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Liberty and Power

  • May 3, 2010

    An Interesting Video

    by Liberty and Power

    As readers will be aware, the British general election campaign concludes with the poll on Thursday. Immigration is a key issue and one that touches on people's concerns about jobs and welfare and national identity.

    What may strike American visitors in particular and foreign visitors in general is how so many members of ethnic minorities are thoroughly assimilated into British society. I suggest this truth comes through very clearly in
  • May 3, 2010

    How to Really Protect the Children

    by Liberty and Power

    The most important election in the history of drug policy will take place this fall in California where voters shall decide whether or not to legalize marijuana. A recent SurveyUSA News Poll reveals that 56% of the electorate supports the measure while only 42% opposes it. An interesting aspect of the data shows a gender gap with 65% of males in favor but only 46% of females approving. Clearly t
  • May 2, 2010

    Third Graders Sing about Barack Obama

    by Liberty and Power

    David: I must confess that I am having trouble figuring out what is so bad about the Barack Obama song that those third graders sang and danced to.

    Lots of silly, time-wasting things go on in the nation's public schools, and this may be one of them, but it is far from the worst.

    Barack Obama is the nation's president. The song praises him, says that his election as the first black president is historic
  • May 2, 2010

    Russ Roberts on the Financial Crisis

    by Liberty and Power

    Russ Roberts of George Mason University and EconTalk has written an interesting analysis of the financial crisis. His major new insight is why shareholder discipline cannot dampen risk taking when creditors are protected from losses. The importance of this insight may be even greater than Roberts recognizes, given that risk-based capital requirements (rather than risk-based premiums) are the main way, ever
  • May 1, 2010

    Ayn Rand to Blame for Goldman Sachs?

    by Liberty and Power

    The bizarre attacks on Ayn Rand continue. Business Day (25/04), a Rand-bashing article by Matt Taibbi opens,
    SO GOLDMAN Sachs, the world's greatest and smuggest investment bank, has been sued for fraud by the American Securities and Exchange Commission. Legally, the case hangs on a technicality. Morally, however, the case may turn into a final referendum on the greed-is-go
  • Apr 25, 2010

    Breaking Libertarian on Breaking Bad

    by Liberty and Power

    The best show on television,"Breaking Bad," has taken a surprising, and decidely libertarian, turn. For a schedule of the repeats for tonight's episode, see here.
  • Apr 25, 2010

    Saturday, In The Burbs, With The New York Times

    by Liberty and Power

    I’m in the burbs, though not by choice, sitting in a backyard surrounded by grass and bugs and sunshine. My son wings by in his electronic car with the neighbor’s kid riding shotgun; they’re screaming happily and trying to run over the dog. A bee roughly the size of a small airplane buzzes close – reminding me of my plans to pave over every square inch of the yard and build a subway station under it. God, to show His mercy, has kept me within radio range of the city so at least I can listen to t
  • Apr 24, 2010

    Global Maternal Mortality is Actually Down

    by Liberty and Power

    The Associated Press reports, The U.N. and and The Lancet (a leading scholarly journal for medical research) released sharply disagreeing reports on worldwide maternal mortality figures, with the U.N. claiming maternal mortality rates have not decreased at all in the last 30 years, while the Lancet study concluded that maternal mortality rates have been reduced by near 30% --- due primarily
  • Apr 24, 2010

    NYPD Damages/Removes Bikes on Earth Day

    by Liberty and Power

    Some days it doesn't pay to be emissions free. Like on Earth Day, if you're in NYC.

    According to the blog This is FYF," citing security concerns that bikes might be secret pipe bombs, NYPD officers clipped the locks of hundreds of bikes along Houston Street this morning in preparation for President Obama's speech at Cooper Union. The bikes were unceremoniously put in the back of the truck. Onlookers were not given information as to what would become of the bikes. Happy Earth Day!
  • Apr 23, 2010

    The Future Is Not Like the Past

    by Liberty and Power

    This post is not about past history but about the future--the future of higher education. Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator's Dilemma, offers us a way to think about how a"disruptive technology" like online education can destroy a system, perhaps even a university system. For details, see my article "The Iceman Cometh" on the Pope Center website.
  • Apr 23, 2010

    Yes, I'm guilty! No, I'm innocent!

    by Liberty and Power

    Wait...what day is it? Show your support: ShareThisMatt Mitchell is the Illinois State Police Trooper who killed two teen aged girls in a 2007 homicidal car accident caused by his driving over 120 mph while emailing. Although he was"on duty," Mitchell was on not an emergency call; he is simply 'prone' to having major accidents, one of which cost the city $1.7 million to settle a few years ago. (See earlier blog post for details of the crime and legal proceedings.) Last Friday, in exchange for pl
  • Apr 21, 2010

    Reason Papers 31

    by Liberty and Power

    Reason Papers no. 31 is now available! It's a special issue on business ethics guest-edited by Nick Capaldi, featuring articles by Capaldi, Elaine Sternberg, Tibor Machan, Jonathan Jacobs, Doug Den Uyl, Alexei Marcoux, Marianne Jennings, and Daniel D'Amico. Also, Timothy Sandefur reviews Levy and Mellor's The Dirty Dozen, Jacobs reviews Paul Bloomfield's Morality and Self-Interest, and Irfan Khawaja has a long review essay discussing Dohert
  • Apr 19, 2010

    Someone posts this every year; this year it's me

    by Liberty and Power

    [BTW, does anyone know the author of this classic?]

    "Assault weapon" confiscation turns violent in Boston

    Scores Killed, Hundreds Injured As Para-Military Extremists Riot

    BOSTON, April 19 - National Guard units seeking to confiscate a cache of recently banned assault weapons were ambushed on April 19th by elements of a paramilitary extremist faction. Military and law enforcement sources estimated that 72 were killed and more than 20 injured before