The Test of the Market

Some "professor" has apparently been conducting "research" into sex toys, which just goes to show you how far academe has strayed from the path of Truth and Beauty. Instead of introducing new generations to cultural treasures like Plato's Phaedrus, Diderot's Les Bijoux Indiscrets, Swinburne's Whippingham Papers, and the Earl of Rochester's Signior Dildo, modern academics either bore them with nonsense about panoptic phallogocentrism, or distract them with subjects that are a bit too interesting, like the design and use of vibrating anal beads.

Luckily, George Leef has come up with a foolproof way to keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree.

We should put academic research to the test of the market: Will people voluntarily pay for it?

Will people voluntarily pay for research into sex toys and the sex-crazed sexoholics who love them? After a moment of communion with my soul, my answer is an emphatic yes. Will they pay as cheerfully for research into, say, Calvin's objections to mimetic Christology, or Jean Paul's influence on Herman Melville? Only time will tell.

Leef's pals 'n' gals at Phi Beta Cons tend to complain when academics discuss pop-culture phenomena like The Sopranos, despite the manifold blessings that program received from the Invisible Hand. And yet, we're now expected to believe that once the Free Market holds sway over academic research, American professors will be forced to stop fretting over the rhetoric of desire in lesbian vampire narratives, and apply themselves earnestly to the works of Hugo Grotius.

You don't have to be Karl Marx to understand that this isn't a reliable strategy for preserving the Classics. Which makes me wonder if Leef's goal is not to defend Western culture against the Hun, so much as to increase the power of redundantly wealthy ideologues over what is officially thinkable and knowable.

Incidentally, the stated purpose of the research in question is to assess the effectiveness of sex toys as an alternative to riskier sexual behaviors. Leef refers to this sarcastically as "vital academic research." I suppose that's what comes of living in an ivory tower.

Sunday Music Blogging

On a semi-related note, or series of notes, 12-Tone Classics.

Friday Kitten Blogging

By popular demand.

Friday Nudibranch Blogging

Friday Hope Blogging

Voters in Kalamazoo, MI passed an ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity:

The ordinance will add gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals to an existing Kalamazoo city ordinance banning discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations.

New York has enacted new protections for reproductive health workers:

Governor David A. Paterson today signed five bills into law including a bill to protect women’s access to reproductive health care facilities and a bill to ensure voters’ access to their correct polling places. Additionally, the Governor vetoed two bills that would have cost taxpayers $18.6 million over the next two years.

The signed bills include A.8924/S.6112, which provides enhanced penalties if a person causes physical injury to someone seeking to provide, obtain or assist in reproductive health care services. The bill was written shortly after the murder of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas, a tragedy that many health workers believe has emboldened those who engage threatening behavior and violent rhetoric at reproductive health care clinics.

California has passed a law against gender rating:

After Jan. 1, Health insurers and HMOs won't be able to charge women higher rates than men for the same type of individual policy.

A new law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier this week prohibits such discrimination, which resulted in women paying anywhere from 5% to 40% more then men for some coverages.

An Illinois state court has blocked implementation of that state's parental notification bill:

In a legal challenge brought by the ACLU, an Illinois state court yesterday issued an emergency order blocking a law that prevents teens from having an abortion unless they notify a parent or go to court. This victory ensures that teens throughout Illinois will continue to be safe and able to obtain the care that they need.

Although Maine's narrow defeat of same-sex marriage was disappointing, to say the least, progress was achieved elsewhere:

[I]t appears that Mark Kleinschmidt, an openly gay man, has been elected mayor of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Detroit, St. Petersburg, Akron, Maplewood, Minnesota, and SALT LAKE CITY all elected their first openly gay or lesbian city council members.

Think about that last one for a minute. Salt Lake City, home of the headquarters of the Mormon Church, elected their first openly gay city council member. If that’s not a sign of progress, I’m not sure what is.

The Louisiana justice of the peace who refused to issue marriage licenses to interracial couples has resigned:

[Mary] Landrieu said Bardwell's refusal to marry the couple reflected terribly on the state.

"By resigning ... and ending his embarrassing tenure in office, Justice Bardwell has finally consented to the will of the vast majority of Louisiana citizens and nearly every governmental official in Louisiana ... We are better off without him in public service," she said.

