Megan McArdle points out that the thought that one can have innovative pharmaceutical companies delivering new drugs at low cost under government direction is a fantasy. You can have lower costs, perhaps—though the military procurement process is hardly encouraging—but you cripple innovation, slowing progress against disease.
Archive for January, 2008
Drug-induced fantasies
Posted in economics, liberty, tagged medicine, pharmaceuticals on January 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Naming the Enemy
Posted in Religion, liberty, philosophy, terrorism, war, tagged Islam, jihad, liberty, terrorism, war on January 31, 2008 | 3 Comments »
George Weigel names the enemy, and asks why so many are so unwilling to do the same:
That is what we are fighting: jihadism, the religiously inspired ideology which teaches that it is every Muslim’s duty to use any means necessary to compel the world’s submission to Islam. That most of the world’s Muslims do not [...]
Islam and Democracy
Posted in Politics, Religion, tagged culture, democracy, Islam on January 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Shrinkwrapped takes a balanced look at some deep and disturbing questions about the compatibility of Islam and democracy, and notes the complexity of the issues involved. Cultural as well as religious issues seem important to this question. Islam in Indonesia and in East Africa has, setting aside recent radical influences, seemed to evolve [...]
Hawaiian Censorship
Posted in liberty, tagged censorship, freedom of speech on January 31, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Michelle Malkin publishes the cartoon that the state of Hawaii is trying to ban. Why, by the way, are Clinton, Obama, and McCain all supporting a movement that threatens democracy in Hawaii?
European Intolerance
Posted in Equality, Religion, tagged discrimination, Equality, gay rights, tolerance on January 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Bruce Bawer reports on the growing intolerance of gays throughout Europe.
Do Christian Leaders Believe in Christianity Anymore?
Posted in Religion, tagged Religion on January 28, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Bruce Thornton analyzes a response to Muslim leaders that seems to indicate that Christian leaders don’t believe in their own religion anymore, or at least aren’t willing to defend it or the civilization that it spawned.
In Light of the Last Post….
Posted in Religion, tagged Religion on January 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A quote from Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling:
In the old days they said, “What a pity things don’t go on in the world as the parson preaches”—perhaps the time is coming, especially with the help of philosophy, when they will say, “Fortunately things don’t go on as the parson preaches; for after all there is some [...]
“Progressive Christianity”?
Posted in Politics, Religion, tagged Politics, Religion on January 28, 2008 | 7 Comments »
Is ‘progressive’ a subsective adjective? I would have thought so, but on Sunday I learned about so-called “progressive Christianity,” which, as far as I can see, isn’t a kind of Christianity at all. Officially, it consists of a few features that amount to a marriage of Christianity and left-wing politics:
1. A spiritual vitality and [...]
Shaking Up the Music Industry
Posted in Music, tagged Music on January 28, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Legal downloads of 25 million songs.
Patrick Henry
Posted in History, foreign policy, liberty, war, tagged History, Patrick Henry, war on January 26, 2008 | 1 Comment »
My daughter and I were reading Patrick Henry’s famous March 25, 1775 speech that concludes, “Give me liberty or give me death!” We were both struck by the contemporary relevance of his second paragraph:
Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes [...]
