Thursday, January 17

Jeremy Horpedahl is the guest editor today.

 

Work

Jim Davies describes what work in a free market would be like.

 

NSA Must Examine All Internet Traffic to Prevent Cyber 9/11

“The nation's top spy, Michael McConnell, thinks the threat of cyberarmageddon! is so great that the U.S. government should have unfettered and warrantless access to U.S. citizens' Google search histories, private e-mails and file transfers, in order to spot the cyberterrorists in our midst.”

 

Ex-Lawmaker Charged in Terror Conspiracy

Is anyone really surprised?

 

How to 'Fix' Politics? Reduce the Power of the President

“I don't know how you change the election laws to make things any different. The great paradox of politics is that the set of skills and talents it takes to win a campaign are decidedly different than the set of skills and talents it takes to govern. Perhaps the better solution is to tackle the other end of the problem: We need to make it so there's less at stake—so it matters less who wins the presidency, which party controls the Congress, or who's sleeping in the governor's mansion.”

 

What to Expect When You’re Free Trading

“Even if you’ve just lost your job, there’s something fundamentally churlish about blaming the very phenomenon that’s elevated you above the subsistence level since the day you were born. If the world owes you compensation for enduring the downside of trade, what do you owe the world for enjoying the upside?”

 

Worldwide, Liberty Declined in 2007

 

Class War and Wal-Mart

“Home Depot and Target certainly don't suffer from the same image, and the fact that those with means avoid Wal-Mart while the penurious take advantage of the low prices offered there, means that Wal-Mart has become irrelevant and contemptible to those who write columns or sit on planning commissions or pontificate on matters of labor and economics. Essentially, Wal-Mart is associated with tacky poor people, while the middle and upper classes can reserve for themselves the more respectable environs of other retailers.”

 

Amazon Fined for Free Shipping in France

Whenever you get frustrated with U.S. economic policy, just look across the sea to witness how stupid it could really be.

 

DNA Evidence Clears Convicted Rapist After 11 Years in Prison

And then, he sits in jail for 2 more years, because the file got misplaced.

 

Recreational Drugs Far Less Likely to Kill You Than Prescribed Drugs

“While approximately 10,000 per year die from the effects of illegal drugs, an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported that an estimated 106,000 hospitalized patients die each year from drugs which, by medical standards, are properly prescribed and properly administered. More than two million suffer serious side effects.” The title is not exactly accurate, since they are comparing total deaths instead of death rates. Still, very interesting.

 

Alcohol Impairs Driving More Than Marijuana

This study is a few years old, but along the same line as the above story. Also, see Paul Armentano’s survey of the relevant literature.

 

'Do You Have N------ in the Building?'

“‘You don't have a warrant,’ Jordan, a mortgage collector, told the officer. At that, an officer allegedly told another officer: ‘I will pull this black b----- down the stairs’.” Chicago ’s finest, protecting and serving.

 

Ron Paul, Dr. No-body, Beats Rudy and Fred – Again

Poor Rudy!

 

Mitt Romney Defends Himself Against Allegations of Tolerance

Satire.

 

Proof of Ron Paul's Racism

Not satire (or, maybe it is).

 

MarkMyShots

A photo blog.