The Decline of the NFL?

My take on Bounty-gate.

9/11 Ten Years Later

Check out my latest at the Partial Observer: Excerpt:

It is tempting to say that it is impossible to imagine the federal government being more mismanaged - in foreign policy, domestic policy, and civil liberties - than it has in the past ten years.

But some perspective is in order. The 1964-74 LBJ-Nixon years sent 50,000 Americans to die in Vietnam, their anti-poverty programs led to an explosion of crime and family breakdown, and Medicare helped put America on a fiscally unsustainable path. Before that, the big-spending, pro-regulation methods of Hoover and FDR kept a generation mired in poverty.

Predicting NFL Quarterback Success

Check out my latest at the Partial Observer.

The italicized disclaimer may say it best:

Author's Note: This column is in the process of a transition away from a primary focus on politics and policy, which I write about in other venues. In this space I will tend to write about anything that interests me and inspires me to write.

The "other venues" include DownsizeDC.org and the DownsizeDCFoundation.org. I am NOT necessarily putting a stop to writing about politics at the PO, just that they will appear less frequently.

Do Twists of Fate Make A Difference?

Check out my latest at The Partial Observer. Excerpt:

In 1969, Diane Keaton auditioned for Woody Allen's play Play It Again, Sam. The problem was, Allen was to be her romantic counterpart, and she was noticeably taller than he is. She did get the part, got a Tony nomination for it, and Hollywood came calling.

What if she didn't get the part? Would the world have changed?

Well, yes and no. Keaton was talented enough that she would have gotten another part in some other play, probably would have received a Tony nomination, and again Hollywood would have come calling. Maybe it would have happened one or two years later, and maybe she would have in other movies than the ones she did. Maybe she wouldn't have done so many Woody Allen films, but maybe she would have been in equally-good or better ones.

Life would have turned out a little different for Diane Keaton, and for Hollywood. But not too different.

Time to Dissolve the Union?

Check out my latest at The Partial Observer. Excerpt:

[W]hat would happen if the states become independent?

States that go "protectionist" and shut down trade and immigration with other states will fall into poverty, and their crime rates would skyrocket due to smuggling. Indeed, people and businesses in those states would migrate to states with fewer taxes, fewer regulations, and free trade. Even states with few natural resources can, like Hong Kong, become economically wealthy and industrially powerful.

Also, extradition agreements could function between states the same as they do now. Sports leagues could have teams in different independent states, just as they do now in different independent countries.

And most states couldn't afford to be anything but neutral on the world stage. . .

Violence as Myth

Check out my latest at The Partial Observer. Excerpt:

With the loosening of standards in the late 1960's and the introduction of the MPAA system, we began to see more instances of violence, and more graphic violence, in movies and television. Some of it has some merit; some of it makes me cringe. And yet no fictionalized violence compares to the other kind of violence we rarely see live, but often see reported on television. This is Violence as Myth.

Why Fight for Qadhafi?

Check out my latest at The Partial Observer. Excerpt:

Most people want to do the "right" thing, but find themselves in a world with no good options. Two people who choose differently may find themselves on the opposite side of a shooting war.

Who am I to say who chose wrongly, if I've never walked in their shoes?

Bill James, Yao Ming, Casey Anthony, War, Famine, and More

Just to get you all caught up on my day . . .

• I ask you to tell Congress to get the U.S. out of Iraq ASAP
• I reflect on the wisdom of baseball historian Bill James when it comes to things that are arguably even more important than baseball stats
• And I reflect on the retirement of Yao Ming, the 3,000th hit of Derek Jeter, the death of John Mackey, and the Casey Anthony trial
  

The Time I Committed Election Fraud

Check out my latest at the Partial Observer. A true story, but I rigged it in favor of the candidate I opposed, and learned a lot about immigration and citizenship in the process.

Between God and Man

Check out my latest at the Partial Observer. Excerpt:

Whether it's economic redistribution, the jailing or forced "rehabilitation" of the nonviolent, or forced taxation to build war machines, people of "faith" seem to place their real faith in the State, rather than in their God. And because the State is nothing but a monopoly of the use of force, faith in the State means faith in violence.

The Jonathan Edwards Rule, Revised

Check out my latest at The Partial Observer. Excerpt:

In July, 2009, I wrote of The Jonathan Edwards Rule. Named after the singer-songwriter who penned the early 1970's hit "Sunshine," the rule is a line from that song:

"He can't even run his own life, I'll be damned if he'll run mine."

At the time, the adulterous affair of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford was in the news.

