:: walterindenver ::

:: Wednesday, October 30, 2002 ::

For Colorado Voters

From the Colorado Freedom Report:

Unfortunately, one judge up for a retention vote, Henry Nieto, who now sits on the Colorado Court of Appeals, has done considerable damage to the checks and balances that ensure our liberty. Thus, voters should oust him on election day...
Enter the present case. Laura Kriho has a drug conviction on her record, but was nevertheless selected to serve on a drug-trial jury. She was not asked any direct questions about her past, but was urged to "comment" on the proceedings of the jury selection process. She did not refuse to answer any direct questions to her, but she did not volunteer any information. Thus seated on the jury, she exercised her power of nullification, refused to convict, and the case resulted in mistrial.
Immediately thereafter, Kriho herself was criminally charged, ostensibly not for the act of nullification itself, but with contempt of court for not volunteering her position on drug laws, or her knowledge of jury nullification, during the jury selection process.
The judge who ruled against Kriho was one Henry Nieto, who refused to grant Kriho a jury trial. Judge Nieto clearly opposes the Constitutional power of jury nullification and employed his power as a judge to oppress those who would dare exercise it. In order to be consistent, Nieto, if transported back in time, would also have to charge jurors who released defendants accused of witchcraft or harboring escaped slaves.

:: Walter 7:31 PM [+] ::
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Badly Drawn Boy

...played an exhausting two hour set last night. The poor weather and road conditions left the theater half empty, and allowed us to take a spot only an arm's reach from the stage. Good for us, bad for ticket receipts. A pleasant suprise - Andy Rourke is playing bass on this tour. I didn't recognize him. He was introduced toward the end of the show, and I thought, 'Andy Rourke, isn't that the name of the Smiths' bassist?' After the show I did some searching on the internet and found that they are indeed one and the same.

:: Walter 6:45 PM [+] ::
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Talk Left

...has the latest FBI national crime stats. Twice as many people were arrested for marijuana posession last year as just ten years ago. From a NORML press release:

The total number of marijuana arrests far exceeds the total number of arrests for all violent crimes combined, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

YEAR MARIJUANA ARRESTS
2001 723,627
2000 734,498
1999 704,812
1998 682,885
1997 695,200
1996 641,642
1995 588,963
1994 499,122
1993 380,689
1992 342,314

:: Walter 6:38 PM [+] ::
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I'm Off

On my way to see the Badly Drawn Boy concert tonight here in Denver. That is, if it's not cancelled. We're under a thick layer of snow and ice, the roads are near impassable. Thankfully, I live close to the concert venue. Mrs. Indenver and I might skate to the show.

:: Walter 7:10 PM [+] ::
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Well Meaning People

Senator Wellstone's death has brought out a flurry of eulogies in the past days, from friend and foe alike. Most praise him for having been a man of principle. The obvious question, to those who disagreed with him, would be, 'If having principles is a good thing, and Sen. Wellstone was a good man for having principles, why do you argue so vehemently with those who share his principles? And doesn't that make you who don't share his principles something less than good?'

James Lileks wrote a bit on that subject yesterday.

What sticks in some people’s craw is the idea that principle = virtue, as though dedication to an idea is, of itself, a laudable thing. Of course it isn’t; the world is full of people filled with terrible certainties. You can quickly Godwinize the argument down to nonsense: Hitler was full of conviction; is then Hitler to be mourned? It’s a valid question in another context. But not here. You have to judge the motives and character of the person who has the convictions. Do they seek something which any objective civilized mind would find evil? One caller to a weekend show insisted that Wellstone believed in Socialism, just like Lenin and Stalin. The host - a rock-ribbed Christian conservative - batted the idea away like an outhouse fly, because it’s tiresome, useless, and counterproductive. Wellstone didn’t want the Gulag, the Purge, the forced transplantation of whole populations, the formation of the faceless masses into a fist directed by cold-blooded elites. He may have been on the fringe of American politics, but his ideas were the outer edge of a dominant political party; he sought change through democratic means; he meant well.

Not all principles are created equal. Let's leave Wellstone's beliefs aside, I'm not aiming my criticism at him as much as anyone who thinks that it's OK to confiscate peoples' property to achieve social goals. The average American is forced to spend somewhere around half his income on taxes, in essence working as a slave for others as much as for himself. That's not as severe as sending that worker to the Gulag, but is it good? Is it in any way honorable for one to favor such a thing?

