Monthly Archives: October 2006

BOO! – A Halloween Special

I thought it might be fun to cruise around the internets and highlight what some people will be wearing as a costume for Halloween this year. To start off, it looks like slutty Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz is … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Humor, MichaelW's Page | 2 Comments

Firefox

I am not the most tech savvy blogger on the internet, but I do spend a fair amount of time on the web. So I have been waiting for my beloved Firefox’s latest upgrade. I also had the chance over … Continue reading

Posted in Lance's Page, Technology | 5 Comments

Climate Change Propaganda (UPDATED)

Old joke: A mathematician, an accountant and an economist apply for the same job. The interviewer calls in the mathematician and asks “What do two plus two equal?” The mathematician replies “Four.” The interviewer asks “Four, exactly?” The mathematician looks … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Environment, Media, MichaelW's Page | 2 Comments

If You Tear it Down Will They Come?

Tom Maguire notices this item from the New York Times: “This notion that elections are stolen and that elections are rigged is so common in the public sphere that we’re having to go out of our way to counter them … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, Lance's Page | 2 Comments

The Libertarian Electorate

Political consultants are notorious for the colorful categories created to characterize various groups of voters that are then precisely targeted with carefully crafted campaign messages. Who can forget “Soccer Moms” and “NASCAR Dads“? These monikers, often overly cute, are derived … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, Libertarianism, MichaelW's Page | 8 Comments

Economics of Collusion

I heard an interview late last night on Washington Post Radio (which, for me, is fast becoming a preferable alternative to NPR) with author Timothy Carney discussing his new book, “The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Domestic Politics, Economics, MichaelW's Page | 1 Comment

C.S. Lewis wants me to be able to drink beer

Without being finger printed and monitored by the state that is. Having made my way over to Samizdata I came across a post which has one of my favorite Lewis quotes: Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Lance's Page, Law | 27 Comments

Lions and Tigers and Usurers, Oh My!

***Update*** A point I neglected to mention is that distributism, like Marxism, seems overly concerned with labor and production of concrete goods. It does not adequately address what could broadly be considered the “service sector,” which could be said to … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Religion and theology, The Poet Omar's Page | 2 Comments

Things That Make You Go “Huh?”

if (window.yzq_a == null) document.write(“”); if (window.yzq_a) { yzq_a(‘p’, ‘P=AnS0GULaS.YJz5XeQ57kMAqQz7zsE0U.MgcADhkw&T=1b3jh1sbo%2fX%3d1161703944%2fE%3d7666528%2fR%3dnews%2fK%3d5%2fV%3d1.1%2fW%3d8%2fY%3dYAHOO%2fF%3d1927510288%2fH%3dY2FjaGVoaW50PSJuZXdzIiBjb250ZW50PSJ0ZXJyb3Jpc207Z292ZXJubWVudDt0ZXJyb3Jpc3Q7cG9vcjtob21lO2JyZWFzdCBjYW5jZXI7Y2FuY2VyO3JlZnVybF93d3dfZ29vZ2xlX2NvbSIgcmVmdXJsPSJyZWZ1cmxfd3d3X2dvb2dsZV9jb20iIHRvcGljcz0icmVmdXJsX3d3d19nb29nbGVfY29tIg–%2fS%3d1%2fJ%3dA5A949D1′); yzq_a(‘a’, ‘&U=13ai4r3re%2fN%3dcppoCNFJq20-%2fC%3d442884.9411923.10146809.1442997%2fD%3dLREC%2fB%3d3863207′); } You may have heard the other day that the cause célèbre of terrorist sympathizers everywhere recently concluded the sentencing phase: NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New York … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Law, MichaelW's Page | 4 Comments

Speaking of Muhammad Yunus

While I was at Division of Labor today I noticed this post referencing a John Tierney article asking who had done more to reduce poverty, Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank or __________? Go see the answer and the rest … Continue reading

Posted in Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Lance's Page | Leave a comment

Are Gay Republicans Hypocrites?

[UPDATED: Links corrected, per Kav in the comments; I had inadvertantly left out one link (to FDL), and misplaced another (to Greenwald).  Now corrected.] It is often amazing to me just how seriously some people can take themselves, how they … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, MichaelW's Page | 24 Comments

In Defense of Usury

While at the University of Oklahoma I was subjected to a course on the History of England taught by a professor of Womens Studies. The course, and the professor, was economically illiterate which was unfortunate since the course covered the … Continue reading

Posted in Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, History, Lance's Page, Law, Media | 1 Comment

Oh Please

I almost didn’t blog about this, and for petty reasons. Basically I don’t want to appear to be giving equal time just because Glasnost has spewed links all over my comment section showing Republicans are just as bad (good?) as … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Domestic Politics, Lance's Page | 9 Comments

Barack and Roll

It seems like Queen Hilary I may be in for more of a nomination fight than may have initially been thought. Recent Democratic party golden boy Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. has just indicated that he is seriously considering throwing his … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, The Poet Omar's Page | 8 Comments

Libertarians and Environmentalists on the Same Page

I know, I know.  This is one of the signs of the Apocalypse.  Actually, believe it or not, I find that this happens more often than you’d think.  The specific issue that I’m referring to here is the idea that … Continue reading

