Dating By Blood Type

Ron has told me about Japan's obsession with blood types before, but I didn't realize people chose their life mates based on it.

Making America More Like Europe

Shikha Dalmia looks at Arizona's new anti-immigrant law.

The Nighthawks: Little Sister

I became a big fan of the group after this appearance on the old Bill Tush show, and I got to see them live at the 40 Watt Club several times.

Normal Is Suspicious

Jacob Sullum has an update on the Tonya Craft witch hunt.

Ted Kennedy Was Right for the Wrong Reasons

That Cape Cod wind project is only possible because of massive subsidies and makes no sense economically.

They Had to Pass the Law So They Can Find Out What's In It

Steve Chapman on Arizona's new immigration law.

Economic Pessimism in Japan

Anemic economic growth and a rapidly aging population aren't good trends.

A Travesty of Justice in Northern Georgia

The Tonya Craft case gets more attention. Early on I said that Craft was getting railroaded. That is now an understatement. Maybe a better comparison would be to one of those Soviet show trials of enemies of the state.

China Stripped of Olympic Medal

It only took 10 years.

The New McCarthyism

Arnold Kling looks at the Senate's hearings on Goldman Sachs.

How Immigration Crackdowns Backfire

Steve Chapman looks at the possible affects of the new Arizona law. Among his findings:

The state has an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants. But contrary to myth, they have not brought an epidemic of murder and mayhem with them. Surprise of surprises, the state has gotten safer.

Over the last decade, the violent crime rate has dropped by 19 percent, while property crime is down by 20 percent. Crime has also declined in the rest of the country, but not as fast as in Arizona.

SNL: Public Employee of the Year Awards

Was There a Golden Age of Liberty?

David Boaz collects some responses to a debate he kicked off.

UPDATE: Link fixed.

Brutal. But Fair?

Over at Abu Muqawama, Andrew Exum posts on the loyalty supposedly shown by Goldman Sachs executives to their employees and compares it unfavorably to the loyalty show by senior military officers to their junior officers, which leads another former Amry Ranger to comment:

@AM:
Your Ranger RGT offered up Lt. Uthlaut as the scapegoat for Pat Tillman’s friendly-fire death and kicked him out of the RGT (by the way, Uthlaut was hit in the face by a SAW round during the incident). Uthlaut was no slouch, he was the First Captain of his West Point class, and had vehemently protested the stupid orders from the TOC to split his platoon.

His superiors? All promoted. The RGT commander, Col. Nixon got his star. The XO (“The Lost Kauz” in a book about the Surge) who led the 15-6 “investigation” was promoted to Full Bird. And General McChrystal (who was in charge of fabricating Tillman’s Silver Star and personally led the cover-up on the ground in Afghanistan)? Of course, he got his fourth star.

What about your Ranger values “to never fail a comrade” and Nate’s “sember fi”? Just more hypocritical BS! At least when it comes to having the back of your fellow Ranger Pat Tillman and his mother Mary Tillman (“From the time I was very little, I was aware of my father’s pride in being a Marine. When I was three years old … I would stand between my parents, feet digging into the soft leather of the big front seat, and sing the entire Marine Corps Hymn at the top of my lungs” from her “Boots on the Ground by Dusk”).

Last year(“Confirm Him” 6-02-09) you wrote in your blog, “The bottom line is, nothing is ever going to heal the wounds inflicted on the Tillman Family … And while I have nothing but respect for the Tillman Family…, their personal grief should not be a veto on the nomination of the man [General McChrystal] … These are serious questions and are more important than either the death of Pat Tillman or the alleged abuse of detainees.”
I liked both you and Nate better when you were LTs. Now, you’re both just a pair of Beltway “suits.”

Tea Partiers Respond to Jim Bovard

They explain that they really are in favor of smaller government and show how he has misunderstood them. Just kidd. They call him a Nazi, a racist and a communist.

ClimateGate Update: About That Peer-Reviewed Stuff

Ron Bailey reports that claims that the IPCC report was vigorously peer-reviewed is bunk. About a third of the citations were not to peer-reviewed journals but to newspaper reports and evene press releases put out by environmental groups.

