tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76306912011-11-23T19:06:44.919-05:00"I simply can't imagine competence as anything save admirable ... and those that have it in some measure, in any art or craft, from adultery to zoology, are the only human beings I can think of who it will be worth the oil it will take to fry them in hell." --- H.L. MenckenTom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.comBlogger2441100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1124288129274300672005-08-17T08:57:00.000-05:002005-08-17T09:15:29.310-05:00

After a year of struggling with Blogger and the lack of certain things I now consider indispensible I've decided to move this blog to my new typepad account. Please make note of the link above and change your bookmarks accordingly. I will port all of this content over to that account over the course of the next couple of weeks. There are over 240 posts to move. I will keep this space open for

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1123767198537982232005-08-11T08:26:00.000-05:002005-08-11T08:33:18.550-05:00

Hello my regular readers (all 3 of you) with the advent of a new hockey season and my tiring of things political for the time being, I decided to start another blog to scratch my itch about all things hockey. It's called Sabre Rattling and it's a blog nominally dedicated to the Buffalo Sabres. My goal there is to gather the best of the commentators on the Sabres that I've met through the

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1123766806047560402005-08-11T08:25:00.000-05:002005-08-11T08:35:59.676-05:00

This morning's entry hopefully makes a couple of salient points about how futile a retributive justice model is. Ta,

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1123675856912414202005-08-10T06:55:00.000-05:002005-08-10T07:10:56.916-05:00

Cross-posted over at The Free Radicals. The above link is to a chart by Lars Lindgren posted on Jim Sinclair's site. I'm not an Elliot Waver in any way but Lars' commentary is still worth noting. While I don't quite understand the signifigance of the Elliot Wave count he's using I do understand the formation discussion. I see two Cup and Handle formations. The one that Lars notated and a

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1123502409055066782005-08-08T06:56:00.000-05:002005-08-08T13:23:42.746-05:00

Cross-posted over at The Free Radicals In the comments to my earlier article on this subject this comment was received by Arthur Franke: I had a '“discussion'” along these same lines with someone in January who had rather explicit opinions about the direction of the dollar over the following year. I told him he could be proven correct, but that I seriously doubted his projections and I expected

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1122988406781585502005-08-02T07:59:00.000-05:002005-08-02T08:13:26.790-05:00

With the news that the Renminbi has been revalued against the US Dollar by 2.1% the Mighty Mogambo(MM) reminds us that this will have an immediate inflationary effect here: Immediately (and this is the part that ought to make your trigger finger twitch involuntarily and your heart slam-dance against your ribcage), oil, precious, precious oil, which is priced in dollars, becomes instantly 2.1%

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1122662728677251822005-07-29T13:31:00.000-05:002005-07-29T13:45:28.686-05:00

Apparently Sandis Ozolinch didn't get the NHLPA memo about trying to keep his salary near the level of his old contract. With the changes to both the Ducks front office and the NHL's rulebook, Ozolinch looks to be a much more valuable player tomorrow than he was yesterday. So, if that's the case why is TSN reporting that he signed for nearly half of what he would have made under his old

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1122659183453019362005-07-29T11:57:00.000-05:002005-07-29T12:50:39.033-05:00

First off. You people have no idea how excited I am that the NHL has re-opened for business. As much as I enjoyed spending most of this past winter playing World of Warcraft and bitching about Tom Palmer it could not replace the sheer joy and excitement that an honest-to-God NHL season brings to my life. I've spent too much time over the past couple of weeks trolling around on HFBoards.com

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1121277026885177382005-07-13T12:29:00.000-05:002005-07-13T12:50:26.893-05:00

For those of you in the audience who are hockey fans, today will no longer be remembered as Harrison Ford's 63rd birthday (I'm nearly ashamed to admit that I didn't have to check IMDB's gossip page for this info) but The Day The Lockout Died. [cue music] In the end, the owners got exactly what they wanted and the players capitulated, exactly as I figured this would play out. Not only will there

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1121175211171538632005-07-12T08:23:00.000-05:002005-07-12T08:33:31.176-05:00

Morning all. At the behest (or more accurately, suggestion) of Daniel Franke, we along with Jason Murad have started a group blog called The Free Radicals. The site is literally brand new and I have not yet posted. This came together rather quickly as all three of us have come to the conclusion that we are incapable of populating a blog individually but as a group should be able to create

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1121112012234130892005-07-11T15:00:00.000-05:002005-07-11T15:00:12.310-05:00

The E-E has a great little piece on the Unintended Consequences of tax examptions at the link above. Great stuff that. Makes me wish I was a developer... But, in fact, the Agricultural Property Tax Exemption is an outstanding thing to take advantage of if you can. It's part of the reason why Capt. C. Vain and myself moved out to rural Columbia County. My property Taxes in Gainesville on

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1120855628182203602005-07-08T15:27:00.000-05:002005-07-08T15:48:42.856-05:00

Since mentioning in an e-mail on the LPF Ex. Committee list that I was a fan of Borda Count as the preferred alternative voting method, I've been in discussion with Tom Smith of the Florida Patriot Party on this issue. This started a row on the list because there is a contingent (and a very vocal one) that is strongly in favor of Approval Voting, and want the LPF to change to the use and

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1120072492626898802005-06-29T14:14:00.000-05:002005-06-29T14:14:52.676-05:00

