, we’re talking billions. Follow the trail of cash and you’ll always find the root of the problem in America.

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Religion stuff

Francois Tremblay of Goosing the Antithesis gives us this week's atheistic perspective of religious folk: scared, whining children. One thing's for sure: he doesn't pussyfoot around his opinions.

I'm talking about the ones who have been raised into religious submission, or to a certain extent those who have come to accept it later in life. The people whose personal values have been buried by mountains of fear, guilt, powerlessness and bigotry...The sworn enemies of all that is decent and free.

The nature of religious thought and morality is pure regression. The epistemic premise of religion is that one can be passively spoon-fed the truth - from a book, from the schizophrenic voices in your head, from your favourite guy in a robe - and that the full extent of "critical thinking" consists of bickering over whether Jesus will come back before, during or after the Easter Bunny runs out of chocolate.

This puts then below the level of baby, because even babies are active learners, interacting with their environment and understanding the causality taking place all around them.

It therefore comes as no surprise that he concludes:

...to associate religious people with children is really an insult to children. Therefore I would like to apologize to all atheist children who might be reading this entry.

Needless to say, Mr. Tremblay doesn't speak for all atheists any more than Pat Robertson speaks for all Christians—let alone religious people in general—but you have no doubt as to where he stands, and why. And that's usually a Good Thing, and something from which the more mealy-mouthed amongst us could learn, regardless of our religion (or lack thereof).

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Historical stuff

Jerry Monaco lets us in on a largely forgotten incident of the post-WWII era in the Ratline: the U.S. and the reconstruction of war criminals.

Wait—this really is interesting, despite the intimidating-sounding title—but it is also a brutally honest assessment of one of the less-admirable aspects of our own history. It seems that several Allied nations, including ourselves, engaged in smuggling Nazi war criminals to Latin America, where they could then use their "skills" to serve the purposes of their new Allied masters.

There was an old Firesign Theater joke from the late sixties that the Fascists won World War II but nobody noticed. We should never forget that great powers never fight wars to bring peace, democracy, and civilization to the poor and benighted. They never fight wars to end atrocities. Great powers fight wars to extend the power of the narrow domestic interests of those who run the state and own society. If the other side is evil, as the Nazi's certainly were, they will use the atrocities committed by the current enemy to justify their war and cover-up their own atrocities. If after the war is over they need to use the former enemy to further extend their power they will. It will not matter that those that they now bring into the fold were once accused of all kinds of barbaric atrocities. It will not matter if the people they now use as aides and spies for imperial domination are war criminals by any definition. Thus high ranking Nazi war criminals were used by the U.S. to extend domination over Latin America, to train Latin American security forces in techniques of torture and terrorism (called counter-terrorism in the official records).

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Ethics stuff

Wayne Hurlbert of Blog Business World admonishes us in business ethics: don't compromise your principles.

Business ethics are one of those topics that receives much discussion, but sadly, not always enough action. In your own business, taking action on maintaining ethical business practices is essential. It may be the difference between running a successful business, and joining the legion of failed companies, watching regretfully from the sidelines.

...Almost every business has a mission statement, worded more or less, very vaguely and in general terms. Seldom are business ethics part of that mission statement, except as part of overall customer service...If customers are lied to, made promises the business has no intention to keep, or charged for products or services vastly inferior to the initial agreement, those costomers will leave.

Not only will the former clients stop patronizing your business, they will tell everyone they know about their bad experiences.

As many have noted, acting in the best interests of other people often turns out to be in your own best interest as well.

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Sports stuff

Yes, indeedy, ladies and gentlemen—we have a sports section this week!

Bill at So Quoted is worth quoting in this is me and my energy.

Wherein this more of a collection of data points floating around in my head, rather than a coherent article. Because if this was coherent, you would be on another webpage.

New book coming out about Barry Bonds using steroids and other performance enhancing substances. Yawn. So this is not about Barry, who is one of the greatest players in the history of the game and probably ranks just as highly in the annals of jerkdom. Just so you don't think this is done under the guise of a Barry Bonds apologist.

My position: legalize and un-ban performance enhancing drugs, therapies, whatever; I don't care. Steroids? I'm fine. Human Growth Hormone? Sure. Blood Doping? If you think it will help. EPO? Can I get that on my corn flakes? Surgery? Yep.

Just to clarify a bit more, I'm also of the opinion that the war on drugs is a farce and that pretty much everything from marijuana, to cocaine to heroin to toad-licking should also be legal. Do with that what you will.

This guy will not long linger as a mere Slimy Mollusc in the Ecosystem, gentle readers. Mark my words. Or, rather, mark his. They're better, and less filling besides.

____________________________

Coyote Blog's Warren Meyer brings us the first annual Coyote Blog NCAA Bracket Challenge.

Yes, I know that many of you are bracketed out, but for those of you who are self-employed and don't have an office pool to join or who just can't get enough of turning in brackets, this pool is offered as my public service. In particular, I invite bloggers who are experiencing post-Weblog-Award depression to reignite the spirit of online competition. I mean, why should NZ Bear have the monopoly on ranking bloggers?

__________________________________________________
Humorous stuff that's also mainly non-political in nature, mostly anyway

Forget evolution, folks. Forget Creationism and Intelligent Design. Avant News brings us the real truth, namely, that a study proves universe created by committee.

The most extensive analysis yet undertaken of the structure and contents of the universe conclusively proves the universe was created not by a single entity, as has been widely suggested, but by “a fractious and disorganized committee or committees given to groupthink and petty infighting”, according to Drs. Karl Pootle and Yumble Frick, co-authors of the study. The analysis is expected to have profound implications on the theoretical underpinnings of many popular religions.

The study, entitled “Universe: Made By Whom How?”, was commissioned by an interfaith consortium of world religious leaders seeking to develop a comprehensive scientific foundation for various fundamentally compatible theories of creation.

...Pootle and Frick’s data thus puts the theoretical number of entities directly involved in the creation and ongoing design of the universe at roughly five times the total number of species on the planet Earth, at minimum.

“We’re pretty confident that estimate is extremely low-balled, even given the possibility that certain omnipotent creators may sit on more than one committee,” Dr. Frick said.

We should have realized this all along, folks. After all, what else could explain the existence of the UN? Survival of the fattest?

____________________________

Finally, in all your snowclones are belong to us, Aloysius at Catymology lets us in on the world of feline lexicography, and a few variations on old clichés.

If Eskimos have 120 words for snow, then surely cats have 1,121 words for tuna.

Meow is the new woof.

Is that a box of catnip in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

____________________________

That wraps it up, folks! Don't forget to swing by Blogger Idol next week for the 183^rd Carnival of the Vanities!

____________________________

Trackbacks and refers:

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Wow! Quite the extensive job you've done in this here hosting gig. Bravo!

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Well done. It's a too-rare treat to see a host lovingly handcraft a carnival anymore.

Posted by: Matt Barr | Wednesday, 15 March 2006 at 04:09 PM

Thanks, both of you (and that was sure quick, too!)

Since this was my first time, and I hope for a link from a couple of the Big Guys, I didn't want this to be "just another CotV," you know?

Sure, it was work, but hearing comments like these make it all worth while (a cliche, but true).

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Awesome work on this Obi! Thanks for including Thag with the political posts. Mark

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Thanks much, guys. I appreciate it.

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Oh, Mark--

It just seemed natural to me to do that, as your piece was more political than it was merely humorous.

I take it from your comment that many other people/hosts don't include political humor with the other political posts. Odd, methinks. But they can do it however they want.

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