Looking at Old Glory makes you more Republican.

If you want to move beyond ‘duh’ as an argument for traditional marriage–and no reason why you should–this is a great place to start.

I love Geraghty’s idea that the candidates should have to play a war game. Preferably multiple ones. And then several hands of poker with each other. And then maybe a Survivor type scenario. I say ostensibly this because politics can either be a method for selecting leadership or it can be entertainment and I’ve pretty much ruled out the former. But I have a sneaking suspicion that war games and poker would actually give us some useful information about the candidates.

Talk about burying the lede.

The techniques of priestcraft do not change. Tell ‘em what they want to hear.

One remarks the evident parallels to the oeuvre of Shelley.

Jeff Jacoby preaches demography.

I don’t care for Kaminsky’s Abe Lieberman series. His Lew Fonesca series are all right, but the hero is too much of a knight errant for no particular reason. His Toby Peters series is a pleasure for anybody who likes the golden age of film, like I do, though it suffers just a little from knight errantry. But his Rostnikov novels, about a Soviet and post-Soviet police inspector and his investigative team, those are my favorite. (more…)

The nanny-state trial-lawyer complex has made playgrounds worse for children by forcing them to be “safer”.

Public money is the only glue holding it together, and the money’s running out. (more…)

Walter Russell Meade on the hate that dares not speak its name. (more…)

On the Right we like to think that President Obama is dragging down the economy with uncertainty. By threatening more spending and more regulation, our story goes, he has frozen capital and stymied entrepeneurship. Put in a President (ours) and a party (ours) that is predictable in not making the business and tax environment worse, and, boom, instant economic sunshine. I think Amity Schlaes, The Forgotten Man, originated the story. As a loyal son of the Right, I, of course, accept that uncertainty about tax increases and regulation increases retards the economy. However . . . (more…)

I am pleased to announce the birth of Stupor Mundi, our first son. We can’t say whether he will one day bestride the world in bloody conquest or merely invent an anti-gravity device to lift his cartful of Nobel prizes; the little man hasn’t decided yet. (more…)

Our last three children were born at Albuquerque’s Presbyterian Hospital. The first two times went well. This time, the staff ordered us about, and in word and action showed that they thought our son was only ours only to the extent they decided to let us have him. The hospital staff followed rigid procedures that appeared designed to maximize our inconvenience. Twice we were blatantly lied to.

We also were one of the few parents there that weren’t tattoed and wearing slovenly tank tops, which was also a change from last time.

Perhaps there was a connection.

I have long advocated a form of Demeny voting. Came up with my own version all on my own, unaided. Because I am a crank.