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Clayton's commentary on news and events of the day. Broadly speaking, I'm a conservative with libertarian sympathies (getting more conservative as my children get older).
 Never forget! I ran for Idaho state senate in 2008--didn't win I've written a number of history books, as well as scholarly and popular articles, (see my web page). Relocating to Boise? Use my realtor, neighbor, and friend, Cindy Smith csmith@1realtyone.com.
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Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Interesting Odds & Ends From Winthrop's Journal I've been reading through James Kendall Hosmer, ed., Winthrop's Journal: "History of New England" (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908), volume 1, doing some more research on the development of gun culture in the United States. I've found a number of very useful and interesting items for that topic--but all sorts of other interesting items that I found fascinating or at least interesting--and I figured that you, my loyal readers, might find them interesting as well. John Winthrop was the first governor of Massachusetts Bay, a lawyer, but in spite of that, a real opponent of unnecessary lawsuits. He was also one of the more prominent Puritan laymen. Volume 1 covers 1630-1640. Justice & The Indians One set of items scattered across many pages that surprised me a little, much as it did with Plymouth Colony, is the extent to which Massachusetts Bay tried to see that justice was done to Indians. When whites committed crimes against Indians, such as theft, murder, and attempting to lure an Indian woman into an act of prostitution, Massachusetts put serious efforts into seeing justice done to the Indians. In one case, they extradited whites who had murdered an Indian, stipulating only that they not be tortured. Strange Sense of Humor Other odds and ends: on 1:131, Winthrop tells the story of Mr. Winslow, of Plymouth, who planned to travel overland back to Plymouth. Osamekin (also known as Massasoit) offered to conduct him home the next day: But, before they took their journey, Osamekin sent one of his men to Plymouth to tell them that Mr. Winslow was dead; and directed to show how and where he was killed. Whereupon there was much fear and sorrow at Plymouth. The next day, when Osamekin brought him home, they asked he sent such word, etc. He answered, that it was their manner to do so, that they might be more welcome when they came home.Mental Illness At 1:144 is perhaps the first example in the American colonies of what today we would call "bus ticket therapy." One Abigail Gifford, widow, being kept at the charge of the parish of Wilsden in Middlesex, near London, was sent by Mr. Ball's ship into this country, and being found to be sometimes distracted [insane or depressed], and a very burdensome woman, the governor and assistants returned her back by warrant... to the same parish, in the ship Rebecca.On 1:147, the governor of Pascataquack (now Portsmouth, New Hampshire), wrote to our governor, desiring to have two men tried here, who had committed sodomy with each other, and that on the Lord's day, in time of public exercise. The governor and divers of the assistants met and conferred about it, but did not think fit to try them here.Pascataquack was outside the legal jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Fossils On 1:185-6 Winthrop mentions an account brought to them from Virginia, that, above sixty miles up James River, they dig nowhere but they find the ground full of oyster shells, and fishes' bones, etc.; yea, he affirmed that he saw the bone of a whale taken out of the earth (where they digged for a well) eighteen feet deep.Strange Pets At 1:222, Winthrop discussed how a Mr. Gibbons returned from a long voyage to the West Indies, and He brought home an aligarto, which he gave the governor.I think "aligarto" is an alligator--a most peculiar pet for Massachusetts. (I had a pet alligator once, brought home from an alligator farm in Florida by my sister. Very strange.) It May Be A Bit Quiet Here For A Few Days I am headed to University of Idaho to visit my daughter and soon-to-be son-in-law, as well as dig a few books out of their library. It's a weird feeling to be facing the eminent marriage of your firstborn. She's trying very hard for reconciliation, after a very difficult and bumpy set of teenaged years. I'm glad that it's important for her to make the attempt. No matter how much pain and stress your kids may put you and themselves through (especially if you have the misfortune to raise kids in a cesspool like Sonoma County), don't ever give up on them. They will eventually get through the teen years, and turn back into civilized creatures. New Zealand's Parliament Discusses Lowering Age of Consent to 12 This article discusses a bill to legalize sex between children as young as 12 as long as the partner is no more than 14. At least this bill keeps it criminal for adults to have sex with 12 year olds. The reasoning is essentially that the government can't do anything about this: Justice Minister Phil Goff was unrepentant, saying the situation risked turning teenagers into criminals and must be changed.Goff seems to suffering from the widespread belief, popular in some circles, that a law has to be 