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The Long View

The Long View 2008-02-11: Rand & the New Atheism; Anne Rice Vindicated; The Softening of Steyn; Sharia at the Ernstfall

For someone as interested in political ideas and movements as John J. Reilly was, I appreciate this take on politics: All politics is opera. The semantic content is rarely the important part. As politics comes to be personal in the waning days of the Republic, we should keep this in

The Long View 2008-02-08: The Year of the Rat; Clinton & Rasputin; UK Sharia; More AH McCain

I can remember this post years later where John J. Reilly pointed out that sharia, like canon law for Catholics, is frequently used to decide family matters. I am surprised he didn’t bring the Investiture Controversy into it though. The Year of the Rat; Clinton & Rasputin; UK Sharia;

The Long View 2008-02-06: Ash Wednesday

Something I hadn’t remembered about John J. Reilly’s musings on politics was that he saw in the policies of the George W. Bush administration a failed attempt to move the Republican Party in a populist direction. Much of the received wisdom of political commentators in the intervening decade

The Long View 2008-02-02: Better the Sultan's Turban than the Pope's Tiara

Much like Ogier the Dane, Last Emperor of the East Constantine XI Palailogos is considered a Man in the Mountain, destined to return in an hour of great need. There is also this fascinating comment by John J. Reilly, which correctly anticipated the turn from factional politics that reflect institutional

The Long View 2008-01-31: Protean Robotics; Deposit insurance & Health Insurance; The Resurrection of McCain

The Disney adaption of Big Hero 6 [Amazon link] did in fact feature protean microbots, but also did not use that term. There is a bit of meat here on John J. Reilly’s idea for turning American healthcare into a public utility. Not a right, but a public good.

The Long View: Novelty

John J. Reilly had quite an interest in the works of John Crowley. I’ve never read anything by him, but this review of four short stories titled Novelty [Amazon link] almost tempts me. Crowley reminds me a lot of Tim Powers, but with greater literary pretensions, which is why

The Long View 2008-01-30: ESB Anomaly; New Candidates; A.D. 2424; Mole Rats; Convergent Evolution

John J. Reilly had something of a horrified fascination with naked mole rats. He also brings up here his review of Simon Conway Morris’ Life’s Solution, which I still find an interesting idea, but one that is probably dismissed more than it should be just because it is looking