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The Blogosphere's favorite child turns

The Blogosphere's favorite child turns three today. Of course, the Bleat is your first stop in the 'sphere, so you already know this.... It is your first stop, right?

This means war...

Collins has impugned my honor and, by extension, the state of Michigan. I fight for her honor against the barbarian from Long Island.

I've been blogrolled by Musings

I've been blogrolled by Musings from the Imperial Senate. If someone with the name DarthVOB can manage to compliment me, surely a certain Long Islander can do it...

Why am I not surprised?

From Fox News comes this no-longer shocking account, no less idiotic for already having been tried, three months ago:

AUSTIN, Texas — Democratic state lawmakers fled Texas on Monday for the second time in three months to thwart a Republican drive to redraw the state's congressional districts.

Dear Democrats,
I thought you guys were supposed to have your fingers on the pulse of the nation. Weren't you the ones who made policy based on the polls? I think your computer models went a little out of whack since nine-eleven though, might want to check that.

Eleven of the 12 Democrats in the state Senate left for Albuquerque, N.M., as a first special session called by the governor to address redistricting drew to a close and he called a second special session, which began Monday afternoon. The second session could last up to 30 days.

And surprise, surprise, it's still about redistricting. You know, the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over, but expecting a different result. Just sayin', is all...

"We're availing ourselves of a tool given to us by our Texas Constitution to break a quorum," Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos said at a hotel in Albuquerque. "It's not about Democrats, it's about democracy."

Somehow I don't think the Texas Constitution's framers intended to allow a bitter minority to thwart the will of the majority. Oh and it's not about democracy. The United States is a Republic and Texas is a Republic. Nevertheless, in a representative democracy the opposition doesn't get a veto.

Asked how long the group might stay in New Mexico, Barrientos said, "We have to gauge that day by day."
Sen. Mario Gallegos Jr. (search) said the trip to New Mexico came as a surprise to him: "I didn't even know we were coming here until I got on the plane."

Wait a sec, here. Your little Dem friends were just like "Hey, let's get on this plane" and you were like, "Hey, cool dude, let's do it" and they were like "Yo, we're headin' to New Mexico and you were like, "Sure, man, that rocks." How did you get to be a legislator again?

Republicans are pressing for more seats in the state's 32-member delegation to the U.S. House. The Democrats currently hold a 17-15 advantage, which Republicans say does not reflect the state's increasingly Republican voting patterns.

Um, yeah. Any districting plan that gives Democrats the majority of seats in freakin' TEXAS is probably not real fair.
In conclusion this is probably a good thing because it shows Americans how unethical the Democrat Party becomes when it fears losing its grip on power.
I'm not old enough to remember when the Democrats were a healthy, principled party. All I've seen from them is pettiness, hypocrisy and indecency. That's not the way to win the young vote, guys. Fortunately for you my generation doesn't vote.

I do like to swim...

I'm a Flappy Fish according to theEcosystem. Not too shabby considering that until just recently my blogging rate was somewhere between erratic and non-existent.

I've known the federal government's

I've known the federal government's antisocial insecurity program was a runaway train for a long time. Any reasonably intelligent person of my generation is resigned to the fact that we will be paying into SS for most of our lives and will not see a penny of it. But this article brings it all together and makes me quite angry.

Oops...

I just remembered I wasn't going to blog about politics anymore. Oh well it's an impossible task. I yield.

New Hampshire - Libertarian Utopia?

From the Nashua (N.H.)Telegraph via Buck at The Conservatarian's Guide to the Galaxy:

"The Free State Project – a group that hopes to make a U.S. state into a free society – claims it now has about 4,440 members, and expects to reach the 5,000-member mark by next month.

Hitting that goal would realize a dream for many Free State members. At that point, members would choose one of 10 states from a list that includes New Hampshire, aiming to find a state that would make an ideal home for a “sphere of liberty.”"

Now I'm not a libertarian: I agree with them on many issues, especially fiscal matters, but my core beliefs are a bit different I think: we've reached many of the same principles and positions, but have taken different paths to get here.

