Northern Exposure

A Supremely Good Idea

2007-01-02T19:52:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! If you're looking for a good cause, Kiva is an organization that takes the concept of "microloans" that were behind the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize this year and brings it to the shrinking world. You can help make a loan to a specific entrepreneur in the developing world and give them the opportunity to start a business.

I Like My Markets Like I Like My Pepsi: Black, Bubbling, and Free From Government Intervention

2006-12-11T22:00:00.000-05:00

Slate reviews a book that is definitely on my reading list, given my interest in black markets and anarcho-capitalist economies:

The result, Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor, suggests that in some American neighborhoods, the underground economy is a source not just of sustenance but of order, and that while shady transactions may be illegal, they adhere to a distinctive and sophisticated set of laws.

As the article states, it brings to mind a great old headline from the Onion: "It's Not a Crack House, It's a Crack Home".

Their Job Is to Snow Us

2006-12-01T22:01:00.000-05:00

It's snowing a lot in B.C. right now (and me and my skis are here in Jersey...sigh), but in Santa Monica the government is really trying to snow the citizens by using 9-minute parking meters. Interspersed in the middle of a bunch of 9-hour meters, of course. And these are the only 9-minute meters in the city. And they (and their signs) look exactly like the 9-hour meters. If there's ever been a clearly illustrated instance of a municipality literally trying to trick people into getting parking tickets, I haven't heard of it. Whoever is behind this should be chained to one of the 9-minute meters for 9 hours. Where drivers can do to them as they please.

UPDATE: The city now says it was all a mistake, and they are changing the meters. I guess I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on this one, since the 9-minute parking space was perhaps (perhaps!) even too dumb a way for a municipal government to steal our money.

But Will They Be Allowed To Eat Muffin Stumps?

2006-11-30T19:34:00.000-05:00

hIn Fairfax Co, VA, life is imitating art in a sad, sad way that's far beyond even the abilities of Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld to conceive. Legislators there have decided that it would be better for homeless people not to eat than to risk eating something from an 'uncertified' kitchen and potentially getting food poisoning (not that that's actually ever happened). It's decisions like this that even make Matt Yglesias sympathetic to the libertarian perspective.

Stick a Pitchfork in Them

2006-11-29T16:58:00.000-05:00

Generally speaking, I'm not that interested in a stranger's reviews of music, which I find tend to reveal much more about the writer than the music they are reviewing. Namely, that they're usually full of self-indulgent blubbering and attempts to sound incredibly intellectual and insightful about something that more than anything is a personal, emotional experience. And the impression I have is that Pitchfork is the worst (yet by far the most influential) of the bunch. They have that anti-populism bias that's even more self-concious and superficial than the typical bandwagon-jumping teenager (not to mention being elitist). I'm all for challenging the status quo, but challenging the status quo of cultural taste merely on principle is taking things a bit far.

Slate's take is here.

A Timeless Cry: "Damn those lazy, no-good _________, who are ruining the country!" (fill in name of unpopular ethnic group)

2006-11-28T22:57:00.000-05:00

This post at H&R nicely sums up Tom Tancredo's (R-CO) dispicable, racist, and hypocritical stance on immigration. In short, after calling Miami (aka Little Havana) a "third-world country" and getting some predictable blowback from politicians representing South Florida, Tancredo responds with this:

''Moreover, the sheer size and number of ethnic enclaves devoid of any English and dominated by foreign cultures is widespread. Frankly, many of these areas could have been located in another country. And until America gets serious about demanding assimilation, this problem will continue to spread.''

What makes for some choice irony is that Tancredo himself is the gradson of Italian immigrants (you know, the ones who started all those "Little Italy" enclaves found in many major cities). What did an immigrant-basher in 1891 have to say about the trend at that time? Well, here's Rep. Henry Cabot Lodge (who I think was Veronica's father in The Archies) discussing immigration in the late 19th century:

"that immigration to this country is increasing and...is making its greatest relative increase from races most alien to the body of the American people and from the lowest and most illiterate classes among those races." He was speaking principally of the Italians, but also the Russians, Poles and Hungarians. He observed that these immigrants, "half of whom have no occupation and most of whom represent the rudest form of labor," are "people whom it is very difficult to assimilate and do not promise well for the standard of civilization in the United States."

