tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post6817869407342354372..comments2024-03-27T11:16:36.951-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: Hell is Other AmericansGagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-34994414496085441562014-06-26T05:52:09.657-07:002014-06-26T05:52:09.657-07:00Laughing instead of crying. Our political class is...Laughing instead of crying. Our political class is worth bupkis, and we need some way of holding them accountable. Lose accountability and you lose everything. Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00987042455512485699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-9033755320389219792014-06-25T16:08:47.735-07:002014-06-25T16:08:47.735-07:00Ha! Here's a funny, but true tweet from everyo...Ha! Here's a funny, but true tweet from everyone's favorite Iowan, Iowahawk:<br /><br />"Apparently, the leading cause of hard drive failures is subpoenas."USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-69877338468200523382014-06-25T12:16:20.955-07:002014-06-25T12:16:20.955-07:00Sure, "homicide" is a subset.Sure, "homicide" is a subset. Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00987042455512485699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-82000498417501420812014-06-25T11:19:52.958-07:002014-06-25T11:19:52.958-07:00Dalrymple does have one very interesting observati...Dalrymple does have one very interesting observation in there, right toward the end, with regard to the murder rates in England as compared to the past:<br /><br />"Incidentally, the homicide rate, it is said, would be five times higher than it is if we used the same medical techniques as were used in 1960."<br /><br />Suddenly, I can't help wondering if there hasn't been some new technique used in various hospitals that might be changing previously fatal attacks to merely injurious ones...juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-76029645811809714302014-06-25T10:49:56.681-07:002014-06-25T10:49:56.681-07:00So the boys naturally look for substitutes for mis...So the boys naturally look for substitutes for missing male leadership. David Mamet:<br /><br />“I remember as a young man looking at my father, a successful businessman, and thinking, ‘I don’t know anything. How am I going to matriculate into society and become self-reliant?’” Mamet said. “A healthy society helps a young man or woman matriculate. It says, ‘Off you go into something in which you’ll be judged.’ Then, the fear of matriculation is gradually replaced by the physical memory of accomplishment. So, little by little, it gets easier.”<br /><br />It is the well-intentioned, but destructive attempt to assuage the fear of matriculation, and the lack of incentive to prove one’s worth, competence, and skill, that have created a culture of conformity, weakness, and banality."<br /><br />Or crime. Mamet was talking about Pajama Boys, but he could just as easily have been talking about the boys of Austin, Chicago.Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00987042455512485699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-8681877702008014402014-06-25T10:42:36.225-07:002014-06-25T10:42:36.225-07:00Seeing as how there's no new post today, I tho...Seeing as how there's no new post today, I thought I'd continue the discussion of parenting and crime by linking <a href="http://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/file/2014_05_06_Imprimis.pdf" rel="nofollow">this pdf of the speech given at Hillsdale by Theodore Dalrymple</a> a month ago, on the topic of crime and family circumstances. Spoiler - it contains no surprises:<br /><br />"In the course of my duties, I would often go to patients’ homes. Everyone lived in households with a shifting cast of members, rather than in families. If there was an adult male resident, he was generally a bird of passage with a residence of his own somewhere else. He came and went as his fancy took him. To ask a child who his father was had become an almost indelicate question. Sometimes the child would reply, “Do you mean my father at the moment?” Others would simply shake their heads, being unwilling to talk about the monster who had begot them and whom they wished at all costs to forget."juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-9398670132546378402014-06-25T07:09:54.072-07:002014-06-25T07:09:54.072-07:00One of the two neighborhoods with zero murders is ...One of the two neighborhoods with zero murders is Edison Park:<br /><br />% of married-couple families with children: 35<br />% of married-couple families: 48.1, vs. Austin's 20<br /><br />So I'm guessing that in those neighborhoods, family type is statistically significant.<br /><br />But I'm no stats guy.Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00987042455512485699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-4155761945440236002014-06-25T06:55:55.144-07:002014-06-25T06:55:55.144-07:00Oh, and the neighborhood with the next-highest mur...Oh, and the neighborhood with the next-highest murder rate appears to be West Englewood, with 164 murders.<br /><br />% of married-couple families with children: 10.3Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00987042455512485699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-12947426277221286902014-06-25T06:50:35.058-07:002014-06-25T06:50:35.058-07:00Anonymous, I did some quick searching for you duri...Anonymous, I did some quick searching for you during the morning coffee routine. You can thank me later. <br /><br />Consider the neighborhood of Austin, Chicago:<br /><br />- Homicides since 2007: 254 (highest in the city)<br />- % of married couple families with children: 9.5%<br /><br />As intelligent people, we don't conclude from that the absence of married couple families in Austin *causes* homicides. We try to look at the whole picture and think about all the factors.<br /><br />Here's what I think, though I don't have much time. The average size of a household in Austin is 3.1, well above the Chicago average. We know that 90% of these households don't have a married couple in them. I'm guessing "extended families" living together are the norm. The working adults (almost none college-educated) are in service and sales, i.e. hourly/shift workers. Many are functionally illiterate. <br /><br />So use your imagination, Anonymous. What kind of home environment is a young boy likely to have there? Is Mom going to be around to help him with his homework after school? Could she, even if she were? Does he have a father around the house to give Mom a break? Does he suffer any consequences for bad behavior? Do his parents have time to take get him into organized activities that are positive and up-building?<br /><br />You know the answers to these questions. <br /><br />For my part, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the adults in those households are failing to raise their kids well, even if some of them are struggling to do so.<br /><br />It doesn't take a "genius" to conclude that the family in Austin has broken down to the point that its typical socializing forces (discipline, literacy, educational aspiration, moral formation, etc) don't have sufficient strength to move young males away from a vulnerable, vacant, and violent future. <br /><br />Links:<br /><br />http://homicides.redeyechicago.com/neighborhood/austin/<br /><br />http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Austin-Chicago-IL.html<br /><br />Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00987042455512485699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-17296489076626129142014-06-25T06:06:44.425-07:002014-06-25T06:06:44.425-07:00Ah, statistics, how we love to abuse thee.
Homici...Ah, statistics, how we love to abuse thee.<br /><br />Homicide rates vary by neighborhood. I'd like to see historical data on single motherhood and murder rates in neighborhoods with the highest murder rates. I'm guessing the correlation is strong and positive, but I'm open to being wrong.<br /><br />The destruction of the biological family creates pervasive, permanent damage at every level.Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00987042455512485699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-27085190025407301572014-06-24T20:17:59.929-07:002014-06-24T20:17:59.929-07:00Julie, sorry you got stuck pulling hall monitor du...Julie, sorry you got stuck pulling hall monitor duty on the short bus.<br /><br />It was fun to watch though.<br /><br />;-)<br /><br />(We really have been pulling a lower quality of aninnymouse of late)Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-73548458131523655932014-06-24T18:19:02.048-07:002014-06-24T18:19:02.048-07:00Just checking out some new music, and I came acros...Just checking out some new music, and I came across the country artist Sturgill Simpson, who appears Raccoonish to me (not to mention some damn good songs). Gotta love the album title <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Metamodern-Sounds-Country-Sturgill-Simpson/dp/B00J8JQ6D4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403658708&sr=8-1&keywords=sturgill+simpson" rel="nofollow">"Metamodern Sounds in Country Music"</a>. And this is coming from someone who has a phobia to this sort of thing.tedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07354048695798015131noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-18274016553658661372014-06-24T17:14:02.700-07:002014-06-24T17:14:02.700-07:00In leftist bizarro world single mothers *must* be ...In leftist bizarro world single mothers *must* be good, and fathers *must* be optional, or they would risk having to realize just how much damage they and their policies have done over the past 50 years or so.