Posted in Distributive Justice, Equality, Politics, economics, tagged minimum wage on May 12, 2008 | No Comments »
Megan McArdle writes disapprovingly of the minimum wage:
Both at Crooked Timber, and in my own beloved comment threads, the suggestion has been made that the minimum wage is really swell because it gets rid of low-productivity jobs that only pay the minimum wage.
This sounds lovely–if you are the kind of person who has the skills [...]
Posted in Politics, liberty, philosophy, rights, tagged McCain on May 2, 2008 | No Comments »
Jonathan Rauch argues that John McCain is a true conservative, in the mold of Edmund Burke–and that “movement” conservatives aren’t. Rauch starts with a nice precis of an aspect of Burke’s thought that influenced, among others, Freidrich von Hayek:
Burke is the father of modern conservatism, and still its wisest oracle. Tradition-minded but (contrary to [...]
Posted in Organizations, Religion, economics, tagged church growth movement on April 28, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Lydia McGrew writes compellingly about pressure in companies to advance, to develop one’s career by changing jobs frequently:
there is intense pressure constantly to be changing one’s role in the company. This is billed as “developing,” “advancing.” “Move up or move out,” is the basic message. Even if, as does sometimes happen, you do well at [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged global warming on April 27, 2008 | No Comments »
Today’s minute for mission at church: an announcement of a special presentation Tuesday on “An Inconvenient Truth” and the global warming crisis. Meanwhile, it’s 59°, in central Texas, on a late April afternoon.
Posted in Music, Uncategorized on April 17, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Look at what song was number one on the Billboard chart the day you were born. (HT: Ann Althouse) Yikes!
Of course, it doesn’t have to be your birthday. Other important days (some of which are rather ironic):
Stock market crash, October 28-29, 1929: “Tip Toe Through the Tulips” by Nick Lucas
FDR’s inauguration, [...]
Posted in Politics, Uncategorized, tagged Obama on April 17, 2008 | No Comments »
There have been lots of interesting reflections on Obama’s dismissal of the concerns and culture of Pennsylvanians. Armed Liberal notes that many of the people Obama had in mind don’t vote Democratic because Democrats promise more government, and they think that government hasn’t been a very good deal for them for the past few [...]
Posted in Politics, Uncategorized, tagged Obama on April 11, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Obama on Pennsylvania voters:
[T]he truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there’s not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on April 8, 2008 | No Comments »
Hugo Chavez has taken The Simpsons off the air in Venezuela.
Posted in Uncategorized on April 5, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Dr. Helen notes a difference between bumper stickers for Obama and McCain:
I looked up both of the official websites of the two candidates and got a kick out of the differences in the bumper stickers and logos. Here are McCain’s bumper stickers– note that they are plain although there is one that says “Veterans for [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on March 28, 2008 | No Comments »
Mark Twain, reading an obituary for himself in the newspaper, quipped, “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” But at least no one tried to bring it about. Zach Dunlap was pronounced dead after an ATV accident, and his body was about to be harvested for organs, when he responded to stimuli:
Dunlap [...]
