Quick Roundup 254

From Cradle to Grave

I wonder how many of the freeloaders who helped elect Hugo Chavez so they could be taken care of like learning first-hand what being coddled like children really means.

Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, is on a moral crusade. He has been preaching against vices ranging from alcohol to cholesterol, vowing to curb whisky imports and ordering beer trucks off the street.

His government yesterday announced increased taxes on alcohol and tobacco, and Mr Chavez also plans steep new levies on luxury items such as expensive cars and artwork.

It's all part of his effort to encourage Venezuelans to adopt the psyche of the "New Man" - a socialist revolutionary with a monk-like purity of purpose.

The president often cites the life of Cuba's iconic hero Ernesto "Che" Guevara as an ideal example - and complains that many Venezuelans' values are not up to par.

If there is anything good that can come out of the Chavez dictatorship, it will be the fact that stories like this will reach the free world from time to time, and those of us who already recognize the dangers inherent in socialism will be able to point to them and say, "This is what the paternalistic state is like."

Sadly, as Don Watkins recently indicated, we're a lot closer to this "ideal" than many might realize.

Oh. And lots of us could stand to get up to speed on Che Guevara, too.

Note to Self

Order this today.

Thanks, Junkman!

I'd like to thank Steven J. "The Junkman" Milloy and the other good folks at Junk Science for sending their readers to my recent post on eggshells as a magic cure for global warming. The link is on their main page now and should show up in their October 2007 archives within the next few days.

Note: Reader Doug Peltz informs me that Milloy unfortunately may regard evolution as little better than "junk science"! Hmmm. I wonder how he would answer this doctor....

Intellectual Activism

Diana Hsieh reports that Ari Armstrong is leading a grass-roots effort to promote the separation of church and state in Colorado. He is asking Colorado politicians through a letter-to-the-editor (and a declaration for individual voters to send to office-seekers) to declare whether they:

1. Endorse the separation of church and state.

2. Oppose the spending of tax dollars on programs with religious affiliations, such as "faith-based" welfare.

3. Oppose the spending of tax dollars to teach creationism and/or intelligent design as science.

4. Oppose efforts to restrict the legal right of adult women to obtain an abortion.

5. Oppose bans on embryonic stem-cell research.

It will be interesting to see whether the cause of secular government gets a sorely-needed boost from his efforts.

Thanks, Ari, and Godspeed -- so to speak.

-- CAV

Updates

Today: Added note to Junk Science section.