tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59814222008-07-16T23:11:14.646-04:00Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comBlogger254125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-39536363102084443442008-07-16T22:58:00.003-04:002008-07-16T23:11:14.660-04:00

The linked was the lead story in Monday's local daily fishwrap. The claim is that the hodge-podge of local governments in 16 Northeast Ohio counties including the following -- Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Summit -- cost each man, woman, and child $3,750 in 2002. I suspect a novel methodological approach to that number; there are a man, a woman, and two children in my family

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-22676859345748230702008-07-14T21:28:00.003-04:002008-07-14T21:35:12.835-04:00

Okay, But... "To preserve Social Security and our economy, we need a three-pronged approach. First, it’s time to start raising the retirement age. Social Security started in 1935, and at that time slightly more than half of workers lived to reach the retirement age of 65. These days, though, life spans are much longer. Our government needs to encourage people to work longer or, at least, not tap

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-1672865299251574022008-06-26T21:15:00.003-04:002008-06-26T22:18:56.104-04:00

By now all three point seven of you (and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for sticking it out with me) are aware that the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged that the Second Amendment does indeed guarantee the right of the individual citizen to keep and bear arms. David Hardy provides a well-crafted overview here; full text of Justice Scalia's majority opinion is here. I think my favorite

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-2331768000891057102008-05-29T21:56:00.002-04:002008-05-29T22:53:03.564-04:00

...as framed by Augustine, Niemoeller, and Franklin. In one of the more remarkable miscarriages of justice perpetrated in recent memory, a Wisconsin man and Army reservist named David Olofson has been convicted of a malum prohibitum felony and sentenced to thirty months in prison...because he loaned a rifle he owned to another individual, and said rifle malfunctioned at the range. (If one

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-1845108515387245172008-04-19T00:02:00.000-04:002008-04-19T00:02:08.504-04:00

Sung at the completion of Concord Monument, April 19, 1836. By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world, The foe long since in silence slept, Alike the Conqueror silent sleeps, And Time the ruined bridge has swept Down the dark stream which seaward

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-62660613027692995972008-04-18T00:58:00.003-04:002008-04-18T01:00:10.917-04:00

...to honor those who came before. Paul Revere's Ride Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year. He said to his friend, "If the British march By land or sea from the town to-night, Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch Of the North Church tower as a

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-25791900965291349202008-04-15T22:10:00.000-04:002008-04-15T22:11:33.093-04:00

From the April 15, 2008 edition of The Patriot Post: "If duties are too high, they lessen the consumption; the collection is eluded; and the product to the treasury is not so great as when they are confined within proper and moderate bounds. This forms a complete barrier against any material oppression of the citizens by taxes of this class, and is itself a natural limitation of the power of

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-86966183148053230132008-03-31T23:16:00.004-04:002008-04-01T00:12:44.124-04:00

This is a post I'd intended to do long since, inspired by red's post on the "tundish scene" from A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man. I'm (sort of, and temporarily) caught up on my studies to spare part of an hour, and I want to post a companion of sorts, the "jargon" scene from Richard Llewellyn's How Green Was My Valley. Our stooooory so far: The protagonist and narrator, Huw Morgan, has

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-89648372721170523832008-01-27T23:23:00.000-05:002008-01-27T23:32:48.887-05:00

Because some of our fellow men and women seem determined to re-embark on the periodic glorious march to Utopia, this seems like a good time for a few words from Kipling. The Gods of the Copybook Headings 1919 As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race, I Make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market-Place. Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-30865571189514772932008-01-26T22:20:00.000-05:002008-01-26T22:29:49.781-05:00

...and being too busy harried lazy to come up with anything original, I instead present this: Oil is $100 a barrel and there are food shortages in Venezuela. That is all you really need to know about socialism. Somebody opined that food shortages are a distribution problem, and that the one has nothing to do with the other. That can be true, but the worthy failed to read the source article.

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-5847558549580553842008-01-25T23:55:00.000-05:002008-01-26T00:00:06.881-05:00

Let all here know by these presents that on this day January 25, in the year of our Lord 2008, Commenter Sean wins the Internet. Found in this post at The Smallest Minority, one of our finer blogs. Better than this dump, that's for sure.

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-37015444178275404122007-10-26T23:25:00.000-04:002007-10-27T00:21:40.496-04:00

So I was listening to Hewitt on the way home from work this evening. Radio RNC is talking with "The Beltway Boys" (this is significant and also absolutely typical, as I'll demonstrate presently), Fred Barnes and Morton Kondracke. Hewitt was bemoaning the fact that he couldn't convince fellow Republicans that "this is a two-man race." What Radio RNC meant by that is this: the Republican

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-76697047918088547452007-10-19T21:24:00.000-04:002007-10-19T22:21:23.246-04:00

...a commonplace notion, I know. But I'm rereading War and Remembrance for the umpteenth time, and I came across the following passage, from a letter written by Pamela Tudsbury to Victor Henry: Your country baffles me: a luxurious unharmed lotus land in which great hordes of handsome dynamic people either wallow in deep gloom, or play like overexcited children, or fall to work like all the

