tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37357402011-07-14T14:36:36.357-07:00All is VanityExploring events with an emphasis on questions of liberty and property.Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17237225577638199492noreply@blogger.comBlogger381100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-1121120060993394602005-07-11T14:57:00.000-07:002005-07-11T15:14:20.996-07:00Some free advice for the Democrats with regards to the whole Karl Rove/Plame thing.The proper way to deal with this is *NOT* to scream for the head of Karl, demand that he be frogmarched out of the White House, and explain how what he did was absolutely horrible for any president's advisor to do. That will only result in the Republicans pretending that all Rove did was suborn perjury or Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-1119713759305128112005-06-25T08:21:00.000-07:002005-06-25T08:35:59.310-07:00Things to keep in mind when hoping to get elected to public office:If I may make a sweeping genralization, there are three kinds of people in the political arena.Column A consists of people who vote for Democratic candidates, no matter what. "Jesus" has two syllables. These people are easily offended.Column B consists of people who vote for Republican candidates, no matter what. "Jesus" has threeJayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-1119208248328204212005-06-19T11:32:00.000-07:002005-06-19T12:10:48.336-07:00Religion and Gay Marriage and Getting What You WantI'm one of those who tends to see Religion as D&D for grownups.If you want to have your little group and play by these little rules and have all of these weird little taboos and totems and all that stuff, knock yourself out.Hey, if you enjoy your gaming sessions so much that you want me to show up and play along, good for you. Come on in. We can Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-1116535162079939712005-05-19T13:14:00.000-07:002005-05-19T13:39:22.090-07:00A quick and dirty guide to the upcoming 2006 Senate elections. I used the CNN 2000 results as a checklist of who will be running next year.So be warned, not all of this info is relevant. Jim Jeffords, for example, is no longer Republican. Zell Miller has retired. But, for the most part, I think the info is good.That said, let's look at the election returns, senate-wise, in 2000.Republicans SenateJayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-1098231241979478532004-10-19T17:12:00.000-07:002004-10-19T17:18:22.920-07:00October Surprise
THIS is why President Bush will win:
Very powerful ad that will play on the emotions of everyone. Compare this to the negativity and lies spewing from Lurch's mouth. Once Kerry sees this he'll vote for Bush. The PFA Voter Fund has made a $14 million ad buy in key swing states for this ad. Game over.
Trip&Fall will have a lot more time to spend on his hair after November 2nd Joeynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-1097986419612826312004-10-16T21:09:00.000-07:002004-10-16T21:13:39.613-07:00Osama in China? Read for yourself:
Bin Laden is in China
This confirms Gordon Thomas, a journalist with contacts in the most important intelligence services. The terrorist had reached an agreement with China, which now negotiates its surrender with Bush. It is his greatest electoral trick. Translated from El Mundo
Gordon Joeynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-1097442203491705422004-10-10T14:02:00.000-07:002004-10-11T11:13:15.150-07:00I still think that Bush is going to win and that it won't be close. (By "close" I mean that there will be three or more points difference between the two candidates. 51.5 to 48.5 or greater.)
There are a handful of reasons for this:
1. The military vote. Last time, the military turned out for Bush about 80/20 (or so I seem to recall). Given Kerry's history, I do not think that he will carry 20% Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-1093476920842837552004-08-25T16:21:00.000-07:002004-09-30T22:04:45.993-07:00Looks like neither Jay nor Matt have posted here in a while.
So Senator John Fraud Kerry made a desperate attempt, or stunt, today to try and once again link the Swift Vets for Truth with President Bush by sending Max Cleland to the President's ranch. Never mind that this is a bullshit attempt to draw attention away from Kerry's own embelished war record and the atrocities he committed against Joeynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-1087935968020499992004-06-22T13:25:00.000-07:002004-06-22T13:26:08.020-07:00Why John Kerry might just might be bad for the Democratic Party.
