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All the Libertarian news you can use for the week of March 16th - 20th, 2009!
This week was quite busy, so lets get started!
The Royal Canadian Mint has quadrupled its production capacity to meet demand as mints all over the world report record demand. Gold hit an 11-month high of $1,005.40 on Feb. 20th.
Do you play video games? Do you live in the state of Utah? The Utah legislature just passed stiffer penalties for sellers of M-rated (mature) games to minors. Love that nanny state!
Looks like Microsoft will be one of the big beneficiaries of Obama's "shovel ready" works projects. A proposed $11 million will be used to build a bridge that will connect two parts of Microsoft's campus in Redmond, which some are calling "the bridge to Microsoft." Love that pork!
The Electronic Frontier Foundation recently released a search engine that combs through their massive database of Freedom of Information Act documents. Some organizations listed are: CIA, FBI, DOD, DOJ, DHS among other secretive agencies. How valuable the information will be remains to be seen, but the EFF has already been successful in using some of the documentation in their cases.
I found this video of Ron Paul debating drug policy with Stephen Baldwin (yes, that Baldwin) on CNN to be quite humorous. I wonder if Baldwin actually believes the stuff he's spouting. It looks like he's reading from cue-cards, and Paul, as always, stays on topic with his anti-drug war arguments. At the end of the segment, the host tries to get Paul to admit to using Marijuana.
If you are reading this, you may already be a terrorist says the Missouri Information Analysis Center. A report called The Modern Militia Movement states that those individuals engaged in the following behavior: opposition to the Federal Reserve, tax resistance, opposition to universal military service can be identified as potential domestic terrorists. Count me in!
A cafe owner in Ohio has found an interesting way to drum up new business in this moribund economy. Instead of set prices on the menu, the owner has given patrons the option of setting their own prices. The goal was to encourage people to go out for a meal or cup of coffee who wouldn't otherwise. The results? Sales and customers are up 50-100%. Freedom works!
California is a state that rivals New York for the amount of control unions have on the local Government, which is why this story surprised me so much. A judge in Vallejo, CA ruled that the city can now void union contracts. I'm sure the case will be in appeal for years, but if it is upheld, it will have huge effects nationwide. Perhaps this will make unions back off a bit if they fear their contracts can be torn up.
In other California news, Attorney General Eric Holder recently announced that the DEA would no longer raid marijuana dispensaries that comply with CA law. This is a major departure from the Bush administration as DEA raids were routine, regardless of their state legality. A win for marijuana policy advocates, but I am skeptical of the intentions. With the recent announcement for more federal money being given to Mexico in escalating the drug war, I wonder if this just wasn't a campaign promise payback.
Can you guess what Obama's first signing statement is? From Cato, "While approving the $410 billion omnibus appropriations bill, he reserved the right to reinterpret, evade, or ignore a number of the bill’s provisions" Translation: kickbacks for unions to repay all those campaign donations and votes. This fits in nicely with Obama's last executive order requiring all stimulus-project labor to be union only.
From our 1984 department comes more Orwellian bliss in the UK. Britain's Home Office wants to monitor and retain all user communication on popular social networks, including Facebook, Myspace and Bebo. Since we all know Government is incompetent, this massive undertaking will most likely end in failure. However, I wouldn't count them out just yet. We know from the US, this kind of surveillance is possible to some extent. Hopefully this will motivate UK Internet users in learning to use various proxy, tunneling and encryption techniques to mask their traffic. Viva Le privacy!
Lastly, we'll end this week with a blog from someone who lived during the depression. The Great Depression. Her name is Anne Cleveland and she has been recording her experiences in reference to the current economic downturn on her blog. You can also follow her on Twitter. Great reading here. I highly recommend checking out her site.
Yours in liberty
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