Leave It to Beaver

The New York Times looks back at the groundbreaking series.

From Dalton to Iraq to Hollywood

Army vet J.R. Martinez started on "All My Children" in 2008 in what he and producers thought would be a story line lasting just a few weeks. Two years later, he's one of the show's regular charactes.

A Few Good Words for Robert Byrd

The Cato Insitute's Justin Logan reminds libertarians there was more to the late senator than pork barrel spending.

Plus, Jesse Walker has some clips of Byrd playing bluegrass.

Endless War, a Recipe for Four-Star Arrogance

Here's the latest from Col. Andrew Bacevich.

The Cowboys Are Going to Win the Next Super Bowl

USA Today explains why. And is it just me or is that a scary photograph?

It Truly Is the Best Party

I would have voted for this guy. I don't know if I'd be too happy when he won. But that's another matter.

If Ed Wood Spoke Portuguese

IFC has been running a bunch of Coffin Joe films. I taped several of them and am finally getting around to watching them. At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul has its moments, but a lot of these are hard to get through.

Clint Webb for Senate

The Problem Isn't McChrystal

Don Vandergriff looks at U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

Early to Bed and Early to Rise

Helps fight global warming, according to the Japanese government.

People of the Book

Brian Doherty looks at libertarian fiction.

Charles Murray on Ayn Rand

He reviews two new biographies of Rand.

Money quote:

First, Rand expressed the glory of human achievement. She tapped into the delight that a human being ought to feel at watching another member of our species doing things superbly well. The scenes in The Fountainhead in which the hero, Howard Roark, realizes his visions of architectural truth are brilliant evocations of human creativity at work. But I also loved scenes like the one in Atlas Shrugged when protagonist Dagny Taggart is in the cab of the locomotive on the first run on the John Galt line, going at record speed, and glances at the engineer:

He sat slumped forward a little, relaxed, one hand resting lightly on the throttle as if by chance; but his eyes were fixed on the track ahead. He had the ease of an expert, so confident that it seemed casual, but it was the ease of a tremendous concentration, the concentration on one's task that has the ruthlessness of an absolute.

That's a heroic vision of a blue-collar worker doing his job. There are many others. Critics often accuse Rand of portraying a few geniuses as the only people worth valuing. That's not what I took away from her. I saw her celebrating people who did their work well and condemning people who settled for less, in great endeavors or small; celebrating those who took responsibility for their lives, and condemning those who did not. That sounded right to me in 1960 and still sounds right in 2010.
Second, Ayn Rand portrayed a world I wanted to live in, not because I would be rich or powerful in it, but because it consisted of people I wanted to be around. As conditions deteriorate in Atlas Shrugged, the first person to quit in disgust at Hank Rearden's steel mill is Tom Colby, head of the company union:

For ten years, he had heard himself denounced throughout the country, because his was a "company union" and because he had never engaged in a violent conflict with the management. This was true; no conflict had ever been necessary; Rearden paid a higher wage scale than any union scale in the country, for which he demanded—and got—the best labor force to be found anywhere.

That's not a world of selfishness or greed. It's a world of cooperation and mutual benefit through the pursuit of self-interest, enabling satisfying lives not only for the Hank Reardens of the world but for factory workers. I still want to live there.
That world came together in the chapters of Atlas Shrugged describing Galt's Gulch, the chapters I most often reread when I go back to the book. The great men and women who have gone on strike are gathered there, sometimes working at their old professions, but more often being grocers and cabbage growers and plumbers, because that's the niche in which they can make a living. In scene after scene, Rand shows what such a community would be like, and it does not consist of isolated individualists holding one another at arm's length. Individualists, yes, but ones who have fun in one another's company, care about one another, and care for one another—not out of obligation, but out of mutual respect and spontaneous affection.

North Korean World Cup Fans

They are actually Chinese people the North Korean government has paid to attend the games.

Mixing Bluegrass, Gospel and Funk

The Lee Boys, the Travelin' McCourys and Del McCoury.

The Right's Wrong Turn

David Gordon reviews a new biography of William F. Buckley Jr.

Are You A White Guy Looking to Be Rented?

China may want you

Libertarianism and Anti-Discrimination Law

The Cato Institute kicks off a debate here.

When You've Lost Jon Stewart

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Respect My Authoritah
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Atlas Says "Meh"

Atlas Shrugs Begins filing with a $5 million budget, first-time director and a bunch of actors from the CW Network.

Free Trade for Gaza

Tyler Cowen says the blockade hurst most those who are the least hostile to Israel.

South Africa's Brain Drain

Newsweek asks "why are the best and brightest leaving?" Really, the answers aren't obvious?

Where Have All the Reporters Gone?

Newsroom cutbacks are keeping large newspapers from covering statewide races the way they used to.

More Tonya Craft Stuff

WRCB reports that just a few months after the initial allegations were made the father of one of the girls Craft was accused of molesting told an investigator he wasn't sure anything happened to his daughter and didn't want to pursue the case but felt pressured by prosceutors.


And William Anderson has several new posts.

So It Turns Out Keanu Reeves Is Immortal

Proof.

Jerry Lee Lewis and Charlie Pride

This may have been the nadir of both their careers.

OK, it may have been the nadir of Charlie's career.

Headline of the Day

Maybe the headline of the week.

Georgia Justice

Prosecutor gets judge top toss defense attorneys off a capital murder case and get them replaced with lawyers of his choosing. The state Supreme Court says that is OK, and the prosecutor is now angling to be a judge.

Why Is KFC Much More Popular Than McDonald's in China?

One blogger has the answers.

More Tonya Craft

Bill Anderson has more thoughts on the case.

Whoo, Hooh! We're No. 1!

Why are investors still so eager to fund exploding federal deficits?

Economist Jeffrey Miron writes:

As bad as policy is in the U.S., it is worse in most other countries. That may help the U.S. avoid the day of reckoning for a while.

Free Trade for Everyone

That means Gaza, too, says Tom Palmer.

Zac Brown Covers an Old Manfred Mann Tune

Daddy Issues

Gene Healy tells a bunch of pundits to grow up.

Producer Says Atlas Shrugged to Start Filming in June

But no actors have been lined up yet.

O, Canada

Fred Barnes sas we should look north for some lessons on cutting government.

I Really Can't Disagree with This

Noah Pollak writes:

Those who sent an elite unit into a hostile confrontation armed with toy weapons made an incredibly stupid decision. And a uniquely Israeli one. In recent memory, Israeli military action has been violent but not decisive, bloody enough to provoke the outrage and condemnation of the world (at this point, a stubbed toe will do), but not enough to actually change facts on the ground (the Hamas and Hezbollah wars being prime examples). These halfhearted wars and battles have earned Israel demerits in world opinion without enough to show in improved strategic position.

Memorial Day for a Father Whose Son Was Killed In Iraq

I'm a bit late in linking to this.

Guatemala Is Going to Eat Us All

Explanation here.