Ed Driscoll makes a good  case.     (more…)

On why restraint in language is desirable.

In order to pump up their prices by limiting the supply.

I understand the economic theory behind this, but my gut reaction is so negative I can’t help wondering if the theory is simply wrong.

“Emmanuel Gambiri said an educated wife in his cattle-herding Mundari tribe in South Sudan costs 50 cows, 60 goats and 30,000 Sudanese pounds ($12,000) in cash. [. . .] Gambiri recalls a time when wives cost as little as 12 cows and tribal chiefs wielded enough power to call the parents and set an affordable bride price.” (link)

Vacation travel had thinned out the ranks to the point that calling upon me to teach the quorum seemed a reasonable thing to do. A conference talk on service. But it’s July 24; that has to be worked in somehow. Ah, I’ve got it. (more…)

From Andrew Roberts’ excellent The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War:  (more…)

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…)

Lileks explains.

Such as a military funded by bake sales.

I’ve quite enjoyed National Affairs since I first ran across it, but the most recent issue had an article that I believe makes a seriously flawed argument.  (more…)

“What we see,” Mandel explains, “is that health and education (public and private) accounted for an amazing 75% of real wage and salary gains.”

His Majesty: “I’ve known for a long time that death and stupidity were growth industries.”

But here’s the part that really startled me:

In most industrialized countries, more than 80% of health-care spending is now paid for by third parties, primarily government, leaving about 20% to be paid directly by consumers. In the United States, however, only about 10% of health-care spending is paid for by households out of pocket.

This article by Walter Russel Mead has got me thinking aloud, always a dangerous thing.

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“And personally, anything that reduces the amount of fecal matter in food is, in my mind, a good invention.”

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I hate to interrupt the 4th of July festivities, but this one just couldn’t be passed up: Helmet protester dies from head injury in motorcycle accident.

I have a bit of a libertarian streak, but there are some kinds of stupid so stupid that I’m not going to waste a lot of political capital working to get the laws banning those kinds of stupid repealed.