February 2008
A Gentler Capitalism?
David Callahan, like a lot of people these days, imagines a gentler capitalism that doesn’t care so much about the bottom line:When Gates spoke at Davos about ways that business should serve the world’s poor, he was striking the same chord that Andrew Carnegie did when he published “The Gospel of Wealth,” arguing that the rich have a moral obligation to the less fortunate....
January 2008
Having the Government Do Your Bidding
One of the reasons that libertarians deplore expansive government power is that it is so often exercised to benefit one group at the expense of another. Usually, this exercise is cloaked in language about the public interest—the state must license doctors for the safety of their patients, it must license lawyers for the safety of their clients, it must license taxi companies for the safety...
Obsessions
There’s a news story on CNN about a man’s obsession with all things Star Wars and the toll it has taken on his marriage. The story notes that his obsession dates back to when he was four years old. I’m all for obsessions, and I’ve been through a number of them. Magic and Juggling; the Beatles and Dylan and Butch Hancock and Dan Bern; the Marx Brothers and Buster Keaton;...
Scrivener
I’m writing a novel. I’ve finished three drafts and I’m working on the fourth, and I’ve written them all with the assistance of a wonderful software program called Scrivener. If you have a Mac and write, you’ve got to try it. You can organize your research in folders or notecards; you can collect pictures and movies and pdfs and webpages; you can instantly search...
“I am more and more coming to the conclusion that National Greatness...”
– Will Wilkinson—more here. I think this is about right, but I don’t expect too many conservatives to understand it.
People are protesting my blog. →
It's Your Move
From the classic Dregs of Humanity episode:
“Illinois Democrats close to Sen. Barack Obama are quietly passing the word that...”
– This would be depressing.
Obama and the Fairy Tale
You don’t have to be an Obama supporter to be upset that the Clintons have taken his comments about Republicans and Reagan out of context and misrepresented what he was saying. But the media is giving the Obamas too much of a pass—they did, after all, start the recent war of misrepresentation by pretending that Bill Clinton’s “fairy tale” comment was directed at his...
WatchMatt and I discuss The Wire.
I Will Buy Their Next Album, Part II
Jim follows up this post by me with his answer.
Buster Keaton Remix
Before Eddie Murphy, before Peter Sellers … I think Buster Keaton invented playing multiple characters in the same scene.
Thinnovation and Its Discontents
The Moose Routine
A classic:
One of 2000 or more great Dan Bern songs
Jury Duty and the 13th Amendment
I saw this story on Drudge: They roamed the streets of Greeley Wednesday morning with stacks of paper and an eye out for people they could summon to emergency jury duty. Weld County and District Court staff handed subpoenas to more than 50 unsuspecting people, telling them they had to report for jury duty Wednesday morning because many of those summoned by mail did not show. I think it’s...
I Will Buy Their Next Album
Without reading any reviews or hearing any of their new songs, I will buy the next albums released by: 1. Dan Bern 2. Jill Sobule 3. Nellie McKay 4. Todd Snider 5. Beck 6. Butch Hancock 7. Damon Bramblett 8. Roger Klug What about you, Jim and Matt?
Rude Drivers, the Prius, and Racism
We first came to know the Prius as a vanity vehicle for the eco-conscientious Hollywood elite. Slowly, the common man came to acquire these vehicles, often after spending months on a waiting list, sometimes after spending well-above the sticker price. And when we first saw the Prius in person—in a parking lot or driving down the road—it stood out. It looked different than other...
Diagnosing Ron Paul
The consensus among respectable, establishment libertarians (to the extent there is such a thing) is that Ron Paul is probably not much of a racist, but that he tolerated the racism in his newsletters because they kept the money flowing. This might be right, but it might be more complicated than that. Suppose you’re Ron Paul and you’ve just read the Austrian Economists and Ayn Rand...
Macworld Prediction
Macworld is next week, so I need to put a prediction in writing now to ensure that I can properly gloat if I’m right. I think we’ll see a lighter laptop that utilizes flash memory. Okay, everyone’s predicting that—so nothing new there. But here’s what I think everyone is missing: Flash memory means smaller drives—much smaller drives. Not enough to hold all...
Ron Paul on CNN
He’s there to address the newsletters, and he’s not doing it. Terrible performance. It won’t do anything to resurrect his reputation among libertarians. In fact, it will just hurt him more. To make things worse, his pandering argument (essentially, “I will help the blacks by ending the drug war”) is kinda racist. And he’s rambling, which is causing him to...
The Fetishization of the Local, Part II
More tyrants at the local level: “A St. Louis-area town is considering a bill that would ban swearing in bars, along with table-dancing, drinking contests and profane music. City officials contend the bill is needed to keep rowdy crowds under control because the historic downtown area gets a little too lively on some nights.” (h/t Reason)
“I was surprised at how hard I was rooting for Obama, given that this election...”
– from Megan McArdle. I kinda felt the same way.
This is from this morning’s Diane Rehm show....
The Fetishization of the Local
In a recent Blogginheads episode, libertarian Kerry Howley chides her libertarian life partner Will Wilkerson for engaging in the “fetishization of the local.” This is one of the fundamental issues that divide libertarians. Many libertarians, like Ron Paul, simply want political decision-making to be shifted from the federal level to the state and local level, where it is easier for...
The Ron Paul Newsletters
The New Republic expose on the Ron Paul Newsletters is only part old news—it adds some new quotes to the mix, and some of these quotes are awfuly troubling. If they are not explicitly racist, they certainly dance upon the line. Dr. Paul has taken “moral responsibility” for the quotes, explaining that he too freely let others publish the newsletter under his name, and that he...
Irrational Voters, Rational Donors, and Why It's...
My last vote for President was for Harry Browne in 2000.* I suspect I won’t vote this year for two reasons: (1) It’s unlikely that any candidate will reflect my views in any substantial way, and (2) voting is largely irrational. Every four years the major parties nominate candidates that promise to do more things I hate than things I like, and the winner always holds true to his...
It looks like Ron Paul will finish 5th.
Let’s hope New Hampshire goes better.
Top 5 Albums of 2007
(In response to Matt’s list.) This list should be called “the five albums I bought in 2007, in no particular order.” 5. Nellie McKay—Obligatory Villagers. Smart, eclectic, catchy—seemingly influenced by her stint on Broadway. 4. Dan Bern—Macaroni Cola. In December, he released three albums full of previously-unreleased tracks. They are all great. I suppose...
