I wasn't back yesterday. I'm having technical difficulties with my laptop. Hoping to have it back in working order (100%) this weekend. And then I'll proceed to spit flames that all of you can stomp out... or pour lighter fluid on. Your choice.
Tor
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Way Too Long...
... without a blog entry is driving me insane. However, I finally have my laptop back to working order and so I can write from home. (And resume editing my first novel, writing my second, and tweeting non-stop.)
First order of business is that I changed my Twitter handle to @torriejae - short for Victoria Jeannette. Just in case you are on Twitter.
So I finished Rodney Stark's The Victory of Reason, recently. Brilliant read, brilliant mind. I'm pretty sure he sited about 70 sources a chapter. And I'm glad I didn't give up on the book because his conclusion is one I couldn't have articulated with any less information.
The basic premise is that after hundreds of years (thanks, Voltaire) of promoting this nonsense that the Middle Ages were in fact the "Dark Ages" and that people were so backwards and steeped in mysticism and barbarism that even they knew they were uncivilized, the Middle Ages were a time of great technological and scientific advancement. Stark even goes so far as to call the idea of there every having been a "Dark Ages" a complete myth. He also explains that the Catholic church did not in fact hold nearly as much power as Protestants and secularist historians like to claim it did.
This is all very true. The Middle Ages brought forth a host of development in Europe on almost every front. I wrote that the Middle Ages and the Catholic church were responsible for true science, universities and capitalism. I'm quite sure you can imagine the uproar that caused.
Highly recommend this book. You can get it on Amazon.
Hope you all are well and I hope to be back tomorrow!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Ugh! I miss you guys!
Hey, friends! Sorry I have been gone so long - I am still all over Twitter though! (@LaMontenegro)
Currently reading Bastiat's The Law. I've been pondering this section for a few days...
A Twitter friend, @TylerBraun, recently tweeted something along the lines of "if a blogger starts out with 'lately I've been thinking about', they probably need to keep thinking about it.
So no dissection here. Just words. What I would call truth.
I will have some thoughts in a few days, I'm sure.
Currently reading Bastiat's The Law. I've been pondering this section for a few days...
But there is also another tendency that is common among people. When they can, they wish to live and prosper at the expense of others. This is no rash accusation. Nor does it come from a gloomy and uncharitable spirit. The annals of history bear witness to the truth of it: the incessant wars, mass migrations, religious persecutions, universal slavery, and insuppressible instinct that impels him to satisfy his desires with the least possible pain.
A Twitter friend, @TylerBraun, recently tweeted something along the lines of "if a blogger starts out with 'lately I've been thinking about', they probably need to keep thinking about it.
So no dissection here. Just words. What I would call truth.
I will have some thoughts in a few days, I'm sure.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Brief Update (Twitter!)
Hey, all.
While I'm in the process of relocating, just thought I would let you know that I am on Twitter a lot. (I have the Boxcar iPhone app so I get all my @replies immediately - therefore my friends have this idea that I am on Twitter all day long everyday.)
Anyway, feel free to follow, say hi, rant or whatever else if you use Twitter. If you don't, I highly recommend it! :)
Love,
Tor aka @LaMontenegro
While I'm in the process of relocating, just thought I would let you know that I am on Twitter a lot. (I have the Boxcar iPhone app so I get all my @replies immediately - therefore my friends have this idea that I am on Twitter all day long everyday.)
Anyway, feel free to follow, say hi, rant or whatever else if you use Twitter. If you don't, I highly recommend it! :)
Love,
Tor aka @LaMontenegro
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Needed To Get This Out
I’m slightly overwhelmed today, as I have to write a biography for myself so that Evergreen can publish it in their newsletter. I have written a novel and am working on my second – I can blow through 5000-6000 words in a day easily. But writing about myself for something official is giving me writer’s block!
But this just had to be addressed.
The whole Polanski incident makes me want to vomit – preferably projectile and in Polanski’s face. Anyway…
Please don’t get me started about Whoopi “not rape-rape” Goldberg. I am not a violent person, but that asinine alibi she gave on The View… I’m just angry.
And now there is this – France’s culture minister, Frederic Mitterrand, wants to keep his job after defending Polanski. It seems some people did some snooping – and by snooping I mean reading what seems to be a published book – and apparently he is a sex tourist. (Umm, is that depraved or is that depraved? And gross. I feel like nobody on this planet knows what an STD is or cares if they contract one… or twelve. Again – gross!)