I finally went to look at the new homepage of the LP and I have to say I'm really quite happy with what they've done. I love the membership drive at the top of the page, especially that it is as aggressive a schedule as it is.... 5000 new or re-newed members in 2 months. If they reach that goal that would be very exciting indeed. Moreover, the blog is a phenomenal idea that I've been trying

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1120059135379215822005-06-29T09:32:00.000-05:002005-06-29T12:07:05.490-05:00

This excerpt from Bush's bomb of a speech last night has me completely convinced that he's lost all sense of proportion vis a vis Iraq and the 'War on Terror.' I thank those of you who have re-enlisted in an hour when your country needs you. And to those watching tonight who are considering a military career, there is no higher calling than service in our Armed Forces. We live in freedom because

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1120047838951264402005-06-29T07:23:00.000-05:002005-06-29T07:43:19.176-05:00

There is a solid article this morning at LRC and reprinted in the LA Times by John Lott citing the significant drop in gun-related violent crime since the sunsetting of the Assault Weapons Ban in September of last year. I think I can speak for all of the unreconstructed gun-toting, lunatic-fringe, property rights nuts in feeling not the least bit surprised by this. Nor am I surprised at the

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1119959660984612462005-06-28T06:54:00.000-05:002005-06-28T06:54:21.040-05:00

Patent and IP lawyer Stephan Kinsella has a great article this morning at LRC about the constitutionality of the Supreme Court's decision in Kelo vs. New London. In essence, he is saying that the Supreme Court arrived at the right result with exactly the wrong argument. His argument also contravenes something I spouted off on earlier in the week, and after due consideration must conclude

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1119644228672722662005-06-24T15:05:00.000-05:002005-06-24T15:17:08.680-05:00

I just got e-mail from Walt Augustinowicz on the LPF Ex. Comm. list saying that he's been in contact with Rep. Nancy Detert-Venice from District 70, who is "outraged by the ruling:" Dear Walt, I, too, am outraged by the Supreme Court ruling. In fact, I really can't believe it! I would be happy to file the bill or least explore the possibilities of presenting a reasonable option. I think that

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1119620229513544162005-06-24T07:42:00.000-05:002005-06-24T13:10:52.780-05:00

The latest ruling by our illiterate Supreme Court is without question one of the most vile pieces of information I've ever had the displeasure to process. In essence, the Supreme Court just handed out the biggest free sample of Viagra to those city governments suffering from F.E.D. syndrome (Foiled Eminent Domain). With renewed vigor and a smile to rival Bob from the Enzyte commercials the

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1119532194205365942005-06-23T08:09:00.000-05:002005-06-23T08:09:54.260-05:00

As I made my blog-rounds this morning I came around to this great article by Kip Esquire where he makes a very cogent argument about why housing prices only need to dip a little to have a huge effect on the state of the lending system. I got there from this article at The Marginal Revolution. Kip uses Tarrabok's own argument against him, brilliantly. Equating a mortgage to buying stocks on

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1119367820780861842005-06-21T10:14:00.000-05:002005-06-21T10:30:20.796-05:00

To those 3 of you still interested in the progress on the house I finally have the energy (and the pics in hand) to give an update on the addition we started building earlier this month. Back in March we put a porch on the place (10'x24') off the south wall, which has done wonders to making the house more livable in the summer Florida heat. My little AC window unit works less than half as hard as

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1119360559136928862005-06-21T08:29:00.000-05:002005-06-21T08:29:19.140-05:00

Over at the Econobrowser, James Hamilton argues against a housing bubble because of localized growth rates having a multiplicative effect on expected returns of the property owner. I'm unsure how that argument makes any sense whatsoever, mind you, because in my mind he holds so many variables constant as to remove his example from any realistic application. In essence, he's saying that the

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1119359385724294622005-06-21T08:09:00.000-05:002005-06-21T08:09:45.786-05:00

About half-way down this article is a quote from Monty Guild, advisor to Jim Sinclair and an analyst that Mr. Sinclair trusts implicitly. Oil is strong in June. It’s hard to believe that gold and the rest of the commodities won't follow eventually. Every year in June thru August, not so good economists call for a Chinese meltdown – and every year they are wrong. The Chinese consumer is now

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1119273721220993112005-06-20T08:22:00.000-05:002005-06-21T08:30:14.600-05:00

The E-E sent me e-mail over the weekend withthe subject line "exoneration?" over my call for higher oil prices. In previous posts he and I have debated whether oil prices would go up or down, with the E-E bearish for fundamental reasons and me bullish for a combination of fundamentals and actual price action, i.e. the chart of the $XOI and the $CRB. Basically, my argument is that dollar

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1119020206462982732005-06-17T09:56:00.000-05:002005-06-17T09:56:46.530-05:00

I guess this may be proof-positive that I'm beginning to come out of my self-generated shell. The above is a link to the lead story currently at Antiwar.com of the White House out-of-hand rejecting a congressional bill to set a timetable for our withdrawl from Iraq. Color me shocked to see Mr "Freedom Fries" himself, Walter Jones working with Ron Paul to send a clear message to the President

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1118927054658850892005-06-16T06:24:00.000-05:002005-06-16T08:19:21.970-05:00

For those who read this space regularly you know that I love movies and have more than a passing interest in screenwriting as a craft. That said, I don't get out to the movies as often as I'd like mostly because I hate having my time wasted by a bad film.... and there are so many of them these days. I decided last night that when I do actually get myself to the theatre I should blog my thoughts

