Notes and observations. Diversions and digressions. All done far too infrequently.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
So little time...
A pretty good compilation.
My review of the Elusive Quest is here.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Thought for the day
- - Henry Ward Beecher
Friday, December 18, 2009
The moral sentiments updated. Adam Smith was right about a lot of things
What I found particularly striking is the consistency of his analysis with arguments made over 200 years ago, by David Hume and Adam Smith. Both Hume and Smith argued that our morality is grounded in our human nature in the form of our “sentiments”, and that in many ways these sentiments transcend the specifics of religion or culture.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Paul Samuelson has died
R.I.P.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Obama strikes the right notes. Bravo!
Here's the Obama passage that made David Kopel, on this day, a believer.
I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism — it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.The Nobel Committee thought it would get the usual refrain that typified the Obama apology tours. Instead, it got a real shot of American exceptionalism of the kind that has enabled the comfort of their convictions. And it was Obama who delivered the singe. I'm sure it was not what they expected.
I raise this point, I begin with this point because in many countries there is a deep ambivalence about military action today, no matter what the cause. And at times, this is joined by a reflexive suspicion of America, the world’s sole military superpower.
But the world must remember that it was not simply international institutions — not just treaties and declarations — that brought stability to a post-World War II world. Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this: The United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms. The service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity from Germany to Korea, and enabled democracy to take hold in places like the Balkans. We have borne this burden not because we seek to impose our will. We have done so out of enlightened self-interest — because we seek a better future for our children and grandchildren, and we believe that their lives will be better if others’ children and grandchildren can live in freedom and prosperity.
Martha Coakley's dubious history
However, will this be an issue?
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
The great Douglass North on the new Nobel winners in Economics
Hat tip: Organizations and Markets.
My review of Professor North's book, Understanding the Process of Economic Change, is available here.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Government's eminent domain failure
When will they learn?
New London (AP) - Weeds, glass, bricks, pieces of pipe and shingle splinters have replaced the knot of aging homes at the site of the nation's most notorious eminent domain project.
There are a few signs of life: Feral cats glare at visitors from a miniature jungle of Queen Anne's lace, thistle and goldenrod. Gulls swoop between the lot's towering trees and the adjacent sewage treatment plant.
But what of the promised building boom that was supposed to come wrapped and ribboned with up to 3,169 new jobs and $1.2 million a year in tax revenues? They are noticeably missing.
Proponents of the ambitious plan blame the sour economy. Opponents call it a "poetic justice."
"They are getting what they deserve. They are going to get nothing," said Susette Kelo, the lead plaintiff in the landmark property rights case. "I don't think this is what the United States Supreme Court justices had in mind when they made this decision."
Kelo's iconic pink home sat for more than a century on that currently empty lot, just steps away from Connecticut's quaint but economically distressed Long Island Sound waterfront. Shortly after she moved in, in 1997, her house became ground zero in the nation's best-known land rights catfight.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Contractor: New Zumix building project to be completed this month
ZUMIX project near completion
WOBURN, EAST BOSTON, MA, ISSUED NOVEMBER 20, 2009…Landmark Structures Corporation, a leading full service General Contractor/Construction Management Company since 1993, anticipates a November completion date for a joint venture renovation project between ZUMIX and the East Boston Community Development Corporation.
Landmark Structures has served as General Contractor for the estimated $2 million project that encompasses the renovation of a 9,000 square foot former firehouse at 260 Sumner Street in East Boston into the new home of ZUMIX, a non-profit cultural organization dedicated to building community through music and the arts.
ZUMIX and the East Boston Community Development Corporation, in a joint venture, purchased the former fire house from the City of Boston. More
File Photo: Eastboston.com
Sunday, November 15, 2009
21st Century Schziod Man -- The Ian Wallace Run
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
CIvil liberties under Obama; A word to the wise
In a case that raises questions about online journalism and privacy rights, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a formal request to an independent news site ordering it to provide details of all reader visits on a certain day.
The grand jury subpoena also required the Philadelphia-based Indymedia.us Web site "not to disclose the existence of this request" unless authorized by the Justice Department, a gag order that presents an unusual quandary for any news organization.
Kristina Clair, a 34-year old Linux administrator living in Philadelphia who provides free server space for Indymedia.us, said she was shocked to receive the Justice Department's subpoena. (The Independent Media Center is a left-of-center amalgamation of journalists and advocates that – according to their principles of unity and mission statement – work toward "promoting social and economic justice" and "social change.")
The subpoena (PDF) from U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison in Indianapolis demanded "all IP traffic to and from www.indymedia.us" on June 25, 2008. It instructed Clair to "include IP addresses, times, and any other identifying information," including e-mail addresses, physical addresses, registered accounts, and Indymedia readers' Social Security Numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, and so on.
"I didn't think anything we were doing was worthy of any (federal) attention," Clair said in a telephone interview with CBSNews.com on Monday. After talking to other Indymedia volunteers, Clair ended up calling the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, which represented her at no cost.
Who's watching Eric Holder?
Monday, November 09, 2009
Masters of the Universe; Too big to fail
With Goldman taking a daily beating in the PR department for everything from its runaway profits to "Government Sachs" conspiracies to swine flu vaccines, Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein decided to give his side of the firm's story in a lengthy interview with The Sunday Times of London.
But some things are probably better left unsaid, most notably Blankfein's declaration that Goldman is "doing God's work."
