After a year of blogging, I have really enjoyed looking into several topics, and I have greatly appreciated the thoughts, comments, and even the ridicule of those that have participated. I've logged almost 190 posts, and we've tussled in hundreds of comments.
Such a large part of the reason I post on a subject is to see what kind of reaction I get. I rarely post on topics that I have my mind made up on, and throwing things out there has made me refine, change, and even abandon previously help views. That is why I hate that I had a definite trail-off in production at the end of the year. So while close to 200 posts in a year is decent, I will try to be a bit more disciplined moving forward.
So two things:
First, thank you to all of you who have read and contributed. I really am indebted to all of you. I hope you will continue to stick around and contribute.
Second, I am going to unload as many bookmarks as possible. I may throw in a comment here or there, but I just need to purge the demons of unwritten blog posts, and I think there are several items here that are interesting in case you haven't come across them already. They are mostly unrelated, and each topic deserves more attention, but so goes life.
First on health care. F.A. Hayek is as anti-socialist as they come, and his book The Road to Serfdom was his most popular work, its whole purpose being to oppose socialist public policies. So read with interet/surprise/dismay Hayek's own views on health care as outlined in Chapter 9 of Serfdom, as discussed here, and then throw in the views of Milton Friedman in the follow-up. If the past centuries most staunch defenders of open market and free competition solution could see nuance in such a difficult and important issue, shouldn't conservatives today be willing to do the same?
Next, government interventionism that I can get behind? Maybe. Isn't this a matter of national and financial security?
Next up, this bookmark was for personal reasons, but hey why not throw it up here. I love food, and I keep an eye out for food items to try in an obsessive quest to find the "best." I have ordered "real" Dr. Pepper from Old Doc's, taken an extra cooler on road trips to load up on Cason's Sausage, searched tireless for the squishiest (fresh just doesn't work) Haribo Fizzy Cola Bottles, and next on my list is to get some bacon (bacon!) from Benton's, the bacon king.
With all the talk of foreign policy and war recently, John Quincy Adams' address on the matter in 1821 has me wondering if America can ever reclaim the principles of its founders.
A New York Times article on conservative hero Ted Olson, who may also become the hero for equal treatment of same-sex relationships under the law.
There has been a great series of posts on The Just Third Way concerning Aristotle's assertion that "man is by nature a political animal" and how that is understood. The series is ongoing (parts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) but I find them well written, if a little slow and cat and mouse-y, and worth the time. I particularly like how he explained Aquinas' revision to Aristotilian thought in posts 7 & 8 based on Christian understanding of God's Law, and will keep reading the series in the coming weeks.
Lest you think the philosophical talk above is of no real consequence, the US Courts have decided that the Bush and Obama administrations have correctly argued that government officials are immune from prosecution in their treatment of suspected terrorists since terrorists don't count as persons.
Back to the economy and the benefits of "financial innovation" ex-Fed chief Paul Volcker has been brutally honest in recent speeches.
I thought for sure I had posted on this WSJ article, but if not it is only because I was equal parts angry at such irresponsible individuals and laughing at irresponsible banks. Vox Day scoffs at bank talk of morality here, which I don't fully agree with, but found interesting.
A great NYT article (hat tip to Dr. RosenRosen) that really deserves a full read. Tiger Woods' fall from grace is the perfect symbol of a decade filled with swindles and bamboozles from those society wanted to idolize (Bernie Madoff, Enron, and countless political leaders from both parties, religious leaders, and yes, sports figures). Will people and the press start asking better questions and become more vigilant in its search for truth in the coming decade? Highly unlikely, but admitting there is a problem is a good first step.
Perhaps a fitting choice of a title for this Time article would be to substitute the word "Because" instead of their choice of "Despite."
I can't believe it, Christopher Hitchens has written something that not only did not make me throw up in my mouth a little, but that I mostly agreed with!
As of now, if I could sit down and talk to any living persons, John Mackey and Alasdair MacIntyre would be at the top the list. Also, Mark Richt would make for a fun wild-card, but only if he cut out the coach-speak and got real.
Man, I have more bookmarks than I thought. I'll stop here for now, but will try to do another unload in the near future.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Well, when I read your link dump, the first thing I thought was "Christopher Hitchens, Really? What was that?" Then after reading, I agree too. He expressed the frustration that I felt this morning as I heard some of the "solutions" to the airline safety. A couple quotes I liked.
"For many years after the explosion of the TWA plane over Long Island (a disaster that was later found to have nothing at all to do with international religious nihilism), you could not board an aircraft without being asked whether you had packed your own bags and had them under your control at all times. These two questions are the very ones to which a would-be hijacker or bomber would honestly and logically have to answer "yes." But answering "yes" to both was a condition of being allowed on the plane! Eventually, that heroic piece of stupidity was dropped as well. But now fresh idiocies are in store. Nothing in your lap during final approach. Do you feel safer? If you were a suicide-killer, would you feel thwarted or deterred?"
-so to prevent terroism, I can't listen to my iPod now. Great.
"It was reported over the weekend that in the aftermath of the Detroit fiasco, no official decision was made about whether to raise the designated "threat level" from orange. Orange! Could this possibly be because it would be panicky and ridiculous to change it to red and really, really absurd to lower it to yellow?"
-Either that, or no one really cares what the stupid color is. OOOH, its magenta today, better get to the airport a half hour earlier. Oh, my! Crimson! Perhaps I'll just stay home.
The reactive rules over the Detroit situation - "since this guy tried in the last hour, let's make people sit in the last hour and put nothing in their lap" - reminds me of the BCS and their reactive rules they make each year based on the complaints of the previous year alone.
I suppose I could get more worked up over this, but I'll let it go for now, and prepare for full cavity searches in the new year.
I also liked the John Quincy Adams document. It could open a lot of points to what I feel was an unfinished discussion on governmental and personal responsibility as it relates to protection and war, but certainly addresses two issues that many Americans feel are mistakes we have made - overseas engagement and the United Nations.
America certainly hasn't taken the historical position of minding its own business, like say, Switzerland.
Post a Comment