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1118327852481798422005-06-09T09:37:00.000-05:002005-06-09T09:37:32.536-05:00

I'm going to file this under "I Don't Want to Live in This Guy's World" because if the information in this article at LRC this morning is correct then this truly isn't a place I want to live in anymore... and unfortunately, there's nowhere to really go. On 9/11 I refused to watch video of the planes impacting the towers until late in the afternoon. I knew that even if the official story was

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1118175602631433562005-06-07T15:20:00.000-05:002005-06-07T15:20:02.676-05:00

Two fascinating articles by Brian Bloom over at Gold-Eagle.com (one linked above... the other is here) which together paint the picture of two markets that are linked but also at a junction. While predominately bullish signals exist in both gold and silver (see the charts in both articles) there are some troubling bearish indicators in the silver chart, especially the ratio of $silver:$usd where

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1117734833589578792005-06-02T12:53:00.000-05:002005-06-02T12:53:53.636-05:00

First, I'd like to apologize to those who actually look forward to my rants and ravings for my absense here during the month of May. This post is not going to be about anything earth-shattering.... sorry E-E no insightful witticisms on the state of the Dollar... For a variety of reasons I've had little to no interest in engaging my brain for the past few weeks. Aside from feeling off (which

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1117107536204123082005-05-26T06:38:00.000-05:002005-05-26T07:35:40.303-05:00

As a favor to my friend The E-E, I figured I'd be polite and answer his call to know what I'm reading. So here goes (and a public special thanks to both the E-E and an old friend PJL who both contacted my during my absence to remind me that I have done something good in my life....): Total number of book I own: It's hard to say, most of them have been packed up in boxes for the past two

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1115207111053974962005-05-04T06:45:00.000-05:002005-05-04T06:45:11.276-05:00

This week over at kitco.com Chip Hanlon has a great piece which starts by floating the theory that Alan Greenspan is the breathing embodiment of Francisco D'Anconia from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. This is of particular interest for me because on many an occassion I've half-facetiously thought the exact same thing myself. I just never had the courage to float that argument in public,

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1115029989697115242005-05-02T05:21:00.000-05:002005-05-03T06:36:32.103-05:00

Like the people who Lawrence Roulston describes in the following quote, I stopped reading this article about halfway through (b/c I knew what the rest of it was going to say): In reality, the reaction in both the currency and bullion markets was more due to the perception than to fundamentals. Traders, in this era of Internet induced group-think, often click the sell icon on their screens before

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1114716676439672462005-04-28T14:31:00.000-05:002005-04-28T14:31:16.440-05:00

With the difficult financial times currently being endured by both Ford and GM it is weird that Washington has not mentioned the word "Bailout." Even more suprising is this statement by President Bush on CNBC: I think they're going to have to learn how to compete. The question I'm asking is, "Why should they start now?" It's not like our government hasn't protected the Big (Only) 3

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1114534324732325372005-04-26T11:52:00.000-05:002005-04-26T11:52:04.733-05:00

Thanks to Capt. C. Vain for e-mailing me this link. This is a great article on the true nature of intellectual property including some great thoughts by the architect of the U.S. Patent and Copyright system, one Thomas Jefferson. I remember reading Stephan Kinsella's arguments against intellectual property on LRC years ago and being, at first, recalcitrant to the ideas he was presenting. But

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1114431405414603422005-04-25T07:16:00.000-05:002005-04-25T07:26:44.563-05:00

The E-E links to an article by Steve Polos of Export Development Canada who thinks that oil prices are headed lower. In which he states his reasoning (which I'll offer counterpoints for as we go): Oil prices seem to be heading down right now. -- See this page and tell me what you think oil prices are currently doing? The $USD has found its legs. -- See this page and tell me if you would

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1114430459061838852005-04-25T07:00:00.000-05:002005-04-25T07:08:59.696-05:00

With the consolidation that has been occuring in the precious metals market sparked by the Dead Cat Bounce of the $USD off of the 1995 low centered around 0.80 I have been occupied with other things keeping only cursory tabs on the state of things. There is always a tendency, in me especially, to get irrational while exploring and analyzing a particular thing (market, philosophy, cars, game, TV

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1114197669042788832005-04-22T14:21:00.000-05:002005-04-22T14:21:09.043-05:00

With the latest Senate vote the total spending on the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan now exceeds the debt load of financially-troubled General Motors. GM, who posted a $1.1 billion loss on Tuesday and pulled their forecasts for the rest of the year, is obviously over-burdened by both rising material and labor costs. Given the rancorous bargaining going on between GM and the UAW over restructuring

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1114028059500846632005-04-20T15:14:00.000-05:002005-04-20T15:14:19.500-05:00

For those who have not read Kafka's The Trial, or seen Terry Gilliam's Brazil, this entry by my predictable source of material The Eclectic Econoclast will give you a taste of both of those seminal works. Basically, a christian pastor in Australia was convicted of hate speech for using textual references fromt he Quran on the inferiority of women in his sermon. His crime... 'religious

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1114019578791005942005-04-20T12:52:00.000-05:002005-04-20T12:52:58.790-05:00

