Roborant: rob"o*rant, n. A roborant drug; a restorative or tonic.

Category: Politics

Politically, I'm something of a libertarian, although I would never have anything to do with the bumbling Libertarian Party. I believe the individual is slightly more important than the group. This category also contains oddball stuff that won't fit anywhere else.

Capital Metro: Another Failure

Cap Metro gets more laughable every day.

Wind Energy: Still a Scam

I've said it before and I'll say it agin: wind energy is a scam

Capital Metro Gets Spanked

Capital Metro is just as bad as I always suspected.

Tea Party Protests Health Care Bill

The Austin Tea Party held a protest at a Lloyd Doggett speech yesterday and here are the photos.

New Courthouse Building in Austin

They're finally starting construction on the courthouse that will replace the skeleton of the Intel building, but there sure is an odd sign out front...

Recovery.gov: Not So Hot

Recovery.gov is up and running! What can it tell us?

The Outlawry of Chainstores

People always seem to have it in for anyone else who is successful.

The Morality of War

All war is not immoral and we have recent illustrations of this fact.

Guns and Schools

I'm here to confess: I have carried a gun on school property. I've even fired one. Many times.

Austin Tea Party protests

The Austin Tea Party protests were actually pleasant, unlike a lot of protests I've seen.

Austin American-Statesman: no insight

The Austin American-Statesman rarely offers us much in the way of insight and today is no exception.

We are all Simon Jester

Recovery.gov: Not Going So Well

The recovery.gov website isn't off to much of a start.

Capital Metro

Capital Metro: how does it measure up?

Congress and the President Stick It To Us

We're being goaded into a "stimulus" that is nothing but a hostile takeover.

FDR's Folly

FDR's New Deal policies were a disaster for most of the people they were trying to help. It was really FDR who put the "Great" in the Great Depression.

We won!

Zombie has decided to declare victory in Iraq and I agree.

The 2008 Election

The election is nearly here and I think we're screwed, no matter who is elected.

Woodrow Wilson: Epic Fail

The more I learn about Woodrow Wilson, the more I think Jonah Goldberg was right. Wilson was a fascist, he fits the definition to a tee.

H.L. Mencken, Super Genius

H.L. Mencken was about eighty years ahead of his time. Not many people can toss off a newspaper column that's so smart it predicts a scholarly shift eight decades later.

An Unchanging Theme

Obama stands for Change. Where have I heard that before?

Human Extinction

Humans nearly went extinct 70,000 years ago and scientists suggest it may have been due to climate change. Pretty scary, no?

Was Woodrow Wilson Fascist?

Was Woodrow Wilson really a fascist President as Jonah Goldberg claims? Let's check some additional sources and find out.

Liberal Fascism

Goldberg's book is a startling look at the political history of the twentieth century.

Three Candidates, Lots of Plans

Let's have a look at the stated policies of the three remaining candidates.

Income Disparity

A newly published study by the US Treasury Department makes the traditional media into liars. Of course, that's not news any more.

Why the news media will always get it wrong

There is a reason that the news media has consistently gotten the big stories of the last couple of centuries wrong. It's easy to demonstrate and easy to understand.

Yuri Bezmenov and Look magazine

Yuri Bezmenov claimed that the KGB had, in essence, taken over Look magazine. Was he crazy?

Those low-skilled jobs illegal immigrants do

About those "low-skilled jobs Americans can't do: ever tried any of them?

We Win, They Lose

I signed the petition, you should too

Bygone Days

An article from the 1955 New Yorker can tell us a lot about what's wrong with our media and politics today.

Eisenhower Takes the Heat

It's always fun to criticize the President, but it's not always fair.

McCaul Votes For Pork

Here in the 10th Congressional District of Texas, we're represented by Michael McCaul, a solid Republican. Perhaps a little too solid, really.

Americans Are Ignorant

I've uncovered some horrible statistics. I wish I could say they must obviously be wrong, but they may very well be correct.

The Immigration Mess

It's a mess, but that's mostly a product of politics. If you think about it practically, there are only a few conclusions you can reach.

