Arnold Kling points to some interesting stuff. A teaser:

It strikes me that we use the same formula to raise prices in both health care and education. (a) Subsidize demand; (b) Restrict supply using accreditation rules.

Consider that health care and education are the last two major areas of human life that haven’t benefited significantly from automation. In health care, people are sensitive to quality, so price goes through the roof. In education, people are sensitive to price, so quality goes in the toilet.

Read it. Ross Douthat responds to a comment by Neil Gaiman.

I don’t much care about what happens in HarryPotterWorld, but the discussion has some thought-provoking ideas with respect to writing and Life.

Read it. Not good news.

David Friedman questions the conventional wisdom. He’s good at that.

Read it. I can’t say they’re wrong.

Read it. I’m not sure whether this is cool or just silly. Wouldn’t mind having one, though.

Steve Sailer is not afraid to ask the hard questions.

Read it. The headline alone tells you pretty much all you need to know about how far American culture has degenerated.

Read it. And laugh.

Read it. Someday the public will wake up to the fact that college faculty don’t really give a shit about teaching, but are all about research and publication; teaching is the K.P. they have to do to keep up their affiliation with the gravy train.

Say you’re an Assistant Professor at Harvard (or Stanford, or MIT, or UCLA). Do you get tenure for being a good teacher? Nope. You get tenure for research and publication. In fact, if you spend too much time being a teacher and not enough time being a researcher and writer, you can hose yourself, career-wise.

So this makes perfect sense. Rather than spend six hours a week in front of a bunch of pimply adolescents, spend a couple hours doing a real good video, put it on the net, and go back to what’s going to bring in the bucks.

I live in Texas; I have zero interest in how much of California might be on fire, a topic that seems to be consuming (pun intended) the local “professional” news media here in Dallas.

Wake me when the flames approach Amarillo.

Read it.

Wash: “Gee, college is good. But not everyone can afford to go. We’d better subsidize it.”

Rinse: “Wow, demand for college has sure jumped.”

Repeat: “Whoa, the cost for college has gone up a lot. We’d better increase the subsidy.”

A basic requirement for any sane political system is demonstrable evidence that candidates for office are familiar with elementary economics. (In case you were wondering, no, we don’t have one of those.)

Read it. That certainly explains the Senate — and most senior faculty.

Read it. And take a nap already.

Read it. Shopping for God in all the wrong places.

Mr. Twitchell manages to reduce this profound idea to the dictates of basic consumer theory. Sacrifice, he says–not least, tithing–signifies value. The more you sacrifice, the more you visibly value the product for which you are giving something up, and the more you show other people that you value it, too. “Why do true believers sometimes puncture themselves, walk on their knees until they bleed, fast until they are skeletal or join a monastery and go mum?” Mr. Twitchell asks. “Brand allegiance.”

This is obviously someone who knows as much about religion as Hillary Clinton knows about life in Omaha.

Read it.

What do you call people who want to kill you? (Hint: Enemies.)

What do you call people in your group who favor your enemies? (Hint: Traitors.)

What is so hard to understand about this?

Read it. Ask yourself: Why this particular legislation at this particular time?

Christopher Hitchens explains, “It’s a valid term. Here’s why.”

Jonathan Clements, personal-finance columnist, in today’s Wall Street Journal:

We all tend to sit up and take notice when we come across people with fancy titles, hefty incomes and immense riches. Yet these aren’t signs of genius or virtue. Want proof? All it takes is two words: Paris Hilton.

Read it. Very nice. The TV looks good, too.

Read it. Of course, they’d get a lot farther if they could find some way to include ethanol in the manufacturing process.

Read it. Sow the wind of unrestricted immigration, reap the whirlwind of social chaos.

But that could never happen in America. Nope. Of course not.

Read it. The telphone — modern convenience, or agent of social disintegration?

Read it. Funny, I thought that was NASA’s job.

Read it. As AlGore has conclusively demonstrated, Politics wins over Science every time.

Read it. Shucks, who doesn’t know that? It’s only when you catch one that your life starts to lengthen,which is why married guys last longer than single guys. (Don’t take my word for it — you can look it up.)

Read it. It’s getting really silly out there, folks.

Read it. Gee, I wonder why.

Go, Fred.

Read it. The dhimmis at NPR tried to bury it and couldn’t.

Read it. Apparently Venezuela isn’t totally lost.

Read it. I don’t know what universe left-wing moonbats inhabit but I sure hope they run tours someday.

Read it. An interesting concept — if it actually works. I’d love to see some proof that the data on the line don’t go out to the wide world generally. The thought makes home WiFi look like a bank vault.

Read it. Who cares? Left-wing ideas have been failing since the Paris Commune in 1870, and they’re still as popular as ever.

Read it. Unfortunately, the size of your dick doesn’t matter if you haven’t the balls to use it.

Read it. Oh, if only Dr Atkins had lived to see this day….

Read it. And the hits just keep on coming.

Peggy Noonan describes Hillary’s attempts to make an asset of herself.

Read it. How about a radio that clips to your ear like an earring? It’s coming.

Read it.

Who would know better where Hamas gets its money than Mahmoud Abbas?

Indeed.

Read it. Unfortunately, being a fiduciary means never having to say, “It’s the principle of the thing.”

Read it. I have to agree.

Read it.

Read it. “It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s JIFFYPOP!”

Read it. You see, you learn something new every day.

Read it. Me want.

Read it. This guy has balls.

Read it. This would be rather handy.

Read it. Another fabulous money-making (so to speak) opportunity.

Read it. This would seem excessive. After all, it’s not as if they were attempting to enforce immigration laws.

Read it. Can’t wait for the DRM and other intellectual property folks to get their lawyers into this one.