Lex Libertas

The Palms planned a super-sized party for Super Bowl Sunday, with the game to be shown on theater-sized big screens. But the NFL is barring the casino from showing the game on the big screens.

Jim Hughes is the General Manager of the Palms Hotel. He says it is all about copyright laws. “Copyright laws that the National Football League is quoting allows us to show it on big screen TV’s up to 55 inches in diagonal. However, forbids showing it on any kind of a screen larger than that or any kind of commercial screen.”

What on earth does the size of the television screen have to do with copyright?

To all those out there who think that government is the savior, this is yet another case of it enforcing corporate monopoly type laws. In fact, there has never been a monopoly that wasn’t supported in some way (financially or legally) by the government, to keep them out of the free market.

And these are supposed to be our wise and enlightened, morally superior elders?

Animal sex is not illegal in Sweden, and every year between 200 and 300 pets are injured because of sexual assaults.

In contrast with most other countries, animal sex is not illegal in Sweden. It was decriminalized in 1944 in connection with the decriminalization of homosexual sex.

I’m not sure what’s more disturbing, the amount of animal sexual abuse, or the fact that child porn only became illegal five years ago.

Ex. 1: So You Want on the Plane …

Sunday night a good friend left St. Petersburg, setting out on his way home to Australia (by way of Siberia, Mongolia, and China). A large group of us decided to accompany him on his final farewell. We arrived at the airport more than an hour and a half before his plane was set to leave. Trying to check him in, we found that it was too early, and they would announce when boarding for his flight began. Off to the cafe we strolled to have one last dinner together. About fourty minutes before his plane was set to depart, we heard some muffled announcement about boarding and his flight.

Upon arriving at the check-in gate, they promptly muttered that boarding had finished and shut the door. This didn’t set well with us, so after some exchanges, the security guard asked if we had a chocolate bar. I immediately burst into laughter, thinking that my Russian friend who was acting as translator was joking. She couldn’t seriously be asking for a chocolate bar bribe, could she? Indeed, after responding that we did not have any chocolate, she retorted “but you have a friend who can go get one,” and pointed at David (an alaskan who’s been here three weeks). Still not understanding that she was serious, it took several repetitions and pointing before we decided that yes, Dave ought to go run back to the cafe and buy some chocolate bars.

As Dave went off, Nick was allowed to pass through the first security barrier on to the next while the requesting guard stood in front of the main entrance awaiting her chocolate. Dave made it back with two cholocate packages, and handed them over to the lady who kindly accepted them, then shut the door. We were left to assume that we had sufficiently greased the wheels of bureaucracy to allow Nick to board the plane, and wandered off into the night.

Incidentally, the reason Dave brought back two bars of chocolate was because the woman at the cafe didn’t have change, and was instead giving out little lollipops in increments of five rubles. I myself was the recipient of two. He figured that instead of receiving eight lollipops, he might as well just get another bar. The airport was cool as well. It was designed in that 1960’s futuristic style that I absolutely love. I felt as if I was in a spy movie during the height of the Cold War. In short, kick ass.

Ex. 2: An Expensive Piss

This story is second hand, I wasn’t there myselft, but everyone told it with the same details, so it’s true in my book. On the way to a club last week, most of the people involved were pretty drunk, and one of them had to take a piss pretty bad. He separated from the group and walked to the outside of a metro station. He had just started to piss on the wall when a cop car drove by, stopped, and a police officer walked out. Freaking out, my friend quickly pulled up his pants and turned towards the others, who were not rather far away. Unfortunately, this friend had only been studying Russian several weeks, and thus had no idea what the cops were saying, or how to answer. Two of the other friends went back to his aid.

The gist is this, they told him that a new city ordinance required that he be brought down to the station. After some haggling, they demanded he pay a 500 ruble ($17.50) fine. The officer then went back to the car, where his superior officer decided that for Americans, the fine was now 1,000 rubles. I suppose happy not to go to jail, my friend paid for the most expensive piss he has ever taken. The same sort of situation happened to some French friends of mine. Although in their defense, pissing on the streets is a common practice in France, so they didn’t know that it would get them in trouble here. Seriously, it’s pretty common, I’ve seen it … a lot.

