First Things pans Atlas Shrugged

But then they would, wouldn't they? Meanwhile, Nathaniel Branden praises the film. But he would, wouldn't he?

"Underwater nation"

Jim Willie says the underwater nation cannot swim. If you like your commentary vivid, this is for you. BTW, large excess reserve accounts at the Fed? Many are currently loan loss reserves that disguise a bank's insolvency...

"False Keynesians"

Barack Obama has been victimized by "false Keynesians." Perhaps you heard this already.

Do you get the feeling that no matter what, Mr. Keynes is not going to be tarnished by this debacle?

Will it be inflation or deflation?

Jesse's arguments for inflation seem compelling:

The US is a democratic republic and a huge net debtor, in both current and future obligations. The choice of genuine deflation as such would therefore be a national economic and political suicide favoring foreign holders of its debt. I cannot think of a reasonable scenario for such a choice except for coercion such as war reparations and under heavy constraint. But it is a possible choice.

Further complicating the decision is the inescapable fact that the US holds what is still the world's reserve currency despite a movement to alternatives. A stronger dollar and monetary deflation would crush the world economy by destroying the interconnected global banking system as it is now constituted, in addition to devastating its own domestic economy. Deflation does favor the ends of a powerful few, however, so it cannot be said to be off the table.

If the status of world currency works against domestic fiscal policy, one has entered the land of Triffin's Dilemma.

The modern collector as WalMart shopper

Low comedy from flush middlebrow art collectors. But you were expecting, what exactly?

The search for authenticity has shifted, interestingly, to Iron Curtain era dissident art.

Activist court, international edition

Beyond Dispute: International Judicial Institutions as Lawmakers -

Today, it is no longer convincing to only think of international courts in their role of settling disputes. While this function is as relevant as ever, many international judicial institutions have developed a further role in what is often called global governance.

This is a paper today but it will be an entire scholarly discipline tomorrow.

Unnatural selection

The triumph of "women's health" issues may be reducing the number of women in the world - radically.

"The mirage of ennumerated powers"

From the Claremont Review:

The truth that dare not speaks its name then is this: there is no formula, no principle, nothing arising even out of the logic of the Constitution or the American regime that can furnish any hard limits that confine the federal government's reach or divide the local from the national jurisdiction.

And,

even with the guidance of the Constitution, even with some of the principles contained there, imparting a useful discipline, casting up warnings, the decisive grounds of judgment must be found elsewhere, outside the text.

Mladec = Blofeld?

Private Eye certifies his villainy. (Note to NYT readers, PBS watchers, and NPR listeners: the captions are switched.)

Not just a talk show meme anymore

Howie says:

There are two Americas. John Edwards was right. But not in the way that the Anthony Weiner of the last decade could have ever imagined. The two Americas are the Dreaded Private Sector, where the real unemployment rate hovers close to 20 percent, and housing prices have taken a bigger plunge than they did during the Great Depression. And then there’s Public Sector America, where the good times never end.

That Dreaded Private Sector needs to shape up. In a command economy, can't you just order it to shape up?

Privatizing the right to deceive

One of the benefits of being a state-owned enterprise is that all of the lying privileges the central state reserves to itself become available to you. Hence, the deceptive and manipulative behavior of GM, reported here would get an ordinary (unprotected) firm in trouble with the SEC. This is a testing of the waters; GM will likely push the envelope of "self expression" in this government-by-waiver. What's good for GM...

Repossess your bank

It didn't work this year but try again next year.

Head first

Gadad Bob has plunged "Head first into Christianity." If I were forced to predict how that would have come about for Bob in particular, the way it happened is the way I would have predicted: heavy reading of Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II. The really satisfying thing about this stage of the RC church (for me, an non-RC) is having had two world class German theologians at its head (if my may call the previous pontiff a German theologian). In this post, Bob makes a core insight "accessible" to all:

For to be born into the human state is to follow the realtor's eternal advice of purchasing the worst property in the best neighborhood. Life -- or the civilizing process -- consists of improving your properties.

And it is a never-ending project. We are all fixer-uppers. Some may have more superficial "curb appeal" than others, but when you actually see who lives inside, or inspect the foundation, or consider how high the roof goes, you may be in for a surprise. Conversely, some rather modest shacks can be mansions inside.

The "elevator story" on Orthodoxy

My own favorite "elevator story" on Orthodoxy is "This was Christianity before Charlamagne founded Roman Catholicism."

Apologies to the RC brethren!

J.D. Huneycutt has a funnier story.

Meanwhile, how long before we see door-to-door atheists?

AKP - less victory than publicized?

We have been overdosing on AKP victory stories but Spiegel says the Turkish Islamicists have not done well enough to revamp the polity.

BTW, how nuts is it to read a Boston/New York/Washington newspaper for analysis of a Turkish election?

Hackers vs. Bernanke

I wonder if these are the folks behind Climategate? Addison Wiggin has the new video of hacker demands on Ben Bernanke.

Art forgery stories

Can you get enough of them?

"The Arab awakening is turning into the Arab nightmare"

And this is a surprise to whom? The left.

"An Ollie North moment" for the MSM

That's what these Palin emails are, Quigley says. I say, let's wait a little longer.

Monarchism: a third way?

You missed it: "The Russian Imperial Union-Order organised a conference, 'The Monarchy and Progress.' Question: To side with communism or liberalism?

Conclusion: neither.

Why can't we have conferences like that?