And as Radley Balko wittily points out, Lodge seems to have missed the mark on the Italians:

In fact, the grandson of two of them grew up to be a modern-day Henry Cabot Lodge. Perhaps next century, a grandson or granddaughter of today's Mexican immigrants will grow up to become a leading voice against the next wave of immigrants, too -- the next Tom Tancredo. It's the American Dream!

I'm Sure Glad I Ignored My Teachers

2006-11-28T21:48:00.000-05:00

Well, about lots of things - but especially when they told me to "sit up straight" (and what's weird is that it already sounds very quaint and hopelessly out-of-date that a teacher would even care if you were slouching. I certainly don't). Because new research has shown that sitting up straight is bad for your back - leaning back at an angle of about 135 degrees is actually puts much less strain on your spine. Which means that as I work here laying out on the couch I'm actually in the pretty much ideal position! Sweet.

Shrouded in a Mushroom Cloud of Death

2006-11-27T12:16:00.000-05:00

Did you know that the awesome 80's hit "99 Luftballoons" ("99 Red Balloons"), while being a really peppy-sounding song (musically), is about a nuclear holocaust? I didn't. A definite landmark in the fun music coupled with depressing lyrics rock and roll catalogue. (title ref here, although the music from this song is more sweet than fun - the lyrical twist is certainly shocking, though)

In other pop culture news, it's almost December, which means Garry should be coming out with his Top 5 Albums of 2006 sometime soon (to go with his now-revised Top 5 movies of '06) . I've already got my top 3 ready for you, Garry. As for movies, the two at the top of my almost-year-end list are "Thank You for Smoking", and "Inside Man". I'll have to think more on the others.

No Causing Offense, Please, We're British

2006-11-27T11:12:00.000-05:00

Another sign that the Brits are going insane in their "public order law" efforts to completely outlaw any behavior that anybody doesn't like: the UK cops are worried that people's feelings are being hurt by the various slogans thrown around at political protests. As they say, "The police want powers to tackle a "grey area" in the array of public order laws. At present, causing offence by itself is not a criminal offence." What if I'm offended by your terrible taste in clothes/music/cologne? Can we criminalize that, too? As much praise as we give the Europeans for their (generally more) progressive attitudes towards sex and drugs, they've gone completely overboard with their anti-free-speech "hate speech" laws. As I've said before: If we don't have freedom of speech, how will we know who the assholes are?

Reflexive Anti-Americanism: The Defining Characteristic of the Canadian Identity

2006-11-16T19:33:00.000-05:00

Coming back to the 'nationalism' discussion, the Globe and Mail's discussion commentaries on their articles are absolutely fucking awful. I think it's great that they give people the opportunity to say something about the issues, but half the time these threads descend into America-bashing within two or three posts, no matter what the story is about. Grow up, Canada, you're embarrassing me.

Where Have You Gone, John Lennon?

2006-11-16T19:14:00.000-05:00

Economically-challenged xenophobe Lou Dobbs had this to say in his defense of populism: "I blame us for forgetting that the United States is first a nation, and secondly a marketplace or an economy". I couldn't disagree more, and what would be even better, of course, is if we thought of countries as just collections of people, and didn't set up barriers that kept free people from engaging in trade with whoever they see fit.

Chuck Klosterman asks a good question in his awesome new book, Klosterman IV - if you have to make the choice, will you betray a friend or betray your country? Like Klosterman, I sure hope I would choose to betray my country.

RIP, Milton Friedman

2006-11-16T18:59:00.000-05:00

One of the most important economists of all time and one of the leading thinkers of the 20th century, Milton Friedman, died today at the age of 94. In the words of the NY Times, he as "a prime force in the movement of nations toward lesser government and greater reliance on free markets and individual responsibility." The world is a better place because of his ideas.

