Breaking the Information Monopoly

This is the kind of article that gladdens my heart. No blamethrowing, no psychorants made up of buzzwords and soundbites. An honest assessment of what's happening and what can be done.

Amplify’d from c4ss.org

What the current information landscape represents is an inkling of a free society in practice. Cheap startup costs and the distribution of knowledge foster nearly unlimited competition. Trust can be verified by sourcing (which makes news research more participatory), by recommendation from trusted services (which is based on individual choice and reputation, not on legislative mandates), and by peer recommendation. This is good news for those of us who don’t trust the authorities to put our interests ahead of the interests of those who make a living by advising them. Read more at c4ss.org

 

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/b0Pd4C

Do We Really Need WikiLeaks?

Nick Ford at C4SS asks the musical question "Do We Really Need WikiLeaks?" Well, yes, we do. But more in the sense of leading by example than irreplaceability.

Amplify’d from c4ss.org

What would happen without Assange and WikiLeaks? In little to no time they’d be most likely be replaced. The social networking revolution against top-down hierarchies like the state would continue with or without them. It is a given that there is no reason to rely on WikiLeaks or one organization to carry on the work of delegitimizing the state in the public mind. Rather, this can be continued through networking on an anonymous, decentralized, and horizontal manner. There is no need for any central organization such as Wikileaks in the first place; the individuals that take the action and have the drive to go against the state are the true heroes. Read more at c4ss.org

 

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/biZPla

Organic guilt - Armed and Dangerous

http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=2473

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/9jzdkK

Pain Ray Installed in California Prision

An Active Denial System (called "Assault Intervention System" in the article) being tested in California correctional facility.

Amplify’d from www.pasadenastarnews.com

The "Assault Intervention System" (AIS) developed by the Raytheon Co., could give the Sheriff's Department "another tool" to quell disturbances at a 65-inmate dormitory at the Pitchess Detention Center's North County Correctional Facility, said Cmdr. Bob Osborne, head of the technology exploration branch of the sheriff's Department of Homeland Security Division.

AIS fires a directed beam of invisible "millimeter waves" that cause an unbearable burning sensation by penetrating 1/64 of an inch into the skin, where pain receptors are located, said Mike Booen, Raytheon's vice president of advanced security and directed energy systems.

The beam, which is about the diameter of a compact disc, causes an instant and intolerable burning sensation when it touches skin, but the sensation stops instantly when the device is turned off or the target moves out of the beam.

Similar devices have already been sold to the U.S. military, however the machine demonstrated Friday is the first to be placed in an American correctional institution, sheriff's officials said.

It is being installed as a test case at no cost to the Sheriff's Department, as part of a program through the National Institute of Justice, officials said.

"Millimeter wave" devices have been tested on more than 10,000 subjects so far and has been shown to cause no lasting injuries, Booen said.

The unit at the Pitchess Detention Center has a range of 80 to 100 feet, which is more than enough for the dormitory space it's to be used in.

When asked if the public can expect to see similar AIS devices mounted on patrol cars in the future or attached to deputies' utility belts, Osborne said, "not in my lifetime."

But Booen said his company is working on much smaller versions of the AIS. Progress on that research is a closely held secret, he added.

"That's our vision," said Booen. "We want to get to the point where it is a hand-held device." Read more at www.pasadenastarnews.com

 

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DIY Industrial Revolution

Kevin Carson has a nice intro to minifacturing over at C4SS.

Amplify’d from c4ss.org

The main material reason for the factory system and the predominance of wage labor was the technological shift a couple hundred years ago from relatively inexpensive, general-purpose artisan tools to expensive machinery.  Only the very rich could afford the machinery required for production, and they then hired wage laborers to work it.

The computer revolution, and the revolution in cheap garage-scale machine tools, have reversed this shift.  The computer is a cheap, general-purpose artisan tool that has destroyed the quality gap between what a person can produce at work and what they can produce at home, in a whole range of industries:  software, recording, and desktop publishing, among them.

And now cheap digital machine tools mean the same thing for manufacturing.  Open-source hardware hackers have come up with homebrew versions of CNC routers, cutting tables, milling machines, lathes, 3-D printers, etc., that cost one or two thousand dollars (or less) to build — compared to tens of thousands for commercial, proprietary digital tools, and millions for a factory equipped with old-style mass production machinery.

