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Comment to: thinckle@yahoo.com "ZOO" as subject The Zoo Reno Skies Light Fantastic |
Article excerpts, comments, etc. Highlight - by TMHMarch 29, 2009
Via GeekPress American Scientist A Nuke on the Yukon? Mini-nukes arrive at the regulatory gate. Will they get through? Morgan Ryan March-April 2009 issue [...] ...Super-Safe, Small and Simple reactor, a torpedo-shaped unit on the drawing board that surrounds a core about 2 meters long and 0.6 meters across. [...] The reactor is removable with an estimate of 10 megawatts for 30 years.
"quieter" ????
New York Times
F.D.A. Approves New Female Condom
The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new, less expensive female condom, Reuters reports. The new design makes for quieter use...
Wednesday, March 04, 2009 John Stossel :: Townhall.com Columnist Obama the Efficient Goes to Washington. by John Stossel [...] Bureaucracies have little check on what they do, no bottom line, no market prices for their "output." What they do have is an incentive to spend all the money budgeted or risk getting less next year. [...] reasononline Detroit as the Prodigal Son Why is the government rewarding failure? Steve Chapman | February 23, 2009 Automakers who have done poorly receive bail-out money.
Automakers who have done well receive nothing and must compete against government money. The incentives seem perverse. Monday, February 23, 2009 Star Parker :: Townhall.com Columnist The end of the American Dream by Star Parker [...] Could we have had this housing disaster without Fannie Mae and its brother Freddie Mac? Certainly not. Why would a mortgage originator sell a mortgage that couldn't get paid back? Only if it could be re-sold to taxpayer backed Fannie or Freddie. [...] dcexaminer.com The RAT hiding deep inside the stimulus bill By Byron York Chief political correspondent 2/19/09 One more bar in the cage.
About Geert Wilders (Dutch) entrance to England.
Instapundit - Glenn Reynolds
The lesson to me is that if you want freedom of speech, then, like the Muslims in Britain, you must make the authorities afraid to bother you. If you seem harmless, you will be silenced at the demand of those whom the authorities fear. Once again, I note that this is an incentive structure that the British authorities will likely come to regret.
The most cogent thoughts on this that I have seen.
GEERT WILDERS BAN
James Madison - Federalist Paper 45: The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce. Needs continual repeating. Our rights are "numerous and indefinite". There is no need to define or scan the Constitution for our rights. Everything we have not ceded to government is within our rights.
National government powers are few and defined. It would seem that the most reasonable and easiest way to define individual rights is to list the few responsibilities ceded to government. All others are part of our individual liberty and constitute our rights. Any dispute is between the individual and government as to what has or has not been ceded. The burden of proof lies with government to show that they have been ceded the power in dispute. It is not a requirement for an individual to divine a right from the Constitution.
I wish it were required that every Congressional act quote the Constitutional words where Congress is ceded the power to pass the act.
guardian.co.uk | The Observer How pigment plays a crucial role in evolution Anny Shaw The Observer, Sunday 8 February 2009 Pale skins increase Vitamin D production in high latitudes.
Public Opinion Fannie and Freddie mess? By JOHN H. PILLA List of key events in the current marketplace problem. I'm interested in the list and not political blame.
boston.com How moms pass on experience without even trying By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor February 3, 2009 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mothers can pass along their experiences to their children without even trying, researchers reported in a surprising study on Tuesday that showed baby mice could inherit the benefits of "education" that their mothers received before they became pregnant. [...] The changes only lasted one generation, indicating the DNA was not permanently changed. Researchers are learning that DNA function can be altered without changing the genetic code itself. Maybe Lysenko just popped a small grin.
Cato's newspaper ad against the stimulus package. Has some 200 economist's signatures, including 3 Nobelists.
Townhall.com February 03, 2009 Phyllis Schlafly :: Townhall.com Columnist Community Organizing Explained by Phyllis Schlafly At first glance, it seems to be a fair fit. Maybe the title should be, "Obama Explained."
New York Times Obama's ethics reform promise faces early test By Peter Baker Feb 3, 2009 WASHINGTON - During almost two years on the campaign trail, Barack Obama vowed to slay the demons of Washington, bar lobbyists from his administration and usher in what he would later call in his Inaugural Address a “new era of responsibility.” [...] Several Democrats, including some who have advised Mr. Obama, said privately that he had only himself to blame for delivering such an uncompromising message as a candidate without recognizing how it would complicate his ability to assemble an administration. The Washington political environment seems a little short of principled folks.
Science Daily (Jan. 30, 2009) Low–cost LEDs May Slash Household Electric Bills Within Five Years A new way of making LEDs could see household lighting bills reduced by up to 75% within five years. [...] Seems like every time I read the news some major change is coming 'round the bend. Tomorrow's rosy glow is ever brighter - if we can keep our act together.
Bloomberg.com Hidden Bonuses Enrich U.S. Government Contractors By David Dietz Jan 29, 2009 Government contracting and waste.
Government's success at contracting gives one a secure feeling as we now watch them take over large chunks of our financial industry
ABC News White House, Senate Take Aim at Wall St Pay By Susan Cornwell January 30, 2009 [...] Obama on Thursday said recent Wall Street bonuses, given the current situation, were "shameful." [...] AND Obama throws a 170 million dollar inauguration AND Corruption Chronicles Another Pay Raise For Congress Fri, 12/19/2008 - 15:30 — Judicial Watch Blog Amid the nation’s worsening financial crisis and all-time low approval ratings from constituents across the country, members of Congress have increased their salary again. I plucked the following ideas from a place that, so far, I cannot find.
Economic decisions tend to create the best outcomes for citizens.
Political decisions tend to create the best outcomes for politicians.
Each group tends to follow that which benefits them most.
Via Instapundit Chicago Boyz* Who Creates the Value of Labor? Posted by Shannon Love on January 26th, 2009 [...] It is the skill and judgment of managers and investors that creates the value of labor. [...] Wall Street Journal JANUARY 26, 2009 How Modern Law Makes Us Powerless By PHILIP K. HOWARD\ [...] The idea of freedom as personal power got pushed aside in recent decades by a new idea of freedom -- where the focus is on the rights of whoever might disagree. [...] Real Clear Politics January 27, 2009 Trying to Bulldoze Free Speech By Carla Main & Roger Kimball Another legal joke
I just read a piece on USA agricultural subsidies - quite long and complicated. For me, it is quite simple. Politicians buy support with subsidies and the recipients buy politicians with their profits. It is just a marketplace that rises from unconstitutional government actions. All the intricacies involved are not important.
