Opinion: The Obamacare whiners - Rich Lowry - POLITICO.com

Opinion: The Obamacare whiners - Rich Lowry - POLITICO.com: "Near the end of his Boston remarks, the president said, “Both parties working together to get the job done, that’s what we need in Washington right now … You know, if Republicans in Congress were as eager to help Americans get covered as some Republican governors have shown themselves to be, we’d make a lot of progress.”

Is that how we’d make a lot of progress? The president got his law and it’s possible more people will be uninsured in 2014 than if it had never passed. That’s on him, no matter how much he and his supporters want to evade responsibility for their own achievement."

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Greg Mankiw's Blog: Who knew what when?

Greg Mankiw's Blog: Who knew what when?: "As someone who has previously worked for a President, I am fascinated by how the White House staff let President Obama so consistently and so publicly make a false statement.  Presidential speeches undergo a painstakingly thorough review process. It seems that there are only three possibilities:

1. The White House staff did not know the statement was false.  That is, they did not understand the law the administration was promoting.

2. The White House staff knew the statement was false, but they decided to keep this fact from the President.  That is, they let the President unwittingly lie to the American people.

3. The White House staff knew the statement was false and told the President so, but the President decided to keep saying it anyway.  That is, the President consciously decided to lie to the American people.

These are the only three possibilities I can envision.  None of them reflects particularly well on what has been going on in the White House."

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Ross Douthat on the burden and incidence of ACA

Ross Douthat on the burden and incidence of ACA: "If we want health inflation to stay low and health care costs to be less of an anchor on advancement, we should want more Americans making $50,000 or $60,000 or $70,000 to spend less upfront on health insurance, rather than using regulatory pressure to induce them to spend more. And seen in that light, the potential problem with Obamacare’s regulation-driven “rate shock” isn’t that it doesn’t let everyone keep their pre-existing plans. It’s that it cancels plans, and raises rates, for people who were doing their part to keep all of our costs low."

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SOWELL: The race-hustlers among us - Washington Times

SOWELL: The race-hustlers among us - Washington Times: "Years ago, someone said that according to the laws of aerodynamics, bumblebees cannot fly. But the bumblebees, not knowing the laws of aerodynamics, go ahead and fly anyway.

Something like that happens among people. There have been many ponderous academic writings and dour editorials in the mainstream media lamenting that most people born poor cannot rise in American society anymore. Meanwhile, many poor immigrants arrive here from various parts of Asia, and rise on up the ladder anyway."

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Dem Strategist: Party is 'F****d' Over Obamacare | National Review Online

Dem Strategist: Party is 'F****d' Over Obamacare | National Review Online: "One high-level Democratic strategist is more than a little worried about the negative impact Obamacare will have on his party’s future. “Dem Party is F****d,” the strategist wrote in the subject line of an email to the National Journal’s Ron Fournier. The unnamed strategist, who Fornier says has strong ties to both Capitol Hill and the White House, said the combination of sticker shock and people being dropped from thier health care plans will doom the Democratic party as the implemenation of Obamacare continues. "

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I hope so!

LA Times - Some health insurance gets pricier as Obamacare rolls out

LA Times - Some health insurance gets pricier as Obamacare rolls out: "Pam Kehaly, president of Anthem Blue Cross in California, said she received a recent letter from a young woman complaining about a 50% rate hike related to the healthcare law.

"She said, 'I was all for Obamacare until I found out I was paying for it,'" Kehaly said."

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Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics: Charles Krauthammer: 9780385349178: Amazon.com: Books

Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics: Charles Krauthammer: 9780385349178: Amazon.com: Books: "Charles Krauthammer: No real surprises—I find that I agree with myself a lot—except for my enthusiastic review of Independence Day. Though I might've been unduly swayed by seeing the premiere with my son, then ten, who announced after the showing that he would see the movie every week for the rest of his life."

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Health insurance cancellation notices soar above Obamacare enrollment rates | The Daily Caller

Health insurance cancellation notices soar above Obamacare enrollment rates | The Daily Caller: "he number of cancellation notices greatly exceed the number of Obamacare enrollees.

