Pruning Shears

No Associated Press content was harmed in the writing of this post

Our image in the Muslim world would probably improve if we stopped killing so many Muslims.

Combat operations have concluded for:

1. Air Force Senior Airman Nicholas J. Alden
2. Cpl. Loren M. Buffalo
3. Pfc. Andrew M. Harper
4. Pfc. Arturo E. Rodriguez
5. Pfc. David R. Fahey Jr.
6. Pfc. Kalin C. Johnson
7. Sgt. 1st Class Daehan Park
8. Sgt. Kristopher J. Gould
9. Spc. Andrew C. Wilfahrt
10. Spc. Andrew P. Wade
11. Spc. Brian Tabada
12. Spc. Christopher G. Stark
13. Spc. Jason M. Weaver
14. Spc. Rudolph R. Hizon 22
15. Staff Sgt. Chauncy R. Mays
16. Staff Sgt. Eric S. Trueblood
17. Staff Sgt. Jerome Firtamag
18. Staff Sgt. Travis M. Tompkins
19. Cpl. Ian M. Muller
20. Cpl. Johnathan W. Taylor
21. Cpl. Jordan R. Stanton
22. Lance Cpl. Christopher S. Meis

Rest in peace, basement angel.

Just because our barbaric, reckless mercenary had his sharia law blood money ponied up by US taxpayers doesn’t mean the rest of the country has been placated.

Cost of living higher than ever, the moneyed and powerful own the umpires, and the peasants revolt in the provinces. Dispatches from the American Dream, circa 2011.

Yves looks at the parallels between poor infrastructure engineering in Japan and poor financial engineering here.

There’s been some publicity in Ohio about how governor John Kasich is already trending worse than overwhelmingly unpopular former governor Bob Taft. I actually think this polling understates the case due to a phenomenon first identified (as far as I know) by Garry Trudeau on September 14, 1980 (via). Taft was unpopular because he was a doofus. Kasich is unpopular because he is waging a savage, direct assault on the middle class. A simple disapproval rating can’t measure the vehemence of sentiment, or the difference between contempt for an incompetent and loathing for a bitter enemy. Kasich is already far, far more unpopular than Taft ever was, and polling only hints at that.

Glenn on how the president just casually launched America into a war. I’m at a loss at this point to understand how citizens are supposed to properly respond. The wars are hugely unpopular, yet none of them end and new ones get piled on top. Something is deeply, terribly wrong with our system of government. Strenuous, lopsided popular disapproval is supposed to count for something, isn’t it?

No On SB 5. If you’re in Ohio, join in.

ECONNED EXCERPT from p. 99, on just one of the fairly obvious flaws in laissez faire economics logic:

Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen uses an anecdote to illustrate the problem of assuming actors act solely out of self-interest:

Central to [the] problem is the assumption that when asked a question, the individual gives an answer which will maximize his personal gain. How good is this assumption? I doubt it is very good. “Where is the railway station?” he asks me. “There,” I say, pointing to the post office, “and would you please post this letter for me on the way?” “Yes,” he says, determined to open the envelope and check whether it contains something valuable.”

Sen’s story illustrates that society rests on the assumption of a basic level of cooperation and trustworthiness, since the behavior he parodies, of extreme self interest, does not jibe with what most of us experience on our day-to-day lives. But neoclassical economics offers a polar view, that people are strictly self-motivated, and then assumes a simple solution, that they will nevertheless be bound by the agreements they enter into. You can see how this breaks down: if individuals aren’t restrained by morality or the need to maintain appearances, why wouldn’t they cheat on their promises?