Disqus - Latest Comments for shecky

Re: The Shame of Ron Paul

shecky — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:24:28 -0000

AMEN, Wilkinson. Mostly indifferent to Paul's campaign from the start, I hoped he would at least be able to start some needed conversations in the country over the role of government and individual rights. It looks like he may in fact have started some needed conversations, but at the expense of classical liberalism. This whole episode has left me bitter over the damage he's done. I look forward to your follow up posts.

Re: Ron Paul: Good for “the Blacks”?

shecky — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:32:44 -0000

Paul ratcheted up his "not-to-be-taken-seriously" factor all himself, by his association with cranks. By doing this, he's jeopardized expanding his base to reasonable folk. His loss.

The first step to being good for "the blacks" is to actually pique their interest. In a positive way.

Re: Seriously, Why Are You Freaking Out?

shecky — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 02:09:17 -0000

Mencius:

That LA Weekly article is curiously gloomy, as the CA violent crime rate has generally been trending lower for quite a while.. Murder rate in L.A. is lower now than it was when I was a kid in the 70s.

Re: Seriously, Why Are You Freaking Out?

shecky — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:32:15 -0000

Saying that LA is doing well because its murder rate has declined since the brutal nadir of the American cultural revolution is like saying that Brezhnev was a great leader, because he didn’t kill as many people as Stalin.

Indeed. But it's a metric you chose to highlight, not me. Your dismissal of the argument when it can no longer be effectively used to bludgeon the state is just as curious as the original alarmist link you posted.

Regarding outmigration, it's not clear that such a thing is necessarily a sign of impending doom. Claims of the slide of California into a third world hellhole are a bit difficult to take seriously, as
1. they're not new.
2. they're not reflected in reality. By any measure, it's still a very prosperous state and highly desirable place to live. Unless, of course, one has an aversion to folks who speak foreign tongues and/or have darker complexions.

It's clear that California has some serious problems. Claiming they have much to do with the breakdown of Anglo-European cultural hegemony is weak, bordering on pathology.

Re: Your Democracy in Action

shecky — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 02:15:48 -0000

I heard that story too.

Made me laugh. It reminds me of a story a few months ago about an uproar in Switzerland. Apparently the bid for next generation of Swiss Army knives was possibly going to a company outside Switzerland. Maybe even gasp CHINA! Folks were having conniptions. Rending of clothes. The whole bit. How could the Swiss Army forsake Swiss jobs and place the fate of Swiss defenses on a foreign vendor?!?

Re: How to Be Grotesquely Reductionist and Utilitarian about Human Love and Life

shecky — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:02:41 -0000

It's interesting that the ban on prostitution has made the practice extinct where I live. My future, and ours, is thus protected!

And certainly, if the ban were lifted, I wouldn't be able to keep myself from buying sexual services from these women. It's important that our society protects me from myself in this way.

Re: An Endless Sea of Perfect Shining Robots

shecky — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 23:20:43 -0000

The xenophobia in Japanese society is so pervasive that they'd rather subsidize the robot industry than allow immigrant labor. Borjas is whacked enough to think this is a desirable thing.

If they want to pick up the tab for such development, it's fine by me. The rest of the world will reap the benefits of the trickle down technology. But this is only a cost effective move when collectivist and protectionist impulses know no bounds.

Re: Milton Friedman’s Argument for Illegal Immigration

shecky — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:54:35 -0000

The benefits of illegal immigration are being increasingly documented, and the dangers have turned out to be overstated, often very much so. For a while now I've been an advocate of pretty much what we've been doing until very recently. Which would be mostly ignoring the "problem" of illegal immigration. Incarcerate and/or deport the troublemakers. Leave the rest alone. The reason I've advocated this idea is because it would be much preferred to any solution that has been proposed by actual politicians. It's realistic. And it is least invasive, and least costly. I realize the notion that the law be ignored for practical reasons seems to rub many folks the wrong way, but it's not without precedent. It seems a good solution until the issue can be dealt with in a rational manner.

Re: The Douthat-Carter Continuum

shecky — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:46:53 -0000

I wonder if Ross feels any complicity in homicide when he sees an entertaining movie where someone is murdered? Even if it's just make believe, there's still that moral continuum and all. What about softcore porn? Porn literature?

Joey, it seemss to me there really is no way to prove that unicorns do or don't exist. But would you think me unreasonable if I took the position that they simply don't exist?

Re: Sex ratios

shecky — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 13:39:24 -0000

Interesting article. But it makes me wonder, is there an actual problem to be addressed here? Men who aren't competitive in the world of romance need to be more competitive if they wish to find a mate. And/or have less selective tastes. Is this really a new concept?

Re: Illegal Immigrants and Emigrants

shecky — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 12:39:26 -0000

"Surely there's a difference between locking up guests in my home and refusing to allow them to leave, and locking people out of my home and refusing to allow them to enter whenever they want. The two are simply not the same."

