"Just the facts M'am, Just the facts." -- Sgt. Joe Friday
“In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all — regardless of station, or race or creed.
Among these are: [Read more…]
Statists have launched bloody revolutions followed by violent periods of terror in France, Russia, Germany, China, and elsewhere, always under the flags of democratic populism, Marxism, national socialism, and fascism. For the Statist, revolution is an ongoing enterprise, for it regularly cleanses society of religious dogma, antiquated traditions, backward customs, and ambitious individuals who differ with or obstruct the Statist’s plans. The Statist calls this many things, including “progressive.” For the rest, it is tyranny.
Mark R. Levin, Liberty and Tyranny (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009), 30.
But we ran smack dab into what I call the Ayers-Dohrn Paradox, which is:
Ayers and Dohrn gained fame as violent revolutionaries willing to commit murder and other terrorist acts in order to overthrow the United States. For that, they were greatly worshipped by the far left. Now, in their sunset years, they’re trying to re-cast themselves as “respectable” left-wing professors with “reasonable” opinions, who have long ago sworn off violence. And so, at these events, neither of them ever mentions their violent heyday, except rarely in passing. Instead, they focus exclusively on their current obsessions: Introducing Marxist thought into schools, and closing down the prison system. However, almost no one who goes to see Ayers and Dohrn gives a damn about hearing monotonous lectures on these particular topics: instead, their fans idolize them because of their violent revolutionary past. So at these events, the audience (as in this case) is full of far-far-far-left radicals who came in order to hear overheated revolutionary rhetoric. But instead, what they get is a boring professorial monologue. If Ayers and Dohrn were nothing more than your run-of-the-mill leftist professors, no one would go to their appearances. They’re coasting on their violent reputation, while at the same time trying to distance themselves from it. And that is the Ayers-Dohrn Paradox.
Thanks to Zomblog
Bellagio Fountains 50 megs, wmv file.
(I need to work on the red end of the spectrum in these night shots. A lot of the reds wash out into white. Things are much more colorful than these images show.)
Essay contest winners receive commissioner award today.
Commissioners’ Award 18 megs, wmv file.
Solipsism on Display By Jeff Schreiber
Last week, I had to look up the word “solipsistic,” used by a British columnist in describing Michelle Obama’s generosity when UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife were in Washington, D.C. I’ve never seen a single word so perfectly sum up a woman, or a family, so darned well. [Read more…]
(click to enlarge)
May we have an Intermission now? I need a couple drinks before Act II starts.
Republican Women’s Essay Contest Winner for Middle School
The Gettysburg Address and the Birth of a New Nation wmv file, 8 megs
States with legislation affirming sovereignty under the 10th Am. to the Constitution.
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
New Hampshire
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
Washington
Go see Every Baby-Sitter’s Nightmare, now running at the Fellowship Hall in Kiowa and put on by the Kiowa High School Drama Club. The acting is wonderful and tight with many strong performances, the story is very engaging, and the production quality is first rate. It’s a great show. Very memorable.
From the 3/9/09 Investors Business Daily, Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize.
End The Spending
Victims Of Socialism
Let The Inquisition Start With Frank
Home A Loan
Obama Can’t Double-Talk Us Out Of This
It is papers like Investors Business Daily and the Wall Street Journal, newspapers who say it like it is, newspapers who remain relevant, who will not follow the Rocky Mountain News into oblivion.
“Double standards in practice are the unavoidable price of universal standards of principle.” Samuel P. Huntington
With double standards in practice all around us, one must conclude our public agencies are led by principled people, however, no one knows what universal standards of principle guide them.
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I sat in for 4 hours yesterday evening with members of the Planning Commission, members of the Office of Community and Development Services, two attorneys and several Elbert County citizens, in an edit review of the proposed Master Plan and Zoning documents up for Planning Commission approval. As my previous posts indicate, I had been laboring under the impression that zoning regulations as governing law, should be fairly objective and definite, and that master plan contents as advisory recommendations, should be where one finds more general development guidelines. Also, I’d been under the impression that the question of advisory rules vs. mandatory regulations was meaningful.
In practice, no such legal theories apply in Elbert County. The whole business is purposefully amorphous. Developers may get a general sense of county expectations from these planning documents, but the last thing the Planning Commissioners seem to want is a definite set of standards. They want to negotiate with developers and horse-trade with everything on the table. Arguments for regulation vs. advice are conceived and applied on an ad hoc basis to fit circumstances as the need arises and the necessity to persuade the BOCC by the Planning Commission develops. Everything is arguable. Standards are flexible. Accountability to regulation is largely, if not purely, subjective. And the whole business is a gold mine of raw material to make work for lawyers.
I’m not saying this is right or wrong, and I’m not saying that the proposed plan and zoning work product isn’t well thought out. The results, however, are full of language that is uncertain, wildly arguable, easily corruptible, and capable of interpretations to fit pretty much any purpose. There are even statements that provide for application denial when all provisions of the zoning laws have been satisfied.
Please pardon my naivete’, maybe this is just the nature of public planning. One thing is for sure though. This body of regulations is not, and apparently never has been a source of protection for property rights and/or individual liberty. One seeking to protect those values will have to rely on other authorities.
Institute of Economic Affairs, London, UK
Hoover Institution, Stanford, CA
The Heritage Foundation, Washington, DC
American Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC
Cato Institute, Washington, DC
Atlas Economic Research Foundation, Fairfax, VA
Political Economy Research Center, Bozeman, MT
Centre for Independent Studies, Sydney, Australia
Timbro, Stockholm, Sweden
Ratio, Stockholm, Sweden
Manhattan Institute, New York, NY
International Policy Network, London, UK
Café Hayek Blog
Hayek Scholars’ Page
Laissez Faire Books
“The idea of public access has popular and populist appeal. But the reality is that the actual use of any resource—whether pursuant to public access, in the name of state ownership, or pursuant to a private property right—is use by individuals. Those individuals, in whatever capacity they are acting, will have varying incentives with respect to use, management, and conservation of the resource. Experience demonstrates time and again that public access regimes pose significant risks for the long-term management and preservation of the resource.”
