Monday, January 31, 2005

Homespun Bloggers Radio, Program #4 released!

The fourth Homespun Bloggers Radio program is on the air! This edition of HBR includes the following segments:

  • Jay Dean (The Radical Centrist) shows how California politics could be made more responsive to the voters.
  • Andrew Ian Dodge (Dodgeblogium) has advice for British libertarians who are trying to regain a foothold. We also feature a song by his band, "Growing Old Disgracefully".
  • Derek Gilbert (Weapon of Mass Distraction) observes that in the evolution / creation debate, certain news organizations and certain bloggers are ignoring discoveries that don't conform to their positions.


To listen, click here or on the "Homespun Bloggers Radio" button to the right. The current audio feed is a loop of show #4. Also, you can click here to download a CD-quality version of the show. (Scroll down on the right side to download previous shows.) The 3 previous shows can also be heard by clicking here or on "Previous Show(s)" beneath the HBR button.

Homespun Bloggers: If you're interested in participating, E-mail me at "frodo at thepaytons dot org". It's open to all members.

Visitors: If you'd like to get on the air with HBR, just join our band of bloggers and you're eligible. (And immediately getting over 100 links to your own blog ain't so bad either!)

Thanks for listening!
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Sunday, January 30, 2005

2 3 4 New Bloggers

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Best Of Homespun Bloggers January 30th, 2005

Eric's Random Musings

Update on "Sad, but not Surprised"

There's been an ongoing discussion on Blackfive's blog related to the story of the Army Recruiter in Seattle who had to deal with angry students at the Seattle Central Community College. I posted on this, as did Blackfive and Sound Politics, as well as many others. In the course of the comments and discussion on this event on Blackfive's blog, one of his commenters, Carl Nyberg of Collective Interest, had this to say, in part:

The Bull Speaks!

What Our Enemies Fear Most

"Look here, America. See one of your native sons brought home as the Hero he is, and see his pride at being at the second Inauguration of his Commander-in-Chief."

Musing

Sticking with the (lack of) education theme

Andrew at Bound by Gravity has pointed out another significant failing of our education system. In addition to not teaching our students mathematics, apparently government schools are not teaching history either. One wishes that, solely in the case of our education system, Andrewÿs opening phrase was actually true. That is that those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Sadly however, in contemporary government schools, expecting a child, who is woefully unprepared to advance to the next grade level, to repeat history, or any other course or grade level, might damage their fragile self-esteem. We who exist in todayÿs PC and ÿsensitiveÿ world all know that self-esteem is far and away THE most important thing any child can take away from their education.


Respectful Insolence

Musings on the 60th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz: How I discovered Holocaust denial

I stared at the words on the computer screen, dumbfounded:

"They do not want to do it because it would show that at Auschwitz Nazis were conducting ETHICAL medicine and they want to keep the myths of the Holocaust alive!"

Just War Theory - Comparative Justice

Comparative Justice is the next test that must be met as part of Just War Theory in order for a war to be considered legitimate.

Comparative Justice is the concept that while neither side in a conflice is perfect, one is more in the right, and is more just than the other. Is the justice of our cause greater than theirs? Also, are the rights and values at state serious enough to justify war? When considering whether it is just for the United States to go to war against a perceived threat, the question is not whether we are perfect, it is whether we are more in the right than they are.

A Physicist's Perspective

Instapundit on Intelligent Design: He's wrong

Instapundit posted a photo of Mars which compared the sticker on a science textbook suggesting that evolution is just a theory and should be studied with a critical mind, with a sticker on a photo sent by the Mars lander suggesting that celestial bodies are just a theory and should be studied with a critical mind. I explain why the comparison is unfair and how the logic in the two cases is different.