In India, women who belong to an "untouchable" caste have created their own newspaper:

Many of the dozen or so women on the staff were beaten or sexually abused as children, married off young, endured abusive marriages and fought mightily for an education and a divorce. Often, the newspaper provides them with a voice on important issues for the first time in their lives along with a sense of confidence and purpose.

The paper is also a labour of love. Not only do they write the stories, which appear in a local minority language, they also edit, handle layout, proofread and solicit ads for its two editions. Staff members, paid between about €40 and €95 a month, spend several days each week lugging copies to distant villages, some only accessible by hiking trails.

The US is engaging diplomatically with Burma:

Washington's policy shift came after more than a decade of sanctions failed to force Burma to implement democratic reforms or release the country's estimated 2,200 political prisoners.

Campbell's visit comes amid signs that the junta may be willing to soften its stance against Aung San Suu Kyi, who said recently she supported Washington's fresh diplomatic approach.

(h/t: Cheryl Rofer.)

Spain understands that the nation that controls magnetism controls the universe.

Instead of moving goods on resource-intensive trains, Spain-based technology company Novateq Guerrero SNL wants to build out a different kind of transportation network–one that uses super-powerful magnets to propel vehicles. Novateq has already developed a prototype of its system, which uses Neodymium magnets, or rare-earth magnets, as a driving force. The magnets are 9 times more powerful than conventional models.

Novateq’s network leverages the attraction and repulsion of Neodymium-based magnetic fields modified with steel alloys to propel vehicles at will. The system is both simple and straightforward — it only requires occasional maintenance and lubrication, and it is expected to last much longer than other magnetically-powered transportation systems.

Putting boat tails on vehicles could save fuel and reduce emissions:

An articulated lorry was driven for a period of one year with a boat tail (of varying length) and one year without a boat tail. The improved aerodynamics, depending on the length of the boat tail, resulted in reduced fuel consumption (and emissions!) of up to 7.5 percent. The optimum boat tail length proved to be two metres.

The EPA will impose stricter standards on PVC plants:

The Environmental Protection Agency will set new nationwide emission standards for makers of polyvinyl chloride, commonly known as the plastic PVC, under a settlement with environmental groups announced Thursday.

EPA has agreed to set emission standards by July 29, 2011, for PVC manufacturers as part of a settlement with three environmental groups that sued EPA last year for failing to impose emission standards on PVC manufacturers in Louisiana.

Organized citizens have thwarted yet another coal plant:

We salute our tough band of local residents in South Dakota and Minnesota (the plant was proposed for northeastern South Dakota, near the border with Minnesota), who spent the last five years fighting this dirty coal plant. The Sierra Club also partnered with grassroots, state, and regional organizations during this long and difficult campaign. They knew how bad the air pollution and global warming contributions this plant would spew forth would be, they wanted clean energy for their region, and even when the going got tough, they never gave up.

Stopping the Big Stone II project prevented about 4.7 million tons of CO2, or the equivalent of the pollution from roughly 670,000 cars (substantially more than all the cars in South Dakota) from entering the atmosphere every year.

If you've ever wondered how much paper, adhesive, and energy it takes to put tiny labels on millions of pieces of fruit, you'll probably like this idea:

The laser-labeling system is being advertised as a non-intrusive, tamper-proof method of labeling fruit. So far, it is being used on a number of fruits and vegetables in New Zealand, Australia, and Pacific Rim countries. Once the technology is approved in the U.S., researchers from the University of Florida and the USDA Agricultural Research Service hope that it will be used in Florida’s massive grapefruit industry.

In recent tests, the research team found that laser-labeled Ruby Red grapefruits showed no increase in decay or water loss compared to their sticker-labeled counterparts. The grapefruit also remained free of pathogens–meaning the laser-etching doesn’t provide a new entry point for germs.

Two children suffering from a rare, fatal brain disease have apparently been treated successfully with gene therapy:

[T]he results regaring the gene therapy in adrenoleukodystrophy conducted in France have just been published in the prestigious journal Science. Two children have been treated and their diseases have been halted. The children are doing well, which is unexpected for a disease destroying the brain in a few months. This discovery opens up treatment perspectives for numerous widespread diseases.

A new study suggests that nontoxic pest control works better than repeated applications of insecticides:

A single use of such techniques in 13 New York City apartment buildings eliminated substantially more cockroaches and mice than repeated professional applications of pesticides in other buildings, according to a new study by the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Columbia University and the New York City Housing Authority.