Insurance carrier Florida Blue sent out 300,000 cancellation notices, or 80 percent of the entire state’s individual coverage policies, Kaiser Health News reports. California’s Kaiser Permanente canceled 160,000 plans — half of its insurance plans in the state — while Blue Shield of California sent 119,000 notices in mid-September alone."

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Actress Sophia Loren ends 39-year tax feud - FRANCE 24

Actress Sophia Loren ends 39-year tax feud - FRANCE 24: "The 79-year-old Loren, who lives in Switzerland, was quoted as saying she was happy with a ruling by the supreme court that said her 1974 tax return was indeed covered by a 1982 tax amnesty.

"A saga that has lasted nearly 40 years is finally over," Loren was quoted by the La Stampa daily as saying, adding: "I always look to the future and I leave bad experiences like this one behind me."

Her lawyer, Giovanni Desideri, said: "The supreme court has wrapped up a Kafkaesque case.""

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Opinion: Heckuva job, Kathleen Sebelius - Rich Lowry - POLITICO.com

Opinion: Heckuva job, Kathleen Sebelius - Rich Lowry - POLITICO.com: "Her explanation for why the Obamacare website doesn’t work is that she couldn’t possibly have been expected to make it work in the mere 3½ years since the law passed. She told The Wall Street Journal the website ideally needed five years of construction and one year of testing and instead had only two years of construction and almost no testing.

That means with the proper development time, HealthCare.gov would have had a flawless launch … on Oct 1, 2017. Needless to say, had Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) suggested a four-year delay in Obamacare as his fallback in the defunding fight, he would have been scorned as an unbending fanatic, although he just might have been giving Sebelius the breathing room she needed."

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Blue Cross rep in North Dakota: The feds asked us not to reveal the number of people who’ve signed up for ObamaCare « Hot Air

Blue Cross rep in North Dakota: The feds asked us not to reveal the number of people who’ve signed up for ObamaCare « Hot Air: "Still, a spokeswoman from Blue Cross Blue Shield says about 14 North Dakotans have signed up for coverage since the federal exchange went live Oct. 1. That brings total statewide enrollment to 20 – less than one a day.

Spokeswoman Andrea Dinneen said Tuesday that while Blue Cross generally does not release its internal sales numbers, it has in this case because the problematic rollout of the federal health care exchange is a “unique situation.”"

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Obamacare mandate may be delayed - MarketWatch

Obamacare mandate may be delayed - MarketWatch: "The administration declined to say whether people who purchase health coverage late in the enrollment period—say, on March 31—would be exempt from a penalty, even if their policy doesn’t kick in until April or May. Nor would the department give a specific date by which people would need to buy coverage to escape a fine. The HHS official, however, indicated that the administration may extend the deadline beyond Feb. 15: “We are exploring options currently and will issue guidance at a later date.”"

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So we had a shutdown because Democrats would not agree to delaying the individual mandate. But it might be delayed anyway?

If the delay happens, then clearly the shutdown was the Democrats' fault, right? Because all they had to do to avoid the shutdown was delay the individual mandate, which they were going to do anyway.

Co-Ops Created Under Obamacare Are Crumbling | National Review Online

Co-Ops Created Under Obamacare Are Crumbling | National Review Online: "Health-care co-ops that were established under the Affordable Care Act to provide a non-profit alternative to major health-care insurers, thereby promoting greater competition, are facing funding pitfalls and potential closures. According to a Washington Post report, these co-ops—different from traditional insurers because of their nonprofit status and governing board of policyholders—have faced government funding cuts and prohibitive red tape and may soon have great difficulty paying back their taxpayer loans valued at nearly $1 billion.

Thus far, one co-op has closed, another is struggling, nine more have projected financial problems, and 40 co-op applications were withdrawn owing to funding "

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The Book of Mormon and the Leaves of Grass: The Case for Plagiarism?

The Book of Mormon and the Leaves of Grass: The Case for Plagiarism?: "The astute reader, upon hearing the first mention of Leaves of Grass as a candidate for Book of Mormon plagiarism, will immediately sense a tantalizing possibility. The very title itself suggests "Leaves of Brass"--and thus "Plates of Brass"--a Book of Mormon parallel from the get-go. Coincidence? Not when considered in light of the overwhelming evidence of plagiarism that I present below."