Political judgements should be based on basic morality. If your principles are good, how can your opponents principles also be good? Motivation means very little then. Anyone can mean well, statists of all stripes, even the most craven, believe they are doing society, and the world, a favor by mandating racial purity/ economic slavery/ religious piety/ or whatever's in vogue that year.
Andrew Olmsted has more on the subject.

:: Walter 6:12 PM [+] ::
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Drug Warriors Dealt a Setback

The Ninth Circuit court of appeals has upheld a ruling prohibiting the feds from revoking the licenses of doctors who prescribe medical marijuana.
Dale Amon responds with this lovely paragraph:

"Come the Revolution", the DEA will be one of the first organizations to go. I'd suggest they all keep their CV's current, but I'm not sure what sort of productive jobs they could get. There's not a lot of call for their skillset in a Civil society, and I don't believe Saddam will be hiring after this winter.

Heh.

:: Walter 5:48 PM [+] ::
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Gun Control at Work

Turns out that our alleged sniper owned guns illegally. From CNN:

Authorities said he was under a restraining order in a domestic abuse case at the time which would bar him from owning any gun.

I could wait anxiously for gun control advocates to learn a valuable lesson here, but experience tells me that their ideology trumps logic.

:: Walter 3:35 PM [+] ::
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Blogger Pro

I upgraded to the pay Blogger service a couple of days ago. Since then, my archives have disappeared, along with a longer post on Oct. 14th. Help!

:: Walter 6:48 AM [+] ::
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ILTE of the Day

Today's winning letter to the editor appears in the Houston Chronicle, courtesy of Anne Sanders. She writes:

I read the Chronicle's Oct. 18 article several times on the replacement of punch cards with electronic voting machines and the instructions on voting machines. I hope that Harris County officials realize how many people in this county have never used an electronic machine in their life.
If people think there were problems before when people had trouble punching a hole through the paper vote, just wait until this election is over.

Electronic voting machines, for those of you who've never used one, are about as hard to use as light switches. Do we really want to have people voting who can't understand how to press a button?

Then again, that does explain how many politicians get elected.

:: Walter 8:59 PM [+] ::
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How Not to Waste Your Vote

Ed Quillen's column in yesterday's Denver Post discusses minor party candidates:

There are a few office-holders in Colorado who belong to minor parties, but only two come to mind who were elected in partisan races, and they're both in San Miguel County, where Sheriff Bill Masters is a Libertarian and one county commissioner, Art Goodtimes, is a Green.
Both initially took office as major-party candidates, though - Masters as a Republican and Goodtimes as a Democrat - then changed affiliations before re-election.
Masters, as you might expect, is a strong critic of the War on Drugs. When he spoke at the state Libertarian convention in Leadville last May, he pointed out that the Drug War is a gross invasion of our privacy and other civil rights. He also explained that, from a law-enforcement perspective, it diverts resources from real threats to our peace and safety just to lock up people who aren't hurting anybody except, perhaps, themselves.
Greens have a reputation for being in favor of more governmental regulation, so I was somewhat surprised at the reply from Art Goodtimes a couple of years ago when he was running for re-election. I asked what his major accomplishment in his first term was, and he said it was eliminating most building and zoning codes in the west part of the county, his district.
"Around Telluride, we need them," he said. "But it's basically big farms and ranches out on my end, and we don't need the rules. So why have them?"
Sensible attitudes like those of Goodtimes and Masters could get more minor-party candidates elected, which would be a blessing in itself. But minor parties are important for another reason - they do the thinking for the major parties....
Whenever I announce my intention to vote for a minor-party candidate, I am invariably told that "you're throwing away your vote." But if there are things you care about, then a vote for a third-party candidate is hardly wasted. It's actually the best way to get the attention of the major parties.

Quillen is an eccentric fellow who lives in a small mountain town in Colorado and writes a regular column in the Post. I had the pleasure of hearing him speak at the state Libertarian convention this year. He's always entertaining and sometimes even correct.
It's worth clicking on the link to this article just to see his picture. That's what he looks like when he's cleaned up.

:: Walter 5:19 PM [+] ::
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ILTE of the Day

The El Paso (TX) Times carried this letter today, from Keith Walker of West El Paso.

I would like to respond to Steve Smith's letter, accusing President Bush of blundering.
I guess Smith thinks we should stand by and wait for another attack on our country from dictators who hated us long before the president was elected....
Smith provides more rhetoric from a party with sore losers who are still smarting over the presidential election.
Smith needs to start watching the Fox news station so that he can become more informed about what's going on in the world today.

