That sound you heard is not the Ohio rain that is so often punctuated by a roll of thunder, but existential angst as it works its way through the Republican establishment in Washington, D.C. Eric Cantor, U.S. House Majority Leader (R-VA), lost his party primary today to political novice Dave Brat, an economics professor from […]
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Thunderclap on the Right: Cantor Loses Primary
10 Jun 2014
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Elon Musk is truly a brilliant entrepreneur; initial c0-founder of Paypal, visionary founder of SpaceX and now Tesla motor cars. I met Mr. Musk back in my Air Force days as a launch officer at Vandenberg AFB; my squadron was involved in small launch and we greatly wanted SpaceX to succeed, since costs of large […]
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A Very Long Review of a Very Intellectually Deficient, but Very Big, Book by Thomas Piketty
09 Jun 2014
Before I begin this blog, I beg the reader’s indulgence for such a long book review. However I considered this book worthy of such a detailed examination, due to its popularity and influence, barely three months after its appearance. I do hope the length will be justified by the service it may provide. I promise […]
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Warning: Arcane Book Review of Work on the Nineteenth Century Economic Thought of Evangelicals
03 Jun 2014
I just finished a very interesting, but somewhat difficult, book on the economic thought of Evangelicals in Great Britain between around 1790 and 1880. Sounds really boring? Well, it was a little bit of slogging at times, but it was worth it. The author is Boyd Hilton, the title is The Age of Atonement: The […]
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Obama and the Bergdahl Release
02 Jun 2014
President Obama, unfortunately, does not seem all that interested in obeying the law. The list of overt illegality continues to grow and diversify. Beyond immigration and the Affordable Care Act, the President now flouts the law as it relates to military matters. The Obama Administration, through intermediaries, negotiated the release of Bowe Bergdahl, an American prisoner of […]
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The United States Supreme Court has issued a ruling in the little-known but important case of Bond v. U. S. The facts are as follows: One Carol Bond discovered that her husband was having an affair with Carol’s best friend. She decided the best way to respond was to spread a poisoned chemical on surfaces […]
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Medicare to Cover Sex Change Surgeries
01 Jun 2014
According to the Washington Post, Medicare will now cover sex change surgeries. I am not sure what to say about this, frankly. There are really two separate questions at work. First, should people have the freedom to have sex change operations? Second, do we, as a society, and as taxpayers, have an obligation to facilitate […]
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Kill the Beast! Kill It!
29 May 2014
I keep reading more accounts of the Veterans Affairs hospital scandals and the proposed solutions, and I am about to tear my hair out (sorry, no “trigger warning” there for the violence). One commentator has suggested the the VA hospital system be abolished and veterans be given vouchers to “regular” hospitals. That is a very […]
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X-Men: Days of Future Past
28 May 2014
Too many films are burdened with poor titles. Even typing X-Men: Days of Future Past contracts my authorial stomach, bringing bile to my pen’s tip. I am not going to pretend that my prose is always polished, or that my phrases are framed with poetic elegance, but I try to respect punctuation and syntax. I […]
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First Lady Food Frenzy
27 May 2014
The First Lady Michelle Obama is at it again. Reacting to her critics she has reiterated the necessity of food regulations for school lunch programs. Many schools and districts have complained about the rules, arguing that they are restrictive. Economists and policy analysts have also criticized the rules, designed to limit fat, calorie, sugar and […]