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Thousands Of Consumers Get Insurance Cancellation Notices Due To Health Law Changes - Kaiser Health News

Thousands Of Consumers Get Insurance Cancellation Notices Due To Health Law Changes - Kaiser Health News: "Florida Blue, for example, is terminating about 300,000 policies, about 80 percent of its individual policies in the state. Kaiser Permanente in California has sent notices to 160,000 people – about half of its individual business in the state.  Insurer Highmark in Pittsburgh is dropping about 20 percent of its individual market customers, while Independence Blue Cross, the major insurer in Philadelphia, is dropping about 45 percent."

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I know everyone thinks the government shutdown was a debacle for Republicans. But if the Obamacare train wreck is going to happen--I and think it will--maybe it wasn't such a bad idea for Republicans to reiterate their opposition to Obamacare in the moments before the collision.

Offsetting Behaviour: Construction costs

Offsetting Behaviour: Construction costs: "Donal Curtin pointed to some less-than-helpful government action that helps increase construction costs. New Zealand initiated anti-dumping action against Chinese wire nails, Malaysian galvanised wire, and Thai plasterboard, among other things. And so we have a specific tariff helping to keep prices up for plasterboard. While we're trying to rebuild after an earthquake.

So one part of central government is all mad about excessive construction costs. Another part of central government penalises foreigners for selling us construction materials cheaply. Meanwhile, local government does its best to restrict the supply of land to keep property values up."

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An Immodest Proposal

I'm unhappy with the direction of our country, and more particularly, the growth of government. I don't think the U.S. debt to GDP ratio approaching 90% is healthy, nor do I see any end to government growth in sight. I don't think that the government (all levels) should spend 38% (or whatever it is) of our GDP.  I also don't think that regulating the healthcare market (which represents 18% of the economy) through 20,000 pages of regulation is going to make health insurance cost less or the medical care better. Similarly, I don't think Dodd-Frank is going to make the financial markets any safer or more efficient. In fact, almost every regulation we pass, in my opinion, damages or hampers the economy in one way or another.

But clearly many if not most people disagree with me. We have deep philosophical disagreements that I don't totally understand, and frankly, I don't think we are going to be able to resolve them any time soon. And as we have seen recently, when these philosophies clash on the political stage, it can be ugly.

Depressing. But here's where it gets better, because I have come up with a solution! What is it? Simple: we should split up the country! Sort of. That is, we should divide the county into at least two regions that can pursue their own economic policies. The regions would roughly follow the outlines of the current divide between red and blue states. It might be nice to have a third, libertarian region, too.

Each state will be allowed to decide which region they want to join. If you want to join the Democrat region, you are subject to the Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, cap-and-trade, and whatever other regulation The Democrat region passes. If you want to join the Republican region, you are freed from those regulations but subject to all other regulations specific to that region.

Now to make this work, the regions would have exclusive control over all domestic laws that are currently federal laws. That includes national education policy, employment law, and all entitlement spending. However, we will keep a central federal government with the power to conduct foreign policy. We don't want to have a military conflict between regional governments. The central government will have to collect taxes to fund the military, intelligence and foreign policy bureaucracy, but that will be the limit of its taxing power. We'll constitutionally require that the central government run a balanced budget. Taxes for central government will be levied as a flat tax, however, the regional government can change the default by subsidizing or taxing its citizens in a way to make the regional taxes progressive. All policy to counteract the business cycle will be handled by regional governments. Regional governments will be allowed to print their owner currencies and have their own central banks, if they wish.

We will need a Supreme Court to decide foreign policy and military issues, only. The Supreme Court will no longer need to interpret the constitutionality of economic regulations like Obamacare, since those laws will be handled on a regional level. Regional governments will set up their own federal court system as they desire.

Free trade will be the rule for trade between the regional governments.

States will be allowed to move back and forth between regional governments as often as they desire. If the Democrat region passes Obamacare, and the state wants to abandon or join that regions, then they can do so.

