Libertarians

There are people who would do well to ask themselves whether their objection to the state monopoly on violence has more to do with it being violence, or more to do with it being a monopoly.

gauche
17 May 12

Humanists

The dubious irony of hearing self-professed “humanists” hold forth their doubts as to the veracity of religious experience: no humanism worth the name will write off as a mass delusion the experiences of millions of humans, out of deference to materialist first principles.

gauche
15 May 12

Deep within all things — in the center, the heart and the stomach — the earth and the stars; atoms and animals, there burns a fire. Always the same fire. That which warms also consumes. Living is a process of using up.

gauche
26 Mar 12

The Job Search

In the current economy, searching for jobs is a process of learning that one is variously under- and over-qualified for any number of positions that one is not even sure one wants, and then feeling anxious and worthless at this state of affairs.

gauche
24 Mar 12

The argument against making student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy is basically this: there’s nothing to repossess, like there is with a house or a car. People would just strategically default at the end and there would be nothing for the lenders to seize and liquidate.

This is also why you can’t buy food or pay for services with a credit card.

gauche
13 Mar 12