While it makes little sense to me (not that I'm the world's most informed guy on these matters) the triangle formation in the HUI:GOLD ratio that I've been tracking here for the past 6 months or so has finally broken down. Looking at the chart linked to above you'll see a breakdowns of both the original lower trendline in mid-march and horizontal support centered around 0.45 last week. That

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1114017870088490262005-04-20T12:24:00.000-05:002005-04-20T12:24:30.086-05:00

As per usual, Justin Raimondo is spot on with his using Waco as an analogy to the War in Iraq. For those that haven't seen the excellent film, Waco: The Rules of Engagement, I suggest renting/NetFlixing it ASAP. During the construction of my house, it was the only thing that stopped me from being on the job-site by 8:00am. Riveting. Sad. Damning. From Raimondo: To all those liberal

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1114017523425469732005-04-20T12:18:00.000-05:002005-04-20T12:18:43.426-05:00

Thanks to JT for putting me onto this article (especially in light of the events with the LPAC) from the Light of Reason. Herein the author describes the mechanism of non-debate used by those 'libertarians' who can justify to themselves the foray into Iraq somehow as being in keeping with libertarian philosophy and the resultant stance of non-interventionism. Certainly worth the time.

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1114007554317738212005-04-20T09:32:00.000-05:002005-04-20T09:43:09.023-05:00

Having been raised Catholic (and today my mother is Catholic enough for my entire family, which looks good on her, btw) I remember the death of Popes Paul Vi and John Paul I and the hours spent watching TV waiting for their successors to be chosen. While I never truly embraced the faith or the teachings of the church, and today refuse to categorize that which I call 'spirituality,' I do recognize

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1113308295268448982005-04-12T07:18:00.000-05:002005-04-12T07:47:56.133-05:00

With the possibility of being able to buy a new car looming my search for a car that will accomodate all of the possible present and future needs for myself and Capt. Charity Vain has led me to an interesting discovery. I live approximately 25 miles from work. We currently carpool the three of us to work everyday in C. C. Vain's 2002 Forester. A great and wonderful car it is. It is also paid for

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1113233140592900672005-04-11T09:49:00.000-05:002005-04-12T06:58:23.643-05:00

The E-E has a post from last week with some of his thoughts on the economics of Animal Cruelty. In that post he throws up an abstract to a paper by Tyler Cowan on the subject, which has as its method of assigning value something that makes no sense to me whatsoever, ordinal utilitarianism or some such thing. Delving into that approach (yes, to debunk it) will take more time than I am willing to

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1113222155760290052005-04-11T07:15:00.000-05:002005-04-11T07:22:35.760-05:00

On friday I taped a 25 minute radio interview with FMNN covering the NHL lockout and generally flogging my article over there (which I posted here first, btw). If any of you want to confirm just how much I like to listen to myself talk (too quickly I might add), then click the link above. Curiouser and Curiouser. Ta,

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1112709314690794942005-04-05T08:55:00.000-05:002005-04-05T08:58:38.226-05:00

From !, via my Inbox comes this little ditty: The next time you hear a politician use the word "billion," casually, think about whether you want the politician spending your tax money. A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into perspective in one of its releases. A billion seconds ago it was 1959. A billion

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1112703127661682132005-04-05T06:37:00.000-05:002005-04-05T07:35:00.523-05:00

The troop and I went to see Sin City last night. I was a huge comics fan back in the late-80's through 2000, but eventually drifted away from them directing my focus at other things. I'd hesitate to say that I'm not a comics fan anymore, though. It's more like how I feel about Pink Floyd and The Who, these are bands whose music I love but don't actively listen to anymore, preferring different

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1112621581719220472005-04-04T07:30:00.000-05:002005-04-04T08:51:37.166-05:00

For those that follow this space regularly you know that I just might be the biggest hockey fan south of the Mason-Dixon line. A big claim to be sure, and within a pool of competitors for that claim that is far larger than the many people (including hockey fans) think. I know I'm probably the biggest hockey fan in my rural north Florida town. That's gotta count for something. What that may

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1112364155958758292005-04-01T08:18:00.000-05:002005-04-01T15:19:57.120-05:00

[THIS POST CONTAINS NAUGHTY WORDS... THE ONES I USE IN REAL LIFE ALL THE TIME BUT RARELY HERE] For those who come here before going to LRC (that would be none of you, I know) the above link is to my story about how Capt. Charity Vain and I acquired Bennie from Alachua County Animal Services which Lew Rockwell graciously published this morning. I wanted to blog some attendant details to that

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1112274721318045352005-03-31T08:12:00.000-05:002005-03-31T08:12:01.316-05:00

The E-E has a brilliant post on why the Canadians should develop a nuclear weapons program. The problem for Canada is that we have no way of threatening anything to the U.S. in order to obtain speedier and fuller compliance by the U.S. with the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, with the North American Free Trade Agreement [NAFTA], and the decisions made by the WTO. The best we can come up with

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1112273811101541262005-03-31T07:56:00.000-05:002005-03-31T07:56:51.100-05:00

From JT comes this little nugget of morning fun. Enter your name at the URL above and it will (supposedly) elf-ify it for you. My good friend the IrishOne will definately enjoy this. My crappy little elf name is Thom Granitebottom.What's yours?Powered by Rum and Monkey. Hmm... so do you think re-naming this blog Being Thom HardAss would be more appropriate? Ta,

