Chicago Boyz

                 
 
 
 

 
  •   Problem? Question?
  •   Contact Contributors:

  •   Please send any comments or suggestions about the book that Lexington Green and James C. Bennett are currently writing to:

  • CB Twitter Feed
  • Lex's Tweets
  • Jonathan's Tweets
  • Blog Posts (RSS 2.0)
  • Blog Posts (Atom 0.3)
  • Incoming Links
  • Recent Comments

    • Loading...
  • Authors

  • Notable Discussions

  • Recent Posts

  • Blogroll

  • Categories

  • Archives

  • Author Archive

    At Least Someone Has Seen Their Career Flourish

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 29th January 2012 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    I have heard that President Obama never held a job in his life for longer than three years.

    Is this accurate? Dunno. Can’t seem to find anything about it online.

    But, if true, then the big guy just passed a milestone. It has been three years and one week since he was sworn in as POTUS.

    Posted in Politics | 4 Comments »

    The Most Dangerous Ground

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 16th December 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    Neo Mammalian Studios, so far as I can tell, is a group of tech heads who are looking to strike it rich by designing smart phone apps and Internet infographics. I wish them the very best of luck, as I fully understand the desire to acquire wealth through honest work.

    An Email signed Andrea Smart, Communications Director to Neo Mammalian Studios, bring an infographic to our attention. The World According To MURDER!!!

    The United States ranks #10 in the number of dead bodies, but that is because we are a large country with plenty of people. Adjust for population, rank everybody by the murder rate, and we don’t rate much attention at all.

    Interestingly enough, the city with the third highest murder rate in all the world is New Orleans. Doesn’t surprise me, considering that it has always been a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

    (Cross posted at Hell in a Handbasket.)

    Posted in Crime and Punishment | 7 Comments »

    Two Faced About Face

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 1st October 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    Pres. Obama has harsh words for Republican presidential candidates that failed to condemn a crowd that booed a gay soldier who asked a question via pre-recorded video.

    “You want to be commander in chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it’s not politically convenient,” Obama said during remarks at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights organization.

    That must be why his administration was so keen on defending the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ban on gays in the military.

    Posted in Military Affairs, Speeches | 1 Comment »

    Backing Up The Hard Drive Of Civilization

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 18th June 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    This post at Technology Review muses about what happens if high tech crashes. Would our store of technical knowledge, which is increasingly found exclusively in digital form, survive? Or would we suffer a terrible backwards slide as people struggle to reinvent what was once taken for granted?

    Glenn takes this to its logical conclusion, saying that there should be efforts to build an Encyclopedia Galactica. A vast repository of knowledge, the sum total of everything known up to this time, could be printed in a durable form and cached in a remote area. If any of the myriad civilization-smashing dooms should come to pass, then there would be a base of knowledge that would allow the survivors to rebuild in a very short period of time.

    This dovetails neatly into the Social Cycle Theory of history, a discredited model that states flourishing civilizations are doomed to descend into periods of darkness and barbarism. Vast libraries might be constructed in cosmopolitan cities where culture and knowledge are revered, but those same books filling the libraries are going to be burned by illiterate savages when they sack the toppled empires.

    So, if it is impossible to avoid the total destruction of all you hold dear, wouldn’t it be neato-keen to squirrel enough knowledge away so that the contributions made by your culture to the human condition are not lost?

    There actually has been at least one effort to do this very thing that I am aware of. Known as the Georgia Guidestones, they are massive slabs of rock arranged in such a way that many are reminded of Stonehenge.

    (Picture source.)

    Read the rest of this entry »

    Posted in History, Internet | 9 Comments »

    The End Of Mexico?

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 1st June 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    The headline reads “If Monterey Falls, Mexico Falls“.

    I’m not exactly sure what they mean by “Falls“. If it means that the government can no longer contain violent drug cartels, hasn’t that point already been passed?

    (Cross posted at Hell in a Handbasket.)

    Posted in Crime and Punishment, Law Enforcement | 11 Comments »

    Hardly A Surprise

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 1st June 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    TV and the movies push a Liberal agenda, with the creative minds behind popular entertainment deliberately maneuvering to influence public opinion. Blatant propaganda in the service of a bankrupt ideology.

    So what else is new?

    Author Ben Shapiro claims to have the smoking gun. Taped interviews of some of the most influential and prominent names in entertainment, all of whom openly admit their bias, bigotry, and hatred of any political philosophy which opposes their own.

    I know what you guys are doing right now. You are all shrugging your shoulders, blearily blinking at the screen, waiting for me to say something that you don’t already know. Or, at least, to say it in a clever and witty fashion.

    Sorry to disappoint.

    I would like to leave you with one final thought, though. This is yet again an example of Liberals babbling away about Soviet levels of groupthink without the whisper of unease. How could anyone with even half a brain believe that engaging in a massive mind control exercise is the least bit acceptable? And yet these movers and shakers in the entertainment industry are perfectly comfortable in discussing something that would literally have them advocating murder if anyone on the Right started to do it.

