"Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, 'What should be the reward of such sacrifices?' ... If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!" --Samuel Adams

Thank you Justice Kennedy

Yesterday's Kelo decision by the Supreme Court was as result of Justice Kennedy flip-flopping over to the left on the issue of property rights. The essence of this decision is that wealthy developers now have almost unlimited access to force unwilling individuals to sell their property if the sale is approved by a city council that finds the sale to be in the best interest of the community. It is a sweeping change that truly undermines the foundations of our free enterprise system of equal opportunity and private property ownership. The potential abuse of this new power by cities and developers is staggering.

Anna Karenina

I recently finished Leo Tolstoy's provocative look at Russian society near the turn of the century, "Anna Karenina." For those of you who haven't read it, I highly encourage doing so. I don't consider myself a huge reader, but thankfully there are audio books these days and I was able to make it through that mega-work in only a month or so. (If you know me, you know I have many books sitting around half finished, so this is quite the accomplishment, if I may so shower accolades on myself.)

Tolstoy begins with the famous proposition that "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Actually, he begins with the epigraph: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." Those propositions are dually and integrally woven into the theme, which, ultimately, appears to be that in the eternal struggle between self-will and God's ordered design, the pursuit of selfish desires inevitably leads to unhappiness and ruin, while those who recognize an ordered existence greater than self - and respect that order - will find meaning and happiness. That simple explanation, however, offers no justice to the depth of the book. Throughout, there are numerous issues of great significance in Tostoy's day - many of which continue to be important social issues - that are debated in great detail, with very stimulating and persuasive arguments for each position. What I found most stunning, though, was the incredible accuracy and detail in the character studies and interior monologue of the plot's main characters. Sometimes offering multiple chapters to describe a few hours of an ordinary day, Tolstoy often leaves little room for conjecture, describing even the innermost thoughts in minutia. (On occassion, he even offers a brief monologue on behalf of Levin's hound dog, which I found to be rather entertaining.) Unlike another famous Russian author, Tolstoy's minute character depictions are not only plausible, but stunningly accurate, and leave the reader with a the truest sense of identification in a fresh world they regret to close the pages to.

A thorough and excellent review of the book can be found here.

Favorite non-words

According to Merriam-Webster.com, the top 10 favorite words that aren't in the dictionary are:

1. ginormous (adj): bigger than gigantic and bigger than enormous

2. confuzzled (adj): confused and puzzled at the same time

3. woot (interj): an exclamation of joy or excitement

4. chillax (v): chill out/relax, hang out with friends

5. cognitive displaysia (n): the feeling you have before you even leave the house that you are going to forget something and not remember it until you're on the highway (My personal favorite)

6. gription (n): the purchase gained by friction: "My car needs new tires because the old ones have lost their gription."

7. phonecrastinate (v): to put off answering the phone until caller ID displays the incoming name and number

8. slickery (adj): having a surface that is wet and icy

9. snirt (n): snow that is dirty, often seen by the side of roads and parking lots that have been plowed

10. lingweenie (n): a person incapable of producing neologisms

Like words that have recently preceded them into the dictionary, watch their stock. I'd buy call options for these.