For ROTC

The Washington Post has an OP-ED piece out that asks whether Harvard will have the “courage” to continue its ban on ROTC: It should not be forgotten that schools have legitimate and moral reasons for keeping the military at bay, regardless of the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” They can stand with those who … Read more

Stewart: Not Yet Edward Murrow

Like any patriotic American, I celebrated the long overdue passage of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, or 9/11 first responders health care bill for short, last Wednesday. The bill “extend(s) and improve(s) protections and services to individuals directly impacted by the terrorist attack in New York City on September 11, 2001,” and, prior to … Read more

Thin Skin at Reason Magazine

Christopher Beam has a long feature in New York magazine on “The Trouble with Liberty,” that is, with libertarianism. I liked the piece, but then, I guess I’m disposed to like such pieces. Radley Balko, a senior editor at the libertarian Reason magazine, is not. He’s upset that Beam wasn’t fair and balanced. Balko says … Read more

Rising Tensions in the Korean Peninsula

Ever since the sinking of a South Korean warship earlier this year, tensions on the Korean peninsula have been steadily escalating. The culmination of this newfound North Korean aggression was the November shelling of South Korean territory which resulted in the deaths of four South Koreans . Why is North Korea showing such aggression at … Read more

Weighing In: The Sin of Starving?

I have two points to make in response to Alastair’s most recent post — first, that I’m happy that he wrote it, because the issue of savings and culture is very important; and second, that I’m a bit dismayed about what he wrote, because I don’t it’s actually correct. First, agreement: one of the defining stories of … Read more

Peter Orszag, Co-Optation, and Progressivism

Check out Will Wilkinson’s post on Peter Orszag’s disappointing decision to cash in at Citigroup. First Wilkinson suggests that this sort of co-optation of government officials by market forces is a fatal flaw in progressivism. “[M]arket institutions find ways to use the government’s regulatory and insurer-of-last-resort functions as countervailing forces against their competitors and, in … Read more