From the New York Times:
“What we’re learning here is really the bedrock difference between the United States and the countries that are in a broad sense its legal cousins,” Mr. Steyn added. “Western governments are becoming increasingly comfortable with the regulation of opinion. The First Amendment really does distinguish the U.S., not just from Canada [...]
Author Archive for monocrat
Since citizens of the United States already have to ask the Social Security Administration for permission to work legally, why not throw Homeland Security into the mix while we’re at it?
This is far beyond Awkward Utopia’s ordinary remit (fellow Utopians, please note that names of serial publications are italicized), but a simple, tasty, and above all economical recipe commands attention. While looking for a recipe I’d seen on the Food Network, I came across this one and was elated to see that, despite nearly bear [...]
Constitutional interpretation, Part I: Of queermo rabbits and grocery lists
Published by November 4th, 2007 in Entertainment & Culture and Law. 0 CommentsWhile this is a topic belonging more to Admiral’s formidable legal mind than my layman’s reasoning, I feel compelled to write and take comfort from Locke’s stance on the power of reason over the Law.
In the foofaraw over wizards who ride their brooms sidesaddle and oral-fixated rabbits, one Columbia-based law professor took the opportunity [...]
It seems that Dumbledore, of all people, was a friend of Dorothy. Who knew.
Florida’s school districts
Published by October 8th, 2007 in Economics, Education and Miscellaneous. 2 CommentsDuring his lecture, Dr. Dewey and a student had the following exchange:
Q: Are spinoff districts a possible solution?
A: Sure, small unfunded districts are probably preferable to large unfunded districts. However, the people in power have an incentive to keep their domains as large as possible.
As a brief follow up on this topic: Florida’s school districts [...]
And now for something different…
Published by October 1st, 2007 in Entertainment & Culture. 0 CommentsAs is well known amongst the UES Council of Elders, I am a huge fan of Milton. I esteem him perhaps a better poet than Shakespeare (who in turn dominates Anglophone drama). In reviewing some of my notes from my last concerted reading of the blind poet’s works, I thought I would share the following [...]
Several months ago, in a review of Radicals for Capitalism, Tyler Cowen sketches the paradox of libertarianism: how classical liberalism partial triumphs in the 1970s and 80s led to increased government, and then discusses why he thinks “libertarians are becoming intellectually less important.” He also provides an outline of how he would “restructure” classical liberalism. [...]
I ever search for ways to get caught up with my blog reading and to avoid serious work and study on days as gorgeous as this Sunday afternoon. And here’s hoping you enjoy the fruits of that labor as much as I have:
The NRO’s Corner reminds us that things can change dramatically in a presidential [...]
So, the APEC conference is getting into swing Down Under, and so is the Syndey sex industry. (Whoever thought up the marketing term “presidential platter” needs to be shot.) Methinks the crowding out of the local sex market is really what might have the lefties up in arms.
In honor of Awkward Utopia’s being among the top 100 economics weblogs, I deign to redact some recent offerings of the economics blogosphere.
Over Marginal Revolution Alex Tabarrok reminds his colleagues of the difference between logical sufficiency and necessity and throws into stark relief what the First Fundamental Theorem of Welfare Economics does and does not [...]
Online Library of Liberty
Published by August 9th, 2007 in Education, Entertainment & Culture and UES. 0 CommentsAwkward Utopians in a bookish but impecunious mood might be interested to visit the Online Library of Liberty, part of the Liberty Fund, a non-profit educational organization with a devotion to classical liberalism. (I myself am currently availing myself of their edition of the Federalist Papers.) They offergratisa wide assortment of classic and modern authors [...]
Once in a rare while, the Alligator actually is the bearer of good news. It seems that a new, 24-hour restaurant has opened in the Holiday Inn in the space vacated by Denny’s so long ago, and I’m pleased to say that I think this is a good development for UF’s eating community: the Dill [...]
Madame Senator Clinton cannot act her way out of a bag, let alone a mafia hit-job or a staring match with patriarchy incarnate. She seems a bit like Susan Sarandon in Team America: wooden.
Citizen Kane2-D2
Published by December 20th, 2006 in Fluff, Policy and Technology & Innovation. 3 CommentsIt seems that at least one organ of Her Britannic Majesty’s Government took Robin Williams’ movie Bicentennial Man at little too seriously. Reports the AP: “Robots might one day be smart enough to demand emancipation from their human owners, raising the prospects they’ll have to be treated as citizens, according to a speculative paper released [...]