VN:F [1.6.9_936]please wait…Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

Whenever the government causes a mess, chances are high that it will accuse speculators of being responsible. In the recent financial crisis, speculators and their financial instruments have been under attack again. Some famous investors have even supported governments’ attacks on speculators. Warren Buffet has called derivatives “financial weapons of mass destruction.”
In the current sovereign-debt [...]

A Texas man has sued his local police department, saying he was arrested for taking a picture of a police officer when the officer entered his home without permission.
According to the lawsuit (PDF), Sgt. Justin Alderete of the Sealy, Texas, police department arrived at the home of Francisco Olvera in October, 2009, apparently responding to [...]

by Travis Irvine
Libertarian candidate for Ohio’s 12th congressional district
It has often been said — though not often enough — that democracies cannot be empires, and empires cannot be democracies. This has never been more evident than now, when our own “democratic empire” has become less and less representative of the people in these United States. [...]

Via: Online Schools
VN:F [1.6.9_936]please wait…Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

The following is a transcript of a teaching experiment, using the Socratic method, with a regular third grade class in a suburban elementary school. I present my perspective and views on the session, and on the Socratic method as a teaching tool, following the transcript. The class was conducted on a Friday afternoon beginning at [...]

The US senators pushing a controversial new bill that some fear would give President Barack Obama the powers to seize control of and even shut down the internet have rejected claims it would give Obama a net “kill switch”.
The bill, titled Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, has been unanimously approved by the US [...]

Source: Most Americans know that the U.S. economy is in bad shape, but what most Americans don’t know is how truly desperate the financial situation of the United States really is.  The truth is that what we are experiencing is not simply a “downturn” or a “recession”.  What we are witnessing [...]

How public education cripples our kids, and why
By John Taylor Gatto
John Taylor Gatto is a former New York State and New York City Teacher of the
Year and the author, most recently, of The Underground History of American
Education. He was a participant in the Harper’s Magazine forum “School on a Hill,”
which appeared in the September 2003 [...]

DEA Official Announces Successful Drug Bust On Son’s Room
VN:F [1.6.9_936]please wait…Rating: 5.0/5 (2 votes cast)

Libertarians surely favor freedom of speech, that is, the right to speak without being hampered by the government. But the right to speak implies the right not to speak, the right to remain silent. Yet libertarians have themselves been strangely silent on the many instances of compulsory speech in our society.
The [...]

Pakistani military intelligence not only funds and trains Taliban fighters in Afghanistan but is officially represented on the movement’s leadership council, giving it significant influence over operations, a report said.
The report, published by the London School of Economics, a leading British institution, on Sunday, said research strongly suggested support for the Taliban was the “official [...]

Mark Lilla is a professor of humanities at Columbia University, where he specializes in the history of ideas — in particular, the intellectual legacy of the Enlightenment. Now, one of the principal intellectual legacies of the Enlightenment is the libertarian tradition, so it was not at all inappropriate that Lilla’s article in the May 27, [...]

In a First Amendment Center/AJR survey, nearly half of those responding said they think the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees. And about the same number said the American press has been too aggressive in asking government officials for information about the war on terrorism.
Fear can short-circuit freedom.
From Abraham Lincoln’s suspension [...]

A poll released last week by The Washington Poll, a quarterly, nonpartisan effort by the University of Washington, shows that Washington State residents support an initiative that would legalize the possession and use of marijuana.
According to the poll of 1,252 registered voters conducted last month, 52% in Washington State support “removing state civil and criminal [...]