"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
by russell I have two political heroes: Lincoln is one, the other is Martin Luther King. Through pure persuasion, without acrimony or hate, and by appealing to the best nature of his adversaries, he made the lives of millions of people better. By placing his own life and body, and the lives and bodies of … Read more
by Jacob Davies From an FP post discussing village destruction in Afghanistan: Well, it’s a good thing we decided to take our campaign against the Taliban to the village of Tarok Kolache. I mean, if we hadn’t gone there and fought off the Taliban – and improved the design of their village with our urban … Read more
by Gary Farber
The "Email Me" link under the kitty at the top left of this blog is now open for business and listening again. That's obsidianinfo at yahoo dot com.
If you wrote to obsidianinfo at yahoo dot com in recent years, and received no answers, which has happened to many of you — in fact, there was nothing personal about it, I assure you — you weren't being singled out to be ignored.
Honest. It wasn't you. It's me.
I apologize. Blame me.
by Jacob Davies (Transcript.) “So sudden loss causes us to look backward – but it also forces us to look forward; to reflect on the present and the future, on the manner in which we live our lives and nurture our relationships with those who are still with us. We may ask ourselves if we’ve … Read more
by russell
The preamble to the US Constitution includes the phrase, "promote the general welfare". That words "general welfare" appear again in the famous list of Congressional powers in Article I Section 8.
What does this phrase mean? There was no "welfare" as we know it now – no federally provided transfer payments or entitlements.
Folks who espouse a libertarian, or "classic liberal", point of view will tell us that "the general welfare" is synonymous with individual liberty. Individual liberty was certainly a central, and essential, idea to the folks who wrote the Constitution.
But it was not the only concept they bore in mind.
by Gary Farber. This is a variant of this post. Per previous announcement: The ObWi Bay Area Bloggers Bullsh*t League of Earth = ObBABBLE's second meeting is announced. WHO: This is an open gathering; anyone reading this is invited. In actuality, the main connector is that I can get you to read this. You are … Read more
by von (retired*) Jamelle Bouie signs off from a guest stint at Mr. Coates' blog by quoting The Sound of Music. He explains: I actually hate The Sound of Music, but I had the tune in my head, and thought it would be a nice way to sign off. That's interesting, because a lot of … Read more
“He was Joe Mayer, freelance writer. He had it made.”
— Charles Bukowski
A friend of mine needs your help. I’m asking you to help him.
Not because you know him, though you may.
Not because you like him, or his opinions, because you may not.
Not because he’s special, though he is. (We all are.)
But because he needs the help.
And everyone who needs help should be helped.
Who is Roy?
I can only tell you some things I know.
by Gary Farber.
Major Olmsted is no longer with us; he died a hero.
Doctor Science wrote a superb post in the last week of December on DADT and Rape Culture, which didn’t get remotely the attention it deserved, because, of course, it was just after Christmas, and before New Year’s, in America, according to the majority calendar.
Spirited debate did result in comments, and the debate, while tedious and understandably offensive to many, nonetheless had many comments I thought worthwhile. Open debate is something we try to aim for at Obsidian Wings, though like all bloggers, we have our personal views and prejudices.
I’m extremely grateful to long time and valued commenter Mike Schilling, who has been writing smart stuff online at least since the Nineties on Usenet, for reminding us, and me in particular, of the late Major Andrew Olmsted’s, former co-blogger here on Obsidian Wings and elsewhere (see our upper right sidebar, please), first under his own name, and then under the pseudonym of “G’Kar,” from his beloved Babylon 5, which was one of the best serial space operas yet made for American television, words and views about gays in the military, written December 21, 2007 in a post entitled Military Musings.
Andy started off talking about the M4 carbine, and then moved onto this, which I’ll quote, because he isn’t here to do so himself:
[…] Now, on to other topics, like heterosexism in the military and the breaking of the Army. While I am sure that what OCSteve recalls as the situation extant in his unit when he served prior to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) may have been the case in his unit, I find it less plausible that a similar situation obtained across the entire military. As Jesurgislac points out, the military was discharging people vigorously for their sexuality throughout the 1980s; DADT may have made matters worse for gays and lesbians, but they were far from accepted before that policy arrived. I have nothing but contempt for a policy that permits convicted criminals to serve while asking people to leave simply because their sexuality or gender does not fit neatly into society’s binary system.
by Eric Martin Wikileaks has shed some light on the controversial blockade of Gaza, a subject that recveived rare (and fleeting) attention in US media when a flotilla of aid to that besieged region was attacked by Israeli soldiers in the Spring/Summer of 2010. At the time, there was some discussion of the purpose of the blockade: with … Read more