Month: November 2010

I’ve been out most of the day, but I didn’t forget that today is Veterans Day. It is an important day to remember. Glenn Reynolds links Armed Liberal, who says that we all owe veterans a debt: Today is a day when I hope that we can recover a bit of that sense of debt.…

A Detroit Free press columnist is saying that there ought to be a law against broadcasting interviews with underage teens about sex: Under Michigan law, it is illegal to have sex with a 14-year-old girl, even if she consents. But there’s no law against broadcasting on television the same 14-year-old’s account of her sexual activity.…

Regular readers know what I think and how I feel about the war on drugs. I think the Fourth Amendment has been systematically violated, and the violations go a lot further than mere illegal searches of drug suspects. They seek legal power to test saliva of all stopped motorists, and they already have power to…

There is a discussion of gun control and the Nazis going on at the Volokh conspiracy. I found a comment there I took exception to: I’m for 2nd amendment rights but the silly Nazi idiocy in this post is offensive. It reeks of the miltary hatered found in the IBD blog about a possible miltary…

Libertarians typically want to be left alone. That’s fine as far as it goes. But what happens when the world will not leave you alone? If there’s a civil war going on, “leave me alone” is not much of a battle cry. I am vehemently opposed to all calls for revolution or civil war, and…

Just before the election, Reason’s senior analyst Shikha Dalmia pointed out some very unpleasant facts: …instead of pulling Democrats in the direction of reform, the Tea Party candidates themselves are moving in the direction of the status quo. This wouldn’t happen if these candidates could count on a strong and large constituency for reform within…

This is an article Frank W. and I have been working on for the last two weeks or so. Frank did all the writing and I provided some editorial advice and minor editing. === Today, November 9, is the anniversary of Kristallnacht. It is the day when Nazi Germany unleashed its thugs against the Jews.…

Today is the anniversary of Kristallnacht. Seventy two years ago – 1938. The wiki can get you started on the history. Cross Posted at Power and Control

When I saw Glenn Reynolds’ link to what he called “a guide to cancer etiquette,” I had no idea I would encounter such tidbits of wisdom as this: there’s a growing need for ground rules that prevent us from inflicting ourselves upon one another While he was talking about the difference between those who are…

No matter where I look, it seems there’s no getting away from people who seek to impose their morality on others. Take today’s headline. “Climate scientists plan campaign against global warming skeptics” John Abraham of St. Thomas University in Minnesota, who last May wrote a widely disseminated response to climate change skeptics, is also pulling…

An excerpt from the latest Ulsterman post. This is a discussion of the future of the Democrats. So there’s no hope for the party right now? Hope? That’s a tough commodity to come by for the hopeless. Look, the Democratic Party is suffering from temporary insanity right now. It’s a complete cluster -expletive- these days.…

My evangelical friends have been at it again. Some of these Biblical Christians have gotten involved in the internal affairs of Uganda. This report is from Jan. 2010. KAMPALA, Uganda — Last March, three American evangelical Christians, whose teachings about “curing” homosexuals have been widely discredited in the United States, arrived here in Uganda’s capital…

It took a while, but Iraq’s major parties have agreed on a national unity government. This will arguably be Iraq’s first true unity government, as it will bring in major representation of the Sunnis who had largely avoided the polls in 2005. Allawi’s party will reportedly hold the speakership, while Maliki continues as PM. The…

Both M. Simon and I have written previously about Dr. Stephen Schneider, who was vigorously prosecuted for and convicted of prescribing narcotic drugs to addicts. If he in fact did that, I have no philosophical problem with it — any more than I have a problem with a liquor store selling booze to an alcohol-addicted…

In case you haven’t heard we are now – for the winter – off daylight saving time. All your manual clocks need to be set back one hour. If that is a hassle – it is – may I suggest this radio controlled clock (sometimes called an atomic clock because it uses the American atomic…

It seems the Mexican government has found and destroyed 121 1/2 tons of marijuana. If you engage in a bit of the wacky tobacco, you probably have a pretty good idea of what a gram of marijuana looks like — maybe even an ounce. But even the most expanded mind would have trouble conceptualizing the…

I don’t like to gloat. But if I did, I’d be pretty happy about what happened here in Michigan on Tuesday. It’s the first Saturday night after the election, and I hope it’s OK to celebrate for a moment now. (I should point out that I was pretty busy that day watching the polls from…

Via Reason, Matt Taibbi makes a strange argument. It’s amazing to me that people who should know better are missing some of the most obvious facts here. Markets have winners and losers. Inevitably some banks will fail in a major economic adjustment. Why did we need the bailout? Because the Feds allowed institutions to become…

I was reading this LA Times article on a five year old killed by Los Angeles gangs. So I posted this comment: The Drug War finances the gangs. Had enough yet? And within five minutes the comment was gone. I wonder if it was a glitch or editorial policy? Cross Posted at Power and Control