<br /><br />Answer: A lot. Way too much, in fact.Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06708393262849661076noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-75078693632552217602014-06-24T17:09:14.699-07:002014-06-24T17:09:14.699-07:00Capt. Obvious hoists Capt. Oblivious by his own pe...Capt. Obvious hoists Capt. Oblivious by his own petard.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-27659630208501426222014-06-24T17:07:01.085-07:002014-06-24T17:07:01.085-07:00And, not least, a nation that has steadily been mo...And, not least, a nation that has steadily been moving away from God.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-11701073638121019042014-06-24T17:05:16.559-07:002014-06-24T17:05:16.559-07:00Good points Julie, although I would bet that crime...Good points Julie, although I would bet that crimes committed by bureaucratic govt. agencies have risen exponentially in correlation to govt. growth.<br /><br />Certainly there hasbeen an obvious lack of accountability by bureaurats and, with the politicization of the dept of (in)justice (all to the left) and leftist court appointees we will only see more crimes by these unelected, anti-liberty, fascist borg.<br /><br />Collectively and individually. Corruption has gone through the roof.<br />And, they are aided by leftist politicians, media, public education and entertainers.<br /><br />Of course, destruction of stable families is a big part of this.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-79509104141629018872014-06-24T16:29:57.433-07:002014-06-24T16:29:57.433-07:00Then again, to be fair, perhaps if Barack Obama ha...Then again, to be fair, perhaps if Barack Obama had had a father, he wouldn't have been so driven to transform the US into this leftist paradise.Captain Obviousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-38509544896109051502014-06-24T16:26:38.788-07:002014-06-24T16:26:38.788-07:00Fatherlessness correlates with most every serious ...Fatherlessness correlates with most every serious social pathology, including pathological denial of the importance of fathers. Captain Obviousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-56202517766538320272014-06-24T16:12:50.960-07:002014-06-24T16:12:50.960-07:00Oh, goody; is this the part where we all pull out ...Oh, goody; is this the part where we all pull out our Mensa membership cards to prove we're smart enough to make fun of anonymous?<br /><br /><i>But lack of correlation does in fact disprove causation, all else being equal.</i><br /><br />Oh, okay. So I'm sure a survey done of the prison population - in DC or anywhere else - would reveal that the vast majority of inmates were raised in intact homes, and hardly ever by single mothers.<br /><br />As I understand it, crime rates in general have been going down all over the country over the past couple of decades, and nobody is sure exactly why. Personally, I blame Fox Butterfield.<br /><br />But back to the topic of single motherhood and how it couldn't be any worse for kids than traditional marriage, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/06/10/the-best-way-to-end-violence-against-women-stop-taking-lovers-and-get-married/" rel="nofollow">I'm sure this is meaningless, too</a>...<br /><br />In point of fact, if these studies are to be taken seriously, one wonders why it is that in custody battles, kids almost always go to the mother, when it seems they'd be so much better off with their biological fathers.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-53187802973440369902014-06-24T15:46:15.052-07:002014-06-24T15:46:15.052-07:00Another genius. Correlation does not prove causati...Another genius. Correlation does not prove causation, which is the truth underneath all those amusing graphs. But lack of correlation does in fact disprove causation, all else being equal.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-37748172938656454042014-06-24T14:14:06.845-07:002014-06-24T14:14:06.845-07:00Well, duh! Single motherhood doesn't cause hom...Well, duh! Single motherhood doesn't cause homicide - this graph clearly shows it probably has something to do with <a href="http://tylervigen.com/view_correlation?id=28086" rel="nofollow">honey production</a>.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-68820702239788163642014-06-24T13:51:17.408-07:002014-06-24T13:51:17.408-07:00...integrated citizens would be fatal to the lefti...<i>...integrated citizens would be fatal to the leftist project.