News and Politics

An excellent letter from the Wall Street Journal (4/2/2003):

A Consumer’s Right to Cheaper Goods

If Mr. Jenkins does indeed reveal “an indifference to consumer welfare,” as Messrs. Simons and Kovacic claim, it is a perfectly valid point of view, as cold and unfeeling as it may sound. A democratic government has no business giving preference to one group of citizens (consumers) over another (business owners), and to use the coercive power of the state to benefit the former by restricting the property rights of the latter is morally reprehensible. (The idea that government action must be justified morally may seem quaint to Messrs. Simons and Kovacic, but nonetheless it is true.)

[Read More]

Looks like we in Oklahoma might start treating marijuana with only a modicum of insanity. A bill in the house to treat possession of a ounce or less of pot as a misdemeanor punishable by a fine, has been allowed out of committee and is headed to the full house. The following appeared in today?s Daily Oklahoman:

Lawmakers’ plans to decriminalize marijuana possession may not be up in smoke yet.

[Read More]

With the Oscar’s finally out of the way, the really important awards have come out: The Golden Raspberry Awards which have been awarding the worst achievements in film for 23 years. This year Madonna and hubby Guy Richie almost sweep the awards with their remake of Swept Away, but worst actor was awarded, sadly, to Roberto Benigni for his miscalculated performance in Pinocchio.

03/24/2003: In response to feedback on this article, I have added some supporting details and conclusions.

If this war has done anything, it has brought the nature of the United Nations to the forefront. The anti-war protesters seem to believe that the U.N. is some sort of perfect institution designed to bring peace and justice to the world. This despite a track record of allowing atrocities that is second to none. Rwanda, Yugoslavia and Somalia spring to mind as their most recent horrible failures (and I’m being generous by leaving Iraq off the list). With this in mind I decided to look into the purpose of the U.N. and to ask the question, why this “noble” institution fails so very often and if so, why is it worthy of U.S. attention?

Something about the announcement of the creation of a military tribunal to try the perpetrators of the September 11th mass murders has not settled well with me. I am not particularly concerned with the punishment of the guilty, being that I generally subscribe to the “Nuke ’em till they glow and shoot them in the dark” theory on the punishment of evildoers. However, the means being used to discover the guilty is something that I have some doubts upon. I have attempted to reconcile this unease with several personal discussions about the practical nature of a “system of justice”, but to no avail. So, with your kind indulgence, I am going to try to start at the root of the problem and work my way up. In other words, answer the question, “what is justice?” If I can answer that, I am hopeful that my unease at the practical nature of “expedient” courts can be resolved.