Nonetheless I support the Free State Project: if it succeeds, I would definitely consider relocating there. I think it'd be great to see some more diversity among state governments in the US. Other than the requirement to be a republican form of government and provide constitutional rights to its citizens, I don't believe the Constitution prescribes many requirements to the states. There are other models beside the semi-socialist one all 50 states currently have in more-or-less virulent forms. What if there were 5 or 6 different models? What if California became a hard-left socialist parlimentary democracy and New Hampshire went minimalist/libertarian and (say) Michigan devolved power to metropolitan areas? The US would be a free marketplace of governments, with citizens and corporations free to relocate where the government best suited them. Wouldn't that be cool?

Exercising my right to petition the government

Dear President Bush,

I read with amazement this evening that your administration continues to stonewall and cover up for our supposed allies the Saudis. Now listen closely:

I am the epitome of your base. I am a conservative Evangelical from the midwest. My family is conservative. I am conservative. I read National Review Online. I laugh at jokes about France. On Election Day 2000, do you know where I was? I was at the Kent County Republican Party HQ making phone calls to your supporters urging them to vote Republican -- mind you, I was not even old enough to vote then. I am your base, but I do not plan to vote for you in 2004.

After 9/11 the Right woke up and realized that isolationism is not the answer. We followed you, Mr. President, to Afghanistan and Iraq. We are proud to have a leader who is committed to keeping our nation safe from terrorism.

So why have you abandoned us? What is this we keep hearing about Saudis being our friends? Mr. President, the men who turned our own technology against us, killing five thousand Americans in one day: they were Saudis. Their government aids and abets radical Islamism across the globe. Now that we have Iraq, we no longer need them. So why are you covering for them?

I have another concern as well, Mr. President. You see, we in the heartland are conservative types. Not merely socially conservative, but fiscally as well. We were excited when the Republican Party swept the 2002 midterms. The House, Senate and 1600 Penn. Avenue are now controlled by the historic party of fiscal restraint. What happened? Thanks for the tax cuts, it's nice to have our own money: but what's all this new spending for? What happened to the common-sense principles of spending what you have and not spending what you don't have?

Sir, the many questions I've raised here I do not have a satisfactory answer for. Regardless of the great affection I have for you personally and the masterful job you've done (for the most part) in foreign policy, I cannot support your bid for re-election. Unless you answer these questions, my first vote for the President of the United States will not be a Republican one. You would do well to reconsider the path you are taking.

Love,
Tim the Michigander

Classical values? Try Moonbat values.

Eric has floated a Peace Plan to stop the impending war. Great, you say. Frnak is a great and talented satirist, and Glenn Reynolds is, well, the George Washington of blogging. No one wants a war. But this plan is ludicrous. Let's do the "Liberal Moonbat Checklist" on his recent response to my denouncement of his plan:

The peace plan is WORKING! Let's give it a chance!
I am shocked and stunned.
Someone does not like the Classical Values Peace Plan©!
I have said before that I would try to answer all criticism, and much as it pains me, this is no exception.

Outraged, "shocked, SHOCKED!" tone? Check.

Let me tell you, it is not easy to wake up in the morning to find yourself the victim of a right-wing smear campaign attempting to link you to Neville Chamberlain! The comparison is very unfair, and hurtful to my self-esteem. Neville Chamberlain's situation was very complicated, and not easily stereotyped by means of such glib, mean-spirited one-liners. True, his plan may be called appeasement today, but it was never given a real chance to work because of a climate of jingoism and imperialism which clouded the minds of the time, poisoned the wells of human love and understanding, and made it impossible for human beings to open up to each other and begin the New Era of peace and understanding which I believe is upon us now -- if only we would let it evolve!

Mention of VRWC? Check.
Self-esteem whining/claims of unfairness? Check.
Claims of 'nuances' and 'complexity'? Check.
Mis-interpreted, mis-applied historical analogy? Check.
Evidence to back up claims? No.

The claim is often made that "appeasement never works." Well, since I floated the Classical Values Peace Plan©, there has not been one shot fired in anger by IMAO. Frank J. has had time to find out about the peace plan, and he is obviously thinking it over carefully. Because in my heart I know that all men are good, and all men want to be good, I believe in Frank's ultimate goodwill. He would never knowingly start a war of aggression -- certainly not if his point of view is thoroughly taken into account, his grievances carefully listened to, and his reasonable demands met. What Frank wants is not much different, after all, from what we all want. We all want hits, and we all want recognition, and we all tend to resent that the bigger and stronger tend to get their way in a world which often forgets the human dynamics of interpersonal interaction.