Who knows what age these boys were that Mr. Mitterrand was having sex with – I’m not sure at this point if that could be determined. But he called them “young” from everything I’ve seen and the age of consent in Thailand is technically 15. But once again, with this potentially being a child prostitution case, who knows. At 62, he easily could have described sex with twenty-or-thirty-somethings as “young boys”.
What gets me is at the end of this article, Mr. Luc Chatel says he is shocked that anyone would go “dig into the private past of public officials for political ends”. To quote Frank J at IMAO, “welcome to the Internet, Mr. Chatel”.
What I love about all this (and by love I mean hate) is that European smut is so much more pervasive than in America. There was a lovely little photo I rustled up of Miss Katy Perry walking out of Russell Brand’s house last Saturday morning. It wasn’t just her sneaking past out of a gate in a fence and into a car. She was walking down the stairs and he was standing in the door. And this is published in the Daily Mail! Not exactly the BBC, but still! Yet, Mr. Chatel is offended that something published in a book could possibly be used against a person in office. Never mind that something very easily involving child prostitution, human trafficking, modern day slavery.
Whoopi should have thought through her statements a bit. If Mr. Polanski had been black let’s just say the pending punishment may have been considered a bit more… urgent. (And Whoopi probably would have defended him even further.) As it stands, I wish somebody would get the urgency of this matter through their thick skulls. This behavior is absolutely wrong. It is morally evil. There is no exception for that.
My conclusion here is that perverts defend perverts. The vile defend the depraved. Sex with a thirteen year old in California is always rape. No exceptions. Even if she wanted sex it would be rape. I would wager Luc Chatel has a not-so-squeaky-clean past himself.
One of my friends who is also an author made the point that she wants the case to be dropped because Mr. Polanski’s victim wants the case dropped. I argued that in the United States, we don’t consider that justice. What if his victim wanted him executed? Then we execute? As it stands, I’m with Mychal Massie – just castrate the man. Flip a coin to determine whether he gets put under for the procedure. Seems like a fair punishment for the child rape-rapist.
But this just had to be addressed.
The whole Polanski incident makes me want to vomit – preferably projectile and in Polanski’s face. Anyway…
Please don’t get me started about Whoopi “not rape-rape” Goldberg. I am not a violent person, but that asinine alibi she gave on The View… I’m just angry.
And now there is this – France’s culture minister, Frederic Mitterrand, wants to keep his job after defending Polanski. It seems some people did some snooping – and by snooping I mean reading what seems to be a published book – and apparently he is a sex tourist. (Umm, is that depraved or is that depraved? And gross. I feel like nobody on this planet knows what an STD is or cares if they contract one… or twelve. Again – gross!)
Who knows what age these boys were that Mr. Mitterrand was having sex with – I’m not sure at this point if that could be determined. But he called them “young” from everything I’ve seen and the age of consent in Thailand is technically 15. But once again, with this potentially being a child prostitution case, who knows. At 62, he easily could have described sex with twenty-or-thirty-somethings as “young boys”.
What gets me is at the end of this article, Mr. Luc Chatel says he is shocked that anyone would go “dig into the private past of public officials for political ends”. To quote Frank J at IMAO, “welcome to the Internet, Mr. Chatel”.
What I love about all this (and by love I mean hate) is that European smut is so much more pervasive than in America. There was a lovely little photo I rustled up of Miss Katy Perry walking out of Russell Brand’s house last Saturday morning. It wasn’t just her sneaking past out of a gate in a fence and into a car. She was walking down the stairs and he was standing in the door. And this is published in the Daily Mail! Not exactly the BBC, but still! Yet, Mr. Chatel is offended that something published in a book could possibly be used against a person in office. Never mind that something very easily involving child prostitution, human trafficking, modern day slavery.
Whoopi should have thought through her statements a bit. If Mr. Polanski had been black let’s just say the pending punishment may have been considered a bit more… urgent. (And Whoopi probably would have defended him even further.) As it stands, I wish somebody would get the urgency of this matter through their thick skulls. This behavior is absolutely wrong. It is morally evil. There is no exception for that.
My conclusion here is that perverts defend perverts. The vile defend the depraved. Sex with a thirteen year old in California is always rape. No exceptions. Even if she wanted sex it would be rape. I would wager Luc Chatel has a not-so-squeaky-clean past himself.
One of my friends who is also an author made the point that she wants the case to be dropped because Mr. Polanski’s victim wants the case dropped. I argued that in the United States, we don’t consider that justice. What if his victim wanted him executed? Then we execute? As it stands, I’m with Mychal Massie – just castrate the man. Flip a coin to determine whether he gets put under for the procedure. Seems like a fair punishment for the child rape-rapist.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Please Stop Screaming...
