Quick Roundup 38

Financial Run

The name for Nick Provenzo's current fund drive for the Center for the Advancement of Capitalism sounds almost like the name of a run for charity to me....

And to help carry on the Objectivist fight is precisely why I founded the Center for the Advancement of Capitalism. When first launched in 1998, it was because I believed that the advance of Objectivism required a group that was both intellectual and activist and that was uniquely dedicated to defending Ayn Rand's trader principle as the only legitimate basis for our social relationships. The Center's mission was thus defined as using Objectivism to present policymakers, the judiciary and the public analyses to assist in the identification and protection of the individual rights of the American people.

50k for Freedom! Stop by and help him get there!

Intellectual Slavery

Isaac Schroedinger (I use the "e" because Blogger makes any attempt to use umlauts into a fight to the death against its own silly automatic code "corrections". And I thought "smart quotes" were bad....) has an interesting piece on the lack of intellectual freedom in the Middle East.

While in the Magic Kingdom, I entered the URL for this website and got a message that read like something "For the protection of you and your family, this site has been blocked." After a little tweaking, I figured out that any URL with the word "jew" in it was banned in Saudi Arabia. So, I would just go over to Town Hall to get my Jewish (gasp!) fix.

His earlier comments on customs searches for contraband items for air passengers inbound to Saudi Arabia were also eye-opening.

Schroedinger also links to an interesting post at Jihad Watch which details how multiculturalism in our schools -- including private ones -- is working hand in glove with the jihadist drive for global domination.

My son is now thirteen. He attends a private school, and he came home nearly in tears three weeks ago. While in his history class, his teacher was speaking about the KKK and mentioned that at that particular period in America's history, members of the KKK sincerely felt they were doing God's will just as the terrorists who have hijacked the peaceful religion of Islam believe they are doing God's will. Well, my son raised his hand and said something to the effect of, "Actually, Islam is not a religion of peace. Did you know that the Hadith" -- and he explained what that is -- "dictates that only three choices are acceptable for non-Muslims according to Islam?" He went on to explain the three choices were conversion, paying the non-Muslim tax, or death. At that point, his teacher said to him something of the effect of, "Telling vicious lies like that and spreading hatred for Muslims is exactly the same thing the Nazis did when they spread lies about Jewish people eating Catholic babies in order to spread hatred for Jewish people." My son sat in his chair, said nothing, and class proceeded. My son came home devastated.

This comes from a letter by a parent who has been studying Islam with his son. If you think our current war doesn't have a home front, think again.

Pot, meet Kettle.

You know a guy on your blogroll has hit the mother lode when you get emails from readers telling you about it! The subtitle comes from Hannes Hacker, but I also spotted this gem myself yesterday over at The Secular Foxhole. Blair points to a story about Noam Chomsky's utter hypocrisy concerning his personal finances versus his professed desire that all such concentrations of wealth be redistributed.

Chomsky favours massive income redistribution -- just not the redistribution of his income. No reason to let radical politics get in the way of sound estate planning.

When I challenged Chomsky about his trust, he suddenly started to sound very bourgeois: "I don't apologize for putting aside money for my children and grandchildren," he wrote in one e-mail. Chomsky offered no explanation for why he condemns others who are equally proud of their provision for their children and who try to protect their assets from Uncle Sam. (However, Chomsky did say that his tax shelter is OK because he and his family are "trying to help suffering people.")

Of course, some selectively astute fan of Chomsky might be tempted to draw a parallel here between Chomsky's enthusiasm for accumulating wealth and Ayn Rand's thoughts on Objectivists accepting government money under certain conditions.

So let's take a gander. Here's what Ayn Rand said.

The recipient of a public scholarship is morally justified only so long as he regards it as restitution and opposes all forms of welfare statism. Those who advocate public scholarships, have no right to them; those who oppose them, have. If this sounds like a paradox, the fault lies in the moral contradictions of welfare statism, not in its victims.

