Friday, November 21, 2008

eHarmony Forced to Create a Dating Service for Gay Singles

In a free society, what is equality? In a free society, what are gay rights?

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Bush's Final Attacks on Abortion and Contraception

Bush is making some last-minute attempts to make it more difficult for women to get emergency contraceptive and abortion services, in the name of religious freedom, of course.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

A Positive Account of Property Rights

I found a positive account of property rights by David D. Friedman. It's a long and difficult read for the uninitiated, but quite rewarding, if you have an interest in philosophical and economic bases for property.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Prescription Drugs Kill Three Times More Americans Than Illegal Drugs

A study of 170,000 autopsies in Florida in 2007 found that prescription drug overdoses cause three times the number of deaths that illegal drug overdoses did. Another notable result: 466 deaths from alcohol poisoning vs. ZERO deaths from marijuana.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Washington's $5 Trillion Tab

The running total of government bailouts and related expenditures is approaching 5 Trillion Dollars. In comparison, the cost of the Iraq War thus far has been about $850 Billion, with a total estimated cost to the economy of about 3 trillion.

Saturday, November 08, 2008

A new legal puzzle

There's a lot of interesting stuff in this talk by David Friedman, the son of Milton Friedman, but one legal puzzle stood out to me as particularly fun and interesting.

Suppose we have a corpse cryonically frozen to be reanimated when the proper technology arrives that could do so, like Ted Williams. Suppose that there is a new advancement in technology to make reanimation finally feasible in the coming months. Suppose that a family member of the preserved does not want this person to be resuscitated , so they break into the lab and thaw out the body so that it cannot be resuscitated.

Is this person guilty of murder? The person was already dead. How should this be thought of, legally, and ethically? Does a cryonically preserved person just become property? This seems to be a crime more serious than vandalism if it is just property.

A fundamental premise of anarchy

Consider this fundamental premise of anarchy. Is this axiomatic, and if it is, does it necessarily imply anarchy as a moral goal?

Friday, November 07, 2008

Triumph and Tragedy for Civil Rights on Election Day

While the Obama victory is surely a huge step forward in racial equality, the passage of California's Proposition 8 (as well as similar measures in Arizona, and Florida that also banned gay marriage, and in Arkansas that banned gay adoption) reveals that discrimination is still a major problem.

I haven't linked to an article, but I think this is a topic worth discussing. The aspect I found particularly saddening was that black voters supported the proposition overwhelmingly, showing that even those who have themselves faced discrimination are not averse to discriminating against others.

Truly this is a tragedy for freedom and equality.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Free Speech and Religion

Here are a couple of articles from September that I never got around to posting. The first details the unsuccessful attempt of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) to get the UN to pass a resolution banning "defamation of religion." The second is an interesting article on the general decline of free speech in the West due to a combination of self censorship and increasing state censorship.

Protectors of free speech speak out at last at UN

How the West was lost for free speech

Thursday, October 23, 2008

David Letterman's Revenge

After getting snubbed by McCain a few weeks ago, Letterman accepts his apology, then becomes the first major media personality to confront McCain about his relationship with Gordon Liddy, political criminal and mastermind of the Watergate break-in. Now, I wouldn't claim that either this or Obama's Ayers connection ought to have anything to do with the campaign, but it is does seem pretty hypocritical of McCain.

Nor is Gordon Liddy the only questionable acquaintance of McCain. One of his major supporters, Carl Lindner, was CEO of Chiquita when it began illegal protection payments to the AUC (a Colombian terrorist organization), and the district attorney of Medellin has called for him and other top executives to be extradited to Colombia to face criminal charges of financing terrorism.

Government Supported Religious Discrimination

The Department of Justice has decided that faith-based organizations receiving government funds may discriminate on religious grounds, despite a congressional law specifically forbidding this.

Monday, October 20, 2008

The Rise of Disaster Capitalism Socialism

Extraordinary economic times call for extraordinary measures.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Does Religion Make People Nicer?

Do religious people show concern for others because they truly believe religious morals, or because of fear of divine retribution and/or concern for their own reputations?

Friday, October 10, 2008

UK Plans Computer System to Tap ALL Calls and Emails

The UK is in the process of designing a computer system capable of monitoring every, call, text, e-mail, and website visited by every person in the country. They have already spent a billion pounds of taxpayer money. Can the US be far behind on this? How has surveillance gotten this bad?

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Criminality: Nature or Nurture?

Are criminals born or made? What are the implications?

Explanation of the crisis

Confused about the crisis? Mike Flynn is here to help.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Monday, September 29, 2008

Restrictions on purchasing cold medicine

Will restrictions on the purchasing of cold medicine stop the production of crystal methamphetamine?

