Here's what George Wahlen did : One of the greatest of these living recipients [of the Congressional Medal of Honor] is George Wahlen of Ogden, Utah. Wahlen was a medical corpsman during the battle of Iwo Jima. Wahlen risked his life repeatedly by crawling out into the line of fire to administer life-saving medical aid. On two occasions he was hit by shrapnel and painfully injured, yet he refused to leave the battlefield. During twelve days of battle he is credited for saving a countless number of Marines. After World War II, Wahlen served active duty during both the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. He is also the only recipient to have served during war-time for the Navy, Marines, Army and Air Force. I shouldn't have to tell you what Linda Brown did. But I'll give you a hint if you need it: she was a third grader in Topeka KS when the NAACP filed Brown v. Board of Education . On the other hand, you may not have heard of Murray Gell-Mann, one of the most important American t...

Absent my usual kavips fix I have been reading the archives. So I thought--as with Peanuts --that if the Delaware blogopshere is getting no new kavips, how about some classics? Difficult, because kavips' posts have generally been, ah, lengthy, multi-layered, and filled with links. But I found this one, from November 29, 2008, that seems to me to summarize kavips as a writer and as an individual. It is called Thanksgiving: Addendum Ok, my spouse slipped in this sentence during a mundane call to work on Monday…. “I invited some friends for Thanksgiving…is that ok?” My reply was “if its done… it’s done…” So as we approached that time I began to worry how it would go over… Usually Thanksgiving is the one time our family pulls together in hectic-world. Now it looked like that would have to wait another year…. “If it’s done…. it’s done….” My next surprise was “you have to pick them up… while I make dinner”…. So much for our time table… My spouse was so far behind, that without my assis...

Actually, it is pretty much only garden-variety intellectual consistency, but these days that's not so common any more. Thus, go read kavips' warning to Obama, Biden and the Democrats on regulating the Internet: However, it would be fair to warn you that my support for the Constitution of the United States of America, and my sworn duty to obey it to the best of my abilities, has me fearful of some the changes you propose for public safety. As an American, I have the right to live unsafely if I wish… So, with fair warning, any criteria you propose to tame the Internet, which limits the right I hold so dear, the right to express my opinion with impunity, will cause you to lose the battle of public opinion… because I will fight you there...

... or at least what kavips has been doing: writing the most detailed personal take on a comprehensive national recovery plan that I think any blogger has ever attempted . All I can say is ... wow. Took me 15 minutes just to scan the thing in the most cursory manner--and I read more quickly than 99%. I probably won't agree with large parts of it (although I have already seen large segments that made me nod my head in a positive manner), but I stand in utter awe of the amount of work put in on the project. Go, read it, and offer substantive commentary, not quick answers. My main objective all along has been to restore rational deliberation to this issue, and I give full props to kavips for having done so.

... but please remember that if you laugh, or even question the wisdom of the Big 3 Bailout, kavips will paint you as an enemy of America.

I don't disagree with kavips that when GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee announces that he will oppose all tax increases if elected governor that the Judge is simply repeating a comfortable mantra without thinking through the consequences of his position. However, I think I would argue that kavips is guilty of some of the same failure of imagination: So what does Lee’s pledge of “no taxes” do to this state? It starves it… Road Repairs… forget about it… New schools,…. forget about it….More policemen…. forget about it… Prisoner health care… forget about it… Better testing …. forget about it.. environmental protection… forget about it… cancer studies…. forget about it… Bluewater Wind… forget about it… subsidies to build wind and solar… forget about it… Lower costs for Delaware children to attend Delaware’s Colleges and Universities.. forget about it.. Respectfully, I submit that this is as much a knee-jerk, talking point-type response as the original comment by Bill Lee. Why? Beca...

... because, when all things are considered, the first actual photo of an extrasolar planet is probably more important to the human race than who becomes President of the United States in November. [h/t astrobio.net ]

Two pictures should tell this story. The first is from a recent kavips post, detailing the impact of Senator Barack Obama's tax plan for taxpayers in various increments of income. It seems to show exactly what the Obama campaign has been claiming all along: 95% of all Americans would do better under his tax plan. Now here's one from Fausta , that also shows what would happen at each income bracket regarding marginal tax rates under the Obama plan. This one seems to show what Senator John McCain has been saying throughout the campaign: the Obama plan actually raises taxes on a lot of middle class families: Both of these tables can be backed up by dense articles of explanatory economics, and each could be picked apart--but that's not my point. My point is this: most people read the headline [from a source whose ideology they are already predisposed to trust]; glance at the table, and then skim the opening paragraph that either claims exhaustive analysis proves Senator O...

Oh, no, you have to go and make me think again . I'm only going to deal with two paragraphs right this instance (sort of my protest for being drawn away from meaningless athletic competition with possibly the ugliest American uniforms ever worn): So I believe in free marketing when it is small and there is enough give and take among all parties that some symbiotic balance is achieved between all parties. Then individual talent has a chance to move a species forward up the evolutionary ladder…. But when the market gets too big or it merges together so that only one man can control its direction, then I think it needs to be split up and returned back to where every entity must fight for its own existence….. What you make me think of here is the extremely persuasive argument of historian Fernand Braudel that economic activity should really be considered in three distinct albeit interacting spheres. Braudel was looking primarily at the early emergence of capitalism in the 15-18th Cent...

...because then I could spend my evenings reading trashy science fiction, like in the good old days. kavips' latest is The Non-Partisan Issue That Really Matters , which covers the enormous budget deficit and national debt hanging over our retirements and our children's lives. It is long enough that I can't do it justice in terms of a reply to every topic, so I am going to concentrate on just one issue, right after these short takes: Agreement: deficit spending, both in our government and our personal lives is ruining the country. It is the dominant issue, the ugly issue that has to be dealt with. We have to--as individuals and as a government--save more and spend less. Agreement: [allowing for some other factors] GOP budgetary lunacy has been a major factor behind the staggering growth of deficits. The Bush tax cuts might even have worked if they had been associated with budget cuts as well . But the Republicans (with full Democrat connivance) went out and spent and...

WARNING: long wonkish post alert. Skip this one if you're expecting concise, pithy, political news. kavips latest pos t on the salmonella scare is not only thoughtful and informative about the issue itself, but it contains what I might call a meta-message. Far too often we end up in these kinds of discussions stuck between two poles of opposition: the Statist view that everything could be solved if only the FDA has more money, more inspectors, and more authority; and the Libertarian view that if we just leave them alone market forces will solve everything. There usually isn't even a continuum: you're at one end or the other. Which is why it is so refreshing (in a Dr. Pepper sense, natch) to read this piece. kavips is a progressive, and kavips believes in the need for the public sector to have oversight of critical infrastructure items like our food supply. On the other hand, kavips is also intellectually honest, and admits that the evidence suggests with respect to foo...