So a garage “factory” with $10k worth of homebrew machinery can do most of what used to require a million-dollar factory.  And with a network of open-source hardware designers, it can design its own products, and produce “lean” style:  producing in small batches and switching back and forth between lots of different products as the orders come in, and gearing production to a local/neighborhood market.  That means low overhead, no inventory, drastically reduced shipping costs, and no mass-marketing costs. Read more at c4ss.org

 

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Cost of Government Day

http://www.fiscalaccountability.org/taxpayers-finally-celebrat...

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/aBGdOM

Serious Cost Cutters Only, Please

URL:  http://www.governing.com/columns/mgmt-insights/serious-...

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/aVtof0

How to Be an Ideas Factory: Loosen Your Grip on Your Creations | BNET

URL:  http://www.bnet.com/blog/management/how-to-be-an-ideas-...

Get the ideas out there.

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/dzp8W5

'John Doe' Speaks Out After 6-year Battle With FBI

Earlier I posted some views on voting ( http://drewt333.amplify.com/2010/08/05/hello-im-drew-im-a-voter/ ). As we learn in PoliSci 101, voting is only a tiny slice of the activism pie. Here's a story of one man who defended his right to be heard while defending the privacy of others.

Amplify’d from www.wired.com

The owner of an internet service provider who mounted a high-profile court challenge to a secret FBI records demand has finally been partially released from a 6-year-old gag order that forced him to keep his role in the case a secret from even his closest friends and family. He can now identify himself and discuss the case, although he still can’t reveal what information the FBI sought.

“After six long years of not being able to tell anyone at all what happened to me – not even my family – I’m grateful to finally be able to talk about my experience of being served with a national security letter,” Merrill said in a statement. “Internet users do not give up their privacy rights when they log on, and the FBI should not have the power to secretly demand that ISPs turn over constitutionally protected information about their users without a court order. I hope my successful challenge to the FBI’s NSL gag power will empower others who may have received NSLs to speak out.” Read more at www.wired.com

 

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The illustrated guide to a Ph.D.

http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/dwiKkV

Haystack: Resistance Technology Without Borders

URL:  http://c4ss.org/content/3533

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/bxKCY7

House Ready to Pass the "Whatever" Bill

URL: http://techliberation.com/2010/08/09/what-do-prince-and...

I know this for a fact: if I signed off on anything with "XXXXX" as a title, $26 billion worth of spending aside, I would be in the street before the ink dried.

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/daDdcs

Report Claims Police Are Targeting Undocumented Immigrants

URL:  http://www.keyt.com/news/local/Report-Claims-Police-Are...

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/9Chuc7

Darian Worden on Practical Anarchy

URL:  http://c4ss.org/content/3491

The principles of liberty, classical liberalism, and anarchist society.

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/9uSPCY

Anarchy and Public Consensus

URL:  http://c4ss.org/content/3423

Principles trump politics.

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/cbJ7EN

Help Fund the Punk Mathematics Book

URL:  http://technoccult.net/archives/2010/08/06/help-fund-th...

Check out the previous interview and judge for yourself just how badly the world needs this book.

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/cCHlaV

Hello. I'm Drew. I'm a voter.

Tom Knapp over at C4SS manned up and admitted he has a problem.

He's a voter.

Well that monkey's on my back too, and he's got his teeth in my neck pretty deep.

"Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made." ~ Otto von Bismarck

Voting is indeed part of the ugly, filthy, bloody, bone-grinding process of turning your hopes, dreams, ideals and principles into law sausages and I'm hooked. I don't vote to "win." What is there to win? I vote so the sleazy spin-meisters of the Demopublican elite know what extra hoops they have to jump through before they can even dream of getting my vote.

And I won't vote for them. I'm cruel that way.

Some say "If voting could change anything they'd make it illegal." Did that work for booze? Has "making it illegal" worked for pot, sex, cheating on your income tax? No.

If voting could change anything they'd regulate it, making sure you could only do it at approved times in approved places for approved reasons.

And if they don't approve, it doesn't count.

Amplify’d from c4ss.org

Yes, I voted. Schlepped down to the polling place on Tuesday, presented my papers, and poked the screen until the machine informed me that I had successfully cast my ballot.

The anarchist arguments against voting (“it only encourages them;” “if it changed anything, they’d make it illegal;” “it falsely legitimizes the system”) all strike me as sound, although Murray Rothbard’s “voting as self-defense” argument holds some water, too.

