Face the Nation

This morning I watched “Face the Nation,” with Bob Schieffer. His guest was North Carolina’s favorite son, John “Opie” Edwards. Listening to that commie redneck was painful enough, but Bob was able to find a little salt for the wound in his closing commentary. After lambasting Congress for taking too much time [...]

The Shape of Things to Come

In George Orwell’s 1984, the citizens are all required to performed daily calisthenics in front of a government-monitored video screen. The book is a fictional account of a dystopian socialist future (now over twenty years past), but it now looks like the state of Maryland wants life to imitate art. They are threatening parents with [...]

Today’s GOP – Conservatives Need Not Apply

As I’ve mentioned in this blog before, I’m a Ron Paul supporter. It is not my intention to rehash the reasons why in this entry or try to convince you to support him – I’ve already done that here. Instead, I’d like to comment on the GOP’s reaction to the Ron Paul candidacy, [...]

Autumn in Korea

Ah, to be in South Korea in the fall. A time when the weather turns cool, families hike Sorak Mountain, and the students stroll down the streets of Seoul throwing bricks at the riot police. Good times.
I spent most of 1994 in Suwon, South Korea, a city about an hour south of [...]

For or Against?

New Hampshire libertarian Gardner Goldsmith, author of Live Free or Die, hosts a daily radio program called “Against the Grain.” It’s a great show, and I recommend it to anyone interested in an eloquent and civil discussion of the issues from a principled, libertarian perspective. At the end of yesterday’s show, a caller [...]

History’s Costliest Revision

Thomas Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence, which includes the now-famous phrase “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” He was paraphrasing John Locke’s theory of natural rights, which served as the philosophical basis for the American experiment in limited government. In Locke’s Second Treatise, however, the wording was slightly different. Instead [...]

Nonsense in the News

I don’t mean to always pick on the Brazilians, but they do make it easy! From brazzilmag.com….
Swiss National Taken to Jail in Brazil for Calling Airport Agent a Monkey
Brazilian authorities arrested a Swiss citizen in Rio’s international airport Antônio Carlos Jobim, charging the man with racism. According to the airport’s federal police, Davide Bianchi, [...]

Keeping the Faith

In 1951, Henry Hazlitt wrote a novel titled Time Will Run Back. The story is set in a future in which communism has taken over the world. The plot seems a bit dated now, of course, but it’s still a good read. One passage in particular jumped off the page at me:
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Doing Good by Doing Evil

I’ve been suffering from a case of writer’s block lately, thinking that I had run out of topics to complain about. I needn’t have worried. A brand new bad idea was mailed directly to my house in the form of a pamphlet encouraging me to vote for Prop 15 next week.
For [...]