WKRP - Thanksgiving Turkey Drop

Happy Thanksgiving!

H/t: Hugh.

Death of Milton Friedman

Some years ago, Young America's Foundation introduced me to a great promoter of freedom--real freedom. I had heard of him already and read bits and pieces, but once I became involved with YAF and Young America's Foundation (and ISI too) I began to understand on a deeper level the meaning and importance of this great champion of freedom. Milton Friedman passed away Thursday at the age of 94.

Two important and somewhat brief books of his are Capitalism and Freedom and Free To Choose: A Personal Statement. (Another book, somewhat similar in topic, which impacted me during this same time is The Road to Serfdom by Hayek. H/t: Philippe for correction.)

It's ironic, in a way, that he had been in the news the past few days ... at least the news at the Wall Street Journal and then their letters to the editor.

There are plenty of articles and essays paying homage to the man and his ideas. Some noteworthy ones are:

Wall Street Journal's "Capitalism and Friedman"

Young America's Foundation press release

Young America's Foundation interview with Friedman on the merits of free-market economics

Iain Murray's "Friedman’s Legacy: Capitalism and a giant" over at National Review Online

His passing even made the front page of the Los Angeles Times!

HorrorFest

For horror fans, this looks like a fun weekend of getting the most for your money ... at least if you live near a theater showing the HorrorFest.

8th of November

8th of November

A few days late, but what better day to remember the 8th of November.

2006 Election Thoughts: Hewitt Has a Point

Hugh has some post-election thoughts worth reading. What will become of the Republican party?

"The Road Not Taken: Forfeiting a Majority" explains a lot:

The post-mortems are accumulating, but I think the obvious has to be stated: John McCain and his colleagues in the Gang of 14 cost the GOP its Senate majority while the conduct of a handful of corrupt House members gave that body's leadership the Democrats.

After explaining a few key factors that led to the GOP losses (be sure to read them), Hugh closes with:

It is hard to conceive of how the past two years could have been managed worse on the Hill.

The presidential ambitions of three senators ended Tuesday night, though two of them will not face up to it.

The Republican Party sent them and their 52 colleagues to Washington D.C. to implement an agenda which could have been accomplished but that opportunity was frittered away.

The Republican Party raised the money and staffed the campaigns that had yielded a 55-45 seat majority, and the Republican Party expected the 55 to act like a majority. Confronted with obstruction, the Republicans first fretted and then caved on issue after issue. Had the 55 at least been seen to be trying --hard, and not in a senatorial kind of way-- Tuesday would have had a much different result. Independents, especially, might have seen why the majority mattered.

Will the GOP get back to a working majority again? Perhaps. And perhaps sooner than you think. The Democrats have at least six vulnerable senators running in 2008, while the situation looks pretty good for the GOP.

But the majority is not going to return unless the new minority leadership --however it is composed-- resolves to persuade the public, and to be firm in its convictions, not concerned for the praise of the Beltway-Manhattan media machine.

Debating Abortion at Berkeley: An Interview with Dr. Dennehy

National Catholic Register has just posted a great interview with a real man of courage and honor: Dr. Raymond Dennehy. In "20 Years, 40 Semesters of Abortion Debates," Dr. Dennehy answers many questions related to his 20 years of debating abortion at Berkeley. Aside from being a great defender of the unborn, aside from being an eloquent debater, aside from being a very humorous person, he is also one of a core of people who helped make my undergraduate days some of the best imaginable.

Read the interview.

Here is a comment I posted over at the Ignatius Insight Scoop site about one of the incidents mentioned in the interview:

Dr. Dennehy mentions the time an opponent got very upset and interrupted the other pro-life debater. Dennehy adds that he "simply inserted himself between them." I remember that day. I was there with some friends from USF. From our perspective, it was much more than "simply." We kept talking about it for quite a few days. Most of us recalled that moment at our graduation and whenever we have recollected some of the (many) highlights of being a student at the then-St. Ignatius Institute at USF.

What Dennehy did was insert himself between two speakers, one of whom had the floor and the other of whom was disrespectfully interrupting the time of the first. The pro-life person was speaking, as Dennehy said, and then the pro-abortion person got so upset that he came across towards the pro-lifer and started raising his voice at her. He was obviously upset and seemed to have been affected strongly by the realities of what the pro-lifer was saying. He, the pro-abort guy, did not like it. He did not like the truth of what was/is really going on around the world with regards to abortion.

Then a scene broke out reminiscent of stories and movies where a bully is stood up to. Dr. Dennehy came forward just like a knight. This long-time defender of the unborn came to this lady's rescue. To most of us there, the attempt by the pro-abort to get in the pro-lifer's face and say what he did was an attempt to intimidate her through his strong verbal language, strong body language, and thus ultimately to shut her up or at least make her think twice about making such controversial (though true) statements as she was making.

Then Dr. Dennehy came over and stood strongly between the two, putting forth his body in a way that the pro-abort guy clearly got the message that any further rude actions and disrespectful behavior would have to go through Dr. Dennehy before they could reach the female pro-life debater. Not just a defender of the unborn, but even a defender of those who are rudely interrupted while trying to explain the consequences of abortion policies throughout the world. We were a bit shocked at the initial rudeness of the pro-abort guy, which actually caused him to lose respect in the minds of many there (even so-called "pro-choice" students, as they later told me).

Once Dennehy did what he did, a large cheer and applause broke out throughout the room ... and like I said ... even from the students who were in support of a woman's right to kill her unborn child. Minds were slowly realizing the different ways truth is attacked.

What Dennehy did may have been "simply" a normal act on his part, but to all of us there it was much more than that. It was another gesture of defending those who are being attacked, whether verbally or physically. It was another gesture from a man who has spent his life not only teaching others about truth and goodness but has followed it up with the continual witness and sometimes even knightly presence when needed as he defends (and encourages others to defend) the innocent and defenseless, as he even inspires others to join and continue the fight to protect these little ones of God.

Blacks and Whites: Halloween Hate

It is amazing that they survived.

Victims of attack share their story

"It was like animals, like a pack of hyenas," Michelle said.

Halloween gone bad.

Kerry Comments and the Fo-do

Here is the photo that so many are talking about. (H/T: Drudge)