Idiotic claims of human goodness? Check.
Wants agressor's 'point of view' to be understood? Check.
Resentfulness of the 'bigger and stronger'? Check.
Evidence to back up claims? No.

Frank must be terrified and perplexed by the numerous concerns, motivations and options before him. Given time, I am confident that he will do the right thing, and peace will prevail. The world must of course be made to understand and empathize with the enormity of the personal injustices Frank has suffered -- doubtless more than his fair share of the usual thousand slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune!

More empathizing with agressor? Check.

Frank! We hear you! Frank! We care!

We know you care about him, you disgusting Frank-sympathizer. And it warms our hearts. Oh wait, no it doesn't. Funny how most of us don't sympathize with megalomaniac wanna-be dictators with violent tendencies.

We know that you are a valid, sensitive, concerned human being, wanting desperately to make contact in a cruel and insensitive world!

WE FEEL YOUR PAIN, FRANK!

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE!

Certainly, once Frank knows that others have put themselves in his position, and understood his concerns, I am confident he will vote for peace -- especially when he learns that some of the finest minds in Norway are already dropping hints in Nobel Prize circles about "Frank J. -- man of PEACE."

Let's continue to lock arms while we link for peace.

And Nobel reference? Check.
Irrelevant Symbolic Protest? Check.
Exclamation Point - Word Quotient (measures overall shocked tone)? 13 in a post of 506 words: that's amazing.
This guy definitely passes the Liberal Moonbat Checklist -- and that's not a good thing. I want to go flush my eyes with soap and water. I can't believe I'm reading this.
WHERE DID YOUR SENSE OF REALITY GO? My blood pressure is going through the roof, and I'm only 18. (OK, calm down, deep breath...) I'm simply amazed, you America-hating, moonbat sycophant. You're sympathizing with a man who has clearly stated his desire to nuke the Moon in order to achieve peace on Earth. The man himself claims to be named "Frank", a word closely associated with France. Such illogic can only belong to the Left. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries. Who let you into the blogosphere, anyway?

Good people of the Blogosphere, I'm telling you this plan will not work. The Michigander Peace Plan© is the only plan on the table with the muscle to effect lasting change. Note how I used the verb 'effect' properly in the prior sentence; only about .05 percent of English speakers can do this. My plan is simple: we must inform Frnak that unless he ceases his aggressive actions toward Instapundit immediately, we shall delink him. Since links are his lifeblood and reason-to-be (note how I avoid the French phrase, because I'm not a Frenchie-lover like Frnak and Eric), the threat of delinking will convince him to mend his evil ways.

...as Susie might say, into

...as Susie might say, into my template to update the blogroll, and even categorize. I'm so a cool person.

More blogrolling stuff

...for political reasons as noted on my blogroll. It is part of the Secret Michigander Plan Sinister (SMPS). I will not be telling any of you what it entails for obvious reasons (secrets and the blogosphere are mortal enemies, continually locked in combat)*. All I will say at this point is that if you are visiting Ohio right now you might want to cut your vacation short, and if you reside there you might want to move.

*The real reason is that I'm making this up as I go**. More info may come out on my blog depending on interest (mine and others').

**Real Reason #2 is to show my support for the unfair loss of Collins in Frnak's contesty thing. It also may be construed as showing support for Bill but that wasn't really my intent.

He gets it

Michael Novak gets the differences between the US and Europe. Our patron saint, so to speak, is Saint Augustine and not Kant or whoever. We Americans have a different idea about the state of the human heart: a lingering Puritanism reminds us that the heart is deceitful, that power is fatally corrupting. At the same time, Novak notes, we inherit from them a sense of optimism and uniqueness. We're the City on the Hill and we'll show the rest of the world the way to go.

Contrasted with Europe:

Europeans today have a far weaker belief in the nation state, and have begun to idealize large collective entities, such as the United Nations and the European Community. They are willing to cede sovereignty from one to the other, and in the process to give up a great many safeguards of local democracy. To Americans, in fact, it seems that Europeans revere bureaucrats, in the larger collective, the more so. They certainly pay lavish salaries to countless ranks of them. In addition, the Europeans seem not to be preoccupied with checks and balances, the division of all powers, and other auxiliary precautions, in the protection of liberty from its customary and traditional sources of abuse. Europeans seem relatively passive before their political elites. Europeans even seem to cry out to their elites: "Abuse us!" In other words, to American eyes, Europeans, after all their bad experiences, still seem innocent about concentrations of power. Europeans seem not to believe in original sin, or in the pervasiveness of evil in the hearts of men, for against these they arrange so few protections.