Your example doesn't apply. It's more like you locking people out of your house, while your spouse lets them in the back door. America clearly speaks out of both sides of it's mouth on the issue, deriding illegal immigrants while seeking their labor. In one way, this issue is like Walmart bashing, moaning and groaning about how bad Walmart is for America, so bad we can't stop ourselves from shopping there.

"In the case of illegal immigration to America, immigrants are demanding acceptance, transfer payments from taxpayers, and other benefits *from the very legal order they have defied in entering the country.*"

It seems to me illegal immigrant demands boil down to, "leave me the hell alone and let me work".

More curious is that making immigration open and legal would allow immigrants to legitimately add to the taxpayer kitty. However, it would make them legitimately eligible for the benefits. Interestingly, most seem to pay into the coffers already (yet may never see many of those benefits).

Re: In Markets, People are the Ultimate Resource

shecky — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 16:33:08 -0000

Does it matter if they are legal or not? Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth...

Re: Illegal Immigrants

shecky — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:34:33 -0000

Since 1996, welfare has been highly restricted to legal immigrants, not to mention illegal immigrants. Yet illegal immigrants continue to come and better their lives.

Perhaps we could put two and two together and realize that people don't come to America for the welfare.

Re: Illegal Immigrants

shecky — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:41:17 -0000

With current unemployment rates so low, it seems America doesn't want to lock the door. In fact, it puts out a welcome mat of dollar bills for anyone willing to work.

Re: Friedman on "Greed," Markets, and Politics

shecky — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 17:34:38 -0000

If anything, I think this is one of the weakest clips I've seen of Friedman. Not that I disagree with what he says. It seems he's dancing around the issue of greed to avoid making some kind of faux pas, by making a "communists and Nazis do it too" type of argument. Perhaps he simply was tailoring his explanations to fit the audience. But that kind of deflection comes off as some kind of weak apologetics that would leave me unimpressed if used by the likes of Boudreaux or Roberts.

Re: Friedman on "Greed," Markets, and Politics

shecky — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:31:25 -0000

he was responding to the implicit assumption by the interviewer that greed is not present in other systems, or that its effects are more virtuous there. He pointed out they are not.

I don't think that was the implicit assumption. The interviewer's assumption was that greed causes problems in other systems (and presumably our own). To which Friedman's simple reply is sort of "but they all do it, even commies", and tiptoes around the idea that greed is good. That part of the argument is fundamentally weak, and anyone around here making such an argument for any topic would be called on it.

Of course, he goes on to make a more nuanced argument in favor of greed, without using the word. Which is nice, but I suspect a direct defense of greed may have lost the audience.

Re: If America's Middle-Class is Disappearing, It's Only Because Ordinary Americans are Getting Richer and Richer

shecky — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:01:12 -0000

It's a shame Williams can't apply the same reasoning to his jingoistic stance on illegal immigration, an area where he and Dobbs are inexplicably pretty much on the same page.

Re: Manufacturing and Employment

shecky — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:46:10 -0000

There's a religious left in the country? I thought the left was a bunch of atheists!

Re: Why it's none of your business

shecky — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:00:47 -0000

I appreciate your explanation, Russ. But I still think you're out to lunch on this one. Do yourself a favor and find a new doctor you trust. You will be happier, and your doctor will be happier without a patient who believes his practice is sinister.

Re: Political Seduction, In Two Hemispheres

shecky — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:22:42 -0000

Peron, nothing! Try Castro! Or Stalin! Or even Hitler. Then O'Grady would be getting close.

Re: Culturally Appropirate Health-Care

shecky — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:23:51 -0000

I agree with you, Don. But, boy, was this a bizarre reason to riff on the phrase, "culturally appropriate health care". The relevance to your point being very much a stretch. I mean, c'mon, you can do better than this!

Re: Neocons Especially Should Pay Careful Attention to This Research

shecky — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:25:11 -0000

The whole notion of promoting democracy is bogus. Democracy is a largely symbolic abstraction Americans conflate with prosperity. Democracy was always a tough sell. Prosperity sells itself. Easiest path to prosperity is freer trade.

Re: Best Line That I've Heard in a While

shecky — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:58:17 -0000

I guess you had to be there.

Re: A novel idea

shecky — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:27:48 -0000

I'm not so sure it was the biggest mistake. Plenty of true believers were on board with the bailout. And those that weren't would likely have held their noses and voted McCain anyway. With the rationalization that the alternative would be worse.

I tend to think overall lack of Republican momentum was the biggest factor. Any of the candidates would have a difficult time this cycle. Specific to McCain, he and his campaign were both undisciplined, making rash decisions that constantly came back to reflect poorly on the man. The fundamentals are sound, until they're in need of an emergency bailout. The whole Palin fiasco. Constantly flinging everything against Obama in the hope that something would stick. McCain's support for the bailout was a single link in a chain full of weak links.