What follows is a simplification of the political climate into one metaphorical issue upon which people have different opinions. I think this example clearly shows why anything that we allow our government to regulate tends to make most people less well off – and how political parties make things even worse. So, please now consider [...]
(Nor Should the Heterosexual Variety) The government should not legally recognize any marriage. There is simply no need for it and it just causes trouble. Any required legal status for any sort of partnership can be conferred through applicable contract law, and need never use a word as charged with religious connotations as “marriage.” Leave [...]
In the current “Credit Crisis,” the news is once again talking about the “failures of deregulation.” It makes me cringe whenever I hear this, and I hear it a lot. Whenever anything goes wrong with a controlled system, the people who want more control blame the problem on the last attempt at “deregulation” and hold [...]
I see a lot of stuff on the news these days about the failure of capitalism and lack of regulation causing the current financial crisis. My take on this is a bit different. I found a very clear explanation of the current wall street financial crisis and bailout plan that I can find no fault [...]
Cartoon from the book “God Wants You Dead” by Sean Hastings and Paul Rosenberg. Happy Tax Day to all you citizens of the USA!
I have been watching the ongoing story about Major League Baseball and performance enhancing substances for a couple months now. Well really all my life, because the same basic story concerning “artificial” training techniques and athletes has been going on for as long as I have been alive or longer. But until recently, I don’t [...]
I am officially dying. I had a physical just the other day and my doctor told me that I am going to have to start watching my cholesterol levels which are apparently on the high end of the normal range. Also my balance of the different types of cholesterol is not particularly good. Basically I [...]
It’s not that I have never voted. I have gotten myself registered, and made it to the polls on a few rare occasions. But those times have usually been to vote “No” on some particularly heinous ballot proposition, and not because any particular political candidate seemed like a good choice to me. (Unfortunately, they don’t [...]
Last night I attended an event at the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) where the writer James Bovard gave a talk entitled “Civil Liberties Under Attack in America.” http://www.fee.org/events/detail.asp?id=6289&page=1&t=0 His talk detailed many of the reductions of our liberties that have occurred under the current Bush administration, as a result of the “War on Terror.” [...]
December 5th is the anniversary of the ratification of the 21st amendment to the U.S. Constitution which served to repeal the 18th amendment. The 18th amendment, as you probably know, brought the prohibition of Alcohol to the federal level. Previous to the 18th amendment there had been some dry states, but between January 16, 1920 [...]