    I think the people with Leftist political convictions need to get out more.

    Posted in Diversions, Film, Leftism, Media, Political Philosophy, Politics | 20 Comments »

    As God Made Us

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 12th April 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    Yet another spurious study which supposedly attributes the adoption of Conservative political beliefs to bad biology.

    The authors of the study insist that those inclined to adopt Liberal attitudes have brains more inclined to understand complexity, while the brains of Conservatives insist on feeling fear and anxiety.

    But that doesn’t explain why Liberals can’t seem to avoid getting it wrong all the time. Shouldn’t their atomic-powered intellects clue them in that their most cherished policies are unworkable?

    At least we have proof that brain damage is behind the reason why Liberals refuse to see reality.

    Posted in Leftism | 18 Comments »

    Good-Bye, Tokyo

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 17th March 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    Minutes ago I received an Email. It seems that the US military has ordered a “voluntary evacuation of military dependents from the Tokyo/Yokosuka region.”

    As my source has a very young child, her husband and daughter will be leaving the country very soon. Details are sketchy at this time, but it appears that they will be flown to Korea before repatriation to the States.

    Posted in Announcements, Japan, Military Affairs | 7 Comments »

    Nanny State Running Amok

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 10th March 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    Enraged over an argument, a young woman snatched up the family gerbil and crushed it to death. Now she faces criminal charges. A felony!

    The accused doesn’t seem like a very nice person. Anyone who would slaughter a harmless family pet in such a manner isn’t someone I would invite over for afternoon tea.

    But, even so, I can’t help but wonder if this is an appropriate use of scarce government resources.

    Read the news article, and please note that the author listed the causes of death for the rodent. Did the Medical Examiner perform an autopsy on the deceased? It would seem so.

    Do any of our readers have memories of dissecting a rodent for biology class? Maybe you had to kill the rat as part of the process. I wonder if you would land in jail if you tried it today.

    I see that this sorry little drama is taking place in New York, a bastion of Liberal groupthink. Even so, I would be surprised if the votyers there were happy to learn that this is what the tax dollars they pay for their criminal justice system is buying.

    Posted in Big Government, Crime and Punishment, Leftism | 30 Comments »

    Cutting To The Heart Of The Matter

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 10th March 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    I really don’t have anything of substance to add to the current NPR scandal. The bigotry and naked verbal venom exhibited by Ron Schiller, it would appear, aligns with the views that most Liberals have of those who hold opposing views.

    What is a mystery to me, however, is why he voiced those opinions in the first place. It should have been common knowledge around the NPR water cooler that Conservative activists have been trying to get Liberals to say provocative things on camera now for years. James O’Keefe, the young man behind this latest effort, first gained fame with his devestating expose of ACORN. Why wasn’t it painfully clear that keeping such views quiet was the best policy possible?
    Read the rest of this entry »

    Posted in Leftism, The Press, Video | 11 Comments »

    Going Dark

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 8th March 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    I’ve mentioned the concept of water empires here before.

    The idea is that a central government has control over a vital life-sustaining resource, such as water. If a province rebels or otherwise acts up, then the supply is cut off. The problem takes care of itself in a year or two of savage starvation, since there will be no harvest if the fields are dry.

    Water empires invariably lead to both despotism and corruption. It is so easy to exert total control over life and death, why wouldn’t the people in charge work to consolidate their power? They’d be idiots if they didn’t, after all.

    And, since the aforementioned people in charge are in total control, the rules simply don’t apply to them. They can indulge their every whim, favor this person or industry over another, simply because they can. Who is going to stop them? Anyone who tries will be in big trouble when the water stops flowing, after all.

    So what happens if the vital resource is electricity instead of water? Why wouldn’t history repeat itself?

    (Hat tip to Glenn.)

    Posted in Big Government, Britain, Energy & Power Generation, History | 12 Comments »

    Waiting For The Cries Of Outrage

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 18th February 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    A veteran firefighter with 28 years of service refused to go with his crew to aid the injured when Rep Giffords was shot in Arizona. He says that the reason why was due to “political bantering”, as most of his fellow firefighters did not share his own political views.

    But what were these political views which caused such division?

    The firefighter in question, Mark Ekstrum, started his career as a registered Democrat. He switched his affiliation to Independent 11 years before the shooting occurred, and insists that he voted for Rep. Giffords in the last election.

    Make of that what you will, but it doesn’t look like he was a Conservative.

    Posted in Politics | 6 Comments »

    Answer To Their Prayers

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 15th February 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    There has been some activity on the news channels about how the head of an anti-illegal immigrant group was convicted of murder.

    It appears that a few of her followers dressed as police officers in order to kill and rob a family involved with drug dealing. The motive was money and drugs that might have been in the home, and these ill-gotten profits would then be used to fund “border operations”.