MuD&PHuD

Self Defense Bill

A bill has been introduced into the US House of Representatives entitled: Citizen's Self Defense Act of 2005 (H.R. 47 (ih)). Here are links to the html, the pdf versions and to the summary. The purpose of this Bill is to:

To protect the right to obtain firearms for security, and to use firearms in defense of self, family, or home, and to provide for the enforcement of such right.
I obviously agree with the content of this Bill. However, the very existence of this piece of legislation provides yet another example of just how disturbingly distorted we have allowed our understanding of the 2nd Amendment to become. For those who don't recall the exact wording:

Weapon of Mass Distraction

Forced Prostitution in Germany

Thanks to a new law in Germany, an unemployed young woman who refused to take a job at a brothel may lose her benefits.
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Tuesday, January 25, 2005

2 New Bloggers

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Monday, January 24, 2005

Homespun Symposium X

Paulie, of the Commons at Paulie World, notes before asking this weeks Homespun Bloggers Symposium question, that it'll be a little more lighthearted, given we have the fate of the world resting on the elections in Iraq later this week.

This week's question:

"I've notice that a seemingly large proportion of the blogosphere is composed of "cat bloggers." What are the political parties your cats belong to, and how did you derive their determination? Please reply for each cat, with examples. If you do not own a cat, could you post on how you think cats determine their political affiliations (purely speculative, I know), or why cat owners are such nuts for their cats?

Dog owners: You know dogs are either Greens or Whigs. Please explain the Greenness or Whiggery of your dog(s).

File under: first and only cat blogging in Paulie World"


After posting your response, email marvin at marvinhutchens dot com with the link and it'll be added below.

Enjoy.

Homespun Responses

Ogre's Politics and Views
Ruah
The Commons at Paulie World
The Redhunter
Secure Liberty
Dagney's Rant
Nixon's Memoirs
The Terriorists
Carpe Bonum
Conservative Cat
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Best Of Homespun Bloggers January 24th, 2005

Musing

Now we're just going to work harder

To the brave ILF warriors, fighting for the oppressed (chuckle, snort) all you have done is encouraged the people at these sites (and I am quite sure many others) to pick up their efforts to get their message out that much further. You have also proved your own inability to engage in rational discussion and shown your beliefs to be wholly lacking in merit. If the only way you can get your message out is to engage in acts of vandalism and destruction, the world will quickly see your ideology for what it is - a necessarily destructive and unsupportable assault on a free and rational society.

Dr. Sanity

Defending Against The Reckless Hate of Islam

This does not inspire much confidence in Homeland Security (hat tip: Instapundit); and this is just plain scary (forgive the pun). If true, it could really dampen your enthusiasm about air travel.

A volunteer at Two Inaugural events

I volunteered for two events: "A Celebration of Freedom" which took place Wednesday from 4-6pm, and the Constitution Ball, which was Thursday night.

Following are photos of both events.

A Physicist's Perspective

The Establishment Clause and Evolution

Kevin Drum (with a positive link from Instapundit) has suggested that teaching any alternatives to Darwinism in the classroom violates the establishment clause. I discuss his argument, and give a hypothetical example which (I believe) proves he is wrong.

Eric's Random Musings

Cold War Soldiers

I was a Cold War soldier. It was a very different time to be a soldier. The military was not looked on as an honorable profession, nor were soldiers (including marines, airmen and sailors) looked on as competent, intelligent and capable. Nearly half of the Army's recruits would not be acceptable in today's military since they either didn't have a high school diploma, had horrible entrance exam scores or had been in trouble with the law. If you were off base in a uniform you rarely got treated with respect.

MuD&PHuD

Fun With Guns

A while back I posted some stats illustrating just how much more dangerous doctors are than guns. For anyone out there who might have thought I was serious I'm sure that the misunderstanding was due to you being unable to physically see the protrusion of my cheek caused by my tongue. Although I have no idea how widespread this particular misperception is, I do know for a fact that one person thinks I was serious and took me (indirectly) to task for it. Ken (being a verb, apparently) replied to all of this with a mathematical tour de force proving beyond the shadow of a doubt that gun nuts are, in fact, nuts (and stupid too). The reason I'm dedicating valuable* electronic space to this issue is that Ken not only accused gun lovers of using questionable mathematics, but he also employed them himself.

