Unqualified Offerings

Jason Hurley’s comment downblog makes a great jumping-off point for some distinctions I’m trying to work out:
i want marijuana legalized. i don’t care what gays do behind closed doors. i think our foreign policy is a joke, and i think the inheritance tax is a joke too. but how is my fault that finger wagging [...]

By Thoreau
Do you have bad assets that no sane person would buy in an open market? Are you interested in selling them to the federal government? Go here!
EDIT:  I’ve just added an asset to the pile.

By Thoreau
Die Ministerium fur Staatssicherheit has guidelines for handling monkeys.
Could we put the monkeys in charge of screening? They’re smarter than any TSA thug, and while they might confiscate the occasional shiny item they’ll do it in an adorable way rather than yelling at you for endangering the Rodina with shampoo.

By Thoreau
For various reasons I’m doing my monkey blogging early (and often!) today. First up: Chimps can recognize each other by their asses, not just their faces.

By Thoreau
Uno…dos….tres….catorce!
I was asked if I’d be willing to teach an Honors section of our freshman class in winter quarter.  (Planning starts a quarter in advance.)  I said yes, and enthusiastically.  I loved my honors freshman physics class, because the focus of the class was really “How do physicists think about nature?” whereas the traditional [...]

By Thoreau
If the Congressional Democrats refrain from spending $700 billion to bail out financiers who took on way too much risk, I will (1) shut up about the Democrats through May of 2009 (enough time to get a first impression of the Obama administration) and (2) happily eat a free-range organically grown crow with a [...]

By Thoreau
I support means testing for Social Security.  I oppose expansions of Medicare.  I think individual saving and investment for retirement is a great idea, and I don’t object much to tax incentives for doing such (although I do admit to generally disliking the use of the tax code to incentivize behavior).
But I have NEVER [...]

By Thoreau
Between a trillion dollar war, a $700 billion Wall Street bailout, and God only knows how many billions on Rodina Security boondoggles, if any Republican EVER says “Oh, no, we couldn’t possibly afford this social program!” I’m going to do like Hilzoy and punch him.
Mind you, I’m a skeptic on a lot of social [...]

By Thoreau
So, let’s recap my political evolution on this blog:
1)  Fall 2007:  I’m accused of being a GOP shill because I beat up on the Congressional Democrats for capitulating to Bush on matters of war and civil liberties.  That’s right, the pro-peace/pro-freedom message is the surest sign of a Republican shill.
2)  Summer 2008:  I declare [...]