Hugh's Questions

Hugh Hewitt asks these questions.

Here they are with my answers.

Whom did I cast my vote for president for in the past five elections?

2004 - Bush
2000 - Gore
1996 - Perot - as a protest. I was sure Clinton would pull a Nixon, but I didn't like Dole.
1992 - Clinton
1988 - Dukakis

Do I attend church regularly and if so, in which denomination? Weekly, Church of Christ.

Do I believe that the late-term abortion procedure known as partial birth abortion should be legal? No. What I really want is a way to abort the pregnancy but save the child, like artificial wombs.

Do I believe same sex marriage ought to be legal? No. What I really want is research into the causes of homosexuality and a cure for it. Anything which so badly compromises the biological purpose of one's reproductive organs is a disorder, and you should be able to get a cure for it, if you want one.

Did I support the invasion of Iraq? Yes. I think it was great strategy in many ways.

Do I support drilling in ANWR? Yes. There isn't enough environmental impact to matter.

Here are Silflay Hraka's answers.

Another One For Story Maker

Man finds his old best friend via Google!

The Salvation Army...

...reports on the tsunami.

The Iraq War Is Going Well

Orin Kerr and friends discuss how well the Iraq War is going. My take is that it is going well for a war.

Accurate Handgun Shooting

Massad Ayoob, whose books and articles I highly recommend, tells how to shoot a handgun accurately.

Via someone in Kim du Toit's forum.

I Like Rumsfeld

So do some diplomats.

Via Dean Esmay.

Where To Donate

For tsunami relief:

The Salvation Army

World Vision

Catholic Relief

A Post For StoryMaker

Let's pray for Tara, and her owner, Ms. O'Brien.

Environmental Regulations Metastasize

Because environmental regulations are written without regard to cost versus benefits they often metastasize into a cancer on the body politic. Laws should not be written to make us feel good. They should be written to do useful work. Resolutions are what we write to feel good.

Military Intelligence Not An Oxymoron

Jason explains why the military should be required to perform intelligence tasks, not just allowed to, in this fisking of Bob Herbert.

Really, Bob, do I criticize columnists for expressing their opinions? Shouldn't philosophers do that? Don't get the analogy? Well, the military has been doing intelligence since the military was invented. They shouldn't stop because you want civilians to do it too. Aaaa, fudge. Mrs. Wince says I make terrible analogies. I'm beginning to think she's right.

Via Instapundit.

Don't Shop Target

I want to go back, but I can't. Not till they bring back the Salvation Army!

Paging the Nobel Committee

Saving the world from nuclear destruction deserves a Nobel Peace prize in my book. And here's the list of folks who could nominate him!

A MAD Situation

Instead of MAD, we could still have Accidental Mutual Assured Destruction (AMAD), like we almost did in 1983. Hmm. Glenn Reynolds is rightly worried about asteroid impacts, although not this one. I suggest we worry a bit more about AMAD. Bush and Sam Nunn are worried about it. I'd like to see some progress.

Why I Need To Be More Civil

Dean Esmay points out that the 60 million of us who voted for Bush are all called names here, in a post claiming lefties are more tolerant than righties.

I left this comment (which I am recording here, since she tends to delete them):

"If there is support, it's generally a statement of some rightie myth that's been proved untrue a thousand times over. And since I don't want to be responsible for the propagation of lies, off my blog they go."

Hmmm. That's odd. When I, a rightie, go to a leftie blog for civil discourse (I like Ara Rubyan's blog) I often find leftie talking points that I've found a thousand different arguments against. So, you don't believe my talking points and I don't believe yours. Even though I think what you are saying isn't true, I know you aren't a liar. We just have an honest disagreement over our respective opinions.

But if I stated my opinion here, it sounds as if you'd just call it a lie and delete it, because you had seen it 'disproved' a thousand times. I've found that many people can't tell the different between fact and opinion, and can't tell the difference between proof and argument.

