tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36490052011-04-21T21:01:29.074-07:00mild-mannered scholar by day, raging anti-socialist by nightBernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3081100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1112581964949717862005-04-03T18:27:00.000-07:002005-04-07T17:22:30.160-07:00

MY NEW BLOGMy re-entry into the blogosphere can be found here: Drive-Thru Musings.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1108843774840260142005-02-19T12:08:00.000-08:002005-02-19T12:12:23.383-08:00

VARENIUS' SOCIALISM READING LISTI still have no intentions of reviving this blog anytime soon, but I was cleaning up my hard drive and found this shaving on the digital shopfloor that I decided I wanted to preserve by posting. It is a list of books on socialism and fascism that I read (in the order presented) over the course of about six months and that proved extremely profitable intellectually.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1099890618381268122004-11-07T20:31:00.000-08:002004-11-07T21:10:18.380-08:00

CLOSED FOR BUSINESS This blog is now officially an ex-blog. Life rose up and bit me hard in the ass this week, and things are looking rough for a good distance into the future. Now, it's nothing life-threatening, but let's just say that blogging seems a truly frivolous use of my time after the last few days. Given that I've been doing little with Anti-Socialist Tendencies recently anyway, it

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1098227289468035082004-10-19T16:06:00.000-07:002004-10-19T16:08:09.466-07:00

BLOG UPDATE "How is the what doing? Excuse me, could you please repeat that? The what? The... b-blog? Blog?... ummm... Oh yeeeaah, THE BLOG!!! I dimly remember that thing now..." Yes, whatever random visitor may still be showing up here, the sad truth is that real life has intruded yet again upon my blogging. I have no idea when I will be able to take it up seriously again. I do intend to keep

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1095881444732990132004-09-22T13:21:00.000-07:002004-09-22T12:34:30.396-07:00

BLESSED ARE THE FREE-MARKETEERS... At last, proof that divine favor rests on the Austrian School of economists: (Via Engrish)

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1093894882821523262004-08-30T12:40:00.000-07:002004-08-30T13:16:04.466-07:00

NEW YORK TIMES: CLUELESS ON THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE The Shape of Days takes on a truly stupid New York Times editorial calling for an end to the Electoral College. Unbelievable... almost. UPDATE: Innocents Abroad has some comments as well.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1093817781838819082004-08-29T15:16:00.000-07:002004-08-29T15:30:10.836-07:00

WICCANS FOR INTELLECTUAL INTEGRITY I was pleasantly surprised to find Wicca For the Rest of Us, an outstanding site created by Wiccans to sort out fact from fiction in their religion. Neo-paganism has attracted so much nonsense that it's hard for outsiders to take seriously, and these folks have set out to repair things before (as they see it) their movement collapses under the weight of its own

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1093815116748306432004-08-29T14:31:00.000-07:002004-09-06T21:34:52.910-07:00

OPEN LETTER: GENUINENESS IS NOT ENOUGH Dear M. G., The choice is not between being an asshole or being a phony. I understand your desire to avoid phony niceness. I too have known people who appeared nice and kind on the surface only to later reveal themselves as truly nasty pieces. But there is nothing inherently wrong with either niceness or kindness because of that. Abandoning them in favor

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1093649221041776062004-08-27T16:26:00.000-07:002004-08-27T16:27:01.040-07:00

PORPHYROGENITUS ON TODAY'S BASIC TRAINING Porphyrogenitus has surfaced again and gives us his experiences with and thoughts about today's Army bootcamp, here and here. In related news, Porphy's fellow active military blogger Pontifex is now back from Iraq. Welcome home!

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1093647770811237862004-08-27T15:57:00.000-07:002004-09-02T16:08:32.500-07:00

DEPRESSING JUVENILE FICTION: A REMEMBRANCE Another review, this time of Barbara Feinberg's Welcome to Lizard Motel: Children, Stories, and the Mystery of Making Things Up. The book is Feinberg's exploration of young adult "problem novels," loved by teachers and critics, wearily put up with by most kids: These books describe, with spare realism, child and teenage protagonists weathering abuse,

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1093639829844586142004-08-27T13:49:00.000-07:002004-08-27T13:50:29.843-07:00

KIESLOWSKI’S DECALOGUE This review of Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski's 10-hour film series Decalogue convinces me that I should make an effort to see the work. Each segment is inspired by one of the 10 Commandments, and the series was described by the director as "an attempt to return to elementary values destroyed by communism" by asking the basic questions "What is the true meaning of

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1093637616127612102004-08-27T13:11:00.000-07:002004-08-27T13:13:36.126-07:00

COMMUNISTS FOR KERRY Lenin and Che are back from the dead and campaigning for Kerry!

