I went to a kosher Thanksgiving at my aunt's house this year. It marked a big change for me, both because it was the first time I went to a thanksgiving celebration in a few years, and the first time I'd seen my cousin in a decade. He and I had a big falling out when my dad died, and I guess it took me this long to get over my resentment and see ( Read more... )

I did not know how leniant European sentences are.I understand the theory behind this, but I have to say that if a family member of mine were, say, brutally raped and murdered, I would be very uncomfortable with a 15 year sentence. Do the crime at 22, get out before your 40th birthday? It's one thing to say that there's no point in keeping someone ( Read more... )

Longterm solutionOn the one hand, yeah it's cruel for cops to roust the unfortunate when they're trying to get some shut eye. On the other hand, Jesus Christ this is one of the wealthiest cities in the wealthiest country in the world. I don't think "Let's let them sleep on the street" is something we should be saying. Yeah they claim it's just for ( Read more... )

This story guaranteed to make Iconoclast more Canada Friendly ( Read more... )

I'm no raging conservative, but Jesus Christ can Hillary Clinton announce ANY policy initiative that doesn't involve spending tens of billions of dollars during a time of huge deficits? She's going to pay for her Government IRA program by freezing the Estate Tax? That's fine, but what about using some of that money to pay down the crushing debt ( Read more... )

Right Next Door to HellI recently heard Jim Talent from the Heritage Foundation on the radio, pushing something he called "The 4% Solution," which was basically a call for vast increases in arms spending. He claimed that America's failures in Iraq were due to outdated equipment, and that if we wanted peace and prosperity in the world we would be ( Read more... )

One of the things I've been able to do more as I get older is externalize unjust criticism. By this I mean I'm able to discern when someone is attacking me because of their flaws, rather than mine. It's a skill I should have cultivated at an earlier age, but that's irrelevant. Human communication is mostly phrased in terms of facts, but frequently ( Read more... )

People at my job keep telling me how much they love me. Not as in "I want you to rock my world" but like "We really love you, and want you to do X for us after this project is over ( Read more... )

A few people seem to have noticed that I stopped posting in this blog. It's been about 3 month since I updated. This has not been by design. I haven't felt like updating. It's been part of my disengaging myself from the Internet thing. I was spending unhealthy amounts of time online, and I didn't want that anymore ( Read more... )

CNN headlines its story about MeMe Roth "Expert calls Idol Jordin obese; fans lash back."

Calling MeMe Roth an obesity expert is like calling David Duke an expert on Judaism.