House of Eratosthenes

This is actually serious stuff. The Wisconsin union thing is important too, but the way we’re really losing our freedoms fast is through the “death by thousand paper cuts”…through the pain-in-the-ass laws…through the little laws.

Go get ’em, Rand.

I’m sick of being told to get with it. Sick of being told “you can’t buy that anymore.” Sick of being told about this year’s standards…partnerships…green…blah blah blah. Sick. To. Death. Of. It.

If you want the power to tell a complete stranger what kind of toilet he has to install, to me, it’s an indication that you probably don’t really have the sense of judgment to bring about a good outcome there. Or to do much of anything for that matter. Based on what I’ve seen, when people have what it takes to make good decisions that produce a good outcome, as a general rule they start to lose interest in that kind of micro-management. They get too busy. And so the people who retain some kind of an interest in this — guess what? Yeah, I see them as the no-talent types. They might be able to present well and talk well, but overall they tend to make poor decisions. You can tell because they’re not too interested in the ones they have to make for themselves, they continue to be distracted by the decisions they can make on behalf of others.

Summarizing more briefly: Go get ’em, Rand. Go for blood. Sick ’em.

Thanks to my Facebook friend Kayla.

You’ve probably heard, but I think this is pretty funny. Count on unintended consequences in San Francisco.

I’m not in San Fran, but when I moved in my landlord informed me I would should please flush twice “if you, um… when, um… Well… if you need to.”
- Sepphina | 03/11/2011 @ 10:15
The first question must always be…. “Cui bono?”

When the G mandates that there will be no more incandescent light bulbs, who benefits thereby? Who owns the manufacturing of the new light bulbs, and to whom do those owners contribute political funds?

Just like algore got filthy rich pushing “carbon credits,” somebody has been awarded a brand-new non-competitive market in the form of government-mandated lighting products. Follow the money……

Oh yeah….Sepphina, the best response to the SF debacle on low-flow toilets is this from William Briggs, wherein the euphemism employed for defecation is “acts of Congress.” Worthy of Mark Twain:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2682312/posts
- rob | 03/11/2011 @ 14:02
My favorite part of the whole deal is the zero follow-up.

I’m looking for a term here. I agree with Morgan on the left’s pre-rational thinking, but want to emphasize the truly fantastical, magical nature of leftist “thought.”

How about “the cargo cult left?”

They really seem to believe that words and a few symbolic gestures make stuff happen. Just like the Polynesian islanders built mockups of control towers and landing strips, so too the left seems to believe that low-flow toilets, being “green,” will automatically lower the sea levels, cool the earth, heal the planet, and all that other stuff Glorious Leader said would happen once we elected him. Because, you know, it’s green. And green is good. For, like, the earth. And stuff.

Pretty much everything on the left works this way. Head Start is “for the children,” and children are good, therefore Head Start is good, therefore “the children” are getting all kinds of good stuff out of Head Start. What’s that you say? Head Start doesn’t have any demonstrable effect on student achievement, and never has? Preposterous!!! Head Start must be doing all kinds of good. After all, it’s for the children. And children are good. &c. Repeat as necessary.

Whaddaya think? I can’t claim that “the cargo cult left” is original to me — I think John Derbyshire wrote about it somewhere — but it’s the best moniker I can come up with, and it describes the situation pretty well, and it makes an ok acronym. As in, “this is one more manifestation of the CCL.”
- Severian | 03/12/2011 @ 09:42
I like it, once I’m aware of the details. But there’s a weakness. If I’m not familiar with the details and I just pick it up by first-impression vibe — and, let’s face it, that’s how these things catch on — in my mind’s eye I’m envisioning a bunch of kids in cargo pants waiting for Hale-Bopp to come back so they can drink their punch, which is a little bit removed from what you have in mind.

Many’s the time I’ve engaged cargo-culters…one recent example comes to mind about Afghanistan. Afghanistan bad! And I was forbidden from calling my antagonist a pussy liberal, because Obama’s got us in Afghanistan. The exchange went on and a meticulous inspection was made of all my personal flaws. Or, at least, the ones my fellow in discourse had time to list. Together we managed to carry the exchange a long, long way away from where a reasonable newcomer would have expected it to go: “If we are not to deal with the Taliban by means of invading Afghanistan, how then should we deal with the Taliban?” This was the very last place he wanted to take it. It was all…Morgan dim, Morgan stupid, Morgan close-minded, Morgan an Obama fan (!), Morgan no attention span, Morgan not reading critically, blah blah blah. As if I mattered that much.

Come to think of it, I saw the same thing in those pro-Mosque people. We who spoke out against it were damaging American-Islamic relations — so, then, assuming that is true, how to repair those relations? Don’t hold your breath waiting for that. But if you’re here to witness a snotty, sneering, condescending lecture on racism, well you’re just in time!

The thinking is just like a baby, or any beast that happens to be infantile, like a kitten. Momma good, bottle good, milk good. If there’s some accident with a stove or a 120v outlet, that becomes bad. That fits perfectly, almost. Except with such infantile things, if they need to come to a decision some new unexplored thing, they won’t be able to do it. They live in a world of -1, 0 and +1, with most of the things & experiences being a 0: “Haven’t checked that out yet.” Your CC people on the other hand, seem to me to be incapable of processing 0.

How about this: Chew toy thinking. You know you bought your puppy the perfect chew toy, if his old toys are now lying around neglected. That’s a good fit. What can we do, if anything, to alter the fate of the planet for the better? What is the goal when we try to find ways to productively engage world terrorism? How do we heal the economy, and in fact, what are we talking about, exactly, when we use the word “economy”? To chew toy thinkers, these supposedly important questions lose their appeal toot-sweet when the favorite chew toy is in line-of-sight.
- mkfreeberg | 03/12/2011 @ 10:39
The chew-toy left! I love it!!!

It also suggests the way they can still worry at an issue — leftists still carry around 1,467-item Bush Is Bad checklists, and let’s not get started on the ongoing Two Minutes’ Hate that is Sarah Palin — but if you point out that many of these complaints also apply to their guys…. hey, look! A shiny!!!!

It beats the heck out of the only other thing I could come up with, which is “some version of borderline personality disorder.” I think the technical psych term is “splitting” — you’re either for me or against me, which makes you either the best or worst person ever. You’re either my dearest friend or direst enemy, and it can change on a dime. There’s something like that going on with them too — every new thing is always the Worst Outrage Evar!!!1!!eleventy1!!! — but “chew toy left” pretty much covers all of that.

I’m definitely stealing that one.
- Severian | 03/14/2011 @ 07:37
I have a huge crush on Rand Paul’s frame of mind.
- Daphne | 03/15/2011 @ 16:44

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Rand Paul Opens a Can of Whoop on the BusybodiesFriday, March 11th, 2011

Rand Paul Opens a Can of Whoop on the Busybodies
Friday, March 11th, 2011