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1093467094177332612004-08-25T13:48:00.000-07:002004-08-25T13:51:34.176-07:00

THE PROJECT APOLLO ARCHIVE An archive of images, films, and audio of the Apollo Moon Program. Well worth the visit.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1093466540818387982004-08-25T13:28:00.000-07:002004-08-25T13:42:20.816-07:00

REVISITING A PROPHET OF ENVIRO-DOOM Justin at Classical Values revisits Paul Erlich's apocalyptically gloomy and totally wrong vision of the future that poisoned the outlook of the 1970s.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1093464623548050392004-08-25T12:55:00.000-07:002004-08-25T13:22:51.253-07:00

WEIRDO ROOMMATE CONSPIRACY THEORIES NOs. 6 - 7 Michael Moore vs. Sylvia Browne Claim: American corporations genetically engineer new diseases and release them in Third World populations, hoping these will spread across the globe so they can make money selling the treatments. Claim: We are not hearing anything about Fahrenheit 9/11 in the media any more because the government's psychic agents

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1092958414679471452004-08-19T16:28:00.000-07:002004-08-19T16:33:34.683-07:00

ALMOST THERE! I've almost managed to work my way out from underneath my latest project, so I should be posting here again soon. I have in mind some pieces on consciousness and neuroscience, the intersection of libertarianism and conservatism, and the incoherent world of Richard Dawkins. Who knows, I may even manage to post that socialism reading list I've been promising for the last year and a

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1092078193593150732004-08-09T12:04:00.000-07:002004-08-09T12:03:50.300-07:00

MADRID & THE TERROR WEB Here is an excellent, in-depth article on the Madrid bombings, along with an analysis of how Islamic terrorists are networking via the Internet. Definitely the best treatment of the subject I have seen yet.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1092078165498126322004-08-09T12:02:00.000-07:002004-08-09T12:02:45.496-07:00

PEASANT'S QUEST! Relive cutting-edge early 1980s adventure gaming with the latest offering from Homestar Runner: Peasant's Quest! (The URL is part of the too-true humor, for you young'uns out there.)

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1091133927207074992004-07-29T13:36:00.000-07:002004-07-29T19:50:11.976-07:00

THE FOUNTAINHEAD: THE PARODY Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead retold the way it was always meant to be: Starring the Skull Force as Howard Roark & friends! Dominique Francon: Hello. To prove how far above the masses we are, would you like to break into my house tonight and rape me? Obviously I'm not the only one who found that scene a little disturbing. Any whips and/or chains in your closet, Ms.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1090435662163037062004-07-21T11:46:00.000-07:002004-07-21T11:47:42.163-07:00

THE SHAPE OF BAPTISM Pontifications offers an amazingly insightful passage by Fr. Aidan Kavanaugh on the nature of baptism and Christian sacramentality. A must for reflective reading.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1090269619789065752004-07-19T13:39:00.000-07:002004-07-19T14:03:25.743-07:00

SECOND BLOGIVERSARY! Amazingly, Anti-Socialist Tendencies has now passed the two-year mark! It's hard to believe it's actually been that long. I have to confess that this year's blogging has been a bit of a disappointment for me. By this point I had hoped that the blog would be attaining the level of output and quality I'd originally envisioned for it, but alas, other commitments have been

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1089847042278480642004-07-14T16:13:00.000-07:002004-07-14T18:47:18.016-07:00

REFLECTIONS FOR BASTILLE DAY Now, ten days later, we have that dark sister of the Fourth of July: Bastille Day. Don't expect to find any romanticized views of the French Revolution around here; Edmund Burke has made sure you will not be getting that from me. The always insightful Paul Cella also invokes Burke today, reflecting on how the esteemed Irishman's interpretation of the French

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1089663020516650082004-07-12T13:09:00.000-07:002004-07-12T13:10:20.516-07:00

FAHRENHEIT 9/11 VS. PASSION OF THE CHRIST These paired movie review quotes of Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 and Gibson's The Passion of the Christ by the same reviewers speak volumes about the prejudices of the chattering classes. (Via Victor Lams)

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1089502051260869312004-07-10T16:26:00.000-07:002004-07-10T16:28:10.460-07:00

AN AFRICAN IN GREENLAND Something that's sure to enthrall fellow geographers and geography-philes: The Strangest Travel Book Ever Written. The book is titled An African in Greenland. Written about twenty-five years ago, it is the first-person account of a journey undertaken by the author, Tété-Michel Kpomassie, from his home village in West Africa to Upernavik in northern Greenland....