Is this comment civil and rational enough for you? If not please give me some pointers.

Yours,
Wince

Clearly, I need to be more civil when I write about or to lefties. Hopefully I'll puzzle Ms O'Brien enough that the cognitive dissonance causes her to change her mind.

UPDATE: Here's my latest comment.

maha,

Name a typical rightie myth and give your proof against it. If you are like everyone else I've read your proof will actually be an argument (maybe even a good one) and a significant portion of your facts will be opinions (maybe even well-supported opinions).

Myself, when discussing with a leftie, I've only proved something to my satisfaction once. It took days and thousands of words, and when I was done, I hadn't proven it to his satisfaction.

Opinions are easy and everyone's got 'em. Proof is hard, and almost no one has it.

As my liberal Democratic Dad sometimes reminds me, "You know that isn't a lie, it's just a difference of opinion." And my Dad, so far,
has always been right.

Yours,
Wince

We'll see whether I can keep this up. Well, I guess I can't. That last comment was deleted. Ms. O'Brien's last comment was:

People, the topic of rightie pathology is not up for discussion on this blog. I'm not going to argue with anyone who doesn't see it. Your posts will simply be deleted.

Well, now I know not to buy or recommend Ms O'Brien's book, Blogging of America. If she can't discuss things with me, when I've put on my Politenessman costume in it's most polite mode, she almost certainly does not want me as a customer anyway. OTOH, considering how badly she's been burned by rightie trolls (and it sounds like she's been pestered by some truly awful jerks), let's cut her some slack. Maybe not enough slack to buy the book, but maybe enough to check it out of the library.

What My Kids Need To Know About Dogs

How to tell when a dog is violently unhappy, and how to react. Especially since we hope to get one soon.

Via Say Uncle.

Taking The Christmas Out Of Christmas Shopping...

...is bad for Christmas sales. I don't understand why Target thought they could kick out a Christmas icon like the Salvation Army. I want to shop at Target. It's clean, unlike Wal-Mart. It's aisles are wide, unlike Wal-Mart. You can get help when you need it, unlike Wal-Mart. It's merchandise is classy, unlike Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has only one advantage: rifles, shotguns, ammunition and gun supplies.

But I can't shop at Target until they bring back the kettles. Listen to your customers, Target! I want to shop at the Shiny!

And I will too, and forgive all, if Target will just bring back the bell ringers. The Salvation Army raised nine million dollars at Target last year, their second highest chain total. To yank that away from the poor at a whim, without the support of your customers is a bit much.

Do Not Add Your Mobile Phone To The Do Not Call List

According to the Washington Post, any emails which tell you to add your mobile phone to the National Do Not Call list are incorrect. Telemarketers are not going to start calling your mobile phone. There will be opt-in directory assistance, costing $0.50 to $1.25 per call for everyone but Verizon customers. There will not be a phone book containing mobile phones.

A Miracle Of Production

So what's the real story behind the Humvee armor kerfuffle? Just a Production Miracle. Here's a telling quote from the Knight-Ridder article, "I have never seen a military acquisition program go so fast as this one."

Real Evangelicalism

Think John Stott, not some TV evangelist.

Via Dean Esmay.

Gotta Be True Sometimes

I wouldn't characterize all angry atheists this way, or even most, but there's gotta be some for whom it's true.

The Tenth

Say Uncle kicks off a Constitutional discussion that begins with irony and ends with a little acrimony.

Innocent Until Proven Guilty

It seems that there is a resolution moving through the House calling for Kofi Annan to resign. Well, Kofi is innocent until proven guilty of a crime. He appears also to be innocent until proven guilty of competence.

Had Ken Lay been guilt free of any crime, but was obstructing the investigation, would we still have called for his resignation? What if he were guilt free and cooperative? Let's be realistic. If he hadn't resigned he would have been fired, even if he had done nothing wrong personally. Can we apply a different standard to Annan?