I want to thank everyone who supported the good side in my recent spat with a commentor who, shall we say, exhibited ideas that a reasonable person could plausibly interpret as not obviously inconsistent with certain definitions of bigotry. In conjunction with the statement upon which I was commenti...

I made the mistake recently of commenting on an anti-Obama blog.  I thought they were just garden variety wingnuts, but it turns out they’re truly sick.  They call Obama the ”Obamessiah” and “our dark overlord and master.”  They’re also virulently anti-Muslim...

Conservatives are arguing that tax cuts will provide sufficient economic stimulus.  So why didn’t the Bush tax cuts stimulate the economy enough to prevent this meltdown?  (And why did the economy grow in the ’90s after Clinton enacted “the largest tax increase in history”?...

President Obama has directed the EPA to approve states’ requests that they be allowed to impose tighter emissions standards on vehicle emissions. While I applaud him for keeping his campaign promise, this action is a mistake. I agree that high standards on vehicle emissions is good policy.* Em...

Here’s my second 15 minutes of fame. The play I’m in, Of Mice and Men, is a success, and I got my picture on the front page of the local paper (grinnin’ like a fool). I’ve come to have a deep appreciation for Steinbeck’s story after performing in this play. After being ...

Two prior posts have delved into the area of how libertarian theory applies to children.  I’m going to take a stab at this, with the caveat that it’s the first time I’ve given any rigorous thought to the subject. One of the areas in which libertarians nearly unanimously agree that...

Why should you pay any attention to me, when you can listen to what the smart people are saying about the looming fiscal stimulus? Leading off, David Brooks: Today there is wide support for fiscal stimulus. It’s just that there is no historical experience to tell us how to do it, and there ...

I’ve just received a request from a journal to review a manuscript.  For many academics, this is old hat, but it’s my first time and it’s a very prestigious journal.  That has me proceeding with trepidation, because someone’s chance at publication could come down to my reco...

Jason Kuznicki recently linked to an excellent post from Classically Liberal, and I would like to expand upon PL’s reflections upon that post.  While Jason focused on arguments about marriage, the quote he selected also commented on the problems of libertarians who can only see policy advocac...

One of columnists I read fairly regularly is Jack Kelly, who is published in the Toledo Blade (a great newspaper for a city of its size) and, I believe, its parent/sister paper, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Kelly, to be fair, is not normally in tin-foil hat territory, like so many right-wing media t...