Self Limiting

We have been working our way through a series of lectures mainly centered on economics by Ron Nash. The one we listened to yesterday was a guest lecturer who is a law professor from Mexico City. His point was simply this: For every right there is a corresponding duty. That is to say, for every right you have (i.e. the right to life) someone else (in this case everyone else) has the duty not to take your life. You can see this work in other examples; property, liberty, etc. In essence, each right, or law, has a negative effect on your freedom. The vast majority of people would gladly limit their own freedom to protect against murder and theft but the relationship gets sticky the deeper you delve into the theory. This country has thousands of laws and hundreds of politicians passing laws almost daily to make a more "equitable society." Laws at the federal, state and local levels, tax laws, civil rights, entitlements galore, each of which limit the freedom of every individual not protected under those rights. In the next day or two a new right and law will be signed enforcing everyone to obtain health insurance or face fines, basically a tax on breathing. The system is fraught with contradiction which is most evident with the issue of abortion.

It is really a simple, intuitive idea that I'm ashamed to say I had not properly comprehended. The Constitution originally only guaranteed the rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Really that should have been enough. Now we've signed away our own liberty in the name of fairness.

Bath and Cardiff

Last weekend we took a short trip over to England and Wales. It ended up being a 3 city tour as we traveled to Bath, Cardiff and then to Bristol for half a day. Bath is considered to be the most beautiful city in England. It was made famous and owes its history to the thermal baths that bubble up underneath it. The Romans first made the city into a resort town and the thermal waters into a temple and baths. The Britains have since excavated the baths and turned them into a tourist attraction with active baths in another part of town. The Roman baths are complete with actors and everything. We visited a few other sites in town including the Jane Austen House where we had tea, scones and Bath Buns. Needless to say, Dana was a little more excited about that part of the trip than I was.

Cardiff is the capital of Wales and a lot of it is relatively new construction. Most of the city center is high end shops and the area around the bay has been rebuilt with loads restaurants. We spent most of our time wandering around the city, taking in the shops and the castle and even took a river boat down to the harbor.

Bristol was the city we spent time in by default as it was where we flew in and out of. It was nothing special really but more shopping and few big cathedrals. I won't complain as it is always nice to go somewhere. I think of all the places we've been over the last 2 1/2 years and it amazes me that we've taken in so much. Who could complain?? Well, this was an anniversary trip of sorts as you may have noticed from Dana's site. It has been 8 years! 8! Seriously!! Well, it won't be long before we're off again. Until then...

Patty's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Mother Land. Today we had breakfast with our friends Dave and Betsy along with Betsy's sister and brother-in-law and then went downtown for the parade. This is my 3rd year going into the city and it amazes me how many people will travel thousands of miles to experience St. Patty's Day in Dublin, but there you have it...tourist central. There are always some interesting floats and about a million people. As you can see, it stresses Dana out! Here are some pics from today. I hope you're all having a Guinness for us.

What's Up?

Things have been interesting this year. We moved again. This apartment is pretty sweet and in one of the nicer parts of Dublin but it is very poorly insulated, and this has been the coldest winter in 60 years! That probably isn't an ideal combination, but we've seen the first signs of Spring. We've been trying to plan some trips, which has been a bit slow going. This is partially because I've been busy running my department as a "lame duck." I have a certain idea as to how things should work and believe it or not, it is rarely the way things have "always been done." Next week we have our interviews for the permanent position which I'll be participating in. I have a keen interest in politics but I'm apparently not a very good politician. I really hate trying to keep up with all that stuff at work. For some reason I think the two should be uninvolved...unless you're actually a politician...call me crazy. It is pretty well assumed that the outcome of the interview is pre-decided but I see it as a chance to take part in a very high profile interview and say what I think needs to be said.

My mom is coming for a visit at the end of the month and we're going on a mystery trip. That should be fun. We're also heading to Bath, U.K. and Cardiff, Wales in 2 weeks. It'll be a nice weekend getaway. Well, back to preparing for the interview...maybe after I watch a little more TV.