Nathanael D Snow

First ten songs when iPod set to shuffle: 1. One Piece at a Time - Johnny Cash 2. Fire - Randy Stonehill 3. O How the Mighty Have Fallen - The Choir 4. I Remember You - Gene Eugene 5. Go With God But Go - Mike Roe 6. Spirit In the Sky - Larry Norman 7. Pin Your Wings Down - Copeland 8. It Takes A Lot of Love - The Waiting 9. Listen For The Laugh - Bruce Cockburn 10. Precious Jesus - Leigh Nash, Derri Daugherty .... 11. It's Alright Blondie - Starflyer 59

The Reader's Digest Condensed Version of this book by Hayek, including a comic-strip version at the end is available in pdf online here. Also available is the comic strip version set to music here.

The religious right needed to be exposed for the rent-seeking, special interest, manipulative, exclusive ideologues that they are. Their appeals to patriotism and nationalism in the name of God were misplaced. The license granted to Israeli Zionists to commit violence without just cause departs from the unique ethical mandate entrusted to followers of Christ. Violence is only justified for Christians in order to halt aggressors and protect innocents. Secular nations may do what they will, but it is the responsibility of the Church to work for social justice. We can petition those who hold the sword to punish evildoers, but there is no mandated role for the state to go beyond this into the unique realm of the Church: charity. If there is good to be done it must be done voluntarily by willing agents. The Church is the proper institution for organizing, equipping, covering, confirming, and channeling such agents to those who are in need. We must recognize this and keep from falling i...

Another clever heptagram from Indexed . She's such a card. Where's Constitutional Republic?

Someone is stealing Baltimore's aluminum . Light posts, that is. Some econ inspired questions: How long until Baltimore starts using wooden poles again? Aluminum obviously has a more highly valued use. 1. Would stiffer penalties for stealing publicly owned infrastructure deter these crimes? The current interest rate on crime is obviously too low. 2. Is the activity gang-related? Is this a lower-risk revenue source than selling drugs? Would legalizing drugs increase/decrease the number of poles stolen?!? 3. What is the lag time for decision makers to stop using aluminum and employing some alternative? What are the net welfare losses? 4. What alternative materials might be more cost-effective? 5. Would it be cheaper to just fill the light-posts with concrete to deter theft? 6. What if a monitoring device were attached randomly to various poles? How many devices would be required to insure eventual detection (statistically)? 7. What are the chances that the city of Baltimore hasn...

My new friend, Anthony Bradley , has a conversation running on his blog about how tiresome it can be to be a black man in a white church. It tiresome for white guys, too.

It's a joke, people.

Amy Denton has an op-ed at NCUS's Technician today. I have a response: Amy Denton might be wrong about Hillsborough Street. She cites the money already spent, says businesses would survive longer, and eatery variety would improve by installing the proposed roundabouts. She neglects the costs. The $260,000 already spent, ought to be considered a sunk cost. Suppose you drove to the movies to see the Greatest Movie Ever. When you got there it wasn’t playing. Instead This Movie Sucks was showing, and cost $20 a ticket. You already suffered the expense of getting to the theater, so shouldn’t you still see what’s showing? No, and neither do past expenses justify future ones on Hillsborough Street. Second, the proposed changes may subsidize some businesses at the expense of others. For example, there are two florists located on Hillsborough Street. If the changes do improve commerce for these florists we should be happy, right? But there’s another florist just a few blocks aw...