Ex. 3: Beer Beer Everywhere Nor Any Drop to Drink

On Friday night, we had a going away party for the Aussie mention in example one. It was a rather large party that lasted until 7am. To give an example of how much alcohol was consumed, there were liquour runs every hour to replenish the supplies. (To say that the foreigners here consume a lot of alcohol would be like saying Homer wrote a couple of poems. We’re talking epic proportions.) As could be inferred, some alcohol was spilled and some bottles broken. Some accidentally, some on purpose as depression egged on by alcohol pushed some to engage in wanton destruction.

Come morning, the maid saw the carnage and demanded recompense. A suitable “fine” of 2,000 rubles ($70) was imposed, and she went about her business of cleaning up. The reason I place this here is that I don’t think it ever was an official fine. It seems to me that this was the maid’s way of saying, “you do something like this, and you’d better grease my palms unless you want the administration involved.” Considering the fact that she had already cut her hand on some of the glass, I think she was well within her rights to ask for such an amount. Although, to put the amount in perspective, one month’s rent for a shared room is 2,300 rubles per person.

Ex. 4 Sleeping Over

In the dorm (”ob” in our slang, short for “obshezhitiye”), all guests must leave the premises by 11pm. This is just one example of the paternalistic Soviet apparatus that has seeped into Russian culture, and an annoying one at that. We’re college kids, the idea that we go to bed anytime near 11pm is ludicrous at best. It seems ridiculous to for guests to have to leave at such an early hour, but such is life. If you want anyone to sleep over (be it for friends visiting from out of town or special friends), the official version is that they can’t. However, the unofficial version is that if you slip the two guards at the front desk a certain sum of money, your guest(s) checks out at 11pm and magically rechecks in at 7am. The amount of the bribe differs depending on how well you know the guards. Anywhere from 500 rubles to 100 rubles seems to be the appropriate range.

Conclusion:

It seems to me that bribery, as it is practised by average people in Russia isn’t so much corruption as a way of making the system more efficient. The Soviet system was an overwhelming bureaucracy without comparison back in the States. It makes the DMV look like a model of customer service and efficiency. The more time I spend over here, the more I realize how true to life the movie Brazil was. The system has become entrenched in many aspects of Russian culture, and it is difficult to get rid of. Indeed, any type of government expansion is rarely rolled back.

This is pure speculation on my part, I have never done any study on the history of Soviet/Russian social institutions, but my experience over here has led me to certain conclusions. A bribe, even on such a small level as bringing chocolate to some random, low-level functionary, is a way of speeding up the system. Neither person really wants to deal with the red tape, and this allows both parties to gain from the transaction. In it’s own perverted way, it’s pure capitalism - cashing in on unused utility in the system.

The security guard didn’t want Nick to miss his flight, but he was, technically, past due. This way she got something in return for her kindness. The police did not want to deal with dragging someone down to the station, filling out paperwork, etc. Instead, my friend got to continue his evening, and the police officers got some vodka money. After the party, the hallway was a mess, and the maid was going to have to clean it up no matter what. Going to the administration wouldn’t save the fact that it was her job to pick up the broken bottles. To make the best of the situation, she asked for some money from the party organizers to get them out of the hassle of dealing with the front office. It was a win-win deal.

I’m not saying this to excuse bribery, but it is worth noting that in this form, the bribery is egalitarian, open to all. It’s not some big corporation or union making sweetheart deals with their pet politicians (though that assuredly happens here to excess). This bribery helps avoid a giant, dehumanizing bureaucracy, while at the same time facilitating interaction. I like to think of it as “Underground Capitalism*.”

* Soon to be trademarked

David Kay, the former head of the coalition’s hunt for Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, yesterday claimed that part of Saddam Hussein’s secret weapons programme was hidden in Syria.

“But we know from some of the interrogations of former Iraqi officials that a lot of material went to Syria before the war, including some components of Saddam’s WMD programme. Precisely what went to Syria, and what has happened to it, is a major issue that needs to be resolved.”

One of the drawbacks of our excessively long “march to war,” the part where we tried over and over again to get the UN on board (damn Bush and his unilateralism), was that Saddam had plenty of time to prepare. That included outsourcing his weapons development programs.