The “voting as self-defense” bit was part of what got me this time (this one last time, just this one last time, I keep promising myself). Read more at c4ss.org

 

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/cGWK5D

Armistice Day on Net Wars? Not Yet

URL:  http://techliberation.com/2010/08/05/armistice-day-on-n...

Will Google and Verizon make a stand for internet liberty? Or is this the thin end of the wedge for federal regulation?

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/9m37xf

Net Neutrality, Verizon and Google: A Separate Peace?

http://reason.org/blog/show/a-separate-peace

"The buzz in telecom policy circles this morning is the word that Verizon and Google are close to an agreement that will allow the search giant to purchase from Verizon a faster tier for delivery of its bandwidth heavy services, notably YouTube, its video-sharing site.



"If the two companies reach an agreement, it could be a death blow to the entire “non-discriminatory” idea behind network neutrality: that no service provider should be give favored treatment to any service or application. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has made it a mission to get the “non-discrimination” principle encoded into law, to the point of calling for reclassification of broadband ISPs as regulated telecommunications carriers."

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/a2jrG6

True Economic Liberty: Not a Conservative Idea

URL:  http://c4ss.org/content/3428?utm_source=feedburner&utm_...

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/aqvBPS

Time to Feel Good About Feeling "Bad"

“Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people.” ~ George Bernard Shaw



For many years I believed my constant irritation with the willful ignorance and thundering stupidity copiously displayed by humankind was something to be ashamed of. But shame and regret couldn't stop the natural, logical revulsion at blatant displays of smug corruption and gleeful malice. For my own self-preservation I decided to enjoy my "bad attitude." In a moment of zen-like clarity I entered a state of "joyous antipathy." I learned damn quick that my feelings of self-righteous superiority were no less despicable than the smug boasting of any schoolyard bully.



"Hate the sin, love the sinner." ~ Mahatma Gandhi



Well, "love," is a rather strong term. I think I'll stick with a sort of "compassionate distaste" for now. I will enjoy the freedom to call "Bullshit!" when I smell it. While the freedom lasts.

Amplify’d from c4ss.org

The next time you hear complaints about someone having a “bad attitude,” keep this in mind: It’s entirely because of people with “bad attitudes” that you’re not a slave. For the fact that you’re not working on a chain gang building a pyramid, you should thank all those whose previous bad attitudes won your present degree of freedom. Their bad attitudes echo down to us through time as the principal obstacle to your re-enslavement in the here and now.

When, in all of human history, have those with wealth and power ever willingly surrendered the tiniest crumb of it, or extended the range of freedom by a single milimeter, merely because in the goodness of their hearts they thought it would be a nice thing to do? Have the classes that own the world ever voluntarily reduced the tribute they charged to labor?

No. Throughout history, what Adam Smith called “the masters of mankind” have been motivated by a single “vile maxim”: All for ourselves and nothing for other people. They have departed from it only in the face of resistance. To quote Frederick Douglass, power concedes nothing without a demand. Read more at c4ss.org

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/aFBMH6

Egalitarians Against Democracy

http://athousandnations.com/2010/08/03/egalitarians-against-de...

On the drawbacks of democracy and the advantage of a market in governance.

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/awvwjA

Consumer Spending Doesn’t Drive the Economy

Amplify’d from www.thefreemanonline.org

The truth is that consumer spending does not account for 70 percent of economic activity and is not the mainstay of the U. S. economy.   Investment is!   Business spending on capital goods, new technology, entrepreneurship, and productivity are more significant than consumer spending in sustaining the  economy and a higher standard of living.  In the business cycle, production and investment lead the economy into and out a recession; retail demand is the most stable component of economic activity. Read more at www.thefreemanonline.org

 

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/bc3ziJ

Travel by Quantum Entanglement

What would it mean to be instantaneously replaced by a near exact duplicate? The only difference being the origin of the atoms composing your mass?

Amplify’d from www.npr.org

But Monroe's work is a long way from being able to teleport a living being. The problem with such an act, Kaku says, is that "you have to be destroyed in order to have your body teleported to the other side of the room. So if you've been destroyed and teleported, then who is that person there? They have the same memory, the same jokes, the same everything, except the original was destroyed in the process of being teleported." Read more at www.npr.org

 

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/9sJP95

Reason is a shameless lawyer kept on retainer by our desires

So says Mike Gibson at 'Let a Thousand Nations Bloom.'

I agree with Mr. Gibson's conclusion: "Truth seeking does not come naturally so if we care about such things, we ought to pay greater attention to the incentives for finding them."

