Assorted Links (12/28/2010)

Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading lately:

Yule Blog 2010: The Hinge of Fate 

blogs.the-american-interest.com

“Manger is the French word meaning “to eat”; a manger is a place where you put hay and similar things for the animals in a barn to eat. The swaddling clothes were used to wrap up the limbs of newborns so they wouldn’t injure themselves by moving too much.”

The Sidney Awards, Part II

nytimes.com

“Here’s the second batch of winners of the 2010 Sidney Awards. It seems as though turbulent times produce good essays. “

Christianity and Health Care

gmscan.wordpress.com

“This week I’m writing from Waco, Texas where I just finished speaking at a symposium on “Human Dignity and the Future of Health Care.” The symposium was sponsored by Baylor University’s Institute for Faith and Learning. Here are some random snapshots.”

The High Price of Pets. But So Worth It.

online.wsj.com 

“When I was a kid, I had a Yorkshire terrier named Coco and a Siamese cat named Shan. I loved those animals and was devastated when they died. They remain leading characters in some of my fondest memories of youth.”

America’s Dangerous Rush to Shrink Its Military Power

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Mark Helprin writes that defense spending has priority. As in the 1930s, the economy is the supposedly humanitarian excuse for reducing the military—although the endless miseries of the world will not be alleviated if due to an imbalance of power great and little wars rage across it.”

ObamaCare and the General Welfare Clause

online.wsj.com 

“In The Wall Street Journal, constitutional law professors Randy E. Barnett and David G. Oedel write that the individual mandate is not the only problem with the health law. Its draconian Medicaid mandates on states exceed Congress’s spending power.”

Fed’s Free Money Lures This Important Writer: Kevin Hassett

bloomberg.com

“If AIG was too important to fail, can’t I be, too?”

In a Tale That Wags Dog Owners, They Rent Flocks for Bored Collies – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com 

“Once upon a time, Americans got dogs for their sheep. Now they get sheep for their dogs.”

Yule Blog 2010: Born of a WHAT?!

blogs.the-american-interest.com

It is not quite the most controversial verse in the Bible, but Luke 1:35 comes close. Mary has just replied to the angel Gabriel’s statement that she will be the mother of the Messiah with a question of her own: “How shall this be,” she says in the words of the King James Version, “seeing I know not a man?””

‘Random Walk’ author Malkiel bullish on international index funds

blog.oregonlive.com

“IT’S ONLY MONEY interviews the author of “A Random Walk Down Wall Street” about why the book’s new edition shifts asset allocations from bonds to international stocks.”

Is Basic Health Care a ‘Right’?

cafehayek.com

“Ronald Pies, MD, asserts that every individual has a “right” to “basic health care” – meaning, a right to receive such care without paying for it (Letters, Dec. 26).”

What I love about Scrooge.

slate.com

“Here’s what I like about Ebenezer Scrooge: His meager lodgings were dark because darkness is cheap, and barely heated because coal is not free. His dinner was gruel, which he prepared himself. Scrooge paid no man to wait on him.”

Op-Ed Columnist – The Roots Of White Anxiety

nytimes.com

“To understand the country’s polarization, take a look at the admissions process at elite private colleges.”

The new young investor: Shunning stocks

finance.yahoo.com

“When 18-year-old Robert White decided to jumpstart his retirement plan, he invested his life savings of $25,000 into an aggressive mutual fund. Little did he know that just five years later, he would make a complete 180 and join the ranks of a new group of young investors who have become so risk averse by the wild market swings that they’d rather park their money in safety zones, like CDs or Treasurys.”