Monthly Archives: June 2008
This explains how a society without villains or conspirators, composed of good-willed but self-seeking individuals, can produce a culture that so many of its members… Read more
The Anti-Federalist Papers: Do Checks and Balances Really Secure the Rights of the… Read more
A List of Fives
Well, it seems that blog memes still exist, since my friend Jeff tagged me with one. In the true spirit of blogging, I will now blindly jump on board and reveal several seemingly interesting but totally meaningless factoids about myself: What were you doing five years ago? Living at the beach. What are five snacks you enjoy? I’m not really much of a snack person; I like the production aspect of a proper meal too much to waste much eating on snacks, but I am occasionally partial to: a proper flapjack (not a pancake, a granola bar as God intended them to be); Cuban chocolate; Scottish shortbread; Walker’s Cheese & Onion crisps; and Curried Popcorn What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire? Hire an accountant to keep me from being stupid with the money; Hire a law firm to get me out of being stupid with the money; Buy an apartment (building) in Paris; Endow chairs and scholarships in Philosophy at select universities (MIT,… Read more
American Hypocrisy
Now that the Democratic primaries are over, it’s election season again, which means it’s time for America’s favorite game show; Who Wants To Be a Hypocrite. It’s time to listen to the party voters explain how they aren’t party voters and how, after much soul searching and deep thought on the issues of the day, they have decided to once again vote for the party they have always voted for and always will vote for. It’s time to undertake deep, penetrating analysis of which candidate we are emotionally predisposed to based on ethnicity, gender, familiarity or unresolved daddy issues and make up as many reasons for everyone else to vote for them as possible. It’s time to watch the poor and barely-not-poor vote against their own economic interests based solely on a misidentification with the candidate that most closely matches the paternalistic fantasy they have created for themselves. It’s time to discuss whether or not the American populace is too stupid to vote rather than… Read more
What About The Middle Class?
Recently, with the prices of gas, food and most everything else moving shockingly close to subsistence-level wages for those who make the goods, there has been much hand-wringing and boo-hooing about the fate of the middle class in America. Every other news story is about some “hard-working American family” who has had to endure the unthinkable, like not eat in restaurants but once a month and cancel their Constitutionally-guaranteed beach/mountain vacation. Some of these poor folks have even had to sell their second houses and third cars just to keep up the payments on their 3000 sq ft suburban McMansions. Newsflash: The middle class is a figment of its own imagination. There is no such thing as a “middle class” and it is high time these yahoos learned where they actually stand. For half a century these mouth-breathing idiots (and their mouth-breathing idiot parents before them) have allied themselves with the owning class based on a complete fiction. They have pretended that… Read more
The easiest pub quiz question in the world: name a river that flows through London. Answer: the Thames. A somewhat more difficult question: name another river that flows through London. Or a third, fourth, or… Read more
The Kindergarchy: Every child a… Read more
The current object of my affection: Trek Soho… Read more
Why the US Has Gone Broke: Military… Read more