A Syrian official last night said: “These allegations have been raised many times in the past by Israeli officials, which proves that they are false.”

How’s that for logic:

Premise 1. Anything Israel says is a lie
Permise 2. Nation X is advancing argument “A”
Premise 3. Israel has also said “A”
—————————
Conclusion: “A” is a lie.

UCLA, my alma mater, is one of the most well known brand names around the world. Besides having the best college basketball record ever and being the shooting location for practically every college movie (including Legally Blond and Old School), our academic rankings aren’t too shabby. In fact, I believe we’re the highest ranked school founded in the 20th century.

To testify to UCLA’s brandness, especially internationally, there was a Simpsons episode where they go to Japan, and the waiter in the “America Town” restaurant is wearing a shirt that says “UCLA, Yankee, Cola.” Additionally, I had the occasion to ask one of the higher ups in UCLA’s merchandising departement what the most bizarre she ever had was. Apparently, a couple of years ago, someone in Iraq put in an order for a picnic table with the UCLA logo on it.

Most foreigners I speak to have at least heard of my school, and today I randomly saw one of the students in my dorm wearing a UCLA sweater. He was on the phone, so I didn’t get a chance to ask him why he had the sweater. In any case, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Take that all my Oxford colleagues, you may have the elites fawning after you, but I have the masses!

Baghdad Story

One of the Iraqi translators working for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) lucked out. The translator came in to work on Tuesday with a special gift for Dan Sudnick, a CPA senior adviser for communications.

Maj. Carroll continued: “Each day here in Iraq is a triumph of heroes who are coming forward to rebuild their country. I am in a constant state of amazement at their courage and strength and commitment, even if it means their lives, for this powerful cause.”

A lot:

When Jennifer Lopez, Kid Rock and Ja Rule put on a concert for 1,500 troops at the height of the war in Afghanistan, it was seen as another success for the United Services Organization, which for 63 years has been entertaining soldiers overseas.

The GAO found that in the J. Lo concert, the Pentagon had paid MTV — which aired the performance — for $343,910 in “production expenses,” despite a complete lack of supporting documentation.

Russian troops have retrieved 10 tons of beer trapped under Siberian ice, the Itar-Tass news agency has reported.

But as they were ready to retrieve the truck, the rope tore, leaving the truck on the bottom of the river, deputy head of the Cherlak district administration Vasily Yatkovsky told Tass.

They know how to prioritize. Do you think the soldiers get a special patch or medal for participation in this operation?

People here keep telling me that this winter is unseasonably warm. If that’s true, then I don’t want to be here during a ‘real’ winter. This morning, on my way to school, it was -18C, and with windchill it felt like -26C. Isn’t blood supposed to freeze at this temperature?

I’ve found that nature plays a little trick on me when it gets this cold. First, it’s very uncomfortable to have your gloves or hat off for even a minute. Your face remains uncovered, unless you wear one of those bank-robbing ski masks, which I haven’t seen at all. So my nose gets hit with a double whammy. First, the second I walk outside, my nose starts to run. By the time the mucous gets to the bottom part of my nose, it’s no longer protected by the warmth of my nasal cavity, and it freezes. My nose is now filled with frozen little snotcicles which thaw a bit on every exhale and freeze up solid with the inhale. All the while receiving constant reinforcements. Fun times for all.

I know this may be out of character for a heartless conservative, but I quite like poetry. I’ve decided that occasionally I will put up some of my favorite poems. Perhaps to both show a tiny bit of my soul and expose some of my readers to poems and poets they may not have known before. Not that I’m any great authority. The majority of my knowledge in this area comes for my 11th grade English class. Each student was given a poet and over the course of several weeks we all presented them with our favorite pieces of their work.

Disclaimer: Most poets have led some pretty screwed up lives, and just because I like their work, doesn’t mean I agree with their lives. This is simply meant to shut down any, “Oh yeah, well this poet was such and such.” I’m simply presenting what I think are some of the most beautiful and illuminating words ever put on paper, or in this case, screen.

I’m starting with Edna St. Vincet Millay for no reason other than that I was reading her most recently.

