SOME ICONOCLASM

Iconoclasm was an early Christian doctrine that was revived by early Protestants but these days it refers to upsetting popular beliefs. Leftists aspire to it but usually end up preaching false beliefs instead

There is a brilliant article here on the "aging population" problem. Because of better health-care and many bourgeois women considering themselves too grand to have children, there are going to be far more elderly and far fewer young people in the world of the future. So who is going to support all those old people? Almost everyone thinks that it is a blindingly obvious problem and it is one reason why people wink at illegal immigration but this article looks at the statistics a bit more deeply and shows that any problem is vastly exaggerated. For once I won't try to summarize the article. I will say what I rarely do: "Read the whole thing". It looks like the whole scare is another pratfall for the social engineers.

This article says that the Dalai Lama is a bit of a fraud who just says whatever he thinks will make his audience feel good. There is no doubt that Buddhism as it was practiced in Tibet before the Chinese takeover was a very harsh and primitive affair compared with what Westerners do who think they practice Buddhism. I myself like the original teachings of the gentle Buddha but the superstitious version practiced in Tibet is something else again. It's a lot like mediaeval Christianity was.

Serbs say that Clinton bombed the wrong side. He should have helped the Christian Sebs against the Muslim Bosnians and Kosovars rather than the other way around. It makes some sense but, from my experience of Yugoslavs, they deserve one-another. They seem a touchy and aggressive lot and none of them seem to realize that aggression just leads to counter-aggression.

"To hear the TV Turnoff folks tell the tale, we're mesmerized from infancy onwards by the bright blinking lights and dazzling displays. In fact, this year's televisual fast has benefited from a recently released study the purports to show a link between watching TV and developing attention deficit disorder. Even though the authors of the study flatly state, 'We have not in fact studied or found an association between television viewing and clinically diagnosed ADHD,'

Shopping malls are icons of Austrian, not American, cultural imperialism: "Austrian architect Victor Gruen brought the mall concept to this country and designed the first enclosed American mall, drawing on ideas from socialist theory."

This explanation of the Columbine school killings seems reasonable. It was not about "bullying" or anything else that could have been "fixed". Eric Harris was just a common or garden variety psychopath -- a "moral imbecile". Such types typically do crazy things that go against their own self-interest -- but it makes sense to them because they lack normal emotions.

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ELSEWHERE

News Flash! The Jews were behind the Madrid bombings

Bureaucratic viciousness: "The market is often accused of under-providing safety. Consider, however, that the Department of Agriculture is refusing to let a Kansas beef producer test its cattle for mad cow disease. Yes, you read that right. The producer, Creekstone Farms, is losing $40,000 a day because it exports its beef to Japan where such tests are required. The testing of individual cattle, however, runs contrary to the DOA/industry message that American beef is perfectly safe without expensive testing."

Happiness and health in a prosperous society: "Between the media's emphasis on crises and grievances, and the fears engendered by 9/11, it is common to hear that things are going to hell, that our parents had it better. But objectively, almost everyone in today's United States or European Union lives better than his or her parents did." But there are still lots of unhappy people around who seem unable to count their blessings -- Why? I have myself previously commented on that here and here and here and here. There is also a short article on the subject here

Ordinary workers are "rich": "As you filed your income tax return last week it probably did not occur to you that you are 'rich.' But, in fact, Internal Revenue Service data reveals that more Americans than ever may now be classified as 'rich,' at least based on the way Democrats define the term. The chart breaks down the income taxes paid by different earners and shows that the 'rich' includes millions of two-income couples simply living paycheck to paycheck. By simply working in a two-income family, with each person earning just $10 an hour, you are among the wealthiest half of Americans -- based upon family income. You are also among the half that actually pays income taxes -- while the other half regularly complains that you are not doing enough for them."

My recipe for today is for a Thai version of marinated and grilled chicken. See here or here. Probably a bit better for you than fried chicken -- Hey! Maybe I'll get called "racist" for saying that. It has happened!

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH. Mirror sites here and here

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The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

All politicians seek power but conservatives bring with them a genuine concern for the welfare of their country. Leftists bring only their hate-filled Stalinist hearts and their pretend compassion

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