When people suggest that “government is responsible for fixing such-and-such,” implicit in their position is the belief that government is “capable” of fixing such-and-such. If you believe that government is responsible for “fixing health care,” it follows first and foremost that they believe government can fix it. Once it is established that government can, and then must, fix the broken system, it follows that no amount of meddling is too much, when used towards the attainment of the ends sought. And it doesn’t matter if it’s health care, insurance, hunger, poverty, or education. Barbara Jackson of Troy suggests that higher taxes are the solution to funding the failing higher-education system here, I’ll bet politicians love her! Barbara, I’ll gladly put you in touch with the proper IRS form … Read entire article »

One Book That Changed My Life: Like Kip said, any good libertarian is supposed to say: Atlas Shrugged I think The Fountainhead was a better novel, but digressions aside, I’m supposed to tell you one book that changed my life, and I’m not sure either of those truly fits into that category. I like to think that they all contribute to changing my life in one way or another, narrowing it down to just one is a difficult task. Mises’ Human Action pretty much sealed my fate as far as studying a relatively obscure school of Economics is concerned. Does that count for anything? A book I have read more than once: Ayn Rand’s The Virtue of Selfishness, Russell Roberts’ The Choice One book I would want on a desert … Read entire article »

…Between 1978 and 2004, the government submitted nearly 19,000 surveillance requests to the FISA court, which denied only four applications and granted 180 with modifications. Despite the ridiculous ease with which FISA allows federal investigators to bypass or sidestep warrant requirements in counter-terrorism cases, as expected, the Bush regime has taken its ideological stand against the recent ruling out of Michigan, declaring the NSA warrantless wiretap program unconstitution. In Washington, White House press secretary Tony Snow said the Bush administration “couldn’t disagree more with this ruling.” Legal experts called the decision a major setback for Bush. “It’s a complete defeat for the Bush administration,” said Robert Sedler, a constitutional law professor at Wayne State University. “Virtually every argument they made was rejected.” That is not good news for Bush and his cronies, but I … Read entire article »