Monday, January 26, 2009 Mike S. Adams :: Townhall.com Columnist My New Spread the Wealth Grading Policy by Mike S. Adams 'Tis right that our students experience the liberalism they are being taught.
townhall.com Tuesday, January 27, 2009 Thomas Sowell :: Townhall.com Columnist What Are They Buying? by Thomas Sowell [...] Using long, drawn-out processes to put money into circulation to meet an emergency is like mailing a letter to the fire department to tell them that your house is on fire. If you cut taxes tomorrow, people would have more money in their next paycheck, and it would probably be spent by the time they got that paycheck, through increased credit card purchases beforehand. [...] Wall Street Journal - Opinion OCTOBER 31, 2008 "Don't Just Do Something, Stand There." by Russ Roberts - professor of economics at George Mason University [...] By acting without rhyme or reason, politicians have destroyed the rules of the game. There is no reason to invest, no reason to take risk, no reason to be prudent, no reason to look for buyers if your firm is failing. Everything is up in the air and as a result, the only prudent policy is to wait and see what the government will do next. The frenetic efforts of FDR had the same impact: Net investment was negative through much of the 1930s. [...] December 23, 2008 PV (photovoltaic electricity) Costs Set to Plunge for 2009/10 London, UK [RenewableEnergyWorld.com] My untutored opinion keeps being attracted to solar as a prime future energy source. Lots of break-through technology continually appears in the news.
Via Instapundit Via GeekPress Violinist Joshua Bell played incognito in a Washington subway. townhall.com Wednesday, January 21, 2009 John Stossel :: Townhall.com Columnist Anything That's Peaceful by John Stossel This week the Left arrived in Washington, excited about the wonderful things it will do to us -- I mean, for us. They always do it for us. [...] It is amazing how often increased restrictions on our liberty are "for our own good."
townhall.com Wednesday, January 21, 2009 Michelle Malkin :: Townhall.com Columnist And Now, Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Spending Orgy by Michelle Malkin "Here comes Santa Claus!
Here comes Santa Claus!
Right down Santa Claus Lane!"
Townhall.com Wednesday, January 21, 2009 Walter E. Williams :: Townhall.com Columnist A Minority View by Walter E. Williams Lincoln's disregard for the Constitution has always bothered me. There is such a disparity between the beauty of his words and his rejection of the law when it suited him.
From Instapundit: “It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.” “You can’t always be young, but you can always be immature.” Chicago Boyz* [...] It seems that in post-New Deal America, economic and civil success sow their own seeds of destruction. When things are going good, socialist experimentation seems harmless. A booming economy can pay for increased government spending and an ever-increasing scope of government power. Eventually, however, socialism strangles the economic engine and destroys civil society. [...] Townhall Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Walter E. Williams Congress' Financial Mess by Walter E. Williams [...] A New York Times article, "Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending" (9/30/99), reported, "Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people …" The pressure was the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act that was beefed up during the Clinton Administration. It required banks to make high-risk loans they would not have otherwise made. Failure to comply meant fines and difficulty in getting approval for mergers and branch expansion. [...] January 11, 2009 George Will :: Townhall.com Columnist Running at Recess by George Will [...] Time was, rights were defensive. They were to prevent government from doing things to you. Today, rights increasingly are offensive weapons wielded to inflict demands on other people, using state power for private aggrandizement. The multiplication of rights, each lacking limiting principles, multiplies nonnegotiable conflicts conducted with the inherent extremism of rights rhetoric, on the assumption, Howard says, "that society will somehow achieve equilibrium if it placates whomever is complaining." [...] Dangling... Sunday, January 04, 2009 George Will :: Townhall.com Columnist Supreme Discrimination by George Will [...] Small wonder, then, that many employers, fearing endless litigation about multiple uncertainties, threw up their hands and, to avoid legal liability, threw out intelligence and aptitude tests for potential employees. Instead, they began requiring college degrees as indices of applicants' satisfactory intelligence and diligence. [...] ...by turning college degrees into indispensable credentials for many of society's better jobs, this series of events increased demand for degrees and, O'Keefe and Vedder say, contributed to "an environment of aggressive tuition increases." Furthermore they reasonably wonder whether this supposed civil rights victory, which erected barriers between high school graduates and high-paying jobs, has exacerbated the widening income disparities between high school and college graduates. [...] It is said that Israeli response to Hamas is disproportionate. That is, Israelis are using more force than the those attacking them are using.
Then, wouldn't the world's response to the ship hijackings also be disproportionate. The world is using far more force than the hijackers.
I cannot find where I read this, but a like it. Citizen solutions are economic but government solutions are political. Telegraph.co.uk Scientists plan to ignite tiny man-made star By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent Last Updated: 4:50PM GMT 27 Dec 2008 Controlled nuclear fusion approaches?
Popular Mechanics The Navy's Fighter-Plane-Size UAV, the X-47B, Is Unveiled in California By Andrew Moseman Published on: December 17, 2008 Twilight for the fighter pilot?
