Random Notes
Dean
Michele has an incredibly good idea about hurricane coverage. You go girl.
Jane Novak, one of my personal heroes, has a stinging article about politics in the Arab world. Even more amazing? It was published in the Arab press. You can find her blog, Armies of Liberation, right here. I wish I were half the man that Jane Novak already is.
The latest Storyblogging Carnival is available at Working Titles.
The folks at CampusJ have reached their first anniversary of documenting anti-semitism on campus. Keep kicking ass, guys.
World-renowned political scientist Rudy Rummel has responded to Tall Dave's assertion that economics are the make-or-break for democracy. All very worth reading.
One of our treasured commenters, Steven Malcolm Anderson, recently dared me to add a Muslim blogger to the Dean's World list of contributors. As it happens, I had already been thinking about doing just that. So I'm pleased to announce that we have recently made an agreement with an esteemed and thoughtful--and patriotic--muslim who will be joining our list of contributors. I'll have more to say about him later. But you'll be hearing from him soon.
Finally: I'm still very tired, so My Evil Queen will continue to reign here on Dean's World for the next day or so. Thanks for giving her a warm reception. Have fun y'all.
They've got more entries than ever, looks like, so even if you're not into my kind of fiction, there should be something there for just about everybody!
I think I got to almost everyone's but Andrew Ian's and his link didn't let me through.
And for Patron Saint of Reason, which has Objectivists, a Pastor, and a Vampire walking in a coffeehouse (sounds like a joke doesn't it?), and was inspired by a smart aleck comment here on Dean's World...
“Altruist!” Jeremy yelled, and then the other three joined in as of one accord. “Altruist!” The first word meant nothing but a puzzled look to the vampire. The second, heated by rage, and sung in chorus smacked him on the face, and left a line of blood down his right cheek.
“What deity do you worship? Who protects you?”
“Objectivists don’t need a deity, or a saint. We just need rational decision-makers.” Kyle explained. “Like Ayn Rand.”
The vampire winced at the name.
“So, you think this saint will protect you with your magic powers? I have killed the children of many gods. You will fare no better.” He sucked in the air, and began to ...
And the piece, Dr. Rummel cited was interesting. I'll have to think about it. It seems to suggest that we need to provoke an economic mess for China...
And sometimes this narrowness of thought has advantages. It enables a clarity of thought. This is after all, one of the chief advantages of hard sciences over soft sciences...they can shove distractions and complexitities off to the side better.
And thanks.
She did produce a lot of valuable insight, but I think her work stands up primarily as an argument against coercive altruism, rather than free or Christian altruism.
My one main disagreement is with her atheism. I cannot leave out out a Divine Creator (the Holy Quaternity, in my theology) and a hereafter. Such an omission leaves her philosophy incomplete. I will stick to my own Polytheistic Godliness, Selfishness, Sexiness. Conservative Lesbian Individualist Theology.