Where The Only Orthodoxy is Reason

That ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it
Money for nothin’ and chicks for free
Now that ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it
Lemme tell ya them guys ain’t dumb
 – Dire Straights, “Money for Nothing”
Late last weekend, key members of Congress and the Treasury Department finally agreed on the specifics of a plan […]

If there was any doubt that George W. Bush is bound for the sad little cupboard of American history to which we consign our ineffective or incompetent presidents–our Tafts, Hoovers, and Carters–where future generations can regard them with a mixture of bemusement and pity–it has been removed with his mishandling of the current financial crises. […]

Something a little different this month. The following is a proposition for a new kind of medical imaging modality.
It is not uncommon to see patients who have pain but cannot, despite spending obscene amounts of time and money, determine any organic cause for this pain. I have thought several times of how useful it might […]

Homer: America, take a good look at your beloved candidates. They’re nothing but hideous space reptiles.  [unmasks them]  [audience gasps in terror]
Kodos: It’s true, we are aliens. But what are you going to do about it? It’s a two-party system; you have to vote for one of us.    [murmurs]
 Man1: He’s right, this is a two-party […]

Aristotle defined man as a political animal.  That is, to Aristotle, one of the defining characteristics of humanity is its drive and capacity to come together to form complex, ordered hierarchies which govern complex, ordered societies.  In college one of my professors taught that, deeper even than humanity’s drive to create social […]

Bariatric surgery refers to the surgical management of weight-related health concerns. This field has arisen over the last 20 years as we have begun to understand the impact of obesity on health. Diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and lung disease are just a few […]

Imagine you have a loved one who has a problem with a vice. Out of love for this individual, you decide to approach him or her, in the hopes of helping them see the issue and perhaps begin remedying it. Perhaps they accept your counsel, perhaps their pride blocks you; this is a risk you’re […]

Early last week, we lost one of the last great men of the 20th century, Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn was perhaps best known in the West as a Russian anti-communist dissident. Less well known to many people was his fierce criticism of the post-Enlightenment West, a criticism that won him as much enmity from cultural […]

Mark Twain once said, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” Throughout the history of American presidential elections, a pattern often repeats. At some point prior to election day, one candidate finds “the right word”–the powerful combination of idea and […]

Last week, news of Barack Obama’s trip through Europe dominated the American media. A July 23, 2008 Gallup poll shows the overwhelming majority of Britons, French and Germans would prefer Obama to win the presidential election. The United Kingdom showed a preference of Obama at 60% to McCain’s 25%; in France, Obama was […]

This is less of an essay, and more of an observation submitted for comment.
American liberty is supposed to be the freedom to swing your fist wherever you choose, provided you’ll be punished if you strike another man’s nose.  In other words, the concept is that we’re free to do as we please so long as […]

A report this morning indicated that the idea of formally taking over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (henceforth “FMs”) has crossed the minds of the president and his advisers. 
For the mortgage layman, an introduction to the mortgage process is in order.  It begins when a prospective mortgage borrower applies for a loan with […]

In May, the California Supreme Court held “unconstitutional” a California statute defining marriage as existing between one man and one woman. The opinion issued by the Court went out of its way–or, as Shakespeare might say, protested too much–to assure the people that the Court was not making policy, but only applying simple, well-recognized […]

In mid June, Montreal Superior Court Justice Suzanne Tessier created a crisis by overturning a father’s decision to ground his daughter.  Justice Tessier ruled that the father had no right to inflict an “unduly severe punishment” (in this case, denying his daughter permission to attend a school trip). Even for Canada this decision is unprecedented; […]

A report from January of this year estimated the total US federal government’s 2007 debt to be $163 Billion, or about 1.16% of GDP.  This is certainly not ideal, but with consistent economic growth the situation might prove at worst benign.  Unless, of course, I told you that these figures aren’t based on accrual accounting.
For […]