In addition, asthma-triggering allergens related to cockroaches were between 40 and 70 percent lower in the residences using preventive techniques than those using standard insecticides, according to the study.

In Scotland, live oysters have been found decades after they were declared extinct:

Dr Janet Brown is also based at the Institute of Aquaculture. She said: "We thought that they had been overfished and it was pollution that had caused them to die out.

"Obviously some of them had survived and with improving water quality in the Forth there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to re-establish them."

This is fairly astonishing:

When small earthquakes shake the central U.S., citizens often fear the rumbles are signs a big earthquake is coming. Fortunately, new research instead shows that most of these earthquakes are aftershocks of big earthquakes (magnitude 7) in the New Madrid seismic zone that struck the Midwest almost 200 years ago....

"This sounds strange at first," said the study's lead author, Seth Stein, the William Deering Professor of Geological Sciences in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern. "On the San Andreas fault in California, aftershocks only continue for about 10 years. But in the middle of a continent, they go on much longer."

All this and cartozoology, too. Also: The Ern Malley Poetry Hoax (via wood s lot). Dutch picture books. Maps by Eduard Imhof. And drawings by Emma Kunz.


In other news: Grammar in Rhyme, Glottal Opera, and Okkulte Stimmen. The long string instrument. The Wood Type Museum. The spatuletailed hummingbird. A collection of dirty pictures (via Coudal). And autochromes by Charles Corbet.


Here's a short educational film, just to round things out.



(Photo at top by Insomnia. Click the link to see lots more.)

Revolutions are Always Verbose

The new issue of The Journal of Bloglandia is now available, and I'm pleased to say that it contains an ill-tempered piece by yours truly, as well as terrific essays by Chris Floyd, Lyn Jensen, and others.

I'm honored to be the runt in this litter, and I strongly endorse the J Bloglandia concept. You may think you've read these pieces before, but you'll find that reading them in analog is a different and much more rewarding experience. They have remarkable range and depth, with warmer midrange, punchier dynamics, more headroom, and none of the harsh digital highs, graininess, and mushy bass you tend to get online.

That being the case, I urge you to buy at least four copies: one for reading at home, one for reading at work, one for leaving in your dentist's office, and (of course) an archival copy to prove to your grandchildren that you were there when the blogosphere merged into a single whole the elemental destructive force of the masses and the conscious destructive force of the organization of revolutionaries.

The At-Risk Population

Yet another cartoon lightbulb has appeared over Bjorn Lomborg's head:

Limiting carbon emissions won't do much to stop disease in Zambia.

See, 'cause malaria is killing people now, whereas climate change may kill or otherwise inconvenience them at some point in the future. Let this be a lesson to all those warmists who insist that we must stop trying to prevent malaria!

Lomborg's not a denialist, so he naturally acknowledges that warming is expected to increase the prevalence of malaria:

Most estimates suggest that global warming will put 3% more of the Earth's population at risk of catching malaria by 2100. If we invest in the most efficient, global carbon cuts — designed to keep temperature rises under two degrees Celsius — we would spend a massive $40 trillion a year by 2100. In the best case scenario, we would reduce the at-risk population by only 3%.

The at-risk population for malaria, that is. Which is a comparatively minor issue, as AGW-related catastrophes go, given that we currently have far more reliable remedies for malaria than for sustained regional drought and famine, or the loss of a keystone species.

Regardless, Lomborg contrasts the eleventy-gazillion dollars it'll cost to reduce emissions with the relatively modest cost of investing in mosquito netting, and comes to the daring conclusion that mosquito netting is cheaper. Which is pretty fucking stupid, since controlling malaria is not the sole aim - nor even a major aim - of reducing emissions.

The sleight of hand on malaria obscures Lomborg's far more bizarre claim that "if we invest in the most efficient, global carbon cuts...we would spend a massive $40 trillion a year by 2100." Climate forecasting, as everyone knows, is dangerously unreliable. But there's apparently no problem with making an economic forecast in which ninety years of investment in efficiency (which presumably includes alternative energy and cleantech) result in steadily climbing costs, and deliver no meaningful benefit beyond maintaining the malaria caseload at its current level.

That, believe it or not, is the sunny outlook that's supposed to serve as an antidote to Algore's hollow-eyed thanatophilia.