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Obama Promising To Lower Employee Pay If Obama Wins

I wish you had posted a link for the election fraud article. I looked for it, but found no evidence to support voter intimidation from "business leaders all across the country." On the other hand, there's obvious pandering on Obama's side, and I don't see why promising America's low-income "workers" increases in annual revenue is any different than a raise. We can talk more about this during the afternoon.

Also, I cannot post a link because my information is hardcopy, but I'll make a copy of an article I came across, about government promotion of 'homeownership.' I think this is important to discuss, especially the role of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and the influence it's had on the finance industry, especially banks.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Businesses Promising To Lower Employee Pay If Obama Wins

In an attempt to manipulate the election, business leaders all across the country have promised pay cuts if Obama is elected. Through some sort of legal technicality, this isn't illegal, despite appearing to be a very clear case of voter intimidation.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Who Is Against Evolution?

Who's against evolution? Is it really the Christian right, or the secular left?

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Re-post: Link to POWs article

Don't know why this didn't work the first time, but here it is again:

http://www.nationinstitute.org/p/schanberg09182008pt1

Saturday, September 20, 2008

American POWs abandoned in withdrawal from Vietnam? Don't ask McCain!

Does being a war hero require lying for the State?  Hard to believe the American people would knowingly elect a war hero so loyal he would collude in writing off hundreds of men because their existence had become embarrassing to two governments:

"John McCain, who has risen to political prominence on his image as a Vietnam POW war hero, has inexplicably worked very hard to hide from the public stunning information about American prisoners in Vietnam who, unlike him, didn't return home.  Throughout his Senate career, McCain has quietly sponsored and pushed into federal law a set of prohibitions that keep the most revealing information about these men buried in classified documents."


Election Fraud - It's Back!

In several key battleground states, Republicans have been trying to confuse potential Obama supporters into thinking there is a problem with their voter registration. Meanwhile, there have been several instances of outright, blatant lying by McCain and Palin, not to mention their copying of Obama's campaign slogans. Election fraud was also a major issue in the 2006 congressional elections. What can be done to bring back fair elections to the United States?

Republican Mailing Leaves Florida Voters Confused


Warning for College Student Voters

Why is McCain Running a Dishonest Campaign?



Friday, September 19, 2008

Some Libertarian Perspectives on the Election

I have posted a pair of articles from Reason Magazine on how the presidential candidates do conform to a few libertarian ideals.

The Libertarian Case for McCain

The Libertarian Case for Obama

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Just Christian Enough

Here are some thoughts from Kerry Howley about Palin's Christianity. As an aside, check out this video of her church.
Wasilla Assembly of God Clip

Friday, September 12, 2008

Scientology on Trial In France

The Church of Scientology is facing charges of organized fraud in France, and if convicted, could be banned. I thought this might be a good starting point for a discussion of religious freedoms and the nature of both fringe religions and mainstream ones. If Scientology can be considered fraudulent, why can't other religions? This could call into question the distinction between constitutionally protected religious freedom and criminal conspiracy here in America.

Scientology 'faces French trial'

Keeping Your Information Private

I found a couple of short pieces on securing or disseminating personal information that might make you think. Nothing too informative, these are just meant to spark discussion of privacy violations in America and worldwide.

First, a post from the Cato Institute blog on ID checks. It's ot very long but it raises a good point.
ID Checks are About Control, Not Security

Second, how you can try to retain some privacy of information.
RFID Blocking Passport Billfold


Third, some ridiculous conceptual technology designed to make shedding your privacy even easier.
Exchange information with Handshake

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Follow-up on CIA drug plane

Lest I'm considered a nutty conspiracy theorist, check this out for yourself.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Don't Talk to Cops

This is a video clip of an interesting explanation of why an innocent person should exercise his right to remain silent.

It's sort of long, and in two parts, but worth a viewing.

Don't Talk to Cops, Part 1

Don't Talk to Cops, Part 2

Thanks to Robbie Barton for forwarding these links to me.

Friday, September 05, 2008

And you thought Comcast had bad service!

Cable provider Bright House Networks is training its technicians to double as secret spies for the government, effectively circumventing the 4th Amendment. Makes you wonder if "telescreens" are far behind.

Operation Bright Eyes

Bush: President or Elected King?

A Constitutional Scholar claims that Bush claims more power than any leader in the Anglo-American world since the English Civil War, including King George III.

Bush claims more power than King George III

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Tasers: 100% non-Lethal

Taser uses its corporate sway to have autopsy reports altered to remove mention of Taser stun guns as a contributors to the deaths of several men who killed while resisting arrest. This was an older article (from May) but I think the issue of corporate manipulation of medical records is worth discussing.

