One good whack deserves another two

Earlier this week, I linked a good op-ed by E.J. Dionne on economic libertarianism. Here's another practical critique by Michael Lind and a more philosophical one from the Roosevelt Institute blog.

WHILE WE'RE AT IT, this column by economist Dean Baker points out that the latest free trade deal, like many before it, is mostly not about trade. And certainly not about democracy.

MR. MOJO RISIN.  The Spousal Unit has been bugging me for a week to put up a link about a newly discovered bearded lizard species (extinct, alas) that has just been named after Doors lead singer Jim Morrision. It's full name is Barbaturex morrisoni. I'm trying to think up some appropriate Doors lyric, but the closest I can come up with is "ride the snake" from The End.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

It's easy for this guy to be green

Today is a long day on the road, so in lieu of the usual rant here's a picture of a green heron that showed up at the farm the other day. He was not quite as majestic as his great blue cousin who showed up yesterday when I didn't have a camera handy. In fact, he seemed kind of goofy looking at times, but a heron is a heron and I'll settle for any of them.

And here are some things I found to be interesting...

IT'S FICTION, DUDES. This brief item examines the Ayn Rand cult.

AND HERE'S ONE REASON WHY. This New Yorker piece looks at why unrestrained markets can be so crisis prone--and why real reform is needed.

WHILE WE'RE AT IT, let's take another look at trade deals.

A MISSTEP? An insurance industry report aimed at derailing health care reform may have missed the mark.

URGENT VEGETARIAN SPIDER UPDATE here.

YOUR FEET'S TOO BIG. The world's biggest dinosaur footprints (so far) were found in France. They were something like a 1.5 meters in diameter. I'm not even going to guess what shoe size that would be.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ASK THE HERON

MEANING

Photo credit: everystockphoto.com.

El Cabrero has a special respect for things, people and ideas that have proven themselves in tough situations. The ideas of the late Viennese psychologist Victor Frankl would certainly qualify. He developed these in the crucible of Nazi concentration camps but found they had applications in less extreme conditions as well.

Frankl found that people who had a sense of purpose or meaning in their lives were better able to bear up to unbearable conditions and keep a sense of their humanity in the face of dehumanizing treatment. He also believed that people always retain a degree of inner freedom:

Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress....

Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him--mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp. Dostoevski said once, "There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings." These words frequently came to my mind after I became acquainted with those martyrs whose behavior in camp, whose suffering and death, bore witness to the fact that the last inner freedom cannot be lost.

Some things that helped people retain a sense of purpose were love for others, a desire to accomplish certain things, a sense of accomplishment for past achievements or even the determination to bear suffering with dignity. But

Woe to him who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on. He was soon lost.

END GAME. Apocalyptic religious types can't get enough war these days.

NAFTA AND EVERYTHING AFTER. Here's a good one from the Boston Globe about the downsides of "free trade" agreements. Congress is considering extending a NAFTA-style agreement to Peru.

MORE ON HEALTH CARE. According to the Economic Policy Institute, employer-provided health insurance continues to decline. According to the author of the report, “A universal health care system would provide Americans with access to the type of health care appropriate for the most prosperous nation in the world.”

AMERICANA. Here's a lengthy but good piece from the New Yorker about how America modernized. There's a cool Thoreau thread running through it.

HOW'S THAT NEXT WAR COMING? According to the McClatchy papers,

Despite President Bush's claims that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons that could trigger "World War III," experts in and out of government say there's no conclusive evidence that Tehran has an active nuclear-weapons program.

Of course, the great thing about this administration is that they've never let facts get in the way of an unnecessary war.

MONKEY BUSINESS. It looks like they can rationalize too.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED