Commentary

"I agree with my opponent on one point. There must be rules or principles to guide man’s actions if he wants to live in peaceful coexistence with his fellow man. The most important principle underlying every subsequent rule is the following: 'no individual, group, or organization (this includes government) may initiate the use of or the threat of the use of force against another.' (Self-defense is not the same as the initiation of force)." (05/21/13)

"The White House spokesman declares: 'I mean, nobody’s been more outraged by the reported conduct here than the president of the United States.' He's only the president. It's not as if you can expect him to know anything, or to be aware of facts and events." (05/21/13)

"Polls have shown for years that Americans think the current federal income tax system is 'unfair.' And that was before the disgusting IRS targeting of conservatives, libertarians, tea party activists, Christians, and reporters the Obama administration doesn’t like. A large majority of the country favors a 'complete overhaul' of the system. Even former IRS Commissioner Shirley Peterson has said, 'we should repeal the Internal Revenue Code and start over.'" (05/21/13)

"What’s the difference between an unwelcome request for a date and rape? Pursuant to the Obama administration’s definition of sexual harassment, this is not an easy question to answer." (05/21/13)

"Diane Tran is a 17-year-old honor student who was jailed for truancy in Texas. When a tearful Tran gave an interview for a local television station, the story went viral. Her parents had recently divorced, leaving Tran to support herself and her siblings by working two jobs in addition to attending school. Fury was unleashed on the truancy court justice, Lanny Moriarty, who made an example of Tran by fining her $100 and imprisoning her for 24 hours." (05/21/13)

"So, Ayn Rand has a theory of distributive justice/justice in holdings, but not social justice. The most basic form of utilitarianism is a theory of distributive justice but not social justice, because it has no special concern for the poor or least advantaged. (Insert utility-monster or Omelas-type thought experiment here.) 'To each according to his merit' is a theory of distributive justice but not social justice. I’m inclined to say that egalitarianism is not really a theory of social justice either." (05/21/13)

"Part of my criticism of Jason's position centered on a definition of social justice offered on his facebook page, using the term 'minimally decent lives.' In his response he switches to something closer to the definition I offered from Z&T, claiming that the two are close enough to both describe the same cluster concept. That raises an obvious question: Does he agree that 'minimally decent lives' in one of his definitions is, as I argued, dishonest mush, a term implying an objective standard that does not exist?" (05/21/13)

"Chemophobic anti-pesticide groups are at it again. This time they’re attacking a widely used and safe new insecticide, but their assertions and real agendas are nothing new. Radical environmentalism rose to ascendancy on opposition to pesticides, specifically DDT." (05/21/13)

"The recent tragedy in Bangladesh took over 1,000 lives, and I hope blame is properly attributed and some kind of compensation awarded. It has unfortunately re-awoken a slew of guilt merchants known, curiously, as 'liberals,' who are shrieking for something to be done to stop Walmart, J.C. Penney and other retailers doing business with Bangladeshi companies." (05/21/13)

"On May 16, the same regime that is providing support to Syrian terrorists conducted a raid in Boise to arrest an Uzbek national named Fazluddin Kurbanov, who has been accused of providing material support to a listed terrorist group called the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). As headline bait, the Feds also charged Kurbanov with possessing components of a 'weapon of mass destruction,' which in this case appears to be a homemade hand grenade. Federal prosecutors, including Wendy Olson, the hyper-ambitious legal commissarina assigned to Idaho, insist that the public was never at danger, because Kurbanov had been under surveillance for a long time, and the threat he posed had been contained. This means we should anticipate the all-but-inevitable disclosure that Kurbanov was being manipulated by an undercover operative working as a 'terrorism facilitator' on behalf of the regime." (05/21/13)

"In the barren wasteland of anti-nullification rhetoric, little sprouts of life occasionally spring up, providing hope for those of us who believe federal power should remain limited. Sometimes, support for state action to block unconstitutional acts springs up in the most unlikely of places." (05/19/13)

"What facts? That, contrary to Obama, government is not 'a system of ... tools to do big things and important things together that we could not possibly do alone' -- that’s what markets are -- when they’re allowed to work, free of interference by presumptuous, meddling politicians and the well-connected who seek their favors." (05/17/13)

"After WWII, America is the last superpower standing and starts to employ a variety of strategic frameworks ranging from détente to mutually assured destruction through nuclear weapons to Kennan’s containment strategy until the demise of the bipolar world when the USSR dissolves from 1989-1991. This is where America’s strategic framework for world dominance crashes and dies." (05/19/13)

"What drove the much slower growth of the 60s and 70s was exactly the set of policies that Chang usually proposes. Infant industry protection, government direction of the economy, planning. And most crucially, borrowing to fund that economic development. And, as is usually the problem when people play socialism at some point you run out of other peoples' money." (05/21/13)

"Parents in Michigan, like those across the country, want their children to have the tools they need to excel in school and beyond. The Common Core national curriculum standards were sold as the way to give students those tools. But with the standards now being implemented, a growing number of Michiganians -- as evidenced by the recent House vote to withhold state funds from Common Core -- are having buyer’s remorse. Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s support for the Core notwithstanding, they’re right to be wary, especially since Core supporters have too often ridiculed dissenters instead of engaging in honest debate." (05/20/13)

"America’s immigration debate often focuses on how immigrants affect the welfare state, but many immigration restrictionists oppose immigration, even if we did wall off the welfare state for new immigrants." (05/20/13)

"Two insidious ideas are prevalent among the Left today. The first is that of political correctness. In this context, this means that groups that constitute a minority whose rights are privileged by the Left are granted the specious right not to be offended. This right is purely an invention of the Left to prosecute its Marxist agenda of the destruction of Western culture. It creates no-go areas of taboo and state protection that fundamentally attack the freedom of speech and force opposition to the Left out of the public arena. The second, related, idea is that a leading means of pursuing this Kulturkampf is to attack the past, whether in the form of its artefacts, in a revisionist approach to history, or indeed in the ancestor guilt that is often foisted upon the white population in the name of the remembrance of slavery, and that periodically results in the absurdity of 'apologies' by the living for the actions of the dead." (05/19/13)