From the monthly archives:

July 2004

Intolerance for the Intolerable

July 17, 2004

Nicholas Kristof highlights the latest of the “Left Behind” series, Glorious Appearing, in which the Son of God kicks serious ass. An excerpt from the book:
Jesus merely raised one hand a few inches and a yawning chasm opened in the earth, stretching far and wide enough to swallow all of them. They tumbled in, howling [...]

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A Vote for the FMA is a Vote for Your Demise

July 16, 2004

It’s a sad, sad day when the Republicans move me to link approvingly to a Move On fundraiser. This one’s to support Democrat opponents of vulnerable Republicans who voted for the FMA. To my mind, voting to write narrowly illiberal convictions into a liberal constitution is sufficient grounds for losing office. I know nothing about [...]

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Libertarians for Crippled Prisoners!

July 15, 2004

From Bill Bradford’s entertaining account of the weird weird world that is the Libertarian Party Convention:
The nomination process was over. LP delegates had chosen as their standard-bearer a man who had willfully refused to file his federal tax return for years, refused to get a driver’s license but continued to drive his car despite having [...]

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Blogorama Next

July 15, 2004

Comrade Sanchez has posted the announcement. It’s next Thursday, July 29th at the Rendezvouz Lounge. Pass it on.
[Update: Note that the date is now the 29th. For some reason that has not been revealed to me, but which is apparently Lane's fault, Blogorama has been pushed back a week. Sorry for any inconvenience.]

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I Hate Giant

July 14, 2004

I encourage everyone not to patronize the Giant Foods at 9th and O St NW. It is a horrible establishment.
I don’t believe I’ve ever waited less than five minutes in line. I have waited more than twenty on several occasions. The ratio of surly to pleasant among the cashiers is about 15 to 1. [...]

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“Say what you will about the tenets of National Socialism . . .”

July 13, 2004

Crispin Sartwell’s LA Times op-ed in praise of political nihilism is simply wonderful. I have seen nothing that so aptly captures my feelings about the contemporary political scene. Here excerpted are my favorite pithy planks of the nihilist platform:
Abortion — We are the only party that dares to oppose both life and choice. Life [...]

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Fashion Forward Future Farmers

July 13, 2004

Where do you suppose I can get one of these jackets?

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Sunstein on Rights

July 12, 2004

I attended a little lunch discussion at Cato Friday on Cass Sunstein’s new book, The Second Bill of Rights: FDR’s Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need It More than Ever.
Among Sunstein’s claims is that FDR effectively effaced the distinction between positive and negative rights. The argument is that even “negative” rights, such as the [...]

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Keep it Coolidge

July 12, 2004

Every time I wear my “Keep it Coolidge” t-shirt, admirers of Silent Cal implore me to reveal where I purchased such a fine wearable testament to one of our greatest presidents. It’s Urban Outfitters, who have a somewhat questionable grasp of the idea of a “Founding Father.”
I wore “Keep it Coolidge” to the beach on [...]

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New Look

July 12, 2004

Do you hate it?
You can find the old blog through the Blogger Archive link over on the right.
You’ll be happy to know that the banner image is bits of the blackboard from this famous picture of Wittgenstein.
I’m sure I’ll be tinkering with this a fair bit, so your comments and suggestions are welcome.

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Fetters and Fairness

July 8, 2004

When will the left stop saying dumb things like this?
The U.S. economic-policy debate is in fact dominated by the assumption that unfettered markets work best, a view that’s applied to our domestic economy and to that of other countries through international financial institutions that the United States controls. John Kerry’s recent statement that he [...]

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GPI Field Dispatches

July 7, 2004

I mentioned the Mercatus Center Global Prosperity Initiative Journalism Fellows a while back. GPI has now posted dispatches from the field from the intrepid fellows. Matt Welch in Romania. Melinda Ammann in Botswana. Mark Hemingway in Philippines. These aren’t formal articles. They’re dispatches. So they’re breezy and chatty, which to my mind makes them even [...]

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Tragedy of the Bunnies

July 7, 2004

Try this cute little game/economics lesson from IHS.

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Negative and Positive Rights

July 6, 2004

I started this long post a month or so ago when there was a bunch of talk about positive and negative liberty, etc. I found much of the discussion confused. I never finished this post, which ended up getting me confused, but I thought I would share what I had in any case. Comments welcome.
—–
First, [...]

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Self-Promo

July 5, 2004

– My review essay on Brookhiser’s and Adams’s recent biographies of Gouverneur Morris are now online at Reason.

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An Incredulous Stare

July 1, 2004

– Matt Yglesias says:
“It strikes me as a tautology to say that coercion in the pursuit of the common good is justified, and, indeed, necessary, though as I say people disagree and I don’t know how one could possibly resolve such a disagreement.”
Resolution might be forthcoming (some day, not soon) if Matt would take [...]

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