The Bookworm Beat 6-20-15 — the “Summer Solstice” edition and open thread

Woman-writing-300x265This is the first day in two weeks where I haven’t been (a) taking someone to a doctor or (b) frantically trying to beat some insanely urgent legal filing deadline. I’ve celebrated this wonderful day by (a) practically sterilizing the room of an unwelcome house guest who left a surprising amount of chaos and filth in his wake and (b) trying to catch up on my blogging. I’ve already done the long post about our very small window of time within which to ward off tyranny. Now comes the catch-all post, with interesting articles I’ve snagged over the past few days.

Guns aren’t the problem

All the bleeding hearts on my Facebook feed are at it again, chiming in with President Obama to say that killings will magically stop when guns are equally magically gone. We know from the evidence of other nations and our own cities that the gun genie is already out of the bottle. The only thing that happens when government uses its might to ban guns is that honest people are rendered helpless while criminals and government (but I repeat myself) have unlimited, unstoppable power. Anyway, here are a few common sense link about guns:

Here’s what the mainstream media won’t tell you about mass shootings

A reminder that, back in 2007 there was another church shooting, one that could have been even worse than the one in Charleston, but it ended with only four dead thanks to a good guy (or, rather, a good gal) with a gun. Four dead is still a tragedy, but as I keep reminding my incredibly stupid, much-credentialed Progressive friends, bad luck and bad people will always be around, and they will always kill. Indeed, Austria just had its own bad person experience, ending in the bad luck deaths and wounding of several people — with no guns involved.  And of course we shouldn’t forget the deranged German co-pilot who killed 150 people in the blink of an eye, no guns required.

The inestimable John C. Lott on the fact that gun-free zones are an irresistible target for killers.

And, as always, not only is Obama ideologically wrong about everything, he’s either stupid or dishonest about the facts he uses to advance his ideology.

And yes, the Left is out to get you

Those of you who watched Star Trek : The Next Generation remember how the deadly Borg, intent on taking over the universe, announced its presence to those it wished to assimilate by stating “We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.”

I don’t know about you, but I think the Left, which has always had this ethos as its unspoken imperative, is now quite openly demanding that Americans abandon their values and give themselves over to the Leftist collective. As I blogged earlier today, we have a very small window of time within which to resist.

My sense of being borged explains why I am deeply hostile to the gay rights/gay marriage/transsexual/transgender movement engulfing America. This is not about equal treatment under the law or about respecting the dignity of all human beings. This is about assimilating you into the Leftist collective. You will give up your values. You will give up your beliefs. You will give up your speech. You will give up your rationality. You will give up your hold on actual facts. Or we will destroy you.

Don’t believe me? Check out Jonathan V. Last’s “You Will Be Assimilated.”

Jonah Goldberg’s gem-like turn of phrase about Leftist politics

The weekly letter Jonah Goldberg wrote last week was a witty, intelligent look at whether advanced Progressivism is suffering from an autoimmune problem, now that so many Lefties are attacking each other over purity failures. It’s worth reading in its entirety, but I particularly enjoyed this:

The problem with saying “the personal is political” is twofold: You politicize what is personal (“Everyone must celebrate my lifestyle!”) and you personalize the political (“Your opposition to the minimum wage hurts my feelings!”).

This is how you un-think yourself out of a civilization; When politics becomes a fashion choice and fashion becomes political. If you wear your politics on your sleeve, it usually means you don’t keep them in your brain where they belong.

Precisely.

Ten ways Israel is treated differently

I try to link to HuffPo as infrequently as possible, since I think it’s a hard Progressive site that ought not to be encouraged. However, it should be encouraged on those rare occasions when it publishes an intelligent article, such as this one about the unique handicaps imposed on the world’s sole Jewish state.

Certainly Ireland treats Israel differently — disgracefully differently if this video is anything to go by. These Irish merchants would rather trade with sadistic totalitarian states than the only liberal democracy in the entire Middle East. I regret the money I put into the Irish economy two years ago.

Chobani yogurt and lady parts

Chobani yogurt has decided to market itself to the lesbian crowd. Traditional parents who don’t like seeing their kids watch commercials that pair a product children like with a lifestyle of which the mothers don’t approve are speaking up.

My thoughts actually went in a different direction, to an article from a few months ago that a friend sent me when he learned I make my own yogurt. (Trigger Warning: Not Safe For People With Sensitive Vomit Reflexes)

The idea first came up while a friend and I were discussing the vagina’s probiotic properties. “Why is there a whole cookbook of cum-based recipes and not a SINGLE THING on Google about culturing jazz juice?” she wrote in a message to me and a few of our friends.

So, as the disapproving ghost of Julia Child looked on, she grabbed a spoon, a pan, and a candy thermometer, and set out to create yogurt from her vagina—the ultimate in locally-sourced cuisine.

[snip]

Every vagina is home to hundreds of different types of bacteria and organisms. These organisms—collectively known as the vaginal community—produce lactic acid, hydrogen peroxide, and other substances that keep the vagina healthy. The dominant bacteria is called lactobacillus, which also happens to be what people sometimes use to culture milk, cheese, and yogurt.

But Westbrook didn’t make her yogurt just for the sake of some amazing jokes. And she certainly didn’t make it because she was hungry. She knew enough about the chemistry of the vagina to think that eating a batch of yogurt made from her ladyjuices would be good for her. Seriously.

She ate it and hasn’t died but, as it happens, Westbrook may well be wrong in her fundamental premise — her vaginal secretions do not benefit from fermenting at 115 degrees Fahrenheit for nine or ten hours:

Incidentally, a rep from the FDA said that this is not a good idea. She said that “vaginal secretions are not considered ‘food’, and they may transmit human disease, a food product that contains vaginal secretions or other bodily fluids is considered adulterated.”

Hear that, y’all? “Vaginal secretions are not considered a food.” THIS APPARENTLY NEEDED TO BE SAID OUT LOUD.