Taboo

So I watched a show called Taboo last night on the National Geographic channel.  They had 3 segments.  In Thailand, parents make their kids fight Mui Thai for money, a woman is still breast-feeding her 6 year old son, and shiite muslims butcher themselves and encourage their sons to butcher themselves during the “festival” of ashoura.

Oh, and they showed how 100 years ago, children in western countries worked at an early age.  Nice moral equivalence, this episode.  First of all, let’s take the breast-feeding story right out of it.  Whatever the merits of doing it that long, or of weaning a child at an earlier age, this just isn’t in the same league as the other segments!

Let’s quickly address child labor so we can get on to the real point.  Today, people take it as a god-given right of children not to work until 16 or 18.  This is the same error as Marxism.  Where will the stuff come from, that we all have a “right” to consume?  A childhood of leisure and education is a luxury only affordable to the wealthy (such as the majority of Americans today).  Societies such as America 100 years ago, or most of the world today, cannot afford this.

Now, on to sending children to risk their lives and their brains in the blood sport of Mui Thai.  They are poor.  They are doing it for money.  They need money.  But it’s wrong.  You earn money in order to pay for the values necessary to human life.  You can’t destroy human life in order to earn money (well you can, but I condemn it).  It’s bad enough when consenting adults risk their lives, health, and brains to fight for money.  It is obscene to force a child into this self-destructive lifestyle.

The one thing that I will say about it is that it appears (based on the “depth” of watching 20 minutes about it on TV, mind you!) to be based on a desire to earn money, based on human values.  That is not the case with the acts of bloody self-mutiliation of the shiites during ashoura.

Unlike the parents of the fighting toddlers of Mui Thai, who said they were confident that their children would not be seriously hurt, the parents of the children who were deeply cutting themselves in a frenzy of violent self-loathing in an out-of-control festival of thousands doing likewise knew their children could be killed.  They were not merely fatalistic about it, but defiant.

One father said he would not be sad if his son died.  One mother said that she would be proud if her son was martyred.

Folks, this is a death cult.  They don’t love or value their children.  They are trained from infancy that their lives are worthless, and the goal is death.

The multicultural announcer tried to obscure the distinction between a culture that loves its children and this culture that wants to destroy theirs.  But this is what we’re up against.

We basically, despite many decades of socialized education, love life and love our kids.  Our implacable enemy does not want to live.  They want us to die.  Not only do we not really grasp this, but we have TV shows and “news” that lie about this distinction.

The good news is that it is easy for our military to defeat these knife-wielding savages.  The bad news is that we have not yet admitted that we know who the enemy is.  We are only fighting a war “on terror”, that not-quite-clear tactic used by unknown or unmentionable people.  What is clear is that Lutheran grandmothers have to be searched before being allowed to get on airplanes, and it is not permissable to focus one’s search on muslims from saudia arabia or pakistan.

And right now, every voice on TV agrees that cultures are just different, and no judgement can be made.

Our lives depend on making this judgement.  If that statement seems far fetched, look at the example of the hare who raced the tortoise.  The hare didn’t think it was possible to lose.

Grand Theft Auto “Causes” Murder

Wow!  How much can one article get wrong?  A lot:

• “The youth showed no signs of mental problems…”
• “As a response to this news, Thai distributors are withdrawing GTA IV from their shelves.”
• “Thailand’s Culture Ministry…”
• “…authorities need to better deal with the issue of violent video games.”
• “…restricting the time minors can play the games in public arcades.”

I submit that either no one competent has ever examined this soulless killer, even now.  Because his very confession is a sign of schizophrenia!  He murdered in order to see if it was like a video game?!?  WTF?!?!?!?

It’s sad to see that the same kind of knee-jerk response based on superficial appearances rule in Thailand the same as here in America.  So there’s nothing wrong with violent video game–until some psychopath commits a brutal act.  Then in “response” to this, stores pull the product from the shelves.

Thailand has a Culture Ministry?  My god!  Is it 1984 yet?

