Category Archives: Barely A Blog

Updated: Terms of Use for IlanaMercer.com & BAB

Barely A Blog, IlanaMercer.com

I’ve finally updated the Terms of Use for IlanaMercer.com and Barely a Blog. Not that it will deter this kind of conduct.

This is not meant to engender a discussion of hypocrisy—mine—given I am not a fan of copy-right laws. (See Kazaa Vs. The Copyright Cartel, Batty Patents, Do Patents and Copyrights Undermine Private Property?, Patent Wrongs, and How Things Would Work in a Copyright-Free Universe.) However, even less am I a fan of martyrdom. We do, after all, labor under the positive law. The reader should not, moreover, confuse my general opposition to the use of legal force in the case of copyright abuses with an approval of such moral and ethical infringements. Such practices (and their practitioners) are LOW.

Updated: Terms of Use for IlanaMercer.com & BAB

Barely A Blog, IlanaMercer.com

I’ve finally updated the Terms of Use for IlanaMercer.com and Barely a Blog. Not that it will deter this kind of conduct.

This is not meant to engender a discussion of hypocrisy—mine—given I am not a fan of copy-right laws. (See Kazaa Vs. The Copyright Cartel, Batty Patents, Do Patents and Copyrights Undermine Private Property?, Patent Wrongs, and How Things Would Work in a Copyright-Free Universe.) However, even less am I a fan of martyrdom. We do, after all, labor under the positive law. The reader should not, moreover, confuse my general opposition to the use of legal force in the case of copyright abuses with an approval of such moral and ethical infringements. Such practices (and their practitioners) are LOW.

Updated: Barely a Blog Back

Barely A Blog, Ilana Mercer

Barely a Blog crashed a few weeks back. The hundreds of comments readers contributed (and my responses to those) were lost. Thankfully, all blog entries written by me were retrieved and the archives remain intact, so do delve into those. My gratitude goes to Crystal, the very skilled and sympathetic class act behind the VDARE blog.

Letter of the Week By Stephen Browne

Barely A Blog, War

Stephen W. Browne’s letter is BAB’s Letter of the Week. Stephen is an academic, an English teacher, a writer, and an advocate for liberty. He writes:

This question your column raises is not abstract to me, nor can I “ revel in the joys of killing non-combatants. I visited Belgrade shortly after the bombing of that charming city, and while I was flabbergasted by the precision of the bombing, I found out that one stray had killed two little girls in a family close to me.

The question: Disturbing analyses of World War II seem to show that bombing of cities was militarily ineffective and probably did nothing to shorten the war (see Freeman Dyson’s memoirs of working in bomb damage assessment). But, does anyone want to win a war with their cities in rubble and the enemy’s intact? If one does, what prevents the enemy from being encouraged to gear up for another try later?

This is not a rhetorical question, I don’t know the answer. When I was young, I had all the answers to ethical dilemmas, now all I seem to have are disturbing questions. I miss those answers