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1089500174388539312004-07-10T15:55:00.000-07:002004-07-10T15:57:09.143-07:00

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE: BURKEAN CONSERVATIVE A find that surprised me: Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a conservative in the mold of Edmund Burke. From this it sounds as if Coleridge was actually slightly closer to my own views than Burke, since he responds to Burke's occasional shortcomings in ways similar to mine. Coleridge is definitely next on my political reading list.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1088206831323385842004-06-25T16:39:00.000-07:002004-06-25T16:40:31.323-07:00

SLAMMING ISLAM'S BEST HOPE Despite all the talk about the need for moderate Islamic ideas to become ascendant in the Muslim world, it seems that the urge to bash Islam is so strong that it can't even be restrained when faced with someone who promotes that very moderation. Case in point: Today's FrontPage symposium on The Koran and Anti-Semitism. On the Muslim side is Prof. Khaleel Mohammed,

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1087857289496110282004-06-21T15:34:00.000-07:002004-06-21T15:35:55.046-07:00

SAVE THE SEALS, WRECK THE ESKIMOS In 1983, following seven years of pressure from Greenpeace, the new European Parliament outlawed baby seal pelts in Europe. This miserably affected the life of the 100,000 Inuit living in the Canadian Arctic... In the years following the seal pelt ban, an economic winter swept across the Canadian Arctic, and welfare figures soared. In Canada's tiny Clyde River,

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1086987673590345512004-06-11T14:00:00.000-07:002004-06-11T14:01:13.590-07:00

NEW ANTI-CHOMSKY BLOG There's a new blog out dedicated to going after Noam Chomsky: diary of an anti-chomskyite. Unfortunately, those who most badly need to read it probably won't...

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1086987621054537912004-06-11T13:59:00.000-07:002004-06-11T14:00:21.056-07:00

CARD ON THE LIBERAL MEDIA Orson Scott Card lets loose with a rant on liberal bias in the media. He does a good job emphasizing how statements that are superficially true are organized in such a way as to promote a biased final impression.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1086899875409456732004-06-10T13:35:00.000-07:002004-06-10T13:41:35.370-07:00

WEIRDO ROOMMATE CONSPIRACY THEORY NO. 5 God Save [Us From] the Queen This morning's interesting proclamation: Claim: The Queen of England is the real power behind the American government -- she controls our government's actions and has final word on everything. Our Revolution was just a superficial sham. [And as everyone knows, the Queen is a Reptilian, so our government is ultimately

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1086307452150805212004-06-03T16:50:00.000-07:002004-06-03T17:06:10.020-07:00

THE HISTORICAL TRUTH OF DRESDEN The firebombing of the once-beautiful German city of Dresden stands out in the popular imagination as the greatest indictment of the air war over Europe during World War II. Without fail, it is brought out in every condemnation of British Air Marshall Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris, wartime head of Bomber Command. It also has special personal significance to me, as

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1086302743874052382004-06-03T15:39:00.000-07:002004-06-03T15:45:43.873-07:00

MORE ON CONSERVATIVE PUNKS The mainstream media is paying attention to the phenomenon of punk conservatism again: For conservative punks, it’s about (equal) time. Aside from prompting some ideological musing, however, I wonder if this movement will have much significance considering the perennial apathy of most youth voters.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1085439561982425052004-05-24T15:57:00.000-07:002004-05-24T15:59:21.983-07:00

DEBUNKING 9-11 CONSPIRACY THEORIES Classical Values has gathered together a nice collection of material debunking the growing September 11 conspiracy theories, in a post here and in a follow-up. It's the sort of stuff people like my weirdo roommate desperately need to read. Some months back I had intended to do something like this myself for said roommate's more serious (?) claims, but frankly

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1085088872457402842004-05-20T14:33:00.000-07:002004-05-20T14:34:32.456-07:00

SEASON OF SCATTERED BLOGGING The research monkey is firmly on my back again, so blogging will continue to be sporadic for the near future. You can catch a glimpse of the hoops I'm jumping through here.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1084226167024372232004-05-10T14:54:00.000-07:002004-05-10T14:56:07.023-07:00

HAVE A DOUGHNUT & TAKE THE STAIRS The medical pendulum again swings the other way on obesity: Being "overweight" in and of itself has minor implications for overall health. The bottom line is that it is a sedentary lifestyle that is harmful to health, not the excess weight that may or may not result from it. That holds true with my own experience, as I've known several people who were active

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1083716007754504292004-05-04T17:13:00.000-07:002004-05-04T17:17:45.233-07:00

REVIVING RUSSELL KIRK Here's an interesting article regarding a new book on Russell Kirk and how his Burkean conservatism fits within today's conservative landscape.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1083625861538249232004-05-03T16:11:00.000-07:002004-05-04T18:55:36.060-07:00

FINALLY FOUND: MARXIST WHO UNDERSTANDS FASCISM! ...at least compared to the typical specimen, that is. The Marxist under consideration is British literary theorist Terry Eagleton, and his noteworthiness is shown by his review of Robert Paxton's latest book, The Anatomy of Fascism. Now, Eagleton does have serious misconceptions about the nature of fascism, but to his credit (and my surprise) he

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1083368918896219752004-04-30T16:48:00.000-07:002004-04-30T16:53:33.700-07:00

THE JOE WILSON SAGA CONTINUES Adding to the growing pile of political insta-memoirs, Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson of yellowcake infamy has just come out with his own tell-all book on the Bush Administration. The press was all abuzz in anticipation of revelations likely to make the White House uncomfortable. The revelation reported thus far, however, actually serves to weaken Wilson's claims:

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1083353264931698292004-04-30T12:27:00.000-07:002004-04-30T12:31:56.686-07:00