Ah, yes, Fox News. Television is the answer. Granted, Fox is a different, and welcome viewpoint, but is that the first choice for building a well rounded view of the world? Literacy, anyone?

:: Walter 9:21 PM [+] ::
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Global Warming

The question isn't so much if warming is happening, but if that warming is caused by humans or other factors. I don't know if War Liberal understands this.

:: Walter 8:44 PM [+] ::
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Timely

Instapundit linked this morning to the archery story found here last Friday. Folks, if you want to keep up with the really important stories you have to visit Walter in Denver regularly.

:: Walter 9:44 AM [+] ::
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ILTE of the Day

From today's Rocky Mountain News, posted here in its entirety:

The bottom line
Real men wage peace. No war on Iraq.
Mike Phalen
Denver

I'd really like to see intelligent debate on the war question. If it turns out that war in Iraq is a bad idea I'd like someone to make a cogent argument to that effect. Instead we get this.
And I suppose 60 years ago while American soldiers overran Europe the real men were back home 'waging peace.'

:: Walter 8:24 AM [+] ::
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Ouch

The Houston Chronicle reports a local hunter shot and killed a car thief... with a bow and arrow. Any of you who are familiar with broad-tip hunting arrows might agree whan I say I'd much rather get shot with a conventional bullet.
Anyhow, congrats to the hunter. That'll look great over the fireplace.

:: Walter 8:17 PM [+] ::
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Lileks Today
" I’ll leave you with this prediction: it is not a matter of if, but when someone blames North Korea’s pullout of the agreement on the Bush Administration’s withdrawal from the ABM treaty. Just you wait. Fisk? Scheer? Pilger? MoDo? Gentlepersons of the press: start your Yugos."

:: Walter 6:22 PM [+] ::
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Another Drug War Victim

One Jaime Chavez has just been released after serving two years in prison on a drug dealing conviction based on false testimony. Seems that police informants planted fake drugs as evidence against dozens of people, most of whom have already had their cases thrown out.

The Dallas Morning News reports: (registration required)

The informant, Enrique Martinez Alonso, in an affidavit filed as part of Mr. Chavez's appeal, said that he lied when he testified that Mr. Chavez displayed a large plastic trash bag of methamphetamine while three other men negotiated a drug buy.

To wit:

"The testimony I gave concerning Jaime Chavez's action and his knowledge of the fact that there was methamphetamine in the black plastic bag was false," the document signed by Mr. Alonso read. "I have no independent recollection of Jaime Chavez's participation in the drug transaction.
"I identified Jaime Chavez as the person who showed me the drugs because I was told that it was necessary to obtain a conviction, and I was in the process of working off my own narcotics case to avoid a 15-year prison sentence."

The reduced sentences in exchange for testimony ploy is common practice in drug prosecution around the country. Considering that many of these drug dealers are not the most savory characters, it's not suprising that some of them would finger innocent people in an effort to save their own hides. I'd like to think this case in Dallas is unusual, but I suspect most of these false testimonies go undetected.

Jaime's lucky he lost only two years of his life to the drug war. It could have been many more.

:: Walter 7:32 AM [+] ::
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More Zompist Deconstruction...

...from Perry de Havilland, writing
on Samizdata yesterday. That's the same article referenced here on Monday. Advantage: You know who.

And thanks to Lucas Wiman who posted in the comments section at Samizdata mentioning my post. He sent me this e-mail:

Walter,
That critique of libertarianism is astounding. I don't think I've ever
seen so many fallacies in one place. Incredible.
Her arguments start out with basically the following: a lot of
republicans has certain similar ideas to libertarians, and the
republicans are bad, and therefore the libertarians are bad. I don't
even know where to start on that one. The LP also usually agrees with
the ACLU. Would she be opposed to the ACLU by similar logic?
Then there are a number of complete misrepresentations of libertarian
views (like that libertarians are opposed to governmental regulation of
any kind). Then the baffling "Sins of the Market", including "People in
the inner city pay more for food and pay surprisingly high rent," "The
entire near west side of Chicago, just east of where I live, doesn't
have a single movie theater," and "Services the middle class takes for
granted, like cashing their paychecks for free, are expensive for the
poor."
So the only possible explanation that life is more expensive in a city
is that the market doesn't work. Never mind that taxes are higher in
big cities, real estate prices are higher due to higher demand, and
transaction costs are higher. The markets failed.
Perhaps the reason there are no movie theaters is that too few people go
to movies. Finally, every bank I've ever heard of gives you free
check-cashing if you have an account. Poor people can't get a bank
account? My bank has a no-minimum balance checking account with a $50
minimum starting deposit. Even the very poor could swing that on payday.
"If you press the point, libertarians will generally cotton to being
against corporate welfare and for legalizing drugs. The Libertarian
Party website makes as much of social liberty as it does economic
liberty. However, I've never seen the libertarian elements among the
Republicans do a thing about these theoretical ideals"
If this is true, then why did the Connecticut LP refuse to allow Ann
Coulter to run for the house on the Libertarian ticket? They seemed to
care about personal freedom there.
Then there's the fact that "libertarians benefit like the rest of us
from government services: defense, public safety, universal education,
consumer protection, a court system, highways and airports, Social
Security. I can't respect a philosophy that enjoys services it objects
to paying for."
How, exactly, would she suggest not using highways? Not getting social
security*? Not enjoying national defense? Not using airports**? This
is ludicrous. In any case, libertarians have to pay taxes, and may as
well get something for their money, even if it is an inefficient
governmental something.
I agree with many of the Libertarian party's views, and could write a
better critique of libertarianism than this. Sheesh.
-Lucas
* I wonder in what way you "benefit" from social security. Even if the
program functions exactly as it should, then you only get back
inflation-adjusted money you "put in" to social security. It's like a
crappy bank account.
** Wouldn't she be opposed to this kind of corporate welfare?

I think that 'she' was a he, but accuracy isn't crucial over at Zompist, so what the hey.

:: Walter 7:55 PM [+] ::
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Home Grown Terrorism
From this morning's Rocky Mountain News:

" A group claiming to be the Earth Liberation Front has threatened to destroy the town of Winter Park's water storage, officials verified Monday.
"The warning was received Oct. 2 in a letter sent to the Denver Water Board by the alleged eco-terrorists, who took credit for burning the Two Elk Lodge atop Vail Mountain in 1998."

:: Walter 5:52 AM [+] ::
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What's Wrong With Libertarianism

I was browsing through comments on Dawn Olsen's site when I found a critique of libertarianism. Occasionally someone does put out a thoughtful and well written critique of the movement, but this is not one of those times. It's found on Zompist.com. Let's go straight to the action with a few choice passages and my responses.

Libertarianism reads like someone (let's call her "Ayn Rand") sat down to create the Un-Communism.

Hyporbole. The roots of libertarianism go back long before communists were a factor. Libertarians were called 'liberals' a few centuries ago, before leftists hijacked the word.

Libertarianism (=) property is sacred.

Untrue. Individual rights are sacred, within sharply defined boundaries, of course.

(Libertarianism = ) any government is bad.

Simply false. Libertarians recognize many legitimate roles for government.

(Libertarianism = ) Capitalists are noble Nietzchean heroes

Hyperbole. Capitalists are just people.

(Libertarianism = ) Workers have no particular rights.

Wrong. Workers share very specific personal rights with everyone else.

(Libertarianism = ) The oppressed deserve their oppression.

A lie. Libertarians believe in punishment for oppressors and restitution for the oppressed.

The communist of 1910 couldn't point to a single real-world instance of his utopia; neither can the present-day libertarian. Yet they're unshakeable in their conviction that it can and must happen.
This disdain for reality manifests itself in other ways. Libertarians love abtract, fact-free arguments. Thanks to my essay on taxes, I routinely get mail featuring impassioned harangues which never once mention a real-world fact; or if they do, the statistic is simply made up.
This sort of balls-out aggressivity probably wins points at parties, where no one is going to take down an almanac and check their figures; but to me it's a cardinal sin. If someone has an answer for everything, advocates changes which have never been tried, and presents dishonest evidence, he's a crackpot. If a man has no doubts, it's because his hypothesis is unfalsifiable.

Great, so some 'crackpot' makes a poor argument, and that's evidence of the invalidity of an entire school of thought? Have you never heard of the Cato Institute, or any other libertarian think tank? If you want to argue statistics, it can be done.
As for the 'real world instance of Utopia,' that's an old argument, and a tired one. Libertarians are decidedly anti-utopian. No pure libertarian government has ever existed, and probably none ever will. However, the more a government is able to secure individual right for its populace, the more likely that government and nation is likely to prosper. This was true of the classical empires, and of more recent successful nations. There were some exceptions, free(er) countries that failed and brutal regimes that did well, usually in the absence of more open societies to offer competition.