First, one of my favorite quotes of all time is from her, but written in a letter, not a poem:

Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell.

Now for the poems:

First Fig

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends–
It gives a lovely light.

A sonnet that betrays a bit of my sympathy to those who dress in black and talk of woe:

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

And the one that made her famous:

Renascence

All I could see from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood;
I turned and looked the other way,
And saw three islands in a bay.
So with my eyes I traced the line
Of the horizon, thin and fine,
Straight around till I was come
Back to where I�d started from;
And all I saw from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood.
Over these things I could not see:
These were the things that bounded me;
And I could touch them with my hand,
Almost, I thought, from where I stand.
And all at once things seemed so small
My breath came short, and scarce at all.
(more…)

I was stopped by the police on Thursday. I’ve been made well aware that this was a possibility, so I was prepared. Police controls happen for no apparent reason, depending solely on the whims of the particular officer. As is to be expected, Russian police officers have discovered the joys of racial profiling; foreigners and Caucasians tend to be stopped the most.

I’m not saying this is necessarily wrong. While stopping foreigners is a holdover from the Soviet days, stopping Caucasians has a basis in the current political reality. There have been a number of terrorist attacks in Moscow recently by Chechens, an ethnic group located in the Caucasus. Add that to good old fashioned racism, and the extra attention is inevitable.

In any case, it was bound to happen to me. I was just getting off the escalator, about to leave the Metro station when the police officer stopped me and an Australian friend I was talking with. The rest of our group (3 others) all stepped on past, anxious to get away. In this situation, you’re supposed to provide the officer with your documents. A native Russian would provide their internal passport (they have two, one to move around Russia, and one to travel to other countries), and a foreigner would show their passport. Since I reregistered for classes, I will be without my passport for three weeks. As a substitute, I was given a “certificate” (справка) that my passport was taken for registration.

Being a student, I can either show my passport or my student ID card. Since the ID card was easier, I showed it to the police officer, and he returned it without any trouble. Will, however, wasn’t carrying either his certificate or his student card, so he was a bit concerned. I started to explain that he left his student card at home, when the officer asked “Is he a student also,” to which we both responded “Da.” He waved us away and said “Good Luck” in English.

It’s nice being a first-class foreigner. One of my Chinese classmates was detained at the police station for several hours because he didn’t have his documents on him. I don’t assume that I’ll always get off as easily, but as long as I have my stuff in order, it’s no big hassle.

As if suicide bombing wasn’t cruel enough already, they’ve just topped themselves. The most recent suicide bomber in Israel was a mother with two little children:

In Wednesday’s bombing, Reem al-Reyashi, 22, detonated her explosives belt during a security check inside the Erez crossing terminal on the Gaza-Israel border. Reyashi, from a prominent merchant family, left behind a three-year-old son and a daughter aged one.

Reyashi’s brother said her family had been unaware of her intentions. “We were shocked,” Ayman al-Reyashi said, calling the bombing “an act of honor.”

It’s an honor to kill civilians, and at the same time leave your children to grow up without their mother. Something truly perverse has happened to a culture that would not only allow, but promote such activity.

I came across a phenomenal website called Googlism. The searches are phrased in terms of “who,” “what,” “where,” and “when.” It takes an inventory of google responses for the searched item, and relates the results in short phrases. For example, when I searched for my name, it returned these gems. Selected, and with my commentary below:

owen is a bizarre child
The most on target of the bunch

owen is really working on sounds this month
Oddly relevant, though I’m working on vocab as well

owen is harshly criticized for accepting $8
I told her I never pay on first dates

owen is the shallowest and smallest in the series of reservoirs
That sums up my place in the blogosphere

owen is located at the intersection of 21st avenue south and grand
Only when I really need money

owen is filming beyond borders with angelina jolie for director martin
You know, it’s something I do on the side

owen is a dedicated conservative judicial activist whose record on the texas supreme court gives us great concern
Fear me!!

owen is not a household name across america
It will be soon

owen is a compelling presence
“Vote for me”

owen is not for sale
Unless the price is really right

Self-Esteem boosters
owen is a remarkable and versatile scholar
owen is clearly competent
owen is brilliant
owen is so cool
owen is the best

My International Importance
owen is key to england progress
owen is indispensable to liverpool
owen is european footballer of the year

Just Freakin Wierd
owen is a mouse who’s afraid to face kindergarten without his fuzzy blanket

I Hope Not
owen is going nowhere
owen is really dead

My Favorite
owen is the minimalist’s sex symbol

I’d love to quote a source on the author of this, but it came from an email forward, notorious for not citing.

