| "Rightful
liberty is unobstructed action, according to our will, within limits
drawn around us by the equal rights of others." ~ Thomas Jefferson |
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11/21/08
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Who's Scary
Now?
Every holiday season, I do the same thing that millions of Americans do: I prepare a kind of "newsletter" recapping the year, and I include a copy of it with my greeting cards. This past Christmas, I also sent a copy of an editorial I had written entitled Thanks and Giving . I thought it was appropriate since I mentioned in my newsletter that I wrote regular commentaries, and because it talked both about what I was thankful for in 2003 as well as some things I really would have liked to receive as Christmas gifts. Just a week ago, I was chatting with a family member on the phone when I was more than a little taken aback by something she told me. She advised that a relative who had received the card and newsletter had contacted her and wondered about me. I was, said the relative, apparently involved in something "really scary." Well, obviously, I went right back to my essay archives to see just what on earth I'd said that was so frightening. And here's what I found: (Read the rest here)
The Invisible
Palm "Division of labor" is one of those expressions that people use and politically misuse so frequently that its conceptual significance gets left in the dirt. Division of labor makes my life easier in many ways: I earn money doing something I'm reasonably good at, and hire other people to do things I'm not good at. I hire an auto mechanic to fix my car, and a plumber to install my washing machine. I buy fruit and vegetables at the grocery store, so I don't have to grow them myself or do without. People design and manufacture products from cars and computers to light bulbs and can openers that I can buy easily and inexpensively, without learning how to make a light bulb. People learn skills and sell their products or services - a spontaneous arrangement that benefits us all in many ways. Too little use of division of labor will make my life difficult, as will too much reliance on it. While I may not want to grow my own fruits or vegetables under ideal circumstances, I'd feel uncomfortable in a living situation where I was unable to grow some food during a famine. I may not want a career as an auto mechanic, but knowing how to change a flat tire will leave me less dependent in an emergency. Maybe I hate to cook or sew, but if I never learn how to prepare a simple meal or replace a button I'm more dependent on other people than I personally want to be. I may not wish to make a hobby of plumbing, but I want to know how to shut off the water in case a pipe bursts or the toilet overflows. (Read the rest here)
Smirkin’
n Shirkin’ Things are really livening up over at the ole District of Criminals! Our president, Karl Rove, and his cabinet of unelected PNAC Israeli ministers, have lurched into accelerated damage control mode! In fact, caught up in the rallying, protective surge for figurehead President George W. Bush, the United States Congress is fumbling and stumbling to save the smoldering wreckage of their Honorable Numero Uno as well! It is indeed humorous to see this congressional bunch skidding on their fannies down Rove’s slippery slope! On the heels of irrefutable evidence that President George W. Bush lied in both of his constitutionally-mandated State of the Union addresses concerning the imminent need to attack the economically and militarily-strapped Third World dictatorship of Iraq, the Bush administration is doing a most admirable job of spin-doctoring. (Read the rest here)
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