These days, it is Representative Anthony Weiner's communications with young women over Twitter that is causing a ruckus.

Defending Scottie Pippen

Check out my latest at The Partial Observer. Excerpt:

Last Friday, ex-Bulls star and former teammate of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, suggested that LeBron James may be the greatest basketball player of all time.

This provoked a media frenzy, in which Pippen was criticized relentlessly. He subsequently backtracked and clarified that James has the potential to be as great as Jordan.

I don't know enough about basketball to agree or disagree with what Pippen initially said.

I did listen to it live and was surprised to hear Pippen's remarks. But even at the time I appreciated what Pippen meant, even if he now regrets his phraseology.

Principles and Parties

Check out my latest: Principles and Parties. Excerpt:

Party politics is not my favored method to spread the ideas of liberty, and it's not the only method. But it is the favored method in America today, and I understand why many people get involved with it.

I would prefer that the only means be bring about liberty is pure, non-political persuasion.

Maybe that's possible, but I haven't seen it yet.

How Government Increases Environmental Risks

Check out my latest at The Partial Observer. Excerpt:

A Canadian company wants to build an underground oil pipeline from Alberta to Texas that will cross through the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the largest aquifers in the world. A leak there could spill in the Platte and eventually Missouri and Mississippi rivers. And, a leak in such a remote place may take days to detect and even more days to get a crew in to repair it.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has the final say on whether construction of the pipeline may go forward.

Osama Bin Laden and the 9-11 Exception

Check out my latest at the Partial Observer. Excerpt:

The most amazing aspect of this is how, in the post-9/11 world, so many are willing to believe the President (whoever he is) on issues of "national security" and terrorism. They will claim the President is personally unethical and lies all the time, but, when a "national security" incident related to 9/11 comes up, they will believe the President's claims.

I don't recall this before 9/11. Most wars had vocal critics and strong partisan opposition. Today, Presidents get a bi-partisan free pass.

Atlas Shrugs, and So Do I

Check out my latest at The Partial Observer. Excerpt:

You would think that a novel so popular would have the major Hollywood studios bidding up the asking price for the rights. But it didn't happen with Left Behind. And it didn't happen with Atlas Shrugged. If Big Hollywood thought they could make a profit with either, they would have made either movie. Hollywood must have decided that while both novels were popular for niche audiences, neither had mass appeal.

And they aren't shy about making liberty-centered movies. Think about the three most successful franchises:

• Star Wars
• Lord of the Rings
• Harry Potter

Each of them provides a powerful message of liberty. But liberty is not the message the audience receives. Instead, they see "good vs. evil" and, since the audience member thinks of himself as a good guy, he's still willing to use State force to punish anything he thinks is evil.

When people go to movies, they're not hoping to be converted to a religion, let alone an ideology, and they're generally NOT thinking about opening their minds.

Firefly and Artificial Scarcity

Check out my latest at The Partial Observer. Excerpt:

But we don't have a free market, and the central problem is power. Second-rate minds who crave power go into politics. First-rate minds who crave power go into business and finance. Together, they exact tribute from the people: the politician by collecting taxes, the financier by collecting debts and interest. Then they set up social programs and "philanthropic" foundations to make the people dependent on them. Together, they make laws and regulations that make it nearly impossible for individuals to escape their systems of control.

Together, they have created a world of scarcity on a planet of abundance.

Obama's Forgotten Value

Check out my latest at the Partial Observer. Excerpt:

I missed the news about the Koran-burning in Florida. Evidently, it occurred in Florida a couple of weeks ago.(Originally, the pastor behind the idea has scheduled to do it last September 11 but chose not to in the face of a media storm.)

In response, there have been deadly protests in Afghanistan, including the killing of some United Nations employees working there.

It could well be that American troops might be put in greater danger because of this.

This echoes the deadly protests from five years ago throughout the Muslim World in response to Danish newspaper cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

And it says something about the general futility of U.S. military interventions in the Muslim world. Democracy of some sort may gets a firm foothold over there, but freedom and human rights, as Westerners understand them, probably will not.

Abolish the Popular Vote

My latest at the Partial Observer, where I argue that the Electoral College isn't the problem.

Max Schmeling, James Harrison, and Me

Check out my latest at The Partial Observer. Excerpt:

[I was reminded] of a dream a friend told me about years ago, when George W. Bush was still President.

In the dream, Bush would keep showing up in various places and would try to be polite and friendly. But, my friend just wanted to avoid him.

I certainly feel that way with just about any past President, as well as the current one.

I don't want to be photographed with war criminals.