This is the loss of civil liberties that people are talking about:

Operator: “Thank you for calling Pizza Hut. May I have your…”

Customer: “Hi, I’d like to order.”

Operator: “May I have your NIDN first, sir?”

Customer: “My National ID Number, yeah, hold on, eh, it’s
6102049998-45-54610.”

Operator: “Thank you, Mr. Sheehan. I see you live at 1742 Meadowland Drive,
and the phone number’s 494-2366. Your office number over at Lincoln
Insurance is 745-2302 and your cell number’s 266-2566. Which number are
you calling from, sir?”

Customer: “Huh? I’m at home. Where d’ya get all this information?”

Operator: “We’re wired into the system, sir.”

Customer: (Sighs) “Oh, well, I’d like to order a couple of your All-Meat
Special pizzas…”

Operator: “I don’t think that’s a good idea, sir.”

Customer: “Whaddya mean?”

Operator: “Sir, your medical records indicate that you’ve got very high
blood pressure and extremely high cholesterol. Your National Health Care
provider won’t allow such an unhealthy choice.”

Customer: “Damn. What do you recommend, then?”

Operator: “You might try our low-fat Soybean Yogurt Pizza. I’m sure you’ll
like it”

Customer: “What makes you think I’d like something like that?”

Operator: “Well, you checked out ‘Gourmet Soybean Recipes’ from your local
library last week, sir. That’s why I made the suggestion.”

Customer: “All right, all right. Give me two family sized ones, then. What’s
the damage?”

Operator: “That should be plenty for you, your wife and your four kids, sir.
The ‘damage,’ as you put it, heh, heh, comes $49.99.”

Customer: “Lemme give you my credit card number.”

Operator: “I’m sorry sir, but I’m afraid you’ll have to pay in cash. Your
credit card balance is over its limit.”

Customer: “I’ll run over to the ATM and get some cash before your driver gets
here.”

Operator: “That won’t work either, sir. Your checking account’s overdrawn.”

Customer: “Never mind. Just send the pizzas. I’ll have the cash ready. How
long will it take?”

Operator: “We’re running a little behind, sir. It’ll be about 45 minutes. If
you’re in a hurry you might want to pick ‘em up while you’re out getting the
cash, but carrying pizzas on a motorcycle can be a little awkward.”

Customer: “How the hell do you know I’m riding a bike?”

Operator: “It says here you’re in arrears on your car payments, so your car
got repo’ed. But your Harley’s paid up, so I just assumed that you’d be using
it.”

Customer: “@#%/$@&?#!”

Operator: “I’d advise watching your language, sir. You’ve already got a July
2006 conviction for cussing out a cop.”

Customer: (Speechless)

Operator: “Will there be anything else, sir?”

Customer: “No, nothing. Oh, yeah, don’t forget the two free liters of Coke
your ad says I get with the pizzas.”

Operator: “I’m sorry sir, but our ad’s exclusionary clause prevents us from
offering free soda to diabetics.”

Bug has posted a comment on a post about a court case involving polygamy, over at a friend’s webpage. I would just like to point out the not only unsubstantiated but patently false claims, as well as assorted idiocy.

I was always a bit puzzled (and, of course, revolted) by this fascination with marriage, which is shared by most monotheistic religions, especially Christianity.