Little Red Blog

US, China, and EU Issues

Gertz’s column from the Washington Times, briefly noted here, needs further attention. It is surprising that it has received so little analysis from the blogosphere thus far, or perhaps we are all just focused on other issues. And speaking of other issues, it seems we are rather quite on yet another significant China related issue, the EU and arms sales to China.
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Monday, January 17, 2005

Homespun Symposium IX

Our next installment of the Homespun Bloggers Symposium comes from John at Therapy Sessions. After posting your response, email marvin at marvinhutchens dot com with the link and it'll be added here.

This week's question:

What are your predictions for the elections in Iraq? Will there be violence? What will the government look like? Will it be legitimate, liberal, and capable of accomplishing anything? And what effect will the election have on the U.S.?

Enjoy.

Homespun Responses


Therapy Sessions
Dagney's Rant
Bunker Mulligan
Considerettes
Bird's Eye View
Carpe Bonum
Eric's Random Musings
Ogre's Politics and View
Major Dad 1984
The Commons at Paulie World
I Was Thinking
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2 3 5 6 8 New Bloggers

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Best Of Homespun Bloggers January 17th, 2004

The Bull Speaks!

Go Directly to Jail

"Did your pulse quicken a bit the last time you looked in the rear-view mirror to see a police cruiser right behind you?"

Musing

Vancouver and public transit

Not sure what it is about the air in Vancouver, but every few years the terminally dense within the class of people calling themselves socialist (and living in Lotus Land) start into their routines about transit fare hikes and attacks on the poor/students/working class.

Competent Authority

This is Part 2 of my series on Just War Theory. The other parts covered thus far are:

Introduction
1. Just Cause

The next test that must be met in order for a war to be Just is that of Competent Authority. Only states with the legal authority to declare war may do so. Generally private armies and individuals may not engage in warfare.

There are several questions that we must ask in orderto determine if this test has been met:

MuD&PHuD

Evolution And Scripture

David has decided to take on a question (that I asked here) in a short series of posts (so far: Parts 1 and 2). There is no doubt that David has a far stronger command of Scripture than I do, so I will not try to counter his arguments point by point by citing conflicting passages (if they exist at all). Rather, I will offer a few thoughts that occurred to me while reading his posts. My purpose is only gain better understanding of his position and of my own.

The Unmentionables

Thomas Paine-in-the-Ass

A few years ago, when I first began running through the fields of information and commentary on the Internet, I noticed a reoccurring theme: Thomas Paine had somehow become the patron saint of libertarians, moderates, and slightly-right-of-center blogs. Many posters even used his name as their nom de guerre. In fact, if
you were (are?) ignorant of American history, you would get the impression Thomas Paine single-handedly instigated, fought, and won the Revolution, then moved on to write our Constitution and its attendant Bill of Rights.

Not quite.

The Terriorists

Whack-a-Gopher

When I was a pup in California I liked playin' whack-a-gopher. Not the game you humans play at an arcade with the rodents poppin' out of holes while you pummel 'em with a club--or the on line version. No, this was honest-to-god whack the actual gopher dead.

The View from the Firehouse

Emory’s Story

This is the story of how my daughter came into my life. My wife Zena and I have identical twin sons who were 2 years old when we started trying for our third child. It had been about three years since we started consciously trying to get pregnant when my wife found out that she was 9 wks along in September of 2003. We were both ecstatic about the news.

The Commons at Paulie World

This week Paulie and Paulie World contibutor Patrick Henry have a discussion about economic opportunity and certain aspects of capitalism. Mr. Henry professes to not believe in capitalism, or something. Paulie loves free markets.
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Friday, January 14, 2005

Homespun Bloggers Radio, Program #3 released!

The third Homespun Bloggers Radio program is on the air! Our first show for 2005 includes the following segments:
  • The second half of the "audio fisking" by Doug (Considerettes) of John Kerry's farewell speech to his supporters.
  • Paulie (The Commons at Paulieworld) reads a letter from the front lines.
  • Mike (Bunker Mulligan) gives us an engineer's look at earthquakes and tsunamis, as well as predictions of them in the Atlantic Ocean.

