Carnival of the Vanities - week 167

Welcome to week 167 of the Carnival of the Vanities. Please excuse the minor error in the banner... I mistakenly started counting from the '165' link in this post. This weeks' submissions have been broken down into the very popular categorical format and I've taken the liberty to put my favorites at the top. Thank you and enjoy the Carnival! Stephen Littau gives a lengthy and most excellent primer to the life of John Locke - a philosopher who's writings were building blocks towards modern freedom and libertarianism. John Locke was a fearless philosopher because he dared to challenge the notion of Divine Right and advanced the rights of life, liberty, property, and religious tolerance for all individuals. An excellent history of Mr. Locke. Jack Cluth hails the arbitration ruling against Terrell Owens and lambasts the NFLPA's whining about it. Translation: Upshaw is upset that someone is actually holding one of his charges accountable for their immature, me-first egomania, so now he’s going to take his ball and go home. I can't say I'm surprised. I mean, he has to represent players and lots of players are egocentric narcissists. Wayne Hurlbert has excellent pointers for the activist blogger. Whether you are tying to change the world, or just your own little corner of it, activist blogs might provide the ideal outlet for your goals. Most great things start small. Will Franklin has an outstanding post on General Motors, the thriving U.S. economy and the forces of Creative Destruction. Want a worker's paradise, with lots of jobs, high pay, good benefits, and decent job security? Thinking that more unionization, less trade, more protectionism, less free enterprise, and more Europeanism is the answer for America's economy in the 21st century? Think again. It will make you think. Warren Meyer at Coyote Blog has a superb rant. Again we hear the lament that the game was great until these conservative yahoos took over. No, it wasn't. It was unjust to scheme to control other people's lives, and just plain stupid to expect that the machinery of control you created would never fall into your political enemy's hands. A most excellent libertarian argument. And Warren, it's ok, to rant. Tis good for the soul. ***** The Rest... Blogging Russ Mitchell of Boxing Alcibiades has food blogging at its finest! Reading this post contains 150 calories, 0 g of fat and 4 g of carbs. Elisa Camahort opines on what makes a good carnival. She likes cleverness and creativity - so do we! Coturnix submits an article on the similarities of the blogosphere and living organisms. No petri dishes were harmed in the process. Economics Francois Tremblay from The Radical Libertarian has a great read on how anti-consumerism adversely affects the poor, yet is an integral part of communism, nazism and radical dictatorships. Wal*Mart = not the anti-Christ. Doug Mataconis offers another in-depth post on those who hate Wal*Mart and the actual good things the company provides. Free Money Finance helps answer a question of Money Management 101: Pay off debt or invest? My suggestion? Stay away from pork rind futures... Dan Melson at Searchlight Crusade has an informative post warning those needing home loans to beware of shady lenders. Yes... with their shady eyes that move swiftly from side to side... Education The Raging Conservative rails against questionable subjects (i.e. porn "studies) becoming more and more prevalent in higher education. This wasn't an option at my alma mater... not sure whether to be happy or sad. Elisson gives readers a flashback to his college years - and the story of the mother of all water balloon launchers. Humor Peace Moonbeam submits an entry highlighting the events of an evening of fellowship amongst the Democrats' finest. I met a stripper once named Peace Moonbeam... or was it Piece Moonbeam? The Assimilated Negro asks what's wrong with a little self-promotion? Nothing, if the story is good, yo... Speaking of self-promotion, we here at File it Under had a pretty good post this week. Buckley F. Williams' hilarious commentary: Detonation Is Temporary, Pride Is Forever Jim at Page 10 International writes about what you aren't reading in the papers. I blame the bird flu... Mark Raymer has a new poll showing Canadian voters not apathetic, but in existential crisis. Poll has a margin of error of +/- 4 maple leafs. Harshly Mellow downplays the hype that we here on earth may be threatened from hostile aliens. This makes XENU angry! Tim Kelly at Crack the Bell gives a very detailed account of the Plane Fax Machine from Hell. Not an adlib - I said fax machine. General\Misc. Muse at Me-Ander quips about the difficulties of taking a break. Odd, I find working more difficult. Suzi Chen at Special Fried Rice as a post that, quite thoroughly, describes what a blog is and its components. Point anyone that's not blog/internet savvy to this post. Big Picture Guy celebrates a co-worker's retirement. I have over four decades left!!! YAY! Josh Cohen at Multiple Mentality has the Cliffs Notes on the fourth Harry Potter movie. There's a spoiler warning for this very in-depth movie critiquing. Politics\Government Kiril Kundurazieff does a great fisking of an article chocked full of left-leaning bunk camouflaged as an article on Critical Mass and bicycling. First academia, now bicycles... Batya of Shiloh Musings posts a brief opinion piece on Ariel Sharon's new Kadima political party. Different River has an important post on the bureaucracy that is the FDA. Red tape in government? Get... OUT! Muse submits an unfortunate catch-22 with regards to police brutality. Succinct. Unfortunate. Adam Graham at Adam's blog discovers the politics of tipping tipping of politicians (and left-wing dolts). Joy-Ann of The Reid Report is proud of the title of this post and I'll admit, Jean Schmidt deserves every bit of ridicule. Mensa Barbie welcomes you to read about Liberia's newest political leader, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Matt Johnston writes that the divide between the public and the military goes back to long ago and the media isn't solely to blame. DL at TMH's Bacon Bits notes an apparent reversal (read, hipocricy) regarding democrats and Michael Moore. Democrats never cease to amaze me. (Sorry...) Religion\Philosophy Xingzhe at Western Resistance exerpts and comments on The Great Theft - a book by Khaled Abou El Fadl on the efforts to push moderate Islam to the forefront. Isaac Schrödinger blogs on first-hand accounts of how in Saudi Arabia, all muslims are not equal. Future CotVs December 7th - Denali Flavors December 14th - Multiple Mentality December 21st - Ravenwood's Universe December 28th - Chicken Soup For The Damned - The 171st and final edition of the COTV, at least as co-ordinated by Silflay Hraka. Should you wish to be come the new manager of the COTV, drop Silflay a line. And here's one of my top favorite carnivals out there! And, yes, it was inspired by the Carnival of the Vanities. Back to the main page