Citizens will be allowed to move, uninhibited between regional governments. Regional governments will be allowed to place whatever limit they want to on the entitlements that citizens can receive from the regional government, based on whatever criterion they deem appropriate.Time in the region and taxes paid to the region are two obvious factors a regional government might take into consideration.

My ideal would be allowing every person the freedom to choose the regulatory regime he lived under, without having to move out of his home. The next best thing is probably having 50 different regulatory regimes to choose between. Unfortunately, we mostly undid that system, I guess because some people thought we needed bigger, top-down government. So I propose this system as a compromise. Those states who favor large-top down central government can choose that form of government for their region. People like me who think the government is doing more harm than good can get the de minimis government we desire. Everyone gets what they want. Who could possibly object?

"Second, and this point is going to seem to come out of left field to some, is that I find it hard to accept ANY promotion of civic values from the folks that control the educational establishment. It is plain as day that the corpus of thinking in education is “Progressive.” That’s not my jaded view of the world, that’s simply how it is. Fine. Great. So be it. But the difficulty I have is that the Progressive way of thinking is one that is hostile to human populations and improvements in human well being over time. Indeed, it is from within the modern Progressive movement that we hear things like, “what the human race needs is a great virus to come along” and very “serious” thinkers are all over college campuses promoting birth control, population control and other measures (what may they be?) despite the overwhelming evidence that population growth and standards of living improve hand in hand, and that fertility rates fall as living standards improve – even in places where we once thought we had to “leave ‘em for dead” to paraphrase the benevolent and wise Paul Ehrlich."

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Potemkin Parliament | National Review Online

Potemkin Parliament | National Review Online: "Republicans spent a lot of time whining that, if Obama was prepared to negotiate with the Iranians, the Syrians, and the Russians, why wouldn’t he negotiate with the GOP? Well, the obvious answer is Rouhani, Assad, and Putin don’t curl up in a fetal position at the first tut-tut from Bob Schieffer or Diane Sawyer."

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Potemkin Parliament | National Review Online

Potemkin Parliament | National Review Online: "It would have been useful to demonstrate that just as the sequester did not cause the sky to fall and the shutdown had zero impact on the life of the country so this latest phoney-baloney do-or-die date would not have led to the end of the world as we know it. If you’re going to place another trillion dollars of debt (or more than the entire national debts of Canada and Australia combined) on the backs of the American people in one grubby late-night deal, you might as well get a teachable moment out of it."

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MoveOn.Org Hosts Imbecile “Seditious Conspriacy” Petition Against House Republicans | National Review Online

MoveOn.Org Hosts Imbecile “Seditious Conspriacy” Petition Against House Republicans | National Review Online: "At the website of the anti-American, radical Left outfit, MoveOn.org, 29,000 progressive big thinkers have signed a petition calling on their friends at the Obama Justice Department to prosecute House Republican leaders. The petitioners claim the GOP’s recent strategy, leading to a government shut down and “threaten[ing] the U.S. economy with default,” constitutes “an attempt to extort the United States government into altering or abolishing the Affordable Care Act.” That, they proclaim, “is self-evidently a seditious conspiracy” – the crime they would have Eric Holder charge."

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Linda Greenhouse: A Tree Grows in Canada (and Are Women "Persons"?)Michael Ramsey - The Originalism Blog

Linda Greenhouse: A Tree Grows in Canada (and Are Women "Persons"?)Michael Ramsey - The Originalism Blog: "My view is that originalists should contest the living tree metaphor.  (It's a bit unfortunate that Justice Scalia was once given to joking that the Constitution was "dead," because that allows opinion writers to make all sorts of tired commentary levered off his remark, as Greenhouse doesn't fail to do).  Why isn't a tree more like an originalist conception of the Constitution?   A tree is rooted in one place; has a core central trunk that holds firm its main shape; and changes its outer bounds only incrementally.  Similarly originalist interpretation is rooted and fixed to a core shape -- but it can hardly be said that it doesn't change.  The text doesn't change (except by amendment), but the whole body of constitutional law does: application of the text develops as ambiguities are discovered and explored, new policy initiatives are tested, and new technologies invented.  Constitutional law, under an originalist conception, would look different today than it did at the outset because of these changes in application.  The "dead" Constitution is a strawman."