And here's what "The Noam" (Or should that be "the Noam of Cambridge"?) said.

When I asked Chomsky about his investment portfolio, he reverted to a "what else can I do?" defence: "Should I live in a cabin in Montana?" he asked. It was a clever rhetorical dodge. Chomsky was declaring that there is simply no way to avoid getting involved in the stock market short of complete withdrawal from the capitalist system. He certainly knows better. There are many alternative funds these days that allow you to invest your money in "green" or "socially responsible" enterprises.

The difference lies in the context. In the former case, our government takes our taxes from us by force, leaving no other financial recourse but acceptance of such monies as are available. But, as the article points out, in the latter case, nobody is making Chomsky live as a private citizen in America. (And he also could always move to a kibbutz.) But apparently, principles are a frivolous game to Chomsky, and not something to be used as a guide to -- you know -- actual living or anything.

If we called this "Afghanistan's Gitmo" ...

... would the ACLU finally notice? Might Yale re-think its decision to admit a former Taliban official? Will The Noam of Cambridge come to the rescue with the millions he is raising to "help suffering people"? Will Moslems demonstrate the world over against this kind of abuse? Somehow, I doubt it. After all, a Koran wasn't rumored anywhere in this story to have been flushed down a toilet.

Amit Ghate points to a tear-jerker about a girl who was "married" into years of slavery and abuse at the age of four.

Gulsoma was then brought to a Kabul orphanage, where she lives today. She takes off her baseball cap and shows us a bald spot, almost like a medieval monk's tonsure, on the crown of her head where she was scalded.

She then turns her back and raises her shirt to reveal a sad map of scar tissue and keloids from cuts, bruises and the boiling water.

Haroon and I look at each other with disbelief. Her life's tragic story is etched upon her back.

Yet she continues to smile. She doesn't ask for pity. She seems more concerned about us as she reads the shock on our faces.

Read it all. Yes. It describes depravity, but it also describes the triumph of a little girl's spirit over all of it. This is what the current war is all about. Thank you for pointing that one out, Amit!

America's Least-Trusted Minority

I am one.

America's smallest and most persecuted minority, however, remains: the individual.

I am one of those, too.

Upheaval in the Name of Security?

For the second time in three days, I have read a story about people demanding the security of a steady paycheck while acting in a way that fundamentally undermines the stability of society, on which such security ultimately depends!

I am still waiting on a news reporter, however, to notice the irony.

Houstonians Fed up With Evacuees

This piece in the Houston Chronicle does a very good job of summing up public opinion in Houston seven months after Katrina.

"Whatever we want to do, these are American citizens, and they can stay here if they want," said [Harris County Judge Robert] Eckels. "The difference is, when they're here and they get into trouble, there are consequences. They put up with a lot of things in New Orleans that we don't put up with here."

And those last two sentences are the money quote for most of us.

A Double Dose of Yaron Brook

Diana Hsieh reports that Yaron Brook will appear on national television today and that his lecture, "'Just War Theory' vs. American Self-Defense" is available online.

Roundup

Bubblehead mentioned this blog in a roundup over at The Stupid Shall Be Punished.

What's in your wallet?

If you're Jennifer Snow's dad, it won't be a Capital One credit card. Thanks for the heads-up, Jennifer!

Brazillian Bennish

Bruno Raymundo reports that America's public schools have no monopoly on reeducation.

[My professor claimed that there] are different epistemologies (he was trying to say that there are different theories. I think.) and we have to take them into consideration, because our idea of liberty is different from an Arab's or a native Brazilian's. Even the oppressive Islamic regimes are, "in certain ways", expressions of liberty and democracy. [bold added]

And there's plenty more where that came from.

Moleskine Tablets

Toiler, a writer who blogs at Acid Free Paper, has an interesting piece on a celebrated bit of writing paraphernalia.

-- CAV

Updates

Today: Changed "marathon" to "run". Yeah. I know. Not really that important, but mistakes like that really annoy me.... Bleh!