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAPMACHINE The National Geographic Society's MapMachine is a great resource for creating online maps displaying a variety of themes.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1083192840852593062004-04-28T15:54:00.000-07:002004-04-28T15:58:09.793-07:00

AN ODE TO MCDONALD'S Whacking Day considers an innocent, happy event that would horrify the world's McDonald's-haters.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1082150310210133472004-04-16T14:18:00.000-07:002004-04-16T14:22:23.716-07:00

THE MYTH OF THE RACIST REPUBLICANS The Claremont Review of Books has a must-read article on why the widespread idea that the Republicans took up racism in order to win over the South is a historical falsehood.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1082141098752871222004-04-16T11:44:00.000-07:002004-04-16T11:48:51.700-07:00

BLOG ACCESS PROBLEMS ADVICE If any of you have had problems accessing Blog*Spot sites via bookmarks or links lately, here is the solution: Apparently Blog*Spot is no longer acknowledging blog URLs that have "www" inserted as the first address item, regardless of whether or not the page actually exists (e.g. "www.varenius.blog..." rather than simply "varenius.blog..."). Remove the "www" from the

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1081383883557668802004-04-07T17:24:00.000-07:002004-04-07T22:17:15.293-07:00

FREEDOM TERRIFIES COMMIE BRAT Via Whacking Day, I found this whiny rant about freedom in the "Quarterly Magazine of the Communist Youth of Australia" known as Bright Red [...Oceans of Blood, that is!]. Since I'm in a foul mood today thanks to my GERD acting up something awful, it's time to fisk this load of drivel... Freedom (Under Capitalism) freedom is a choice of 10 types of bottled water,

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1080865884783562772004-04-01T16:31:00.000-08:002004-04-01T16:36:11.000-08:00

BURKE AND LEGITIMATE REVOLUTION Philokalia Republic has been linking to old articles from The Intercollegiate Review, the main journal of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Lots of great articles to be found there. One article which I found particularly interesting discusses Edmund Burke's view on what makes a revolution legitimate (PDF). Burke is often accused of being inconsistent in

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1080420352179171542004-03-27T12:45:00.000-08:002004-03-27T12:49:18.763-08:00

PUNKS WITH A POLITICAL CLUE As I mentioned previously, politically-minded punk rockers who hitch themselves to Leftism, such as those behind Punk Voter, are supporting a politics that is ultimately at odds with core punk values. It turns out that there are indeed punks who realize the very same thing! As this article I stumbled across shows, there is a small but significant subgroup of

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1080367355555544482004-03-26T22:02:00.000-08:002004-03-26T22:21:05.590-08:00

BOOK REVIEW Black Elk: Holy Man of the Oglala by Michael Steltenkamp Among Ray Bradbury's famous Mars stories is the tale of a Martian, one of the few remaining after the human colonization of his world, who has the telepathic ability to become whatever person is the focus of a human colonist's heart and mind. All goes well as he uses this ability to survive with an isolated colonist, until a

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1080271756892153512004-03-25T19:29:00.000-08:002004-03-25T20:59:29.640-08:00

HEY BABY, WANNA GET SACRED? Gospel Minefield serves up a witty and wise rant on The Da Vinci Code and the "sacred feminine". My favorite quotes: "A new statue of Artemis's torso? Aw, Jeez. How much will I have to shell out this time? WHAT? Participation in the dedication vigil with 2 temple priestesses! HOT DAMN!--I mean, certainly, dear. Anything for you, honeybunch! " And this one: The "wise

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1079730973554346972004-03-19T13:16:00.000-08:002004-03-21T18:34:02.000-08:00

ALTERMAN'S EVER-CRUMBLING CLAIMS The relentless Pejman has gone in for yet another round of flogging Eric Alterman and his claims of a conservative media bias as outlined in What Liberal Media?. The occasion this time is research by Michael Petrelis showing that recent political contributions of both the publishers and reporters of The New York Times have gone overwhelmingly to Democrats. I

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1079640624398052532004-03-18T12:10:00.000-08:002004-03-18T12:14:06.420-08:00

HITCHENS REVIEWS BURKE Christopher Hitchens gives a surprisingly sympathetic review of a new edition of Edmund Burke's classic Reflections on the Revolution in France. Some good background and interesting interpretations here.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1079567281243012752004-03-17T15:48:00.000-08:002004-03-17T15:51:14.936-08:00

PUNK VOTERS: CLUELESS PAWNS OF THE SYSTEM Thanks to a poster on campus, I've become aware of a new political activism group, Punk Voter. The group bills itself as a "coalition to educate, register and mobilize progressive voters" and has a predictable and tiresome focus on fighting "against the chaotic policies George W. Bush has put in place. He must be exposed." It also, not at all

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1079498793666102762004-03-16T20:46:00.000-08:002004-03-16T20:58:31.810-08:00

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY James Bond: Do you expect me to talk? Goldfinger: No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die! --- Sean Connery & Gert Froebe in Goldfinger