100% effective, or there is no point to it at all. The concept of marginal benefit seems to have flown right over Goff's head: that a law that makes a 10% reduction in some socially destructive action can still be a good thing, as long as the cost of that 10% reduction isn't some other socially destructive action. Keep in mind that having a law against sex with 12 year olds gives the police--and parents--some options other than sending a 14 year old to jail. Just the fact that this is a crime puts parents in a position of demanding that it stop, and that the parents of the other child put some restraints on their hormonally-crazed kid. The article claims that New Zealand already has the third highest rate of teen pregnancy in the world. I don't know if that's true, but there's some telling quotes: Fraser High School principal Martin Elliott said he was flabbergasted at the "absolutely bloody bizarre" idea of younger sex.Not surprisingly, there are experts arguing for the change: The bill's contentious younger sex age has found support among some doctors and sexual health experts.Hmmm. An abortion provider. Well, there's no conflict of interest on this, is there? While they are at it, why don't they lower the drinking age to 12. That's also very hard to enforce, and I'm sure that many 12 year olds are already drinking heavily, so we might as well change the laws to reflect the lowest common denominator. Labels: child sexual abuse Jose Padilla's Apartment Bombing Plans I mentioned this a couple of days ago. I received a number of emails pointing out that what would attracted attention to Padilla trying to rent multiple apartments with the same ID wouldn't be our government, probably, but the services that do background checks for landlords--who might well flag such an unusually high number of apartments being rented by the same guy, and hopefully call the FBI. Another reader, a longtime friend (and one with whom I have much experience making things go boom, back when we were young and foolish) points out: Natural gas works great on wooden frame structures. I saw the aftermath of a gas explosion in a house in Austin: matchsticks. I don't know what it would do in a steel frame building or in a masonry building. Yes, Please Get Your History Straight Groan: PHILADELPHIA, June 2 (Reuters) - Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, has launched the first U.S. television advertising campaign to promote a city as a gay destination, officials said on Wednesday.Gay men in colonial attire? Well, there were certainly homosexuals in the colonial period, but they wouldn't have been so gutsy as to write love letters back and forth. Why? Because Pennsylvania's colonial law provided that for conviction of "the Unnaturall Sin of Sodomy or Joyning with beasts such persons shall be whipt and forfeit one third part of his or her Estate and work Six months in the house of Correction [prison] at hard Labour and for the Second offence Imprisonment as aforesaid during Life." Of course, Pennsylvania was pretty liberal about this, what with the very light sentence compared to other colonies. Putting a gay couple in colonial garb while saying "Get your history straight" is right up there with King and King, a children's fairy tale (hmmm...maybe not the right phrase) about two princes who fall in love and get married. And one of the defenders of this is arguing for it based on reality! One aspect of the article that just astonished me is the claim: The group estimates that the U.S. gay travel market is worth $54 billion annually.Hmmm. There are about 4.7 million homosexuals in the U.S. (2% of the U.S. population 14 and over--and I am even assuming that 14-17 year old homosexuals are making travel plans), so somehow gay people are spending more than $11,000 a year on travel? No wonder they have so much influence on the society--they are obviously terribly rich as a result of being so ferociously discriminated against in employment. Why Cutting And Running In The Middle East Plays Into Bin Laden's Hand Because he has said in a CNN interview, back in October of 2001, that cutting and running is a sign of weakness, and leads to his eventual victory: BIN LADEN: We experienced the Americans through our brothers who went into combat against them in Somalia, for example. We found they had no power worthy of mention. There was a huge aura over America -- the United States -- that terrified people even before they entered combat. Our brothers who were here in Afghanistan tested them, and together with some of the mujahedeen in Somalia, God granted them victory. America exited dragging its tails in failure, defeat, and ruin, caring for nothing.Those who think that running away from the battle are going to strengthen our position against bin Laden are mistaken. A Polite Letter, Intelligent Corporate Management Over at packing.org, an Ohio contributor describes how he contacted Boston Market about their laws prohibiting concealed carry in their stores, and as a result of his letter, and the legal department thinking, instead of just reacting, they decided to pull the "no guns allowed" signs down. University of Utah Decides The State Legislature Works For Them, Not Vice Versa Utah adopted a non-discretionary concealed handgun permit law some years ago. Unlike some other states, it didn't allow