December 31, 2008
December 30, 2008
December 23, 2008
LINKS
Times vs The White House
Popularity IsnÂ’t Everything
Another Great Depression?
Posted by: Sarah at
05:54 AM
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We don't have to go back as far as FDR to see the future. Just last night I was looking at a 1965
World Book Encyclopedia yearbook article on Congress, which in LBJ's own words
"... enacted more major legislation, met more national needs, disposed of more national issues, than any other session in this country or the last."
He
... asked Congress on Jan. 8, 1964 ... to declare "all-out war on human poverty and unemployment" ... All this and more could be done without an increase in spending, the President said.
So how's that war going, nearly 45 years later? Was "a $947,500,000 offensive" enough? Is any amount ever "enough"? That Congress
authorized spending in excess of $200,000,000,000 - more than any other Congress, in peace or in war.
How much will be spent in the near future, and how much will be lost?
I recommend the comments beneath Sowell's article. My favorite lines:
Let he who is without wealth cash the first check!
"What should the government do?" someone asked Ludwig von Mises. He replied, "Nothing ... sooner."
Posted by: Amritas at December 23, 2008 10:15 AM (miOrm)
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December 22, 2008
BEING APART
So I have to leave my husband this morning and go back to work to build a foam pirate ship. I wish I were kidding.
A link for this morning: The Politics of Everyman
Posted by: Sarah at
03:53 AM
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I hope you have decent instructions this time!
Maybe the ship will take you to foam heaven ... unless it goes down the foam river Styx. And if it does, say hi to the foam Cerberus for me.
On a more serious note, thanks for linking to John O'Sullivan's balanced assessment of Bush. O'Sullivan does a better job of criticizing Bush than I ever could without demonizing him.
Should the president be an everyman or a superman? Many believe Barack Obama is the latter. Will they still believe that in four or eight years?
Posted by: Amritas at December 22, 2008 07:23 AM (miOrm)
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Too bad it's not something ninja because then it would be invisible and you could tell them you already did it and stay home...
BTW, congrats on getting back to normal.
Posted by: Code Monkey at December 22, 2008 04:18 PM (WUbYJ)
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December 18, 2008
HORSES
First, it was Michael Crichton's
linking horse manure to predicting the next century.
Now it's Thomas Sowell:
For thousands of years, horses had been the way to go, whether in buggies or royal coaches, whether pulling trolleys in the cities or plows on the farms. People had bet their futures on something with a track record of reliable success going back many centuries.
Were all these people to be left high and dry? What about all the other people who supplied the things used with horses-- oats, saddles, horse shoes and buggies? Wouldn't they all go falling like dominoes when horses were replaced by cars?
Unfortunately for all the good people who had in good faith gone into all the various lines of work revolving around horses, there was no compassionate government to step in with a bailout or a stimulus package.
If there's a bad analogy involving horses at the turn of the century, I haven't heard it!
Posted by: Sarah at
03:51 AM
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One problem with the horse analogy is that horses and buggies have become obsolete throughout the industrialized world, whereas American cars are not obsolete. The technological gap between American and non-American cars is not equivalent to the gap between a buggy and a horseless carriage.
But acknowledging those facts still would not justify a bailout. Obsolescence is not relevant; it's a distraction from the real issue.
Fast food restaurants are certainly not obsolete. Two neighboring shopping malls near me each have a restaurant belonging to the same chain, offering identical menu items at identical prices. Suppose one restaurant is successful and the other is ailing. Should the latter restaurant be allowed to go under, its employees "to be left high and dry?" People will protest that it's not fair that one of the twins is dying. They want
cosmic justice.
But isn't failure itself a kind of justice? If the second restaurant is poorly run or in a bad location, does it deserve to be bailed out? Must others pay to shield it from the consequences of bad decisions?
As programs like
these proliferate, people will grow up believing that there never will be a "day of reckoning," as Sowell put it. They tell themselves "reality is optional." They confuse the subjective with the objective. They conflate "I want" with "it is." They don't question the assumptions underlying their desires. They should follow Ayn Rand's advice and "check their premises." But they don't know how. And we all fund their ignorance with our tax dollars.
Idiocracy, here we come. Believing in electrolytes won't make crops grow.
Posted by: Amritas at December 18, 2008 07:47 AM (+nV09)
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December 10, 2008
LINKS
This
Stossel article is exactly what I'm scared to death of...
And this
Boortz article would be awesome but will never happen...
(Both links via Conservative Grapevine)
Posted by: Sarah at
04:17 PM
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I have a question about knitting and crocheting. I don't know how to do either, but I was wondering if you could do both and which you think is easier. If I were going to start, should I start with one or the other. I am shopping for crocheted hats on Etsy.com and I was wondering, in your opinion, how difficult something like this would be:
http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=12408502
Thanks
Posted by: Sara at December 11, 2008 04:29 AM (Iwnkf)
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December 04, 2008
NEW EXPRESSION
I have never heard the expression "That just rips my knitting" -- which apparently is Scottish for "chaps my hide" -- but I totally want to start using it.
Learned here, in an excellent post by Wendy Sullivan at Ladyblog. Which they describe "Like Fight Club, but with better hygiene." Heh.
Posted by: Sarah at
01:23 PM
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December 03, 2008
LINK
I intended to link to this last week but just didn't. My brain came back to it today. I think it's worth reading and thinking about:
Black Friday and Love
Posted by: Sarah at
07:23 AM
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That was an eye-opening read. Thanks.
I once actually saw two women quarrel over an item, just like in the movies, while Christmas shopping.
Until today, I would have written off this behavior as mindless consumerism. An appalling act can have multiple possible motives, and some may not be as bad as others.
Posted by: Amritas at December 03, 2008 02:11 PM (zc9j7)
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