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1079478381890062212004-03-16T15:06:00.000-08:002004-03-16T15:09:34.640-08:00

BUGGY PROF ON SPANISH ELECTION The Buggy Professor gives his always-perceptive thoughts on the Madrid bombings and the response of the Spanish electorate: Part 1 and Part 2. Excellent.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1079391864942474572004-03-15T15:04:00.000-08:002004-03-15T15:07:36.403-08:00

THE REAL CHE GUEVARA, PART 3 Another good article on the truth about Comrade Che, from the Australian News Weekly. A Cuban reader sent in the following response to it: I would like to congratulate Raymond Watson for his article about Castro's legacy (News Weekly, January 31). A Cuban who lived through that period in Cuba could have not written a better article about who was Che Guevara. He did

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1079325226556601532004-03-14T20:33:00.000-08:002004-03-15T13:46:47.216-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROAD TO SERFDOM In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the publication of The Road to Serfdom, Tech Central Station has a recollection of Friedrich Hayek's most well-known book. The Reader's Digest condensed version of The Road to Serfdom mentioned in the article can be found here (PDF), and a cartoon version (in more than one sense!) can be found here. UPDATE: Here's

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1079208296858643882004-03-13T12:04:00.000-08:002004-03-13T12:08:05.513-08:00

MOTORCYCLING THROUGH CHERNOBYL A fascinating photo essay from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1079133076245432702004-03-12T15:11:00.000-08:002004-03-12T15:14:23.653-08:00

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY I must say that among educated people, politics occupies far too great a proportion of time. All the periodicals, all the newspapers are saturated with politics, although many of the objects they are discussing are very transient and short-term. Of course, many people do occupy themselves with higher themes... But in general, modern humankind is characterized by the loss of

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1079130738282117812004-03-12T14:32:00.000-08:002004-03-12T14:35:25.373-08:00

MOSCOW AND MADRID Myles Kantor of FrontPage has an interview with Stanley Payne regarding his new book on the Spanish Civil War that's definitely worth checking out.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1079126255303772362004-03-12T13:17:00.000-08:002004-03-13T11:55:17.983-08:00

"OCCIDENTALISM": THERE'S HOPE FOR ACADEMIA YET! Though I have mercifully been able to avoid most of the postmodern silliness going on in today's academia, I do occasionally have to wade through it for my research. This term in particular has involved a good amount of torturous reading in the hope that I might find some tiny gems amid the mountainous dunghill of social constructivist drivel. It's

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1078879186451109182004-03-09T16:39:00.000-08:002004-03-09T16:42:49.590-08:00

VDH ENTERS THE BLOGOSPHERE It looks like at long last Victor Davis Hanson has a weblog! The more platforms this guy has, the better!

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1078878195347886222004-03-09T16:23:00.000-08:002004-03-09T16:26:18.700-08:00

THE INTERACTIVE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN PROJECT Here's an interesting site offering online maps of the ancient Mediterranean, including the Aegean, Africa, and Gaul. It's part of the Ancient World Mapping Center, created to "promote cartography and geographic information science as essential disciplines within the field of ancient studies." How can a geographer not love hearing that?

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1078877458776860792004-03-09T16:10:00.000-08:002004-03-09T16:14:02.280-08:00

THE REAL CHE GUEVARA, PART 2 Just in time for the upcoming release of 2 films honoring the Leftist pop icon comes another analysis of the murderously totalitarian nature of Che Guevara. Perhaps my readership should get some of these to celebrate the movie premieres...

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1078536506426881142004-03-05T17:28:00.000-08:002004-03-05T17:31:24.496-08:00

TEMPPELIAUKIO CHURCH I usually dislike modernist church buildings as the Lego-block blight on the urban landscape that they are, but I recently became aware of one that has me intrigued: Temppeliaukio Church in Helsinki, Finland. Built in the late 1960s, the church is a domed bowl made from a carved-out hollow in an outcrop of rock. The interior has the typically Lutheran simplicity and

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1078534474991250472004-03-05T16:54:00.000-08:002004-03-05T16:58:30.843-08:00

THE PYRRHIC STRATEGY OF GAY MARRIAGE David Morrison of Sed Contra does an excellent job explaining why the recent defiant gay marriage actions subvert the rule of law and ultimately threaten the very minorities they are supposed to benefit.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1078350236728034142004-03-03T13:43:00.000-08:002004-03-03T19:32:58.483-08:00

THOUGHTS FROM G. K. CHESTERTON Just to let you know I'm still kicking... A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it. --- in The Everlasting Man, 1925 This is the age in which thin and theoretic minorities can cover and conquer unconscious and untheoretic majorities. --- in Illustrated London News, 12/20/1919 It is hard to make government

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1076617240358097232004-02-12T12:20:00.000-08:002004-02-12T12:27:46.513-08:00