Judge Orders Taser Removed from Autopsies

Contraception is the New Abortion

The Department of Health and Human Services, under pressure from the religious right and the Bush Administration, is trying to expand the definition of what is considered an abortion to include any birth control methods that work after fertilization. Such an act would expand the scope of the Weldon Act of 2004, which already makes access to abortion services difficult, to the point that ability to acquire basic birth control such as the pill would be negatively impacted.

Article from Science Progress

D.C. v. Heller

The Supreme Court's ruling in favor of individual gun rights in District of Columbia v. Heller was barely two months ago, but already Washington is taking steps to defy the ruling with new laws that make purchasing and owning a firearm in the city nearly as difficult as before. Let's talk about this most important supreme court case of the summer (and possibly the most important thus far of John Roberts' tenure as Chief Justice) as well as the general issue of gun rights and the second amendment.

I have included two links:

A NY Times article on the case

A Reason Magazine article on DC's new laws in response to the case

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Subjects, objects, justice

Will Saletan does a roundup of various news items and scientific studies in his Human Nature column at Slate. I thought this one would be of interest to the CLR. Blurb:

"... [DNA-based decreased culpability arguments are causing] a gradual invasion of personal responsibility by genetic determinism. It's a conceptual shift from thinking of people as subjects to thinking of them as objects. The shift helps defense lawyers who need excuses for their clients' behavior. But it comes at a price: If your client is an object, why should we treat him like a subject?"

Monday, April 21, 2008

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7359880.stm

Bolivian President Evo Morales has told a UN forum that capitalism should be scrapped if the planet is to be saved from the effects of climate change.

Last year, a similar issue was the focus of a Reason Foundation discussion. If you get the chance, part 1 is probably applicable:

http://www.reason.tv/video/show/246.html

Monday, April 14, 2008

Plan 9/Satellite Ballroom buyout

There's plenty of rumors flying about the future of the corner. Consensus says that Plan 9 and Satellite Ballroom might be bought out by CVS. This has sparked some opinions from students and community members. It may make for a good topic for next Sunday.

Attached: A facebook group and two articles--

http://uva.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24641668256

http://www.nailgunmedia.com/blog/?p=297#more-297

http://www.the-declaration.com/index.php?issuedate=2008-03-20&showarticle=1953

Saturday, April 12, 2008

A parent lets a nine-year-old find his way home on the NYC subway

A parent let her nine-year-old ride the subway alone.

Was I worried? Yes, a tinge. But it didn’t strike me as that daring, either. Isn’t New York as safe now as it was in 1963? It’s not like we’re living in downtown Baghdad.

Anyway, for weeks my boy had been begging for me to please leave him somewhere, anywhere, and let him try to figure out how to get home on his own. So on that sunny Sunday I gave him a subway map, a MetroCard, a $20 bill, and several quarters, just in case he had to make a call.

No, I did not give him a cell phone. Didn’t want to lose it. And no, I didn’t trail him, like a mommy private eye. I trusted him to figure out that he should take the Lexington Avenue subway down, and the 34th Street crosstown bus home. If he couldn’t do that, I trusted him to ask a stranger. And then I even trusted that stranger not to think, “Gee, I was about to catch my train home, but now I think I’ll abduct this adorable child instead.”

Long story short: My son got home, ecstatic with independence.

Long story longer, and analyzed, to boot: Half the people I’ve told this episode to now want to turn me in for child abuse. As if keeping kids under lock and key and helmet and cell phone and nanny and surveillance is the right way to rear kids. It’s not. It’s debilitating — for us and for them.


http://www.nysun.com/editorials/why-i-let-my-9-year-old-ride-subway-alone

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Child Protective Services raids polygamist compound, removes 500+ women and children

You've probably all heard about this since it's been all over CNN.com and other news sites for the past week, but the Texas Children's Protective Services has carried out a massive raid on a compound holding members of a secretive, radical branch of the Mormon Church, the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints (FLDS). The FLDS continues to practice polygamy, has long been disavowed by mainstream Mormons, and is reputed to arrange marriages of its members to girls as young as 13, or possibly younger. These practices are hard to prove as many of the children have been born into the sect and lack proper documentation of their ages, and members of the sect rarely make contact with the outside world. The current spiritual leader, Warren Jeffs, has been convicted of accomplice to rape and sentenced to 10 years in prison for coercing a 14 year old girl to marry her 19 year old cousin. The entire sect is ruled by the church elders, who have absolute control over their followers. The FLDS has been left in relative isolation since a similar raid half a century ago in Arizona that was tarnished by a negative media backlash. So far the Texas government has removed over 500 women and children from the compound on suspicions of physical and/or sexual abuse, after they were called by a sixteen year old girl, pregnant with her second child, who reported being abused.

