Grow your own?
Regarding the “grow your own policy” Mark Kleiman proposes, I have to say this is a very misguided approach. While I love the notion of small, localized marijuana farmers, growing organic pot and sharing...
Monthly Archive: February 2009
Balance Sheet Recession
So I was listening to NPR this morning and a Japanese economist was talking about their “lost decade” and chalked it up to what he termed “balance sheet recession.” Basically, too many people...
Quick Hit Financial Blogging…
If anyone hasn’t noticed this about using the Fed as part of a bad bank strategy: John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics LLC in New York, and Matt Chasin, chief operating officer of Sorin...
Happy Lundi Gras!
So today is Lundi Gras, better known as the day before Mardi Gras and the second to last day of Carnival. Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, a day we are supposed to spend fasting and...
The Final Word on Liber-al-tarianism
I honestly thought I was done on this topic, and for the most part I am. But given the misunderstandings that seem to have developed (e.g., arguing that it’s “big-government libertarianism,” or that the...
the moderating influence of the technocratic Republican
Predictions are a mugs game, and mine are worse than most, so take this with a grain of salt. But I see two likely narratives emerging concerning Arnold Schwarzenegger, neither of which I like....
can I just say…
I understand that there are arguments to be made against the practice of talking politics at award shows or similar. I don’t want awards show recipients to be making on-air harangues about unrelated partisan...
reflections
Sometimes I’m overwhelmed with this sense that all of this is an exercise in futility – that there is simply too much to know, too much I don’t know, too much I don’t or...
Jonah Sermon
In my alter ego, I’m studying to be a priest in the Anglican Church. With The League’s permission, I’m posting a link to the audio of a sermon I gave recently at my home...
Sunday Poem
Lament by Rainer Maria Rilke Everything is far and long gone by. I think that the star glittering above me has been dead for a million years. I think there were tears in the...
Prescott Bush and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls
Now, I’m not a big fan of the shadowy, Illumanti-style cabal that secretly pulls the strings and keesp you and me down. But if our scheming entrenched WASP power brokers can’t steal the skulls...
love of… what?
Daniel Larison has a sharp post up (which Andrew has linked to) that I think really demands attention, as his discussion of patriotism and criticism of one’s country really hits home. Daniel writes One...
In which…
Robert Stacy McCain reveals both an inherent lack of understanding regarding the Israel/Palestine conflict, and an unhealthy degree of bloody, American-made machismo. Really McCain, you think totally subduing the Palestinian people and then “rinsing”...
A Top Ten List!
Helen breaks all this talk of shame culture into a list, which I reproduce for you below. (How very appropriate for a blog. That all blog posts aren’t top ten lists still amazes me…)...
The Theocon Menace
Damon Linker is beating the same drum he’s been beating for some time now, warning against a perceived theocon menace that threatens to overthrow everything Americans have worked toward in fashioning a modern, liberal...
Leaving the Right to Save the Right
Amongst several others, Ross Douthat has some really good thoughts on my arguments for a more liberal libertarianism. So good are a lot of these responses that I could probably spend the next month discussing them (don’t worry, I won’t). But Ross’ points are probably the most comprehensive.
Growth and Prosperity
The loss of our self-understanding as parts of a whole meant that individuals who achieved material success were able to consider their achievement as fully their own. By contrast, those who happened to be...
