Lectiones
Roviana
- Conspiracy Theory Dep’t (not that we need them—the stuff we know is bad enough).
Torture
- Churchill said “We don’t torture”. It was a big lie then too. Warning: the details are nasty.
- Jesus was tortured, so God must like torture, so it’s OK. For us to torture them, I mean. The bad guys, I mean.
- For the “not-me” file. Condi says: “I didn’t authorize torture, I just passed on the orders of those who did”. Maybe she really doesn’t understand that this doesn’t help.
- Nice idea: the US should exhibit contrition for its crimes.
New makeup
- On the bright side, I think this may help to drive the word “rebranding” out of polite discourse.
War
- Smarts and local knowledge win again over “superior firepower”. Plus: hearts and minds revisited. (This is one of the seven stages of failed foreign intervention. Next stage: our honor requires us to kill more people before we leave.)
Disease
- Let not the flu of swine enter thy body, saith the Lord. But with the Mexican thou mayst consort.
- Key phrases: “Ponzified risk management” … “exchanging pathogens at blinding velocity”.
- Pig earth revisited (Missouri is no. 6 in hog production).
Banks and other robbers
- Chrysler’s fate is in the hands of hedge funds. This is like having an undertaker in charge of your health.
- Congress and Geithner are wholly owned subsidiaries of the banks.
- In Sweden, on the other hand, the government owned the banks. But of course they’re socialists. The country must be run by women (see the last item below).
It’s not a recession. The economy’s just taking a little nap
- April reports: things are not improving soon.
- Starbucks profit down 77%.
- From model home to demolition, without that time-consuming intermediate phase of “habitation”.
Dirt
- The First Lady digs a little.
Feelings all the way down
- Fish feel pain. So do crabs. Another step on the path to panpsychism.
Treats from the Cato Institute
- Silly women don’t understand that libertarianism is good for them.
