Public dollars ought to go toward degrees that make you employable

So says Florida Governor Rick Scott. Why run up huge student loan debts to get degrees in anthropology, art history, comparative literature, philosophy, or political science? I agree. If you run up a student loan tab in the five figure range and all you have to show for it is a degree in Women's Studies or Comparative Religion (albeit with a fancy diploma from a good school) but that will hang like a millstone around your neck forever, what good did it really do for you or the rest of society?

One memory I have from my misspent youth was reading Ayn Rand bitching, as reported by one of her biographers,  about the way that the newly installed Soviet regime cut funding massively for the liberal arts departments at their universities after the revolution was secure in order to beef up the fields of engineering, the sciences, and the practical arts while she was a student majoring in history and philosophy. That was one of the few good moves they made in my humble opinion.

What alternative do you have if you don't want to study accounting, nursing, medicine, mathematics, geology, or some practical subject if you can't get financial aid to study that stuff? Paying for your education yourself seem like a decent option to me but in any case asking the taxpayers to fund your study of Egyptology, renaissance poetry or mass communications should be off the table.

CNet tech blogger demonstrates a love/hate relationship with Ayn Rand, iPad apps

"Shrug off the recession with your new Ayn Rand iPad app" Says CNet News' Technically Incorrect blogger Chris Matyszczyk

"Ayn Rand was the ultimate laissez-fairy. She waved her wand and imagined a world in which only the individual mattered, only the individual could make things happen. She may well have been right. With just one wave of your index finger, you can now cuddle up to her and listen to the whispers of her wisdom."

Matyszczyk appears to be both attracted to and repelled by Rand. Like a lot of us I guess.

Libertarians hate us. Really, really hate us.

One Daniel J. Mitchell posting at the Cato Institute blog enjoys the fact of Detroit's economic decline and the suffering of her people. It deeply engages Mitchell's sadism: "Detroit is a miserable case study of big government run amok, so I enjoyed a moment or two of guilty pleasure as I read this CNBC story about the ongoing decay of the Motor City." [link in original]

Doctor Mitchell then goes to explain how Ayn Rand's screed about industrial decline Atlas Shrugged predicted this outcome way back in the 1950's. Yeah, sure she did. She just knew, even then, at the peak of America's post-war industrial zenith that market forces were going use their invisible hands to dismantle Detroit's manufacturing economy and hand it all over to the Chinese. Mitchell cites no evidence in his post for this astonishing gob of spit he hurls at Detroit but instead uses the rest of the post  to defend Ayn Rand's literary reputation. Again astonishing.

I hope nothing bad ever happens to the tony D.C. suburbs where Mitchell likely lives. Cuz then Danny boy will truly experience some schadenfreude. Count on it.

Weblog

Not yet but getting there

Feral cat population getting to be a problem in Jackson county (Jackson Citizen-Patriot/MLive)

Professional homophobe and ex-Asst AG Andrew Shirvell sure has a lot of gall (Neal Rubin, Det News)
Shirvell pestered, libeled, defamed, and harassed former UM student body president Christopher Armstrong so long and so relentlessly that it got him fired from his job, banned from the UM campus and sued in federal court. Now the tables have turned and Shirvell wants some privacy for himself. Go figure?

Michigan State Senator wants to legalize bigger more powerful firecrackers in time for July 4th (Lansing State-Journal)
Sen. Rick Jones, a Grand Ledge Republican thinks bigger and louder fireworks are okay. The cops, fire marshals and emergency room doctors aren't so sure.

Female "special operators" now accompanying males on combat missions in Iraq (Darlene Iskra, Battleland blog)
"The women are needed in order to complete the mission. The women help by calming the local women's fears, by guarding them so they cannot attack, and by respecting the local cultural norms with regard to the segregation of women and men. But the women warriors can also kick butt when required, now that they are properly trained." But they have to wear hijabs. Three steps forward one step back.

Ayn Rand briefly summarized in a few pithy sentences (Matt Yglesias/Julian Sanchez, Bloggingheads.tv)

Amazon.com and the People's Republic of California fight it out over internet sales tax issue (Declan McCullough, CNET News)

Copyright troll Righthaven fought to a standstill before the courts (David Kravets, Threat Level blog)
Serves them right the assholes.

weblog

Hey, I needed cigarette money!

Ayn Rand accepted Social Security? Does that invalidate (on its own) everything she wrote about individual responsibly and autonomy?

weblog

A deconstruction of Ayn Rand & Objectivism from the Right - Claremont Institute (Charles Murray)
An Appreciation of the life & work of sci-fi author Robert A. Heinlein - LvMI (Jeff Riggenbach) podcast
A simple urine test for autism coming soon - ScienceBlog
Illegal trailer park turning into a legal community - LA Times
Georgia's monument to Stalin - Reason
Whites in California breeding at below replacement level - SF Chronicle

weblog

Ann Arbor's mayor a true greenie - Michigan Daily

The "stability tax" that the poor have to pay-Bloggingheads.tv

To wit: 8-11% of their income goes for things like penalties, reconnect fees, late fees, additional interest. Yikes!

Free The Animal blogger Richard Nickoley throwing in with Objectivists? - Free The Animal

Who cares as long as they get the name right, eh Rich? I dunno if it's a good idea (for the reason of possible damage to your credibility) to associate yourself with the Randroids though.

"Plutonomy"? Isn't that the same as "plutocracy"? - Front Porch Republic (John Medaille)

Yeah, but this is still a pretty good and emotionally satisfying populist rant.

An essential tool for the couch potato - Gizmodo

A universal remote with a bottle opener built into it.

War on Drugs a "stimulus plan for Mexican drug cartels" - Wall Street Journal online (M.A. O'Grady)

At least someone gets it.

weblog

Teens think blogging is lame. Twitter too. - Ars Technica
Walking Away from Underwater Mortgages Is Good for the Economy - Beat The Press blog
"If millions of homeowners made this decision it could lead to tens of billions of dollars in additional consumption, providing a substantial boost to the economy. The decision of homeowners to walk away might be bad news for banks, but it is good news for the economy."
"Right to Work" really means "Right to Work... for less" - Ron Gettlefinger (Detroit News)
Ayn Rand: Nuts in theory, nuts in practice. A book review of her latest biography. - New Criterion
The Catastrophe of Postmodernism - John Zerzan (Anarchist Library)
The Thong Is Dead!- Cosmopolitan
The new trend is toward designs that don't give you a permanent wedgie.