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1112266657775851172005-03-31T05:56:00.000-05:002005-03-31T05:57:37.776-05:00

Apparently his heart had shrunk to the point where it would no longer pump blood. Good Riddance. Ta,

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1111697415200373672005-03-24T15:39:00.000-05:002005-03-24T15:50:15.203-05:00

In response to my article at LRC yesterday I got some very interesting (and almost exclusively positive) e-mails. Only one took me to task for an oversight and the writer, Tom White, made a very salient point that I felt needed to be shared here (and this e-mail is being reprinted with his written permission): > Dear TL: You deal rightly with the flight of poets and writers to academe and the

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1111673557478971762005-03-24T09:12:00.000-05:002005-03-24T10:34:59.486-05:00

The Chevy Avalanche is a butt-ugly automobile if you haven't noticed. It's big, unwieldy, has too much plastic cladding, only salable with deep discounts, and has styling suggesting a misplaced sense of agggression. I drive by a Chevy dealership everyday and at multiple points last year I saw them being discounted as much as $7000 (!!), a nearly 22% discount. In my mind they stand as a

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1111609412337513282005-03-23T15:23:00.000-05:002005-03-23T15:23:32.336-05:00

Props to the Lone Mantis for putting me in touch with this one as I don't read the daily campus bird-cage liner unless I've nothing else to do when in the men's room. The thing of evil that is HB 0837 cannot be underestimated. The sponsor of the bill, one Dennis Baxley R-Ocala, is so worried about students not getting the full truth, whatever that is that... While promoting the bill Tuesday

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1111586668051739032005-03-23T08:13:00.000-05:002005-03-23T09:20:29.513-05:00

When I started this blog last summer I did so with a particular goal in mind. I wanted to get an article published on LRC. Simple and direct. I wanted to join the ranks of people whose work has had such a huge effect on my life in the past few years. Hubris? maybe. Mostly it was just a desire to see if I could do it. My thinking was that I needed to spend time putting words down on paper

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1111527747969196902005-03-22T16:42:00.000-05:002005-03-23T10:18:23.980-05:00

Tom Knapp is quite the guy. Period. This is an absolutely fantastic piece on the limits of property and how one's right to ownership interacts with another's. Knapp uses the 2nd Amendment's guarantee ot keep and bear arms as his example. Stephan Kinsella years ago on LRC used similar arguments to prove that intellectual property was an oxymoron(see articles here and here) So, for me, this

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1111514048366313202005-03-22T12:54:00.000-05:002005-03-22T14:44:54.380-05:00

Here in Alachua County our local LP affiliate has a yahoo group for discussion. And, after a recent speech by Chuck Muth at the LP of California's convention, a discussion during an LPF committee meeting of whether the pledge that one must take to be an LP member should be maintained arose. Our former chair of the LPAC and current secretary of the LPF, Ray Roberts posted the following up as

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1111412596302705892005-03-21T08:43:00.000-05:002005-03-21T09:01:31.180-05:00

HB1223 (the Senate version is SB2180) is in committee and I got an update from LPF V-Chair Walt Augustinowicz on it last night. The link above contains both the bill itself and my commentary on the things of interest. For those readers here in Florida please make a point to call, e-mail or fax a couple of the people on the committee along with your state rep./senator. Rep. Arza 850-488-

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1111411795184573512005-03-21T08:29:00.000-05:002005-03-22T14:53:16.963-05:00

Gotta love the Eclectic Econoclast, after a weekend of painting and studiously not-painting, I check in to see this little gem: Here are three more lessons to learn about anti-trust economics: 1. If you charge less than everybody else, it called unfair competition. 2. If you charge more than everybody else, it called price gouging. 3. If you charge the same as everybody else, it called

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1110980569475596192005-03-16T07:58:00.000-05:002005-03-17T08:19:41.250-05:00

As a regular reader of LRC I have to say that some days the offerings there are definately more interesting for me than others. Today is one of those fantastic days, with two jaw-droppingly engrossing articles. One on the current sad state of poetry in America by Camille Paglia and the other a wonderful look at Michael Crichton and his views of global warming by Donald W. Miller. Now, Paglia

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1110899928926652782005-03-15T09:37:00.000-05:002005-03-15T12:58:16.106-05:00

... all 3 of you. Pics are here, here, here, and here. The porch that I took off a couple of days from work and blogging to build is mostly finished. It is lacking both paint and screen, hopefully this will be rectified by Friday afternoon. Also, note in this picture that the room behind the porch itself will be boxed in and become part of the house proper. I'll move the door out to that

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1110897223892459902005-03-15T09:03:00.000-05:002005-03-15T13:05:33.156-05:00

I didn't want to say anything about this until it was absolutely confirmed (which it has to my satisfaction), but about 10 days ago I got an e-mail from Mark Fadiman over at FMNN asking me if I'd like to join their list of commentators on a non-exclusive basis. I thought about it for a second, checked out the site and the list of who I'd be keeping company with, got that little queasy feeling in

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1110813458543367652005-03-14T10:17:00.000-05:002005-03-14T10:17:38.543-05:00

Having already passed through the Mexican Senate, a bill to re-monetize Silver, in the form of 1-oz coins known as the Libertad, awaits passage of a vote by their lower house to become law (I presume pending some kind of executive veto I know little to nothing about). They're pretty coins, I may have to pick a few up just to show my support (and have some spending money during the next cruise we