A Second Serving of Weak Tea

Jesse Walker and Radley Balko look at the Tea Party. They find, not surprisingly, that members aren't really opposed to big government as long as it does what they want it to do.

Show Me Your Papers!

Seth Meyers, on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update last night looked at Arizona's new anti-immigration law, which allows the police to demand ID from anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant to to arrest those who can't prove to their satisfaction that they belong here:

I notice the people in Arizona worry that Obama is acting like Hitler. But can we all agree that there is nothing more Nazi than saying "Show me your papers"? There's never been a World War II movie that didn't include the line "show me your papers." It's their catchphrase. Every time someone says "Show me your papers" Hitler's family gets a residual check. So head's up Arizona, that's fascism. I know, I know. It's a dry fascism, but it's still fascism.

Weak Tea

Jim Bovard finds that Tea Party members aren't really serious about that small government stuff.

Many of the attendees seemed to hate liberals far more than they loved liberty. A CBS/New York Times poll conducted in April showed that two-thirds of tea party members have a favorable opinion of Sarah Palin, and 57 percent have a favorable opinion of George W. Bush. Denouncing big government while approving of President Bush is like denouncing immodesty while sunning oneself on a nude beach. After all, it was Bush who championed the prescription drug benefit for seniors that adds $7 trillion to Washington’s unfunded liabilities.

What a Fool Believes

Rod Long looks at Arizona's new anti-immigration anti-Hispanic law.

Wilson Pickett and Duane Allman

And, of course, the funkiest white guys in Alabama, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section:

Big Trouble in Georgia

The Cato Institute notices what's going on the Tonya Craft case.

Obamacare Will Cost a Lot More than He Promised

Is anyone other than a Democrat surprised?

RIP Pam Murphy

Audie's widow sounds like she was a remarkable person, too.

The Closing of the Conservative Mind

Jim Manzi tears apart talk radio host Mark Levin's latest book. And conservatives circle the wagons. None of them can take issue with what Mazni said. They just feel it shouldn't be said about another conservative.

Daniel Larison has more on the controversy and on how bad Levin's book is.

A Little Japanese Bluegrass

Stay Classy ACORN

ACORN head Bertha Lewis reacts to news that the final person whose property the city of New York condemned to enrich an already wealthy man has agreed to give up his fight.

Radley Balko Got a Little More Libertarian Today

Tax time will do that to you.

More on the Railroading of Tonya Craft

With an unfortunate connection to Dalton.

Is Joburg Ready for the World Cup?

The Sunday Times knows how to interview a mayor.

Is the NFL Racist?

Yahoo Sports looks at Toby Gerhart, and finds:

Race shouldn’t be an issue, of course, but Gerhart can’t help but believe that it has colored the opinions of at least some potential employers.

“One team I interviewed with asked me about being a white running back,” Gerhart says. “They asked if it made me feel entitled, or like I felt I was a poster child for white running backs. I said, ‘No, I’m just out there playing ball. I don’t think about that.’ I didn’t really know what to say.”

One longtime NFL scout insisted that Gerhart’s skin color will likely prevent the Pac-10’s offensive player of the year from being drafted in Thursday’s first round.

“He’ll be a great second-round pickup for somebody, but I guarantee you if he was the exact same guy – but he was black – he’d go in the first round for sure,” the scout said. “You could make a case that he’s a Steven Jackson-type – doesn’t have blazing speed but he’s strong and powerful and versatile.”

Volcanic Eruption Not as Dangerous to Air Traffic As Claimed

Computer models didn't match reality? Governments overreacted? I'm shocked.

The Art of Choosing

Virginia Postrel reviews Shena Iyengar's new book.

Here's a sample:

Take a mundane question: Do you choose to brush your teeth in the morning? Or do you just do it? Can a habit or custom be a choice? When Iyengar asked Japanese and American college students in Kyoto to record all the choices they made in a day, the Americans included things like brushing their teeth and hitting the snooze button. The Japanese didn’t consider those actions to be choices. The two groups lived similar lives. But they defined them differently.

The daughter of Indian immigrants, Iyengar is drawn to such cross-cultural comparisons.

Extremists Riot in Boston

An attempted weapons confiscation goes wrong.

Buddy Rich vs. Ed Shaughnessy

100 Years of Medical Fascism

Dale Steinreich looks at how the government has slowly but inexorably gotten control of health care.