Brief aside: isn't 'moral psychologist' another way of saying 'philosophy major?'

Amplify’d from athousandnations.com

At the Edge, moral psychologist Jonathan Haidt recommends a thought provoking paper on the function of reasoning in human interaction. In case you haven’t heard, it turns out Reason is a shameless lawyer kept on retainer by our desires. We’re hardwired to argue to attain higher in-group status and to form winning coalitions. Contrary to what intellectuals, Kant, Rawlsians, deliberative democrats, and other wordsmiths in the academic zoo will tell you, argument is seldom about truth seeking. It is about winning. Sez Haidt: Read more at athousandnations.com

 

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Needed: Civics Lessons for Elected Officials

Flatcap has posted a youtube video on Government Against the People underscoring a dangerous delusion about the Federal government. This 'urban legend' of unlimited Federal power has spun out of hand. How long will we let this blatant abuse continue?

http://drewt333.blogspot.com/2009/10/serious-like-heart-attack.html

http://drewt333.blogspot.com/2009/10/serious-like-heart-attack-ii-prequel.html

Amplify’d from governmentagainstthepeople.wordpress.com

Lay aside for the moment your feelings about healthcare. This is a question about Federal authority. The questioner—who talks like a Libertarian—bravely asserts that there are Constitutional limits to Federal power. Representative Pete Stark claims the Federal government “can do most anything in this country.” The people understandably jeer at this remark. Read more at governmentagainstthepeople.wordpress.com

 

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Wikileaks: Our Weapon Shop of Ishtar

URL:  http://c4ss.org/content/3332

Kevin Carson kind of spirals off into anarchotopia-la-la land in the last paragraph but I think the key takeaway item is here:

"This is a giant leap forward for the kind of networked resistance I constantly advocate in this column: not lobbying or begging the state for permission, but bypassing it and treating it as irrelevant. This is a monumental contribution to the ability of free people to organize the kind of society they want here and now, below the state’s radar and beyond the reach of its enforcement apparatus."

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/aWfLHW

Liberty For All Means Immigrants Too

URL:  http://c4ss.org/content/3350

"Liberty means nothing if the freedom of any group is placed above individual liberty. And people do not stop being individuals if they are born in a different country. All individuals have the right to claim the fullest liberty to do as they will, provided they do not invade the liberty of others. Moving to a different part of the world and trying to improve one’s life – with or without permission from a government – does not violate anyone’s liberty."

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/b9U1LP

Breaking Down the 2009 DMCA Rulemaking, Part 1: Victory for Vidders

URL:  http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/07/breaking-down-2009...

The EFF takes on the pros and cons of the new DMCA circumvention exemptions.

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/a34aUa

The Difference between ‘True Science’ and ‘Cargo-Cult Science’

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-difference-between-true-scien...

[excerpt] In the South Pacific during the Second World War, the locals noticed that cargo planes would fly into airports that had been established on their islands, and unload vast amounts of goodies. The natives wanted the wealth too, so they hacked runways out of the jungle, made “radar antennas” out of wood, and sat at “radio sets” they had also fashioned out of wood. To their eyes, it looked like the real thing, but alas, no planes arrived with cargo. The native “cargo-cult” airport had the superficial appearance of an airport, but not the reality.

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/ayR0XX

DOJ Pushing to Expand Warrantless Access to Internet Records

URL:  http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/07/doj-pushing-expand...

"(T)he DOJ is asking Congress to pass vague and broad new language meant to expand the kinds of data that can be acquired through NSLs. This morning's Washington Post article suggests that the new language could allow access to detailed web browsing history, search history, location information, or even Facebook friend requests."

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/daWrsZ

Concerns Aplenty for the 2 Federal Privacy Bills

URL:  http://techliberation.com/2010/07/29/concerns-aplenty-f...

New privacy bills raise concerns over intrusive regulation of standard business communications.

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/aOc2TF

Our Communities Depend Upon Individual Nullifiers with Courage

URL:  http://c4ss.org/content/3291?utm_source=feedburner&utm_...

"American culture is many things, but it is definitively not about respect for unjust authority. The entire history and culture of this place echoes a profound respect (at the very least rhetorically) for freedom and justice under the law. America has seen a strong tradition of individuals acting immediately as nullifiers to laws they deem unjust."

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/bJv5Fz

Seniors Know More than Polltakers - John Goodman - NCPA

URL:  http://www.john-goodman-blog.com/seniors-know-more-than...

