Free kibbles

FREEDOM OF SPEECH:

On the role information technology is playing in the Middle Eastern revolutions.

"The new wrinkle that has helped protestors outflank Mubarak and other dictators is ubiquitous access to information technology. Three decades ago it was possible to crush political rebellions with merciless swiftness. So long as an uprising remained localized and the vicious tactics used to smash the revolt remained undocumented, tyrants could get away with murder. However, times have changed."

The Sons of Liberty launched the American revolution in a tavern in Boston. Had the British been familiar with America, they might have crushed the revolution there. If the British had been able to communicate and maneuver as effectively as the colonists, the revolution might have failed. Today, social networking makes out-communicating and out-maneuvering a government much easier.

ECONOMY:

Private investment continues to be low.

"According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the most recent business-cycle peak occurred in December 2007, and the trough was reached in June 2009. As we have seen, net private investment peaked slightly sooner, in the third quarter of 2007. So, we are now more than three years past the economy’s overall peak and some 20 months past its trough, yet net private investment in the most recent quarter was running at only 31 percent of the annual rate at its previous peak."

Ouch.

HEALTH CARE:

These studies that supposedly show that red meat is bad for you are part of government campaign to make us sicker and poorer. They want us to be more easy to control. They also want us to pay a doctor every year or every six months. That's unnecessary for healthy people. Scientists could differentiate between healthy red meat, meat raised naturally, and factory farm meat that's full of carcinogens, but they don't. They don't because the government wouldn't fund them if they did. This is another example of the corruption of science and how politicians use it as a tool to enrich themselves at our expense.

Your health is dependent on your food and lifestyle. Nutrient dense food and intense exercise are your best medicines.

I guess the Department of Health and Human Services was feeling left out of the police power gang, so they levied their first ever fine, for $4.3 million, to a health care provider for violations of privacy. This makes sense because the government is so good at protecting our privacy.

Big government Huckabee praises Michelle Obama's seizure of power over our food. Apparently he hasn't figured out the FDA is the problem, not the solution.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Story claims the government (Commerce Department) cleared itself (NOAA) of misusing climate data, but in fact investigators declared NOAA should be investigated further. Even in the rare instance where government didn't clear itself, its propagandists claim it did.

WAR ON DRUGS:

Not only is happy hour a great way to network to increase your economic circumstances as well as the wealth of society, but it also fights Alzheimer's. Too bad government is crushing it, lives, cities and our economy with draconian DUI laws. Drinking alcohol also reduces heart disease.

POLICE STATE:

I may disagree with what you say, but I respect your right to be punished for it.


WAR:

OMG, this picture is worth a million words of painful truth:


POLITICS:

I wish more people would make the point Walter Williams makes here. We should not judge governments by whether or not they're democratic. Democracies are not free. We should judge governments based on liberty versus tyranny.

LOCAL:

Apparently the Highway Patrol thinks US 35 is a good place to steal money. The traffic ticket scam is all about stealing money, not safety. Like many government pseudo-services, safety is just the excuse.

MISC:

In praise of the tourist trap. Once again Jeffrey Tucker revels in the voluntary exchange between producers often vilified and the consumers who demand their products.