To listen, click here or on the "Homespun Bloggers Radio" button to the right. The current audio feed is a loop of shows #2 and #3. Also, you can click here to download a CD-quality version of the show. (Scroll down on the right side to download previous shows.)

Homespun Bloggers: If you're interested in participating, E-mail me at "frodo at thepaytons dot org". It's open to all members.

Visitors: If you'd like to get on the air with HBR, just join our band of bloggers and you're eligible. (And immediately getting over 100 links to your own blog ain't so bad either!)

Thanks for listening!
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Monday, January 10, 2005

Homespun Symposium VIII

Our eighth installment of the Homespun Bloggers Symposium comes from CJ at The Unmentionables. After posting your response, email marvin at marvinhutchens dot com with the link and it'll be added here.

This week's question:

What, in your opinion, are the moral responsibilities of the individual citizen in the United States (or your own country) today and how do you believe people should act upon (or react to) those perceived responsibilities?


Enjoy.

Homespun Responses

Mad Poets Anonymous
Weapons of Mass Distraction
Being Thomas Luongo
The Unmentionables
Ogre's Politics and Views
Little Red Blog
The Redhunter
Major Dad 1984
Three Men and a Blog
Dagney's Rant
Ruah
The Commons at Paulie World
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3 4 5 6 New Bloggers

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Best Of Homespun Bloggers January 9th, 2004

Pattisub

No Hope For Annan or His "Reforms"

...efforts to patch up relations will have to be monumental to make amends for the damage the UN has caused to American interests and resulting costs in American lives and treasure. The UN clearly needs the US, but I see no indication that the US needs the UN. No amount of reform can fix this failed institution.

Musing

The 12th Edition of the Red Ensign Standard: Our roots are what make us strong

I requested the opportunity to host the 12th edition of the Red Ensign standard for a variety of reasons including; doing my part, an interest in seeing what the other Red Ensigners were up to, and giving a response to the trolls who have mounted a smear campaign against blogs that fly the Ensign. There were other reasons as well, but my primary reason for hosting the standard was that I am very near to moving my family from Canada, to the US. Having accepted a job with a firm in Arizona, I
wanted to have a chance to voice my love of this country and my continued desire to push for its betterment, before I head out.

The Governator throws down the gauntlet (Hooray!)

The Governator throws down the gauntlet (Hooray!)

Our "only in California" Governor spoke to the California Legislature yesterday with his State Of The State speech. Arnold was elected to make changes and yesterday he came out with both barrels blazing. He's at his best when he's in a fight, standing up for the people against big government and special interests. That story line has always worked for him in the past and he's sticking to it. He proposed a number of
significant reforms directed straight at some of the most entrenched power groups and interests in California government. The courage and sheer audacity of a governor taking on these sacred cows should generate some excitement among the voters.

Just War Theory - Introduction

For the next few weeks I am going to intersperce normal posts with a series on Just War Theory.

Just War theory is divided into two parts; jus ad bellum, which concerns the decision to go to war, and jus ad bello, which concerns conduct in war.

Each of these contains several parts. Each will be discussed and related to to War on Terror.

Bird's Eye View

The tsunami brings the expected challenge to faith

Any time a disaster of significant magnitude happens somewhere in the world, a very old question reemerges. Questions about "how can God allow such suffering?" have been around as long as the concept of God. Right on cue they are back again in the wake of the tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean. The people who raise this point either have a very simplistic understanding of God or are not really interested in the answer.

MuD&PHuD

Who Should Help?

USS Neverdock has some good comments on a true POS from the Guardian. I think that this particular piece reveals, yet again, the backward mindset of liberals. George Monbiot asks why it is that so little has been done to help the victims of the Tsunami and then writes:
...
Why is it that Mr. Monbiot (too close to Moonbat for comfort, I think =)) takes for granted that it is the job of the American and British governments to provide help to these people? Where in the Constitution of the United States of America is there a provision authorizing Congress or the President to designate funds to provide monetary assistance to anyone, let along foreigners?