John Goodman debunks NCOA disinformation campaign.

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/cVsFY7

Needed: The Separation of Cable and State

URL:  http://www.fff.org/freedom/0598d.asp

"While no local government would be likely even to attempt to grant a monopoly to a local newspaper, cable television systems routinely receive such preference. More than 99 percent of the cable markets in the United States are served by only one cable company. An FCC survey found that cable systems with monopolies charged an average of 65 cents a channel per month while those that faced competition charged only 48 cents per channel."

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/cNW5AH

Externalities, Libertarianism, and Social Dilemmas

http://newkindofmind.blogspot.com/2010/07/externalities-libert...

"Every reasonable person understands that being part of society means living with a certain amount of annoyance and idiosyncrasy in exchange for a greater diversity of culture, opportunity, and luxury. Participating in society has such externalities built into it. Society is founded upon the tolerance of minor differences and justified on the basis that one gets more out of it than they end up losing."

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/9UDiRf

No Substitute for Economic Justice

URL:  http://c4ss.org/content/3261

"By making capital and land artificially scarce and expensive, the state forces workers to sell their labor in a buyer’s market and thereby reduces the bargaining power of labor. The owners of land and capital are thereby enabled to collect scarcity rents.



"The economic effects are destabilizing. Income shifts from workers, who work mainly to meet their consumption needs, to rentiers with a high propensity to save and invest. The result is a chronic tendency toward overaccumulation and underconsumption.



"At the same time, the state subsidizes the most centralized, capital-intensive forms of production, leading to mass-production industry with overbuilt plant and equipment that’s constantly plagued with idle capacity."



I think he skates right by how the political class seeks to appease all sides with tax-funded, state-approved privilege and the resulting transfer of power to the state.

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/aJcJqG

Crovitz on the First Amendment, Parenting & “The Technology of Decency”

URL:  http://techliberation.com/2010/07/26/crovitz-on-the-fir...

Adam Thierer of the Technology Liberation Front on empowering parents and bringing responsibility back to broadcasting with WSJ columnist L. Gordon Crovitz' "The Technology of Decency."

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/d5w7hR

EFF Wins New Legal Protections for Video Artists, Cell Phone Jailbreakers, and Unlockers

URL:  http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2010/07/26

"The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) won three critical exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) anticircumvention provisions today, carving out new legal protections for consumers who modify their cell phones and artists who remix videos — people who, until now, could have been sued for their non-infringing or fair use activities."

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/adKw2C

A radical idea for airline security

URL:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-oped-0718...

"Americans have a constitutionally protected right, recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court, to travel freely. They also have the right not to be subject to unreasonable searches and other government intrusions. But in the blind pursuit of safety, we have swallowed restrictions on travel and infringements on privacy we would never tolerate elsewhere."

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/9WwnMQ

The Great Bacon Odyssey: Fried Chicken With a Bacon Crust

URL:  http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/07/the-great-bacon-od...

Geekdad at Wired (Matt Blum) has the greatest ideas!

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/9MMSFI

Noblesse Oblige

Is it just me or does this sound a little, well, arrogant? Why would anyone assume that people of the Muslim faith wouldn't feel good about their historic contribution to science? Is "Nannyism" taking over Foreign Policy as well as domestic?

in reference to:

"he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering."
- NASA's new mission: Building ties to Muslim world | San Francisco Examiner (view on Google Sidewiki)

Libertarianism from A to Z

Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron, author of The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition, is interviewed by Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie regarding his new book "Libertarianism From A to Z"

Remembering a Governor and President

"State Sen. Tony Strickland has proposed a bill to erect a memorial statue of Ronald Reagan at the state Capitol." http://ping.fm/TDqZx
As long as there are matching private contributions to mental health clinics and homeless shelters I think that would be a fitting memorial to his legacy.

Business as usual

The Federal Government agrees to spend more money and increase taxes. How is that even news?

Vote the bums out: http://www.voidnow.org/

Protect your money by keeping it local: http://moveyourmoney.info/

in reference to: President Obama Signs Law Raising Public Debt Limit from $12.4 Trillion to $14.3 Trillion - Political Punch (view on Google Sidewiki)

Support Direct Relief International

Create your own personal Tribute web page to share with your friends and family; it's easy to do, and you'll support Direct Relief's work in the process.

