Reading for a Snowy Day

I'm reminded, suitably by a blog, of the Harvard Classics. Earlier editions are so beautifully bound and printed that your eye will be drawn to them should you find them in a bookstore.

Originally, of course, books were published by subscription and the purchaser had them bound to match the rest of their library. The uniformity is pleasing to the eye and the hand, and American readers may readily avail themselves of three great imprimateurs- the Harvard Classics, the Loeb Classics, and the Modern Library.

There is, in short, no reason to read "graphic novels", or any of the other piffle that overflows the bookstore tables at this time of year. A few of the classics, and a few more candles, will see you through most snow storms and power outages- in style and comfort.

Fox in the Henhouse

Hey, how great would it be if the right-wing Supreme Court decided Obama couldn't be President, and called on McCain and Palin to assume office? Clarence Thomas, for sure, would support this.

The rest of the nation, not so much. If we had already built the windmills, you could have powered America on the sighs of relief you've been hearing since Obama was elected. Most recent discussions of current events have centered on the question of whether disaster could be staved off until January 21, 2009. Snatching defeat from the very jaws of victory could be an extremely *interesting* move by the Supreme Court at this time.

So, I say, bring it on, baby! Go ahead, try another 'judicial election' and let's see just how far you get this time. But I'm guessing they won't, because I trust them- I trust them to do whatever is prudent to keep their power as Supreme Court justices. Power we would take away from them in a heartbeat if they chose McCain over Obama now.

Opportunity Cost

For the past half century America has had one product everyone in the world wanted to buy, and we could have sold any amount of it- education. Even today this is true, but education has taken a back seat to the War on Drugs and the War on Terror.

States like California and Michigan, once leaders in education and economic powerhouses, now spend more on prisons than they do on schools. Liberals have gone along with this, in spite of the War on Drugs being quite obviously the continuation of segregation.

What the War on Drugs left intact, the War on Terror has ended, as foreign students now find it prohibitively expensive and time-consuming to come to the US to study. But all is not lost! We have at least run the world's largest experiment in mass hysteria and building a modern police state. We can export the latest "non-lethal" weapons for crowd control and tools for snooping on the public.

Even a very dark cloud has a lining of some sort.