The Poet Omar on Dec 31 2006 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, The Poet Omar's Page
Ding dong the witch is dead. Saddam is finally gone. Whether that actually changes anything or not in Iraq remains to be seen, but the thirty year chapter of war, corruption, rape, murder, and genocide that was Saddam’s regime closed for good December 30, 2006. The next chapter of Iraq’s history is […]
Lance on Dec 29 2006 | Filed under: Books, Domestic Politics, History, Lance's Page, Law, Libertarianism
I just received my review copy of Clayton Cramer’s “Armed America.” It is at least in part a response to the discredited work of Michael Bellisile’s “Arming America.” I’ll have a review up in the next couple of weeks, maybe even sooner.
Technorati Tags: history, colonial America, guns, second amendment, law, […]
Lance on Dec 27 2006 | Filed under: Culture, Domestic Politics, Economics, Lance's Page, Law, Libertarianism, Media, Technology, social science
I must admit I find this article on virtual property rights from the Washington Post fascinating. Questions about online property rights, the legal status of those rights, currency exchanges to convert online currency into our own rather insubstantial fiat money, rogue “copybots” preying on innocent digital characters resulting in an online strike by virtual merchants. […]
Lance on Dec 22 2006 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, Lance's Page
Megan McCardle had an interesting reaction to Mahmoud Abbas’ recent announcement that he was calling for early presidential and parliamentary elections. She asks whether Abbas might be the Palestinian equivalent of Michael Collins. Like Collins did for the Irish, Abbas must be able to acknowledge that whatever the merits of establishing Israel in the Middle […]
Lance on Dec 22 2006 | Filed under: Culture, Humor, Lance's Page, Technology, social science
It is a rare happenstance that my weekday mornings start of as well as mine did this morning. Two busy people rushing to get ready for work. Most of our readers can surely empathize. Of course I have now discovered why this workday of all work days started off so well. It was supposed to! […]
Lance on Dec 22 2006 | Filed under: Economics, Humor, Investing, Lance's Page, Music
Yields are low throughout the world, and despite the rising equity markets low yields on equities mean low long run returns on them as well as bonds. So we may actually be facing an end to the decade characterized by growth punctuated by either choppy to low returns on financial assets or a massive bubble […]
Lance on Dec 21 2006 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Lance's Page
Dale Franks has been doing a bit of economics blogging and he has some significant concerns about the economy. I do as well and they roughly mirror his own.
One of the areas of concern that some people have is the threat of depreciation of the dollar due to the large size of our current account […]
MichaelW on Dec 21 2006 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Media, MichaelW's Page
UPDATE 2: Rick Moran takes Goode to task for his political pandering and does it without accusing Goode of equating Ellison’s election with a threat to our traditional values.
UPDATE: The New York Times makes the same false accusation:
In a letter sent to hundreds of voters this month, Representative Virgil H. Goode Jr., Republican of Virginia, […]
MichaelW on Dec 21 2006 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, History, Libertarianism, MichaelW's Page
If there is one thing upon which libertarians, of whatever stripe, can all pretty much agree, it’s that a highly centralized government is a problem, not a solution. Why, then, is it that success in Iraq is so dependent upon the establishment of what we all agree is a problem?
I’m not an anarchist, and […]
Lance on Dec 19 2006 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Economics, Humor, Lance's Page, Libertarianism
Thanks to Greg Mankiw for this humorous look into economics and government. In an interesting post on whether the study of economics leads one rightward (my opinion is somewhat, depending on what you mean by rightward) he provides us with an old Dave Barry column I had forgotten about and still seems relevant. It seems […]
Lance on Dec 18 2006 | Filed under: Economics, Humor, Lance's Page
Thanks to Tyler Cowen I find this at Mahalanobis:
Three guys decide to play a round of golf: a priest, a psychologist, and an economist.
They get behind a *very* slow two-some, who, despite a caddy, are taking all day to line up their shots and four-putting every green, and so on. By the 8th hole, the […]
Lance on Dec 18 2006 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Humor, Lance's Page, Uncategorized
Synthetic basketballs that is. In the brouhaha over the NBA’s new synthetic basketballs Ralph Nader weighed in on this weighty issue:
It seemed strange that the consumer most affected, most benefiting from Ralph’s roar, were several dozen millionaire jocks.
Among the points cited by Nader were that Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns and Jason Kidd of […]
Lance on Dec 17 2006 | Filed under: Humor, Lance's Page
In addition to being plagued with malicious nanobots, “Friend of ASHC” Jon Henke (heck, QandO is practically our parent, but we won’t speak of it that way because, well, think about it, or really don’t.) has been discovered to be plagued with many various ethical problems as well. Tom Maguire has the scoop.