I think it's one of the great, tragic successes of revisionism that the Puritans are so reviled today. They don't deserve their reputation... although the New England liberals today seem to have taken a page from their supposed playbook, defending their rigid, unrealistic dogma....

My big fat gay wedding... post

I'm increasingly convinced that within a very short time (possibly months, certainly years) gay marriage will become a huge issue, the next great front in the Culture Wars. And under the present circumstances, the liberals will almost certainly win if conservatives hold the "one man, one woman, one lifetime" position. We need to come up with some creative ways to save this institution, as the folks over at National Review seem to understand. Right now this is just a thought exercise. In three years at the most, it will no longer be. And we've got a handy CS Lewis quote:

Before leaving the question of divorce, I should like to distinguish two things which are very often confused. The Christian conception of marriage is one: the other is the quite different question--how far Christians, if they are voters or Members of Parliament, ought to try to force their views of marriage on the rest of the community by embodying them in the divorce laws. A great many people seem to think that if you are a Christian yourself you should try to make divorce difficult for every one. I do not think that. At least I know I should be very angry if the Mahommedans tried to prevent the rest of us from drinking wine. My own view is that the Churches should frankly recognise that the majority of the British people are not Christians and, therefore, cannot be expected to live Christian lives. There ought to be two distinct kinds of marriage: one governed by the State with rules enforced on all citizens, the other governed by the Church with rules enforced by her on her own members. The distinction ought to be quite sharp, so that a man knows which couples are married in a Christian sense and which are not.

Lewis seems to be suggesting something along the lines of the libertarian idea of privatizing marriage. The problem is that the prevailing current in that line of thought seems to be that the State basically legalizes marriage between any two persons, then the churches step in and establish their own codes. The problem is that Lewis is thinking of this from an English perspective, where there is for all intents and purposes one church. If that is tried here, the result will likely be several dozen forms of marriage with differing levels of strictness. I don't think this will work.

What we need is action, now. The National Association of Evangelicals or whatever needs to come up with one specific proposal. Christianity Today and World Magazine should be writing editorials. We need to get the Catholics, the Orthodox and the conservative Jews in on this too. Possibly Muslims, but that's probably not politically possible right now, and I'm not sure how compatible their marriage traditions are. We have to get a clearly distinguishable version of marriage, one that has a ban on any divorces save in case of abuse or adultery. We need to do this right away. Denominational solutions will not work; a stronger approach is needed.

He's a moonbat

Eric of Classical Values has a new proposal to stop the rapidly developing BlogWar between Frnak of IMAO and the puppyblender Glenn. It runs as follows:

Here is what I propose as a peace solution. What Frank really wanted -- what really started this war -- is hits. Originally, Frank was angry because Glenn Reynolds failed to link to him directly as Frank had demanded. Instead, Frank felt ridiculed.

Well, I have a plan. A dream for a lasting PAX BLOGIORUM!

Now, I don't know whether what I am proposing is a breach of blog ethics (I have only been blogging for two months and, quite started frankly, I have never been noted for my ethics anyway, so how would I know, and if I did know how would I care?)

To be frank about it, I thought, well, frankly, if Frank wants hits, if all of his allies just started franking their blogs and every time the word "frank" appears in any context (even as a part of a larger word, like "Frankish") they could put a link to http://imao.us/, then maybe, just maybe, Frank would be appeased for a time, and the war at least postponed.

My tentative peace/ceasefire plan (and you don't have to be a genius and write syrupy sonnets to do this):

Just frank the hell out of your blog. If everyone put the word "frank" with a link to http://imao.us/ each time the word frank appeared, then technorati and truthlaidbear would have alltime new records, Frank's hits would exceed anything in blog history, and war might be averted.

Yeah, great idea, Eric. Let's appease the guy, then he'll stop.