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-55307032932230180632007-10-14T20:06:00.000-04:002007-10-14T21:04:42.826-04:00

...nor any room for compromise. The Plain Dealer apparently has stolen every poundy drum Battlestar Galactica had in order to try to revive the flagging fortunes of the gun control movement. The latest salvo came in an op-ed in today's edition by Elizabeth Sullivan. She opens with an approving nod to the UK's gun laws, and a sad cluck that the US will not go that far. Here's a sample of how

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-62571678617604336902007-08-20T21:57:00.000-04:002007-08-20T22:21:25.807-04:00

I apologize for the long silence; I have been occupied with academic, professional, and family matters. The Brady Campaign (no link for them) has called a protest of "illegal guns" for August 28. The honest ones among them, such as they are, will acknowledge that they define "illegal gun" as a gun owned by a private citizen. It's late starting, but the...Constitutionally literate community is

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-59671919723481978292007-04-18T14:35:00.000-04:002007-04-18T14:39:15.945-04:00

Well, heck, if red isn't going to do it I reckon I have to. Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year. He said to his friend, "If the British march By land or sea from the town to-night, Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch Of the North Church tower as

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-1313573169187412462007-04-12T22:50:00.000-04:002007-04-12T23:08:31.086-04:00

While perusing OpinionJournal today, I ran across an article by Gary Rosen of Commentary magazine, regarding a book called Freedom's Power by Princeton professor and former American Prospect magazine editor Paul Starr. Mr. Starr is engaged, apparently, in an attempt to rehabilitate left-liberalism by reminding us, as I understand it, of its roots in classical liberalism (roots shared by the

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-37354732018086258632007-04-11T22:17:00.000-04:002007-04-12T23:08:59.688-04:00

Think I'm kidding? Chicago Bear defensive tackle Terry "Tank" Johnson is presently, I believe, incarcerated in the state of Illinois. Here are the particulars, from the linked article: Johnson was arrested on misdemeanor weapons charges Dec. 14 after police raided his home in the Lake County town of Gurnee, about 40 miles northwest of Chicago, and found six unregistered firearms.At the time, he

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-52984846243616678082007-03-07T23:00:00.000-05:002007-03-07T22:25:14.936-05:00

...the U.S. Department of Justice. IP Address: 149.101.1.# (US Dept of Justice) Time of Visit: Feb 26 2007 4:17:43 pm Last Page View: Feb 26 2007 4:17:49 pm Visit Length: 6 seconds Page Views: 1 Referring URL: http://www.usvfincher.blogspot.com/ We realize that quality entertainment is hard to come by.

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-10258229994376025772007-03-01T23:00:00.000-05:002007-03-01T22:59:57.863-05:00

Sheila has tagged everyone (the tagging, therefore, is general across the blogosphere) who would stand still long enough with the task, originating at Obscurorama, of listing five books that played an important role in one's childhood, and why. For my list, I'm sticking to books I'm sure I read before I finished the sixth grade. Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell. Probably the only books I've read and

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-10570245584742765952007-02-16T22:26:00.000-05:002007-02-16T22:36:21.371-05:00

...do they still teach civics? Found among the local news items on my Yay-hooo home page: the City of Cleveland is cracking down on high-end prostitution. I choose to waste my time on this because of the following: Police said the magazines that post the ads aren't doing anything illegal and the so-called agencies stay clean because they make the women involved sign a waiver. So, the women are

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-82773206136412234842007-02-16T14:47:00.000-05:002007-02-16T17:33:56.378-05:00

Today I wrote my congressional representative regarding HR 1022, the revived "assault weapons" ban. The link is to the "browse bills by number" page; the text of the bill is not posted as of this writing. Excerpts of the letter follow. ----------- I write you today to ask you to oppose HR 1022, the renewal of the so-called "assault weapons" ban. For what it’s worth, allow me to state at the

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-21153201051538669572007-01-22T23:09:00.000-05:002007-01-22T23:23:55.372-05:00

I had occasion to read Orson Scott Card's new novel Empire over the holiday break. The premise is a 21st Century American Civil War, but I'll let you find out for yourselves, if you're inclined, what the premise and outcome were. Card wrote in an afterword that the war came because "...nobody is willing to accept the simple idea that someone can disagree with their group and still be a decent

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-32790179753679278652007-01-07T22:09:00.000-05:002007-01-07T22:28:48.233-05:00

Blub. Well, I have survived fall semester in good academic standing (the Lord had mercy on me, a sinner), gotten reacquainted with my family, enjoyed the holidays, and (just this night) finished reading The Brothers Karamazov. Spring semester begins in just over a week, but I hope not to spend another two months on a submerged circumnavigation. (Okay, what I do isn't a patch on what submariners

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981422.post-1161919382132071122006-10-26T23:18:00.000-04:002006-11-05T15:06:23.153-05:00

...but better late than never, if only just. Well, Maurice Carthon is out as offensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns. Without offering a defense of Mr. Carthon, who didn't do a particularly good job, I have to tell you that the Browns could bring in Bill Walsh to run picks off the umpire all day, and they still won't score much with that offensive line. They could bring in Bill Walsh at

Oldsmobloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.com