Today’s quote comes from Ayn Rand’s essay “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business” from Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. Leading up to this quote, she describes what economic and political power are and in this quote defines the difference between them.
Now let me define the difference between economic power and political power: economic power is exercised by means of a positive, by offering men a reward,
Despite its somewhat woozy wording, what exactly is "social and environmental disruption," it is startling to see any government body, in Vermont of all places, dispute the utopian claims made by green energy advocates and actually looking at the downsides to such systems. […]
Recently I sent a message, modified from a template provided by the Stop the Vermont Beverage Tax group, to my state representative and the governor expressing my opposition to the proposed two-cent per ounce tax on, some, sugar sweetened beverages. (I wrote about this issue previously, here for example.) The content of my message was:
Serendipity is a wonderful thing.
Earlier this week I received an email from Representative Peter Welch (D-VT) touting all the things he is promoting of late. You can view the full email here but I mainly want to focus on the bit about biomass, as that is where the serendipity came in.
Here’s to biomass!
Modern wood heating systems are a great way to reduce heating bills while improving the environment. That’s why Peter introduced The Biomass Thermal Utilization Act which would make it more
Adolf Hitler, Dr Frankowski, Joseph Stalin
A basic fact of human nature is that there are only two ways we can deal with one another, by reason or by force, and these are mutually exclusive. If you choose reason, you rely on persuasion and facts to convince another person. If you reject reason, you rely on the threat, or actual use, of physical force to achieve your goal. You ask a friend to give you a ride to work because your car broke down or you steal a car. You work hard to learn a skill and get a good job to make a living or
The “showpiece” of the art at One World Trade Center in New York.
I have not written on art before as it is not something I have given a lot of thought to, despite the fact that I work for a small non-profit arts organization. (In my defense, my job deals with technology issues such as our website and ticketing system.) I do know what sorts of things I like, but I do not know enough about the philosophy of art, aesthetics, to say much that would be at all interesting.
During his March 9, 2015 radio show, Yaron Brook recommended a book by the late John David Lewis, Nothing Less than Victory. This book provides a historical look at how “aggressive, strategic military offenses can win wars and establish lasting peace, while defensive maneuvers have often led
I am trying out a bit of a change in my posting schedule and moving my podcast round-up to the end of the week to hopefully free up the early part of the week for posts I want to spend more time writing on over my weekend. It also gives me time to catch up on the podcasts I am not able to listen to live using the Player FM app for my Android devices.
The American Spectator recently published a great article by David Catron titled “King v. Burwell Is Much Bigger than Obamacare” in which he lays out what is really at stake here. This case is not about “killing health care,” states’ rights or even killing Obamacare, although a ruling in favor of King et al would certainly have effects in all those areas. Rather
On the WCAX news tonight they reported about “a pilot Driver Restoration Day” to be held in March where people who have had their driver’s license suspended for failure to pay traffic tickets can get their license back by paying some small fraction of the fine. According to the press release from Governor Shumlin’s office, about 22,000 Vermonters have had their license suspended for “failure to pay overdue traffic fees and fines.”
Given that, in a rural