Like all of Lomborg's best theories, this one is endorsed by the Copenhagen Consensus Center, which is kind of like saying that L. Ron Hubbard's views are endorsed by the Church of Scientology.

[S]pending $3 billion annually on mosquito nets, environmentally safe indoor DDT sprays, and subsidies for effective new combination therapies could halve the number of those infected with malaria within one decade. For the money it takes to save one life with carbon cuts, smarter policies could save 78,000 lives.

Again, Lomborg's treating malaria prevention as the goal of carbon cuts, which makes this calculation misleading at best. It's also interesting that a decade of investment in new pesticides and therapies will bring good results and a prompt ROI, while nine decades of investment in energy efficiency will bankrupt the entire planet and bring our deaths halfway to meet us.

In the real world, there are lots of benefits to improving efficiency and cutting emissions. Which is why I think Lomborg would be much better off attacking the Near-Earth Object Program and related alarmist busywork. The world spends huge sums of money to identify asteroids that may never come nearer than a million miles to the earth, and to develop equally expensive deflection strategies that -- let's face it -- probably wouldn't work if they ever became necessary. Shouldn't we be using these resources to eradicate one of the world's most devastating diseases, instead of fussing over some fanciful Doomsday scenario that we couldn't prevent even if it actually were a serious threat?

Alternatively, I suppose we could cut our military budget by one percent, and use the extra six billion dollars per year to address both problems, along with a few others.

It's even possible that a similar approach would allow us to reduce emissions and fight malaria at the very same time. But for some reason, fearless, irreverent, paradigm-shattering heretics like Lomborg never seem to argue along these lines; it's almost as though they understand that they'd vanish overnight from the American media's Rolodexes. As Cocteau said, one must always know how far to go too far.

Friday Nudibranch Blogging

Friday Hope Blogging

The Obama administration has extended the Ryan White HIV/AIDS bill, and will lift the HIV Travel and Immigration Ban.

The legislation provides care, treatment and support services to nearly half a million people, most of whom are low-income.

Obama also announced that the Department of Health and Human services has finally crafted a new regulation spelling the end to the HIV Travel and Immigration Ban....For 22 years, United States had one of the most restrictive policies on the immigration and travel of HIV-positive people in the world.

The House has passed an act aimed at reducing sexual assaults on cruise ships:

According to the bill, sexual and physical assaults have been the most prevalent crimes on cruise ships in the past five years. The bill would mandate that cruise vessel owners "maintain on the vessel adequate, in-date supplies of anti-retroviral medications and other medications designed to prevent sexually transmitted diseases after a sexual assault; equipment and materials for performing a medical examination in sexual assault cases to evaluate the patient for trauma, provide medical care, and preserve relevant medical evidence;" and provide free and immediate access to law enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the nearest US embassy, the Coast Guard, and sexual assault hotlines.

California has restored funding for domestic violence shelters:

Schwarzenegger had cut the funding as a line item veto when he signed the state's budget back in July, but legislation signed into law Wednesday afternoon restores the funding using money from the Renewable Fuel and Technology Fund.

A nationwide crackdown on child prostitution resulted in nearly 700 arrests and rescued more than 50 children:

Almost 1,600 agents and officers took part in the raids, which followed investigations in 36 cities, according to the FBI, local law enforcement agencies and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Included in the arrests were 60 suspected pimps, according to the FBI and local police officials. Authorities say the youngest victim was 10.

(h/t: Cheryl Rofer.)

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton has come out against police enforcement of immigration law.

Some in Los Angeles have asked why the LAPD doesn’t participate. My officers can’t prevent or solve crimes if victims or witnesses are unwilling to talk to us because of the fear of being deported.

EBay has refused to allow supporters of Dr. George Tiller's murderer to run a benefit auction on his behalf:

Based on the details we know about the anticipated listings, we believe these would violate our policy regarding offensive material," the company said in a statement to The Kansas City Star. "EBay will not permit the items in question to be posted to the eBay site, and they will be removed if they are posted."

Treehugger discusses a new zinc-air battery:

Not quite as impressive on paper as the lithium-air battery we wrote about (which claimed 10x more energy storage than regular lithium-ion), but it might turn out to be easier to take out of the lab and bring to market. ReVolt Technology, a company based in Staefa, Switzerland, claims that its Zinc-air battery can "store three times the energy of lithium ion batteries, by volume, while costing only half as much," and unlike other existing air batteries, this one would be rechargeable. It is planning to start by selling small ones for hearing aids and then progressively scale up to portable electronics and electric cars.

