Ranting and Roaring

A 38-year-old man was in fair condition Monday after a grizzly bear attacked a group of animal rights activists hiking eight miles northwest of here

“Grizzly mauls hiker near Yellowstone“, The Independent Record (AP), 2002.08.27

Foster Griezic, a history professor at Carleton University [in Ottawa], said the U.S. government probably would have preferred if the Japanese sub had remained hidden.

Not only does it symbolize the deadly communications gap that occurred at the base, he said, but it distorts the common notion that the United States joined the Second World War as a matter of self-defence.

After all, he said, they fired first.

“To me,” he said, “the real significance is that the Americans are typically warmongers.”

The sub is expected to be raised to the surface for examination, but the U.S. and Japanese governments are still discussing whether it will remain in the vicinity.

“U.S. fired first on day of Pearl Harbor“, Michael Friscolanti, National Post, 2002.08.30

Sportswear manufacturer Umbro tonight promised to review its procedures after a pair of trainers was given the same name as a deadly gas used by the Nazis to kill millions in concentration camps.

Jewish groups expressed outrage after it emerged that the leather training shoes were called Zyklon, prompting Umbro to drop the name and express its “regret” at any offence caused.

[Nick Crook, Umbro spokesman] … “I think in future we will be checking the names we use more carefully.”.

“Umbro Drops Brand Name after ‘Nazi Gas’ Blunder “, Graham Hiscott, The Scottsman, 2002.08.28

Life Expectancy: In the rich countries life expectancy — the broadest measure of health and a safe environment — has increased by 30 years over the past century. Even in poor countries life expectancy has risen at an astonishing pace. The average resident of a poor nation can expect to live nearly twice as long as his or her 19th-century counterpart. Most of humanity enjoys better health and longevity than the richest people in the richest countries did just 100 years ago.

Health: Parents should reflect long and hard on one statistic whenever they think life isn’t treating them well these days: The death rate of children under 14 has fallen by about 95 percent since 1900. The child death rates in just the past 20 years have been halved in India, Egypt, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, South Korea, Israel, and scores of other nations. Almost all of the major killer diseases prior to 1900 — tuberculosis, typhoid, smallpox, whooping cough, polio, malaria — to name a few, have been nearly eradicated thanks to medical progress, most it coming from the evil capitalist United States.

Nutrition: Nutrition and diets have been improving the world over. Gale Johnson the agriculture expert at the University of Chicago has discovered that fewer people worldwide died from famine in the 20 century than in the 19th century — not just as a percentage of the population, but in absolute numbers. That is a spectacular achievement in our ability to feed the planet, given that the world population is some four times higher today than 100 years ago.

So there was this nice German women we met in the campground in Burgos, just as the build-up to Desert Storm was getting started, and of course that was the topic du jour, until she said, patronizingly: “Americans just don’t understand about what war really means.” And I smiled politely and said, “I’ve got a great-uncle dead in France in the first war, and an uncle there, from the second. I think we’ve kind of gotten the point.” She changed the subject, real abruptly.

The ruling to stone Amina Lawal to death is not pleasant. But the judgement of Nigeria by other nations is just as unpleasant.

“As an citizen of a poor country (India), I am appalled by this joker’s statements. I’m surprised that this guy can get anyone to listen to his racist rantings. Yes, racist. I’m not a big fan of the “racist” argument, but what else am I supposed to call this – “all those poor brown and black people – we know what’s best for them – look at the nobility of their poverty – now, if only we could get them to stop breeding so much”. Using a foot-pedal sewing machine to mend clothing is not culture, it’s poverty. Now, listen up you pinko morons – we’re going to the mall to buy the latest earth-destroying, electricity-hogging do-hickey – and God help those who get in our way.

Were dollars no concern, I’d build a nice home theater room, and a playroom for my daughter. But would this salve my wounded soul, enliven my deadened heart? Would it make me happy, really truly happy?

Of course it would! It’s not that I take some sort of rude thoughtless delight from having additional square footage – I like movies, and it would be great to have a big room in which to see them. The absence of such a room does not cause my soul to wither like a salt-sprinkled slug; I do not burn with hatred for those who have such a room, nor do I wake each morning determined to grind my fellow man into a red paste under my tank treads so I can watch “Star Wars” on a 72″screen.

Bring on the 10-room houses! And here’s how they’ll be used!

Living Room
Kitchen
Dining Room
Family Room
Master Bedroom
Kid’s room
Other kid’s room
Study
Storage
Giant abattoir for converting the flesh of third-worlders into sausage

You have to say this for the chap: once he gets the old Fatuity Extruder up and running, it produces a bumper crop. Yes, my reliance on my car supplants my need for a coolie to run me to work. My reliance upon my computer supplants my need to amble down to the foolscap store for paper, ink and quail feathers, during which I would have many Meaningful Interactions with my fellow man. My reliance on modern medicine means that I do not have to summon the entire village to form an anti-hex circle around my cardboard box to keep the devils out. My reliance upon the grocery store, with its angry chuffing refrigeration units and Gaia-soiling trucks idling at the loading dock means I do not have to rely on the bonny prince to permit me to farm my meager plot and keep enough to feed my scrawny shite-footed children. My reliance on electrical power means I do not have to trundle to the bog and gather peat.