HELLO! We tried this with Hitler. We tried this with freakin' Saddam. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? Really, I can't see how you claim to be part of the blogosphere.
If this plan is accepted, bet you shoot off a victory post with "Peace In Our Time" as the title.

Folks, the only way to get this war to stop is immediate action against the real agressor, Frank, whom I am blatantly and explicitly not linking to, must be stopped. If you recall, he began this by making false claims against the Instapundit and quickly stepping up the pressure. He's a Hitler in the making, blogizens. I guess this makes me Churchill. And Eric is none other than our beloved Neville C.

On the other hand, I bet Glenn hasn't ever been compared to Poland before.

No, this is not a blatant attempt at an Instalanche. Deal with it, I'm not interested in hits.

OK, I lied. So what?

I coulda told ya that...

CNN reports that Kansas is proportionately flatter than a pancake. Who knew?

Oooh, oooh. Pick me...

I'm so glad to live in a place with hills. You haven't watched a sunset until you've watched it setting over the hills of Grand Rapids' West Side from a high vantage point on the other side of the Grand Valley.

It's all his fault

John denies he's responsible for my blogging problems

The Michigander seems to think that I'm petty and vindictive. How dare you say such things about me! I'll get you for that if it's the last thing I do! But seriously, your dead on there Tim. But my beef isn't with you, no worries, although there's a few people I would like to straighten out.

But he, in the prior paragraph, has complained about comments not working right... the very same sort of problem I'm now having:

Ever notice how when you have free comments, and then you write a post where you really want people to give you feedback, your comments stop working? How dare they provide a service at no cost and not have it working perfectly at all times!

Concidence? Subtle threat? I report, I decide: it's his fault.

Now comments aren't working right.

Now comments aren't working right. New comments get posted, but there isn't any change in the thingy that says "no comments yet" or "
(3) comments".

No more politics

Not like you care, but I've decided that writing about politics is stupid because there are three thousand other people who say the same things, and they get there first too because I'm too lazy to write about them. So my new plan is to focus on unique material: my life, the horrible things my ADD makes me do.

One of the reasons I started this blog was that I was annoyed with the secular tone of the media. They for the most part ignore religion and when they try to cover it they get this whole National Geographic-type tone, going on about the quaint practices ("and the more devout among this congregation attend services twice on Sunday, once in the mid-morning and once around sunset"). But now I realize, hey, I'm in the media now. Instead of dissing CNN which is not really going to notice or care about me, I'll produce my own content. So a new major goal of this blog is I suppose what Instapundit would call place-blogging, but more like lifestyle-blogging: trying to show what it's like to live in an atmosphere of faith, sort of like background music that you every once in a while start humming along to, tapping your foot....

Neo... calvinism?

Neocalvinism Today is a movement that "suggest[s] against the corrosive individualism of libertarians and the constrictive collectivism of fascists the idea of sphere sovereignty."
As far as I can see, this movement calls for the advent of Christian labour unions, political parties, etc. Intriguing, and I'm attracted to it. I have serious reservations about the libertarian movement and unfettered capitalism in general... well not free-market economics per se, but the statements during this last recession to the effect that "It's patriotic to buy things" made me more than a little uneasy.

I don't know if I'll be able to support Bush in '04. I almost certainly will not be a Republican. But my mind's had this sort of fourfold, The World's Smallest Political Quiz-induced view of politics for so long (you've basically got the conservatives, the liberals, the libertarians and the populists, with anarchists, fascists and commies on the fringes). But it looks like, from the email addresses at the bottom of the page, that several of the editors attend Redeemer University in Canada, so I'm sure I'll learn lots more...

Oh, didn't I tell you? I'm going to college (they call it university) in Canada. I'm excited. I don't think I'll change blogs though, I'm still a Michigander at heart. I'm leaving at the end of August; hopefully I'll still have time to blog (like I've blogged so much this summer).

Obligatory Tony Blair speech post

I didn't hear the speech, didn't even know about it until the day afterward, and I just got around to reading the transcript. Best quote:

There is a myth that though we love freedom, others don't; that our attachment to freedom is a product of our culture; that freedom, democracy, human rights, the rule of law are American values or Western values; that Afghan women were content under the lash of the Taliban; that Saddam was somehow beloved by his people; that Milosevic was Serbia's savior. Members of Congress, ours are not Western values. They are the universal values of the human spirit, and anywhere -- (applause) -- anywhere, any time ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny; democracy, not dictatorship; the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police.

