Sunday, January 03, 2010

On Frugality

The word frugal, for many individuals, may carry negative connotations, though in fact being frugal is not being miserly.  Wendy McElroy has a few words up on the subject in a post titled Wishing you a frugal 2010, from which I gleaned the following.

To me, frugality has more to do with owning my time than it has to do with money. In the most literal sense possible, time is life. To control your time is to control your life…In a sense, I practice frugality not because I value money so highly but because I value it so little. The less it costs for me to live comfortably, the more time I have to pursue non-monetary values like writing, watching a movie with my husband, reading, lunching with a friend, yoga, ethnic cooking… I do not wish to squander my time, my life on things that do not matter.

I practice frugality in order to own my time to chase trout.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/03 at 02:58 PM
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Backhand Complimenting Ayn Rand

I’m not a fan of what’s in or out lists, as they seem to me to be little more than trite fashion statements riding up and down like the hem of women’s skirts.

With that said, I note that the Washington Post’s THE LIST Ranking what’s out, what’s in as 2010 dawns ranks Ayn Rand as “In” for 2010, but in a very backhanded compliment way, because it is not Ayn Rand who is “in,” according to “THE LIST,” but rather Randroids.

When one clicks the link the Washington Post embeds on the word “Randroid” in “THE LIST,” they are taken to a piece penned by Andrew Corsello for GQ magazine in October 2009 titled The Bitch is Back, which is little more than a six (6) page screed highlighting Corsello’s objectivity inferiority complex, tagged as humor.

David Boaz, writing at Cato@Liberty, also notes the Washington Post’s “THE LIST” inclusion of Ayn Rand as “IN,” and provides a more reasoned comment on this in a piece titled Ayn Rand Is In.

Though I recognize there are indeed individuals out there who could fit the mold described as “randroid” to a “T,” individuals such as these are in the minority of individuals who rationally understand Objectivism, and the challenge Objectivism can raise in individuals to lead a moral, reasoned, individual life without claiming the product of another individual’s labors.

Via a Tom Palmer post titled An Ayn Rand Era?

Posted by John Venlet on 01/03 at 08:26 AM
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Saturday, January 02, 2010

887 Meaningless Words

Noting the possibility of additional professional jobholders switching their alleged Congressional loyalties, the New York Times headlines their 887 meaningless words on the subject Risks of Switching Parties Are Clear.

In reading the article, one notes the absence of the word principled.  This should not surprise, as whether one claims to be a Republican or a Democrat is of little importance, because being a Republican or a Democrat is simply an exercise in cross-dressing.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/02 at 03:08 PM
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Housing Intervention Fail

The New York Times notes, in a piece titled U.S. Loan Effort Is Seen as Adding to Housing Woes, that Obama’s much vaunted mortgage modification program is a “disappointment” and may be doing “more harm than good.”  Does this come as a surprise to anyone?

Commenting on this, Kevin Katari, of Watershed Asset Management, states,

“We have simply slowed the foreclosure pipeline, with people staying in houses they are ultimately not going to be able to afford anyway.”

I’d add to Mr. Katari’s statement that the people could not afford these houses which are in foreclosure danger in the first place.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/02 at 08:59 AM
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Friday, January 01, 2010

It’s Your Choice - Serfdom or Freedom

Here it is 2010, which of course was made a big to do of last night, but it’s just another Friday in a long string of Fridays throughout history.

Making resolutions for 2010 is a big thing, for many individuals, but they’re typically meaningless wishes for self improvement, and though I am all for self improvement, I think individuals would be better served by embracing and acting in self reliance, as Emerson discussed, rather than resolving to give up this or that.

With that said, here is an interesting opinion piece from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, penned by Colin McNickel, titled Serfdom vs. liberty in 2010.  The opening paragraphs.

It was in 1774 that John Adams reminded how the “most sensible and jealous people are so little attentive to government that there are no instances of resistance until repeated, multiple oppressions have placed it beyond a doubt that their rulers had formed settled plans to deprive them of their liberties.”

And that’s not merely to “oppress the individual or a few,” he added, “but to break down the fences of a free constitution, and deprive the people at large of all share in the government, and all the checks by which it is limited.”

Mr. Adams, of course, would have been labeled a “right-wing extremist” or a “militia maniac” by today’s “progressives” in Congress who have been working so assiduously to soil the fabric of America. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would dismiss Adams’ sentiment as “un-American” and tap dance around its implications of unconstitutional freelancing.

Read the whole thing.

Via Western Rifle Shooters Association.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/01 at 10:11 AM
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Department of Justice Continued Theme of Misconduct

On the 17th of December, 2009, in a post I titled The U.S. Government is Not Your Friend, I noted the dismissal of charges against Broadcom due to “missteps” by the Department of Justice.

Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina dismissed charges against five Blackwater guards, once again citing Department of Justice “missteps” in the case, United States of America vs. Paul A. Slough et al., Defendants, 08-0360 (RMU).

Urbina said the prosecutors ignored the advice of senior Justice Department officials and built their case on sworn statements that had been given under a promise of immunity. Urbina said that violated the guards’ constitutional rights. He dismissed the government’s explanations as “contradictory, unbelievable and lacking in credibility.” (bold by ed.)

What is with this continued theme of misconduct, against American individuals, by the Department of Justice?

Judge cites gov’t missteps, tosses Blackwater case

Posted by John Venlet on 01/01 at 09:15 AM
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