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Eureka! Tea partiers know science - Tal Kopan - POLITICO.com

Eureka! Tea partiers know science - Tal Kopan - POLITICO.com: "A finding in a study on the relationship between science literacy and political ideology surprised the Yale professor behind it: Tea party members know more science than non-tea partiers.

Yale law professor Dan Kahan posted on his blog this week that he analyzed the responses of more than 2,000 American adults recruited for another study and found that, on average, people who leaned liberal were more science literate than those who leaned conservative.


However, those who identified as part of the tea party movement were actually better versed in science than those who didn’t, Kahan found. The findings met the conventional threshold of statistical significance, the professor said.


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I Signed Up for the Ayn Rand Fan Club Dating Site | VICE United States

I Signed Up for the Ayn Rand Fan Club Dating Site | VICE United States: "Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal blew the lid off of the preeminent dating website for fans of Ayn Rand and her Objectivist philosophy. For the uninitiated, Objectivism is a system of belief that emphasizes "man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." In practice, this means being an absolute dick and believing rich people are noble and poor people are morally deficient."

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I can see this Schilling guy has really gone out of his way to try and understand and sympathize with Objectivists!

I Signed Up for the Ayn Rand Fan Club Dating Site | VICE United States

I Signed Up for the Ayn Rand Fan Club Dating Site | VICE United States: "Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal blew the lid off of the preeminent dating website for fans of Ayn Rand and her Objectivist philosophy. For the uninitiated, Objectivism is a system of belief that emphasizes "man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." In practice, this means being an absolute dick and believing rich people are noble and poor people are morally deficient."

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I can see this Schilling guy has really gone out of his way to try and understand and sympathize with Objectivists!

She Raped Him, Using Guilt and Arguing | The Volokh ConspiracyThe Volokh Conspiracy

She Raped Him, Using Guilt and Arguing | The Volokh ConspiracyThe Volokh Conspiracy:

If "nagging" or "cajoling" someone into having sex is rape, then "nagging" or "cajoling" someone into going with you on a grocery shopping errand is kidnapping, and "nagging" or "cajoling" someone into mowing the lawn is slavery.

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Ideas: A Matter of Priorities

Ideas: A Matter of Priorities: "By all accounts I have seen, the software system for Obama's 2012 reelection campaign worked flawlessly, in striking contrast to the opposition's. The computerized system for Obamacare, on the other hand, has been, again by all accounts I have seen, a complete mess.

Nice to know what matters."

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Video: Cruz: Senate Republicans should have followed House Republicans – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

Video: Cruz: Senate Republicans should have followed House Republicans – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs: "BASH: As you well know, you have a lot of fellow Republicans really downright angry at you because, here we are, almost three weeks later, the strategy that you started out on to defund Obamacare as part of funding the government. They never thought it was going to work because the votes aren't there. And here we are, reopening the government after a lot of bruising political warfare internally, and you got nothing for it."

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I can't find the question CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent's "question."

Obamacare Might Well Be Imploding - Reason.com

Obamacare Might Well Be Imploding - Reason.com: "Robinson might be right. Then again when funny man Jon Stewart echoes Tea Party “wackos” to demand a one-year delay of the individual mandate, the lynchpin of the edifice, you know all is not well. And Stewart is hardly alone. CNN anchor Wolfe Blitzer is also recommending a delay."

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And Alan Colmes.

Vermont Obamacare Exchange Has 631 Enrollees | National Review Online

Vermont Obamacare Exchange Has 631 Enrollees | National Review Online: "After withholding enrollment numbers that they’d promised to release, Vermont Health Connect told local station WCAX Tuesday that a total 631 Green Mountain Staters have selected health-insurance plans. They haven’t entirely completed enrollment, though: Vermont Health Connect spokeswoman Emily Yahr told NRO that the enrollees haven’t paid for the coverage; premium processing won’t begin until November. Vermonters will need to pay before mid December for plans to kick in on New Year’s Day."

