Thursday, January 24

Jeremy Horpedahl is the guest editor today.

 

Justice

"Overall, it's hard to overstate the immense contrast between our market-based justice system and what passed for one as little as three years ago. Then, most of the guilty suffered no consequence, some innocents were wrongly convicted, many who had harmed nobody were punished, and none of the victims were compensated--except by the kind of savage satisfaction that comes from vengeance."  Column by Jim Davies.

 

A Boom-Bust Cycle in Austrian School Politics

"I must unfortunately take political pessimism to a further degree.  Even assuming political activity could save us from the dangers of political activity, it is too late for America.  America survives by imports bought with a currency that rests on myth: faith that the dollar will retain its value.  The emperor not only has no clothes, he has little of meaningful value with which to buy real clothes.  Ron Paul cannot save the USA."  Column by Lysander's Ghost.

 

Palestinians Breach Border, Pour into Egypt

What a beautiful story. Open borders… and not for welfare, but to buy goods! Be sure to look at the pictures. (2 pages, link from the STR blog, which of course you should be reading too)

 

Afghan Journalist Sentenced to Death

Hey, remember when we brought freedom to Afghanistan ?

 

False Statements Preceded War

Shocking!

 

Surge to Nowhere

“In short, the surge has done nothing to overturn former secretary of state Colin Powell's now-famous 'Pottery Barn' rule: Iraq is irretrievably broken, and we own it. To say that any amount of 'kicking ass' will make Iraq whole once again is pure fantasy. The U.S. dilemma remains unchanged: continue to pour lives and money into Iraq with no end in sight, or cut our losses and deal with the consequences of failure.”

 

Sweet and Sour

“We're going to be buying [sugar] at 21 cents [per pound] and probably selling it at six cents.” In economic terms, this is called a “loss,” meaning that the U.S. government should be going out of business quite soon. Unfortunately, taxpayers will pick up the tab. Oh, and U.S. sugar growers want to expand their cartel to all of North America.

 

Why the MPAA and RIAA Can't Stand College Students

“Instead of being the bastions of progress in an age where everyone can see that a change is coming, the RIAA and MPAA have decided to insult college students and cite faulty statistics to back up their ludicrous claims.”

 

Eliminate the Income Tax and You Still Have the Same Federal Revenue as 10 Years Ago

Ron Paul has said this several times, and it turns out to be “mostly true,” according to this site. It would be nice to eliminate those other taxes as well, but it does put into perspective how much the era of big government is not over.

 

Free the Hops

A hangover from Prohibition. And big surprise: big corporations oppose the free market. There are plenty of other Prohibition hangovers.

 

Free the Music

“As of today, you can play full-length tracks and entire albums for free on the Last.fm website.”

 

College Textbook Prices Up 186% Since 1986

I would say this is inevitable when you combine intellectual (property) monopoly with an educational monopoly. But still: free the textbooks.

 

What Should Happen to Women Who Have Abortions?

[video] Some anti-abortion protestors have “never thought about it” and don’t even think there should be a punishment (at least, the ones that this guy interviewed). This is promising, though, since these people clearly aren’t evil, just stupid.

 

3.2 Million Unemployed Americans Apply for Opening at Ohio-Area Bob Evans

Satire.

 

10,000 Hopefuls Keep Eyes Open for Wal-Mart Job

Not satire.

 

ElevenTwentySeven

A photo blog.