There will be a little less attention to the blog for a few weeks. I was offered a fellowship at Evergreen Freedom Foundation so I will be moving from my hometown of Portland to Olympia, Washington to work with them. I am very excited about this opportunity to make connections with college students in the state of Washington and help them to understand and articulate Conservative beliefs.
All that said, October will be a slow month for the blog. Hope you understand.
Best,
Victoria
I don’t think that hyperbole helps the conservative cause. I don’t think that exaggeration and sarcasm are winning any points for our team. (Let’s be sure, I’m not talking about Republicans here. I’m talking about Conservatives.)
Why is no one trying to stage formal debates? What happened to points and counterpoints? Why are liberals so easily able to chalk up Conservative theories to nothing more than a chance for emotionally charged screaming fests nightly on Fox? This is embarrassing.
It’s hard to forgive these types of behavior as a liberal. Not to say that liberals don’t scream, shout, call names, exaggerate and lie also – they do. But when I started wanting simple information – not Armageddon predictions or Doomsday theories, there was a lot to forgive. I was tempted numerous occasions to give up because of people’s constant exaggeration. Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity may as well have been speaking Farsi. I didn’t understand a word that came out of their mouths.
Let’s simply lay out the facts, nothing more and nothing less – as frequently as possible. Forbes gets this right on a fairly consistent basis. Other conservative outlets could stand to learn a lesson.
All that said, October will be a slow month for the blog. Hope you understand.
Best,
Victoria
I don’t think that hyperbole helps the conservative cause. I don’t think that exaggeration and sarcasm are winning any points for our team. (Let’s be sure, I’m not talking about Republicans here. I’m talking about Conservatives.)
Why is no one trying to stage formal debates? What happened to points and counterpoints? Why are liberals so easily able to chalk up Conservative theories to nothing more than a chance for emotionally charged screaming fests nightly on Fox? This is embarrassing.
It’s hard to forgive these types of behavior as a liberal. Not to say that liberals don’t scream, shout, call names, exaggerate and lie also – they do. But when I started wanting simple information – not Armageddon predictions or Doomsday theories, there was a lot to forgive. I was tempted numerous occasions to give up because of people’s constant exaggeration. Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity may as well have been speaking Farsi. I didn’t understand a word that came out of their mouths.
Let’s simply lay out the facts, nothing more and nothing less – as frequently as possible. Forbes gets this right on a fairly consistent basis. Other conservative outlets could stand to learn a lesson.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Israel & Palestine
It bothers me a bit when people don’t cut Israel any slack. I suppose I understand it – there are rather awful charges being leveled against the country in regards to their policies concerning the Palestinians. But given the circumstances, I think they are doing pretty ok. Not perfect. But who could be perfect in that scenario?
Wednesdays I have been meeting with friends at McMenamin’s – a local establishment here in Portland – for beer and food and conversation. It’s been a lot of fun. Last night one of my dear friends asked me what I thought about Israel’s Palestinian policy. I rattled off a number of facts: the exponential increase in Palestinian growth, representation in government and equal rights.
Palestinians want to live in Israel. That says quite a bit, considering.
People accuse Israel of being anti-Palestinian. I would argue Israel is merely pro-self-preservation. As an Israeli, I would be hesitant to sell my land to a Palestinian. Not because I don’t like Palestinians but because Palestinians may not sell land to Israelis under pain of death. It would greatly behoove Israel to not let Palestinians develop prime real estate due to the aforementioned penalty. However, because Israel is the bigger person, Israelis are allowed to sell land to Palestinians.
The countries surrounding Israel treat Palestinians even more poorly than that!
Jordan recently passed legislation saying that Palestinians were not allowed to purchases houses any longer within Jordanian borders. And beyond that, if they own land or houses Palestinians are not allowed to pass it on to their children as inheritance! Not a lot of motivation to live in Jordan.
The Palestinians are not a people group. Palestine has never in the history of the world been ruled by Palestinians. It’s tantamount to be Oregonian or Angelino. It’s where you are from, not your heritage. Also, there wasn’t even a Palestinian nationalist movement until after World War I and didn’t gain momentum until after the Six Day War.
Human rights in Arab countries are wholly atrocious compared to Israel. There’s no contest. Hello, women aren’t even allowed to vote in many Arab countries. You want to do a little research? Compare how Arabs treat Israelis in their countries to how Israel treats Arabs. Arab countries hardly treat their own citizens with much decency if those citizens are female. You won’t find a single human rights report that reads differently than that.