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Best of the Web Today: As Good as It Gets? - WSJ.com

Best of the Web Today: As Good as It Gets? - WSJ.com: "The Washington Examiner has a roundup of other ObamaCare horror stories:

-- Enormous rate increases. A research group found that a 30-year-old male nonsmoker "will see his lowest cost insurance option increase 260 percent.""

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Nate Silver Says Republicans Will Be Okay | National Review Online

Nate Silver Says Republicans Will Be Okay | National Review Online: "Polling and political-science maven Nate Silver doesn’t buy claims that the Republican party is being seriously hurt by its intransigence over the shutdown. The first four of his six “takeaways” from the government-shutdown fight:

1. The media is probably overstating the magnitude of the shutdown’s political impact.

2. The impact of the 1995-96 shutdowns is overrated in Washington’s mythology.

3. Democrats face extremely unfavorable conditions in trying to regain the House.

4. The polling data on the shutdown is not yet all that useful, and we lack data on most important measures of voter preferences."

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I would have Scoffed at this in the past. but Nate Silver was basically totally right about the last election.

Dana Loesch: Not afraid to fire away - Mackenzie Weinger - POLITICO.com

Dana Loesch: Not afraid to fire away - Mackenzie Weinger - POLITICO.com: "“Fear is an epidemic right now in the Republican Party because Republicans are more concerned with what the headlines are going to say about them tomorrow than what their constituents are saying about them today,” she added. “And that’s where they’re making a really big mistake.”"

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Boy, I hope that's true.

Educating Zion - Discipleship and Scholarship

Educating Zion - Discipleship and Scholarship: "     I share the next thoughts with you simply because they are especially on my mind.
     One of the striking dimensions of the restored gospel is the democracy of demands. Yet it seeks to build an aristocracy of saints. Certain standards and requirements are laid upon all disciples. The member who is an automobile mechanic does not likely have all the skills of a scholar, and not likely you the mechanic's. But both of you are under the same spiritual obligations to keep the same commandments and the same covenants. Furthermore, the mechanic is under the same obligation to develop the attributes of patience and meekness as are you.
     Frankly, the world holds to no such democratic view. If one is a superb scholar in a narrow discipline, such is considered enough. One so gifted can then be as bohemian in behavior as one likes. But it is not so in the kingdom, is it?"

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The White House

The White House: "GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
Because Congress did not fulfill its responsibility to pass a budget,
much of the federal government
is shut down."

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I guess that's one perspective!

Who Shut Down the Government? - Thomas Sowell - Page 1

Who Shut Down the Government? - Thomas Sowell - Page 1: "There is really nothing complicated about the facts. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted all the money required to keep all government activities going -- except for ObamaCare.

This is not a matter of opinion. You can check the Congressional Record."

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Two Recent Comments

Here. First:

"The existence of a god does not solve the problem because we need some reason to conclude that the god is good." 

This is a proof for god, not a proof for morality. the Premise is that moral right and wrong exist. From that premise, we reason to the existence of (a moral) god. 

"One solution, the one that strikes me as the least unsatisfactory, is to posit the existence of moral truths analogous to physical truths, perceived by a moral sense analogous to physical sight or hearing. That describes the world as almost everyone actually perceives it—there are not many people who do not see torturing small children for fun as wicked. And that view of moral reality can be confirmed in the same way we confirm our view of physical reality, by subjecting it to consistency tests."

How do you square that position with, what seems to me anyway, to be huge amount of evidence against it.  

I am assuming you believe racism is immoral, slavery is immoral, and homosexuality is moral, or at least morally neutral. And I'm also pretty sure (please tell me if you disagree) that for most of human history the vast majority of people believed the opposite.  

If your theory is correct, why did the majority of humanity fail to perceive these moral truths until recently?

Second:

"One solution, the one that strikes me as the least unsatisfactory, is to posit the existence of moral truths analogous to physical truths, perceived by a moral sense analogous to physical sight or hearing."  

This analogy illustrates another problem I have with your position. In what sense are moral truths "true" if there is no god to enforcement them. Yes government, culture or other private mechanism can play a role in enforcing standards. But in what sense does a moral "truth" exist if these mechanisms fail to enforce it. 