WEIRDO ROOMMATE CONSPIRACY THEORIES NOs. 2-4 George Bush: Cloned Alien Caesar The latest gems from my peculiar friend: Claim: Dick Cheney's whereabouts during the 9/11 attacks are officially unknown, the reason being that he was off personally piloting the aircraft by remote control into the buildings. Claim: George Bush Jr. is a bioengineered clone of George Bush Sr.. The evidence? "They

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1076563466985383652004-02-11T21:24:00.000-08:002004-02-11T21:26:54.860-08:00

TECHNOPHOBIA VS TECHNOPHILIA Roger Kimball of The New Criterion offers his thoughts on the moral challenges of our accelerating technological powers. Some excerpts: It is a mistake to dismiss out of hand either side of the argument: those who worry about genetic engineering, or those who worry about the worriers. Consider the plus side. The therapeutic promise of genetic engineering is more

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1076560592787444812004-02-11T20:36:00.000-08:002004-02-11T20:41:41.856-08:00

POETRY WEDNESDAY * ode to my significant material accident (imagined love poem of an atheist) by carl e. olson ah...my delightful material accident, whose form and shape i cannot resist, how i long to express my emotions, even though they really don’t exist. we are chaotic sputters of the universe, crossing paths, yet without fate - since an empirically measured reality, is the only thing I

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1076559844074794752004-02-11T20:24:00.000-08:002004-02-11T20:26:31.890-08:00

TROTS IN SPACE Here's an amusing article on Juan Posadas, Trotskyist revolutionary and paranormal enthusiast. Combining his Marx with the X-Files, he proferred apocalyptic nuclear war as the ultimate tool for ushering in the communist utopia, saw UFOs as the pinnacle of intergalactic communism, and thrilled to the possibilities of communication with dolphins. Not to be missed.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1076462562583278342004-02-10T17:22:00.000-08:002004-02-10T17:28:25.030-08:00

BOOK REVIEW: DESTRUCTIVE GENERATION In case you didn't notice, I despise the Sixties, but also admire a now-chastened figure of that time, David Horowitz. Given that combination I couldn't pass up reading the book that he and Peter Collier wrote about the Sixties, Destructive Generation: Second Thoughts About the '60s. Written after both had firmly rejected the Left (first edition in 1989, the

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1076030699574956042004-02-05T17:24:00.000-08:002004-02-05T17:27:19.233-08:00

THE REALITY OF "PEOPLE'S PARK" One can document the civic decline caused by the radical assault on Berkeley by meticulous study of the archives of the last quarter-century... Or one can simply take a stroll through People's Park, a place that has always symbolized the radical dream. A great many fatuous statements have been made about this place, both at the time when it caused a municipal

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1074545386726787122004-01-19T12:49:00.000-08:002004-01-19T12:51:43.310-08:00

RICHARD PIPES INTERVIEW Speaking of the Pipes family, FrontPage has an interview with Richard Pipes by Jamie Glazov. Richard Pipes was the contrarian Russia scholar whose claim that the Soviet system was on the verge of collapse informed Reagan's hard-line stance against the USSR. Pipes is also the author of Communism: A History, which is the best short history of communism I've read and

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1074292173097592612004-01-16T14:29:00.000-08:002004-01-16T14:33:27.450-08:00

CONSPIRACY THEORY'S NEW SYNTHESIS Daniel Pipes has a great little article sketching the world of conspiracy theories and its new synthesis. Conspiracy thinking has now expanded beyond its traditional claims of nefarious and shadowy but thoroughly worldly groups (such as the International Jewish Conspiracy and Masons) being in secret control of events into incorporating the realm of occultism.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1074028579058719992004-01-13T13:16:00.000-08:002004-01-13T13:24:05.560-08:00

COMMUNISM ROUNDUP Various communism-related items from around the Web: More reviews of Anne Applebaum's excellent Gulag: A History are here and here. Tacitus takes to task Leftists who minimize the threat of communism during the Cold War. A very long comments forum brouhaha then ensues! Some items related to John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr's In Denial: Historians, Communism &

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1073511371958715752004-01-07T13:36:00.000-08:002004-01-07T14:02:35.623-08:00

FASCISM & SOCIALISM: CONTEMPORARY OBSERVATIONS Since I've gotten into yet another argument over the nature of Fascism on another blog, I'm thinking of this topic again and remembered wanting to post the following passage, which is rather illuminating: Harold Nicolson, a democratic socialist and after 1935 a Member of the House of Commons, conscientiously studied a pile of pamphlets in his hotel

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1072833403652197522003-12-30T17:16:00.000-08:002003-12-30T17:18:14.606-08:00

UC PRESS E-TEXTS NOW ONLINE Great news for bibliophiles: The California Digital Library has now made a wide selection of University of California Press books available for free online at eScholarship Editions. Some of the books are unfortunately accessible only by faculty, staff, and students of the UC system, but many others are available to the public at large. There are some really great

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1072741097129967342003-12-29T15:38:00.000-08:002003-12-29T15:39:46.373-08:00

