I am currently re-reading Atlas Shrugged for the first time since I first read it two years ago and I am getting a lot more out of it the second time around. In part this is due to the podcast series from Dr. Diana Hsieh in which she discusses the novel in roughly 60 page chunks. It has been fun and informative to take the books in those pieces, reading it first then listening to Diana’s
Category Archives: Commentary
Another from Politix: Illegal Aliens
Politix had another interesting questions today: Is it ok to call undocumented people illegal aliens?
Here is my answer:
Hmmm…
illegal – forbidden by law or statute; contrary to or forbidden by official rules, regulations, etc.
alien – a resident born in or belonging to another country who has not acquired citizenship by naturalization; a foreigner
So, an illegal alien is a foreign born person residing in a country under conditions contrary to, or forbidden by, law. This sounds
Are We All Cronies Now?
I had been meaning to write a post for awhile now about the ongoing dispute between Amazon and the publisher Hachette. The dispute centers largely on how much Amazon can discount physical books published by Hachette and how to set the price for e-books. Initially I was going to write about the rather absurd claims about Amazon’s actions in the dispute – they are like Russia massing troops on the Ukraine border, like a repressive regime, like a totalitarian state or the mafia or that
Income Inequality is a Fact of Reality
In a recent email from the Politix website there was asked the question of whether income inequality concerned me. The first paragraph of this post was my answer, which I expand on.
In and of itself, income inequality is not a problem and is simply a fact of reality. Everyone has different levels of skills, different interests, different levels of ambition to actually make a larger income and different things are more or less in demand than others – to name just a few factors that can go
Tit-For-Tat in Immigration
The website Politix is sometimes a good source for ideas for posts. Today a question popped up in my email asking about whether the fact the immigration to Mexico is harder than to the United States concerned me, with the possible answers of Yes, No and I’m not sure. When you vote you also have space to either endorse someone else’s comment or to put in a comment of your own explaining your vote.
I voted no, and posted the following:
The United States should be basing its policies, on
Economic Ignorance on Display – Electric Vehicle Edition
A year ago I wrote a short post on an example of economic ignorance on the part of town officials here in St. Johnsbury. Such examples are hardly rare, and today’s Caledonian Record has another one.
In June the town secured funding to install an electric vehicle charging station. A state grant will cover 75% of the $15,000 price tag with Green Mountain Power covering the rest. The chairman of the St. Johnsbury select board is quoted as saying:
I’m not sure we need one but if it can
A Teaching Moment from the Reaction to the Hobby Lobby Decision
How Times Have Changed – Republican Version
After posting the definition of the Democratic party from my 1914 dictionary, I realized that I should have also done so for the Republican party. I also failed to note that the Republican party mentioned in the definition of the Democratic party is not the same Republican party we have today, as will be seen in the definition below.
Republican party – One of the two great parties. It was organized in 1856 by a combination of of voters from other parties, notably the Free
Quotation of the Day: Auberon Herbert on the Convenient use of Power
I am still reading Auberon Herbert: Selected Writings from a Reluctant Anarchist, in fact I am still in the first essay, The Right and Wrong of Compulsion by the State, and I am finding a great many passages that will likely make their way here in due time. One aspect I like of this essay is that it was
How Times Have Changed
In looking through my 1914 Webster’s New International Dictionary, I came across this definition as a subhead under democratic:
Democratic party, one of the two great political parties in 1828 in the United States, succeeding the Antifederalists, or Republican, party, of which it had formed one wing under the name of the Democratic Republicans. It has advocated a strict construction of the Constitution, sharp limitations on the power of the federal government, and a broad