Quick Roundup 371

Blogworthy things seem to have come in pairs today....

Two Roundups

Last week, Rational Jenn posted the 66th Objectivist Roundup and Mike N posted a weekend roundup of his own.

Two from Amit Ghate

Amit Ghate has recently posted a couple of the kinds of short, sweet examples that can come in handy during conversations about politics.

First, he links to "Barstool Economics", which very nicely demonstrates all at once: (1) the disproportionate burden our progressive tax code places on the rich, (2) the degree of dependence the welfare state has on this demonized demographic , and (3) how much of the population is freeloading on the rich through income redistribution. Although this doesn't directly address the fundamental problem of taxation -- that it violates individual rights -- the enterprising interlocutor should have no trouble steering things that way! (Also, through his link, I was reminded of the existence of Doug Reich's blog, The Rational Capitalist, which is now listed in the sidebar.)

Second, he does his best imitation of Virgil in Dante's Inferno, showing us a nearly perfect example straight from the the hell of Lew Rockwell of Libertarians being merely anti-government, rather than pro-individual rights. The title says it all: "The Enemy is Always the State". Too bad we need the state -- a proper government, to be precise -- to protect the individual rights on which our lives in a society depend.

Two Issues Sites

I have mentioned Diana Hsieh's Coalition for Secular Government here before and I link to its blog, Politics without God, on the sidebar, but until today, I hadn't listed the main site on my resources page. Now it's there, under "National Organizations" on the right hand side.

Also, thanks to her blog, I have learned about Tony Donadio's micro-site, Repeal the Bailout, and have also added it to the resources page.

Two Veterans Come in off the Bench

Martin Lindeskog, whose blog loads a little more quickly these days, reports that Cox and Forkum recently posted a cartoon about the bailout on their web site. Quoth Allen Forkum:

In defense of this socialist expansion, Bush gives us a classic A-is-non-A denial of reality: "These measures are not intended to take over the free market but to preserve it." Clearly the man doesn't even know what the "free" in "free market" means. And unfortunately neither do McCain and Obama.

After seeing a headline this weekend in which Bush reportedly urged something to the effect that we should keep our economies free, my initial reaction was, "Too late!" This was followed swiftly by, "This man clearly doesn't know what the hell he is talking about."

Two Blegs

1. I remain swamped by the Eternal Cross-Country Relocation from Hell, but want to do some blog upkeep soon. If anyone has noticed any hyperlinks that no longer work or whose sites are no longer being maintained, particularly on the Resources page, I'd be grateful for the time a heads-up would save me.

2. Are there any Kung Fu movie aficionados out there? I'm not really the action movie type, but I have the urge to watch one, and I don't know diddly about this genre. Fortunately, I've had pretty good luck soliciting advice here before....

Being There II?

And speaking of movies, the following recent comment about Barack Obama by Myrhaf caused me to become curious enough about the Peter Sellers movie, Being There to rent it.

It becomes theatre of the absurd when you consider what Obama did during the bailout. He did what always does: nothing. The guy is like the Peter Sellers character in Being There.

He certainly hit that one on the head! The movie, at least, was hilarious. Its real-life sequel, if the election gives us one in an Obama Presidency, will, like most sequels, disappoint.

-- CAV