1. A cricket race to discuss (for those coming “late to the party”, cricket race is my word for a poll).
2. Corruption in high places, one approach and the last bit with St. Basil might serve as an object lesson (HT: Ocholophobist, the).
3. Forgiveness and a not-completely-unrelated prayer.
4. Money talk.
5. On the senior handout.
6. Ms Palin on healthcare (HT: Politico).
7. More on healthcare here.
8. The apostolic physician.
9. “Because it has a perspective” … just like all the rest. Speaking of which …
10. The Maoist in the White House kerfuffle.
11. Considering recessions and recoveries.
12. Are these the “new rules?”
13. Ms Clinton in Moscow.
14. Working with a beatitude.

1. Dark thoughts (HT: Ochlophobist, the)
2. Of ethanol and petroleum.
3. Analyzing violence.
4. Atheism and political ethics.
5. Looking at an one of Mr Obama’s aids.
6. A suggestion re the gender wage discrepancy.
7. An answer for a question Mr Sullivan asked.
8. Kept quiet … or not.
9. Is he just trying to buy votes?
10. Of weather (not climate) and economics.
11. The point of the tattoo … missed by the media.
12. V. Havel criticises Mr Obama’s litte compromises.
13. “The meltdown” over Mr Limbaugh’s failed NFL bid … missing only any sort of actual meltdown. 
14. A paper on libertarianism.
15. The mortgage crises was so much fun … let’s line up another. And not unrelated … more bailout problems noted. Here too.
16. Of science and the media. In the conclusion, I think this thought can be more generally applied to the media’s topical response to just about anything, “I want to know what’s going on at the frontier of research elsewhere. I don’t want to know what the crazy outliers do, I want to know what the central problems are. Give me the big picture, give me a basis. If I want to know more details, I’ll look for them.” Replace research, with politics, economics, current events, whatever.
17. A worthwhile celebrity quote.
18. Consider the beard (and ex-beard).

Good morning.

1. On evening prayers.
2. Orthodox ecumenism.
3. Southeast asia considers the Kerry/Luger bill (even as Americans for the most part ignore it).
4. Human rights and US/Russian relations.
5. For myself, I’m a sucker for little gadgets.
6. Liftoff.
7. Asking history to just stop for a bit.
8. Mr Niven suggests some reading why national exceptionalism is, uhm, crap. In turn, here’s some suggested reading as to why it is not, Defending Identity: Its Indispensable Role in Protecting Democracy.
9. Some lighter verse … and its application to modern situations.
10. Robo … robo … (wait for it) … Pumpkin!
11. An item list for good discussions.

1. It’s not just “about the kids”, in the post-modern political climate regulation attempts to replace judgement. 
2. Consequentialism continues here.
3. The Book.
4. The church in Ethiopia.
5. More on Ms Ostrom and the tragedy of the commons. Here too.
6. LDS, a painting and Mr Skousen.
7. The OCA a church designed to disappear.
8. Nobel humor.
9. Don’t hate Wal-Mart, it’s just a consequence of Equality by Default … Just a natural outworking of the liberal project.
10. Rights talk.
11. It has been claimed that the left has dropped communism … which might be a premature statement.
12. A new poster/voice at the Agora.
13. So … whadya think? Are the Democrats going to commit political suicide or not? Or in the words of the link, “I’m skeptical.  I think it is more likely is that this thing passes, and fails spectacularly.  There are too many moving parts, and if any of them breaks, the whole thing rapidly starts to spin out of control and eat a gigantic hole in the deficit.” … and subsequently doom them politically.
14. That Zeigeist thing, see the last few sentences.
15. Mr Obama emulating the worst tendencies of the Nixon admin. Hmm.
16. Of maths and economics.

1. Farming in Sri Lanka … and politics.
2. On that topic, development and tech.
3. Repression … another view.
4. Nuclear weapons, the Middle East and Pakistan.
5. The shatter zone near Iran.
6. On corporate law and the bailout … and the implications of a large stake-holding government sharesholder immune to corporate and private commerce regulations.
7. On the “Invention of lying” a good premise gone astray (twice?).
8. On Ms Ostrom, here and here and here.
9. Hobbes and the Kingdom of Darkness.
10. Anti-Semitism and the dog that didn’t bark in the night.
11. Afghanistan.
12. Human rights and healthcare. 
13. A life in pictures. 😀
14. More humor here.
15. Democrat policy and employment.
16. Democrats and incentives (and some media bias noted as well).
17. And a film recommended.

Good morning.

1. Denmark and economics.
2. Speaking of economics.
3. St. Nilus of Calabria.
4. So who would you listen to for advice on what strategy will work, McCrystal or Biden/Emmanuel? There’s really only one choice there … but we shall see what the President decides.
5. The unaccountable and academia.
6. Some academic questions tackled. Ought/is and complexity.
7. Two types of last stands (there may be a third, the one nobody but the relatives of the slain remembers).
8. How to get people to do things. 
9. Uhm, no. Our willingness to accept failure is proportional to the cost of failure.
10. Well, MacIntyre and his Dependent Rational Animals has come up in discussion. Here’s the man himself.
11. Intrusion.
12. Politics in a bottle.

