Quick Roundup 476

Profit vs. Objectivity?

I saw the Barack Obama Administration admit, at least twice yesterday, that it knows it is losing the war of ideas: Two separate clips on the news showed officials denouncing conservative news or commentary outlets as "biased" at least in part because they operate for the sake of earning a profit.

This is very revealing when one considers the further context of the Obama Administration's views on what constitutes "noise" and on the propriety of the government co-opting the news media by controlling its purse strings.

To a decent first approximation, presenting facts and presenting arguments contrary to the agenda of the Obama Administration is the path to profit in the segment of the intellectual marketplace dealing with news and commentary. (The business practices of many leftists outlets are making this approximation look much better than it is.)

Does the Obama Administration rethink its basic premises, try making better arguments, or even welcome the demise of its more inept house organs? No. It shouts louder, talks about "bailing out" the newspapers, and damns success in an economy that desperately needs more of that just about now. To top it off, it insults any voter who seeks out news or opinion from a source that doesn't toe the party line.

Come to think of it, this isn't just a declaration of intellectual bankruptcy. It's a declaration of war against individual conscience, capitalism, and what Obama calls "democracy" -- in short, the United States of America.

Go Green!

It was very disappointing to see one of my favorite blogs on personal productivity mired in intellectual clutter squalor last week. I agree with Martin Lindeskog that global warming was a poor choice for a "blog action day" theme and with Brian Phillips that there are far better ways to "go green."

Exploit the earth or die.

So much for my own belated contribution to "blog action day."

Objectivist Roundup

I'll be back home tomorrow and getting back into my normal blogging routine. In the meantime, I'll make a late plug for the latest Objectivist Roundup over at Titanic Deck Chairs.

The Other Code Talkers

After the movie Windtalkers, many people are familiar with the role of Navajo code talkers in the Pacific Theater of World War II. But did you know that Choctaws and members of other Indian tribes served a similar role during World War I?

I didn't until recently.

[T]he Choctaw code talkers, [Chief Gregory] Pyle said, ... "died with secrets that were never really revealed" in their lifetime so Indian code talkers could be used in future wars, such as World War II.

The Choctaws were among the code talkers in that war as well. At the link is a short, interesting account of how the idea arose and was first implemented.

-- CAV