universities to ban concealed carry. This article really captures the madness of the University of Utah, which thinks that it has authority to ignore the state legislature: For decades, the University of Utah has prohibited its students and employees from carrying firearms on campus. But this year, the Utah Legislature passed a law requiring the university to lift the ban.This is among the great non sequiturs of the arguments. And yes, there are a lot of Utahns--and Americans in general--who know that the Constitution merely recognizes human rights, it didn't create them. Garn might want to go back and re-read the Declaration of Indepdendence, and from where it says that rights come. The spat between the university and the lawmakers began two years ago when Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff challenged a state plan to bar concealed weapons from state offices. In a footnote to his legal opinion, he added that the university's weapons ban also was unlawful.Now, I can somewhat understand why some faculty might be less than thrilled at the prospect of failing a student who might be armed. I will confess that handing back papers last semester was a very disagreeable task, not because I had any reason to fear any of my students, but because some students take criticism very poorly--no matter how gently you phrase it. (And yes, I am a lot more gentle in grading papers than I am on this blog.) But guess what? If a student is so angry and out of control that they are prepared to murder a professor over a bad grade, it isn't likely that he is going to obey a relatively minor law like carrying without a permit, or carrying unlawfully on campus. Aside from the public policy question--is this a good idea or not--the excuses that the University of Utah uses are just astonishing in their scope: The university defends its ban by claiming academic freedom from state control and concerns about the "chilling effect" on classroom debate if students start carrying firearms. It also cites popular sentiment: A faculty senate vote, and student and public-opinion polls overwhelmingly favor the gun ban.Tell me, if the state legislature decided to cut the University of Utah's budget by 10% next year, causing them to lay off faculty, wouldn't that violate their "academic freedom from state control"? How about if they passed a new traffic regulation, and it applied to the entire state of Utah, including the University of Utah? These are exactly the same situations--the University of Utah is a creature of the State of Utah, and subject to its rules. Insisting that the University of Utah has the right to decide which laws it chooses to obey without some clear violation of either the U.S. or Utah Constitution is incredibly presumptuous. I am not impressed by a faculty senate vote, or student opinion polls. I am sure (being a university) that you could probably find similar majorities in favor of banning Republicans from promoting their point of view on campus, but that's not an argument for exempting the University of Utah from freedom of speech. More Signs of Britain's Fall Into An American-Style Mental Health System The Guardian reports that: A patient who physically and verbally abused healthcare staff 47 times in the past five months today became the first person to be banned from entering or contacting all NHS facilities and private clinics in England and Wales.Some of the article would suggest that the guy is at least dangerous to others, and probably mentally ill--but instead of hospitalizing this guy, before he injures someone, they just cut him off from medical care. Another High School Mass Murder Attempt Foiled But not in gun-crazed America. In Sweden: STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish prosecutors charged two teenage boys with planning an armed attack on their school on the sixth anniversary of the shootings at Columbine in the U.S. which claimed 15 lives, authorities said on Wednesday.There's obviously something gone terribly wrong. The last paragraph of the story, however: According to the prosecutor's office, the two boys face a variety of other charges including attempted robbery. The younger of the two has also been charged with sexual molestation and child pornography and possession of a hunting rifle.Just a coincidence, I'm sure. Theft Of Propane Trucks in San Antonio, Texas As this article points out: Police Chief Albert Ortiz said Tuesday that his department does not suspect that terrorism was behind the thefts. But officials said that since Sept. 11, such a possibility cannot be ignored. Does Iraq Distract From The War on Terrorism? This article from the Christian Science Monitor about terrorist cell phone tracking lists a number of recent accomplishments: Cooperating officials in many countries have been quietly chipping away at terror cells over the past several months. Recent progress includes: Terrorists & The Geneva Convention The Wall Street Journal has a thoughtful column by Professor John Yoo of UC Berkeley Law School about why the Geneva Convention does not apply to terrorists: It is important to recognize the differences between the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism. The treatment of those detained at Abu Ghraib is governed by the Geneva Conventions, which have been signed by both the U.S. and