The Hulk is what the liberal media believes the voter to be.

I loved your writing, by the way.

Still, I'm not sure that a silly claim of what the theory of evolution through natural selection means, as made in a movie, does anything to invalidate the theory itself.

I imagine there are plenty of examples in popular culture of non-materialist beliefs being presented as morphing into grim spectres of doom.

Or in real life. Heaven's Gate, for example.

I suspect that there are far too many instances of human stupidity, misrepresentation and venality in both story and life for both believers and non-believers to draw strong associations.

The theory of evolution presented in popular fiction like X-Men and Heroes bears passing little resemblance to the theory of evolution employed by biologists. I find myself struggling to shrug off those feeble attempts at explaining the story.

I'd be far happier if they just left it as the various mutants having all fallen into apocryphal vats of toxic waste. No more scientifically valid, of course, but at least it would be obvious to all that it is a simple story device.

The way things are currently, a perfectly serviceable scientific theory is being continually misrepresented in a way that makes me think that the show makers themselves have no idea what it's all about.

Tony, I'm afraid that is a common misconception. The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 is quite clear:

s.245(1) It shall be the duty of every elector to vote at each election.

...

(15) An elector is guilty of an offence if the elector fails to vote at an election. Penalty: $50

Likewise the Australian Electoral Commission refers to it as 'compulsory voting'.

The fact that it's easy to get away with informal voting has been been used to make this legal requirement warmer and cuddlier. Others might argue that the penalty of $20 (if you respond to a penalty notice) or $50 (not $15 as the article claims) is trivial.

But that's like arguing that an expensive sex-worker isn't really a sex worker because she's expensive. It's not the price. It's the rule that counts.

So how evil is compulsory voting? At my very first election as an eighteen year old the (relatively) conservative party did not run a candidate in my electorate.So I was forced by law to vote for one of either the then quite left-wing Australian Labor Party or the Socialist Workers' Alliance.This is seriously being proposed for the United States? Incredible.

How very interesting that Australian should be singled out as the mandatory voting nation which should be emulated.What about the other one? What was it?Oh, that's right: Greece!Meanwhile, here in Australia our system has lumbered as with a government that appears intent on impoverishing us all.Ornstein's participation in this Blame The Republicans travesty is, meanwhile, being trumpeted by Government media here in Australia.

All the Econtalk podcasts are great, except that they aren't good for listening to when you're doing anything other than the most mechanical and mindless things. You have to listen or you're wasting them.

I especially recommend two in which Roberts himself is the main speaker. One is a meditation on how much he and others fool themselves as scientists, and the other on the crisis.

Amazing stuff, and extraordinary demonstrations of humility.

And, as someone else noted, the episodes with Mike Munger (the security guard in the second Hayek/Keynes rap video) are hilarious.

After many years of working in both private and government sectors, and also being a customer of both, I'd venture that saying the private sector does a better job of delivering goods and services than the government sector is like saying that men are physically stronger than women.

It is true in the sense of averages and trends, but says little about specific instances.

Real capitalism has the virtue of providing a stern corrective to poor behaviour. But other social and cultural standards can, in some circumstances and some places, do almost as good a job. Those standards tend to manifest themselves mostly in places where there is a clear, universally agreed goal as raison d'etre of the organisation. For example military, police, NASA and, of course, hospitals.

Once the mission becomes less clear, more watered down, then the cultural standards become weakened. NASA could put a man on the moon, and when that goal was gone it became increasingly aimless.

As hospitals become bureaucratised, perhaps their mission is also weakened.

Could it be that in France the mission of hospitals has not been diluted by law suits and paperwork? Yet?

etoiledunord, I for one don't care whether some kid is assaulted because he is considered gay, long hair is thought out of as out of place, or he's disliked for being a wannabe. There is no excuse for the assault!

If Romney did what the story alleges, then that speaks very poorly of him as an adolescent. It would not change my vote (not that I'm eligible), but I would think less well of him. I would hope for some level of repentance.

Of course, I always have doubts about such stories, especially in view of the dearth of interest by the media in Barack Obama's early years back in 2008.

I do hope it is a beat up though.

I imagine Goldberg went on as part of a big promotion schedule for his book. A misjudgement? Most likely, but perhaps Morgan is sometimes more professional than he was here. Maybe Goldberg was prepared to take a few hits to get the book before CNN viewers.

I actually think Goldberg did pretty well. Unless a viewer is irredeemably anti-conservative they would see fairly clearly that Morgan was intent on one gotcha after another, rather than trying to inform his audience about Goldberg's new book.

Another service that Goldberg has performed is that he has contributed to conservative interviewee's rule book: if you want to go on CNN, ask for a show other than Morgan's.

The failure of Last Action Hero is, I suspect, being over-thought and over theorised. As a straightforward actioner it was a failure because of the fantasy device and the cleverness. But the type of people who might have appreciated its themes just didn't go, because it starred Arnie. Everyone knows that a movie with Schwarzenegger in it couldn't possibly be worth anyone's time. Sniff.

All, do watch the second video all the way to the very last second, when Ibrahim says what he's going to do with his money. And watch the other guy's face.

Thanks Troy for the shout-out to my Members Feed post, 'The Wrong End of the Laffer Curve'

Thank you Leslie. There are very few 17 minute videos I'd bother with, but even by Mark Steyn's standards this was a great one.

Coren was pretty good too (all civilised people celebrate the birth of General Franco!)

Oh, I should have added: Levin wrote seven novels in his life. Five of them were turned into movies (one, twice). The only two that weren't were the disappointing Son of Rosemary, and of course his most meaningful work, This Perfect Day.

Hey, no one has yet mentioned one of the greats: This Perfect Day by Ira Levin (yes, he of The Boys from Brazil, Rosemary's Baby, A Kiss Before Dying, The Stepford Wives).

At the time he was heavily influence by Ayn Rand. Short, sharp, very to-the-point, and a top yarn with a hero. I tend to lump it in with A Brave New World and 1984 in terms of the world it describes. More the former.

Also, I vote for you updating the list tabula rasa.