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1110809722897466102005-03-14T09:15:00.000-05:002005-03-14T14:36:41.236-05:00

Well, after too much time spent doing productive things like putting an addition on my house and earning my salary, I figured it was time to get back to doing what I do best... drinking coffee and sitting on my prodigious bottom. That being said, welcome to HomeSpun Symposium #XV where the question this week comes from Derek over at Weapons of Mass Distraction (great name for a blog, btw, Derek

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1110546991842917952005-03-11T08:16:00.000-05:002005-03-11T08:16:31.843-05:00

This question was posed by the Eclectic Econoclast last week, and I'm just now getting around to catching up with him on it. I just looked at a 10 year chart of the DOW and despite my best analysis I don't have any good answers either. Taking that same chart and looking at a ratio of the DOW to the $USD the conclusion must be drawn that with a falling $USD people are betting that the trade

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1110485294391592132005-03-10T14:11:00.000-05:002005-03-10T19:03:59.513-05:00

... and not of the emotional kind either. For the past five days I've been busting my prodigious butt putting the latest addition to Camp Luongo together… a screened-in porch off the southern side of my house. Of course, like all home-building projects, it's both over-budget and behind schedule. That's okay though, I’d rather the costs go into materials than to line the pockets of

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1110297123323826272005-03-08T10:48:00.000-05:002005-03-08T10:52:03.326-05:00

I just wanted to pop in to let eveyone who reads this blog (all 3 of you) that I've been on a mini-hiatus from here as I am in the process of building a porch off the side of my house. Between that and Capt. Charity Vain's parents' visit, there has been little time for my usual level of insightful and indispensible analysis/biting wit. :) I return to my normal schedule on Thursday, at which

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1109964744530707792005-03-04T14:32:00.000-05:002005-03-10T19:09:50.466-05:00

Well, Martha Stewart is out of the Federal prison she spent the last five months in and safely ensconced (her movements monitored 24/7 via an ankle bracelet she must wear) in one of her homes in Westchester County, NY. The first part of her sentence is over. Stewart can return to work, start drawing her $900,000 salary again and even throw lavish house parties _ as long as she doesn't invite any

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1109855526199764792005-03-03T08:12:00.000-05:002005-03-03T08:35:30.890-05:00

Via the Eclectic Econoclast comes a note that a U.S. Federal judge has put a stop to the USDA's plan to east import restrictions on beef from Canada. What would one expect during a Republican Administration? True to the platform Lincoln was elected on, it seems that nothing in 145 years has changed. Three of the planks of Lincoln's platform were Strong Protection Tariffs Strong Central Bank

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1109780779275619732005-03-02T11:26:00.000-05:002005-03-02T11:47:16.640-05:00

Thanks to Walt Augustinowicz for his research into the happenings in the Florida Legislature for this one. The Link above is to the text of HB1223 that was introduced two days ago. While the entirety of the bill is abhorrent, the proposed changes (noted by either strikethoughs or underlining) are, for the most part, excellent. From HB1223 (additions in Bold, Deletions in italic Section 1. Section

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1109710449057046502005-03-01T15:47:00.000-05:002005-03-01T15:54:09.056-05:00

With the Lone Mantis on vacation this week I'm without a lunch partner, so, I stopped at Barnes & Noble again for something to read (and yes, I picked up the Donaldson book for Capt. C. V.). Making threats in public and not following through on them is just not my style so I plunked down my 20FRN's for Tom Woods' book. Moreover, I also picked up Harry Hansen's "The Civil War" even though I know

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1109709639413654872005-03-01T15:40:00.000-05:002005-03-01T15:47:26.316-05:00

In a stinging rebuke to the Bush administration, a federal judge ruled the case of "dirty bomb" suspect Jose Padilla is a matter for law enforcement — not the military — and ordered the government to charge him or let him go. Well, they say the wheels of justice grind slowly.... 2 and a half years for someone to finally read the Fourth Amendment. Of course, the delay may have been necessary if

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1109696586765894382005-03-01T12:03:00.000-05:002005-03-01T12:03:06.766-05:00

From the LRC blog, Tom Dilorenzo (author of the great book on Lincoln i'm Currently Reading -- see at right) posted up a joke Chris Rock told the other night:And you decide to wage war on Banana Republic because of its "toxic tanktops." A thousand GAP employees are killed, there's blood all over the khakis, and then you discover that Banana Republican never even made tanktops! How could you ever

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1109606667911229512005-02-28T10:31:00.000-05:002005-02-28T11:04:27.916-05:00

From the OC Register via LRC comes Steven Greenhut's very solid article on the failures of the Supreme Court Justices to understand the real dangers inherent with Eminent Domain. This was in issue here in Florida during the 2004 election cycle, or, at least, became one after being trumpetted by some Libertarian candidates such as newly-elected vice-chair of the LPF Walt Augustinowicz. With the

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1109602573545677592005-02-28T09:56:00.000-05:002005-03-01T06:29:26.603-05:00

Linked above is Justin Raimondo's take on the roots of the Neocons apoplexy over Tom Woods' The Politically Incorect Guide to American History. It's refreshing to note that Raimondo makes a similar point about the parallels between the neocon justifications for the Invasion of Iraq and the War to Prevent Southern Independence to the one I made the other day while beating up on Tom Palmer. Woods