It's an unfortunate phrase on many levels. What Blankfein was trying to say is Goldman serves a "social purpose," as The Sunday Times reported he also did say. "We help companies to grow by helping them to raise capital," Blankfein said. "Companies that grow create wealth. This, in turn, allows people to have jobs that create more growth and more wealth. It's a virtuous cycle."
There is an element of truth to that statement but it shows a level of tone-deafness that's surprising, even coming from a Wall Street CEO. As Henry and I discuss in the accompanying video, there are concrete steps Goldman could take to refurbish its image, which is going to take another hit in the court of public opinion.
Given the ongoing outrage about Goldman's bonuses - estimated to exceed $20 billion for 2009 - a year after the company was rescued by the U.S. government (whether they admit it or not) - Goldman's supporters are probably wishing Blankfein had chosen to speak softly and carry a big checkbook.
Friday, November 06, 2009
I disagree
Monday, November 02, 2009
A little wisdom from the Angry Economist
Really it does. Fear the smart set; they think they never make mistakes.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
The smarter they are the dumber they are: Harvard edition
Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Harvard University’s failed bet that interest rates would rise cost the world’s richest school at least $500 million in payments to escape derivatives that backfired.What is it about Harvard alumni, you can always tell one but you can't tell him much. Blowback on know-it-alls.
Harvard paid $497.6 million to investment banks during the fiscal year ended June 30 to get out of $1.1 billion of interest-rate swaps intended to hedge variable-rate debt for capital projects, the school’s annual report said. The university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said it also agreed to pay $425 million over 30 to 40 years to offset an additional $764 million in swaps.
The transactions began losing value last year as central banks slashed benchmark lending rates, forcing the university to post collateral with lenders, said Daniel Shore, Harvard’s chief financial officer. Some agreements require that the parties post collateral if there are significant changes in interest rates.
“When we went into the fall, we had some serious liquidity management issues we were dealing with and the collateral postings on the swaps was one,” Shore said in an interview yesterday. “In evaluating our liquidity position, we wanted to get some stability and some safety.”
Harvard sold $2.5 billion in bonds in the fiscal year, in part to pay for the swap exit, even as the school’s endowment recorded its biggest loss in 40 years, the report released yesterday said. This is the first time the university has detailed the cost of exiting its swaps.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Nobel Laureate Oliver Williamson's Econ 224 class
Hat tip: Organizations and Markets.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
More hate crimes against Christopher Columbus
DENVER—A Denver parade in honor of Christopher Columbus is on—despite a phony e-mail that circulated Thursday saying the downtown celebration was canceled for lack of funds.
The Sons of Italy's Columbus Day Parade Committee in Denver was shocked to learn of the e-mail sent to the media, which was signed by Sons of Italy President Richard SaBell. The fake e-mail said protesters had "ruined" the event and tarnished the legacy of an Italian hero.
SaBell rushed to assure people the e-mail was a hoax after local media and The Associated Press started reporting Saturday's parade was off. He said he reported the phony e-mail to Denver police.
"I feel violated," said SaBell, adding he didn't know who was behind the hoax. "This whole thing is bogus. The parade was never off."
Denver police said its computer crimes unit is investigating.
Colorado has observed Columbus Day since 1907 and is credited with being first to make the day a state holiday. Columbus Day has since become a federal holiday.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Autumnal joy at the Garlic Festival in Orange, MA
The festival is also a great opportunity for artists from Central Massachusetts and beyond to plug their work. One of the most arresting sets of work belonged to sculptor James Kitchen, who works superbly with industrial junk.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Poem for the day: Wendell Berry
A Speech to the Garden Club of America in the New Yorker, of course.
(With thanks to Wes Jackson and in memory of Sir Albert Howard and Stan Rowe.)
Thank you. I’m glad to know we’re friends, of course;
There are so many outcomes that are worse.
But I must add I’m sorry for getting here
By a sustained explosion through the air,
Burning the world in fact to rise much higher
Than we should go. The world may end in fire
As prophesied—our world! We speak of it
As “fuel” while we burn it in our fit
Of temporary progress, digging up
An antique dark-held luster to corrupt
The present light with smokes and smudges, poison
To outlast time and shatter comprehension.
Burning the world to live in it is wrong,
As wrong as to make war to get along
And be at peace, to falsify the land
By sciences of greed, or by demand
For food that’s fast or cheap to falsify
The body’s health and pleasure—don’t ask why.
But why not play it cool? Why not survive
By Nature’s laws that still keep us alive?
Let us enlighten, then, our earthly burdens
By going back to school, this time in gardens
That burn no hotter than the summer day.
By birth and growth, ripeness, death and decay,
By goods that bind us to all living things,
Life of our life, the garden lives and sings.
The Wheel of Life, delight, the fact of wonder,
Contemporary light, work, sweat, and hunger
Bring food to table, food to cellar shelves.
A creature of the surface, like ourselves,
The garden lives by the immortal Wheel
That turns in place, year after year, to heal
It whole. Unlike our economic pyre
That draws from ancient rock a fossil fire,
An anti-life of radiance and fume
That burns as power and remains as doom,
The garden delves no deeper than its roots
And lifts no higher than its leaves and fruits.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Listening to the sage from Clemson
God Bless Bill Safire
A sound Nixon man and a better writer, Safire was always refreshing to read on the pages of an institution that epitomizes the liberal media.
This is a big loss.
More from The Daily Beast.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
When September arrives in East Boston
When a trip to the Produce Center in Chelsea for cases of tomatoes signals not only September but the time to make a year's supply of tomato sauce.
