Reimagining the welfare state
I have come more and more to believe that America is need of a stronger set of safety-nets and public investment in general. Beyond the need for a more robust safety-net apparatus including some...
Monthly Archive: December 2009
The State of “Reform”
Monsieur IOZ pretty much sums up the state of health care reform perfectly in his latest. At what point do advocates of public choice theory get to say “told ya so” about the almost...
Finally, a fake New York Times trend story I can get behind
The return of dapper menswear. Best quote from the article: “The fashion gene skipped a generation.”
Just who are the Japanese?
This isn’t particularly new or exciting, but I recently stumbled across this fascinating article from Jared Diamond on Japan’s enthnographic history.
The Best Cover of All Time – The Final Countdown
Well folks, it’s been a long and arduous journey, but I think we’ve done a half-decent job of rounding up some pretty good covers. The final list (complete with my top 10) will go...
A couple of thoughts…
Brother Mark and I generally tend to agree on most constitutional matters, including his September post . I may hold a constitutional viewpoint that tends towards a textualist or originalist interpretation but it is senseless...
Right-Wing Political Correctness, Ch. 356
Rod Dreher on movement conservatism’s culture problem: One of the things that first attracted me to conservatism was that back in the 1980s, when I was in college and watching liberals elevate utter mediocrity...
The Problem of Denial
At Master Resource, Jim Manzi synthesizes several objections he’s aired to comprehensive greenhouse gas regulations in one easy-to-read Thomas Friedman take-down. I find this stuff pretty persuasive, but it’s worth noting that there’s real...
Robert Nozick, my new favorite libertarian.
Sometime last summer I announced that I was reading Robert Nozick’s Anarchy, State, and Utopia, and that I’d try to post evaluations as I went. Well, due to a string of events I won’t...
Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Martyr
Some of the coverage from National Review and The Washington Times really has to be read to be believed. A guy whose career highlights include chaining a pregnant woman to a bed and filing...
The Best Cover of All Time, Volume XVI
At the risk of “los[ing] serious street cred with [his] friends,” Mike D. nominates Glee’s (admittedly catchy) cover of “Don’t Stop Believing” and Damien Rice and Ray LaMontagne covering the Bee Gees’ “To Love...
Taxes: Where Political and Constitutional Expediency Collide
I’ve been out of pocket from the political realm for a week and a half, but President Obama’s claim that a health insurance mandate is not a tax strikes me as marginally good politics...
Yes, an insurance mandate is a tax
In a rare moment of bipartisan convergence, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama continue to insist that forcing people to buy health insurance is not a tax. Unfortunately, they’re both wrong. Very wrong.
The Best Cover of All Time, Volume XV
Here’s an eclectic bunch: Via email, Schuyler nominates Mike Posner covering Beyonce’s “Halo”; Mike nominates Dennis Brown’s reggae version of “Little Green Apples”; Scott O submits Tricky’s trippy cover of Public Enemy’s “Black Steel...
Jersey Shore
No, I haven’t watched the show. Yes, its (fleeting) cultural footprint is inescapable. But I do want to discuss reality television in light of Jonah Goldberg’s latest column, which makes a bunch of smart...
