Category Archives: Popular Culture

History, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Popular Culture

Richard Dreyfuss

50 Comments

Has he finally been mugged by reality?

Here’s a flashback:

Dreyfuss, who in 2006 called for the impeachment of then-President George W. Bush, has long been a critic of special interest money in politics; in 2011, during an appearance at the National Press Club, he called for a constitutional amendment “prohibiting money, politics and television.” He also started The Dreyfuss Initiative in support of teaching civics in schools.

Well, the latest piece is at least consistent with that. And at least he recognizes that “getting money out of politics” would require a Constitutional amendment. But he doesn’t seem to recognize that the best way to get money out of politics, at least federal politics, would be to remove the incentive, by limiting the power of the federal government to what the Founders intended, particularly restoring the 9th and 10th Amendments.

[Late Tuesday-morning update]

Given the turn the comments have taken, this seems relevant: Government corruption, from the IRS to the DOJ.

[Bumped]

Media Criticism, Philosophy, Political Commentary, Popular Culture, Social Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

The First Woman To Be Raped In Space

16 Comments

…has already been born.

As Glenn notes, this seems to be gender feminism’s major contribution to spaceflight.

I ruffled some feathers this weekend at Space Access by having the temerity to point out that there will be some people who will oppose our expansion into space, because they don’t trust us to do it “right,” and with “social justice.” So much will they oppose it that they may even get violent about it. They do, after all, call themselves “warriors,” and they use a lot of eliminationist rhetoric, like “Smash patriarchy.” I got an email or two about it.

My quick take: Saying that I am “picking a fight” with these people is like saying that the New York Times was picking a fight with the Japanese by reporting that they had bombed Pearl Harbor. As I noted in my talk, they went after the gamers, and the SF community. They’re already on their way to go after the space settlers, as the above linked piece indicates.

I’ll have a longer take at Ricochet or PJMedia.

[Update a few minutes later]

Sort of related: Why Joss Whedon left Twitter.

[Update a while later]

Here’s one hot off the press (Monday) from D. N. Lee (the Scientific American blogger whose tweet I highlighted in my talk). This is much more mild than the tweet, but it gives you an idea of what we’re up against.