USA Today Sweden plans $3.4B auto bailout; won't buy Saab, Volvo By Louise Nordstrom and Malin Rising, The Associated Press [...] Car makers Volvo and Saab have appealed to the Swedish government for support because of the financial woes of their U.S. owners, Ford Motor (F) and General Motors (GM), which are focusing on saving their American brands. [...] Business Week Foreclosures Expected to Spike in January Posted by: Chris Palmeri on December 11 [...] Some homeowners are deliberately not making their payments to try to qualify for loan modification programs. [...] Term limits for the Supreme Court: life tenure reconsidered Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Summer, 2006 by Steven G. Calabresi, James Lindgren [...] A regime that allows high government officials to exercise great power, totally unchecked, for periods of thirty to forty years, is essentially a relic of pre-democratic times. Although life tenure for Supreme Court Justices may have made sense in the eighteenth-century world of the Framers, it is particularly inappropriate now, given the enormous power that Supreme Court Justices have come to wield. [...] Via GeekPress Economist.com Loudspeakers Nanotunes Nov 20th 2008 ...the next generation of loudspeakers may be almost invisible. Republican American Government bubble bursting December 7, 2008 [...] For years, governments were awash with surpluses. Politicians naturally spent every cent to make Big Government bigger even as they borrowed against future tax windfalls, cemented new "fixed costs" and put government growth on autopilot. The collapse of the housing and credit bubbles will mean a painful, protracted period of economic contraction. But what happens when government bubbles burst? Politicians patch the hole with more debt and higher taxes, and government continues growing. [...] gas2.0 Revolutionary Wheel for Electric Cars Puts Guts Inside Wheel Technology Review - MIT December 02, 2008 First Light-Driven Nanomachine A silicon nanobeam uses optical force to do mechanical work in an integrated circuit. By Katherine Bourzac [...] Chips that use light instead of electrons to carry data should be faster and consume less power than traditional integrated circuits. But so far even the fastest optical chips have incorporated electrical elements called modulators. These modulators encode light with data by converting the signal from light into electrons and back again. This extra step makes optical chips complex and drains power. A circuit developed by Yale researchers led by electrical-engineering professor Hong Tang incorporates a modulator that's driven by light, not electrons. [...] Technology Review - MIT November/December 2008 With catalysts created by an MIT chemist, sunlight can turn water into hydrogen. If the process can scale up, it could make solar power a dominant source of energy. By Kevin Bullis [...] Solar power has a unique potential to generate vast amounts of clean energy that doesn't contribute to global warming. But without a cheap means to store this energy, solar power can't replace fossil fuels on a large scale. In Nocera's scenario, sunlight would split water to produce versatile, easy-to-store hydrogen fuel that could later be burned in an internal-combustion generator or recombined with oxygen in a fuel cell. [...] Townhall.com The New Political Economy by Charles Krauthammer November 28, 2008 [...] Today's extreme stock market volatility is not just a symptom of fear -- fear cannot account for days of wild market swings upward -- but a reaction to meta-economic events: political decisions that have vast economic effects. As economist Irwin Stelzer argues, we have gone from a market economy to a political economy. [...] reasononline Are You Better off Than You Were 40 Years Ago? Government has grown, but freedom has grown faster. Veronique de Rugy | December 2008 This depends upon how you define 'freedom'. 'Freedom' here means having more things and more choices between things. Thus, if I place you in a zoo and provide you with all the things you desire and the ability to choose among them, you a free.
This is not freedom to me.
Townhall.com December 02, 2008 Freedom and the Left by Thomas Sowell [...] You can make anything an "entitlement" for individuals and groups but nothing is an entitlement for society as a whole, not even food or shelter, both of which have to be produced by somebody's work or they will not exist. [...] Wednesday, November 19, 2008 Walter E. Williams Evil Concealed By Money by Walter E. Williams The forcible use of one person's time and energy to serve the purposes of another is a form of slavery.
(an amalgam of Williams' words)
The taking of a persons money is also a form of slavery as it represents the hours of a persons life that were required to earn it.
Pajamas Media Want Change? Let’s Try Truly Free Markets November 17, 2008 - by Rand Simberg [...] Joseph Schumpeter famously — and admiringly — wrote about the “creative destruction” inherent in the actions of the free market. [...] Via Instapundit UCLA Newsroom FDR's policies prolonged Depression by 7 years, UCLA economists calculate By Meg Sullivan - 8/10/2004 Townhall.com The Hyperbole of a Conservative by George Will Sunday, November 16, 2008 [...] Here, the Constitution is an afterthought; the supreme law of the land is the principle of concentrated benefits and dispersed costs. Sugar import quotas cost the American people approximately $2 billion a year, but that sum is siphoned from 300 million consumers in small, hidden increments that are not noticed. The few thousand sugar producers on whom billions are thereby conferred do notice and are grateful to the government that bilks the many for the enrichment of the few. [...] North Carolina State University NC State Finds New Nanomaterial Could Be Breakthrough For Implantable Medical Devices Dr. Roger Narayan, (919) 696-8488 Matt Shipman, News Services, (919) 515-6386 Nov. 11, 2008 Material that does not cause body responses.
Foundation for Economic Freedom News & Commentary The Goal Is Freedom: Humility or Hubris? November 7, 2008 by Sheldon Richman Maps of the 2008 US presidential election results Via GeekPress Mail Online Masters of disguise: Stunning pictures of the tricks used by creatures to camouflage themselves By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 10:14 AM on 24th October 2008 Wall Street Journal OCTOBER 28, 2008 Obama's 'Redistribution' Constitution The courts are poised for a takeover by the judicial left. By STEVEN G. CALABRESI In a Sept. 6, 2001, interview with Chicago Public Radio station WBEZ-FM, Mr. Obama noted that the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren "never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society," and "to that extent as radical as I think people tried to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn't that radical." He also noted that the Court "didn't break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution, at least as it has been interpreted." That is to say, he noted that the U.S. Constitution as written is only a guarantee of negative liberties from government -- and not an entitlement to a right to welfare or economic justice. Oh my!
Via Instapundit Caltech Media Relations Oct 17, 2008 Caltech Engineers Build First-Ever Multi-Input "Plug-and-Play" Synthetic RNA Device Could one day be used to detect tumor cells or create targeted gene therapies PASADENA, Calif.--Engineers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a "plug-and-play" synthetic RNA device--a sort of eminently customizable biological computer--that is capable of taking in and responding to more than one biological or environmental signal at a time. In the future, such devices could have a multitude of potential medical applications, including being used as sensors to sniff out tumor cells or determine when to turn modified genes on or off during cancer therapy. [...] As I (boringly, I'm sure) repeat; I think that medicine in a very few years will view today's discipline the same way we now view 1800's medicine. It's not only the development of new stuff, but a complete change of concept. No longer the hammer and anvil to pound disease into submission, but the use of structure to mold the desired outcome.