Well, a sort of busy weekend, and the muse isn’t striking quickly with ideas to write (or at least ideas that won’t take more work than I’m ready to put into it tonight) so … links + extended remarks is on the docket for tonight.

1. Now this is just stupid, and on something called “science blogs” to boot. Yet, right up there with the “depends on what the definition of is is” kind of pendantic doublespeak. Now Mr Brayton’s grandfather might have been a aboriginal hunter/gatherer or from an migratory herding culture … but for most of us these days traditional harks back all the way to the 50s or even further back to the Victorian era … or even stretching it to the mid-19th century. And guess what, monogamy was in fact traditional in those times.
2. On Russia’s relationship with the past, especially Stalin. It seems to me, from a somewhat casual view … so I’m not really going to defend it very vigorously against someone who argues that they are actually speaking with some authority on the subject, but Russians really do know all about the bad things Stalin did. It’s not news to them (and speaking on that particular subject, I just finished reading Lydia Chukovskaya’s Sofia Petrovna this afternoon. Highly recommended.). On the other hand, one of the thing Stalin did do, irrespective of his methods, was to recast Russia from an large resource rich but still a poor agrarian nation into an industrial and military power which for some time in the latter 20th century, was regarded as one of the two super-powers. This remolding, in part required to survive Hitler’s aggression, is the source it seems to me of the reluctance to utterly condemn everything Stalin did or stood for. And I have no clue where this guy fits in the picture.
3. Here’s a post on immigration that exemplifies the right way to go about discussions on this sort of politically charged topics. 
4. Today I went to church with my parents, a Lutheran church. For the last few years almost all the church I’ve been to has been Eastern rite Orthodox … so (as a convert) the contrasts are getting more and more evident. One thing I missed was this, well not the “video presentation” but the beatitudes are sung every (ordinary) Sunday at the beginning of the service in the Eastern rite. I think centering liturgy on that is something that the West would do well to recover. Of course it was less penitential, but that I expected.
5. Praise from the right for Mr Obama’s administration. I’ll offer another, connected with #3 above. Mr Obama’s highly celebrated, before the fact) and not so much after, trip to plead at the Olympic committee on behalf of Chicago suffered from what I in the past have termed a lack of epistemic humility, an overconfidence by the Administration in their smartness, their cleverness, and their rhetorical skills. Long time Olympic watchers had noted the “Byzantine” complexities of the Olympic committees movements, ways and politics. Yet the Admin thought they were smart enough to waft in casually at the last moment, offer a few touches, a little pomp and save the day … and they came in last place, not first. Their Mideast policy smacks of this too, assuming that their cleverness will succeed where so much has failed in the past. So, where is my praise? I’ll praise the Obama administration for not touching immigration.

Good morning.

1. A cricket race of a different sort, i.e., not directly about issues.
2. How not to report on race and religion.
3. Plugging a razor.
4. Trying to correct impressions of the Puritans does not require mistaken interpretations of catholic teaching.
5. Standing firm against the tyranny implicit in the libertarian movement.
6. Progress and people.
7. Family life and a photo journal.
8. An leaning car.
9. On healthcare polls.
10. Radioisotopes and batteries.
11. Split cycle engine.
12. No, Mr Obama didn’t “sell out” the anti-war movement … it can be more plausibly argued that he wilfully misled them for political gain. He more clearly campaigned with the idea that Afghanistan was the more important military front, so not pulling out should not be a surprise to anyone.
13. One reason why added spending on healthcare might not be a good idea right now.
14. A very interesting soda-pop ad.
15. On the “clip” front, a song.
16. The attitudes about the GOP attitude toward gays needs updating.
17. If we don’t see criticism of this from the left, they’ve jumped the shark.
18. Poverty.
19. Sharia.

1. A passing noted … and here’s a vivid demonstration of how memory is kept.
2. A conversation (on complexity) continues.
3. A discussion of race and the GOP. I might take issue with the characterization of the GOP as “the party” that uses the race card for political ends. I’d wager that if you took a sampling you’d find the Democrats do that far more often.
4. A first, a student protest in the Balkans noted.
5. One tough dude … and just a little whitewash in the UK press.
6. Projection of modern conceits noted.
7. An earthquake. Big.
8. A battle remembered.
9. How to get lots of blog traffic. I think I’m reconciled to my status as a micro-blogger. 😀
10. Confirmation bias and the media.
11. Popular history … gets it exactly backwards once again.
12. Unhappy with Obama support of a UN resolution and why.

Well, mornings are early here (and it’s an hour earlier) so … back to evening links.

1. Desert (patristic) humor.
2. An argument for the existence of God for our armchair philosophers to refute.
3. Training advice for the cyclist … and likely applicable to a wider range of activities.
4. DFW and monastic life.
5. In the aftermath of the news kerfuffle … some words on Mr Polanski.
6. TARP and lending or … oops.
7. Saturn. New rings discovered … very cool.
8. Verse.
9. The whole is/ought thing.
10. A pilgrim’s progress.
11. On silencing the military.
12. Perhaps a thing Mr Obama will be remembered for … that toxic cocktail.

