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Sunday, July 30, 2006

We're Married!

It happened: Boudicca and I were married yesterday in the Peachtree City United Methodist Church.

It was a long and trying 48-hour period - and I'll tell you more about it in subsequent posts - but we made it down the aisle.

You may now refer to us as Mr. and Mrs. Tacitean!

Friday, July 28, 2006

Here's to Chris catching the bouquet!

Good luck and best wishes to our two Optimates, Tacitean and Boudicca, who are tying the knot the weekend. All the best to the both of you! I hope the city-folk who are down there with you make loud fools of themselves(but not during the ceremony itself). I also hope that is caught on camera, and posted up on this website soon.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Greater Atlanta

In the spirit of counterbalancing my 'we are all doomed' posts on civic design and community planning, let me say this: there's some interesting stuff going on in the greater Atlanta area.

Some time ago, I put up a post about my favorite restaurants and how they create or tie together a Main Street or downtown area. So imagine my delight on Sunday when I was introduced to the Virginia Highlands neighborhood of Atlanta!

Everything in this neighborhood is on a human scale, and as a result you see people walking everywhere (mostly fit-looking people, I should add). The restaurants - two Thai places on one block! - and bars abut the sidewalk directly, with windows on the streetscape. The main roadways are the same as any you'd see in small-town America: two-lane traffic and low speed limits. The zoning district, such as I could gather, appeared to be multi-use residential and commercial. In general, a very pleasant place to be.

So that's my next challenge to our readers and commenters: let's go beyond hyping our favorite restaurants and promote neighborhoods and places we've been to whose overall character and design are worth exporting elsewhere (admittedly somewhat derivative of the Project for Public Spaces, but it's my post and I'll do what I like!). Any takers?

Monday, July 24, 2006

More Transportation Talk

Via the Sunday edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, we find that Georgia is grappling with major highway problems. More specifically, how to pay for the whole mess:

Georgia officials know they can't pay for it all, and they are looking for fresh sources of funds to combat the gridlock, including private investment and more toll roads. Atlanta hovers near the top of national traffic jam rankings, and officials fear it will choke on its congestion if something isn't done.
Those who think building more roads is the answer see hope in the deep pockets of private companies. The old way of paying for big highway projects like these — a product of the 50-year-old push to connect American cities by interstates — is running out of gas.

Regular readers of my posts on transportation issues know that I don't think building more roads is the answer. More highways just lead to more congestion! I'm citing the example of Georgia not just because it's one of my 'adoptive states,' but because the I-85/I-75 Connector is an excellent example of our love of the highway taken to the extreme.

Rather than rethink our transportation priorities, we're willing to hand over huge contracts to private companies to maintain an inherently unsustainable form of transportation. The opportunities for corruption are endless. Are we mad?

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Situation in the Mideast

I agree with much of what Andrew has to say this morning about the ongoing hostilities in the Middle East.

The upside of this whole conflagration is that Iran's foreign policy is coming into sharper focus. The mullahs and their allies mean to dominate the region, and the closer they feel to victory, the more brazen their rhetoric. The leaders of Hezbollah said recently that they "welcome World War III." Now, on the first listen this sounds like the typical bombast and suicidal ranting.

But have we considered the Islamists have begun to think they can win? I know I've been throwing a lot of Tacitus at you recently, but another passage comes to mind. The relevant quote:

"Therefore, with the rumor having gained wide currency that the Roman state was being wounded by other nations too, and for this reason was gradually withdrawing from Africa, and the remnants [of their power] could be overcome, if all those for whom liberty was more powerful than slavery would rise up..."

Doesn't this sound similar? The rumors throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds must be much the same: that America is being wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq; that we are considering (as we indeed are!) withdrawing from the region; and that with a few small but significant attacks we can be expelled entirely. Iran is using Hezbollah as a non-state actor to test that theory, at the same time working to build up its own nuclear capability to take advantage of the aftermath.

Unfortunately, there is little we can do at this point, save cling to our ephemeral hope that we can 'win through' by mere perseverance. President Bush has so over-extended our military that we cannot react with swiftness or severity (if I can continue the metaphor, Tiberiur Caesar withdrew the crucial Ninth Legion from the province of Africa, leaving it in a similar lurch) to any moves by Iran. At the same time, who at this point would trust Bush with a fully prepared military machine? So we are left in the uncomfortable position of having to rely on Israel to do all of this on our behalf.

But is there any better solution?

Sunday, July 16, 2006

A New Feminism

... and a new "manliness" to boot! Harvard Professor Harvey Mansfield offers up some of the details here. Money quote:

Men and women are not the same, as the gender-neutral society of feminism claims. Nor are men and women merely different. They are both same and different. Formerly society recognized the differences between the sexes, and with laws and customs accentuated those differences. Now society does the opposite: it recognizes the similarities and accentuates them. There is no society without social pressure in one direction or another. Whereas before women were held back from the careers they could have attained, now they are pushed further than they may want to go.

Read the whole thing and tell me what you think.

