I haven’t commented on the victory of Hamas in the Palestinian elections because I wasn’t sure how to interpret it.

Was it a vote for more extreme terrorism, or a vote against known corruption?

Will Hamas use its new power to expand its attacks on Israel, or will political and economic realities force it to moderate its positions, recognize Israel, and discourage terrorist acts?

What does this mean for the prospects of democratic reforms elsewhere in the Middle East?

Fortunately, we can read Natan Sharansky’s opinions. He understands these issues better than most.

Some key excerpts:

No, the real difference for the Palestinians was that a Fatah-run Palestinian Authority was rightly seen as a corrupt and feckless organization that had done and would continue to do nothing to improve Palestinian lives, whereas Hamas was untainted by corruption and appreciated for providing real social services.

With the vote being a choice between corrupt terrorists dedicated only to themselves and honest terrorists who are also dedicated to others, is it any surprise that Hamas won by a landslide?

…

The world must base their support for this new regime on two ironclad conditions. First, Hamas must explicitly abandon the goal of destroying Israel and renounce terrorism. Second, it must dedicate itself toward building a free society for the Palestinians.

David Friedman is one of those people whose writing I love to read because he’s really smart, and very talented at expressing complex ideas clearly, and controversial arguments persuasively.

The Machinery of Freedom is a classic, and a favorite of mine. I also remember enjoying reading his Usenet posts years ago.

If you haven’t checked out his blog yet, then you should.

Today, he had pretty good post about unschooling.

I thought the President’s speech was pretty good. But, maybe that’s because I set my expectations so low.

I liked much of what he had to say (e.g. the war, Hamas, tax cuts, open markets, new supreme court justices, cutting failing programs and earmarks).

He did propose some new, stupid, spending programs (e.g. more government research on energy and battery technology, more school teachers, AIDS treatment), but they seemed more modest than the outrageous programs of past years.

I was disappointed by the foolish call for bans on research and trade related to human cloning, and embryos.

I guess Bush made it clear that he’s steadfast about the war, recognizes that he now has less political capital to promote ambitious new programs, and still pays lip-service to the concerns of the religious right.

So, all in all, there was some good and some bad.

But, it could have been a lot worse.

The Super Bowl will be interesting for me this year.

I live in the Seattle area, and I’m a long-time Pittsburgh Steelers fan; so, this year’s Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and the Steelers should be fun.

I admit that I haven’t been following the game very well for the last few years (although I have been watching some Steelers highlights on Comcast On-Demand lately). But, I did watch both conference championship games today.

The Seahawks seem to have a pretty solid team, but I didn’t see anything offensively or defensively today from the Seahawks that will match up well against the Steelers.

So, I not only want the Steelers to win..but I think that they will, too.

I’ve never been inclined to root for the home team. I’m sure it’s partially because my dad liked non-home-teams; but, I also was averse to conforming to the crowds who blindly rooted for the local teams. It made sense to me to choose the team I preferred.

It still does.

I liked the Steelers of the ’70s (Bradshaw, Swann, Harris, Lambert, etc.), and I like today’s Steelers (Roethlisberger, Polamalu, Ward, Bettis, etc.).

Why should I root for a team that appeals to me less just because they happen to play closer to where I live?

I’ve been on vacation in Las Vegas for a week.

A couple of nights ago, my son and I rode the thrill rides on top of the Stratosphere tower.

We enjoyed some of the rides we’d ridden before (Big Shot, and X-Scream), but we really enjoyed the new (to us) ride: Insanity.

It’s difficult to describe how exhilarating it is to be suspended off the edge of a 1,000 foot tower, and then spun around (at an angle) so that you can see the tower from the outside (as well as lots of other stuff way down there).

It was a blast.

If you’re going to Vegas and enjoy thrill rides, don’t miss Insanity.

There are many things about the culture of the United States that I’m proud of. But, the continued imprisonment of Jack Kevorkian is a source of deep shame.

I think that The World gets it right when they say that people denied the right to die, and now (ironically) Kevorkian himself, are being “ritually tortured to death.”

And, all this is done under the cover of an avowed desire to promote a “Culture of Life”.

What does it make more sense to respect?: Beating hearts, or the informed choices of people about how (and whether) to proceed with their own lives?

I’ve posted on this before, but I won’t agree that we talk about it enough until these obscene laws are repealed, and people’s right to make their own choices is upheld.

Ok, some of these “proofs” for the existence of God are unfair; but many of them are funny. And, many of them are very similar to things I’ve heard people say.

Apropos my post below, take a look at Christopher Hitchens’ Christmas column in Slate. An excerpt:

Our Christian enthusiasts are evidently too stupid, as well as too insecure, to appreciate this. A revealing mark of their insecurity is their rage when public places are not annually given over to religious symbolism, and now, their fresh rage when palaces of private consumption do not follow suit. The Fox News campaign against Wal-Mart and other outlets—whose observance of the official feast-day is otherwise fanatical and punctilious to a degree, but a degree that falls short of unswerving orthodoxy—is one of the most sinister as well as one of the most laughable campaigns on record. If these dolts knew anything about the real Protestant tradition, they would know that it was exactly this paganism and corruption that led Oliver Cromwell—my own favorite Protestant fundamentalist—to ban the celebration of Christmas altogether.

No believer in the First Amendment could go that far. But there are millions of well-appointed buildings all across the United States, most of them tax-exempt and some of them receiving state subventions, where anyone can go at any time and celebrate miraculous births and pregnant virgins all day and all night if they so desire. These places are known as “churches,” and they can also force passersby to look at the displays and billboards they erect and to give ear to the bells that they ring. In addition, they can count on numberless radio and TV stations to beam their stuff all through the ether. If this is not sufficient, then god damn them. God damn them everyone.

I just got back from my weekly secular humanist meeting where we’re all conspiring to destroy religion by getting people and businesses to say “Merry Christmas” less frequently.

What a great plan, huh?

Too bad the really shrewd observers, like Bill O’Reilly, are catching on. But, I think it’ll probably work anyway.

Gay marriages will destroy marriage, too.

I figure final victory is just around the corner. Maybe if we can get people to stop mentioning the Easter Bunny, the last traces of religion (and all other traditions, probably) will disappear forever.

Yeah, it’s a good thing most people don’t realize just how fragile their institutions are.

I went to a concert with my family Friday night (Lynyrd Skynyrd…very enjoyable).

After the opening band played, some roadies were setting up the stage for the main act. One of them had the task of cleaning up with a vacuum cleaner, and the lady sitting next to me commented about what a terrible job that must be.

Without too much hesitation I managed to come back with:

“Yeah, it really sucks!”