Reflections From a Murky Pond

Is A Man a Man?

Is a man and man, possessed of and by a similar nature and drives to his fellows, irrespective of his race, ethnicity, or creed? Are all peoples essential equal at a fundamental level in that they all have similar aspirations and have both base and sublime desires that resemble those of all other peoples? Many Americans claim to believe that the answer to all these questions is yes, all men are equal. But, if this is case, one would be forced to accept the bad along with good. Whether it is merely people's belief that all men are inherently equal or a fact of Natural Law that they are, in fact, equal in both propensity for nobility and for ignominy then one should expect roughly similar results and responses any stimulus that is applied to a group people, irrespective of their race, ethnicity, or creed. That being the case, why do so many people in America believe that "domestic aid" programs will achieve any better results than the bulk of both private (NGO) and governmental foreign aid programs have achieved in the many decades of their existence?

Al Gore’s New Clothes

Al Gore and his cult of Warmists may be in denial, but that doesn't change the fact their day has largely ended and they are well on the way along the downward spiral of relevancy that will either leave them as footnotes in history, like the 1970s Global Cooling believers, or as something akin to PETA, a mockery and an embarrassment.

Society Is Absolute

Back on Friday, April 24th, 2009, I made a post, A Moral Atheist, which detailed my view that an atheist, while perfectly capable of being ethical, cannot be moral since an atheist inherently lacks an absolute sense of- or source for morality. The post generated - and continues to generate - some discussion and debate. One of the prevailing arguments that atheists could, in fact, be moral was that morality can stem from a culture and/or society instead of from a Divine source. This is certainly a seductive argument; who, after all, doesn't think their society is source of what is Right and Good? There is a serious problem with that belief though as the philosopher and theologian, Francis A. Schaeffer so very eloquently pointed out:

Here is one simple but profound rule: If there is no absolute by which to judge society, society is absolute.
-- Francis A. Schaeffer How Should We Then Live? p. 224

Think on that for a moment for it is certainly true.

Arachnid Drug Culture

In 1995 NASA published it's findings on the effects of common recreational drugs and toxins on the behavior and web building characteristics of spiders. It was only a preliminary report though and didn't provide any insight into the long-term effects of various drugs upon the spiders' behavior and web weaving. Fortunately others have continued where NASA left off:

Homo Urbanensis Thugii

The Urban Thug (Homo Urbanensis Thugii) is a largely unstudied creature. Though having a large and growing population base and an expanding habitat, the dangers involved in studying them combined with the utter lack of empathy they inspire in researchers have kept study of them to a minimum. Below is one of the few anatomical sketches of a representative member of the species:

Anatomical Sketch of Homo Urbanensis Thugii

NOTE: There is some debate among biologists and zoologists over the proper taxonomic classification of Urbanensis Thuggii; one school of thought places them as a subspecies of Man, hence Homo, while the other places them as a related species of hominid and classifies them as Hominidae Urbanensis Thugii.

Childhood’s End

Childhood ends, and with it normally ends many of our flights of fancy, our whimsy, and wonder at the world. So too end the lives we created for our imaginary playmates, if we had any. For the most part we grow up, put "childish things" behind us, and start the long - often dreary and tedious - process of making some accommodation with the world at large. Indeed, if Calvin & Hobbes were to mimic reality, it was foredoomed that someday Calvin would outgrow his tigerish playmate and Hobbes would cease to exist except as occasionally dredged up memory of Calvin's lost childhood.

The Last Calvin & Hobbes Cartoon?

There is a certain sadness that this happens at all. There is a far greater sadness in how young many children are these days when it happens.

It’s About Race

[singlepic id=280 w=150 float=left]The Tea Parties and their supporters are much maligned by the Liberals. Those Liberals have taken great pains to paint all dissent against President Obama's Leftist agenda as racist, but have taken especial pains to paint the Tea Parties and their supporters as a latter day Klu Klux Klan. In truth, it's an easy bit of rhetoric for the Liberal politicians, power brokers, and their MSM operatives such as Olbermann and Maddow, to use against the Tea Parties, since it resonates with both a large segment of the Black population and Leftist Whites as well. It's a simple fact that, when you're a Liberal who is supporting America's First Black President who you've decided cannot be allowed to fail, a crowd of angry White Americans protesting his policies and agenda is both a danger and an opportunity.

What’s Your Sign?

Since it was first developed by the Babylonians in the 7th century BC the Zodiac has, in one form or another, been a fundamental part of astrology. So for approximately 2700 years mankind has believed or entertained the idea that our thoughts, desires, actions, and fates are controlled by the placement and movements of heavenly bodies. I'm not sure if mankind's lives are ruled by the stars and planets, but I'm absolutely certain that men's thoughts, desires, actions, and fates are controlled by heavenly bodies. On that note, the Zodiac:

An Ill Wind Blows

There's an ill wind blowing, both from the from the clean-energy program from last year’s Stimulus and from some of Obama's erstwhile Democrats in the Senate. It's carrying the wreak of failure and internal dissent straight into the face of President Obama and his Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner. It seems that the renewable energy grants included in the Stimulus are stimulating other countries' economies instead America's and various Democrats in the Senate are rightfully angered by this.

The Nuclear Option

As all who pay even the slightest of attention to American politics know, the Democrats attempting to rule this nation are seriously considering using the Budget Reconciliation Process aka "The Nuclear Option" to ram ObamaCare through now that they've lost their supermajority in the Senate with the election of Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA). They've taken no pains to hide the fact that they're terrified of a Republican filibuster of the bill; indeed, they've trumpeted that fear in an attempt to paint the GOP as being nothing but obstructionists and the "Party of No." What's interesting in this situation is how far the worms have turned in the span of slightly less than five years and one change in majority power. In 2005 the Democrats had a slightly different view of The Nuclear Option.