Iraq. President Bush and his commanders announced early in the conflict that the Conventions applied. Article 17 of the Third Geneva Convention, which applies to prisoners of war, clearly states: "No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever." This provision would prohibit some interrogation methods that could be used in American police stations. Chalabi, the Iranians, and Wheels Within Wheels My first reaction to Mike Rappoport's item at Volokh Conspiracy was anger. Rappoport links to this New York Times story that reports: American officials said that about six weeks ago, Mr. Chalabi told the Baghdad station chief of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security that the United States was reading the communications traffic of the Iranian spy service, one of the most sophisticated in the Middle East.Someone told Chalabi what should be a terribly important secret--that we had cracked the Iranian code. According to this AP story, Chalabi reportedly told the Iranian he had he had gotten the information from an American who had been drunk."Of course the U.S. has an interest in knowing who did this, and punishing them. It adds a little humor to the situation that the Iranians tipped us off by sending this information in a code that we had supposedly cracked. Then I started wondering about this. Either the Iranians didn't completely believed Chalabi's information, or their agents in Baghdad are really stupid--or they wouldn't have sent this information in a code that might have been cracked. The AP story reports that Iranians in Tehran then sent a bogus message to Baghdad purportedly disclosing the location of an important weapons site, in an apparent attempt to test whether what they were hearing from Chalabi was true.We didn't take the bait. So why expose Chalabi by searching his residence? Yes, it is important to find out which American got drunk and revealed this to Chalabi, but doesn't this confirm that the information that Chalabi gave them was correct? So why did we confirm that we had broken the code by going after Chalabi? As long as this was uncertain, the Iranians would have no way of knowing how much information we had obtained from them. Several possibilities: 1. Our intelligence agency is run by the same bright sorts as the Iranian who sent the message in a code that may have been cracked. 2. We want the Iranian government to believe that Chalabi is a reliable source. 3. There is some odd reason why we want them to switch to some other code. Think about the situation before World War II, where the U.S. had broken the Japanese diplomatic cipher, but not the military cipher. Perhaps there is some other cipher that the U.S. would prefer the Iranians to use. My head spins considering the possibilities. Tuesday, June 01, 2004
I Think I Am Going To Write An Article Titled "Idiots & Gunpowder" While doing research for revisions to my book, I am reading Winthrop's Journals. (John Winthrop was the first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony.) There are an astonishing number of mishaps that involve idiots trying to dry out gunpowder on chimneys, or smoking while transporting gunpowder. Herodotus on Disarming Enemies This guy says that Herodotus had something to say about disarming your enemies: As for the Lydians, forgive them -- but all the same, if you want to keep them loyal and to prevent any danger from them in future, I suggest that you put a veto upon their possession of arms. Make them wear tunics under their cloaks, and high boots, and tell them to teach their sons to play the zither and harp, and to start shopkeeping. If you do that, my lord, you will soon see them turn into women instead of men, and there will not be any more danger of them rebelling against you.I haven't checked it myself, you understand, and this is a bit before my area of specialization. Attack An 80 Year Old, And See What It Gets You News from New Zealand: Christchurch war veteran Arthur Fuller felt no fear when he took his walking stick to an intruder more than 30 years his junior.Slower learner, it seems. Anti-Americanism As An Operating Principle Mark Steyn's column today in the Telegraph is about how intellectuals (and pretenders) are using the campaign against obesity as a proxy for anti-Americanism. His column is well worth reading, not just for the data content, but also for the wit with which he dispatches pseudo-intellectuals into outer darkness. What really struck me, however, was a statement that he chose to pick on: In the Guardian, for example, Polly Toynbee had no hesitation in deciding on the root cause: "America has by far the most unequal society and by far the fattest," she wrote. "Britain and Australia come next. Europe is better and the Scandinavian countries best of all. No doubt there are also social policy reasons for this: the best social democracies pick up family problems earliest... But the narrower the status and income gap between high and low, the narrower the waistbands."Steyn points out: Also, when it comes to Ms Toynbee's "income gap", the United States is 41st in the world, the United Kingdom 63rd and Australia 74th. But OK, by Fleet Street standards of pundit accuracy, that's close enough. Oh, and the Greeks have less income inequality than the British, but are much fatter.You might be able to make an argument