Looking Back at Law School (Pulliam)
Pulliam’s homepage. Go, quick now, said the bird.
Mark Pulliam’s new blog is a thing of wit and intelligence. Enjoy.
In recent years my law school alma mater has hosted an annual “celebration of diversity” event, which I recently attended out of curiosity. I thought that my law school class of long ago was quite diverse, with students from all over Texas, who had attended a variety of colleges and universities located throughout the country, representing a wide range of backgrounds—socio-economic, age, marital status, political orientation, and otherwise.
Alas, that is not what “diversity” means these days. “Diversity” connotes the politically-correct assortment of students (and faculty) from specific racial and ethnic groups that were “under-represented” in the era of primarily meritocratic admissions. Race-conscious affirmative action at the University of Texas School of Law—once considered controversial and sparingly used—has “fixed” that.
To keep reading, please click here: https://misruleoflaw.com/2018/02/10/looking-back-at-law-school-a-lawyer-ruminates-on-legal-education/
Mark Pulliam’s New Blog
Mark Pulliam, writer and thinker extraordinaire, has a new blog. Make sure to visit and register.
https://misruleoflaw.com/2018/02/05/paging-professor-kingsfield/
Pray for Russell Kirk’s Beatification (TIC)
As shocking as it might seem to those who knew Russell Kirk as a bad (in terms of practice) Catholic, he deserves sainthood. Here is my case for Saint Russell of Mecosta… 1,202 more words
via Saint Russell of Mecosta? — The Imaginative Conservative
Glenn Arbry (TIC): Shaping the Culture
For much of contemporary thought, God is an invention. But the idea of God accords with the nature of reality. Belief in God is useful for human order, as it centers and grounds all knowledge… 856 more words
Denny O’Neil Interviews
Detective Comics #457.
Denny O’Neil has always been one of my favorite contemporary writers. It was his Batman (along with Neal Adam’s) that I first encountered in the early 1970s with my first comic book in Hays, Kansas.
Lately, this grand gentleman has been giving lots of interviews and retrospectives on his life as a writer. One of my favorite interviews is to be found here: https://13thdimension.com/the-denny-oneil-interviews-there-is-no-hope-in-crime-alley/
O’Neil reveals how much Dorthy Day and the Catholic Worker movement influenced him and his vision of Gotham and of Bruce Wayne.
And, O’Neil remembers a wonderful quote from Dorothy Day: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s … and, by the way, Caesar doesn’t deserve anything.”
DRAMA by Yes (1980)
Following in the footsteps of the mighty Sean Tonar and magnificent James Turner, I want to continue the DRAMA. DRAMA is one of the finest albums ever produced by Yes, and, by this claim, I certainly mean no disrespect to my heroes, Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman. DRAMA is, however, exactly what the band needed […]
Power Vs. Authority
This morning at The Imaginative Conservative, I get the chance to examine Nisbet’s ideas regarding power as opposed to authority, and why the former destroys community and the latter leavens it. Hope you enjoy.
Power, in and of itself, has become an “ideology,” according to Robert Nisbet. It is, by its very nature, incapable of understanding nuance… As I had the opportunity to write in my previous essay for The Imaginative Conservative, Oxford University Press gave the grand sociologist and historian of ideas, Robert A. Nisbet, a chance to…
via How Power Destroys Community — The Imaginative Conservative
Anglo-American Chronology, 1534-1689
Anglo-American Chronology, 1534-1689
For American Heritage
–Birzer
Sir Thomas More, executed 1535
1550s
1528/29: William Tyndale first to employ “divine right of kings”
1534: Act of Supremacy undoes over 1,000 years of Anglo-Saxon Common Law
1535: Execution of Sir Thomas More and John Fisher
1547: Henry VIII dies
1558-1603: Reign of Elizabeth I
Farewell to Kings (and Faith): Neil Peart, 1977
In honor of the 40th anniversary of the release of A FAREWELL TO KINGS.
40th Anniversary Edition
What followed, 1977’s A Farewell to Kings, though, had far more in common with 1976’s 2112 than it would with 1980’s Permanent Waves. Not appearing on the market until September 1, 1977, A Farewell to Kings ended the new album every six months schedule Rush has followed thus far. A brilliant album in and of itself, A Farewell to Kings still belongs to Rush 2.1 as I have defined it. So does the follow-up album, Hemispheres. Certainly, Rush tried many new things—in terms of album structure, lyrical depth and story telling, and musical complexity—than it had on the first several albums. “We had written material that was a little beyond us, considering our level of musicianship at the time,” Lee later admitted.[i] But the progress is in continuity…
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Founding a REPUBLIC Not a Democracy (TAC)
A republican, armed with musket and plow.
This evening, at The American Conservative–founding a REPUBLIC not a democracy.
Even the most pro-interventionist of the American founders, Alexander Hamilton, could never have imagined or desired the kind of federal government we have now. When he wrote of “energy” in government, he meant it as a means of restraint. To give “energy” to government meant, at least to Hamilton, giving the federal government the means to execute the powers expected of it by its Constitution. Rather brilliantly, he argued that a government charged with a duty but not empowered by the specific rules of that government to accomplish its duty would merely make up its own rules, thus taking government away from restraint and toward leviathan. Though many libertarians think of Hamilton as the touchstone for all future expansive government, they’re wrong. Even Alexander Hamilton desired ways to limit the expansion of government, and whether he wanted a strong executive or not, he envisioned a small, commercial republic as the proper outcome of the American revolution.
We Need a SERIOUS Immigration Debate (TAC)
It’s time for conservatives (and libertarians) to have a VERY serious debate about immigration. The issue is way too important to leave to emotions and assumptions.
As Christians around the world celebrated the arrival of the Three Kings—the Magi of the Orient—on Epiphany, the president of the United States called for $33 billion to shore up America’s borders with $18 billion for the wall. Would the Magi have been admitted in 2018? “Excuse me, Balthasar, but I need to see that your papers are in order. Oh, I’m sorry, but your gift of myrrh exceeds our 3.2 ounces of liquid allowed.”
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/birzer/bring-on-the-conservative-debate-for-immigration/
U.S. Economic History Syllabus, Spring 2018
H442, Economic History of the United States
Syllabus, Spring 2018. Lane 125, 9:30-10:45, Tuesdays-Thursdays
Prof (such as he is!): Brad Birzer
H442 students, thank you so much for taking this course. I’ve only taught it once before, and that was way back in 2001. Roughly the time some of you were only aged one or two! For what it’s worth, I grew up (in high school) reading everything I could from Henry Hazlitt, Milton Friedman, Steve Forbes, Israel Kirzner, and Friedrich Hayek. Yes, I was that guy in the 1980s. Still, while I think I’m fairly good on entrepreneurial theory and the broad overview of American business and entrepreneurial history, I’m not an expert. So, again—thank you.
Assigned readings.
You will be responsible for these as a major part of your midterm and final examinations.
- James Otteson, THE END OF SOCIALISM (first half of the semester)
- Robert Higgs, CRISIS AND LEVIATHAN (second half of the semester)
- other articles, chapters, etc.—scanned and sent to you via email or dropbox
Stormfields 