Capital punishment

Paul Graham makes a good case against it.

A return to blogging?

I have a lot of itches in need of scratching lately. I assume no one will really read this, but maybe jotting down thoughts here will make those pesky itches go away. Having started a business or two, I'm much more observant now of business practices. I may point out one or two. Who knows, maybe I can help someone not make my own stupid mistakes. Also, with the elections revving up, I feel the need to work out some political agitation. Apologies in advance to my liberal friends and readers (if they exist). The Democratic candidates are likely to receive a disproportionate amount of my scorn. It isn't that I don't think the Republicans are at least as equally worthy of scorn. I just think they are more easily poked at and already have been much more eloquently than I can by the likes of Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Jon Oliver. Obviously, I don't pretend to counterbalance such satire - I'm neither as insightful nor 1/1000th as funny - but just saying. Conservative policies are pretty easily mocked. Progressive policies tend to get less attention unless you spend a lot of time on acerbic radio stations. And that's usually more ranting than anything. If you're going to make a point, either be funny or insightful. (Having said that, expect neither here). Pointing out how scary progressive politics can be doesn't garner many knowing nods from the omniscient celebs or liberal intelligentsia. However, I find mocking Creationism too easy when a philosophy such as Keynesianism may be more difficult to dissect, not as funny, but (at least in my mind) far more concerning to our peace and prosperity. And with that lengthy aside you are introduced (or re-introduced) into just how poorly I write, but even more so how poorly I edit. Also, lest this start to feel like a political blog, realize that it is primarily my ramblings, which means there will be intermittent uninformed opinions on other unrelated topics that interest me such as the rise of the Cubs (and its accompanying misplaced hope), development of the Utah Jazz (more hope in need of squashing), parenting, boardgames, nutrition, exercise or whatever might be stuck in my craw if I get a few minutes between meetings. Welcome back?

Anger management

“We begin to notice, besides our particular sinful acts, our sinfulness; begin to be alarmed not only about what we do, but about what we are. This may sound rather difficult, so I will try to make it clear from my own case. When I come to my evening prayers and try to reckon up the sins of the day, nine times out of ten the most obvious one is some sin against charity; I have sulked or snapped or sneered or snubbed or stormed. And the excuse that immediately springs to my mind is that the provocation was so sudden and unexpected: I was caught off my guard, I had not time to collect myself. Now that may be an extenuating circumstance as regards those particular acts: they would obviously be worse if they had been deliberate and premeditated. On the other hand, surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man: it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. The rats are always there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light.”

C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity.

The Wicked Witch Lives

Life on the right side of the Laffer Curve

From Greece (NYT):

An essential element of Greece’s recovery plan has been to collect more taxes from a population that has long engaged in tax avoidance. The government is owed 45 billion euros in back taxes, tax officials in Athens said, only a fraction of which will ever be recovered. To understand the difficulty, just talk to Nikos Maitos, a longtime official in Greece’s financial crimes investigation unit. When he and a team of inspectors recently prowled the recession-hit island of Naxos for tax evaders, a local radio station broadcast his license plate number to warn residents.

Merry Christmas

Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want and their kids pay for it. ~ Richard Lamm

Washington extortion

Good article from Cato today on Apple not playing the DC game and how it is going to come back to bite. Best ROI on the planet - lobbying. Sad but true.