1. It’s a free country, choose not to marry if you want.
2. The idea of two people making a binding commitment to each other revolts you?? Does a parent’s unconditional love for their child also sicken you?
3. All societies value marriage. It’s their way of saying that family is important in rasing children. If you don’t believe this to be true, look at the statistics of children raised in single parent homes. Not to say that a single parent decision is always wrong, but let’s look at the aggregate here. Bad stuff happens to kids raised outside of a two parent family: see 1, 2.
4. A move away from a strong family, and hence marriage, is dangerous for our culture. It’s already happening, and look at the negative effects a devaluation of marriage and fatherhood has had upon America’s black community.
5. It’s not just monotheism, marriage is very important in Eastern Cultures as well, about as far from monotheism as you can get.
6. In Christian nations, you can screw around outside of marriage all you want. In fact, Christian nations tend to be the most promiscuous societies on Earth. As for other monotheists, try doing that in an Islamic country.

Dude, what are you thinking? Next time around, let’s try some thought-out, or at least backed-up arguments. I’m “puzzled and revolted” by your lack of analysis.

These people clearly believe that the matter of whom I choose to live with is more important than the economy, education, budget, war, technological progress, civil liberties, etc., etc.

I’d say that the problems brought up earlier are pretty freakin important. eg.

1. Boys living in a fatherless home are two to three times more likely to be involved in crime, drop out of school, and get divorced. Girls living in a fatherless home are two to three times more likely to become pregnant teenagers and have their marriages end in divorce.
�Heading Toward a Fatherless Society,� by Barry Kliff, MSNBC News, www.msnbc.com, March 31, 1999.
2. Children of divorce do worse academically, are more prone to delinquency, are more vulnerable to the appeal of substance abuse, are more likely to bear a child out of wedlock, and are less equipped to enter marriage themselves.
�Real Women Stay Married,� by Susan Orr, Washington Watch, June 2000.
3. Almost 70 percent of young men in prison grew up without fathers in the home.
�American Agenda,� World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, January 12, 1995.

In other words, who cares if the market crumbles around us, if our kids grow up dumber each year, and if the rest of the world is overtaking us in all the major areas of research ?

1. The Nasdaq today reached it’s highest point in 2 1/2 years, higher than even pre-Sept. 11. And our manufacturing sector has had its higest growth in 20 years.
2. I’ll lump dumber people and losing technology together, and respond with a rousing “Nuh Uh!!!”. Just read the intro to this article to see that Bug is, once again, off his rocker. Our education is the best in the world, and we have won over half of all Nobels awarded in the past half-century.
3. Our plan to return to space with a permanent presence on the Moon and missions to Mars will undoubtedly spur scientific advancement. Not to mention our developed weapons tech. These are just two specific examples of US dominance, see point number two for the more generic refutation.

As long as we eliminate these pesky gay marriages and polygamists, we’re all set !

1. I have said nothing here about gay marriages. In fact, that may well be a way to strenghten the bonds of marriage. We could co-opt this behavior into normal family life. It seems to me that two loving, commited parents is better than one. Again, talking big picture here.
2. In fact, gays may well make more dedicated parents on average than heteros. A recent article in the NYTimes shows a rising trend of one partner giving up his job to stay home and raise their child, often sacrificing well paying jobs. That’s pretty “family values,” I wish more people would (could) chose this option.

- To some gay men, the idea of entrusting the care of a hard-won child to someone else seems to defeat the purpose of parenthood.
- “I’ve taken myself out of an industry that moves pretty quickly,” said Mr. Cummings, who lives in Los Angeles. “But if I were working, I’d miss that moment when Caelan was just getting up from her nap, grabbing and holding on to me.”
- “In the beginning, I was even pig-headed about it,” said Mr. Farina, who now has four children with his partner. “I wanted the kids to bond with us. I didn’t want any help. In those first few years, I didn’t even get baby sitters. I thought, `That’s my job.’ “

3. On a very practical level, polygamy would stretch money too far. Imagine if all 40 wives were allowed to collect child assistance, and belong to the same medical plan - a fiscal nightmare.

I just don’t get it. This is like worrying about what color to paint the mast when your entire ship is steering straight into the iceberg. Totally counterproductive.

I’ve already shown that your iceberg doesn’t exist, but a potential one does in terms of a devaluation of marriage and family. That’s right, the thing that disgusts you, in many ways, holds our society together.

And on a sidenote, even if we assume that your analogy is correct, painting the mast would not be “counterproductive,” it would just be a waste of time. Seeing as how your entire argument is inconsistent with reality, I suppose internal consistency in the argument itself is too much to ask.