Higher Oil Prices Weren't Caused By Supply & Demand Steve Forbes 10.22.08, 6:00 PM ET Forbes Magazine dated November 10, 2008 [...] ...most of the oil increase is a result of dollar inflation, not traditional supply and demand. [...] I have not seen this idea before - interesting.
Townhall.com Unappreciated Spontaneous Order by John Stossel October 22, 2008 [...] Despite the repeated failure of central planning, the political class acts as if politicians can direct our lives. When there are problems, politicians will solve them. They're going to give us prosperity and cheap health care, fix education, lower gas prices, stop global warming and make us energy "independent." [...] Via Foresight Nanotech Institute Research - Ohio State University NEW SOLAR ENERGY MATERIAL CAPTURES EVERY COLOR OF THE RAINBOW COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Researchers have created a new material that overcomes two of the major obstacles to solar power: it absorbs all the energy contained in sunlight, and generates electrons in a way that makes them easier to capture. [...] Today's solar cell materials can only capture a small range of frequencies, so they can only capture a small fraction of the energy contained in sunlight. This new material is the first that can absorb all the energy contained in visible light at once. It now seems that breaks through in nanotechnology are reported almost daily. The potential in this field is barely imaginable. The difference between now and a nanotech age will be like the difference between before and after the appearance and use of machines.
Via Instapundit Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights? By Orson Scott Card October 22, 2008 Any power that government has will, at some time, be abused. If that abuse results in net benefit for government, it will become standard operating procedure.
I am beginning to think that journalism should change the Pulitzer Prize to a Goebbels Prize.
James Madison ...[T]he government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government. Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816 To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it. I have great trouble dismissing these thoughts. I believe in charity but become uncomfortable when it is forced. I am also leery of charity derived from ulterior motives. I suspect that the prime motive behind government charity is not helping people. It is or will become the buying of support for those in government.
You could easily say that receiving aid is more important than why you receive it. But I fear that in the long run government by the people and liberty will fade. You are no less a slave when beholden to government rather than to the lord of the manor. There will come a time when folks will risk death for liberty.
Global Governance vs. the Liberal Democratic Nation-State: What Is the Best Regime? by John Fonte [...] It is argued that there are global problems, such as war; terrorism; climate change; world hunger; vast inequalities of condition; diseases such as HIV/AIDS; human rights violations; racism, sexism, and xenophobia; and migration or immigration from poor to rich countries. These problems are beyond the capacity of nation-states to “solve.” Therefore, some form of “global governance” is required to address them. [...] One of my problem with global government is that it is an all eggs in one basket situation. If the global government embraces authoritarianism, there is no opposing force to intervene. Further, it is the natural goal of any government to accrue power and increase its authoritarian power. Global government removes barriers to a "Brave New World."
Wall Street Journal OCTOBER 18, 2008 Obscure Tax Breaks Increase Cost of Financial Rescue IRS and Treasury Take Series of Steps for Investors Caught Up in Crisis, Sparking Complaints of Overstepping Authority By JESSE DRUCKER [...] Operating mostly under the radar screen, Congress, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have been rolling back various provisions of the tax code to help out industries and investors caught up in the turmoil. [...] Some experts argue that the Treasury has effectively shifted from administering parts of the tax code to changing tax laws on its own. "It doesn't seem possible that they have this authority," said Robert Willens, an independent corporate tax analyst. [...] Yahoo! Tech Future planes, cars may be made of buckypaper Sat Oct 18, 2008 [...] Buckypaper is 10 times lighter but potentially 500 times stronger than steel when sheets of it are stacked and pressed together to form a composite. Unlike conventional composite materials, though, it conducts electricity like copper or silicon and disperses heat like steel or brass. [...] Townhall.com Wednesday, October 15, 2008 Walter E. Williams :: Townhall.com Columnist Political Monopoly Power by Walter E. Williams [...] Excellent research, shows that in 1804 each representative represented about 40,000 people. Today, each representative represents close to 700,000. If we lived up to the vision of our founders, given today's population, we would have about 7,500 congressmen in the House of Representatives. It turns out that in 1929 Congress passed a bill fixing the number of representatives at 435. Prior to that, the number of congressional districts was increased every 10 years, from 1790 to 1910, except one, after a population census was taken. [...] James Madison, the acknowledged father of the Constitution, argued that the smaller the House of Representatives relative to the nation's population, the greater is the risk of unethical collusion. [...] Scroll down to the water drop photos. Wall Street Journal Letters to the Editor Oct 8, 2008 Paul Cooper University Park, MD Taxpayers Shouldn't Hold Breath [...] What Mr. Kessler apparently wants us all to believe is that money in the hands of the federal government is money in our own hands. But we, the taxpayers, know quite well that this is not the case. We are being asked to pay $700 billion up front so that, with luck, some future administration can spend the proceeds with the help of some future Congress. If you believe for one minute that the taxpayers will ever see a dime of their money again, let alone any profits from it, you are even dumber than Andy Kessler hopes you are. [...] AND Paul Feiner Greenburgh, N.Y. What About Paying Congressmen for Work Performance? Your article "Obama, McCain, in a Rarity, Cast Votes" (Oct. 2) highlights one of the problems with our Congress: Members of Congress get their full pay even if they don't show up for work. Senators and congressmen should be treated like the rest of us. If they do their job they should get paid. If they are running for president and have to miss hundreds of votes they shouldn't receive their salary or they should receive a salary reduction based on the number of votes they miss. Pajamas Media Bailout Saga Proves That Elites Don’t Care What We Think October 4, 2008 - by Tom Blumer In mid-September, when it became clear to Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, and George Bush that extraordinary measures were needed to address the mess that had built up in the financial markets during the past decade or so, their first instincts should have been to say: * “We need to have a complete plan to deal with this.” * “We need to make a case to Congress and the American people that our plan will work.” They did neither of these things; nor did they even seem to consider whether what they wanted was even constitutional. [...] To loudly and repeatedly declare the huge seriousness of the financial crisis that was occurring and then add around 150 billion in pork, to the bill proposing to help solve that financial crisis, is beyond having contempt for citizens of the USA. This is the attitude of an authoritarian elite for the rabble.
Letter, from 230 economists including 3 Nobel Prize winners, expressing misgivings about the proposed bailout.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate:
MICHAEL YON and Afghanistan As always, interesting and informative -- photos.