An example to make this more concrete. Let's agree for a second that theft is immoral. Suppose a thief steals throughout his life, is never caught, and feels no remorse. 

What consequence flowed to the thief for violating a this "moral truth"? I'm getting out of my depth here, but as I under physics, for example, the laws apply consistently and universally. Setting quantum mechanics aside, if Wylie Coyote goes over the cliff, he doesn't occasionally float in the air; he invariably falls to the ground (probably not strictly true in quantum mechanics, but true enough for our purposes).  

Doesn't moral truth, like a physical truth, suggest some sort of natural consequence that flows from running afoul of the principle the truth espouses? What would that be in the hypothetical I pose? And if there is no consequence, in what way was it wrong for the thief to behave the way he behaved? He maximized his utility, even if you and I believe his utility function is defective. 

(I would love for you to debate Peter Kreeft.)

Ann Coulter Responds To Furor Over Her Blind Man Joke By Making More Blind Man Jokes | Politicker

Ann Coulter Responds To Furor Over Her Blind Man Joke By Making More Blind Man Jokes | Politicker: "“I’d say they’re being a little myopic, except they’d be offended,” Ms. Coulter said."

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Ann Coulter Mocks Chinese Activist’s Blindness | Politicker

Ann Coulter Mocks Chinese Activist’s Blindness | Politicker: "Conservative commentator Ann Coulter knows how we should have solved the tricky situation with blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng.

“Couldn’t we just tell that blind Chinese dissident that he’s in America now?” Ms. Coulter wrote on Twitter."

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Way to prove you have no senses of humor, liberals. The joke was funny and harmless.

Cafe Hayek — where orders emerge

Cafe Hayek — where orders emerge: "After class, one of my students, Ricky Ewell, pointed out to me that people who complain about life-saving pharmaceuticals costing so much are inconsistent if these people are also among those who complain that life-saving first-responder services cost so little.  Ricky’s insight is brilliant. "

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Speaker Boehner Announces GOP Conferees on Continuing Resolution | Speaker.gov

Speaker Boehner Announces GOP Conferees on Continuing Resolution | Speaker.gov:

 From the comments:

The time to debate merits or failures of ObamaCare was before it was enacted into law. Or later....WITHOUT holding government services, paychecks, hostage!
We must follow procedures of a democracy, instead of submitting to a coup.

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Democrats keep arguing the American people ratified Obamacare when they reelected Obama  11 months ago. Or that the Obamacare is the law, so Republican's need to accept it and move on. The comment above is a good example.

I agree, Obama was elected. He's the president and has the authority that office gives him. And I agree Obamacare is the law.

Here's the thing though--the republicans in the house were also elected. And the constitution is also the law--infact its the highest law. Republicans in the house are simply exercising the powers given to the house in the constitution--which happens to include the power to defund laws and government. The "procedures of democracy" are being followed.

I have accepted that Obama is president and Obamacare is law (at least for now). Now Democrats need to accept that Republicans were elected to control the house and that the house is not simply there to do the president's biding.

Just because you don't like the outcome doesn't mean it's undemocratic.

Screw the People «

Screw the People «: "National Park Officials closed down the educational Claude Moore Colonial Farm near the CIA in McLean, Va., even though the federal government doesn’t fund or staff the park popular with children and schools. Just because the privately-operated park is on Park Service land, making the federal government simply its landlord, the agency decided to close it."

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The Disaster that is President Obama «

The Disaster that is President Obama «: "Regardless of your political affiliation, there is one aspect of the Obama Presidency that should be of enormous concern to all of us? What is that? It is the President’s leadership on issues of race, class and poverty in America. Notwithstanding the typical leftist class-warfare stuff that comes out of his office, the President has been a complete failure, in my humble opinion of course, when it comes to race and urban issues.

Why? Perhaps I unfairly had expectations that being the first black President, that President Obama would use his position to be much more aggressive in getting a message out to urban and black America. If someone is going to be respected and appreciated in the inner cities, surely this President would be the one. But how many major pieces of policy have come out of his office aimed at dealing with what can only be described as chaos in many of America’s inner cities? Where are his prime-time speeches, or long periods in the States of the Union addresses, discussing frankly the problems of crime, prisons, familial decline, poor labor market outcomes, for many in urban and black America?"