Since the arrival of Italian immigrants in East Boston, the canning (or bottling to be precise) of tomatoes for Sunday morning sauces commences with the harvest. Some tomatoes are grown in backyards along with basil; others are purchased in Chelsea. Either way they are enjoyed year round once the flavor has been sealed in air tight jars
For a few days in the crispy air of fall, a pleasant smell of basil and tomato wafts through cellars below the three-deckers on the island that is known as East Boston. Those jars make Sunday possible.
There will be fewer of these days as time, that eternal constraint, and a generation of Italian families passes. Precious they are indeed those cellars in the autumn.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
God bless Fred Cusick
The exhilarating voice was the narrative to the art that was Bobby Orr, the greatest hockey player ever.
Fred Cusick will be missed.
Hat tip to RedMassGroup.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
God bless Tony Dungy!
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
So many books, so little time in a beautiful Vermont bookshop
The solitude of a rural used book store in Plainfield, Vermont. The Country Bookshop on Mill Street is a feast for the restive mind.
Here are some of the titles I picked up for a song this past weekend.
Michael Grant, Julius Ceasar
Luciana Ferrara, The Treasures of the Borghese Gallery
Charles Mackay, LL. D. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
James Bruce Ross & Mary Martin McLauglin, The Portable Medieval Reader
Ian Stewart, Nature's Numbers
and my favorite Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Poem for the day: R. T. Smith
In The Night Orchard
by R. T. Smith
I know, because Paul has told me
a hundred times, that the deer
gliding tonight through tangleweed
and trashwood, then bounding across
Mount Atlas Road, are after his pears.
And who could blame them?
On the threshold of autumn, the Asian
imports, more amazing than any Seckle
or indigenous apple, start to ripen.
Then a passing crow will peck one open.
That's when the whitetails who bed
and gather beyond Matson's pasture
will catch the scent and begin to stir.
It's a dry time, and they go slowly mad
for sweetness. No fence can stop them.
The farmers like Paul will admit
it starts in hunger, but how suddenly
need goes to frenzy and sheer plunder.
When the blush-gold windfalls are gone
and the low boughs are stripped
of anything resembling bounty, bucks
will rise on their hind legs and clamber
up the trunks. Last week Cecil Emore
found one strangled in a fork,
his twisted antlers tangled as if
some hunter had hung him there
to cure. We all remember what it's like,
this driven season, this delirium
for something not yet given a name,
but the world turns us practical, tames
us to yearn for milder pleasures.
For Augustine, it was actual pears
that brought him out of the shadows
and over a wall, for Eve, the secret
inside what we now say was an apple.
Others have given up safety for less,
and I wonder, catching an eight-point
buck outlined on the ridge amid spruce,
if it's this moonstruck nature that renders
the ruminants beautiful, or if we stalk
them out of envy, not for the grace
of their gliding, but for the unadorned
instinct that draws them after dark
into trespass and the need to ruin
the sweetest thing they've ever known.
"In The Night Orchard" by R. T. Smith, from Brightwood. (c) Louisiana State University Press, 2004. Reprinted on this blog without permission.
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Saturday, August 29, 2009
Ted Kennedy and Redemption
"I also want you to know that even though I am ill, I am committed to do everything I can to achieve access to health care for everyone in my country. This has been the political cause of my life. I believe in a conscience protection for Catholics in the health care field and will continue to advocate for it as my colleagues in the Senate and I work to develop an overall national health policy that guarantees health care for everyone.
"I have always tried to be a faithful Catholic, Your Holiness, and though I have fallen short through human failings, I have never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teachings. I continue to pray for God’s blessings on you and our Church and would be most thankful for your prayers for me."
Thursday, August 27, 2009
The always great Billy Cobham
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Will Wilkerson versus the Marxist intellectuals
R.I.P. Senator Edward M. Kennedy
De mortuis nil nisi bonum dicendum est.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
She can take great photographs but can't add
Friday, August 21, 2009
Poem for the day: Robert Frost's "A Minor Bird"
I have wished a bird would fly away,
And not sing by my house all day;
Have clapped my hands at him from the door
When it seemed as if I could bear no more.
The fault must partly have been in me.
The bird was not to blame for his key.
And of course there must be something wrong
In wanting to silence any song.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Mind bender: Eddie Jobson at Arlington's Regent Theatre.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
She's at least consistent
The "anti-war" "left" was used by the Democratic Party. I like to call it the "anti-Republican War" movement.Not exactly. The anti-war left let itself be used by the Obamatons.
Rose Friedman, Milton's better half, has died
They were known for being both romantically and intellectually suited to each other, often appearing in public holding hands, and though often debating — Ms. Friedman was known as the less compromising of the two — rarely, if ever bickering. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in 2006, only a few months before her husband died, Ms. Friedman said the 2003 invasion of Iraq created the first major argument of their life together. She was in favor; he was not.
“We have disagreed on little things, obviously — such as, I don’t want to go out to dinner, he wants to go out — but big issues, this is the first one,” she said.
Ms. Friedman’s contribution to the couple’s work was “not so much in technical economic writing, but on the policy side,” said Gary Becker, a Nobel laureate and professor of economics at the University of Chicago, who was a student of Mr. Friedman’s and a longtime friend of the couple. “It was an extremely close intellectual fellowship, and she was not someone who got credit for things she didn’t do. They discussed ideas constantly. Her feelings about the importance of private markets, opposition to big government, were even stronger than his. Her lasting influence will be as a collaborator, but she was a major contributor to the collaboration, and that’s a significant legacy.”
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Prince of Darkness no more!
