In 2011 America will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. If the last two 50-year markers are any indication, this will be a very big deal. States across the country are starting their preparations. Here in Tennessee, which saw more military action than any state outside Virginia, a coalition of preservation, tourism and education groups is preparing for the event. Scholars have...

On Letterman Monday night, President Obama joked about his daughters’ future dates who may be stressed out over having men with guns hanging around. If he really wants to know about that, I can tell him what happened when Lynda Bird Johnson was working for me at McCalls, and I went to dinner at Trader Vic’s in New York with our company’s chairman of the board. As we were being seated, the maitre...

Just a little pick me up for your afternoon

The Supreme Court is now cogitating over a case involving corporations and free speech that many people worry could lead to a dramatic change in our political system. Specifically, that so much corporate money might soon flow into elections that it will have a disastrous effect on who gets elected and whose interests elected officials will really represent. I think such worries may be exaggerated. In fact,...

I can’t really think of any way I could improve on the original story so I’ll just leave you with the link to read it. But this kind of classy behavior makes you feel a little better about your day. Link

So I just laid out in another post the classically liberal origins of modern liberalism and now a regular commenter at TMV has asked, perceptively, how is modern liberalism different from socialism. Surely socialism also has roots in classical liberalism too, so the common ancestry is of little meaning on its own. So what is the difference between socialism and modern liberalism? There are two very different...

Now that the Massachusetts legislature has passed the revisions in the law it is looking very likely that the new Senator will be former DNC official Paul Kirk. Governor Patrick still has to do some paperwork to allow him to make the appointment now but that is a mere formality. Update: Kirk has been appointed.

As I teach my students on a regular basis, modern liberalism and classical liberalism are two different ideologies. Classical liberalism, rooted in John Locke’s natural rights theory – all men are created with the right to life, liberty and property – is more akin to modern libertarianism than it is to modern liberalism. So, how did modern liberalism evolve? Does it have ANY connection to...

ACORN has sued the activists who caught various ACORN workers seemingly supporting the importation of underage sex slaves. While I long ago gave up on the idea that the people running this group were smart, this is mind  bogglingly stupid. If, as in this case, you sue based on reputation then you are basically opening up all of your records to review by the attorneys for the other side. Given all the problems...

As the G20 summit convenes in Pittsburgh this week the story nationally – and internationally – is the stunning reversal of fortune for a city that essentially imploded in the early 1980s. When the steel industry collapsed in Pittsburgh in 1982 the city’s population was cut in half and Pittsburghers scoured the nation for work. The horrendous air and water pollution made Pittsburgh a truly...

I hope Nicholas Negroponte at MIT doesn’t get mad if I quote two full paragraphs from his 1995 book, “Being Digital.” I only do it because 1) I desperately want newspapers to survive their transition from newsprint to digital. Even Barack Obama was talking about that survival over the weekend. There must be a business model, he said. Well, here it is. Here are Negroponte’s words from...

O.K. I’ll admit it. I thought the stock market couldn’t get any crazier. I was wrong. Forget massively skewed valuations. Forget companies like AIG whose stock has been soaring for no discernible reason. Forget all those terrible earnings reports greeted with joy by traders because they beat analyst expectations, and because of the rosy predictions about the future from the CEOs who brought in these...

After becoming an expert on U.S-Russia relations during her campaign for the vice-presidency by claiming that Russia could be seen from Alaska, Sarah Palin can now add a second major power to her foreign policy credentials: China. By reading a prepared, major foreign policy speech before a packed ballroom in Hong Kong’s Grand Hyatt hotel, Sarah Palin has now clearly and firmly cemented her foreign policy...

Reason Magazine reminds us that nonviolent users of illegal drugs aren’t the only victims of America’s War on (some) Drugs. A number of physicians and patients suffering from incurable neurogenic diseases have been sent to prison all because your congressmen and congresswoman insist that they (and not physicians) should be making decisions about prescribing pain medications. Thanks to Radley Balko...

Headline writers for newspapers and the larger Internet websites have the power to sell, taint, cajole, tease and distort the writer’s works in order to lure the reader to take the bait. I took the bait, hook, line and sinker this morning from the following headline on MSNBC’s web page: WHY OBAMA WISHES HE WERE KING Or at the very least, he wishes he were Mel Brooks The article was written by Bill...

Around the country they’re debating the “moral right” of doctors to refuse certain kinds of care, and the same right of pharmacists to do the same thing when it comes to filling prescriptions. But the whole question here strikes me as kind of silly. I mean, if you’re a pacifist, it’s obvious you shouldn’t join the Armed Forces where you might be called upon to kill somone....

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009 STATE OF HAWAII H.C.R. NO. 19 H.D.1 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION STRONGLY URGING THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO AWARD SGT. RAFAEL PERALTA THE MEDAL OF HONOR. 15 WHEREAS, his battalion redeployed to Iraq’s Anbar Province 16 in 2004 as part of Operation Phantom Fury to battle insurgents 17 in their stronghold of...

OK, anecdotes don’t make up a statistically significant sample. But a collection of anecdotes, well… So yesterday my 19th century US history class discussed the development of the penny press in the mid-19th century. As I’ve occasionally mentioned here at TMV, I think the pre-Progressive Era press was quite a bit like today’s blogosphere. It was hyper-partisan, hyperbolic, and hyperfocused...

George Carlin was well known for his routine about the seven words you could not say on television. His point was to push the envelope on censorship. These days with pay television the words are no longer that restricted, indeed we often see some of them on regular programming (though not in this post, you can surf over to the link if u want to read them). I think it is time for us to introduce certain terms...

A misunderstanding of the meaning of victory in asymmetrical wars is a main reason why the US remains stuck in the bloody quick sands of Afghanistan and Iraq. Since military power is unable to deliver a sustainable peace, alternative strategies deserve consideration. As President Barack Obama seeks world esteem for US leadership during top-level talks in New York and Pittsburg this week, it is worth remembering...

To the dismay of our military leaders, President Barack Obama is pulling a Brett Favre in deciding to send more troops to Afghanistan. While weighing a change in strategy by the president , Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal warns that unless he is provided more forces and a robust counterinsurgency strategy, the war in Afghanistan is most likely lost. Today I am filing a comprehensive report on the Afghan divide based...

I will never forget then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s answer to a question by Army specialist Thomas Wilson of the 278th Regimental Combat Team, back in December of 2004, nearly two years after the start of the Iraq war. The setting was a town-hall style meeting Rumsfeld was holding with over 2,000 Iraq-bound troops in a cavernous hangar at a remote desert camp in Kuwait. Set out on display...

And the winner comes to us from the New York Times. Belatedly, Egypt Spots Flaws in Wiping Out Pigs.

And for you non-US readers, I’m talking about real football. Not soccer. Well, it’s Sunday and it’s September, so we’re off to the races in week two of the NFL’s 2009 big dance. My New York Jets (currently undefeated *cough cough*) will be taking on the always dangerous New England Patriots, and the Giants travel to Dallas to meet the Cowboys. I’m picking them both to win,...

Proud to be Dim by Will Durst Remember back in grade school, when all learning came to a screeching halt while the teacher stopped to explain what was going on to the slow kids? She’d spend the entire morning trying to simplify the lesson plan so they could get it. Using small words in her annoying patient voice, which tended to pitch strident the slower she talked. Well, that’s what’s happening here....