Dealer’s Choice … Potpourri (11 May 2008)

Well, last week we weighed in on local issues, specifically the proposed annexation. This week is Mother’s Day, and we expect a light turnout. So I’ll be there with the truly dedicate, and we’ll just talk without a hard agenda. It’s Dealer’s Choice at the next Politics and a Pint!

We mostly talked about City process and especially recent power struggles within the City Admin staff.  It seems clear that there is an undercurrent of issues flowing beneath the deceptively calm surface here in this little village on the Cannon.

Legal details (in appropriately tiny font):

What: Politics and a Pint
Where: The Contented Cow
When: Sunday, 11 May 2008, 6-7:30PM

Afghanistan … (20 Apr 2008)

At the last P&aP I talked briefly with John Fossum, recently returned from Afghanistan. He said he had some photos (on a computer) and that he would be interested in showing us some of them and talking about his experiences “over there”. This should be a very interesting evening, in the spirit of an earlier mind-opening presention by Carleton Professor Bereket Haileab , who gave a presentation in December of 2007 (with visuals!) on the topic “The Ethics of Foreign Aid”. Join us for what promises to be an interesting peek behind the headlines at the next Politics and a Pint!

Unintended consequences (17 Feb 2008)

The road to hell is paved with the good intentions of many a politician. With the best of intentions, Vermont passed a law banning billboards. What did they get instead? Giant “sculptures” that are probably at least as obnoxious. These monstrosities are examples of what happens when we try to write codes that our standing armies of lawyers cannot get around. Like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, they will find a way. There are many such examples of an unintended consequences … our next topic at Politics and a Pint.

Read more for other planned topics …

Adam Smith’s Invisible Fist (27 Jan 2008)

This week at Politics and a Pint I hope to draw some simple graphs that will show the relationship between Adam Smith’s invisible fist (he called it a “hand”, but he was a proto-victorian wimp) and the two big social constructs - capitalism and socialism. Then we’ll have a bit of fun before we digress into Kiffi’s talk on “the letter”.  Think of Adam Smith as a sort of pre-show bit of audience warming diversion, some mathematical fluff for an appetizer.