Hobby Lobby and Karl Polanyi

Interesting that Hobby Lobby, in its Supreme Court case, is merely looking to provide health insurance that excludes abortifacients; the health "insurance" it  already  provides covers the Pill, which is as cheap and available as aspirin.  As Patrick Ledeen argues here, this is merely a rearguard skirmish. The profane world of the market took over a long time ago.  He enlists the Hungarian economic historian Karl Polanyi to make his case about how the profane world of the market economy not only dominates our lives, but has even changed our fundamental nature.  (Polanyi did not believe that market exchanges are part of the natural order of things, and didn't play a big role in until the 19th century or so.  I read his classic "The Great Transformation" too long ago!)  His piece worth reading if only to remind us that not everyone thinks in classical economic terms. http://www.theamericanconservative.com/hobbylobby/

Sandy Fluke's Long March

Corporations have personhood status under the law.   Sorry: This is an ancient juridical principal and is supported by the Supreme Court.   But it is being vigorously disputed by the Left.   ( I understand that. Fighting against business interests is what they do.)  Hobby Lobby''s case if before the Supremes as it attempts to defend itself by not offering health insurance that contravenes its pro-life values.  Note Bene: Contraception requires NO health insurance.  You can buy it cheaply over the counter.  This is never mentioned.  Why should we all the health insurance subscripers assume the cost of someone else's contraception or abortion?   Anyway, the piece below by Sandra Fluke is typical:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/sandra-fluke-at-the-supreme-court-a-potential-contraception-catastrophe/2014/03/24/4c41f4aa-b38a-11e3-b899-20667de76985_story.html

Sandra Fluke (rhymes with...never mind.  The u is short.) went to Georgetown Law schoool and began her public career there by insisting that the nominally Catholic university provide coverage for contraception.  She has also argued that sex-reassignment surgery should also be covered.   We suspect that was her real agenda all along.  See here: https://www.catholic.org/news/politics/story.php?id=45074

Sandra is a Gramscian "intellectual" engaged in the "long march through the institutions."  She's running for state senate in California and doubtless she'll win.

The Empire Lover

I read Robert Kaplan regularly in Stratfor and other places.  He's the John Gunther of his generation.   He's correct in emphasizing geography's preeminence in determining state behavior.  But his writing is hit-or-miss.  Last year I plowed through his book "The Revenge of Geography," and thought it was aimless and hastily written.   I have never bought his "Coming Anarchy" thesis, which seems to define anarchy as any bad stuff happening in faraway places.  Geopolitically, this is a more stable age than the Cold War was, with less lethal wars.  Still, there might be something to the idea of empire's benefits for minorities and its cosmopolitan outlook.  (A final quibble:  Why some writers interpret Kipling's "White Man Burden" poem as an exhortation to empire puzzles me; it clearly is ironically written and was intended as a warning to the AEF in the Philippines.  See also the title of Max Boot's "Savage Wars for Peace.")

See Kaplan's full piece on the defense of Empire in Atlantic here:  http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/04/in-defense-of-empire/358645/

Nationalism is Still Standing, and That's Not a Bad Thing

All other ideological rivals--communism, liberal internationalism--have either faded or have failed to inspire, leaving nationalism as the last man standing.  See this piece by journalist John O'Sullivan on the cast for nationalism and how healthy nationalism is a prerequisite for democracy.  He writes:

A final brief argument is perhaps the strongest: Nation-states are an almost necessary basis for democracy. A common language and culture, a common allegiance to national institutions, a common sense of destiny, all within a defined territory, with equal rights for all citizens—these seem to be the conditions that enable people with different opinions and interests to accept political defeat and the passage of laws to which they strongly object. There are a few exceptions to this rule—India, Switzerland—but many more confirmations of it.

The whole piece is here: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303802104579451504265877512?mod=WSJ_hp_RightTopStories&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303802104579451504265877512.html%3Fmod%3DWSJ_hp_RightTopStories

Putin is NOT a nationalist, he argues, but an imperialist.  (Debatable.) It looks like Putin's motives have been for Russia's security. (This piece explains better than most why Putin's gambit deserves to be opposed.  But he's right in noting that a strong sense of identity and obligation to the nation-state probably is the best bulwark for democratic freedoms. 

Britain Serves International Oligarchs

"You pay them, you own them."   Ben Judah explains Britain's role today.  This article referenced in the Shaxson piece.  It is even more hard hitting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/08/opinion/londons-laundry-business.html?_r=1

The City of London and the Empire

Sanctions against Russia are bound to have little impact because the City of London has too much at stake with Russian financial interests, licit and illicit.  This article by Nicholas Shaxson explains the real power of the City of London as ground zero of offshore money and "secrecy jurisdictions."    Much of this piece was taken from his worthwhile book "Treasure Islands,"  a key source for understanding how globalization really works.   It also gives some insight into how hamstrung states are in bringing dictators and criminals to account.  The laissez-faire ideology, which works against state sovereignty and national economic planning, is sustained by the City and other offshore interests.  (One of Shaxson's more important points is that seedy offshore locales like the Cayman Islands really distract us from the real tax havens, which are the legitimate financial institutions of the U.S. and the UK.)

http://www.the-american-interest.com/articles/2014/03/19/the-much-too-special-relationship/

The Strident Urgency of the Climate Change Crowd

This piece highlights the latest warnings from the IPCC.  As the evidence of severe climate change becomes less conclusive, the tone of the warnings has grown more alarmist.  http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/official-prophecy-of-doom-global-warming-will-cause-widespread-conflict-displace-millions-of-people-and-devastate-the-global-economy-9198171.html

It impresses me how this mindset has even captured people who make their living in industry.  They seem unaware of the consequences of constantly giving in to pseudoscientific arguments.