Free kibbles

FREEDOM OF SPEECH:

Criminal investigation, grand jury and prosecutorial misconduct in the governmen's crusade against WikiLeaks.

"The New Yorker's Jane Mayer echoes The Washington Postreport linked above in reporting that the Obama DOJ's espionage prosecution of NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake is "crumbling." Mayer writes that "the government has been scrambling to find a way to avoid the trial now scheduled for next Monday" and that -- after indicting him on 10 felony counts, including espionage -- "the government has offered Drake the possibility of pleading to a misdemeanor, with no jail time," an offer he refuses to accept if it means admitting wrongdoing.  But the benefit of prosecuting whistleblowers endures even if the case crumbles because (as is true for the criminal investigation of WikiLeaks) it is legally frivolous: namely, it still serves as a thuggish deterrent to future would-be whistleblowers thinking about exposing government corruption, deceit and illegality."

Another example where the threat from government is enough to change behavior.

ECONOMY:

China's property bubble may be deflating.

City in India thrives because of lack of government despite lack of resources.

"Before it had malls, a theme park and fancy housing compounds … Gurgaon was widely regarded as an economic wasteland. In 1979, the state of Haryana created Gurgaon by dividing a longstanding political district on the outskirts of New Delhi. One half would revolve around the city of Faridabad, which had an active municipal government, direct rail access to the capital, fertile farmland and a strong industrial base. The other half, Gurgaon, had rocky soil, no local government, no railway link and almost no industrial base.As an economic competition, it seemed an unfair fight. And it has been: Gurgaon has won, easily. Faridabad has struggled to catch India’s modernization wave, while Gurgaon’s disadvantages turned out to be advantages, none more important, initially, than the absence of a districtwide government, which meant less red tape capable of choking development. …
Meanwhile, with Gurgaon’s understaffed police force outmatched by such a rapidly growing population, some law-and-order responsibilities have been delegated to the private sector. Nearly 12,000 private security guards work in Gurgaon, and many are pressed into directing traffic on major streets. …"

This is universally true - the laws of economics are real - and the sooner we realize it, the sooner we can return America to a trajectory of greatness.

Criticism of bitcoin. Just because it's not commodity money doesn't mean it can't be valuable. It seems very similar to scrip.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Comparing IPCC's prediction from 1990 to 2011 reality. You already know what it shows.

Australian government proposes killing camels to stop global warming. These people are nuts.

Urban buildup not only creates heat islands, it also traps pollutants in the local air.

POLITICS:

Newt Gingrich's staff gets fed up with him and quits en mass.

"[Former spokesman] Rials said Gingrich’s recent Mediterranean cruise – which ended this week – was a factor, “but no bigger than several other things.”"

I wonder if the Gingrich campaign wasn't more about making money than actually trying to win.

MISC:

Senators pressure Apple to remove apps for locating DUI checkpoints. Apple does. DUI checkpoints have to be publicized, so they have no grounds for doing this. This is a good reminder that government coerces people with threats without having to pass laws and regulations.

Chinese space probe visits moon then heads toward L2.