Today, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Port au Prince, Haiti. Please visit DRI and donate if you can.

in reference to:

"Create your own personal Tribute web page to share with your friends and family; it's easy to do, and you'll support Direct Relief's work in the process."
- Direct Relief International: Support Us - Tributes: (view on Google Sidewiki)

Thoughts on the Death of a Husband and Father

900-Pound Man Dies after Cut from Chair - Disinformation http://bit.ly/73pTQR
Ever wonder why junk food is so cheap? It's not just "mystery meat" and chemicals. Every "Super-sized" combo in the U.S. is subsidized by the Federal Gov't with U.S. tax dollars. Disinfo - http://bit.ly/84ItWY
The AMA calls obesity "the greatest threat to public health today." What are some of the big solutions?
Tax soda: http://bit.ly/6uD5KO
Menu labeling: http://bit.ly/81sTTb
Stop the subsidies and let the farmers put some variety back in our diet!

Three Feds are Not Better than One

"[The] Senate ... proposed stripping the Federal Reserve of its supervisory powers and creating instead three new federal agencies to police banks, protect consumers and dismantle failing institutions." - http://bit.ly/3prQuE
So that would be three MORE Federal Agencies plus whats left of the Reserve. That is NOT a solution, that is three NEW problems. Just dismantle the Fed and be done with it! - http://bit.ly/10rVql

Serious Like A Heart Attack II: The Prequel

CNSNews.com - Senate Judiciary Chairman Unable to Say Where Constitution Authorizes Congress to Order Americans to Buy Health Insurance http://bit.ly/3Da6U2

That little gem was posted the day before Rep. Pelosi claimed R. U. Sirius gave Congress the authority for the insurance mandate act. Excuse me? No, I'm pretty sure she said "R. U. Sirius." That just makes more sense.

Leahy, whose committee is responsible for vetting Supreme Court nominees, was asked by CNSNews.com where in the Constitution Congress is specifically granted the authority to require that every American purchase health insurance. Leahy answered by saying that “nobody questions” Congress’ authority for such an action.

That's the same answer I would give if asked "Why is everything so screwed up anyway?" Perhaps a more direct question was called for:

What he should have asked was, “Madam Speaker, do you really think the Supreme Court would let you get away with such a blatantly unconstitutional move?” Had he done that, Pelosi could have said, “What a ridiculous question. They always do!” http://bit.ly/P4sBt

Serious like a Heart Attack

CNSNews.com - When Asked Where the Constitution Authorizes Congress to Order Americans To Buy Health Insurance, Pelosi Says: 'Are You Serious?' http://bit.ly/VOfWh

Just two things I want to say here:
1) The final word on interpreting the Constitution will always be from the People.
2) The 'Auto Insurance' argument is irrelevant. Several States may have mandatory Auto insurance laws, but these are not Federal laws. These laws provide no precedent.

G-20: Here to Save the World

A Review of the G-20 Statement http://bit.ly/AvHQ7 via Reason Foundation - Out of Control Policy Blog
Anthony Randazzo compares what the G-20 leaders say to what they have done.

Education, not Litigation!

Education Funding Lawsuit Unlikely to Improve Education Outcomes in California http://bit.ly/BUvtn via Reason Foundation
Lisa Snell of the Reason Foundation "Out of Control Policy Blog" provides a rundown on the effectiveness of "adequacy lawsuits. "

Caring About Health

Image by wstera2 via Flickr

Where the ‘economic argument’ regarding health care reform fails.

Professor Hans-Hermann Hoppe has a great article at Mises Daily: A Four-Step Healthcare Solution. Please give it a read. I am very much in agreement but there is a point I think needs to be addressed in the light of current events.

Points one and two, regarding government licensing and over-regulation of health care providers and the medical industry, are right on the money. Using licensing and regulation to “paper over” the cracks simply doesn’t work. Government intervention does nothing that academic accreditation and consumer watchdog organizations can’t do for themselves.

Point three paints a clear picture of how government interference rewards the irresponsible and breaks the feedback needed to provide quality service. Addressing consumer concerns creates quality service. Defending the irresponsible at the cost of the responsible creates… well you can clearly see what that policy has created.

All of these arguments provide useful talking points on health care reform. But point four has a problem. The unsentimental analysis of the economist simply opens the door to “Death panels will kill my baby” reactions.

Where the logic is true, subsidizing the irresponsible creates a market for irresponsibility, many of the causes for ill-health and infirmity lie far outside the sphere of personal responsibility. Age, for example, or the simple fact that the actions of a few irresponsible people can easily overwhelm the precautions of the responsible.