He was always eager to share his passion for public policy and politics. In speeches to college graduation classes, Bob distilled the essence of his years-long ruminations on America for young people just starting out in life:Fellow columnists pay tribute here. Human Events pays tribute here.
“Always love your country — but never trust your government!
“That should not be misunderstood. I certainly am not advocating civil disobedience, must less insurrection or rebellion. What I am advocating is to not expect too much from government and be wary of it power, even the power of a democratic government in a free country.
“Ours is one of the mildest, most benevolent governments in the world. But it too has the power to take your wealth and forfeit your life. ... A government that can give you everything can take everything away.”
That sounds like good advice, whether you’re a conservative or a liberal. And Bob most definitely was a conservative, though he never let his political inclinations blind him to what he saw as the realities of the world, even when it angered his natural allies. Bob’s dissent from the Bush administration’s rush to topple Iraq’s Saddam Hussein earned him the ill will of other, perhaps less insightful conservatives. In one of those incomprehensible moments that occasionally mar the nation’s political discourse, Novak found himself labeled as one of America’s “unpatriotic conservatives” in a cover story in National Review magazine.
Bob’s disagreement with the mainstream of conservative thought on Iraq exemplified his independent spirit, his dedication to a robust discussion of the great issues facing the nation and his belief in the values underpinning our society.
Bob saw America as the inheritor, greatest manifestation and guardian of the best of Western civilization. He was introduced to those values at the University of Illinois through a freshman course on the history of Western civilization. Recalling that time in his 2007 memoir The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington, Bob wrote, “It was a golden moment for a 17-year-old boy from Joliet, leading to four years of exploration in the riches of our heritage: Plato, Aristotle, Chaucer, Castiglione, Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Milton, John Donne, Hawthorne, Melville, T.S. Eliot — dead white men all. How barren would be my life without that background?”[Editor's emphasis]
In later years, Bob became worried about the retreat from those values on the college campus. Typically, he resolved to do something about it. To help perpetuate the education of America’s youth in those values and traditions, Bob in 2000 endowed at his beloved University of Illinois the Robert D. Novak Chair of Western Civilization and Culture.
Update: One of the best tributes is written by Jeffrey Bell.
"Requiescat in pace."
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Serenity now! Or later
I prefer my Holdsworth in an ensemble setting like this one.
Policemen doing their job
AP: You're Bob Dylan? NJ police want to see some ID
Dylan, who is a cultural icon, acted with class. I have another question, can't anyone walk around without being asked for an ID?
Friday, August 14, 2009
Meet the new boss same friends as the old boss
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Reaching the Zimbabwe standard
Prominent economists have starting considering a possible Treasury default, while the business-news media and investment rating agencies have begun openly discussing a potential risk premium on the interest rate that the U.S. government pays. The CBO estimates that the total U.S. national debt will approach 100 percent of GDP within ten years, and when Japan's national debt exceeded that level, the ratings of its government securities were downgraded.Read the whole article, a brilliant analysis.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
"I'm from the government and I'm here to help you raise your kids"
Dirty secret No. 1 in Obamacare is about the government's coming into homes and usurping parental rights over child care and development.Of course this is all very patronizing to "low income" families. They're too stupid to raise kids in the eyes of the social workers. Where's Robert Nisbet when we need him?
It's outlined in sections 440 and 1904 of the House bill (Page 838), under the heading "home visitation programs for families with young children and families expecting children." The programs (provided via grants to states) would educate parents on child behavior and parenting skills.
The bill says that the government agents, "well-trained and competent staff," would "provide parents with knowledge of age-appropriate child development in cognitive, language, social, emotional, and motor domains ... modeling, consulting, and coaching on parenting practices," and "skills to interact with their child to enhance age-appropriate development."
Are you kidding me?! With whose parental principles and values? Their own? Certain experts'? From what field and theory of childhood development? As if there are one-size-fits-all parenting techniques! Do we really believe they would contextualize and personalize every form of parenting in their education, or would they merely universally indoctrinate with their own?
Are we to assume the state's mediators would understand every parent's social or religious core values on parenting? Or would they teach some secular-progressive and religiously neutered version of parental values and wisdom? And if they were to consult and coach those who expect babies, would they ever decide circumstances to be not beneficial for the children and encourage abortions?
One government rebuttal is that this program would be "voluntary." Is that right? Does that imply that this agency would just sit back passively until some parent needing parenting skills said, "I don't think I'll call my parents, priest or friends or read a plethora of books, but I'll go down to the local government offices"? To the contrary, the bill points to specific targeted groups and problems, on Page 840: The state "shall identify and prioritize serving communities that are in high need of such services, especially communities with a high proportion of low-income families."
Monday, August 10, 2009
A right to health care? Just whom are the uninsured?
...many believe that healthcare is a right. Certainly there is an ethical and moral obligation to help those who are ill: it is part of the oath to which all physicians pledge as well as the UN charter.
But how far does this right extend? What level of healthcare is a human right and what level becomes a luxury? This is a very practical question. Currently there is a proposal for a luxury tax on insurance plans that offer too much coverage (Listen on NPR). Clearly some believe it is no longer a human right at that level. . . .
But let’s unpack the 46 million uninsured. A Kaiser commission report estimates that about 10 million of the uninsured are illegal aliens. This is conservative — it suggests that quite a few illegal aliens actually are covered. An NCHC report uses a similar estimate. Should they get free coverage? I’ll tip my hand here, I’m not opposed to covering illegal aliens if they are on a path to citizenship (which I also would support under the right conditions). However, it seems implausible to do either without first securing borders. Imagine the cost to taxpayers if sick people all over the world have incentives to enter the U.S. illegally? Even if this is desirable as a policy objective, is it sustainable?
