Reason’s Dave Weigel links to a poll showing an overwhelming majority of Americans in favor of the increased use of surveillance cameras in public places, which Weigel finds disturbing. Am I the only libertarian who isn’t really bothered by this? Sure, if the government wanted to put cameras in people’s homes I’d be the first [...]
Archive for November, 2011
This really should be a bigger story: A federal judge Thursday ordered the government to pay more than $101 million in the case of four men who spent decades in prison for a 1965 murder they didn’t commit after the FBI withheld evidence of their innocence. The FBI encouraged perjury, helped frame the four men [...]
See, Nazis can be funny. (Here’s the Wikipedia article that will tell you just what the hell you’re watching.) What did we learn from ’80s cartoons? These eight lessons. Enjoy the intro to the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie with musical guest Mastodon! Watch over 1,500 Filipino prisoners perform “Thriller” and “Radio Gaga”. This will [...]
In certain circles, the mere mention of the term “Isreal lobby” is enough to get a person labeled an anti-Semite. The term conjures up a shadowy cabal of Jews secretly running the government….and the banks….and the media….and Hollywood. But the fact is, there is an Israel lobby in this country–just as there is a lobby [...]
From the Washington Post: The picketers marching in a circle in front of a downtown Washington office building chanting about low wages do not seem fully focused on their message. Many have arrived with large suitcases or bags holding their belongings, which they keep in sight. Several are smoking cigarettes. One works a crossword puzzle. [...]
It may be over a week old, but this New York Times op-ed by Harvard economist Greg Mankiw is still worth mentioning. Mankiw challenges the idea, popular among many liberals, that the American income tax system is regressive: The C.B.O.’s [Congressional Budget Office's] most recent calculations of federal tax rates show a highly progressive system. [...]
I’ve long suspected this but now have some confirmation: The more exposure middle school students have to anti-smoking ads, the more likely they are to smoke, according to a new University of Georgia study. Hye-Jin Paek, an assistant professor at UGA, found that many anti-smoking ad campaigns have the opposite effect on teenagers, backfiring because [...]
Well, my mind’s blown. Here’s a clip from the new Bob Dylan biopic by Todd Haynes of Velvet Goldmine fame. In this scene Dylan is played by Cate Blanchett, and he meets Allen Ginsberg played by David Cross. Awesome. Next time I’m in Chicago, I’m totally eating at this restaurant and ordering the Slayer sandwich [...]
The Massachusetts legislature has actually thought up a good bill: The measure, pending before the Legislature, would add the line “None of the Above; For a New Election” to every state and local race on the ballot. If that option won the most votes, another election would be held in 60 to 80 days, and [...]
This is one of the greatest pranks of this young century. David Lassman has exposed a large chunk of the publishing world as unsophisticated twits: Mr Lassman, 43, submitted opening chapters of three of Austen’s classic works – Northanger Abbey, first published in 1798, Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Persuasion (1818). He typed them out [...]