I was tooling around at DU the other day and stumbled into one of the Nader threads. There is a great deal of hatred for Nader what feels like a majority there. Of course, the remainer is split between "it was his right to run, Gore should have been a better candidate" and "Leave Ralph alone, if you want progressives to vote for Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-943349522003-05-14T09:08:00.000-07:002003-05-14T09:08:14.320-07:00While visiting Matthew Yglesias's blog, I commented in one of his threads and thought that the thought would also be appropriate here.
One thing that bugs me when discussing how to deal with Muslim Extremists is that we tend to not give the Muslim Extremists the benefit of the doubt.
If a white guy goes to South Carolina and shoots an abortion doctor and then goes on to explain that he did it Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-937477722003-05-04T08:38:00.000-07:002003-05-04T08:39:34.000-07:00On National Review's Corner, Jonah Goldberg asked:
do any conservatives out there think this is actually a big deal? I don't mean the politics of it. Obviously this will give plenty of new ammo to Bennett-haters who used to mock only his weight. I mean are any conservatives out there truly, deeply disappointed in the guy?
Here is the letter I wrote to him in response:
I don’t know if I would Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-933184732003-04-26T17:26:00.000-07:002003-04-26T17:26:53.863-07:00And the war has happened and now I'm sufferring from post-war lethargy.
Here's a copy of the letter that I sent my two Colorado Senators after hearing Senator Santorum's comments on Sodomy Laws.
(Opened with a salutation)
I am one of those "neo-cons" that keeps getting talked about. Voted for Clinton, voted for Nader... and then 9/11 happened and I realized that homeland security is terribly Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-893542692003-02-18T21:08:00.000-08:002003-02-18T21:08:41.796-08:00Forgive the lack of recent updates, but the pre-war jitters are getting to me. Instead of sitting down and logically making arguments and speculating on likely outcomes, I start freaking out. And so I will just post a list of books that I created for a friend who was just getting into philosophy and wanted recommendations. Here is that list.
Books that you should read before you die. These are Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-886508442003-02-06T07:19:00.000-08:002003-02-06T07:20:22.000-08:001st Kings, Chapter 3:16-27.
16 Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him.
17 And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.
18 And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-869743772003-01-05T13:36:00.000-08:002003-01-05T13:36:26.360-08:00My theory on why so many romantic relationships don't work out is because the two people involved in the relationship don't know each other and are in denial about this fact. They don't really fall in love with the other person as much as have an idea in their head that they are in love with and they are merely trying to find someone who reminds them of this idea. And, after a few months or yearsJayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-865011732002-12-24T19:13:00.000-08:002002-12-24T19:13:34.116-08:00What expectations can we reasonably hold when it comes to how countries should treat people?
This seems to be at the heart of the debate on the War On Terror. The dovish are asking the hawkish "Why does the US have the right to bomb Iraqi civilians?" The hawkish ask the dovish "Why does Saddam have the right to stay in power?" And both talk past each other because the hawkish do not assume that Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-857378622002-12-09T10:34:00.000-08:002002-12-09T10:34:09.413-08:00A well-fed militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the rights of the people to keep and maintain fire shall not be infringed.
As the spokes-person for Fire Control, Inc. people often accuse me of trying to deny law-abiding citizens access to fire. That is simply not the case. However, we all need to carefully consider the power of fire to do harm as well as good. In light ofMatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17237225577638199492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-854929252002-12-04T10:23:00.000-08:002002-12-04T10:23:52.280-08:00I have been thinking about the whole MIddle-East mess a lot recently, as well as the whole "War On Terrorism" thing and engaging in arguments with people who are pro-Palestinian or Canadian or what-have-you and seeing arguments from the Canadians that amounted to "If you wouldn't want people invading your country and telling you how to live, then don't invade other countries and tell them how to Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-852622342002-11-29T10:26:00.000-08:002002-11-29T10:31:35.000-08:00I am ashamed to admit it but, I don't own a TV. That's why on Thanksgiving I was lying on my bed reading when I heard a radio news report on the Macy's parade (similar to this) which made me really cranky. That's right, this year, for the first time ever, the parade featured an "African-American balloon."
