“Instead of seeing these children for the blessings that they are, we are measuring them only by the standard of whether they will be future deficits or assets for our nation’s competitive needs.”
Jonathan Kozol
So I’m sitting in Starbucks for a few hours, waiting for my youngest to emerge from a concert. I like Starbucks. Good coffee — at least “good enough,” though pricey. Good wireless Internet — at least good enough . . . and for free.
But, ’tis the season — the “Christmas Season,” if a tad early. And “the war against Christmas” season, too.
The brouhaha about the new seasonal red Starbucks cups has “gone viral,” but I’m pretty sure there’s more haha than brew here. We so feed off of taking offense, and (by extension) ridiculing others who have taken, or given, offense, that the current cultural tempest in a chai tea cup is more meta than earnest.
In case you haven’t seen it, a putative Christian man, vertically misusing his smart phone camera, records how he got around Starbucks’s alleged “anti-Christmas” policy, not by boycotting the coffee but by offering his name as “Merry Christmas,” thus forcing Starbucks employees to write the words on his red cup and say the allegedly prohibited greeting (one Starbucks website promises a future “Christmas blend”).
Funny? Sort of.
He misfired early, though.
Starbucks has never sported the words “Merry Christmas” on its seasonal cup, and this year’s design is minimal and elegant, red with the company’s green logo. Hardly worth a complaint, in my view, and I haven’t met anyone who thinks the cup is worth getting all riled up about.
As for “forcing” baristas to say the words, well, just how Christmas-y is that? Plus, it’s not Christmas yet. It is not even Thanksgiving.
Happy mid-November. This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
“The final test of truth is ridicule. Very few dogmas have ever faced it and survived.”
H. L. Mencken, Damn! A Book of Calumny (1918)
On November 12, 1905, Norwegians established, by referendum, a monarchy — not a republic. Exactly 14 years later, to the day, Austria became a republic.
When people risk their lives, saying thanks is the least we can do.
But it’s not enough.
Today on Veterans’ Day, we honor those who have served and are serving in the military.
The holiday was once Armistice Day, marking the peace agreement that concluded World War I at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. That’s where the phrase “the eleventh hour” comes from. It’s also why the holiday has remained on whatever day Nov. 11 falls — not the closest Monday to provide non-military government workers another three-day weekend.
Of course, Woodrow Wilson’s “war to end all wars” didn’t end warfare. Numerous wars have followed. Today, the president goes to war whenever he feels like it, not only without a declaration, without any authorization — or even discussion — by Congress.
So, here’s what I think we owe veterans:
A federal government that keeps its word.
The Veterans Administration’s continued failure to adequately care for returning soldiers is unacceptable. Until the VA is fixed, don’t vote for any incumbent.
Don’t let our uniformed sons and daughters be shipped off to any conflict where (a) our freedoms are not directly threatened, and (b) where there’s no sane plan to end the conflict and bring our troops home.
Don’t trust politicians.
From the sinking of the Maine (Spanish-American War) and the Lusitania (WWI) to the Gulf of Tonkin incident (Vietnam) and the faulty intelligence that greased the path into the Iraq Conquest, distrust is rational, almost a duty.
Disagree over foreign policy? Over whether to go to war or not? Sure, but we cannot leave these decisions to an insulated cabal of politicians. Deinsulate them. Speak your mind.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
On November 11, 1889, the State of Washington was admitted as the 42nd State of the United States.
In 1918, German officials signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car in the forest of Compiègne, France. The fighting officially ended at 11:00 a.m. — the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. The war officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919.
In 1921 on this date, U.S. President Warren G. Harding dedicated the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.
“Wonderful teachers should never let themselves be drill sergeants for the state.”
Jonathan Kozol, as quoted in Reading, writing, and rebellion,
by Tracy Jan, Boston Globe, September 21, 2007.
Uber’s challenge to old-fashioned ride service — to the taxi industry — is at least twofold.
One, it shows government regulation to be counterproductive and kind of witless.
Two, it shows that innovation — particularly by decreasing transaction costs — can rapidly transform a market for the good of consumers.
Recently, politicians who play to special interests — in this case, to taxicab companies and taxi drivers — have made some spectacular blunders. Perhaps the best-known is Bernie Sanders, who claims to see severe “problems” with Uber’s online ride-sharing service, but whose campaign staff uses Uber for ride-sharing . . . and nothing else. Hah!
But the London transit regulators have made the biggest splash.
Their latest proposal? To require Uber drivers to wait five minutes before picking somebody up.
Evens the playing field, you see.
Uber is so much quicker to respond to the paying riders’ needs that taxicabs apparently cannot compete in Old London Town.
The folks at Uber publicized the expected company reaction: the regulation would be a “huge mistake.”
But really, it’s a HUGE ADMISSION.
It shows that Uber’s service is superior, and that government regulators are more interested in protecting providers (taxicabs) than customers (pedestrians seeking rides).
It also shows these regulations for what they really are: protectionism for special interests, not protection for the safety of consumers.
Remember what Frédéric Bastiat said about protectionism: it’s always about placing obstacles in front of some producers (and the market in general) to aid a select (literally privileged) group of producers, regardless of consumer wants and needs.
Hobbling Uber to save taxicabs! What’ll they think of next?
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
On November 10, 1821, the First Cry of Independence in the small, interior town of Villa de los Santos, occurred in Panama. The November 10 date has since become Panama’s “Cry of Independence Day” in the country. November is a month of independence celebrations in Panama, but the November 10 celebration marks the first signs of the struggle for separation from Spain.
“Truth would quickly cease to be stranger than fiction, once we got as used to it.”
H. L. Mencken, A Little Book in C Major (1916)