Thank This Inanimate Carbon Rod Tax!

2006-11-10T13:31:00.000-05:00

Surprising as it may be, it sounds like the Republicans may be considering proposing a carbon tax, with former Bush speechwriter David Frum echoing former head of the President's Economic Advisors Greg Mankiw by suggesting that the time may have come to establish a tax on carbon dioxide emissions. I'm not a fan of new taxes, but I for one welcome our new eco-overlords. Especially if this can be used to reduce income taxes (but that's probably a wish coming from cloud cuckoo land).

Title reference here. I score bonus points for TWO Simpsons references from the same episode.

Worst. Labor. Negotiations. Ever.

2006-11-09T18:07:00.000-05:00

We all know that labor unions can behave pretty offensively, but when a union representing millionaire athletes threatens to sue the league because of unfair labor practices (because the refs are calling too many technical fouls), it's beyond satire and ripe for ridicule. These NBA players - it's not enough that they're mistakenly invading your house on a police raid, now they've proposing what is probably the 2nd-most ridiculous lawsuit ever (it still doesn't top those people who sued McDonald's for making them fat, of course).

Battle of the Bands of My Youth

2006-11-09T17:47:00.000-05:00

I will definitely admit that U2 wrote and recorded some of the greatest songs in the history of rock music ("One", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", "Sunday Bloody Sunday"), but growing up they didn't really mean that much to me as a band. And to their credit, they've managed to keep it up, with some great stuff recorded this century, too. But I've never LOVED them as a band. R.E.M., on the other hand, was a band I felt comfortable with, probably due to their (perceived, at least) distaste for fame (the anti-Bono, in other words). I like that you can't really understand what their songs are about (and that they are willing to admit that they don't know, either), and everything they did felt so organic and warm. Automatic for the People was one of my first albums on my permanent Top-5 list, and one of my most enduring memories from high school is being 16, having just gotten a car, and driving around listening to "It's the End of the World As We Know It" (on cassette) over and over and over again.

Inspiration here.

For a gorgeous version of a beautiful song featuring Michael Stipe and Bill Berry from R.E.M. and Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen from U2, check this out.

Gridlock: A Noble Goal

2006-11-08T12:59:00.000-05:00

Will a divided government result in the dreaded (by politicians and those who support them) gridlock? Those of use who champion limited government can hope so. A government with their hands tied is a government that can't fuck anything up. At the very least, this might get President Bush to take out his veto pen, and maybe we'll see some investigations into the corruption in Congress.

In other election news, having a look at various ballot measures is always pretty interesting, and tells you a lot more about people's opinions than the lesser-of-two-evils horse race in the elections. The common themes, nost of them discouraging: Americans are still not willing to legalize marijuana (Nevada, Colorado), let people marry who they want to (Virginia, Idaho, Colorado, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wisconsin), or let workers and employers be free to form a contract that they see fit (Ohio, Nevada, Missouri, Montana). Some apparent bright spots: Missouri passes a bill to allow embyonic stem-cell research (this was the one supported by the add starring Michael J. Fox that got so much attention), Arizona may not ban same-sex marraige (51% against with votes still being counted), and South Dakota rejected a total ban on abortions.

And BREAKING NEWS: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is stepping down! Interesting timing... The liberal bloggers will be having a field day with this one. "It's intended to distract attention from the shift in the balance of power!", "It's to avoid investigations into his mismanagement of the war!", or (probably) "it's because he snorted coke off a 16-year old male Congressional page's stomach!".

UPDATE: I missed an important and encouraging trend in the discussion of ballot measures - property-rights protections via limits on eminent domain passed in 9 states, only failing in 3.

Election Blah-gging

2006-11-08T01:36:00.000-05:00

Dems take control of the House. Senate still up in the air, and likely will be while lawyers battle out Virgina's recounts (the only race I really care about, due to Allen's dispicable campaign tactics) . Either way, what do we likely end up with? A lame-duck president trying to create a legacy, being (cough) reined in by fiscally-liberal houses of Congress? In other words: SPEND, SPEND, SPEND!!!