I, honestly, don't even know where to begin with my dismay. There are so many angles toMatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17237225577638199492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-851280512002-11-26T13:48:00.000-08:002002-11-26T13:48:43.470-08:00Priorities.
We all know the heart-warming parable of the guy who filled a jar with big rocks, then pebbles, then gravel, then a little bit of sand, and then poured some water into it. Such a wonderful demonstration of how when one takes care of the big things then one is much more able to take care of the little things.
Which brings us to the current War On Terror and to Osama's open letter to Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-847884042002-11-19T16:26:00.000-08:002002-11-19T16:26:32.846-08:00Hooray for smaller government! The Republicans are back in charge, so all is well. No more outlandish farm or steel subsidies, no new bloated bureaucracies, and best of all NO NEW TAXES. Hey, wait a minute..
The two party system has replaced a thoughtful consideration of our political and public policy questions with petty bickering over entrenched political territories. If the Republicans Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17237225577638199492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-844805282002-11-13T09:43:00.000-08:002002-11-13T09:43:00.420-08:00Pardon the lack of updates recently but I have been working a *LOT* of overtime and my brain is just shy of totally fried.
That said, here's my wacky idea for tax reform that the Republicans should totally adopt between now and 2004.
A tax cut! For The Poor!!! Everyone in the bottom half of wage-earners should pay no Federal Income tax! Why should the poorest of us have so much of their income Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-838326452002-10-31T09:27:00.000-08:002002-10-31T09:30:44.000-08:00Open the borders! There, I've said it. What's more, I mean it. Ever since the start of The Troubles, it has become popular to castigate the INS for failing to protect us from the 19 hijackers, illegally in the country.
Was it really the INS' fault? Suppose the INS had perfectly done their job. The terrorists decide, instead, to hijack transcontinental flights from Toronto and Montreal. Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17237225577638199492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-836594272002-10-28T05:13:00.000-08:002002-10-28T05:13:51.663-08:00The Russians ended the hostage situation in the Moscow theater by pumping in some sort of poisonous gas which neutralized the terrorists and also killed all but one of the 117 hostage fatalities. That's about 1 out of 7 people.
It's better than the worst case scenario, but that's cold comfort.
And so I've been thinking about the choice the Russians made with regards to the gassing of the Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-832813782002-10-20T21:28:00.000-07:002002-10-20T21:28:01.776-07:00Saddam doesn't think too much of the American people.
He held an election in his country and then crowed about the fact that he received 100% of the vote. Not 99.44% (good enough for Ivory Soap). Not 90% (good enough for an A at most major universities). One Hundred Percent. While one would think that this would be enough of an indicator of how much of a farce the election in Iraq was, Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-830788242002-10-16T13:23:00.000-07:002002-10-16T13:23:34.663-07:00[I would like to begin this week by apologizing for the lack of updates for the past two weeks. Some personal issues (and other things which don’t deserve such a haughty title) have kept me busy. Expect your regular weekly updates to return to this space every Wednesday. I suspect that my rantings will inspire Jay to show me the error of my ways on Sundays, as well. – Matt]
So, what is wrong Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17237225577638199492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-822945812002-09-29T19:45:00.000-07:002002-09-29T19:45:11.573-07:00I have been summoned to participate in Jury Duty.
I am pleased to live in a country where I am expected to perform civic duties. Granted, part of me sees this as a hassle, but part of me is excited to see how a trial might work from the jury box. But there is a main thing that leads me to not be as excited as a good citizen should be. While I know that being a juror will require me to assume Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-821182892002-09-25T16:35:00.000-07:002002-09-25T16:35:41.590-07:00There is probably no greater threat to the liberty of the many than the lack of personal responsibility of the few. When people foist off their self-created problems onto society to solve, society has two basic choices: let those people fail or limit the liberty of everyone in the pursuit of a safer society. With the vast resources of our country, it is becoming harder and harder for people to Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17237225577638199492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-819708542002-09-22T18:03:00.000-07:002002-09-22T18:03:28.413-07:00Walking through Montreal, I had a libertarian insight.
