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Mystery Inmate in U.S. Refuses to Reveal Name - FoxNews.com: "A mystery man believed to be his 70s has been locked up in a Utah jail for more than three weeks and has baffled investigators because he refuses to reveal his identity or provide any details about his life."
Why can't he keep is privacy? Shouldn't the 5th amendment cover this?
"Harris said the man was arrested July 1 in the underground police parking garage, about 45 miles south of Salt Lake City. He said an officer spotted the man peering into city vehicles. The man was asked to leave several times but refused and was arrested."
3 weeks in jail for trespassing?!?!?
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Lying about Libya - Ryan McCarl - Mises Daily
Lying about Libya - Ryan McCarl - Mises Daily: "Simply put, what was sold to the American public as a humanitarian intervention morphed almost immediately into unreserved support of one side in Libya's civil war and a commitment to overthrowing Libya's existing government."
"In Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, among other places, we have chosen sides in distant conflicts and showered our favored groups with weapons, military training, legitimacy, and cash, only to end up going to war against these same groups just a few years or decades later.
We supported the Mujahideen, which included many future members of the Taliban, during the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s; we supported Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s; and we largely normalized relations with and sold weapons to Gaddafi's Libya during the George W. Bush administration."
"In Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, among other places, we have chosen sides in distant conflicts and showered our favored groups with weapons, military training, legitimacy, and cash, only to end up going to war against these same groups just a few years or decades later.
We supported the Mujahideen, which included many future members of the Taliban, during the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s; we supported Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s; and we largely normalized relations with and sold weapons to Gaddafi's Libya during the George W. Bush administration."
Could You Modify It ‘To Stop Students From Becoming This Advanced?’ | Cato @ Liberty
Could You Modify It ‘To Stop Students From Becoming This Advanced?’ | Cato @ Liberty: "Khan’s programmer, Ben Kamens, has heard from teachers who’ve seen Khan Academy presentations and loved the idea but wondered whether they could modify it “to stop students from becoming this advanced.”
This attitude is a natural outgrowth of our decision to operate education as a monopoly. In a competitive marketplace, educators have incentives to serve each individual child to the best of their ability, because each child can easily be enrolled elsewhere if they fail to do so. That is why the for-profit Asian tutoring industry groups students by performance, not by age. There are “grades,” but they do not depend on when a student was born, only on what she knows and is able to do."
This attitude is a natural outgrowth of our decision to operate education as a monopoly. In a competitive marketplace, educators have incentives to serve each individual child to the best of their ability, because each child can easily be enrolled elsewhere if they fail to do so. That is why the for-profit Asian tutoring industry groups students by performance, not by age. There are “grades,” but they do not depend on when a student was born, only on what she knows and is able to do."
A(nother) Bad Month for Obamacare | Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute: Commentary
A(nother) Bad Month for Obamacare | Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute: Commentary: "a survey by McKinsey & Co. found that up to 30 percent of firms may respond to Obamacare's incentives to drop health benefits by — get this — dropping health benefits."
"children on Medicaid were refused appointments by 66 percent of specialists and had to wait 22 days longer for an appointment than kids with private insurance. The main culprit is Medicaid's price controls, which one survey reports 24 states plan to ratchet down even further.
Obamacare expands coverage mostly by cramming another 25 million Americans into that program."
"Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal literally tried to sell an appeals court on the idea that the individual mandate isn't all that oppressive because Americans can choose poverty as an alternative to complying.
Before another appeals court, Katyal implicitly admitted that, if the mandate were deemed constitutional, Congress could force Americans to buy non-health care products too, like long-term care insurance."
"Medicare's chief actuary announced that under reasonable assumptions — as opposed to those contained in Obamacare — the law increases Medicare's unfunded liabilities by trillions of dollars."
"children on Medicaid were refused appointments by 66 percent of specialists and had to wait 22 days longer for an appointment than kids with private insurance. The main culprit is Medicaid's price controls, which one survey reports 24 states plan to ratchet down even further.
Obamacare expands coverage mostly by cramming another 25 million Americans into that program."
"Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal literally tried to sell an appeals court on the idea that the individual mandate isn't all that oppressive because Americans can choose poverty as an alternative to complying.
Before another appeals court, Katyal implicitly admitted that, if the mandate were deemed constitutional, Congress could force Americans to buy non-health care products too, like long-term care insurance."
"Medicare's chief actuary announced that under reasonable assumptions — as opposed to those contained in Obamacare — the law increases Medicare's unfunded liabilities by trillions of dollars."
Monday, July 25, 2011
Kathmandu, Nepal image - Cast-off Netbooks send home snapshots of 'afterlife' (photos) - CNET News
Kathmandu, Nepal image - Cast-off Netbooks send home snapshots of 'afterlife' (photos) - CNET News: "They sent refurbished Netbooks to people in developing countries. The researchers set up the computers to record location and take pictures, and send the data home to MIT. The Netbooks carried stickers explaining the project in the local language."