I personally think the argument for point four is simply the government is incapable of participating in the “care” portion of health care. Any given government policy, no matter how well-intentioned, devolves into a series of detached bureaucratic functionaries matching perfunctory profiles against arcane checklists and stamping “denied” or “approved” in the appropriate box. Those involved with the people themselves become dispensers of '”policy” instead of care.

Private charities can do so much more when people are free to give of their time and resources without interference. People, not “programs” provide real care. That’s what builds community and that’s what creates reform.

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Nasty, Brutish and Short

Image via Wikipedia

In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes presents a sad picture of the nature of mankind: “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Back in the days of Bellum omnium contra omnes ("the war of all against all") you could define “health care” as a strong arm, a fast mind and a sharp stick. Better sharpen those sticks, folks, it looks like "the war of all against all" is back again.

It seems everybody is plagued by signs and portents of a fascistic coup. Rush Limbaugh is seeing Nazi eagles in the Greek caduceus and Rep. Brian Baird is hiding from brownshirts. Those not seeing apparitions of Hitler (or the Joker) seem to be obsessed with Astroturf.

How will it all end? After all the carefully staged theatrics and “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” orations are at an end, Pres. Obama will warm up the Executive Pen and sign off on his own Healthcare Package, making it an Executive Order. This will be followed quickly by a stern, fatherly speech on the theme of “Now look what you made me do.”

The skies will part, angels will sing and the Republican Brownshirts will be taken up by the Rapture. Democrats will raise high their Nazi Caduceii(?) and align with the Planetary Intelligence. The rest of us will bear witness to the Miracle of Astroturf turned to (purely medicinal) Marijuana.

The petty bickering will cease and the output of carbon dioxide will suddenly drop by two-thirds, quickly killing most plant life. The death of most animal species (us included) will follow soon after. Better sharpen those sticks.

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California Legislature Surrenders Database

"Settling a lawsuit with political-watchdog and open-records groups, (California) state officials have agreed to provide a computer database for tracking thousands of legislative votes." http://bit.ly/2AoCYG

Blogola: The FTC Takes On Paid Posts - BusinessWeek

The Federal Trade Commission wants bloggers to disclose when they've been wooed with cash or freebies from companies they cover

read more | digg story

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What to do when you're stopped by police along the road

What should you do if you're traveling along the highways, and have an unplanned meeting with the forces of law and order? Several organizations concerned with protecting and expanding individual rights have created resources useful in just such situations.

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Buy USA Program puts US Workers Out of Work

"You need to tell me how inhibiting business between two companies located one mile apart is going to save American jobs," said Bob Miller, Duferco Farrell's executive vice president. "I've got 600 United Steel Workers out there who are going to lose their jobs because of this. And you tell me this is good for America?"

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California Election Measures Fail to Address State's Problem

Californians already pay some of the highest taxes in the nation. Imposing ever more taxes--like the $16 billion in additional taxes that Proposition 1A would authorize--to support the state's spending binge won't solve the structural deficit, and will only erode California's already poor business climate...

read more | digg story

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The Barack Obama Book Club

Mary Anastasia O'Grady, editor of The Wall Street Journal's weekly column "Americas," provides a useful corrective for Uruguayan Marxist Eduardo Galeano's "Open Veins of Latin America." In her recent article "The Idiot's Bible" she introduces us to "The Manual of the Perfect Latin American Idiot," written by three Latin American journalists — Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, Carlos Alberto Montaner and Alvaro Vargas Llosa. Many baseline media sources have misrepresented "Open Veins" as the sole repository of Latin American political thought, due entirely to President Hugo Chávez's gift of the book to President Obama at the recent Summit of the Americas.
I'm hoping we can find enough copies to give the gift of political literacy to President Obama's speech writing corps and supply them with a more balanced view.

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Pimping the Pandemic

Image by Fugue via Flickr

There are a LOT of Spin-Doctors on both (all?) sides of the fence working the "Flying Pig Flu Pandemic" angle to get their pork barrel (ha-ha) projects through congress. Special interests and Big Government and going to be spliced together in strange ways to take advantage of this. Just like the rumors that this outbreak is some "Crypto-fascist Military-Industrial plot."
So, wash your hands and keep your powder dry.