Also at Treehugger, a hybrid car from 1916:

In a way, the Woods coupe was almost a full hybrid, in the sense that the electric motor could move the vehicle on its own (unlike most "assist" hybrids like the Honda Civic hybrid). The difference with a modern full hybrid (like the Prius) is that the this early hybrid couldn't use both sources of power at the same time (not to mention that regenerative braking was probably out of the question at the time).

But one thing that this old school hybrid had that modern ones still don't is a plug! Batteries were no doubt charged from the grid and not by the gasoline engine (that would have required more mechanical complexity).

Obama is allocating $3.4 billion to smart-grid technology:

President Barack Obama today announced the largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history, funding a broad range of technologies that will spur the nation’s transition to a smarter, stronger, more efficient and reliable electric system. The end result will promote energy-saving choices for consumers, increase efficiency, and foster the growth of renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

Apropos of which, consider the microgrid:

The Smart Grid has officially stolen the cleantech spotlight this week, with the Department of Energy announcing the distribution of $3.4 billion in stimulus grants for utilities championing a cleaner, more efficient electrical grid. And this has set the stage for new, innovative grid ideas to gain some traction. One of the most promising: Microgrids, smaller-scale electrical systems spanning college campuses, municipalities and business parks, where energy is generated, stored and very closely managed on an intensely local level. And today, Pike Research released a report predicting microgrids to be a $2.1 billion market by 2015.

Since microgrids operate on their own, without being hooked into one of the larger national grids, there are less likely to be disruptions due to peak demand or excessive power loads. They are easier to repair and easier to automate with demand response or conservation programs. For example, it is much easier to make a difference with smart refrigerators (that only make ice during off-peak hours) on a microgrid, than on a larger scale.

A nonprofit group is turning shipping containers into clinics.

[A] new non-profit initiative called Containers 2 Clinics is creating modular health care clinics for developing countries. To do so, they are rescuing shipping containers and then outfitting them with all the necessary equipment to treat women and children....

C2C will also be a vital part of a data collection system to capture health and epidemiological data to gain a better understanding of disease vector control. Staff for the clinics will be found within the local community and job training will be provided by C2C. The clinic model also includes a low-cost pharmacy for medicine and essential health commodities, which will help provide revenue for the clinics as well as a chance for local entrepreneurship.

It's hard to believe, but apparently the United States used less water in 2005 than it did in 1975:

According to a new U.S. Geological Survey report, the U S is using less water now than during the peak years of 1975 and 1980, despite a 30 percent population increase during the same time period....The declines are attributed to the increased use of more efficient irrigation systems and alternative technologies at power plants.

Cambodia is creating a new wilderness reserve:

Cambodia's Royal Government's Council of Ministers has declared the creation of the Seima Protection Forest, a 1,100 square miles (2,849 square kilometers) park home to tigers, elephants, and endangered primates. The park's creation was developed in part by the Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) "Carbon for Conservation" program, which intends to protect high-biodiversity ecosystems while raising funds through carbon sequestration schemes such as Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD).

The off-road racing industry has suffered another blow:

The Eldorado National Forest has withdrawn its approval of a five-year special event permit for dirt bike “enduro” races in the Rock Creek Recreational Trails Area in response to an appeal by the Center for Sierra Nevada Conservation and the Center for Biological Diversity. Advocates for quiet recreation, clean water, and wildlife habitat challenged the permit for failing to provide adequate environmental review of impacts to soil, water and air quality, riparian habitats, and imperiled species, including the California red-legged frog and western pond turtle.

A group called Republicans for Environmental Protection has created an ad that criticizes the oil industry's attack on Lindsey Graham:

Republicans for Environmental Protection began running television ads on October 30 across South Carolina supporting U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham for his strong leadership on energy and climate change....

The ad features State Senator John Courson, a Columbia Republican representing Lexington and Richland Counties, who calls oil companies and other special interests on the carpet for their misleading ads attacking Senator Graham.

And during the congressional investigation into the coal industry's forged anti-climate legislation letters, Rep. Jay Inslee pointed out that Steve Levitt and Stephen Dubner are liars.

