Monday, April 05, 2010
Post-holiday ease-the-reentry tab dump
Not surprisingly, I accumulated a sweaty wad of tabs over the weekend, some quite obviously more worthy than others.
Federal appellate judge and all-around smart guy Richard Posner comments on the health care reform law. As usual, he cuts to the heart of the matter without partisan rancor.
Britain has announced the creation of the world's largest marine reserve. In the middle of the Indian Ocean. How is this possible? The only honest answer is "imperialism," insofar as the reserve surrounds the Chagos Islands, some of the UK's few remaining colonial possessions. Nobody bothered to ask the Chagossians, because the UK and the United States expelled them in the 1960s so that we could build the base at Diego Garcia. This all works for me. I'm a conservationist, and I generally take a "we stole it fair and square" view of imperialism. But I do wonder how the greenies, who usually find common cause with people who spit out the word "imperialist" as an accusation, can live with the irony.
Because you sort of have to link to this, "Progressives Can't Get Past The Knowledge Problem."
It's all about being savvy, or not.
Globe-straddling law firm Latham & Watkins writes about the tax provisions in health care "reform."
Seems like a decent vacation.
I practiced "Human Achievement Hour" unwittingly. So did most of the people in my neighborhood, and I live in Princeton Borough.
Israel, Playboy, and Lady Gaga, and what they have in common.
Teenage anthropology: The earning and spending differences between boys and girls. The best formula: Earn like the girls, spend like the boys.
The Obama administration is now going to profile airline passengers, but they are not using the word. Fine. Call it anything you want, just get it done.
Forget warrantless wiretapping or socialized medicine or airport profiling or campus speech codes: The real threat to our liberty comes from incremental criminalization of minor transgressions.
TTYL.
7 Comments:
By 
SR, at
Mon Apr 05, 09:49:00 AM:
Posner:
"Cutting medical costs means reducing treatment,"
As Bill Murray would say: "That's the fact Jack!"
No matter how you do it, government board or otherwise.
By 
Robert Arvanitis, at
Mon Apr 05, 10:42:00 AM:
On profiling: "Call it anything you want, just get it done."
It's clear you want what's best for the country, and behavioral screening is best for the country, right now.
BUT if we fail to call out the left on their hypocrisy ("it's not fascism when WE do it..."), then we are giving them license. And that is long term bad for America.
By Brian Schmidt, at
Mon Apr 05, 11:20:00 AM:
"But I do wonder how the greenies, who usually find common cause with people who spit out the word 'imperialist' as an accusation, can live with the irony."
Empires are mostly bad, but sometimes they do good things.
Somehow that wasn't too difficult for me to process.
By TigerHawk, at
Mon Apr 05, 11:31:00 AM:
You've always been practical, Brian. No arguing that.
By , at
Mon Apr 05, 02:08:00 PM:
"The Obama administration is now going to profile airline passengers, but they are not using the word."
I call BS!!!
First, they are not going to stop any of the Kenyan's muslim brothers; that would be "racial" profiling.
Second, any profiling would be of the Kenyan's critics. This will be a Nixonian enemies list that hides behind "security" and has the blessing of the media.
By Brian Schmidt, at
Mon Apr 05, 02:59:00 PM:
Thanks, TH. My conservative poli-sci professor used to talk about how lefties disliked the House of Lords because of its theoretical flaws, but as a practical matter it plays a useful, supplementary role in the British political system.
I always thought that was interesting.
By , at
Tue Apr 06, 01:21:00 PM:
Posner's depressing conclusion that a primary benefit of the new Obamacare law will be to turn us into Greece, fiscally speaking, and therefore allow real reform may eventually prove overly optimistic. As a conclusion, after all, it does presume that the destruction of our economy will convice Democrats they were wrong. Has the failure of any social welfare program, ever, done likewise?
Posner is indeed too optimistic.