National RFID Tags

Michigan Rep. Paul Opsommer, District 93, makes some pertinent observations in his post SNAKE OIL & DRIVER’S LICENSES regarding the Department of Homeland Security's "Enhanced Drivers License" (EDL) program and the federal Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). The EDL is a license with an RFID chip, readable from up to 30 feet away. Chris Paget has posted his experiment in RFID tag security:

Chris' gear cost less than $250. How much money have the drug cartels already spent on identity theft? Useful identities are just a commodity, easily purchased by terrorists. Adding RFID tags to drivers' licenses and passports is meaningless gesture of pacification. It provides only a new avenue of attack for well-funded drug lords and political extremists to exploit.

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The California Legislature Is Being Misled

The California Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation is holding hearings today on bill AB 279, the “Great Schools Tax Credit Act.” This bill is much like the scholarship donation tax credit program in Florida, which is a bi-partisan success that saves the state $1.49 for every $1 it reduces state revenue.

But you wouldn’t know that if you read the Committee’s remarkably flawed official Bill Analysis.

Full article here

XKCD - Can't Sleep

Welcome to my life...

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Free World Outlaws Free Speech

Depressing overview of the criminalization of free speech. http://ping.fm/4BR7w

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50 FOOT ROBOT STUDIOS

50footrobot.com — Publishers and creators of comic books, crossing many genres both online and soon in print. Also a graphic design house whose artists have over 10 years of experience in corporate design, web design, and the comic book creation process. Check out the dark, edgy science fiction world of "Skip Tracers" and the virtual reality murder mystery "Vent."

The 5 Most Popular Safety Laws (That Don't Work)

cracked.com —Is it ever possible to be too safe? Yes. Especially when the rule or law intended to protect us is so poorly thought-out that it either does nothing or creates a ripple effect of unintended side effects.

more...

Stop Spending Our Future!

Our economy is in crisis, and our government says that bold action is required. So we're diving in head first to get things back on track. But... what are we diving into exactly? Take a closer look at the government response to our current economic crisis with narrator Nick Gillespie of ReasonTV. And please visit http://stopspendingourfuture.org.

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The Afpak muddle (part 2): How serious is the threat?

"In America, the danger of drowning in a bathtub is greater than the risk of dying in a terrorist attack. And that would be true even if the United State were to suffer one 9/11-scale attack every ten years. Given these numbers, does it really make sense to double down in Central Asia?"

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The Serve America Act

Last week, the House passed the Serve America Act (SAA), which will triple the number of federally funded "volunteer" positions, create a "Clean Energy Corps" to weatherize homes, and make September 11th a “National Day of Service.”

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The Human Cost of Foreign Aid

Thought provoking look at the failure of foreign aid from the inside. Throwing money at severe problems my soothe the conscience of those doing the throwing, but what about the people who still have to live with the problem? Additional insights at Reason.com http://www.reason.com/blog/show/132720.html

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Personal Foul: Poor Sportsmanship as Federal Crime

How the federal government is manufacturing high-profile court cases to expand executive power beyond all reasonable bounds and 'win the war on drugs.'

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The Top 10 People Who Almost Destroyed Fun

We take a lot of things for granted. We turned the internet into a free utopia of naked boobs, girl-on-girl pornography, funny drunken retards, and grown men, beating the living juices out of each other for our amusement. But there was a time when these moments of euphoria were in danger of becoming nothing more than a distant memory.

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The Credit Bubble Explained

Please take a moment for this brilliant video:

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.
A clear, straightforward look at wtf happened without the political "blamemanship" or Procrustean cant of the Demopublican/Republicrat Party.
Except for the portrayal of the "credit risk" family. I think that was a little elitist. :)

Where I Stand

Image via Wikipedia

"Give me a place to stand and I will move the Earth." -- Archimedes

"This is Where I Stand:" --

Seymour Hersh and the Assassins' Guild

Didn't Tom Clancy already cover this in "Clear and Present Danger"?
MinnPost.com
Reason.com

$99 Music Videos

I remember back in the Dark Ages, all the weirdly brilliant video madness I found while hunting up content for local cable. Stuff made on budgets much less than $99. Do it now, you know you want to.

From: http://ping.fm/vDGZL

Viva la evolución!

Happy Birthday Charles Darwin! 200 years young! Check for events in your area: http://ping.fm/1G0LM

Crime Dosen't Pay Dept.

From WhatsTheHarm.net:
"In the midst of allegedly embezzling money from his own clients, this stockbroker received an email from someone claiming to have an inheritance for him. He lost $400,000 to the fraud scheme."

From: http://ping.fm/uLopq

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