Good morning.

1. City and tragedy. 
2. Be afraid.
3. Well, not always, there are weddings too, this one in Georgia.
4. Of entropy, social bubbles, and cinema.
5. Drawing on God’s wrath to remark on morality of man.
6. Food for thought. (sorry I couldn’t resist that)
7. Job losses in more detail.
8. Towards a progressive conservativism or vice versa … I think.
9. On celebrating the fall of another.
10. Of the Military and the White House.
11. Humor from the desert.

Good morning.

1. Well I saved this because I wanted to read it. I still do. Now you can look too … but since I haven’t read it … I actually don’t know whether it’s hokum or not, but it’s about the 2nd Amendment.
2. More on Xenophon.
3. Conservatism as cult. 
4. And … a similar vein here but for the other side.
5. Divorce and health.
6. Of guns and defense.
7. Equal vs precious … an important observation. 
8. I’m sorry, but yes you certainly can.
9. And one reason is, the center of the text (doesn’t have anything to do with creationism vs evolution).
10. Riiiiight.
11. And here I thought is was just ontology (and some theology) recapitulated and reinforcced by praxis all along.
12. Getting the gospel wrong.
13. Zaaap.
14. So, ‘splain why there are clauses on gender in a climate treaty?
15. Spot on protest.
16. NYTimes has no clue about job creation.

Well, I’ve a little time tonight, having got my post out. So … a little links+remarks? See if I can’t stir the discussion pot a little.

1. Jim Anderson wonders if stochastic methods are used for pitch selection. Which begs the question, how much are stochastic methods used in any strategy situations. In war, other sports involving strategy, and politics? It seems to me that if a primary objective is not being out-guessed by the opponent that explicitly relying on a random element to aid in strategic selection would be good.
   I frequently tell my kids that a coin toss is an excellent method of helping you make a decision if you cannot choose between two alternatives which to you seem equal. After you flip, if you don’t like the choice tells you of course … you should of course go with what you want to do and not be ruled by the coin. The coin in that case has demonstrated to you an unconscious preference. But if you’re OK with the coin … go with it. Your time agonizing over a decision is time not wasted any longer.
2. A question asked, that Mr Obama should answer. He has a healthcare plan, but it’s secret. He has a plan to a nuclear free-world, but it’s secret. But that latter part needs to be outlined a little more explicitly especially as Iran is moving closer to a device of their own. Actually regarding his healthcare non-plan, he has posted of course on the White House site a thing which some call “a plan.” However it is not actually a plan. It is a list of criteria. Maths people talk of solutions for problems needing a demonstration of existence and uniqueness. For Mr Obama’s criteria there is a missing demonstration of existence (and uniqueness is not a requirement). His critics of course offer that existence is not possible given that particular set of criteria. Given that is a primary objection, the missing demonstration is problematic. The same holds true for his nuclear free plan. More here regarding nuclear Iran.
3. Land reform. Land ownership and property rights are a vexing problem for much of the world. We in America forget that we went through not a little time of tribulation in the 19th century over land reform.
4. As a father of two teenage (well, technically my youngest hits the big 13 in December) … I’m hoping this suggestion is wrong and furthermore is not a model which they will find need to follow. Fortunately Hollywood is not the source of all social narratives and examples. Actually seeing how often they get the narratives and a realistic description on film of the religious America wrong, it is likely that the situation may not be as dire as the it seems.
5. Well, prison rape is indeed a problem. However, I’d offer that anyone who actually makes a claim to be Christian that hoping that rapists get raped in prison is not a problem, in that it isn’t for what we hope (for anyone). Hammurrabi is right out, no eye for an eye. We hope for only for repentance. 

stochastic, Obama, Iran, foreign policy, economics, society, marriage, dating, prison, ethics

Time sure flies, doesn’t it?

1. When bad is a team effort. (fooled ya’, I’ll be you were expecting politics).
2. Our winter.
3. A healthcare prescription … more recessions. And … for good measure a cricket race.
4. Law and healthcare. 
5. Pakistan and Afghanistan.
6. SCOTUS watch.
7. Values and a (cricket race derived)  trend.
8. In praise of simplicity.
9. Must read and other reading lists for the Orthodox.
10. The sacred and the secular.
11. On Norma Rae.
12. Visiting Georgia.
13. or Nepal?
14. Speaking of Georgia … the EU makes their statement.

1. Of the changes in Europe and in America and the fading of their socialist/statist dreams.
2. Science and politics and climate.
3. On healing and a religious tragedy.
4. Mr Obama and “excuse mongering.”
5. Whence comes this persons theory of counter-terrorism as distinct from COIN? Is he just making stuff up?
6. Chastising the phrase “original intent.”
7. Breaking down the “no religion” sector.
8. What a bigger state looks like.
9. Well, I said I wouldn’t touch the Polanski kerfuffle, but … I this makes a good point. And this question for his apologists.
10. Latvia … ahead of the US and Amtrak.
11. Now, after reading that, I want to see the film.
12. Obama. Pragmatist? Nyet.
13. Looking at healthcare and legislative strategy.
14. A lot of back tucks.
15. On degeneration of language, specifically English.