NEWSMAX.COM Secret, Foreign Money Floods Into Obama Campaign Monday, September 29, 2008 9:23 PM By: Kenneth R. Timmerman [...] Surprisingly, the great majority of Obama donors never break the $200 threshold. “Contributions that come under $200 aggregated per person are not listed,” said Bob Biersack, a spokesman for the FEC. “They don’t appear anywhere, so there’s no way of knowing who they are.” The FEC breakdown of the Obama campaign has identified a staggering $222.7 million as coming from contributions of $200 or less. Only $39.6 million of that amount comes from donors the Obama campaign has identified. It is the largest pool of unidentified money that has ever flooded into the U.S. election system, before or after the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reforms of 2002. [...] “We and seven other watchdog groups asked both campaigns for more information on small donors,” he said. “The Obama campaign never responded,” whereas the McCain campaign “makes all its donor information, including the small donors, available online.” [...] Secrecy with government and political money should not be acceptable.
Washingtonpost.com Congress OKs Greater Broadband Access By JOHN DUNBAR The Associated Press Tuesday, September 30, 2008 [...] ...Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said the federal government has a responsibility to make sure Americans have access to the Internet... [...] Where in the Constitution is this responsibility derived?
Wahsingtonpost.com Calif. Requires Menus To Detail Nutrition 1st State Law of Its Kind Targets Chains By Ashley Surdin Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, October 1, 2008 [...] Schwarzenegger said the legislation was part of the state's push to set a national model for nutrition policy and to fight obesity, which costs the state $28.6 billion in health-care costs, lost productivity and workers' compensation. [...] Notice the progression. The state passes law dispensing health care and workers' compensation. Then they say that since the state has these responsibilities, the state has the right to regulate your actions and environment.
USA Today Food now gets label of origin By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY [...] First proposed in 2002, the country-of-origin legislation finally took effect in full on Tuesday. [...] The labeling originally was advocated by farmers and ranchers who believed consumers would choose U.S.-grown food. And today, consumer groups applaud the measure, saying it offers valuable information and choice. [...] If the U.S. producers were right, all they had to do was label their products "Made in USA" and the results would have been seen in sales.
Some products are not labeled by the producer. But if those labeled showed a enhanced profit, labeling would expand.
I suspect that the main result of government intrusion is to add power to government.
Townhall Wednesday, October 01, 2008 Penny-Wise Politics by Thomas Sowell Congress is never more ridiculous than when it tries to look like it is serious. In the midst of a major national financial crisis, what was one of the first things Congress zeroed in on? The pay of Chief Executive Officers of financial institutions. If all those CEOs agreed to work for nothing, that would not be enough to lower the bailout money by one percent. Anyone who was really serious would start with the 99 percent and let the one percent come later, if at all. [...] I suspect that congressmen are attacking CEO's because they need scapegoats to help hide their complicity in the financial crisis.
Townhall October 01, 2008 Destroying Liberty by Walter E. Williams [...] The problem is that Congress produces nothing. Whatever Congress wishes to give, it has to first take other people's money. Thus, at the root of the welfare state is the immorality of intimidation, threats and coercion backed up with the threat of violence by the agents of the U.S. Congress. [...] Townhall October 01, 2008 Regulator Bullies by John Stossel [...] ...the Justice Department spent 13 years prosecuting IBM, before finally dropping monopoly charges in 1982. What a waste of time and money. If IBM had monopoly power, why wasn't it able to dominate the PC market? And why is it now smaller than Microsoft? [...] Via Instapundit dcexaminer.com Do-little Congress does more earmarks Examiner Staff Writer 9/30/08 [...] The 2008 budget year ended yesterday, but Congress hasn't approved a single one of a dozen annual appropriations bills needed to keep the federal government functioning on a day-to-day basis. Hence the $630 billion stop-gap measure, nearly the size of the failed Wall Street bailout. It passed the House on a 370-68 vote even though, as Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., candidly admitted, "very few people have any idea what's in it." Cornered House members had less than 24 hours to review the 357-page bill and 752 pages of accompanying material before being forced to either pass it - or shut down most of the federal government today. One thing the continuing resolution is full of is earmarks, none of which were debated or voted on in public. The House Budget Committee's final tally is 2,760 earmarks totaling $19.1 billion (including presidential requests). None were publicly vetted through the regular legislative process or even posted on the committee's web site prior to the vote. [...] TMH Thus Congress shows utter contempt for the US citizen and governmental system. They do, knowing it will be seen, what they have called wrong and pledged not to do. Instapundit Fundamentally, the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a crisis of government, not of capitalism. Capitalism is just collateral damage. Humans have rules that are often bent and broken. The question is whether there exists rules that when broken will destroy or seriously injure those involved no matter what mental set exists? Is there a core foundation that allows us to sustain only those structures based on that foundation?
Maybe the search for the ultimate government is a search for that core foundation. But even then, if found, keeping that foundation clean of accretions will be difficult if not impossible. Often I succumb to "impossible". I suspect there are forces that insure that government will age and decline as do humans and trees. Folks of ill will need not be involved.
The Community Reinvestment Act is a large component of the foundation for our current economic problems. Thirty seven pages but worth reading.
REGULATION, 1994
Community Reinvestment Act
Ensuring Credit Adequacy or Enforcing Credit Allocation?
Vern McKinley
Fox Business Wednesday, September 24, 2008 FBI Probes Companies at Heart of Crisis WASHINGTON--The FBI is investigating four major U.S. financial institutions whose collapse helped trigger a $700 billion bailout plan by the Bush administration, The Associated Press has learned. [...] I can't help thinking that here comes the government folks looking for scapegoats and misdirection that will provide cover for their errors and misdeeds. The political use of law seems to be ever expanding and is accompanied by little objection.
[...]
The law enforcement officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigations are ongoing and are in the very early stages.
[...]
Just what does anonymity, for such a news source, have to do with the investigation?
[...]
The investigations revealed Tuesday come as lawmakers began considering whether to approve emergency legislation that would give the government broad power to buy up devalued assets from troubled financial firms.
[...]
How convenient for the law makers who appear to have been part of the problem. It would be interesting to know who requested the FBI investigation.
