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Dallas City Hall has idled more than one-fourth of the 62 cameras that monitor busy intersections because many of them are failing to generate enough red-light-running fines to justify their operational costs, according to city documents. – Dallas Morning News (with thanks to Engadget for picking up on the story) March 16th, 2008 | 10 comments - (Comments are closed)
 The downfall of Eliot Spitzer has recently been celebrated on this blog, and rightly so. However, I believe the major casualty of the affair will prove to be Hillary Clinton, rather than Spitzer. This juicy scandal will deliver the Democratic nomination to Obama. You could almost – almost – feel sorry for Clinton; the press was only just starting to crack the shiny Obama veneer, when this had to go and happen. Who will pay any attention to Rezko and co. with this circus unfolding over the next few weeks? It will suck the oxygen right out of Hillary’s campaign at the critical juncture – just when it was catching fire. Not that Obama as the Democratic candidate will necessarily be a bad thing for the Republicans; the more I see and read of him, his views and his actions, the more I am convinced that Obama08 is John McCain’s smoothest path to the White House. March 11th, 2008 | 6 comments - (Comments are closed)
If I was a believer, I would be pouring a thankful libation right about now. Eliot Spitzer, one of the most nasty power crazed politicos in US politics today, perhaps second only to Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson in authoritarian thuggishness, has just shown that he who lives by the judicial sword, can oh so easily die by the judicial sword. To see a man who thought nothing of using the power of the state to intimidate those who dared cross him get caught in a Federal wiretap is… well… sweet. I love the smell of schadenfreude in the morning. Update: heh… just found an article in the New York Times which has almost the same title and sentiments Update 2: oh this gets better and better… not only has he resigned apparently, it is causing dyspepsia for his statist confrères at the Huffington Post. Happy days indeed. March 10th, 2008 | 53 comments - (Comments are closed)
[Samantha] Power is gone now – but not for the odd article this post points to. No the lady was fired because she said (to a journalist for ‘The Scotsman’) that Hillary Clinton was a monster who would do anything for power. In short the lady was dismissed for telling the truth. After all the Democrats have to kiss and make up at some point. – Paul Marks March 9th, 2008 | 20 comments - (Comments are closed)
It appears that courts in the USA feel it is perfectly all right to issue a search warrant to raid someone’s house on the basis of higher-that-average electricity use. The linked example happened a few years ago but I gather it is not all that unusual a basis for a search in the Land of the Free. Presumably as I often have five computers running that is the sort of thing that would attract the attention of The Fuzz in the USA too. I also noticed that the search warrant allows them to search for ‘firearms’… so is possession of a firearm a criminal offence in the People’s Republic of California these days? March 9th, 2008 | 14 comments - (Comments are closed)
University of Tennessee law Professor Glenn Reynolds has an excellent paper on jury nullification, a subject near and dear to the hearts of libertarians. Jury nullification is a common law concept with ancient roots in Anglosphere law. During the run up to the American Civil War it was used repeatedly, and much to the State’s chagrin, to make the Fugitive Slave Act unenforceable. Juries would not convict persons arrested for assisting in the escape of slaves. Law in the US has again taken a turn towards State convenience and interests over those of the individual and liberty so it is high time we dust off this legal concept and start telling judges and the legislature to ‘shove it’. March 8th, 2008 | 9 comments - (Comments are closed)
Sometimes I wonder whether the news editors in the media “join the dots”, to coin a phrase. Scanning my Bloomberg machine this morning (part of my day job), this headline was prominent: Chicago’s Snowiest Winter Since 1979 Depletes Budget Then, on the same Bloomberg front page, is this: Gore Invests $35 Million for Hedge Funds With EBay Billionaire Gore has, of course, made himself a mint and also burnished his Green credentials with his film, An Inconvenient Truth, a film that has had great influence in encouraging the idea that the Earth is at serious risk from man-made global warming, although others remain to be convinced. Fair play to Gore: if he has managed to make a lot of cash by producing a film and persuaded enough paying customers to see it, well who am I, as an ardent capitalist, to complain? If he wants to invest in those mysterious-sounding things called hedge funds, even better (they are not all that bizarre, by the way, just a form of investment fund with a few tricks). But if the city of Chicago is running short of cash to pay for all the snow clearance, maybe the councillors should phone up Al and ask for a donation. After all, the current freezing weather in so many places must be er, Man’s fault, right? March 7th, 2008 | 15 comments - (Comments are closed)
For me the idea of the state installing cameras everywhere to ensure compliance with its edicts was the most memorable aspect to George Orwell’s dystopian 1984, with Newspeak a close second. But of course here in the real world, the state would never try to force private business owners to allow the state to place cameras to make sure people are following regulations, right?
And what comes next? Cameras in schools and daycare centres naturally. For the children of course. And after that? I mean, why stop there? March 7th, 2008 | 9 comments - (Comments are closed)
The very worthy folks of the Free State Project are holding an event in June in New Hampshire to highlight their work and maybe attract some more supporters.
If you are interested in supporting the FSP and becoming a ‘porcupine’, check it out!  March 6th, 2008 | 3 comments - (Comments are closed)
As many of our readers already know, Carla Howell succeeded in collecting a sufficient number of signatures for her ballot initiative to end the Massachusetts income tax. There may be further legal challenges but it will almost certainly be on the ballot this year. With polls showing a dead heat between yes and no voters the inappropriately named “Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation” is already preparing its defense of high taxes. Although the core battle is months away, politicians are already hitting back. Can you guess which party this statement came from?
It was from Peter Torkildsen, the Republican state party chairman of Massachusetts. And you wondered why libertarians do not flock to the Republican Party? The correct answers to Torkildsen’s quiz are: “Zero” and “Leave it with the honest folk who earned it”. March 6th, 2008 | 18 comments - (Comments are closed)
I am live-blogging the primaries over at my election blog. My prediction: the Hildebeast will not die. This is good for John McCain as the chances of more dirt getting dug up and thrown at the two Democrats is getting ever greater. Also, the obvious ticket of a year ago: Clinton/Obama or even Obama/Clinton, looks somewhat hard to pull off now. March 5th, 2008 | 16 comments - (Comments are closed)
The fine folks on The Line is Here (subtext: an anti-nanny state collective) have started something called the Picador Project which may be of interest to our USA based readers.
Check it out. March 4th, 2008 | 5 comments - (Comments are closed)
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