Vital History Lessons in Video

Vital lessons from history:

Israel and Palestine

• For pre-1948 history: The Israel Palestine Conflict, parts 1-4


• For post-1948 history: Israel-Palestine Conflict in 11 Minutes. I don't think this video is entirely accurate and definitely not balanced, but it's the closest thing I could find. There are numerous videos on Youtube on this subject, but most of them are blatantly false.

Liberia

• The depths of human depravity. Don't be fooled into thinking it's caused by geography or climate or colonialist exploitation or anything of the sort. The Vice Guide to Liberia, parts 1-8

Ron Paul Is Right About FEMA

I started smelling smoke on Sunday. Texas is in the midst of its worst drought in recorded history, fires are raging all over the state, and the federal government has told the volunteer firefighters to go home: We have it all under control.

Thousands of scorched acres and hundreds of burned homes say otherwise.

What they say loud and clear is that Ron Paul is right about FEMA and the federal government's mismanagement of, well, everything.

I realize that it wasn't FEMA who sent those firefighters home. It was the U.S. Forestry Service, the same bunch who is letting firefighting planes sit idle on the ground. It's all the same, though. Federal alphabet soup bureaucracies who invariably do more harm than good.

The Statist Opponents of Ron Paul

A staunch opponent of Ron Paul in the comments at salon.com wrote,

All rights come from the government, which is created by the governed to supply them with those rights. There is no such thing as "individual rights".

Since there are no individual rights, this parasite won't mind if we decide he shouldn't be allowed to vote, hold any office, teach, have children, or be in charge of anything, anywhere, anytime. Since the purpose of government is to give us batteries our rights, then it only makes sense to deny any rights to those who would use government to deny them to the rest of us.

Theory of Evolution by Natural Stupidity

Poisonous giant rat makes for hairy predator

"What is quite clear in this animal is that it is hardwired to find the poison, it is hardwired to chew it and it is hardwired to apply it to the small area of hairs," Kingdon said. The animals apply the poisonous spit only to the specialized hairs on a small strip along its back. When threatened, the rat arches its back and uses specially adapted muscles to slick back its hair and expose the strip of poison.

"Hardwired," he said. A distant ancestor of these rats happened to evolve an immunity to this tree's poison. Then one of its descendants happened to evolve a compulsion to eat the bark of the arrow-poison plant. Then a later descendant happened to evolve special hairs on its back that can store the poison.

"There is no other hair that is known to science that is remotely structured like these hairs," Kingdon said.

Well, that explains the "Evolutionary marvel" section heading. Evolution is bound to produce all kinds of fully formed, functional, and completely novel features with nothing remotely similar in other closely-related species. Isn't evolution clever!? What is quite clear in this story is that evolution by random mutation and natural selection (and genetic drift, gene flow, and whatever other supposedly purposeless processes one might choose to add) is the least likely mechanism for the development of remarkable features like this one. Listen, kids. X-Men is fantasy. It is not even science fiction, let alone science. Even if a mutation might rarely allow an organism to survive longer than its peers in very specific and abnormal circumstances, mutations are almost always immediately debilitating and always make an organism generally less fit. Accumulated mutations kill. The symbiotic relationship between the African crested rat and the arrow-poison plant was designed. Engineered. Hardwired. It exists because someone wanted it to exist, and not because it just "happened."

Poisonous giant rat makes for hairy predator

How To Destroy a Nation

1. Destroy the economy


2. Debase the currency


3. Destroy the family


4. Foment racial tension


5. Create class envy


6. Exacerbate religious disagreement


7. Invite mass immigration


8. Sabotage the productive class


9. Turn average citizens into criminals


10. Make arbitrary laws and applications


11. Denigrate traditions


12. Maleducate children


13. Overextend militarily


14. De-legitimize the government


15. Foment constant fear


16. Fail to prepare for adversity


17. Sow disinformation


18. Institute universal suffrage


19. Create masses of government dependents


20. Create large numbers of unemployed veterans

Did I miss anything?

On Apocalyptic Predictions

Someday I'll get around to a real study of eschatology, and I'll let the world know what I think. In the meantime, I'll quote Paul. This is to every would-be prophet proclaiming this or that day as the day:

The name of God is blasphemed among the nations because of you.

Lies, Statistics, Politics

In my memory, Republican administrations have frequently lied and tried to cover up their shenanigans with alibis, paper trails, and planted evidence. Democrat administrations have frequently lied and then tried to cover up their shenanigans with bigger lies and a little ridicule and name calling. Clinton was a master of the Big Lie, which is a lie so big and blatant that people believe it because they can't believe anyone would really tell it. I'm beginning to think the R's have too much faith in the American people because this tactic has worked remarkably well for the D's.

Obama (or whoever is speaking for and through him) has shown himself to be much worse than Clinton, but without Willie's charm. The campaign promises, the certification of live birth, the birth certificate, the killing of Osama bin Laben...all so absurdly transparent that I find myself admiring the newscasters who can repeat the lies with a straight face. This administration is like the 3 year old with chocolate smeared across her face and hands denying she ever touched the cookie jar. We may never know the real truth about any of those things, but we can be absolutely certain that it won't come out of this white house.

Who's the biggest loser? The astoundingly incompetent cabal running the country? Or the schlemiels who continue to support it?