If only we had a leader with Blair's oratory and Bush's heart and Alan Keyes's politics....

Am I a terrorist, too?

If India (where I was born) is considered a part of the middle east, then:

Threat reating: Extreme. You see that black sedan
outside your window? Big brother is watching...


What threat to the Bush administration are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

If not, then:

Threat rating: zero. Excellent work - you
demonstrate all the qualities of patriotism
that will make America even greater under Bush.
USA no.1!!!


What threat to the Bush administration are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

The Michigander appears to be

The Michigander appears to be completely functional. I still refuse to be happy, however, in the knowledge that as soon as I exhibit symptoms of joy the blogspot gods shall move in for the kill. Really, what have I ever done to you? What?

You want me to delete what? The post calling blogspot a suspect outfit? No way! I'm a blogger, I know my rights. Censorship! The Blog Gods are censoring my unpopular speech! I demand an Instalink to let the world know of this travesty! Where are you when a blogger needs you, Glenn?

The Blogspot site offers "an

The Blogspot site offers "an in-depth overview" of its services.

What, pray tell, is an in-depth overview? Is it anything like a jumbo shrimp?

I have fixed the problem.

I have fixed the problem. I reset the template after saving my source code, cut and pasted my blogroll into the default template, readded comments, readded the site meter... and voila, good as new! I still can't figure out what made my template go away: it was either my accidentally deleting and then saving, or Blogger's deleting then saving. I do know, however, that it was Bill's fault.

Update: Out of the frying pan, into the fire. Coming back online this evening (I'm an addict I tell you) I discover that all my posts have exactly two comments. At first I thought it was hackers (I have an inflated sense of self-importance and I dissed John Collins on his blog earlier, he seems rather vindictive and petty so he could have done it. But, I soon realized, it was actually that I'd inserted the wrong comments coding. (Again, this is still Bill's fault. So I corrected the comments, checked the blog again: hmm, everything seems to be OK, the comments work OK... hey, where's my blogroll?!?

It seems to have migrated to the bottom of my blog. I do not know why. I inserted the comments code, that's it. I don't know how this happened. I cannot fix it. I fear my template far to much to reenter its depths. The moral of the story is, If you have a blog on blogspot do not ever be happy again because the software is spying on you and will take any fleeting moment of happiness and turn it into a day of sorrow and frustration and weeping and gnashing of teeth. Gnashing of teeth, I tell you.

Did I forget to mention

Did I forget to mention that the beta Google Toolbar not only has a popup blocker but also, for your gloating pleasure, includes an icon telling you how many of those annoying buggers your Google Toolbar has blocked. It's so lovely to watch it flash in what I assume are the throes of ecstasy as it gobbles up the two annoying-beyond-all-annoyances of the two popups at National Review's main page. Google is quickly turning into my new idol (the old one was the amazing copy machine at my high school, which did everything short of hand out the copies to the students). Must... resist... worship....

I can't find my template.

I can't find my template. I click on the Template tab and it opens; but the field that ought to have my weblog template in it is blank. The page is fully loaded: there's the little 'done' sign on my status bar. I loaded the template page several times throughout the day Tuesday, hoping it was a temporary Blogspot glitch. Is anyone else having this problem?

Well, at least I got comments and sitemeter up. I'm still warmed by the afterglow of that. And I can blog either by going to the Blogger website or by using my new handy-dandy blogger button on my IE browser. I'm going to bed now, since it's 2 in the morning. I'll be gone all day tomorrow (er, today) but I'll be back tomorrow night. My template will be back. I will be happy.

It's sort of scary. I'm

It's sort of scary. I'm to the point where I can go around following links and checking out blogrolls for an indefinite period of time. I've been online from twelve to two, from four to five-thirty and from seven to now (ten-thirty). And it would have been all day if I hadn't had to run errands.

Anyway, I discovered a whole new neighborhood of Blog City: the knitosphere. Via Dean Esmay's site, I followed the Michigan Blogs webring two sites down to the blog Days in the Life of a Serial Knitter. What's disturbing is not so much that this blogger writes about knitting but that her blogroll has like fifty other blogs with names like "knit-tastic" and "Fiber Addict" and "At My Knits End". It's... disturbing. In the stead of normal sidebar images like "Support the Iranian Students Movement" or "I Support Bush", "Proud To Knit In Public". I mean, come on.