What exactly do authorities need to do?  Regulate video game access time from 4.5 hours/week down to 3 hours/week?  Censor based on subjective standards

But the money quote is:

“Today it is a cab driver, but tomorrow it could be a video game shop owner.”

How brainlessly pragmatic, how moronically short-sighted, how concrete-boundedly unprincipled would one have to be to think “it’s ok for him to murder cab drivers, I am a video game store owner”?  But then, how dumb would one have to be to think that video games cause vioelence or that violence is a disease, like a virus, that spreads in an epidemic?

No one here, or apparently in Thailand, questions the role of publik edukation kamps in creating these enraged, agnst-ridden, utterly selfless and soulless monsters.  Does anyone think that a happy and healthy child, who would otherwise grow up to be a happy, self-reliant, productive member of society can be “turned” to pure evil by a video game??  What are the roots of this evil?  Where does it come from?

Blank Out.

By the way, just to be clear, I am no fan of mindless violent video games.  I think they are a product of a nihilistic culture.  But I don’t think that censorship by thugs at the Culture Ministry is justifiable by this or any other problem.

They didn’t mention it, but I wonder if this murderer is a non-Buddhist from the “restive” south where non-Hindus are murdering the population in a jihadic frenzy?

Blind GOP vs. Blind Marxists

Michelle Malkin has an article today about the oil price controversy.  Here are the money quotes:

…legislation on oil market speculation, which Democrats argue is the main factor driving the soaring gas prices.

John Cornyn (R-Texas) said … “speculation is just a piece of the problem” and other measures are needed. 

Let’s get this straight.  The government has abused its powers to forcibly prevent oil companies from drilling and mining for oil all over the US including both coasts, the Gulf, Alaska, and including massive deposits of oil shale.  It has blocked all new nuclear plants for 30 years, and most coal plants.  The price of oil is going up as consumption goes up around the world.

And “the problem” or “a piece of the problem” is that there is a futures market for this commodity??

Alice in Wonderland can’t hold a candle to this kind of “logic”!

Charlie Rangel, Corrupt Politician and Narcissist

Jammiewearingfool has an article today about a violation of the House ethics rules by Charlie Rangel (D-NY).  The focus appears to be that he used his official letterhead in soliciting private money for a monument.

What difference does the letterhead make?!?  Does anyone think that if he wrote it on notebook paper using crayon that the victims of his extortion would not have paid up?  The money quote (no pun intended) is:

Rangel sent letters asking for donations for the Charles B. Rangel Center to several potential corporate donors with business before his committee.

The root cause is that Congress has the power to make some people rich, and to break others.  So long as it has this power, everyone must lobby Congress for favors, and everyone must pay protection money.

How about those Republicans who say that Congress shouldn’t have this power?  Anyone?  Bueller?

One Down, 1347 to Go!

PowerLine Blog today writes “One down, one to go.”  President Bush has repealed the executive order (or whatever it is) that outlawed oil drilling on the continential shelves of both coasts.  Now Congress must repeal their own law.

There is more than just one to go.  First, as PowerLine notes, lawsuits by enviros could block drilling for decades.

But let’s take this one further.  The US Constitution provides for Congress to make legislation, the courts to ajudicate it, and the executive (of which the President is the top officer) to enforce it.  Where oh where did the president obtain the power to make his own laws?!?

After we correct the laws that enable wackos to sue to block progress, we need to repeal whatever it was that granted the president the power to make laws.

This is part of what I mean by “take America back”.

T Boone Lootens

While watching the Science Channel last week, I saw an ad featuring oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens.  He said he will propose–in a series of ads–a new plan to reduce our use of foreign oil, clean up the environment, feed the hungry, make the Religion of Peace peaceful, house the homeless, and get to the Age of Aquarius.

Well.

At the end, he reiterated the leftist talking point “We can’t drill our way out of this.”

Why not?  “This” refers to the problem of rising gas and oil prices.  If we start pulling oil out of Alaska, the Atlantic coast, the Pacific Coast, the Gulf, the Great Lakes, and the various oil shale deposits… then we will have more oil, right?

