Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra

Sometime in the early 1940′s, Bela Bartok emigrated to the United States.  He was broke, and, what is worse, sick.  Serge Koussevitsky, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, commissioned him to write  a piece, which he composed while lying sick.  The result was his concerto for orchestra, a magnificent piece human ingenuity.  In it is [...]

Language, one of my favorite things

I’m about to head into center city today to recover from a long but fulfilling weekend.  I want to do some writing.  I think I’ll take just a pen and paper.  Sometimes the old fashioned way works best. These plans got me to thinking some random thoughts about language: Most school students are taught countless [...]

Jury acquits cop of shooting defenseless woman and boy

From LRC we have this story.  William Grigg has said everything that needs to be said, so I’ll only add that my dislike for the police is now principled.  There have been too many incidents like this, and the only time MSNBCCNNFOX seem to take any notice is when the story has the potential to [...]

China calls for global currency…

…but you’re only surprised by this if you haven’t been paying attention. Of equal if not greater interest, the linked article makes mention of the high rate of personal savings that has ensued since the economy tanked.  This is considered by clowns and economists (but I repeat myself) to be a bad thing.  Experts tend [...]

I am so fed up with the cab drivers in this city

Here’s an example of how cabbies drive in Philadelphia.  I myself have had my life flash before my eyes in the vicinity of one of these maniacs.  There are good cab drivers, though, too.  Many of them are quite bright and a real pleasure to converse with.  I just wish their colleagues would not be [...]

On Fathers

Young curmudgeons like me often get wound up about certain pop icons in such a fashion that it would seem that we think that people like Britney Spears portend the end of the world.  In reality, at least in my case, it’s just that her music sucks, and I’m always looking for a chance to [...]

Congressmen ask Fannie and Freddie to relax loan rules, again

I’ve never been impressed by Rep. Barney Frank’s caterwauling.  It always smacked of being intellectually dishonest (like Keith Olbermann) with not a little economic ignorance thrown in.  Now there’s proof that I was right.  Frank, and one other congressman, have asked Fannie and Freddie to relax loan rules once again.   This is, of course, [...]

Slow blogging, again…

By now you’re probably all accustomed to my frequent periods of silence.  But I am still here. While I’ve been occupying myself with summer diversions, South Carolina has been looking for its governor, who might be the best politician in the world for disappearing for four days.  Poor chap has to go back to work [...]

Ron Paul on Healthcare

One of the most excellent things about Austrian economics is that its methodologies cut through so much self-righteous posturing.  The current healthcare debate is one area in which people strive to emulate Robin Hood as much as possible as they yell and scream on behalf of the rights of the poor.  It’s all well-intentioned enough, [...]

Religion and violence

From Don Emmerich.   On Christianity: “The source of Christian belief, the New Testament, in no way promotes the belligerent nationalism that characterizes so many modern Evangelicals. Far from laying down the stipulations for ‘just war,’ Jesus preached non-resistance. And although the Apostle Paul seemed to believe that “the governing authorities” were justified in using [...]