Unqualified Offerings

is the only language adequate to discussing the price of crude. I paid $1.83/gallon for gas yesterday. There’s a big wooded lot behind our house that belongs to the church around the corner. There are deer there, and possibly some roots and tubers. So instead of driving to the grocery store, we can forage. We [...]

Item in the Washington City Paper’s media column about misreporting of evidence in the sniper case. The thrust of the article is the different approach to making corrections at the Post and the Times. (Thanks to Hesiod for e-mailing the link.)

The Institute for Justice has won two more economic liberty cases. In one, the US Court of Appeals affirmed that a Chattanooga minister may indeed sell affordable caskets to his poor parishioners without

a funeral director’s license. To obtain such a license, individuals had to either attend school for two years, apprentice for two years, or [...]

From Reuters today:

BAGRAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Rival commanders squabbling over scrap metal traded mortar fire near the U.S. headquarters in Afghanistan on Thursday after President Hamid Karzai appealed in Washington for subsidies to placate unruly militias. U.S. military spokesman Roger King said the exchange occurred north of Bagram Air Base, for the second time this [...]

Jon Utley of Americans Against Bombing sends a copy of an Investor’s Business Daily article by Brian Mitchell that is apparently only available to subscribers. Mitchell goes into great detail about the backgrounds of the leaders of the “Coalition of the Billing” as Matt Hogan calls them. Money quote:

“It’s not just that they were Communists [...]

A reader sent me the premium subscription version of Stratfor’s daily Iraq briefing. The public version teases

Following a fast visit by former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is said to have agreed to cooperate fully with U.N. weapons inspectors. Sources also say that U.S. energy companies could be invited back to [...]

Tired and a touch under the weather. Over the next few days, reader mail, Kenneth Pollack and whatever comes to me while I’m sitting at the computer. Now, decongestant and a pillow.

Per the pro-war Telegraph:

Kurdish leaders in Iraq gave warning yesterday that American-sanctioned deployment of Turkish troops in northern Iraq would lead to fighting.

What kind of fighting?

But [Nasreen Mustafa Sidiq, the minister of reconstruction and development in Irbil] too gave a warning about unforeseen consequences if the Turks entered the area. “If Turkish soldiers come here, [...]

I feel like a bit like a Star Trek fan – I realize I’m forgiving a lot for the sake of my enjoyment. (Note to self: stop making fun of those people.) But there’s a lot I liked. One thing: in most superhero stories, endless contrivances prevent anyone from unmasking the hero. Here everybody takes [...]

Bruce Baugh’s RPG designer’s manifesto is worth a general audience. Excerpt:

Yes, I craft entertainment. But entertainment is important. The demands of living a decent and humane existence are tough: it takes work to be a good child and parent, spouse and friend, employer and employee, neighbor and citizen. Life is seldom altogether delightful. Our entertainment [...]