Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Via Gerard:
Government control over the citizens does not come about just through the legislation of the large issues a la the Canadian Hate Speech Tribunals. It also happens — and much more frequently — by the assumption of the government by fiat of the right to control all manner of little things. The recent best seller, “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff,” has it exactly backwards. The small stuff is what has to be sweated. All the time.
If you are of a certain age you’ll remember the arguments against seat belt laws and motorcycle helmets mandates. In general it ran, “If they can do this to these things, they can do it to bigger things and everything.”
Nonsense, was the rejoinder, this is simply “for your own good.” An extension of this rationale was, “It is for the good of the children.” Fast forward a few decades and take a searching and fearless inventory of all the things you simply cannot do that are just things that involve you own personal behavior. You’ll find that they are numerous and growing. The new argument for laws and regulations that diminish your freedoms and liberty centers around “saving the planet.” This one is perfect since, simply by being alive, there are many things you do — such as exhaling carbon dioxide — that threaten the planet.
What inspires this tirade?
What indeed…
Under a new Swiss law enshrining rights for animals, dog owners will require a qualification, anglers will take lessons in compassion and horses will go only in twos.
From guinea-pigs to budgerigars, any animal classified as a “social species” will be a victim of abuse if it does not cohabit, or at least have contact, with others of its own kind.
The new regulation stipulates that aquariums for pet fish should not be transparent on all sides and that owners must make sure that the natural cycle of day and night is maintained in terms of light. Goldfish are considered social animals, or Gruppentiere in German.
Good ol’ Europe; yeah liberals, let’s become exactly like them. Must! Ought! Should! Have to! Got to! Gotta gotta gotta! Must! Your dreams are coming true — we haven’t that far to go. Makes me want to put a brand new wreath on the tomb of the gentlemen who chucked the first crates of tea into Boston Harbor, or toss in a bag or two all over again.
Or as Gerard elegantly and expertly summarizes in the money quote…
In a way, it is a symptom of a civilization that has just ground to a halt. The Swiss have simply run out of rational things to regulate and so they move on to the world of compassionate bullshit.
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Hey! Waitaminnit! I’m a social animal, am I not? So…if I move to Switzerland, will the gub’mint give me one of those buxom Swiss matriarchs (widowed, or some such) to ease my old age, and vice-versa?
I kinda like this idea, if it’s taken to its…ummm… ultimate and “natural” end. But then again, maybe not. I’ve been the recipient of gub’mint largess in the past and if I know anything at all about Life it’s “be careful what you ask for.” 😉
- Buck | 05/01/2008 @ 14:24