I've given myself a few days off. I've spent my summer working double-shifts, and now that my two classes are done, I've had a chance to breathe. But, alas, my qualifying examination (the last test I'll ever have to take) begins in two weeks, and thus I must begin again.

I've got a swell research project on Brandom, Kripke and rule-following. It's becoming en vogue again to work on Wittgenstein. I'm going to spend some time in the library, and then I'm back into the trenches.

I plan to be drunk the entire month of August. And possibly roaming the country--I need to get the hell out of Florida for a little while. It's the place people go to die, for a reason.

Conservative rag Human Events has compiled a list of the "Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Century."

It's my duty to make fun of it.

The List:

1. Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx: Of course. It's still illegal to take this book across state lines south of the Mason-Dixon Line

2. Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler: Understandable. But, is it the case that Socialism is more "harmful" than Nazism? I believe that's the claim. Anyway, the Manifesto scored 74, while Mein Kampf scored 41, so I guess Marx is almost twice as dangerous as Hitler.

3. Little Red Book, Chairman Mao Tse Tung: "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun," might as well be Bush's statement to the international community.

4. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, Alfred Kinsey: How dare you make sex something other than a shameful act which will send you to hell (except if you're married and of opposite genders . . . and no that's not redundant).

5. Democracy and Education, John Dewey: *sigh*

6. Capital, Karl Marx: Damn commies!

7. The Feminine Mystique, Betty Freidan: Damn women!

8. Introduction to postive Philosophy, August Comte: Damn sociologists!

9. Beyond Good and Evil, Fredrich Nietzsche: There are few who read this book who are not amazed by its sublety and complexity. That's why both the Nazis and the Conservatives don't get it, perhaps?

10. General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, John Maynard Keynes: Any economic theorist besides Smith, Ricardo (maybe) and Hayek is suspect; you're getting the invisible middle finger on my invisible hand.

It amuses me that each listing includes a direct link to buy the book at amazon. I guess anything is negotiable insofar as profit is to be made. What do you expect from a website that has such insighful features as the recent op-ed titled "Liberal Media Upset over Fox News' Deferential and Respectful Treatment of Bush."

Here we go again.