At what point should the ability to practice religion freely be limited by the need to protect basic human rights? Should the government force extremist religious groups to be more transparent in order to prevent abuse? Why has the FLDS, which has long been associated with physical and sexual abuse of its women and children, been tolerated for this long?

Monday, April 07, 2008

Smoking Bans Kill

Never underestimate the law of unintended consequences.

Smoking Bans Kill, Part II

A new study reported in the Journal of Public Economics finds that smoking bans are associated with increases in alcohol-related traffic deaths. "We observe an increase in fatal accidents involving alcohol following bans on smoking in bars that is not observed in places without bans," the researchers report. They surmise that drinkers respond to bans by driving further to find bars where they're allowed to light up, either because the bars are in a different jurisdiction or because they have outdoor seating. That means more time on the road in a less-than-sober condition:

"The increased miles driven by drivers who wish to smoke and drink offsets any reduction in driving from smokers choosing to stay home after a ban, resulting in increased alcohol-related accidents," the study says.

The authors, Scott Adams of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Economics Department and Chad Cotti, currently at the University of South Carolina, call the results "surprising."

"We thought we would see a reduction," Adams said. "Our first thought was, 'Throw it away, it must be wrong.' "...

The 2-year study looks at highway fatality data involving a driver with blood alcohol content over 0.08 in cities and counties with bans and compares it to incidences in surrounding areas without bans. The study was not funded by outside organizations, the authors said.

Results show an increase in accidents in areas after smoking bans were enacted and near the jurisdiction lines.

A Wisconsin anti-smoking activist quoted by Madison's Capital Times seems irritated by the study and reacts skeptically. But the results need not be seen as an argument against smoking bans (the interpretation I'd favor). They could be seen as an argument for stricter bans that forbid smoking even outdoors and for wider bans that do not allow escape to more tolerant jurisdictions. Adams tells the Times "a well-enforced national smoking ban would get rid of the drunken driving increases related to smoke bans."

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Notes

Persuant to last week's Obama discussion, I found an especially eloquent summation of the Hillary camp:
"[Hillary supporters believe that] their highly substantive candidate was unfairly undone by a lightweight showboat who got a free ride from an often misogynist press and from naïve young people who lap up messianic language as if it were Jim Jones’s Kool-Aid."
I just thought that it was particularly expressive.

Also, there is a lot of good material on www.reason.tv . Some of my favorite videos are:

Living Large: The American Middle Class
http://www.reason.tv/video/show/61.html

Organ Transplants: Kidneys for Sale
http://www.reason.tv/video/show/333.html

Gridlock: Hell on Wheels
http://www.reason.tv/video/show/6.html

These are really great commentaries about different issues that don't often get debate, and might make for interesting discussions.

Olympics Official Warns Against Boycott

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120743652825392753.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news#
What would a boycott of the Olympics mean? When is it a duty of a nation to boycott an Olympics? What would the consequences be of doing so?

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Hitchens on Obama

http://www.slate.com/id/2187277

Hitchens addresses Obama's so called "post-racial" politics.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Prostitution debate

Per Sunday's discussion; here might be some more material on Prostitution:
ABC Friday at 9:00pm
20/20 Prostitution in America: Working Girls Speak
http://abcnews.go.com/2020

I thought it would be an interesting supplement to our conversation.

Reaction to Obama's answer

Here's the video of his pastor and spiritual advisor:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video_log/2008/03/brian_ross_reports_on_obamas_c.html
Lively speaker, especially with the hand gestures on the chickens (quoting Malcolm X there).

It's hard to find any negative reaction to Obama's speech, but here are a couple:
http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/894ztiry.asp

http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/MichaelMedved/2008/03/19/three_big_problems_with_baracks_speech

Obama is a much smarter fellow than McCain, and I'm not sure his close friendship with this pastor will stop him from becoming President. It is troubling to be electing someone whose primary loyalty seems not to be to America. But he has the nomination pretty much wrapped up and people are so eager to vote for him, and he knows so well how to arm himself with all the ways Americans want to make war on reality (the American dream), and he offers forgiveness for the things for which Americans most crave redemption, that I don't think this will sink him, especially against the old defender of an unpopular war and President.

