Nobody asked but … We’ve been lied to!!!! Now the executive branch and all of the pols in the congress can breathe a sigh of relief. The people of America can breathe a sigh of relief. After an orgy of cable news speculation and I-told-you-so’s, we can all quietly go back to the quotidian acceptance…
Author: Kilgore Forelle
Nathaniel Brandon, RIP
Nobody asked but … A few days ago, Nathaniel Branden died at thehalfway point of his 85th year. His psychology of self-esteem has been a major influence for me. I didn’t even know about him until I read a biography on Ayn Rand, by Anne Conover Heller, in which the probable affair between Rand and…
Words Poorly Used #54 — The Implied “Too”
Have you ever noticed how people can turn a neutral descriptor such as “didactic” into a negative? With tone of voice, facial expression, or body language, one can say “he is didactic” with the implication that he is [too] didactic. Sometimes the effect is aided by adding a vague placeholder adverbial phrase such as “he…
There Will Always Be Government
Nobody asked but … The only philosophical debate I got into with family at Thanksgiving ended with me being told in stern tones that “there will always be government, even if there are only two people!” But, on calm reflection, the critical issue is whether that government is voluntary. It is not voluntary when…
Ferguson
Nobody asked but … No matter where you stand on the spectrum of law and order, you must regret the outcome. The victims are the dead man, the shooter, and all of us who depend on honesty from public servants. I never thought I would be writing anything about the Ferguson MO incident because it…
Peaceful Travelers II
Nobody asked but … The firestorm on immigration mounts. Although kindled by Obama, the colossal amount of ignorance fans the flame. Today I heard someone say the phrase “illegal aliens.” First of all the term, “alien,” is a tortured concept, and since it can only emanate from a territory, an entirely fictional concept, it is…
Peaceful Travelers
Nobody asked but … I don’t think there is any word, phrase, sentence, paragraph, clause, or provision in the U. S. Constitution which asks or allows the government to circumscribe the peaceful movement of peaceful travelers. AmIright? Kilgore
Shopping
Nobody asked but … If your life was the equivalent of a trip to the supermarket, voting would be like choosing a shopping cart. The best you could hope for would be a half-way workable set of wheels, without too much suspect trash in the bottom of the basket. Kilgore
Regulating the Internet
Nobody asked but … One of my students, today, was clearly upset because he had heard on the radio that POTUS was seeking to hand the reins of the Internet over to the FCC, Federal Communication Commission. I am sure that politicians see that as feasible, but the fact is that “the Internet” is merely…
Words Poorly Used #53 — Law
There are many phrases built with the word “law” in them to create an impression that we are in the soft and warm embrace of a creature for humane conduct. I’m talking about phrases such as “the rule of law” which means essentially whatever catch-22 the prosecutors plan to pursue. On Friday’s Scott Horton Show,…