"And certainly there be not two more fortunate properties, than to have a little of the fool, and not too much of the honest."

-- Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), Of Fortune

As The Economist points out, 110 years ago today, air conditioning was invented.

It's an interesting read; check it out if you have a couple minutes.

"In 1990 the government agreed to the creation of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), whereby four provinces with Muslim-majority populations voted in plebiscites for a degree of self-rule."

Seems like pretty straightforward, straightlaced, serious stuff from The Economist, so far ( Read more... )

This is part of a comment I left on the Democracy in America blog at The Economist, reprinted here 'cause I want to remember it:

Money is not wealth. Money is merely the effect of wealth. Wealth is profitable relationships, whether in the form of a job, a landlord-tenant relationship, a creditor-debtor relationship or an owner-customer ( Read more... )

"The mandate's opponents favor a federal government as James Madison fashioned it, one limited by the constitutional enumeration of its powers. The mandate's supporters favor government as Woodrow Wilson construed it, with limits as elastic as liberalism's agenda, and powers acquiring derivative constitutionality by being necessary to, or efficient ( Read more... )

Happy Independence Day, everyone!

Posted via LiveJournal app for Android.

I was thinking the other day. In Star Trek: TNG terms, Democrats think Republicans are Q. Powerful, selfish, intelligent, appalling. Republicans, of course, think Democrats are Deanna Troi. Girly, irritating, sensitive, appalling.

As for themselves, both parties think they're Captain Picard.

Cardozo Law School professor Robert Malchman thinks John Roberts is an evil genius for his role in upholding Obamacare.

His arguments are:

That it energizes the Republican base. That is no doubt true, but lots of stuff energizes political bases. Is that a good reason for upholding the law?

That it blunts the push for "real, progressive health ( Read more... )

Surprising just about everyone, the Supreme Court ruled "Obamacare" Constitutional. I'm not only astonished at that, but at the basis for it: not the Commerce Clause, but the power to tax ( Read more... )

A Texas man who killed his unarmed neighbor in a confrontation about loud music has been sentenced to 40 years in prison despite his having recorded the confrontation and made the argument that he was entitled to use deadly force under Texas's "Stand Your Ground" law ( Read more... )