Another issue is what portion of the uninsured could actually afford insurance but choose not to buy it? A paper by Bundorf and Pauly uses multiple methods to assess whether people can pay. The conclusion is that 25–75% of the uninsured can afford to buy at least basic coverage. In the same vein, the NCHC reports that nearly 40% of the uninsured reside in households that earn $50,000 or more.
Using conservative estimates, then, 50% of the uninsured are either illegal aliens or choose not to buy insurance. Probably another 25% are temporarily uninsured because they are between jobs or changing insurance vendors. As such, one can imagine that reasonable and ethical people may question whether the taxpayer should foot the bill for all of the uninsured.
Taxes (that would fund universal coverage) are not optional so the fact that people may legitimately differ in their beliefs is important. It is therefore a worthy effort to put some clarity around the extent and nature of the moral and ethical responsibilities. From a practical standpoint, since at least 90% of voters are insured, it is important to know how much they are willing to pay for the remaining 10%.
Starbucks feels the heat!
McDonald’s expansion into fancy coffees under the McCafé brand is part of a strategy to capture more customers at breakfast time and win them over from coffee chains to its lower-priced drinks.And that is the problem. I've always felt that Starbucks seriously overcharges for burned-roast coffee and that pious, politically-correct image. But at some point those consumer loyalty asks too much and those long morning lines will be a lot shorter.
The move has forced Starbucks to defend its brand. It has been running marketing campaigns with the slogan: “It’s not just coffee. It’s Starbucks.”
Never underestimate the power of McDonald's. I have always loved McDonald's regular coffee, and am entralled by the occasional Paul Newman brand carried by some franchises.
McDonald's coffee is far more tastier and robust than anything Starbucks pours into a venti. Competition it works wonders.
The underside of the 1960s: Charles Manson
Theories regarding The White Album, a race war, and the Book of Revelations often cloud other, more central, inspirations for Charles Manson's blood lust. These include political motivations, a desire to exonerate a friend on murder charges, and intimidating music industry figures who spurned Manson, including Doris Day's son, producer Terry Melcher, who had previously lived in the Tate-Polanski home. If we do not know exactly why the Manson Family murdered, it is in part because they probably don't exactly know why either. All we know is that they did it.Charles Manson will rot in jail and hell. But he really should have been hanged a long time ago.
The 1960s were the age of The Beatles, civil rights advances, and the peace movement. They were also a time of rationalized violence, drug abuse, reckless sex, and societal upheaval. The Manson Family offers a glimpse at all of these ugly traits from the other side of the '60s.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
In praise of some inflation
Oh my! A food fight at Reason's Hit and Run
One commenter: If you've never busted sod by hand or even with machine you are in for one steep, painful, and hungry learning curve. I don't need luck. I was killing and growing what I ate before I could drive. I have the know how, know how hard it is, and don't plan on doing it until I have the free time and desire. The romantic notion of living the simple life is a myth that couch dwelling urbanites romanticize about. You haven't lived until you spent a 12 hour day cutting heads off chickens, dipping them in boiling water, yanking off their feathers, gutting them, then searing off the little hairs over an open propane flame. All in 90+ degree weather. Just think, you will get to spread that out over an entire year unless you have refrigeration.And your mom wears Army boots!
Meanwhile, here's some wisdom from a farmer:
"If you really want to hurt the economy, beat the heck out of agriculture," Goehring said. "It is a primary sector in our economy. It is generating new wealth. You can't just rely on services to drive your economy."
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
The hard reality about health care models
The point is that there is no health care model, whether privately or publicly financed, that can offer unlimited access to medical services while containing costs. Ultimately, such a model arrives at a cross roads where it has to either limit access in an arbitrary way, or face uncontrolled cost increases. France and Germany, which are mostly publicly funded, are increasingly marching down the first road. America, which is half publicly and half privately funded, has so far taken the second path. Should America offer even more people such unlimited access through universal coverage, it too will end up rationing care or facing national bankruptcy.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Quote for the day
wisdom: "Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man, while under socialism it is exactly the reverse."
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Goldman Sachs and moral hazard; Too big to fail
"The business of political capitalism, that is. Like Enron, Goldman operates primarily in the nebulous world of public-private interaction. It is the US’s most politically powerful financial firm, skilled at navigating the byzantine regulations governing the virtually nationalized US financial sector. Goldman’s eye-popping $3.4 billion second-quarter earnings shouldn’t surprise anyone; as Craig Pirrong notes, these earnings reflect good old-fashioned moral hazard, with Goldman exploiting its too-big-to-fail status by taking on huge amounts of risk:"
Thursday, July 16, 2009
George B. Merry "Dean of the Beacon Hill Press Corps" has died
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
“There is no education in the second kick of a mule.”
Monday, July 06, 2009
Joe Queenan had a hard life but he's an honest man.
The passage that struck me:
Queenan calls any attempts to romanticize this poverty “a mythology concocted by those who were never poor” and tries to set the record straight...Catholic schools have saved many urban souls. The world would be a horrible place without them. Queenan knows this; so do I. Those who claim to fight for the working class -- oddly by keeping it mired in poverty -- have not a clue.Queenan doesn’t exempt himself from this judgment. Though he has made it financially and as a writer, he doesn’t believe poverty made him stronger but rather more uncaring and vicious than he otherwise should have been. That viciousness has made him a very effective critic if sometimes not a very lovable one. He attributes his survival as a youth and his success later in life to the Catholic Church, to a few oddball heroic shopkeepers who decided to hire the lad, and to his love of literature—while conceding rather backhandedly that his mum managed to keep the family out of even worse circumstances. Queenan’s intelligence was obvious from an early age and Philadelphia’s Catholic schools kept him out of the violent hellholes that were the city’s public schools. His faith didn’t last but its impact has.
