Here’s a small collection of stuff I’ve picked up or thoughts I’ve thunk during the last week. This might become a regular feature. Or not. :-)

• An astute observer dropped this into the comments on a census post this morning: “Don’t Trust the Census.” Maybe you knew that so-called “confidential” census data was used to round up Japanese-Americans during World War II. Did you know that General Sherman — he of the unpunished “civil” war crimes — used census data in his genocidal march to the sea?
• The virtues of adversity. I mentioned the heroic Sister Kenny in my recent post about inspirational movies. That led me to a Wikipedia listing of famous polio survivors. Notice how many became writers or sports stars or even in one case a famous dancer because of their suffering.
• Something weird over at Time magazine. This is the second time I’ve seen them publish an article about secessionists that wasn’t both error-filled and sneering. Wow.
• From the “Things I’ll Never Understand” department. Why do so many people think it’s worse to expose a bad deed than it is to actually do the awful act in the first place?
  I give you (in some slightly old news) Obama and Bush both blocking revelation of more photos of more government hirelings committing more (and possibly worse) torture than was revealed at Abu Ghraib.
  Their claim (as put by the Obamaites; the Busheviks probably had more personal worries): that the images would “further inflame anti-American opinion” and endanger U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  Uh … no, dude. Fessing up to the photos could lance the festering boil and begin the healing. It may hurt at first, but it’s the only way to say, “We don’t approve and will forever put a halt to war crimes like these.” Hiding the evidence when everybody already knows the crimes were committed, and are possibly still being committed … now that’s what will “inflame” people.
  This reminds me of an old neighbor of mine whose creepy son was accused of molesting several children. One of the accusers was a cousin. “Mom” went up and down the neighborhood, loudly decrying the “betrayal” by her relatives. “They should have kept it in the family!” she railed. She never denied that her son did the deed. The only bad thing was that anyone would dare speak about it.
  People. We’re very strange creatures.
• Finally, I’ve just received copies of Indy-Pindy: The Liberty Mouse, the new freedomista childrens’ book, and Kent’s Liberty Primer, both by Kent McManigal. Kent already has permanent kudos from me for creating the “Time’s Up” or DullHawk flag. I’ll have more on the books later in the week. But so far … good stuff.
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