http://www.takimag.com/blogs/ The Online Magazine for Independent Conservatives, edited by Taki Theodoracopulos en chris@takimag.com Copyright 2008 2008-05-11T23:20:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/the_great_education_bubble/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/the_great_education_bubble/#When:23:20:00Z The recent meltdown of the mortgage bubble illustrates a basic insight of Austrian Economics:  cheap money leads to distortion and malinvestment, which can only be resolved through mass liquidation.  Liquidation is an anodyne term, but in real life it means lost jobs, declining wages, “upside down” bank notes, bankrupt businesses, and stagnant housing values.  The Federal Reserve’s decision after the September 11 attacks to drop interest rates precipitously—at one point lowering the federal funds rate to 1%—contributed significantly to the situation the country finds itself in.  The sheer cheapness of this money created various pressures on lenders to loosen lending criteria, … 2008-05-11T23:20:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/the_sad_state_of_american_feminism_a_great_mothers_day_gift/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/the_sad_state_of_american_feminism_a_great_mothers_day_gift/#When:23:10:00Z Hillary Clinton’s campaign is in a tailspin; Phyllis Schlafly is getting an honorary degree from a prestigious university; even the painfully hip Juno has given the Left’s picture of abortion as “just a choice” a thumbs-down.  Such hard times for feminism leave us with one question: who’s bringing the keg? Perhaps it is uncharitable to dance on feminism’s grave today; I’m sure that some feminists are also mothers who would appreciate the chance to enjoy their special day in peace.  However, while the saints who raised us are enjoying breakfast in bed, conservatives should take the holiday to consider how best … 2008-05-11T23:10:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/keeping_up_with_walter_jones/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/keeping_up_with_walter_jones/#When:13:29:00Z Challenger Joe McLaughlin was half right in describing the stakes of the North Carolina 3rd Congressional District’s Republican primary: It was, as he told Congressional Quarterly, about the future of the Republican Party in his congressional district and beyond. But Congressman Walter Jones’s nearly 20-point margin of victory doesn’t signal the end of the party. It points the way out of the quagmire that is Iraq, both for the country and the GOP. Let’s recap: Walter Jones, a fine Southern gentleman, like many conservatives initially supported the Iraq War out of patriotic instinct. He voted to authorize the use of force … 2008-05-11T13:29:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/i_confess_i_dont_understand_why_some_atheists_are_so_angry/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/i_confess_i_dont_understand_why_some_atheists_are_so_angry/#When:23:04:00Z In response to my recent piece on science and religion, one of the commenters, GM, took me to task:  “you may want to consider and ask why atheists seem angry.  There’s no indication that you understand why.” I have to confess, GM was right:  I do not understand why some atheists are so angry. I have no trouble understanding that some people cannot give intellectual assent to faith, and I have long known atheists and agnostics.  But none of the atheists and agnostics I know are angry.  In fact, they respect the role Christianity played in creating our civilization and plays … 2008-05-10T23:04:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/moolah_and_its_discontents/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/moolah_and_its_discontents/#When:03:23:00Z A few weeks ago I attended a most wonderful party, with music, pretty girls, lotsa champagne--and even some people who did not move their lips while reading the labels of the expensive bubbly and scotch whiskey they were imbibing. Namely Tom Wolfe, Lewis Lapham, Graydon Carter, Edward Jay Epstein and other such New York swells. The occasion was Lapham’s Quarterly “About Money,” a 220-page thick edition featuring mostly dead writers such as Aristophanes, Karl Marx, Ben Franklin, Andrew Carnegie, Edith Wharton, Cicero, even Henry Ford. (“What a treat, it must be,” said Graydon Carter, one of the speakers, “to be able … 2008-05-10T03:23:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/pondering_the_shape_of_things_to_come/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/pondering_the_shape_of_things_to_come/#When:00:44:01Z The realm of prophecy and prediction is a notoriously dangerous territory in which to venture if one takes things too seriously, but I hope you will forgive a light little wander into that domain. The question at hand is the rise and fall of nations. The period since the collapse of European Communism from 1989 to 1991 has witnessed a great deal of instability, transition, and change, and it helps to step back from the precipice of turbulence to sit and have a look at things and ponder where they might be headed. I offer here a few thoughts and suggestions … Politics 2008-05-10T00:44:01-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/the_arsenal_of_time/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/the_arsenal_of_time/#When:18:10:00Z Taki writes in The Truth About The Good War of “the madness that gripped Versailles, a vengeful spirit that alienated America, mutilated Germany” But it did as much to motivate as mutilate- everything from ‘rocket clubs’ to the freikorps. In the inter-war years German enthusiasm for military technology blossomed as the economy recovered from the hyperinflationary catastrophe brought on by Versailles. Before the historical argument boils over, recall that both sides were aware of an accelerating revolution in military affairs. Weapons of mass destruction were being actively developed on both sides, and neither wanted to see the other develop and deploy … 2008-05-09T18:10:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/gop_gets_fiscally_responsible_denies_veterans_benefits/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/gop_gets_fiscally_responsible_denies_veterans_benefits/#When:18:05:00Z Since the GOP didn’t feel many pangs of conscience over No Child Left Behind or the 500 some-odd billion dollar Medicare extension package, it’s rather surprising to be reading passages like this from the Post: House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) yesterday called the domestic add-ons ‘unnecessary extra spending’ and denounced Pelosi’s decision to bring the bill to the House floor without first letting the Appropriations Committee review it. To show their displeasure, Republicans forced procedural votes this week that delayed consideration of the bill. What is this pork-barrel bill? A big corporate bailout? A new welfare program? Appropriations for … 2008-05-09T18:05:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/a_neoconservative_categorical_imperative/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/a_neoconservative_categorical_imperative/#When:14:31:00Z Kant famously tested any moral precept by his categorical imperative:  “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.” Neoconservatives act in foreign policy according to something of a categorical imperative too:  “Act only according to that maxim whereby your foreign policy principles would have obliged a preventative war against Nazi Germany before September 1, 1939.” Thus, the neoconservatives champion wars to prevent wars, wars to vindicate the human rights of ethnic and religious minorities, and wars simply to assert America’s benevolent hegemony anywhere and everywhere.  Of course, this … 2008-05-09T14:31:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/kauffman_speak/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/kauffman_speak/#When:13:58:00Z It is extremely rare indeed to attend an “Old Right” speaking event and find the entire audience, including the liberals and neocons on hand, rolling in the aisles. But such was the case when Bill Kauffman spoke at CATO yesterday afternoon about antiwar conservatives and his new book. I certainly can’t reproduce his charm, sharp wit, and èlan, so I’d suggest that you watch a video of the event here. There are two lines from his talk worth repeating: “Why should political discourse be delimited by Arthur Schlesinger’s ghost and Bill Bennett’s ghost writer.” “War: it spreads venereal disease, if not … 2008-05-09T13:58:00-05:00