Kevin Drum on loud commercials: This is an issue, like the Do Not Call registry, that transcends politics. I don’t really care whether volume regulations are liberal or conservative or trample the Bill of Rights or whatever. I just want the noise to stop. If it takes jackboots to stop it, then so be it. [...]

Well, this is good news: According to today’s Washington Post, the Cato pocket Declaration of Independence and Constitution have made the bestseller list! This is going to make establishment Washington nervous — with good reason. Order your copy here. Order a few

Coyote, talking about how “consumer protections” are actually protecting incumbent industries: Google voice is one of the more exciting communication products I have seen in years. I have a phone number for free, I can have that number ring multiple different numbers while retaining a single voice mail — with a free transcription service. Awesome. [...]

Yesterday the Nobel Prize Committee insulted the Great Helmsman, President Barack Obama by awarding yet another prize to an unworthy second rater while ignoring the Great Helmsman’s dramatic contributions in every field.  Our dear leader wrote the two greatest books in modern civilization. These books are an inspiration to all of us who are his [...]

Okay, Doug’s already done one quote about the Obama Nobel, but I just can’t resist this: There’s a line in the movie Dangerous Liaisons to the effect that one does not applaud the tenor for clearing his throat. I was reminded of it when I heard about President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize. Just about [...]

In commemorating President Barack Obama’s (undeserved) Nobel Peace Prize, I thought the classic Megadeth song “Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?” would be appropriate. Considering some of the other individuals who have won the prize (Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter, and Al Gore) Obama’s undeserved recognition shouldn’t be all that surprising. What do you mean, “I [...]

Over 3,500 civilians have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama took office: Civilian casualties (est.) in two wars being waged by the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize: Afghanistan, Feb-July: 886 Iraq, Feb-Aug: 2,629 Hope and Change !

“President Obama wants to put people in jail if they don’t buy health insurance. Give that man a peace prize.” — Michael Cannon

From the LA Times: President Obama, who has pledged to place diplomacy ahead of confrontation and reached out to a skeptical world with offers of mutual understanding, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today for what the committee called “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Obama is only the third [...]

We’re bombing the moon.

My best friend of 29 of the 31 years I’ve been aboard this rock is a work-in-progress. I think he currently falls far too close to the “bleeding-heart-liberal” mindset, but he’s smart enough to eventually make the transition to “steely-eyed pragmatic libertarian”. He sent this along to me, and asked me to pass it along [...]

In Wisconsin, it is now against the law to buy a mercury thermometer without a prescription: [Governor] Doyle also signed a bill that regulates products that contain mercury. It includes a provision that would require people to get a prescription before they could buy a thermometer that contains mercury. There are no words.

My old representative when I lived in Georgia, Tom Price, has offered competing health care legislation to the Democrats’ bills. I’m not a health-care wonk, so I’m not going to get into the meat of his proposal, but apparently one of the key points is limiting the employer-provided health insurance tax deduction and extending a [...]

Peter Suderman writing for The Wall Street Journal has written an excellent article about the (apparent) unlearned lessons of government run healthcare. But unlike many others who use Canada and the UK as examples, Suderman insists that we only need to look at states like New York, Massachusetts, Washington, and Tennessee for their respective failed [...]

The first recorded mention of the term “War on Terror” in the New York Times did not occur after 9/11 as many would assume… In fact it was in 1934, and wasn’t even about the U.S. You might be shocked as to exactly which nation it was about… or perhaps not… War On Terror (New [...]

Back in July, I sent letters to Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein urging them to support or even cosponsor S.604, the Audit-The-Fed bill. I received the typical mealy-mouthed responses (posted below after the fold), and like a bad blogger I never actually mentioned the responses here. How mealy-mouthed was Boxer’s response? Well, THIS was the [...]

Gosh, it doesn’t seem like all that long ago the American public was promised hope, change, and a more open, transparent, ethical federal government if we only elected Obama the next President of the United States. Before that, in 2006 Pelosi and Co. made many of the same promises. Now the Democrats have the House, [...]

The Federal Trade Commission has taken a solid step towards regulation of bloggers, first by declaring that any “in-kind” contribution for a product review must be considered an official endorsement and requires disclosure. Despite the fact that I — of my own volition — did so on the one occasion I was actually given something [...]

Our friends at the Cato Institute, the only think tank in DC dedicate to personal and economic liberty, have launched a new site, DownsizingGovernment.org, committed to cutting waste from the federal budget. From the press release: The research on the site also exposes that many public outlays—though vigorously defended by the politicians who created them [...]

There once was a man from Iran, Some told him to put his yarmulke on, And although he’ll fight, He’s probably right, For some documents say he’s Kenyan. >;-)