Posted in Environment, The Poet Omar's Page | 5 Comments

And the Academy Award goes to… not you guys

Like many other people who find themselves slightly to the right of the Hollywood crowd (both politically and geographically speaking), I find myself constantly baffled by the fact that despite the legions of potential conservative or libertarian movie fans out … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, The Poet Omar's Page | 38 Comments

Sullivan

Since I picked on Andrew this week, it is only fair that I praise him for this. “The maintenance of a free society is a very difficult and complicated thing. And it requires a self-denying ordinance of the most extreme … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Fulfilling the Prescription

Most everyone knows, although a suprisingly large number of us ignore, the admonishment to “take all of your medicine.” Any doctor will tell you that if you fail to take the full course of anti-biotics prescribed for you ailment (say, … Continue reading

Posted in Foreign affairs, History, MichaelW's Page | 11 Comments

Okay, I was wrong. Glenn Reynolds is anti-gay

It is Eric Scheie who finally filled me in. Go and see what an evil man the blogfadduh really is. While you are at it, you can find out more about the sexual McCarthyism in our era as well. I … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Domestic Politics, Humor, Lance's Page | 8 Comments

Voting As A Commodity

There is much exortation from Democrats and the Left to join them this November in vanquishing the Republican majority, and from Republicians and the Right for their supporters not to stay home when said vanquishing begins. It occurs to me … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, MichaelW's Page | 9 Comments

The One About Arabs

I recently had a chance to read this very interesting post dealing with Stephen Browne’s Observations on Arabs.  Woody M. at GM’s Corner blog has dissected Browne’s analysis and offered up a few observations and questions. It’s actually quite a … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Foreign affairs, The Poet Omar's Page | 19 Comments

Newsflash: Greenwald doesn’t get anything

****Welcome readers of Instapundit and Jonah Goldberg. The main discussion of Greenwald’s bad faith is here and previously dissected in more detail here. Jonah Goldberg fans can find an interview with his friend Michael Ledeen, which touches on Greenwald as … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, Lance's Page | 30 Comments

The Politics of Bad Faith

Let me make a disclaimer right now, and one I have made before, but it seems to be necessary, bad faith is a bipartisan exercise, no let me say it is a multipartisan exercise. Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter are … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Lance's Page | 39 Comments

Something is bothering me

I wandered over to the Conjecturer where Joshua was lamenting the decline of Andrew Sullivan, and so of course I had to go over and take a look since I hadn’t been to Andrew’s in a few days. I came … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Domestic Politics, Lance's Page, Media | 7 Comments

Lancet Update

So, if the official documents they found are to be believed (and they should have gotten copies of each one, a major error) and their contention is that the vast majority of these documents have not been included in the numbers that have been reported as an explanation of the discrepancy, then that should have been tested. How? I would think making a good faith effort to see if they had been recorded officially would be a good place to start. If we had copies of each one, that could even be independently verified by other researchers. That wouldn’t be enough for me, but it would be a good start. They could then check to see how many had been included in the IBC data, and if not find out why or why not. That is real science. Hiding behind the statistical validity of your methods is not. Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, History, Lance's Page | 12 Comments

War! Maybe.

Early this morning, North Korea issued a statement indicating that the UN Security Council resolution calling for sanctions and an end to it’s nuclear weapons program was tantamount to a declaration of war. http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1161079746602&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home also covered here http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/17/world/main2096678.shtml (with slightly … Continue reading

Posted in Foreign affairs, The Poet Omar's Page | 10 Comments

PAC Mentality

PACs and incumbents: [Based on the year 2000 statistics] PACs continue to give more to incumbents than challengers, and to House Members more than to Senators. The numbers have stayed remarkably steady: typically more than 40% of the money House … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, MichaelW's Page | 9 Comments

The Lancet

I was going to write an extensive post on the problems I saw with the Lancet study, and I will expand this post later, but Iraq Body Count has pointed out the issue that first hit me. I was reading … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Lance's Page, Media | 7 Comments

Rooting for the D’s

In the last several weeks, many of the blogs that I’ve visited (including ours) have been enmeshed in the ongoing debate over how to vote in the coming elections. The hard-cores of the group advise that we adopt what I’ll … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, The Poet Omar's Page | 16 Comments

News from the home front

I happened to be browsing the net this afternoon when lo and behold, look what I stumbled upon : http://www.schoolandstate.org/home.htm Now while I admit that some of the solutions presented here are, at best, naively optimistic, the overall theme is … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, The Poet Omar's Page | 15 Comments

Les Jeux Sont Fait

I’m done. Politics will continue to fascinate me, but the major parties have lost what pale shine they still retained prior to this season’s dirty and shameful tactics. I have voted in every election for which I was legally registered … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, MichaelW's Page | 23 Comments

Scratching a petty, but annoying itch

***Update X2 See comments in response to glasnost for further elaboration on timing. Granted, it is a minor irritant, but I am going to scratch anyway. Yesterday our government charged Adam Gadahn with treason. Andrew Cohen of the Washington Post … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, History, Lance's Page, Law | 4 Comments