Tonya Craft Trial: Are the Media No Longer Playing Along with the Prosecution?

Jacob Sullum looks at local coverage.

Will the Tea Party Movement Make It Harder to Shrink Government?

Some thoughts from Tyler Cowen and Arnold Kling.

Update on the Tonya Craft Trial

Bill Anderson has the latest.

Falcons Embrace MMA Training

Alex Marvez has the story.

Japan: The Strange Country

A Japanese man created this to show his countrymen how they look to foreigners

My Momma Told Me

Jacob Sullum has more on the Tonya Craft case.

Jim Cornette Really Steps in It

You really shouldn't send an e-mail like this, especially if you have a history of, umm, anger management issues.

British Girl Tops the Japanese Charts

Thanks to YouTube.

I Just Remembered

Jacob Sullum looks at the Tonya Craft case.

What's The Matter with Tennessee

As the South goes, so goes the GOP, and Sean Scallion says that not a good trend.

Nifonged in North Georgia

Bill Anderson has more on the Tonya Craft case.

Hooters in China

Who says America can't sell things overseas?

Erland van Lidthe de Jeude

All American wrestler in college and an an alternate in freestyle wrestling on the 1976 U.S. Olympic team. Bachelors in computer science from MIT. Chracter actor in several movies and an opera singer. This is really his voice in a scene from "Stir Crazy"

A Golden Age of Liberty

Jacob Hornberger responds to David Boaz.

Will Wilkinson jumps in.

Stephen Bainbridge says Wilkinson's naivete is cute.

And Arnold Kling has the final word.

I appreciate Boaz's warnings not to mythologize the past. i'm less certain that Will Wilkinson and Brink Lindsay have anythign valuable to say about anything. For the better part of 50 years, libertarians have tried to reach out to the left, and they don't have a whole lot to show for it. And I'm not sure that demoninzing middle-class, middle-age white folks as Wilkinson insists on doing will help the cause of freedom. But I guess it will make the Cato folks feel cooler.

This Doesn't Look Safe

Japanese guys ride giant logs.

The Railroading of Tonya Craft

William Anderson looks at a case going on in Catoosa County that doesn't appear to be all kosher. Not surprisingly, he singles out Newschannel 9 for some criticism.

Some People Really Like Tea

Apparently, there are no supermarkets in China.

HT: Radley Balko.

He "Thought They Could Just Fart and Be Friends"

This story is from a TV station Web site, so I guess some reporter or maybe the anchor read it on the air.

Up from Slavery

David Boaz warns against libertarian nostalgia.

Why Has It Gotten So Expensive to Go to a Baseball Game?

Government subsidies to baseball.

Did John Lewis Smear the Tea Partiers?

Hans von Sapovsky says it would be in character for the Georgia Democrat.

Meanwhile, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver seems to be walking back his previous claims that a Tea Party protester spit on him after video emerged of the incident, showing it to be more a case of someone standing too close to him while shouting than a deliberate assault.

The Allman Brothers and Eric Clapton Live

Little Wing

Should Libertarians Be Isolationists?

No, says Bryan Caplan, they should be pacifists. The late, great Robert Lefevre made much the same argument.

The Angry Right

Isn't nearly as angry as the angry left.

Switzerland: Learning from What Works

Richard Rahn looks at how Switzerland has preserved its freedom and prosperity for some 700 years.

Japanese Penis and Vagina Festivals

They are huge.

Lukewarm Tea

Kelley Vlahos says the Tea Party movements lack of a real philosophy could doom it.

Democracy in Deficit

Economist Steve Horwitz has some thoughts from our old grad school professor and Nobel Laureate James Buchanan.

Cartoon Economics

My old grad school colleague Steve Horwtiz explains health care reform.

Georgia's Bottom Line

Mercer University economist Scott Bealier looks at how the General Assembly is dealing with the Georgia's budget deficit. Here's a hint: The Legislature is controlled by Republicans, so it involves lots of tax increases they refuse to call tax increases.

The Broken Windows Fallacy

How to Fix Immigration

Do the opposite of what the Obama administration is doing.

Georgia Congressman: Guam Could Tip Over

The admiral handles this exchange, well.