They purported to quote a scientist named Ken Caldeira from Stanford who’s one of the predominant researchers in ocean acidification to suggest that Dr. Caldeira didn’t think we should control CO2. Which is an absolute deception. Dr. Caldeira I’ve spoken to personally. He’s told me we have to solve ocean acidification. You can’t solve ocean acidification without controlling CO2 and yet people are still trying to write books to deceive the American public. And we ought to blow the whistle on them, we’re blowing the whistle on one today, we’ll continue to do it, because ultimately science is going to triumph in this discussion.

In addition: Absolutely Nothing. A cosmic jewel box. A gallery of human expressions. Twenty circular snapshots. And via things, architectural fantasies by Iakov Chernikhov.


Synthetica, An Invented Land (and other maps). A new panoramic view of the Milky Way. Illustrations by Max Gschwind. Spirit photographs by William Hope. And bug trails.


Photos by E.B. Thompson. Illustrations from Der Orchideengarten. David Harvey's lectures on Capital. Assorted street posters. Examples of phototelegraphy. Mapping book censorship. And a album by Constance Sackville West (I could've sworn I posted this before, but it doesn't turn up in a search of the site).


Here's a movie for you, as well.



(Photo at top: "Stopwatch (2.5x)" by Dr. Rebekah R. Helton, 2009.)

Data and Logic

Steve Levitt explains economics:

Our question, at noted above, is what is the cheapest, fastest way to quickly cool the Earth. Like every question we tackle in Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics, we approach the question like economists, using data and logic to conclude that the answer to that question is geo-engineering....

And ocean acidification:

"Of course, ocean acidification is an important issue. Now, there are ways to deal with ocean acidification, right, it's actually, that's actually, we know exactly how to un-acidifiy the oceans, is to pour a bunch of base into it, so, so if that turns out to be an incredibly big problem, then we can deal with that."

(Photo by Rakka.)

Newes From America

Spirits are high today at Phi Beta Cons. First, George Leef "sums up the attitude of the hard-Left professoriate and administrators at many American colleges and universities":

Free Speech Is Good; Just Don't Say Anything We Dislike.

Then, David French complains that Prof. Gerald Horne has dared to write the following intolerable words:

Jonathan Brent expresses surprise — if not shock and disgust — at what he sees as the rehabilitation of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in contemporary Russia ("Postmodern Stalinism," The Chronicle Review, September 25).

Pray tell: Is there an analytical difference between the phenomenon he perceives and the glorification and hagiography that bedeck the slaveholding "founding fathers" of his own United States (not to mention those that founded the settler colonies upon which this slaveholding republic was based)? Or is the difference that in this latter case, after all, we are discussing the brutalization of only Africans, and in the former case, non-Africans — and we all know that the lives of one are worth more than the lives of the other? Or is the difference that Stalin's rule lasted 30-odd years while North American enslavement was a process that stretched over centuries?

While I do see some analytical differences between, say, Thomas Jefferson and Stalin, these are not completely outrageous questions. I probably would've mentioned the oppression and massacre of America's native population, but even without invoking that indisputable atrocity tedious leftist cliché, Prof. Horne has a point. Waxing indignant over Stalin's reign of terror, while insisting that everyone must let bygones be bygones when it comes to your own country's staggering crimes, is morally incoherent.

Maybe that's why French's post is titled "Words Fail": rather than trying to devise a logical argument for the brand of smug relativism favored by his ideological goon squad, French prefers to act as though the correctness of his views, like God's love, is too boundless and pure to be communicated in mere words. If you have to ask for an explanation, you've already damned yourself, and can be consigned to the same mental dustbin as the brutes who got in the way of our forefathers' bullets while trying to thwart what James Madison called "the benevolent plans which have been so meritoriously applied to the conversion of our aboriginal neighbors from the degradation and wretchedness of savage life."

The really nice thing is that French ends by saying, in regards to Prof. Horne, "Citizens of Texas, I present . . . your tax dollars at work." It almost sounds as though he's unhappy with free speech, just because someone happened to write a letter he disliked. Perhaps his colleague George Leef will explain that this is not how the Founding Fathers intended things to work (except for the ones who supported the Sedition Act of 1798, of course).

(Illustration: "Newes from America. The figure of the Indians' fort or palizado in New England and the manor of the destroying it by Captayne Underhill and Captayne Mason," 1638. Via Mashantucket Pequot Museum Libraries & Archives.)