My all-time favorite National Review writer has gone and told us something that I think I'd just rather not know.

John Derbyshire's "January Diary" includes a mention of some chap named Razib Khan. Mr. Khan has something to do with nematodes, creatures which in some instances can be hermaphrodites. OK, so Derb's talking to a science guy. That's great. MEGO.

But then Derb includes the following passage: "Razib: “Some of these species have been having sex with themselves for millions of years.” Hey, that’s what my adolescence felt like."

John, I understand the need for humor in writing; would that the legal profession's so-called greatest minds would figure this out as well. But what you said isn't something we needed to know, and it's not cause for laughter at this particular station.

Pardon me while I try not to wince and shift about uncomfortably. I'm not really sure what else was in the Derb Diary for January, 'cause I was too busy choking back a touch of bile.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 10:19 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I just got finished listening to the Derb Radio broadcast for 28th February 2005, and I'm pleasantly amused.¹ It will have to serve as the substitute for "London Calling" until such time as a) someone pulls the BBC back towards sanity and b) the World Service is broadcast on shortwave frequencies in North America.

Anyways. Does anyone know what the bumper cues for Derb Radio are? I don't recognize either of them, but I get the sense that I should. I hope someone'll write in and pass that information along. Thanks! more...

Posted by: Country Pundit at 01:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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There's an honest-to-God interview with Derbyshire as done by that chap Frank J over at IMAO. Click here for the whole thing. It's witty, enraging, and everything you can usually expect from a guy who doesn't mind saying that, "I do have some opinions that aren't very respectable."

Tip of the Wisconsin hat to none other than Derb himself.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 10:23 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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In Which Derb Weighs in on Martha Stewart...

Readers are chiding me for my support of Martha: "Rich rhymes-with-rich... arrogant... female Kerry, DYKWIA?.... little people need protection in the market... integrity of the market... yada yada."

Well, fiddlesticks. I'm a conservative, and my first presumption is that my main enemy is State Power. This was an exercise in State Power, DYKWIA writ much larger than any individual in this country can write it.

Stewart's offenses were trivial, not worth prosecuting. Investor confidence? Insider trading? (Which she was not even charged with!) Gimme a break. The markets are a lottery, and the little guy enters at his peril -- always has, always will. "When the little guy gets in, it's time to get out," has been conventional wisdom on Wall Street since (very probably) the founding of the Republic. There is no way to control insider trading -- in fact, Wall Streeters will defy you to even DEFINE insider trading (the U.S. Congress, for one, gave up on trying). And in fact, a little guy who had held on to his Imclone stock would have been smarter than Martha--the FDA drug rejection that caused the stock to dive has since been reversed!

Arrogance? Yeah, this is arrogance, all right -- the arrogance of gummint prosecutors with too much time on their hands -- since they don't have the guts to pursue REAL federal crimes, like the hiring of illegal-immigrant labor -- hunting for a Great White Defendant to boast to their bosses about, and advance their careers in the federal-judicial bureaucracy -- the same bureacracy that is gradually stifling all our liberties, and wringing the vitality out of our economy. See BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES. This is State Power run amok.

I'm a little guy, and I'm in the market. If the feds want to boast that they're doing ME any favors with this grandstanding, here's a message from this little guy to them: NO THANKS!

First they came for the haughty, slightly-dishonest millionairesses....

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The original post is here.

Once again, Johnny D. demonstrates why I like him. Even though Martha Stewart is probably a reprehensible human being---friend of Bill and all that---I never really heard what she did wrong. I found it ridiculous that she was being charged for making a false statement on the grounds of saying that she was innocent---or at least that was the media spin on it---and I just couldn't get enraged about her actions. "You are accused of saying that you are innocent. Life in prison." It don't work that way. The law, last time I checked, didn't punish a woman for proclaiming innocence, and the law does not expect the accused to stand out in public and proclaim guilt. (Admittedly, the entire case and the charge that got tossed are probably more complex than that, but we'll not let that stand in the way.)

One of the biggest reasons that I couldn't draw the long knife here is because Stewart reportedly was mean to Perky Katie Couric on NBC's dreadful Today show when Perky wasn't keeping pace in turkey stuffing. Anyone with the nerve to diss the Colon Queen can't be all bad. Heh heh heh.

Professor Bainbridge's writings on the Stewart case can be found here. I'm going on spring break tomorrow and I'll probably peruse everything he wrote; y'all probably should as well.

I hope she beats this rap. Her site discussing the matter can be found by clicking on the link. I checked out the site and I'm intrigued by the Other Voices section of the site. A quick browse through there reveals pro-Stewart columns from the pens of several conservatives, including Bill Safire, Jack Kemp, Paul Craig Roberts, and Emmett Tyrell. Several other people more or less on our side weigh in for her as well, including a libertarian from Cato and a Randian. As Alice once said, "Curiouser and curiouser". I wonder if these people were chosen in order to appeal to the pro-business wing of the political spectrum, because we might just save her butt.

There is still hope, and maybe that idiot juror's decision will be overruled. Clinton-loving dirtbag she may be, but I'd rather see sharp investors stay out of the dock, because I want at least one working for me in the future.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 09:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'd put the writings of the Derb up on the category list from day one, but I'd never really found anything to put in the category, mostly because it was either too contextual to reproduce outside of The Corner or because I forgot to.

Well, here's a gem that earned an Evil Calvin Grin:

I suppose it is "mean-spirited" of me, but I can't help wondering whether this Mayor [of New Paltz, NY, who faced criminal counts for illegal "marriage" licenses issued to homosexuals] would feel differently after spending time behind bars, knowing what we know about prison culture.

Heh heh heh. Mr. Mayor, you'll be sharing a cell with 'Tiny'. See? He likes you. I suppose the Purple Pundit will sooner or later whine about this, but TFB.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 09:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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