We walked past a large building that had a painted sign on its side. I asked my bilingual wife to translate it and she told me that it said something to the effect of "Celebrating 25 years of French not being forced to the bottom of the wall". When I asked for a bit more explanation, she said that 25 years ago the laws went into effect Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-818019082002-09-18T19:29:00.000-07:002002-09-18T19:29:32.916-07:00One of the more interesting debates silently brewing today regards the interpretation of the Second Amendment. A footnote in a Justice Department filing in the case of US v. Emerson included the assertion that the Second Amendment 'broadly protects the rights of individuals' to own firearms. This is a shift in policy at Justice which had previously held the position that the Second Amendment Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17237225577638199492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-816440062002-09-15T15:24:00.000-07:002002-09-15T15:24:48.613-07:00Pragmatism is not so much a philosophy as a rationalization for a lack of philosophy. One could easily make the same argument regarding capitalism. Capitalism is not so much a theory of economics as a description of the behaviors of people acting without an intellectualized economic philosophy. It may seem difficult, then, to simultaneously hold a deep respect for capitalism and a dismissive Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17237225577638199492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-814897282002-09-11T20:29:00.000-07:002002-09-11T20:29:50.970-07:00As I will be vacationing with my wife in Montreal over the next handful of days (and, of course, in the interest of fairness), I will be writing Wednesday's entry this week. (And pardon the hastiness of the conclusion, I just got hit on the back of the head and was told in no unqualified terms to start packing.)
I wanted to write an essay in defense of pragmatism, and (of course) I wanted to Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-813338562002-09-08T18:00:00.000-07:002002-09-08T18:00:10.360-07:00While the minimum wage does qualify as a situation in which the government is setting the prices (at least for the bottommost jobs) of how much an employer is allowed to offer for any particular job, while that is directly the result of the government passing minimum wage laws, there is a direct chain of causation from the passing of the laws back to the American People organizing to have such Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-811466212002-09-04T10:07:00.000-07:002002-09-04T10:11:32.000-07:00Oftentimes liberty minded folk get accused of being uncaring or cold-hearted because of their stands on political issues. Today we’re going to confront one of those more contentious issues head on: the minimum wage.
While we are willing to trust the markets to set fair prices for any number of goods, including VCRs, automobiles and chewing gum, we somehow make an exception for the labor marketMatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17237225577638199492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-810140382002-09-01T19:59:00.000-07:002002-09-01T19:59:37.293-07:00Where does the jurisdiction of the government end? Should the government have the authority to say "No, you can't have that"? While most "liberty-minded" folk think that the government should relax the laws against drugs and find the laws against large sums of cash appalling, there does seem to be a consensus that the government does have the right to say "no" when it comes to certain "Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051665462897439644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-810119152002-09-01T18:59:00.000-07:002002-09-01T19:04:47.000-07:00Jay and I are pleased to announce that we will continue on our current Wednesday-Sunday essay gigs. Having a bit of trouble today with getting Jay's essay up due, apparently, to some database problems at blogger.com who very kindly hosts this space for us.
In addition to Jay and I is a minor cast of others who already have their own blogs but may post items of interest here from time to time.Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17237225577638199492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-808436972002-08-28T15:43:00.000-07:002002-08-28T16:54:19.000-07:00Can inert matter be evil? It seems almost absurd to even ask. Nevertheless, we have an entire collection of laws which seem to argue for just that case. These laws outlaw the possession of certain collections of molecules which happen to be arranged in certain ways.
For most liberty-minded individuals, the first example which leapt to mind was probably drug possession. Under our current Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17237225577638199492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3735740.post-808387852002-08-28T13:35:00.000-07:002002-08-28T16:34:25.000-07:00Welcome to All is Vanity. This blog will be focused on issues of liberty and property. The intent is to provide, primarily, original essays. It is my fervent hope that I will convince my good friend to provide counterpoint, links and his thoughts. More on this later.
Every day we see more and more of our essential liberties slipping away. We will attempt to highlight some of the more Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17237225577638199492noreply@blogger.com0