Recently, I was pretty mortified when I found out that a friend was saying that Israel was trying to exterminate Palestinians. First of all, Israel is doing a terrible job with their extermination because the population of Gaza specifically is growing. Please don’t say it’s Israelis who are growing the population of Gaza. That basically means that you believe Israel can’t tell the difference between Israelis and Arabs within its own borders. No one that incompetent could have managed such a disputed piece of land so well with such overwhelming odds. Clearly Israel knows which of its citizens are Jewish and which are Arab.
If Israel is treating Arabs so poorly, why are they lining up at the gates to move there? I think there has been a disconnect between rhetoric and reality, here. Regardless of what the news media or Palestinians are saying, Arabs still are trying to move to Israel.
Israel has strict rules in place, yes. If you are Palestinian and you leave for more than three years (or four?) you can’t return to the country. Given the propensity Arabs have for suicide bombings, I think that rule is justified. Not fair, but the world isn’t fair.
No, Israel hasn’t been perfect. But seeing as Israel is being run by humans, perfection isn’t possible.
For the record, I’m not anti-Palestinian. If at some point Palestine opens to international adoption, I will be elated. (I really want to adopt a little girl from Palestine.) I just don’t believe Israel is anti-Palestine. They are simply involved in their own self-preservation, just like every other country in the world.
Would love your thoughts on the conflict. There isn’t enough space to write everything I wanted to say about this topic.
Wednesdays I have been meeting with friends at McMenamin’s – a local establishment here in Portland – for beer and food and conversation. It’s been a lot of fun. Last night one of my dear friends asked me what I thought about Israel’s Palestinian policy. I rattled off a number of facts: the exponential increase in Palestinian growth, representation in government and equal rights.
Palestinians want to live in Israel. That says quite a bit, considering.
People accuse Israel of being anti-Palestinian. I would argue Israel is merely pro-self-preservation. As an Israeli, I would be hesitant to sell my land to a Palestinian. Not because I don’t like Palestinians but because Palestinians may not sell land to Israelis under pain of death. It would greatly behoove Israel to not let Palestinians develop prime real estate due to the aforementioned penalty. However, because Israel is the bigger person, Israelis are allowed to sell land to Palestinians.
The countries surrounding Israel treat Palestinians even more poorly than that!
Jordan recently passed legislation saying that Palestinians were not allowed to purchases houses any longer within Jordanian borders. And beyond that, if they own land or houses Palestinians are not allowed to pass it on to their children as inheritance! Not a lot of motivation to live in Jordan.
The Palestinians are not a people group. Palestine has never in the history of the world been ruled by Palestinians. It’s tantamount to be Oregonian or Angelino. It’s where you are from, not your heritage. Also, there wasn’t even a Palestinian nationalist movement until after World War I and didn’t gain momentum until after the Six Day War.
Human rights in Arab countries are wholly atrocious compared to Israel. There’s no contest. Hello, women aren’t even allowed to vote in many Arab countries. You want to do a little research? Compare how Arabs treat Israelis in their countries to how Israel treats Arabs. Arab countries hardly treat their own citizens with much decency if those citizens are female. You won’t find a single human rights report that reads differently than that.
Recently, I was pretty mortified when I found out that a friend was saying that Israel was trying to exterminate Palestinians. First of all, Israel is doing a terrible job with their extermination because the population of Gaza specifically is growing. Please don’t say it’s Israelis who are growing the population of Gaza. That basically means that you believe Israel can’t tell the difference between Israelis and Arabs within its own borders. No one that incompetent could have managed such a disputed piece of land so well with such overwhelming odds. Clearly Israel knows which of its citizens are Jewish and which are Arab.
If Israel is treating Arabs so poorly, why are they lining up at the gates to move there? I think there has been a disconnect between rhetoric and reality, here. Regardless of what the news media or Palestinians are saying, Arabs still are trying to move to Israel.
Israel has strict rules in place, yes. If you are Palestinian and you leave for more than three years (or four?) you can’t return to the country. Given the propensity Arabs have for suicide bombings, I think that rule is justified. Not fair, but the world isn’t fair.
No, Israel hasn’t been perfect. But seeing as Israel is being run by humans, perfection isn’t possible.
For the record, I’m not anti-Palestinian. If at some point Palestine opens to international adoption, I will be elated. (I really want to adopt a little girl from Palestine.) I just don’t believe Israel is anti-Palestine. They are simply involved in their own self-preservation, just like every other country in the world.
Would love your thoughts on the conflict. There isn’t enough space to write everything I wanted to say about this topic.
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