The Communist Manifesto

Let's actually read The Communist Manifesto and see what it says. Were Marx and Engeles really altrustic pioneers out to help the human race? Or just a new breed of tyrant?

Borders book stores: Cowards

Borders book stores say that they are "committed" to the First Amendment, but the minute there is even a possibility of danger, they drop that commitment and run away like little surrender monkeys.

War on Terror Reading List

A reading list for dealing with and understanding the War on Terror. Also, some notes about what you will learn as you study the big picture.

Support Free Speech

The Dissident Frogman has kindly prepared banners to allow us to show our solidarity with Denmark over the right to free speech:

Any way you look at it, free speech is a hundred times more important than the right not to be offended. Some religion, somewhere can find a way to object to anything we say. If we restrict ourselves only to that which is offensive to no one, no where, then there is nothing left to say.

No god but God

Reza Aslan's book does more than explain the history of Islam. It explains a lot about the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East today.

The Age of Liberalization

From the mid 1600's to the mid 1800's mankind witnessed a remarkable transformation in human ideas. From Hobbes to John Locke to Jeremy Bentham to Voltaire and John Stuart Mill, our world underwent a change of thinking about as profound as any in history.

Gas Prices

I'm getting tired of all of the "panic at the pump" stories running in the news the last few months.

Politics in a Free Society

What left-right politics is about in a free society. Hint: it's not about issues directly.

Perspective

It's hard to have perpective on history.

Intelligent Design

Intelligent Design is a joke. Nature is full of severely unintelligent design.

Evil

We are right and they are evil and I can prove it.

Why They Hate Us

Today seems like a good day to cover a little of the history of Islamic Totalitarianism and understand clearly "why they hate us".

Steinbeck's the Man

Steinbeck was a terrific writer, even if you disagree with what he's saying.

Eminent Domain

Eminent domain was abused here in Austin as far back as the 1970's.

Sure They Love Us

The idea of hating America and Americans is nothing new. That attitude was prevalent back in the 1950's, and probably all of the rest of the time.

Treasonous Moonbats

You know, once upon a time, I actually donated to Amnesty International. Back in those days, they at least seemed to be truly interested in human rights violations and prisoners being abused around the world. Now, they seem to have degenerated into a bunch of self-hating moonbats.

Brain Bug

There are subtle traps you can fall into when you set yourself up as the protector of someone else.

Fox and Jackson

Vicente Fox's remarks about black people were deeply strange.

Iraqi Bloggers

The Iraqi bloggers are genuine and they laugh at the idea that the CIA is paying them to paint a rosy picture of Iraq (which they do not).

Second Treatise On Government

This is Locke's most important work, in my opinion. It is the blueprint for a democratic government made up of multiple branches, with checks and balances between them.

School Matters

A nice web site for getting statistical information about education.

Less Work Equals Greater Prosperity? Right!

Economics is never simple. And even if it were, politicians should probably keep their mitts off of the controls and just let it work.

Twisted Liberal Thinking Explained

How liberals think about social security.

Intelligent Design Refuted

I can refute Intelligent Design with a single snapshot.

European Troubles

Things are not looking rosy over in Europe these days...

Have Some Faith, Bill

Religion may be many things, but it's hardly a disease.

Eason Jordan, 2050

Just a little Socratic dialog about media.

Alternatives

What would the liberals do differently than Bush in the War on Terror?

Then and Now

Compare and contrast the second-term inaugural addresses of Bush and Clinton.

US Held to Higher Standards

The US is held to far higher standards than any other country. It's a good thing, though.

UN Success Stories - the world's shortest book

The UN has done a terrible job of handling the peacekeeping mission in the Balkans. They haven't kept the peace and they haven't managed to transition the countries in the region to stand-along democracies.

Social Security's Future Doesn't Work

The way the US Social Security system is set up, it is bound to fail at some point. You can argue about the date, but not about the fact that it has to be restructured or it will fail.

Imagine

Religion is the new boogey man. Why?

The UN Has To Be Replaced

The UN isn't working. It needs deep structural reform if it's going to be of any use.

Be Certain

More than just Kofi

More than just Kofi, the whole UN needs to be reformed or tossed out. It no longer fulfills it's mission, if indeed it ever did.