Sunday, July 05, 2009
He's working to get to heaven. God bless Alice Cooper
There's more to the man than Billion Dollar Babies."You teach Bible classes, don't you?"
"Wednesday mornings."
Monday, June 29, 2009
Justice Thomas blew this one!
Notes From D. R.: "Thomas remains an underrated Justice and a role model for conservatives of color, but his wisdom went missing in this case. Savana Redding was essentially raped without force, treated like a third-class citizen by overzealous, clueless school administrators. I never thought I’d say this about a conservative judge, but Thomas should have shown some empathy."Among his worst dissents of which they are not many.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Vandals desecrate World War II Memorial in Wakefield
Is there no shame? Last week, vandals decided to deface a community memorial to World War II veterans in Wakefield with a pithy peace slogan. "War is not the answer." In a free society, there's a time and a place for every opinion. However, the little anarchists, apparently full of themselves, have very little taste or knowledge of history. Town officials soon tried to remove the paint-stained message but the vestige of this major misdemeanor remains.
(Photographs taken 6/27/09 with Blackberry camera).
More on the defacing of the memorial from Marc Sardella.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Farrah Fawcett, American Ambassador - Forbes.com
American Ambassador. But Tunku Varadarajan viewed her as one. Maybe we couldn't look beyond the poster. R.I.P. Farrah Fawcett.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
A delightful trashing
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Would it be so simple
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Saturday, June 06, 2009
YouTube - Harlan Ellison -- Pay the Writer
YouTube - Harlan Ellison -- Pay the Writer
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Principles matter even to Dow Jones
NEW YORK (Feb. 17, 2009) — The Wall Street Journal Europe has revoked its sponsorship of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships due to the decision of the United Arab Emirates to deny a visa to Israeli player Shahar Peer, preventing her the opportunity to participate in the tournament.Good for WSJ-E! What of the rest of Europe?
The Wall Street Journal's editorial philosophy is free markets and free people, and this action runs counter to the Journal's editorial direction
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
With Sotomayor, race and ethnicity trump all
My general rule is the POTUS gets to select his people for the highest court; he did win the election, fair and square. Generally Sotomayer is fairly competent which is good enough for a seat on the SOTUS. I just wish liberals would share my outlook rather than engage in scorched earth politics (see the bloody Bork and Thomas nominations.)
Professor Richard Epstein opines on Sotomayor here. He writes the Senate "should subject this dubious nomination to the intense scrutiny that it deserves."
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Where did all those knowledge workers get us?
High-school shop-class programs were widely dismantled in the 1990s as educators prepared students to become “knowledge workers.” The imperative of the last 20 years to round up every warm body and send it to college, then to the cubicle, was tied to a vision of the future in which we somehow take leave of material reality and glide about in a pure information economy. This has not come to pass. To begin with, such work often feels more enervating than gliding. More fundamentally, now as ever, somebody has to actually do things: fix our cars, unclog our toilets, build our houses.Hat tip to Slashdot.
When we praise people who do work that is straightforwardly useful, the praise often betrays an assumption that they had no other options. We idealize them as the salt of the earth and emphasize the sacrifice for others their work may entail. Such sacrifice does indeed occur — the hazards faced by a lineman restoring power during a storm come to mind....
If the goal is to earn a living, then, maybe it isn’t really true that 18-year-olds need to be imparted with a sense of panic about getting into college (though they certainly need to learn). Some people are hustled off to college, then to the cubicle, against their own inclinations and natural bents, when they would rather be learning to build things or fix things. One shop teacher suggested to me that “in schools, we create artificial learning environments for our children that they know to be contrived and undeserving of their full attention and engagement. Without the opportunity to learn through the hands, the world remains abstract and distant, and the passions for learning will not be engaged.”
Monday, May 18, 2009
A little story about tax competition
Monday, May 11, 2009
Optimism Unbound
Monday, May 04, 2009
A useful idiot turns 90
Sunday, May 03, 2009
The great Jack Kemp. R.I.P.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Richard Nixon was a smart man
On the domestic Clinton: "I told him [ a year ago ] I gave him credit for a bold program. A leader tells people not where they want to go, but where they ought to go. That's from Burke. Clinton reminded me that with wage and price controls, I did something bold. Yeah, but it was a mistake." Nixon reminded me: "You wrote that speech, don't forget.To paraphrase Archie Bunker, "We could use a little Nixon again!"
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Get rich before you get green!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Commentary "I.F. Stone, Soviet Agent—Case Closed"
Monday, April 20, 2009
What no shoe-chuckers were available?
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Scenes from today's Boston Tea Party protest
Via Reason: Are You a Terrorist? Take the quiz!
Will MA lose a congressional seat?
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
St. Augustine's pirate may have a point!
In the "City of God," St. Augustine tells the story of a pirate captured by Alexander the Great. The Emperor angrily demanded of him, "How dare you molest the seas?" To which the pirate replied, "How dare you molest the whole world? Because I do it with a small boat, I am called a pirate and a thief. You, with a great navy, molest the world and are called an emperor." St. Augustine thought the pirate's answer was "elegant and excellent."Hat tip: Marginal Revolution who, in turn, hat-tipped a succession of bloggers.
