Titanic Deck Chairs

Disgusted, Again

2012-06-28T11:56:00.000-04:00

This is a repost of what I wrote on 3/22/2010 when Obamacare was first passed... with a related image from a 2008 post. Disgusted I knew it was coming, and still I'm surprised. As late as last Friday, I had allowed myself the hope that Obamacare would be defeated. I was inspired by the work of Paul Hsieh and others, and thought that maybe, just maybe, America would stave off the Leviathan.I

Christina Romer: Old Dog, Old Tricks

2011-08-08T08:59:00.000-04:00

Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote a post called "The Great Depression Reenactor" about former White House Economic Adviser and noted Great Depression "expert," Christina Romer. The gist of the post was that, despite the evidence to the contrary, she was still clinging to her failed Keynesian policies, wishing that unemployment was lower but still happy that they were able to get some stimulus

The Specific and the General

2011-04-27T15:40:00.000-04:00

Random happenstance led me to read two articles today that have connections in ways I wouldn't have otherwise noticed and both articles are worth sharing. The first is the Specific. In Chipotle Mexican Grill versus egalitarianism, Stephen Hicks examines the recent case against the restaurant chain for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To sum up, a man in a wheelchair sued

Will 2012 be 1936 Redux?

2011-04-20T13:57:00.001-04:00

In 1936, the country was still in the stranglehold of the Great Depression, and despite billions of dollars of government largesse, (largely to swing states and politically important groups) unemployment was still hovering near 20% and more Americans were "on relief" (make work jobs and welfare) than was the case 3 years prior. This last despite FDR's solemn promise to reduce the number of

Dangerous in the Extreme

2011-03-03T12:02:00.000-05:00

What follows comes from the private journal of a man close to the president who, when confronted with the reality of the man, looked on in fear and apprehension: I was impressed as never before by the utter lack of logic of the man, the scantiness of his precise knowledge of things that he was talking about, by the gross inaccuracies in his statements, by the almost pathological lack of sequence

Yelling, Pouting, and Temper Tantrums

2010-09-21T14:39:00.000-04:00

As a follow-up to a relatively recent post, Whining, Finger-pointing, and Self-indulgence, please see the following behind-the-scenes looks at the Obama presidency and the person of the president: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. It's obvious that one should question the legitimacy of these "anonymous insider" interviews by a previously unknown-to-me blogger, but the thing is, they ring absolutely true,

More Thoughts on the GZM

2010-08-16T06:34:00.001-04:00

Since I weighed in on the Ground Zero mosque not quite two months ago, I have been troubled with my position. I felt a strong sense of discord in my thinking; while I held my reasoning was sound in my position of not wanting the government to use arbitrary force to stop the mosque, the mosque itself is such a monstrosity that the thought of it seems to fester in my mind like an infection or

Whining, Finger-pointing, and Self-indulgence

2010-08-11T08:20:00.008-04:00

What we are seeing, I think, is a group of supremely arrogant people humbled by events. They are turning out to be a good deal more incompetent than they (and many Americans) ever imagined. They see impending political doom in the form of the midterm elections. Yet this is not leading them toward any apparent serious self-reflection; rather, they are engaging in an extraordinary degree of whining

The Great Depression Reenactor

2010-08-06T09:03:00.000-04:00

Having done all she can to bring about a country-wide reenactment of the Great Depression, President Obama's chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, Christina Romer, is stepping down. Following the standard doctrine of politicized, progressive economists, she believes that heavy government intervention saved the country from the Great Depression, and she relied on that "expertise" in her

Not Right

2010-08-05T16:18:00.005-04:00

In "Scalia Was Right" in today's WSJ, James Taranto discusses how Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia predicted the 9th Circuit's overturning of California's Prop. 8. Taranto uses that model to predict that when the SC hears the appeal, it will be upheld by a 5-4 vote with Justice Kennedy writing the opinion. He notes how in a 2003 dissenting opinion, Scalia described -- the bile flooding from

"What is your back-up country?"

2010-07-27T09:32:00.000-04:00

I've asked myself this question a number of times in the past year.When do you suppose the citizens of imperial Rome first realized that their way of life had tipped into inexorable decline? A few foresaw the impact of Caesar's usurpation of the rule of law, marking his ascension as the beginning of the end. . . .The plebeian masses, accustomed to bread and circuses, were probably oblivious

Fourth of July

2010-07-02T11:04:00.001-04:00

Here's my little guy from the July 4th parade two years ago. I love this picture. Clapping, then "uh oh, this horn is too loud!" I think I look forward to this more than any other holiday of the year, and even sans presents, I think the kids do too. I'll be heading home soon to start the long weekend, and I anticipate that it will be chock full of scenes like the above. Happy Fourth of July!

Thoughts on the NYC Mosque Debate

2010-06-30T14:32:00.000-04:00

The following is a comment I left on Amy Peikoff's excellent counterpoint to Paul Hsieh's outstanding post. If you haven't already, please read those posts. I echo the other commenters in saying that this, along with Paul Hsieh’s (and others’) work greatly contributes to turning this into a valuable and reasonable discussion. Now, I’d like focus on the boiled down argument for sake of

The Census: But... it's for planning!

2010-06-23T21:24:00.000-04:00

Let me tell you a bit about my recent experience with the Census Bureau. But first, some backstory: The Census is a once-every-decade thing that was intended, when government was relatively just, to tell the House of Representatives how many such reps should come from each state, based on population. Thus, all that was needed was the straight number of people. Then all hell broke loose,

The Typical American

2010-06-14T08:42:00.002-04:00

It seems that foreign observers often have keener insights about the fundamental American nature and sense-of-life than do Americans themselves. The following was written in 1929 by British historian B. H. Liddell Hart, in the preface to his biography, "Sherman: Soldier, Realist, American." In the years after the Great War, Hart was attempting to learn historical lessons to avoid the horrific

Objectivist Roundup #152

2010-06-10T10:56:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the June 10, 2010 edition of the Objectivist Roundup, your weekly dose of intellectual fuel and ammunition. This roundup features posts by blog authors who are students and advocates of Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. She called it a "philosophy for living on earth" and further described it: My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own

Turkey's Rapid Descent into Hell

2010-06-03T08:56:00.006-04:00

When the Turks denied the use of their land when Bush invaded Iraq, many wondered why a supposed ally and the most secular nation in the Middle East would act in such a way. In hindsight, it's obvious that it was one of the first blatant indications of the Islamicization of the country.I have written before of the tragic conflict between the historically secular factions, including the

Laughingstock and Paper Tiger

2010-05-25T09:20:00.004-04:00

Ed Koch delivers a solid, withering attack on US foreign policy. He starts off clearly naming the enemy and the vital stakes of the battle:We are at war with radical Islam, and that war will go on for many years.For me, the question is this: will the secular Western civilization shared by America and Europe, which allows us to enjoy life and its creature comforts, still be standing at the

Willing and Eager Subjects in Training

2010-05-11T09:49:00.003-04:00

Obama recently cautioned a group of graduating college kids that some of the arguments flowing to them via their "iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations" don't "rank all that high on the truth meter" and are threatening our democracy.One would hope that someone with even a little bit of healthy skepticism about the words spouted by popular figures, elected or not, would at least scratch

Sunstein is the New Alinsky

2010-05-11T09:26:00.004-04:00

Alinsky wrote the playbook for leftists to push their socialist agenda, and it's been put to great use by the current administration. But another thinker is also heavily favored by Obama: Cass Sunstein.Doug Reich probably had the same deja vu I had when he read the following quote from a recent Obama speech:"With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, -- none of which I know how to work -