The man who would be king

This is yet another taste of the self-appointed king of the world, George Soros.  http://politicalmavens.com/index.php/2006/10/11/soros-fighting-the-zionazis/ It’s not enough that the man is a self-hating Jew; no he has to actually support those who favor the dismantling of the Jewish state … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, The Poet Omar's Page, Uncategorized | 35 Comments

For the MMORPG’ers

I must confess gentle reader (and don’t think badly of me for this) that I am an MMORPG’er.  There, I’ve said it and that, I’m told, is the first step on the path to recovery.  Being relatively stable, married (but … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, The Poet Omar's Page, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

A Positively Crazy Idea

Following up on my previous post (“The Bomb Heard ‘Round The World“), in which I proposed no solution, a rather insane idea occurred to me last night that I will now share with you. First Premise: The generous giving of … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Foreign affairs, Investing, MichaelW's Page | 1 Comment

Ahmadinejad: the 21st century Islamist

**Update: via Instapundit:More rantings from Ahmadinejad. MEMRI has just translated an address given by Irainian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I’ll leave my remarks for the end, but I think it is important to understand who and what we are facing, and … Continue reading

Posted in Foreign affairs, Lance's Page | 5 Comments

Deconstructing the critics

Recently, one of our regular readers and commenters, Don, suggested that I post some deconstructions of some of the more popular critics of Islam.  I thought that would be a great idea and I may do some detailed rebuttals at … Continue reading

Posted in Foreign affairs, Religion and theology, The Poet Omar's Page | 9 Comments

Week 5 Madness

Gentle readers, I am sure that none of you (being avid fans of professional football, and, of course, well versed in recent history and statistics) were as surprised as I was to see the standings at the end of Week … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, The Poet Omar's Page | 12 Comments

The List

Politics is unscrupulous, short sighted and hypocritical as often as not, so the revelations that various left wing and liberal front groups and some Democratic politicians have known about Mark Foleys inappropriate conduct for some time is unsurprising. That once … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Domestic Politics, Lance's Page | 14 Comments

The Bomb Heard ‘Round The World

The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one. – Albert Einstein Einstein was, of course, referring to the pre-existing problem of nations willing to … Continue reading

Posted in Foreign affairs, MichaelW's Page | 5 Comments

Examining the Orange Revolution

Daniel Drezner has pointed me to an interesting blog that those of us with an interest in democratic change should take note of during its likely short lifespan. The 21st Century Trust in collaboration with the John Smith Memorial Trust … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Foreign affairs, History, Lance's Page, Religion and theology | 1 Comment

A bit of whimsy

The Hill gives us this rather unfortunate line via Dale Carpenter: Hastert and Boehner need to get on the same page or Republican troubles will continue to mount. Meanwhile thanks to Alex at Marginal Revolution I have come across some … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Humor, Lance's Page | 5 Comments

Tom Paine, Meet the Blogosphere

Searching our archives you will note how highly I rate the work of Michael Totten, especially in covering the Middle East and North Africa. I have even suggested going to his site for no reason other than hitting the pay … Continue reading

Posted in Foreign affairs, Lance's Page | 2 Comments

Islam Q&A

Just posting my usual Friday Q&A on Islamic beliefs.  We’ve had some great discussions so far, please keep the questions coming.  Also, have a look at my post on religious hypocrisy below, especially the section covering OBL. Usual ground rules … Continue reading

Posted in Religion and theology, The Poet Omar's Page | 6 Comments

Bits and Pieces: Ominous Signs

The UN is angry at Sudan for sending a letter urging African nations not to send troops to help out with the peackeeping mission in Sudan: The president of the Security Council for October, Japanese Ambassador Kenzo Oshima, said some … Continue reading

Posted in Foreign affairs, Lance's Page | 2 Comments

The Path of the Kurds: Lessons going forward

A couple of posts back I updated my post on the Kurds with a link to Alex over at Inactivist. Alex made a good point in a comment there: FWIW, I actually admire the Kurds, for the most part. Or … Continue reading

Posted in Foreign affairs, Lance's Page | 6 Comments

Religion and hypocrisy

The recent firestorm over the Foley controversy convinced me to postpone my previous idea for Friday’s post (the doctrinal differences affecting relations between different Christian sects and Islam) and instead post something of more immediate concern. The issue I would … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Religion and theology, The Poet Omar's Page | 6 Comments

Single-Handedly Ending the Culture War

If you haven’t been reading Eric Schie (Classical Values) you are missing out. Lately I find myself visiting there more and more often, not just for Eric’s views (which are recognizably his own), but also for the elegant way that … Continue reading

Posted in MichaelW's Page, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Virginia

A few days ago I came across a Virginia blogger by the name of Shaun Kenney who issued this challenge: ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5th, I propose that all interested bloggers post what’s best about Virginia, especially in your neck of … Continue reading

Posted in MichaelW's Page, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Bits and Pieces: several undercovered but significant news stories

Two potential new developments in Central America could have a huge long term impact on the region and world trade. Panama is set to expand and improve its canal zone and Nicaragua is stirring the pot by proposing to build … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Lance's Page | 2 Comments