Crackpots are usually harmless; but I consider libertarianism to be quite dangerous. The "Libertarian Party" is a joke; but an unattractive subset of libertarian ideas has become mainstream in American politics. The former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, took most of his program from libertarianism

Newt Gingrich's program? Did I miss the parts about eliminating the income tax, decriminalizing drugs, and reducing U.S. military presence overseas? Any overlap between Gingrich's program and libertarianism is strictly utilitarian, he borrowed some arguments from libertarians where it was convenient to do so. Gingrich as a libertarian is the ultimate straw-man debate tactic.

If you press the point, libertarians will generally cotton to being against corporate welfare and for legalizing drugs. The Libertarian Party website makes as much of social liberty as it does economic liberty. However, I've never seen the libertarian elements among the Republicans do a thing about these theoretical ideals; on the contrary, they're happy to ally themselves with Ashcrofts willing to trash judicial rights, Starrs poking into politicans' sex lives, Bushes mocking the protection of civil rights, and theocrats wanting the government to control movies, university courses, and women's wombs.

That's why there is an LP. Libertarianism represents a diverse range of opinions, but there are some constants. Support of free speech, free trade, medical feedom, and freedom of religion are basic, one who doesn't support those concepts can scarcely be called a libertarian. If some in the conservative side of the Republican party want to call themselves 'libertarian' they are usurping the term, much like leftists stole the word 'liberal.' I won't readily allow them to take the label.

In practice, then, libertarianism has nothing to do with social liberty, and everything to do with removing all restrictions on business. So what's wrong with that?

Well, you're incorrect on the first point, and I'll bet you'll tell us what's wrong with the second.

We tried it, and it failed
We used to have a government which was within spitting distance of the libertarian ideal.

But you said above... oh, never mind.

Business could do what it wanted-- and it did. The result was robber barons, monopolistic gouging, management thugs attacking union organizers, filth in our food, a punishing business cycle, racial oppression, starvation among the elderly, gunboat diplomacy in support of business interests.

Blaming management thugs, racial oppression, and gunboat diplomacy on libertarianism. Kind of like blaming doctors for the existence of disease. For a short discussion on the myth of the Robber Barons, try this. Longer (book length) discussions are out there, too.

Libertarianism is essentially the morality of a thug. It's a worship of the already successful, privileging money and property above everything else-- love, humanity, justice. And let's not forget that lurid fascination with firepower.

More junk. Libertarianism is the first political philosophy to successfully bring morality into the political process. You remember the golden rule and all that? Every other 'ism' is based on the use of force, using the power of the state to force society to do whatever it is you think society should be doing.
The kicker is at the end. The author lists what he would like from politics:

I have my own articles of faith. For instance, I think a political philosophy should
-benefit the entire population, not an elite of whatever flavor
-offer a positive vision, not just hatred for another philosophy
-rest on the best science and history can teach us, rather than science fiction
-be modified in the light of what works and what doesn't
-produce greater freedom and prosperity the closer a nation comes to it.


And how, exactly, do you propose to establish this, err, utopia? The Nazi's thought they offered the best from science and history. And that last point sounds rather libertarian.

All right, it's not really fair to pick on this critique, since there are better ones out there, including Mike Huben's. And my rebuttal isn't as good as David Friedman's response to Huben's. I suppose one rises to the level of the competition.

:: Walter 8:06 AM [+] ::
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I couldn't agree more

The Prior-Art-O-Matic says "walterindenver is like a normal fusebox, but it can be used by children." Well, of course. Everyone knew that.

:: Walter 8:06 PM [+] ::
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It's Gotta be True, It's Printed Right Here

Seventeen magazine has published a list of top colleges, "where girls can get the best college experience."

At # 76 on their list is Wabash College, an, ah, all male institution.

I'll leave it to readers to speculate on what sort of "college experience" girls can get there.
(link via Instapundit)

:: Walter 7:15 PM [+] ::
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Things to do in Colorado

From The World Wide Rant

For those interested, Matt and I will be present at the Phelps demonstration on the 4th anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard this Saturday in Fort Collins. We plan to visit Phelps and his (cronies) family, as well as those staging a peaceful presence against Phelps and his hatred. If other bloggers would link to us on Saturday to help expose Phelps and his hate-mongering, it would be much appreciated.