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The Corner | National Review Online

The Corner | National Review Online: "Jay Carney says that the Obama administration has been working with the National Park Service to make accommodations to allow World War II veterans to visit their memorial on the National Mall. Issues with services, including access to sites such as the National World War II Memorial, an open-air plaza in the national Mall normally open 24 hours a day to the public, should not come as a surprise given the government shutdown, he said."

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There's one defeat for the Democrats.

Sanguine about the Shutdown

Conventional wisdom could be right that Republicans are going to take the political fallout from the government shutdown.

If the shutdown causes Republicans to lose their majority in the house, that's going to be a real problem. I don't want the real life version of Monty Brewster free to spend without a Republican house to stop it. 

But I doubt Republicans will lose the house.

Republicans are apparently willing to pass resolution after resolution to fund the parts of government people actually care about, like the VA, and even national parks. Democrats are demanding all or nothing. Can they really insist on all or nothing without taking on serious water? Is the media really that powerful? Maybe, but I don't think so.

Or maybe the Republicans take the blame in national polls, but do well in their local districts. All politics is local, right? It's not clear to me how this plays into the seat-by-seat elections in the house.

And is anyone really going to care that the government is shut down? Remember how we were told the sequester was going to be the end of the word? But it came and went with a whimper.

Maybe that will happen again. Maybe it won't. But I don't think most people will notice any change in their daily lives. And I hope that makes people think, why did we need all that government to begin with?

The Shutdown: A Case Study in Reasonableness During Negotiations

How do we measure reasonableness in negotiations like the ones going on between Republicans and Democrats? One way is the party's willingness to compromise. Republicans wanted to defund Obamacare. Democrats wanted a resolution funding everything. Republicans then moved to delaying portions of Obamacare but Democrats didn't move an inch.  From this you could conclude Democrats have been more unreasonable.

Alternatively, you could say reasonableness is defined by your position relative to where you realistically will end up. Republicans were never going to get Obamacare defunded. Democrats position was much more reasonable in this regard.

Or you could say reasonableness is measured by the proposed policy's relationship to where we should end up. This measure, of course, makes each person the arbiter of reasonableness based on their political views. Of course, since I think defunding Obamacare is perfectly desirable, I find the Republicans more reasonable.

Or you could measure reasonableness by the likely political reaction to your position. Given that the media is overwhelmingly liberal and, sadly, still powerful, and wants to pin the shutdown on Republicans, Republicans' position could be more unreasonable given where the public is likely to assign blame.

On the other hand, I suspect many of the Tea Party Republicans will do very well with their base after the shutdown. So perhaps both sides are acting reasonably, given their political incentives.

Spare Me – and Walter Williams – Your Self-Serving and Insulting Sermonizing

Spare Me – and Walter Williams – Your Self-Serving and Insulting Sermonizing: "I respect ordinary thieves much more than I respect politicians.  Ordinary thieves take my money without pretense.  Unlike typical politicians, these thieves don’t bore me with silly explanations of why their thievery is for the greater good.  Nor do ordinary thieves insult my intelligence by proclaiming that they’ll use the money that they steal from me to make my life better than I would have made my life had my money not been swiped from me."

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"Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan: I was teary-eyed writing series' last episode - CBS News

"Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan: I was teary-eyed writing series' last episode - CBS News: "One of the "Breaking Bad" plot lines featuring Charlie Rose did break through. Gilligan sang the "CBS This Morning" co-host's praises on "CTM": "Well, we all love Mr. Rose, and I have to say (to Rose) you did such a wonderful job. You were just absolutely fantastic. He was, I think, the best person we could have picked to play Charlie Rose.""

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A Response to Richard Dawkins | National Review Online

A Response to Richard Dawkins | National Review Online: "Every atheist philosopher I have debated has acknowledged this. For example, at Oxford University, I debated Professor Jonathan Glover, the British philosopher and ethicist, who said: “Dennis started by saying that I hadn’t denied his central contention that if there isn’t a God, there is only subjective morality. And that’s absolutely true.”"

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