WICCA'S SUSPECT HISTORY The questionable basis for the claimed history of Wicca is probably old news for most of you, but there is a very good extended exploration of the issue here: The Scholars and the Goddess. It shows how the claims of Wicca as having its origins in a prehistoric Mother-Goddess worshipping matriarchy simply do not stand up to the historical facts, resulting more from

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1072734727645610972003-12-29T13:52:00.000-08:002003-12-29T13:53:36.606-08:00

STALIN & THE "JEWISH DOCTORS' PLOT" Here's an interesting review of a new book on the "Doctors' Plot" in Stalin's Russia, entitled Stalin's Last Crime: The Plot Against the Jewish Doctors, 1948-1953. The incident involved claims by the Party that there existed a conspiracy among Jewish doctors to medically assassinate prominent Kremlin leaders: On January 13, 1953, just six weeks before Stalin

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1071882163168851402003-12-19T17:02:00.000-08:002003-12-19T17:03:59.840-08:00

CAMPUS GRAFFITI WATCH Doing Our Part to Bust the Budget! Last week a rash of anti-Schwarzenegger graffiti broke out on campus. Included were such gems as "Defend Your Education -- Stop Arnold!", "Stop Budget Cuts!", and "Don't Let Your Education Get Terminated!" Of course, it seems to not have occurred to our brave poseurs that cleaning up after them is yet another loss of money for the

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1071880267837662812003-12-19T16:31:00.000-08:002003-12-19T16:34:24.250-08:00

CONSERVATISM AND EDMUND BURKE The American Conservative (which I don't usually like) has an excellent essay on how Edmund Burke illustrates what conservatism means. An excerpt: Conservatism does not lend itself easily to schematic, didactic exposition, and conservatives do not readily engage in it. In introducing his anthology The Conservative Tradition, R.J. White defensively (or perhaps

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1071877565737868192003-12-19T15:46:00.000-08:002003-12-19T15:55:56.950-08:00

MORE BLOGROLL ADDITIONS Last time I forgot to add the blog of WorldNetDaily's Vox Day, Vox Popoli, and Kathy Shaidle's Relapsed Catholic.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1071710270611401712003-12-17T17:17:00.000-08:002003-12-17T17:25:07.043-08:00

OF CARDINALS, DICTATORS, AND SCHISMS By now you've no doubt noticed that the blogosphere is abuzz over Cardinal Renato Martino's complaints about Saddam's post-capture treatment. The Cardinal's comments were wrong and stupid. Wrong, because Saddam was not subjected to anything exceptionally humiliating, and over the long term the publicity of the capture might reduce future wrongdoing. Stupid,

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1071537333135190672003-12-15T17:15:00.000-08:002003-12-15T17:16:44.340-08:00

BLOGROLL UPDATE Newly added are Ghost of a Flea, Bad Eagle, Conservative English Major, and the hilarious Blame Bush. Check them out!

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1071536332167494432003-12-15T16:58:00.000-08:002003-12-15T17:00:02.763-08:00

INDEED, I STILL LIVE... ...and should be blogging again soon. After all, what better way to rest after having dug oneself out from under a major writing project than writing some more!

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1069874533396463682003-11-26T11:22:00.000-08:002003-11-26T11:22:59.216-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Have a great Thanksgiving Day everyone! I'm headed out for a brief holiday and then it's back to the definitely-no-time-for-blogging grindstone.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1069873961041703652003-11-26T11:12:00.000-08:002003-11-26T11:18:35.356-08:00

SOCIALISM IS YOUR FRIEND! Blame Bush explains why: Look at it this way: You go to the pie shop and realize that you only have enough money for one slice of pie. Then in walks Bill Gates who proceeds to buy all the pies and leaves you standing there completely pieless. Is that fair? Why does he get all the pies? Shouldn't he be made to share some of his pies instead of hording them all?

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1069368310301719792003-11-20T14:45:00.000-08:002003-11-20T14:45:47.200-08:00

VARENIUS' LAWS OF SPIRITUALITY First Law: Those who claim to be spiritually advanced, aren't. Second Law: If a religious system merely affirms what you are already doing, run from it. Third Law: Ecstasy without content is a dead end. Fourth Law: An awareness of evil does not entail an actual understanding of it. (Inspired by the bad example of this guy.)

