Quick Roundup 29

Nick Provenzo deserves top billing for the superb job he did with the first Carnival of the Objectivists. If you indulge your blog-reading addiction only from work, you might have missed this weekend post. If so, go there at once.

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One of the old Objectivist journals had a recurring feature called something like "The Horror Files", in which particularly bad bits of news were gathered together in a list. Yesterday's Houston Chronicle ran like one of those, and I'm not even talking about the Libertarian antics I blogged yesterday. I'll kick of with a few of the other stories I encountered there.

Egypt to world: "We can't take it, but we sure can dish it out."

This congratulatory bit of political correctness ("Egyptian students create cartoons of their own") leered out at me from the back page of Section A. It describes a group of Egyptian students penning cartoons against the Danish artists who dared draw Mohammed.

One showed a Danish strongman struggling to balance weights labeled "freedom of speech" and "respect for religion." Another showed a man wrapped in a Danish flag cowering before a giant made up of stick-figure Muslims carrying one another. The slogan: "We might look little, but if we unite, we can do something."

One of the biggest handwritten messages said, "If we talk about Jews, it's anti-Semitism. If we talk about blacks, it's racism. But if they insult Muhammad, it's freedom of expression. This is terrorism!"

The good news that they haven't bombed or burned anything. The bad news is that they are firmly in favor of the ideology that promotes such behavior. As a result, they think that free speech equals terrorism!

Algeria has its own "Get out of Jail" event.

Well, if America is going to let Yemen allow terrorists to escape from jail with impunity, why wouldn't a country like Algeria release some militants of its own?

[T]he Justice Ministry announced this week that it would pardon or end legal proceedings for 2,100 convicted or suspected Islamic militants. Some 100 militants, convicted of more serious crimes, will have their sentences reduced.

We're all "losers" now.

The latest way for Republicans to raise taxes rather than begin cutting socialist programs has a snappy new name: "loser fees".

Chemical plant technician Steven Lozano really got nailed: speeding, an expired inspection sticker, an expired driver's license and dubious proof of insurance.

The cost of his traffic infractions: $675 and a wait in line recently at Houston Municipal Court. What Lozano didn't know -- few people do -- is that only about half of the hefty fines had anything to do with his traffic conduct.

The rest were "surcharges." They included money for a prison-guard training institute at Sam Houston State University and money for a juvenile-crime program at Prairie View A&M, among other things.

"A lot of this has nothing to do with me," said Lozano, when shown the list of common surcharges. "Fugitive apprehension? Abused children's counseling?"

No politician wants to raise tax rates. But life's temporary civic losers -- those with a traffic citation, a DWI conviction or a bail bond to make -- are an increasingly attractive target of cash-starved governments. [bold added]

I already regarded the practice of setting arbitrarily low speed limits and assigning policemen ticket quotas as a means of raising revenue to be highway robbery improperly conducted by the government, but this is ridiculous.

So we dodge a vital debate about whether the government really ought to be in the business of "social programs" while the government acts even more like the kind of thug it is supposed to be protecting us from.

And how, exactly, is this going to build or maintain respect for the police, or for law and order? We are blatantly sacrificing good government and respect for the law for trinkets and handouts here. This is worse than simply having higher taxes!

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Now that I'm done with the horror files, time for a few other announcements....

Vigilis should title his diagram, "The al Qaeda command structure with the 'No. 2' beaten out of it."

Amit Ghate notes that Andrew Medworth is blogging again. If this essay on moral judgement is any indication, that's good news.

Fellow Ska and Reggae Fans might be interested to know that outgoing Jamaican Prime Minister Percival James (P.J.) Patterson used to manage the Skatalites.

Noodle Food just turned four! Congratulations to Diana, Paul, and Don!

Bubblehead, whose own blog just saw its 150,000th visitor, reports that the other blog he founded, the group submarine blog Ultraquiet No More, has reached 50,000 hits. I'd like to congratulate him for these milestones and thank him for making the submarine blogging community such an enjoyable place.

The Undercurrent has distribution advice for those interested in distributing its freedom of speech flyer.

Jason Roberts, author of the classics-themed blog Letters from an Enthusiast, is changing formats a bit and moving to a new site. I'll mention this again when I update my blogroll, which will require a template change in this case.

I think it's time to take Homer Reborn to another whole new level; community involvement. I've had a few guest articles from other readers in the past, one turning out to be one of the most read posts on my blog. It would be beneficial to both me and others, I think, if more people started submitting their own writings. It's time to make Homer Reborn a community for anyone interested in promoting the Classics and in applying the Classics to the world today. If you don't think you have anything to say, don't worry! Anything from a deeply philosophical article (such as an Aristotelean Foundation For Objectivity) to a short, personal experience with the Classics (such as a favorite quote or passage or a moving poem). Anything that takes this supposed "cloud-in-the-sky" and brings it down here to Earth means that it's worthwhile.

Of course, these are all "works-in-progress", or what I like to call "constructive-experiments". But I know that I'm ready, and hopefully the community is ready. With these changes as a goal, I will be yet another step closer to the ideal of Homer Reborn. I like it, and hopefully so will you.

Sounds exciting!

-- CAV