<br /><br />Rather, statism simultaneously relies upon and creates the atomized, shriveled, and disordered souls who are its primary constituents and clients</i><br /><br />Many additional comments on just the kind of characters who would aim to do such a thing, including Scriptural prophesies at:<br /><br /><a href="http://yadayah.com/Yada_Yahweh-God_Damn_Religion-Pareisago-Clandestine_Conspiracy.YHWH" rel="nofollow">Pareisago - Clandestine Conspiracy</a><br /><br />Pull quote: <br /><b>“Jealously envying and envisioning an abundant quantity of</b> (<i>echo ophthalmos mestos</i>) <b>adultery</b> (<i>moichalis</i>), <b>they cannot refrain from</b> (<i>akatapaustos</i> – are unable to stop or cease; are never satiated, and cannot find rest from) <b>wandering away in error</b> (<i>hamartano</i> – missing the mark, being wrong, sinning, and being evil), <b>beguiling and entrapping</b> (<i>deleazo</i> – using bait to entice, allure, delude, and catch; luring people into sin; seducing) <b>vacillating and unstable</b> (<i>asteriktos</i> - weak and vulnerable) <b>souls</b> (<i>psuche</i>).” (II Shim’own / He Listens / Peter 2:14) Sin never satisfies. The sinner always craves more.<br /><br />"Whether <i>moichalis</i> was speaking of the multiple virgins of Allah’s paradise or of the adulterous lives lived by most Americans, this form of immorality is a symptom of the reprogramming both cultures have endured. The offer of free sex has served as bait, seducing billions to their doom—the demise of their souls. The reason unrestrained sexual indulgence outside of the marriage covenant Yahowah established is so destructive is that it makes society and the individual <b>unstable, weak and vulnerable</b>. [emphasis mine] Each of the universal constants apparent in the fall of civilizations have been delineated here. Sexual deviance that leads to the breakdown of the family, gluttony, effeminate lifestyles, and self-delusion are all present when a society falls. They are all prevalent in America today."<br /><br />Yahowah prophesied that we would have these sleazeball statists, deliberately trying to make people weak, unstable, and vulnerable (or atomized, shriveled, and disordered) in a bid to control those people just like slaves. The statists are outright satanic. They are every real human being's sworn, unalterable enemies, and we should recognize them as such, and treat them as such.Robertnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-41398532927258275172014-06-24T12:24:40.637-07:002014-06-24T12:24:40.637-07:00Speaking of Apple, I'm not buying the whole St...Speaking of Apple, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew6fv9UUlQ8" rel="nofollow">I'm not buying the whole Steve Jobs bit.</a>Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13720790978632771716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-54703460718579925722014-06-24T10:48:09.123-07:002014-06-24T10:48:09.123-07:00Van
"I felt myself capable of a generosity w...Van<br /><br />"I felt myself capable of a generosity which he never recognises. "<br /><br />Now there's wisdom. It reminds me of a young man I met in college who refused to bend in the PC wind. He said its only object was to make talented young people doubt their feelings, and so doubt their (fragile, emerging) selves. To look inside oneself and say "No, I have better angels, I'm not that" is to be clear-sighted, strong, and to exercise integrity. So much conspires against that exercise...<br /><br />Julie<br /><br />Bingo. That's exactly the hollowness I tried to suggest. Young people can have internal compasses but spend too much time testing and calibrating them -- such that they don't commit to walking in any particular direction. Amusing themselves unto death, and then resenting the rest. I love this by Greg Gutfeld:<br /><br />"Without the uncool, the cool wouldn’t exist. Why is that? Because cool contributes nothing to ‘how things work.’ Oh, something that appears cool can work (see everything made by Apple). But making such products does not rely on its makers being or appearing cool, but thinking and working hard."Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00987042455512485699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-11505223927392110692014-06-24T10:12:35.206-07:002014-06-24T10:12:35.206-07:00Magister, that was an interesting link. Thanks.
...Magister, that was an interesting link. Thanks. <br /><br />It strikes me as resonating a bit with <a href="http://ace.mu.nu/archives/350006.php" rel="nofollow">this post</a> today over at Ace's, too. <br /><br />The key, it seems to me, is less about whether the Arlos of the world carry on the traditional family businesses then it is about people who have lost all sense of direction and motivation. I could be wrong but get the impression that if aimless Arlo didn't have to work to support himself, he'd be perfectly content to fritter away his days playing treehouse (his true calling, apparently), and is thus likely to be exactly the sort of person to gripe about "inequality," in the hope that the income of those who have might facilitate his chosen lifestyle.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.com