A Townhall.com User Blog http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/ http://media.townhall.com/TownHall/icons/TH-feed-icon-128x128.gif http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/ TownHall.com, Where your opinion counts. 128 Copyright (c) 2009 Townhall.com, A Salem Communications Web. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED jim.dearras@townhall.com (Jim De Arras) Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:08:42 GMT Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:08:42 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ I am surprised at myself, but I overlooked one very important implication of my post "Consolidation and Diffusion". While I discussed the meaning of such a theory for medical reform and for federalism and economic... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/16/upcoming_post.thtml a070b86e-260e-4b3b-8eca-aec9923c9094 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:08:42 GMT I know this one will get me smeared as a right wing extremist on Q-Tips again ("A Sign I Have Made It", "Update"), but it has to be said. Being gay does not grant you blanket immunity. More importantly, if an act would... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/16/the_thin_lavender_line.thtml a61aaf7c-8834-4cf0-ab0b-58c23fd5ad7d Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:49:25 GMT I have a strange hobby. I am not sure when it started or why. I think it may have been many years ago when I was thinking about writing a science fiction story based upon a future where eugenic genetic engineering was... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/16/consolidation_and_diffusion.thtml 942bdf22-25c2-456f-992f-d2e1895d5c2e Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:12:09 GMT I have been watching British programs on television the past few days (mostly my recently purchased DVD of the second season of "Life on mars"), and I have been struck by the many interesting parallels between the way... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/16/an_interesting_parallel.thtml faf48d81-349f-4660-be2c-5c2c2a5a6564 Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:34:35 GMT Yet another complaint about people inventing their own grammar, a follow up to "One More Grammar Quibble". This time, someone has decided to create their own version of a common statement: Another words, flies and... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/14/do_people_think_at_all_before_writing.thtml b205f88d-82ac-4bc5-988e-847abffaa08e Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:22:53 GMT I was reading the WSJ and saw an interesting article on the White House claims that up to 30% of health care spending doe snot "affect outcomes" and so can be eliminated. As I wrote in many posts ("Cutting "Costs"",... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/14/reviving_nonsense_in_the_white_house.thtml a5c951e8-2afb-4c78-89a5-f4044a94c2ae Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:21:16 GMT I was watching the news this morning, and it appears the government is not standing in the way of Citigroup repaying the bailout money they received. Despite earlier statements that suggested they would be reluctant to... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/14/a_positive_sign.thtml d659c5cd-a52a-4192-8244-846566b515d0 Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:38:16 GMT The title is a bit misleading, as this is actually one of those "isn't my child cute" stories. My son has become obsessed with a pirate sailing/shooting game on the Nintendo DS. As he is not even 5 yet his reading is... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/12/social_conservative_junior.thtml fcc4803e-17c3-457c-8345-f03a77815566 Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:30:07 GMT My wife was telling me today about an absurd article she read about the "dangers" of EMFs (electromagnetic fields). You know the worries, cell phones give us cancer, our wiring is killing us, and so on. The fact that... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/11/the_skys_not_falling!.thtml 18646c1b-3f07-40af-87f8-8675e675eb31 Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:16:43 GMT I am writing this to let regular readers I am on a "semi-vacation". By that I mean that, while I am not completely avoiding writing, I am taking a break from my usual expectation that I will post at least once a day,... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/11/on_vacation,_sort_of.thtml 607c254e-4290-4ee2-8c53-da84730b279d Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:30:17 GMT I have two posts which I lack the time to write now, but want to mention. Oddly, both come from realizations I had while reading an unrelated programming site. First, a post mentioned before in passing, but which I... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/11/upcoming_posts.thtml 4404e6d4-a165-4291-96fa-fc6faa97594f Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:22:26 GMT Please bear with me through this first part, it is a bit technical, and of interest only to some, but it does help make my point, so please stick around. In the C programming language there is a "switch/case"... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/10/everyone_knows.thtml 48133d90-2c53-4f1b-adf6-9bceab65843c Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:15:58 GMT I did not initially intend to write this installment, but as I recently remembered a common misunderstanding, I have decided that perhaps I should add a new chapter. So, for those who are following my list of upcoming... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/10/bad_economics__part_8.thtml 08e601f9-4107-479a-b975-f69061b19bb1 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:38:00 GMT As I know someone who is looking for a new job (not me), I was thinking about the many ways in which HR offices make the hiring process different. As I thought about it, it struck me that we can view any organization as... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/09/organizations_as_filters.thtml 6401bca1-ff13-458a-ae6a-d064664ad90e Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:05:43 GMT I have written before on the topic of offering "alternatives" to Democrat initiatives, and have generally been opposed to such practices (""Doing Something" Revisited", "Who Is To Blame?", "The Difficulty of... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/09/the_gop_health_care_plan.thtml fb49f3af-229d-44d8-9896-1379ed71247f Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:08:32 GMT We have been hearing a lot about a health care crisis and about the "need" to provide every citizen with insurance. It is a topic about which I have written a lot (see the postscript). However, it is also a topic about... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/09/a_different_look_at_health_care_reform.thtml 8c8d9ba9-3a21-445f-bc0a-f26a82d82d59 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:11:57 GMT I have been writing a lot of grammatical complaints lately ("Officially Annoyed","Woe Is Me Now for the Lord Has Added Grief to my Sorrow", "Grammatical Abomination"), but I have to mention one more. It is a complaint I... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/08/one_more_grammar_quibble.thtml d9146669-5ac7-4b0e-9809-13d1392cfbd5 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:42:05 GMT I want to announce that this blog has decided to endorse cap and trade. While theoretically we think it is a bad idea, from a very mercenary perspective, we are all in favor. The reason being that I can prove I was... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/08/ahead_of_the_curve.thtml 62d7e995-9e5b-44aa-a376-ff31bec85556 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:46:23 GMT Before I write anything else, let me say that I think Reagan was the best president we had in the 20th century. Not that there was much competition. (See "Depressing Realization", "A Passing Thought", and "The Best... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/08/the_dark_side_of_reagans_legacy.thtml 6d14ce8b-0137-4925-a06e-eddbae1d47a0 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:40:43 GMT I was reading a post on another blog that mentioned that deaths in Iraq are lower than traffic casualties. I was thinking about that, and came up with an idea. When I lived in Baltimore it was a city of about 300,000... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/07/a_very_quick_thought.thtml 11aa98ff-926d-41b0-85e6-0594846eda03 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:55:02 GMT I wrote my last post ("TH Publishes Nonsense") immediately after Mr. Hunt's column was published, so I did not see the responses that have accumulated. Let me make a few comments on those responses, as they apply to my... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/07/follow_up.thtml e97ecd10-c613-4838-8e3f-84bfee23fa64 Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:30:46 GMT I am still not up to writing long posts, but after reading Allen Hunt's article on TH I have to comment. In his haste to exonerate Huckabee, for whatever reason, Mr. Hunt wrote a post that not only exonerates Huckabee,... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/07/th_publishes_nonsense.thtml 00b33132-b26c-40e1-a14b-681a5dfb36df Mon, 07 Dec 2009 06:26:46 GMT I am sorry to keep inflicting these "wait until tomorrow" posts, but I am afraid I am not up to writing again today. Rather than inflict the subpar post I wrote today on you, I have decided it is best to simply tell you... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/06/upcoming_posts.thtml 41f5f3e9-e9f1-45ad-9027-64ef644ea286 Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:32:58 GMT As you might have noticed, I have not been writing extensively tonight. I am hurting more than usual and not up to long posts after "Bad Economics Part 7". Still, I have found some interesting articles I wanted to... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/04/one_more_article.thtml 27d5f43e-171a-4212-a4ce-b094d32a6511 Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:59:55 GMT I have found what must be either the most pointless joke, or most absurdly unsubstantiated claims on earth. They can be found on this site, but I will reproduce the bizarre quote here (rather than litter the quote with... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/04/i_hope_this_is_a_joke.thtml b18af4fc-fc13-47a8-bfed-d892756f9814 Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:38:14 GMT After my posts on the absurd "whoa is me" comment, I have found an even more absurd abomination of grammar. That being "without further or do". Who on earth could possibly imagine that makes sense? I was going to write... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/04/grammatical_abomination.thtml 30aef589-13f3-4b72-a149-09cfa8802fc6 Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:19:15 GMT This post may be more timely than most, as the topic of the Federal Reserve seems to have been in the news lately, and my topic for today is "what is inflation?" While our current recession had made people believe... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/04/bad_economics_part_7.thtml 259d6b06-0d85-4907-a761-a3b69ed4f4dc Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:02:48 GMT As I have established the practice of announcing upcoming posts, I thought I would take it a bit farther and actually list the posts I intend to write in order. Not only will this help my readers know what to expect,... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/02/upcoming_posts.thtml 4db0ce35-4324-44e4-b11f-55dcf2de90f6 Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:34:22 GMT I have been writing for some time about the imaginary numbers used for "jobs saved or created." (See "Heads I Win, Tails I Win...", "Anecdotal Evidence of Coming Inflation", "Fairy Population up 6%! Pixies Almost... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/02/need_i_say_more.thtml eff84d42-7d0a-4a5b-b304-71526d07a104 Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:11:40 GMT My wife forwarded me an interesting article today. It seems that a study done of 4000 hospitals shows that computerizing them has nto saved money, but actually been a net cost. This is interesting as computer record... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/02/interesting_study.thtml 17aa4e7b-aa11-4457-a688-afda93b9a1e1 Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:21:40 GMT I have noticed, when a government program is subjected to criticism, the first response is usually to portray the critics as either greedy or mean spirited. The supporters of the program don't both dismissing the... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/02/good_intentions.thtml 206adb7a-ae29-49c3-ad22-9f5027874cf1 Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:11:02 GMT I have been thinking for some time about the angry reaction I have received when I mention a commodity based currency (specifically gold, though I would be content with anything backing the dollar, or anything more than... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/02/be_of_good_cheer.thtml 8fa34d7e-a7e2-4204-b032-7726b11f8d85 Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:00:44 GMT Either tonight or tomorrow I hope to write Bad Economics Part 7 "What is Inflation". But, until I do so, I want to put a few questions forward to all those who argue that gold is anacrhonistic and dangerous. First, if... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/01/preface.thtml db0e928a-008f-46d3-bdf6-47ae4a100edf Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:26:55 GMT As I was thinking about regulatory agencies the other day, it struck me how much similarity there is between the way the FDA works and the way gun control laws work. Mostly because both try to stop law breakers by... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/01/gun_control,_the_fda_and_regulating_the_law_abiding.thtml 6f2a8041-a4b9-417c-8497-37261a5628c5 Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:02:06 GMT Tonight I was thinking about pork barrel spending, specifically how bad a deal it usually is. Though on paper it may seem to be beneficial, in reality every dime spent comes from somewhere, and, given the overhead of... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/01/my_worst_idea_ever.thtml a5343c0f-557a-4df1-93ad-3bc20b5aca3f Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:29:07 GMT I have come to realize one very surprising truth. The more I consider the government's efforts to force us into some version of socialized medicine, be it openly nationalized, or a step-by-step progression starting with... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/11/30/who_is_saving_us_from_socialized_medicine_obama!.thtml 6b8808c7-5fa0-4b08-9670-1982a8692067 Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:28:58 GMT As I am not doing any substantial writing today, I have to mention one more upcoming post. I have recently seen a number of emails reporting on shocking things Obama supposedly said or did. The problem with such... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/11/30/one_more.thtml ff44f76f-07c1-4c7c-8b4f-41a908fc9084 Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:49:36 GMT I want to let my regular readers know that today will likely by another quiet day. I had written yesterday that I had several posts planned, but I don't thin I will be writing them today. I am having problems with my... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/11/30/another_quiet_day.thtml 666f1c25-6fae-45ea-921a-b205bb7ef09c Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:56:20 GMT In my post "From Bad to Worse", I mentioned the proposal to lift the ban on congressional review of Federal Reserve interest rate decisions. I argued that such review would inevitably be used to shift control of such... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/11/29/a_bit_of_clarification.thtml b7fc124d-9c3f-4fa6-9953-1e3dd1a0fe7a Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:50:56 GMT In an otherwise unobjectionable post, Ken Blackwell makes a slip. It is not a significant point, but it is one which caught my eye, and one which I could not allow to pass without offering a correction. Here is the... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/11/29/a_small_correction.thtml 007a6f0a-6aab-46bb-bed3-30e396479000 Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:42:55 GMT I was working on another post when it struck me how much the present war on Islamic terrorism has confused many commentators. I was writing about the many ethnic and religious bigotries expressed by various communist... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/11/29/islamic_terrorism_and_ethical_confusion.thtml 566b0f84-a883-411d-9700-6e4e831ce5c4 Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:41:49 GMT I know this has become a tradition, but I have to apologize for the lack of posts today and yesterday. Unfortunately my condition (whatever it may be) is flaring up leaving me in quite a bit of pain, which makes writing... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/11/29/upcoming_posts.thtml 1b407c49-0f3f-4863-9617-1de0de1f9396 Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:00:42 GMT It appears we are in the middle of a debate concerning our banking system. Judging from this article, it appears we are seeing a struggle between congress and the Federal Reserve Board, with the outcome determining... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/11/29/from_bad_to_worse.thtml 7e672cad-749a-4a06-88e7-a6914f300dd3 Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:48:26 GMT When we discus politics, one will sometimes hear the comment that Americans miss the big picture, because they place too much emphasis on the president, and so miss the fact that congress has the real power. And, in... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/11/28/making_the_president_irrelevant.thtml ac20b681-b36e-46ae-9696-d73a092a65dc Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:28:30 GMT I found an article today that shows exactly why the right always loses political battles. That essay is Charles Krauthammer's about medical reform. The problem is not his specific measures. Most of them are relatively... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/11/27/why_we_lose.thtml a5b84598-7b30-4f46-bb17-c252819a2926 Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:15:39 GMT Our founders would be horrified at many aspects of our government, but I think the one that would offend them the most would be the way that our legislatures, state and federal, openly engage in actions that, were they... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/11/27/racketeering_through_legislation.thtml 197538d4-b613-4b78-a916-15ffa2c46759 Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:38:47 GMT I was actually thinking of posting something today, but after a rather large meal and a day spent playing with my son, I am just too exhausted to do it. So, I am afraid my thoughts of how pointless the FDA is will have... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/11/26/happy_thanksgiving.thtml 456423bb-6d92-4b25-af05-0b9531f86844 Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:39:27 GMT They are all around us, those numbers that advocates put out to try to stir us to action, shocking figures that are meant to awaken us to our dire situation. "1 in 6 adults are alcoholics." "1 in 3 women will be raped."... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/11/25/shocking_numbers.thtml 9aefc290-89c3-41a4-8e70-48890e4ef7e2 Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:41:03 GMT I have a perfect example of what is wrong with the US. And, unfortunately, I have a feeling most of my readers will read the following and react in just the wrong way. But let us conduct an experiment. Here is a post I... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/11/25/what_is_wrong_with_us.thtml 994f1950-fceb-4f51-ab16-b1ad8a722234 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:20:43 GMT In the past I wrote that we should renounce the Geneva Conventions. My argument was simple, almost all of those we are likely to fight (North Korea, Iran and terrorists without a national affiliation) are unlikely to... http://andrews.blogtownhall.com/2009/11/25/civilian_casualties.thtml 57dc7084-9993-4733-8848-16574da09433 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:57:35 GMT