Deadwood

The show is fantastic. For those of you who get HBO, I urge you to consider making it your Sunday-night staple, if only for the way-out-there Shakespearean dialogue of the anti-hero, Al Swearengen.

A sample: "By dissembling our feelings, we keep the strategic edge."

Watch it.

In Other News...

...The President is always right.

Which is reassuring, I suppose, even if it means that between 53 and 63 percent of Americans are wrong.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Teach Andrew About Tacitus!

It's not just me anymore, friends: Andrew Sullivan is now quoting Roman historians. However, I put it to you that, while his quote from Livy is suitable for his purpose of discussing democratization, he misses the mark in not employing Tacitus to discuss the nature of the Bush Administration.

What grist for his mill would be found in that historian's work! Allow me to cite a the passage in which Tacitus offers his purpose for writing history in the first place:

I do not intend to publish motions [of the Senate], save those notable for their forthrightness or of a notable shamefulness, which I think is the chief duty of the Annales: namely that virtues not hold their tongue and there may be a fear of future infamy for vile deeds and words.

And then, his application of that credo to the time period:

However, that infamous age was so infected and rife with adulation that not only the chiefs of state - who had to protect their fame with abasement - but every former consul, a great many of those who had been praetors, and even the low-ranking senators rose up and advocated foul and excessive things. Whenever Tiberius was leaving the Senate, so the story goes, he commonly said "O men prepared for slavery!" in Greek. Even one who rejected common freedom found such long-winded abasement of slaves to be tedious!
I think Andrew could have quite a lot of fun with Tacitus, don't you?

Thursday, July 13, 2006

The Conflagration

Well, this is just wonderful news, isn't it?

As many others have said, this isn't anything new for the Middle East. Since Israel's independence in 1948, there have been major wars involving the major powers in the region and there have been minor insurgencies and police actions. In that regard, this is sadly nothing new.

What is new is that there are currently 150,000 American fighting men and women (including allied forces) occupying a major country in the region. This major country lies between the nation (Iran) that is pulling the strings of the nation (Syria) that is pulling the strings in Lebanon. Dare I ask the question what would happen if Israel attacks Syria directly? Here's one thought:

"If the Zionist regime commits another stupid move and attacks Syria, this will be considered like attacking the whole Islamic world and this regime will receive a very fierce response," [Iranian President] Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying in a telephone conversation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Wonderful.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Some Welcome Perspective

It's very easy to get frustrated at political currents in the United States and our government's woeful response to events here and abroad. The most useful antidote to such frustration, I find, is to attend Ray Burton's Annual! Yes, friends, it was last night, and I feel better already.

For the uninitiated, Executive Councilor Ray Burton (R-Bath) is one of New Hampshire's five executive councilors. Unlike other tyrannical states, you see, we don't let our governor do anything! Not only do have a 400-member House, we also have a council - elected from five districts of equal population - that shares executive power. Each has a negative on the other, pretty much guaranteeing that the New Hampshire governorship has about as much power as Miss America. But I digress.

Every year (thus, 'the annual') Ray has a very informal party where his friends - political or not - come by, listen to old-timey bluegrass music, eat the Congregational Church's baked bean supper, and talk shop (before I forget, let me tell you that this year the band performed a bluegrass version of Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." If that's not the pinnacle of liberty, I have no idea what is).

Ray's "special guests" this year were three exchange students from Russia, who had traveled to the North Country of New Hampshire to learn about rural economics and government in America. Ray had in fact taken them on a tour of county government earlier in the day. I had a great time talking with them about the differences between their hometowns in rural Russia and small towns in America.

One of the biggest differences, they said, was the total lack of intermediate associations in Russia. They noticed that in just the Littleton area alone, there were Main Street groups, Chambers of Commerce, churches, Rotaries, PTAs, and the like. They were totally blown away by the fact that someone in Ray's position would have an informal baked-bean supper with his constituents. The economist of the group noted that the free association of so many people seemed to be a vital part of our successful business climate. That and the fact that we were all so gosh-darned friendly (it was sort of what I imagined De Tocqueville would have said)!

And I think that's precisely it: the annual is such a nice event because people aren't forced to be political partisans. It's ostensibly a Republican event, but there are always plenty of Democrats in the crowd and in reality there are no party lines. It's a welcome corrective to the larger world of Ann Coulters and Daily Kosses. Oh, and the potato salad is always really good.

Saturday, July 08, 2006

...wherein I suck at bartering.

So, A 26-year-old Canadian has managed, within fourteen trades, to turn one red paperclip into a two-story house in Saskatchewan. And he did it all with blogger!

You can find the ongoing metafilter discussion here, but all-in-all, it's just a fascinating example of how much one can leverage hype, and how a little bit of creativity (and being first on the block) can make value out of anything.

Friday, July 07, 2006

Cube Against Eminent Domain Abuse

I just watched Barbershop 2, and I pass along to you with pleasure that its central theme nicely summarizes the case against eminent domain abuse. Ice Cube, defender of our property rights!