Townhall Wednesday, September 24, 2008 What Happened to Market Discipline? by John Stossel Amen!
Via GeekPress Smashing Magazine 25 Beautiful Macro Photography Shots By Tim Mercer and Smashing Editorial team Macro photography is the art of taking close-up pictures that reveal details which can’t be seen with the naked eye. [...] Pajamas Media An Alternative to the Wall Street Bailout The truth is the government's plan could very well cause the problem it purports to solve. September 24, 2008 - by Arnold Kling [...] Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson described the problem as follows: [...]
As illiquid mortgage assets block the system, the clogging of our financial markets has the potential to have significant effects on our financial system and our economy.
[...]
However, the market could be clogged because the prospects for a bailout are destroying the motivation to sell mortgage securities. If you sell this week and take a big loss, you will look pretty stupid if there is a bailout next week where comparable securities fetch much higher prices.
[...]
CNSNEWS.COM Astronomical Influences Affect Climate More Than CO2, Say Experts Wednesday, September 17, 2008 By Kevin Mooney, Staff Writer (CNSNews.com) – Warming and cooling cycles are more directly tied in with astronomical influences than they are with human-caused carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, some scientists now say. [...] Seems to me that many years ago I heard about solar phenomena driving climate change. The problem is that there is neither profit nor excitement in that theory.
Via http://geekpress.com/ Rocky Mountain News HSIEH: Free market reforms healthier than Amendment 56 By Paul Hsieh, MD, Special to the Rocky Friday, September 19, 2008 [...] Two motivations behind this proposed law are (1) the mistaken notion that health care should be a guaranteed "right," and (2) the desire to force businesses (rather than government) to pay for this supposed obligation. But health care is a need, not a right. A right is a freedom of action in a social context, such as the freedom of speech. It is not an automatic claim on a good or service that must be produced by someone else. There is no such thing as a "right" to a car or an appendectomy. Any attempt by the government to guarantee a false "right" to health care can only be done by violating the actual rights of someone — in this case, business owners. [...] The Becker-Posner Blog The Crisis of Global Capitalism? Becker September 21, 2008 [...] Despite my deep concerns about having so much greater government control over financial transactions, I have reluctantly concluded that substantial intervention was justified to avoid a major short-term collapse of the financial system that could push the world economy into a major depression. [...] From what I have been able to glean, the foundation for this economic mess was laid and maintained by our government (synopsis).
Townhall Wednesday, September 17, 2008 Stubborn Ignorance by Walter E. Williams [...] Many politicians and pundits claim that the credit crunch and high mortgage foreclosure rate is an example of market failure and want government to step in to bail out creditors and borrowers at the expense of taxpayers who prudently managed their affairs. These financial problems are not market failures but government failure. The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 is a federal law that intimidated lenders into offering credit throughout their entire market and discouraged them from restricting their credit services to low-risk markets, a practice sometimes called redlining. The Federal Reserve Bank, keeping interest rates artificially low, gave buyers and builders incentive to buy and build, thereby producing the housing bubble. [...] Again, government intervention in the flow of the marketplace.
UC San Diego Researchers Develop Nano-Sized ‘Cargo Ships’ to Target and Destroy Tumors September 11, 2008 By Kim McDonald Scientists have developed nanometer-sized ‘cargo ships’ that can sail throughout the body via the bloodstream without immediate detection from the body’s immune radar system and ferry their cargo of anti-cancer drugs and markers into tumors that might otherwise go untreated or undetected. [...] Via GeekPress Economist.com Cancer stem cells The root of all evil? Sep 11th 2008 From The Economist print edition Cancer may be caused by stem cells gone bad. If that proves to be correct, it should revolutionize treatment Excellent article
Heritage Foundation Earmarking Pain Beginning to Hit Home Posted September 10th, 2008 According to the Department of Transportation, the number of Congressional earmarks increased by 1150% between 1996 and 2005 and the monetary value of those earmarks increased 314%. [...] I've seen numerous articles pointing out that Google search has a political bias. I always use Google search with that in mind. Google is introducing a new browser called Chrome. I would be extremely hesitant to accept an Internet browser from a company that has placed a political bias within an Internet product.
Academic Mismatch II by Walter E. Williams September 10, 2008 [...] ...most states do not allow graduates of a non-ABA[American Bar Association]-accredited law school to sit for the bar examination. [...] This is a grant of power to the people who run the ABA. The purpose of a bar exam is to test the legal knowledge of examinees. What difference does it make where or even whether the candidate went to school, if the candidate can pass the exam?
Why should anyone need to pass an exam to practice law? Why not an exam where the results are published and reflect knowledge but cannot preclude practicing law? Who loses but the folks who run the bar association and designated law schools?
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 John Stossel : : Townhall.com Columnist Green Jobs by John Stosse This is basic stuff; 1+1=2 stuff. Yet government, for the most part, pretends it doesn't exist. It is dead simple and should be taught in grammar school. But somehow most of the public does not know and many that do know ignore it because then government can become a source of profit. Money becomes available that does not depend upon producing anything the marketplace will support.
Circuses and Carnys (Carnivals) had sideshows. The sideshows had barkers who presented the spiel to draw the rubes in. The spiel was a set enticement that the barker could repeat endlessly with little thought.
This is how Obama strikes me. He has a spiel that he has repeated many times. I'm not sure how well his spiel correlates with what he believes, but it is standard political rhetoric. The rubes have been oppressed and must join the speaker to bring change. If the oppressed will join the glory of the speaker they will receive x, y, and z while the oppressors receive their comeuppance. As long as Obama is within the spiel, he flows. Outside the spiel he stumbles.
Almost all politicians have a spiel and, I suspect, few believe all they say. It is a costume they wear before the rubes. But when day is done, spielers count the take, put their feet up, and have a beer. I think Obama is never outside the spiel – he is the spiel. His rhetoric is shaped by applause and not by principle nor even greed. I fear that without the rubes, Obama is hollow.
McCain is not hollow, but is and has been just disappointing.