that when Ms. Toynbee says "by far the most unequal society" that she means something other than income. But if not income, then what? Net assets? It's hard to believe that a country where 2/3 of the population either owns their own home, or lives in a home owned by their family, is more unequal than most European countries--where home ownership is only a dream for most. Equality before the law? How does that tie into the issue of weight? How would you measure equaity before the law? No, I think Ms. Toynbee means income inequality. I couldn't find a ranking, but I did find this table from the World Bank showing the Gini coefficient for a number of nations. The Gini coefficient is a measure of how equally income is distributed through a society; 0% means that everyone has the same income, and 100% means that one person has all the income. The lower the number, the more evenly income is distributed. Of course, because incomes rise as you age (and get more experience doing your job), age distribution of the society will make some differences. Still, the U.S. doesn't turn out to do so badly on income distribution. We had .408 in 1997; Bolivia was .420 in 1990; Brazil was .600 in 1996. Not surprisingly, Third World countries that leftists love so much nearly all have Gini coefficients well above the United States. But even New Zealand's 1991 Gini number was .439--worse (less equal) than the United States. Even the few remaining Communist countries aren't much better than the U.S.: Vietnam in 1998 was .361. So why didn't Ms. Toynbee bother to check before writing her nonsense? Because hatred towards the United States takes precedence over mere facts--a hatred built, as near as I can tell, on a deep and hopeless envy. There is a resentment by the left not of the obscene wealth in America (and there is some really obscene wealth, even by my lights), but of the enormous prosperity that middle class Americans enjoy--and that most poor people in America can aspire to, if they are willing to work hard to get it. I've seen enough of how ordinary Europeans live to know that the social democratic state manages to achieve better Gini coefficients (usually) by the simple expedient of preventing excesses of wealth. I've had social democrats assure me that it is better that everyone make $20,000 a year, than that some make $30,000 a year, and others make $100,000 a year. Inequality is a greater evil to these people (and their cousins on the American left) than poverty. What, Exactly, Is Kerry Proposing We Do? Kerry makes a perfectly reasonable statement--that nuclear terrorism is our greatest threat--then says this: "Have we done everything we could to secure these dangerous weapons and materials? Have we taken every step we should to stop North Korea and Iran's nuclear programs? Have we reached out to our allies and forged an urgent global effort to ensure that nuclear weapons and materials are secured?"Very true. But what it North Korea and Iran aren't interested in ending their nuclear programs? Is he proposing that we do what the Israelis did in 1981 to deal with Iraq's nuclear weapons program? This Is A Deathmatch There is no compromise, no "accommodation," no middle ground: KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - "Are you Muslim or Christian? We don't want to kill Muslims. Show us where the Americans and Westerners live," Islamic militants told an Arab after launching a shooting spree on Westerners in Saudi Arabia. Tragic Moments In Teaching History One of the reasons that I don't worry as much as others do about history teacher propagandizing their students, is that the students aren't paying enough attention for ideas to matter. This tragic sequence of crimes against history comes from Britain--so this isn't just an American student problem: It is 1899 and Denzel Washington, the American president, orders Anne Frank and her troops to storm the beaches of Nazi-occupied New Zealand.I wish that I could say that they aren't studying World War II at all, but large majorities could identify Hitler and Stalin: Ignorance about the Allied leaders, however, contrasted sharply with knowledge about Adolf Hitler. Overall, 71 per cent of the sample and 64 per cent of primary school children were able correctly to name the Nazi leader.My fear is that for a number of the students, they can identify Adolf Hitler as "George Bush's alter ego." Only one in three could identify the broad location of D-Day, with a number saying that it happened in New Zealand, Skegness or Germany.Fortunately, there are people concerned about this, such as Dr David Starkey, the historian and television broadcaster: It was "absurd", he said, that children were spending so much time discussing Hitler and Stalin to the detriment of everything else connected with the war.For those who think computer games are useless, there is this encouraging sign: There were some exceptions to the general ignorance. One teacher at Great Addington Church of England Primary school in Northamptonshire was amazed to find that one of his pupils had scored 100 per cent in the test. Hussein's Handgun: War Trophy This report says that Bush keeps in his study the handgun Saddam Hussein had when he was captured. This is certainly classier than what would have happened if Hussein and al-Qaeda had invaded the U.S.