As Nick Gillespie predicted: "The important thing to remember is that no matter what happens the American people are going to lose." Pretty much par for the course when we confuse "leadership" with "who can bribe the most voters with their pet projects?", and all the while ignoring any constitutional limits on power.

I wonder how this will affect K-Fed's career?

Always The Scene-Stealer

2006-11-07T20:40:00.000-05:00

Thankfully, we have something much, much more interesting in the news tonight besides the tedious election: Britney Spears Divorcing.

Get In the Game, Kids!

2006-11-02T18:10:00.000-05:00

Some of the finest (and funniest) sportswriting in the nation can be found at ESPN's Page 2. You don't have to like professional sports to think that Jim Baker's hilarious satire of suggestions to his 6-year-old's soccer coach is well worth reading. A finer analysis of "magnet ball" has never been penned.

Robert Byrd Is So Un-Funny I Can't Even Laugh

2006-11-01T11:32:00.000-05:00

Check out this video of Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) bragging (and receiving applause, of course) about bringing $36 million of federal taxpayer money to Marshall University. Multiply this by 100 senators and you can see why we've got a government spending problem in Washington.

And what's with the guy behind him in the green tie? He's either faking it, or he hasn't heard a joke that's actually funny since 1977. And given the reaction of the audience, neither have they.

Kerry Get Out Your Cane

2006-11-01T10:46:00.000-05:00

If John Kerry isn't the stupidest politician in America, he certainly is the least politically-savvy. Um, making a joke about the intelligence or career prospects of people in the military probably isn't the best thing for a Democrat to say 6 days before an election. Like 2004, Kerry is doing his best to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Title reference here.

Politics Imitates Art

2006-10-27T11:56:00.000-05:00

I'm always a little disappointed when a musician makes an overt political statement at a concert. (I find it less frustrating when it's done on record, but I prefer it to be subtle if it's there at all). To me, it comes off as a pretty lame play to the crowd's supposedly-predictable political sensibilities. Brian Doherty has an outstanding essay up at Reason on the intersection of politics and art, and (unsurprisingly) finds that we're all guilty of drawing far two many lines between the two. Especially the ongoing effort to assign every word written by Bob Dylan to a particular political viewpoint. I liked this perspective, which may help to explain the lasting respect Dylan commands:

...Dylan recognizes that it can only hurt an artist qua artist to be pinned down on worldly politics—that being held up as an exemplar of a specific political-ideological team may help the audience, but it's death to the artist.

Well worth reading. One of my favorite pieces of the year.

Worst. Campaign. Ever.

2006-10-27T08:59:00.000-05:00

I can't begin to describe how much I hate politics. Any system that rewards, gives the perception of rewarding, or even encourages lowest common-denominator behavior like we're seeing now in the race for the Virginia Senate seat is beneath me. We've assured ourselves that the people who are most willing to lie, cheat, and steal in order to gain power over us will do so, and I want no part of it.

The story that has me absolutely livid and sad is the game being played by Republican George Allen's campaign attempts to smear Democrat Jim Webb as a woman-hating pedophile, based on a descriptive, scene-setting passage from Allen's novel about Vietnam that describes an accepted SE Asian ritual of kissing young children all over their bodies (including their genitals).

A summary:

While George Allen was discovering his love for the Confederacy in Southern California and at the University of Virginia, Jim Webb was fighting the war in Vietnam, finding himself wholly immersed in a completely foreign culture. Webb was obviously rather profoundly affected by that experience. Because he chose to write about it, in a series of books that have won widespread praise from politicians, from fellow Vietnam vets, and from literary critics.
But war-loving, flag-waving George Allen has decided to hold all of that against Jim Webb. Tonight, Allen took what was clearly a scene-painting, cultural passage from one of those books, grotesquely took it out of context and sexualized it, then slapped it on a press release in an attempt to cheapen Webb's well-received books as cheap porn with hints of pedophelia.