Monday, April 13, 2009
A different take on the tax revolt ignited by Proposition 13
These tax revolters were not driven by a belief in small government or a rejection of the welfare state. Indeed, they mobilized to defend their stake in that state.The book reviewed is Isaac William Martin's The Permanent Tax Revolt.
Eventually, the California tax revolt took on a different cast, taking its leadership from conservative activists who saw the movement as a challenge to big government. Howard Jarvis and the champions of Proposition 13 did not simply seek the preservation of an informal tax preference, but the hobbling of state government. And when the initiative passed, conservatives across the nation used it to reshape tax revolts in their own communities.
Martin's book reminds us, however, that California's tax revolt was not some sort of conservative cri de coeur, at least at the start. Much of the support for antitax ballot measures arose from less-than-conservative inclinations among the electorate. To underscore this point, Martin describes the policy alternatives -- tax rate graduation, for instance, or property classification -- that might have protected homeowners from rising tax bills without hobbling state and local government.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Currently Reading
John Updike's 2001 collection of poems Americana. Updike is a master of economy, the watchman with a pulsing eye be it a dry overlay at a Midwestern airport or the occasion "Upon Becoming A Senior Citizen" dated March 18, 1997. From him we learn how to describe today's very cold Easter Day bluster. "The day another grudging chill installment/ of slow spring in New England...." The slow spring is testing our patience which is as good a time to thumb through this delightful collection of poems.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
The absolutely sweet Stevie Nicks and FM
Meanwhile here's a clip from the age of cassettes and vinyl, a time devoid of IPod consumption!
Hat tip: Hit&Run
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Wisdom
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."Yes the above applies to CEOs too! Nonetheless, the people never learn.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Recently Read
A small but vital treatise on reducing the technological-driven clutter, highlighting the meaningful and generating the rhythm of simplicity among the complexity that is inevitable in life.
The Ten Laws are as follows:
- Law 1: Reduce – The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.
- Law 2: Organize – Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
- Law 3: Time – Savings in time feel like simplicity.
- Law 4: Learn – Knowledge makes everything simpler.
- Law 5: Differences – Simplicity and complexity need each other.
- Law 6: Context – What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.
- Law 7: Emotion – More emotions are better than less.
- Law 8: Trust – In simplicity we trust.
- Law 9: Failure – Some things can never be made simple.
- Law 10: The one – Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Hitchens and Marx's carbuncles
...there was an underlying love-hate relationship between Marx and capitalism. As early as the Manifesto, he had written of capitalism’s operations with a sort of awe, describing how the bourgeoisie had revolutionized all human and social and economic relations, and had released productive capacities of a sort undreamed-of in feudal times. Wheen speculates that Marx was being magnanimous because he thought he was writing capitalism’s obituary, and though this is a nice conceit, it does not quite explain Marx’s later failure, in Capital, to grasp quite how revolutionary capitalist innovation really was.
(The chapter on new industrial machinery opens with a snobbish quotation from John Stuart Mill’s Principles of Political Economy: “It is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day’s toil of any human being.” This must have seemed absurd even at the time, and it appears preposterous after the third wave of technological revolution and rationalization that modern capitalism has brought in its train.)
There’s also the not-inconsiderable question of capitalism’s ability to decide, if not on the value of a commodity, at least on some sort of price for the damn thing. Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk and the other members of the Austrian school were able to point out this critical shortcoming of Capital—no pricing policy—during Marx’s lifetime, and it would have been good if Wheen had found some room for the argument (especially vivid among Austrians for some reason) that went back and forth from Rudolf Hilferding to Joseph Schumpeter, whose imposing “creative destruction” theory of capitalism has its own dualism.
Rereading those wonderful Viennese polemics, I was reminded of a slight but hard-to-forget quip (in both of those respects rather typical) made in my hearing by the late Isaiah Berlin. His own book on Marx was as good as useless, but he would often have fun pretending to “mark” the old man for an exam in Oxford’s course on philosophy, politics, and economics: “I think probably a beta in economics, yes really a beta, but rather better in philosophy and an alpha—one might even want to say an alpha plus—in politics.” Had it been an examination in history, greatest of the muses, then who can say? (A. J. P. Taylor thought that “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte” was, as a historical essay, “without flaw.”) But even here, the estimation must give way to irony.
At the conclusion of his article, John Cassidy wrote of Marx, “His books will be worth reading as long as capitalism endures.” That would appear to mean that Marxism and capitalism are symbiotic, and that neither can expect to outlive the other, which is not quite what the prophet intended when he sat all those arduous days in that library in Bloomsbury, and swore hotly to Engels, “I hope the bourgeoisie will remember my carbuncles until their dying day.”
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
There is no God! Part IV or whatever
Old age is often blamed for causing us to misplace car keys, forget a word or lose our train of thought.
But new research shows that many well-known effects of ageing may start decades before our twilight years.
According to scientists, our mental abilities begin to decline from the age of 27 after reaching a peak at 22.
The researchers studied 2,000 men and women aged 18 to 60 over seven years. The people involved – who were mostly in good health and well-educated – had to solve visual puzzles, recall words and story details and spot patterns in letters and symbols.
Similar tests are often used to diagnose mental disabilities and declines, including dementia.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Sociology boils down to these four clusters
Thursday, March 05, 2009
The Seattle Times offers up a Favor Factory
Sunday, March 01, 2009
The rest of the story, RIP
More here.