--one of Hussein's sons kept pictures of the Bush daughters (in evening gowns) in his private gym, next to lots of pornographic pictures. Sweden: This Takes Laziness To A New Level Are they going to turn down the sheets as well? A Swedish aid organization will roll out a new line of defense to the country's emergency services next week -- the condom ambulance. Offended By A Water Gun? The story starts to read like a typical mush-brained liberal parent whining about toy guns: An Arkansas school teacher who gave her students a fish-shaped water gun is under fire from a parent who says she disapproves of weapons in her house, reports KPOM-TV in Ft. Smith, Ark.Okay, fill in the rest of the sentence the way you expect. But no, there's a twist: because she accidentally shot an ex-boyfriend one time when the gun she was beating him with went off.Yes, I guess Mom is afraid that her child having a water gun might be a bad example or something. This Really Shouldn't Be A Surprise I've know about this technique for some years (having seen a building or two demolished unintentionally in this way), but I have generally kept my mouth shut. Now it's news: WASHINGTON — Jose Padilla (search), a highly trained "soldier of our enemy," planned to blow up hotels and high-rise apartment buildings in the United States, Deputy Attorney General James Comey alleged at a news conference Tuesday.Pity Padilla's lawyer, who has to defend Padilla against allegations of terrorism, after Padilla talked about these plans to interrogators. Interesting odd item: The plot called for blowing up 20 buildings simultaneously, but Padilla said he could not rent multiple apartments under one identity without drawing attention.Really? Our government is paying that much attention? I guess that's good news. UPDATE: Here's the document in question. I suspect one of the reasons that the U.S. has tried to avoid trying Padilla in a civilian court is that this document includes statements from a number of al-Qaeda detainees. I suspect that the methods of obtaining this information might be unpalatable. We are at war, you know. Extreme Fluctuations in the California Real Estate Market We have some new neighbors who just left California. They bought a house in Orange County 20 months ago, when real estate seemed pretty well sunk out there--a 2000 sq. ft. house for which they paid $295,000. (I told you that California real estate had really sunk out there.) They just sold it for $630,000. Wow! Real Estate My wife and I went for a drive through the countryside north of Boise. I mention the details of this to just to make you Californians envious. There was a house for sale, 2000 square feet, on 20 acres of farmland (16 of it irrigated), beautiful little green valley. They wanted $219,000. Amusing Sign I was passing through the small town of Emmett, Idaho, yesterday, and one of the churches had a sign: Nobody reads a science book at a funeral. More Discussion of Iraq's Links to 9/11 This article is by "Andrew C. McCarthy, a former chief assistant U.S. attorney who led the 1995 terrorism prosecution against Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and eleven others...." It makes the point that the evidence that the Iraqi government actively supported terrorism against the United States--including 9/11--is certainly strong enough to get an arrest warrant issued by a federal judge. He points out that Atta's supposed April 8, 2001 meeting with an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague wasn't Atta's first trip to the Czech Republic: Atta and al-Ani had almost certainly met before, and, not surprisingly, under highly suspicious circumstances. It is incontestable that Atta made at least two trips to Prague immediately before relocating to the U.S. to carry out the 9/11 plot. On May 26, 2000, he applied in Bonn for a visa to travel to the Czech Republic. This necessarily means he had business there; if he had merely sought to change planes in a Czech airport en route to some other country, he could have done so without a visa.There is a strong case here. I hope that the reason the Bush Administration is choosing not to run with it is a matter of timing. Even if incorrect, the pieces of evidence provide a persuasive reason to believe that Iraq's government worked with al-Qaeda in setting up 9/11. This is all the reason required to justify the invasion of Iraq. I find myself increasingly frustrated by the Bush Administration's silence on these significant pieces of evidence. The line out of Animal House, where the pretty blonde strips off the rubber glove comes to mind: "If you aren't even going to try!" This Is A Chilling Story It's about a reporter for one of those "alternative" weekly newspapers describing how he was raped when he was seven, and how he seriously planned to kill this monster when he grew up. Not surprisingly, there are details in the story that don't fit with the politically correct notions about child molesters. After being raped at seven, he had to deal with another molester: The summer when I was eleven, Jim, my Little League coach, told my parents that the whole team was getting together at a batting cage for practice and that he would come by to pick me up. He came and got me, all right, but there was no team trip to the batting cage. He took me out for pizza and gave me money to play