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I came across this recently, but honestly I forget where (sorry for the consequent linkopenia!).

This comes from a 1963 speech by left-winger Richard Hofstadter, and was directed against the paranoids of the American “right” at the time: the anti-communists, the McCarthyites, etc. In its analysis of the paranoid mind, it appears more applicable (in my opinion, at any rate) to the current Left. Part of the appeal of his analysis I think is that both sides of the present ideological divide will think it accurately describes The Enemy.

Of course, my side is right.

Heh

Freeway To Serfdom points out a sickening aspect to the recent street-racing deaths in Vancouver. He first quotes a G&M report on the deaths:

RCMP said witnesses report seeing two cars speeding east along Lougheed Highway at about 10 p.m. when one car, a Honda Del Sol with two young men in the front seat, lost control and swerved into the westbound lane. The men, 23 and 24 years old, from Mission, B.C., were killed. Police have not released their names.

Their Honda plowed into a Ford station wagon, killing a 45-year-old woman. The impact appeared to have caused a chain reaction when two other cars, a Plymouth Sundance and a BMW, crashed into the pile-up.

I actually came across this site a while ago, but I was recently pointed in its direction again. My Left-Wing Girlfriend is truly hilarious. Where else would you get these great lines:

From Feb. 24: I will bet Warren Kinsella’s life that there will be an election before 2008.

From Feb. 23: Anyone who knows me is aware that I am no fan of the senior leadership in the military. I see them as a bunch of old ladies who I would not follow out of a burning building.

From Feb. 3: This week’s “Who Gives a Rat’s Ass” award goes to… NDP MP Charlie Angus [who] is, after all, a member of the NDP, the party that could not understand basic economics if you explained it to them with finger puppets.

This post header brought to you by Babbling Brooks. As soon as I read it I knew I would have to steal it some day… and that day is today.

From Cox & Forkum. Thanks to Paul Tuns at The Shotgun for the pointer.

In my earlier post, I began my response to Jerry Aldini’s anti-salary-cap analysis. This is part two, which (as David Letterman once said of the movie Kickboxer 2) won’t make sense unless you’re familiar with part one. (Of course, as Lettermen went on to say, maybe the solution would be to “kick me a couple of times to put me in the mood.” Which, who knows, may also be appropriate here.)

My central position has been that the 30 NHL team owners are functionally partners in the mutual success of their enterprise. I had analogized to different departments within a large tech firm or a large hospital. Jerry quotes my argument here:

UPDATE: This is part 1 of 2. Part 2 is immediately above.

A few days ago, Jerry Aldini argued against an NHL salary cap, and I responded. He has since replied:

It pains me slightly to do this to such an excellent blogger and kindred spirit. The Monger [...] has managed to articulate almost every common fallacy cited as evidence in support of a salary cap. As such, his post deserves a proper Fisking.

You see how he butters me up, just in time to eat my toast? Jerry goes on to suggest that, in honour of its Canadian exemplar, Canucks ought to refer to Fisking as “bleeding”. As a physician I can tell Jerry that bleeding went out of fashion more than a century ago, so I’m not going to bleed his argument. I will instead attempt an autopsy (from the latin words meaning “to see for oneself”), so I can show him how and why his argument died.

That would be “pedant” as in “pedantic”, not “pedophile” as in “you make me sick you pervert”.

The site is AskOxford, where language experts tell you all the things you’re doing wrong. Like use “octopi” for the plural of “octopus”, when in fact it really should be either “octopuses” or (my new favourite Irritating Fact) “octopodes”.

Thanks to Volokh for the pointer.

p.s. so let’s use my new favourite Irritating word in a sentence. Hmmmm… how to be topical…

The Liberal Cabinet are like octopodes, using squirts of black ink to distract you from the fact that all eight arms are still in your pockets.

From Asymmetrical Information:

When women claim that “men do less of the housework”, I yawn. Your house isn’t shared by “men”; it’s shared by a husband. It is your job to first, pick a husband who isn’t a selfish jerk, and then second, explain to him that he needs to do more of the housework. His unwillingness to wash dishes or mop the floor isn’t because he’s getting secret orders from the patriarchy; it’s because these things are unpleasant, and we all like to avoid unpleasant activities, and your husband doesn’t care about clean floors as much as you do. The art of setting priorities and evenly dividing unpleasant tasks between family members cannot be outsourced to society.

(Via Medpundit)

If I missed Valentine’s Day by six days, I’d have to type this post by holding a straw between my lips and pecking.

With any luck, Striving Against Opposition will be more forgiving about the fact that I have left the latest edition of the Red Ensign Standard (#15) unlinked. Striving does a brilliant job distilling the best in Canadian bloggery. Reminds me of that line from “Four Weddings And A Funeral”:

Bloggered me senseless, but taught me a thing or two about life.

Don’t forget to go to Striving’s main page. There’s gold in them thar hills… for example, this article on motherhood, and this article on Stephen Harper, and this great story about environmentalist protestors getting the harp seal treatment.

Following a minor brouhaha (or was it a kerfuffle?) over at the Palace of the GG, Kevin Libin of the Shotgun has the best headline I have seen in a long time. I won’t steal it. You have to go there to read it.