Via GeekPress Wired Biologists on the Verge of Creating New Form of Life By Alexis Madrigal September 08, 2008 A team of biologists and chemists is closing in on bringing non-living matter to life. [...] Stanford University News Service Stanford Report, August 15, 2008 Nanotubes deliver high-potency punch to cancer tumors in mice BY LOUIS BERGERON The problem with using a shotgun to kill a housefly is that even if you get the pest, you'll likely do a lot of damage to your home in the process. Hence the value of the more surgical flyswatter. [...] Via Instapundit Who is Against Evolution? David Friedman Friday, August 29, 2008 It's a widespread view, but true in only a narrow sense. People who say they are against teaching the theory of evolution are very likely to be Christian fundamentalists. But people who are against taking seriously the implications of evolution, strongly enough to want to attack those who disagree, including those who teach those implications, are quite likely to be on the left. [...] Townhall.com Saturday, August 30, 2008 Thomas Sowell :: Townhall.com Columnist Changes in Politics by Thomas Sowell World War II has been credited by some with getting the United States out of the Great Depression. What the war did was put an end to the New Deal, as national survival became the top priority and replaced FDR's anti-business and class warfare rhetoric. It has always appeared to me that FDR was busy making rules that manipulated the marketplace and then checking the wind to see if it was popular. With continually changing rules, business finally chose to do little and wait for a more solid environment. The economy and the people suffered through an extended depression.
A Kansas meatpacker wants to test all it's animals for mad cow disease so they can say their beef is disease free. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that the firm has no right to do the tests. A federal appeals court has said that the government has the power to stop such testing. I would like to hear government explain where it derives this power.
More at ABC News
Technology Review - MIT September/October 2008 Personal Genomics: Access Denied? Consumers have a right to their genomes. By Misha Angrist In April, a startup company called Navigenics threw a swanky 10-day celebration in lower Manhattan to launch its highly publicized personal-genomics service, which offers genetic risk assessments for 21 complex health conditions... [...] In June, California followed New York's lead and sent cease-and-desist letters to 13 companies, including Navigenics, 23andMe, and deCode. The state complained that companies should not offer their tests directly to consumers without a physician's order; they were, according to an official at the California Department of Public Health, "scaring a lot of people to death." A few of the companies claimed to be in compliance with state law. Others stopped offering their services in California, at least temporarily. [...] Another trampling into areas where government should not be. Private folks voluntarily entered into a deal and the government is trying to prevent such deals because the results may frighten some people. Oh boy...
Via Instapundit reasononline Banking on Big Changes Will the next president will use the U.S. Treasury to refloat lending? Signs point to yes. Jeff Taylor | August 28, 2008 [...] ...the public policy trend which began in the 1970s and accelerated with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The goal was to make banks agents of social change. The federal government, Democrat and Republican, wanted trillions of dollars of credit extended to private borrowers. This was primarily done via the active secondary mortgage market participation of government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but also through leverage the CRA provided by requiring expanding banks to explicitly promise to lend money to higher risk borrowers. [...] Again, government where they should not be. What occurred? Government folks manipulated the marketplace with the primary goal of garnering support from those who thought they would benefit. A result was laying the foundation for today's economic problems.
A different view of the Georgia and Russia conflict
August 26, 2008
The Truth About Russia in Georgia
Michael J. Totten
[...]
A key tool that the Soviet Union used to keep its empire together,” Worms said to me, “was pitting ethnic groups against one another. They did this extremely skillfully in the sense that they never generated ethnic wars within their own territory. But when the Soviet Union collapsed it became an essential Russian policy to weaken the states on its periphery by activating the ethnic fuses they planted.
[...]
A point that needs continual repeating. ALL governments find or create subgroups which can be used to manage the public.
Townhall.com Random Thoughts by Thomas Sowell Tuesday, August 26, 2008 [...] The reason so many people misunderstand so many issues is not that these issues are so complex, but that people do not want a factual or analytical explanation that leaves them emotionally unsatisfied. They want villains to hate and heroes to cheer-- and they don't want explanations that do not give them that. [...] Thus it is so important to keep telling folks that the natural tendency of government (with or without villains) is toward the corruption of power. If you wait for villains, then the normal increase of government power will continue.
Via GeekPress Economist.com Earthbound Aug 21st 2008 From The Economist print edition [...] Exporting technology has always presented a dilemma for America. The country leads the world in most technologies and some of these give it a military advantage. If export rules are too lax, foreign powers will be able to put American technology in their systems, or copy it. But if the rules are too tight, then it will stifle the industries that depend upon sales to create the next generation of technology. [...] UPI.COM FCC chief proposes free Internet Published: Aug. 20, 2008 [...] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin says the government has a social obligation to make sure everybody can participate in the next generation of broadband services, USA Today reported Wednesday. [...] Government has a legal obligation to enforce the law, but what is a “social obligation” and where is it defined in the Constitution? Is this another dropping from the ever expanding Welfare Clause?
Odds are that Mr. Martin will use this social obligation to enmesh commerce in rules without benefit of law. Of course, Martin will define the social obligation from which he will then divine the rules.
And "free broadband" simply means someone else pays.
Townhall.com Wednesday, August 20, 2008 Walter E. Williams :: Townhall.com Columnist Economic Myths by Walter E. Williams [...] ...it's sometimes alleged that corporations will charge below-cost prices to bankrupt their rivals and then charge unconscionable prices. [...] A far more successful means to monopoly wealth is for businesses to enlist the aid of congressmen to form a collusion. [...] Townhall.com Wednesday, August 20, 2008 John Stossel :: Townhall.com Columnist The Idiocy of Energy Independence by John Stossel [...] McCain and Obama talk constantly about how much they will "invest" -- with money taken from the taxpayers, of course -- to achieve energy independence. "[W]e can provide loan guarantees and venture capital to those with the best plans to develop and sell biofuels on a commercial market," Obama said. What makes Obama think he's qualified to pick the "best plans"? It's the robust competition of the free market that reveals what's best. Obama's program would preempt the only good method we have for learning which form of energy is best. [...] Medical News Today Scientists Make Red Blood Cells From Human Embryonic Stem Cells Article Date: 20 Aug 2008 US scientists have developed an efficient way to make mature red blood cells on a large scale using human embryonic stem cells... [...] SFGATE Doctors can't use bias to deny gays treatment Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, August 19, 2008 (08-18) 12:53 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- California doctors who have religious objections to gays and lesbians must nevertheless treat them the same as any other patient or find a colleague in the office who will do so, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday. The doctors are saying that there is a certain group of customers they will serve. The court is saying that others have a call on these services. That is, folks can demand the use of another person's life, energy, and knowledge no matter what that person wants.