Wrong.  We need more subsidies to the wind industry.  Pickens has made himself a regular, old-fashioned looter.  Take from the taxpayer to give to him.

JunkScience.com has a more detailed analysis that really gets it right.

Loot Rising

So the Science Channel has a show now called Mars Rising.  It’s shot in high-definition, with good production values, and William Shatner narrating.  It’s very well done, and it makes the mission to Mars look exciting and important.  There is only one problem.

Only a child (or an irrational fool) can seriously talk about a benefit while ignoring the cost.  In this case, estimates are all over the map, ranging from $55B to $120B.  As past experience has shown, the actual cost will exceed these early sales promises by an order of magnitude or more.  Let’s assume $300B (which I think is very generous).  That is $1000 for every man, woman, and child in the USA!

Obviously, children don’t pay taxes.  Actually, as Coyote noted in a recent blog, 50% of the taxpayers pay 97% of the tax bill.  Assuming 33% of the population is children, this leaves 200M adults.  Assuming half of these pay the tax bill, that’s 100M.  A $300B Mars program costs each person who actually pays taxes $3000.

No doubt, to the people who don’t pay much taxes, it will be easy to say “We can afford this.  We should go to Mars.  The National Prestige is at stake, not to mention the Soul of Science!”

And I will be looted an additional $3000 on top of everything else.  Because NASA knows what’s good for me better than I do.  Never forget that the whole notion of massive taxation to support a massive state is based on the idea that it’s proper to take our money by force because they are wiser in spending it than we are.

Hey, what’s another $3000?  We’re rich!

Why People Lie

Yesterday, I posted a rhetorical question about why the CEOs of a dozen major airlines are calling for massive damage to be inflicted on the US economy.  I don’t for a minute believe that they are simply that ignorant of economics.  I wondered if they are that evil, or being blackmailed.

Ace of Spades’ post yesterday gave me another theory:

McCain, wisely, has chosen to pretend we’re in a recession, because to claim otherwise sets him for the media attacking him for “being out-of-touch with the concerns of ordinary Americans.”

McCain knows we’re not in a recession.

So it’s “wisdom” to pretend what’s not true, because otherwise one could be “attacked” by the media for being “out of touch” with irrational feelings.  As opposed to reality, but who cares about that!

I guess I had not considered that this might explain the behavior of the airline CEOs.

I guess I must not be wise, for thinking that one must not lose touch with reality.

Open Letter Calling for Damage to US Economy

That’s not what they called it, of course.  The CEO’s of a dozen major airlines are calling for massive damage to be done to the US economy, higher energy prices, and a long depression to follow.

It’s hard to know if they are being blackmailed into taking this absurd position.  But I don’t believe it’s possible that this many top business leaders could be so ignorant of economics:

• Traders have no power to raise prices
• Traders are not guaranteed a profit, and can even lose money
• Big players have gone bust trying to manipulate much smaller, less liquid markets

My question is this.  Are they saying this because they’re being blackmailed, because they think that they can get government to suppress or loot others, or for the sheer evil of it?

No matter, evil will be the only result of this.

Side note: I wonder if they realize most people would include “flying less” in their notion of “conservation”.

Why do so few people either understand what a free market is, or stand up and defend it when it comes under attack.  Government intrusions into the economy are the reason why oil is now so expensive.  Do we really want more of the poison that’s making us sick?

Anti-Science, Anti-Mankind

This post from Jammiewearingfool says it all:

Levels of [NF3] in the atmosphere have not been measured, but scientists … are calling for it to be included in any future emissions cutting agreement.

That’s not science, and they know it.  Stripped of its thin veneer of reasonableness, it is a naked attack on mankind.  “We don’t feel like letting you live as you chose, so we will take away your plasma TVs today, and anything else we think of tomorrow.”

The key question is: what percentage of the electorate feels enough hatred and envy that this appeals to them?