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1109259887015341222005-02-24T10:44:00.000-05:002005-02-24T15:39:05.366-05:00

Outstanding send-up of a poker game with Dick Cheney sent to me this morning by a co-worker. Check it out and laugh. Ta,

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1109253527984996702005-02-24T08:47:00.000-05:002005-02-24T10:45:55.270-05:00

I had a bunch of time yersterday to spend in the local Barnes & Noble while waiting on a colleague and after perusing this month's issue of Maxim (Jennifer Love Hewitt... yum) I waltzed around looking for Tom Wood's The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History. At the same time I decided it was high time I began educating myself more on the history of the U.S. up through and including the

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1109190065026093282005-02-23T15:21:00.000-05:002005-03-01T06:30:32.410-05:00

Tom Wood's The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History has caused quite the stir in and around all corners of both academia and the media. I've been following the smear campaign against Mr. Woods for a while without comment because the attacks have been so incompetent to not be worthy of mention. That is, of course, until Tom Palmer weighed in on the subject. Check out the link above

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1109098297491735092005-02-22T13:51:00.000-05:002005-02-22T14:17:24.046-05:00

  Back in November I posted up a chart of the Ratio of the $HUI to $GOLD that has been one of the more popular articles I've posted here (at least according to my RSS feed stats) and, honestly, I can't figure out why. My analysis of that chart was overly-bullish and as such exposed my relative inexperience in chart analysis/reading. I underestimated the amount of speculation in both the Gold

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1109094440715759922005-02-22T11:12:00.000-05:002005-02-22T12:47:20.716-05:00

Link above is a report (via Antiwar.com's front page) of talks happening in Iraq between the U.S. and some of the Sunni resistance fighters centering around a timetable for our withdrawl from first individual cities and then from Iraq as a whole. Now, how does this square with the reports of a possible attack on Iran? I have no idea. I do know that I'm really tired of doing Israel's bidding,

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1109012817580439502005-02-21T14:06:00.000-05:002005-02-21T14:06:57.580-05:00

From Stevens VanDyke and Gordon (Comm. Dir of the Badnarik campaign) comes a great idea about how the LP, supposedly a tech-savvy organization, could re-structure itself and its fund-raising into a much more important political force. They call it Open-Source Politics. I call it genious. My good friend and colleague on the LPF Ex-Comm., Jerry Cameron keeps talking about how to go about doing

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1108998875033842962005-02-21T10:06:00.000-05:002005-02-21T10:22:00.523-05:00

Over on HFBoards, there is a thread entitled 'Your Ideal NHL." This is something I was going to post up here today anyways, so it seems reasonable to do so now. Here is the original post: State: - Rule changes - CBA stuff (luxury tax, hard cap, UFA age, etc...) - Contraction (if any) - Teams (Conferences/division) - Number of games - Playoff layout - Commissioner & Head of NHLPA In lieu of

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1108752651624311162005-02-18T12:37:00.000-05:002005-02-18T13:53:24.243-05:00

This week's Homespun Symposium is a very interesting multi-part question: Do you believe there is a downside to encouraging nations to move toward being free societies? Can all nations benefit from the move from dicatorship to freedom, or are some cultures simply incapable of it and why? Might they end up worse off? Also, do you believe these shifts are always in America and the West's interests,

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1108646161407750802005-02-17T07:39:00.000-05:002005-02-17T13:40:46.090-05:00

Well, it had to end sometime, and despite some interesting last minute wrangling on both sides the NHL and the NHLPA could not come to an agreement for a new CBA that would allow them to play some games under the auspice of the 2004-05 Season. Amidst all of the name-calling, hand-wringing, hoping, praying and arm-chair line-changing (there are no quarterbacks in the hockey) a few issues were

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1108560194009751912005-02-16T08:23:00.000-05:002005-04-20T15:12:24.063-05:00

Thanks to Tex, at UnfairWitness for finding this hilarious sendup of the the War on Terror as practiced by those, like me, sitting comfortably in front of their computers far away from the real horrors of combat/Nation Building/Pillage, what have you. The description of Cheeto-Munching Girlie Man, Jonah Goldberg is just priceless: “It’s like this,” said Goldberg said, grabbing a fistful of

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1108473078536014462005-02-15T08:11:00.000-05:002005-02-17T13:42:05.296-05:00

.... because a politician, other than Dr. Ron Paul, spoke the truth: Via the Eclectic Econoclast comes this quote from Rodney Hide, a member of New Zealand's Parliament: What possible comparative advantage does government have in business? Just one: Coercion. It can thump the money it needs out of taxpayers – no other business can do that. I nominate him for Time Magazine's Man of the Year...

