Monthly Archive: November 2010
Comparing the Faiths of Presidents Washington and Obama
In my last post I noted, provocatively, that there is more evidence for President Obama’s “mere Christianity,” than for Washington’s. A commenter challenged me with Peter Lillback’s “George Washington’s Sacred Fire.” I’ve read the...
Playing games with the deficit
“To the extent that Washington is "broken" (and I’d argue it’s less broken than some suggest) it’s because it suffers from being, unusually, both fat and musclebound. No wonder it finds it difficult to...
In Which NJ Leads the Way on Freedoms
It’s a rare day indeed that I get to say this, but today I’m quite proud of my state’s elected representatives in the State House: State senators Michael J. Doherty (R- Hunterdon) and James Beach...
Whose Warmest Heart Recoiled at War
During World War II, Brigadier General S.L.A. Marshall asked average soldiers how they conducted themselves in battle. Before that, it had always been assumed that the average soldier would kill in combat simply because...
The 10 Principles of Economics, Translated
I am not an economist, nor do I play one on the internet. In fact, I’ve never taken a formal course in economics in my life. (A fact which my several economist friends occasionally...
So What Should Be Done?
In my first substantive post I suggested not only that perhaps the stimulus had failed, but that we needed to make a major change in our approach, going so far as to suggest that...
The Moral Equivalent of Monarchy
Matt Yglesias plumps for monarchy, based on — what else? — human nature: [I]t seems inevitable in any country for some individual to end up serving the functional role of the king. Humans are...
Don’t Set The Doomsday Clock Ahead Quite Yet
As a general rule, congressional bipartisanship is the political equivalent of the Crips and the Bloods banding together to rob the rest of the neighborhood. (If only we had antitrust laws applicable to our...
Springsteen’s America vs. Reagan’s America (or, Still More on Exceptionalism)
I quoted Jeff MacGregor the other day on Bruce Springsteen and Ronald Reagan: Maybe the most interesting thing you can say about American art and culture over the past 30 years is that at...
The Census and the Republican Victory in the House
The Republican sweep of the House of Representatives is enough a triumph in its own right, but lost in the shuffle is a factor far more important than mere congressional gains: following the 2010...
A culture war truce?
A few weeks ago, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, a possible dark-horse candidate for the 2012 GOP presidential race, urged Republicans and conservatives to make a truce on social issues and focus instead on economics. Daniels...
“The Perfect Stride”
Interested in running? No? Read this New Yorker article about the United States’ marathon men anyway.
Heh.
Via Jeffrey Goldberg comes a remarkably useful tool: the Pamela Geller Shrieking Harpy Rant Generator. I hereby humbly submit this tool to our good friends at Popehat as a nominee for this week’s Friday Afternoon Time-waster.
The Moral Panic Continues
The Food and Drug Administration will rule that caffeine is an unsafe substance to add to alcoholic beverages, “effectively making products such as Four Loko, Joose, and others like them, prohibited for sale in...
An Education
There are many things that can be said about this incredibly depressing article – written by a guy who makes a living writing papers for college students – from The Chronicle of Higher Education....
Locally grown and operated
Arizona has legalized medical marijuana, joining fifteen other states across the country that allow marijuana use for health purposes. A system of cultivation and dispensaries will be operative by late summer 2011, with all...
Why are Republicans Soft on Terror?
Seriously, I thought the Republicans were supposed to be protecting us from terrorists, cost what it may. And I thought the Dhimmicrat Party was the place for people like this: Did you know that...
