Up to their rooms squabbling children were sent, The toys are all broken, the money is spent, The credit-cards maxed and the beer has gone flat, She swears the new negligee makes her look fat, The overcooked goose, like an old leather shoe, Is unappetizing but what else is new? The car just won’t start, [...]
We all know the arguments against the notion, but somewhat reluctantly I conclude that libertarians are indeed human. After all, our species contains the incontinent, the mentally disabled, the incurably giddy, and Mr. Walter Block. Mr. Block is an elderly academician inspired by Ayn Rand, Nathanial Branden and Murray Rothbard. Libertarians find him pleasant and [...]
Wonder what to give loved ones for Christmas, especially our fellow Imaginative Conservatives? The Imaginative Conservative's Chief Elf (and respected Assistant Editor), Shelby Tankersley, recommends to contributors, “Book suggestions, leisure activities, and fine cigars would all be of interest to our readers.” So I won’t suggest those because my colleagues might. I’ll try something more subversive, [...]
Tinkering in your cellar to build a time machine, as many of our readers claim to do, you’ll eventually require an operator’s manual. Much frustration can be avoided by reading a clever short story that is in many ways opposite to Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, often as fun and infinitely [...]
Today we mourn the passing of Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013. Something drove a man to silence As immortal anger raged, Then another kind of violence Kept him on an island caged; What Grace brought amid restraint: In a sinner, out a saint. […]
It’s not every day that a 500 year old clam confirms so many prejudices of real conservatives, much less is affirmed by other species that aren’t nearly as extinct as we suppose. Ming, as most people know by now, was an arctic quahog clam killed recently by British scientists. It was no accident as first [...]
It was a peculiar board-meeting, thought Daphne, because all of its members were women. It’s most uncommon there, although many small Greek companies are headed by women and most big national conglomerates employ a few female directors. Nor had she heard of MuseCorp, but many firms still survive the economic hardship. These eight ladies were [...]
Photo from the Daily MailQueen Victoria with Heirs Britain’s recent royal christening brings us two fascinating family photographs: one of Queen Victoria and another of her great-great-granddaughter, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, each accompanied by three future British kings. They may tell us something surprising about Time, Technology and Western Culture. The elder [...]
No less than a counter-revolution has begun in social science, threatening to turn much of the Enlightenment topsy-turvy. Not only is it fast gaining support within its own disciplines of anthropology, psychology and economics, but it has begun to influence other, “harder,” sciences too. The repercussions may be astounding, altering our view of how cultures [...]
He was a real prince but the fairy-tale elements are just as true. The five surprises unfolded as this exceptional man was swept from relative obscurity to legendary romance and glamour, from terrorist murder to military valour, from unrivalled power to daunting challenge, to heart-rending defeat and then glory beyond our dreams. You couldn’t make [...]
In Monty Python’s comic diner skit every dish came with Spam, either a little or a lot. Is America the same with ideology? Does Ideological America touch everything and corrupt everything it touches, and can it turn back? Or, in the words of President Obama’s periodic, and oftentimes unpleasant, Chicago preacher, have “the chickens come [...]
California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed a new law allowing “transgender” students to choose between boys’ or girls’ sports teams, and use the school locker rooms and lavatories that best suit whatever sex they are or wish to be someday. For me it comes decades too late. […]
In late 2013, the Future Powers met quietly in Astana. Their decision tells us much about 21st Century geopolitics, the balance of power, and the role of decadence in the decline of nations and empires. The Chinese, Central Asians, Russians and Iranians are rebuilding the fabled Silk Road without the silk. In the short-run it [...]
There’s a point to this, but wait for it. Meanwhile, it’s all true and includes a morbidly obese ninja. Newspapers were agog over a Welsh matron staggering home across the village green after a long night in the pub, when she was bitten by a ten-foot python. She thought she’d been stung by nettles until [...]