As for liberty and doing someone else's thesis: I recently finished Fareed Zakaria's Future of Freedom. Broadly speaking, as the dust cover acknowledges, the germ idea of the book (that there is a tension between democracy and liberalism) isn't particularly new; nor are contemporary examples dictating to us the wisdom of constraining democracy. Personally, this book did much to inform my recent resignation to the fact that democracy (and also market reforms, e.g.) is a means to the end of liberal values; and as such, like "free" markets, needs to be regulated. His solutions, which ought to be at the front of the book instead of the latter, so as to remind the leader that he or she isn't reading Mein Kampf 2003, are generally superb--his eschews discussion of the theoretical merit of an independent central bank, which would have been nice, if onerously technical. As for my idea of the germ idea, I guess I find it satisfying, though am very wary as I have been working my way through Robert Caro's oeuvre.

Perhaps the best part of the book is his refutation of the claim that somehow Islam has agency in the abject conditions of the Arab (and some other Muslim) states. He explicates forcefully some things that I've though intuitively, if only for my personal rejection of culture-ism--i.e., the general inability for writers/thinkers to understand that societies are heterogeneous and not static, but rather fluid and endogenous. As facets of societies, religions act similarly.

As for things more directly pertaining to (though hardly movement towards) some kind of productive work, I also read some papers by George Akerlof. Ok, just two papers. The first was his famous "lemons" paper, which I had been taught before, though it was neat to read his extensions of the model/general idea. More interesting, if only because I hadn't encountered it before, was an economic model of caste systems, where the structure of the "market" reinforces the caste system. I had been introduced to the general ideas of economic investigation of discrimination in an experimental economics class, and found them fascinating, no doubt aided by a healthy dose of white guilt. Anyway, this caste system model, while simple (as Akerlof likes), was very neat.

posted by Tom at 11:19 AM

The much-bemoaned 'exporting' of US jobs, a UF researcher inverted. Now, Thai farmers will lose their jobs to cheap American production. The U.S.-produced rice would gain an immediate competitive edge, says Witoon Lianchamroon... "The U.S. has all the economic advantages from large-scale farming to efficient crop harvesting methods. Operating costs in the U.S. are lower and their farmers could produce cheaper rice..." The folks who brought you Pioneer's Quest now bring you Quest for the Bay.
	The Unwork Ethic Preachers and priests taught that work was blessed because it meant sacrificing ourselves, through toil and sweat, to allow others - society - to thrive. More (Calvinist) work ethic But God requires social achievement of the Christian because He wills that social life shall be organized according to His commandments, in accordance with that purpose. The social activity of the Christian in the world is solely [an] activity in the Glory of [the] majastic God. This character is hence shared by labour in a calling which serves the mundane life of the community. And its history.
laconic: Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise. Word History: The study of the classics allows one to understand the history of the term laconic, which comes to us via Latin from Greek Laknikos. The English word is first recorded in 1583 with the sense "of or relating to Laconia or its inhabitants." Laknikos is derived from Lakn, "a Laconian, a person from Lacedaemon," the name for the region of Greece of which Sparta was the capital. The Spartans, noted for being warlike and disciplined, were also known for the brevity of their speech, and it is this quality that English writers still denote by the use of the adjective laconic, which is first found in this sense in 1589.

posted by Biggie at 10:00 AM

Continuing marginally in the, "can I write your thesis, instead?" vein, here're some trade and economics and health care. We start today at the Centre for the New Europe, which has a startlingly different (from its use in American politics) take on liberalism:

At its core, liberalism is about the dignity and worth of every individual. It welcomes a society of choices about what to think, what to do, what to buy, what to be. Private property ensures the freedom of the individual in his private sphere. Free enterprise allows him to buy and sell on the terms he thinks best. Light regulation allows him to dream and to innovate and to bring into the world new products, services and works of art. Sound money allows him to borrow, lend, save and invest without fear.

A liberal society does not punish success with confiscatory taxes or reward rivals with grasping regulation or heaping subsidies. Nor does it forget the unfortunate, to whom it offers freedom, hope, the balm of individual compassion and a wealth of choices to try anew.


The CNE presents a report on parallel trade, particularly in pharmaceuticals. So Spain's got price controls on drugs. Spainiards export their cheap drugs to other EU contries (and maybe soon, elsewhere) which have higher price controls. I learned from a more readable (i.e., shorter) piece that on average a drug costs $800-900 million in R, D, and trials. Finally, for the sake of completeness, the European Commision has a perspective on global competitiveness in pharmaceuticals.

CNE also discusses the regulatory body which tells you what medical treatments you can have in the UK.


In the interest of less-than-or-equal-to time, The Nation tells us why we should centralize health care.

And our unrelated word of the day is enfant terrible.

And Pioneer Quest is a quality show.
posted by Biggie at 10:58 AM

Junior Senior. They're Danish.
This is a link to their video for "Move Your Feet". It comes with my highest recommendations.
posted by Jake at 12:00 AM

Apple Co-Founder Creates Electronic ID Tags

If it wasn't bad enough that the means to end our privacy was just announced, it's being brought to us by this goofy mofo.
Pretty soon, we'll all have government-issued Apple-logo shaped locator implants lodged in the tops of our hands - in 7 fun colors to choose from.
posted by Jake at 4:24 PM

The Mountain Meadows Massacre stands without a parallel amongst the crimes that stain the pages of American history. It was a crime committed without cause or justification of any kind to relieve it of its fearful character... When nearly exhausted from fatigue and thirst, [the men of the caravan] were approached by white men, with a flag of truce, and induced to surrender their arms, under the most solemn promises of protection. They were then murdered in cold blood.
-- William Bishop, Attorney to John D. Lee [convicted and executed by firing squad at the cite 20 years later for his leadership in the massacre]

Well, today's weekly BookTV recap is a monoculture.

American Massacre describes the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

Here's the CoJCoLDS's take on it.

Any attempt to recreate the human dynamics that were at work in southern Utah in the fall of 1857 can only leave us bewildered as to how rational human beings at any time, in any place, under any circumstances could have permitted such a tragedy to occur.

Fortunately, full comprehension of the reasons is as unnecessary as it would be impossible. Our task for today is not to look backward, nor to rationalize, nor to engage in any kind of retroactive analysis nor apology. Our focus is not on 1857. It is on 1990. It is on our generation, and on those that are yet to come. And whatever drove the actions of those who came before, ours must be driven by something higher and more noble.
-- Rex E. Lee, Brigham Young University President and descendant of John D. Lee

The Mormon's were quite persecuted in their early days, which is why they ended up in the middle of the western desert. The "human dynamics" to which President Lee refers are, as best I can tell, a bivouacked detatchment of US Army whose intention, the Mormons suspected, was to depose Brigham Young as federal governor of the territory.

Continuing in the bad PR category, Under the Banner of Heaven describes crimes committed by nutjobs who happen to be Mormon fundamentalists.

Finally, hoping to promote some cultural understanding, what's in the Book of Mormon, and how much did it weigh in its (cannonical) original medium?

posted by Biggie at 4:14 PM

Could I defend the homeland by estimating the consumption patterns of sleeper cells! More governmental departments whose nomenclature sounds as if it were lifted from old Teutonic expressions ==> more government funding for the social sciences!!!
posted by Tom at 9:14 PM