This sounds like paying poor people (with a netbook) to give up their privacy (or even voyeurism). :-/
This sounds like paying poor people (with a netbook) to give up their privacy (or even voyeurism). :-/
Friday, July 22, 2011
DSK and the Pernicious "Perp Walk" | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary
DSK and the Pernicious "Perp Walk" | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The 'perp walk' — in which suspects are ritually displayed to the media, trussed up like a hunter's kill — has become common practice among prosecutors. But it's a practice any country devoted to the rule of law should reject.
'Perp walks are pernicious devices,' writes law professor Ernest F. Lidge, 'they humiliate innocent defendants, taint the jury pool and titilate the public.' Too often, they're 'used by prosecutors to build careers.'"
'Perp walks are pernicious devices,' writes law professor Ernest F. Lidge, 'they humiliate innocent defendants, taint the jury pool and titilate the public.' Too often, they're 'used by prosecutors to build careers.'"
Global Warming and Global Food Security | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary
Global Warming and Global Food Security | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Global surface temperature rose about three-fourths of a degree Celsius in the 20th century. U.S. corn yields quintupled. Life expectancy doubled. People got fat. Global warming didn't cause all of this, but increased atmospheric carbon dioxide directly stimulated plant growth. Further, greenhouse warming takes place more in the winter, which lengthens growing seasons. With adequate water, plants then fix and yield more carbohydrate.
While doing my dissertation I learned a few things about world crops. Serial adoption of new technologies produces a nearly constant increase in yields. Greater fertilizer application, improved response to fertilizer, better tractor technology, better tillage practices, old-fashioned genetic selection, and new-fashioned genetic engineering all conspire to raise yields, year after year."
"Indur Goklany, a much-published scholar on the consequences of global warming policies, recently calculated that in 2010 alone, diversion of grain to biofuels (like ethanol) caused nearly 200,000 excess deaths in the developing world because of increased prices."
While doing my dissertation I learned a few things about world crops. Serial adoption of new technologies produces a nearly constant increase in yields. Greater fertilizer application, improved response to fertilizer, better tractor technology, better tillage practices, old-fashioned genetic selection, and new-fashioned genetic engineering all conspire to raise yields, year after year."
"Indur Goklany, a much-published scholar on the consequences of global warming policies, recently calculated that in 2010 alone, diversion of grain to biofuels (like ethanol) caused nearly 200,000 excess deaths in the developing world because of increased prices."
Buying Can Reduce Giving | Psychology Today
Buying Can Reduce Giving | Psychology Today: "On some days, people walking across campus were givent he chance to donate to the American Cancer Society. On other days, participants were given the chance to purchase a can of Red Bull for $2.50, and they were told that $0.50 would be given to the charity. They were also allowed to donate additional money. When only a donation was requested, about 80% of the participants gave money, but when there was a chance to purchase a drink, only about 20% of people gave money. Even when including the amount of money that would be raised from the sales of the Red Bull, the charity got more money overall when there was no product for sale."
Wisconsin state smoking ban marks first anniversary | New Richmond News | New Richmond, Wisconsin
Wisconsin state smoking ban marks first anniversary | New Richmond News | New Richmond, Wisconsin: "Sometimes there is a shift in patrons, but in general we have so many more people that don’t smoke and who like clean air and are willing to go and spend what little money they have"
If that is true, then the market would provide sufficient smoke-free restaurants and bars to serve them.
"There is no liberty or no constitutional law that gives people the right to smoke"
Unbelieveable!
"In the big picture, we’re not going to stop testing someone’s water to see if it’s OK to drink, we’re not going to stop going in and testing their food and doing health inspections on the food, so why would we not do that with the air?"
It isn't always easy to determine if food or water is safe, but it is easy for customer to know if there is smoke in the air.
If that is true, then the market would provide sufficient smoke-free restaurants and bars to serve them.
"There is no liberty or no constitutional law that gives people the right to smoke"
Unbelieveable!
"In the big picture, we’re not going to stop testing someone’s water to see if it’s OK to drink, we’re not going to stop going in and testing their food and doing health inspections on the food, so why would we not do that with the air?"
It isn't always easy to determine if food or water is safe, but it is easy for customer to know if there is smoke in the air.
Federal Spending Doesn't Work | Chris Edwards | Cato Institute: Commentary
Federal Spending Doesn't Work | Chris Edwards | Cato Institute: Commentary: "In Keynesian theory, the total amount of deficit spending is the amount of 'stimulus' delivered to the economy. Well, we've had deficit spending of $459 billion in 2008, $1.4 trillion in 2009, $1.3 trillion in 2010 and $1.4 trillion in 2011.
Yet despite that enormous deficit-spending stimulus, U.S. unemployment remains stuck at more than 9 percent and the recovery is very sluggish compared to prior recoveries."
"The reality is that Washington is very bad at trying to micromanage short-term economic performance. Its failed stimulus actions have just put the nation further into debt, which will harm our long-term prosperity."
Yet despite that enormous deficit-spending stimulus, U.S. unemployment remains stuck at more than 9 percent and the recovery is very sluggish compared to prior recoveries."
"The reality is that Washington is very bad at trying to micromanage short-term economic performance. Its failed stimulus actions have just put the nation further into debt, which will harm our long-term prosperity."
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