So I figured I’d drop the gay marriage issue after the last post. Also, upon looking back on the first screed I banged out in response to a Stan Kurtz piece, I admonished myself to remain calm and polite, even when responding to people with truly repugnant views. Well, I’m obviously not sticking to the […]

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After a too-long hiatus during which The Fly Bottle was starting to look like Will Wilkinson Magazine (to paraphrase Jim Henley), or maybe Will Wilkinson Quarterly, my favorite philosoblogger returns to the fray with a spate of new postings.

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In the comments section following Jim DeLong’s response to my open source article, programmer Virginia Warren points out that some of DeLong’s characterization of the “General Public License” under which open source software is released is misleading. She writes: [The GPL] does *not* say, as Mr. DeLong claims, that software licensed under the GPL cannot […]

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Ok, not to beat this issue into the ground, but two addenda on the topic of gay marriage… First, yes, I know that gender bias triggers “intermediate scrutiny” in equal protection cases, not the “compelling interest” standard required when “strict scrutiny” (as triggered by, e.g., race) is in effect. I used the “compelling interest” language […]

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I occasionally talk about what I call the “Tracy Chapman Problem” faced by free-marketeers of various stripes. That is, “Poor people gonna get their share / Don’t you know I’m / Talking ’bout a revolution” makes a passable folk song lyric, whereas it’s hard to picture college kids sitting around with an acoustic guitar, voices […]

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I’ve written an article defending “affirmative action for open source” in government procurement over on TechCentralStation, with a response by Jim DeLong (recently of CEI, now of PFF). The reply is, as one would expect from DeLong, quite an able one, though I do feel compelled to observe that he focuses quite heavily on the […]

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It looks like Reason is about to become one more magazine that exists as a side project to a wildly popular group blog. Or at least, I can only assume that with the combination of wit and intellect on staff, it’s about to become wildly popular.

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Also posted at Laissez Faire Books. A few weeks back, I wrote a somewhat intemperate attack on a National Review article, penned by Stan Kurtz, opposing gay marriage. I must confess no small measure of surprise to find this piece now cited by Kurtz himself, as a gambit in Kurtz’s ongoing debate with Andrew Sullivan. […]

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His blogesty links to this WaPo piece, which reports that besieged Louisiana Senate candidate Mary Landrieu, a Democrat, turned over a $1000 donation from Handgun Control International to a hunting group, lest there be any confusion about her support for gun rights. Now, I have to wonderâ?¦ is that really legal? Can a candidate decide […]

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I’m still apparently in certain of NYU’s databases, and get occasional emails broadcast to the student body. Here’s the latest one: Please be advised that Ansell Healthcare Incorporated, a manufacturer of latex condoms, is initiating a voluntary recall of LIFESTYLES ASSORTED COLORS AND FLAVORS condoms. [….] If you are in possession of these condoms, which […]

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