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1068753823100813752003-11-13T12:03:00.000-08:002003-11-13T12:04:11.140-08:00

RICHARD PIPES: FATHER OF THE NEOCONS? Sam Tanenhaus, author of Whittaker Chambers: A Biography, has a good article exploring renowned historian of the Soviet Union Richard Pipes' influence on neoconservative foreign policy. Richard Pipes, father of the controversial Middle East expert Daniel Pipes, had a major role in shaping the more confrontational stance toward the Soviet Union that

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1067301994039903202003-10-27T16:46:00.000-08:002003-10-27T16:46:39.513-08:00

PELTIER-MUMIA IN '04? Commiewatch picked up a hint that Leftist pop icons and convicted murderers Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal might be the presidential ticket for the Peace & Freedom Party in 2004. Yardley goes on to speculate what this move might mean for the Liliputian parties of the extreme Left. Hey, why not run these guys? It's a natural fit -- murderous ideologies and murderous

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1067038679436750532003-10-24T16:37:00.000-07:002003-10-24T16:39:02.996-07:00

STRIPPING LAURELS FROM A STALINIST SHILL It looks as if Walter Duranty may soon be losing his Pulitzer Prize over his mendacious reporting of the Soviet Union during the 1930s: A Columbia University history professor hired by The New York Times to make an independent assessment of the coverage of one of its correspondents in the Soviet Union during the 1930's said yesterday that the Pulitzer

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1066781763442318412003-10-21T17:16:00.000-07:002003-10-21T17:16:03.413-07:00

SCANDALS WITHIN SCANDALS? The CounterRevolutionary has discovered an intriguing possible explanation for the Niger yellowcake papers of Wilson/Plame infamy: Were they forged by disgruntled retired CIA agents? Just be sure to evaluate this cautiously -- turning into this guy is easier than you might think!

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1066687468403971282003-10-20T15:04:00.000-07:002003-10-20T15:05:46.530-07:00

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY A short time ago Mrs. Besant, in an interesting essay, announced that there was only one religion in the world... [which] is simply the universal self. It is the doctrine that we are really all one person; that there are no real walls of individuality between man and man. If I may put it so, she does not tell us to love our neighbours; she tells us to be our neighbours. That

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1066436351030157662003-10-17T17:19:00.000-07:002003-10-17T17:24:47.140-07:00

FROM THE POLITICAL "WELL, DUH" FILES Writing in Opinion Journal, Daniel Henninger discovers that the Democratic Party is increasingly home for the irreligious: ...religiosity alone almost entirely explains why the "religious right" remains a phrase of political division. In last fall's Public Interest quarterly, political scientists Louis Bolce and Gerald De Maio of Baruch College at the City

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1066423307094405142003-10-17T13:41:00.000-07:002003-10-17T13:43:35.170-07:00

SCHWARTZ ON REFORMING ISLAM The Atlantic Monthly has an interesting interview with Stephen Schwartz on his book The Two Faces of Islam: The House of Sa'ud from Tradition to Terror. The focus is mainly on the role of Wahhabism in Islamic extremism, but along the way Schwartz touches on the topic of reforming Islam with some points that mesh nicely with my past comments on the issue. Schwartz

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1066419541701184642003-10-17T12:39:00.000-07:002003-10-17T13:37:54.063-07:00

COLUMBUS DA PLAYA Seen newly written underneath the anti-Columbus graffiti I mentioned previously: But Columbus discovered YO' MAMA! Not a bad comeback, but not exactly raising the level of discourse either. :)

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1066263936266420012003-10-15T17:25:00.000-07:002003-10-15T17:26:34.480-07:00

VISIT THE KUNSTBAR Kunstbar (German for "art bar") is a bizarre little animated romp through art history that's the most creative Web cartoon I've seen in a long time. Don't miss it! (Via The Leibman Theory)

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1066098830865265392003-10-13T19:33:00.000-07:002003-10-13T19:33:50.603-07:00

COLUMBUS: NO PIONEER IN SCATOLOGY! Some Columbus Vilification Day graffiti spotted on campus today: Columbus didn't discover SHIT! Absolutely correct, O Brilliant One! Columbus didn't discover shit, he discovered America!

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1066084757516398792003-10-13T15:39:00.000-07:002003-10-15T12:31:11.990-07:00

WILSON THE UCSB HIPPIE OK, OK, just one more Joseph Wilson post from me: So one of Mark Steyn's latest is his take on the significance of the Plame/Wilson affair. Steyn sees it as an indictment of the CIA's poor human intel abilities -- a worthy point, but I want to focus instead on this minor passage from the column: On his own, Wilson comes over like a total flake -- not a sober striped-pants

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1065828020051518052003-10-10T16:20:00.000-07:002003-10-10T16:31:27.906-07:00

BLOG UPDATE So you, my last few straggling readers, have no doubt been thinking, "What's up with that Varenius dude? All he's been posting has been, like, one line entries 'n stuff. Where are the way-cool essay thingies he used to do once in a while, man?" Well I'm glad you asked, my hip little surfer buddy. It turns out I'm knee-deep in my dissertation work (as in Piling it high and Deep) this

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1065657760396045252003-10-08T17:02:00.000-07:002003-10-08T17:02:40.546-07:00

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE KAY REPORT The Buggy Professor brings together several sources to explore the true significance of David Kay's Iraqi WMD report.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649005.post-1065220291734408282003-10-03T15:31:00.000-07:002003-10-03T15:34:08.486-07:00

THE WORST JOBS IN SCIENCE Hate your job? Lighten up, it could be much worse! Popular Science brings you a little perspective with its list of The Worst Jobs in Science.

Bernhardt Vareniusnoreply@blogger.com