    Of course, the convicted was kicked out of a better established group before deciding to start her own. To all indications, she was oen of those strange and disturbed characters that one always finds on the fringes.

    I expect that advocates of “immigration reform” will find this incident to have a great deal of value to them. Anyone who suggests that border enforcement comes first will probably be tarred as a murderous vigilante.

    Posted in Crime and Punishment, Immigration | Comments Off

    Winds Of Change

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 13th February 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    The Canadian government spent a great deal of effort and money in touting their alternative energy initiatives, particularly electricity generating through wind turbines. Lots and lots of tax dollars have been spent on various projects. These weren’t depicted as public work projects, but as “investments”.

    The day before yesterday, they quietly reversed that policy.

    Gee, I wonder why!

    Looks like the “investments” didn’t pay off.

    —- UPDATE —-

    I was just informed that it was the Ontario government, controlled by the Liberals, who are the culprits behind funding for the wind power projects that are being dropped. Not the entire Canadian government!

    My bad about that, and a thanks to the reader who took the time to let me know that I was off base!

    Posted in Big Government, Energy & Power Generation, Tech | 4 Comments »

    Pining For The Good Old Days

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 5th February 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    Reporters in Egypt were attacked last week by supporters of President Hosni Mubarak. CNN talking heads are running scared, coming back home with their tails between their legs.

    I bet they’re all nostalgic for Saddam Hussein. Now there was a dictator you could do business with!

    Posted in Media, Middle East | Comments Off

    The Light Dawns

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 5th February 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    The current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, has something to say about state multiculturalism. It has failed.

    “Frankly, we need a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism,” the prime minister said.

    Building a stronger sense of national and local identity holds “the key to achieving true cohesion” by allowing people to say “I am a Muslim, I am a Hindu, I am a Christian, but I am a Londoner… too”, he said.

    In other words, he wants Great Britain to become more like the United States.

    (Glenn gets a hat tip for the tip off.)

    Posted in Anglosphere, Civil Society | 4 Comments »

    There Is No Place Like Home

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 4th February 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    Obama donor who brought in big money for the Presidential campaign is rewarded by being named Ambassador to Luxembourg.

    To the victor goes the spoils, and she acted like the perfect little dictator in her vitally important posting. She could do as she pleased, right? After all, The Pres had her back! Might as well use legation funds to live the high life, act like a raging crone to the staff, and otherwise make the lives of everyone around her a living hell.

    What blows my mind is that some of the diplomats assigned to her post actually requested reassignment to Afghanistan! Give up the cushy conditions in a modern European city, and trade it for the poverty and physical danger found in Kabul. Anything to get away from that harridan!

    The author of the news article linked to above says that such is the danger when amateurs meddle in a field that clearly calls for career diplomats. I think it shows the danger of passing out important positions to political supporters without first bothering to ask if they are suited for the job.

    But now she is going to retire to a quiet life with her family. Why is it that these people always claim to find a sudden burning desire for the home fires after their excesses are found out?

    Posted in Big Government, Elections, Europe, International Affairs, Obama, Politics | 10 Comments »

    Profit!

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 28th January 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    Ford earned greater profits in 2010 than it had in a decade. But weren’t they the only major US automaker who refused to take government bailout money?

    Of course, Ford’s sales situation could have been much rosier than the others when the bailout was proposed. Their refusal then and profits now are hardly surprising if that is so.

    Posted in Big Government, Business, Markets and Trading | 3 Comments »

    Funding Corruption

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 25th January 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    According to this news item, Republicans in the US House of Representatives are vowing to cut payments to the United Nations. Of greater interest to me is the promise of investigations into corruption.

    There was a great deal of drama over the UN soon after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Humanitarian programs were seen as chances for graft and bribes, and resolutions against Iraq certainly did nothing to convince Saddam to abide by the peace agreement that ended Gulf War I. Why does the American taxpayer pony up more than 20% of the United Nation’s budget if the organization is nothing but a toothless waste of time that is run by a collection of criminals?

    Read the rest of this entry »

    Posted in Anti-Americanism, Big Government, Crime and Punishment, History, International Affairs, United Nations | 9 Comments »

    Wave Of The Future

    Posted by James R. Rummel on 24th January 2011 (All posts by James R. Rummel)

    Print This Post Print This Post

    One of the big topics of discussions in the right side of the blogosphere lately has been how the pay and benefits of public employees has contributed to the current fiscal emergency our nation now faces. Of particular interest is how unfunded pensions are causing a budget crises every fiscal year.

    The Buckeye Institute, which the local news media dubbed a “conservative think tank” here in Ohio, has a searchable database that lists the salary of every public school teacher in this state. They even go so far as to include the estimated pensions that the educators have coming.

    This will probably become something that every state will have, and it has been a long time coming.

    Posted in Big Government, Economics & Finance, Education | 3 Comments »