Google Toolbar is a

Google Toolbar is a nifty new feature from Google that gives you a toolbar with a googlesearch field and a little button that lets you post without having to log in, switch between windows, etc. Catch: you have to be on blogspot, I think. Too bad so many people've recently moved...

I've got comments. I've got

I've got comments.
I've got site meter.
I've got no experience whatsoever with any sort of code.

Yessss. I rock.

I was walkin' around the

I was walkin' around the block a couple minutes ago ('bout midnight), thinking out a post on political philosophy (and one that I should have typed out and posted this weekend or sooner). I'm wearing cutoff shorts and no shirt; I'm a dark-skinned, male 18 year old. Fairly suspicious, I guess, especially in the middle of the night. (Apparently, there are persons who don't use the Internet except for email and stuff, and these alleged persons have something they call "bed time" roughly corresponding to my "post-dinner Internet binge".)

Anyway, I see a pair of headlights coming toward me. I'm not wearing my contacts (and it's dark anyway), so I didn't realize it was a police cruiser until he was almost up to me. I wondered if he'd pull over, ask me where I was going, etc. I wouldn't have minded -- I'm not one of these idiotarian, cop-hating minorities who wear t-shirts like "Bad cop, no donut" and wonder why they get harrassed when pulled over for going eighty in a fifty-five zone. But I digress...

The cruiser flashed his lights and kept going. Then I remembered, hey... this is America. He didn't have the right to ask me what I was doing. I'm an adult, a law-abiding citizen, and not only do I have the freedom to go wherever I want, I don't have to answer for my actions to any agent of the government. I was walking on public property -- MY property, as a shareholder in the business that is America. Even in semi-liberal nations like France, the police could ask me for my papers: but not here.

Thank God for this country. Seriously. Get on your knees and thank the God who gives you the right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness that two hundred-odd years ago, a group of men decided it was high time the ordinary people got to exercise those inalienable rights.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world wide-welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame,
" Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp ! " cries she
With silent lips. " Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door ! "
-Emma Lazarus

OK, when Susie calls attention

OK, when Susie calls attention to the fact that I didn't actually link to Frank J. on his blogiversary, I can no longer hold out. I had believed that I could outsmart Frank by mentioning him without giving a link, but his minions are everywhere; I concede defeat.

Update: Wow, there are a lot of references to Frank on Susie's site today. I wonder if she's really the IMAOster's alter ego....

Frank J. says that unless

Frank J. says that unless I post a link on our front page to him today, he'll do... something. It was either nuke the moon or set Chomps on me or send a team of ninja-trained primates after me. I also don't remember what made today special. It might be his birthday. Or his blogiversary. I do know today's the Carnival of the Liberties over at Winds of Change. May a wind of change truly blow over that oppressed nation.

I'm trying to make a

I'm trying to make a (belated) Independence Day post, but it keeps being bloggered... will this attempt work?
Anyway, CS Lewis, though a Brit, makes a great summary of the Anglospheric concept of limited government:

"[I]t is easy to think the State has a lot of different objects -- military, political, economic, and what not. But in a way things are much simpler than that. The State exists simply to promote and protect the ordinary happiness of human beings in this life. A husband and a wife chatting over a fire, a couple of friends having a game of darts in a pub, a man reading a book in his own room or digging in his own garden -- that is what the State is there for. And unless they are helping to increase and prolong and protect such moments, all the laws, parliaments, armies, courts, police, economics, etc., are simply a waste of time."

That's right. The State doesn't exist for income redistribution, as a jobs program, to be the morals police, to GIVE us our rights; no, the State is instituted by God to protect us from attacks on our God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, be they threatened by foreign invasion or domestic crime or the media or a corporation. But who will guard the guards themselves? That's you and me, buddy. And hopefully, we'll fill in some of the blanks: help the poor, maintain high standards of morality, act as forces for good with the help of God. Then maybe the Nanny State will get back to its legitimate role.

Actually, I posted some stuff

Actually, I posted some stuff Saturday, but it was bloggered (new verb, pass it on!).