video games. He didn't try anything, but he was working up to it. A few days later, he called and asked if I wanted to go see the movie Annie with him -- a grown man, asking a boy out on a date. I recognized the Bogeyman, and I made sure I was never alone with Jim, either.I'm sure that quite a number of gay people will insist that just because the coach was putting gay-porn videos in for 11 year olds, and having sex with them, that the coach wasn't gay. UPDATE: One of the arguments that social conservatives use to justify restrictions on obscenity--specificially child pornography--is that molesters use it as a tool for persuading or manipulating children into sex. I hadn't ever considered this very likely, but along with this example, I can think of others that I have read about. There was an Australian psychologist who was trying to get his rape and pimping convictions overturned on the grounds that he was a Satanist, and what he had done to a 13 year old girl under his care was part of his religion. (He had hypnotized her, showed her pornographic movies as a method of making her more suggestible, had sex with her, and then start selling her services as a prostitute.) I suspect that these two examples aren't alone. You might make the argument that prohibiting materials because they are sometimes misused is an overbroad law--rather like the attempt to ban handguns because a couple percent of them are criminally misused. But the same crowd that finds handgun bans reasonable on the "sometimes misused" basis would be horrified at using the same principle with respect to obscenity. Another One Of Those "Duh!" Headlines From one of the Australian news organizations: Shock research: sex makes us happyThanks to the Chrenkoff blog for the pointer. A Survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Speaks Chrenkoff's blog has this: Marek Edelman is the last surviving military leader of the heroic Jewish Uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943. He recently spoke to a Polish television channel TVN24, and the interview has been re-published in a Polish weekly "Przekroj".The interview by the last survivor of one of the great acts of defiance to fascism is worth reading. Send it to your leftist friends who believe that America is the Great Satan. Send it to your liberal friends who insist on using the less than perfect follow-through of the Bush Administration to slime both Bush and the entire idea of liberating Poland. Here are a couple of the important quotes: Interviewer: But there are people who say it's not our business. Monday, May 31, 2004
Should I Be Angry At The Chutzpah, Or Angry At The University? Ralph Luker passes on a report of a University of Kent student who was denied graduation because of three years of plagiarism--and now is suing because they should have taken him to task sooner for this, when it was first discovered. Yes, they should have. But he should have known that he was violating the rules about plagarism. Perhaps bank robbers should complain when they are arrested after the tenth robbery, not the first. George Washington's Religion I received an email asking my opinion about whether George Washington believed in the Trinity (the idea that God is three personalities in one: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit). This reader asserted that: Do you have any evidence whether George Washington believed in the Trinity? I respect your abilities as a historical researcher even though I disagree with many of the conclusions that you draw from the facts.This may seem like a bizarre historical question, but it is quite important in some circles to establish that Washington, and many other Founders of the Republic, were, at most, Deists, not Christians (unlike the vast majority of the population). My response is this. I have seen nothing by Washington that specifically addresses the Trinity. Some people have tried to argue that because he used words like "Creator" rather than "God," that this means he wasn't a Christian, but a Deist. I find this a very unpersuasive argument, for several reasons: 1. There were a lot of people in that time that would not use the title "God" lightly, much like Orthodox Jews today write G-d. It might well be that Washington's use of such language reflects a pretty serious religious belief of a Christian form. At least, it is as likely an explanation as him being a Deist. 2. Some of the particular orders that Washington issued show the sort of doctrinaire puritanical values that I would expect of a Christian, not a Deist. For example, his General Order of February 26, 1776: "All Officers, non-commissioned Officers and Soldiers are positively forbid playing at Cards, and other Games of Chance. At this time of public distress, men may find enough to do in the service of their God, and their Country, without abandoning themselves to vice and immorality." 