Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent  
Front Page
The Parent Trap
Articles
Wednesday, 24 May 2006

The Parent Trap (TCS Daily).

I've talked before about how badly we've muddled up the growing-up process in the United States, but I never looked at it from the parents' perspective. Glenn Reynolds at TCS Daily, however, did the work for me.

The main thesis of his article is that the social and economic costs of having and raising children have gone up significantly over the past century, while the social and economic benefits have all-but disappeared. It is an inescapable truth -- and one that explains the dwindling birthrates in first-world nations.

Reynolds also captures another inescapable fact: treating kids and teens like totally helpless babies and prohibiting effective discipline does a grave disservice to the children and puts undue burden on the parents. It is no wonder that many parents today fall to one extreme or the other -- either keeping kids micromanaged well into their twenties and thirties, or resigning in frustration to letting them do whatever the hell they want from eight-onward.

 
Revisionist History: Antiwar Myths About Iraq, Debunked
Articles
Tuesday, 23 May 2006

Revisionist History: Antiwar Myths About Iraq, Debunked (Wall St. Journal; free email registration may be required).

Peter Wehner catalogues and debunks many of the myths spouted by the antiwar left. Whether you agree or disagree with the war in Iraq, I encourage you to give it a serious read. There are fair arguments to be made against the war, but many of those made in popular discourse are baseless. Maybe reading this article will help the war critics to strengthen their arguments by not basing them on these fictions.

These, then, are the urban legends we must counter, else falsehoods become conventional wisdom. And what a strange world it is: For many antiwar critics, the president is faulted for the war, and he, not the former dictator of Iraq, inspires rage. The liberator rather than the oppressor provokes hatred. It is as if we have stepped through the political looking glass, into a world turned upside down and inside out.

Go figure.

 
Getting Stuff Done; Professional Cert.; Anniversary Coming Up
Life
Saturday, 20 May 2006

Well, things are going reasonably well of late. I've been trying to get a lot of things out of the way that I've been meaning to do for a while.

First, I finally did some surgery on my old iBook which had an apparent hard drive failure just after I gave it to Wes. I got a good deal on a 40gb notebook drive and worked up the courage to go through the 17 pages of directions to remove and replace an iBook drive. After spending most of last Saturday afternoon on it, I can safely say that the iBook had more serious problems -- I declared it permanently dead, gutted the useful parts, and returned the new drive.

I also wrote a letter (sent & posted earlier today) I've been meaning to write for a long time. I think it speaks for itself. I have another one in the works too for Mel Riddile, but I'm not sure when I'll finish it up ;-).

In other news, Plexus is working on getting me an Applied Management professional certification...

Read more...
 
SBCE Logo
RSS 2.0  Get Firefox!
Website 17.2 :: Copyright © 1995-2006
Scott Bradford Creative Enterprises (more info)