Today, after running errands on the way to see my tax guy, I stopped in a 7-11 to grab a snack and caught sight of the latest cover of Newsweek heralding what anyone who has studied economics knew as soon as the recession begin–that the economy would bounce back.  Yet, it seemed that the “news”-magazine wanted to suggest that the current Administration was responsible for the rebound.

The cover story (which I read while my tax guy fills out my Federal Extortion forms tax return) is surprisingly even-handed, including much about America’s resiliency and entrepreneurial spirit and this line:  ”But the long-term decline of the U.S. economy has been greatly exaggerated.”  Of course it had been.

The media seem to specialize in gloom and doom, particularly when a Republican is in the White House.  Shortly after reading the Newsweek piece, I caught this on Instapundit: “CATO: Did the IMF Deliberately Exaggerate the 2008 Financial Crisis?”  

So, recalling the media’s dour reporting back in ’08 and this report on the IMF, I wondered at the method to all the media, international organization madness.  Was it because they wanted to see a larger role for national governments and international institutions?

Or was it just that they wanted to make then-President George W. Bush look bad and increase the likelihood that he would be replaced by a Democrat–and that that Democrat would get credit for any recovery, even a naturally recurring one?

Wow. Epic fail for California’s Gay activist lobbying community.

(Reuters) – A challenge to California’s gay marriage ban failed on Monday to qualify for the 2010 ballot, leaving gay activists mulling a 2012 push and hoping a federal court will overturn the measure before then.

So much political capital… wasted for so long… with nothing to show… except backsliding.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

On Friday, while I had my nose buried in a fascinating book on the goddess Athene and the Odyssey (written by the daughter of the great Leo Strauss no less), I read through a report a reader had e-mailed about Tom Campbell’s Troublesome Record on Israel.

As I read it, learning of his contact with anti-Semitic figures (between reading chapters of Mrs. Clay’s opus), I dashed out a quick post, Tom Campbell & Libertarian Anti-Semitism, based on a thought that then crossed my mind.  Had I had an editor, he might have warned me that even though I had written, “I highly doubt Campbell himself is anti-Semitic”, in the post, the title might indicate otherwise–as did my reference to some bizarre things published by another celebrated libertarian.

When a friend e-mailed me to suggest I was engaging in “guilt by association,” I realized a clarification was in order.  I definitely should have given the post a different title.  The report merely called to mind the libertarians I have encountered who harbor bizarre conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic sentiments.  It did not indicate that Mr. Campbell harbored such theories or such sentiments.

The title was more indicative of my thought process than my conclusion.  As were the post’s contents, conflating the report on Campbell, with works edited (and possibly written) by Ron Paul.

I apologize for misunderstanding the title of that post caused.   I will try to be more careful in the future.

I’d take Bush’s recession over Obama’s recovery, any day.

Here! Here!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

According to the Heritage Foundation — The United States of America is not the leader in global Economic Freedom any longer.

The chart is based on Heritage’s definition of Economic Freedom:

Economic freedom is the fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labor and property. In an economically free society, individuals are free to work, produce, consume, and invest in any way they please, with that freedom both protected by the state and unconstrained by the state. In economically free societies, governments allow labor, capital and goods to move freely, and refrain from coercion or constraint of liberty beyond the extent necessary to protect and maintain liberty itself.

I think many of us know the reasons America is economically “less free” in 2010.  Massive government debt, incredible growth in public sector jobs and decline in private sector jobs, un-Constitutionally mandated healthcare, increased taxes on the middle class & small businesses.

Another sad legacy of President Barack Obama and the Congressional Democrats.  Hopefully it is not un-doable.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Last week, I finished up what may well have been the most difficult chapter of my dissertation where I wrote about the goddess Athene’s role in the Iliad where that owl-eyed Olympian is, well, not the most attractive of figures. She does have her moments, particularly at the beginning where she restrains Achilles from rash action, but on the whole, she’s pretty ruthless, wanting to destroy the city of Troy, largely because its prince found her sister Aphrodite to be fairer than she.

Difficult the chapter was because the goddess is not as appealing as I would like her to be, but I did enjoy the research, appreciating the epic much more than I ever had and agreeing, against my own wishes, that is it is better than the Odyssey, long one of my favorite books in all literature.

Almost immediately after sending that chapter in, I plunged into the final stages of research for the next chapter, one that much happier epic, the chapter I have most wanted to write since the idea for this project came to me. In this epic, that of Odysseus’ homecoming and his son’s coming of age, Athene is a far more appealing figure, helping that young man, Telemachus, shed his youthful insecurities, find his father and stand up for himself while guiding the hero home.

Anyway, all this work (but enjoyable work it is) coupled with tax season has, alas, prevented me from blogging at the pace I have been in recent weeks. Do expect to get back up to speed in a couple of days, once I have reached the point in my research where I am ready to continue writing the chapter. I say, “continue,” because I have already started writing the chapter, indeed, its introduction was the first part of the paper I wrote since I drafted my “Concept Paper” while still taking classes.