(p.s. Journalists are out of touch with the views of many black Americans in thinking that Obama's pastor is "out of the mainstream." He is only slightly out of the black mainstream, since a third of black churchgoers, at all churches, believe that AIDS was at least in some way the result of a government attempt to commit genocide. A Rasmussen poll released Monday found that 29% of blacks surveyed said Wright's comments made them more likely to support Obama, while only 18% said the opposite, and half said Wright's comments would have no effect on them.)

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Obama's Answer

Video and text of Obama's speech in Philly last night, in which he responds to controversy raised by Rev. Wright's incendiary statements on race in America. No comment, yet, on washed-up former Weathermen ...

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Who is Obama? links

Some links for the last post.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aktQHpFJxzsM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/community/groups/index.html?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat%3aa70e3396-6663-4a8d-ba19-e44939d3c44fForum%3a5543a34c-af92-4736-b81b-4aad0ab02e2eDiscussion%3a60ef6534-c61d-41e4-860f-7c49bec7920d

http://www.aim.org/aim-column/obamas-communist-mentor/

http://stoptheaclu.com/archives/2008/02/23/obamas-terrorist-friends/

Who is Obama?

I wonder whether the Obama fervor will soften enough for anyone to discuss who Obama is. He's not the Manchurian candidate, but one would like to know how much he understands and believes in American principles before making him our President.







Topics Today

Due to the two-week hiatus from Spring Break, we have accumulated many possible topics. From this list, we'll take a vote on where to take the conversation.
-- Larry Lessig is not running for Congress
-- In Cuba Raul has assumed power
-- Putin has a puppet
-- Eliot Spitzer
-- Over 900,000 people on the government watchlist
--Does Bush have a disorder?

-- Alcohol Use vs. Marijuana Use
-- Tibet still isn't free.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Friday, February 22, 2008

Kosovo's declaration of independence

Kosovo has declared independence. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Also, read more from a reporter there, Jasmina Tešanović, 1, 2, & 3.

Lessig interview

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080220-lessig-talks-to-ars-about-his-potential-run-for-congress.html

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Lessig '08

Should Lessig run?

http://lessig08.org/

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Justice and Incentives

From PostSecret:

Consider the ethics of vigilante justice.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

NIU Shooting

DeKALB, Ill. — The day after five students were gunned down in an afternoon science class on the campus of Northern Illinois University here, survivors struggled to manage their grief as the authorities released more details about the shooting and the gunman.

Link

Is gun control the answer?

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Who wins from the "war" on drugs?

Who wins from the "war" on drugs? Take a guess, and then click through to see if you're right.

Global anti-smoking initiative

Could a global anti-smoking initiative be effective?

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Lifetime Medical Costs of Obesity: Prevention No Cure for Increasing Health Expenditure

A recent Dutch study finds, lo and behold, that everybody dies of something - and those with a healthy lifestyle do so most expensively:

"Until age 56 y, annual health expenditure was highest for obese people. At older ages, smokers incurred higher costs. Because of differences in life expectancy, however, lifetime health expenditure was highest among healthy-living people and lowest for smokers. Obese individuals held an intermediate position."

Monday, February 04, 2008

Rational scale of harmfulness of various substances, licit and otherwise


Though advocates of decriminalization tend to gloss over any real harm done by intoxication and addiction, proponents of continued criminalization often conflate the physiological actions of all the illicit substances with heroine. Here's a graphic presenting the "harm" versus "dependence" for a variety of drugs of abuse. The colors aren't helpful, but the legal substances are: khat, solvents, alcohol, and tobacco.
The linked article details the way in which harm and dependence were assessed; the graph is someone else's representation of the data presented in the article, whihc is too bad, because I'd like to know the scale of the axes.

Sunday, February 03, 2008

The fatties vs. druggies question

Hope we won't be deciding drug legalization on the merits of the government's anti-obesity campaign.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Battle Against Obesity

Mississippi bill would forbid restaurants from serving food to anyone who is obese.

(Click title for the article)

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Can the government create jobs?

http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/economist/63874;_ylt=Arof9Ck1e2QYpruOIzBUIfe7YWsA

Yes, says Charles Wheelan: by education, not by economic policy.

So is there a skills shortage in America today, and should the government do anything about it?

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Freedom and Science

An article from the Wall Street Journal highlights a grave concern regarding a prescription drug trial. This is by no means an isolated incident, and has been a topic buried in the discussion about public health, lost under the giant discussion of socialized medicine et cetera.

Let's discuss the relationship between the government and science, where profit motives lead to, and what a proper relationship should be.

On a somewhat related note, Dr. Jarvik is being harassed.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Linking favorite books on Facebook with average SAT scores

As promised, here's the post about linking popular book on Facebook with average SAT scores, via BoingBoing.