In California, a state assemblyman has proposed, in the name of saving the environment of course, banning incandescent light bulbs. Decrying the inefficiency of the common light bulb, a Democratic Assemblyman from Los Angeles wants California to become the first state to ban it — by 2012. Assemblyman Lloyd Levine says compact fluorescent light bulbs, [...]

As Hugo Chavez continues his apparent quest to become the heir apparent to Fidel Castro, Venezuelans who desire freedom and prosperity are starting to vote with their feet: CARACAS, Venezuela — The line forms every day after dawn at the Spanish Consulate, hundreds of people seeking papers permitting them to abandon Venezuela for new lives [...]

Michael Barone thinks it’s time that America ended it’s obsession with the Clinton and Bush families: Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton. It sounds like the Wars of the Roses: Lancaster, York, Lancaster, York. To compare our political struggles to the conflicts between rival dynasties may be carrying it too far. But we have become, I think, [...]

In a first-of-it’s-kind ruling, a California Court has ruled that bloggers are entitled to the same First Amendment rights extended to journalists: Santa Clara, CA (AHN)-In a landmark ruling in favor of bloggers and cyber journalists, a Santa Clara County Court defended the First Amendment rights of online journalists to protect their confidential sources, effectively [...]

Today’s Washington Post carries an interesting column by Syrian journalist Sami Moubayed where he makes a rather convincing case for the legalization of prostitution, citing his own country as an example: For years, many in the Arab World have been sexually deprived. This is because of social restrictions, seclusion, bad education, poverty, etc… Some would [...]

This by far one of the best arguments against the minimum wage I’ve seen. Please note that when you see the word “liberal” in this article, it’s referring to classical liberalism: Passage by the House of Representatives of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, as part of the Democrats’ first 100-hour agenda for “A [...]

There are few times one can talk about the economics and politics of cartels and licensing requirements, and still make it this fun: Brothel owners accuse backpackers of selling sex in Australia Foreign backpackers funding their Australian travels through illegal sex work are robbing the legitimate industry of profits and threatening clients’ health, a brothel [...]

Hedges hates the “Right”… He hates with all his might. Freedom Of Speech? That’s not what he’d preach… “Fascist”? That’s him, all right. >;-)

I’m rereading F.A Hayek’s “The Road To Serfdom“. In Chapter 9, where I currently find myself, Hayek is discussing security and freedom. This seems timely, considering the conversation occuring on Doug’s post The Right Direction on Health Insurance Reform. In this chapter of Hayek’s classic work, he discusses the quest for security and how it [...]

Arnold Kling has a piece at TCS Daily about the two different approaches that exist to dealing with problems that arise in the world: One solution, that might be traced to the expression “philosopher-king” associated with Plato, is to hand the reins of government to the best and the brightest. Since the late 19th-century, the [...]

The High Priest of the Church of the Painful Truth, Neal Boortz has written an excellent response to this insane tirade by Ted Kennedy regarding the minimum wage. I wrote my own post on the minimum wage here at my blog Fearless Philosophy for Free Minds but Boortz’s response to Kennedy explains the problems of [...]

As I mentioned earlier, today is Milton Friedman Day. Tonight at 10pm, most PBS stations around the country will broadcast a new documentary about the life and ideas of Milton Friedman called The Power of Choice: Rising like a phoenix from a troubled past, entrepreneurs have turned Chile’s rich Colchagua Valley into one of the [...]

Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the founders of Google, have admitted that their decision to acquise in the Chinese Government’s demand for censorship of Google’s Chinese search engine was a mistake: Google’s decision to censor its search engine in China was bad for the company, its founders admitted yesterday. Google, launched in 1998 by two [...]

Since today is Milton Friedman Day, I figured it was as good a time as any to note my own personal appreciation for a man who contributed so much to the ideals of free minds and free markets. I am not an economist, or a political scientist, so this won’t be an examination of Dr. [...]

Former Florida Governor, and Presidential brother, Jeb Bush, spoke this weekend at a conference sponsored by National Review devoted to examing what happened to the Republican Party in general, and conservatives specifically in last year’s elections. And, quite honestly, his remarks make one wonder if the wrong son of George H.W. Bush made it into [...]

As we approach the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, it’s well known that vast areas of the Gulf Coast remain much as they were when the waters receded. What isn’t well known is the extent to which private charity and volunteer organizations have stepped in where the government has failed: PEARLINGTON, Miss. — The two-by-fours [...]

(Cross posted here at Fearless Philosophy for Free Minds) A rather interesting comment was posted in response to a minor point I made about the new media vs. the old media in a post I wrote entitled The Scales of Justice Need Rebalancing. I thought the comment raised some interesting questions that deserved to be [...]

In today’s Washington Post, Ted Balaker and Sam Staley of the Reason Foundation debunk five common myths constantly propounded by the environmentalist left in their never-ending quest to force us out of our cars: 1.Americans are addicted to driving. Actually, Americans aren’t addicted to their cars any more than office workers are addicted to their [...]

According to L. Brent Bozell III, long time advocate of government censorship of television, the so-called problem of television violence is worse than ever and the person at fault is Tony Soprano: The latest landmark (or landfill) in the TV world is the arrival of HBO’s pay-cable mob drama “The Sopranos” on the basic-cable channel [...]

John Hawkins writes in a column at Human Events and a post at his blog Right Wing News in defense of the War On Drugs. As is typical with defenders of the drug war, it doesn’t really amount to much of anything. Just take a look at his opening paragraphs: Libertarians often attack the war [...]