3. Some of his letters suggest a rather orthodox Christian view of God as an active participant in our universe--hardly the blind watchmaker of the Deists. For example, his letter to Louis XVI of France, dated April 6, 1790: "We pray God to keep your Majesty under his holy protection." and this letter of March 11, 1792 to John Armstrong: "I am sure there never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency, which was so often manifested during our Revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them." Or this order of May 15, 1776, passing on--but also adding to--a Continental Congress order: "The Continental Congress having ordered, Friday the 17th. Instant to be observed as a day of 'fasting, humiliation and prayer, humbly to supplicate the mercy of Almighty God, that it would please him to pardon all our manifold sins and transgressions, and to prosper the Arms of the United Colonies, and finally, establish the peace and freedom of America, upon a solid and lasting foundation'--The General commands all officers, and soldiers, to pay strict obedience to the Orders of the Continental Congress, and by their unfeigned, and pious observance of their religious duties, incline the Lord, and Giver of Victory, to prosper our arms." Jefferson clearly rejected the Trinity, along with many other orthodox Christian ideas, such as Jesus as the Son of God--although Jefferson chose to call himself a Christian, showing that he didn't quite understand the claims that Jesus made for himself. I am very skeptical that John Adams--who was a most devout Congregationalist, at a time when Congregationalism had not yet lost its Puritan roots--disbelieved in the Trinity. I would be very curious to see on what basis anyone would make this claim. UPDATE: Here's a link to a number of excerpts from John Adams' diary that would suggest that he was a pretty much orthodox Christian (as I would expect, considering where he grew up). This article over at the Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography mentions that Adams decided against a career as a minister because of the controversy that broke out around a minister in Adams' church: Adams had a life long relationship with First Parish, Braintree (now Quincy). He became a member on January 3, 1773. Late in life, he recalled that the church's minister, Lemuel Briant (1722-1754), was a Unitarian. Briant's theology was certainly Arminian, if not Unitarian, though he resisted the label. (Those called Arminians, after the 16th century Dutch theologian, Jacobus Arminius, upheld the role of free will in heeding the call to salvation.)This article goes on to mention that Adams decided to pursue a career in law because there was "a story about town that I am an Arminian...." Of course, "Arminians upheld the role of free will in heeding the call to salvation." This doesn't take Adams out of orthodox Christianity. The rest of this article attempts to portray Adams as a Unitarian with Universalist sympathies, but this seems rather ahistorical. From what I have read, the modern Unitarian church is quite a bit less orthodox a form of Christianity than it was when Adams was alive because of the Unitarian Church's merger with the Universalists in the nineteenth century. By contrast, this collection of Adams quotes at Positive Atheism are reminders that context matters. Most of the quotes that are not misleading because of being quoted out of context, are fierce anti-Catholic sentiments (quite typical of many Protestants of the age). His October 9, 1774 letter to Abigail captures this well: This afternoon, led by Curiosity and good Company I strolled away to Mother Church, or rather Grandmother Church, I mean the Romish Chappell. Heard a good, short, moral Essay upon the Duty of Parents to their Children, founded in Justice and Charity, to take care of their Interests temporal and spiritual. This Afternoons Entertainment was to me, most awfull and affecting. The poor Wretches, fingering their Beads, chanting Latin, not a Word of which they understood, their Pater Nosters and Ave Maria's. Their holy Water-their Crossing themselves perpetually--their Bowing to the Name of Jesus, wherever they hear it--their Bowings, and Kneelings, and Genuflections before the Altar. The Dress of the Priest was rich with Lace--his Pulpit was Velvet and Gold. The Altar Piece was very rich--little Images and Crucifixes about--Wax Candles lighted up. But how shall I describe the Picture of our Saviour in a Frame of Marble over the Altar at full Length upon the Cross, in the Agonies, and the Blood dropping and streaming from his Wounds. How Iraqis Feel USA Today reports on a survey of how Iraqis feel: 59% say that Iraq is either better off, or about the same as before the invasion; 63% believe that Iraq will be better off in five years; 54% would consider "Multi-party parliamentary democracy such as that in most European nations, U.S. and some Asian countries" acceptable; only 20% thought that an Iranian-style "Islamic theocracy in which religious leaders or Mullahs have a strong influence" was acceptable. On the subject of whether the U.S. should withdraw immediately after June 30th or not, the population is split 45-45. Too Depressing To Read--But You Need To Know It's about the widespread use of rape camps by Arabs as part of their campaign of ethnic cleansing. They aren't just terrorizing Christians and animists anymore--this is directed at Islamic blacks: "In the evening, the Janjaweed attacked. The area was full of crying from every direction, and shooting," says Ilham Isaak Abakker Abdullah. Aged 13, and light-voiced, she wears a pink dress and scarf and hasn't shown her face in weeks. "I saw many people killed, then I was grabbed by two men on horses wearing Sudan army uniforms." |