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

North Korea, Again

North Korea's latest missile test has caused quite a stir at the United Nations, so much so that the Security Council had a 13-2 consensus to pass a resolution to deal with the rogue state. It should come as no surprise that China and Russia - both veto-wielding members - are the two who remain opposed to such strong action. They have remained consistently committed to influencing Kim Jong Il's regime through diplomatic means.

But I have to wonder: at what point does their position on North Korea become too much baggage for them to bear? China, for one, is suffering some very bizarre depredations at the hands of their clients:

Meanwhile, North Korean officials engage in even more bizarre behavior. For example, food and fuel supplies sent to North Korea have been halted, not to force North Korea to stop missile tests or participate in peace talks, but to return the Chinese trains the aid was carried in on. In the last few weeks, the North Koreans have just kept the trains, sending the Chinese crews back across the border. North Korea just ignores Chinese demands that the trains be returned, and insists that the trains are part of the aid program. It's no secret that North Korean railroad stock is falling apart, after decades of poor maintenance and not much new equipment. Stealing Chinese trains is a typical loony-tune North Korean solution to the problem. If the North Koreans appear to make no sense, that's because they don't. Put simply, when their unworkable economic policies don't work, the North Koreans just conjure up new, and equally unworkable, plans. The Chinese have tried to talk the North Koreans out of these pointless fantasies, and for their trouble they have their trains stolen.
If Russia and China have been acting on the assumption that they could form the core of an alliance designed to balance against the United States, the North Korean debacle must serve as a setback. The only concrete diplomatic result that has come out of North Korea's erratic behavior is that the Japanese-American alliance has been strengthened, and Japan has slowly moved toward a strong military within the context of the alliance. Say what you will about our incompetent diplomacy (and there is much to say), this whole scenario strikes me as a disaster for Chinese and Russian aims in the region. Any additional commentary?

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Happy Fourth

Two hundred and thirty years of liberty. I will leave you with some thoughts I think suitable to the occasion.

Liberty exists in proportion to wholesome restraint. - Daniel Webster

There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing. - Andrew Jackson

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. - Abraham Lincoln

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last." - Martin Luther King

And of course:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence
Happy Birthday, America.

Update: Randy Barnett directs us to an address on the Fourth of July given by Fredrick Douglass here. Read the whole thing.

Monday, July 03, 2006

Does Andrew Sullivan Read Optimates?

Here's the timeline: on Saturday I put up a post with embedded video for the first time. On Monday, Andrew Sullivan puts up a post with embedded video for the first time.

Hmmmm. Are you a fan, Mr. Sullivan?

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Quick Hamdan Thoughts

Despite the early hype, I don't think the Supreme Court decision on Hamdan v. Rumsfeld is the worst decision ever or the best. It doesn't cripple our ability to wage war, nor does it let Al-Qaeda run free. It simply grants Congress the ability to have a say in how we treat these combatants.

I think this is a fairly sensible decision, and echoes the Youngstown decision half a century ago: when the President acts without the consent of Congress or in defiance of Congress, his powers are "at a low ebb." In light of the recent passage of the McCain Amendment, it's fairly clear to me that Congress has rejected mistreatment of prisoners and extra-legal proceedings. A low ebb, indeed.

So where do we go from here? I say (as have others) that Congress should reassert its rights and officially declare war on Al-Qaeda and any other organizations that give it aid. This is something we should have done from the start, but better late than never. Following the full declaration, the prisoners at Guantanamo would be immediately reclassified as full POWs until the end of hostilities. Since Al-Qaeda and its allies are unlikely to surrender or sign a peace accord, we could indeed hold these POWs indefinitely. The catch is that we would have to treat them appropriately, which I think is not only humane, but more likely to provide us with reliable intelligence.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

The UN and Reform

Back to political posting I go.

After what appears to have been a fair bit of haggling, the U.N. General Assembly agreed to lift the international body's spending cap - without the promised reforms in governance. It doesn't take a great deal of insight to figure out where the votes lined up:

It also left the U.N.'s biggest financial contributors — the United States and Japan — at odds with the overwhelming majority of the 192 member states which are from the developing world. The poorer countries insist they also want management reform and an efficient U.N. Secretariat, but they object to any measures that would diminish their control over the U.N. budget and management.

Personally, I think the fundamental problem with the U.N. is that it treats every nation the same, be these regimes liberal-democratic, illiberal-theocratic, or any other permutation. In this set up, it's nothing at all for necessary measures to get stymied by anyone and everyone.

The most common retort is "Well, at least nations are talking and not fighting!" But let me press the issue: I don't think it's better. Fighting is a bit more conclusive. All the talking in the world didn't save the Rwandans, the Bosnians, or the Sudanese in Darfur. In fact, our preference for peace-talk may limit the ability of oppressed peoples to defend themselves. Aggressors do not seem to feel similarly constrained.

What sort of international insitutions are needed in the modern world, then? I put it to you!

This Is Only A Test

In the spirit of taking Optimates to new levels of technological interface, I've inserted a video into this very post! Please let me know in the comments if it actually works on your computer, and if it's something you'd like to see more or less of here at the site.


Have a Nice Day.