Paulie World on Gary Gordon and Randy Shugart

The Last Medal of Honor Recipients
Shughart and Gordon

This week's Parade Magazine's Personality Parade section, which I read every week, mistakenly states that Army Captain Humberto "Rocky" Versace was the last recipient of the Medal of Honor. Randy Shugart and Gary Gordon, fine fellows who were friends of a very respected friend of mine, were the fellows who went to the aid of the "blackhawk" that went "down."

Weapon of Mass Distraction

Sorry, Lucy, They're All Human

Lost in the aftermath of the tsunami was news that a world authority on fossil human anatomy just completed the first complete study of the 200 or so skeletons of our ancestors, from Australopithecus through Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. His conclusion?

They were all modern humans.
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Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Weblog Awards 2005

Nominations for the 2005 Weblog Awards are now being accepted. Head over there and nominate your favorites (including Homespun Bloggers, of course =)). We fall into the Best Community Blog category (scrow down). All you need to do is enter the name of the blog (Homespun Bloggers) and the URL (http://homespunbloggers.blogspot.com/).
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Monday, January 03, 2005

3 4 5 New Bloggers

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Homespun Symposium VII

The first of our symposium questions for 2005, comes from Considerettes. After posting your response, email marvin at marvinhutchens dot com with the link and it'll be added here.

This week's questions:

What was your favorite family vacation (when you were a kid), and why? If you have children, have you taken your kids on that same vacation? If so, what did they think of it?

Enjoy.

Homespun Responses

Being Thomas Luongo
Mad Poets Anonymous
Daddypundit
Ogre's Politics and Views
Considerettes
The Commons at Paulie World
Mark Rauterkus & Running Mates
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Sunday, January 02, 2005

Best Of Homespun Bloggers January 2nd, 2004

The Redhunter

"Stingy"?

By now many others have written about how, far from being stingy, we are quite generous in our aid. Much has been written elsewhere about the substantial US aid sent to other parts of the world. Yet we get little credit for these things.

I'd just like to add two more things we should get credit for but do not, things that I haven't seen yet elsewhere:

Collecting My Thoughts

685 The value of a human life

“Consider that there are nearly 121 million people living in low lying areas within 4km of the shoreline of the Indian Ocean. According to TAOS/MIDGARD model projections made late on the 26th, 18 million people live in the tsunami impact area. Assuming a 5% casualty rate, that’s 900,000 injured in some way (probably 250k seriously). Assuming a 1 in seven fatality rate, that’s 128 thousand dead. I hope and pray it’s not that high, but it’s a realistic possibility.” Satellite photos here, at a site by Chuck Watson, many photos obscured now by smoke.

Bunker Mulligan

Cannon Fodder No More

Nearly a year ago I wrote about the differences between people who are smart and those who are simply intelligent. I went back to read that post again this morning because of something that came to mind after hearing Lago mention he would have MajorDad on with him this morning by phone. Jim says he was impressed with a post on minimum wages which he considered to be definitive.

MuD&PHuD

Tsunami And God

Let me start by saying that none of the following discussion means a thing compared to what happened to those people who were unfortunate enough to be caught in the path of the tsunami. It's all too easy to forget individual lives that were destroyed by that huge wall of water. My thoughts and prayers go out to each and everyone effected by this disaster.

[For anyone wanting to help out, go to The Command Post and do what you can.]

That being said, I am going to add my two cents.

Musing

Gun control measures serve no useful purpose

John Lott's latest op / ed looks at the findings of a blue ribbon National Academy of Sciences panel on gun control. Both Lott's op/ed and the NAS panel's report expose gun control measures as a farce; pure symbolism over substance.

Despite the overwhelming support for gun control by panel members and an open disdain for research showing the beneficial aspects of owning firearms, the NAS panel still could not show how gun control laws had accomplished anything, with regard to reducing crime or injury.
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