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1108417557106691642005-02-14T16:45:00.000-05:002005-02-14T16:45:57.106-05:00

I got invloved in a discussion of Free Market Economics over on HFboards.com, during which I took exception (whata shock) o one poster's assertion that the Law of Supply and Demand is a poor way of organizing society's. He responded (surprisingly) thusly: Quoth Snuffelapagus: At the risk of getting off topic, I feel that my questioning of running a any society based SOLELY on the law of

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1108139423806460882005-02-11T10:49:00.000-05:002005-02-12T00:15:02.036-05:00

This would be part II in the response to The Southern Conservative's entry about the rights of individuals to persue their 'duties.' First off I'd like to quote Benjamin Franklin: Democracy is two wolves and a lamb sitting down to dinner. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. My version of the above quote is more graphic: Democracy is three men and two women. The men vote to rape

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1108134959011022802005-02-11T10:15:00.000-05:002005-02-11T10:46:09.393-05:00

The Debate (now turned much more friendly) with Darrell, The Southern Conservative, continues. I'm gong to have to deal with his commentary piecemeal because there is too much to address all at once. The first point is: I’m one of those who believes that our rights come from God. I’d call your beliefs humanism, and you may well be comfortable with that label. I think that our differences here

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1108066970394421942005-02-10T14:26:00.000-05:002005-02-10T15:22:50.393-05:00

Today looked to be very constructive in the precious metals markets. Gold retouched trendline support at US$410 this morning and then took off like a shot. While this is encouraging for Gold, until the downtrend line from the December high is crossed, this is still a chopping market. With the $USD slumping today, it seemed reasonable for Gold to show a little strength. In my mind the $USD

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1108049082202200252005-02-10T10:12:00.000-05:002005-02-10T10:25:37.786-05:00

Darrell, the Southern Conservative, and I got into it kinda hot and heavy yesterday over my response to this week's Homespun Symposium. Given the manner in which I attacked the question, it was a foregone conclusion that this would happen. After having read Darrell's response I felt it necessary to post something less confrontational in his blog as a means of further explaining myself. In

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1108040742574393012005-02-10T08:05:00.000-05:002005-02-10T08:06:47.143-05:00

Wendy McElroy makes some very salient points about Zero Tolerance and the stupidity that is integral to it in this morning's edition of LRC(see above link). In summary there is a growing movement of discontent among parents who rightly think they should be involved in any decision regarding their child and any transgressions that might have taken place. Not summarily placed in handcuffs and

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1107971187639004942005-02-09T13:46:00.000-05:002005-02-09T16:17:34.506-05:00

This week's Homespun Symposium is a question whose naked insanity speak for itself: During last year's presidential election, some people began talking about reinstating the draft. Most conservatives, such as myself, simply saw it as an effort on the part of liberals to distance young people from Bush. Many conservatives have responded to the issue by insisting that there won't be a draft. Yet,

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1107898985760555642005-02-08T16:43:00.000-05:002005-02-09T08:17:33.740-05:00

Warning: This post is personal! Obstreperous social commentary will resume tomorrow. Now, I'm not trolling for birthday wishes or anything but I just wanted to pass along a wonderful bit of my day. I'm sitting here looking at a box which contains a bottle of The Macallan 12 year old scotch which was given to me by one of the researchers in my laboratory. Now, receiving a birthday present

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1107867829259258412005-02-08T08:03:00.000-05:002005-02-08T09:07:18.046-05:00

Adam Hamilton who writes the monthly newsletter Zeal Intelligence has some really good advice in the first few paragraphs of this week's article found at the link above: It is natural for investors and speculators to grow concerned if a short-term trend is not moving in our favor. At its very core, speculation is an internal emotional struggle, not an external battle against the markets. When

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1107791430203740702005-02-07T10:50:00.000-05:002005-02-07T10:50:30.203-05:00

From the Ever-Interesting, Increasingly-Eclectic Econoclast comes a great example of the marginal effects of taxes and how that relates to the welfare trap. He links this from Rodney Hide's blog, and the example is from New Zealand, so, while the numbers may not translate directly for the U.S. the principles underlying them are the same. I once had the opportunity to present this kind of

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1107789092377373852005-02-07T10:11:00.000-05:002005-02-07T10:17:29.806-05:00

Tex over at UnfairWitness has a great collection of quotes from Jonah Goldberg, the 1st Lieutenant of the 101st division of LapTop Bombardiers, in his advocation of the invasion of Iraq, replete with a great little political cartoon. This brouhaha has started up in response to "Sorry-butted" Jonah's disingenuous attack on Prof. Juan Cole, who's rebuttal (in excruciating detail) can be found

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1107524466710363162005-02-04T08:41:00.000-05:002005-02-04T08:41:06.710-05:00

On the ride home last night I was discussing this week's Homespun Symposium with The Lone Mantis (yes, I'm adding to the cast of characters here) and after agreeing with me about the many 'Ends Justify the Means' arguments he saw in regards to the Iraqi elections he said: Bill Smith beats his wife. Everyday. For ten years. She, Sally Smith, gets tired of it, divorces him and writes a book

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1107523946154421522005-02-04T08:32:00.000-05:002005-02-04T09:12:10.056-05:00

Well, it looks like the vote in Iraq that has been hailed as such a great triumph for the NeoCon mantra of "Nation-Building through Violence" has been handed the ultimate come-uppance. The deposing from power (peacefully, remember) of the U.S./Britain darling and current Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. Apparently, we have an Ayatollah Sistani-led blowout on our hands, according to the early election

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7630691.post-1107444912859502192005-02-03T10:35:00.000-05:002005-02-04T08:42:38.260-05:00

For this week's Homespun Symposium we have a wholly predictable and simplistic question posed: "Do you think that the elections in Iraq vindicated President Bush's decision to invade Iraq?" From the Mises Institute blog is an excerpt from an article written by Murray Rothbard on that old socialist canard, "Do you have the right to falsely yell, "Fire!" in a crowded theatre?" This

Tom Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12540975540394006000noreply@blogger.com0