Rough Ol' Boy

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed from last week, Warren Kozak attempts to defend war crimes committed by American soldiers in World War II and Iraq.  Kozak is at least honest in this approach as he does not deny that Americans have committed war crimes but defends the actions on the grounds of necessity.  Kozak [...]

I saw the movie yesterday, and it was about what I expected: a tired story with nearly pornographic visual effects.  As usual, the guys at South Park were out in front on this one by labeling it Dances with Smurfs.  Now, Avatar isn’t nearly as boring as Dances with Wolves–what is or even could be?–but [...]

The pre-school program at Floyd Elementary School in the Mesquite Independent School District has isolated a four-year-old boy because his hair is too long: Taylor Pugh has been suspended from pre-kindergarten because he likes his hair a little on the floppy side. The 4-year-old sat with a teacher’s aide in a suburban Dallas school library [...]

This is about as close as a news event gets to defining irony. I keep hoping this Christian Side Hug video is a joke, but it seems to be for real.  I wonder if anyone has ever told these people that Jesus almost assuredly used a regular hug and greeted other men with a kiss [...]

As you may or may not be aware, the international climate summit is currently being held in Copenhagen.  Now, I believe that global warming is real and likely at least partially anthropogenic.  Consequently, we may need to do something about it to avoid severe costs to the world’s population.  That being said, I often question [...]

A couple nights ago I watched this highly entertaining documentary about Alan Abel, who is possibly the most successful prankster in the country.  Back in 1959, Abel launched a satirical campaign called Society for Indecency to Naked Animals (S.I.N.A.) that advocated clothing all animals because “a nude horse is a rude horse.”  And the media [...]

In their end of the year feature on the nine stories people probably missed in 2009, Foreign Policy is reporting that the United States is now directly involved in the Ugandan civil war: In January, the New York Times‘ Jeffrey Gettleman broke the story that the U.S. military had helped plan and fund a Ugandan [...]

Is it just me, or is Tom Friedman getting dumber? Have a Nancy Reagan Christmas this year. Tiger’s texts. And a toddler shall lead them. The really funny thing is that the congregants react to this the same as they would a preacher saying actual words, which begs the question: do they know the difference? [...]

As of a few days ago, I am employed as a research assistant at the Show-Me Institute, which is a non-partisan, free-market think tank for the state of Missouri.  Last night, I wrote my first entry for their blog Show-Me Daily, where I discuss my hometown of Poplar Bluff’s quixotic quest to stamp out methamphetamine.  [...]

Well, one of the reasons; it doesn’t help that the people who have the most interest in seeing weed legalized spend most of their time eating Frosted Flakes and watching old episodes of H.R. Pufnstuf.  One of the most serious impediments to the issue getting anywhere is that most Democratic politicians won’t grow a pair [...]