20 months ago I wrote a post (click here) to recognize the successful efforts of The Innocence Project in exonerating 200 wrongly convicted (14 of which were on death row). In the time between that post and this one, the Innocence Project has helped 25 more wrongfully convicted regain their freedom! If this trend continues, [...]

There once was a man from Illinois, Tried to sell a Senate seat like a toy, Some of us think He’ll end up in the clink, And the new “Rod” he meets won’t bring joy.

I firmly believe that many political problems are born of the average Americans inability — and unwillingness — to try to think and understand the world around them rather than accept conventional wisdom. This is clearly evident in peoples’ lack of understanding of pricing; it is disturbingly evident in the political policies they seek as [...]

A case in Maryland is requiring that state’s highest Court to find the line between freedom of speech and business disparagement: In a First Amendment case with implications for everything from neighborhood e-mail lists to national newspapers, an Eastern Shore businessman argued to Maryland’s highest court yesterday that the host of an online forum should [...]

In light of yet another example of the eternal truth that power corrupts, and absoulte power corrupts absolutely, Steve Horwitz wonders why we’re still talking about handing yet more power over to the government: I simply do not understand how those who are in favor of giving government all of these new powers because they [...]

Last week, I posted about my belief that oil has currently dropped to a price level that is damaging to the long-term stability of the oil market, and that while it seems wonderful right now, it won’t last. Today we find a bit of evidence that may only support this point: The $25 low-end estimate [...]

Several times over the past few years, well respected and well known people, have written that the reason liberty oriented people fail in the political arena, or achieve limited results that they cannot follow up on or capitalize on; is because there is no coherent philosophy behind the notion of liberty. In fact, the common [...]

This is somewhat off-topic, but as I know many bloggers and blog-readers are technophiles, I wanted to get advice from the best place I could. The time has come for us to replace my wife’s laptop. It’s about as old and decrepit as a laptop can be and still run Windows, and is a constant [...]

“I don’t believe there’s any cloud that hangs over me. I think there’s nothing but sunshine hanging over me,” – IL Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) to reporters yesterday. This morning, Governor Blagojevich sits in a holding cell at the Federal Courthouse in Chicago. H/T: The Daily Dish

Reason.tv profiles Belmont, California’s efforts to ban smoking in private residences:

Prior to the election, the question loomed — would a potential Obama administration govern as a political moderate? The recession and financial crisis have solidified the answer… FDR and LBJ may have nothing on BHO! President-elect Barack Obama is focusing his economic recovery strategy on making the biggest investment in the nation’s infrastructure since President [...]

Reality TV junkie? Also a State-worshipper? Then you’re in luck! Every day the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security patrol more than 100,000 miles of America’s borders. This territory includes airports, seaports, land borders, international mail centers, the open seas, mountains, deserts and even cyberspace. Now viewers will get an unprecedented look [...]

Many progressives are looking forward to increased government oversight over the auto industry. They see this as a chance to influence the types of vehicles that are produced and to dictate that production be turned to socially beneficial uses, including the manufacture of green cars that auto manufacturers are not manufacturing. These vehicles are not [...]

If the Democrats in Congress get what they want, the real headquarters of Ford, GM, and Chrysler won’t be in Detroit any more: All three restructuring plans are heavy on promises to build the “green” cars that a Democratic Congress wants built. GM promises 15 hybrid models by 2012 and 37 miles per gallon on [...]

From Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience: The progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual. Even the Chinese philosopher was wise enough to regard the individual as the basis of the empire. Is a democracy, such as we know it, [...]

It was 75 years ago today that America’s incredibly stupid experiment in alcohol prohibition finally ended: Prohibition was the pièce de résistance of the early 20th-century progressive’s grand social engineering agenda. It failed, of course. Miserably. It did reduce overall consumption of alcohol in the U.S., but that reduction came largely among those who consumed [...]

You know, Nouriel Roubini is smart. I’ve long believed that we should never treat those in opposition* like dullards, because that leads to sloppiness in fighting them. But I just don’t know how a smart person — an economist — can advocate the nationalization of our auto industry with a straight face. “We’re spending $2 [...]

A writer at The Washington Post says the answer is yes: First, it isn’t the 1950s anymore. As religion scholar Will Herberg noted in his influential 1955 essay “Protestant-Catholic-Jew,” at that time 68 percent of Americans were Protestant, 23 percent Catholic, and 4 percent Jewish. (The remaining 5 percent expressed no religious preference.) “Not to [...]

Earlier this morning, Stephen Littau posted a novel idea by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) to use the $350B set aside for the 2nd half of the TARP program for a two-month tax holiday early in 2009. This would eliminate the income and payroll taxes for the months of January and February, allowing workers to keep [...]

Just look at all the sacrifices they’ll make! Humbled and fighting for survival, the country’s once-mighty automakers went to Congress with new promises to change their ways in return for a bailout as large as $34 billion. They said they would sell the corporate jets. The CEOs will work for $1 a year (Chrysler boss [...]