This isn't just a political attack. It's an attack on art. On writing. On expression. Hell, it's an attack on knowledge and learning. It's cheap and tawdry and cynical.

Perhaps if George Allen hadn't himself procured a student deferment from the Vietnam War, he'd be more familiar with the country's culture, and wouldn't bastardize the work of a man who did fight, and who saw to share his experiences with the rest of us -- Allen and his campaign of course announcing and advertising their own willfull stupidity in the process.

Just politics, I guess.

I didn't really give a shit about this race until now. But now, I might become a US citizen, move to Virginia, vote against George Allen, and then swear off politics forever. But since the first three are clearly impossible to accomplish in the next 10 days, I'll have to be content with the last one.

More disgusting behavior on the campaign trail from both parties, but especially the GOP, here and here.

Obvious hat tip to Radley Balko, who made an excellent and terrifying point after doing some research on the practice of the touching of children's genitals in other areas of the world:

Of course, I'm probably now going to jail for what I just typed into Google to find those articles.

Title reference here.

A Life-Support System

2006-10-27T08:19:00.000-05:00

Much of the attention blogs have received has been for exposing scandals that result in getting someone fired or publicly embarrassed. So it's nice to be able to report on the blogosphere doing something positive.

This is somewhat old news that I've meant to blog about for awhile, but it appears that blogger Radley Balko (formerly of the Cato Institute, now with Reason Magazine) has essentially saved Cory Maye's life. The story, for those that don't know it: Maye was on death row in Mississippi for killing a police officer who was part of a botched home raid (the team mistakenly barged into Maye's home in the middle of the night with guns drawn, and Maye, thinking he was under attack, fired back in protection of himself and his infant daughter), and Balko has tirelessly worked to bring exposure to the case which have served to get Cory Maye a new trial. Balko's summary at the time went like this:

Cops mistakenly break down the door of a sleeping man, late at night, as part of drug raid. Turns out, the man wasn't named in the warrant, and wasn't a suspect. The man, frightened for himself and his 18-month old daughter, fires at an intruder who jumps into his bedroom after the door's been kicked in. Turns out that the man, who is black, has killed the white son of the town's police chief. He's later convicted and sentenced to death by a white jury. The man has no criminal record, and police rather tellingly changed their story about drugs (rather, traces of drugs) in his possession at the time of the raid.

The story only became more convoluted, with apparent discontinuities everywhere in the cop's story. And now, Cory Maye, rather than being killed, is going to live, in part because of Balko's tireless efforts. And at least get a fair trial.

In the words of Gene Healy, via Jim Henley: It sure beats getting Dan Rather fired, huh?

Ford Flap

2006-10-26T14:55:00.000-05:00

There's a minor bruhaha going on in Tennessee (and it's spreading) over a new political ad that uses satire to criticize Democratic senatorial candidate Harold Ford. Because Ford is black, and a white woman appears in the ad referring to a Playboy party that Ford attended, the ad is being deemed racist in some circles. Sorry, but like Jacob Sullum, I just can't see it. The ad is kind of tacky and stupid, but it's altogether not half-bad and mildly funny. The line that made me laugh the most: "Canada can take care of North Korea, they're not busy."

As to the charge of racism, I had this to say over at H&R:

The reaction to this ad is what you'd expect, given that there is a significant number of people who seek out examples of racism and (surprise!) find it everywhere. I'd also point out that if it was a black woman who appeared at the end of the ad, you ALSO be hearing cries of racism, for making disparaging assumptions about the morals of black women. So there's no way to win, really.

UPDATE: The playing of the race card never ends...now they're saying this radio ad is racist because it has uplifting strings during the sections talking about Republican Bob Corker and ominous-sounding drums during the sections talking about Ford. I think it takes a fucking racist to infer some kind of "jungle drums" negativitity in this. I mean, I guess I want the Dems to take control of the Senate next month, but god they can be annoying sometimes.