BOURGEOIS CONSUMERISM: Neither “empty” nor “mindless.”
What is truly empty is the value that counsels A to live off of the wealth given to him by B and which B confiscated from C. And what is truly mindless is the notion that society progresses as greater numbers of us live as A’s or as B’s, and all the while thinking of C’s as being nothing more than contemptible cows to be milked for the “general good.”
Indeed.
PHONY OBAMA Swift-Boats the Swift-Boaters. Roger Simon is not amused. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I increasingly find Obama to be like a late night infomercial host – slightly charming, slightly unctuous, factually meaningless. Ready for the Presidency? Don’t be silly.”
ED MORRISSEY ON CNN: It all depends on what the meaning of “undecided” is. And if you accept the CNN-friendly definition, then Stephen Green’s observation makes perfect sense!
A BIG ROUNDUP OF new videogame releases. Crossbow training with the Wii?
MORE ON THE BANGLADESH CYCLONE, from Joe Gandelman.
VIDEO: Fred Thompson on funding the war. This is an excerpt from a full-length interview that’ll be up tomorrow.
IRAN SURRENDERS IN IRAQ: I credit the new Democratic congress!
MICKEY KAUS: “Has Hillary achieved Mutually Assured Destruction, scandal-wise? I doubt it.”
BABES WITH BULLETS.
GUNS DON’T KILL PEOPLE: Gun control kills people. In Uganda, under U.N. auspices. Read the whole, sad, story — the piece is a few months old, but it’s a useful reminder of what’s really involved in these projects.
IT’S CHILLY IN CHILE: Yeah, I know, it’s weather, not climate. Just remind the newswriters of that when it’s unseasonably warm.
UPDATE: Reader Robert Racansky emails:
I’m watching CNN Headline News, and they just had a report on global warming as a campaign issue.
Among the events related to global warming were “Hurricane Katrina,” “California wildfires,” and “Asian tsunamis.” Because it’s self-evident that SUVs and coal-powered plants cause undersea earthquakes — at least to the folks at CNN.
Like I said.
BILL O’REILLY spotted in Afghanistan. No, really.
REP. WILLIAM JEFFERSON accused of two more schemes.
IN THE MAIL: Timothy Zahn’s The Third Lynx.
A LOOK AT disaster response in Bangladesh. Guess who’s in the lead?
MORE SECOND AMENDMENT STUFF: With a decision on certiorari in the D.C. gun-ban case coming up, perhaps this week if rumors are to be believed, I’ve gone ahead and posted a forthcoming article of mine before publication. Entitled Guns and Gay Sex: Some Notes on Firearms, the Second Amendment, and “Reasonable Regulation,” it’s a look at how courts might deal with an individual right to arms, particularly in light of the D.C. Circuit’s overturning of the D.C. gun ban.
Prof. Adam Winkler has looked at some state right-to-arms cases and suggests that even if the Supreme Court finds an individual right to arms, nearly all gun control laws would wind up being upheld as “reasonable regulations.” I look at some other cases that Winkler doesn’t discuss — and in particular the way the privacy and gun right cases intertwine in Tennessee — and suggest that it doesn’t have to turn out that way. The gist: If courts pay as much attention to assessing the reasonableness of regulations aimed at firearms — where there’s a textually secured right — as they do to regulation of gay sex — where there isn’t — firearms owners will receive considerable protection. And if courts fail to do so, the legitimacy of courts will suffer considerably.
It’s a short piece, but you might find it worth your time if you’re interested in the subject.
UPDATE: Here’s a link to Winkler’s piece, too.
EMAIL IS FOR old people. Amusing discussion in the comments.
WIRED ON SHOPPING, and how to score the best deals online. I was at the mall doing Christmas shopping yesterday, and it was already really busy. I talked to several folks who work there, all of whom thought it would be a pretty big Christmas, retail-wise. That means I’ll be visiting the mall a lot less for the next month or so, until the rush is over. I’ve tried to do my meatspace shopping earlier, and leave the rest for online shopping so as to avoid the crowds.
But “buy early” — one of Wired’s suggestions — may not always be good advice: Amazon, at least, will be having a big Black Friday sale with special offers to compete with the malls.
GUN-FRIENDLY DEMOCRATS in Virginia.
PETRAEUS PICKS the next generation.
Plus, craziness in Tennessee. Yep.
AND I TOOK FEWER THAN HALF OF THEM: Over 500 billion digital photographs in the United States alone. Hard to argue with this point: “That is an enormous estimate which highlights just how much digital cameras have changed photography.”
Yep. And one reason I’m an evangelist for all of this stuff is that ubiquitous digital photography and video breaks the Old Media stranglehold on news.
BARACK OBAMA, neocon. Maybe there’s hope for him yet!
NORMAN HSU: The Texas edition?
RON PAUL MOVES TO THE CENTER: “Opposing gun control is a far better sales pitch than those letters of marque and reprisal.” I’ve noticed Paul trying to mainstream himself, too. Actually, I’d be willing to give those letters of marque and reprisal a try. But, then, I’m not running for President . . . .
InstaPundit is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
