Ballots nowadays are crowded with all kinds of names that one has never heard of, for offices one has never heard of. Originally the reason for all this was that these small local offices were closer to “the people” than […]
Politics
Proposition 14
I decided to vote for Proposition 14, which makes the general election a runoff between the two highest polling primary candidates even if they are in the same party. I decided that the effect of the proposition might be to […]
More Atlanta Oddities
The territory of Incorporated cities in Georgia is often circular, giving a stroking appearance on the map. They do not cover most of the urbanized territory. I would guess that half of Atlanta’s population of 5.9 million lives directly under one of the […]
Atlanta
As I take more of the tours provided by the New Urbanism conference I am attending, I get to find out some of the attractive and interesting things about Atlanta. It’s easy to dismiss: “Sprawlanta” When people from here want […]
LA the Least Gentrified Major City?
Los Angeles has been “gentrified” and made more stable in many of its areas by immigrant settlement, but the phenomenon of Anglo gentrification by what used to be called “yuppies” or their more contemporary counteparts (most of the original “yuppies” […]
Envy Isn’t Just a Left Wing Vice
Envy is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, and it involves wanting to deny other people things whether you have them or not. We generally think of it in terms of what the Australians call the Tall Poppy Syndrome; the […]
Taxes to Raise, Taxes to Lower
I thought that I had better get this out, because April 15 is just around the corner. Taxes that should be raised: The gasoline tax, by $.50 to $1 a gallon. I oppose cap and trade, however, because it is a bureaucratic […]
Now That Health Care Has Passed
In general, I think that the new health care bill is an improvement over the old order. I hope it is not repealed, but I’m sure that some adjustments will be necessary. Does this make America a more compassionate nation? […]
Obama and the Allergy to Antithesis
The so-called “progressives” are going to be more and more disillusioned with President Obama in the immediate near future, I predict. And not because he is a “moderate.” He is manifestly not. At least in his ultimate aspirations, he is […]
Global Warming: If You Can’t Beat It, Join It.
This recent article in Reason Magazine by Ronald Bailey raises the issue of whether Global Warming is worse than the sort of society and government it would take to stop it. Actually, I think a more efficient way of dealing […]