Update: I have […]
Lance on Dec 17 2006 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Lance's Page
The library, it begins, “has received a report concerning you.” It “has been reported” that “you had permitted a man to perform a homosexual act (fellatio) on you. Also, that you related that you find members of the male sex attractive; that you have been in bed with men; and that you have enjoyed embracing […]
Robby on Dec 17 2006 | Filed under: Culture, Lance's Page, Music, Robby's Page
Dr. John’s “Walk on Gilded Splinters” has been covered by a slew of artists from Humble Pie to Paul Weller, but the Dirty Dozen Brass Band’s version is the spiciest. The tight horn arrangement, underpinned by a rumbling tuba, is as dense and visceral as a thrash metal chord progression, and John Bell’s growling vocal […]
Lance on Dec 16 2006 | Filed under: Culture, Lance's Page, Music, Uncategorized
My relationship with the Replacements is inextricably tied to a bar, The Bayou. A magnificent, loud, smoke filled bar packed with regular patrons from all walks of life. Old men, aging hippies, bikers, college students, punk rockers, everybody under the sun. The Bayou burned down in the late 90’s, but every time I hear the […]
Lance on Dec 16 2006 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Lance's Page
We have written about Wal-Mart before, but it does my heart good to hear that union members patronize and appreciate Wal-Mart, no matter what their leaders or supposed allies in the political class claim. From the National Association of Manufacturers blog:
It’s well-known that teachers hit Wal-Mart in droves to buy supplies — yes, even union […]
MichaelW on Dec 16 2006 | Filed under: Culture, MichaelW's Page, Music
If you’re in the mood for a little Chicago and Delta blues done the way it was meant to be done, head on over to Random Acts of Insensitivity where Blewsdog has conjured up an impressive array of clips featuring Albert King. Just a teaser of what’s over there:
I’ve often been surprised at how […]
Keith_Indy on Dec 15 2006 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Keith's Page, Libertarianism
This could be good news for the Libertarian Party. They need some better known names, who know how to raise money, and run a winning political campaign.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/12/15/D8M1ILB00.html
A former Georgia congressman who helped spark President Clinton’s impeachment has quit the Republican Party to become a Libertarian, saying he is disillusioned with the GOP on issues […]
MichaelW on Dec 15 2006 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, MichaelW's Page, Music, Uncategorized
If you are in the giving mood this holiday season (and why wouldn’t you be?), then why not send our troops some free music:
Music for Troopsâ„¢ Inc. is a nonprofit, charitable organization founded by performer / songwriter, Cat Hughes. Cat has sent over 200,000 copies of her songs to the USA troops around the world. […]
Lance on Dec 15 2006 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Lance's Page
Omar at Iraq the Model has weighed in with his thoughts on the ISG report:
Looking at the ISG report…
The ISG report was released more than a week ago but I didn’t want to write immediately about it. The strange thing is that although the report is […]
MichaelW on Dec 15 2006 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Law, MichaelW's Page
McQ notes an important decision by the 7th Circuit in a Reparations case:
A federal appeals court in Chicago has rejected most claims by slave descendants for reparations from some of the nation’s biggest insurers, banks and transportation companies. The three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling that […]
MichaelW on Dec 15 2006 | Filed under: Culture, MichaelW's Page, Music
One of the greatest pioneers in music has died:
Ahmet Ertegun, who helped define American music as the founder of Atlantic Records, a label that popularized the gritty R&B of Ray Charles, the classic soul of Aretha Franklin and the British rock of the Rolling Stones, died Thursday at 83, his spokesman said.
A native Turk, Ertegun […]
Lance on Dec 14 2006 | Filed under: Culture, Lance's Page, Music, Robby's Page
Black Foliage, by Olivia Tremor Control, is Sergeant Pepper’s as a cheap but astonishingly well-crafted home recording, proving the concept that such multilayered sonic frippery can be accomplished by virtually anyone now that recording equipment and professional editing software are so inexpensive. As ever, not just anyone can write such great songs (”California Demise Pt. […]
Lance on Dec 14 2006 | Filed under: Culture, Lance's Page, Music, Robby's Page, Uncategorized
When I first started this little project, before I even knew Omar, Michael and Keith as anything but annoying commenters at QandO (okay, that is a cheap shot at my co-bloggers, but I have it on good authority that I am one of the most annoying commenters at QandO, so I consider them in good […]
Lance on Dec 14 2006 | Filed under: Books, Economics, History, Humor, Lance's Page, Libertarianism
I spent an hour and a half in my wife’s AP European History class on Monday. My topic was the history of economic thought during the enlightenment. Subtopics were mercantilism, the physiocrats and Adam Smith. Brief digressions on the connection between Smith and Marx as well as Malthus. I know, eyes glaze over, but […]
Keith_Indy on Dec 13 2006 | Filed under: Culture, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Keith's Page, Religion and theology
With the hoopla just starting on Christians in the military, see here and here, I was wondering what Muslims and Islamists might think of athiests and others who are not “people of the book.”
Christian military officers who share their faith at work in the Pentagon pose a threat to national security, according to a […]
Lance on Dec 13 2006 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, Lance's Page
One of the more irritating aspects of commentary about Hezbollah (Hizbullah) is that often they are portrayed as an organization specifically interested in Southern Lebanon and the plight of the Palestinians. They are not part of a wider terrorist issue.
A more accurate assessment would take into account the Iranian state and its goals, which […]
Lance on Dec 13 2006 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Lance's Page
From MEMRI we get a view from the Islamic State in Iraq on the Iraq Study Group:
“Now that the Allies’ military command has realized the need for a quick withdrawal from the quagmire into which [the Allies] have stepped…, it has been discussing… how to prevent the mujahideen… and Muslims in Iraq from reaping the […]
Lance on Dec 12 2006 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Lance's Page
It is no great surprise, but of great import, because they have the ability to say no and dare anyone to stop them, the Kurds are not very happy with the ISG Report. We have discussed the Kurds on occasion before:
No Friends but the Mountains
Those Pesky Kurds
The Path of the Kurds: Lessons going forward
The Kurds […]
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