CHICAGO – Paul Harvey, the news commentator and talk-radio pioneer whose staccato style made him one of the nation's most familiar voices, died Saturday in Arizona, according to ABC Radio Networks. He was 90.
Harvey died surrounded by family at a hospital in Phoenix, where he had a winter home, said Louis Adams, a spokesman for ABC Radio Networks, where Harvey worked for more than 50 years. No cause of death was immediately available.
Harvey had been forced off the air for several months in 2001 because of a virus that weakened a vocal cord. But he returned to work in Chicago and was still active as he passed his 90th birthday. His death comes less than a year after that of his wife and longtime producer, Lynne.
"My father and mother created from thin air what one day became radio and television news," Paul Harvey Jr. said in a statement. "So in the past year, an industry has lost its godparents and today millions have lost a friend."
Known for his resonant voice and trademark delivery of "The Rest of the Story," Harvey had been heard nationally since 1951, when he began his "News and Comment" for ABC Radio Networks.
He became a heartland icon, delivering news and commentary with a distinctive Midwestern flavor. "Stand by for news!" he told his listeners. He was credited with inventing or popularizing terms such as "skyjacker," "Reaganomics" and "guesstimate."
"Paul Harvey was one of the most gifted and beloved broadcasters in our nation's history," ABC Radio Networks President Jim Robinson said in a statement. "We will miss our dear friend tremendously and are grateful for the many years we were so fortunate to have known him."
In 2005, Harvey was one of 14 notables chosen as recipients of the presidential Medal of Freedom. He also was an inductee in the Radio Hall of Fame, as was Lynne.
Former President George W. Bush remembered Harvey as a "friendly and familiar voice in the lives of millions of Americans."
"His commentary entertained, enlightened, and informed," Bush said in a statement. "Laura and I are pleased to have known this fine man, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family."
Harvey composed his twice-daily news commentaries from a downtown Chicago office near Lake Michigan.
Rising at 3:30 each morning, he ate a bowl of oatmeal, then combed the news wires and spoke with editors across the country in search of succinct tales of American life for his program.
At the peak of his career, Harvey reached more than 24 million listeners on more than 1,200 radio stations and charged $30,000 to give a speech. His syndicated column was carried by 300 newspapers.
His fans identified with his plainspoken political commentary, but critics called him an out-of-touch conservative. He was an early supporter of the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy and a longtime backer of the Vietnam War.
Perhaps Harvey's most famous broadcast came in 1970, when he abandoned that stance, announcing his opposition to President Nixon's expansion of the war and urging him to get out completely.
"Mr. President, I love you ... but you're wrong," Harvey said, shocking his faithful listeners and drawing a barrage of letters and phone calls, including one from the White House.
In 1976, Harvey began broadcasting his anecdotal descriptions of the lives of famous people. "The Rest of the Story" started chronologically, with the person's identity revealed at the end. The stories were an attempt to capture "the heartbeats behind the headlines." Much of the research and writing was done by his son, Paul Jr.
Harvey also blended news with advertising, a line he said he crossed only for products he trusted.
In 2000, at age 82, he signed a new 10-year contract with ABC Radio Networks.
Harvey was born Paul Harvey Aurandt in Tulsa, Okla. His father, a police officer, was killed when he was a toddler. A high school teacher took note of his distinctive voice and launched him on a broadcast career.
While working at St. Louis radio station KXOK, he met Washington University graduate student Lynne Cooper. He proposed on their first date (she said "no") and always called her "Angel." They were married in 1940 and had a son, Paul Jr.
They worked closely together on his shows, and he often credited his success to her influence. She was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1997, seven years after her husband was. She died in May 2008
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Makes you want to read this book!
“Up From History” gives back to America one of its greatest heroes.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
With almost a trillion, the younger generation will notice
The final version of the stimulus bill is ready to be voted on by the House and the Senate.
Here's the good news: The $246 million tax credit to Hollywood that made its way to the initial House bill and was removed in the Senate version didn't make it to the final bill.
That's pretty much it for the good news.
Total spending amounts to $792 billion, with $570 billion in direct spending and $212 billion in tax provisions. These numbers don't include the massive amount of interest that will accrue on the increased debt. If we include that, the total amount comes to $1.14 trillion.
Supporters of the package describe the legislation as transportation and infrastructure investment, the idea being to use new spending to put America back to work while at the same time fixing decrepit infrastructure. However, only 17 percent of the discretionary spending in this package is for infrastructure items. More worrisome still, the final version lacks any mechanism to ensure that spending will be targeted toward infrastructure projects with high economic returns.
Friday, February 13, 2009
"I think it's fair to say he's failed at his job"
Orchard Park police are investigating a particularly gruesome killing, the beheading of a woman, after her husband — an influential member of the local Muslim community — reported her death to police Thursday.Over at The Corner Kathryn Jean Lopez sums it up: "I think it's fair to say he's failed at his job"
Police identified the victim as Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37. Detectives have charged her husband, Muzzammil Hassan, 44, with second-degree murder.
"He came to the police station at 6:20 p.m. [Thursday] and told us that she was dead," Orchard Park Police Chief Andrew Benz said late this morning.
Muzzammil Hassan told police that his wife was at his business, Bridges TV, on Thorn Avenue in the village. Officers went to that location and discovered her body.
Muzzammil Hassan is the founder and chief executive officer of Bridges TV, which he launched in 2004, amid hopes that it would help portray Muslims in a more positive light.
The killing apparently occurred some time late Thursday afternoon. Detectives still are looking for the murder weapon.
"Obviously, this is the worst form of domestic violence possible," Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III said today.