As one who lives by the beach in California, I’m prone to think of housing values as being almost exclusively the land underneath the house, and the improvements as almost irrelevant. Several times a year a widow dies, and her […]
Howard Ahmanson
The Gasoline Tax: Charles Krauthammer Breaks with Republican Orthodoxy
Charles Krauthammer, generally regarded as a conservative writer, declared more than a year ago that he had been for a gasoline tax increase of $1 a gallon for 32 years. That would be, if I calculate right, since 1983. I’ve […]
Rest In Peace, Nino Scalia – But!
Antonin Scalia [1936-2016] was one of the best loved judges for his wit, and hated for his legal reasoning. For the most part, he was a hero to those who wish to uphold the text of the United States Constitution […]
Polynesian Paralysis, or the Vetocracy at Work
Among its other oddities, Hawaii has no water level travel between its islands. If the inhabitants of four out of the five counties should wish to travel to Honolulu, they have to fly in a small plane and rent another […]
Face, Respect, the Sin of Gossip, and ‘Freedom From Speech’
The debate about ‘freedom from speech’ has accelerated. Greg Lukianoff, author of the Freedom from Speech broadside, has cooperated with Jonathan Haidt, an author I have quoted on Blue Kennel to write an article for The Atlantic criticizing the concept of […]
Christians May be Decreasing in Number in America, But Not Because of any ‘War’
Jay Michaelson, in The Daily Beast, proclaimed on Christmas Day that there is a decrease in the numbers and influence of Christians in America, but that the “war” on Christianity is a myth. I’m not sure the war on Christianity […]
Obama’s “allergy to antithesis” strikes again?
Please read “WaPo columnist slams ‘dry,’ ‘detached’ Obama” in response to my previous BlueKennel post “Obama and the Allergy to Antithesis“.
Rich Kid at Work – Interview: Howard Ahmanson, Jr.
Interview from July / August 2002 issue of Philanthropy magazine Howard Ahmanson Sr. was a pioneer in California’s postwar savings and loan industry, financing much of the state’s housing boom in the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. He left his estate split between the Ahmanson Foundation […]
More on the Whole ‘Judeo-Christian’ Meme
In my post four years ago, “9/11, Ten Years Later” I talked a little bit about the concept of ‘Judeo-Christian’. I’d like to expand on it. As my source says, the meme ‘Judeo-Christian’ originated in the United States after World War […]
What Really Happened to Poetry and Classical Music?
In recent years one would get the impression that both poetry and classical music have declined in popularity except in rather esoteric “hip” circles; at least the newer kinds of poetry and classical music being written are not, for the […]