You have to see this small photo set: The Hyena People of Nigeria

Link via BoingBoing

Via Political Theory Daily Review, this piece, “Letter to Young Activists: Beware Sixties Nostalgia” is worth a read. She seems to be arguing by analogy to the 1960s that the failure of the modern activist movement is actually a success.

A quick question: Why would “surviving for decades on $20/week, living communally, doing what had to be done without funding from foundations or the approval of program grants, stepping off the career track, risking exile or courts martial” in the aid of free markets make any less sense than doing so in the aid of a social welfare state? Should I drop off the grid and fight for the deregulation of telecommunications services and to oppose restrictions on speech?

Growing your own grain is not the path to electoral victory, and without setting a rifle range up in the commune, I don’t see how it could lead to any great revolution, either.

Orin Kerr at the Volokh Conspiracy has a summation of legal aspects of the Scopes Trial from this book - particularily good for those whose understanding of the affairs comes largely from Inherit the Wind.

Even more interesting is Jim Lindgren’s excerpts of the book that Scopes actually taught, with its emphasis on eugenics and social darwinism. For instance, speaking of criminals and degenerates, the biology book Scopes taught argues:

If such people were lower animals, we would probably kill them off to prevent them from spreading. Humanity will not allow this, but we do have the remedy of separating the sexes in asylums or other places and in various ways preventing intermarriage and the possibilities of perpetuating such a low and degenerate race. Remedies of this sort have been tried successfully in Europe and are now meeting with some success in this country.

History can be dirty.

Reading through old essays from school, I came across a review of Inherit the Wind which paid scant attention to the actual film, but spent a good 200+ words ripping into the excruciatingly rendition of Old Time Religion that obviously bothered me so much.

Progress were it counts:

Mr Yushchenko, who came to power in January after the disputed presidential elections and Orange Revolution, is also trying to stamp out swearing.Interfax reports that he told law enforcement officials: “Let’s agree: you should leave foul language at home.

“Actually, it would be better if you didn’t use it at home either. You are servants of the state. Try to talk without swearing. If anyone can’t learn to do this, then write a letter of resignation.”

Via Dan Drezner

An extremely strong and clear-headed argument about the root causes of Western-based Islamic terrorism, which powerfully dispells a series of myths and concludes with this argument:

The Western-based Islamic terrorists are not the militant vanguard of the Muslim community; they are a lost generation, unmoored from traditional societies and cultures, frustrated by a Western society that does not meet their expectations.

And their vision of a global ummah is both a mirror of and a form of revenge against the globalization that has made them what they are.

If you couldn’t be bothered trying to obtain the Con Men book I mentioned in the last post, this website of 18th Century Newspaper Reports should fulfill that need: Early Eighteenth Century Newspaper Reports. Don’t miss ‘Two Kissing Girls of Spitalfields’ - it is what it sounds like!

…She kisses all, but Jenny is her dear,
She feels her Bubbies, and she bites her ear:
They to the Garret or the Cellar sneak.
Play tricks, and put each other to the Squeak.

There goes the ‘G’ rating of this blog… those 18th century-ites sure know how to make a young man blush.

I was unwell yesterday, so to celebrate I went to a bookstore, and found this: Con Men and Cutpurses : Scenes from the Hogarthian Underworld, an amusing collection of trial transcripts, memoirs, satirical poetry and miscellany from roughly 18th century England, on the cusp of the Industrial Revolution.

The book is split into sections depending on the type of criminal, for instance, ‘Pirates’, ‘Prostitutes’, ‘Thieves’. A very attractive (so to speak) book, which was probably let down a great deal by the terrible, terrible title. What lay-reader would by a book with the embarassingly academic word ‘Hogarthian’? (Referring to William Hogarth, a painter of that era) It would probably have been more intelligent to use words like ’sex’, ‘whores’ or even simply ‘prostitutes’ in the title.

Yes, my google searches are going to have a field day with this post.

Does the rise of independent contracting as an alternative to the employer-employee relationship have any consequences for freedom of expression?

If an independent contractor is more concerned with selling themselves, could this break down the already rather abitrary distinction between commerical and protected speech? I only speak with an understanding of American 1st amendment doctrine - perhaps in Australia such a distinction is less valid.

I’m sure I’ll write it up if I find it - it is a nicely alternative way of looking at the independent contractor issue.

A good piece on the CIA’s intelligence capacity during the very early stages of the Cold War, focusing on the CIA’s Office of Reports and Estimates: “How the CIA Missed Stalin’s Bomb“.

The CIA has a great archive of unclassified historical studies - made all the more valuable by their reliance on classified material. It is definitely worth a browse. Available at The Center for Studies of Intelligence.

Occasionally I like to listen to strange music. This is one of these times: Songs for Political Action: Folk Music, Topical Songs and the American Left, 1934-1954. Some quite enjoyable and interesting songs, made all the more fascinating by their far-left perspective. (Often openly communist - listeners are sometimes referred to as ‘comrades’, and on the 2nd CD, a group called the New Singers sing the Internationale, and a song praising the Comintern!)