Too Much Dross

Most conservative writers these days pretty much just throw the kitchen sink at "Obama's policies"--many of which are simply a continuation of Bush's. But, you cannot wish away the financial crisis. You cannot reject decisive action in the face of it because that action happens to conflict with some narrow ideological prejudices. Even the Bush administration was constrained to engineer a massive government intervention in the financial system and to take over Fannie and Freddie. Why does the kitchen sink approach trouble me? The problem is that, by casting up such an indiscriminate cloud of details and false claims, it obscures the serious threats Obama's agenda poses; also, it confuses the general audience and discredits the sink-throwing sources. The Republicans have already cried wolf so many times in the last few months that when, his hour come round at last, the beast finally arrives (as surely he will)--no one will be paying attention. Instead of playing these childish ideological games, what the Republicans ought to do is to adopt a pragmatic approach to oppose forcefully two or three key policy threats--and, also, ideally, to concoct some form of constructive agenda of their own, which, at present, they seem, signally, to lack.

Perhaps, on the other hand, the propaganda strategy here is to so associate Obama with failure, incompetence, corruption, etc. so consistently, so insistently as to render his aura, the atmosphere he inhabits in the imagination, permanently infected and impervious to any rational defense. This may even work on a large portion of the idiocracy.

The Commencement of Life

A practical defense of a liberal arts education: consciousness achieved and sustained; the necessity and inescapability of worship as the source of purpose and the guide to thought and action. The best Commencement address I've heard or read (by an oceanic stretch):
http://moreintelligentlife.com/story/david-foster-wallace-in-his-own-words

Immigration Balance Sheet

I'm beginning to see the outlines of a new American tradition: privatize profits, socialize expenses. The financial sector has become notorious for doing this on a devastating scale. But, those businesses that employee illegals are doing essentially the same thing--they benefit from cheap labor and stick the taxpayers with the costs of their employees' medical care, education, imprisonment, welfare programs, etc. These businesses are just another self-concerned special interest. And you may depend upon it, they are well represented in the political game. Until the employment laws are enforced, illegals will continue to pour in--short of this, you have no more chance of preventing their immigration than of stopping the flow of drugs--which is to say, you have no chance at all.

But, there will be no Operation Wetback redux.

Rules and Exceptions

As a libertarian, I generally favor granting individuals freedom to engage in any activities that do not harm others. However, if a cohesive, illiberal theocratic faction emerges within society and grows ever more powerful, it may come to threaten this libertarian regime by virtue of the very freedom which gave it space to grow in the first instance. Consequently, we have a strong argument for designating this group's philosophy or religion, as practiced, an activity that harms others. Certain regulations could then be imposed to defang the serpent. Europe has yet to recognize what it is that has entered its garden of peace.

Kiting

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/saul_griffith_on_kites_as_the_future_of_renewable_energy.html

 

I thought this was an interesting presentation. Several groups around the world are working on energy kites of various types. Two inherent advantages are that high altitude winds are less intermittent and stronger. There's also a company selling kite-sails to reduce fuel consumption in the blue-water shipping industry. Of course, as with virtually all the blue-sky ideas I've seen, it's difficult to estimate this early in the game what the cost-effectiveness will be. These are the types of ideas that should receive the stimulus funding that the Energy Department is dispensing.

Definition of a Criminal Conspiracy

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/us/03church.html   Not only do we not define the Catholic church as a criminal organization--we actually give them tax breaks. Why shouldn't they have to work as hard as the mafia to avoid taxes--and prosecution?