Can't make it myself. Feel free to throw some rocks on my behalf. No, wait, that would be illegal, unwise and Palistinian-like. On second thought, those creeps aren't convincing anyone anyway. You'll do enough just by outnumbering them.

:: Walter 6:43 PM [+] ::
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Reclaiming the Language

According to the dictionary, a liberal is one who believes in the fullest amount of personal freedom. This does not come close to describing American leftists. But they've hijacked the word, knowing it gives their statist policies a human, even individualist nuance. Michael at two blowhards.com sees things the same way. Writes he:

I also find it helpful to refuse to let the American left get away with calling itself liberal. I insist on referring to them as leftists, and to their views as leftism. Why let that crowd of sentimentalists, thought-police and socialists maintain exclusive ownership of a word as beautiful as “liberal”?

Liberal; it's our word, we need to take it back.

:: Walter 10:12 PM [+] ::
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ILTE of the Day
From Jeffrey A. Dorsey, in today's Denver Post.

As president and CEO of HealthONE - metro Denver's largest health-care system - I am extremely concerned that unless Congress acts quickly to improve Medicare payments and prevent scheduled Medicare cuts, our patients and senior citizens will be the ones who suffer.

This reminds me of a joke. A man walks into a charity office. He says, "There's this family, they're having some hard times. The husband lost his job, they've got four kids, and they're three months behind on the rent. Unless they get $2,000 to bring their rent current they'll be evicted."
Charity caseworker, "Oh, that's terrible. Are you a relative of the family?"
"No, I'm the landlord."

:: Walter 8:32 PM [+] ::
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Some Self Indulgence

Last week Samizdata had this post, listing songs for a CD to while away the time on a desert island. I added my choices, reproduced here with additional comments.

Kansas - The Wolfgang Press TWP were on the 4AD record label, one of the most innovative outfits in the 80's. There's a special joy in listening to music that not many others have heard, but I doubt the band shared that sentiment.
Wicked Game - Chris Isaak I first heard this in the David Lynch's movie 'Wild at Heart.' The song left a bigger impression than the movie.
Yin and Yang the Flowerpot Man - Love and Rockets Sheer manic bliss. Always fun live.
Way Down Now - World Party I don't go more than a few weeks without putting this one in the CD player.
So. Cenral Rain - REM I could have chosen any of several REM songs for this list.
Greetings to the New Brunette - Billy Bragg Billy is a socialist, and his politics color his music, but not on this song. Proof that dumb political views are no obstacle to musical genius.
Here Comes Your Man - The Pixies 4AD's first American band, I could have picked several Pixies tunes for this list as well.
Ed's Funky Diner - It's Immaterial This duo released one brilliant record and then disappeared. Proof that mere musical genius is not enough to guarantee success in the industry.
Zero Zero Zero - Sam Phillips No, not that Sam Phillips. This Sam is a she, and she's married to T-Bone Burnett.
Ever Changing Moods - The Style Council Why do Brit bands do the blue-eyed soul thing so well?
Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash Especially the version recorded live in prison.
Blood and Roses - The Smithereens Back in my college days, right after this came out, I had the pleasure of interviewing Pat Dinizio, lead singer, for a radio show. Still love their first CD.
Once Around the Block - Badly Drawn Boy Yeah, I'm still listening to new music. I haven't included much on this list, but I suppose if I were to redo this a few years from now I'd change some selections.
Mrs. Robinson - The Lemonheads This was the promise of punk, clean, loud, short songs with lots of punch. That formula still works.
Heartland - The The I noticed a couple of the lists at Samizdata had The The songs. My wife would have included a fourth song, Infected. Not bad for a band that never enjoyed much commercial success.

So there it is. After compiling the list I noticed a lot of my favorite artists didn't make the cut. Wilco, Ministry, Belle and Sebastian, The Reverend Horton Heat, and several others, might be better artists than ones on this list, but it is a list of favorite songs, not bands.

:: Walter 8:09 AM [+] ::
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Some Words

From Lileks.

"...she has a knack for taking legitimate concerns and filtering them through the clue-remover."

He speaks, in this instance, of Barbara Streisand. But I'm sure you can think of other worthy targets.

:: Walter 8:40 PM [+] ::
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