DERBYSHIRE STICKS UP FOR “MARRIED WITH CHILDREN”… and calls on the same Orwell essay I cited in my praise of “Malcolm in the Middle.” Read more

KIM JONG IL ON THE ART OF CINEMA: No, really. Help Rick McGinnis get this book!!! Read more

FOR HER OWN GOOD: STERILIZING THE POOR. My Jewish World Review column. Read more

HIGH TAXES VS. SMALL BUSINESS: Unqualified Offerings on a pattern you could see regularly in New Haven–taxes very high (and, in NH, so was union agitation). Major employer or potential employer threatens to leave/not come. City negotiates special tax incentive deal, a.k.a. taxpayers are basically paying for this particular business to stay/come. Big business stays/comes. Big business is happy! Small business, lacking special deal, closes. Lather, rinse, repeat. The Institute for Justice is on the case. Read more

MY MOUTH IS WRITING CHECKS FOR MY A$# TO CASH: I’m posting this in order to a) advertise coming attractions and b) guilt-trip myself into actually writing these promised posts. I’ll draft ’em over the weekend; expect them Saturday or Monday. Kick me if they fail to appear. More on the Deacons for Defense King David or Saint Paul? Chiracnophobia More War What makes a movie “conservative”? Philosophy is a danger to self and society (and that’s good) Socrates and... Read more

THE VIRGIL OF THE BLOGOSPHERE: The Talking Dog has been going through his entire blogroll posting capsule commentaries on everybody. I’m finding a ton of cool new sites through his list, though I don’t have time to actually investigate them right now… sigh. This weekend maybe. Anyway, for what it’s worth, I’ve never actually been an Objectivist, and I know I’ve been lame about posting mail lately–it’s a pain schlepping through my inbox, but still, I owe it to everyone... Read more

POETRY WEDNESDAY (it’s always Wednesday in my head): From Rudyard Kipling. I found it in Harold Bloom’s irksomely-titled (not his fault) children’s anthology, which I have only dipped into so far but which looks fantastic, and in the creation of which your local Rat had a mighty paw. [edited] Read more

Still no time to blog today, but I really have to point you to the awesome Showtime movie I saw last night: “Deacons for Defense.” It was a fictionalized account of a real armed black resistance group that faced down the Klan in 1960s Louisiana. Grim, sharp movie despite a good dollop of the usual racial-tearjerker cliches. (Klan montages, “arty” use of black-and-white footage, noble suffering black women who fail to be actual characters rather than icons, kitten-kicking white villainry.)... Read more

OK. Doctor has been seen, medical regime has begun, work is madness. I will try very, very hard to get some substantive thinking on this site tomorrow or Friday–for the first time in weeks, yes, I know–but for the moment you just get some random links and things. Mommentary growls at diamond ads; the Oligarch defends them; the Rat rebuts. Amy Welborn is seeking Lenten reading suggestions. And no day would be complete without a Yale Daily News correction: “The... Read more

You know how yesterday I said I was feeling a lot better? Ha. Ha. I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning. No posting until I’ve shoveled some antibiotics into my maw. I’m basically OK but just don’t feel up to thinking about stuff. HOWEVER there are a lot of cool things on the back burner, so once I have rested a bit and also done some work, expect neat posts about Jews, war, the UN, and other stuff I’m forgetting... Read more