Today's themes: Government, politics, history

Wandering around the blog neighborhood, I'm finding people discussing news and views, and points to ponder, about government(s) then and now, here and there:

At Cafe Hayek, Don Boudreaux argues that Government Ain't Us. He wonders (as do I) why it is, for so many people, that "The assumption seems to be that unless certain things are done by government, they aren't done -- even if they are done!" Let him explain. And then let's all be more careful how we use the word we. ;-).

At Betsy's Page, Betsy Newmark is wondering where people have been for the last, say, hundred years to have come up with the idea that the government is good at doing things. She points out that even D-Day had its major mistakes, and it was very carefully planned, after all.

At Expat Yank, Robert Tumminello would like to give Sir Menzies a history lesson. Robert goes back to 1946, when Britain was holding German POWs past the time some people thought was proper. There were more than 400,000 POWs, and Clement Attlee's Socialist government was pointedly ignoring the Geneva Convention.

Over at Elephants in Academia, AcademicElephant brings us the news that Hugo Chavez is not a ladies' man. The post takes a glance at how two powerful women in Latin America -- newly-elected President of Chile Michelle Bachelet, and Lourdes Flores Nano (who apparently stands a good chance of being the next President of Peru) -- are dealing with Chavez and with his "vision" for Latin America.

And, just so you know, humorist Garrison Keillor is proposing a constitutional amendment requiring that a candidate for president of the United States have at least two years of full-time military service. I don't know about you, but I sometimes have a hard time telling when Keillor is being serious and when he's being snarky. This column is no exception. Some of it I think he means in earnest, and other parts, well, I'm pretty sure he doesn't. It does have some nice praise for people he's met who have served in Iraq, for what it's worth. (Via Garrison Keillor Goes Robert A. Heinlein? at the Apologies Demanded blog, via I don't remember. Does anyone else ever wish, now and then, that they took notes while following links around the 'net?)