An excellent article about the power juries have to nullify bad laws here by Flex Your Rights via The Free Thought Project

-Professor Politico

I believe in personal freedom. I am the sole owner of my body, mind and spirit.

I will not be numbered, indexed, monitored or cataloged.

I have an eternal responsibility to my own soul to break all bonds ever forged upon me by force. I will repudiate and remove from my life all links in any chain of authoritarian ownership or control.

I believe in freedom for others. I will never initiate any act of force or fraud against another.

To be fully human and fully moral we must be free to dream, strive, explore, experiment, think, travel, believe, speak, risk, fail, succeed, defend ourselves, make choices, accept responsibility, and grow. Always to grow.

I will reach for the future. The only barrier I will permit to stand between my soul and the stars is time.

Crony capitalism - a capitalist economy in which success in business depends on close relationships between business people and government officials.



More awesome economic memes here

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!

From Reason's Hit&Run Blog....

As you move slowly and shoe-lessly through the security lines at your airport, trying to get home to your loved ones for Christmas, the Department of Homeland Security would like you to remember that you would be dead if it weren't for them and their $50-odd billion a year. So give them some gratitude and dive into their "DHS' Progress in 2011: By the Numbers."

More here, here, and here.

From Boingboing.net.....

The DOJ has rejected a Freedom of Information Act request from the New York Timesthat asked the agency to reveal the legal basis for the newly unveiled American program of strategic drone-attack assassinations of American citizens off the field of battle.

More here and here.

I'm a big fan of Carl Sagan's Cosmos and this is pretty friggin' amazing.

Here's a little something to pass the time.

From the Agitator:

George Will urges the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down an Illinois law that may be the next step in post-bailout, post-Kelo America: direct transfer of the profits of successful industries to the accounts of those that are failing. The Illinois law attempts to prop up the state’s sagging horse racing industry by requiring the state’s four most profitable casinos to simply hand over 3 percent of gross receipts to Illinois’ horse racing tracks. The bill was recently upheld by the state’s supreme court.

More here.

And the slide towards a new socialism continues.

Special thanks to United Liberty!

From Cato @ Liberty:

As Tad DeHaven mentioned the other day, CNN reported recently that business owners and residents on Hawaii’s Kauai island got together and made repairs to a state park — in eight days — that the state had said would cost $4 million and might not get done for months. Businesses were losing money since people couldn’t visit the park, so they decided to take matters into their own hands.

More here.

This is just one more example of individuals doing things better, cheaper and more efficiently than government.

Sorry for the lack of posts, ladies and gents. It's been a busy few months.
Here's a little something to tide you over.


(Thanks to The Agitator)

Why, god?!?!?!? W H Y !!??!!??!!??!!??

And now for a rundown of some of today's funny and serious news stories:


Bash the Bailout: Government is Not the Answer

The Financial Crisis: Facing the Facts

Who Voted for the Wall Street Bailout?

The Nonexistence Theorem

Shoeless Joe Biden and the Snowbilly Hockey Mom

Reagan (and Hayek), Not Entirely Off-Base

She Left Me for Jesus

This is interesting:

From Winds Of Change:

A much remarked, minor story in this election was the question of Senator Obama's birth certificate. We've all ignored it, except to try to shoot it down, because it sounded like a wacko conspiracy theory; and anyway, the campaign produced a birth certificate.

In ignoring this story, we may have made an error. Some of you will recall that the issue arose briefly a little while ago when a Clinton camp supporter filed a suit demanding that Sen. Obama produce various documents to prove that he is able to run for the Presidency.

US Federal District Court Judge R. Barclay Surrick has denied Sen. Obama's motion to dismiss the suit, and has ordered him to produce a certified copy of the original long version of his birth certificate. Presumably, Sen. Obama will comply.

However, the judge's order also states that, according to the law in effect in 1967, Sen. Obama lost his citizenship when he was adopted in Indonesia. He has therefore also ordered Sen. Obama to produce a certified copy of his Certification of Citizenship and a certified copy of his Oath of Allegiance.