Whether the doctors are doing the right thing is one point. Demanding the doctors do what someone else thinks is the right thing is another.
Wall Street Journal - Online We'll All Pay For the Fed's Loose Money Follies By BENN STEIL August 18, 2008; Page A13 [...] The logic behind central bank discretion is that the economy is like a giant factory churning out 100 widgets a year, all of which are happily bought by consumers without prices rising. A sudden "exogenous shock" cuts demand to 98 widgets. But the central bank can then print money to induce consumers to buy up the two excess widgets, thereby stopping the factory from cutting production capacity and causing a "recession." It claws back the excess money when "equilibrium" is restored. But what if this analogy is deeply flawed? What if the economy is much more like two factories than one? One factory produces, say, real-estate widgets, and the other produces everything else. If consumers decide they want fewer real-estate widgets and more of some other widgets, it will take time and resources for capacity to shift from the first factory to the second. "GDP" growth will decline during that time. But the process is normal and desirable. By printing more money, the central bank only makes it longer and more painful, not least by producing significant and prolonged inflation. [...] Another ebbing of citizen power.
Via Instapundit
The Volokh Conspiracy
Randy Barnett, August 15, 2008 - Judge Nullifies Juror Nullification
[...]
There is little question that, at the Founding, jurors were triers of both the law and the facts. In essence, this provided a popular check on an overreaching legislature and a supine judiciary, although a check that would only operate on a case-by-case basis. A jury could find that a statute was unjust generally, or only as applied in the particular case. This would affect the general enforceability of a statute only if many juries agreed. Although juries retain the power to refuse to apply an unjust law, beginning in the Nineteenth Century, judges started prohibiting lawyers from advocating this to a jury upon pain of contempt.
[...]
AND
CATO@LIBERTY
Tim Lynch on 08.14.08
Juror Becomes Fly in the Ointment
[...]
1. Court precedents say jurors have no right to nullify. Well, yes, that is undeniable. But that’s like someone saying in 1950 that court precedents tell us that ”separate, but equal” is the law of the land–go read Plessy v. Ferguson. The real question is whether those court rulings are truly consistent with the Constitution. I would also point out that even though many modern court rulings express hostility toward jury nullification, no court has yet dared try to reverse a not guilty verdict or attempt to punish any juror who cast a not guilty vote in a jury room where the result was deadlock (not an untoward outcome, by the way). Judges do remove jurors from time to time, but there is no punishment. At least not yet.
[...]
A juror was removed because he insisted that his view of the Constitution was more correct than the court's view.
via Instapundit Popular Mechanics 7 Next-Gen Biofuels to Drive Beyond Gasoline Doesn't it occur to anybody that this is not the governments business? Only through the corruption of the Constitution has government taken this power.
Credit Card Industry Faces Reforms
Congress, Federal Reserve Propose Tighter Rules to Protect Consumers
By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 10, 2008; Page F01
Stricter regulation of the credit card industry will probably be approved by the end of the year, consumer advocates, members of Congress and banking officials said as the comment period on the Federal Reserve's proposed actions drew to a close last week.
[...]
Both the Fed and Congress are working to tighten rules on the credit card industry.
City Street photo walk Gore Hits the Waves with a Massive New Houseboat August 6, 2008 - by Steve Gill Seems like Al Gore is taking the public and not the planet to the cleaners.
Via GeekPress Innovative car park signs Wall Street Journal The Fannie Mae Gang By PAUL A. GIGOT July 23, 2008; Page A17 [...] Fannie has been able to purchase political immunity for decades... [...] Wall Street Journal What Is a 'Windfall' Profit? August 4, 2008; Page A12 [...] The point is that what constitutes an abnormal profit is entirely arbitrary. It is in the eye of the political beholder, who is usually looking to soak some unpopular business. In other words, a windfall is nothing more than a profit earned by a business that some politician dislikes. And a tax on that profit is merely a form of politically motivated expropriation. [...] Is a “windfall” sort of like a bridge to nowhere and other congressional
fancies?
I think it is important that we cease assigning ignorance or mendacity to
what appear to be foolish acts of Congress. Although ignorance and mendacity do exist,
they are not the foundation for most of these acts.
Primary for most congressmen is to remain in office. This requires constituents and money.
The current state of our Constitution allows congressmen to produce legislation that only
benefits certain constituencies. Quite often, this legislation is at the expense of the rest
of the population and thus seems ignorant or mendacious to the the majority. But the
legislators are acting within their natural incentives. They are buying votes from their
constituencies with the advantage produced by their legislation.
If we expend our energy contesting the individual legislations, we are splitting and wasting
our power. Our focus should be on eliminating the marketplace for votes and legislation.
This cannot be done by attempting to limit the purchasers. The block must be on the
sellers and that is Congress. If they have nothing to sell, the market dies.
Wall Street Journal Fannie Mae's Political Immunity July 29, 2008; Page A16 [...] We believe in the right of individuals and businesses to lobby Congress. But with Fan and Fred now explicitly guaranteed by taxpayers, letting them ladle cash all over Washington amounts to using government-guaranteed profits to lobby for continued government protection. Congress sets the rules in favor of Fan and Fred, which then repay the Members with cash from their rigged profit stream. This is the government lobbying itself for more government. [...] Another view of the carbon/climate question.
Via Instapundit
Forbes
The Carbon Curtain
Peter Huber 07.17.08, 6:00 PM ET
'Major discovery' from MIT primed to unleash solar revolution Scientists mimic essence of plants' energy storage system Anne Trafton, News Office July 31, 2008 AND
MIT opens new
'window' on solar energy
Cost effective devices expected on market soon
Elizabeth A. Thomson, News Office
July 10, 2008
LIBERTY AND POPULATION
I strongly suspect that the larger the social institution, the less the possibility of maintaining liberty.
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Outside . . . looking in . . .
Government
Liberty Dilemma
Speech Clause - 1st Amendment
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